1 . During the summer of 2021, Beverly Wax had an experience that filled her with awe. It was the sight of her son, Justin, dragging a 36-kilogram portable air conditioner upstairs. Beverly’s central air conditioning had stopped working in the middle of a 32℃ heat wave. She had mentioned to her son and he’d shown up as a surprise. As she watched him sweat and struggle while fixing it, she felt a wave of gratitude and appreciation.

Awe is that feeling we get when something is so vast that it stops us in our tracks. Often, it challenges or expands our thinking. Research shows that awe experiences decrease stress and increase overall satisfaction. It can also help our relationships, making us feel more sympathetic and less greedy, more supported by and more likely to help others.

Most of us associate awe with something rare and beautiful: nature, music or a spiritual experience. But people can bring about awe, and not just public heroes. Often, this interpersonal awe is a response to life’s big, sweeping changes. We can be awed by our nearest and dearest — the people sitting next to us on the sofa, or chatting on the phone. But it happens in smaller moments, too. John Bargh, a psychologist, said he was truly awestruck by his then-five-year-old daughter. When she heard another child crying, she grabbed her toy, walked over to the boy and handed it to him.

Unfortunately, we can’t make someone else behave in a way that’s awesome. But we can prepare ourselves to notice it when they do — and take steps to boost the emotion’s positive effects.

1. Why does the writer tell Beverly’s story?

A．To show sympathy for her.	B．To cite an example of awe.
C．To express appreciation to her son.	D．To start a discussion about awe.

2. What is the benefit of awe?

A．It stops our anxiety.	B．It simplifies our thinking.
C．It satisfies regular needs.	D．It promotes positive emotions.

3. In which situation can we feel awed between the nearest?

A．Admiring scenery in a national park.

B．Enjoying classic music in a concert hall.

C．Receiving a call from a long-lost friend.

D．Getting the signature of a famous athlete.

4. What can be implied from the last paragraph?

A．Arise in time of trouble.

B．Behave in an awesome way.

C．Sense amazement in daily life.

D．Increase chance of finding awe.

2 . 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。

China unveiled (公布) a list of the country’s top 10 scientific achievements for 2022. It featured breakthroughs in basic research     1     (range) from space science to agriculture. China completed the in-orbit construction     2     its space station, with two manned spaceships and two 20-tonne-level lab modules     3     (send) into orbit. The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST), also known as the “China Sky Eye”, achieved a number of     4     (discovery), including a new repeating fast radio burst it detected. In October, China     5     (launch) a solar exploration satellite called Kuafu-1 into space to settle the mysteries of the sun, producing     6     (it) first solar image in November.

In the field of agriculture, Chinese researchers identified yield-related genes in corn and rice,    7     allows for their grain output to be increased by about 10 percent and 8 percent, respectively.

This year’s list of the country’s top 10 scientific advances is the     8     (twenty-nine) annual event of its kind. The goal of the list is to showcase China’s     9     (late) achievements of basic research in some fundamental fields     10     encourage Chinese scientists and engineers to work hard for achieving quality self-reliance in science and technology.

3 . These science-themed field trips will offer you fantastic experiences.

London’s sites of scientific interest

Explore London’s notable sites of scientific interest along the River Thames, starting at Kew Bridge and walking to the Thames Barrier during the day with talks in the evening with some professors.

Visit the London Wetland Centre, Kew Gardens, Battersea Power Station, and the Greenwich Observatory. You will never be far from the river as you experience a wide range of topics including wildlife, medicine, power generation, engineering, physics and astronomy.

The science history of Scotland

Discover Edinburgh and Glasgow’s most famous scientific thinkers, and learn how their ideas supported our emerging understanding of the world from the 16th century onwards.

Enjoy expert talks and explore key sites from the Scottish Enlightenment (启蒙). Learn about the wide cast of advocates and hear from guest speakers, take part in walking seminars (研讨会) and enjoy several museum trips, as well as visits to two industrial wonders, the Falkirk Wheel and the Whitelee Windfarm.

Pre-Historic Southwest England

Involve yourself in the early human periods the Bronze and Iron Ages. A gentle walking tour that explores the pre-historic origins and evidence across Wiltshire and Dorset.

