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中小学教育资源及组卷应用平台
2025届高三下学期英语提升专练：单选型阅读理解
Ten-year-old Liu Shuhan, a girl from a rural village in Bijie, Guizhou province, has drawn public attention for her skillful balance on the soft rim of a plastic basin — which is called qinggong.
A short video shot by her father went viral on social media. With sandbags on her legs, the girl pauses, steadies herself and then hops onto the basin’s edge, where she walks, remarkably, without wobbling. Viewers wonder how it’s possible for a 32-kilogram child to balance on the narrow edge of an basin. For Shuhan, walking on the edge is just a daily practice.
Her father, Liu Yong, a martial arts enthusiast, noticed her talent when she was 6. With no formal training, she could perform basic movements with ease. Inspired, the two have practiced together, following online tutorials. “I want to be a martial artist,” he recalled her telling him.
Over time, the girl developed a deep passion for the discipline. The youngest of three children, Shuhan joins her siblings each morning as her father helps them strap on 1.3-kg sandbags for a 1-kilometer run. “Ihope martial arts can help my children grow up strong. This is what I, as a father, should do,” he told ChinaDaily.
Martial arts have given Shuhan confidence and dreams for the future. She even performed at her school on Children’s Day, drawing admiration from peers and teachers. “The best part is that I finds joy in it and truly enjoys practicing kung fu,” Liu said.
Since gaining online fame, she has been invited to some clubs in cities, but Liu has declined these offers.
“She’s still young,” he said. “I’d prefer she attends a martial arts school to fully develop her potential and fulfill her dream of becoming a martial artist.”
1．The underlined phrase “went viral” in the second paragraph probably means “______”.
A．got spread quickly B．gained most favorites
C．gained most likes D．turned into a virus
2．What is the original reason for Shuhan to begin practicing martial arts
A．Her own passion for martial arts. B．Her dream to be a martial artist.
C．Liu Yong’s wish to make her strong. D．Her own talent for martial arts.
3．What can be inferred from the passage
A．Her father has joined Shuhan in practicing martial arts.
B．Shuhan’s two siblings used to be very poor in health.
C．Shuhan has benefited a lot from practicing martial arts.
D．The greatest Shuhan gets from martial arts is confidence.
4．What’s the writing style of the passage
A．Biography. B．Feature. C．Blog post. D．Journal.
In the old days — say, the 1980s — if you bought a piece of technology, a paperback user guide came with it. It was the manufacturer’s one big chance to explain its engineers’ thinking to you, to communicate what the designers and marketers had in mind.
Supplying documentation seemed, at the time, like a good idea all around. Mastery made customers happy, and happy customers meant repeat sales. But there were other forces at play. Printing and binding took time and money — and customers didn’t seem to be reading user manuals.
Over time, therefore, physical manuals began disappearing from our hardware and software boxes. Maybe you’d get a Quick Start leaflet, but the rest was online.
Online, you can search for certain terms, find topics faster and post questions for other people. Online communities and answer sites sprang up. Mini tutorials on the Internet began showing you how to perform a task. And it’s all free.
Meanwhile the kind of technologies we use has changed. “People increasingly spend time in apps and social sites that have a fairly simple interface (界面),” Tim O’Reilly told me. (He’s founder of O’Reilly Media, which publishes my own how-to books. )You don’t need a manual to use Google.
That was the beginning of the end for physical manuals. In principle, the death of professionally prepared support materials shouldn’t be any cause for concern. It’s just another big change caused by the Internet, another in the list of casualties, such as printed encyclopedias, newspaper classified ads and music on discs.
In reality, though, none of the tech industry’s teaching channels, whether physical or online, is universal and effective. To this day, it’s astonishing how little we know about our phones, computers and software. A Microsoft product manager once told me that most feature requests the company gets for Microsoft Office are, in fact, already features of Microsoft Office.
Hardware and software makers still operate with their traditional business model: Every year or so they sell us a new version, whose appeal is supposed to be more features. And so, as time goes by, our devices and apps become more and more complex — but access to documentation remains limited and incomplete.
In the fantasy version of our world, designers would make our tech products simple enough, their important features obvious enough, for the masses to figure out on their own. Until then, there will be a growing information gap between the features we want and the engineering work that’s already been done.
5．The word “casualties” (paragraph 6) is closest in meaning to___________.
A．causes B．manuals C．industries D．victims
6．Why did the author mention what a Microsoft product manager once told him
A．To criticize the lack of access that we have to complete documentation.
B．To reveal the traditional business model that software makers operate with.
C．To emphasize that it is a pity that physical manuals are no longer available.
D．To illustrate that people actually know little about the tech products they use.
7．What can be inferred from the passage
A．Tech companies’ teaching channels are shrinking as time goes by.
B．There is little chance that tech products will soon be simple enough.
C．Printed manuals worked better than online versions.
D．Consumers of the 1980s loved to read user manuals.
8．Which of the following might be the best title of the passage
A．What Happened to User Manuals B．How Did Physical Manuals Prosper
C．How Simple Will Our Tech Products Be D．What Change Has the Internet Brought About
Good book, bad movie
1 They say that “a picture is worth a thousand words”, but the briefest look at books and the movies based on them would have anyone questioning this common saying. All too often, great words end up being turned into cinematic “turkeys”.
2 Good movies need good stories. If so, why has one of the earliest and greatest works in Western storytelling, Homer’s The Odyssey, never had an equally great movie based on it Movies need strong characters. So why have the movies based on The Great Gatsby never been praised as “great” Movies of course need impressive images, so why has Alice in Wonderland only resulted in movies best described as “interesting”
3 One of the key reasons behind this is that while a book usually takes a few days to read, a movie typically lasts under two hours. This means that great books can lose plot details and characters when they move to the big screen. This is something that even the highly successful Harry Potter movies can’t escape from, with fans of the books disappointed not to see some of their favourite characters in the movie versions.
