For more than 20 years I have been traveling the world, preferring often to spend a year or two in different countries rather than to just visit as a tourist. It has become an important part of my personality as I grew older and shaped the way I saw the world and myself.
My little taste of this amazing life was when I was 19 years old. I was selected among a small group of college classmates to spend a year abroad. This was long before people could travel the world through social media like Facebook and Twitter. In order to see a place, you had to go there and experienced it.
I was raised in a middle-class family and couldn’t afford to travel around the world the way I wished I could. The only way I knew about the world outside was through letters I wrote to pen pals from over a dozen countries as a kid, and from television. Growing up, I always loved the very funny British comedies that were shown on local public television every Saturday night. So when I got the chance to apply for a study abroad program, I chose London.
Living abroad can be exciting, scary and challenging. I thought it would be easier because I spoke the same language as the local people did. But I also like to relish (享受) the little differences between the British and American culture and language. I also learned that in England, they spell words differently than in the U. S. In British spelling, they put a “u” in words like favor to make it “favour” and an “s” in words like analyze to make it “analyse”. I was able to adapt quickly to this new way of writing since I was submitting papers all the time for my classes.
Academically, I got to take classes that weren’t offered at my college back home. For example, I had a course in sociology and learned about the native people of Papua New Guinea.
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。
Paragraph 1: But there were also challenges that year too.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2: Sometimes the difficult times made me sad and homesick.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________“Cold the iron chains spanning over the Dadu River,” Chairman Mao Zedong wrote in a poem, describing the do-or-die battle which took place on the Luding Bridge. The Bridge,
Over 80 years ago, the bridge was crucial to the survival of the CPC-led Red Army during the Long March because if the soldiers had failed to dash through the Luding Bridge then, the Red Army might have been wiped out. Upon their
Probably never before had people seen fighters like these-men for whom soldiering was not just a rice bowl,
1. 活动主题和内容；
2. 活动反响。
注意：
1. 写作词数应为80左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
School Sports and Culture Festival Draws Excitement
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________4 . The world’s largest ape Gigantopithecus blacki (G. blacki) vanished from Earth between 295, 000 and 215, 000 years ago, more than 100, 000 years earlier than once thought, pushed to extinction as the environment around it shifted, researchers reported recently in Nature.
The fate of G. blacki, twice the size of the largest modern apes and resembling a super-sized version of its close cousin, the orangutan, has long been a mystery. For about 2 million years, G. blacki inhabited a landscape of forests and grasses in what’s now southern China. It left behind only scattered remnants: thousands of teeth and four jawbones, unearthed in cave sediments in the region.
To establish a chronology for the ape’s extinction, paleoanthropologist Yingqi Zhang of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing and his colleagues used different dating techniques to determine the ape’s habits, diet and environment. In the teeth, they looked for data on the ape’s diet, measuring isotopes (同位素) of carbon and oxygen as well as examining the teeth for tiny evidence of wear and tear — which can reveal not only diet, but also give hints of repeated behaviors and stress. The team also analyzed the cave sediments bearing the fossils, hunting for fossil pollen and conducting luminescence dating (光释光测年) on radioactive elements within the sediments.
The team’s reconstruction revealed that — around 700, 000 to 600, 000 years ago, southern China shifted from its forested landscape to a more seasonally-driven environment. Some apes, including the orangutans, were able to adapt to these changes. But G. blacki was unable to change rapidly enough, and its numbers slowly dwindled before going extinct, the team suggested.
The assembled evidence told a convincing story that “the extinction of G. blacki coincided in southern China with a decrease of forest cover and expansion of savanna-like environments,” said Hervé Bocherens, a biogeologist at the University of Tuebingen in Germany. Still, he said, documenting the extinction of this species from the fossil record is tricky — and it’s impossible to rule out the possibility that pockets of G. blacki may have lingered in still-undiscovered caves for longer.
