1 . The summer holidays have just begun, but it is a busy morning at Cadoxton Primary School, in Barry, an industrial town in Wales. It runs a summer programme for hard-up (拮据的) children, providing meals and activities over the holidays with the aim of helping kids to spend the time more meaningfully. As young people run laughing and screaming into the school cafeteria for breakfast, their parents hung out, some visibly relieved. Just three days into the six-week school holidays one mother says her nine-year-old daughter has already asked five times to go bowling. “Without the school’s help,” she says, “it would be a long and expensive six weeks.”
In the popular imagination, school summer holidays conjure up (使……呈现于脑际) a picture of carefree youthful exploration. But many parents rely on the term-time services that schools give their kids, such as tutors and meals. If the holidays approach, they can suddenly find their schedules and budgets stretched. Researchers also say that the long break often sets back children’s learning, and that children from poorer backgrounds are desperately affected due to their shortage of money.
Many poor children fall behind their wealthier peers over the holidays. “Summer is the most unequal time of the year,” says Matthew Boulay of the National Summer Learning Association. “Well-off parents can fill the gap left by school and consolidate (使巩固) their children’s unfamiliar knowledge well, keeping their children stimulated with summer camps, trips abroad or private tutors. Poorer families, apparently, find this harder, since their income is relatively low and demand for sponsored activities offered by governments,” he adds.
Holidays can be a financial stress, which is absolutely true. In countries where some children receive free school meals, summer means bigger grocery bills for hard-up families. Households where both parents work have to pay for extra childcare, too. The Family and Childcare Trust, a charity, says that in Britain, where childcare costs are the highest in the OECD, a club of mostly rich countries. Parents will spend an average of 33 per child per week on childcare this summer, mainly because of the sharp shortage of governmental funding sponsor.
1. What is the purpose of the summer programme?| A．To lengthen students’ school life. | B．To keep students busy all the time. |
| C．To provide students with free meals. | D．To enrich students’ summer holidays. |
| A．Rich. | B．Tight. | C．Reasonable. | D．Affordable. |
| A．Badly-off parents are likely to give up sponsoring their kids. |
| B．Well-off parents are unwilling to offer their kids extra tutors. |
| C．Students from poor family can well deal with the peer pressure. |
| D．Students from rich family can strengthen their learned knowledge. |
| A．Because of insufficiency of free tutors. | B．Because of shortage of social sponsor. |
| C．Because of shortage of free school meals. | D．Because of lack of governmental support. |
2 . Asia’s centuries-long fascination with fair skin has deep roots and, even today, is influenced by Eurocentric (以欧洲为中心的) beauty standards linking paleness with charm. The questioned concept dating from colonial history is continued through media channels.
This fascination is vividly reflected in the make-up industry, leading to a multi-billion-dollar market for skin-whitening products across Asia. A striking survey conducted by WHO revealed 40% of women in countries such as China, Malaysia, the Philippines, and South Korea routinely use skin-whitening products. It was also found that 75% of men believed their partners would be beautiful with lighter skin. Such a deep-rooted relation between fairness and beauty continues to fuel the thriving skin-whitening industry. The industry’s value is estimated to reach a breathtaking $8.9 billion by 2027.
The historical preference for lighter skin in Asian culture is also closely tied to socio-economic status. Historically, having fair skin indicated higher social status, as individuals engaging in physical labor often had darker skin from being in the sun. The upper class, meanwhile, enjoyed a sheltered indoor life due to their wealth, translating into fairer skin. Consequently, those with darker skin remained in a lower status, fueling the favor for fairer faces.
Colonialism (殖民主义) has also affected the beauty standards in Asian countries. Many nations across the continent were once colonized by white powers from the US and Europe. Eventually, their fair skin symbolized the power and wealth of the colonizers. Even in Japan, never colonized, noblewomen during the Edo period adopted white makeup to copy the luxurious image related to lighter skin. These historical factors continue to shape modern beauty standards in Asia.
In recent years, such Eurocentric beauty standards have been receiving widespread criticism. A growing movement has come up, promoting the beauty of darker skin tones and advocating accepting all skin colors. While the preference for pale skin remains universal in many Asian countries, the tendency is slowly turning as new standards of beauty pop up. Hopefully, we will see a society that celebrates inclusivity and the beauty of all skin tones.
