1 . A cancer treatment no longer means what it used to be. Just a few decades ago, the survival rate beyond five years was less than 50%. Now, nearly 70% of those who get cancer survive that long, and that rate is set to rise. Why? Because, more than ever, chemotherapy (化疗) and radiation, once the only ways of cancer treatment, are being paired with or replaced by varieties of new drugs and treatments.

For example, the first medication for what was previously considered an “undruggable” lung cancer was recently approved in the United States, Canada, Europe and the U.K. And a brand-new precise chemotherapy drug delivered directly to breast cancer cells is giving hope to patients with the HER 2-positive form of the disease.

Another discovery has been the promise of a treatment called immunotherapy, as researchers around the world have discovered ways to use the body’s own immune (免疫) system to battle cancer cells.

Also driving hope is a focus on prevention. Decades of research and public education have led to greater awareness of how lifestyle changes can reduce our risk of developing cancer. According to an article from the journal Pharmaceutical Research and published by the National Institutes of Health, 90% to 95% of cancers can be owed to environment and lifestyle, rather than to genetic (基因的) factors.

Employing vaccines (疫苗) is another effective way of prevention. Take the mRNA cancer vaccines for example. The speedy development of COVID-19 vaccines was thanks to foundations already laid by researchers who had been working for years to create mRNA vaccines to fight cancer. These vaccines use a specially programmed molecule (分子) to activate an immune response in the body’s cells. Unlike the COVID-19 vaccines designed to help protect billions of people, each cancer mRNA vaccine is tailored to treat a single patient’s cancer.

In fact, this personalized approach can be made for everyone, and for every cancer.

1. Why is the survival rate beyond five years rising now?

A．Because new drugs and treatments have come out.

B．Because chemotherapy and radiation get advanced.

C．Because new drugs have been paired with old ones.

D．Because new treatments have replaced the old ones.

2. What can we learn from the fourth paragraph?

A．All the cancers are not related to genetic factors.

B．Most cancers have no relationship with lifestyle.

C．A focus on prevention is our only hope to deal with cancer.

D．All cancers have relationship with environment and lifestyle.

3. What can we infer about cancer mRNA vaccine according to the text?

A．The COVID-19 vaccines can be used to fight some cancers.

B．One cancer mRNA vaccine can’t be used for another cancer.

C．One cancer mRNA vaccine can be used to treat patients of the same cancer.

D．The COVID-19 vaccines were created from previous cancer mRNA vaccines.

4. What is the text?

A．A diary entry.	B．A news report.
C．A book review.	D．A science fiction.

2 . The question of whether it is possible to dissociate the artist from their work has been debated for a long time. Even though positive critical reviews about an artist’s behavior can improve their artistic accomplishments, people should treat artists as individuals who have lived apart from their work.

One of the reasons is that even artists have shortcomings. Like any other human being, an artist can err, and we cannot be severely judgmental of every person that falls into error. Cancel culture with endless criticism is concerned more with how we should disregard the artists when they make mistakes than with how their weaknesses can be used by the artists to create art that is unique.

Perhaps Kevin Hart’s words support this thought. He asks, “When did we get to a point where life was supposed to be perfect? Where people were supposed to operate perfectly all the time?” When people start seeing artists as human beings, they’ll see them for who they are and review their behavior not on the basis of their art but on the basis of their humanity.

It should be also noted that there are works of art that are inspired by the artist’s experience. For example, the themes in the Harry Potter books are so connected with J. K. Rowling’s wicked worldview that it is virtually impossible to distinguish the two from each other. Since canceling artists based on their worldview would mean the reception to their art will suffer, artists become tense and unwilling to express themselves, which will kill creativity, eventually leading to the death of art. Comedians, singers or painters who should be integrating contemporary issues with their works become boring, and art stops functioning as the social mirror it ought to be.

An artist who makes mistakes still has art with intrinsic (内在的) value, benefiting entire communities or cultures. For instance, when Kendrick Lamar launched his album and frequently used the F-slur in one of his songs, there was much-heated discussion. He was entirely mistaken in using the F-slur, but as an artist, he still had a wide-reaching impact on society. Similarly, one can respect the late Michael Jackson because of how he impacted pop music and the inclusion of black musicians in mainstream media despite his personal weaknesses, opinions, worldviews and associations.

