1 . Students at the Calhoun School in New York City have much more than a roof over their heads. They have a rooftop garden, with lush grass, colorful flowers and fragrant herbs. “Green roofs” are sprouting up all over, from schools to city skyscrapers. And roofs aren’t the only things going green. Architects are finding all sorts of new ways to build buildings that are easier on the environment. These schools, homes, and offices are called “green buildings”.
Normally it takes a lot of energy to run appliances. Too often, that energy comes from burning fossil fuels. So green buildings are designed to do all these things with much less energy. An energy-smart building starts with thick walls. A layer of insulation (隔热材料) traps air to stop heat from passing through. That keeps heat inside in the winter, and keeps heat outside in the summer. This saves energy for heating and cooling.
Heat pumps are another power-saving way to stay comfortable. A ground heat pump moves heat through pipes that run through the ground next to the building. A few feet under the ground, the temperature stays around 10℃ all year round. Water flowing around the pipes helps heat the building in winter and cool it in summer.
Another way to build green is to use recycled materials. That saves the cost and pollution of manufacturing something new. In the Chicago Center for Green Technology, the ceiling tiles (瓷砖) are made of pressed newspaper. The bathroom floors are tiled with recycled glass, and the stall walls are recycled plastic. Builders have found many creative ways to re-use old materials.
As more people become concerned about climate change, more buildings are going green. Green buildings produce less of the gases that warm the planet. City planners like green buildings because they save money. And they are healthier for the people who work and live inside. But you don’t need to build a whole new building. Simple changes like shading windows and planting trees can make any home greener—and a better Earth home for us all.
1. How are green buildings designed to keep warm in the winter?| A．By-burning fossil fuels. | B．By using thick walls with insulators. |
| C．By running heating devices. | D．By equipping buildings with appliances. |
| A．saving water | B．using recycled materials |
| C．using less energy | D．reducing greenhouse gas emissions |
| A．Education. | B．Culture. | C．Economy. | D．Technology. |
| A．Recycling: to make a better earth for us all |
| B．Heat Pumps: a new approach to saving energy |
| C．Green Roofs: more than a roof over our heads |
| D．Building Green: to hug the earth more kindly |
2 . The world awaits. Where will you go next? The following are among the most exciting destinations to visit. Grab your bags and go!
Puebla, MexicoFounded in 1931, the Mexico’s fourth-largest city is a stronghold of Baroque architecture. In Puebla’s citycenter, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, there are a large number of gorgeous 17th- and 18th-century Baroque buildings. Many are decorated with colored titles, the use of which illustrates the combination of Puebla’s local and European colonial styles. In 2017, an earthquake shook the area, leading to restorations of facilities throughout the city afterward. Despite that, Puebla remains rooted in tradition.
Telč, Czech RepublicThe storybook town was probably founded in the mid-14th century. Stone walls and a system of man-madeponds help protect Telč historic town center, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The triangular market square is bordered by a rainbow of light-colored houses, which were originally built of wood and rebuilt in stone after a fire in the late 14th century.
Göbekli Tepe, TurkeyEstimated to date back to the 10th-9th millennia B.C.E, the monumental limestone pillars at Göbekli Tepe had been hiding in plain sight for several thousand years. The detailed exploration of these giant stones only began in the 1990s. What have been revealed — primarily massive stones decorated with bas-reliefs (浅浮雕) of animal — comprise the world’s oldest known temple complex. The extraordinary discoveries made here have rewritten the story of how the first civilizations began.
GuatemalaArchaeologists have found long-hidden ruins of an extensive pre-Columbian civilization here, confirming that Guatemala is the place to dive into Mayan culture, then and now. Ancient roots run particularly deep in the northernmost Peten region. In modern, multicultural Guatemala, people with Mayan origin make up about half the population, making the country the only one in Central America with a native cultural majority.
1. Where can tourists enjoy architecture exhibiting a combination of native and foreign styles?| A．Guatemala. | B．Göbekli Tepe, Turkey. |
| C．Puebla, Mexico. | D．Telč, Czech Republic. |
| A．The long-hidden ruins. |
| B．The deeply rooted Mayan culture. |
| C．The modern and multicultural society. |
| D．The only Central American country with Mayan population. |
| A．They have historic sites. | B．They are in Central America. |
| C．They were once destroyed by fire. | D．They were discovered in recent decades. |
3 . There’s a classic short story in which a young man travels years ahead and meets his future self. Narratives like this have always been related to science fiction. But what if you could meet your future self?
