1 . Volunteering for teens is an educational, mind-opening and life-enriching travel experience. Since 2007, IVHQ has supported thousands of high school students to volunteer in Africa, Asia, South America, Central America, North America, Europe, the Caribbean and the Pacific. There’s no need to wait till you’re 18 to volunteer abroad! International Volunteer HQ specializes in offering safe and affordable volunteer opportunities for high school students and teens in more than 17 destinations around the globe.
How to volunteer as a teenager overseas:
Applying to volunteer as a teenager is simple! Once you have decided where to volunteer and which project you would like to join, you can apply online. It’s free, only takes a few minutes and there is no commitment needed at this stage. Our team of Volunteer Travel Specialists will then guide you through the next steps to secure your spot and start preparing for your trip.
There are a number of ways you can volunteer with IVHQ depending on your age:
Under 16: You’re able to volunteer as part of a group (for example, a group of students from your high school, with your family or friends) on certain IVHQ programs. You must have parental/guardian permit and be accompanied on the program by a designated guardian over the age of 18. Contact us to find out more.
16 & 17 years old: You can join one of our teen volunteer abroad programs independently with parental permit and two satisfactory character references. You can choose from volunteer projects in more than 17 destinations and will receive 24/7 support from the local team, but not full time supervision.
1. Who are the volunteering project designed for?| A．Adults. | B．Children. | C．Teenagers | D．Students. |
| A．Through the Internet. | B．By mail. | C．In person. | D．Through calls. |
| A．A grade certificate. | B．Permit from parents. |
| C．A school guarantee. | D．Character references. |
2 . The impact of the man-made climate crisis on Antarctica is scientifically undeniable: stable ice shelves are retreating, air temperature increased by 3 degrees Celsius. krill(磷虾)numbers are declining, melting ice is contributing to sea level rise, and polar bears and seals are getting displaced. “Antarctic biodiversity could decline substantially by the end of the century if we continue with business as usual.” Jasmine Rachael Lee, lead author of the University of Queensland study says.
Published in the journal PLOS Biology, the study finds population declines are likely for 65% of the continent’s plants and wildlife by the year 2100. The most vulnerable(脆弱的)species is the Emperor penguins. In October 2022, the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed Emperor penguins as a threatened species under the Endangered Species Act(ESA), as experts predict the flightless seabird will see a 26% to 47% dip in its population by 2050. “This listing reflects the growing extinction crisis and highlights the importance of the ESA and efforts to conserve species before population declines become irreversible(不可逆转).” said Service Director Martha Williams at the time.
Aside from Emperor penguins, other Antarctic specialists, like the Adélie penguin and dry soil nematodes, were also highly vulnerable. We urgently need a combination of global and local conservation action to best conserve Antarctic species. Global action and global voices to help relieve climate change—because the biggest threat to Antarctica is coming from outside of it. And then we need local actions to help protect biodiversity against local threats and give them the best chance of adapting to climate changes. This will help to save our iconic(代表性的)species like the Emperor penguins and all of Antarctica’s unique and highly adapted inhabitants. It will also help humankind, as we rely heavily on the priceless services the Antarctic provides in regulating our climate and capturing sea level in its ice sheets.
1. What can we learn from Paragraph 1?| A．The impact of climate crisis is usually denied. |
| B．Conservation efforts are badly needed. |
| C．Air temperature on Antarctic increases 3℃ annually. |
| D．Sea level rise results in seabirds losing their habitats. |
| A．To serve as a call to protect wildlife on Antarctic |
| B．To reflect the growing population of wild species. |
| C．To prove the effectiveness of the Endangered Species Act. |
| D．To highlight the severe impact of rising temperature. |
| A．Reducing the chances of making a trip to Antarctic. |
| B．Making joint efforts to relieve climate change. |
| C．Attempting to provide essential nutrients to the ecosystem. |
| D．Continuing to carry forward the Endangered Species Act. |
| A．Plants and Wildlife on Antarctica Will Decline Quickly |
| B．Antarctic Species Are Vulnerable to Human Threats |
| C．More Action Should Be Taken to Protect Wildlife on Antarctica |
| D．The Best Conservation Strategy Will Be Carried Out Soon |
3 . We often try to save money for a variety of different reasons. It might be to save up for a new computer or put money aside into a rainy-day fund.
