1 . On Feb. 21, four students were standing on the side of Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu when a driver going 110 miles per hour lost control of his car and it crashed into the parked vehicles.12 people were killed at the scene, including 2 drivers.

This kind of traffic death shouldn’t be called an accident. In Los Angeles, we seem to have accepted constant carnage (屠杀) in our streets in exchange for maximizing driver speed and convenience. The official responses to proven traffic dangers are mere gestures, if even that.

Los Angeles is a uniquely deadly city with a death rate that is four times the national average. Unsurprisingly, it’s also a city that has been designed with one thing in mind: a concept called level of service, which grades streets on how well they serve those in automobiles. To many Angelenos, that makes sense — to design our streets for car traffic, which is the way many get around the city. Unfortunately, we don’t recognize that there’s a trade-off. We can either have streets bettered for free-flowing traffic, or we can design streets for people to move around safely outside of cars.

City leaders consistently choose for the easy but deadly option. In one recent example, a resident asked the city’s Department of Transportation to block drivers from using Cochran Avenue at Venice Boulevard as a cut-through street, as they were speeding through a quiet residential neighbourhood. The department responded by suggesting a “speed awareness campaign” in which neighbours put up yard signs urging drivers to slow down.

People don’t drive based on signage, but they drive on the design of the street. The trunk roads of Los Angeles such as Venice Boulevard all need to be revised so that people are prioritized over cars. This would include narrowing travel lanes (道), building bike lanes, and banning right turns at red lights. These measures would make drivers feel like they’re in a city and not on a highway. A recent John Hopkins study says this would have substantial safety benefits.

With more than 7,500 miles of streets in the city of Los Angeles, they won’t all be rebuilt anytime soon. But with each road construction project, or each crash, we should be revising streets to make them safer for all road users.

The solution to traffic jam isn’t to make more space for cars. It’s to design the streets to be safe enough for alternatives such as biking, walking and mass transit, especially for the 50% of trips daily in Los Angeles that are less than three miles. The solution to protecting people dining outdoors isn’t crash barriers. It’s a street design that forces drivers to go slowly. The problem is carnage in the streets, and we know the solutions.

1. Why should the traffic death in Los Angeles be called “constant carnage”?

A．The traffic accidents happen quite often.

B．Too many people are killed in the traffic accidents.

C．The drivers’ speeding is to blame for the traffic death.

D．City leaders’ consistent choice contributes to the traffic death.

2. What does the word “trade-off” underlined in Paragraph 3 most probably mean?

A．Balance.

B．Guideline.

C．Conflict.

D．Resolution.

3. According to the passage, which is a likely solution to the traffic problem?

A．To widen travel lanes.	B．To add more crosswalks.
C．To arrange more traffic police.	D．To punish speeding drivers.

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

A．Drivers first or walkers first?	B．Traffic death or constant carnage?
C．More warning signs or safer designs?	D．More narrow lanes or speedy highways?

2 . 阅读短文，在空白处填入适当的内容或括号内单词的正确形式。

Are you still discussing and getting your head round Chat GPT,    1    potential will disturb everything from marketing to education? Well, Sora is about     2    (blow) those debates wide open. OpenAI’s Sora, a text-to-video AI model capable of generating     3     (remarkable) realistic and imaginative scenes from text instructions, just entered the chat room. A world where reality bends to the will of words has arrived,    4    (shape)a new era not just for technology but for humanity itself.

3 . 阅读短文，在空白处填入适当的内容或括号内单词的正确形式。

Although Start of Autumn, the 13th traditional Chinese solar term, often indicates the     1     (begin) of autumn, heat waves will not come to an end. The period of high temperatures,    2     (call) “Autumn Tiger”, usually lasts for about 30 days. Because of decreasing precipitation(降水), it is even hotter during this period than Major Heat. As the saying goes, “If it rains     3    the day of Start of Autumn, a good harvest is expected.”

4 . 阅读下面短文，根据短文内容在答题卡相应题号后的横线上写下相关信息，完成对该问题的回答。

People from different generations often live and work together. Sometimes they’re happy being together, other times they’re not. One of the reasons for their unhappiness maybe a generation gap. A generation gap is the difference between two or more generations—not the differences between their years but the differences between the generations’ ideas, attitudes, and interests. Of course, people can have differences and still be happy together, but according to the experts, communication between the generations helps everyone get along.

