You may know your mother, but how well do you really know Mothers’ Day? Cards, flowers, sales, TV specials, and a day off for someone who really deserves it — those are what probably come to mind for many people when they think of Mothers’ Day. But there’s more to the story.
The earliest Mothers’ Day celebrations were held during spring in ancient Greece. The celebrations honored Rhea, the mother of the gods. During the 1600’s, England celebrated a day called Mothering Sunday. On this day even servants(仆人) were given the day off to spend with their families. A mothering cake was even served with the family meal.
In the US, Mothers’ Day began in 1872 when Julia Ward Howe, who wrote the words to the famous song The Battle Hymn of the Republic, suggested it as a day devoted to peace. But it didn’t really become popular until 1907 when Anna Jarvis started a campaign to honor mothers. She believed that mothers could help people get over the pain they experienced during the Civil War. The US isn’t alone in devoting a day to mothers. Many other countries including Denmark, Finland, Italy, Turkey, Australia, Japan, and Belgium also honor their mothers in May. Other countries honor their mothers at different times of the year.
Learning more about Mothers’ Day and celebrating Mothers’ Day are important, but probably not as important as understanding what your own mother, or grandmother, or aunt has really done for you. And that will certainly be appreciated more than one day in year. Where was the earliest Mothers’ Day celebrated?
| A．In ancient Greece. | B．In the US. |
| C．In England. | D．In Italy. |
According to Paragraph 3, we know that ____________.
| A．Julia Ward Howe composed a song about Mothers’ Day |
| B．American people started to celebrate Mothers’ Day in 1907 |
| C．Anna Jarvis attached great importance to mothers |
| D．Mothers’ Day celebrations are held at different times in the US |
We can learn from the passage that ______________.
| A．Rhea is the mother of a king in ancient Greece |
| B．not all the countries celebrate Mothers’ Day in May |
| C．only mothers were given a day off on Mothering Sunday |
| D．it was in 1872 that Mothers’ Day really came into being |
The last paragraph tells us that ____________.
| A．all the people should celebrate Mothers’ Day |
| B．only mothers are honored on Mothers’ Day |
| C．understanding mothers’ work is more important than just celebrating Mothers’ Day |
| D．people should celebrate Mothers’ Day every day |
What is the passage mainly about?
| A．The reason why people celebrate Mothers’ Day. |
| B．The ways people honor mothers. |
| C．The history of Mothers’ Day. |
| D．The great contribution of mothers. |
Sitting in the garden for my friend's birthday. felt a buzz（振动） in my pocket. My heart raced when I saw the email sender's name. The email started off："Dear Mr Green，thank you for your interest" and "the review process took longer than expected." It ended with "We are sorry to inform you…"and my vision blurred（模糊）.The position﹣measuring soil quality in the Sahara Desert as part of an undergraduate research programme﹣had felt like the answer I had spent years looking for. I had put so much time and emotional energy into applying，and I thought the rejection meant the end of the road for my science career.
So I was shocked when，not long after the email，Professor Mary Devon，who was running the programme，invited me to observe the work being done in her lab. I jumped at the chance，and a few weeks later I was equally shocked﹣and overjoyed﹣when she invited me to talk with her about potential projects I could pursue in her lab. What she proposed didn't seem as exciting as the original project I had applied to，but I was going to give it my all.
I found myself working with a robotics professor on techniques for collecting data from the desert remotely. That project，which I could complete from my sofa instead of in the burning heat of the desert，not only survived the lockdown but worked where traditional methods didn't. In the end. I had a new scientific interest to pursue.
When I applied to graduate school，I found three programmes promising to allow me to follow my desired research direction. And I applied with the same anxious excitement as before. When I was rejected from one that had seemed like a perfect fit，it was undoubtedly difficult. But this time I had the perspective（视角）to keep it from sending me into panic. It helped that in the end I was accepted into one of the other programmes I was also excited about.
Rather than setting plans in stone，I've learned that sometimes I need to take the opportunities that are offered，even if they don't sound perfect at the time，and make the most of them.
（1）How did the author feel upon seeing the email sender's name？
| A． |
Anxious. |
| B． |
Angry. |
| C． |
Surprised. |
| D． |
Settled. |
（2）After talking with Professor Devon，the author decided to .
| A． |
criticise the review process |
| B． |
stay longer in the Sahara Desert |
| C． |
apply to the original project again |
| D． |
put his heart and soul into the lab work |
（3）According to the author，the project with the robotics professor was .
| A． |
demanding |
| B． |
inspiring |
| C． |
misleading |
| D． |
amusing |
（4）What can we learn from this passage？
| A． |
An invitation is a reputation. |
| B． |
An innovation is a resolution. |
| C． |
A rejection can be a redirection. |
| D． |
A reflection can be a restriction. |
The International Olympic Committee（IOC）Young Leaders programme empowers talents to make a positive difference in their communities through sport. Twenty﹣five Young Leaders are being selected every two years for a four﹣year period. They promote the Olympic values，spreading the message of sport for good.
