1 . 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. identically     B. beaten     C. lanes     D. curiously     E. changing     F. hit     G. cold     H. sample     I. rising     J. differently     K. friction

To see the country, road trips are the only way to go

I am not an enthusiastic air traveler. Bustling through airports, getting checked by security, and standing in lines leave me     1    . But road trips are different. While the transit time is longer, opportunities to get off the     2     path make it worthwhile. I see places and interact with people and cultures that I otherwise tend to miss, rediscovering how far you can go and how much you can experience without leaving the United States. So, when my son said he wanted to tour the Kansas State University campus after receiving an admission offer, we threw our luggage and a case of bottled water in the car and     3     the highway. One attraction of traveling at the speed of a car is the transitions. Arizona’s Meteor Crater, Two Guns, and Painted Desert give way to New Mexican villages, then farm towns. Red rocks become open plains where grain elevators are the only features     4     above endless miles of flatness.

That flatness poses an unexpected challenge when there’s nothing to step behind. Eating on the road can also be a challenge. For basic sustenance, Anthony and I relied on Subway sandwich shops, which offer the same reliable fare at every location. While not exactly a     5     of local cuisine, they didn’t leave us regretting lunch when we returned to clocking miles. Salads were     6     difficult to come by in the college town of Manhattan, Kansas, although we had no complaints about the burgers and barbecue.   

In contrast to airport excursions, which often feature     7     and even confrontations, our trip was entirely pleasant. When you meet folks in their natural environment after hours of     8     scenery, it’s easier to remember just how big the world is and to appreciate that many of its inhabitants are perfectly happy living     9    , and there’s no reason they shouldn’t be.

As it turned out, the greatest source of stress was the frequent reminder that my son changes     10     like he’s afraid of missing a sharp turn. Fortunately, that’s a travel headache that can be fixed.

2 . 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. noble     B. might     C. distinct     D. splendour     E. significantly     F. integrated        G. predominantly     H. shaped     I. integral     J. generating     K. underlying

Welcoming the Year of the Dragon or the Loong?

As communities worldwide, both within and outside China, participate in diverse festivities to welcome the Year of the Dragon, the mythical creature has become the subject of debate. Some call it a dragon, while others prefer the term “loong”,     1     a discussion about the most accurate translation of this symbol of traditional Chinese culture.

Do dragon and loong convey the same meaning, or do they represent different creatures with     2     connotations? In Western culture,     3     by Greek mythology, the dragon is frequently portrayed as the guardian of treasure, embodying a symbol of greed and destruction. In China, however, the dragon is very positive. It’s an animal that helps humanity and that is     4    , with emperors often referring to themselves as the “true dragon sons of heaven”.

In the Chinese language, more than 100 idioms incorporate the word “dragon”,     5     conveying positive connotations such as excellence, prestige, royalty,     6     and good luck. The term “dragon” remains a pervasive and     7    element in everyday conversations. When people express admiration for a son-in-law, they often refer to him as “a swift son-in-law who rides the dragon”. During weddings, the groom is usually referred to as the dragon and the bride the phoenix.

Why has the loong been translated into English as dragon? In the early 19^th century, British missionary Robert Morrison compiled the first Chinese-English, English-Chinese dictionary in history, in which he translated the Chinese loong as dragon. The impact of this dictionary was profound, leading to the widespread adoption of the term dragon in the West. Language     8     influences human minds, and as a result, Westerners perceive it intriguing that the Chinese associate themselves with the concept of dragons. In their culture, dragons are symbols of malevolence, contributing to a cultural distortion and misinterpretation.

With China becoming more     9     into the global community and the world becoming more familiar with the Chinese zodiac sign, has the time come to translate the Chinese dragon to loong? The issue of translation may seem trivial. What matters more is conveying the true essence of the zodiac dragon. The Chinese people place great importance on welcoming people globally to immerse themselves in the Year of the Dragon’s celebratory spirit and share in the Spring Festival’s joy, warmth and     10    .

3 . 选词填空

place   ride   however   with   after   deal   bravely   better   feel   remind   different

Located in one of Beijing’s most active art communities, the Loneliness (孤独) Museum is always very crowded.     1    , everyone who visits the museum says that they are lonely. Divided into 13 parts including an office at night, the last subway and a hospital, the museum displays (展出) over 1000 lonely stories from     2     people. There are many notes with words of encouragement and ways     3     with solitude (孤独) on the walls and the stairs. They may feel     4     after seeing them. One of the museum’s owners Fang Fang says that people who come to work in big cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou may     5     lonely every now and then. So she wants to provide a     6     for them to relax. It     7     them that even though life is hard, there are lots of people like them. They are not alone.

    8     the development of technology, it is easier for people to get in touch with old friends and make new friends. However, young people are likely to feel lonely.

