1 . The bell rang to signal the beginning of lunch. Juanita rushed out of the classroom and headed
Juanita couldn’t believe her luck. No one
It didn’t take long for Juanita to solve her next dilemma. When she rounded the comer, she was
“I can explain,” Juanita’s voice sounded worried even to her own ears. “You don’t need to,” her teacher
Juanita knew she would never forget today. No matter what happened from this point forward, she would always remember how kind everyone had
| A．straight | B．back | C．off | D．up |
| A．carefully | B．poorly | C．directly | D．immediately |
| A．figured | B．protested | C．proved | D．noticed |
| A．rush | B．need | C．attempt | D．hope |
| A．give | B．step | C．hide | D．find |
| A．grateful | B．shocked | C．excited | D．amazed |
| A．called in | B．took in | C．broke in | D．dropped in |
| A．opportunities | B．challenges | C．pressures | D．beliefs |
| A．cheer | B．greet | C．forgive | D．disappear |
| A．benefitted | B．inspired | C．pressed | D．treated |
2 . Surf Camp Overview
Take advantage of this opportunity to surf the best waves of the Christchurch surf region while you receive in-depth surf coaching.
The Kaikoura coast will be our target destination. Everything is designed for the average surfer who may have started later than they would have liked. It’s about fun and new surfing experiences. You will improve your surfing by theory sessions, land-based simulations (模拟) video coaching and tips on mindset.
Day 1: We will meet as a group in Christchurch around 10 am, load up the van (小型货车) with our surfboards and equipment and head for Kaikoura. We will get to know each other, I’ll figure out where your surfing is at and we’ll hopefully fit two sessions in once at our destination.
Day 2-4: Three full days of continuous surfing and coaching. In between sessions we’ll check videos and go through theory lessons while calming down. We can also check out local attractions and good food spots etc.
Day 5: We’ll fit in a couple of surf sessions before heading back to Christchurch Airport around 2 pm.
By attending the Christchurch surf camp you will come away with the skills and confidence to move gradually in the direction of your surfing goals. I hope you’ll feel a sense of possibility that you can learn some new skills. You’ll also get:
● video footage (片段) from all your surf sessions
● downloads of all the material from the theory sessions
● a relaxing positive time with like-minded people
1. Who are the camp targeted at?| A．Professional athletes. | B．Unskilled surfers. |
| C．Surf lifeguards. | D．Surf coaches. |
| A．Select proper surfboards. | B．Visit local attractions. |
| C．Receive skill check. | D．Watch video lessons. |
| A．Resources and skills. | B．Medals and certificates. |
| C．Tickets and additional training. | D．Individual tutoring and online classes. |
3 . When I was in middle school, my social studies teacher approached me about entering a writing contest. At first, I declined without thinking because English was only my second language. Writing was so difficult and painful for me that my teacher allowed me to present my paper on the sinking of the Titanic by acting out a play, where I played all the parts. No one laughed harder than he did. So, why did he suddenly force me to do something at which I was sure to fail? His reply, “Because I love your stories. If you’re willing to apply yourself I think you have a good shot at this.”
Encouraged by his words, I agreed to give it a try. After much thinking, I settled on an unconventional topic: Paul Revere’s horse. I decided to narrate (叙述) the events of that historic night from the horse’s perspective. It was an unusual choice, but I hoped it would set my writing apart from the others.
As I began to write, I found myself empathizing (同情) with the horse’s journey. What did the horse think, as sped through the night? Did he get tired? Have doubts? Did he want to quit? Like the horse, I too encountered challenges along the way. There were moments of exhaustion, self-doubt, and a strong desire to give up. But I persisted, fueled by the encouragement of my teacher and my own determination.
I poured myself into the essay, carefully checking spelling and grammar and absorbed in research at the library. With each revision, I improved my storytelling skills and grew more passionate about the process.
When I handed in the final draft to my teacher, he laughed at the humor and creativity in my writing but challenged me to refine it even further. And so, I revised and rewrote tirelessly until I felt a sense of satisfaction with the finished product.
