1. What does Kevin think of abstract art?
| A．It has lasting artistic value. | B．It makes little sense to him. | C．It appeals mainly to children. |
| A．Hopefulness. | B．Nervousness. | C．Coldness. |
| A．Green. | B．Purple. | C．Red. |
| A．Attend an art class. | B．Visit an exhibition. | C．Buy an abstract painting. |
1. What course does Professor Brooks teach?
| A．Public Speaking. | B．European History. | C．English Literature. |
| A．To sign up for his course. | B．To ask for a make-up test. | C．To discuss her homework. |
1. What caused the closure of Pittwater Road?
| A．A fallen tree. | B．A flooded river. | C．A car accident. |
| A．A police officer got hurt. | B．A passenger went missing. | C．The station roof was broken. |
| A．Drive at low speed. | B．Postpone their trips. | C．Follow traffic signs. |
1. What does Linda do for plays and shows?
| A．She gives actors advice. | B．She assigns roles to actors. | C．She designs actors’ clothes. |
| A．The setting of the story. | B．The decoration of the stage. | C．The names of the characters. |
| A．The director. | B．The editor. | C．The photographer. |
| A．It pays very well. | B．It requires team effort. | C．It involves frequent travel. |
Young Chinese bring hanfu to the world during Spring Festival
Young people dressed in hanfu, the traditional clothing of the Han ethnic group in China,
An initiative launched in late January by Xiaohongshu,
The first two weeks of the initiative saw some 10,000 Xiaohongshu users share their photos
Many young Chinese people working or studying overseas also invited
Hanfu, as well as other traditional forms of Chinese costume,
Analysts say the rise
From: chinadaily.com.cn
6 . Bike Rental & Guided Tours
Welcome to Amsterdam, welcome to MacBike. You see much more from the seat of a bike! Cycling is the most economical, sustainable and fun way to explore the city, with its beautiful canals, parks, squares and countless lights. You can also bike along lovely landscapes outside of Amsterdam.
Why MacBike
MacBike has been around for almost 30 years and is the biggest bicycle rental company in Amsterdam. With over 2,500 bikes stored in our five rental shops at strategic locations, we make sure there is always a bike available for you. We offer the newest bicycles in a wide variety, including basic bikes with foot brake (刹车), bikes with hand brake and gears (排挡), bikes with child seats, and children’s bikes.
Prices
Hand Brake, Three Gears | Foot Brake, No Gears | |
1 hour | €7.50 | €5.00 |
3 hours | €11.00 | €7.50 |
1 day (24 hours) | €14.75 | €9.75 |
Each additional day | €8.00 | €6.00 |
Guided City Tours
The 2.5-hour tour covers the Gooyer Windmill, the Skinny Bridge, the Rijksmuseum, Heineken Brewery and much more. The tour departs from Dam Square every hour on the hour, starting at 1:00 pm every day. You can buy your ticket in a MacBike shop or book online.
1. What is an advantage of MacBike?| A．It gives children a discount. | B．It offers many types of bikes. |
| C．It organizes free cycle tours. | D．It has over 2,500 rental shops. |
| A．€15.75. | B．€19.50. | C．€22.75. | D．€29.50. |
| A．The Gooyer, Windmill. | B．The Skinny Bridge. |
| C．Heineken Brewery. | D．Dam Square. |
Jonathan’s mother died when he was very young and his father brought him up. Both of them shared a very special relationship. Football was not just a game for Jonathan; it was a bond between him and his father. Every match, regardless of whether he played or not, his father would be there, a constant source of firm support.
Though his size prevented him from joining the main team, Jonathan’s determination burned brighter than ever. With each practice, he improved his skills, fueled by the belief that someday his perseverance would pay off. Despite the doubts cast upon him, he pushed forward, never allowing anything to make his passion disappear.
One day, as the sun cast long shadows on the field, the coach approached Jonathan with a telegram (电报) in hand. The weight of the message pressed heavily on the young man’s heart as he read the words that forever changed his world. He swallowed hard and his voice shook as he turned to the coach.
“My father... he died this morning,” Jonathan uttered, his voice filled with sorrow. His body trembled with the weight of his sadness, threatening to consume him. Tears flooded his eyes, rolling down his cheeks.
The coach, understanding Jonathan’s loss, enveloped him in a comforting embrace. The warmth of his arm around Jonathan’s shoulder provided a temporary comfort. Softly, the coach spoke words of relief and understanding, giving Jonathan the time and space he needed to process his overwhelming sorrow.
“Take the rest of the week off, son,” the coach said gently, his voice filled with sympathy. “And don’t even plan to come to the game on Saturday. Your well-being matters more than anything.”
