1 . Ready to show off your art to the world? Check out our guide to some of the best art contests to enter this year.

Watermedia Showcase

Prize: $2,500 first prize, $1,250 second prize.

Entry Fee: $35.

Requirements: Open to international artists 18 years of age and older.

The Watermedia Showcase awards original art created primarily with water-based media. Judged by the editors of Watercolor Artist, all winners will have their work featured in the magazine.

The Lumen Prize for Digital Art

Prize: $4,000 first prize, with a $13,500 total prize fund.

Entry Fee: $40.

Requirements: Open to artists worldwide.

This digital art competition is organized by Lumen Art Projects Ltd, which provides new opportunities for digital artists around the world. Categories include Still, Moving Image, XR, 3D/Interactive and Artificial Intelligence.

World Illustration Awards

Prize: A cash prize of $2,540 and more publicity opportunities.

Entry Fee: $37.

Requirements: Open to artists worldwide.

Illustrators are invited to submit works to 8 different categories. Winners will win not only a cash prize, but also a feature in a major exhibition in central London, and an invitation to the Awards Evening in October.

Strokes of Genius: The Best of Drawing

Prize: $2,000 first prize, $1,000 second prize.

Entry Fee: $45.

Requirements: Open to artists in the United States.

The Strokes of Genius Competition celebrates original work made in drawing mediums, including pencil, charcoal and even some wet paint mediums. Winning entries (参赛作品) will be published in a special edition publication, The Best of Drawing.

1. Which competition is related to technology?

A．Watermedia Showcase.	B．The Lumen Prize for Digital Art.
C．World Illustration Awards.	D．Strokes of Genius: The Best of Drawing.

2. What chance can winners of World Illustration Awards have?

A．To host the Awards Evening.	B．To hold art exhibitions globally.
C．To sell their entries at high prices.	D．To become known to the public.

3. How is the Strokes of Genius Competition different from the others?

A．It is free of charge.	B．It awards the largest prize in amount.
C．It is a national competition.	D．It has an age limit for participants.

2 . Smartphones and other digital devices control and consume our attention. This is true for young people. On public transport, they are checking social media or playing an addictive game rather than sleeping. Very few people are reading a book or having a conversation with fellow travelers.

Children today are digital natives. This means they have never known life without internet access. They have been raised on clicks. They jump from content to content without a second thought. In the words of the philosopher Han in his 2021 book Non-things, this kind of nonstop excitement means that we quickly come to need a new exciter. We get used to seeing reality as a source of exciters and surprises. We struggle to focus our attention on any one thing. This will disturb our cognitive (认知) system.

Books can train the brain to deeply focus its attention on one task while mobile devices encourage us to hang over the surface of things, but we do not fully grasp them. When we receive information in large amounts, it stops being meaningful. When faced with a large amount of it, our brains react by blocking the information. But the discarded content does not simply disappear from our minds. Instead, it remains. This prevents us from figuring out what we are interested in. It limits our attention length.

Mobile phone addiction and the way young people learn are both directly connected to the concept of mind wandering. Too much information input makes us switch off and lose attention. And this can be damaging in the long term.

In order to recover attention, the brain needs to take a break. It needs to find time and space where it can be free from constant noise. Adults can make the effort to find these much-needed spaces to focus attention. Children, on the other hand, have not yet gained this. They run the risk of never recovering their attention spans. If we give children and teenagers access to digital devices before they have developed these skills, their attention will be free to wander. It will then become harder and harder for them to focus on a task for the necessary amount of time.

1. What is a common scene among the young on public transport?

A．They are talking with each other.	B．They are usually sleeping.
C．Most of them are absorbed in reading.	D．They are lost in their phones.

2. What does Han think of too much clicking smartphones?

A．It reduces our ability to focus.

B．It weakens our need for fun immediately.

C．It increases our interest in traditional media.

D．It enables us to see reality as a source of surprises.

3. What is Paragraph 3 mainly about?

A．Mobile devices help us to fully understand books.

B．Smartphone addiction stops us forming a lasting attention.

C．Being exposed to smartphone information blocks our brain.

D．The information we get will disappear soon from our minds.