1. What can be known about G. blacki according to paragraph 2?| A． G. blacki shared certain similarities with the orangutan. |
| B． G. blacki was twice larger than the largest modern apes. |
| C． G. blacki lived in places full of basins and deserts. |
| D． G. blacki might have thousands of teeth. |
| A．They checked the situation of G. blacki. |
| B．They repeated the behaviors done by G. blacki. |
| C．They applied radioactive elements to the analysis of the cave sediments. |
| D．They measured isotopes of carbon and hydrogen in G. blacki diet. |
| A．Increased. | B．Reduced. | C．Unchanged. | D．Multiplied. |
| A．Many hands make light work. |
| B．One good turn deserves another. |
| C．Knowledge advances by steps and not by leaps. |
| D．Experience must be bought. |
5 . Beejhy Barhany, growing up in an Ethiopian-Jewish community in Israel, has been cooking for her family as long as she can remember. Now a chef and owner of Tsion Café in Harlem, New York, Barhany continues to pull from cooking traditions, including one that has become the source of much controversy in recent decades: washing raw meat before cooking.
For Barhany, submerging raw chicken in salt and lemon water is both functional and ceremonial, as soaking or rinsing raw meat in salt water and acid-such as lemon juice or vinegar-is a common form of “washing” required by Jewish Kosher rules. And a 2015 survey of over 1, 500 American consumers found that nearly 70 percent rinse or wash their poultry before cooking it, though the U. S. Department of Agriculture( USDA) started telling consumers not to wash raw poultry in the 1990s. Experts including those from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention strongly warned that rather than reducing the risk of foodborne illness (食源性疾病), washing meat increases the likelihood of spreading unwanted pathogens (病原体), like salmonella and campylobacter, around the kitchen.
“Washing meat before cooking is not really helping,” says Betty Feng, associate professor of food science at Purdue University. “The only thing it does is splashing (飞溅) and could cross-contaminate a lot of your kitchen items-your sink, probably your clothes, whatever you have by the sink.” Moreover, Feng cautions against using saltwater, vinegar, or lemon juice, which simply isn’t strong enough to effectively kill foodborne pathogens. “If the acidity is high enough to kill bacteria, then it’s not really likely you can use your bare hand to wash,” she says.
And a 2022 study showed that submerging meat in a bowl of water reduced the splashing but not the spread of germs. “I would treat the entire sink just like the outside of the chicken——it’s a biological hazard,” says Benjamin Chapman, one of the study authors and associate professor in North Carolina State University’s agricultural and human sciences department. “The way that we make meat safe is through cooking, not through the removal of pathogens.”
1. What is the purpose of paragraph 1?| A．To broaden the readers’ horizons. | B．To make a comparison. |
| C．To introduce the topic. | D．To state the author’s opinion. |
| A．Nearly 70 percent of American consumers follow the rules. |
| B．The rules pay attention to functional and ceremonial aspects. |
| C．Uncooked meat is submerged in water with salt and vinegar. |
| D．It warns people of the risk of foodborne illness. |
| A．It has sparked a lot of controversy in recent years. |
| B．It has decreased the risk of foodborne illness. |
| C．It can not be directly done/with your bare hands. |
| D．It may do a favor/ to the transfer of pathogens. |
| A．To emphasize that chickens pose a level/of threat to humans’ life. |
| B．To show that sinks can be a way to increase splashing. |
| C．To prove that cooking is a good way to kill pathogens. |
| D．To stress that the practice people follow is not advisable. |
6 . Due to the fact that the average life expectancy in Ghana is 64 years old, and the most common causes of death are largely treatable conditions, such as malaria, stroke, and respiratory infections. Boateng, growing up in a small village in southern Ghana/struggling to access basic health care, felt an urgent call to help and decided he would make it his life’s mission to bring health care to remote communities in Ghana.
Boateng worked hard in school, getting a scholarship to study biology at Cornell University in the US, and ultimately earned his master’s in Healthcare Administration. Later he started his nonprofit, OKB Hope Foundation, and converted a van into a mobile doctor’s office called the Hope Health Van to bring health care directly to those in need in 2021.
