1 . In the past decade, the use of social media has grown in a way that no one could have guessed. It has turned some teenagers into celebrities and turned the famous into the infamous, overnight.
A key feature of social media, however, is its volatility. Trends come and go, disappearing almost as quickly as they appeared.
Short video apps such as TikTok and its Chinese equivalent (等同物) Douyin, took the world by storm. The Telegraph reported that TikTok was ranked 8th on Apple’s App Store in April. And Douyin had more than 300 million domestic monthly active users in June, CNBC said.
Why are these short videos — which are rarely longer than a few minutes — so popular? Jiang Yige, Singapore-based analyst at FengHe Fund Management, has a theory. “Short videos are just right to fill in the little gaps in our busy schedules,” he told CNBC.
These videos — apart from being very convenient — are important to teenagers because they allow them to express themselves, according to Teen Vogue.
Liza Koshy, a user of the US app Musical, who has over 2 million followers, said, “The sense of community that users of short video apps get is another appealing feature.”
Live streaming (直播) is a feature of our social media life that now seems as natural as sunrise. It’s a pretty neat idea: You can watch anyone, anywhere, live. However, China has taken live streaming to a whole new level. In China, more than 100 million viewers monthly watch a live streaming video. Forbes thought that a number of factors had led to the popularity of the live streaming. Among them is viewers’ ability to interact with unknown names.
However, the quick development of social media may be having side effects too. Fake news is one serious problem it causes. Materials shared on these platforms are often not checked for accuracy. The most basic content can be false and can mislead users one way or another. We use social media all the time, which doesn’t mean that we understand the influence it is having on us. We should be mindful of both the time we spend on it and its impact on our minds.
1. What does the underlined word “volatility” in Paragraph 2 possibly mean?| A．Being changeable. | B．Being steady. |
| C．Being promising. | D．Being violent. |
| A．They are very convenient. | B．They help people kill time. |
| C．They provide a sense of community. | D．They allow people to express themselves. |
| A．The information from social media is totally reliable. |
| B．When it comes to social media, people only know short videos. |
| C．People can’t communicate with each other without social media. |
| D．There is still much room for social media to make improvement. |
| A．Objective. | B．Subjective. |
| C．Favourable. | D．Disapproving. |
One evening, a workman was exhaustedly making his way home after work. When he stopped to rest by the side of the road, a woman came by, pushing a cart full of flowers. The smell of her blossoms filled the air with sweetness, and it seemed to take away the tiredness in his bones and lift his spirits. He had never experienced such wonder from the many blooms of his own garden. “How much must I pay, or what must I do, to have some of your wonderful flowers?” he asked the woman.
“Oh, sir,” she said, “take what you wish for.”
“What return must I make for them?” he asked again.
“Your gratitude is enough,” she said, “and it’s a pleasure to share the beauty of flowers with you.”
So the man filled his arms with blossoms and hurried joyfully home. His wife and his children were also glad about the remarkable flowers. They also discovered that the sight of them was a delight and the smell of them refreshed the soul.
In order not to lose his valuable possession, the man planted the blossoms in a small plot of land behind his house. Sunlight and water kept them amazingly beautiful—they still performed their fantastic magic.
Every day, his children took delight in playing in the yard and always sang and danced around the flowers. They all liked the lovely gift their father had received and even invited many of their friends to share this fantastic magic together. When children came to play near the flowers, the man over and over warned them against carelessness and wild play for fear that they would walk on the flowers and damage them. But the flowers remained strong as long as there was enough sun and water to nourish(滋养) them. Nowhere else could the man or his wife or children find such remarkable relaxation from tiredness, such comfort in sadness, such spiritual nourishment as those remarkable flowers provided.
With the news spreading and more people coming to appreciate his treasure, the man became even more concerned about his remarkable flowers.
注意：续写词数应为150左右。
He was determined to protect the flowers.
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However, the flowers seemed to fade day by day, so the man went everywhere for help.
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3 . “Good morning,” the new teacher said. “I’m Ernesto Flores, your teacher for fifth grade. “In all his years in school, Julio had never heard a teacher use his or her first name. Of course, the students always found out what they were, but it was up to the students to discover this information for themselves.
“Now I’d like to find out who you are,” said Mr. Flores. He began to call the roll (点名) , starting with the boys. Julio shook his head. Teachers always began with the girls.
“Julio Sanchez,” called Mr. Flores, pronouncing it Hulio. That was the correct way to say the name in Spanish.
