1 . St. Patrick’s Day, Ireland’s National Day, is celebrated on 17th March every year, marking the anniversary of the day on which he passed away. St. Patrick is the most famous saint of Ireland. Born in Roman Britain, he was enslaved in Ireland at the age of 16, but he successfully escaped. Later, he returned to Ireland and brought his religious beliefs to its people.
On St Patrick’s Day, Irish families would traditionally attend church in the morning and celebrate in the afternoon. People would dance, drink, and feast on traditional meals of Irish bacon and cabbage. The Irish have observed this day as a religious holiday for over 1,000 years.
Interestingly, however, the first parade held to celebrate St Patrick’s Day took place not in Ireland but in the United States. On 17th March 1762, Irish soldiers serving in the English army marched through New York City. Along with their music, the parade helped the soldiers reconnect with their Irish roots, as well as with fellow Irishmen serving in the English army.
Over 100 St. Patrick’s Day parades happen across the U.S., with New York City and Boston hosting the biggest. In 1848, New York Irish Aid societies joined to create the official New York City St. Patrick’s Day Parade, the world’s oldest civilian (平民的) parade and the largest in the U.S. It draws over 150,000 participants and nearly 3 million spectators (观众), lasting over five hours. Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Savannah also celebrate the day with major parades.
Today, people of all backgrounds celebrate St Patrick’s Day, especially throughout the United States, Canada and Australia. It is also celebrated in many other locations far from Ireland, including Japan, Singapore, and Russia.
1. Why is St. Patrick’s Day celebrated on 17th March?| A．Saint Patrick died on 17 March. | B．Saint Patrick was born on 17 March. |
| C．Saint Patrick became a slave on 17 March. | D．Saint Patrick escaped from Ireland on 17 March. |
| A．Rode. | B．Sailed. | C．Advanced. | D．Wandered. |
| A．By attending church with family members. | B．By attending outdoor musical performances. |
| C．By organizing large St Patrick’s Day parades. | D．By setting off fireworks and enjoying Irish cuisine. |
| A．It is no longer a religious festival for the Irish. | B．It has the largest parade in Ireland. |
| C．It was first celebrated in the United States. | D．It has now become an international festival. |
2 . One day, a girl came upon a cocoon, and she could tell that a butterfly was trying to
The girl still thought she had done the butterfly a
The
| A．hatch | B．hang | C．swing | D．nest |
| A．trap | B．release | C．extend | D．drag |
| A．Even so | B．In the meanwhile | C．All of a sudden | D．As usual |
| A．scared | B．sought | C．suspend | D．stuck |
| A．readily | B．hardly | C．merely | D．slightly |
| A．overestimated | B．underdeveloped | C．overgrown | D．underfed |
| A．favor | B．applause | C．priority | D．guarantee |
| A．tiny | B．skinny | C．moderate | D．large |
| A．expansion | B．restriction | C．tension | D．variation |
| A．make up | B．pull up | C．go through | D．take over |
| A．dive | B．recover | C．withdraw | D．emerge |
| A．adversities | B．adventures | C．prospects | D．guidelines |
| A．diligent | B．sympathetic | C．superior | D．straightforward |
| A．carefulness | B．strength | C．optimism | D．patience |
| A．hold onto | B．turn down | C．take on | D．bring up |
3 . Seasonality is a big part of business. For some industries, seasonal patterns are a defining feature. Agriculture is one obvious example; tourism another. Western toymakers notch up a huge proportion of their annual sales during Christmas. Construction is harder during cold weather, when that industry employs fewer people.
Firms less obviously tied to the seasons can still be deeply affected by them, as a recent review by Ian Hohm of the University of British Columbia makes clear. An analysis of social-media posts on the Internet found that dieting-related posts peak in the spring, as the season of body dysmorphia (变形) approaches.
Even when overall demand doesn’t vary greatly between the seasons, preterences change. Beef-eaters buy roasts in the slow-cooking winter season and plump for steaks during the summer months. Starbucks is among those firms that make seasonality a marketing event. The pumpkin-spiced latte is a reliable sign that autumn is on its way, along with falling leaves.
