1 . Homeless animals are usually left without a permanent home when their owners give them up or they’re found on the street. With millions of animals living in shelters every year, there aren’t enough people to take them in.
When you adopt an animal from a shelter or rescue group, you save two lives.
Whether you like rolling up your sleeves and cleaning cages, socializing with a few of your kitten friends or working with numbers, your skills and interests can make a huge impact on the lives of homeless pets in your community.
| A．Volunteer with animals |
| B．So, many animals don’t get the love and care that they need |
| C．Host an animal shelter talk at your school or workplace |
| D．Fostering is a fun way to get lots of helpful hands-on time |
| E．Not only can you feel good about saving the pet you adopted |
| F．You’ll find rescue groups for just about any type of pet |
| G．Whenever you give something to a shelter or a rescue group in your community, you’re helping to save lives |
2 . The sound of my mother preparing breakfast fills the house — my morning alarm.
As I drag my body toward the kitchen, I’m greeted by my mother standing over the stove. She effortlessly cooks a dish that blends Western and Eastern styles, a beloved breakfast classic in our family. This is my grandmother’s recipe, which reflected her upbringing.
Since my grandmother’s passing, I’ve become more aware of my mother’s aging and her dedication (奉献) to cooking for us. She has cooked for her family for more than 30 years, dividing her time between three countries — Korea, Canada and Germany. When my parents visit us from Korea, they stay with us for several months. My mother helps around the house, showing her cooking skills to provide delicious meals for me, my partner and our kids. In alternating years, she and my dad will travel to Berlin to spend a couple of weeks with my sister and her partner.
According to Statista, most Canadians claim to spend between 31 and 60 minutes preparing an average weekday dinner for themselves and others in their household. Ten percent of respondents to the 2022 survey stated that they spend more than an hour preparing their evening meal. My mother belongs to that 10 percent.
Her cooking extends beyond the kitchen, starting with careful grocery shopping trips where she examines produce (农产品) and finds the best deals. She takes everyone’s preferences and needs into account. The meal she creates becomes a ritual (仪式), bringing the family together to connect and share. Helping her out in the kitchen demands a great deal of patience. Yet, I know it’s her way of expressing love.
As I chop the vegetables, she glances over and notices that my carrots are not equally sized. She pushes me aside to take over the task.
“Just do the dishes.”
1. What do we know about the author’s mother from the text?| A．She has three daughters |
| B．She has great cooking skills. |
| C．She lives with the author in Korea. |
| D．She invented the author’s beloved breakfast classic. |
| A．To show her mother’s devotion. |
| B．To present a common issue. |
| C．To explain the reasons behind infrequent cooking. |
| D．To highlight the significance of home-cooked meals. |
| A．Her mother is easily annoyed. | B．Her mother wants to teach her everything. |
| C．Her mother dislikes being disturbed. | D．Her mother expects perfection in cooking |
| A．Mother’s Love Needs to Be Responded to |
| B．Mother’s Recipe Is the Best in the World |
| C．Mother’s Kitchen Draws Us Closer Together |
| D．Mother’s Selflessness Inspires My Family |
My name is Wen Yu, but you can call me “Fish”. I want to talk about the time I went to the US to meet my American pen pal Drew, but first I need to go back a little bit to explain things.
I was a second-year junior high schooler when my English teacher, Ms. Gao, had us experiment with a pen pal program set up through our school. This was an amazing opportunity at the time since it meant we could use our English skills to communicate with other teenagers the same age as us around the world through email! Still, I was a bit shy and nervous since I knew my English was pretty poor; but at the same time, I was excited to make a new friend and was determined to improve with this new opportunity presented to me.
Ms. Gao assigned me to write emails with a boy named Drew in the US. He was from a city called Cincinnati in Ohio. I knew a little about the biggest cities in the US— New York, Boston, San Francisco, Chicago— But Cincinnati? I had no idea where it was. Maybe it was somewhere near one of those cities?
