1 . Young adults in Singapore can often live with their parents into their 30s. They are encouraged by the government, which is fond of praising family values. Housing policy makes it difficult for young people to live independently. Almost 80% of Singaporeans live in subsidized (补助的) public housing. They cannot have a flat of their own until they marry or turn 35.

Yet a small but growing number of Singaporeans are resisting the nanny state (保姆式国家): Between 1990 and 2020, the number of those under 35 who lived alone or with non-family members grew from 33,400 to 51,300. Since they do not qualify for public housing, they must rent in the private sector. One factor is that Singaporeans are getting married later. In 1980, the average ages at which men and women married were 27 and 24; today, they are 30 and 29. A growing number choose not to marry at all. For others, it was COVID-19 that pushed them out of the nest. Serene Chee, a 25-year-old lawyer, did not greatly mind living with her parents until travel restrictions and work-from-home policies kept her stuck at home all the time. In June, Ms Chee and a friend moved into an apartment together.

Living on your own is not easy. First, you must inform your parents. It took Lydia Yang, an illustrator who was then 28, three months to gather the courage Then you must learn to pay bills and do basic chores. When Lenne Chai, a photographer, moved out seven years ago at the age of 23y she did not know how to cook.

Life on your own can be lonely. Ms Yang found it “a bit depressing”, particularly during the lockdown. But living apart may improve relationships. Both Ms Yang and Ms Chai said that they got on better with their parents after moving out. When living together, they paid each other little attention. Now their weekly visits are “quality time”, said Ms Chai. When Ms Chee’s parents came to her flat for dinner recently, they were impressed by how tidy it was.

1. What’s the attitude of the government to family values?

A．Negative.

B．Supportive.

C．Objective.

D．Subjective.

2. What makes it hard for young people to live by themselves?

A．Housing policy.	B．The spread of COVID-19.
C．Parents’ disagreement.	D．The limited private apartments.

3. What can we know from Paragraph 2?

A．A growing number of people have enough money to hire nannies.

B．People need to rent houses because they have qualification for public housing.

C．More and more people don’t want to get married because of economic pressure.

D．COVID-19 is one of the reasons why many people don’t want to live with their parents.

4. What is the last paragraph mainly about?

A．The definition of “quality time”.	B．The positive effect of living alone.
C．The loneliness of living independently.	D．The parents’ attitude to children’s independence.

2 . As this year’s ski season got underway, Liu Zhihua joined the crowd at a ski resort and glided fluently down the piste(滑雪道). With only a brief break, she took a quick turn, got onto a chairlift and was ready for another round.

Liu has become a star at the resort in Urumqi. Dressed in her baby blue suit and white helmet, she blends in with the other ski enthusiasts. But in fact, she is the resort’s oldest skier, at age 87. Though a fluent skier now, Liu only took up the sport when she was 72. Up until then, like many old people, she would spend her days taking care of her grandchildren, watching TV or playing mahjong. Encouraged by her children, Liu got on the piste for the very first time in 2007.

“The first day was not easy. My waist and legs ached. But in the following days, I was able to walk on the skis,” Liu recalls. “After conquering the fear of falling, I became increasingly interested in it and got addicted as time passed.” Starting on the beginner slopes, Liu gradually advanced to intermediate runs, and has even got onto the advanced ones. “I’ve taken part in a competition twice. I didn’t do it for a medal. Finishing the competition without falling is enough for me,” she says. When asked about the difficulties she had encountered during her years of skiing, Liu recalls that she fell over while going down a slope due to a lack of experience. “But skill comes from practice. Just get used to it,” she says.

For Liu, skiing is also a way to keep herself young and lively. Despite being the oldest ski enthusiast at the resort, she thinks she is just as vigorous as younger skiers. “No one can tell your age when everyone’s in a ski suit and with snow caps and goggles on,” says Liu with a smile. “Health and happiness are the two things that doing sports. has brought to me,” she says. “I don’t think age has much to do with my mindset. Old or young, I have been brave and optimistic.”

1. What can we learn about Liu Zhihua according to the text?

A．Liu began to learn ski at the age of 87.	B．Liu made the first attempt to ski in 2007
C．Liu has never got onto the advanced runs.	D．Liu participated in the competition for a medal.

