1 . In the 17th century when a British businessman heard that there were one hundred million people in China, he was determined to go there and sell spoons. He thought even if he could earn one penny for one spoon, he would still make a lot of money.
Then, why do the Chinese people use chopsticks? Some people did research on the origin of China’s chopsticks. One theory is that chopsticks were very convenient for Chinese to use because China was an agricultural society, relying mainly on vegetables for food. When we steamed or boiled food, it was difficult for us to use spoons to dip vegetables in the soup.
Chopsticks reflect gentleness and kindness, the main moral teaching of Confucianism.
Today, chopsticks have become a typical part of Chinese culture, symbolising the power of unity.
| A．As a result, spoons were designed and preferred by Westerners. |
| B．But to his surprise, the Chinese people use chopsticks, not spoons. |
| C．Therefore, Chinese people cleverly invented chopsticks to pick food. |
| D．Besides, never point at people with your chopsticks while using them. |
| E．Indeed, one chopstick is useless and so delicate that it can be broken readily. |
| F．So these virtues have gradually become the rules people follow in their daily life. |
| G．There are some rules about using chopsticks that you should pay great attention to. |
2 . Will chatbots that can generate fascinating articles destroy education as we know it?
New York City’s Department of Education recently banned (禁止) the use of ChatGPT. “While the tool may be able to provide quick and easy answers to questions,” says the official statement, “it does not build critical-thinking skills, which are necessary for academic and lifelong success.”
Banning such use of technology from the classroom is a nearsighted response. Instead, we must find a way forward in which such technologies combine well with, rather than replace, student thinking.
Banning ChatGPT is impossible in practice. Students will find ways around the ban, which will cause a further defensive response from teachers and administrators, and so on. It’s hard to believe that a close race between those digital natives and their educators will end in a decisive victory for the latter. In fact, chatbots may well speed up a trend (趋向) toward valuing critical thinking. In a world where computers can fluently answer any question, students need to get much better at deciding what questions to ask and how to fact-check the answers the program generates.
So how do we encourage young people to use their minds when real thinking is so hard to tell apart from its simulacrum (假象)? Teachers, of course, will still want to watch students taking old-fashioned, in-person, no-chatbot-allowed exams to check that they do not cheat.
But we must also figure out how to do something new: how to use tools like GPT to inspire deeper thinking. GPT often generates text that is fluent and “reasonable” — but wrong. So using it requires the same mental heavy lifting that writing does: forming an opinion, creating an outline, picking which points to explain and which to drop, and looking for supporting facts. GPT can help with those tasks, but it can’t put them all together. Writing a good essay still requires lots of human thought and work. Indeed, writing is thinking, and good writing is good thinking.
One approach is to focus on the process as much as the result. For instance, teachers might require four drafts of an essay. After all, as John McPhee, the famous writer, said, “the central nature of the process is revision.” Each draft gets feedback from the teacher, from peers or even from a chatbot. Then the students produce the next draft, and so on.
Will AI one day outperform human beings in thinking? Maybe, but for now, we must think for ourselves. Like any tool, GPT is an enemy of thinking only if we fail to find ways to make it our partner.
1. How does the author feel about the ban?| A．Understandable. | B．Irresponsible. | C．Unwise. | D．Necessary. |
| A．Because students are digitally fluent. | B．Because schools will defend the ban. |
| C．Because ChatGPT will keep developing. | D．Because people treasure critical thinking. |
| A．By quoting others. | B．By presenting facts. | C．By giving examples. | D．By showing similarities. |
| A．Is GPT a process or a result? | B．Will GPT outperform students? |
| C．Why Chatbots become a new trend? | D．How can Chatbots serve education? |
3 . Hibernation is not just sleep. While we sleep, our brains fire up and become highly active; in hibernation, on the contrary, brain activity completely slows down. The body temperature of hibernating animals also drops, in some cases close to the freezing point. Cells (细胞) stop dividing and heart rate decreases to two beats per minute. Yet, once it’s time to wake up, hibernating animals come back to life without any significant side effects like freezing, muscle loss, or loss of bone density during the long winter months. The same, however, can’t be said about people who wake up from long-term medical comas (昏迷), or even those who have to stay in bed for long periods of time. Such people, just like astronauts in microgravity, would suffer from a wide range of side effects that come from not actively using their bodies.
Scientists are therefore looking into hibernation research with the aim of developing ways to cause hibernation in future space astronauts. Recently, Kelly Drew, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry, has been rewarded for his research.
The idea is that rather than having astronauts sit for months in a tiny Mars-bound capsule, consuming food, water and air, and gradually wasting away from not doing much in microgravity, a part of the crew members could be placed into hibernation. The hibernating astronauts wouldn’t need any food or water and could manage with much less air — yet they would wake up with their bones and muscles in a much better condition than those of their awake counterparts.
