1 . How to gain happiness? Aristotle, a famous Greek philosopher (哲学家), believed that happiness is achieved through the development of certain virtues, stressing a balanced lifestyle.
Aristotle combined virtues like modesty, honesty, and sociability into one principle: balance knowing yourself with getting along with others. Modesty (谦虚) involves recognizing both your true strengths and weaknesses clearly.
Generosity, tolerance, and grace are virtues that Aristotle considered to be part of kindness. Generosity isn’t just about giving things to others, but also about doing so thoughtfully.
| A．Aristotle stressed the importance of knowing oneself |
| B．This principle combines self-control, justice, and strength |
| C．Such realistic self-view makes you more confident and happier |
| D．Tolerance involves excusing others’ mistakes while keeping self-respect |
| E．In short, Aristotle’s approach to happiness is about finding balance in life |
| F．Here’s a simple explanation of his ideas designed for high school students |
| G．A person who knows how to be happy needs to develop a balanced sense of justice |
2 . For some people, music is no fun at all. About 4% of the population is what scientists call “amusic”. People who are amusic are born without the ability to enjoy musical notes. Amusic people often cannot tell the differences between two songs.
As a result, songs sound like noise to an amusic. Many amusics compare the sound of music to pieces of metal hitting each other. Life can be hard for amusics. In fact, most people cannot understand what it feels like to be amusic. Just going to a restaurant or a shopping center can be uncomfortable or even painful. That is why many amusics have to stay away from places where there is music. However, this can result in social loneliness. “I used to hate parties,” says Margaret, a seventy-year-old woman who only recently discovered that she was amusic. By studying people like Margaret, scientists are finally learning how to identify this unusual condition.
Scientists say that the brains of amusics are different from those of people who can enjoy music. The difference is complex, as it is not connected with poor hearing and has nothing to do with intelligence. Amusics can understand other non-musical sounds well. They also have no problems understanding common speech. Scientists compare amusics to people who just can’t see certain colors.
Many amusics are happy when their condition is finally diagnosed (诊断). For years, Margaret felt embarrassed about her music problem. Now she knows that she is not alone. That makes it easier for her to explain. “When people invite me to a concert, I just say ‘No, thanks. I’m amusic,’” says Margaret.
1. Amusics are the people who ________| A．have a preference for music. | B．have trouble in hearing. |
| C．have a talent for music. | D．are born unable to enjoy music. |
| A．they fail to understand music. | B．they find their normal life disturbed. |
| C．they try to stay at the place full of music. | D．they regard music as noise. |
| A．Difficult. | B．Obvious. | C．Basic | D．Small. |
| A．Some people’s musical ability. | B．Some people’s inability to enjoy music. |
| C．Amusics’ strange behaviors. | D．Diagnosis and treatment of amusics. |
I had always dreamed of winning the school marathon. Ever since I joined the running team in freshman year, I had trained hard to improve my speed. I knew it wouldn’t be easy. There were many strong runners in my grade, and some of them had more experience and skills than me. One of them was Leo. He was my friend, but also my biggest competitor. He was confident that he would win the marathon too.
The day of the race finally came. I was nervous but excited. I put on my running shoes and headed to the starting line. I saw my competitors, some of them looking confident, some of them looking worried. Leo was among them, smiling and waving at me. I tried to relax myself and pay attention to my own running. The coach gave us some last-minute advice and encouragement. He told us to do our best and not give up.
The whistle blew and we were off. I rushed ahead, trying to get a good position. I felt the wind in my face. I heard the cheers of the crowd and the footsteps of the other runners. I kept running, pushing myself to do my best.
After running for a while, I realized that I was in the lead. I couldn’t believe it. I had never been in this situation before. But then I also felt a sense of fear. What if I couldn’t keep it up? What if someone caught up with me? What if I fell?
I tried to shake off (摆脱) these negative thoughts and pay attention to the finish line. But it was getting harder and harder. My legs were burning and my heart was pounding.
注意：1 .续写词数应为150左右；
2 .请按如下格式作答。
I felt like giving up.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________But then the reason for running in the first place came to mind.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________We invite you to play critics and write an original review for our Ninth Yearly Student Review Competition. You can choose to review whatever fits into a category of creative expression. But this year we’ve added a new requirement: What you review must have appeared in the first half of 2024. With this new rule, we hope to encourage students to help shape the cultural conversation about today’s world.
Here’s what all the participants (参赛者) need to know
·The review must be 450 words or fewer, not including the title.
·You must be a student aged 13 to 19, and all students under 18 must have parents’ or guardians’ permission to enter.
·The review should be written by yourself.
·Your review should also be original for this contest.
·Submit (提交) only one entry per student. And while many of our competitions allow students to work in teams, for this one you must work alone.
New for 2024
·As part of your submission, you must also submit an “artist’s statement” that describes your process. These statements, which will not be used to choose winners, help us to design and improve our competitions.
·All entries must be submitted by 11: 59 pm, August 1st, 2024, using the competition form at the bottom of this post.
