1 . When you have to cancel your Thanksgiving plans due to the spread of the COVID-19, you may find yourself craving companionship as much as that pumpkin pie. That’s because parts of the brain respond to loneliness much like they react to hunger, according to a study in Nature Neuroscience.
Researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology scanned the brains of 40 healthy, social young adults after 10 hours of either fasting (禁食) or social isolation (隔离). They found that after being alone, participants’ neurological responses to social signals were similar to hungry people reacting to food — that is, certain areas of the brain linked to desire were turned on to start working.
For an isolated person, a picture of people laughing together caused the same areas of the brain to light up as when a hungry person looked at a big plate of pasta.
“Just like hunger is an unpleasant sensation that motivates us to seek out food and thirst motivates us to seek out water, loneliness is a biological need that motivates us to reconnect to others,” Holt-Lunstad told Insider.
Researchers were surprised to find that people who were prevented from socializing became much more focused on that need, and less reactive to hunger. As their loneliness increased, they became less responsive to images of food.
These latest findings suggest that the relationship between food and loneliness might be more complicated than we thought, despite the popular opinion of stress-eating to cope with social isolation. More research is needed to understand the complex ways people deal with loneliness.
Studies like this can help scientists understand how the brain processes loneliness, and possibly reduce the negative consequences. However, although loneliness may be similar to hunger, fixing it isn’t as easy as serving someone a hearty dinner because people are unique and they need varying levels of social interactions to meet their needs.
1. The underlined word “craving” in the first paragraph can be replaced by .| A．avoiding | B．desiring | C．preferring | D．ignoring |
| A．to find their brain responses to both loneliness and hunger |
| B．to provide explanations for their feeling lonely and hungry |
| C．to find how loneliness can have a negative impact on health |
| D．after they have been hungry and socially isolated for 10 hours |
| A．Hunger is an unpleasant sensation. |
| B．Hunger and thirst motivate us to feed ourselves. |
| C．Socializing is supposed to be basic human need as it is. |
| D．The effects of loneliness on health are comparable to other factors. |
| A．Loneliness may be fixed just as hunger is satisfied. |
| B．Situations of loneliness are complicated and hard to cope with. |
| C．Scientists have understood how the brain processes loneliness. |
| D．Loneliness is such a common and serious problem that we all have to suffer. |
2 . Towards the end of the 1985 sci-fi classic Back to the Future, the inventor Doc Brown announces “where we’re going, we don’t need roads as the car lifts into the air”. While flying cars aren’t yet filling our skies, many are in development. In October the Chinese XPeng X2 successfully completed the first public test flight of its two-seater flying car in Dubai.
The XPeng X2 lifts vertically off the ground using eight propellers (螺旋桨), without the need for a runway, and is therefore suitable for built-up city areas. The vehicle, designed to carry two passengers, is fully electric and its makers say it can rise through the air at around two meters per second and then reach speeds of up to 80 miles per hour. The XPeng X2 is equipped with AI automation — it can be set to self-drive. It learns how to avoid traffic, buildings and people. It does not produce any carbon dioxide emissions during flight and is a step forward in the pursuit of urban green transportation. It is suitable for future low-altitude city flights and is perfect for short-distance city journeys such as sightseeing and medical transportation.
Although the test flight lasted just 90 seconds, according to Dr. Liu, chief aviation specialist at Xpeng Aeroht, the technology is close to being ready for public use, but regulations on flying cars are still some way off. Liu believes that people will be able to use flying cars within limited regulated spaces in just five years. This lines up pretty well with the Chinese government’s plan to put flying taxis on the market by 2025. The self-driving function presents further difficulties with regulation and also throws into question public acceptance. Many people are worried about the safety issues around self-driving cars on the ground, let alone vehicles that are flying around above their heads. However, Peng says it is safer for its flying car to be self-driving than to be driven by a human.
There are lots of flying cars in development now around the world and many of them actually fly, like Opener’s “BlackFly”, SkyDriver’s “SD-03’’and Klein Vision’s “AirCar” — which made a successful 35-minute test flight between two cities in Slovakia in 2021.
1. Why does the author mention the 1985 sci-fi classic Back to the Future?| A．To introduce the topic | B．To recommend the movie |
| C．To provide background information | D．To make a prediction |
| A．The popularity of XPeng X2. | B．The advantages of XPeng X2. |
| C．The limitation of XPeng X2. | D．The prospect of XPeng X2. |
| A．XPeng X2 can carry two passengers at a speed of 80miles per hour. |
| B．XPeng X2 is close to finishing the first public test fight. |
| C．XPeng X2 has already been launched on the market at present. |
| D．XPeng X2 has been widely accepted by the public now. |
| A．Science fiction | B．Film review |
| C．Science & Technology | D．Historical events |
3 . The Music Educator Award, this year, went to Annie Ray, an orchestra(管弦乐队)director at Annandale High School.She was recognized for her efforts to make music accessible to all students, particularly those with disabilities.Ray got to attend the awards ceremony in Los Angeles and bring home a $10,000 prize.