“This research could be used to help future missions, from the extreme of medically caused hibernation for long term space missions, protecting astronauts from cabin fever, radiation, and much more,” he said. “It could also prove effective in preventing muscle and bone loss in zero gravity.”
The state of hibernation could also help in the medical setting to help protect patients suffering from life-threatening conditions such as heart attacks and strokes.
“This could mean that patients who have suffered from a stroke or heart attack could be placed in medically caused hibernation until they can be transported to a hospital to receive care, which could significantly improve medical outcomes,” the scientist said.
1. What is mainly talked about in Paragraph 1?| A．The working principles of hibernation. | B．The unique features of hibernation. |
| C．The major reasons for hibernation. | D．The side effects of hibernation. |
| A．Bones and muscles. | B．Brains. | C．Astronauts. | D．Patients. |
| A．Study hibernating animals in space missions. | B．Find ways to put people into hibernation. |
| C．Improve medical treatments for patients. | D．Seek cures for life-threatening diseases. |
4 . Family days out can be expensive but it’s possible to stick to a budget during the summer holidays by taking advantage of the following activities.
Outdoor activities
At Brimham Rocks, there is a one-hour rock explorer activity on 14 July. The activity is free, although car-parking charges apply for non-National Trust members.
While getting out into nature has lots of benefits, sometimes you need an extra activity to keep things interesting. For example, the Woodland Trust is hosting a tree planting event at Yonder Oak Wood, near Exmouth in Devon. There are morning and afternoon sessions on 18 and 19 July. It is free to attend but online booking ahead of time is essential.
Rainham Marshes, the RSPB nature reserve in Purfleet, Essex, is running an arts programme for children aged three to ten on 14 July. You can sign up online and tickets cost £3. It is also hosting pond-dipping activities on 15 July (up to £5.50).
Arts, crafts and museums
For Londoners or those visiting the capital during the holiday, the Southbank Centre is hosting the Imagine Children’s Festival (until 18 July), where many events are free, including hip-hop dance workshops, and live music shows. The Tate Modern is hosting Threads, a free family event running from 11—19 July where you work together to create your own artwork using colorful threads and textiles.
The Royal Air Force Museum London (free entry) in Hendon has a range of free activities on offer over the same dates, including a robot-coding workshop, a radar maths challenge and tote bag making. And the Victoria and Albert Museum in South Kensington is running free Chinese themed events including a drop-in workshop for families where you make a traditional Chinese kite (15—17 July).
1. Where is the tree planting event held?| A．At Brimham Rocks. | B．At Yonder Oak Wood. |
| C．In RSPB nature reserve. | D．In the Southbank Centre. |
| A．Take dance classes. | B．Create an artwork. | C．Learn robot-coding. | D．Make a Chinese kite. |
| A．artists | B．teachers | C．guides | D．parents |
5 . Gus White was driving home from work when he spotted a pair of dogs in the flash of his headlights. It was snowing so hard. What were they doing out here, when it was too
Then he called the
As a boy, Gus had dreamed of owning dogs but
It’s a simple story but it speaks to the best of our
| A．wet | B．late | C．windy | D．cold |
| A．reached out | B．spread out | C．gave out | D．pushed out |
| A．handed | B．took | C．sent | D．donated |
| A．police | B．passenger | C．name | D．number |
| A．important | B．fearless | C．friendly | D．homeless |
| A．keeping | B．curing | C．attending | D．training |
| A．shop | B．shelter | C．park | D．street |
| A．leave | B．adopt | C．separate | D．treat |
| A．unwillingly | B．casually | C．repeatedly | D．hardly |
| A．power | B．nature | C．knowledge | D．worth |
| extinct definite equip usual energy |
2. Never go climbing without the proper
3. The boy’s
4. Many endangered species are now facing the danger of
5. It was an amazing atmosphere —
| decorate beyond generous intelligent function keep track of try out adapt to |
2. The machine doesn’t
3. After 30 years, the town has changed
4. Anyone with musical talent can
5. When important festivals approach, we will
6. Every time I go out for a walk, I use this app to
7. To become an astronaut, you must be
8. Scientists are concerned that it’s difficult for animals to
THE GROWING PROBLEM OF E-WASTE
The term e-waste is short for “electronic waste”. It refers to electrical or electronic products that are thrown away when they are no longer needed. These include computers, televisions, ovens, and basically anything else that runs on batteries or has an electrical cord.
E-waste has been a problem since the 1970s because of how difficult it is to separate things like metal and plastic from various products. Also, many electronics contain toxic materials that can pollute the environment if left in landfills. Over the past few decades, the problem of e-waste has only increased along with advancements in technology.
E-waste is now the fastest-growing waste stream around the world. The total amount of e-waste created every year is expected to reach 74 million tons by the year 2030. Currently, it’s estimated that only about 17 percent of global e-waste is properly recycled. However, the United Nations hopes to bring that number up to 30 percent by the end of 2023.
