It was a sun-kissed spring afternoon along the beautiful Maryland coast, and Jonathan Bauer, a 51-year-old former firefighter, was enjoying a rare moment with his 13-year-old daughter, Ava. The two of them were heading home across the Route 90 bridge, over the waters of Assawoman Bay.
However, the peace of their drive was suddenly disturbed by the noise of tires and a horrible crash just ahead of them. A black truck was out of control, running into a concrete barrier, and finally coming to rest over the bridge’s railing(栏杆).
In that heart-stopping moment, Bauer hit the brakes in time to avoid the vehicles in his path, narrowly avoiding a crash with the truck ahead. But his heart sank as he saw a red car sliding backward towards him. He turned left, but too late——the car ultimately crashed into the trunk of his car.
Bauer stopped the car. “Ava, are you OK?” he asked. Thankfully, Ava emerged from the chaos, but otherwise unhurt. Bauer, however, couldn’t stand by. Rushing to the red car, he checked on its driver. “Are you OK?” he asked the driver. She nodded, too shocked to speak.
Then, suddenly, a scream of “HELP” cut through the air, coming from the overturned truck. As the truck driver climbed out and pointed toward the water, Bauer raced to his side. In the shallow bay waters below, he spotted a car seat and a terrified two-year-old girl, dressed in a pink dress.
Without hesitation, Bauer instructed Ava to call the ambulance as he removed his shoes. He knew the situation was urgent, and he had to act swiftly to save the baby. He climbed onto the bridge’s railing, preparing to make a jump of faith into the water. He was not sure about his chances jumping from this height into such shallow water. And were there rocks this close to the concrete pillar(柱子) of the bridge?
注意：1. 续写词数应为150个左右；2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Bauer jumped into the water.
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As the ambulance left, Ava anxiously turned to her father.
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2 . The Joys of College
Often, we college students complain endlessly about all of the things we hate about college. And sure, college is really stressful and there are some aspects I don’t like.
The first thing I truly enjoy about being a college student is that I get to take classes that actually interest me.
The community at the university is also very important to me. We are all suffering here but we are all suffering together.
The university presents us with so many unique opportunities as well. We are encouraged to study abroad, which allows students to experience student life in another country and dive into other cultures in the process.
So although there are a lot of negatives of college—and I mean a lot—there are also a lot of positives. I know that when I graduate, I’m going to miss being a college student.
| A．After all, college can be very demanding. |
| B．The fun activities and clubs are also a plus. |
| C．But for once, I’d like to focus on the positives. |
| D．Here, there are so many different fields to study. |
| E．Additionally, being a trainee is a great way to get experience. |
| F．The college experience can get bearable due to this community. |
| G．It isn’t like high school where you’re required to take the same classes. |
3 . Dementia (痴呆), a serious mental disorder caused by brain disease or injury, affects the ability to think, remember and behave normally. 160,000 people have some forms of dementia in Sweden, Alzheimer’s disease being the most common. At the same time, many new diagnostic (诊断的) methods and early-intervention treatment have been developed in recent years, which highlights the need to identify more risk factors for the disease.
Previous studies have demonstrated a possible association between depression and dementia. A present study now clearly shows that people who have been diagnosed with depression are more likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Unlike the previous ones, the study was conducted using Region Stockholm’s administrative healthcare database, which contains all healthcare contacts recorded by the region. It shows that the risk of Alzheimer’s disease was more than twice as high in patients with stress and in patients with depression as it was in patients without either condition; in patients with both depression it was up to four times as high.
“The reason for it is unknown,” says the study’s last author Axel C. Carlsson. “The finding is important in that it enables us to improve preventative efforts and understand links with the other risk factors for dementia.”
The researchers focused on patients between the ages of 18 and 65 and between 2012 and 2013. They identified 44,447 people with a diagnosis of depression and followed them for eight years to see how many of them were later diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. A comparison with all other 1,362,548 individuals in the age group showed that more people with depression had also been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.
“It’s very uncommon for people in this age group to develop dementia, so we need to identify all possible risk factors for the disease,” says Dr Carlsson. “We show here that the diagnosis is more common in people who have suffered depression, but more studies will be required if we’re to demonstrate any reason there.”
1. What do the previous studies and the present one differ in?| A．The target. | B．The method. |
| C．The purpose. | D．The theory. |
| A．It clarifies the condition of dementia. |
| B．It makes clear the risks of depression. |
| C．It confirms the previous study finding. |
| D．It helps with the dementia prevention. |
| A．Its process. | B．Its background. |
| C．Its application. | D．Its assessment. |
| A．Why dementia spreads wide in Sweden. |
| B．What links exist among mental diseases. |
| C．How depression connects with dementia. |
| D．What other risk factors lead to dementia. |
4 . Tropical (热带的) forests could become so hot that some kinds of leaves will no longer be able to conduct photosynthesis (光 合 作用), according to a study. The photosynthetic machinery in tropical trees begins to fail at about 46.7℃ on average. The research suggests that forests may be nearing dangerous temperature sooner than expected. Models predict that once we hit a global temperature increase of 3.9℃, these forests might experience mass leaf damage.
