1 . Boomerang kids refer to adult children who return to their parents’ homes after moving out. In July 2020, 52% of young adults in the US lived with one or both of their parents — the highest percentage the US has seen since 1940. In the UK, the number of single, 20-to-34-year-olds living with their parents went up by 55% from 2008 to 2017.
There are many reasons for young people to move back home, says Hipplewith, a family expert. The primary reason is the high cost of living. Everything is so expensive. Staying home means financial support from family as they prepare for starting a career. Usually being a boomeranger is just a transitional period. But it still may last many months or even years to enable boomerangers to establish themselves in a career without worrying about things like rents.
For many, a return to home after living away can feel like a regression (倒退) and loss of recently won independence. “For example, you learn to become an adult in university,” says Hipplewith. “You have friends. You can do what you want to do. But now you’re coming back under someone else’s rule.” This can come with anxiety. Still, there are benefits to the boomerangers, say experts. Many of these adults are finding the increased ability to do work they find meaningful, rather than take a job that simply pays the bills. Socially, boomerang kids also have a good opportunity to strengthen relationships with their parents.
In many cultures, moving away from home has traditionally been considered a crucial step in becoming an adult. Now it’s time to change the idea. Adulthood is really just being old enough to take responsibilities; that doesn’t go away if you move in with parents again. Hipplewith hopes that as being a boomeranger becomes more common, young adults will feel less pressure to follow traditional expectations of moving out. He encourages young people to view a return to home as “sane decision-making”.
1. How does the author lead in the topic of the text?| A．By analyzing reasons. | B．By raising a viewpoint. |
| C．By telling the difference. | D．By presenting a phenomenon. |
| A．To buy something expensive. | B．To look after family members. |
| C．To hunt for the right career easily. | D．To reduce economic pressure. |
| A．Because of the limit of keeping in with friends. | B．Because of the loss of independence. |
| C．Because of many years of staying at home. | D．Because of the anxiety about the future life. |
| A．Stupid. | B．Rapid. | C．Reasonable. | D．Independent. |
2 . Apollo 15 was the first flight to the moon that included a spacewalk. On our return trip to Earth, we needed to recover film canisters (胶卷盒) from the service module. Because it was a new activity, an incredible amount of preparation went into it.
I evaluated the entire plan in terms of safety and results. During our pre-flight analysis, we installed a warning tone in the suit in case of low oxygen pressure. Once all this pre-flight work was accomplished, the actual spacewalk was easy and accomplished in a short time. I had the pleasure of being outside the spacecraft for 38 minutes, and here’s how we did it.
We started suiting up an hour or so before the actual spacewalk. I got a little rush as the Command Module was depressurizing because I was then completely dependent on the pressure in the suit to keep me alive. I had practised this procedure many times on Earth, but this was for REAL and I had to do it just right. Once the cabin pressure went to zero, we opened the hatch (舱口) and went out.
What a feeling to be free in deep space! I concentrated on reaching for the handholds as I made my way to the back of the service module so I would not float away. I had a small problem right away. The high-resolution camera was stuck out in its extended position. I reached the canister, put a safety clip (安全扣) on it, attached by a rope to my wrist. and pulled it out of the bay. Turning around again I made my way back to the hatch. So far, a piece of cake. After another two trips, I finished my task.
By turning my head just so I could position myself so that both the Earth and the Moon were in field of vision. I realized that no one in all of history had ever seen this sight before. What an honour it was.
1. What is the purpose of installing a warning tone in the suit?| A．To help recover film canister. |
| B．To assess the safety of the plan. |
| C．To improve the quality of the suit. |
| D．To inform astronauts of low oxygen pressure. |
| A．His task was completely new for him. | B．He lacked full preparation in advance. |
| C．He was afraid to make any mistake. | D．He suddenly found his suit went wrong. |
| A．He couldn’t find the canister. |
| B．He failed to handle the problem himself. |
| C．He experienced a narrow escape initially. |
| D．He met with some challenges when doing his task. |
| A．Tired. | B．Confused. | C．Proud. | D．Safe. |
3 . Save the Earth from Declining Biodiversity
Plants and animals depend on each other for survival. Find out why this biodiversity is so important and how you can help.
Skip the selfie (自拍照). Riding elephants, holding monkeys, and taking photos with little lion might seem fun, but these animals might have been caught from the wild and aren’t being properly cared for. Avoid these activities on vacation unless you know the group is trustworthy and not treating animals cruelly.
Stand up for scary animals. Some people are afraid of animals like wolves, sharks, and bats and try to harm them.
Bad plants.
