1 . Sometimes, we pour in our best efforts, only to see the worst outcomes. It can be frustrating and demotivating, and slipping into a negative mindset is easy.

In the event of failure, it is very tempting to self-blame or self-pity for what happened.     1     Here’s what you can do to make yourself feel good when things don’t work out.

Acknowledge Your Emotions

When things don’t go according to plan, it’s natural to feel disappointed, frustrated, or sad.     2     Recognize your feelings and accept that it’s okay to feel that way. By allowing yourself to experience your emotions, you can process them better and move on.

While it is good to recover quickly, the grieving phase is a necessity you shouldn’t skip. People who deny that they failed and that nothing went wrong only find themselves in more complicated situations and a more fractured emotional state. Feel sad, breathe, take a few walks, and think that acknowledging the issue means 50% of your problem is already solved.

Practice Self-Care

    3     Grab some time to engage in activities that make you happy and relaxed. Take a long bath, walk in nature, meditate, read a book, or watch your favorite movie. When we feel good about ourselves, we are better equipped to deal with life’s challenges.

Surround Yourself with Positivity

Surround yourself with people who inspire you, while being true.     4     You could also join a support group or an online community of like-minded individuals who share your interests.

    5     While you see yourself as a strong person who can handle negativity, it’s best to withdraw from the chaos during recovery. Avoid social media and dealing with colleagues who often trigger negativity.

A．Take a step back and evaluate what went wrong.

B．Don’t suppress your emotions; instead, acknowledge them.

C．However, it’s crucial to pick yourself up and move forward.

D．Spend time with family and friends who love and support you.

E．Self-care is the key to healthy mental and physical well-being.

F．Celebrate the small wins with friends who are happy to see you triumph.

G．Having a positive support system can help you stay motivated and focused.

2 . How much salt is too much salt? Unfortunately, it’s most likely the amount you’re consuming.

A new study published Monday in the journal JAMA found that cutting one teaspoon of salt a day results in a decline in blood pressure comparable to taking blood pressure medication.

Humans need sodium (钠), which is found in salt, for our bodies to work properly. It plays an important role in nerve and muscle function by allowing nerves to pulse with electricity and muscles to contract. But too much sodium can be bad for our health. It contributes to high blood pressure, or hypertension (高血压)which is a major cause of stroke and heart disease.

One way it does this is by making the body absorb more water. Extra sodium in the blood pulls more water into blood vessels (血管), which increases the amount of blood in the vessels. This increases blood pressure and, in some people, leads to high blood pressure and can damage vessels and even organs like the heart, kidney s and brain.

In this latest study, participants who cut out their daily salt intake by one teaspoon had lower blood pressure in just one week. This was even true for people already on blood pressure medication.

But how much sodium is in one teaspoon of salt? A teaspoon of salt has about 2,300 mg of sodium in it. And according to the FDA, Americans eat an average of 3,400 mg of sodium. So cutting out a teaspoon would be equivalent to cutting two-thirds of a person’s daily sodium intake.

But the researchers say that cutting out any amount of sodium will help lower blood pressure-at least more than no reduction at all.

1. What is the function of Paragraph 1?

A．To describe an interesting fact.	B．To present a confusing question.
C．To introduce the topic of the text.	D．To provide background information.

2. How does too much sodium harm us?

A．By causing muscle disorders.	B．By bringing about hypertension.
C．By directly damaging our organs.	D．By absorbing the water in blood vessels.

3. What does the underlined word “equivalent” in Paragraph 6 probably mean?

A．Equal.

B．Relevant.

C．Beneficial.

D．Important.

4. Which of the following is the best title for the text?

A．The Recommendation on the Intake of Salt

B．The Less Sodium We Have, the Better We Are

C．Cutting One Teaspoon of Salt May Improve Health

D．The Relationship Between Salt and Blood Pressure

3 . For most of December, Adele Adkins had the top-selling album in Australia, followed by Ed Sheeran, and then there was a collection of songs that took everyone by surprise.

