1 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A．moral	B．fortunes	C．drastically	D．extinct
E．emerged	AB．approach	AC．claims	AD．cautiously
AE．ingredients	BC．managed	BD．object

Stressed out? Get chewing: can a wellness rebrand make Americans buy gum again?

When was the last time you saw someone chewing gum? 1998, maybe? 2007? Chances are, it probably wasn’t recently. Like high heels and affordable housing, chewing gum appears to be going     1    

Gum’s popularity has been fading globally thanks to increased competition from products like breath mints and mobile phones distracting us from impulse purchases while shopping. The pandemic, moreover,     2    ·accelerated gum’s decline.

Even after people     3     from lockdown, sales didn’t recover. Gum sales worldwide in 2023 were 10% below 2018 figures. In the US, the drop has been particularly pronounced: last year 1.2 billion units of gum were sold in the US, 32% fewer than in 2018.

However, chewing gum, in various forms, is one of the oldest habits there is. Stone age teenagers were chewing birch bar k tar possibly for pleasure, medicinal purposes, or to use it as a glue. Gum has also been loaded with cultural meaning and the subject of various     4     panics. Some people believe it is a marker of the bad kids or a habit of the lower class.

Despite a certain amount of social stigma（污名） attached to gum, it has - until relatively recently -been a wildly successful product. That’s thanks to William Wrigley Jr, who was a marketing and advertising genius. Wrigley always     5     to find a way to make gum relevant and insert it into consumer culture. For example, Wrigley advertised the idea that chewing gum was a health aid that would help digestion and would relieve stress.

This year the Wrigley brand’s owner —Mars— came out with an ad campaign it hopes will revive gum’s     6     by positioning it as an almost instant stress reliever. Linking gum with wellness worked in the 1910s, but is it going to work now? Alex Hayes at the food consultancy is     7     optimistic. “The global well ness market is estimated to be worth more than $1.5 trillion, so it’s no surprise that Mars wants a piece of the pie,” Hayes says. “We’ve seen the success of categories such as tea promoting their products via functional     8       and messaging-teas for good sleep, mental clarity, stress relief, etc. So it comes as no surprise that Mars is risking the same     9     .” But he also notes, customers are increasingly worried about processed foods and are eager to move away from artificial     10    . There’s still ongoing discussion on just how effective repositioning chewable plastic as a health supplement is going to be.

2 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can onlybe used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A.function        B.total          C.worthwhile          D.distinguishing       E.achievements F.flowing   G.acknowledge   H.promising   I.treatment     J.prescribed     K.suffered

Over the last 150 years, the field of medicine has accomplished many astonishing things. Some of these medical     1     are well-known, antibiotics, vaccines and organ transplants, for example. Here are three success stories in the world of medical science.

Surviving without a Heart

On July 2, 2008, D’Zhana Simmons from South Carolina was given a heart transplant. She     2     Kfroma condition called dilated cardiomyopathy(扩张型心肌病), which meant that her heart was weakened and her blood wasn’t being pumped efficiently. Her new heart failed to     3     properly, so doctors fitted two pumps to keep her blood     4     while they went looking for a new heart. It was almost four months later, on October 29, that another transplant was carried out successfully. In     5    , she’d lived without a heart for 118 days. This is thought to be the longest a pediatric patient has been kept alive without any heart at all.

Waking People from Comas

In1999, a patient in a persistent vegetative state(植物人状态) due to a motor accident was seen to be twitching(抽动) by one of his nurses. His doctor     6     a common sleeping pill, zolpidem, in case this twitching was caused by discomfort. The doctor crushed it on a spoon, fed it to the patient, and was shocked when just half an hour later, the comatose(昏迷的)person made a noise for the first time in five years. This simple     7     has since been tried with several other patients with marvelous results. Not all patients respond--in fact, around forty percent don’t show any improvement--but those who are successfully rescued from their comas are finally able to     8     their loved ones, and even have conversations.

Restoring Sight to the Blind

Blindness is not a single, uniform condition; it can be variously caused by problems in the eyes, the nerves and the brain. Thanks to machine implants, people who were completely blind sometimes become capable of    9     colours and describing objects.

The device works like a digital camera, creating an image and then sending signals through nerve cells to the brain. Doctors were also able to restore sight to a man who had been blind for forty-three years; they did this with the help of stem cells, one of the most     10     fields in medicine. Neither of these treatments are yet perfect, but they show what science may be capable of in the future.

3 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. craft     B. delicate C. displayed D. document E. enthusiasm   F. featuring G. focus H. highlighting I. involved J. recognized K. stunning

A Destination to Treasure

With the popularity of various online platforms, more and more people would like to share what they saw and what they did in life and travel. Long, a video blogger, is an example.

