1 . Steph Clemence always intended to go to college. She had good grades and considered herself college bound. But life has a tendency to throw obstacles in the way. When her father died tragically in a car accident, leaving her mother to support three daughters on a modest income, paying for college became out of the question.

Around that time, Steph tried to figure out what to do with a life that had differed so much from the plan she’d carefully laid out. The answer came one afternoon when she was cleaning her bedroom closet and found a list from the English teacher she’d had in her junior year, Dorothy Clark. One afternoon, Mrs. Clark walked into the classroom carrying a stack of papers. She instructed each students to take one. The handout was titled Mrs. Clark’s Book List. “It wasn’t homework,” the teacher announced, “but it could be a road map. Some of you might not go on to higher education, but you can continue to learn.” It would, she believed, form the equivalent of two years at a liberal arts college.

“She knew the income levels of the kids in my high school,” says Steph. “Working-class and logging families. She knew most of us would not go to college. She was right. But she knew we could continue to learn after high school. She was also right about that.” Steph studied the list. Each of those books sparked her passion to learn more about the person, subject matter, or time in history. That made her look for other books that weren’t on the list, hoping to deepen her knowledge. Over the years, the reading list was a constant in her life, traveling with her even on vacations.

Now Steph is 70 and she never did get to college. But she has only four books left to read from the list. She expects to complete them sometime in 2023. “Each of the books has added something to who I am and how I see the world.” she says, “I now have gained an insight to see why things happened and what it might mean.”

1. What prevented Steph going to college?

A．Her bad grades.

B．The lack of financial support.

C．Her low income.

D．Her tragic accident.

2. Why did Mr. Clark create the book list?

A．To prepare students for college.

B．To serve as a reading task for students.

C．To share her favorite books with students.

D．To encourage students to continue learning.

3. How does Steph feel about the book list now?

A．Regretful.

B．Moved.

C．Fulfilled.

D．Determined.

4. What is the text mainly about?

A．A good reading habit.

B．An influential reading list.

C．An impressive English teacher.

D．A memorable experience in high school.

2 . It is that time of the year, when a handful of world’s leading scholars, social activists and researchers are rewarded with what is often cited as the most prestigious acknowledgement of human effort-the Nobel Prize. Here’s a look at who has won the prize and for what.

Physiology or Medicine

Swedish geneticist Svante Peabo won the first Nobel of the year, for starting the field of ancient DNA studies. He is well-known for extracting, sequencing, and analyzing ancient DNA from Neanderthal bones.

Physics

Alain Aspect, John F. Clauser and Anton Zeilinger’s work in quantum (量子) technology landed them the second Nobel Prize announced in 2022. Although Aspect is from France, Clauser from the U.S, and Zeilinger from Austria, the three separately performed “groundbreaking experiments” as one team. “Their results have cleared the way for new technology,” the committee stated.

Chemistry

The Nobel Prize for chemistry went to another trio, Carolyn R. Bertozzi from the U.S., Morten Meldal from Denmark and K. Barry Sharpless from the U.S. “for the development of click chemistry and biorthogonal chemistry,” the committee stated. Dr. Bertozzi is the eighth woman chemist to be awarded the prize, while Dr. Sharpless is the fifth scientist to be awarded two Nobel Prizes.

Economics

The Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded to three American economists, Ben S. Bernanke, Douglas W. Diamond and Philip H. Dybvig “for research on banks and financial crises,” the Nobel Prize committee announced on Monday. By studying the history of American economics, particularly the Great Depression of the 1930s,they improved how we understand the role of banks during times of hardship and the bank’s impact on societal functions.

1. What prize is related to the research with bones?

A．Physiology.

B．Chemistry.

C．Physics.

D．Economics.

2. For what study did Ben S. Bernanke, Douglas W. Diamond and Philip H. Dybvig win the prize?

A．About societal functions.	B．About the history of America.
C．About banks and financial crises.	D．About the Great Depression of the 1930s.

3. What do the prizes for physics, chemistry and economics have in common?

A．Their winners are from different countries.	B．They have three winners.
C．They improve new technology.	D．They help people understand hardship.

3 . There was a boy named Drake. He was just 12 years old. His parents had no money to educate him. They had no choice other than to tell their children to leave school and start helping them with their shop’s work.

Drakeassimilatedthis and started waking up before sunrise and going to their shop and cleaning it. He was really a hardworking guy. He always wanted something big to happen in his life, but he knew that a change does not happen in a day. So he started caching himself and completed all senior high school courses at the age of 18. When he turned 20, he got a job offer from an electrical company.

