1 . 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. highlighting   B. total     C. enriched     D. urgent E. relief     F. perspective   G. ignoring     H. altered I. filling     J. separate   K. downgraded

Chinese Women Bridging Gap

Zhang Jianli used to employ only male workers on his construction sites throughout Chifeng, Inner Mongolia. Now with large quantities of work but inadequate manpower, Mr. Zhang has     1    his mind. He offers daily wages of roughly 160 yuan for women workers to do such routine work as moving wood and bricks, and up to 200 yuan a day for     2    or complicated jobs.

A labor shortage is pushing employers to hire more women to build high-rises, maintain rail tracks and drive trucks, among other roles. Chinese women are     3     the labor shortage. They are increasingly taking on heavy-labor jobs long dominated by men in construction or transportation,     4     traditional gender roles.

Women’s presence on construction sites has grown a lot. As a consequence, employers have set up     5     living spaces and bathrooms for them. About one-third of the workers on some construction sites in major cities are women, according to estimates by researchers who study China’s labor and gender issues. Just eight years ago, women accounted for just over one-tenth of the     6     , according to a survey of over 6,000 construction workers in nine cities. Over time, the types of jobs performed by women have been     7     —truck driving and machine handling added to their working list.

State media, in recent years, have praised the roles of women working as truck drivers and construction workers,     8    their contribution to the economy. In July, Xinhua News Agency featured Xu Yingying, a kind-hearted woman truck driver, who delivered     9    materials to the virus-stricken Hubei province three times within nine days last year. “Having lived through so much, I feel that the best status of a woman is being self-independent, living to become a beam of light and warming others,” she shared her     10    in the video.

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. engagement B. specific C. observed   D. wandering   E. resembled F. follow G. implements H. finding I. improvements J. translate K. require

Brain Training through Virtual Reality

Scientists have long sought to prevent sharp memories from dulling with age, but the problem remains persistent. Now new research suggests virtual reality might help older people recall facts and events based on     1     details.

The study involved 42 healthy older adults from the San Francisco Bay Area. Half spent a dozen hours over four weeks playing a virtual-reality game called Labyrinth; they wore headsets and walked in place,     2     virtual neighbourhoods while completing tasks. The other half, in the control group, used electronic tablets to play games that didn’t     3     finding positions or recalling details. After 15 sessions, the latter performed roughly the same as before on a long-term memory test based on picking out objects they had seen about an hour earlier. But the Labyrinth players’ scores rose, and they were less frequently tricked by objects that     4     the ones they had viewed.

Those     5     “brought them back up to the level of another group of younger adults who did the same memory tests,” says Peter Wais, the researcher who designed the VR game. The game likely stimulates the hippocampus — a brain area important for long-term memory. What the Wais’s team is trying to do is uniquely suited to VR,” says Meredith Thompson, who studies learning through VR games but was not involved in the new study. “VR can provide greater     6     than other games,” she says, adding that after this proof-of-concept study, “it would be great to actually     7     people over time and see what this type of game does for long-term memory.” Wais’s team is now investigating how long the     8     effects last and which elements of the training have the most impact.

It remains unclear how test performance in a laboratory setting might     9     to real-world situations. The outcome, needs to be repeated, ideally with a much larger group, before it’s treated as a strong     10    .

3 . 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. housing        B. leisurely        C. sought        D. reference        E. primarily     F. leg G. winding        H. wildly        I. pioneered        J. major        K. highlight

18^th Century Grand Tour of Europe

The Grand Tour began in the 16^th century and gained popularity during the 17 th century. Privileged（有特权的）young European graduates     1     a trend where they traveled across the continent in search of art and cultural experiences upon their graduation. This practice, which grew to be     2     popular, became known as the Grand Tour. Specialty guidebooks, tour guides, and other aspects of the tourist industry were developed during this time to meet the needs of wealthy 20-something male and female travelers as they explored the European continent.

These young, classically - educated Tourists were rich enough to fund multiple years abroad for themselves and they took full advantage of this. They carried letters of     3     and introduction with them as they departed from southern England to communicate with and learn from people they met in other countries. Some Tourists     4     to continue their education and broaden their horizons while abroad, some were just after fun and     5     travels, but most desired a combination of both.

A typical journey through Europe was long and     6     with many stops along the way. London was commonly used as a starting point and the Tour was usually kicked off with a difficult trip across the English Channel. Crossing the wide channel was and is not easy. 17^th – and - 18^th - century Tourists risked sea-sickness, illness, and even shipwreck on this first     7     of travel.

