1 . Four Nominees for the Best Picture of 2024 Oscar

Here are four nominees for the Best Picture of the 96th Academy Awards.

American Fiction

American Fiction is a comedy-drama film written and directed by Cord Jefferson. Based on the 2001 novel Erasure by Percival Everett, it follows a frustrated novelist-professor who writes an outlandish satire of stereotypical “black” books. It was named one of the top 10 films of 2023 by the American Film Institute.

Anatomy of a Fall

Anatomy of a Fall is a 2023 French legal drama thriller film, directed by Justine Triet from a screenplay she co-wrote with Arthur Harari. It is about a writer trying to prove her innocence in her husband’s death, which brings the audience fear. It was released theatrically in France by Le Pacte on 23 August, 2023.The film has won two awards at the Golden Globes.

Barbie

Barbie is a 2023 fantasy comedy film directed by Greta Gerwig from a screenplay she wrote with Noah Baumbach. Based on the eponymous fashion dolls by Mattel, the film stars Margot Robbie as the title character and Ryan Gosling as Ken, and follows the pair on a journey of self-discovery through both Barbie land and the real world.

The Holdovers

The Holdovers is a 2023 American comedy-drama film directed by Alexander Payne. The film is about a strict classics teacher at a New England boarding school who is forced to look after a handful of students.

1. Anatomy of a Fall is a ____________ film.

A．war

B．horror

C．fantasy

D．disaster

2. Which film would a doll fan prefer to watch?

A．American Fiction.	B．Anatomy of a Fall.
C．Barbie.	D．The Holdovers.

3. What do the four films have in common?

A．They are comedy films.	B．They are American films.
C．They were based on screenplays.	D．They were released in the same year.

2 . Picky eater? Tips to get them eating out of your hands

There’s nothing more disappointing than putting time and thought into a delicious dinner for your family, then having a certain picky eater turn their nose up at it and refuse to eat it. We’ve all been there. But what is the solution? Here comes good advice.    1    

Try something new.

    2     For example, if spaghetti is a favourite, try making a simple switch from beef mince (肉末) to pork mince to introduce new flavors carefully.

Prepare easy meals.

Take the pressure off mid-week meals by planning and preparing meals ahead of time or using your slow cooker.    3    . Simply pop a boneless pork shoulder in your slow cooker in the morning with some spices and you’ll have a mouth-watering recipe base that can be transformed into a range of delicious dishes.

    4    

Making your children take part in prepping, cooking and even serving dinner is a great way to get them excited about trying new foods. Make Tuesday taco (墨西哥卷) night a tradition and let the kids prepare the ingredients, set the table, and build their own tacos.

Keep it simple.

Most kids prefer plain and simple dishes, so don’t overdo it on spices, exotic ingredients or unfamiliar textures.     5     A subtle twist on classic dish, like substituting beef mince for pulled pork when making shepherd’s pies is an easy way to add variety to your mid-week meals.

By carrying out these strategies, families can create a more enjoyable dinner experience and encourage picky eaters to be more open to trying new foods.

A．Get the kids involved.

B．Ask the kids to have meals together.

C．Pulled pork is an easy and multipurpose dinner.

D．Attempt to make small changes to familiar dishes.

E．Prepare useful ingredients to encourage picky eaters.

F．That’s not to say these simple dishes can’t be full of flavour!

G．We share some tips and recipes to satisfy the pickiest eaters.

3 . An atmospheric researcher Lubna Dada, who is part of an international project called CLOUD, and her team conducted a new study. The study looks at the role of trees and the natural compounds (混合物) they release into the atmosphere in cloud formation. The goal is to more precisely understand the climate before the Industrial Revolution — and how it’s changed since.

Clouds are not only important for the weather — they also help shape the climate. Some clouds act as a layer of protection between incoming solar radiation and Earth, cooling the atmosphere. Other clouds do the opposite: they act like a blanket and trap heat.

“But many current climate models don’t account for either the warming or cooling effects of clouds, or the role aerosols play in cloud formation. That is the biggest uncertainty in climate science at present.” Dada says.

