1 . Four Famous Festivals in the World

Holi Festival in India

The ancient Hindu festival of Holi is held in late February and early March. This colorful act symbolizes the victory of good over evil (邪恶) each year. It begins with a bonfire (篝火) , the flame of which burns away evil, and after that, the participants are in for some real fun. Crowds of people sprinkle (酒) each other with colored powder and organic paints as a sign of goodness and good luck.

Venice Carnival in Italy

The most romantic city in Italy fills with bright colors and sounds of music every year at the end of February. Residents and guests of Venice dress up in splendid costumes in the style of the Middle Ages and cover their faces with masks. The carnival ends with the awarding of the competitors who have showed the most original and colorful costumes.

Tomorrowland in Belgium

The biggest electronic music festival in the world is held at the end of July in the Belgian city of Boom. The famous three-day event annually gathers more than 300 thousand guests. The main stages are set up in a large park with artificial ponds and beautiful green areas. The area will be equipped in advance with food courts, grills, and all the necessary equipment.

Burning Man in the USA

Many cultural events pale in comparison to the legendary Burning Man, held in Nevada from the last Monday in August to the first Monday in September. The unique atmosphere is created not only by the organizers and the desert where the festival takes place but also by the participants themselves.

       They build a tent city with homemade art objects and the necessary equipment. The highlight of the festival is the burning of a huge wooden statue of a man and the main temple.
1. Which festival is held in late February and early March?

A．Holi Festival.	B．Venice Carnival.
C．Tomorrowland.	D．Burning Man.

2. What does Venice Carnival in Italy end with?

A．A bonfire.	B．A food feast.
C．The awarding of the competitors.	D．The burning of a huge wooden man.

3. Where is Burning Man held?

A．Near a pond.	B．In a desert.
C．In a large park.	D．Along the city street.

2 . Many scientists and marine biologists are quite worried about the state of coral reefs around the globe. They have been experiencing “bleaching” (白化) which is a process that involves the slow starvation and eventual death of coral reefs.     1     This has huge effects on the organisms that rely on the coral reefs in the ocean and us humans.

    2     In the Turks and Caicos Islands, it has been reported that the coral reefs have been relatively untouched by the bleaching events. Even more surprising is the news that even the ones affected have recovered very well.

The problem is caused by many reasons. Pollution, introduced species, over-fishing, and over-tourism have all contributed to the issue.     3     Since the 1970’s, about 80% of the coral reefs in the Caribbean have died out.

An organization has taken steps to help out. They asked divers to observe over 100 reef sites off the South Caicos Island and set up a database. After scanning the data, they found surprising results.     4     But other corals did suffer bleaching. But they quickly rebounded to normal within months of the irregularly high thermal stress (热应力).

Two years later, when the same corals were observed, they were even more colored.     5     There were theories that Hurricanes Irma and Maria helped, as they resulted in much less tourism and thus decreased damage to the surrounding ecosystems.

Experts are continuing to observe the phenomenon to see if there is anything going on that can help save other reefs.

A．It meant their health improved.

B．So they are dying out at alarming rates.

C．Many coral reefs can survive bleaching.

D．Some corals proved no significant bleaching.

E．The worst of bleaching events took place in 2017.

F．But the coral reefs are doing surprisingly well in one region.

G．The warming temperatures of the oceans have also caused great harm.

3 . China’s eight-day Spring Festival holiday for the Year of the Dragon witnessed a booming consumer market, highlighting the vitality (活力) and strength of the Chinese economy.

Data from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism shows that 474 million domestic tourism trips were made during the Spring Festival holiday, marking a 34.3 percent increase from the same period last year and an increase of 19 percent compared to the pre-pandemic level in 2019. Domestic tourists spent about 632.69billion yuan (about $ 89.07 billion)in total, up 7.7 percent from the same period in 2019.

The online transactions (交易) also saw a powerful increase. NetsUnion Clearing Corporation, a Chinese online payment clearing house, and card payment giant China UnionPay processed about 2.63 billion online transactions or around 1.25 trillion yuan in value per day from Feb. 9 to 17. The figures represent an increase of 18.6 percent and 8.0 percent respectively compared to the previous Spring Festival holiday.

Different from the Western dragon, the Chinese dragon symbolizes good luck and prosperity in traditional Chinese culture. Consumption during the festival is encouraging and illustrative of the increasingly important role that consumption plays in the country’s economic growth. This positive trend marks a solid start for China as it begins the newyear.

