1 . On Friday, Japanese researchers announced a population clock that showed a dangerous situation that the Japanese nation would disappear in 1,000 years if the falling birth rate kept the present level. Researchers in the northern city of Sendai said that Japan’s population of children aged up to 14, which now stands at 16.6 million, was falling at the rate of one child per 100 seconds. It would lead to a terrible result that there would be no children left in Japan in 1,000 years.
“If the rate keeps falling at that rate in our country, there will only be one child who is able to enjoy the following Children’s Day left on May 5th,3011,” said Hiroshi Yoshida, a professor at Toholu University. “But 100 seconds later, a national disaster that there are no children left in Japan will happen,” he added, “The nation’s people will disappear for the birth rate has fallen to the level that every woman has no more than two children, which started in 1975.” Yoshida said they created the population clock to make Japanese people pay close attention to that problem for their nation’s future.
Another study showed that Japan’s population was expected to fall to one third of the present population amount: 127.7 million in the next century. The Japanese government predicted that the birth rate would just become 1.35 children per parents within 50 years.
At the same time, Japanese life expectancy which is expected to ascend from 86.93 years in 2010 to 90.93 years in 2060 for women and from 79.64 years to 84.19 years for men has already been one of the highest in the world. More than 20 percent of the Japanese are aged 65 or over.
It means that Japan has become one of the countries with aging populations in the world. The problem of aging populations is a headache for the government and the Japanese economy because there are fewer and fewer workers who can make money for the country. However, the government has to face the terrible situation that it needs to offer a growing number of pensions.
1. Why did researchers think Japanese people would disappear in 1,000 years?| A．Because the birth rate of the nation is at a very low level. |
| B．Because Japan will be destroyed by a serious earthquake. |
| C．Because the Japanese are afraid of the changing environment. |
| D．Because the country will sink in the Pacific Ocean gradually. |
| A．Children’s Day will be called off | B．16.6 million Japanese children may die |
| C．Japan will become a country without children | D．The birth rate of Japan will go up slowly |
| A．tell people that the Japanese life expectancy is the highest |
| B．show the change of the Japanese population since 1975 |
| C．explain the reason why there is a low birth rate in Japan |
| D．let the Japanese give special importance to the population problems |
| A．The life expectancy will be 90.93 years for women. |
| B．The government will receive a growing number of pensions. |
| C．The population of Japan may only be about 42 million. |
| D．The birth rate will be 1.35 children per family. |
(1)越来越多的人通过做整形手术、穿奇装异服、过度化妆等来追求外在美；
(2)你的看法及理由；
(3)结论。
注意：
(1)词数80左右；
(2)不要逐条翻译，可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
参考词汇：plastic surgery 整形手术
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3 . In recent years, China has witnessed the growth of luxury (奢侈品) brands. In this market, Chinese consumers are now the largest spenders. It’s clear that a new generation of young, materialistic people is increasingly relying on luxury brands to improve its self-image. I am a fashionist too, at least in spirit—I love to look at clothes and shoes. But I don’t understand why people spend lots of money on designer labels. When a young woman buys a handbag that costs two months of her salary, that’s a scary thing.
What’s interesting is that scientists have found that having luxury things doesn’t lead to happiness. Study after study has shown that although we want material things, when we get them we don’t suddenly become “happy” people. In fact, a series of studies by Leaf Van Boven at the University of Colorado, US, has shown that individuals who spend money on travel and similar experiences get more pleasure than those who invest it in material things. That’s because experiences are more easily combined with a person’s identity. If I travel to Yunnan, that adventure affects how I think in the future. My memories become a part of me.
Moreover, as Van Boven has observed, young people who pursue happiness through “things” are liked less by their peers. People prefer those who pursue happiness through experiences.
It’s natural to want to express yourself through your appearance. So my advice is: create a look that isn’t tied to a designer label. Convey your own message. Take some lessons from the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. He was always in Levis jeans and a black turtleneck. Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, routinely appears in hoodies and sneakers. These people, successful people, have style. You don’t have to break the bank to send a message about who you are. Take a trip. Go out into the world. Then come back and confidently create your own signature look.
1. What can we infer from the first three paragraphs?| A．The author enjoys buying luxury brands herself. |
| B．The author agrees to spend money on material things. |
| C．The author is critical of youths tying their looks to designer labels. |
| D．The author finds it natural for fashionists to follow fashion trends. |
| A．traveling changes a person’s identity greatly |
| B．people dislike those who love luxuries |
| C．experiences can bring people more happiness than luxuries |
| D．luxuries have a negative effect on people’s happiness |
| A．Be selective about designer labels. | B．Create your own personal unique style. |
| C．Choose styles that are simple and comfortable. | D．Try styles like Mark Zuckerberg’s. |
| A．persuade readers to invest in experiences instead of luxuries |
| B．prove how luxury leads to an unpleasant life |
| C．tell how to express yourself through appearances |
| D．report on a series of studies about luxuries and happiness |
4 . For those of us who grew up watching Star Trek, exploring space has been about discovering strange new worlds. And there are plenty of worlds to explore in time, but we still need major technological advancements to reach planets that are light years away.
