1 . Edinburgh is famous for its many museums where you can learn its rich history.
Museum on the MoundLocated in the heart of Edinburgh’s city center, this appealing museum takes a fresh look at money — and much, much more. You will see coins and banknotes from over the ages, including the first Scottish banknote printed in 1727. There are also interesting interactive displays and you can even try your hand at opening a safe!
The Writers’ MuseumIt is housed in the beautiful Lady Stair’s House, a category A listed building. The collection celebrates the legacy (遗产) of Scotland’s literary contributions, with special emphasis given to Sir Walter Scott, Robert Louis Stevenson and Robert Burns. The museum is home to numerous paintings, books and manuscripts (手稿), and you can also see Burns’ writing desk and Scott’s chess set.
Our Dynamic EarthIt celebrates the beauty of the earth via technology. Interactive exhibits allow visitors to experience earthquakes, the ocean floor, ice ages and mountains by the use of computer software. Particularly interesting is the “tour” around the eleven Earthscapes. It is educational fun for the whole family and can serve as a good introduction to concepts surrounding the formation of the planet and the creatures we share the earth with.
National Museum of ScotlandThe diverse collections here include the history of Scotland with exhibitions of international interest. The natural world, science and technology, discoveries, art, and world cultures are all explored. There are interactive elements and activities to suit children of all ages, including science experiments and musical instruments.
1. Which might be the most attractive to finance majors?| A．Our Dynamic Earth. | B．Museum on the Mound. |
| C．The Writers’ Museum. | D．National Museum of Scotland. |
| A．They have an artistic atmosphere. | B．They have interactive exhibits. |
| C．They provide hands-on activities. | D．They showcase world cultures. |
| A．Play with your family. | B．Tour the world virtually. |
| C．Design computer software. | D．Learn about ancient creatures. |
2 . Great whites, the largest predatory(捕食性的)sharks in the world with the most fatal attacks on humans, are tough to imagine as newborn babies. That is partially because no one has seen one in the wild, it seems, until now.
Wildlife filmmaker Carlos Gauna and UC Riverside biology doctoral student Phillip Sternes were scanning the waters for sharks on July 9, 2023, near Santa Barbara on California’s central coast. That day, something exciting appeared on the viewfinder of Gauna’s drone camera. It was a shark pup(幼崽)unlike any they’d ever seen.
“We enlarged the images, put them in slow motion, and realized the white layer was being shed(脱落)from the body as it was swimming,” Sternes said. “I believe it was a newborn white shark shedding its embryonic layer.”
These observations are documented in a new paper in the Environmental Biology of Fishes journal. What Gauna and Sternes observed could help solve the longstanding mystery of great white birthing habits. This may well be the first evidence we have of a pup in the wild. Great whites, referred to only as white sharks by scientists, are gray on the top and white on the bottom. But this roughly 5-foot-long shark was pure white.
Though the paper authors acknowledge it is possible that the white layer the shark shed could have been a skin condition, the two believe what they saw was in fact a newborn great white. First, great white females give birth to live pups. A second reason is the presence of large, likely pregnant great whites in this location. Finally, this location off the coast of central California has long been proposed as a birthing location for great whites. Many scholars believe great whites are born farther out at sea.
Great whites are listed as an international endangered species. “Further research is needed to confirm these waters are indeed a great white breeding ground. But if it does, we would want lawmakers to step in and protect these waters to help white sharks keep thriving,” Sternes said.
1. What do we know about what appeared on Carlo s Gauna’s camera?| A．It is rare in the world. | B．It is tough to identify. |
| C．It is not open to the public. | D．It is unbelievable to scientists. |
| A．Pure gray. | B．White only on the bottom. |
| C．Gray on the top. | D．Pure white. |
| A．How great white females give birth to pups. |
| B．How the authors prove they saw a baby shark. |
| C．Why the authors believe they saw a newborn shark pup. |
| D．Why the authors think the white layer is a skin condition. |
| A．Helping white sharks to stop breeding. |
| B．Using laws to protect shark pups and their habitats. |
| C．Listing white sharks as endangered species. |
| D．Further study to confirm white sharks breeding waters. |
3 . The famous jianbing, a roadside pancake that can be grabbed on the go, is so well-known in China that most people would barely give it a second glance.
