1 . Parents once shouted, “Don’t get dirty!”, as they angrily watched their children spoil their best clothes, their whites turning into brown before the day was over.

Today, many parents may secretly wish their children had the chance to pick up a bit of dirt. With the rise of urbanism (城市化), and exciting video games and social media, contact with nature is much rarer than in the past. For many, there is simply no chance to get muddy (沾满泥的). According to recent research, the dirt outside is teaming with friendly microorganisms that can train the immune system and build resistance (抵抗力) to many illnesses, including allergies, asthma and even depression and anxiety.

These findings show that outdoor exercise is not only beneficial because of the chance to wander free — but that certain natural materials, such as soil and mud, also contain surprisingly powerful microorganisms whose positive impact on children’s health we are only beginning to fully understand. Outdoor play can also offer valuable learning experiences. For example, the act of playing mud or sand can help children develop the way their senses and movement interact.

Such activities — away from the house or classroom— may also help children to find ways to deal with emotions that may be hard to explore in other environments. So-called “sand tray therapy”, which involves using sand and small statues to express one’s thoughts and feelings, is an accepted form of guidance for children who are struggling to express their emotional state.

Clearly, people who spent most their childhood in the countryside tend to show a better response to stressful events like public speaking compared with those who had grown up in cities. “The people who grew up in cities are kind of ‘walking time bombs’ when facing the stress we meet today. However, people since childhood who spent lots of time in nature are generally more positive.” says Christopher Lowry, a professor of integrative physiology.

1. How does the author introduce the topic?

A．By providing a research.	B．By giving a definition.
C．By making a comparison.	D．By answering a question.

2. Which of the following is NOT the benefit of outdoor exercise?

A．Improving the immune system.	B．Expressing emotions in proper ways.
C．Gaining valuable learning experiences.	D．Teaming with friendly microorganisms.

3. Why are some people “walking time bombs”?

A．Because they are harmful to the public.	B．Because they are good at public speaking.
C．Because they are more easily hurt by stress.	D．Because they always stay positive and energetic.

4. What message does the passage mainly convey?

A．Getting dirty?—Muddy puddles are actually good.

B．Outdoor activities are far more popular than before.

C．Children will have no stress if they live in the countryside.

D．Illnesses can be avoided if children are confident and positive.

2 . Simple Yet Amazing Ways To Be Wiser

Wisdom is no just a good quality to have but it is also very necessary. There are a lot of ways to become wiser.     1    . Here are some strategies that you can use to get wiser.

    2    

You will never grow from being in your comfort zone which is why you need to get out of it. This is the only way you will gain wisdom and become better. You try learning new skills that you never thought of learning or going to places that were on your bucket list. Change your routine and see where life takes you, take control!

Meet new people

Limiting yourself to only one type of people that share the same beliefs as you can be comforting but it doesn’t get you anywhere in life. You need to meet and experience new people and learn what they have to offer. Share what defines you and learn from others. This will make you wise.     3    .

Learn and grow from your mistakes

All of us make mistakes in life, but it is the acknowledgment of mistakes that makes us grow and do better next time. Whenever we make a mistake, we should learn from it, thinking over our shortcomings won’t get us anywhere.     4    . Stop blaming other people for your mistakes and admit where you went wrong. Let me tell you this: your best teacher will always be your last mistake, so learn the best from it.

Share your knowledge with others

If you have accumulated a lot of knowledge then why not share it with others too?     5    . In today’s world, it is very easy to become wise but it isn’t easy to help others, so do the difficult part too. Inspire humanity and see your life change for the better.

A．Try experiencing new opportunities

B．Expose yourself to diverse viewpoints

C．However, you are advised to start small

D．Developing new friendships will be beneficial to you

E．We can reflect upon failure in order to improve ourselves

F．Being ready to help others out will definitely increase your wisdom

G．If something confuses you, try to clear out your problems by yourselves

3 . Britain has a stubborn enemy called the “devil plant”, the Japanese knotweed (虎杖). The name originated in Japan, but it became a promoter behind a plant disaster in Britain. Initially it was introduced to England as a landscape plant. However, over time it has evolved into a harsh plant difficult to control.

