1 . 阅读下列短文，根据短文内容填空。在未给提示词的空白处仅填写1个恰当的单词，在给出提示词的空白处用括号内所给词的正确形式填空。

Since last month, more than half of America’s school districts     1    (report) “severe” or “desperate” school bus driver shortages. Suffering like this makes them thankful for people like Michael Mason. Driving a school bus isn’t Michael Mason’s first job; he used to work for the government. But unlike many retirees, Mason is not sitting home and relaxing.     2    (lend) a helping hand, he started a new job—a bus driver. Mason hopes to inspire others in the community. He says, “I believe if all of us give a little something, we     3    (make) a difference in the world.”

2 . 阅读下列短文，根据短文内容填空。在未给提示词的空白处仅填写1个恰当的单词，在给出提示词的空白处用括号内所给词的正确形式填空。

Humans like to live near rivers and they often find     1    (they) needing to cross them. The simplest way across a river is to ford it. Fording is to find     2     the river is shallow and cross it safely without using a boat. It means     3    (pretend) the river is not there, continuing to walk, and hoping for the best. But sometimes even water at shallow areas can be surprisingly dangerous,       4     is because it’s not always easy to tell how fast the water is moving. It only takes ankle-deep water to sweep a person off their feet.

3 . I woke up one morning with six hungry kids and just 75 cents in my pocket. Their father was gone. He had never been much more than a presence they _______. Now that he had decided to leave, there would be no more beatings, _______ no food either.

I washed the kids and then _______ them into my old 51 Chevy and drove off to find a job.

I tried to _______ whoever would listen that I was willing to learn anything. I had to have a job. The last place we went to was the Big Wheel truck stop. They needed someone from 11 pm to 7 am. They paid $0.65 an hour and I could start immediately.

I called the babysitter and _______ with her. We came to an agreement—$1 a night. So every morning I gave her $1 of my tip money—_______ half of what I averaged every night!

As weeks went by, the tires on my Chevy began to leak. One miserable morning, I _______ myself to the car and found four tires in the back seat. New tires! “Had angels(天使) taken up residence in Indiana?” I _______.

I was now working six nights instead of five and it still wasn’t enough. Christmas was coming and there was no money for toys. Clothes were a worry too.

On Christmas Eve, the usual customers were drinking coffee in the Big Wheel. There were the truckers, Les, Frank, and Jim. These _______ all just sat around and talked. When it was time for me to go home, I found several boxes in my Chevy filled with little jeans, toys and an enormous turkey. I could not believe my eyes!

I was crying with gratitude. And I will never forget the joy on the faces of my little ones that __________ morning.

Yes, there were angels in Indiana that long-ago December morning. And they all hung out at the Big Wheel truck stop.

1.

A．ignored

B．appreciated

C．feared

D．recognized

2.

A．so

B．but

C．because

D．or

3.

A．loaded

B．moved

C．invited

D．handed

4.

A．question

B．teach

C．consult

D．convince

5.

A．argued

B．bargained

C．agreed

D．planned

6.

A．only

B．definitely

C．fully

D．clearly

7.

A．dragged

B．rolled

C．directed

D．carried

8.

A．prayed

B．concluded

C．announced

D．wondered

9.

A．visitors

B．regulars

C．neighbors

D．strangers

10.

A．comfortable

B．satisfying

C．precious

D．educational

4 . 阅读下面短文，根据题目要求用英文回答问题。请在答题卡指定区域作答。

Math causes anxiety in kids, which can last far into adulthood. This is worsened by the pressure of knowing that math is the gatekeeper to science and technology that drive much of our society.

Ironically, this well-known feature of mathematics is its greatest weakness.

When our kids ask why they need to know algebra, we promise them that it will be useful. Do we listen to jazz because it is useful? Humans like the practical, but we also know that there is much more to life. As Aristotle said, knowledge begins with wonder, but what wonder is there in algebra or calculus? As it turns out, not much. Yet they form the cornerstone of today’s math education. No wonder math creates boredom.

Happily, unlocking the pleasure of math is simple: Do what mathematicians do and seek out unexplored, unknown, undiscovered math.

Regrettably, the mathematical journey is imagined as a terrifying mountain: The wide base is arithmetic, accessible to everyone. Climbing higher brings us to algebra, geometry, and eventually calculus and beyond. We believe that new math ideas have been nearly exhausted.

