1 . For Cruz, who grew up in Peru’s mountainous region of Cuzco, fog represents a massive opportunity. As a boy, he had to hike for more than an hour every day across hills to collect water from the nearest source. But over time, he realized that during the rainy season, droplets of water would gather in the large leaves of banana trees. So one day he and his father tried to build a canal system with the leaves to collect water and it turned out a success. But afterwards, he moved to Lima at the age of 25.

There, shocked by the water shortages and expensive water supply that some of the city’s poorest residents were faced with, Cruz set up El Movimiento Peruanos sin Agua in 2005. The idea was to deploy the method he learned in his hometown on a larger scale, which would provide free, independently sourced and easily accessible water to those who needed it most. He began installing (安装) a traditional fog catcher model developed in the 1980s.

At the highest point of Los Tres Miradores, there is a curious set of large structures that resemble a fleet of ships in the sky. They are so-called “fog catchers”. Netted devices, made of high density Raschel polyethylene and spanning several meters wide, are lined up at the top of a misty mound and linked by a network of tubes that lead to storage containers. The 40 fog catchers there provide enough water for 180 families, whether to bathe, clean, drink or to irrigate crops on small garden patches.

Supporters believe that fog catchers have the potential to improve water supply for communities around the world among the ever-challenging circumstances. German researcher Lummerich says, “They are cheap, easy to construct.” In a world searching for water supply systems, it is one important puzzle piece that can make an essential difference locally.

However, there are some issues. For one, fog catchers require space, which is not always easy to come by in cities, let alone urban slums. At the same time, fog catchers must be properly cleaned and maintained to stay effective. Most crucially, appropriate climate conditions are required. Fog isn’t everywhere.

1. What does the underlined word “deploy” probably mean in paragraph 2?

A．Employ.

B．Adjust.

C．Design.

D．Study.

2. What does paragraph 3 mainly talk about?

A．The reason why Cruz installed fog catchers.

B．The difficulties of constructing a canal system.

C．The installation and benefits of fog catchers.

D．The inspiration Cruz gained to build a canal system.

3. What is the biggest challenge associated with the use of fog catchers?

A．High costs.	B．Public opposition.
C．Space limitation.	D．Climate conditions.

4. What’s the best title for the text?

A．Urban Areas: A Struggle for Sufficient Water

B．Innovative Water Collection Techniques in Peru

C．The Global Water Crisis and Possible Solutions

D．Fog Catchers: A Local Solution with Global Potential

2 . Active listening is a communication skill that involves going beyond simply hearing the words that another person speaks but also seeking to understand the meaning and intention behind them. The word “active” implies that you are taking some type of action when listening to others.

    1    

Be fully present

Active listening requires being fully present in the conversation. It enables you to concentrate on what is being said. Being present involves listening with all your senses and giving your full attention to the speaker. To use this active listening technique effectively, put away your cell phone, ignore distractions, and shut down your internal dialogue.     2     And let everything else slip away.

Pay attention to non-verbal cues (非言语暗示)

As much as 65% of a person’s communication is unspoken,     3    . This involves not folding your arms, smiling while listening, leaning in, and nodding at key points. It can also be helpful to pay attention to your facial expressions when active listening so that you don’t convey any type of negative response.

Keep good eye contact

When engaged in active listening, making eye contact is especially important. This tells the other person that you are present and listening to what he or she says.     4     At the same time, you don’t want to use so much eye contact that the conversation feels strange. To keep this from happening, follow the 50/70 rule. This involves maintaining eye contact for 50% to 70% of the time spent listening, holding the contact for four to five seconds before briefly looking away.

Be patient

Patience is an important active listening technique because it allows the other person to speak without interruption. Being patient involves not trying to fill periods of silence with your own thoughts or stories. This also requires listening to understand, not to respond.     5     Also, don’t change the subject too abruptly as this conveys boredom and impatience.

A．Don’t prepare a reply while listening.

