1 . If you’ve scrolled through your Facebook feed recently, you may have noticed something surprising: lots and lots of short videos.
What makes this “Reels” feature strange is that it is hugely addictive, which I know quite well from my own personal experience. Last Friday, I took a break and hit on one short clip of someone making dinner and, well, the next time I looked up it was 20 minutes later and the blank document on my computer monitor was confirming to me that my work was still not done.
However, as silly as it seems, Reels-is actually super important, and is at the centre of a major battle between the world’s largest tech firms. The format (格式) was first pioneered by TikTok-the Chinese-owned video app that has taken the world by storm since it launched in 2016. Today, TikTok has around 23 million UK users every month-including basically every person you know under the age of 25. And that fact has made Facebook and its parent company, Meta, very nervous indeed. As TikTok has continued to boom, Facebook has actually fallen in popularity among “Gen Z”. The reason Tik Tok has proven such a powerful challenger to Facebook’s social media dominance is almost entirely down to these sorts of short-form videos.
The format is almost perfectly optimised to be as addictive as possible: Tik Tok’s app shows you a short-form video, and if you don’t like it, you can simply swipe it away and another one will start playing instantly. And because it is portrait, not landscape, videos look “right” when viewed on your phone. What’s also smart is that TikTok’s algorithm (算法) picks videos for you based on what you actually watch, and not what you say you want.
Facebook isn’t the only app trying to do what TikTok does so well. Instagram, which is owned by Facebook’s parent company Meta, has integrated Reels even more aggressively into its app. And even Google is nervous, launching its own TikTok-style video section of YouTube(which it owns)a couple of years ago. As things stand, though TikTok currently maintains a healthy lead in the category, both YouTube and Facebook have deep pockets-so expect to see even more Reels and Shorts popping up in your feed as this intense battle continues to rage. You won’t be able to take your eyes off them.
1. Why did the author mention his own experience in paragraph 2?| A．To illustrate the feature of short videos. |
| B．To stress the importance of short videos. |
| C．To prove his preference to short videos. |
| D．To introduce the functions of short videos. |
| A．It has shown the trend of the fall in popularity among “Gen Z”. |
| B．It is perceived as a potential threat to Facebook’s social media dominance. |
| C．Its number of registered UK users has reached 23 million since it launched in 2016. |
| D．It underestimates the essential role of short videos in competition with large tech firms. |
| A．The beautiful visual effects. |
| B．The high video quality. |
| C．The random recommendation. |
| D．The quick switch between videos. |
| A．The short videos have a profound impact on our daily life. |
| B．TikTok seems to be losing its advantage over short videos in the short run. |
| C．YouTube and Facebook may encounter financial difficulties in developing Shorts. |
| D．A growing number of tech firms have engaged in fierce competition for the short video market. |
1. Why are the two speakers upset?
| A．It may snow during their vacation. |
| B．They may not be able to take their vacation. |
| C．They may fail to join the graduation ceremony. |
| A．They are going skiing. |
| B．They have made bookings for their plane. |
| C．Their flight has been cancelled. |
| A．The earthquake. | B．The bad winter. | C．A terrible flu. |
| A．Talk to Professor Hampton. |
| B．Speak to all of the other people. |
| C．Call the travel agency. |
3 . Uninvited opinions about someone’s marriage, their constant failures or whatever just happened in the bathroom are all clues you’ve got an Oversharer on your hands. Whether they’re telling too much or asking for details you’re not comfortable sharing, this all-too common persona has no boundaries.
“The discomfort you feel comes from a difference of standards about what topics of conversation are OK,” says Wisner. “What they consider to be acceptable, need-to-know information is different from what it is for you.”
At the same awkward time, the Oversharer is only trying to get closer to you by revealing more about themselves — and hoping you’ll do the same. “We tend to label these people as overly-curious, invasive(侵入的) or rude,” notes Gerber, “but they really just want to be liked and accepted.”
To satisfy the Oversharer, and meanwhile reject endless TMI (too-much-information), consider sharing something else — still personal but less invasive — that satisfies their urge to connect. When they really cross the line, don’t be shy. Say something that indicates your boundary is being crossed. But you don’t have to declare them to be rude or insist them change their ways immediately. “OMG, that’s private!” says everything, and you’ll never have to bring it up again.
A compliment (称赞) also works wonders with an Oversharer, adds Gerber, because it refocuses the conversation in their direction while subtly resetting your boundary.
To my nosy friend who asks me when I plan to have a baby, for example, I will give this wise response next time: “You made having kids look so easy! How’d you do it?” Then nod and smile, nod and smile. Maybe I won’t have another baby in this life, but at least I’ll be ready to face an Oversharer — or any of the challenging people it takes to make a world.
