1 . Worth nearly $1trn, Facebook is the world’s sixth-most-valuable company. Its revenues have grown by 56% in the past year, and its share price by more than a quarter. Nearly 3bn people use its products every month. Why did such a successful company change its name as Meta?

The likely official reason for the rebranding is that the firm has outgrown the social network that Mark Zuckerberg started 17 years ago in a Harvard dorm. Today it includes other social apps (Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger) and video hardware (Oculus, Portal). It has launched a digital wallet (Novi) and may yet offer a currency (Diem). Mr Zuckerberg expects people eventually to associate his firm more with the “metaverse”(元宇宙), a virtual space for work, play and more, than with social media.

Facebook wouldn’t be the first tech giant to do so. In 2015 Google set up Alphabet, a holding company for the search engine and its many side projects. Under this model, Facebook would become just another app within a wider family, though by far it has been the biggest earner.

There is another possible motive for a makeover. For all its financial success, the Facebook brand has become tarnished. The social network is blamed for fueling everything from teenage anorexia(厌食症) to uprising at the US Capitol. Public trust in it is lower than in most tech giants, and falling. Although two years ago the firm started branding its apps as being “from Facebook”, its new smart glasses, which can record video and take phone calls, feature only the logo of its partner, Ray-Ban. A former employee revealed that Facebook was trying to cover up a drop in young American users.

Mr Zuckerberg himself has been a reason for much of the criticism of Facebook, and of bossy tech firms more generally. As the all-powerful founder, he has a higher profile than his opposite numbers at TikTok, YouTube and other social networks. Normally, a brand facing a reputational crisis might dump its unpopular CEO. But Mr Zuckerberg’s position is immovable, which may explain why he would want to dump the brand instead.

1. Facebook changed its name because________.

A．it wanted people to associate its name with universe

B．it was trying to follow the fashion led by Google

C．it expected to expand its business to a wider range

D．its former name has brought bad reputation to the company

2. What can we know about Facebook?

A．It was founded by Zuckerberg in Harvard’s dormitory.

B．It has a positive influence on teenagers’ mind and actions.

C．It is as popular among young people in the US as it was.

D．It produced smart glasses with two companies’ logos on it.

3. What does the underlined word “tarnished” mean in the passage?

A．distinguished

B．abandoned

C．globalized

D．spoiled

4. This passage probably appears in________.

A．a science review	B．a business magazine
C．a technical report	D．the website of Facebook

2 .            a torch, the vicar went up into the clock tower to see what was going on.

A．Arming with	B．Armed himself with
C．Being armed with	D．Armed with

3 . A new exhibition in Paris aims to show how England in the middle ages was very much part of Europe’s dynamic art, architectural, trade and culture scene between AD1000 and AD1500.

Organizers said the event would discredit the “popular perception” – mainly across the Channel – that medieval England was “primitive and barbaric”, while France and parts of Europe enjoyed a gothic zenith.

James Robinson, the exhibition curator, said there had been a “reassessment” of England’s contribution to European art in the middle ages over the past half a century. “I’d like to blow apart the popular perception that the middle ages were all about pestilence(plague), the Black Death and religious repression, and demonstrate the artistic and technical excellence that was evident ,” he said. “When you look at the art works in this exhibition you will see some of the true masterpieces of the age.”

Unfortunately, while France and other European countries largely preserved their medieval treasures, England’s artistic heritage was “systematically and ruthlessly decimated” by the 16th -century Reformation and the revolution led by Oliver Cromwell in the 1640s. The English Reformation , after Henry VIII wrested the Church of England away from the authority of the Catholic church in Rome, saw the king’s chief minister, Thomas Cromwell, close down the monasteries, confiscating their riches and in many cases dismantling the buildings.“All things of value were spoiled, plucked away or utterly defaced…and it seemed every person was intent upon filching and spoiling what he could, ” wrote Michael Sherbrook, the 16th-century rector of Wickersley near Roche Abbey in South Yorkshire .

Among the exhibits at the Paris exhibition that opens on Friday are rare treasures that escaped the 16th- and 17th -century pillage and destruction, including the Gloucester Candlestick, the Becket Casket, the Clare Chasuble, the Luck of Edenhall and the Syon Cope. Marie Lavandier, the president of France’s National Monuments Centre, said:“The exhibition highlights the extraordinary richness of the artistic exchanges that united England with continental Europe. At this moment when we are interrogating ourselves about our relationship with Europe, what the exhibition is also demonstrating is that we have always been closely tied to it in terms of commerce and diplomatic relationships.”

