1 . Akira Toriyama, one of Japan’s leading comics authors, whose manga (漫画) “Dragon Ball” achieved worldwide success with its mix of comedic characters and rousing martial arts battles, died on March 1. He was 68.
Mr. Toriyama’s body of work is recognizable far beyond Japan’s borders, having influenced generations of manga artists and cartoonists. His best-known work, “Dragon Ball”, follows a young boy named Son Goku who starts a journey to collect the seven magical balls that summon (召唤) a wish-granting dragon. Since its creation in the 1980s, it has spanned 42 volumes, sold millions of copies worldwide and become one of the most famous manga, inspiring television, film and video game adaptations.
Throughout his career, Mr. Toriyama said in a 2013 interview with the Japanese newspaper The Asahi Shimbun, he did not care if his work did anything besides entertaining its readers. He was, he suggested, unlike “other manga artists concerned about conveying moral messages”.
When “Dragon Ball” was first published in 1984, it was an immediate hit, becoming one of the best-selling manga series of all time. It sold more than 260million copies worldwide, according to Toei Animation, the studio that produced the anime adaptation. “Dragon Ball” was serialized in the Japanese magazine Weekly Shonen Jump until 1995. In the year after the series ended, the magazine lost about one million of its six million readers, according to “A History of Modern Manga”.
A productive manga artist, Mr. Toriyama did not necessarily have an appetite for this genre as a reader. “I have always had a hard time reading manga, including my own work,” he said in a 2018 interview with Kiyosu City Public Library. He led a private life and gave few interviews. In a 2013 interview with the Japanese singer and actress Shoko Nakagawa, he said that he did not even share all his work with his family. “To tell you the truth, no one in my family has ever seen ‘Dragon Ball’,” he said, laughing. “I am also a hikikomori,” he added, using the Japanese word for a recluse (隐居者). But his stories continued to reach fans around the world years after their creation.
1. Where can you find this article most probably?| A．A news report. | B．An autobiography. |
| C．A manga introduction. | D．A funeral speech. |
| A．It is classical. | B．It is engaging. |
| C．It is advanced. | D．It is educational. |
| A．A thickened size of each issue. | B．A leading magazine worldwide. |
| C．A period of increase in readership. | D．A record holder in manga history. |
| A．Unworldly and genuine. | B．Imaginative and flexible. |
| C．Innocent and well-informed. | D．Knowledgeable and courageous. |
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3 . Montessori was born in Italy in 1870 with progressive parents, who frequently communicated with the country’s leading thinkers and scholars. This enlightened family environment provided Montessori with many advantages over other young girls of the time.
Her mother’s support was vital for some important decisions, such as her further study in a technical school after her elementary education. Her parents’ support also proved to be essential for her decision to study medicine, a field that was dominated by men.
Soon after graduating, in 1896, Montessori began work as a voluntary assistant in a clinic at the University of Rome, where she cared for children with learning difficulties. The rooms were empty, with just a few pieces of furniture. One day, she found that the children were enthusiastically playing with breadcrumbs (面包屑) that had dropped on the floor. It then occurred to her that the origin of some intellectual disabilities could be related with poverty. With the right learning materials, these and other young minds could be trained, Montessori concluded.
The observation would lead Montessori to develop a new method of education that focused on providing better stimulation during the sensitive periods of childhood.
At its centre was the principle (原则) that all the learning materials should be child-sized and designed to appeal to all the senses. In addition, each child should be allowed to move and act freely, and use their creativity and problem-solving skills. Teachers took the role of guides, supporting the children without press or control.
Montessori opened her first Children’s House in 1907. When the Fascists (法西斯主义者) first came into power in Italy in 1922, they welcomed her movement at the beginning. But they soon came to oppose the emphasis on the children’s freedom of expression. Montessori's values had always been about human respect and the rights of children and women, but the Fascists wanted to use her work and her fame.
Things reached a breaking point when the Fascist tried to influence the schools’ educational content, and in 1934 Montessori and her son decided to leave Italy. She didn’t return to her homeland until 1947, and she continued to write about and develop her method until her death in 1952, at the age of 81.
1. What was the main reason for Montessori to develop a new educational method?| A．Her experience as a voluntary assistant in a clinic. |
| B．Her family’s supportive influence on her education. |
| C．Her decision to study medicine, a field dominated by men. |
| D．Her observation of children playing with breadcrumbs happily. |
| A．Focusing on group competition. | B．Taking control of children’s action. |
| C．Providing one-size-fits-all learning materials. | D．Creating a free and child-centered environment. |
| A．She was offered a better job in a different country. |
| B．She was forced to give up her work and her fame. |
| C．She wanted to avoid the influence from the Fascist. |
| D．She wanted to explore other countries and cultures. |
| A．Enthusiastic and kind. | B．Observant and innovative. |
| C．Cooperative and generous. | D．Traditional and emotional. |
When she was just three years old, Alyssa Carson from the USA took an interest
Alyssa’s goal is to help others understand the potential for human life in outer space. She also wants to be one of the first humans
She is studying astrobiology (天体生物学) at the Florida Institute of Technology. It is the only program in the USA
Alyssa is a(n)
For the past twenty years, Chen Huili,
While showing visitors around, Chen became
As time
1. In your opinion, is Yang Liwei a hero? Why, or why not?
2. What do you think a true hero should be like?
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7 . Xu Hai’ou has spent most of her life promoting environmental protection work in Beihai, a coastal city in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, by cleaning beaches, protecting mi-grant birds and recycling kitchen waste.