Ray created the Crescendo Orchestra for students with severe intellectual and developmental disabilities, as well as a parent orchestra that teaches nearly 200 caregivers a year to play the same instrument as their child.Ray also works with a local charity to give damaged instruments a second life in her classroom.
The orchestra is about much more than just making music.The most important is to give students a chance to develop their cooperation skills, make mistakes and learn the art of refining something.Ray pushes her students to be brave, go outside their comfort zone and realize they have to learn how to make bad sounds before learning how to make good sounds.And they teach her a lot in return.” They changed my educational philosophy.I understand what it truly means to meet a student where they’re at and apply that elsewhere,” she said.
The warm reception on the ceremony was meaningful.Actually, not many people understand what exactly music educators do or how much their work matters.While her administration is supportive, that lack of understanding is a problem facing the profession in general.Another is resources.She says her school “desperately” needs new instruments.She will use some of her prize money to buy more.
Ray also plans to put some of the money towards an ongoing scholarship for students who want to pursue music when they graduate.She knows of several, those particularly interested in music, and aims to offer financial support needed to realize their musical dreams” It is hard but truly satisfying,” Ray said.“And there’s nothing else like it for them.”
1. What can we learn about Ray from the first two paragraphs?| A．She hosted the award ceremony. | B．She brought music to more people. |
| C．She gave away instruments to the poor. | D．She founded a local charity for children. |
| A．They acquire in-depth musical knowledge. | B．They make friends with the like-minded. |
| C．They gain personal growth from playing music. | D．They improve their connections with educators. |
| A．The reception on the ceremony. | B．Importance of music education. |
| C．Challenges for music educators. | D．Plans to obtain resources. |
| A．Winning a scholarship. | B．Developing interest in music. |
| C．Making musical achievements. | D．Transforming dreams into reality. |
4 . 你校英文报正在开展以Satisfaction with Your Looks为话题的调查，请结合图表中的数据写一篇短文投稿，内容包括：
1. 满意度情况描述；
2. 简单评论；
3. 你的建议。
注意：
1. 写作词数不少于80；
2. 开头已给出，不计入总词数。
Attitudes towards whether we are satisfied with our looks vary from person to person.
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Maria was my best friend. When we first met, I knew we were meant to be friends forever. But then something happened.
One day, I said to her excitedly, “There’s a two-day art camp this summer,” holding up the bright-red paper I had grabbed as we entered the library.
Maria took the paper and glanced at it. She stopped when her eyes caught the date. “It’s during the last week of July,” she said. “That’s the same time when I would be out of town with my family.”
Maria handed the paper back to me as she stood up to look at the shelf of new books.
I sighed and dropped my head down.
“Alice, you’re the artist.” She smiled. “But I’m terrible at drawing.”
“You may not think you can draw, but you can learn,” I said in my most encouraging voice. I really didn’t want to go alone.
Going out of the library, I was still in low spirits.
After school, I showed the paper to my mother. She asked me whether I would attend the art camp. I told my mother probably not because my friend would not go.
Mom patted my back and she knew I had a hard time jumping into something with no familiar faces around. “Maybe next year,” she comforted me.
“Maybe.” I sighed. “I’m going outside to draw our pine tree. I’ll be out front.”
I opened the door and looked at the bright sunshine as I sat on the front doorstep. I thought about the art camp and wished I felt a little braver. Maria could make friends with a whole busload of kids in 10 minutes, but my stomach twirls like a roller coaster when I don’t know anyone around me. By the time I started painting, I had convinced myself it was OK to skip the camp.
I used my pencil and drew the pine’s strong and straight trunk, and added the graceful branches, making sure the upper ones lifted gently toward the sun.
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。
I jumped when Maria said, “You paint quite well.”
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The big day of the art camp finally arrived.
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1．谈谈你对这句话的理解；2．结合个人经历进行阐述。
注意：1．词数80左右；2．请在答题卡的相应位置作答。
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8 . A man with Parkinson’s（帕金森）disease has experienced a substantial improvement in his ability to walk after being fitted with a device that electrically stimulates his spinal cord（脊髓）. The findings, although based on one person, suggest this could be used to treat movement disorders.
Treatments for Parkinson’s disease include drugs that target parts of the brain which regulates movement, as well as deep-brain stimulation, which changes the electrical signals that cause symptoms. However, many people don’t respond to these treatments, particularly if their condition is advanced, says Courtine.
He and his colleagues wanted to find out whether directly stimulating the spinal cord in a person with severe Parkinson’s disease could help. The team designed the device that specifically targets neurons（神经元）in the spine that are activated when legs walk, which showed promise in non-human primates with Parkinson’s-like symptoms. To test it in a person, the researchers recruited a 62-year-old man called Marc, who has experienced Parkinson’s symptoms for around 30 years. These included pace freezing-sudden and temporary inability to move.
The researchers first had to map the neurons in Marc’s spine. This helped to guide the application of stimulators so they would only target his legs’ neurons. They then placed sensors on Marc’s legs and shoes to monitor the electrical activity of the neurons that activate the muscles in these limbs and his feet. When these sensors detected this electrical activity, they activated the stimulators.
