1 . 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. absence	B. double	C. extended	D. functions	E. fund	F. outpaced
G. prospects	H. record	I. shifted	J. steady	K. upward

Japan births fall to record low as population crisis deepens

Japan saw 799,728 births in 2022, the lowest number on record. That number has nearly halved in the past 40 years; by contrast, Japan recorded more than 1.5 million births in 1982. Japan also reported a (n)    1    high for post-war deaths last year, at more than 1.58 million. Deaths have    2    births in Japan for more than a decade, posing a growing problem for leaders of the world’s third-largest economy. They now face a ballooning elderly population, along with a shrinking workforce to    3    pensions and health care as demand from the aging population increased.

Japan’ population has been in    4    decline since its economic boom of the 1980s and stood at 125.5 million in 2021. Its death rate of 1.3 is far below the rate of 2.1 required to maintain a stable population, in the    5    of immigration.

The country also has one of the highest life expectancies in the world ; in 2020, nearly one in 1,500 people in Japan were aged 100 or older. These concerning trends resulted in a warning from Prime minister that Japan is “on the edge of not being able to maintain social    6    ” and Japan “simply cannot wait any longer” in solving the problem of its low birth rate. A new government agency will be set up to focus on the issue, with Prime Minister saying that he wants the government to     7     its spending on child-related programs.

But money alone might not be able to solve the complex problem, with various social factors contributing to the low birth rate. Japan’s high cost of living, limited space and lack of child care support in cities make it difficult to raise children, meaning fewer couples are having kids. Urban couples are also often far from     8    family in other regions, who could help provide support. In 2022, Japan was ranked one of the world’s most expensive places to raise a child. And yet, the country’s economy has slowed down since the early 1990s, meaning frustratingly low ages and little    9    mobility.

The average real annual household income declined from $50,600 in 1995 to $43, 300 in 2020. Attitude toward marriage and starting families have also     10     in recent years, with more couples putting off both during the pandemic.

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.

The United States of America (commonly     1    (refer) to as the United States, the U.S.,the USA,the States or America) is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district.The country is situated mostly in central North America,    2     its forty-eight contiguous states and Washington,D.C., the capital district, lie     3     the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans,bordered by Canada to the north and Mexico to the south. The state of Alaska is in the northwest of the continent, with Canada to its east and Russia to the west across the Bering Strait.

At 3.79 million square miles (9.83 million km²) and with more than 300 million people,the United States is the third or fourth     4     (large) country by total area,and third largest by land area and by population.The United States is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many countries. The U.S.economy is the largest national economy in the world, with an estimated 2008 gross domestic product (GDP) of US $14.3 trillion.

The nation was founded by thirteen colonies of Great Britain located along the Atlantic seaboard. On July 4,1776,they issued the Declaration of Independence,     5     proclaimed their independence from Great Britain and their formation of a cooperative union.The rebellious states     6     (defeat) Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War,the first successful colonial war of independence. A federal convention adopted the current United States Constitution on September 17,1787; its ratification the     7     (follow) year made the states part of a single republic with a strong central government. The Bill of Rights, comprising ten constitutional amendments guaranteeing many fundamental civil rights and freedoms, was ratified in 1791.

In the 19th century, the United States acquired land from France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Russia, and annexed the Republic of Texas and the Republic of Hawaii. Disputes between the agrarian South and industrial North over states’ rights and the expansion of the institution of slavery provoked the American Civil War of the 1860s. The North's victory prevented a permanent split of the country and led     8     the end of legal slavery in the United States. By the 1870s,     9     national economy was the world's largest. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the country's status as a military power. In 1945, the United States emerged from World War II as the first country     10     (have) weapons,a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council, and a founding member of NATO.The end of the Cold War left the United States as the sole superpower. The country accounts for approximately 50% of global military spending and is a leading economic,political,and cultural force in the world.

3 . 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.

Sea Gypsies (吉普赛人)

We had been travelling for a few hours when on the horizon we spotted the group of small hand-built boats called kabang. The Moken are cautious of strangers, so     1     we approached, I called out some reassuring words in their language. The family elder, Gatcha, was at first reluctant to stop. Outsiders have been making use of the Moken throughout their history and his instinct told him to keep his distance. But after hearing that I had been researching the Moken way of life     2     1982, in the end he accepted us into his “home”.

Home for this nomadic sea people are the kabang, on     3     they live, eat, and sleep for eight months of the year. In these light craft, they travel across the Mergui Archipelago, 800 islands     4     (dot) across the Andaman Sea, off Myanmar,     5     (collect) what they need to survive and moving on. They get by only on       6     they take from the sea and beaches each day: fish, mollusks and sandworms to eat; shells and oysters to trade with Malay and Chinese merchants. They accumulate little and live on land only during the monsoons But the world is closing in on the Moken way of life.

As divers and beachcombers, they pose no threat to others who share these waters. In spite of this, the authorities are always pressuring them     7     (settle) in one place. Ten years ago, 2,500 Moken were still leading a traditional life, but that population is slowly declining and now stands at around 1,000. If they cease to be sea gypsies, it       8     (fear) that their unique understanding of the sea will disappear also. Moken people can dive to 20m without breathing equipment, and     9     (develop) extraordinary underwater vision. They are experts at reading changes in the sea, and it is even said they     10     predict a tsunami