The plant is disreputable (坏名声的) mainly because of its strong ability to survive. The Japanese knotweed can grow at an amazing speed. What’s more, Japan’s knotweed is penetrating. As long as you give it a small gap, it can follow it and make rapid growth. This gap may be a crack in the road, or a wall crack in the house, and even some Japanese knotweed will start to grow from the foundation of the house, gradually “destroy” the whole house. Such an invasion (入侵) is a nightmare for the British. The British simply love and hate the plant, but so far, they are still unable to find an effective way to remove it.

Fortunately, China’s knotweed is not identical to Japan’s, and in the China’s ecosystem, there are many natural enemies against it. As a result, China has not experienced a knotweed invasion as severe as Britain. Additionally, its tender stem can be made into delicious food. The root of knotweed is a very good Chinese medicine. Therefore, in some places there’s also a need to plant knotweed, to obtain economic benefits.

This case gives us a profound inspiration that it is important to be careful when introducing alien species and to fully understand the characteristics of plants or animals and the effects they may cause in a new environment, otherwise it may be easy to spend a huge amount of money every year to clean up the Japanese knotweed, as in the UK.

1. Why did Britain bring in Japanese knotweed at first?

A．To make profits.	B．For decoration.
C．For scientific research.	D．To promote biodiversity.

2. What does the underlined word “penetrating” mean in paragraph 2?

A．Fading away.	B．Dying out.
C．Multiplying rapidly.	D．Growing steadily.

3. What can we infer from paragraph 3?

A．China’s ecosystem is not damaged by knotweed.

B．Knotweed is in great demand in the whole China.

C．Knotweed has made most of the Chinese people rich.

D．Chinese medicine includes knotweed’s stems and roots.

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

A．A Natural Phenomenon We Know

B．A Plant That People Love and Hate

C．Alien Species’ Effect on the Local Economy

D．The Fight Against Invasive Plants and Animals

4 . Lay eggs and make noises — that’s it? Anyone involved in chicken farming knows that the animals are capable of much more. Researchers have found evidence that roosters (公鸡) could recognize themselves in a mirror. Whether this is successful, however, depends on the experimental contexts.

Whether animals can recognize themselves and thus have self-awareness is one of the central questions in behavioral research. The mark test, a classic test for self-recognition came to the scientists. In the test, if an animal stands in front of a mirror and begins to explore the colored mark placed on its body, this is considered proof that it recognizes its reflection as itself.

“However, our goal was to conduct the mirror test in an environment that is better adapted to the ecologically relevant behavior of the roosters,” says Sonja, a researcher from the University of Bonn. She came up with the idea of using a natural behavior of roosters for the experiment.

Initially, the researchers set up a test area and placed a net to separate two compartments (隔间), through which the roosters could see each other. Then a picture of a fox was placed onto the ceiling of one compartment. Faced with the predator, the roosters let out 77 alarm calls in the presence of a partner, but only 17 when they were alone. The result shows that most roosters, faced with a fox, do alarm partners, which is the perfect illustration of the animals’ self-awareness. The next step was to place a mirror between the two compartments instead of the net. In all, only 25 alarm calls were let out. “The result indicates that the roosters don’t mistake their reflection for a partner, and possibly recognize themselves in their mirror image,” says Sonja.

For comparison, the team also performed the classic mark test. Here, the roosters didn’t recognize themselves in the mirror. The research team sees clear evidence that the classic mirror-mark test produces more reliable results when the behavior of the particular species is included in an ecologically relevant context. “In the classic situation, a rooster may not show self-recognition,” says Sonja. “But when a fox threatens him, it becomes clear that his reflection is not another rooster, but himself.” Further research on animals’ self-awareness is needed so as to better understand animal rights and animal welfare.

1. What is the purpose of the mark test?

A．To explain why animals show certain behavior.

B．To discover what behavioral research focuses on.

C．To tell whether animals can identify their mirror image.

D．To reveal how animals get used to the natural environment.

2. What does the underlined word “predator” in paragraph 4 mean?

A．Enemy.

B．Partner.

C．Researcher.

D．Reflection.

3. Why did the researchers add a mirror in the second step?

A．To present the experiment result.	B．To change the experimental condition.
C．To replace the experiment subject.	D．To simplify the experimental process.

4. What is the passage mainly about?

A．Animal behavior draws researchers’ attention.

B．Animal welfare deserves more human efforts.

C．Roosters’ self-recognition works in classic mark tests.

D．Roosters’ self-awareness improves in threatening contexts.