4. Where is the text probably taken from?

A．A science magazine.	B．A book review.
C．A biology textbook.	D．A smartphone ad.

3 . Mushrooms (蘑菇) usually grow on dark, damp forest floors or fallen tree branches. Now a company in Abu Dhabi has found a way to grow them in the middle of the desert.

Below Farm is producing special mushrooms. Co-founder Bronte Weir says the indoor farm, about 45 minutes’ drive from downtown Abu Dhabi, is the first in the region to grow and sell high-end mushrooms. Below Farm’s offerings are better than imported mushrooms, she says, because mushrooms lose their freshness quickly.

Weir co-founded the company in 2021, in cooperation with Liliana Slowinska and Wojciech Slowinski. They mainly sell the mushrooms to restaurants and stores. Also, they sell mushrooms directly to customers.

Weir says that existing indoor mushroom-growing technology, developed mainly in Europe and the United States, isn’t designed for Abu Dhabi’s high daytime temperatures, which can top 40 degrees Celsius in summer.

Wojciech Slowinski took the lead in developing a solution. The farm consists of four special chambers (室) covered in a foot-deep layer of insulation (隔热材料) to help keep the space cool. “We can create the right conditions for each type of mushroom,” says Weir. Maintaining higher air pressure inside the rooms helps to protect the crops from Abu Dhabi’s winds and dust.

Raj Dagstanı, who runs a restaurant, is a fan of Below Farm. “The best-tasting pizza on the menu is the mushroom,” says Dagstani, adding that he created the dish after he tried out Below Farm’s mushrooms. He now orders 20 kilograms of mushrooms a week from the company. According to market intelligence experts, the global mushroom market grew by over 9% last year and continues to expand, partly due to the popularity of plant-based diets.

1. Where does Below Farm probably lie?

A．In uptown Abu Dhabi.	B．In the center of Abu Dhabi.
C．In a dark deep forest.	D．In the grassland of the desert.

2. What does Bronte Weir do?

A．A partner in Below Farm.	B．A founder of Abu Dhabi.
C．A manager of a restaurant.	D．A scientist in farming.

3. What can we learn about the new indoor mushroom-growing technology?

A．It provides fresh air inside the rooms.

B．It helps to keep the heat out of the chambers.

C．It offers a new way to keep mushrooms fresh.

D．It promotes the development of mushroom varieties.

4. What can be inferred from Raj Dagstani’s words?

A．Plant-based diets becomes more popular.

B．His restaurant sells the best-tasting pizza.

C．The global mushroom market is promising.

D．The Below Farm’s mushrooms are of high quality.

4 . 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。

A man was driving home one evening on a two-lane country road. Jobs, in this small, mid-western community, were very difficult to search. But he never quit looking. Ever since the factory closed, he’d been unemployed. With winter coming, the cold had finally hit home.

It was a lonely road. Not very many people had a reason to be on it, unless they were leaving, Most of his friends had already left. They had families to feed and dreams to fulfill. But he stayed on. After all, this was where he buried his mother and father. He was born here and knew the country. He could go down this road blind, and tell you what was on either side, and with his headlights not working, that came in handy.

It was starting to get dark and light snow was coming down. He’d better get a move on. You know, he almost didn’t see the old lady, wandering on the side of the road. But even in the dim light of day, he could see she needed help. So he pulled up in front of her and got out.

Even with the smile on his face, she was worried. No one had stopped to help for the last hour or so. Was he going to hurt her? He didn’t look safe, and he looked poor and hungry. He could see that she was frightened, standing out there in the cold. He knew how she felt. It was that cold that only fear can put in you. He said, “I’m here to help you ma’am. Why don’t you wait in your car where it’s warm? By the way, my name is Joe.”

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。
The old lady was surprised at his words and nodded slightly.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
She asked him how much she owed him.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5 . In 2005, Calvin Echevarria was leading a successful life with two jobs, a new house, and a young daughter. However, his world _______ upside down when he was diagnosed with diabetic retinopathy, causing him to lose his _______ as a FedEx driver due to blindness.