He started working in that company, and every day after coming from his job, he would learn more and more about bulbs (灯泡) because he saw a lot of bulb production there. After some years he made a new improved bulb of his own. He was really excited to show it to his boss, but when the boss saw it, he wasn’t interested in it and said it was of little use. But still, he believed in himself and didn’t give up.

After a few months, he thought of setting up his own factory where he and his wife would put the improved bulb into production. When they made the bulbs, they started selling them. No one was interested in those bulbs, but still, he kept believing in himself.

One day when the sun was rising, he got an order of l,000 pieces of the bulbs. This totally changed his life. After that, he started getting more and more orders.

1. Why did Drake’s parents ask him to work in their shop when he was 12?

A．They wanted him to catch himself.

B．They expected him to be successful.

C．They wished him to be hardworking.

D．They were unable to pay for his schooling.

2. What does the underlined word “assimilated” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?

A．Remembered.

B．Understood.

C．Expressed.

D．Hated.

3. What did Drake’s boss think of his new improved bulb?

A．Surprising.

B．Attractive.

C．Popular.

D．Valueless.

4. What can we learn from the story?

A．All things are difficult before they are easy.

B．Confidence is the first secret of success.

C．Learn to say before you sing.

D．Practice makes perfect.

4 . There is an old American saying, “Loose lips sink ships.” This means that if you speak too much about something, especially to people who you don’t know so well, it’ll cause all kinds of trouble.

The situation here is so much worse because the “loose lips” were your best friend’s. Treated this way, you’re sure to feel hurt.     1    

But I have to say that it’s partly your fault, isn’t it? You admit that you were “letting off steam”. It is understandable in that situation, but we should always think before we speak.

    2    

First, apologise to your teammate. If you ever want to win any more basketball games, you need to work together, and that means communicating with each other clearly and resolving conflicts.     3     Tell him directly and honestly that you were talking without thinking.

Then, talk to your friend. Friendship should be one of the greatest things in the world, but sometimes it can be difficult. Again, your strategy is clear communication. Tell your friend you’re angry with him for repeating what you said and making the situation worse, but that you want to move on.     4    

Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, think about your own behaviour. Don’t say too much when you’re angry!     5     This gives people the wrong signal. Take a deep breath, calm down, and always remember: think first, speak later. If you feel one of your teammates isn’t pulling their weight, then raise your concerns in a professional way with your team coach.

If you think about other people’s feelings as well as your own, you’ll soon find everything works out.

A．Here’s what you need to do.

B．So have a chat with your teammate.

C．Approached in this way, your friendship will soon be repaired.

D．Always remember that a friend in need is a friend indeed.

E．We depend on our parents at home, while we depend on friends when we are outside.

F．Filled with anger, you tend to say whatever comes to your mind.

G．We should always be able to trust those closest to us, and it hurts even more when we find we can’t.

5 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。

Sunlight flooded through the window when Tomas was sitting at the kitchen table, struggling with a literary classic. Streamers of clouds drifted by high above in the sky. Not far away, the huge new tower blocks lined the road. The faint sound of cars was dimly heard.

His mother was chopping tomatoes for their dinner as usual. Suddenly she said, ”You know, the thing I miss most is cooking a really hot salsa (辣番茄酱), with fresh peppers straight from the garden.” She sighed. “That’s what I miss most about Merida.”

Tomas looked up from his book in surprise. His mother had never talked like this about their old life before. He studied her now. She looked a little sad, but then she smiled at him and swept the pile of chopped tomatoes into the cooking pot.

“But I’ve already learned a lot about this new country, Tomas,“ she said. ”For a start, I’ve learned that there’s more than one way to make a salsa!" She waved a packet of chili spice powder at him, and they both laughed.

Watching his mother busy in the kitchen preparing dinner, Tomas thought about the insight his mother had given him into her feelings, and he realized that he felt the same way about leaving.

Sure, it had been great for his father to get this good job, but it had also been hard. Tomas missed his old home-especially the sun and the beach. And his mother missed Merida, too. She had loved working in her market garden, selling the fresh vegetables that she had grown herself and then coming home to cook up huge, tasty meals for her family. Tomas’s stomach rumbled at the memories.

He thought about how different things were for them now, living in this large, gray apartment block where there was no garden and no friends dropping by to share their delicious meals.

He sighed. At least they were still able to speak regularly every night after dinner with his grandmother back in Mexico over the computer-Grandmother! Abuela!

注意：
1.续写词数应为150左右：
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。

Suddenly Tomas had an idea.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

A week later, a box arrived from Mexico.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Located at a 30-minute drive from Wuzhen, Maming village is the polar opposite of the famed     1     (tour) destinations. There are hardly any crowds here. The old houses are not as well maintained. Time seems to stand still in the village, making it a perfect day-trip destination for travelers who want     2     authentic experience of rural life.