In the end, the thought of winning the contest took a backseat to the joy I found in the writing itself. Whether or not I emerged victorious was no longer my primary concern. I had discovered a passion and a sense of achievement that went beyond any awards.
1. What topic did the author choose for the writing contest?| A．The sinking of the Titanic. | B．Paul Revere’s horse. |
| C．The history of social studies. | D．The American Revolution. |
| A．Excited and confident. | B．Curious and interested. |
| C．Unwilling and doubtful. | D．Enthusiastic and determined. |
| A．The author considered quitting but held on. |
| B．The author had no passion for the writing process. |
| C．The author faced physical challenges while writing. |
| D．The author experienced constant success and satisfaction. |
| A．The award of the writing contest. |
| B．A newfound passion for history. |
| C．A sense of humor in writing. |
| D．A sense of achievement and love for writing. |
4 . It is widely known that children’s interest in nature is crucial for their mental health and biodiversity (生物多样性) protection efforts. But how can parents and teachers develop children’s interest in nature in the first place? The answer may lie in a garden.
Chinese researchers have recently reported that a school garden with abundant natural components (元素) can be used to cultivate the interest of primary school children in nature while helping to relieve their study-related stress.
In a study published in the journal People and Nature, a research team from Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden of the Chinese Academy of Sciences analyzed the impact of natural observation and inquiry-based learning activities in a school garden on the development of children’s interest in nature.
The researchers conducted a series of teaching interventions (干预) over a semester in a campus garden of a primary school in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan province. The program involved 24 fourth graders taking part in three 40-minute activities that were held weekly: natural observation with assigned tasks, natural observation with open-ended tasks and inquiry-based activities.
Participants kept individual portfolios (档案) consisting of questionnaires, nature journals, observation notes and interviews. Qualitative and quantitative data were analyzed to divide children into three categories: those who developed an interest, those who developed an improved interest, and those not affected by the activities.
After four months in the program, the results showed that more than two-thirds of the 24 students were classified as either “interest started” or “interest enhanced,” showing a generally favorable outcome, according to the study. The results revealed that the school garden, with its unique and safe environment, played a significant role in stimulating children’s curiosity about the creatures in the garden. It also empowered children to learn and explore independently.
Given the current trend of children spending more time in front of screens and less in front of nature, school gardens offer potential solutions, the study said. “Implementing a diverse school garden with informative labels and explanation boards, along with teacher support, represents a potential approach to cultivating children’s interest in nature, particularly during the critical developmental stage of 9 to 11 years of age,” said Chen Jin, a researcher at the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden. “We recommend adopting mini botanical (植物的) gardens and club activities in schools to bridge formal and informal education,” Chen added.
1. What is the main focus of the study?| A．The benefits of traditional classroom settings. |
| B．The impact of screen time on children’s development. |
| C．The effects of inquiry-based learning on primary school children. |
| D．The role of school gardens in developing children’s interest in nature. |
| A．By limiting children’s access to screens. |
| B．By focusing on formal classroom activities. |
| C．By creating a unique and safe environment. |
| D．By offering inquiry-based learning activities. |
| A．Adopting diverse school gardens with teacher’s support. |
| B．Encouraging more screen time for educational purposes. |
| C．Focusing on informal activities without teacher’s support. |
| D．Increasing the time children spend independently exploring nature. |
5 . In today’s world, it can be challenging to stay motivated and positive. However, one powerful tool that we can use to overcome these challenges is encouragement. Encouragement can make a significant difference in someone’s life.
One of the most significant benefits of encouragement is that it builds strong relationships. Encouragement creates a positive environment where people feel valued and appreciated. When we encourage others, we are showing them that we believe in them and that we care about their well-being.
Another benefit of encouragement is that it creates a chain reaction.
