1 . As cities balloon with growth, access to nature for people living in urban areas is becoming harder to find. If you’re lucky, there might be a pocket park near where you live, but it’s unusual to find places in a city that are relatively wild.

Past research has found health and wellness benefits of nature for humans, but a new study shows that wildness in urban areas is extremely important for human well-being.

The research team focused on a large urban park. They surveyed several hundred park-goers, asking them to submit a written summary online of a meaningful interaction they had with nature in the park. The researchers then examined these submissions, coding (编码) experiences into different categories. For example, one participant’s experience of “We sat and listened to the waves at the beach for a while” was assigned the categories “sitting at beach” and “listening to waves.”

Across the 320 submissions, a pattern of categories the researchers call a “nature language” began to emerge. After the coding of all submissions, half a dozen categories were noted most often as important to visitors. These include encountering wildlife, walking along the edge of water, and following an established trail.

Naming each nature experience creates a usable language, which helps people recognize and take part in the activities that are most satisfying and meaningful to them. For example, the experience of walking along the edge of water might be satisfying for a young professional on a weekend hike in the park. Back downtown during a workday, they can enjoy a more domestic form of this interaction by walking along a fountain on their lunch break.

“We’re trying to generate a language that helps bring the human-nature interactions back into our daily lives. And for that to happen, we also need to protect nature so that we can interact with it,” said Peter Kahn, a senior author of the study.

1. What phenomenon does the author describe at the beginning of the text?

A．Pocket parks are now popular.	B．Wild nature is hard to find in cities.
C．Many cities are overpopulated.	D．People enjoy living close to nature.

2. Why did the researchers code participant submissions into categories?

A．To compare different types of park-goers.	B．To explain why the park attracts tourists.
C．To analyze the main features of the park.	D．To find patterns in the visitors’ summaries.

3. What can we learn from the example given in paragraph 5?

A．Walking is the best way to gain access to nature.

B．Young people are too busy to interact with nature.

C．The same nature experience takes different forms.

D．The nature language enhances work performance.

4. What should be done before we can interact with nature according to Kahn?

A．Language study.	B．Environmental conservation.
C．Public education.	D．Intercultural communication.

2 . You’ve heard that plastic is polluting the oceans — between 4.8 and 12.7 million tonnes enter ocean ecosystems every year. But does one plastic straw or cup really make a difference? Artist Benjamin Von Wong wants you to know that it does. He builds massive sculptures out of plastic garbage, forcing viewers to re-examine their relationship to single-use plastic products.

At the beginning of the year, the artist built a piece called “Strawpocalypse,” a pair of 10-foot-tall plastic waves, frozen mid-crash. Made of 168,000 plastic straws collected from several volunteer beach cleanups, the sculpture made its first appearance at the Estella Place shopping center in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

Just 9% of global plastic waste is recycled. Plastic straws are by no means the biggest source (来源) of plastic pollution, but they’ve recently come under fire because most people don’t need them to drink with and, because of their small size and weight, they cannot be recycled. Every straw that’s part of Von Wong’s artwork likely came from a drink that someone used for only a few minutes. Once the drink is gone, the straw will take centuries to disappear.

In a piece from 2018, Von Wong wanted to illustrate (说明) a specific statistic: Every 60 seconds, a truckload’s worth of plastic enters the ocean. For this work, titled “Truckload of Plastic,” Von Wong and a group of volunteers collected more than 10,000 pieces of plastic, which were then tied together to look like they’d been dumped (倾倒) from a truck all at once.

Von Wong hopes that his work will also help pressure big companies to reduce their plastic footprint.

1. What are Von Wong’s artworks intended for?

A．Beautifying the city he lives in.	B．Introducing eco-friendly products.
C．Drawing public attention to plastic waste.	D．Reducing garbage on the beach.

2. Why does the author discuss plastic straws in paragraph 3?

A．To show the difficulty of their recycling.

B．To explain why they are useful.

C．To voice his views on modern art.

D．To find a substitute for them.

3. What effect would “Truckload of Plastic” have on viewers?

A．Calming.	B．Disturbing.
C．Refreshing.	D．Challenging.

4. Which of the following can be the best title for the text?

A．Artists’ Opinions on Plastic Safety

B．Media Interest in Contemporary Art

C．Responsibility Demanded of Big Companies

D．Ocean Plastics Transformed into Sculptures

3 . Who is a genius? This question has greatly interested humankind for centuries.

Let’s state clearly: Einstein was a genius. His face is almost the international symbol for genius. But we want to go beyond one man and explore the nature of genius itself. Why is it that some people are so much more intelligent or creative than the rest of us? And who are they?