1. What’s the popular perception of England in the middle ages?

A．England was the centre of the medieval culture

B．England enjoyed the top level in gothic art

C．England lagged far behind France and other parts of Europe in art

D．England had the advanced and first-rate architecture then

2. What’s the meaning of the underlined word “decimated” in paragraph 4?

A．refreshed

B．replicated

C．promoted

D．undermined

3. From Michael Sherbrook’s comment we can learn that__________

A．Destructions were plotted by France and other European countries

B．Artistic treasures suffered huge loss under the Church of England

C．He was totally astonished about what happened

D．The Catholic church should be responsible for the whole event

4. What does the passage mainly talk about?

A．The chaos medieval age of England

B．The Paris exhibition dispels myth of “primitive” England in middle ages

C．How to enjoy a new exhibition in Paris

D．An introduction to artistic exchanges in England

4 . Child developmental psychologist Jean Piaget convinced us that young, undeveloped minds couldn’t handle complex concepts because they simply weren’t experienced or mature enough yet. Piaget, _________, believed that young kids could not understand cause and effect, that they couldn’t think logically, and that they also couldn’t handle abstract ideas.

But child development specialists are finding out that preschoolers without any formal education may have the capacity to understand more complex concepts than we give them _________ for.

Alison Gopnik, professor of psychology at University of California Berkeley and her team devised a way to test how well young kids understand the abstract concept of _________ cause and effect—the idea that there may be more than one cause for a single effect. They picked preschoolers around 4 years old _________ undergraduates. The study _________ a toy that could be turned on by placing a single blue colored block on the toy’s tray, but could also be activated if two blocks-orange and purple-were placed on the tray.

The preschoolers were expert at _________ that the blue blocks turned on the toy, as did the purple and orange ones, but that the purple and orange ones needed to be paired together. The undergraduates, however, had a _________ time accepting the latter solution. Their previous experience in the world hampered their ability to accept the unusual rules that _________ the toy.

Researchers from Johns Hopkins University found a similar effect among preschoolers when it came to math. Previous studies showed that if you present infants with eight objects over and over until they got bored, and then showed them 16, they suddenly _________ interest and sensed that things change. Even before they are taught about numbers or amounts, then, infants seem to have a grasp on quantity. “All the evidence so far leads us to believe that this is something that babies come into the world with,” says Melissa Kibbe, co-author of that study. According to her research, the preschoolers had some __________ of quantity, and the appropriate amount that they needed to get from a small quantity to a larger one.

Kibbe’s and Gopnik’s recent work may have broader __________ for education, since current math curricula in schools may not be ideal for __________ the number sense that kids are born with. “There’s an exciting movement in psychology over the past decade, as we learn that students bring certain capabilities, or inborn knowledge that we hadn’t thought they had before,” says Jon Star, at the Harvard University Graduate School of Education.

Though it may be too early to __________ such findings to the classroom, the results lay the ground work for studying similar inborn skills and how they might be better understood. “The hard part is, __________, how you build up and upon this intuitive knowledge in a way that allows a child to capture the complexity but not hold them back.” says Tina Grotzer, associate professor of education at Harvard. Taking advantage of a child’s still developing sense of numbers and quantities is one thing, but __________ it with too many new constructs about algebra, unknowns, and problem solving may just end up negatively affecting his learning and academic performance. “As soon as concepts get big and complex, there are all sorts of perceptual, attentional, and cognitive costs and challenges involved,” she says.

1.

A．in fact

B．in particular

C．in contrast

D．in comparison

2.

A．criticism

B．credit

C．attention

D．advance

3.

A．overall

B．essential

C．concrete

D．multiple

4.

A．against

B．beyond

C．after

D．over

5.

A．knocked around

B．powered on

C．turned off

D．centered on

6.

A．pulling out

B．spelling out

C．pointing out

D．figuring out

7.

A．merrier

B．shorter

C．harder

D．rougher

8.

A．motivated

B．activated

C．assembled

D．empowered

9.

A．enhanced

B．resumed

C．rejected

D．altered

10.

A．taste

B．attempt

C．concept

D．expertise

11.

A．instructions

B．substitutes

C．implementations

D．implications

12.

A．complementing

B．discovering

C．challenging

D．nurturing

13.

A．transfer

B．translate

C．stretch

D．compare

14.

A．literally

B．theoretically

C．educationally

D．previously

15.

A．associating

B．intruding

C．blending

D．overloading

5 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。1.

A．Beautiful scenery in the countryside.	B．Cross-country skiing.
C．Dangers of winter sports.	D．Pain and pleasure in sports.

