1 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入一个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

The total number of China-Europe cargo (货物)train trips has exceeded 50,000 as a cargo train left the southwestern city of Chengdu on January 29,    1     (office) data showed, a stable contribution to the global supply chain.

The value of goods     2     (transport) by the cargo service skyrocketed to $ 74.9 billion in 2021. From 2016 to 2021, the China-Europe Railway Express had an increase of 55 percent on average     3    (year), extending to 180 cities in 23 countries in the Europe, and the items have expanded from IT     4    (product) such as mobile phones and notebook computers at the    5     (begin), to more than 50000 items, including auto parts, vehicles, chemicals, electro-mechanicals, food, alcohol, and wood.

The China-Europe cargo train serves     6     a crucial link for trade and economic cooperation across the Eurasian region. It     7     (run) smoothly since 2020, as the world is facing the impact of the epidemic (流行病), and the trains also play     8     important role in fighting the epidemic with the transport of epidemic prevention materials.

A total of 13.62 million pieces of anti-epidemic materials,     9     (weigh) more than 00,000 tons, have been delivered to Germany, Poland, Belgium and other European countries,    10     has become a “bond of destiny” for countries to join hands in fighting the epidemic.

2 . Some documents have been making the rounds lately — where people who work various positions in different industries share how much they’re paid.

Bravo! It’s about time we blew up that old belief that salaries have to stay secret. This is not just a matter of curiosity. Having information about salaries can help narrow the gender wage gap, which has barely changed for more than a decade. Recently released date from the US Census Bureau shows that, on average, women working full time still are paid only 82 cents for every dollar paid to a man. And the gap is even wider for many women of color: Black women make 62 cents, and Latinas just 54 cents. What’s more, the pay gap even extends into her retirement. Because she earned less and therefore paid less to the social security system, she receives less in social security benefits.

Having greater access to salary information is helping to speed things up. A new research report by the American Association of University Women shows that the wage gap tends to be smaller in job sectors where pay transparency (透明) is a must. For example, among federal government workers, there’s just a 13 percent pay difference between men and women, and in state government, the gap is about 17 percent. But in private, for-profit companies, where salaries are generally kept under wraps, the gender wage gap jumps to 29 percent.

Fortunately, salary information is increasingly available on some websites. Certain companies and many human resources departments are pushing ahead with this practice. Of course, it’s going to take more than salary transparency to equalize earnings between women and men. But sharing salaries can and must be part of the solution. The more information women have about how jobs are valued — and what different people earn — the better they will understand their value in the labor market and be able to push for the pay they deserve.

1. Why are the figures mentioned in paragraph 2?

A．To reveal the severity of gender wage gap.

B．To confirm the previous belief about salaries.

C．To satisfy readers’ curiosity about others’ salaries.

D．To appeal to readers to share their salary information.

2. What is paragraph 3 mainly about?

A．The inequality between men and women.

B．The need to keep salary information a secret.

C．The advantage of working for the government.

D．The benefit of making salary information public.

3. What is the author’s attitude towards sharing salary information?

A．Critical.	B．Favourable.
C．Unclean	D．Negative.

4. Which of the following is the best title for the passage?

A．Why It Pays to Share How Much You Make

B．Where Salary Information Difference Lies

C．What It Takes to Realize Gender Equality

D．How Woman’s Value Improves at Work.

3 . Four stories to inspire you

Flipkart: Flipkart is a well-known e-commerce service provider that delivers the ordered product right from the shop to your doorstep. At first, Flipkart was a book market, but as it kept growing, it now sells almost everything. Its name currently comes in the top 5 global billion-dollar startups (初创公司) with a net cost of $11 billion according to the reports by The Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones VentureSource.

RedBus: RedBus was launched in 2016, and in just five years, the company has grown rapidly. The company works to improve the booking of road transport and hotels via the online platform (平台). Its success is a result of an idea that three businessmen, Charan, Phanindra and Sudhakar came up with when Phanindra couldn’t go back home for a festival without a bus ticket.

Zomato: The company was launched in 2008, and in just 13 years, it has become one of the most known and globally liked food delivery and restaurant rating platforms. It currently covers 331, 200 restaurants in 19 countries. Many don’t know it was originally started as Foodiebay.com. The idea was so good that it was well received within two years of its launch in India and went on to obtain global recognition in another two years.