In the sciences and arts, those praised as geniuses were most often white men, of European origin. Perhaps this is not a surprise. It’s said that history is written by the victors, and those victors set the standards for admission to the genius club. When contributions were made by geniuses outside the club—women, or people of a different color or belief—they were unacknowledged and rejected by others.

A study recently published by Science found that as young as age six, girls are less likely than boys to say that members of their gender(性别)are “really, really smart.” Even worse, the study found that girls act on that belief: Around age six they start to avoid activities said to be for children who are “really, really smart.” Can our planet afford to have any great thinkers become discouraged and give up? It doesn’t take a genius to know the answer: absolutely not.

Here’s the good news. In a wired world with constant global communication, we’re all positioned to see flashes of genius wherever they appear. And the more we look, the more we will see that social factors(因素)like gender, race, and class do not determine the appearance of genius. As a writer says, future geniuses come from those with “intelligence, creativity, perseverance(毅力), and simple good fortune, who are able to change the world.”

1. What does the author think of victors’ standards for joining the genius club?

A．They’re unfair.	B．They’re conservative.
C．They’re objective.	D．They’re strict.

2. What can we infer about girls from the study in Science?

A．They think themselves smart.

B．They look up to great thinkers.

C．They see gender differences earlier than boys.

D．They are likely to be influenced by social beliefs

3. Why are more geniuses known to the public?

A．Improved global communication.

B．Less discrimination against women.

C．Acceptance of victors’ concepts.

D．Changes in people’s social positions.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．Geniuses Think Alike	B．Genius Takes Many Forms
C．Genius and Intelligence	D．Genius and Luck

4 . The older I get, the more I understand how my teachers have transformed my life.

On a recent Sunday afternoon, I went to see Mr. C at Roxbury Park in Beverly Hills. His love of life has not dimmed despite the fact that his legs no longer work like they used to. He visited some of his former students while he was in town. At Beverly Hills High School, Mr. C taught ancient history, coached football and golf, and risked his life teaching driver’s training on Saturday mornings from 1964 to 1988. The gray and hobbled students lined up one after another to thank their favorite teacher. One called him a rock star. Another was grateful for helping him when he couldn’t say so. It was a beautiful tribute, especially in these times of catastrophic teacher shortages.

Spending that Sunday in the park with Mr. C was nothing short of magic. It was a reminder of all that is promising and possible in public education, including a teacher whose rare emotional honesty could be appreciated and honored decades later. It also brought to mind Maya Angelou’s saying “People will forget what you said and did, but never forget how you make them feel.” He made me and others in the park feel heard and seen.

Mr. C changed my perception of myself. Rather than seeing myself as a loser cheerleader who couldn’t compete with the smart kids, I realized how much I loved learning. His history class was so interesting. In his classes about the Persians, Greeks, and Romans, extra credits can be earned for creativity. During earthquake drills, we counted on Mr. C to scream his head off in mock terror.

It should come as little surprise that I’d value the role of teachers in my life. Both of my parents taught; so did my siblings, aunts, uncles and cousins. I, too, have become a teacher and I try to follow in Mr. C’s footsteps. Some days, I fantasize what it would be like to go on a teacher tour, reaching out to my mentors to express my deep gratitude for all they’ve given me. Seeing Mr. C sparked that fantasy again. When I finally worked up my courage to thank him, knowing a floodgate of tears would open, he said to me with his typical modesty: “You were doing me more good than I was doing you.”

1. What does the underlined word “tribute” mean in Paragraph 2?

A．enthusiasm

B．admiration

C．devotion

D．commitment

2. Why does the author mention Maya Angelou’s saying?

A．To make a suggestion.

B．To introduce a celebrity.

C．To show respect to an educator.

D．To interpret the influence of education.

3. What does the author think of her job as a teacher?

A．Enjoyable.

B．Intolerant.

C．Incompetent.

D．Patient.

4. Which of the following is a suitable title for the text?

A．A reunion.

B．A rock star.

C．A surprise.

D．A great teacher.

5 . A growing body of research suggests that the gut microbiome (消化道菌群) could play a major role in a rising chronic disease that makes us physically weaker. The illness, which is commonly called chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), is characterized by intense fatigue, gastrointestinal (胃肠道的) issues, muscle pain, and cognitive challenges such as headaches and difficulty concentrating, among other symptoms. It often follows a viral infection which can lead to a “disruption” in a balanced gut ecosystem. Actually, an increasing number of Americans have been the sufferers since the outbreak of COVID-19.

