1 . Why Boundaries at Work Are Essential

What is a boundary, you ask? A boundary is a limit defining you in relation to someone or something.     1     If you have informed someone that this is your office space, your desk, or your chair, you have attempted to set physical boundaries.

Letting co-workers know you are not comfortable shaking their hands or hugging them at a holiday party, especially with Covid at this time, is another example of setting a physical boundary. It is often easier to understand a physical boundary. Emotional or mental boundaries may be subtler (更微妙的).     2    

Emotional boundaries are related to our feelings and how something or someone’s behavior affects us. For example, if a boss treats you disrespectfully by yelling at you or a colleague frequently interrupts you in meetings, you are likely to feel hurt, embarrassed, and perhaps angry. Understandably, by having a courageous conversation with both your boss and co-worker about their behavior, the impact it has on you, and your expectations regarding future behavior, you are setting healthy emotional boundaries for yourself at work.

Sometimes we set a boundary that is a combination of both a physical and emotional one.     3     One example of this is being repeatedly asked to work late during the week/weekends or while on vacation. Another example is being required to see too many clients or patients to the point we feel tired at the end of the day and exhausted by Friday. Often, the above workplace demands lead to increased stress and a high potential for burnout (倦怠) over time.

Mental boundaries are related to our beliefs, values, cultural norms, ethics (道德), and standards. For example, you value a workplace culture that treats employees and clients with respect and dignity and acts ethically. After six months, you realize that company leaders are repeatedly behaving in ways not consistent with this.     4     Over time, this may lead to significant stress and physical symptoms within.

    5     Boundaries serve many functions. They help protect us, clarify our responsibility, preserve our physical and emotional energy, and live our values and standards. Learning the skill of boundary setting helps empower us to prioritize our values and well-being and better manage our stress. Identifying, setting, and maintaining boundaries are skills — valuable skills that, unfortunately, we are often not taught in school or the workplace.

A．Why are boundaries important?

B．However, they are equally, if not more, important.

C．Therefore, we need to tell the difference between them.

D．Setting a boundary in the above example may be quite helpful.

E．Boundaries can be physical, mental, emotional, tangible, or intangible.

F．Your values and ethical standards don’t match with your company’s, which likely will lead to internal conflict.

G．Such boundaries often involve being asked to do more than we feel capable of for an extended period of time.

2 . We’ve heard for years that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. But, it actually might be even more important than previously thought, according to a study published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, which examined the effects of skipping meals and meal frequency as related to mortality (死亡率) and heart health.

The study, which was published in August of last year, sought to find out if eating behaviors like meal frequency, meal skipping, and time between meals were associated with all-cause and cardiovascular disease (CVD) mortality.

The study consisted of 24,011 adults 40 years or older who participated from 1999 to 2014. Researchers looked at various eating behaviors of participants who self-reported their eating habits every 24 hours. Causes of death were tracked via death records through December 31, 2015.

After examining participants throughout the years, researchers found that certain eating behaviors were in fact linked to higher rates of premature death. Eating only one meal per day was associated with an increased risk of all-cause and CVD mortality while skipping breakfast was linked to an increased risk of CVD mortality, and skipping lunch or dinner was linked to an increased risk of all-cause mortality. Lastly, the study found that having meals too closely together (less than four and half hours apart) was also linked to all-cause premature death.

So, what does this mean for the average person? “At the end of the day what matters is that an individual can meet their nutritional needs for optimal (最佳) health,” explains Keri Gans, author of The Small Change Diet, “and breakfast typically is a good vehicle for nutrients associated with a decrease in cardiovascular risk, such as fiber and vitamins”. “If by eliminating meals they are missing out on important nutrients their body needs, then long term that can be harmful to their health,” leads to a “higher risk for certain cancers and heart disease,” she says.

While this study was large and comprehensive in many ways, there are also many limitations. It was mostly based on a 24-hour, self-reported dietary recall, “which may not always be the best method for dietary assessment,” explains Gans. “The participants may not accurately recall what they ate or honestly report it leading to the potential of misinformation.” Researchers noted that it was impossible to consider the role of sleep in the relationship between food and mortality, as well as a host of other unmeasured factors.

The bottom line is that while these findings about the relationships between meal skipping and mortality are important, there are a lot more factors that go into premature death.

1. What are mainly discussed in Paragraphs 3 and 4?

A．Research process and findings	B．The cause and findings
C．Research subjects and purpose	D．The topic and significance

2. What does the underlined word “eliminating” in Paragraph 5 most probably mean?

A．Reducing.