HestaBit: The company was a tech startup back in 2012 but it has now become one of the leading website development firms. The three founders, Dipanshu Upadhyay, Harshvardhan Lakhera and Prashant Gautam, started the company back in their college days with a little uncertainty and some big dreams. However, since they moved ahead in time, they not only expanded their business across the USA, the UK and India, but gained recognition from famous organizations like Bill.

1. Which startup was inspired by an unpleasant incident?

A．Flipkart.	B．RedBus.
C．Zomato.	D．HestaBit.

2. When was Zomato accepted by people around the world?

A．In 2008.	B．In 2010.
C．In 2012.	D．In 2021.

3. What do we know about HestaBit?

A．It was set up in India in 2012.

B．It was founded to help college students at first.

C．It started with a dream in some young minds.

D．Its founders were classmates at university.

4 . 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。

2021 was a significant year for China as the Communist Party of China (CPC) celebrated the 100th anniversary of its founding. The Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee     1     (hold) in November. It reviewed the Party’s century-long struggle and called on its overall membership     2     (play) a leading role in the pursuit of a better life for the Chinese people.

2021 marked a great year for humanity, as the     3     (explore) of outer space was extensively carried out and achieved new progress: China’s Mars rover Tianwen-1 landed on the red planet. China’s lunar probe Chang’e-4 continues to reveal     4     lies on the far side of the moon, and the nation’s taikonauts have already been living and working in     5     (it) own Tiangong space station.

2021 also proved extraordinary when     6     fight against COVID-19 remained a worldwide focus. Humans were forced to tackle one virus variant after another, from Alpha to Omicron, all     7     (damage) public health, Against that backdrop, China still achieved steady economic growth, contributing greatly     8     the stability of global supply chains. It     9     (provide) nearly 2 billion doses of coronavirus vaccines to more than 100 countries around the globe up to now.

Peace, cooperation, development, and mutual assistance will be China’s key words in the 12     10     (month) ahead. It’s never too late to change. It’s never too late to heal.

5 . 阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容（1个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式。

All 31 provincial-level regions on the Chinese mainland announced    1    (they) economic growth targets for 2022 as of Monday, with most of them    2    (aim) for expansion of 5-7 percent, the latest signal that the Chinese economy as a whole could expand by above 5 per-cent this year despite pressure from COVID- 19 and other    3    (factor).

The epidemic has had a significant impact on consumption but a    4    (relative) limited impact on investment    5    industrial production, analysts said.

“Industrial growth is likely    6    (be) the key to sustaining economic growth. The new-energy sector will lead manufacturing investment to become a major driver. Policies may focus    7     strengthening industry chains to encourage manufacturing investment, ”    8    senior investor and analyst surnamed Cheng based in Shanghai told the Global Times.

Cheng added that “It is expected    9    the annual growth rate of manufacturing investment will reach 11.1 percent. ”

According to local government work reports, provinces    10    (accelerate) the development of transport facilities such as railways and express-ways. Governments will also increase support for upgrading traditional industries to make them high-end, intelligent and green.

6 . Here is some information about POWER PLAYERS. Read on to find more.

TESLA

When Tesla cars came onto the market, there was no national charging network to allow buyers of them to go on long trips, so Tesla built its own, initially offering free access. Today, Tesla has more than 25, 000 fast chargers worldwide. Though it added charging fees in 2017, Tesla insists Super chargers will never become a profit center.

CHARGEPOINT

Founded in 2007, ChargePoint sells car chargers for homes, businesses, and commercial fleets that come with subscription software. A mobile app connects drivers with charging stations, letting bigger customers manage to charge vehicles themselves.

BLINK CHARGING

Blink Charging designs, makes, and owns car charging stations. In addition to selling power to drivers at its public stations, the company sells chargers to homes and businesses.

VOLTA

This company is among the many trying to control the new EV recharging market. Named after Alessandro Volta, inventor of the electric battery, this company has an ad-supported business model that lets it offer charging at many of its stations for free. The company’s strategy is to install (安装) its chargers, which have built-in digital screens for displaying ads, at busy shopping malls and grocery stores.

