1 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. accompanied       B. allowed       C. feasibly       D. fueled E. intensity       F. option       G. prompting       H. routine I. surgically       J. underlying       K. varied

Brain Signals for Lasting Pain

Brain signals that reveal how much pain a person is in have been discovered by scientists who say the work is a step towards new treatments for people living with lasting pain.

It is the first time researchers have decoded the brain activity     1     patients’ lasting pain. That has raised the hope that brain stimulation treatment already used for Parkinson’s and major depression can help those running out of any other     2    . “We’ve learned that lasting pain can be tracked and predicted in the real world,” said Prasad Shirvalkar, lead researcher on the project at the University of California.

Lasting pain affects nearly 28 million adults in the UK alone, and the causes are     3    . ranging from cancer to back problems. That being the case, lasting pain has     4     a rise in taking powerful painkillers. But no medical treatments work well for the condition,     5     experts to call for a complete rethink in how health services handle patients with lasting pain.

For the latest study, Shirvalkar and his colleagues     6     implanted electrodes(电极) into four patients with lasting pain hard to deal with after the loss of legs. The devices     7     the patients to record activity and collect data in two brain regions— the ACC and the OFC—at the press of one button on a remote handset. Several times a day, the volunteers were asked to complete short surveys on the     8     of pain, meaning how strong the pain was, and then record their brain activity. These scientists, armed with the survey responses and brain recordings, found they could use computers to predict a person’s pain based on the electrical signals in their OFC. “We found very different brain activity     9     severe pain and have developed an objective biomarker for that kind of pain,” said Shirvalkar. The finding may explain, at least in part, why     10     painkillers are less effective for lasting pain. “The hope is that we can use the information to develop personalized brain stimulation treatment for the most severe forms of pain.”

2 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. authorities   B. conflicts   C. increasingly   D. infected E. invisibly F. oddly G. outbreaks   H. present   I. subjected   J. suspected   K. unexpected

Deadly virus approaches tigers

India’s most important tiger conservation body is to investigate growing concern that Asia’s wild tigers are     1     to a deadly new disease.

The National Tiger Conservation Authority is to fun d a study of Canine Distemper Virus(CDV) in six of the most important areas for the species, which could confirm a problem that a few experts have     2    for a number of years.

There have been     3    of CDV in wild tigers in other areas. According to Dr Dale Miquelle of the Wildlife Conservation Society, quite a few tigers were either killed or seriously affected by a disease that was probably CDV in 2010. And the Sikhote-Alin Biosphere Reserve has also reported a(n)     4     decline in tiger numbers.

CDV may also exist in the tiger population in Sumatra, where animals have been reported to be behaving     5    and losing their fear of humans.

Dr John Lewis of the British charity Wildlife Vets International is helping the Sumatran    6    to fight the risk by training local vets in what he calls “the world’s first tiger- disease monitoring program”.

Lewis also believes that the way CDV changes tigers’ behavior could be a factor where tiger- human     7    are an issue. This could be true of the Sundarbans, a large area shared by India and Bangladesh where man-eating is spreading.

Perhaps we should not be surprised that tigers are     8    with CDV. In 2004, it killed 1,000 lions in the Serengeti in Tanzania, and as wildlife reserves are    9    surrounded by people with dogs, the problem is only likely to get worse.

But as Miquelle told BBC Wildlife, “Very few people were aware of the potential threat, let alone looking for it, even if it is     10    in the system. But at least now they are.”

3 . Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A awareness       B. clear       C. encourage       D. ignore E. immediate       F. limiting       G. redesigning       H. significantly I. team       J. theme       K. unlikely

Go Recycling

No one looking at the state of Earth in 2023 can be in any doubt that we are facing three serious environmental problems: climate problem, loss of biodiversity (生物多样性) and pollution of air, soil and water. To solve the problems, we increase the use of electric cars,     1     greener eating and reduce plastic use. However, sometimes these solutions can be opposite to the expected goals. For instance, creating space for biofuel crops to give off fewer pollutants and greenhouse gases can, in fact,     2     increase the cutting down of trees. That means in most cases solutions aiming at one problem each time are     3     to be effective. And, what is perhaps lacking is a(n)     4     of how interlinked these problems are.

