1 . All forms of tobacco — cigarettes, pipes, cigars, and smokeless tobacco — are dangerous. It doesn’t help to substitute products that seem like they’re better for you than regular cigarettes, such as filtered or low-tar cigarettes.

The only thing that really helps a person avoid the problems associated with smoking is staying smoke free. This isn’t always easy, especially if everyone around you is smoking and offering you cigarettes. It may help to have your reasons for not smoking ready for times you may feel the pressure, such as “I just don’t like it” or “I want to stay in shape for soccer (or football, basketball or other sport)”．

The good news for people who don’t smoke or who want to quit is that studies show that the number of teens who smoke has dropped evidently. Today, about 23% of high school students smoke.

If you do smoke and want to quit, you have lots of information and support available. Different approaches to quitting work for different people. For some, quitting cold turkey is best. Others find that a slower approach is the way to go. Some people find that it helps to go to a support group especially for teens. These are sometimes sponsored by local hospitals or organizations like the American Cancer Society. The Internet offers a number of good resources to help people quit smoking.

When quitting, it can be helpful to realize that the first few days are the hardest. So don’t give up. Some people find they have a few setbacks before they manage to quit for good.

Staying smoke free will give you a whole lot more of everything — more energy, better performance, better looks, more money in your pocket, and, in the long run, more life to live!

1. What will be the best title of the passage?

A．Staying smoke free	B．Live a long life
C．The smoking problems	D．The good news for smokers

2. What makes it difficult to keep away from smoking?

A．Sports activities.	B．Finding no reasons.
C．Cigarettes offered around you.	D．The pressure from your work.

3. How can you effectively quit smoking?

A．Walking slowly.	B．Eating cold turkey.
C．Staying in hospital.	D．Finding a suitable approach.

4. We can conclude that after stopping smoking you will ________.

A．have no cancer	B．be more attractive
C．run for a long time	D．get more opportunities

2 . Right at this moment, cockroaches (蟑螂) are doing more to save the environment than you are. A big overstatement? Not if you’ve ever thrown away leftovers from your plate or bought more food than you could manage to cook in a week. You’re part of the food waste problem. But just like cockroaches, you can also be part of the solution.

For example, some farmers in Asia and Africa collect tomatoes in big bags, which means that many of them get crushed out of shape and spoiled before they can be sold or eaten. Switching the bags for large wooden containers already lowers the amount of food lost. Similar successes can and have been achieved in various regions with weather-protected storage facilities.

Let’s focus on China for a second. It’s one of the few countries with an innovative approach to minimizing the environmental impact of food waste. How does it do it? Cockroaches. Millions of the tiny creatures are kept in farms in the suburban districts of big cities. Every morning, food waste is delivered by the tonnes and fed to the cockroaches. Just like tiny pigs, they’re not picky and devour everything quickly. After they die, they’re processed into protein-rich feed for animals such as cows or sheep, or used for cosmetic products and Chinese medicine. It’s an efficient and environmentally-friendly alternative to dumping leftover food in a landfill. Cockroaches aren’t going to solve the problem with food waste, but they can serve as an inspiration for finding other similar solutions on a wider scale.

To avoid food waste completely, improvements are needed at every step of the food supply chain, from production to retail. These take time and are often out of your hands as a consumer. But a meaningful reduction of food waste is definitely in your hands. You can not only buy less and shop more often, but also cut down on animal products.

1. Which link in the food supply chain does paragraph 2 focus on?

A．Processing.

B．Packaging.

C．Transporting.

D．Trading.

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

A．Preserve.

B．Transform.

C．Grasp.

D．Swallow.

3. What do we know about the practice of raising cockroaches in paragraph 3?

A．It is widely used around the world.

B．It solves the problem with food waste.

C．It lessens the environmental impact of pigs.

D．It inspires people to seek creative solutions.

4. What does the text mainly talk about?

A．Some solutions to food waste.

B．The current state of food waste.

C．Cockroaches’ help to save the environment.

D．Some factors contributing to food waste.

3 . Saodat Sadikova is an English teacher in Jizzakh, Uzbekistan. As a young girl, she dreamed of becoming a flight attendant (空乘人员) and traveling the world, so she learned at least three languages. Although she was not able to become a flight attendant, Sadikova could speak Uzbek, Russian, English and Turkish. Sadikova has never traveled abroad but reports feeling connected to people around the world.

American Trina Bright worked in education for nearly 25 years and she traveled to many countries, including China and South Africa. Bright used stories from her travels to help her students in the U. S. understand their place in the world and see value in their own cultures. But Bright, unlike Sadikova, does not report feeling connected to people around the world.

Bright is not alone. Pew Research Center recently asked people in 24 countries a series of questions about how connected they feel to the world to see how travel experience relates to feelings of connectedness.