While these artists may engage in their terrible behavior, the art they produce today may serve as an example for others to produce outstanding work in the future. Some would refer to this process as a cycle. Good art should, therefore, be judged due to its value and not the value of the artist.

1. Which would Kevin Hart probably agree with?

A．People should perform perfectly all the time.

B．Artists’ shortcomings might be their inspiration.

C．If artists have weaknesses, we’d better cancel them.

D．Artists should be evaluated based on their humanity.

2. Why will “cancel culture” lead to the death of art?

A．Artists will be unwilling to create any artwork.

B．Artists will stop concerning with contemporary issues.

C．Artists will lose their desire for expression and creativity.

D．Artworks are unavoidably inspired by artists’ experiences.

3. How can an artist with mistakes benefit others?

A．The artist may make some new words popular.

B．The artist’s opinions may provoke heated discussion.

C．The artist will benefit entire communities or cultures.

D．The artist’s art may give others ideas of artistic creation.

4. Which would be the best title of the passage?

A．Judge Art Due to Its Value

B．Separate the Art From the Artist

C．Regard Artists as Human Beings

D．Stop Criticizing Artists’ Behavior

3 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。

“Hey, honey!” I said, hugging my seven-year-old, Jean Prince, as she got off the bus. “How was school?” I asked her as I always did.

“Well, not so real good,” she replied, looking sad. “Everyone has their pictures on the Reading Bulletin Board (布告栏) but me. I never get my picture up, not for math or reading or anything.” Her shoulders fell suddenly, and her chin began to shake clearly.

I’d like to believe that, with enough educational treatment, visits to the doctor, experimenting with different medicines for ADHD (多动症), and drill, practice, and patience at home, I can turn my Jean into a teacher’s “dream child,” the skilled and intelligent kid who gets everything right and never colors outside the lines.

But I can’t. And every failure is yet another blow to me, as well as to Jean. Taking a deep breath, I turned on the “building self-esteem (自尊)” mode. “Well, honey, I’m sorry. But I’ll bet something good happened to you today, didn’t it? What was the best thing that you did today?” Jean took her own sweet time, thinking things through. To my relief, she wasn’t, however, on the edge of tears anymore.

Finally, she brightened a bit and said slowly, “Yes, when I passed the gate of the park, I saw a little girl who was walking with her mother and she fell down and cried because her knee bled, I hurried home and took my Barbie doll and gave it to her. She loved it and stopped crying, her mother said thanks to me and I felt good.”

“Sweetie, that’s great!” I said excitedly.

“It is you who have told me that I should be kind and learn to share good things with others,” Jean replied.

I learned that Jean had saved from her allowance (零花钱) for the past month to get that doll, which was her favorite, so I thought to myself, “I will tell all these to Mrs Doe, Jean’s teacher.”

注意：1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Later that night, after driving Jean home, I hurried to Mrs Doe’s.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
At 4：30 the next afternoon, Jean rushed to me happily at the school gate.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4 . 音乐给了我力量，给我带来了解脱。
Music gave me strength and _________________.

5 . 虚拟合唱团使人们能够将自己的声音加入到其他人的声音中。
A virtual choir__________________add their voices to those of other individuals.

6 . 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。

The New Zealand economy is struggling with many challenges, primarily high inflation (通货膨胀) and rising interest rates, according to a report by the New Zealand Institute of Economic Research.

These challenges add     1    continued labor shortages, under the still    2    (evidence) influence of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly in the service industry. These factors are strongly influencing the economy in New Zealand, with signs of slowing activity across many    3     (industry), the institute’s principal economist Christina Leung said. “Cost pressures remain serious for families and businesses,    4    it is driving pessimism (悲观).” Leung said. She added that central banks around the world have responded to high inflation by increasing interest rates     5    (rapid). Up to now, the increase in interest rates     6    (have) the most immediate effect on the housing market, with the number of house sales     7    (fall) and a decline in house prices. The latest retail sales data show a slowing in retail spending and this phenomenon is thought     8     (continue), Leung said.

Despite these challenges, there remain factors supporting the     9     (recover) ahead. These include continued growth in incomes and new signs    10    indicate cost pressures start to ease, particularly with the recent decline in fuel prices, according to the report.

7 . I manage a financial department. I recently________my team that if they exceeded (超过) their goal, the company would ________ them to a very good Italian restaurant that we all love. They exceeded the goal by a lot, so I made a ________ for the sixteen of us.

