1 . A local dog in Moundsville, West Virginia, has captured the admiration of the community by finding over 150 lost disc golf discs at a popular park. Unclaimed (无人认领的) discs will be on sale, with the money obtained going to the park.

Daisy is a four-year-old Labrador Retriever who loves going on walks with her owner, Kelly Mason, at Grand Vue Park. Every day, they walk about five miles through the park. Sometimes, Daisy goes on her own adventure and returns with a souvenir (纪念品).

“Daisy has a nose for finding discs,” Mason told WTRF. “We will be walking through the park and her nose will go up. She can smell them, and she just goes off. She could go off 30 yards through the the high weeds. And here she comes with a disc.”

Since she found her first disc about three years ago, Daisy has got back 155 of them with no plans of stopping anytime soon.

The park recently teamed up with Mason to create a program called Daisy’s Discs.

“Normally when park staff find them or when our park guests find them, all of them are turned into the barn (仓库) area,” says Ben Bolock, the assistant general manager at Grand Vue Park. “Some discs that have names on them, we call them, and people are able to come and pick them up ... they can also make a donation to Daisy’s Discs and that money will fund the Marshall County Animal Rescue League. If discs are found and there’s no name on them and we’ve had them for a long period of time and nobody has claimed them, the park will sell them for a very low amount and that money will go back into the disc golf course.”

1. What do we know about Daisy from the text?

A．She has a talent for finding lost items.

B．She enjoys playing with disc golf discs.

C．She has won a prize for her contribution.

D．She rarely goes on personal adventures.

2. What happens to the lost discs found in the park?

A．They are exhibited at the park.

B．They are donated to local dog shelters.

C．Unclaimed discs are sent to park guests.

D．Discs with owners’ names are returned to them.

3. What is the main purpose of the Daisy’s Discs program?

A．To offer souvenirs to park visitors.

B．To train dogs to find lost items.

C．To raise funds for the local animal rescue league.

D．To encourage people to play disc golf at the park.

4. Which would be the best title for the text?

A．Daisy’s Contribution	B．Lost Discs Recycled
C．Daisy’s Adventures	D．A Dog's Discovery

2 . Every year as a kid at Girl Scout summer camp, the night I looked forward to most was the closing campfire, a few hours of silliness that marked our final evening together. All week, my roommates and I had kept perfecting our skit (滑稽短剧) performance, editing lines and practicing scenes.

Skits and songs are deeply rooted in the camp experience. The days might be all about sports or nature, but nighttime entertainment is a kid’s dream. Similar to a talent show, some performances are educational but mostly, they just make you laugh. Talent is not important, and audience engagement (参与) through call and response is essential.

Away from phones and peers back home, social norms (规范) disappear and space for self-exploration forms. Shy kids come out of their shells, and cool kids let their guard down. They get to open up this door to a part of themselves that they wouldn’t have felt safe to show at school or at home.

It’s been a decade since my last performance as a camp counselor (顾问), and I never thought of skits from a skill-building aspect. But I now realize this rich camp tradition left a great impression on me. Through camp skits, I developed my sense of humor, built confidence in front of a crowd and learned how to accept others for their strangeness.

Maybe we can make our schools or communities more like summer camps by bringing the silliness of skits into our families and classrooms to reconnect with ourselves and each other. The next time you’re sitting around a campfire with friends and family, give it a try. Let your guard down, accept the discomfort and invite your loved ones to join in on the improvising (即兴创作). And remember: the more funny noises and childlike humor, the better.

1. What is the main purpose of skit performances at summer camp?

A．To amuse and engage the audience.	B．To showcase talent and skills.
C．To educate the audience.	D．To compete with fellow campers.

2. What does the underlined phrase “let their guard down” in paragraph 3 mean?

A．Leave.

B．Relax.

C．Grow.

D．Respond.

3. How did the author benefit from camp skits?

A．She developed a competitive spirit.

B．She understood social norms better.

