1 . Zion is among the most visited parks in the USA and is particularly crowded because many of its most popular sites sit in a narrow six-mile canyon (峡谷). Last year, about 4.3 million people visited it, up to 60 percent from a decade ago. So this year, park managers announced they were considering a first for any national park: requiring reservations (预定) for entry.
The National Park Service was created in 1916 to protect the country’s growing system of parks and monuments. Its aim is to conserve scenery and wildlife while also protecting visitor enjoyment for generations to come. For years, the lack of a reservation system for park entry associated with the spirit of adventure: Anyone could come, pretty much anytime.
But recently, both visitors and nature are suffering. Mr. Burns, who is on a team that is considering a reservation system, said some people showed up for a vacation they had planned for months, spent a day in the traffic jam and turned around. Mr. Burns said he favored a reservation policy. He recalled the days when he would jump in a car and pull up to parks across the West with no plans.
When he first came to the park in the 1980s, he wrote a letter home. “I’m living in a no-man’s-land,” he told his parents. He could hike for hours, even days, without seeing anyone, and he remembered the constantly changing light on the canyons, the brilliant green of the trees, the blue water of the Virgin River. Today, he said, when he wants to find solitude (清静), it is usually joined by the distant rumble of the shuttle bus.
“There is only one Zion National Park,” he said to those struggling to see a need for limiting access. “And it’s sacred (神圣的). Its beauty is sacred.”
1. What do we know about Zion from Paragraph 1?| A．It sits in a narrow six-mile canyon. |
| B．It has required reservations for entry. |
| C．It’s the most visited park in the USA. |
| D．More and more people pay a visit to it. |
| A．conserve scenery and wildlife |
| B．prevent visitor enjoyment forever |
| C．allow visitors to visit the parks at any time |
| D．protect the country’s system |
| A．Cautious. | B．Favorable. |
| C．Doubtful. | D．Unconcerned. |
| A．A Popular Reservation Policy |
| B．The National Park Service |
| C．Zion Requiring Reservations for Entry |
| D．Zion National Park — A Safe Place |
2 . “My goal is that the City of Atlanta becomes the best place in the United States to raise a family,” says Mayor (市长) Andre Dickens about the capital of Georgia.
Dickens grew up in Atlanta. Recently, he was asked about his main goals for this city of nearly 500,000 people. His focus, he said, is on the youth. For that reason, he told the public officially 2023 is the Year of the Youth.
“Whatever we do, we have to think about young people,” Dickens said. “Atlanta’s young people are our future. Continuing to invest (投资) in future generations puts them on pathways to success that will help us move Atlanta forward together.”
Dickens said that after he put forward the idea of the Year of the Youth, businesses, nonprofits, and other community members all said, “I want to be in on that.”
Businesses offer summer internship (实习) programs. They allow students in Atlanta to get valuable experience in the workplace. Dickens explained that several businesses in the city even made their working environments suitable for young people to join in internships.
Improving education is another key goal. Schools and city leaders have been working together to make their partnership in the service of young people stronger. Toward this end, the city is working to improve educational opportunities, create safe ways to school, and offer after-school activities for free or at little cost.
Dickens also believes that it’s important to invest in early education. Investing in early education, he explained, means that more young people will be able to develop basic skills, stopping them from falling behind later in life.
Dickens is looking forward to positive results. “Everyone’s getting ready to serve the young people over the summer,” he said.
1. Why does Dickens invest in future generations?| A．To encourage the development of the city. |
| B．To draw more attention to young people. |
| C．To attract more youths to Atlanta. |
| D．To make Atlanta more famous. |
| A．Worried. | B．Supportive. | C．Doubtful. | D．Uncaring. |
| A．The importance of internship for the youth. |
| B．Dickens’ suggestions to businesses. |
| C．How businesses help the youth. |
| D．Why businesses offer help. |
| A．It builds more schools for early education. |
| B．It cooperates with schools and businesses. |
| C．It asks more young people for their support. |
| D．It helps young people with personal problems. |
3 . New Rules for Delayed or Canceled Flights
DOT Proposes New Rules
On Aug. 3, 2022, the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) issued a briefing regarding airline consumer protections related to flight cancellation and travel delays.
