1 . 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. |
2 . 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 |
3 . 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. |
4 . 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. |
5 . About a decade ago, I attended a dinner in Guangzhou. The bird’s nest soup was gentle and delicious, the fish fresh and perfectly steamed. The most memorable dish, however, was the plain soup served at the end. Made from chicken, probably with ham as well, it was simple but perfect.
Ending a banquet with soup may seem odd to Westerners, accustomed as they are to sweets at a meal’s close. But, as Fuchsia Dunlop, an English food writer, explains in her new book, Invitation to a Banquet, “The transparent soup is an ideal conclusion to a meal.”
Invitation to a Banquet is Ms Dunlop’s seventh book. Unlike those for which she is best known, including The Food of Sichuan, Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper, and Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook(about Hunanese cuisine), this is not a cookbook. Instead, she has chosen 30 dishes and used each to illustrate different aspects of Chinese cuisine—and, in turn, Chinese life and history.
“Westerners have traditionally assumed that the Chinese eat animal parts because they are poor, when in fact turning up one’s nose at pigs’ heads and legs shuts the door on a wide range of foods that are really wonderful,” Ms Dunlop argues in the book.
In short, Ms Dunlop has made a convincing case for the superiority of Chinese cuisine, but in a delighted and expansive rather than chauvinistic (沙文主义的) way. She shows how it has absorbed foreign influences(as other cuisines have, too), how it has changed with China’s increasing wealth and how central it is to the country’s intellectual and cultural history.
She makes an equally good case in this book that the Chinese food most Westerners can find at their local takeaway is neither inauthentic nor wrong. Instead, it reflects local tastes which are as representative of the cuisine’s diversity as a frozen pizza is of Italy’s adventurousness. The local takeaway has made the real thing more accessible than ever outside China.
1. Which word best describes the author’s impression of the dinner in Guangzhou?| A．Favorable. | B．Conservative. | C．Negative. | D．Unclear. |
| A．Shark’s Fin and Sichuan Pepper. | B．The Food of Sichuan. |
| C．Revolutionary Chinese Cookbook. | D．Invitation to a Banquet. |
| A．Avoid eating pigs’ heads and legs. | B．Go to the most expensive restaurants. |
| C．Be open-minded about any Chinese food. | D．Don’t try the local takeaway outside China. |
| A．A cookbook. | B．A book review. | C．A biography. | D．A travel journal. |
6 . It was early September, a season of less rain. I paid a visit to the Exploradores Glacier in southern Chile’s Laguna San Rafael National Park.
The glacier is an ice sheet that reached its biggest size about 28,000 years ago. But like all glaciers, its growth or decline relies on the amount of snow it receives and the temperatures that either keep it frozen or speed up its disappearance.
“Glaciers are like nature’s thermometer (温度计),” said Jorge O’Kuinghttons Villena, the guardian of the glacier who was accompanying me. “When you see them melt, you know that human lives nearby are at risk. ”
O’Kuinghttons was referring to the fact that melting ice might result in glacial lake outburst floods, or GLOFs, that can destroy nearby communities. A striking case of this occurred in 1977.
“Many people were taken by surprise, because it was a sunny day without rain,” said O’Kuinghttons.
“Was the GLOF a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence?” I asked.
“No, it was an extreme event,” he replied. “But it happens more frequently here, with more violence recently.”
Hiking around the glacier was a unique experience. Owing to its remoteness, there was no life, no movement, no change of any sort in sight. Every 10 minutes or so, the deep silence gave way to a gunfire-like sound: the cracking of ice. Just as suddenly, silence returned.
“It is an everyday occurrence. The glacier is dying,” O’Kuinghttons said. “Take your photo here, and then come back in five years. You can see the difference. What really worries me is the glacier’s slow but accelerated disappearance due to the rising temperatures.”
Late in the evening, I found myself lying in the comfort of my bed and listening to the unmistakable sounds followed by the quietness. The cycle kept me awake all night. I wondered when we would be punished for our own activities.