Two recent studies published in Cell Host &Microbe point to changes in the microbiome as a possible cause of CFS. Research groups at Columbia University and the Jackson Laboratory performed detailed analyses of the microbes in stool (粪便) samples from patients with CFS and compared them to healthy controls.

The two groups found similar bacteria species were less present in CFS patients compared to control patients. They focused on bacteria that produce butyrate, a fatty acid involved in regulating metabolism and the immune system. “Butyrate plays several roles in directing the body’s response to infections, while also protecting the barrier between the intestine (肠) and the circulatory system, regulating genetic changes in cells, and more,” says Brent Williams, lead author on the Columbia study. Williams and his colleagues extensively analyzed the role of butyrate in CFS patients’ guts, even identifying a correlation between low levels of bacteria that produce this acid and more severe symptoms.

Parallel findings from the Jackson Laboratory team suggest the bacteria that produce butyrate could be used to diagnose CFS. Previous research has identified microbiome issues in CFS patients, but the new findings help clarify which microbes could be related to the illness.

More research on butyrate-producing bacteria and other species identified in the studies is necessary to investigate these potential biomarkers of CFS, the authors say. If the findings are replicated, specific gut bacteria could be used to diagnose the illness, which is currently identified based on symptoms alone.

The findings additionally point toward possible treatments, such as probiotics or microbiome-focused diet adjustments—though patients who have been sick for long periods may require drugs that alleviate the damage done to their metabolism or immune system.

1. What do we know about CFS?

A．It is caused by COVID-19 only.	B．It is an illness with systemic symptoms.
C．It breaks the balance of the gut ecosystem.	D．The number of the infected is on the decrease.

2. How did the researcher carry out the recent studies?

A．By controlling data.	B．By identifying genes.
C．By analyzing samples.	D．By comparing symptoms.

3. Which of the following is NOT the significance of the recent researches?

A．Butyrate’s multiple functions are promoted.

B．Targeted gut microbes may be used to diagnose CFS.

C．Certain microbes responsible for CFS are narrowed down.

D．Probiotics supplement with drugs can be a treatment for CFS.

4. What is the text mainly about?

A．Gut microbiome may be the key to CFS.	B．Microbes help digest food and aid absorption.
C．Man’s gut is a rich, diverse tropical rainforest.	D．New method for diagnosing CFS are provided.

6 . We may weep for the dodo, but could and should we bring this lovely bird back from the dead? De-extinction is the science of restoring lost species and it has been in the news for decades.

The story in modern times began in 1990 when Michael Crichton published his science fiction novel Jurassic Park, in which he imagined a world where scientists were able to bring dinosaurs back to life. Crichton imagined that polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology could be a way to amplify (放大) tiny quantities of dinosaur DNA and thus build a living embryo.

Sadly, biologists soon realized that DNA in fact breaks down super-fast; even after 100 years, DNA from museum skins of dodos was decayed (腐烂) beyond repair. They could be sequenced (测定序列) using massive computational power, but then only with considerable uncertainty. And even if you capture a DNA sequence, there’s still the problem of how you get living cells to read that sequence and express proteins that make the dinosaur or the dodo.

But why would anyone want to see mammoths, or something like them, roaming (漫游) present-day Siberia? Well, they were undoubtedly amazing beasts. As well as hunting them, our distant ancestors painted their likenesses in caves across Europe. Fascinating as they may be, there's some ecological justification for the project too.

It was this diversity of land surface, broken up by heavy limbs and randomly fertilised by faeces (排泄物), that supported so much flora (植物群). Without the mammoths, that diversity disappeared. Return them and landscapes would once again be with a variety of species, including flowers and bushes.

True, it’s not de-extinction in the sense of bringing a long-dead species back to life. Instead it’s more like making a “dodo” by engineering a modern pigeon, its closest relative, to become huge and flightless. The result would be a big, fatty pigeon that, whether it looked like a dodo or not, would probably fulfil some of its ecological roles.

As a palaeontologist, I would of course love to see living dinosaurs, mammoths and dodos. In some ways, though, I am relieved that the optimistic claims for cloning and genetic technologies have not been borne out. The slowdown gives us time to consider the outcomes—and hopefully avoid some of Michael Crichton’s more fevered imaginings.

1. What is paragraph 2 of the text mainly about?

A．A science fiction review.	B．The development of DNA.
C．An inspired guess of de-extinction.	D．The application of PCR technology.

2. What’s the barrier to cloning a living embryo?

A．DNA is hard to keep for long.	B．Computational power is limited.
C．Biologists are opposed to it.	D．Living cells can􀆳t be sequenced.

