1 . It’s a joyful and stressful time of year in the United States for students and their families as they make decisions about where to attend college. Families often turn to rankings systems to help make a decision.
When I talk to families as a scholar of higher education, they’re often surprised that teaching excellence is not counted in rankings.
Emerging research suggests that courses in lower-ranked universities, on average, scored higher on teaching than courses in higher-ranked universities.
Rankings, however, are only one reason why a low value is placed on teaching in higher education. Administrators often don’t view teaching excellence as a way to increase enrolment (注册) or funding.
What should students and their families do? They should give strong consideration to universities where high-quality teaching is valued, even though the schools may be ranked lower.
| A．Higher education has achieved its true potential. |
| B．Therefore, it’s not highly valued in hiring or promotion. |
| C．Quality teaching has been an important reputation-building factor. |
| D．However, the rankings ignore a critical factor: the quality of teaching. |
| E．Efforts to improve teaching at the university level have recently emerged. |
| F．They’re even more surprised at how teaching is undervalued by universities. |
| G．In fact, universities often shift emphasis from teaching to other ranking factors. |
2 . The International Olympic Committee(IOC)Young Leaders programme empowers talents to make a positive difference in their communities through sport. Twenty-five Young Leaders are being selected every two years for a four-year period. They promote the Olympic values, spreading the message of sport for good.
To be an IOC Young Leader, you need to first complete the 4-Week Learning Sprint (冲刺).
4-Week Learning Sprint
The 4-Week Learning Sprint, which will take place during November 2023, is a virtual learning programme. The sessions can be attended live or watched back after they are made available on the IOC channel. Each week, participants will be asked to complete a topic﹣specific reflection task.
The 4-Week Learning Sprint is open to anyone, with the target audience aged between 20 and 28.
After successfully completing the 4-Week Learning Sprint, you will need to submit a plan for a sport﹣based project, which you will work on if selected as an IOC Young Leader.
Requirements for the Applicants
•You have successfully completed the 4-Week Learning Sprint.
•You have completed your high school studies.
•You have at least one year of work experience.
•You have strong public speaking skills.
•You are self-motivated and committed.
•You are passionate about creating positive change in your community.
•You are open to being coached and advised by experts and peers (同伴).
•You are able to work with people from different backgrounds.
1. In the 4-Week Learning Sprint, participants will ________.| A．create change in their community | B．attend a virtual learning programme |
| C．meet people from different backgrounds | D．promote the IOC Young Leaders project |
| A．complete a reflection task each week | B．watch sports on the IOC channel |
| C．work on a sport-based project | D．coach and advise their peers |
| A．Spreading the message of sport for good. | B．Having at least one-year work experience. |
| C．Showing great passion for project planning. | D．Committing themselves to becoming an expert. |
3 . Sitting in the garden for my friend’s birthday. I felt a buzz (振动) in my pocket. My heart raced when I saw the email sender’s name. The email started off: “Dear Mr Green, thank you for your interest” and “the review process took longer than expected.” It ended with “We are sorry to inform you…” and my vision blurred (模糊). The position—measuring soil quality in the Sahara Desert as part of an undergraduate research programme — had felt like the answer I had spent years looking for.
I had put so much time and emotional energy into applying, and I thought the rejection meant the end of the road for my science career.
So I was shocked when, not long after the email, Professor Mary Devon, who was running the programme, invited me to observe the work being done in her lab. I jumped at the chance, and a few weeks later I was equally shocked—and overjoyed—when she invited me to talk with her about potential projects I could pursue in her lab. What she proposed didn’t seem as exciting as the original project I had applied to, but I was going to give it my all.
I found myself working with a robotics professor on techniques for collecting data from the desert remotely. That project, which I could complete from my sofa instead of in the burning heat of the desert, not only survived the lockdown but worked where traditional methods didn’t. In the end, I had a new scientific interest to pursue.
When I applied to graduate school, I found three programmes promising to allow me to follow my desired research direction. And I applied with the same anxious excitement as before. When I was rejected from one that had seemed like a perfect fit, it was undoubtedly difficult. But this time I had the perspective (视角) to keep it from sending me into panic. It helped that in the end I was accepted into one of the other programmes I was also excited about.
Rather than setting plans in stone, I’ve learned that sometimes I need to take the opportunities that are offered, even if they don’t sound perfect at the time, and make the most of them.
1. How did the author feel upon seeing the email sender’s name?| A．Anxious. | B．Angry. | C．Surprised. | D．Settled. |
| A．criticise the review process | B．stay longer in the Sahara Desert |
| C．apply to the original project again | D．put his heart and soul into the lab work |
| A．demanding | B．inspiring | C．misleading | D．amusing |
| A．An invitation is a reputation. | B．An innovation is a resolution. |
| C．A rejection can be a redirection. | D．A reflection can be a restriction. |
Nina has run marathons in 32 countries. All of her runs have a guiding purpose: to call attention
Mangroves, known as “red forest” in China, grow between land and sea, characterised by their complex roots. When
Mangroves can help soften waves and protect
6 . I was always timid (羞怯的). Being new to the school made me even
After I got home, though. I took my time petting the cat-postponing the pain.
When I finally sat down to
Talking kept me and my neighbours from
But when mum got home from work, I was still
“Well, you’d better get back to work,” she said. “and I want to read it when you’re through.”
