I sat in the breakfast corner with my four-year-old son, Matthew, trying to ignore the ache in my stomach. I was still recovering from a surgery. I hoped for strength and happiness. But the future seemed so hopeless.
Matthew jumped up from his spot on the kitchen floor. “Bird!” he shouted, rushing to the sliding door. Sure enough, there was a white dove seated on a rubber tree. It sat there a few moments, and then flew away. I’d never seen one in our neighborhood before.
When I dragged myself to the kitchen the next morning, the dove was back. This time it was with a mate carrying twigs (嫩枝), “Look, Matthew,” I said, pointing to the tree. “They’re going to make a nest.” The doves flew in and out of the courtyard all week, building on the top of the rubber tree. Matthew could hardly contain his excitement. Every morning, he’d run into the kitchen and take his spot by the sliding glass door, talking to the birds while they worked. As much as I was grieving (感到悲伤), I couldn’t help but look forward to the doves’ visits too. We watched their progress as if it were a real-life soap opera unfolding before us. Gradually, my pain disappeared, replaced by joy.
Then it all went wrong. The courtyard was a safe enough spot for a nest, but the rubber tree’s broad, thin leaves were far from stable. One night, a strong wind blew through, throwing the doves’ nest to the ground. I heard the twigs break apart. Nothing good ever lasts. I wouldn’t blame the doves if they never came back. But they returned. And they paid no attention to the pi le of sticks that had once been their nest. They started again from scratch, though the wind destroyed all their hard work. The next day, and the next, they renewed their efforts, as if nothing had happened.
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: I knew I had to do something for the poor creatures.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Paragraph 2:“The birds were back!” Matthew announced.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________2 . I began to grow up that winter night when my parents and I were returning from my aunt’s house, and my mother said that we might soon be leaving for America. We were on the bus then. I was crying, and some people on the bus were turning around to look at me. I remember that I could not bear the thought of never hearing again the radio program for school children to which I listened every morning.
I do not remember myself crying for this reason again. In fact, I think I cried very little when I was saying goodbye to my friends and relatives. When we were leaving I thought about all the places I was going to see — the strange and magical places I had known only from books and pictures. The country I was leaving never to come back was hardly in my head then.
The four years that followed taught me the importance of optimism, but the idea did not come to me at once. For the first two years in New York I was really lost — having to study in three schools as a result of family moves. I did not quite know what I was or what I should be. Mother remarried, and things became even more complex for me. Some time passed before my stepfather and I got used to each other. I was often sad, and saw no end to “the hard times.”
My responsibilities in the family increased a lot since I knew English better than everyone else at home. I wrote letters, filled out forms, translated at interviews with Immigration officers, took my grandparents to the doctor and translated there, and even discussed telephone bills with company representatives.
From my experiences I have learned one important rule: almost all common troubles eventually go away! Something good is certain to happen in the end when you do not give up, and just wait a little! I believe that my life will turn out all right, even though it will not be that easy.
1. How did the author get to know America?| A．From her relatives. | B．From her mother. |
| C．From books and pictures. | D．From radio. |
| A．confused | B．excited | C．worried | D．amazed |
| A．She worked as a translator | B．She attended a lot of job interviews |
| C．She paid telephone bills for her family | D．She helped her family with her English |
| A．her future will be free from troubles | B．it is difficult to learn to become patient |
| C．there are more good things than bad things | D．good things will happen if one keeps trying. |
4 . Good news for all Wes Anderson fans — the US director is back with the film The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar which hit Netflix, an online film provider, on Sept 27. It is a film adaptation of UK novelist Roald Dahl’s novel under the same name.
The film stars UK actor Benedict Cumberbatch as a wealthy man named Henry Sugar, who develops the ability to see through objects. At the very beginning he uses this power to cheat at cards and win big while gambling (赌博), and later turns his fortune into a global network of orphanages (孤儿院).
Dialogue style
Running for just 40 minutes, the film features Anderson’s quick-paced dialogue style. He also asked the actors to recite lines directly to the audience by looking at the camera, creating “the effect of listening to a podcast (播客) while turning the pages of a lovely picture book quickly”, commented CNN.
