1 . TOEFL and IELTS have been the main choices for English ability testing in higher education admissions (录取) for international students until now. In recent years, several companies have developed new English language tests that are low-cost and easy to use.

Duolingo set up its own test of English language ability. Jennifer Dewar works as an official (行政人员) at Washington University, which is one of the hundreds of universities in and outside the U.S. that now take the test results for international admissions. Duolingo created the test to make higher education available to more people worldwide.

The TOEFL and the IELTS cost between about $180 and $240. They are only given in several centers around the world. Some test-takers have to travel to take the tests, adding to the costs. However, Duolingo offers its test entirely over the Internet for $49. All test-takers need is a computer with a microphone, listening device and self-facing camera.

David Payne is a president for Educational Testing Service, which runs the TOEFL test. He agrees that improving availability of higher education is important. But he says general English knowledge isn’t the only thing universities require. Universities need to know how successful a student will be in using the level of academic (学术的) English that their teachers will expect of them. But Duolingo may fail to show that. Payne said, “The tests for the academic market should provide the value that’s necessary for making an important decision. And saving money doesn’t seem worth it.”

In a word, universities have to do their research to decide if any new tests work as well as traditional ones in their cases. It really comes down to a question for the universities about what’s available, what the products show, and if they’re satisfied with their choices. In general, having choices is important.

1. What do we know about the Duolingo test?

A．It could be taken anytime.	B．It requires little of test takers.
C．It makes English learning much easier.	D．It is accepted by many U.S. universities.

2. What’s the purpose of the third paragraph?

A．To show Duolingo is popular.	B．To show Duolingo’s advantages.
C．To show us how to take a Duolingo test.	D．To show TOEFL and the IELTS are difficult.

3. What does Payne try to stress as important?

A．Students’ ability to use academic English.	B．Students’ grades of different tests.
C．The general English knowledge.	D．The ability to make a decision.

4. What does the author advise universities to do?

A．Consider new tests first.	B．Create more test choices.
C．Choose tests after careful research.	D．Use both TOEFL and Duolingo tests.

2 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1. What is the conversation mainly about?

A．Fighting fires.

B．Detecting fires.

C．Using fires.

2. How many fires did California have in 2020?

A．Around 50.

B．About 400.

C．Over 8600.

3. What size of fire can the new satellites discover?

A．Size of a car.

B．Size of a plane.

C．Size of a sports field.

4. What is more important to the woman?

A．Saving animals.

B．Saving the trees.

C．Saving humans.

3 . Humans can race to get out of a hurricane’s path. Some animals can sense a hurricane coming and leave quickly, but there are animals that can’t simply get out of the way. Here are the various effects of hurricanes on animals.

Birds may be able to sense air pressure and other changes in the environment, which encourages them to get out of harm’s way. Some birds will even speed up their migration (迁徙) leaving earlier than usual if a serious hurricane is approaching. However, strong winds can push birds hundreds of miles away from their home. Young or weak birds can become separated from the rest of their group and often have difficulty making it home.

Fish can also be affected. After Hurricane Andrew in 1992, about 184 million fish died in south Louisiana’s Atchafalaya Basin alone. Strong winds blew leaves off trees, blowing them into wetlands. The rotting (腐烂的) organic material to extremely low levels of oxygen in the water, killing the fish. Some fish will often find sheltered areas during hurricanes, but they’re not always safe. Dolphins have occasionally been blown to shore during big hurricanes.

There are many other dangers that come with hurricane-related water. Sharp rise of saltwater onshore can harm wildlife and plants that live in the freshwater and can’t bear the salt content.Heavy rain can also affect the balance of fresh and salt water in some areas, harming the creatures that live in them.

Many animals lose their regular food supply when a hurricane arrives, as strong winds and rains destroy trees of fruits, nuts and berries. During Hurricane Andrew, about one-quarter of Louisiana’s public oyster seed (牡蛎种苗) grounds were destroyed. Because the oysters were an important food source for some birds on Louisiana’s barrier Islands, the birds suffered mass death as a direct result of the hurricane.

1. What can we learn from paragraph 2?

A．Birds are adapting to a changing climate.

B．Birds can sense the coming of a hurricane.

C．Birds migrate at certain times of every year.

D．Birds’ habitats are destroyed by hurricanes.

