1 . Compared with Americans, people in Okinawa, 1, 000 miles south of Tokyo, are three times more likely to become centenarians (百岁老人) , according to professor Dan Buettner’s research. The centenarians garden, sing, laugh and play. For most of the city dwellers (居民) who are busy working, it’s not possible to live like that.     1     Here are some ways that Buettner find those centenarians keep.

    2       

For those who don’t like the gym, you may be inspired by the way the centenarians bring movement into their everyday routines.     3     “A garden pushes you to weed, water and harvest almost every day, which keeps you moving,” Buettner says. “I also talked with a 104-year-old woman who got up and down the floor 30 times, making for better balance and flexibility,” Buettner recalls.

They reduce meat for a plant-forward approach.

The typical diet in America includes 220 pounds of meat per year. per person.     4     “About 1/10th of what we eat,” Buettner says. In Okinawa, tofu is often eaten twice a day, mixed with vegetables. And a key principle of eating there is to stop when you’re 80% full. Mindful eating has been shown to help people have moderate intake.

They give loneliness the boot and become joiners.

Buettner describes a woman named Panchita who was well over 100 years old. She didn’t feel lonely at all because, her 85-year-old son biked to her house to help feed the chickens each day. In return, she cooked him some beans and some rice. They both found happiness in doing so. “There’s this beautiful symbiosis (共生) .     5     ” Buettner says.

A．They depend on each other.

B．They eat as little as they can.

C．They build movement into their days.

D．They plant a garden in their backyard.

E．But we can learn from their simple habits.

F．Those centenarians only consume 20 pounds a year.

G．Much of their intake is from whole plant-based foods.

2 . The “Got Talent” crew is one of the pioneers in finding and publicizing music talents and has been giving the world some of its most favorite artists for almost two decades. This year “Britain’s Got Talent” (BGT) uncovered a musical genius named Malakai Bayoh who amazed the audience with perfect high-note singing. The London-based 13-year-old boy appeared for the show’s audition (试镜) in April, 2023 and was accompanied by his mom and sister. “My big dream is to be a singer. I started singing at 7,” said Bayoh to the BGT team and added jokingly, “My mom made me join the choir (合唱团) because she’s very bossy.” The teenager mentioned she’s his biggest fan.

Bayoh’s mom was shocked as he was about to perform and said, “It scares me because, on his first show, somebody heckled (对……起哄) him. It was bad to think that someone would boo (喝倒彩) a child on stage because it could’ve knocked his confidence completely.” Contrary to his mom’s fear, Bayoh set the stage on fire singing the song “Pie Jesu” and the entire crowd were struck by his beautiful voice. As he ended his song, the audience and the judges gave him a standing applause. Simon Cowell, a judge, had just one word to say and it was “Golden Buzzer”, sending him straight to the semi-finals of the show.

Cowell and the other judges called Bayoh’s performance “flawless” and “heavenly”. His angelic voice made the audience tear up and the judges thanked the teen for coming on the show. Bayoh went on to become one of the finalists of the show.

Bayoh’s audition at the BGT became popular on social media. People loved the boy’s impeccable singing and some musicians even commented on how perfectly he hit the high notes. “I’m a trained singer and a music teacher by profession, and sang this song as a young performer myself. I can say with absolute certainty that this song is most beautifully sung this time. With proper technique and breathing, this boy sang really well,” posted @mayacorinne878.

1. What can be learned about Bayoh from paragraph 2?

A．He comes from a single-parent family.	B．He is humorous in speech.
C．His dream was inspired by his fans.	D．His mom used to be a singer.

2. What made Bayoh’s mom worried?

A．Bayoh’s difficulty in singing.	B．The judges’ attitudes to his son.
C．Bayoh’s performance on stage.	D．Some audiences’ initial responses.

3. How did the audience probably feel after hearing the boy’s song?

A．Touched.

B．Annoyed.

C．Relieved.

D．Amused.

4. Why does the author mention a music teacher?

A．To uncover more musical geniuses.	B．To show musicians’ ability to sing well.
C．To stress Bayoh’s excellent singing.	D．To contradict some audiences’ comments.