2.

A．He can’t find good examples to illustrate his point.

B．He can’t find a peaceful place to do the assignment.

C．He can’t decide whether to include the effort part of skiing.

D．He doesn’t know how to describe the beautiful country scenery.

3.

A．New ideas come up as you write.

B．Much time is spent on collecting data.

C．It’s hard to find a proper topic.

D．The writer’s point of view often changes.

4.

A．How to revise a paper in an academic manner.

B．How to polish your arguments in a paper.

C．How to tell the main ideas in a paper effectively.

D．How to decide on relevant content for a paper.

6 . The number of American seniors is growing more quickly than any other portion of the population.     1    

This is, of course, good news. However, an aging population has needs that are not being met. One of these needs is public transportation.     2     There is a growing need for the benefits that public transportation can provide older Americans.

American’s older citizens require increased mobility. With better public transportation, seniors would have more options when choosing where to live. They would also have more choices when deciding how and where they would like to travel.    3    

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 35 million Americans were 65 years old or older on the year 2000. Because there was a baby boom-an increase in births-between 1946 and 1964, the senior population in America will grow much faster than the rest of the population. Many older people already live in suburban locations that lack transit options, and as the baby boomers age, the number of older citizens who live in these areas will continue to increase.

    4     Not only does it affect their ability to take care of their basic needs, it also affects their ability to make contributions to their neighbors and society as a whole. This kind of feeling is felt most by those who are over the age of 85 and who have medical conditions that prevent them from driving.

Many people think that the answer to helping mobility for an aging population is simple. They believe that public transportation systems must be upgraded and expanded so that seniors have the resources available to meet their transportation needs.

A．Better transportation could help America’s senior citizens lead more activities.

B．Better public transportation system must be changed in no time   to make the senior citizens’ dream come true.

C．Better eating habits, more exercise, and advances in medical care are helping American live longer and healthier lives.

D．Isolation is a growing problem for elderly Americans.

E．Travelling by car should not be a Senior citizens’ only position.

F．Mobility plays an important role in the elderly people’s life.

7 . As a reliable travel agency, we really do try to describe our centers and accommodation ad realistically as possible. All our Super Centers and Main Centers have been extensively investigated during the winter season 1975-1976. As a result we have first-hand information on the way in which hotels, life networks and ski schools, etc. operate during the season. We have not been able to investigate, at first hand, all our Independent Centers during the last season but all have been visited during the past three seasons. Should you need any more information about these centers we will try to get it for you. Our American centers have been investigated on our behalf by United Airlines Tours Department and by the U. S. tour operators who are assisting United and ourselves to offer you this novel program to the United States.

Where possible we have eliminated the use of superlatives from the text (possibly making our brochure (小册子) less attractive to read than it might be) and have concentrated on as accurate a description as possible. Nevertheless you should bear in mind that your opinion and the opinion of our investigator might differ and there may be changes between the time of a visit by our investigator and the visit of one of our customers.

We trust that it is evident to you that we have done all in our power to eliminate misdescription and that there really is no question of misrepresentation on our part—either careless or otherwise. We welcome your constructive criticism—it is the best way we know of improving our brochures and our service. Although complaints are very expensive to handle, your complaint or criticism will be thoroughly investigated and a refund (退赔) made if it is justified—none will be made if it isn’t.

1. The “Independent Centers” were personally inspected_______.

A．the year before last

B．three years ago

C．between 1975 and 1976

D．within the last three seasons

2. The program of tours to the United States appears to be_______.

A．a new collaboration with U. S. travel firms

B．newly taken over by U. S. tour operations

C．a new independent venture

D．organized by United Airlines

3. Their brochure would be more attractive to read, they say, if_______.

A．it eliminated description

B．it used fewer superlatives

C．it were less truthful

D．it were more encouraged

4. The firm’s claim is that their program is improved by_______.

A．helpful fault-finding by customers

B．attractive description of the centers in every brochure

C．a standard policy of prompt repayment

D．careful control of the hotels

8 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

You might not know yourself as well as you think. According to a new study, people are relatively accurate judges of only some of their behaviors.     1     most previous studies on how well people know themselves have been done on long-term personality traits, this new study probes how well people understand     2     they are acting from one moment to the next. Researchers asked participants to wear audio recorders that automatically activated every 9.5 minutes between 7 a.m. and 2 a.m. to record 30 seconds of audio. These participants were then emailed surveys four times a day     3    (ask) them to recall how outgoing, agreeable, or conscientious they were during a particular hour of the day. The study used data from 248 participants, all of     4     answered questions about their behavior for two consecutive weeks and wore the audio device for one of those weeks.