3. Why are people interested in cloning extinct species?

A．They expect to seek hunt fun.	B．They lack sources of modern art.
C．They need them for research.	D．They want to see biodiversity.

4. What’s the author’s attitude toward cloning extinct species?

A．Cautious.

B．Unclear.

C．Dismissive.

D．Approving.

7 . Dear boss — You have always tried to attract young consumers, and our consultants have always come up with new ways to label them. The trouble is that coming up with rules to define a group of humanity is more art than science. It is likely to become an exercise in applying stereotypes; not every youngster is drinking kombucha in a Brooklyn storehouse. Luckily you have me, and I’m here to tell you that much of what is written about marketing to today’s most prized consumers is a myth.

Start with the idea that, glued to smartphones, youngsters barely notice the physical world and passively follow the latest hit from Instagram or TikTok. It’s true that the days of marketing chiefly through television, newspapers and magazines are long gone. However, social media has not just changed the ways people discover brands; it has weakened the power of marketing as a whole. Online, talk is cheap and prices are readily Googled. Digital natives, therefore, can easily fact-check our suspicious marketing claims and ads. Surveys suggest that young Americans are among the most price-sensitive food shoppers, even though they have accumulated less wealth than earlier generations had by the same age.

There is a similar urge to think that physical shops no longer matter. Young consumers love their Amazon deliveries. It makes sense for our company to make sales via social media and ship directly to customers’ homes. But what works best is the close integration of the digital and physical worlds. Remember those online-only beauty brands like Glossier, which took the world by storm during the pandemic. It turns out that they struggle to get repeat business and have had to pair up with physical shops. What really matters is avoiding insincerity. Dishonesty is easily exposed online, where everyone loves a takedown. Remember the strong resistance to Boohoo, a fast-fashion firm, when it appointed Kourtney Kardashian, a celebrity leading a luxurious life, as a “sustainability ambassador”? And commit only to causes you can tangibly support and be frank when you are putting profits first. Anyway, nobody is perfect. To pretend otherwise is so 2013.

1. Why is there trouble with finding rules to define a group of people?

A．Because fixed ideas may be inappropriately employed.

B．Because not everybody is into drinking tea at a storehouse.

C．Because art is more challenging to learn than science.

D．Because the consultants are not as expert as the author.

2. What is the purpose of mentioning the surveys about young Americans in Paragraph 2?

A．To reveal their incompetence in saving money.

B．To illustrate they are sensitive to the prices of food online.

C．To demonstrate marketing has a great impact on their spending habits.

D．To prove they are not passive receivers of online marketing tricks.

3. Which of the following statements may the author agree with?

A．Celebrities work as reliable ambassadors.

B．Young customers don’t visit physical shops.

C．Dishonesty in marketing was not rare in 2013.

D．Traditional media still play a major role in marketing.

4. What is a suitable title for the text?

A．How to Expand Youth Market: From Ideas to Practice

B．How to Sell to the Young: From Myth to Truth

C．How to Attract Young Customers: Honesty and Profits

D．How to Increase Sales Online: Labeling and Marketing

8 . What comes to mind when you think about chocolate? A candy bar at Halloween? Ice cream on a hot day?

For Ibrahim, a 12-year-old boy from the West African country of Ghana, chocolate is not about sweet treats; it is about bitter work.     1     But if they did, we would learn that Ibrahim spends his days growing and harvesting cocoa beans, from which chocolate is made. We would also learn that he is just one of more than two million children who perform this difficult labour instead of attending school.

To change the harmful practices like this, some farms use an approach called Fairtrade.     2     It aims to create a different relationship between buyers (chocolate companies) and sellers (cocoa farmers) by encouraging farmers to join together to form a shared business called a cooperative. Because farmers work together instead of competing with each other, they can demand a higher price from the buyers.     3    

Consumers like you can play a role as well. You can buy Fairtrade chocolate if possible, pressure candy companies to change their labour practices, or ask local stores to sell Fairtrade products.     4     It is a programme recognizing schools that provide Fairtrade products in cafeterias or include related lessons in curriculum (课程).

Chocolate has a hidden story that affects children like Ibrahim—children who want a happy future just like you do.     5     By enjoying Fairtrade products or simply spreading the word, you can make chocolate as sweet for all children as it is for you.

A．You have the power to change the story.

B．The labels on chocolate do not tell his story.

C．Fairtrade is a way of doing business that prohibits child labour.

D．You can also take action through the Fairtrade Schools network.

E．On many farms, children like Ibrahim perform difficult farming tasks.

F．Cocoa trees grow in the tropical climates of Africa, Latin America and South-East Asia.

G．With more income, farmers can pay adult workers and can send their children to school.