Seasonality also leaves a less obvious imprint (印记) inside organisations. This week, with so many bosses stuck on a mountain for the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, productive employees can get on with some work and lazy ones can relax. School holidays offer an obvious form of seasonality, when employees without children are upset that they are covering for colleagues on holiday, and colleagues on holiday are upset that they have children.
Pay decisions are seasonal events, too. The time when employees find out their salary rises and bonuses sets off disappointment and happiness in all workplaces. In some, they are more like tsunamis. The actual date on which bonuses are paid matters too — once the money is safely put in the bank, people are more likely to move jobs.
There are other forms of corporate seasonality. While there isn’t much research on the impact of seasonality within firms, it’s certain that they have their own annual rhythms.
1. Why do people focus on dieting in spring posts according to the analysis?| A．They want to take time to get refreshed in spring. |
| B．They fear the summer heat will ruin their health. |
| C．They fear summer will reveal their body shapes. |
| D．They suffer a lack of proper food during winter. |
| A．Throw away. | B．Decide on. | C．Rule out. | D．Turn up. |
| A．Being unable to relax in the absence of the boss. |
| B．Staying in step with the change of the seasons. |
| C．Accompanying the children of their colleagues. |
| D．Sharing the work of the employees with children. |
| A．Companies Have Their Own Seasonal Rhythms |
| B．School Holidays Have an Effect on Companies |
| C．Corporate Seasonality Has Vast Social Effect |
| D．Employees Must Watch Beyond the Seasons |
4 . Women interpret emojis differently to men, research suggests. Scientists say this is because these small digital pictographs can be ambiguous and be perceived differently by different people. The researchers surveyed 523 adults (49% men and 51% women) to review 24 different emojis. Each emoji — taken from Apple, Windows and WeChat platforms — represented one of the six emotional states labelled by the team: happy, disgusted, fearful, sad, surprised, and angry.
They found women were able to more accurately interpret happy, fearful, sad and angry emoji labels compared to men. No gender differences were observed for surprised or disgusted emoji, the team said. Dr. Ruth Filik, associate professor in the School of Psychology at The University of Nottingham, said: “What I found most interesting and surprising is that there are so many individual differences in how people interpret these emojis.”
“It is important to note that the results reflect how often participants labelled the emoji in the same way as the researchers. So, we should think of the results in terms of there being differences across people in how they interpret emojis, rather than some people being better at it than others. We should keep these differences in mind when using emojis in our messages.”
The researchers said that stylised images of faces expressing different emotions can add both nuance as well as potential ambiguity to messages sent via texts, emails or even social media. To understand more about how emojis are interpreted, the team recruited 270 people from the UK and 253 from China, who were aged between 18 to 84 years old.
Each emoji was assigned an emotion label by the researchers, which they say may not correspond exactly with the emoji as used in real life. In addition to gender, the team also found age to play a role in how emoji are interpreted, with younger adults faring better than the older ones in matching the emoji with their assigned labels. The researchers say ambiguity of emojis is worth further research, “especially when communicating across gender, age, or cultures”.
1. Why are emojis interpreted differently according to paragraph 1?| A．Emojis are taken from different platforms. |
| B．People’s perception on emojis may vary differently. |
| C．Varied emotional states are labelled to an emoji by itself. |
| D．The number of women involved in the study is more than that of men. |
| A．Women are better at interpreting emojis than men. |
| B．The meaning of the emojis should be defined by researchers. |
| C．We should pay attention to individual differences in interpretation when using emojis. |
| D．Those interpreted the emojis in the same way as the researchers have done correctly. |
| A．Difference. | B．Similarity. | C．Familiarity. | D．Details. |
| A．To introduce an interesting phenomenon of online chatting. |
| B．To show that different emojis have different meanings. |
| C．To prove that ambiguity of emojis is determined by one’s gender, age and culture. |
| D．To remind people to pay special attention to the ambiguity of emojis. |
内容包括：
1.写信背景和目的;
2.自身优势;
3.期待入选。
注意：
1.写作词数应为80左右;
2.可以适当增加行文细节，以使行文连贯。
Dear respected organizers,
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Sincerely,
Li Hua
DUJIANGYAN
Originally
7 . My mother was born on a farm in Wisconsin in 1897. She attended college in Milwaukee.
