1 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in each blank with a proper word given in the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one more word than you need.

A. application       B. content       C. essential       D. estimates E. evaluation       F. finance       G. negative       H. increasingly I. refusal       J. underlines       K. marvelously

If your parents take out a loan, remind them to make the payments on time. Otherwise it will become a(n)     1     record in their personal credit reports, which are playing a(n)     2     big role in people’s daily lives. A story carried by Chongqing Morning Post in June,     3     this trend.

According to the report, a Chongqing student borrowed money from the bank to     4     his university studies. After he graduated in 2005, he went to work in Shenzhen. Later, he wanted to buy a house using loans. But several banks turned down his loan     5    . The reason was that he had not paid back 1,500 yuan he borrowed from a bank when he was at university,

A personal credit rating is becoming a(n)     6     “pass” in everyday life, as China establishes a nationwide credit database. Personal credit systems go back 150 years. In developed countries, enterprises and banks use them to decide whether or not to loan money or do other business with a person.

A credit report     7     the credit worthiness of an individual, a company, or even a country. It is a(n)     8     made by credit bureaus of a borrower’s overall credit history and his or her ability to repay debt. A poor credit rating means a high risk of defaulting on a loan, and thus leads to the     9     of a loan by the lender.

Today in China, credit history in banks is the major     10     of a credit report. But in the future, reports will include information about the payment of telephone bills, water use fees, electricity and natural gas bills, and taxes, according to officials of the People’s Bank of China, the central bank.

2 . 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. categorise B. creation C. good D. innovative E. maximum F. packed G. pedestrianise H. processing I. shape J. short-lived K. transformation

All Change in Curitiba!

Like many other major world cities, Curitiba in southern Brazil has had to deal with issues such as pollution, poverty, and limited public funding. However, the architect and three-times mayor of the city, Jaime Lerner, has introduced some     1     solutions.

As part of his ‘Master Plan’, Lerner hoped to make the city more environmentally friendly. He initiated a recycling scheme. In return for delivering recyclable rubbish to specified     2     points, residents receive a bag of vegetables or bus tickets. As a result, Curitiba now has one of the highest recycling rates in the world. Lerner also ordered the     3     of 26 urban parks. As well as preventing pollution, these control flooding.

Lerner did not win over all the city’s residents immediately, however. When his plans to     4     part of the centre were passed, local businesses were up in arms, fearing a reduction in profits. Realising he needed to act quickly, Lerner had the     5     of six blocks completed within three days. When a group of motorists attempted to drive through the new pedestrian area, Lerner arranged for local primary schools to hold a painting workshop on the streets. The drivers were forced to turn back. Luckily for Lerner, this rebellion was     6    . The increase in profit rapidly persuaded shop owners to change their minds.

Lerner’s determination helped     7     the Curitiba of today. The average income per capita has risen from a level that was below the Brazilian average in the 1970s to 66% above the average, and surveys indicate high levels of resident satisfaction.

So, is it all just one big success story? In some respects, Curitiba may have been too successful for its own    8    . People and businesses have come to the city, which now has more than 1.8 million residents. This has put the city under enormous stress. Forty years ago, buses transported 54,000 passengers a day. Now the number is 2.3 million. According to some experts, the transport system has reached its     9     efficiency capacity. Following a rise in complaints about the noisy and     10     buses, the service is in decline.

4 . Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. assigned             B. attractive             C. bridge             D. cooperating          E. exposed     F. possessions G. requests             H. screen                  I. socializing        J. unappealing          K. virtual

The office used to be a place people went because they had to. Meetings happened in conference rooms and in person. Desks took up most of the space. The kingdom of Dilbert and of David Brent is now under threat. The pandemic has     1     the office to competition from remote working, and brought up questions about how it should be designed in the future.