1. What can be a topic for the competition?| A．Books of Shakespeare. | B．An ancient building. |
| C．An old famous movie. | D．The latest dress fashion. |
| A．The review has 400 words. | B．The participant is aged 16. |
| C．The review is written by a team. | D．The review isn’t published anywhere. |
| A．Determining winners. | B．Perfecting the competition. |
| C．Encouraging teamwork. | D．Introducing the participants. |
On a sunny day with no clouds, Sally sat on a chair in the garden, hemming (缝边) a handkerchief. All of a sudden, there came a little ant. It was in such a hurry. Finally it ran across the small stone table and stopped by her side. The sewing was not done, for Sally easily got a little bit distracted by this little ant. Suddenly, she dropped her thimble (顶针) over the little ant by accident while she was looking at it.“Can it mind? But it is only such a little tiny thing,”said Sally in doubt.
Then Sally ran away, for her mother called her to have lunch, and she forgot all about the ant under the thimble and the handkerchief outside. There the little ant was, running round and round in the dark place, with little horns on its head quivering, little perfect legs bending as beautifully as those of a racehorse, and it was very scared.
If Sally had remembered the ant, she would have heard this little ant say, “I can’t get out! I can’t get out! Is there anyone out there? Can someone help me out?” But unfortunately, till the bedtime, Sally failed to hear the little ant's silent calling and just went to sleep. In the midnight, there was thunder, lightning and heavy rain. The next day, when Sally woke up, she came to the garden, only to find the handkerchief was soaked (湿透的) as if somebody had been crying very much. When she was about to fetch it as soon as the sun shone, it suddenly came to her who was under the thimble. “Oh, how could I forget that little ant? I hope the little ant is doing fine,”said Sally, running with her worried face.
But when she lifted up the thimble, what came to her sight was the little tiny an t lay stiff and still. It seemed like this little poor thing was away from this world. “Oh, did it die of being under the thimble?”Sally said aloud with her trembling voice. “Why did you do that, Sally?”said her father, who was close by and looked unsatisfied.
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。
“Dad, I didn’t mean to,” said Sally.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
“Where is the ant in such a hurry to go, Sally?” said her father.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
6 . Most people have never heard of Tim Berners-Lee. He is not nearly as rich or famous as Mare Andreessen, who is the founder of Netscape, or Bill Gates, whose name has become a well-known word.
Berners-Lee, who works in a small office at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is the creator of the World Wide Web. The creation of the Web is so important that some people compare Berners-Lee to Johann Gutenberg, who invented printing by movable type (活字) in the fifteenth century.
Berners-Lee was born in England in 1955. His parents, who helped design the world’s first commercially (商业地) available computer, gave him a great love of mathematics and learning.
In 1980, Berners-Lee went to work at CERN, a physics laboratory in Geneva, Switzerland, where he had a lot of material to learn quickly. He had a poor memory for facts and wanted to find a way to help him keep track of things he couldn’t remember. He invented a software program that allowed him to create a document that had links to other documents. He continued to develop his idea through the 1980s. He wanted to find a way to connect the knowledge and creativity of people all over the world.
In 1991, his project became known as the World Wide Web. The number of Internet users started to grow quickly. However, Berners-Lee is not completely happy with the way the Web has developed. He thinks it has become a passive tool for so many people, not the tool for creativity that he imagined.
In 1999, Berners-Lee published a book called Weaving the Web, in which he answers questions he is often asked: What were you thinking when you invented the Web? What do you think of it now? Where is the Web going to take us in the future?
1. From Paragraph 1 we can see ________| A．Tim Berners-Lee has never heard of Netscape. | B．Mare Andreesen is as wealthy as Tim Berners-Lee. |
| C．We know little about Tim Berners-Lee. | D．Bill Gates is as known as Tim Berners-Lee. |
| A．To prove the popularity of printing. | B．To stress the position of Berners-Lee. |
| C．To convey people’s appreciation for him. | D．To introduce his invention of printing. |
| A．He was proud of his achievement. | B．He was good at memorizing facts quickly. |
| C．He was creative and knowledgeable. | D．He was productive in writing books. |
| A．A Great Inventor-Berners-Lee. | B．A Famous Book-Weaving the Web. |
| C．A Known Project-World Wide Web. | D．A Physics Laboratory-CERN. |
Elephant Trunk Hill lies
Guilin city in Guangxi, and it is the symbol of Guilin. The hill was
Ranging
8 . Internet addiction is on the rise. With more people in front of phone s than ever before, being glued to your digital devices (数字设备) is not something new. Here are some tips to help you break Internet addiction and live a healthier life.
Master time management
You can stop Internet addiction by focusing on a time management plan. Your phone will tell you how many hours you spend on it per day. You can test yourself to reduce your time on the Internet by checking whether you reduce your time spent on devices.
If you want to stop your Internet addiction, spend some time in the open air.
Write in a diary
Have a diary that you pour your heart into. This can be a great way to keep you away from the Internet.