In conclusion, the power of encouragement cannot be overstated. It has the potential to transform lives, build strong relationships, and create a ripple effect of positivity. By being intentional about our words and actions, we can use encouragement to build others up and create a better world.
| A．Encouragement can change our moods. |
| B．So how can we use encouragement to build others up? |
| C．Why should we make every effort to encourage others? |
| D．This strengthens the bond between people and promotes trust and loyalty. |
| E．When we encourage others, they, in turn, are more likely to encourage others |
| F．Let us use the power of encouragement and start building each other up today. |
| G．When we encourage others, we give them the motivation and confidence they need to succeed. |
7 . As warm blood spattered all over us, I screamed… actually it was water, but that didn’t stop me being so scared that my heart was nearly beating out of my chest. My friend had persuaded me onto the Hotel Psycho ride at the Prater Amusement Park, I’m unwilling to experience any fear, but I decided to do it anyway. I came off the ride shaking but excited.
Apparently Eleanor Roosevelt didn’t actually say “do one thing that scares you every day”, as is often thought, but nevertheless it’s a great rule to follow. You don’t need to go on a fairground ride or jump out of a plane, but it is a good idea to push yourself out of your comfort zone regularly.
The human brain, particularly the amygdale (杏仁核), is designed to keep you safe. This sounds like a good thing, and obviously, sometimes it is. However, the fact that the amygdala is always on the lookout for danger means that it will prioritize protecting you over almost anything else: learning something new, experiencing something amazing, getting a great opportunity and meeting other people. The amygdala would really just like you to stay put in a nice safe dark cave.
The more you listen to its urgings to avoid all risks, the narrower and darker your life will become. There is plenty of evidence that the most effective way to deal with our fears and anxieties is exposing ourselves to what we fear. You can start off with small steps, but the more you confront (面对) your fears, the smaller they become: whereas the more you allow your fears to prevent you from doing things, the bigger those fears seem to be.
For this reason, it is important to stretch yourself and keep all those possibilities open. You need to take risks and do things that petrify you, so that you know just what you’re capable of. Sometimes those risks won’t work out, but that’s fine, as long as you can learn from the experience, and get ready for the next adventure.
1. How does the author introduce the topic of the text?| A．By giving a definition. | B．By telling a horrible story. |
| C．By quoting from a classic book. | D．By describing his own experience. |
| A．It stops people from trying things out. |
| B．It functions well in a dark environment. |
| C．It introduces some risk-taking activities. |
| D．It highlights people’s demand for learning. |
| A．They could be hard to overcome. |
| B．They should be addressed effectively. |
| C．They would be necessary for survival. |
| D．They might be regular visitors to our life. |
| A．Inspire. | B．Scare. | C．Comfort. | D．Anger. |
9 . Vast numbers of copyrighted books appear to have been memorized by ChatGPT and its successor GPT-4, posing questions about the legality of how these large language models (LLMs) are created.
Both artificial intelligences were developed by private firm OpenAI and trained on huge amounts of data, but which texts make up this training data is unknown. To find out more, David Bamman at the University of California, Berkeley, and his colleagues looked at whether the AIs were able to fill in missing details from a selection of almost 600 fiction books, drawn from sources such as nominees (被提名者) for the Pulitzer prize, and The New York Times’s bestsellers lists over the same time period.
The team picked 100 passages from each book that contained a single, named character. The researchers then blanked out the name and asked the AI to fill it in. This task was designed to expose if the AIs could return the exact right answer. “It really requires knowledge of the underlying material in order to be able to get the name right,” says Bamman.
Both AIs completed the task with high accuracy — as much as 98 percent for passages from Lewis Carroll’s 1865 book Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland — which is out of copyright — and 76 percent for J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, which is not. The researchers say this suggests the AIs were trained on significant proportions of both books.
These AIs don’t produce an exact duplicate of a text in the same way as a photocopier, which is a clearer example of copyright infringement. “ChatGPT can recite parts of a book because it has seen it thousands of times,” says Andres Guadamuz at the University of Sussex, UK. “The model consists of statistical frequency of words. It’s not reproduction in the copyright sense.”
