1 . In 2022, 61 companies in the United Kingdom (UK) took part in the world’s largest test of a four-day work week.

The pilot program, conducted in the UK, guided over 60 companies and almost 3, 000 workers through a six-month trial of a 4 day week, with no loss of pay for workers. Overall results show that almost every organization will stick to a 4-day week post-trial, with 91% definitely continuing or planning to continue, and a further 4% leaning towards continuing.

Companies rated their overall experience of the trials an average of 8. 5/10, with business productivity and business performance each scoring 7. 5/10. Profits rose by 35% over the trial periods when compared to similar periods from the previous year and hiring increased while absenteeism decreased.

Lead researcher, Professor Juliet Schor of Boston College observed an encouraging consistency in the data. “Results are largely steady across workplaces of varying sizes, showing it works for many types of organizations. There are also some interesting differences. We found that employees in non-profits and professional services had a larger average increase in time spent exercising, while those in construction enjoyed the largest reductions in burnout and sleep problems,” she said. Getting the carbon footprint down is also encouraging, with commuting (通勤) time falling by a half bour per week.

How did workers do more in less time? Some companies cut meetings, or made sure they were shorter. Others used technology to help workers get more done quickly. Some companies created a “focus time” so workers could work on just one thing without being interrupted.

In general, workers said the four-day work week left them feeling less tired. About 71% said they felt less “burnt out” with their new work hours, and 39% said they felt less stressed. On average, 73% of the workers were more satisfied with the time they spent working.

1. Which of the following best describes the experiment?

A．Controversial.

B．Ambitious.

C．Eventful.

D．Successful.

2. What can we say about the four-day work week?

A．It’s a one-sided move.

B．It’s what technology brings.

C．I’s environmentally friendly.

D．It’s unfit for big companies.

3. What are the statistics in the last paragraph about?

A．Working habits.

B．Joy at work.

C．Health management.

D．Business performance.

4. Which can be a suitable title for the text?

A．Monday-Friday Model Is Outdated

B．Good Health Is Good Business

C．4-Day Workweek Trial Finishes

D．4-Day Workweek Could Be Coming

2 . It was a history-making moment at Miller ＆ Miller’s Canadiana ＆Decorative Arts auction (拍卖) when the hammer finally came down for a rare Maud Lewis painting.

Lewis was a Canadian artist who painted brightly colored scenes. She sold her paintings by the side of the road for $2 to $3. Painting wasn’t easy, since she suffered from a physical challenge that made moving painful. John Kinnear, also an artist, struck up a friendship with the then-little-known Lewis after reading an article about her. He mailed her boxes of painting supplies. At the time, Lewis, with her husband, lived in a one-room house with no electricity or running water, using simple house paint to paint. After receiving the supplies, Lewis wrote back insisting on repaying him with some of her paintings. Kinnear sold some of them, sending some money back to Lewis and using the remainder to buy her more paint.

Kinnear was friends with Irene and Tony Demas, who owned a restaurant where he ate lunch every day. One day, Kinnear told them he had some paintings by an artist and wondered if they might consider swapping a few grilled cheese lunches for one of them. “When we saw the paintings, we were shocked, and both of us were hesitant,” recalls Irene. “I had never seen anything like them. They were so childlike, with cats and cows.” But they ended up agreeing to the trade, choosing a painting called Black Truck.

Over 50 years later, they’re long retired and are now considering travelling more. They hoped to sell the painting. In the years since Lewis died, her paintings have become famous. But it was a recent scare that really urged them into action. After having non-glare glass added to the painting, the business street where the framer lived burned to the ground just days after they picked up their painting. “We saw that Miller & Miller had sold one not long ago,” says Irene. “We trusted the Miller brothers.”

Recently, the painting was sold at auction for $350, 000.

1. Why did John Kinnear send Lewis boxes of painting supplies?

A．To get her paintings.

B．To offer her assistance.

C．To make friends with her.

D．To learn to paint from her.

2. How did Irene and Tony Demas feel when they first saw Lewis’s paintings?

A．Disappointed.

B．Confused.

C．Panicked.

D．Embarrassed.

3. What was the real reason for the Demas’ selling “Black Truck”?

A．They were forced by Miller & Miller.

B．They were desperate for money to travel.

C．They feared the unexpected would happen.

D．They thought the painting would lose value.

4. What is the purpose of this text?

A．To introduce a painting’s adventures.

B．To explain a trend in art collecting.

C．To expand the painting market.

D．To recommend an auction house.