The study found that respondents (调查对象) who had traveled to at least one other country feel more connected to people around the world. 99 percent of respondents in the Netherlands reported having visited at least one other country and 77 percent of respondents from the Netherlands said they feel at least somewhat close to people all over the world. But international travel does not always mean a person feels a closeness to people around the world. 99 percent of Swedish respondents said they had visited at least one other country. Yet a much smaller number of Swedish respondents—47 percent—report feeling close to people all over the world.

Sadikova said she felt connected to the world because of media, which makes it quite easy to get to know events and news.

1. Why did Saodat Sadikova learn several languages?

A．To move abroad.	B．To broaden her view.
C．To connect to the world.	D．To achieve her flying dream.

2. What benefit did Trina Bright get from her travels?

A．She improved her education.	B．She applied them to her teaching.
C．She understood the value of culture.	D．She could speak a foreign language.

3. What did the research focus on?

A．How people get to know the world.	B．How people feel connected to the world.
C．Why people enjoy international travel.	D．Why travel influences the connection of people.

4. What can we learn from paragraph 4?

A．The aim of the research.	B．The process of the research.
C．The result of the research.	D．The method of the research.

5 . Marriages in Egypt are somewhat different from those in the West. They will discourage dating if single men and women aren’t related. Among the middle and upper classes, the man and woman know each other from schools or universities, where young people gather in groups like in the West.     1     Sometimes families negotiate a marriage for an unmarried son or daughter.

However, the steps toward marriage are the same as those in the West.     2     The discussion usually covers such topics as the dowry (嫁妆) and wedding expense, etc. The two families then arrange a meeting between the potential bride and groom.     3    

The wedding usually takes place quickly, unless the groom-to-be is going abroad to work or study, in which case the marriage may be postponed. The marriage may be very simple, consisting only of the mosque priest (清真寺牧师) to declare the marriage contract between the groom and the bride’s father, who speaks on behalf of his daughter.

    4     According to Egyptian law, both men and women have the right to ask for a divorce. Upon divorce the father is granted custody (监护人) of any children. Any dowry paid by the groom to the bride’s family must be returned.

Egypt is trying to bridge the difference between traditional interpretations (方式) and modern models. At one time, Egypt gave women the right to ask for a divorce only in certain circumstances, such as her husband’s being mentally ill.     5     Now in Egypt and other countries, traditional interpretations are being challenged.

A．Either one can say no to the marriage.

B．Weddings are a time of celebration as in the West.

C．The two families need to discuss the terms of the marriage.

D．Since revolution, women have entered the work place in force.

E．Divorce is not very common in Egypt, although it does still happen.

F．In the lower classes, the chance for socializing with the opposite sex is rarer.

G．A woman’s right to ask for a divorce in any case was put into law in Egypt in 1999.

6 . Most young people these days expect a reasonably diverse workplace - but those who take up the seafaring (航海的) career are still unlikely to find many female colleagues. It’s hard to find a line of work with a smaller percentage of women in it than seafaring- in the UK. Professional beer inspectors are one of the few workforces with a smaller percentage of females.

Nautilus professional and technical officer David Appleton said that British shipping clearly has a problem, with just 1% of engineer officers being women, and the intake of female employees failing to move beyond 5% in each of the last three years.

He said the industry needs to do more to get rid of misconceptions that can discourage women from going to sea or make companies unwilling to take them on.

“There are plenty of other jobs out there that have strict fitness requirements where women have to meet exactly the same standards as men - - and the majority of these have far more females than the merchant navy (商船队),”he pointed out. Some 7% of the London firefighters are women, he noted.

Many opinions on women’s instability in careers surely do not stand up, Mr Appleton added. Research into “career mapping” shows that about one- quarter of new women seafarers determine to remain at sea until retirement and more than one-third plan to come ashore within 15 years of starting out.

Mr Appleton said the industry needs to adopt measures if it is serious about recruiting (招夢) more women. “It means identifying and promoting role models and getting the good news stories out there.”

Captain Susan Thomson, who now serves ashore with BP Shipping, said, “I think we sometimes concentrate on the negative and only hear about women in shipping when it is bad. It would be naive (天真的) to think bad stories don’t exist, and the industry needs to be more inclusive.”

1. What can we infer from the first paragraph?

A．The beer industry has the largest number of male employees.

B．The percentage of females in the workplace remains low.

C．The seafaring career is lacking in women employees.

D．The workplace in Britain lacks diversity.

2. What does the data in paragraph 5 show?

A．Many women want to pursue a long-term career in the shipping industry.

B．Many traditional opinions have bad effects on the seafaring career.

C．Most women seafarers often consider changing jobs.

D．Most people think the seafarers should retire early.

3. What does Mr Appleton want the shipping industry to do?

A．Set a lower working standard for women.

B．Let people know the positive side of the work

C．Encourage workers to take more physical exercises.

D．Require companies to communicate more with employees.

4. What does Susan Thomson want to tell us?

A．The shipping industry needs further improvement.

B．Women should think twice before quitting jobs.

C．The reports on women seafarers are rather reliable.

D．She enjoys her career as being a captain a lot.

