1 . HOW TO GET THE MOST OUT OF EVERY BOOK YOU READ

Reading books can be one of life’s greatest pleasures and learning experiences.     1    . Especially if you’re reading a book for more than just the pleasure of it, you have to do more than just turn over its pages. Here we will explore actionable ways to maximize the benefits of reading.

Set clear goals before reading

Understanding why you’re reading a book can significantly impact how you approach it. The right goal will help you pay attention to what’s most important. If you’re reading a book about photography, you may want to pay particular attention to the images.     2    .

Make summaries for every chapter

After finishing a chapter, take a few minutes to summarize it in your own words.     3    . It also creates a handy reference guide for the future. Summarizing can be a creative process, too. Try using bullet points, mind maps, or one-liners to capture the essence of each chapter.

Apply what you’ve learned

    4    . If a book teaches you a new approach to time management, try implementing it in your daily routine. If a novel provides a moral lesson, reflect on how it applies to your life. This active application ensures that the book leaves a lasting impact.

    5    

The process of reading doesn’t end when you turn the last page. Regularly revisiting your notes, summaries, and reflections keeps the material fresh and relevant. Consider setting aside time each month to review previous reads and reflect how they’ve shaped your thoughts and actions. Not for every book, of course, just for the most impactful ones.

A．Repeat reading for deeper insights

B．Review and reflect

C．You may notice details, themes, or ideas that were hidden during your first reading

D．This exercise deepens your understanding and helps identify the central themes and ideas

E．So spend some time reflecting on what you hope to achieve and let that guide your reading process

F．However, many of us struggle to remember and apply what we’ve read

G．Taking action on what you’ve read transforms theoretical knowledge into practical wisdom

2 . The teenage years are a transformative period marked by great physical, psychological, and emotional changes.     1     They refer to the feelings that arise during interactions with others, such as gratitude, shame, sympathy, guilt, and pride.

Understanding and managing social emotions can help develop teenagers’ identities. Teenagers experience a wide range of emotions from social interactions, which significantly influences their self-understanding and social awareness. In the process, they learn to understand, and appropriately respond to both their own emotions and those of others.     2    

In academic settings, social emotional competencies like self-regulation, motivation, and social awareness directly impact a teenager’s ability to learn, participate, and engage in school activities.     3     Teenagers with strong social emotional skills are better equipped to handle stress, resist peer pressure, and avoid risky behaviors, reducing the likelihood of developing mental health issues.

Learning social emotions involves a combination of personal experience, guidance, and formal education.     4     This environment influences teenagers’ earliest understanding of how to communicate and manage their emotions. They feel safe and supportive to express their emotions freely and learn to manage them without fear of judgment. Schools also play a significant role through social emotional learning programs that teach these skills in a structured environment. Community involvement, extracurricular activities, and peer (同伴) interactions offer additional opportunities for teenagers to practice and refine their social emotional skills.

    5     It contributes to a teenager’s ability to manage their own emotions, understand others’ emotions, and face social complexities. This learning is a cornerstone for shaping their identity, influencing their interpersonal relationships, academic success, mental health, and future life outcomes.

A．What exactly are social emotions?

B．The journey into mature emotion is quite easy.

C．Social emotion learning for teenagers is essential.

D．Central to this phase is the concept of social emotions.

E．This helps shape their own personal principles and beliefs.

F．Families play a crucial role in modeling and developing these skills.

G．Moreover, social emotional skills are closely linked to mental health.

3 . When Mark Twain visited Florence (佛罗伦萨) in 1867, he dutifully visited the city’s museums, churches, and tombs. But as he stood by the Arno, he began to sense the Italians’ insistence that it was a river, not a stream. “They all call it a river, and they honestly think it is a river, do these dark and bloody Florentines,” he complained, “I might enter Florence under happier circumstances a month hence and find it all beautiful, all attractive. But I do not care to think of it now, at all.”

It’s normal to feel uncomfortable outside your home culture. Feelings of discomfort, dislocation, and overload among travelers are referred to by many as “culture shock.” But Susan Goldstein, a professor at the University of Redlands says, “ Though the term has existed for many years, ‘Culture shock’ implies a dramatic, unexpected, negative event. Though many travelers will experience such challenges, a real sense of ‘shock’ is untypical. So untypical that many researchers no longer use the term.”

It was the vivid description of culture shock by Canadian researcher Oberg, written in 1960 in response to his own multicultural experiences, that won over audiences. The researcher spoke of the adjustment process as “an occupational disease of people who have suddenly been transplanted abroad” — a “disease” that progressed from a honeymoon phase, through rejecting the new environment, to finally adjusting fully to it. By the 1970s many researchers adopted the idea that, like physical illnesses, culture shock progressed through a remarkably consistent and universal set of stages.

