1 . Tokyo restaurant Sushiya no Nohachi reportedly serves great sushi, but it is most famous for its gimmick—making the world’s smallest sushi with a single grain of rice.
Located in Asakusa, a slightly quieter part of Tokyo, Sushiya no Nohachi is the place to go if you want to enjoy the tiniest, most adorable sushi in the world. Each piece is made with only a grain of rice and a tiny slice of topping wrapped in the thinnest piece of nori(海苔). Every served piece is actually perfect, which hints at the amount of work and patience that Bes into making them. They are the work of Hironori Ikeno, the chef of Sushiya no Nohachi, who came up with the idea in 2002 when a client asked him how small he could make his sushi. He answered, “as small as a grain of rice”, and proceeded to demonstrate that he wasn’t kidding. Over the years, the restaurant has become internationally famous for making the world’s smallest sushi.
Despite its size, miniature sushi actually takes a bit longer to make than regular-sized me, because of the precision and concentration required to put the tiny ingredients together. That is part of the reason why the restaurant only prepares tiny sushi for customers a few times a week and no more than five times a day, although they do sometimes make exceptions for foreign visitors who travel to the restaurant just to experience the world’s smallest sushi.
“I had a client from Sweden who came just to see my tiny sushi and the moment she saw it, she literally cried with joy.” Hironori Ikeno said.
Interestingly, one cannot simply order the tiny sushi at the restaurant. It is served for f re upon request with a regular-sized sushi course. Considering the sushi served at this place is reportedly delicious, you should probably be more excited about that. Plus, it also justifies the gimmick that the restaurant is so famous for.
1. What does the underlined word “gimmick” in paragraph 1 probably refer to?| A．A class to teach cooking skills. |
| B．A trick to attract customers. |
| C．A plan to promote the sushi. |
| D．A dish to win over opponents. |
| A．His pursuit for perfection. |
| B．The curiosity of a customer. |
| C．The requirement from his boss. |
| D．A bet he made with others. |
| A．Take more time to make one |
| B．Unpopular among customers |
| C．costs more money to buy one |
| D．needs more expensive materials |
| A．Diversity of the customers. |
| B．His lack of experience. |
| C．Special treatment to foreigners. |
| D．His sense of achievement. |
2 . We are all surrounded with the thought of having desirable relationships that will bring some meaning to our lives and make us happy. We are so busy finding true happiness that we often forget that true happiness lies within us.
We have to love ourselves first to love someone else. One of the reasons for our failure to love ourselves is that we have been taught to be selfless from the start of time. But there is nothing wrong with putting our needs first. Self-love is not selfish. It helps you have a better understanding of what sacrifices are worth making! It is the root of all your healthy relationships. The stronger your roots are, the more difficult it will be for winds to knock down the branches. The first important key element of self-love is self-acceptance. You have to truly accept who you are, including your weaknesses. They are a part of you, making you who you are.
The expectation of waiting for someone else to care for you is impossible. Only you can care for yourself most in a way nobody else can. Look after your relations and yourself. You can only give something you have in abundance.
Self-love is the very core of any healthy relationship. Self-love plays a very important role in conflict settlement in a relationship. You can be only emotionally available when you do not have inner conflicts. When you are constantly fighting your own feelings, it leads to confusion and frustration, and a lack of availability emotionally for your partner. Empathy (同理心) results from self-love. When you have the capacity to take care of your own emotions, you become emotionally stable. This stability allows you to better understand your partner’s experiences and emotions. Therefore, you can offer them genuine care and support.
So, self-love and healthy relationships are practically inseparable. One cannot work well without the other because they depend on each other for growth. They are interconnected with your happiness because self-love will motivate you to have better boundaries, a healthier understanding of your own self, and better emotional intelligence.
1. What do we often ignore when looking for true happiness?| A．Its true benefits. | B．Its varieties. | C．Its exact source. | D．Its task. |
| A．It leads to more sacrifices. | B．It gets you to rely more on others. |
| C．It makes you far from others. | D．It helps you accept yourself better. |
| A．You will probably feel confused. | B．You will expect others to care for you. |
| C．You will be emotionally stable. | D．You will separate yourself from others. |
| A．To make comparisons. | B．To draw a conclusion. |
| C．To do some analyses. | D．To lead in another topic. |
3 . When you are dissatisfied with your current situation, sometimes you doubt yourself. Maybe you reflect on yourself from time to time: What kind of person am I? Have I become the person I want to be?
