1 . Navarre Scott Momaday became the first Native American to win a Pulitzer Prize after publishing his first novel, House Made of Dawn, in 1968.

Momaday didn’t feel that the recognition was as deserving as others thought. The Kiowa writer had always considered himself a poet above all else. “I don’t think of myself as a novelist,” he told the Los Angeles Times’s Edward Iwata. “I still feel poetry is the highest form of literature.” Many years after House Made of Dawn’s publication, he still saw its success as an accident.

Momaday died at age 89, and he left behind an astonishing literary achievement. His barrier-breaking novel paved the way for a new generation of Native American authors, including James Welch, Leslie Marmon Silko, Louise Erdrich and Joy Harjo. His distinctive style and vivid descriptions make the comparison to poetry appropriate. “That’s exactly what it was,” says Kevin Gover, a citizen of the Pawnee Tribe of Oklahoma. “It really reads like poetry. It is quite unique. I’ve seen very little that’s like it before or since.”

Momaday was born on February 27, 1934, in Lawton, Oklahoma. When he was a baby, the family relocated to a reservation in Arizona. They moved once again to Jemez Pueblo, New Mexico, when he was 12. Momaday has said that the main character of his first novel is a combination of the troubled individuals he knew as a child at Jemez Pueblo. After earning a master’s degree and PhD in English from Stanford University, Momaday taught at several institutions. He wrote House Made of Dawn in the mornings before class.

“House Made of Dawn was about what it means to be Native in contemporary circumstances,” says Gover, who remembers following the novel’s publication and rise to literary praise when he was a child. “Momaday was from my part of the country, down in southwest Oklahoma. I remember we were all amazed — not that we could appreciate when we were kids the quality of his work — but just the fact that somebody like us had produced something that was winning such praise.”

1. What did Momaday think of his winning the Pulitzer Prize?

A．It’s rewarding.	B．It’s honorable.
C．It’s unexpected.	D．It’s challenging.

2. Why does the author list Native American authors in paragraph 3?

A．To compare Momaday with them.

B．To emphasize Momaday’s influence on them.

C．To help readers understand Momaday’s book.

D．To tell Momaday’s writing style comes from them.

3. Which most impacted Momaday’s creation of House Made of Dawn?

A．Lawton, Oklahoma.	B．Stanford University.
C．The reservation in Arizona.	D．Jemez Pueblo, New Mexico.

4. What does Gover intend to say in the last paragraph?

A．It’s hard for Native American authors to succeed.

B．Modern society favors the literary creation.

C．House Made of Dawn wasn’t a hit at first.

D．He has loved literature since childhood.

2 . Employers are flooded with job applications on a daily basis. A recent study found that employers spend an average of six seconds reading a cover letter (求职信) before they make the initial decision on whether a candidate fits the job or not. Here's how to make sure yours gets the attention it deserves.

Add your cover letter keywords.     1     Underline keywords in the job advertisement describing the skills, training and experience that are required, and this will help you find important keywords that let you know what kind of employee the company is hoping to find. Use these same keywords throughout your cover letter.

    2     Each version of your cover letter should talk about how your skills will benefit the particular organization that you want to work for. You want to target the organization’s needs — not your own. Demonstrate how you could help them achieve their goals.     3    

Show you “get” them. Your cover letter should demonstrate that you have done some research into what the organization’s pain points are.     4     This can help your cover letter take the right tone. If you’re applying for an administrative position, be sure to mention your time-management skills; if you’re an IT professional, include your expert knowledge and skills in improving efficiency. Always ask yourself: How can I help this company?

Proofread (校对). Don’t assume spell check will catch every mistake.     5     Slowly review your cover letter to make sure everything reads properly. Having someone else read your cover letter is a good idea.

A．Actually, it won’t.

B．Adapt for the company.

C．Highlight your past achievements.

D．Address your cover letter to the proper person.

E．This helps you to tailor your cover letter to the role.

F．Remember that you’re selling yourself, but the employer has to want to buy.

G．It’s important to present yourself as a solution to a hiring manager’s problem.

3 . Teachers across America are struggling to decide whether to view artificial intelligence (AI) tools like ChatGPT as friends or enemies in the classroom. Our study on whether AI affects student creativity shows that the answer isn’t always simple.

In the study, we asked college students to brainstorm — without technology — all the ways a paper clip can be used. A month later, we asked them to do the same, but using ChatGPT. We found that AI can be a useful brainstorming tool, quickly generating ideas that can spark creative exploration. But there are also potential negative effects on students’ creative thinking skills and self-confidence. While students reported that it was helpful to “have another brain”, they also felt that using AI was “the easy way out” and didn’t allow them to think on their own.