One of my earliest memories, when I was about 3, was on a bitter cold day in 1932, the middle of the Great Depression. A man knocked on our back door and asked my mother for something to eat, as he hadn’t eaten for three days. Mom gave him a plate of stew (炖菜) plus two slices of bread. When he took the plate and fork, tears streamed down his cheeks.At age 21, in 1918, my mother began employment with a local charity in northern Georgia. She was assigned alone to create valuable programs for a small community. She often told us the stories about those old days after she retired. In her later years, my mother established Georgia’s Garden Club, the Professional Women’s Club, the town’s first lending library and other “firsts”.
There were quite a lot of people at her funeral in 1990, when she passed away at 93. My sister and I moved among her many friends, exchanging memories about her. At one point, we saw a stranger with tears on his face. We approached him and my sister asked, “Did you know my mother well?” He replied, “I owe my life to her!” He told us that when he was a young child, in 1918, his family of seven all came down with the flu. The “new lady from the charity” heard about their illness and came to help. He said, “We’d never have made it without her loving care.”
Amazingly, the night before I had read a brief account of that very incident in one of my mother’s diaries. I’m certain I have a responsibility to inform the world of what my mother’s life in northern Georgia was like.
1. Why does the author mention the story that happened in 1932?| A．To complain about the Great Depression. |
| B．To explain there were many poor people. |
| C．To prove his family was so wealthy then. |
| D．To show his mother was very sympathetic. |
| A．Ambitious and active. | B．Traditional but brave. |
| C．Determined and humorous. | D．Demanding but straightforward. |
| A．Puzzled. | B．Grateful. | C．Proud. | D．Sad. |
| A．Her education experiences. | B．Her childhood memories. |
| C．The challenges in her career. | D．The stories in her programs. |
8 . Roosters (公鸡) act differently when faced with another chicken rather than just their own reflection. This may mean that the birds can recognize themselves in a mirror, a key indicator of self-awareness. In the traditional mirror self-recognition test, which originated in1970, researchers place a mark on an animal’s body in a spot that it only see when seeing its reflection. They note if the animal touches the mark while examining its mirror image, which suggests it understands that what it sees represents its own body. Few non-human species have passed this test, but they include some great apes, dolphins, elephants.
However, results from the test are often variable.Sonja Hillemacher and her colleagues from the University of Bonn in Germany wondered if this was because there is little natural reason for many animals to find out such marks. So, they have tried to adapt the test to the natural behaviour of roosters. Roosters usually make loud noises to warn other chickens when they see predators (捕食者) but generally stay quiet when they are alone.
In the lab, they tested 68 roosters one by one in an arena divided by a wire net. They placed a bird on one side, and either left the other side empty or put another rooster in it. Then they added a mirror to the divider for some tests. The results showed that when a rooster was paired with another rooster, it raised the alarm more often than when it was alone, regardless of whether it could see its own reflection. When another rooster was present but hidden behind a mirror, few alarms were raised, showing that roosters can distinguish between reflection and reality through vision rather than smell or sound.
Since the birds acted similarly when alone and with a reflection, they may realize their reflection is of themselves, say the researchers. While the research suggests that roosters may recognize themselves in mirrors, it is too early to claim that chickens possess this ability.
1. What can we learn about the traditional mirror self-recognition test?| A．The test was improved in 1970. |
| B．Elephants failed to pass the test. |
| C．Most non-human species have passed the test. |
| D．Animals touching the mark show self-awareness. |
| A．Their sharp vision. |
| B．Their poor smell. |
| C．Their loud sound. |
| D．Their native behavior. |
| A．They sent fewer alarm before another rooster. |
| B．They showed more interest in their reflection. |
| C．They used vision to tell reality from reflection. |
| D．They were unable to recognize their reflection. |
| A．Roosters: Quiet Reflection-observers |
| B．Roosters: Possible Self-recognizers |
| C．Roosters: Clever Mark-checkers |
| D．Roosters: Brave Alarm-raisers |
9 . International ShakeOut Day This Year
This year’s International ShakeOut Day is October 17, when millions of people worldwide will take part in earthquake drills (演习) at work, school, or home! It is a great way for your family or organization to become better prepared to survive and recover quickly from big earthquakes.