A few times a week, the mobile clinic and medical team travel long distances to remote communities in Ghana and provide free routine medical care. On each trip, Boateng’s team consists of a nurse, a physician’s assistant, a doctor, and an operation assistant. In the van, they can run basic labs like bloodwork and urinalysis as well as prescribe and provide medications. “It’s like a one-stop shop for people,” said Boateng, adding that most of the people they see have one health issue or another.
Since its launch, Boateng says the Hope Health Van has served more than 4, 000 Ghanaians across more than 45 rural communities who otherwise don’t have easily accessible medical care. To supplement the mobile clinic, Boateng’s organization has also trained 20 volunteers to serve as local health advocates. They check people’s vitals and provide the medical team with timely data for assessing how to move forward with care and treatment, especially for those whose health is at risk.
In the future, Boateng hopes to expand to provide more consistent and high-quality medical care not only to those living in remote areas of Ghana but in other countries as well. “I believe that our model can be replicated in sub-Saharan Africa,” he said.
1. What inspired Boateng to set his life goal?| A．He wanted to get a scholarship. |
| B．Many locals died of deadly diseases. |
| C．The birthplace of him was small and poor. |
| D．Basic health care was inaccessible for locals. |
| A．How Boateng’s team functions. | B．Why Boateng’s team was founded. |
| C．What Boateng’s team has achieved. | D．Where Boateng’s team has travelled. |
| A．Ambiguous. | B．Ambitious. | C．Indifferent. | D．Doubtful. |
| A．A van bringing medical care to thousands |
| B．A country lacking basic health care |
| C．Efforts to provide people with medications |
| D．Mobile vans travelling through Ghana |
7 . Formula One Lenovo Chinese Grand Prix 2024
From April 19 to 21, the much-anticipated 2024 Formula One Lenovo Chinese Grand Prix will come alive with the roar of engines at the Shanghai International Circuit. Details about tickets for the event are as follows.
Ticket Price:
[Grandstand] [Session] [Price (RMB)]
A Platinum 3 Day Ticket 3880
• A High 3 Day/Fri./Sat./Sun. Ticket 2880/490/890/2490
• A Low 3 Day/Fri./Sat./Sun. Ticket 2280/390/690/1990
• H/K 3 Day/Fri./Sat./Sun. Ticket 1480/290/590/1290
• C/F/J/L 3 Day Ticket 480
Ticketing Instructions:
• This event adopts electronic tickets with one ticket per person. Children require a full-priced ticket, and children under the age of three are not allowed entry.
• For each session of this event, a maximum of 4 tickets per mobile phone number and 1 ticket per ID card number can be purchased. When purchasing tickets, buyers must provide the audience’s real name, a valid personal ID, and a valid mobile phone number. After a successful purchase, ticket purchasers should retain e-ticket seat information appropriately.
• Ticket refunds can be requested without fees from the date of purchase until 24: 00 on February 29, 2024. From 00:00 on March 1, 2024, to 24: 00 on April 15, 2024, refunds will invite a 10% handling fee. No refunds will be accepted from 00: 00 on April 16, 2024. Returned within 7 working days.
• This event implements real-name verification with ID card and facial recognition for entry.
• The schedule and arrangement of the competition may be subject to changes, and please stay tuned to Formula One Lenovo Chinese Grand Prix official WeChat and Weibo for the latest information.
