1 . At Beijing’s Palace Museum, it sometimes seems that time stands still, but the clocks keep ticking at a small workshop there. This is where clock conservator (文物修复员) Qi Haonan works. .

As part of the fourth generation of conservators to repair and restore antique (古老的) clocks at the museum since 1949, Qi has returned more than 100 clocks to their former glory.

After having majored in mechanical automation during his university studies, Qi joined the cultural relics restoration department at the Palace Museum in 2005. “In the beginning, everything in the palace was new to me. It made me excited to even think about repairing antique clocks,” the 41-year-old told China Daily. But reality soon weakened his warmth. There is a rule at the museum: For the first year you can look, but not touch. From 8 a. m. to5 p. m. every day, he checked and took apart watches and clocks collected from his friends to practice. After a year of repeated work, he could finally get his hands on the clocks in the museum and get a better understanding of the job. To him, restoring such clocks doesn’t mean making them look brand-new. Through cleaning and restoration, he tries to keep them in their original form, bringing back their former function.

Qi still remembered the excitement he felt when the hands of his first repaired clock began to move. It was a French clock, which took him a month to restore. “What amazes me most about these clocks is that they combine the scientific advances, technological precision (精确) and trends in decorative art of their particular times,” Qi told China Daily.

Although the antique clock repairing special skills at the Palace Museum were listed as a national intangible (非物质的) cultural heritage in 2014, it was still a little-known skill and the specialty was in short supply of professionals. Until 2016, a 3-part TV documentary, Masters in the Forbidden City, made it possible to the public.

Qi started posting videos about the antique clocks on social media in 2019, giving viewers a look into the work. “With rising attention and influence, antique clock restoration can not only be further developed, but also expanded to more museums which house antique clocks and watches,” Qi told China Daily.

1. What can be known about the clock conservator Qi Haonan?

A．He began to work at the Palace Museum in 1949.

B．He learned how to restore antique clocks at university.

C．He has decided to rescue the cultural relics restoration.

D．He is part of the fourth generation of clock conservators.

2. Why did Qi Haonan lose a bit of warmth at the beginning of his work?

A．He couldn’t touch the antique clocks.

B．He was asked to do much repeated work.

C．He had to collect clocks from his friends.

D．He didn’t understand the meaning of restoration.

3. What does restoring antique clocks mean to Qi Haonan?

A．Keeping them clean and brand-new.

B．Making them more beautiful and valuable than ever.

C．Getting them back to their original form and function.

D．Combining scientific advances and technological precision.

4. Which word can best describe the future of antique clock restoration?

A．Worrying.

B．Uncertain.

C．Hopeless.

D．Promising.

2 . On a recent visit to her family home in Atlanta, Stella came across some papers from her tenth- grade English class. Looking at her essays and the notes, Stella was struck by how the work she did in that class informed her work now as an editor. Her teacher, Mr. Newman, always encouraged his students to dig deeper. Stella learned that the best way to understand literature is by asking, “What is this work trying to accomplish?” Now, when she sits down to edit a manuscript (手稿) that’s one of two guiding questions Stella asks herself, followed by, “How can I help the author fully realize that vision?”

Those questions were at the top of Stella’s mind when Freewater by Amina landed on her desk. As Stella made editorial suggestions, she was mindful of the balancing act involved in writing about a topic as painful as slavery and doing so through the eyes of a child. Stella kept a kid reader in mind-someone who might have learned only a part of this history. Stella and Amina went back and forth in phone calls, e-mails, editorial letters, and notes directly in the manuscript, until they agreed that Freewater was exactly where it needed to be.

The novel hit bookshelves on February 1, 2022, and nearly a year later was awarded the John Newbery Medal. Amina became only the third Black woman to be awarded that medal in the award’s one-hundred-and-one-year history, and Stella became the first Black editor to edit a Newbery-winning book.

Stella’s strategic approach to editing, personal warmth, and keen editorial insight have won her universal admiration from authors and colleagues, who also enjoy her sense of humor and infectious laugh. She is a powerful advocate for all the authors in her orbit, which recently came to include her mother, Wanda M. Morris, whose novel All Her Little Secrets has been widely acclaimed and even optioned for TV.