Chris Doughty, an associate professor at Northern Arizona University and the lead researcher of the study, said the leaf-warming experiments had revealed a nonlinear rise in temperatures. “We were really surprised that when we warmed leaves by 2, 3 or 4℃, the highest leaf temperatures actually increased by 8℃. This shows a concerning nonlinear feedback that we were not expecting.” said Doughty. “If we adopt a do-nothing response to climate change and tropical forest air temperatures increase by greater than 4℃, there could be massive leaf death.” he added.
Avoiding high emissions (排放) in the first place is key to stabilizing temperatures. “We should do all we can to avoid high-emissions. Under low-emissions, almost all tropical forest tree leaves can avoid death from overheating and the trees will survive,” said Simon Lewis, a professor of global change science at University College London. “Yet what the study doesn’t look at is heatwaves. We still might see tree deaths from overheating for limited periods during heatwaves under lower emissions.”
Researchers suggest that the damage is not yet unchanged. “Vote for people who are serious about addressing climate change and transferring to low-carbon economies, ”Disney, one researcher, advocated. More generally, we can all recognize the importance of supporting those countries and people who live in and rely on tropical forests economically, But the serious changes to tropical forests don’t just affect the local people it’s a global issue.
1. Which of the following can best replace the underlined word “nonlinear” in Paragraph 2?| A．Global. | B．Dramatic. | C．Steady. | D．Minor. |
| A．Planting more trees. | B．Exploring heatwaves. |
| C．Conducting researches. | D．Pursuing low emissions. |
| A．Promoting global efforts. |
| B．Seeking economic support. |
| C．Helping tropical countries. |
| D．Boosting low-carbon education. |
| A．Global warming harms trees. |
| B．Tropical forests lose functions. |
| C．Tropical leaves struggle in heat. |
| D．Forests near dangerous temperature. |
1. What’s the main reason for students starting businesses?
| A．To realize their career potential. |
| B．To meet the need of making money. |
| C．To gain better development chances. |
| A．22.58%. | B．17.15% | C．28.32%. |
| A．They see the rapid growth there. |
| B．They enjoy the convenient traffic. |
| C．They want to seize the opportunities. |
1. What will Edward be responsible for?
| A．Doing online marketing. | B．Organizing the musicians. | C．Sending out the invitations. |
| A．Draw the posters. | B．Make the guest list. | C．Design the invitations. |
| A．Nancy. | B．John. | C．Tim. |
| A．In a hotel. | B．On a train. | C．In the hospital. |
1. What is the man?
| A．A driver. | B．A librarian. | C．An applicant. |
| A．A deposit. | B．Any identification. | C．A driving test. |
| A．He misunderstood the woman. |
| B．He can make an exception. |
| C．He will stick to the rules. |
8 . If your boss yells, blames you, and then takes the credit for your work—even it is a rare incident—it can have a bad effect on your well-being and performance at the workplace.
“Thankfully, abusive leadership isn’t too common, but when it happens it leaves employees far less likely to take the initiative and work to improve business practices,” said Howie Xu, an author of a new study carried out by an international group of researchers. “We wanted to understand the cogmitive factors behind that effect—and find out how companies can protect their employees from the negative impact of bad bosses.”
Xu’s team surveyed employees and supervisors from 42 different South Korean companies, along with hundreds of US students, to explore the ways in which abusive supervision impacts“taking charge”behavior by employees. Subjects were then ranked according to whether they actively seek positive opportunities for promotion and advancement or take a more preventative approach that prioritizes safety and job security.
“We theorized that both the drive to obtain rewards (promotion, bonuses) and the drive to avoid punishments (maintain job security) would shape the way employees respond to abusive bosses,” Xu explained. But that’ s not what Xu and his team found. Rather, they found that employees who prioritized career advancement were strongly affected by abusive leadership while employees who prioritized job security remained just as likely to take charge after experiencing abusive leadership.
One possible explanation, Xu said, is that ambitious employees may think an abusive boss has direct control over whether they will receive bonuses or opportunities for promotion. By contrast, bad bosses may be seen as having less direct control over fring decisions, which often require ratification (批准) by HR teams or more senior managers.
That’s an important finding, because it suggests that organizations seeking to lessen the impact of bad leadership should focus on giving power to employees and making them feel valued and appreciated, rather than simply apologizing and making them feel sure that their jobs are safe.
