1 . For the arts “to mean more, to more people,” as Arts Council England (ACE) argues that they should, would be excellent. Music, drama, dance, visual arts, poetry and literature are among the most precious human achievements. To live in a country in which these are more widely shared and enjoyed would be proof that we are making progress. The point is not to entertain or educate people, or bring communities together. Nor is it all about boosting jobs and investment. Imagination has intrinsic (内在的) value, and research carried out by ACE in the course of preparing its 10-year strategy showed that people from all walks of life value and get pleasure from cultural activities.

Positioning itself as a development agency, ACE will now hope to win government backing for a change of direction that orients it away from the biggest and most prestigious national institutions and towards the towns, villages and grassroots organizations that should be similarly deserving of attention. There, it envisions a role for itself “building the identity and prosperity of places,” bringing professional artists together with voluntary groups, particular in areas that have previously not been well represented on the cultural map.

ACE’s chair, Sir Nicholas Serota, quotes the first world war centenary (百年纪念) project devised by the artist, Jeremy Deller, and theatre director, Rufus Norris, as the model of what he wants his organization to be about. By dressing up volunteers as soldiers, and orchestrating their encounters with members of the public in settings across England, the artists succeeded in “dissolving the barriers between artists and audiences.”

The emphasis on participation — on culture as something that more people should actually do — is newer. This is the difference between being in a play or a band and buying tickets to watch them, and for ACE to play a more active role in promoting the former would be beneficial. This begins in childhood, and ACE clearly hopes that the government will think again about policies that have seen music, drama and other arts subjects systematically downgraded in favour of science, technology and maths.

To what extent the vision is realized will depend in part on whether ACE’s ambitions catch the government’s interest sufficiently to influence the upcoming spending review, and provide a counterweight to the scorn (轻视) that is regularly poured on the humanities. Around £400m has been cut from local government arts budgets since 2010, and ACE cannot plug this gap. The closure of youth clubs and live music venues, and growing financial pressures linked to the property market, are among other reasons for this worrisome narrowing of opportunities. So far Boris Johnson has offered few signs that he has in mind a starring role for the arts in post-Brexit Britain, although 2022’s Festival of Brexit is one such event. ACE’s plan should boost the profile of all those, in government and outside, who are arguing for more.

1. The purpose of making arts available to more people is to __________.

A．enlighten people from all walks of life

B．consolidate various communities

C．create job opportunities for artists

D．maximize the natural value of art

2. According to the passage, ACE is most likely to promote the arts of ___________.

A．national institutions

B．commercial centers

C．local governments

D．towns and villages

3. Which of the following statements would Sir Nicholas Serota most probably agree with?

A．Audiences with little education can also gain pleasure from cultural activities.

B．Artists and audiences can create and enjoy the arts together without barriers.

C．The soldiers and volunteers should vividly show scenes about the First World War.

D．Science, technology and maths are more important than humanities and arts nowadays.

4. What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A．For the arts to get revitalized more extensive efforts are needed.

B．The current British government has done enough to promote arts.

C．ACE should narrow the financial gap left by the local government.

D．Many performing venues have closed due to the rising property market.

2 . Critical thinkers start by asking questions about whatever is in front of them. They consider ______. If this, then what? If that, then how is the outcome different? They understand that every action has a ______, and they think about all possible outcomes of decisions before they make them. Asking questions helps this process.

Once you have asked every question you can come up with about a matter, ______ information that will help you answer those questions.____! Do some research. You can learn almost anything on the Internet, but it’s not the only place to do your research. _____ people. I’m a big fan of polling (民意调查). Ask the experts around you. Gather ____ and various opinions you can use to make your own determination. The wider the variety, the better.

You’ve got _____ information, and now it’s time to analyze it all with an open mind. This is the most _____ part, in my opinion. It can be pretty difficult to recognize the filters that were instilled (灌输) in us from our first families. We are products of our environments, of the ways in which we were treated as a child, of the role models we've had throughout our lives, of the opportunities we have said yes or no to, of the sum of all of our experiences.

