1 . When it comes to settling down young children, parenting advice focuses mostly on one tool: What to say. Parents are taught to say this or that, or even how to apologize to an angry child. While in practice, many parents turn to another means of comforting: Touch their child. But it’s not just any type of touch. It occurs at a particular speed and with a particular pressure.
During the end of the 19th century, many European doctors actually advised parents not to touch their children because they said it would weaken them and make them dependent. This idea hit a fever height in the 1920s when the psychologist John B. Watson wrote a parenting book in which Watson advises mothers to stay away, physically, from children. He believed that by not touching young children, parents teach them to be independent at an early age.
“But then it turns out that the opposite is actually true,” Neuroscientist Helena Wasling says. “Children who get a lot of touch, support and closeness from their parents are actually the ones that dare to go out and explore, as they grow up, because they have a basic safety that they can depend on.” And of course, gentle touch can calm and relax adults, just as much as they do children, says Wasling.
After decades of research, neuroscientists are beginning to understand how our skin senses this type of touch and how that feeling lights up regions of the brain to affect our emotions. It turns out that our skin contains nerves (神经) which can sense a gentle touch. And these nerves are part of a system inside our skin that excites the warm, calm and peaceful feeling you have when you’re with people who love you. For some kids with autism (自闭症), this type of touch might not feel good, Wasling notes, and may even feel bad. “A child with autism may become over-sensitive towards physical touch.” she says. “The relationship between touch and reward (奖励) can be totally different.”
1. What was believed about parental touch according to paragraph 2?| A．It weakened kids’ intelligence. | B．It harmed kids’ physical health. |
| C．It reduced kids’ independence. | D．It hurt parent-child relationship. |
| A．They may be more sensitive. | B．They tend to become braver. |
| C．They may be more protective. | D．They tend to become smarter. |
| A．The benefit of touch does not apply to every kid. |
| B．The amount of touch does not matter to kids. |
| C．Kids with autism might be more independent. |
| D．Kids with autism should be rewarded with touch. |
| A．An Effective Method to Educate Kids |
| B．The Magical Effect of Touching Children |
| C．The Importance of Parenting Strategies |
| D．A New Research into Social Interaction |
2 . Janet, now 37, was playing with her new pet dog, Stitch, who jumped up, grabbed her sleeve, and tore several holes in her sweater with its sharp teeth. Instead of throwing the sweater away, Janet decided to repair it.
She turned to “visible repairing,” an idea of repairing clothes that leaves an obvious fix. She added bright flowers and other small designs to damaged clothes. “Every time you do a repair, it’s like having bought a new piece of clothes,” says Janet.
Actually, repairing is a great opportunity to realize the urgent (迫切的) need to reduce waste. Sadly, we have become used to replacing things instead of repairing them — and the rubbish is piling up. Worldwide, we throw away 92 million tons of cloth every year. Electronic waste is another growing problem: About 50 million tons of it is created each year around the world.
The good news is that fixing things can help deal with the waste problem. There are some solutions. Due to information online, the popular how-to site iFixit.com , a database (数据库) with nearly 100,000 repair brochures for everything from electronics to clothing, has promoted more than 100 million repairs. In addition, since the first Repair Café opened in2009 in Amsterdam, more than 2,700 cafés have been set up to offer in-person fix-it help in various countries. Organizers set up events, and volunteers with repair knowledge bring their tools. They will try to fix whatever people bring in, for free, and teach visitors how to do repairs themselves.
Fixing things is part of a larger change toward a circular economy —the idea that instead of throwing away things once they are broken or out of date, we reuse or repair them, keeping them out of the landfill (垃圾填埋场) for as long as possible. According to a 2023 report from Circle Economy, a Netherlands-based NGO, if the world changed to a circular economy, we could lower the amount of waste by a third.
1. What is the author’s purpose in mentioning Janet?| A．To praise her way of protecting pets. |
| B．To introduce special clothing designs. |
| C．To call for attention to repairing things. |
| D．To market the products of fixed clothes. |
| A．The action of replacing things is wise. |
| B．The behaviour of repairing things is popular. |
| C．The need for reducing clothes is urgent. |
| D．The problem of producing waste is serious. |
| A．By teaching volunteers repair knowledge. |
| B．By sharing tips on opening repair cafés. |
| C．By providing information to the repair database. |
| D．By offering online and off line help to encourage repairs. |
| A．Jim threw away a used bike. | B．Jackson mended a torn sofa. |
| C．Sue replaced a worn carpet. | D．Windy removed a broken vase. |
3 . As the saying goes, failure is the mother of success. Many of us were told from an early age that, at school or in life, “you learn from your mistakes.” Is this actually true?
The short answer is “yes”.
Fortunately there are strategies to help us overcome the emotional barriers.