C．She became more tolerant.

D．She became more creative.

4. What does the author advise us to do?

A．Take up challenges in life.

B．Accept our imperfections.

C．Participate in more community activities.

D．Break out of our comfort zone.

3 . For many students, shift workers and others, getting enough sleep each night presents a dilemma. There is too much to do and not enough time to do it, so people often try to catch up on the weekends.     1     And, while we spend our weekdays working around the clock, it takes a heavy burden on our bodies.

How many hours of sleep are really necessary?     2     Teens need eight to 10, and adults need seven to nine hours nightly.

    3     Suppose you require eight hours of sleep a night, but for one week, you only slept six hours nightly. As a result, you developed a cumulative sleep debt of 14 hours.

As sleep debt accumulates, it impacts us in many ways including memory loss, immune function and stroke.     4     Though afternoon naps and extra weekend sleep can help relieve some tiredness, the healthiest course of action is to get a good night’s sleep every night.

There are many ways to create a healthy sleep routine. Maintain a restful environment in the bedroom by keeping it quiet, dark and cool.     5     That will make you feel physically comfortable in the first place. If you don’t fall asleep within 20 minutes, then try listening to relaxing music. Finally, think of enough sleep as preventive medicine and make it a priority.

A．It’s not hard to calculate your sleep debt.

B．Keep anything that might disturb you outside the bedroom.

C．Many prefer a temperature of around 18 degrees Celsius for sleep.

D．With a healthy sleep routine, you can get sufficient rest and protect your health.

E．It has also been known to contribute to heart disease, obesity, diabetes and more.

F．According to the Mayo Clinic, school-age children require nine to 12 hours a night.

G．But researchers report that it takes longer than we think to replace missing hours of sleep.

4 . Dror Angel, an ecologist, had for years heard his archaeologist (考古学家) colleagues talk about ancient shipwrecks on the bottom of the Black Sea that were perfectly preserved by the low-oxygen environment. “You can see ropes,” Angel says. “It’s something which is quite amazing.” Now, Angel wants to fight climate change by purposefully adding to the wreckage (残骸) , sinking waste wood to the sea floor, where carbon that the trees stored up can remain locked away for centuries.

Angel is a scientist for a company that could help limit global warming by drawing carbon out of the atmosphere and locking it up. However, some carbon capture (捕获) strategies require expensive machines and complex chemistry, burying waste wood at sea is extremely simple: All it takes are tugboats and woody waste from forestry and agriculture.

The approach has advantages over another popular ocean-based carbon capture strategy: growing massive amounts of seaweed. Because the plant material is grown on land rather than in the ocean, it is less likely to rob nutrients from the surrounding water and upset the ecology. Industrial agriculture and forestry could grow, process, and transport plants, in contrast to marine farming, which has never been attempted at scale. And because woody plants are tough and unlikely to break down, they are good at hanging on to their carbon.

At the same time, the approach may fall short of what’s needed to fight climate change. To keep global warming below 2°C, the world needs to capture and store about 10 billion tons of carbon dioxide per year by midcentury. But waste wood can be sunk only where supplies of it are located near suitable bodies of water. By one recent study, the approach could lock a few tens of billions of tons of carbon dioxide in total — just a little of the need.

“This approach is not going to solve the full problem,” says ocean engineer Kate Moran. “It’s going to be a small piece of the pie if it is considered to be more beneficial than risky.” But the urgency of carbon removal demands that every possible approach be explored thoroughly, she adds, “Anyway, we need all the tools in the toolbox.”

1. Why did the author cite “You can see ropes” in paragraph 1?

A．Angel dropped the ropes into the deep sea for experiment.

B．Things can be well preserved in the low-oxygen environment.

C．Carbon that the ropes stored up can be locked away for a long time.

D．Angel’s archaeologist colleagues were studying the deep sea environment.

2. Why is the approach of sinking waste wood better than that of growing seaweed?

A．It is supported by mature techniques.

