1 . 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。

Hong Kong’s tiny Tai Hang district is usually one of the city’s     1     (quiet) places. But every year during the Mid-Autumn Festival, the neighborhood comes alive with the Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance.

    2     (list) as China’s National Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2011, the Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance began in 1880,     3     the neighborhood was attacked by a deadly disease on the eve of the Mid-Autumn Festival. According to the legend, a fortune teller suggested that the villagers perform a fire dragon dance for three days and three nights during the upcoming full moon. To their     4     (amaze), the disease disappeared     5     (short) after the dance. Since then, this tradition has been carried on every year during the Mid-Autumn Festival. The 67-metre fire dragon will wind through the streets of Tai Hang, like it did over a century ago with over 300     6     (performer) , 70,000 incense sticks (焚香), and lots of firecrackers.

Dragon dance leader Chan Tak-fai, who has been organizing the event for the past 20 years, first got involved     7     a child. “I grew up     8     (watch) all the elder makers—there were three on Sun Chun Street where I lived—create the fire dragon every year. I was able to learn and later teach young Tai Hangers,” says Tak-fai, now 70. “Back then, we always     9     (gather) in the street as there was no air-conditioning and it was cooler outside. That created     10     great sense of community.”

2 . Alexander Graham Bell hated spending summertime in Washington, DC. He usually ________ to his farm in Nova Scotia, but one year he had to stay in the capital.

“Why humans have ________ how to warm a house but not how to cool one — until now,” he wondered, and in 1872, he ________ a cold-air-producing device and brought the temperature in his room down to 21℃.

When 69-year-old Bell told that ________ in a speech to the 1917 graduating class of McKinley Manual Training School, the students went ________. The clapping lasted so long that he was ________ to say something more surprising.

“Could postage stamps be used in ________ of persons?” asked Bell, who had thought of ________ a low price for public transport, but the cost of building additional roads was too high. “Perhaps, the flying machine will be the ________.”

In the speech, Bell also ________ on a century of progress and looked ahead with remarkable foresight. In the reflection, he was amazed by the ________ made in the past century: Gas lighting had evolved into electric bulbs and automobiles ________ horse-drawn vehicles. He then went on to ________ the commercial airplane, solar panels, and the ________ for renewable resources.

Gilbert Grosvenor, the editor of National Geographic magazine, asked for the ________ and published a revised version in the February issue. Now, more than one hundred years later, Bell’s predictions still remain prescient (预见性的).

1.

A．wandered

B．escaped

C．flew

D．applied

2.

A．agreed on

B．insisted on

C．figured out

D．ruled out

3.

A．designed

B．bought

C．saw

D．borrowed

4.

A．accident

B．loss

C．problem

D．story

5.

A．wild

B．hungry

C．disappointed

D．silent

6.

A．allowed

B．forced

C．paid

D．chosen

7.

A．favor

B．memory

C．transportation

D．case

8.

A．cutting

B．raising

C．avoiding

D．charging

9.

A．pollution

B．solution

C．discovery

D．issue

10.

A．relied

B．switched

C．reflected

D．called

11.

A．profits

B．advances

C．materials

D．failures

12.

A．replaced

B．destroyed

C．attacked

D．missed

13.

A．sell

B．rent

C．invent

D．predict

14.

A．deadline

B．competition

C．need

D．balance

15.

A．text

B．book

C．contract

D．interview

3 . From beautiful bronze (青铜) wine cups to grand bronze ding (food containers), this exhibition features discoveries that will fundamentally change visitors’ understanding of ancient Chinese civilization.

At about the same time that Stonehenge was rising in England, a Bronze Age culture was developing in China that in many respects was seldom equaled and never surpassed. This development seemed to have begun by 1600 BC in the Shang (about 1600 BC — 1046 BC) along the Yellow River. For thousands of years, this area had witnessed cultures of increasing complexity,

which laid the foundation of the Chinese civilization. By the time of the Bronze Age, this culture was characterized by a strong centralized government, urban communities with obvious social classes, a distinctive system of writing, strict religious rituals, diversified art forms, and advanced bronze-producing methods.

Unlike other cultures, where bronze was first used chiefly for tools and weapons, in China, bronze was used to make vessels (容器) that played central roles in official ceremonies and ancestor worship for more than 1,000 years, even after the official beginnings of the Iron Age in 400 BC. Possession of bronze vessels thus became a symbol for the holding of power and rulers used bronze cups and food containers to present offerings of food and wine to royal ancestors and gods.

During Shang times, wine played a major part in such ceremonies, and containers for wine therefore far outnumbered other types. Then, the Shang were criticized for too much wine drinking by its enemy, the Zhou, who felt that the drinking had offended Heaven and given the Zhou the right to overthrow the Shang. Safeguarding its own dynasty, the Zhou replaced the wine vessels with more practical cooking and storage tools.