The writer Samuel Beckett once said, “fail again, fail better.” But it now seems that we should say, “fail again, fail smarter”.
| A．Everyone needs success |
| B．Hard work leads to success |
| C．Failure can be a teachable moment |
| D．Failure is an unavoidable part of life |
| E．One of them is to adopt a third-person view |
| F．Next, offer advice to others in the same position as us |
| G．So what failure causes is a serious threat to our self-image |
An Unforgivable Mistake
A few years ago, the company I work for sent my wife and me to live in New York for a year. I’ve always loved jogging, so I was really happy when I found the apartment they had rented for us was next to Central Park. This meant that every morning I could go for a run before I went to work.
Because a lot of people had told me to be careful of muggers (行凶抢劫者) in the park, I didn’t usually take anything with me. How could they rob me if I didn’t have anything? But one morning my wife asked me to buy some bread on the way home, so I put a $10 bill in my back pocket.
It was a beautiful morning and the park was quiet with very few people walking or jogging around. While I was running, another jogger bumped (撞) into me. He apologized and continued running. For a while, I didn’t think too much of it. However, when I noticed the wide path where I was running, I thought it was kind of strange. The warning of muggers in the park occurred to me. It could have been a mugger! I suddenly became alarmed, so I checked my pocket. The money was missing! I immediately started to run after the jogger. I finally caught up with and grabbed him firmly by the arm. I started shouting and demanding that he give me the $10 bill. I’m not usually a hot-headed person, but I really lost my temper at that moment. I couldn’t believe the robbery was actually happening to me. Filled with anger, I shook my fist at him. This seemed to frighten him. He quickly put his hand in his pocket and gave me the money. Then he ran away as fast as he could.
I bought the bread and went home. As soon as I got home, I couldn’t wait to tell my wife the story. “You won’t believe what happened to me,” I started with pride. She immediately interrupted (插话), “I know, you left the money for the bread on the kitchen table.”
注意：续写词数应为150左右。Paragraph 1:
Looking at the money on the table, I stood there, shocked.
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For several days, I waited at the same place.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________29 outstanding Party members were conferred the July 1 Medal, one of
Zhang’s efforts helped nearly 2,000 girls go to college. She visited poor
Another important lesson from Zhang’s story is that we should take a longterm view of rural education. Zhang has been working
6 . Going against the tide of flocking to well-known tourist destinations on vacation, a growing number of holidaymakers in China tend to spend their leisure time at lesser-known attractions. Reverse tourism (逆向旅游) has appeared as a new trend among young holidaymakers in China.
According to data from an online travel agency, the number of rooms booked at hotels in less-traveled cities during the holiday was up 30 percent year-on-year. Bookings for four-star or five-star hotels in less-traveled places all increased ten times at a minimum. Some lesser-known scenic spots posted double-digit (两位数的) growth during the holiday. Baimaiquan Park in Jinan, the capital of Shandong Province, received 52,100 visits in the seven days, up to 15.78 percent year-over-year.
Besides crowds, some vacationers chose less-traveled places to save on the cost of trips to popular destinations. In addition, lesser-known attractions are not as “commercial” as developed ones and are able to offer more actual experiences and natural encounters.
Essentially speaking, total relaxation is becoming a real expectation for many people when they travel. Changes in demand may be the fundamental reason for the popularity of reverse tourism. COVID-19 is another key factor fueling reverse tourism. As preventive measures continue, traveling has an unpredictable quality. Travelers have thus become more cautious and tend to choose local attractions or places with fewer tourists.
“The rise of reverse tourism is not a bad thing,” said Zhengzhou Daily. It means that vacationers now have more options, which brings more possibilities to the tourism market. More importantly, it noted, the trend is set to force popular destinations to improve themselves instead of resting on their past honor.
Jiang Han, a senior researcher, said that reverse tourism will become one of the future directions for the market. To give a real boost to the tourism market, Jiang suggested that more efforts be made to tap the potential of underestimated, lesser-known destinations. It is necessary to dig deeper into the local customs and highlight the local characteristics to improve the quality of local tourism.
1. What do the statistics in paragraph 2 tell us?| A．The popularity of travel agency in China. |
| B．The high income of hotels during holidays. |
| C．The contributions of tourism to the economy. |
| D．The increasing trend of reverse tourism in China. |
| A．The impact of COVID-19. |
| B．Holidaymakers’ changing needs for travel. |
| C．The lower cost of heading to less-traveled places. |
| D．The lack of innovative improvements in famous attractions. |
| A．It will drop with the recovery of economy. |
| B．It benefits both tourists and the tourism market. |
| C．It is beneficial to spread local culture to tourists. |
| D．It blocks the development of some popular resorts. |
| A．Upgrading the supporting facilities in tourist areas. |
| B．Improving the management rules of tourist attractions further. |
| C．Exploring the potential and features of lesser-known attractions. |
| D．Promoting the local characteristics of China through online media. |
7 . Ranked as one of the poorest states in America, Louisiana is often struck by coastal storms and hurricanes. The sky-high poverty and crime rates are destructive for residents—especially for young people. Despite the unfavorable situation, there is a spirit of survival and hope for people living in Baton Rouge. “We choose to live by joy and community more than look at horrible issues and challenges that sometimes feel too big for us to take on,” said Dustin La Font, whose nonprofit, Front Yard Bikes, supports hundreds of students in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, every year as they pedal towards a brighter future.