EVgo

EVgo specializes in DC fast charging, which it believes will bring the greatest profit. The company partners with grocery stores, hotels, and parking lot operators to install its chargers, making money from selling electricity to drivers.

1. Who was Volta named after?

A．The founder of the fast charger.

B．The father of the electric battery.

C．The inventor of the built-in digital screen.

D．The creator of the subscription software.

2. What makes it possible for bigger customers to charge by themselves?

A．A mobile app.	B．A charging center.
C．A built-in digital screen.	D．An ad-supported business model.

3. Which of the following doesn’t want to profit mainly from charging?

A．Evgo.	B．ChargePoint.
C．Blink Charging.	D．Tesla.

7 . 有提示词的空用所给词的正确形式填空，没有提示词的空填写连词。

Factory farming involves     1     (keep) farm animals inside buildings to increase the production of meat or eggs. The main argument for factory farming is that, apart from     2    (be) a lot cheaper than traditional or organic farming, it provides more food for a world population     3     has already reached 7 billion. On the other hand, opponents of factory farming say that it is cruel to the animals, since many farm animals are kept in small spaces     4     they can hardly move. People     5     fight for animal rights claim that these animals suffer terrible stress.

8 . Team up with former enemies

Dozens of Israeli climate-tech companies are teaming up with once-unfriendly neighbors in the Arab world, working together to stop the threat that climate change will render much of their region uninhabitable.

“It's a matter of human existence,” said AI Anoud AI Hashmi, chief executive of the Futurist Company in the UAE, whose government-supported project-management firm has been working with Israeli companies and organizations since the relation-normalization deals were signed.     1     “We need to put the same money, the same commitment that we used for war toward an ecosystem for peace and prosperity in the region.”

Elad Levi, the vice president for the Middle East and Africa for the Israeli company Netafim, agreed that “there's an opportunity to work together.” The company invented the world's first drip-irrigation systems, developed at tiny Kibbutz Hatzerim in Israel's Negev desert, which covers half of the country.

    2     They signed peace treaties with Israel decades ago but their relations with the Jewish state long remained chilly. Last month, Israel announced plans to sell 50 million cubic meters of water a year to Jordan, the largest known water sale in the history of the two countries. The arrangement is possible because of Israel's development of desalination plants, which now supply 80 percent its drinking water.

“It's not out of generosity,” said Gidon Bromberg, the Israeli director of the regions environmental organization Eco-peace. “It's out of an understanding that Jordan is particularly vulnerable.     3    .”

Since the normalization deals, Israeli business with the Arab world has risen quickly. Trade between Israel and Arab countries has grown 234%, according to Israel's Bureau of statistics. He agreements “have opened the floodgates,” said Fleur Hassan-Nahoum, deputy mayor of Jerusalem. She estimated that trade just between Israel and the UAE has reached $1 billion.

In Glasgow, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett pledged net-zero emissions by 2050. In a meeting with Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Bennett announced plans for a climate-change working group focused on water solutions and other regional climate issues.     4    

A．It is Israel's own security needs to help Jordan meet its water needs.

B．Despite Israel's advances in climate technology, scientists warned that decades of governmental neglect have left the country unprepared for the coming crisis.

C．He said Israel was committed to exporting its "brainpower" and experience as its main contribution to the global fight against climate change.

D．Over the years, Israel has used technology to transform the vast desert into an agricultural region where high-tech, water-saving farms grow crops.

E．She insists that the region can no longer afford to spend resources on conflicts.

F．The normalization agreements have also given a boost to Israel's economic ties with Jordan and Egypt.

9 . Emerging (新兴的) economies struggled to grow through the 2010s and pessimism hangs over them now. People wonder how they will pay debts rung up during the Covid-19 pandemic and how they can grow rapidly as they did in the past.

The freshest answer is the fast-spreading digital revolution (革命). Emerging nations are adopting cutting-edge technology at a lower and lower cost, allowing them to fuel domestic demand and overcome traditional barriers to growth. Over the past decade, the number of smartphone owners has skyrocketed worldwide. The world’s emerging markets have already demonstrated the transformative effects of digital technology, which has saved the economy with old industries slowing sharply.