B．It requires cheap machines and simple chemistry.

C．Woody plants are more environmentally friendly.

D．Waste wood takes in lots of carbon from the surroundings.

3. What message does paragraph 4 convey?

A．The strategy alone isn’t enough to fight climate change.

B．The strategy can capture and lock the carbon dioxide needed.

C．The global warming can’t be kept below 2°C with the strategy.

D．Supplies of waste wood are available near suitable bodies of water.

4. What is Kate Moran’s attitude toward the strategy according to the last paragraph?

A．Doubtful.

B．Negative.

C．Supportive.

D．Unconcerned.

5 . Looking for ways to make some extra cash over the holidays? Here are 4 of the best summer break jobs for you.

Food Delivery

If your top priority in a summer break job is flexibility, food delivery might be the perfect fit for you. You can earn around $20 an hour depending on the food delivery service and who you’re delivering to. On top of the wage the delivery service pays you, you also have the potential to get significant tips. Please note: all applicants must have a driver’s license and access to a car.

Gift Wrapper

Love wrapping presents for the holiday? Can’t get enough of wrapping paper and ribbon? If so, you should look into being a gift wrapper during summer break. College students who want to work in something creative will enjoy this summer break job. Candidates will be matched with a task based on skill set.

Pet Sitting

Whether they’re going to another city close by or another state, families tend to leave for vacation for summer break. This means that they need someone to watch their pets while they’re gone. That’s where college students come in. Pet sitting jobs are flexible and not a huge time commitment, depending on what family you’re working with.

Tutor

Good at maths? Majoring in biology? Whatever classes you’re taking in college, this knowledge is transferable to tutoring. College students that are home for summer break can use their time off school to give back to others. Tutoring has the potential to earn a lot of money over the course of a few weeks while students are home for break.

1. Which job requires a driver’s license?

A．Food Delivery.	B．Gift Wrapper.
C．Pet Sitting.	D．Tutor.

2. What can be learned about the Gift Wrapper job?

A．Applicants are expected to be good at design.	B．Work is arranged according to one’s skill set.
C．Applicants may soon have enough of the job.	D．It favours candidates who can work flexibly.

3. What is the text most likely to be?

A．A notice.	B．An announcement.
C．A guide.	D．An advertisement.

6 . A role shift—whether a promotion, a move to a new organization, or a fresh challenge in your existing job—can be a huge boost to your career and a chance for you to succeed. You know the drill heading in: Apply your experience and talents to the position, make sure you are accepted by the hierarchy (高层), and get a few big wins in the first couple of months to demonstrate what you can do.

But in today’s hyper-collaborative and dynamic workplaces, successful moves aren’t as easy as they once were, even for the most qualified and hard-working people. Too often, transitional managers and employees don’t live up to their organizations’ expectations. Gartner surveys indicate that a full 49% of people promoted within their own companies are underperforming up to 18 months after those moves, and McKinsey reports that 27% to 46% of transitional executives are regarded as failures or disappointments two years later. They have the right skills and experience. They understand the company’s goals. So why didn’t they quickly excel in their new roles?

We analyzed employee relationships and communication patterns across more than 100 diverse companies and interviewed 160 executives in 20 of them. Our research points to one overlooked prerequisite (先决条件) for transition success: the effective use of internal networks. The people who are the most productive, innovative, and engaged in new roles — the “fast movers” — are those who establish extremely broad, mutually beneficial, uplifting connections from the start. Specifically, they surge rapidly into a broad network; identify how they add value, where they fall short, and who can fill the gaps; create scale; and shape their networks for maximum thriving.

In most cases, individual managers must do these things on their own. Only 43% of people surveyed said their organizations ensured that transitional employees were offered guidance and support. Only about a quarter said their employers encouraged them to build connections early or create networks to address skill gaps. But that should not be the case.

