1 . How to Travel with Your Friends Without Hating Them

The only thing better than a vacation with friends is a well-planned vacation with friends.     1     Choose your friends, destination and activities wisely and your group will enjoy a fun and memorable holiday-and start getting ready to plan the next one.

Not sure how to plan a trip with friends?

Choose friends you get along well with. You’ll be spending a lot of time with your travel companions, so think of people who have similar general travel habits and are flexible and relaxed.     2     Also consider how much you’ll be willing to compromise.

Decide on a date. Ask your friends when they can take time off from school or work.     3     The larger your group is, the harder it will be to find a time that works for all of you. Be patient and flexible and make a deal when you can.

Discuss a budget early on. Ask your friends to be open about how much you’re each willing to pay for the trip between travel, accommodation, food and entertainment costs.     4     For example, you could say, “I know it’s awkward, bat we should talk about a budget before we start planning everything.”

Pick a destination wisely. A key step in planning a fun trip with friends is picking the perfect destination. Big cities are an excellent pick, as there will likely be activities to suit everyone’s interests.     5     Consider the activities you want to do, sites you want to see and the amount of time you have to travel, as these factors will decide your destination.

A．Make your reservations for flights and accommodations.

B．All trips are meant for adventure, relaxation, and enjoyment.

C．Who you choose to travel with can, make or break your holiday.

D．Decide in advance how you will share expenses with your travel mate.

E．With careful preparation, your group will stay energized through the whole trip.

F．Narrow down preferences to a date and duration that works for the most people.

G．However, if you’re hoping to see nature, you may need to travel to more remote locations.

2 . Scientists train AI to read human thoughts

Scientists have created a new tool that can turn people’s thoughts into words. It works by using an AI program called GPT-1 to translate brain activity words. In order to achieve this, scientists did a lot.

First, scientists got everything ready before the tests. They invited some volunteers. Each spent sixteen hours listening to stories in a scanner (扫描仪). They imagined the stories as they heard them, and the scanner recorded their brain activity. GPT-1 made connections between the ideas in the stories and the recordings of the listeners’ brain activity.

Then came the tests. The scientists did them in three different ways.

Test 1

The researchers played a new story. GPT-1 was only given recordings of the volunteers’ brain activity. But the words that GPT-1 predicted were very similar to the words in the story that they were listening to. The words weren’t exactly the same, but they often carried the same meaning. For example, when a volunteer was listening to a story about a woman who didn’t have a driver’s license, the program came up with this: “She hasn’t even started to learn to drive yet.”

Test 2

The scientists also carried out the test when volunteers imagined their own stories. “It really works at the level of ideas. The ideas are the same but expressed in different words,” says Alexander Huth, one of the scientists behind the study.

Test 3

The researchers showed the volunteers silent movies, with no spoken words at all. GPT-1 could still figure out the basic ideas.

After the tests, the scientists say that GPT-1 is the first AI program to turn what people are thinking into words without brain surgery (外科手术). The tool isn’t something that can be easily used today, mainly because of the size and the cost of the scanner. In the future, they believe, a similar but cheaper tool could help people who have lost the ability to speak because of an injury or disease.

The scientists say their tool can’t be used to “read people’s minds” without permission. The tool only works if the person wants to share their thoughts.

1. What was the scanner used to do?

A．Record brain activity.	B．Read the volunteers’ ideas.
C．Catch the ideas of stories.	D．Work out the ideas.

2. What was GPT-1 used to do?

A．Receive sounds.	B．Test the scanner.
C．Produce silent movies.	D．Turn recordings of brain activity into words.

3. In which way was information put into volunteers’ brain in Test 3?

A．Listening.

B．Imagining.

C．Watching.

D．Reading.

4. Who could the tool help according to the passage?

A．People who can’t speak.	B．People who can’t hear.
C．People who can’t read.	D．People who can’t drive.