Try to be as aware as possible of those ______ and biases (偏见), and turn them off. Question everything during this step. Are you being _______? Are you speculating? Assuming anything? This is the time to look at every thought as _____ as possible. Do you know it to be absolutely true? What are the facts? Have you considered the situation from every different point of view?

Critical thinkers are more interested in solutions than in placing ____ complaining, or gossiping. Once you’ve reached a conclusion through critical thinking, it’s time to communicate and ______ a solution if one is called for. This is the time for compassion (同情), empathy (同理心), diplomacy. Not everyone involved will have thought the situation through as ______ as you have. It’s your job to understand that, and to _____ solutions in a way that everyone can understand.

1.

A．cause and effect

B．ups and downs

C．gains and losses

D．back and forth

2.

A．frequency

B．consequence

C．reason

D．border

3.

A．analyze

B．stress

C．prioritize

D．seek

4.

A．Assume

B．Advocate

C．Investigate

D．Initiate

5.

A．Interact

B．Interview

C．Accuse

D．Spare

6.

A．proof

B．evidence

C．argument

D．information

7.

A．a pile of

B．a piece of

C．a flock of

D．a command of

8.

A．demanding

B．imposing

C．challenging

D．appealing

9.

A．bubbles

B．filters

C．prejudice

D．hatred

10.

A．objective

B．respective

C．informative

D．confident

11.

A．perfectly

B．curiously

C．subconsciously

D．purely

12.

A．emphasis

B．value

C．importance

D．blame

13.

A．pursue

B．suspect

C．implement

D．confirm

14.

A．carefully

B．critically

C．cautiously

D．crucially

15.

A．present

B．represent

C．review

D．comprehend

4 . States will be able to force more people to pay sales tax when they make online purchases under a Supreme Court decision Thursday that will leave shoppers with lighter wallets but is a big financial win for states.

The Supreme Court’s opinion Thursday overruled a pair of decades-old decisions that states said cost them billions of dollars in lost revenue annually. The decisions made it more difficult for states to collect sales tax on certain online purchases.

The cases the court overturned said that if a business was shipping a customer’s purchase to a state where the business didn’t have a physical presence such as a warehouse or office, the business didn’t have to collect sales tax for the state. Customers were generally responsible for paying the sales tax to the state themselves if they weren’t charged it, but most didn’t realize they owed it and few paid.

Justice Anthony Kennedy wrote that the previous decisions were flawed. “Each year the physical presence rule becomes further removed from economic reality and results in significant revenue losses to the States,” he wrote in an opinion joined by four other justices. Kennedy wrote that the rule “limited States’ ability to seek long-term prosperity and has prevented market participants from competing on an even playing field.”

The ruling is a victory for big chains with a presence in many states, since they usually collect sales tax on online purchases already. Now, rivals will be charging sales tax where they hadn’t before. Big chains have been collecting sales tax nationwide because they typically have physical stores in whatever state a purchase is being shipped to. Amazon.com, with its network of warehouses, also collects sales tax in every state that charges it, though third-party sellers who use the site don’t have to.

Until now, many sellers that have a physical presence in only a single state or a few states have been able to avoid charging sales taxes when they ship to addresses outside those states. Sellers that use eBay and Etsy, which provide platforms for smaller sellers, also haven’t been collecting sales tax nationwide. Under the ruling Thursday, states can pass laws requiring out-of-state sellers to collect the state’s sales tax from customers and send it to the state.

Retail trade groups praised the ruling, saying it levels the playing field for local and online businesses. The losers, said retail analyst Neil Saunders, are online-only retailers, especially smaller ones. Those retailers may face headaches complying with various state sales tax laws. The Small Business & Entrepreneurship Council advocacy group said in a statement, “Small businesses and internet entrepreneurs are not well served at all by this decision.”