Visit several National Trust, English Heritage and UNESCO listed sites including Stonehenge and Maiden Castle and hear talks from the directors of the Wiltshire and Salisbury museums.

1. Which site can you visit along the River Thames?

A．Maiden Castle.

B．The Falkirk Wheel.

C．The Wetland Centre.

D．The Salisbury museums.

2. What is the visit to the Southwest England aimed at?

A．A closer look at the past.

B．A brief exposure to nature.

C．A new view about mysteries.

D．A deeper understanding of art.

3. What can visitors expect during all the three trips?

A．Talks with experts.

B．Visits to museums.

C．History explorations.

D．Scientific research.

4 . Traveling itself is an experience hard to be described in words.     1     Especially the solo (独自) traveling experience is so transforming that it lives with you forever. Here I am sharing some lessons.

    2     Thinking how I would manage my entire day among strangers on campus, I pretended to be sick. Then I had the same feeling when I was planning to travel alone. Exploring a city on my own was a big fear for me but I successfully managed it all and now, I seek out new opportunities and experiences. I love to push myself.    3    

Having grown up and lived all my life in a single place, I had a small set of friends since my school days which continued till my college days.    4     I met a few very interesting people with whom I could feel an instant connect and got some new friends for life.

I totally agree that traveling with family and friends is fun and enjoying. But traveling alone is satisfying too. It’s among those few things that you do for yourself and nobody else.    5     During my solo travels I have explored my inner self and have expanded my boundaries which people around me have acknowledged at times.

A．I want to experience more.

B．But all this changed with my first solo trip.

C．I never thought I would travel alone in my life.

D．I was so scared when I went to school first time.

E．Every journey prepares you for the journey of life.

F．The farther you travel, the more independent you become.

G．After all you need to take care of yourself a bit too at times.

5 . Little Oliver was Mason and Rebecca’s miracle child. Rebecca suffered three miscarriages (流产) before Oliver was born. When they were still in extreme _________, Rebecca accidentally found the little boy never reacted to any sound. After examination it was confirmed that Oliver was born _________.

Facing such a blow, Mason and Rebecca never felt _________. A few weeks later, Oliver got his first hearing aid. Despite several _________, Oliver could at last hear! Rebecca and Mason were delighted.

Three years passed, and it was time to send Oliver to _________. But the first day Oliver returned home _________. “I don-don’t want to go to school... I have no friends...”

One day, Rebecca and Mason were called to the school, where Oliver’s teacher, Sophia told them Oliver never _________ with his classmates. He was afraid that his classmates would _________ him over his deafness. Though Sophia talked to him again, he was _________ to communicate.

Rebecca and Mason told her their son was __________ for friendship inside’ Sophia decided they had to do something to help Oliver out of his __________. They made a plan and put it into action on his sixth birthday. Oliver __________ his classroom and found it decorated with balloons. He was surprised and sat in his chair,__________ what was happening. Suddenly, all his classmates marched inside. They all wore colorful birthday caps and smiled at him. Oliver’s eyes rose with tears as he watched them sing a happy birthday song in __________. They had learned sign language to surprise the birthday boy and make him feel __________. Oliver was touched. It felt like heaven to be surrounded by friends.

1.

A．sorrow

B．happiness

C．surprise

D．loss

2.

A．dumb

B．blind

C．deaf

D．one-handed

3.

A．discouraged

B．annoyed

C．embarrassed

D．confused

4.

A．operations

B．tests

C．worries

D．struggles

5.

A．school

B．hospital

C．station

D．work

6.

A．laughing

B．crying

C．adding

D．explaining

7.

A．debated

B．agreed

C．studied

D．interacted

8.

A．punish

B．scold

C．complain about

D．laugh at

9.

A．unwilling

B．cautious

C．confused

D．unable

10.

A．grateful

B．desperate

C．responsible

D．concerned

11.

A．doubt

B．failure

C．insecurity

D．reach

12.

A．locked

B．cleaned

C．entered

D．designed

13.

A．confirming

B．concluding

C．ignoring

D．wondering

14.

A．gesture

B．return

C．deed

D．word

15.

