1 . I was travelling on an overnight bus from Kolhapur to Aurangabad in Maharashtra for my high school graduation travel. The bus — an ordinary, non-air-conditioned one — was more than
The bus started its journey a little later than scheduled. After around two very long hours, I was beyond tired. I kept trying to
Just then, something
This extraodinary experience has stayed with me even after all these years. It revealed to me an important fact — that we can all
A.cool | B.fast | C.large | D.packed |
A.searched | B.reserved | C.occupied | D.offered |
A.misfortune | B.discomfort | C.fear | D.doubt |
A.develop | B.adjust | C.encourage | D.rescue |
A.saw | B.ignored | C.sensed | D.touched |
A.information | B.money | C.explanation | D.attention |
A.playing jokes on | B.looking down on | C.looking up at | D.taking care of |
A.made | B.accepted | C.abandoned | D.resisted |
A.judged | B.considered | C.praised | D.observed |
A.unexpected | B.odd | C.tricky | D.disturbing |
A.calmed down | B.stood up | C.set out | D.showed up |
A.set off | B.turned out | C.made use of | D.got hold of |
A.got | B.came | C.spread | D.rushed |
A.expect | B.desire | C.guarantee | D.share |
A.journey | B.lesson | C.role | D.situation |
2 . MacArthur’s devotion to sailing dates back to when she was just four years of age, when she first got the chance to have a try. “I’ll never forget that sailing as a kid of setting foot on a boat for the first time,” MacArthur said. “It kind of struck me that this boat had everything we needed to take us anywhere in th world. And as a child, that opened up everything.” She explained how it felt life the “greatest sense of freedom”.
This experience lighted a passion within MacArthur. She knew then that she wanted to sail around the world. She had no idea how to achieve it — growing up in the countryside, it wasn’t the most obvious career path — but she knew that was what she wanted to do at some stage. So she acquired knowledge and saved up for years to pursue a career in sailing. She would have potatoes and beans every day for eight years so that she could save up to buy the right equipment. By reaching certain financial goals and asking technical questions about sailing, MacArthur felt as though she was getting closer to her ambitions.
“When you know where you’re going, you can actually get there — even if it seems unlikely. The impossible could be possible and aiming high is not necessarily such a nutty thing to do.” And it seems that MacArthur’s drive to become a sailor went beyond her expectations. At the age of 24, she started to receive media attention after participating in the Vendee Globe, a single-handed non-stop yacht (帆船) race that goes around the world. She came in second place.
Some three to four years later, MacArthur chose to sail for 71 days and 14 hours, covering more than 26, 000 miles during the course of her journey. This led to MacArthur scoring a new world record in 2005, as the fastest person to sail around the globe single-handedly. While this record has since been surpassed, MacArthur is still considered as Britain’s most successful offshore racer.
1. What happened to MacArthur when she was four?A.She prepared to sail around the world. | B.She got stuck in a boat. |
C.She had her first taste of sailing. | D.She saw a boat for the first time. |
A.She worked as a technician to earn money. |
B.She sought financial support for her amibitions. |
C.She planted potatoes and beans for profit . |
D.She prepared herself for her goal. |
A.She set the world sailing record. | B.She attracted media spotlight. |
C.She secured second place in a yacht race. | D.She had her personal best surpassed. |
A.Follow your own course, and let others talk | B.Nothing is impossible to a willing heart. |
C.Practice makes perfect. | D.Doing is better than saying. |
My friend and I have arrived in Katherine,
To survive in this vast land on the ocean, the Aborigines had to be in close contact with nature. This shows in their music, too,
The didgeridoo is made from a hollow tree branch. To play the didgeridoo, you put your mouth on one end and blow while vibrating your lips.
4 . One single night every January, volunteers all over America search parks, woodlands and pavements to count those without shelter. After seeing their own figures for homelessness increase by 20%between 2022 and early 2023. Jersey officials were shocked into action. Officials spent more on rental assistance for those at risk of becoming homeless. More services for people living rough have led to a rise in sheltered homelessness. The state also gathers real time data. In November New Jersey’s Office of Homelessness Prevention released its own figures , showing unsheltered homelessness falling across the state by 23% year on year.
Newark, New Jersey’s largest city and home to the state’s largest homeless population, recorded a 58% reduction in unsheltered homelessness since the start of the year due to the government’s financial support to reduce street homelessness, improve the shelter system and expand housing and prevention services.
Luis Ulerio, the director of Newark’s Office of Homeless Services, says “there’s just been a lot of hard work behind that number.” Mr. Baraka, the mayor (市长),converted a local primary school into a 166-bed facility. He built temporary housing out of shipping containers. A second cluster (群) of containers with supportive services, called Hope Village II, will open soon. The containers have been altered to look like little cottages. A third cluster is in the works Mr.Baraka wants to create a pipeline from shelters to transitional housing and then to getting long-term homeless people into permanent housing.