    3     most people are sill asleep at 3 a.m., Tu Yuanqing and his father are already up on their feet, arranging cups, boiling water and preparing tea     4     (leaf) for their teahouse. Around 4 a.m., the space is a hive of activity as elderly residents, most of them     5     (age) sixty and above, sip cups of tea while     6     (chat) cheerfully with one another. Some villagers can also     7     (find) playing mahjong in a small room lit by a solitary light bulb.

Here, tea is a way of life. The street that the Tu teahouse is on may only be fifty meters long, but there are three other similar establishments. Not that anyone really cares about the     8     (compete). Tu says he helps run the teahouse, which was handed     9     to him by his grandfather,     10     (simple) because it is an integral part of their village culture.

7 . Growing up within the Himalayan abode of snow (喜马拉雅雪屋), Akeisha was dynamic and _________. It was that point of the year when the sky was blue and the sun smiled upon the village. Watching people coming in flocks from near and far made Akeisha _________. Her father explained that they all flooded in to _________ the mountains. “Someday, I will also be able to climb to the highest of these majestic mountains.” Akeisha declared, a burning _________ dancing in her eyes.

But Life had other plans for her. Akeisha _________ one leg at 13. Clouds of _________ overshadowed her world. “I will _________ be ready to climb those mountains,” cried Akeisha. Seeing his little girl in _________ the father too was sorrowful, but he did not _________ and built her a wooden leg. Akeisha was beside herself with ____________ a glimmer of hope regained.

“Never say ‘never’. Start climbing the mountains,” said the ____________ father. Wearing the wooden leg, she walked but fell. She stood up and tried to run, but fell again. But nothing ____________ the father and the daughter even though the entire village laughed at them. Determined to ____________ all adversities, Akeisha kept practicing and ____________ she could run on her own. Five years later, she made it to the highest of the mountains.

Never let words of ____________ drag you down. Never allow anything to steal your dream.

1.

A．creative

B．energetic

C．considerate

D．cautious

2.

A．curious

B．concerned

C．upset

D．annoyed

3.

A．observe

B．conquer

C．preserve

D．photograph

4.

A．fire

B．shame

C．dream

D．question

5.

A．cut

B．lost

C．broke

D．twisted

6.

A．doubt

B．silence

C．despair

D．loneliness

7.

A．never

B．always

C．finally

D．somehow

8.

A．grief

B．danger

C．trouble

D．confusion

9.

A．take risks

B．take measures

C．lose temper

D．lose heart

10.

A．awe

B．fear

C．delight

D．anxiety

11.

A．stubborn

B．sorrowful

C．dedicated

D．determined

12.

A．puzzled

B．impressed

C．frustrated

D．accompanied

13.

A．live with

B．win against

C．let go of

D．make use of

14.

A．gradually

B．constantly

C．frequently

D．temporarily

15.

A．comfort

B．criticism

C．complaint

D．discouragement

8 . You’ll make new friends in each stage of your life. Some of them will come and go, while others will last for the rest of your life.     1    

There are many benefits of having strong friendships. According to experts, many people regret not keeping friendships going and end up living a life with no close friends or even enduring mental and physical sufferings.     2     People who have healthy friendships tend to enjoy life more and may even live longer.

    3     There are a lot of ways to make new friends that can stay with you for the rest of your life. Look for people who share things with you. If you have kids, join a mom’s group, or sign your child up for classes where you’ll naturally meet other parents.     4     You share your career and will have a lot to talk about while also having built-in opportunities to spend time with each other.

Sometimes it’s a good idea to let a friendship go, even if you’ve been friends for a long time. If one party isn’t making an effort to keep things going, it can lead to feelings of hurt and betrayal, and it might be time to let things cool off and pursue other friendships.     5     Besides, it can encourage you to focus on the partnerships that are healthy and where both of you are committed to keeping it going for your entire life.

A．Lifelong friendships are what most people desire.

B．You don’t have to be mean or harsh to get this done.

C．If you are lacking in good friendships, it’s not too late.

D．You can also make friends with people you work with.

E．So making time for your friendships is vital to a healthy life.

F．Sign up for a dancing class to meet those with the same passion.

G．While this can be sad, it can actually improve your quality of life.

9 . When Thomas Edison hit a wall with his inventions, he would nap in an armchair while holding a steel ball. As he started to fall asleep and his muscles relaxed, the ball would strike the floor, waking him with insights into his problems. Or so the story goes.

