1 . You’ve heard that plastic is polluting the oceans — between 4.8 and 12.7 million tonnes enter ocean ecosystems every year. But does one plastic straw or cup really make a difference? Artist Benjamin Von Wong wants you to know that it does. He builds massive sculptures out of plastic garbage, forcing viewers to re-examine their relationship to single-use plastic products.
At the beginning of the year, the artist built a piece called “Strawpocalypse,” a pair of 10-foot-tall plastic waves, frozen mid-crash. Made of 168,000 plastic straws collected from several volunteer beach cleanups, the sculpture made its first appearance at the Estella Place shopping center in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Just 9% of global plastic waste is recycled. Plastic straws are by no means the biggest source (来源) of plastic pollution, but they’ve recently come under fire because most people don’t need them to drink with and, because of their small size and weight, they cannot be recycled. Every straw that’s part of Von Wong’s artwork likely came from a drink that someone used for only a few minutes. Once the drink is gone, the straw will take centuries to disappear.
In a piece from 2018, Von Wong wanted to illustrate (说明) a specific statistic: Every 60 seconds, a truckload’s worth of plastic enters the ocean. For this work, titled “Truckload of Plastic,” Von Wong and a group of volunteers collected more than 10,000 pieces of plastic, which were then tied together to look like they’d been dumped (倾倒) from a truck all at once.
Von Wong hopes that his work will also help pressure big companies to reduce their plastic footprint.
1. What are Von Wong’s artworks intended for?| A．Beautifying the city he lives in. | B．Introducing eco-friendly products. |
| C．Drawing public attention to plastic waste. | D．Reducing garbage on the beach. |
| A．To show the difficulty of their recycling. |
| B．To explain why they are useful. |
| C．To voice his views on modern art. |
| D．To find a substitute for them. |
| A．Calming. | B．Disturbing. |
| C．Refreshing. | D．Challenging. |
| A．Artists’ Opinions on Plastic Safety |
| B．Media Interest in Contemporary Art |
| C．Responsibility Demanded of Big Companies |
| D．Ocean Plastics Transformed into Sculptures |
2 . Who is a genius? This question has greatly interested humankind for centuries.
Let’s state clearly: Einstein was a genius. His face is almost the international symbol for genius. But we want to go beyond one man and explore the nature of genius itself. Why is it that some people are so much more intelligent or creative than the rest of us? And who are they?
In the sciences and arts, those praised as geniuses were most often white men, of European origin. Perhaps this is not a surprise. It’s said that history is written by the victors, and those victors set the standards for admission to the genius club. When contributions were made by geniuses outside the club—women, or people of a different color or belief—they were unacknowledged and rejected by others.
A study recently published by Science found that as young as age six, girls are less likely than boys to say that members of their gender(性别)are “really, really smart.” Even worse, the study found that girls act on that belief: Around age six they start to avoid activities said to be for children who are “really, really smart.” Can our planet afford to have any great thinkers become discouraged and give up? It doesn’t take a genius to know the answer: absolutely not.
Here’s the good news. In a wired world with constant global communication, we’re all positioned to see flashes of genius wherever they appear. And the more we look, the more we will see that social factors(因素)like gender, race, and class do not determine the appearance of genius. As a writer says, future geniuses come from those with “intelligence, creativity, perseverance(毅力), and simple good fortune, who are able to change the world.”
1. What does the author think of victors’ standards for joining the genius club?| A．They’re unfair. | B．They’re conservative. |
| C．They’re objective. | D．They’re strict. |
| A．They think themselves smart. |
| B．They look up to great thinkers. |
| C．They see gender differences earlier than boys. |
| D．They are likely to be influenced by social beliefs |
| A．Improved global communication. |
| B．Less discrimination against women. |
| C．Acceptance of victors’ concepts. |
| D．Changes in people’s social positions. |
| A．Geniuses Think Alike | B．Genius Takes Many Forms |
| C．Genius and Intelligence | D．Genius and Luck |
Eat or heat?
No more ironing, limited oven use and showering at work—Europeans are trying to keep energy use down but the bills still keep climbing. Costs of energy for British consumers will rise by 80% from October,
Keetley
A household is defined as living in fuel poverty if it is low income and needs to spend 10% or even
4 . What comes to mind when you think about chocolate? A candy bar at Halloween? Ice cream on a hot day?