First, put a stop to those impulse buys.
Finally, be disciplined.
Just as the old saying goes: “A penny saved is a penny earned.” These are some of the actions we can take to help us all become better savers.
| A．Learning how to save is important |
| B．Ask about discounts and pay in cash |
| C．It’s not just about creating that budget |
| D．Sometimes, saving money can be difficult |
| E．Another way is to use cash rather than card |
| F．Ask yourself if you really need to buy something |
| G．Successful savers stick to their plans and watch the money pile up |
4 . When I was 13, I climbed my first mountain--a fairly gentle 3,900-foot peak. I was overweight at the time and out of breath when I reached the summit. But I loved challenging myself. Soon I’d climbed nearly 100 peaks. My parents were happy I’d finally found a hobby.
I often go climbing with my friend Mel Olsen. She and I drove to tackle 11, 240-foot Mount Hood. It’s safer to start winter climbs at night when there’s less risk of the sun melting the snowpack. That day, we started at 3 a. m. At around9 a. m., we reached an ice step. It was about three or four feet tall and sloped al a 75-degree angle. 1 volunteered to go first. I placed my left foot on the ice step.
I gained a sense of the ice when 1 stuck my ax and crampons (鞋底钉) into it, and it felt good. Confident I was safe, I put my full weight on it. Suddenly, I heard a crack, and as the snowpack became thinner, a whole piece of ice broke off the step, right under my foot.
In an instant, I fell backward, bouncing off the rock face and rolling down the mountain as if I were a character in a video game. I remember thinking, This is it. You’re done. I stuck out my arms and legs, grabbing at anything. That stopped my rolling down the mountain, but I was still sliding, After 2 few seconds, I came to a stop on a shallow slope.
I asked myself: Where are you? Mount Hood. What’s the date? December 30. Good. My brain was functioning. Then I checked my body to see where I was hurt. For the most part, I was fine, except that I was suffering from a sharp pain in my left leg. Later I’d learn that I’d broken my femur (大腿骨) and that the bone was slicing into my skin and muscle.
At the bottom of Mount Hood, I was loaded into an ambulance and taken to a hospital. The doctors told me it would be a year before I could climb again, but I was back on the trails within six months.
1. Why did the author and her friend set out at 3 a. m. ?| A．It was the best time to enjoy scenery. | B．It was more challenging to climb at night. |
| C．They wanted to finish the climb before sunset. | D．They hoped to avoid some possible dangers. |
| A．To show her strong character. | B．To make her idea more convincing. |
| C．To help readers imagine the scene. | D．To add to the humor of the description. |
| A．By recalling what had happened. | B．By checking whether she was injured. |
| C．By calling an ambulance for rescue. | D．By asking herself some factual questions. |
| A．She is too brave to pay attention to any danger. |
| B．R She has a strong desire for professional knowledge. |
| C．Setbacks can’t stop her from challenging herself. |
| D．The love for nature sets her apart from her friends. |
5 . We all know that unpleasant feeling when we’re talking about something interesting and halfway through our sentence we’re interrupted. But was that really an interruption? The answer depends on whom you ask, according to new research led by Katherine Hilton from Stanford University.
Using a set of controlled audio clips (录音片段), Hilton surveyed 5, 000 American English speakers to better understand what affects people’s perceptions of interruptions. She had participants listen to audio clips and then answer questions about whether the speakers seemed to be friendly and engaged, listening to one another, or trying to interrupt.
