1 . Challenges are part of life and something we can all expect to encounter at one point or another during our lifetime. We handle challenges differently;some of us choose to face them head-on, while others flee in uncertainty.     1    The following are simple methods and strategies we can all employ to overcome challenges more effectively.

    2     Nike couldn’t have said it any better with their slogan, "Just do it! "Some challenges require us to do just that. Grab the bull by its horns and have the courage to conquer it, no matter how unsure we might feel. Some challenges are urgent and require immediate attention, leaving us with no option but to go ahead full-steam.

Educate ourselves. The reason why some issues prove challenging for us is that we aren’t familiar with them.     3     The internet, books, forums, etc. , offer platforms where we can research and learn about our challenges to find strategies against them. Knowledge is definitely powerful and essential in conquering anything.

Be persistent. This is what is required to accomplish anything, especially when it comes to overcoming challenges. No matter how difficult our challenges might be, we must be willing to push through and try again and again until we achieve victory over them.     4    

Ask for help. There are times when we can’t go it alone and need others to help us conquer whatever challenges we face.     5     Networking with like-minded individuals who can offer us support, suggestions, and solutions is useful in helping us overcome challenges.

A．Meet them head-on.

B．Adapt a different strategy.

C．It is said that two heads are better than one.

D．If we give up, we allow the challenges to conquer us instead.

E．Therefore, our knowledge and ability to conquer them is limited.

F．Whatever our positions, we all wish to conquer them and move on.

G．Some challenges can be overwhelming, making us question our ability to overcome them.

2 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1. When did David come back last night?

A．At 6:00 pm.

B．At 7:00 pm.

C．At 8:30 pm.

2. Why did David go out last night?

A．To watch a movie.

B．To read in a library.

C．To have some discussions.

3. What does David suggest the woman do?

A．Apply to work for the club.

B．Contact Lucy for more information.

C．Learn more about the neighborhood.

3 . 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.

2. What is the advantage of Raman microscopy?

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.

3. Why will the team expand their research into tap 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.

4. What is Qian’s attitude towards his research?

A．Skeptical.

B．Objective.

C．Conservative.

D．Positive.

4 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。

1. Which family holiday does the man recommend?

A．The one on the 18th.

B．The one on the 19th.

C．The one on the 20th.

2. Where will the woman probably go?

A．France.

B．Spain.

C．Greece.

3. What do we know about The Hotel Playa?

A．It is a five-star hotel.

B．It has its own beach.

C．It has a swimming pool.

5 . Selecting gifts for your beloved ones can be one of the most difficult parts. But don’t worry! We can help! Here are some gift ideas to suit all pockets.

Air purifier

Do you have a loved one who suffers from allergies (过敏) or other skin diseases? Why not gift him or her an air cleaner? Research has shown that air purifiers can help reduce allergy reactions, remove asthma (哮喘) causes such as dust by improving air quality in your home. Look for purifiers with more than one filter and, especially, a high efficiency air filter.

Electric toothbrush

One review of 56 studies has found that a powered toothbrush resulted in a 21 per cent reduction of plaque and an 11 per cent reduction in gingivitis (牙龈炎) after three months, compared with a manual toothbrush. It’s also a fun way for children to look after their dental hygiene.

Dark chocolate

Nothing screams a gift quite like chocolate. Good news is that dark chocolate is associated with several health benefits. Small amounts of this sweet treat may lower the risk of heart disease, improve brain function and give your immune system a boost, potentially reducing infection.

Your time

Quality time spent with your nearest and dearest is completely free, but is the most precious gift you could give them. If you’ve been too preoccupied of late, determine to put aside more hours to do fun things together, or if you have time to devote to others outside your immediate circle, consider volunteering with Age UK as a friend to an elderly person.

1. Which of the following is suitable for someone with a dental problem?

A．Air purifier.	B．Electric toothbrush.
C．Dark chocolate.	D．Your time.

2. What do the first three presents have in common?

A．They belong to tech presents.	B．They are non-physical objects.
C．They are intended for the elderly.	D．They help promote healthy living.

3. What is special about the last present?

A．It is priceless.	B．It is worthless.
C．It is physical.	D．It is rare.

6 . Mary Shelley bends over her latest creation. Although the carving is only half complete, the image of a waitress holding a plate of eggs comes out from the board. Of Shelley’s nearly seven hundred carvings, many show scenes with cows on farms and people in restaurants.

From memories to carvings

“My work is a visual diary, ” Shelley says. “The carvings describe things I have experienced and felt at different times in my life.”