Brian Goldberg, founder of Mr. Bing, and Reuben Shorser, co-founder of the Jianbing Company found jianbing while studying Putonghua in Beijing.
“Jianbing is the most common, traditional breakfast to eat when I studied in China,” BrianGoldberg said.
To ensure the authentic taste of their jianbing, Mr. Bing enlisted the help of Chinese jianbing-makers to train their workers in New York.
| A．And that business model still seems to be working. |
| B．The city now has a choice of places offering the snack. |
| C．He recently opened one of the first jianbing stands in Manhattan. |
| D．In China, street sellers sell the snack for less than a dollar a piece. |
| E．However, in New York City, it’s becoming a new food trend. |
| F．After coming back to New York, they both started their own jianbing businesses. |
| G．Another up-and-coming business serving jianbing is The Flying Pig Food Truck. |
4 . Mobile phones and Personal Digital Assistants have varied precious metals and plastic. When we choose to recycle mobile phones and other such devices, it not only helps to conserve the valued resources within, but it also reduces greenhouse gas emissions that occur during manufacturing and processing.
The U. K. produces about 55 pounds of e-waste per person. Mary Creagh MP, Chair of the Environmental Audit, mentions that the household e-waste, which makes up a large number of cell phones, is piling up in a “tsunami of e-waste”.
Most Europeans change their cell phone every 18 to 24 months. The next time you have a new phone, don’t throw your old one anywhere or slide it into a drawer to gather dust. Either recycle it or if it still does its job well, consider donating it to a program that serves essential technology to low-income groups and individuals. There are also some recycling programs that work with community organizations and schools to collect unused cell phones as fundraising projects.
Apple accepts taking back the old iPhones to recycle and reuse them through its Renew pro-gram. In 2015, Apple recycled 90 million pounds of electronic waste. The composition thus recovered includes 23 million pounds of steel, 13 million pounds of plastic, and nearly 12 million pounds of glass. There were some high-value recovered materials too—2.9 million pounds of copper (铜), 6.6 pounds of silver, and 2.2 pounds of gold!
We live in threatening times when our planet is subject to risks that shouldn’t be ignored. With the decreasing metal reserves, the valuable metals inside cell phones are more precious than ever.
Let’s walk the talk and not just crawl when it comes to protecting our natural resources. Every human being on the planet has a responsibility to do their part in stopping e-waste by choosing to recycle mobile phones.
1. What can we know about e-waste from Mary Creagh MP’s statement?| A．It is alarming in amount. | B．It is kept in people's houses. |
| C．It is made up of cell phones. | D．It is mainly produced in the U. K. |
| A．Sell it to raise funds. | B．Put it in a secret place. |
| C．Keep it to continue its job. | D．Give it away for a worthy cause. |
| A．To warn us of the decrease in metal. |
| B．To remind us to care about our planet. |
| C．To show the benefits of recycling e-waste. |
| D．To inform us of the various components of e-device. |
| A．Recycle Mobile Phones: Let's Think |
| B．Recycle Mobile Phones: Let's Donate |
| C．Recycle Mobile Phones: Let's Be Careful |
| D．Recycle Mobile Phones: Let's Be Responsible |
5 . Iceberg Water, which is harvested from icebergs off the coast of Newfoundland Canada, is achieving new heights of popularity in North America.
Arthur, Von Wiesenberger who carries the title “Water Master”, is one of the few water critics in North America. As a boy, he spent time in the larger cities of Italy, France and Switzerland, where bottled water is consumed daily. Even then, he kept a water journal, noting the brands he liked best. “My dog could tell the difference between bottled and tap water.” He says.
But is plain tap water all that bad? Not at all. In fact. New York’s tap water for more than a century was called the champagne of tap water and until recently considered among the best in the world in terms of both taste and purity. Similarly, a magazine in England found that tap water from the Thames River tasted better than several leading brands of bottled water that were 400 times more expensive.