Start with what the office is for. In the past it was a place for employees to get their work done, whatever form that took. Now other conceptions of its role strive for attention. Some think of the office as the new offsite (异地活动) . Its purpose is to get people together in person so they can do the things that remote working makes harder: establishing deeper relationships or     2     in real time on specific projects. Others talk of the office as a destination, a place that has to make the idea of getting out of bed earlier, in order to socialize with people who may have covid-19, seem       3     .

In other words, a layout that is largely devoted to people working at desks alongside the same colleagues each day all feels very 2019. With fewer people coming in and more emphasis on cooperation, fewer desks will be       4     to individuals. Instead, there will be more shared areas, where people in a team can work together flexible. More hot-desking (轮用办公桌) will also necessitate storage space for personal     5     : lockers may soon be back in your life.

To     6     gaps between teams, one strategy is to set aside more of the office to present the work of each department. Another option is to provide everyone with drink. Expect more space to be set aside for     7     and events. Bars in offices are apparently going to be a thing. Robin Avia of Gensler, an architecture firm, says she is seeing lots of       8     for places, like large auditoriums, where a company's clients can have “experiences”.

Designs for the post-covid office must also allow for hybrid work. Meetings have to work for       9     participants as well as for in-person contributors; cameras, screens and microphones will multiply. Gensler's New York offices feature mini-meeting rooms that have a monitor and a half-table sticking out from the wall below it, with seating for 4 or 5 people arranged to face the       10    , not each other.

5 . 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. defined             B. popularized             C. wordlessly             D. alarming            E. proposing F. nonexistent          G. withdrawn             H. springing               I. assumed             J. seriously K. seeking

A growing number of Japanese have become recluses（隐居者）. Pressure from work and society is causing some to escape.

About a year ago, Mika Shibata's youngest son returned to the family home and went     1    upstairs. He has yet to emerge from his bedroom. At the age of 26, he sleeps during the day and stays awake at night. His mother feeds and shelters him, hoping he will recover from this state.

The Shibata family's pain is shared by many others in Japan. The government says there are more than 1 million hikikomori, or recluses,       2    as people who have played no part in society for at least six months. Many have barely stepped outside their homes for decades.

A handful of     3    crimes have pushed them back into public view. In Maya recluse, aged 51, killed two people, including a child, in the city of Kawasaki before committing suicide.

When the phenomenon became widely noticed over a generation ago, few understood it. Recluses were considered lazy or odd. Mental-health care was scarce and official support     4    

Parents felt responsible and were too embarrassed to look for help. But even now, occasional crimes involved recluses cause concerns that they are dangerous, says Morito Ishizaki, a recovered hikikomori who runs a magazine for sufferers.

In fact, he explains, they are rarely criminals. Many have just collapsed under pressure at school or work and have     5    to their childhood sanctuaries（避难所）.

Support groups are     6    up around the country. Tokyo is among several cities with helplines and websites that try to reach shut-ins, who range from teenage school dropouts to salarymen who have lost their jobs.

Ageing parents often come     7    help, says Ichiro of Tokyo's metropolitan government. He says they worry that after they die, their hikikomori children will not be able to survive.

More than half of Japan's recluses are now aged over 40, according to a Cabinet Office survey this year. That shocked the government, which had     8    the condition mainly affected the young.

Tamaki Saito, a psychiatrist who     9    the term hikikomori, says the government is partly to blame for turning a blind eye. Now the problem has grown. If it is not taken     10    , many more might become recluses, he says.

6 . Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. including            B. urgent             C. features             D. targets          E. lengths          F. chasing      G. accused        H. commands            I. fed             J. restock             K. collecting

Pokemon Stickers Are Back for Koreans Nostalgic (怀旧的) for Childhood

Small pastries include a surprise sticker, and the goal is to find all 159 varieties — just like a trend more than 20 years ago.

Jeong Bo-ram’s new fascination has him     1     mass-produced pastries(糕点), delivery trucks and his childhood memories. His     2     are $1.20 bakery items sold with random Pokemon stickers that fly off store shelves in South Korea.