I’m a psychologist and professor. My research over the past 15 years isn’t far from this theme. I’ve largely focused on how people think about and relate to their future selves, and explored the reasons why we have such a hard time making long-term decisions. In my research, I’ve learnt that we often imagine our future selves like strangers, which can impede us in making long-term choices. One way to bridge the emotional gap is to think of future selves in more concrete and vivid ways, like writing letters to and from one’s future self, which can strengthen the connection between current and future selves.
Admittedly, having people engage in an imagined conversation is a far cry from actually meeting one’s future self. But it’s believed that far richer interactions may happen in the near future through artificial intelligence (AI). It wouldn’t be predicting exactly what choices you’d make. It’d be more about showing your potential, based on the lives of people similar to you: not just one possible life for you, but rather, the most possible life path for you. Such interactions could offer valuable insights into our potential future selves.
So, to return to my original question: if you could time-travel to meet your future self, what aspects of your life would you want to know more about? I realized, through thorough reflections, that the most powerful questions would be ones that helped me make better choices today —questions exploring personal growth, regrets and unfulfilled actions.
Actually, you don’t need to wait for time travel or advanced AI for answers that you can act on. Through my research, I’ve learnt that simply taking a bit of time to picture this meeting can help you make better choices now. All you need is a little imagination, and the willingness to put yourself in the shoes of a person you currently treat as a stranger.
1. Why is it difficult for people to make long-term decisions according to the author?| A．Technology for time travel is not available. |
| B．Strangers cannot help with decision-making. |
| C．Writing letters to one’s future self is impractical. |
| D．People find it hard to connect with their distant selves. |
| A．contradictory to | B．very different from |
| C．not as convenient as | D．less popular than |
| A．Why hasn’t my hard work ever paid off? |
| B．What can AI do to help people become better persons? |
| C．If given the chance, what would you have done differently? |
| D．How can I succeed without going through all the difficulties in life? |
| A．Time travel: What if you met your future self? |
| B．My research: How do people view their future selves? |
| C．Emotional gap: Why can’t we talk with our future selves? |
| D．Artificial intelligence: Is it possible to meet your future self? |
4 . When adult humans meet a baby, many can’t help speaking in a higher-pitched (更高音的), sing-song y voice. This shift, known as parentese, is not unique to humans — it has also been observed in animals like monkeys and gorillas. Now, scientists are adding one more species to that list: bottlenose dolphins.
Dolphins are intelligent animals that live and hunt in groups. They communicate in a unique way: every individual produces its own signature sound that acts much like an ID card, usually by its first birthday. But how does each come up with its distinctive whistle? For babies, it might have something to do with listening to Mum. To solve this mystery, researchers examined the sounds mother dolphins, make.
Scientists studied 34 years’ worth of recordings of sounds made by 19 female bottlenose dolphins. When the mother dolphins were near their young, they continued to make their signature sound, but at a higher frequency. They also used a wider range of frequencies than they did when their babies were not nearby.
This discovery suggests that using these modifications mother dolphins assist their young in learning how to produce these calls themselves. Since dolphin babies often spend some years with their mothers before living on their own, it makes sense that this adaptation would help them learn to communicate. At the very least, the higher-pitched whistle likely gets the babies’ attention. “It’s important for a baby to know,’ Oh, Mum’s talking to me now,’” says marine biologist June Mann.
This kind of research could help us understand how language developed in humans. “It is absolutely essential to have basic knowledge about other species and how they communicate,” says Mann. “I would be really interested to see whether dolphins also change their sounds when interacting with babies of others, which is what happens in humans.”
1. What do the underlined words “this mystery ”refer to in paragraph 2?| A．Why dolphins live and play in groups. |
| B．How dolphins develop their unique sounds. |
| C．What aspects of intelligence dolphins possess. |
| D．Whether dolphins can use parentese like humans. |
| A．By analyzing mother dolphins’ sound features. |
| B．By recording parent-child interaction frequency. |
| C．By measuring the distance between parent and child. |
| D．By examining the speech organs of mother dolphins. |
| A．To help them learn to talk. | B．To teach them hunting skills. |
| C．To express worry and care. | D．To distract their attention. |
| A．To compare the parentese of humans and dolphins. |
| B．To illustrate the development of dolphin intelligence. |
| C．To share new findings about dolphin communication. |
| D．To highlight the value of studying dolphins’ language. |
5 . Last summer at a bookstore, my son Henry was fascinated by the cover of the first novel from Peter Brown’s middle-grade trilogy (三部曲). He then finished it in just two days. “Dad, why did The Wild Robot have to be so sad?” He tearfully asked me.
