1 . The best time to view the wonderful dancing lights is in the evening but winter in the North brings long nights. In fact, in some places, the sun doesn’t rise at all. Here are four places to view this wonderful night show.

Fairbanks, Alaska

The city lies directly below the activity, so it is a perfect place to view the lights. The shining lights are most commonly seen between 11 pm and 2 am, so don’t forget to set your alarm clock. You can enjoy a stay in a comfortable hotel, which is famous for its hot spring pools and enjoy the show while relaxing in the hot water.

Reykjavík, Iceland

If you visit Iceland, you can expect to experience the northern lights shining above. There is little light pollution in Iceland, so you can view the lights in Reykjavík, but it is recommended that you take a special tour outside of the city. A winter vacation in Iceland has so much to offer.

Yukon Territory, Canada

This distant area of Canada has many spots to view the northern lights shining in the night sky. One of the best places to view the lights and learn about the science as well as the tradition about this gift from Mother Nature, is the Northern Lights Space and Science Center in Watson Lake.

Swedish & Finnish Lapland

Located north of the Arctic (北极的) circle in Northern Finland and Sweden, Lapland has good views of the lights. There are rich daytime activities including sledding (乘雪橇), ice fishing, and learning about the culture of the area. Rukajarvi in Sweden has an ice hotel that is a perfect place for viewing the lights.

1. What can visitors do in Fairbanks, Alaska?

A．Enjoy tasty food.	B．Go ice fishing.
C．Learn about the local tradition.	D．Take a bath in a spring pool.

2. What is special about Swedish & Finnish Lapland?

A．It has almost no light pollution.

B．It offers a variety of ice activities.

C．It gets little sunlight all year round.

D．It invites visitors to a special tour outside the city.

3. Which provides visitors with scientific knowledge?

A．Fairbanks, Alaska.	B．Reykjavík, Iceland.
C．Yukon Territory, Canada.	D．Swedish & Finnish Lapland.

2 . There are ways to make friends online while also keeping yourself protected. These are the top tips that you can follow to ensure this.

Choose the right apps

    1    . However, not all these apps are good. How can you tell the good apps from the bad ones? You should choose apps that only legal members can join. This will largely increase your chances of being safe with your new friends.

    2    

Don’t wait too long to figure out who your friend really is. If you find this person interesting and would like to continue chatting with him, you need to do a little background research.

Trust your feeling

This may seem like a rather old-fashioned idea but it is important.     3    , make it a point to trust what that little voice is telling you. If you have been speaking to someone for a while and you feel uncomfortable, there is probably a reason for that.     4    .

Meet your “friend” in a public place

You can't completely trust someone that you haven't actually met before. If you do decide that it is time to meet each other, then you should set up the place at a busy restaurant or coffee shop.     5    , even if you have met. Try to avoid going to an unfamiliar place.

A．Do some research

B．Shorten your personal information

C．When you are chatting with someone

D．You should continue to remain in public areas

E．There are many apps for you to look for friendship

F．In such a situation, it is best for you to cut off all the contact with that person

G．You should also be careful with the type of questions your online friends ask

3 . Some people not only enjoy eating mushrooms, they also like to collect them in the wild.     1     Many people won’t collect mushrooms in the woods, as eating the wrong mushroom can make you sick or even dead. Therefore, buying them is an easier and safer choice. However, there is another one:     2     There are two ways to do this. You can buy a set of materials called a “grow kit” or you can put them together yourself.

Grow kits are a great way for beginners to try growing mushrooms. These grow kit s include partly-grow n mushroom starters, called “spawn (菌种)”. The spawn is set in soil and is contained in its own grow box. Put the spawn in water overnight.     3     Water it two times a day. Within two or three weeks, you will be eating mushrooms with more on the way. It is a fun, easy activity.

If you are more serious about growing mushrooms and want a larger harvest (收获), it costs less to put the materials together yourself. It is easy. For starters, you will need a wooden, metal, or plastic box. It needs to be about 15 centimeters deep and large enough to hold your harvest.     4     The materials depend on the mushrooms. Finally, you will need fungal spores (Think of them as seeds). You can buy these online or at stores.

Mushrooms usually grow within a week or two. They nearly double in size daily until they finish growing.     5     It can avoid affecting nearby growth.

A．Keep it clean and dry.

B．But that is not for everyone.

C．You will also need some growing materials.

D．Use a sharp, clean knife to cut them at soil level.

