1 . 选词填空

place   ride   however   with   after   deal   bravely   better   feel   remind   different

Located in one of Beijing’s most active art communities, the Loneliness (孤独) Museum is always very crowded.     1    , everyone who visits the museum says that they are lonely. Divided into 13 parts including an office at night, the last subway and a hospital, the museum displays (展出) over 1000 lonely stories from     2     people. There are many notes with words of encouragement and ways     3     with solitude (孤独) on the walls and the stairs. They may feel     4     after seeing them. One of the museum’s owners Fang Fang says that people who come to work in big cities like Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou may     5     lonely every now and then. So she wants to provide a     6     for them to relax. It     7     them that even though life is hard, there are lots of people like them. They are not alone.

    8     the development of technology, it is easier for people to get in touch with old friends and make new friends. However, young people are likely to feel lonely.

People may get used to loneliness as they get older     9     they experience important life events and life changes.

Luckily, our society is more tolerant (宽容的) towards this kind of young group, often encouraging them to face this crazy changing world     10    . In a room of the museum, with three bicycles, strangers can     11     together to light up the lights on the wall, which forms a sentence- “Loneliness comes together with love”.

2 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. brake            B. victims        C. issued       D. confirmed       E. pace        F. typically G. multiple       H. seriously       I. slippery     J. canceled          K. visibility

NINE people died and 43 were injured in two rear-end crashes on Shanghai’s S32 Expressway that occurred during heavy fog yesterday morning.

Two were       1       dead at the scene in one of the accidents, and five were found dead in the other. Two more people died in hospital, police said.

Police first received a report at 5:54 am that     2     vehicles had crashed on the S32, near a ramp of S2. The S32 links Shanghai with Zhejinag Province’s Jiaxing and Huzhou.

Two people were killed after getting out of their vehicle to see what was causing congestion ahead. They were hit by an out of control tanker, police said.

When police arrived at that scene, they found a further five people had been killed when a construction vehicle was crushed by two large vehicles from both front and back. The crash was about three kilometers away from the accident that killed the two people on the expressway. The injured were sent to local hospitals.

Some drivers reported that the road was very     3     and braking had led to vehicles losing control.

“The fog was very heavy,” an unidentified driver told Shanghai Television Station. “When I saw the accident ahead, I wanted to slow down and       4     . But once I hit the brake, the vehicle went out of control.”

Zhoupu Hospital treated 12 people. “One of the     5     died on the road to the hospital,” Ding Fuhao, a doctor with the hospital, told the television station. “Three were     6     injured.”

The city’s meteorological authority     7     an orange alert on heavy fog at 6:06 am, meaning     8    would be lower than 200 meters in some areas.

The dense fog hit coastal areas in particular, including Chongming Island, Pudong New Area, Baoshan and Fengxian districts. The alert was    9    at 9:44am. This was Shanghai’s first orange alert of heavy fog since the arrival of autumn.

Several expressways in the city were closed or subject to speed limits yesterday morning.

Pudong International Airport was also affected by the bad weather. The airport’s traffic was about 60 percent less than normal in the morning but picked up the    10     after the orange alert was canceled, the city’s television station said.

3 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. defined                 B. aiding                 C. trends                 D. dominate          E. typical        F. loss G. necessities               H. featured            I. mark                  J. survive             K. appliances

American Decoration in the Middle of the 20th Century

Home decorating has come a long way over the decades. Certain elements that began as     1    for survival—like fireplaces—have transformed into decorative elements in the modern age. Some styles are still massively popular, inspiring copycat furniture that sells for thousands. Other     2    are ignored or even ridiculed.

No one knows what home decoration of the future will look like. But if we look back through history, we can guess which design elements will come back—and which will disappear forever.

