1 . When looking for some vacation ideas to spread out and get some time and space to yourself, check out these great resorts (度假胜地) options.

Hyatt Ziva Cap Cana

Located in Punta Cana, this family-friendly vacation at an all-inclusive resort offers something for everyone in your party. Parents can enjoy relaxing by one of the resort’s swim-up bars in an infinity pool or head out for some deep-sea fishing. Kids, meanwhile, can head over to the kids’ club for a number of activities. Plus, all of the drinks and food across the 14 restaurants and bars is included.

Beaches Turks & Caicos

This resort has become the Caribbean’s popular go-to when it comes to all-inclusive family vacations that provide great value since there’s so much to do for guests of all ages. There’s a 45,000-square-foot water park, 24 restaurants, unlimited PADI-certified scuba diving and water sports, a 12-mile beach, a spa, 10 pools—whew!

The Alisal Guest Ranch

If you live in the city and want to get back to nature, this luxury farm over nearly 11,000 acres in California’s Santa Ynez Valley is a perfect fit for a family. All that wide-open space means activities like horseback riding, scenic cycling, hiking, fishing, kayaking and, for the body-and-spirit-minded traveler in your group, yoga.

Montage Palmetto Bluff

The 20,000-acre community includes a nature preserve with walking trails, but the real stars of the show here are the over 300 species of birds. The resort’s resident naturalist takes families on walks to Bird Island, sharing a history of the area. Plus, kids will love the kayak tours that get up close to the dolphins that live there year-round.

1. Which attracts those interested in horseback-riding?

A．Hyatt Ziva Cap Cana.	B．Beaches Turks & Caicos.
C．Montage Palmetto Bluff.	D．The Alisal Guest Ranch.

2. What do the four attractions share?

A．They promise good food services.	B．They include various kids’ clubs.
C．They provide parent-child activities.	D．They have large historic buildings.

3. What is the purpose of the text?

A．To organize some family parties.	B．To highlight some tourist resorts.
C．To introduce some nature reserves.	D．To stimulate some domestic needs.

2 . Extremely authentic-looking prosthetic (假体的) eyes can now be 3D-printed in a fraction of the time it would normally take to produce the eyes by hand, scientists demonstrate in a new study.

The new technology can create a prosthetic eye in just 90 minutes, compared with the eight hours it would normally take a skilled technician, or ocularist, to produce one by hand. The 3D-printed eyes require five times less labor to make than traditional methods, the scientists behind the technology wrote in a new paper published in the journal Nature Communications.

The 3D-printed eyes also look more natural than traditional prostheses; this could help improve a patient’s self-confidence in using the devices. “Patients are very conscious about wearing a prosthesis, and they don't want others to notice,” Johann Reinhard, lead study author and a researcher at the Fraunhofer

Institute for Computer Graphics Research in Germany, told us. “With these more realistic eves, it might help them to participate more in society,” he said.

The new printing approach involves taking a specialized image of a patient’s empty eye socket and of their healthy eye. These images are then processed and used to draft blueprints that can be sent to be 3D-printed in the lab. These 3D-printed eyes closely replicate the color, size and structure of the patient's healthy eye and are particularly good at capturing the colored part of the eye, known as the iris, and the white part of the eye, called the sclera. Once finished, the eyes take 15 to 30 minutes to be installed by an ocularist, Reinhard said.

“About 80% of adults in need of prosthetic eyes could theoretically have one made this way, either due to a birth defect that causes an eye to be small or missing or because they’ve lost an eye,” the team said. “However, this wouldn’t be possible for all patients, such as those who have a very complex eye socket, as the software wouldn’t be able to find a matching shape for the prosthetic eye,” Reinhard said.

“More data are needed to see if this technique could also be used to make prosthetic eyes for children,which would require more regulation,” Reinhard said.

1. Which of the following words can be best used to describe the 3D-printed eyes?

A．Eco-friendly.

B．Time-consuming.

C．Fit-of-all.

D．Realistic-looking.

2. How does the author develop his idea mainly in Paragraph 2?

A．By justifying an idea.	B．By giving examples.
C．By providing evidence.	D．By making a comparison.

3. Which statement is true about a 3D-printed eye?

A．The patients prefer to show off their prosthetic eyes.

B．Every adult in need of a prosthetic eye can’t possibly have one.

C．It normally takes a skilled technician, or ocularist, to produce one.

D．The installment of one is 5 times faster than a traditional prosthetic eye.

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

A．3D-printed Eyes——a Better Alternative

B．3D Printing—a Promising Technology

C．3D-printed Eyes—a Source of Confidence

D．Prosthetic Eyes—the Hope for all Blind People

3 . In today’s digital era, social media users are increasingly coming across fake news online. This leads to the pressing issue: What causes people to fall for misinformation on the Internet?

