1 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1. Why does the woman talk to the man?

A．She is lonely.

B．She has good news.

C．She has a problem at school.

2. What is the woman’s dormitory like?

A．Cold and old.

B．Small and messy.

C．Comfortable but noisy.

3. What will the woman do?

A．Attend a party.

B．Find a new place herself.

C．Put on some advertisements.

4. Who is the woman talking to?

A．Her friend.

B．Her brother.

C．Her father.

2 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1. Which answer does the woman refuse to write down?

A．Number Three.

B．Number Seven.

C．Number Ten.

2. How often does the woman take medicine?

A．Never.

B．Sometimes.

C．Regularly.

3. What is the last question asking about?

A．The woman’s law history.

B．The woman’s driving skills.

C．The woman’s Social Security number.

3 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1. What is different about the woman’s new job?

A．It’s much more challenging.

B．It’s much closer in distance.

C．It’s much more rewarding.

2. What will the man do tonight?

A．Design commercials for a restaurant.

B．Write some articles about good restaurants.

C．Have dinner with the woman at a restaurant.

4 . What do the woman’s family members do to help the environment?

A．They use fewer plastic bags.

B．They don’t drive cars.

C．They waste less food.

5 . Why does the room smell nice?

A．The woman is using nice material.

B．The man has been cleaning.

C．There are flowers.

6 . Being able to resist hurricane-force winds is the key to an extended life for many buildings on the Eastern Seaboard and Gulf Coast of the US. Determining the right level of winds to design for is difficult, but support from artificial intelligence (AI) may offer a simple solution.

Equipped with 100 years of hurricane data and modern AI techniques, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have created a new method of digitally simulating (模拟) hurricanes. State and local laws related to building design and construction point designers to standardized maps. On these maps, engineers can find the level of wind their structure must be able to deal with based on its location and its relative importance. The wind speeds in the maps came from scores of hypothetical (假定的) hurricanes simulated by computer models. “The simulated storms, if they behave like real hurricanes, can be used to create the data in the maps almost directly,” a researcher said.

In the research, the study material came in the form of the National Hurricane Center’s Atlantic Hurricane Database 2 (HURDAT2), which contains information about hurricanes going back more than 100 years.

The researchers split data on more than 1,500 storms into sets for training and testing their model. When challenged to simulate both the path and speed of historical storms it had not seen before, the model scored highly. The researchers also used the model to generate sets of 100 years’ worth of hypothetical storms. It produced the simulations in a matter of seconds, and the researchers saw a large degree of overlap (重叠) with the general behavior of the HURDAT2 storms, suggesting that their model could rapidly produce collections of realistic storms.

Since the model’s understanding of storms is confined to historical data for now, it cannot simulate the effects that climate change will have on storms of the future. However, the researchers believe that wind maps based on their model would better reflect reality. They also suggest that simulating as many realistic hurricanes as possible with the new approach can help develop improved guidelines for designing buildings in regions often attacked by hurricanes.

1. How can the new method help extend the life of many buildings?

A．By correctly predicting future hurricane patterns.

B．By recommending proper building materials to designers.

C．By providing accurate wind speed information for designers.

D．By gathering data on different kinds of weather conditions.

2. What did researchers use their model to do?

A．Find out the regularity of hurricanes.

B．Add historical hurricane data to HURDAT2.

C．Examine the effect of hurricanes on climate change.

D．Test the possibility of using AI to produce realistic storms.

3. Which of the following can replace the underlined part “confined to” in the last paragraph?

A．applied to

B．attached to

C．limited to

D．compared to

4. How do the researchers feel about the model?

A．Confident.

B．Worried.

C．Doubtful.

D．Disappointed.

7 . 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。

The year 2024 celebrates the Year of Dragon. Among     1     12 animals of the Chinese zodiac (生肖), the dragon is the only fictional one; yet it is a sacred one that Chinese people     2     (fascinate) with for thousands of years.

What may be surprising, however, is that dragons share similar origins, despite varied cultural     3     (interpret). Both Eastern and Western records describe dragons as having snake-like characteristics. One of the     4     (early) archaeological (考古的) pieces of evidence of dragons can be traced back to the carved jade figures in China     5     (date) back more than 5,000 years.

But why are dragons so fascinating to people? This question was explored by Carl Sagan, a famous American scientist. He firmly believed that people created dragon stories out of a human need     6     (mix) scientific observation of     7     (real) with an irrational fear for nature. While the dragon     8     (different) in Eastern and Western cultures, they play a similar role in stories around the world. In China, the dragon is seen as a sign of good luck and is believed to have control     9     rain and thunder. In the West, dragons are usually seen as evil, but they also appear in so many stories     10     teach people important lessons.

8 . Adults generally dislike getting older.     1     It’s no surprise, then, that many kids look forward to their birthdays, especially the 16th birthday. For girls in America, a “Sweet 16” birthday is an important rite (仪式) of passage that celebrates approaching adulthood.

In the United States, the 16th birthday is a mark that a girl has come of age. She is not a legal adult yet, but at 16, many girls can begin to learn to drive.     2     For many youths, the 16th birthday is a celebration of womanhood and marks the end of the girl’s childhood.