1. What is the function of the first paragraph?| A．Shaping the image of an Oversharer. |
| B．Stressing the importance of boundaries. |
| C．Identifying the clues of an unpleasant talk. |
| D．Presenting different opinions about sharing. |
| A．They want sympathy from others. |
| B．They see it as a way to break the ice. |
| C．They are curious about others’ sufferings. |
| D．They long for closer connections with others. |
| A．Ignore their comments. | B．Demanding an apology. |
| C．Declaring your boundaries. | D．Criticizing their rudeness. |
| A．To check her friend’s boundary. | B．To show admiration for her friend. |
| C．To learn from her friend’s experience. | D．To shift the topic to her friend’s direction. |
Lek raced down the street, ran around the corner, and at last pushed open the door of his parents’ restaurant. If he hurried, he might have time to make his krathong(水灯) before the celebration started.
Tonight was Loy Krathong, the Festival of the Floating Lanterns. All over Thailand, people would send out lighted candles in tiny boats along rivers so that the past year’s problems could sail away with them and be replaced with wishes for the new year.
As Lek wrapped a pile of banana leaves around a bamboo base to form his boat, Lek thought about his sister, Dao. She was too sick to float a krathong. Perhaps a wish on Loy Krathong would take away her illness. Maybe then she would be able to laugh the way she used to. He put four red flowers inside the banana leaves and in the middle, he placed a tall, white candle.
“The river goddess will be pleased with your krathong,” his grandma looked at Lek’s boat and said. “Tong will help you launch your boat. You are too small to do this by yourself.” She gave him a serious look. “Now we must hurry to get ready for our customers.” Like last year, only his brother Tong was allowed to launch krathongs into the river for their customers. But this week, Lek had practiced launching the way Tong did and he was sure he could make it by himself.
After washing piles of dishes, Lek realized that it was time to launch the krathongs. Lek made his way outside through the crowd standing under the full moon, and spotted Tong standing on the jetty(码头) and lowering a krathong into the water with his pole. Lek took out matches and lit the candle on his tiny boat. He looked over his shoulder to see if his grandma was watching. Then he lay down at the edge of the jetty and made a wish that Dao would get better from that minute on. He lowered his krathong toward the water, stretching to reach its surface.
注意：1.续写短文词数应为150左右；2.请按如下格式在答题卡相应位置作答。
Suddenly, somehow, his krathong fell out of his hands into the dark water.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________“Let’s make another one for Dao.” Tong said gently.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________I stared at myself in the mirror: blue tights, yellow vest, a fish tail trailing behind me, and large eyes sitting at op my head. I raised my eyebrows and sighed.
“Mom, I don’t think this costume is right,” I said. “Maybe the makeup will add something,” Mom replied hopefully.
Somehow Mom had convinced me to play the Fish Footman in Alice in Wonderland. I can’t say it’s been the time of my life.
“What if I forget my lines?” I hesitated.
“Oh Riley, is that what you’re afraid of? I know you’ve been rehearsing for two months, you were the first off-book in your scene, and I couldn’t be prouder of you.” Mom said, kneeling down and hugging me.
The next day we pulled into the parking lot, and I stepped out of the car, wearing the questionable costume. I shrank inside myself, but Mom pulled me toward the makeup room. When the makeup was done, I looked at myself in the mirror. My jaw dropped.
“Mom! I can’t go onstage like this!” I cried.
“Why not?”
“I’d be a laughing stock (笑柄)! ”
“Riley, look around you! You’re not the only one in an odd costume.”
“What if we just sneak out? No one will miss me.” I whispered.
Mom’s lips disappeared into a thin line, and I knew I had gone too far. “Riley, I’m going to watch you go out on that stage tonight. And that’s the end of it.” Then mom disappeared into the audience. I sat there, alone and bored, as the play began and the curtain rose on.
The two boys dressed as Two of Clubs (梅花2) near me chatted casually about this and that. Suddenly, they asked, “You’re awfully quiet. Is this your first show?” I tried to respond, but my voice caught in my throat and refused to escape. I coughed and nearly yelled, “YES!”
The Ace of Diamonds (方块A) sitting nearby laughed. “The audience will certainly hear you if you talk that loud. But you might have to clear your throat first, she chuckled. I gave them a weak smile.
“Don’t worry about us,” the Ace said. “We’re only teasing.”
“Yeah,” the Two said. “When you’ve done as many shows as we have, projecting will be second nature to you.”
