1 . In the 1994 film Forrest Gump, there’s a famous saying, “Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get.” The surprise is part of the fun. Now blind box toys are bringing the magic of surprise to online shopping.
A blind box toy is hidden inside similar boxes but invisible from the outside. You don’t know what will be inside, although the toys typically come from pop culture, ranging from movies to comics and cartoons (动漫).
Blind boxes have become popular since they were first introduced from Japan to China in 2014. According to a 2019 Tmall report, the mini-series of Labubu blind box, designed by Hong Kong-born Kasing Lung, was named Champion of Unit Sales with 55,000 sold in just 9 seconds during the Singles Day shopping event. Most customers for blind boxes are young people aged 18 to 35.
According to The Paper, blind box toys are popular in part because of their cute looks. The typically site cartoon figures come in very small sizes, making them suitable for display almost anywhere. Even if blind boxes are not their top choice for decorations, the mystery and uncertainty of the process also attracts people. It’s the main reason why people buy blind boxes one after another.
“Expectíng the unknown is always a part of the box-opening process (过程),” said Miss Cao,24、who lives and works in Shenyang, speaking to Sina Nows. She said: “Until you open all the boxes, you cannot know what it is inside.”
Opening a blind box is a happy little surprise for our boring daily lives, something small but fun to wait for each day, week or month. When people open this simple little box, they may be disappointed, but the uncertainty is part of the fun. People will open more blind boxes and hope for a better result.
When someone remakes Forrest Gump, don’t be surprised if he says, “Life is like a blind box.”
1. What do we know about blind boxes from the text?| A．They are popular only in China. | B．They are visible from the outside. |
| C．They were first designed in 2014. | D．They may bring surprise to our life. |
| A．Because blind boxes are fashionable gifts. | B．Because blind boxes are educational gifts. |
| C．Because people prefer the colorful boxes. | D．Because people enjoy box-opening process. |
| A．Positive. | B．Doubtful. | C．Negative. | D．Indifferent. |
| A．The cultural effects of blind boxes. | B．The origin of blind boxes. |
| C．The popularity of blind boxes. | D．The problems with blind boxes. |
2 . Yang Xingyu, 23, took a liking to fried insects the first time she ate them while touring Lijiang, Yunnan province. “I ate fried locusts (蝗虫) and silkworm chrysalises (蚕蛹). Although they looked a little strange, they were crisp. Due to the protein they provide, I now eat them for nutrition,” she said to China Daily.
Like Yang, about two billion people around the world have added eatable insects such as beetles, caterpillars and bees into their diets, according to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). They can be fried, baked, braised with soup, mixed with dessert, or even eaten raw.
The reason why the global interest in eatable insects has increased is that it is imperative to develop new food sources that are safe to eat, according to Huang Dawei, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Zoology. A UN report in July showed the global population is expected to rise to 8.5 billion by 2030, 9.7 billion by 2050, and about 10.4 billion by the 2080s. Huang said that the global population is rising much faster than the availability of food. As such, developing new food sources — especially sources of protein — is extremely urgent.
Insects are rich in protein, vitamins and minerals, which are all good for human bodies. In addition to their nutritional value, raising and eating insects is also friendly toward the environment and ecological conservation. Compared with traditional food sources such as farm animals, insect farming needs less land and water for production. Plus, insect farming releases less greenhouse gases. For example, pigs produce 10 to 100 times more greenhouse gases per kilogram than mealworms.
Even so, Guo Jianjun, professor at Guizhou University, warns that not all insects can be eaten, adding that some are poisonous, and that some people may even be allergic to insect protein. Knowing this, it would be best for would-be eaters of insects to first learn about the features of insects and make sure they are eatable before eating them.
