The boat was on the inside of the huge whirlpool and we were going round in circles at great speed. I saw clearly that there were other objects in the whirlpool — trees and barrels. After a while, I became curious about the whirlpool itself. I then made three important observations. The first, the larger the bodies were, the more rapidly they fell; the second, between two objects of equal extent, spheres — round objects — fell down less rapidly; and the third, between two objects of the same size, cylinders — objects shaped like a tube-fell down more slowly. Although I didn’t know why it was so, I tied myself to a barrel to help me float. I tried to make my brother understand, but he was too frightened and stayed in the heavy boat. Without waiting, I jumped into the sea to try and escape.
Since my escape, I have had several conversations with an old physics teacher; and it was from him that I learned the use of the words “cylinder” and “sphere”. He explained to me the reasons for what I observed, although I have forgotten the explanation. He even showed me how it happened that a cylinder, swimming in a vortex (漩涡), was drawn in with greater difficulty than an equally big body, of any form whatever.
1. Why has the storyteller forgotten the teacher’s explanation?| A．He was too afraid to listen carefully. |
| B．He didn’t know much about physics. |
| C．The teacher didn’t explain the ideas clearly. |
| D．The teacher didn’t understand his observations. |
| A．He kept calm. | B．He observed carefully. |
| C．He jumped into the sea. | D．He tied himself to a barrel. |
2 . Do Animals Have Friends?
When you see little animals playing together around a tree, or a cat and dog sleeping together in the living room, do you ever think — are they friends? One expert, Mike, believes that many animals do have friends. If they’re in the same group, they greet one another, travel together, play together and even share food with each other.
Playing together helps animals keep them close to the group. Wild dogs who don’t play much are more likely to leave the group on their own.
Sharing is another important part of friendship. For all animals, finding food is a matter of life and death. For some bats in Central and South America, if they don’t get a blood meal every three days, they die of hunger.
But sometimes members of a group also compete for food and mates, which can lead to fights. So making up after fights is a key skill. Sometimes after two male monkeys have a fight, they will sit apart, avoiding each other.
| A．Each wants the other to make the first move. |
| B．Young animals often team up for protection. |
| C．But hungry bats don’t need to worry if they have friends. |
| D．And leaving the protection of the group can be dangerous. |
| E．These friendly behaviors can be important for an animal to survive. |
| F．The friend helps to find food and water, and avoid dangerous animals. |
| G．Bats take blood from sleeping animals, but they are surprisingly good friends. |
3 . On September 17, 2022, a father and son set out to begin the first of three legs of the Ironman competition in Oxford. David, 59, and his son, John, 28, weren’t the typical competitors. Despite difficulty in walking, John has his dream of being an athlete. His father would act as his arms and legs, carrying the weight of his son throughout the race.
To qualify as having finished, competitors must complete a hard 140 miles of swimming, bicycling and running in under 17 hours. David and John had participated together in five Ironman competitions, but they had yet to finish in the required time.
The race began with a 2.4-mile swim in the Choptank River. With one end of a rope tied to a belt around his back and the other end to a boat with his son inside, the father eased himself into the water. Swimming while carrying another person is tough enough — David also had to fight with jellyfish (水母).
The pair completed the swim in 90 minutes, and went through with the 112-mile bicycle ride in about nine hours, then set their sights on the final leg of the 26.2-mile marathon with David pushing John in the racing chair.
With minutes left and 200 feet to the finish line, his mom, on the sidelines, handed him the rolling walker. Not that long ago, John could hardly walk 23 steps. But after years of painful training, he increased his step count and was determined to finish the race on his own. He knew time was almost running out and worried they wouldn’t make the cutoff. “Not because I wouldn’t get my moment,” he says, “but because dad had worked so hard.”
After 16 hours, 55 minutes and 35 seconds — with just four minutes and 25 seconds to spare — father and son crossed the finish line together.
As the crowd flooded and cheered on John, the weary father kept a low profile. “He didn’t want his finish line moment,” says John. “He wanted it to be mine.”
1. How did David help his son in the swimming part?| A．By pulling a rope tied to a boat. | B．By swimming beside his son. |
| C．By pushing his son’s lifebelt. | D．By carrying his son on his back. |
| A．He wouldn’t get his moment. |
| B．His mom would be disappointed. |
| C．His father had put in lots of effort. |
| D．The audience had high expectations. |
| A．Responsible and selfless. | B．Brave and honest. |
| C．Committed and friendly. | D．Gentle and determined. |
4 . Every morning in graduate school, Christy would wave to the woman selling hot dogs outside her building. “If she wasn’t there on a given day, things didn’t feel right. I missed her,” says Christy, now a psychology (心理学) expert at a university in the U.K. “It was this huge source of comfort and safety, and it was with someone I never talked to.”
That connection satisfied a deep, bodily need for Christy, just like water relieves thirst. Humans are intensely social animals, and research increasingly suggests that losing our connections to others can negatively impact our health. A 2023 report called widespread loneliness in the U.S. a deadly health risk comparable to smoking up to15 cigarettes (香烟) a day. On the other hand, a Harvard study found that having strong relationships is key to living a long and happy life. The study also showed that people between 80 and 89 years old in happy marriages reported that their happiness remained stable even on days when they were in greater physical pain.
