1 . It isn’t every day that the future and the past meet on national television.

Peter Davies, a 100-year-old World War II veteran from Macclesfield, England struggled to find ________ in his life after his wife passed away. ________, when his daughter suggested he offer his help at the local elementary school, he decided to ________ it.

Peter ________ at Dean Valley Primary School, Bollington, and he is a huge hit with all of the children he tutors. He makes reading into a fun game, and his new ________ as a grandfatherly figure makes him feel more ________ to his community than ever before. “The kids are ________ ; they are like sponges (海绵)” said Peter．“I’m sure I get more out of it than the ________ do. I’m not this old man who lives on his own. I’m part of the ________, which is great. Plus my street ________ is extremely good because I’ll be going ________ in the village and a child will shout out ‘Hello Mr. Davies,’ and I feel ________.” In 2023, Peter received a British Empire Medal (BEM) from King Charles III!

Now, ________ being just famous locally, Peter is a national celebrity. He recently ________ on television with the youngest recipient of the BEM, 18-year-old author and environmentalist Dara McAnulty.

“He is the ________, I am the past,” Peter said of Dara.

1.

A．meaning

B．wisdom

C．standard

D．courage

2.

A．Meanwhile

B．Nevertheless

C．Therefore

D．Moreover

3.

A．prove

B．explore

C．manage

D．attempt

4.

A．works

B．volunteers

C．registers

D．engages

5.

A．reputation

B．status

C．post

D．state

6.

A．connected

B．restricted

C．equal

D．inferior

7.

A．flexible

B．naughty

C．patient

D．great

8.

A．heroes

B．humans

C．children

D．adults

9.

A．society

B．population

C．community

D．nation

10.

A．reaction

B．effort

C．devotion

D．credit

11.

A．anywhere

B．nowhere

C．somewhere

D．elsewhere

12.

A．grateful

B．honored

C．ambitious

D．surprised

13.

A．in addition to

B．instead of

C．due to

D．in spite of

14.

A．appeared

B．performed

C．advertised

D．shared

15.

A．prospect

B．trend

C．present

D．future

2 . On a tram smoothly pulling into the heart of Luxembourg City, Marck gives a smile and takes a look at the fabric of the seat next to him. For him, the city’s trams are more than just transport. More even than the focus of his job. They are about transforming his country and, perhaps, changing the world.

Marck is the director general of Luxtram, Luxembourg’s modern trams. It first started running services two years ago. Next year, Luxembourg will become the world’s only country to get rid of fares on all its forms of public transport. Luxembourg’s traffic problems come from its army of workers. The population of the capital city almost doubles during the working day, when more than 110,000 people travel in and out.

After three decades when its roads have become so crowded, Luxembourg is going to do something remarkable. Free fares, and a plan to persuade people to switch from cars to trams or trains. Marck, along with many others, is excited to see what happens next. “The fact that this is free means that everyone can use it — young or old, rich or poor,” he said. “Everyone can say to themselves it’s better to leave the car at home. We must continue to improve and extend the network. It must always be comfortable, well-connected, efficient.”

Lydie Polfer, the city’s mayor, says she hopes to reach the point where more than a third of people come into the city using public transport — at the moment, it’s less than one in five. She said, “It’s not practical to ban cars because some people, like the elderly, need them. But everyone has to be aware that he or she can do something to improve the situation. There is an expression in German — you are not in the traffic jam — you are the traffic jam, and that is true. I think that making it free will be the biggest arguments for people to use public transport. ”

1. Why does Marck think the city’s trams are more than just transport?

A．The trams are his goal that he strives for.

B．There are more means of transportation than trams.

C．City’s trams bring more changes beyond transport.

D．The trams are the heart of Luxembourg City transport system.

2. What does paragraph 2 mainly talk about?

A．The cause of the traffic problems.	B．The means of public transport.
C．The development of running services.	D．The increase of working population.

3. What concerns people most when using the public transport?

A．The convenience.