As we continued to talk through email, I was surprised to find my English was slowly improving. I found my English going from stiff and formulaic (刻板的) to more natural and casual to match the way he wrote. I even picked up some slang (俚语) words along the way! We got to know each other’s hobbies and interests as well as our dreams and hopes for the future. Drew seemed so nice, and I found myself wanting to visit him someday and see what Cincinnati had to offer. He, too, wanted to visit Beijing and try out the local food I had told him so much about.
We continued our email conversations even after the program ended. Drew told me how long his summer break was going to be and said he’d show me around if I were to ever visit. To my surprise, that opportunity would come sooner than I thought.
注意：1. 所续写短文的词数应为150左右；2. 续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已写好；
As it turned out, my parents were planning a surprise vacation to the US.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Entering the baggage claim area (行李领取处), I finally came face-to-face with Drew.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Some people are born with a vision and desire to help
1. What is the talk mainly about?
| A．How to operate a computer. |
| B．How to communicate in English online. |
| C．How to improve English through the Internet. |
| A．Accuracy | B．Fluency | C．Elegance |
| A．Record all points | B．Write down new words | C．Remember main points in mind. |
| A．Visit a website. | B．Practice listening after class. | C．Do practice exercises in the textbook. |
1. What facility is necessary for the man?
| A．A satellite TV | B．An indoor pool | C．Internet access |
| A．He can do some exercise at the hotel. |
| B．He will have to have breakfast outside. |
| C．He wants to have his own parking space. |
1. Where are the speakers now?
| A．In France | B．In Italy | C．In the UK |
| A．She had no time. | B．She didn’t know it. | C．Her son didn’t like it. |
| A．They meet abroad. | B．They are going back together. | C．They started their tour in London. |
1. What are the speakers discussing?
| A．Whether to get rid of the phone. |
| B．When to turn on the answering machine. |
| C．Whether to answer the phone at meal times. |
| A．He hates answering phones at meal times. |
| B．He doesn’t want people to know they’re home. |
| C．He doesn’t like making calls at inconvenient times. |
| A．The waiter got into a fight with them. |
| B．The waiter charged them incorrectly. |
| C．The waiter brought them the wrong food. |
10 . Long believed to have little social structure, giraffes actually are socially complex, University of Bristol scientists suggest. Their social organization is comparable to that of elephants, dolphins and whales.
Lead author Zoe Miller started research work on giraffes in 2005. “I had noticed that giraffe population numbers were decreasing, and I realized that the tallest of all land animals had hardly had any scientific work done on them, which I just found unbelievable. I decided to devote my career to understanding this species better,” said Muller.
Muller and her team looked at research work done in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Researchers then considered giraffes very unsociable and that they formed no long-lasting relationships. “However, this was not what I saw in Africa, and I started to question why they were described as having ‘little or no social structure’ when I could clearly observe them always together,” Muller said.
Muller was based in Kenya for five years, conducting research on giraffes and their social organization. She and her team found that giraffes are actually a highly complex social species that may live in matriarchal (母系的) social systems and include shared care of their young.
“Giraffes may take part in shared parenting of the young, and remain in groups of related females. These types of social organization are well-known in other species, for example elephants and whales, but nobody has ever before suggested that the same could be true for giraffes,” Muller said.
The grandmother giraffes stay in their family groups, passing on survival benefits in tough times to the younger members of the group. For example, they may know where there is water or where they can find food. “This is important information, as this means we should focus on protecting the older adult females, since they are important members to aid the survival of younger generations,” explained Muller.
1. What did Zoe Muller think of researchers’ work done in the 1950s-1970s?| A．Questionable. | B．Inspiring. | C．Reliable. | D．Creative. |
| A．Their population numbers are dropping. |
| B．They remain in groups of related males. |
| C．They have been well protected in the wild. |
| D．They take part in shared raising of the young. |
| A．They can help keep the balance of nature. |
| B．They can help researchers learn about giraffes. |
| C．They can pass on life skills to the younger generations. |
| D．They can help younger giraffes get on well with each other. |
| A．Secrets of Giraffes: The Older, The Smarter |
| B．Social Structure: A Gap in Animal Research |
| C．Giraffes: More Socially Complex than Imagined |
| D．Survival of Giraffes: The Role of Older Members |
