1 . Gone are the days when a mother’s place was in the home: in Britain women with children are now as likely to be in paid work as their unburdened sisters. Many put their little darlings in day care long before they start school. Mindful that a poor start can spoil a person’s chances of success later in life, the state has intervened ever more closely in how babies and toddlers are looked after. Inspectors call not only at nurseries but also at homes where youngsters are minded; three-year-olds follow the national curriculum. Child care has increasingly become a profession.

For years after the government first began in 2001 to twist the arms of anyone who looked after an unrelated child to register with the schools, the numbers so doing fell. Kind but clueless neighbours stopped looking after little ones, who were instead herded into formal nurseries or handed over to one of the ever-fewer registered child-minders. The decline in the number of people taking in children now appears to have halted. According to data released by the Office for Standards in Education on October 27th, the number of registered child-minders reached its lowest point in September 2010 and has since recovered slightly.

The new lot are certainly better qualified. In 2010 fully 82% of nursery workers held diplomas notionally equivalent to A-levels, the university-entrance exams taken mostly by 18-year-olds, up from 56% seven years earlier, says Anand Shukla of the Daycare Trust, a charity. Nurseries staffed by university graduates tend to be rated highest by inspectors, increasing their appeal to the pickiest parents. As a result, more graduates are being recruited.

But professionalization has also pushed up the price of child care, defying even the economic depression. A survey by the Daycare Trust finds that a full-time nursery place in England for a child aged under two, who must be intensively supervised, costs £194 ($310) per week, on average. Prices in London and the south-east are far higher. Parents in Britain spend more on child care than anywhere else in the world, according to the OECD, a think-tank. Some 68% of a typical second earner's net income is spent on freeing her to work, compared with an OECD average of 52%.

The price of child care is not only eye-watering, but has also become a barrier to work. Soon after it took power the coalition government pledged to ensure that people are better off in work than on benefits, but a recent survey by Save the Children, a charity, found that the high cost of day care prevented a quarter of low-paid workers from returning to their jobs once they had started a family. The government pays for free part-time nursery places for three-and four-year-olds, and contributes towards day-care costs for younger children from poor areas. Alas, extending such an aid during stressful economic times would appear to be anything but child’s play.

1. Which of the following is true according to the first paragraph?

A．Nursery education plays a leading role in one’s personal growth.

B．Pregnant women have to work to lighten families’ economic burden.

C．Children in nursery have to take uniform nation courses.

D．The supervision of the state makes child care professional.

2. It can be learned from Paragraph 2 and 3 that ___________.

A．the registered child-minders are required to take the university-entrance exams

B．the number of registered child-minders has been declining since 2001

C．anyone who looks after children at home must register with the schools

D．the growing recognition encourages more graduates to work as child-minders

3. The high price of child care __________.

A．prevents mothers from getting employed

B．may further depress the national economy

C．makes many families live on benefits

D．is far more than parents can afford

4. What is the author’s attitude towards the professionalization of child care?

A．Objective.

B．Skeptical.

C．Supportive.

D．Biased.

5. Which of the following would be the subject of the text?

A．The professionalization of child care has pushed up its price.

B．The high cost of child nursing makes many mothers give up their jobs.

C．The employment of more graduates makes nurseries more popular.

D．Parents in Britain pay most for child nursing throughout the world.

2 . 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. advocates       B. inevitable       C. invest       D. movement       E. placed       F. pointless G. present       H. pressure       I. progress       J. recruiting       K. through

Bright Future for Girls

Worldwide, 130 million girls are out of school. At the United Nations two years ago, leaders promised to ensure every girl receives 12 years of education by 2030, but contributions from donor countries have declined. Some days are hard—but I refuse to believe the world will always be as it is;     1     is happening.

At the Malala Fund, we are investing in educators in developing countries. These     2     understand the challenges girls face in their communities—child marriage, poverty, conflicts and wars—and are best     3     to develop solutions. In Afghanistan, they are     4     female teachers to work in rural schools. In Nigeria, they are running clubs to help girls resist family     5     to drop out and marry as young as 13 years old. In Lebanon, they are developing e-learning programs to teach STEM skills to Syrian refugee girls. I believe we can see every girl in school in my lifetime.

