1 . The Hardest Novel I’ve Ever Read
For the last three months, I have glared at its fat heavy form on my floor with a vague sense of personal failure. I have opened Ulysses twice, determined to finish it, and managed to get all the way to page 46.
Why do I get stuck?
There are a few other “worthy” works of literature I have yet to read, including Infinite Jest and War and Peace.
The English writer Virginia Woolf thought Ulysses was nonsense as she complained in her diaries about the pressure to finish reading it. By contrast, Vladimir Nabokov, the author who wrote Lolita expressed deep love for it.
Some people love Ulysses, so where am I getting wrong? My ultimate hope is that the struggle will be worth the effort and I can proceed victorious onto page 800 or so, on my third fourth, eighteenth try. Something tells me I will get there in the end.
| A．I’m not entirely sure myself. |
| B．A lot of them are weighty tomes (巨著), but I like big books. |
| C．I have read so little both times that I have never bothered using a bookmark. |
| D．It seems that reading Ulysses is a big different experience for everyone. |
| E．Even when staring at pages without absorbing a word, I thought nice thoughts about it. |
| F．They, however, only cause me a slight sense of shame that I have not read or enjoyed them. |
| G．I have been amused and charmed by the first two or three chapters, and then puzzled and bored. |
2 . I’m always cautious of the tired saying, “If it doesn’t kill you, it’ll make you stronger.” I mean, what about polio (小儿麻痹症)? Or loads of other horrible things that if you survive, you’re left scarred in one way or another.
For many years I worked in a specialist NHS clinic for people with eating disorders, which are greatly misunderstood and connected with vanity (虚荣) when instead it’s usually about control or even profound trauma (精神创伤). Eating disorders have the highest mortality of any mental illness, with one in five of those with an eating disorder dying from it. Treatment for it is long, tough and tiring. So, it’s fair to say it’s not something to be taken lightly.
Yet I was often surprised by how many patients-patients with all sorts of other conditions too, from depression to cancer -would tell me how the experience had changed them for the better after receiving treatment. It’s not so much that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger; more, it might make you more understanding of yourself and more sensitive to the battles and struggles of others. It can also give people a sense of determination and perseverance they never had before.
I had one patient who was an addict and alcoholic besides suffering eating disorder. She was frequently rushed into hospital and was sometimes at a real risk of dying. However, after years of hard work, she stopped drinking, stopped using drugs and her eating disorder improved. She got back into work and started doing several courses to get promoted. Actually, she had gone through numerous intense and exhausting interviews before landing a job, but she said whenever she felt she couldn’t handle it or doubted her capabilities, she reminded herself that nothing would ever be worse or harder than what she had already gone through. She managed to make the most of her life and turn her life around.
1. What does the author think of the old mantra?| A．Always applicable. | B．Totally absurd. |
| C．Partially right. | D．Quite misleading. |
| A．The number of deaths. |
| B．The possibility of being cured. |
| C．The rate of getting mentally hurt. |
| D．The chance of having mental illness. |
| A．It leads to a changeable attitude. |
| B．It makes no noticeable difference. |
| C．It builds up their physical strength. |
| D．It fosters self-awareness and sympathy. |
| A．She continued harmful habits. | B．She relied only on medication. |
| C．She always believed in herself. | D．She became stronger and tougher. |
3 . Roald Hoffmann, a Nobel Prize winner in chemistry, poet and playwright (剧作家), is a tireless advocate of the wonders of science and the beauty of chemistry. Hoffmann successfully shares his understanding of science with the public at large through literature, educational television and even the stage. Here is an article he wrote:
Around the time of the Industrial Revolution, science left poetry. Nature and the personal became the main playground of the poet. That’s too bad for both scientists and poets, but it leaves lots of open ground for those of us who can move between the two. If one can write poetry about being a tree, why not about being a scientist? It’s experience, a way of life. It’s exciting.
The language of science is a language under stress. Words are being made to describe things that seem indescribable in words — equations (方程式), chemical structures and so forth. Words do not, cannot mean all that they stand for, yet they are all we have to describe experience. By being a natural language under tension, the language of science is inherently (内在地) poetic. Emotions emerge shaped as states of matter and more interestingly, matter acts out what goes on in the soul.