E．Then return it to the box and open it to fresh air.

F．You can grow mushrooms yourself inside your own home.

G．People will likely admire you and ask you about growing knowledge.

4 . “I’m excited for our women to show their hard work and efforts,” said Lisa Bluder. “Women’s sports should own this stage, and we’re happy to be leading the way.” Bluder is head coach of the women’s basketball team at the University of Iowa.

The exhibition game took place on October 15 at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City. Iowa went on to defeat DePaul, 94 — 72. The event set a new NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) record for women’s basketball attendance — A total of 55,646 fans watched the game at the historic stadium.

Called “Crossover at Kinnick”, the game benefited the University of Iowa Stead Family Children’s Hospital. The hospital received a check in the amount of $250,000 from ticket sales.

During the game, fans took in “The Wave”, which is known among Iowa Hawkeyes as the best tradition in college sports: Coaches, players, and fans turn to the Children’s Hospital behind the stands to wave to patients and families watching the game.

Iowa superstar Caitlin Clark put on a wonderful performance. She had 34 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists. She was also recognized as the Collegiate Women’s Athlete of the Year, an award she won last June.

“Events like the ‘Crossover at Kinnick’ are meaningful for several reasons,” Patrick Kenny said. “They create excitement to start a season and show the fans’ interest in women’s sports.” Kenny is communications manager at the Big Ten Network, which broadcasts college games.

In the 2022 — 2023 season, Louisiana State University defeated Iowa in the national finals. The championship game was the most-watched women’s college basketball game ever.

The growing popularity of women’s basketball makes a big difference, according to Bluder. “This is so important,” she said, “for boys, girls, women, and men, to see the positive impact women’s sports can have on our country as a whole.”

1. What is Bluder’s attitude towards women’s sports?

A．Impatient.

B．Doubtful.

C．Uncaring.

D．Supportive.

2. In which way did the exhibition game create a record?

A．The ages of its players.	B．The size of its audience.
C．The huge difference in the final score.	D．The places its players come from.

3. What’s the purpose of “The Wave” in the game?

A．To cheer up basketball players.	B．To excite the audience in the stadium.
C．To greet patients and their families.	D．To let others pay attention to the hospital.

4. What does Kenny intend to tell us in paragraph 6?

A．How tough women’s sports are.

B．Why “Crossover at Kinnick” is important.

C．Why women’s sports should create excitement.

D．How to draw audience’s interest to women’s sports.

5 . A new electric car from Sweden comes in a flatpack (散装组件) box and it needs putting together.

Stockholm-based Luvly, founded in 2015, designed the microcar to be small and very light so that it could reduce the emissions (排放) that regular shipping entails.

There are countless tiny cars and electric tiny cars that are too small to be considered passenger vehicles. They are becoming very popular in Europe because of convenience, affordability, and a smaller carbon footprint.

To fill this niche (空缺), Luvly will introduce its first model, the Luvly O, later in 2024. The car will roll out in Stockholm, Paris, and Madrid.

The modern two-seater has a top speed of 55 mph (90 kph) with a 62-mile (100 km) distance per charge. It comes with two portable (便携的) batteries that do not use car chargers. In fact, you can recharge from your workplace or home. This is enough for the majority of travels and trips in the city surroundings.

The cars are not a DIY project. In order to be road safe, the flatpacks will be delivered to licensed car factories to put them together.

Tiny cars are not new and they have actually been around since the 1950s. These small lightweight vehicles have developed a name of being unsafe. That’s due to the light designs and limited crumple areas (防撞缓冲区).

Microcars also are not required to be crash tested because they are not subject to the same safety rules but the Luvly O is safe. For light vehicles to compete with cars, and hopefully win cars, they must be safe. People will not accept that you change from driving an SUV to driving what is really a motorbike with a shell. The Luvly O was actually inspired by Formula One cars that are light but have a strong base plate.

Luvly plans to license its flat-pack design to other carmakers, allowing them to build their own models. This is the best way to develop this city mini car.

1. Which can replace the underlined word “entails” in paragraph 2?

A．Matches.

B．Brings.

C．Requires.

D．Suffers.

2. Why will Luvly create the electric tiny car?

A．To meet the new needs.	B．To reduce car-making costs.
C．To make electric vehicles popular.	D．To compete with other carmakers.

3. What does the author think of the batteries of the Luvly O?

A．They are inconvenient to carry.	B．They are expensive to change.
C．They are suitable for big cars.	D．They are almost enough for city drivers.

