1 . Binge-watching (刷剧) is when a person watches more than one episode of a show in a row. With developments in the speed and connectivity of the Internet, increases in technology and the rise of on-demand entertainment companies, people can now have their favorite shows stream (流播) directly to their television at their convenience.
This behavior is nothing new. In fact, binge-watching has been officially listed in dictionaries since 2015. The entertainment companies recognize this behavior and many take steps to encourage it. Often, instead of releasing each episode on a week-by-week basis, an entire series will become available concurrently. Once the episode finishes, many platforms will display pop-ups with “you might like” suggestions, or will automatically play the next episode.
However, recent research suggests that out of the more than half of British adults who watch more than one episode of a show back-to-back (一集接一集地), almost a third have admitted missing sleep or becoming tired as a result; and 25% have neglected their household chores (家务活). Next we’ll be missing work!
Bingeing has other connections — binge eating, binge drinking and binge smoking. All of them are often associated with a lack of control and a possible route to addiction. Lindsey Fussell, consumer group director, said, “The days of waiting a week for the next episode are largely gone, with people finding it hard to resist (抗拒) watching multiple episodes around the house or on the move.” If people find binge-watching hard to resist, are we witnessing the birth of a new type of addiction?
The countless number of information and entertainment that television and online media can bring us is, many would say, a good thing. However, when the activity begins to bleed into other areas, causing us to stop functioning, then it becomes a problem. So, what’s the answer? Moderation! Neither a tiny amount, nor too much. After all, as the old proverb says, “A little of what you fancy does you good.”
1. How did the writer develop the first paragraph?| A．By giving a definition. | B．By telling a story. |
| C．By listing some examples. | D．By analyzing the cause and effect. |
| A．For convenience. | B．At the same time. |
| C．In detail. | D．Free of charge. |
| A．people can’t control their feelings | B．people can’t resist the temptation of Bingeing |
| C．people have no patience to do work | D．people are addicted to waiting for a new episode |
| A．To keep online media from stopping functioning. |
| B．To enjoy entertainment as much as possible. |
| C．To learn life lessons from the episodes. |
| D．To watch episodes in a moderate way. |
2 . If you search the internet these days, you’ll likely run across some strange-looking, yet cheerful cartoon characters. These computer-generated people have small heads and exaggerated bodies.
In 2017 Facebook paid a design team to develop a positive illustration system.
Why did Alegria art become popular so quickly? There are many reasons. As websites depended on illustrations to fill space, Alegria-type art became increasingly useful.
For many, however, Alegria is a nice visual language that represents happiness. From children hugging to couples dancing, the images are all about positive energy.
| A．The style is flat, simple and easy to create. |
| B．For some consumers, though, that’s a problem. |
| C．One of the designers took that message to heart. |
| D．For the netizens, Alegria helps build trust on the big companies. |
| E．No wonder Alegria is now the most popular style of illustrations for books. |
| F．All in all, it seems that Alegria is the perfect name for this playful, fun art style. |
| G．They’re created in bold colors with arms and legs that resemble giant wet noodles. |
Have you ever been so depressed that you can’t sleep? You also can’t eat. You can’t read. You have no friends to call up and nothing is good on TV. So you sigh, press your face down harder into your pillow, and shed a few tears.
This was my life two years ago. I had just turned 14 but already found life a struggle. As I lay in my bed one Saturday, Mom peeked (瞄) into my room to make her regular “Is Emily still alive” check. I knew that if I spent more time like this, she would begin dusting me. After suggesting a few things for me to do that I immediately rejected, Mom made her move, “Emily! Get dressed! I’m taking the dog out for a walk, and you’re coming with me!” “Why?” I protested. “Because it’ll make you feel better.”
The thought of moving was unbearable. I felt as if all of my body parts were weighed down by tons of bricks I couldn’t remember the last time I had gone outside. Somehow I found the strength to slip on a pair of jeans and a black sweatshirt. Mom was waiting at the door, leash (狗绳) in hand and dog at her side.
Then, we stepped outside. It was a warm March day and it had been a long time since the warmth of the sun had touched my cheeks. Mom led the dog and me down some dirt paths, through a big field and reached Halsey Pond. But the signs of spring had yet to appear and the scene was rather colorless throughout the entire journey.
