2 . A China plane struck a bird after taking off in Chengdu, Sichuan, and had to immediately return to the airport last October, and it wasn’t the first accident between an aircraft and a bird last year.

In fact, more than 20,000 wildlife strikes with aircraft were reported worldwide in 2023 — the vast majority of those animals being birds. The strikes can also include run-ins with bats or creatures on the ground, such as deer or turtles. Expanding wildlife populations, increases in number of aircraft movements, and a trend toward faster and quieter aircraft all have contributed to the increase in wildlife strikes.

Bird strikes are a hazard not just to commercial airplanes, but to all sorts of aircraft. However, historical data shows that damage is reported in a small percentage of incidents. Last year, 95% of the global strikes involved some kind of damage — and only 5% of those caused “substantial” damage.

Some of the most disturbing types of strikes can happen when one or more birds go into a plane’s engine, which might cause a lot of damage to the aircraft. The pilot would need to return to the airport or find a safe place to land.

In last October’s China plane incident, the Beijing-bound flight was able to land normally in Chengdu after taking into account what the airline described as security concerns. Senior captain Chen Jianguo said pilots are trained on how to respond if they have a bird strike in flight. The pilot in this case did exactly what he was trained to do.

“There are lots of things that are being used by airports to try to manage the habitat and birds around the airport,” said Chen Jianguo. Airports need to manage bird habitats to reduce or get rid of trees and plants that shelter birds, or address wetlands that can attract birds. Collecting data on what kinds of birds are involved in strikes is equally important so the risks can better be managed. Many airports also use audible signals to scare birds away, such as the sounds of fireworks.

1. What is a cause of the increase in wildlife strikes?

A．The poorly designed aircraft.

B．The growing number of birds.

C．The destruction of wildlife habitats.

D．The absence of environmental awareness.

2. What does the underlined word in Paragraph 3 probably mean?

A．Danger.

B．Delay.

C．Accident.

D．Reminder.

3. What does the historical data tell us about bird strikes?

A．They are a rare occurrence.

B．They usually damage engines.

C．Most of them cause slight damage.

D．Most of them involve one single bird.

4. What does the last paragraph mainly talk about?

A．Ways to study bird behavior.

B．Measures to drive birds away.

C．Efforts to restore bird habitat.

D．Attempts to take care of birds.

3 . Suppose you come across two doctors. One is handsome while the other looks plain. Who would you trust with your surgery? Most people would probably want to get treated by the handsome one. And most people are likely to be wrong about that.

When you look at the sun, you sometimes see it clearly. But sometimes you’ll see it shining way bigger than its actual shape. That circle of light called a halo makes it look bigger. This effect, known as the halo effect, also happens when a person, product, or company shines like the sun. Then we don’t see them clearly and associate all sorts of unrelated qualities to them.

The halo effect was once studied by the psychologist Edward Thorndike, who asked flight commanders to evaluate their pilots in various distinct aspects such as physical appearance, intelligence, and leadership. He found that the pilots who got high scores for their physical appearance, also got rated high on intelligence and leadership skills — a link that seemed wrong. It appears that the commanders were unable to evaluate specific qualities independently of others. They thought of their pilots in broad terms, either “good” or “bad”, and allowed this general feeling to influence the specific qualities they credited to their pilots. Some pilots profited from their halo.

The halo effect also explains why some teachers give better-looking students higher grades. One study looked at the grades of 4,500 pupils, who were sorted by volunteers into three groups: below-average, average, and above-average looking. The researchers then compared students’ grades between classes taken in conventional classrooms with those taken online where there was no face-to-face interaction. The researchers found that students who were rated as good-looking earned significantly lower grades in online courses compared to conventional classrooms.

Since the physical appearance of good-looking people seems to naturally make them also appear intelligent, strong, and trustworthy, here is one good rule. If you meet with an accident and have to choose between two equally qualified doctors, ignore their halo and choose the less handsome one. He might have worked twice as hard to gain the same reputation and is likely better at his job.

1. What is the purpose of the second paragraph?

A．To explore a natural wonder.

B．To spread scientific knowledge.

C．To explain a psychological tendency.

D．To interpret social rules at the workplace.

2. How did the commanders tend to evaluate their pilots in Thorndike’s study?

A．In a general way.	B．With common sense.
C．From a specific aspect.	D．By an objective criterion.

