2023届广西高考英语阅读理解专项训练（含解析）

阅读理解
There’s a new AI bot: ChatGPT, and you’d better pay attention, even if you aren’t into artificial intelligence. The tool is an AI chatbot system that OpenAI released in November 2022 to show off and test what a very large, powerful AI system can achieve.
ChatGPT remembers the thread of your dialogue, using previous questions and answers to inform its next responses. It derives its answers from huge volumes of information on the Internet. ChatGPT is built on top of the OpenAI GPT-3 family of large language models and is fine-tuned (a method of transfer learning) using both supervised and reinforcement learning (监督和强化学习).
You can ask ChatGPT anything, like explaining physics, asking for birthday party ideas and getting programming (编程) help. Perhaps it’s not smart enough to replace all humans yet, but it can be creative, and its answers can sound downright authoritative. A few days after its launch, more than 1 million people were trying out ChatGPT. UBS analyst Lloyd Walmsley estimated in February 2023 that ChatGPT reached 100 million monthly users in January, accomplishing in 2 months what took TikTok about 9 months and Instagram two and a half years.
ChatGPT is free to use at the moment because it is still in its research phase. But when too many people hop onto the server (服务器), it overloads and can’t process your request. It just means you should try visiting the site at a later time when fewer people are trying to access it. If you want to skip the wait and have reliable access, there is an option for you. As of Feb.1, 2023, OpenAI has a ChatGPT pro plan, ChatGPT Plus, which allows users to have general access even during peak times. This service does come at a cost of $20 / month.’
However, ChatGPT can not replace Google. ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence bot that provides solutions to your questions, but Google is a search engine in which you can search for as much information as possible. ChatGPT has limited knowledge due to its programming but Google has unlimited knowledge which is updated every day.
1．What does paragraph 2 mainly tell us about ChatGPT
A．Its language model. B．Its working theory.
C．Its design inspiration. D．Its development process.
2．Why does the author list figures in paragraph 3
A．To show the popularity of ChatGPT.
B．To stress the high cost of inventing ChatGPT.
C．To present the creativity of artificial intelligence.
D．To prove the necessity of developing tools for chatting online.
3．What is ChatGPT Plus intended for
A．Guiding users to experience free services.
B．Allowing net surfers to skip advertisements.
C．Helping researchers detect the failure of the system.
D．Offering consumers priority access during peak hours.
4．What is a limitation of ChatGPT compared with Google
A．It operates based on limited data.
B．It takes more time to search for solutions.
C．It can only update information at a fixed time.
D．It may provide replies unrelated to the questions.
Activities for National Manufacturing Day
The STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) Careers Coalition (职业联盟) offers students and families new STEM resources to explore the world of modern manufacturing. With over 4 million manufacturing roles predicted to be available in the next ten years, the new resources from the coalition connect today’s students to the manufacturing careers of tomorrow.
National Manufacturing Day occurs annually on the first Friday of October to motivate today’s students to become the next generation of innovator leading the manufacturing industry. In order to support this celebration, the coalition offers three different collections to all students, educators, and families on modern manufacturing that support learning wherever it takes place. The following resources are available to all at no cost:
Manufacturing focused Career Profiles (简介)
Explore the profiles of excellent manufacturing professionals who used the skills they learned at school to become the kind of problem solvers that make a difference. Make the connection from the classroom to careers and find out how all students can make it in manufacturing.
Hands-on Student Activities
From innovating food packaging to discovering the principles of accurate design to exploring water sustainability, at home, Hands-on learning activities help students take STEM skills from theory to practice.
Classroom Activities
Access the no cost, standard classroom activities to support future career success for all students. Each activity features important STEM skills and a step by step guide for promoting activities into classroom.
Virtual Interactive Field Trips
Each virtual experience features accompanying educator resources and student activities that make it easy for teachers to put these manufacturing events into the learning experiences they design and deliver daily.
All resources are available at no cost at stemcareerscoalition.org.
5．What is the purpose of the STEM Careers Coalition
A．To count the vacant jobs in manufacturing.
