1 . 阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容(一个单词)或括号内单词的正确形式。

The Year of the Dragon comes with inspiration for creativity and the power to bring big ideas     1    life.

Designer Wang Zijian’s Dragon Out of Water, a creative tea infuser (泡茶器),shines on the wall at the exhibition of the winning works of the 2024 Global Zodiac Design Competition at the Beijing Overseas Cultural Exchange Center.     2     (it) cute dragon design and special function are bound to appeal to young consumers. “It’s     3    unique product, and we expect a positive response from young customers,” Wang told Beijing Review.

The item belongs to China Chic, or guochao, also     4     (know) as “national wave”,    5    refers to products of all sorts including traditional Chinese cultural elements. These products    6     (embrace) by the country’s younger generations in recent years. According to a report by Xinhua News Agency, Gen Z    7     (account) for 74 percent of consumers of China Chic goods in 2022, and the search volume of China Chic products has increased five times over the past decade.

As a young designer, Wang hopes     8     (capture) young consumers with his creative interpretation of dragons. “I’ve been    9    (thorough) studying the dragon’s historical connotations (言外之意) and the     10     (psychology) characteristics of Gen Z consumers,” the 34-year-old designer told Beijing Review.

2 . Even with the heated water splashing on my shoulders, a chill (寒意) still ran through me. My son was swimming _______ along the bottom of the pool. He surfaced and said, “I’ll show you how to swim underwater.”Usually I was a(n) _______ student, but not this time.

I just couldn’t trust my body to _______.My anxious mind would not let go. Over the years, I had learned not to sink, but I had never found the _______ of swimming that came easily to my friends. Self-doubt hardened into a _______:I couldn’t swim underwater.

But my son George wouldn’t _______ this. “Can you try?” His waiting face was open with possibility. I thought of the_______ things we had asked of him. The days I left him at preschool, he wept bitterly as I _______.The times he bared his arm for shots from the doctor. Earlier times in pools when he, too, _______ deep water.

I couldn’t say no. “Try to swim to me. It’s not very far.” he said, ________ above the water.His voice,calm and encouraging,   ________ me. “When I count to three, you start, OK?” I didn’t move. “Let’s try again,” he said in his teacher voice. “One, two, three!”

After more false starts, I knew I must ________.I sucked in air, squeezed my eyes shut, and aimed like a torpedo (鱼雷) into the dark. I traveled ________ in this liquid world, just pushing forward. I ________ my breath until I couldn’t anymore. I burst up into cool air. “I did it!” I said, tears of ________ streaming down my smiling face.George smiled too. “Now,” he continued, “try to go a little farther.”

I swam farther.I swam.

1.

A．bravely

B．skillfully

C．carefully

D．nervously

2.

A．willing

B．ambitious

C．gifted

D．adorable

3.

A．bend

B．float

C．extend

D．swing

4.

A．knowledge

B．potential

C．freedom

D．chance

5.

A．goal

B．result

C．decision

D．belief

6.

A．realize

B．change

C．accept

D．consider

7.

A．special

B．basic

C．common

D．hard

8.

A．turned up

B．passed by

C．slipped away

D．broke in

9.

A．feared

B．missed

C．enjoyed

D．expected

10.

A．standing

B．towering

C．stretching

D．adjusting

11.

A．comforted

B．surprised

C．puzzled

D．amused

12.

A．continue

B．act

C．win

D．quit

13.

A．blindly

B．quickly

C．elegantly

D．freely

14.

A．lost

B．took

C．caught

D．held

15.

A．relief

B．sorrow

C．joy

D．gratitude

3 . Believe it or not, I hate birthdays. First of all you keep getting ________, and second you always get presents you can’t ________. If I could just have a nice chocolate cake all to myself, I’d be very happy. But no! I have received more ties, pajamas, umbrellas, and gloves than you can imagine. I keep all my unwanted gifts piled neatly in a corner of my closet. If I need one of the items, I draw from my stock, but that is a ________ occurrence. The result is that my pile is quite large.

One day, my Aunt Gloria called me.

“Hello, Shelley,” she said. “We’re having a surprise birthday party for Cousin Stove. Will you be able to come on Thursday the 29th at 2p.m.?”

“One minute, while I look at my ________,” I said.

“Too ________,” I thought to myself. “I’m free. I guess I’ll have to go.”

To Aunt Gloria, I said, “Yes, that day looks O.K. to me. I’ll be there. Should I bring anything for the party?”

“No,” answered Aunt Gloria, “just bring yourself.”

