1 . My mom loved to pass her wisdom to me: ”Nothing beats a good bite that bites back.” She was referring to her bitter-taste foods like dill pickles and rhubarb (大黄叶). But I was not a big fan.
Three years ago, I finally decided to ask if I could
When I was a kid and my mom gave me that pie, it made me
Then, last summer, I came across the
Since then I’ve come to a
A.dig | B.check | C.figure | D.smell |
A.Absolutely | B.Possibly | C.Basically | D.Technically |
A.warm | B.anxious | C.curious | D.sharp |
A.talent | B.affection | C.patience | D.ambition |
A.asking | B.weeding | C.assessing | D.walking |
A.makes for | B.takes in | C.breaks through | D.puts down |
A.admire | B.miss | C.ignore | D.question |
A.friend | B.doctor | C.parent | D.child |
A.grateful | B.content | C.guilty | D.reluctant |
A.enlarge | B.cancel | C.sweeten | D.postpone |
A.obtained | B.gathered | C.praised | D.avoided |
A.letter | B.bill | C.recipe | D.menu |
A.break | B.shot | C.second | D.rest |
A.resolution | B.suggestion | C.decision | D.conclusion |
A.appreciate | B.achieve | C.tolerate | D.provide |
2 . The recent reports of a 4-year-old girl on a Shanghai beach have gone viral on social media platforms, provoking debate about whether China should criminalize negligence in child supervision.
The father of the little girl claimed that he left her alone on the beach for about 12 minutes to fetch his phone. However, she was nowhere to be found when he was back. Surveillance (监控) videos show that she waited for about 10 minutes before walking toward the water’s edge alone, and then disappeared into the water. Two weeks later, her body was discovered about 100 kilometers away in neighboring Zhejiang Province.
The core issue in this case is the father’s leaving his young daughter unattended on the beach, causing her tragic death. Should such behavior, when it causes harm to a child, be seen as a criminal act? In an online survey, more than 90 percent of respondents insisted that the father be held legally responsible and face criminal punishments.
Nevertheless, according to Liu Chunquan, a lawyer, it may not satisfy the criteria for criminal negligence, since the primary focus of Chinese criminal law is on extreme cases of parental neglect, such as physical abuse and mental torture. Rarely do legal authorities charge parents; instead, they are just likely to face penalties consisting of warnings and fines.
In 2022, a 2-year-old baby drowned in a cesspool while in the company of his father. The court ruled shared responsibility between the father and the cesspool’s owner, with a 7:3 proportion. The owner was ordered to pay 20,000 yuan to the child’s family. Unluckily, similar cases do exist nationwide. Roughly, 100,000 children lose their lives in accidents annually in China, which is largely due to negligence, such as parents leaving their children unattended, either in locked cars or at home. Besides, drowning is now the main cause of death for children aged 1 to 14 years old.
It is no wonder that an increasing number of netizens request that specific laws and regulations be passed to ensure the safety of children and their well-being. Hopefully, criminalizing child supervision negligence in China can serve as a warning and precaution.
However, downsides of introducing such legislation may also emerge. For instance, it’s difficult to distinguish between a regrettable accident and criminal negligence, so that over-criminalization can be triggered, in which well-meaning parents making honest mistakes are charged with a crime.
Therefore, a more balanced approach to addressing the issue of infant safety should involve a combination of new legislation, education and support services. The ultimate objective is to prevent similar catastrophes in the future. We must recognize that children are not only their parents’ offspring, but also the nation’s future.
1. What can we infer from the tragedy of the 4-year-old girl?A.Her father’s carelessness and negligence should be to blame. |
B.The beach in Shanghai should not be open to small children. |
C.Her father has been sentenced to severe penalties by the police. |
D.She would have survived if she had not waited in the water for a long time. |
A.Irresponsible adults contribute to children’s death. | B.People can’t be too concerned about child safety. |
C.Kids shouldn’t be allowed to swim alone. | D.Parents’ constant monitoring is a must. |
A.the mild penalties in the existing laws | B.parents’ ignorance of potential dangers |
C.frequent occurrence of such incidents | D.masses of netizens’ urgent appeals |
A.Indifferent. | B.Negative. | C.Objective. | D.Supportive. |
3 . Expecting to travel abroad but lacking a loose budget? Interested in meaningful volunteering programs but worried about issues like your security or working conditions? Here comes a right place for you — Kindred Spirit Elephant Sanctuary (保护区).
