1 . Young babies make many short and word-like sounds such as “ba” or “aga”. Those early sounds are later replaced with words and, eventually, sentences. While some of them are born to be more talkative than others, a new study confirms that male babies make more sounds than female babies in the first year.

While the research confirms earlier findings from a much smaller study by the same team, they still come as a surprise. That’s because there’s a common and long-held belief that females have an advantage over males in language.

In the study, Dr Kim and his team included more than 450,000 hours of all-day recordings of 5,899 babies, using a device about the size of an iPod. Those recordings were processed to count the number of words spoken by babies and adults across the first two years of life.

Generally, the data showed that male babies made 10% more sounds in the first year compared to females. In the second year, the difference turned directions, with female babies making about 7% more sounds than males. Those differences were observed even though the number of words spoken by adults caring for those babies was higher for female babies in both years compared to males.

Why, then, would male babies be more talkative than females in the first year and not later? “We think it may be because boys are more likely to die in the first year than girls. Given that so many male deaths happen in the first year, boys may have been under especially high selection pressure to produce fitness signals to express their wellness and improve their chances of surviving,” says Kim. By the second year of life, as death rates drop sharply across the board, he added, “the pressure on special fitness signaling is lower for both boys and girls.”

1. Why are the findings of the new study surprising?

A．They are similar to earlier ones.

B．They show males are more talkative.

C．They go against people’s common belief.

D．They show babies learn language differently

2. What did the study find about male babies in the second year?

A．They received more language input.

B．They showed better language abilities.

C．They communicated more with adults.

D．They made less sounds than female babies.

3. What might cause the change in sound production for male babies?

A．Improved language skills.	B．Change in living environment.
C．Less need for fitness signaling.	D．Increase in social communication.

2 . On September 17, 2022, a father and son set out to begin the first of three legs of the Ironman competition in Oxford. David, 59, and his son, John, 28, weren’t the typical competitors. Despite difficulty in walking, John has his dream of being an athlete. His father would act as his arms and legs, carrying the weight of his son throughout the race.

To qualify as having finished, competitors must complete a hard 140 miles of swimming, bicycling and running in under 17 hours. David and John had participated together in five Ironman competitions, but they had yet to finish in the required time.

The race began with a 2.4-mile swim in the Choptank River. With one end of a rope tied to a belt around his back and the other end to a boat with his son inside, the father eased himself into the water. Swimming while carrying another person is tough enough — David also had to fight with jellyfish (水母).

The pair completed the swim in 90 minutes, and went through with the 112-mile bicycle ride in about nine hours, then set their sights on the final leg of the 26.2-mile marathon with David pushing John in the racing chair.

With minutes left and 200 feet to the finish line, his mom, on the sidelines, handed him the rolling walker. Not that long ago, John could hardly walk 23 steps. But after years of painful training, he increased his step count and was determined to finish the race on his own. He knew time was almost running out and worried they wouldn’t make the cutoff. “Not because I wouldn’t get my moment,” he says, “but because dad had worked so hard.”

After 16 hours, 55 minutes and 35 seconds — with just four minutes and 25 seconds to spare — father and son crossed the finish line together.

As the crowd flooded and cheered on John, the weary father kept a low profile. “He didn’t want his finish line moment,” says John. “He wanted it to be mine.”

1. How did David help his son in the swimming part?

A．By pulling a rope tied to a boat.	B．By swimming beside his son.
C．By pushing his son’s lifebelt.	D．By carrying his son on his back.

2. Why did John worry about not making the cutoff?

A．He wouldn’t get his moment.

B．His mom would be disappointed.

C．His father had put in lots of effort.

D．The audience had high expectations.

3. What can best describe David’s role as a father?

A．Responsible and selfless.	B．Brave and honest.
C．Committed and friendly.	D．Gentle and determined.

3 . Every morning in graduate school, Christy would wave to the woman selling hot dogs outside her building. “If she wasn’t there on a given day, things didn’t feel right. I missed her,” says Christy, now a psychology (心理学) expert at a university in the U.K. “It was this huge source of comfort and safety, and it was with someone I never talked to.”

That connection satisfied a deep, bodily need for Christy, just like water relieves thirst. Humans are intensely social animals, and research increasingly suggests that losing our connections to others can negatively impact our health. A 2023 report called widespread loneliness in the U.S. a deadly health risk comparable to smoking up to15 cigarettes (香烟) a day. On the other hand, a Harvard study found that having strong relationships is key to living a long and happy life. The study also showed that people between 80 and 89 years old in happy marriages reported that their happiness remained stable even on days when they were in greater physical pain.

