1 . The young lead new trends in consumption market
With the post-1990 generation becoming a vibrant (充满活力的) force in society and the post-2000 generation gradually entering the workforce, the purchasing power of the new generation of consumers has been steadily growing.
In terms of consumption pattern, online shopping has become the top choice for young people. Young people not only comprise a comparatively high percentage of internet users but also tend to shop online.
And yet a trend toward rational consumption has been growing rapidly over the past few years.
When it comes to brand cognition, young consumers seem to favor domestic products. Thanks to information online, young consumers no longer blindly pursue foreign brands and instead prefer local brands, highlighting their confidence in Chinese-made products. From Li-Ning, Anta to Warrior shoes, domestic brands in various fields are being warmly welcomed by young consumers.
| A．Young consumers no longer blindly chase trendy or luxury items. |
| B．They excel in using mobile devices and social media for getting information. |
| C．Their tendency to pay much leads to the development of products and services. |
| D．Their changing behaviors in consumption have promoted high-quality products. |
| E．In fact, young people are slowly becoming the main force in the consumer market. |
| F．They are willing to pay for products with unique features and innovative services. |
2 . There is no known date for when the ancient Greeks or Romans first shared their stories about gods, monsters and heroes. But for the modern myth known as Star Wars, that date is May 25,1977, when the original movie opened in theaters and kicked off a global phenomenon that spanned films, TV shows, novels, comic books, toys, lunchboxes, bed sheets and more. Even today, Star Wars remains an enduring touchstone (检验标准) of pop culture. Critically praised or not, the movies continue to be a big hit.
And just as we know when the mythology began, we also know who invented it: writer-director George Lucas. His inspiration, he told TIME in 1977, was “all the books and films and comics that I liked when I was a child… My main reason for making it was to give young people an honest, wholesome fantasy life, the kind my generation had.”
No one could predict just how much Lucas’ creation would catch on — not even Lucas himself or the film’s star Mark Hamill, who played young hero Luke Skywalker. “I had no idea it would be as successful as it was,” Hamill said in 2017, marking the original film’s 40th anniversary. “I just thought I would be a fan of this even if I weren’t involved.”
Before Lucas created Star Wars, he had an even more ambitious goal — to blow up the ways of Old Hollywood. And he did. Star Wars introduced a new era of moviemaking, one that saw the development of amazing special effects and the tools to achieve them. After this legend, filmmakers felt free to bring their wildest ideas to life in totally realistic ways that left audiences thrilled.
Why did Star Wars become such a powerful force? Hamill credits its ability to satisfy the human need for escapism. “People value the idea of going away to some happy place,” he said, “whether it’s Oz or Narnia or Middle Earth or Hogwarts. I think it appeals to children of all ages. It doesn’t matter if you’re 6 or 60. It appeals to the optimistic young idealism that I think every person has, however buried it might be.”
1. What can we learn from the first paragraph?| A．People should keep digging into the history of ancient myths. |
| B．More products associated with Star Wars have been created. |
| C．Some people’s criticism of Star Wars made it less popular than before. |
| D．Star Wars is more successful in the business field than in the entertainment field. |
| A．To break the old rules and traditions of making films. |
| B．To appeal to the optimistic young men to pursue their dreams. |
| C．To encourage other filmmakers to bring their wild ideas to life. |
| D．To offer young people an as good and healthy fantasy life as he had. |
| A．it meets people’s pursuit for a place to escape |
| B．it symbolizes the beginning of the modern myth |
| C．the special effects offer amazing viewing experience |
| D．the main actors in this film are very popular among the public |
| A．inspire people to be optimistic and ideal |
| B．introduce the basic information about Star Wars |
| C．recommend the talented writer-director George Lucas |
| D．criticize the fact that Star Wars is not as well made as before |
3 . 
The phrase “coin toss” is a classic equivalent to randomness. But since at least the 18th century, mathematicians have suspected that even fair coins tend to land on one side slightly more often than the other. Proving this tiny bias (偏见), however, would require hundreds of thousands of carefully recorded coin tosses, making laboratory tests a nightmare.
František Bartoš, currently a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Amsterdam, became fascinated by this challenge four years ago. He couldn’t round up enough volunteers to investigate it at first. “Nobody was stupid enough to spend a couple of weekends tossing coins,” he says. But after he began his Ph.D. studies, he tried again, recruiting 47 volunteers (many of them friends and fellow students) from six countries. Multiple weekends of coin tossing later, the team had performed 350,757 tosses, breaking the previous record of 40,000.
