1 . Fourteen-year-old Harini Logan won the Scripps National Spelling Bee last Thursday, defeating 12-year-old Vikram Raju in a tiebreaker. It’s the first time that the contest has ever been decided by a tie-breaking round of spelling.

A spelling bee is a contest where players take turns spelling words. Though the bee is mainly about spelling, it also focuses on the meaning of the words. During parts of the contest, students were asked to choose the correct meaning of a word.

That caused trouble for Harini. She was asked about the meaning of the word “pullulation”. She said the word described the nesting of birds. The contest organizers had expected the answer to be the “swarming of bees”. Harini was removed from the contest. But soon she was back in- the judges double-checked and learned that Harini’s definition was also correct. One by one, the other students spelled a word wrong and got out. Finally, only Harini and Vikram were left.

To make ties much less likely, a “spell-off” was added to the contest in recent years. In the spell-off, Vikram and Harini each took turns trying to spell the words they were asked, but both made blunders. At one point, Harini could have won by spelling the word “drimys” (a kind of plant) correctly. But she missed it.

That put the two into a super tie-breaking event, where they were each given 90 seconds to correctly spell as many words as they could. The New York Times reports that the two spelled so quickly that the judges needed to review the video to see who had won. In 90 seconds, Vikram had spelled 15 words correctly, Harini had 21 correct spellings, making her the new winner.

This was Harini’s fourth at the Bee and it’s the first time she’s made it to the finals. Describing her win, she said, “This is just such a dream!”

1. What does Paragraph 2 mainly tell us about the spelling bee?

A．Its significant meaning.	B．Its competition content.
C．The importance of spelling.	D．Players’ struggle for spelling.

2. What happened to Harini?

A．She failed to enter the final round.	B．She was confident about her answer.
C．Her answer was misjudged at first.	D．She refused to accept the judgement.

3. What does the underlined word “blunders” mean in Paragraph 4?

A．Efforts.

B．Ways.

C．Senses.

D．Mistakes.

4. Which is the most suitable title for the text?

A．A Tie-Breaking Event

B．Scripps National Spelling Bee

C．Teen Wins Spelling Bee in Exciting Tie- Breaker

D．A Girl’s First Time to Make Her Dream Come True

2 . When the May bank holiday weekend is around the corner, you may be finding yourself thinking of ideas to keep the kids entertained or simply to make the most of the extra day off. Luckily, we’ve got you a guide to some of the top things to do in the UK this weekend.

Climb The O2

The O2 is a multi-purpose indoor arena (体育馆) in London. One of its great attractions is the world-famous roof. You can take an amazing outdoor climb over it. Upon reaching the top, climbers will be rewarded with amazing 360-degree views across the city. You can choose from daytime, sunset or twilight climbs. Reserve your seats before availability as they are limited.

Search for a National Trust site

The National Trust is a charity and membership organization. Although its focus may be different by region (地区), the basic role is to preserve historically significant items and areas of natural beauty. Exploring new National Trust sites can be a fun way to do something different, whether they’re attractive gardens or ancient forests. To give you a helping hand, the National Trust actually has a guide that collects the best events to enjoy in spring.

Explore the soul of Madrid

Madri Excepcional, the Mediterranean-style beer, will serve u the soul of Madrid in London this bank holiday weekend, in celebration of the food, art, and music to be found in both the Spanish and English capitals. London Bridge’s Vinegar Yard will play host to the special event including performances by famous singers, and original artwork that will be a feast for the eyes.

Go and see a West End show

Wanting a trip to London’s West End to catch a show? There are impressive performances on at the moment including Frozen, Mamma Mia! Back to the Future, Come from Away and other musical dramas. Tickets for these great performances have theatre deals and discounts.

1. What should tourists do to visit The O2?

A．Book tickets in advance.	B．Take a guided tour.
C．Apply for its membership.	D．Leave the roof at sunset.

2. What is special about the National Trust?

A．It holds different events at a fixed place.	B．It is a profitable organization.
C．It aims to protect natural and cultural heritage.	D．It is famous for its garden and forest scenery.

3. What do the last two activities have in common?

A．They invite famous artists.	B．They offer music performances.
C．They give visitors a discount.	D．They serve free snack foods.

3 . It was a cold, sunny December day when I set out for a run in Moab, Utah, with my dog, Taz.

About an hour into my ________ along a remote canyon (峡谷) trail, I hit a patch of black ice (透明薄冰) and then ________ 60 feet into the canyon. I wasn’t paralyzed, but I was in great ________. Taz had managed to ________ his way back to me, so there must be a way out of the canyon, but I couldn’t ________ or even crawl.