1. What makes Yang want to eat insects?| A．Their taste. |
| B．Their appearance. |
| C．Their nutritional value. |
| D．Their cooking methods. |
| A．General. | B．Potential. | C．Reduced. | D．Pressing. |
| A．It provides more jobs. |
| B．It produces less pollution. |
| C．It generates more profits. |
| D．It takes less space and time. |
| A．Only a few insects are eatable. |
| B．It is never wise to eat insects. |
| C．Be cautious about eating insects. |
| D．Eating insects does more good than harm. |
1. Who are the audiences probably?
| A．College students. | B．News reporters. | C．Movie fans. |
| A．Racism. | B．Heightism. | C．Sexism. |
| A．Get more attention. | B．Get more choices. | C．Get more income. |
| A．They can earn high income from it. |
| B．They can get satisfaction from it. |
| C．Nobody cares about their height. |
4 . More and more travellers in China nowadays prefer homestays rather than traditional hotels, as they seek private living experiences. The house-sharing model was first introduced by a website in 2003. That website is still the largest website for travellers to find accommodation without much money to spend.
Encouraged by her great experience of homestays in France, Maggita, 30, considered short-term hire as her first choice in her future trips. She later went back to her hometown Shanghai and ran a “shared accommodation” business.
The short-term hire idea has been a win-win business model. For travellers, they can rent a special room at a reasonable price and also enjoy a first-hand experience of the local culture, compared with traditional hotels. For owners, they can gain much with daily rental. Now Maggita has quit her last job in an IT company and become a host of some 20 homestays, which enables her to earn a monthly income of around 40,000-50,000 yuan.
In recent years, China has seen many homestay booking websites. Chen Chi, the founder and CEO of a homestay website, said the model is to share rooms or apartments that are not in use with people who need them. Instead of the traditional view that Chinese people feel uncomfortable living with strangers, Chen found that a large number of travellers got along well with house owners.
However, experts have pointed out a series of problems brought about by the fashion. Lacking supervision（监管）to those accommodation sharing websites, the service quality and accommodation safety cannot be guaranteed. Experts suggest that online websites should closely work together with communities and local police stations to improve the services.
1. What can we learn about homestays from the first paragraph?| A．They started in China. | B．They offer the best service. |
| C．They can be money-saving. | D．They are popular with the youth. |
| A．Useless. | B．Relaxing. | C．Uncomfortable. | D．Well-accepted. |
| A．Homestay services need to be improved. |
| B．Some experts don’t support homestays. |
| C．Homestays are popular with youth only. |
| D．Nobody is responsible for homestay services. |
| A．protected | B．shared | C．focused | D．preferred |
5 . More often than not, people look at the phone screen to check for new messages or have a quick look a Meta. Researchers have now found why we often feel such a strong need to look at our phones. Using the mobile phone, according to them, is contagious (有传染性的).
The team said people were twice more likely to pull out their phones to check their text messages or e-mails if they were with someone who had just done the same. They also found that women were more likely to use their mobile phones than men. The team watched students in dining halls and coffee shops around the college, observing pairs of college students sitting at the tables for as long as 20 minutes and recording their cellphone use. “What we found most interesting was just how often people were using their mobile phones.” said Dr. Daniel Kruger, the study’s co-author. “Every person we studied used his or her phone at least once,while one woman was on hers about half of the time. People saw others checking their incoming messages and began to check their own.”
“Cellphones create another choice for one’s attention and may both support and disagree with live social activities,” the researchers wrote. Kruger believed this could be explained by the effects of social inclusion and exclusion. If one person in a pair starts a conversation through his phone, the other one may feel excluded and then feel the need to get in touch with others so as not to feel left out. The researchers noted that they might not get the same result in a study of different people for example, older adults might not have a habit of using cellphones so often.
