1 . 得知不能使用家电，他们才发现没有省力的设备，做家务十分困难。(until; inform)(汉译英)

2 . Just as it was leaving, Mr. Taylor rushed out and ran after it ____________________, but it was impossible to stop the thieves. (根据句意填空)

3 . Directions: Fill in the blanks to make the sentences coherent and grammatically correct. Use the proper form of the phrases given in the box. Each phrase can only be used once and there is one phrase more than you need.

bring … to life     be capable of       run out of       apart from adapt … from     be likely to     suffer from       on occasion

1. Once a black hole has formed, it can absorb additional matter like nearby gas and dust, or __________ they can even consume entire stars and solar systems.
2. Let’s explore some of the technologies from science fiction that _________ through the joint efforts of extraordinary scientists so far.
3. The film is based on a 1920 stage play that __________ the Bram Stoker novel.
4. The mouse of the computer sometimes works, but sometimes doesn’t. That’s probably because it __________ batteries.
5. Wolves were once the most widely distributed land mammal (哺乳动物) __________ humans.
6. America __________ a nationwide teacher shortage now due to stresses from pandemic and culture war.
7. I feel like I have to prove myself __________ being a Manchester United player.

4 . The Four-day Work Week

If Liz Truss can reduce a whole premiership to seven weeks, why can’t a standard working week be squashed into something shorter? A six-month pilot (试点) scheme, in which around 3,300 workers from 70 companies are testing out a four-day workweek, is due to conclude this month.     1     Like previous such experiments, it is likely to be praised as a success. A mid-point survey by the trial’s organisers — researchers at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge and Boston College — found that the transition had worked well for 88% of surveyed companies.

    2     In particular a four-day week forces firms to think harder about time management. Most businesses in the trial have encouraged employees to leave meetings when they are not contributing, and to be more selective about accepting invitations. Daryl Hine of Stellar, an asset-management company in London, calls this a “diary detox”. This also extends to reducing commutes.

Of the participating organisations, 46% reported maintaining overall output at the same level, and 49% said it had improved.     3     Its HR department has goals for response time to emails; its staff are given so-called net promoter scores, which track how colleagues rate their services. On both counts, they have made “rare” leaps, says Sharon Platts, the company’s chief people officer. Participants say that their employees feel more motivated.

Becoming a four-day operation can be hard in a five-day world, however. Bookishly, an online shop, chose Wednesdays off to avoid having three days in a row when packages are not mailed out; people are warned about the new schedule before they order.     4    

More tests are on the horizon. In January South Cambridge shire District Council will become the first British local authority to try out a four-day week. The lessons learned are likely to be valuable even if the idea does not spread.

A．Sceptics might observe that the companies involved are self-selecting.

B．Advocates say a shorter week delivers a better work-life balance without hurting overall output.

C．The trial’s largest company, Outcomes First Group, tracks indicators for its 1,027 participating employees.

D．The scheme holds useful lessons about productivity.

E．Platten’s, a fish-and-chip shop in Norfolk, gives its 50-or-so employees two days on and two days off to cover the week.

F．But customers are not always prepared to wait, so most firms in the scheme have tried to spread staff more thinly.

5 . As is the fate of anyone running a hotel in Kerala these days, Bijoy George is a man with too much to do. Before pandemic-caused lockdowns began in 2020, he managed 40 employees at the Eighth Bastion Hotel in the charming historic quarter of Kochi, a bustling coastal city. Now that business is back to pre-covid levels he needs the same number of staff again. But he has only 20 workers. His plight is shared with every other hotel, café and bar. It is a result of the state’s hospitality (招待) employees moving all together in large numbers to Qatar, not to watch football but to take up employment tied to the World Cup.

As the start of the competition approaches on November 20th, workers are quitting at a rate Mr. George says he has never seen in his 22 years in the business. Qatar, a country with a population of under 3m, will have welcomed more than 1.5m visitors before the matches conclude on December 18th. That means finding staff to run all the new hotels that have been built along with other venues that have been pressed into service to profit from the sports fans.

Kerala has long been a significant source of hospitality workers for Qatar and other Middle Eastern countries. Its state government provides good schools with English-language instruction but few jobs. More than 2m people, 17% of its working population, already work overseas, largely in the Gulf.

The appeal of Qatar is straightforward. Starting salaries approach $1,000 a month, more than six times the level for similar jobs in Kerala. To replace those who have left, Kerala’s employers have been casting their nets wider. Recruiters have been extending their searches to many other Indian cities. But that means the most common word on name-tags pinned to the breast pockets of workers is “trainee”.

Among the many skills that need to be taught, says Mr. George, is smiling at customers — the failure to do so a result of shyness among those new to the workforce. The danger is that after a week or so when confidence grows, even these employees may slip away to the Gulf.