Nevertheless, soft-drink companies view bottled water as the next battle-ground for market share — despite the fact that over 25 percent of bottled water comes from tap water: Pepsi Co’s Aquafina and Coca-Cola’s Dasani are both purified tap water rather than spring water.
As diners thirst for leading brands, bottlers and restaurateurs are desperate for the profits. A restaurant’s typical mark-up (加价) on wine is 100 to 150 percent, whereas on bottled water it’s often 300 to 500 percent. But since water is much cheaper than wine, and many of the fancier brands aren’t available in stores, most diners don’t notice or care.
As a result, some restaurants are turning up the pressure to sell bottled water. According to an article in The Street Journal, some of the more shameless methods include placing attractive bottles on the table for a visual sell, listing brands on the menu without prices, and pouring bottled water without even asking the diners if they want it.
Regardless of how it’s sold, the popularity of bottled water taps into our desire for better health. our wish to appear cultivated, and even a longing for lost purity.
1. What is Arthur’s purpose in mentioning his dog in paragraph 2?| A．To indicate his own preference for bottled water. |
| B．To show the importance of bottled water to dogs. |
| C．To clarify the difference between bottled water and tap water. |
| D．To exhibit the large consumption of bottled water in big cities. |
| A．tap water from the Thames River |
| B．famous wines not sold in ordinary stores |
| C．PepsiCo’s Aquafina and Coca-Cola’s Dasani |
| D．pricey bottled water with very impressive names |
| A．Most diners find bottled water affordable. |
| B．Competition from the wine industry is fierce. |
| C．Bottled water can bring in huge profits. |
| D．Bottled water satisfies diners’ desire to be fashionable. |
| A．Tap water: why tastes better? | B．Bottled water: why so popular? |
| C．A new favorite of. restaurants; bottled water | D．A rising star: tap water |
6 . When Lucy was ten, she went to the theatre to see a play The House at Pooh Corner with her parents. Immediately, Lucy fell in love. But although she took part in school and college plays, she never thought it could lead to a career. Instead, she studied business at university, working for the Land Register of Scotland until she retired in 2012. Her newly free time reignited (重新，点燃) a decades-old spark. “I still wanted to do something with my brain so I went back to university to study theatre and performance,” says Lucy.
That year, she took part in a folk drama workshop and discovered mumming, an ancient masked form, in which male actors travel through villages, performing simple plays, often in exchange for food or shelter. “It’s a simpler story than conventional plays. It has one central conflict rather than slow character development. It’s rooted in history and involves more improvisation (即席创作) because the play is always tailored to a local audience,” says Lucy.
Interest grew and Lucy set up her group — the Meadows Mummers — as a charity, to attract wider support and donations. Its first performance was in 2015, at the Meadows festival in Edinburgh. Things snowballed from there. As well as touring central Scotland, the group went to the International Mumming Symposium and Unconvention in Gloucestershire in 2016, and learned more about the history of folk drama.
More recently, life circumstances have made performing difficult. “I’ve had health problems.” She says that, at times, she has considered giving up, but gets too much joy from doing it to stop. “We’ve just done one performance this year but I’m really excited that we’re getting ready for more festivals next year.”
The drive to keep going is inspired by an experience more than 30 years ago. “I was in a national park in Yugoslavia when I saw a woman staring attentively at this green river,” she says. “She told me she was going blind and wanted the river to be the last beautiful thing she ever saw.” Whenever doubt creeps in (不知不觉产生), Lucy recalls that encounter and feels forced to continue grasping life with both hands. “Just because you’ve reached 60, it doesn’t mean the drawbridge has been pulled up,” says Lucy.
1. Why did Lucy study theatre and performance after retirement?| A．To further her study. | B．To please her parents. |
| C．To recollect her interest. | D．To find a better job. |
| A．Its history. | B．Its characteristics. | C．Its importance. | D．Its prospect. |
| A．Stuck. | B．Collapsed. | C．Developed. | D．Froze. |
| A．We should try to live in the moment. | B．Roman was not built in a day. |
| C．Where there’s a will, there is a way. | D．Art is long, life is short. |
7 . Officials in San Francisco are asking the public to help choose a waste container among several models proposed for mass deployment (部署) in the California city. It is proving to be a costly project. One of the trash cans under consideration cost more than $20,000 and took four years to make.
