1 . I’m always cautious of the tired saying, “If it doesn’t kill you, it’ll make you stronger.” I mean, what about polio (小儿麻痹症)? Or loads of other horrible things that if you survive, you’re left scarred in one way or another.
For many years I worked in a specialist NHS clinic for people with eating disorders, which are greatly misunderstood and connected with vanity (虚荣) when instead it’s usually about control or even profound trauma (精神创伤). Eating disorders have the highest mortality of any mental illness, with one in five of those with an eating disorder dying from it. Treatment for it is long, tough and tiring. So, it’s fair to say it’s not something to be taken lightly.
Yet I was often surprised by how many patients-patients with all sorts of other conditions too, from depression to cancer -would tell me how the experience had changed them for the better after receiving treatment. It’s not so much that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger; more, it might make you more understanding of yourself and more sensitive to the battles and struggles of others. It can also give people a sense of determination and perseverance they never had before.
I had one patient who was an addict and alcoholic besides suffering eating disorder. She was frequently rushed into hospital and was sometimes at a real risk of dying. However, after years of hard work, she stopped drinking, stopped using drugs and her eating disorder improved. She got back into work and started doing several courses to get promoted. Actually, she had gone through numerous intense and exhausting interviews before landing a job, but she said whenever she felt she couldn’t handle it or doubted her capabilities, she reminded herself that nothing would ever be worse or harder than what she had already gone through. She managed to make the most of her life and turn her life around.
1. What does the author think of the old mantra?| A．Always applicable. | B．Totally absurd. |
| C．Partially right. | D．Quite misleading. |
| A．The number of deaths. |
| B．The possibility of being cured. |
| C．The rate of getting mentally hurt. |
| D．The chance of having mental illness. |
| A．It leads to a changeable attitude. |
| B．It makes no noticeable difference. |
| C．It builds up their physical strength. |
| D．It fosters self-awareness and sympathy. |
| A．She continued harmful habits. | B．She relied only on medication. |
| C．She always believed in herself. | D．She became stronger and tougher. |
2 . In the late nineteenth century, art critics regarded seventeenth-century Dutch paintings as direct reflections of reality. The paintings were discussed as an index of the democracy of a society that chose to represent its class, action, and occupations exactly as they were, wide-ranging realism was seen as the great accomplishment of Dutch art. However, the achievement of more recent study of Dutch art has been the recovery of the fact that such paintings are to be taken as symbolizing mortality, the renaissance of earthly life, and the power of God, and as message that range from the mildly moralizing to the firmly didactic. How explicit and consistent the symbolizing process was intended to be is a much thornier matter, but anyone who has more familiarity than a passing acquaintance with Dutch literature or with the kinds of images used in illustrated books (above all emblem books) will know how much less pervasive was the habit of investing ordinary objects than of investing scenes with meaning that go be-y ond their surface and outward appearance. In the mid-1960s, Eddy de Jongh published an extraordinary array of material — especially from the emblem books and vernacular literature — that confirmed the unreliability of taking Dutch pictures at surface value alone.
The major difficulty, however, with the findings of critics such as de Jongh is that it is not easy to assess the multiplicity of levels in which Dutch viewers interpreted these pictures. De Jongh’s followers typically regard the pictures as purely symbolic. Not every object within Dutch paintings need be interpreted in terms of the gloss given to its equivalent representation in the emblem books. Not every foot warmer is to be interpreted in terms of the foot warmer in Rowmer Visscher’s Sinnepoppen of 1614, not every bridle is an emblem of restraint (though many were indeed just that).
To maintain as Brown does, that the two children in Netscher’s painting A Lady Teaching a Child to Read stand for industry and idleness is to fail to understand that the painting has a variety of possible meanings, even though the picture undoubtedly carriers unmistakable symbolic meanings, too. Modern Art historians may well find the discovery of parallels be-tween a painting and a specific emblem exciting, they may, like seventeenth-century viewers, search for the double that lie behind many paintings. But seventeenth-century response can hardly be reduced to the level of formula. To suggest otherwise is to imply a laboriousness of mental process that may well characterize modern interpretations of seventeenth-century Dutch Art, but that was, for the most part, not characteristic in the seventeenth century.