The results call for a thoughtful approach to using AI in classrooms and striking a balance that inspires students’ creativity while utilizing AI’s capabilities. The good news is that the students in our study generated more diverse and detailed ideas when using AI. They found that AI was useful for kick-starting brainstorming sessions.

When it comes to brainstorming with AI, some students voiced concerns about over-reliance on the technology, fearing it might hurt their own thoughts and, consequently, confidence in their creative abilities. Some students reported a “fixation of the mind”, meaning that once they saw the AI’s ideas, they had a hard time coming up with their own. Some students also questioned the originality of ideas generated by AI. Our research noted that while using ChatGPT improved students’ creative output individually, the AI’s ideas tended to be repetitive overall.

The study results indicate that allowing students to practice creativity independently first will strengthen their belief in themselves and their abilities. Once they complete this, AI can be useful in furthering their learning, much like teaching long division to students before introducing a calculator. That’s to say, teaching students to be creative thinkers rather than rely on AI for answers is the key to answering the question mentioned above.

1. Why were the students required to use ChatGPT after a month in the study?

A．To clarify a concept.	B．To make a comparison.
C．To explain a definition.	D．To present an argument.

2. What does the underlined word “utilizing” in paragraph 3 mean?

A．Learning.	B．Designing.
C．Taking advantage of.	D．Having control of.

3. What does paragraph 4 focus on concerning AI?

A．Its negative aspects.	B．Its limited creativity.
C．Its reliable originality.	D．Its potential development.

4. What does the author intend to tell us in the last paragraph?

A．The future of AI use is uncertain.	B．Traditional teaching still has a place.
C．AI’s capabilities are unquestionable.	D．Human creativity should come first.

4 . If you’re interested in increasing your academic knowledge, consider taking an online college course.

Open Culture

It provides access to over 1,700 college courses for free. They’re chosen from subjects like literature and computer science or specific schools like Harvard and Oxford. If you want to obtain an online degree, you pay the relevant fees. The site also provides access to certificates, movies, and e-books. Some course categories include:

Architecture

Communication

FutureLearn

It offers free membership classes in several subjects, like law and literature, taught by college professors and industry experts. Premium (高级) membership courses are available for a fee. There are various course types, which are short courses, online degrees, ExpertTracks and Microcredentials. You can complete the courses at your own pace. Featured courses include:

Copywriting Fundamentals

A Beginner’s Guide to Fashion Design

Academic Earth

It matches prospective students with online coursework, either to audit (旁听) or work towards a degree. It’s free to audit classes, but if you seek course credits, you pay a fee before attending the class. You may also select the university you wish to receive your online degree based on the ones the site offers. Its degree program includes subjects like:

Business

Education

Coursera

It affords students access to free courses and paid degree courses from several distinguished international colleges and universities. From the site, you can explore earning a certification or a degree based on your learning goals. If you’re seeking a new career path, the site can help you with the process by offering courses to develop your skills and earn professional documents. A few of the free classes offered include:

Financial Markets

Introduction to Psychology

1. What is special about FutureLearn’s courses?

A．They can all be learned flexibly.	B．They all belong to premium members.
C．They’re all related to law and literature.	D．They’re all taught by college professors.

2. If you want to make a career change, which will you go to for a new skill?

A．Academic Earth.	B．Open Culture.
C．FutureLearn.	D．Coursera.

3. What do the online learning platforms have in common?

A．They’re fit for beginners with free time.

B．They specifically serve working people.

C．They only charge for their certain courses.

D．They offer courses for awarding degrees only.

5 . Could short interactions with other people’s dogs really be good for us?

Nancy Gee, a professor from Virginia Commonwealth University, says there’s growing evidence that levels of the stress hormone cortisol (激素皮质醇) drop in people after just 5 to 20 minutes spent interacting with dogs — even if it’s not their own pet. “Also, we see increases in oxytocin, which is a feel-good kind of bonding hormone,” she says. And it’s not just humans that benefit from these brief exchanges. “We see the same thing in the dogs, so the dogs’ oxytocin also increases when they interact with a human,” says Gee.

And of course, not everyone is a dog person. “They’re not necessarily going to be great for every single person. But for people who really get it, who really connect with the animals, they really can make a big difference,” Gee says.

Research on the health benefits of human interactions with animals — especially with dogs— has exploded in recent years, thanks to funding from the National Institutes of Health and the Waltham Petcare Science Institute. Though the field is still young, Gee says the quality of the evidence is improving all the time, including more randomized controlled trials looking at short interactions. “We’re seeing really nice effects,” she says.