B．To report the current state of manufacturing.
C．To guide students to work on manufacturing.
D．To offer students pre-job training in manufacturing.
6．Which activity will introduce manufacturing masters to students
A．Classroom Activities.
B．Hands-on Student Activities.
C．Virtual Interactive Field Trips.
D．Manufacturing-focused Career Profiles.
7．What do the activities have in common
A．All of them are virtual.
B．They are free of charge.
C．Only students practice in them.
D．They are only experienced online.
Around the world, rivers seem to be either flooding or shrinking (缩小). While Pakistan’s rivers have left one-third of that country flooded and millions of people without homes, a drought unseen for 500 years has left Europe’s major waterways almost dry. In the United States, the Kentucky River suffered deadly flooding this summer, while the Colorado River dropped sharply, which brought about water distribution cuts across several states.
There is little disagreement about what’s going on. Scientists have warned for years that our changing climate will cause the frequency of both rainfall and droughts to increase, making the wet wetter and the dry drier, with more extreme impacts on rivers. The question now may be how to manage those waterways affected by climate change and, specifically, what role dams (大坝) should or should not play in relieving the disasters we’ve been seeing lately and will see more of.
Advocates say water storage dams will become more significant which can stop water during flooding and allow it out in times of droughts. Dams, they say, can help relieve climate change by producing clean hydropower (水电). “Dams and hydropower are fundamental to climate relief and adaptation,” says Richard Taylor, a leading hydropower expert.
Not so. People holding opposite opinions claim that dams do more harm than good. Their arguments have long centered on the negative impact most dams have on biodiversity and river ecosystems, and increasing data show that dams actually worsen both floods and droughts. They also point out studies have shown that lakes created by dams often produce far more harmful greenhouse gases than people previously understood.
“Dams are thought to be a climate solution,” says Isabella Winkler, who co-leads International Rivers, a U.S.-based advocacy group. “They have been praised as a source of green energy but they are actually not.” Besides, scientists warn that many existing dams use operating rules based on old climate assumptions. New dams, experts agree, must be built for the worst cases.
8．Why did the author mention some rivers in Paragraph 1
A．To compare the rivers. B．To describe the disasters.
C．To introduce the topic. D．To analyze some findings.
9．What has been a long-existing concern to scientists
A．Building dams destroys the ecosystem.
B．Climate change worsens natural disasters.
C．Hydropower increases the impact on disasters.
D．Waterways are in terrible condition widely.
10．What’s Isabella Winkler’s attitude towards building dams
A．Doubtful. B．Positive. C．Negative. D．Objective.
11．What is the main idea of the text
A．The distribution of water in different areas.
B．The influence of hydropower on the environment.
C．Main causes of water shortage all around the world.
D．Different views on dams’ role in fighting climate change.
From the moment we are born, we interact with the world through movement. We move our lips to smile or to talk. We extend our hand to touch. How does our brain remember this wide range of motions How does it learn new ones How does it make the calculations necessary for us to grab a glass of water, without dropping it, squashing it, or missing it
Technion Professor Jackie Schiller from the Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and her team examined the brain at a single-neuron (单神经元) level to shed light on this mystery. They found that calculation happens not just in the interaction between neurons, but within each individual neuron. It turns out that each of these cells is not a simple switch, but a complicated calculating machine.
This discovery, published recently in the Science, promises changes not only to our understanding of how the brain works, but better understanding of conditions ranging from Parkinson’s disease to autism. And if that isn’t enough, these same findings are expected to advance machine learning, providing inspiration for new architectures.
“We used to think of each neuron as a sort of whistle, which either rings, or doesn’t,” Prof. Schiller explains. “Instead, we are looking at a piano. Its keys can be struck at the same time, or in order, producing an infinity (无限) of different tunes.” This complex music playing in our brains is what enables us to learn and perform an infinity of different, complex and precise movements.