Lights off. Birds can become confused by bright nighttime lights, causing them to crash into windows or fly in circles until they’re very tired.
| A．Look—Don’t touch. |
| B．But these animals are super important. |
| C．A large number of birds die from these. |
| D．We should make an effort to protect local species. |
| E．Ask your parents not to “like” similar photos on social media. |
| F．Invasive species are plants and animals that don’t belong in a habitat. |
| G．Turn off unnecessary lights at night in the spring and fall when birds are migrating. |
4 . Seasonality is a big part of business. For some industries, seasonal patterns are a defining feature. Agriculture is one obvious example; tourism another. Western toymakers notch up a huge proportion of their annual sales during Christmas. Construction is harder during cold weather, when that industry employs fewer people.
Firms less obviously tied to the seasons can still be deeply affected by them, as a recent review by Ian Hohm of the University of British Columbia makes clear. An analysis of social-media posts on the Internet found that dieting-related posts peak in the spring, as the season of body dysmorphia (变形) approaches.
Even when overall demand doesn’t vary greatly between the seasons, preterences change. Beef-eaters buy roasts in the slow-cooking winter season and plump for steaks during the summer months. Starbucks is among those firms that make seasonality a marketing event. The pumpkin-spiced latte is a reliable sign that autumn is on its way, along with falling leaves.
Seasonality also leaves a less obvious imprint (印记) inside organisations. This week, with so many bosses stuck on a mountain for the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, productive employees can get on with some work and lazy ones can relax. School holidays offer an obvious form of seasonality, when employees without children are upset that they are covering for colleagues on holiday, and colleagues on holiday are upset that they have children.
Pay decisions are seasonal events, too. The time when employees find out their salary rises and bonuses sets off disappointment and happiness in all workplaces. In some, they are more like tsunamis. The actual date on which bonuses are paid matters too — once the money is safely put in the bank, people are more likely to move jobs.
There are other forms of corporate seasonality. While there isn’t much research on the impact of seasonality within firms, it’s certain that they have their own annual rhythms.
1. Why do people focus on dieting in spring posts according to the analysis?| A．They want to take time to get refreshed in spring. |
| B．They fear the summer heat will ruin their health. |
| C．They fear summer will reveal their body shapes. |
| D．They suffer a lack of proper food during winter. |
| A．Throw away. | B．Decide on. | C．Rule out. | D．Turn up. |
| A．Being unable to relax in the absence of the boss. |
| B．Staying in step with the change of the seasons. |
| C．Accompanying the children of their colleagues. |
| D．Sharing the work of the employees with children. |
| A．Companies Have Their Own Seasonal Rhythms |
| B．School Holidays Have an Effect on Companies |
| C．Corporate Seasonality Has Vast Social Effect |
| D．Employees Must Watch Beyond the Seasons |
5 . My mother was born on a farm in Wisconsin in 1897. She attended college in Milwaukee.
One of my earliest memories, when I was about 3, was on a bitter cold day in 1932, the middle of the Great Depression. A man knocked on our back door and asked my mother for something to eat, as he hadn’t eaten for three days. Mom gave him a plate of stew (炖菜) plus two slices of bread. When he took the plate and fork, tears streamed down his cheeks.At age 21, in 1918, my mother began employment with a local charity in northern Georgia. She was assigned alone to create valuable programs for a small community. She often told us the stories about those old days after she retired. In her later years, my mother established Georgia’s Garden Club, the Professional Women’s Club, the town’s first lending library and other “firsts”.
There were quite a lot of people at her funeral in 1990, when she passed away at 93. My sister and I moved among her many friends, exchanging memories about her. At one point, we saw a stranger with tears on his face. We approached him and my sister asked, “Did you know my mother well?” He replied, “I owe my life to her!” He told us that when he was a young child, in 1918, his family of seven all came down with the flu. The “new lady from the charity” heard about their illness and came to help. He said, “We’d never have made it without her loving care.”
Amazingly, the night before I had read a brief account of that very incident in one of my mother’s diaries. I’m certain I have a responsibility to inform the world of what my mother’s life in northern Georgia was like.
1. Why does the author mention the story that happened in 1932?| A．To complain about the Great Depression. |
| B．To explain there were many poor people. |
| C．To prove his family was so wealthy then. |
| D．To show his mother was very sympathetic. |
| A．Ambitious and active. | B．Traditional but brave. |
| C．Determined and humorous. | D．Demanding but straightforward. |
| A．Puzzled. | B．Grateful. | C．Proud. | D．Sad. |
| A．Her education experiences. | B．Her childhood memories. |
| C．The challenges in her career. | D．The stories in her programs. |
6 . It might surprise you to learn that there are conservationists on four legs as well as two. In the 1890s, realizing that imported stoats (白鼬) were having a disastrous impact on local birds such as kiwi, conservationist Richard Henry relied upon his pet dog to help translocate birds to a reserve on Resolution Island. From then on, he kept working and contributed to the world’s first government-backed conservation dogs programme established in 1998.