The digital revolution is as advanced in emerging economies as in developed ones. Among the top 30 nations by tax income from digital services as a share of GDP, 16 are in the emerging world. Since 2017, digital tax income has been growing in emerging countries at an average annual pace of 26%, compared with 11% in the developed ones.

How can it be that poorer nations are adopting digital technologies faster than the rich? One explanation is habit and its absence. In societies with plentiful physical stores and services, customers are often comfortable with and slow to abandon the providers they have. Nations lacking in schools, hospitals and banks will jump at the first digital option that comes along and quickly bridge these gaps by establishing online services.

Since 2010, the cost of starting a business has held steady in developed countries while falling sharply in emerging countries, from 66% to just 27% of the average annual income. Businessmen can now launch businesses affordably, organizing much of what they need on a smartphone.

It’s early days, too. Tech revolutions usually last a long time. Innovations like the car and the steam engine were still transforming economies half a century later. While the pandemic is weakening globalization, the age of rapid digitization has just begun. This offers many developing economies a revolutionary new path to catching up with the living standards of the developed world.

1. Where are people more willing to accept digital services?

A．In developed societies.

B．In overpopulated nations.

C．In economies with poor online services.

D．In countries short of basic public facilities.

2. How do businessmen in emerging countries benefit from digital technology?

A．They can pay less tax.

B．They make stable profits.

C．They do business at lower costs.

D．They enjoy a bigger share of the market.

3. Why are “the car and the steam engine” mentioned in the last paragraph?

A．To prove old inventions will finally go out of style.

B．To indicate digitization will have a long-term impact.

C．To explain innovations will take a long time to be adopted.

D．To imply developing countries will overtake developed ones.

4. What’s the best title of the text?

A．The Global Economy Is Looking Up

B．Emerging Economies Struggle in the Pandemic

C．Digital Tech Saves the Declining Emerging Markets

D．Digital Service Is Progressing Slowly in Rich Countries

10 . Gov. Kathy Hochul's proposal to allow restaurants to sell drinks to go with reasonable limitations was met with great enthusiasm all across New York. But New York's liquor (酒) stores have already begun a campaign of misinformation in an effort to block this.

Their basic argument is that the governor's proposal will result in an increase in underage sales, drunken driving, or any other public health problems. However, they throw these statements around without offering any support for their claims — because there is none.

While the liquor stores frequently claim that the laws have been unchanged since the abolishment (废除) of Prohibition in 1934, in just the past 20 years the rules governing liquor stores have been changed, permitting the use of online third-party delivery services and allowing stores to open on Sundays. Restaurant advocates didn't oppose these expanded privileges because they didn't have a significant impact on restaurant sales.

What hasn't changed of the law since Prohibition is the restriction on new liquor store licenses that give liquor stores a geographic territorial monopoly (垄断) to protect them from competition. Under typical circumstances, the State Liquor Authority will only issue a new liquor store license if the nearby stores report steadily increasing sales. However anti-competitive and outdated this restriction may be, it does serve as a protection against their concerns — in the very unlikely event they come to pass.

Economically, the pandemic has been a major help to the liquor store business. Before the pandemic, liquor stores sold 76% of all liquor in New York State and now they sell nearly 85%. And remember, during this period, restaurants were allowed drinks-to-go sales, showing their false claims of economic collapse are not grounded in reality or experience. The sales shift from restaurants to liquor stores over the past two years demonstrates clearly that restaurants have lost sales to liquor stores — we just want to stop the bleeding. While the restaurant industry rebounded for a part of 2021, employment still remains more than 20% below pre-pandemic levels.

1. Why did liquor stores oppose the proposal according to the author?

A．Threat to public health.	B．Boost of underage sales.
C．Concerns about their sales.	D．Limitations to drinks to go.

2. What can be inferred from the fourth paragraph?

A．Liquor stores are in a dog-eat-dog world.

B．Prohibition makes liquor stores dead in the water.

C．The number of liquor stores is under control.

D．What liquor stores worry about is reasonable.

3. What does the underlined word “their” in the last paragraph refer to?

A．Restaurants.	B．Governors.
C．New Yorkers.	D．Liquor stores.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．Let restaurants sell drinks to go.

B．Defend liquor stores privileges.

C．Liquor industry is losing money.

D．Restaurants are racing with liquor stores.