1 . What can bring people from around the world together? Skin colour? Language? A favourite football team? According to a recent study conducted by OnePoll, a London-based marketing research company, food is the answer.
OnePoll surveyed 2,000 people around the world. 84% of participants said that food had the power to connect people of different cultures and backgrounds.
“Food has to do with how we live—it’s not just something that we ingest. Food is a part of our lives, and it helps bring people closer together,” one participant in the survey said.
People can get a better understanding of another culture through trying its cuisine. For example, Chinese culture is based on the idea of harmony (和谐), which can be seen in almost every aspect of life in China, most noticeably its cuisine. In Chinese cuisine, every ingredient is used in a balanced way to create delicious dishes that go well together. Another example is the rich diversity of American cuisine, which directly reflects the rich diversity of its multicultural influence.
Food can help strengthen cultural ties. Every country has its own way of doing things, which means that sometimes there can be very little common ground between countries. However, every country has food in common—after all, we all need to eat. So something as simple as a dinner gathering has the power to bring together people from different countries or cultures. In fact, food is often the catalyst (催化剂) in forming many important decisions and friendships.
“We believe food has a transcending (超越的) ability to connect us, and that delicious things can happen when we share heritage, culture, and uniqueness through food,” said Jason Levine, one of the survey’ s conductors.
1. How many people in the survey said food brings people together?| A．2,000 | B．1,680 | C．320 | D．84 |
| A．eat | B．appreciate | C．digest | D．prefer |
| A．Deep and vital. | B．Diverse and balanced. |
| C．Balanced and harmonious. | D．Harmonious and delicious. |
| A．By experiencing different cultures. |
| B．By accepting foreign ideas. |
| C．By bringing people together. |
| D．By sharing heritage with others. |
Last Saturday, David was taking a walk in the park near his home when he noticed a woman with a boy of about eight years old. When David passed them, he heard the woman yell. “How stupid you are! You’re good at nothing.” David stopped and looked at the little boy. The boy said nothing. He just stood there, looking upset.
David was reminded of his English teacher Mrs Brown in middle school. After he entered a middle school, David lacked self-confidence because he was often made fun of by others. He was often told that he was good at nothing, which David behaved. But one day it all changed.
One day, in an English writing class, Mrs Brown asked them to read a novel. They were asked to write a new chapter of the novel after they finished reading it. A few days later, David handed in his story. He didn’t give it much thought. But the next day, to his surprise, the comment “well done” from Mrs Brown came into view the moment he turned to the page where the story was written. When David read that, he almost burst into tears. He never expected to be praised one day. He suddenly gained some self-confidence.
That day after he returned home, he wrote a short story and gave it to Mrs Brown the next morning. And again he was praised. David became very interested in writing. He often wrote short stories and asked Mrs Brown to read them improve writing skills. One year later, David joined the school newspaper and became an editor of it. He was no longer that boy who lacked self-confidence. He gained his confidence, and was hopeful about his future.
He succeeded in entering a college and kept writing. Several years after graduating from college, he had his first book published. With some more books coming out, he became famous as a writer in his country. And he owed his success to Mrs Brown’s encouragement. Without her encouragement, his life might be very different now.
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。
Inspired by his own life story, David decided to do something for that boy.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The mother was ashamed when she heard that.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________3 . If you like tasting food from different countries, here are some events you shouldn’t miss in New York City this year.
Chinatown Restaurant Week, March 14—30
Various meals will be offered for $18.88 per person at participating Chinatown restaurants such as Golden Unicorn, Nom Wah Tea Parlor, HK Wonton Garden, Pho Grand, Red Egg and Shanghai Gourmet. Peking Duck House will offer a special at lunch only.
More Info: www.chinatownrestaurantweck.com
Martini Week, March 15—30
Martini Week is a two-week-long celebration of America’s proudest invention. It will beheld at 23 bars and restaurants across the town. They’ll be offering their own unique specialities at low prices. Choose from places, including Ava lounge, Beaumarchais, Catch, Abe&Arthur’s Sons of Essex, Bounce Sporting Club, Aspen Social, Revel, Rayuela, and more.
More Info: www.sociallysuperlative.com
Malaysian Restaurant Week, June 18—24
Malaysian restaurants will offer various $20.12 meals, while Asian-influenced restaurants will feature a special limited-time-only menu inspired by the country’s special flavours. Participating restaurants include Fatty Crab, Mechelin-starred Laut, Penang and Spice Market.
