1 . Aged 15 in high school, I was talkative and outgoing, often betting that nobody else would do their homework, so I needn’t either. I did not enjoy geometry (几何), although I liked the philosophical approach of our teacher, Mrs Trenholm. She told us that geometry was about humankind’s ability to work things out.

A month or so into the year we started on Euclidean geometry. We were all struggling and I was probably the most vocal (敢于直言的) in class about it. Mrs Trenholm set us homework — to prove two angles in a complex geometric shape are equal. She pulled me aside as we were leaving class and said, “Don’t talk your way out of this.”

I went home, worked on it for 20 minutes and gave up. Later I decided to try again. My handwriting was messy, and I noticed that if I made the diagram neater and bigger, I could see where I probably went wrong. At about 5 am, I got it and felt like my brain had been rewired!

I handed it in the next day. Mrs Trenholm would never embarrass students in front of everyone. So she came to me and handed me the paper with a little check mark in the corner. She looked right at me and asked, “Did you do this?” When I said yes, she nodded and went back to the front of the class, declaring, “One of you now understands Euclidean geometry. Let’s keep going so everybody will get it.”

From then on, I found that if I concentrated and worked hard, I could understand and even enjoy a subject. I went on to study maths and physics at university, took a master’s degree in applied science and became a nuclear research scientist. I became someone who no longer allowed myself the freedom to talk myself out of dealing with problems, or give up when things seemed too difficult.

1. How can we describe the author from the first two paragraphs?

A．He was not skilled at socializing.	B．He always had bets with others.
C．He was absorbed in philosophy.	D．He had trouble studying geometry.

2. Why did Mrs Trenholm pull the author aside after class?

A．To warn him not to talk too much.	B．To give him some tips on homework.
C．To make him take homework seriously.	D．To encourage him to try more approaches.

3. What was Mrs Trenholm’s initial feeling about the author’s homework?

A．Excited.

B．Relieved.

C．Disapproving.

D．Disbelieving.

4. What did the author want to express through the last paragraph?

A．He would go for more freedom.	B．The maths puzzle was a life changer.
C．That lesson taught him to think twice.	D．His university life was pretty colorful.

2 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1. Which season is called “the holiday season”?

A．Spring.

B．Winter.

C．Summer.

2. When is Christmas on the Eastern Christian calendar?

A．January 7.

B．January 1.

C．December 25.

3. How do people celebrate Christmas?

A．By eating at fast food restaurants.

B．By uniting with their families.

C．By singing songs at home.

4. Where do people place Christmas trees?

A．On the Street.

B．In the church.

C．On public squares

3 . When I was a graduate student, my co-workers and I were wondering how losing one night of sleep affects a person's ability to manage their emotions.

Once a week, typically on Friday evening, we would stay up all night to monitor our participants and ensure they followed the experimental plan. At about noon the next day, we would all go out of the lab, worn oat and eager to get home and rest.

Two months into the experiment, I was in my car at a traffic light when a silly love song started playing on the radio. Suddenly, I cried uncontrollably. I remember feeling surprised at my reaction. It then hit me that I was not just studying sleep deprivation (睡眠剥夺) —I had become part of the study. Weeks of missed sleep had caused harm, and I was no longer in control of my emotions.                                 

That research project proved a strong connection between good sleep and emotional health. In healthy individuals, good-quality sleep is linked with a more positive mood ——and it takes just one night of sleep deprivation to cause anxiety and depression the following morning. Moreover, people who suffer from long-term sleep deprivation tend to experience daily events more negatively.

For decades researchers and medical professionals have considered sleep loss a by-product or symptom (症状) of depression or anxiety. In other words, first comes the anxiety, and then sleep loss. Today we know that this order can be reversed. Much evidence shows that people who suffer from insomnia (失眠症)are at least twice as likely to develop depression or anxiety later in life, compared with individuals who sleep well.

Stepping back, we can find that mental and emotional health rely on a delicate balance. A single sleepless night can therefore do damage. The science of sleep and mental health suggests that failing to address the problems that prevent people from getting enough rest will leave people easily hurt in mind.

1. What is the author’s research mainly about?

A．Factors that affect emotions.	B．The damage of sleep deprivation.
C．Ways to improve mental health.	D．The link between sleep and emotions.

2. How was the research conducted?

A．By referring to previous research.	B．By making researchers the subjects.
C．By doing experiments on participants.	D．By including music in the process.

3. Why did the author burst into tears?

A．The love song was so touching.	B．The research was too stressful.
C．She missed her family too much.	D．She was severely lacking in sleep.

4. Which word can replace the underlined word “reversed” in paragraph 5?

A．Disclosed.

B．Switched.

C．Identified.

D．Arranged.