3 . Heathfield Day Summer Camp

It’s for girls aged 7 to 15. Heathfield started its own Summer Camp for local girls so they could enjoy the high quality activities and sports that we were already offering to overseas students on our International Summer School (ISS). Over the years more than a thousand girls have attended the camp, many returning year after year and bringing sisters and friends with them. Returning students receive a 10% discount from their second year. Day girls arrive between 08:45 and 09:15 when activities start. An Early Morning option with Breakfast is available at 08:00. At 5:30 girls are collected and signed out by parents or can take our Late Stay option until 6:30.

Heathfield’s teachers offer the girls a fun-packed and educational daily program, balancing creative, artistic and sporting skills. Campers are grouped together according to age and move together between activities. There’re different programs for junior and senior groups.

Girls enjoy the opportunity to spend time as a day girl and as a boarder. They can stay from one day to four weeks. But residential stays are for a minimum of one week. Each Thursday afternoon we invite parents to an exhibition or show to see what the girls are doing. The exhibitions include cookery, art, craft and photography in weeks 1 and 3, and in weeks 2 and 4, music, dance and drama shows take place. Two or three afternoons a week girls mix with the students from the ISS and take part in sports and games.

There’s an hour’s lunch break. Our dining-room service offers a great range of hot and cold dishes.

1. What do we know about Heathfield Day Summer Camp?

A．Its arrangements are flexible.

B．It offers participants 10% off.

C．Its programs are the same for groups.

D．It limits the number of participants.

2. What does Heathfield do to the camper?

A．Advise them to stay as boarders.

B．Forbid them to go out on weekdays.

C．Call on them to be independent.

D．Divide them into different groups.

3. What may Tina’s parents do at Heathfield on Thursday of Week 2?

A．Pay a visit to the ISS.

B．Have dinner with her.

C．See her dancing.

D．Take physical exercise.

4 . 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。

European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti is back on Earth after spending months in orbit on the International Space Station.The Italian gets    1    (notice) in China after she quoted classic Chinese poetry     2     social media with a view of     3     Chinese capital from space.

Travelling around the Earth at about 28,000 kilometers per hour, 420 kilometers off the ground in the International Space Station (ISS) certainly    4    (give) us a unique perspective on our planet.

That view inspired Cristoforetti    5    (dive) into the Chinese classics as the ISS flew over parts of China. She quoted 4th-century poet Wang Xizhi’s Preface to poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion.The text     6    (accompany) by photos of China taken from the space station.

Cristoforetti speaks six languages including Chinese and has     7    (previous) taken part in joint training between the ESA and the China Manned Space Agency. It is hoped     8     ESA astronauts will cooperate with Chinese counterparts. With Cristoforetti having laid groundwork for that, ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher was full of praise for the     9    (talent) astronaut and positive about the cooperation of space     10    (explore).

5 . A few years ago, I was an English professor, and I asked my students to finish a paper during the holiday. Mike, one of my students, came to class without it. He explained that his safe (保险柜)had been stolen by a worker who was repairing his house. His notebook computer was in the safe, where his paper was. I was sure that he didn’t tell a lie because he had been a really good student.

Then over the two weeks, Mike started to show up to class looking very tired. He said that he was on a hunt for the guy who stole his safe, and he was spending late nights with his cousin driving around looking for the thief because they knew his car. They wanted to find the thief and get the safe back because his living expenses were in it besides the paper.

Then Mike rewrote the paper and turned it in. It wasn’t up to his usual quality, and he still kept coming to class looking like he hadn’t slept all night. One day, he came very happily to my office, and he reported that he had found the thief after a long search that involved experiencing dangerous situations. He said that they found the thief’s car in front of a big super-market, and they caught him and sent him to the police station.

I read the news that Mike had in fact put an end to the thief’s attempt to steal from the supermarket. It turned out that Mike got his money and notebook computer back. I gladly accepted his original paper, and it got a much higher grade than the rewritten one because of his virtues. And I reminded him that he should be responsible for his own safety and talk to me or other teachers first if he met with anything like that.

1. What was the problem with Mike?

A．He was often late for class.

B．He always got low marks in exams.

C．He failed to hand in his paper on time.

D．He stayed up too late writing his paper.

2. What did Mike do at night over the two weeks?

A．He tried to earn his living expenses.

B．He practised driving with his cousin.

C．He went to the class which the professor taught.

D．He sought for the house repairman who had stolen his safe.

3. What happened to the thief finally?

A．He voluntarily admitted the theft.

B．He was handed over to the police.