Just a few short of a full 159-sticker collection, 29-year-old Mr. Jeong has gone to more than 10 convenience stores and supermarkets a day, often leaving empty-handed. He has paid hundreds of dollars. He has learned the evening     3     times throughout his neighborhood to know when fresh drop-offs occur.

More than two decades ago, the Pokemon sticker-treat duo caught on with a generation of South Korean children, before the craze passed after a few years and the products were discontinued. Now the goodies are back just in time for the country’s broader retro boom,     4     by adults nostaglic for simpler times.

South Koreans are going to great     5     to live out the Pokemon tagline of “Gotta catch ’em all,” with some     6     the stickers in display booklets. Pokemon, originally a Japanese game for the Nintendo Game Boy that     7     hundreds of monster characters, has expanded into globally popular animated series, toys and video-games,     8     the recent hit Pokemon Go for smartphones.

Retailers have posted signs on their entrances that read, “We have no Pokemon bread,” while some store owners are     9     of bundling the in-demand pastries with unpopular items. Hunters camp outside supermarkets early in the morning. The rarest of stickers, such as that of the legendary characters Mew (梦幻) and Mewtwo (超梦), fetch $40 online. A full collection     10     more than $700, the listings show. Actual children also try to find the stickers, but adults are using their greater resources for the hunt.

Ko Hyo-jin shrieked when she ripped open a package of “Diglett Strawberry Custard Bread” recently and discovered inside a sticker of Mewtwo - a two-legged monster shown extending its paw. She immediately dialed up her husband. “It felt like winning the lottery,” said the 39-year-old homemaker in the Seoul Suburbs.

The nostalgic chase has been embraced by young adults facing Korea’s stagnant economy, soaring real-estate prices and a tight labor market.

7 . Directions: Complete the following passages 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．award             B．house             C．hit                    D．namely             E．specifically             F．grabbed G．traded             H．gang                    I．bar                    J．principled             K．transmission

American authorities arrested Masphal Kry, an official in Cambodia’s forestry administration, last November when he was heading to an international meeting about trade regulations for endangered species in Panama. Prosecutors accused him of conspiring with a smuggling ring. The contraband (违禁品): monkeys,     1     long-tailed macaques. His     2     allegedly grabbed wild macaques in Cambodia’s national parks and bribed officials to label them as captive-bred. Fake papers allowed Vanny Bio Research, a Cambodian pharma company, to ship these unfortunate primates (灵长类动物) to America for use in research. Mr Kry is facing trial in Florida’s Southern District Court. The federal government funds seven National Primate Research Centres (NPRCs), which     3     in total around 20,000 primates, not only macaques but also baboons and marmosets. These centres then     4     primates to labs across America. NPRCs have fulfilled only a third of requests for untested-on macaques in 2021 and prices have soared. Before the covid-19 pandemic a rhesus macaque cost $8,000; by 2022 they had     5     $24,000. Another species, long-tail macaques, is probably per pound currently the most expensive     6     wildlife, says Lisa Jones-Engel, a science adviser at PETA, an animal-rights group.

Getting lab monkeys from abroad became harder during the pandemic. Chinese authorities banned the export of all primates in early 2020. The Chinese government wanted to     7     the country’s wildlife trade, which is thought to encourage the     8     of pathogens—like sars-cov-2—from animals to humans.

That forced American companies to rely on less     9     South-East Asian suppliers. Many scientists believe poaching is prevalent across Cambodia. In February, the Department of Justice subpoenaed Charles River over 1,000 juvenile macaques the pharmaceutical company had bought from Cambodia; the DoJ suspected they were     10     in the wild then exported. These primates are now in Texas and Maryland but also in dilemma: they cannot be tested on, nor can they be flown back to Cambodia.