At 10:17 am (local time) on 10/17, you can join millions of people across the world in practicing earthquake safety. While we encourage everyone to take part, you can sign up for your ShakeOut drill for any day of the year, and drill at a time of your choice, You can also include people in different locations through videos.
FIND YOUR REGIONMost participants (参与者) are in one of the official ShakeOut Regions listed below the page (with current sign-up totals). People and organizations in other countries can also sign up.
All regions take part in it on October 17,2024, unless specified.
（As of Today） | Global Totals | US totals |
oct.17,2024 Drills | Over 270,000 | Over 260,000 |
All 2024 Drills | Over 1.10million | Over 950,000 |
All 2023 Drills | Over 57.3million | Over 19.3million |
ShakeOut began in California and has also been organized in many other states and countries. Official ShakeOut Regions require special local or regional cooperation, typically by an emergency (紧急情况) management agency or a union of many organizations. If you are interested in establishing ShakeOut for your region, please contact us at https://www.shakeout.org. If your state, province, or country is not yet taking part, you can sign up for yourself or your organization as part of the global participation total.
1. What is the purpose of the activity?| A．To raise people’s safety awareness. |
| B．To stress the challenges of earthquakes. |
| C．To help people get ready for an earthquake. |
| D．To warn people of the danger of earthquakes. |
| A．Over 270,000. | B．Over 950,000. | C．Over 57.3 million. | D．Over 19.3 million. |
| A．A website. | B．A book review. | C．A guidebook. | D．A diary entry. |
10 . Improved mental health is on the agenda for many people in 2024 and being organized is the preferred method of realizing it.
Disorganization is often considered to have a negative impact on the way we see ourselves and the lives we lead. The studied downsides of living in a disorganized environment include memory problems, poor eating habits, and decreased self-control. “There’s an obvious link between increased stress and anxiety disorders and living in a messy space,” says Daniel Levitin, a behavioral neuroscientist (行为神经科学家) at McGill University.
“Disorganization brings a loss of productivity that is difficult to quantify (量化),” says Levitin. He points to the amount of time people lose looking for lost items, missing appointments, or falling behind at work or school because of disordered living. “The average person likely loses 5 percent of their time due to disorganization,” he says. “Take your annual salary, multiply that by 5 percent, and you can measure what disorganization may be costing you.”
Joseph Ferrari, one of the most recognized scholars on disorganization research, says that nearly every mental health downside that comes from disorganization can be improved by getting organized. “You’ll feel more energetic, enhance your productivity in the office, and greatly improve the quality of your life,” he says.
Tidy homes have been found to be a predictor of physical health. “Those whose houses are cleaner are more active and physically healthy,” says Libby Sander, an assistant professor of organizational behavior. Part of this is due to organized people being better at managing their time, but it’s also because research demonstrates that less clutter can help improve one’s diet. “Studies show an association between clutter and overweight,” says Libby.
Getting organized has also been shown to decrease one’s stress levels, increase personal efficiency, and even improve sleep. Another studied advantage of getting organized may be improving the quality of one’s relationships. Libby explains that relationships can be negatively impacted when too much clutter affects communication or distracts one’s brain from noticing important message from their partner. Research shows this can cause others to feel ignored, misunderstood, or unimportant.
1. What does Levitin say concerning living a disorganized life?| A．It has been well realized by people. |
| B．It’s many people’s New Year resolution. |
| C．It has an obvious impact on mental state. |
| D．It’s closely related to the living environment. |
| A．By giving examples. | B．By making comparisons. |
| C．By repeating other experts’ words. | D．By referring to previous studies. |
| A．decoration. | B．mess. | C．furniture. | D．light. |
| A．The Neuroscience Behind Healthy Minds |
| B．The Cost of Chaos — How Disorganization Affects Your Life |
| C．Mental Health in 2024 — Self-control as a Priority |
| D．Organize for Success — Boosting Health and Productivity |