More services for people living rough have led to a rise in sheltered homelessness. The city also provides money for overdue rent to prevent homelessness. Beth Shinn of Vanderbilt University points out that it’s cheaper to give $ 200 to help make due rent for the poor than to pay thousands later. The city also relies on data , updated daily by those working with Newark’s homeless people. Real-time data is crucial , he says , in order to carry out interventions in state policy all on the frontline.
1. What can we learn about homelessness in New Jersey from paragraph 1?A.It has greatly affected people’s lives. | B.Official efforts are lacking to address it. |
C.Great progress has been made to ease it. | D.It is the most serious all over America. |
A.He designed and built the Hope Village series for them. |
B.He turned a school and shipping containers into o homes. |
C.He joined a permanent pipeline to the homeless houses. |
D.He led the volunteers to count people without shelter. |
A.Extended. | B.Donated. | C.Distributed. | D.Changed. |
A.Rent should be provided for the poor when it’s due. |
B.No rent should be charged to stop overdue rent. |
C.Real-time data should be in place to spot overdue rent. |
D.A limit should be set to avoid large sum of overdue rent. |
5 . Cordero is the farm manager at Ollin Farms, not far from Boulder, Colorado. The locally grown vegetables on the farm aren’t just pretty. “We play an important role in public health nutrition programs,” says Cordero’s dad, Mark Guttridge, who started this farm with his wife, Kena, 17 years ago.
At a meeting with about a dozen local farmers, two state representatives, and the Colorado officials of agriculture, Guttridge explains how Boulder county has made creative investments in his farm that could be spread to the state or even national level. Before the meeting, Guttridge shows them one of those investments.
A dozen sheep, which Guttridge raises for wool, feed on root vegetables like radishes that have been leftover for them. “So these guys are out fertilizing the vegetable field,” Guttridge laughs. “They’ll be out here a couple more weeks, and then we’ll get our next summer vegetables planted right there.” Around the field is a special moveable type of fencing that Ollin Farms bought using financial aid from the Boulder County Sustainability Office. It allows them to move the sheep from one field to another, fertilizing as they go. The goal of these investments is “really building up our soil health,” he explains. “That relates directly to the nutrient quality of the food-healthy soil grows healthy food.”
The county also makes an effort to get that healthy food out to different communities to boost public health. That’s where the Boulder County Public Health department comes in. It created a coupon program to give discounts to people buying fruits and vegetables from Ollin Farms. Nutrition incentive programs, like those public health fruit and vegetable coupons, are spreading all over the country, and most are funded through the federal farm bill. Amy Yaroch, executive director at the Gretchen Swanson Center for Nutrition, says “It’s a trip le win. It’s basically good for the consumers who live in that particular community because they’re getting the healthy food, it’s good for the farmer, and then it’s good for the economy.”
1. What does Ollin Farms do?A.It makes public nutrition health plans. |
B.It offers financial aid to other farms. |
C.It provides cheap food to the local community. |
D.It grows fruits and vegetables rich in nutrition. |
A.By raising sheep on radishes. | B.By buying fences for farmhouses. |
C.By funding the farm’s soil health. | D.By giving advice about fertilizing fields. |
A.Cautious. | B.Dismissive. | C.Unclear. | D.Approving. |
A.Couponing for Health: Stimulating Nutrition Choices |
B.Growing Health: Innovations in Farm and Public Health Initiatives |
C.Fertile Fields and Furry Friends: A Farming Fairy Tale |
D.Local Produce, Global Impact: The Nutrition Choices of Ollin Farms |
6 . The World-Famous Nine
By Ben Guterson, illustrated by Kristina Kister
Zander’s grandmother owns the most incredible department store in the world. When a string of mysterious accidents start happening at the store, Zander’s grandmother tells him that a monster called Darkbloom may have returned. The monster, which can control people, wants a magical object that disappeared from the store decades ago. Zander notices that walls on many floors contain mysterious symbols and takes them down in his notebook. Will the 11-year-old boy be able to solve the puzzle and secure the object before Darkbloom does? Packed with suspense, fascination, and a family drama, this mystery may remind you of a cross between Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
Ask the Author
The Week: What inspired this book?
Ben Guterson: When I was growing up, Seattle had two big department stores. Something about these big buildings held many possibilities for mystery and discovery to me.
The Week: Why is Zander close to his grandmother?
Ben Guterson: I didn’t want Zander to be alone, so he’s got his loving grandmother there to give him some guidance and keep him safe.
The Week: Do you enjoy mysteries?
Ben Guterson: Yes, I like stories with a mysterious feel to them. I don’t think I have ever been drawn to straightforward realism.
1. What can we learn about Zander?A.He grows up in Seattle. | B.He lives alone at a store. |
C.He wishes to be a magician. | D.He wants to defeat Darkbloom. |
A.A kid loving true-life stories. | B.A kid enjoying fictional works. |
C.A kid interested in grandma’s dishes. | D.A kid drawn to online store shopping. |
A.A writer’s profile. | B.An interview outline. |
C.A children’s story. | D.A book recommendation. |
7 . Artificial intelligence (AI) is showing promise in earthquake prediction, challenging the long-held belief that it is impossible. Researchers at the University of Texas, Austin, have developed an AI algorithm (算法) that correctly predicted 70% of earthquakes a week in advance during a trial in China and provided accurate strength calculations for the predicted earthquakes.
