1 . Everyone knows that running is a good way to stay in shape. The simplicity of running appeals to many people. You don’t need a lot of complicated or expensive equipment; you just need a good pair of running shoes. Well, that idea is changing.     1    

This is not a surprise to the Tarahumara Indians, who live in northwest Mexico. The rough terrain (地势) in their area makes it easier to travel on foot than by horse or by car. Traditionally, the Tarahumara were hunters. They follow their prey over long distances, sometimes, for days, until the animals became exhausted.     2     They are known for their endurance, running races of 50 miles or longer. When Tarahumara athletes ra n in the marathon at the 1968 Olympics, they didn’t understand that the race was over after only 26.2 miles, so they kept running. “Too short, too short,” they complained.

But here is the amazing part: Tarahumara runners don’t wear running shoes. Tarahumara shoes are very simple. The sole (鞋底) is a piece of rubber held to the foot with homemade belt. These rubber soles protect against sharp objects, but they don’t provide any support or cushioning.

How is it possible that some of the best runners in the world don’t wear running shoes? Scientific studies are beginning to point to something the Tarahumara have known for centuries: Human beings are built for running barefoot. In a recent study, researchers used a video camera to examine how athletes run when they are barefoot.     3     When they do this, the arch (足弓) of foot absorbs the impact. Then that force is redirected back up through the leg.

    4     Walk into a sporting goods store today and you will find sections that are devoted to the shoes using the simplest structure. With a thin sole and heel, they are designed to be the shoes that feel like no shoes. The increasing number of these shoes on the market is evidence of this new trend. It is clear that shoe companies and runners are beginning to accept the wisdom of Tarahumara — barefoot may be the best.

A．The study revealed that barefoot runners land on the middle of their foot.

B．Some researchers suggest that perhaps you do not need shoes at all.

C．As a result, for the Tarahumara, running very long distances became part of daily life.

D．Many of these shoes have higher heels that are equipped with special materials.

E．As the force of impact drives the foot toward the ground, the arch flattens and expands.

F．In response to this research, shoe companies started to reconsider the design of running shoes.

2 . Recent years have seen a small increase in unemployment rates due to slowing of the economy. The fact that many college graduates are finding it difficult to land a job has sparked online discussions on the cost of education and the returns on it, with many agreeing with the notion that “education is useless”.

Stories like a person with a doctorate’s degree from Zhejiang University is delivering food, and overseas-returned graduates are selling hot-pot ingredients have caused many to question the value of education. Moreover, the fact that about 36,000 fewer candidates have applied to take the postgraduate exam in 2024, the first decline in numbers in years, has also fueled the “education is useless theory.

Is education truly worthless? This question has resurfaced due to several factors.

The wide spread of higher education has significantly increased the number of college graduates, reducing the value of college degrees. As the job market becomes over-crowded with graduates, the scarcity of high-level talents has become apparent, particularly in fields such as the humanities. For example, more than 900 institutions in China offer English major, making it the most common degree program, yet there’s a shortage of top talents who are proficient in English and have a good knowledge about the differences in Chinese and foreign approach to fields such as international relations and journalism.

The declining returns on the investment in education have given rise to the “education is useless” theory. Given the challenging job market, many believe college education does not guarantee any sort of employment, let alone a suitable job. And with various economic opportunities available, the notion that one can become financially successful even without formal education is becoming increasingly acceptable.

In light of these developments, combined efforts need to be made to change the situation. For instance, universities must take measures to integrate education, research and industry, while enhancing cooperation with enterprises through tailored talent training programs. Additionally, the authorities need to pay greater attention to vocational education, an important part of China’s educational system. Students, parents and society, on their part, should abandon their bias against vocational training, because it integrates education with career prospects throughout the learning process, offering targeted, technical and practical training which allows students to master their skills which can get them well-paying jobs in the future.

Developing a correct view of employment and career choice is key to abandoning the notion of “education being useless”. People, especially students, must understand the current employment landscape, their positioning, and strengths and weaknesses. While realizing that a college degree is no longer a ticket to employment, college students should leverage education resources to enrich their professional knowledge and competitiveness. And youths should approach vocational education with an open mind in order to make the most of what the job market has to offer.

