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. present        B. features        C. concerned        D. reportedly        E. commercial             F. stretches       G. overwhelming H. exceptionally        I. routinely        J. spared             K. broadcasts

Modern media is awash in advertising clutter(杂乱), and who’s to blame? Modern audiences that hate conventional full-length and full-size ads.

Today’s consumers don’t like to pay for content, which ought to create a rich environment for advertisers. Yet these same consumers are prone to click or turn away when a conventional ad appears. The result is ad clutter.

YouTube     1    a combination of full-length ads, skippable ads, lower-screen banners and display ads on the page alongside each video. Newspapers that once considered the front page important now     2    run ads there.

Advertisers integrate plugs(推销) into content to frustrate digital video recorders, which allow viewers to watch programs on a delay and skip regular commercials. If you watch regional telecasts of baseball games, the commercial clutter is so     3    . Ads are visible on the stadium wall behind the home-plate umpire(裁判). On-screen graphics include sponsor logos. And everything is a paid plug--“This call to the coach’s zone is brought to you by Verizon.”

According to the showbiz paper Variety, several streaming services are about to introduce a new twist: commercials that start running whenever a viewer pauses a program. Hulu intends to launch such ads this year. AT&T’s DirecTV and U-verse units will     4    use similar technology to trigger full-motion commercials whenever a viewer tries to take a break.

There’s a lot at stake. According to Variety, National Football League(NFL) TV broadcasts generate an estimated $4.35 billion in ad revenue during the 17-week regular season. NFL     5    are now loaded with mini commercials that pop up when there is a brief pause in the action, often in “double boxes” that show a view of the field in one frame and a(n)    6    in the other.

Interestingly, with no “screen” to work with, radio is one medium that has tried for some time to buck the trend. Many commercial stations trade clutter for clusters--that is, a solid block of commercials running five minutes or more, followed by lengthy commercial-free     7    of time.

But wherever a screen is involved, or a printed page, ad clutter is     8    everywhere. Programmers and advertisers can’t really be expected to limit this; it’s a fact of business. Consumers, on the other hand, can opt for commercial-free content--if they’re willing to pay for it.

But getting limitless content without paying while also being     9    heavy advertising intrusions is impossible. As media environment is permanently cluttered, audiences should be     10    with what they wish for.

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

A. steadily B. predicts C. biology D. temporary E. dramatic F. recovers G. permanent H. grounded I. expansion J. formed K. kindly

Teens Are Still Developing Empathy Skills

The teen years are often full of door-slamming, eye-rolling and seeming insensitivity, even by kids who behaved     1     before. Some parents worry that they are doing something wrong or that their children will never think of anyone but themselves. A six-year study published in Developmental Psychology shows that     2     is partly to blame.

In adolescence, critical social skills that are needed for one to feel concern for other people and to understand how they think are undergoing major changes. Adolescence has long been known as prime time for developing cognitive skills for self-regulation and executive function.

“Cognitive empathy,” or the mental ability to take others’ perspective, begins to rise     3     in girls at the age of 13, according to the study co-authored by Jolien van der Graaff at Utrecht University in the Netherlands. By comparison, boys do not begin until the age of 15 to show increases in perspective-taking, which helps in problem-solving and avoiding conflict.

Adolescent boys actually show a     4     decline, between the ages of 13 and 16, in a related skill—“affective empathy,” or the ability to recognize and respond to others’ feelings. This may be the result, at least in part, of a     5     rise in the primary male sex hormone, during adolescence, which sparks a desire for dominance and power. Fortunately, the boys’ sensitivity     6     in their late teens. Girls’ affective empathy remains relatively high and stable throughout adolescence.

This doesn’t mean, however, that we can do nothing but just wait for teenagers to develop a feeling of empathy. In fact, parents can help instill(灌输) affective empathy into their children. Affective empathy is     7     in marginal region of the brain, which regulates emotions. This capacity begins to develop in infancy. Children learn to practice empathy by watching their parents and by experiencing it themselves—being well treated by adults who sensitively respond to their emotions. While cognitive empathy arises from a different part of the brain, the two abilities are linked. Children’s affective empathy     8     their level of cognitive empathy as teens.

The findings reflect a major     9     in researchers’ understanding of cognitive growth during adolescence. They used to believe that both forms of empathy were fully     10     in childhood. Now, it is clear that “the brain regions that support social cognition, which helps us successfully understand and interact with others, continue to change dramatically” in our teens, says Jennifer Pfeifer at the University of Oregon. Research in her lab also suggests that cognitive empathy rises in teens. The discoveries serve as a new lens for exploring such teen behavior as bullying and drug abuse.