According to researchers at the Penn State College of Information Sciences and Technology,   users can easily fall into an echo chamber (回声室) — a sort of virtual space where users consume only one-sided news, eventually distrusting any opposing views. “We all tend to agree with the group opinion. Hence, people naturally get together with others who hold the same opinion,” said Dongwon Lee, one of the researchers. “But if you’re not cautious, there is a high risk of falling into an echo chamber.”

To prevent this phenomenon, the researchers have crafted a novel tool, a game named ChamberBreaker, to help players resist echo chambers and reduce the rate of fake news spread. The fundamental approach employed by ChamberBreaker centers around a decision-making procedure that mirrors the creation of echo chambers. In ChamberBreaker, a player is tasked with trying to have community members fall into an echo chamber. To begin, the player is randomly assigned a situation that focuses on a health, political or environmental issue, and is presented with six pieces of news on that topic. Then, the player selects news that could cause the other members to fall into an echo chamber while at the same time maintaining their trust. If successful, the community members will fall into an echo chamber and the player will witness the resulting negative effects on the community.

After developing ChamberBreaker, researchers tested it with over 800 subjects to see if it raised awareness of echo chambers and changed news consumption behaviors. The researchers found that those who played ChamberBreaker were significantly more likely to state their intention to observe online information from more diverse perspectives and showed an increased awareness of the echo chamber phenomenon.

Ultimately, the researchers hope that their methodology can excite a greater interest in the scientific and scholarly study related to information consumption. The application of tools like ChamberBreaker, which focuses on fostering analytical reasoning, may lead us towards a more informed online community.

1. What can be learned about an online echo chamber?

A．It encourages well-judged views.

B．It gathers like-minded individuals.

C．It functions as a virtual reality platform.

D．It serves as a tool for identifying fake information.

2. What is ChamberBreaker’s core method against echo chambers?

A．Assignment of situations.	B．Trust-building exercises.
C．News selection strategy.	D．Community impact assessment.

3. Which of the following can show ChamberBreaker’s effectiveness?

A．The results of scientific testing.

B．The theoretical framework of the game.

C．The description of the game procedures.

D．The common challenges faced during gameplay.

4. What is the likely long-term effect of playing ChamberBreaker?

A．Reducing news inquiry.	B．Encouraging passive reading.
C．Strengthening prejudiced views.	D．Enhancing critical thinking.

7 . Cultural heritage sites are a nonrenewable resource. Today architectural heritage sites are being destroyed at an alarming rate. They’re threatened by rising seas, pollution, overtourism, conflicts and so on. Recently, Notre Dame Cathedral has attracted international attention.

Since its main construction from 1163 to 1350, Notre Dame Cathedral repeatedly has been damaged and repaired. On April 15, 2019, the landmark’s roof caught fire, causing the collapse of its spire (尖顶) and upper walls severely damaged. Work on the site began quickly. Through the work of photographer Tomas van Houtryve, writer Robert Kunzig, and artist Fernando Baptista, people will see restoring scenes where ruins are cleared and statues saved. Even the COVID-19 pandemic caused only a two-month delay. Architects have said the expensive project is on track to be completed in 2024.

And thorny questions arise. What duty do we owe the creations of our ancestors? What lesson can we draw from their presence?

Humankind has answered that differently. In Dresden, Germany, the Frauenkirche, an 18th-century baroque church, was famous for its bell-shaped dome (穹顶). In February 1945, one of the most destructive bombing attacks of World War II reduced the city to ruins. After German reunion, the church was reconstructed using many of its original stones, as a symbol of peace and harmony. Berlin’s Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church also fell to bombing but had a different story. Its spire has been left a ruin on purpose to be a “warning monument” against war and destruction.

Like the Frauenkirche, Notre Dame is being rebuilt as close as possible to how it was before, including using the original, toxic metal — lead (铅) — for the roof, causing the debate about how to restore and maintain historic buildings. Actually, no one claims to have the “right” answers on preservation; there may not even be right answers. What people could do is to continuously monitor the global care of cultural heritage sites, as a matter of significance to humanity’s past, present, and future.

1. What do we know about Notre Dame Cathedral?

A．It was once threatened by conflicts.

B．It collapsed totally during a fire decade ago.

C．It has undergone repeated repairs since 1163.

D．It was not influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic.

2. What does the underlined word “thorny” mean?

A．Simple.

B．Tough.

C．Accurate.

D．Attractive.

3. Why are the Frauenkirche and Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church mentioned in para.4?

A．To remind people the value of peace and harmony.

B．To warn people the influence of war and destruction.

C．To demonstrate different solutions to heritage site preservation.

D．To introduce reconstruction methods such as using original materials.

4. What does the text mainly talk about?

A．Cultural heritage sites are nonrenewable so that they are worth protecting.

B．Notre Dame Cathedral has been the most attractive heritage site globally.

C．The reconstruction of cultural heritage sites seldom causes disagreements.

D．The reconstruction of Notre Dame Cathedral after fire has been completed.

