In a small town, there lived a young girl named Emily. She had a deep passion for table tennis and dreamed of becoming a professional player. Despite her young age, she was determined to work hard and make her dream come true.
From the moment when Emily picked up a table tennis paddle, she was impressed by the sport. She spent every spare moment practicing her shots, focusing on her footwork and mastering different techniques. Each time she stepped on the court, she was eager to improve and pushed herself to the limit. Unluckily, Emily faced a visual impairment (缺陷) that threatened to slow her progress. She was born with a condition that affected her sight. Some people doubted her ability to play table tennis and said, “Emily, your impairment is a disadvantage. It is impossible to play table tennis well!”
But Emily refused to let their doubts consume her. With solid determination, Emily turned her impairment into strength. She used her other heightened senses to her advantage, relying on touch and sound to anticipate her opponents’ moves. While others relied on sight, she developed an incredible sense of intuition (直觉) and strategy.
Emily finally excelled in table tennis, achieving incredible milestones and representing her town in many competitions. She became an advocate of the sport in her town. However, Emily decided not to settle for winning in her comfort zone but to challenge for something higher. She joined a training team guided by a world-class coach, which brought together the world’s top table tennis players.
In the training team, Emily went through a series of trials. She carried out high-intensity training. She needed to improve not only the batting skills but also perseverance and the sense of teamwork. Her coach often encouraged her and said, “Anyone, regardless of ability, could find success.”
A few years later, Emily’s efforts paid off. She got her chance. As a member of the national team, she took part in an important international competition. That was the stage for her to show her skills, and it was also the important moment for her to realize her dream.
注意：
1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
In the competition, Emily found herself facing a strong opponent, Lily.
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After the competition, Emily’s story spread throughout the table tennis community.
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2 . Stargazing Festivals in 2023
As more areas grow brighter with light pollution, national parks across the country have become dark-sky havens. Over the years, they are making a push to get certified as havens for sky-watching by the International Dark Sky Association, and they even host events like stargazing festivals to get travelers excited about astronomy.
·Bryce Canyon National Park—June 14-17
Situated in southern Utah, Bryce Canyon earned its dark-sky title in 2019. The 35,835-acre park is an ideal place to stay up late. This year, its annual astronomy festival includes guided stargazing sessions, lectures and “star stories” presentations, family-friendly activities, and even a performance by strings musicians in the northern Arizona-based Dark Sky Quartet.
·Shenandoah National Park—August 11-13
Conveniently located within a day’s drive from two-thirds of Americans, Shenandoah National Park’s night sky festival is a low-lift way to dabble in astronomy. The nearly 200,000-acre park will host ranger talks, public stargazing sessions, lectures, presentations, and activities for kids. Staffers are still working on this year’s full schedule, but past events have covered topics ranging from space weather to nocturnal(夜间的) creatures.
·Great Basin National Park—September 14-16
Great Basin is one of the least crowded national parks, making it the perfect place to quietly appreciate the mysteries of the cosmos. Its annual astronomy festival is scheduled for this fall and includes guest speakers, constellation talks, observatory tours, and a photography workshop. During the festival’s unique “Art in the Dark” program, participants will get to paint in low-light conditions and experiment with how their eyes perceive color.
·Joshua Tree National Park—October 13-14
Joshua Tree National Park, as the International Dark Sky Association notes, is the “nearest convenient place to go stargazing under a relatively dark sky” for the 18 million people who live in the Los Angeles area. It became an official dark sky park in 2017, and each year, it hosts a night sky festival in the fall. As luck would have it, this year’s dates overlap with an annular “ring of fire” solar eclipse. From Joshua Tree, the moon will appear to obscure between 70 and 80 percent of the sun.