B．The fare.

C．The comfort.

D．The efficiency.

4. What can be inferred from what Lydie Polfer said?

A．The elderly needn’t use public transport.

B．It’s possible to persuade most people to use the trams.

C．Everyone can do his part to improve transport situation.

D．Those who don’t take public transport cause traffic jams.

3 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写一段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。

Palm trees seemed to speed by the car window. Eight-year-old Katrina began to get nervous, the way she always did in new surroundings. She felt a thin shine of sweat above her lip in spite of the car’s cool air. “The aquarium won’t be crowded, I bet, and people are gonna notice me. I hate wearing this prosthesis leg (假肢).” She felt tears pinprick behind her eyes. “Not being normal is the worst.”

Entering the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, around a comer of a tank, she noticed an animal that looked unusual. “Is that a dolphin with stump (假肢) instead of a tail?” she asked an aquarium staff. He nodded. “Yes, that’s Winter. She’s a very special dolphin.” “What happened to her?” “This girl dolphin was found off the coast of Florida, caught in a crab trap. The ropes from the trap cut off the blood circulation to her tail. So she lost her tail,” Katrina caught her breath. “She’s just like me. She’s just like me.” “But she struggled to survive. Now she wears a prosthetic tail part of the day to help her swim like a dolphin’s supposed to swim.” the staff continued, “Every day, Winter shows us anything is possible if we believe.”

Katrina felt her heartstring was touched. She waved at Winter. Looking at Katrina, Winter raised her flipper (鳍), came to her and lifted her head. “She’s swimming right into my arms,” Katrina said tearfully. They made eye contact. She seemed to be speaking to Katrina: We’re the same.

Back home, all Katrina talked about was Winter. For two weeks, she cried and begged her mother to take her back to Clearwater.

Unfortunately, another blow hit Katrina. She fell on the hardwood floor at home and broke her other leg. Katrina was in constant leg nerve pain. After a through examination, the doctor explained bad news that she would need another surgery on her leg. Years of a living hell came back to her.

She started fearing surgery again and refused to take any.

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。

Katrina’s mom decided to take her back to Clearwater.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Finally came the day when Katrina was in the hospital again.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4 . For anyone trying to lose weight, there’s a truth we can all universally acknowledge that better health is often positioned as a numbers game. Hit the right number, and all your health problems will magically resolve, so the logic goes. Yet increasingly, science is revealing that losing weight may not be a silver bullet after all. In a mouse study published in the journal Science, looking specifically at an inflammatory(炎症的) eye condition linked to obesity called macular degeneration(黄斑退化), researchers found the struggle for better health doesn’t necessarily begin and end with weight loss.

Researchers conducted experiments on mice that were fed a high-fat diet for 11 weeks, making them gain weight. The mice were then put on a diet of low-fat food for 9 weeks, making them lose weight. Another group of mice only ate the low-fat diet as a control. Researchers shot lasers into the eyes of both the yo-yo dieter mice and the control mice to encourage atypical blood vessel(非典型性血管) growth, a mark of macular degeneration.

Among the mice that had gained and then lost weight, there was about 40 percent more atypical blood vessel growth than their stable diet peers. Driving the growth appeared to be macrophages(巨噬细胞). In the yo-yo dieter mice, these cells had been reprogrammed to cause inflammation. Taken together, these cells appeared to have an outsize role in atypical blood vessel growth in the eyes. Meanwhile, in the mice fed only a low-fat diet, inflammatory changes were absent. The results suggest that eating a high-fat diet that causes weight gain, even if followed by weight loss, leaves an inflammatory mark on mouse macrophages.

The research comes during a period of renewed interest in anti-obesity drugs. But medicines that help people shed pounds do not treat inflammation linked to a history of weight gain. “How to engage these findings with medicine interventions is a challenge,” says Bapat, head of the research.