3 . Thanks to the 1999 Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, 26 endangered species in Australia have seen their populations recover.

It seems like that we're always hearing about new animals that have become endangered, but there's some good news in Australia: 26 animal species no longer meet the criteria to be listed as threatened. Australia’s biodiversity has been in decline, with more than 1, 700 species and ecological communities known to be on the line. In 1999, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act was passed to introduce protections for endangered animals. The burrowing bettong is one of 26 Australian species that have returned from the edge of extinction.

Seemingly these are working, as a recent study published in the journal Biological Conservation reviewed the animals that were previously or currently listed as threatened between 2000 and December 2022, and discovered that 26 species had recovered to no longer meet the criteria. Species that have seen improvement include the charmingly named burrowing bettong, the golden bandicoot and the bulloo grey grasswren.

Factors behind this improvement include habitat management, control of introduced predators (捕食者) and translocation of endangered animals to predator-free islands. However, the species have not been officially delisted at this time. The EPBC Act only allows species to be delisted if doing so will not have a negative effect on their survival, and researchers believe that conservation gains could be lost should management efforts be stopped.

Dr Michelle Ward, a conservation scientist at WWF Australia, told The Guardian, “The key problem with delisting species is that then they no longer have monitoring and no longer need certain funding plans.”

However, it is promising that researchers have found signs of improvement. Hopefully this will continue among these and other species!

1. What do the underlined words “on the line” in paragraph 2 probably mean?

A．Out of place.	B．At risk.
C．Under control.	D．On the increase.

2. What did a recent study find?

A．Some animals are facing extinction.

B．Burrowing bettong is a charming species.

C．The criteria to be delisted were hard to meet.

D．26 endangered species’ populations are recovering.

3. The species haven’t been delisted officially because ________.

A．their living situation is severe	B．the delisting consequences are uncertain
C．the conservation gains are short	D．the habitat management level is poor

4. What is the author’s attitude towards the researchers’ discovery?

A．Unconcerned.

B．Doubtful.

C．Positive.

D．Worried.

4 . Robotics/Artificial Intelligence (AI) Competitions for High School Students

Robotics and AI competitions are a great way for high schoolers to dive into modern technologies. Here are four of them.

MATE ROV Competition

Location: Houston, Texas

Awards: VR headsets

Competition Date: March to June

MATE ROV Competition challenges students to design and build remotely operated vehicles, and its purpose is to see who can design a vehicle that will help monitor ocean health, provide clean energy, or just help keep our oceans healthy for the future.

RoboRave

Location: Lorrach, Germany

Awards: Small cash prizes

Competition Date: November

RoboRave is a robotics competition that welcomes participants to compete in various challenges like firefighting. The competition’s unique aspect lies in its international reach, bringing together enthusiasts from around the world to celebrate robotics education and hands-on learning.

Agorize AI Challenge

Location: Virtual for initial phases, then in Paris, France for the final award ceremony

Awards: A trip to the destination of your choice, iPad, Apple TV

Competition Date: September

In this project, you can work in teams of 2-5 people to present an idea for how we can use AI-technologies to impact a specific field, like marketing, healthcare, etc. You’ll send in your initial application in a 3-5 slides presentation, and if your team makes it pass this phase, you’ll have the opportunity to include more information about your product features.

OpenCV AI Competition

Location: Online

Awards: Certificates, cash, free courses

Competition Date: December

In your project, you can either work individually or in teams of three using computer vision technologies. OpenCV AI Competition suggests project ideas related to robotics, agriculture or education, but you’re not limited to these areas.

1. Which of the following mainly welcomes the entries for oceanic conditions?

A．RoboRave.	B．MATE ROV Competition.
C．Agorize AI Challenge.	D．OpenCV AI Competition.

2. What is the unique feature of RoboRave?

A．It is held every month.	B．It offers online training.
C．It is a global competition.	D．It promises a national tour.

3. What do Agorize AI Challenge and OpenCV AI Competition have in common?

A．They allow teamwork.	B．They provide free courses.
C．They fund their winners.	D．They need presentations at first.

