1 . It was a long drive to the nursing home (敬老院,养老院) where my grandmother was living. _________, at least twice a month I drove to see her. I’d already _________ my mom to cancer and I wanted to always remember my grandmother, especially because she was beginning to _________ me. Nanna had Alzheimer disease (老年痴呆症), which was slowly starting to eat away at her _________. Sometimes she recognized me when I visited her and sometimes she didn’t.

On one visit, I _________ my grandmother good-bye and started to walk towards my car. Suddenly a tiny hand seized mine. “James!” a _________ voice said. I turned and saw a smiling, wrinkled face. Like my Nanna, she had Alzheimer disease but was still able to walk and get around. She _________ me for her son (A nurse told me he’d died years ago). I held her hands and let her joyfully _________.Though her eyes didn’t know who I was, I saw the excitement in them when she spoke to her son through me.

On the following visits, I always took _________ to visit my Nanna as well as her. I always got a smile and sometimes even a __________ from her. The nurses told me she was always __________ and calmer after seeing her “son”.

Then one day I noticed she was __________. I spoke to the nurses and they sadly told me that she’d been dead for some days. I put my head __________ and went quietly into my Nanna’s room.

Her loss didn’t really hit me __________ I went for a walk at night. I looked at the sky, realizing something—for a while I really had been her son. Actually, in this world we’re all __________ by invisible strings of love.

1.

A．Therefore

B．However

C．Meanwhile

D．Instead

2.

A．lost

B．committed

C．related

D．associated

3.

A．hate

B．miss

C．require

D．forget

4.

A．brains

B．abilities

C．memories

D．lives

5.

A．kissed

B．prayed

C．urged

D．consulted

6.

A．nervous

B．cheerful

C．natural

D．beautiful

7.

A．asked

B．traded

C．called

D．took

8.

A．move on

B．go on

C．hold on

D．work on

9.

A．turn

B．chance

C．time

D．risk

10.

A．hug

B．power

C．gift

D．question

11.

A．kinder

B．nicer

C．smarter

D．gladder

12.

A．silent

B．absent

C．weak

D．sick

13.

A．down

B．away

C．out

D．up

14.

A．after

B．when

C．until

D．unless

15.

A．accompanied

B．influenced

C．touched

D．connected

3 . The Pathway and River Cleanup is a yearly event involving (涉及，需要) thousands of volunteers who generously (慷慨地) donate their time to help clean up Calgary.

The 2024 Pathway and River Cleanup will take place from Sept. 9 to Sept. 11, 2024.

Volunteer Registration (登记，注册)

To volunteer for the Pathway and River Cleanup, you must be:

*12 years or older

*Accompanied by a parent or guardian (监护人) (if you’re between 12 and 17 years old)

*Able to commit to (投入，致力于) three hours of cleanup on one of the three event days.

You are encouraged to register as a group (minimum 10 people) with a designated (指定的) leader. If you do not have a group, you can join a team led by Calgary Parks staff.

Volunteers may request a specific (特定的，指定的) cleanup location at the time of registration. We will do our best to satisfy specific location requests. If you do not have a preferred cleanup location, one will be given to you.

Remember to register online. Registration in person is not accepted.

Group Leaders

Each group must have a designated leader. New group leaders (新组长) are required to attend a one-hour, online orientation session (入职培训). Returning group leaders (老组长) must attend the orientation session every three years, but must complete yearly online training.

Group leaders will be responsible for:

*Conducting a group member orientation session before event day to provide safety training.

*Ensuring the safe and effective cleanup of the designated cleanup area. Risks will be minimized as much as possible. However, volunteers may come in contact with rocky shorelines, sharp items and illegal campsites.

If you have any questions about volunteering for the Pathway and River Cleanup, please contact 311.

1. What can volunteers choose according to their preference?

A．The way to register.	B．The cleanup locations.
C．The rewards for their efforts.	D．The length of their volunteering time.

2. What is required of the volunteers for the Pathway and River Cleanup?

A．They must register online.

B．They must be older than 12 years old.

C．They must be accompanied by a parent or guardian.