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 my name was called, I stepped onto the stage uneasily.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2:
Suddenly I was determined to make a lasting impression.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________6 . I’m in a coffee shop in Manhattan and I’m about to become the most disliked person in the room. First, I’m going to interrupt the man reading quietly near the window and ask for a drink of his latte. Next, I’m going to ask the line of people waiting to pay if I can cut to the front of the queue. This is how I chose to spend my last vacation. Here’s why.
Growing up, all I ever heard about was “EQ.” It was the mid-1990s, and psychologist Daniel Goleman had just popularized the concept of emotional intelligence. Unlike IQ, which tracked conventional measures of intelligence like reasoning and recall, EQ measured the ability to understand other people — to listen, to empathize (共情), and to appreciate.
My mother, an elementary school principal, prized brains and hard work, but she placed a special emphasis on Goleman’s new idea. To her, EQ was the elixir (万能药) that separated the good students from the great after they left school. She was determined to send me into the adult world with as much of this elixir as possible.
But when I finally began my first job, I noticed a second elixir in the pockets of some of my colleagues. It gave their opinions extra weight and their decisions added impact. Strangest of all, it seemed like the anti-EQ: Instead of knowing how to make others feel good, this elixir gave people the courage to do the opposite — to say things others didn’t want to hear.
This was assertiveness (魄力). It boiled down to the command of a single skill: the ability to have uncomfortable conversations. Assertive people — those with high “AQ”— ask for things they want, decline things they don’t, provide constructive feedback, and engage in direct confrontation (对峙) and debate.
A lifetime improving my EQ helped me empathize with others, but it also left me overly sensitive to situations where I had to say or do things that might make others unhappy. While I didn’t avoid conflict, I was always frustrated by my powerlessness when I had to say or do something that could upset someone. This is my problem and I’m working on it.
1. Why did the author act that way in the coffee shop?| A．To improve a skill. | B．To test a concept. |
| C．To advocate a new idea. | D．To have a unique vacation. |
| A．She thought little of IQ. |
| B．She popularized Goleman’s idea. |
| C．She was a strict mother and principal. |
| D．She valued EQ as the key to greatness. |
| A．EQ. | B．AQ. | C．Empathy. | D．Courage. |
| A．successful leaders | B．people pleasers |
| C．terrible complainers | D．pleasure seekers |
7 . Fifty years after Liliana Cavani’s film The Night Porter was released to widespread critical disgust, how have views of it changed?
“To write a poem after Auschwitz is barbaric,” wrote the German theorist Theodor Adorno, suggesting in his 1949 essay Cultural Criticism and Society that artistic expression had been rendered inadequate as a tool to understand reality after the Holocaust. In her 1974 film The Night Porter, Italian director Liliana Cavani challenged this theory, taking it to its logical extreme. She used a concentration camp as the setting to explore a crazed sexual bond between an adolescent prisoner and an SS commandant, and how, years later, this psychological poison has pervaded their souls.
Amid the furore after its release — which included intensely negative reviews and an at-tempted ban by the Italian ratings board—with typical nonchalance, Cavani told The New York Times: “This is nothing compared to the numberless couples who tear each other apart psychologically.”
Half a century on, however, does The Night Porter still seem like a provocation that plumbs the depths of bad taste? With the film’s recent restoration and re-releases, as well as renewed conversations around cinematic depictions of the Holocaust, many have revisited the film and remain unimpressed by its content. Others are perhaps seeing the film more as Lili-an a Cavani originally intended: as an artistic reflection of how sexual obsession can be fascistic in its tunnel-visioned ferocity. Cavani herself put it more simply: “love comes always with a price to pay.”
The Night Porter is set in Vienna in 1957, where a former Nazi commandant, Max (Dirk Bogarde), works in an upmarket hotel. There, he clashes with former SS colleagues who are determined to purge themselves of any shame about their roles in the Final Solution and eliminate any surviving witnesses. Max, however, would rather forget his past and move on, living his life quietly, he says, “as a church mouse.” His careful world is upended when Lucia (Charlotte Rampling), now married to an American composer, walks into his hotel lobby — the very woman he sexually abused while she was a prisoner in his camp, and with whom he entered into a sadomasochistic relationship. Reunited once more, their twisted folie a deux resumes and a fervent debasement begins — now, on both sides.