4 Movies also disappoint us when things don’t look the way we imagined them in the books. Take, for example, the epic movie Troy, which is in part based on Homer’s The Iliad and was met with mixed reviews from the audience. The most questionable issue was the actress chosen to play the part of Helen. Many people thought she didn’t live up to Helen’s title of “the most beautiful woman in the world”, influencing opinions of the movie to some extent.
5 There are a thousand Hamlets in a thousand people’s eyes. Furthermore, books and movies are two different forms of media and therefore have different rules. With this in mind,perhaps we should judge a movie in its own right, and not against its original source. Interestingly, audiences have in recent years turned to television series such as Sherlock or Mad Men, which can have many characters and gradual plot development. Perhaps, one day, readers of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s most admired work will find themselves glued to their screens by episodes of The Great Gatsby.
9．What’s the main idea of Paragraph 1
A．A picture is worth a thousand words.
B．We should read books briefly.
C．Many people doubt the common saying.
D．Many good books can’t be filmed into good movies successfully.
10．What’s the function of Paragraph 2
A．To raise the reader’s cultural awareness.
B．To prove good movies need good stories.
C．To further confirm that good books always end up being turned into bad movies.
D．To show that movies need impressive images.
11．From Paragraph 3, we can know that ______.
A．reading a book is a waste of time
B．producing a film results in something important lost compared with the book version
C．a film only needs less than two hours
D．Harry Potter is a great success
12．Why do movies always disappoint us
A．Because they didn’t choose a good theme.
B．Because they are often different from those in the books.
C．Because they are badly performed.
D．Because different audience have different views.
Sharks: dangerous or endangered
1 We see a woman swimming at night in dark sea. Suddenly she is pulled underwater. She surfaces, cries in fear, then disappears forever. This is the opening scene from the 1975 film Jaws, showing a shark attack. It tells the story of a great white shark that attacks and kills swimmers. Jaws was a great success, attracting huge audiences and winning many awards. It strengthened people’s long-held idea of the great white shark as a dangerous animal.
2 People have always been scared of sharks, but Jaws made things worse. It made people frightened of sharks, especially of the great white shark. Many people who saw the film started to believe that sharks were bad animals that ate humans. Some people stopped swimming in the sea, afraid of the horrible creature from the film. Other people started fishing for sharks, killing as many as they could. At that time, nobody cared if sharks were killed, or how many were killed. People just wanted them killed.
3 After 1975, the number of large sharks around America fell quickly, and soon fell around the world. This was not only due to fear of sharks, but also finning. Finning is a type of fishing where sharks are caught and their fins cut off. The sharks are thrown back into the sea where they die slowly and painfully. The fins are used in shark fin soup. Finning kills millions of sharks a year.
4 Finning would have an unexpected effect upon Peter Benchley, the man who wrote the book the film Jaws was based on. In 1980, Benchley was diving when he came across an awful sight. It was an area where fishermen were finning, and the sea floor was covered with dead sharks. Benchley saw sharks being killed and this caused a deep change in him. He came to see people as a danger to sharks, rather than the other way round. From that day on, he fought to protect sharks. He admitted that his book was wrong about sharks’ behaviour. “Sharks don’t target humans,” he said. Experts have proved that sharks do not see people as food, and they attack us by mistake. Only around six people are killed by sharks every year.
5 Fortunately, not everyone who watched the film Jaws became afraid of sharks — some became interested in understanding them. Today, as we learn more about sharks, more people than ever want to protect them from extinction.
13．The writer described the opening scene of the film Jaws in order to ________.
A．introduce the topic B．make people aware of sharks
C．tell sharks are dangerous D．show his anger at the film
14．Which of the following was led to by the film
A．Many sharks were killed for fin.
B．Children were more frightened of sharks.
C．Most of people stop swimming in the sea.
D．People believe shark are horrible animals.
15．The third paragraph mainly tells ________.
A．Finning led to sharks’ number falling.
B．Finning should be forbidden by the law.
C．It’s cruel for the sharks to be killed for profit.
D．It’s the film that makes finning popular.
16．When Peter Benchley saw so many dead sharks, he began to _________.
A．feel sorry for sharks
B．become ashamed of his lack of knowledge
C．admit his misunderstanding of sharks
D．give up writing to protect sharks
17．How does the writer feel about the future of the sharks
A．Worried. B．Pessimistic.
C．Unconcerned. D．Optimistic.
18．Choose the author’s purpose in writing the passage.
A．To criticise Peter Benchley’s misleading description of sharks in his book and advocate the protection of sharks.
B．To explain people’s misunderstanding of sharks and raise awareness of shark protection.
C．To inform people about sharks and recommend the film and the book to them.
[课本原文]
What’s really green
Most of us are aware that we must take care of the environment, and the majority of us take steps to save energy and reduce waste and pollution. But recently, some “green truths” have been shown to be only half true, or even completely false. Here are some common ones. Which are really green Paper shopping bags are better than plastic ones.
Plastic bags cause litter and are a danger to wild animals, which mistake them for food. It takes hundreds of years for plastic to breakdown, but much less time for paper. Because of this, people think paper bags are the better environmental choice.
However, making a paper bag uses four times as much energy as making a plastic bag and up to three times the amount of water. The process also produces more greenhouse gases.
In fact, both kinds of bags are bad for the environment. So, take a reusable bag with you when you go shopping. When you turn off a device, it stops using power.
When we turn off a device, such as television, it goes into stand-by mode. Devices in this mode still use power, and older devices in stand-by mode can use even more. This happens because electricity continues to leak from the device, even when it is turned “off”. To make sure your appliance is in fact off, remove the plug from its power supply. Eating local food is good for the environment.
It seems like common sense: eating local food should be better for the environment, because it does not need to be transported long distances and kept cold during transport. Unfortunately, it is not that simple. It is the production of food, not its transport, that uses most of the energy and produces most of the greenhouse gases. In some cases, local produce might have used more energy and produced more greenhouse gases than produce grown a long way away — even taking into account its transport. It’s better to take a shower than a bath.