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

Alex was a friendly boy, but he had a bad temper and often found it challenging to control his anger. Whenever something didn’t go his way or if he felt upset, a fiery anger would build up inside him like an angry monster.

One sunny afternoon, Alex went to the playground with his friends, Sarah and Ben. They were excited to play on the swings, slide, and monkey bars. As they started playing, Alex’s turn on the swing was interrupted by another child who cut in line. Alex felt his anger rising inside him, and without thinking, he shouted at the child very angrily, demanding his turn back. Sarah and Ben looked at Alex with surprise, scare and depression. They didn’t like it that their friend lost his temper like a monster and yelled. They stopped playing together.

Alex’s anger not only ruined his own mood but also spoiled (破坏) the fun for his friends and the other children at the playground. Feeling ashamed and realizing the consequences of his actions, Alex slumped (跌坐) down on a nearby bench. He saw his friends playing happily without him, and he felt upset at losing control.

Alex’s memories flooded back when his friends and family were often taken aback by his outbursts. When his best friend, Emily, wanted to play a game he didn’t like, he would shout and throw a tantrum (发脾气), refusing to play with her. His little sister accidentally knocked over his tower of blocks, he would explode in a fit of rage, yelling and stomping his feet.

He had lost a lot of fiends and hurt his family because of his anger. Now he might lose these friends too. He realized that his mean words constantly hurt the people he cared about. He didn’t want to be like a monster anymore, so he decided to find a better way to handle his anger.

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。
That evening, Alex told Grandma about what had happened.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Alex made up his mind to change.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6 . Getting into science is often difficult for some kids, It’s something Ahmed Muhammad learned quickly while babysitting his niece and nephew.

Muhammad is an 18-year-old senior from California. who attends Oakland Tech High school. One day he asked his niece and nephew if they wanted to do science, and he was upset by their reaction.

“Whenever I babysit them, we do things like playing chess, playing video games, or watching TV or whatever. When I tried to do science with them, they were like, No, I hate science. I’m bad at it.” It was that moment that fueled Muhammad to create his nonprofit called “Kits Cubed” with a mission to introduce kids to science through fun, affordable and accessible means.

“I went into my room and I pulled out some science books. Then I went online and did some research and was able to design some science experiments for them to do at home. The materials were composed of fairly cheap stuff we have around the house, and they loved it” Muhammad said.

After witnessing their joy, he realized other children could benefit from it as well. “Having noticed the long-standing absence of science experiments in our school, I really feel like well need some science kits in the hands of kids,” Muhammad said.

That’s when he took the $200 he had saved to create a website and began creating science kits to sell, and eventually donated the earnings to kids in need. “I had enough money to make the website and enough to put together like 10 or 15 kits. My initial goal was the joy that my niece and nephew felt. I wanted it to get to as many kids as possible,” Muhammad said.

Muhammad, who has been accepted to Stanford University, is just thrilled he was able to help change his niece and his nephew’s opinion of science while inspiring others as well.

1. What is the main pursuit of Kits Cubed?

A．To solve the absence of science at school.

B．To promote acceptance of scientific spirit.

C．To provide free access to household stuff.

D．To set in motion kids’ passion for science.

2. What made Muhammad decide to share the science kits?

A．Online research he carried out about materials.

B．Enjoyable reactions he observed from the kids.

C．Science books he published about experiments.

D．Science fairs he participated in at his own school.

3. What can be known about his website?

A．It targeted at kids aged from 10 to 15.

B．It received donations for kids in need.

C．It was primarily funded by local school.

D．It initially profited from sales of science kits.

4. Which of the following best describes Muhammad?

A．Composed.

B．Childlike.

C．Charitable.

D．Cooperative.

7 . 阅读下面短文, 在空白处填入1个恰当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

A New Shaoxing Opera Show Has a Modern Twist

In a     1     (special) designed studio theater in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, a captivating world of jianghu is brought to life through a Shaoxing Opera performance.

Six actresses, playing roles from a spirited landlady to skilled swordsmen, spies, and soldiers, deliver a fascinating show     2     (last) 130 minutes. The audience sits very close to the performers, engaging with them and immersing themselves in     3     unique viewing experience.