The story is set on a remote island, where a robot named Roz learns to survive and communicate with the island’s creatures, and becomes part of the community. For my son, it was the first book he discovered on his own; the first to impact him with the mix of tragedy (悲剧) and joy.
When I finished the book, I knew why Henry loved it. In our book club discussion, he described how Brown’s pictures and words had made the story feel real. When talking about its final scenes, where Roz leaves to find repairs for her injured body, Henry cried again. His previous reading experiences had cheerful, “happily-ever-after” endings, but this book introduced him to the beauty of complex emotions. I tried to explain how sadness can enhance the meaning of happy moments, but failed to fully convince him.
Once our discussion ended, Henry requested to buy The Wild Robot Escapes and instantly fell in love with it. He read the first two books repeatedly, so you can imagine his excitement when we finally got a copy of The Wild Robot Protects.
We both agree it is worth the wait. Roz leaves the island again to stop an underwater threat: “the poison tide.” Brown expertly balances between breathtaking adventure and unsettling ideas- not just happiness and sadness, but also, given the climate-change undercurrents, hope and despair.
And, here’s something special about Roz: her physical clumsiness and confusion about life, conveyed through her expressive eyes and downturned mouth. Her story reflects the challenges of surviving in a strange place, much like a child’s journey. Readers love Roz. They learn from her. Even better, they learn alongside her. Roz gave Henry the power to push through the first book’s sad parts, getting him ready to appreciate that, sometimes, sadness isn’t a bad thing to feel.
1. What drove the author to read The Wild Robot?| A．Its tragic ending. | B．Henry’s tearful recommendation. |
| C．Its attractive cover. | D．Henry’s emotional response to it. |
| A．Family and community. | B．Concerns of global issues. |
| C．Exploration of the ocean. | D．Man-robot relationship. |
| A．Her childlike expressions. | B．Her robotic power. |
| C．Her struggling experiences. | D．Her adventurous spirit. |
| A．Misfortune inspires great literary works. | B．Robot stories work like magic on children. |
| C．Book discussions help kids survive tragedies. | D．Reading literature facilitates personal growth. |
6 . Are you ready to unlock your full career potential? Explore the details of each course below to find your right fit.
EliteOnline
Whether you’re exploring what to do next or you’ve already identified a role, this course is structured to help you take practical steps toward your career. It uses a design thinking approach to help people of any age and academic background. It consists of 5 career-oriented concepts, explained through videos, personal reflections, and exercises.
7 weeks:2-4 hours per week; self-paced
AUX
The course provides skill development for graduates as they prepare for their next career step. Participants will build skills to promote leadership, run a team, manage projects, apply teaching skills beyond the classroom, develop strategic communication skills and prepare successful job application materials.
·7 weeks:2-5 hours per week; instructor-led on a course schedule
BerkUX
This course provides tips and strategies for launching a successful music career as an artist. It covers developing your identity, leading a band, planning and recording your first independent record, building a brand, developing business partnerships, and understanding the business side of music production.
·4 weeks: 2-5 hours per week; self-paced
UXOnline
In this course, you will focus on the pathways to Internet security career success. You will determine your own incoming skills, talent, and deep interests to apply toward a meaningful exploration of 32 Digital Pathways of Cybersecurity. You will complete a self-assessment to determine the essential next steps.
·6 weeks:2-4 hours per week; self-paced
1. What is an advantage of EliteOnline?| A．It provides downloadable videos. | B．It offers the longest learning hours. |
| C．It focuses on trainings of design thinking. | D．It requires no specific academic background. |
| A．They allow a flexible learning pace. | B．They aim at specific professions. |
| C．They develop management skills. | D．They assess career potentials. |
| A．Network engineering. | B．Online teaching. |
| C．Career consulting. | D．Digital marketing. |
7 . Would you rather watch a new movie, or an old favorite? Would you rather try a dish you’ve never had at a restaurant, or stick with something you know you’ll like? Researchers studying the “mere exposure effect” have found that we often prefer the familiar over the novel.
People didn’t need to experience a reward or positive outcome while around the object—simply being exposed to the object would be enough to make people like it. To test this, social psychologist Robert Zajonc had participants read words in a foreign language out loud and varied how often participants read each word (up to 25 repetitions). Next, after reading the words, participants were asked to guess at the meaning of each word by filling out a rating scale (indicating how positive or negative they thought the meaning of the word was).
