1 . “Humans can develop certain abilities we aren’t born with by practicing animals’ movements,” the traditional Chinese Wushu lovers believed in the past — and still do today.
Chinese Five-Animal Exercises, also known as Wuqinxi, are the first complete set of qigong exercises following the movements of animals: monkeys, deer ( 鹿 ), birds, bears and tigers. They were created by one of the greatest doctors in Chinese history, Hua Tuo, more than 1,800 years ago.
The Five-Animal Exercises are well-designed to help blood circulation (循环), and let the energy go smoothly in the body so as to improve the health.
“ The bear movements are good for the stomach. The tiger movements can reduce the pain in the back. The deer movements help reduce the fat around the waist (腰). The bird movements can help keep our knees healthy and the monkey movements can be good for the heart.” said Hua Yi, the 59th inheritor (继承人) of Wuqinxi.
For those new learners, the first few exercises might not go well. You may find it hard to focus. Wear comfortable clothes, keep peaceful in your mind, try to move slowly... Little by little, you’ll feel more and more harmonious with nature. You may even feel you become a tiger or a deer, walking in the forest freely.
These exercises need no tools. You can search online for the videos and practice them at any time when you feel like relaxing your body and mind. Because it’s fun to practice and good for health, Five-Animal Exercises are becoming more and more popular in recent years, not only in China, but also in many other places of the world.
1. Why do people practice Five-Animal Exercises?| A．To fight against enemies | B．To protect wild animals |
| C．To improve the health | D．To make money |
| A．the bear movements | B．the tiger movements |
| C．the deer movements | D．the bird movements |
| A．和谐的 | B．兴奋的 | C．敬畏的 | D．崇高的 |
| A．It’s easy to learn Wuqinxi even for beginners. |
| B．People should practice Wuqinxi on weekends. |
| C．Wuqinxi is becoming worldwide famous. |
| D．It’s difficult to learn Wuqinxi even for beginners. |
2 . Would you like to travel? Here is some advice for you.
Kingsway Hall Hotel
We offer quality service in Kingsway Hall Hotel. This location puts guests in easy reach of many places, such as the British Museum and Piccadilly Circus. Our hotel also has modern Western food, and offers a perfect dining environment. The lounge bar is a comfortable place to enjoy a drink while watching the tourists. There are hundreds of dining choices within walking distance. Non-smoking rooms are ready for guests.
Hilton Docklands Riverside
Located on the bank of the Thames, our hotel is about two miles east of Tower Bridge and 36 miles from London Heathrow Airport. Our hotel has a beauty salon, a flower shop and a swimming pool. The hotel also offers laundry(洗衣店) services, babysitting, shining shoes, and local area transportation.
Windermere Hotel
Located in the center of London, our hotel puts guests within easy reach of London’s well-known buildings. Buckingham Palace and the Royal Parks are just a short walk away. Within 1.5 miles you can visit Westminster Abbey and the Houses of Parliament. The theatres, Harrods shopping centre, and the designer shops of Sloane Square and Knightsbridge are all only a short walk away or a taxi ride away.
1. What does Kingsway Hall Hotel provide for its guests?| A．Chinese food. | B．A lounge bar. |
| C．Smoking rooms. | D．A swimming pool. |
| A．It has delicious food. | B．It offers a reasonable price. |
| C．It offers different kinds of service. | D．It is about two miles from London Heathrow Airport |
| A．a storybook | B．a travel guide |
| C．a technical report | D．a fashion magazine |
3 . Sugar-free cookies, reduced-sugar cereal, sugar-free candy, diet soda... are these better for you? Since sugar became a taboo (禁忌) in the nutrition and wellness world, sugar-free food items and drinks have acted as alternatives for once beloved sweet drinks and snacks. Claiming to be ZERO sugar means it is healthier, better for diabetics, and helps you slim down... Right?
In fact, sugar-free is worse. Sugar-free means that artificial sweeteners (甜味剂) are used instead of real sugar. The problem: these sweeteners do not come from natural sources and they can cause you more harm than good.