One thing is certainly not true: that scientists have some greater insight into the workings of nature than poets. Interestingly, I find that many humanists deep down feel that scientists have such inner knowledge that they don’t. Perhaps we scientists do, but in such carefully circumscribed pieces of the universe, poetry flies high, all around the tangible (有形的), in the deep dark, through a world we reveal and make.
It should be said that building a career in poetry is much harder than in science. In the best chemical journal in the world, the acceptance rate for full articles is 65%, for communications 35%. In a routine literary journal, far from the best, the acceptance rate for poems is below 5%.
Writing has become increasingly important to me. I expect to publish four books for a general or literary audience in the next few years. Science will be involved, but only as a part, a vital part, of the risky project of being human.
1. What does the underlined word “it” in paragraph 2 refer to?| A．A way of life. | B．The Industrial Revolution. |
| C．The main playground of the poet. | D．The separation of science from poetry. |
| A．Humanists never use it. | B．It shows scientists’ emotions. |
| C．It is a special way of description. | D．Its words stand for everything. |
| A．Comparative analysis. | B．Giving examples. |
| C．Cause-effect analysis. | D．Process explanation. |
| A．The Life of Roald Hoffmann | B．Roald Hoffmann’s Views on Science and Poetry |
| C．The Difference of Nature and Art | D．The Development of Science Language |
4 . Cities, covering less than 2% of the Earth’s surface, are major contributors to climate change, consuming almost 80% of the world’s energy and producing more than 60% of greenhouse gas emissions. Fortunately, net zero emissions (净零排放) by 2050, a target set at the COP26 conference, could be achieved faster using digital twins cities, according to a recent research.
Looking and behaving identically in their real-world physical environments, digital twins can help track, manage and reduce environmental damage rapidly. These replicas (复制品) link to networks of sensors that collect data from buildings, transport, air quality, and energy use, to see where emissions can be cut and efficiency improved. Similar technologies have been in use since NASA’s Apollo moon mission in 1969, where computers and machine replicas were used to test and monitor spacecraft.
Research shows that digital twins can save cities more than $ 280 billion globally by 2030 through more efficient urban planning. Digital twin provider Cityzenith believes that net zero deadlines could be achieved 15 years earlier if the world’s 100 biggest cities use the technology to decarbonize. “They are the perfect tool for managing and speeding up the energy transformation,” said CEO Michael Jansen. “We could get to net zero globally by 2035.”
Over the past decades, big tech companies around the world, including GE Digital and Siemens, have developed software for replicating cities, including a district of Berlin, the island nation of Singapore, and the entire city of Shanghai in China. In the US, the Digital Twin Consortium is working to standardize how digital twins are built and share data. Technology company MX3D built the world’s first 3D-printed stainless steel bridge and co-created its digital twin. CEO Gijs van der Velden believes twins will give us precise control over the built environment.
Recently, OpenAI also made advances in this field. On February 15, the company revealed its latest groundbreaking tech—Sora to the world. Sora is a text-to-video generative AI model. It can generate videos that matches the text prompt (文本提示) given to it in a few seconds. Experts believe Sora is likely to be applied in science and national defence in the future.
1. How does the author show the impact of cities on climate change?| A．By listing data. | B．By giving examples. |
| C．By comparing opinions. | D．By quoting research findings. |
| A．Approving. | B．Opposed. | C．Unconcerned. | D．Objective. |
| A．Sora has been used in scientific research and military. |
| B．Gijs van der Velden has little faith in digital twins’ future. |
| C．Digital twins technology is developing rapidly around the world. |
| D．Few tech companies are involved in the study of replicating cities. |
| A．Net Zero Emissions Could Be Hit 15 Years Earlier |
| B．Cityzenith Is Working on Promoting Digital Twin Cities |
| C．Big Cities Are to Blame for the Severe Environment Pollution |
| D．Digital Twin Cities Can Reduce the Impact of Planet’s Largest Polluters |
5 . When facing an extremely annoying problem, we often gather a group to brainstorm, aiming to get the best ideas quickly. I love seeing it happen — except for one tiny wrinkle. Group brainstorming usually backfires.