“I’m tired! It’s boring, Mom! When can we go home?” “Not yet,” she’d say. Mom stopped to say hi to every jogger, dog walker, runner, and bicyclist who passed us. Sometimes she would get into a conversation. They would talk about weather, dogs, and all small talk topics. She seemed happy, and was literally glowing (容光焕发). After walking for what seemed an age, Mom finally said it was time to go back.
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。
Paragraph 1: When I got home, a new feeling seemed to be awakened.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2: A new Saturday found me asking Mom if I could take the dog out.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________It was summer. My dad finally decided to take me on a special trip to Inner Mongolia that day, which made me excited.
We took a plane to Hohhot, the provincial capital of Inner Mongolia. The moment we got off the plane in the late afternoon, we saw Uncle Zhang, a farmer whose house we had booked, welcoming us over there. He picked us up from the airport and drove us up to his farm.
His wife, Aunt Liu cooked us a delicious dinner and we got to know his family. My dad and I spent the night in the guestroom of the farm house listening to the birds singing in the grasslands. Very early in the morning, Uncle Zhang woke us up to have breakfast. “The day starts at dawn on my farm,” he said. After breakfast, my dad began to ride horses with Uncle Zhang.
In the afternoon, Uncle Zhang wondered if I would take a horse ride. I said I would if my dad accompanied me. So, my dad and I got on our horses, and headed slowly towards the distance. Soon after, Uncle Zhang’s farm was out of sight behind.
After a long period, we stopped our horses, and began to enjoy the beautiful green grassland ahead. The cool wind was slightly blowing our face. Once in a while we could still hear some birds sing in the woods nearby. It was so peaceful and quiet. I had never been so relaxed before.
注意:1. 续写词数应为100左右;
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Paragraph 1:
Suddenly a little rabbit jumped out in front of my horse.
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Paragraph 2:
We had no idea where we were and it was getting dark.
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I stood in the restaurant kitchen, my eyes wide, arms hanging awkwardly, ready to work but unsure of what to do. “You will be trained first,” my manager Aaron said, “and do remember to check every detail!” With these words, he walked away.
A workmate threw me a dish brush and said, “Let’s get started.” He introduced me to the basics of washing dishes and demonstrated the process. This was the beginning of my part-time job, a new stage where I was both eager to learn and anxious about the challenges ahead.
On a Friday night, Aaron swiftly entered the kitchen. “Who has just bused (收拾) the back right table?” he shouted, his voice sharp with urgency. My hands, slippery with bubbles from the bowl I was washing, nearly let it slip through my fingers. I wanted to say I was guilty, but Aaron’s cold stare didn’t promise a happy reward for the guy who admitted. Finally, a mix of fear and my own conscience pushed the response out of my mouth.
“I did, Aaron.”
“What were you thinking? Get back out here and look at what you missed!” His words forced me forward. I grabbed a rag (抹布) and followed him out to table twenty-two. As we made our way through the restaurant, he said something about rags, but I didn’t hear clearly with other conversations going on around us.
I quickly realized the true issue was the mess beneath the table. A nearly full cup of beer had tipped over, creating a small lake on the floor. It was a significant mistake on my part. “Take care of it!” Aaron tuned and stormed off to the front of the restaurant.
I dropped down to clean up the beer. That was when another problem occurred. I had brought only one rag. One already wet rag. It did nothing but increase the size of the lake. “More rags,” I thought. Immediately, I rushed into the kitchen and hurriedly grabbed five dry rags, hoping Aaron wouldn’t notice my brief absence.
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。
I had just rushed out when I found Aaron standing in my way.
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After cleaning up the mess, I reflected on Aaron’s words.
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6 . With artificial intelligence (AI) and robotic technology improving at impressive rates, there are some who worry that there’s a risk of artistic and creative people being replaced. A new study by the Korean Institute of Industrial Technology, however, is showing exactly why that can’t and shouldn’t happen. It all started when the South Korean company posed this question: Can robots replace conductors?
Over a year ago, work to develop automaton (自动化) began. At first, it was designed like a machine, and didn’t live up to expectations. Then the company sought ways to improve it. In the end, it was given two arms with joints to copy wrists and elbows, allowing it to move a stick similarly to how a human conductor would move it. It was named the EverR 6 robot, and stands at 1.8 meters. It was finally time to figure out how it could follow through on its musical role.