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

A. characteristic B.blame C. slave D. accepting E. oriented F. remaining G. properly H. behaviors I. surprise J. resist K. consistently

An American researcher who studied 600 millionaires found how rich you can get comes down to 6 “wealth factors“. She found that six behaviors are related to net worth potential, regardless of age or income. These were thriftiness, confidence, responsibility, planning, focus and social indifference.

Being thrifty comes as no great    1    .“Spending above your means, spending instead of saving for retirement, spending in anticipation of becoming wealthy makes you a    2     to the paycheck, even with an astronomical level of income,”she wrote. To properly build wealth, experts recommend saving 20% your income and living off the    3     80%.

Having confidence is another key    4    , as it helps people to be thrifty. It takes confidence to live within your means. It also takes confidence to invest    5    . Instead of making investing decisions with your emotions, financial planners advise that you should leave your investments alone and focus on a long-term investment plan.

But people can’t invest--or manage their own money--without    6     responsibility for the outcomes. Many millionaires take on personal responsibility--and most also happen to be self-made, meaning they didn’t acquire their wealth through luck. Millionaires don’t count on anyone else to make them rich, and they don’t    7     anyone else if they fall short. They focus on things they can control and align their daily habits to the goals they have set for themselves. They tend to be goal-    8     and hard workers, which enables them to plan financially and focus on seeing those plans through. 92% of the millionaires surveyed developed a long-term plan for their money, and 97% almost always achieved the goals they set for themselves.

And it is these    9     that make it easy for them to be socially indifferent. They    10     lifestyle creep, the tendency to spend more whenever one earns more. Essentially, they don’t yield to pressure to buy the latest thing or to keep up with others or what they have acquired. Instead of being focused on what might make them happy today, they’re focused on their long-term wealth-building plan.

4 . Direction: 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. addressing       B. adoption       C. attend       D. budgeting       E. cautions F. correspond       G. extended       H. hesitancy       I. packages       J. regardless K. rigid

Top work-life balance benefits for 2023

“Flexibility is the gold standard of work-life balance benefits,” says Jonathan Pas, health care leader at consulting firm Mercer.

It’s no surprise then that two years after the pandemic forced most office workers to perform their jobs remotely. 78% of employers say they’ll allow employees to continue doing so regularly in 2023, according to a Mercer survey. But there’s still some     1    : only 9% say they will allow employees to work remotely daily.

    2    , flexibility around when employees work is just as important as where. In the survey, 66% of employers said they would offer flexible work schedules over the course of a typical work day, such as specific times during the week to     3     to personal matters and four-day work weeks. Employees no longer want to organize their personal life around a(n)     4     work schedule but instead want the two interwoven, so they can decide what to prioritize and when.

Pas     5     against making hollow promises about a company’s commitment to work-life balance. “If employees feel a disconnection between programs that are rolled out and what senior leaders really expect, credibility is questioned, and the goodwill created through the program is denied.” He cites paid time off to volunteer, which almost half (45%) of companies say they will add to their benefits     6     next year.

Other benefits requiring a broader organizational buy-in are sabbaticals(公休假) and unlimited vacation days. Both benefits encourage employees to pursue interests outside of work with     7     periods off. Still, if they feel a dishonour associated with taking advantage of them, they’ll be hesitant to do so. The relatively low     8     rates for 2023, though—only 12% for sabbaticals and 15% for unlimited vacation—indicate that employers are still against paying employees not to work.

Instead, they prefer to find new ways to give employees more money, with the rise of employer-funded lifestyle accounts, which are often reserved for big-ticket items that might otherwise require some     9    . Nevertheless, only 12% of employers said they would add lifestyle accounts in 2023, and 70% said they are considering them, which could indicate a trend on the horizon.

But perhaps the most telling statistic about the importance of     10     work-life balance is the number of companies that said they don’t plan to offer any additional benefits to support work-life balance: a mere 5%.