For Ibrahim, a 12-year-old boy from the West African country of Ghana, chocolate is not about sweet treats; it is about bitter work.
To change the harmful practices like this, some farms use an approach called Fairtrade.
Consumers like you can play a role as well. You can buy Fairtrade chocolate if possible, pressure candy companies to change their labour practices, or ask local stores to sell Fairtrade products.
Chocolate has a hidden story that affects children like Ibrahim—children who want a happy future just like you do.
| A．You have the power to change the story. |
| B．The labels on chocolate do not tell his story. |
| C．Fairtrade is a way of doing business that prohibits child labour. |
| D．You can also take action through the Fairtrade Schools network. |
| E．On many farms, children like Ibrahim perform difficult farming tasks. |
| F．Cocoa trees grow in the tropical climates of Africa, Latin America and South-East Asia. |
| G．With more income, farmers can pay adult workers and can send their children to school. |
5 . A vast majority of people usually argue that cycling can make a significant contribution to our world. In reality, there is a gap between desired and actual numbers. In Germany, for instance, only 20% of the everyday short-distance trips are covered by bicycle. When enquiring about the causes, researchers found one point repeatedly tops the list: the perceived or potential risk on the bike routes used. Increasing the share of cycling trips thus depends crucially on well-developed bike paths.
However, designing efficient bike path networks is a complex task that involves balancing a variety of limitations while meeting overall demand. In addition, many districts are confronted with a shortage of funds available for improving the infrastructure. Researchers propose a new approach to generating efficient bike path networks. This considers demand distribution and the route option of cyclists based on preferences for secure outings. Typically, minimizing the travel distance is far from the solely goal. Aspects such as attractiveness of a route are also taken into account.
Under real conditions, a bike path network is created by constantly adding bike paths to more streets. This time, researchers start with an ideal, complex network, in which all streets in a city are equipped with a bike path. In a virtual process, they gradually remove less used bike path sections from this network. The route selection of cyclists is continuously updated. Thus, a series of bike path networks is created and is always adapted to the current usage. Each stage of it corresponds to a variant that could be carried out with less financial support.
“We illustrate the applicability of this demand-driven planning for crowded urban areas of Dresden and Hamburg,” explains researcher Christoph Steinacker. “We are approaching a real-life issue here using the theoretic toolbox of network dynamics and compare efficient bike path networks under different conditions.”
1. Why do people rarely cycle?| A．They think of cycling as inefficient. | B．They usually take long-distance trips. |
| C．They’re concerned about the security. | D．They’re unable to find special bike roads. |
| A．Tight budgets. | B．Complex routes. |
| C．Maximized travel distance. | D．Decreasing cycling demand. |
| A．It will be updated once in a while. | B．It is contrary to the real-life design. |
| C．It ensures every street has a bike path. | D．It serves as a model for other districts. |
| A．Good Planning Gets the Bike Rolling | B．A good Network Benefits More People |
| C．Cycling Paths Change Crowded Urban Areas | D．A New Concept Contributes to a Better World |
6 . In fact, this isn’t a new phenomenon. After all, people have complained about “kids these days” for decades. But is there really any truth in the idea that millennials (千禧一代) and Gen Z are weaker than Boomers or Gen X? People have complained about younger generations for thousands of years.
He points out the fixed concept remains alive and well, with research showing thousands of Americans believe that “kids these days” lack positive qualities that participants associate with older generations.
By doing this, older people are unconsciously comparing who they are today to today’s young people, giving an impression that today’s youth is somehow on the decline, no matter which times we’re living in.
“It’s awareness of what these different generations have gone through, why they are the way they are.” he says.
“
| A．It is actually not the truth |
| B．We were also judged by the former generations |
| C．And the old generations are usually too stubborn to change themselves |
| D．But this isn’t because the youths of today actually do lack these qualities |
| E．The best way to get the old to stop blaming the young is to create a dialogue |
| F．We seem almost forced to judge people who grew up in a different time to us |
| G．In fact, looking down on the generation that comes after you could simply be human nature |
7 . On Wednesday, two things happened. In Syria, 80 people were killed by government airstrikes. Meanwhile, in Florida, Elon Musk’s SpaceX successfully launched and fired a sports car into space. Guess which story has dominated mainstream news sites?
The launch of Musk’s Falcon Heavy rocket, the most powerful ever launched by a private company, went off successfully. Musk sent his cherry-red Tesla roadster running toward Mars, launching “a new space age”. The event attracted phenomenal publicity and made the rocket launch a masterstroke of advertising for Tesla.