1. Which of the following best explains “a silver bullet” underlined in paragraph1?

A．A workable solution.	B．A tough choice.
C．An ultimate objective.	D．A major challenge.

2. How do researchers carry out the experiment?

A．By making comparison.	B．By listing examples.
C．By controling test methods.	D．By analyzing diet components.

3. What can we learn about the research results?

A．Stable dieting drives the growth of macrophages.

B．Reprogrammed cells are to blame for weight gain.

C．Inflammatory changes are caused by the low-fat diet.

D．Losing weight doesn’t resolve the inflammation tied to weight gain.

4. What will the research focus on next?

A．Exploring ways of losing weight.	B．Tracking the history of weight loss.
C．Treating obesity-linked inflammation.	D．Boosting interest in anti-obesity drugs.

5 . As a language learning enthusiast, I’ve come up with the best apps for learning English from the thousands of mobile apps out there.

Best for Pronunciation: ELSA Speak

ELSA Speak is probably the best mobile app around for helping you improve your English pronunciation. The app’s greatest strength is its intensive AI feedback, but ELSA also provides mini-training sessions to really perfect your pronunciation. The AI analyzes your recordings based on pronunciation, intonation and fluency then points out exactly which parts sound inaccurate.

Best for Immersing in English Videos: FluentU

FuentU is a language learning app that teaches you English through authentic videos like news reports, movie scenes and interviews, with learner tools for all levels. Each clip has interactive subtitles so if you’re not sure what a word means, you can hover over it and get in explanation. The app also gives video examples for each word so you can learn vocabulary in context.

Best for Practical Topics: Babbel

Babbel has you learn and practice English with realistic conversations that surround things that you’re personally interested in. Lessons are short and consist of written and audio versions of the grammar featured in the lessons. Then you are able to complete practice exercises to solidify your understanding.

Best for Fun Beginner Lessons: Lingodeer

Lingodeer uses games and short exercises to teach beginner and intermediate English learners. Lingodeer takes a gamified approach to language learning with a goal-oriented curriculum consisting of structured lessons and regular reviews. Lingodeer’s lessons are arranged according to themes, such as sports, weather, parts of the body and shopping.

1. What is the feature of ELSA Speak?

A．It analyzes learners’ recordings.	B．It provides guidance for learners.
C．It gives learners helpful feedback.	D．It improves learners’ communication skill.

2. Which app provides videos as learning resources?

A．FluentU.

B．ELSA Speak.

C．Babbel.

D．Lingodeer.

3. What can learners do with the app Lingodeer?

A．Design games.	B．Study around a theme.
C．Structure lessons.	D．Take advanced courses.

6 . 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。

Dating back to the Neolithic (新石器时代的) age, the time-honored tool, the writing brush in China is     1    (wide) used in Chinese calligraphy and painting. Together with the inkstone, inkstick and Xuan paper, these four writing implements are often referred to     2     the “Four Treasures of the Study.” The writing brush has been used by the Chinese to write and paint since 5,000 years ago. After paper     3    (invent) by the Chinese, bamboo slips, wooden tablets, brocade and silk,     4     originally functioned as writing surfaces, gradually faded out.

For many Chinese     5    (artist), the brush is more than a writing tool. “It seems in my blood that, when I pick up     6     ink brush, suddenly my thoughts, ideas, and even stories build a relationship with the ink brush, which offers a chance     7    (express) our inner world,” said Liu Qinghe, a contemporary Chinese artist.

“With a good ink brush     8    (hold) in hands, when we infuse our ideas into the brush, we give     9     life. When a writer picks the brush up, he can feel its fine details and subtleties,     10    (create) a dialogue,” Liu said.

Indeed, the “Four Treasures of the Study” have written the whole Chinese civilization, as it is.

7 . For many years, I was so wrapped up in my kids and my family that I ignored how I looked. The words “________maintenance” described my approach to beauty perfectly.