I shouted for help and was intent on ________ myself to the bottom of the canyon. Every inch was an effort. It ________ me five hours to go a quarter of a mile. ________, it got so dark that I had to stay where I was for the night, next to a puddle (水坑) of water. At night the temperature dropped below ________. Taz stayed with me, ________ some warmth.The next morning, I couldn’t move at all. I tried to stay ________. The second night in the canyon seemed even ________ and colder. The puddle turned to ice, and I had to ________ it to get water.

On the third day, I felt myself growing weaker. I was coming to terms with the fact that I might ________. In a last ________ , I called Taz over and told him to go and get help. Taz took off through the canyon and I lay there thinking about my family and friends. There was more that I wanted from life.

Taz returned, ________ . Then I heard an engine in the distance. I cried with joy. It ________ that Taz had found a search and ________ team. I was airlifted to the hospital, where doctors found I had lost almost half the ________ in my body. If the rescue team had arrived later, I wouldn’t have ________ it. I was grateful to my faithful friend -Taz.

1.

A．move

B．march

C．walk

D．run

2.

A．fell

B．jumped

C．broke

D．headed

3.

A．loss

B．shock

C．pain

D．need

4.

A．push

B．locate

C．find

D．confirm

5.

A．stand

B．escape

C．cry

D．shout

6.

A．pushing

B．dragging

C．lifting

D．pulling

7.

A．took

B．cost

C．wasted

D．gave

8.

A．Temporarily

B．Eventually

C．Fortunately

D．Initially

9.

A．normal

B．boiling

C．freezing

D．average

10.

A．admiring

B．repeating

C．delivering

D．providing

11.

A．humble

B．confident

C．positive

D．negative

12.

A．quieter

B．longer

C．shorter

D．louder

13.

A．sharpen

B．adopt

C．appreciate

D．crack

14.

A．agree

B．help

C．leave

D．die

15.

A．effort

B．trial

C．chance

D．break

16.

A．alive

B．asleep

C．awake

D．alone

17.

A．came out

B．turned out

C．proved out

D．worked out

18.

A．survey

B．interview

C．rescue

D．sports

19.

A．blood

B．cells

C．water

D．sweat

20.

A．entered

B．made

C．reached

D．got

4 . 假定你是校英文报Youth的负责人李华。你校正在开展主题为“Taking Exercise Keeps Me Healthy”的活动，请你以校英文报的名义写一封倡议信，倡导大家积极参加活动。内容包括：
1.倡议内容；
2.倡议原因；
3.发出倡议。
注意：
1.词数100左右；
2.文章的开头和结尾已给出，但不计入总词数。
Dear fellow students,
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Yours,

Li Hua

5 . 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 first-ever C919, China’s first self-developed passenger jet,    1    (deliver) to China Eastern Airlines in Shanghai on December 9, 2022 and is expected to be put into commercial operation next spring,    2    is a significant milestone in the development of China’s aviation manufacturing (航空制造) industry.

The first C919 has    3    total of 164 seats, including eight seats in business class and 156 seats in economy class.    4    (base) on the initial approval of the CAAC (中国民用航空局), China Eastern also needs to carry out more than 100 hours of test flights    5    (confirm) the operational safety and various operational support capabilities of the aircraft, as the C919 is the first such model    6    (global).

Later, China Eastern plans to put the C919 into commercial service in    7    (city) such as Shanghai, Beijing, Xi’an, Kunming and Guangzhou. Over 20 pilots will serve    8    the first group to operate the C919.

The aircraft industry has entered a new journey of development, and it is of great    9    (significant) in promoting cooperation and innovation in the global aviation industry chain.

So far, the C919    10    (get) 1,115 orders from home and abroad. In March 2021, China Eastern officially purchased the first group of five C919s, and other planes it bought are expected to be delivered in 2023 and 2024.

6 . Principal Jody Sowards, is being applauded and regarded as a hero for saving the life of Jonathan Wells, an 8th grader of Huntington East Middle School.

The teenager was attending his basketball training in the school’s hall when he________collapsed (昏倒). The principal was immediately________that a student was in need of________“I turned the corer and saw a young man lying on the floor,” Sowards said. “That’s when it really________me that somebody did need me.”

After assessing the teenager’s________, looking for his pulse and checking on him if he was________, the principal leaped into________at once by performing CPR (心肺复苏术) to save the boy’s life and later________him to be taken to the ambulance before he was taken to the________hospital.

The doctors________that Jonathan’s left coronary artery (冠状动脉) had not been pumping enough blood. His mom Katesha Wells said that her son had been born with some heart problems but that had never been a(n)________for him to join in sports until now.

The teenager is________well, receiving a physical treatment. He delightfully praises his school________for saving his life that day. He________to return to school and________sports as soon as possible.

