1. How does the woman probably feel?
A.Happy. | B.Excited. | C.Angry. |
A.A policewoman. | B.His teacher. | C.His mother. |
A.Over the phone. | B.In a hospital. | C.On a beach. |
3 . On a hot afternoon Rhiannon was driving her old van down the highway. As she
A medical student witnessed the accident and came to her
Luckily, Rhiannon was saved. Not for the bandage, she would not have
Rhiannon also had a message for the other
A.rolled down | B.broke off | C.turned down | D.switched off |
A.stick | B.grab | C.touch | D.possess |
A.handle | B.engine | C.window | D.wheel |
A.Consequently | B.Automatically | C.Frequently | D.Slowly |
A.awake | B.astonished | C.unconscious | D.crazy |
A.vision | B.action | C.rescue | D.mind |
A.bandaging | B.curing | C.pressing | D.uncovering |
A.Without delay | B.Out of sympathy | C.For certainty | D.In despair |
A.tidying | B.removing | C.collecting | D.checking |
A.suffered | B.struggled | C.stayed | D.survived |
A.searched | B.browsed | C.received | D.posted |
A.guidance | B.gesture | C.expression | D.encouragement |
A.tireless | B.faultless | C.nameless | D.speechless |
A.apology | B.application | C.invitation | D.appreciation |
A.peers | B.strangers | C.relatives | D.fellows |
4 . UK taxpayers will pay tens of millions of pounds towards the cost of the King’s coronation.
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.
“We are experiencing an unprecedented rise in the number of people coming to the food bank.
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 |
5 . 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. |
A.4. | B.8. | C.5. | D.10. |
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. |
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. |
6 . On most Sundays, the sound of hammers(锤子)and other tools hitting stone can be heard in a village in the Chimalhuacan area, on Mexico City’s east side. The sounds come from stone carvers(石雕师)who still work on a skill that has been passed down for generations(世代)—even after the local stone was used up. The village is filled with meter-high religious(宗教的)figures and other beautiful stone objects.
Generations of stone carvers in Chimalhuacan also created much of the stonework found on buildings and in parks in the capital’s downtown.
While carvers in other areas long ago turned to machines, the workers here only use hammers and other special hand tools. Many are self-taught, but some, like Tomás Ugarte, aged 86, learned in the traditional way. This method of rock cutting has been passed down between family members, dating back about five generations.
The rock cutters are generally old. There were about 600 official stone carvers about 10 years ago. Now, there are probably only around 300. The carvers are dying and their children generally do not want to take up the trade.
Still, the stone carvers keep the old traditions alive. Many people in the area use stone tools made by the stone carvers.
Rev. Alberto Sandoval, who has known the stone workers since 1990, described them as “the backbone of the community.” Most of the carvers have work areas at home, which provides them with some money. They sell carvings for prices from $500 to $2,000. But they often do not sell much.
Unlike many craftspeople who want to see their works shown in museums, the carvers here also work for free at repairing the stonework at the 250-year-old local church, Santa Maria de Guadalupe.
Asked if the trade will continue, carver Mario Olivares read a poem written on the church wall: “Your art, your tradition, your culture and the nobility(高贵)of the people keep the spirit of this town alive.”
1. What is special about the stone carvers in Chimalhuacan?A.They have turned to machines. | B.They only use hand tools. |
C.They are self-taught. | D.They mainly create religious figures. |
A.The great loss of the local stone. | B.Different jobs the young choose. |
C.The worrying future for the trade. | D.The long history of stone carving. |
A.They work for free most of the time. | B.They like giving their works to museums. |
C.They sell carvings at high prices. | D.They often make a little money. |
A.Confident. | B.Uncaring. |
C.Helpless. | D.Worried. |
A.In the cinema. | B.At home. | C.In the street. |
A.He hurt his ankle. | B.He made a mistake. | C.He had to stay in bed. |
9 . Scientists say the plant enset, an Ethiopian staple (主食), could be a new superfood and a lifesaver in the face of climate change. The banana-like crop has the potential to feed more than 100 million people in a warming world, according to a new study.