What we are doing in space today is providing unbelievable benefits right now, right here on Earth. From space, we can monitor, manage and care for our planet. Satellite-based sensors show us the short- and long-term effects of human activity on our environment. Many companies are using their interest in space to help solve problems here, from using hyperspectral imaging(高光谱成像), which enable us to map vegetation(植被) and rain forests, to microsatellites that provide global connectivity for the network of things.
My company, OneWeb, is focusing on what I believe is one of the world’s most important issues: the need for equal access to the Internet. The Internet has become our economic lifeblood. And yet, nearly half of the world’s population doesn’t have Internet access. Space is playing a key role in bridging this digital divide. OneWeb is launching 1,980 satellites to help bring Internet access to people everywhere, and our first production satellites are already flying in space and have shown very high download speeds.
Fiber and cable Internet access technologies already cover most financially viable(可行的) major cities. Similarly, these regions will also be the first to be served with 5G. Poor communities are the last to get connected, and without connectivity, those communities have no chance to lift themselves from poverty. OneWeb’s satellites will reach every community in the world and enable equal access to the Internet for the world’s less developed places.
Fifty years from the day when man first walked on the moon, we are still only approaching the possible. There will be tens of thousands of new satellites, space stations and factories in the coming years to bring advancements in communications, scientific research, monitoring the earth, exploring space and more. This is exciting, but we must take action carefully.
1. What is the second paragraph mainly about?| A．Benefits space exploration can bring to us. |
| B．Problems space exploration leads to. |
| C．Steps of space exploration requires. |
| D．Equipment space exploration needs. |
| A．Increase download speeds. |
| B．Narrow the gap in Internet learning. |
| C．Help people set up and maintain a website. |
| D．Enable people to make use of the Internet equally. |
| A．More than six decades ago, man first walked on the moon. |
| B．More than half of the world’s people have no access to the Internet. |
| C．OneWeb’s satellites will make it possible for most people to be served with 5G. |
| D．Without the Internet, poor communities can hardly help themselves out of poverty. |
| A．The risks of furthering space exploration. |
| B．The value of setting up space stations. |
| C．The way we could monitor our earth. |
| D．The features of microsatellites. |
5 . A new research from the University of Michigan stated, “People tend to have one of three beliefs about the meaning of work and which category you fall into largely depends on your parents.” Workers who are job-oriented (有工作倾向的) are those just trying to make a living who much prefer the activities they pursue outside of the office. Career-oriented adults value the social status and fame that comes with professional achievement. Calling-oriented people do work that they are passionate about because they want to have a positive impact on the world.
In the first study into how these orientations originate, researchers found that how teenagers perceive their parents’ work habit is central to the development of their own work attitudes. It’s not a straightforward transfer of values. People who perceive their father to have a strong career-orientation are more likely to be career-oriented themselves-but career-determined mothers have no effect on their kids’ work orientation. The researchers owed this to generational gender norms. When the study’s participants were teenagers, mostly in the1980s, men were more commonly employed outside of the home and were more likely than women to hold “career” jobs with opportunity for advancement. Mothers do have a notable effect on whether children have a job-orientation mentality. Teenagers who are close to their mothers are less likely to view work as just a job when they grow up, probably because they’ve been raised to value social, rather than instrumental life experiences.
Having both parents display the same work ethic (行为准则) has a strong influence, but only in the case of calling-oriented offspring (子女). As the society nowadays favors money and professional achievement, a child with two calling-oriented parents is more likely to have the confidence to ignore these societal pressures and pursue her dreams. Children can affect their parents’ work ethic, too. Allowing people to bring their children into the office has been shown to boost efficiency and productivity and could help raise that next generation of career-oriented workers.
1. What motivates calling-oriented people to do work they like?| A．To achieve social status and fame. | B．To pursue activities outside the office. |
| C．To believe they can earn them much money. | D．To make a positive contribution to the world. |
| A．Peer pressure. | B．Personal preferences. |
| C．Educational background. | D．Awareness of parents’ work habits. |
| A．Because mothers value social life experiences. |
| B．Because mothers focus on instrumental life experiences. |
| C．Because mothers tend to have a stronger career orientation. |
| D．Because mothers emphasize the importance of work as just a job. |
| A．The influence of societal pressures on work beliefs. |
| B．The preferences of workers in different occupations. |
| C．The impact of parental work habits on teenagers’ attitudes. |
| D．The relationship between money and professional achievement. |
6 . The first wave of concerns over artificial intelligence(AI)in 2023 appeared soon after New Year’s Day when classrooms reopened and schools from Seattle to Paris started blocking ChatGPT, a powerful software based on AI large language models, because teenagers were using it to do their homework.
