1 . A 72-year-old Chinese retired physics professor becomes an Internet celebrity. In her short videos, Wu Yuren often uses everyday objects like eggs and coins as props for her experiments. In one video for example, when explaining cosmic rays in space. she grabbed a broom, ran her hand down the broomstick to the thin brush attached, to illustrate how the energy of the rays gradually weakens and disperses. She also explained rocket launches by blowing up a balloon. These interesting science videos have attracted over 1 million followers, many calling her “science grandma”
It’s said that Grandma Wu writes all her video scripts by herself, and she often works with young team members till late at night, just to plan each shoot down to the last detail. For some physics principles that are hard to present, she would discuss them with other professors to work out something easy for people to understand.
Many youngsters are greatly touched by Grandma Wu’s sense of responsibility and mission to communicate physics ideas to the public, especially teenagers. Meanwhile, her lifestyle, embracing new technologies to maximize her value, inspires people in particular.
In recent years, Chinese short-video sharing platforms saw a rise of such elderly Internet celebrities like science grandma. For example, there’s “Grandpa Amu”, an experienced carpenter who turns ordinary wood into exquisite items without a single nail or a drop of glue. "Shaanxi Old Qiao", or Grandpa Qiao, teaches people to cook Shaanxi’s local cuisines in his videos. These noodles and all are so tempting that even kitchen rookies couldn’t help trying.
With the technology boom and the help of young people, many Chinese seniors are opening up a new digital world, and are communicating with the world better through the web. Plus, all this also shows society’s respect and affection for the elderly.
1. What can we learn about Wu Yuren from the first two paragraphs?| A．She shared her videos to seek fame. | B．She finished her videos on her own. |
| C．She chose daily items to aid her teaching. | D．She refused physical principals hard to explain. |
| A．Her ambition to succeed. | B．Her multiple teaching methods. |
| C．Her cooperation with colleagues. | D．Her passion for popularizing science. |
| A．Green hands. | B．Masters. | C．Enthusiasts. | D．Instructors. |
| A．Humorous and easygoing. | B．Creative and life-loving. |
| C．Disciplined and positive. | D．Strict and responsible. |
1. How long did Mike work on his school paper?
| A．3 hours. | B．2 hours. | C．1 hour. |
| A．It got injured. | B．It became trapped. | C．It was lost. |
| A．He fed it. | B．He saved it by himself. | C．He called for help. |
| A．Opposed. | B．Supportive. | C．Indifferent. |
3 . In Denmark, bicycling is one of the primary forms of transportation. In sunshine, rain and snow, you will see cyclists on their way to work, to the grocery store, or to social events. The bike is a Dane’s best friend.
Danish cycling culture is as old as the bicycle itself. Bikes were first introduced to the country in the 1880s, and during the 1920s and 1930s, the bicycle became a widespread symbol of equality and freedom. People of all social classes began biking side by side — in the cities on their way to work and in the countryside on their days off.
The increased economy development of the late 1950s saw some Danes replacing bikes with motorcycles and automobiles. Just like their colleagues around the world, Danish urban planners believed the future belonged to cars, trucks, and ever-wider highways. In the early 1970s, however, the Mideast oil crisis terminated that development. “Car Free Sundays” were introduced in Copenhagen, and movements demanding Copenhagen to become car-free took place. Over time, concerns about air pollution, climate change, and the need for people to get enough exercise have helped bicycles make a big comeback. Denmark’s heavy taxes on petrol and automobiles are a factor, too.
Today, cycling is an inseparable part of Danish culture. Newcomers who do not know how to cycle are encouraged to learn as soon as they arrive. Danish children usually learn to bike before they begin school at the age of six — and often much earlier. In school, children learn about traffic rules, road safety, and the importance of wearing a helmet as well as good cycling habits. Another choice for families with children is the cargo bike — a sort of oversized tricycle with a large wooden box on the front. It’s estimated that a quarter of all Copenhagen families with two or more children own one of these cargo bikes for transporting kids, groceries, and other necessities. Danish cargo bikes have also won design awards and become a Danish export success.