At Front Yard Bikes, students work to build their own bicycle, learning skills like mechanics, welding and cycling safety, while receiving mentoring, academic support, and job training opportunities.
“We had to put a ton of energy and love into it,’’ La Font said. “Students learned to saw, drill, measure, cut. They learned to paint, design, and plan. And they built their own program from scratch. Our mission is to create safe spaces that empower our kids to learn about their intrinsic worth as they learn, grow, and build.”
Many kids now gather after school in this safe place to ride, play, and help out in the garden. “Pretty much any kid can find a place here to belong,” La Font said. “For the fact that they built their park, there’s ownership over it. They take care of their park.”
Front Yard Bikes serves nearly 400 young people a year. To date, 50 students have been certified in mechanics, and 2,000 kids have benefited from the program.
“People say to me, ‘Thank you for keeping kids busy and out of the streets’,” La Font said. “I don’t like that because it says kids are the problems to be solved. But they are our greatest resource for our community challenges; they are problem solvers, not trouble makers. My constant fight is trying to get people to see who our kids really are ... and to see that they have something to offer right now.”
1. How do people in Baton Rouge feel about their life?| A．Desperate. | B．Hopeful. |
| C．Over-stressed. | D．Satisfied. |
| A．It is energy-consuming. | B．It brings money for kids. |
| C．It builds a sense of competition. | D．It frees kids from worries about school-life. |
| A．They created the garden themselves. |
| B．They are well protected in the garden. |
| C．They find the garden similar to their home. |
| D．They receive good education in the garden. |
| A．They serve as part-time workers. |
| B．They bring about many problems. |
| C．They fall victim to violence and poverty. |
| D．They are helpful in the face of challenges. |
1.该中心成立的目的；
2.该中心要开展的活动；
3.呼吁有需要的同学加入。
注意：
1.写作词数应为80左右；
2.请按如下格式作答。
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It was the 9th of January, a day I will remember for a long time. It was a normal Sunday morning around 8:30 am, right on time for Sammy’s morning walk. I didn’t walk because of my lameness, so I rode in my power wheelchair. We got out the door and made our way toward a property near my apartment complex. We got to the gate and out of the complex, and we went left onto the extra wide sidewalk. It was about a mile’s walk one way , passing a firehouse on the right side of the road, before we turned around and started back.
Along the path we took was a large plate over the sidewalk. I passed over it the first time without any problems. My wheelchair could reach up to 8 miles per hour, but we went a little slower on our walks, around 2 miles per hour, so Sammy could keep up. Even so, this speed was pretty fast for a 15-year-old dog.
As we turned around and made our way back, I went over the sidewalk plate again except that this time it was moved without me realizing it, putting my wheelchair in the grass on the embankment (路堤). The next thing I knew, my wheelchair started to tip over, throwing me out of the chair and rolling down the embankment into the muddy water below.
My right leg was hurt, and I was unable to pull myself upright. I was too weak to gather my strength to call for help. The muddy water was cold and I felt it hard to breathe with my body folded and twisted in a strange position. Meanwhile, Sammy was sitting up on the sidewalk with his leash (牵狗皮带) caught under the tipped over wheelchair. I heard him barking louder than ever heard. He knew I was hurt and was in danger.
By the way my wheelchair tipped over, a passerby on the street would not be able to see it from the road. All anyone could see was a dog barking on the sidewalk almost night across the street from the firehouse.
注意：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。
I could tell Sammy was trying to help me.
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Three firemen came to my dog’s aid finally.
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10 . Tackling behavioral problems at school is not easy, but Dr. Terrance Newton is doing that with a
In his first year as principal of Warner Elementary School, Newton has already seen a
Newton saw the
Kamisha Collins has seen the
What a brilliant idea not to mention a
| A．suddenly | B．similarly | C．surprisingly | D．hardly |
| A．great | B．slight | C．harmful | D．risky |
| A．haircuts | B．conversations | C．performances | D．services |
| A．fear | B．problem | C．project | D．reason |
| A．out of place | B．under control. | C．under discussion | D．out of hand |
| A．suspended | B．criticized | C．praised | D．protected |
| A．decided | B．preferred | C．learned | D．afforded |
| A．promised | B．admitted | C．rejected | D．figured |
| A．calm down | B．open up | C．show up | D．break down |
| A．classmates | B．colleagues | C．housekeepers | D．troublemakers |
| A．increase | B．encouragement | C．difference | D．difficulty |
| A．rough | B．pleasant | C．easy | D．mild |
| A．barrier | B．barbershop | C．reputation | D．bond |
| A．strict | B．brave | C．fantastic | D．modest |
| A．appealing | B．disappointing | C．struggling | D．lying |