He found that participants liked words that they had said more often, while words that participants hadn’t read at all were rated more negatively, and words that had been read 25 times were rated highest. Just the me re exposure to the word was enough to make participant s like it more.
One place where the me re exposure effect occurs is in advertising. It explains why seeing the same advertisement multiple times could be more convincing than just seeing it once. Of course, there’s a caution here:the me re exposure effect doesn’t happen for things we initially dislike. Researchers have found that our liking for a variety of things (including pictures, sounds, foods, and smells) can be increased with repeated exposure, suggesting that the mere exposure effect isn’t limited to just one of our senses. Additionally, researchers have found that the me re exposure effect occurs in studies with human research participants as well as in studies with non-human animals.
Another key finding from this analysis was that participants eventually started to like object s less after many repeated exposures. In other words,a smaller number of repeated exposures will make you like something more——but, if the repeated exposures continue, you could eventually get tired of it.
1. What is the key factor in Robert Zajonc’s test?| A．Frequency. | B．Preference. | C．Originality. | D．Achievement. |
| A．We favor an advertisement at the first sight. |
| B．A student joined in the club because of love. |
| C．We are more convinced of what we met before. |
| D．A student read as many English words as possible. |
| A．It is the result of advertising. | B．It has nothing to do with animals. |
| C．It is true of what we dislike at first. | D．It can be applied to multiple senses. |
| A．More love because of more exposures. | B．The study on mere exposure effect. |
| C．Better results from the earlier exposures. | D．The application of mere exposure effect. |
8 . A new study on 26 chimpanzees (黑猩猩) from zoos around the world found that chimpanzees can recognise family members and long lost friends even after decades of separation.
The participating chimpanzees were given juice while staring at a screen flashing side by side photos of other chimps. One animal from each pair of photos had lived with the group for at least a year, while the other was a stranger. An eye-tracking camera recorded where the participants were looking and for how long. Data showed their eyes rested longer on familiar groupmates, suggesting “rich recognition of each other.”
There is also evidence that they became more intent when shown a picture of a chimpanzee with whom they’d had more positive interactions, compared with conflicting relationships.
In the most impressive case, a 46-year-old chimpanzee named Louise repeatedly demonstrated “intense” attention upon seeing photographs of her sister Loretta and nephew Erin, whom she hadn’t seen in more than 26 years. The team said Louise’s results represent the longest-lasting social memory documented in any non-human animal to date.
“We tend to see ourselves as unique special creatures with incredible intellectual (智力的) capacities that are very different from other animals on earth,” said Laura Simone Lewis, a postdoctoral fellow in Berkeley’s psychology department and lead author of the study. “This study is showing us how similar we are to chimpanzees.” She noted that the findings support the theory that long-term social memory in humans and modern day chimps has come from “our last common ancestor that lived somewhere between 5 to 7 million years ago” who also likely had long-term social memory.
Now that they have definitive evidence that these endangered species possess long-term social memories, researchers have more questions, including whether chimpanzees miss the individuals they’re no longer with, especially their friends and family. “Our study doesn’t determine they are doing this, but it raises questions about the possibility that they may have the ability to do so,” Lewis said.
1. What is paragraph 2 mainly about?| A．The nature of chimps. | B．The method of the study. |
| C．The analysis of the recorded data. | D．The layout of experimental equipment. |
| A．Attentive. | B．Doubtful. | C．Hesitant. | D．Emotional. |
| A．To stress chimps are as intelligent as human beings. |
| B．To explain where chimps’ social memory comes from. |
| C．To better demonstrate the chimps’ memory length. |
| D．To further prove the existence of chimps’ social memory. |
| A．Whether chimps feel strong emotions to their long lost friends. |
| B．How to strengthen chimps’ long-term social memories. |
| C．How chimps recognised their close contacts after long separation. |
| D．Why chimps possess the amazing social memories. |
9 . Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL)
For this program, you’ll need to apply to the Faculty of Education of McGill University.