San Francisco began its search for the perfect public trash can in 2018. Officials decided it was time to replace the more than 3,000 cans that have served the city’s streets for almost 20 years. The current trash cans open too widely, they say, permitting people to reach in. The cans also break a lot, requiring repairs. Sometimes people push them over or mark them with words and pictures. Sometimes, the cans are set on fire.
Last month, the city deployed 15 made-to-order trash cans and 11 off-the-shelf trash cans. Attached to each was a QR code from which people could answer questions about the individual can. The city government project also created interactive maps so people can find the different models to consider. The so-called Soft Square model trash can was priced at $20,900, making it the most expensive model on the streets. It is made of light steel. A press of a pedal opens the can for hands-free operation. It has dividers so waste can be separated from materials for recycling, like aluminum and glass.
City officials say, however, that the government will not pay more than three-thousand per can once a model is chosen for mass production. Beth Rubenstein is a spokeswoman for San Francisco’s Department of Publie Works. “We live in a beautiful city, and we want(the trash can)to be functional and cost-effective, but it needs to be beautiful,” she said.
But the good looks of the shiny new trash cans have not protected them from vandalism and other disrespect. Three weeks after being deployed, several are overflowing, or covered in orange and white graffiti or dirty from coffee spills. Diane Torkelson volunteers on a team that removes trash from the streets near her home. She recently visited three of the proposed trash cans. Two were already full when the group arrived to inspect them, she said. “If the trash can is full, it’s of no use, no matter how well it was designed,” she said.
1. Why did San Francisco decide to replace the existing trash cans?| A．They are damaged beyond repair. | B．They are too small to hold the city's waste. |
| C．They have outlived their useful life. | D．They are difficult to clean and maintain. |
| A．The urban can replacement project. | B．The trash can QR code campaign. |
| C．The city-wide mapping initiative. | D．The pedal-operated container program. |
| A．Destruction of property. | B．Theft. |
| C．Illegal invasion. | D．Tagging. |
| A．Positive. | B．Negative. |
| C．Neutral. | D．Indifferent. |
8 . Are you ready to get down to a thrilling journey through the pages of captivating stories and profound knowledge? Join us for an unforgettable reading event that promises to ignite your passion for literature and broaden your horizons!
Celebrating the Richness of American Literature
Immerse yourself in a treasure of literary masterpieces that showcase the cultural richness and diversity of American voices. From timeless classics to contemporary gems, there’s something for everyone to discover and enjoy.
Book Highlights:
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee: Delve into the timeless tale of justice, morality, and compassion set against the backdrop of the American South.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald: Experience the glitz, glamour, and disillusionment of the Jazz Age through the eyes of the enigmatic Jay Gatsby.
Beloved by Toni Morrison: Journey into the haunting world of slavery’s legacy and the enduring power of love and memory.
Meet the Authors: Signed Copies and Book Giveaways!
Don’t miss the opportunity to meet renowned authors and get your books personally signed! Plus, stand a chance to win exclusive giveaways and limited edition merchandise.
Event Details:
Date: Saturday, March 23rd
Time: 10:00 AM-5:00 PM
Location: Central Public Library, 123 Main Street, Anytown, USA
Who Should Attend?
This event is perfect for crazy readers, literature enthusiasts, and anyone eager to explore the diverse landscape of American literature. Whether you’re a high school student preparing for college or a seasoned bookworm, there’s something here for you!
Registration and More Information:
Visit our website at www.booklovers.com to register for this exciting event and learn more about the featured authors and book selections.
Why It Matters:
By celebrating the rich tapestry of American literature, we not only honor the voices of the past but also inspire future generations to embrace diversity, empathy, and the power of storytelling.