4. What is special about the Luvly O compared with other tiny cars?

A．It is light.	B．It is actually a race car.
C．It is safe to drive.	D．It is similar to an SUV.

6 . Mother Teresa was born in Skopje on August 27, 1901. Her father worked in a store. Her family was not rich, but it was a happy family. She went to school when she was seven years old. She said that she had wanted to be a Missionary (传教士) when she was only 12. She took part in a nun (修女) organization when she was 18 years old. In 1928, she was sent to a church school to teach. But she left the school and went out to help the people who suffered from hunger and cold in 1946. Then she left the nun organization and set up a school in the open to accept the children who had no home.

She set up a nun organization in 1950. Now the organization is an international organization with 3500 nuns to accept the refugees (难民). She got the Noble Peace Prize in 1979. But she contributed all of the money to the poor people and the patients who suffered from illnesses. Also she sold the medal to help the people who needed help. We won’t forget the great woman, who looks like a sunshine and is the hero of the world!

1. In which year did Mother Teresa say that she wanted to be a Missionary?

A．1908.

B．1913.

C．1928.

D．1946.

2. For what kind of children was the school she set up?

A．Sick children.

B．Small children.

C．Homeless children.

D．Rich children.

3. What can be learned from the article?

A．Mother Teresa used to be a teacher in a church school.

B．Mother Teresa was born into a rich and happy family.

C．Mother Teresa set up a church for homeless children.

D．Mother Teresa worked hard to support her own family.

4. How did Mother Teresa deal with the medal of the Noble Peace Prize?

A．She sold it to buy a new house.	B．She kept it in a museum.
C．She contributed it to an organization.	D．She sold it to help people in need.

7 . Cats are often considered to be colder especially when compared with dogs. But if you find your cat friend is a little hard to get close to, maybe you’re just not speaking their language.

Research shows that it’s actually not so difficult. You just need to smile at them more. Not smile in the human’s way, by showing your teeth, but the cat’s way: by narrowing your eyes and blinking (眨眼睛) slowly. It’s similar to how human eyes narrow when they are smiling, and usually occurs when cats are relaxed and content. The expression is explained as a kind of cat smile.

Jackson Galaxy, a cat behavior expert, says there are some pretty strong feelings behind the cat’s slow blink. He calls it “I Love You Blink”. Galaxy says the cat will blink slowly when cats and people are completely opening up to one another in sharing affection.

Researchers carried out two experiments. In the first experiment, owners slow-blinked at 21 cats from 14 different families. Once the cat was settled and comfortable in one spot in their home environment, the owners were asked to sit about a meter away and slow-blink when the cat was looking at them. The second experiment included 24 cats from 8 different families. This time, it wasn’t the owners doing the blinking but the researchers, who’d had no earlier contact with the cats. They found that not only were the cats more likely to blink back, but that they were more likely to reach the human’s hand after the human had blinked.

Dr Tasmin Humphrey, the first author of the study from the University of Sussex, said: “Understanding positive ways in which cats and humans interact can increase public understanding of cats, improve its welfare, and tell us more about the socio-cognitive (社会认知) abilities of this species.”

1. What is “a kind of cat smile”?

A．Showing teeth.	B．Narrowing eyes.
C．Narrowing eyes and blinking slowly.	D．Smiling like a human.

2. How many cats were there in the experiments?

A．45

B．24

C．21

D．14

3. Why did the researchers do the experiments?

A．To help cats live well.	B．To explain cats are clever.
C．To provide a way in which humans can touch cats.	D．To show how humans can communicate with cats.

4. What is the best title of the text?

A．Cats and their “I Love You Blink”	B．Love your cats more
C．Ways to get close to your cats	D．Cats and their owners

8 . Dealing with school stress is something most students have to learn to do during the course of their education.    1     Here are some tips for you to beat school stress.

    2    . Is there a certain person, or thing that’s causing you to feel stressed out? An important tool in learning to deal with your stress is to find out more about what’s causing it. Common reasons for stress at school include homework, grades, the lack of sleep and bullying. If you are being bullied, talk to your parents and your teachers.     3    .

Ask for help.     4    , find someone to help you. Everyone has to ask for help at times. Asking for help doesn’t mean you’re not independent or clever. Instead, it’s a sign of real cleverness to know your limitations.