Highlights
Volunteering with elephants and bringing them back into their natural habitat
Making a difference in the conservation efforts to save elephants living under awful conditions
Helping teach English to the communities and raising awareness about the captive (圈养的) elephant situation
Wandering the forests and observe elephant’s natural behaviors in their home environment
Our Sanctuary
Our sanctuary has rescued 5 elephants from the tourism industry and we have now brought them home to live out their lives in the forest, in semi-wild conditions. We need volunteers to help us keep these elephants happy and healthy in their natural habitat. With volunteer support, we hope to return more elephants to the forest soon.
Your tasks
Performing research on the natural elephant behaviors and the surrounding forest
Taking part in community projects such as teaching English at the school and to other locals
Carrying out litter pick-ups with the kids to educate on waste management
Your Rough Schedule:
Day 1: Pickup from Chiang Mai at 9 am. Travel through a national park and stunning mountains until you arrive in our unique village. Meet your homestay family and the other volunteers, and immerse yourself in hill tribe culture.
Day 2: Wake up early to hike in the forest and find our elephants. Spend the morning recording and learning about these amazing animals and their natural behaviors. Return to the village in the late afternoon and take part in our community & camp & teaching projects.
Day 3: Another early start to hike to observe our elephants one last time. Return to Chiang Mai in the afternoon.
1. Which of the following is a feature of volunteer work at the sanctuary?A.Looking after captive elephants with the locals. |
B.Seeking and observing elephants in natural forests. |
C.Helping rescue elephants living in the poor environment. |
D.Teaching people to conserve elephants’ natural habitat. |
A.You should participate in anti-poverty projects. |
B.You should have the great ability to go hiking for days. |
C.You should master local languages and know about tribe culture. |
D.You should undertake research into wild elephants independently. |
A.A holiday brochure. | B.A travel journal. |
C.A geographical essay. | D.An educational website. |
“What’s that squeaky noise?” Meg asked her eight-year-old daughter, Haley. She looked down at the girl’s shoes and noticed her sneakers’ soles had been torn open. Meg and Haley were on their way home from school, and it had just stopped raining. Water on the road had leaked into Haley’s damaged shoes, making a squishy noise.
Meg immediately took her daughter to a shoe store to buy her a new pair of sneakers. She had some money for groceries but thought getting Haley a new pair of shoes was more important. “How about these?” asked Haley, who was checking shoes in the section only for boys. “Mama, I want these limited-edition sneakers. Buddy loves a TV show and always tells me how he wishes to wear such shoes.”
Meg frowned. Not only did she not have money to afford two pairs of shoes, but she wondered why Haley was too interested in getting her classmate Buddy a new pair. Sensing her mother’s hesitation, Haley continued, “Buddy is from a very poor family, mama. Poorer than us. His shoes are torn and look miserable. Everybody laughs at him. Please, can we buy these shoes for him? You can buy mine later.”
Meg thought for a while and decided it would be best if she bought her daughter shoes for now. “You will fall sick if you keep wearing your wet, torn shoes. I’m sorry, honey, but you need a new pair.” Haley sighed heavily and agreed. She was not excited to see the new pair of sneakers her mom had bought for her.
As Meg and Haley left, Bob, the shoe store owner who knew Meg well, walked to the entrance and sighed. He had overheard everything and knew what it was like to live in poverty. He wanted to help Haley fulfill her mission of helping Buddy but didn’t know how. Moreover, the pair of shoes Haley wanted to get for Buddy was a limited-edition collection, which had been ordered by someone else. He could not simply give them away.
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。
Suddenly, Bob remembered something and climbed downstairs where old shoes were stored.
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The next morning, Haley was shocked to find a shoe box lying outside her house.
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5 . Electronic timing is older than most people imagine and was used for the first time more than a hundred years ago at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics. Initially, the well-known company Ericsson was tasked with developing the technology, but it was the Swedish inventor Ragnar Carlstedt who eventually created the final product.
At the same time, Carlstedt introduced another invention: the finish line camera. The 1, 500-meter Olympic final was extremely close with Arnold Jackson from Great Britain winning by only 0.1 seconds. But it was impossible to decide on the silver medal since the two Americans Abel Kiviat and Norman Taber finished side by side. For the first time in history, the outcome of an Olympic event had to be settled based on a photo finish when Kiviat was judged to be “slightly ahead”.
The significance of these two inventions led a major newspaper to write: “Electronic timing at the Olympic Games. Simultaneous (同时发生的) timing and photography of contestants. A brilliant idea!”
The next step in timekeeping was the photo-finish camera with a time stamp imprinted on each picture, which was introduced at the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles. The 1948 Olympics saw the introduction of another invention with the continuous slit camera (狭缝摄影机), where a film behind a narrow slit rolls (滚动) with the same speed as the runners. Four years later the clocks were connected to the slit camera giving a solution of 1/100 s. But it was not until 1972 that official times were recorded to the 100th of a second.