One of the videos featured on Long Yan's account on the short-video platform Douyin is a tour through the     1     natural landscape and folk customs of Guizhou Province. Long has produced more than 170 such videos,     2     the unique charm of destinations in the southwest of the country. In his view, Guizhou's natural and cultural landscape,       3    mountains, lakes and rivers, diverse ethnic customs and deep, profound history deserve to be better-known by online audiences.

Over the past three years, Long's video content has undergone noticeable changes.He originally focused on natural scenery but has been increasingly     4     in deeper exploration of humanity and cultural heritage.

Since December, Long launched his own project, aiming to     5     100 examples of intangible cultural heritage across the country in three years. To do his part, Long has     6     stories about inheritors of intangible cultural heritage and helped more people witness their commitment to their    7    . Long was exposed to a variety of fascinating examples of intangible cultural heritage. “It occurred to me that landscape scenery has a better chance of continuing to exist than human cultural forms do," he says. “That heritage would disappear quickly if not recorded and broadcast.” His first intangible cultural heritage video was about the     8     leaf-vein embroidery technique practiced in Tongren city,Guizhou.

Long has been     9     by Douyin as a “rural guardian" contributing to village development, and has delivered six videos on intangible cultural heritage so far. He has already seen positive results from his initial work. Many of his young followers have shown     10     for experiencing what he has posted. "They really enjoy intangible cultural heritage, and are rooting for the revival of traditional culture, as well as the establishment of national self-confidence," he says.

4 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. application	B. currently	C. initial	D. detection	E. previously	F. feasibility
G. primarily	H. intelligent	I. active	J. availability	K. predictable

The agricultural sector is going to face enormous challenges in order to feed the 9.6 billion people that the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) predicts are going to inhabit the planet by 2050: Food production must increase by 70% by 2050, and this has to be achieved in spite of the limited     1     of arable (适合耕种的) lands, the increasing need for fresh water (agriculture consumes 70 per cent of the world’s fresh water supply) and other less     2     factors, such as the impact of climate change, which, according to a recent report by the UN could lead, among other things, to changes to seasonal events in the life cycle of plants and animals.

One way to deal with these issues and increase the quality and quantity of agricultural production is using sensing technology to make farms more “    3    ” and more connected through the so-called “precision agriculture”.

Precision agriculture, also known as “smart farming”, is not new, In the beginning, it was about position technologies     4    , but it is becoming more complex moving towards all the aspects of agriculture.

It’s something that’s already happening, as corporations and farm offices collect vast amounts of information from crop yields, soil-mapping, fertilizer     5    , weather data, machinery, and animal health. In a subset of smart farming, Precision Livestock Farming (PLF), sensors are used for early     6     of reproduction events and health disorders in animals.

The European Union has sponsored several projects on the topic. The     7     running EU-PLF project, for instance, is designed to look at the     8     of bringing proven and cost-effective Precision Livestock Farming tools from the lab to the farm.

Several private companies are also starting to be     9     in this field, such as Anemon (Switzerland), eCow (UK), Connected Cow (Medria Technologies and Deutsche Telekom). Smart fishing is at     10     stage with some projects in Europe, South Korea, North America and Japan.

5 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. wonder   B. regular   C. doubt D. physically E. breathing F. wealth G. functioning   H. flexibility I. flow J. generally K. mood

Sometimes it’s the simplest daily practice that can have the biggest impact on your health, and yoga is proof of that. Although most forms of yoga aren’t considered to be as intense as other workout regimens, practising yoga on a daily basis has been scientifically demonstrated to help you mentally and     1    . Through breath work, meditation and holding poses that increase strength and     2    the body and mind gain benefits from yoga that positively impact your long-term health. It’s no     3    people have been practising yoga for over 5000 years, and that the number of Australians practising yoga doubled between 2008 and 2017 to over two million, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

Yoga teacher, Jenni Tarmar, shares, “we have a     4    of research demonstrating that a regular mindfulness practice - the act of paying attention to the sensation in the body, thoughts and emotions without judgment - can reduce stress and help us to feel calmer, more productive, and     5    more even-keeled in our daily lives.”

After evaluating yoga history and research, one 2014 review published in Frontiers in Human Neouroscience concluded that     6    yoga practice can help facilitate self-regulation. Another study of adolescents between the ages of 13 and 18 found that practising yoga positively benefited emotional regulation and self-esteem. “Movement releases beneficial neurotransmitters (神经转发器) in the brain, which helps us feel good as well as assist in     7    regulation,” says yoga instructor, Evan Lawrence. “One of the things that I like about yoga specifically is that there is, at the same time, a focus on physical movement and     8    .”

According to associate professor of psychiatry, Dr Gail Saltz, “practising yoga improves overall blood     9    to the body, including the brain, which is helpful for cognition and memory.”

