1 . The Fire Festival is celebrated in northern Ghana. It’s a holiday we had never heard of before we came to live in a village here as Peace Corps community volunteers. It’s unbelievably great.
On the Fire Festival — Bugim Chug u in the local language — drums beat a quick and regular rhythm that locals dance to in a circle of bodies, men and women, the old and young, holding torches of burning grass above their heads, which stands for the light and getting off negative energies.
At this moment, this festival is being held at the beginning of the lunar year. The locals are all so involved in the celebration that they don’t pay as much attention to us as they normally will. When they find us getting involved as they are, they dance more vigorously and scream with joy.
Danielle, a friend of mine in the Peace Corps, says, “That we join in the celebration is significant because foreigners here are typically seen as the representatives of other organizations, not as people who are willing to join in the Fire Festival rituals (仪式). But in fact, we are dancing and celebrating as one.”
Our two-year Peace Corps service will finish up in mid-November. We can think of no better way to say goodbye than by celebrating the Fire Festival with the villagers we’ve come to know. The festival lets us see a different side of them — and lets them see a different side of us. The neighbors who sell rice are now the women who urge us to run faster and dance harder at the Fire Festival. And rather than view us as low-key (低调的) volunteers, they see us as the ones who have crazy dance steps with wild screams.
1. Why did the author go to northern Ghana?| A．To find a job. | B．To go traveling. |
| C．To study further. | D．To do voluntary work. |
| A．Annoyed. | B．Excited. | C．Confused. | D．Worried. |
| A．The steps to dance well. |
| B．How the locals celebrate the Fire Festival. |
| C．How the author and Danielle help the locals sell rice. |
| D．The reason why the author and Danielle joined in the festival. |
| A．Practice makes perfect. |
| B．Where there is a will, there is a way. |
| C．When in Rome, do as the Romans do. |
| D．The grass is always greener on the other side. |
2 . With artificial intelligence (AI) seemingly working its way into every technology out there, one area where it’s considered particularly promising is in helping doctors. And already, AI is entering some doctors’ offices.
Dr. Michael Mansour of Massachusetts General Hospital is an early user who’s helped by a form of AI that could someday change the way doctors get information. When a patient comes in with unknown infection (感染), Mansour turns to a computer program called UpToDate. It’s a common tool, with more than 2 million users at 44,000 health care organizations in over 190 countries. Basically, it’s Google for doctors — searching a huge database (数据库) of articles written by experts in the field, who are all getting information from the latest research.
Wolters Kluwer Health, the company that makes UpToDate, is trying to incorporate (整合) AI so that doctors can have more of a conversation with the database.
Some doctors hope to use AI to comb through a patient’s medical history before an appointment (预约). In some cases, Dr. June-Ho Kim, who directs a program on primary care at Ariadne Labs, says AI technology may also help primary care doctors look after patients without the help of specialists. “It will free up specialists’ time to focus on more difficult cases that they need to really home in on, rather than the ones that could be answered through a few questions,” he says.
Dr. Marc Succi, who was a co-worker of Kim, says, “AI will finally prove to be a trusted medical tool. AI won’t replace doctors, but doctors who use AI will replace doctors who do not. It will become very common just like designing a PPT on a computer. It’s that level of leap.”
1. How does UpToDate help a doctor?| A．It looks after patients. | B．It does a temperature test. |
| C．It offers useful information. | D．It leads patients to doctors. |
| A．Concentrate on. | B．Adapt to. |
| C．Waste time on. | D．Have interest in. |
| A．The difficulty of writing. | B．The user-friendlines s of AI. |
| C．The importance of a doctor. | D．The advantages of office software. |
| A．AI in the Field of Medicine | B．The Challenges of AI |
| C．Changes That AI Has Brought | D．Doctors at Home or in the Office |
3 . Dede Gardner was born in Chicago in 1967 and studied English at Columbia University. Seventeen years after her graduation, she worked as President of Plan B Entertainment, a production company started by Brad Grey.
At Plan B, Dede finds stories to make into films. Jeremy Kleiner, who is now co-president of Plan B, says Dede was his mentor (导师) before he joined her as a producing partner. “I’ve had the honor to work with her for almost 20 years,” he says. “She’s just a one-of-a-kind person in so many ways. She is very brave and views storytelling as the focus of her films.”