D．They must be able to volunteer three hours in the three event days.

3. What should group leaders do?

A．They should have online training every three years.

B．They should attend a one-hour online orientation session.

C．They should offer a group member orientation training.

D．They should request a specific cleanup location for the group.

4 . Chloe Smith is a girl aged 6 from Atlanta, Georgia. One day, while taking a walk with her father near their home, she________something shiny under a pile of rubbish. She picked up the ________ to take home, as she often did on her treasure-hunting walks. Chloe was later ________ to discover she had found a stolen Olympic gold medal.

The medal belongs to former canoeist (划艇运动员) Joe Jacobi, who won gold while ________ for Team USA in the 1992 Barcelona Olympic games. The medal, along with other personal belongings, was ________ in May of 2016 when someone broke into Jacobi’s can. Though police managed to ________ some of his stolen items, they hadn’t been able to find his ________ Olympic medal. It may have been lost forever, if not for a 6-year-old girl’s treasure-hunting ________ .

Chloe’s dad had seen Jacobi’s story on the news, and ________ realized it was his stolen property. He found Jacobi’s email and sent him pictures of the treasure. After________ the medal, Jacobi was astonished, just speechless.

Chloe was ________ to give it back after speaking with Jacobi on the phone. ________, Jacobi promised to speak to her class when school begins again this fall. The ________ of this little girl reuniting an Olympian with his beloved possession is ________ . When we talk about character and doing the ________ thing, Chloe represents the Olympic values in every sense of the word.

1.

A．sought

B．buried

C．noticed

D．dropped

2.

A．waste

B．object

C．material

D．antique

3.

A．embarrassed

B．satisfied

C．frightened

D．shocked

4.

A．competing

B．applying

C．coaching

D．preparing

5.

A．broken

B．stolen

C．replaced

D．deserted

6.

A．purchase

B．register

C．preserve

D．recover

7.

A．secured

B．prized

C．advertised

D．priced

8.

A．project

B．decision

C．habit

D．idea

9.

A．quickly

B．gradually

C．really

D．carefully

10.

A．identifying

B．obtaining

C．evaluating

D．investigating

11.

A．sorry

B．eager

C．upset

D．hesitant

12.

A．In addition

B．In fact

C．In return

D．In advance

13.

A．purpose

B．report

C．attempt

D．story

14.

A．heart-warming

B．breath-taking

C．eye-catching

D．life-changing

15.

A．important

B．simple

C．interesting

D．right

5 . Taylor Hash desired to become a career pilot and she was under training. One day, she had just started building up hours of flight time when a(n)________ struck. As she guided the Diamond Star plane off the runway at airport, on her third-ever independent ________, the front tyre (轮胎) of her plane fell off.

Taylor was ________ at that point that she had just lost important landing equipment. “I didn’t feel anything wrong in the take-off ________,” she said. However, a(n)________ pilot Chris Yates, saw something and immediately took action. He knew that Taylor would have to make a difficult emergency landing. He ________ the control tower and said, “The Diamond Star that just took off lost its nose wheel tyre on the runway.” Yates asked people there to put him through to Taylor so he could help her. When Taylor learned what had happened, she was in ________.

Therefore, Yates ________ that the most important thing would be to keep Taylor calm so she could follow him attentively. Then Yates ________ Tavlor and told her that she could ________ above the field until she was ready to land. “When you touch down, I just want that joystick (操纵杆) all the way back. You’re gonna hold it back like you don’t want that nose to touch,” he ________ her.

Despite feeling unsure, Taylor trusted Yates. With palms sweaty and lips ________, Taylor successfully create a best landing chance. Finally, she managed to land ________.

No sooner had Yates extended his arms than Taylor hugged him tightly with tears of ________ rolling down cheeks. Yates smiled, patted on her shoulder and encouraged, “it was your excellent skill that help yourself ________ the emergency successfully. I am so proud of you.”

1.

A．event

B．disaster

C．fantasy

D．idea

2.

A．sign

B．slide

C．mission

D．outing

3.