We should realize that a key     5     linking all the three problems is waste. The root cause of global warming is CO₂, a waste gas. The seas are polluted by plastic and other waste products. We     6     forests, among other things, to grow more food — much of which goes to waste.

A shocking figure lies at the heart of our special report on our world — of the more than 100 billion tons of things that humans use each year, hardly 10% is recycled. That makes it obvious a full-range war on waste should be paid     7     attention. The situation requires our speedy moving away from the way of thinking — “take, make, throw” — towards a more recyclable one, which means we should begin     8     the products and when they reach the end of their useful lives, they can be recycled.

Solving the three problems calls for a huge transition with joint efforts. Governments must take the lead by introducing laws with the purpose of rewarding green practices, such as the     9     of waste. Industries can reduce, re-use and recycle wherever possible, and     10     themselves with suppliers and the like-minded to realize recyclable business models.

4 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A．attractive       B．bothered       C．building       D．contrasts E．crossed       F．demonstrates       G．dramatically       H．greyed I．instrumental       J．sustaining       K．vividly

A Review on Oppenheimer

Oppenheimer is Christopher Nolan’s film about J. Robert Oppenheimer, the man known as “the father of the atomic(原子的) bomb”. As a drama about genius, pride and error, it    1    the life of the American theoretical physicist who helped research and develop the two atomic bombs that were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, two cities in Japan, during World War II.

Oppenheimer is a great achievement, partly because it    2    relates that period of history thanks to Nolan’s lifelike filmmaking. Nolan goes deep and long on the    3    of the bomb, but he doesn’t restage the attacks and there are no documentary images of the dead or cities in ashes.

The story tracks Oppenheimer across decades, starting in the 1920s with him as a young adult and continuing until his hair    4    . The film touches on his personal and professional milestones, the controversies that    5    him, and the attacks that nearly ruined him. Besides, the friendships and romances    6    him, yet also troubling, are also described.

The path of Oppenheimer’s life    7     shifted at Berkeley. He was once only an academic there, but his identity changed after Germany entered Poland by force. By that time, Oppenheimer had become friends with Ernest Lawrence, a physicist who invented the historic particle accelerator (粒子加速器) and played a(n)     8    role in the Manhattan Project. And Oppenheimer also met the project’s military head and was then made director of Los Alamos, where much of his later research on nuclear weapons took place.

François Truffaut once wrote that “war films, even those who support peace, even the best, willingly or not, present wars in a certain    9    way.” That is why Nolan refuses to show the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing millions of souls. In the film, you hear that Oppenheimer’s famous words    10    his own mind as the mushroom cloud rose: “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds.” Nolan is actually reminding audience to reconsider the roles they can play in the world.

5 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box.Each word can be used by only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. as          B. involve        C. filling        D. rapidly        E. major F. developed       G. all       H. by       I. along       J. needs        K. present

Throughout the 20th century, Japanese towns and cities grew     1    . Today about 80 percent of the Japanese people live in urban areas. The growth of towns and cities, called urbanization (城市化), happens in two ways. One way is     2     rural-urban migration, when people move to the city from the country. As cities prosper and grow, industries and services that     3     many people both as workers and consumers grow to meet the     4     of the increasing population. New industries and services emerge to support the growing business, and the region experiences an upward spiral of growth.

The urban areas on the Japanese island of Honshu (本州岛) continue to grow     5     they attract more people, industries and business. These urban areas contain nearly two-thirds of Japan’s population and manufacturing. City suburbs are     6     in the rural spaces between the towns and cities, and Japan’s efficient and fast transportation system links them all.