    4     (adapt) from the 1992 classic wuxia film of the same name, New Dragon Gate Inn, the Shaoxing Opera show successfully captures the interest of a younger audience. Environmental theater changes the relationship between the audience and the stage.     5     (like) the traditional framed stage, the theater is designed as an inn, with the audience becoming more like     6     (guest). According to Xu Yena,     7     acts in the show as Jin Xiangyu, having the audience closer to the cast allows them to appreciate the finer details.

The performers     8     (design) many improvised interactions with the audience since they began to perform, making each performance unique. “Today, we are putting in great efforts to make Shaoxing Opera more     9     (access) and relatable to the younger generation,” Xu added. “This is with the hope     10     operas can become a lifestyle.”

8 . 阅读下面材料，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

An International Business “Made in China”

Dominik, a 34-year-old Polish man, founded his own international logistics (物流) company Hao Duo Huo — meaning “lots of goods” in Chinese — in Wuhan, Hubei province.

“The first time I came to China was in 1997,” said Dominik. “Seeing the abundant opportunities in China, I decided to have my university education here.”     1    (influence) by his parents, Dominik chose to study international trade in Wuhan in 2009.

After     2    (complete) his undergraduate studies, Dominik went to Shenzhen to begin a career in trade. It was there that he first encountered the field     3     logistics. “Poland is an important transit (中转) country for the China-Europe Railway Express, and Poland’s logistics system has been developing. I should seize such a good opportunity,” said Dominik as he     4    (mention) the reasons to start his own business.

In April 2021, he     5    (formal) established Hao Duo Huo in Wuhan, a city with     6     good geographical position. Not only is it one of the starting     7    (point) for the China-Europe Railway Express, but it’s also home to many universities that can supply high-quality talent.

Explaining     8     he chose this business name, Dominik shared two main reasons: “The first is that I want my company     9    (have) lots of goods to sell. And second, China offers many quality products, and I want to deliver     10     (they) to every corner of the world, spreading joy and convenience to more people.”

9 . 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。

The new site of the National Natural History Museum was unveiled (揭牌) in Beijing on June 5, 2023. It     1     ( locate) along the southern part of Beijing’s central line. It covers about 57, 700 square meters,     2     (double) the size of its original site. Formerly     3     (know) as the Beijing Museum of National History, the museum was opened to the public in January 1959. Being the first large -scale museum of natural history founded on     4     (we) own strength after the liberation, the museum bears three main functions: the specimen collection, the academic research and the science popularization of zoology, botany and anthropology. The museum today,     5     has been one of a few     6     (museum) of natural history in China, boasts its rich collections, high- -level research and ever-enlarging exhibitions. It also has been named     7       National Youth Science and Technology Education Base. It has been     8     unique attraction, receiving 1.8 million visits every year. It now holds a collection of more than 372,000 historical and contemporary artifacts. In the future, the facility will expand its collection and it will     9     (active) play an important role in     10     (science) research. I will also develop more learning programs to popularize science and deeper international communication, according to the museum.

10 . ChatGPT Arrives

Have you ever wished that an AI could write something for you?     1     Well, ChatGPT may soon make that dream a reality.

ChatGPT is an AI technology developed by US-based OpenAI, a research company led by Sam Altman and backed by Microsoft. ChatGPT automatically generates text based on written prompts (提示性语言). It is often compared to AI chatbots of the past.     2    

Far from just a simple question-and-answer machine, ChatGPT can get creative.     3     It has the complete writing range of a real person!

Users posting their results on the Internet have used it to write history essays, write notes of presentations and even generate advice on how to interact with people at a party.

Surprisingly, the AI doesn’t use the internet to source material for its answers.     4    

ChatGPT comes along at a time when AI is becoming increasingly applicable to people’s lives to fulfill certain creative tasks. AI technology is showing that it can create creative material in a way that is difficult to distinguish from that made by humans. This creates many issues, such as the issue of copyright and the definition of art that have yet to be solved.

    5     We just need to remember that AI first and foremost extends and enhances what it means to be human, and in particular our problem-solving abilities.

A．ChatGPT can construct songs, poems or even jokes.

B．AI is being applied to build a new and convenient world. .

C．ChatGPT is a lot more advanced and has more different uses.

D．ChatGPT can even be used for more and more detailed requests.

E．You could simply input a few keywords and have essays written.

F．Who knows what the future has in store as AI technology is developing.

G．Rather, it scans the database of material to give back an accurate response.