“The use of copyright works without permission in training data sets for large language or image models has already emerged as one of the most pressing legal challenges to this novel industry,” says Lilian Edwards at Newcastle University, UK.
Bamman says that, ultimately, the legal system in each country will have to determine whether LLMs are infringing (侵犯) copyrights. “I think that’s an open question that a lot of court cases are going to decide for us in the coming months,” he says.
Regulation is also likely to play a key role: the European Union’s Artificial Intelligence Act, which has been two years in the making, will include a requirement that companies making generative AI tools need to disclose any copyrighted material used to train their models. That was a late change, added to the draft law in April, according to Reuter.
1. Bamman and his colleagues designed the task to_________.| A．compare the accuracy rate of ChatGPT and GPT-4 |
| B．test the range of knowledge of ChatGPT and GPT-4 |
| C．show how ChatGPT and GPT-4 memorize many books |
| D．check what ChatGPT and GPT-4’s training data consist of |
| A．AIs were trained more on copyrighted works than those out of copyright. |
| B．Guadamuz thinks what AIs have done is a kind of copyright infringement. |
| C．AI companies need to uncover copyrighted materials used as training data. |
| D．The permission for the use of copyright works becomes a legal challenge. |
| A．The training process of AIs. | B．The legal uncertainty of AIs. |
| C．The future regulation of AIs. | D．The training materials of AIs. |
10 . Creativity is commonly thought of as a personality trait that resides within the individual. We count on creative people to produce the songs, movies, and books we love, to invent the new gadgets that can change our lives, and to discover the new scientific theories and philosophies that can change the way we view the world. Over the past several years, however, social psychologists have discovered that creativity is not only a characteristic of the individual, but may also change depending on the situation and context. The question, of course, is what those situations are: what makes us more creative at times and less creative at others?
One answer is psychological distance. According to the Construal Level Theory (CLT) of psychological distance, anything that we do not experience as occurring now, here, and to ourselves falls into the “psychologically distant” category. It's also possible to induce a state of “psychological distance” simply by changing the way we think about a particular problem, such as attempting to take another person’s perspective, or by thinking of the question as if it were unreal and unlikely. In this new paper, by Lile Jia and colleagues at Indiana University, scientists have demonstrated that increasing psychological distance so that a problem feels farther away can actually increase creativity.
Why does psychological distance increase creativity? According to CLT, psychological distance affects the way we mentally represent things, so that distant things are represented in a relatively abstract way while psychologically near things seem more concrete. Consider, for instance, a corn plant. A concrete representation would refer to the shape, color, taste, and smell of the plant, and connect the item to its most common use—a food product. An abstract representation, on the other hand, might refer to the corn plant as a source of energy or as a fast-growing plant. These more abstract thoughts might lead us to contemplate other, less common uses for corn, such as a source for ethanol, or to use the plant to create mazes for children. What this example demonstrates is how abstract thinking makes it easier for people to form surprising connections between seemingly unrelated concepts, such as fast-growing plants (corn) and fuel for cars (ethanol) .
In this most recent study, Jia examined the effect of spatial distance on creativity. Participants performed a creative generation task, in which they were asked to list as many different modes of transportation as possible. This task was introduced as having been developed either by Indiana University students studying in Greece (distant condition) or by Indiana University students studying in Indiana (near condition) . As predicated, participants in the distant condition generated more numerous and original modes of transportation than participants in the near condition.
1. What can we learn about psychological distance?| A．It brings more abstract concepts into our mind. |
| B．It builds uncommon connections in our mind. |
| C．It enables us to know more uses of common things. |
| D．It makes problems easier to be solved. |
| A．Distant condition is related to people’s creative ability. |
| B．It makes students in Indiana list more modes of transportation. |
| C．It enables people to generate more abstract ideas. |
| D．It helps one to take another person’s perspective. |
| A．Formation of Abstract Thoughts | B．Formation of Connections among Concepts |
| C．Ways to Create Psychological Distance | D．An Easy Approach to Promote Creativity |