| Overview This enriching program (Bachelor of Education, or B. Ed.) will prepare you to become a specialist educator of English as a Second Language (ESL) at both the elementary and secondary school levels. You will graduate with the theoretical and practical experience necessary in your future career. | Program Requirements This program requires 120 credits and leads to teacher certification. Students normally complete 30 credits in their Freshman (U0) year. In consultation with the Program Adviser, students may select courses from the recommended course list or other courses. | |||
| Courses As a TESL student, you can take courses like: EDEM 220 - Contemporary Issues in Education (3 credits) EDFE 209 - First Field Experience (TESL) (2 credits) EDFE 359 - Third Field Experience (TESL) (8 credits) EDFE 459 - Fourth Field Experience (TESL) (7 credits) To learn more about the courses, click here. | Careers Once you complete this undergraduate degree, you will be qualified to teach in ESL in elementary and secondary schools or work in occupations that focus on education, community programming, educational technology, curriculum (课程) development, and administration. You could become a professional: ESL Teacher, Elementary or Secondary School Adult Literacy Instructor Educational Technology Developer Curriculum Specialist | |||
Annual fees for (CAN$) 30 credits for 2023-2024 | ||||
| Tuition Fee (学费) | 25484.70 | Copyright Fee | 32.70 | |
| Society & Other Fees | 591.58 | Information Technology Charge | 279.60 | |
| Student Services/Athletics & Recreation | 715.82 | SSMU Dental Insurance* | 150.00 | |
| Registration / Transcripts & Diploma/ General Administrative Charges | 393.98 | International Health Insurance* | 951.00 | |
| Total Fees: 28599.38 * SSMU Dental Insurance and International Health Insurance charged once a year. | ||||
1. Which course provides the highest credit score?
| A．EDEM 220. | B．EDFE 209. | C．EDFE 359. | D．EDFE 459. |
| A．CAN$849.49. | B．CAN$3114.68. | C．CAN$25484.70. | D．CAN$28599.38. |
| A．A student seeking for a degree in Kindergarten Education. |
| B．A student expecting to teach English in primary school. |
| C．A student hoping for a career as a health instructor. |
| D．A student planning to specialise in science exploration. |
10 . A man with advanced Parkinson’s disease (帕金森氏症) is now able to walk almost normally again thanks to electrodes implanted (电极植入) in his spinal cord (脊椎), researchers said on Monday. The medical first was achieved by Swiss researchers who had previously pioneered similar breakthroughs to help disabled people walk again.
“This could be a game-changing technology to help bring back movement in people with advanced Parkinson’s,” said David Dexter, research director at Parkinson’s UK.
Marc Gauthier, the 62-year-old patient who lives in France, has suffered from the brain disorder for about 30 years. Like more than 90 percent of people with advanced Parkinson’s, Mar c has had great difficulty walking. What are known as “freezing” experiences — during which patients are unable to move for a limited time, putting them at risk of falling — are particularly awful, Marc told AFP.
Much remains unknown about Parkinson’s disease, making treatment difficult. But the disease can seriously affect the lives of patients, sometimes keeping them to bed or a wheelchair. So when the opportunity came to go through an operation in Switzerland, Marc gladly accepted the chance.
“Now I can do whatever I want,” Marc says. “I can go for a walk and go out shopping by myself.” He adds that he can now walk much more easily — he is even planning a trip to Brazil — but it still requires concentration, particularly when climbing upstairs.
The Swiss team, led by surgeon Jocelyne Bloch and neuroscientist Gregoire Courtine , implanted a complex system of electrodes called a “neuroprosthesis (神经假体)” at important points along Marc’s spinal cord. The neuroprosthesis was first tested on animals, and then implanted in Marc, who has used it for roughly eight hours a day over nearly two years.
The Swiss team has expanded their experiment to a group of six Parkinson’s patients, aiming to know how it could help others, given the disease affects people in different ways. However, treatment using the implant could be quite expensive, potentially limiting how many patients would have access.
1. What is David Dexter’s attitude to the Swiss breakthrough?| A．Unconcerned. | B．Doubtful. | C．Positive. | D．Unclear. |
| A．Volunteer as a tour guide in Brazil. | B．Run to his heart’s content. |
| C．Go to the supermarket alone. | D．Make a phone call while climbing the stairs. |
| A．It was first tested on Marc Gauthier. | B．It is hardly affordable for ordinary people. |
| C．It has been performed on many patients. | D．It was done by researchers in the UK. |
| A．A Spinal Implant Allows a Parkinson’s Patient to Walk Again |
| B．Parkinson’s Patients Have to Deal With Difficulties in Life |
| C．Swiss Experts Have Created a Drug to Treat Parkinson’s |
| D．New Technology Prevents People From Developing Parkinson’s |