Modern research, however, suggests that the experiences of adaptation are individual, not universal. “People will have their ups and downs, but for the most part, they will become increasingly comfortable and competent over time,” Goldstein says. And while many connect the causes of culture shock to the host culture itself, an individual’s internal expectations and differences are just as important.

As for Mark Twain, the moody author was able to ride out his feelings of upset and dislocation while traveling. He eventually finished out his European tour - and in his bestselling travel memoir The Innocents Abroad, famously remarked that travel is “fatal to prejudice and narrow-mindedness.” With the right attitude - and the willingness to seek help if you need it - it’s more than likely that you, too, can adapt and grow in new settings, building new memories-and toughness - with each new stamp in your passport.

1. How did Mark Twain feel about Italians’ insistence?

A．Annoyed.

B．Calm.

C．Uninterested.

D．Curious.

2. What can be inferred about culture shock?

A．It would lead to physical diseases.

B．It was regarded as an avoidable thing.

C．It was named for people’s adjustment.

D．It had gained wide acceptance by the 1970s.

3. What is paragraph 4 mainly about?

A．Suggestions about culture shock.

B．A change in understanding culture shock.

C．Stress of the importance of culture shock.

D．A criticism of previous idea of culture shock.

4. Why is Mark Twain mentioned in the last paragraph?

A．To remember him.	B．To inform and anticipate.
C．To conclude and encourage.	D．To make the ending humorous.

4 . The World-Famous Nine

By Ben Guterson, illustrated by Kristina Kister

Zander’s grandmother owns the most incredible department store in the world. When a string of mysterious accidents start happening at the store, Zander’s grandmother tells him that a monster called Darkbloom may have returned. The monster, which can control people, wants a magical object that disappeared from the store decades ago. Zander notices that walls on many floors contain mysterious symbols and takes them down in his notebook. Will the 11-year-old boy be able to solve the puzzle and secure the object before Darkbloom does? Packed with suspense, fascination, and a family drama, this mystery may remind you of a cross between Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

Ask the Author

The Week: What inspired this book?

Ben Guterson: When I was growing up, Seattle had two big department stores. Something about these big buildings held many possibilities for mystery and discovery to me.

The Week: Why is Zander close to his grandmother?

Ben Guterson: I didn’t want Zander to be alone, so he’s got his loving grandmother there to give him some guidance and keep him safe.

The Week: Do you enjoy mysteries?

Ben Guterson: Yes, I like stories with a mysterious feel to them. I don’t think I have ever been drawn to straightforward realism.

1. What can we learn about Zander?

A．He grows up in Seattle.	B．He lives alone at a store.
C．He wishes to be a magician.	D．He wants to defeat Darkbloom.

2. Who will most probably find the The World-Famous Nine fascinating?

A．A kid loving true-life stories.	B．A kid enjoying fictional works.
C．A kid interested in grandma’s dishes.	D．A kid drawn to online store shopping.

3. What is the text?

A．A writer’s profile.	B．An interview outline.
C．A children’s story.	D．A book recommendation.

6 . A local dog in Moundsville, West Virginia, has captured the admiration of the community by finding over 150 lost disc golf discs at a popular park. Unclaimed (无人认领的) discs will be on sale, with the money obtained going to the park.

Daisy is a four-year-old Labrador Retriever who loves going on walks with her owner, Kelly Mason, at Grand Vue Park. Every day, they walk about five miles through the park. Sometimes, Daisy goes on her own adventure and returns with a souvenir (纪念品).

“Daisy has a nose for finding discs,” Mason told WTRF. “We will be walking through the park and her nose will go up. She can smell them, and she just goes off. She could go off 30 yards through the the high weeds. And here she comes with a disc.”

Since she found her first disc about three years ago, Daisy has got back 155 of them with no plans of stopping anytime soon.

The park recently teamed up with Mason to create a program called Daisy’s Discs.

“Normally when park staff find them or when our park guests find them, all of them are turned into the barn (仓库) area,” says Ben Bolock, the assistant general manager at Grand Vue Park. “Some discs that have names on them, we call them, and people are able to come and pick them up ... they can also make a donation to Daisy’s Discs and that money will fund the Marshall County Animal Rescue League. If discs are found and there’s no name on them and we’ve had them for a long period of time and nobody has claimed them, the park will sell them for a very low amount and that money will go back into the disc golf course.”

1. What do we know about Daisy from the text?

A．She has a talent for finding lost items.

B．She enjoys playing with disc golf discs.