“Seeing him be able to walk and talk without any difficulties right now, I think it’s a(n)________.” Sowards said. For his quick response and________actions that had helped to save the boy, Sowards was awarded the “Superintendent’s Superhero Award”. “It’s part of what my leadership________is,” Sowards modestly explained. He also gave________to all the others who were________that day to save Jonathan.

1.

A．gradually

B．usually

C．suddenly

D．carefully

2.

A．informed

B．warned

C．persuaded

D．believed

3.

A．trust

B．guidance

C．help

D．protection

4.

A．beat

B．scared

C．annoyed

D．struck

5.

A．position

B．condition

C．performance

D．potential

6.

A．aching

B．shaking

C．sleeping

D．breathing

7.

A．action

B．operation

C．descriptions

D．conclusions

8.

A．allowing

B．teaching

C．assisting

D．encouraging

9.

A．newest

B．busiest

C．largest

D．nearest

10.

A．wrote

B．found

C．agreed

D．admitted

11.

A．mystery

B．advantage

C．reason

D．obstacle

12.

A．recovering

B．surviving

C．understanding

D．growing

13.

A．doctor

B．nurse

C．principal

D．classmate

14.

A．manages

B．hopes

C．attempts

D．refuses

15.

A．take part in

B．keep pace with

C．make use of

D．get used to

16.

A．challenge

B．coincidence

C．miracle

D．indication

17.

A．ambitious

B．temporary

C．creative

D．heroic

18.

A．team

B．role

C．journey

D．choice

19.

A．praise

B．energy

C．permission

D．support

20.

A．injured

B．involved

C．qualified

D．impressed

7 . Tips to Boost Your Self-Confidence

Learn how to say “NO”.

You need to take control of your own life and decisions. Don’t be bullied (胁迫) into doing something that’ll make you feel uncomfortable and go beyond your boundaries.    1    

Set goals for yourself.

Setting and achieving goals is one way to feel accomplished and confident. Now, this doesn’t mean your goals should be anything huge like ending world hunger or saving koala bears. If you don’t achieve any goals, you’ll feel discouraged.    2    For example, my goal is to finish this article tonight. I also have a goal to go to the gym this weekend.

Change how you see yourself.

    3    If you feel like you’re not physically attractive, you’ll avoid looking in mirrors. Changing how you see yourself, realizing your self-worth, and working on your body language, eye contact, and speech will make you more confident in yourself. We must all remember that nobody’s perfect in life.

    4    

Doing good things for someone else will make us feel good about ourselves. Try to always have an active role in volunteering or helping charities during the holidays. Being able to make a difference to someone will satisfy you inside and improve your self-image. Seeing all the change that you can do and all those who need your help will make you more grateful for the people and things in your life.

Shut down negative thoughts.

It’s about time you said goodbye to the negative voices in your head. Whenever you have a negative thought about yourself, or your career, you push yourself down a little bit more.    5    Instead of saying you can’t do this or that, tell yourself you can, and sooner or later, you’ll start believing it.

A．Be helpful to others.

B．Do something brave once a week.

C．We behave and feel according to our self-image.

D．Start with small targets that you can easily achieve.

E．Be certain and don’t be afraid to say no when you need to.

F．You need to start replacing those thoughts with positive ones.

G．And then, when you have that positive thought, turn it into action.

8 . In dry Niger, south of the Sahara, farmers who allowed cut trees to regrow in their fields have seen crop harvests increase rapidly. In recent decades, farmers there have allowed millions of trees to regrow on land that had once been cleared.

For centuries, rich woodlands dotted this dusty, sun-baked region south of the Sahara. By the time Ali Neino was a boy in the 1980s, however, just one lonely tree shot from his family’s land, and he could see clear to the horizon. “There was no vegetation in between the village and the fields,” recalls Neino, 45. “No trees, no plants, nothing.”

Decades of drought, land-clearing, and demand for firewood had left Niger nearly treeless. Intensive farming (密集农作) to feed the world’s fastest-growing population ensured new trees would not take root. Government efforts to reforest the area in the 1970s failed. Sixty million trees were planted; fewer than 20 percent survived.

Instead of cutting trees down, farmers in Niger now leave them standing and allow them to regrow from stumps (树桩), knowing that the soil around them will retain more water and be enriched by the leaves. On a recent walk along his family’s farm outside Dan Saga, Neino pointed to the trees growing everywhere.

In the past 35 years, as scientists begged nations to get serious about bringing forests back, one of Earth’s poorest countries, in one of the planet’s worst regions, added an astonishing 200 million new trees—maybe more. Across at least 12 million acres of Niger, woodlands have been re-established with little outside help, almost no money, and without driving people off their land. The trees here weren’t planted; they were encouraged to come back naturally, cared by thousands of farmers. Now, fresh trees are popping up in village after village.

1. Why is Ali Neino mentioned in Paragraph 2?

A．To stress the importance of trees.