People may get used to loneliness as they get older     9     they experience important life events and life changes.

Luckily, our society is more tolerant (宽容的) towards this kind of young group, often encouraging them to face this crazy changing world     10    . In a room of the museum, with three bicycles, strangers can     11     together to light up the lights on the wall, which forms a sentence- “Loneliness comes together with love”.

4 . 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.

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. initially          B. formed          C. societies        D. map     AB. officially AC. constructed     AD. potentially   BC. investigate BD. perspective   CD. boundaries ABC.   consideration

Construction of the world’s largest radio astronomy observatory, the Square Kilometre Array, has    1    begun in Australia after three decades in development.

A huge intergovernmental effort, the SKA has been hailed as one of the biggest scientific projects of this century. It will enable scientists to look back to early in the history of the universe when the first stars and galaxies were     2    .

It will also be used to     3    dark energy and why the universe is expanding, and to       4    search for extraterrestrial life.

The SKA will       5     involve two telescope arrays — one on Wajarri country in remote Western Australia, called SKA-Low, comprising 131,072 tree-like antennas. SKA-Low is so named for its sensitivity to low-frequency radio signals. It will be eight times as sensitive than existing comparable telescopes and will     6    the sky 135 times faster.

A second array of 197 traditional dishes, SKA-Mid, will be built in South Africa’s Karoo region.

Dr Sarah Pearce, SKA-Low’s director, said the observatory would define “the next fifty years for radio astronomy, charting the birth and death of galaxies, searching for new types of gravitational waves and expanding the    7    of what we know about the universe”.

She added: “The SKA telescopes will be sensitive enough to detect an airport radar on a planet circling a star tens of light years away, so may even answer the biggest question of all: are we alone in the universe?”

The SKA has been described by scientists as a gamechanger and a major milestone in astronomy research.

“To put the sensitivity of the SKA into     8    , it could detect a mobile phone in the pocket of an astronaut on Mars, 225m kilometres away,” said Dr Danny Price, a senior postdoctoral fellow at the Curtin Institute of Radio Astronomy. “More excitingly, if there are intelligent     9     on nearby stars with technology similar to ours, the SKA could detect the aggregate ‘leakage’ radiation from their radio and telecommunication networks — the first telescope sensitive enough to achieve this feat.”

Prof Alan Duffy, director of the space technology and industry institute at the Swinburne University of Technology, said the SKA would probably be the largest telescope     10    , “connecting across continents to create a world-spanning facility allowing us to see essentially across the entire observable universe”.

6 . 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. selected        B. distinctive     C. signature       D. odds     AB. domestication       AC. decided AD. individuals   BC. tamest     BD. conflicted     CD. mixed     ABC. develop

If you see a house cat, the    1    are high that it will have white paws, a look that many owners affectionately call“socks.” But socks are rarely seen in wildcats, the elusive and undomesticated cousin of the house cat, so why do so many pet cats sport furry white feet?

As it turns out, this story started about 10,000 years ago, when humans and cats     2       life was better together.

This    3    eventually led to uber-prevalent socks on cats, as well as other well-known coat patterns, said Leslie Lyons, professor emerita and head of the Feline Genetics Laboratory at the University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine.

“As humans became farmers and started staying in one place, they had grain stores and waste piles” that attracted rodents, Lyons said. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement: the humans had fewer rodents to deal with and the cats got an easy meal.

The wild, undomesticated ancestor species of house cats, Felis silvestris, lives in Africa and Eurasia. These felines are tasty snacks as kittens and stealthy predators as adults, so     4     born with a coat that offers camouflage (保护色) have tended to survive and reproduce.

But not every F. silvestiis is born with a coat that blends into its habitat.

“Genetic mutations are occurring all the time.” Lyons said.

There isn’t much evidence to indicate why early cat people chose the individuals they did, but Lyons said the range of coats seen on modern domestic cats shows that our agrarian ancestors favored cats with markings that would have     5    with their camouflage.

In its native mixed forest or scrub desert environment, a cat with stark white paws would have stood out to predators and prey.

When humans started taking an interest in cats, these white paws would have stood out to them, too. “There were probably people saying, ‘I particularly like that kitten because it has white feet . Let’s make sure it survives’”, Lyons said.

Humans probably also    6    cats who were calm and comfortable around humans, Lyons said. Behavioral traits seem unrelated to coat color, but for reasons that scientists don’t fully understand, white spots tend to appear when the     7    individuals are selected and bred.

These    8    fur colors and markings emerge while a cat embryo is developing. The cells that give cat fur its color first appear as neural crest cells, which are located along what will become the back, Lyons said.

Then, those cells slowly migrate down and around the body. If those waves of cells move far enough to meet each other on the cat’s front side, the embryo will be born a solid-colored kitten, such as an all-black or all-orange cat. Felines     9    white feet, faces, chests and bellies when these cells don’t quite make it all the way.