In reality, math is alive and still advancing, and most of it remains a vast and uncharted countryside. Fresh ideas are constantly being discovered, opening up new and fascinating puzzles. These puzzles allow us to play at the very edge of the mathematical unknown, and many of them are accessible for our students.

Here’s one: Can every even number be written as a sum of two prime numbers? Even numbers such as 8 and 30 can be written as 3+5 and 7+23. But can this be done for every even number? No one knows.

As our kids try to solve this kind of problems, a deeply encouraging truth will appear in their otherwise anxious hearts: It’s OK to struggle with math since everyone struggles with math.

These unsolved puzzles are the great equalizers, helping us realize that we are on the same level as the greatest of mathematicians, all of us staring over the unknown abyss, looking for a way down into the mystery.

1. What is the well-known feature of mathematics?
2. Why does math cause boredom?
3. Decide which part of the following statement is wrong. Underline it and explain why.
The author believes math is accessible for students but that new math ideas have been nearly exhausted.
4. What else do you think can make math fun?(In about 40 words)

5 . Picture this: you’ve just settled into your workday and pulled up that big report you need to finish, when a friend sends you a couple of celebrity videos on WeChat.     1     And then the next thing you know, an hour has gone by while that big report sits, ignored, on your desk. So how does that happen?

To understand this, we conducted a series of studies with 6,445 people. Through this research, we identified three factors: the amount of media the person has already viewed, the similarity of the media they’ve viewed, and the manner in which they viewed the media.

We found the order and types of content we consume can affect our decision to keep consuming similar content. But what drives this effect?     2     When something feels more accessible, it becomes easier to process, leading us to enjoy it more.

These results also explain why it’s so easy to get distracted by apps on social media at work.     3     They offer bite-sized content that makes it easy to quickly consume several videos in a row. They often automatically suggest similar content, and many of them even automatically start playing similar videos, reducing the potential for interruptions.

    4     To fight the pull, make an effort to just watch one video. If you really want to watch multiple in a row, choose videos that seem unrelated. You can also use a social media timer that urges you to take a break after a certain amount of time, or even just consciously remind yourself to consume different kinds of content.

So, if you’re struggling to climb out of a rabbit hole, try to find ways to reduce the similarity, repetitiveness, and relatedness of the content you’re consuming.     5     Once you manage to break free, you’ll be back at that big report in no time.

A．It can be difficult, but it’s not impossible.

B．You figure you’ll just take a few minutes to watch them.

C．Accessibility refers to how familiar a given kind of content feels.

D．These platforms are designed to trap viewers in a social media rabbit hole.

E．Prior research suggests that the three factors all increase the accessibility of similar media.

F．The good news is, a better understanding of the problem can give us the tools to escape it.

G．This will become a problem if it keeps you from doing the things you actually want to be doing.

6 . Search “toxic parents”, and you’ll find more than 38, 000 posts, largely urging young adults to cut ties with their families. The idea is to safeguard one’s mental health from abusive parents. However, as a psychoanalyst, I’ve seen that trend in recent years become a way to manage conflicts in the family, and I have seen the severe impacts estrangement (疏远) has on both sides of the divide. This is a self-help trend that creates much harm.

Research by Karl Pillemer, a professor at Cornell University, indicates that 1 in 4 American adults have become estranged from their families. I believe that’s an undercount, because others have stopped short of completely cutting off contact but have effectively broken the ties.

“Canceling” your parent can be seen as an extension of a cultural trend aimed at correcting imbalances in power and systemic inequality. Certainly the family is one system in which power has never been balanced. In 1933, the psychoanalyst Sándor Ferenczi warned that even the simple indication that someone has more power than we do could potentially be damaging.

Today’s social justice values respond to this reality, calling on us to criticize oppressive and harmful figures and to gain power for those who have been powerless. But when adult children use the most effective tool they have-themselves-to gain a sense of security and ban their parents from their lives, the roles are simply switched, and the pain only deepens.

Often, what I see in my practice are cases of family conflict mismanaged, power dynamics turned upside down rather than negotiated. I see the terrible effect of that trend; situations with no winners, only isolated (孤独的) humans who long to be known and feel safe in the presence of the other.