On the day of our outing, we were seated right away and the waitress took our drink order. Then, the waitress told us that she was sorry, because the person who was ________to be helping her didn’t ________.So she had to________ our party and other customers on her own.

She looked at me in ________when I told her that I would________for everything on one check instead of ________checks. Our ordering was a little chaotic (混乱的). We were busy having fun and conversation, so none of us ________that. The food was delicious and we enjoyed it very much. It came time for the bill and, as was________ to me when I made the reservation, the restaurant ________ an 18% tip to the bill. The bill came to about US $ 650 and I gave her my credit card.

She returned with my receipt and thanked us,________ that her service was a little slow. We told her everything was perfect and thanked her for working so hard. She had been so nice and ________ to us that I left a(n)________US $ 50 cash tip in the receipt folder.

All of a sudden, the waitress came out of the restaurant and grabbed my arm. I was thinking if I________to sign the receipt or something when I noticed she had________in her eyes. She thanked me for the tip and said she really didn’t ________ it. She had had a ________ time lately and the tip really ________ her heart.

1.

A．promised

B．warned

C．gained

D．requested

2.

A．order

B．treat

C．lend

D．lead

3.

A．decision

B．reservation

C．difference

D．remark

4.

A．worried

B．reported

C．surprised

D．supposed

5.

A．set off

B．calm down

C．show up

D．ring back

6.

A．observe

B．attend

C．handle

D．postpone

7.

A．anger

B．embarrassment

C．fear

D．relief

8.

A．account

B．pay

C．answer

D．apply

9.

A．separate

B．individual

C．commercial

D．digital

10.

A．minded

B．heard

C．missed

D．approved

11.

A．admitted

B．suggested

C．explained

D．given

12.

A．reduced

B．passed

C．returned

D．added

13.

A．apologizing

B．announcing

C．arguing

D．noticing

14.

A．generous

B．patient

C．honest

D．faithful

15.

A．familiar

B．complete

C．additional

D．precious

16.

A．tried

B．agreed

C．forgot

D．refused

17.

A．smiles

B．tears

C．hope

D．disappointment

18.

A．understand

B．remember

C．want

D．expect

19.

A．tough

B．harmonious

C．wonderful

D．meaningful

20.

A．encouraged

B．closed

C．shocked

D．warmed

8 . When your work performance is falling, your personal life will certainly be affected.    1    However, if you are equipped with some effective methods, you can absolutely improve your work performance.

Get clear on your goals. With a clear goal in your mind, you are more likely to take action.    2     For each set of goals, decide your own time frame. Refer to these goals on a regular basis and make sure that you are noting the progress you are making.

Plan each day the night before. If you have no daily plan of action, you tend to end up fighting lots of small fires at work.    3     As a consequence, your work productivity suffers. Therefore, it is necessary to take the time to plan for the next day.

    4    You should never spend all your time on the tasks you have to complete each day. Instead, take time out to spend with your colleagues. Therefore, you should make a plan on what you need to do each day and write it in details.

Celebrate your success. Managing your mind is the key to your moving forward. The best way to keep a good state is to celebrate your achievements. You should do this regularly.    5    

In a word, if you want to improve your work performance, you should have a clear action plan and know what needs to be done and how it should be done. If you apply these ways to your life, you will become an excellent performer.

A．Create a daily action plan.

B．Improve your relationship greatly.

C．You have to face various challenges.

D．Having a clear idea can give you proper directions.

E．Only in this way can you keep your motivation up.

F．This can stop you doing important tasks that need doing.

G．Therefore, try writing down the goals you want to achieve.

9 . In a major step forward for monitoring the biodiversity of marine(海洋的)systems, a new study published in the journal Environmental DNA details how Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute(MBARI) researchers are using autonomous underwater robots to sample environmental DNA(eDNA), which allows scientists to detect the presence of aquatic species from the tiny bits of genetic(遗传学的) material they leave behind. This “DNA soup” offers clues about biodiversity changes in sensitive areas and the presence of rare or endangered species-all critical to understanding and preserving a healthy ocean.

Researchers combined two novel autonomous platforms developed by MBARI for this study-the Long-Range Autonomous Underwater Vehicle(LRAUV) and the Environmental Sample Processor(ESP). The LRAUV can travel for weeks at a time and for hundreds of kilometers. It can enable more frequent sampling in remote sites than traditional research ships. The ESP is a robotic “laboratory-in-a-can” that filters(过滤)   seawater and preserves eDNA for future study. By equipping an LRAUV with ESP technology, researchers can monitor the ocean better.