But close relationships aren’t the only social ties that matter. Chatting with a stranger, giving a smile of recognition to the waiter in your local coffee shop, or waving to the people you see every day at the park creates a much-needed sense of community. “We can’t achieve happiness by ourselves. We simply cannot survive or live well without feeling like we are accepted,” says Christy.

These “weak tie” relationships aren’t a replacement for the deeper, more meaningful connections we also need. But Christy says we should recognize and celebrate their importance, and push ourselves to engage in them because they’re so beneficial to our sense of well-being. “I am not outgoing,” she says. “And, at the same time, I love talking to strangers. I believe that anyone can do it.”

1. How did Christy feel when she couldn’t see the woman as usual?

A．Safe.

B．Disappointed.

C．Angry.

D．Satisfied.

2. What did the Harvard study find?

A．Older adults feel happier in marriages.

B．Physical pain negatively affects happiness.

C．Close relationships lead to long-term well-being.

D．Happiness has little to do with social connections.

3. Why are “weak tie” relationships meaningful?

A．They contribute to our happiness.	B．They help us to be outgoing.
C．They replace close relationships.	D．They push us to communicate.

4. What is the best title for the passage?

A．Advantages of Being Lonely	B．Influence of Meeting New People
C．Value of Strong Social Connections	D．Importance of “Weak Tie” Relationships

5 . In a groundbreaking discovery, bumblebees (大黄蜂) have shown a previously unseen level of cognitive (认知的) ability. A new study, published in Nature, shows that they can learn difficult, multi-step tasks through social interaction, even if they cannot figure them out on their own.

Led by Dr Alice Bridges and Professor Lars Chittka, the research team designed a two-step puzzle (谜题) box requiring bumblebees to perform two separated actions to get a sweet reward at the end. Training bees to do this was no easy task, and bees had to be helped along by the addition of an extra reward at the end of the first step. This reward in the middle was finally taken away, and bees later had to open the whole box before getting their treat. Then some trained bees repeated the whole process for demonstration.

Surprisingly, while bees that worked on their own had great difficulty in solving the puzzle, those allowed to watch a demonstrator bee finished the two steps easily — even the first — while only getting a reward at the end.

This study shows that bumblebees have a level of social learning previously thought to be unique to humans. They can share and learn behaviors that are beyond their individual cognitive abilities. Professor Chittka further notes the implications, “This challenges the traditional view that only humans can socially learn difficult behavior beyond individual learning. It raises the amazing possibility that many of the greatest achievements of the social insects, like the nesting architectures of bees or the agricultural habits of ants, may have initially spread by copying clever innovators, before they finally became part of the species-specific behaviors.”

This groundbreaking research opens new possibilities for understanding animal intelligence and the development of social learning. It challenges longstanding assumptions and helps us learn more about the cognitive wonders of insects, even suggesting the exciting possibility of advanced culture amongst seemingly simple creatures.

1. What is the purpose of the study?

A．To learn how to train bumblebees.

B．To compare bumblebees with ants.

C．To develop puzzles for bumblebees.

D．To test cognitive abilities of bumblebees.

2. How did the researchers train the bumblebees to solve the puzzle?

A．By breaking it into two steps.

B．By providing an extra reward.

C．By demonstrating the process.

D．By making the puzzle interesting.

3. What do Professor Chittka’s words imply?

A．Both bees and ants are intelligent creatures.

B．Only humans are capable of social learning.

C．Individual learning may not be that important.

D．Bees’ nest-building may be a learned behavior.

4. What could be the best title for the text?

A．Bumblebees — willing learners

B．Bumblebees — smarter than you think

C．Social learning — intelligence indicator

D．Social learning — universal across species

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。

Long-term tai chi exercise can be used as a treatment for patients suffering from early-stage Parkinson’s disease(帕金森病), said a research team from Shanghai.

Parkinson’s is     1     progressive and disabling disease of the nervous system, resulting in slowness of movement, uncontrollable arm and leg shakes and muscle inflexibility.     2     is predicted that there     3    (be)nearly 5 million Parkinson’s sufferers in China by 2030. Doctors say patients face problems with current treatments, including some side effects     4    (cause)by long-term medication, and the limited     5    (improve)of patients’ well-being.