On the day of the game, Jonathan’s college team was losing badly to the opponent team. The coach and the players had all lost hope when they saw Jonathan coming towards them. Jonathan ran up to the coach and begged him to allow him to play this match.
注意：
1. 续写词数应为150左右;
2. 请按照如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
At first, the coach wouldn’t allow him to play.
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After the match, the coach found Jonathan in the corner of the locker room.
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Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is gaining more
“Chinese medicine actually has
Traditional Chinese medicine usually uses skills like acupuncture (针刺), cupping and specialized massage
The doctor may also ask the patient about stress at work or home and any difficulties
In recent years, the World Health Organization
9 . Pretending sickness may get harder. Slipping a day off work by nervously coughing down the phone to your boss might not work. Very soon your company might be able to tell whether your symptoms are real, just from your voice.
An Indian research team tried to tell a “cold voice” from a healthy voice. Their research makes use of the fact that human speech, like any musical instrument, does not produce single frequencies of sounds. Even the best trained singers cannot hit pure notes like those from tuning forks. The dominant notes in the human voice are instead accompanied by a series of higher pitch (音高) tones.
Together these sets of notes fit into mathematical patterns called harmonics (和声), with tones having frequencies that are multiples of the original note. For example, the pitch of the second harmonic note is twice the frequency of the main note and so on. The loudness of these harmonics in speech tends to fade as they proceed up the frequency scale. The team reasoned that infection with a cold might change how this decline happened.
To find out, the scientists made use of an unusual resource: recordings of the voices of 630 people in Germany, 111 of whom were suffering from a cold. Each was asked to count from one to 40 and describe what they did at the weekend. They also read aloud a fable The North Wind and the Sun, which has been a popular text for speech research since 1949. By breaking down each person’s speech into its spectrum (声谱) of component wavelengths, the researchers could identify the dominant frequency and the harmonics in each case. They then used machine-learning to analyse the relationships between the loudness of these harmonics and found patterns that could distinguish the cold voices from the healthy voices.
The team’s diagnosis of cold voice shows a 70% accuracy. Faced with another dull Monday at the office, would you take the risk?
1. On what basis is the research performed?| A．Human speeches vary in frequencies. |
| B．Training has no effect on human notes. |
| C．Humans speak like musical instruments. |
| D．Higher pitch notes dominate human voices. |
| A．The pitch of harmonics. | B．A pretended cold voice. |
| C．The sets of human notes. | D．Higher sound frequencies. |
| A．It is easy to understand. | B．It is valuable in literature. |
| C．It is popular with speakers. | D．It is suitable for the research. |
| A．Human speech reflects health | B．Pretending sickness is a trend. |
| C．Voice changes with conditions. | D．Changing voice is of great risk. |
10 . Distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic has made both physical and social connections a touch more difficult to maintain. For Stanford University student Millie Salvato, being apart from her friend on the opposite coast has proved challenging. Sometimes a text or video call is not enough, and people in Salvato’s situation often long for a way to send a comforting hug from afar. In a new study detailed in IEEE Transactions on Haptics, she and her colleagues demonstrated a wearable sleeve that can simulate (模拟) human touch and convey social messages sent electronically.
Salvato and her team measured how 37 participants expressed social messages in different situations. In each test, one person wore a pressure-sensing device on an arm, and another touched it to respond to six different scenes: attention seeking, gratitude, happiness, calming, love and sadness. After collecting 661 touch movements, Salvato and her colleagues mapped the location and pressure of each. Next, they used a machine-learning algorithm (算法) to select the movements that were most reliably part of each response. Finally, they programmed a wearable sleeve to simulate these movements using eight built-in disks that vibrate when electronically signaled. “The instant it received signals, I could feel the touch and identify its intended meaning. “One participant reported.
Even with no training, the participants correctly matched the simulated touches to the six scenes 45 percent of the time. For comparison, a previous study found participants could match scenes for touches from real human hands 55 percent of the time.
Gerling, a touch researcher at Harvard who was not involved in the study, said the invention was really surprising. But the study was small and needs to cover far larger groups of people to determine exactly which are the most desirable responses. Besides, he believes the sleeve surely will enjoy great popularity once launched on the market.
1. What were participants asked to do during the study?| A．Pick up reliable responses. |
| B．Model on electronic touches. |
| C．Respond to different situations. |
| D．Mark out programmed movements. |
| A．Alarm. | B．Shake. | C．Shine. | D．Inform. |
| A．Covering more scenes. | B．Launching on the market. |
| C．Conducting further research. | D．Interviewing the participants. |
| A．Electronic Sleeves Helping Feel Virtual Touch |
| B．New Technology Improving Social Connections |
| C．New Sensing Device Increasing Physical Touches |
| D．Electronic Sleeves Responding to Different Situations |