2. What does the underlined word “vigorous” probably mean in Paragraph 4?

A．Satisfied.

B．Curious.

C．Energetic.

D．Talented.

3. Which of the following best describes Liu Zhihua?

A．Brave and humorous.	B．Caring and considerate.
C．Kind and warm-hearted.	D．Strong-willed and positive.

4. Which can be the best title for the text?

A．This year’s ski season gets underway.	B．Doing sports brings health and happiness.
C．Granny develops an ageless enthusiasm for skiing.	D．An 87-year-old woman becomes a skate star.

3 . Four Unexpected Ways Different Countries Celebrate Birthdays

China

The Chinese typically only celebrate certain birthdays: the first, 10th, 20th, 30th, etc. The 60th birthday is important to the Chinese because it is seen as completing a full zodiac. Eating Chang Shou Mian on your birthday symbolizes long life you’ll hopefully have. Your loved ones can also wish for a long life.

Mexico

A Mexican party is called a fiesta and includes traditional food items, such as tacos, as well as a candy-filled piñata that is hit with a stick until it bursts open and candy spills everywhere for the party guests to enjoy. A very important tradition in Mexican culture is the Quinceanera, which is traditionally celebrated on a young woman’s fifteenth birthday. The celebration is meant to mark the young girl’s movement into womanhood. The Mexican birthday song is called Las Mañanitas.

Ireland

One unusual Irish tradition is “bumping” the birthday child. An adult turns the child upside down and very gently bumps his head on the floor. The number of bumps equals the age of the child. For those who come of age, usually 21 in Ireland, the key to the house is given. This means that the person is an adult and can come and go as he pleases.

South Korea

Mi-yeok-guk, a hearty seaweed soup, is usually served as part of breakfast for the beloved birthday boys and girls in Korea. Mothers will also typically eat this soup after childbirth to make up for nutrients during pregnancy, so you’d better pay respect to your mother whenever she cooks this on your birthday because it’s delicious, healthy, and nutritious.

Although different cultures have many birthday traditions around the world, individual families celebrate their birthdays with specific traditions and special memories unique to that family.

1. Why do people eat Chang Shou Mian’ in China?

A．To symbolize one’s long life.	B．To get a key to a house.
C．To pay respect to one’s mother.	D．To mark one’s movement into adulthood.

2. Which country holds a birthday event to celebrate the coming of womanhood?

A．China.

B．Mexico

C．Ireland

D．South Korea.ms

3. What do China and South Korea have in common when celebrating birthdays?

A．People eat traditional food at birthday parties.

B．People eat specific food to celebrate their birthdays.

C．People eat Chang Shou Mian to wish for longevity on their birthdays.

D．People hold a “bumping” event for children to celebrate their birthdays.

4 . The right a________ to academic success might be diverse while a humble and open attitude must not be. (根据首字母单词拼写)

5 . 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.

About 226 million passenger trips     1     (make) during this year’s week-long Spring Festival holiday, a significant increase from last year     2     still fewer than 2019. This Monday     3     (mark) the peak of the yearly travel rush.     4     the epidemic (疫情) has caused major decreases     5     public traffic, more private cars traveled on expressway networks during the rush.

From Jan 7 to Sunday, small passenger     6     (car) made 744 million trips on expressways, 14.6 percent more than the same period in 2019 and 21.5 percent more     7     that in 2022, according to the     8     (office) statistics.

A “return peak” was seen across the country on Friday as     9     public holiday ended. On that day some 50.92 million trips were made, a year-on-year increase of 83.1 percent from last year,     10     (show) people are getting life back from the year-long epidemic.

6 . 阅读下面材料, 根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段, 使之构成一篇完整的短文。

As a kid, I spent my summers with my grandparents in Texas, which was a welcome change from my Huston life of school and I loved it.

One of the best parts of spending summers with my grandparents was caravanning(乘房车度假)with the caravan club. Every few summers, we would join the trips organized by the caravan club and it was during one of these trips that my grandfather said to me the right words at the right time—it’s much harder to be kind than clever.

I wasn’t very old, maybe ten or eleven, but I was forming my opinions about the world, and of course, I thought I knew much more about things than I actually did.