These same findings can also serve as an inspiration for the machine learning community. Deep neural networks, as their name suggests, attempt to create software that learns and functions somewhat similarly to a human brain. Although their advances constantly make the news, these networks are primitive compared to a living brain. A better understanding of how our brain actually works can help in designing more complex neural networks, enabling them to perform more complex tasks.
12．Why does the author raise the questions in paragraph 1
A．To pursue answers. B．To raise his puzzles.
C．To introduce the topic. D．To share his interest
13．What does paragraph 3 mainly talk about
A．The result of the research.
B．The function of a single neuron.
C．The way the research was conducted.
D．The aspects the discovery can be applied to.
14．What does Schiller stress in her explanation in paragraph 4
A．The way that neurons work.
B．The music that neurons play.
C．The difficulties that researchers encounter.
D．The process where neurons produce memory.
15．What might be the best title for the text
A．Individual Neuron Works like a Piano
B．Calculation Happens Between Neurons like a Machine
C．Complex Neural Networks in the Brain Enable People to Learn
D．The Mystery of Learning and Remembering Movement Has Been Uncovered
Wildlife photographer Sam Turley and his wife Vera found a two-week-old blesbok (南非白面大羚羊)—whom they named Meme—on her own. She was spotted wandering around on her own after her mother passed away.
The pair took Meme in and raised the animal themselves for seven months before releasing her back out into the wild. Neither of them had ever raised a blesbok before. So it required a huge amount of patience and compassion to keep her fit and healthy but it deserved the effort. Meme would follow Vera wherever she went and sometimes the couple would have a blesbok, a dog and a cat all walking together. In the right areas, the blesbok is a really common antelope to see and is therefore often overlooked and under-appreciated. It was a privilege to be let into the blesbok’s secret world and they learned more about the blesbok than they thought was ever possible.
After releasing Meme back out into the wild, the couple were convinced they would never see her again, until several months later when they were driving around a reserve and happened to come across a herd of blesboks.
Vera called out Meme’s name in the hope of finding Meme. Blesboks all look very similar to one another, which makes it very difficult to distinguish individuals. When Vera started to talk, the herd raised their heads and looked over. Vera continued to call Meme and as all the other blesboks lost interest, one individual held her gaze and ran straight up to her.
After rescuing the lonely animal, Sam and Vera found it extremely emotional to have to release her back out into the wild to fend for herself—even though they knew it was the right thing to do. But after having such a strong bond with an animal, it was really difficult to see her go. They had put so much time, effort and energy into raising her but to see her walking in a herd of blesboks made it all worthwhile.
16．What happened to Meme when she was spotted
A．She became an orphan. B．She was lost in the forest.
C．She was hunted by a couple. D．She was abandoned by her mother.
17．What was Meme’s life with the couple like
A．She was rare to be seen outside.
B．She was hard to be artificially fed.
C．She fitted in well with the whole family.
D．She was under-appreciated in the family.
18．Which word can best explain the underlined word “fend” in the last paragraph
A．Look. B．Care.
C．Search. D．Hunt.
19．Which of the following can best describe the act of rescuing the blesbok
A．Effortless. B．Unsatisfactory.
C．Rewarding. D．Heartbreaking.
Some 20 percent of adults are procrastinators (拖延症患者). Everyone might put off a task or two, but long-term procrastinators do it at home, at school, at work and in their relationships.
For years, researchers have focused on the personalities of people who procrastinate. The results suggest procrastinators may be impulsive (冲动), worriers and have trouble regulating their emotions. But procrastinators are not lazy. They’re actually very busy doing other things than what they’re supposed to be doing. Though procrastinators may think they perform better under pressure, studies have reported the opposite. And when deadlines are uncertain, procrastinators tend to delay their work.
When people put off a tough task, they feel good-in the moment. Procrastinating is a way to avoid the negative emotions linked to the task. But the relief it provides is only temporary, and many seek out ways to stop procrastinating.
In fact, most research today suggests procrastination is a behavioral pattern, which means it’s something you can change, regardless of whether you’re impulsive. What works best is still under research. Some scientists have reported success with time management. But the evidence for that is all over the map. That’s because poor time management is a symptom not a cause of procrastination.