2. What causes fish in south Louisiana’s Atchafalaya Basin to die after Hurricane Andrew in 1992?

A．Poisonous leaves.	B．Air pollution.
C．A lack of oxygen.	D．The loss of shelters.

3. What could be the effect of hurricane-related water?

A．Ocean ecosystem is destroyed.

B．Sea salt production is reduced.

C．Many animals move away from their habitats.

D．There would be less fresh water on the earth.

4. What can be a suitable title for the text?

A．Animals suffer more than humans during a hurricane

B．What happens to animals during a hurricane?

C．Why do animals migrate earlier than usual?

D．Animals might face serious threats

4 . My 15-year-old boy is a high achiever. He is very bright, pursuing everything he does with devotion and determination. And he is a great kid; honest, kind, faithful and caring.

Like a lot of kids who are high achievers, he is a perfectionist and very easy to fall into anxiety. That is manifested in his study, and other things he does as well. For example, he loves tennis but he is often worried about losing in the game. Now he has to stop competing because the pressure he puts on himself is becoming unhealthy. He still plays, but playing socially rather than competitively means that it’s an outlet for him rather than a source of stress.

He does not manage stress well. He puts so much pressure on himself to the point of worrying himself sick over just about every assessment. And he gets so negative about it, everything I say to him is met with negativity, every suggestion with a response that it won’t work, and honestly it’s depressing and tiring.

To help my son, I had a patient conversation with him, and he finally followed my advice about physical exercise to ease stress. Whenever he was under a lot of pressure, I would run with him for half an bour and do some push-ups to relax the pressure. Gradually, he became less nervous in the later exams and his scores became more and more stable.

Pressure from grades and perfectionism can be really hard to manage when it comes to schooling. As kids, what they need is effective communication and sincere encouragement. So I have always told and shown my son that we’re proud of him, and that pride doesn’t merely depend on top grades.

1. Which of the following best explains “manifested” underlined in paragraph 2?

A．Exchanged.

B．Explored.

C．Achieved.

D．Reflected.

2. Why does the author’s son keep playing tennis?

A．He is a high achiever.	B．He’s easy to fall sick.
C．He hopes to release stress.	D．He wants to win the game.

3. What does the author mainly tell us about his son in paragraph 3?

A．His son fails to handle stress properly.	B．His son becomes tired of stress.
C．His son is good at some sports.	D．His son is doing well at school.

4. What is the author’s advice for his son?

A．Taking up a new hobby.	B．Hanging out with some friends.
C．Doing some exercise with him.	D．Talking to friends as much as possible.

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。

It was a day just like every other day. I woke up early in the morning and went to run on Mount Gracious with my dog, Bubbles. As I ran up the mountain, with my dog following close behind, I felt energetic and refreshed. Running in a natural environment never failed to make me feel alive. When I reached the top, I drank some water and enjoyed the beautiful sunrise. This scene always took my breath away, no matter how many times I had seen it.

Having rested enough, Bubbles and I made our way back down the mountain. As we were running downhill, I saw an unfamiliar path and decided to explore the area. The path was full of rocks. It was not easy to walk.

Suddenly, I slipped on a muddy patch, rolling down five meters before I managed to grab hold of an exposed root of a huge tree. I was safe for now. However, I was seriously injured. My knees were badly hurt. My right foot was also dislocated (脱臼). I knew for sure I would be unable to make my way up or down the mountain without help. I called out to Bubbles and he barked loudly from above. It seemed like he understood that I needed help. He looked down at me pitifully before disappearing from sight.

As night fell, panic (恐慌) set in and scary thoughts went through my mind. There were many things that I had got to do. I couldn't die! This would not have happened if I had stuck to my usual path.

I was losing hope when I heard barking. It was Bubbles. I rubbed my eyes as I struggled to keep awake. But there was silence. Who could it be? Was I hallucinating (产生幻觉)? Then I heard some voices and more barking. Yes. Help was near, I knew. I could count on my dog to get help.

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。

Soon, I heard my parents calling my name.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Later, my parents told me what Bubbles had done to get help.

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6 . Live-stream marketing: A rural rags-to-riches story?