Several kids laughed. They had never heard Julio’s name pronounced without the J.
Mr. Flores looked up from the roll book. “Isn’t that how you say your name?” he asked Julio. “Or do you prefer Julio with a J?”
“At home, they call me Hulio. But at school everyone calls me Julio,” Julio said.
“Do you like two pronunciations of your name?” asked the teacher. “It’s a good Spanish name and you should be proud of it.”
Julio smiled. “I know,” he said, “but it doesn’t matter to me.”
“Are you sure?” asked Mr. Flores. “Your name is a very important part of you.”
Julio thought for a moment. “Okay,” he said. “From now on, everyone please call me Hulio. Puerto Rico, where I was born, used to be a Spanish colony (殖民地).”
“That’s right,” said Mr. Flores. “Can you tell us something about Puerto Rico?”
“I came here when I was only eight months old. I don’t remember anything,” Julio replied.
“I think you can interview your parents instead,” Mr. Flores said.
Julio nodded. It would be fun to learn more about the place where he had been born.
Julio had to admit (承认) that Mr. Flores was creative and interesting.
1. Why did Julio shake his head?| A．The new teacher was a man. | B．The new teacher used his full name. |
| C．The new teacher asked him a question. | D．The new teacher started the roll with the boys. |
| A．They didn’t like Spanish. |
| B．They found that Julio had a funny name. |
| C．They didn’t expect Julio’s name to be called first. |
| D．They thought the teacher had made a mistake in pronunciation. |
| A．Find out more about his birthplace. |
| B．Learn how to pronounce his name correctly. |
| C．Use the new name his new teacher gave to him. |
| D．Discover more information about his new teacher. |
| A．Strict. | B．Proud. |
| C．Different. | D．Hardworking. |
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday authorized “a special military operation” in response
Putin on Monday signed two decrees (法令)
Putin called on “all people living on the territory of today’s Ukraine” to “
Russia will not allow Ukraine
The conflict
5 . One of my fellow volunteers, a girl from Tanzania, seemed a bit desperate, so I asked what the problem was. She told me she had a friend back home, who was, really
So this friend of mine had done something
I was so
The woman looked at me,
I left the shop to go home with my
These two
| A．travelling | B．struggling | C．taking | D．reflecting |
| A．possible | B．responsible | C．necessary | D．impossible |
| A．ridiculous | B．unbelievable | C．reliable | D．similar |
| A．depend | B．support | C．search | D．supply |
| A．depressed | B．embarrassed | C．touched | D．astonished |
| A．during | B．without | C．beyond | D．within |
| A．waiting | B．cleaning | C．working | D．passing |
| A．casually | B．eventually | C．occasionally | D．frequently |
| A．delighted | B．amazed | C．exhausted | D．determined |
| A．idea | B．deal | C．treat | D．trade |
| A．regret | B．sorrow | C．sympathy | D．happiness |
| A．unexpected | B．unloaded | C．unknown | D．unmoved |
| A．in practice | B．in vain | C．in person | D．in general |
| A．simple | B．selfish | C．innocent | D．extraordinary |
| A．gratitude | B．atmosphere | C．attitude | D．impression |
6 . Antarctica is the highest, driest, and coldest place on Earth. It is also the remotest, a fact which demystifies its unspoiled environment. It is difficult for people to get there, and not a comfortable place for people to stay once they arrive.
Once completely inaccessible,
For centuries, Europeans wondered about the existence of a South-pole continent, but no one actually knew for certain Antarctica was there until 1820 when European explorers “discover” it. Since then, men have gone to Antarctica in search of adventure, testing their abilities.
| A．The cold climate is responsible for maintaining the continent’s year-round ice fields. |
| B．It is widely described as the last true wilderness on our planet. |
| C．Measures are being taken to protect Antarctica. |
| D．Yet, Antarctica’s fragile and complicated ecosystem is threatened by its human visitors. |
| E．In the icy covering are buried few precious resources, |
| F．Antarctica has more recently been playing host to adventurers seeking excitement and companies looking to exploit this wild zone for profit, |
| G．Several teams of explorers set out in 1911 to be the first men to stand at the South Pole. |
7 .
A team of students from Stanford University are making efforts to launch a satellite powered exclusively by water into orbit (轨道) around the Mars. The team names itself the Super Lunar Explorers.
