1 . With gas prices rising and airport security lines snaking longer than ever, why not book your next domestic vacation on a train? Compared to other alternatives, it’s comfortable and relaxing. Here is some advice on how to make a trip by rail as pleasant as possible.

Plan ahead. Most long-distance trains, especially the sleeping car accommodations, sell out very quickly.     1     But no matter when you travel, it’s a good idea to make your reservations at least 90 days in advance.

Use a travel agent. Consider turning your travel plan over to a travel agent and letting him double-check all the details, make suggestions, and then handle the actual reservations. A good one can sometimes find you discounted tickets.     2     Then you won’t have to walk through several cars on a moving train three times a day for your meals.

Bring a blanket. When you’re riding on trains, you won’t be provided with a blanket for free, even if your trip is an overnight one.     3     In the summer in particular, the air conditioning can make them quite cold.

Arrive early. Most trains operate just once a day and some run only three times a week, so missing yours can be a disaster.     4     Note: The times listed on the schedules are departure times, not arrival times.

Have fun.     5     Read a book, knit, do a crossword puzzle, or simply watch the world unfold outside the window. To calculate your speed as you do, divide 3,600(the number of seconds in an hour)by the number of seconds it takes you to travel one mile(the distance between two mileposts). If it takes the train 53 seconds to travel one mile, you’re going 67.92 mph.

A．Train trips aren’t for impatient types.

B．You’ll have views from both sides of the train.

C．The temperature on rail cars is often hard to control.

D．That’s particularly true during busy summer months.

E．You might have to wait longer than 24 hours to catch the next one.

F．Chances are the cost will be a lot less than the cost of one bedroom.

G．He may also book you in a sleeping car that’s right next to the diner.

2 . For lots of kids, toddlerhood (幼儿期) is an important time for friendship. Studies show that the earlier kids learn to form positive relationships, the better they are at relating to others as teenagers and adults. Playing together also helps these kids practice social behaviors, such as kindness, sharing, and cooperation.

Even so, how quickly your child develops into a social creature may also depend on his temperament(性格). Some toddler s are very social, but others are shy. In addition, the way that toddlers demonstrate that they like other children is markedly different from what adults think of as expressions of friendship. Research at Ohio State University in Columbus found that a toddler’s way of saying “I like you” during play is likely to come in the form of copying a friend’s behavior.

This seemingly unusual way of demonstrating fondness can result in unpleasant behavior. Regardless of how much they like a playmate, they may still grab his toys, refuse to share, and get bossy. But experts say that this is a normal and necessary part of friendship for kids this age. Through play experiences, toddlers learn social rules. That’s why it’s so important to take an active role in your toddler’s social encounters by setting limits and offering frequent reminders of what they are. When you establish these guidelines, explain the reasons behind them.

Begin by helping your child learn sympathy (“Ben is crying. What’s making him so sad?”), then suggest how he could resolve the problem (“Maybe he would feel better if you let him play the ball.”). When your child shares or shows empathy(同理心) toward a friend, praise him (“Ben stopped crying! You made him feel better.”).

Another way to encourage healthy social interaction is by encouraging kids to use words- not fists-to express how they feel. It’s also important to be mindful of how your child’s personality affects playtime. Kids are easy to get angry when they’re sleepy or hungry, so schedule playtime when they’re refreshed.

1. What does it indicate when toddlers copy their playmates’ behavior?

A．They are interested in acting.	B．They are shy with the strangers.
C．They are fond of their playmates.	D．They are tired of playing games.

2. What does the author suggest parents do for their kids?

A．Design games for them.	B．Find them suitable playmates.
C．Play together with them.	D．Help them understand social rules.

3. What is the function of the quoted statements in paragraph 4?

A．Giving examples.	B．Explaining concepts.
C．Providing evidence.	D．Making comparisons.

4. Which of the following is the best title for the text?

A．How Children Adapt to Changes	B．How to Be a Role Model for Children
C．How Your Baby Learns to Love	D．How to Communicate with Your Kid

3 . In his 1936 work How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie wrote: “I have come to the conclusion that there is only one way to get the best of an argument — and that is to avoid it.” This distaste for arguments is common, but it depends on a mistaken view of arguments that causes problems for our personal and social lives — and in many ways misses the point of arguing in the first place.

Carnegie would be right if arguments were fights, which is how we often think of them. Like physical fights, verbal (言语的) fights can leave both sides bloodied. Even when you win, you end up no better off. You would be feeling almost as bad if arguments were even just competitions — like, say, tennis tournaments. Pairs of opponents hit the ball back and forth until one winner comes out from all who entered. Everybody else loses. This kind of thinking explains why so many people try to avoid arguments.