In the beginning, Echevarria focused on developing _______ living skills, such as using a cane (拐杖). _______, he desired to acquire skills for gainful employment. His _______ led him to Lighthouse Works in Orlando, a company _______ to creating job opportunities for the visually impaired and blind population.

Echevarria, initially _______ with blind individuals, now works in Lighthouse Works’ call center alongside nearly half of the employees who are visually impaired or blind. In his _______, he uses a system called JAWS to “hear” the computer. The system _______ the computer screen to Echevarria in one ear as he listens to a customer call in his other ear.

Despite the challenges of __________ from visual to auditory (听觉) learning, Echevarria has excelled at his job, __________ the rapid pace of JAWS. He said what makes his call center job fun is that callers on the other end of the line are __________ of his blindness. Moreover, working in a fully accessible office space, with other visually impaired people who can __________ him, is an added benefit.

“It gives me a(n) __________. It makes me feel better because I can __________ be proud of myself saying, ‘I provide for my family.’” he said.

1.

A．turned

B．fell

C．broke

D．ended

2.

A．freedom

B．sight

C．job

D．passion

3.

A．interesting

B．complex

C．creative

D．independent

4.

A．Still

B．Thus

C．Instead

D．Somehow

5.

A．confidence

B．effort

C．performance

D．situation

6.

A．accustomed

B．devoted

C．opposed

D．reduced

7.

A．disappointed

B．dissatisfied

C．unpopular

D．unfamiliar

8.

A．mind

B．study

C．role

D．nature

9.

A．gives

B．shows

C．reads

D．drives

10.

A．adapting

B．organizing

C．fighting

D．growing

11.

A．changing

B．controlling

C．realizing

D．mastering

12.

A．unsure

B．tolerant

C．unaware

D．proud

13.

A．relate to

B．correspond to

C．depend on

D．take on

14.

A．challenge

B．purpose

C．answer

D．excuse

15.

A．possibly

B．gradually

C．merely

D．actually

6 . For some, bad grades and failed exams in college are unavoidable. No matter how hard you study, there may be something during college you fail to understand. College students, especially those who are particularly ambitious, can have a hard time accepting failure, low grades or failed courses.     1     This should not be taken lightly. Therefore, it becomes crucial to help them accept failure and move on.

The first step you should take after receiving a bad grade or failing an exam is to come to terms with what means for your education and career.     2     They are just a part of the numerous ups and downs of the college experience. So the best thing you can do is to accept these situations, and move on from them.

    3     College students tend to be under an immense amount of pressure. and set unrealistic goals for themselves. Because of this, when one gets a bad grade or fails an exam, it makes them discouraged because they were expecting unattainable results.     4    

One of the most important steps you can take after failure is to identify the events that led to such an outcome. It is essential to recognize and evaluate your own mistakes before jumping to conclusions.     5     If you received a bad grade, ask your professor to explain the reasoning, as this will help you address the areas that need improvement. Once you receive the necessary feedback, you now have to work on improving your academic performance.

Next time you are faced with bad grades and failed exams, make sure to follow these steps. Learn to accept the negative outcome, identify weaknesses and set appropriate goals to ensure better outcomes in the future

A．After all, great expectations hurt more.

B．Preparing yourself for failure is just as important.

C．Bad grades and failed exams don’t stand for failure.

D．This will enable you to accept what has happened, and move on.

E．The majority tend to develop depression, anxiety, or eating disorders.

F．You should be aware of your capabilities, and set your sights accordingly.

G．Another thing you can do when dealing with failure in exams is to keep calm.

7 . New research suggests that taking a time out from our busy, technology-soaked lives can help reset our internal clocks so we can literally rest more easily.

Researchers from the University of Colorado in Boulder set out on a six-day camping trip in the Rocky Mountains, without smartphones and any other lighting tools. During the trip, the campers only used daylight and the glow of their campfire. The result was the group going to sleep an average of two and a half hours earlier than they would at home and getting ten hours of sleep each night.

During the day, the campers were more active than they would be in their typical daily life, according to monitoring devices. They were also exposed to natural light levels up to thirteen times what they were used to. The effects lasted beyond their short trip, as well. Shortly after the trip, lab-tested melatonin levels in the participants were found to rise a few hours before their pre-camping bedtime, which starts the process of settling the body into sleep.

