1 . TikTok, the widely popular social media platform, has taken the world by storm with its short-form videos and addictive content. But did you know that there is also a Chinese version of TikTok?

The Chinese version of TikTok is called Douyin, and it has quickly become one of the most widely used apps in China. Launched in 2016 by Beijing-based tech company ByteDance, Douyin has attracted an enormous user base and reshaped the social media landscape in China.

So, how did Douyin gain such vast popularity in China?

One of the factors contributing to Douyin’s success is the large population of smartphone users in China. With over 1.4 billion people, China has a massive user base for social media platforms. Additionally, the rise in internet penetration and the availability of affordable smartphones have made it easier for people to access and use Douyin.

Douyin takes advantage of China’s culture of sharing and enjoying bite-sized content. In China. there has always been a strong demand for short-form entertainment, including popular formats like variety shows, quick comedy skits, and music videos. Douyin provides a platform for users to easily create and share short videos, allowing them to express their creativity and talent.

Douyin leverages the power of social network effects. Users can follow each other, like and comment on videos, and engage with a large community of like-minded individuals. This sense of belonging and community encourages them to spend more time on the platform.

Moreover. Douyin continuously improves its features and algorithms to enhance user experience and keep users engaged. The app uses advanced AI technology to analyze user preferences and provide personalized recommendations, ensuring that users see content that is relevant and interesting to them.

Overall, the rise of the Chinese version of TikTok, Douyin, can be attributed to a combination of factors, including the large smartphone user base, the popularity of short-form entertainment in China, social network effects, and continuous improvements in features and algorithms.

1. How is Douyin different from TikTok?

A．Its algorithms.

B．Its target groups.

C．Its user experience.

D．Its main functions.

2. Which of the following is one of the factors of Douyin’s success in China?

A．The popularity of long-form videos.

B．The low technology requirements to Douyin.

C．The large population of smartphone users.

D．The availability of different brands of mobile phones.

3. What does the underlined word “leverages” mean in Paragraph 6?

A．brings about

B．believes in

C．makes up for

D．makes full use of

4. How is the passage organized?

A．Opinion — Description — Discussion	B．Topic — Argument — Emphasis
C．Introduction — Explanations — Summary	D．Main idea — Supporting examples — Conclusion

2 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式，并将答案填写在答题卡上。

Longmen Grottoes

Set on the banks of the Yi River, 12km south of the current Luoyang City, the Longmen Grottoes are ranked first of the Four Great Grotioes in China, together with Mogao Grottoes in Dunhuang, Yungang Grottoes in Datong and Mount Maiji Grottoes in Tianshui. They were also listed in the World Cultural Heritages and Relics by UNESCO in 2000.

    1     (Locate) between the Xiangshan Mountain and the Longmen Mountain, with the YiRiver flowing below, the Longmen Grottoes are     2     (harmony) with mountains, forests and rivers displaying a peaceful atmosphere. Viewing it at a distance, it looks like     3     natural gate, which gave it the name “Yi Que (the gate of the Yi River)”. According to legend,     4     Emperor Yang of the Sui Dynasty climbed on Mount Mang north of Luoyang, he was very pleased and ordered the eastern capital     5     (build) here with its palace gate opposite the Yique. Thus, it came to be named, Longmen Gate.

Longmen Gate also houses     6     (rough) 2860 stele inscriptions (碑刻), making     7     a treasure for ancient calligraphy study. In total, more than 100,000 Buddhist statues and niches     8     (carve) into the cliffs by ancient Chinese people ranging from the largest one, the Vairocana Buddha with a     9     (high) of 17.14 meters,     10     the smallest one of 2 centimeters.

Wandering in the Longmen Grottoes, one is amazed by the delicate carving skills, deep Buddhist culture and great art achievements of Chinese people.

3 . In a Parisian old shoe factory on the city’s outskirts, a new kind of life is taking root. Neoplants, a startup from Paris, has developed a special houseplant that could potentially help improve indoor air quality by removing harmful pollutants.

The plant is a modified variety of one of the most popular and low-maintenance houseplants. Its DNA has been altered to enhance its capacity to absorb volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from the air we breathe inside our homes. These VOCs include substances like formaldehyde, benzene. toluene. ethylbenzene, and xylene, which are commonly found indoors and can be harmful in large quantities.