After the Shang period, bronze vessels became more important as expressions of personal status than as vehicles for official ceremonies. This is evident from the changing content of bronze inscriptions. Carved into the surface of a vessel, these writings first appeared during the late Shang period as an identification of the vessel’s owner or of the ancestor to whom it was dedicated. During the Western Zhou period, inscriptions became increasingly common and lengthier, praising the achievements of the owners.

1. By the time Stonehenge was rising in England, ________.

A．the Chinese had yet to invent their writing system

B．China was still relatively backward in many respects

C．China had already had a strong centralized government

D．social classes just started to emerge in the Chinese cities

2. What is the third paragraph mainly about?

A．The main applications of bronze in China.

B．The complex official ceremonies in China.

C．The significance of the discovery of bronze.

D．The differences between China and other countries.

3. Which of the following most probably belongs to the Zhou?

A．Huge bronze ding with short religious texts.

B．Bronze vessels showing the kings’ achievements.

C．An unearthed temple with lots of bronze wine cups.

D．An ancient kitchen with lots of bronze cooking pots.

4. From which is the text most probably taken?

A．A science report.	B．An exhibit brochure.
C．A history textbook.	D．A research paper.

4 . Inside a large room at the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), tens of thousands of seeds are stored at a constant temperature of -20℃. Some of them may hold keys to helping us face the future.

“Our center holds as many as 120,000 varieties of seeds. Many of them come from crops as old as agriculture itself. Other seeds were selected by researchers who’ve hiked in the past four decades through forests and mountains in the Middle East, Asia and North Africa, searching for wild relatives of wheat, rice, legumes and other crops that are important to the human diet,” says Mariana Yazbek, who manages the research center.

The research center, formed in the 1970s, once mostly helped farmers in poorer countries in hot and dry climates. But now it also sends seeds to scientists in Europe, Canada and the United States, to improve certain crops’ resistance to the effects of climate change.

“What we are collecting is a sample of the diversity that we have in nature,” adds Yazbek. “We save seeds in case extreme droughts, floods or other catastrophic events should wipe out plant species. These wild relatives of crops have witnessed so many different climates. The qualities that help them adapt and survive in these conditions are stored in their DNA. We have this diversity and it can be a tool to help us face the future.”

Yazbek says scientists are particularly interested in crops like the legume because it absorbs a lot of greenhouse gas CO₂ from the atmosphere. It also releases N into the soil, meaning the farmers have to use less chemical fertilizer. And the legume takes very little water to grow because it produces sugar alcohols that act as humectants, a substance that attracts and absorbs water and saves the plant from freezing or drying out.

In another case, a wild wheat seed collected in Iran has allowed scientists in the US to develop new wheat varieties resistant to the Hessian fly, a harmful insect that causes tens of millions of dollars in damage to American crops every year.

1. What can be learned about ICARDA?

A．It has a complete collection of seeds.

B．It just helps the undeveloped countries.

C．It used to develop seeds for rich countries.

D．It focuses on saving ancient and wild seeds.

2. Which is closest in meaning to the underlined word “catastrophic” in paragraph 4?

A．Important.

B．Wasteful.

C．Terrible.

D．Unforgettable.

3. What can be inferred about the legume?

A．It will grow much better in wet areas.

B．It is friendly to the environment and soil.

C．It will become the main crop for humans.

D．It has difficulty in adapting to cold climate.

4. Which of the following is a suitable title for the text?

A．Seeds Stored at ICARDA May Help Us Improve Our Crops

B．A New Invaluable Seed Bank Is Constructed at ICARDA

C．Scientists Have Made Breakthroughs in Ancient Seed Study

D．New Seeds Are Successfully Developed for North America

5 . On March 5, 2024, Riken Yamamoto became the 53rd winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize since it was established in 1979 and the 9th architect from Japan to be awarded the prize.

Yamamoto was born in 1945. His projects, ranging from private residences to public housing, are located throughout the world. His signature works include Nagoya Zokei University (Nagoya, Japan, 2022), The Circle at Zürich Airport (Zürich, Switzerland, 2020), Tianjin Library (Tianjin, China, 2012), Pangyo Housing (Seongnam, South Korea, 2010).

“Yamamoto has spent his entire life creating architecture that enriches the lives of those communities in a very generous and quiet way,” Deborah Berke, head of the Yale School of Architecture, told NPR. “My favorite is the Yokosuka Museum of Art. When I was there, I felt that I was part of something larger. That was really magical.”

The building Yamamoto is proud of might be the transparent firehouse he designed in Hiroshima. “The place is especially popular with children. They like to see the firemen training,” the architect said with a smile. “It’s covered with glass, so they can see the firefighters’ activities from the outside.”