This year, Dede is the only woman to have won two Best Picture Oscars, for Moonlight and 12 Years a Slave. Before, together with Kleiner, she won seven films to Best Picture nominations (提名) including Selma in 2015, The Big Short in 2016 and Minari in 2021.
“Basically, whatever Dede does, it turns to gold,” says Jessie Buckley, one of the stars of Women Talking. “Dede has also changed the culture of making movies. She is always there to make the set feel comfortable when we are obviously coming across difficult things. She’s a great example to follow. She’s very careful with protecting the workers’ voice.”
Dede is actually exploring a much healthier and kinder way to make movies. She’s a producer who consciously thinks about creating a set where there is care. That includes making sure there are therapists (治疗专家) on set for all the workers in case there are emergencies happening.
1. Who set up the company Plan B Entertainment?| A．Brad Grey. | B．Dede Gardner. |
| C．Jessie Buckley. | D．Jeremy Kleiner. |
| A．Storytelling. | B．Action. | C．History. | D．Adventure. |
| A．Moonlight. | B．Selma. | C．The Big Short. | D．Minari. |
| A．She is strict with her partners. | B．She always avoids difficulties. |
| C．She is successful and thoughtful. | D．She is a medical expert. |
4 . George jumped on an e-scooter (电动摩托车) and went to a supermarket. At the end of the ride, a message appeared on the screen: “Your ride was carbon-free.” These words showed the environment-friendly marketing of e-scooter companies. But George, then a graduate student, and his adviser, Johnson had doubts about them.
E-scooters have appeared in cities over the last two years. Sure, they don’t produce waste gases. “But you have to think about the other things that are required to have the e-scooter charged (充电) and ready for you to use,” Johnson said. So he and his students decided to work out the full environmental influence of e-scooters over their lifetimes.
The researchers bought an e-scooter and separated it into parts. They worked out the greenhouse gas emissions (排放) while people make it. They also looked at the resulting air and water pollution. Those influences were great. They found that materials and production accounted for about half of the e-scooter’s global warming influence.
Those results depend heavily on e-scooters’ long life. Bird’s first e-scooters lasted about 3—4 months, and the newer Bird Zeros are said to make it to about 10 months. However, one study found that e-scooters in Louisville, Kentucky, only survived about 29 days. If such short lifetimes are common, it would worsen the true influence of materials and production mentioned above, Johnson said.
Luckily, there are ways to reduce the environmental influence of e-scooters. They suggest that companies take steps to increase e-scooters’ lifetimes. They also suggest simplifying the collection process. Not every e-scooter needs to be picked up. About one in six e-scooters still had a full charge at the end of the day.
1. Why does the author talk about George’s riding an e-scooter?| A．To introduce the environmental benefits of e-scooters. |
| B．To describe e-scooter companies’ marketing methods. |
| C．To bring in research on e-scooters’ environmental influence. |
| D．To show the popularity of e-scooters among university students. |
| A．Disadvantages of e-scooters. | B．The development of e-scooters. |
| C．Preparations for the use of e-scooters. | D．The reason for their research on e-scooters. |
| A．Their lifetimes are too short. | B．Their charging rates are low. |
| C．They use too much electricity. | D．They need to be charged frequently. |
| A．They need to be managed better. | B．They shouldn’t be collected at night. |
| C．They need more support and attention. | D．They should be banned from production. |
5 . A Goodwill employee finds $42,000 in donated clothing and return s it to the owner.
The discovery came during a regular day on the job as Andrea Lessing, a goodwill employee, was performing her routine quality examination on closing items on the sales floor. As she pulled out two sweaters tied together from a donation box, she felt something heavy left. She first assumed the items were just books. When she pulled the sweaters apart, to her astonishment, she found lots of envelopes filled with $100 bills. The cash was in $100 bills and totalled $42, 000 dollars.
Andrea Lessing is used to discovering unique treasures in the varied collection of donated items her store receives daily. She always tries to be a good example to her daughter, so she immediately did the right thing and reported the cash finding. Luckily, the store’s manager was then able to locate and return the money to the donator who had mistakenly placed the cash in the wrong box.