1. The passage is primarily concerned with which of the following?| A．Reconciling two different points of view about how art reflects. |
| B．Criticizing a traditional method of interpretation. |
| C．Describing and evaluating a recent critical approach. |
| D．Describing a long-standing controversy and how it was resolved. |
| A．Suggest that restraint was only one of the many symbolic meanings attached to bridles |
| B．Provide an example of an everyday, physical object that was not endowed with symbolic meaning |
| C．Provide an example of an object that modern critics have endowed with symbolic meaning different from the meaning assigned it by seventeenth-century Dutch artists |
| D．Provide an example of an object with symbolic meaning that was not always used as a symbol |
| A．It provides specific applications of the critical approach introduced in the preceding paragraph. |
| B．It present a caveat about the critical approach discussed in the preceding paragraph. |
| C．It presents the research on which a theory presented in the preceding paragraph is based. |
| D．It refutes a theory presented in the preceding paragraph and advocates a return to a more traditional approach. |
| A．They confirm that seventeenth century Dutch painting depict some objects and scenes rarely found in daily life. |
| B．They are more useful than vernacular literature in providing information about the sym-bolic content of seventeenth-century Dutch painting. |
| C．They have been misinterpreted by art critics, such as de Jongh, who claim seventeenth-century Dutch paintings contain symbolic meaning. |
| D．They contain material that challenges the assumptions of the nineteenth-century critics about seventeenth-century Dutch painting. |
1. What was Prof. Stone’s grandfather afraid of?
| A．Leaving his home. |
| B．Parting from his son. |
| C．Taking early retirement. |
| A．Lack of moral support. |
| B．Loss of self-worth. |
| C．Change of living habits. |
| A．Public services they ask for. |
| B．Health care available to them. |
| C．Contributions they can make. |
4 . Every order of takeout comes with a side of single-use plastics and each plastic fork. knife, spoon and straw-whether or not you wanted it or used it-ends up in the trash.
New research found that 139 million metric tons of single-use plastic waste was generated in 2021-six million metric tons more single-use plastics compared to 2019. A hunger for takeout meals during the pandemic contributed to the surge.
An estimated 60% of Americans order takeout or delivery at least once a week and online ordering is growing 300% faster than in-house dining; that means millions of single-use plastic utensils (餐具) are going out with every order.
New laws aim to address the problem. Some of the recent bills are thanks to The National Reuse Network, part of the environmental nonprofit Upstream, which launched a national Skip the Stuff campaign to work out policies that require restaurants to include single-use plastic utensils, straws, and napkins only when customers request them.
The bills also require meal delivery and online apps like Uber Eats, GrubHub and Door Dash to add single-use extras to their menus; customers can choose the items and quantities to have them included in the order. Customers that don’t order the single-use plastics won’t receive them. The goal of the bills is to reduce the 40 billion plastic utensils sent to the landfill (垃圾填埋场) every year.
“Most of the time, people are taking food home or to their offices where there are reusable utensils so these utensils wind up in a drawer or get thrown out,” says Alexis Goldsmith, national organizing director for a nationwide project Beyond Plastics. “Some people do need utensils, but for the most part, they’re not needed.”
To date, Skip the Stuff bills have been passed in several cities, including Denver, Washington, D.C. and Chicago, California and Washington state passed statewide bills that make single-use plastic “accessories” available with takeout orders only upon request.
Organizations like Upstream, Beyond plastics and NRDC have created toolkits to help additional communities launch their own Skip the Stuff campaigns.
1. What does the underlined word “surge” in paragraph 2 probably mean?| A．Great desire. | B．Sharp decline. | C．Rapid increase. | D．Obvious panic. |
| A．Choosing green products. | B．Adding single-use napkins. |
| C．Recycling and reusing utensils. | D．Providing utensils only on request. |
| A．To reduce plastic waste. | B．To stop bad eating habits. |
| C．To encourage people to eat out. | D．To better the dining environment. |
| A．Unimportant. | B．Damaging. | C．Much-needed. | D．Well-known. |
5 . Moutai, China’s largest baijiu maker, and domestic coffee brand Luckin Coffee on Monday launched in China a latte advertised as containing the fiery Chinese spirit baijiu, as the Chinese luxury liquor maker aims to pull in younger consumers. And the truth is, once released, the drink quickly sold out.