B．It also shows that you aren’t distracted.

C．This isn’t helpful during active listening.

D．So use open, non-threatening body language.

E．Don’t focus too much on insignificant details.

F．Place your focus on your conversation partner.

G．This involves using certain strategies or techniques.

3 . Computers are pretty good at answering questions. Just ask Alexa, Amazon’s voice assistant, who can tell you the weather or directions. Computers are good at spitting back facts, but haven’t shown the same critical or creative thinking that humans have. That could be changing, at least when it comes to reading, because of advances in AI(artificial intelligence).

Research teams at Microsoft and Chinese tech company Alibaba reached what they described as a milestone earlier this January. Their AI systems outperformed the estimated human score on a reading comprehension test.

The test was developed at Stanford University. It showed that, in at least some situations, computers can beat humans at quickly “reading” hundreds of Wikipedia articles. AI machines could come up with accurate answers to questions about warrior-king Genghis Khan, or the Apollo space program.

The computers, however, also made mistakes that many people wouldn’t have. Microsoft, for instance, failed an easy football question. The computer was asked which member of the Carolina Panthers football team intercepted the most passes in the 2015 season. The correct answer was Kurt Coleman, not Josh Norman. Any person who carefully read the Wikipedia passage would have discovered the right answer. However, the computer made a mistake in the word “most” and didn’t understand that seven is bigger than four.

“We’re still a long way from computers being able to read and comprehend general text in the same way that humans can, ” Kevin Scott, Microsoft’s head of technology, wrote. He praised the AI system for passing the test, calling it a major achievement by the company’s researchers.

“It strikes me for the kind of problem that they’re solving that it’s not possible to do better than people, because people are defining what’s correct,” Littman said. “The impressive thing here is that they met human performance, not that they’ve exceeded it.”

1. Why did the research team describe their work as a milestone?

A．Because their computers showed critical and creative thinking like humans.

B．Because their AI systems beat humans in reading comprehension.

C．Because their AI systems could tell you weather and direction.

D．Because their computers are good at answering questions.

2. Which of the following are TRUE according to paragraph 3?

A．AI machines could propose incorrect answers to Genghis Khan.

B．Smart AI machines were answering questions.

C．AI machines did better than humans in reading.

D．AI machines can do everything that human can’t do.

3. What can be inferred from paragraph 4?

A．AI still struggles with logical reasoning.	B．Computers often mistake seven for four.
C．Computers seldom make stupid mistakes.	D．The Wikipedia passage was controversial.

4. What does the underlined word “met” in the last paragraph mean?

A．visited.

B．contacted.

C．greeted.

D．satisfied.

4 . What do you do when you have a few minutes to spare? There are thousands of puzzles to choose from that can be worked on at your convenience. They all have something in common: they test your skills or knowledge. Here are four of the most common.

Word puzzles

One of the most popular word puzzles — the crossword — has been around for nearly 110 years. Crosswords can be done with paper and pencil or online. Sometimes word puzzles involve finding new words within a large group of letters. This type of word puzzle is called a word search. Word puzzles usually test your vocabulary. Knowing the language that the game is designed in is required for success, however.

Math puzzles

Math puzzles involve numbers, words or objects and the use of math. Surprisingly, the ever-popular Candy Crush is classified as a math puzzle. Math skills are required for players to successfully move and match colored candies.

Mechanical puzzles

Mechanical puzzles have pieces that must be arranged in some way. The world’s best-selling puzzle, the Rubik’s Cube, is a mechanical puzzle. As of 2020, over 450 million Rubik’s Cubes had been sold. Jigsaw puzzles also fall into the category of mechanical puzzles. They typically involve putting pieces in the right place to form a picture. Jigsaw puzzles have from two to over 550, 000 pieces — the largest one on record.

Logic puzzles

Figuring out the solution to a logic puzzle requires careful thought rather than guessing. Sudoku and Mine Finder are examples of logic puzzles. In Mine Finder players must determine where the mines are hidden in a grid.