Most contracts run for three months, concluding at the end of December, not long after the World Cup final. Returning workers will be welcomed back with open arms. Filling the gaps is even more important as Indian tourism and weddings have restarted. The reunions, though, may be short-lived. The game these workers will have learned from the World Cup is how to be paid better. That means leaving India.

1. The underlined sentence in paragraph one implies that __________.

A．other hotels, cafes and bars will share Bijoy’s 20 employees

B．other hotels, cafes and bars will have to lay off some workers

C．other hotels, cafes and bars also send the workers to Qatar

D．other hotels, cafes and bars also find it hard to employ enough workers

2. Which of the following DOESN’T contribute to hospitality workers in Kerala taking up jobs in Qatar?

A．Millions of tourists have to be served during the World Cup.

B．Hospitality workers are in high demand with new hotels and venues open for business in Qatar.

C．Qatar provides good education and English training for potential workers in Kerala.

D．The salaries of similar jobs in Kerala are much lower than those in Qatar.

3. Which of the following difficulties do Kerala’s employers face due to lack of workers?

A．Kerala’s employers have to take on new employees in Asian cities.

B．Many of the new employees will pin their name tags to their breast pockets.

C．The new employees will not greet the customers as a result of shyness.

D．The new employees may soon follow the trend of going to the Gulf.

4. What makes the reunions between Indian workers and employers probably a short-lived one?

A．Jobs outside India can provide Indian workers with a more decent life.

B．It will soon be the off season for Indian tourism and weddings.

C．Another grand occasion will soon begin in the Gulf.

D．The workers only sign short-term contracts with the employers in India.

6 . Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. faith     B. support     C. instantly     D. establishments     E. available     F. thoroughly G. entitled     H. reflect     I. arise     J. represent     K. unrealistic

Zoos were originally created as places of entertainment, and their suggested involvement with conservation didn’t seriously     1     until about 30 years ago, when the Zoological Society of London held the first formal international meeting on the subject. Eight years later, a series of world conferences took place,     2     ‘The Breeding of Endangered Species’, and from this point onwards conservation became the zoo community’s buzzword. This commitment has now been clearly defined in The World Zoo Conservation Strategy (WZCS)，which –although an important and welcome document- does seem to be based on a/ an     3    optimism about the nature of the zoo industry.

The WZCS estimates that there are about 10000 zoos in the world, of which around 1000     4     a core of quality collections capable of participating in coordinated conservation programs. This is probably the document’s first failing, as I believe that 10000 is a serious reserve of the total number of places which claim to be zoological     5    . Of course it is difficult to get accurate data but, to put the issue into perspective, I have found that in a year of working in Eastern Europe, I discover fresh zoos on almost a weekly basis.

The second flaw in the reasoning of the WZCS document is its naive     6     in its 1000 core zoos. One would assume that the quality of these institutions would have been     7     examined, but it appears that the criterion for inclusion on this select list might merely be that the zoo is a member of a zoo federation or association. This might be a good starting point, working on the basis that members must meet certain standards, but again the facts don’t     8    the theory. The greatly respected American Association of Zoological Parks and Aquariums (AAZPA) has had extremely dubious, and even notorious (臭名昭著的) members. As they were always a collection of bad reputation, one is obliged to     9    upon the standards that the Zoo Federation sets when granting membership. The situation is even worse in developing countries where little money is     10    for redevelopment.

7 . 尽管这位艺术家的部分作品饱受争议，在场的艺术评论家们全体起立，并为他毕生推广印象派艺术作品鼓掌致敬。(as) （汉译英）

8 . There are still many things that Peter Cooke would like to try his hand at--paper-making and feather-work are on his list. For the moment though, he will stick to the skill that he has been delighted to perfect over the past ten years: making delicate and unusual objects out of shells.

“Tell me if I am boring you,” he says, as he leads me round his apartment showing me his work. There is a fine line between being a bore and being an enthusiast, but Cooke need not worry: he fits into the latter category, helped both by his charm and by the beauty of the things he makes.

He points to a pair of shell-covered ornaments (装饰品) above a fireplace. “I shan’t be at all bothered if people don’t buy them because I have got so used to them, and to me they’re adorable. I never meant to sell my work commercially. Some friends came to see me about five years ago and said, ‘You must have an exhibition--people ought to see these. We’ll talk to a man who owns an art gallery’”. The result was an exhibition in London, at which 70 per cent of the objects were sold. His second exhibition opened at the gallery yesterday. Considering the enormous prices that the pieces command—around $2,000 for the ornament—an empty space above the fireplace would seem a small sacrifice for Cooke to make.

