1 . If you’re a lover of the great outdoors and fancy yourself as a bit of a discoverer, then you’ll want to know about the best national parks in the world. National parks are full of wonders. Exploring one is your chance to get back to nature.
Etosha National Park, Namibia
Etosha means “great white area”, which refers to the park’s huge salt area. When it rains, the water pools attract hundreds of thousands of pretty flamingos (火烈鸟) to the park. And yet there is more to Etosha National Park than flamingos. Expect to see lions, elephants, leopards and two kinds of zebra as you venture around the park.
Yellowstone National Park, United States of America
You will find Yellowstone National Park atop a volcano hot spot in Wyoming, but the thing that will explode will be your mind as you immerse yourself in the dramatic canyon, lush forests, and alpine rivers. Yellowstone is one of the best national parks in the world to study the geological activity of the Earth.
Göreme National Park, Turkey
Prepare to lay your eyes on volcanic landscapes situated in a UNESCO World Heritage Site at Göreme National Park in Turkey. Hike the high hills, explore nearby villages and witness stunning multi-colored cliffs formed from basalt. Göreme National Park is one of the best national parks in the world for hot air ballooning.
Caingorms National Park, Scotland
The largest national park in the United Kingdom, the Cairngorms provide exceptional wildlife and birdlife —including some of the rarest birds of prey in Europe. Hill climbers will be kept busy with the 55 munros (a mountain peak higher than 3000 feet) in the park.
1. Why is the Etosha National Park attractive?| A．It is located at the top of a volcano. |
| B．It has a vast salt area and impressive wildlife. |
| C．The zebra will be attracted to the park in the rainy season. |
| D．Visitors can cycle around the park to see various animals. |
| A．One wishing to wander on a flat coastal plain. |
| B．One wanting to hike over multi-colored mountains. |
| C．One expecting to learn about the geography of the Earth. |
| D．One dreaming to act in a drama set in the canyon of the park. |
| A．They are both the habitats of flamigos. |
| B．They both feature colorful rocks and hills. |
| C．They both attract visitors who love climbing high hills. |
| D．They are both on the list of UNESCO World Heritage Site. |
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| A．Beijing Hotel | B．Changcheng Hotel |
| C．No hotels | D．Both hotels |
| A．June 8th, 2023 | B．July 29th, 2023 |
| C．August 30th, 2023 | D．September 30th, 2023 |
| A．9:00 a.m. on Monday | B．5:00 p.m. on Saturday |
| C．9:00 a.m. on Saturday | D．9:00 p.m. on Sunday |
3 . All types of marine life are important. Seaweed (海藻) and corals both play vital roles in the health of the ocean and the health of our communities.
However in the same way that a mountain lion. Which provides a valuable service by hunting diseased or elderly deer, wouldn’t be helping anyone if it took up residence in an office building. Seaweed largely prevents corals from performing their key function in the ecosystem, just like the lion would prevent any of the terrified office workers from doing their work.
There is long-standing competition between seaweed and corals and this competition has been influenced heavily for over a century by overfishing climate change, and coral discases, which resulted in corals being now too weak to compete with seaweed.
Seaweed too often is blocking sunlight from reaching baby corals, while releasing chemicals that prevent corals from reproducing-as well as making them marc likely to be attacked by diseases.
The researchers from Florida International University supposed that if sufficiently distributed, the Caribbean king crab (蟹), lovingly called the “reef (礁)goat”, could make coral reefs free of seaweed fast, so they conducted a case-control study where they released the crabs on some reefs and let some others remain crab-less.
Eating seaweed at a rate higher than any other grazer (食草动物), the crabs were able to reduce seaweed cover by 80%, while a 3 to 5 fold increase of both baby corals and fish species added to the successful outcome.
On dry land, goats have been used as ground clearers for thousands of years, as they eat everything from clover and grasses to poison oak and invasive blackberry thorns. Hopefully, the results of this study can solidify Caribbean king crabs as their equivalent at the bottom of the sea.