4 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

A flood of tourists, some from overseas, have come to enjoy the unique cultural and natural beauties of the Tibet autonomous region,     1     has witnessed a travel boom recently.

Of the total tourists received, 30,455 were inbound visitors —travelers from overseas —    2     increase of 494 percent year-on-year, while more than 24.21 million were domestic visitors, a 4l percent year-on-year increase.

“    3     impressed me the most was the magnificent Potala Palace and strong     4    (religion) culture in Lhasa.I feel something different from other     5    (place) I visited before,” said Hu Wei, a tourist from Sichuan province.

The Chinese online travel agency Ctrip Group reported that travel order volume, including transportation and hotel bookings, for destinations in Tibet during the first half of the year increased     6     103 percent     7    (compare) with the same period in 2019. The figure reflects a continuous warming trend of tourism in the region.

“It is harder     8    (get) tickets to some hot tourism spots, such as the Potala Palace, as the number of tourists     9    (increase) significantly recently,” said Chodar, a tour guide in Lhasa. “I see large numbers of tourists lined up at the entrance of the palace every day. Visitors have to make a     10    (reserve) at least 10 days in advance.”

5 . Flip-flops (人字拖) are the most popular type of shoe in the world. They’re comfortable, they’re easy to wear and they’re inexpensive. Unfortunately, most of them are also terrible for the environment. In Kenya, this is a huge problem, and around 90 tons of flip-flops wash up on its shores annually.

In the late 1990s, when Julie Church was working as a marine (海洋的) conservationist in Nairobi, she found an entire beach “just covered in flip-flops”. Around that time, Church also noticed children making toys out of the thousands of flip-flops that had made their way to the country’s beaches. She began working with the kids’ mothers to encourage them to not just collect the shoes, but also turn them into artworks. The families could then sell this art at local markets, providing another means of income.

The idea took off, and in 1998, Church founded Ocean Sole as a nonprofit. This year alone, the organization has upcycled more than 750,000 flip-flops and collected more than 47,000 kilos of waste. Additionally, Ocean Sole directly impacts more than 1,000 Kenyans, many of whom work as flip-flop collectors or artists, and contributes 10% to 15% of overall income to career and educational programs for residents, as well as beach cleanup and conservation efforts.

Ocean Sole is continuously growing and looking to keep waste off Kenya’s beaches and out of its water. When it comes to growing the Ocean Sole organization, Church has three “mantras (真言)”: trust to trade, trade to awareness, and awareness to protection. Church would like to put together toolkits and other resources to bring this concept to other places around the world that have similar problems. Ocean Sole is also encouraging companies to use more eco-friendly materials when making flip-flops. “I think it’s time for us to start looking for an alternative shoe, or an alternative material, to fit that kind of fashion need,” Church has said. “Our products need to develop.”

1. What was the main reason for founding the nonprofit?

A．To help Kenyans get healthy.

B．To develop children’s hands-on skills.

C．To protect Kenya’s marine environment.

D．To provide children with artistic flip-flops.

2. What can we say about the organization according to Paragraph 3?

A．It is growing in a controlled way.

B．It has a smaller impact than expected.

C．It is running for profit since founded.

D．It has achieved many things with one move.

3. What does Church advise shoe companies to do?

A．Lead the fashion trend.	B．Advance their products.
C．Practice her three “mantras”.	D．Develop global cooperation.

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

A．Environmental challenges in Kenya.

B．Flip-flops are out of date in Kenya.

C．Ocean Sole turns flip-flops into art.

D．Ocean Sole develops a new national art.

6 . In 2013, Alie Ward’s life was falling apart. In a matter of months, her relationship with her partner ended, her dad was _________ with a rare form of cancer, and she was also feeling a gap between the career she had chosen and the person she wanted to be.

To distract herself from her _________, Ward liked to find and take _________ of bugs which she has loved since she was a little kid. Sometimes, if she found a beetle or a bee that she particularly liked, she’d _________ it on Facebook. Those posts attracted the _________ of a woman named Lila Higgins, who studies _________ at the local natural history museum. After seeing Ward’s pictures, Higgins _________ to Ward and invited her to go on a tour of the museum.

At that time Ward was emotionally fragile, and meeting someone new in that state made her nervous and teary. However, her passion for bugs outweighed her anxiety.

Upon Ward’s arrival at the museum, Higgins warmly _________ her and handed her a lab coat. She then led Ward through various _________. “I remember she opened up this freezer, like, ‘Come check this out,’ and it was full of dead bugs,” Ward recalled. “Although lifeless, these samples held significance for the natural history museum, serving as evidence to nature’s diversity. I was also impressed by how __________ Higgins was, which made me feel passionate about the work for the first time in a long time,” Ward continued. Noticing Ward’s __________, Higgins suggested she __________ at the museum for a few hours every week.