So, the next time you see a kitty wearing white socks, you’ll know that this     10     feature is a result of genetic mutations, domestication and developmental biology. Although if you try telling the cat that, it will probably just look at you quizzically before sauntering away.

7 . 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. mystery       B. obviously       C. experience       D. former       E. fact       F. critically G. celebrity       H. aged       I. previous       J. present       K. object

In the Journal of Social Psychology, two U. S. researchers published the first serious study of a question that seems to be troubling millions. Almost every     1     from Bill Gates to Kesha, is required to have an answer: What advice would you give to your younger self?

Robin Kowalski and Annie McCord asked more than 400 participants, all     2     over 30. They got some entertaining replies like “Don’t marry her”. But we’re little closer to making clear the     3     that has always bothered me: What, precisely, do people take themselves to be doing when they ask themselves this question?

Pretty     4    , it rests on a paradox(悖论). You only acquired the wisdom on which your advice is based by making the mistakes you’re now advising your     5     self to avoid. For example, many respondents gave some answers “Stop being so afraid” - of failure, of other people’s judgements, of life. Excellent advice, but you’ll never feel its force until you’ve first acted afraid and seen where that got you.     6    , as the saying goes, is a harsh teacher. It makes you sit the test first and only gives you the lesson afterwards.

Of course, if “advising your younger self” were just a happiness - boosting technique to remind you of what you’ve learned in life, nobody could     7    . However, browsing the replies to the study, what you sense, far more frequently, is regret. People truly wish they had not married so young, chosen a career to please their parents, or spent the money instead of saving it. And this only brings into focus on the     8     that regret is a basically self-contradictory(自相矛盾的)emotion. You’re feeling it because you’ve grown into the kind of person who can look back     9     on what you did in the past. This means that, judged by your     10     values, you’ve emerged from your life experience better than before. Therefore you ought to be happy rather than regretful.

The important thing isn’t what you might have done differently in the past, if you had been someone that you couldn’t have been back then. It’s what you’d do now. For many people, I know, this can be a huge challenge. But unlike changing the past, it has the great advantage of not being impossible.

8 . 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.

9 . 短文填空。从下面方框中选出10个单词，将其正确形式填入短文，使短文意思正确通顺（每词限用一次）。

When naming a child, the culture is not the same in different places.

In many European countries, children are named after the names of relatives within their families. For example, in Italy, children are     1    named after their grandparents. Naturally, the parents     2    use the father’s family names, then they will use the mother’s family names,     3    in big family.

In China, some names are connected with the     4    of the date and the time of the children. It is thought that a name can     5    a child. If a boy is given the first name “坤”, maybe, he is short of earth according to his birth. The Chinese character “坤” is made up of two parts. The     6    part means earth in English. Parents believe that the boy with a name of earth will not be short of earth any longer in his life.

In an African country called Ghana’s Akan, the time when they were born     7    his or her name. But there are some     8    between boys and girls. For example, a boy born on Friday is named Kofi,     9    a girl born on the same day is named Afua.

No matter where the name comes from, a name is the first gift to a child in life. For that reason, all names are     10    .

10 . 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. double          B. intense          C. pressures       D. stock          E. agriculture       F. trapped G. withdrawal     H. availability   I. drive             J. expanding     K. rising

Throughout history, people have fought bitter wars over political ideology, national sovereignty and religious expression. How much more     1     will these conflicts be when people fight over the Earth’s most indispensable resource water? We may find out in the not-too-distant future if projections about the     2     of water in the Middle East and other regions prove correct.

Less than three percent of the planet’s     3     is fresh water, and almost two-thirds of this amount is     4     in ice caps, glaciers, and underground aquifers too deep or too remote to access. In her book, Pillars of Sand-Can the Irrigation Miracle Last, Sandra Postel outlines three forces that     5     tension and conflict over freshwater. Using up the water “resource pie”. In India, the world’s second-most populous nation, with over 1 billion inhabitants, the rate of groundwater     6     is twice that of recharge, a deficit higher than in any other country. Although water is a renewable resource, it is not a(n)     7     one. The freshwater available today for more than 6 billion people is no greater than it was 2,000 years ago, when global population was approximately 200 million. (The current U.S. population is 287 million.)

Global     8     accounts for about 70% of all freshwater use. In five of the world’s most water-stressed, controversial areas the Aral Sea region, the Ganges, the Jordan, the Nileland and Tigris-Euphrates population increases of up to 75% are projected by 2025. With the fastest rate of growth in the world, the population of Palestinian territory will more than     9     over the next generation. Most experts agree that, because of geography, population     10     and politics, water wars are most likely to break out in the Middle East, a region where the amount of available freshwater per capita will decrease by about 50% over the next generation.