3 . 阅读下面句子，从方框所给的选项中选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并用铅笔把答题卡上对应题目的答案标号涂黑。注意，每个选项只能使用一次，方框中有五个多余选项。

A. typical   B. in particular   C. go all out   D. convenient   E. pick up F. replace   G. annual   H. observe   I. in case   J. positive K. gather   L. occasions   M. lose track of   N. recover   O. decorations

1. If you’d like to have Gong Bao Chicken for dinner, don’t forget to ________some chick on your way home and try this recipe out.
2. Although ready meals are quick and ________ to prepare, we should eat more fresh fruit and vegetables.
3. If you can focus your attention on just one thing at a time and ________for it, I’m sure you can make great progress in a short time.
4. Do you think you could write something out of nothing? You cannot make a meal without rice．So ________ some information first.
5. Take an umbrella just ________, since you can never depend on the British summer weather.
6. With colorful ________of lanterns and lamps, shopping centres have been organizing events and activities to celebrate Chinese Spring Festival for years.
7. I felt sorry when my family decided to move to a new town because that meant I might ________ all my old friends.
8. On social media, people tend to post only ________ updates that make them appear happy and friendly.
9. I’ve found television watching a really poor way for me to ________ energy compared with socializing or going for a walk.
10. Many animals move from one place to another at certain times of the year．This ________ movement is called migration.

4 . Not getting good sleep can harm your health and mental well-being, leading to issues like low energy, bad focus, and even diseases like Alzheimer’s.     1     . In order to get that good night’s sleep, here are some tips which can help.

Sticking to a sleep routine

    2    . It is a great way of increasing the quality of your sleep. This is because we are creatures of habit and our brains know when to expect a certain event or task. If you are able to from a routine which sees you go to sleep at the same time every evening, you’ll find it far easier to sleep.

Reducing tech use before sleep

When we look at phone or tablet screens, the light from then activates our brains encourages brain activities and keeps us alert. This of course is the last thing that you need when you are going to sleep.     3     Seeing a timer on your TV to turn off at a certain time is a good idea. This helps prevent sudden noise from waking you up during the night.

    4    

Even natural light will wake the brain up and this is also why you should do all that you can to ensure maximum levels of darkness in your bedroom. Even if you are able to fall asleep with the light on, your brain won’t allow you to fall into a deep sleep because the light which it recognizes will keep it alert.

Watching your diet

To get the best quality of sleep you’d better eat nothing but water in the final 3 hours before you sleep. Remember that food is a source of energy. If you have a large meal before bed, your body will mainly focus on breaking down the recently eaten nutrients (营养物质).     5    

A．Sleeping in darkness

B．Go to bed early and get up early

C．Go to sleep at the same time each night

D．Keeping enough natural light in your room

E．Therefore, your body will not get the necessary rest and cell repair

F．That’s why in the final hours before you sleep, you should avoid using tech

G．So the importance of getting a great night’s sleep cannot be undervalued

5 . 根据所给10个英语单句的意思，从所给的15个词汇中挑选出10个合适的词或短语，分别给每个句子填空。

appreciate   impression   supplies     be attracted to   heritage destination   harmony   recommended   dates back to   contributions explore       classic     specific     determination   reminded

1. I miss my friends from junior high school, but I believe I will make new friends here, and there’s a lot to ____________ at senior high.
2. My adviser _________ that I should sign up for advanced literature because I like English and I’m good at it.
3. After reaching your ___________, you will have a day to explore and be amazed by this ancient city.
4. When the Chinese team was preparing for the 2015 World Cup, her ___________was tested.
5. The ____________ which were provided to the disaster area were collected from around the country
6. People in modern times can read the _________ works which were written by Chinese in ancient times.
7. Scanning is looking at the text quickly to find __________ information, such as dates or numbers.
8. Doing a project on cultural ____________ protection in China is interesting and exciting.
9. I’m also __________ of the danger they are in. They are being hunted, illegally, for their valuable fur.
10. Only when we learn to exist in _____________with nature can we stop being a threat to wildlife and to our planet.

7 . Some breathtaking blue lakes may not be so blue in the future, thanks to climate change.

In the first global record of lake color, researchers find that roughly one-third of Earth’s lakes are blue. But, should average summer air temperatures rise by a few degrees, some of those clear waters could turn a cloudy green or brown, the team reports in the Sept. 28 Geophysical Research Letters.

The changing colors could change how people use those waters and offer information about the balance of lake ecosystems. Lake color depends in part on what’s in the water, but factors such as water depth and surrounding land use also matter. Compared with blue lakes, green or brown lakes have more algae (水藻) and organic matter, says one of the researchers.

The scientists then looks at local climates during that time to see how they may be linked to lake color around the world. Lakes in places with average summer air temperatures that was below 19°C were more likely to be blue than lakes with warmer summers, the researchers find. If average summer temperatures increase another 3°C — an amount that scientists think is possible by the end of the century — those 3,800 lakes could turn green or brown. That’s because warmer water helps algae produce more flowers, which changes the qualities of the water, giving it a green-brown color, Yang says.

