2 . 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. inky   B. ashore   C. facility   D. worldwide   E. female   F. conclusions   G. double    H. confused I. Talk   J. preservation   K. typically

Several deep-sea fish have been mysteriously washed up on California’s beaches this year, leaving marine biologists     1    .

The latest Pacific football fish to be washed     2     in the state was spotted near Encinitas last Friday. A surfer found the strange fish dead on Swami’s Beach and alerted lifeguards, who then notified scientists. Scientist Ben Frable then collected the unusual animal for research and     3     purposes.

The fish is black, almost spherical in shape and has sharp teeth. It has a strange external body sticking out from its head with multiple branches, used to attract prey in the     4     blackness of the deep ocean.

The fish found on Swami’s Beach is a mature     5     measuring nearly 13 inches in length and weighing around 5.5 pounds.

Pacific football fish are very rarely seen considering that they are     6     found at depths of between 650 and 2,600 feet. Only 31 known fish have ever been collected     7    and it has never been seen in the wild, so scientists know very little about the species.

Despite the fact that the fish are rarely seen, three of them have been washed up on California’s beaches this year —including one that was spotted last month at Black’s Beach, north of San Diego. The three sightings this year     8     the total number of sightings on record in California, and it’s the     9     of the town among the experts working at the Los Angeles County Natural History Museum, which has four fish in its collection.

Despite the series of recent sightings, experts said, it’s hard to jump to any     10    about why this is happening.

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. stems     B. insecure       C. squeezed     D. individual       E. glued     F. spreading G. head     H. simply        I. distracting        J. spacious     K. originally

You’ll Often Walk Alone

There has been a quiet pandemic (流行病) developing while most people’s attention has been on Covid-19. The lockdown has worsened a problem that has been     1     in many developed nations for decades: loneliness.

Part of the problem     2     from contemporary employment. Globally, two in five office workers feel lonely at work. This rises to three in five in Britain. Gig-economy (零工经济) jobs can leave people with     3     incomes and without the companionship of colleagues. The pandemic has made it more difficult to make, and maintain, friendships, particularly for new employees. Even before the crisis, the hope that     4     offices would encourage greater camaraderie (友情) proved to be false. Many people find the chatter     5     and withdraw with noise-canceling headphones. They then email colleagues who are sitting only a few desks away.

Perhaps loneliness relates to human history. Mass urbanization is a relatively recent development; if the history of human existence was     6     into a single day, the Industrial Revolution did not occur until almost midnight. For much of that time, humans lived in small groups of hunter-gatherers; cities may just overwhelm the senses. Ms. Hertz points her finger at a recent development: social media. The internet has led too much cyber-bullying (although it has also been a source of companionship during the lockdown). And people     7     to their smart phones spend less time interacting socially.

Some changes in behavior are owing to     8     choice. Before the pandemic no one was stopping people going to church or taking part in sports. They     9     preferred to do other things. Indeed, one reason for the decline in communal activities is that men choose to be with their families rather than     10     to the bar; American fathers spend three times as much time with their children as they did in the 1960s. That is surely a welcome development. So recreating a communal society may be difficult.

5 . Directions: Filling in the blanks with the proper forms of the phrases given in the box. Each phrase can be used only once. There are three more phrases than you need.

to an extent；hang on；take cover；pass (oneself/something) off as take over；resort to；a handful of；be tempted to

1. The Red Typhoon Signal is a warning to ______, under metal or sod roof structures, out of the wind.
2. Internationalization of production has been developed ______ of a higher and deeper level.
3. The drink was packaged in champagne bottles and ______ the real stuff.
4. Every 10 years or so, it seems ______ new looks endure long enough to become accepted a the uniform of a generation.
5. Despite ______ keep the money to pay for bills, Mr. Carnarvon sought out the children of the home’s previous owner, who had died, and gave them the money.

6 . 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. celebrated       B. ideals       C. currently       D. enlarged E. formerly       F. incomparable       G. laid       H. referred I. restored       J. scale        K. seat

If you only had an afternoon to experience London on a grand     1    , the Houses of Parliament, also called Palace of Westminster would be a wise place to start. The     2     of the bicameral (两院制的) Parliament including the House of Commons and the House of Lords, is located on the left bank of the River Thames in the borough of Westminster, London.

A royal palace was said to have existed at the site under the Danish king of England Canute. The building, however, spoken of by William Fitzstephen as a(n) “    3     structure,” was built for Edward the Confessor in the 11th century and     4     by William I (the Conqueror). In 1512 the palace suffered greatly from fire and thereafter ceased to be used as a royal residence. A fire in 1834 destroyed the whole palace except the historic Westminster Hall, the Jewel Tower, the cloisters, and the crypt of St. Stephen’s Chapel.

Sir Charles Barry, assisted by A.W.N. Pugin, designed the present buildings in the Gothic Revival style. Construction was begun in 1837, the cornerstone was     5     in 1840, and work was finished in 1860. The Commons Chamber was burned out in one of the numerous air raids that targeted London during World War II, but it was     6     and reopened in 1950. The House of Lords is an ornate chamber 97 feet in length; the Commons is 70 feet long. The southwestern Victoria Tower is 336 feet high. The Elizabeth Tower,     7     St. Stephen’s Tower, about 320 feet in height, contains the famous tower clock Big Ben. Along with Westminster Abbey and St, Margaret’s Church, the Houses of Parliament were named a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1987, as symbols of spiritual and democratic     8    .