China’s super-large market, ongoing urbanization and evolving consumption structure provide broad space for consumption growth. And such huge potential will continuously translate into real consumption as the country expands domestic demand, through developing digital, green and health promotion consumption and boosting spending on big-ticket item s such as new energy vehicles and electronic products, among other moves.

Given the sustained economic recovery and overall improvement of the employment landscape, residents’ income is expected to continue growing steadily, thereby releasing their purchasing power. The consumption potential of the Chinese market will be further enhanced this year, boosting the momentum of China’s economic recovery.

1. What is the purpose of presenting the figures in Paragraph 2 and 3?

A．To highlight the big increase in tourism.

B．To boom the large consumer market in China.

C．To prove the vitality of the Chinese economy.

D．To show online payment is very common in China.

2. What can we infer from the passage?

A．Dragons may stand for misfortune in the west.

B．The Year of the Dragon in the favorite year in China.

C．There must be good luck in the Year of the Dragon in China.

D．People in the west will become more wealthy in the Year of the Dragon.

3. How can China transform the potential market into real consumption according to the passage?

A．By building larger market.

B．By expanding native demand.

C．By evolving consumption structure.

D．By inventing more electronic products.

4. What is the author’s attitude towards the Chinese economy?

A．Tolerant.

B．Indifferent.

C．Critical.

D．Optimistic.

4 . A Hempstead woman who is visually impaired(损害) hosted a fashion show in Valley Stream, featuring 16 models with similar conditions in an event designed to bring awareness to the disabled.

Annalee Smith, 41, who is diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa(色素性视网膜炎), which can result in loss of eyesight, says the show will raise money for the Foundation Fighting Blindness while showing, “regardless of our disability, we can still threw light on every step that we take through fashion”. Putting together the event has been her way of trying to change the fashion world.

Originally from Barbados, Smith moved with her family to New York City at age 12 and went through the Hempstead school district. While at Long Island University in Brooklyn, Smith originally majored in nursing but changed to occupational therapy(职业疗法) as her eyes got worse. A passion for fashion and modeling always remained in her. She applied to different model agencies and other opportunities but didn’t hear back except for one.

A clothes company LaTeffaney Scott holds a model competition, now in its 10th year, in which the winner is the face of the company for the year. Smith won last year. “No one expects a visually impaired young lady to take on a runway,” said Scott. “She did some reflection and she came up with this idea of doing the fashion show.”

Kenya Brown, who developed glaucoma(青光眼) shortly after birth, said after finding out about the event via social media she wanted to be a part of the message. “I think the general public does not understand that people that live with disabilities have to actively work to be part of society. Those of us that are able to motivate ourselves enough to do productive things, or function well in society should be celebrated,” said Brown, who will be one of the models at the fashion show.

1. Why did Annalee Smith hold the fashion show?

A．To make a big fortune.	B．To make herself accepted as a model.
C．To realize her dream in her childhood.	D．To help people understand those with disabilities.

2. What made Annalee become a model?

A．Her eye disease.	B．Her family’s support.
C．Her major in the college.	D．Her love for fashion and modeling.

3. Which of the following words can best describe Annalee Smith?

A．Considerate and stubborn.	B．Confident and generous.
C．Determined and ambitious.	D．Miserable and respectable.

4. What can we know from Brown’s words in the last paragraph?

A．People with disabilities are working passively.

B．The disabled helpful to society should be praised.

C．All the people with disabilities should be respected.

D．The disabled have the potential to change themselves.

5 . Senior IT Auditor(审计员) Wanted

IAC is recruiting(招聘) auditors. You will be responsible for completing assigned audits from start to finish. You will work as part of a small team identifying IT risks within the business. The range of the work is global, including the UK business and group audits. You will be responsible for managing key relationships, including working closely with senior leadership across the world.

A successful candidate may hold a professional qualification, although this is not compulsorily required. You should have a good capability in relationship management—it is essential that you are an enthusiastic and confident team player.

This is an amazing opportunity to join a fun and energetic media organization with a fantastic culture. We are devoted to being an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment regardless of age, race, color, religion, gender, national origin, physical condition.

When applying for this role, you must agree with our use of your data for the purpose of providing recruitment services. If you wish to contact us in regard to your data, please email us via our profile page by clicking on the IAC logo. Additionally, applying for any job listed on CareersinRisk.com, you should agree to our terms and privacy policies. You should never be required to provide bank account details. If you are, please email us.