Andrea, mother of a six-year-old girl, admitted it was hard for her to do with that much money. Some might have thought that it was Andrea’s lucky day, having a small fortune. However, the temptation (诱惑) to keep the cash by herself was just a passing thought. Andrea’s honest nature inspired her to do the right thing.
Without hesitation, she handed the cash over to the store’s manager so they could find the right owner. Andrea was not expecting a reward, but the owner of the money surprised her with a 1000 reward. Andrea was teary eyed and overcome with joy as her “good deed” flowed right back to her. She plans to spend part of the reward money on a memorable birthday party for her daughter.
1. What happened to Andrea Lessing?| A．She collected donated clothing as rubbish. | B．She lost some cash while working. |
| C．She found unique treasures in donated items. | D．She failed to be a good example to her daughter. |
| A．She is an honest and strong-willed mother. |
| B．She can’t resist the great temptation of money. |
| C．She has already been promoted as the manager. |
| D．She refused the reward from the owner of the cash. |
| A．Upset. | B．Thrilled. | C．Worried. | D．Proud. |
| A．Where there is a will, there is a way. | B．Experience must be bought. |
| C．Early birds catch worms. | D．One good turn deserves another. |
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___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The Student Union
7 . Ways to Save Money on Healthy Food
Contrary to what you may have heard, eating healthy doesn’t have to be really expensive. Here are expert tips on how to have a healthy diet on a budget.
Cook at home
Visit your local farmers’ market for fresh and in-season fruits and vegetables. Shopping for produce that is in season is a lot cheaper than buying produce that isn’t, and the best place to know what’s in season is at a farmers’ market. Farmers’ markets are budget-friendly because farmers bring their goods directly to customers without interference (介入) from shipping agents, retailers and other go-betweens.
Prepare meals in advance
Sometimes the last thing you want to do after a long day is cook. To avoid reaching for the takeout menu in these situations, set aside one day a week to meal preparing.
Stock up (储备) on frozen produce
Buying frozen fruits and vegetables is a great way to eat healthy on a budget. Frozen produce cuts about 30%less than fresh produce. Plus, fruits and vegetables will last a lot longer and usually can be chopped (切) and ready to go, so you don’t have to spend time washing and cutting.
| A．Eat less meat and dairy |
| B．Shop at your local farmers’ market |
| C．Meal preparing doesn’t have to be difficult |
| D．Make sure you use your produce fully and try not to waste anything |
| E．One of the main ways to eat healthier and save money is to cook at home |
| F．This way you can not only buy fresh and healthy goods but also support the local farmers |
| G．If you see a sale on frozen fruits or vegetables, you can buy and store some in the fridge |
8 . Benefiting from the growing popularity of social media and a craze for traditional culture, Hanfu, a traditional style of clothing once worn by the Han people, has enjoyed a fresh lease of life thanks to a new wave of young Chinese devotees, including Liu and Yang.
The 1980s-born rocket scientist Liu is also a cofounder of a Hanfu community in Beijing called Hua Yan Hui. The community was founded in 2011 following a Hanfu revival movement that emerged from the desire to express national identity and growing cultural confidence. “At first, people who wore Hanfu in public felt occasionally uneasy, including me, while more passers-by asked about their clothing style,” says Liu. It was not the looks from others but her limited knowledge on the traditional Chinese clothing that had made her uncomfortable.
Another person, Yang Kunning, was born in the 1990s and works in public relations. She is fond of sharing her love for Hanfu online. She opened an account on the video-sharing platform Bilibili and posted videos featuring herself wearing the traditional attire. Thousands of comments and likes pour into her channel as viewers find her videos attractive and creative—blending traditional culture with modern dance movements.
“Social media has made Hanfu culture popular in China and abroad, which contributes to the rapid development of China’s economy,” says Yang. The Hanfu market in China was estimated to reach 12. 54 billion yuan ($1. 81 billion) in 2022 and is expected to rise to 19. 11 billion yuan by 2025, according to research firm iMedia Research.
“It will be a rewarding experience to participate in events in the Forbidden City and other historical palaces in the capital city,” says Yang. She believes that classics will never go out of style as the popularity of sprouts increases around the world.
