1 . How to Survive High School

It may feel impossible to survive even a day of high school, let alone three years. However, there are a lot of things you can do to make your high school experience one of the best times of your life.

    1     During high school, you may feel under pressure to fit in. You need to try your best to fight the negative feelings and learn to have a change. High school actually gives you an opportunity to discover a real YOU and grow as a person, but it's important that any change should come from within.

Make friends with a variety of people. Try to break out of your comfort zone by starting a conversation with people, especially strangers.     2     Over time, you'll develop a friend group filled with unique individuals that like you for who you are and add a lot of value to your life. But do remember — Stay away from the ones who hold negative attitudes towards everything.

Spare regular time for exercise.     3     However, even if you're not involved in a sport, try to exercise every day. Though you may feel like your study schedule is jam-packed, remember that staying fit will help improve your school performance.

Don't avoid interacting with your teachers. You don't have to be a teacher's pet, though.     4     If possible, spend a few minutes before or after class talking with your teachers about things related to their subject.

With these tips to survive high school, you will surely be proud of graduating as an all-round approaching adult.

A．Let yourself be who you really are.

B．Learn to change and impress your friends.

C．Everybody has something to contribute to your growth as a person.

D．Pressure from friends is one factor that turns teenagers into risk-takers.

E．Try your best to be kind and friendly to everybody you take a class from.

F．Joining a school sports team is also a great way to meet like-minded people.

2 . NOTICE FOR ALL STAFF (员工)

We have been finding that the cockroaches (蟑螂) and fruit flies are everywhere in our lunch room. We will be closing the room down from Friday, June 23until Friday, June 30 in order to have it killed with some chemicals. Please remove all personal items from the room, as anything left on the night of Thursday, June 22, will be thrown out.

This will not solve the whole situation completely. The staff who use the room must also play a key part after the measure is taken, being attentive not to leave any food out. Also, we ask that you wash any dishes you use immediately, and that you check the fridge so that no moldy (发霉的) food stays in there.

Together, we can make it a place that we enjoy spending time in. Questions? Please contact Susie Repoliski.

1. The above text is aimed at.

A．providing a location for an event	B．conducting a survey on the stuff's interest
C．inviting suggestions and comments	D．giving information and asking for cooperation

2. What do the staff need to do before the killing measure?

A．Power off the fridge in the room.	B．Buy some special chemicals.
C．Take their belongings out of the room.	D．Throw out the dishes in the room.

3. To make sure the problem doesn't return, the staff should________.

A．clean their plates right away	B．not use the room to eat in
C．participate in the killing activity	D．not leave food in the fridge

5 . Camera flashes cut across the softly lighted downtown Los Angeles restaurant, as the crowd at Ludo Bites jostles (推挤) for the photo-of the Columbian River king salmon duck. “This is the game we all now play, ” chef and owner Ludo Lefebvre said. “We cook, we smile-and the people, they don’t eat. They get their cameras.”

Not so long ago, diners, hungry for special meals, would pull out a point-and-shoot at a restaurant for a quick picture of sliced birthday cake.

No more. Taking a cue from Twitter and Facebook cultures, serious foodies (美食家) and casual consumers alike are using digital technology to document each bite, then sharing the pictures online.

Flickr, the photo-sharing website, has seen the number of pictures tagged as “food” jump from about half a million in 2008 to more than 6 million today, according to company officials. In the group “I Ate This” on Flickr’s site, nearly 20,000 people have uploaded more than 307,000 images of their latest meals.

Camera manufacturers are joining the trend, selling cameras that offer “food” settings, which adjust to enhance colors and textures (质地) on close-ups.

“I am sharing my experiences with my friends,” said Hong Pham, 33, a Los Angeles radiologist who runs the food blog Ravenous Couple. “Why shouldn’t I share what inspires me?”

But what is documentary fun for people such as Pham is souring the gastronomic (烹饪的) set.

Managers regularly face diners demanding to be moved away from camera flashes and sounds. Waiters find themselves tongue-tied as customers take out voice recorders to capture a recitation of each course. Some chefs have had enough.

Chef Grant Achatz allows only no-flash photography in his restaurant. He, like many other chefs, finds himself torn between being flattered by the public’s enthusiasm and annoyed with the effect the picture-taking is having on the restaurant’s operation.

Some consumers now believe food should be consumed visually as well as physically. “What happened to the enjoyment of just eating the food?” said Andrew Knowlton, the restaurant editor for Bon Appetite magazine. “People are losing sight of why you go out.”

1. Who is the most supportive of taking pictures of food in restaurants?

A．Grant Achatz.	B．Andrew Knowlton.
C．Hong Pham.	D．Ludo Lefebvre.

2. People tend to take pictures in restaurants because ______.

A．delicately-made dishes are visually inviting

B．they will share with others their dining experience

C．cameras can be specially set for food photography

D．they can profit by selling pictures to famous websites

3. What can we infer from the passage?

A．More pictures will be uploaded at websites like Twitter and Facebook.