Dogs have many qualities that recommend them for field work, but it’s their nose that puts them ahead of many humans. Damp surfaces trap odour molecules (气味分子), but dog noses are also remarkably sensitive. Add in a set of other adaptations that allow dogs to filter the air they breathe in to a dedicated smelling area at the back of the nose, you’ve got an extremely excellent detective machine.
Worldwide, dogs have helped scientists to track snow leopards, koalas, gorillas and even killer whales, whose muck (排泄物) only floats on the ocean’s surface for a limited time. For their cooperation, the dogs receive their favourite treat. “We reward our dogs for locating the target by playing balls,” says Hartman, a research scientist. She explains that around 98% of the dogs are from rescue shelters, given up by owners who could not match their energy levels. Enthusiastic dogs are a must for the programme, but trainers need to match this with patience curiosity and hard work.
After the muck sniffers (嗅探器), the next most common task for conservation dogs is live animal detection. Many working dogs were first bred to be pest controllers in agricultural settings. Now conservation dogs are used to find introduced rats and stoats on New Zealand’s island safe havens, feral cats in Australia, mongooses in Japan — even mussels and ants in the US that cause destruction and upset ecosystems. It’s just one of the ways dogs are being employed to keep human activity in check.
1. Why is Richard Henry’s story mentioned in paragraph 1?| A．To illustrate stoats’ impact. |
| B．To tell dogs’ position in animal protection. |
| C．To present different kinds of conservationists. |
| D．To highlight Henry’s passion for making a reserve. |
| A．Loyalty. | B．Smelling. | C．Bravery. | D．Wisdom. |
| A．Dogs need training to achieve their potential. |
| B．Dogs located their targets by playing balls. |
| C．Humans could be as energetic as their dogs. |
| D．Dogs from rescue shelters are best for the job. |
| A．Be friendly to your pet dog. |
| B．Train your dogs to detect wildlife. |
| C．Cooperate with dogs for a better living. |
| D．Meet the dogs saving some animal species. |
7 . American Jason Stark’s two young sons talked excitedly for months about seeing the The Super Mario Bros. Movie. When the film opened this month, Star k decided to make a special event of taking his boys to the show.
Star k took a day off from work and drove his boys, ages 9 and 6, about a half-hour from their Connecticut home. They went to watch the movie at an AMC theater with a large special screen called an IMAX.
“We got lunch, we went to the movies and had a fun day together,” said Stark. “They loved it. They were amazed by how big (the screen) was.”
Filmmakers and theater business leaders say movie watchers are seeking such new, interesting experiences. American and Canadian ticket sales of traditional movies this year are 16 percent below 2019. However, people have attended movies in large numbers for films and showings that use special effects, including Top Gun: Maverick and Avatar: The Way of Water.
Theaters are employing technology to create improved experiences. Changes include larger screens, special sound systems, seats that move in connect ion with action in a film and other environmental effects.
Market researcher Comscore visualizes these special shows will make up 16.7 percent of U. S. movie ticket sales. The company says that number was 9.2 percent in 2019.
Theater companies continue to build large, special viewing screens known as premium format (高级格式). The total number of premium format screens in North America reached 1,940 in 2022, says Omdia, another research company. It says the new number represents an increase of 4.4 percent over the year before.
The average ticket price to see a movie in the U. S. is around $11. Premium screenings usually cost five to seven dollars more.
B&B Theatres operates 531 screens in 14 states and offers large format screens as well as heated chairs that can be raised and lowered, immersive (亲临其境) audio and seats timed to move with a movie’s action.
1. What impressed Star k and his two sons most about the movie?| A．Its large screen. | B．Its moving story. |
| C．Its famous actors. | D．Its excited audience. |
| A．They are out of date. | B．They will disappear in the future. |
| C．They are less popular now. | D．People no longer like to see them. |
| A．Warns. | B．Expects. | C．Doubts. | D．Announces. |
| A．They are costly and difficult to build. | B．They have lost their traditional style. |
| C．They only attract the young to watch. | D．They cost more for people to enjoy. |
8 . Scientists have discovered fossils that might have belonged to the heaviest animal in Earth’s history. The blue whale holds the current record as the largest creature to live on Earth. But a collection of bones found in Peru might break that record.
Mario Urbina discovered the bones in 2012. He is with the University of San Marcos’ Natural History Museum in Lima. An international team spent years digging them out from the side of a rocky hill in the Ica desert. The large fossils date back to around 39 million years ago.