“We know that eDNA is an incredibly powerful tool for studying ocean communities, but we’ve been limited by what we can accomplish using expensive crewed research ships. Now, autonomous technology is helping us make better use of our time and resources to study previously unsurveyed regions of the ocean,” said Kobun Truelove, a biological oceanographer at MBARI and the lead author of the paper.

Marine biodiversity is a measure of the abundance of individuals and species in the ocean. This interconnected mixture of organisms supports food webs, produces the air we breathe, and regulates our climate. Autonomous tools like the LRAUV and ESP enable MBARI researchers to monitor changes in sensitive ecosystems in ways that were not possible previously.

“Ship-based research will continue to play an important role in oceanographic studies, but adding new autonomous technology to the toolkit will expand capacity for research, monitoring, and resource management,” said Truelove.

1. What do the underlined words “aquatic species” in paragraph 1 refer to?

A．Those living in water.	B．Those growing near water.
C．Those becoming endangered.	D．Those consuming eDNA.

2. What can the LRAUV do?

A．Filter seawater effectively.

B．Preserve eDNA for future study.

C．Travel for months at a time in the ocean.

D．Reach remote areas of the ocean frequently.

3. What can we infer from Truelove’s words?

A．Autonomous technology is more economical and efficient.

B．Ship-based research is more time-saving and energy-saving.

C．Autonomous robots have entirely replaced traditional research ships.

D．Crewed research ships help researchers study new parts of the ocean.

4. What can be the best title for the text?

A．Researchers Discover a “DNA Soup”

B．Autonomous Technology Needs Improving

C．Robots Sample eDNA to Monitor Ocean Health

D．The Biodiversity of the Ocean Needs Protection

10 . The Quwwat-ul-Islam Mosque complex in New Delhi is home to an ancient wonder of metal work — the Iron Pillar (柱) of Qutub Minar, which is very unusually resistant to rust (铁锈). This 1,600-year-old monument measures 7.21 meters tall, has a diameter of 41 centimeters and weighs about 6 tons.

Even though it has spent all that time outdoors, the Pillar of Qutub Minar shows almost no sign of rust damage. There was a time when many believed that the rust-resistant pillar was made out of some mysterious, non-earthly metal, while others believed that whoever made it used an extremely modern technique that was lost in the mists of time. That second theory is technically true, as metallurgists showed in a paper published in the journal Current Science.

R. Balasubramanian, co-author of the study, called the pillar “living evidence for the skill of metallurgists of ancient India”, explaining that the iron structure features a protective layer called “misawite” — a substance that forms a barrier between metal and rust. The formation of misawite is caused by the high phosphorus (磷) content in the iron.

While modern iron has a phosphorus content of under 0.05%, the iron that the Iron Pillar of Qutub Minar is made of contains as much as 1 percent phosphorus. According to Dr. Balasubramanian, instead of removing the phosphorus from the iron as workers do today to prevent the metal from breaking up, ancient people kept it in, and simply kept hitting the pillar hard with hammers to push the phosphorus from the core towards the surface. This kept the iron strong, and also led to the formation of the misawite barrier.

As is often the case with these ancient wonders, they can be easily harmed by humans. The pillar gained a reputation for bringing good luck to whoever managed to wrap their arms around the metal structure, and more and more people engaged in the practice over the years. But the misawite barrier is an extremely thin layer, so the practice has led to a visible discoloration of the pillar near its base. Luckily, authorities realized the danger and built a protective fence around the pillar.

1. What is a probable reason that the Iron Pillar of Qutub Minar can resist rust?

A．Its structure is extremely strong.

B．It contains some mysterious metal.

C．Its outside is covered with misawite.

D．It was made out of some non-earthly metal.

2. What does R. Balasubramanian think of the iron pillar?

A．Important.

B．Ordinary.

C．Imperfect.

D．Dangerous.

3. Why did the ancient workers hit the iron pillar with hammers?

A．To check its quality.

B．To remove phosphorus from the iron.

C．To push the phosphorus towards its surface.

D．To produce more phosphorus in the pillar’s core.

4. What effect has people’s touching had on the iron pillar?

A．Improving its quality.

B．Making it more popular.

C．Bringing good luck to it.

D．Weakening its barrier layer.