A．afraid

B．clear

C．unaware

D．conscious

4.

A．process

B．progress

C．show

D．flow

5.

A．calm

B．strange

C．experienced

D．warm-hearted

6.

A．radioed

B．socialized

C．controlled

D．managed

7.

A．panic

B．peace

C．relief

D．delight

8.

A．complained

B．claimed

C．realized

D．responded

9.

A．changed

B．praised

C．criticized

D．comforted

10.

A．wait

B．pause

C．touch

D．circle

11.

A．blamed

B．instructed

C．understood

D．appreciated

12.

A．aching

B．wiping

C．swinging

D．trembling

13.

A．narrowly

B．smoothly

C．basically

D．particularly

14.

A．scare

B．regret

C．surprise

D．gratitude

15.

A．deal with

B．tear apart

C．take up

D．leave out

6 . Are you an “I person” or an “E person”? These two personality labels in particular are widely discussed online. They are part of a popular personality test called the Myers Briggs Type Indicator, or MBTI. All of the results have four letters, and there are 16 results in total. “I” and “E” refer to “introverted” and “extroverted”, respectively.

Even if someone is typically quiet, many online discussions suggest that an “I” person can still be outgoing at times. For example, when an introverted person is with a group of introverted friends, they might become more social like an “E” person.

According to psychologists, this idea of temporarily switching personalities is called “masking”. That is hiding your true personality in specific situations. “Human beings want to feel they belong, and they might become people-pleasers to do so,” wrote the Master Class website.

Using the MBTI result to identify and describe someone’s personality seems fun. However, I went too far at one time. My sister was excitedly making a day-to-day travel plan when I remembered from an article that “P people” don’t like to make or stick to plans, so I said to her, “You don’t seem like a ‘P person’.” “Why?” She asked back. “Since when do I need to follow what my personality test tells me to do?” It was then that I realized I’d taken the result too seriously.

The MBTI personality test may show something you don’t know about yourself and can even be a fun ice-breaker question when meeting new friends. And that’s all it is —for fun. On the other hand, knowing someone’s MBTI result doesn’t mean you really know this person. And those four letters of yours don’t define who you are.

1. In which of the following situations an “I” person may perform more sociably?

A．Having a conversation with an “E” person.

B．Wanting to feel someone’s sense of belonging.

C．Taking the personality test and accepting its result.

D．Staying with some friends with similar personalities.

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

A．Pleasing.

B．Escaping.

C．Pretending.

D．Controlling.

3. What does the author want to tell us by the example in paragraph 4?

A．The MBTI result is of great help to identify a person.

B．A “P” person is unwilling to make or stick to plans.

C．People need to follow the advice of the MBTI test.

D．Don’t take the MBTI result too seriously all the time.

4. What is the author’s attitude towards the MBTI personality test?

A．Indifferent.

B．Objective.

C．Positwe.

D．Negative.

7 . Imagine driving behind a huge truck shooting clouds of smoke into the air while your new fully electric vehicle cleans up its carbon emissions (排放). This dream may soon be a reality. A team of students in the Netherlands has created an electric car that not only doesn’t produce carbon dioxide when driving, but actually pulls it out of the air.

The two-seater sports car was designed and built in less than a year by a team of 32 students at Eindhoven University of Technology. Called “ZEM”, which stands for “zero emission mobility”, the car is equipped with special devices that remove carbon dioxide from the air as it drives. The team says if ZEM is driven about 32,000 kilometers, it can remove 2 kilograms of carbon dioxide from the air. That s not a huge amount. The team calculates that 10 ZEM cars on the road for a year would remove as much carbon dioxide as a typical tree does during that time. However, they also point out that there are over a billion passenger cars in the world that could be using this technology. And if a billion cars were removing carbon dioxide instead of producing it, the result would be huge.

ZEM also has several other innovations that help to make it more capable of being sustained: the car’s frame and panels (面板) are 3D printed to reduce waste; it was built using recycle and recyclable materials; and it can be easily taken apart so that many of its parts can be reused. ZEM’s battery is also reusable and has another handy feature: it can be charged with solar panels on the car’s roof — and can even be used to provide power to your house when the car isn’t on the road.