The research team believes their method succeeded because they stuck with a relatively simple machine learning approach. The AI was provided with a set of statistical features based on the team’s knowledge of earthquake physics, and then instructed to train itself using a five-year database of earthquake recordings. Once trained, the AI provided its prediction by listening for signs of incoming earthquakes within the background rumblings (隆隆声) in the Earth.
This work is clearly a milestone in research for AI-driven earthquake prediction. “You don’t see earth-quakes coming,” explains Alexandros Savvaidis, a senior research scientist who leads the Texas Seismological Network Program (TexNet). “It’s a matter of milliseconds, and the only thing you can control is how prepared you are. Even with the 70% accuracy, that’s a huge result and could help minimize economic and human losses and has the potential to remarkably improve earthquake preparation worldwide.”
While it is unknown whether the same approach will work at other locations, the researchers are confident that their AI algorithm could produce more accurate predictions if used in areas with reliable earthquake tracking networks. The next step is to test artificial intelligence in Texas, since UT’s Bureau TexNet has 300 earth-quake stations and over six years worth of continuous records, making it an ideal location for these purposes.
Eventually, the authors hope to combine the system with physics-based models. This strategy could prove especially important where data is poor or lacking. “That may be a long way off, but many advances such as this one, taken together, are what moves science forward,” concludes Scott Tinker, the bureau’s director.
1. How does the AI forecast earthquakes?A.By identifying data from the satellites. |
B.By analyzing background sounds in the Earth. |
C.By modeling data based on earthquake recordings. |
D.By monitoring changes in the Earth’s magnetic field. |
A.The ways to reduce losses in earthquakes. |
B.The importance of preparing for earthquakes. |
C.The significance of developing the AI prediction. |
D.The limitation of AI algorithms in earthquake prediction. |
A.Conducting tests in different locations. |
B.Applying the AI approach to other fields. |
C.Building more earthquake stations in Texas. |
D.Enlarging the database to train the calculation accuracy. |
A.Stable but outdated. | B.Effective but costly. |
C.Potential and economical. | D.Pioneering and promising. |
8 . Picture the scene: you are sitting at a cafe on a hot summe’s day and decide to order a glass of lemonade. It arrives ice cold and you smile in contentment until the waiter asks if you want a straw. Now you have to choose to either take a straw or not. Actually, the decision is not an easy one.
A study by a European research group showed there are significant health and environmental risks associated with the paper-based and bamboo-based straws that have replaced plastic straws.
The recent ban on plastic straws saw the introduction of the modern paper straw. It was hoped by officials that it would address the environmental issues of single-use plastic. However, scientists observing the performance of the new paper straws found themselves puzzled by their ability of never getting soggy (浸湿的). They wondered what might be allowing paper straws to perform so well.
The first study to investigate this was performed by Alina Timshina and co-workers in 2021. It showed that paper and plant-based straws contain significant PFAS (含氟表面活性剂). These are fluorine-based chemicals that have remarkable properties in resisting water, oil and pretty much anything. And almost nothing degrades or reacts with PFAS which means they persist in the environment and will do so for thousands of years.
They also make it into the human body by migrating from packaging into our food and drink. Once PFAS are in our blood they are associated with a number of health effects such as liver and kidney disease. There is also evidence that PFAS may lead to increased risk of high blood pressure in pregnant women.
PFAS have also been found in plastic straws but at lower levels. The only material determined to be free of PFAS was stainless steel, which are currently not widely used, so you risk the embarrassment of sounding like a very demanding customer when asking for one. But then again, maybe we should all be more demanding when it comes to preserving the environment and human health.
1. Why does the writer mention the scene in paragraph 1?A.To show the politeness of waiters. | B.To reflect the necessity of drinks. |
C.To highlight the importance of straws. | D.To lead to the following findings. |
A.They are life-threatening. | B.They are chemically stable. |
C.They allow paper straws to resist water only. | D.They are less in paper straws than plastic. |
A.Insisting on using steel straws. | B.Imposing a ban on paper straws. |
C.Putting steel straws into mass production. | D.Promoting the use of plastic straws. |
A.The availability of stain straws. | B.The inefficient ban on plastic straws. |
C.The negative effects of paper straws. | D.The characteristics of different straws. |
1. What is the probable relationship between the speakers?
A.A couple. | B.Friends. | C.Trainer and trainee. |
A.By using apps. | B.By watching videos. | C.By teaming up with families. |
A.She needs motivation from others. |
B.Her plan is designed unreasonably. |
C.She is always disturbed by other things. |
A.A VIP course. | B.A free course. | C.A tailored course. |
A.Getting wrong tickets. | B.Getting parking fine. | C.Breaking traffic rules. |