Songs Of Disappearance is a collection of calls from endangered Australian birds. Last month, it briefly reached No.3 on the country’s top 50 albums chart (排行榜) — ahead of Taylor Swift.

Anthony Albrecht, a PhD student at Charles Darwin University, produced the album with Professor Stephen Garnett. “I knew it was a crazy thing to suggest. But Stephen’s a little bit crazy like me and he let me do it,” Albrecht said.

Songs Of Disappearance was published with a university report which found that 1 in 6 Australian bird species are now threatened. The album records 53 of those species.

“Some sing what you might think of as bird songs, but not all of them,” said SeanDooley, who represents the conservation organization Bird life Australia. “Songs from the golden bowerbird sound like a death cry from some sci-fi series. And the love songs from Christmas Island frigate bird, which has a piece of skin hanging under its mouth that caninflate (膨胀) like a huge red balloon, sound as bizarre as its unusual looks.”

There’s also the Christmas Island pigeon. When people hear that pigeon, they might think that it’s a human making silly noises, Dooley added.

The Charles Darwin University and Bird life Australia report does document successes in protecting endangered birds, the hope being that the album will protect more species.

“The increased awareness can make a difference,” Dooley said. “When we have a community on board, that brings pressure to the government to do the right thing. We know that these conservation actions do work.”

1. Whose album reached No.1 on the chart in December?

A．Taylor Swift’s.

B．Adele Adkins’.

C．Ed Sheeran’s.

D．Anthony Albrecht’s.

2. What can be learned from the university report?

A．About 53 bird species are threatened in Australia.

B．It has not found success in protecting endangered birds.

C．One sixth of Australian bird species are now endangered.

D．Music is very powerful in encouraging people to protect birds.

3. Which is closest in meaning to “bizarre”in paragraph 5?

A．Strange.

B．Beautiful.

C．Loud.

D．Sharp.

4. What does Sean Dooley think of Anthony Albrecht’s project?

A．Crazy.

B．Amusing.

C．Uncreative.

D．Helpful.

4 . Poetry has a place in the curriculum of primary schools. It can be taught as part of reading, writing, and language lessons, and it fits easily into classroom themes, projects, and celebrations.     1    . Here are four reasons to teach poetry in the classroom.

Build Reading, Speaking & Listening Skills

The unique thing about poetry is that we often read aloud, repeat often, and share in groups. When children are listening to poems orally, they are building their listening skills     2    . When sharing poems in a classroom, look at, and read them together. Children are strengthening their reading skills and building reading fluency through repeated reading.

Explore Language & Vocabulary

    3    . Children can learn about phonics and letter sounds by listening for and locating rhyming words. A poem can be used to teach vocabulary, sentence structure, parts of speech, and many grammar skills. Poetry also builds vocabulary. Children get exposed to words they have not heard before, and they listen to them in context.

Inspire Writing

Learn about how poems are created and the words they contain. It is the first step in writing.     4    . In poetry, we learn how to put words together to form meaning and context. We learn how to choose the right words to create imagery and effect. Writing poetry is a transferable skill that will help children write in other ways and styles.

    5    

Poetry is a form of expression. Writing it lets us get out our feelings and thoughts on a subject while reading it encourages us to connect and find meaning in our experiences. Poetry can have a positive impact on the social and emotional learning of children. It may offer them a new way of thinking about something. It can put things into words that children may not know how to express otherwise.

A．Build a Love for Reading

B．Encourage Creative Thinking

C．It can add additional value to our studies

D．Poetry often contains words that rhyme for effect

E．Different types of poems have various components

F．Children have a natural curiosity to foster and encourage with poetry

G．They learn to attend to the words they hear and think about what those words mean

5 . It is frequently said that the best camera is the one you already have with you. Amazingly, the cameras on modern phones can take killer images without a professional camera. But if you’re struggling to get the quality you want, try a few of these helpful tips.

