1 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。1.

A．The truck’s over speeding.

B．The truck’s heavy load.

C．The terrible weather.

D．The pedestrians’ carelessness.

2.

A．The relocation of several factories.

B．The company’s pay offer.

C．The high rate of unemployment.

D．The union’s demand.

3.

A．They will increase by a third this year.

B．They have been rising in the last five years.

C．The average price of a house in the UK is £255,900

D．They make it extremely difficult for those on the property ladder to buy a house.

2 . Modern computer technology has made a new kind of human relationship possible: online friendship.     1     Are online friendships as beneficial as face-to-face friendships? What are the advantages and disadvantages of having virtual friends? Can people form strong bonds online? Today these questions are the subject of lively debate.

Some people believe that the Internet is the best way to make new friends. It’s convenient, it’s fast, and it allows making contact with different kinds of people from all over the world. When you use social networking, websites and chat rooms, you can easily find people with interests and hobbies similar to yours. Information updates and photos add to the experience. Making friends on the Internet is especially good for shy people who feel uncomfortable in social situations. It’s often easier to share thoughts and feelings online.     2     They can make people feel less lonely and help them solve problems.

Although the Internet can encourage friendship, it has a major disadvantage.     3     Online friends only tell you what they want you to know. They sometimes exaggerate their good qualities and hide the less positive ones, so you can’t be sure of what they really like. That is why you should not give personal information to anyone online unless you’re totally sure of who that person is.

Can online friendship be as meaningful as face-to-face ones? There are different points of view. Researchers at the University of Southern California surveyed 2,000 households in the United States. The results showed that more than 40 percent of participants feel “as strongly about their online buddies” as they do about their “offline” friends.     4     In contrast, there are many people who believe that it’s not possible to have deep relationships with online friends, A young Indian software engineer, Lalitha Lakshmipathy, says, “it’s good to feel connected with many people, but all my e-buddies are not necessarily my close friends.” They say that it’s hard to develop feelings of trust and connection when you don’t share experiences in person.

People continue to express different opinions about online friendship. However, most of them would agree that virtual friendships must not replace face-to-face friendships. As one life coach says, “a social networking site should only be the ‘add on’ in any relationship.”

A．In addition, virtual friends can offer emotional support.

B．When you’re not face to face, it’s much easier to deceive people.

C．Many people would agree.

D．Researchers also found that it’s not unusual for online friends to become face-to-face friend.

E．Online friends may be of help in many ways.

F．Online friends, or virtual friends, are people who have become acquainted with each other through the Internet.

3 . History has not yet _______ what we will definitively call the postmillennial cohort (2000年后出生的人) that now _______ more than 60 million people in the U.S. These kids and _______ with no concept of life _______ the Internet have so far been called the App Generation and Generation Z. They’ve been referred to as Homelanders, having grown up under the ghost of terorism. They’ve also been _______ the Plurals, for their historic diversity, as well as the Founders, at least by MTV.

Whatever we _______ naming them, marketers and academies are turning their attention to this group, which has billions in _______ and is already shaping the culture. This generation is growing up “totally and utterly connected,” says California State University psychologist Larry Rosen. Experts like Rosen have concerns about these kids’ Google-inspired expectations that everything be _______. They worry about their inability to _______ even five seconds of boredom. And they worry about the demands that come with ________ several identities online, from Facebook to Twitter to Snapchat. “There’s so much pressure on young people, who are still ________ their identities, to present this crystallized, idealized identity online,” says the University of Washington’s Katie Davis.

Historian Neil Howe sees ________ with the Silent Generation, the spoilt, risk-avoiding, “nice” generation of kids who grew up during the Great Depression and World War II, although some marked differences are found. Today’s youths are also coming of age among geopolitical trouble and fears about the economy, he says, ________ schools emphasize an intense far-reaching sensitivity to other kids. He suspects this ________ will be known for being well behaved and perhaps boring the culture by playing it safe. “There are typical examples that occur repeatedly,” Howe says, “even if they go by different ________.”

1.

A．remarked

B．convinced

C．guaranteed

D．revealed

2.

A．numbers

B．houses

C．accommodates

D．contains

3.

A．peers

B．adolescents

C．folks

D．guys

4.

A．over

B．without

C．besides

D．beyond

5.

A．diagnosed

B．dismissed

C．labeled

D．coined

6.

A．end up

B．consider about

C．appeal for

D．approve of

7.