After three months’ training using the stimulators, Marc more or less stopped experiencing pace freezing. Marc says that passing through narrow paths or turning had previously caused pace freezing, which led to him falling five or six times a day. Marc has now been using the stimulator for two years and says he hardly falls any more, allowing him to walk several kilometres at a time.
The stimulation is personalised to Marc. Nevertheless, the team thinks a similar technique could help many people. But there are at least five more years of development before the treatment will reach people outside a trial, says Courtine.
1. Why does Courtine’s team design the device?| A．Conventional treatments help little. | B．Patients suffer from deep-brain stimulation. |
| C．The device is much cheaper. | D．The medicine has side-effects. |
| A．The procedure of the treatment. | B．The effects of the research. |
| C．The function of stimulators. | D．The prediction of researchers. |
| A．Marc is dissatisfied with the treatment. | B．Marc recovers after three-month’s training. |
| C．The device is specially adjusted for Marc. | D．The device has been used widely. |
| A．Small sample. | B．Low technology. | C．High cost. | D．Inconvenient operation. |
9 . Launched in 2004 by then-Harvard University student Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook became the biggest social media platform in the world just five years later. It was young people who helped Facebook initially shoot to success, but today’s youth think that “Facebook is for old people”, reported the Daily Star.
In 2015, a survey found that 71 percent of teens aged 13 to 17 used Facebook. But in 2022, that number dropped to 32 percent, reported NBC News. Alex Tani, a 25-year-old from the UK, said that when he started university in 2016, his tutors always set up student groups on Facebook to help everyone stay in touch and interact. But by the time his younger brother went to university three years later, this wasn’t the case.
Today’s younger generation prefers to use other social platforms, such as Instagram, a photo and video-sharing social networking service also owned by Facebook’s parent company Meta, and TikTok, owned by Chinese company ByteDance, said NBC News. These two platforms are different from Facebook in that they are mainly image-based and video-based, not text-based. Visual culture is a rising trend and young people have grown tired of reading people’s remarks on Facebook, said Forbes.
Another reason for Facebook’s decline in popularity is AI. According to The Guardian, TikTok’s “most powerful tool” is its algorithm (算法) which predicts what content you want to see. It shares related content with you from people you may not follow based on what you’ve watched before. This saves people the effort of searching for what they like, and so becomes an “escape for them”, said North Carolina State University.
Going forward, Facebook plans to use AI in a similar way as TikTok to show short videos and give users a better platform to discuss video content, said Fortune Media. Only time will tell whether it can stay “young” or remain as a platform used only by “old people”.
1. Why does the author mention Alex’s experience?| A．To compare differences between the brothers． | B．To show Facebook is losing its advantage. |
| C．To illustrate how Facebook works. | D．To emphasize the importance of Facebook. |
| A．Protecting privacy. | B．Being text-based. |
| C．Providing visual enjoyment. | D．Being abundant in remarks. |
| A．Misty. | B．Predictable. | C．Promising. | D．Depressing. |
| A．Facebook Struggles for the Favor of the Youth | B．Facebook: The Biggest Social Media Platform |
| C．TikTok Becomes a Favorite Online Destination | D．AI: A Powerful Tool in Social Media Platforms |
Susan wasn’t doing well enough at school before, or at least she wasn’t confident about herself. She wished she could do better here in her new school.
“Who would like to present your understanding of the poem?” Mr. Lee, the literature teacher, looked around the classroom. Susan lowered her head to avoid the teacher’s eyes. She was afraid to be laughed at if she made a mistake.
“Kara?” the teacher asked instead. Oh, perfect, Susan raised her head a bit. Of course Kara got the answer right again. Everyone clapped their hands, and Susan gave a quick look at Kara with admiration. Kara noticed her and gave back her a smile. Susan felt warm.
Soon, sadness filled Susan’s heart again. She hadn’t made any friends of her own so far. She felt so lonely that she really hoped someone like Kara would come up and call her a friend. Also, how she wished she were Kara, who was the most popular girl in school-always surrounded by several boyfriends, best friends and others. Kara was like shining sunshine.
Then, still in the class, some old memories crossed Susan’s mind. Growing up on a farm near a big forest, Susan lived every day to the fullest on the farm with Grandpa, fishing in the river, setting a camp fire, climbing the tallest trees and making friends with the lovely creatures in the forest. Grandpa would hug her and call her “my sunshine”. The old man was always proud of his little girl and Susan was sure she was the queen of the forest. She smiled at all her thoughts.
Literature class finally ended, and all the students headed for the gym. The class had been playing basketball. Kara, of course, was the best player. Beside her, Susan felt like very small and awkward. Today, however, the gym teacher led the students to a big tree in the yard and said, “Everyone! You’re going to climb this tree today. Just try your best.” Hearing the teacher’s words, Susan lit up.
Many of the classmates tried but failed, including Kara. Then came her turn.
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。
Paragraph1:
Susan stepped forward and got close to the tree.
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Paragraph 2:
With everyone cheering for her skillful climb and interesting stories, Kara came up.
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