Hilton found that American English speakers have different conversational styles. She identified two distinct groups: high and low intensity speakers. High intensity speakers are generally uncomfortable with moments of silence in conversation and consider talking at the same time a sign of engagement. Low intensity speakers find it rude to talk at the same time and prefer people speak one after another in conversation.
The differences in conversational styles became evident when participants listened to audio clips in which two people spoke at the same time but were agreeing with each other and stayed on topic, Hilton said. The high intensity group reported that conversations where people spoke at the same time when expressing agreement were not interruptive but engaged and friendlier than the conversations with moments of silence in between speaking turns. In contrast, the low intensity group perceived any amount of simultaneous (同时) chat as a rude interruption, regardless of what the speakers were saying.
“People care about being interrupted, and those small interruptions can have a massive effect on the overall communication,” Hilton said. “Breaking apart what an interruption means is essential if we want to understand how humans interact with each other.”
1. What does Hilton’s research focus on?| A．What interruptions mean to people. |
| B．Whether interruption is good or not. |
| C．How to avoid getting interrupted. |
| D．Why speakers interrupt each other. |
| A．Record an audio clip. | B．Answer some questions. |
| C．Listen to one another. | D．Have a chat with a friend. |
| A．It’s important. | B．It’s interesting. |
| C．It’s inefficient. | D．It’s impolite. |
| A．Human interaction is complex. |
| B．Communication is the basis of life. |
| C．Interruptions promote thinking. |
| D．Language barriers will always exist. |
6 . For years, David James, who studies insects at Washington State University, had wanted to examine the migration (迁徙)patterns of West Coast monarch butterflies (黑脉金斑蝶). The route the butterflies travel has been hardly known because the populations are too small to follow. For every 200 monarchs tagged (打标签)by a researcher, only one is usually recovered at the end of its trip, James says, and finding even 200 in the wild to tag is unlikely. Knowing the route is vital to conservation efforts, but James had no way to figure it out- until he got a phone call from Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla.
The prison was looking for new activities to improve the mental health of those serving long-term sentences. So James began working with prisoners to raise monarchs through the whole process of their transformation. The adult insects were then tagged and released from the prison. Over five years, nearly 10, 000 monarchs flew from the facility. Elsewhere in Washington, Oregon and Idaho, researchers released another few thousand.
The tags included email addresses, and soon after the first butterflies took off, James started receiving messages from people who had spotted them. The butterflies, the reports confirmed, wintered in coastal California. Twelve of them landed at Lighthouse Field State Beach in Santa Cruz. Several more headed to Bolinas and Morro Bay.
The work helps researchers identify ideal places to plant milkweed and other vegetation that are important to the life cycle of West Coast monarch butterflies. It also brought out the gentler side of some of the prisoners. “They were very worried that they were going to harm the butterflies, ”James says. Watching the monarch change their form also touched the men. “This butterfly changed, ” James recalls prisoners telling him, “and maybe we can too. ”
1. What was hard for David to do in his study?| A．Gain financial support. | B．Hire qualified workers. |
| C．Build a new laboratory. | D．Find enough monarchs. |
| A．To guarantee their safety. |
| B．To enable them to fly longer distances. |
| C．To track their travel routes. |
| D．To distinguish them from other species. |
| A．The patience the butterflies showed. |
| B．The hardship the butterflies underwent. |
| C．The transformation of the butterflies. |
| D．The devotion of James to the butterflies. |
| A．The impact of the research. |
| B．The findings of James’ study. |
| C．The release of the prisoners. |
| D．The life cycle of the butterflies. |
7 . Cancer is caused by gene mutations (突变) that accumulate in cells over time, yet long-lived animals that have lots of cells, such as elephants and whales, hardly ever get it. Why?
For elephants, at least, part of the answer may be the gene commonly known as p53, which also helps humans and many other animals repair DNA damaged during replication (复制). Elephants have an amazing 20 copies of this gene. Those copies, each with two variations produce a total of 40 proteins, compared with humans’ (and most animals’) single copy producing two proteins.