1. What can we learn from the study?| A．People can affect each other by using mobile phones. |
| B．Using mobile phones has nothing to do with social activities. |
| C．Men are more likely to be affected by others’ using mobile phones. |
| D．The sound of mobile phones makes using mobile phones contagious. |
| A．will find that older adults don’t like to use mobile phones |
| B．will find that mobile phones are harmful to health |
| C．will no longer like using mobile phones |
| D．may reach a different conclusion |
| A．Supportive. | B．Objective. | C．Indifferent. | D．Opposed. |
| A．How to Use Mobile Phones Correctly |
| B．Why College Students Like Mobile Phones? |
| C．The Relation Between Mobile Phones and People’s Hobbies |
| D．Something Interesting About the Habit of Using Mobile Phones |
6 . Recently, a new kind of tourism has sprung (出现) up in China. Called “special forces (特种兵) style tourism”, this new kind of tourism is mainly about visiting many places of interest in a short period, most often on weekends. Most of these visitors are college students.
Yu Yinghua, a college student in Shanghai, is one of them. The 22-year-old started the “special forces style tourism” in March after she was attracted by such experiences of some travel bloggers. “After staying a long time at school, I’m hungry to take trips in my spare time,” said Yu, “Now it’s time! Spring has come and we can go out to enjoy the beautiful natural scenery.”
Most of her trips were inspired by understanding from her daily life, such as a place mentioned in a chat with friends. “But making a plan spot in the city, she was able to find a lot of information and learn more about these sites. That would help her save time when traveling on-site and enjoy the sites better.”
Unlike Yu who traveled in nearby cities, Chen Junjun, a doctoral student in Shanghai likes to travel far to get rid of academic stress. In April, the 24-year-old took a two-day trip to Xi’an, Shaanxi province. During her trip, she visited all the scenic sites in the city. “With many academic responsibilities, such a trip can bring color to my life.” said Chen.
Even so, the 24-year-old added that such tourism is not suitable for everyone. Chen said that it’s labor-consuming (耗费体力的) as visitors have to visit as many sites as possible in a short period. To some degree such trips are not as flexible (灵活的) as days-long trips in which you can change your plan as you like. “Thus, a great deal of energy and a calm mind are needed for this kind of tourism,” said Chen.
1. What do we know about Yu Yinghua?| A．She was hungry in her travel. | B．She only visited one site in a trip. |
| C．She used to serve in special forces. | D．She made a travel plan in advance carefully. |
| A．To use up her energy. | B．To paint some colorful drawings. |
| C．To reduce her study pressure. | D．To take some academic responsibilities. |
| A．Stressful. | B．Time-consuming. |
| C．Frightening. | D．Money-consuming. |
| A．A travel guidebook. | B．A report on special forces. |
| C．A guidebook to a city. | D．An introduction to a travel style. |
7 . We all may know someone we consider to be a picky eater, who tends to dislike some common food regularly and causes social embarrassment when ordering at restaurants. But for some people picky eating can actually become a serious disorder, and clinical definitions of picky eating behaviors often include people who only consume around 20 different kinds of foods for a long period of time.
“Having restricted diets can lead to nutritional deficiencies (缺陷) as well as health problems like heart disease, poor bone health and dental issues,” explained Lorenzo Stafford, one of the authors on the latest study. “There is also a social cost because normally enjoyable moments between family members can easily turn into stressful, anxious, and conflict-causing situations when picky eaters feel ashamed or pressured to eat certain food.”
A new research homed in on the effect of plate color on food desirability for picky eaters. The experiment was based on a foundational study from 2018 which looked at the way different colored food bowls affected a person’s sense of taste.
Using a design similar to the 2018 research, the new experiments had participants rate the sweetness, saltiness and overall desirability of a snack food eaten from different colored bowls. In this instance the snack was salt and vinegar potato crisps consumed from either a red, blue or white bowl. Around 50 participants were recruited (招募) and classified as either picky or non-picky eaters based on a standard questionnaire.
The results revealed picky eaters considered the snack to be saltier when it was eaten from a red or blue bowl compared to the white bowl. And overall, picky eaters found the snack generally less desirable when eaten from a red bowl.