These creative students are now attending a competition called the Future Space Challenge, which is held annually by NASA, the American space agency to find more talents in space. The winners will be publicized in about a month. The final three winners will be announced in early 2023. They will get to ride on NASA’s space launch system in early 2024.
The principle behind the competition is simple: to think, design, build and launch “qualified small satellites”. NASA officials required that the satellites must be able to perform “advanced operations near and beyond the moon”. Twenty teams are competing for the championship. But the Super Lunar Explorer satellites are totally different. They use only water to power their spacecraft, which has never been done before.
Such a novel idea for a water-powered satellite came from Peckon Lewis, who works at Stanford University now, who once worked as NASA’s chief technologist. He has always been wondering whether something other than rockets can be used to push spacecraft beyond earth. “A lot of things we send into space these days is with the help of rockets——the only way we get anything into space,” he said, in a Stanford press release. “But if we could try something that has been already there? If we could do that, if we could re-fuel spacecraft while they’re already in space...”
The spacecraft is about 30 centimeters in length, and the two pieces are interconnected. The lower part of the satellite is designed to store water, which will be separated by solar panel into two elements: hydrogen and oxygen. When one combines hydrogen and oxygen with a spark (火花), an explosion was caused. This provides a forward movement, known as thrust.
1. The Crucial part of the competition “the Future Space Challenge” is ______.| A．to think, design, build and deliver a qualified-small satellite. |
| B．to launch a satellite to take a watery flight to the moon. |
| C．to make the satellite perform advanced operations near and beyond the moon. |
| D．to launch a satellite powered only by water into an orbit around the moon. |
| A．There is a lot of rubbish of rockets and satellites in the orbit these days. |
| B．The team members of the Super Lunar Explorers are the students of Peckon Lewis. |
| C．A water-powered satellite will soon be sent into the orbit around the moon. |
| D．The explosion of the combination of hydrogen and oxygen provides power. |
| A．To ban using rockets for the sake of safety. |
| B．To design a water-powered vehicle to push spacecraft. |
| C．To use something already in space as power. |
| D．To try using water in space to push spacecraft. |
| A．A Water-Powered Flight to the Moon. |
| B．A Competition for Water-Powered Satellite. |
| C．A Design of Water-Powered Space Journey. |
| D．A Spacecraft Powered by Water. |
8 . Cimabue, the greatest painter in medieval (中世纪的) Italy, was surprised one day when he came back from his lunch break and discovered a fly was under the nose of a character he had been working on. So he reached out to touch the insect. To his surprise, he found only wet paint. Turning around, he saw that his apprentice (学徒), Giotto di Bondone, was doing everything he could to keep from laughing. Giotto had painted the fly when Cimabue was away, and it looked so real that Cimabue had been completely fooled.
Giotto was born into a poor farming family. Legend has it that one day when Cimabue was walking around the countryside, he spotted a young shepherd (牧羊人) boy. The boy was not tending his sheep. Instead, he was drawing pictures of them, and the sheep he drew were so lifelike that Cimabue stopped to ask the boy his name. The boy replied that it was Giotto, and Cimabue immediately asked him to come to Florence so that the young shepherd could learn how to paint.
In the Middle Ages, an artist not only had to concern himself with things like design and technique, but he also had to learn how to make paints. Almost all artists were men, and they began their apprenticeships at an early age. An apprentice’s job was to copy his master as exactly as he could. The unfortunate result of this imitation was a lack of new ideas.
In fact, art in the Middle Ages remained the same for hundreds of years. The people in paintings didn’t look like real people, and the symbolism of art was often so remote that it must have been difficult for viewers to connect with it on a personal level. Giotto used many techniques that were uncommon at the time to bring the paintings to life for viewers. He painted people the way he saw them, instead of the overly tall people that other artists painted. He created three-dimensional space by using perspective, something that had not been done since Roman times. Finally, he threw out parts of the symbolism associated with medieval painting.
1. What’s the authors purpose in writing the first paragraph?| A．To indicate Giotto liked making fun of others |
| B．To show the fly painted by Giotto looked real. |
| C．To indicate Giotto drew better than Cimabue. |
| D．To show Cimabue disliked painting flies very much. |
| A．Supporting themselves by making paints. |
| B．Lacking creativity. |
| C．Having a short period of apprenticeship. |
| D．Having an unhappy childhood. |
| A．He was taking a walk. |
| B．He was feeding sheep. |
| C．He was drawing pictures. |
| D．He was playing with a shepherd boy. |
| A．Giotto’s efforts on medieval painting. |
| B．The competition between medieval artists. |
| C．The most popular forms of painting in the Middle Ages. |
| D．Giotto’s endeavours to change art in the Middle Ages. |
9 . On the way to his home the child turned many times and beat the dog, declaring with childish gestures that he held him in contempt as an unimportant dog. The dog apologized for being this quality of animal and expressed regret in fine form, but he continued stealthily to follow the child.