Let’s get into what these artificial sweeteners actually are. Sugar-free sugar sounds wrong and that’s because there is no such thing as sugar-free sugar. Some of these sugar-free alternatives still contain sugar and the ones that don’t contain sugar have chemicals your body often does not know how to process.
Most artificial sweeteners are a lot sweeter than sugar, so only a tiny amount is needed. That’s why they can market sugar-free alternatives as “low-calorie” or “no-calorie”. It also means that you get no nutritional value from consuming them, which is why many sugar-free substitutes are classified as “non-nutritive”. These artificial sweeteners tend to hide under sneaky names. Actually, they are 200-600 times sweeter than sugar.
When you eat sweet stuff, your body continues to desire it and, even though your body cannot metabolize (代谢) these sugar-free alternatives, your brain does not know the difference. In turn, sugar-free alternatives connect to weight gain and type 2 diabetes (糖尿病).
Artificial sweeteners also damage your gut’s ability to break down sugar, which impacts everything you eat. In other words, your body doesn’t know how to handle artificial sweeteners because they have nothing real to process.
A good rule of thumb: stay away from artificial sweeteners and look for non-sugar, natural sweeteners like Stevia or date sugar. In the war against artificial sweeteners and real sugar, both lose. Satisfy your sweet tooth with natural sugars that come from fruits and stay away from products claiming to be sugar-free or diet!
1. Why are sugar-free alternatives described as “low-calorie” or “no-calorie”?| A．They won’t lead to weight gain. |
| B．They are greener and healthier. |
| C．They are much to everyone’s taste. |
| D．Small quantities of artificial sweeteners are used. |
| A．They present a bigger health risk. |
| B．They can be easily broken down. |
| C．They are as sweet as sugar. |
| D．They improve our ability to metabolize. |
| A．Real sugar is a better choice. |
| B．Stay away from sugary products. |
| C．Sugar-free products are healthier. |
| D．Choose sugar from natural sources. |
4 . I stopped to watch my little girl busy playing in her room. In one hand was a plastic phone, and in the other hand was a toy broom. I listened as she spoke to her make-believe (假装的) little friend.
That day I thought a lot about making some changes in my life.
But now my attitude has changed. I’ve seen the world in a different light through my little darling’s eyes. So let the cobwebs (蜘蛛网) have the comers and the dust rule the floor. I’m not going to worry about keeping up with them anymore.
| A．I don’t have the time to teach her. |
| B．Her innocent words cut me like a knife. |
| C．My daughter was the only child in the family then. |
| D．I’m going to fill the house with memories of a child and her mother. |
| E．My daughter continued her “conversation” as I sat down on the floor. |
| F．And I’ll never forget the words she said, even though they were imagined. |
| G．What a pity it is for me to treat her like that, for I am they person she trusts |
5 . To grow sugary dates in the sand, Siwa’s farmers must first make the desert suitable for farming. As an oasis (绿洲) in Egypt, Siwa has been home to humans for thousands of years. Since ancient times, the oasis has had farms producing some of the most valuable dates in Egypt, and sugary dates have appeared on Egyptians, tables.
The desert environment in Siwa is not quite fit for plant, to grow. For example, the water there contains much salt. However, with local people’s efforts, the Siwa oasis contains complex agricultural (农业的) fields, where date trees, crops and other plants grow in harmony (和谐). That impressed me a lot during my visit to the oasis. To make a new piece of field, farmers first move away the top soil and replace it with a mixture of sand and waste matter from animals. The first plants are medicinal plants. Then, farmers plant date trees and olive trees. These farming skills are passed down from generation to generation.
To grow date trees is demanding. And it takes 10 years for a new date tree to grow up, but once it does, the tree produces generous fruit: around 110 pounds of dates per year. Each farmer picks dates with the skilled hands. They climb the trees using nothing more than a belt. In total, Siwa gets more than 25,000 tons of dates from 280,000 trees per year.
The dates can be eaten fresh, or made dry. Every part of the date tree is important in Siwa, from leaves made into beds and boxes to wood used to build houses. And then, of course, there’s the fruit itself. The dates can be cooked with goat meat or mixed with eggs for breakfast. They can also be mixed with flour, water, and olive oil, and boiled slowly to make a local dessert.