Six laboratory assistants rated each participant’s audio clips     5    (see) how their observations compared with people’s assessment of     6    . The six assistants were generally in agreement with one another about how the people they were observing     7    (act). Further, participants’ ratings of their own behaviors agreed with observers’ for how outgoing and how conscientious they were being. But the agreement between participants and outside observers was     8    (small) for agreeableness. Some of this discrepancy could be because the observers used only audio clips, and thus could not read cues     9     body language, but there are probably other explanations,     10     people should be able to hear when a participant is being kind versus being rude. The weak agreement between how participants thought they were acting and what observers heard could be because people would rather deny rude behavior.

9 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。1.

A．A jewelry shop.	B．Shops in the City Mall.
C．A parked truck.	D．A driver in the parking lot.

2.

A．Leave the truck together.	B．Run back to the truck without helmets.
C．Run back to the truck separately.	D．Leave the truck without helmets.

3.

A．The truck was originally painted white.

B．The truck had no registration plate.

C．The truck disappeared from the parking lot.

D．The truck was covered with silver material.

10 . One night several years ago, after filling up my car at a gas station and pulling away, I noticed a strange sound behind me in traffic — sort of a metallic clanking noise. It sounded to me like someone was dragging a muffler or bumper, so I started looking for the car to alert the driver. But no matter how fast or slow I moved, or where I turned, I couldn’t locate the car. At this point I noticed people on the sidewalk pointing and laughing at me. I stopped and found the gas hoses ill attached to my car. I immediately pulled out the hose and drove back to the gas station, where I was educated on the economics of breaking a gas pump.

My memory of that night is odd because I was judging the behavior of another person, who then turned out to be me. Philosophers might say that in these rare minutes, my “I-self” (the seer of things around me) and “me-self” (the one seen) were mentally separated.

This kind of separation is unnatural. Making it your permanent state of mind would be difficult and perhaps even undesirable. Each of us can, however, purposely change the balance of time we spend as observers and as the objects of observation. And working to observe more than you think about being observed can be an excellent way to get happier.

When you look into a mirror, you see yourself almost as if you were two-different people — one who sees, and one who is seen. That may sound confusing, but bear with me here, because both versions of you are important. As the philosopher William James explored in depth, you must be an observer of things around you to survive and thrive, but you must also observe yourself and be observed by others to have any consistent sense of self-concept and self-image. Without observing, you would get hit by a car or starve. Without being observed, you would have no memory, history, or sense of why you do what you do.

The tick for wellbeing is balancing your I-self and me-self. But most of us spend too much time being observed and not enough time observing. We think constantly about ourselves and how others see us; we look in every mirror; we check our mentions on social media; we obsess over our identities.

This brings trouble. Research has shown, for example, that focusing on the world outside yourself is linked to happiness, while focusing on yourself and how others see you can lead to unstable moods. Your happiness goes up and down like a yo-yo, depending on whether you see yourself positively or negatively in a given moment. This instability is hard to bear; no wonder self-absorption is associated with anxiety and depression.

Seeing yourself as an object rather than a subject can also lower your performance in ordinary tasks. Researchers have found in learning experiments that people are less likely to try new things when they are focused on themselves. This makes sense: When you pay too much attention to yourself, you ignore a lot about the outside world.

1. The writer mentioned his own experience in Para 1 in order to        .

A．express his guilt of having intended to alert and criticize other people

B．illustrate his annoyance of being pointed and laughed by other people

C．give a vivid example of separating “me-self” and “I-self” mentally

D．educate people about the disastrous consequence of breaking a gas pump

2. Which of the following statements will the philosopher William James most probably agree with?

A．Observing more than being observed can enable people to be happier in life.

B．Observing and being observed is equally important to consistently learning about oneself.

C．Through being observed, we might get a clue to the features of our surroundings.

D．Balancing I-self and me-self allows us not only to survive but also to thrive.

3. What is the writer’s attitude towards focusing on “me-self”?

A．Affirmative.

B．Neutral.

C．Negative.

D．Unconcerned.

4. Based on the passage, which of the following statements is TRUE?

A．Achieving the balance between “I-self” and “me-self” is the key to well-being.

B．It’s undesirable for normal people to distinguish mentally between “I-self” and “me-self”.

C．Spending more time observing the things around us than being observed is not advocated.

D．The occurrence of anxiety and depression is attributed to focusing on the outside world.