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.

2. Why does the author discuss plastic straws in paragraph 3?

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.

3. What effect would “Truckload of Plastic” have on viewers?

A．Calming.	B．Disturbing.
C．Refreshing.	D．Challenging.

4. Which of the following can be the best title for the text?

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.

2. What can we infer about girls from the study in Science?

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

3. Why are more geniuses known to the public?

A．Improved global communication.

B．Less discrimination against women.

C．Acceptance of victors’ concepts.

D．Changes in people’s social positions.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．Geniuses Think Alike	B．Genius Takes Many Forms
C．Genius and Intelligence	D．Genius and Luck

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.

For parents who send their kids off to college saying, “These will be the best years of your life,” it would be very appropriate to add, “     1     you can handle the stress of college life.”

Freshmen are showing up already stressed out, according to the latest research study     2     reported students’ emotional health levels at their lowest since the survey started in 1985. While in school, more students are working part-time and near-full-time jobs. At graduation, only 29 percent of seniors     3     (offer) jobs.

Pressure to excel often creates stress, and many students are not learning how to effectively handle this stress. Let me show five facts that I believe every college student     4     know about stress.

First, stress can make smart people do stupid things. Stress causes     5     brain researchers call “cortical inhibition (皮层抑制).” In simple terms, stress prevents a part of the brain responsible for decision-making and reaction time and can negatively affect other mental abilities as well.

Second, the human body doesn’t discriminate between a big stressful event and a little one. Any stressful experience will create about 1,400 biochemical events in your body. If any amount of stress is left     6     (uncheck), many things can occur within the body, including premature aging and energy drain.

Third, stress can become your new pattern. When you regularly experience negative feelings and high amounts of stress, your brain recognizes this     7     your normal state. This then becomes the new norm (常态) for your emotional state.

Fourth, stress can be controlled. Countless studies demonstrate that people can restructure their emotional state using emotion refocusing techniques. One technique     8     (involve) slowing your thoughts, breathing slowly, and focusing on the positive feeling that you receive.

Finally,     9     (draw) to what you study can lessen stress. Barbara Frederickson, a leading international authority on the importance of positive emotions, says humans are genetically programmed     10     (seek) positive emotions such as love and joy. It’s suggested that you should choose a major or career path you love and enjoy. Otherwise, you could end up fighting against your own biology.

4 . 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。

More than 300 participants     1     were from international organizations, research institutes, universities and enterprises came together at the 6th International Agricultural Research Conference in Beijing on December 15,2022 to exchange ideas on how to make a     2     (contribute) to global food security, calling for more international cooperation in agriculture.

Themed “strengthening agricultural science and technology cooperation to jointly promote global food security,” the conference was hosted by the Center for International Agricultural Research (CIAR) and the Department of International Cooperation of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS),     3     (adopt) the form of virtual lectures and online broadcast.

Wu Kongming, president of CAAS, said that CAAS remains committed to providing Chinese     4     (solution) and wisdom to help address global challenges such as food security, poverty reduction and green development, and to do so through multilateral and bilateral international cooperation mechanisms.

According to Carlos Watson, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Representative in China, the conference offered     5     great and timely opportunity to facilitate(使便利)constructive discussion on international joint actions concerning global agricultural development and food security,     6     the face of challenges posed by the pandemic and climate change.

“Given China’s     7     (success) experience in the eradication(消除)of extreme poverty, digital innovations, and agricultural and rural development, China is     8     (unique) positioned to share its innovation experience, innovative technologies, and best practices with the rest of the world,” he said.

During the conference, experts discussed the current situation and future prospects of international cooperation in agricultural science and technology. They also discussed the policy environment, market environment, investment model and service demand for overseas agricultural investment, as well as strategies and measures     9     (ensure) global food security.

The International Agricultural Research Conference     10     (hold) for six consecutive(连续的)years since 2017.

5 . Slowness has been a sweeping trend in sustainability. Slow food celebrates local produce and traditional cooking methods; slow fashion is made with a focus on people and the planet. You may have even heard of the slow city, a campaign to restore local cultures and turn cities back to their natural environments.