One 2019 review published in Brain Plasticity concluded that behavioural interventions like yoga can help “mitigate age-related and neurodegenerative decline” due to the positive effects a daily practice has on different parts of the     10    brain, like the hippocampus (which plays a major role in learning and memory) and the prefrontal cortex (cognitive control functions).

6 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. allowing   B. detectable   C. hazard     D. irresponsible E. linked    F. optimism   G. punishing   H. routes     I. sowed     J. unavoidable   K. widespread

Time for a clean-up

You are probably aware of the term “forever chemicals”, if not entirely clear on the specifics. What they are is a class of around 16, 000 artificial compounds called PFAS that break down very slowly, if at all in the environment and our bodies. They are extremely useful, but also a potential     1     to wildlife and human health. After more than 80 years of     2     and often unlimited use, PFAS pollution is more or less everywhere, from the soil on our farms to the rain that waters them. In all likelihood, you have a(n)     3     amount of these chemicals in your body.

A growing body of research has     4     exposure to some types of PFAS to harmful effects, such as kidney disease, immune dysfunction and certain types of cancer. Just a few parts per trillion of some forms accumulated over time is enough to be damaging. Moreover, exposure is more or less     5    . Skipping greaseproof (防油的) packaging or filtering tap water may limit acute exposure, but there are many other pollution     6    . In any case, for most of us, it is already too late.

How did we let it come to this? To some extent, society is reaping what it     7     by permitting so many novel chemicals to be released without a proper system to test their safety first. That has to change, and not just for PFAS. Time and again we find, too late, that industrial chemicals are harmful—as now seems the case with those in some climbing shoes—while     8     the firms that make them to carry on business as usual. There is nothing illegal in that. Nevertheless, the PFAS industry has been extremely     9    . There is good evidence that some producers have known for decades that the chemicals could cause harm, but actively confuse that knowledge. As the science of PFAS advances, there is     10     that they can be replaced, as well as rounded up (聚集) from the environment and destroyed.

7 . Directions: Complete the following paragraphs by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. peaked          B. faintest          C. factor          D. accumulating        E. masked F. expands          G. lighten          H. tricky          I. phenomena            J. unimaginable K. emitted

Astronomers measure total starlight

All the light from all the stars that have ever existed. It is a quantity of     1     magnitude (数值), but now astronomers have put a number on it.

From the earliest,     2     stars, to the largest galaxies, an international team has managed to measure the total amount of starlight     3     over the entire 13.7bn-year history of the universe.

The astronomers based their calculation on measurements of the extragalactic background light (EBL), a cosmic fog of radiation that has been     4     since stars first illuminated (照亮) the dark, vast expanse of space. More than 90% of starlight ends up surviving in this dim backdrop of radiation. Since it was     5     by the light from nearby stars, though, the EBL has proved     6     to investigate.

The latest observations, collected over nine years by Nasa’s Fermi space telescope, use the light from blazars—super—massive black holes that emit powerful jets of gamma rays—as beacons (信号灯) to     7     the cosmic fog. They are so bright they can shine across almost the whole observable universe.

One added complication was that, while starlight is accumulating over time, the cosmic fog is simultaneously being diluted as the universe     8     and space itself is stretched out. Overall, the fog is still getting denser. This, and other complex     9     were factored in using a computer model.

The measurements suggest that star formation     10     about 11bn years ago and has been on the decline ever since. About seven new stars are created in our Milky Way galaxy every year.

8 . Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. advances B. combed C. net D. heads E. automation F. modest G. comprehensive H. thinned I. prior J. underlie K. unearth

Does technology replace more jobs than it creates? What is the     1     balance between these two things? Until now, that has not been measured. But a new research project led by MIT economist David Autor has developed an answer, at least for U.S. history since 1940. The study uses new methods to examine how many jobs have been lost to machine     2    , and how many have been generated through “augmentation (增强),” in which technology creates new tasks. Overall, the study finds, and particularly since 1980, technology has replaced more U.S. jobs than it has generated.

“There does appear to be a faster rate of automation, and a slower rate of augmentation, in the last four decades. from 1980 to the present, than in the four decades     3    .” says Autor. However, that finding is only one of the study’s     4    . The researchers have also developed an entirely new method for studying the issue, based on an analysis of thousands of U.S. census job categories in relation to a(n)     5     look at the text of U. S. patents over the last century. That has allowed them, for the first time, to quantify the effects of technology over both job loss and job creation.

The study finds that overall, about 60 percent of jobs in the U.S. represent new types of work, which have been created since 1940. To determine this, Autor and his colleagues     6     through about 35,000 job categories, tracking how they emerge over time. They also used natural language processing tools to analyze the text of every U.S. patent filed since 1920. The research examined how words were “embedded” in the census and patent documents to     7     related passages of text. That allowed them to determine links between new technologies and their effects on employment.