It depends on how long you spend in the shower and how large your bath is. If you spend more than eight minutes in a shower, you’ll use as much water as in a bath — about 50 litres of water. Therefore, the key is to keep your shower time as short as possible.
Environmental awareness is now part of daily life. But it’s worth checking common ideas and opinions to see what’s really green.
19．The main idea of the passage is to tell ________.
A．the green ways to protect environment
B．some misunderstood green truths
C．the experience of saving energy
D．the ways to reduce living cost
20．According to common ideas, when shopping, we should take ________.
A．a plastic bag B．a paper bag
C．a reusable bag D．a cheap bag
21．In the following, which one is not the disadvantage of plastic bags
A．Causing litter.
B．Being treated as food by wild animals.
C．Taking much more time to break down.
D．Using much more energy to produce.
22．Which one is true according to the fifth paragraph
A．Leaving a device in stand-by mode is environment-friendly.
B．Older devices use less energy than new ones.
C．Removing the plug from power supply will stop using power.
D．Using electric devices as little as possible is the best way to save energy.
23．Why do people prefer to eat local food
A．Because it can save the energy used to transport.
B．Because it tastes better than the food transported long away.
C．Because its production uses less energy.
D．Because it produces less greenhouse gas.
24．Whether taking a shower or taking a bath is greener mainly depends on ________.
A．the temperature
B．the season
C．the time we spend in the shower
D．the amount of water we use
Sylvain Saudan’s skiing was so alarmingly daring that people struggled to believe his achievements were real. The Swiss extreme skiing pioneer became the first to successfully rush down the Spencer Couloir’s 55-degree slope (斜坡) — with more than 200 turns, at speeds close to freefall on France’s Aiguille de Blaitière mountain in 1967. Locals didn’t trust that he’d really done it until a plane flew over the mountain and took photos of his ski tracks. Nicknamed the “skier of the impossible”, Saudan looked for slopes from the Himalayas to the Alps, often reaching the tops by helicopter. But in 1982, he climbed for 25 days to reach the 26,500-foot summit (峰顶) of Pakistan’s Gasherbrum I, searching for undeveloped areas in its natural state. “The first to dare something are the real adventurers,” he said in 2016. “It’s the first that matters.”
Raised on a farm in the Alps, Saudan didn’t have the resources to train as a competitive skier, and worked as a laborer and truck driver before becoming a ski instructor. Teaching through icy winters in Scotland helped prepare him for deadly slopes. After skiing the Spencer Couloir, he spent twenty years “looking for greater challenges and testing new methods,” said The Washington Post. He developed a new skiing style and introduced equipment innovations for steep slopes, but ignored safety measures as he shot down Oregon’s Mount Hood, Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro, and Nepal’s Dhaulagiri.
Saudan completed his last major journey in 1986 by skiing down Mount Fuji on bare rocks, walking away without a single cut. He “spent his life challenging gravity, avalanches (雪崩), and obituary (讣告) writers,” said The New York Times. He insisted that mental preparation helped keep fear cornered, yet death was never far from his mind. “There’s really only one way out,” he said: “Don’t fall down.”
25．How did people react to Saudan’s achievement on the Spencer Couloir’s 55-degree slope
A．They considered it as a fact at once.
B．They were not aware of it completely.
C．They thought of him as a skiing pioneer.
D．They doubted it till evidence (证据) arrived.
26．Which of the following can best describe Saudan
A．Adventurous and devoted. B．Brave and generous.
C．Creative but frightened. D．Reserved but famous.
27．Why did Saudan go skiing
A．To test new skiing equipment.
B．To push himself to new limits.
C．To document adventures for fame.
D．To escape his past life as a laborer.
28．What does The New York Times imply about Saudan
A．His skiing methods were widely accepted.
B．His achievements were often questioned.
C．He faced extreme dangers in his career.
D．He was careful during his journeys.
For nearly a century, laboratory studies have shown that if animals eat less food or eat less often, they tend to live longer. However, scientists haven’t fully understood why these restricted diets help extend lifespan or how to best apply them to humans. Now, in a much-awaited study, researchers from The Jackson Laboratory (JAX) and their partners followed nearly a thousand mice on different diets to learn more about these questions.
Gary Churchill is the professor at JAX who led the study. Churchill and his team gave female mice five different diets: one in which the animals could eat as much as they wanted anytime, two in which the animals got only 60% or 80% of their usual amount of food each day, and two in which the animals didn’t get any food for one or two days a week but could eat as much as they wanted on the other days. Then, they watched the mice for the rest of their lives, checking their blood and overall health regularly.
On average, mice that could eat as much as they wanted lived for about 25 months. Mice on the intermittent fasting (间歇性禁食) diet lived for around 28 months, those eating 80% of their usual amount lived for about 30 months, and those eating only 60% lived for 34 months. However, within each group, there was a big difference in how long the mice lived; for example, some mice eating the least food lived just a few months, while others lived up to four and a half years.
The study found that eating fewer calories made mice live longer than fasting every other day. Surprisingly, the mice that lived the longest on the restrictive diets were those that lost the least weight despite eating less. Animals that lost the most weight on these diets tended to have low energy, weaker immune systems, weaker reproductive systems, and didn’t live as long.
29．Why do researchers from JAX start the study
A．To determine the best diet for mice.
B．To compare the health of mice on different diets.
C．To apply these diets to human lifespan extension.
D．To understand why restricted diets make animals live longer.
30．What did Gary Churchill and his team do with the subjects in their study
A．They tracked them on various diets. B．They fed them a single type of diet.
C．They let them eat as much as they wanted. D．They didn't feed them for two days a week.
31．What can you learn from the study
A．Mice losing the most weight live the longest.
B．Mice on the intermittent fasting diet live the shortest.
C．Mice that eat as much as they want tend to live the shortest.
D．Mice given 60% of their usual amount of food live for about 36 months.
32．Where is the passage possibly from
A．An art magazine. B．A research report.
C．A book review. D．A tour journal.
Some people proudly say that they have read piles of books and read them quickly in a year.