3. What does the 4,500-pupil study find about better-looking students?

A．They were fairly treated by their teachers.

B．They were less attentive in online courses.

C．They probably had natural learning abilities.

D．They were overvalued in conventional classes.

4. What can be learned about the halo effect?

A．It relieves appearance anxiety.

B．It leads to inaccurate judgments.

C．It causes trust crisis among people.

D．It intensifies workplace competition.

4 . The world’s population reached five billion on the day I was born. That was in Indonesia back in 1987, and my parents was shocked that there were so many people on the planet.     1     In October 2011, the seven billionth baby was born, and experts predict that there will be ten billion of us before the end of this century.

    2     If you said “hello to a different person every second, it would take you 222 years to greet everyone on the planet. If seven billion people made a human chain with their hands, the chain would go to the moon and back nine times.

The human population has never been bigger, but in some ways the planet seems to begetting unbelievably smaller. In the past, travellers from Europe to Indonesia spent months at sea. Now you just have to sit on a plane for a few hours. When you arrived in another country a hundred years ago, you saw unfamiliar styles of clothing and buildings and discovered a completely different culture. In many places today, clothing and new buildings are very similar, and people enjoy the same things.     3    

Even the languages that we use are becoming more global. There are around seven thousand languages in use today.     4     I grew up in a small village where everyone spoke Baras, one of Indonesia’s local languages. Today, like most of the youth from my village, I live in the capital, Jakarta, and speak Indonesian there. The only regular Baras speakers at present are the older people who have stayed in the country, so the language is threatened with extinction.

A．But the number is decreasing fast.

B．Although we are on different continents, we are starting to live the same lives.

C．The planet might be a lot more peaceful if that were the case.

D．However, since then the population has continued to increase at an alarming rate.

E．A number as big as seven billion is hard to imagine.

F．With only one language left, there will be no culture difference in the world.

5 . According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over 80 million American adults are constantly sleep deprived (睡眠不足), meaning they sleep less than the recommended minimum of seven hours a night. If you’re one of those people who are proud of being able to fall asleep quickly just about anywhere, it’s too early to gloat — it’s a distinct sign, especially if you’re less than 40 years old, that you’re severely sleep deprived.

During our lifetimes, about a third of us will suffer from at least one diagnosable sleep disorder, ranging from constant insomnia (失眠) to restless leg syndrome to much rarer and stranger conditions.

Insomnia is by far the most common problem, the main reason 4 percent of U.S. adults take sleeping pills in any given month. Insomniacs generally take longer to fall asleep, wake up for long periods during the night, or both. They have a high risk of depression, psychosis, and stroke. Lack of sleep is also directly tied to obesity: Without enough sleep, the stomach and other organs overproduce the hunger hormone (荷尔蒙), causing us to eat more. If sleep is such a natural phenomenon, why do so many of us have such trouble with it?

The problem is that in the modern world our ancient, inborn wake-up call is constantly set off by non-life-threatening situations like anxiety before an exam, worries about finances, or every car alarm in the neighborhood. Before the industrial revolution, which brought us alarm clocks and fixed work schedules, we could often handle insomnia simply by sleeping in. No longer, now.

Power naps don’t solve the problem; nor does sleeping medicine. “Sleep is not a single issue.” says Jeffrey Ellenbogen, a sleep scientist at Johns Hopkins University who directs the Sound Sleep Project, “It’s a thousand different things. It’s fascinating to regulate sleep with drugs or devices, but we don’t yet understand sleep enough to artificially intervene in it.”

1. What does the underlined word “gloat” in paragraph 1 mean?

A．be worried.

B．be delighted.

C．be concerned.

D．be surprised.

2. What can we learn about insomniacs in paragraph 3?

A．They take sleeping pills on a daily basis.	B．They fall asleep faster than others.
C．They will become underweight.	D．They probably come down with mental diseases.

3. Why are so many people suffering sleep deprivation nowadays?

A．Because of the long-standing pressure of survival.

B．Due to the continuously existing threats to life.

C．Because of the loss of the natural wake-up call.

D．Due to the disturbance to the natural sleeping patterns.

4. What do Jefferey Ellenbogen’s words suggest?

A．Taking some sleeping pills works perfectly.

B．Artificial intervention can’t tackle insomnia thoroughly.