A．distribution force

B．purchasing power

C．global view

D．unique outlooks

8.

A．vivid

B．instructive

C．instant

D．profitable

9.

A．feed up with

B．put up with

C．make up for

D．identify with

10.

A．faking

B．revising

C．illustrating

D．maintaining

11.

A．supervising

B．forming

C．representing

D．promoting

12.

A．parallels

B．contrasts

C．comparisons

D．reservations

13.

A．because

B．although

C．while

D．when

14.

A．emphasis

B．generation

C．intensity

D．cultivation

15.

A．routes

B．schemes

C．names

D．definitions

4 . I was among 31 murderers sent to the Louisiana State Penitentiary in 1962 to be executed or imprisoned for life. We were unskilled, impulsive and uneducated misfits, mostly black, who had done dumb, impulsive things — failures, rejects from the larger society. Now a generation has passed since I’ve been here, and everything is much the same as I found it. The vast majority of us are handed over to suffer and die here so politicians can sell the illusion that permanently putting people to prison will make society safe.

Getting tough has always been a “silver bullet”, a quick FIX for the crime and violence that society fears. Each year in Louisiana — where excess is a way of life — law-makers have tried to outdo each other in legislating harsher penalties. The only thing to do with criminals, they say, is get tougher. In the process, the state boasts one of the highest look-up rates in the country, and imposes the most severe penalties in the nation.

If getting tough resulted in public safety, Louisiana citizens would be the safest in the nation. They’re not. Louisiana has the highest murder rate among states. Prison, like the police and the courts, has a minimal impact on crime because it is a response after the fact, it doesn’t work. The idea of punishing the few to discourage the many is fake because potential criminals either think they’re not going to get caught or they’re so psychologically distressed that they don’t care. about the consequences of their actions. The threatened punishment, regardless of its severity, is never a factor in the equation.

Prison has a role in public safety, but it is not a cure-all. The only effective way to contain crime is for society to work to prevent the criminal act in the first place. Our youngsters must be taught to respect humanity of others and to handle dispute without violence. It is essential to educate and equip them with the skills to pursue their life ambitions in a meaningful way. As a community, we must address the adverse life circumstances that breed criminality. These things are not quick, and they are not easy, but they are effective. Politicians think that’s too hard a sell. They want something they can point to at re-election time. So the drumbeat goes on for more police, more prisons, more of the same failed policies.

Ever see a dog chase its own tail?

1. Which of the following situations is not regarded as a “silver bullet”?

A．Employing a roundabout way to help students correct their mistakes.

B．Setting up refuges to shelter the homeless war victims.

C．Training farmers with farming techniques to help them out of poverty.

D．Adopting effective policies to save economy from worsening.

2. According to the passage, law makers’ failure to make proper legislation is due to the fact that        .

A．they are proud and boastful of high lock-up rates	B．they fail to address the root of the problem
C．they don’t treat people of different races alike	D．they give priority to precaution over punishment

3. The idiom best describing the effective way to ease the severity of crime in Louisiana is        .

A．turn over a new leaf.	B．get a kick out of it
C．an eye for an eye.	D．prevention is better than cure

4. What is the best title for the passage?

A．Prisons — A Tool for Election.	B．Why Prisons Don’t Work
C．An Appeal from a Murderer.	D．Why Society Is a Safer Place

5 . Directions: Read the following passage. Summarize the main idea and the main point(s) of the passage in no more than 60 words. Use your own words as far as possible.

Drawing High Schoolers to Science

A group of educators and plant scientists at Michigan State University (MSU) are connecting to reshape science classes. And this particular partnership isn’t just helping students get a better understanding of biology; it’s turning them into young scientists, even if only during class.

It doesn’t take long to see that the curriculum born from this collaboration makes for a much different experience than the traditional high school biology classes. For starters, it has a comic book for a workbook. Secondly, students are getting their hands dirty growing plants. MSU researchers are also studying the plant. The high schoolers are asking some of the same questions professional plant scientists are trying to answer.

“We’re getting them engaged with science in science practices, not just having them learn about science,” says Hildah Makori, a researcher at MSU. “They learn to look at things differently. That’s a life-time impact.”

The main characters of the comic book are a pair of young field scientists. They invite the high school students to help with plant research inspired by a real project at MSU. By growing their own plants, the students learn about genetics, evolution and how these interact with the environment.