In mammals, p53 plays a crucial role in preventing mutated cells from turning into tumors (肿瘤). It works by pausing replication and then either initiating repair or causing cells to self-destruct if the damage is too extensive. Without action from p53, cancer can easily take hold: in more than half of all human cancers, the gene’s function has been lost through random mutations.
The scientists virtually modeled and studied carefully elephants’ 40 p53 proteins, finding two ways the gene could help elephants avoid cancer. First, the fact that elephants possess multiple copies lowers the chance of p53 no longer working because of mutations. Additionally, elephants’ p53 copies activate in response to varying mutations and so respond to damaged cells differently, which likely gives an edge when detecting and getting rid of mutations.
These “remarkable” results imply that elephants have a series of means though which p53 can operate, says Sue Haupt, a cell biologist who was not involved in the work. This points to “exciting possibilities for exploring powerful new approaches to cancer protection in humans,” she adds.
Study co-author Robin Fahraeus and his colleagues are now following up on these results using blood samples from an African elephant at the Vienna Zoo. They are exploring how its p53 proteins interact with damaged cells and plan to compare those findings with results from human cells.
1. What does the underlined word “initiating” mean in paragraph 3?| A．Delaying. | B．Indicating. |
| C．Stopping. | D．Starting. |
| A．By preventing the replication thoroughly. |
| B．By providing precise response continuously. |
| C．By lowering the chance of mutations in advance. |
| D．By repairing the damaged cells in the same way. |
| A．The results need further tests. |
| B．More biologists will participate in the study. |
| C．The results throw light on humans’ fighting cancer. |
| D．Researchers have new findings in African elephants. |
| A．Why elephants don’t get cancer. |
| B．What contributes to elephants’ long life. |
| C．Where the anticancer breakthrough lies. |
| D．How the key cancer-fighting gene works. |
8 . Nowadays, a multilingual voice app helping Indians shop online. India is a country where 1.3 billion people speak 22 officially recognized languages and hundreds of dialects, communication can be a problem online. Despite the number of Indian internet users who don’t speak English as a first language is large, 60% won’t buy online due to language barriers, according to a 2017 report.
Niki, a voice-enabled e-commerce platform, is trying to solve this, providing a virtual assistant that lets people use voice commands to do their shopping, pay utility bills and users speak to the app in their preferred languages, getting products or services.
The company’s target market is people who don’t live in cities and do not speak English in the northern Indiana states. It is planning to introduce seven more languages and hopes to carry out its business in 10 more states.
Thanks to a machine learning algorithm, Nikiis able to understand variations and dialects within a language with increasing accuracy. When the app first appeared, it had a 65% accuracy rate. Now with a bank of 250 million conversations, Niki can process voice commands with 95% accuracy, he says.
The app differs from typical online marketplaces. It limits the number of buying choices. Rather than offering many similar products as the supermarkets do, Niki presents a few quality-controlled objects from providers. That is more like a local store.
1. Many Indian Internet users don’t shop online because________.| A．they aren’t able to use the Internet | B．they have trouble using apps |
| C．they like to shop in the local store | D．they have difficulty in communicating |
| A．There are more products for them to choose | B．They may like the way NiKi talks with them |
| C．It’s difficult for them to buy good products | D．It’s just like shopping in a big supermarket |
| A．New apps develop quickly in India | B．The voice app helps Indians shop online |
| C．It’s hard to change Indians’ shopping fashion | D．Indians become interested in online shopping |
| A．Population and environment | B．History and traditions |
| C．Sports and entertainment | D．Science and technology |
9 . The sun is setting, brightening your kids’ faces as they play in the waves. You reach for your phone for this perfect moment. But before you do, here’s a bit of surprising science: Taking photos is not the perfect way to keep memory as you think.
Taking too many pictures could actually harm the brain’s ability to keep memories, says Elizabeth Loftus, a psychology professor at the University of California. So we get the photo but kind of lose the memory.