9 . Women were less likely than men to support the Vietnam war, the Gulf war, or the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. They commit far fewer murders. They are less likely to favor strikes. For some scholars, these are grounds for thinking that a world run by women would be more peaceful.

But European history suggests otherwise, according to political scientists Oeindrila Dube and S. P. Harish. They studied how often European rulers went to war between 1480 and 1913, and found that states ruled by queens were 27% more likely to get involved in wars than those ruled by kings.

This was not all the queens’ fault: men, seeing them as soft targets, tended to attack them. Frederick the Great of Prussia once declared: ”No woman should ever be allowed to govern anything.“ Shortly after becoming king, he attacked the newly crowned Archduchess of Austria, Maria Theresa, and seized Silesia province. Despite years of war, she never recovered it.

But perceived weakness is not the whole story. Queens, the researchers found, were more likely to gain new territory. Catherine the Great expanded her empire by some 200,000 square miles. And married queens were more aggressive than single queens or kings, whether single or married.

The authors suggest several reasons for this. First, married queens may have been able to form more military alliances(联盟),making them confident enough to pick fights. Their husbands had often served in the army before they married, and were well placed to strengthen military ties between their homelands and their wives’ states.

Second, unlike most kings, queens often gave their husbands a lot of power,putting them in charge of foreign policy or the economy. During the 1740s, Maria Theresa’s husband, Francis I, reformed the Austrian economy and raised money for the armed forces while his wife ruled much of central Europe. Prince Albert was Queen Victoria’s most trusted adviser, shaping her foreign policy until his death in1861. This division of labor, the authors suggest, freed up time for queens to pursue more aggressive policies.

The modern era, too, has witnessed female leaders in wars: Golda Meir and the Yom Kippur war, or Margaret Thatcher and the Falklands. The number of countries led by women has more than doubled since 2000, but there is plenty of room for improvement: the current level of 15 represents less than 10 % of the total. A world in which more women took power might be more equal. Whether it would be more peaceful is a different question.

1. The underlined “perceived weakness” in paragraph 4 means that________.

A．women were less likely to support wars

B．women could not recover lost territory

C．women commit far fewer crimes

D．women were soft targets

2. Why were married queens more likely to gain new territory?

A．Because their military alliances picked fights for them.

B．Because they were ambitious and aggressive by nature.

C．Because their husbands were supportive in state governing.

D．Because they centralized all power into their own hands.

3. What is the purpose of mentioning the two female leaders in the last paragraph?

A．To imply there is room for improvement in gender equality.

B．To indicate more females become leaders in modern times.

C．To illustrate female leaders cannot prevent wars in modern times.

D．To suggest female leaders have their share of wars in modern times.

4. According to the passage, we can safely conclude that________.

A．married women are not fit to govern their states on their own

B．female leaders should be responsible for all wars throughout history

C．the world wouldn’t be more peaceful even if more women took power

D．the division of labor allows queens to survive economic crisis

10 . For most people traveling abroad, their first choice is probably to make a beeline for (直奔) tourist sights. For me, I find lots of joy in grocery (食品杂货店) shopping on holiday.

As a vegetarian (素食主义者), finding restaurants that meet my needs is not always easy abroad.     1     The first thing I do, after dropping my bags off, is to go to a grocery store. That enables me to cook breakfast in the morning without walking around for hours trying to find “vegan breakfast” near me.

The variety of foods attracts me every time I travel somewhere new. In Malta, I found the most delicious chocolate-filled cakes, a product I would struggle to find even in the UK.     2     I was so delighted that I could enjoy such an unexpected treat. Another surprise was their selection of ice cream available even in the smallest grocery stores.

    3     Looking for smoked tofu and corn pancakes turns into quite a mission whenever I visit Cluj-Napoca in Romania. There is usually only one variety of smoked tofu, sold in a very small tub (食品盒) and only in the cafeteria section.     4     That is because they are never available at the smaller ones.

Grocery shopping on holiday sounds unusual. But it means being involved in the day-to-day lives of a country’s citizens. I can pretend I am a local and put myself in their shoes. I can watch kids begging their parents for sweets, an international experience that needs no language, or watch couples pick up snacks and drinks for a party on a Friday night.     5    

A．I ended up eating these every day for breakfast.

B．The challenge of finding food is interesting, too.

C．So I always make sure to book a place with a kitchen.

D．Grocery shopping was a vital part of the holiday experience.

E．It’s an act of understanding people as much as of buying food.

F．Corn pancakes always require a trip to the bigger grocery store.

G．By wandering around in a new country, I start to see what they value.