However, there are ways to win an argument every time. When you state your position, formulate (阐述) an argument for what you claim and honestly ask yourself whether your argument is any good. When you talk with someone who takes a stand, ask them to give you a reason for their view and spell out their argument fully. Assess its strength and weakness. Raise objections (异议) and listen carefully to their replies. This method will require effort, but practice will make you better at it.

These tools can help you win every argument — not in the unhelpful sense of beating your opponents but in the better sense of learning about what divides people, learning why they disagree with us and learning to talk and work together with them. If we readjust our view of arguments — from a verbal fight or tennis game to a reasoned exchange through which we all gain respect and understanding from each other — then we change the very nature of what it means to “win” an argument.

1. What is the author’s attitude toward Carnegie’s understanding of argument?

A．Critical.

B．Supportive.

C．Tolerant.

D．Uncertain.

2. Why do many people try to avoid arguments?

A．They lack debating skills.	B．They may feel bad even if they win.
C．They fear being ignored.	D．They are not confident in themselves.

3. What does the underlined phrase “spell out” in paragraph 3 probably mean?

A．Defend.

B．Explain.

C．Conclude.

D．Repeat.

4. What is the key to “winning” an argument according to the author?

A．Sense of logic.	B．Solid supporting evidence.
C．Proper manners.	D．Understanding from both sides.

4 . One of the cores of emotional intelligence is self-regulation, an important skill in the workplace. Like any skill, mastery of emotional self-control requires intentionality and practice.     1    .

Pause to Mentally Distance

When you notice your typical physiological experiences associated with strong negative emotion, what should you do? Mentally step out of your immediate experience. Asking yourself any question, or imagining what you might look like to others right now, will do the trick. At that point, although still physiologically keyed up, you will be able to ask yourself, “What is the best course of action right now?” or “What advice would I give someone else who is in my shoes?”     2    .

Take Control of Your Self-Talk

We’re frequently unaware of how much self-chatter is going on in the background of our minds. Such self-talk might not be in fully articulated (铰接式的) words or phrases, but instead little flashes of thought. Becoming aware of your self-talk can be difficult. Why is this an important skill to develop?     3    . To genuinely ease a strong negative emotion requires tackling the source by examining the underlying belief and how accurate, reasonable, or useful it is.

Seek Support from Partners

Ask others you trust to help you recognize when your emotions seem to be getting the best of you.     4    . Agree on a gesture or word that might serve as a signal that your trusted individual wonders whether you’re riding the led-by-your-limbic-system train. Of course, there will be times they’re wrong. So, it’s important not to respond defensively when you get that signal. Reacting with anything other than gratitude ensures that your partner won’t take that risk again.

Cultivate (培养) Curiosity

Our brains are wired to draw conclusions and form judgments at lightning speed, and those are frequently the cause of our negative emotions.     5    , but we tend to run with them, sparking the self-talk that follows. Generally working to be more curious about other people’s experiences, including their self-identified motives for their behavior, helps avoid making hasty judgments.

A．They are comfortable with all emotions

B．Those judgments are not necessarily accurate

C．Doing so provides you with choices as to how to act

D．Explain your developmental goals and sincerely ask for help

E．Stay focused on coming up with an answer and following through on it

F．Because it is those background beliefs that fuel our emotional responses

G．Here are four ways you can develop greater emotional self-management

5 . Pursue Your Dreams Today, Not Tomorrow

Have you caught yourself daydreaming about your dreams? We often postpone our dreams, trapped in a cycle of delay. But why wait?     1     You don’t have to take a huge, life-changing step. You can take minute steps toward a brighter future. And start right now.

    2     If you never try, you’re going to be weighed down by your regrets. You’re always going to wonder how your life would’ve turned out if you actually took a chance on yourself. Don’t let your future self be disappointed by your present self.

It doesn’t matter how old you are or how many people have warned you that you’re never going to succeed. Even the most successful people have had their hesitations about whether they had what it took to make it in their field.    3     Embrace a mindset of determination, knowing that success is within your reach.

At the end of the day, you need to carve out a path for yourself that will lead to the most satisfaction. If you allow your fear to get the best of you, you’re never going to forgive yourself.    4    . It’s what you would encourage your friends to do, so why aren’t you giving yourself that same push?

