1 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1. How many parts does the speaker’s diving training consist of?

A．Two.

B．Three.

C．Four.

2. What did the speaker’s mother do well in?

A．Academic stuff.

B．Practical skills.

C．Classroom work.

3. What happened to the speaker during the diving?

A．She got her ears blocked up.

B．She enjoyed the freezing water.

C．She went under the water smoothly.

4. How did the speaker feel about finishing the diving training?

A．Proud.

B．Lucky.

C．Confident.

2 . “Anxiety.” The very word invites discomfort. Its effects—shortness of breath, pounding heart, muscle tension—are outright upsetting. But, as a clinician, I find that we tend to miss out on many valuable opportunities presented by this human emotion. In and of itself, anxiety is not deadly, nor is it a disease. Quite the contrary: it is an indicator of brain and sensory health. Once we accept that it is a normal, though uncomfortable, part of life, we can use it to help us.

We all know working out at the gym is hard. By nature, a “good workout” is uncomfortable, since it involves pushing our physical strength past what we can easily do. The sweet spot of exercise is always a somewhat challenging experience. Similarly, if you want to be emotionally stronger, you need to face some tension. For example, one effective treatment for fear is exposure therapy (疗法), which involves gradually encountering things that make one anxious, reducing fear over time.

Humans are social creatures. When my patients learn to open up to their partners about their anxieties, they almost always report a greater sense of emotional closeness. Also, as international relationship expert Sue Johnson teaches, when we express our need for connection during challenging moments (e.g., “I’m having a hard time right now and could really use your support”), it creates greater connection and turns our anxiety into love.

From time to time, we find ourselves at the end of our rope. Our responsibilities pile up, our resources break down, and we feel uncomfortably anxious—what we’re experiencing is called stress. Simply put, the demands placed upon us outweigh our available resources, just like a set of scales (天平) going out of balance. Focusing on work and pretending everything is OK only leads to disastrous results. Medical treatment for stress may function for a while, but it tends to make things worse in the long run. The only solution to deal with stress is to do the mathematics to balance the scales.

1. What does the author say about anxiety?

A．It is an invitation to diseases.

B．It indicates stable mental health.

C．It costs us many valuable chances.

D．It is a natural emotional expression.

2. Why does the author mention “good workout” in paragraph 2?

A．To prove how exercise influences emotions.

B．To suggest an effective way to challenge limits.

C．To explain how anxiety builds emotional strength.

D．To show a positive connection between mind and body.

3. What is paragraph 3 mainly about?

A．The key to closeness is partners’ support.

B．Sharing anxieties improves relationships.

C．Humans are defined by their social nature.

D．Expressing feelings keeps us off anxieties.

4. According to the last paragraph, how can we deal with stress?

A．Devote more energy to our work.

B．Increase resources available to us.

C．Seek professional medical treatment.

D．Master advanced mathematical skills.

3 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1. What tour does the man decide to take today?

A．A three-hour tour.

B．A half-day tour.

C．A one-day tour.

2. What time is it now?

A．10:00 a. m.

B．10:30 a. m.

C．11:00 a. m.

3. Which place will the man visit tomorrow?

A．Buckingham Palace.

B．Westminster Abbey.

C．Windsor Castle.

4. How much does the man pay in total?

A．£15.

B．£90.

C．£105.

4 . Kelli Boehle says her son Nik was an amazing and caring person. Nik was diagnosed(诊断) with cancer in 2008 when he was 17. He passed away in 2012. But Nik’s kindness and generosity have lived on long after his death.

After he was diagnosed and started treatment, Nik was granted (给予) a wish experience from the Make-A-Wish Foundation. “For just this period of time, we didn’t think about cancer, ”Kelli Boehle said. “All we thought about was enjoying our time together. ”

In 2009, Nik met another young man Nate, who was also going through cancer treatment. He’d been diagnosed a month after turning 18, and Nik learned he was too old to qualify for a wish. The night before Nik passed away, he asked his mother to help ensure that young adults fighting cancer could have their wishes come true too.

“It was like a seed he planted that just wouldn’t stop coming into my mind, ” she said. In 2012, Kelli Boehle started Nik’s Wish. The nonprofit grants wishes to young adults between the ages of 18 and 24 who are battling cancer. Nate was the organization’s first wish recipient. “It’s meant to bring them joy and know that they’re loved and that we’re fighting for them, too, ”Kelli Boehle said.

Recently, 19-year-old Jordan Morrow received her wish to attend a Taylor Swift concert as part of a trip to Los Angeles. For Morrow, who has spent the last year battling brain cancer, going to the concert has done more than lift her spirits. “I think it’s something to get me through whatever comes my way, ”she said. “And I’m thankful for Nik’s Wish for that. ”

In the 11 years since Nik passed away, the organization has granted more than 300 wishes across more than 30 states. In the beginning, Kelli Boehle says she wasn’t sure she could be a wish maker and work closely with the young adults. But now, it’s her favorite thing to do.