A second study, which included a control group who kept their usual routines at home, produced similar results. The folks who went camping—this time just for the weekend-also went to bed sooner and were exposed to four times more natural light.

Those behind the experiment have some good news for those who abhor sleeping outside with bugs and wildlife: you don’t have to go camping to gain the same benefits. All that is needed is close consideration of the light cycles to which you are exposed every day. Wright suggests exposing yourself to healthy levels of natural sunlight and choosing a reasonable time to go to bed.

He adds, “I don’t think the take home from this study should be let’s go camping’. We should look carefully at the environment in our homes and our bedrooms, at the light and temperature in the evening, and see how that affects our decision to go to sleep.”

1. What can we learn about the campers from the first study?

A．They couldn’t rely on any tools.	B．They had no access to lighting devices.
C．They couldn’t help but feel bored.	D．They needed more sleep than at home.

2. What can we infer from the studies?

A．Camping in mountains works best.	B．Digital devices affect our sleep.
C．Natural light can help improve sleep.	D．Our internal clock can be easily disturbed.

3. What does the underlined word “abhor” in paragraph 5 mean?

A．Consider.

B．Delay.

C．Advise.

D．Hate.

4. Which of the following does Wright suggest doing?

A．Creating a good family atmosphere.	B．Realizing the importance of camping.
C．Finding out what contributes to our sleeping late.	D．Exposing ourselves to sunlight as much as possible.

8 . In the 1990s, the Japanese mobile phone operator DoCoMo tacked (添加) a heart symbol onto a cheap pager (传呼机) which was a massive success with teenagers. But when the company released a new version of the pager without the heart button, it caused an “outcry”. Many users even left DoCoMo and signed up for another pager company that had adopted the heart.

“That’s when I knew that symbols absolutely had to be part of any texting service,” Shigetaka Kurita said. “That was my main inspiration. ”Kurita led the team at DoCoMo that designed a set of 176 characters inspired by basic concepts of things like weather, food, and feelings. They were called emoji. The first set of emojis was launched on DoCoMo phones in 1999.

Other Japanese companies quickly followed DoCoMo’s lead and developed their own versions of emoji. Since then, emojis have exploded. In 2007, the Unicode Consortium, a Silicon Valley nonprofit that standardizes software and code across platforms, began to standardize emojis as well so they would appear more or less the same across the Internet.

Emojis have been available outside of Japan since the mid-2000s through separate apps. which let users copy and paste the icons into text messages and emails. It became popular in the US when an emoji keyboard was added to Apple iPhones by 2011.

Today, emojis are part of our everyday vocabulary. They can even be used for public health purposes. For example, a mosquito emoji was approved in 2018 to raise awareness about global mosquito-borne illnesses, making it easier to communicate across cultures and languages about the public health risks of the insect.

However, emoji isn’t the equivalent of language and it isn’t ruining language, according to Internet linguist Gretchen MeCulloch. “You don’t see people putting the cat emoji for the word cat very often. In many cases, what they’re doing is adding in an extra emoji to express an additional layer of meaning on top of the words they’re saying,” said MeCulloch. “Language isn’t the only way that you communicate.”

1. What did DoCoMo realize from users’ reaction to the different versions of its pager?

A．Most people preferred cheap pagers.	B．The heart symbol was users’ favorite.
C．The pager market was highly competitive.	D．Symbols mattered much in texting service.

2. Why did the Unicode Consortium standardize emoji?

A．To control its explosion.	B．To make it diverse.
C．To increase its popularity.	D．To gam profits from it.

3. What is the author’s purpose in mentioning a mosquito emoji?

A．To show an application of emojis in other fields.

B．To tell us emojis can cure mosquito-borne illnesses.

C．To prove emojis are part of our everyday vocabulary.

D．To suggest emojis are widely accepted across cultures.

4. What does Gretchen MeCulloch say about emoji in the last paragraph?

A．It has room for improvement.	B．It adds extra meaning to language.
C．It is more powerful than language.	D．It should be used in a proper way.

9 . Noted for his profound description of life along the Chinese railway, Wang Fuchun passed away on March 13th at the age of 79. His engaging photographs capture the substance of China’s ever-changing landscape.