The Great Depression affected every aspect of American life—including decoration.   People were just trying to     3    during the 1930s, which didn’t leave a lot of room for non-essentials. But that doesn’t mean everyone gave up on making their homes look beautiful. A     4    living room would have a few throw rugs in interesting patterns, too. There was no one type of furniture that     5    the 1930s—curved and straight line furniture still     6    as the Art Deco style from the previous era was still popular. Plastic chairs and wingback chairs all had a place in the 1930s home. People were also likely to use what they had and not care so much about matching a certain taste.

It’s impossible to describe the 1940s without mentioning World War II. During the first half of the decade, home design took a backseat to     7    the war effort. The second half was much different. Returning soldiers had something new to look forward to: new kitchens with     8    such as refrigerators, freezers, and dishwashers. Traditional wood furniture in dark or blonde tones graced every room of the home.

Post-war America was a lot happier and shinier than recent decades. With a prospering middle class and a healthy economy, people had more time and money to devote to new pursuits—like decorating their houses.

The unfussy furniture made popular by Charles Eames started to     9    the American household. Everything was simple and uncomplicated. Wall to wall carpeting became the most desirable type of flooring, especially in unique colours.

The 60s brought about many changes to American culture and home design was no exception. People wanted to show off their unique sense of style more than ever before. Homes weren’t just seen as a     10    of how successful you were—they were also a chance to let your personality shine through home decoration.

4 . Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. distributed     B. localize       C. broadcast     D. briefing       E. attached       F. existing       G. boost H. emerging       I. involved       J. crack            K. response

Chip flow interrupted

A stable global supply chain of chips had been maintained before disruptive moves by the US.

Two of the US’ top chipmakers—NVIDIA and AMD-were ordered to stop exports of two high-end chips to China on Aug 31. The ban     1     sophisticated (精密的) chips for graphics processing units (GPUs); which have been widely used in applications including AI and creative production.

This came after US President Joe Biden signed an order to pass the $52.7 billion (about 369.5 billion yuan) semiconductor chip manufacturing subsidy (补贴) and research law on Aug 25.

It aims to     2     efforts to “make the United States more competitive with China’s science and technology efforts”, Reuters noted.

Biden also signed the CHIPS and Science Act of 2022 into law on Aug 9. According to the act, chip makers that shift their factories to the US can receive subsidies and tax benefits with     3     conditions that restrict US companies from increasing investments in China for 10 years.

“The US and its allies,” Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google and a financier for the Bill Clinton, Obama and Biden presidential campaigns, said in March, “should utilize targeted export controls on high-end semiconductor manufacturing equipment... to protect     4     technical advantages and slow the advancement of China’s semiconductor industry”.

In     5     to the US latest act, Woo Jin-hoon, a guest professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University, wrote for China Daily, this is “a move that can be profitable for the US in the short term, but harmful in the long run”.

The design, manufacturing and even raw materials of a complete and complex product like semiconductors (especially chips) are usually     6     across many different countries and regions, forming a huge trade network.

No matter how hard countries or regions try to support their own manufacturing bases and     7     their production, a certain degree of interdependence among countries and regions is unavoidable, China Daily commented.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Sept 1 at a press     8     that the US move is typical “sci-tech hegemony (霸权)”.

“With its technological advantages, the US has abused the concept of national security and its state power to     9     down on the development of     10     economies and developing countries,” said Wang. “The move violates market economy principles, harms international economic and trade orders and disrupts the stability of global industrial and supply chains.”

6 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. access       B. balance       C. device       D. issues       E. pursuits       F. review       G. separate       H. signs I. social          J. staying        K. waking

Why taking a phone break is so good for you

You are probably too attached to that needy black rectangle you carry around everywhere you go. Although it’s not formally recognized as an addiction—yet— “problematic smartphone use” interferes with many aspects in life, say Jay Olsen, a postdoctoral scholar in psychology at McGill University who has researched the topic. “It could be interfering with your concentration. It could be that you feel less     1     when using your phone. It could be that you’re sleeping less well, because you’re     2     up late scrolling.”

Those     3     likely sound familiar, because smartphone overuse “affects almost anybody who has a     4     at this point,” says Dr. Anna Lembke, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University. “The digital content is just so appealing, and we have such easy     5    .” Smartphone use also intensified during the pandemic’s first lonely years.