1. What is the goal of Nik’s Wish?

A．To make commercial profits.	B．To cure the youth of their cancer.
C．To ease young patients of pains.	D．To support young adults fighting cancer.

2. Which word best describes Kelli Boehle?

A．Intelligent.

B．Selfless.

C．Straightforward.

D．Ambitious.

3. What can we learn from Jordan Morrow’s words?

A．She survived the deadly disease.	B．She was granted more than one wish.
C．She was motivated by the organization.	D．She lifted people’s spirits by performing.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．Pay-It-Forward: A Mother’s Last Wish

B．Cancer Battles: Stories of Hope and Perseverance

C．Nik’s Wish: Fulfilling Wishes for Young Cancer Fighters

D．Make-A-Wish Foundation: Granting Dreams to Young Adults

5 . Our species’ incredible capacity to quickly acquire words from 300 by age 2 to over 1, 000 by age 4 isn’t fully understood. Some cognitive scientists and linguists have theorized that people are born with built-in expectations and logical constraints (约束) that make this possible. Now, however, machine-learning research is showing that preprogrammed assumptions aren’t necessary to swiftly pick up word meanings from minimal data.

A team of scientists has successfully trained a basic artificial intelligence model to match images to words using just 61 hours of naturalistic footage (镜头) and sound-previously collected from a child named Sam in 2013 and 2014. Although it’s a small slice of a child’s life, it was apparently enough to prompt the AI to figure out what certain words mean.   

The findings suggest that language acquisition could be simpler than previously thought. Maybe children “don’t need a custom-built, high-class language-specific mechanism” to efficiently grasp word meanings, says Jessica Sullivan, an associate professor of psychology at Skidmore College. “This is a really beautiful study, ” she says, because it offers evidence that simple information from a child’s worldview is rich enough to kick-start pattern recognition and word comprehension.

The new study also demonstrates that it’s possible for machines to learn similarly to the way that humans do. Large language models are trained on enormous amounts of data that can include billions and sometimes trillions of word combinations. Humans get by on orders of magnitude less information, says the paper’s lead author Wai Keen Vong. With the right type of data, that gap between machine and human learning could narrow dramatically.

Yet additional study is necessary in certain aspects of the new research. For one, the scientists acknowledge that their findings don’t prove how children acquire words. Moreover, the study only focused on recognizing the words for physical objects.

Still, it’s a step toward a deeper understanding of our own mind, which can ultimately help us improve human education, says Eva Portelance, a computational linguistics researcher. She notes that AI research can also bring clarity to long-unanswered questions about ourselves. “We can use these models in a good way, to benefit science and society, ” Portelance adds.

1. What is a significant finding of machine-learning research?

A．Vocabulary increases gradually with age.

B．Vocabulary can be acquired from minimal data.

C．Language acquisition is tied to built-in expectations.

D．Language acquisition is as complex as formerly assumed.

2. What does the underlined word “prompt” in paragraph 2 mean?

A．Facilitate.

B．Persuade.

C．Advise.

D．Expect.

3. What is discussed about the new research in paragraph 5?

A．Its limitations.

B．Its strengths.

C．Its uniqueness.

D．Its process.

4. What is Eva Portelance’s attitude to the AI research?

A．Doubtful.

B．Cautious.

C．Dismissive.

D．Positive.

6 . Birmingham is the second largest city of the United Kingdom. It lies near the geographic center of England. It’s one of England’s major industrial and commercial areas. Here’re some places in Birmingham you may be interested in living in.

Solihull

Located 7.5 miles southeast of Birmingham, Solihull offers the best of both worlds for the perfect combination of city and country living. With several top-rated schools, Solihull is a perfect location for families, and with over 1,500acres of parks, there’re plenty of green spaces to keep the kids entertained as well. With easy transport links into Birmingham, it’s a great choice for commuters (通勤人员) and what’s more, Birmingham Airport is located in Solihull.

Erdington

Situated five miles northeast of the city center, Erdington has to be one of the best places to live in and around Birmingham. This is a very well-connected city suburb, with easy motorway access, great bus links and a railway station on the Cross City Line.

Digbeth

If you’re looking to buy your first home in Birmingham, Digbeth could be the perfect choice. The area is a hub for the creative industry, with the Custard Factory and Fazeley Studios both hosting a huge variety of digital and cultural businesses. It’s very tolerant of all kinds of culture, making it one of the most dynamic places to live in.

Edgbaston

Edgbaston is one of the richest areas in Birmingham, well-known for its green spaces and Birmingham Botanical Gardens. There’re many other attractions for those not interested in sports, including the pretty Victorian campus of Birmingham University and multiple Michelin-starred restaurants. It is a suitable place to live in.

1. What’s special about Solihull?

A．It is very suitable for the old.

B．It has the largest park in Birmingham.

C．It is the trading center of Birmingham.

D．It shows the mix of rural and urban life.

2. Which place presents cultural diversity?

A．Digbeth.	B．Erdington.
C．Edgbaston.	D．Solihull.