When the child reached his door-step, the dog was a few yards behind, moving slowly toward him. He became so anxious with shame when he again faced the child that he forgot the dragging rope. He tripped (绊倒) upon it and fell forward.
The child sat down on the step and the two had another interview. During it the dog greatly exerted himself to please the child. He performed a few playful jumps with such abandon (尽情地) that the child suddenly saw him to be a valuable thing. He made a swift, greedy charge (猛冲) and seized the rope.
He dragged his captive (俘虏) into a hall and up many long stairways in a dark building. The dog made willing efforts but he could not walk very skillfully up the stairs because he was very small and soft, and at last the pace of the child grew so energetic that the dog became panic-stricken. In his mind he was being dragged toward somewhere unknown. His eyes grew wild with the terror of it. He began to wiggle his head wildly and to brace his legs.
The child redoubled his efforts.They had a battle on the stairs.The child was victorious because he was completely absorbed in his purpose, and because the dog was very small. He dragged his acquirement to the door of his home, and finally with victory across the doorway.
No family member was in.The child sat down on the floor and made overtures to (向……示好) the dog. The dog instantly accepted. He smiled with affection upon his new friend. In a short time they were firm and abiding (矢志不渝的) comrades.
1. What might have happened before the first paragraph?| A．The child had wanted to own the dog for a long time. |
| B．The dog had been someone else’ s pet but lost his way. |
| C．The child had been looking for the lost dog for a long time. |
| D．The dog had been driven out of home by the child’s family. |
| A．The dog’s apology. |
| B．His first interview with the dog. |
| C．His pity on the dog. |
| D．The dog’s pleasing performance. |
| A．neglect | B．random | C．nervous | D．hard |
| A．Frightened-relieved-anxious-happy. |
| B．Worried-angry-scared-delighted. |
| C．Guilty-anxious-nervous-pleased. |
| D．Angry-regretted-scared-puzzled. |
10 . Harbin Ice Festival 2023
Ever think of what Elsa’s ice palace might look like in real life? Ice stairs, ice walls, and ice towers? When winter approaches, Harbin turns into a kingdom of ice and snow.
The annual Harbin Ice and Snow Festival opens in late December and lasts for around 3 months, till late February.
What’s New for Harbin Ice Festival
Every year, there’s a unique theme for the Ice Festival. A huge Snowflake Ferris Wheel (摩天轮) has already been built inside the park. Visitors will be able to ride on the Ferris Wheel and overlook the ice castles in early 2023. For this upcoming festival, the highlight may be when the giant Snowflake is colorfully lit up at night, shining high in the sky.
Yearly Time Line
| Dates | Activities |
| Early December | Ice Harvest |
| December | Carving and Building |
| Christmas period | Unofficial Opening |
| Jan. 5, 2023 | Opening Ceremony |
| Jan. 18 to Feb. 15, 2023 | Special Celebrations for Chinese New Year |
| Late Feb. to early Mar. | Ice and snow sculptures start to melt |
Click here and Book Now! Tickets for Harbin Ice and Snow World are on sale now!*Dec. 25, 2022—Jan. 5, 2023: ¥170/person (half price for children)
*Jan. 6, 2023—Feb. 28, 2023: ¥230/person (half price for children)
Contact us for available tour dates before they are fully booked.
Attention
As long as the ice and snow sculptures are open to visitors, it is impossible to take photos of the charming ice buildings without any visitors in! This might be different from what you see in the media (that have special access).
1. What’s the highlight for the festival?| A．Visitors will be able to ride on the Ferris Wheel. |
| B．Seeing Elsa’s ice palace in real life. |
| C．The giant Snowflake is colorfully lit up at night. |
| D．A huge Ferris Wheel has already been built inside the park. |
| A．The festival will open informally. |
| B．There will be special celebrations. |
| C．The opening ceremony will start officially. |
| D．Ice will begin to be carved. |
| A．¥510 | B．¥425 | C．¥595 | D．¥680 |