I believe in girls like Najlaa, who are leading the fight for themselves and their sisters. I believe in the millions of people who support our     6     . Earliest this year, someone asked me, “After everything you've been     7     and everything you've seen, how do you keep yourself from being hopeless?” After talking for a moment about all the things to be grateful for in my own life, I said, “I think it's     8     to be hopeless. If you are hopeless, you waste your     9     and your future.” If we want a brighter future—for them and for ourselves—we must     10     in girls today.

3 . The Best Language for Math

What’s the best language for learning math? Hint: You’re not reading it.

Chinese, Japanese and Korean use simpler number words and express math concepts more clearly than English. The language gap is drawing growing attention as confusing English number words have been linked in several studies to weaker counting and arithmetic skill in children in English-speaking countries.

    1     Among the researchers are Karen Fuson, a professor in the School of Education at Northwestern University, and Li Yeping, an expert on Chinese math education at Texas A&M University.

Chinese has just nine number words, while English has more than two dozen. The trouble starts at “11”. English has a unique word for the number, while Chinese (as well as Japanese and Korean, among other languages) have words that can be translated as “ten-one” – spoken with the “ten” first.     2    

English number words over 10 don’t as clearly label place values. Number words for the teens reverse the order of the ones and “teens”, making it easy for children to confuse, say, 17 with 71. As a result, children working with English number words have a harder time doing multi-digit addition and subtraction (减法)     3    

It also feels more natural for Chinese speakers than for English speakers to use the “make-a-ten” addition and subtraction strategy. When adding two numbers, students break down the numbers into parts and regroup them into tens and ones. For instance, 9 plus 5 becomes 9 plus 1 plus 4.     4    Many teachers in America have increased instruction in the make-a-ten method and called for first-graders to use it to add and subtract.

Now, you should feel lucky that you are learning math in China. Thanks to your mother tongue, all math problems just come less confusing and difficult to you!

A．So it’s not easy for English speakers to label place values clearly.

B．The additional mental steps needed to solve problems cause more errors.

C．Differences between Chinese and English, in particular, have been studied for decades.

D．This method is a powerful tool for solving more advanced multi-digit addition and subtraction problems.

E．Different languages indicate different ways of thinking, causing people to solve math problems differently.

F．That makes it easier for children to understand the place value as well as making it clear that the number system is based on units of 10.

4 . One of the roles of the Nobel Prize for literature is to shine a light on someone who has been less visible than they deserve. That role was _______ this year in the announcement of Abdulrazak Gurnah as winner.

Unlike previous popular recipients living in Britain, he is not a _______. He could, as he said after the announcement, have reached more readers, but his publications _______ to grant him that. His publisher felt sorry for the fact that he “is one of the greatest living African writers; yet no one has ever _______ him,” but with this he did not agree: “I didn’t think I was ignored.”

There is a(n) _______ , here, that has to do with who is doing the looking, and what counts as officially being noticed. There is also a point of _______: calling Gurnah an African writer. In fact, while that seems to broaden horizons, it narrows and distances what he is doing. Gurnah was born in Zanzibar, and left for Britain when he was 18, _______ regional conflicts for what he hoped would be calmer waters, which turned out to be stronger dark current. He has lived in Britain ever since.

He began and stuck to writing to _______, to himself, of the shock -- of racism, rejection, poverty and loneliness. His ten novels return to it _______, which begins in 1996’s Admiring Silence. His work exists because of Britain as well as Zanzibar; it may ________ both or wholly neither. It arrives out of a(n) ________ of English literature (Gurnah is professor of literature at the University of Kent), and his first language, the rhythms and stories of Islam.

________, many of the UK's thirteen Nobel-winning writers were born elsewhere as by 2019, 14% of the UK’s population were born abroad. People might also be astonished at how many of those countries were once part of the British empire. Gurnah has spoken of how much of the world is still processing the wounds that colonialism ________, especially the experience of “losing your place in the world”-- where place is not just ________, but also belonging, status and culture.