1. Which puzzles contribute to word learning?

A．Word puzzles.	B．Math puzzles.
C．Logic puzzles.	D．Mechanical puzzles.

2. What do Rubik’s Cubes and Jigsaw puzzles share in common?

A．Both are best-selling puzzles.

B．Both have more than 550, 000 pieces.

C．Both have pieces that must be put in the right place.

D．Both test mechanical engineering skills or knowledge.

3. In which section of magazine can you probably read this passage?

A．Life skills.

B．Pop culture.

C．Technology.

D．Games.

5 . I have a friend who bird watches. She feels comfortable whenever she’s doing it. If you ask her why she likes it, she will say things like “Well, birds are the world’s most magical creatures.” I have another friend who knits. She likes it because it’s satisfying, and has an astonishingly impressive impact on people for whom being able to knit gloves is out of reach.

As a term, “hobby” has always been of arguable meaning. Ask someone what they think a hobby is, and you’ll get a dictionary definition that they will have just looked up on their phones and, then, a passionate speech on all of the activities that can under no circumstances be put into groups as hobbies by their own highly unique and inflexible standards. Being online is not a hobby, apparently, nor is listening to music.

Hardly anyone knows what a hobby is, and this is particularly the case now that so many of us are spending our leisure time online arguing about these sorts of basic definitions with people, as the writer Max Read put it in an essay, “to whom the world has been created again every morning, for whom every settled argument of modernity must be rewritten, but this time with their engagement.”

Even taking these difficulties into account, however, it seems obvious that birdwatching and knitting are classic hobbies. They are enjoyable, involve practice and reward effort, and they are given immediate access to a group with the same interests. They are the sorts of hobbies advice columnists (专栏作家) have in mind when people write in about their imbalanced lives. It’s interesting, then, that not one of my two clearly hobby-having friends would admit to the practice.

They worried that their hobbies, which give them pleasure and keep them far from their computers, made them seem like they had too much leisure time and too Lew inner resources that would enable them to naturally avoid boredom. They are fully paid-up members of society, with busy lives, fulfilling interpersonal relationships and, again, hobbies that make them happy. It’s just that hobbies have an undeservedly bad reputation, one made worse by the Internet, like everything else.

The birdwatcher said the problem with having a hobby was that it made people seem like they were contributing and learning nothing. The knitter said that she personally connected hobbies with having no friends and no idea of what normal people do to have fun, Actually, they do not want to be seen as mad people who intentionally get away from the correct course.

Well, I enjoy certain light operas. I play music for my own amusement. And yes, I am an ordinary student, and that is not a sign of madness.

1. The author mentions two friends with different hobbies in Paragraph 1 mainly to       .

A．explain the definition of “hobby”

B．attract the readers’ attention to hobbies

C．stress the importance of having a hobby

D．compare two different types of hobbies

2. What does the author mean by quoting Max Read in Paragraph 3?

A．“Hobby” as a term can only be defined without the Internet.

B．People online discuss the definition of “hobby” to change lives.

C．People create a new world by expressing their ideas of hobbies online.

D．It is hard for online people to reach an agreement on the definition of “hobby”.

3. What can be inferred from the two friends’ concerns about their hobbies?

A．They are afraid of being seen as crazy people.

B．They fear their hobbies are not impressive enough.

C．They find it necessary to share hobbies to balance their lives.

D．They refuse to share their feelings about their hobbies with mad people.

4. What does the author intend to tell us in the last paragraph?

A．Hobbies are great for people’s mental health.

B．Different people have their own standards of hobbies.

C．It is reasonable and normal for people to have hobbies.

D．People who suffer from madness can also have hobbies.

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。

The Perfect Christmas Tree

In our house in Middle Cove, Newfoundland, the tradition was to find the perfect tree before Christmas Eve. And this year, my brother Gilbert and I were being trusted to do it entirely on our own. And we took the challenge very seriously. So, axe in Gilbert’s hand, saw in mine, we set out for all the spots we imagined we might find a magnificent fir (冷杉树).