“We got involved in this project to see how far robots can go in more creative fields like the arts, and what the challenges are,” Dong-wook Lee, a senior researcher at the Korean Institute of Industrial Technology said.
In order to pull this off, Dong-wook Lee cooperated with the Busan Philharmonic Orchestra. The 12-minute piece they planned to perform, “Feel” by Il-hoon Son, was created specifically for this event. It was created with the strengths of both EverR 6 and the human conductor, Soo-yeol Choi, in mind.
To pull off this impressive performance, the robot was preprogrammed to conduct through 30 cycles of beat patterns. Meanwhile, it was up to the human conductor to lead the orchestra in creating an improvisational (即兴的) score, adding depth to the otherwise planned piece.
Together, they pulled off a masterful performance that the audience seemed more than happy to have had the opportunity to witness it firsthand!
With the concert having gone so well, this is only the start of EverR 6. Still, no matter the improvements they’re able to make to this Android robot, the human conductor isn’t concerned about being replaced.
“Let’s leave the accuracy to the robots,” Soo-yeol Choi said, “but the musical and artistic aspects to a human conductor.”
1. What is paragraph 2 mainly about?| A．The function of the EverR 6 robot. |
| B．The development of the EverR 6 robot. |
| C．The EverR 6 robot’s role as a conductor. |
| D．The difficulty in designing the EverR 6 robot. |
| A．It is a piece familiar to the audience. |
| B．It is a piece showing the human-robot cooperation. |
| C．It is the only piece that EverR 6 will perform. |
| D．It is a piece requiring great ability to conduct. |
| A．He corrected the robot’s mistakes. |
| B．He programmed the EverR 6 robot. |
| C．He led the improvisational section of the performance. |
| D．He was the main conductor of the Busan Philharmonic Orchestra. |
| A．Unclear. | B．Uncaring. | C．Supportive. | D．Doubtful. |
Beth brought Louis to me when she came to visit me again.
I had to quit school and stay in the recovery center because of a rare disease. Beth was my best friend in the writing workshop. We just clicked. We both dreamed of taking writing as our career. So we often wrote about our life and shared it with each other. We even promised each other to co-author a book, a book of our own. But now ...
“I’m applying for my college this term. So I’ll be very busy in the following days. Please help me look after Louis, please ... Just drop me a quick note about it when it’s convenient for you.” She pressed her hands tightly together and looked at me anxiously. I stared at Louis, feeling bitter but hard to refuse. Beth kissed me goodbye.
That evening, I was left alone in the room, with the dog. Louis looked at me, shaking his tail. But I felt uninterested, so I lay on the bed, closing my eyes. Then some noises woke me up.
It was Louis, of course. This six-month-old puppy was laboriously(费力地) dragging his. large, hard-sided carrier. I watched in amazement. Then Louis dragged his worldly possessions, one by one: first, his bowl, then his ball and sweater. This project took most of the evening.
What happened next made me realize that not only did this dog have a mission but he obviously put thought and reasoning into each move. He took each of the personal items and put them in the carrier. After Louis finished packing his “suitcase”, he attempted to jump inside.
The message was quite clear. He wanted to go see his “mommy”—Beth. He must have seen her pack her suitcase and go away. He must do the same so he could find her.
It was so interesting that I couldn’t help taking out a pen and beginning to describe the whole thing in great detail and then emailed it to Beth. I almost got Beth’s reply immediately.
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。
“Tell me more about Louis.” Beth begged at the end of her email.
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That summer, Beth gave me a special gift—a book of Louis’ daily journal.
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When I was in middle school, my family moved to Seattle, where my parents started their new business — a small grocery store downstairs my house. As a girl of shy and reserved nature, I had to take a fresh start to fit into the sophisticated city life.
One sunny day, my school announced an exciting event, a talent show for the local food bank. Students were encouraged to showcase their unique talents in front of the public in the city hall on National Day. A buzz of excitement fed the school as everyone began preparing for the big day. Deep down, I felt a spark of curiosity and a desire to participate. However, my self-doubt held me back, “I don’t have any special skills to share.”