C．She has won a prize for her contribution.

D．She rarely goes on personal adventures.

2. What happens to the lost discs found in the park?

A．They are exhibited at the park.

B．They are donated to local dog shelters.

C．Unclaimed discs are sent to park guests.

D．Discs with owners’ names are returned to them.

3. What is the main purpose of the Daisy’s Discs program?

A．To offer souvenirs to park visitors.

B．To train dogs to find lost items.

C．To raise funds for the local animal rescue league.

D．To encourage people to play disc golf at the park.

4. Which would be the best title for the text?

A．Daisy’s Contribution	B．Lost Discs Recycled
C．Daisy’s Adventures	D．A Dog's Discovery

7 . Every year as a kid at Girl Scout summer camp, the night I looked forward to most was the closing campfire, a few hours of silliness that marked our final evening together. All week, my roommates and I had kept perfecting our skit (滑稽短剧) performance, editing lines and practicing scenes.

Skits and songs are deeply rooted in the camp experience. The days might be all about sports or nature, but nighttime entertainment is a kid’s dream. Similar to a talent show, some performances are educational but mostly, they just make you laugh. Talent is not important, and audience engagement (参与) through call and response is essential.

Away from phones and peers back home, social norms (规范) disappear and space for self-exploration forms. Shy kids come out of their shells, and cool kids let their guard down. They get to open up this door to a part of themselves that they wouldn’t have felt safe to show at school or at home.

It’s been a decade since my last performance as a camp counselor (顾问), and I never thought of skits from a skill-building aspect. But I now realize this rich camp tradition left a great impression on me. Through camp skits, I developed my sense of humor, built confidence in front of a crowd and learned how to accept others for their strangeness.

Maybe we can make our schools or communities more like summer camps by bringing the silliness of skits into our families and classrooms to reconnect with ourselves and each other. The next time you’re sitting around a campfire with friends and family, give it a try. Let your guard down, accept the discomfort and invite your loved ones to join in on the improvising (即兴创作). And remember: the more funny noises and childlike humor, the better.

1. What is the main purpose of skit performances at summer camp?

A．To amuse and engage the audience.	B．To showcase talent and skills.
C．To educate the audience.	D．To compete with fellow campers.

2. What does the underlined phrase “let their guard down” in paragraph 3 mean?

A．Leave.

B．Relax.

C．Grow.

D．Respond.

3. How did the author benefit from camp skits?

A．She developed a competitive spirit.

B．She understood social norms better.

C．She became more tolerant.

D．She became more creative.

4. What does the author advise us to do?

A．Take up challenges in life.

B．Accept our imperfections.

C．Participate in more community activities.

D．Break out of our comfort zone.

8 . Working with ARIA Research, a startup developing vision for the blind, Phoebe Peng is using technologically advanced human echolocation (回声定位) that enables blind users to perceive their surroundings in precise detail.

The process uses event cameras which, unlike normal cameras that take complete images of a scene, track changes in an image over time, making them ideal for the observation of small objects like table tennis balls. The images are then processed into sound using a specialised algorithm (算法). This is then communicated back to the player via a lot of loudspeakers, ultimately with the aim of allowing players to track the ball and movements using sounds.

According to Peng, table tennis makes a perfect test case for the kind of technology being developed by ARIA Research. “Table tennis has been played for decades as a more accessible version of tennis. The sport is beginner-friendly while maintaining a rich level of competitive play. However, like many sports, it remains difficult for people who suffer vision loss or have low vision,” said Ms Peng, who will soon complete a Bachelor of Engineering in Software Engineering.

“The small size of the ball and table, along with the movement of the ball in 3D space, are things that make table tennis difficult to play for those with low vision and complete blindness,” said Peng, who is completing the work for her degree. “Making this sport more accessible while also exploring the potential of event cameras were my two biggest motivators,” she said.

In one study, using two perfectly positioned cameras, Ms Peng was able to identify and track a ball in three dimensions in real time. She then fed that data into an algorithm controlling the loudspeakers standing along the sides of the table, which created a sound field matching the position of the ball.

While the results are promising, more experimentation will be needed before the system will be ready for actual play. “There are limitations on how accurately people can perceive sound localisation. What type of sound should be used? Should the sound be continuous? This is what we’ll be tackling in the next stage of development,” said Ms Peng.

1. How are event cameras different from normal ones?

A．They can have sounds located.

B．They are linked with loudspeakers.

C．They constantly follow image changes.

D．They take complete images of a scene.

2. What makes table tennis a perfect test case for the research?

A．Its unique feature.	B．Its fierce competition.
C．Its technical complexity.	D．Its beginner-friendliness.