Society and media often put great importance on a girl’s 16th birthday.     3     Both of them have great personal importance. They think of their 16th birthdays like women think of their weddings.

    4     The event can be held in a garden, a park or somewhere else. Often, a girl has been planning her 16th birthday party for long and has a very specific idea about what she wants and who she wants to invite. As long as she doesn’t waste money, letting a girl plan her 16^th birthday is a great way to let her creativity and personality shine.

There are many theories about how the sweet 16th birthday came into being. Most connect the birthday celebration with the Mexican Quinceanera, which takes place on a girl’s 15th birthday, or European ancient coming-of-age celebrations.     5    

A．She is still just a little kid.

B．Many parties show a girl’s interest.

C．However, kids find “growing up” exciting.

D．The big part of a sweet 16th birthday is the party.

E．They can get jobs and take other adult responsibilities.

F．No matter where the celebration began, it has become a tradition.

G．Many movies show girls’ 16th birthdays are just as important as graduations.

9 . The best science books inspire a sense of wonder and make you amazed at the incredible world we live in. Here are four of them to feed your imagination.

A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson

How did it all begin? And how did we get here? Combining history and science, the book offers a comprehensive yet entertaining answer to these questions. Bill Bryson takes the reader on an impressive journey through the greatest scientific discoveries in history. It explains scientific topics in a vivid way, but it’s quite a long read.

Thing Explainer by Randall Munroe

How do helicopters work? Or cells? Randall Munroe explains how things work using illustrations and only the most common 1,000 words in English. It will shift your approach to explanation. So, next time explain how something works rather than merely call it by its name. However, additionally providing more technical terms might have enhanced the understanding and learning experience.

Ask an Astronaut by Tim Peake

What does it feel like to fly into space? How do you prepare for it? Astronaut Tim Peake answers all the questions you never knew about going into space. The book gives insights into the cutting-edge science, as well as the day-to-day life on board of the International Space Station. Its question and answer format makes it easy to quickly find answers, but it can become less appealing due to the lack of descriptive language.

Deep Time by Riley Black

Want to know the story of our planet? Riley Black takes us on a journey, in the order of time, through the geological (地质的) events that have shaped our planet. The fascinating high-quality images are supported by easily digestible explanations of key historical moments. It also expands on key concepts in geology, astronomy and biology. Yet, measuring the size of some objects on the photos is difficult due to the lack of a scale bar (比例尺).

1. Which book is organized in the format of question and answer?

A．A Short History of Nearly Everything.	B．Thing Explainer.
C．Ask an Astronaut.	D．Deep Time.

2. What’s a shortcoming of Thing Explainer?

A．It is rather too long.	B．It is written in plain language.
C．It lacks technical terms.	D．It fails to include clear images.

3. What do A Short History of Nearly Everything and Deep Time have in common?

A．They combine science and history.	B．They feature vivid illustrations.
C．They introduce astronauts’ daily life.	D．They entertain readers of all ages.

10 . Socially, few things are more annoying than someone repeatedly checking their phone in the middle of your conversation with them. Soon enough, you’re having unhappy thoughts, thinking of their way like, I’m boring you; you’re more concerned with whoever’s on that phone than me; you don’t care about me. None of that is necessarily true, but this is: “If someone is engaged in a great conversation, they wouldn’t care about their phones,” says Leslie, a psychologist and researcher at NYU.

Do you sometimes wonder: What should I have said to a rude person like this? What if we have to talk to such maddening persons? Experts have advice about how to deal with this.

Whether you say something or not, remember that the cell-addict’s annoying habits aren’t about you. “It’s rude, for sure, but sometimes we mistake the behavior for more than what it is,” says Leslie. “It’s possible that they are facing something tough and merely experiencing nervousness or anxiety,” he adds. It’s also possible that their partner is stuck with a flat tyre (轮胎) or their kid is sick in hospital. The point is that you don’t know.

So before you become angry at the cell-addict’s open rudeness, focus instead on building a better conversation than whatever’s going down on Instagram. You might never be able to achieve this, given the power of today’s social media, so if you’re close enough to a person, Leslie advises you to directly ask them: “What’s on that thing that’s so interesting?” Chances are that they will apologise at once and quickly put the phone away. But if the answer is something real, talk about it. Better yet, you can avoid the situation in advance by saying something like, “I’m really interested in catching up properly, so how about we leave our phones in the car?” If they indeed have that flat tyre or sick kid, at least you won’t have to assume that it’s because your stories are boring.

1. Why do people often check their phones according to Leslie?

A．They are anxious about something.

B．They are enjoying the conversation.

C．They are bored with the conversation.

D．They are interested in what’s on the phone.

2. What could be a reason for the cell-addicts’ annoying habits according to Leslie?

A．They may be nervous or anxious.

B．They are being rude intentionally.

C．They are avoiding the conversation.

D．They are disinterested in social interactions.

3. What is a better way to deal with the rudeness?

A．Talking about something real.

B．Asking the other person directly.

C．Avoiding the situation in advance.

D．Asking the other person for explanation.

4. What’s the main idea of the text?

A．What is a cell-addict.

B．How to deal with a cell-addict.

C．Why people repeatedly check their phones.

D．When to cut in appropriately during a conversation.