The team has seen how this practice could keep students in the driver’s seat of their learning. To help the characters out, students set up different experiments to test their ideas.

The program is working. “This comic personally gave me a click that sparked my curiosity,” reads one student’s survey response. “The comic book put a lot of creative atmosphere into the story instead of just looking at words, instead of just listening to the teacher talk,” says another.

Teachers also had positive reviews. In a survey, one remarked how helpful it was to have the comic to refer to. The students could see the comic’s characters doing something in the lab and realize, “I’m able to do this right here at my table and I can do the same thing,” the teacher says.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6 . How Young Americans Spend Their Money

Young people have always puzzled their elders. Today’s youngsters are no different; indeed, they are confusing. They have thin wallets and expensive tastes. They prize convenience and a social conscience. They want shopping to be personal.     1     As they start spending in earnest, brands are trying to understand what these walking paradoxes with conflicting features want and how they shop. The answers will define the next era of consumerism.

Their absolute numbers are impressive. The European Union is home to nearly 125m people between the ages of ten (the youngest will become consumers in the next few years) and 34. America has another 110m of these Gen-Zs and millennials, a third of the population. The annual spending of households headed by American Gen-Zs and millennials hit $2.7trn in 2021, around 30% of the total.

    2     Forrester, a market-research firm, found that most users of “buy now, pay later” apps are around 20. Megan Scott, a 20-year-old student from London, speaks for many of her peers by admitting that, when shopping, she has no self-control—until the bill arrives.

The light-speed online world also appears to have lowered tolerances for long delivery times. A study by Salesforce, a business-software giant, found that Gen-Z Americans, who prefer to use their phones to pay for shopping, are the likeliest of all age groups to want their groceries delivered within an hour.     3    

The Internet has also changed how the young discover brands. Print, billboard or TV advertising has given way to social media. Instagram, part of Meta’s empire, and TikTok, a Chinese-owned app, are where the young look for inspiration, particularly for goods where looks matter such as fashion, beauty and sportswear.     4     Such apps are increasingly adding features that allow users to shop without ever leaving the platform. According to McKinsey, six in ten Americans under the age of 25 had completed a purchase on a social-media site.

A．They desire genuineness while constantly immersed in a digital world.

B．TikTok’s user-generated videos can lead even tiny brands to speedy viral fame.

C．The lifestyle of the “moonlight clan” has made many young people feel overwhelmed.

D．Easy access to means of spreading payments may encourage spending money like water.

E．A heightened expectation of convenience comes with being raised in the age of Amazon.

F．These “always-on purchasers” often shift from a weekly shop to quicker fixes of everything from fashion to furniture.

7 . In the roughly 250 years since the Industrial Revolution, the world’s population, like its wealth, has exploded. Before the end of this century, however, the number of people on the planet could shrink for the first time since the Black Death. The root cause is not an increase in deaths, but a drop in births. Across much of the world the fertility rate, the average number of births per woman, is collapsing. Although the trend may be familiar, its extent and its consequences are not. Even as artificial intelligence (AI) leads to optimism in some quarters, the baby bust (婴儿荒) hangs over the future of the world economy.

Whatever some environmentalists say, a shrinking population creates problems. The world is not close to full and the economic difficulties resulting from fewer young people are many. The obvious one is that it is getting harder to support the world’s pensioners. Retired folk draw on the output of the working-aged, either through the state, which requests taxes on workers to pay public pensions, or by cashing in savings to buy goods and services or because relatives provide care unpaid. But whereas the rich world currently has around three people between 20 and 64 years old for everyone over 65, by 2050 it will have less than two. The implications are higher taxes, later retirements, lower real returns for savers and, possibly, government budget crises.

Low proportion of workers to pensioners are only one problem resulting from collapsing fertility. Younger people have more of what psychologists call “fluid intelligence”, the ability to think creatively so as to solve problems in entirely new ways. This youthful energy adds to the accumulated knowledge of older workers. It also brings change. Patents filed by the youngest inventors are much more likely to cover breakthrough innovations. Older countries and their young people are less enterprising and less comfortable taking risks. Because the old benefit less than the young when economies grow, they have proved less keen on pro-growth policies, especially housebuilding. Creative destruction is likely to be rarer in ageing societies, restricting productivity growth in ways that compound into an enormous missed opportunity.

