When a person wakes up in the morning, seven items are necessary and unavoidable in his or her life: firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar and tea.
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Although the delivery industry has boomed in the past decade, and many people rely
In China, these essential people usually have busy schedules
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1. Whom did people usually marry in Russia in the past?
| A．Those with the same interests. |
| B．Those with the same background. |
| C．Those with the same profession. |
| A．She was a scientist. | B．She was a teacher. | C．She was a musician. |
3 . There are some sounds most of us acknowledge are annoying — the chewing of chips, the low noise of air conditioning or a screaming baby. These noises, for many people, act as a mere inconvenience that can distract them from the task at hand. However, there are some amongst us who have a much more severe response to these noises. Has a noise ever made you feel so angry that you could explode with rage? If the answer is yes, you may be suffering from misophonia (恐音症).
The word “misophonia” literally means “a hatred of sound” and is sometimes called Selective Sound Sensitivity Syndrome. There are some experts who doubt the existence of the condition. However, for those who claim to suffer from it, the experience can be painful. Certain sounds could set off intense emotional or psychological responses that may seem over the top compared with a non-sufferer’s complaints.
The sound of people chewing their food could trigger sufferers’ anxiety, or make them feel panic. It may even activate their fight-or-flight response, making them want to run away. In extreme cases, that feeling of panic may result in intense anger and even end up expressing rage physically.
Sadly, there’s no known cure. But tinnitus retraining therapy, cognitive (认知的) behavioural therapy and counselling could help sufferers tolerate noises and manage the condition. According to James Cartreine, a clinical psychiatrist, the condition can lead to separation. Sufferers use coping strategies that include avoiding places with lots of noises, like restaurants, or moving away when they feel like raging against someone due to their breathing.
So, the next time you see someone fly into a rage because of a sound that is driving them crazy, it may be due to a difficult condition they are trying to manage, and not just because they hate a certain sound.
1. What is the purpose of paragraph 1?| A．To lead in the topic of misophonia. |
| B．To introduce different annoying sounds. |
| C．To show ways of preventing a severe disease. |
| D．To present the harm of noises to human health. |
| A．Jane who usually has lunch alone. |
| B．Nancy who often screams at her baby. |
| C．Peter who is always worried about his studies. |
| D．Henry who is annoyed at the sound of book pages turning. |
| A．Control. | B．Cause. | C．Predict. | D．Relieve. |
| A．It happens mostly in restaurants. |
| B．Any sound around can drive sufferers crazy. |
| C．Staying away from noises is a potential solution. |
| D．It may greatly influence sufferers’ cognitive ability. |
观点 | 理由 |
支持 | 便于孩子与家长联系 |
反对 | 浪费时间 |
我认为…… | …… |
5 . According to the research published by Ofcom, most people in the UK are dependent on their digital devices and apparently need constant access to the Internet.
The smartphone slowly caught on in the UK in 2008.
People now expect constant Internet access wherever they are, with 64% of adults saying that it is an essential part of their lives. Over the past years, access to the Internet has improved.
So how much time should we spend online?
| A．That’s not a question that can be easily answered |
| B．17 percent of the population owned one by the end of that year |
| C．They mentioned smartphones’ increasing effect on our lives too |
| D．As a result, the way we communicate with each other has changed |
| E．The research has focused on how technology has changed our lives |
| F．However, there are negative effects of being online for many people |
| G．More than half of those questioned talked about some phenomena in life |
6 . The “biggest mistake” in workplace communication—and the hardest one to recover from—is sending emotional emails, says Brandon Smith, who is known as the Workplace Therapist (治疗师). “It’s a really, really hard skill to master—most people don’t correct it until their 30s or 40s—but you should never send an email when you’re feeling extremely emotional,” says Smith. “People treat emails or other online communication like a casual (随意的) conversation you’re having in the hallway, but it’s not.” Instead, you should“email like it could one day be read aloud in court,” he adds.