Photography “outsources” memories. It works in two ways: We either shake off the responsibility of remembering moments when taking pictures, or we’re so distracted by the process that we miss the moment altogether.
The first explanation is the loss of memory. People know that their camera is recording that moment, so they don’t try to remember. The other is distraction. We’re distracted by the process of taking a photo-how we hold our phone, composing the photo, such as smiling faces, the background to our liking and clear image, all of which uses up our attention that could otherwise help us memorize.
However, taking photos can help memory when done mindfully. While taking a photo may be distracting, the act of preparation by focusing on visual details around has the opposite. When people take the time to take clear pictures, memories become strengthened.
Another advantage is that we recall moments more exactly with the photos. Memory has been reshaped with the help of new information and new experiences. Thus, photos or videos help us recall moments as if they really happened.
Memories die away without a visual record backing them up. Therefore, a photo is an excellent tool to help remember when done purposefully, which is worth exploring further.
1. What is the purpose of the first paragraph?| A．To introduce the topic. | B．To make us recall similar experience. |
| C．To show the interest in taking photos. | D．To call on readers not to take photos. |
| A．Taking photos is helpful for us to memorize. |
| B．Photos are more detailed than memories. |
| C．People depend more on photos to remember than their brains. |
| D．Many sources influence people’s memories during photo-taking |
| A．When taking photos is better. | B．When distraction is likely to happen. |
| C．How to stay focused while taking photos. | D．How to use photo-taking to memorize better. |
| A．Photography Does Help to Memories |
| B．Remember the Moment and Take Photos Properly |
| C．Too Many Photos Taken Result in Poor Memories |
| D．The Fewer Photos We Take, the Better We Will Remember |
10 . CREATIVE SUMMER CAMPS
Video Game Design
This international organization is aimed at inspiring girls to explore the world of games and build their confidence in the areas of math and technology. Students are grouped based on skill levels. Girls at all levels are welcome!
Time: June 15-26Age: 7-15
Fees: $ 160 each one; $ 128 members
Contact: Call Children’s Creativity Museum at 415-820-3320 or visit www. creativity. org.
History Summer Camp
Each day, kids will have a task to explore a different aspect of past life, including food, work, music, art through games, storytelling and even silent films.
Time: June 22-26Age: 8-12
Fees: 200 each one; 160 members
Contact: Call at 252-1770 or visit www.historiccolumbia.org.
Adventures in Creative Writing
This helps improve your writing skills if you have already mastered the basics of good writing. You’ll discover new techniques and polish your writing.
Time: June 21-26Age: 9-12
Fees: $ 500 each one
Contact: Call at 777-9444 or visit www.saeu.sc.edu/adventures.
Heathwood Hall Guitar
Whether you are a beginner or an experienced guitar player who wants to improve your skills, Heathwood Hall Guitar provides top-quality guitar instruction using a variety of fun games and exercises.
Time: June 15-19; July 13-17; Aug. 3-7Age: 3-12
Fees: 150 each one
Contact: Call Heathwood Hall at 231-7710 or visit www.heathwood.org.
Basic Drawing Writing Camp
This camp helps beginners discover the basic skills of drawing and writing and how to make it come to life on paper.
Time: June 8-11Age: 6-12
Fees: $ 350 each one; $ 300 members
Contact: Call Ladybug Art Studios at 603-7312 or visit www.ladybugartstudios.com.
1. What do we know about Video Game Design?
| A．It groups students by age. | B．It accepts no boy students. |
| C．It welcomes only experienced students. | D．It mainly develops students’ team spirit. |
| A．www.heathwood.org. | B．www.historiccolumbia.org. |
| C．www.saeu.sc.edu/adventures. | D．www.ladybugartstudios.com. |
| A．Charging the same fees. | B．Putting students into groups. |
| C．Offering professional instructions. | D．Letting students learn through games. |