Sometimes, following your passion means spending a lot of your time each day. It may require making slight adjustments to your schedule, but you don’t have to sacrifice everything to follow your hearts. Try to strike a balance between your current life and your dreams.    5    

Pursue your dreams now, even though that means you might need to break out of your comfort zone, and even though it means entering the unknown.

A．Ask yourself what would be worse.

B．Starting small is completely acceptable.

C．You owe it to yourself to go after your dreams.

D．New opportunities may lead to personal growth.

E．If things go well, you can gradually make further shifts.

F．You need to move past your insecurities and explore your full potential.

G．Hard as it is, it’s crucial to wave off the doubts in the back of your mind.

6 . 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。

“Have you decided on your major?” my parents inquired.

“Bioengineering, of course.” I responded without the slightest hesitation.

I entered this world with Poland syndrome, a disease that prevented the formation of my right arm and pectoral muscle(s 胸肌). My parents, believing that playing with Lego could enhance my dexterity(灵巧), gifted me my first kit when I was five. Struggling to piece the components together, I crafted my first Lego work – a car. As I got older, I grew obsessed with Lego Technic, a more advanced range, and how to use it to build more delicate structures. By the age of nine, I had fashioned my first prosthetic arm(义肢)using Lego Technic – a simple box that perfectly accommodated my right arm.

This early creation sparked my drive for further exploration. Years later, I developed another prosthetic arm that I called the MK-1, which had fingers, a motor, a pressure sensor, a movable elbow joint, and a grabber capable of picking things up.

Before constructing it, I had already decided against traditional prosthetics. Not because they were ineffective, but because playing with Lego did significantly improve my dexterity, helping me adapt to my condition. However, a more frustrating reason was that prosthetics were too expensive. My parents and I had looked into getting one a few years earlier, only to be discouraged by the prohibitive price. So, I concluded that I might not need one because I was managing well without. Nevertheless, the joy of creating prosthetics with Lego remained, and I continued making them purely for the fun of it.

As the years passed, my creations evolved from MK-1 to the more advanced and comfortable MK-V. It featured a control unit that could send and receive orders from sensors on the arm to the motors, with cables that contract like muscles.

One day, a couple with their eight-year-old son, who lost both arms in an accident, reached out to me after learning about my creations. Short of money, they couldn’t afford well-functioning prosthetics. “Daniel,” the father earnestly asked, “we were wondering if you could possibly help build a set of prosthetics for our son.”

注意:
1. 所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2. 续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好。
Paragraph 1:

I knew it would be a challenging and demanding task, but I responded with a “yes”.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Paragraph 2:

I rushed to the boy’s home and secured the prosthetics onto him!

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

7 . A vast majority of people usually argue that cycling can make a significant contribution to our world. In reality, there is a gap between desired and actual numbers. In Germany, for instance, only 20% of the everyday short-distance trips are covered by bicycle. When enquiring about the causes, researchers found one point repeatedly tops the list: the perceived or potential risk on the bike routes used. Increasing the share of cycling trips thus depends crucially on well-developed bike paths.

However, designing efficient bike path networks is a complex task that involves balancing a variety of limitations while meeting overall demand. In addition, many districts are confronted with a shortage of funds available for improving the infrastructure. Researchers propose a new approach to generating efficient bike path networks. This considers demand distribution and the route option of cyclists based on preferences for secure outings. Typically, minimizing the travel distance is far from the solely goal. Aspects such as attractiveness of a route are also taken into account.

Under real conditions, a bike path network is created by constantly adding bike paths to more streets. This time, researchers start with an ideal, complex network, in which all streets in a city are equipped with a bike path. In a virtual process, they gradually remove less used bike path sections from this network. The route selection of cyclists is continuously updated. Thus, a series of bike path networks is created and is always adapted to the current usage. Each stage of it corresponds to a variant that could be carried out with less financial support.

“We illustrate the applicability of this demand-driven planning for crowded urban areas of Dresden and Hamburg,” explains researcher Christoph Steinacker. “We are approaching a real-life issue here using the theoretic toolbox of network dynamics and compare efficient bike path networks under different conditions.”

1. Why do people rarely cycle?

A．They think of cycling as inefficient.	B．They usually take long-distance trips.
C．They’re concerned about the security.	D．They’re unable to find special bike roads.

2. What is a challenge for good bike path networks?

A．Tight budgets.	B．Complex routes.
C．Maximized travel distance.	D．Decreasing cycling demand.

3. What can be learned about the planning put forward by researchers?

A．It will be updated once in a while.	B．It is contrary to the real-life design.
C．It ensures every street has a bike path.	D．It serves as a model for other districts.