It wasn’t until recently, when I had my picture taken for a work ID, that I ________ the “Youth Train” had left the station, and I was no longer on it. The woman in the ID picture looked ________ and definitely middle-aged.

For a few days, I was a little ________ by the fact that I was no longer the sweet, young thing I thought I was. For those few days, I tried a little harder to ________ younger, brighter and tighter. I ________ with my hair and added extra eyeliner.

I thought I was ________ in my seeking for a youthful glow until one of my new co-workers ________ asked me a question that told me I was ________ only myself. “I don’t suppose you know what beauty is, do you?” she asked.

That simple question opened my weary eyes once and for all. My family ________ me not for my no-longer-shiny hair but because the ________ I’m playing, that is my husband’s wife and my kids’ mom.

Someone once said that ________ is the first gift given and the first one taken away. I agree but only when it comes to ________ beauty. When it comes to staying young, a mind-lift ________ a face-lift any day. The ________ beauty, the stuff inside that all of us have, lasts a lifetime.

1.

A．delicate

B．constant

C．slight

D．low

2.

A．realized

B．recognized

C．acknowledged

D．recommended

3.

A．energetic

B．cautious

C．enthusiastic

D．tired

4.

A．confused

B．interested

C．bothered

D．desired

5.

A．act

B．dress

C．behave

D．pretend

6.

A．tied up

B．cut away

C．took turns

D．took pains

7.

A．sending

B．turning

C．succeeding

D．bringing

8.

A．casually

B．temporarily

C．briefly

D．improperly

9.

A．teaching

B．fooling

C．decorating

D．enjoying

10.

A．loves

B．helps

C．changes

D．shapes

11.

A．trick

B．role

C．joke

D．game

12.

A．relief

B．belief

C．power

D．beauty

13.

A．inner

B．natural

C．outside

D．moral

14.

A．beats

B．meets

C．warms

D．restricts

15.

A．behavioral

B．genuine

C．physical

D．biological

8 . 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。

As a nurse at the cancer care center where I’ve worked for seven years, I’ll do almost anything to make a patient feel better. But when I met Patty at the center, in 2011, she didn’t want my help.

She was a tiny 44-year-old single mom battling an aggressive head and neck cancer. Unlike many of our other patients, Patty was alone during her treatment, but no matter what I did. I couldn't get her to open up. She just buried herself in book or pulled a blanket over her head to fend off conversation.

Eventually I hit on a reliable way to make Patty smile: mentioning her nine-year-old son, Stephen. She'd tell me how well he did in school, how he'd been selected to read a poem he wrote at a local bookstore. She desperately wanted to live for him. With three kids myself, I totally understood how she felt.

After a year and a half of treatment, in August 2012, Patty was told her cancer had spread, and I learned she wouldn't live much longer. My first thought was, “What's going to happen to Stephen?”

Nurses at the center shared stories at their meetings about how bright and unusual the boy was. but no one seemed to know how to resolve the issue of what would happen to him when his mom died. My husband, Michael, who too works at the center, started hearing about Patty and Stephen.

One morning in October, Patty quietly slipped away. Michael and I picked Stephen up after school, drove him to a nearby park, and sat on a bench by a pond. I finally managed to say, “Stephen, we're sorry to have to tell you this, but your mom came to an end this morning.” The sound that came out of his mouth was like nothing I'd ever heard before. This skinny little guy sat between the two of us and just wailed (哀号) and wailed. It was as if his whole world was just destroyed.

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。
Something inside me was telling me what to do.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Finally, we took him home with us.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

9 . Hearing the notes coming from the other side of the wall, Giorgio was moved. This was our way of saying “I don't know who you are, but I'm here. You're not ____________.”

It turned out his neighbor's name was Emil and he was 78 years old, __________ from Poland. His wife had __________ in December from COVID-19 and the ___________ in which he was staying was a temporary accommodation until he would sell his house. The only comfort left to Emil was his __________. The reason he was playing at 2 p.m. every weekend and also duetting (二重奏) at that time with Giorgio was because of his ___________.