But there is power in reading slowly. Chinese-American author Yiyun Li tells her students, “I don’t want you to read 100 pages an hour. I want you to read three pages an hour.” That’s the speed Li is happy to read at, even if she is rereading a familiar text. “I want to savour a book, which means I give myself just 10 pages a day of any book to experience it. I was never a fast reader but I read more slowly than I used to. This is partly to savour every word.”
These words hit a nerve because I am a typical impatient reader, trying to have finished a book as soon as I start.
So, in an effort to follow Li’s advice, I, a forty-year-old man, start with The Years by Annie Ernaux, and Alan Garner’ s Where Shall We Run To I spend about 45 minutes most days with the Ernaux, reading 30 or so pages; less on Garner because it’s shorter. This is probably still too fast, but old habits are hard to break. I’m struck by how they seem to talk to each other, Garner’s experience of growing up in Britain during the war agreeing with elements of Ernaux’s rural French childhood.
The same thing happened with my next Ernaux, I Remain in Darkness, which I read alongside Catherine Newman’s We All Want Impossible Things. I stay longer in Newman’ pain, which feels more like I was sharing her experience. Again, the books, although very different, feel as if they were part of a conversation.
By now I’m two months into my experiment, and have slowed down to Li’s 10 or so daily pages.
Taking my time with several books at once feels free; as if I have permission to pick up books I’ve spent years meaning to approach. I really think Li is onto something. Oh, and I’m at 85 books for the year, not that I’m counting.
33．What does Yiyun Li advise her students to do
A．Read 100 pages of books daily. B．Focus on writers’ experiences.
C．Find joy in the art of slow reading. D．Absorb new words while reading.
34．What was the writer’s reading habit
A．Repeating reading familiar texts. B．Finishing a book as soon as possible.
C．Sharing the books with others. D．Reading several books at the same time.
35．What did the writer find when he followed Li’s advice
A．His reading speed was faster than before. B．There might be a bond between books.
C．It was easy to break old reading habits. D．Two months was enough to finish a book.
36．What is the writer’s attitude towards savouring a book
A．Favourable. B．Objective. C．Anxious. D．Unclear.
Chinese e-commerce platforms (电商平台) are working with Brazil to develop new customers and increase sales, as. cross-country online marketplaces have become an important new driving force for supporting the growth of China’s foreign trade and promoting cooperation with Latin America.
PDD Holdings, the parent company of Chinese e-commerce platform Pinduoduo, launched its cross-country e-commerce platform Temu in Brazil in June and the step is considered the most important in the company’s expansion (扩张) plans in the Latin American market.
Temu’s online business in Latin America already covers Chile, Peru, Mexico and Panama. The platform offers a wide selection of products at competitive prices. Most of them are shipped directly from factories in China, providing customers with more cost-effective shopping experiences. What’s more, to attract local customers, Temu offers shopping discounts (折扣) and free home delivery. Chen Lei, chairman and co-chief executive of PDD, said the company hopes to create a new way that allows customers in different countries to directly buy products from factories and have more shopping choices.
With a growing number of customers, the company saw the opportunity to localize more of the supply chain to benefit small businesses and the wider economy. By the end of 2026, local businesses are expected to account for almost 85 percent of all trades made in Brazil. The company also announced the launch of a local marketplace with third-party Brazilian sellers supporting small and medium-sized businessmen. Besides, the size of Brazil’s e-commerce market will reach $52.87 billion in 2024, and stand at $125.68 billion in 2029.
Cui Lili, director of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics’ Institute of E-commerce, said that Chinese online traders should learn more about related laws, regulations and quality standards in these countries, and make products that meet local requirements.
37．Why does PDD Holdings launch its cross-border e-commerce platform
A．To benefit customers. B．To support foreign trade.
C．To make more products. D．To broaden its business.
38．What does the underlined word “competitive” mean
A．Attractive. B．Fixed. C．Flexible. D．Optional.
39．What do the figures in paragraph 4 suggest
A．All of the supply chain has been localized.
B．Local business benefits Chinese customers.
C．The company’s decision is well worth trying.
D．Brazil’s e-commerce will double in two years.
40．What is the author’s attitude towards cross country e-commerce platforms
A．Objective. B．Indifferent. C．Doubtful. D．Supportive.
Dolphins love to play around, doing things like surfing, playing with stuff, and running after each other. However, have you ever been to a wildlife park and seen dolphins opening their mouths wide Researchers uncovered that dolphins use the “open mouth” facial expression to show their cheerfulness, instead of attack.
Other animals use their faces to show they want to play, but it wasn’t known if sea creatures do the same thing. This led the team to carry out this study. They recorded videos of 22 dolphins that lived at two wildlife parks. The dolphins were recorded when they were playing in pairs, playing with their human trainers and playing on their own.
During the 80 hours of video footage, the scientists counted 1,288 times when the dolphins used the “smile” expression. The team said 92% of those happened when dolphins were playing with each other. They seldom used the expression when they were playing on their own or with humans. Nearly 90% of the expressions happened when a dolphin could see their playmate’s face. If other dolphins spotted their “smile”, they returned the expression around a third of the time. Elisabetta Palagi, a biologist, said that the relaxed open mouth “is a universal sign of playfulness, helping animals and us signal fun and avoid misunderstanding”.
The research focused on dolphins in parks. Those living in the wild could behave differently when playing. It’s possible that while playing in more open spaces, dolphins might prefer to communicate using sounds instead of facial expressions. “Future research should study eye-tracking to explore how dolphins see their world and take advantage of acoustic signals (声学信号) in their communication during play,” added Livio Favaro, a co-author and zoologist, in the press.
This research throws light on the unique communication skills used by these intelligent sea creatures as well as the importance of facial expressions to set the right intentions (意图).
41．What does an “open mouth” in dolphins indicate according to the researchers
A．A sign of attack. B．A desire to bite.
C．An expression of joy. D．An intention to escape.
42．What research method did the researchers use
A．Making a comparison. B．Analyzing cause and effect.