Take a good look at yourself. When you do, you might realize that you aren’t what you want to be in life.
Make significant changes. When Gretchen Rubin, the former chief of the Yale Law Journal, realized her true dream was to become a writer, she quit her job. And, today, she is a best-selling author, with her website attracting 275,000 visitors per month.
Find support. In the journey of life, support is often what keeps us going. It helps us stay strong and move forward. Life coach, author and motivational speaker Tony Robbins has said, “
| A．Make time for yourself |
| B．Set reasonable and influential goals |
| C．Who you surround yourself with is who you become |
| D．She suggests making some changes to find the true you |
| E．Not reaching the level you want in life may be discouraging |
| F．Here are some techniques that help you discover your true self |
| G．Self-reflection rarely helps make sense of your place in the world |
4 . Debate about artificial intelligence (AI) tends to focus on its potential dangers: algorithmic (算法) discrimination, the mass destruction of jobs and even, some say, the extinction of humanity. As some observers worry, however, others are focusing on the potential rewards. AI could, they claim, help humanity solve some of its biggest and toughest problems. And, they say, AI will do this in a very specific way: by speeding the pace of scientific discovery, especially in areas such as medicine, climate science and green technology.
Such claims are worth examining, and may provide a useful counterbalance (抵消) to fears about large-scale unemployment and killer robots. Many previous technologies have, of course, been falsely praised as panaceas (灵丹妙药). The electric telegraph was praised in the 1850s as a sign of world peace. Experts in the 1990s said the internet would reduce inequality.
But the mechanism by which AI will supposedly solve the world’s problems has a stronger historical basis, because there have been several periods in history when new approaches and new tools did indeed help bring about bursts of world-changing scientific discovery and innovation.
In the 17th century microscopes and telescopes opened up new vistas (视野) of discoveries, while the introduction of scientific journals gave them new ways to share their findings. From the mid-20th century, computers in turn enabled new forms of science based on simulation and modelling, from the design of weapons and aircraft to more accurate weather forecasting.
And the computer revolution may not be finished yet. As we report, AI tools and techniques are now being applied in almost every field of science, though the degree of adoption varies widely: 7.2% of physics and astronomy papers published in 2022 involved AI. AI is being employed in many ways. It can identify promising candidates for analysis, such as molecules with particular properties in drug discovery, or materials with the characteristics needed in batteries or solar cells.
All this is to be welcomed. But the journal and the laboratory went further still: they altered scientific practice itself and unlocked more powerful means of making discoveries. AI has the potential to set off such a transformation.
1. How does the author develop the first paragraph?| A．By providing evidence. | B．By listing debates about AI. |
| C．By making classification of AI. | D．By explaining a phenomenon. |
| A．Skeptical. | B．Objective. | C．Disapproving. | D．Favourable. |
| A．Scientific journals bring about successful data analysis. |
| B．Scientific journals and computers remove people’s discrimination. |
| C．Scientific discovery and innovation have some potential problems. |
| D．Scientific progresses benefit from new approaches and new tools. |
| A．How Al can revolutionise Science |
| B．Why Al Decides Human Beings’ Future |
| C．When Human Beings No Longer Fear Al |
| D．Where Al Performs Better in Scientific Fields |
5 . Three scientists jointly won this year’s Nobel Prize in physics for proving that tiny particles (粒子) could keep a connection with each other even when separated, a phenomenon once doubted but now being explored for potential real-world applications such as encoding information. Frenchman Alain Aspect, American John F. Clauser and Austrian Anton Zeilinger were quoted by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for experiments proving the “totally crazy” field of quantum entanglements (量子纠缠) to be all too real. They demonstrated that unseen particles, such as photons (光子) , can be linked, or “entangled”, with each other even when they are separated by large distances.