Meanwhile, in Syria, where hundreds of thousands of refugees(难民) may be forced to return to unsafe homes, a UN human rights coordinator for Syria said despondently(沮丧地) that he was no longer sure why he bothers to videotape the effects of bombing, since nobody ever pays attention. He wondered what level of violence it would take to make the world care.
There is, perhaps, no better way to appreciate the tragedy of 21st-century global inequality than by watching a billionaire spend $90m launching a $100,000 car into space.
Musk said he wanted to participate in a space race because “races are exciting” and that while strapping his car to a rocket may be “silly and fun … silly and fun things are important”. Thus, anyone who mentions the huge waste the project involves, or the various social uses to which these resources could be put, can be dismissed as a killjoy.
But one doesn’t have to hate fun to question the justification for pursuing a costly new space race at exactly this moment. If we examine the situation honestly, it becomes hard to defend a project like this.
A mission to Mars does indeed sound exciting, but it’s important to have our priorities straight. First, perhaps we could make it so that a child no longer dies of malaria every two minutes. Or we could try to address the level of poverty in Alabama which has become so extreme that the UN investigator did not believe it could occur in a first-world country. Perhaps when violence, poverty and disease are solved, then we can head for the stars.
Many might think that what Elon Musk chooses to do with his billions is Elon Musk’s business alone. If he wanted to spend all his money on medicine for children, that would be nice, but if he’d like to spend it making big explosions and sending his convertible on a million-mile space voyage, that’s his right.
But Musk is only rich enough to afford these money-consuming projects because we have allowed social inequalities to arise in the first place. If wealth were actually distributed fairly in this country, nobody would be in a position to fund his own private space program.
Elon Musk is right: silly and fun things are important. But some of them are an indefensible waste of resources. While there are still humanitarian crises such as that in Syria, nobody can justify vast spending on rocketry experiments.
1. Why does the writer mention the two pieces of news at the beginning of the passage?| A．To illustrate the inequality of wealth distribution and the consequent inequality of attention distribution. |
| B．To highlight the significance of SpaceX’s successful launch of a rocket and a car into space. |
| C．To appeal to the government for more attention to the air strikes and refugee crisis in Syria. |
| D．To find out which news dominated the mainstream news sites. |
| A．Because nobody appreciated his work and all the efforts he made. |
| B．Because the violence in Syria is not serious enough to make the world care. |
| C．Because however hard he tried, nobody seemed to care about the situation in Syria. |
| D．Because he had great difficulty videotaping the effects of bombing. |
| A．The space project of SpaceX cost the government too much money. |
| B．It kills the fun to question the justification of the pursuit of space programs. |
| C．Space programs are a waste of money that cannot be justified. |
| D．Addressing problems of violence, poverty and diseases should be our top priority. |
| A．We should pay equal attention to space projects and solving social problems. |
| B．No private companies should be allowed to spend money in rocketry experiments. |
| C．The money and resources used in space projects could have been used to deal with various social problems. |
| D．Elon Musk should be blamed for misleading the public. |
8 . My phone was an extension of myself. I couldn’t go anywhere
When I was watching TV shows or movies and there was a boring part, I
I have welcomed silence into my life with open arms and am enjoying the increased
As much as having a smartphone was
| A．through | B．without | C．despite | D．upon |
| A．updates | B．instructions | C．assessments | D．decisions |
| A．symbol | B．responsibility | C．reality | D．addiction |
| A．conscious | B．shameful | C．foolish | D．random |
| A．sell | B．pull | C．throw | D．mind |
| A．avoided | B．denied | C．missed | D．allowed |
| A．assist | B．improve | C．associate | D．occupy |
| A．requests | B．thoughts | C．directions | D．comments |
| A．instead of | B．regardless of | C．but for | D．apart from |
| A．creativity | B．productivity | C．knowledge | D．independence |
| A．routine | B．necessity | C．loneliness | D．temptation |
| A．genuine | B．grateful | C．direct | D．desperate |
| A．naturally | B．certainly | C．seemingly | D．gradually |
| A．wonder | B．imagination | C．interest | D．authenticity |
| A．depressive | B．comfortable | C．stressful | D．boring |
9 . The needs of plus size consumers have long been the elephant in the room of the fashion industry until body positivity and fat acceptance movements promoted the slogan (口号) that large-bodied people are not those who are left behind. This size-inclusive (尺码包容) trend has become so popular that it is influencing mainstream culture. As a result, fashion brands have finally decided to extend their size ranges. In 2022, the plus-size market grew twice as fast as the standard size market in both North America and the UK.