Slow design developed from the larger slow movement. Although the term was only recently introduced, the idea of thoughtful design looks back to a time when buildings and furniture were made with great craftsmanship (手艺) and by hand-before the mass-produced throwaway furniture took over. You can think of the term “slow” as a celebration of timelessness: both the timelessness of a piece and the timelessness of the relationship between that piece and its owner.

One example of slow design today is what’s been dubbed the brown furniture revival (复兴). Brown furniture refers to the heavy wooden furnishings that were popular in your grandparents’ day but suddenly fell out of style at the turn of the century. Brown furniture is often associated with dark woods, such as trees like mahogany, walnut, and teak, that take decades to reach maturity and true craftsmanship to transform into functional pieces.

Today’s furniture industry is dominated by the $13.1 billion-and-growing global ready-to-assemble(RTA) furniture market. RTA furniture is usually constructed from low-quality fiberboard, which lasts a small part of traditional furniture’s lifespan (寿命).The weight of furniture landfilled in 2018 was 9. 7 million tons, 4. 5 times what was landfilled in 1960.

In a less direct way, the idea of timelessness also lends itself to a lower environmental impact. Besides their demonstrated physical durability, slow materials and design are meant to outlive trends and never be thrown out simply because they’re out of style.

As second-hand shopping becomes more appealing to today’s young generation-because of its low environmental impact and affordability-the brown furniture of yesteryear is making a comeback.

1. Why is the first paragraph written?

A．To explain a new term.

B．To present the topic of the text.

C．To provide background information.

D．To highlight the importance of slowness.

2. What does the underlined word “dubbed” mean in paragraph 3?

A．Known as.

B．Mistaken for.

C．Compared to.

D．Connected with.

3. What can be inferred about RTA furniture?

A．It is out of date.

B．It has a long lifespan.

C．It is heavy and expensive.

D．It has bad effects on the environment.

4. What is good news for the brown furniture revival?

A．Grandparents are buying new furniture.

B．The brown furniture will soon be mass-produced.

C．The young generation favors second-hand shopping.

D．Materials for slow design furniture are more available.

6 . 阅读下面材料, 在空白处填入适当的内容(1个单词)或括号内单词的正确形式。

Technology has started to take over the world. It may seem like a huge advancement to society, but large setbacks come equally.

We now live in an age of social media. We have never been as     1     (connect)as we are now. Everyone around us can be reached instantly. Besides, the use of technology has made all of our lives     2     (incredible)efficient. Furthermore, a majority of people have access to technology,     3     helps them express themselves on many different platforms. Lastly, technology has given people many ways     4     (entertain)themselves. Various websites offer hours upon hours entertainment for those     5     (bore)nights.

While some may see social media’s positive effects     6     relationships, others can see it as the exact opposite. It keeps people from seeing each other face to face. Meanwhile, there is nothing more frustrating than having technology not work right when it     7     (need)to. Moreover, so dependent on technology, people don’t try to explore life outside of a smart device. Also, with more and more people posting information on     8     internet, it can be very difficult to determine whether the information is credible or not. This can lead to false information being taken seriously, and     9     (change)perspectives of those who believe it.

To understand technology, one must know     10     it provides in terms of advantages and disadvantages.

7 . 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. present        B. features        C. concerned        D. reportedly        E. commercial             F. stretches       G. overwhelming H. exceptionally        I. routinely        J. spared             K. broadcasts

Modern media is awash in advertising clutter(杂乱), and who’s to blame? Modern audiences that hate conventional full-length and full-size ads.

Today’s consumers don’t like to pay for content, which ought to create a rich environment for advertisers. Yet these same consumers are prone to click or turn away when a conventional ad appears. The result is ad clutter.

YouTube     1    a combination of full-length ads, skippable ads, lower-screen banners and display ads on the page alongside each video. Newspapers that once considered the front page important now     2    run ads there.