C．Doing experiments in labs. D．Reviewing previous studies.
43．What can we infer from paragraph 4
A．Dolphins in different areas behave similarly.
B．Future research would include wild dolphins.
C．Eye-tracking was widely used in this research.
D．Dolphins prefer to use sounds to communicate.
44．What is the most suitable title of this passage
A．Dolphins in Parks “Smile” More.
B．Dolphins “Smile” While Playing.
C．Dolphins Copy Each Other to Smile.
D．Dolphins Behave Better When Alone.
Hamza Yassin, a naturalist, conservationist and wildlife cameraman, has written a book called Hamza’s Wild World, which shares his passion (热爱) for wildlife and also his experiences with dyslexia, a condition that affects the way a person learns. His new book has a dyslexic-friendly layout, full of fun animal photos, so all children can find out about the natural world.
For Hamza Yassin, being in nature is about letting your imagination run free. From a young age, Yassin has been exploring the wonders of nature. At 12 years old, Yassin got his first camera, and he now keeps a camera with him all the time. “It’s part of me,” he says.
Yassin didn’t follow the usual route to becoming a cameraman, though. Instead of trying for a job doing research for documentary films, for his dyslexia made that difficult, he moved to the Scottish Highlands to be close to nature.
Yassin says the key to filming or photographing animals is, “understanding the wildlife, getting eye-level with it and having a connection with them”. He says it doesn’t matter what sort of camera you have. “Cameras are not as important as you think,” he says, adding that it’s about how close to nature you can get. To do this, you need to gain some knowledge of what you’re taking a photo of. “Knowledge is power,” he says.
Now that he’s doing “the best job ever”, Yassin says he doesn’t feel like he’s working because “I get paid to go and do the thing that I love the most, my hobby.” Now, Yassin hopes to inspire the next generation with his work. “Being where I am and having the ability to share my love of the natural world with people—that’s what it’s all about,” he says.
45．Which of the following best describes Hamza’s Wid World
A．Scientific. B．Humorous. C．Understandable. D．Confusing.
46．Why did Hamza Yassin choose an unusual career path
A．He wanted to be different. B．He liked staying outdoors.
C．He lacked work experience. D．He had difficulty in learning.
47．What matters most in filming wildlife according to Hamza Yassin
A．Photography techniques. B．The type of camera used.
C．Natural talents in science. D．Closeness to wild animals.
48．Why does Hamza Yassin consider his job “the best job ever”
A．It allows him to express love for nature. B．It encourages the following generation.
C．It connects his passion with profession. D．It ensures him a large amount of fortune.
Sarah Moore rushed her two-year-old daughter Lacie Moore to hospital after she was hurt. The worried mum from Morecambe, Lancashire, left her car on a double yellow line outside the Lancaster hospital and raced inside with her daughter. When Sarah returned to her car, rather than finding a parking ticket, she surprisedly discovered a hand-written note, saying that they had “sweet talked” the traffic warden (交通管理员) into not giving her a ticket.
“They didn’t have to do that-it made things a lot easier,” the grateful mum said. “I was fully expecting to come out of the hospital and to have a parking ticket, and I had come to terms with that.”
The dramatic evening began on the evening of July 2 when Lacie split her head open on the hinge (铰链) of a door. Lacie ripped on the carpet and hit the hinge. When Sarah picked her up there was blood everywhere. It terrified Sarah, who quickly switched into action mode. There was no time to call for an ambulance so Sarah just put her in the car and got her there in 15 minutes. It was scary.
When she arrived at the hospital Sarah ignored the warnings of ambulance staff about potential traffic wardens and raced inside. The note she found on her car when she returned made sure a difficult day was made just a little bit easier. It read: “Good afternoon, we noticed you left your car here as you rushed your child into A&E. (We tried to warn you about getting a ticket.) We spoke with the traffic warden and told him about your situation and managed to sweet talk him into letting you off under the circumstances. He wanted us to let you know that you can leave it in the ambulance bay across the road. We hope your little one is okay. Kindest regards.”
49．What does the underlined phrase “sweet talked” in Paragraph 1 mean
A．Trick somebody with some sweets. B．Confuse somebody with sweet words.
C．Convince somebody in a pleasant way. D．Persuade somebody with solid evidence.
50．What do we know about Sarah
A．She thought she would be fined. B．No one noticed her park her car.
C．She injured her daughter at home. D．She paid a parking fine in the end.
51．Who wrote the note for Sarah
A．Ambulance staff. B．Traffic wardens. C．Doctors in A&E. D．Passers-by.
52．What can be the best title for this text
A．A Fair Warden B．A Lucky Mother
C．A Warm Surprise D．A Thoughtful Parking Ticket
Does adversity (逆境) warm hearts or harden them Recently, my graduate student Daniel and I set out to explore the relationship between adversity and compassion (同情).
We conducted a study online and reached more than 200 people from all walks of life. After asking them about the hardships they faced and how often they experienced compassion, we offered them the chance to donate some of the money they were about to be paid for taking part in the study to help people in need. The result showed that those who had faced serious adversities in life feel more compassion for suffering people. And as a result, they donated more money.
Now, if experiencing any type of hardship can make a person more compassionate, you might assume that the compassion would be reached when someone has experienced the exact misfortune that another person is facing. Interestingly, this turns out to be dead wrong.
In an article recently published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, the Kellogg School of Management professor Loran Nordgren and his team found that the human mind refuses to work as usual when it comes to remembering its own past hardships: it regularly makes them appear to be less painful than they actually were. Therefore, recalling a bad experience in your own past may make you underestimate (低估) the difficulty of others’ challenges. You overcame it, you think; so should he. The result You lack compassion.
Our findings, taken together with those of Professor Nordgren and his team, are that living through hardships doesn’t either warm hearts or harden them; it does both. Knowing suffering in life usually enhances the compassion we feel for others, except when the suffering involves specific painful events that we know all too well.
53．Which of the following is TRUE about the author’s study
A．Those attending it had to pay for it.
B．Those attending it were asked questions only.