For many years, quality agricultural products were unable to sell in faraway provinces.     1     It prevented them from accessing a wider, urban client. In most cases, because farmers failed to directly reach consumers, their heavy physical labor resulted in very little income. In this regard, live-stream marketing may appeal to young migrant workers and convince them to return home in the countryside.     2    

In Yunnan Province, southwest China, live-stream marketing is currently the most popular way of pushing local products to consumers across the country.     3     It is turning the smartphone into a new farming tool by fashioning new shopping centers. Live-streaming has greatly boosted the province’s produce sales in the past two years. We now have a great business model in place, combining products with high-quality live stream platforms and support packages from the government.     4     Anyway, the continuous development of live-stream marketing is ready to play a big role in raising rural incomes in relatively backward provinces like Yunnan. E-commerce live-streaming is doing pretty well nowadays, but farm produce only accounts for a small share, mainly due to the lack of experienced hosts and infrastructure in rural areas.

    5     How to grow live stream marketing for farm products? Short videos or live-streams, the key is to meet consumers’ demand. High-quality products alone aren’t enough; they must consider buyers’ preferences as well.

A．There arises a question.

B．Government policies and guidance should follow up.

C．The expansion of 5G technology is a vital contribution.

D．The biggest barrier is lack of efficient marketing channels.

E．China has a tradition of intensive cultivation and a huge rural population.

F．But we should establish a complete supply chain based on strict standards.

G．Once back they can introduce more digitally advanced approaches to agricultural management.

7 . The Ancient Chinese Game of Go

Weiqi, known in English as Go, is one of the four skills that an ancient Chinese intellectual (知识分子) could possess. It has a history of well over 4,000 years in China and remains popular. Culturally, this activity is really “more than just a game”.

    1     One of China’s classics, The Romance of the Three Kingdoms, describes the famous general Guan Yu playing Go while receiving surgery on his arm.

History books have recorded quite a number of ardent Go fans from each dynasty. Today, there are still many in China, Japan and South Korea. Wu Yulin, a professional, explains its attraction, “In Go, you can learn the dialectics (辩证法) and military stratagems.     2     There are numerous variations within the game and you can never reach the bottom of it.”

    3     Hua Yigang, Secretary General of the China Go Association, remarks on the character-building qualities of Go. “You have to become entirely calm, otherwise you can’t play it. You have to be very strong of mind.     4     You might make mistakes during a game, and then have to readjust your mentality in order to fight to the end.”

In fact, all of our minds can benefit from playing Go, which officially has the capacity to make you smarter. Research has shown that children who play Go have the potential for greater intelligence.     5    

Today, the number of Go fans in China is at 36 million and rising. Some universities like Beijing University are even offering courses in Go to undergraduates.

A．There’s always loss and gain.

B．It’s a war between equal powers.

C．That is because it motivates both the right and left sides of the brain.

D．You can also cultivate your character and improve your intelligence.

E．But more often, ancient Chinese played Go to cultivate their mind and character.

F．The influence of Go on Chinese society is quite evident in literature works.

G．Many people also love this ancient game for the Chinese philosophy it contains.

8 . With the help of new devices on mice, scientists are using light to switch nerve cells on and off in mice’s brains to explore the animals’ social behavior, a new study shows.

The new devices rely on optogenetics(光遗传学), a technique in which researchers use bursts of light to stimulate or control the brain nerve cells, often using tailored viruses to genetically correct cells so they respond to light. Scientists have applied optogenetics to explore neural(神经的) circuits in mice and other lab animals to come to a conclusion on how they might work in humans. Optogenetic devices often feed light to neurons via fiber-optic cables, but such things can influence natural behaviors and social interactions. While scientists recently developed implantable(可植入的) wireless optogenetic devices, these depend on relatively simple remote controls or limited sets of preprogrammed instructions.

These new fully implantable optogenetic devices can enable more complex research. Specifically, the researchers can adjust each device’s programming during the course of experiment. “So you can target what an animal does in a much more complex way,” says Genia Kozorovitskiy, a researcher at Northwestern University.

These devices are battery-free, wirelessly powered by the same high-frequency radio waves used to remotely control the intensity, duration and timing of the light pulses. The devices also allow scientists to control four different neural circuits in an animal simultaneously, thanks to LEDs that give out four colors——blue, green, yellow and red——instead of just one.

The widely available wireless technology used in this work, the same now used in contactless payment with credit cards, could allow broad adoption across the neuroscience community “without extensive specialized hardware”, says Philipp Gutruf at the University of Arizona. “That means that we might see these devices in many labs in the near future, enabling new discoveries.”