It is worth mentioning that a recent survey estimated nearly one in five American adults could be clinically classified as picky eaters. So exploring ways to help these people better engage with more types of food could result in valuable health outcomes.
1. Which of the following may be a picky eater?| A．Tom who ate only some bread this morning. | B．Lisa who only has vegetables for losing weight. |
| C．Peter who often orders little at restaurants. | D．Alex who likes only a small range of dishes. |
| A．Health problems caused by picky eating. |
| B．Moments that are ruined by picky eaters. |
| C．Potential consequences of picky eating. |
| D．Quotes of Lorenzo to support the research findings. |
| A．Bowls of different colors directly affect appetite of eaters. |
| B．Blue color bowls can make the food in them saltier for eaters. |
| C．Food in red bowls seems less attractive to picky eaters. |
| D．The color of the bowl can change the taste of the dishes. |
| A．To show ways of enhancing people’s appetite effectively. |
| B．To stress the importance of reducing picky eaters’ anxiety and stress. |
| C．To encourage us to raise picky eaters’ awareness of healthy eating. |
| D．To call on researchers to help picky eaters try a wider variety of foods. |
8 . Thousands of workers in the UK have a shortened week ahead of them as a large-scale four-day workweek pilot gets underway. Beginning this week, more than 3. 000 workers at 70 companies across diverse industries will get an extra day off every week. The six-month trial organized by 4 Day Week Global, is considered the largest experiment of its kind in the world.
“What is most exciting about the pilot is that we have a wide range of fields of economy participating.” said Joe Ryle, campaign director for the UK arm of 4 Day Week. “We’re hoping it will show that the four-day workweek is possible across the economy in the longer term. ”
Participating employers range from firms in the education sector to banking. IT. marketing, retail and hospitality businesses. The schedule is based on the 100-80-100 rule, which allows workers to earn 100%of their pay for 80%of their time for delivering 100% of output.
Employers have been eager to test programmes that offer workers more flexibility and a better work-life balance after workers quit their jobs at record rates. It has forced companies to find new ways to employ and retain(留住)talent, including bumping up pay and allowing more remote work. Cutting a full day off the workweek is yet another option companies can use to induce job seekers to work for them.
“We’ve seen a growing appetite for reduced work time,” said Joe O’Connor, CEO of 4 Day Week Global. “Employers are drawn to this idea as they see it providing them with a competitive advantage. Because of the pandemic(大流行病)，managers are more open-minded.”
For the workers’ part, expectations have also shifted dramatically since the start of the pandemic. “People’s expectations about what forms a reasonable life-work balance have changed,” O’Connor said.
“The four-day week is generally considered to be a triple-dividend policy-helping employees, companies, and the climate,” said Juliet Schor, a sociology professor at Boston College.
1. What is the purpose of the pilot according to Joe Ryle?| A．To test the effectiveness of the four-day workweek. |
| B．To help develop the economy during COVID-19. |
| C．To improve cooperation between different industries. |
| D．To increase employees'productivity within four days. |
| A．Work hard to get a pay raise. | B．Improve their productivity. |
| C．Keep a record of what they do. | D．Spend more time with their family. |
| A．Expect. | B．Force. | C．Allow. | D．Persuade. |
| A．Negative. | B．Unclear. | C．Favourable. | D．Doubtful. |
9 . Recently, the “city walk” has been gaining steam among residents and tourists around China. On social platform Xiaohongshu, data shows that the number of city walk-related topic posts has increased by 700 percent over the past three months, and the total number of interactions has increased by more than 600 percent.
A city walk is a form of urban tourism originating in the UK. Unlike traditional sightseeing, which aims to hit famous attractions and commercial center, usually by vehicles with tense schedules, city walk is about “roaming” around a city on foot, soaking up the atmosphere and finding unusual things that even a resident of the city might not have noticed before. Such walks generally avoid famous scenic spots and shopping centers, and take you to places where you can have real interactions with the local people, eat at small but authentic restaurants, and gain a deeper understanding of the history and culture of the city.