To be an IOC Young Leader，you need to first complete the 4﹣Week Learning Sprint（冲刺）.
4﹣Week Learning Sprint
The 4﹣Week Learning Sprint，which will take place during November 2023，is a virtual learning programme. The sessions can be attended live or watched back after they are made available on the IOC channel. Each week，participants will be asked to complete a topic﹣specific reflection task.
The 4﹣Week Learning Sprint is open to anyone，with the target audience aged between 20 and 28.
After successfully completing the 4﹣Week Learning Sprint，you will need to submit a plan for a sport﹣based project，which you will work on if selected as an IOC Young Leader.
Requirements for the Applicants
•You have successfully completed the 4﹣Week Learning Sprint.
•You have completed your high school studies.
•You have at least one year of work experience.
•You have strong public speaking skills.
•You are self﹣motivated and committed.
•You are passionate about creating positive change in your community.
•You are open to being coached and advised by experts and peers（同伴）.
•You are able to work with people from different backgrounds.
（1）In the 4﹣Week Learning Sprint，participants will .
| A． |
create change in their community |
| B． |
attend a virtual learning programme |
| C． |
meet people from different backgrounds |
| D． |
promote the IOC Young Leaders project |
（2）If selected as an IOC Young Leader, one will need to .
| A． |
complete a reflection task each week |
| B． |
watch sports on the IOC channel |
| C． |
work on a sport﹣based project |
| D． |
coach and advise their peers |
（3）Which is a requirement for the applicants？
| A． |
Spreading the message of sport for good. |
| B． |
Having at least one﹣year work experience. |
| C． |
Showing great passion for project planning. |
| D． |
Committing themselves to becoming an expert. |
Most of us associate learning with younger people-kids in school and college or recent graduates early in their careers. But at Udemy, an open university offering online courses, Artist Anneke Camstra is engaged in the pursuit of lifelong learning and displays her potential for teaching. She loves the experience of gaining new knowledge and also loves sharing it with others. "I'm retired, but an artist never retires," Anneke said. "The last few years on the internet have been a great joy for me. I've taken so many Udemy courses, and ifs such a great feeling to get my brain working again. I find just as much satisfaction in teaching animation (动画制作) too."
She reaches countless people with her online courses and exposes them to what they can accomplish on their own using animation software, such as GoAnimate and PowToon. Her motivation for teaching on Udemy is "to get the tools to the people." "You can go such a long way to make things that look professional but still have your own voice," she explained.
Most of Anneke's students start out thinking they're not creative and can't draw. Anneke understands how fear can get in the way of so many things people dream of doing. With her five-day challenge courses, she helps them get over the fear. Anneke loves the impact she has on her students. What makes her more proud of them is that they have gone from their first animation to creating their own works.
She encourages people of all ages, especially older people, to cultivate their curiosity for life. Grandparents, for example, can learn to use GoAnimate and make animations together with their grandkids.
"Tm an older woman, teaching and having fun learning again," Anneke said, and she wants others later in their lives to catch up with her on this journey.
56. What does Anneke enjoy doing after her retirement? (no more than 10 words)
57. According to Para. 2, what does Anneke expect her students to do with animation software? (no more than 10 words)
58. What is the main idea of Para. 3? (no more than 15 words)
59. Please explain the meaning of the underlined word in Para. 4(1 word)
60. What do you suggest old people learn to do? Please give your reason(s). (no more than 20 words)
Art is everywhere. Any public space has been carefully designed by an artistic mind to be both functional and beautiful. Why, then, is art still so widely considered to be "the easy subject" at school, insignificant to wider society, a waste of time and effort?
Art can connect culture with commercial products in a way that not many other things can; art generates money and holds significant emotional and cultural value within communities. When people attend a concert, they are paying for music, sure, maybe even hotel rooms, meals, and transport, but they also gain an incredible experience, a unique atmosphere and a memory that will go through the rest of their lives. People don't just want material things anymore, they want to experience life -- the arts are a perfect crossover （交迭） between culture and commerce.
Furthermore, the arts can bring communities together, reducing loneliness and making people feel safer. Social bonds are created among individuals when they share their arts experiences through reflection and discussion, and their expression of common values through artworks in honour of events significant to a nation's experience.
The arts clearly have a pretty positive impact on physical and psychological health. It is found that people who frequent cultural places or participate in artistic events are more likely to gain good health compared to those who do not; more engagement with the arts is linked to a higher level of people's wellbeing. The Royal Society of Public Health discovered that music and art, when used in hospitals, help to improve the conditions of patients by reducing stress, anxiety and blood pressure.