Practice thought-stopping. Sometimes feeling overwhelmed (不知所措) in a stressful situation leads to fast, or “racing” thoughts. If this happens to you, try a way named “thought-stopping”.     5    . You may try saying. “That’s enough of those thoughts for now. I will get busy and come back to this after lunch.”

A．Know the source of your stress

B．When you have stress, keep an objective attitude

C．Get to know the way your body experiences stress

D．If you don’t know how to deal with a stressful thing

E．They may try their best to help you solve the problem

F．However, many students still don’t know how to deal with it

G．This means stopping your thoughts and turning your attention to something else for a while

9 . Around 2 million deaths each year are linked to physical inactivity. And a sedentary (久坐的) lifestyle is one of the leading causes of death in the world.

A new study published in the journal of the American College of Sports Medicine suggests that regular short exercise “snacks” throughout the working day might be enough to mitigate the effects of a sedentary lifestyle.

For the study. 11 participants (参与者) sat for 8-hour sessions. During the sessions, they followed one of four exercise “snacks” — 1 minute of walking after every 30 minutes of sitting, 1 minute after 60 minutes, 5minutes every 30 minutes, and 5minutes every 60 minutes — or a “snack” with no walking.

The researchers found that participants’ blood sugar and blood pressure levels were reduced after 5minutes of walking for every 30 minutes of sitting.

Lead study author Dr Keith Diaz, associate professor of behavioral medicine, said the most exciting part of the new research is that they’ve answered how to prevent the harmful health effects of sedentary sitting.

The researchers also found that all exercise “snacks” resulted in a reduction in participants’ tiredness, and an improvement in mood when compared to no walking at all.

“Beyond improving your physical health,” Dr Diaz said, “having regular walks to break up your sitting will put you in a better mood and help you feel more energetic.”

Dr Diaz added that the next steps for the research include finding more ways to reduce the harmful effects of sitting.

“We hope to find the least amount of movement you have to do to prevent the health harm of sitting.” Dr Diaz said. “The reality is that many adults will find it hard to walk every half hour. So finding a more practical recommendation is still needed.”

1. What does the underlined word “mitigate” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?

A．Measure

B．Reduce

C．Decide

D．Manage

2. What about the study excited Dr Diaz the most?

A．It got published in a journal.

B．It used a new research method.

C．It proved the harmful effects of sitting too long.

D．It found a way to prevent the harm of too much sitting.

3. What can all of the four exercise “snacks” reduce?

A．People’s tiredness	B．People’s weight
C．People’s blood pressure	D．People’s blood sugar

4. Why does Dr Diaz plan to continue the research?

A．The finding is likely to be wrong.	B．The solution may have side effects.
C．The solution is not suitable for all.	D．The study hasn’t got much attention.

10 . Step into Some of the Most Magical Places That Sell Books

Many bookshops hold events such as author readings, and the booksellers are usually happy to help visitors find their perfect title. To celebrate bookshops, here are some of the most interesting ones around the UK.

Tales on Moon Lane

This shop won Children’s Bookseller of the Year at The British Book Awards in 2020 and 2021. There are now two branches (分店) in London and one in Ramsgate, Kent. Tamara Macfarlane, the owner says, “The true magic of a bookshop is that the people who work there hold all the golden tickets ----and all you have to do to get one is just ask for some advice.”

Richard Booth Bookshop

The Welsh town of Hay-on-Wye is famous for its bookshops. Richard Booth was the person responsible for turning the small market town into a literary (文学的) destination. He opened his first bookshop in the town’s old fire station in 1962 and it is still there today.

How Brave Is the Wren

This is a mobile bookshop and tours the country visiting schools, festivals and markets. Jenny Moore, who creates and runs the mobile bookshop, says that one of the best parts of her job is selecting books to send out.

Bags of Books

This store in Lewes, England, aims to inspire young people. Owner Rachel Givertz and supervisor Nika Pavlinic say their favourite part of the job is “when people come back to tell you they loved the book you recommended”. They say if you’re feeling sad or angry, books can take you away from reality for a little while.

1. Which of the following won Children’s Bookseller of the Year in 2021?

A．Richard Booth Bookshop	B．How Brave Is the Wren
C．Tales on Moon Lane	D．Bags of Books

2. Who opened the bookshop in an old fire station?

A．Jenny Moore	B．Richard Booth
C．Rachel Givertz	D．Tamara Macfarlane

3. What do we know about How Brave Is the Wren?

A．It has many branches.	B．It was opened in 1962．
C．It welcomes kids and teens only.	D．It can travel to different places.