1 . The inventor of the World Wide Web, Tim Bemers-Lee, has won an important award which comes with a prize bag of one million Euros (₤671,000). The “Father of the Web” was named as the first winner of the Millennium Technology Prize by the Finnish Technology Award Foundation. He said he had just been “in the right place at the right time” and did not want his photo taken.
In 1991, he came up with a system to organize, connect and browser (浏览) Net pages which completely changed the internet. The British scientist was knighted (封爵士) for his pioneering work in 2003.
Sir Tim created his program while he was at the particle physics institute (粒子物理研究院), Cem, in Geneva. The computer code he came up with let scientists easily share research findings across a computer network. In the early 1990s, it was called the “World Wide Web”, and is still the basis of the web as we know it.
The famous man never went on to commercialize his work. Instead he worked on spreading the use of the Net as a channel for free expression and cooperation.
“The web is encouraging new types of social networks and opening up new ways for information management and business development. The web has obviously improved many people’s ability to obtain information central to their lives,” said Pekka Tarjanne, chairman of the Millennuim Technology Prize award committee.
Just under 80 people from 22 countries were nominated (提名) for the prize for their work in the areas of health, communication, new materials and the environment.
The Millennuim Technology Prize was set up by the Finnish Technology Award Foundation, an independent body backed by the public and private money which aims to recognize outstanding creations.
Sir Tim currently heads up the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, where he is now based as an academic.
1. What can be learned from the first paragraph?| A．Bemers-Lee was the first to receive the Prize. |
| B．Bemers-Lee’s sense of timing led to his success. |
| C．Bemers-Lee was the one who invented the internet. |
| D．Bemers-Lee was awarded one million pounds. |
| A．Optimistic. | B．Modest. | C．Humorous. | D．Careful. |
| A．To enable more people to use the Net. | B．To win more honors and prizes. |
| C．To earn more money to better his life. | D．To set up a company himself. |
| A．The Millennium Technology Prize | B．The History of the Internet |
| C．The World Wide Web | D．An Honor for the Web’s Inventor |
2 . You may have noticed a phenomenon among students today. Although there are exceptions, this generation is advanced intellectually, but behind emotionally. They are missing many of the marks of maturity they should have.
From an intellectual perspective, students today have been exposed to so much more than I was growing up —and far sooner. They’ve consumed information on everything before they graduate from middle school. Everything is coming at them sooner.
On the other hand, students have been delayed in their emotional growth. They seem to require more time to actually “grow up” and prepare for the responsibility that comes with adulthood. This is a result of many factors, including well-intentioned parents who always keep their eyes on their children, not allowing them to experience the pain of maturation.
There is another reason why teens struggle with maturation. Scientists are gaining new insights into remarkable changes in the brain that may explain why the teen years are so hard on young people and their parents. From ages 11-14, kids lose some of the connections between cells in the part of their brain that enables them to think clearly and make good decisions.
What happens is that the brain reshapes itself, going through changes that will allow a young person to move into adult life effectively. Teens experiencing these brain changes can react emotionally, according to Ian Campbell, an expert at the U. C. Davis Sleep Research Laboratory. Mood swings and uncooperative and irresponsible attitudes can all be the result of these changes. Sometimes, students can’t explain why they feel the way they do. Their brain is changing from a child brain to an adult brain.
Regions that specialize in language, for example, grow rapidly until about age 13 and then stop. The part of the brain responsible for high-level reasoning and decision-making aren’t fully mature until the early 20s, according to Deborah Yurgelun-Todd, a neuroscientist at Harvard’s Brain Imaging Centre. There’s a period of time when the child part of the brain has been reshaped, but the adult part is not fully formed. They are “in-between” —informed but not prepared.