Though her family originally comes from the eastern province of Shandong, the 60-year-old was raised in Guangxi and moved to Beihai for work at age 23, directly after graduating from college. Before she retired, she worked as a reporter for the Guangxi Daily Media Group, a news outlet in the region. In her free time, she became involved in voluntary work.
“In initially, in the 1990s, I helped impoverished children in Guangxi’s rural areas obtain financial aid from donors in Hong Kong, and set up my own NGO in 2004. At the time, it was Beihai’s only nonprofit social organization involved in volunteer work,” she said, “It’s very enjoyable to do this charity work and I have made many friends through it.”
She said her NGO focuses on environmental protection work and organizes a range of voluntary activities, including cleaning up beaches, and protecting mangrove forests and migratory birds.
In 2008, the organization joined a marine life protection event supported by the central government, the UN Environment Programme and the Global Environmental Facility.
Xu and her colleagues at the association arranged a number of voluntary events such as raising awareness of marine biodiversity among local residents and students, and beach-cleaning activities to help promote understanding of the need to protect marine animals and plants.
“Undertaking voluntary activities or charitable work has become my mission, and I want to contribute my own efforts to the nation’s environmental protection work, even if they only produce a small improvement. However, protecting the environment is very hard work. which can’t be done by a single person. I sometimes feel like my ability falls short of my wishes.”
According to Xu, her NGO is currently promoting the classification of waste in Beihai and recycling kitchen waste into compost. “We have mature technologies, but still face difficulties in promoting the program because many residents lack awareness of environmental protection. We hope the government can figure out better ways of managing the garbage after we classify it to make full use of this ‘waste’.”
1. What can we learn about Xu Hai’ou from the first two paragraphs?| A．She grew up in Shandong Province. |
| B．She graduated in Beihai at the age of 23. |
| C．She works as a journalist for a newspaper at present. |
| D．She is a retired reporter volunteering to protect the environment. |
| A．Rewarding. | B．Exhausting. | C．Amazing. | D．Embarrassing. |
| A．To clean beaches and recycle kitchen waste. |
| B．To get support from the central government. |
| C．To raise people’s awareness of marine biodiversity. |
| D．To help people understand the necessity of protecting marine life. |
| A．She wants to win a good reputation. |
| B．She wants to do what others don’t want to do. |
| C．She wants to do her part to protect the environment. |
| D．She wants to make the most of kitchen waste on her own. |
8 . Here is the story of American aviation (航空) pioneer Amelia Earhart.
Once upon a time, on July 24th 1897, a little girl was born in Ashes Kansas. As a child, Amelia was adventurous, climbing trees, collecting bugs, hunting rats with their rifle and exploring the neighborhood. Many historians have described Earhart as a “tomboy” growing up because of this.
Throughout her teen years, she moved around the middle west with her family. There after seeing the wounded soldiers returning from World War I, she decided to work as a nurse’s aid and got to know many of the wounded pilots and grew to admire them.
On December 20th, 1920, an important moment happened in Earhart’s life. She attended an air show with her dad in Long Beach. And she took a ten-minute plane ride that forever changed her life. She recalled, “By the time I had got two or three hundred feet off the ground, I knew I had to fly.” Amelia’s new mission (使命) was to learn how to fly and she worked hard to achieve this new dream. She worked several odd jobs to save up for the very expensive flying lessons. Amelia had flown her plane to 14,000 feet, the world altitude record for female pilots. On may 15th, 1923, Earhart became only the 16th woman to be issued (颁发) with such a pilot’s licence.
In the mid-1920s, Earhart was not able to make a living as only a pilot, so she became a teacher and later a social worker. One afternoon in April 1928, a phone call came for Earhart at work. “How would you like to become the first woman to fly the Atlantic?” Captain Hulton Archive asked her on the other line. “Yes,” Amelia immediately replied. She became the first female to fly across the Atlantic Ocean, but only as a passenger, as Wilmer Stultz and Lewis Gordon acted as pilots. When the three returned to the United States, they were greeted with a parade in New York and a reception held by President Calvin Coolidge at the White House.
In August 1928, Amelia became the first woman to fly alone across the North American continent and back. In 1929, she entered Will Rogers Power Puff Derby and placed third. Earhart also became involved with the Ninety-Nines, an organization of female pilots, and then became their first president in 1930.