“When I wrote the song—Dear Emil, I started __________ Emil's life. A 78 widower that lost the love of his life because of this stupid ____________. Spending days alone at home due to lockdown, playing her favorite piano song every weekend, until a __________ appeared on his door, one which read you are __________, and not alone. And a new friendship started, two pianos between a wall. Although they didn't know who was playing, it didn't __________ . You can be the __________ to somebody else's darkness.” said Giorgio.

Giorgio shared on March 14th that he’d received __________ that Emil had left the world forever in his sleep: “And now he is __________ his wife.” “Dear Emil,” he wrote. “I knew little about you, but you __________ my life. You gave me back my passion, believing music can be powerful.”

1.

A．unique

B．awake

C．alone

D．accompanied

2.

A．originally

B．eventually

C．typically

D．regularly

3.

A．got sick

B．passed away

C．got injured

D．passed by

4.

A．hospital

B．store

C．firm

D．apartment

5.

A．piano

B．violin

C．photo

D．instrument

6.

A．wife

B．friend

C．mother

D．daughter

7.

A．describing

B．picturing

C．admiring

D．predicting

8.

A．hurt

B．challenge

C．virus

D．war

9.

A．tap

B．knock

C．call

D．note

10.

A．heard

B．seen

C．felt

D．smelled

11.

A．doubt

B．affect

C．matter

D．conflict

12.

A．object

B．light

C．trouble

D．worry

13.

A．order

B．instruction

C．promise

D．word

14.

A．harmonious with

B．similar to

C．equal to

D．reunited with

15.

A．bettered

B．disturbed

C．changed

D．confirmed

10 . A letter written to a 12-year-old girl in Lithuania was delivered in December, almost 51 years after it was sent by a pen pal in Poland. “I thought that someone was pranking me,” said Genovefa Klonovska after being handed the letter, which included a handmade colored rose and two paper dolls.

The letter, together with 17 others, fell out of a ventilation hole (通风口) this summer, dirty and wrinkled, as a wall was taken down in a former post office on the suburb of Vilnius. Jurgis Vilnius, owner of the building immediately called the post office. “I’m so happy they got interested,” said he.

Street names and their numbering have changed in Vilnius, and post office workers spent months looking for the right houses and talking to current renters and neighbors, tracking down where the recipients moved to. Only five were found. In several cases children of late recipients were handed a lost letter.

“We felt a moral duty to do this,” said Deimante Zebrauskaite, head of the customer experience department at Lithuania Post.

One lady compared the experience to receiving a message from a bottle thrown into sea. People were emotional. “Some felt they saw a part of daily life of their deceased parents,” Zebrauskaite said.

In the letter to Klonovska, sent from Koezary in Poland and stamped in 1970, a girl named Ewa complains buses no longer reach her village, so she has to walk in minus 23 degree Celsius cold, and asks for pictures of actors.

Now in her 60s, Klonovska has no memory of Ewa. She probably wrote Ewa after finding her address advertising for pen pals in a newspaper, and the relationship ceased after the letter got undelivered.

“So good that the letter didn't matter much. The loss was not life-changing,” said Klonovska “What if they delivered a lost letter from a suitor (求婚者) to his love, and their wedding never happened?”

1. What does the underlined word “pranking” in Paragraph 1 mean?

A．Brightening.

B．Embarrassing.

C．Tricking.

D．Pleasing.

2. What happened to the letters in Paragraph 2?

A．They were accidentally found.

B．They remained well-preserved.

C．They were delivered by the former post office.

D．They were hidden by the owner of the building.

3. Which of the following best describes the present post office in Vilnius?

A．Generous.

B．Dutiful.

C．Honest.

D．Cautious.

4. What can we learn from what Klonovska said?

A．Klonovska refused a suitor.

B．Klonovska stopped the wedding.

C．The undelivered letter ruined the relationship.

D．The undelivered letter made little difference to her.