B．Consumers used to take pictures in restaurants only for their birthdays.

C．Rules should be set out that there is no food photography in restaurants.

D．Chefs are likely to accept picture-taking in their restaurants to a limited extent.

4. The passage is most probably a ______.

A．news story	B．feature article
C．commercial advertisement	D．survey report

7 . Some things we cannot copy where I live. We will never celebrate Christmas inside a picture postcard. We have no winter wonderland, though once, inspired by a snowfall seen on the black-and-white television, I did collect some ice from the inside of the freezer to throw at my brother. By the time I got to him, all I had was a handful of rain.

What we do have is electricity. As long as the Tennessee Valley Authority can light up the southern night with strands of color, shining from every house and mobile home, they can have their white Christmas. I have seen lights wrapped around mailbox posts. In the country, you need a whole lot of extension cord (电缆) to electrify a mailbox.

I have seen them strung across the Peterbilt trucks. My mother never takes down her lights, strung on a cedar beam (雪松木梁) in the living room, though she does unplug them. The rich folks have switched to white lights, a lot of them, to be elegant. But it will always be lights of color, shining through a night which smells of woodsmoke, that mean Christmas to me.

I find it especially hard not to live in the past at this time of year, when I would do anything to see the world like a child again. It is why I fill the refrigerator every December with chocolate-covered cherries and watch, for the hundredth time, those 50-year-old Christmas specials about Santa Claus.

It is important that some things stay the same — that, at some point this season, someone will say, “We’re going to look at Christmas lights. Do you want to come?”

I go sometimes and sometimes just say no. It is enough to know someone is going. I have a fine memory of the lights; I do not want it to grow less than it was by putting on it new lights bought at Walmart.

1. What is the primary feature that the author values about Christmas in their location?

A．Snow-covered landscapes.	B．Traditional winter wonderland scenes.
C．Colorful Christmas lights.	D．Cedar beams in living rooms.

2. By saying “What we do have is electricity.”, the author means electricity can _______.

A．bring convenience to his life	B．create a Christmas atmosphere
C．generate warmth in harsh winter	D．save cord to power a mailbox

3. How do the rich folks differ from others in terms of Christmas lights?

A．They prefer white lights for elegance.	B．They use fewer lights for simplicity.
C．They avoid using extension cords.	D．They rely on woodsmoke for lighting.

4. Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?

A．He takes delight in bidding farewell to the past.

B．He gets fed up with looking at Christmas lights.

C．He dislikes the color options available at Walmart.

D．He feels relieved that Christmas lights tradition is preserved.

8 . Road traffic accidents are caused by a number of factors which can be grouped into three categories: human factors, vehicle factors and road environment factors. Table 1 explains each factor and gives examples.

Table 1: Factors involved in road traffic accidents

Factor	Description	Example
Human	Things people do or don’t do	Speeding, not obeying traffic rules, using phone while driving
Vehicle	Things that are wrong with the vehicle	?
Road environment	Things outside the vehicle that affect driving	Condition of road, time of day, weather conditions, road repairs

One factor alone or several factors together can cause an accident. However, human actions are by far the greatest causes of car accidents. Diagram 1 shows that human factors are involved in 95% of all car accidents. Although other factors are also involved in 28% of these accidents, in 67% of cases, human factors alone are the cause of the accident.

Although behavior such as not paying attention to road, swerving to avoid an animal and eating while driving causes accidents, most road deaths are caused by speeding, driving after drinking alcohol, driving when tried and not wearing seat belts. As shown in Diagram 2, speeding is involved in more deaths than any other behavior in both city (50%) and country accidents (32%). Drivers and / or passengers not wearing seat belts is the second most common cause of road deaths.

1. Which of the following is best suited in the blank in table 1?

A．Vehicles of this type to be recalled at once.

B．Weak brakes, no seat belts in cars, old tyres.

C．250,000 people killed in car accidents in 2023.

D．Regular car maintenance, professional service.

2. What can be concluded from diagram 2?

A．Speeding kills more drivers in cities than in countries.

B．Two or more factors are combined to cause an accident.

C．Country drivers are more likely to get tired when driving.

D．Drunk driving cause more deaths than not wearing seat belts.

3. The passage is just one section of a larger report. What do you think the title of the larger report is?

A．The dangers of driving a car.	B．The effects of alcohol on driving.
C．Human factors in road traffic accidents.	D．How to prevent deaths on our roads.

9 . DON’T FORGET

POSTCODE YOUR PROPERTY

In only 9% of cases where something has been stolen is property returned.

Marked property can stop burglars because it’s harder for a thief to sell and can help the police to return it if found.

Mark items with some understandable information-showing your postcode and the number of your house or flat or the first two letters of its name-using a permanent etching tool or an ultraviolent marker pen. Only use UV marking when other methods would reduce the value of the object — because the mark can fade.