I was then, as I am now, a big reader and a crazy fan for numbers. Anyone who has been on a long road trip knows that no matter how many books you bring, how beautiful the scenery is, you still have too much time to think. So I spent a good deal of my extra time calculating. I calculated gas mileage. I figured out the average per-item price of groceries bought over the course of the trip. And at some point, I saw an anti-smoking ad on TV. The announcer declared that every time a smoker took a puff of a cigarette(抽一口烟). he was shortening his life time by two minutes. My grandmother was a smoker. I hated it, and not just because I knew that it was bad for her. My guess is that any kid who rides for thousands of miles sitting in the smoke-filled backseat of a 1973 Olds car grows to hate smoking. So on one particularly long driving day, I decided to do the math.

I don’t remember exactly what the number was. Two minutes per puff, twenty puffs per cigarette, twenty cigarettes per pack, one pack a day for thirty years. About sixteen years? When I was satisfied that I had come up with a reasonably accurate number, I poked my head between the two front seats and tapped my grandmother on the shoulder.

注意:
1. 续写词数应为150左右:
2. 请按如下格式在答题纸的相应位置作答。

I told grandma that she had taken sixteen years off her life from smoking.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

My grandpa got out of the car and asked me to follow.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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。

Everyone loves a good laugh! We look for comedies and funny movies     1     can make us laugh until we cry. Clearly, laughter has many effects     2     us and it is     3     (benefit) to our health, from reducing stress and improving blood circulation to     4     (increase) immunity. Now the question for us is: what exactly happens in our bodies when we giggle or laugh? And what makes our stomach hurt after a period of heavy laughter? Let’s find out. When we laugh, our whole body gets involved. Our jaw, our brain, and even our blood vessels get into     5     (act). As we ha-ha-ha and ho-ho-ho, our vocal cords start vibrating (震动). When we laugh     6     (hard), we breathe more rapidly. Because of this, our rib cage (胸腔) starts to become smaller, which can cause sharp pain in the inter costal muscles (肋间肌) that     7     (locate) between the ribs. In fact, these muscles are jokingly     8     (refer) to as the “hurts to laugh” muscle in the medical dictionary. So when we laugh, the muscle tenses up, the rib cage     9     (become) smaller and the muscles get a solid workout. It pushes the air out from the bottom of the lungs, which is why laughter is such     10     good exercise.

8 . I’ve had many opportunities to experience living in a foreign culture, but my first experience came in an unexpected place-my own country. When I was 20, I got an internship(实习职位)in New York City. It was my first time to _________ outside of my home state of Texas.

With my move north came culture _________. I grew up in a big city in Texas. But it was no comparison to the tightly _________ New York with their 8 million citizens. I was used to life at a _________ pace; New York moved fast. The saying is true-this city never _________ . I had to adjust.

My first reaction was fear. Fear I would _________ at my new internship in the 54-story office building. Fear of getting lost on the subway. Fear that the locals wouldn’t have _________ for my frequent moments of confusion. My _________ ranged from reasonable to silly. But I _________ my fears and kept trying.

I learned quickly never to __________ a New Yorker always speaks English. New York is home to people of all walks of life, from all corners of the world. At weekends, I would spend hours __________ along Canal Street in Chinatown—the closest I’d ever been to an __________ country.

By the end of my internship, I was a little older, a little wiser and sick of big city life. I __________ the skyscrapers, tourists and the high price I had to pay for a cheeseburger and fries. But I had __________ , too. I was quicker, smarter and more independent. I knew I would miss that feeling of having the world right at my doorstep. But it was good __________ for the life of travel I’d soon begin.

1.

A．study

B．live

C．travel

D．explore

2.

A．heritage

B．reaction

C．shock

D．feast

3.

A．packed

B．crazy

C．equipped

D．stressful

4.

A．quick

B．competitive

C．unique

D．relaxed

5.

A．sleeps

B．changes

C．adapts

D．erupts

6.

A．attempt

B．fail

C．sweat

D．recover

7.

A．preference

B．respect

C．desire

D．patience

8.

A．fear

B．relief

C．sadness

D．tiredness

9.

A．ignored

B．faced

C．lost

D．inspired

10.

A．propose

B．comment

C．assume

D．discover

11.