But failing to     6     from your screen could have harmful implications. Research links smartphone overuse to a wide variety of physical and mental-health     7    . People who are glued to their phones tend to get worse sleep and less of it. And according to a     8     published in Frontiers in Psychology in August, smartphone overuse can lead to anxiety, stress, and depression. All that scrolling also consumes your time and attention, leaving less to spend on healthy     9     like exercise and spending time with loved ones.

Take some space from your phone—even for short amounts of time—can help restore your     10    , attention, and even faith in humanity. “I think disconnecting matters to everyone,” says Adam Alter, a professor of marketing at NYU.

7 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. comprehensive	B. spread	C. impact	D. incredible	E. observed
F. compared	G. success	H. firmly	I. combination	J. heavily	K. motivate

A new report by the World Health Organization (WHO) reveals that around one in a hundred deaths worldwide is due to passive smoking, which kills an estimated 600,000 people a year.

In the first study to assess the global     1     of second-hand smoke, WHO experts find that children are more     2     exposed to second-hand smoke than any other age-group, and around 165,000 of them a year die because of it.

Children’s exposure to second-hand smoke is most likely to happen at home, and the double blow of infectious diseases and tobacco seems to be a deadly     3     for children in these regions. Commenting on the findings, Heather Wipfli and Jonathan Samet from the University of Southern California, said policymakers try to     4     families to stop smoking in the home.

While deaths due to passive smoking in children were skewed (曲解) toward poor and middle-income countries, deaths in adults were     5     across countries at all income levels.

In Europe’s high-income countries, only 71 child deaths occurred, while 35,388 deaths were in adults. Yet in the countries like Africa, an estimated 43,375 deaths due to passive smoking were in children     6     with 9,514 in adults.

Only 7.4 percent of the world population currently lives in places with     7     smoke-free laws, and those laws are not always     8     enforced (施行). In places where smoke-free rules are     9    , research shows that exposure to second-hand smoke in high-risk places like bars and restaurants can be cut by 90 percent, and in general by 60 percent, the researchers said.

Studies also show such laws help to reduce the number of cigarettes smoked by smokers and lead to higher     10     rates in those trying to quit.

8 . Fill in each blank with a proper word given in the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word that you do not need.

A. influence                 B. majority                 C. moderate               D. rushing          E. rose          F. average     G. consumed               H. preferring                 I. consumption             J. portions            K. decreased

As for what is driving America’s chronic weight problem, there are no definite answers. But a lot of evidence points to the two causes most people already suspect: too much food and too little exercise.

Bigger    1    

The US Department of Agriculture(USDA)reports that the average American ate almost 20% more calories in the year 2000 than they did in 1983, thanks, in part, to a boom in meat     2    . Today, each American puts away an     3    of 195 Ibs of meat every year, compared to just 138 Ibs in the 1950s. Consumption of added fats also shot up by around two-thirds over the same period, and grain consumption     4    by 45% since1970.

Inactivity is the new normal

Lack of exercise is also a major culprit in the obesity epidemic. It’s been decades since most Americans worked in fields and on factory floors. A far greater     5    of us are sitting throughout our working day. This means less exercise each day. According to one study, only 20% of today’s jobs require at least     6    physical activity, as opposed to 50% of jobs in 1960. Other research suggests Americans burn 120 to 140 fewer calories a day than they did 50 years ago. Add this to the higher amount of calories we are packing in, and we get a perfect recipe for weight gain.

But lethargy goes well beyond the workplace. It is also how we get to work and what we do after. Americans walk less than people in any other industrialized country,     7    to sit in cars to get around. And at the end of the day, 80% of Americans don’t get enough exercise, according to the CDC.

In the end, though, we can’t lose sight of the big picture. Over the past years, diet fads have come and gone, with people     8    to blame red meat, dairy, wheat, fat, sugar, etc. for making them fat, but in reality, the problem is much simpler. Genetics and age do strongly     9    metabolism, but as the CDC points out, weight gain and loss is primarily a formula of total calories     10    versus total calories used.