Yet, many consumers say fashion brands broadening their ranges are not truly inclusive. “Inclusive sizing means that all bodies are included in fashion, not just the ones who fit in standard sizes,” says Marie Southard Ospina, a UK-based journalist who covers body-image issues. “However, what many designers do right now is pick a number that they think is big enough to include plus sizes and stop. This is even more disrespectful.”
Researchers also criticize that some brands are just taking advantage of the trend. “Brands that used to promote so-called perfect bodies in their advertisements are now trying to get in on the trend by adding a few sizes. It doesn’t feel like they really care about plus-size people,” says Tom Burgess, analyst in fashion industry. “If brands cared about large-bodied consumers, then it wouldn’t have taken until now to acknowledge that they exist,” he says. “It gives the impression that companies are just trying to gain a share of the market without a real commitment to the community.”
The fashion industry must go beyond merely producing clothing in a range of sizes if they hope to succeed with a body -diverse world. The whole industry has to connect on a personal level with consumers. That involves showing shoppers that they are seen, understood and important to brands. “Consumers care about values, and so they want to buy from brands that reflect the values they believe in. Everyone should enjoy the same range of fashion options,” says Ludovica Cesareo, professor of marketing at the College of Business in the US.
1. What do the underlined words “the elephant in the room” mean in the first paragraph?| A．The hot issue that is valued. |
| B．The obvious truth that is ignored. |
| C．The important principle that is recognized. |
| D．The common phenomenon that is criticized. |
| A．They pick sizes randomly. | B．They offer limited plus sizes. |
| C．They treat designers disrespectfully. | D．They haven’t broadened standard sizes. |
| A．Their designs. | B．Their quality. |
| C．Their motivations. | D．Their advertisements. |
| A．Buyers may deserve fashion that fits their figure. |
| B．Consumers prefer brands with personalized values. |
| C．Brands should catch up with the size-inclusive trend. |
| D．A good brand image is critical in the fashion industry. |
10 . When children are growing up, what they see in their families is what they tend to consider normal. That means family traditions and other activities are generally seen as just normal. If a family eats dinner together or spends time talking with each other, that’s what the child absorbs and internalizes.
Our family traditions are declining as we move toward a more isolated (孤立的) society. How many families no longer share meals around the dinner table, instead choosing to watch TV or text friends on their phones? This tends to isolate and disconnect family members from each other. It also stops families from communicating and catching up on each other’s lives.
For those of us who grew up in a household where families shared meals together and spent time talking with each other, chances are that we are passing along those traditions to our own families. The problem is, children today often want to spend their time in front of screens rather than people. Cell phones, computers and other attention-grabbing devices often mean parents get resistance to traditional family togetherness time. This pressure can lead to parents giving in and letting children do what they want rather than fight with them over sitting at the dinner table. This creates a new normal that no longer values the idea of families and the society at large, connecting with each other.
Family and community traditions are important, not just for the current shared experiences, but for the future as well. Since children internalize their experiences, that means generations to come may not know what it’s like to sit together around the dinner table and truly connect as a family.
That is why it is so important that parents and caregivers create boundaries of behavior that help to keep family traditions alive. If you remember the shared experiences you had with your parents and grandparents, you know the important bonding that took place during those times. It is this shared experience that brings people closer together and is well worth preserving.
1. What is the phenomenon the author describes at the beginning of the text?| A．The increase in shared family meals means a shift towards isolation. |
| B．Increased use of technology replaces traditional family interactions. |
| C．More and more children prefer to spend quality time with the family. |
| D．Family members are more likely to share their updates with each other. |
| A．The inability of parents to understand technology. |
| B．The challenge of preserving traditional family values. |
| C．The influence of technology on children’s education. |
| D．The necessity of controlling children’s digital devices. |
| A．They will be more addicted to advanced technology. |
| B．They will maintain stronger and closer family bonds. |
| C．They may create new and irreplaceable family traditions. |
| D．They may not understand the value of family gatherings. |
| A．Insignificant | B．Irresponsible |
| C．Crucial | D．Overemphasized |
