1 . It wasn’t until after I graduated from college, and realized that there’s no such thing as all-encompassing (包罗万象) knowledge, that I was able to read for pleasure. A sense of curiosity directed me and I started to see dictionaries as field guides to the life of language. Looking up words felt less like a failing than an admission that there are lots of things I don’t know and an opportunity to discover just how many.

I prize my 1954 copy of Webster’s New International Dictionary, Second Edition. I often consult it, during evening games of Scrabble or midday magazine reading. When I come across unfamiliar words while reading novels, I look them up. When I start encountering these words elsewhere, the linguistic (语言的) universe seems to shrink to the size of a small town.

Dictionaries heighten my senses: They direct my attention into a conversation with language. They make me wonder what other things I’m blind to because I haven’t taught myself to notice them yet. Recently spotted examples include orrery, “a mechanical model, usually clockwork, devised to represent the motions of the moon and Earth (and sometimes also other planets) around the sun.” The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) also tells me that the word comes from the fourth Earl of Orrery, for whom a copy of the first machine was made, around 1700. Useful? Obviously not. Satisfying? Deeply.

Wikipedia and Google answer questions with more questions, opening up pages you never asked for. But a dictionary builds on common knowledge, using simple words to explain complex ones. Using one feels as if I’m prying open an oyster (蚝) rather than falling down a rabbit hole. Why leave solvable mysteries up to guesswork?       

For me, dictionaries are a door into that kind of uncalculated knowledge-seeking. They remind me that following your curiosity instead of brushing it aside is one of the best ways I know to feel connected to more than what’s right in front of you.

1. What can we know about the author?

A．He merely read for fun before graduation.

B．He longed to learn about all knowledge.

C．He considered dictionaries chances of enrichment.

D．He admitted being a failure when learning languages.

2. Why does the author mention the example of orrery in paragraph 3?

A．To introduce a word.	B．To indicate a finding.
C．To clarify a concept.	D．To support a statement.

3. What does the underlined part in paragraph 4 refer to?

A．Encountering new problems.	B．Entering a different world.
C．Acquiring essential common sense.	D．Simplifying tough questions.

4. According to the passage, which of the following can best describe dictionaries?

A．Jaw-dropping.

B．Eye-opening.

C．Mind-numbing.

D．Labour-saving.

2 . Directions: After reading the passages below, fill in the blanks to make the passages coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fil in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

Buzzwords (流行词) Capture How We Lived in 2023

While walking along Suzhou Creek to gather material for my latest “Shanghai Expression” column, I was wondering     1    Shanghai’s modem skylines match the historical aspects of the area so effortlessly. The old and the new create a unique ambience (格调) .

Near the creek, I encountered Uncle Chen, fishing in a tranquil spot.

“Nice day for fishing,” I said in greeting him.

He looked up with a smile. “Yes, it’s a break from the mobile phono world.”

It     2     (strike) me that American publisher Merriam-Webster included “authentic” on its list of the year 2023’s top words. It reflects a growing focus on genuineness in an era     3       (dominate) by AI, celebrity culture and social media.

As I talked with Uncle Chen, the bustle of the city     4     (continue) around us. Food deliverymen buzzed past. Online celebrities in dopamine dresses held selfie sticks for livestreaming,     5     (highlight) the rise of a breed of “new professionals.”

Tourists and locals alike strolled through the area, some engaged in     6     appeared to be a “citywalk” —a wander     7     a clear destination.

Office workers walked by holding fancy coffee cups, a sign of the evolving coffee trends     8     have swept the city, like the “Moutai-flavored latte.”

Watching Uncle Chen, tourists, online celebrities, office workers and delivery people, I saw a changing city in a realm of constant change, summarized by a variety of contemporary buzzwords.

    9     2023 winds down, it’s interesting to note that buzzwords aren’t just words. Rather, they are markers of the dynamic, ever-changing aspects of life.

Each buzzword has its own story. Each popular phrase offers a peek into the hearts and minds of people, especially the younger generation. Let’s pause     10     (look) at some of them more closely.

3 . 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。

Have you ever wondered how people type Chinese characters? The answer lies in the wonderfully useful phonetic system     1     (call) pinyin. It's the most commonly used system for spelling out the Chinese sounds, and it uses the letters in the Latin alphabet that you are already familiar       2     .