Deconstructing traditional concepts of freedom and privacy while rejecting longstanding conditions that have reduced housing into a commodity (商品) without relation to neighbors, Yamamoto defines community as a sense of sharing one space and tries to bridge cultures, histories and multi-generational citizens, by adapting international influence and modernist architecture to the needs of the future.

“For me, to recognize space is to recognize an entire community,” Yamamoto said. “The current architectural approach emphasizes privacy, while ignoring the necessity of societal relationships. However, we can honor the freedom of each individual while still living together in architectural space as a harmonious community.”

“One of the things we need most in the future of cities is to create conditions through architecture that multiply the opportunities for people to come together and interact. By reconsidering boundary between public and private lives, Yamamoto contributes positively beyond the belief to enable communities,” says Tom Pritzker, chair of the Hyatt Foundation, which sponsors the award.

1. Which building does Deborah Berke like most?

A．The Circle at Zürich Airport.	B．Pangyo Housing.
C．The Yokosuka Museum of Art.	D．Nagoya Zokei University.

2. What has made the firehouse in Hiroshima so popular with children?

A．The magic roof.	B．The interesting toys.
C．The beautiful walls.	D．The training activities.

3. What does Riken Yamamoto stress in his design?

A．Social interaction.	B．Individual freedom.
C．National tradition.	D．Futuristic appearance.

4. What is Tom Pritzker’s attitude to the majority of the existing urban buildings?

A．Unclear.

B．Disapproving.

C．Unconcerned.

D．Favorable.

6 . Washington, DC is a theatre town. Here’s where you can get the best performances and cultural experiences offered for every taste in the nation’s capital.

Kennedy Center

Kennedy Center hosts hundreds of world-class performances each year and is home to the National Symphony Orchestra and the Washington National Opera. The Suzanne Farrell Ballet also counts Kennedy Center as its performance headquarters. The company—under the direction of Farrell—was first invited to perform there in 1993 and has since become one of the venue’s most famous attractions.

Woolly Mammoth Company

Woolly Mammoth Company is an experimental theatre that welcomes original plays that push the boundaries of live theatre. The New York Times has called it “Washington’s most daring theatre company”, and the half dozen plays Woolly produces each year continue to live up to that reputation.

Shakespeare Theatre Company

For more than 25 years, Shakespeare Theatre Company has committed itself to serving as the nation’s classical theatre. It operates out of two spaces, including Sidney Harman Hall at the Harman Center, which seats 775, and the Lansburgh Theatre, which seats 451. The shiny, glass-walled Harman Center showcases classic Shakespeare plays, modern updates and Shakespeare-inspired original shows.

Wolf Trap

For locals, summer isn’t complete without at least one trip to Wolf Trap, the only national park dedicated to the performing arts. The venue is best-known for performances of touring artists. The open-air theatre offers covered seating, but when the weather warms up, we suggest buying seats on the grassland and packing a picnic.

1. When did the Suzanne Farrell Ballet first perform at Kennedy Center?

A．In 1993.

B．In 1998.

C．In 2000.

D．In 2003.

2. Which of the following is known for experimental plays?

A．The Harman Center.	B．Woolly Mammoth Company.
C．The Lansburgh Theatre.	D．Shakespeare Theatre Company.

3. What sets Wolf Trap apart from other theatres?

A．Its covered seating.	B．Its Shakespeare plays.
C．Its selected directors.	D．Its open-air atmosphere.

7 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1. What is unknown to the speaker about the tree?

A．Its location.

B．Its height.

C．Its age.

2. What is the average height of a redwood?

A．About 350 feet.

B．Nearly 400 feet.

C．Around 800 feet.

3. Why has the newly-found tree probably stopped growing?

A．It is too old.

B．Its top was damaged.

C．The soil is not rich enough.

4. What did tourists do to another famous tree?

A．They cut it down and sold it.

B．They built nests in it for birds.

C．They got too close and ruined it.

8 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1. Which color has to be included?

A．Pink.

B．Red.

C．Yellow.

2. What is the woman’s budget for all the gifts?

A．Less than £20.

B．More than £30.

C．Between £20 and £30.

3. When will the gifts be delivered?

A．This Monday.

B．On Sunday.

C．Next Tuesday.

4. Where are the speakers?

A．At a chocolate store.

B．At a flower shop.

C．At a delivery station.

9 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1. Where will the man work?

A．In the UK.

B．In the US.

C．In China.

2. What can we know about the man?

A．He has got a promotion.

B．He has to work longer hours.

C．He is out of job.

3. How will the woman improve her language skills?

A．By taking language classes.

B．By communicating with friends.

C．By watching more foreign movies.