1. What is the purpose of Stargazing Festivals?| A．To raise public interest in astronomy. |
| B．To call for action against light pollution. |
| C．To provide a platform to observe stars. |
| D．To collect money for more observatories. |
| A．Bryce Canyon National Park. | B．Shenandoah National Park. |
| C．Great Basin National Park. | D．Joshua Tree National Park. |
| A．An observatory tour. | B．A photography workshop. |
| C．A stargazing tour. | D．A solar eclipse. |
3 . Life is a mix of good and bad days. Each new day presents us with a fresh opportunity to learn new lessons. Sometimes, you learn these new lessons in your daily lives. On other days, you may gain invaluable knowledge about life from a game of poker(扑克牌).
Life is not fair.
Life is not designed to be fair. Some people will get the best cards while others will have to deal with the waste pieces. Life has its rules, but sticking to them does not exactly mean you will achieve success.
Protect yourself.
You are the most important person in your life. When playing poker, you are the most important player, and the cards you have are valuable things.
Learn from mistakes.
Gains and losses are a part of life. You win some to lose some, just like in a game of poker. Some risky actions may prove unprofitable after you are neck-deep in them. In such cases, you must know when to quit, count your losses, and bounce back better.
| A．Mistakes are a part of life. |
| B．Know when to cut your losses. |
| C．Catch chances to improve yourselves. |
| D．The game of poker shows life in so many ways. |
| E．You have to trust yourself by not taking unbearable risks. |
| F．You are considered foolish when making the same mistakes. |
| G．Following the rules in poker does not mean you will win, either. |
4 . Friendships can hold an exceptional place in our life stories. What is it about the s connections that make them so unique? Before we dive into the science, let’s first observe on in action.
If I could somehow design a best friend, you know, put together all the ideal qualities of my perfect match, that person would pale in comparison to Priya. She’s always there for me. Last year after I failed my important exam, it felt like my whole world was crashing down. Priya was at my door at the news. I was a wreck, but she sat there with me and listened. We were on the same page!
Early childhood, adolescent, and adult friendships are all a little different in part because the brain works in different ways at those stages of life. Adolescence is a unique time when peer relationships take focus, and thanks to the developing brain, there are changes in the way you value, understand, and connect to friends. Teenage friends can seem attached at the hip.
Scientists describe adolescence as a social re adaption as teenagers begin to spend as much or more time with their friends than with their parents. This drive to hang with pals maybe due to changes in the brain’s reward centre. Its activation makes hanging out with others enjoyable and motivates you to spend more time with them. Neuroimaging(神经成像) studies show that this region is highly reactive during your teenage years, which may explain why adolescents seem to place a higher value on social interactions than children or adults.
Teenage friendships can also feel closer than the friendships of your childhood. This deeper connection is possible thanks to improvements in what scientists call Theory-of Mind the ability to understand others’ emotions, thoughts, motivations, and points of view. Babies begin to develop Theory of Mind around 18 months or so. And scientists know that it continues to improve and mature well into your teenage years and beyond. Likewise, regions within the social brain show increased connectivity during adolescence compared with childhood.
As a result, teens can better understand their friend’s perspectives, allowing for deeper connections to develop. The ability to connect with others somewhat depends on the coordination of actions, emotions, physiology, and thoughts. This is what psychologists call interpersonal synchrony.
1. Why did the author mention the exam in paragraph 2?| A．To introduce an exam. | B．To show their close relationship. |
| C．To serve a favorable example. | D．To argue against the opinion. |
| A．Adult friends are attached at the hip. |
| B．Teenagers’ value stay the same. |
| C．The brain is inactive during teenage years. |
| D．Peer relationships play a key role in the life. |
| A．It becomes better developed in adolescence. |
| B．It refers to regions within the social brain. |
| C．Babies begin to develop it around 8 months. |
| D．It refers to the ability to understand our own emotions. |
| A．Are friendships different? |
| B．Are friendships connected with your brain? |
| C．Do friendships matter? |
| D．How do adolescent friendships develop? |
Mrs. Peabody was a serious old woman the kids called psychic (通灵者) because she magically knew which students had accomplished the real assignment and which had not.
