A parent’s nightmare turned to relief in Florida as policemen swiftly rescued a missing five-year-old girl with autism. The local police launched a desperate search,
2 . It was hard not to notice an 8-year-old kid storming in and out of his own house. “He doesn’t have a father,” said his neighbor, William Dunn. “I can probably do something for him.”
That something was fishing, a
Just as important as the fishing are the
Dunn’s father passed away this year, so fishing has
| A．case | B．passion | C．duty | D．goal |
| A．difficult | B．dramatic | C．adventurous | D．boring |
| A．remembered | B．regretted | C．recorded | D．appreciated |
| A．Entertained | B．Shocked | C．Inspired | D．Confused |
| A．nearby | B．around | C．ahead | D．throughout |
| A．identities | B．agreements | C．relationships | D．opinions |
| A．toughness | B．dependence | C．sharpness | D．defense |
| A．require | B．deserve | C．lead | D．secure |
| A．left behind | B．turned into | C．carried out | D．taken on |
| A．curious | B．nervous | C．lucky | D．hesitant |
3 . During the first weeks of his retirement from the fire service, Max had felt lost. And that’s when Polly, a library manager, helped him sign up as a
Max hadn’t volunteered before and he didn’t know anything about
Glancing around the library at the many parents and carers accompanying the robot builders, Max knew he had to face this
“Okay, team,” he started
The children nodded, their hands busy with screws and plastic limbs. Max wandered from table to table,
An hour passed, and the room was filled with the sound of chatter and clinking parts. As the final minutes of Robot Club ticked away, Max stood back and
As they began to leave, many children stopped to thank Max. Each “thank you” and “see you next week” chipped away at the sense of
| A．volunteer | B．writer | C．builder | D．fireman |
| A．books | B．programs | C．children | D．robots |
| A．searching | B．waiting | C．reading | D．arguing |
| A．competition | B．consequence | C．challenge | D．conflict |
| A．calmly | B．coldly | C．casually | D．weakly |
| A．processing | B．offering | C．exchanging | D．understanding |
| A．surveyed | B．cleaned | C．decorated | D．left |
| A．bringing up | B．calling on | C．showing off | D．giving away |
| A．freedom | B．relief | C．loss | D．guilt |
| A．version | B．belief | C．approach | D．purpose |
4 . It was 4:30 pm. As I was packing up, I noticed my colleague had left his laptop bag in the office. So I decided to bring it to him. It took me about 15 minutes to get to his house, where I
Suddenly a snowstorm came and within minutes I was in a whiteout. I stopped because I was afraid of driving into a farmer’s field, or worse. I kept the car
Those seconds after the call were
I texted my colleague, joking about my good deed ending in
Waiting in the car, I doubted whether
At 8 pm, I saw a tall figure in a yellow raincoat striding toward me in the dark, carrying a flashlight. I’d never been more
He turned around and started to trudge through the snow, sure of the direction. I drove behind him, feeling my heart begin to beat more
The experience has been a game changer for me. I now
| A．dropped off | B．filled up | C．set aside | D．put away |
| A．locked | B．parked | C．signaling | D．running |
| A．painful | B．critical | C．disappointing | D．impressive |
| A．failure | B．smoke | C．disaster | D．mystery |
| A．route | B．location | C．direction | D．destination |
| A．news | B．help | C．hope | D．faith |
| A．satisfied | B．surprised | C．relieved | D．worried |
| A．slowly | B．excitedly | C．nervously | D．strongly |
| A．recognition | B．admiration | C．satisfaction | D．appreciation |
| A．identify | B．present | C．approach | D．anticipate |
5 . When you get in a car, you expect it will have functioning brakes. When you pick up medicine at the drugstore, you expect it won’t be polluted. But it wasn’t always like this. The safety of these products was terrible when they first came to market. It took much research and regulation to figure out how users can enjoy the benefits of these products without getting harmed.
Social media risks are everywhere. The dangers that algorithms designed to maximize attention represent to teens have become impossible to ignore. Other product design elements, often called “dark patterns,” designed to keep people using for longer, also appear to tip young users into social media overuse.
Despite these efforts, two things are clear. First, online safety problems are leading to real, offline suffering. Second, social media companies can’t, or won’t, solve these safety problems on their own.
| A．And those problems aren’t going away. |
| B．The current issues aren’t really about offline suffering. |
| C．Platforms already have systems to remove violent or harmful content. |
| D．Similarly, social media needs product safety standards to keep users safe. |
| E．It’s time we should require social media to take safety seriously, for everyone’s sake. |
| F．Internet platforms, however, have shifted blame on the consumers whenever criticized. |
| G．Some authorities are taking steps to hold social media platforms accountable for the content. |
6 . With all the dietary information online, it can be hard to know what tips to follow. Watch out for these words and expressions.
Fat Is Good
It doesn’t matter if you are part of the fat is GOOD for you or BAD for you group, the important question to ask is the source of the fat. If it comes from a land-based animal, and is likely to be solid at room temperature, then it is saturated (饱和的) fat whereas if it comes from fish or plants, and it is likely to be liquid at room temperature, then it is unsaturated fat. All the evidence indicates that eating more unsaturated fat than saturated fat lowers your risk of dying early.