Good communication between the generations starts in the family. These days many families are changing their communication style. They are moving from a “one-way” style to a “two-way” style of communication. To show this change, let’s compare two families:

The Smith family uses the “one-way” style of communication. Mr. and Mrs. Smith show interest in their children, but they don’t discuss problems of feelings. The parents make all the rules and decisions. They don’t ask for their children’s opinions. They explain their decisions to their children, but they don’t discuss them. The explanation is clear and the children understand. The communication goes one way: from the parents to the children.

The Jones family uses the “two-way” style of communication. Mr. and Mrs. Jones show interest in their children and ask for their opinions. They discuss problems and express their feelings. The family makes rules and decisions together after a discussion. The communication goes two ways: from parents to children and from children to parents.

Better communication between generations at home means better communication between generations at work and in the community. When people from different generations understand each other better, they learn from each other more. This helps them form stronger bonds, work together more easily. As a result, people of all ages can team up effectively and come up with new ideas in different parts of life.

1. What is a generation gap?
______________________________________________________
2. Where does good communication between the generations begin?
______________________________________________________
3. Please decide which part is false in the following statement, then underline it and explain why.

If Jack’ parents discuss with him where to spend their summer vacation, they use the “one-way” style of communication.

______________________________________________________
4. To bridge the generation gaps, what other suggestions would you make besides better communication? (In about 40 words)
______________________________________________________

5 . It is not always easy to discover yourself. From a young age, I had a strong sense of who I would become —but an accident changed everything.

To me, skating was more important than anything else in the world. Nothing else filled my heart with so much ________. I spent 24 hours a week   ________ my skills.

I had no social life or interests other than skating. But I was rewarded with first place medals in nearly every _________.

Unfortunately, during one competition, I fell and was badly hurt. The doctor told me that I couldn’t skate anymore. The pain in my back was hard to bear and even basic daily tasks became   ________.

My passion (激情) had been taken away. I lost heart and had no idea what I would become. After eight months of suffering, something had to   ________ . Instead of sitting around and wasting my days, I began to work with local community service projects. By volunteering as a swimming teacher and summer reading assistant (助教) for kids, I got an idea of who I wanted to   ________ . After a few months, I found a new _________. Little by little, I stepped out of the shadow and   ________ my confidence.

Sometimes, ________in life will get in our way. We can choose to stay behind or try to get past these challenges. My accident was a challenge that failed to stop me from   ________ success. Today, I’m a very confident and optimistic person.

1.

A．joy

B．noise

C．pain

D．surprise

2.

A．proving

B．testing

C．developing

D．teaching

3.

A．meeting

B．competition

C．action

D．lesson

4.

A．strong

B．interesting

C．surprising

D．difficult

5.

A．return

B．disappear

C．change

D．share

6.

A．help

B．become

C．see

D．trust

7.

A．study

B．game

C．wish

D．interest

8.

A．rebuild

B．offered

C．expressed

D．lost

9.

A．goals

B．values

C．challenges

D．experiences

10.

A．celebrating

B．holding

C．choosing

D．reaching

6 . 阅读下面短文，根据短文内容填空。在未给提示词的空白处仅填写1个适当的单词，在给出提示词的空白处用括号内所给词的正确形式填空。

As products of nature, shells have developed a bond with people since the period of cavemen,     1     images in the cave paintings show them wearing shells. Today, in Fujian Province, experts are turning the natural gifts into shell-carved artworks by     2     (integrate) techniques from jade and wood carving, as well as traditional Chinese painting. In 2021, a shell carving art museum was established, where the craft’s history has been publicized. The experts hope they     3     (explore) new techniques in the future to carry this ancient craft forward.

7 . 阅读下面短文，根据短文内容填空。在未给提示词的空白处仅填写1个适当的单词，在给出提示词的空白处用括号内所给词的正确形式填空。

Nick was riding his bike along the Arching River when he noticed something     1     (usual) in the water. He took a closer look and saw a pair of fin-like things circling above the river’s surface.     2     (confuse) by what he had seen, Nick took a video and posted it on the Internet. Days later, some researchers confirmed that he     3     (spot) two dolphins— the first cetacean (鲸目动物) sighted in this river since 2017—and this suggested the efforts to restore the health of the river were paying off.

8 . 阅读下列短文，根据短文内容填空。在未给提示词的空白处仅填写1个适当的单词，在给出提示词的空白处用括号内所给词的正确形式填空。

As of June, China had about 285 million Internet users in rural areas,     1     (account) for over 30 percent of the country’s total. The number of rural Internet users     2     (grow) by over 30 million in the last few months. Nowadays, the Internet is playing a     3     (great) role than ever in the country’s poverty (贫困) reduction efforts. China saw over 10 million livestreaming marketing     4     (activity) in the first half of this year, attracting over 50 billion views.