C．It is meant to encourage people to help those in need.
D．It tries to reveal the relationship between adversity and compassion.
54．What does the underlined word “this” in paragraph 3 refer to
A．People’s compassion for suffering people.
B．People’s understanding of others’ misfortune.
C．The findings of Loran Nordgren and his team.
D．The assumption that shared misfortune may lead to compassion.
55．What did Professor Nordgren and his team find
A．Hardships make people lost in sad memories.
B．Hardships lead to people’s lack of compassion.
C．People tend to remember their hardships easily.
D．People suffering from adversity are easy to break down.
56．Which of the following can be the best title for the text
A．The Hidden Power of Compassion
B．Surprising link of Adversity and Compassion
C．Compassion: A Gift from Personal Adversity
D．Adversity: A Pathway to Deeper Compassion
Studies have shown the mere exposure effect, also referred to as the familiarity principle, inspires our decisions. It is a helpful psychological mechanism (机制) that helps us maintain our energy and focus our attention on other things. Getting used to new things takes effort and it can be tiring. So unless we have a terrible experience, we are likely to buy from companies we’ve got used to. That is why companies spend so much money on advertising and marketing and why insurance companies openly charge existing customers more than new ones.
It’s not the case that we only desire things we already know. Some studies suggest when invited to share our preferences, we sometimes see less familiar choices as more desirable. But when acting on that preference, we fall back to what we know. This might explain why sometimes the things we want and the things we do don’t quite match up. We might even return to companies that treated us poorly in the past or stay in bad relationships.
It’s easy to paint the familiarity principle as an enemy or something to battle as if it is something that holds us back from living our dreams. But this attitude might be overwhelming because it tends to encourage us toward big-picture thinking. Where we imagine that change requires a substantial dramatic (巨大而突然的) swing that we don’t feel ready for. Some articles suggest the solution to familiarity frustration is complete exposure to novelty (新奇的事物). While this can appear effective in the short run, we may only end up replacing one problem with another. It also risks overwhelm and burnout.
So what if we can work with the familiarity principle instead Familiarity is something we can learn to play with and enjoy. It is a setting for creativity and a pathway to expansion. We can broaden the zone of familiarity bit by bit. If we think of familiarity as something that can expand, we can consider changing the conditions in and around our lies to make more space for our preferences to take root and grow gently. From here, we will start to make decisions, drawing from an ever-deepening pool of valuable alternatives.
57．What allows insurance companies to charge old customers more
A．The familiarity principle. B．The advertising cost.
C．The improved service. D．The law of the market.
58．What can be learned from paragraph 2
A．Our preferences affect our decisions.
B．There can be a mismatch between desires and actions.
C．The familiarity principle is a double-edged sword.
D．Familiarity tends to generate disrespect.
59．What is the author’s attitude towards the solution in some articles
A．Objective. B．Favorable. C．Disapproving. D．Tolerant.
60．Which of the following is the best title for the text
A．Gently Expand Your Familiarity Zone B．Step Out Of Your Familiarity Zone
C．Spare A Thought For Your Preference D．Give Priority To The Mere Exposure Effect
A new study has provided further explanation for the deaths of 350 African elephants in Botswana during 2023. It was the result of drinking from waterholes where deadly algae (藻) populations had exploded due to climate change. Elephant bodies were first found in the north-eastern part of the country between May and June 2023, but proof showed that illegal hunting was not the cause.
With the help of satellite data, the researchers examined the relationship between about 3,000 waterholes and the locations of dead elephants. Their research suggested waterholes near the bodies showed increasing algal level in 2023 compared to earlier years — particularly during the period associated with the mass death event.
The researchers also found that rotten (腐烂的) elephant bodies were more spread out across the landscape than the fresh, indicating that the die-off in 2023 was different from normal elephant death patterns. After drinking, elephants were thought to have walked an average of 16.5 km from the harmful waterholes and died within about 88 hours of contact.
These findings suggest a high risk and possibility of algal harmful effect in these waterholes. The researchers think that the change from a very dry 2022 — the driest year in a period of 10 years in the area — to an extremely wet 2023, may have led to the appearance of significant amounts of nutrients from the ground, promoting the high algal growth.
Southern Africa is thought to become drier and hotter under climate changes, so waterholes across this area will likely be drier for more months of the year. Our findings point to the potential negative effects on water quantity and quality, and the dangers to animals. Meanwhile, the findings also show the bad need to observe carefully overall water quality across all waterbodies, including the smallest ones.
61．What is the direct cause of the elephant deaths
A．Illegal hunting. B．Disease outbreak.
C．Badly polluted water. D．Terrible climate change.
62．What can we learn from Paragraph 2-3
A．The satellite recorded each elephant’s behaviour.
B．The increasing water level killed many elephants.
C．Elephant bodies were mainly found beside waterholes.
D．The rapid growth of algae contributed to the elephant deaths.
63．What does the author say about the weather in paragraph 4
A．It experienced great change. B．It has been dry for several years.
C．It was under the influence of humans. D．It remained fixed with normal rainfall.
64．What do the findings suggest in the last paragraph
A．Water quality needs to be monitored.
B．Satellite technology requires to be studied.
C．The area will become more suitable for elephants.
D．Waterholes will suffer serious drought throughout the year.
The rapid development of technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI) has been influencing education at all levels, from primary and secondary to higher education.
Countries around the world are trying to find ways to use AI more flexibly in education, so as to provide education for students in faraway areas and teach people the skills needed to get successful jobs in the 21st century. China has become a leader in the application of AI in education and training by developing smart learning systems and stepping up research on AI.
An important area of research is the possible use of AI to promote language learning. AI can help teachers to tailor resources for learners, producing their specific resources according to individual learners’ needs and improve students’ performance. Researchers from Beijing Normal University explored how an automatic resource generation system can help in teaching Chinese as a second language in schools.
The researchers developed a model to use AI to ensure the resources meet learners’ needs, with studies showing the use of the teaching-learning model improved students’ performance. Students who were taught lessons using the model more actively participated in the course.
