1. What are the speakers doing?
| A．Climbing a hill. | B．Training for marathon. | C．Camping along the stream. |
| A．He nearly fell into a stream. |
| B．His ankle was injured. |
| C．He was too tired to move on. |
| A．Stop for a rest. | B．Receive training. | C．Finish the race. |
2 . Harvard University’s Claudia Goldi n has won the 2023 Nobel Prize in Economics for her research on women in the labor market. She studies the changing role of working women through the centuries, and the causes of the consistent pay gap between men and women. The award comes with a prize of about $1 million. Goldi n is the third woman to receive the prize.
“Claudia Goldin’s discoveries have vast society significance,” said Randi Hjalmarsson, a member of the Nobel committee. “She has shown us that the nature of this problem or the source of these possible or underlying gender gap s changes throughout history and with the course of development.”
Goldin’s research showed that women’s role in the job market has not moved in a straight line, but has risen and fallen with social regulations and women’s own ideas about their prospects in the workplace and the home. Some of these ideas are shaped early in life and are slow to change.
“She can explain why the gender gap suddenly started to close in the 1980s and the surprising role of the birth control pill and changing expectation,” Hjalmarsson said. “And she can explain why the earnings gap has stopped closing today and the role of parenthood.”
Looking back the history of women in the workplace was easier said than done. The Nobel committee said Goldi n often had to deal with spotty records.
Women currently fill nearly half the jobs in the U. S. but typically earn less. They briefly outnumbered men on pay lists in late 2019 and early 2020, but women dropped out of the workforce in large numbers early in the pandemic (大流行病), and their ranks have only recently recovered.
Some forecasters think women’s role in the workplace will continue to grow as they pass men on college campuses and as service fields such as health care expand.
“Understanding women’s role in labor is important for society,” said Jakob Svensson, chair of the prize committee. “Thanks to Claudia Goldin’s groundbreaking research, we now know much more about the underlying factors and which barriers may need to be addressed in the future.”
1. Why was the 2023 Nobel Prize in Economics awarded to Goldin?| A．She realized the importance of women in the labour market. |
| B．She researched the changing role of working women for a long time. |
| C．She found the causes of income inequality between men and women. |
| D．She did pioneering studies on the role of women in the labour market. |
| A．Organic. | B．Potential. | C．Fundamental. | D．Preferred. |
| A．Parenthood played an important role. |
| B．Women’s own ideas about work have improved. |
| C．The income gap between men and women has been narrowed. |
| D．Birth control pills and changes in expectation played an amazing role. |
| A．Gender pay gap remains. |
| B．Women employed had briefly outperformed men. |
| C．Women’s role in the workplace will continue to grow. |
| D．Many women pulled out of the workforce in the pandemic. |
3 . Climate change isn’t just about rising seas and hotter heatwaves; it’s also bringing about a pothole (坑洞) disaster on our roads! In 2023, the UK reported nearly 630,000 pothole complaints—a shocking five-year peak. Across the road, the USA saw a shocking 57% increase in vehicle damages due to potholes compared to 2021. What’s causing this asphalt (沥青) disaster? Climate change is a key factor, damaging our streets with severe weather and rising temperatures.
The science behind this damages is astonishing. Dr. Hassan Davani, an engineering expert, explains that intense heat can soften roads, leading to cracks and potholes. Floods, another climate change mark, wash away road surfaces. Adding to the mess are increased freeze-thaw (冻融) cycles, which create damaged ice lenses under the road. When these melt, they leave behind the terrible potholes.
But fear not! There’s hope on the horizon with cutting-edge innovations. Certain regions are adopting pavements designed to endure broader temperature ranges. Gabe Cimini, a pavement engineering expert, points to California’s use of specialized asphalt mixes that can resist temperatures from58℃ to a freezing -32℃.
And there’s more! Modern Hydrogen, a pioneering climate tech startup backed by Bill Gates, is transforming road repair. By using solid carbon from carbon capture in asphalt, they’re crafting roads that are 250% more solid, enduring higher temperatures and reducing CO2 emissions. This revolutionary asphalt is already hitting roads in the US and Canada.
Self-healing pavement, or “smart asphalt,” is another game-changer. Imagine roads that can repair themselves! Some newer versions use steel fibres that heat up, melting the mortar (灰浆) to completely mend potholes.
While these innovations promise smoother and more solid roads in our climate-impacted world, widespread adoption might still be a few years away. So prepare for an uncomfortable ride, but remember, smoother streets are on the horizon!