1. The first half of the postcode indicates your town and district, such as: NT 42 9.
2. The last 2 letters pinpoint one strect or part of a street, such as: NT 42 9WA
3. Mark your valuables using the postcode followed by your house number such as NT 42 9WA7

Take pictures of all valuable items like jewellery and silverware and write down the serial numbers of your TV, video, hi-fi, home computer and camera equipment, to help the police identify them should they be recovered. If you have many valuable items, fit a safe.

Ask your local police station for postcode property stickers to display in the front and back windows of your house.

BE A GOOD NEIGHBOUR
If you see anyone acting strangely in your neighborhood, call the police. There are now over 130,000 Neighborhood Watch Schemes in this country — why not join one? Anyone can start up a Watch — call your police for details.
IF YOU ARE BURGLED

A secure home will reduce the chance of you getting burgled. But, if you get home and notice is of a break-in:

●Don’t go in or call out — the intruder could still be inside Go to a neighbors’ house to call the police CRIME PREVENTION ADVICE

All police forces have offices trained in crime prevention-contact your local station for advice. Some forces can arrange surveys of your home or workplace and recommend security improvements. This is a popular service — if there’s a waiting list, you may be sent an information pack so that you can do your own survey.

1. The passage talks mainly about         .

A．how to beat the burglar

B．how to keep your valuables safe

C．how to live happily in a neighborhood

D．how to deal with police forces properly

2. Mary has marked her camera with “NJ 25 7PS 9” according to the suggestion given by the passage. What does the last number “9”refer to?

A．Part of a street name.	B．Her house number.
C．Postcode of acity.	D．Her car plate number.

3. Which of the following is a suggestion given in the passage?

A．Attach “postcode property” stickers to your valuables.

B．Keep silent if you sense your house has been broken into.

C．Tell your neighbor about anyone who behave strangely.

D．Design a survey to find out if your home needs improving.

10 .

Eyes in the sky Several space telescopes planned for Launch after the James Webb Space Telescope（JWST）promise to deliver incredible science. Here are three of the most important.
Planetary Transits and Oscillations of stars （PLATO） Expected launch date: 2026 This European Space Agency project will search a million stars looking for blips in their light that indicate the presence of an orbiting planet. Similar kinds of previous telescopes have only been able to see planets that are close to their stars and so pass in front of them frequently. Plato will linger on each star for longer and so has the chance to detect planets that are more distant from their star, with a longer orbital period. In particular, the mission is focused on trying to spot signs of rocky exoplanets in the habitable zone, the narrow region of a star system in which temperatures are right for liquid water. It also has the tools to characterize such worlds, providing clues to how Earth-like they may be.	Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope Expected launch date: 2025 Like the James Webb Space Telescope, the Roman Space Telescope, named after the first female executive at NASA, will observe mainly infrared radiation. But while the JWST focuses on detail, Roman is going for the big picture. The telescope has a panoramic（全景的）field of view more than 100 times greater than the JWST’s. During its first five years, Roman will image more than 50 times as much sky as the Hubble Space Telescope covered in its first 30 years. That will allow it to make the first wide-field infrared maps of the sky. It is hoped this will help solve mysteries like the true identity of dark matter and dark energy. Astronomers can see the influence of these substances on the universe but have not been able to explain what they are.	Laser Interferometer Space Antenna（LISA） Expected launch date: 2034 We first detected gravitational waves, ripples in the fabric of space, in 2015. So far, we have seen waves from black hole and neutron star collisions（碰撞）. LISA, a mission led by the European Space Agency, will be a much larger gravitational wave detector than existing ground-based ones. It will consist of three spacecraft positioned 2.5 million kilometres apart in a triangular formation. This space detector will be sensitive to gravitational waves with extremely low frequencies. Among other things, it could allow us to spot planets in other galaxies just from the subtle way in which they influence the gravitational waves produced by their parent stars. Until now, all confirmed discoveries of exoplanets have been in our own Milky Way galaxy.

1. What can we know about PLATO?

A．It is designed to detect gravitational waves in the fabric of space.

B．It is aimed to look for planets that are closely orbiting their stars.

C．It is the first of its kind to be able to see blips in the stars’ light.

D．It observes each star for longer so as to detect more distant planets.

2. What are the differences between the Roman Space Telescope and the James Webb Space Telescope?

A．The Roman Space Telescope can observe infrared radiation while the JWST cannot.

B．The Roman Space Telescope has a larger field of view compared to the JWST.

C．The James Webb Space Telescope make the first wide-field infrared maps of the sky.

D．The James Webb Space Telescope can image more than 50 times as much sky as the Roman.

3. What can we learn from the passage?

A．All of the three space telescopes are being led by the European Space Agency.

B．With the help of LISA, we might be able to find planets outside of the Milky Way galaxy.

C．Getting wide-field infrared maps of the sky, scientists are sure to spot what dark matter and dark energy are.

D．Scientists have already confirmed the clues to the existence of all the exoplanets with the aid of gravitational waves.