There are 86 pieces in the exhibition, with prices starting at £225 for a shell--flower in a crystal vase. Cooke insists that he has nothing to do with the prices and is cheerily open about their level: he claims there is nobody else in the world who produces work like his, and, as the gallery-owner told him, “Well, you’re going to stop one day and everybody will want your pieces because there won’t be any more.”

Cooke has created his own method and uses materials as and when he finds them. He uses the cardboard sent back with laundered shirts for his flower bases, a nameless glue bought from a sail-maker (‘If it runs out, I don’t know what I will do!’) and washing-up liquid to wash the shells. “I have an idea of what I want to do and it just does itself,” he says of his working method, yet the attention to detail, colour gradations and symmetry (对称) he achieves look far from accidental.

1. What can be learned about Peter Cooke from the first paragraph?

A．He has produced objects with different materials.

B．He was praised for his shell objects many years ago.

C．He hopes to work with other materials in the future.

D．He has written about his love for shell objects.

2. When looking round his apartment, the writer ________.

A．is attracted by Cooke’s personality

B．realizes he finds Cooke’s work boring

C．feels uncertain about giving Cooke his opinion

D．senses that Cooke wants his products to be admired

3. The “small sacrifice” in paragraph 3 refers to________.

A．the loss of Cooke’s ornaments

B．the display of Cooke’s ornaments

C．the cost of keeping Cooke’s ornaments

D．the space required to store Cooke’s ornaments

4. When talking about the artist’s working method, the writer implies that Cooke ________.

A．is unaware of the unique quality his work has

B．accepts that he sometimes makes mistakes

C．undervalues the materials that he uses

D．underrates his creative contribution

9 . 老年人的一个常见习惯就是囤积大量生活必需品以备不时之需，一部分原因是他们总是觉得某些不可控的事情即将发生。(horizon) (汉译英)

10 . What’s the purpose of philosophy? Alfred North Whitehead characterized it as a series of footnotes to Plato. On the surface, we don’t seem to have __________much in the two and a half millennia since Plato wrote his dialogues. Today’s philosophers still struggle with many of the same issues that exercised the Greeks.

Compared with philosophy, science has been one long__________story since it took its modern form in the 17th century. It has uncovered the workings of nature and brought untold benefits to humanity.

__________, not all philosophers are troubled by this contrast. For some, the worth of philosophy lies in the process, not the product. According to Socrates’ statement—“The unexamined life is not worth living?”—they hold that __________ on the human statement is valuable in itself. Others take their lead from Marx—“The philosophers have only interpreted the world—and view philosophy as an engine of political change, whose purpose is not to reflect reality, but to change it. Even so, the majority of contemporary philosophers probably still think of philosophy as a route to the __________.

According to the “spin-off” theory of philosophical progress, all new sciences__________ as branches of philosophy, and only become established as separate disciplines once philosophy has granted them the essential intellectual means to survive on their own. Then, it is __________ to suppose the lack of progress in philosophy. Whenever philosophy does make progress, it creates a new subject, which then no longer counts as part of philosophy. That’s __________ its progress is masked by the constant renaming of its intellectual fruits.

Philosophy hasn’t left everything to other university departments, and still __________ plenty of its own questions to exercise its own students. The __________is that it doesn’t seem to have any definite answers. When it comes to topics like morality, knowledge, free will, consciousness and so on, the lecturers still __________a range of options that have been around for a long time.

No doubt some of the__________ between philosophy and science result from the different methods of investigation that they employ. Where philosophy relies on analysis and argument, science is devoted to data. It is __________doubted that philosophers disagree more than scientists. But arguments have loopholes(漏洞).So there is always plenty of room for philosophers to take issue with each other, where scientists by contrast have to__________what they are told.

Perhaps there is more progress in philosophy than at first appears, even apart from the spin-off disciplines. Judging from its appearances, it may look as if nothing is ever settled. But behind them, philosophy is by no means incapable of __________.

1.

A．progressed

B．possessed

C．addressed

D．oppressed

2.

A．horror

B．life

C．case

D．success

3.

A．Therefore

B．Otherwise

C．However

D．Moreover

4.

A．reflection

B．basis

C．reliance

D．evaluation

5.

A．equality

B．truth

C．destination

D．peace

6.

A．serve

B．struggle

C．start

D．develop

7.

A．natural

B．possible

C．difficult

D．wrong

8.

A．how

B．when

C．why

D．where

9.

A．reserves

B．explains

C．analyzes

D．comprehends

10.

A．solution

B．difference

C．trouble

D．impression

11.

A．debate

B．explore

C．preserve

D．pursue

12.

A．agreements

B．distinctions

C．options

D．relations

13.

A．generally

B．frankly

C．privately

D．scarcely

14.

A．establish

B．check

C．accept

D．present

15.

A．suffering

B．peaking

C．advancing

D．signaling