But close relationships aren’t the only social ties that matter. Chatting with a stranger, giving a smile of recognition to the waiter in your local coffee shop, or waving to the people you see every day at the park creates a much-needed sense of community. “We can’t achieve happiness by ourselves. We simply cannot survive or live well without feeling like we are accepted,” says Christy.
These “weak tie” relationships aren’t a replacement for the deeper, more meaningful connections we also need. But Christy says we should recognize and celebrate their importance, and push ourselves to engage in them because they’re so beneficial to our sense of well-being. “I am not outgoing,” she says. “And, at the same time, I love talking to strangers. I believe that anyone can do it.”
1. How did Christy feel when she couldn’t see the woman as usual?| A．Safe. | B．Disappointed. | C．Angry. | D．Satisfied. |
| A．Older adults feel happier in marriages. |
| B．Physical pain negatively affects happiness. |
| C．Close relationships lead to long-term well-being. |
| D．Happiness has little to do with social connections. |
| A．They contribute to our happiness. | B．They help us to be outgoing. |
| C．They replace close relationships. | D．They push us to communicate. |
| A．Advantages of Being Lonely | B．Influence of Meeting New People |
| C．Value of Strong Social Connections | D．Importance of “Weak Tie” Relationships |
5 . In a groundbreaking discovery, bumblebees (大黄蜂) have shown a previously unseen level of cognitive (认知的) ability. A new study, published in Nature, shows that they can learn difficult, multi-step tasks through social interaction, even if they cannot figure them out on their own.
Led by Dr Alice Bridges and Professor Lars Chittka, the research team designed a two-step puzzle (谜题) box requiring bumblebees to perform two separated actions to get a sweet reward at the end. Training bees to do this was no easy task, and bees had to be helped along by the addition of an extra reward at the end of the first step. This reward in the middle was finally taken away, and bees later had to open the whole box before getting their treat. Then some trained bees repeated the whole process for demonstration.
Surprisingly, while bees that worked on their own had great difficulty in solving the puzzle, those allowed to watch a demonstrator bee finished the two steps easily — even the first — while only getting a reward at the end.
This study shows that bumblebees have a level of social learning previously thought to be unique to humans. They can share and learn behaviors that are beyond their individual cognitive abilities. Professor Chittka further notes the implications, “This challenges the traditional view that only humans can socially learn difficult behavior beyond individual learning. It raises the amazing possibility that many of the greatest achievements of the social insects, like the nesting architectures of bees or the agricultural habits of ants, may have initially spread by copying clever innovators, before they finally became part of the species-specific behaviors.”
This groundbreaking research opens new possibilities for understanding animal intelligence and the development of social learning. It challenges longstanding assumptions and helps us learn more about the cognitive wonders of insects, even suggesting the exciting possibility of advanced culture amongst seemingly simple creatures.
1. What is the purpose of the study?| A．To learn how to train bumblebees. |
| B．To compare bumblebees with ants. |
| C．To develop puzzles for bumblebees. |
| D．To test cognitive abilities of bumblebees. |
| A．By breaking it into two steps. |
| B．By providing an extra reward. |
| C．By demonstrating the process. |
| D．By making the puzzle interesting. |
| A．Both bees and ants are intelligent creatures. |
| B．Only humans are capable of social learning. |
| C．Individual learning may not be that important. |
| D．Bees’ nest-building may be a learned behavior. |
| A．Bumblebees — willing learners |
| B．Bumblebees — smarter than you think |
| C．Social learning — intelligence indicator |
| D．Social learning — universal across species |
6 . I was sixty-eight years old and retired when our church joined a prison service group. We went on a tour of the women prison. The metal doors gave me a sense of
Then Margo, a young but experienced volunteer in the prison,
Later, Margo and I scheduled our first visit.
Fifteen years have passed now and I
| A．fear | B．curiosity | C．surprise | D．sadness |
| A．rarely | B．especially | C．even | D．just |
| A．invited | B．appointed | C．allowed | D．hired |
| A．control | B．influence | C．cheat | D．evaluate |
| A．capacity | B．patience | C．confidence | D．reputation |
| A．Moreover | B．Therefore | C．Otherwise | D．However |
| A．planned | B．refused | C．managed | D．remembered |
| A．stay | B．speak | C．come | D．walk |
| A．nervously | B．excitedly | C．expectantly | D．angrily |
| A．survive | B．escape | C．relax | D．change |
| A．encouraging | B．interesting | C．polite | D．sharp |
| A．congratulating | B．asking | C．thanking | D．observing |
| A．claim | B．struggle | C．forget | D．continue |
| A．satisfaction | B．confusion | C．disappointment | D．amusement |
| A．hidden | B．same | C．spiritual | D．wooden |
Long-term tai chi exercise can be used as a treatment for patients suffering from early-stage Parkinson’s disease(帕金森病), said a research team from Shanghai.
Parkinson’s is
In the research,
Tai chi has been pursued as a treatment for Parkinson’s since 2012 with the specific benefits of long-term practice now
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