Change your nightly routine
| A．Get outside |
| B．Find non-Internet activities |
| C．Spending time on the Internet before bed |
| D．Having difficulty in falling asleep at night can be terrible |
| E．Instead of checking your social media or popular websites |
| F．By writing down how you feel about your life or relationships |
| G．You can have wonderful moments by spending some time in nature |
9 . Dropping off my three-year-old boy at preschool, I came across Jessica, a fellow mom in pain about the upcoming Valentine’s Day party craft. Despite my exhaustion (筋疲力尽), I offered to deal with it for her. Later that night, my husband Eric found me cutting out construction paper hearts for Jessica’s project, in addition to the one I’d already prepared for our son’s party. Observing my stress, he questioned why I always put myself in such situations. It was a moment of reflection on my tendency to overpromise and please others, even at the cost of my own well-being.
I often did things I didn’t want to do because I was afraid of disappointing someone. It didn’t take long on the Internet to discover that I’m a people pleaser, eager to earn the acceptance of others. Eric was right. I couldn’t go on like this. So I spoke with two experts to find out how to balance a healthier relationship with helping others.
I told psychotherapist Kate Crocco, author of Drawing the Line: How to Achieve More Peace and Less Burnout in Your Life, about offering to do Jessica's craft. “People pleasers sometimes think that if they don’t bend over backward for others, the other person won’t survive. We need to believe that our friends and family can figure out things for themselves,” she says.
Karen Ehman, author of When Making Others Happy Is Making You Miserable: How to Break the Pattern of People Pleasing and Confidently Live Your Life, says, “People pleasers are often passive about how they spend their time. They can be easily swayed and fill their time with someone else’s plans and then become overwhelmed (被压垮的).”
I wondered if I could learn to say no without feeling guilty (内疚的). Recently hosting the family Easter celebration posed a significant task for my husband, one of eight children, and I needed to help. Meanwhile, the community leader requested my assistance in teaching the kindergarten class on Easter Sunday. Politely, I turned down. The community leader expressed understanding and mentioned seeking other volunteers. While it wasn’t a completely guilt-free refusal, it marked a long-awaited step in the right direction.
1. What problem did the author have?| A．She wasn’t good at doing crafts. |
| B．She didn’t know how to use Internet. |
| C．She struggled with being a people pleaser. |
| D．She had difficulty getting on with Jessica. |
| A．Accepting others’ choices and lifestyles. |
| B．Allowing others to solve their own problems. |
| C．Being careful when making friends with people pleasers. |
| D．Establishing clear limits when managing work and life. |
| A．Influenced. | B．Frightened. | C．Misunderstood. | D．Cheated. |
| A．She suggested other volunteers. | B．She hesitated for a while. |
| C．She turned a deaf ear to it. | D．She refused it politely. |
10 . The fast development of AI-generated content (AIGC), especially AI translation, is accelerating (加快) the speed at which China's online novels are being introduced to the world, while global online writers tend to flood to a common platform to expand the world's online novel market, according to the 2023 China Online Literature Exporting Overseas Trend Report.
"Online literature not only brings Chinese culture and works to the world, but also witnesses the global development of this Chinese model," said the president of a publisher.
"After going through publishing authorization (授权), overseas translation and exporting models overseas, China's online literature has reached a new stage of global IP co-creation as writers from different countries and regions work together to develop online literature IP, which has led to a new wave of globalization in online literature," he added.
"As of October 2023, an overseas website owned by the publisher, had launched about 3,600 translated works of Chinese online literature," said the report. The platform has been visited by more than 220 million users, who spend more than 1.5 hours daily on reading. More than 150,000 comments are usually made in a single day, including exchanges about works and discussions about the cities, food and culture from various countries.
With the help of AI, the translation efficiency (效率) of online novels has increased by nearly 100 times, and the cost has been reduced by more than 90 percent. "Due to these advantages, the platform WebNovel will introduce AI translation for English, Spanish, French, Japanese and other languages, to help good Chinese and foreign stories to reach a wider international audience," said Yang Chen, editor-in-chief of the publisher.
Chinese online literature has been exported overseas for more than 20 years. It has shared with the world not only excellent cultural works, but also a set of creative mechanisms (机制) and industrial models based on the digital age. As such, global industrial integration has become a significant trend in the development of online literature.
1. What's the value of China's online literature according to paragraph 2?| A．It contributes to regional cooperation. |
| B．It encourages global development. |
| C．It benefits overseas translation. |
| D．It helps spread Chinese culture. |
| A．To stress the importance of translating Chinese works. |
| B．To show the popularity of Chinese online literature. |
| C．To explain why Chinese literature develops so fast. |
| D．To call on people to read Chinese literature online. |
| A．It produces better quality works. | B．It enables writers to work together. |
| C．It provides more language choices. | D．It's more productive and economical. |
| A．China Online Literature Faces New Challenges |
| B．AI Translation Boosts Global Cooperation |
| C．AI Helps Chinese Web Novels Sail Overseas |
| D．Online Literature Goes Viral Globally |