Eventually, therefore, the world will have to make do with fewer youngsters—and perhaps with a shrinking population. With that in mind, recent advances in AI could not have come at a better time. A productive AI economy might find it easy to support a greater number of retired people. Eventually AI may be able to generate ideas by itself, reducing the need for human intelligence. Combined with robotics, AI may also make caring for the elderly less labour-intensive. Such innovations will certainly be in high demand.

If technology does allow humanity to overcome the baby bust, it will fit the historical pattern. Unexpected productivity advances meant that demographic time-bombs (人口定时炸弹) failed to explode. Fewer babies mean less human genius. But that might be a problem human genius can fix.

1. What can be learned from the first paragraph?

A．The collapsing fertility rate is to blame for the shrinking population.

B．Black Death marked the shrinking number of people for the first time.

C．Industrial Revolution weakened the increase of the world’s population.

D．The public are familiar with the extent and the influence of the baby bust.

2. What makes it harder to support the world’s pensioners?

A．Close relatives have refused to take care of the old without being paid.

B．The output of the working-aged which the old can draw on is shrinking.

C．The old have cashed in savings to cover expenses of goods and services.

D．The government has requested taxes on younger employees to pay pensions.

3. Why does “fluid intelligence” (in Paragraph 3) suffer in ageing societies?

A．Because older workers boast more accumulated knowledge.

B．Because the old benefit less than the young in creative destruction.

C．Because collapsing fertility results in low proportion of workers to pensioners.

D．Because restricting productivity growth compounds into a missed opportunity.

4. The best title for the passage is probably _____.

A．The Old Pensioners Make a Comeback	B．Artificial Intelligence Leads to a Bright Future
C．The Measures to Overcome the Baby Bust	D．The Effect of the Baby Bust on Economy

8 . I’m pretty good at sticking with things even when they get hard. Bad relationships, unpleasant workplaces, ______ sports — I’ve hung on for months and even years longer than I should have, convinced the situation would ______ if I refused to give up.

After all, isn’t every success story littered with ______? Didn’t Beyoncé lose Star Search, and didn’t Oprah get fired from her first TV job? Quitting is a sign that you lack patience and strong will, or so I was raised to believe.

______, if I look back on all the things I eventually quit, my only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner. I’ve wasted immeasurable time and energy dragging my heels, determined that I could ______ everyone if I just kept going.

All of us are constantly making tricky choices between going further into familiar territory and ______ to expand our horizons. This is known as the exploration-exploitation trade-off. When we are younger, it’s advantageous to go far on the side of exploration, trying lots of new things because we have plenty of time to ______ later. But as we age, it’s often smarter to double down.

Of course, this doesn’t mean you shouldn’t quit something just because you’ve put a lot of time into it. Economists call this the sunk cost fallacy (谬误): People are more likely to ______ something if they’ve invested a lot of money or effort into it, even when it’s clear that they should ______ their losses and jump ship. This practice is normal and ______, but it’s also unreasonable. If an activity or relationship is making you miserable, that’s important information you shouldn’t ignore.

If you don’t get energy out of doing something, it can be a(n) ______ that this is not for you or that there’s something better you could be doing. Or it could be a sign that you should ______ your goals. Maybe your yogurt startup might not win over investors, but you could still make and sell yogurt at the farmers’ market on weekends.

In fact, dogged persistence in the face of energy-sucking disappointment can ______ depression, and then make you suffer from diseases in the long run.

But the good news is that people can learn to pay better attention to these moments when they’re happening and make ______. The art of quitting isn’t about just letting go whenever there’s an obstacle. It’s about being able to let go when there’s no ______ to success anymore.

1.

A．engaging

B．demanding

C．inevitable

D．leisure

2.

A．worsen

B．occur

C．improve

D．continue

3.

A．frustrations

B．determinations

C．attempts

D．inspirations

4.

A．Therefore

B．Additionally

C．For example

D．However

5.

A．amaze

B．scare

C．distress

D．compliment

6.

A．breaking up

B．looking up

C．standing up

D．backing up

7.

A．venture

B．specialize

C．explore

D．relax

8.

A．benefit from

B．approve of

C．stick with

D．withdraw from

9.

A．evaluate

B．avoid

C．overlook

D．cut

10.

A．human

B．crazy

C．sensible

D．tricky

11.

A．indication

B．desire

C．occasion

D．recognition

12.

A．accomplish

B．upgrade

C．modify

D．maintain

13.