9 . In my eyes, my mother is capable of doing anything, especially chores such as ironing and cooking. However, teaching her how to use the Internet is as frustrating as untangling(解开) wires.

Once, my mother came to me to ask for help on how to find a recipe for all-beef Lasagna. I gave her very simple verbal(口头的) instructions—go to the home page of a particular search engine and type in “recipe for all-beef Lasagna.” Fifteen minutes later, she came to me, telling me that she was unable to find the Internet icon(图标). I went over to the computer and pointed out the icon to her.

Another fifteen minutes went by when I felt a tap on my shoulder. This time, my mother said that she was unable to search for the particular recipe. Gritting(咬) my teeth, I walked to her room again. I saw that she had typed “all beef La saga” instead. With frustrated strokes, I keyed in the correct spelling.

Yet another fifteen minutes went by again when my mother gingerly tapped my shoulder. I stormed next door without bothering to hide my frustration. The main page of the website had not shifted one bit. I then realised that she did not know how to scroll down the page. What had initially seemed like an easy task was turning out to be an intense one.

To avoid being disturbed again, I decided to find the recipe for her. Without a word, I rapidly downloaded a few recipes, printed them out and passed them to my mother. However, seeing her embarrassment, I began to regret my impatience during the whole process.

At that moment, memories flashed through my mind. When I was young, my mother endured my endless questions, enlightening me with much patience. Now that I am older, the roles slowly reverse. As my mother may increasingly need my help, shouldn’t I rethink how to respond to her needs?

1. The author’s mother couldn’t find the recipe online mainly because she was ________.

A．unfamiliar with computers and the Internet

B．given unclear instructions by the author

C．too dependent on her family members

D．impatient at searching for the recipe

2. Why did the author print the recipes for his mother at last?

A．Because he was pleased to help his mother out.

B．Because he didn’t want his mother to be embarrassed.

C．Because he was fed up with his mother’s interruption.

D．Because he thought his mother favored the printed version.

3. What message does the author want to convey?

A．It is wise to teach others by examples.

B．Forgiving others is equal to blessing oneself.

C．Patience and perseverance will be finally rewarded.

D．Putting yourself in others’ shoes is the key to understanding.

10 . Tailor your experience, and master the English language in our exciting and comprehensive language programmes. Choose your preferred city, and you’ll study with and befriend other international students.

Our English Learning Programmes

·Learn English in Universities

Courses have been developed in partnership with famous universities in Australia to improve your English language skills. You will get to experience campus life abroad.

·Small Group English Programme

These intensive English classes are hosted in different language schools along the east coast. Talk to our programme advisers to choose the best location.

·One-on-One Tutoring

Our programme organizes tailored learning experiences based on your English learning goals. You will live in local families and have chances to practise your oral English.

·High School Study Abroad

There are few things in life which can make you feel more grown-up like living and learning in another country. Pack this with many fun cultural activities. And you will also have opportunities to experience science subjects taught in English, such as lessons about rocks and minerals, plants and animals, and engineering practices.

Four steps to get into our English learning programmes

Step One: Review the programme information and complete our online application form to get the ball rolling.

Step Two: You will have a 15-min interview with your programme adviser to discuss your interests, needs, destination and duration. Within three days after the interview, the adviser will be in touch by email to let you know if your application has been successful. If so, we’ll send you a formal offer.

Step Three: To confirm your place in our programme, you’ll need to reply to our letter of offer and make payment online according to the instruction. Once this has been done, we’ll send you the documents containing all the information you’ll need regarding your study trip.

Step Four: Once your flights have been booked, let us know your arrival details so that we can organize airport pick-up. We’ll be excited to welcome you to our programme in person!

1. If Henry wants to try a biology class taught in English, he may join in ________.

A．Learn English in Universities	B．Small Group English Programme
C．One-on-One Tutoring	D．High School Study Abroad

2. What should applicants do after receiving a formal offer?

A．Reply to the letter and pay the cost for the study trip.

B．Get in touch with the organizer to confirm the destination.

C．Review programme information to prepare for an interview.

D．Provide the programme adviser with personal needs and goals.

3. Who are the intended readers of this passage?

A．People planning to improve their English .

B．People willing to apply for English teaching jobs.

C．People aiming to help learners go abroad.

D．People loving to share English learning experiences.