5 . Directions: Complete the following passages 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．award             B．house             C．hit                    D．namely             E．specifically             F．grabbed G．traded             H．gang                    I．bar                    J．principled             K．transmission

American authorities arrested Masphal Kry, an official in Cambodia’s forestry administration, last November when he was heading to an international meeting about trade regulations for endangered species in Panama. Prosecutors accused him of conspiring with a smuggling ring. The contraband (违禁品): monkeys,     1     long-tailed macaques. His     2     allegedly grabbed wild macaques in Cambodia’s national parks and bribed officials to label them as captive-bred. Fake papers allowed Vanny Bio Research, a Cambodian pharma company, to ship these unfortunate primates (灵长类动物) to America for use in research. Mr Kry is facing trial in Florida’s Southern District Court. The federal government funds seven National Primate Research Centres (NPRCs), which     3     in total around 20,000 primates, not only macaques but also baboons and marmosets. These centres then     4     primates to labs across America. NPRCs have fulfilled only a third of requests for untested-on macaques in 2021 and prices have soared. Before the covid-19 pandemic a rhesus macaque cost $8,000; by 2022 they had     5     $24,000. Another species, long-tail macaques, is probably per pound currently the most expensive     6     wildlife, says Lisa Jones-Engel, a science adviser at PETA, an animal-rights group.

Getting lab monkeys from abroad became harder during the pandemic. Chinese authorities banned the export of all primates in early 2020. The Chinese government wanted to     7     the country’s wildlife trade, which is thought to encourage the     8     of pathogens—like sars-cov-2—from animals to humans.

That forced American companies to rely on less     9     South-East Asian suppliers. Many scientists believe poaching is prevalent across Cambodia. In February, the Department of Justice subpoenaed Charles River over 1,000 juvenile macaques the pharmaceutical company had bought from Cambodia; the DoJ suspected they were     10     in the wild then exported. These primates are now in Texas and Maryland but also in dilemma: they cannot be tested on, nor can they be flown back to Cambodia.

6 . 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. hints       B. dominant       C. oriented       D. duly E. rhyme       F. featuring       G. preservation       H. inheritance I. symbolizes       J. historically       K. morality

Huizhou heritage comes to life

It was a natural choice for veteran Huang Yu, after serving in the army and owning a business in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, for years, to go back to his hometown in Xidi village, Huangshan, Anhui province, in 2016. He took over the homestay his parents opened when he was a middle school student.

In 2000, Xidi and the nearby Hongcun village were declared World Heritage sites by UNESCO for their outstanding     1     of rural architecture dating to the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasties. Now, walking along the bluestone streets in Xidi or Hongcun, visitors can appreciate the distinctive Huizhou-style houses,     2     white walls, dark tiles and layered horse-head gables, and feel like they are immersed in a traditional Chinese ink painting.

This level of preservation could not be achieved without the participation of local residents. According to Huang, this awareness is not new - since all streets and alleys in Xidi are paved with bluestone,     3    , street dealers carrying wares on shoulder poles were forbidden from letting their poles touch the ground in order to protect the bluestone.

A local folk     4     says: “One is not lucky to be born in Huizhou. At 13 or 14 he is kicked out of his hometown to make a living.” It     5     at the struggles once endured by the people of Huizhou. Toward the end of the Ming Dynasty, a group of Huizhou merchants became famous, trading in salt, wood and tea, and working as pawnbrokers (当铺老板) with a reputation for     6     and honesty.

“Some folk customs have been retained and newly     7     toward tourism, offering glimpses into the lives of the ancient Huizhou people.”These customs are revived as a demonstration for tourists, and to maintain the     8     of traditional culture. Zhang Wangnan, director of the China Huizhou Culture Museum in Huangshan says “This     9     the combination of intangible with tangible cultural heritage.”

He further suggests that the old Huizhou villages explore and find their own unique, marketable themes. “Each of them should find a     10    local feature, whether it is tea, chrysanthemum or rapeseed flowers, and then make it the theme of the village, so that they can give full play to their distinctive cultural charm.”

7 . 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. academic B. previously C. submit D. assessed E. classifier F. controversy G. subscribed H. detect I. typically J. access   K. labelled

OpenAI releases “not fully reliable” tool to detect AI generated content

ChatGPT has been creating waves across the internet with its writing ability and responses to requests. The use of ChatGPT has been full of     1     . There have been concerns that students can use this tool to     2     AI-generated work and claim it as their own.

OpenAI, the research laboratory behind ChatGPT, has released a tool designed to     3     whether text has been written by artificial intelligence, but warns it’s not completely reliable – yet. In a blog post on Tuesday, OpenAI linked to a new     4     tool that has been trained to distinguish between text written by a human and that written by a variety of AI, not just ChatGPT.