More Info: www.Malaysiakitchennyc.com
Italian Restaurant Week, June 26—July 6
Celebrate New York City’s fifth Italian Restaurant Week --the Italian Dine Out. The 11-dayevent will offer special discounted lunch and dinner prices of $23 at New York City’s most authentic Italian restaurants. Sponsored by the Italian Trade Commission,the Italian Dine Out offers diners special 3-course menus for lunch and dinner.
More Info: www.italianmade.com
Belgian Restaurant Week, July 21—28
This is your chance to enjoy tasty multi-course meals and some of the world’s finest beers. The Belgian restaurants in NY bring you amazing cuisines and great beers during a week-long celebration of Belgian food.
More Info; www.belgianrestaurantweeknyc.com
I’m sure you’ll have a great time during the events. Remember: don’t eat too much for thesake of your health.
1. To enjoy an $18.88 supper during Chinatown Restaurant Week, you probably should avoid going to _______.| A．Peking Duck House | B．HK Wonton Garden |
| C．Golden Unicorn | D．Nom Wah Tea Parlor |
| A．Martini Week | B．Italian Restaurant Week |
| C．Malaysian Restaurant Week | D．Chinatown Restaurant Week |
| A．Bringing you free Chinese food. |
| B．Providing authentic Italian food. |
| C．Having a special limited-time-only menu. |
| D．Offering some of the world’s finest beers. |
Beijing Opera is a form of traditional Chinese theatre
5 . Diving in the ocean, marine biologist Erika Woolsey has seen how coral reefs (珊瑚礁) are being damaged by climate change. It has made her decide to find a way to share her experience —including those who can’t easily explore the ocean.
Through her non-profit, The Hydrous, Woolsey is using virtual reality to bring the ocean to everyone. Scientists, filmmakers and divers are taking people on immersive (沉浸式的) virtual dives, attracting attention to reef damage and expecting action to protect our sea. About 25% of marine species depend on coral reefs. However, climate change, pollution and overfishing have done harm to around half the world’s shallow water coral reefs.
Twenty years of underwater exploration has given Woolsey a detailed understanding of the dangerous situations facing reefs. “I’ve seen this first-hand shift. Healthy colourful coral reefs become what look like the moonscape step by step,” Woolsey says.
It is through this experience that The Hydrous team set out to recreate with their award-winning film Immerse. Intended to watch with a VR headset, viewers join Woolsey for a nine-minute guided virtual dive on the coral reefs, immersed in a 360-degree underwater view.
They swim alongside sea turtles and sharks before witnessing the worsening of the reefs. The experience often brings out strong feelings. “As soon as people take off that headset and look me in the eye, they want to tell me a story about their ocean experience,” Woolsey says. “It’s that human connection to our ocean that will solve our ocean problems.”
Woolsey hopes advances in camera technology will allow her team to take more and more people to places in the ocean that are under-explored and places further away from human civilization. They are developing a virtual experience that will put the people in the role of a marine biologist, carrying out biodiversity surveys underwater, and even transporting the viewers to space to monitor global sea surface temperatures.
1. Why did Erika Woolsey set up The Hydrous?| A．To collect money for ocean protection. | B．To let the public know about coral reefs better. |
| C．To help people enjoy the ocean’s beauty. | D．To encourage people to protect the ocean. |
| A．Positive. | B．Negative. | C．Concerned. | D．Uninterested. |
| A．The story about the ocean. | B．The situation of coral reefs. |
| C．The connection with sea life. | D．The way to protect the ocean. |
| A．To bring more fun during the lockdown. | B．To help people learn more about the ocean. |
| C．To train talents for environment protection. | D．To discover more places that need protection. |
6 . When opening certain mobile apps, users often find disruptive (有干扰性的) open-app advertisements that impact their experience. Open-app advertisements are advertisements that appear in between contents or during transition screens, such as when an app is loading the next page. Some of these advertisements can redirect users to another app if the phone is shaken, causing a lot of frustration for consumers.
These open-app advertisements function as gateways and become more common during online shopping festivals, redirecting users to shopping platforms such as Taobao and JD. Most smartphones have a gyroscope sensor (陀螺仪传感器) to detect shaking, leading to unintentional redirection. Many users not only find it annoying to find themselves on an advertisements page, but also have trouble disabling the gyroscope feature since sometimes their phones lack the choice to do so to avoid this issue.
In response, authorities have introduced detailed regulations on shaking advertisements gateways. A regulation published in December 2022 outlines specific rules for the design of “shake-to-open” advertisements. It says that these advertisements can only be “clicked through” if the phone’s rotation angle exceeds 35 degrees, with an action time longer than three seconds.