1. What’s the common beauty standards in Asian countries?| A．They include a person’s charm. |
| B．They relate to a person’s makeup. |
| C．They are measured by a person’s fair skin. |
| D．They refer to the color of a person’s skin. |
| A．European colonizers in Japan. |
| B．Exposure to the sun and physical labor. |
| C．Socio-economic status and colonialism. |
| D．The use of white makeup by noblewomen. |
| A．A growing preference for pale skin. |
| B．A rejection of Eurocentric beauty ideals. |
| C．No change in traditional beauty standards. |
| D．Increasing acceptance of diverse skin tones. |
| A．They are unique to Asian culture. |
| B．They are set to remain unchanged. |
| C．They are rooted in biological differences. |
| D．They are being questioned and changing gradually. |
3 . A certain item is being stolen more than ever in Japan. Rather than the usual luxury watches, cars, or jewelry, thieves in Japan are picking fruits as their target. There is a thriving market for quality fruits which are grown by hand to ensure they reach high standards for appearance and taste. Japanese individuals and companies often buy them as gifts for special occasions.
One softball-sized strawberry, for instance, can cost as much as ¥500,000 JPY ($3,346 USD). Several districts have recently witnessed an alarming rise in fruit theft. Yamanashi Prefecture, for instance, lost an shocking ¥8,500,000 JPY ($56,890 USD) from 40 cases of missing fruit in the last four months. It is so bad, in fact, that local firefighters and private security guards are going around and checking the area at night to ensure the safety of the fruits.
The same thing happened to another peach farm located in Fuefuki City when farmers were aware that 1,400 peaches went missing out of the blue. Another top farming company in Yamanashi City lost 1,500 peaches just two days later. Peaches were not the only luxury fruit being targeted in the past few months. Just last September 28,400 bunches of grapes went missing in the Yamanashi Prefecture. The total loss amounted to ¥350,000 ($2,343 USD).
Farm owners are now increasing their security measures to prevent this rise in theft. They are paying a fortune to employ local private security guards to patrol around the clock when fruits are ripe. Even they are about to install a monitoring system to watch over the farm at all times, which serves as a threat to thieves. If thefts do happen, they can call the police.
1. What unusual item is currently being stolen more frequently in Japan?| A．Quality fruits. | B．Watches. | C．Luxury cars. | D．Jewelry. |
| A．They have unique flavors. |
| B．They are always given as gifts. |
| C．They are less expensive than other luxury items. |
| D．They are grown by hand to meet high quality standards. |
| A．To highlight the size of the stolen fruits. |
| B．To provide an example of a stolen fruit. |
| C．To emphasize the high cost of luxury fruits. |
| D．To explain the popularity of strawberries in Japan. |
| A．To stress the value of luxury fruits in Japan. |
| B．To show the rise in theft of luxury items in Japan. |
| C．To describe the efforts to fight fruit thefts in Japan. |
| D．To promote the growth of the quality fruit market in Japan. |
4 . After working an extra shift, Dr. Jessica Gold returned home feeling burned out and submitted herself to the urge to watch TV and sleep most of the day. As Generation Z would say, she was “bed rotting”. The phrase describes staying in bed all day, just like “rotting” (腐烂) there, according to Gold, a professor at Washington University. It is similar to having a lazy day, but it is more of an immobile term with less activity. She said, “It is OK as long as you understand why you are doing it and turn to other activities as well.
“Lying in bed for more than a day is concerning and could lead to different mental health issues, ”Gold added, “The urge to rot in bed all day, especially if it happens more seriously, is likely about something more than just catching up on sleep or needing a day to do nothing, but avoiding the feelings, stress or pain of being awake. This sort of behavior has been linked to symptoms (症状) of depression and anxiety.”
Bed rotting could be affecting more than just your mental health — it could also have a negative impact on your sleep. “Bed rotting is exactly the opposite of what we want people to do,” said Baron, associate professor of family and preventive medicine. “As a general guideline, if you are not asleep within 30 minutes during the night, you should get out of bed, ” said she.
Bed rotting after a long day is normal, but if it is affecting your work, social life or other important activities, then you should turn to professionals, Gold suggested, because they can help you get to the root cause and get you to learn to do something that you may think of as hobbies.