1. What causes the mismatch between teenagers’ intellectual and emotional maturity?| A．They don’t get enough information. | B．Their parents are too strict with them. |
| C．They have harder teen years than their parents. | D．Their certain brain regions aren’t fully mature. |
| A．They are very emotional. | B．They are weak in communication. |
| C．They behave like adults. | D．They have great reasoning ability. |
| A．Students know exactly why they have mood swings. |
| B．Emotional development causes changes in the brain. |
| C．The brain areas for different functions grow at different rates. |
| D．Parents are unaware of adolescents’ emotional changes. |
| A．Teens today experience a series of changes to become adults. |
| B．Teens now have slower maturity emotionally than intellectually. |
| C．Parents’ attitudes delay teenage emotional growth. |
| D．Scientists have found new evidence on teenager’s brain changes. |
3 . A British man is excited but exhausted after becoming the tenth Briton to reach the summit (顶点) of K2, the world’s second-highest mountain.
Jake Meyer 34, a mountaineer and army reserve officer, reached the 28,251 ft (8.611 m) summit at 8 am local time on Saturday after a five-day climb from base camp. He had to spend two nights at a camp on the way to the summit to allow a snowstorm to pass.
“This has been a journey more than ten years in the making, and my third attempt at this extraordinary mountain,” he told The Times. “While we were lucky with a weather window for our summit day, the conditions were still incredibly challenging at times, I’m happy to be back at base camp and I know my family and friends will be relieved that K2 is in the bag.
Mr Meyer, from Gloucestershire, who reached the summit of Qomolangma at the age of 21. has been chronicling (按时序记载) his climb on social media, sending out a picture from the summit. After a two-day journey to base camp, he said,“I’m just looking forward to getting home to my incredibly supportive wife.”
K2 was first summitted in 1954 by two Italian climbers, Lino Lacedelli and Achille Compagnoni. It is the tallest mountain in the Karakoram range on the border of China and Pakistan. And it is the second most dangerous mountain in the world, killing every one climber out of four. Climbs are generally attempted in the summer due to the mountain’s severe weather.
This was Mr Meyer’s third attempt, after journeys in 2009 and 2016 were abandoned due to bad weather. Poor conditions also forced him to turn back last week in his attempt to reach the summit of Broad Peak, the 12th highest mountain in the world and another of the “eight thousanders” — the 14 mountains in the world above 8,000 meters. He came within 150 meters of the top, which he was attempting to reach alone in preparation for his K2 climb.
1. What does the underlined phrase “a weather window” in paragraph 3 probably mean?| A．A piece of equipment for forecasting weather. | B．A window through which people look out. |
| C．A machine to protect against bad weather. | D．A period of suitable weather conditions. |
| A．The first attempt to climb it was made in 1954. |
| B．Climbing it is dangerous with a high death rate. |
| C．It is the most difficult to climb due to its poor weather. |
| D．None of the attempts to climb it were made in winter. |
| A．He spent five days climbing K2. | B．He was the third man to reach the top of K2. |
| C．He failed twice in his attempt to climb K2. | D．He reached the summit of Broad Peak last week. |
| A．A story collection. | B．A newspaper report. |
| C．A research paper. | D．A personal diary. |
4 . People in Melbourne can find amazing art galleries featuring a wide selection of local and international talent in every corner of the city. Here is our list of the best galleries in Melbourne.
National Gallery of VictoriaThis grand modernist building is Australia’s oldest and most popular art gallery. This title has been won thanks to the gallery’s outstanding and various permanent (永久的) collections and wonderful visiting collections. It often organises exhibitions and other events, which are all popular among visitors. Besides, its Tea Room and Garden Restaurant provide good service.
Honey Bones GalleryThis gallery is run by artists, and for artists. Its group shows often feature upwards of 40 to 50 artists and are known to draw nearly 1,500 visitors. What makes it special is that every artist receives equal treatment there. The gallery usually works with rising early-career talent and provides instructions to help them learn how to produce successful shows.
Heide Museum of Modern ArtFounded in 1981, the museum houses a number of modern and contemporary (当代的)artworks. It’s made up of three core buildings —Heide I, II and III, among which Heide II is an award-winning building. There’re also some large gardens, a special park and a cafe for visitors to enjoy themselves.
Footscray Community Arts CentreThis is a centre for cultural expression and community involvement (参与) and has been existing since 1974. The centre is suitable for everyone, from curious visitors to well-known artists. You can enjoy exhibitions about West Melbourne and the broader global community. The centre offers a range of training programs if you show an interest in art. There’re also film screenings, art workshops and performances, so you can check its website to keep up with what’s going on.