Four     7     cities on Honshu-Tokyo Kawasaki (川崎), Chiba (千叶), and Yokohama (横滨) have grown together into one of Japan’s largest urban areas. Two other large urban areas have     8     on Honshu. The area around the city of Nagoya (名古屋) forms one, and the cities of Osaka (大阪)，Kyoto and Kobe (神户) from the other. At the     9     time, these three areas are growing toward one another to form one long, enormous urban area. A single urban system this large is called a megalopolis. This Japanese megalopolis on Honshu, stretching from Tokyo in the east     10     the way to Kobe in the west, is called the Tokaido (东海道) megalopolis.

6 . Directions: Complete the following sentences by using the words in the box. Each word can be used by only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A.gratitude     B.conscience       C.foundation       D.jealous       E.feasible F.flexible       G.inherit        H.feedback        I.interaction     J.frustration

1. To some extent, what you came up with is _________.
2. I hope you have found this article helpful and I welcome all __________.
3. You have to be good but not an expert at everything you do, and you have to know when to be _________ and when to ask for help.
4. What is the __________ of their good relationships?
5. Trusted colleagues, friends, and family can provide you with an outlet for expressing _________ or worries.
6. If someone has done something against his __________,he may feel guilty.
7. Thanksgiving is a typical American holiday, when people give their _________ to what they are thankful for.
8. The fact that other people have something that we don’t have makes us _________ .
9. A successful class depends on the _________ between teachers and students and among students themselves.
10. The legacy duty will make it harder for young people to _________ property from their parents.

7 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. abusive       B. bounds       C. descriptions       D. dramatic       E. emerges       F. essentially G. fantastic       H. promises       I. settings       J. trust       K. unusually

Are You Scared of AI?

A recent Monmouth University survey has found that only 9 percent of Americans believe that computers with artificial intelligence will do more good than harm to society. When the same survey was conducted 35 years ago, about one in five said AI would benefit mankind. In other words, people have less complete     1     in AI now than they did dozens of years ago, when the technology was more science fiction than reality.

“It’s     2     that there is public doubt about AI. There absolutely should be,” said Meredith Broussard, an artificial intelligence researcher and professor at New York University. Most Americans     3     agree with Broussard that AI has a place in our lives, but not for everything.

When asked questions about     4     in which AI might be used, most people said it was a bad idea to use AI for military aircraft that try to distinguish between enemies and civilians. Some are worried about the     5     use of AI in policing, disturbing people’s privacy. Most respondents said it was a good idea for machines to perform risky jobs such as coal mining.

The term “AI” is a catch-all for everything. It can be the constant use of technology, such as our daily preference to autocomplete in web search queries (关键词). It can also be the software that     6     to predict crime before it happens. People afraid of AI may be influenced by     7     of evil computers from books and movies — like Skynet, the super-intelligent machines in “The Terminator” movies. Broussard said the ways AI can end up destroying your quality of life won’t be as     8     as murderous fictional computers.

Actually, the fear of AI     9     due to the fact that we just don’t know where AI is going and how soon it will take us to get there. Technology makes surprising and unusual leaps and     10     in ways we never think it will. Anyway, whether we like it or not, artificial intelligence is here to stay.

8 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. dismissed        B. faintly        C. foreign       D. granted E. journeyed       F. mysterious       G. overlook        H. promise I. reflection       J. typically       K. version

The Charm of Daffodils

On April 15, 1802, the poet William Wordsworth and his sister were enjoying a spring walk through the hills when they came across a field of daffodils (水仙花). William decided there was nothing for it but to write a poem, which he published in its final     1     in 1815. I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud is, to some people, the most famous     2     on the power of nature —

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

Long     3     as a common field flower, unworthy of serious attention by the artist, poet or gardener, the daffodil enjoyed a revival thanks in part to Wordsworth’s poem. Today, it’s easy to     4     the daffodil for we can find it almost everywhere, in gardens or in art.