In this sense, Gurnah’s work, which ________ those who might not have been remembered in history--shopkeeper, homemakers, students and refugees, could not be more British. But, more importantly, it could not be more universal.

1.

A．assumed

B．fulfilled

C．interpreted

D．handled

2.

A．household name

B．black horse

C．new face

D．walking dictionary

3.

A．demanded

B．tended

C．qualified

D．failed

4.

A．cast doubt on

B．shown sympathy for

C．taken any notice of

D．put trust in

5.

A．bridge

B．gulf

C．opposition

D．association

6.

A．illustration

B．definition

C．navigation

D．accusation

7.

A．prizing

B．initiating

C．fighting

D．escaping

8.

A．take care

B．take charge

C．make sense

D．make sure

9.

A．repeatedly

B．periodically

C．scarcely

D．accidentally

10.

A．bother with

B．contribute to

C．consist of

D．admit to

11.

A．spite

B．knowledge

C．empathy

D．necessity

12.

A．Obviously

B．Naturally

C．Consequently

D．Strikingly

13.

A．imposed

B．healed

C．received

D．examined

14.

A．psychological

B．geographical

C．ideological

D．demographical

15.

A．discounts

B．awards

C．spotlights

D．evaluates

5 . ● The human population has never been bigger, but in some ways the planet seems to be     1         2         3    . In the past, travelers from     4         5         6     spent months at sea. Now you just have to sit on a plane for a few hours. When you arrived in another country a hundred years ago, you saw     7         8         9     of clothing and buildings and discovered a     10         11         12     culture.（Fill in each blank with the missing words according to the text.）

6 . The actors Felicity Huffman and Lori Loughlin are among 50 wealthy people, charged Tuesday in what Department of Justice officials called the largest college cheating scam (骗局) it has ever accused. The FBI alleged that parents spent up to $6.5 million to guarantee their children’s admission to elite universities by inflating entrance-exam scores and bribing college officials.

It’s the extreme, illegal version of what parents often do, attempting to bend the college-admissions system to their will to ensure their children’s privilege, convinced that a college name will lead to “success.” Parents believe that an elite school will make their kids happy or give them an edge in life. But the misleading focus on a “roadmap to success” not only isn’t a guarantee of either result — it’s also terrible for kids.

At a time when one in five college students reports having had suicidal thoughts over the past year, we must hammer home to families the message that tunnel-visioning toward selective schools is not only misguided, but dangerous. Instead of focusing on a college “search” to find the schools that will best fit a student, too many families are focusing on college “prep,” molding the student to fit a school. This practice tells teenagers they aren’t good enough unless they get a certain acceptance letter, a harmful message that lingers long after the application process. And for what? Students aren’t automatically happier at name-brand schools.

Yet so many families continue to have name-brand fever. Parents want the name of the college to reflect all the effort and hard work that they and their children put into the high-school years, and they want the name of their college to make up for the lack of sleep and other sacrifices they made along the way. But names don’t necessarily reflect substance. Names are empty. Yet not to mention the destruction of one’s childhood. As an Illinois high-school senior told me, “many students view their young life as “a conveyor belt,” making monotonous scheduled stops at high school, college, graduate school, a job, more jobs, some promotions, and then you die.”

Parents might tell themselves that they’re pushing so hard for the sake of their children. But whether they’re bribing officials, or donating buildings, the children are the ones who suffer.

1. According to the FBI, families invested a lot of money in their kids’ admission __________.

A．to defend their children against the college cheating scam

B．to guarantee the legal version of admission to elite universities

C．for they have to bribe college officials for higher scores

D．for they want to ensure their kids’ access to elite schools

2. The author suggests that what parents often do__________.

A．is sensible enough to ensure their children’s advantage in life

B．is more of a disaster than a guarantee for happiness and advantage

C．is in essence extreme and illegal

D．cannot guarantee their kids’ entrance exam results

3. We can infer from Paragraph 3 that families should __________.

A．lay more stress on the choice of suitable colleges than pursuing name-brand schools

B．bring home the reports about many college students’ suicide to alert the kids

C．do more to help teenagers acquire acceptance letters

D．continue keeping an eye on their kids’ happiness at name-brand schools

4. Which of the following statements is true about college names according to Paragraph 4?

A．The name of the college is meant by children to reflect their sacrifices along the way.

