1 . As our lives become more closely connected with the digital age, it’s more important than ever to keep the spark of human connections, a key part of which is making small talk.     1     Here’s how to master the art of small talk.

The cornerstone of effective small talk lies in developing genuine interest. Genuine interest is about actively seeking to understand the other person, valuing their perspectives and appreciating the uniqueness they bring to the conversation.     2    

Small talk extends beyond spoken words; it includes the art of observation. As you engage in conversation, pay attention to the speaker’s body language, facial expressions and tone of voice.     3     Being familiar with them not only helps you navigate the conversation with sensitivity but also enables you to establish a deeper connection by respecting the slight differences of the other person’s communication style.

Actually listening and connecting with someone is essential for a conversation. By providing your undivided attention, you convey respect and interest in what the other person has to say.     4     Ask follow-up questions to show that you value their insights. This depth of engagement lays the foundation for a more meaningful connection.

At the heart of successful small talk lies the authenticity (真实性) of your engagement. Authenticity fosters a sense of trust and connection, making the conversation more meaningful and memorable. Avoid the temptation to project an image or use scripted responses.     5     In the world of small talk, authenticity is the key that unlocks the door to deeper connections and more fulfilling interactions.

A．Instead, let your true self shine through.

B．Some accessible topics are great for small talk.

C．Active listening involves fully engaging with the speaker.

D．Focus on understanding their viewpoints beyond simply hearing words.

E．The signals provide valuable insights into their emotions and intentions.

F．Small talk may be a gateway to building rich and meaningful relationships.

G．By expressing authentic curiosity, you make the other person feel seen and heard.

2 . Contrary to the commonly-held view, the brain does not have the ability to rewire itself to make up for the loss of sight, or a stroke, for example, say scientists from the University of Cambridge and Johns Hopkins University.

Writing in eLife, Professors Tamar Makin (Cambridge)and John Krakauer (Johns Hopkins) argue that the belief that the brain, in response to injury or deficit, can reorganise itself and repurpose particular regions for new functions, is fundamentally incorrect-despite being commonly cited in scientific textbooks. Instead, they argue that what is occurring is merely the brain being trained to use already existing but possible abilities.

In their article, Makin and Krakauer look at ten pioneering studies that aim to show the brain’s ability to reorganise. They argue, however, that while the studies do indeed show the brain’s ability to adapt to change, it is not creating new functions in previously unrelated areas—instead it’s using possible capacities that have been present since birth.

Examining other studies, Makin and Krakauer found no convincing evidence that the visual cortex (大脑皮层) of individuals that were born blind or the uninjured cortex of stroke survivors ever developed a novel functional ability that did not otherwise exist.

Understanding the true nature and limits of brain plasticity (可塑性) is crucial, both for setting realistic expectations for patients and for guiding clinical practitioners (从业人员) in their reconstructive approaches, they argue. Makin added: “This learning process is a proof of the brain’s remarkable—but limited—capacity for plasticity. There are no shortcuts or fast tracks in this journey. The idea of quickly unlocking hidden brain potentials or tapping into vast unused reserves is more wishful thinking than reality. It’s a slow, gradual journey, demanding persistent effort and practice. Recognising this helps us appreciate the hard work behind every story of recovery and adapt our strategies accordingly.”

“So many times, the brain’s ability to rewire has been described as ‘miraculous’—but we’re scientists, we don’t believe in magic. These amazing behaviours that we see are rooted in hard work, repetition and training, not the magical reassignment of the brain’s resources.” They said.

1. What is a common misunderstanding of the brain’s function?

A．The brain can be trained.	B．The brain can compensate-blindness.
C．The brain can rewire itself.	D．The brain can react to sudden diseases.

2. Why are the related studies mentioned in the text?

A．To tell the limits of brain plasticity.	B．To analyze the structure of the brain.
C．To find productive research methods.	D．To explore the new functions of the brain.

3. What is Paragraph 5 mainly about?

A．The realistic expectations for patients.