The genetic tweaking also allows the plant to convert the absorbed VOCs into substances it can use. such as sugars and carbon dioxide, which then fuel its growth. While Neoplants’concept is quite promising, proving its effectiveness is a challenge.

Plant shops often claim their greenery can purify the air, but much of this belief stems from research conducted by NASA back in 1989. They found that houseplants could indeed absorb certain toxins. However, achieving the same level of toxin removal as simply opening a window would require an impractical number of plants   — anywhere from 10 to 1,000 per square meter.

So, does Neoplants’genetically modified houseplant offer a better solution? Field tests haven’t yielded definitive results yet, but there is hope for more conclusive testing in the future with the help of a new lab equipped with unique non-absorbent rooms that mimic real-life conditions . Additionally, the company is exploring potential applications for its gene-editing technology in areas such as carbon capture and phytoremediation, where plants are used to clean up contaminated environments

Neoplants is relying on patience and a bit of faith. It takes time for innovations to mature. “This will be the first time such a product exists.” says the company’s CEO. drawing a parallel to the early days of computers, which were not very powerful initially but still represented a significant breakthrough.

With Neoplants’ vision, the old shoe factory on the edge of Paris isn’t just a place where shoes were made; it’s where a novel approach to cleaning our indoor air is being cultivated — one that could someday make our homes healthier and more environmentally friendly.

1. What does Neoplants’genetically modified houseplant aim to do?

A．maintain its capacity easily	B．absorb VOC’s massively
C．alter its DNA completely	D．fuel its growth quickly

2. What can be inferred from this passage?

A．The absorbed VOCs can enhance the growth of the plant.

B．Opening a window can remove the same level of toxins as the Neoplants.

C．Neoplants will need powerful computers to make a significant breakthrough.

D．Conclusive testing needs conducting to achieve definite results.

3. What does the underlined term “phytoremediation” in paragraph 5 most likely mean?

A．The process of using plants to absorb nutrients.	B．The process of using plants to purify the air.
C．The process of using plants to explore applications.	D．The process of using plants to edit certain genes.

4. Where is the text probably taken from?

A．Science fiction.

B．A scientific textbook.

C．A news article.

D．An art magazine.

4 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。

One morning in December 2023, my co-worker Al’s email caught my attention: “Found: $20 bill on the floor in the lab at the end of the hall from the main building. See Alan W. to claim.”

Al’s email reminded me of an incident that occurred on Christmas 40 years ago. Before heading out for Christmas shopping that evening, I had withdrawn $400 from the bank, foolishly stuffing eight fifty dollar bills in my front trousers pocket. On my way to Oakbrook Shopping Center, I stopped at SportMart to look at skiing equipment for my son.

Returning to the car, I discovered the bills were gone. This was $400 in 1983—a huge sum of money! Feeling terrible, I turned my pockets inside out, thinking how I could have been so careless! I turned on my car headlights and desperately looked for the bills in the snow covering the parking area, but found nothing. This was the Chicago area. It was said that people in neighborhoods were not in the habit of turning in cash they found. At the thought of this, I was so sad. With low expectations, I returned to SportMart and started telling my awful tale to the store manager.

Hearing I’d lost cash, he interrupted, stating he needed to page(呼叫 ) the store quickly. Someone had earlier reported finding money. The customer wouldn’t say how much or leave the money with the manager, but left his name. The manager was concerned he may have left.

I stopped breathing as the page broadcast. Minutes passed, and I was about to give up hope when a man and a boy approached the manager. The manager pointed them in my direction. He was in his mid-thirties, with dark hair, a winter jacket, and a son about 10 or 12 He smiled, “The manager tells me you lost some money. Can you describe the amount and denominations(面额)?”

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。

I told him I’d lost $400, eight fifties.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

They left before I could ask them their names.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5 . 假定你是李华，住在一个居民区，近期附近的一块建筑工地自清晨开始施工，持续到深夜。巨大的噪音严重影响了你和邻居们的正常生活，包括休息、学习和工作。请你给当地社区管理部门写一封投诉信，说明情况并希望尽快解决此问题。
注意：
1. 写作词数应为80左右;
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Dear Community Management,
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sincerely,

Li Hua

6 . My family always had some sort of animal around, but none of them were truly mine. My parents didn’t permit me to _________ my own until I was seven years old. Finally, I was _________ to have my own _________, a fish called George. I said it was my responsibility to _________ it.