The AI large language models behind such products as ChatGPT work by repeatedly guessing the next word in a sentence after having “learned” the rules from a huge amount of/human-written works. Although they often get facts wrong, their answers appear so natural that Keven, their inventors begin to worry about their possible use for spreading false information.
People became more worried when various AI products started to create not just texts but novel images, music and human voices, which threatened the livelihoods of anyone who writes, draws or sings for a living. It led to strikes by Hollywood writers and actors and legal challenges from artists and bestselling authors. Some of the most respected scientists even warned that the technology’s unchecked progress was possibly threatening human existence. “In the longer term, they might manage our attention,” pioneering AI scientist Fei Fei Lisaid. “They would tell us which video to watch, which book to read or whose communication to respond as AI technology’s abilities improve rapidly. They could be a very good assistant, but also with really big risks.”
Li hoped that 2023 is going to be a year for people to think about what Al is, how to use it and what the effects are — all the good, the bad and the ugly.
“It’s easy to forget that they are not the first wave of AI products. Computer vision techniques developed by Li and other scientists have helped sort through a huge database of photos to recognize objects and individual faces and guide self-driving cars. Speech recognition advances have made voice assistants like Siri and Alexa a normal thing in many people’s lives,” said Tom Gruber, co-founder of Siri Inc.
1. Why did schools try to stop their students from using ChatGPT?| A．ChatGPT often got facts wrong in the class. |
| B．Students spent too much time on the software. |
| C．ChatGPT helped students spread false information. |
| D．Students used the software to cheat at their homework. |
| A．AI’s training costs. | B．ATs amazing abilities. |
| C．AI’s possible threats. | D．AI’s fast developments. |
| A．Think carefully about AI’s impact. | B．Welcome AI technology |
| C．Do use ChatGPT more carefully. | D．Upgrade ChatGPT in time. |
| A．A news report. | B．A guide book to a software. |
| C．A product review. | D．An introduction to a person. |
7 . Angus Neish dared to hope that his fine-looking cattle, bred at Rodmead Farm in Wilt-shire, would nab a prize at the Royal Bath and West Show last month. The annual fair, held near Shepton Mallet, in Somerset, is England’s oldest and grandest. As well as a fiercely competitive livestock parade, it features Morris dancing, sheep-shearing and a vintage fairground. Its pony-chariot races are second to none. Many contestants performed vigorously before a large crowd. 100,000 turned out for some of the three-day show.
Britons love a fair. No one is sure exactly how many shows there are across the country, but at least 400 days of such rural events happen annually across the country. Roughly one in ten Britons attend them each year. It appears their popularity is rising.
In late June, it was the turn of the Royal Highland Show, near Edinburgh, where 217,000 people—breaking a record set in 2019—rolled up. It is estimated that the event last year boosted nearby businesses by almost £40m ($51m).
Why do people go? Nostalgia (怀旧) is evidently a draw. At Bath and West, as colored flags flapped, visitors formed queues, bought cream teas and listened as a military band played wartime hits. Rural shows also have a purpose. Many fairs were founded to spread the knowledge of new farming technology among rural populations. Some of that mission lives on.
A secondary goal is to better educate those who flood in from towns and cities—urban folk make up a decent share of those who pack the grounds. Some consumers also come armed with powerful knowledge of food supply chains—as well as sometimes picky personal preferences for organic, local, animal-friendly and environmentally sound products. Laura Williams, of the Royal Welsh Show, notes that visitors are “much more invested in farming and interested in where their food comes from” than in years past.
A last purpose, naturally, is for farmers to excel against their rivals in friendly competition. In this respect, Mr. Neish enjoyed an utterly successful day. In a first for Bath and West, his cattle scooped all four of the top prizes on offer in their categories. Such victories do not bring immediate, large financial rewards, but should boost the reputation of his breeding program.
1. What do we know about the fair last month?| A．It saw high attendances. |
| B．It was a monthly show. |
| C．It was a fierce art competition. |
| D．It conveyed British moral values. |
| A．To narrow the urban-rural gap. |
| B．To promote wartime hit records. |
| C．To offer an insight into farming. |
| D．To erase competition among farmers. |
| A．An instant profit. |
| B．Marketing strategies. |
| C．A chance to advertise. |
| D．An academic reputation. |
| A．Rural shows: Victors’ stage |
| B．Masses of farmers: True winners |
| C．Farm products: Sweeping British |
| D．Fun of the fair: Gaining popularity |
8 . Social media can lead to mental exhaustion (疲惫). And when mentally exhausted, you are more likely to be influenced by a high number of likes on posts—even to the point of clicking on ads for products you don't need or want.