Grand Tourists were     8     interested in visiting cities that were considered centers of culture at the time, so Paris, Rome, and Venice were not to be missed. The average Grand Tourist traveled from city to city, usually spending weeks in smaller cities and months in the three     9     ones.

The vast majority of Tourists took part in similar activities during their exploration with art at the center of it all. Once a Tourist arrived at a destination, he would look for     10     and settle in for anywhere from weeks to months, even years. Though certainly not an overly trying experience for most, the Grand Tour presented a unique set of challenges for travelers to overcome.

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

A. debate          B. obviously          C. minimized        D. digits            E. feasible            F. initially G. sales             H. applied             I. criticized          J. inevitable          K. basis

Criticisms of Space Tourism

Space tourism is actually not a new or even a 21st-century concept. NASA imagined the possibility of space tourism back in the 1970s. Space tourism was     1     a hopeful concept, one focused on increasing access for ordinary citizens to visit space. However, the modern space tourism industry looks different as early ticket     2     by Virgin Galactic ranged from S200,000-$250,000; Blue Origin has not announced ticket prices, but it recently sold one seat for $28 million as part of a charity sale. This     3     prices access to space well outside the range of all but the extremely wealthy； it's one of the primary criticisms of space tourism today.

Part of the reason spaceflight is so expensive is that just a few people are carried at a time. "If you want to get to get the price from $250,000 down to four     4    , like an airline, you have to spread it over far more bodies," Ron Epstein, an aerospace analyst. But it might be decades before companies get to that point. The costs for fuel and energy currently don't make it     5     to offer space travel to large numbers of people.

Another complaint is that the funds spent on spaceflight might be better spent elsewhere such as solving problems here on Earth. Alan Ladwig, a writer, says this commentary is not without     6    —or historical precedent（先例）as people said the same thing about NASA. "There has been criticism that money spent in space would be better     7     to other societal needs. This has been a matter of     8     for a range of space activities for the past 60 years and is not likely to change regardless of what happens with space tourism," he says. And several items we take for granted like memory foam and scratch-resistant eyeglass lenses, came from NASA inventions.

Finally, space tourism is     9     for its environmental impact. "The most often talked about 'harm' involves pollution caused by black carbon from some spacecraft engines," Ladwig explains. "Virgin Galactic has     10     this problem, saying is impact on climate change is minor and that it also plans to invest in sustainable fuels for the future. Blue Origin's engines rely on liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen that burns as water vapor. However, critics note that it still takes electricity to manufacture the fuels."

5 . 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. associated   B. Additionally   C. countless   D. existence   E. fundamental F. highlight   G. Meanwhile   H. signal   I. strengthened   J. surprise   K. uniquely

What Sociology Can Teach UsAbout Thanksgiving

Sociologists （社会学家） believe that the celebrations practiced within any given culture serve to restate that culture’s most important values and beliefs. This theory dates back to founding sociologist Émile Durkheim and has been proved true by     1     researchers over more than a century’s time. According to sociologists, by examining a celebration, we can come to understand some     2     things about the culture in which it is practiced. In this spirit, let’s take a look at what Thanksgiving reveals about us.

It may not be much of a（n）     3     that coming together to share a meal with loved ones indicates how important relationships with friends and family are in our culture, which is far from a（n）     4     American thing. When we gather together to share in this holiday, we effectively say, “Your     5     and our relationship is important to me,” and in doing so, that relationship is restated and     6    . But there are some less obvious and more interesting things going on too.

In most households across the U. S. women and girls do the work of preparing, serving, and cleaning up after the Thanksgiving meal.     7    , most men and boys are likely to be watching and/or playing football. Of course, neither of these activities are exclusively gendered, but they are generally so. This means that Thanksgiving serves to     8     the distinct roles we believe men and women should play in society, and even what it means to be a man or a woman in our society today.

One of the most interesting sociological research findings is that overeating     9     with Thanksgiving illustrates American materialism and abundance. Sociologists found that the celebrations and how we talk about these experiences     10     that Thanksgiving is really about celebrating “material abundance” — having a lot of stuff, especially food, available for use.