1. How does the author stress the serious pothole disasters?| A．By stating viewpoints. | B．By making comparisons. |
| C．By making a list of cases. | D．By supposing a situation. |
| A．Analyze causes. | B．Describe scenes. |
| C．Make arguments. | D．Conclude science findings. |
| A．Increase the temperature of the asphalt. | B．Use solid carbon to make asphalt stronger. |
| C．Improve the endurance of asphalt mixture. | D．Get the road to repair itself by smart asphalt. |
| A．None of them are available now. | B．They will be more widely used in the future. |
| C．They need support from the governments. | D．They are impractical solutions to the current disaster. |
4 . Farm to school events are happening all over the country this month. The events are aimed at bringing fresh food to students’ plates. And, after a decline in nutrition education in U. S. schools in recent decades, there’s new momentum (势头), to weave food and cooking into the curriculum again.
“I’d love to see it brought back and have the science around healthy eating integrated,” says Stacy Dean, deputy under secretary for food, nutrition and consumer services at the U. S. Department of Agriculture. Dean told me she was inspired by a visit to Watkins Elementary, in Washington, D. C. where this idea is germinating. Students grow vegetables in their school garden. They also roll up their sleeves in the school’s kitchen to participate in a FRESHFARM FoodPrints class, which integrates cooking and nutrition education.
Evaluations show participation in FRESHFARM programs is associated with increased preference for fruits and vegetables. And, the CDC points to evidence that nutrition education may help students maintain a healthy weight and can also help students recognize the connection between food and emotional wellbeing. Given the key role diet plays in preventing chronic (慢性的) disease, the agency says it would be ideal to offer more nutrition education.
At a time when diet-related disease is a leading cause of death, and unhealthy eating habits are entrenched (根深蒂固的) in U. S. culture, it’s unrealistic to think that a cooking curriculum could overcome such a sweeping, societal problem. “We know from years of evidence that we need multiple things to come together to support healthy eating,” says Angela Odoms-Young, a professor of maternal and child nutrition at Cornell University.
At a time when the U. S. spends billions of dollars on diet-related disease, an investment in nutrition education makes sense, says the USDA’s Stacy Dean. “Food is so fundamental to life and good health and it is absolutely worthy of some time in the basic curriculum,” she says. The hope is that integrating nutrition and cooking into a school program will give kids the skills and inspiration to eat well, and help put them on a healthy path.
1. Where did Stacy Dean’s idea come from?| A．Her visit to Watkins Elementary. |
| B．Her work at the U. S. Department of Agriculture. |
| C．The decline in nutrition education in U. S. schools. |
| D．The new trend to bring back cooking into school curriculum. |
| A．Students can raise animals in school. |
| B．It can protect students from chronic disease. |
| C．Students become more interested in fruits and vegetables. |
| D．Students can do some gardening and cooking in the program. |
| A．Cooking curriculum can solve the diet-related disease problem. |
| B．We need to work together in order to keep a healthy diet. |
| C．People have changed their unhealthy eating habits nowadays. |
| D．Diet-related disease used to be a cause of death in U. S. culture. |
| A．Cooking is fundamental in school education. |
| B．Add nutrition education in school curriculum. |
| C．Investment in nutrition education makes sense. |
| D．Cooking and gardening at school inspire better nutrition. |
5 . Newly published Federal Trade Commission data shows that consumers reported losing more than $5.8 billion to scams (欺诈) in 2021, an increase of more than 70 percent over the previous year.
Of the losses reported by consumers, more than $2.3 billion of losses reported were due to imposter (假冒者) scams—up from $1.2 billion in 2020, while online shopping accounted for about $392 million in reported losses from consumers—up from $246 million in 2020. Prizes, internet services and job chances followed closely behind.
The FTC’s Consumer Sentinel Network (Sentinel ) is a database that receives reports directly from consumers, as well as from federal, state, and local law enforcement(执行) agencies, industry members, and non-profit organizations. It received more than 5.7 million reports in 2021; these include the scam reports detailed above, as well as identity theft reports and complaints related to other consumer problems, such as problems with banks and lenders. These reports are a key resource for FTC studies that stop illegal activities and, when possible, provide aids to consumers.
The FTC uses the reports it receives through Sentinel as the starting point for many of its law enforcement studies, and the agency also shares these reports with approximately 2, 800 federal, state, local, and international law enforcement professionals.
The Federal Trade Commission works to promote competition and protect and educate consumers. The FTC will never demand money, make threats, tell you to transfer money, or promise you a prize. Learn more about consumer topics at consumer.ftc.gov, or report scams, and bad business practices at ReportFraud.ftc.gov. Follow the FTC on social media, read consumer warnings and the business blog, and sign up to get the latest FTC news and warnings.