Visual style
Anderson’s work is immediately recognizable for his visual style as well. The “Anderson aesthetic (美学)” often uses bright color palettes (调色板) to both add visual appeal and make various ideas known to the audience, reported Yahoo News. In The Grand Budapest Hotel for example, Anderson uses a color palette of deep blues, rich greens and warm pinks to recreate an old-world European feel. In The Royal Tenenhaums the red tracksuits worn by Chaz, one of the main characters, show deep-seated anger resulting from parental trauma (创伤).
Symmetrical style
Another style is his use of symmetry (对称). Many of the shots involve (涉及) a person facing the camera, with the elements around the character set up in a sense of order and balance. Anderson explained to the media that it is out of his nature to “arrange things in a frame”, which he compares to how people can’t change the individuality of their handwriting. “You might try to write very well, but really, you have something your brain tends to do”, he said.
However, his obsessive repetition of these stylistic choices in his films has led some to question his ability to innovate (创新). In response to this, Anderson stated, “It’s not something I make any effort to do. I just want to make films that are personal but interesting to an audience.”
1. What do we know about the film The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar?| A．Watching this film is actually listening to a podcast. |
| B．It reflects the unique style of the director Wes Anderson. |
| C．It is based on a real story of a wealthy man named Henry Sugar. |
| D．Its main character gains nothing in gambling in the end. |
| A．They both use colors to get various ideas across to the audience. |
| B．They both reflect deep-seated anger. |
| C．They both present an old-world European feel. |
| D．They both have colorful costumes to add to their appeal. |
| A．Out of curiosity. | B．Out of innovation. |
| C．Out of habit. | D．Out of kindness. |
| A．A film script. | B．A film lecture. |
| C．A film survey. | D．A film review. |
6 . In today’s digital era, social media users are increasingly coming across fake news online. This leads to the pressing issue: What causes people to fall for misinformation on the Internet?
According to researchers at the Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology, users can easily fall into an echo chamber (回声室)—a sort of virtual space where users consume only one-sided news, eventually distrusting any opposing views. “We all tend to agree with the group opinion. Hence, people naturally get together with others who hold the same opinion,” said Dongwon Lee, one of the researchers. “But if you’re not cautious, there is a high risk of falling into an echo chamber.”
To prevent this phenomenon, the researchers have crafted a novel tool, a game named ChamberBreaker, to help players resist echo chambers and reduce the rate of fake news spread. The fundamental approach employed by ChamberBreaker centers around a decision-making procedure that mirrors the creation of echo chambers. In ChamberBreaker, a player is tasked with trying to have community members fall into an echo chamber. To begin, the player is randomly assigned a situation that focuses on a health, political or environmental issue, and is presented with six pieces of news on that topic. Then, the player selects news that could cause the other members to fall into an echo chamber while at the same time maintaining their trust. If successful, the community members will fall into an echo chamber and the player will witness the resulting negative effects on the community.
After developing ChamberBreaker, researchers tested it with over 800 subjects to see if it raised awareness of echo chambers and changed news consumption behaviors. The researchers found that those who played ChamberBreaker were significantly more likely to state their intention to observe online information from more diverse perspectives and showed an increased awareness of the echo chamber phenomenon.
Ultimately, the researchers hope that their methodology can excite a greater interest in the scientific and scholarly study related to information consumption. The application of tools like ChamberBreaker, which focuses on fostering analytical reasoning, may lead us towards a more informed online community.
1. What can be learned about an online echo chamber?| A．It encourages well-judged views. |
| B．It gathers like-minded individuals. |
| C．It functions as a virtual reality platform. |
| D．It serves as a tool for identifying fake information. |
| A．Assignment of situations. | B．Trust-building exercises. |
| C．News selection strategy. | D．Community impact assessment. |
| A．The results of scientific testing. |
| B．The theoretical framework of the game. |
| C．The description of the game procedures. |
| D．The common challenges faced during gameplay. |
| A．Reducing news inquiry. | B．Encouraging passive reading. |
| C．Strengthening prejudiced views. | D．Enhancing critical thinking. |
As the most
Beijing Opera combines wonderful performance with fine costumes and makeup. The unique
Color patterns are painted on the performers’ faces, especially on their eyebrows, eye sockets and the corners of their mouths. The face colors are connected with the characters’
Up to now, the art of Beijing Opera “Lianpu”
8 . While teenagers who are at risk of depression with risky behaviors — drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes and cutting classes often alert parents and teachers that serious problems are brewing, a new study finds that there’s another group of adolescents who are in nearly as much danger of experiencing the same mental symptoms.