Next time you get an email or online message that makes you feel angry, anxious or even pleased, what should you do? You can write a draft, and then wait 24 hours. This approach satiates the immediate need to blow off emotional steam and express your emotions without hurting your reputation at work. “When you have a strong emotional reaction to something, those emotions will unavoidably come through in whatever message you’re typing,” says Smith. “It’s so much easier to make an issue worse than solve one over email.”
When you make a reply, re-read your draft as if you were the recipient: Is the message confusing? Are there any details that could be misinterpreted, or that sound emotional? If you’re still not confident in your response, Smith recommends asking a co-worker to read it over, as a second opinion can help you identify areas of improvement.
If something requires a more immediate response, ask the other person if you can continue the conversation offline. Phone calls play a more important role in building emotional connection. Voice-based communication (such as phone calls) create s stronger bonds than text-based communication (such as emails). Or, as Smith explains, “You’ll be less willing to be rude to the other person when you’re in conversation with them, or listening to their voice on the end of the line than you would be over text.”
1. What does Smith think of sending an email?| A．It should be considered seriously. | B．It’s an unavoidable workplace behavior. |
| C．It’s a kind of a casual conversation. | D．It should be used to convey our emotions. |
| A．Emphasizes. | B．Satisfies. | C．Controls. | D．Generates. |
| A．Links among people are based on words. | B．Voice-based communication is advisable. |
| C．Phone calls are gradually losing their appeal. | D．It’s more effective to communicate online. |
| A．Ways of avoiding emotional texts. | B．Common workplace survival skills. |
| C．Different forms of communication. | D．Constant conflicts between people. |
7 . When you think of insects (昆虫), the first word that comes to mind probably won’t be “edible (可食用的)”. Surprisingly, what you may consider an insect may sound like a great meal to another. In Africa and the Middle East, insects such as grasshoppers and mealworms are a common dish. Many Asians also like eating insect dishes.
The idea of replacing (代替) pork, chicken, or beef with insects might sound unpleasant, but eating these small insects can be beneficial to both yourself and the environment.
There are over 2,100 types of edible insects in the world. Many of the insects that are eaten by humans are quite nutritious (有营养的). And they can be eaten in different ways: roasted over an open fire, freeze-dried, or cooked. In fact, insects can be added to various foods, and we likely won’t even notice the difference.
The biggest advantage is that the cost of raising insects is very small. Compared to cows, insects produce eight times fewer carbon emissions (碳排放物) and need six times less water to keep.
To add to that, insects can be fed with waste products. Insect waste can also be repurposed into soil fertilizer (土肥). And unlike traditional farms which take up about 80% of all farming land, insect farms are relatively small and can save space for other uses.
All this makes insect farms more profitable, with little wastage of money and resources.
As our world’s population increases towards 9 billion by 2050, traditional farming will not be enough to meet its growing food needs.
Some companies have already begun experimenting with insects in their food products. Mealworm burger patties, protein powder, and gummy sweets are just a few of the new food creations. And a few months ago, the European Union (EU) said yes to insects for human consumption (食用)!
1. What can we learn about insect eating?| A．It’s popular in Africa. | B．It’s liked by the author. |
| C．It’s unpleasant for Asians. | D．It’s accepted by few people. |
| A．It is simpler. | B．It costs less. |
| C．It requires no skills. | D．It needs no manpower. |
| A．Insects will replace beef in hamburgers by 2050. |
| B．Insects will be humans’ major food choices by 2050. |
| C．Insects will help meet the growing food needs of humans. |
| D．Insects will become more nutritious with modern farming. |
| A．Uncaring. | B．Thankful. |
| C．Supportive. | D．Doubtful. |
8 . The idea of low material desire, low consumption and refusing to work, marry and have children, concluded as a “lying down” lifestyle, recently struck a chord with many young Chinese eager to pause to breathe in this fast-paced and highly-competitive society.
Many millennials (千禧一代) and generation Zs complained to the Global Times that burdens, including work stress, family disputes and financial pressures, have pushed them “against the wall”. They said they hate the “involution (内卷),” joking that they would rather give up some of what they have than get trapped in an endless competition against peers.