While there are already DOT rules regarding airline refunds in case of a canceled or significantly delayed flight, the definition of “significant delay” was not clearly defined, and its meaning is left to the interpretation of the airline, The vagueness of old rules often did not benefit travelers.
How New Rules Help Passengers
DOT’s new proposal seeks to outline a more precise definition of what constitutes a significant change in flight schedule
●Domestic flights: A change in departure or arrival time of three hours or more
●International flights: An arrival or departure delay of six hours or more
●Airport changes: A change in departure or arrival airport
●Experience: A significant downgrade in comforts or conditions onboard the flight
Laying down these guidelines would allow DOT to enforce the fair practices regarding consumer refunds when flights are changed.
Taking public health concerns into consideration, the rules propose that passengers who cannot fly due to specific pandemic-related reasons should be protected. The new rules would require ticket agents and airlines to provide passengers with travel credits.
Limitation on Airline Responsibility
There are limitations to the airline’s responsibility, just as the DOT’s current refund rules state. An airline is not required to give are fund due to a passenger’s personal issue or unsatisfactory travel experience. The airline is also not responsible for hotel room costs or other incidentals associated with passengers needing to wait for a new flight or alternative mode of transportation.
1. What’s the main aim of the DOT new rules?| A．To introduce DOT. | B．To advertise airlines. |
| C．To protect consumers. | D．To benefit transport. |
| A．Providing the reason. | B．Making a comparison. |
| C．Giving an example. | D．Offering the detail. |
| A．When his flight is delayed for two hours. |
| B．When he finds the food unsatisfactory. |
| C．When his departure airport is changed. |
| D．When he misses his flight for being late. |
4 . Students who sat for the 2022 Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) can apply for funding under the new University financing model rolled out by the government on May 3, 2023.
In the new funding model, students from extremely needy backgrounds will receive 100 percent financing, while those from needy and less needy backgrounds will get 93 percent.
Priority will be given to students from poor backgrounds in terms of scholarship allocation as those from less needy backgrounds will be covered by loan financing from the Higher Education Loans Board (HELB) .
All students who received letters from Universities and TVET colleges after applying on the Kenya Universities and Colleges Central Placement Service (KUCCPS) website are qualified for funding. Additionally, students joining private institutions also qualify for the HELB loan.
Students applying for the funding can visit the New Higher Education Financing portal (入口) at www. hef. co. ke. to apply.
They will require a valid email address, KCPE and KCSE index numbers and the year examination was done, a passport size photo, and a copy of the student’s national ID.
Other items required to make the application include a copy of the student’s birth certificate, college or university admission letter, and their parents’ national ID number.
Other documents area death certificate in the case an applicant’s parents are deceased (已故的), two guarantors’ ID numbers and registered phone numbers, and copy of the sponsorship letter if you were sponsored in Secondary school.
Continuing students will not be affected by the new funding model and will continue to receive their funding based on the Government’s existing model.
1. Who will have the priority in terms of scholarship allocation?| A．Students from developing countries. | B．Students from poor backgrounds in Kenya. |
| C．Students from private institutions. | D．Students having receiving letters from Universities. |
| A．An effective email address in use. | B．A copy of student’s driving license. |
| C．A recently taken photo with no glasses. | D．Their parents’ national telephone number. |
| A．Their funding will be reduced. | B．They will apply for funding again. |
| C．It depends on the government’s decision. | D．The new model has no effect on them. |
5 . The UK Government has announced plans to build eight nuclear power reactors as part of its new energy strategy.
By 2030, the Government wants 95%of the UK’s electricity to come from low-carbon energy sources. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas that is released from the burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas). It is a big cause of climate change- long-term shifts in weather patterns, including rising temperatures.