1. What is National Gallery of Victoria known for?| A．Works by award-winning artists. | B．Its high-quality customer service. |
| C．Its traditional building style. | D．A wide range of collections. |
| A．Heide Museum of Modern Art. | B．Honey Bones Gallery. |
| C．National Gallery of Victoria. | D．Footscray Community Arts Centre. |
| A．It holds online exhibitions. | B．It offers a place for picnics. |
| C．It organises a variety of activities. | D．It is run by a local community. |
5 . Voluntourism — a new trend (趋势) of volunteer tourism
Have you ever thought about going abroad to volunteer? Nowadays there’s a trend that more and more people are interested in volunteer tourism.
Making a difference in a country less lucky than your own is seen by most as a really good thing to do. More and more volunteers are seeking meaning and a sense of purpose in life. “They use their skills to help on projects abroad, such as building hospitals, teaching English in schools, looking after children in orphanages (孤儿院), etc.”
However, some people are against this so-called “voluntourism”. Volunteers take away jobs from locals who would have otherwise done that work. Yes, sometimes volunteers have specific knowledge which can benefit communities, such as IT skills or speaking English as a native language. But sometimes they are put to work on construction sites (建筑工地), for example, depriving (使失去) locals of a job on project.
Besides, many young travelers are untrained for the role. This could become a health and safety problem on construction sites or when caring for children. I volunteered myself last year in a library and school in Ghana. I helped to reshelve books, talked to the librarian about the running of the library and played games with the children. However, I’m not an experienced teacher or librarian, and I felt like the locals were far too trusting of my opinions and decisions, just because I come from a more developed country.
Furthermore, volunteer tourism is seen by some as just that-an industry, a way for companies to make money. About $2 billion was spent by volunteers in 2015.Surely it would be better if this money were directly given to places where it is needed the most. Instead, most of the money is going to tourism companies, while local communities only see a very small amount of it. I met some Danish girls who had paid €7,000 each to a company to volunteer at an orphanage, but very little was spent on the orphanage itself.
I think volunteering abroad helps us develop as a person, and is a shining addition to a CV. Volunteer projects are usually very valuable for communities, but often good for those who take part in voluntary work just as much, if not more, as those they are helping.
1. What do we learn about volunteers working abroad?| A．They have no safety problems. |
| B．They may cause the locals out of job. |
| C．They become less willing to be volunteers. |
| D．They would like to work in richer countries. |
| A．Volunteer tourism has become an industry. |
| B．Volunteers spend lots of money helping with the charity work. |
| C．Some volunteer travelers are very experienced and suitable for the role. |
| D．Volunteer tourism provides locals with more and more job opportunities. |
| A．Voluntourism offers volunteers good jobs. |
| B．Volunteering gives a lot to poor countries. |
| C．Voluntourism brings volunteers advantages. |
| D．The quality of volunteering needs improving. |
I：Introduction P：Point Sp：Sub-point (次要点) c：Conclusion
A． | B． | C． | D． |
6 . Users of Google Gemini, the tech giant’s artificial-intelligence model, recently noticed that asking it to create images of Vikings, or German soldiers from 1943 produced surprising results: hardly any of the people depicted were white. Other image-generation tools have been criticized because they tend to show white men when asked for images of entrepreneurs or doctors. Google wanted Gemini to avoid this trap; instead, it fell into another one, depicting George Washington as black. Now attention has moved on to the chatbot’s text responses, which turned out to be just as surprising.
Gemini happily provided arguments in favor of positive action in higher education, but refused to provide arguments against. It declined to write a job ad for a fossil-fuel lobby group (游说团体), because fossil fuels are bad and lobby groups prioritize “the interests of corporations over public well-being”. Asked if Hamas is a terrorist organization, it replied that the conflict in Gaza is “complex”; asked if Elon Musk’s tweeting of memes had done more harm than Hitler, it said it was “difficult to say”. You do not have to be a critic to perceive its progressive bias.