A．prevent

B．trigger

C．relieve

D．contract

14.

A．researches

B．choices

C．changes

D．resolutions

15.

A．shortcut

B．barrier

C．guarantee

D．pathway

9 . Ideally, childhood is a time of growth and learning, preparing for adulthood and also having fun. But for many children around the world, this time is cut short when they are forced to work, sometimes in dangerous conditions. _______, the United Nations (U.N.), some national governments and other organizations _______ June 12 as the annual World Day Against Child Labor.

As of 2020, around 160 million children worked as child laborers, which means that one child in 10 was a child laborer. _______, child labor has decreased over the past 20 years, but in recent years, this progress has stopped. Child labor is _______ from ordinary housework, helping with a family business or (for older children) working to earn pocket money when not in school. Work done by children is _______ as child labor when it harms the child physically, mentally, socially or _______, or when it prevents the child’s education.

About 79 million children are engaged in hazardous child labor. Sometimes this means the work itself is dangerous because of heavy machinery or exposure to _______. Hazardous child labor can also involve harsh conditions, long hours, or _______ to various kinds of abuse.

The primary goal of the World Day Against Child Labor is raising _______ of the issue and encouraging individuals, organizations and governments to ________. Combating (打击) child labor is a complex task. It involves social workers who identify child laborers and take action to provide these children and their families with other ________. But it also involves change in communities as a whole, ________ the social regulations that can lead adults to make their children work.

Child labor and poverty often go hand in hand as parents feel removing their children from school is necessary to earn money for their survival. So, measures meant to fight ________ are also tied to preventing child labor. Ensuring that children have quality educational opportunities is also important. If more opportunities were ________, more parents might give up the immediate benefit of a child’s paycheck to give that child an education.

Child labor is harmful to children and to communities, since it prevents children from growing into healthy, educated citizens who could make a(n) ________ in society. By highlighting the problem and offering a variety of solutions, the World Day Against Child Labor can make the situation a bit better.

1.

A．In addition

B．As a result

C．Above all

D．After all

2.

A．recognize

B．discover

C．choose

D．consider

3.

A．Nevertheless

B．Therefore

C．Overall

D．Moreover

4.

A．distinguished

B．transferred

C．ranged

D．evolved

5.

A．evaluated

B．classified

C．combined

D．separated

6.

A．sincerely

B．negatively

C．positively

D．morally

7.

A．chemicals

B．lights

C．wastes

D．gases

8.

A．harm

B．pollution

C．exposure

D．danger

9.

A．value

B．awareness

C．status

D．significance

10.

A．take place

B．take care

C．take over

D．take action

11.

A．options

B．questions

C．elements

D．examples

12.

A．promoting

B．urging

C．challenging

D．adjusting

13.

A．disease

B．disaster

C．survival

D．poverty

14.

A．available

B．sustainable

C．accessible

D．advisable

15.

A．choice

B．difference

C．effort

D．decision

10 . 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.

Japan’s robot revolution in senior care

Japan’s artificial intelligence expertise is transforming the elder care industry, with     1     (specialize) robotic care accomplishing more than just taking pressure off the critical shortage of caregivers. Senior care facilities across Japan are testing out such new robots     2     deliver a collection of social and physical health care and the government-backed initiative has been met with positive reviews by elderly residents.

The rapidly graying population     3     (eye) by the government as a potential market for medical technology now. Disappointing government predictions show that by 2025, Japan's first baby boomers will have turned 75 and about 7 million people are likely to suffer from some form of dementia (痴呆). The nation won't be able to avoid a dementia crisis     4     an additional 380,000 senior care workers.

The long-standing shortage of professional care workers has encouraged the Japanese government     5     (simplify) procedures for foreign caregivers to be trained and certified. The current Technical Intern Training Program between Vietnam, the Philippines, and Indonesia, under     6     Economic Partnership Agreement, was extended to include nursing care as well as agriculture, fishery, and construction sectors.

    7     the government made efforts to increase the numbers of senior care workers, the target number of foreign graduates has still fallen flat, with the national caregiver examination proving a major obstacle to pass. The success rate for foreign students was a merely 106 students last year,     8     has slightly improved to 216 students this year. Another depressing reality is that 19 to 38 percent of foreign nurses who pass the exam opt to leave the industry and return home,    9     (cite) tough work conditions and long hours. Given the challenges, this is     10     the government believes care robots will be able to step in.