Children who are involved with the arts make greater achievements in their education: those engaged with drama have greater literary ability while others taking part in musical practice exhibit greater skills in math and languages. Kids with preference for the arts have a greater chance of finding employment in the future. Participating in the arts is essential for child development; encouraging children to express themselves in constructive ways could help to form healthy emotional responses in later life.
Vital to human life, art is celebrated and used by nations across the world for various purposes. Life without art would be boring and dead still, for art is a part of what makes us human.
51. Art products differ from most other commercial products because .
| A． |
most people purchase them for collection |
| B． |
they are more expensive and less accessible |
| C． |
they have both commercial and cultural values |
| D． |
their prices may climb up as time passes |
52. By sharing their arts experiences, community members can .
| A． |
keep the community safe from illnesses |
| B． |
develop a stronger tie between them |
| C． |
learn to appreciate their own works of art |
| D． |
offer honourable solutions to their problems |
53. What can we learn about people who are involved in artistic activities?
| A． |
They enjoy better living conditions. |
| B． |
They like to compare themselves with others. |
| C． |
They are particularly good at both music and art. |
| D． |
They tend to be healthier physically and mentally. |
54. How does kids' engagement with the arts benefit them?
| A． |
It promotes their academic performance and emotional growth. |
| B． |
It gives them more confidence in exhibiting their learning skills. |
| C． |
It inspires their creativity in designing their future career. |
| D． |
It helps to make responsible people out of them. |
55. What is the best title for this passage?
| A． |
How Art Cures Our Hearts |
| B． |
Art: A Blessing to Humankind |
| C． |
How Art Benefits Communities |
| D． |
Art: A Bridge Between Cultures |
In the fictional worlds of film and TV, artificial intelligence （ Al ） has been described as so advanced that it is indistinguishable from humans. But what if we're actually getting closer to a world where Al is capable of thinking and feeling?
Tech company UneeQ is heading for its "digital humans", which appear life like on the screen not only in terms of language, but also because of facial movements: raised eyebrows, a smile, even a nod. They look close to a human, but not quite.
What lies beneath UneeQ9 s digital humans? Their 3D faces are modeled on actual human features. Speech recognition enables them to understand what a person is saying, and natural language processing is used to work out a response. Meanwhile, another Al company, Soul Machines, is taking a more biological approach, with a "digital brain", that imitates aspects of the human brain to adjust the emotions "felt" and "expressed" by its "digital people".
Shiwali Mohan, an Al scientist at the Palo Research Center, is skeptical of these digital beings. "They're humanlike in their looks and the way they sound, but that in itself is not being human," she says. "Human qualities also involve how you think, how you approach problems, and how you break them down; and that takes a lot of algorithmic ( 算 法) design. Designing for human-level intelligence is a different attempt than designing images that behave like humans." She then continues, "If something looks like a human, we have high expectations of them, but they might behave differently in ways that humans just instinctively ( 直觉地) know how other humans react.
Yet the demand is there, with UneeQ seeing high adoption of its digital employees across the financial, health care, and commercial sectors （行业） . "Unless these sectors make their business models much more efficient digitally, they might be left behind," says Chetan Dube, UneeQ9s CEO.
Some other companies are taking their digital beings a step further, enabling organizations and individuals to create digital humans themselves using free-access platforms they provide. "The biggest motivation for such platforms is to popularize Al," Dube says.
Mohan is cautious about this approach, yet she supports the purpose behind these digital beings and is optimistic about where they are headed. "As we develop more advanced Al technology, we would then have to use new ways of communicating with that technology, she says. "'Hopefully, all of that is designed to support humans in their goals."
46. According to Para. 2, in what respect （ s ） do UneeQ9s "digital humans" resemble human beings?
| A． |
In the way they move around. |
| B． |
In the way they act and react. |
| C． |
In observation and analysis. |
| D． |
In speech and facial expressions. |
47. Soul Machines' digital brain is a technological breakthrough because it .
| A． |
learns to make proper emotional responses |
| B． |
tends to imitate human beings' tone vividly |
| C． |
recognizes the speech sounds it receives |
| D． |
processes the natural language it hears |
48. In Mohan's opinion, what human quality is lacking in digital beings?
| A． |
Calculating brain. |
| B． |
B Language skills. |
| C． |
Instinctive judgements. |
| D． |
Problem-solving ability. |
49. What makes many sectors employ digital humans?
| A． |
The fear of falling behind in efficiency. |
| B． |
The urgency to promote e-commerce. |
| C． |
The wish to spread digital technology. |
| D． |
The need to upgrade the health care system. |
50. What does Mohan think of the future of digital beings?
| A． |
It's well planned. |
| B． |
It is promising. |
| C． |
It is uncertain. |
| D． |
It's quite hopeless. |