With more people using smartphones and computers every year, the problem of e-waste cannot be ignored. To increase the recycling rate of e-waste items, cities should consider adding special collection boxes at grocery stores or government offices. There should also be delivery or pick-up services for e-waste items. That way, these items can be sent directly to people who are able to properly take them apart and recover their useful components.
Despite current difficulties, e-waste has great recycling potential. In addition to the items thrown away, lots of people keep old devices that aren’t used anymore. As a whole, they add up to a lot of metals and minerals that can, and should, be recycled. If these components are recycled to make new products, there would be less of a need to dig for more around the world.
So, if you must replace your phone or computer, try returning the device to the manufacturer or dropping it off at an e-waste processing facility if there is one nearby.
1. What does “electronic waste” refer to?2. What is Paragraph 2 mainly about?
3. Decide which part of the following statement is wrong. Underline it and explain why.
▶In order to reduce e-waste, people had better keep old devices that aren’t used anymore or drop them off in special collection boxes.
4. Apart from the ways mentioned in the passage, please share your way(s) to reduce e-waste. (About 40 words)
9 . Do you feel like you can remember things better when you actively engage with the information and create your own version of it?
Tests on the generation effect show that when users encounter a list of words presented in the form of fragments (片段), they will engage several areas of the brain to create words to fill in the blanks.
Teachers and instructors need to be aware of the role the generation effect can play in the classroom. Students who just receive written material they can read may not understand it as fully as students who engage with it by taking notes, completing writing exercises, and so forth.
In a word, it all boils down to active learning versus passive learning. Spending a few minutes actively producing content may just be the thing you were missing in your learning routine.
| A．That’s called the Generation Effect. |
| B．For students, the generation effect can also be important. |
| C．When they are asked to repeat the list later, their recall will be better. |
| D．A common example of the generation effect can be seen in spelling lessons for young students. |
| E．The simple act of writing can trigger(激发) the generation effect and help the students perform better on examinations. |
| F．They will find that actively using new information may create relationships between tasks in examinations. |
| G．The process of generating content may initiate some particular encoding (编码) processes that do not happen when simply reading. |
10 . Overly technical language in science articles doesn’t just muddy the waters for non-experts—it can alienate readers, potentially shutting them out from scientific discussion and knowledge. That’s the conclusion of a study published in the Journal of Language and Social Psychology, and it applies to general-interest articles just as much as to scientific papers.
“When we have a hard time conceptualizing information, we become really scared of it,” says lead author Hillary Shulman, a communication researcher. Scientists can create “unnecessary barriers” with words, she says. The study involved 650 members of the general public who read paragraphs on three cutting-edge topics: self-driving cars, robotic surgery and 3D bio-printing. The members are divided into two groups: for the experimental group, the paragraphs were loaded with jargon terms (行业术语), such as “remote ergonomic console”; for the control group, the paragraphs were written with words that are familiar to most readers, such as “separate control panel”.
After reading the passages, the study participants rated their experience in a series of questionnaires. Those who read jargon-filled paragraphs were more likely to say that they had difficulty understanding the language and the information. They were also significantly more likely to say that they weren’t good at science, and less likely to say that they would seek out information on the topic in the future. Some of the participants who read the jargon- heavy text received links to definitions of technical terms, but that didn’t reduce their frustrations or enhance their feelings of understanding.
Scientists can learn to cut back on their use of technical language when talking to people who are not researchers, says Ayelet Baram-Tsabari, a science-communication researcher. She co-authored a January study showing that scientists with media training can write articles that are just as engaging as pieces written by professional journalists. “Avoiding jargon is a fundamental part of that, but it’s not the whole story,” she says. To really connect with the public, she recommends that scientists tell a story that’s relevant to the audience. Members of the public aren’t the only ones who can be turned off by jargon, Shulman says. Students can be, too. “I teach a class with 400 undergrads,” she says. “When you’re training people, you can introduce jargon with a little more sensitivity. You’re trying to invite them into the environment.”
Of course, technical words still have an important function in science. Shulman’s paper is itself heavily loaded with terms such as “metacognition” and “self-schema”. “The irony of that is not lost on me,” she says. “When it comes to scientific literature, you can’t get anything published unless it’s full of jargon. Scientists want to speak to other scientists in the most precise way possible.”
1. In the study, participants in the experimental group probably find themselves ______.| A．lacking in elementary reading skills |
| B．uninterested in reading definitions of jargon |
| C．incompetent to deal with complex information |
| D．not confident about grasping new science topics |
| A．publicize science in a more accessible way |
| B．receive the training for professional journalists |
| C．limit jargon in communication with each other |
| D．conduct extensive research related to the public |
| A．Disadvantageous. | B．Shameful. |
| C．Unavoidable. | D．Tricky. |