If some lakes do become less blue, people will probably lose some of the resources they have come to value, says O’Reilly, a scientist at Southern Methodist University in Dallss. But the color changes wouldn’t necessarily mean that the lakes are any less healthy. “Humans don’t value lots of algae in a lake, but if you’re a certain type of fish species, you might be like this is great, ” O’Reilly says.

Lake color can hint at the balance of a lake’s ecosystem and it gives sickness a baschins for assessing how climate change is affecting Earth’s freshwater resources. Continued increasing of lakes could help scientists discover future changes.

1. Which factor connecting lake color isn’t mentioned?

A．Water depth.	B．People’s use of water.
C．Surrounding land use.	D．Contents in the water.

2. Why could lake color change if average summer temperatures rise by 3°C?

A．Because people will lose what they value.

B．Because the quantities of the water is changed.

C．Because algae grows more in warmer water.

D．Because 3800 lakes could turn green or brown.

3. What is O’Reilly’s attitude toward color change of the lakes?

A．Doubtful.

B．Positive.

C．Disapproving.

D．Objective.

4. What is the main idea of the passage?

A．Climate change could change lake color.

B．Lake color shows the heath conditions of lakes.

C．The change of lake color affects the lake ecosystem.

D．Color change in lakes does harm to the environment.

9 . After returing from his job as a cultural relics protection worker 10 years ago, Wang Yongxian kept his love for ancient Chinese architecture (建筑) through teaching.

Now aged 73, he still teaches a course named “Conservation and Restoration of Ancient Chinese Buildings” at a University in Shanxi province. His main interest is Dougong, a construction method that uses interlocking (紧密连接的) wooden pieces to form structures. The method is one of the most important features of ancient Chinese architecture.

Wang also started online classes to better explain Dougong to those who showed a strong interest in his course. Following a suggestion from his students, he became a vlogger using the account name “Dougong class”. The account is regularly updated with short video clips Wang produces himself. He is surprised that his classes are so popular on social media. The first six lectures on ancient Chinese buildings that he uploaded over a six-month period have received 1.6 million views.

To make it easier for newcomers to the subject to understand, Wang made a wooden Dougong model. Each part is marked with a number or name, and the model can be taken apart and put together, a process that Wang filmed and put online. Some viewers said that they had long been puzzled by Dougong structures, but finally understood how they work after watching the video of “Dougong grandpa”.

Wang said when he was young, the beautiful ancient temples in his hometown had ignited his interest in ancient wooden buildings and finally led him to turn his interest into a lifelong career. What makes him happy today is not only that the government set aside more money for the research and protection of cultural relics, but also that society is more aware of the importance of such work.

To his surprise, about 90 percent of his more than 100,000 viewers online are below age 30. That fact makes him more confident that as long as the story of Chinese ancient architecture is told in the right way, it can attract more people.

1. What can we learn from the first two paragraphs?

A．Dougong is a well-protected Chinese building structure.

B．Dougong is a traditional Chinese wooden building method.

C．Dougong is a course which Wang teaches after retirement.

D．Dougong is the most important feature of ancient architecture.

2. What made Wang a vlogger?

A．The advice from his students.

B．The online course he attended.

C．The popularity of social media.

D．The awareness to attract viewers.

3. What can we learn about Wang’s vlog from paragraphs 3 and 4?

A．It is updated by his students.

B．It proves to be a great success.

C．It is intended for newcomers.

D．It has puzzled some viewers.

4. What does the underlined word “ignited” in Paragraph 5 mean?

A．Ignored.

B．Widened.

C．Started.

D．Changed.

10 . 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。

According to officials in China, the giant panda is no longer listed as endangered. After working for many years to increase     1     (they) numbers, there are now more than 1800 giant pandas     2    live in the wild. The International Union for Conservation of Nature     3     (remove) the giant panda from the endangered list in 2016. At the time, Chinese officials didn’t agree with the     4     (decide). However, now they do. China has worked for decades to increase the number of these black and white bears because they are regarded     5     national treasures. China has worked to enlarge the pandas’ habitat. They have also made sure that there is plenty of bamboo for them to eat by     6     (plant) more bamboo forests. This has helped increase the number of pandas and stop them from dying out China will continue to support the giant panda population. Alongside efforts     7     (increase) the number of giant pandas in the wild, zoos around the world have breeding programmes. These     8     (design) to help increase the number of giant pandas which in captivity (圈养).     9     (hopeful) the giant panda will have     10    bright future with continued conservation efforts. We certainly hope so. We couldn’t bear to lose them.