Inadequate testing may be partly to blame. Google lags behind OpenAI, maker of the better-known ChatGPT. As it races to catch up, Google may have cut corners. Other chatbots have also had controversial launches. Releasing chatbots and letting users uncover odd behaviors, which can be swiftly addressed, lets firms move faster, provided they are prepared to weather (经受住) the potential risks and bad publicity, observes Eth an Mollick, a professor at Wharton Business School.
But Gemini has clearly been deliberately adjusted, or “fine-tuned”, to produce these responses. This raises questions about Google’s culture. Is the firm so financially secure, with vast profits from internet advertising, that it feels free to try its hand at social engineering? Do some employees think it has not just an opportunity, but a responsibility, to use its reach and power to promote a particular agenda? All eyes are now on Google’s boss, Sundar Pichai. He says Gemini is being fixed. But does Google need fixing too?
1. What do the words “this trap” underlined in the first paragraph refer to?| A．Having a racial bias. | B．Responding to wrong texts. |
| C．Criticizing political figures. | D．Going against historical facts. |
| A．Gemini’s refusal to make progress. | B．Gemini’s failure to give definite answers. |
| C．Gemini’s prejudice in text responses. | D．Gemini’s avoidance of political conflicts. |
| A．Creative. | B．Promising. | C．Illegal. | D．Controversial. |
| A．Its security is doubted. | B．It lacks financial support. |
| C．It needs further improvement. | D．Its employees are irresponsible. |
7 . The picnic is a good activity to enjoy the great outdoors. It is an opportunity to appreciate nature, relax with friends and family, and enjoy good food together.
Choose a theme that you really enjoy. Pian a style of dressing for the picnic. Another idea is to host an Alice in Wonderland picnic. It could be a Mad Hatter tea party complete with cupcakes and freshly cut flowers. Or, go for an art theme by using some old-fashioned things. For example, wrap (包) your sandwiches in traditional paper as your grandparents used to.
Food is the center stage of all picnics. There are countless menu and picnic recipe sites that can help you plan.
Find a fantastic site for your picnic.
| A．Picnic experts can help design anything. |
| B．In fact, picnics are becoming more popular. |
| C．There is nothing wrong with mixing two styles. |
| D．Include some simple pleasures in your picnic. |
| E．Besides, ensure your foods are easy to transport and serve. |
| F．These creative ways can make your picnic a special experience. |
| G．This is because a beautiful place will make your picnic more enjoyable. |
8 . A new study by the world’s top scientists says that humans need to cat less meat and dairy and change the way we farm to save the planet from climate change. Climate change means the global changes in the Earth’s average temperature, mostly caused by humans.
Burning fossil fuels (化石燃料) (coal, oil and gas) to power our homes, cars and factories is a major cause of climate change, yet the report says that limiting the use of fossil fuels will not be enough on its own to stop the harm being done to the planet.
In the past 100 years, the planet’s population has increased from 1.9 billion to 7.7 billion.
| A．Although the new report says that people should eat less animal products |
| B．As a result, the amount of land needed to produce food has also increased |
| C．The report says that humans should also change to a more plant-based diet |
| D．Avoiding meat and dairy is the biggest way to reduce human impact on Earth |
| E．When land is cleared for farming animals, that carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere |
| F．The world needs to produce more food without expanding the food system’s carbon footprint. |
| G．A Rising global temperatures lead to more extreme weather events, such as floods and hurricanes |
9 . The Golden Gate Bridge is a well-recognized landmark in the United States. It spans (横跨) the Golden Gate Strait — a mile-wide stretch of water that connects the San Francisco Bay to the Pacific Ocean. The Golden Gate Bridge is one of the most beautiful bridges in the world. It is also one of the tallest.
The idea for a bridge across the strait had been around for many years, because San Francisco suffered from its isolated location. Planning for the Golden Gate Bridge began in 1916, but the design underwent many changes before construction finally started in 1933.