1. Which book is NOT mentioned as an emphasis of the event?| A．To Kill a Mockingbird. | B．The Great Gatsby. |
| C．Moby-Dick. | D．Beloved. |
| A．Sign their own names on books. | B．See and greet famous authors. |
| C．Participate in a reading competition. | D．Watch a movie screening. |
| A．A food magazine. | B．An astronaut’s journal. |
| C．A sci-fi handbook. | D．A reading website. |
9 . Who can imagine life today without an Automated Teller Machine (ATM)? They are available in considerable numbers throughout the world.
The first ATM was the brainchild of an enterprising Turkish-American inventor Luther George Simjian. When the idea of an automated banking machine struck him, he registered 20 patents before any bank agreed to give it a trial run. It is easy to assume that the inventor of such a popular machine was laughing all the way to the bank.
It was not until 1967, nearly 30 years later, that Barclays Bank, in a careful launch, rolled out a self-service machine in London, England, which proved successful.
Experts quickly determined that public acceptance of ATMs counted on convenience, simplicity, speed, security and trust.
Public acceptance of deposits (存款) by machine was significantly slower than customers’ usage of ATMs for withdrawals. In general, it seems that customers sometimes still prefer and trust an over-the-counter transaction (交易) for deposits.
| A．Location, in particular, was a key factor. |
| B．His cash machine, however, didn’t prove durable. |
| C．The device was relatively primitive, at least by today’s standards. |
| D．However, cash machines posed some interesting, unanswered questions. |
| E．An interesting factor was the issue of bio-statistics for customer identification. |
| F．Devices originally dismissed by the public are now recognized as essential institutions. |
| G．Soon afterwards, many other banks became admittedly champions of the cash machine. |
10 . It took an ill screech owl (鸣角鸮) to teach a scientist the value of up-close-and-personal study.
In his Harvad talk, Carl Safina, an ecologist and author of Alfie and Me: What Owls Know, What Humans Believe, recalled that the chick was found dying in his backyard. Safina took it in and planned to nurse it back to health and then perform release. But the owlet's flight feathers didn't grow properly. Safina delayed the release. Over those extended months, Safina got to know Alfie in ways that moved and changed him.
“An owl found me and then I was watching ‘an owl’,” he said. “It was no longer an owl after a while, it was ‘she’ because she had a history with me. This little owl, who was with me much longer than I thought she would be, became an individual to me by that history and all those interactions.”
The bond with Alfie strengthened to the point that, when she was finally released, she created a territory with Safina's home at its center. Safina was able to spend hours each day observing her in the woods as she learned to take care of herself in the wild, met two mates, and raised chicks of her own.
When he heard Alfie calling, Safina said, he'd call back and she'd land nearby. Their closeness allowed him to learn more things about screech owls. Field guides, for example, describe two known calls but he identified six, some of which you have to be quite close to hear. The relationship also opened a window for Safina onto personality differences between Alfie and her mates.
When pointed out that his approach to Alfie—including the act of naming her—ran counter to widespread scientific practice, Safina said he wasn't concerned about violating (违反) convention, particularly if something interesting like individual personality differences among owls could be learned.
The experience caused Safina to think more deeply about humankind's relationship with nature and the kind of personal connection he was able to feel with a wild individual. “What I learned from Alfie is that all sentient (有情感的) beings seek a feeling of well-being and freedom of movement,” Safina said. “That's a guide to what's right and what's wrong to me.”
1. What do we know about Alfie?| A．She developed a close bond with Safina. |
| B．She was a fictional character in Safina's book. |
| C．She intentionally landed in Safina's backyard. |
| D．She was dying because of the broken flight feathers. |
| A．Alfie chose to stay with Safina at his home. |
| B．They maintained a continous communication. |
| C．Alfie met mates and raised chicks by herself. |
| D．Safina kept his distance from her to prevent attachment. |
| A．Recording six different calls of the screech owl. |
| B．Identifying different types of owls by their calls. |
| C．Learning how to release owls back into the wild. |
| D．Understanding personality differences among owls. |
| A．He became more focused on exploring nature. |
| B．He initiated his commitment to wildlife conservation. |
| C．He developed a deep appreciation for the welfare of living creatures. |
| D．He decided to guide readers to distinguish between right and wrong. |