In the research,     6     began in 2016, a total of 143 participants trained with coaches twice a week and practiced     7    (regular)at home. Their conditions     8    (compare)with a 187-patient control group. Evaluations of patients in the two groups showed differences in their yearly levels of disease progression, and the patients     9    (practice)tai chi also needed less medical treatment in terms of both drugs and deep-brain stimulus.

Tai chi has been pursued as a treatment for Parkinson’s since 2012 with the specific benefits of long-term practice now     10    (far)clarified by the Shanghai study.

7 . 请描述下图所呈现的社会现象，并发表你的看法。

注意：写作词数应为80个左右。
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9 . “Auntie Goose Legs”, a Beijing street food seller, was recently invited to a meeting on women entrepreneurship (企业家精神) at Peking University, one of China’s top universities. Her inspiring words moved the hearts of many.

In her 50s, Chen Xiufeng, from Lianyungang city in East China’s Jiangsu Province, along with her husband, Liang Decai, has been trying to make a living as street sellers in the country’s capital for more than two decades. In the past few years the pair began to sell homemade goose (鹅) legs. Their secret family recipe has won them a continuous stream of customers over the years, mostly college students, as they usually operated near campuses such as Peking University. They even took orders in advance and delivered goose legs to campuses by motorbikes.

Last winter, Chen became famous on the Internet after she moved her business to Tsinghua University. Old customers from Peking University and Renmin University of China began half-jokingly calling for Tsinghua University to give back their beloved “Auntie Goose Legs”. A “competition” among China’s top universities for “Auntie Goose Legs” soon unfolded. Related topics quickly topped the trending list on social media, making her a focal point of online discussions, while their homemade goose legs became hard to get. At one point, they sold out all 200 goose legs within 20 minutes.

At the meeting, when asked by the host if she felt she was “entrepreneurial”, Chen shook her head, stating that her efforts were merely ordinary means to make a living. Peking University commented in an article posted on the university’s social media account on Friday, stating that entrepreneurship is not only a broad concept, but one that can also represent an attitude toward life.

In Chen’s closing speech at the meeting, she said, “I hope everyone can choose a comfortable pace... Life is a long journey, not something you can cross in one step. You, the youngsters, are full of vitality; everyone is their own hero.”

1. What caused the heated discussion about “Auntie Goose Legs” on the Internet?

A．Her secret family recipe.

B．Her selling out 200 goose legs.

C．Her relocation to another university.

D．Her rich experiences as a street seller.

2. How did Chen react when being called “entrepreneurial”?

A．She felt confused by the concept.

B．She thought it beyond her capabilities.

C．She considered herself a business genius.

D．She acknowledged it with a sense of pride.

3. What message did Chen deliver in her closing speech?

A．Wealth comes ahead of happiness.

B．Rapid success should be encouraged.

C．Take your own pace on life’s journey.

D．Entrepreneurship is the key to success.

10 . Effective communication is the process of exchanging ideas, opinions, knowledge, and data so that the message is received and understood with clarity and purpose. Learning how to communicate well can be beneficial.     1    

Consider your audience.     2     Knowing your audience can be key to delivering the right messages effectively. Their age, income, education level, background knowledge and experience can all affect how they’ll receive your message.

Practice active listening. Active listening means giving your full attention in a communication exchange.     3     This not only ensures that you comprehend the conversation accurately but also makes the speaker feel heard and valued.

Make your message as clear as possible. Once you have successfully identified your audience and listened to their purposes, needs, and desires, you may have something to communicate. To do this effectively, turn to the 3Cs of communication: Clear, Correct, Complete.     4    

Use the right medium or platform. Effective communication requires you to consider whether you need to meet in person or online. Is your message casual enough to use WeChat, or would a formal email be more suitable?     5     Whatever you choose should be appropriate for your current situation.

By following these four principles, you are well on your way to exercising communication effectiveness.

A．Who are you communicating with?

B．What’s your preference when you catch up with friends?

C．Here are a few ways to achieve effective communication.

D．Is it more effective to discuss the plan on the phone or face-to-face?

E．Be sure to provide positive information based on your audience’s needs.

F．It includes paying attention to body language, and giving positive feedback.

G．Prepare to communicate in a way that achieves most of these characteristics.