Recharging activities can energize us and better prepare us for the unavoidable stress we face daily. “Some options include hanging out with a friend, seeing a film or exercising, said Rego, a psychologist from New York, “If you don’t want to leave the house, try activities like reading a book or journaling instead of just lying down.
1. What can we learn about ”bed rotting“?| A．It is favoured by Generation Z. | B．It is an active attitude toward life. |
| C．It is acceptable if it is controllable. | D．It is the same with having a lazy day. |
| A．The impact of bed rotting. | B．The trend of bed rotting. |
| C．The cure for bed rotting. | D．The prevention of bed rotting. |
| A．Bed rotting makes for stress relief. | B．Bed rotting results from lack of sleep. |
| C．Bed rotting contradicts good sleep habits. | D．Bed rotting refers to part of the sleep cycle. |
| A．Adopting a regular exercise routine. |
| B．Engaging in some relaxing activities. |
| C．Seeking professional mental health services. |
| D．Watching other digital devices rather than TV. |
5 . Want to know what is coming soon to a cinema near you? Probably not a 1.5-hour-long movie, as in the old days. On October 20th comes Killers of the Flower Moon. At nearly three and a half hours, its length is nearly double that of the average film last year. Even movie fans struggle to concentrate for that long and some viewers even nod off. Afterwards there is a mad dash for the toilets. When does watching a film become such a slog?
The Economist analyzed over 100,000 feature films released internationally since the 1930s, the start of Hollywood’s golden age, using data from IMDb, a movie database. The average length of productions rose by around 24%, from one hour and 21 minutes in the 1930s to one hour and 47 minutes in 2022. For the ten most-popular titles, the average length grew to around two and a half hours in 2022, nearly 50% higher than in the 1930s.
One driver of this trend is that studios want to squeeze the most out of their costly intellectual property (知识产权), but they are competing with streaming platforms for eyeballs. The hope is that a spectacular, drawn-out “event” movie will draw audiences away from the small screen and into cinemas. This approach has often paid off: Avengers: Endgame Marvel’s three-hour superhero masterpieces, was the highest-grossing (票房最高的) film in 2019. Last year long movies series made up most of the highest-grossing films in America.
Another explanation for longer films has to do with directors’ growing influence. Who would dare tell the likes of Mr. Nolan to cut out his masterpieces? Moreover, streaming platforms, which do not have to worry as much about the length because viewers can pause whenever they like, may attract big names by promising them sufficient fund and creative freedom. Netflix funded and released three-hour The Irishman in 2019, a film that would have benefited from a decisive editor, Irish or otherwise.
1. The underlined part “a slog” in paragraph 1 refers to a(n)___.| A．pleasure | B．effort | C．conflict | D．feast |
| A．The average length affects the popularity of films. |
| B．Great advances have been made in film industry. |
| C．Hollywood starts a golden age of feature films. |
| D．The average duration of movies has stretched. |
| A．Competition for the target audience. | B．Thirst for more classic productions. |
| C．Influence of streaming platforms. | D．Preference for decisive editors. |
| A．Movie Enthusiasts | B．Movie Marathons |
| C．Movie Production | D．Movie Influence |
Live streaming (直播) has gone popular in China. Many have turned
Chinese authorities have introduced a set of updated regulations (管理) on live streaming industry
The document also calls for cooperation to carry
It all began with a video showing a professor at a Chinese university several months ago. Standing before a classroom which
Actually, the word “princess” carries much
“The popular phrase, ‘Princesses, please xx’, was appreciated by the youth, not only for its humor but for the
While many of recent Chinese Internet phrases
Chinese coffee giant Luckin Coffee hit 10,000 stores in China in June, surpassing (超过) Starbucks
Founded in 2017, Luckin Coffee burst onto the Chinese coffee scene to challenge Starbucks through
In the quarter ended June 30, Luckin Coffee opened 1,485 new stores,
The Chinese coffee chain expanded to Singapore in its first international attempt and has opened 14 stores in the city-state so far.
9 . Farming is destroying the planet, but there could be a much more environmentally friendly way to feed ourselves: using renewable energy to turn carbon dioxide into food. “This is becoming a reality,” says Pasi Vainikka at Solar Foods, a company that is building the first commercial-scale factory that will be able to make food directly from CO2.
