1 . The ancient silk road was a once in a life time journey. It was one of the most important milestones of trade and culture in world history, and the pioneer, Zhang Qian, could not be easily forgotten by history. He was an outstanding diplomat, traveler and explorer in the Han Dynasty of China, honored as the “the first Chinese to open their eyes to see the world” and “the Columbus of the east”.

In 138 BC, at the reign of Emperor Wudi, Zhang Qian was sent to the west of China for an alliance with the Yue-chi people to fight against the Xiongnu. He started his trip from Chang’an(now Xi’an in Shanxi Province)to Longxi(in Gansu Province). Along the way, no matter how difficult the environment was, his faith was firm. But unfortunately, Zhang was caught by the Xiongnu people just as he left Han, and was held prisoner for ten years.

Zhang finally managed to escape with some of his men and continued to travel west without any dry food or drinking water. Due to the excellent skill of shooting arrows, they survived by eating some birds and other animals along the way. When Zhang at last reached the Yue-chi in Northern India, he was disappointed to find that they didn’t want to fight against the Xiongnu people. On the return journey, Zhang Qian and his men were again caught. It was not until 125 BC that they returned to Chang’an.

Though Zhang hadn’t finished his mission, he brought back first-hand information on the geography, ethnography, and societies of Central Asia. The paths Zhang Qian explored later served as the highways connecting Europe, the Middle East, Mesopotamia, Central Asia, and East Asia. Commodities, crops, animals, religions, ideas, music, technology, and artifacts have been transported by diplomats, merchants and soldiers along this network of highways, which have, since the 19th century been known as the “Silk Road”. Zhang Qian has been remembered as the great explorer that opened up a new era of cultural exchange between East and West with long-lasting treasure well observable today.

1. What is the passage mainly about?

A．Zhang Qian and Yue-chi people.	B．The importance of the Silk Road.
C．The paths Zhang Qian explored.	D．Zhang Qian and the Silk Road.

2. The word “alliance” in Paragraph 2 has the similar meaning to ________.

A．decision

B．exploration

C．agreement

D．excitement

3. According to the passage, what is true about the Silk Road?

A．Columbus set the footprints on the ancient silk road.

B．The Silk Road was a highway to Europe in Han Dynasty.

C．Zhang Qian was a pioneer opening up the Silk Road.

D．The Silk Road has the greatest value in Chinese history.

4. Which words best describe Zhang Qian?

A．Brave and strong-willed.	B．Careful and confident
C．Proud and open-minded.	D．Honest and excellent.

2 . There are two kinds of people: those who like to pack up leftovers as soon as dinner is over, and those who let leftovers sit out for a few hours so they can cool down.

However, both leaving leftovers out for a long period of time and adding hot items to the fridge can cause problems.

Whether you should immediately put food in the fridge or let it sit out to cool depends on its temperature. Dangerous bacterial (细菌的) growth happens between 41 and 135 degrees F. Potentially harmful bacteria grows most rapidly at these temperatures.

Placing lots of hot food in the fridge can raise the temperature of the fridge into this danger zone. Fridge temperatures should always be set below 40 degrees F. This may help the food get out of the danger zone as fast as possible.

However, there’s no harm in putting hot food directly into the fridge if you need to. If you are a forgetful person, or if you won’t be around to store the food after it has cooled enough, go ahead and put it in the fridge. Your fridge can handle the heat and get the food cooled quickly.

Food should never stay out at room temperature for more than two hours. Leftovers can become breeding grounds (滋生地) for dangerous bacteria if they’re left out too long and can make people sick.

“It is OK to leave the food cooling outside before you hit the two-hour mark,” says Serena Poon, nutritionist of Le Cordon Bleu’s Grand Diploma training program. “In fact, the sooner you can get your leftovers in the fridge, the better.”

1. Which temperature most contributes to the growth of harmful bacteria?

A．Below 40 degrees F.	B．Between 39～40 degrees F.
C．Between 41～135 degrees F.	D．Above 135 degrees F.

2. What is the author’s attitude towards putting hot food directly into the fridge?

A．Unclear.

B．Neutral.

C．Worried.

D．Unconcerned.

3. What does Serena Poon suggest doing about the leftovers?

A．Dividing them into small parts.

B．Storing them in the fridge right away.

C．Waiting until they cool down completely outside.