We were young, but we knew the rules. Trees could not be taken from personal land and not near any road.

We started out with the best of intentions. We were on Pine River Lane, and looking at the firs in the fields, but none of them looked quite good enough. It was getting dark but we still had no luck. On the way home, it was Gilbert who stopped, grabbed my arm and said, “I see it!”

“You see what?” I said.

“Right there, look. It’s perfect.”

And he was right. It was a young tree, two metres tall, standing alone. It was the classic Christmas tree. In all my years, I had never seen such a perfect one.

Perfect except for one small problem. The tree was pretty close to the road. Also, it was behind a fence, so the tree was in someone’s yard. And not just any someone. It was in the yard of Timmy Green, my best friend.

        However, the chances of our finding another one like it were slim to none.

“You stand guard,” Gilbert said. And with that, we were over the fence and on our bellies crawling toward the target. I lay in the snow and put the Greens’ house under surveillance (监视). I was to whistle or cough if I saw anyone coming.

Within a few minutes, it fell.

“Grab the end,” Gilbert said, and we lifted it over the fence. Now we were on the road.

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；

Suddenly Gilbert’s eyes widened. “Our footprints!” he said.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

So it shocked me when I found Mr. Green in our house with my parents, drinking tea on Christmas Eve.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

7 . Nostalgia (怀旧) has become increasingly common in our current climate of accelerated, unexpected change. More and more Americans are turning back with longing to what feels like simpler, sweeter times. They collect cassette tapes, manual typewriters even decades-old video games.

Is it a mistake to get too obsessed with the past? Some psychologists warn that too much devotion to the so-called good old days is an escape from reality; it can indicate loneliness or that a person is having a difficult time coping in the present. Psychologist Stephanie Coontz argues that nostalgia distracts us from addressing the problems of modern life and contribute to anxiety, depression , insomnia etc.

But new studies suggest that a modest dose of nostalgia is not only harmless, but actually beneficial. They suggest it helps strengthen our sense of identity and makes us feel more optimistic and inspired. It is also a tool for self — discovery and memories are a psychological immune response that is triggered when you want to take a break from negativity. Interestingly, those happy memories can be particularly beneficial both to kids in their teens and to society's elders. Recalling our childhood reminds us of “the times when we were accepted and loved unconditionally," says Krystine Batcho, a psychologist. "That is such a powerfully comforting phenomenon, knowing that there was a time in life when we didn't have to earn our love." Nostalgia can transform even the most ordinary past into legends which warms the heart and the body. Let's not forget that nostalgia has been a source of inspiration to innumerable American writers. Mark Twain recalled his boyhood, writing, "after all these years, I can picture that old time to myself now, just as it was then： The white town drowsing in the sunshine of a summer's morning."

So go ahead, daydream a little about your best childhood friend, your first car, a long - gone family pct. As Dr. Sedikides says， "Nostalgia is absolutely central to human experience. "But at the same time, keep these words of wisdom from the great inventor Charles Kettering in mind as well： "You can't have a better tomorrow if you are thinking about yesterday all the time. "

1. What did some psychologists in paragraph 2 probably agree?

A．Nostalgia will cause some mental problems.

B．Nostalgia makes us devoted to the good old days.

C．Nostalgia shows you are trying to get rid of loneliness.

D．Nostalgia helps us cope with the difficult time we are going through.

2. There are many benefits of nostalgia except   ________

A．It can enable us to know ourselves better.

B．It can bring us some comfort when we recall.

C．We are likely to gain attention if we recall the happy childhood.

D．We can sometimes break away from negativity with happy memories.

3. What will be talked about in the following paragraph?

A．The bad influence of too much devotion to nostalgia.

B．The reasons why we should avoid nostalgia.

C．The bad memories that always stick around you.

D．The great changes nostalgia will bring to you.