A．reviewing

B．hiking

C．wandering

D．observing

12.

A．European

B．African

C．American

D．Asian

13.

A．admired

B．hated

C．afforded

D．rented

14.

A．grown

B．won

C．struggled

D．practised

15.

A．celebration

B．emotion

C．preparation

D．contribution

9 . Today’s smart phones can do almost anything instantly, but like all tools, they should be used wisely. So here is a list of problematic habits that smart phone users should avoid.

Ignoring your surroundings. Imagine you’re rushing through a crowded subway station, late for an appointment. Suddenly someone is blocking your way, walking very slowly, drifting back and forth, fiddling (用手拨弄) with their smart-phone. You probably feel annoyed, but do you ever do the same thing?     1    

Recording people without permission. It may be attractive to snap a picture or take a video when you see someone who looks different. But recording people’s daily lives can be rude and hurtful.     2     Your friends may not mind you taking pictures of them. But make sure you ask before posting anything embarrassing online. Displaying their mistakes for the world to see is sure to hurt your friendship.     3    

Disconnecting from people. Smart-phones are great tools for communication — except when they replace personal interaction (互动). It’s not uncommon to see people sitting together not speaking, but staring silently at their smart-phones.     4     Facial expressions and body language express far more than words. What you focus on reflects your priorities (优先). Interrupting a conversation to check your phone means that the person you’re with is less important than your messages.

    5     But that may not be a good thing. Some say that unused time is necessary for creative thinking. So don’t spend every spare moment with your phone. Instead, see what great ideas you can think up. By avoiding these habits, you can be sure your smart phone is helping -not hurting-you.

A．If you want a picture, ask for permission.

B．Real friendships require face-to-face interaction.

C．For your own safety, put the phone away while walking.

D．Worse still, once pictures are posted, they’re impossible to remove.

E．With your smart-phone always available, you always have something to do.

F．More time spent playing with a smart phone means less time on other things.

G．The most important thing is to use it to keep in touch with family and friends.

10 . Global warming has been a public concern for a long time. The Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet, meaning more and more ice is melting (融化) every year.

“It’s really worrying—the rapid loss of sea ice up there—for a lot of reasons.” Tracey Goldstein, a researcher and environmentalist at U.C. Davis, says, “One of those reasons is sea animals like ice seals (海豹) need the ice to live and give birth. Besides, as the Arctic warms, the fish the seals cat may be moving to deeper and colder waters. So the seals have to travel farther to hunt them. So the combination of all of that is probably going to affect their health and their body condition. And that will make them not just underweight but also easier to catch other diseases.”

And those diseases may also be killing Arctic sea mammals (哺乳动物) because Arctic sea ice is melting. When there used to be an ice bridge, certain populations would remain separate from each other, so they couldn’t come in contact and give each other their bacteria, their viruses, etc. But once those channels started to open, animals were able to move further and came into contact with new species that they hadn’t come into contact with in the past.

Goldstein and her coworkers recorded the spread of a disease from 2001 through 2016, which proved to be related to the death in sea mammals. Mammals that depend on ice to survive may already be on the edge of extinction. And more frequent outbreak of diseases could speed up the process. Meanwhile, humans may be affected too. Up in the Arctic, people really rely on these animals for their livelihood and well-being. And as those animals disappear, or as their habitat disappears, that’s also going to heavily influence humans in that area. So the overall health of the environment, the animals and the people up in the Arctic over time is just going to continue to deteriorate. Unless, we humans take meaningful measures to slow the planet’s warming.

1. What is the author’s purpose of the first paragraph?

A．To make a comparison.	B．To offer some evidence.
C．To put forward an opinion.	D．To present the phenomenon.

2. Which is less likely to happen to sea animals because of the melting ice?

A．They will stay in shape and keep healthy.	B．They will come in contact with new species.
C．They will have to go farther to hunt for foo	D．They will have no place to give birth to babies

3. What does the underlined word “deteriorate” mean?

A．Develop.

B．Vary.

C．Impact.

D．Worsen.

4. What is NOT the fact according to the last paragraph?

A．Mammals that depend on ice to live are dying out.

B．Diseases that break out frequently make things worse.

C．Humans living in that area have adapted to the change.

D．Researchers found the disease related to mammals’ death.