1. What does the author want to tell us by mentioning the mountain lion?| A．The competition among different species is intense. |
| B．The ecological balance has been largely disturbed. |
| C．It’s important to have diverse species. |
| D．Too much seaweed causes problems. |
| A．It breaks the food chain. |
| B．It influences corals’ growth. |
| C．It affects the fishing industry. |
| D．It prevents baby corals from discases. |
| A．To prove Caribbean king crabs can save coral reefs from seaweed. |
| B．To know how to protect biological diversity. |
| C．To find out how to farm seaweed. |
| D．To learn why corals are declining. |
| A．It is unreliable. |
| B．It is unpredictable. |
| C．It needs further discussion. |
| D．It may make a great difference. |
4 . There was an old woman who liked to bake(烘焙) cookies. She didn’t have anyone to share them with, so she just gave them away to the children in the neighborhood. This went on for several years and the cookies became quite popular, especially at Christmas time. The parents began to like the cookies as much as the children did, and the old woman’s kitchen became very busy, so the children came to help.
Then one Christmas the old woman became ill. There were no cookies, and there was no money to pay the doctor. The children were very sad. Later they had a bright idea, that is, to bake cookies from the old woman’s recipe (食谱). So the children started a cookie store. Soon they had a very good cookie business, with money to pay the doctor as well as to put in the bank.
After the old woman got well, she was asked to be the manager of the store, selling special cookies for all the holidays of the year. After the old woman died, the children, now grown up, kept the cookie business alive in her name. Maybe life is like a Christmas cookie. The more you share it with your friends, the more you are likely to enjoy it.
1. What did the old woman like to do?
| A．Buy cookies | B．Bake cookies. |
| C．Sell cookies. | D．Eat cookies. |
| A．in summer | B．at weekends |
| C．at Christmas time | D．on Children’s Day |
| A．their parents wanted them to do so | B．they wanted to start a cookie store |
| C．they didn’t like to go to school | D．the old woman’s kitchen became very busy |
| A．left her alone | B．baked cookies for her to eat |
| C．took turns to look after her | D．baked and sold the cookies to pay the doctor |
| A．be the manager of the cookie store | B．give the cookies away to the poor |
| C．share the cookies with others | D．sell the recipe of making cookies |
5 . I’ve been happily married to my wife for 25 years. We have gone through a lot together, but I have never seen anyone that has remained so calm and cool through it all. We have three wonderful children together and she just recently went back to finish her education degree to become a teacher in Louisiana, which is more about pride than a prize.
A couple of years ago, my wife was in a rather bad accident. We were shopping together in a Dollar General and when we were at the checkout she sent me back to pick up a fan for her mother. While I was back there, I heard a horrific noise, and she screamed my name. When I got to the front of the store, I realized that an elderly driver had hit the gas instead of the brake, hitting my wife.
I was able to get a cooler that had fallen on her and decided to go with her to the hospital. She had to have work done on her knee by herself from all the glass that had gotten impaled into it, but it was nothing short of a miracle that she wasn’t hurt further.
That’s when we learned of another miracle. During an ultrasound and X-ray to make sure that my wife’s back was okay, we discovered that not only did she lack one of her kidneys, but she also had a birth defect. This wonderful woman has given me so much that I can never thank her enough. I was medically dismissed from the military and went on disability. She has held a job and helped to take care of me and our three children, 20, 17, and 13, through some of the craziest stuff I can imagine.
She is a strong and resolute woman that takes pleasure in teaching her children in the classroom. And I could not ask for a better woman to love and live with.