The latte, decorated with the iconic Moutai logo, contains less than 0.5 percent (alcohol by volume) of 53 degree Moutai, and soon became one of the most discussed topics on Chinese social media with people curious about how traditional Chinese liquor would taste with coffee.
In Beijing, the Moutai-flavored latte sold out in some Luckin Coffee locations before midday. And many had to shut down their online ordering system as orders surged. “It seems that people prefer iced latte, so we quickly used up the ice in the branch. The number of orders is scary, ” said a barista (咖啡师) surnamed Zhang. She said she had no choice but to temporarily stop the online ordering system at around 1:30 pm because there were more than 200 orders still to be completed and almost all of them were for the Moutai-flavored latte.
People have been sharing their reactions after trying the latte on social media, with most agreeing that the aroma of the baijiu is very strong. Some people said they even felt dizzy after drinking the coffee due to its alcohol content.
Some also wondered whether they would be allowed to drive after drinking the latte. In response, Luckin Coffee stated that underage people, pregnant women, drivers and those who are allergic to alcohol are advised not to order the drink. On Monday, an officer from the Beijing Traffic Administration Bureau also asked people not to drive, no matter how much alcohol is actually in the latte.
1. What is the netizens reaction to the combination of liquor and coffee?| A．They are indifferent to the new latte. | B．They strongly support its update. |
| C．They have a strong desire to taste. | D．They think it is too tradition to try. |
| A．Declined suddenly. | B．Moved quickly. |
| C．Emerged orderly. | D．Increased greatly. |
| A．Students who are in primary school. | B．Elders who are healthy enough. |
| C．Women who have given birth for years. | D．Passengers who are taking a bus. |
| A．To advertise. | B．To introduce. | C．To persuade. | D．To entertain. |
6 . In a policy address to lawmakers, Japan’s Prime Minister, Fumio Kishida, said the country’s population problem was a case of solving the issue “now or never”, and that it “simply cannot wait any longer because it can affect social functions”.
“In thinking of the sustainability and inclusiveness (包容) of our nation’s economy and society, we place child care support as our most important policy,” he said, adding that he wants the government to double its spending on child-related programs, and that a new government agency would be set up in April to focus on the issue.
Japan has one of the lowest birth rates in the world, and it recorded fewer than 800, 000 births in 2022 for the first time since records began in 1899. The country also has one of the highest aging of population in the world; in 2020, nearly one in 1, 500 people in Japan were age 100 or older, according to government data.
These trends have driven a growing population problem, with a rapidly aging society, a shrinking workforce and not enough young people to fill the gaps in the stagnating (停滞) economy. The country’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. Experts point to the pessimism young people in Japan hold towards the future, many frustrated with work pressure and economic stagnation.
How about other parts of East Asia? South Korea recently broke its own record for the world’s lowest birth rate, with data from November 2023 showing a South Korean woman will have an average of 0.79 children in her lifetime-far below the 2.1 needed to maintain a stable population. Japan’s birth rate stands at 1.3, while the United States is at 1.6. Meanwhile, China’s population shrank in 2022 for the first time, adding pressure to its economic growth.
1. With the falling birth rate, what’s the attitude of the Japanese government?| A．Surprised. | B．Anxious. | C．Embarrassed. | D．Indifferent. |
| A．The limited space. | B．The trend of aging population. |
| C．The lack of child care support. | D．The work pressure and economic stagnation. |
| A．Serious population crisis. | B．Ignorance of the birth rate. |
| C．Weak care services for children. | D．Potential harm to children’s health. |
| A．a tour guide. | B．a science fiction. |
| C．a job advertisement. | D．a official government website. |
7 . I am always confused when reading statements like “Princeton University is the number one college in the United States.” Are those who attend Princeton inherently brighter than their peers?
