1 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。

By the time 18-year-old Amy Waldroop returned to her grandmother’s tiny house, it was nearly midnight and she was exhausted. After a full day’s work at a flower shop, she had put in another six hours waiting tables before heading home. This was her typical weekends.

Pushing the key into the lock, she quietly opened the door so as not to wake her younger siblings. She stepped into the front room, and froze. The house was a mess: plates of half-eaten food were scattered in front of the TV; clothes, shoes and exercise books were everyone.

Amy’s eyes welled with tears. “This is just too much for me.” she thought. Terrible memories began to race through her mind. Two years before, her parents lost their lives in an accident, leaving Amy and her siblings for their grandma, Helen, who had spent half of her life in a wheelchair. The life burden fell on Amy’s shoulders, which was too much for a girl.

Life moved on. One day, walking across the school grounds, Amy found a table littered with university brochures. She browsed through pictures of spacious campuses and happy peers, all of it looking unachievable for her, given the current situation and financial conditions. But her teacher gave her unexpected hope, saying“ You could attend university for free. It would take a scholarship, though, and for that you’d need much better grades.”

During her final year of high school, Amy diligently attended classes, then went to work after school, returned to her grandmother’s house, cared for her sisters and brothers and went through homework till the early hours of the morning, struggling for her dream university.

One afternoon, she walked home from school, holding a sheet of paper tightly. It was a letter from the University of California, informing her that she would be offered a scholarship and was admitted to the university. It was what she’d been longing for, a place where she could study to become someone special-a nurse, perhaps, or maybe even a lawyer.

注意：
1．续写词数应为150左右；
2．请按如下格式作答。

Yet the letter only made Amy struggle inside.

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The next afternoon, Amy spotted the wrinkled letter she threw into the dustbin on the table when arriving home.

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2 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1. What did Jeff Masters say about models used to predict floods?

A．They were based on short-term records.

B．They were not enough to help handle a new climate.

C．They reflected climate changes over the past decade.

2. Which state was hit by Hurricane Ida?

A．Oregon.

B．Washington.

C．Louisiana

3. How much rainfall was predicted in New York on June 12th, 2022?

A．3 to 6 inches.

B．6 to 9 inches.

C．9 to 10 inches.

4. What effect did the Yellowstone floods cause?

A．Over 600 homes were damaged.

B．Roads and bridges were shut.

C．Some people died.

3 . 读后续写

Crab Lessons

My son Geordi was a rather spirited boy. Very little held his attention for long. He spent most of his spare time thinking up new ways to scare me half to death. Like the time he decided to “surf” on a tiny plastic table that was meant to hold a few drinks rather than a six-year-old boy. Geordi had just begun learning about the ocean in school and was surprisingly fascinated by it. We lived in Delaware, so any discussion about the ocean usually included horseshoe crabs, which crowded our coasts to mate in the late spring.

As part of the lesson, Geordi’s teacher brought horseshoe crab shells (壳) to school for the children to touch and examine. Hearing that horseshoe crabs had been around for over 300 million years, even before the dinosaurs, Geordi thought that was officially the coolest thing he had ever heard. He could not stop talking about it for days, and I decided it was time for us to take a drive to the Delaware Bay.

As we stepped out from the car, strong wind nearly blew my poor forty-five-pound child to the ground. Being a six-year-old mischievous (调皮的) boy, Geordi saw this as an opportunity to showcase his amazing talents, which included falling down, getting up, falling down and, yes, getting up again. This, of course, was always complete with giggles (咯咯笑). The drama came to a sudden stop as Geordi spied the dozens of army-truck-looking creatures in the sand. The next sound effect was “Wow!” as his body froze and his eyes widened with wonder.

Geordi ran around excitedly, not knowing which one to check out first. He settled on a horseshoe crab that was on its back, legs waving wildly in the air, desperate for water. “Mom, look at this one!” he screamed. “He’s cool!” I pointed out the different body parts of the crab for him, and he listened quietly and absorbed the information. He said, “I really liked him. I think I will name him Spike because he had all those really cool, spiky (尖的) things on his back.” Then I picked up the crab, turned it over to its proper position and placed it at the edge of the water.

注意：
1.续写词数应为150 左右;
2.请按如下格式作答。

Geordi asked what I was doing.

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Geordi spotted many more horseshoe crabs on their backs.

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4 . Who can imagine life today without an Automated Teller Machine (ATM)? They are available in considerable numbers throughout the world.