1. What was to blame for the accident of the author’s wife?| A．Her birth defect. | B．A horrible noise. |
| C．The author’s indifference. | D．A driver’s mistake. |
| A．She called the police. |
| B．She went to hospital alone. |
| C．She fell unconscious on the ground. |
| D．She dealt with the wound by herself. |
| A．Through a routine medical test. |
| B．By examining her wounded back. |
| C．By checking her birth defect. |
| D．Through clearing all the glass. |
| A．To share his life experience. |
| B．To show his love for his family. |
| C．To express his thanks to his wife. |
| D．To honor his wonderful marriage. |
Eating ultraprocessed foods (超加工食品) for more than 20% of your daily calorie intake every day could lead to cognitive decline, a new study revealed. Studies have found these foods can raise our risk
The key problem with ultraprocessed foods is that they are usually very high in sugar, salt and fat, all of
7 . A 37-year-old fast food courier(外卖小哥), Lei Haiwei, got the first prize in the third season of The Chinese Poetry Conference on CCTV on April 4th, 2018.
“My interest in ancient poems began as early as I was six years old,” Lei said after winning the poetry competition.
Lei Haiwei was born in a small village in Hunan Province. When he was young, his father taught him ancient poems by putting them on the kitchen wall for him to read.
“My father hoped I would grow up to be a man who keeps the mountains, rivers, lakes and seas in mind.” Lei said.
In 2001, Lei Haiwei graduated from a technical secondary school and found a job in Shanghai. There, he began to read books on ancient poems at bookstores or libraries in his free time because he didn’t have enough money to buy books. He also developed a habit of reciting(背诵)poems he liked and wrote them down after coming back home.
Lei Haiwei came to Hangzhou in 2008 and worked as a fast food courier. Every day, he had to take fast food to different people. On his busiest workdays, Lei Haiwei had to deliver more than 50 orders(订单)a day. Even so, his love for poems went on and he seized(抓住)any chance to recite poems.
As for his future plans, Lei Haiwei said he would go on reading and reciting more poems.
Will he take part in the next poetry competition?
1. When did Lei Haiwei get the first prize in the competition?| A．On March 7th, 2019. | B．On April 4th, 2018. |
| C．On May 5th, 2017. | D．On June 6th, 2016. |
| A．His sister. | B．His brother. | C．His mother. | D．His father. |
| A．he wanted to learn English there |
| B．he wanted to have a good rest there |
| C．he didn’t have any friends in the city |
| D．he didn’t have enough money to buy books |
| A．To take something to somebody. | B．To say something to somebody. |
| C．To lend something to somebody. | D．To speak something to somebody. |
| A．Fast Food Courier Won Sports Competition |
| B．Fast Food Courier Won Singing Competition |
| C．Fast Food Courier Won Poetry Competition |
| D．Fast Food Courier Won Dancing Competition |
8 . Three years ago, I spotted a video of someone making resin (树脂) art. He
When I was a kid, my artist grandmother taught me to
But it’s more
After I first
As long as there are people who’d like to buy my work, I’d like to make it. I pour colors from memories of beautiful places into my art, and I hope my grandmother would be
| A．abnormally | B．unwillingly | C．expertly | D．doubtfully |
| A．risk | B．help | C．suggest | D．allow |
| A．identify | B．assess | C．design | D．start |
| A．paint | B．sing | C．dance | D．swim |
| A．comparative | B．sensitive | C．creative | D．passive |
| A．warned | B．inspired | C．ordered | D．begged |
| A．helpful | B．worthwhile | C．necessary | D．complex |
| A．understood | B．remembered | C．supported | D．ignored' |
| A．way | B．picture | C．deal | D．problem |
| A．recorded | B．observed | C．found | D．posted' |
| A．appealing to | B．answering to | C．objecting to | D．apologizing to |
| A．clarifying | B．adopting | C．buying | D．uploading |
| A．sales | B．services | C．tasks | D．blogs |
| A．theory | B．benefit | C．career | D．tendency |
| A．curious | B．proud | C．patient | D．surprised |
9 . A recent research study suggests that learning music doesn’t make you smarter.