Pick the right time of day

There are a variety of lighting options that change throughout the day.     1     And it is properly named for the yellow color the sun casts. This warms any scene. If you’ve been working during golden hour and want to try something new, go out during the blue hour. This is the hour just before sunrise or just after sunset.     2    

Pay attention to lighting

    3     When taking pictures of nature, pay attention to the available light. How can you use it to create eye-catching images? Turn the sun peaking through the trees into a dramatic starburst by setting your f/stop to f/22 or above. Look for ways light and shadows create exciting patterns on otherwise flat backgrounds.

    4    

Look for subjects with natural motion like a waterfall, stream, flowers in the wind, etc., and set your shutter speeds to 20 seconds or more. It is vital to have a small secure support to ensure your camera is as perfectly still as possible during the shot.

Photo editing apps

Don’t limit your photos to what you can capture straight out of camera (SOOC).     5     . Look at the built-in filters (滤光器) that come with your system, or download a free photo editing app to add up your masterpieces. By using all these techniques, you should be able to create unique images that take brilliant photos.

A．Long exposure

B．Consider composition

C．Try to have access to many creative apps

D．You can control whether the background is in focus

E．Photography is often referred to as painting with light

F．It provides an attractive tone for your subject and scenery

G．Golden hour is the hour just after sunrise or just before sunset

6 . What you can do with FluentU
• Do personalized quizzes with speaking.
• Understand and truly enjoy real-world videos.
• Learn new words in multiple contexts.
Reviews from users

FluentU is a great method to learn a foreign language. We watch videos with subtitles and at any time, we can stop the video if we don’t understand a word or an expression. We click on for additional explanations. Then, we have a quiz to work the vocabulary. I find this method very interesting to improve and stay motivated.

—Estelle Jaouen

I appreciate being able to hear the pronunciation from a male and female voice. I think the mix of characters and pinyin are great and well-balanced. I love the fact that I’ve only been doing this for less than a month and I already know dozens of useful phrases and words!

—Maria van Eeden

I like the fact that it’s very dynamic and not grammar focused. Also, having many videos to learn from makes it even less boring no matter where you are as long as you have a smart phone. I like to just watch each video one time, pause at each sentence and try to remember words and sentences.

—Eduard Marius

The best thing about FluentU is that you have direct context for each new vocabulary that you learn. Repeating the dialogues is the way I learn. Also, that you can bring in your own vocabulary list and that the program searches for videos or material in which the words are included are remarkable!

—Jan Rehmer

1. What is included in FluentU?

A．Lots of videos.	B．Many language tutors.
C．Varieties of educational websites.	D．Much advice on grammar learning.

2. Who is most likely to be learning Chinese now?

A．Estelle Jaouen.

B．Maria van Eeden.

C．Eduard Marius.

D．Jan Rehmer.

3. What is this text?

A．An English brochure.	B．A language textbook.
C．An interview about AI.	D．An introduction to an App.

7 . A satellite is an object in space that orbits around another. It has two kinds — natural satellites and artificial satellites. The moon is a natural satellite that moves around the earth while artificial satellites are those made by man.

Despite their widespread impact on daily life, artificial satellites mainly depend on different complicated makeups. On the outside, they may look like a wheel, equipped with solar panels or sails. Inside, the satellites contain mission-specific scientific instruments, which include whatever tools the satellites need to perform their work. Among them, high-resolution cameras and communication electronics are typical ones. Besides, the part that carries the load and holds all the parts together is called the bus.

Artificial satellites operate in a systematic way just like humans. Computers function as the satellite’s brain, which receive information, interpret it, and send messages back to the earth. Advanced digital cameras serve as the satellite’s eyes. Sensors are other important parts that not only recognize light, heat, and gases, but also record changes in what is being observed. Radios on the satellite send information back to the earth. Solar panels provide electrical power for the computers and other equipment, as well as the power to move the satellite forward.