The daffodil originated in the ancient Mediterranean, where people associated them with the idea of death and life. Its scientific name comes from the story of Narcissus, a handsome youth falling in love with his own image. The gods     5     him immortality (永生) as a daffodil to save him from death. But it isn’t only Mediterranean cultures that have concentrated on the daffodil’s     6     power of life and death. A variety of the daffodils     7     along the Silk Road to China. There, the flower appeared to express not only the happy     8     of spring, but also other painful emotions such as loss.

The English botanist John Parkinson introduced the traditional yellow variety from Spain in 1618. Aided by a wet but temperate climate, daffodils quickly spread across lawns and fields, causing its     9     origins to be forgotten. By the 19th century they had become     10     British — so much that traders planted bucketfuls of bulbs wherever they went.

9 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. adjustments B. emit C. hit D. lanes E. players   F. preventing G. semi-autonomous H. shift I. supervising J. traditional   K. worn-out

Baby Steps Toward Autonomy…

Companies, like Google and Tesla, didn't even exist when Toyota introduced the Prius in1997. However, they have become major     1     in the auto industry recently. Both of them aim to introduce fully autonomous cars ---that is, cars that drive themselves---within the next several years.

Self-driving cars are expected to be much safer than human-driven ones. But even if the first robot cars     2     the roads in the next few years, most of us probably won't give up driving entirely for at least another 15 or 20 years. In the meantime,     3     cars will gradually take over certain aspects of driving.

Companies have been adding     4     features to cars since the 1990s---things like adaptive cruise control, which uses sensors to adjust a car's speed based on the traffic in front of it, and automated parallel parking. Some cars automatically stop—or at least slow down—if a driver doesn't step on the brake in time to avoid a crash. In a certain model developed in 2017, the driver will be able to change     5     simply by hitting the turn signal for two seconds (the car will take care of the rest). Within a few years, cars may be able to determine when an accident is likely and make     6    to the cabin---moving seats, closing windows , retracting the steering wheel.

Even better than preparing for a crash, of course, is     7    one. Some vehicles     8     warnings when they detect, through cameras and sensors, that a driver is getting sleepy. Future cars might take over for     9     drivers---or automatically pull to the side of the road and shut down. Biometrics(生物识别技术）could aid this process. If a car has sensors that can measure a driver's breath and heart rate, it could     10     into self-driving mode when a driver has a heart attack.

10 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. species	B. informed	C. awareness	D. indicate
E. additional	F. figures	G. advanced	H. sticking
I. state	J. reliance	K. based

Sensors for Houseplants

Over the past two years Jasmin Moeller, a 38-year-old in Germany, has been buying more houseplants, making her feel more comfortable.

Actually, the fact that people have spent much more time     1     at home has started a trend to bring more nature inside. In the UK, the latest     2     show that 2021 houseplant sales were 29% higher than in 2020. It is a similar picture in other countries, with sales of houseplants in the US rising by 18% last year, for instance.

Yet it is one thing to buy a houseplant and quite another to successfully look after it. Luckily, some     3     sensors for indoor plants may help those without professional skills in gardening. These devices, usually solar powered and connected wirelessly to a user’s smartphone, should be inserted into the soil next to the plants. Then, they show in real time the     4     of the plants.

A sensor made by German firm Greensens has approximately 5000 plant     5     on its app database. Like a traffic light system, the app uses red, yellow and green faces to     6     how plants are doing. For example, red reveals that the plant is dying, while green means it’s in perfect condition. Besides, users are regularly     7     of what they should do with plants.

Another app released by German business Fyta tells users how their plants are by analyzing the uploaded pictures of the plants. It also includes     8     content other apps rarely offer, such as cultural history of some plants, so users can learn more about their plants.

However, Botanist Silver Spence is worried that     9     on these sensors may affect users’ gardening skills negatively. And David Anglov recommends that amateurs try their best to establish their own     10     of what a plant needs in various situations through careful observation.

Back in Germany, Ms Moeller says she is sure that the sensors are helping her improve gardening skills.