9 . Direction: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. prevent            B. colour             C. threatened       D. discrimination       E. demand       F. nonviolent G. armed             H. equally            I. rapidly             J. race                    K. detailed

The Civil Rights Act of 1964: A Long Struggle for Freedom

In the spring of 1941, hundreds of thousands of whites were employed in industries mobilizing for the possible entry of the United States into World War II. Black labour leader A. Philip Randolph     1     a mass march on Washington unless blacks were hired     2     for those jobs, stating: “It is time to wake up Washington as it has never been shocked before.” To     3     the march, which many feared would result in     4     riots and international embarrassment, President Franklin Roosevelt issued an executive order that banned     5     in defence industries. His Executive Order 8802, June 25, 1941, established the Committee on Fair Employment Practices(known as FEPC) to receive and investigate discrimination complaints and take appropriate steps to redress valid grievances.

The fight against fascism during World War II brought to the forefront the contradictions between America’s ideals of democracy and equality and its treatment of racial minorities. Throughout the war, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People(NAACP) and other civil rights organizations worked to end discrimination in the     6     forces. During this time African Americans became more assertive in their     7     for equality in civilian life as well. The Congress of Racial Equality(CORE), an interracial organization founded to seek change through     8     means, conducted the first sit-ins to challenge the South’s Jim Crow laws.

After the war, and with the onset of the Cold War, segregation and inequality within the US were brought into sharp focus on the world stage, prompting federal and judicial action. President Harry Truman appointed a special committee to investigate racial conditions that     9     a civil rights agenda in its report, To Secure These Rights. Truman later issued an executive order that abolished racial discrimination in the military.

The NAACP won important Supreme Court victories and mobilized a mass lobby of organizations to press Congress to pass civil rights legislation. African Americans achieved notable firsts — Jackie Robinson broke the     10     barrier in major league baseball and civil rights activists Bayard Rustin and George Houser led black and white riders on a “Journey of Reconciliation” to challenge racial segregation on interstate buses.

10 . 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. published               B. weight               C. obesity               D. beginning        E. less        F. vulnerable G. admissions             H. rise                  I. reduction               J. Globally          K. impacts

The climate crisis is damaging the health of fetuses (胎儿), babies and infants across the world, six new studies have found.

Scientists discovered increased heat was linked to fast weight gain in babies, which increases the risk of    1    in later life. Higher temperatures were also linked to premature birth, which can have lifelong health effects, and to increased hospital    2    of young children.

The studies,    3    in a special issue of the journal Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology, spanned the globe from the US to Denmark, Israel and Australia.

“From the very    4    , from preconception, through early childhood into adolescence, we’re starting to see important    5    of climate hazards on health,” said Prof Gregory Wellenius, who edited the issue with Amelia Wesselink, both at the Boston University school of public health, in the US.

The link between heat and rapid    6    gain in the first year of life was found by scientists in Israel. They analysed 200,000 births and found that babies exposed to the highest 20% of night-time temperatures had a 5% higher risk of fast weight gain.

    7    , 18% of children are now overweight or obese. A possible mechanism for the rapid infant weight gain is that    8    fat is burned to maintain body temperature when the ambient temperature is higher.

Hotter temperatures also increased the number of admissions of young children to emergency departments in New York City, another new study found. The scientists looked at 2.5m admissions over eight years and found that a 7℃    9    in maximum temperature led to a 2.4% increase in admissions in under-fives. Young children lose proportionally more fluids than adults and their ability to regulate their body temperature is immature, the researchers said.

The burning of fossil fuels drives the climate crisis but also causes air pollution and a new study in Denmark assessed the impact of dirty air on 10,000 couples trying to conceive naturally. It found that increases in particle pollution of a few units during a menstrual cycle led to a decrease in conception of about 8%.

Wellenius said an important aspect of the studies was that they showed that    10    people often suffered the worst effects, for example people of colour and those on low incomes who did not have air conditioning or lived in areas with higher air pollution. “This is absolutely a health equity and justice issue,” he said.