Artificial satellites use gravity to stay in their orbits. Earth’s gravity pulls everything toward the center of the planet. To stay in the earth’s orbit, the speed of a satellite must adjust to the tiniest changes in the pull of gravity. The satellite’s speed works against earth’s gravity just enough so that it doesn’t go speeding into space or falling back to the earth.

Rockets carry satellites to different types and heights of orbits, based on the tasks they need to perform. Satellites closer to the earth are in low-earth orbit, which can be 200-500 miles high. The closer to the earth, the stronger the gravity is. Therefore, these satellites must travel at about 17,000 miles per hour to keep from falling back to the earth, while higher-orbiting satellites can travel more slowly.

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

A．The appearance of artificial satellites.	B．The components of artificial satellites.
C．The basic function of artificial satellites.	D．The specific mission of artificial satellites.

2. What is the role of computers in artificial satellites?

A．Providing electrical power.	B．Recording changes observed.
C．Monitoring space environment.	D．Processing information received.

3. How do artificial satellites stay in their orbits?

A．By relying on powerful rockets to get out of gravity.

B．By orbiting at a fixed speed regardless of gravity’s pull.

C．By changing speed constantly based on the pull of gravity.

D．By resisting the pull of gravity with advanced technologies.

4. Why do satellites in higher-earth orbit travel more slowly?

A．They are more affected by earth’s gravity.

B．They take advantage of rockets more effectively.

C．They have weaker pull of gravity in higher orbits.

D．They are equipped with more advanced instruments.

8 . Not Waving but Drowning

Stevie Smith (1902-1971)

Nobody heard him, the dead man, but still he lay moaning:

I was much further out than you thought, and not waving but drowning.

Poor chap, he always loved larking, and now he's dead.

It must have been too cold for him, his heart gave away, they said.

Oh, no no no, it was too cold always （Still the dead one lay moaning）.

I was much too far out all my life, and not waving but drowning.

‘Not Waving But Drowning’ by Stevie Smith describes the emotional situation of a speaker whose true sufferings go unnoticed by all those around her. The poem begins with the speaker stating that there is a dead man who is not really dead. He is not dead because his story has more to offer to the world. His death came at the hands of apathy (冷漠). The speaker knows this to be true as she is struggling out in the ocean waters. She’s trying desperately to get someone’s attention but all the onlookers believe her to be “waving” rather than “drowning”. Then the speaker criticizes the emotionless reaction of the beach-goers by describing their words regarding the dead man. They see him, attempt to recall something about his life, and then declare him dead without ceremony They believe that it must have been “too cold” for him and that his heart gave out. The speaker continues to say that it has always been “too cold” for her. She has always been too far out to the sea to make people understand her, especially now when she needs understanding the most.

On the surface the poem is about a man who drowns because his movements are mistaken for friendly waving. Taken less literally, however, it speaks to the pain of being misunderstood and the frequent failure of communication between human beings, closely related to which is its potential suggestion of mental illness. That is, the poem can be taken as an extended metaphor (暗喻) for the specific pain of diseases like depression, which makes the man feel like “drowning” yet unable to effectively ask for help. It’s worth noting here that Smith herself struggled with depression for much of her life, and her own experience likely informed the poem. The man’s mistaken gestures, in this reading, indicate the divide between appearance and reality, between how people dealing with such illness are feeling inside and how the world sees them or how they present themselves to the world.

1. What’s the first paragraph mainly about?

A．An introduction of the poet.	B．The explanation of the poem’s content.
C．The appreciation of the poem's images.	D．An analysis of the poem's creation background.

2. What does the underlined phrase “without ceremony” possibly mean?

A．Casually.

B．Definitely.

C．Formally.

D．Violently.

3. According to the passage, what’s to blame for the man’s death in the poem?

A．His inner desire for death.	B．His misleading gestures for help.
C．His being drowned for so long a time.	D．His failed communication with people around.