4. What's the best title of the passage?

A．We all have a soft spot for nostalgia.

B．Nostalgia is actually good for you.

C．Don't be carried away by nostalgia.

D．There are many times when we like to recall.

8 . There is no such thing as a “safe" level of drinking, with increased consumption of alcohol associated with poorer brain health, according to a new study.

In an observational study, which has not yet been peer-reviewed, researchers from the University of Oxford studied the relationship between the self-reported alcohol intake of some 25,000 people in the UK, and their brain scans. The researchers noted that drinking had an effect on the brain's gray matter-regions in the brain that make up "important bits where information is processed," according to lead author Anya Topiwala, a senior clinical researcher at Oxford.

“The more people drank, the less the volume of their gray matter,“ Topiwala said via email. "Brain volume reduces with age and more severely with dementia(痴呆症).Smaller brain volume also predicts worse performance on memory testing,“ she explained. "While alcohol only made a small contribution to this(0. 8%), it was a greater contribution than other "modifiable" risk factors," she said, explaining that modifiable risk factors are “ ones you can do something about, in contrast to aging.”

The team also investigated whether certain drinking patterns, beverage types and other health conditions made a difference to the impact of alcohol on brain health. They found that there was no "safe" level of drinking-meaning that consuming any amount of alcohol was worse than not drinking it. They also found no evidence that the type of drink— such as wine, spirits or beer—affected the harm done to the brain. However, certain characteristics, such as high blood pressure, obesity or binge-drinking, could put people at higher risk, researchers added.

The risks of alcohol have long been known： Previous studies have found that there's no amount of liquor, wine or beer that is safe for your overall health. Alcohol was the leading risk factor for disease and premature death in men and women between the ages of 15 and 49 worldwide in 2016, accounting for nearly one in 10 deaths, according to a study published in The Lancet in 2018.

“It has been known for decades that heavy drinking is bad for brain health," Sadie Boniface, head of research at the UK's Institute of Alcohol Studies, said via email. "We also shouldn't forget alcohol affects all parts of the body and there are multiple health risks. ”

1. What is the function of gray matter?

A．Control the mount of alcohol	B．Process information
C．Scan the brain	D．Predict the performance on memory

2. Which is NOT true in the following statements according to the study?

A．Drinking alcohol is worse than not drinking.

B．With people getting older, brain volume reduces.

C．Alcohol was the major risk factor for disease and premature death.

D．The less people drink alcohol, the more the volume of their gray matter.

3. Which is one of the "modifiable" risk factors?

A．Smoking

B．Aging

C．Death

D．Disease

4. What is the main idea of the text?

A．The mount of alcohol is not related to people's health.

B．People drinking alcohol do harm to their brain health.

C．People drinking alcohol lead to dementia.

D．Theresa great deal of liquor, wine or beer that is safe for health.

9 . If “Singlish” sounds unfamiliar to you, you may want to search on video-sharing websites where there are dozens of videos making fun of “Singlish”. Like the term “Chinglish”, “Singlish” stands for “Singapore English”. It is a unique combination of various languages, made up of Mandarin（中文）, Cantonese（粤语）, Malay（马来语）, and so on. Singlish as a dialect is popular among the public.

I feel that it is an essential part of Singapore’s culture, with its distinctive slang and intonations（语调）. A good example would be “kiasu”. Originating from the Chinese word “pashu”, it stands for fear of failure. Singapore is highly competitive, and more and more immigrants are now coming. And this word is often used to criticize those being too competitive during competitions.

Last year, my classmates were discussing our social studies graded assignment, which was extremely hard, in the class group chat. The sources were very difficult, and I could hardly understand the message conveyed in them. While I was working on the assignment, I saw my classmates typing “siao ah? ”and “siao lah! ”in the group chat.

At first, I thought “siao” was derived（源于）from the Chinese word “xiao”, which means “laugh”. So I thought that they felt happy or interested while doing their work, which obviously contradicted the facts. I felt like I was the only one who found this assignment difficult.