B．College names are empty so they cannot reflect the essence of life.

C．For all the grave consequences, parents are still obsessed with elite universities’ names.

D．Elite Schools’ names will destroy many young people’s “conveyor belt”.

7 .
1. In order to be popular on the show, an item should have one of the following selling points except ________.

A．reasonable price

B．multiple functions

C．home automation

D．eco-friendly system

2. Which of the following is true about these products?

A．Apart from facial recognition, there is no other way to lock or unlock Elecpro’s US:E.

B．De’ Longhi air purifier can only be used in summer because it gives a chilly feeling.

C．The Galanz ToastWave has not come onto the market yet.

D．Despite the germ-away experience it provides, the Flatbox Cheers itself is hard to clean.

3. Where is it most likely to find this article?

A．Scientific journal.	B．Education magazine.
C．Advertisement brochure.	D．Local newspaper.

8 . Forks trace their origins back to the ancient Greeks. Forks at that time were fairly large with two tines that aided in the carving of meat in the kitchen. The tines prevented meat from twisting or moving during carving and allowed food to slide off more easily than it would with a knife.

By the 7th century A.D., royal courts of the Middle East began to use forks at the table for dining. From the 10th through the 13th centuries, forks were fairly common among the wealthy in Byzantium. In the 11th century, a Byzantine wife brought forks to Italy; however, they were not widely adopted there until the 16th century. Then in 1533, forks were brought from Italy to France. The French were also slow to accept forks, for using them was thought to be awkward.

In 1608, forks were brought to England by Thomas Coryate, who saw them during his travels in Italy. The English first ridiculed forks as being unnecessary. “Why should a person need a fork when God had given him hands?” they asked. Slowly, however, forks came to be adopted by the wealthy as a symbol of their social status. They were prized possessions made of expensive materials intended to impress guests. By the mid-1600s, eating with forks was considered fashionable among the wealthy British.

Early table forks were modeled after kitchen forks, but small pieces of food often fell through the two tines or slipped off easily. In late 17th century France, larger forks with four curved tines were developed. The additional tines made diners less likely to drop food, and the curved tines served as a scoop so people did not have to constantly switch to a spoon while eating. By the early 19th century, four-tined forks had also been developed in Germany and England and slowly began to spread to America.

1. What is the passage mainly about?

A．The different designs of forks.

B．The spread of fork-aided cooking.

C．The history of using forks for dining.

D．The development of fork-related table manners.

2. By which route did the use of forks spread?

A．Middle EastGreeceEnglandItalyFrance

B．GreeceMiddle EastItalyFranceEngland

C．GreeceMiddle EastFranceItalyGermany

D．Middle EastFranceEnglandItalyGermany

3. How did forks become popular in England?

A．Wealthy British were impressed by the design of forks.

B．Wealthy British thought it awkward to use their hands to eat.

C．Wealthy British gave special forks to the nobles as luxurious gifts.

D．Wealthy British considered dining with forks a sign of social status.

4. Why were forks made into a curved shape?

A．They could be used to scoop food as well.

B．They looked more fashionable in this way.

C．They were designed in this way for export to the US.

D．They ensured the meat would not twist while being cut.

9 . Directions: Complete the article with the words or phrases in the box.Each word or phrase can only be used once.There is one extra that you do not need.

A.led       B.forcing       C.having       D.planned E.performing       F.limited       G.monitoring       H.announcing

New Year’s Eve celebrations will still be on in Times Square, but with smaller crowds

NEW YORK — Revelers(狂欢者)will still ring in the new year in New York’s Times Square next week, there just won’t be as many of them as usual under new restrictions announced Thursday as the city struggles with a spike in COVID-19 cases.

Viewing areas that normally accommodate about 58,000 people will be    1    about 15,000 to allow for more distancing, and everyone in attendance must show proof of vaccination(接种疫苗)and wear a mask, Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a news release    2    the changes.