Professor Megan Mueller, whose research focuses on the psychology of human-animal relationships, says watching dogs sniff the grass or explore the world around them makes us pay more attention, too. “They sort of pull you out of your phone and into whatever environment that you’re in.” She says there’s some evidence that the act of really touching a dog might be an important part of their calming effect. For instance, one study done in Canada found that college students reported their improved learning results and reduced feelings of homesickness after brief interactions with dogs, and that effect was much bigger in those who really got to pet the animals. She’s currently running a study that’s found similar results.

1. What can we say about humans’ interacting with other people’s dogs?

A．It’s a two-way street.	B．It’s a risky behavior.
C．It’s human nature.	D．It’s an act of love.

2. Why have so many researchers studied human-animal interaction?

A．This field is new to them.	B．They are supported financially.
C．There is already much to refer to.	D．The research methods are mature.

3. What has Mueller discovered in her study?

A．Watching dogs helps us communicate better.

B．Walking dogs stops us playing on the phone.

C．Interacting with dogs randomly affects us less.

D．Touching dogs makes us learn more effectively.

4. What's the suitable title for the text?

A．Owning a Dog Is Not for Everybody	B．Petting Dogs Briefly Does Us Good
C．Dogs Interact with Humans on Purpose	D．Dog Ownership Is a Big Responsibility

6 . One of the best essay contests of 2024, this competition sponsored by the Writer’s Digest promotes nonfiction of all kinds: “personal or political, traditional or experimental”, but your essay should be at least 1,000 words and 1,500 words at most.

Eligibility (资格):

Students are eligible to participate if they are in grades nine through twelve in any of the fifty states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. territories, or if they are U. S. citizens/lawful permanent residents attending high school overseas. Students may be attending a public or private school. Entries from home-schooled students are also accepted.

Submission:

Fill out the online registration form. All fields on the online form are required, including uploading a Microsoft Word (doc. or docx.) file of your original work with a title in English which should include a comprehensive list of sources consulted. Entries must be typed, double-spaced, in 12-point Times New Roman.

Teacher or parent: Student registration forms must have a teacher or parent name. That person may review the submitted essay and act as the key contact.

Do not place your last name or your school’s name on any of the pages of the essay.

Your essay will be disqualified if it does not meet the requirements or is submitted after the submission date of 11:59 p.m. EDT on June 1, 2024.

Prizes:

$1,000 to the writer of the winning essay, in addition to an all-expense paid trip to the Writer’s Digest Annual Conference! The runner-up wins a writing coaching package valued at $650 and the third, a diversity editing package valued at $350.

1. Who can participate in the contest?

A．A Chinese teenager.	B．A high school teacher.
C．An American tenth-grader.	D．A professional writer.

2. What is a requirement for the entry?

A．Uploading a Word version of the original work.

B．Writing personal name on the first page of the entry.

C．Filling in the application form and posting it in time.

D．Making sure of the words of the entry beyond 1,500.

3. What will be the second prize?

A．A free trip.	B．A cash prize.
C．A diversity editing package.	D．A writing coaching package.

7 . As home gardeners in the US page through seed catalogs (目录册) and pick out their favorite plants this week, there’s a new seed that has never been available to them before: a purple tomato. It is the first genetically engineered food crop to be directly marketed to home gardeners and the seeds went on sale Saturday.

The lending scientist behind the tomato is Cathie Martin. About 20 years ago, she set out to create a transgenic (转基因的) tomato, using DNA from a purple snapdragon, which is an unrelated eatable flower. Her goal was to develop a tomato with high levels of anthocyanins, chemicals that give blueberries, blackberries, eggplant and purple cabbage their color. Research has shown that anthocyanins also have anti-cancer and anti-aging effects.

“It’s normal for tomatoes to make these healthy chemicals. But they typically don’t make them very much in the fruit,” Martin told reporters in an interview. “They normally appear in the leaves and stems.”

So she started with, separating the DNA in the snapdragon flower that turns on and off the purple color. Next, she used a basic technique that was figured out by scientists in the 1980s to introduce it into a certain bacteria so that the tomato could then take in the foreign genetic material and express this new gene.

The result? In a paper published in Nature, Martin found that the purple tomato had, per weight, as much anthocyanin as a blueberry or eggplant, and that the mice who ate a diet mixed with purple tomatoes lived 30% longer than those who didn’t.

“Americans eat more tomatoes annually, so it makes the nutritional benefits more accessible,” Martin said.