3. What is the last paragraph mainly about concerning the study?

A．Its inspiring results.	B．Its promising future.
C．Its practical applications.	D．Its technological challenge.

4. What could be the best title for the text?

A．Technology Opens up Blind Table Tennis

B．Blind People Work Wonders in Table Tennis

C．Event Camera Reshapes Future for the Disabled

D．Algorithm Helps Translate Imagination to Sound

9 . How long will it take you to read this article? On average, adults read about 240 words a minute, but I always take longer. I should probably feel embarrassed-but instead, I take joy in it.

I got the habit of reading for pleasure from my mum. Reading is what I do first thing in the morning and last thing at night. But it’s always taken me a long time. When I started reviewing books, I was averaging 20 pages an hour. I have improved to about 30 pages, but that’s still slow, according to some literary critics.

Book reviewers aren’t the only ones under pressure to read quickly. Pictures of “all the books I read this month” are all over social media. And reading has become a way of keeping up with the world. It is understandable that we try to make sense of events, but it can also fuel the idea that reading is a chore (苦差事), which it absolutely is not.

Why would pleasure be equal to pace? My slow reading seems to be down to a combination of slower processing speeds, and “subvocalising” — sounding out words as I read them. But especially when it comes to the latter, I wouldn’t want to train myself to go faster. It was news to me that not everyone subvocalises, because one of my favourite things about reading is hearing the language in my mind. Without subvocalising, I wouldn’t have caught the music of those words.

Recently, I finished a book of poetry. For two years, I read the poems each morning in the four minutes it took my coffee to be ready. It was a wonderful reminder that reading is never about quantity and always about the quality of time you spend with a text.

So when you read, don’t stick a number on it ---- resolve to read for pleasure, not as a chore.

1. Why does the author like slow reading?

A．It wins her fame online.	B．It is a delightful practice.
C．It comes from her mom.	D．It helps her reach goals.

2. What do fast readers focus on?

A．Quantity.

B．Quality.

C．Content.

D．Sound.

3. What do the underlined words “the latter” in paragraph 4 refer to?

A．Slower processing speeds.

B．Learning language.

C．Combining speeds and sounds.

D．Reading words out.

4. What would the author agree with?

A．Reading is a demanding task.

B．Pace equals reading pleasure.

C．Beauty of words needs tasting.

D．Poetry takes no effort to digest.

10 . Over 40 students with low vision study at a school in Gandhinagar, Gujarat. It was designed by Anand Sonecha, founder of an architecture company. Featuring a bright yellow entrance door, which stands out against the white walls, the school is decorated with a variety of sweet-smelling plants everywhere. Inside the classrooms, the walls feel smooth in contrast to the rough outside of the building. These all help students familiarize themselves with the area straightforwardly, without any trouble.

The school provides an open space serving as a platform for the visually-challenged students to play, perform, or celebrate festivals and the students are easy to orient themselves according to the sound, smell, sight and touch. “The idea behind the design was to make the school more accessible to the students,” Sonecha says, “They come from remote villages and towns in Gujarat, and I am eager to help them.”

During the construction, Sonecha used contrasting colors so that students could easily distinguish between the elements. Blue was used for all classroom doors, yellow for the entrance gate, black for switch buttons, and yellow and green for the furniture. All these colors contrasted with the white walls of the school, helping the students locate different elements. Different areas are of different height and width, which makes the sounds and noises change according to the echo (回音) produced in these spaces. Furthermore, he cooperated with fellow landscape architect Lokendra Balasaria to plant more than 1,000 plants of 37 species. These sweet plants have been grown not only to lead the children to move in the school through smell but also to attract butterflies and birds, and provide shade.

“The structure of the building is designed similarly to any other school building, only with a few clever elements. My intention was to avoid making it look distinct from other schools,” Sonecha explains, “I hope that there are no different schools for such students. Instead, all these elements should be added to public spaces for them. And my follow-up efforts may be there.”

1. Why did Sonecha design the school in Gandhinagar?

A．To explore architecture styles.	B．To raise funds for his company.
C．To offer convenience to the students.	D．To improve students’ learning ability.

2. What does the underlined word “orient” in Paragraph 2 mean?

A．Relax.

B．Waken.

C．Cheer.

D．Direct.

3. How does the school help students perform daily routine?

A．By expanding activity areas.	B．By stimulating multiple senses.
C．By offering behavioral guidelines.	D．By strengthening safety measures.

4. What will Sonecha probably do in the future?

A．Promote accessibility in the public regions.	B．Modernize architecture with smart devices.
C．Build special schools for disabled students.	D．Decorate schools with traditional elements.