2 . In 2019, after retiring from her career as a social worker, Ane Freed - Kernis decided to build a home workshop and devote all of her free time to stone carving. “I might be covered head to to e in dust but I’m happy — it was something I needed more of in my life when I hit 60,” she says.

This appeal has its origins in Freed - Kernis’ childhood. Growing up on her father’s farm in Denmark, she used to wander through the fields with her eyes fixed on the ground, looking for stones to add to her collection. “I’ve always been drawn to the shapes and textures (质地) of stones,” she says.

After moving to England in 1977 and training as a social worker, Freed - Kernis soon became occupied with her busy career and the demands of raising her son. Stones were the last thing on her mind, until her father died in 2005. “He took a stone carving course in his retirement, and I always thought stone seemed so fun but never had the time to look into it myself,” she says. “After he died, I became determined to learn in his honour.”

Signing up for a week-long stone carving course at Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Freed-Kernis began to learn how to turn a block of rock into well-designed shapes. “It was really scary at the start because you would spend hours just hammering (锤打).”

Now 65, Freed-Kernis has a thriving small business built largely through word of mouth. She creates 12 to 15 pieces a year that can take anywhere from a few days to three weeks to complete, while her prices range from £ 200 to £ 3,000. “I’m making smaller ones,” she says. “I don’t have to depend on the money much, so I want to keep prices in the range that people can afford, mainly just covering costs and labour (劳动力).”

1. Freed-Kernis was first attracted by stones when ______.

A．she was 60	B．she was a child
C．her father died	D．she moved to England

2. What can we infer about Freed-Kernis from paragraph 3?

A．She never cared about her father.

B．She led a disappointing life in Denmark.

C．She spent lots of time studying stone carving.

D．She learned stone carving under the influence of her dad.

3. How did Freed-Kernis feel when she started stone carving course?

A．Hopeful and proud.

B．Confident and satisfied.

C．Nervous and frightened.

D．Impatient and unprepared.

4. Why is Freed-Kernis making smaller pieces?

A．They are easier to move by her.

B．They are more affordable to people.

C．She wants to save costs and labour.

D．She is too old to focus on making large ones.

3 . In San Francisco, a large group of sea lions move themselves out of the bay waters and hang out on PIER 39, which is a popular tourist destination. According to dock (码头) officials, this is the most sea lions seen in the region in 15 years.

“Over 1,000 sea lions have been counted this week,” PIER 39 harbormaster Sheila Chandor told many different media. “The surge in sea lions is usually a good sign of their strong population and healthy living environment,” said Adam Ratner, Director of Conservation Engagement at the Marine Mammal (海洋哺乳动物) Center in Sausalito, California.

“California sea lions are sentinels (哨兵) of the ocean,” Ratner said. Their population to some extent reflects the health of the ocean. Therefore, seeing a large number of California sea lions is clearly a good thing.

For nearly 35 years, the slippery (滑的) residents have been a star attraction for tourists. That autumn in 1989, PIER 39 had just been repaired, but the ships had not yet been moved back. At that moment, the sea lions unexpected arrival not only attracted fans but also created enemies. According to a website, some dock residents and workers were scared away by the strong and very unpleasant smell and noise of their new neighbors, while others saw these animals as a bright spot after the destructive Loma Prieta earthquake.

The officials sought help from the Marine Mammal Center to find a way to deal with sea lions. Ratner said that the final decision is to let the sea lions stay and coexist with humans. “The fact proves that this is really a good thing,” he said. “This is just a proof of how we can truly work together and think about how we can share our coasts with marine mammals and other wildlife in a way that benefits all the parties involved.”

1. How does the author start the text?

A．By describing a situation.

B．By answering a question.

C．By holding a conversation.

D．By comparing different opinions.

2. What does the underlined word “surge” in paragraph 2 mean?

A．Sharp increase.	B．Tight control.
C．Slow development.	D．Sudden movement.

3. What is Ratner’s attitude to the final decision?

A．Doubtful.	B．Uninterested.
C．Supportive.	D．Unclear.

4. What message does the author seem to convey in the text?

A．Sea lions are pretty cool animals.

B．Animals and humans can live in harmony.

C．Watching sea lions might not be a proper action.

D．Sea lions should be driven out of PIER 39.

4 . At some point, something will have to be done about the stuffed toys (毛绒玩具). I haven’t counted them because, truthfully, I’m not prepared to know how many there are. Lately, our neighborhood’s message boards are filled with posts about parents trying to make space, to clear out the things their kids no longer need. The tone of some of these posts can best be described as “emergency”. “Help!” they sometimes begin. “I have to get this out of my house.”