The first ATM was the brainchild of an enterprising Turkish-American inventor Luther George Simjian. When the idea of an automated banking machine struck him, he registered 20 patents before any bank agreed to give it a trial run. It is easy to assume that the inventor of such a popular machine was laughing all the way to the bank.     1     Within six months of its operation in New York in 1939, the device was removed due to lack of customer acceptance.

It was not until 1967, nearly 30 years later, that Barclays Bank, in a careful launch, rolled out a self-service machine in London, England, which proved successful.     2     The first cash machine relied on customers’ use of prepaid tokens (代币) to get envelopes with a fixed amount of cash inside.

    3     The banks’ principle was seemingly customer service. But it would be foolish to minimize the many advantages that cash machines provided to the banks themselves. By the late 1970s, the highest fixed cost for the average large bank was its branches. The greatest variable cost and loss to profits were its staff. Bank accounts swiftly recognized that self-service operations could reduce bank branch staff cost by70 percent.

Experts quickly determined that public acceptance of ATMs counted on convenience, simplicity, speed, security and trust.     4     For maximum efficiency, ATMs had to be located near public transport or in a shopping mall, not at a branch. The busier and more crowded the location, obviously, the better. Now, roughly 75 percent of all cash provided by banks to their customers comes from cash machines.     5    .

Public acceptance of deposits (存款) by machine was significantly slower than customers’ usage of ATMs for withdrawals. In general, it seems that customers sometimes still prefer and trust an over-the-counter transaction (交易) for deposits.

A．Location, in particular, was a key factor.

B．His cash machine, however, didn’t prove durable.

C．The device was relatively primitive, at least by today’s standards.

D．However, cash machines posed some interesting, unanswered questions.

E．An interesting factor was the issue of bio-statistics for customer identification.

F．Devices originally dismissed by the public are now recognized as essential institutions.

G．Soon afterwards, many other banks became admittedly champions of the cash machine.

5 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1. Where does the conversation probably take place?

A．On the street.

B．At the man’s home.

C．In a camera shop.

2. How many camera shops are still open in town?

A．One.

B．Two.

C．Three.

3. Why does the man think some camera shops went out of business?

A．Cameras are old-fashioned.

B．People buy things on the Internet.

C．There are fewer photographers.

4. What will the man do this Saturday?

A．Go to a camera shop.

B．Take care of his friend’s kids.

C．Take pictures for a wedding.

6 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1. Why was the man in England?

A．He was on business there.

B．He was visiting there.

C．He moved there.

2. Where did the woman ever see the Queen?

A．In India.

B．In England.

C．In Canada.

3. Which of the following is hard for the king according to the man?

A．Being too old.

B．Living a full life.

C．Coming to power suddenly.

7 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。

In my childhood, under the influence of my el der brother and my peers in the neighborhood, I tried a number of outdoor activities. Of course, I was not so taken by all of them. whether I was doing them for the first time or continuously. However, fate had its own plans in store. You never know when an outdoor activity will change my life.

The name of this activity is “fishing”. About ten years ago, I didn't really like the idea of sitting on the bank of a lake or river, spending long hours under the sun's ultraviolet rays, which can cause sunburns and skin damage, and anxiously anticipating some fish to be kind to take my bait(诱饵). In fact, I used to think of this outdoor activity as some kind of “hide-and-seek-game” that is popular with most young kids, except that it was much harder because I could see my “prey (猎物)” only after catching it.

However, all that changed when I paid a visit to my aunt in the countryside during a summer holiday. I was finally convinced by one of my cousins to accompany him to a nearby lake in order to do some fishing practice with him. In fact, he even assured me that fish would eat my baits. So I agreed and went to the lake expecting to catch some fish. Before throwing my fishing line into the water, my cousin did some tricks attaching some sort of food to my fishing pole.

Learning to fish in a river or lake can be challenging for the beginners like me. The act of dropping a line is easy, but being a successful fisher is hard. That's why they call it fishing but not catching But with practice and patience, it can become easier over time. Patience is essential in lake fishing. It may take some time to find the right spot or lure (鱼饵) that will attract fish.

注意：1.续写词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。

My cousin had to repeatedly remind me to keep patient.

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When we finally left the lake, I had caught three fish!

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8 . “When we think of curiosity, we often think of the need for immediate answers,” said Abby Hsiung, Ph. D. , a postdoctoral researcher at the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences and lead author of a new research paper. “But we found that when people were more curious, they were actually more pleased to wait.”

“When we watch TV shows or football games, we’re watching that information develop over time, uncertain about how it’s all going to end,” said Hsiung. “I wanted to know if higher curiosity would push people to seek, or to avoid getting an immediate ‘spoiler’ (剧透).”