Enset or “false banana”, almost unknown outside of Ethiopia, is a close relative of the banana, but is consumed only in one part of this country. The banana-like fruit of the plant is inedible, but the starchy stems (茎) and roots can be used to make porridge and bread. Research suggests the crop can be grown over a much larger range in Africa. “This is a crop that can play a really important role in addressing food security and sustainable development,” said a university professor in Awasa, Ethiopia.
Using agricultural surveys and modelling work, scientists predicted the potential range of enset over the next four decades. They found the crop could potentially feed more than 100 million people and boost food security in Ethiopia and other African countries, including Kenya, Uganda and Rwanda.
Study researcher Dr James Borrell, of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, said planting enset, as an alternative for lean times, could help boost food security. “It’s got some really unusual features that make it absolutely unique as a crop,” he said. “You plant it at any time, you harvest it at any time. That’s why they call it the tree against hunger.”
There is growing interest in seeking new plants to feed the world, given our reliance on a few staple crops. Nearly half of all the calories we eat come from three species — rice, wheat, and maize. “We need to diversify the plants we use globally as a species because all our eggs are in a very small basket at the moment,” said Dr Borrell.
1. What does the underlined word “inedible” in Paragraph 2 mean?A.Not secure enough. | B.Not diverse enough. |
C.Not fit to be planted. | D.Not suitable to be eaten. |
A.It is a special species of banana. |
B.It can help with solving food shortage. |
C.It has fed more than 100 million people. |
D.It can be grown at anytime and anywhere. |
A.Negative. | B.Objective. | C.Approving. | D.Doubtful. |
A.To provide a solution to food problems. |
B.To advertise a unique banana-like staple. |
C.To recommend a magic crop against hunger. |
D.To introduce a wonder crop for climate change. |
10 . Before uploading a photo of ourselves to social media, chances are that we’ll use an app to smooth our skin, make our eyes look bigger, and lips fuller. With a couple of taps on our mobile phone, we can get a quick fix and present the “best” version of ourselves to the world. However, the problem is, when we simply edit our imperfections away, we’re also changing the way we look at ourselves.
Last month, researchers published the article Selfies—Living in the Era of Filtered (过滤的) Photographs. The article analysed photo editing apps’ bad influences on people’s self-respect and their possibility to cause appearance anxieties. The researchers also warned that such apps make it difficult to tell the difference between reality and fantasy. “These apps allow one to change his or her appearance in minutes and follow an unrealistic standard of beauty,” the article reads.
In the past, people may have compared their looks to those of famous people. But for today’s young people, beauty standards are most likely set by what they see on social media. “From birth, they are born into an age of social platforms where their feelings of self-worth can be based purely on the number of likes and followers that they have, which is linked to how good they look,” British cosmetic doctor Tijion Esho told The Independent. This is why many young people suffer an identity trouble when it comes to appearance.
“Now you’ve got this daily comparison of your real self to this fake self that you present on social media,” Renee Engeln, a professor of psychology, told the HuffPost website. Engeln further pointed out that when people spend too much time making such comparisons, they may become “beauty sick” and find it difficult to accept what they actually look like. “Because between you and the world is a mirror. It’s a mirror that travels with you everywhere. You can’t seem to put it down,” she told The Washington Post. So when we look in a real mirror, we shouldn’t think to ourselves, “Do I look as good as myself in the filtered photos?” Instead, we should think, “I feel good; I have my health.”
1. Before uploading a photo to social media, we will probably _________.A.have an operating to make our eyes look bigger |
B.use some cream to smooth our skin |
C.use an app to fix our photo |
D.edit our perfections away |
A.In many ways, photo editing apps are beneficial to people. |
B.Photo editing apps are likely to cause people’s anxieties about their appearance. |
C.Photo editing apps can make people more beautiful. |
D.Photo editing apps help people judge realistic beauty. |
A.Because they compare their looks to those of famous people. |
B.Because beauty standards are set by social media. |
C.Because their feelings of self-worth depend on their own likes and dislikes. |
D.Because their feelings of self-worth depend on their appearance. |
A.We should feel good about what we actually look like. |
B.We should spend more time making comparison of our real self to fake self. |
C.We should take a mirror with us everywhere. |
D.We should try to look as good as ourselves in the filtered photos. |