1 . “By removing needless details in pursuit of perfection, Van Den followed in the footsteps of many great artists, writers, composers, and painters.”

Juhani Murros made an unexpected discovery during his visits to art galleries when he worked for an organization in Ho Chi Minh City in 1990. A small still life in an unnoticeable gallery commanded the Finnish physician’s attention. “It was not an eye-catching oil painting, yet its dark, mysterious colors and the emotional tension of its disciplined composition set it apart.” Thus began a long journey of discovering the art and life of Van Den, a Buddhist of mixed Chinese and Vietnamese ancestry who studied in Paris for less than two years during the first French Indochina War.

Murros’ biography is, by necessity, brief because there is limited knowledge of the artist, mostly in oral way by family and friends. Many of his paintings did not survive the damp Southeast Asian climate nor the political chaos of his lifetime. However, the author’s research appears to be extensive, as much a years-long spiritual examination of Van Den as a historical one. The artist’s love for country life is apparent in his work, and it is said by those who knew him that he preferred to paint countryside scenes close to his heart and worked as an outsider. He is uninterested in the more elegant work of academically recognized painters. Despite these limitations, Van Den won Vietnam’s most honorable art award in 1960.

Murros gives an in-depth look into the life of this obscure master. The book introduces the readers to Van Den’s art with photographs of his paintings, accompanied by short stories behind them. The book is as quiet as the artist’s work, but it is a satisfying read. Each stroke of words in the book connects to the readers; the narrative awakens the artistic spirit in each one of us, encouraging us to follow our heart.

1. What first impressed Juhani Murros?

A．Van Den’s life story.	B．Van Den’s painting style.
C．Van Den’s birth place.	D．Van Den’s emotional stale.

2. What can we learn about Van Den?

A．His works are rarely available today.	B．He showed great love for his country.
C．His works were of mysterious themes.	D．He ever travelled in China and Vietnam.

3. What does the underlined word “obscure” in the last paragraph probably mean?

A．Famous.

B．Obvious.

C．Little-known.

D．Shallow.

4. In which column of a newspaper can we read the passage?

A．Geography.

B．Science.

C．Health.

D．Art.

2 . Do you ever feel like you’re not good enough, even though you’ve done some cool stuff? This feeling can contribute to increased anxiety, depression and a cycle of overworking to prove yourself. But you are not alone. Actually, lots of people, up to 82%, have these kinds of discouraging feelings.     1    

●Collect proof of your accomplishment.

    2    . Start a journal where you write down projects you’ve finished, goals you’re reached, and nice things people have said about you. Work out a practical schedule to look back at this list.

●Figure out what’s good enough.

Success can mean different things in different situations for different persons, so it’s okay not to be the best at everything all the time.     3    . This way, you may know when to stop properly and then it can save your energy for other important things, like spending time with your family and friends.

    4    .

Working with a seasoned life coach who has done well and has qualities you admire can be a big help. They can assist you by sharing their own struggles with self-doubt and this exchange equips you with good strategies in your own pursuit of success. You can benefit a lot from the practical guidance.

Just remember, it’s normal to be fooled by negative feelings sometimes, but you can’t be tricked by them all the time. You are sure to break free from the cycle of self-doubt.     5    , you can start a transformative path towards personal growth.

A．Here’s how you can deal with them

B．Plan a personal-growth schedule

C．One way to fight self-doubt is to keep track of all the cool things you’ve done

D．So you’d better try to get the best of most tasks

E．Just think about how good is good enough

F．Get help from someone you look up to

G．By using these strategies

6 . 你校上周开展了地震科普周(Earthquake Science Popularization Week)活动。请你为你校英文报写一篇报道，内容包括：
1.活动时间、目的；
2.活动内容；
3.你的感受。
注意：1.词数100左右；
2.可以适当增加内容，以使行文连贯。
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7 . 假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1.每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2.只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
Dear John,

Glad to know if you are coming here this weekend, I’d like to introduce Gulangyu Island for you to visit it.