Days turned into weeks, and the talent show drew closer. I couldn’t shake the upsetting feeling until one day, Emma, one of the most popular girls in my class, came to me while I was helping in the grocery store after class. “How about singing together in the talent show?” She grinned, “I heard you singing a tune, along the way back home. I can’t help following you here.” Gosh, I couldn’t believe my ears. Emma, with personality and popularity, acknowledged my little talent. Since Emma had the world’s prettiest voice, I felt like being favoured by fortune.
“You two? The talent show for the food bank?” My mum bent towards us and her face lit up. “A big occasion.” Then a light bulb seemed to go in her head. “Why not practise right now upstairs? I bet you’ll be a perfect match.” Winking at us, she seemed to know we were thinking alike.
Emma and I embarked on rehearsing almost every single day after school. We brainstormed, exchanged ideas and rehearsed the scene. As the days rolled by, I was feeling pretty good about our act. But the day before the performance, Emma called that she had an acute stomachache and was not in any shape to perform.
注意：1.所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Paragraph 1:
I was completely knocked out by the news.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2:
Finally came the big moment.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Holidays are not necessarily for fun or rest. Doing something meaningful can also gain special pleasure. When the final bell rang, the students were reminded that there was no school on Monday—the Labor Day. “Enjoy your extra day off” said the teacher to her class.
An extra day off unsuited Kayla just fine. She loved breaks. She wanted to go out to play with her friends. When the school bus dropped Kayla off, she ran into the house happily.
“How was school, Kayla?” asked her mom.
“It was great, Mom. I am excited about no school on Monday.”
“You just started back to school two weeks ago. Already in need of a break, huh?” asked Kayla’s mom with a laugh.
Kayla slept in the next morning. Saturday was her favorite day of the week. I trained most of the day, so Kayla enjoyed playing videogames inside. On Sunday, her friends came over and they played basketball for several hours.
Then it was Labor Day, you know, the extra day off that Kayla was so looking forward to. But Kayla was awakened early that morning by her dad. He told Kayla that in honor of Labor Day, the family would be cleaning both inside and outside the house. Kayla couldn’t believe it. This was a holiday. A day when she was supposed to be enjoying freshly squeezed lemonade while playing in her tree house. As Kayla wiped here yes, she began to wonder if this was just a bad dream.
“Kayla, your breakfast is ready. We have a lot of work to do today. Let’s get a move on,” said Kayla’s mom. As she sat down at the kitchen table, Kayla asked her parents，
“Are you serious about working today? Isn’t Labor Day a holiday?”
“Yes, Kayla. It is,” replied her dad. “But your mom and I thought working hard today would make you appreciate why Labor Day was observed in the first place.”
注意：1.所续写短文的词数应为150左右;2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
At first Kayla felt disappointed at her parents’ plan for the holiday.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________But things began to change as she was doing the chores.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I’ve always known that I’m very quick with my hands. If someone throws something, I catch it almost before I’m aware it has been thrown. When I was young, I had no idea how useful this skill would become.
Last week, I was going to visit a friend with her newborn and was on my way to a toy store to buy a gift. I’d once lived in the neighbourhood and I decided to head back to my old cupcake shop for a coffee. Sitting alone at a table outside with my drink, I was approached by an older man, who in a calm and very matter-of-fact way told me to call 911, because there was a baby on a fire escape.
I jumped up to see where the baby was. I was so surprised to see it, wearing a little onesie (连体衣) and lying on the fire escape railings (栏杆) between the second and third storeys. I was nervous, so the baby boy became my only priority.
As I was on the phone to the emergency services, I made eye contact with the child, keeping him calm, telling him to stay there. Some people were going up the stairs to find the parents, who were apparently sleeping through the whole drama.
I just wanted the child to feel safe. I hoped he’d stay there until somebody could rescue him. Apparently he had slipped through pieces of cardboard placed next to an air-conditioning unit in the window, and without bars to protect him he’d crawled (爬) out and up the fire escape towards the next storey. He was only 16 months old. For him to even climb up and balance in that position was incredible.
Then he slipped. Instinctively (本能), he grabbed on the railing as he fell, hanging by his arms. I knew he couldn’t hold on, 25 feet above the street, for long. I sensed people had gathered behind, but my attention was purely focused on my intention to catch the baby.
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 made sure I was positioned to catch him.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The moments after he was saved were exciting.
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