The Government wants to increase renewable energy sources, such as wind turbines and solar panels. The Government hopes that by 2030, 50 gigawatts (亿瓦特) of energy will come from offshore wind farms (ones that stand in the sea). That’s enough to power all the houses in the UK. There are also plans to build eight new nuclear reactors. Nuclear reactors generate (产生) energy through a process called nuclear fission (裂变), when heavy atoms are split into lighter ones. The Government wants to make the UK’s energy cleaner and cheaper, and for the UK to produce its own energy rather than relying on other countries. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has affected the world’s gas and oil supply, making power more expensive.
The UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, says the plans will lead to clean and secure energy made in Britain. Some people have said that these plans don’t go far enough and won’t help people who are struggling with high energy bills at the moment.
Labour Party leader Keir Starmer has said that the Government should do more to insulate people’s homes. Insulating homes is when material is put inside a house to stop heat from getting out. It means people would need to use less energy to heat their homes.
1. What does the underlined “It” refer to in the second paragraph?| A．Carbon dioxide. | B．A fossil fuel. |
| C．A renewable energy source. | D．The low-carbon energy source. |
| A．The Government wants to be more independent on energy production. |
| B．Nuclear reactors produce energy through nuclear fission. |
| C．The UK is unwilling to produce its own energy. |
| D．In the process of nuclear fission,lighter atoms are split into heavy ones. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Unconcerned. |
| C．Unappreciative. | D．Satisfied. |
| A．Cheaper Energy in the UK |
| B．Electricity from Low-carbon Energy Sources |
| C．The UK Government Builds Eight Nuclear Reactors |
| D．The UK Government Launches Energy Plan |
6 . China is showing the world its great resolve in the global climate campaign with concrete and selfmotivated efforts as well as serious commitment.
At the opening ceremony of the Paris climate summit, Chinese President Xi Jinping restated China’s plan made in June to cut its carbon emissions( 排放)per unit of GDP by 6065 percent from 2005 levels by 2030, and increase nonfossil fuel sources in primary energy consumption to about 20 percent.
With a large population, China is facing increasing resource limits, severe environmental pollution and a worsening ecosystem, and its citizens are also becoming increasingly aware of environmental problems. Suffering environmental problems and seeing the efforts as important to transforming its economic growth pattern, the country has much at risk if climate change is left unattended.
Actually, climate change efforts are already included in China’s mediumand longterm program of economic and social development, and ecological efforts are the clear characteristics in China’s 13th FiveYear Plan(20162020)．
Although it is and will be a developing country for a long time to come, China has been actively involved in the global campaign against climate change, now topping the world in terms of energy conservation and use of new and renewable energies.
However, China’s development rights need to be respected. It is unfair to overstress China’s status as one of the world’s largest greenhouse gas emitters and regard it as the major part of responsibilities in the global fight against climate change.
It is worthy of notice that China’s emissions of greenhouse gases per person are far lower than those of developed countries, especially the United States, although rapid economic expansion and its population base have made it one of the biggest producers of the gases.
To show its great resolve, Beijing in September also announced the establishment of an independent SouthSouth cooperation fund of ￥20 billion to help developing countries affected by global warming.
While China is eagerly accomplishing its policy commitments, developed countries should stop questioning China’s commitment to fighting climate change and pointing fingers, and start shouldering their due responsibilities instead.
1. China is selfmotivated to transform its economic pattern in order to ________．| A．top the world |
| B．fight against climate change |
| C．solve its population problem |
| D．respond to pressure from developed countries |
| A．China |
| B．the United States |
| C．economic expansion |
| D．the population base |
| A．China will completely use nonfossil fuels by 2030 |
| B．China will carry out its plan by stopping its development |
| C．Chinese emit more greenhouse gases than Americans on average |
| D．some developed countries are not taking on their due responsibilities |
7 . “Great progress and achievements on education have been made in Xinjiang,” Rahman said, adding she is one of the many people in Xinjiang to benefit from the country’s fair education policies.