1. What does the author say about job moves in today’s society?

A．They are a boost to our career.	B．They require ability demonstration.
C．They may not produce good results.	D．They need to be guided by managers.

2. Why didn’t transitional executives succeed in their new roles?

A．They are inexperienced.	B．They lack the needed skills.
C．They misunderstand the company’s goals.	D．They fail to use internal networks effectively.

3. How does the author make his points convincing?

A．By using exact numbers.	B．By conducting surveys.
C．By making contrasts.	D．By listing examples.

4. What does the author think of the phenomenon in the last paragraph?

A．It’s common.	B．It’s unexpected.
C．It’s acceptable.	D．It’s unsurprising.

7 . It is a well-known fact that not all animals have the ability to instantly recognize themselves in the mirror. However, a few animals can recognize themselves, such as dolphins, Asian elephants, and of course humans! A species of fish with the ability to recognize itself in the mirror is commonly known as the cleaner fish.

Found in the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean, cleaner fish exist as “cleaning stations” for other fish (known as hosts). They “clean” the dead skin and parasites (寄生虫) from other fish. This is of benefit for cleaner fish, which get a meal, as well as for the other fish species, which are freed from parasites. Such a type of relationship is known as mutualism.

Recently, a group of scientists in Japan found that cleaner fish might have the ability to identify (识别) themselves in photographs! It was already known that cleaner fish could recognize themselves in mirrors and would attack unknown cleaner fish. So, the team wanted to test whether the same was seen in the case of photos as well.

Thus, the team of scientists showed four types of photos to the cleaner fish. The first type was a photo of themselves, while the second involved an unknown cleaner fish. The third type of picture was a photo of an unknown cleaner fish with the fish’s own face edited onto it. The fourth type of photo included its own body but with the face of an unknown cleaner fish.

They found that cleaner fish attacked only those photographs which did not have their own faces. This result was similar to the ability of humans to recognize each other based on their faces and not by their bodies.

This study suggests that self-awareness may be far more widespread among animals than scientists once thought. People shouldn’t be surprised that fish could have a sense of self given that they have already been shown to have complex behavior including tool use and planning.

1. What does the underlined word “mutualism” probably mean in paragraph 2?

A．A host-parasite relationship.	B．A master-servant relationship.
C．Dependence on each other.	D．Beneficial cleaning behavior.

2. What is the new finding about cleaner fish?

A．They can identify themselves in the mirror.

B．They can recognize themselves in the images.

C．They have the same sense of self as humans.

D．They have a better sense of self than some animals.

3. Which types of photos would cleaner fish most probably attack?

A．The first and second types.	B．The second and fourth types.
C．The first and third types.	D．The second and third types.

4. What is the author’s attitude toward the study?

A．Unclear.

B．Doubtful.

C．Supportive.

D．Unconcerned.

8 . Explore more in Thailand’s parts unknown

Thailand’s southern beaches attract travelers worldwide, but there’s more to explore in the Southeast Asian country.

Ban Krut for beach fans

In Ban Krut, travelers will find one of the cleanest and quietest white sandy beaches within driving distance of the capital, Bangkok. This sleepy seaside community, known mostly by locals, is a five-hour drive or six-hour train trip down the Gulf of Thailand. Don’t miss the great Wat Tang Sai, a Buddhist temple located on Thong Chai Mountain.

Lopburi for history lovers

Lopburi, one of Thailand’s oldest cities, is home to Khmer-era temples and the uncrowded ruins of King Narai’s Palace, which was built in the 1600s. It’s also known for the monkeys that gather at Phra Prang Sam Yot temple in the center of town. A tip: Keep a safe distance from the monkeys and hide anything you don’t want them to steal.

Cave (洞穴) for holiday hikers

Hiking trails, wetlands and forests make Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park a weekend adventure worthy of topping your Thailand to-do list. The park’s crown jewel is the amazing Phraya Nakhon Cave. Outdoorsy travelers can camp in a park or choose better rooms in the nearby tourist town of Hua Hin.