B．Supporting evidence for the research results.

C．Further explanations of the medical strategies.

D．The medical significance of the new finding.

4. What will Makin and Krakauer suggest people do?

A．Make the impossible possible.	B．Reassign the brain’s resources flexibly.
C．Try to develop the brain’s possible ability.	D．Use the magic to accomplish difficult tasks.

3 . 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。

Sara, my neighbor, and I were sitting in our yard, chatting, and frowning at the wooden house across the street.

Nobody in the neighborhood had met these two young men there yet. The two men had long hair and beards and dressed strangely. They kept to themselves. When they came outside, they never made eye contact with anyone. “They sure don’t fit into the neighborhood,” Sara said, the corners of her mouth turning down as she stared at that house.

Sara said, “What about our street parties? We’ve always included everyone. Should we invite them?” I sighed, “Try being nice, Sara.” Suddenly, Sara sat up straight and her eyes grew wide with curiosity when a government car pulled up before Mrs Swain’s house next door. We hurried over. Mrs Swain was recovering from cancer and lived alone. Sara and I tried to keep an eye on her.

The man from the car put a piece of paper on Mrs Swain’s door and hurriedly left. Mrs Swain looked old, thin, and very tired when she opened the door. We three looked at the paper. It read: “Someone complained your grass’ length is against city rules. Please cut it in five days, or you’ll be fined.”

It was a shame that nobody had cut her grass for her. However, Sara and I lived alone, and we were both pregnant. What was worse, we were on a tight budget, and the other families here were on vacation.

Sara and I comforted Mrs Swain, telling her we’d figure out a way. Mrs Swain blinked in confusion, “Who would complain? Everyone knows that my old lawn mower is broken. And I’ve been sick too.” “It may be those two guys across the street,” Sara whispered, angrily staring at that wooden house.

Just then, a voice that seemed too gentle to be coming from the strange young man behind me said, “What is going on? Is she alright?” He nodded toward Mrs Swain. Sara looked at him coldly and said, “Some guys reported her because her grass is too high.” Her eyes ran over him disapprovingly, but he didn’t seem to notice.

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。
The young man and his friend quickly made eye contact and nodded seriously.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
After they finished the work, Sara and I walked in shame to apologize for judging them.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4 . 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。

Located in Guangxi, Chengyang Wind and Rain Bridge is a famous and special bridge in China. A wind and rain bridge is a roof-covered bridge equipped with benches and pavilions (亭子)     1     (shape) like palaces. It can shelter people from the wind and rain and allow them     2    (meet) and rest.

The Chengyang Wind and Rain Bridge,     3     design makes it an outstanding example of its type, has three floor levels,     4    (contain) five pavilions and a platform at either end. The bridge is supported by stone piers (石墩). It’s over 60 meters long, 3 meters wide and the.     5    (high) above the river is about 10 meters. The upper structure is carefully designed with towers standing on each stone pier. It’s made almost     6    (entire) of wood and the long and wide roof is covered with beautiful materials.

The bridge, also known as Chengyang Yongji Bridge,     7     (construct) by the talented local workmen in    8     early 1900s to link local villages across the river. The workmen enabled the many wooden pieces to be joined closely together without using nails. And they’d decorated the very     9    (value) bridge with brightly-colored lifelike carvings     10     paintings.

5 . Researchers at North Carolina State University are proposing an additional white traffic light that will act as a sign to human drivers and passengers that they should follow the lead of self-driving vehicles moving through intersections (十字路口).

Driving is fundamentally changing. In the future, human drivers will be sharing the road with autonomous vehicles. The transition to autonomous vehicles is progressing with each passing year and humans are no longer the only ones sitting behind an automobile’s steering wheel. This makes it urgent for traffic lights with a fourth color to become a reality.

