1 . 阅读下面短文,在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

During the 2023 Lanzhou International Marathon, all eyes were on the elderly couple—Hu Yingfu, 86, and his wife Wang Zhangmin, 77. Many doubted their ability to finish the race,     1     Hu completed the half marathon in two hours and twenty minutes.

Against initial struggles, Hu found a way to motivate himself by counting electric poles while running. “The distance between each electric pole is 50 meters. I run as fast as I can, passing a dozen or so poles.” said Hu.     2     (gradua), his endurance improved, along with his physical condition.

The couple’s love for running started as a way     3     (improve) their fitness, but it quickly became a passion, They participated in a national athletics event     4     the elderly in 2004,     5     (mark) their first-ever national competition. To their surprise, Wang achieved     6     impressive result—the fourth place.

Since then, the elderly couple have become regular     7     (participate) in national athletics events, consistently winning medals, and they     8     (recognize) as well-known figures in the running community.

With a     9     (combine) age of 163, the couple have participated in over 100 marathon races nationwide, whose impact has motivated     10     (count) young individuals to become part of the running community.

2 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage 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.

Recreating Childish Drawings

Five art galleries have invited a man to exhibit recreations inspired by a series of artworks drawn by his four-and-a-half-year-old daughter.

The father    1    family name is Jin, from Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province,gained popularity for reproducing his daughter's childish drawings over a month-long period. Jin said he had spent time     2    (inspire) his girl to practice drawing. “    3    she was very little, I've been telling her that she is a painter. That's why she then fell madly in love with drawing," Jin told Star Video. He said both he and his wife never forced their daughter to paint but always praised the drawings she had produced.

Jin said it became clear that his daughter got a lot of fun and pleasure from drawing. At one point she drew a little girl     4    (dress) in red. He liked it so much    5    he immediately had the idea of recreating and adapting her artwork. “I was too obsessed (痴迷的) to stop     6    (recreate) her drawing," Jin said. Within a month, he turned the ears on the girl's head in the drawing into a variety of forms including ribbons moving with the wind, a heart shape, and a scarf. He also created different images for the girl, for example, an elegant but icy lady and a mysterious stranger    7    an indifferent (漠不关心的) facial expression.

Jin realized the potential they might have only after some of his adapted creations     8    (share) on the internet. "Five art galleries reached out to me to invite me     9    (launch) exhibitions," Jin said. He added that his artworks were in hot demand, and he     10    (choose) one from the five galleries soon. He hopes the gallery will provide a good place where his recreated artworks can be displayed.

3 . 阅读下列短文，根据短文内容填空。在未给提示词的空白处仅填写1个适当的单词，在给出提示词的空白处用括号内所给词的正确形式填空。

A fire completely destroyed my mobile home last year, just four months after I had paid it off! I had to rebuild it with what little I had saved. Because     1     I had would not be enough , I began to rent out my RV (娱乐车) as a way to help ends meet. I was sure it was     2     (attract) to some people. One woman     3     had booked a week in the RV called and told me that her husband had just lost his job. He felt that they should cancel the trip as an amusement.

4 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Tobias Baumgaertner has taken many amazing photos as a wildlife     1    (photograph). But very few photos reach a lot of people and touch their hearts like the two penguins that are displaying the     2     (beautiful) of love.

In 2019, Tobias spent three nights with     3     colony of fairy penguins in St Kilda Pier in Melbourne, Australia. During that time, he noticed a pair standing out from the group. One penguin had its wing gently resting over the other in     4     appeared to be a loving embrace (拥抱).

Tobias didn’t know that loss connected the two. “A volunteer told me that the white one was an elderly lady who     5    (lose) her partner, and so had the younger male to the left.” he explained. “They often meet, comforting each other and standing together     6     hours watching the dancing lights of the nearby city.”

Moved, Tobias set out     7     (record) their heartwarming moments. It took days, but he left with two perfect photos— and two examples of how love can heal. Tobias shared the photos on Instagram,    8     (write), “During hard times the truly lucky ones are those that can be with the people they love most.”

His photos became     9     (extreme) popular, touching thousands.     10     one person put it, “It’s the cutest, most heartwarming thing I’ve ever seen.”

5 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填人1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Chinese speakers tend to use “spear and shield”     1    (describe) anything that’s contradictory. Actually, now the Chinese phrase for “contradiction”     2    (call) Mao Dun or “spear and shield”.

Nearly 2, 000 years ago, there was a man living in the State of Chu. One day, he went to a market to sell spears and shields—two most common     3    (weapon) at that time. When a small crowd gathered around the seller to look at his goods, the man     4    (decide) to advertise his shields first. He said, “Please look at my shields. They are certainly the     5    (strong) ones you can ever find in the world.”