Despite her doubts, Ward decided to __________ Every Wednesday, she’d arrive at the museum. And with each volunteer __________, she felt a little bit better. “It gave me this sense of __________. It helped me reconnect with my love of __________ and nature that I’d always had,” Ward said.

Soon, Ward __________ her job and started working in science media. She now is the creator and host of a podcast called Ologies. Ward had Higgins on the show as her first __________. “Sometimes I wonder what would have happened if I hadn’t taken her up on her __________. What would my life have been like? It’s not a nice thought. Who would I be? You know, Lila Higgins, in one instant, __________ my whole life,” said Ward.

1.

A．impressed

B．charged

C．terrified

D．diagnosed

2.

A．doubts

B．injuries

C．troubles

D．fears

3.

A．samples

B．pictures

C．notes

D．examples

4.

A．post

B．show

C．deliver

D．donate

5.

A．support

B．criticism

C．sympathy

D．attention

6.

A．birds

B．plants

C．insects

D．humans

7.

A．checked out

B．reached out

C．showed off

D．called off

8.

A．greeted

B．served

C．followed

D．thanked

9.

A．risks

B．trips

C．halls

D．exhibits

10.

A．confident

B．excited

C．worried

D．upset

11.

A．anxiety

B．patience

C．enthusiasm

D．disappointment

12.

A．study

B．research

C．perform

D．volunteer

13.

A．sign up

B．set out

C．settle in

D．take over

14.

A．report

B．evaluation

C．shift

D．recruitment

15.

A．friction

B．purpose

C．evolution

D．doubt

16.

A．science

B．philosophy

C．biography

D．geography

17.

A．kept

B．resolved

C．forgot

D．quit

18.

A．writer

B．director

C．guest

D．listener

19.

A．promise

B．offer

C．challenge

D．decision

20.

A．changed

B．ruined

C．imitated

D．defined

7 . You might think a computer would be a fair judge, but a new study from MIT finds it might be better for you to leave yourself in the hands of humans. AI won’t let people off easily when they break the rule!

This study, conducted by a team at MIT, examined how AI would interpret perceived violations (违反) of a given code. They discovered the most effective data for AI training is normative data, where humans determine whether a rule has been violated. However, data used to train machine-learning models are typically labeled descriptively — meaning people label the factual features of a situation, and AI determines whether a code has been broken.

The team gathered images of dogs that could potentially violate an apartment rule banning aggressive animals. Labelers were then asked to provide normative and descriptive responses. The descriptive team wasn’t informed about the policy on dogs, and was asked to identify whether elements, such as the dog’s aggression, were present. Their responses helped to form judgments. If a user said the photo described an aggressive dog, the policy was considered to be violated. On the other hand, the normative group was informed about the rule and was asked to determine whether each image violated the rule.

Participants were 20 percent more likely to identify a violation using the descriptive method. If the descriptive data on dog behavior had been used to program an AI model, it would be more likely to issue severe punishment. These inaccuracies could be a real-world concern. For instance, if a descriptive model is used to predict whether a person may commit the same crime more than once, it may result in longer criminal sentences.

The researchers advocate for increased data transparency (透明性) to understand how data is collected. And their future work is to investigate the impact of having experts, such as lawyers and doctors, participate in data entry to see if it will lead to the same result. “Generally, normative decisions tend to be more lenient (宽容的),” says lead author Aparna Balagopalan. “Perhaps the way people think about violations differs from how they think about descriptive data.”

1. What can we learn about descriptive data?

A．They’re usually used to train AI.	B．They lead to more accurate judgment.
C．They consist of causes of a situation.	D．They’re gathered to identify rule violation.

2. Why does the author mention the example in paragraph 4?

A．To present a fact.

B．To highlight a problem.

C．To introduce a topic.

D．To oppose an opinion.

3. What do the researchers plan to do?

A．Use more normative data.	B．Seek advice on data entry from experts.
C．Find new ways to gather data.	D．Conduct studies with professional labelers.

4. Which of the following can be the best title for the text?

A．AI: rule defender or breaker?	B．Data set: decisive part of AI
C．AI judge: stricter than humans	D．Better data: descriptive or normative?

8 . 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。

No one is born a winner. People make themselves into winners by their own efforts. I learned this lesson from an experience many years ago. I took the head coaching job at a school in Baxley, Georgia. It was a small school with a weak football program. The school took part in the league matches every year. However, it never ended well. We were more of the audience, watching and cheering instead of sweating out in the fields.

Fortunately, the school held the tradition that the school’s old team was to play against the new team at the end of spring practice. For lack of resources, the old team bad no coach, and they didn’t even practice to prepare for the game.

I was assigned (指派) as the coach of the new team, which was why I was excited. I believed that we were going to win, but to my disappointment, we were defeated. I couldn’t believe I had got into such a situation. Thinking hard about it, I tried to figure out the reason and what I should do next.