The white traffic light would be equipped with wireless Bluetooth technology and would engage when the number of autonomous vehicles driving on the road at any given time exceeds a certain threshold (阈值). Autonomous vehicles would be in communication with each other and with the traffic lights at intersections, within a certain range. Any human drivers in the mix would be informed to follow the lead of the vehicle in front of them via the white light: stop if it stops, continue if it continues.

In simulation models, autonomous vehicles were shown to improve traffic flow on their own. The higher the percentage of autonomous vehicles at an intersection, the faster the traffic moved, with improvements of about 40 to 99 percent in terms of total delay reductions possible. “The white light can be used to coordinate (协调) traffic in any situation involving autonomous vehicles and tells human drivers what’s going on, so that they know what they are supposed to do as they approach the intersection,” says civil engineer Ali Hajbabaie.

As an example, most recently, Tesla’s problematic full-self-driving vehicles have been at the forefront of public criticism after a car crashed into a fire truck. Consequently, the potential risks linked to autonomous driving are what made North Carolina State University researchers suggest adding a fourth color to traffic lights in the coming years.

1. What does the underlined word “This” in paragraph 2 refer to?

A．Strict traffic rules.

B．The upgrade of road system.

C．Increasing autonomous vehicles.

D．The high cost of self-driving technology.

2. What does paragraph 3 mainly tell us about the white traffic light?

A．Its signal meaning.	B．Its working principle.
C．Its complex database.	D．Its potential applications.

3. What does Ali Hajbabaie convey in his words?

A．The white traffic light can help improve the flow of traffic.

B．Autonomous vehicles are potential threats to road safety.

C．It is difficult for elderly drivers to adapt to white traffic lights.

D．People had to be trained before driving on the roads with white traffic lights.

4. Why does the author mention the example of Tesla in the last paragraph?

A．To stress the popularity of driverless vehicles.

B．To prove the necessity of adding white traffic lights.

C．To call on the public to pay close attention to road safety.

D．To present the hidden dangers of using white traffic lights.

6 . It was eight o’ clock on Christmas morning, and Uncle Tom said he wanted to listen to the news. My 11-year-old self was wondering why grown-ups would be interested in the news when there were important things to be done, such as handing out presents. However, while I was only half-listening to the radio broadcast, I was confused that I had heard that report earlier.

My older brother, Colin, figured out what was happening. “Pete, it’s a tape recorder! We’ve got our tape recorder!” This was one of those rare moments when my inside gave an involuntary lurch (倾斜). Colin and I had both been blind from birth. In the late 1950s, tape recorders were definitely the top choice for blind kids, especially with the rise of rock ‘n’ roll.

But it wasn’t the first time I had been attracted to a tape recorder. I vividly remember walking into a room when I was four and hearing a child’s beautiful singing. It turned out that my dad had borrowed a tape recorder for preparing his projects. And for the first time, in the same way that a sighted child might react to seeing themselves in a mirror or a photograph, I got the sense of myself as a separate person who existed outside my head and was experienced by other people.

Then I became a broadcaster at school. I would wander around the school with my microphone, recording my thoughts in the style of the voices I heard on the radio. But the biggest challenge was not finding things to do with the tape recorder but taking it away from Colin. His generosity on the first day we got it did not extend to handing it over to his brother at school. “You’ll break it,” he would say.

But ten years later, I drew on the confidence gained from those early explorations of the sound and walked into a radio station, in the hopes of selling myself as a broadcast journalist. Eight years later, I presented my first report for BBC’s Six O’Clock News. I never thought that a Christmas present had changed my life.

1. Why did Uncle Tom probably listen to the news on Christmas morning?

A．To keep up with the times.

B．To carry on the holiday tradition.

C．To create a happy festival mood.

D．To surprise Colin and the author.

2. What did the author feel when first hearing a tape recorder at four?

A．His interest in music.

B．His love of broadcasting.

C．The real existence of himself.

D．An understanding of his father.

3. What was the author’s biggest challenge as a school broadcaster?

A．Learning the voice style of radio hosts.

B．Getting the tape recorder from Colin.