The catch is that after estrangement, adult children are not suddenly less dependent. In fact, they feel abandoned and betrayed, because in the unconscious, it doesn’t matter who is doing the leaving; the feeling that remains is “being left”. They carry the ghosts of their childhood, tackling the emotional reality that those who raised us can never truly be left behind, no matter how hard we try.

What I have found is that most of these families need repair, not permanent break-up. How else can one learn how to negotiate needs, to create boundaries and to trust? How else can we love others, and ourselves, if not through accepting the limitations that come with being human? Good relationships are the result not of a perfect level of harmony but rather of successful adjustments.

To pursue dialogue instead of estrangement will be hard and painful work. It can’t be a single project of “self-help”, because at the end of the day, real intimacy (亲密关系) is achieved by working through the injuries of the past together. In most cases of family conflict, repair is possible and preferable to estrangement—and it’s worth the work.

1. Why do young people cut ties with the family?

A．To gain an independent life.

B．To restore harmony in the family.

C．To protect their psychological well-being.

D．To follow a tendency towards social justice.

2. What does the underlined word “catch” in Paragraph 6 mean?

A．Response.

B．Problem.

C．Operation.

D．Emphasis.

3. To manage family conflict, the author agrees that young adults should                .

A．break down boundaries	B．gain power within the family
C．live up to their parents’ expectations	D．accept imperfection of family members

4. What’s the author’s purpose of writing the passage?

A．To advocate a self-help trend.	B．To justify a common social value.
C．To argue against a current practice.	D．To discuss a means of communication.

7 . We’ve all felt the tap to the soul you get from driving by your old high school or hearing a tune you once danced to. But why is that feeling so universal?

Nostalgia, a combination of the Greek words nostos (homecoming) and algos (pain), was a special type of homesickness associated with soldiers fighting far-off wars. Seventeenth century physicians worried such thoughts put health at risk. In the 19th century, doctors believed it could cause irregular heartbeat, fever, and death.

Our understanding of nostalgia has developed since then. “It’s a very mixed emotion,” says Frederick Barrett, a neuroscientist. That makes it hard to fit into existing theory, which typically categorizes emotions as either positive or negative. And triggers — the cars, music or smells — are extremely personal. Therefore, designing a standardized study is difficult.

But we do know nostalgia has a marked effect on us: brain imaging studies show that those experiences have their own neural signature. Neuroscientists argued that the emotion is co-produced by the brain’s recall and reward systems. They found that nostalgic images use the memory-managing hippocampus (海马区) more than other sights, as people mine autobiographical (个人经历的) details deep in the past. This mental effort pays off:as the hippocampus activates, so does one of the brain’s reward centers.

That longing for the past might be a protective mechanism, says Tim Wildschut, a professor. His work also suggests a more primitive purpose for the feeling: it developed to remind our ancient ancestors of pleasant physical feelings during periods of discomfort and pain.

Recent research suggests the occasional look backwards can give us a boost in unnoticeable ways: by increasing self-respect and protecting against depression. Nostalgia’s apparent power to jump-start one’s memory also seems to improve recall ability in people with Alzheimer’s disease.

New flavors of “reminiscence therapy” (回忆疗法) are emerging around the world. In 2018, the George G. Glenner Alzheimer’s Family Centers opened its first Town Square, an adult daycare facility designed to look like a small town in 1950s America. Though Town Square has yet to publish peer-reviewed data on the success of the program, clients say it has helped seniors access dusty memories and reconnect with loved ones.

Scientists need a lot more information to adequately characterize this complex and bittersweet feeling. But while centuries of doctors considered nostalgia a deadly disease, we now know: it can help us make it through today.

1. What can we learn about nostalgia?

A．It was first discovered in Greece.	B．It’s more common among soldiers.
C．It’s set off by personal experiences.	D．It was a well-defined scientific idea.

2. What is Paragraph 4 mainly about?

A．How nostalgia works.	B．Why nostalgia matters.
C．What nostalgia means.	D．When nostalgia emerges.

3. How might nostalgia benefit people?

A．It makes people’s mind sharp.	B．It gives seniors a sense of security.
C．It helps us face unpleasant situations.	D．It improves people’s instant memory.

4. Why does the author mention Town Square?

A．To reveal a phenomenon of emotion.

B．To interpret the concept of a therapy.

C．To explore the advantage of a treatment.

D．To demonstrate the use of a research finding.