In addition to teaching languages, AI can also be used to help students of all ages to learn about different cultures. Researchers from Beijing Foreign Studies University, and some other foreign universities have been exploring ways to use AI to help students from different countries learn from each other and know about each other’s cultures while sitting in the comfort of their homes.
With the development of machine learning, AI has the potential to change education if designed and applied properly. AI applications should be designed in a way that they benefit learners and educators. For that purpose, rules for learners, teachers and other staff in educational organizations should be in place.
65．Why are countries exploring the use of AI in education
A．To become a leader in the world.
B．To prepare people for future jobs.
C．To develop smart learning system.
D．To advance the use of AI in research.
66．What does the underlined word “tailor” in Paragraph 3 mean
A．Apply widely. B．Buy cheaply.
C．Process carefully. D．Design specially.
67．What does the author suggest in the last paragraph
A．Making proper rules. B．Inventing smart systems.
C．Conducting more researches. D．Learning different cultures.
68．What is the text mainly about
A．The rapid development of AI.
B．AI application in language teaching.
C．Possible uses of AI in education.
D．The development of machine learning.
Technology was always fascinating to Uday, even as a child. He first got to know his interest in technology when he was gifted a drone (无人机) in the fourth-grade which excited his curiosity about how machines worked. He soon began learning computer science and created his first video game at 14.
But Uday’s head was never just buried in technology. He was also deeply aware of the needs of others. For example, he developed a successful e-tutoring platform called FindOurTutor to provide learning help to students. “I’ve always liked the idea of building something from the ground up and using technology to make things that solve real-world problems,” he says.
Later, Uday, then 16, visited Bichpuri village in UP, where he discovered a serious problem the villagers faced — six-to-eight-hour-long power failures. He learned that while most of India’s villages have been equipped with electricity, reliable supply remains a problem. Many villages face regular power outages that could last up to 10 to 12 hours a day.
Determined to find a fix, Uday spent the next six months learning from the Internet, collecting second-hand parts and experimenting in his workshop in order to invent a low-cost lightbulb(灯泡) that would offer uninterrupted lighting when regular power supply falters.
After 24 attempts, he succeeded in making the Smart bulb. It costs $2.9, about half that of other available options. What’s more, its brightness can be changed by the same button used to turn it on
Since its launch in May 2022, the Smart bulbs have found their way to 10,000 homes in India. This invention earned Uday many awards, including the 2023 Diana Legacy Award, awarded to young talents for outstanding work. “In the long term, my goal is to provide energy at a lower cost for every home,” says Uday.
69．What helped Uday discover his interest in technology
A．A present he received. B．A video game he created.
C．A machine he played with. D．A computer he was gifted.
70．Why does the author mention FindOurTutor in Paragraph 2
A．To prove Uday’s interest in technology.
B．To give an example of Uday’s inventions.
C．To show Uday’s concern for others’ needs.
D．To recommend an online learning app.
71．How is the Smart bulb different from other bulbs
A．It is brighter. B．It is cheaper.
C．It works longer. D．It saves energy.
72．What can be a suitable title for the text
A．Love for technology. B．Power failure in India.
C．Changing country life. D．Lighting the way.
New research has found a link between the height of ceilings in exam halls and the performance of students. While the shape of a room can’t make you smarter, the environments we’re in have an effect on us. The authors of the study suggest that big and open rooms, with high ceilings, make it harder for students to focus on what’s in front of them.
A previous study from some of the same researchers, making use of brain mapping technology and virtual reality, had found a relationship between cognitive ability and the perceived size of a person’s surroundings. Here, the team wanted to do some real-world testing.
“We were curious to apply our lab findings to a real-world dataset and see if being in a large space while having to concentrate on an important task would result in a poorer performance,” says Isabella Bower.
The study analyzed exam results from 15,400 students over eight years and across three campuses referencing their scores against what was expected based on the coursework they’ d previously submitted.
In exam rooms with high ceilings, students tended to underperform compared to those taking exams in rooms with a “standard” ceiling height, even after accounting for age, gender, time, subject and prior exam experience — other factors potentially affecting the results.
“The key point is that large rooms with high ceilings seem to disadvantage students and we need to understand what brain mechanisms (机制) are at play, and whether this affects all students to the same degree,” says Bower.
Those are questions that future research can find out. It’s clear that environment matters — and that we might not give students the best chance for success by holding exams in rooms that aren’t custom-built for the purpose.
“Examinations have been a key part of our education system for over 1,300 years, shaping students career paths and lives,” says Jaclyn Broadbent. “It’s crucial to recognize the potential impact of the physical environment on student performance and make necessary adjustments to ensure all students have an equal opportunity to succeed.”
73．Why did the researchers conduct the study
A．To prove that large rooms have no effect on exam performance.
B．To apply lab findings to a real-world dataset and see the impact.
C．To show that standard ceiling height is the best for exam rooms.
D．To demonstrate that the physical environment has no influence on students.
74．What is future research expected to find out
A．Whether exam rooms with high ceilings will disadvantage students.
B．Whether other factors could potentially affect the results of the study.
C．Whether students are equally affected in exam rooms with high ceilings.
D．Whether brain mechanisms affect students in exam rooms with high ceilings
75．What is the author’s view on the importance of the physical environment in exams
A．It is crucial and can impact student performance significantly.
B．It is important but only affects a few students.
C．It is not important as it does not affect exam performance.
D．It is important but only in the context of large, open rooms.
76．Which of the following can be the best title for this passage
A．The Impact of Room Shape on Intelligence
B．The Role of Physical Environment in Education
C．The Effect of Ceiling Height on Exam Performance
D．The Importance of Brain Mechanisms in Exam Rooms
Li Ziqi, a beloved Chinese influencer, made a dramatic return to social media after a three-year gap, releasing her first videos and causing a hit. Her initial claim to fame was through videos showcasing her peaceful life in China’s Sichuan province countryside, where she cooked and crafted against a peaceful rural background. By 2021, Li had acquired millions of followers on Chinese social media and became the most popular Chinese-language influencer on YouTube. However, with a video posted on July 14, 2021, her online presence disappeared as she was reportedly involved in a contract dispute (纠纷) with her agency.