She once gave the class a writing assignment. “Write an essay about summer vacation. ”she said. “Be as creative as you can. ”
Well, that night Jim sat at his desk at home and stared unhappily at a blank sheet of paper. He didn’t want to write a stupid essay about his summer vacation. Boring. So he gave up on the assignment but wrote what he wanted to—not an essay at all but a science fiction. It was about a distant planet that didn’t have summer—it was spring all the time. And it didn’t have vacations either. The aliens on the planet worked 24 hours a day.
The next morning he handed in the story but that night he lay awake until three a. m. , thinking: Why did I do that? I totally ignored the assignment. Maybe it’d take Mrs. Peabody a few days to grade the essays. I’d beg her for a chance to write another one, the sort she wanted.
But when he got to class the next morning it turned out that Mrs. Peabody had read and graded the essays. And when he saw the way she glanced at him with a strange look in her sten, psychic eyes, he wished he’d stayed home sick. I’m in trouble, Jim thought, blushing already, betrayed by his freckles (雀斑). Staring at the floor. Mrs. Peabody continued, “Almost everyone in class wrote an essay about his or her summer vacation . Almost everyone. ”This is bad, Jim thought. I’m getting an F, I know it. “But, ” the teacher said, “One student decided he didn’t feel like doing that. ” Jim glanced up long enough to see her eyes focused on him. This is worse than an F. . . I’m in note-to-the-parents territory now.
Then Jim heard his name called.
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When Jim finished reading his story, a smile spread across Mrs. Peabody’s face.
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Arts and crafts have a way of reinventing themselves. Take embroidery(刺绣) for instance, it was within the last five years
Like many forms of craft, paper quilling can trace
Quilling is the art of handmaking and arranging small strips of paper into detailed designs.
Paper quilling is a decorative art and is known
7 . Have you ever heard of and seen Canadian geese? Do you know that they
Canadian geese have a good
Yesterday I witnessed two Canadian Geese arguing
Would they start quarreling again? I stood still,
They got along harmoniously again. Sometimes it’s not that bad to be
| A．draw on | B．focus on | C．feed on | D．try on |
| A．desire | B．reputation | C．affection | D．appetite |
| A．generous | B．faithful | C．weird | D．rude |
| A．well-informed | B．well-dressed | C．well-behaved | D．well-balanced |
| A．fiercely | B．blindly | C．cautiously | D．gently |
| A．deserted | B．located | C．fixed | D．laid |
| A．frequent | B．rare | C．common | D．constant |
| A．restricting | B．changing | C．pausing | D．speeding |
| A．desperate | B．simple | C．serious | D．disharmonious |
| A．frightened | B．annoyed | C．crashed | D．injured |
| A．finding out | B．dealing with | C．looking into | D．wondering about |
| A．passion | B．reason | C．talent | D．anxiety |
| A．scene | B．destination | C．landscape | D．park |
| A．looker-on | B．passer-by | C．truck | D．clump |
| A．upset | B．forgetful | C．mean | D．greedy |
8 . Personal Development For Teens
Teenagers may face many challenges unique to them. Below are some steps to help you evolve and be a better person in your teens.
Learn new skill
Sometimes, a side-skill you have gained along the way turns out the very thing that creates an opportunity for success.
Try to socialize more
Have a better lifestyle.
Your lifestyle forms your character, and the way you live defines who you are.
Take care of your health
Without health, it is almost impossible to enjoy life to its fullest. Money, grades, or events are replaceable; your health is not. And while it is very important to maintain good physical health, we cannot forget about our mental health.
Embrace positivity
Try to avoid people who ruin everything with negativity and befriend those who give you positive vibes(感应).
Every teenager should be taught and reminded of ways to improve themselves so that they can see a clearer picture of their future.
| A．Grasping new skills is an easy job. |
| B．You need people who make you feel good about life. |
| C．Force yourself to socialize—even if you don’t want to. |
| D．Proper communication is crucial if you want to be a better person. |
| E．Our mind is just as important, and we should give it the same amount of attention. |
| F．Also, when you are in your teens, you hardly know what you want to do with your life. |
| G．When you’re at peace with how you live your days, you can focus on improving yourself. |
9 . I wanted to set myself the writing challenge of citing some of the many positive things about having a baby. It’s addressed to one person, but I hope that those who find themselves at a similar crossroads get help from it.