In quantum entanglement, establishing common information between two photons not near each other “allows us to do things like secret communication, in ways which weren’t possible to do before”, said David Haviland, chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics. Quantum information “has broad and potential effects in areas such as secure information transmission, quantum computing and sensing technology”. The kind of secure communication used by China’s Micius satellite, as well as by some banks, is a “success story of quantum entanglement”, said Harun Siljak of Trinity College Dublin.
The Nobel Committee said Clauser developed quantum theories first put forward in the 1960s into a practical experiment. Aspect was able to correct an error in those theories, while Zeilinger demonstrated a phenomenon called quantum teleportation that effectively allows information to be sent over distances. “Using entanglement you can send all the information which is carried by an object over to some other place where the object is.” Zeilinger said. He added that this only works for tiny particles. “It is not like in the Star Trek films transporting something, certainly not the person, over some distance,” he said.
1. Which of the following statements about quantum entanglements is NOT true?| A．Scientists were doubtful whether it exists in the real world. |
| B．The Nobel Prize winner has put it into practical experiment. |
| C．Two particles can actually be connected regardless of distances. |
| D．The more distant 2 photons get, the less entangled they’ll become. |
| A．Affecting. | B．Transforming. |
| C．Communicating. | D．Spreading. |
| A．The achievements these 3 scientists have got individually. |
| B．The explanation for information transmission over large distances. |
| C．The clarification that science fiction is no equal to scientific theory. |
| D．The reason why these 3 scientists share this year’s Nobel Prize in physics. |
| A．Classical physics can be applied to tiny particles. |
| B．Quantum physics is the focus of modern physical research. |
| C．Particles, photons, and quanta are all the basic composition of matter. |
| D．Quantum entanglements can contribute to more cutting-edge technologies. |
6 . Polly Arrowsmith is a clever bargain shopper, and knows exactly when her three local supermarkets make their daily price down. She estimates that hunting out food with yellow discounted labels saves her hundreds of pounds a year. But all this could soon be coming to an end. That’s because supermarkets are adopting dynamic pricing, controlled by artificial intelligence (AI) software.
It involves digital price tags that are displayed either on the shelf below the food items, or on high-tech labels attached the product itself. These prices are automatically, and wirelessly, updated by the AI when a particular item approaches its sell-by date. The AI also examines how much stock (库存) the store is holding of that item and makes the decision as to whether a markdown is requiredor not. Besides, it can help supermarkets better understand how to manage stock supply and avoid over-ordering. So we’re actually turning the current food waste problem into an opportunity and can help cut supermarkets’ food waste by more than a third.
Matt Wills, the co-founder of a firm called Acumen, warns that there are potential disadvantages to dynamic pricing. “Not knowing what the reference price is, consumers might not realise they are getting a deal at all,” he says. “This could also cause added complications for people who retired, if items are seen to be continually changing in price.”
The key, Mr. Wills believes, will be for supermarkets to have strict guidelines to ensure they can offer the benefits that dynamic pricing can bring, while ensuring AI doesn’t create unintended negative consequences for shoppers. Whether shoppers will welcome the change is another question, but Mr. Wills believes they’ll be won over by the price reductions they receive.
Ms. Arrowsmith admits she will miss the yellow discount stickers that have become part of her shopping routine. However, she also says she wants to see less food going to waste. “I’m happy to forgo really cheap pricing,” she says.
1. Why are yellow discount labels disappearing?| A．They are easy to hunt out. |
| B．They expose some safety issues. |
| C．They cause great damage to shoppers. |
| D．They are replaced with digital pricing. |
| A．The advantages of using the AI. |
| B．The display of digital price tags. |
| C．The management of stock supply. |
| D．The problem of current food waste. |
| A．It offers the cheapest price. | B．It greatly reduces food stock. |
| C．It has side effect on retirees. | D．It gives rise to legal problems. |
| A．Pay off. | B．Give up. | C．Agree on. | D．Cut down. |
7 . Mr. Riccardi was working for an Italian university at the time, 10 years ago, and had to go to the city of Potenza in the south of the country for a conference. He wanted to book an environmentally-friendly hotel, but it was not so easy to find one online and book.
So it gave him the idea for a business — a website called Ecobnb, where people can search for sustainable accommodation. When someone finds a place that they would like to book, Ecobn b does not take the payment. Rather it contacts the property, which then emails the person directly. Ecobnb makes its money by charging the accommodation providers a monthly subscription to list on its website.