A．independent

B．sensible

C．included

D．praised

6 . One summer midnight, standing outside a wooden house in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, I looked up. The sight of thousands of stars was almost enough to make me, a non-believer, offer a word of gratitude up into the star-filled sky. But to whom? Perhaps to Johan Eklof, author of The Darkness Manifesto.

A bat scientist, Eklof works in the night shadows in western Sweden. His work requires an absolute kind of darkness unpolluted by light. But this category of darkness is threatened. In the 1980s, Eklof tells readers, two-thirds of the churches in Sweden housed bat caves. Not any longer. “Today, this number has been reduced by a third due to light pollution, because the churches all glow brightly in the night.” he writes.

We have all noticed it when driving through any city at night. Empty places are floodlit. The night sky in Hong Kong is 1200 times brighter than an unlit one. Citizens of some large cities, writes Eklof, have never allowed their eyes to adapt to true night vision. But we are only now beginning to understand the effects.

Too much light is incredibly destructive to the complex eco-systems many animals inhabit. It scares away the bats that Eklof studies; reef fish eggs go unhatched; birds forget to even sing.

So how can we deal with the too much light? In 2019, France passed laws limiting how much light can be sent into the sky. In Vienna, Austria, the city’s lights are turned off at 11 p.m. Some measures, like artificial lights that do not reflect light upward, are already within our grasp. “We could just turn it all off, but I guess we don’t want to, because darkness is not safe for everyone.” said Eklof in a recent interview. “So it’s vital we find a middle way.”

Right now, it’s hard to know what that middle way might look like. In 50 years, every city could be lit by environmentally low-impact lights, or we might have completely forgotten what darkness is — the sky filled with little moons.

1. What do we know about Eklofs work?

A．It reduces light pollution.	B．It focuses on stars and sky.
C．It strengthens people’s belief.	D．It requires a specific condition.

2. What can replace the underlined “it” in meaning in paragraph 3?

A．Darkness.	B．An unlit city.
C．Floodlighting.	D．The night sky.

3. What are paragraphs 4 and 5 mainly about regarding light pollution?

A．Cause and damage.	B．Effect and solution.
C．Consequence and disadvantage.	D．Analysis and potential.

4. What is the writer’s attitude toward lighting management?

A．Balanced.

B．Negative.

C．Unclear.

D．Conservative.

7 . There are hundreds of genres (流派) of music, so while some might like one kind, others might like something completely different. Why do people like different kinds of music?

    1     At the same time, music can also help us feel like part of a group or a culture, especially one that shares an interest in a certain kind of music.

Music can also be nostalgic, that is, it creates a kind of longing for the past. Musicians leave behind a footprint with their music.    2     Even long after the musicians are gone, people still find something in the musicians’ recordings that they can enjoy.

We may also find that the music we like is strongly tied to our memory. Maybe there was a song that someone sang to us when we were little that brings up good memories.     3    

When we listen to music that we like, a chemical called dopamine is sometimes released in the brain, which can make us feel good.     4     There are some algorithms (算法) today that can help pick up on the kind of music we like. When we are streaming music, some programs will let us like or dislike songs.

People’s taste in music can remain the same in their whole life or it can change many times. But the truth is, we don’t know all the exact answers to why people like different kinds of music — or sports, or food, or colors.     5     We are all different people who like different things.

A．It’s music to our ears.

B．Music can be a part of our identity.

C．It becomes a mirror that we are holding up.

D．They leave a permanent mark in people’s lives.

E．Therefore, we might want to listen to a song on repeat.

F．Other times, we might find music can bring up sad memories.

G．There are lots of different factors that can influence our preferences.

8 . Many years ago, I was living with my best friend and we had many happy moments together. But there was one night that ________ our lives forever.

On the night of November 25, 2011, I got into a fistfight with my best friend in our kitchen. It all started because I was trying to help him. He was drinking a lot, arguing with everyone and ________ himself from others by keeping silent most of the time. This had been going on for weeks and finally I decided it was time for a(an) ________ I told him that he needed to stop drinking so much and tried to ________ his alcohol and he got angry and started ________ with me. It was scary, but by the end of the night, we were able to calm down and talk to each other.