Dada and the team are trying to figure it out using a steel, cylindrical room that roughly recreates the atmosphere. To do that, the team covers the room with tape. It has lights that seem like different layers of the atmosphere, and the researchers can change the humidity and temperature levels to create a given geographic location. Then, Dada and her team can add specific vapors into the room to study their effects. Dada says that previous research has looked at the effects of two kinds of organic emissions released by plants: monoterpenes and isoprene. But another kind of compound, sesquiterpenes (倍半萜烯), has largely been ignored.

In a recent study from the CLOUD project, scientists tested the effects of sesquiterpenes on cloud formation. They added all three compounds — monoterpenes, isoprene and sesquiterpenes — into the CLOUD room to see how many new particles (微粒) formed. They found that sesquiterpenes formed ten times more particles than the other two substances at the same concentrations.

Dada says this finding will help scientists understand the role natural emissions played in the preindustrial climate and how much humans have changed that.

1. Why did the researchers conduct the study?

A．To recreate the preindustrial climate.

B．To explore the warming effects of clouds.

C．To understand cloud formation and climate changes better.

D．To access the impact of trees on weather patterns more precisely.

2. What does the underlined word “That” in paragraph 3 refer to?

A．Climate model.	B．Cloud formation.
C．The cooling effect of clouds.	D．The warming effect of clouds.

3. What can be inferred about the compound — sesquiterpene?

A．It plays a significant role in cloud formation.

B．It is more important than the other two compounds.

C．It has been largely ignored in the previous research.

D．It forms less particles than the other two compounds.

4. In which section of a magazine can readers find this text?

A．Entertainment.

B．Finance.

C．Culture.

D．Environment.

4 . Never letting my friends post pictures of me online, I didn’t have social media until 17. I had a smartphone from 11, and would text and call my friends a lot. The key difference was that I was a digital viewer, not a participant. When they asked why I didn’t have social media, my answer would change as the years passed.

Initially, not being on social media as a teen did, unsurprisingly, made me feel secluded. Conversations between my friends would not always take place on text, but via social media. New gossip would circulate in the evenings, but I would only find out the next morning, by which point it was old news. Plus, there were certain new trends I just didn’t understand.

At 14, I tried really hard to persuade my mum to let me be online. I told her it was more damaging to me not being on social media, but her response was that she could see things I couldn’t. I thought she was overstating and couldn’t completely understand what it was like to be a teen growing up in a digital generation.

People ask me if I ever secretly downloaded social media during my teen years, but I didn’t. The main thing that stopped me was that the conversation was always left open. My parents never shut me down when I asked for it: they would ask why I wanted it and then explain the positives and negatives of what it would be like to be online at the age I was. We had a strong relationship, built on trust.

I am so glad I entered social media as a fully formed person rather than being formed by it. I would not be the person I am today if I’d had social media during my adolescent years.

1. What does the underlined word “secluded” in paragraph 2 mean?

A．Ashamed.

B．Disconnected.

C．Angry.

D．Disappointed.

2. What can we infer from the author’s NOT being allowed to be on social media at 14?

A．She lacked spare time.

B．She had poor eyesight.

C．Her parents were concerned about her physical safety.

D．Her parents protected her from the negative impact of social media.

3. Why did the author never secretly download social media during her teen years?

A．There was no Internet access.

B．She had no idea how to do it by herself.

C．She knew negative effects of social media.

D．There was a strong trust between her and her parents through talks.

4. Which is the best title for the text?

A．Social Media in Teenage Life	B．A Must of Avoiding Social Media
C．Growing up without Social Media	D．My Teens Monitored by My Parents

5 . It was a busy morning for me. As I was walking I saw an old lady, maybe in her 80s, standing quite close to the traffic. Although my mind was _______, I thought I should warn her.

When I _______ the spot, I noticed that she was trying to get attention of passers-by but they were too busy to _______ her. When I tried to gently move her back to a safe place, she said she had _______ her key in the middle of the road. I looked around but no one stopped. I knew I was getting _______ but decided to help.