Interested? Sign up to apply quickly. Remember to send your most updated resume as soon as possible. Your offer will be sent to you via email by our staff and we look forward to having you, full of courage to accept the challenge, join the family of IAC.

1. Which of the following is the work of the position?

A．Building small teams.	B．Mastering different languages.
C．Cooperating well with others.	D．Assigning work to other auditors.

2. What is a must for the candidates?

A．A professional qualification.	B．Enthusiasm and confidence.
C．Having British nationality.	D．Being healthy and young.

3. How can the candidates contact the company about their own information?

A．By email.	B．By telephone.
C．By clicking CareersinRisk.com.	D．By visiting the company.

6 . Coffee is one of the world’s favorite drinks that regular drinkers in the US consume more than three times a day. But the coffee bean itself is under threat from climate change. Now a Finnish research group has planted beans in the lab to offer the world sustainable coffee.

The result is a drink that smells and tastes almost the same as the conventional coffee. “It’s not perfect,” admitted lead researcher Heiko Rischer, “because good coffee making is an art, but this could be the start of something beautiful. I estimate we are only four years away from ramping up production and having regulatory (监管的) approval from the FDA in place.

Scientists say the issues with coffee as a commercial crop are widely known. However, environmental decline and climate change are real threats to the practicability of the coffee industry. Deforestation (毁林) alongside water pollution and biodiversity loss are some of the worst outcomes. Rising temperatures, drought and flood, or pests, can destroy harvests.

Although growing coffee in bioreactors (生物反应器) takes a lot of energy, chemicals are not needed at all, and any water employed in the process can be reused. Therefore, lab-grow n coffee could actually do a huge favor for the planet. We have now proved that lab-grown coffee can be a reality, said Rischer. “The true impact of this scientific work will happen through companies that are willing to rethink food production. Eventually, all efforts should result in more sustainable and health y food for the benefit of the consumers and the planet.”

Coffee is one of the growing list of commercial crops that has problems caused by climate change. The Sustainable Coffee Challenge thinks coffee consumption could be three times as much by 2050, so society will need to produce the drink in much more efficient ways. Solving some of its toughest problems is a priority, but with science on our side, at least we have better alternatives.

1. What does the underlined phrase “ramping up” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?

A．Increasing.

B．Delaying.

C．Reducing.

D．Relieving.

2. What is Paragraph 3 mainly about?

A．The popularity of coffee.

B．The threats to coffee planting.

C．The necessity of planting lab-grown coffee.

D．The disadvantages of planting lab-grown coffee.

3. What can we know about the lab-grown coffee from the text?

A．It has gained FDA’s approval.

B．It tastes better than the conventional coffee.

C．It will contribute a lot to the consumers and the planet.

D．It appeals to the companies that emphasize food production.

4. Which of the following is the main idea of the passage?

A．Lab-grown coffee has become a reality.

B．Coffee bean production is under threat.

C．Drinking coffee is becoming a global trend.

D．Problems of coffee growing will be solved.

7 . Friendships are an important aspect of life, but sometimes making friends can seem hard.

Perhaps there is a new person in your school who seems cool, and you'd like to get to know him. Here are some ways for you to break the ice.

Smile.

When you see them, greet them with a kind smile.     1     You may have never smiled at or even made eye contact with them before, so they may have no idea that you want to be friends with them. Smiling will plant a seed in their mind that you have some level of interest.

Greet them with a hello.

If you see them in the mornings or walk past them on your way to class, greet them with “hello” This will likely begin to spark an interest in them to know more about you and to talk to you.     2    

Ask a favour.

This is another way to guarantee (确保) that you are noticed and a way to start building a friendship with them. For example, you might ask them something like, “    3    ” if they are standing by the supplies desk in the classroom.

Ask a question.

Another great way to begin having small conversations is to ask small, simple questions. They will appreciate the opportunity to be able to help you if you ask questions like “     4    ” If you're lucky, they may begin to rely on you when they have questions as well.

    5    

If you have common friends with this person, a great way to know him is to have your friends introduce you to him. This is perhaps the easiest and most effective way to break the ice.

A．Can you take a pencil for me?

B．Always listen more than you speak.

C．Smiles indicate friendliness and warmth.

D．Ask your common friends to introduce you.

E．This will also guarantee that they notice you.

F．The act of smiling can also affect your feeling.

G．What chapter did the teacher say we should turn to?