1. What can we learn about the Exploradores Glacier?| A．It is about 28,000 years old. | B．It is in a national park in Chile. |
| C．It is easily accessible to tourists. | D．It should be visited in September. |
| A．To explain the history of GLOFs. | B．To stress the importance of glaciers. |
| C．To prove the predictability of GLOFs. | D．To show the consequences of melting glaciers. |
| A．Excited. | B．Relieved. | C．Concerned. | D．Annoyed. |
| A．My Unforgettable Visit to the Exploradores Glacier |
| B．Urgent Measures Are Needed to Protect Glaciers |
| C．Glaciers in Southern Chile Are Disappearing Fast |
| D．GLOFs Have Become a New Threat in Southern Chile |
7 . Keeping your home neat and tidy is a continual process that takes a lot of emotional energy and time. Here are some useful decluttering (清理) strategies.
If you have a lot of clutter in your house, ask yourself what has made it hard to get rid of. In many cases, it is due to the fact that you hope to hold on to the past or want a different reality than the one you’re living in.
Take the emotion out of it
Then comes the hardest part: figuring out what to get rid of.
Start small
Don’t try to tidy up all your clutter in one afternoon. Instead, start with something less challenging, like one single bathroom drawer.
You can also work within short time periods. If you only have an hour to declutter your home this week, divide that time into three 20-minute periods. For the first 20 minutes, look for trash to throw away. For the next 20 minutes, identify anything you want to give away or donate.
Make it easy to stay organized
It’s easy to be organized the day after decluttering. But what happens when you come home from a trip and are too tired to unpack your luggage? Or when you get the flu and are too sick to clean up?
| A．Understand your unwanted stuff |
| B．Don’t bite off more than you can chew |
| C．Spend the last 20 minutes putting items back where they belong |
| D．It would be much better for you to have a rest or see a doctor first |
| E．At this stage, you have to look at your clutter without any emotion |
| F．Leave more difficult tasks, like selecting family photos, for another day |
| G．The key is to find a system that works for you even when you are too tired or sick |
8 . On February 15, 2024, OpenAI, the maker of Chat GPT, released a new AI tool that can make instant short videos from written commands.
The new text-to-video generator, Sora, isn’t the first of its kind. Google, Meta and Runway ML are among the other companies to have demonstrated similar technology. But industry analysts are deeply impressed by the quality and length of the videos shared so far. Fred Havemeyer, head of AI and software research at Macquarie, said that Sora’s launch marks a big step forward for both OpenAI and the future of text-to-video generation technology.
“Sora’s videos not only run up to 60 seconds in length, but also look so natural that it seems to actually respect physics and the real world,” Havemeyer said. “The length and consistency of the videos represent new opportunities for creatives to generate videos from one or a few written commands.”
Although Sora’s abilities have amazed observers since its launch, anxiety over potential problems of AI-generated video uses also remains.
“Having a potentially magical way to generate videos that look and sound realistic may present a number of issues for the society,” Havemeyer added. “It’s a serious issue that every business and every person needs to face.”
However, tech companies are still calling the shots when it comes to controlling AI and its risks as governments around the world are still struggling to catch up. Last year, the European Union reached a deal on the world’s first comprehensive AI rules, but the act won’t take effect until two years after final approval.
OpenAI promised to take important safety steps before making Sora widely available. “We are working with experts in areas like misinformation, hateful content, and bias,” OpenAI’s Vice President of Global Affairs Anna Makanju said at a conference. “We’re also building tools to help detect misleading content such as a detection classifier that can tell when a video was generated by Sora.”
While Sora can create complex, incredibly detailed scenes, OpenAI admits that there are still some weaknesses. For example, a person might take a bite out of a cookie, but afterward, the cookie may not have a bite mark.
1. What did Fred Havemeyer say about Sora?| A．It is more creative than artists. | B．It can make high-quality videos. |
| C．It is based on an existing technology. | D．It can work without human intervention. |
| A．in charge | B．at a loss | C．out of reach | D．under investigation |
| A．OpenAI will help governments to regulate AI. | B．Sora will be available to the public very soon. |
| C．OpenAI is sharply aware of Sora’s weaknesses. | D．Sora is smart enough to detect harmful content. |
| A．The task itself is too difficult. | B．It is unnecessary to focus on details. |
| C．Sora can be easily cheated by humans. | D．Sora cannot understand the real world very well. |
9 . 2023 was a good year for archaeological discoveries. Here are some of the most interesting new finds.