It didn’t take long before I came to realize that my team was depending on me. Without proper guidance or previous experience, my team was at a loss what to do. I had to change my attitude so that I could bring out the best in them about their ability and potential.

I would let my action do the talking. First, I started doing anything I could to help them build a little pride. I could see their spirits lifted, with their head held high in great confidence. Most importantly, I began to treat them like winners. Only when they regarded themselves as winners could they willingly invest time and energy.

This summer, the other teams enjoyed their vacations.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Six months later, football season started.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

9 . Most health experts would agree that eating meat — especially red meat — in large quantities isn’t good for us, or the planet. Studies point to an increased risk of heart disease and cancer correlating to our meat-heavy diets. Meanwhile, manufacturers are busy producing increasingly tasty and more meat-like products that match the real things — making the switch from eating animals seem like a no-brainer. But are these fake meat products any healthier for us?

Jinan Banna, a dietitian and nutrition professor at the University of Hawaii says that some fake meat products can be considered “ultra-processed” foods. “That means they go through multiple processes and have a lot of added ingredients (配料),” she said. “An alternative burger, for example, might have quite a bit of sodium (钠), as well as additives.” Some of these additives are on the market for a while before the scientific community determines them to be harmful, Banna added. “Anytime you see a long list of ingredients, including ‘natural flavors’, take it as a warning sign. In other words, eschew products with lengthy ingredient lists,” said Sofia Popov, a microbiome scientist in Copenhagen. “Who knows what’s actually in it?”

Perhaps convenience is the best argument for buying an alternative meat product you can simply cook straight out of the box, but some health experts suggest other plant-based healthful options can be simple, too. For example, on a busy day, Banna said she was able to throw together a tempeh (a traditional soya product) dish which she put in a little oil, vinegar and other seasonings. “We definitely obtain nutrients from animal-based food — iron and zinc and other minerals as well. But it also contains fat and cholesterol, so it’s good to control our intake,” said Banna. “Vegetarian substitutes can be very tasty so we shouldn’t shy away from them.”

1. What is the common belief on consuming red meat?

A．It is beneficial to our planet.	B．It can stimulate the economy.
C．It should be served with vegetables.	D．It may make us suffer from heart disease.

2. What does the underlined word “eschew” in paragraph 2 mean?

A．Avoid.

B．Provide.

C．Inspect.

D．Purchase.

3. What does Banna advise people to do?

A．Take in more minerals.	B．Turn to convenient food instead.
C．Seek for plant-based meals.	D．Choose some animal-based substitutes.

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

A．Why Is Plant-based Meat Dying?	B．Are Fake Meat Products Good For You?
C．Fake Meat: Food’s Future Or A Fashion?	D．What Happened To The Plant-based Meat?

10 . Thanks For Giving 4 Miler

Thurs. November 23, 2023

The Event

Sign up today for the 2023 Thanks For Giving 4 Miler and Kids Dash that will take place this Thanksgiving in New Albany! Come out and join us for a fun kick off to Thanksgiving Day festivities! As always, 100% of our net proceeds go to help those in need.

All are welcome, including competitive runners, joggers, and walkers wanting to enjoy time with friends and loved ones. Registration ends on November 22, 2023.

The Fee

There is no official race fee. You can give as much or as little as you want. However-a $40 minimum donation is required to get our soft T-shirt. Our goal is to feed as many families in Central Ohio as we can. You can help by running our race, spreading the word, or making a donation. You may bring any donation you want, from a can of soup to cash. Let’s make a difference.

Event Day Timeline

6:30 am: Race day check-in begins.

8:00 am: Opening ceremony (仪式) begins!

8:15 am: Kids Dash begins!

8:30 am: The Thanks For Giving 4 Miler kicks off!

Awards

The top three overall male and female finishers will receive a gift certificate. The top three male and female finishers in each of the following age groups will receive a pumpkin (南瓜) pie: 14 and under, 15-19, 20-24, 25-29, 30-34, 35-39, 40-44, 45-49, 50-54, 55-59, 60-64, 65-69, 70 and above. Every participant of the kids race receives a finisher’s medal!

Safety

For safety, please no bicycles, skateboards, inline skates, or participation with pets.

1. What is Thanks For Giving 4 Miler and Kids Run?

A．A marathon race.	B．A charity event.
C．A kid-targeted activity.	D．A holiday get-together.

2. What will a man ranking second in his age group be sure to win?

A．A soft T-shirt.	B．A pumpkin pie.
C．A gift certificate.	D．A finisher’s medal.

3. What is required for participation?

A．Bringing a donation.

B．Reaching a certain age.

C．Registering in advance.

D．Wearing safety equipment.