On 12 Nov, Li ended her mysterious absence by posting three new videos unexpectedly on her channels. One video documents her creation of a lacquered wardrobe (漆柜) for her grandmother, while the others show her building a bamboo shed and making velvet flowers. The first video accumulated over 100 million views on Weibo within five hours of its release, and by Wednesday afternoon, the topic of Li’s return had obtained over 270 million views. Li’s popularity is the result of her description of rural life, attracting millennials and Gen Z, who find urban living less satisfactory over time, and her dedication to preserving traditional Chinese culture.
Li’s return has been met with enthusiasm by fans who admire her courage to take a break from her peak popularity. She has remained largely silent about her life during her absence but has now expressed her desire to share more about her experiences and mindset over the past few years. In 2017, Li and her representatives established a company to manage her growing content empire. After a lawsuit (诉讼) with the agency, Li regained control over her content, with her agency’s shares reduced to 1%, and she owned the remaining 99%.
Li appears to have been planning her comeback for some time, with her first video documenting a months-long effort to build a lacquered wardrobe. She named her handiwork “Ziqi Donglai,” which translates to “arrival of good fortune” and includes a homonym of her name, Ziqi, symbolizing “Ziqi from the East.” Li has announced her intention to continue promoting traditional Chinese culture through a series of videos developed by various craftsmen. She reflects on her time away from the spotlight, stating that being forgotten allowed her to focus on her passions without distractions.
77．Why did Li Ziqi disappear from social media
A．To learn new skills. B．To focus on personal life.
C．To resolve a contract dispute. D．To recover from an illness.
78．Why are Li Ziqi’s videos attractive to millennials and Gen Z
A．They show the peaceful rural life busy urban youths desire.
B．They document the rise of a new social media influencer.
C．They offer a glimpse into the fast-paced urban life.
D．They focus on the latest trend rural residents like.
79．How did Li Ziqi regain control of her content
A．By purchasing more shares. B．By reducing her agency’s shares.
C．By setting up a new company. D．By negotiating with her agency.
80．Which of the following can be the best title for the text
A．Li Ziqi’s Success Story in the Internet Era
B．Li Ziqi’s Contract Dispute and Its Solution
C．Li Ziqi: A great Chinese Influencer on Social Media
D．Li Ziqi’s Return: A New Chapter of Cultural Promotion
The human brain is made up of billions of cells called neurons (神经元), which are connected by vast “neural networks” that allow us to learn about the world. Neurons are like small pieces of snow: they look the same from a distance but on further inspection it’s clear that no two are exactly alike. By contrast, each cell in an artificial neural network — the technology on which artificial intelligence (AI) is based — is identical, with only their connectivity varying. Despite the speed at which AI technology is advancing, their neural networks do not learn as accurately or quickly as the human brain.
Researchers set out to study whether simulating (模拟) the brain by varying neural network cell properties could improve learning in AI. They found that the variability (可变量) in the cells improved their learning and reduced energy consumption. When they changed the amount of variability in the simulated networks, they found that the ones that performed best matched the amount of variability seen in the brain, suggesting that the brain may have evolved to have just the right amount of variability for best possible learning.
Dr. Dan Goodman said, “Evolution has given us incredible brain functions, most of which we are only just beginning to understand. Our research suggests that we can learn vital lessons from our own biology to make AI work better for us.”
To carry out the study, the researchers focused on adjusting the “time constant” (时间常数) — that is, how quickly each cell decides what it wants to do based on what the cells connected to it are doing. After varying the cells’ time constants, they gave the network jobs: to classify images of clothing and handwritten digits, to recognize human gestures, and to identify spoken digits and commands. The results show that by allowing the network to combine slow and fast information, it was better able to solve tasks in more complicated, real-world settings.
Current AI systems are far from achieving the level of energy efficiency that the researchers find in biological systems. Next, they will be interested in looking at how to reduce the energy consumption of these networks to get AI networks closer to performing as efficiently as the brain.
81．What can be learned about neurons from paragraph 1
A．The neurons allow us to learn about the world.
B．The human brain is made up of billions of neurons.
C．The human brain is made to learn quickly by neurons.
D．The neurons are like small pieces of snow in the shape.
82．What can be inferred about learning in AI
A．It is as effective as biological systems.
B．It is more efficient than the human brain.
C．It consumes less energy than the human brain.
D．It performs best with the right amount of variability.
83．Why did researchers adjust the “time constant”
A．To simplify the complicated real-world tasks.
B．To record the networks’ energy consumption.
C．To help the network process slow and fast information.
D．To enhance the networks’ performance in complex tasks.
84．What will the researchers focus on in the near future
A．The values of AI networks. B．The functions of human brains.
C．The efficiency of AI networks. D．The evolution of human brains.
中小学教育资源及组卷应用平台
中小学教育资源及组卷应用平台
21世纪教育网(www.21cnjy.com)
21世纪教育网(www.21cnjy.com)
参考答案
1．A 2．D 3．C 4．B
5．D 6．D 7．B 8．A
9．D 10．C 11．B 12．B
13．A 14．D 15．A 16．C 17．D 18．B
19．B 20．B 21．D 22．C 23．A 24．C
25．D 26．A 27．B 28．C
29．D 30．A 31．C 32．B
33．C 34．B 35．B 36．A
37．D 38．A 39．C 40．D
41．C 42．A 43．B 44．B
45．C 46．D 47．D 48．A
49．C 50．A 51．A 52．C
53．D 54．D 55．B 56．B
57．A 58．B 59．C 60．A
61．C 62．D 63．A 64．A
65．B 66．D 67．A 68．C
69．A 70．C 71．B 72．A
73．B 74．C 75．A 76．C
77．C 78．A 79．B 80．D
81．A 82．D 83．D 84．C
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