Education is not synonymous with earning money, nor does a college degree guarantee financial success. The value of education is knowledge, which we need to make informed decisions not only in our professional life but also in our social and other fields of life.

1. What are the main reasons for the recent rise in the belief that ”education is useless”?

A．Economic slowdown and job scarcity.

B．Sad stories about educated individuals.

C．Decline in postgraduate exam applicants.

D．Emphasis on practical skills over qualifications.

2. How can universities contribute to improving the current situation?

A．By focusing solely on academic research.

B．By integrating education, research, and industry.

C．By ignoring cooperation with enterprises.

D．By eliminating vocational education courses.

3. The underlined word leverage in paragraph 7 can be best replaced by___________.

A．limit

B．abandon

C．balance

D．maximize

4. What is the author’s attitude towards the development of vocational education?

A．Negative and pessimistic	B．Positive and supportive
C．Balanced and objective	D．Unclear and ambiguous

3 .

I offer to pay you $200 in one year if you give me $190 today. Good deal or bad deal? It’s the kind of math problem you might encounter in real life, _________, say, whether the cosecant (余割) of a 30-degree angle is 1 or 2. You can imagine students _________ their spirits and paying attention when they realize that they need to know algebra (代数) to avoid being cheated on a loan. Math and personal finance make a _________ fit. Students grasp concepts in math much better when they see how those subjects _________ their daily financial lives.

A survey in 2022 funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation found that 61 percent of parents of students said math education should be “relevant to the real world” _________ that only 21 percent said it was. The drive for relevance goes beyond K-12 education. Some of America’s top universities are _________ personal finance into their curriculums.

Harvard has a personal finance course in the _________ department that’s taught by John Campbell, a past president of the American Finance Association. “_________, personal finance was regarded as a very sort of hands-on skill that you might teach to people who were going to a technical high school,” he told me. “There is, I would say, a modern movement to _________ of personal finance as a subject with actually a lot more intellectual content.”

In most high schools, personal finance classes are light on math, and math classes are __________ in personal finance. The FiCycle curriculum has plenty of each. “The personal finance component is incredibly __________ for our high school students,” Philip Dituri, the director of education at Financial Life Cycle Education, who has a doctorate in math education, told me. He believed that quite a lot of students would be stimulated by the __________.

There is a __________ standard for personal finance education that was put together by the Council for Economic Education and the JumpStart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy. It emphasizes how to __________ one’s finances. FiCycle focuses more on the underlying concepts. It’s about “how and why individuals and households transfer consumption over time,” Financial Life Cycle Education says.

In conclusion, the integration of math and personal finance in education is not just an academic pursuit, but a __________ necessity for students to guide their real life. It is time for educational institutions to take note and adapt their curricula to better prepare students for the financial challenges of adulthood.

1.

A．similar to

B．as opposed to

C．compared with

D．coupled with

2.

A．lifting

B．lowering

C．forgetting

D．struggling

3.

A．awful

B．forced

C．perfect

D．temporary

4.

A．apply to

B．pass down

C．identify with

D．kick off

5.

A．for

B．but

C．and

D．so

6.

A．breathing

B．rolling

C．quoting

D．introducing

7.

A．politics

B．economics

C．mathematics

D．physics

8.

A．Traditionally

B．Constantly

C．Frequently

D．Thankfully

9.

A．restore

B．recover

C．reconsider

D．retell

10.

A．lacking

B．sufficient

C．absent

D．present

11.

A．depressing

B．amazing

C．challenging

D．motivating

12.

A．combination

B．separation

C．application

D．publication

13.

A．regional

B．local

C．national

D．individual

14.

A．learn

B．increase

C．examine

D．manage

15.

A．practical

B．regrettable

C．miserable

D．relaxing

4 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1. How many French songs should DJs play according to the new rule?

A．40 percent.

B．60 percent.

C．90 percent.

2. Why are the radio bosses and DJs unhappy about the new rule?

A．More people will not listen to their radio.

B．No people will listen to their American songs.

C．The English language will get deeper into their culture.