4. What can we conclude from this passage?

A．People usually believe what they see.

B．People can't turn a blind eye to whoever is in trouble.

C．People should re late to what those in need truly need.

D．People with mental illnesses must help themselves out.

9 . Books are the most valuable cultural heritage. However, there are many ancient Chinese classics suffering from different degrees of damage due to various reasons.     1    

Bai Yuzhi,a post-90s restorer (修复师) at the Wuhan Library,graduated from Wuhan University in 2016 with a major in restoring ancient books. She is now the fourth generation of restorers at the Wuhan Library, Bai started practicing this technique during her after-class activities at college in 2014.     2     “I’m shy and not good at socializing, so this job suits me very well,” she said

    3     The restoration steps cannot be rushed. When restorers receive an ancient book, their first task is not to directly restore it but to observe it and record the book’s important details. After that, the restorers will open the book,remove every page, and repair it on the back side.     4     It may take one or two days to restore a single page. So it could take at least a month to complete the restoration of a whole book.

Bai has restored about 10,000 pages of ancient books in her over 10 years of work. The most difficult part of the restoration, according to her, is keeping everything under exact control over every stage.     5     If the paste (面糊) is too thin, the repaired pages may easily come off and become broken, which could affect the quality of the restoration. However, if the paste is too thick, the fixed pages will be tough, challenging to open.

With the advancement of science and digital technology, the methods for protecting ancient books have become more various.

A．The task of restoration is demanding.

B．Sometimes the book is badly damaged.

C．Bai works in reader service for ancient books.

D．This led to a new field—restoring ancient books.

E．She officially became a restorer in February 2019.

F．Recording the content of a book demands a restorer’s patience.

G．She gave an example of the challenges in preparing a suitable paste.

10 . Working for a big company in London on a salary (薪水)of over £100,000, you might expect Grayden Reece-Smith to have a luxurious (奢侈)lifestyle, going on expensive holidays or driving a sports car around south London, where he lives. In fact, the 28-year-old lives a very different existence from his colleagues. He gives away everything he earns over £42,000–a figure that he thought he could comfortably live on.

Over the past five years, Reece-Smith has handed over more than £250,000 to organizations such as International Care Ministries, which helps poor families in the Philippines, and the Against Malaria Foundation. He is part of a growing number of young professionals described as “effective altruists”. Effective altruists typically donate regularly to a charity which they think will have a great impact (影响). Some change careers to make more money, which can then be given away.

Reece-Smith considered working in the charity sector after graduating from university, but thought that he could make a bigger difference by donating a large part of his salary. He had volunteered as a teacher at a school in Tanzania, but then realized that earning and giving would be more effective. “The cost of my flights there could have paid the salaries of two teachers for an entire year,” he says. Instead, he could “stay at home, living a nice life and still make a huge difference in the world”.

He is not mean with money-last year he went to Cuba on holiday, and spent several thousand pounds on a new sofa. But his lifestyle isn’t as luxurious as some of the people he works with. “I usually don’t buy supermarket-branded food products, but I don’t own a car. Other people on my salary might have a bigger house. Some of my colleagues have four-bedroom houses, but we only bought what we needed-a two-bedroom flat.£42,000 is more than enough to live on and still save,” he says.

1. How much money does Grayden spend on donation every year?

A．Less than £42,000.	B．Over £100.000.
C．£50,000.	D．Any income over £42,000.

2. What may an “effective altruist” do according to the text?

A．Donate to impactful charities.	B．Make more money to enjoy lives.
C．Create a good public image.	D．Enter a teaching profession.

3. Why did Grayden decide to donate money but not work in the charity sector?

A．To access his inner life.	B．To create a stronger effect.
C．To give away all of his salary.	D．To be a teacher at a school.

4. What can be inferred about Grayden from the text?

A．He leads an expensive lifestyle.	B．He buys food produced by supermarkets.
C．He lives in a four-bedroom house.	D．He balances his life and donation.