1. What should be offered to buy a ticket?| A．The audience’s nickname. | B．The audience’s e-ticket seat information. |
| C．The audience’s WeChat number. | D．The audience’s available phone number. |
| A．59 yuan. | B．531 yuan. | C．1, 062 yuan. | D．1, 180 yuan. |
| A．It will last 7 days. | B．It will be exciting and noisy. |
| C．It doesn’t limit the audience’s age. | D．It will never be postponed or cancelled. |
8 . A Maryland couple stranded (滞留) without food in the freezing cold on a Virginia highway. They were getting
After almost 21 hours of being
“I didn’t think it would
“It felt incredible just hearing people say thank you and hearing them so
| A．farther | B．hungrier | C．poorer | D．angrier |
| A．hit | B．rescued | C．stuck | D．fined |
| A．seeking | B．having | C．limiting | D．allowing |
| A．spotted | B．rented | C．searched | D．repaired |
| A．cheering | B．begging | C．joking | D．struggling |
| A．job | B．shelter | C．gift | D．bite |
| A．provide | B．prepare | C．store | D．select |
| A．occasionally | B．suddenly | C．actually | D．routinely |
| A．credit | B．amusement | C．surprise | D．honor |
| A．loan | B．call | C．request | D．visit |
| A．bread | B．cash | C．flyers | D．permits |
| A．bookings | B．comments | C．schedules | D．deliveries |
| A．put away | B．given out | C．cut up | D．hunted for |
| A．honored | B．concerned | C．generous | D．relieved |
| A．hardest | B．kindest | C．proudest | D．longest |
9 . We’ve all experienced the sense of unease that the end of a holiday weekend often brings.
Schedule your Monday morning so that you’ve got some uninterrupted time to concentrate. Researchers found that people lost significant time when they switched from one task to another.
Where possible, focus your uninterrupted Monday morning time on a task or activity you genuinely enjoy.
The Monday after a holiday weekend won’t feel like a party. But with a few simple steps, you can reduce a good bit of the dread that typically accompanies the first day back at work.
| A．But there are ways to reduce the anxiety. |
| B．Include a wellness activity in your Monday routine. |
| C．The more complicated the tasks, the more time was lost. |
| D．It could be a creative project, a collaborative meeting, or anything else. |
| E．Having “a case of the Mondays” is more than just a cultural stereotype. |
| F．Overloading your Monday with tasks is a guaranteed way to reduce fear. |
| G．It’s all about mentally preparing yourself, setting goals, and visualizing the week ahead. |
10 . For nearly two decades, a thin, sun-burnt postal worker could frequently be seen carrying packages along a dangerous mountain trail in the Taihang Mountains.
The 10-kilometer-long route, which is between 20 centimeters and 1 meter wide, is known as the “cat road” by locals, meaning that it is so dangerous that only cats could walk on it. Whereas, Zhao Yuefang, a postal worker in Ewu township in Huguan county, Shanxi province, had to walk the route every day to deliver mail.
Every day at the crack of dawn, he would start his journey along the “cat road”. From picking up the day’s post to delivering it to villagers and returning along the same route, it took Zhao four days. During rainy and snowy seasons, the mountain road, part of which hugs the cliffs, would become slippery and dangerous. One day in the winter of 2003, the “cat road” was covered in thick snow and he slipped off the trail. Fortunately, he was able to stop his sharp descent by grabbing a tree branch and slowly managed to climb to safety.
By 2012, Zhao had walked more than 300,000 km and delivered over 800,000 pieces of mail. Born and raised in the deep mountains, Zhao truly understands the significance of mail deliveries to villagers. “They depend on the mail to keep in touch with the outside world,” he said. “Their sheer joy written on their face while receiving any post struck me,” he added.
In 2012, a 67-km-long tourist highway was built and gone were those days when Zhao risked his life to walk on the “cat road”. But Zhao was even busier than before. “The number of packages I handle daily now exceeds the number I used to deal with in the past,” said Zhao, adding that villagers are turning to online shopping and ordering more and more goods by post.
1. Why is the mountain trail referred to as “cat road”?| A．It’s shaped like a cat. | B．It’s intended for cats. |
| C．It is too narrow and risky. | D．It rains cats and dogs there. |
| A．Fall. | B．Pain. |
| C．Turn. | D．Landing. |
| A．Persistent and dedicated. | B．Diligent and ambitious. |
| C．Considerate and confident. | D．Courageous and generous. |
| A．The villagers’ respect for him. |
| B．His being born and raised there. |
| C．Today’s huge number of the packages. |
| D．The value of the deliveries to the locals. |