Soon after dinner, I handed the essay to mum. I half expected a
The next day, when Ms. Black read the essay to the class, everyone laughed. I could
| A．freer | B．shyer | C．calmer | D．happier |
| A．nod | B．point | C．listen | D．chat |
| A．weep | B．rest | C．write | D．read |
| A．learning | B．playing | C．planning | D．laughing |
| A．standing out | B．flying by | C．breaking up | D．checking in |
| A．celebrating | B．longing | C．complaining | D．warning |
| A．lecture | B．reason | C．reward | D．solution |
| A．Therefore | B．Moreover | C．Meanwhile | D．Instead |
| A．hope | B．imagine | C．tell | D．predict |
| A．patience | B．confidence | C．tolerance | D．independence |
Every culture is riddled with unwritten rules, such as ones on punctuality (守时). I’m British. Soon after moving to Switzerland, I
8 . Quantum ( 量子 ) computers have been on my mind a lot lately. A friend has been sending me articles on how quantum computers might help solve some of the biggest challenges we face as humans. I’ve also had exchanges with two quantum-computing experts. One is computer scientist Chris Johnson who I see as someone who helps keep the field honest. The other is physicist Philip Taylor.
For decades, quantum computing has been little more than a laboratory curiosity. Now, big tech companies have invested in quantum computing, as have many smaller ones. According to Business Weekly, quantum machines could help us “cure cancer, and even take steps to turn climate change in the opposite direction.” This is the sort of hype ( 炒作 ) that annoys Johnson. He worries that researchers are making promises they can’t keep. “What’s new,” Johnson wrote, “is that millions of dollars are now potentially available to quantum computing researchers.”
As quantum computing attracts more attention and funding, researchers may mislead investors, journalists, the public and, worst of all, themselves about their work’s potential. If researchers can’t keep their promises, excitement might give way to doubt, disappointment and anger, Johnson warns. Lots of other technologies have gone through stages of excitement. But something about quantum computing makes it especially prone to hype, Johnson suggests, perhaps because “‘quantum’ stands for something cool you shouldn’t be able to understand.” And that brings me back to Taylor, who suggested that I read his book Q for Quantum.
After I read the book, Taylor patiently answered my questions about it. He also answered my questions about PyQuantum, the firm he co-founded in 2016. Taylor shares Johnson’s concerns about hype, but he says those concerns do not apply to PyQuantum.
The company, he says, is closer than any other firm “by a very large margin ( 幅度 )” to building a “useful” quantum computer, one that “solves an impactful problem that we would not have been able to solve otherwise.” He adds, “People will naturally discount my opinions, but I have spent a lot of time quantitatively comparing what we are doing with others.”
Could PyQuantum really be leading all the competition “by a wide margin”, as Taylor claims? I don’t know. I’m certainly not going to advise my friend or anyone else to invest in quantum computers. But I trust Taylor, just as I trust Johnson.
1. Regarding Johnson’s concerns, the author feels ________.| A．sympathetic | B．unconcerned | C．doubtful | D．excited |
| A．His dominance in physics. | B．The competition in the field. |
| C．His confidence in PyQuantum. | D．The investment of tech companies. |
| A．Open. | B．Cool. | C．Useful. | D．Resistant. |
| A．Is Johnson More Competent Than Taylor? |
| B．Is Quantum Computing Redefining Technology? |
| C．Will Quantum Computers Ever Come into Being? |
| D．Will Quantum Computing Ever Live Up to Its Hype? |
9 . Health and fitness help a person live a good and healthy life. Often due to various pressures, we tend to ignore our health.
It is important for everyone to devote some time to health and fitness.
Additionally, it is important to relax our body. We should have at least six to eight hours of sleep every day. It helps in improving our immune (免疫) system and protects us against diseases.
| A．Fitness levels decide the quality of life. |
| B．Health and fitness are interrelated to each other. |
| C．It also helps in keeping us calm and relaxes our mind. |
| D．For instance, we may have a tendency to catch a cold easily. |
| E．If we keep our body fit, we can enjoy life in a better manner. |
| F．There are some activities which everyone should do in our life. |
| G．This makes our body suffer and we will catch other diseases. |
10 . My name is Alice. Early last year, I was troubled by an anxiety that crippled ( 削弱 ) my ability to do anything. I felt like a storm cloud hung over me. For almost a year I struggled on, constantly staring at this wall that faced me. My perfectionist tendencies were the main root of this: I wanted to be perfect at whatever I did, which obviously in life is not possible, but it consumed me.
One day, I attended a presentation by wildlife conservationist Grant Brown at my high school. His presentation not only awed and inspired me, but also helped emerge an inner desire to make a difference in the world. I joined a pre-presentation dinner with him and that smaller setting allowed me to slowly build up my courage to speak one-on-one with him—an idea that had seemed completely impossible. This first contact was where my story began.
A month later, Brown invited me to attend the World Youth Wildlife Conference. Looking back, I now see that this would be the first in a series of timely opportunities that my old self would have let pass, but that this new and more confident Alice enthusiastically seized. Shortly after I received his invitation, applications to join the Youth for Nature and the Youth for Planet groups were sent around through my high school. I decided to commit to completing the applications, and soon I was a part of a growing global team of young people working to protect nature. Each of these new steps continued to grow my confidence.
I am writing this just six months since my journey began and I’ve realised that my biggest obstacle ( 障碍 ) this whole time was myself. It was that voice in the back of my head telling me that one phrase that has stopped so many people from reaching their potential: I can’t. They say good things come to those who wait; I say: grab every opportunity with everything you have and be impatient. After all, nature does not require our patience, but our action.
1. What was the main cause for Alice’s anxiety?| A．Her inability to act her age. | B．Her habit of consumption. |
| C．Her desire to be perfect. | D．Her lack of inspiration. |
| A．She decided to do something for nature. | B．She tasted the sweetness of friendship. |
| C．She learned about the harm of desire. | D．She built up her courage to speak up. |
| A．intelligent | B．confident | C．innovative | D．critical |
| A．Practice makes perfect. | B．Patience is a cure of anxiety. |
| C．Action is worry’s worst enemy. | D．Everything comes to those who wait. |