Every Friday I would clean out his bowl. I found myself _________ invitations to go somewhere immediately after school, because I would have to feed my fish first. Every day he would remind me that I was _________ and that I had someone depending on me.

One day, I came home from school and headed to my room to _________George. I found a _________ thing had happened. I _________ my bag and ran over to the bowl. I saw my best friend George floating around lifeless.

My mom walked into my room. I turned around as tears started to well in my eyes. “Mommy, George d…d…died.” With that __________ word I started crying uncontrollably. My mom came to my side as I hid my face in my pillows.

Suddenly, I realized that George hadn’t just __________ me. He had taught me what __________ meant. I learned it through feeding him and cleaning his bowl. This made me feel __________ . To my seven-year-old self, this was a great __________ . Slowly, a smile crossed my face. George was gone.__________ , the lessons he taught me would forever be carved into my memory.

1.

A．draw

B．imagine

C．have

D．share

2.

A．doubtful

B．excited

C．surprised

D．afraid

3.

A．toy

B．mind

C．time

D．pet

4.

A．take care of

B．make use of

C．get hold of

D．look forward to

5.

A．reading out

B．putting away

C．turning down

D．showing off

6.

A．replaced

B．recognized

C．affected

D．needed

7.

A．feed

B．save

C．impress

D．find

8.

A．basic

B．terrible

C．funny

D．familiar

9.

A．dropped

B．emptied

C．hid

D．checked

10.

A．common

B．last

C．extra

D．new

11.

A．left

B．reminded

C．defeated

D．chosen

12.

A．preference

B．independence

C．difficulty

D．responsibility

13.

A．safe

B．good

C．sorry

D．tired

14.

A．agreement

B．treatment

C．disappointment

D．achievement

15.

A．Otherwise

B．Besides

C．However

D．Therefore

7 . Avoiding loneliness

It doesn’t follow that you’re lonely just because you live alone, but there’s evidence that it can affect your health, increasing your risk of heart disease, cancer, and mental health problems.     1    . Acknowledging it and trying to understand what’s causing you to feel that way is the first step to doing something about it.

    2    . Instead of watching TV or checking your phone, go for a walk and chat with someone. Better still, offer to take a neighbor's dog for a walk—dog owners love other’ dog’ people!

Build your community online. The internet has the potential to bring like-minded people together.     3    . Try a neighbourhood app like Next Door or Nearcircles. You may take part in a fitness community (group workouts or a running club), a work community (co-working space), or a hobby community (a writers’ meetup). Your local library will also be able to help you find activities and what’s on near home.

Pick up the phone. Or make a video call. Don’t wait for family and friends to make the first move; get in touch for a chat and make it a habit.

Get involved.     4    . Helping out at the local food bank or charity shop will not only give you a warm, happy feeling, but you’ll also get to meet other volunteers—and it will give you something to talk about with friends.

Plan ahead. Everyone’s busy, so getting people together can take organisation and motivation.     5    .

A．Make time for people

B．Talk about your feelings

C．So, if at times you feel lonesome, don’t ignore it

D．Don’t be embarrassed at the causes of your loneliness

E．However, it needs to translate into meeting up in real life

F．Rather than unclearly suggesting meeting up, follow up quickly with a proposed date

G．Volunteering is good for physical and mental health, and allows you to connect with people

8 . Lou, a 20-year-old mathematician (数学家) with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) (脊肌萎缩症), is studying at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States.

He had SMA when he was born. He has had to deal with large physical challenges since he was a baby. This disease takes away his ability to walk, eat, or use the restroom without help. In the past two decades of his life, he has gone through several operations. However, these struggles can’t stop him from enjoying freedom in the field of math.

He loved math when he was a fourth-grader. He was always addicted to many questions like “Why could we prove anything meaningful in math? Why could we make predictions (预言) about the world through math?” These endless questions made him win a few successes. In the fifth grade, he scored in the top one percent on the AMC 10, a competition for students at senior high school. He also won a gold medal at the World Mathematic s Team Championship.