D．Leaving them sitting at room temperature for two hours.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．When to Pack up Leftovers.	B．How to Prevent Bacterial Growth
C．To Cool Food Outside or in the Fridge	D．A Good Idea to Store Food in the Fridge

3 . 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。

On an early August morning, craftsman Zhang Xi drove his car quickly along a winding mountain road in Longquan, Zhejiang province,    1    (hope) to reach his destination—a century-old kiln (窑) —as soon as possible,    2    hundreds of pieces of pottery (陶器) that had been given their final celadon glaze (青釉) were finally ready.

The 51-year-old craftsman     3     (use) the old kiln, which is located on a mountain near Xitou village, for many years. Every time he removes his     4     (create) from the kiln, seeing them in their finished celadon color remains as exciting and nerve-jangling as ever.

“It’s like opening blind boxes. The same formula of glaze     5     (apply) to different vases can look     6     (total) different on each one,” says Zhang.

Their colors usually fall in the spectrum (色谱) between lavender gray and plum green. However, sometimes they end up being brown or yellow. All these colors depend on temperature changes during the two-day firing,     7     process described by local craftsmen     8     “a song of clay and fire”. The     9    (tradition) firing technique of Longquan celadon pottery, which dates back further than 1,600 years,     10    (include) on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity List in 2009.

4 . Electronic timing is older than most people imagine and was used for the first time more than a hundred years ago at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics. Initially, the well-known company Ericsson was tasked with developing the technology, but it was the Swedish inventor Ragnar Carlstedt who eventually created the final product.

At the same time, Carlstedt introduced another invention: the finish line camera. The 1, 500-meter Olympic final was extremely close with Arnold Jackson from Great Britain winning by only 0.1 seconds. But it was impossible to decide on the silver medal since the two Americans Abel Kiviat and Norman Taber finished side by side. For the first time in history, the outcome of an Olympic event had to be settled based on a photo finish when Kiviat was judged to be “slightly ahead”.

The significance of these two inventions led a major newspaper to write: “Electronic timing at the Olympic Games. Simultaneous (同时发生的) timing and photography of contestants. A brilliant idea!”

The next step in timekeeping was the photo-finish camera with a time stamp imprinted on each picture, which was introduced at the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles. The 1948 Olympics saw the introduction of another invention with the continuous slit camera (狭缝摄影机), where a film behind a narrow slit rolls (滚动) with the same speed as the runners. Four years later the clocks were connected to the slit camera giving a solution of 1/100 s. But it was not until 1972 that official times were recorded to the 100th of a second.

The next big step in the eighties was to make the camera digital to speed up the feedback (反馈). But the idea behind the slit camera was kept and is still the basis of all timing systems for athletics used today. The only difference is that now there is a very narrow sensor array ( 阵列传感器) instead of the moving film.

After a century technology has reached the point where the whole timing system can be stored in a smartphone. So in a way, the circle was closed when SprintTimer, a sports timer and photo finish app, was developed in the same place and precisely a hundred years after Ragnar Carlstedt.

1. What do we know about electronic timing?

A．It was created in recent years.

B．It was first introduced at the Olympics.

C．It was developed by the well-known company Ericsson.

D．It was perfected by the Swedish inventor Ragnar Carlstedt.

2. What does paragraph 2 focus on?

A．The increasing need for a finish line camera.

B．The excellent performance of Arnold Jackson.

C．The significant role of Carlstedt's another invention.

D．The intense competition of the 1,500-meter Olympic final.

3. How was the digital camera in the eighties different from the slit camera?

A．It avoided the use of a moving film.

B．It rolled with the same speed as the runners.

C．It made a 100th-of-a-second record possible.

D．It adopted a new idea for all timing systems used today.

4. What does the underlined part “the circle was closed” in the last paragraph mean?

A．Further improvement was discontinued.

B．The problem was back to the origin.

C．A new invention was created.

D．The issue was resolved.

5 . Signs That You Are Growing

Growing is a lifelong process. Here are the signs that show that you are actually growing and not getting stuck in the process.

    1    

Often, we see how badly people look when they get overly upset due to unimportant things. So the first sign of maturity (成熟) is letting the small things go and not getting angry over a tiny detail that didn’t go as you planned.

You start forgiving and understanding other people

When we are young, we are often unforgiving. As we mature, we are better able to understand the world beyond black and white.     2    . It enables us to look beyond the obvious and let go of simple judgments. We begin to understand better that others have complex (复杂的) lives and personalities, and so we become more willing to forgive their mistakes.

You always complete things that matter

Immature people don’t know when to commit (承诺) themselves and their energy or resources are always not well employed.     3    . In this way, they can often keep their promises and honor their commitments.

You accept the possibility of being wrong

    4    . They are always able to accept the possibility that they are wrong, that they don’t know something, because there is always more to learn.