City walkers are a cast of people who possess intense curiosity. They are eager to engage with the city they are visiting or reside in their own way. By “roaming” on foot, city walkers can better feel the texture and listen to the breath of a place. They seek pleasure more through connection than consumption, which indicates a deep cultural curiosity. For example, in Chongqing, if you don’t take a walk, you can hardly experience the unique geographical charm of the mountainous city. Be it the hutong in Beijing or the Chinese parasol tree district in Shanghai; city walks allow people to see the scenery apart from the scene and uncover hidden knowledge.
The appeal of a city walk lies in the young generation’s changing attitude toward life — pursuing quality leisure time while being occupied with demanding workloads and limited time for exploration. While roaming along the road, you can entirely focus on yourself and listen to your inner voice and care for what you feel, which is a way to love yourself and benefit your mental health. Just like Oscar Wilde once said, “To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance.”
1. What do the underlined words “gaining steam” in paragraph one probably mean?| A．Raising concerns. | B．Getting outdated. | C．Causing trouble. | D．Receiving popularity. |
| A．It pursues economical tourism. |
| B．It is usually well-organized and scheduled. |
| C．It helps promote the authentic food of the destination. |
| D．It focuses on feeling the local culture by connecting the city. |
| A．They are keen to buy souvenirs. |
| B．They tend to walk as much as possible. |
| C．They have strong curiosity about the local culture. |
| D．They prefer the city landscape to the natural scenery. |
| A．Why city walk changes people’s lifestyle. |
| B．Why the young fall in love with a city walk. |
| C．How popular the city walk is among citizens. |
| D．What young people usually do during a city walk. |
10 . What are the limits of the human body? Is there a point at which it is physically impossible to do something?
“One thing we’ve all learned in the last 30 years or so is that just about anything is humanly possible,” says Dr. Jack Wilmore, author of Physiology of Sport and Exercise. “As time goes by, I think you’ll see more records continue to fall in every sport. The talent pool is better than ever. With more and better athletes involved and competing, records will fall and new standards will be set.”
Many believed it was physically impossible for a human to run a mile in under four minutes, but Roger Bannister proved that theory wrong with a three-minute, 59-second mile in 1954. Today, sub-four-minute miles are considered routine even in high school. And Bob Beamon stretched human performance in the 1968 Olympics with his historic long jump of 8.90 metres. In an event where a record is usually broken by mere inches, he broke the previous jump record by more than 21 inches, but even his record was broken in 1991.
One factor is now becoming more understood and heavily emphasized: sports psychology. Getting inside the athlete’s head can be as effective as training and long workouts. According to Wilmore, the psychological aspect of sports has become more and more esteemed. He points out that most professional teams have hired sports psychologists for their players.
In addition, every aspect of athletics --- training, nutrition, injury treatment --- is far better than it’s ever been. “Besides, children today tend to specialize in one or two sports instead of competing in several as was common twenty-five years ago,” Wilmore says. “That means they start concentrating on a sport much earlier and more intensely, and they become much better at it.”
“There’s a lot we don’t know yet about the human body,” he adds. “And one of those things is the full range of human potential. It would be foolish to try and put limits on what the human body can do.”
1. Which statement will Wilmore probably agree with?| A．It is preferable to set universal standards for athletes. |
| B．Athletes will become the most sought-after celebrities. |
| C．It is necessary for athletes to learn the limits of the body. |
| D．Athletes will continue to surprise us with their achievements. |
| A．To introduce two great athletes. |
| B．To show some of the latest world records. |
| C．To prove the limits of the body can be pushed. |
| D．To explain what athletes can achieve under stress. |
| A．Similar. | B．Valued. |
| C．Complex. | D．Specialized. |
| A．They participate in far more sports. |
| B．They are less likely to get injured in sports. |
| C．They begin playing sports at a much earlier age. |
| D．They become more skilful at one particular sport. |