Commuting by bike is the fastest, easiest and most environmentally friendly way to get around the cities of Denmark. And the numbers speak for themselves: Residents who cycle in Copenhagen request 1.1 million fewer sick days. Cyclists reduce CO2 emissions by 20,000 tonnes a year on average.
1. What led to the popularity of bicycles in Denmark during the 1920s and 1930s?| A．The convenience of the bike. | B．The development of the economy. |
| C．The idea that the bike symbolizes. | D．The construction of wide highways. |
| A．Improved. | B．Permitted. | C．Ended. | D．restarted. |
| A．They are owned by about 25% families. |
| B．They are designed for practical use. |
| C．They are the national symbol of Denmark. |
| D．They are unpopular among local residents. |
| A．To prove the effectiveness of cycling. |
| B．To compare cycling with driving. |
| C．To show the popularity of cycling. |
| D．To conclude the financial benefits of cycling. |
4 . Today, it’s impossible to imagine life without highways which connect goods with markets, employees with work places. “Everything in life is somewhere else,” wrote E.B.White, “and you get there in a car.”
Do highways bring any benefit to our natural world? Yes. Arizona’s highways rainfall softens desert soils for underground-living animals, while vultures (秃鹫) get to expand their diet by roadkill. Butterflies find home on the roadside grassland. In Britain, such habitat is called the “soft estate”—a concept that roads are able to create new ecosystems, even though they sometimes destroy existing ones. A biologist once led me under a highway bridge to show me hundreds of bats resting beneath the bridge, not bothering with the traffic overhead.
But the positive situation isn’t always the case. We tend to ignore the death number as the unavoidable cost of modernity. Although few people ever flatten an animal on purpose while driving on the road, the attraction of the car is so strong that it has caused Americans to kill about 40,000 human lives in car accidents each year, what chance does wildlife have on the road?
Northern America and Europe used to build their road networks with little regard for how they would affect nature. Today, in theory, we know better. Over the last several decades, America and European countries have built bridges for bears, tunnels for turtles, rope webs that allow monkeys to swing over highways without going down to the forest floor. In Kenya, elephants walk under the highways and railways via passages as tall as two-story houses. And road ecology has brought more than crossings: We’ve also learned to map and protect the migrations of animals to design roadsides that benefit bees and butterflies－proof that old mistakes will surely be corrected in the upcoming future.
1. What do E.B.White’s words mean in Paragraph 1?| A．Highways benefit the natural world. | B．People can’t get everything in life. |
| C．A good car is needed to get somewhere. | D．Highways are essential for our daily life. |
| A．Destroying the ecosystem. | B．Building new ecosystems. |
| C．Planning road networks. | D．Repairing habitats for animals. |
| A．To reveal the negative effects of highways. |
| B．To explain people flatten animals on purpose. |
| C．To stress the importance of American modernity. |
| D．To show the number of animals killed on the road. |
| A．Optimistic. | B．Unclear. | C．Worried. | D．Doubtful. |
5 . Both Alice and Curie love traveling to other countries, and they came together for this hobby. Though they had been married for 5 years, their shared hobby is also a source of contention. “It is I who do all the planning and book,” says Alice. “Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy it, but if Curie cared a little more about it, he wouldn’t show up for a flight to Grenada packed for a winter break. ‘Jumpers and boots!’ I cried. ‘You’re supposed to have packed shorts and T-shirts — it’s 30℃ in the Caribbean!’ Then I realized he thought we were going to Granada, in Spain.
How Alice and Curie each deal with their travel plans is just an example of the many ways in which men and women differ. Yet, is what goes on inside our minds and bodies really so different? Furthermore, are we born that way?
Scientists are divided on this issue. The majority of them believed that patterns of behavior thought to be more male or female are learnt firstly from our parents, then from our peers and, ultimately, from the societies in which we live. As Simone de Beauvoir famously said, “one is not born, but rather becomes, a woman.”
However, some other scientists believed that male and female brains are actually wired differently. In one study in which 34 monkeys were required to interact with different types of toys, the males showed a strong preference for toys with wheels rather than soft toys, while the females were noticeably drawn to soft toys. These preferences were clearly not the result of parental influence.