A moai
In February, volunteers unearthed a stone head called a moai on Easter Island. The statue is small for a moai — a little over five feet tall, while others of the roughly 900 statues on the island are up to 33 feet tall.
Most of the moai were created between 1250 and 1500, and local people regard them as the living faces of their ancestors. But nothing is known about this new moai, including which ancestor it represents.
Two mummy workshops
Archaeologists announced in May that they discovered two more workshops near the ruins of the ancient Egyptian city of Memphis. One of the workshops features stone beds meant for the preservation of human bodies, while the other one has smaller beds that were used to mummify animals.
A Maya city
In June, Mexican archaeologists discovered a lost city called Ocomtun. They thought it was a major center from about AD 250 until it was abandoned when the Maya civilization collapsed between 900 and 1000, possibly from drought and civil wars.
Ocomtun covers more than 120 acres and features well-preserved homes, raised platforms and pyramid temples. The remains of the largest pyramid are more than 80 feet high.
Roman jewelry
In June, dozens of precious stones were discovered by archaeologists in the ruins of an ancient pipe system that carried water away from public baths in the third and fourth centuries. It’s thought they were worn by wealthy bathers. Some of these precious stones are carved with images of Roman gods, such as Apollo, Venus, and Mars, while others show animals, such as rabbits and birds.
The public baths were found at Carlisle in England. The city was a regional center in Roman Britain, when it was known as Luguvalium.
1. What is the height of the newly found stone statue?| A．About 5 feet. | B．About 33 feet. | C．About 80 feet. | D．About 900 feet. |
| A．In Chile. | B．In England. | C．In Egypt. | D．In Mexico. |
| A．They are located in North America. | B．They were discovered by volunteers. |
| C．They were related to religious celebrations. | D．They can reveal ancient urban development. |
10 . As the Earth turns, its rotational axis (自转轴) naturally move a bit. Anything from ocean currents, to shifting molten rock under the crust, to the melting (融化) of glaciers caused by climate change can cause the axis to drift (飘移). Water stored in artificial lakes and seasonal changes in atmospheric winds can play a role as well.
But global warming isn’t the only human-caused factor moving the planet’s axis as some of us believe. A new study estimates that between 1993 and 2010, the pumping of groundwater and the resulting sea-level rise caused the axis lo drift by about 2.6 feet. “Every mass moving around on the surface of the Earth can change the rotational axis,” said Ki-Weon Seo, a geophysicist at Seoul National University.
In the study, the researchers used a computer model to look at the effects of different factors on the shift of the axis. When they didn’t include groundwater removal in their model, their predictions did not match the level of shift that scientists have observed. But when they look into account the massive amount of pumped water — which totaled more than two trillion tons between 1993 and 2010 ― their model fit the real-world observations. From this analysis, the researchers estimate that the axis is moving 1.7 inches per year due to groundwater removal. Of the factors the study looked at, pumping groundwater was the second-largest contributor to the axis drifting, behind the melting Greenland ice sheet.
The paper calls attention to just how much water humans have pumped, as Clark Wilson, a geoscientist at the University of Texas, tells Science. “The precise number doesn’t matter really. What matters is that the volume is so huge that it can impact the polar drift of the Earth,” he says. “Groundwater removed from sites at the Earth’s midlatitudes (中纬度), such as in the U.S. and India, has a large impact on polar drift, compared with extraction at the equator or the poles. However, most of the pumping has occurred in these high-impact zones, causing the water removal to have a bigger effect on the axis,” says Wilson.
1. What does the author aim to do with the second paragraph?| A．To correct a wrong belief. | B．To describe a phenomenon. |
| C．To provide related data. | D．To test a new theory. |
| A．putting it to field tests |
| B．storing related information in it |
| C．comparing it with real-world facts |
| D．doing real-world observations with it |
| A．The melting of ice sheet. | B．The atmospheric winds. |
| C．The artificial lakes. | D．The groundwater pumping. |
| A．Factors That Affect the Earth’s Rotation |
| B．Challenges of Groundwater Our World Faces |
| C．Climate Change Has Shifted the Earth’s Axis |
| D．Groundwater Pumping Has Changed the Earth’s Axis |