Advertisers integrate plugs(推销) into content to frustrate digital video recorders, which allow viewers to watch programs on a delay and skip regular commercials. If you watch regional telecasts of baseball games, the commercial clutter is so     3    . Ads are visible on the stadium wall behind the home-plate umpire(裁判). On-screen graphics include sponsor logos. And everything is a paid plug--“This call to the coach’s zone is brought to you by Verizon.”

According to the showbiz paper Variety, several streaming services are about to introduce a new twist: commercials that start running whenever a viewer pauses a program. Hulu intends to launch such ads this year. AT&T’s DirecTV and U-verse units will     4    use similar technology to trigger full-motion commercials whenever a viewer tries to take a break.

There’s a lot at stake. According to Variety, National Football League(NFL) TV broadcasts generate an estimated $4.35 billion in ad revenue during the 17-week regular season. NFL     5    are now loaded with mini commercials that pop up when there is a brief pause in the action, often in “double boxes” that show a view of the field in one frame and a(n)    6    in the other.

Interestingly, with no “screen” to work with, radio is one medium that has tried for some time to buck the trend. Many commercial stations trade clutter for clusters--that is, a solid block of commercials running five minutes or more, followed by lengthy commercial-free     7    of time.

But wherever a screen is involved, or a printed page, ad clutter is     8    everywhere. Programmers and advertisers can’t really be expected to limit this; it’s a fact of business. Consumers, on the other hand, can opt for commercial-free content--if they’re willing to pay for it.

But getting limitless content without paying while also being     9    heavy advertising intrusions is impossible. As media environment is permanently cluttered, audiences should be     10    with what they wish for.

8 . 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, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each other.

Beauty bias: We tend to think pretty people are morally superior

Humans have always associated beauty with goodness. The prevalence of the assumption that beautiful people are good     1     (study) for the past few decades, with extensive research on the subject going back to the 1970s.     2     you start thinking that you’d never judge somebody by how they look, the studies suggest that you likely do it all the time — very quickly and not fully aware of it.

This bias has real-world impacts. The attractive are     3     (likely) to be found guilty by simulated juries and more likely to get reduced punishments when they are. People tend to vote for more attractive politicians, promote better-looking underlings, and even give more attention to better-looking children than those with —     4     George Carlin put it — “severe appearance deficits”.

A study recently published in the Journal of Nonverbal Behavior shed new light on the bias. Different from previous studies,     5     not only looked to see whether people associate positive traits with good-looking people (we know they do), but also took a closer look at which traits are associated with appearance, with two tests respectively focused on purely moral traits, such as being fair, trustworthy, or honest, and positive but non-moral traits, such as being funny,     6     (organize), or calm.

Lining up with previous studies     7    (show) that people associate beauty with all manner of positive traits, the results of both tests also gave new insight into     8     traits are most affected by the “halo effects” that good looks provide. In both studies, moral traits were more likely to be associated with beauty than non-moral traits. The effect was particularly notable in the second study, in which beautiful people were 20% more likely to be considered     9    (have) these traits than the average person, compared to only a 10% increase in the perceived likelihood they would have the non-moral traits.

The authors of the study noted that they expect their findings to have real-world implications. Given how many previous studies demonstrate that there are serious consequences from this bias, their stance should not surprise us. They pointed out, however, that     10     the long history of science knowing that this bias exists, “there is no intervention available that may reduce prejudice toward or discrimination against unattractive individuals.”

9 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passages 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.

Japan’s robot revolution in senior care

Japan’s artificial intelligence expertise is transforming the elder care industry, with     1     (specialize) robotic care accomplishing more than just taking pressure off the critical shortage of caregivers. Senior care facilities across Japan are testing out such new robots     2     deliver a collection of social and physical health care and the government-backed initiative has been met with positive reviews by elderly residents.

The rapidly graying population     3     (eye) by the government as a potential market for medical technology now. Disappointing government predictions show that by 2025, Japan's first baby boomers will have turned 75 and about 7 million people are likely to suffer from some form of dementia (痴呆). The nation won't be able to avoid a dementia crisis     4     an additional 380,000 senior care workers.