C．He escaped from a big supermarket.

D．He was reported caught by the professor.

4. Which words best describe Mike?

A．Brave and honest.	B．Imaginative and creative.
C．Smart but lazy.	D．Poor but happy.

6 . This is the story of Moyo, a rescued elephant in Zimbabwe Elephant Nursery, a local non-governmental organization called Wild Is Life. She is probably one of the ________ elephant cubs ever to be rescued. She came to the nursery when she was about three to four ________ old. Sheweighed 56 kilos, and ________ a just-born African elephant cub weighs about 90 kilos. So she was a special iconic little elephant. Under good care of the staff there, she managed to ________.

Every year, hundreds of young elephants are orphaned across the African continent and rarely have a chance of ________ in the wild and are more often than not, left to die. “We rescue babies, and we provide ________ for them. We make sure they are in good ________ here, and help them regain their ________ needed in the wild. We are trying to create a culture where people ________,” said Roxy Danckwerts, the founder of Wild Is Life.

Moyo is about four and a half years old now. She is healthy, playful, and has become some kind of ambassador to the nursery. Therefore, she’s having to take on a lot of ________ for such a young animal, almost becoming a leader at the very young age. She is gentle, calm, very very ________ to the other elephants that come into the nursery. She is also very good with people.

But unfortunately, they’re not much more than objects of money in the eyes of ivory(象牙) dealers. Zimbabwe has a ________ elephant-hunting problem. Some regions are ________ as much as 75 percent of the elephant population over the past 10 years. That is why Danckwerts feels excited at China’s decision to ________ illegal ivory sales, which he believes has become a major turning point and a signal to the world that China has made a ________.

1.

A．cleverest

B．worst

C．smallest

D．eagerest

2.

A．years

B．months

C．weeks

D．days

3.

A．normally

B．officially

C．rigidly

D．unusually

4.

A．set down

B．pop up

C．pull through

D．get away

5.

A．escape

B．survival

C．freedom

D．extinction

6.

A．shelter

B．service

C．advice

D．wealth

7.

A．eyes

B．legs

C．arms

D．hands

8.

A．habitats

B．skills

C．partners

D．parents

9.

A．tour

B．care

C．wander

D．study

10.

A．risk

B．discussion

C．work

D．responsibility

11.

A．friendly

B．well-known

C．superior

D．strange

12.

A．simple

B．tiny

C．serious

D．random

13.

A．gaining

B．supporting

C．losing

D．controlling

14.

A．allow

B．promote

C．reduce

D．ban

15.

A．move

B．deal

C．living

D．mistake

7 . 阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容(1个单词)或括号内单词的正确形式。

Sichuan province is the birthplace of many dishes that are well-received globally. Sichuan food, originating    1     the Southwestern region of China, is the most widely served cuísine in China itself. The dishes of Sichuan cuisine    2    (know) for their deep and rich flavours, especially the taste of Sichuan pepper,     3    is rare in other regional cuisines.

Sichuan cuisine holds a reputation for its    4    (vary) of seasonings used, as each dish     5    (require) different cooking methods. As the saying goes, “one dish with one flavor, with one hundred dishes come hundred flavors.” Sichuan food is most well-known for    6    (it) hot and spicy flavor, though it may sport sweet and sour flavors too. The most    7    (common) used spices you can find in most households and eateries are “The Five Fragrances(香料)” which consist of fennel, pepper, and so on.

Sichuan cuisine cannot do without Sichuan pepper, black pepper, chili, broad bean chili paste, shallots, ginger, and garlic. These are must-have seasonings that bring out the intense flavors the     8    (dish) are famous for. The other fresh produce    9    (use) ranges widely from pork to beef, fish, vegetables,     10    even tofu.

8 . I’ve had some pretty serious issues with some people in my community recently. As a result. I stopped away from them and did my best to _______ them. But the emotions that I felt from those events continued to _______ me and it began destroying the relationships in other parts of my life. I ended up making the _______ with people I really cared about.

Yesterday, I was _______ to attend a conference of community because of a major work event. 1 was _______ about this event for days and it was pretty _______ when I first saw the people I _______ with at the conference.

_______ all of this, the strangest yet most _______ thing happened to me: there were no ________ or drama with anyone. Some of the people didn’t even know who I was and it was ________ that a lot of people have moved on from the events. There wasn’t anything to worry about anymore. No one was holding ________ against me. I looked at them during the ________ and apologized in my head and ________ them. After doing this, I felt ________ in myself.