1. Which of the following statements best reflects the author’s perspective on the film’s portrayal of the Holocaust?| A．The film is a disrespectful and exploitative representation of the Holocaust. |
| B．The film is a complex and abstract exploration of Nazi ideology and sexual taboos. |
| C．The film is a straightforward historical account of the Holocaust. |
| D．The film is a romanticized depiction of love during the Holocaust. |
| A．A form of psychological therapy. |
| B．A type of artistic expression. |
| C．A relationship dynamic characterized by the exchange of pain and pleasure. |
| D．A historical account of events during World War II. |
| A．The film provides a realistic portrayal of the Holocaust. |
| B．The film’s controversial nature generates important discussions. |
| C．The film is a successful example of the “Nazisploitation” genre. |
| D．The film’s plot and character development are highly original. |
| A．“The Night Porter: A Cinematic Controversy” |
| B．“Liliana Cavani: The Director Who Challenged Art” |
| C．“Love and Evil: The Complex Themes of The Night Porter” |
| D．“The Holocaust on Film: A History of Cinematic Portrayals” |
8 . I’m always cautious of the tired saying, “If it doesn’t kill you, it’ll make you stronger.” I mean, what about polio (小儿麻痹症)? Or loads of other horrible things that if you survive, you’re left scarred in one way or another.
For many years I worked in a specialist NHS clinic for people with eating disorders, which are greatly misunderstood and connected with vanity (虚荣) when instead it’s usually about control or even profound trauma (精神创伤). Eating disorders have the highest mortality of any mental illness, with one in five of those with an eating disorder dying from it. Treatment for it is long, tough and tiring. So, it’s fair to say it’s not something to be taken lightly.
Yet I was often surprised by how many patients-patients with all sorts of other conditions too, from depression to cancer -would tell me how the experience had changed them for the better after receiving treatment. It’s not so much that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger; more, it might make you more understanding of yourself and more sensitive to the battles and struggles of others. It can also give people a sense of determination and perseverance they never had before.
I had one patient who was an addict and alcoholic besides suffering eating disorder. She was frequently rushed into hospital and was sometimes at a real risk of dying. However, after years of hard work, she stopped drinking, stopped using drugs and her eating disorder improved. She got back into work and started doing several courses to get promoted. Actually, she had gone through numerous intense and exhausting interviews before landing a job, but she said whenever she felt she couldn’t handle it or doubted her capabilities, she reminded herself that nothing would ever be worse or harder than what she had already gone through. She managed to make the most of her life and turn her life around.
1. What does the author think of the old mantra?| A．Always applicable. | B．Totally absurd. |
| C．Partially right. | D．Quite misleading. |
| A．The number of deaths. |
| B．The possibility of being cured. |
| C．The rate of getting mentally hurt. |
| D．The chance of having mental illness. |
| A．It leads to a changeable attitude. |
| B．It makes no noticeable difference. |
| C．It builds up their physical strength. |
| D．It fosters self-awareness and sympathy. |
| A．She continued harmful habits. | B．She relied only on medication. |
| C．She always believed in herself. | D．She became stronger and tougher. |
1. What are the speakers talking about?
| A．A house for rent. | B．An advertisement. | C．The house owner. |
| A．The garage. | B．The living space. | C．The garden. |
| A．Just so so. | B．100%perfect. | C．Satisfactory. |
| A．01864445338. | B．01764444328. | C．01764445328. |
10 . He is better at words. She is better at sentences. Games they like to play involve the former, and he wins the vast majority of them the vast majority of the time. Debates they find themselves in involve the latter, and there hasn’t been an occasion (on record) of him winning one for many, many years.
Crosswords, Scrabble, that new game with green and yellow squares, he excels at. Given six tries to guess a five-letter word, he is quicker to recall words without real vowels (she doesn’t support the idea that “Y” is a vowel), and he has the nerve to guess words with triple letters, like “fluff,” on the second try. Of course, she knows what fluff is. It’s either
In defense of “Y” ‘s vowelness, he asks, What about “lynx”?
Lynx? she replies, incredulous. When have you ever used that aloud? Oh, look, over there, that lynx is about to pounce and
What most infuriates her is the presumption that she must be a whiz at words given her
She often finds herself
One evening, she decides to challenge him to a game of
| A．nonsense | B．rubbish | C．fluff | D．trash |
| A．pull | B．rip | C．tear | D．drag |
| A．hobby | B．profession | C．occupation | D．job |
| A．guessing | B．calculating | C．estimating | D．evaluating |
| A．measure | B．metric | C．method | D．calculation |
| A．counts | B．scores | C．sums | D．adds |
| A．blocks | B．grids | C．squares | D．letters |
| A．wondering | B．doubting | C．guessing | D．knowing |
| A．expertise | B．confusion | C．frustration | D．anger |
| A．demoralizing | B．exciting | C．boring | D．enlightening |
| A．strategically | B．forcefully | C．literally | D．randomly |
| A．ignore | B．miss | C．grasp | D．avoid |
| A．Boggle | B．Scrabble | C．Chess | D．Checkers |
| A．taking | B．finding | C．losing | D．giving |
| A．letters | B．skills | C．resources | D．options |