Local farmers once developed many unique date varieties, which their camels carried to Cairo. But later many of those varieties perished. And today only several major varieties remain and some have become quite rare and been at risk. The construction of a road in the oasis made the survival of local agricultural tradition even harder.
1. What can we learn about sugary dates from paragraph 1 ?| A．They have existed for a long time. |
| B．They prefer the desert environment. |
| C．They’re introduced to Egypt from abroad. |
| D．They’re the most valuable fruit in Egypt. |
| A．The great variety of plants grown there. |
| B．The hard but happy life of local people. |
| C．The difficulty in developing the local agriculture. |
| D．The farmers’ wisdom and contribution to farming. |
| A．It is easy to pick dates from the trees. |
| B．It is worth the effort to plant date trees. |
| C．It costs a lot to grow date trees in the oasis. |
| D．It is necessary to develop agriculture in Siwa. |
| A．Improved. | B．Died. |
| C．Became expensive. | D．Remained unique. |
6 . FitzGerald is a 16-year-old long-distance runner from Devon, England, who has set a national record in the under-17s 3, 000 meters, but now she’s getting noticed for her commitment to saving the planet.
FitzGerald finished fourth in the under-20s race at the European Cross Country Championships in Italy last December, but her journey to get there made it even more impressive. To reach Turin in Italy, FitzGerald could have taken a quick flight. However, flying releases carbon dioxide. Instead, she took an overnight coach to Lille in France, then trains to first Paris, then Turin, cycling between stations. Despite her tiring journey, she beat athletes three years older than her.
FitzGerald turned down the chance to compete at the World Athletics Cross Country Championships in Bathurst, Australia. She told Athletics Weekly magazine that the decision wasn’t easy but that travelling fills her “with deep concern”. “To have the opportunity to compete for Great Britain in Australia is a privilege,” FitzGerald said. “However, I would never be comfortable flying in the knowledge that people could be losing their livelihoods, homes and loved ones as a result. The least I can do is voice my solidarity (团结一致) with those suffering on the front line of climate breakdown.”
FitzGerald’s refusal to fly has led people to compare her to the climate activist Thunberg, who once travelled to New York by boat. FitzGerald could travel by ship to Australia, but it would take her more than a month to get there. FitzGerald knows her choice to put the needs of the Earth first could affect her athletics career, but she has to act as if it’s an emergency.
Champions for Earth, an organization for environmentally-friendly athletes, said: “She is looking for sponsors and supporters who can help her with the more expensive public transport, accommodation and eco-friendly kit that she requires. It is clear that FitzGerald has the steely determination and focus, combined with the courage and clarity to face a reality quite different to athletes of previous generations.”
1. Why did FitzGerald make headlines?| A．Because she chose green transport instead of a flight to Italy. |
| B．Because she made a national record in 3, 000 meters in England. |
| C．Because she devoted all her time to eco-environment in England. |
| D．Because she won the champion in the cross country race in Italy. |
| A．Ungreen travelling. | B．Tiring competing in Italy. |
| C．Changeable climate on the way. | D．Affected athletics career. |
| A．Acting immediately if there is an emergency. |
| B．Preferring taking the ship instead of the flight. |
| C．Spending all their life in protecting the environment. |
| D．Choosing the eco-friendly means of transportation. |
| A．Honest and outgoing. | B．Determined and concentrated. |
| C．Attractive and modest. | D．Courageous and humorous. |
7 . With the new semester about to start, our school is welcoming a group of new international students. We have some apps here that will make your life easier. We hope you will have a wonderful life here.
WeChat is now the most popular social media app in China. Almost everyone is using WeChat. You can send both text and voice messages on WeChat. You can also make voice and video calls. You can also post texts, pictures and video clips. If your friends in your home country have this app, you can also chat with them through voice or video. WeChat is also widely used now as a form of payment which can be used in stores, online, and in other shopping apps.
★Alipay
Alipay is a similar app to PayPal. It was first used on Taobao and now people can still use it as a mobile payment option. You can even use mobile payment at street vendors, so if you have this app, you can leave your wallet at home.
