3 . German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has dismissed concerns that growing Chinese competition is a threat to the local automotive industry, while welcoming Chinese carmakers to Europe’s largest auto show, IAA Mobility 2023, in Munich.

The six-day event officially opened on Tuesday. Scholz said increased competition from China was good for the German auto industry. “Fair competition stimulates business. It is in the interest of consumers,” he said, “as Chinese electric vehicle companies show eased several new fully electric models, out shining some German automotive giants.” Competition should stimulate us on, not scare us.

“The countries that have achieved great prosperity in the course of globalization, the workers there, have no less right and no less claim to the opportunities of modernity than we do,” Scholz said of China.

“In the 1980s, it was said (that) Japanese cars would overrun the market. Twenty years later, it was cars made in South Korea and now supposedly Chinese electric cars,” Scholz, who wore a black eye patch due to an injury from a jogging accident on Saturday, said.

The German chancellor also expressed confidence in his country’s strengths. “There is no question about the international competitiveness of Germany as a car country,” he said, adding that “Germany is still the linchpin of the auto industry and will remain so.”

Jun Jin, an auto industry expert, said the international market provides great opportunities for Chinese EV (电动汽车) makers, given their strength in technology and costs. “But this does not simply mean repeating their China success story; they need to succeed by adopting local practices,” Jun told China Daily.

Chinese companies, he said, still count on exports and have a long way to go before manufacturing vehicles overseas, arranging global supply chains and improving services for local customers.

1. How did Scholz view increased competition from China in auto industry?

A．Scholz thought that Chinese competition is not a threat to the local auto industry.

B．Scholz was not concerned about the competition from China in auto industry

C．Scholz thought increased competition was harmful to the German auto industry.

D．Scholz thought that consumers of auto industry would be interested in the competition.

2. What can we infer from Scholz’s words in the third paragraph?

A．Developing countries has no right to achieve modernity.

B．China has the equal right and claim to seek modernity.

C．The workers in German has more opportunities than others.

D．The course of globalization will favor developed countries more.

3. What does the underlined word in the sixth paragraph mean?

A．serious problem

B．noticeable weakness

C．angry consumer

D．key role

4. What can we conclude from Jun Jin’s words?

A．Chinese EV makers has no advantage in technology in international market.

B．Chinese EV makers should adopt local practices in international market.

C．Chinese companies still have a long way to go in manufacturing vehicles.

D．Chinese companies is good at arranging global supply chains and services.

4 . Are you really boring? Or is it just in your head? The first crucial step, which you absolutely mustn’t skip, is to question this idea that you are boring, check it rationally (理性地), and try to determine if indeed it’s true.

You see, of all the people I’ve coached over the last 7+ years who believed they’re boring, getting to know them and their conversation style, for well over half of them I’ve concluded that this belief was just in their head. It was a false, limiting belief; and they came to see that too. So, statistically, there is at least a 50% chance that you’re not really boring. Think about this, very seriously.

If indeed you discover that the idea you’re boring is mostly a limiting belief, then it’s important to begin ignoring it and change your behavior accordingly. Try to open up, talk to people more and be more social, reminding yourself it’s okay to do so.

More important thought is to understand that the limiting belief you’re boring reflects a lack of confidence, and work on fixing this deeper issue. Only by learning to believe in yourself and gaining self-confidence will you be able to fully and permanently dismiss the perception that you are boring.

Now, confidence building is no invaluable process. It involves certain steps and actions, which if done correctly, lead to visible progress at a rapid pace. I lack the space here to go deeper into this topic, but I have created a special presentation in which I discuss it in detail.

Go here to watch the presentation and learn my step-by-step process for improving yourself-confidence and social confidence, which has been used successfully by hundreds of people before you. And make sure you watch it all the way.

1. Why does the author ask two questions in the first paragraph?

A．To criticize the phenomenon.	B．To introduce the topic interestingly.
C．To ask readers to answer them.	D．To show the author’s questions.

2. What does the second paragraph mainly tell us?

A．When we feel boring, then we are really boring.

B．The belief that we are boring just doesn’t exist.

C．Over a half people who are boring are not really boring

D．The statistics show that people actually don’t feel boring.

3. Why do we hold the limiting belief that we are boring?

A．Because we have plenty of time and have nothing else to do.

B．Because we lack confidence and deeper work on the issue.

C．Because we don’t work on fixing this deeper issue.

D．Because we should dismiss the perception of being boring.

4. What is the presentation mentioned in the last paragraph about?

A．Certain steps and actions to improve one’s self and social confidence.

B．Some step-by-step process to lead to quick progress in learning.