6 . 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.tirelessly B. urgency C.concrete D.acknowledged E.roadmap F.call G committed H. intended I. update J. summed K.just

The pressure for change is building: reactions to the Glasgow climate pact

The Glasgow climate package, aimed at ensuring the world limits global heating to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels, was     1     even by the UK hosts as“imperfect", and leaves much of the hard work on cutting greenhouse gas emissions for next year. Boris Johnson,the UK prime minister, said:“We asked nations to come together for our planet at Cop 26, and they have answered that     2     . I want to thank the leaders, negotiators and campaigners who made this pact (协议、契约）happen and the people of Glasgow who welcomed them with open arms."

"There is still a huge amount more to do in the coming years. But today's agreement is a big step forward and, critically, we have the first ever international agreement to phase down (逐步减少)coal and a     3     to limit global warming to 1.5C. I hope that we will look back on Cop 26 in Glasgow as the beginning of the end of climate change, and I will continue to work     4     towards that goal."

Al Gore,the former US vice-president,also praised the public pressure put on world leaders at the conference: “The Glasgow Climate Pact and the pledges made at Cop26 move the global community forward in our urgent work to address the climate crisis and limit global temperature rise to 1.5C, but we know this progress, while meaningful,is not enough. “We must move faster to deliver a     5     transition away from fossil fuels and toward a cleaner and more equitable future for our planet.The progress achieved in the lead-up and at Cop26 was only possible because of the power of people young and old using their voices to demand action."

Many developed and developing countries nailed the progress it represented on the world's goals .But green campaigners warned that the     6     of the climate crisis meant the world was running out of time. Frans Timmermans, executive vice-president of the European Commission,     7     up many countries' reactions, saying:“'It doesn't stop here,it only starts."

On the last-minute weakening of language about phasing out coal, Timmermans said: "Let's be clear, I'd rather not have the change. I was very happy with the language we had." But he added it was “like going from 24 carat gold to 18 carat, it's still gold...we are now making     8     steps to eliminate coal ...and that countries that are so dependent on coal are willing to be part of that agreement is astonishing".

Countries will have to return next year and the year after to     9     their targets on cutting greenhouse gas emissions. Laurence Tubiana, one of the architects of the 2015 Paris deal and now CEO of the European Climate Foundation, said the outcome showed that the 2015 Paris climate agreement was working as     10    .

7 . 选词填空

adjust... to, as though, break down, break out, go through, go wrong, hold out, point at

1. The teacher ________the blackboard and said, “Do remember the date when the war broke out.”
2. He talked loudly ________ he hadn’t heard my questions.
3. A teacher has to ________fit the mind of each student he teaches.
4. Let's ________the numbers together and see if a change of sales is necessary.
5. You'd better make full preparation if anything should ________.
6. When the war __________,the two countries broke off their diplomatic relation.
7. Because he was being so kind and concerned, I ________and cried.
8. “I'm Mary Smith," she said, ________her hand.

8 . 选词填空

around the corner，bank on, be bound to, far ahead of time, get...straight，result in，sooner or later

1. There are still lots of things we have to ________ about him although he looks honest.
2. I’m afraid that your opinion is ________, and the audience will not accept it for now.
3. He didn’t ________his lost pet dog to be back.
4. We needn’t hold back the secret from her. She will get to know it ________.
5. The Dragon Boat Festival is   ________, and people are making preparations, for it.
6. The traffic accident happening last weekend________the death of two people.
7. It is the first time that I have ever taken part in a speech competition. I ________be nervous.

9 . 选词填空

agree on, at risk，go on sale，hang out, in contrast, keep around，lie in，on the whole，so far， wipe out

1. ________，the boss is satisfied with the progress，and he wants more breakthrough.
2. People always want to ________each to be nice to them，and I am no exception.
3. The whole nation will ________any enemy that dares to invade their territory.
4. Girls enjoy________ in supermarkets，even for a whole afternoon without feeling tired.
5. After ten minutes of bargain, they ________ the price for the house.
6. The tickets for the concert ________last Sunday, and people crowded into the booking office.
7. The COVID-2019 is still spreading all over the world, putting millions of people ________.
8. ________，we haven made so much progress on the he COVID-2019.

10 . 选词填空

assess, bound, cite, cycle，client，horizon，demand，reckon

1. The housing company asks all its ________to pay for a case in advance.
2. Both traveling and reading can broaden your ________.
3. He ________ that he was qualified for the job.
4. This is our ________of the damage to your car. It was ________at 1,000 yuan.
5. The ________always ________in the park as a form of exercise.
6. It is ________ that you should balance the relationship between supplies and ________.
7. Her essay begins with a ________ from Lu Xun. She also________ a few lines from Li Bai's poems.
8. According to the professors, the price of houses was ________to rise in the next few months.