According to the statistics, transportation was responsible for over 20% of global carbon dioxide emissions in 2020 — and of those emissions, cars were responsible for 41%. The Eindhoven team says its goal is to challenge the electric car industry: If 32 students can build a car like this in less than a year, then surely car manufacturers (生产商) are expected to adopt these innovations, too.

1. What is special about ZEM?

A．It can end the world’s CO₂ release.	B．It can cut the truck’s CO₂ emissions.
C．It can reduce the level of CO₂ in the air.	D．It can absorb dirty air as well as CO₂.

2. Why does the team run the calculation of ZEM in paragraph 2?

A．To show a promising future of ZEM cars.

B．To explain how ZEM removes CO₂ as trees do.

C．To illustrate the ongoing change in car making.

D．To show the influence of ZEM on the car market.

3. What is the obvious advantage of ZEM according to Paragraph 3?

A．They are of high quality.	B．They are easy to process.
C．They are convenient to print.	D．They are environmentally friendly.

4. What does the Eindhoven team hope to achieve in the future?

A．Sharp increase in fuel consumption.	B．More production of eco-friendly cars.
C．Big success in beating other car makers.	D．Reduced costs in transportation.

8 . 假设你是广西某中学的学生李华，你校英文报新增了《多彩广西》栏目，请你给该栏目投稿，介绍广西的一个城市，稿件内容包括：
1.该城市的基本情况；
2.该城市的特色文化；
3.该城市给你的感受。
注意：
1. 词数80左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答；
3.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。

An Amazing City in Guangxi

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9 . 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。

China's traditional tea-making techniques were     1     (official) recognized by UNESCO on November 29th, 2022, when the techniques and associated social practices     2     (add) to UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (非物质文化遗产) of Humanity.     3     forty-three items on the list, China maintains its No.1 position in the field.

With the success of the application starting in March 2021, the list of world intangible cultural heritage has recognized the knowledge, skills, and practices     4     are about the management of tea gardens, picking of tea leaves, hand-made processing, and the drinking and     5     (share) of tea.

The result has been widely praised by the Chinese public and experts because it is     6     important step for conservation and promotion of traditional tea culture. “Years ago, Chinese tea culture     7     (become) widely known by people in many     8    (country) around the world through the ancient Silk Road. The     9     (success) application of Chinese tea-making can further help improve     10     (it) international influence,” Zheng Changling, secretary general of the China Folk Culture Innovation and Development Center, told the Global Times.

10 . Reading books can exercise your brain. Kids who started reading at an earlier age go on to perform better on certain intelligence tests, such as analyses of their vocabulary size. As one gets older, it might help slow down or even stop cognitive decline (认知下降).     1     Many Americans don’t read frequently. It’s time to reverse (逆转) this trend to give your brain gray matter a good workout.

    2     When you have some down time — you’re waiting for a friend, sleeping lightly on the way from or to work, or doing a task that doesn’t require your full attention — you can open your text instead of pulling up your favorite smartphone game. This brings about a great debate: pages vs screens vs audio. Indeed, paper is still the clear winner in the court of public opinion.    3    

Academic research has mostly focused on the ability to remember. A study took place in a laboratory setting: Students all read the same text, but some looked at the words on paper and others viewed an on-screen PDF. It turned out that no meaningful difference between the two media existed. As for audiobooks, they affected the brain gray matter somewhat differently.    4    

Finally, if you hope to get a reading habit going, you shouldn’t dismiss paper, digital, or audio books —       5     Don’t be afraid to change things depending on the occasion.

A．Audiobooks still affect your thoughts and feelings.

B．Go with what makes the most sense for your needs.

C．Words on a page can improve the emotional intelligence.

D．But Science hasn’t proven that physical books are better than digital ones.

E．Keep a book, e-reader, or audiobook app on you as you go about the day.

F．Despite this, the overall book-reading time for Amerieans is on the decline.

G．However, they stimulated the brain just as deeply as black-and-white pages.