From about 1940 through 1980, for instance, jobs like elevator operator and typesetter tended to get automated. But at the same time, more workers filled roles such as shipping and receiving clerks, buyers and department     8    , and civil and space engineers. From 1980 through 2018, the ranks of cabinetmakers and machinists, among others, have been     9     by automation, while industrial engineers, and operations and systems researchers and analysts, have enjoyed growth.

Ultimately, the research suggests that the negative effects of automation on employment were more than twice as great in the 1980-2018 period as in the 1940-1980 period. There was a more     10    , and positive, change in the effect of augmentation on employment in 1980-2018, as compared to 1940-1980.

9 . Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. alternative       B. astonishing             C. computerized       D. contribution             E. developing F. rate             G. modified             H. perfect          I. reject          J. relevance          K. sufficient

Using animals to test drugs intended for humans is controversial, with critics arguing there are other ways to ensure new medicines are safe and effective. But the scientists who carry out the research say animal studies remain necessary. Statistics indicate that in the UK around three million mice are being used for research and tens of millions worldwide.

Despite the difference in appearances, the genetic similarities with humans are     1    . The mouse genome (基因组) shares over 95% of its genes with humans. The animal acts as a “model”, genetically     2     to develop a human disease. But the use of mice, like any animal, in research is criticized by some.

Animal Defenders International (ADI) is one of the groups that campaigns for an end to the use of animals in research. “We would argue that it is extremely outdated, and not very good science for humans,” says Fleur Dawes of ADI. Ms. Dawes believes the suffering that the animals go through does not legalize their     3     to science and medicine for humans.” There is a big problem with that because there are huge differences between the species. And even though there are similarities with humans and mice, they react very differently to each other when experimented on. So what works in one animal is not an indication that that is how things work in other animals.”

However, Dr. Wells from Mary Lyon Centre (MLC) says they are constantly trying to     4     the process to reduce the suffering of mice.” If it’s a procedure where you can anaesthetize (麻醉) the mice, then you do it to reduce their stress. And if there is a (n)     5     method that doesn’t involve mice, you are not legally and normally allowed to do the procedure.”

If we     6     animal research, are there alternatives? Dr. Wells says, “There is a massive field     7     on alternatives, and we are very supportive of that field and we always keep track of what is going on in that field, because maybe we can replace one of our models. “Those alternatives include chips on human organs to study their function, micro-dosing treatments in humans and     8     models.” Lots of people say that there is a computer now to model what is going to happen in diseases,” Dr. Wells adds, “But we still don’t know enough to program those computers with     9     knowledge to be able to model what’s happening in every disease.”

Fleur Dawes agrees one alternative is not enough. But she says, “By combining the different alternatives, you can actually get a much better picture that is of much better     10     to humans.”

10 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. adaptable B. capacity C. complicated D. decline E. demand F. evaluating G. highlighted H. impacts I. occurs J. pursuing K. survive

Economics survive by continually responding to the world around them. This means employing new technologies or exploiting new international markets when     1     growth. Today, these global shifts — dramatic shocks to economies — occur more frequently, are more     2     and, in knowledge-based economies are more dependent on talent than ever. In countries where a workforce lacks the skills that are suddenly in     3    , we see a skills gap emerge. This leads to higher unemployment rates while vacancies increase and productivity and growth decline.

So how can economies     4    ? By adapting. However, unlike the macro-strategies of the last century, people — not just policy — must drive today’s adaptability. Employers and policymakers have long     5     the importance of a flexible workforce, but until now it has been difficult to isolate the human element — the willingness and ability of employees to seek out and find opportunities across multiple employers, locations and industries. Our new ability to measure it and analyse talent adaptability — and to start to understand what drives it — are crucial steps forward.

The     6     of a market to match supply and demand efficiently depends on the ability and willingness of employers and employees to adapt to changing circumstances and align (使一致) skills with available opportunities. If this alignment is less than perfect, a mismatch     7     and optimum productivity can’t be reached.

Adapt to Survive for the first time brings together the two most comprehensive sources of talent data in the world: the real-time behaviours drawn from LinkedIn’s 277 million members and employer information from PwC’s Saratoga database of people and performance metrics (指标) which covers more than 2,600 employers across the globe. This report sets a new benchmark for     8     a country’s ability to match talent with opportunity and the movement of people between industries — the Talent Adaptability Score. This score is given to 11 countries. For each country, we evaluate how the Score     9     economic performance. Our recommendations are organised around four groups:

● Individuals — Prove your adaptability.

● Employers — Seek out, nurture and reward talents who can adapt.

● Educators — Offer courses and job training that produce     10     people.

● Governments — Create a climate of adaptability.