Rahman has seven younger brothers and sisters, and her father passed away when she was 15. Life had been difficult for her family. With the help of the local government, Rahman and her seven siblings completed their nine-year compulsory education. She and her three sisters graduated from colleges and now work as teachers.
“It is the fair education policies that created a happy life for us,” said Rahman.
Rahman has been working with two classes of Xinjiang students in a senior middle school in Changqing district of Jinan, Shandong province since 2020.
“Children here have free accommodation and meals. In addition, they have subsidies for medical care and a student grant of 50 yuan ($7.50) every month,” said Rahman.
Almost all of these children are able to be admitted by colleges and most of them return to Xinjiang after graduation, becoming an important strength in the development of Xinjiang, she said.
Rahman is now taking care of 65 girl students from Xinjiang. For these students, she is not only a teacher but a relative.
“The first thing that I need to do with the students is to change their attitudes on studying, as well as their parents’ attitudes on education to let them understand that only knowledge can upgrade their lives,” said Rahman.
“To care for the students is not to educate them with empty talk but with every detail and specific event in our daily life,” she said.
What kind of people we should cultivate, how and for whom — these are the fundamental issues that education must address, Rahman quoted from the report.
1. What is Rahman’s job?| A．a school teacher | B．a college student |
| C．a young teenager | D．A government worker |
| A．普通的 | B．晴朗的 | C．公平的 | D．温和的 |
| A．All of them can go to colleges. |
| B．They can have a student grant of $7.0 every month. |
| C．they don’t have subsidies for medical care. |
| D．They can have free accommodation and meals. |
| A．Issues of education in Xinjiang | B．Importance of education promoted in Xinjiang |
| C．Students who are studying in Xinjiang | D．Teachers who are working in Shandong Province |
8 . In cities with rent control, the city government sets the maximum rent that a landlord can charge for an apartment. Supporters of rent control argue that it protects people who are living in apartments. Their rent cannot increase; therefore, they are not in danger of losing their homes. However, the critics say that after a long time, rent control may have negative effects. Landlords know that they cannot increase their profits. Therefore, they invest in other businesses where they can increase their profits. They do not invest in new buildings which would also be rent-controlled. As a result, new apartments are not built. Many people who need apartments cannot find any. According to the critics, the end result of rent control is a shortage of apartments in the city.
Some theorists argue that the minimum wage law can cause problems in the same way. The federal government sets the minimum that an employer must pay workers. The minimum helps people who generally look for unskilled, low-paying jobs. However, if the minimum is high, employers may hire fewer workers. They will replace workers with machinery. The price, which is the wage that employers must pay, increases. Therefore, other things being equal, the number of workers that employers want decreases. Thus, critics claim, an increase in the minimum wage may cause unemployment. Some poor people may find themselves without jobs instead of with jobs at the minimum wage.
Supporters of the minimum wage say that it helps people keep their dignity. Because of the law, workers cannot sell their services for less than the minimum. Furthermore, employers cannot force workers to accept jobs at unfair wages.
Economic theory predicts the results of economic decisions such as decisions about farm production, rent control, and the minimum wage. The predictions may be correct only if “other things are equal” Economists do not agree on some of the predictions. They also do not agree on the value of different decisions. Some economists support a particular decision while others criticize it. Economists do agree, however, that there are no simple answers to economic questions.
1. There is the possibility that setting maximum rent may ______.| A．cause a shortage of apartments | B．worry those who rent apartments as homes |
| C．increase the profits of landlords | D．encourage landlords to invest in building apartment |
| A．will always benefit those who rent apartments | B．is unnecessary |
| C．will bring negative effects in the long run | D．is necessary under all circumstances |
| A．if the minimum wage is set too high | B．if the minimum wage is set too low |
| C．if the workers are unskilled | D．if the maximum wage is set |
| A．the relationship between supply and demand | B．the possible results of government controls |
| C．The necessity of government control | D．the urgency of getting rid of government controls |
| A．The results of economic decisions cannot always be predicted. |
| B．Minimum wage cannot always protect employees. |
| C．Economic theory can predict the results of economic decisions if other factors are not changing. |
| D．Economic decisions should not be based on economic theory. |
9 . A Dutch city will become the first in the world to ban meat ads from public spaces in an effort to reduce consumption and greenhouse gas emissions (排放).