The long-standing shortage of professional care workers has encouraged the Japanese government     5     (simplify) procedures for foreign caregivers to be trained and certified. The current Technical Intern Training Program between Vietnam, the Philippines, and Indonesia, under     6     Economic Partnership Agreement, was extended to include nursing care as well as agriculture, fishery, and construction sectors.

    7     the government made efforts to increase the numbers of senior care workers, the target number of foreign graduates has still fallen flat, with the national caregiver examination proving a major obstacle to pass. The success rate for foreign students was a merely 106 students last year,     8     has slightly improved to 216 students this year. Another depressing reality is that 19 to 38 percent of foreign nurses who pass the exam opt to leave the industry and return home,    9     (cite) tough work conditions and long hours. Given the challenges, this is     10     the government believes care robots will be able to step in.

10 . History suggests that societies generally overestimate the short-term implications of new technologies while underestimating longer-term ones. Current experience with artificial intelligence — the technology enabled by machine-learning — suggests we are getting it ______ this time. There’s too much talk about the potential “______ risk” to humanity posed by AI, and too little about our experience of it so far and corporate plans for exploiting the technology.

Although AI has been hiding in plain sight for a decade, it took most people by surprise. The appearance of ChatGPT last November signaled that the world had discovered a powerful new technology. Not for nothing is this new “generative AI” called “______”: it provides the base on which the next wave of digital innovation will be built.

It is also transformational in innumerable ways: it weakens centuries-old conceptions of intellectual property, ______, and it has the potential radically to increase productivity, reshape industries, change the nature of some kinds of work and so on. On top of that, though, it also raises troubling questions about the ______ of humans and their capabilities.

The continuing dispute between the Hollywood studios and screenwriters’ and actors’ unions perfectly illustrates the ______ of the challenges posed by AI. Both groups are up in arms about the way online streaming has reduced their earnings. But the writers also fear their role will be ______ simply to rewriting AI-generated scripts; and actors are concerned that detailed digital scanning ______ by new movie contracts will allow studios to create persuasive deepfakes of them that studios will be able to own and use “for the rest of eternity (永久), in any project they want, with no permission and no compensation”.

So the key question for democracies is: how can we ensure AI is used for human flourishing ______ corporate gain? On this question, the news from ______ is not good. A recent study by two renowned economists, Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson, of 1,000 years of technological progress shows that although some benefits have usually trickled (流) down to the ______, the rewards have — with one exception — invariably gone to those who own and control the technology.

The “______” was a period in which democracies fostered countervailing powers (抵消力量) — civil-society organisations, free media, activists, trade unions and other progressive, technically informed institutions that supplied a steady flow of ideas about how technology could be repurposed for ______ rather than exclusively for private profit. This is the lesson from history that societies confronted by the AI challenge need to relearn.

There are some signs that governments may finally have realized the problem. The EU, for example, has an ambitious and far-reaching AI Act that is making its way through the union’s processes. In the US, the Biden administration recently published a “Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights”, which looks impressive but is ______ just a list of aspirations that some of the big tech companies claim to share.

It’s a start — provided governments don’t forget that leaving the implementation of powerful new technologies solely to corporations is always a(n) ______ idea.

1.

A．the other way round

B．all the way back

C．one way or the other

D．just in the way

2.

A．economical

B．existential

C．economic

D．commercial

3.

A．distinguished

B．prosperous

C．pioneering

D．foundational

4.

A．for example

B．by contrast

C．in turn

D．at most

5.

A．prospects

B．inspirations

C．virtues

D．uniqueness

6.

A．origin

B．extent

C．implication

D．constitution

7.

A．credited

B．attributed

C．reduced

D．exposed

8.

A．enabled

B．facilitated

C．implemented

D．possessed

9.

A．as well as

B．in exchange for

C．rather than

D．as opposed to

10.

A．society

B．frontier

C．press

D．history

11.

A．corporations

B．masses

C．governments

D．industries

12.

A．exception

B．reminder

C．outcome

D．benefit

13.

A．scientific discoveries

B．energy conservation

C．social good

D．job security

14.

A．supposedly

B．essentially

C．necessarily

D．commonly

15.

A．impressive

B．sensible

C．outdated

D．bad