After the digging operation, the researchers used 3D scanners to study the surface of the bones and also looked inside. The researchers used the huge but incomplete skeleton to estimate the whale’s size and weight.
The team estimates the ancient creature weighed somewhere between 85 and 340 metric tons. The biggest blue whales found have been within that range, at about 180 metric tons. This means the newly discovered whale was possibly the heaviest animal ever. Bu it was most likely not the longest animal ever.
The research team said one reason the animal weighs more is because its bones are much denser and heavier than a blue whale’s bones. Those super-dense bones suggest the whale may have spent its time in less deep, coastal waters, the scientists said. Other animals that stay close to the coast have heavy bones to help them stay close to the seafloor.
Amson, from the State Museum of Natural History in Germany, said that without the skull, it is hard to know what the whale was eating to support such a huge body. It is possible that the large creature sought food along the seafloor, the researchers said. Or it could have eaten up tons of smaller sea life in the ocean.
1. What did the researchers want to know by using 3D technology?| A．How big and heavy the whale was. | B．What environment the whale faced. |
| C．What caused the whale to die. | D．How long the whale lived. |
| A．The strength it had. | B．The area where it lived. |
| C．The way it hunted for food. | D．The speed it swam in the sea. |
| A．The way it moved in the sea. | B．The miss of its head bones. |
| C．The large amount of food it ate. | D．The threat it brought to other sea life. |
| A．Ancestor of Blue Whales Was Discovered |
| B．Huge Ancient Whale Bones Shock Researchers |
| C．Mysterious Giant Ancient Whales Puzzle Scientists |
| D．Ancient Whale May Be Heaviest Animal Ever Found |
9 . On January 12, three EF-3 tornadoes came through the city of Griffin, Georgia, where I live. One of the tornadoes passed directly over my house. The rumbling (隆隆声) was strong as the winds pushed against the house. Trees were uprooted, and broken pieces flew through the air. Rain and hail fell in sheets.
Students had to shelter in place. The students gathered together for hours, according to Nicole Dowling, a math teacher at Kennedy Road Middle School. “We all waited for safe passage,” she said. “There were downed trees blocking each direction on Kennedy Road.”
Most students got home safely by 11 p. m., but about two dozen had to remain until the early hours of January 13.
“I’ll never forget the sound,” Dowling said. She heard loud noises as she waited with other teachers in a classroom. “All at once,” she added, “we were under desks for cover. We were all one, listening attentively, until we sensed the storm moving away.”
Mariyah Dallas, a sixth grader, said that she and her family were frightened. “It was very scary because the power was out for more than a day,” she said. “We had to move a lot of trees out of the yard.”
The tornadoes damaged nearly 2,000 buildings in Griffin. Dowling described the result. “Massive trees were broken in half and thrown about,” she said. “Electrical wire were hanging like loose noodles. Ruins lay everywhere.”
Power was knocked out in the city, which has a population of more than 23,000. When I looked into the damage, I saw that a gas station overhang had fallen down, destroying a car under it. The roof of the Hobby Lobby near the shopping center had fallen down.
A study from 2019 suggests that climate change may be a contributing factor to the shift of Tornado Alley, causing it to move eastward. As a result, heavily-populated areas east of the Mississippi River are experiencing more tornadoes than they have in the past.
1. What happened to the students according to the math teacher?| A．They ran away from school. | B．They were trapped in a disaster. |
| C．They found no places to shelter. | D．They were injured in the tornado. |
| A．Its sight. | B．Its speed. | C．Its power. | D．Its noises. |
| A．It broke down half way. | B．It ran out of gas on the way. |
| C．It was covered by falling ruins. | D．It was destroyed by falling trees. |
| A．It changes their areas. | B．It changes their moving speed. |
| C．It increases their force to destroy. | D．It increases times to take place. |
10 . Getting the best deal
Bargaining is a difficult process. The buyer wants to purchase a product at its minimum price while the seller wants to maximize the potential for profit.
First, buyers should assume that the price tag represents the starting point of negotiations, not the final word on the matter. Buyers should begin by asking the salesperson whether any sales or discounts will soon be advertised.
Second, buyers need to find out whether the seller has lowered prices in the past and, if SO, by how much.
Finally, buyers must be patient
| A．Even if customers really want the item |
| B．If customers do not request a special deal |
| C．Looking for bargains takes time and energy |
| D．It can be worthwhile to wait under these circumstances |
| E．The desires of the buyer and the seller oppose each other |
| F．Buyers must be prepared to walk away from an item when bargaining |
| G．If the buyer learns that the seller has offered discounts to other customers |