As a professor of advertising, I have studied social media behaviors for years. In late 2022, my colleague Eric Haley and I conducted three online studies on Americans aged 18—65 to test how people under various mental loads respond to ads differently.
The control group in each study were given no introductory task—we just had them look at an ad. A second group had to memorize a nine-digit number and then look at the ad. The third group looked through the Internet for 30 seconds and then looked at the ad. Participants randomly saw an ad with a few hundred likes or tens of thousands of likes. After viewing the ad, each participant rated how willing they would be to buy the product, and how much mental effort it took to think about the information.
The group that used the Internet first were the most likely to want to buy the featured product when there were lots of likes or comments, and they also reported using the most mental effort to assess the ad. Researchers refer to this mentally exhausted state as “cognitive (认知的) overload”. Using social media puts them in this state because they are constantly evaluating different types of texts, photos and video posts from so many different people. In the span of several seconds, they can see a text from their husband or wife, a photo from a co-worker, a video from a celebrity and an emoji from their brother. All of this evaluating leaves them feeling frazzled.
Imagine asking your roommate if they want to go get pizza. Under normal conditions, the roommate might consider several factors such as cost, hunger, timing or their schedule. Now imagine asking your roommate the same question while they are on the phone with a sick relative. They no longer have the mental energy to logically consider whether pizza for dinner is a good idea.
By understanding how social media influences them, consumers can be more thoughtful in regulating their use—and hopefully not buy yet another water bottle they don’t need.
1. Why did the author conduct three online studies on Americans aged 18-65?| A．To investigate their online habits. |
| B．To test their reactions to advertisements. |
| C．To research what kind of advertising is effective. |
| D．To discover why people suffer great mental stress. |
| A．Its purpose. | B．Its process. | C．Its finding. | D．Its significance. |
| A．Interested. | B．Depressed. | C．Annoyed. | D．Tired. |
| A．To further explain cognitive overload. |
| B．To stress the importance of. relationships. |
| C．To strongly call on people to eat healthily. |
| D．To remind people not to rely on mobile phones. |
1. 介绍你班同学使用手机的情况；
2. 你的感受和建议。
注意: 1. 写作词数应为80个左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
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10 . Creative people are more likely to make the most of their idle (空闲的) time during a typical day by exploring their mind, a new study by University of Arizona researchers suggests.
In the study, the researchers divided the study into two parts. For the first experiment, the researchers asked each participant to sit alone in a room for 10 minutes without any access to digital devices. In the absence of any particular prompt (提示), the participants were asked to speak out their thoughts aloud in real time. The recorded files from 81 participants were then analyzed.
The researchers assessed the participants’ creativity through a thinking test, a lab-based verbal test that measures a person’s ability to think outside of the box. Participants who performed well in the thinking test had thoughts that flowed freely and were associated with one another, often indicated by phrases such as “this reminds me of” or “speaking of which”.
“While many participants had a tendency to jump between seemingly unrelated thoughts, creative individuals showed signs of thinking more associatively,” Raffaeli said, who was a senior author of the paper.
The first experiment also found that creative people were more engaged in their thoughts when they were left alone without distractions (干扰), such as the cellphone and Internet. “Creative people rated themselves as being less bored, even over those 10 minutes. They also spoke more words overall, which indicated that their thoughts were more likely to move freely,” Raffaeli said.
To further prove their initial findings, the researchers extended their study in the context of a much larger span of time—from 2020 to 2023 when many people were alone with their thoughts more often. For the second experiment, over 2,600 adults answered questions through a smartphone app called Mind Window. Participants who self-identified as being creative reported being less bored and more engaged in their thoughts during that period.
The researchers are continuing this line of work using their Mind Window app. They encourage people to download and use the app to help scientists understand how people across the world think in their everyday lives. “Understanding why different people think the way they do may lead to promising interventions to improve health and well-being,” Raffaeli said.
1. What were the participants asked to do in the first experiment?| A．Play digital devices for just 10 minutes. |
| B．Voice their thoughts quickly when asked. |
| C．Observe and record each other’s performance. |
| D．Make self-assessment in a thinking test. |
| A．They often had associated ideas. |
| B．They thought of anything as a reminder. |
| C．They preferred to sit alone without being distracted. |
| D．They tended to jump between unrelated thoughts. |
| A．To analyze their own thoughts. | B．To try out the function of the app. |
| C．To keep track of their thinking. | D．To improve their own mental well-being. |
| A．Idle Time Makes Creative People |
| B．Creative Thoughts Appear in Idle Time |
| C．Creative People Are Less Affected by Distraction |
| D．Creative People Enjoy Idle Time More Than Others |