3. What is the purpose of the new rule?

A．To protect American culture.

B．To protect French culture.

C．To protect British culture.

4. What’s the French musicians’ attitude toward the new rule?

A．They hate it.

B．They don’t care.

C．They’re for it.

5 . ChatGPT, as a large language model, learned to generate human-like text based on a given context. It can do most of the text-generation tasks that involve natural language for communication. Examples of these tasks are text completion (e.g. email and report writing), paraphrasing, text summarization, machine translation, and question-answering. In addition, it can also be used for conversational AI applications, such as chatbots and virtual assistants.

While the ChatGPT platform has a wide range of applications related to text generation, outputs should be evaluated critically and used with caution, as they may contain false, biased, or outdated information.

The use of homework aids in higher education is not new. For years, students have used sites like Quizlet to cut comers as they complete homework assignments or take online quizzes. In response, teachers have had to adapt to these challenges and design assessments that can avoid the use of these tools.

I view ChatGPT in the same light. Essentially, ChatGPT collects information readily available online to form a response to a given prompt (提示). The AI has no capacity for critical thinking and often misses the mark whenever a prompt requires any critical or abstract thinking If university teachers want to avoid the threat of ChatGPT, then perhaps the strictness of their assignments needs to be increased.

While there are many concerns that ChatGPT harms academic assessment, it and better versions may force us to shift our curriculum to higher levels of critical thinking. Beyond this, we may discover ways it can be used to enhance the learning process. If students focus on advanced aspects of their schoolwork, chatbots could assist with more menial (微不足道的) educational tasks. For example, some instructors are experimenting with new forms of student engagement, including project-based learning. Perhaps a chatbot could be used to brainstorm on these projects. Learning effectiveness could be enhanced by customizing the learning process at an individual level to better match a diversified student body.

1. What’s the common point between ChatGPT and Quizlet according to the passage?

A．They should both be assessed objectively and used carefully.

B．They are both widely used by teachers, instructors and faculty.

C．They are both sites provided for students to take an online quiz.

D．They can both help students take a shortcut when doing homework.

2. What’s the main drawback of ChatGPT according to the passage?

A．It can only be used for traditional AI applications.

B．It’s not accurate or unbiased enough when generating text.

C．It cannot the level of critical thinking as high as that of humans.

D．It cannot be widely used in higher education or diversified learning.

3. What’s the new challenge that teachers are facing with the rise of ChatGPT?

A．They have to meet the diversified demands of students.

B．They have to deal with the cheating problem of students.

C．They have to design more strict and precise assignments.

D．They have to make the class more effective through advanced techs.

4. The author holds a(an) ________ attitude towards the emergence of ChatGPT.

A．indifferent

B．critical

C．objective

D．supportive

6 . Human Being or Human Doing?

During my seemingly-endless career as a high school teacher, not even once have I woken up in the morning, realizing that it’s the beginning of a new week, joyfully posted a Wechat Moment and said “Thank God! It’s Monday again!”

    1    . I learned this through a series of recent events where some people of my age whom I have known for years all bragged about their being super busy and took huge pride in working all the time. Although I can relate to their ambition to change the world, I am not quite sure whether that world in their mouth will change for the better or the worse.

Welcome to hustle culture (过劳文化). Now we all live in a society that encourages us to equate our work with our intrinsic value as human beings.     2    . Workers should love what they do and then promote that love on social media, thus taking the standard of a qualified employee to a whole new level.

It is not hard to view hustle culture as a swindle (欺诈行为).     3    . And the vast majority of people beating the drums of hustle-mania (狂热) are not the people who do the actual work. Sooner or later, employees will have to decide for themselves if they embrace or reject this culture of overwork.

    4    . It is no longer considered embarrassing to re-post whatever their companies have posted on Wechat. On some level, one has to respect the hustlers who see a dismal (令人沮丧的) system and understand that success in it requires total, shameless buy-in.

If we are doomed to overwork until we die, we may at least die with dignity. Stop pretending to love Mondays!

A．However, the gloomy employment prospect in recent years has significantly reduced the bargaining power of workers.

B．Apparently, that makes me slightly different from people of my generation.