1. What do Howio Xu’s words in paragraph 2 suggest?| A．It’s urgent for companies to replace their bad bosses. |
| B．Companies should perfect their staff evaluation system. |
| C．Becoming a victim of abusive leadership is very normal. |
| D．Abusive leadership lowers employees’ work enthusiasm. |
| A．The finding had a solid theory foundation. |
| B．The finding was beyond the study team’s expectations. |
| C．Employees tend to put potential rewards before everything else. |
| D．Employees generally hold an unfriendly attitude toward abusive bosses. |
| A．Give them suitable recognition. | B．Guarantee them job security. |
| C．Seek help from professionals. | D．Make a sincere apology to them. |
| A．It’s Possible to Keep a Bad Boss at Bay |
| B．It’ s Important to Avoid Becoming a Bad Boss |
| C．Having a Bad Boss May Make You a Worse Employee |
| D．Having Bad HR Teams Keeps You Away from Job Satisfaction |
9 . Most people would be terrified of entering waters with crocodiles (鳄鱼), but not Sao Chan. Like others living in a jungle village, the 73-year-old farmer says the Siamese crocodiles found in the waterways may look ferocious, but they should not be treated with prejudice. “If we come close to them, they just run away,” Chan says.
He’s right. There have been extremely few reported attacks by Siamese crocodiles on humans in the world, and reportedly none anywhere in Cambodia. Instead, it’s the crocodiles that have every reason to fear people. Once common throughout Southeast Asia, the particularly shy Siamese crocodile, which can grow up to 10 feet long, was for decades hunted for its skin and meat to such an extent that, in the early 1990s, the species was thought to be extinct in the wild.
Some of them survived in the Cardamoms, however, where populations of the reptiles, likely numbering fewer than 200 individuals in total, were rediscovered in 2000. Since then, local people have conducted regular patrols (巡逻) to protect them from threats. While the patrols and other conservation efforts have helped prevent the extinction of the Siamese crocodiles, concerns about the species’ long-term survival have remained because population numbers have stayed largely flat since their rediscovery.
In 2022, conservationists have introduced more Siamese crocodiles into the wild than ever before, not just in the Cardamoms but for the first time into a wildlife reserve in the northern part of the country, where the crocodiles historically were found. Advances in genetic testing have identified crocodiles suitable for release, and satellite tracking of reintroduced crocodiles has improved protection efforts.
“We have a long way to go, but the potential comeback of the Siamese crocodile could be Cambodia’s most successful conservation story,” says Pablo Sinovas, who leads a nonprofit reintroducing the animals. “Its survival isn’t just an ecological necessity, but a symbolic matter of urgency if we have any hope of preserving nature on Earth.”
1. What does the underlined word “ferocious” in Paragraph 1 mean?| A．Violent. | B．Friendly. | C．Ugly. | D．Abnormal. |
| A．Habitat loss. | B．Water pollution. |
| C．Human activities. | D．Poor adaptability. |
| A．They are regularly disturbed by tourists |
| B．Their quantity isn’t increased as expected. |
| C．The locals lack awareness of protecting them |
| D．They fail to adjust to unfamiliar surroundings |
| A．Frequent patrols. | B．Modern technology. |
| C．Economic advances. | D．Genetic transformation. |
10 . Fountains of lava erupted from the Sundhnúkur volcanic system in southwest Iceland on January 14th, 2024. Lava flows welled up from a new gap, attacking the suburbs of Grindavík with at least three houses in their path burnt down. Nearby, construction vehicles that had been working for weeks to build large earthen dams in an attempt to divert(使转向)the lava’s flow had to pull back.
Lava is subject to gravity like other fluids, so it will flow down along a path of steepest descent(斜坡). With the temperature of its molten rock often well above 1,000 degrees Celsius, not much can stand in its way. Humans have tried many ways to stop lava in the past, from attempting to freeze it in place by cooling it with sea water, to using explosive s to cut off its supply. However, no attempt was successful.
Most recent efforts have focused instead on building dams in an attempt to divert the lava’s flow toward a different path of steepest descent, into a different “lavashed,” where lava would naturally flow. Results have been mixed, but diversion can be successful if the lava flow can be clearly diverted into a distinct area where lava would naturally flow — without threatening a different community in the process. Many attempts to divert lava have failed, however. Barriers built in Italy to stop Mt. Etna’s lava flows in 1992 slowed the flow, but the lava eventually over topped each one.
Diverting lava in Grindavík is difficult, in part because the land around Grindavík is relatively flat, making it harder to identify a clear alternative path of steepest descent for redirecting the lava. Icelandic officials reported on January 15th that most of the lava from the main fissure had flowed along the outside the barrier, however a new gap had also opened inside the perimeter(外围), sending lava into a neighborhood. Unfortunately, that implies that Grindavík remains at risk.
1. What do we know about the lava erupting from the Sundhnúkur volcanic system?| A．It severely affected the downtown area of Grindavík. |
| B．It forced the construction of large earthen dams to suspend. |
| C．It was successfully redirected by the earthen barriers. |
| D．It completely buried a residential area. |
| A．Five. | B．Four. | C．Three. | D．Two. |
| A．the lava has destroyed many buildings |
| B．there is no suitable dam to divert the lava |
| C．the land around Grindavík is relatively flat |
| D．the lava has already entered a populated area |
| A．How earthen barrier functions. |
| B．What can be done to prevent lava. |
| C．Why volcanic lava is so hard to stop. |
| D．What lava has brought about in Iceland. |