★Didi
Now Didi seems to be the smartest way to travel around. With one tap, a car comes directly to you. Didi is a Chinese car-hailing service app. It has a function called “ride sharing”, which saves a lot of money for passengers. But it does not have an English version, so if you want to use it, you will have to learn some Chinese.
★Pleco
This is one of the top Chinese/English dictionary apps and it covers 130, 000 Chinese words and includes 20, 000 example sentences with pinyin. It is perfect for those who want to learn Chinese, and also for tourists who need to translate words or phrases from English to Chinese.
1. Who are the intended readers for this text?| A．Chinese learners. | B．International teachers in China. |
| C．Foreign students studying in China. | D．Students furthering their studies. |
| A．People can hail a car with Didi in English. |
| B．People can use WeChat to post, call and pay. |
| C．Pleco is useful for tourists who know little Chinese. |
| D．Alipay was originally used to make payments on Taobao. |
| A．WeChat. | B．Alipay. | C．Didi. | D．Pleco. |
8 . Conflict is an unavoidable part of life. So how can we save meaningful relationships after a fight with our loved ones?
Say the words. After hours of quarreling, many people struggle to summon up the courage to say “I am sorry.” To some it is almost equal to admitting defeat, and no one likes to lose.
Ask for the chance to make up or pay for your mistakes. This gesture is even more effective if it comes at some personal cost to you. So pay for that broken window with your allowance, buy your sister a new pair of headphones after a quarrel, or offer to help your partner with extra housework after arguments.
Apologies do work, but be mindful that how you apologize also matters.
| A．Take responsibility for your own wrongdoing. |
| B．One critical way is by learning how to apologize. |
| C．Many people try to avoid uttering those little words. |
| D．Second, real actions should come after sweet words. |
| E．It’s necessary to remember to avoid financial losses in a fight. |
| F．In the end, you will be further along in the forgiveness process. |
| G．And sometimes an apology is not enough to repair a relationship. |
9 . 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. |
10 . Cheap and even free volunteering programs are everywhere. Don’t worry about a budget that may stop you from volunteering abroad! Kindred Spirit Elephant Sanctuary (保护区) is the right place for you.
Highlights
Volunteer with elephants and bring them back into their natural habitat.
Make a difference in the conservation efforts to save elephants living under awful conditions.
Help teach English to the communities and raise awareness about the captive (圈养的) elephant situation.
Wander the forests and observe elephant’s natural behaviours in their home environment.
Our Sanctuary
Our sanctuary has rescued 5 elephants from the tourism industry and we have now brought them home to live out their lives in the forest, in semi-wild conditions. We need volunteers to help us keep these elephants happy and healthy in their natural habitat. With volunteer support. we hope to return more elephants to the forest soon.
Your tasks
Performing research on the natural elephant behaviours and the surrounding forest.
Taking part in community projects such as teaching English at the school and to other locals.
Carrying out litter pick-ups with the kids to educate on waste management.
Your Rough Schedule:
Day 1: Pickup from Chiang Mai at 9 am. Travel through a national park and stunning mountains until you arrive in our unique village. Meet your homestay family and the other volunteers, and immerse yourself in hill tribe culture.
Day 2: Wake up early to hike in the forest and find our elephants. Spend the morning recording and learning about these amazing animals and their natural behaviours. Return to the village in the late afternoon and take part in our community & teaching projects.
Day 3: Another early start to like to observe our elephants one last time. Return to Chiang Mai in the afternoon.
1. Which of the following highlights the volunteer work at the sanctuary?| A．Looking after captive elephants. |
| B．Seeking elephants in natural forests. |
| C．Learning local communities’ folk arts. |
| D．Saving elephants in poor environment. |
| A．Establish experimental bases. |
| B．Promote educational programs. |
| C．Enhance cultural exchange. |
| D．Start anti-poverty projects. |
| A．You should have good ability of hiking. |
| B．You can choose your own transportation. |
| C．You may camp on the mountain for days. |
| D．You must be familiar with local languages. |