“There is a lot to celebrate and these additional safety measures will keep the fully vaccinated crowd safe and healthy as we ring in the New Year,” de Blasio said, noting the city’s success in getting residents vaccinated while also keeping businesses open.

The added precautions for New Year’s Eve in Times Square were spurred by the rapid spread of the omicron variant in the Big Apple, where lines for testing have snaked around blocks in recent days.

On Wednesday, the city set yet another one-day testing record with 22,808 new cases, though a true comparison to the number of cases during the initial COVID-19 surge in spring 2020 is impossible because tests were very limited at the time.

Because of vaccinations, hospitalizations and deaths from the current surge are far fewer than at the pandemic’s height.

The new wave of cases has    3    to the cancellation of concerts, sporting events and Broadway shows, but de Blasio has shown a strong preference for having the annual Times Square ball drop go on as    4    — the last major event of his eight-year tenure(任期), which ends Jan.1.

Little more than a month ago, de Blasio gladly announced that a fully vaccinated crowd of hundreds of thousands of people would be back at the iconic celebration — dressing goofy 2022-themed glasses and watching a crystal-clad ball drop at midnight — after it was limited last year to small groups of essential workers.

But that was before omicron caught fire,     5    city officials and event organizers to rethink just how many people they wanted to squeeze into the bright, billboard-lined tourist haven known to some as the Crossroads of the World.

On Tuesday, the Fox network gave its decision, pulling the plug on a planned live broadcast from the New Year’s Eve event.Other networks plan to air the festivities, including Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve on ABC, the loyal program now hosted by Ryan Seacrest.

De Blasio said along with Thursday’s announcement that the city is    6    the COVID-19 situation and could impose additional precautions if needed.Among the other changes announced Thursday, revelers won’t be allowed into viewing areas until 3 p.m., much later than in past years.

On New Year’s Eve last year, Times Square was mostly empty, with Jennifer Lopez and other artists     7    behind police walls. After vaccines became widely available in the U.S., the city allowed crowds back to the Macy’s Fourth of July fireworks, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade and other events.

“New York is the best place in the world to celebrate New Year’s Eve and now it will be one of the safest against COVID as well,” Mayor-elect Eric Adams said in a written statement supporting the new precautions.

“New Yorkers and visitors alike can now enjoy Times Square and the rest of our city as we ring in 2022.”

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. attracted	B. connecting	C. cooperation	D. course	E. implement
F. original	G. perspective	H. solution	I. unique

Jul 8, 2021 — On July 25, executive producers Ridley Scott and Kai Hsuing, along with director Kevin Macdonald will invite the global community to pick up cameras to create “Life In A Day 2022”.

In 2010, “Life In A Day” brought the online community together for a massive feature film project that     1     8,000 submissions. The final film was released in 2011, and has been watched over 16 million times ever since.

Exactly 12 years after the     2     “Life In A Day,” the world will once again come together to create the second YouTube documentary that tells the story of a single day on Earth. Selected footage from participants like you will be woven together in this documentary to tell the story of an ordinary day during these extraordinary times.

On a single day, Saturday, July 25, people around the world are invited to film their day. Maybe you’ll be filming from home, or maybe you’re in a part of the world where you’re figuring out how to move forward in a different place. Maybe you’re     3     with friends, reuniting with family, or going to work. Maybe it’s a special day — you are getting married, moving out, and sharing important news. Or maybe it’s just a normal day. We want to weave together these     4     experiences and ideas to create a time capsule of this moment.

The final feature film will be edited over the     5     of five months, produced entirely through what is found in the submitted footage. Once the submission window closes, a 30-person team of multilingual reviewers will     6     the translation process of the submitted videos. At present, the filmmakers are encouraging people from all over the world to take part, and they hope to capture a wide     7     on life. Submissions are open from July 25 to August 2, which means you will only have one week to submit your footage.

While only a small number of the submitted clips will make it into the movie, the filmmakers hope the filming day itself becomes a significant day of global participation. The “Life In A Day 2022” project celebrates the importance of everyone’s coming together in a moment of equal worldwide     8    . Looking forward to your participation!