“Excuse me. . . are you feeling happy when you say ‘siao lah’?”

All my classmates seemed surprised for a while. Then I received a blast of “laughing to tears” emojis from everyone. When I got confused about what was going on, the friendliest guy in our class replied, “Hey Yixing! ‘Siao’ means that we find something extremely ridiculous or crazy. We use the word for sarcastic purposes, and it does not mean that we are really smiling or laughing. ”

This was just one of the many embarrassing moments I have experienced when learning this interesting language. Though I can understand most phrases now, I still make my classmates laugh when attempting to speak Singlish. Fortunately, I have gradually become part of them in this way.

1. What was the author’s main purpose in writing the article?

A．To describe the connection between Singlish and Chinese.

B．To share the author’s experiences of learning Singlish.

C．To explain why there are dozens of videos online making fun of Singlish.

D．To teach readers some interesting examples of Singlish.

2. What can we conclude from the first and second paragraphs?

A．Singlish is a combination of English, Mandarin and Cantonese.

B．New immigrants dislike those who are too competitive.

C．Singlish shows how much impact local culture has on its language.

D．If you know Chinese well, you will feel it easy to understand Singlish.

3. In which case are people in Singapore most likely to say “siao ah?” and “siao lah!”?

A．When they feel interested in something.

B．When they consider something too boring.

C．When they feel extremely embarrassed.

D．When they find something really ridiculous.

4. The underlined word “contradicted” in Paragraph 4 probably means______.

A．disagreed with	B．was based on
C．responded to	D．gave an explanation of

10 . My mother is 92. Unless I have to be out of town, each week I take my mother to do her _______ and visit the doctor, providing _______ and transportation. During the week, however, she likes to go to a nearby store to _______ some small things she needs.

Last week she walked up to the store, but when she went to pay for her groceries, she was _______ about three dollars. The only _______ to pay for the groceries was to take off the _______ she could do without: a bottle of rubbing alcohol (医用酒精) and a bar of soap. By taking off these, she was able to _______ the new total to the amount of cash she had with her.

At this store, people _______ and then go off to the side to _______ their own groceries. My mother was putting her groceries into shopping bags when a ________ came up to her and said, “Here are the things that you ________ .” handing her the rubbing alcohol and the ________ . My mother, who is never speechless, was speechless. She ________ for the woman’s name and address so that she could ________ her. The woman told her it was her ________ .

My mother was so ________ by her gesture that she decided to go back to the store and give the cashier (收银员) a five-dollar bill to keep on hand ________ the same happened to someone else if they didn’t have enough ________ for all of their groceries.

So, whoever you are, thank you for the random act of ________ that not only helped my mother out, but ________ too.

1.

A．exercise

B．housework

C．cooking

D．shopping

2.

A．reward

B．medicine

C．company

D．shelter

3.

A．return

B．collet

C．order

D．buy

4.

A．short

B．cautious

C．wrong

D．concerned

5.

A．aim

B．way

C．advice

D．reason

6.

A．weight

B．things

C．mask

D．glasses

7.

A．raise

B．add

C．bring

D．switch

8.

A．show up

B．call in

C．check out

D．sit down

9.

A．store

B．select

C．deliver

D．bag

10.

A．stranger

B．cashier

C．friend

D．doctor

11.

A．looked for

B．talked about

C．threw away

D．put back

12.

A．receipt

B．soap

C．cash

D．bottle

13.

A．asked

B．waited

C．cared

D．searched

14.

A．repay

B．trust

C．recognize

D．help

15.

A．luck

B．chance

C．gift

D．turn

16.

A．surprised

B．amused

C．touched

D．convinced

17.

A．in case

B．even if

C．as though

D．so that

18.

A．energy

B．money

C．space

D．time

19.

A．faith

B．courage

C．kindness

D．honor

20.

A．made her day

B．changed her mind

C．caught her eye

D．met her demand