Car rental costs about $20 per day, and an international driver’s permit is required. You can also hire a driver at most major car rental companies, book a taxi or explore by train.

1. What do we know about Ban Krut?

A．It is a crowded tourist destination.

B．It is where Wat Tang Sai is located.

C．It is the cleanest and quietest beach.

D．It is known to the people nationwide.

2. What will happen if you get close to monkeys in Lopburi?

A．They might stare at you curiously.

B．They might suddenly hide themselves.

C．They might offer you a friendly wave.

D．They might take away your belongings.

3. Which of the following best suits people who enjoy adventures?

A．The Thong Chai Mountain.

B．The tourist town of Hua Hin.

C．The Phra Prang Sam Yot temple.

D．Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park.

9 . As a high school student, you’re likely used to learning through reading textbooks.     1     This lies at the heart of “experiential appreciation,” a philosophy that encourages you to engage directly with the world around you. It’s about learning from real-life experiences, and discovering a more profound and engaging way to learn.

To practice experiential appreciation, you can start by getting involved in hands-on activities related to your subjects. They will provide a firsthand understanding of the concepts you’re studying, making learning active and meaningful. So, try joining a sports team, picking up a paintbrush, or taking part in a local charity event.     2    

As you dive deeper, immerse (沉浸) yourself fully in the surroundings and activities. When you’re in nature, don’t just look around.     3     Touching the leaves, feeling the wind and listening to the birds can enrich your learning and make each moment more memorable.

    4     After trying something new, ask yourself what you learned and how it made you feel. Write in a journal or discuss it with friends. This self-discovery turns experiences into life lessons and offers a deeper understanding of the world.

Experiential appreciation transforms learning from a task to be completed into a journey to be treasured.     5     So, explore the world around you, let every experience shape you, and discover the endless possibilities that await. This is the core of true learning, where every moment is a step towards a richer, more enlightened life.

A．It extends learning beyond textbooks.

B．These activities bring learning to life.

C．Mind the impact of your actions on the environment.

D．Instead, activate your senses for a stronger tie with it.

E．Take your experiences further by reflecting on them.

F．Textbooks offer a systematic introduction to essential concepts and principles.

G．Now consider expanding your learning from just reading to actively participating.

10 . One thing you’ll probably notice about being a teenager is that your body isn’t completely used to the changes. In fact, the changes in your brain don't completely settle in most people until their mid-20s. Your body changes in many ways and most of these changes are brought about because of chemicals released in the body.     1    This can be unsettling, as anything happening beyond your control can be.

First, take the moment when no one is talking to you to think about your breathing. By asking that step back from how you’re feeling and examining why you’re feeling it, it is easier to process these emotions. If you’re feeling awkward and embarrassed at school, the easiest thing to do is to ride that emotional wave even if it means a private release of emotions.    2    

Fortunately, this isn’t the only way. A mindful approach can be one of the best tools you have. When your mind feels more settled, allow one of the emotions to approach you .    3     If you are feeling stable, perhaps consider why you are feeling it, reminding yourself of the situation—your brain is changing. You’re in a stressful situation, and your body is full of new chemical levels that are creating a mess.     4     You can process it later, when you’re at home, or somewhere more peaceful.

Now, you’ve let it go! It doesn’t need to be a part of you, or control any part of you right now. This can be a very hard trick to master, because your brain is used to being affected by the emotion, and you’re trying to change course now,

    5     Even by practicing, you’re acknowledging to yourself that you want to be in control, and that’s the most important first step.

A．Don’t be depressed if it takes practice.

B．Admit what it is, but don’t be controlled by it.

C．As you focus on the present, try focusing on your breathing.

D．Having a sincere conversation with yourself is also a good idea.

E．Letting your tears flow can be a useful and mindful activity.

F．If, after all that, you still feel a need to blame yourself, simply let the emotion go.

G．This means your emotions can be unstable, making your mood change suddenly.