1. The Supreme Court decision Thursday will ______.

A．better businesses’ relations with states

B．put most online businesses in a dilemma

C．make more online shoppers pay sales tax

D．force some states to cut sales tax

2. It can be learned from paragraphs 2 and 3 that the overruled decisions ______.

A．have led to the dominance of e-commerce

B．have cost consumers a lot over the years

C．were widely criticized by online purchasers

D．were considered unfavorable by states

3. According to Justice Anthony Kennedy, the physical presence rule has ______.

A．hindered economic development	B．brought prosperity to the country
C．harmed fair market competition	D．boosted growth in states revenue

4. In dealing with the Supreme Court decision Thursday, the author ______.

A．gives a factual account of it and discusses its consequences

B．describes the long and complicated process of its making

C．presents its main points with conflicting views on them

D．cites some cases related to it and analyzes their implications

5 . AI can transform education for the better

As students return to classrooms for the new year, it is striking to reflect on how little education has changed in recent decades. The sector remains a digital laggard (落后者). American schools and universities spend 2% and 5% of their budgets, _________, on technology, compared with 8% for the average American company.

When the pandemic forced schools and universities to shut down, the moment for a digital _________ seemed close when the market value of online tutoring providers like Chegg and Byju’s both increased. However, once covid was brought under control, classes continued much as before.

If the pandemic couldn’t overcome the education sector’s _________ to digital interruption, can artificial intelligence? ChatGPT-like generative AI, which can converse cleverly on varieties of subjects, certainly _________. So much so that educationalists began to _________ that students would use it to cheat on essays and homework. Increasingly, however, it is generating excitement as a means to provide _________ tutoring to various students and speed up boring tasks such as marking.

Learners, for their part, are _________ the technology. Two-fifths of undergraduates reported using an AI chatbot to help them with their studies. Indeed, the technology’s popularity has raised awkward questions for companies like Chegg, which was losing customers _________ ChatGPT. Yet there are good reasons to believe that education specialists like Chegg who employ AI will eventually _________ generalists such as OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT.

For one, AI chatbots often talk nonsense, an unhelpful trait in an educational context. “Students want content from __________ providers,” argues Kate Edwards, chief pedagogist at Pearson, a textbook publisher. The company has not allowed ChatGPT and other AIs to __________ its material, but has instead used the content to train its own models, which it is embedding into its set of learning apps.

__________, as Chegg’s Mr Rosensweig argues, teaching is not merely about giving students an answer, but about presenting it in a way that helps them learn. Understanding pedagogy (教学法) thus gives education specialists an __________. Pearson has designed its AI tools to __________ students by breaking complex topics down, testing their understanding and providing quick feedback, says Ms Edwards. Byju’s is incorporating “forgetting curves” for students into the design of its AI tutoring tools, refreshing their memories at personalized __________.

Bringing AI to education will not be easy, but once answers on how to make use of this technology become clearer, such a development will certainly deserve top marks.

1.

A．respectively

B．appropriately

C．totally

D．ultimately

2.

A．divide

B．reverse

C．boom

D．withdrawal

3.

A．tendency

B．resistance

C．attention

D．anxiety

4.

A．serve the purpose

B．break the ice

C．take the initiative

D．do some good

5.

A．maintain

B．panic

C．doubt

D．wonder

6.

A．personalized

B．individualistic

C．characteristic

D．attentive

7.

A．attempting

B．declining

C．opposing

D．embracing

8.

A．for

B．under

C．to

D．in

9.

A．detect

B．transform

C．overtake

D．enhance

10.

A．comprehensive

B．advanced

C．distinguished

D．trusted

11.

A．give away

B．take in

C．bring about

D．hold up

12.

A．By contrast

B．Despite this

C．What’s more

D．As a result

13.

A．applause

B．edge

C．hesitation

D．improvement

14.

A．convince

B．engage

C．capture

D．challenge

15.

A．intervals

B．cost

C．mercy

D．best

8 . 那么多人报名参加city walk真是有些不可思议，这本是一个自我探究城市、自我放松的一个活动。(汉译英)（which）
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10 . 我逐渐明白，颜宁之所以被世界认可并被授予杰出女科学家称号是因她对卓越的追求和对研究的投入。(dawn) (汉译英)

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