1. What’s Stella’s tenth-grade English teacher like?

A．Humorous.

B．Determined.

C．Inspiring.

D．Cautious.

2. What’s Stella’s major concern as an editor?

A．The novelty of the manuscript.

B．The writer’s purpose of writing.

C．The writer’s understanding of literature.

D．The practical significance of the work.

3. What’s paragraph 2 mainly about?

A．Why Amina created Freewater.	B．Who Freewater is intended for.
C．What message Freewater conveys.	D．How Stella helped improve Freewater.

4. What does the underlined word “acclaimed” mean in paragraph 4?

A．Applied.

B．Adapted.

C．Praised.

D．Shared.

3 . If you wanted to make a Disney-style animation (动画) of, say, Reggie, a spirited rabbit, planning to save his forest, you’d have a lead animator draw the extremes of the action: Reggie looking intensely focused, and then proudly announcing, “There’s a new hero in the forest!” Then you’d bring in an in-betweener that is, the animator who draws all the comprehensive frames that bridge the major actions.

In-betweeners don’t get the glory, but without them cartoons would hop from one emotional peak to another, missing connective grace. Burny Mattinson (1935-2023) started his career at the Walt Disney Company in the mailroom, and, even though he had no formal training in animation, he was given a swing at in-betweening just six months later.

His first big assignment was to in-between the wagging of a dog’s tail. Disney animation was famous for its silky elegance, owing in no small part to the skill of its in-betweeners, and, thanks to Mattinson, the tail practically glided from side to side.

Mattinson had wanted to be an animator ever since his mother had taken him to see “Pinocchio” at a theatre when he was six. In a bold move, Mattinson showed up at the Disney Studios gate with his portfolio (作品) as soon as he finished high school. The magical part of this story is that, instead of shooing him away, the security guard liked his drawings and called the head of personnel to take a look.

Thus, Mattinson became a messenger at Disney, beginning a career that would eventually make him the employee with the longest service at the company. He had joined the company at a golden moment. Listing the films that he worked on is a little like listing the entire output of the Walt Disney Company over the past six decades: “Sleeping Beauty,” “The Lion King”, and on and on.

Mattinson was, perhaps, one of the last of an almost extinct genotype-the happy company man, the lifer. He never had an employer besides Disney. When asked what Mattinson enjoyed doing outside of his life at Disney, his son said, “He just loved his work.”

1. What role do in-betweeners play in animation production?

A．Design the storyline.	B．Draw the background.
C．Invent extreme actions.	D．Generate smooth motion.

2. Which of the following can best describe Mattinson’s path to Disney?

A．Unconventional.

B．Typical.

C．Illegal.

D．Accidental.

3. What makes Mattinson exceptional in Disney’s history?

A．His lifelong dedication to Disney.

B．His detailed work as an in-betweener.

C．His passion for animation beyond work.

D．His pioneering role in Disney animation.

4. What is the text?

A．A diary entry.	B．A biographical sketch.
C．A news report.	D．A critical review.

5 . When I was at school, I hated art. Growing up in north Wales, I was not able to rate higher than an E in my final exams. I wasn’t too upset; I thought I wasn’t going to choose it as a career.

By the time I was about four, I started sleepwalking. At night, I used to go under the stairs and scribble (乱画) on the wall. When I was 15, I was no longer just making scribbles. I was drawing anything from pictures of Marilyn Monroe to unrealistic paintings. I showed some to my art teachers. They said: “Why can’t you do this in class?” It was something I struggled to understand myself. I tried so hard to draw when I was awake, practising and using the same tools. But no matter what I did, I was unable to recreate the drawings.

Once I left school, I became a nurse, mainly helping people with brain injuries. I also met my partner. He is unbelievably supportive of my art and sleepwalking habits—he often films me as I work. And when I begin to paint in my sleep, I’ll use any tools I can find, sometimes knives and forks. That’s the only thing that worries my partner—that I’ll accidentally hurt myself. I have gone to various sleep clinics to try to get to the bottom of what’s happening, but nothing out of the ordinary was found health-wise. Alcohol or lack of sleep does bring the sleepwalking on more, though, so I am careful about that.