The Palace is one of the centers of political life in the United Kingdom; “Westminster” has become a metaphor for the UK Parliament and the British Government. The Elizabeth Tower, in particular, often     9     to by the name of its main bell, Big Ben, has become an iconic landmark of London and of the United Kingdom in general, one of the most     10     tourist attractions in the city, and a symbol of parliamentary democracy.

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

A. politely B. deserving   C. strengthened     D. hospitalization   E. cases F. under-resourced G. unsurprising H. possibly   I. reaching     J. readopted     K. unsustainable

Too many people believe that the pandemic is over, England’s deputy chief medical officer, Prof Jonathan Van-Tam, warned this week: far from it. Europe is at its centre again, WHO has said, urging governments to continue with public health measures. But though Sajid Javid, England’s health secretary, predicted last month that     1     here could hit 100,000 a day, he remains unwilling to take action — even as the latest Real-time Assessment of Community Transmission (React) findings, for late October, show that about one in 58 people is tested positive — more than double September’s levels.

The indifference of Mr Javid and his boss, Boris Johnson, is     2    , given the government’s record. (Last month’s news report on its response stressed that it had “lacked speed in making timely decisions”: if put less     3    , it was far too late, far too often). But their attitude is doubtlessly     4     by a drop in recorded cases over the past week. Some experts think the drop may have to do with the growing immunity caused by high infection rates.

While vaccines (疫苗) (and now treatments) are decreasing     5     rates, current infection levels and breakthrough cases remind us that vaccines do not stop people from catching or spreading Covid, and reduce but do not eliminate the possibility of serious health problems such as long Covid.

The government is counting on boosters (疫苗加强剂), though it says its “plan B” — forced masking, vaccine passports and encouragement to work from home — will be introduced if the pressure on the National Health Service (NHS) is     6    . The British Medical Association believe that point arrived weeks ago. Queues of ambulances are the most visible indication of the pressures. The NHS went into the pandemic     7     and, more obviously at the current stage, short-staffed. The overall impact has been exhausting. Any further increase in Covid patients, already     8     more than 9,500, would greatly weaken the ability to deal with the huge backlog (积压的工作).

Why take that risk? Forced masking on public transport and in places such as supermarkets must be     9    . The government should introduce Covid passports for crowded venues. Third doses (针剂) must be made more accessible. Adopting these minimal measures now would save lives and protect the NHS,     10     preventing the need for more drastic action later.

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

A. luckily   B. alerts C. established   D. entrances   E. contact   F. habitat G. measures     H. wandered     I. studying     J. rewards     K. enjoy

Fifteen wild Asian elephants that left their     1     in Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve(保护区)in Yunnan province have so far not caused any trouble in the provincial capital(省会), Kunming, thanks to local authorities’ effective measures. By Thursday afternoon, the herd(兽群)had moved to Shuanghe county, Jinning district in Kunming’s outskirts, according to the Yunnan Forestry and Grassland Administration, which has     2     a special work team under the guidance of the provincial government.

Provincial forestry police have followed the elephants’ movements round the clock, using drones(无人机)and cameras. Experts from both the national and provincial forestry departments are advising on     3     to control the elephants. Police and firefighters in Kunming are working to prevent the elephants from coming into     4     with residents. Trucks(卡车)and digging equipment have been put in place at the     5     of villages to try to stop the pachyderms’(厚皮动物)entry.

A woman from Ganhe village, where the elephants     6     around for several hours on Thursday, told local media that they had received     7     from the village committee. “All my family members moved to the second floor of our house on Wednesday. We were very nervous last night, but     8     no one was hurt,” she said.

Although it’s not known when the elephants left the Xishuangbanna reserve, experts believe they may have started roaming(徜徉)last year and are now about 500 kilometers away from the reserve.

The Asian elephants, which are listed as endangered(濒危的)on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species,     9     Class-A protection status in China, the same level afforded(给予)the giant panda. Yunnan is the only home to wild Asian elephants in China and has 300 of the animals. However, more than two-thirds of the population live outside nature reserves, said Chen Mingyong, a life sciences professor at Yunnan University who has been     10     wild elephants for decades.

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

A. valuable     B. unrecognizable     C. unconsciously     D. reserved     E. heavily F. encounters   G. disrupted     H. confused   I. closeness   J. bunch   K. recomposed

Relationship in the Digital Age

People from our past whom we no longer directly communicate with but who are active on social networks can “occupy     1     space in your mind, and you think about them instead of about your close friends,” said Carlin Flora, the author of “Friend-fluence: The Surprising Ways Friends Make Us Who We are.”

“If my high school friend posts frequently about her life, it’s almost like it’s celebrity gossip, or it seems as if I am watching a reality show about her,” Ms. Flora said. “Our brains get     2     about whether we know celebrities; if we see someone a lot, our brain thinks we know them.”

Ms. Schiller, the Iowa graduate, goes out often with friends at night but also lives on a digital diet of texting     3     enough that she recently hurt her thumb, Google chat and social media. As with many young people, talking on the phone was never a big part of her routine and is now     4     for the rarest of occasions.

There are physiological benefits to face-to-face     5     however, that doesn’t belong to digital interactions or the phone. “Your blood pressure goes down, and you imitate your friends gesture     6    .” Ms. Flora said. “It’s a kind of harmony humans have developed over thousands of years, and you don’t get that when you only follow someone on social media.”

But now it’s common for the synchrony(同步性)to be     7     in person, thanks to smartphones. Imagine Edward Hopper’s 1942 painting “Nighthawks” (below)     8     today, with the three late-night diners and counterman all gazing at screens. “If there’s a(n)     9     of guys at a bar together and they’re all on their phones,” Ms. Flora said, “they’re not doing much to stimulate the body system to create the sense of     10    .”