C．Balancing broadcasting and study.

D．Finding fun things to record.

4. What helped build up the author’s confidence in becoming a broadcast journalist?

A．His experiences of exploring the sound.

B．His talent for recording.

C．His father’s encouragement.

D．His rich broadcasting knowledge.

7 . The Importance of Inventions

They say necessity is the mother of invention, but invention drives the economy. The great importance of invention is that it solves problems and changes the world.    1    And it goes beyond culture. The modern era is arguably the greatest time in the history of the world for innovation, but none of it would have happened without the invention of electricity supplied on demand. With that one advancement, in came the fastest-changing period in human history-and the greatest population growth, too.

    2    Even things like the toilet and modern plumbing made it possible to improve hygiene and reduce exposure to human waste, which in turn made cities cleaner and more desirable to live in. The modern bathroom also helped reduce the spread of disease, which in turn helped extend the average life expectancy.    3    

People eat better, and more safely, because of innovations we now take for granted like the refrigerator, the oven and running tap water. Daily life at work has transformed because heavy- lifting jobs can be done by forklifts. In fact, technology is reaching a new height.    4    More people than ever before need to sit for work, with office jobs and the like changing our fitness level and lowering the risk of injury during a workday.

Even entertainment has changed because no longer do people have to make their own fun by playing games.    5    How people communicate, work, eat, travel, shop-it’s all subject to innovation and invention. Advances don’t always improve life, though, as many people are learning through the constant-access struggles of smartphones and ever-present noise pollution in cities.

A．Innovation shapes the way life is lived.

B．They can turn to their phone, TV or radio.

C．Factories are using robots for many tasks now.

D．They have affected the way we consume media.

E．Inventions influence all aspects of modern existence.

F．New technologies often simplify the average person’s life.

G．And that has led to the Earth’s population rising sharply in the last 150 years.

8 . We take the kids out every once in a while, but they get bored if we choose places like restaurants or shopping malls. Here are some of the best places for kids in Hyderabad.

Snow World

If you and your kids love snow, then Snow World, which you can visit between 11:00 am and 8:00 pm, is where you need to be. The best thing is that you can even enjoy the snow during summers; you can make a snowman, have snow fights with your kids, ride the ice cars or do some fun ice skating. And when you get hungry, you can grab a bite of some tasty food in the ice hotel.

The Jump Zone

Who says your kids cannot have fun when the weather gets warm in Hyderabad? Drive to the Jump Zone, which allows kids aged 5 ~ 12 to play and remains open from 11:00 am to 9:30 pm, and enjoy its vast indoor play area, where there are slides, dance floors, toys to ride on, and jumping castles.

Ramoji Film City

Ramoji Film City, which remains open from 9:00 am to 8:00 pm, has everything you need for fun and entertainment in one place. Your kids will be amazed by the beautiful gardens, amazing sets for movies, and strange streets. They can also enjoy exciting rides and games there.

Nehru Zoological Park

Nehru Zoological Park, which remains open from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm, is a great place to let your kids spend quality time with different animals. In this vast park you can see over 100 species of animals in their natural habitat. Other fun activities include elephant rides, train rides, and the Dinosaur Park. It also has an excellent food court where you can sit and enjoy tasty food and drinks.

1. Which place has the longest opening hours?

A．Snow World.	B．The Jump Zone.
C．Ramoji Film City.	D．Nehru Zoological Park.

2. What does the text say about the Jump Zone?

A．It doesn’t welcome kids of all ages.

B．It is especially crowded on warm days.

C．It doesn’t have enough room for sliding.

D．It attracts kids who love playing outdoors.

3. What do Snow World and Nehru Zoological Park have in common?

A．They both offer training sessions.

B．They both provide a place for dining.

C．They both are suitable for extreme sports.

D．They both offer a chance to see wild species.

9 . Whether we live in an urban studio, or a modest-size home filled with people, space in our homes can be hard to come by. Even without a lot of stuff, keeping everything organized presents a challenge. To make the most of the space you have, incorporate these clever ideas that may help.