Additionally, in February, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology emphasized that pop-up or open-app advertisements should not disrupt users’ experiences. A regulation introduced in May states that advertisements must include a clear button for users to close them.
Government enforcement of these regulations presents challenges, as the number of apps and developers is great. However, this should not be an excuse for internet platforms to break the rules, as this behavior causes far more harm than good. A survey by the Jiangsu Consumer Council showed that over 90 percent of users strongly dislike open-app advertisements, feeling that their rights are being threatened.
While these advertisements might lead to more clicks, the fact is that the advertisements may harm the credibility of the platforms that the advertisements lead to and weaken the users’ willingness to use the platforms. Platforms can achieve a mutually beneficial (互惠互利) solution only if they respect users’ choices and provide suitable advertisements that users are willing to accept.
1. What does the first paragraph mainly talk about concerning open-app ads?| A．The benefits of open-app ads for online shopping platforms. |
| B．The lack of regulations governing traditional advertising methods. |
| C．The effectiveness of open-app ads in increasing users’ engagement. |
| D．The negative impact of disruptive open-app ads on users’ experience. |
| A．They can be clicked through without any restrictions. |
| B．They can only be clicked through on certain conditions. |
| C．They should have a clear button for users to close them. |
| D．They should appear for only three seconds on the screen. |
| A．By ignoring users’ choices. |
| B．By respecting users’ preferences. |
| C．By presenting more irrelevant ads. |
| D．By flooding users with more profitable ads. |
| A．The Preferences of Shopping Platforms. |
| B．The Challenges of Online Shopping Festivals. |
| C．The Role of Advertisements in Improving Users’ Experience. |
| D．The Battle against Disruptive Advertisements on Mobile Apps. |
7 . Are you an “I person” or an “E person”? These two personality labels in particular are widely discussed online. They are part of a popular personality test called the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, or MBTI. There are 16 personalities in all, of which “I” and “E” refer to “introverted” and “extroverted”, respectively.
Even if someone is typically quiet, many online discussions suggest that an “I person” can still act outgoing at times. For example, when an introverted person is with a group of introverted friends, they might become more social like an “E” person.
According to psychologists, this idea of temporarily switching personalities is called “masking”. That is hiding your true personality in specific situations. “Human beings want to feel they belong, and they might become people-pleasers to do so,” wrote the MasterClass website.
Thinking on this, I may actually be the kind of person that these people are discussing. Most times, I just wish to make the atmosphere more interesting and exciting and show people that I’m easy to get along with. But deep down, I mostly enjoy being alone and quiet.
Using the MBTI result to identify and describe someone’s personality seems fun. However, I went too far at one time. My sister was excitedly making a day-to-day travel plan when I remembered from an article that a “P person” doesn’t like to make or stick to plans, so I said to her, “You don’t seem like a ‘P person’”. “Why?” she asked back. “Since when do I need to follow what my personality test tells me to do?” It was then that I realized that I’d taken the result too seriously.
The MBTI personality test may show something you don’t know about yourself and can even be a fun ice-breaker question when meeting new friends. And that’s all it is—for fun. Knowing someone’s MBTI result doesn’t mean you really know this person.
1. An “I person” tends to ________.| A．reflect on problems alone | B．enjoy gatherings with friends |
| C．be active in social situations | D．try to chat with complete strangers |
| A．Because he/she wants to be like others. |
| B．Because he/she needs a sense of belonging. |
| C．Because he/she dislikes to embarrass others. |
| D．Because he/she is actually an “E person” deep inside. |
| A．She pushed her sister too much. |
| B．She failed to help her sister follow her plan. |
| C．She believed blindly the result of the personality test. |
| D．She discouraged her sister to make a detailed travel plan. |
| A．It is supposed to be strictly followed. |
| B．It tells you everything about your personality. |
| C．It’s an interesting way to start a chat with a stranger. |
| D．It’s a reliable approach to telling what type of people a person belongs to. |
8 . Many people agree that pets are family. It’s because they
Julia Earheart knows
When elderly and sick pets
And these pictures couldn’t be more beautiful but heartbreaking at the same time. “The shoots can be emotional and difficult, absolutely,” Julia said. “But when you look at the pictures, you can see that
Julia wants the owners to be able to spend the money on vet bills and toys
“I won’t be able to get to all of them and that’s the hardest thing for me,” Julia said. Even though she can’t help all of the owners, she is an angel for giving this
| A．love | B．notice | C．understand | D．remember |
| A．slower | B．quieter | C．shorter | D．poorer |
| A．enough | B．special | C．important | D．crazy |
| A．immediately | B．mostly | C．hardly | D．exactly |
| A．comes up | B．comes down | C．gives back | D．gives in |
| A．potential | B．friendly | C．paying | D．regular |
| A．approach | B．prepare | C．waste | D．attach |
| A．fun | B．free | C．sale | D．good |
| A．trust | B．pride | C．happiness | D．health |
| A．time | B．money | C．memory | D．space |
| A．apart from | B．rather than | C．due to | D．as for |
| A．control | B．describe | C．create | D．treasure |
| A．surprised | B．faithful. | C．interested | D．grateful |
| A．affordable | B．priceless | C．simple | D．common |
| A．possess | B．spread | C．complete | D．exchange |
9 . Most online fraud (诈骗) involves identity theft. Passwords help. But many can be guessed. Newer phones, tablets, laptops and desktop computers often have strengthened security with fingerprint and facial recognition. But these can be imitated. That is why a new approach, behavioural biometrics (行为生物识别) is gaining ground.