C．After all, persuading a generation of workers to work their heads off is convenient for those at the top.

D．Hustle culture can negatively affect people’s personal relationships as they favor the hustle over the connections with others.

E．In this new work culture, enduring or even merely liking one’s job is no longer enough.

F．Furthermore, all that nonstop work will lead to exhaustion and burnout, which can have lasting harmful consequences.

7 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passages coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

Just as people have altered their skin’s color to indicate wealth and beauty, so have cultures around the globe marked their skin to show cultural identity or community status. Tattooing (纹身), for example, has been carried out for thousands of years. Leaders in places     1    (include) ancient Egypt, Britain, and Peru wore tattoos to mark their status or bravery. Today, among the Maori people of New Zealand, full-facial tattoos are still used     2    (identify) the wearer as a member of a certain family.

In Japan, tattooing had been practiced for a long time     3     it was outlawed in the 19^th century. Despite the fact that there are no laws against it today, tattoos are still strongly associated with criminals — particularly the yakuza known for their full-body tattoos. The complex design of a yakuza member’s tattoo includes symbols of character qualities     4     the wearer wants to have. The process of getting a full-body tattoo is both slow and painful and     5     can take two years or more to complete.

In some cultures, scarring — a marking which     6    (cause) by cutting or burning the skin — is a practice, usually among people who have darker skin on which a tattoo would be difficult to see. For many men in West Africa, scarring is a ceremony of passage —     7     act symbolizing that a male has matured from a child into an adult. In Australia, among some native people, cuts     8    (make) on the skin of both men and women show that they reach the age of 16 or 17.     9     these, they were traditionally not permitted to trade, sing ceremonial songs, or participate in other activities.

Not all skin markings are permanent, though. In countries such as Morocco and India, women     10     decorate their skin with colorful henna designs for celebrations such as weddings and important religious holidays. The henna coloring, which comes from a plant, fades over time.

8 . This question has fascinated behavioural scientists for decades: why do we give money to charity?

The explanations for charitable giving fall into three broad categories, from the purely altruisic (利他的)— I donate because I value the social good done by the charity. The “impurely” altruistic— I donate because I extract value from knowing I contribute to the social good for the charity. And the not-at-all altruistic— I donate because I want to show off to potential mates how rich I am.

But are these motives strong enough to enable people to donate as much as they would want to? Most people support charities in one way or another, but often we struggle to make donations as often as we think we should. Although many people would like to leave a gift to charity in their will, they forget about it when the time comes.

Many people are also aware that they should donate to the causes that have the highest impact, but facts and figures are less attractive than narratives. In a series of experiments, it was found that people are much more responsive to charitable pleas that feature a single, identifiable beneficiary(受益者), than they are to statistical information about the scale of the problem being faced. When it comes to charitable giving, we are often ruled by our hearts and not our heads.

The good news is that charitable giving is contagious—seeing others give makes an individual more likely to give and gentle encouragement from an important person in your life can also make a big difference to your donation decisions— more than quadrupling them in our recent study. Habit also plays a part— in three recent experiments those who volunteered before were more likely to do donate their time than those who had not volunteered before.

In summary, behavioural science identifies a range of factors that influence our donations, and can help us to keep giving in the longer term. This is great news not just for charities, but also for donors.

1. What can we learn about people who do charitable giving?

A．Most people support charity as often as they think they should.

B．Some people don’t want to leave a gift to charity until the time comes.

C．Those who donate because they can gain an advantage are purely altruistic.

D．Some people send money to charity simply to tell others they are wealthy.

2. In which way will people donate more willingly?

A．Not revealing the names of the donors.

B．Showing figures about the seriousness of the problem.

C．Telling stories that feature a single, recognizable beneficiary.

D．Reminding people to write down what to donate in the will in advance.

3. What does the underlined sentence in paragraph 5 mean?

A．People will learn from others and follow the suit.

B．Many people are familiar with charitable giving.

C．Charitable giving helps the beneficiary in all aspects.

D．Charitable giving can bring a lot of benefits to donors.

4. What is the writing purpose of the passage?

A．To persuade more people to donate.