Natural Sugar Is Better
The vast majority of sugar we consume is sucrose (蔗糖). It is the white powdered stuff we cook with and is made up of glucose and fructose. How about sugar from honey? It is often marketed as natural and better for you. Actually, it just has its own distinct flavour, but is as sweet because of glucose and fructose.
High-pH Water
Some people think we need to eat alkali (碱) food to maintain our blood at a pH of 7.4. But everything we eat or drink passes through the stomach, which, at a pH of 1.5, is the most acidic part of the body. It is then neutralised to a pH of 7. So, nothing we eat will change the pH of our blood.
Don’t Eat Anything That You Can’t Pronounce
Whether foods are natural or highly processed, they are all full of chemicals. Are you supposed to fear “phenylthiocarbamide”, because you can’t pronounce it? This is simply the chemical responsible for the bitter taste found in brassicas, the plants in the cabbage and mustard family.
Don’t Eat Food With More Than Five Ingredients(佐料)
Simple foods are not necessarily healthier for you. If I, for instance, use Chinese five spice powder in a recipe, that would count as one of the five ingredients. However, what if I added the typical components of five spice powder separately into a dish? Does that mean my recipe suddenly becomes bad because it has more than five ingredients?
1. According to the passage, healthier fat ______.| A．can be found in fish and plants | B．comes from land-based animals |
| C．remains solid at room temperature | D．can lower the death rate of elders |
| A．diets can help adjust the pH of our blood | B．honey sugar can do more good than sucrose |
| C．foods with more ingredients may be as healthy | D．chemicals we can recognize are safer to take in |
| A．To compare tips on food choices. | B．To introduce different health concepts. |
| C．To recommend fitness recipes to readers. | D．To warn us of some dietary misunderstandings. |
7 . Abeid was born in a village of Tanzania and dreamt of flying a plane, soaring (翱翔) through the sky. Due to financial difficulties, he became a wildlife guide instead.
Abeid didn’t give up. He became a chief pilot of hot air ballooning at the age of 20. His passion for flying was matched by his skill both as a pilot and as a guide. Then, he came up with the idea of flying across the Serengeti from east to west, which would take four flights on successive days, taking off and landing where no one had ever seen a balloon before.
As a journalist, I was so lucky to make a journey with Abeid. We were up at 3 am. Abeid walked into the basket and checked the lines and the fastenings. Moments later, he was instructing me to get into it. With barely time to catch my breath, he gave a long blast (猛吹) on the burners and the basket tipped upright.
Over the following days, we gasped at the joy and wonder of the sky; at the beauty and complexity of the land beneath us. There was no fear, just a sense of being part of something fantastic as we floated in the silence of the African sky.
But not everything went entirely to Abeid’s carefully worked-out plan. The rains that had started to fall every afternoon slowed the air. On the final day, we landed 20km short of the destination. Luckily, we finally made the crossing the next morning.
When we were returning to the land, crowds of people shouted and waved. Many children looked up as we flew over them, and started to run. As Abeid brought the balloon down, people gathered around the balloon, pressing against the basket. Those children were also there, flushed and breathless, eyes wide with amazement. Abeid and I both looked at each other in silent agreement. Suddenly we were helping some children into the basket. Abeid lifted off and we flew just a few hundred metres with the excited crowd running alongside.
I realized that Abeid’s journey was more than just about flying. It was about hope, inspiration, and the joy of sharing one’s passion. And as I penned down the last words of this extraordinary experience, I knew that Abeid’s story would resonate (回荡) far beyond the Serengeti.
1. What did Abeid dream of?| A．Being a wildlife guide. | B．Being a journalist. |
| C．Flying a hot air balloon. | D．Flying a plane. |
| A．Smooth. | B．Pioneering. | C．Painful. | D．Eco-friendly. |
| A．Showing their technical skills. | B．Teaching the children to be a pilot. |
| C．Taking the children for a ride. | D．Attracting people to their show. |
| A．A Beautiful View: from East to West |
| B．A Balloon Adventure: the Dream Soaring High |
| C．Different Job Experiences: from a Guide to a Pilot |
| D．A Wildlife Exploration: the Unforgettable Experience |
8 . For decades, scientists thought of the brain as the most closely guarded organ. Locked safely behind a biological barrier, away from the disorder of the rest of the body, it was broadly free of destruction of germs (病菌) and the battles started by the immune system.
Then, 20-odd years ago, some researchers began to ask a question: is the brain really so separate? The answer, according to a growing body of evidence, is no — and has important effects on both science and health care.
The list of brain conditions that have been associated with changes elsewhere in the body is long and growing. Changes in the make-up of the microorganisms resident in the gut (肠道), for example, have been linked to disorders like Parkinson’s disease. Some researchers think that certain infections could provoke Alzheimer’s disease and some could lead to emotional disorder in babies.
