2 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1. What was Prof. Stone’s grandfather afraid of?

A．Leaving his home.

B．Parting from his son.

C．Taking early retirement.

2. What does old age mean to many elderly Americans?

A．Lack of moral support.

B．Loss of self-worth.

C．Change of living habits.

3. What will Prof. Stone talk about next concerning elderly people?

A．Public services they ask for.

B．Health care available to them.

C．Contributions they can make.

4 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇 完整的短文。

In our weekly staff meeting, our editor Ashley was not pleased with the quality of our reporting. “Our readership is way down. We need better stories for this Thursday’s school newspaper. Does anybody have any ideas?” she said.

I handed her my article about our basketball team beating Deerfield High School the previous night by one point. “Sports stories are fun,” she said, “but not good enough for the front page. We need something to really get people ‘s attention.”

After our meeting, we left the newsroom together and heard someone screaming, “Perry is missing!” Perry was a big red parrot and had been our school mascot (吉祥物) for ten years. He played an important role in students’ lives, both in and out of class. He had also been a constant presence at school events, inspiring a sense of unity among students.

Everyone gathered around Perry’s empty cage, heartbroken. Suddenly, a student from the crowd came over and showed me a photo. “You’re a reporter for the school paper, right? I happened to take this yesterday,” he said. In the photo was a Deerfield High School basketball player with something large hidden under his shirt around the size of a parrot.

“He must have stolen Perry to get back at us for winning the game!” Ashley cried. We hurried back to the newsroom, agreeing to run the photo on the front page with the headline “Deerfeld Stole Perry.” “This is just the story we need. Everyone will read it,” Ashley said confidently.

After she left, I took a closer look at the photo. The clock in the background read 4:15 pm, but our game against Deerfield hadn’t started until 4:30 pm. Why would the boy have taken Perry before we even played? An uneasy feeling came over me that we might have falsely accused someone.

I went to Perry’s usual caretaker to ask if he knew Perry was missing. ”He’s not missing. He’s retired. He’s ready for some quieter days,“ he said. Learning the truth, I immediately told Ashley and suggested writing a story to say goodbye to Perry.

注意:
1.续写词数应为150左右:
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。

To my surprise, Ashley insisted on reporting the “Deerfield Stole Perry” story.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

On Thursday, the paper came out with the headline “Bye-Bye, Perry” on the front page.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入 1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Kjell Lindgren wanted to be an astronaut for as long as he could remember. He spent much of his childhood abroad with his family on several U. S. Air Force     1     (base). “The idea of becoming an astronaut by serving as an Air Force test pilot seemed like the path     2     I needed to follow,” says Lindgren.

Lindgren’s hopes of becoming an astronaut, though, would come to     3     sudden stop when he was diagnosed with asthma (哮喘), a serious disease, after     4     (graduate) from the U. S. Air Force Academy. The Air Force decided to     5     (medical) fire him.

So Lindgren came to a medical school, eventually specializing in emergency medicine. As part of his training, he     6     (test) for asthma again. This time, the tests said that he didn’t have the condition. Lindgren was     7     (please) because his dreams of spaceflight returned.

Lindgren worked as a flight doctor at NASA, treating crews that were preparing for spaceflight. Then, in 2009, he was selected as a NASA astronaut. Since then, Lindgren     8     (fly) into space twice. On his trip aboard the International Space Station in 2022, he served as the commander for SpaceX Crew 4     9     170 days. Lindgren is now a member of the Artemis Team, a group of scientists and astronauts working together     10     (send) people back to the Moon in 2024.

8 . A wildlife photographer was waiting, hoping to get a shot of a relatively rare bird, a particular kind of heron(鹭). He’d waited several frustrating hours in the woods, but with no luck at all. Suddenly, to the photographer’s delight, a heron settled on a branch right in front of him. The photographer raised his camera and took the shot. Feeling particularly pleased, the photographer looked at the image. To his astonishment, he saw that behind the heron, his photograph had also captured a very, very rare woodpecker flying past. He hadn’t seen it, but without even trying, he’d photographed an even rarer bird than the one he was aiming for. This is an example of serendipity.

Cases of serendipity can be found in numerous fields, such as science. Back in the 1800s, a man called Wellswas at a demonstration (演示) of laughing gas. After being given the gas, the patient started laughing, as expected. But then he suddenly fell over and cut his le g rather badly. To everyone’s surprise, the man reported that he couldn’t feel any pain. Wells hadn’t been looking for it, but he’d made a medical discovery — certain gases reduce and can even almost eradicate pain. Had Wells not been there that night, anesthesia (麻醉) might have taken longer to be discovered.

Most of us can probably think of at least one example of serendipity in our own lives. Jane, a friend of mine,was trying to come up with an idea for an article but got completely stuck. Frustrated, she decided to go out to a local café. As she was sipping her coffee, she heard two people talking behind her. A man was telling a story that sounded so unbelievable that she knew it had to be true. She asked the people if she could interview them for the article. They agreed and her article turned out to be one of the top trending articles of the week.

1. The word “serendipity” in paragraph 1 means the fact of __________.

A．observing rare birds in person	B．achieving important aims in time
C．finding valuable things by chance	D．taking interesting photos by mistake

2. What surprised Wells at the demonstration?

A．The gas’s hidden damage.	B．The gas’s pain-killing effect.
C．The patient’s scientific discovery.	D．The patient’s balance-losing moment.

3. Why did Jane go to the café?

A．To take a break.	B．To meet a friend.
C．To write an article.	D．To do an interview.

4. What is the author’s purpose in writing the text?

A．To explain a concept.	B．To promote a culture.
C．To introduce a person.	D．To recommend a method.

10 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

In many ways, friendship     1     (natural) comes to kids. However, it is also a skill to learn and manage, particularly as kids get older.

It is important for teens to choose friends wisely. They might choose friends with shared interests or look for people     2     have different backgrounds. The most important things are whether or not the person will be a good friend and whether they enjoy     3     (spend) time with each other. If it’s a yes on both counts, then that person is likely     4     (play) the role of a friend.

It can take time to make a good friend, but it is often worth the effort. Doing things together, whether it’s homework or kicking a soccer ball,     5     (build) closeness. Considering the other person’s     6     (feeling) in different situations is also important. It’s true that you should stand by good friends in the hard times, but you don’t want to give and give without anything     7     return. Healthy friendships are     8     two-way street.

    9     (honest) and trust are important in friendships. Teens need to learn about the importance of being frank (坦率的) with their friends. Friends sometimes hurt each other, but they can always apologize (道歉) and forgive each other. Good relationships are worth the work to repair the damage     10     (cause) by any miscommunications.