The tossed coins, according to previous findings, landed with the same side facing upward as before the toss 50.8 percent of the time. The large number of throws allows statisticians to conclude that the nearly one percent bias isn’t a fluke. “We can be quite sure there is a bias in coin tosses after this data set,” Bartoš says.
The leading theory explaining the subtle advantage comes from a 2007 physics study by statistician Persi Diaconis and his colleagues, whose calculations predicted a same-side bias of 51 percent. From the moment a coin is launched into the air, its entire path in the air — including whether it lands on heads or tails — can be calculated by the laws of mechanics. The researchers determined that coins in the air barely turn around their symmetrical axis (对称轴); instead they tend to move off-center unsteadily, which causes them to spend a little more time in the air with their initial “up” side on top.
For day-to-day decisions, coin tosses are as good as random because a one percent bias isn’t perceptible with just a few coin tosses, says another statistician who wasn’t involved in the new research. Still, the study’s conclusions should eliminate any doubt that still exists regarding the coin toss’s slim bias.
It isn’t difficult to prevent this bias from influencing your coin-toss matches; simply concealing the coin’s starting position before tossing it should do the trick. Alternatively, you can do away with tossing altogether by shaking the coin between your palms. But if your friends are unaware of the tiny bias, you may as well benefit from your slight advantage. After all, 51 percent odds beat a lot.
1. Why was it difficult to prove the tiny bias in coin tosses?| A．Because it required a large number of trials and loads of tests. |
| B．Because few scientists and researchers were interested in this topic. |
| C．Because scientists lacked the ability and technique to conduct this study. |
| D．Because previous researches failed many times and scientists lost confidence. |
| A．happens by accident | B．can be planned in advance |
| C．occurs under specific conditions | D．can be gained by practice |
| A．This one percent bias matters little in real life. |
| B．We should rely on this one percent bias to help us. |
| C．Though unnoticeable, we may still take advantage of this bias. |
| D．Relying on the one percent bias to win a coin-toss match is unfair. |
| A．Risk-takers? Experts recommend coin-toss matches. |
| B．Luck or Maths? Here’re some tips on tossing coins. |
| C．Coin collectors? There’re stories behind each coin. |
| D．Heads or Tails? Research suggests it’s not 50-50. |
The Waterslide Tester
When the pool where he worked as a lifeguard was closed during the COVID-19 pandemic, Guillaume Pop took jobs at various other pools that were virtually deserted. In one video on the social platform, he pretended to be a “professional waterslide tester”. Unexpectedly, Pop became a social media sensation. He was then hired to “test” slides and other facilities at water parks and swimming pools all over France. “It’s the best job in the world,” declares Pop, whose videos have received 80 million views. “I’m not behind a desk. I’m active and outside in the sun. In fact, all the children tell me they want to be a waterslide tester!”
The Reindeer HerderFinnish Lapland is home to around 200,000 wild reindeer. Anne Ollila, one of the 4,000 owners of these animals, works in this harsh but beautiful region with her big family. She gave up her job as a sociology researcher in 2010 to devote herself to reindeer herding full time. In summer, Ollila sleeps during the day and walks up to 12 miles a night through marsh and forest, enduring all kinds of insects. In deepest winter there is little daylight. Grasslands are frozen and the reindeer move into the forest for protection. “Life here isn’t easy but it’s how nature works,” says Ollila, “I love the environment, the animals and the freedom. Also, I have a sense of belonging to something bigger than me, to the chain of life through the generations.”
The Zombie TrainerStevie Douglas, a 52-year-old Scot, has taught people how to behave like all varieties of the undead. A big fan of horror movies, Douglas noticed the zombies he saw in films were often unconvincing. “Their movement was poor and I thought I could do better.” So, in 2012, he formed ScareScotland to provide zombies for films and events such as horror conventions. A year later they started a zombie training program, which took off when they received a request for 300 zombies for a three-week-long interactive production. “What we do is very specific.” says Douglas. Many people enjoy being frightened, and he’s happy to oblige them.
1. What do the three people introduced in the passage above have in common?| A．Their jobs are dangerous, unstable and low-paid. |
| B．Their jobs are well received throughout the world. |
| C．They have great passion and pride in what they do. |
| D．They need professional qualifications to do their job. |
| A．It has a sense of freedom. | B．It is full of vigor and energy. |
| C．It is what he has been doing for decades. | D．It satisfies people’s wishes to be frightened. |
| A．Employees who are considering switching jobs. |
| B．Students who are applying for ideal universities. |
| C．Children who are interested in unusual activities. |
| D．Graduates who are deciding on their essay topics. |
5 . Strengthen Bonds With Your New Pet
Welcoming a new pet can be a magical moment for a lot of families. Unfortunately, many new pet owners struggle to bond with them. The following steps may help.