The effect is two-way. There is a lengthening list of symptoms (症状) not typically viewed as disorders of the nervous system in which the brain and the neural processes that connect it to the body play a large part. For example, the development of a fever is influenced by a population of neurons (神经元) that control body temperature and appetite. The effect of brain on body is underlined by the finding that stimulating a particular brain region in mice can ‘remind’ the body of previous inflammation (炎症) — and reproduce them.
These findings and others mark a complete shift in our view of the interconnectedness of brain and body, and could help us both understand and treat illness. If some brain conditions start outside the brain, then perhaps cures for them could also reach in from outside. Treatments that take effect through the digestive system, heart or other organs, for instance, would be much easier and less striking to give than those that must cross the blood-brain barrier, the brain’s first line of defence.
In the opposite direction, the effects of our emotions or mood on our capacity to recover from illness could also be used. There is an opening work under way testing whether stimulating certain areas of the brain that respond to reward and produce feelings of positivity could enhance recovery from conditions such as heart attacks. Perhaps even more exciting is the possibility that making changes to our behaviour — to reduce stress, say — could have similar benefits.
For neuroscientists, it’s time to look beyond the brain. And clinicians treating the body mustn’t assume the brain is above getting involved — its activity could be influencing a wide range of conditions, from mild infections to long-time fatness.
1. The author writes paragraph 1 mainly to ______.| A．evaluate an argument |
| B．present an assumption |
| C．summarize the structure |
| D．provide the background |
| A．Delay. | B．Cure. | C．Cause. | D．Disturb. |
| A．Treatments that cross brain-blood barrier are less used. |
| B．Previous diseases could cause the production of new ones. |
| C．Emotions could affect the capacity to fight against diseases. |
| D．Treatment of the brain takes priority over other treatments. |
I: Introduction P: Point Sp: Sub-point (次要点) C: Conclusion
A． | B． |
C． | D． |
9 . As biologist Nicola Foster and her colleagues guided a remote-controlled monitor through the coral reefs (珊瑚礁) of the Indian Ocean’s Chagos Archipelago, they saw corals full of color near the surface. But nearly 300 feet below, in the darker and colder waters of what oceanographers call the “twilight zone,” some corals had turned terrible white, leaving them vulnerable (脆弱的) to disease and death.
“It wasn’t something we were expecting to see,” says Foster, who studies deeperwater coral ecosystems called mesophotic reefs. Mesophotic reefs would seem to be protected from rising sea-surface temperatures that white n higher-up corals. But this team’s 2019 observations show the deepest instance of bleaching (变白) ever recorded — suggesting similar reefs are more vulnerable than previously believed.
Bleaching often happens when warming water boosts corals to remove the colorful algae (水藻) that live in their tissues and help to sustain them. Although surface waters weren’t typically warm when Foster and her team took their measurements, the twilight zone waters neared 84 degrees Fahrenheit (华氏度) — far above the 68-to 75-degree range in which mesophotic corals are used to.
The researchers realized that bleaching is related to the timing of the Indian Ocean Dipole. This phenomenon shifts the region’s surface winds and ocean currents, says study co-author Phil Hosegood. Wind and waves shake the upper ocean, keeping it relatively warm and uniform in temperature. But the 2019 dipole deepened this well-mixed upper layer; the thermocline (the slice of ocean that separates warm upper waters from the cold depths) had become deeper than normal. Then, those corals were exposed to temperatures that are normally found at the surface.
This observation suggests mesophotic reefs elsewhere could also be bleaching. Fortunately, the corals in this study had largely recovered their color by 2022, Foster notes. But each bleaching stresses the corals and, if extended, can starve them. Future Indian Ocean Dipole patterns are likely to be more severe, Hosegood says, noting that data suggest “that these natural cycles are becoming increased with climate change.”
1. What are the first two paragraphs mainly about?| A．Corals in twilight zone become vulnerable because of bleaching. |
| B．Corals normally found at the surface were found in twilight zone. |
| C．Mesophotic reefs are much more vulnerable than higher-up reefs. |
| D．Mesophotic reefs and higher-up reefs need different temperature. |
A． | B． |
C． | D． |
| A．excited | B．worried | C．curious | D．hopeful |
10 . At the end of the day, most of us find ourselves on the couch, eyes glued to the television or to our smartphones, doing everything we can to conserve energy.
According to Michael Inzlicht, a social psychologist at the University of Toronto, we’re lazy and also, we’re not.
All humans, given equal options, will take the easy way out. Does it mean we’re lazy? Maybe.
But there are the times when humans are the opposite of lazy and do very difficult things for no apparent reason. Some rewards only come from extensive effort.
So, in that sense, effort is worth the effort. While humans are economically aware of effort most of the time, “in some cases, the effort itself is rewarding,” says Inzlicht.
| A．Think about things like running a marathon. |
| B．It’s not completely clear why humans behave this way. |
| C．It seems that we humans are gifted in the way of laziness. |
| D．We similarly love to space out, our brain tired of focusing. |
| E．But it certainly means that we’re economic with our effort. |
| F．Some people who appear to be lazy are suffering from much more serious problems. |
| G．Likewise, we might get a sense of pleasure or mastery from doing a crossword puzzle. |