B．Overeating.

C．Skipping.

D．Consuming.

3. What can we infer from the study?

A．Its limitations are fully taken into account in the study.

B．Consuming adequate nutrients is the key to maintain overall health.

C．The risk of all-cause premature death is unrelated to skipping dinner.

D．Researchers learned about eating behaviors by observing the participants.

4. What is the author’s attitude towards skipping breakfast?

A．Favorable.

B．Unconcerned.

C．Skeptical.

D．Disapproving.

3 . 阅读下列短文，根据短文内容填空。在未给提示词的空白处仅填写1个适当的单词，在给出提示词的空白处用括号内所给词的正确形式填空。

I decided to volunteer for this year’s half-marathon after the chairman of the organizing committee     1     (visit) my school. For the previous weeks, I had been trained on     2     to be a volunteer for it.

The exciting race began, Cathy and I waited patiently until word spread that the first runners would be arriving soon, we     3     (quick) poured water into the cups for them. After the last runner passed, Cathy and I started clearing up. Tired and wet with sweat, we felt good.

4 . GREAT BOOKS TO TEACH CHILDREN ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE

Here is a shortened list of books sponsored by the magazines TIME and TIME for Kids that are suitable for primary schoolers. To make the list, we considered how age-appropriate the material was, and whether the tone and story line left the reader feeling engaged and empowered rather than anxious or confused.

Experts recommend the youngest kids to read books that explore the beauty and fragility (脆弱) of nature. When developing an appreciation for the world around them, they can switch to books that show the cause and effect of how humans treat our planet, and why it’s important to respect the environment. For older primary school kids, picture books can illustrate how our use of fossil (化石) fuels contributes to global warming. Most of the books on the list also offer lessons about how children, families, schools, and communities can make a difference.

THANK YOU, EARTH: A LOVE LETTER TO OUR PLANET By April Pulley Sayre This photography book shows to us plants, animals and landscapes in vivid colors and descriptions. From up-close images of insects to pictures of mountain ranges, the pages introduce children to the planets’ diversity in a simple but effective way.	THE LORAX By Dr. Seuss Thanks to its rhyme, and whimsical illustration, this classic tale is suitable for young children who can grasp the scarcity of natural resources, and also older kids who can see a danger in valuing profits over long-term environmental harm.
WE ARE WATER PROTECTORS By Carole Lindstrom A tribute to native tribes that are protecting the planet, this book vividly shows the harms of oil pipelines. Kids will see the value of community action, while adults will recognize the story of the native tribes Standing Rock Sioux’s fight against the Dakota Access Pipeline.	POLAR BEAR, WHY IS YOUR WORLD MELTING? By Robert E. Wells This book introduces the greenhouse effect with illustrations showing how sunlight gets trapped. It then explains fossil-fuel energy, and our reliance on it for electricity and transportation. The pages are full of science.

1. To make the book list for kids, what should be considered first?

A．Confusing story line.	B．The tone of anxiety.
C．The books sponsorship.	D．Age-appropriate content.

2. What can kids learn from the book “WE ARE WATER PROTECTORS”?

A．They can see the value of community action.

B．They can know how to protect the native tribes.

C．They can recognize the story of the native tribes.

D．They can understand the importance of oil pipelines.

3. Which book explains how the greenhouse effect come into existence?

A．THE LORAX

B．WE ARE WATER PROTECTORS

C．POLAR BEAR, WHY IS YOUR WORLD MELTING?

D．THANK YOU, EARTH: A LOVE LETTER TO OUR PLANET

5 . 阅读下列短文，根据短文内容填空。在未给提示词的空白处仅填写1个适当的单词，在给出提示词的空白处用括号内所给词的正确形式填空。

During the opening ceremony of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, there was a surprise     1     (appear) by Hollywood actor Morgan Freeman.   

The American superstar     2     (spot) with a young physically-challenged Qatari boy, Al Muftah. The boy was born with a rare condition known as CRS. It     3     (impact) the normal formation of the lower half of the body. But the determined young man refused to let his condition prevent his thirst     4     life and decided to take on a range of sports — tackling everything from rock climbing, football, ice hockey to swimming.

6 . It was the day of the big cross-country run. Students from seven different elementary schools in and around the small town of 100-Mile House, British Columbia, were warming up and walking the route through thick evergreen forest.