B．To explain the science behind why people donate.

C．To criticize some false charitable giving behaviours.

D．To explore approaches to making people donate more.

9 . Which is more important for parents, making more money to give the kids a better life or spending more time with them? It is a problem for parents and it is not easy to decide. A new study shows that today’s parents are spending more time with their children than parents in the past. According to the study, today’s college-educated mothers spend about 21.2 hours a week taking care of their children. But women with less education spend about 15.9 hours. Before 1995, it was only 12 hours.

Dads are spending more time on ball games. Before 1995, fathers with college educations only spent about 4.5 hours a week playing with their children. Today, it increases to 9.6 hours a week. For fathers with high school education, the time goes up from 3.7 hours to 6.8.

These days, parents don’t care more about the cleaning or the cooking. They are trying their best to spend time with their families. As for the kids, they don’t mind how much time their parents spend with them. They just want to enjoy the time their parents do be with them.

So, take part in the kids’ activities when you are with them, such as helping with homework or playing soccer with them.

1. How long do college-educated mothers spend taking care of their kids a week?

A．About 9.6 hours.	B．About 12 hours.
C．About 15.9 hours.	D．About 21.2 hours.

2. What can we know from the new study?

A．Women with less education spend about12 hours staying with their kids,

B．Mothers in the past spent less time staying with kids than mothers these days.

C．Mothers with college education are lazier than those with less education.

D．Dads spend more time staying with their kids than mothers do.

3. How long did fathers with college education spend with kids a month before 1995?

A．About 4.5 hours.	B．Less than 9 hours.
C．About 13.5 hours.	D．About 18 hours.

4. What do kids care about according to the text?

A．They care about how much money their parents can make.

B．They care about how much time their parents spend with them.

C．They care if their parents are really with them.

D．They care if their parents can give them a better life.

10 . According to a recent article in The Wall Street Journal, we might all be braggarts (大话王) in this competitive society addicted to social networking.

Take a close look at your social-networking sites. Do you like to post photos of yourself in restaurants to show others what an exciting life you have? Or do you like to write about how happily in love you are? Or perhaps you are of the subtle type who constantly complain about jobs but really just want to impress others with your important position.

According to the results of a series of experiments conducted by Harvard University neuroscientists (神经科学家), the reward areas of our brain — the same areas that respond to “primary rewards” such as food — are activated when we talk about ourselves. We devote between 30 to 40 percent of our conversation time to doing just that. Unfortunately, Bernstein says, some people can’t tell the difference between sharing positive information that others might actually want to know and direct bragging. She suggests that bragging involves comparison, whether stated or implied.

“We are expected to be perfect all the time. The result is that more and more people are carefully managing their online images,” says Elizabeth Bernstein, a columnist with the Wall Street Journal.

But the issue is not limited to the Internet. In a fiercely competitive job market we must sell ourselves on multiple platforms and show that we are better than others. In fact, we have become so accustomed to bragging that we don’t even realize we are doing it, says Bernstein. This is harmful to our relationships and puts people off.

Bernstein talked to some experts who said that people brag for all sorts of reasons: to appear worthy of attention; to prove to ourselves we are doing fine and that people who said we would fail are wrong; or simply because we’re excited when good things happen to us.

“Feel sorry for them, because they’re doing this unconscious, destructive thing that won’t help them in the long run,” said Professor Simian Valier, a research psychologist at Washington University.

1. The underlined word “subtle” in Para.2 is closest in meaning to “________”.

A．hidden

B．apparent

C．outstanding

D．simple

2. Which of the following is one of the features of braggarts?

A．They control conversation and only talk about themselves.

B．They know well how to share positive information.

C．They self-promote to stand out in their career.

D．They don’t pay much attention to their online image.

3. What can we infer from the passage?

A．Braggarts make a good first impression but the effect decreases over time.

B．People who like bragging know what they are doing.

C．Braggarts always adopt comparison directly to show they are excellent.

D．They care much about the feelings of others when talking.

4. Which would be the best title for the passage?

A．Are you a braggart?	B．Society addicted to networking
C．Why do we keep on bragging?	D．How to deal with a braggart?