“The proliferation (激增) of children’s toys is the outcome of a long, gradual cultural change,”says Gary Cross, a professor at Pennsylvania State University. To understand how we got here — drowning (淹没于) in all those stuffed toys and bricks — it helps to look as far back as the late 19th century. “Parents were no longer passing their jobs on to the children,” Cross says. “Instead, they connect across generations through the gifting process. From the early 20th century on, goods became the things that define relationships between family members, and the way of marking success as a family.”

Then, how can parents deal with the proliferation of children’s toys at home? Naeemah Ford Goldson, a professional organizer, is also a mom of two. In her own home, Goldson likes to include her kids in the work of sorting out their toys. They know that the items they don’t need anymore will be given to people who can use them, to families who might not be as fortunate as theirs. “Doing so helps them build those habits of letting go,” she says, “so then they don’t become adults who are too dependent on material things instead of experiences, or people, and the memories we make with people.”

Her idea made sense. She told her 5-year-old they should pick some to give to kids in their community who came from another country and had to leave their toys behind. She immediately took a pink bear from the pile.

1. Why does the author present the posts in paragraph 1?

A．To show the popularity of children’s toys.

B．To offer suggestions about choosing children’s toys.

C．To praise the role of social media in buying children’s toys.

D．To introduce the influence too many children’s toys bring about.

2. What has caused the huge increase of children’s toys according to Cross?

A．Children’s demands.	B．The growth of technology.
C．The traditions in the 18th century.	D．The practice of gifting among family members.

3. What does Goldson do to avoid too many toys?

A．Involve her kids in organizing toys.	B．Put away toys for her kids.
C．Buy her kids fewer toys.	D．Sell unwanted toys to neighbors.

4. Which is the most suitable title for the text?

A．The Rise of Toy Stores in Neighborhoods	B．The Importance of Choosing Proper Gifts
C．The Challenge of Managing Children’s Toys	D．The Joy of Collecting Children’s Toys

5 . While there are already apps that guide blind users to a bus stop’s approximate location, those people may unknowingly end up standing too far away from the actual stop. A new app addresses that shortcoming by letting the smartphone’s camera in on the act.

Known as All_Aboard, the AI-based app was developed by a team of scientists at the Harvard-affiliated Massachusetts Eye and Ear treatment and research center. It’s made to be used along with a third-party GPS-based online navigational (导航的) map.

Users start by using other apps to get to a bus stop’s location. They then open All _Aboard and proceed to hold their smartphone up so that its back camera can “see” the surrounding street. Drawing upon a deep learning neural network which was trained on around 10,000 images of bus stops within that city, the app is reportedly able to visually identify the target stop’s sign if it’s within a range of up to 15 meters away. Once the sign has been spotted, the app guides the user via sonar-like beeps (哔哔声) which change pitch and speed as the person gets closer to the bus stop.

In field tests, 24 legally blind volunteers used both online maps and All _Aboard to locate 20 bus stops—10 in an urban setting and 10 in a suburban environment.

When it came to getting close enough to those stops, online maps alone had a success rate of just 52%, whereas All _Aboard boosted the number to 93%. Additionally, while the average distance between the map’s endpoint and the actual bus stop was 6.62 meters with online maps, it was just 1.54 meters with All _Aboard.

“Our findings suggest that the All _Aboard app could help travelers with visual impairments (视力受损) in navigation by accurately detecting the bus stop, and therefore greatly reducing their chance of missing buses due to standing too far from the bus stops,” said Massachusetts Eye and Ear’s Assoc. Prof. Gang Luo. “This study indicates that computer vision-based object recognition capabilities can be used in a complementary (补充的) way and provide added benefit to purely mapping-based, macro-navigation services in real-world settings.”

1. What is the author’s purpose of writing paragraph 1?

A．To introduce the topic.

B．To highlight other apps.

C．To show the new app’s shortcomings.

D．To detailedly compare the new app with others.

2. What is paragraph 3 mainly about?

A．The importance of camera in smartphones.

B．The potential advantage of the new app.

C．How the new app All _ Aboard works.

D．Why users get closer to the bus stop.

3. What can we infer about All _ Aboard from the data given in paragraph 5?

A．High accuracy.	B．Good reputation.
C．Perfect property.	D．More application.

4. What can be the best title for the text?

A．Blind Users Benefiting From Science

B．A New App Is In The Charge Of Its Users

C．Online Maps Needing Improvement To The Bus Service

D．All _ Aboard Making Navigation Efficient For The Blind

6 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1. What kind of music does the man like?

A．Lively music.

B．Dance music.

C．Classical music.

2. What does the woman do when she listens to music?

A．She does some cooking.

B．She does homework.

C．She surfs the Internet.

3. Why is the man going to listen to classical music?

A．Because he is sad.

B．Because he is a lively person.

C．Because it is good for the brain.

4. What does the woman advise the man to do?

A．Listen to the radio.

B．Download some music.

C．Go to the concert.