B．To show the features of the Sahara.

C．To prove Niger ‘s shortage of trees.

D．To predict the disappearance of trees.

2. What made it hard for new trees to grow in Niger?

A．Years of drought.	B．Intensive farming.
C．Trees’ low survival rate.	D．Government efforts’ failure.

3. How did Niger manage to rebuild its woodlands?

A．By driving people off their land.

B．By allowing trees to regrow naturally.

C．By encouraging farmers to plant more.

D．By getting support from other countries.

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

A．Trees growing again in a dry nation

B．Land cleared for tree-planting in the Sahara

C．Trees planted for the environment worldwide

D．Crop harvests benefiting from trees in Niger

9 . Children can gain a stronger connection with the environment through story writing, according to a new study. The research was focused on the issue of plastic litter in Latin American countries along the Pacific Ocean.

The experts set out to explore how a story-writing activity may influence the opinions of children about plastic litter, as well as how their behavior may be affected. “A key element of our project was to examine the children’s responses to questionnaires (调查表) they completed before and after writing these stories,” said study co-author Dr. Kayleigh Wyles. “We found that their knowledge on the topic increased and they became more active, as they reported doing more pro-environmental acts afterwards.”

The children were asked to use their imaginations about litter items that are commonly found on the beach, such as straws and plastic bags. They were then instructed to imagine how these items ended up on the beach in the first place. The writing project showed that children were more likely to think about ways of preventing litter from entering the environment, rather than just cleaning it up. According to the researchers, the most popular solutions suggested in the stories were the regeneration and reduction of litter.

Overall, nearly 90 children participated in the study and in more than half of the stories, the children showed awareness of the dangers of plastic pollution in the marine (海洋的) environment, including the risk of animal involvement. Many stories described consequences of animals ingesting plastic, such as injuries or death.

“Stories offer a new and different way to explore what people believe and how they understand their environment,” said lead study author Estelle Praet. “The results were truly inspiring and showed the children’s awareness of plastic’s impact on marine life and the environment.”

1. Which might Dr. Kayleigh Wyles agree with about the story-writing activity?

A．It changes the kids’ way to use plastic products.

B．It promotes the kids’ knowledge on plastic litter.

C．It affects the kids’ responses to difficult questions.

D．It makes the kids more imaginative in story writing.

2. What was the most mentioned way to deal with the litter items in the stories?

A．Cleaning them up regularly.	B．Destroying them on the beach.
C．Delivering them to factories.	D．Recycling and reducing them.

3. What does the underlined word “ingesting” in Paragraph 4 mean?

A．Giving away.

B．Taking in.

C．Escaping from.

D．Living with.

4. What is Estelle Praet’s attitude towards the results of the study?

A．Skeptical.

B．Objective.

C．Optimistic.

D．Critical.

10 . At first glance, l5-year-old Kenan Pala seems like a typical high school student. He runs cross-country and plays video games with his friends. But he founded Kids4Community, a San Diego-based nonprofit organization that offers volunteer projects and encourages kids to participate, when he was just 12 years old.

The idea for Kids4Community came out of his family’s experience. Pala’s parents came to the US from Turkey in 1998 and founded Confirm BioSciences, a company that produces and delivers drug-testing kits. Their journey was filled with hardship, but the kindness of others, in the forms of both emotional and financial support, left an unforgettable mark.

“We started with very little money in our journey here, but we got so much help along the way and we’ve always felt very grateful,” said Zeynep Ilgaz, Pala’s mother. “If it wasn’t for the help we got along the way, we would not be here today where we are.” The Palas wanted to instill (灌输) this lesson in their children, so they encouraged them to give back to the community. Pala said, “My parents really wanted me to understand how lucky I was to have the life I had and they did that in having me give back while I was growing up.”

Pala’s organization aims to boost young people’s involvement in community efforts because many organizations don’t let children volunteer. Now， Kids4Community regularly organizes initiatives (新方案) to help people who are homeless, including the dinner service at homeless shelters and this year’ s Christmas gift bag drive. In addition to meeting physical needs, the initiatives are designed to give people a sense of dignity and hope.

1. In which aspect is Kenan Pala different from those of his age group?

A．His interest in outdoor sports.	B．His ambition to be a volunteer.
C．His passion for the nonprofit cause.	D．His talent for playing video games.

2. What inspired Kenan Pala to set up Kids4Community?

A．The requirement from his high school.	B．The suggestion from his online friends.
C．The success of his family’s company.	D．The family move from Turkey to the US.

3. Which of the following can best describe Kenan Pala?

A．Thankful.

B．Generous.

C．Self-centred.

D．Traditional.

4. In which section of a newspaper may this text appear?

A．Health.

B．Entertainment.

C．People.

D．Culture.