To my friend A,
All you ever seem to hear about parenthood is negative. I do not feel this. You create a new life in that child, and with that baby, you get a new life, too. When I became a mother, my own mother’s embrace, and my father’s, not to mention my extended family’s, have kept me going.
We are used to hearing about how motherhood limits your life, less so about how it can expand it. I have always believed that life is fundamentally about human relationships, and having a baby has enhanced mine. Becoming a mother—and giving birth—has enhanced my feelings of solidarity with other women. Parenting has also allowed me to experience childhood again. I have always wanted to give someone else a childhood. My wide-eyed little boy is at the stage where he is simply in love with the world, and that love is thrillingly unconditional. It is a privilege to witness, and it makes me determined to maintain it for him as much as I am able to, because his laugh is the best sound that I have ever heard.
A note about sleep: you will be OK-you’ve had enough wild nights to know you can cope. And you can get your body back, whatever that might mean to you. As for your career, it’s normal to worry. I speak only for myself when I say that I wish I had spent less time worrying beforehand about how I would write. I have far less time, now, but I’m still writing. Even a paragraph a day adds up to a novel, eventually. There is so much untapped joy and love there waiting for you, and I hope I’ve given you a small glimpse of some of it to hold on to.
1. Who might be the intended audience for this article?| A．Self-centered parents. |
| B．Those fearing to have a baby. |
| C．Broken-hearted friends. |
| D．Those avoiding marriage. |
| A．By explaining ideas. | B．By quoting sayings. |
| C．By comparing facts. | D．By concluding opinions. |
| A．To show how successful she was as a writer. |
| B．To note that where there is a will there is a way. |
| C．To tell her friend that giving birth is a piece of cake. |
| D．To persuade her friend not to worry about her career. |
| A．Opinion. | B．Headline. | C．Health. | D．Culture. |
10 . Sam Altman, CEO of the San Francisco startup OpenAI that developed ChatGPT, his company’s chatbot tool, on Tuesday urged US lawmakers to regulate artificial intelligence “We think that regulatory intervention (干预) by governments will be critical to mitigate the risks of increasingly powerful models. My worst fears are that we, the field, the technology industry cause significant harm to the world. ” Altman said.
“I think if this technology goes wrong, it can go quite wrong, and we want to be vocal about that, ”Altman added. “We want to work with the government to prevent that from happening
The 38-year-old Stanford University dropout said the potential for AI to be used to influence voters is among “my areas of greatest concern”, especially because “we’re going to face an election next year and these models are getting better”. He said his company’s technology may destroy some jobs but also create new ones and that it will be important for government to figure out how we want to reduce that”. Altman said the government could regulate the industry by creating an agency that issues licenses for the creation of large-scale AI models, safety regulations and tests that AI models must pass before being released to the public.
The rapid development of ChatGPT with an estimated 100 million users within two months has sparked an industry race, with Microsoft, an investor in OpenAI, enabling ChatGPT in the Windows operating system and Google adding its own so-called generative AI systems including one called Bard, to its app. The latest forms of AI also have drawn criticism from some of tech’s biggest names for their potential to disrupt(扰乱)millions of jobs and spread misinformation.
Altman said OpenAI pretests and constantly updates its tools to ensure safety and that making them widely available to the public actually helps the company identify and mitigate risks.
1. According to Altman, why should the government regulate AI?| A．To accelerate industry race . | B．To provide job opportunities. |
| C．To avoid influencing voters. | D．To prevent its potential harm. |
| A．Remove | B．Pose | C．Reduce | D．Adapt |
| A．The birth of Bard | B．100 million users |
| C．The spread of misinformation | D．An industry race |
| A．Government involved in AI risk | B．Strict regulations urged on AI |
| C．OpenAI updated for safety | D．Jobs destroyed by ChatGPI |