C．Devices help people get enough sleep undoubtedly.

D．Sleeping during the day should be conducted carefully.

6 . One overlooked benefit of lab-grown food is that it may help the UK deal with the crisis in housing affordability. As farming is replaced by precision fermentation (发酵) , the significant amount of land currently used for livestock farming(including parts of the green belt) will be freed up for development in places that people actually want to live.

However, we’d take a different lesson from the promise of lab-grown meat. Free-market environmentalism and harnessing the power of innovative technologies — supported by market-based measures like a border-adjusted carbon tax — can successfully tackle the problem of man-made climate change without fundamentally uprooting the way we run society. Saving the planet doesn’t have to cost us the earth.

It is important to acknowledge that certain types of livestock farming may have issues with sustainability and climate change. But it is not true of all farming systems; and the issues that do exist are being dealt with using the latest research into genetics and biotechnology-for example, recent research has shown that certain types of seaweed can reduce methane emissions from cattle to close to zero.

Farmer data also shows that increased sales of milks have not seen a corresponding reduction in dairy sales.

The global food system, consumer choices and climate change are incredibly complex issues, and anyone who proposes simple solutions is almost certainly not in possession of all the relevant facts and data. Livestock are an important part of humanity’s future food needs.

1. Why does lab-grown food help Britain to solve the housing affordability crisis?

A．As farming is replaced by precision fermentation, the level of agricultural development is improved.

B．The significant amount of green belts are used for development in places that people actually want to live.

C．Lab-grown food is more environmentally friendly and beneficial to human health.

D．A large amount of land used for livestock farming will be freed up for residence.

2. What lessons have learned from the promise of lab-grown meat?

A．Free-market environmentalism can change the way society operates.

B．Adjusting carbon tax can successfully solve the problem of climate change.

C．Adopting the power of innovative technologies is useful for saving the earth.

D．Saving the earth requires changing the way society operates.

3. Which of the following best explains “harnessing” underlined in paragraph 2?

A．obtain

B．exploit

C．inherit

D．develop

4. It can be inferred from this passage that .

A．global food issue is so complex that there are no complete research data.

B．sustainability and climate change are common problems in agricultural systems.

C．some kinds of seaweed can make the amount of methane emitted by cattle ineffective.

D．the sales of substitute dairy products increased, and the sales of dairy products decreased accordingly.

7 . Two new community initiatives offering the opportunity to borrow everything from sewing machines to party supplies are aiming to reduce waste and consumption.

Tools n Things Library in Leederville, Perth is a community library designed to allow community members to get access to the things they might need around the house instead of buying them in a hardware (五金店) store.

“That’s our philosophy — don’t buy, borrow. Many people buy things just for a small task at home, and then they won’t use them for a couple of years,” library volunteer Rex Breheny said.

The project is run by volunteers who founded it in 2019, and after an interruption in 2020 because of the pandemic (大流行病), it has now grown to several hundred members who can come and borrow things twice a week. In a way it is a return to an old tradition of neighbors borrowing each other’s tools and forming connections in the process.

Tools n Things Library is the first of its kind in Perth, and another called Share Shed has just started in Bassendean. Its co-founder Renee McLennan said they wanted to expand beyond tools to all sorts of things that people might use rarely, like camping equipment or entertaining needs.

“We’re doing the kind of equipment you’d use for a party. Instead of everybody buying disposable plates, and cups and things like that, we’ve got quality glasses and cutlery (餐具), as well as decorations that people can use for those events that they might have once a year,” she said.

The Share Shed is being considered as a way to tackle consumer culture. The world cannot continue to support our current level of resource consumption — at present overconsumption means that each year we consume 75 per cent more than the planet can regenerate.

“Borrowing items and shifting our thinking from an ownership to an access model helps to reduce the number of things that are produced and limits waste. At the same time, sharing the things that we use every now and then is a great way of connecting with people who live locally,” Bod Anderson, an officer in Perth said.

1. Why were the initiatives launched?

A．To introduce two new communities.

B．To advocate consuming fewer resources.

C．To call on people to fight against pandemic.

D．To encourage people to borrow daily necessities.

2. What do we know about the project of Tools n Things Library?

A．It is out of use.	B．It is well received.
C．It is out of fashion.	D．It is often interrupted.