The tool could be useful in cases where AI was used for “    5     dishonesty” and when AI chatbots were positioned as humans, they said. But they admitted the tool “is not fully reliable” and only correctly identified 26% of AI-written English texts. It also incorrectly     6     human-written texts as probably written by AI tools 9% of the time.

“Our classifier’s reliability     7     improves as the length of the input text increases. Compared to our     8     released classifier, this new classifier is significantly more reliable on text from more recent AI systems.”

Since ChatGPT was opened up to public    9    , it has given rise to a wave of concern among educational institutions across the world that it could lead to cheating in exams or assessments. Lecturers in the UK are being urged to review the way in which their courses were     10    , while some universities have banned the technology entirely and returned to pen-and-paper exams to stop students using AI.

8 . Directions: Complete the following passages 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. celebrate       B. overlooked       C. circumstances       D. cast       E. incredibly F. factors       G. unspoken        H. swim       I. strongly       J. normal       K. assume

Self-Silencing Is Making Women Sick

In the late 1980s, Harvard-trained psychologist Dana Jack identified a recurring theme among female patients suffering from depression: a tendency to self-silence, defined as “the tendency to engage in uncontrollable caretaking, pleasing the other, and restriction of self-expression in relationships in an attempt to achieve intimacy and meet relational needs.” He found that this learned behavior,     1     rooted in gender norms, was linked to an increased risk of depression.

Since then, considerable evidence has revealed that female self-silencing isn’t just tied to psychological issues like depression and eating disorders, but also to physical illness. Most worryingly, it has also been linked to higher risk of premature death. This was true even when     2     such as age, blood pressure, and smoking were taken into account.

When women push their feelings down and     3     their needs aside, their health suffers. But it can be difficult for women to do otherwise in cultures that     4     these self-silencing practices. Moms are praised for being painstakingly selfless to the point of self-sacrifice. These     5     standards establish a vicious (恶性的) cycle. For many women, it feels easier—beneficial, even—to silence their needs at the expense of their own health, rather than     6     against the prevailing cultural current.

In his best-selling book, The Myth of Normal, physician and author Gabor Mate writes that many of our society’s most “normalized ways of being” are, in fact,     7     toxic. “That ‘not listening to self’ in order to prioritize others’ needs is a significant source of the health-impairing roles women     8    ,” Mate explains. “It is among the medically     9     but extremely harmful ways in which our society’s ‘normal’ imposes a major health cost on women.”

To reshape the virtues of womanhood, a new “    10    ” needs to emerge—one in which we honor our emotions, prioritize our needs, and actively communicate our boundaries. Such a shift requires change on both the individual and societal level, and will by no means be easy. But it’s certainly worth it—after all, women’s lives depend on it.

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

A. maximize             B. subsequent             C. potential             D. personalize             E. misrepresented F. limited            G. marketing            H. predictive            I. commercial            J. speed          K. absence

No child or young athlete should be subjected to genetic testing to find sporting talent or improve performance, conclude the experts in a statement published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

The scientific evidence on the effectiveness of these     1     tests is simply far too weak to back their use, says the experts in the fields of genomics, exercise, sports performance, etc. While the science of genomics has advanced rapidly over the past decade, the ability to interpret the meaning of genetic test results is still at a relatively early stage.

But that has not stopped the growth of the “direct to consumer” genetic tests, which claim to be able to spot children’s athletic talents or tailor training to     2     performance. This fast - growing market has caused fears that the still limited level of knowledge on the genetics of sports performance is being     3     for commercial gain.

To inform the statement, the panel looked at the availability of DIY genetic tests. It found 39 companies     4     tests associated with sport or exercise performance or injury - almost twice as many as in 2018.

The claims included: “    5     your training based on your sports genetics,” “Give parents and coaches early information on their child’s genetic     6     for success for sports,” and “We use your DNA results to help you lose fat, build muscle, get fitter.”

But the     7     of any good scientific data to guide selection of which variants to test weakens the value of multiple testing. Besides, while there is some evidence to suggest a link with enhanced physical performance, it is very weak, making the     8     value of these tests “actually zero,” says the statement.

The statement emphasizes the     9     of change in gene sequencing technology has got much faster than regulation. And it points out the importance of counselling before any genetic test is taken.

“While further evidence will undoubtedly emerge around the genetics of sport performance in the future, the data are currently very     10    . Therefore, in this stage of limited knowledge, no child or young athlete should be exposed to genetic testing to define or alter training or for talent identification aimed at selecting gifted children or adolescents,” it concludes.