9 . Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. stems     B. insecure       C. squeezed     D. individual       E. glued     F. spreading G. head     H. simply        I. distracting        J. spacious     K. originally

You’ll Often Walk Alone

There has been a quiet pandemic (流行病) developing while most people’s attention has been on Covid-19. The lockdown has worsened a problem that has been     1     in many developed nations for decades: loneliness.

Part of the problem     2     from contemporary employment. Globally, two in five office workers feel lonely at work. This rises to three in five in Britain. Gig-economy (零工经济) jobs can leave people with     3     incomes and without the companionship of colleagues. The pandemic has made it more difficult to make, and maintain, friendships, particularly for new employees. Even before the crisis, the hope that     4     offices would encourage greater camaraderie (友情) proved to be false. Many people find the chatter     5     and withdraw with noise-canceling headphones. They then email colleagues who are sitting only a few desks away.

Perhaps loneliness relates to human history. Mass urbanization is a relatively recent development; if the history of human existence was     6     into a single day, the Industrial Revolution did not occur until almost midnight. For much of that time, humans lived in small groups of hunter-gatherers; cities may just overwhelm the senses. Ms. Hertz points her finger at a recent development: social media. The internet has led too much cyber-bullying (although it has also been a source of companionship during the lockdown). And people     7     to their smart phones spend less time interacting socially.

Some changes in behavior are owing to     8     choice. Before the pandemic no one was stopping people going to church or taking part in sports. They     9     preferred to do other things. Indeed, one reason for the decline in communal activities is that men choose to be with their families rather than     10     to the bar; American fathers spend three times as much time with their children as they did in the 1960s. That is surely a welcome development. So recreating a communal society may be difficult.

10 . Direction: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. addressing       B. adoption       C. attend       D. budgeting       E. cautions F. correspond       G. extended       H. hesitancy       I. packages       J. regardless K. rigid

Top work-life balance benefits for 2023

“Flexibility is the gold standard of work-life balance benefits,” says Jonathan Pas, health care leader at consulting firm Mercer.

It’s no surprise then that two years after the pandemic forced most office workers to perform their jobs remotely. 78% of employers say they’ll allow employees to continue doing so regularly in 2023, according to a Mercer survey. But there’s still some     1    : only 9% say they will allow employees to work remotely daily.

    2    , flexibility around when employees work is just as important as where. In the survey, 66% of employers said they would offer flexible work schedules over the course of a typical work day, such as specific times during the week to     3     to personal matters and four-day work weeks. Employees no longer want to organize their personal life around a(n)     4     work schedule but instead want the two interwoven, so they can decide what to prioritize and when.

Pas     5     against making hollow promises about a company’s commitment to work-life balance. “If employees feel a disconnection between programs that are rolled out and what senior leaders really expect, credibility is questioned, and the goodwill created through the program is denied.” He cites paid time off to volunteer, which almost half (45%) of companies say they will add to their benefits     6     next year.

Other benefits requiring a broader organizational buy-in are sabbaticals(公休假) and unlimited vacation days. Both benefits encourage employees to pursue interests outside of work with     7     periods off. Still, if they feel a dishonour associated with taking advantage of them, they’ll be hesitant to do so. The relatively low     8     rates for 2023, though—only 12% for sabbaticals and 15% for unlimited vacation—indicate that employers are still against paying employees not to work.

Instead, they prefer to find new ways to give employees more money, with the rise of employer-funded lifestyle accounts, which are often reserved for big-ticket items that might otherwise require some     9    . Nevertheless, only 12% of employers said they would add lifestyle accounts in 2023, and 70% said they are considering them, which could indicate a trend on the horizon.

But perhaps the most telling statistic about the importance of     10     work-life balance is the number of companies that said they don’t plan to offer any additional benefits to support work-life balance: a mere 5%.