C．Some step-by-step process to lead to success in the future.

D．Tips to help bored people to relieve their stress in lack of confidence.

5 . Seaweed farming, which has a long history in Asia, is spreading around the globe. Over the past 30 years, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization, world production of seaweed has boomed more than six times to over 35 million tonnes, with emerging markets in the Americas, Europe and Africa. The most recent numbers, from 2019, show that North America produces some 23,000 tonnes of wet seaweed per year.

Cascadia, which was founded in 2019, claims to be the largest cultivator in North America, with a harvest of 200 wet tonnes so far this year. Farms, small and large, are popping up fast. Many see this expansion as a good news story. The Global Seaweed Coalition (GSC)—a research and industry group—says humanity could, and should, be harvesting 15 times more seaweed by 2050. Coalition member Vincent Doumeizel is a senior adviser on oceans to a United Nations program working toward corporate sustainability. He talks about a “seaweed revolution” to feed the growing global population—a transformation as dramatic as the ancient shift to land-based agriculture. “In the ocean, we are still hunter-gatherers,” he says.

The Global Seaweed Coalition estimates that seaweed (high in protein and other nutrients) could add 10 percent to the world’s food supply using just 0.03 percent of the ocean surface. One recent study concluded that substituting 10 percent of human food with seaweed by 2050 could spare 110 million hectares of land for purposes other than agriculture. That’s about two percent of all farmland today.

Advocates like Doumeizel cast seaweed as the solution to many social and environmental problems: The industry requires no fresh water, pesticides or fertilizers; it doesn’t take up any land; it can overlap (重叠) with other uses of the ocean like offshore wind farms; it can help to decrease poverty in the developing world; and some companies, including Cascadia, are collaborating with local communities.

Seaweed creates a rich habitat for sea life, soaks up carbon dioxide, counter-acts acid and absorbs run-off nutrients, although evidence quantifying how farms, specifically, help with such things remains scarce.

1. What can we learn from paragraph 1?

A．New seaweed farming markets increase in Africa.

B．Seaweed farming in Europe is earlier than in Asia.

C．Seaweed production is over 35 million in North America annually.

D．Seaweed production of Asia was about 6 million tonnes 30 years ago.

2. According to the GSC, what is the potential of seaweed as a food source?

A．Saving two percent of agricultural land for other applications.

B．Adding 15 percent to the world’s food supply by 2050.

C．Bringing more nutritious food and greater profits to GSC.

D．Providing human beings with more high-fat food.

3. What is an advantage of seaweed farming mentioned in the text?

A．It helps increase the diversity of sea plants.

B．It solves the pollution problems of the ocean.

C．It prevents ocean plant species from dying out.

D．It can be combined with other uses of the ocean.

4. What does the underlined word “scarce” mean in the last paragraph?

A．Obvious.

B．Insufficient.

C．Ambiguous.

D．Invalid.

6 . While many Americans joke about their poor math, labor experts say the nation’s decreasing math skill threatens U. S. economic competitiveness and national security (安全). Jim Stigler, a professor studying the process of teaching. and learning, said, “The advances in technology that drive where the world goes will come from other countries, because they have the intellectual capital (资本) while we don’t.”

Concerning the math crisis facing schools, the U. S. military has called for a major program to support education in science, technology, education, and math (STEM). Government labor experts say the number of jobs in areas requiring math skill will increase by more than 30,000each year through the end of 2030, much faster than most other kinds of jobs.

Mathematics is becoming a part of almost every career, but most American students aren’t prepared. In the recent PISA tests in math, U. S. students tested lower than students from 36 other education systems worldwide. Only one in five American high school students planning to attend college are prepared for college -level study in STEM, say experts.

However, students from other countries are preparing to lead in these areas. An official report says only one in five graduate students in math-heavy fields at U. S. universities are American. The rest come from other countries. Most will leave the U. S. when they finish their programs.

“We’re just not starting students on career paths related to math and computer science to stay competitive,” said Josh Wyner, a vice president of the Aspen Institute, a think tank. It urged decision-makers to make education an important national security goal. “We are no longer keeping pace with other countries,” the Aspen report says, calling this a dangerous failure.

In Massachusetts, employers are expecting a shortage (短缺) over the next five years of 11,000 workers in the life sciences alone. “It’s not an educational question alone,” said Edward, director of an education program, warning that this may damage national security.

1. What can be inferred from paragraph 1?

A．Americans don’t care about their poor math.

B．Poor math skills will bring America disadvantages.

C．Intellectual capital is a must for future development.

D．Labor experts can shoulder the duty of national safety.