I didn’t care about college rankings for years until I recently saw something different. This past October, Shanghai Ranking Consultancy unveiled the Global Ranking of Academic Subjects 2023, which assesses universities worldwide across 55 subjects in five disciplines.
| A．The value of a university education goes beyond its ranking. |
| B．Is Princeton the most beautiful campus all around the world? |
| C．Is Princeton able to produce more geniuses upon graduation? |
| D．That being said, how much weight should be given to these rankings? |
| E．Actually, the concept of a “best” college is subjective and context-dependent. |
| F．These measures provide valuable insights into the academic strength of universities. |
| G．It is said to employ a more in-depth approach to evaluate the performance of universities. |
8 . Back in the early 2000s, lots of people couldn’t imagine life without alarm clocks, CD players, calendars, cameras, or lots of other devices. But along came the iPhone and other smartphones, and they took over the functions of many things that we used to think were completely necessary.
The success of smartphones can be a model for dealing with climate change because they represent a different approach to design, which is to focus on function rather than form. This approach requires concentrating on understanding the problems, and then engineering a wide range of potential solutions. By adopting this mindset, we can completely change our thinking about energy efficiency (效率).
Traditionally, improvements in energy efficiency have mostly been centered on individual devices, which can be quite fruitful. But focusing on individual devices is like if Apple had spent effort inventing a better alarm clock, a better CD player, a better calendar, and a better camera. Now with an iPhone, we don’t need the standalone (独立运行的) devices at all, because it can function as all of them.
So when it comes to energy efficiency, instead of only installing more efficient heaters, we should focus on the desired function: warmth. Through creative designs like coating (给……涂层) our house, we can get rid of the need for heaters, significantly saving nearly 99% energy.
Similarly, rather than merely focusing on making cars more efficient, we should consider the desired function — transportation. By developing an efficient transportation system that reduces the need for private cars, we can achieve greater energy savings.
The most energy-efficient car or heater is no car, or no heater, while still being able to get around and stay warm. In other words, it’s not thinking efficiently, but thinking differently.
1. What makes the iPhone a good example of environmental protection?| A．Choosing a simplest design. |
| B．Combining possible functions. |
| C．Perfecting individual instruments. |
| D．Reducing the energy consumption. |
| A．Improving technologies. |
| B．Using recyclable materials. |
| C．Figuring out various solutions. |
| D．Concentrating on the necessary needs. |
| A．Inefficient. | B．Classical. | C．Useless. | D．Perfect. |
| A．Think out of the box | B．Differences make it unique |
| C．Be economical with energy | D．Step out of the comfort zone |
9 . Unlike Special Forces tourism, where the aim is to hit as many famous spots as possible in the
In some cases, Citywalk is much like a food tour, with walkers carefully planning out
On Gen Z trend bible Xiaohongshu, hashtags “Citywalk” and “Day off Citywalk” have 14.2 million and 411.5 million views
While Citywalk can work as an
| A．largest | B．hugest | C．shortest | D．quickest |
| A．figuring | B．measuring | C．admiring | D．sensing |
| A．offline | B．local | C．internet | D．nearby |
| A．instead | B．however | C．meanwhile | D．furthermore |
| A．paths | B．routes | C．ways | D．directions |
| A．trend | B．taste | C．flow | D．trick |
| A．on | B．at | C．by | D．via |
| A．installed | B．launched | C．set | D．downloaded |
| A．easily | B．possibly | C．luckily | D．randomly |
| A．totally | B．particularly | C．visually | D．respectively |
| A．read | B．named | C．said | D．noticed |
| A．searching | B．leaving | C．longing | D．allowing |
| A．inspiration | B．expression | C．anticipation | D．approach |
| A．are keen to | B．are approved to | C．are bound to | D．are determined to |
| A．discovers | B．observes | C．sees | D．views |
Short-form videos, which gained popularity on the Chinese platform Douyin, have given rise to a new trend in entertainment: ultra-short (超短) dramas.
Despite the initial success of ultra-short dramas, Chinese authorities
What’s equally concerning is
It’s natural for us to seek entertainment. But it’s also worth pausing to consider the consequences