Today Ecobnb, based in Trento, in northern Italy, lists more than 3,000 properties worldwide, from an organic farmhouse in Tuscany, to an eco-mountain cottage in Costa Rica. 2.8 million travellers now use Ecobnb per year, up from 780,000 in 2018. Mr. Riccardi says the number is still rising. Some accommodation providers offer discounts for guests arriving by bicycle, or those not using a car during the trip.
“Holidaymakers are rethinking their relationship with planet Earth,” Mr. Riccardi says. “Thereis a new awareness, especially in young people, about our responsibility for our future and for the planet.” Statistics appear to back this up. A study has found that 69% of travellers are now actively seeking sustainable travel options.
Although Ecobnb is focused on sustainability, how sustainable is it when many people might be flying to arrive at the accommodations it lists? “The impact of the travel of the flights is very big,” agrees Mr. Riccardi. “We are pushing the staycation (就近旅游) model a lot, inviting people to discover their own countries and to avoid the flights when it’s possible.”
“More people are interested in green lifestyles every day,” he says. “And now they are looking for the same green choices also during their holidays. These little choices can come together, and we can change things and make something different. We can be the change we want to see in the world.”
1. What inspired Mr. Riccardi to start the website Ecobnb?| A．His pursuit for a better future. | B．His motivation to find a green hotel. |
| C．His teaching experience in an university. | D．His desire to invest in sustainable tourism. |
| A．It enjoys great popularity. | B．It owns 3,000 properties in Italy. |
| C．It offers discounts to all visitors. | D．It charges payment from customers. |
| A．To promote sustainable travel. | B．To attract more young travelers. |
| C．To reduce the accommodation list. | D．To make flights available for others. |
| A．Discouraged. | B．Tolerant. | C．Uncertain. | D．Optimistic. |
8 . It’s Community Day again!
The event that Map le Estate residents are eagerly looking forward to is just around the corner! As usual, the Map le Residents’ Committee has planned a programme that is designed to promote community spirit. Maple Estate has been celebrating Community Day every month for more than a year. By now, we hope all our residents understand the importance of forming strong bonds with our neighbours. If you have just moved to our lovely estate and have not had the opportunity to know your neighbours, you can do so by joining at Community Day!
August Highlight: Map le Estate Chefs Call all residents who are keen to practice your cooking skills and let your neighbours sample your cooking! You will be the stars of the upcoming event! Visit www.maplerc.sg for more information and to register for this activity. Kitchen equipment and basic ingredients will be provided. You will receive a $50 shopping voucher that you can use to purchase other ingredients from MapleMart the day before the event. Remember to register before 21 July, 2024! We are sure everyone will enjoy the delicious dishes! Time: From 10 a.m.to 6 p.m,6 Aug.,2024 Place: Maple Community Club Entry: Flash your Maple Resident Card |
“My wife and I moved to Maple Estate when we got married. For a few months, we spent all our free time after work doing up our house. Even though we knew that our neighbours were friendly and would sometimes invite us for their gatherings, we were occupied with getting things ready. However, it wasn’t long before we grew curious about the Community Day celebrations. After we started attending them regularly, we met many neighbours. The first time we invited some of them over, we played games that helped us to get to know one another better!”
—Mr. Wang, a Maple Estate resident since 2022
1. What do the Community Day events aim to do?| A．To teach how to cook meals. | B．To develop community spirit. |
| C．To meet diverse needs of neighbours. | D．To make the community cleaner. |
| A．To sign up before 21 July , 2024. | B．To provide basic ingredients. |
| C．To use your own kitchen equipment. | D．To pay a registration fee of $50. |
| A．they spent all their time at work |
| B．they weren’t invited for the gatherings |
| C．they were busy beautifying their home |
| D．they lacked information about the community |
9 . The deep and dark night sky is filled with wonder. Looking up at the bright stars, mysterious planets and ancient constellations (星座) brings a timeless feeling. Today, populated areas around the globe are enveloped in a type of fog that disconnects people from that amazing night sky, but reducing light pollution can help to restore the wonder.