I have learned to hug my unusual talent and set up my first art exhibition in 2007 at my local in library to raise money for cancer research. Within a week, I had 160 calls from different media outlets and organizations wanting to hear about my art. I was over the moon. I then decided to leave my very fulfilling job in nursing and become a full-time artist.

1. Why wasn’t the author upset about her art final exams?

A．She got used to her E in art.	B．She had little interest in her study.
C．She was confident in herself.	D．She was unwilling to work in art field.

2. What did art teachers think of the author’s sleepwalking paintings?

A．They felt worried about them.	B．They expressed doubt about them.
C．They were indifferent about them.	D．They showed confidence about them.

3. What does the underlined phrase “over the moon” probably mean in last paragraph?

A．Extremely pleased.

B．Really concerned.

C．Highly annoyed.

D．Greatly shocked.

4. What can we infer about the author from the text?

A．She always enjoys painting.	B．She is often injured by sleepwalking.
C．She has no trouble in sleepwalking now.	D．She makes full use of her sleepwalking talent.

7 . With thousands of options, how will you choose a career that’s right for you?     1     Fortunately, when you follow an organized process, you will increase your chances of making a good decision.

Assess yourself.     2     Your values, interests and soft skills, in combination with your personality type, make some occupations a good fit for you, and others completely inappropriate. Use self-assessment tools and career tests to gather information about your traits and generate lists of occupations that are suitable.

Make a master list of careers. You probably have several lists of occupations in front of you at this point — one generated by each of the self-assessment tools you used.     3    

Explore the careers on your list. At this point, you’ll be thrilled that you have managed to narrow your list down to only 10 to 20 options.     4     Find job descriptions and educational, training and licensing requirements in published sources. Learn about advancement opportunities. Use government-produced labor market information to get data about earnings and job outlook.

    5     Finally, after doing all your exploration, you are probably ready to make your choice. Pick the occupation that you are most satisfied with based on all the information you have gathered.

Realize that you are allowed to do it if you change your mind about your choice at any point in your life. Many people change their careers at least a few times.

A．Know what your goal is.

B．Make your career choice.

C．Your list doesn’t have to be too long.

D．You should combine them into one master list.

E．Now you can get some basic information on your list.

F．If you don’t know what to do, the task may seem difficult.

G．Before you choose the right career, you must learn about yourself.

8 . The tragedy of the commons is an economic theory which outlines the problems with people sharing collective property versus private ownership. An example of collective property is when employees don’t feel any ownership in the chairs and desks in the office, so they don’t report problems when they occur. However, in private ownership, anything is checked and taken care of. The tragedy of the commons can ruin your business if you’re not careful.     1    

Encourage teamwork. Numerous studies have shown that to employees, self-realization is even more important than money. We can self-realize by feeling like we are a team, jointly committed to a cause.     2     They don’t just have a job for themselves. Instead, they are set to make the company a success. Certainly, they have specific responsibilities, but their commitment to the business is all-embracing.

    3     There are some people who are naturally more gifted in particular areas. For example, one man who works for me is just a natural handyman. So, I asked him to keep an eye on the mechanical items that may need maintenance and repairs, and to go ahead and fix it. He should treat the property as if he owns it

Hold back the critical. Not everybody is cut out to be an overseer of a business. Some people are just too judgmental or negative. Even if such people have particular skills, you do well to not assign them to oversee others. They can drive everybody crazy.     4     This keeps them and everyone else happy.

Welcome feedback. You may notice something is not being taken care of here or there.     5     This becomes a valuable tool to show employees that this is important to you, and you genuinely care about them and the state of your assets.

A．Plan out management wisely.

B．Assign tasks evenly among employees.

C．Create a place for them where they work chiefly alone.

D．There, however, exist such benefits as mentioned below.

E．The question then comes: How do you deal with it in a business?

F．Point it out in a respectful manner and figure out what is going on.

G．Inspire everyone to take a heartfelt involvement in the business as a whole.