This should go without saying but spending time with your pets can greatly help you form a strong relationship. Pets love to be included in every activity of their humans, whatever the activities are.
Most people forget that training and teaching them tricks is a healthy outlet as well.
One more thing to notice is that taking care of a pet can be a wonderful experience and also be quite frustrating. For new pet owners, it can be confusing, especially if you don’t understand what your pet needs or wants at any given time.
| A．Training will ease your annoyance as your pets tend to obey more and behave better. |
| B．Giving them an extra piece of chicken for a job well done is essential for a strong relationship. |
| C．They usually communicate through body language so you need to pay attention to them. |
| D．You should always learn to be patient and accept that there will be a period of adjustment. |
| E．But playtime is still a necessary and effective activity to share fun moments together. |
| F．The Internet is a good place to figure out how you can train them efficiently. |
6 . If a scientist sees a unicorn (独角兽), she’ll probably want to see more than one before telling the world about her discovery. But sometimes one unicorn is enough.
In 2007 an astronomer named Duncan Lorimer reported finding a new kind of astronomical event. It was a brief stream of energy so powerful that it could reach Earth from a galaxy billions of light-years away. He called it a fast radio burst (FRB). This remarkable find, if real, could make huge contributions to the study about universe. He predicted there would be many more – but that year, he spotted just one.
It’s not unheard of for one event to kick off a whole new field of scientific inquiry. Still it’s rare. When Lorimer’s paper came out in the journal, it was not surprising that many were skeptical. “Sometimes, what seems like a remarkable scientific discovery turns out to be an error in the data,” some commented.
Later, a young graduate student was assigned the task of finding more FRBs. Using the same radio telescope Lorimer once used, she found more bursts that just looked like FRBs. But because of the ways they appeared in the telescope data, she was virtually certain that they were some other kind of radio interference and gave them another name: perytons. As years ticked by and no more FRBs were discovered, some astronomers began to conclude Lorimer had found nothing more than an unusual example of one of these perytons.
Good news: in 2011, there was a report of a second FRB. Four more were found in 2013. Bad news: all of them came from the same Lorimer’s radio telescope. But ultimately, in 2014, there was a report from another radio telescope. More discoveries started showing up from other telescopes on a somewhat regular basis. At last the conversation about FRBs shifted – from whether they were real to where they came from.
Years of research have passed by since then. Now, Victoria Kaspi, a physics professor and principal investigator on the FRB team, predicts that once the more advanced telescopes come online in 2024, the location and distance of most FRBs detected can be found out, which will provide “golden opportunities for astronomers to study the large-scale structure of the universe”.
Finally, this “unicorn” story came to a somehow surprising end. Several years ago, a team reanalyzed the same data from the radio telescope by which Lorimer found the first FRB. There was one more that they had previously missed. Since then, other teams have analyzed even older data and found FRBs in those datasets too.
“They were just sitting there, waiting to be discovered by better techniques,” Lorimer says.
1. Which of the following has the closest meaning to the underlined word in paragraph 3?| A．Optimistic. | B．Curious. | C．Supportive. | D．Doubtful. |
| A．To suggest that the new scientific discovery was a myth. |
| B．To imply magical creatures may actually exist in the world. |
| C．To symbolize the previously unknown and unseen discoveries. |
| D．To quote an incident that once happened in the field of science. |
| A．Because it might mean the results were not reliable. |
| B．Because they were all found by a young graduate student. |
| C．Because these were given the name perytons and were not real FRBs. |
| D．Because not every astronomer had the same type of telescope as Lorimer. |
| A．It’s possible for just one event to start a new field of scientific research. |
| B．New scientific discoveries can’t be made without advanced research techniques. |
| C．Scientists shouldn’t deny new discoveries even if they lack evidence temporarily. |
| D．Scientists should be careful to distinguish new discoveries from errors in the datasets. |
7 . What’s UP? Here, let’s take a look at some excellent book reviews for this month.