7 . Actor Justin Baldoni once remarked that “Girls are weak, and boys are strong”, a message that has unconsciously influenced millions of children, including himself. As a child, Justin desperately sought acceptance from others, causing him to pretend to be strong when he was weak and confident when he was insecure. But is this a healthy way to live?

Unfortunately, some people believe so. They propose to “prevent the feminization of male youths” and request that schools hire more physical education teachers to cultivate manliness in students. However, this idea has sparked a heated debate online, with many arguing that it reinforces gender stereotypes.

But what exactly is manliness, and why is it so controversial? At its core, “manliness” refers to qualities traditionally associated with men, such as strength, courage, and emotional control. However, these seemingly admirable qualities can be taken to unrealistic extremes. Boys are human and should not be blindly asked to control their emotions “like a man” as it can lead to long-term psychological damage.

As an educator with years of experience teaching in China, I believe that physical education is essential for students, not just for physical fitness but also to develop lifelong skills such as leadership and communication. However, focusing solely on manliness as a reason for doing so is misguided. It is unnecessary for all boys to build up their muscles, but it is crucial that they learn to be strong on the inside. Boys should be allowed to cry and show their vulnerability without fear of judgment.

Instead, schools ought to prioritize imparting essential life skills and values to students, rather than reinforcing outdated stereotypes. As the Chinese state broadcaster CCTV put it, “Education is not simply about cultivating men and women. It's more important to develop a willingness to take responsibility.” It is time to move beyond harmful gender norms and embrace a more open and diverse approach to education.

1. Why did young Justin Baidoni pretend to be someone he wasn’t?

A．He longed to be acknowledged as a real man.

B．It was secure and safe for him to do so.

C．He was trying to be strong and confident.

D．It was necessary for an actor to be manly and tough.

2. What’s the harm in expecting boys to control their emotions “like a man”?

A．It can weaken gender stereotypes.

B．It can make them weak and insecure.

C．It will bring about long-lasting inner wounds

D．It will prevent them developing their emotional control.

3. What can we learn from the passage?

A．Manliness is out of date.	B．Manliness is overemphasized.
C．Manliness aims to cultivate life skills.	D．Manliness only focuses on physical fitness.

4. What’s the author’s purpose in writing the passage?

A．To explain what manliness stereotype is.

B．To analyze the causes of gender inequality.

C．To call on a more inclusive gender education.

D．To highlight the importance of school education.

8 . 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.

9 . According to scientists, biscuits can give you cancer. But don’t worry, research shows that sunshine can cure cancer. Hang on. Ignore previous findings that suggest it might actually cause cancer. But whatever you do, don’t shave, because that’s been shown to increase the risk of cancer, along with other everyday household products like hairspray baby powder and sausages. It’s a wonder that any of us are still alive. According to scientists, the world we live in is a death trap.

So many of my patients come to me saying how worried they are about some health scare they’ve heard about in the news. Though the claims seem to be backed up by scientific evidence, even a rough look brings up contradictions and inconsistencies. It’s easy to blame the journalists for twisting science to chase headlines. But I’ve felt that is extremely unfair. The chilling fact is that these health stories come from scientists, not journalists. In fact, a study in the British Medical Journal found that many of the exaggerations that later made it into health reports originated from a press release, Over a third of the press releases, for example, made exaggerated claims of the impact of the research for humans when in fact the study was carried out on animals. A third also made exaggerated claims of causation when in fact the study found an association only. Particularly worrying was that many of the exaggerated claims appear to have been written or at least approved by scientists themselves.

But, you could argue, aren’t journalists to blame for not going back to the original papers and checking out the claims themselves?

The fact is that journalists, like the public at large, have tended to believe what the scientists have told us. Why would we ever assume they’d lie? The very nature of their job is the search for the correct answer. The problem though is that they have funding to worry about and these days, an article hitting the front page headline making bold claims about your research is as important for securing future funding as getting it into top medical journals is. It’s also worth mentioning that every research facility or university now has a press department to do the job.

I think that this is a good reason to make understanding and interpreting a scientific paper a fundamental part of science in school. That way we encourage more people to examine the claims themselves and, hopefully, improve the public’s understanding of basic scientific principles.

Now, recent research has shown that work can increase your risk of premature death so with this in mind, I'm signing off.

1. What is the purpose of the first paragraph?

A．To lead in the topic of the passage.	B．To state the argument of the passage.
C．To give vivid examples of health problems.	D．To draw readers attention to common health problems.

2. According to British Medical Journal, which is NOT a source of exaggerated health claims?

A．Scientists write or approve the exaggerated claims

B．Press releases apply the results of animal studies to humans.

C．Press releases switch claims of association to that of causation.

D．Journalists bend and misinterpret scientific studies to chase headlines

3. What solution does the writer give?

A．Scientists should be given more access to research funding

B．Scientific articles with exaggerated headlines shouldn’t be published

C．People should learn more about science to examine the health claims

D．Research facilities and universities should cancel their press departments.

4. What is the writer’s tone?

A．Playful.

B．Instructive.

C．Worried.

D．Optimistic.