Hsiung drew inspiration from short cooking videos that are popular on social media. “These videos caught my attention because even though they’re so short, they manage to develop a description and suspense (悬念), so that you’re attracted and curious about how the pizza will all come together.” So Hsiung got out her digital paintbrush and made a lot of 30-second animated line drawing videos that, like the cooking videos, eventually ended up as something highly recognizable, like a hamburger or a dog.

More than 2,000 adults from across the U. S. then watched 25 of these short line drawing videos online. Participants in Hsiung’s study were asked along the way how curious they were, how they felt, and to guess what the drawing would become. Viewers also had a spoiler button to skip ahead to see the final drawing. Hsiung and her team were surprised to find that when people were curious, they refused to hit the spoiler button and kept watching the drawings unfold. It was when people were less curious that they tended to go for an instant answer.

The study also found that curiosity increased at different stages of watching these videos. “We saw higher curiosity during moments when it seemed like the drawing could turn into anything and also when participants were starting to really home in on a single answer,” said co-author Jia-Hou Poh, Ph. D. , a postdoctoral researcher at the Duke Institute for Brain Sciences.

1. What is the popular belief concerning curiosity?

A．It fuels the urge for answers.	B．It leads to endless patience.
C．It stresses the need to wait.	D．It brings the pleasure of waiting.

2. What inspired Hsiung to use her research approach?

A．The evolution the TV shows displayed.	B．The fantasy the short cooking videos shared.
C．The way the short cooking videos developed.	D．The popularity the short cooking videos achieved.

3. What were participants required to do?

A．Make drawings to take a shortcut.	B．Answer some questions while watching.
C．Press the spoiler button to finish the task.	D．Hunt for an answer as quickly as possible.

4. Which can be a suitable title for the text?

A．The influence of patience on curiosity	B．Curiosity delays eagerness for the answer
C．Curiosity arises from the patience of waiting	D．The way to hold back the urge for an answer

9 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1. What instrument did the speaker play when she was young?

A．The piano.

B．The guitar.

C．The violin.

2. Where is the theater located?

A．In London.

B．In Sydney.

C．In New York.

3. Why is winning this competition important to the listeners?

A．They’ll meet famous performers.

B．They’ll have a brighter future.

C．They’ll get a chance to travel the world.

4. How many hours will the performances last?

A．Three.

B．Four.

C．Seven.

10 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。续写的词数应为150左右。

We Survived Getting Swallowed by a Whale

Respect and revere (敬畏) nature. I’m Julie, 56 years old, living in San Luis Obispo, California, about four miles from the beach. Every few years, the humpback whales come into the bay for several days while migrating.

In November 2020, the whales were around, so I took out my yellow double kayak (皮划艇) to watch the wildlife. I paddled out the pier (长堤) and saw seals, dolphins, and about 20 whales feeding on silverfish. They sprayed through their blowholes. Each one is huge, about 15 metres long. Sometimes they turned side fins as if waving at me. It was incredible.

At the time, my friend Liz was with me. We had met 28 years earlier. I asked Liz if she wanted to see the whales. I really wanted to share the magnificent experience with her.

“No way,” she said. She’s terrified of whales and sharks. I promised that the craft was stable and safe enough. Moreover, humpback whales couldn’t swallow down kayaks for their throats were tight even though they had enormous mouths and white-wall-like internal mouth structures, not to mention that we got paddles and life jackets. After some persuasion, Liz finally agreed.

We set off at about 8:30 the next morning. There were already about 15 other kayakers in the bay. One hour later, I spotted two whales right past the pier, swimming toward us. We were in awe, feeling amazed to be so close to a creature that size.

When whales swam down after breaching (跃身激浪), they disappeared in ripples. I figured if we paddled there, we’d be safe since they’d just left. We followed them at a distance—or what I thought was a distance. I later learned that it’s recommended to keep 90 metres away, or about the length of a football   field. We were probably 18 metres away.

All of a sudden, a swarm (群) of fish started jumping out of the water into our kayak. Their movement sounded like crackling glass. Now I knew we were too close. I was terrified. Then our kayak was lifted out of the water—about two metres—and tipped back into the ocean. I figured the whale was going to drag us down somehow, and I had no idea how deep.

注意：1.续写词数应为150左右;
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。

I didn’t realize that Liz and I sitting in the kayak were in the whale’s mouth.

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Thankfully, the whale spitted us out, people paddling to help, shooting videos.

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