Whatever the truth behind the differences between men and women, we can safely conclude that although the social impact on how we think and behave is undeniable, there exists a biological contribution. The question that now needs answering is to what extent biology affects the choices we make and the way other people treat us.
1. The function of the first paragraph is ________.| A．to show how women are different from men |
| B．to show how angry the wife is |
| C．to lead in the topic of this passage |
| D．to make the author’s argument clearer |
| A．Females and males are biologically different. |
| B．Females become different from males in many aspects. |
| C．Scientists’ opinions vary about how females and males differ. |
| D．Social impact leads to the difference between females and males. |
| A．males and females are born different |
| B．males and females are influenced by their parents and peers |
| C．monkeys, like human beings, have their own characteristics |
| D．monkeys of different sexes have different preferences |
| A．What causes the differences between men and women. |
| B．How men and women are biologically different. |
| C．Why males and females are different. |
| D．Where the differences between males and females take place. |
1. 你的看法；
2. 简述理由。
注意：
1. 词数100左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
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1. What does the speaker mainly talk about?
| A．The changes of talk shows. |
| B．The ways of enjoying our lives. |
| C．The future of entertainment industry. |
| A．Having a live audience. |
| B．Doing video-chat interviews. |
| C．Inviting their family members. |
| A．He makes a pizza at home. | B．He chats with a pop star. | C．He plays with his kids. |
| A．Encouraged. | B．Disappointed. | C．Sympathetic. |
8 . At some point, something will have to be done about the stuffed toys (毛绒玩具). I haven’t counted them because, truthfully, I’m not prepared to know how many there are. Lately, our neighborhood’s message boards are filled with posts about parents trying to make space, to clear out the things their kids no longer need. The tone of some of these posts can best be described as “emergency”. “Help!” they sometimes begin. “I have to get this out of my house.”
“The proliferation (激增) of children’s toys is the outcome of a long, gradual cultural change,”says Gary Cross, a professor at Pennsylvania State University. To understand how we got here — drowning (淹没于) in all those stuffed toys and bricks — it helps to look as far back as the late 19th century. “Parents were no longer passing their jobs on to the children,” Cross says. “Instead, they connect across generations through the gifting process. From the early 20th century on, goods became the things that define relationships between family members, and the way of marking success as a family.”
Then, how can parents deal with the proliferation of children’s toys at home? Naeemah Ford Goldson, a professional organizer, is also a mom of two. In her own home, Goldson likes to include her kids in the work of sorting out their toys. They know that the items they don’t need anymore will be given to people who can use them, to families who might not be as fortunate as theirs. “Doing so helps them build those habits of letting go,” she says, “so then they don’t become adults who are too dependent on material things instead of experiences, or people, and the memories we make with people.”
Her idea made sense. She told her 5-year-old they should pick some to give to kids in their community who came from another country and had to leave their toys behind. She immediately took a pink bear from the pile.
1. Why does the author present the posts in paragraph 1?| A．To show the popularity of children’s toys. |
| B．To offer suggestions about choosing children’s toys. |
| C．To praise the role of social media in buying children’s toys. |
| D．To introduce the influence too many children’s toys bring about. |
| A．Children’s demands. | B．The growth of technology. |
| C．The traditions in the 18th century. | D．The practice of gifting among family members. |
| A．Involve her kids in organizing toys. | B．Put away toys for her kids. |
| C．Buy her kids fewer toys. | D．Sell unwanted toys to neighbors. |
| A．The Rise of Toy Stores in Neighborhoods | B．The Importance of Choosing Proper Gifts |
| C．The Challenge of Managing Children’s Toys | D．The Joy of Collecting Children’s Toys |
9 . It keeps what’s inside a mystery until you open it. There are usually toys in mystery boxes; but now, food has been added to the list.
Recently, the trend of “leftover mystery boxes” has become popular in many Chinese cities such as Beijing, Nanjing and Chengdu. Stores pack boxes full of unsold food or food nearing its expiration date at low prices.
“We make the leftover mystery boxes available to buy at the end of the day,” Wu Tian, a staff member at a convenience chain store in Beijing, told China Daily. The food, such as milk, bread and sandwiches, is sold at about half the original price and is usually sold out quickly. Many bakeries have also joined the “mystery box club”.