 | Dead Good Detectives Jenny McLachlan This is the story of a 12-year-old girl called Sid who loves playing horror games with her friends. But when she accidentally releases the ancient ghost pirate, Bones, Sid is launched into an adventure! However, there is someone hiding in the shadows, intended to send Bones back into the mysterious inn that he came from. This is a funny, exciting book that l would recommend to people who love lots of laughs. |
 | Totty Shirley Galligan To find his home, Totty the turtle goes on an impressive adventure with the help of his friends, and has different obstacles to overcome. He wakes up with a plastic bag stuck around his neck, swims through an oil spill and gets caught in a fishing net. My favourite part was when his friend, the whale, helped him out of the garbage mountain, and he was rescued by the Sea Turtle Rescue Centre. If you like sea animals and care for the environment then this is a good book for you! |
 | Fact Book of The Month: Aliens Joalda Morancy Ever wondered what incredible creatures might live beyond our planet? This mind-blowing book teaches you everything about the search for alien lifeforms in our solar system and beyond. Meet the robots sent to Mars to look for Martians, find out how to spot an advanced alien civilization and discover what really goes on at Area 51! Do aliens exist? And is it only a matter of time before we find them?! |
| A．Scientists and astronauts. | B．Kids and teenagers. |
| C．Parents of middle school kids. | D．Environmentalists. |
| A．Dead Good Detectives | B．Totty |
| C．Fact Book of The Month: Aliens | D．None |
| A．To praise the value of friendships. |
| B．To introduce various kinds of sea animals. |
| C．To encourage the spirits of overcoming difficulties. |
| D．To show how human behaviors affect sea creatures. |
8 . One summer night in a seaside cottage, a boy felt himself lifted from bed. Then, with the swiftness of a dream, he was held in his father’s arms out onto the nearby beach. Overhead the sky blazed with stars. “Watch!” Incredibly, as his father spoke, one of the stars moved. In a line of golden fire it flashed across the astonished heavens. And before the wonder of this could fade, another star leaped from its place, then another, plunging towards the restless sea.
“What’s this?” the child whispered.
“Shooting stars. They come every year on a certain August night. I thought you’d like to see the show.”
That was all: just an unexpected glimpse of something mysterious and beautiful. But, back in bed, the child stared for a long time into the dark, knowing that all around the quiet house, the night was full of the silent music of the falling stars.
Decades have passed, but I remember that night still, because I was the fortunate boy whose father believed that a new experience was more important for a small boy than an unbroken night’s sleep. No doubt I had all the usual childhood entertainment, but those are forgotten now. What I remember is the night of the shooting stars, and the day we rode in a caboose (列车末尾的职工车厢), the telegraph we made that really worked, and the “trophy table” in the dining room where we children were encouraged to exhibit things we had found — anything unusual or beautiful — snake skins, seashells, flowers, arrowheads... I remember the thought-provoking (引人深思的) books left by my bedside that pushed back my horizons and sometimes actually changed my life.
My father had, to a marvellous degree, the gift of opening doors for his children, of leading them into areas of splendid newness. This subtle art of adding dimensions to a child’s world doesn’t necessarily require a great deal of time. It simply involves doing things more often with our children instead of for them or to them.
1. What does the underlined sentence in paragraph 4 mean?| A．The child was still immersed in the beautiful scenery just now. |
| B．The child was too frightened to fall asleep because of darkness. |
| C．The child wanted to listen more to the music about falling stars. |
| D．The child felt grateful to his father for what he showed him. |
| A．unusual and novel | B．dangerous and demanding |
| C．strange and uncommon | D．educational and thought-provoking |
| A．Parents should interfere more with their children’s learning. |
| B．Parents should push their children to try to do everything on their own. |
| C．Parents should devote energy to exploring new things for their children. |
| D．Parents should encourage children to be curious and explore new things in life. |
| A．Limitless knowledge | B．Father, the hero of my life |
| C．Curiosity aroused that night | D．The unusual things in my life |
9 . Perhaps you wouldn’t want to live over 100, but certainly you would live a long and healthy life. We all want to know the trick for extending out lives, and physicians and researchers have written thoudsands of pages on that topic. Most of them write about the ways of taking care of our body; Cut your Cholesterol (胆固醇), lose weight, exercise, stop smoking, and watch out blood pressure. While these are important, there is more to consider. Just as critical are how much you like your job, whether you have a good relationship with your parents and children, whether you’re depressed or happy.
We would all agree that these factors counts in quality of life. The fact is that they count in length of life, too. The truth is that being well does not simply mean being in great physical shape. Overall good health is composed of five unique circles of wellness: the physical, the mental, the family and the social, the spiritual, and the material. The five circles of wellness interlock and interact. Most of us have experienced the way the circles affect one another. Perhaps mental sress caused a headache, which hurt so much that you stayed home from a party, which meant you spent Saturday night alone, which made you so depressed that you ate a quarter of ice cream. Or perhaps the circles of wellness interacted in a positive way: A peaceful walk on the beach calmed your mind, relaxed your body, gave you physical exercise, helped you sleep better, and made you more pleasant to be around, and so on.