Every one of her carvings tells a story. Many of the stories in Shelley’s woodcarvings come from memories of her childhood in a rural (乡村的) area outside of Doylestown, Pennsylvania. Shelley’s family managed a small farm. Mary was a serious girl who spent a lot of time raising animals, exploring outdoors, and reading. Although Shelley never felt especially artistic as a child, there was always an art project in the works in the Shelley household. Her grandmother painted. Her father was a commercial artist, who drew and wrote to make a living.

______

Shelley attended Cornell University and hoped to become a writer, but an unusual present took her in another direction. At age 23, she received a gift her father had made-a woodcarving of her as a girl on the farm. The gift caught her interest. After gathering boards from a building site where she worked as a carpenter, Shelley bought some tools and taught herself to carve.

Shelley soon realized that she loved the slow, thoughtful process of working with wood and painting. “A carving is like a jigsaw puzzle (拼图游戏),”   she explains. “I didn’t know how it would all fit together, but the process of solving the puzzle kept me going.”

The Shelley style

Early in her career, people hired Shelley to carve special pieces that took four or five weeks to complete. The money she received motivated her to try more complicated scenes created by carving deeper in the wood. Over time, Shelley’s art began to have its own style. In a typical Shelley woodcarving, some objects seem to reach out of the frame while others drop back, creating a feeling of depth.

1. What can we infer from the “From memories to carvings” part?

A．Art is from but beyond life.	B．Life is short and art is long.
C．It is great art to laugh at your own misfortune.	D．Knowledge without practice makes but half an artist

2. Which can be the best title for the second part?

A．Life in School	B．A Dream Come True
C．A Life-Changing Gift	D．Jigsaw Puzzles and Carving

3. What made Mary take up carving?

A．The dream to be an artist in her childhood.	B．Her father’s low-relief carving for her.
C．The rugs hooked by her grandmother.	D．Her school life in Cornell University.

4. According to the text, Shelley’s art ______.

A．is very popular	B．is very expensive
C．has simple scenes	D．creates a feeling of depth

7 . A new form of real estate(不动产)is appearing along the beaches of South Africa and on the dry islands off its coast-tiny white beach huts. With good ventilation and a sea view, they are just big enough to fit a family of African penguins. Their unique selling point: a safe and cool place for penguins to breed.

African penguins, unlike their relatives that live in snow and ice, live well in the cold currents of the South Atlantic Ocean. But when they come to land, their thick black coat absorbs the heat, and they desperately look for cover-both for themselves and their fragile eggs.

Historically, the penguins dug burrows in layers of guano-accumulated seabird and bat feces- that lined Africa’s penguin colonies, but in the 19th century, traders started selling guano(鸟粪)as fertilizer, leaving the penguins and their eggs increasingly exposed to predators and the baking sun. This, combined with other threats such as egg poaching, overfishing and climate change, has caused African penguin populations to plummet. In 2019, they were thought to be less than 20,000 breeding pairs, down from an estimated 1.5 to 3 million birds in 1900.For more than a decade, the species has been listed as endangered by the IUCN.

To date, the African Penguin Nest Project has installed more than 1,500 nests across five of South Africa’s penguin colonies, and plans to expand into Namibia next year, the only other country with breeding populations of the species.

“This is still just a drop in the bucket,” says Graham, who anticipates they will need to deploy at least 4,500 more ceramic homes to protect penguins currently nesting in exposed areas. “The goal is that every penguin that needs a nest will get one.”

1. What is the reason for building the beach huts?

A．To beautify the beach.	B．To conduct research.
C．To house the penguins.	D．To balance the ecology.

2. How many factors have affected the penguin populations according to the text?

A．Four.

B．Five.

C．Six.

D．Seven.

3. Which of the following can replace the underlined word “plummet” in Paragraph 4?

A．Innovate.

B．Increase.

C．Swing.

D．Decline.

4. Which column may the text appear in a newspaper?

A．Culture.

B．Environment.

C．Technology.

D．Art.

8 . Here are some ways you can change your inner thoughts to stop stress having an effect on your mental and physical health.

Exercise

Exercise can be used as a tool to enable you to deal with stress. The feel-good chemicals released(释放)by the brain when you exercise give a sense of well-being and calm.     1     You can then face any trouble in your life with more confidence.

Keep a journal

    2     You can keep a diary to write down your thoughts and record successes you are thankful for. This will make sure the positive things are more important in your mind. This can remind you that whatever stress there is, good things are still happening to you and you’re still progressing and succeeding in life.

Connect with others

Having some people who support you helps you to feel calm. When you meet with difficulties, there are people who will have your back. You feel much less stressed when you have friends and family on your side. Build your support network by giving to others when they need you.    3    

Improve your sleep

Tiredness, the inability to think straight and sleep deprivation (缺乏) make you feel stressed. Improving sleep quality itself does a lot in reducing stress.     4     You can also try practicing breathing and relaxation. Keep your bedroom as a cool and calm place.