Pinyin is     3     extremely useful tool and should be the foundation of your Chinese learning. Besides, it's not just for Chinese learners like yourself.     4     (actual), all native Chinese speakers know pinyin,     5     is the first thing Chinese children learn at school before learning characters. So even if you don't know Chinese characters, you can type in pinyin and make     6     (you)understood.

Every single sound that exists in Chinese can     7     (display) easily in a pinyin chart. Once you master these 409 sounds along with the tones, you'll have practically mastered the pronunciation of every single word in the Chinese language. We've also created a series of video     8     (lesson)with practice tools that enable you to record yourself and listen back to it to     9     (sure) that your pronunciation matches the examples. Combined with our Tone Pairs practice tool, you now have everything you need     10     (master)pinyin, tones, and Chinese pronunciation.

4 . 语义匹配

Tobias Le Compte, a 35-year-old Belgian musician, has become a _________sensation on social media for his excellent grasp of the main Shanghai dialect. In 2008, Le Compte, visited Shanghai for the first time in an arts festival. He _________was enchanted by the city right away, and returned the next year and enrolled as an undergraduate student at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music. Like most _________expats in China, Le Compte first studied Mandarin and spent about half a year teaching himself the language. It was not until 2021, when Le Compte was back in Belgium and _________confined to his home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, that he started learning Shanghainese. He was also _________motivated by the 2021 hit movie B for Busy, a tale set in Shanghai starring local stars who speak their lines in the city’s dialect.

1.

A．wrestler

B．influencer

C．actor

D．conductor

2.

A．was capable of

B．was moved by

C．was impressed by

D．was eager for

3.

A．local people

B．native speakers

C．descendants

D．foreign residents

4.

A．joined to

B．limited to

C．addicted to

D．devoted to

5.

A．inspired

B．scared

C．discouraged

D．awarded

5 . The human eye can perceive about 1 million colors, but languages have far fewer words to describe those colors. Languages spoken in industrialized nations such as the United States, for example, tend to have about a dozen basic color terms, while languages spoken by populations in remote areas often have fewer. However, the way that a language divides up color space can be influenced by contact with other languages, according to a new study.

Among members of the Tsimane society, who live in a remote part of the Bolivian Amazon rainforest, the researchers found that those who had learned Spanish as a second language began to classify colors into more words, making color distinctions that are not commonly used by Tsimane who are monolingual (单语的).

In the most striking finding, Tsimane who were bilingual (会双语的) began using two different words to describe blue and green, which monolingual Tsimane speakers do not typically do. The researchers also found that the bilingual Tsimane became more precise in describing colors such as yellow and red, which monolingual speakers tend to use to include many shades (色度) beyond what a Spanish or English speaker would include.

Working with monolingual and bilingual members of the Tsimane, the researchers asked people to perform two different tasks. For the bilingual population, they asked them to do the tasks twice, once in Tsimane and once in Spanish.

In the first task, the researchers showed the subjects 84 chips (块) of different colors, one by one, and asked them what word they would use to describe the color. In the second task, the subjects were shown the entire set of chips and asked to group the chips by color words.

The researchers found that when performing this task in Spanish, the bilingual Tsimane classified colors into the traditional color words of the Spanish language. Additionally, the bilingual speakers were much more precise about naming colors when they performed the task in their native language.

“The bilingual speakers learned a different way to divide up the color space,” says Edward Gibson, the senior author of the study. “It’s a great example of one of the main benefits of learning a second language. You open a different world and understand different concepts that you import to your native language.”

1. What can be inferred about the Tsimane language from paragraph 3?

A．There are very few color words.

B．There used to be no color words.

C．There are no words for blue and green.

D．There are many words for yellow and red.

2. Which of the following indicates a difference between the two tasks?

A．The number of the chips.	B．The color of the chips.
C．The way to show the chips.	D．The people to perform the tasks.

3. What may explain why the bilingual speakers could name colors precisely when performing the task in Tsimane?

A．The evolution of Tsimane.	B．The popularity of Spanish.
C．The influence of Spanish.	D．The uniqueness of Tsimane.

4. What is the main idea of the text?

A．Learning language can broaden the mind.