The morning for the party arrived. After some thought, I ________ that it would be proper to bring my ________ a little gift. I thought it would please her. I had a good stock of gifts in my ________, so I could simply rewrap one and offer it to her. It was getting late by the time I got around to wrapping it. So I ________ the first box I saw and wrapped it in a hurry.

My ________ were all-there when I arrived. They were glad to see me, and if the occasion hadn’t been a birthday party, I guess I would have been glad to see them. Uncle Joe told me I had ________. “You look wonderful,” he said.

I plowed my way through the crowd to Aunt Gloria. “Here,” I said cheerfully, ________ my gift. “A little something for you.”

“Oh, that’s very kind of you,” said my aunt. She began to ________ the gift. “I wonder what it could be,” she murmured. Then she began to read a ________ that was enclosed, which I didn’t remember having put in.

“Dear Shelley,” she read, “hope you enjoy these ________. They’ll keep your fingers warm in the winter. Love, Aunt Gloria.”

1.

A．taller

B．older

C．smarter

D．fatter

2.

A．stand

B．buy

C．use

D．eat

3.

A．frequent

B．rare

C．essential

D．precious

4.

A．watch

B．book

C．gift

D．calendar

5.

A．bad

B．interesting

C．good

D．important

6.

A．hesitated

B．promised

C．decided

D．proposed

7.

A．brother

B．friend

C．cousin

D．aunt

8.

A．desk

B．box

C．closet

D．cake

9.

A．grabbed

B．selected

C．stole

D．dug

10.

A．friends

B．classmates

C．neighbours

D．relatives

11.

A．grown up

B．arrived late

C．lost weight

D．shown off

12.

A．holding out

B．sending up

C．dropping off

D．leaving behind

13.

A．admire

B．unwrap

C．receive

D．enjoy

14.

A．book

B．letter

C．sign

D．card

15.

A．gifts

B．cakes

C．gloves

D．ties

4 . 阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容(1个单词)或括号内单词的正确形式。

The Chinese culture of Fengshui has a long history     1     is an important discipline in ancient Chinese civilization. Fengshui explores the relationship between humans and their environment, believing that geographic     2     (surround) and layouts have a profound impact     3     one’s life and fortune. It is believed that by arranging things     4     (appropriate), one can harmonize the energies of the natural world. One of     5     core principles of Chinese Fengshui is the theory of Yin and Yang, and the Five Elements. According to this theory, the natural world     6     (classify) into five elements: wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. Fengshui makes use of these elements to balance the energy of the environment, hereby     7     (enhance) people’s well-being and fortune. Additionally, Fengshui     8     (emphasis) the selection of directions and layouts to bring     9     (significance) changes to one’s life and fortune. Hence, in the construction and layout of houses, people plan and design     10     (base) on the principles of Fengshui.

5 . Everyone knows memory fails as you age.     1     Short-term memory contains the contents of your thoughts right now, which is easily disturbed or disrupted. It depends on your actively paying attention to the items that are in the “next thing to do” file in your mind. Our ability of the short-term memory declines slightly with every decade after 30.

    2     Some aspects of memory actually get better as we age. For instance, our ability to extract patterns, regularities and to make accurate predictions improves over time because we’ve had more experience.     3    

So, how do we account for our subjective experience that older adults seem to struggle with words and names?     4     Our brain capacity to deal with information and data does suffer with the ageing process. But given a little more time, older adults perform just fine.

Then, older adults have to search through more memories than younger adults to find the target information. Your brain becomes crowded with memories and information.     5     It’s just that there is so much more information to sort through. And experiencing new things is the best way to keep the mind young.

A．But everyone is wrong.

B．It’s not that you can’t remember.

C．Obviously, our memories get crowded as we grow older.

D．But age is not the major factor so commonly assumed.

E．First, there is a generalized cognitive slowing with age.

F．For example, a senior soccer player always outperforms a green hand.

G．If you’re going to get an X-ray, you want a 70-year-old radiologist, not a 30-year-old one.

7 . A diet high in protein is often promoted as part of a healthy lifestyle, and many diets encourage consumers to reduce fats in favor of protein to lose weight and gain lean muscle.

For the study in Nature Metabolism, Bettina Mittendorfer and colleagues found that while increasing the proportion of protein in daily calorie intake is beneficial, consuming protein too much not only doesn’t add to the development of lean muscle but can cause unintended negative health effects.

“Consumers are being led to believe that they can never get too much protein in their diet,” says Mittendorfer. “However, our research shows that specific amino acids (氨基酸), which are the building blocks of protein, can trigger heart disease through a signaling mechanism at the cellular level in the blood.”