2. What do government labor experts suppose?

A．The army will open STEM programs soon.

B．Students are prepared for math-heavy jobs.

C．There will be a sharp rise in math-related jobs.

D．America will be behind in STEM education.

3. What’s the “dangerous failure” in the Aspen report?

A．American students fall behind in math learning.

B．American students fail to get math-related jobs.

C．America has lost its attraction to foreign students.

D．America fails to lead other countries in education.

4. How does Edward view the shortage of science workers?

A．It can be solved in the next five years.	B．It’s an evidence of overall math failure.
C．It will cost the U. S. its lead in world affair.	D．It’ll do harm to America’s national security.

7 . UK taxpayers will pay tens of millions of pounds towards the cost of the King’s coronation.     1    , including fans of the royals, who feel the expense particularly upset.

    2    , which has stood above 10% in March, down slightly from the month prior, but still far higher than in the United States and Europe.

    3    . They were rising at their fastest rate in more than 45 years in March as high input and labor costs have hurt domestic producers, and as a weaker pound has made imports more expensive.

The strain has pushed record numbers of people toward the UK’s legions of food banks providing free groceries as wages have failed to keep pace with inflation.

The Trussell Trust, which distributes groceries to about 1,200 food banks, said last week that its network had handed out nearly 3 million emergency food parcels in the year to the end of March.    4    , and a 37% rise on the previous 12-month period.

“We are experiencing an unprecedented rise in the number of people coming to the food bank.    5    .” Brian Thomas, chief executive at South Tyneside Foodbank, located in England’s northeast, said in a statement.

A．That’s a record for a single year

B．Food price rises show no signs of pulling back

C．Inflation in the UK has rocketed over the past year

D．The increasingly higher prices are beyond people’s expectations.

E．Food banks have finally removed those long-accumulated products.

F．But millions of people are struggling to make ends meet as prices rise

G．They are no longer able to balance a low income against rising living costs

8 . AUSTIN, Texas — A Texas man went next door with a rifle and began shooting his neighbors, killing an 8-year-old and four others inside the house, after the family asked him to stop firing in his yard because they were trying to sleep, authorities said Saturday.

Sheriff Greg Capers said authorities were still searching for the 39-year-old suspect following the night shooting in the town of Cleveland, about 45 miles north of Houston. He said the suspect used an AR-style rifle in the shooting.

Capers said there were 10 people in the house and that no one else was injured. He said two of the victims, believed to be from Honduras, were found laying over two children inside.

“The Honduran ladies that were laying over these children were doing it in such an effort as to protect the child,” Capers said.

The conflict followed family members walking up to the fence and asking the suspect to stop shooting rounds, Capers said. The suspect responded by telling them that it was his property, according to Capers, and that one person in the house got a video of the suspect walking up to the front door with the rifle.

Three of the victims were women and one was a man. Their names were not released. Capers said the victims were between the ages of 8 and about 40 years old.

Authorities have previously been to the suspect’s home, according to Capers. “Police officers have come over and spoke with him about the shooting his gun in the yard,” he said.

Capers said some of those in the house had just moved from Houston earlier in the week, but he did not know whether they were planning to stay there.

The US is setting a record pace for mass killings in 2023. The violence is sparked by a range of motives: murder-suicides and domestic violence; gang revenge ; school shootings and so on. All have taken the lives of four or more people at once since Jan 1.

1. Where was the suspect when the conflict started?

A．In his own yard.	B．In the police office.
C．In the neighbor’s house.	D．Together with the policemen.

2. How many victims lost their lives in the shooting accident?

A．4.

B．8.

C．5.

D．10.

3. How did the suspect possibly look at the firing rounds?

A．He hates neighboring others.

B．He owns the freedom of doing so.

C．He is willing to give up if warned.

D．He speaks up for the mass violence.

4. What is possible to be implied in the last paragraph?

A．More firings may happen in the area of Honduras.

B．More victims may lose their lives in social violence.

C．Immigrants will be mostly targeted in mass killings.

D．The Honduran family will suffer a violent revenge.

10 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1. What impact has the coronavirus had on public transport?

A．It has all been shut down.

B．It has been used less.

C．It has been destroyed.

2. What was the increase of cycling in the UK in June 2020?

A．25%.

B．39%.

C．300%.

3. How did the coronavirus affect the employment in the UK?

A．Many people in the service section lost jobs.

B．The technology section faced the worst results.

C．No employees were able to work from home.

4. What is many people’s wish?

A．We should keep positive changes.

B．It’s better to look back on the past.

C．Traditional ways of living should stay.