For a while, there was an idea found on the Internet and in various magazines that suggested that babies could become smarter if they listened to Mozart, or to other classical music. Inspired, some parents bought classical CDs for their babies in the hope that this would boost their intelligence. But this so-called “Mozart Effect” has been challenged repeatedly.
But is taking music lessons surely different from just listening to music? Wouldn’t taking music lessons make kids smarter? That’s exactly the question that many researchers over the years have tried to answer. Some of their studies concluded that it does, and some found that it doesn’t. For example, one study showed that music education did not improve reading skills, while another one found a small effect of music on young children’s ability to learn words.
The researchers of the new study, Giovanni Sala (Fujita Health University) and Fernand Gobet (London School of Economics), looked at the data behind 54 carefully selected studies, and after carefully comparing the data from different papers, they concluded that children who took music lessons did not score higher on tests that measure their intelligence or academic ability than kids that didn’t learn music.
If music doesn’t make you smarter, how does that explain other research that shows that music lessons help students’ school performance? It seems like there is something about music lessons that makes students able to perform better in their other classes. That doesn’t have to be intelligence, and it’s likely not. Music lessons could have helped in different ways: They could have led to a change in homework habits, they could have increased confidence, or they could have improved social skills. And finally, they also mention that music education could still be very beneficial to students’ performance in non-music subjects if the music is combined with these classes. So feel free to keep making music, and keep encouraging children to learn music.
1. What can we learn about the “Mozart Effect”?| A．It is most likely to be ineffective. |
| B．It was first presented by Mozart. |
| C．It helps parents take good care of their children. |
| D．It will draw more and more researchers’ attention. |
| A．Listening to music benefits kids a lot. |
| B．Whether music education suits all kids remains unknown, |
| C．Listening to music fails to help kids in language learning. |
| D．Whether taking music lessons makes kids smarter is controversial. |
| A．They did 54 small studies in all. |
| B．They observed children in music classes. |
| C．They examined plenty of previous research. |
| D．They did a long-term survey of musical students. |
| A．Intelligence determines one’s school performance. |
| B．Music lessons should be encouraged for children. |
| C．A student’s intelligence can be increased with effort. |
| D．Students should avoid listening to music while studying. |
10 . When I was a teenager growing up in Russia, I felt studying very boring. I wanted to leave school and have my own life. There were only two ways for me to do this-working in the toy factory in my town, or getting married. I chose the first one. I was nervous when I told my father that I wanted to leave school. I thought he would say, “No! You are going to college.” Instead, he took me by surprise when he said, “OK. We'll go to the toy factory.”
Two days later, he took me to the factory. I had a very romantic idea of working in a factory. I had imagined everyone to be friendly working together and having fun. I even imagined there would be music and singing. I guess I had watched too many movies as a teenager.
When we arrived at the factory gates, my father spoke to the guard and one minute later we went inside. My father said, “Take your time. Look around. ” I walked around the factory, looking at the buildings, the workers, and listening to the noise. It was terrible. I ran back to my father and said, “I want to go home. ”
He asked me, “What do you think of the factory?”
“It's terrible, ”I replied.
“And you have another choice, but I think getting married is even worse!” he said.
I went back to school the next day. From then on, I studied as hard as I could. Finally I got into a good college. I enjoyed studying English so I decided to major in languages at college. Thanks to my father and our trip to the factory, I now work at the United Nations and my father is very proud of me. I married a very good man and my life is much better than it would have been working in the factory!
1. The writer lived in __________ when she was a teenager.| A．Japan | B．Russia | C．China | D．England |
| A．more terrible | B．more colorful | C．busier | D．more boring |
| A．decided to work there | B．wanted to get married |
| C．changed her romantic idea | D．argued with her father |
| A．The writer studied languages after she went into the college. |
| B．The writer now works at the United Nations. |
| C．The writer's father used a special way to let his daughter go back to school. |
| D．The writer's father is proud because his daughter married a good man. |