I looked around and finally saw David standing by himself off to the side by a fence. He was small for ten years old, with messy red hair. But his usual big toothy grin was absent today. I walked over and asked him why he wasn’t with the other children. The only response he gave me was he had decided not to run. What was wrong? He had worked so hard for this event! David’s cerebral palsy (脑瘫) prevented him from walking or running like other children, but at school his peers thought of him as a regular kid. He always participated to the best of his ability in whatever they were doing. It just took him longer. He had stubbornly run a total of twenty three kilometres in practice runs to prepare for that day’s two-and-a-half-kilometre run, and he had asked me to come and watch. We sat down together on some steps, but David wouldn’t look at me.

I quietly said, “David, if you don’t want to run today, no one is going to make you. But if you’re not running because you’re afraid someone is going to laugh, that’s not a good enough reason. There will always be someone who will laugh and say mean things. Are you going to let them get in your way? If you really want to run, David, then you run!” I held my breath as David took this in. Then he looked at the field and said, “I’m gonna run.”

The starter’s gun sounded. But he had only gone a few metres before he tripped and fell flat on the ground. My heart sank. As I started to shout encouragement, David picked himself up and started again. All the other runners had disappeared over the hill. But it didn’t matter. He had worked for it, and he wouldn’t give up!

I waited anxiously by the finish line as the most runners completed and another race had begun. Still no David! I started to feel sick. Had I done the wrong thing? Could he have become lost? Finally, a small figure emerged from the forest. David raised his arms in triumph as he crossed the finish line to wild cheers and applause. He caught my eye, flashed me a toothy grin and said, “That was easy!”

1. What made David unable to run like other children?

A．His mental problem.	B．His physical condition.
C．His laziness.	D．His hesitation.

2. David decided to run because ________.

A．he was encouraged to	B．he wanted to be the first
C．he was laughed into doing it	D．he knew it was a shorter distance

3. Which of the following can best describe David?

A．Brave and talkative.	B．Out-going and kind-hearted.
C．Lively and hard-working.	D．Optimistic and strong-willed.

4. By using the phrase “a toothy grin” in the last sentence, the writer intends to tell us about David’s ________.

A．competence in finishing a run	B．positive attitude towards life
C．ability to win cheers and applause	D．efforts to catch others’ attention

7 . 阅读下面短文，根据题目要求用英文回答问题。

In today’s modern era, technology is expanding rapidly and it is being used by mankind for their benefit. The major benefit that developing technology has provided is allowing individuals to work from home.

Organizations can save a huge amount of capital by making employees work from home. Moreover, this reduces other expenses associated with the workspace and accommodates an increased number of employees at the same time. As stated above, employers have the benefits of reducing the expenses associated with the workplace, borrowing land for the workplace. Since, nowadays, expenses of buildings and owning lands are very high, this could save the organizations a large sum of money.

To quote an example, India observes an extremely low rate in the companies that used to provide remote work prior to the pandemic hitting the global nations. Post the pandemic, several companies understood the importance of working from home and the associated benefits of working remotely. Thus, most of organizations have started promoting remote work due to which they have saved a huge amount of money and increased their turnover and productivity approaches.

The second major benefit associated with remote work is the lack of the necessity to travel, which reduces the chances of being stuck in traffic. This has increased productivity and efficiency at work and saved a potential amount of time for them that they could invest in other productive activities.

To summarize, it cannot be denied that developing technologies have a number of benefits to society as it has allowed individuals to manage their time effectively. Moreover, it also helps with social life balance.

1. According to this passage, what makes individuals able to work from home?   
________________
2. In the sentence “…this could save the organizations a large sum of money” in paragraph 2, what does “this” mean?     
________________
3. Please decide which part is false in the following statement, then underline it and explain why.
Working from home can do many benefits, because it reduces employers’ capital as well as individuals’ working time.
________________
4. What do you think are disadvantages of working from home? (In about 40 words)
________________

8 .

Making use of the wind, the water or, for more than half of all plant species, animals, plants disperse (散播) seeds far and wide. Frugivores — animals such as gibbons that feed on the fleshy fruits of plants — eat and then excrete (排泄) seeds away from the original tree. The African savanna elephant can carry seeds up to a record-breaking distance of 65 kilometres. This ability to shift geographical ranges will be crucial to plants when it comes to surviving climate change. However, just like all gibbon species, the African savanna elephant is endangered, its population down by 60 percent over the past 50 years.

Researchers in Denmark and the USA have published a new study into how the loss of seed-dispersing animals could affect the resilience (恢复力) of forests and other natural ecosystems. According to their research, this loss has already reduced the ability of plants to move in pace with climate change by 60 percent, and in some areas by as much as 95 percent.