5 . It takes a lot of courage to make a painting or drawing. All your skills, or lack of them, are plain to see and open to praise or criticism. It’s hard and takes persistent courage to keep going when things are not going your way.

Everyone knows that it is a good thing to practice drawing and painting every day.     1     Daily drawing can easily become a repeated and boring activity that needs great effort it, it simply occupies the busy life without any reflection or sense of purpose. If you can practice frequently with an air of relaxation and small achievable goal, you will find it more rewarding and enjoyable.

If you produce frequent small-scale paintings, you will learn much faster.     2     Of course, when you are producing so much work, the odd failure doesn’t matter nearly as much either. Alongside developing your technical skills I would encourage you to study as much art as you can. Learn as much as you can about the paintings and artists that inspire you.     3    

It is likely that the paintings which inspire you will have qualities that you feel are lacking from your own.     4     All these make a difference to leading you forwards. This journey is never-ending and a large part of what makes it all so richly interesting.

    5     This helps in several ways:   firstly you’ll know better when the work is finished, secondly it helps you keep clarity of purpose and thirdly, you can judge its success against your original aim. Of course, wonderful and unexpected things will occur as you paint, but these can throw you off course too. Thus do keep your focus as you go.

A．However, how many of us actually do it?

B．Produce works that are in line with people’s taste.

C．It’s a good idea to start by defining a clear achievable goal.

D．In this way, you clearly know what you like and what you don’t.

E．Imagine how much more you can learn from ten paintings than one.

F．Drawing has many benefits and can improve our lives in a variety of ways.

G．Besides, while learning, you will naturally seek out new artists and artworks.

6 . ChatGPT is a prototype (原型) dialogue-based AI chatbot (聊天 机 器人 ) which can understand natural human language and creating impressively detailed human-like written text. The new AI was created by OpenAI, a research center founded by Elon Musk. Musk co-founded the new company with other bosses. The research centre aims to advance digital intelligence in a way that benefits humans.

ChatGPT works by being trained on a large amount of text from the Internet using AI and machine learning. The system is designed to provide information and answer questions through a traditional interface (界面) .

Early users have described the technology as a tool to replace to Google because it can provide descriptions, answers, and solutions to different kinds of questions. Real-world applications could include producing content for websites, answering customer questions, providing recommendations (推荐) , and creating automated (自动化的) chatbots. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the system is “an early model of what’s possible.” He hopes to produce helpful assistants that talk to users, answer questions, and give advice. In the future, these assistants could periorm tasks for users and even discover new knowledge.

There has been prediction that jobs dependent on content production, such as playwrights, protessors, programmers, and journalists, could be obsolete because of ChatGPT. However, at its current stage, the chatbot lacks slight differences, critical thinking skills, and ethical (道德的) decision-making ability which are necessary for successful journalism. In addition, its knowledge base ends in 2021, which means that some questions and searches are useless now. ChatGPT can also provide incorrect or misleading answers, because it is short of a source of truth in the data used to train the model.

In short, ChatGPT is a powerful AI chatbot and it may be used in various industries, but it is still in its early stages and has limitations. As AI technology continues to evolve, we can expect more advanced chatbots like ChatGPT in the future.

1. What is the purpose of OpenAI?

A．To produce content for giving advice.

B．To train ChatGPT as a super computer.

C．To use ChatGPT as a tool to replace Google.

D．To improve digital intelligence that can benefit humans.

2. How does ChatGPT work according to the text?

A．By answering questions for websites.

B．By being trained on a large amount of text.

C．By providing information and giving advice.

D．By producing detailed human-like written text.

3. Which of the following statements of future AI assistants will Sam Altman agree on?

A．They will only answer questions and give advice.

B．They will replace jobs dependent on content production.

C．They will have slight differences and critical thinking skills.

D．They will perform tasks for users and discover new knowledge.

4. What does the underlined word “obsolete” mean in paragraph 4?

A．Curious.

B．Responsible.

C．Outdated.

D．Humorous.

5. Where is the text probably taken from?

A．A health article.	B．A science fiction.
C．A nature magazine.	D．A science website.

7 . A badly-injured fox spent two weeks recovering in a garden tent after attaching itself to a family in Glasgow, Scotland.