3. What is the author trying to persuade readers to do in Birmingham?

A．Attend university.	B．Go on a tour.
C．Buy houses.	D．Start businesses.

7 . Almost everyone has felt something similar: wearing clothes we don’t like causes a general feeling of unease and discontent. This proves the fact that clothes have more than functions of protection or warmth in life.     1     As former fashion editor Caryn Franklin writes, “Fashion offers a dialogue rich with social and political meaning for those who want to unlock the language of clothes.”

    2     We like or dislike certain colors because of the attributes or moods we associate with them. Those associations might be cultural. White, for example, is commonly associated with purity and innocence in Western cultures, whereas in China, people associate it with death and mourning.     3    

The book The Little Prince offers a fictional example of the latter: The fox will love the sight of wheat, which had been meaningless to him, just because it will remind him of the color of the boy’s hair.

As a result, associations can differ widely from person to person and culture to culture. Others might read into our outfits something different than we intend.     4     But as long as we are not wearing our clothes specifically to communicate certain qualities to others in a specific context (such as professionalism at a job interview), what others think of our clothes should be less important than what we think of them and why we choose to wear them.     5    

A．Take colors, for instance.

B．We ought to dress to benefit ourselves, not others.

C．They also communicate something about the wearer.

D．Thus, they will misunderstand our values and identity.

E．Clothes have the psychological power to elevate our sense of self.

F．Or we can form associations based on our personal experience and values.

G．We might also associate certain fabrics with different qualities of character.

8 .

“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 little-known unsung 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 of Van Den first impressed Juhani Murros?

A．His life story.	B．His painting style.
C．His birth place.	D．His 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．He works were of mysterious themes.	D．He ever travelled in China and Vietnam.

3. Why is Murros’ biography brief?

A．Van Den’s art wasn’t well accepted.	B．Murros had limited knowledge of art.
C．Murros had gained little primary data.	D．Van Den’s family kept everything back.

4. Which of the following can describe this book?

A．Amusing.

B．Detailed.

C．Objective.

D．Inspirational.

9 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。

1. I When did people first celebrate books?

A．In 1922.

B．In 1926.

C．In 1930.

2. How often is the UNESCO World Book Capital selected?

A．Once a month.

B．Once a year.

C．Once every two years.

3. Which city was chosen to be the second UNESCO World Book Capital?

A．Alexandria.

B．New Delhi.

C．Madrid.

10 . Digital mindfulness is the application of mindfulness practices in your digital life. According to Jon Kabat­Zinn, a professor at the University of Massachusetts Medicine School, mindfulness is “a means of paying attention in a particular way, on purpose, in the present moment, and non­judgmentally”. Here two main key points are emphasized when it comes to mindfulness as a practice in your digital life.

The first point is that you must learn to do things on purpose. For instance, you use your phone as a habitual escape from boredom or stress, which is thought by many as a quick solution to all those negative feelings. But what if you get only negative responses from your phone — the news or posts are negative? Instead of finding peace, you find more boredom and more stress. The solution that mindfulness provides is purposeful and intentional choice. Therefore, you are empowered to choose how to respond to the stimulus (刺激) behind such feelings as boredom, loneliness, and stress and not just treat the symptoms (症状).

The other key is going through the experience non­judgmentally. When you feel sad or angry because of a post on social media, all you ever do is to go through the experience and let it flow. At its core, mindfulness involves the acceptance of your memories, feelings, and thoughts minus any judgment on yourself or others because of those things. These feelings, memories, and experiences come and go. After they have passed, you are still you and in control. You will become more aware of your inner world. It’s this internal monologue (独白) that pushes you to grab your digital technology (phone, Alexa speaker, TV, etc.).

Digital mindfulness is not about avoiding the negative things in life. Through mindfulness practice, you regain the power to learn from these experiences and healthily deal with the negative. Mindfulness will also teach you to be aware of all your emotions, so you learn to deal with the things that you used to avoid. Finally, digital mindfulness brings you peace of mind in an ever­changing and increasingly connected world.

Now, I would rather prefer to think of it as one of many tools that we can use in our daily life.

1. What does the author suggest readers do when they feel stressed in their digital life?

A．Find something interesting to do.

B．Use the phone as a habitual escape.

C．Keep away from the negative responses.

D．Deal with the root cause of the problem.

2. What can we infer from paragraph 3?

A．Negative feelings should be avoided or controlled.

B．Mindfulness involves both acceptance and judgment.

C．Mindfulness helps us fully experience life as it happens.

D．Digital technology is the key to understanding our inner world.

3. Which of the following is a suitable title for the text?

A．How Can You Avoid Negative Feelings?

B．How Can You Define Digital Mindfulness?

C．How Can Digital Mindfulness Help You?

D．How Can Digital Mindfulness Harm You?

4. What will probably be discussed in the next paragraph?

A．Applications of mindfulness in communication.

B．Ways of practising mindfulness in the digital age.

C．Development of mindfulness in medical field.

D．Benefits of practising digital mindfulness in daily life.