1. What’s scientists’ purpose of using optogenetics?

A．To control humans’ brain nerve cells.

B．To account for humans’ social interactions.

C．To figure out how neural circuits affect humans.

D．To correct tailored viruses entering the human bodies.

2. What does the underlined word “simultaneously” in paragraph 4 mean?

A．Once in a while.	B．At the same time.
C．By ones and twos.	D．On a regular basis.

3. What can we infer from Philipp Gutruf’s words?

A．The function of wireless technology.

B．The promising future of the devices.

C．The novel application of the devices.

D．The development of wireless technology.

4. Which can be the best title for the text?

A．Scientists Can Kill Mice with Light

B．Scientists Control Humans’ Social Interactions

C．Scientists Control Social Behavior of Mice with New Devices

D．Scientists Can Record Human Neural Circuits with New Devices

9 . It may not be rocket science, but researchers have found aerospace engineers and neurosurgeons (神经外科医生) are not necessarily brighter than the general population.

Researchers examined data from an international group of 329 aerospace engineers and 72 brain surgeons who completed 12 tasks online using the Great British Intelligence Test.

The tasks examined various aspects of cognition (认知), including planning and reasoning, working memory, attention, and emotion processing abilities. The researchers then compared the results against those previously gathered from more than 18,000 members of the British public.

The findings, which were recently published, reveal that only neurosurgeons showed a significant difference, with quicker problem-solving speed but slower memory recall compared with the general population. “The difference in problem-solving speed exhibited by neurosurgeons might arise from the fast-paced nature of neurosurgery, which attracts those with a pre-existing talent for rapid processing, or it could be, though less likely, a product of training for rapid decision-making in time-critical situations,” the researchers noted.

The researchers said the study was, in part, carried out to lay to rest the question of whether one of the professions had the intellectual upper hand-a tension made famous by a comedy show in which a confident neurosurgeon is slapped down by an aerospace expert who says, “Brain surgery... it’s not exactly rocket science, is it?”

However, the team found few differences between the cognitive abilities of aerospace engineers and neuroscientists, although the results suggest the former had higher scores for attention and mental control—such as turning objects in one’s head—while neurosurgeons showed higher scores in semantic (语义的) problem solving—such as definitions of rare words.

“Essentially what we think it shows is that everyone has a range of skills, some people are better at some things and other people are better at other things, and it is very difficult to be better in everything across the board,” said Aswin Chari, an author of the study.

1. What is paragraph 3 mainly about?

A．The research subjects.	B．The research method.
C．The research aspects.	D．The research background.

2. What seemed to be the major cause of neurosurgeons’ quicker problem-solving speed shown in the study?

A．Fast development of neurosurgery.	B．Talent of neurosurgeons.
C．Training for rapid decision-making.	D．Nature of problem solving.

3. The study was conducted partly because the researchers          .

A．attempted to answer the question asked by the aerospace expert in the show

B．were eager to solve the conflicts between neurosurgeons and aerospace engineers

C．intended to settle the argument over the intellectual superiority of the two professions

D．wanted to find out which of the two professions was more intellectually demanding

4. What is most likely to be the purpose of this text?

A．To inform people of the results of a cognitive study.

B．To encourage people to be confident in themselves.

C．To reduce prejudice against certain professions.

D．To correct misunderstandings about intelligence.

10 . 语法填空

China sent up its first Mars probe(探测器) Tianwen 1 on Thursday. It is expected     1     (reach) the planet in about seven months. The mission to Mars is much     2     (hard) compared to that to the moon.

China’s Mars mission,     3     (design) for the mapping of key zones of the planet’s surface, indicates the country’s space science and technology     4     (progress) rapidly in the past years. It expresses the determination and perseverance(毅力) of the Chinese nation in looking for     5     (science) truth.

Tianwen 1 has immediately grabbed people’s attention after its launch, and     6     is reported that there’re countless discussions on topics related to spaceflight and the exploration of outer space. People’s     7     (curious) about the unknown and thirst for knowledge are     8     (obvious) aroused whenever the country makes breakthroughs in space exploration. And astronauts, scientists and engineers are becoming role models     9     more and more young people. The “Mars fever” that has been aroused shows people’s desire to know more about space, which requires more innovations(创新) to discover more about the universe     10     we live.