These teens use tons of media, get insufficient sleep and have a sedentary (不爱活动的) lifestyle. Of course, that may sound like a description of every teenager on the planet. But the study warns that it is teenagers who engage in all three of these practices in the extreme that are truly in a dangerous position. Because their behaviors are not usually seen as a red flag, these young people have been called the “invisible risk”group by the study’s authors.
The study’s authors surveyed 15,395 students and analyzed nine risk behaviors, including excessive alcohol use, illegal drug use, heavy smoking and high media use. Their aim was to determine the relationship between these risk behaviors and mental health issues in teenagers. The group that scored high on all nine of the risk behaviors was most likely to show symptoms of depression; in all, nearly 15% of this group reported being depressed, compared with just 4% of the low-risk group. But the invisible group wasn’t far behind the high-risk set, with more than 13% of them exhibiting depression.
The findings caught Carli off guard. “We didn’t expect that,” he says. “The high-risk group and low-risk group are obvious, but this third group was not only unexpected. It was so distinct and so large — nearly one third of our sample — that it became a key finding of the study.”
Carli says that one of the most significant things about his study is that it provides new early warning signs for parents, teachers and mental health-care providers. And early identification, support and treatment for mental health issues, he says, are the best ways to keep them from turning into full-blown disorders.
1. Which teenager probably belongs to the “invisible risk” group?| A．A teenager who skips school. |
| B．A teenager who drinks frequently. |
| C．A teenager who exercises regularly. |
| D．A teenager who suffers from lack of sleep. |
| A．It was intended to dig into the reasons for depression. |
| B．Its findings were under expectation of the research team. |
| C．It was conducted by analyzing and comparing the previous data. |
| D．It revealed an alarming rate of the invisible group suffering depression. |
| A．Unclear. | B．Concerned. | C．Doubtful. | D．Indifferent. |
| A．To caution teens against developing unhealthy habit. |
| B．To share a novel psychological experiment with teens. |
| C．To introduce a new treatment for teens’ mental disorder. |
| D．To warn about the unobserved signs for teens’ mental problems. |
9 . Plastic is everywhere, from the Arctic ice to vital organs in the human body. In fact, previous estimates suggest that the average person swallows a credit card-worth of microscopic plastic particles(颗粒) every week. But new research shows that this could actually be an understatement.
Microplastics are plastics smaller than 5 millimeters, found in industrial waste, beauty products, and formed during the degradation of larger plastic pieces. Over time, they break down into even smaller nanoplastics. These tiny particles can pass through our intestines and lungs into our bloodstreams, reaching vital organs like the heart and brain.
While the idea of eating plastic is unsettling in itself, the major concern here is that these plastic particles contain chemicals that can interrupt our body’s natural release of hormones, potentially increasing our risk of reproductive disorders and certain cancers. They can also carry toxins(毒素) on their surface like heavy metals.
In the past, researchers have shown bottled water can contain tens of thousands of identifiable plastic fragments in a single container. However, until recently, only the larger microplastics were detectable with available measuring tools, leaving the area of nanoplastics largely a mystery.
Using Raman microscopy (显微镜学), capable of detecting particles down to the size of a flu virus, the team measured an average of 240, 000 particles of plastic per liter of bottled water, 90 percent of which were nanoplastics, a revelation 10 to 100 times larger than previous estimates.
These plastics likely originate from the bottle material, filters used to “purify” the water, and the source water itself. “It is not totally unexpected to find so much of this stuff, ” the study’s lead author, Columbia graduate student Naixin Qian, said in a statement. His team hopes to expand their research into tap water and other water sources to better inform our exposure to these potentially dangerous particles. “The idea is that the smaller things get, the more of them I reveal, ” he added.
1. What is the primary focus of the new research?| A．The presence of plastic particles. | B．The use of plastic in everyday products. |
| C．The detection methods for microplastics. | D．The potential risks of nanoplastics to human. |
| A．Finding the source of plastic particles. | B．Helping to cure the deadly flu virus. |
| C．Detecting the smaller plastic particles. | D．Improving the quality of bottled water. |
| A．To focus on areas with higher plastic pollution. |
| B．To be aware of the dangerous particles in daily life. |
| C．To further measure the types of particles in tap water. |
| D．To detect the smaller plastic particles in industrial areas. |
| A．Skeptical. | B．Objective. | C．Conservative. | D．Positive. |
10 . It was so