3. What’s an advantage of Share Shed over Tools n Things Library?

A．Wider options.	B．Better quality.
C．Longer duration.	D．Newer equipment.

4. What’s Bob Anderson’s attitude to the initiatives?

A．Doubtful.

B．Supportive.

C．Critical.

D．Objective.

9 . Making travel a surprise

Most people plan their vacations well in advance, including where they are going.     1    .

Earlier this year, mystery box purchases surged (激增) among young American people. Usually, travelers buy a mystery box at a low price—usually 100 or 200 dollars—and then receive several destination options to choose from.     2    .

A citizen named Carrie is eager to go on a mystery box trip, stating that travelling alone usually costs too much and that too many people don’t know where to go. ”However, the mystery box directly offers me a few destinations, which is wonderful and cheap,“ Carrie said.

Gary, 16, has turned his eagerness to go on a mystery box trip into a reality.     3    . With its reputation of super Internet-famous places, Gary had a change of his opinion after seeing Austin himself. “My biggest discovery is that Austin is a city full of contrasts,” Gary said. “You can see skyscrapers and old houses in old alleys (巷子) in the same view.”

    4    . For example, Eureka, despite its scenic views, previously received few visitors due to a lack of promotion. But after it was included as a mystery box travel destination, Eureka has since got lots of attention.

    5     because they can meet with many problems after purchasing one, such as poor travel times and sudden flight cancellations (取消). Robert from Department of Tourism Management of University of Washington suggested that visitors should choose reliable platforms and sign contracts to guarantee their trip rights.

A．It is the state capital of Texas

B．Tourism is a major source of income for the area

C．After the destination is decided, their trip begins

D．But some like the thrill of not knowing where they will end up

E．Months ago, he traveled with a group of friends to Austin in Texas

F．Travel mystery boxes bring excitement to many less popular destinations

G．But even so, a large number of people feel disappointed with travel mystery boxes

10 . Individuals tend to befriend others similar to them for a range of physical factors (e. g. age, gender).To test whether friendship is connected with increased similarity of real-time mental responding, researchers used fMRI (功能性磁共振成像) to scan subjects’ brains during free viewing of naturalistic movies.

Forty-two students participated in the study by Professor Carolyn Parkinson of the University of California, Los Angeles. During the fMRI study, each subject watched the same collection of video parts. The videos covered a variety of topics and genres (e.g. comedies, documentaries, and debates).

The current results suggest that nerve responses when viewing audiovisual (视听的) movies are exceptionally similar among friends, and they are quite alike to one another in terms of how they perceive, interpret, and react to the world around them. These data also demonstrate that it is possible to predict whether two individuals are friends based only on the similarity of temporary patterns in their nerve responses during free viewing of complex, real-world scenes.

A follow-up study analyzing the social relationships of 1,186 children in 49 classrooms showed that similarity of the social brain varied by friendship distance: shared friends showed greater similarity in social brain networks compared with friends-of-friends and even more remotely connected peers.

“Although the results of the current study suggest that friends have incredibly similar nerve responses to naturalistic stimulation, due to this study’s cross-sectional nature, we cannot figure out, based on these results alone, whether nerve response similarity is a cause or consequence of friendship,” Dr Anna Machin, an evolutionary anthropologist(人类学家)said. She described how two tightly bonded people mirror each other’s behavior. Best friends may have similar heart beats, body temperature and hormonal responses.“ It’s as if every part of your body is engaged in having a relationship with that person,” said Machin. “That for me sums up how important best friends are. We wouldn’t have developed this way if those relationships weren’t critical for survival.”

1. Why did the researchers carry out the fMRI study?

A．To find out the effects of fMRI.

B．To help the students analyze videos.

C．To test whether the students are true friends.

D．To check if friendship goes with nerve responses.

2. What does the underlined word “genres” in paragraph 2 mean?

A．Subjects.

B．Types.

C．Results.

D．Responses.

3. What can be learned about the findings of the studies?

A．Friends have the same mental responses.

B．It is impossible to tell whether two are friends.

C．Friendship distance affects similarity of the social brain.

D．Stronger relationships bring about more similar appearance.

4. What can we infer from Machin’s words?

A．Friendship is of great significance in our life.

B．Nerve response similarity is a cause of friendship.

C．Naturalistic stimulation leads to friends’ similar responses.

D．We develop because relationships are unimportant for survival.