Now, he is a mathematician. He said, “It is clear to me that math isn’t only about numbers. Rather, it is the very language of the world itself. And it is the language that has allowed me to go beyond the physical limitations of my body.” As time goes by, his body weakens, but his enthusiasm for understanding the world through math has only deepened. He always believes that no matter how bad life may seem, there is always something one can do, and succeed at it.

1. How does the disease SMA affect Lou?

A．He becomes angry easily.	B．He is unwilling to make friends.
C．He has to face physical challenges.	D．He has lost the ability to communicate.

2. What made Lou successful in math at a young age?

A．His friends’ help.	B．A book from his teacher.
C．His question-filled mind.	D．The strict requirements from his parents.

3. What does the underlined word “enthusiasm” mean in the last paragraph?

A．Chance.

B．Reason.

C．Excuse.

D．Love.

4. What is Lou’s attitude towards life?

A．Positive.

B．Worried.

C．Unclear.

D．Doubtful.

9 . The fruit-tree pinhole borer (针孔蛀虫), as its name implies, makes holes in fruit trees. It lays its eggs and raises its young in the galleries thus created . Yet the beetles (甲虫) do not feed directly on the wood they bore into. Instead, they devour fungi (真菌) that grow on the wood thus exposed.

Researchers have long suspected that this is a form of farming, because they have evidence that the beetles carry spores (孢子) of their preferred crop, R. sulphurea, into their smallholdings—in effect, sowing it there.

Observations of natural fruit-tree pinhole-bore r dwellings suggest that R. sulphurea grows in them more abundantly (大量地) than might be expected, given all the fungal competition around—but not why. To check whether the beetles are, indeed, weeding their crop, Janina Diehl and Peter Biedermann of the University of Freiburg did an experiment.

In the laboratory, they had mother beetles of the little wood bore restablish nests, in which the typical fungal gardens formed. But before the beetles had started laying their eggs, they collected all of the beetles and then returned half to their dwellings while leaving the other nests empty. Genetic analysis of the fungal gardens after 40 days showed that the presence of the beetles had greatly changed the fungal community. Twenty days after that, they sampled the gallery walls for fungi.

As they had hoped and expected, R. sulphurea was much more abundant in beetle-tended galleries than in those without residents. In the former, it made up half of the fungal mass extracted. In the latter, less than a third. These beetles are indeed weeding their crop.

“Further research into how exactly the beetles suppress the growth of weed fungi could alsoprovide worthwhile insights for human agriculture, which is struggling with weed resistance, for example,” says Biedermann. “It’s highly exciting for us to see how nature has been doing this for 60 million years. We humans can still learn something from these mechanisms.”

1. What does the underlined word “devour” in paragraph 1 mean?

A．Sow.

B．Tend.

C．Eat.

D．Move.

2. In which aspect were the two groups of nests different?

A．The number of the mother beetles.	B．The presence of the beetles.
C．The quality of food fungi.	D．The types of weed fungi.

3. What did Diehl find about the fruit-tree pinhole borer?

A．They weed crops.	B．They feed on fruit.
C．They live in groups.	D．They lay eggs in trees.

4. What can be learned from Biedermann’s words?

A．The research findings are of little value.

B．Measures should be taken to protect the beetles.

C．Fungi cause much damage to human agriculture.

D．Further research to the beetles might benefit farmers.

10 . 假定你是高中生李华。由于最近很多同学使用平板电脑，你对他们使用平板电脑的情况展开了调查。请你给你校英文报写一封信，谈谈你校学生使用平板电脑的情况。信的主要内容如下：

对使用平板电脑的态度	原因	你的看法与建议
42%的人表示支持	1. 用平板电脑进行学习 2. 用平板电脑娱乐	……
58%的人表示反对	沉迷于平板电脑会影响学习

注意：
(1)词数80左右；
(2)可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
(3)信的开头已写好，不计入总词数。
参考词汇：平板电脑 tablet
Dear Editor,

I’m a senior 3 student, named Li Hua.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Yours sincerely,

Li Hua