9 . “Tie an Italian’s hands behind his back,” runs an old joke, “and he’ll be speechless.” This rests on a national stereotype: Italians are talkative and emotional, and all that arm-waggling supposedly goes to prove it.

Susan Goldin-Meadow of the University of Chicago has a rather different view. Emotions come out in lots of ways: facial expressions, posture, tone of voice and so on. But people are doing something different when they use gestures with speech, which she sums up in the title of her new book, “Thinking with Your Hands”. It is a masterly tour through a lifetime’s research.

Virtually everyone gestures, not just Italians. Experimental subjects, told after a research session that they were being watched for gestures, apologize for not having made any — but were doing so the entire time. People born blind gesture when they speak, including to each other. A woman born without arms but with “phantom limb syndrome (幻肢综合征)” describes how she uses her phantom arms when she talks — but not when she walks. All this suggests that cognition is, to some extent, “embodied”; thinking is not all done in your head.

In fact, gestures that accompany speech are a second channel of information. Subjects watch a film in which a cat runs but are told to lie and say it jumped. They do so in words — while their hands make a running motion. People who say they believe in sexual equality but gesture with their hands lower when talking about women are not indicating women’s height; they can be shown to have biases of which they may be unaware.

In “The Crown”, a historical drama series, Lady Diana is warned that her hands may betray her real emotions, which could be dangerous; they are tied together so she can learn to speak without gesticulating. No one who reads Susan’s book could ever again think that gesturing shows only a lack of control. It is about thinking and communication, and is a sophisticated aid to both.

1. Why does the author mention the old joke in Paragraph 1?

A．To present an argument.	B．To describe a scene.
C．To lead in the topic.	D．To clarify a doubt.

2. Which statement will Susan Goldin-Meadow probably agree with?

A．The disabled seldom use gestures.	B．Gestures literally embody cognition.
C．Thinking only occurs inside the brain.	D．Gestures are improper in communication.

3. What does the author try to prove in the last two paragraphs?

A．Gestures may express what the speaker really thinks.

B．People are unaware of the meanings of their gestures.

C．Gesturing during speech shows only a lack of control.

D．Speakers can lie more easily with the help of gestures.

4. Which of the following is the best title for the text?

A．Speech: A Direct Channel of Information	B．Gestures: A Vital Form of Communication
C．Italian’s Body Language: A National Stereotype	D．Thinking with Your Hands: A Lifetime’s Research

10 . Could you manage without the internet for four and a half years? That’s exactly what the actress Selena Gomez has done in a bid to improve her mental health.

She has spoken extensively about the relationship between her social media usage and mental well-being, recalling feeling like “an addict” as to becoming Instagram’s most followed user in 2016. “Indeed, I regret quitting from social media that late”, says she. “The unnecessary hate and comparisons went away once I put my phone down.”

However, the increasing digitization (数字化) means that everything from paying a bill to even making a phone call is at the mercy of the internet. Actively opting (选择) out of the internet becomes a matter of privilege. Ms Gomez’s multi-millionaire status has allowed her to take the “social” out of social media. The fact that she’s still the second most-followed woman on Instagram suggests it’s entirely possible to maintain a significant web profile to promote various projects by way of a dedicated team — without being exposed to the cruel comments.

It goes without saying that this is fundamentally different from how the rest of us without beauty deals and films to publicize use the likes of Instagram and Twitter, but even the concept of a digital detox (戒瘾) requires having a device and connectivity to choose to disconnect from.

The UK’s digital divide has worsened over the past two years, leaving poorer families without broadband connections in their homes. Digital exclusion (数字隔绝) is a major threat to wider societal equality in the UK.

Consequently, it’s worth bearing in mind that while deleting all social media accounts will undoubtedly make some feel infinitely better, many other people benefit from the strong sense of community that sharing platforms can develop. Greater resources and initiatives are needed to provide the underprivileged with the connectivity they desperately need to learn, work and live. It’s crucial that people feeling social media is harmful to their mental health are allowed to switch off and for those living in digital exclusion to be able to switch on primarily.

1. What do we learn about the actress Selena Gomez in the past four and a half years?

A．She has withdrawn from social media.

B．She has won Instagram’s most followers.

C．She has had worsening mental problems.

D．She has succeeded in a bid on the internet.

2. Why does actively opting out of using the internet become a matter of privilege?

A．Most people think that digital exclusion promotes societal equality in the UK.

B．Most people can hardly abandon the web while avoiding hate and comparisons.

C．Most people can hardly get by without the internet due to growing digitization.

D．Most people have been seriously addicted to the web without being aware of it.

3. What is stressed concerning social media platforms in the last paragraph?

A．They are beneficial to people’s mental health.

B．They create a virtual community on the internet.

C．They help many people feel connected with others.

D．They provide a necessary device for a digital detox.

4. What is the author’s attitude towards social media platforms?

A．Subjective.	B．Objective.
C．Disapproving.	D．Favorable.