For some procrastinators, seemingly obvious tips can work. Researchers advise students to simply put down their smartphones. Silencing notifications or studying in the library rather than at home can regulate distractions and keep people on task. But that won’t be enough for many people. Stubborn procrastinators may benefit from cognitive behavioral therapy (认知行为疗法). This type of therapy, which involves managing thoughts and emotions and trying to change behavior, seemed to be the most helpful. Still, not many studies have examined treatments, and there’s room for improvement.
20．What does procrastination mean to longtime procrastinators
A．A personal advantage. B．A habitual behavior.
C．A working motivation. D．An excuse for laziness.
21．What do experts think of procrastinators
A．They are inactive. B．They are efficient.
C．They are anxious. D．They are careful.
22．What causes people to procrastinate
A．Their temporary relief from the stress.
B．Their imperfection in personalities.
C．Their poor time management at work.
D．Their high ability to deal with hard work.
23．What may be the best procrastination treatment according to the text
A．Avoiding smartphones. B．Proper studying places.
C．Good time management. D．Cognitive behavioral therapy.
Arizona’s Best Outdoor Dining
For office workers, they may want to hide somewhere to enjoy their own free time. Places combining good food with great weather and remarkable views may be their top choice. Here are four of the best restaurants in Arizona that serve up a side of the great outdoors with every meal
Pizzeria Bocce Patio Bar
This pizza bar shows the city’s rising scene. Chef Michelle Jurisin traveled to Italy to become certified by Verace Pizza Napoletana. Pizzas are made in the traditional way. The most popular dish is the Cire’s with homemade Italian sausage, mushrooms and fresh cheese.
Address: 1060 N. Main St., Cottonwood. Tel: 928-202-3597.
Burgers By the Bridge
Located at the base of London Bridge, this open-air restaurant serves as Lake Havasu City’s room. Sitting right at the water’s edge, diners enjoy beautiful views of the boats, the bridge and palm trees from their tables. The juicy Black Angus burgers are tasty; the lightly salted fish and chips may be the best in the town.
Address: 401 English Village, Lake Havasu City. Tel: 928-302-6780.
Mariposa Latin-Inspired Grill
Natural stones, rusted metal panels (镶板) and window walls, which is unlike anywhere else in Sedona. Sitting outside, Mariposa provides red-rock views to accompany the excellent South American- inspired food. It is especially impressive at sunset.
Address: 700 State Route 89A, Sedona. Tel: 928-862-4444.
The House
Dining at The House feels like hanging out at a friend’s backyard barbecue. The wood-framed building is simple inside. There’s a big garden with picnic tables outside. The menu is a mix of salads, sandwiches, chili and some burgers. Try the House Burger, cheese and fried onion strings. They are served with homemade chips.
Address: 1191 E. Hall, Show Low. Tel: 928-537-927.
24．What is special about Pizzeria Bocce Patio Bar
A．It lies near London Bridge. B．It offers traditional Italian pizza.
C．It is popular for homemade salted fish. D．It serves meals in a wooden house at sunset.
25．Which is the best choice for diners fond of the river view
A．Pizzeria Bocce Patio Bar. B．Burgers By the Bridge.
C．Mariposa Latin-Inspired Grill. D．The House.
26．Where can diners have a picnic
A．1060 N. Main St., Cottonwood. B．401 English Village, Lake Havasu City.
C．700 State Route 89A, Sedona. D．1191 E. Hall, Show Low.
Beth Booker of Florida, turned to Twitter for help last week after seeing the images of her 78-year-old grandmother’s home in Fort Myers Beach, Florida being in water. In the days before Hurricane Ian struck her grandmother’s community, Beth and her husband helped her granny, Carole McDanel, prepare herself and her home for it.
Her granny wanted to stay where she had been living for more than two decades. She felt safe to stay because Ian was heading north for another city and the house had survived quite a few major hurricanes in history. In addition, the home contained priceless family memories and heirlooms (传家宝), among which were photos of Booker’s dad, who passed away when she was only five years old. After her dad’s death, Booker had to live with her grandmother, McDanel.