8 . As you're packing up your Christmas decorations, you might be wondering which type of tree is actually better for the environment; a real one or a synthetic (合成的) one made out of plastic? While the answer isn't as simple as you might think, one has slight advantages over the other.

Obviously, trees are good for the environment as they capture CO₂, and store it inside of their branches, needles, and also roots. Christmas trees are the same. Christmas tree farming could actually have environmental benefits that you might not have thought of. It takes 10 years for Christmas trees to grow up to 6 feet. Over this decade, the trees house animals and also absorb CO from the atmosphere.

However, the way Christmas trees are planted can be difficult, especially when pesticides are used a lot and taking into consideration the fact that natural ecosystems (生态系统) are cleared out in order to make room for Christmas tree plantations.

If you prefer to have a real tree, you'd better find a local source in order to avoid shipping, which causes more carbon emissions (排放) . It's also really important to deal with them properly. If trees end up in landfills, they will have a negative environmental impact. The best way to deal with them is to cut them up and recycle them as wood chippings (木屑) .

So what about those synthetic trees? Of course, they can be used again and again year after year, but their major disadvantage is that they are typically made of PVC, which happens to be one of the most damaging plastics. It can also produce poisonous pollution, end up in animals' bodies and even affect all up and down the food chain. It is also quite difficult to recycle.

So who's the winner? It seems that getting a real tree is surprisingly the better deal for the environment. Meanwhile, make sure you deal with it properly once the holiday season is over.

1. What can we know about real Christmas trees from the text?

A．They are very difficult to find.	B．They can be recycled year after year.
C．They are damaged by too many pests	D．They have more positive environmental impacts.

2. What should you do if you prefer to have a real tree?

A．Pack it up when shipping.	B．Deal with it correctly.
C．Make it end up in the landfills.	D．Find a reliable source to get one.

3. What's the author's attitude to synthetic trees?

A．Favorable.

B．Satisfied.

C．Objective.

D．Sensitive.

4. Why does the author write this text?

A．To give ways of Christmas trees planting.

B．To tell how to protect natural ecosystems.

C．To offer suggestions on how to decorate Christmas trees.

D．To show which Christmas tree is more environmentally-friendly.

10 . Engineering researchers at the Ohio State University found that walking at varying speeds can burn more calories (卡路里) compared to maintaining the same speed. The act of changing speeds burns energy, and the researchers found that up to eight percent of the energy we use during walks could be due to the energy necessary to start and stop walking.

“Walking at any speed costs some energy, but when you’re changing the speed, you’re pressing the gas pedal (踏板) , Nidhi Seethapathi, first author of the study and doctoral fellow in mechanical engineering, said in a statement. Changing the kinetic (运动的) energy of the person requires more work from the legs and that process certainly burns more energy. Researchers measured the cost of changing walking speeds by having study participants change their walking space on a treadmill (跑步机) while its speed remained the same. Participants changed between speeding up to move to the front of the treadmill, and slowing down to move to the back of the treadmill.

“Our study suggests that to burn more calories you should change your walking speed fast and often,” Seethapathi said. “Increasing your speed for one minute every five minutes would surely increase your calorie burn. But this is mainly because you’re walking faster during that one-minute. The kind of speed changes we are talking about in the paper are more frequent — every few seconds rather than every few minutes.”

If you’re walking to lose weight and want to burn more calories as the study suggests, constantly (连续地) stop and start walking again. For example, walk for three seconds, stop, walk for three seconds, stop, and so on, so you’re consuming energy every time you change speeds. Doing things you wouldn’t normally do on your walk, such as walking in a curve (曲线) instead of a straight line, walking with weights on your legs, or swinging your arms like a crazy person can also help you burn more calories.

1. How can you walk to lose more weight?

A．By both walking and running.	B．By walking at the same speed.
C．By following the doctor’s advice.	D．By changing your walking speed.

2. Why does Nidhi Seethapathi mention the gas pedal?

A．To stress the way to speed up.	B．To share her driving experience.
C．To help make her opinion clear.	D．To remind people to drive slowly.

3. What else do researchers suggest doing?

A．Walking in an unnatural way.

B．Running regularly every day in the morning.

C．Changing your goals once you have got one.

D．Weighing to see how many pounds you melt.

4. Which of the following is the best title of the passage?

A．The Faster, the Thinner	B．A Simple Trick Helps to Burn More Calories
C．How to Lose More Weight	D．Walking at the Same Speed Makes No Sense