Evan Fricke, lead author of the study, explains that in order to reach these results, they pulled together existing data from all previous studies and used machine learning to develop models that could estimate the seed dispersal potential of any animal, even ones that are now extinct.

The researchers found that, historically, the decline of seed-dispersing animals has had the greatest influence on plants across the temperate (温带的) regions of North and South America, Europe and southern Australia. “Our temperate ecosystems have lost a lot of the natural seed-dispersal function that they would have had.” explains Fricke, referring to large mammals that were once widespread in these regions.

Nevertheless, the poor conservation status of many seed-dispersing tropical animals puts plants in regions such as Southeast Asia and Madagascar most at risk today. Without the preservation of such animals, global seed dispersal could decline by a further 15 percent. “The direct implication of this decline is that many plant species will be unable to keep pace with a changing climate,” says Fricke. “That means the potential loss not only of plant biodiversity but of the ecosystem functions that those plants provide.”

As wildlife is lost, plants can no longer adapt and survive and forests become less sustainable, which reduces the amount of carbon they can store. They also lose their ability to support wildlife. Whole ecosystems are disrupted. The conclusion, Fricke says, is clear: we must conserve currently endangered species and restore the populations of important seed dispersers. “Independent of climate change, rewilding has the potential to benefit our ecosystems, but in a changing climate, it has the added benefit of increasing the climate resilience of those ecosystems,” he says.

1. The author mentions the African savanna elephant in Paragraph 1 is to ________.

A．highlight the problem	B．predict the ending
C．express an opinion	D．provide a solution

2. What does Fricke conclude from the study?

A．plants disperse seeds by way of animals excreting them.

B．rewilding can promote the climate resilience of our ecosystems.

C．seed-dispersing animals could hardly affect the natural ecosystems.

D．the loss of seed-dispersing animals has little influence on temperate regions.

3. Which would be the best title of the passage?

A．The Resilience of Ecosystems

B．The Conservation of Seed-dispersing Animals

C．Animals That Spread Seeds Are Essential — And Under Threat

D．Animals That Spread Seeds Are Endangered — And Well Protected

9 . We live in a town, about half a mile from the banks of the Ahr River. It had been raining buckets that week and there were _______ warnings for some of the nearby areas, but not where I was.

As a precaution, I’d _______ sandbags outside my garden door and piled electronics and clothing on tables and the couch just in case water managed to see p through.

As I fell asleep, I was _______ by the sound of rushing water. When I swung my legs off the bed, I was _______ to feel cold water already up to my knees and rising fast. Shivering and in darkness, I grabbed my phone and _______ its flashlight. Water was coming from the garden door, and chairs, bookshelves and pieces of my drum set were floating all over my living room. The Ahr must have _______ burst its banks and breached the sandbags. And now I had to get out — fast!

With the water now up to my waist, in bare feet I started to paddle to my only _______: the door leading to upstairs. Finally I made it to that door and tried to pull it open, but the water’s pressure was high. I managed to make a _______ of about 30 centimeters with all my strength and effort, enough for me to squeeze through. Rushing down outside, I _______ that if I had woken up just a few minutes later, I would have drowned.

The experience made me grateful and determined to live each day to its fullest. I will remember what my mother told me: “Don’t remember the day when you ________ everything. Remember the day you survived.”

1.

A．flood

B．earthquake

C．drought

D．sandstorm

2.

A．cleaned

B．lifted

C．recovered

D．placed

3.

A．threatened

B．awakened

C．weakened

D．tightened

4.

A．excited

B．shocked

C．depressed

D．exhausted

5.

A．showed up

B．looked up

C．turned on

D．went on

6.

A．carefully

B．gradually

C．violently

D．constantly

7.

A．escape

B．mind

C．problem

D．stage

8.

A．gap

B．depth

C．height

D．cut

9.

A．pretended

B．promised

C．imagined

D．realised

10.

A．lacked

B．found

C．lost

D．gained

10 . 阅读下列短文，根据短文内容填空。在未给提示词的空白处仅填写1个适当的单词，在给出提示词的空白处用括号内所给词的正确形式填空。

Shenzhou XVII crew members completed their first spacewalk on 22^nd December, 2023, completing a host of tasks outside the Tiangong space station. It was the 14th spacewalk     1     (conduct) by Chinese astronauts. There are a lot of science and technology assignments for them     2     (perform) during the remaining days of their stay in orbit. Since their arrival, the astronauts     3    (examine) and maintained equipment and made preparations for their spacewalk.