The next big step in the eighties was to make the camera digital to speed up the feedback (反馈). But the idea behind the slit camera was kept and is still the basis of all timing systems for athletics used today. The only difference is that now there is a very narrow sensor array ( 阵列传感器) instead of the moving film.
After a century technology has reached the point where the whole timing system can be stored in a smartphone. So in a way, the circle was closed when SprintTimer, a sports timer and photo finish app, was developed in the same place and precisely a hundred years after Ragnar Carlstedt.
1. What do we know about electronic timing?A.It was created in recent years. |
B.It was first introduced at the Olympics. |
C.It was developed by the well-known company Ericsson. |
D.It was perfected by the Swedish inventor Ragnar Carlstedt. |
A.The increasing need for a finish line camera. |
B.The excellent performance of Arnold Jackson. |
C.The significant role of Carlstedt's another invention. |
D.The intense competition of the 1,500-meter Olympic final. |
A.It avoided the use of a moving film. |
B.It rolled with the same speed as the runners. |
C.It made a 100th-of-a-second record possible. |
D.It adopted a new idea for all timing systems used today. |
A.Further improvement was discontinued. |
B.The problem was back to the origin. |
C.A new invention was created. |
D.The issue was resolved. |
1. What information can visitors learn about in the museum?
A.Different trees. | B.Wild birds. | C.The weather. |
A.Last Thursday. | B.Last Saturday. | C.Last Sunday. |
A.About 15 minutes. | B.About 20 minutes. | C.About 30 minutes. |
A.One under 15. | B.One under 17. | C.One under 18. |
注意:1.词数100词左右;
2.可以适当增加细节,以使行文连贯。
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It was my twelfth birthday, and what I really wanted most was a new bicycle. But I knew that my family couldn’t afford one, so I settled for a bedside table with lockable drawers, a safe place to keep my private stuff.
We went to the charity shop where we found an old dark one. It didn’t look too cool, but I thought that I would paint it to make it look better.
After we took it home, I was getting ready to paint it. When I pulled the drawers out. I felt something stuck to the back. I reached in all the way, and guess what? A sealed bag with some papers in it.
When I opened the bag, I realized that the papers were official documents. And, wrapped in them were a bunch of ten and twenty dollar bills! Talk about finding a treasure! And on my birthday!
“Is this some kind of joke?” I said aloud. I went ahead and read the papers, and it turned out to be a will. Some old lady was leaving her savings for her son and grandchildren.
My mind was going crazy. Was I the luckiest twelve-year-old ever? With this money I could buy the coolest bicycle. Who knows?
I began counting. When I reached a thousand dollars, my mother was knocking on my bedroom door. I quickly closed the drawer with the money in it.
“Do you want some help? Is everything all right?” she asked.
No, everything was not right. Actually, my stomach was growling (低吼).
“I’m okay,” I lied.
When my mother left my room, I lay on my bed, starting thinking. What a dilemma (窘境)! I wished there were some one I could talk with. Could I keep it and get all kinds of stuff for me and my family? It wouldn’t be too bad for me to keep it, if I shared it...right? Thoughts ran through my mind. But I really didn’t need someone else to give me the answer.
注意:1. 续写词数应为150左右;
2. 请按格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
I finally made a decision and called my parents into my bedroom.
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Though surprised, the shop owner helped find the family’s telephone number.
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10 . In the clinic, I asked if Michael could be retested, so the doctor tested him again. To my
Later that evening, I
We moved to Indiana in 1962, and Michael studied at Concordia High School in the same year. He got
Michael
On graduation day in 1972, Frank and I
Interestingly, Michael then
Children often do as
A.joy | B.surprise | C.dislike | D.disappointment |
A.tearfully | B.fearfully | C.cheerfully | D.hopefully |
A.student | B.son | C.friend | D.doctor |
A.argued | B.realized | C.decided | D.understood |
A.joke | B.mistake | C.warning | D.wonder |
A.specially | B.strictly | C.naturally | D.carefully |
A.poor | B.good | C.average | D.standard |
A.comfort | B.embarrassment | C.failure | D.loss |
A.visited | B.chose | C.left | D.entered |
A.allowed | B.described | C.needed | D.offered |
A.missed | B.held | C.delayed | D.attended |
A.high | B.same | C.low | D.different |
A.curiously | B.eagerly | C.calmly | D.jokingly |
A.confidence | B.interest | C.pride | D.delight |
A.looked for | B.asked for | C.waited for | D.prepared for |
A.received | B.passed | C.organized | D.discussed |
A.imperfect | B.impossible | C.uncertain | D.unsatisfactory |
A.honestly | B.much | C.well | D.bravely |
A.hear | B.learn | C.expect | D.speak |
A.wise | B.rude | C.shy | D.stupid |