In brainstorming meetings, many good ideas are lost — and few are gained. Extensive evidence shows that when generating ideas together, we fail to maximize collective intelligence. Surprisingly enough, individuals working alone tend to produce more and better ideas compared to brainstorming in groups.
To unearth the hidden potential in teams, instead of brainstorming, a shift to a process called “brainwriting” is more effective. Initially, you ask everyone to generate ideas independently. Next, you pool them and share them anonymously (匿名地) among the group. To preserve independent judgment, each member evaluates them on their own. Only then does the team come together to select and refine the most promising options. By developing and assessing ideas individually before choosing and detailing them, teams can surface and advance possibilities that might not get attention otherwise.
For instance, during the 2010 Chilean mine rescue, time pressing, the rescue team established a global brain writing system to crowd source independent ideas, avoiding time-consuming brainstorming. An entrepreneur offered a tiny plastic telephone that became the sole means of communicating with the miners while a 24-year-old engineer’s suggestion resulted in the creation of a specialized drill that ultimately saved the miners.
Research by organizational behavior scholar Anita Woolley and her colleagues helps to explain why this method works. They find that a key to collective intelligence is balanced participation. In brainstorming meetings, participation can easily become dominated by the most influential people. The brainwriting process ensures that all ideas are brought to the table and all voices are brought into the conversation. The goal isn’t to be the smartest person in the room — it’s to make the room smarter.
Collective intelligence begins with individual creativity, but it doesn’t end there. Individuals working alone produce greater varieties of novel ideas, both brilliant and terrible, than groups. It takes collective judgment to locate the signal within the noise and extract the best ideas.
1. Which of the following best describes “group brainstorming” according to this passage?| A．Creative. | B．Productive. |
| C．Inefficient. | D．Fundamental. |
| A．To illustrate the significance of specific equipment in the rescue. |
| B．To show the importance of brainstorming in emergency situations. |
| C．To highlight the role of influential people in collective intelligence. |
| D．To demonstrate the effectiveness of brainwriting in generating ideas. |
| A．The importance of collective intelligence. |
| B．The goal of becoming the smartest person. |
| C．The power of equal involvement in brainwriting. |
| D．The influence of powerful individuals in decision-making. |
| A．Identifying the top ideas. | B．Finding more good solutions. |
| C．Replacing individual creativity. | D．Encouraging group brainstorming. |
6 . Until recently, gravitational waves could have been the stuff of Einstein’s imagination. Before they were detected, these waves in space time existed only in the physicist’s general theory of relativity, as far as scientists knew. Now, researchers are on the hunt for more ways to detect the waves. “The study of gravitational waves is booming,” says astrophysicist Karan Jani of Vanderbilt University in Nashville. “This is just remarkable. No field I can think of in fundamental physics has seen progress this fast.”
Just as light comes in a variety of wavelengths, so do gravitational waves. Different wave lengths point to different types of origins of the universe and require different kinds of detectors. Gravitational waves with wavelengths of a few thousand kilometers—like those detected by the United States, Italy and Japan—come mostly from pairs of black holes 10 or so times the mass of the sun, or from collisions of dense cosmic blocks called neutron stars (中子星). These detectors could also spot waves from certain types of exploding stars and rapidly moving neutron stars.
In contrast, huge waves that span light-years are thought to be created by orbiting pairs of bigger black holes with masses billions of times that of the sun. In June, scientists reported the first strong evidence of these types of waves by turning the entire galaxy (星系) into a detector, watching how the waves make slight changes to the timing of regular blinks from neutron stars throughout the Milky Way.
Physicists now hope to dive into a vast, cosmic ocean of gravitational waves of all sorts of sizes. These waves could reveal new details about the secret lives of exotic objects such as black holes and unknown parts of the universe.
Physicist Jason Hogan of Stanford University thinks there are still a lot of gaps in the coverage of wavelengths. “But it makes sense to cover all the bases. Who knows what else we may find?” he says. The search for capturing the full complement of the universe’s gravitational waves exactly could take observatories out into the moon, to the atomic area and elsewhere.