B．Contact between languages can influence each other.

C．Bilingual speakers have more words to describe colors.

D．A language can acquire new concepts from other languages.

6 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1. What do we know about Beowulf?

A．It was written in Middle English.

B．Its author is unknown.

C．It is easy to understand.

2. When was Middle English used?

A．Between about AD 800 and AD 1066.

B．Between about AD 1066 and AD 1150.

C．Between about AD 1150 and AD 1500.

3. Who is Geoffrey Chaucer?

A．An English historian.

B．A Middle English poet.

C．A Modern English writer.

4. What will the speaker talk about after the break?

A．Modern English.

B．Middle English.

C．Old English.

7 . 阅读短文，在空白处填入适当的内容或括号内单词的正确形式。

Being able to understand local jokes is often seen as a great icebreaker for a foreign language learner    1    tries to start friendships with native speakers. However,when     2     (study)a foreign language,a beginner always considers jokes hard to understand.Most of the time,jokes are only funny for people who share acultural background or understand humor in the same way.And there is    3     (much) to understanding a joke in a foreign language than understanding vocabulary and   grammar.

8 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1. What do the two speakers mainly talk about?

A．Body languages.

B．Communicating skills.

C．Meeting between countries.

2. What should the man do to the Japanese woman according to Mary?

A．Shake hands with her.

B．Look straight at her.

C．Bow back.

3. How did the man feel when meeting with the Japanese woman?

A．Offended.

B．Happy.

C．Excited.

4. What does the man decide to do?

A．Visit Japan.

B．Learn more body languages.

C．Think of more good ideas.

9 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1. How many explanations are mentioned about where OK came from in the text?

A．Five.

B．Four.

C．Three.

2. When did John Jacob Astor invent OK according to some language experts?

A．In the late 1800s.

B．In the early 1800s.

C．In the late 1700s.

3. What was Obadiah Kelly?

A．A train driver.

B．A railroad worker.

C．A salesman.

4. What does OK mean in “OK Club”?

A．The abbreviation of a name.

B．The abbreviation of a place.

C．The abbreviation of an organization.

10 . For the past decade, one of the most linguistically (语言学地), diverse places in the world, square mile after square mile, has been my home: Queens, New York.

The soundtrack outside my door is extraordinary: On any given block, passing voices speak varieties of Polish, Ukrainian, Egyptian Arabic, Mexican Spanish, Puerto Rican Spanish, Dominican Spanish, and all the forms of New York City English they give rise to.

As a person who studies languages: I can usually distinguish them from one another, but understand only a part of what people are saying.

Users of Seke, a language from five villages in Nepal with 700 speakers, live a subway ride away. In certain stores, Albanians, Bosnians, Serbs, and Montenegrins all reunite, using the languages of the former Yugoslavia as if the country still existed. No group has a majority, or even 15. percent of the neighborhood, and most are at just 5 or 10 percent. English acts, for the most part, as a vital lingua franca (通用语). This’ last point is crucial, because a city can be a haven (避难所) for diversity but also an end point.

My neighborhood has its signature sound, but there are several dozen others that are just as diverse, each in a different way.

These are the places where the Endangered Language Alliance, the nonprofit I co-direct, has recorded New Yorkers speaking more than 100 languages that the survey and other data sets say don’t officially exist, and more than 700 in total.

That linguistic portrait makes clear that early-21st-century New York City is a last haven for endangered languages—ones that are being hounded out of existence elsewhere. And this deep linguistic diversity is among the least explored but possibly most important factors in New York’s history and makeup. New York’s soul can be found in the existence of these many, many languages, explaining New York’s particular capacity for tolerance and its ability to “make room” for others.

1. What is the author’s occupation?

A．An economist.

B．A historian.

C．A linguist.

D．A reporter.

2. What can be inferred about the languages in New York City?

A．They are close to disappearing.	B．They are mainly spoken by villagers.
C．English is the most popular language.	D．Most of them are not officially recognized.

3. What does the underlined word “hounded” in the last paragraph probably mean?

A．Protected.

B．Threatened.

C．Respected.

D．Accepted.

4. From which book might the text have been taken?

A．Language City.	B．The Development of Languages.
C．Endangered Languages in New York.	D．The Importance of Language Diversity.