4. Which of the following is the best title for the text?

A．Good Planning Gets the Bike Rolling	B．A good Network Benefits More People
C．Cycling Paths Change Crowded Urban Areas	D．A New Concept Contributes to a Better World

8 . Learning how to apologize is similar to learning any new behavior. It may feel awkward and may not be polished at first.     1     There are several tips that will help you as you learn how to apologize.

First of all, wait until the right time and you are in the right place. Although public apology is often appropriate, discretion (谨慎) should be used.     2     Remember, you will be raising a topic that may recall a bad experience or bad feelings. Be respectful as you approach this task.

Be direct and brief in your approach. Acknowledge the fact that injury has occurred and then take responsibility for what happened. Be sincere in expressing your regret and demonstrate your willingness to take ownership of the situation.     3    

Even if you follow these steps, be prepared for rejection. Sometimes, the person apologizing has an expectation that the apology will lead to immediate forgiveness and acceptance.     4     If you think of the offense (冒犯) as an emotional bruise (瘀伤), think of the healing process as the color changes we see as a bruise heals.

    5     Knowing when to keep one’s mouth shut is a virtue. Keeping quiet may be very difficult, as post-apology listening is not easy. We may hear unpleasant observations from another about our own shortcomings. We may hear the expression of anger. One of the ways we let others know we are truly responsible and accountable for our mistakes is by listening to the other party pour out the feelings associated with our actions.

A．Forgiveness and acceptance may take time.

B．To give or receive a good apology is an art.

C．But with practice, everyone can learn to do it.

D．Listening to the response to our apologies is important.

E．Most apologies can and should happen in a private setting.

F．In other words, avoid excuses and offer to repair the damage.

G．Taking responsibility doesn’t mean accepting blame for everything.

9 . “Few articles change owners more frequently than clothes. They travel downwards from grade to grade in the social scale with remarkable regularity,” wrote the journalist Adolphe Smith in 1877 as he traced a coat’s journey in the last century: cleaned, repaired and resold repeatedly; cut down into a smaller item; eventually recycled into new fabric. But with the improvement in people’s living standards, that model is mind-boggling in the era of fast fashion. The average British customer buys four items a month. And it is reported that 350,000 tonnes of used but still wearable clothes go to landfills in the UK each year.

Yet the gradual revival of the second-hand trade has gathered pace in the past few years. At fashion website Asos, sales of vintage clothes (古董衫) have risen by 92%. Clothing was once worn out of necessity, and now it is simply a way of life. Busy families sell used items on eBay, teenagers trade on Depop and some fashion people offer designer labels on Vestiaire Collective. Strikingly, it has become big enough business that mainstream retailers (零售商) want a slice of the action.

For some buyers and sellers, the switch to the second-hand is born of financial difficulties. Only a few have become worried about the impact of their shopping habit on the planet. But the shift is only a partial solution. Some people worry that some mainstream brands may “greenwash” — using second-hand goods to improve their image, rather than engaging more seriously with sustainability.

However, the biggest concern may be that people keep buying because they know they can resell goods, still chasing the pleasure of the next purchase but with an eased conscience (愧疚). Boohoo, a powerful fast fashion company, has seen sales and profits rise, despite concerns about environmental problems in its supply chain that led to an investigation last year.

A new Netflix series, Worn Stories, documents the emotional meanings that clothes can have: Each old item is full of memories. Actually, a handbag from a grandmother and a scarf passed on by a father are both valuable for us. A love of style is not a bad or an unimportant thing. But a committed relationship is better than a quick flash. Can we learn to appreciate our own old clothes as well as others’?

1. What does the word “mind-boggling” underlined in paragraph 1 probably mean?

A．Unbelievable.

B．Popular.

C．Reasonable.

D．Influential.

2. With the business mentioned in paragraph 2, the author wants to show _______.

A．old clothes are more popular than new pieces

B．the online second-hand markets are booming

C．the fashion world begins to favor vintage clothes

D．many clothing brands are innovative in their new products

3. How does the second-hand trade impact people according to paragraph 4?

A．It makes people feel free to pursue fast fashion.

B．It makes people more cautious about their budgets.

C．It encourages people to choose eco-friendly clothes.

D．It pushes people to be more engaged with sustainability.

4. Which of the following views does Worn Stories advocate?

A．Old items have lost favor with the public.

B．Old items are worthy of being long cherished.

C．Older generations attach great importance to old items.

D．Older generations care about the quality of their clothes.