Thomas Edison was somewhat right. Now, more than 100 years later, scientists have repeated the trick in a lab, revealing that the famous inventor was on to something. People following his recipe tripled their chances of solving a math problem. The trick was to wake up in the transition between sleep and wakefulness, just before deep sleep. In this transitional period, we are not quite awake, but also not deeply asleep. It can be as short as a minute and occurs right when we start to doze off.

Researchers recruited more than 100 easy sleepers, each of whom was given a math test with a hidden rule for the answer. By recording brain activity, they found that those who napped and were interrupted during the first phase of sleep were three times better at finding the hidden key to the problem than those who remained awake.

The creative effect happened even for people who spent just 15 seconds in the first sleep stage. But the trick didn’t work for those who reached later stages of sleep. “Our findings suggest there is a creative sweet spot during sleep onset,” says author Delphine Oudiette, a sleep researcher at the Paris Brain Institute. “It is a small window which can disappear if you wake up too early or sleep too deep.”

The study team also identified a brain activity pattern linked to the creativity-boosting phase: moderate levels of brain waves at a slow frequency known as alpha, associated with relaxation, and low levels of delta waves, a hallmark of deep sleep. Oudiette says researchers can now focus on this brain signature when investigating the neural mechanisms (神经机制) of creative problem-solving. The team has already planned an experiment to help people reach a creative zone by monitoring their brain waves in real time.“ Edison was great”, Oudiette says, “and now we have a lot more to explore.”

1. What does the underlined phrase “was on to something” in paragraph 2 probably mean?

A．Discovered the truth.	B．Was absorbed in math puzzles.
C．Started the experiment.	D．Was engaged in laboratory work.

2. According to the research, the trick of promoting creativity lies in ________.

A．gaining adequate deep sleep	B．discovering the hidden rules of problems
C．following Edison’s life style	D．waking up right after nodding off to sleep

3. Why did the researchers record brain activity of the sleepers?

A．To evaluate their sleep efficiency.	B．To measure their amount of sleep.
C．To assess their levels of intelligence.	D．To compare their creative thinking abilities.

4. What is paragraph 5 mainly about?

A．Supporting evidence for the research results.

B．Potential application of the research findings

C．A further explanation of the research methods.

D．A reasonable doubt about the research process.

10 . Two women in their 50s stand beholding in front of Guanyin of the South China Sea, an ancient Chinese sculpture in the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri. Over the past 20 years, they have been visiting the museum, describing the “mother Buddha” as “beautiful and tranquil, a symbol of religious traditions in China”. Measuring 2.4 meters high, 1.68 meters wide and 1.1 meters thick, the larger-than-life sculpture was carved from the trunk of a single poplar tree, which has created a sense of calm and warmth in the hall.

Since its launch in 1933, the museum has been actively collecting, preserving, studying and exhibiting works of Chinese art, ranging from ceramics to furniture, and from paintings to sculptures. And its Chinese art collection contains masterpieces in various historical stages.

An exhibition on the theme of Lively Creatures—Animals in Chinese Art was held at the museum, displaying tens of Chinese ancient paintings with images of animals in many art forms. The creatures on the paintings represented celebration, personal messages, and even political and religious agendas.

Organizers of the exhibition produced a set of cards, with images of animals on one side and their cultural meanings in Chinese artistic tradition on the other. The cards are provided for visitors for free.

“I find it very interesting, and the way that the things are drawn is very cool,” says 17-year-old high school student Camden Lombard after visiting the exhibition. “I want to go to China someday to find more,” he adds.

“It’s kind of eye-opening and we’re bringing the world together,” says Makar, an educator with the school outreach and education programs of the museum. “There are so many similarities as well as beautiful differences, and we are just trying to understand and appreciate one another.”

“We’re in a moment when it’s sometimes hard to look outside of your own personal viewpoints,” says Howard, manager of volunteer engagement at the museum. “I think having access to seeing what other cultures have created, what they valued and appreciated, and what was important to them, is really important in building that understanding about all the people we share this planet with.”

1. The two women kept visiting the Nelson-Atkins Museum for ________.

A．the grand appearance of the exhibition hall

B．their affection for Chinese religious traditions

C．the great size of the ancient Chinese sculpture

D．their curiosity about the delicate artistic carving

2. What can we learn about the exhibition Lively Creatures?

A．The organizers gained a handsome profit.

B．The cards reflected multinational cultures.

C．The visitors had rich travel experiences in China.

D．The paintings displayed the charm of Chinese culture.

3. How does Makar describe the visit to the museum?

A．Instructive and romantic.	B．Imaginary and fascinating.
C．Informative and multicultural.	D．Educational and entertaining.

4. What’s the purpose of setting up the museum according to Howard?

A．To bridge different cultures.	B．To popularize religious symbols.
C．To exchange personal viewpoints.	D．To demonstrate Chinese paintings.