Due to their low price, leftover mystery boxes “are very promising as a new business mode” and can attract more consumers, Hong Yong, an expert at the Ministry of Commerce, told China Daily. “In addition, they follow the concept of zero-waste and environmental protection.”
In 2021, the total amount of food waste in China reached 160 million tons, with an average of 93 grams per meal per person, China Food Newspaper reported. Since the passage of China’s Anti-Food Waste Law in April 2021, people’s awareness of food waste reduction has increased. Leftover mystery boxes can be an effective way for people to deal with food waste.
However, some people have raised food security concerns. If consumers buy a food mystery box for their breakfast the next morning, even if the food looks fine at the moment, it may have gone bad overnight. Moreover, food made in the store, such as bread, isn’t labeled with the production date in many cases, according to China Consumer News. If a consumer unpacks a mystery box and discovers that the food tastes bad or has already passed the last date, then it will be difficult for them to protect their rights, such as getting money back.
Only by considering both food safety and consumer rights can mystery blind boxes achieve a win-win situation for both buyers and sellers, commented China Youth Daily.
1. What leads to the rise of the trend of “leftover mystery boxes”?| A．It offers customers lower prices for those unsold food. |
| B．Stores make the leftover mystery boxes available at night. |
| C．People feel like such food as milk and bread more attractive. |
| D．It goes against the concept of zero-waste and environmental protection. |
| A．purchasing | B．producing | C．ending | D．selling |
| A．Worldwide starvation. | B．Environmental harm. | C．Energy shortage. | D．Moral decline. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Disapproving. | C．Doubtful. | D．Objective. |
10 . In the rich countries of the West, the electric vehicle revolution is well occurring. Climate-conscious consumers drive Teslas or Polestars for reasons of morality (道德) and fashion. Poorer countries are also experiencing a wave of electrified trend. In Bangladesh, electric three-wheeler taxis, known as tuk-tuks, are rapidly replacing gas-powered ones on the streets. Such electric vehicles are climate friendly, cost effective, and help reduce air pollution.
Yet a glance under the hood (引擎盖) of these vehicles shows a poisonous secret: each tuk-tuk runs on five massive lead-acid batteries (铅酸电池), containing almost 300 pounds of lead (铅) in total. Every year and a half or so, when those batteries need to be replaced and recycled, about 60 pounds of lead leaks into the environment. Battery recycling, often at small-scale unregulated factories, is a highly profitable (高利润的) but deadly business.
Lead is dangerous, and any exposure to it is harmful to human health. Lead that has entered the environment hurts people on an unexpected scale. The numerous ways lead enters air, water, soil, and homes across the developing world and the enormous damage it does to human health, wealth, and welfare cause one of the biggest environmental problems in the world yet receives little attention.
The World Bank estimates that lead kills 5.5 million people per year, making it a bigger global killer than AIDS, malaria, diabetes, and road traffic deaths combined. On top of the shocking deaths, the social burden of lead poisoning is heavy, as is its contribution to global inequality — our research on the cognitive (认知的) effects of lead poisoning suggests that it may explain about one-fifth of the educational achievement gap between rich and poor countries.
But unlike many challenges faced by developing countries, lead poisoning is a problem that can be resolved through financial investment (财政投入). Better monitoring, research, and rules can help protect children all over the world from the unpleasant effects of lead poisoning and reduce the massive global costs it brings.
1. How does the author describe the lead problem in paragraph 2?| A．By listing some numbers. | B．By analyzing hidden causes. |
| C．By making an interesting comparison. | D．By explaining its working principle. |
| A．Lead enters poor countries in one way. |
| B．Lead leaking has been avoided in all the countries. |
| C．Lead will definitely not harm anymore. |
| D．Lead poisoning may make poor societies poorer. |
| A．Fixing these used batteries. | B．Reducing the cost of recycling lead. |
| C．Ignoring the illegal use of lead. | D．Putting certain effort and money. |
| A．The Impacts of Lead Poisoning on Man. |
| B．The Global Lead Poisoning Problem. |
| C．The Ways to Solve Lead Problem. |
| D．The Benefits of Using Electric Vehicles. |