After the sun sets, cities and suburbs across the globe are lit up with artificial lights. They glow along roads and highways and flood fields in sports stadiums. They also shine light on skyscrapers, malls, and flashing electronic signs. However, these lights negatively impact wildlife.
Artificial lighting has caused the firefly population to completely disappear in some areas, while lighthouse beams (光线) negatively impact marine species. In fact, in the US and Canada, 18 species of firefly are now classified as being threatened with a high risk of extinction in the next ten years.
Just leaving that light on affects the behavior of nocturnal pollinators (夜间传粉者) like moths, causing them to fly towards the light and not the flowers. This, in turn, negatively affects plants’ abilities to bear fruit and reproduce.
Many people are aware of many types of pollution including air, water, and land, but few realize that strong artificial lighting is harmful to all mammals, including humans. In order to make people aware of the importance of darkness, researchers wrote a world atlas (地图册) of artificial night sky brightness, which is published in Science Advances. Their findings reveal that 80 percent of the world populations live under a sky glow, with more than 99 percent of Americans and Europeans living under light-polluted skies.
Although individuals cannot control the highway and city lights, they can make a difference at home. And if everyone were to “turn off the switch”, it could help to bring back natural darkness in some areas. Light areas where light is needed and aim the light beams downwards. Try to use low-level lighting and be aware that some surfaces reflect more light into the sky.
1. What does the author mainly want to say in paragraph 2?| A．Light pollution is actually widespread. |
| B．Artificial lights bring people convenience. |
| C．The use of artificial lights should be cut down. |
| D．The night sky is beautifully lit up with those lights. |
| A．The light has been too strong. | B．The pollinators destroy them. |
| C．They are not pollinated in time. | D．They don’t receive enough light. |
| A．To popularize artificial lighting. |
| B．To call off environmental protection. |
| C．To stress the civilizations of human beings. |
| D．To bring awareness to the meaning of darkness. |
| A．Turn off highway lights. | B．Use low-level lighting. |
| C．Let light beams upwards. | D．Design energy-efficient lights. |
10 . Women’s sport is experiencing growth. This season, the Allianz Premiership Women’s Rugby (PWR) league kicked off with a campaign to transform ideas of women’s rugby. Here are the stories of four remarkable women who are powered differently — born to break the stereotypes (刻板印象).
Abbie Ward, 30, Bristol Bears
Abbie has marked a successful return to the rugby field this season playing her first match since the Rugby World Cup Final in November 2021, just four months after giving birth to her daughter, Hallie. Abbie’s journey showcases a ground-breaking shift in the sport’s approach to motherhood. Abbie is eager to integrate Hallie into her playing life, maintaining a balance between being a mother and a professional sports person.
Jodie Ounsley, 22, Exeter Chiefs
Jodie attracts audiences as a deaf athlete. As the first deaf person to be selected for the England 7s squad, she in 2020 won Young Deaf Sports Personality of the Year. Jodie detailed, “I’ve had parents messaging me saying ‘My daughter with a cochlear(耳蜗的) implant hasseen you online playing rugby, and wants to do it, too.’”
Rachel Lund, 29, Gloucester-Hartpury
Rachel is a proud member of the “dual career club”, a nickname Rachel has given to the PWR players taking other regular jobs around their training and match days. She devotes herself to a full-time role as a physiotherapist (理疗师) with her commitment to female sport extending beyond the field. According to Rachel, “Research on female health is minimal at best. I’m keen on improving female health.”
Amanda Swartz, 23, Leicester Tigers
Amanda’s journey from a professional figure skater to a professional rugby player shows the determination that defines her athletic journey. Seeking a new challenge beyond skating, she discovered rugby. The discipline and goal-oriented drive experienced during her figure skating days became invaluable in her rugby change. Amanda has accepted her new sporting path and takes pride in promoting the visibility of rugby in Sweden.
1. Who is a disabled player?| A．Abbie Ward. | B．Jodie Ounsley. | C．Rachel Lund. | D．Amanda Swartz. |
| A．She focuses on female health. | B．She was fired by the former team. |
| C．She has just given birth to a baby. | D．She was a professional figure skater. |
| A．They experience a tough life. |
| B．They have the same athletic journey to rugby. |
| C．They change people’s view of women’s rugby. |
| D．They urge women to improve their mental health. |