1. What does Karan Jani think of the current study on gravitational waves?| A．It is rapid and pioneering. |
| B．It is slow but steadily increasing. |
| C．It is interrupted due to limited detectors. |
| D．It is progressing as fast as any other field. |
| A．The creation of different kinds of detectors. |
| B．Collisions of planets outside the solar system. |
| C．The presence of light in different wavelengths. |
| D．Activities involving black holes and neutron stars. |
| A．By analyzing sunlight. |
| B．By locating the new galaxy. |
| C．By using the whole galaxy as a tool. |
| D．By observing the sun’s regular movement. |
| A．It’ll exclude the atomic field. |
| B．It’ll focus exactly on the mapping of the galaxy. |
| C．It’ll require prioritizing certain wavelengths on the moon. |
| D．It’ll explore potential places to detect gravitational waves. |
7 . While socializing comes naturally for some, it can be a struggle for others. Shyness is a normal, common personality trait (特征).
Get Excited About A New Adventure
You may have been shy most of your life.
Pay Attention To Your Words
Practice Mindfulness (正念)
Mindfulness involves drawing your attention to the present and being aware of your thoughts, feelings, and surroundings.
Take Small Steps
Getting started can be the hardest part of learning how to be more social for those who are shy.
| A．If so, that’s a part of you that you’re used to |
| B．Sometimes the best path toward addressing a fear is exposure |
| C．Mindfulness can help reduce symptoms of social anxiety disorder |
| D．Taking time to tend to your appearance can make a big difference |
| E．How we communicate and characterize ourselves can be powerful |
| F．However, shyness can make it hard for people to connect with others and achieve their goals |
| G．But engaging with people doesn’t have to be practiced as an important work presentation |
8 . There are well-documented mental health benefits to pet ownership, as much research has shown. Indeed, we know there are some physical benefits as well, as dog owners tend to have more active lifestyles. Yet when it comes to conditions like allergies (过敏), we tend to think of pet ownership as exacerbating, not alleviating them.
Hence, a recent study published in the journal PLOS One might come as a surprise. The study, published Wednesday, found that children raised with cats and dogs early in life had a 13 to 16 % lower risk of developing all food allergies than those who did not own pets.
The researchers engaged in a detailed survey, studying 65,000 children. They found that children who were exposed to dogs either during fetal (胎儿) development, or up to the age of 3 years old were less likely to have nut, milk and egg allergies.
This wasn’t true for other pets that weren’t cats and dogs. Indeed, the same research found that children exposed to hamsters during this same period had an increased risk of nut allergies. Yet children who were exposed to cats during their early years were likewise less likely to develop specific allergies — namely, allergies to wheat, soybean and egg.
While the study is not the final word on the issue — the researchers note “further studies using oral food challenges are required to more accurately assess the incident of food allergies” — it reinforces preexisting research on the seemingly funny ways that cats influence human development.
In addition to adding to the growing body of scientific literature about pets and human health, the PLOS One also reinforces earlier research about the role of the environment in developing allergies. The research repeatedly found that exposure to farmyard dirt, dust and the various fine hairs that fly off animals helps children in their breathing system development.
1. What does the underlined word “exaccrbating” in paragraph 1 best mean?| A．Worsening. | B．Damaging. |
| C．Improving. | D．Benefiting. |
| A．Kids over 3 will have more food allergies. |
| B．Hamsters cause the most allergies to children. |
| C．All pet ownership will not reduce food allergies. |
| D．Cat owners are less likely to be allergic than dog owners. |
| A．Satisfied. | B．Objective. |
| C．Doubtful. | D．Unconcerned. |
| A．Benefits brought by raising animals |
| B．Pet ownership making kids healthier |
| C．Researches on different food allergies |
| D．Dogs and cats reducing kids’ allergies |
9 . It is a strange coincidence(巧合) that as humanity attempts to greatly reduce its carbon emissions(排放), it is also rushing to develop a technology that could, in theory, consume an unlimited amount of energy.
Doing things against facts is a dangerous game, but you can picture a world in which, having chosen to start dealing with climate change properly in the 1990s, we would be just wrapping up the gentle path to net-zero emissions in time for a rapid AI increase fuelled by green power. Instead, we find ourselves at risk of running a 21st-century technology on a 20th-century energy supply.