Haarlem, which lies to the west of Amsterdam and has a population of about 160,000, will perform the ban from 2024 after meat was added to a list of products contributing to the climate crisis. Ads will not be allowed on Haarlem’s buses, shelters and screens in public spaces, causing complaints that the city is “going too far”.
Recent studies suggest global food production is responsible for one-third of all planet-heating emissions, with the use of animals for meat accounting for twice the pollution of producing plant-based foods.
Forests that absorb carbon dioxide are cut for animals while fertilizers (化肥) used for growing their feed are rich in nitrogen, which can contribute to air and water pollution, climate change. Animals also produce large quantities of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas.
Ziggy Klazes, a councillor from the Groen Links party, who drafted the proposal banning meat advertising, said she had not known the city would be the world’s first to perform such a policy when she put forward it.
She told the Haarlem105 radio channel: “We are not about what people are baking and roasting in their own kitchen; if people wanted to continue eating meat, fine …We can’t tell people there’s a climate crisis and encourage them to buy products that are part of the cause.”
“Of course, there are a lot of people who find the decision unacceptable, but there are also a lot of people who think it’s fine.”
“It is a signal — if it is picked up nationally, that would only be very nice.”
Research suggests that to meet the European Union (EU) target of net zero emissions by 2050, meat consumption must be reduced to 24 kg per person per year, compared with the current average of 82 kg, or 75.8 kg in the Netherlands, which is the EU’s biggest meat exporter.
1. Which can best explain “going too far” underlined in Paragraph2?| A．Over-reacting to the climate crisis. |
| B．Caring too much about meat production. |
| C．Suffering from a serious lack of public spaces. |
| D．Sparing no pains to deal with greenhouse gas emissions. |
| A．Indifferent. | B．Ambiguous. | C．Worried. | D．Positive. |
| A．Meat is the most popular food in Europe. |
| B．The current EU target is well worth adjusting. |
| C．It is a long way to reach the goal set by the EU. |
| D．The Netherlands should be responsible for meat production. |
| A．A research report. | B．A news report. |
| C．An official document. | D．A meeting summary. |
10 . Representatives from around China gather in Beijing every five years for the National Congress of the communist Party of China (中共二十大).
This year, a total of 2,296 representatives were elected to attend the 20th National Congress of the CPC, which convened (召开) on Oct 16.
◆What do the representatives do?
The Congress will review the work of the CPC over the past five years, map out the course for the future, and elect a new central leadership.
The representatives will reflect the opinions and demands of Party members and the public, discuss and decide on the Party’s major issues, and elect new central leadership and a new top anti-graft watchdog (反贪监察机构).
◆Who can become a representative
The representatives are elected from 38 electoral units across the country. They are outstanding Party members who are highly qualified both ideologically (意识形态上) and political, have a good work style and high moral standards, are sill in discussing State affairs and have great achievements in their work.
Among the representatives are Party members in leadership positions and those working on the front lines. Women and people from ethnic minority (少数民族) groups as well as people with backgrounds in economics, science and technology, political and legal afire, education, culture, health and sports, among others, all have representation.
This ensures Party members at the grassroots level are more effectively represented when representatives make decisions on the Party’s key issues at the Congress, according to China Daily.
1. How often is the National Congress of CPC launched?| A．Every four years. | B．Every fifth year. |
| C．Every fourth year. | D．Every few years. |
| A．The representatives will state the opinions and needs of the people. |
| B．The representatives will make decisions on the Party’s major issues. |
| C．People from the grassroots have little choice to be represented. |
| D．Woman and people from all walls of life can have representation. |
| A．To call on people to join CPC. |
| B．To recommend representatives of CPC. |
| C．To explain what is the National Congress of CPC. |
| D．To inform us when the National Congress of CPC is held. |