Being mature is knowing that you are always growing up. You are never done learning and developing. This means that you don’t set yourself up as the highest authority.     5    .

A．You follow the crowd

B．You let the small things go

C．Instead, mature people focus on completing things that matter

D．Immature and mature people can both have plans for their lives

E．Rather, you open your mind to other ideas and new possibilities

F．Becoming more understanding is a sign of strength, not weakness

G．Mature people appear more confident, however, they are not overconfident

6 . 假定你是李华，近期你发现看英文电影对你的英语学习很有帮助。得知外教Mr Smith是一个电影迷，你打算给他写一封信，请他为你推荐几部英文电影，内容包括：
1. 写信目的；
2. 阐述看英文电影给你带来的益处；
3. 期待回复。
注意：写作词数应为80左右。
Dear Mr Smith,
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Yours,

Li Hua

7 . Enjoying the beauty of the sky at night is a rare thing for people in cities since light pollution ruins everything. However, photos taken by astrophotographers (天文摄影师) give people opportunities to still admire the stars.

Being a full-time astrophotographer, Zhang Jingyi, 27, grew up being an astronomy enthusiast. When asked why she chose this career, Zhang said, “We all dream of what it is like to live on planets so far from us. Isn’t it cool?”

Due to the fast development of China’s space industry, Zhang recently started to shoot rocket launches. “I basically followed the construction of the Tiangong space station with my camera,” she said, adding that every launch has given her a strong sense of achievement.  

Zhang believes that her photos are artworks that money cannot buy. “Some photographers may sell their works ‑ some photos even reach six digits (六位数),” Zhang said. “For me, I would be satisfied if people liked my work.” As an influencer on Sina Weibo with more than 2.5 million followers, Zhang also shares videos that she’s filmed, giving her audience a more authentic impression of her work.

Zhang said that an astrophotographer needs to be devoted to their career. For example, when taking photos of the stars, they have to film them on plateaus which are freezing at night. When shooting rockets, they may get sunburned working under the burning sun. “These hardships are nothing if you truly love what you do,” Zhang said.

Gaining experience is also important. “There isn’t a detailed guidebook for creating art,” Zhang said. “You have to learn from your own work. Gradually, you can add personal thoughts into the filming process and witness your work improving.”

1. What inspired Zhang to become an astrophotographer?

A．A beautiful photo she saw on Weibo.

B．Her curiosity about space.

C．Fewer chances for citizens to admire the stars.

D．The development of China’s space industry.

2. What did Zhang begin to shoot in recent years?

A．People.

B．Scenery.

C．Wildlife.

D．Rocket launching.

3. What does Zhang value about her photos?

A．How much they can sell for.	B．The media’s comments on them.
C．The public’s recognition of them.	D．The social impact they have.

4. What does Zhang think is necessary for a successful astrophotographer?

A．Expensive equipment.	B．A detailed guidebook.
C．Devotion and learning ability.	D．A formal education in photography.

8 . How do you express gratitude in your everyday life? For me, it sometimes feels worrying: hand-writing hundreds of thank you cards after an anniversary, or making sure to eat every last bite on my plate so my grandma wouldn’t think I was ungrateful for the meal.

    1    Here are some tips about how to be better at showing gratitude.

Start a gratitude journal or write a letter. Make it a habit to put down the things that you’re thankful for.     2     There’s also some evidence that it could lower your risk of heart disease and symptoms of depression for some people. Think of someone in your life who you have not had the chance to thank. Think of a specific instance when they helped you. Then, it’s a good idea to send them a letter.     3    

    4     Look around in your immediate space, and take notice of everything that makes up your environment: the sky, the cool wind, the warmth of your sweater. The act of simply noticing and naming things is a great way to stretch your gratitude muscle as well as obtain some clarity on the strength of all the unique connections in your life.

Bear in mind the difference between saying “thanks to” and “thanks for”. Being grateful “for” something can be a little unclear or general.     5     It encourages specificity and reminds you of your connection with and responsibility to that person or thing.

A．Stretch your gratitude muscle.

B．Notice the world surrounding you.

C．Better still, deliver it in person and read it to them.

D．A habitual gratitude journal will certainly benefit us.

E．But experts say it doesn’t have to be that complicated.

F．In fact, this habit reduces materialism and enhances generosity.

G．Being grateful “to” something or someone implies a direct relationship.

9 . In Connecticut, &teacher made a big decision that would change the course of her life and her new student’s.