I thought alcohol ________ was his main problem. But he was just using alcohol to ________ himself through. He was lonely, heartbroken and struggling to connect with people. So during the Christmas season a few weeks later, I gave him a ________ that I didn’t even know I had.

That Christmas my friend didn’t have any place to go, so I invited him home to my parents’ house in Lancaster. They ________ cleaned up our guest room for him and even bought him some Christmas gifts. I’ll never forget the night we arrived at my home. My parents were already ________, but my mom had prepared dinner for us, baked some cookies and left us a note. My parents are known for their ________, so I wasn’t surprised by this warm welcome. But when my friend read my mom’s note and saw all that she had prepared, he broke down and cried. That’s when I ________ how much I took my loving family for granted.

That year my friend and I both received gifts that we would ________ forever. I gave him the gift of a warm, loving, safe place to spend Christmas. And he gave me the gift of a new ________ on life. If I hadn’t shared my home with him, I wouldn’t have understood how ________ I am.

1.

A．defined

B．inspired

C．created

D．changed

2.

A．defending

B．separating

C．protecting

D．locking

3.

A．communication

B．investigation

C．exploration

D．promotion

4.

A．put up

B．take away

C．break out

D．call off

5.

A．talking

B．crying

C．fighting

D．laughing

6.

A．access

B．addition

C．abuse

D．affection

7.

A．look

B．break

C．drive

D．carry

8.

A．time

B．holiday

C．gift

D．family

9.

A．happily

B．generally

C．formally

D．hurriedly

10.

A．awake

B．asleep

C．available

D．absorbed

11.

A．generosity

B．curiosity

C．ability

D．creativity

12.

A．admitted

B．realized

C．recognized

D．accepted

13.

A．exchange

B．present

C．treasure

D．appreciate

14.

A．day

B．test

C．skill

D．eye

15.

A．kind

B．grateful

C．blessed

D．healthy

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。

Eating Chinese food can be beneficial for your health. Chinese dishes are often packed with vegetables, lean proteins, and healthy grains like rice and noodles, which     1     (make) them a great source of vitamins nutrients, and other essential     2     (mineral).

Chinese food is also     3    (relative) inexpensive, making it a great option for eaters. Many dishes can be easily customized to meet dietary restrictions or preferences, and takeout options make it easy     4    (enjoy) a delicious meal without spending much time in the kitchen.

Chinese food is often thought of as a single type of cuisine,     5     there are actually many different regional variations. Cantonese cuisine     6    (characterize) by light and flavorful dishes that often contain seafood while Szechuan dishes are known     7     their spicy (辛辣的) flavorings. Hunan cuisine is typically     8    (heavy) than others, incorporating ingredients like chilies and garlic.

In conclusion, eating Chinese food can be a nutritious and economic way to get a variety of flavors and textures on your plate. With a little bit of research and knowledge, you can enjoy all the delicious flavors of Chinese cuisine in     9     healthy and safe way. So don’t be afraid to explore the world of Chinese food and discover all the     10    (wonder) tastes it has to offer!

10 . 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。

Oracle bones (甲骨) were believed to be first unearthed in Anyang, once called Yin, the capital of the Shang Dynasty. Villagers then had little idea of what they had found and sold the bones to drugstores as     1    (tradition) Chinese medicines. The medicines gained the notice of historians. The discovery     2    (follow) by a series of archaeological excavations (挖掘).

Over the past 120 years, major systematic excavations have been carried     3    . A relic site museum has been built at the Yinxu site,     4    (recognize) as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Discovering the oracle bones and inscriptions helped explore the cultures of Xia and Shang dynasties,     5     trace the origins of the Chinese civilization.

The content of the inscriptions emphasizes the respect for ancestors and other core Chinese values     6     have been passed on until today. It     7    (appeal) to not only scholars but also those outside the circles of archaeology. Chen Nan, a professor at Tsinghua University’s Academy of Arts and Design, has energized the life of these ancient symbols by     8    (feature) them in the biaoqingbao (emoticons) he developed.

“They represent the     9    (clue) to our cultural lineage (传承), ” Chen says. “I feel     10     our responsibility to communicate about the charm of the primitive inscription with the younger generations and foreigners.”