An amino acid found in animal-protein foods, such as beef, eggs, and milk, was found to be responsible for signaling activity in cells that typically clear away rubbish in blood vessels. As consumption of dietary protein increases, so does the consumption of leucine (亮氨酸), the specific amino acid responsible for triggering this cellular activity in the blood.

When functioning normally, these cells work to keep blood vessels free from plaque (血小板) buildup. When their production becomes overactive, the resulting accumulation of spent cells in the vascular system can cause the plaque buildup and blockages they are supposed to prevent. The resulting hardening of the arteries (动脉) is a leading risk factor for heart attack and stroke.

“Our hope is to eventually find the Goldilocks approach for maximizing the health benefits of dietary protein, such as building lean muscle, while avoiding the health drawbacks from overconsumption.” says Mittendorfer.

The researchers found that consuming more than 22% of daily calories from protein carries more downside risk than dietary benefit. For a normal adult, 20 to 30 grams of protein per meal, or 60 to 90 grams of protein per day is adequate to support health.

The study combined human trials with experiments in mice and cells.

1. Which of the following is the finding of the research?

A．It is beneficial to take in protein in daily diets.

B．A diet high in protein is always considered as a healthy lifestyle.

C．Many consumers are in favor of protein to lose weight and gain muscle.

D．Consuming protein too much doesn’t do good to the lean muscle development.

2. Which of the following is most likely to cause heart attack and stroke?

A．The plaque buildup.	B．Animal-protein foods.
C．The hardening of the arteries.	D．Overactive cellular activity in the blood.

3. What is the proper way to make good use of protein?

A．To take in proper amount of protein per meal.

B．To exercise everyday in order to build lean muscle.

C．To consume more than 22% of daily calories from protein.

D．To do more experiments in mice and cells to provide evidence.

4. What do we know about the study?

A．It is conducted in a relatively scientific way.

B．It finally finds a proper approach to keep fit.

C．It is totally against what people have believed.

D．It offers a diet standard for people of all ages all over the world.

8 . 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。

Jay, 24, got home from work shortly after midnight. Then, suddenly, a horror-filled scream ripped through the still night. He rushed outside and saw flames lighting the sky half a mile away. Hurriedly, he called the fire department and rushed out to check the situation.

Seconds later, Jay was fishtailing his car on the main road. The fire raged at a small hillside complex of mobile homes. Jay slid the car to a stop and sprinted up a steep lane toward the reddening glow. Reaching the hilltop, he saw that a 70-foot-long trailer (房车) was on fire. A young woman in torn nightclothes was running wildly back and forth, jumping to smash at the 6-foot-high windows with her hands. “Dear God!” she screamed. “My family is dying!”

Jay felt a moment of panic. He seemed to be the only person there to help. Never had he seen such a fire! Flames were leaping out of broken windows at the far end of the trailer and winding along the roof; the roaring, crackling noises grew louder by the second. He grabbed the woman by the shoulders. “What happened?” he shouted.

Barely coherent, Cindy told him she had escaped through one of the master bedroom windows. Her husband, Leonard, had gone for their two children: 22-month-old Ryan and 6-week-old Angela. He was supposed to hand them out to her from the bedroom. But, seconds later, flames had burst from the kitchen and living room windows. Cindy began crying miserably. “Where are they?” Jay yelled. Cindy pointed to the end section of the trailer, where thick, black smoke poured from the windows.

From the time he was old enough to play sports, Jay had learned to battle the odds. As a Little Leaguer, he led his underdog team to the state championship. And in tiny St. Maries, his courage had earned him townspeople’s respect. Always, Jay recalled the words of his father: “The word can’t never did anything for anybody. You can do it! Never stop trying, son!”

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。
Para. 1 Jay’s father’s words echoed in his mind.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Para. 2 As her husband was placed in the ambulance to be driven to the hospital, Cindy walked over to Jay.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

9 . “Please would you tell me,” asks the heroine of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, “why your cat grins like that?” Alice is surprised when told that all Cheshire cats can grin and that “most of ‘em do”.

We can only wonder, then, what she would make of a new study that claims that our pet cats actually have nearly 300 facial expressions — far larger than many experts had expected and which may have evolved as a result of them living alongside humans.

The study involved dozens of cats being filmed at the CatCafe Lounge in Los Angeles, where homeless cats live together while up for adoption. More specifically, they logged each occurrence of 26 facial muscle movements, including blinks and half blinks, nose licks, and various ear positions. They identified 276 combinations of those movements, each of which represents a cat facial expression.