Jenna Riccio, a busy elementary school teacher, encountered a _________ that would test her pity and kindness. In 2019, Jenna _________ her new student, Nate, fell ill and needed emergency surgery. Unfortunately, the blood infection _________ the amputation (截肢) of his loge and left arm. When Jenna _________ everything and went to see Nate at the hospital, she found him alone. She decided to bring him _________ by being there for him. However, her _________ was not just an act of kindness. Jenna learned Nate had been _________.

Concerned for his well-being, Jenna _________ his social worker to apply to adopt Nate. Feeling _________ the worker agreed to help. __________, when she told her decision to her then-boyfriend, Tim who’s __________, too, he readily agreed.

Two years later, things __________ for Jenna in her love life. She and Tim got married, and disabled Nate was the ring bearer. However, their family didn’t become __________ until 2022 when Nate became their legally adopted son __________. Today, he’s in the 5th grade, growing healthy.

“Every night I go to sleep, thinking, ‘I’m very __________. I’ll repay them for their love,’”Nate says. __________, Jenna and Tim are overjoyed to have Nate in their lives. They can never __________ life without him.

Jenna’s decision to adopt Nate shows the __________ of sympathy and the __________ impact it has on someone’s life. The love and care she showed Nate __________ his life, and their journey as a family is the proof of their love and care.

1.

A．promise

B．process

C．situation

D．movement

2.

A．responded

B．discovered

C．predicted

D．agreed

3.

A．resulted in

B．kept off

C．referred to

D．got over

4.

A．sold

B．suggested

C．left

D．chose

5.

A．service

B．praise

C．money

D．comfort

6.

A．advice

B．visit

C．chance

D．comment

7.

A．identified

B．confused

C．abandoned

D．disabled

8.

A．approached

B．avoided

C．excused

D．recognized

9.

A．upset

B．determined

C．calm

D．moved

10.

A．Interestingly

B．To her relief

C．By all means

D．Surprisingly

11.

A．intelligent

B．easygoing

C．proud

D．sympathetic

12.

A．differed

B．progressed

C．occurred

D．gathered

13.

A．rich

B．traditional

C．special

D．official

14.

A．finally

B．frequently

C．previously

D．temporarily

15.

A．lovely

B．strong

C．lucky

D．confident

16.

A．Moreover

B．Therefore

C．Meanwhile

D．Otherwise

17.

A．regret

B．imagine

C．describe

D．guide

18.

A．principle

B．criterion

C．attitude

D．power

19.

A．positive

B．flexible

C．general

D．cautious

20.

A．transformed

B．returned

C．tested

D．displayed

10 . Twenty years ago, I entered a college, but suddenly my world turned upside down on September 11, 2001. College seemed less important. Somewhere among the images that flashed across the TV were soldiers, and I thought I should be one of them.

I had the impossible task of persuading my parents that this was a good choice. It’s not that they weren’t proud; they were concerned and scared. Within weeks of 9/11, I joined the Army with the support of my family behind me.

The lifestyle change of civilian (平民) to soldier wasn’t a smooth process. My biggest challenge was military bearing. I smiled too much. Obviously, soldiers don’t smile, but I couldn’t help but smile. I did pay for it! My “pearly white teeth” earned me plenty of extra training. I had no choice but to dig deep and push my strength and endurance (耐力) to their limits.

Before the sun rose, we awoke to begin another day. It was painful, horrible, tiring... and so much fun. That non-military-bearing smile rarely left my face. I learned to love the absolute craziness of the Army. I smiled through it all.

A few months after graduating from boot camp, I crossed paths with one of my fellow soldiers. He smiled and said, “Thanks for showing that smiling face every day. You really brightened my days during the difficult times.”

What I learned from that brief conversation was that even in the toughest, most physically tiring, and sweaty situations, a small symbol of human kindness and connection goes a long way. Sometimes, we don’t even know the joy we bring to others.

I stayed in the military for ten years. Challenges continued to get thrown in my way, but I never lost my smile.

1. How did the author’s parents feel about his decision?

A．Puzzled.

B．Worried.

C．Satisfied.

D．Appreciative.

2. What troubled the author most in the army?

A．The rules for soldiers’ behavior.	B．The skills soldiers should master.
C．The hard daily life in the army.	D．The limited time for relaxation.

3. What did smiles bring to the author in boot camp?

A．Friendship.

B．Praise.

C．Kindness.

D．Punishment.

4. What can be inferred from the fellow soldier’s words?

A．He decided to follow the author’s example.

B．He felt encouraged by the author’s smile.

C．Smiles help bridge the gap between people.

D．Smiles are the most powerful tool in communication.