1. How much was lost to scams in 2020?| A．About $3.4 billion. | B．About $ 4.1 billion. |
| C．About $5.8 billion. | D．About $9.8 billion. |
| A．Prize scams. | B．Imposter scams. |
| C．Online shopping scams. | D．Internet service scams. |
| A．Relations between the FTC and Sentinel. | B．Introductions to Sentinel’s primary work. |
| C．Problems to be worked out by Sentinel. | D．Expectations for setting up Sentinel. |
| A．Make donations to the FTC. | B．Educate consumers with the FTC. |
| C．Publicize the FTC on social media. | D．Value the FTC warning information. |
Short clips of the “kemusan” — or “subject three” dance — has become a latest Internet sensation on social media platforms at home and abroad. By December 10, the dance,
The dance went viral quickly and has been adapted into
增加:在缺词处加一个洞字符号(⋀), 并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线(\)划掉。
修改：在错的词下画一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1.每处错误及其修改均仅限一词;
2.只允许修改 10 处.多者(从第 11处起)不计分，
In order to bring down the number of accident and make drivers aware of the danger of driving much fast, many speed cameras are fixed on the roads. Most of them were placed in bright yellow boxes, so drivers can see it clearly from a distance and slow down. On other hand, some officials have the opposite ideas.They believe hiding cameras are more effective than visible ones. The reason is because drivers, not knowing the exact locations of the cameras, will drive more cautious. The police are now gathered related data to make sure which is good.
8 . Zhang Xingli, a 60-year-old villager, sat on a stone in front of his house and struck a pose as painters quickly sketched him and his traditional house. At his age, Zhang
The village welcomes
In 2016, changes began when Feng Yake, a college-trained artist,
Feng’s success
In 2020, the village was completely lifted
| A．never | B．still | C．ever | D．always |
| A．painter | B．model | C．organizer | D．villager |
| A．tourists | B．students | C．artists | D．teachers |
| A．destroy. | B．change | C．miss | D．recreate |
| A．figure | B．gesture | C．symbol | D．signal |
| A．Developed | B．Isolated | C．Forbidden | D．Exploited |
| A．arise | B．access | C．settle | D．build |
| A．fertile | B．fragile | C．bare | D．wild |
| A．areas | B．districts | C．households | D．communities |
| A．came | B．got | C．led | D．returned |
| A．situation | B．state | C．location | D．value |
| A．forced | B．allowed | C．convinced | D．ordered |
| A．workshop | B．museum | C．resort | D．hall |
| A．lost | B．earned | C．spent | D．paid |
| A．inspired | B．persuaded | C．frustrated | D．envied |
| A．contrast | B．compare | C．cooperate | D．contradict |
| A．less than | B．more than | C．rather than | D．other than |
| A．all of a sudden | B．in the air | C．in a dilemma | D．out of poverty |
| A．refusing | B．calling | C．meeting | D．receiving |
| A．wage | B．salary | C．income | D．fare |
注意：字数100左右。
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10 . The latest housing trend in America has nothing to do with decoration, but rather the rise of intergenerational roommates. Described as separated by at least one generation, intergenerational roommate arrangements are growing in the United States, and intergenerational houses have increased four times since 1971.
Pick your explanation — growing isolation among the elderly, rising rents, average life-expectancy increasing, an aging population, or rising college tuition, the fact of the matter is that older folks have space available, and tend to be happy to have a young person around.
In March 2021, there were 59. 7 million U. S. residents who lived with multiple generations under one roof.
“It was perfect-Judith has become like my family,” said Nadia Abdullah, a 25-year-old robotics student who in 2019 moved in with the 64-year-old lawyer, Judith. The arrangement of $700 a month plus help around the house has put her just 6-miles from Boston, and 30 minutes from her robotics job in Beverly Mass. Judith and Nadia were matched together thanks to Nesterly, a renting center specifically designed to create intergenerational roommates.
“Through Nesterly, I lived with Sarah while attending Harvard,” writes a young Nesterly reviewer named Kaplan who provided the exact sort of insight into the service one would imagine. “She provided the type of profound knowledge you just can’t Google-showing me how to garden, to cut a fish, and inject French Romanticism into life.”
Biologically-speaking, an arrangement such as Sarah and Kaplan is kind of the natural state of humanity. Scholars believe this is because our intelligence and life experiences, passed down to the next generation, acts as a secondary way to ensure our genetics are passed on; i. e. if you can live long enough to explain to your children and grandchildren exactly which mushrooms they can eat, which snakes are poisonous, how to hunt with a bow and arrow, those offspring will have a better chance of survival.
1. Which summarizes “intergenerational roommates” best?| A．Separated generations’ reunion again. |
| B．Mixed generations sharing houses together. |
| C．International older folks’ gathering. |
| D．Different generations living alone. |
| A．The elderly with houses desire for young guys’ company. |
| B．Isolation is growing sharply among the older folks. |
| C．The average life standard is increasing. |
| D．The college tuition is rising. |
| A．They have a deep understanding of the service. |
| B．They live happily with the elderly free of charge. |
| C．The elderly provide more knowledge than Google does. |
| D．The housing trend actually benefits the young a lot. |
| A．The exact guidance about the living skills. |
| B．The way that intergenerational roommates live. |
| C．The latest study about intergenerational roommates. |
| D．The reason why intergenerational roommates exist. |