Liz Wink said the fox followed her home before they noticed a bad wound on its side. “My son Andrew came running in and said ‘there’s a fox following me’,” Wink said. “We opened the door and it was just standing there.”

“I have three dogs and they were barking (吠叫)but it was still trying to come in —its nose was going through the letterbox. We noticed the wound. We put food in the back garden and it made the back garden its home. There was also a chair in the back.” The fox was fed food including cooked chicken. “We also bought a tent, with an old quit cover in it.”

Wink said antibiotics(抗生素)were given after contacting a vet, and the fox finally left their garden with the wound healed after a fortnight. “It was here day and night,” Wink said. “My daughter Lucy is good with animals and would pat it. It was so quiet.”

“Clearly, when foxes are injured they take a thing called a rescue nap(抢救性小睡)and I think that’s what it has done with us,” Wink said. “They nap for however long it takes , and it completely healed. Then it was up and away and we never saw that fox again. We still have foxes but that one was so friendly, the other ones do run away. Maybe it will come back with babies one day.”

Although it’s great that the fox appeared to make a full recovery, we wouldn’t advise members of the public to attempt to treat sick or injured wild animals themselves. If people find a wounded wild animal in trouble, they should call animal helpline.

1. Why did the fox follow the son Andrew to his home?

A．To make friends with Andrew.	B．To feed its babies.
C．To turned to the family for help.	D．To cure its injured back.

2. What can we learn about the family from paragraph 3?

A．They treated the fox carefully.	B．They fed the dog with chicken.
C．They thought the fox was noisy.	D．They put the fox into the letterbox.

3. What did the fox do for its own recovery?

A．It rested for as long as it would take.	B．It went for a vet to have a check-up.
C．It killed animals nearby for food.	D．It went into forests to heal itself.

4. What does the author suggest people do to help injured wild animals?

A．Treat them under the guidance of vets.

B．Search the wild and look for more of them.

C．Contact animal experts for advice and information.

D．Learn more about them. and offer proper treatment.

5. Which can be a suitable title for the text?

A．A Garden Tent and a Kind Fox	B．An Injured Fox and a Kind Family
C．A Badly-injured Fox and Its Travel	D．A Family Travel and an Injured Fox

8 . The words you use say a lot about you. Knowing which word to use and understanding how to use them are both key to communicating effectively and accurately. People often say in disappointment, “    1    ” If the right words aren’t there, the right ideas can’t get through. Your vocabulary is the foundation of your ability to share your thoughts with other people. When you improve your vocabulary, you will improve the ability to express your ideas.

    2     Saying this, they usually mean that he or she uses a lot of important-sounding words - words like jactitation, demulcent, and saxicolous. But a vocabulary consisting of words like these isn’t necessarily a “good” vocabulary. Why? Because almost no one knows what jactitation, demulcent, and saxicolous mean.     3     Chances are that no one listening to you would know what you were talking about. Big, difficult words have important uses, but improving a vocabulary involves much more than merely decorating your writing with a few big words.

    4     You speak and write in order to make yourselves understood. A good vocabulary is one that makes communication easy and efficient. One mark of an effective speaker or writer is his or her ability to express complex ideas with relatively simple words.

The best way to improve your vocabulary isn’t to look through a handful of unfamiliar big words.     5    

A．Learning new words isn’t that hard.

B．I know what I mean, but I don’t know how to say it.

C．If you use these words in conversation, what will happen?

D．Sometimes people say that someone has a good vocabulary.

E．The goal of communication is to express your ideas clearly.

F．Speaking or writing well doesn’t require a good vocabulary.

G．Instead, you need to master the words often used in communication.

9 . Have you ever tried a cactus (仙人掌) pear? Yes, its prickly surface makes it an unusual-looking fruit but it is widely used in Mexican dishes. This fruit from the cactus is really good for you because it is helpful in fighting against many diseases, and has many health benefits (利益). There are actually over 200 types of cactus fruit and they grow in hot dry places.