Through my recent practice in compassion, I ________ that when you forgive others, you ________yourself as well. This important ________ on forgiveness helps me to ________ things from a bigger view. I know people still ________ me during that time. I wish them the best life that they can have. And then, I move on.

1.

A．understand

B．comfort

C．forget

D．entertain

2.

A．disturb

B．frighten

C．inspire

D．amaze

3.

A．competition

B．break

C．decision

D．difference

4.

A．promised

B．allowed

C．persuaded

D．forced

5.

A．anxious

B．crazy

C．happy

D．sorry

6.

A．exciting

B．depressing

C．confusing

D．embarrassing

7.

A．quarreled

B．competed

C．chatted

D．combined

8.

A．Because of

B．In favor of

C．In spite of

D．In case of

9.

A．incredible

B．wonderful

C．important

D．popular

10.

A．instructions

B．double

C．bargains

D．argument

11.

A．necessary

B．impossible

C．clear

D．strange

12.

A．sorrow

B．surprise

C．anger

D．silence

13.

A．convenience

B．conference

C．performance

D．experiments

14.

A．forgave

B．complained

C．recalled

D．reminded

15.

A．pride

B．peace

C．gratitude

D．sympathy

16.

A．realize

B．suggest

C．insist

D．explain

17.

A．risk

B．free

C．ignore

D．believe

18.

A．shift

B．experience

C．lesson

D．lecture

19.

A．serve

B．gain

C．pay

D．see

20.

A．cheered for

B．cared about

C．depended on

D．looked after

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。

Dim sum (点心) must be one of the best breakfasts on Earth. Originally from Guangzhou in southern China, this Cantonese breakfast tradition has since spread all over China     1     the rest of the world. Today, there     2     (be) over a thousand dim sum dishes     3     (cover) every ingredient and cooking style imaginable.

While you can find a great dim sum dish almost anywhere in China, the     4     (great) still comes from the south, where it is known as Yum Cha (morning tea). Dim sum     5     (enjoy) with tea, Chinese style without milk or sugar.

“Breakfast tapas” is     6     (possible) the best description of dim sum. Most dishes are steamed and served in round bamboo baskets,     7    makes it easy to stack (撂) them on top of each other to save space on the table. Each basket typically contains three     8     (beauty) bite-sized dishes.

Dim sum is the core (核心) of every Cantonese family, and the best way     9     (have) it is to order many different dishes to share. According     10     Cantonese etiquette (礼仪), one dish per person should be ordered plus two dishes for the table, all of which are shared.

10 . Doctors and nutritionists have been telling that one should not eat right before going to bed. However, one should also not eat late at night, according to a recent study. It has been said that when we eat late at night, we’re going against our body’s rhythm.

According to the researchers from Brigham and Women’s Hospital, eating late at night increases the risk of obesity and weight gain. The analysis of the study revealed that the time when a person eats their last meal impacts the calories burned, appetite and how the body stores fat.

To conduct their study, a total of 16 participants with the body mass index (BMI) that is of the obese range or considered overweight were studied. Every one was given the same meals and they were divided into two groups: The first group was required to eat their meals early in the day and the other with each meal 250 minutes late.

The team of researchers found that eating late had a significant impact on the regulation of hunger hormones. The level of leptin (瘦蛋白) inhibits the human appetite. It was reduced across the period of 24 hours due to late eating. It was observed that eating late doubled the chance of being hungry. When participants ate later, they burned calories at a much slower rate.

In a press release the first author Nina Vujovic said, “In this study, we asked a simple question, ‘Does the time that we eat matter when everything else is kept consistent?’ and we found that eating four hours later makes a major difference to the hunger levels, the way calories burn after we eat, and the way our body stores fat.”

This study adds to a growing body of evidence showing just how important meal timing can be when it comes to body weight. Based on what this and other studies have shown, people who are watching their weight may want to get rid of the late night snacks and eat most of their meals earlier in the day.

1. What’s the difference between the two groups in paragraph 3?

A．The variety of the diet.	B．The fat content in their meals.
C．The calories in their meals.	D．Their eating schedules.

2. What can we do to beat obesity according to the study?

A．Avoid eating late at night.

B．Keep a moderate sense of hunger.

C．Abandon consuming food low in fat.

D．Make sure to have supper at a set time.

3. What does the underlined word “It” in paragraph 4 refer to?

A．The human appetite.	B．The leptin level.
C．The body mass index.	D．The chance of being hungry.

4. From which is the text probably taken?

A．A health magazine.	B．A biology textbook.
C．A travel brochure.	D．A biography.