That was not far away from the 357 expressions a similar study had previously seen in chimpanzees, and it easily beat the 80 from gibbons (长臂猿). Dogs are said to be capable of 27 facial movements.

According to the researchers, the number of cat facial expressions was a surprise and indicates a hidden depth to how cats express themselves. “Thanks to the development of Facial Action Coding Systems, we are now able to uncover communicative complexity among mammals that may have been previously overlooked.” they said.

The studies showed that about 45 per cent of them were clearly friendly: These tended to involve eyes being closed and ears and whiskers (胡须) being tilted forwards, towards another cat, during a friendly encounter. Another 37 per cent were obviously aggressive or defensive.

The researchers suggest that pet cats have a greater range of facial expressions in part because being close to people often also means living in close places with other cats — and being able to communicate can avoid conflict. And they believe it should be possible to read more subtle messages. “We plan to study how cats produce facial signals during specific interactions, such as play, fighting, and so on.”

1. What do paragraph 1 and 2 mainly tell us?

A．Alice actually made a study on cats’ grins.

B．Cats are often heroes in famous fairy tales.

C．Alice has a cat in Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

D．People do not know much about cats facial expressions.

2. Why does the author mention chimpanzees and dogs?

A．To show that these animals are all mammals.

B．To show that cats can express themselves in special ways.

C．To show that cats are cleverer than chimpanzees and dogs.

D．To show that cats have unbelievable quantities of facial expressions.

3. What does the study say about the cats’ facial expressions?

A．Eyes being closed to another cat is defensive.

B．Almost all the cat facial expressions are friendly.

C．Living with humans influences cats’ facial expression.

D．Cats’ facial expressions can be regarded as just simple.

4. What would be the best title for the text?

A．Cats Pull 276 Different Faces.	B．Most of the Cats Can Grin.
C．The Ways Cats Produce Facial Signals.	D．Cats’ Facial Muscle Movement.

10 . The sun near the equator is never-ceasing, bearing down as I lead Elaine, a dark brown horse, through thick bushes. It’s been a long day on horseback. My legs ache and our camp signals across a ridge of ancient folding hills in the Lolldaiga Range of northern Kenya, a mosaic (马赛克) of twisted landscapes and communities.

Suddenly Elaine’s ears flick into alert, and the muscles of her body tense beneath me. Our guide Nicholus stretches out a lean arm toward a bush just meters away. My eyes focus, trying my best to see what the others already have: two amber balls glowing from a shadowed form. It’s a young lion, quick and strong, in the middle of the high grass.

A wild silence hangs between us.

Without the defensive hunting vehicle, I feel completely exposed. Peering into the bush, I’m suspended between wonder and terror, the distance between myself and the Savannah’s most notorious hunter unbelievably small. Usually, I’m the one tracking the lion, camera in hand. Now, the lion shifts in my consciousness from object to subject. I shift, too, strongly aware of the soft flesh of my own body.

Nicholus nods his head in the other direction, a safer distance away. He points to shallow holes in the dust. “Look, this is a big lion, and these are young ones, some cubs,” he says. “Probably a mother.” Pawprints marked the earth, each telling the story of more lions, moving in different directions.

It was time to go.

Horseback safaris are still the most immersive way to view wildlife in Kenya. To journey on horseback is to break down the walls — meant to protect, but also to separate us from the natural world. And as we’re absorbed in the thrill of the experience, we’re vividly reminded of the importance of protecting these wild spaces.

Out here your horse is your translator, responding to the low hiss of a leopard, the soft scent of an elephant herd, the cool morning breeze descending from Mount Kenya’s glacial peaks. Your job is to learn how to listen.

1. Which words can NOT describe my horseback journey?

A．Thrilling.

B．Tiring.

C．Breathtaking.

D．Boring.

2. What can we learn from paragraph 3 and 4?

A．I regretted not having driven a vehicle.

B．I felt extremely tense in case of lions’ attack.

C．There will be a big battle between lions and us.

D．It was out of my expectation to break into a lion’s world.

3. Why do people still love engaging horseback travelling in Kenya today?

A．Horses are much cheaper than vehicles.

B．Visitors will experience the wildlife anytime.

C．It is a safe and exciting way to enjoy the wildlife.

D．It offers a chance to reconsider the connection between humans and wildlife.

4. What does the author suggest in the last paragraph?

A．Find more animals to feed.	B．Ask your horse for translation.
C．Feel nature with your heart.	D．Listen to the sound of every animal.