“Instead of always following the ‘virtues’ of struggle, tolerance and sacrifice to bear the stresses, they prefer a temporary lying down as release and adjustment,” said a scholar. “No wonder that some young people, under the growing pressures from child-raising to paying the mortgage (按揭) today, would try to live in a simple way and leave the worries behind.”
Interestingly, most of them acknowledged that they only accept a temporary lying down as a short rest. It is true that with the great improvement of living conditions, some Chinese youth have partially lost the spirit of hardship and are not willing to bear too much hard work. But actually, lying down is not entirely comfortable. Young people who lie down always feel guilty of their constant loss of morale (士气) far beyond their reach.
“Young people on campus have both ambitions and confusion about their future, but most of us have rejected setting ourselves up in chains to waste opportunities and challenges,” a postgraduate student told the Global Times. “It’s no use running away. I have to ‘stand up’ and face the reality sooner or later.”
1. What does the underlined word in Paragraph 2 mean?| A．impacts. | B．modes. |
| C．conflicts. | D．prospects |
| A．Improvements in living conditions. |
| B．Growing pressure from family and social life. |
| C．Increasing material possessions from families. |
| D．Temporary adjustment to failure in competitions. |
| A．Understanding. | B．Disapproving. |
| C．Supportive. | D．Unclear. |
| A．They never really drop their responsibilities. |
| B．They really enjoy the “lying down” lifestyle. |
| C．They find their dreams far beyond their reach. |
| D．They would rather escape than take challenges. |
9 . Artificial intelligence programs that can generate text at the click of a button are increasingly widely used. One of the most popular AI programs is ChatGPT, which has hundreds of millions of monthly users.
Despite the usefulness of these tools, many humans cannot tell the difference between something written by a person and something written by a machine. As a result, they can fuel disinformation or even facilitate cheating in academic field. To fight with this rise in AI-generated reading, some “GPT detectors” have been rolled out, which are said to spot the difference — but they may come with their own biases (偏见).
A recent opinion piece in the journal Patterns calls into question the accuracy of GPT detectors, finding that they’re biased against non-native English speakers. The authors also found that it’s easier to fool these detectors by using more detailed prompts (提示) in the first place. “This raises a critical question,” the authors write. “If AI-generated content can easily escape detection while human text is frequently misclassified (对……进行错误的分类), how effective are these detectors truly?”
“Ignoring the biases in GPT detectors may lead to unintended consequences, such as the marginalization (边缘化) of non-native speakers in evaluative or educational settings,” they conclude. As such, this is yet another obvious example of how technology can reflect prejudices in society that cannot be removed.
The authors warn against using GPT detectors in certain settings, especially educational environments with non-native English speakers, and recommend a thorough evaluation of this technology and its limitations as it becomes more widespread.
1. What does the figure in paragraph 1 show?| A．The necessity of using AI. | B．The convenience AI brings about. |
| C．The easiness of forming a text. | D．The popularity of an AI program. |
| A．Academic misconduct. | B．AI overuse. | C．Text flooding. | D．Text detectors. |
| A．The way of evaluating their texts. | B．The accuracy of AI-generated texts. |
| C．The correctness of GPT detectors. | D．The security of their academic papers. |
| A．Environment. | B．Technology. | C．Culture. | D．Society. |
10 . Kindness May Keep You Healthy
If you are driving in the United States, you may see a common bumper (汽车保险杠) sticker on passing vehicles that reads:
However, being kind is not just emotionally beneficial. Lyubomirsky studied a group of people with the disease Multiple Sclerosis (多发性硬化).
“The basic reason why people are kind,” Oliver Curry, explained, the research director at Kind-lab that is a non-profit organization, “is that we are social animals. Kindness is as much a part of us as our anger, grief or desire.”
| A．Perform random acts of kindness |
| B．Acts of kindness are very powerful |
| C．In other words, we are designed to be kind. |
| D．She found that they felt better physically when helping others. |
| E．Research shows that doing kind things can make us feel better |
| F．He found that being kind makes people feel better emotionally, |
| G．Other research has shown that many people prize kindness above other values |