Being artistic and good at painting and calligraphy, Wang found that photography bridged the two worlds: he could make art with his camera and increasingly he felt that his goal was not art, but life.

In the late 1970s, when he started taking his photographs, everyone on a railway platform looked reserved and orderly. By the late 1980s, a great rush to the cities had begun on the trains. He recorded young migrant workers shedding their shirts, running with sweat, seeking coolness on top of the seats. He did not ask anyone’s permission to take them, and he preferred to act secretly, like a thief in a way, as it captured the authentic (真实的) moments of people’s lives—and so mirrored all the more clearly how China was changing.

His project was all-consuming. Over 40 years he estimated he had ridden on 1, 000 trains and covered more than 100, 000 kilometers, on every line in China. Each trip was neatly noted down in a notebook; he took about 200, 000 pictures, and logged each by its place. From those pictures, he felt the migrants’ poverty too keenly, and he preferred to capture the hope that pushed people on to trains.

China was rushing to the modern world. Steam was fading; the green-skinned trains acquired fans and air-conditioning. Then came express trains, then high-speed rail. The aisles were clear, the windows sealed. However, in the reclining seats (躺椅座位), everyone reclined. In the ordinary seats, everyone’s noses were buried in their tablets and their phones.

He liked the message of hope; he was proud of what China had achieved. But how sad, he also thought that on that dashing train there was no mess, no collision of life and no good subjects for him, and that Chinese people should once again look so orderly, reserved and unconcerned about each other, even on a train.

1. How did Wang Fuchun reveal the changes in China with his camera?

A．By creating art works on railway platforms.

B．By documenting migrant workers’ daily life.

C．By recording the transformation of life on the train.

D．By capturing a great rush to cities along the railway.

2. Why did Wang Fuchun prefer to take photographs secretly?

A．To perform his duty.	B．To reflect reality better.
C．To avoid disturbing people.	D．To satisfy his curiosity.

3. What did Wang Fuchun find about the passengers on the modern train?

A．They were only focused on themselves.	B．They were quite messy and disorganized.
C．They were interested in the reclining seats.	D．They were engaged in lively conversations.

4. Which of the following words can best describe Wang Fuchun?

A．Friendly and considerate.	B．Devoted and observant.
C．Talented and humorous.	D．Optimistic and generous.

10 . Tours and Tickets to Experience Ubud Monkey Forest

Overview

Have a great day out in Ubud on this full day out, where you will visit the Monkey Forest, take a jungle swing, walk through the rice terrace, learn about the water temple, explore the culture and countryside of Ubud, and also spend time at the waterfalls. Round trip transfers are included in the price from most places. Note that entrance fees and lunch are extra expenses.

What’s Included

● English speaking driver

● Parking Fee

●Private Transport with Comfortable Air Conditioner Car

● Entrance fee and Jungle Swing are included (if you select the Ubud Tour—All Inclusive)

●Pick Up Service: Ubud, Kuta, Seminyak, Canggu, Legian, Jimbaran, Nusa Dua, Sanur

Additional Information

●Confirmation will be received at time of booking

●Not wheelchair accessible

●Babies must sit on laps

● No recommendation for pregnant (怀孕) travelers

● No heart problems or other serious medical conditions

Cancellation Policy

You can cancel up to 24 hours in advance of the experience for a full refund(退款).

For a full refund, you must cancel at least 24 hours before the experience’s start time

● If you cancel less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time, the amount you paid

will not be refunded.

●Any changes made less than 24 hours before the experience’s start time will not be accepted.

●This experience requires good weather. If it’s canceled due to poor weather, you’ll be offered a different date or a full refund.

1. What can you do in Ubud?

A．Harvest the rice.	B．Hunt in the forest.
C．Feed the monkeys.	D．Appreciate the waterfalls.

2. Who is unsuitable to join the tour?

A．A wheelchair user.	B．A young baby.
C．A pregnant woman.	D．An English speaking driver.

3. Which of the following may result in a full refund?

A．Change in the tourist route.	B．Change in the start time.
C．Cancellation 20 hours in advance.	D．Cancellation because of weather.