1. How would we understand the underlined sentence in Paragraph 4?| A．She found the pilots were admirable. |
| B．She decided to be a nurse to help the wounded pilots. |
| C．She would continue to take airplane rides with her Dad. |
| D．She wanted to be a pilot when flying an airplane for the fist time. |
| A．She grew up in a rich family and graduated with honors. |
| B．She flew solo across the North American continent and back in 1928. |
| C．She refused to fly the Atlantic Ocean with others at first in 1928. |
| D．She became the first female president of the USA in 1930. |
| A．By listing figures. | B．In place order. |
| C．By comparing examples. | D．In time order. |
| A．Never too old to learn. | B．Well begun is half done. |
| C．Two hands are better than one. | D．Where there is a will, there is a way. |
9 . “Hello, boys; make lots of toys,” said A.C.Gilbert in magazine ads for the erector set (立体拼装玩具). The building set, using tiny, metal girders (大梁), was popular for many years.
As a small boy, Gilbert couldn’t sit still for long. When he was 12, he started a sports club for his friends and got their school to have a field day. After watching pole vault (撑杆 跳), Gilbert took a cedar rail from a farmer’s fence, shaped it, and began to practice.
Gilbert won a gold medal in pole vault at the Olympic Games in 1908. By that time, he had a diploma in physical education and had nearly finished medical studies. However, he later started his first business: making and selling magic kits, with which Gilbert had amused friends and earned college money.
One day, Gilbert saw workers using steel girders to build towers for power lines. That gave him the idea for the erector set.
In 1917, the Council of National Defense thought no toys should be sold for Christmas because the country was fighting in World War I. Gilbert, with other men from the Toy Manufacturers, went to Washington, D. C. with about 40 different toys. and they were given 15 minutes to speak.
This meeting was at the end of a long, hard day. Gilbert exclaimed how toys helped children learn while his helpers brought out the toys. Soon, tired government men were on the floor, playing with building sets, models of navy ships, and other toys. The time limit was forgotten; so was the Christmas toy ban.
Gilbert spent the rest of his life improving erector sets. When he died in 1961, he had 150 patents for his many inventions. But his chief joy was in helping children learn and have fun at the same time. He once said, “I have never worked on anything to make money unless it was fun too.” As a matter of fact, the fun always came first.
1. What do we know about Gilbert according to paragraphs 2-3?| A．He was unwilling to sit down as a small kid. |
| B．He convinced his school to establish a sports club. |
| C．He absorbed himself in coming up with new ideas. |
| D．He demonstrated his interest and gift in various fields. |
| A．Asking workers for assistance. | B．Observing a construction work. |
| C．Designing towers for power lines. | D．Selling magic kits in previous years |
| A．they were impressed by Gilbert's words |
| B．they forgot the time limit arranged earlier |
| C．they were exhausted after playing on the floor |
| D．they experienced the pleasure of playing toys |
| A．Talented and committed. | B．Friendly and considerate. |
| C．Brilliant and cold-hearted. | D．Generous and strong-willed. |
10 . Chinese social media was a buzz with praise for war correspondent Chen Huihui who reported from the front lines of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. As one of the first journalists to arrive at the scene, Chen has been reporting live from the battlefield since October 9th.
Chen’s reports have provided a realistic and complex view of the conflict, earning her widespread respect and admiration from netizens on Weibo. Many compared her deed to a “heroic act” for fearlessly facing the situation.
One netizen expressed admiration for war reporters covering the Israel-Palestine conflict, stating: “I admire the war reporters covering the Israel-Palestine conflict; truly admirable, they are reporting and directing the gunfire and bombardment every day. Salute!”
As the Israeli army entered Gaza and began ground battle, Chen Huihui shared her firsthand accounts of the situation. On November 11th, an emotional video emerged of a father crying out in sorrow after his three children were killed by Israel ’ s bombardment. This heart-broken image led netizens to express their sympathy for the people affected by the conflict.
The Weibo netizens remained great support and respect for journalists like Chen Huihui who are putting their lives on the line to report from the front lines. As a Spanish parliamentarian named Mayster condemned Israel for committing war crimes, Chinese social media users praised journalists who bring attention to the realities and cruelty of war.
As another netizen put it: “War correspondents are often not individuals but representatives of national images. Only when reporters are closer to the guns can they feel more deeply the cruelty of war, know true casualties, and understand the distinction between justice and injustice.”
Chen Huihui’s courageous reporting from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has earned her widespread praise on Chinese social media. Her bravery and devotion to providing realistic coverage of the complex situation have inspired admiration among netizens who value journalists like her who are committed to throwing light on important global issues.
1. What is one of the reasons for Chen Huihui’s great praise on Chinese social media?| A．Her courage and bravery in the face of danger. |
| B．She was the first journalist to arrive at the scene. |
| C．She reported live from the battlefield since last October. |
| D．Her sympathy towards the people affected by the conflict |
| A．They blamed Israel for the tragedy. |
| B．They expressed their pities for the victims. |
| C．They praised the father’s bravery in the face of danger. |
| D．They remained calm and did not comment on the video. |
| A．Because Chen Huihui reported on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. |
| B．Because netizens praised journalists who bring attention to the realities and cruelty of war. |
| C．Because the Israeli army entered Gaza and began cold-blooding killing to the common people. |
| D．Because Chen Huihui shared an emotional video of a father grieving for his children. |
| A．By reporting from a safe distance. |
| B．By witnessing the heroism of soldiers. |
| C．By getting close to the battlefield. |
| D．By understanding the distinction between justice and injustice. |