Since the world is getting hotter and drier, it is even more difficult for hot dry places to grow major crops (庄稼) that need more water. Therefore, providing food and fuel will go a long way in a world that is heating up. Researchers from the University of Nevada, Reno, set out to see if the cactus pear could become a superfood that could feed people and animals, remove carbon (碳) from the atmosphere and be used as a biofuel.

While the study looked at many types of cactuses, they settled on the nopal cactus or Opuntia. The fruit can be gathered as food and the rest of the cactus can be used for taking in carbon and can be used as biofuels according to biology professor Cushman. The plant keeps water by closing its pores (气孔) during the hottest part of the day to limit water loss and opens them at night. Cushman hopes to use the genes from this plant to add them to other plants.

They are also studying the Opuntia stunting disease, which causes cactuses to grow smaller plants and less fruits, in order to find out how it spreads. They hope to learn how to create tools to recognize and treat it so that they can help Opuntia become a prolific crop.

In a world that is also gaining population, finding a new superfood will go a long way in feeding a planet that will need 50-90 percent more food in 2050. Eating more plant-based foods will also reduce the amount of land needed for more food protection.

1. What can we know about the cactus pear?

A．It is of great benefit to people.

B．It is the main food for Mexicans.

C．It can’t be seen outside Mexico.

D．It grows in hot wet places.

2. What is the feature of the nopal cactus?

A．It is easy to be gathered.

B．It has fewer pores 10 save water.

C．It is suitable for various conditions.

D．It is eatable and good for the environment.

3. What does the underlined word “prolific” in Paragraph 4 most probably mean?

A．Helpful.

B．Unusual.

C．Attractive.

D．Fruitful.

4. What is the best title of the text?

A．Getting away from increasingly higher temperatures

B．Cactus pears may become the new superfood crop

C．A cactus is the plant living well in dry areas

D．Providing plant-based food for the world

10 . Meyer Mixdorf, 5, was a patient at the children’s hospital in Missouri back in May. There he made his first mystery friend, Johnna Schindlbeck, a medical worker who works across the street.

Meyer’s mother, Liz Mixdorf, said that Meyer got brain cancer (癌症) in December 2020 and was taken to the children’s hospital to receive treatment. Five months into his treatment Liz and her husband decided to arrange sticky notes (便利贴) in the shape of a smiley face on Meyer’s window to cheer him up. They never knew that they would receive a wink face in response (回应) to their artwork a day later.

“It was a really funny and exciting activity that Meyer looked forward to,” Liz said. On Johnna’s side, she had no idea who she was communicating with. She thought that was just fun in the very beginning. Johnna realized her post-it friend was a patient after she saw a hospital sign on the window.

Meyer and his parents worked through other characters, including Iron Man, Batman, the Minions and more. Each creative design they put on would get responses. The Mixdorf family and Johnna Schindlbeck spent several weeks sending sticky note art to each other from their windows in May and July.

On July 13, Meyer was leaving the hospital. He even got a chance to meet Johnna who made his days brighter. “I knew it was him as soon as I saw him and just started crying,” Johnna talked about Meyer’s visit. “I think Liz and I just both had tears.”

Johnna once lost two older brothers to cancer. “That was kind of a personal connection for me. I really feel for him and his family because I know what it feels like to have to walk away at the end of the day and you’re just depending on the hospital staff’s care. Kindness does go a long way,” she shared. “And I’m learning to be thankful for the little things.”

1. What’s Meyer’s parents’ purpose of putting up sticky notes?

A．To decorate the room.	B．To make Meyer happy.
C．To get a wink face back.	D．To teach him make sticky note.

2. What can we learn from paragraph 3?

A．Johnna was curious about Meyer in the beginning.

B．Johnna wanted to encourage Meyer to be positive.

C．Johnna thought giving responses was interesting at first.

D．Johnna liked communicating with others in a new way.

3. Why did Johnna cry when she met Meyer?

A．She got the friendship she wanted.

B．She was happy for Meyer’s visit.

C．She felt sorry for Meyer ‘s illness.

D．She thought of her own experience.

4. Which of the following ideas may the author agree with?

A．A kind heart really makes a difference.

B．Love makes family members come together.

C．People should be thankful for others kindness.

D．The doctor-patient relations are easy to deal with.