The island features many wonderfully aspects. First, there were many tourist attractions, like the Sunshine Rock and Shuzhuang Garden. When stood on the top of the Sunshine Rock, the highest point in this area, you can saw the island clearly. With many well-known musician born there, it was named “the Island of Music” in 2022.

However, you have to facing the problems of heavy traffic or large crowds of people during the weekends and public holidays. For these reasons, you’d better choose a proper time to pay visit to it.

Yours,

Li Hua

8 . 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。

Silver jewelry made by the Miao ethnic group has been boosting rural development in Taijiang County, Qiandongnan Miao and Dong autonomous prefecture, Guizhou province.

The jewelry is one of the brilliant     1     (treasure) of Miao culture. It has beautiful silver jewels and     2     (tradition) crafts. For more than 400 years, people of Miao ethnic group have stuck to the custom of decorating     3     (they) from head to toe with homemade silver ornaments (饰品) to enhance their charm and show off their rich life. In May 2011, its crafts     4     (include) in the third batch (批) of customs added to the national intangible (无形的) cultural heritage list.

    5    (drive) by ethnic festivals and the public’s increasing love for silver jewelry, thelocal tourism industry has developed     6     (quick) in recent years.    7     (achieve) further development, Taijiang County has worked to develop the ethnic folk handicraft industry. According     8     the local cultural and tourism bureau, there were 102 enterprises making silver jewelry by     9     end of 2021. 3,000 jobs were created for villagers and their total output value reached more than 100 million yuan,    10    laid a solid foundation for the county to promote rural revitalization (振兴).

10 . In the 1950s, Liu Wenbin, an official with the Ulansuhai Nur administration, said his father travelled more than 800 kilometers from his famine (饥荒)-stricken hometown in Hebei province and settled near Ulansuhai Nur, a famous lake in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, attracted by the area’s reputation as a land of fish and rice.

He described the lake as a consistent source of joy for him. “After school, I seldom stayed at home. I frequently went to swim in the lake,” he said. For years, the fishing industry was a reliable source of income for Liu’s family. “We always came back from fishing with the boat full of our catch, accompanied by flocks of birds,” he recalled. However, as urbanization and industrialization accelerated around the lake in the 1990s, Liu witnessed the body of water, widely known as the “Pearl beyond the Great Wall”, turn into a black and smelly mass that local people avoided as much as possible.

Now, with a treatment campaign that adheres to the philosophy of “mountains, rivers, forests, farmland, lakes, grassland and deserts are a life community”, the local government has made marked progress in just a few years, making the lake a paradise (天堂) for birds and raising Liu’s hopes of seeing the return of the Ulansuhai Nur of his childhood.

Located in Bayannuur in the west of the region, Ulansuhai Nur is home to the largest wetland in the Yellow River Basin and a rare large grassland lake in the desert and semidesert area. As such, it is a natural environmental screen that controls the sources of sandstorms that affect North China, where Beijing is located. It is also an important place on the world’s eight major bird migration (迁徙) routes, and is one of the world’s few birds’ transit and reproduction grounds in the desert and semidesert areas.

“Thanks to the measures taken by the local governments, hopefully, we could swim in the lake and directly use water from it for drinking and cooking soon,” Liu said.

1. Why did Liu Wenbin’s father settle near Ulansuhai Nur?

A．He wanted to swim there.	B．Its water wasn’t polluted.
C．It was near his hometown.	D．He could support his family.

2. What was Liu’s childhood like?

A．Joyous.

B．Tough.

C．Sorrowful.

D．Adventurous.

3. What do the underlined words “adheres to” in paragraph 3 probably mean?

A．Replaces.

B．Explains.

C．Follows.

D．Proves.

4. What’s paragraph 4 mainly about?

A．The changes the new policy brings.

B．The significance of Ulansuhai Nur.

C．The reasons for developing Ulansuhai Nur.

D．The ways to protect natural environment.