On the road were office goers in cars as well as school buses _______ with children. It was the _______ time of the day to cross a busy road without a traffic light. I carefully stepped onto the road waving my hands wild with _______ almost expecting to be hit by an oncoming vehicle. I moved on to the middle of the road _______ to wave my hand. Just then a school bus was approaching me and I ________ walked in front of it to stop it. My experience has been that school bus drivers are always ________ of reckless (鲁莽的) pedestrians like me. I won. I quickly picked up the key and ran back to ________ the key to her. Having watched my actions from the bus, the school children let out a ________ and clapped. As I turned to continue my hurried walk, the old lady pulled me by my hand and gave me a big warm ________. I felt so happy and relieved, hoping the school children who were watching me would do the same when their ________ comes.

1.

A．confused

B．refreshed

C．distracted

D．occupied

2.

A．found

B．passed

C．reached

D．marked

3.

A．catch up with

B．take note of

C．make room for

D．look up to

4.

A．dropped

B．poured

C．drawn

D．thrown

5.

A．injured

B．trapped

C．interrupted

D．delayed

6.

A．rushing

B．talking

C．barking

D．withdrawing

7.

A．latest

B．worst

C．longest

D．funniest

8.

A．surprise

B．fear

C．excitement

D．delight

9.

A．continuing

B．attempting

C．starting

D．pretending

10.

A．humbly

B．adventurously

C．courageously

D．awkwardly

11.

A．considerate

B．ignorant

C．sick

D．proud

12.

A．lend

B．introduce

C．promise

D．return

13.

A．sigh

B．whisper

C．cheer

D．laughter

14.

A．welcome

B．hug

C．treat

D．applause

15.

A．choice

B．arrangement

C．turn

D．will

6 . 阅读下面的材料，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。

I used to be a lonely girl sitting at the back of the classroom. Having failed the college entrance exams and changed schools twice, I seldom smiled. Every day I would sit at the desk, staring into textbooks and exercises, motionless and heavy-hearted. However, my classmates were in a different picture. They were playing, laughing and chatting delightedly. Besides, I hated it when they were always answering the teachers’ questions, loudly and confidently. Obviously, I had no friends in this fiercely competitive class.

Life is harder for senior students. Hardly does a day go by without exercises or tests. Every time when the scores came out mine wouldn’t be the first or second but last. I was especially tired of the endless exercises and exams, which I seemingly would never do well in. I was under a lot of pressure, feeling like a fish being fried in a pan.

Hanging over me was a dark cloud. The only dim light came from Mr. Smith. Every time I stepped into the classroom, he welcomed me with a warm smile; every time my gaze began to wander over the classroom or stare out of the window, his caring eyes would draw me back to his class. Besides, he was the only teacher who invited me to the office, talking about my studies and scores. I remembered when I came out of his office, I felt refreshed believing that I could work harder.

I was feeling everything was changing for the better. I prepared hard for the final exam of the first semester, desiring to prove that I was not the last one. So before Mr. Smith told us the test result, I was expecting something good in store for me.

But I was still the last one in the class. A burst of sadness and shame consuming me, I was heartbroken.

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。

Right at that moment, Mr. Smith invited me to his office.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Finally, the college admission letter came.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

8 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Zhou Liwei is a member of the Yao ethnic group. When he was a child, he would wake up early in the morning     1     the alarm clock ringing or his parents’ calls. Instead, he was woken by the regular pounding of tea leaves with a pot and wooden hammer,     2     (signal) the start of the day.

“Pounding the leaves to make our traditional ‘oil tea’    3     (remain) part of our daily life,” he said. Zhou, 47, is not only a national-level inheritor of intangible cultural heritage     4     (link) to the unique tea of his ethnic group in Gongcheng Yao autonomous county of Guilin, South China’s GuangxiZhuang autonomous region,    5     he is also the head of the local association for the traditional beverage. It     6     (observe) for thousands of years. It can be traced to ancient medicinal drinks     7     were used to help counter the humidity and other challenging aspects of the local climate. Known popularly as “oil tea”; the drink is     8     unique Yao dietary custom, an integral part of     9     (ceremony), rituals, celebrations and festivals.

Zhou     10     (far) explained it. Repeatedly pounding and boiling the fresh, tea leaves, with generous portions of ginger, a sprinkling of roasted rice, nuts and other local ingredients, can aid digestion, strengthen the stomach and even help prevent malaria, among numerous other health benefits.