Prioritize yourself

Make sure you are giving yourself some time in your week.    5     Schedule “me time” and time to practice self-care. Spare time to do what you enjoy and find fun. It’s necessary to help you feel strong and able to deal with stress.

A．Be really strict with work-life dividing line.

B．Don’t be afraid to ask for the same in return.

C．It’s of great importance to choose someone you trust.

D．Put aside some screen-free time before going to bed.

E．Be organized, prepared and on time for jobs that matter to you.

F．People often care about what doesn’t go right instead of what goes well.

G．Challenging yourself to keep working out can make you build self-respect.

9 . When handball was introduced to Sri Lankan schools in 2010, I wanted to bring it to my school in a remote village. This became a(n) _______ task as the sports teacher was unwilling to initiate anything _______ traditional sports like basketball. Despite being an English language teacher before _______ my post as deputy principal (副校长), I was _______ to start this game at any cost.

40 students aged between 13 and 19 _______ to play. I had the support of their parents but I still couldn’t _______ the sports teacher to agree. _______ , I used my position to get the game going.

Heshan Pradeep, an alumnus (校友) and member of the Air Force handball team, volunteered to _______ the team. Although handball is an indoor game, we trained outdoors due to limited _______. Training started early in the morning before class and ________ after school until it was dark. The boys loved the game and were ________ training. After three months of devoted training, we were able to send an under-19s boys’ team to ________ with 50 other schools. Our boys played remarkably well and ________ the semifinals. The following year, nobody could ________ our team from winning the all-island schools handball championship.

The ________ sent the whole village into carnival mode. Heshan and I were much honored to have shown the boys that dreams can be fulfilled.

1.

A．appealing

B．challenging

C．confusing

D．amusing

2.

A．regardless of

B．in relation to

C．other than

D．in terms of

3.

A．leaving

B．assuming

C．offering

D．creating

4.

A．determined

B．resistant

C．forbidden

D．grateful

5.

A．woke up

B．grew up

C．sped up

D．signed up

6.

A．allow

B．encourage

C．convince

D．force

7.

A．Ultimately

B．Occasionally

C．Similarly

D．Unfortunately

8.

A．protect

B．contact

C．coach

D．assess

9.

A．prospects

B．appliances

C．qualifications

D．facilities

10.

A．ended

B．continued

C．changed

D．functioned

11.

A．passionate about

B．particular about

C．embarrassed about

D．objective about

12.

A．debate

B．compete

C．associate

D．cooperate

13.

A．watched

B．hosted

C．reached

D．predicted

14.

A．stop

B．free

C．separate

D．excuse

15.

A．motivation

B．tendency

C．innovation

D．victory

10 . If you dream about working and meanwhile travelling in different countries, we’ve made a list of jobs that allow you to tour around the globe while earning some money!

A Travel Nurse

If you’re in the medical field, becoming a travel nurse is a good option. A travel nurse in worldwide demand is well paid, so medical professionals can wear uniforms on any continent. The nursing assignments vary in the length of working time. You can enjoy accommodation payment and insurance benefits, but you have to work in the high-stress environment.

A Waiter

A waiter abroad is a popular choice for young travelers because some restaurants don’t require much precious experience or qualifications, but they do not have access to high health insurance. Many people do service work for a while to earn enough money to travel abroad for the rest of the year. It’s OK for those without family to deal with customers at night, but they can’t get high wages.

An English Teacher

English is one of the world’s most spoken languages, so there is always a demand for people who can teach it. Being an English teacher abroad often requires a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) certification. There are some popular destinations for prospective teachers. However, as teachers abroad, especially part-time teachers, their salaries are not high.

An Oil Industry Worker

Oil industry is one of the highest paying fields for both skilled and unskilled workers, with plenty of opportunities to travel whether they fulfill a position in exploration or production. You can be a researcher or an engineer on deep sea drilling rigs (钻塔). The job is well paid, and you can help companies do less harm to the sea.

1. What should travel nurses do?

A．Assign nursing tasks.	B．Get a TEFL certification.
C．Pay for their own accommodation.	D．Develop a good anti-pressure ability.

2. What’s the common feature of working as a waiter and an English teacher in traveling?

A．The low pay.	B．The prospective career growth.
C．Large health insurance benefits.	D．Professional training opportunities.

3. Which job is best suited to a traveller wanting to contribute to the environment?

A．A travel nurse.	B．A waiter.
C．An English teacher.	D．An oil industry worker.