It relies on the wealth of measurements made by today’s devices. These include data from sensors that reveal how people hold their phones when using them, how they carry them and even the way they walk. Touchscreens, keyboards and mice can be monitored to show the unique ways in which someone’s fingers and hands move. These features can then be used to determine whether someone attempting to make a deal is likely to be the device’s habitual user.
“Behavioural biometrics make it possible to identify an individual’s unique motion fingerprint,” says John Whaley, head of Unifyid, a firm in Silicon Valley that is involved in the field. When coupled with information about a user’s finger pressure and speed on the touchscreen, as well as a device’s regular places of use-as revealed by its GPS unit — that user’s identity can be pretty well determined.
Used wisely, behavioural biometrics could be a great benefit. In fact, Unifyid and an unnamed car company are even developing a system that unlocks the doors of a vehicle once the pace of the driver, as measured by his phone, is recognized. Used unwisely, however, the system would become yet another electronic spy on people’s privacy, permitting complete strangers to monitor your every action, from the moment you reach for your phone in the morning, to when you throw it on the floor at night.
1. What is behavioural biometrics for?| A．To identify network crime. | B．To ensure network security. |
| C．To track online fraud. | D．To gather online data. |
| A．By offering and analyzing the operating system of devices. |
| B．By spotting and revealing a device’s regular places of use. |
| C．By restricting and detecting the access to an account of users. |
| D．By monitoring and comparing the ways users interact with devices. |
| A．Objective. | B．Concerned. | C．Doubtful. | D．Supportive. |
| A．Health and wealth. | B．Books and arts. |
| C．Science and technology. | D．Finance and economics. |
10 . Four One-Day Trips in the UK
First Light Pavilion,CheshireIt's a newly-designed visitor centre at the Jodrell Bank Observatory. It is inspired by the Lovell Telescope and is designed to act like a sundial (日晷). Visitors can experience a meteor shower (流星雨)，operate a radio telescope and launch a digital satellite there.
£8.50 adults/£6.50 children,jodrellbank.net
Clifford's Tower, YorkThis 800-year-old tower is all that remains of York Castle. It was a treasury (财宝库) and prison, but its inner space was damaged by fire in 1684. Now, after a £5 million project by English Heritage, the ruin is reopening. Walkways will replace the lost first floor. A new roof floor will provide views of York Minster, the city and the North York Moors beyond.
£8.10 adults/£4.80 children, english-heritage.org.uk
The Rig Climb Experience,GreenwichThe Cutty Sark, one of just two surviving tea sailing ships in the world, is launching anew experience. For the first time, visitors will be able to step from the main deck and arrive at the top platform. Visitors will hear tales of life at sea in the 19th century and the tough conditions sailors had to work in.
£21 adults/£12 children (includes general entering the ship), rmg.co.uk/cuttysark
The Intelligence Factory, BuckinghamshireA newly-restored building at Bletchley Park is opening as the site's biggest ever exhibition space. The Intelligence Factory in Block A will focus on the years 1942-1945 when9,000 staff members helped win World War II. The exhibition lasting for a long time will include objects, personal stories and interactive elements, showing how operators handled huge amounts of information. There is also a space for temporary exhibitions-the first is on data visualisation.
£21 adults/£12.50 children, bletchleypark.org.uk
1. What can visitors do at First Light Pavilion in Cheshire?| A．Learn how to make a sundial. |
| B．Use a telescope to observe stars. |
| C．Watch the launch of a satellite. |
| D．Interact with astronomers in the centre. |
| A．£22.5. | B．£28. | C．£57. | D．£58.5. |
| A．Recent repair work. | B．Advanced equipment. |
| C．The same period of history. | D．Bird's eye view of the cities. |