1. Why did Liu feel uneasy when she first wore Hanfu in public?| A．Her clothes didn’t fit her properly. | B．Her clothes were worn out. |
| C．She didn’t like the looks from others. | D．She had a limited knowledge of Hanfu. |
| A．By presenting data. | B．By giving definitions. |
| C．By making explanations. | D．By making comparisons. |
| A．Hanfu will take the lead in the fashion. | B．Hanfu won’t be a big business in the capital city. |
| C．Hanfu has a strong influence on Beijing’s activities. | D．Hanfu will become more popular around the world. |
| A．Business. | B．Culture. | C．Nature. | D．Travel. |
9 . Jon Pedley is making a big change. He is giving up his life as a businessman for a life of helping others. He is trading his beautiful farmhouse in England for life in a mud hut (小屋) in Uganda, East Africa.
Pedley admitted that he had not always led a very positive life. At times he drank too much and got in trouble with the law. “I had always put the pursuit (追求) of money in front of everything else. As long as I was all right, I didn’t care who I was hurting,” says Pedley.
But a visit to Uganda in 2007 gave Pedley a new outlook on life. He was amazed at what he saw and how much the people there appreciated the work he was doing. “I worked there for a few days and these people who have nothing were thanking me by giving me bags of potatoes, which are a fortune for them, ”he said. Now Pedley is selling his business, his $1.5 million farmhouse, and his expensive car—and moving into a hut made of mud and boards in a small Ugandan village. There he will help run an organisation that hopes to improve the quality of life for people in the village of Kigazi. He will help to build schoolrooms for children and tanks to hold clean water for villagers. Today, people in Kigazi must walk two miles to a hospital, so Pedley will help to build doctors’ offices, too.
Pedley’s organisation will also work with English teenagers who are in trouble. The teens will be sent to a “camp” in Uganda that Pedley will run. The teens will live in mud huts and help to build water, health, and education facilities for kids in Kigazi, many of whom have lost their parents to poverty or disease. Pedley hopes the teens will see a side of life that might help them turn around their own lives and set them on a new and more positive path.
1. Which of the following best describes Pedley in the past?| A．Positive. | B．Creative. | C．Cold-hearted. | D．Independent. |
| A．Assist villagers with building work. | B．Do business with the local people. |
| C．Help farmers increase potato output. | D．Introduce tools to improve English teaching. |
| A．To inspire them to live a more positive life. | B．To encourage them to make friends with locals. |
| C．To make them learn about different cultures. | D．To train them to become doctors in the future. |
| A．A Life-changing Adventure | B．More Money, More Worries |
| C．A Rich Man Becoming Homeless | D．From Millionaire to Mud Hut |
10 . Cows produce much methane, the world’s second worst greenhouse gas, as they breakdown the grass. They are a large source of the greenhouse gases that are driving climate change. Now scientists have shown the pollution from cows can be reduced by adding a little seaweed (海藻) to their food.
Recently, the researchers from the University of California studied 21 cows on a farm for about five months. They taught the cows to get their food from inside a special hood, which allowed the scientists to know the amount of the methane the cows were giving off. They added a small amount of seaweed to the cows’ food.
The consequences were surprisingly good. In some cases, the cows produced 82% less methane. The improvement depended on the kind of food the cows were given. Even the worst-polluting cows produced 33%less methane. Over the five months, the scientists didn’t see any signs that the cows’ stomachs were getting used to the seaweed and starting to produce more methane again. What’s more, the cows that were fed seaweed gained just as much weight as the other cows.
But there are still some big problems with the idea of feeding cows seaweed. For one thing, there’s not adequate seaweed to feed all of the cows in the world. So farmers would have to figure out a way to grow lots of seaweed. A bigger problem is that for most of their lives, cows live in the fields, where they eat grass. That means there’s no chance to feed them seaweed every day.
Still, as the study shows, something as simple as feeding cows seaweed can help reduce some of the pollution causing the climate crisis.
1. Why did the researchers carry out the study?| A．To discover healthier grass for cows. | B．To improve the cows’ living conditions. |
| C．To test the effects of the seaweed. | D．To measure the amount of methane in the world. |
| A．The results of the study. | B．The methods of the experiment. |
| C．The background of the subject. | D．The process of the research. |
| A．Lacking. | B．Enough. | C．Common. | D．Special. |
| A．Critical. | B．Doubtful. | C．Positive. | D．Negative. |