Then some of the potential buyers came closer to have a careful examination of the shields,     6     they couldn’t see anything special about them. The seller then moved on to brag about his spears. “Now please have a good look at my spears. They are the sharpest weapons     7    have ever been produced. So, no matter how firm a shield is, my spears will pierce (刺穿) through it     8    (easy).” After listening to the seller’s pitch, a man stepped forward and said, “You just told us that your shields are the strongest in the world and then you claim your spears are the sharpest. How about     9    (use)your spears on your shields?” The seller was unable to respond.

So today, instead of saying “you are contradicting yourself”, Chinese will say “you are attacking your shield     10     your own spear”.

6 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Quan Peng, a man in a wheelchair, set off from Beijing in August 2014, and     1    (visit) 43 cities and towns in five provinces so far. In the next six months, he hopes to make    2     to China’s southern tip — his final destination.

“I see it as a battle.” Quan said, “I’m not just battling against my disability,     3     also against discrimination (歧视).”

Quan has traveled on a tight budget. He has slept in a tent or in his chair, and camped out in hospitals, banks and public toilets. The few times he tried to stay in hotels, but he     4    (turn) away. “Restaurant owners would refuse     5    (take) me in because they see me as a beggar; I go to a hotel and they would tell me they are     6    (full) booked.”

Quan,     7     was housebound for eight years, wants to use his wheelchair trip to raise     8    (aware) of the need of disabled people around the country. Even in cities like Beijing and Shanghai, which are     9    (well) equipped for the disabled, Quan says he was not able to take a bus. “I would like to try my best to let people know that we are able to create value. We are not useless people    10    (stay) in bed all day long,” said Quan.

7 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

An old man called Li Yubao living in a remote rural area asked his grandson on the phone what gifts he wanted for     1     Spring Festival. His grandson said a word. He     2     (hear) the word “Pegga” for the first time, when he talked with his grandson through the cellphone. He didn’t know what Pegga was. So grandpa Li began an interesting journey     3     (discover) what Pegga was.

Grandpa Li asked his neighbors,     4     nobody around knew the answer. Grandpa Li didn’t give up. He continued     5     (ask) more people in the village     6     (patient). He got a brief answer from a local woman,     7     used to work in the city. She explained to him that “Pegga” was a pink pig in the cartoon. With     8     (imagine), he created a pink “Pegga” model made     9     irons and steels. It amazed his grandson. Although the Pegga made by grandpa Li was not the exact one, his family     10     (member) were moved deeply. They all loved the gift “Pegga”.

8 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

When Renee Butts was little, her dream was to become a volunteer firefighter because her father was one. Though her father’s work was hard and full of danger, he never made a     1     (complain) about it and fell in love     2     the job quickly. Sadly, at the age of 14, one afternoon Renee returned home, only     3     (tell) that her beloved father had passed     4     and she was never able to do volunteer work with him due to her dad’s death. However, Renee’s story didn’t end there. She was so determined and     5     (energy) a girl and never gave up, which made her dream a reality.

Now Renee, who used to be an astronomer, is a member of the Carme Fire Department now, where she is required to be an Emergency Medical Technician. Once a reporter asked her, “I wonder if all the skills necessary to act as a firefighter have been mastered by you so far.” She replied, “I seem to have. Now a summary     6     (write) last week about my training will be published tomorrow.” The reporter     7     (make) a response, “You must have trained hard and     8     (effective) in the past, haven’t you?” Renee should also be ready to deal with any emergency, like fighting a fire, dealing with a car accident or helping someone who is sick.

Asked what the best part of her job was, Renee replied, “Helping people and saving lives.” I think that shows signs of being a true hero. Renee says that to some extent, her job is frightening at times, but extremely exciting. “To tell you     9     truth, the worst part of my job is that I see deaths and serious injuries. Actually, sometimes people die in an accident and some fires and large amounts of property (财产) are lost, for     10     I am very sorry.”

10 . 阅读下面短文，根据短文内容填空。在未给提示词的空白处仅填写 一个恰当的单词，在给出提示词的空白处用括号内所给词的正确形式填空。

Jeremy Hampden prepared the speech carefully and went to the wedding with his daughter, Jenny. He had included a large number of funny stories in the speech and, of course, it was a great success. As soon as he     1    （finish）, Jenny told him she wanted to go home. On the way home, he asked Jenny     2     she had enjoyed the speech. To his surprise, she said she hadn’t because she did not like to see so many people     3    （laugh）at him!