Double up. Consider multipurpose for every piece of furniture. Buying a coffee table? Get one with storage drawers beneath, or use a large basket topped with a pretty serving tray instead. If you need a bench, choose one that includes under-seat storage for, say, some magazines.

Get high. Always consider vertical (32H J) space. Shelves high on walls can store books, photo albums or holiday decorations. Hanging hooks for pots and pans can give you back whole kitchen cabinets, and hooks on walls provide a spot for jackets, belts or keys. Shadow boxes on bathroom walls can house pretty perfume bottles, lotions and toiletries.

Sink a basket. Baskets can help organize every area of your home. You can toss hardware tools, all the kids’ toys or several pairs of sandals in large baskets. Stick small containers in kitchen drawers to keep pens, rubber bands, stickers and magnifying glass organized.

Top drawer. A set of drawers beneath stairs can make use of otherwise-wasted floor space especially for articles not, so often used. DIY Life offers instructions for three ways of adding under-stair storage. Get them at naturalhomeand garden.com/smart-storage.

1. What is the purpose of “double up”?

A．To make use of space on the wall.	B．To leave more space on the floor.
C．To keep small articles in drawers.	D．To generate more functions of furniture.

2. Which can be a good solution to storing rarely-used items?

A．Double up.

B．Get high.

C．Sink a basket.

D．Top drawer.

3. Where is the text probably from?

A．A magazine.	B．An advertisement.
C．A news report.	D．A tour guidebook.

10 . On January 22, a massive iceberg broke off from Antarctica’s Brunt Ice Shelf. Scientists say the iceberg was expected to break off and the event isn’t connected to climate change. But the size of the iceberg is hard to imagine.

The iceberg, known as “A81”, is extremely large. It covers an area of about 600 square miles (1,550 square kilometers).

Antarctica, the world’s fifth largest continent, is covered with a layer of ice and snow that’s roughly 1.2 miles (1.9 kilometers) thick. As snow falls, it piles up in the center of Antarctica in a huge layer of ice. Over time, the weight of this ice and snow creates slowly moving rivers of ice called glaciers, which push out towards the sea.

When the glaciers reach the sea, they slowly push out beyond the edge of the land, forming huge “ice shelves”, These are massive sections of ice that spread out over the sea, floating on the water below. Antarctica’s largest ice shelf, the Ross Ice Shelf, is about the size of France.

From time to time, the edges of the ice shelves break off. This is a natural process, called “calving”. Though calving events are a normal part of the ice shelf in Antarctica, one expert describes huge calving events like this one as “spectacular”,

Unlike an ice shelf, sea ice isn’t attached to Antarctica’s land. It’s a layer of ice that floats on the surface of the sea. The sea ice is there year-round. It grows larger in the cold winters, and smaller as it begins to melt in the summers.

It’s now summer in Antarctica, and scientists say the sea ice is disappearing “unusually” rapidly. Last year, with temperatures warmer than normal, Antarctica set a record for the lowest amount of sea ice ever recorded. Scientists say Antarctica’s sea ice could set a new record low again this year.

1. Why have a lot of icebergs broken off from Antarctica in recent years?

A．Because of climate change.

B．Because of human activities.

C．Because of their extremely big size.

D．Because of the amount of iceberg.

2. What does the underlined word “calving” probably refer to in paragraph 5?

A．Giving birth.	B．Breaking off.
C．Coming together.	D．Cutting down.

3. What is the scientists’ attitude towards the changes of sea ice in Antarctica?

A．Doubtful.

B．Objective.

C．Optimistic.

D．Worried.

4. What is probably the best title of this text?

A．Massive Iceberg Breaks from Antarctica

B．Scientists Say the Iceberg Was to Break Off

C．Antarctica’s Sea Ice Could Set a New Record

D．The Sea Ice Disappears“Unusually”Rapidly