In order to live a life that is not only long, but happy, satisfying and fulfilling- what I call a “sweet” life- you must have good health in all five circles. Knowing which areas need the most improvement and which are already healthy is the key to increasing your life span.
1. What can be concluded from paragraph 1?| A．We are more concerned about our body than physicians. |
| B．Researchers haven’t agreed on what benefits our health. |
| C．Living over 100 is something that we are all agree for. |
| D．Our mental state is as important as physical condition for a long life. |
| A．A headache prevented you from attending a party and that hurt so much. |
| B．You spent Saturday night alone, which caused a headache and hurt so much. |
| C．A peaceful walk on the beach relaxed your body and helped you sleep better. |
| D．You were so depressed that you ate an ice cream, which relaxed your body. |
A． | B． |
C． | D． |
10 . Around 1886 Albert Einstein began his school career in Munich. As well as his violin lessons, which he had from age six to age thirteen. Two years later he entered the Luitpold Gymnasium and after his religious education was given at school. He studied mathematics, beginning around 1891.
In 1894 Einstein’s family moved to Milan but Einstein remained in Munich. In 1895 Einstein failed an examination that would have allowed him to study for a diploma as an electrical engineer at the Eidgenossische Technische Hochschule in Zurich. Einstein gave up German citizenship in 1896 and was to be stateless for a number of years. He didn’t even apply for Swiss citizenship until 1899, citizenship being granted in 1901.
By 1909, Einstein was recognized as a leading scientific thinker. He was appointed a full professor at the Karl-Ferdinand University in Prague in 1911. In fact, 1911 was a very significant year for Einstein since he was able to make predictions about how a ray of light from a distant star, passing near the Sun, would appear to be bent slightly, in the direction of the Sun. this would be high significant as it would lead to the first experimental evidence in favor of Einstein’s theory.
When British eclipse expeditions (日食探险队) in 1919 confirmed his predictions. Einstein was idolized (崇拜) by the popular press. The London Times ran the headline on 7 November 1919:
Revolution in science – new theory of the Universe – Newtonian ideas overthrown.
In 1920 Einstein’s lectures in Berlin were stopped by demonstrations which, although officially denied, were almost certainly anti-Jewish. Certainly there were strong feelings expressed against his works during this period which Einstein replied to in the press quoting Lorentz, Planck and Eddington as supporting his theories.
Einstein received the Nobel Prize in 1921 but not for reality rather for his 1905 work on the photoelectric effect. In fact he was not present in December 1922 to receive the prize being on a voyage to Japan. Around this time he made many international visits. He had visited Paris earlier in 1922 and during 1923 he visited Palestine. After making his last major scientific discovery on the association of waves with matter in 1924 he made further visits in 1925, this time to South America.
In 1949 Einstein became a citizen of the United States, but chose to retain his Swiss citizenship. He made many contributions to peace during his life. In 1944 he made a contribution to the war effort by hand writing his 1905 paper on special relativity and putting it up for auction (拍卖). It raised six million dollars, the manuscript today being in the Library of Congress.
By 1949 Einstein was unwell. A spell in hospital helped him recover but he began to prepare for death by drawing up his will in 1950. He left his scientific papers to the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, a university which he had raised funds for on his first visit to the USA, served as a governor of the university from 1925 to 1928 but he had turned down the offer of a post in 1922 as he was very critical of its administration.
One more major event was to take place in his life. After the death of the first president of Israel in 1952, the Israeli government decided to offer the post of the second president to Einstein. He refused but found the offer an embarrassment since it was hard for him to refuse without causing offence.
One week before his death Einstein signed his last letter. It was a letter to Bertrand Russell in which he agreed that his name should go on a manifesto urging all nations to give up nuclear weapons.
1. What’s the nationality of Einstein?| A．America | B．Swiss | C．Germany | D．America and Swiss |
| A．the theory of relativity |
| B．predictions on the ray of light |
| C．the photoelectric effect |
| D．his discovery on the association of waves with matter |
| A．He was a Jew |
| B．He wanted to show his opposition to the war |
| C．He was on the way to Japan then |
| D．He was very busy giving lectures |
| A．He raised 6 million dollars by hand writing his paper on special relativity for world peace. |
| B．He was offered the post of the first president of Israel. |
| C．He didn’t leave his scientific papers to the Hebrew University in Jerusalem for he was very identical of its administration. |
| D．Einstein was opposed to the idea of giving up nuclear weapon. |