If you live in the US, every time you use an AI model, around 20 per cent of the electricity required will be produced by burning coal. The explosive growth of AI makes this an even more pressing concern. According to one analysis, if Google chose to shift to an entirely AI-powered search business, its electricity consumption could match that of some countries.
Such estimates may be magnified, but evidence of rising power consumption from AI is all around. Microsoft is placing bets on nuclear plants to power its data centres, while the English government has promised to boost its national computing capacity by 50 per cent by 2025, which would help it keep pace with rapid AI developments in the world.
Thankfully, we may soon reach a turning point. As is reported, this year the global power department came close to reaching peak greenhouse gas emissions, as the switch from fossil(化石) fuels to clean and renewable sources is well underway. The question now is whether we can quicken the pace of decarbonisation (脱碳) to match the coming growth in energy consumption as AI becomes increasingly rooted in our society. Silicon Valley’s intelligent machines may grab the headlines and the imagination, but the people really inventing the future are working in the energy department.
1. What can we learn from paragraph 2?| A．Carbon emissions have been reduced a lot. |
| B．The reality is far from what we expected. |
| C．The rapid AI increase brings many benefits. |
| D．Climate change poses a threat to green electricity supply. |
| A．More AI models mean burning more coal. |
| B．Many countries turn to nuclear plants for power. |
| C．There is a lack of ban on tech-giants’ electricity consumption. |
| D．Google’s electricity consumption equals that of some countries. |
| A．Overstated. | B．Undervalued. | C．Common. | D．Reasonable. |
| A．Shifting to a fully AI-powered search business. |
| B．Achieving net-zero emissions as soon as possible. |
| C．Balancing energy-hungry AI with decarbonisation. |
| D．Creating an unlimited energy-consuming technology. |
10 . Does a happy person live longer? Many studies have convinced us that happiness brings good health, which has resulted in an increasing demand for speakers and products encouraging positive thinking. However, being happy does not promise that one is going to be healthy. There are other factors that influence one’s health and long life such as a person’s genes or even a person’s socio-economic condition.
Some research even suggests that positive thinking can be dangerous. Positive thinking, when taken to the extreme, can cause a person to be separated from reality. For example, a person who thinks that staying happy and positive can help him recover from an illness like cancer but later fails to recover from it, may blame himself for not being happy. In this case, positive thinking may potentially make the victim disregard other factors. Sometimes the pursuit of happiness is even associated with serious mental health problems such as depression.
All types of happiness are not good for us either. For example, pride, a pleasant feeling, can sometimes rob us of the ability to empathize with others or understand another’s viewpoint. This anti-social behavior can cause people around us to turn away from us, and this could, in turn, make us feel lonely and do harm to our mental and even physical health.
Moreover, unpleasant feelings can be beneficial to a person’s well-being. Researchers believe that unpleasant feelings can help us make sense of our challenges and experiences in a way that supports psychological well-being. For example, if I have behaved badly towards my good friend, the feelings of guilt and sadness might motivate me to apologize and ask for forgiveness. The rebuilding of a broken relationship can be a lift to one’s mental well-being.
In trying to experience happiness, we should remember that seeking for happiness as an end in itself can be self-defeating, and does not necessarily lead to better health. After all, one will surely experience setbacks and conflicts in life. Instead, learning to cope with negative emotions with a realistic positive attitude is key to a person’s good health.
1. What’s the writer’s opinion in this passage?| A．Negative thinking can be dangerous. |
| B．Staying happy can bring good health. |
| C．Unpleasant feelings cannot be beneficial. |
| D．Happiness cannot ensure one’s good health. |
| A．When we use it with a realistic attitude to solve problems. |
| B．When we focus on it as an only determinant of happy life. |
| C．When we think it one of the necessary factor for good health. |
| D．When we realize it may rob us of the ability to understand others. |
| A．They rebuild a broken relationship. |
| B．They lead to self-reflection and personal growth. |
| C．They help keep the problems and challenges away. |
| D．They prevent long-term negative effects on mental health. |
| A．An ultimate goal. | B．An individual plan. |
| C．A final decision. | D．A great start. |