Joseph Strauss was the chief engineer in charge of the bridge project. However, he had little experience with the construction of suspension bridges (吊桥). For this reason, other engineers, architects, and designers made great contributions to the design and construction of the bridge. For example, the bridge owes its art deco (装饰派艺术) style and distinctive orange color to the architects Irving and Gertrude Morrow. Charles Alton Ellis did much of the technical work necessary to build the bridge.
It was not easy to get the project started. Financing had to be found, and there was much opposition to the very idea of a bridge. The US Navy, for example, feared, that a bridge would block ship traffic. The Southern Pacific Railroad, which ran the ferry fleets (轮渡船队), feared competition from the bridge. Many experts did not believe that it would be possible to build such a long bridge under such difficult circumstances. There are strong currents and heavy winds on the bridge site, which made construction dangerous.
The construction of the bridge finally began in 1933. The construction work set new standards for safety — workers were among the first required to wear hard hats, and a safety net saved the lives of nineteen men while the bridge was built. The Golden Gate Bridge was completed in 1937, when the bridge was opened to pedestrians (行人). It was opened to cars one year later. The bridge was finished ahead of schedule and cost much less than originally budgeted.
Because the Golden Gate Bridge is the first sight for many people arriving in the United States by ship, it is sometimes called the “Statue of Liberty” for the West Coast.
1. According to the text, the Golden Gate Bridge .| A．is the best-known symbol of America | B．crosses the Golden Gate Strait |
| C．crosses the San Francisco Bay | D．is about a mile wide. |
| A．To give the West Coast a new tourist attraction. |
| B．To connect San Francisco to the Pacific Ocean. |
| C．To set up a well-known landmark. |
| D．To compete with the ferry fleets. |
| A．was first suggested in 1916 |
| B．was first put forth by Joseph Strauss |
| C．was perfected by Gertrude Morrow in 1933 |
| D．was put forward long before construction started |
| A．It was finished under budget. |
| B．It was delayed for one year. |
| C．It was opened to the vehicles in 1937. |
| D．It was the first to set safety standards. |
10 . One of the world’s greenest office buildings will formally open its doors this week. It’s a project of the environmentally progressive Bullitt Foundation. Its ambition is bold: to showcase an entirely self-sustaining office building hoping that others will create similar projects.
The first thing that strikes you about the new Bullitt Center is an emphasis on walking. “In a building this size, any place else in Seattle it would have two elevators. Here, the stairway is obvious and attractive,”says Denis Hayes, CEO of the foundation. He explains there is an elevator, but it’s well-hidden. The staircase encourages exercise and the concept helps cut down on energy use.
This is one of dozens of visionary decisions that went into this building. “It has eyes, ears, a nervous system and a brain and it responds to its environment in a way that seeks to optimize (优化) things,” he says. He points across the street to a mini weather station. It sends data to the building so it can decide what it should do to conserve energy.
“I think it’s fair to say we were all a bit skeptical in the beginning, ”says Chris Rogers, the founder of a firm in cooperation with the foundation. Rogers and the others set out to meet the ambitious goals of the Living Building Challenge, a green building standard set by local architects.
Clearly this building is not for everyone. If you think of it as simply an office building, it was relatively pricey to design and build. But if you view it as a laboratory, an educational center and a bold effort to change how things are built, the calculation changes.
Still, one could wonder, is it possible to build more with similar self-sustaining features at a reasonable cost? If this building isn’t reproducible, then this experiment will have failed, says Rogers. But if it is successful, he’s optimistic others will follow the foundation’s lead. Rogers points out that over the past couple of decades, many builders have been integrating green elements into their buildings.
1. What motivates the designers to highlight the stairway?| A．To beautify the building. | B．To offer convenience. |
| C．To hide the elevator. | D．To conserve energy. |
| A．A living organism. | B．A first responder. |
| C．A brain system. | D．A data base. |
| A．It is reasonable to hold doubt in the building’s future. |
| B．The building has been inspired by previous efforts. |
| C．The reproduction of the building is crucial. |
| D．The building stands for a progressive force. |
| A．Look Inside The World’s Greenest Building | B．The Outlook For Green Buildings Is Promising |
| C．How Can We Build More Green Buildings? | D．Will This Super Green Building Be Copied? |