8 . American Jake Pinnick comes from a small town called Kewanee.

Pinnick said when he told friends and family he wanted to go to the Wudang Kungfu Academy in China, the response was typical. "It's not a usual thing to say, but it is pretty normal for kids to want to get out of a place like Kewanee. Most kids say something like they want to move to Hollywood and become an actor, " said the 30-year-old. “When I first thought about it, it was daydreaming for myself, too.”

Once he found himself at the academy, Pinnick said fitting in was softened by other foreigners who were in the area and a part of the school. Getting used to the way of life was surprisingly easy given the peaceful nature to it. Pinnick said after a while, he found himself more at home in Wudang than he ever felt back home in Kewanee. Locals were more than welcoming and willing to engage.

“The culture shock wasn't that bad. Surprisingly, I find I have more of that going back to America now... learning the language did take some time, but everyone around the school was familiar with foreigners, so we had a lot of fun speaking broken English and Chinese back and forth at the start.”

After he settled into a routine, Pinnick set about engaging himself in Chinese culture, including Kungfu training. He was also attracted by the philosophical tradition most well-known for the idea of living in harmony with the universe.

Pinnick said he had to go home after the first six months and immediately wanted to return to China, feeling as if it had now become his home more than America, and he had begun a process of rewriting himself as a person overseas.

His life now goes around training, teaching and studying. He graduated from the academy in 2014 and still helps teach there.

Pinnick said the goal is to one day return to America and teach what he has learned. Looking back on his amazing journey, Pinnick said he has grown by leaps and bounds from a small-town American kid who had a daydream he could not shake.

1. What did Pinnick's family think of his idea of learning Kungfu?

A．Unrealistic.	B．Creative.
C．Challenging.	D．Disappointing.

2. What mainly helped Pinnick get used to the life in China?

A．His fluent Chinese.	B．The friendly local culture.
C．His peaceful nature.	D．Other foreign teachers there.

3. What did Pinnick gain from his experience in China?

A．A career choice.	B．A large fortune.
C．A Kungfu certificate.	D．A good reputation.

9 . A poetry competition has been launched for pupils. It invites young people to reflect on the “many ways we are connected to the universe”. The competition is aimed at pupils aged 4 to 18 and is part of a national celebration of creativity taking place across the UK throughout 2023.

The winning entries will be featured in a multimedia live projection show, which will visit multiple locations around the UK from March to May 2023. This outdoor show will include submissions from the competition and run for a week in each location. Winners will also receive a range of other prizes, including books and chocolate, plus continued development and coaching opportunities from the Poetry Society.

The rules are as follows:

·The competition is free to enter. Entries will be accepted from anywhere in the UK. Entries from outside the UK are not accepted. If you are aged 4 — 12, your parent will need to give permission for you to enter.

·Your entry must be the original work of the creator. Your work is accepted on the basis that this will be its first appearance anywhere in the world.

·Poems must be written in English or Welsh, but you can include phrases in your mother tongue or another language. Poems must not be longer than 20 lines. You are free to write in any style or form.

·You may enter either online via the website or by post to the Poetry Society, 22 Betterton Street, London. All online entries must be received by 23:59 GMT on 19 December 2022. All poems entered by post must be post-dated on or before 19 December 2022.

If you would like to enter online, please continue through the online system on this website. Email AboutUs@poetrysociety. org if you are having problems with your submission.

1. What is the theme of the competition?

A．National celebration.	B．Reflection on creativity.
C．Young people’s talents.	D．Connectivity to the universe.

2. What will be awarded to the winners?

A．A free tour around the UK.	B．Membership of the Poetry Society.
C．Books, chocolate and prize money.	D．A chance to present their works in a show.

3. According to the rules, participants       .

A．can submit entries by email	B．must write within the line limit
C．may enter their published poems	D．should ask parents for permission

10 . 阅读下列短文，根据短文内容填空。在未给提示词的空白处仅填写1个适当的单词，在给出提示词的空自处用括号内所给词的正确形式填空。

Cyclo-cross is a tough but fun sport     1     riders race laps around an off-road circuit such as a park or field. They ride up and down hills, through twists and turns and sometimes over low barriers or steps. At times, they may decide to get off their bike and run through the mud while pushing their bike or carrying it     2     their shoulder. Races usually take place in autumn and winter when the ground conditions and weather make it even     3    (tough).