There can be no doubt that immediate attention to find greener ways to grow food is required. Conventional agriculture, including organic farming, causes damage to the environment in many ways. It requires a lot of land, leading to habitat loss and deforestation. It is also the source of a third of all greenhouse gas emissions and releases other pollutants. It isn’t very efficient, either. Crops typically transform less than 1 percent of light energy into usable biomass (生物量).
Instead, Solar Foods plans to avoid photosynthesis (光合作用) altogether, and grow bacteria that use hydrogen as their source of energy. At the factory, renewable electricity will be used to split water to produce hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen will be added to large containers, where the bacteria grow, along with CO2 and ammonia (氨气). The end result will be a yellow powder called Solein.
Solein is made of bacterial cells and is up to 70 percent protein. It can be used as an ingredient in all kinds of foods. “We are aiming at replacing animal-sourced proteins, which we think have the highest environmental impact,” says Vainikka.
Compared with plant crops, Solein will use 100 times less water per kilogram of protein produced, 20 times less land and emit a fifth as much CO2, according to Solar Foods. There are other benefits, too: factories could be situated anywhere in the world and production won’t be affected by weather conditions.
“With Solar Foods and other companies scaling up their systems, this is truly beginning a new era of agriculture,” says Dorian Leger at Connectomix Bio in Germany. “I think these trends are exciting and will help bend the carbon curve as well as lead to improved global food supply security.”
1. What is the author’s purpose in mentioning conventional agriculture in paragraph 2?| A．To demonstrate its influence on crops. |
| B．To compare different farming methods. |
| C．To provide an example of agricultural types. |
| D．To highlight the urgent need for alternatives. |
| A．Its storage condition. | B．Its production process. |
| C．Its ingredient materials. | D．Its investment potential. |
| A．it is protein-rich |
| B．it is resource-efficient |
| C．its production is weather sensitive |
| D．its production is location-independent |
| A．The prospect of Solein remains to be seen, |
| B．Solein can help achieve global food safely. |
| C．Solein will dominate the agricultural development. |
| D．The use of Solein may help reduce carbon emissions. |
10 . Going to the Basque Country of Spain, linguistically (就语言角度来看), a Briton may feel he is entering not just another country but perhaps another continent. Familiar world languages — Spanish and French — suddenly give way to Basque, with its strange-looking words of tongue-twisting (绕口的) length. Basque is unrelated to the Indo-European family that includes almost all European languages.
Its survival has not been assured. The rule of Francisco Franco from 1939 to 1975 centralised the state and he insisted that citizens speak Spanish. Public use of Basque was forbidden. When Franco died, the Basque-speaking population was mostly old and rural. For a language, this usually means extinction.
Since the 1980s the number of speakers has grown by almost 350,000, out of a regional population of 2. 1 million. In 2017 two-thirds of pupils were studying in schools where Basque was the language of instruction, up from around 14% in 1984; 87% of 10 to 14-year-olds are estimated to know the language. This is why, in the most recent big survey, the Basque-speaking population (41%) almost matched the non-Basque-speakers (44%). The other 15% are said to understand Basque but struggle to speak it.
But there is another side to the story. In the Basque Country, just 376,000 people have the language as their first, passed down to them in the home. Basque is weakest in the three provincial capitals, where the population is dominated by people from Spanish-speaking homes. Even as the knowledge and influence of the language are growing, actual usage outside schools still seems to be reducing. A similar story could be told of Irish, Welsh, and Maori.
What would it take to get people to live with these languages, as opposed to merely acquiring them? Some Basques say sadly that in a mixed group in which just one person is uncomfortable in Basque, the rest quickly switch to Spanish. They say that in Catalonia, a similar group is more likely to insist on continuing in Catalan, which, for this and unrelated historical reasons, is far more widely spoken in its territory than Basque.
1. What confused a Briton when entering the Basque Country of Spain?| A．Basques tend to have a large vocabulary. |
| B．Spanish is much more widely used than French. |
| C．Basques speak much faster than other Europeans. |
| D．Basque differs significantly from other European languages. |
| A．The factor behind Basque’s decline. |
| B．The achievements of Francisco Franco. |
| C．The links between Basque and Spanish. |
| D．The history and development of Basque. |
| A．Population growth. | B．School education |
| C．Economic development. | D．Cultural awareness. |
| A．It leads to discomfort in Basque. | B．It will soon be replaced by Catalan. |
| C．It is decreasingly used in daily life. | D．It confuses many Spanish speakers. |