Of course, some people have raised health concerns about eating genetically engineered foods. But these foods were introduced three decades ago and studies have not shown any harm.

“The purple potato is another great example of how the outcomes and applications of such biotechnologies can improve our life,” Martin said.

1. What can be inferred from the second paragraph?

A．Tomatoes usually do not produce anthocyanins.

B．The wild purple snapdragon might be poisonous.

C．Many purple fruits may postpone the aging process.

D．The purple tomato was widely available 20 years ago.

2. What can we know about the technique used to produce the purple tomato?

A．It is a relatively old method.	B．It was invented by Cathie Martin.
C．It puts the DNA directly into the potato.	D．It was used to separate the DNA in the flower.

3. What does Cathie Martin think of the genetically engineered foods?

A．Unprofitable.

B．Safe.

C．Expensive.

D．Unreliable.

4. From which is the text probably taken?

A．An advertisement.

B．A handbook.

C．A short story.

D．A science report.

8 . In-flight announcements can be crucial in providing important information.     1     But beyond the “necessities”, are passengers being flooded with too many announcements?

Imagine boarding an aircraft late in the evening or during the early hours of the day, eager to get some sleep. After forcing yourself to stay awake for the safety briefing, you fall fast asleep.     2     It’s the captain making an announcement. She’s telling you her name, her first officer’s name, the name of every flight attendant, and of course, the cruising speed and altitude. Was this really necessary and was it worth being woken up for?

    3     It’s anyone deep into a film or two passengers trying to talk to each other. In fact, in-flight announcements automatically pause television shows and movies—sometimes coming through your headphones far louder than the volume of whatever you were watching.

Which announcements are necessary? There are many in-flight announcements that are absolutely necessary. Anything to do with safety and security is, of course, essential. Anything to do with delays and scheduling is also important to know.     4     I think most people care about those as well.

However, anything beyond these is questionable. Of course, the additional announcements are meant to better connect passengers to the flight crew, the airline, and the overall experience of flying.     5     But in my opinion, this comes at the cost of the overall flight experience.

So from my point of view, in-flight announcements have gotten out of control and need to be controlled.

A．In-flight meal options?

B．After all, they are rules that should be obeyed.

C．Actually, most of the passengers are likely to feel sleepy.

D．It’s not just passengers trying to sleep that are interrupted.

E．It also seems polite to introduce those who will serve you.

F．Suddenly, you’re in the air and something has stirred you awake.

G．This might include delays, the local time at destination, and of course, emergencies.

9 . I am an ecologist from Zimbabwe, but I’ve been based at the National University of Lesotho in Maseru for more than 13 years. Lesotho is a mountainous inland kingdom in southern Africa. Its high-altitude (高海拔的) wetlands support the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, which delivers water to the Vaal River System in South Africa, generating both income and electricity for Lesotho.

I study the ecological balance that keeps those areas functioning properly: The wetlands t rap water when it rains and release it gradually during dry periods. An important part of this is to map the plants, animals and general environmental conditions, and how they change over time.

One of our team projects monitors the soundscapes of those areas to identify the animals that live there. We put sensitive recording equipment in the field for weeks at a time. This is of great help because, although that site is just 180 kilometers from my university in the capital of Lesotho, it can take up to four hours to drive there.

The data we gather are huge, and although we do listen to the recordings, we mainly use software to help us analyze the data. We want to compare our recordings between seasons, between dawn and dusk (晨昏) and between day and night, to understand the rhythms of the ecosystem. We also compare our recordings from different wetland types. High-altitude areas are easier to be affected by climate change and, in my view, it is the greatest threat those protected wetlands face.

Listening to the recordings makes me happy because I enjoy hearing a variety of sounds, especially the singing of different birds. In a small country like Lesotho, there are so many knowledge gaps to fill — it’s one of the benefits of being a researcher there. I hope that in the future some of you in this classroom will contribute to this as well.

1. What does the underlined word “this” in paragraph 2 refer to?

A．Collecting water on rainy days.	B．Harvesting electric power.
C．Studying the ecological balance.	D．Surviving during dry periods.

2. Why is it helpful to leave the recording equipment in the field for weeks?

A．It can attract more animal lovers.	B．It can save time on traveling there.
C．It can offer directions to new drivers.	D．It can test the quality of the equipment.

3. What is paragraph 4 mainly about?

A．What to do with the recordings.	B．Why climate change is a threat.
C．How to record sounds in the wild.	D．When natural sounds are recorded.

4. Where can you most probably find the text?

A．In a news report.	B．In a speech.
C．In a research paper.	D．In a travel guide.