Once the storm struck, Booker received updates from her granny, who shared photos and videos showing flood started to fill the home. In her last phone call with granny, Booker told her granny to climb on the roof if the flood waters continued to climb. Unable to communicate with her granny any longer, Booker turned to Twitter for help with everything from searching for her granny to contacting local emergency officials.
The Fort Myers area was left devastated Wednesday after Hurricane Ian. On Thursday, as rescue crews came over to search for survivors, Booker’s husband and friend began their own search for her granny by boat. Just a few hours later, at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Booker tweeted the news that her husband and friend found granny sitting on her own sofa, where she was able to remain safe during the storm.
McDanel and Booker, who declined to be interviewed, said in a statement that they felt grateful for the support they had received and that they are calling for the world to continue the same energy and love into recovery and relief efforts for their community.
27．What does the underlined word “devastated” mean in paragraph 4
A．Disturbed. B．Rebuilt. C．Destroyed. D．Attacked.
28．Where was Carole McDanel found
A．In her home. B．In a very small boat.
C．In an emergency office. D．Among the flood victims.
29．Which of the following can best describe Booker
A．Powerful. B．Responsible. C．Hard-working. D．Humorous.
30．What can be inferred from the text
A．Natural disasters had ever struck the Earth frequently.
B．Booker had a good relationship with her grandmother as well.
C．Booker knew nothing about Hurricane Ian ahead of time.
D．Social media play a very great role in people’s daily life.
A team of researchers at Harvard University and Emory University have created a school of robotic fish. They can swim by recreating the contractions (收缩) of a pumping heart. Researchers say the experiment could advance pacemaker (心脏起搏器) technology and improve the development of artificial hearts for humans.
Researchers built the zebrafish-based fish using paper, gelatin (明胶), plastic fin, and two layers of human heart muscle cells. One ran along the robot’s left side, while the other along the right. When the muscle cells on one side contracted, the tail moved in that direction. This allowed the fish to swim in the water. The opposite side’s muscle cell layer similarly stretched as a result of the action. This stretching then sent a signal to the cells, causing them to contract, which kept the swimming motion going. The researchers also created an autonomous pacing node (节点), similar to a pacemaker, which controls the frequency and rhythm of these contractions.
The fish moved autonomously for over 108 days, equal to 38 million beats, the study stated. “Because heart cells constantly rebuild themselves, which takes about 20 days, the fish cells rebuild themselves about five times,” says Kit Parker, a professor from Harvard University who led the research. The fish eventually reached speeds and swimming efficiency comparable to wild zebrafish.
“Though the researchers say the fish is a step forward for heart research, it could be years before it leads to the creation of an artificial heart,” says Michael Schneider, a professor at Imperial College London, who wasn’t involved in the study. But that doesn’t dishearten Parker. “I think other methods will be faster than us,” says Parker. “But in the long run, creating tissue that relies on the patient’s own cells could offer unexpected benefits.”
31．What does Paragraph 2 mainly tell us
A．Why the robotic fish was created. B．What enabled the robotic fish to swim.
C．Who got involved in the experiment. D．How fast the robotic fish could swim.
32．Which is true about the robotic fish according to Paragraph 3
A．They were rebuilt by human doctors.
B．They didn’t move as Parker expected.
C．They finally swam as fast as wild zebrafish.
D．They grew into the size of wild zebrafish.
33．What does the underlined word “dishearten” mean in the last paragraph
A．Discourage. B．Surprise. C．Amuse. D．Relieve.
34．What can we learn from the text
A．The findings may aid in heart research.
B．The first artificial hearts have been created.
C．Parker got no support from other scientists.
D．The researchers were upset about the findings.
One man’s white bread is another man’s green vegetables.
That’s the key from The Personalized Diet, a new book from Israeli authors Eran Segal and Eran Elinav. The authors say it’s time to admit to ourselves that one-size-fits-all diets don’t work, and when it comes to nutrition, it’s about doing what works best for your body, not catching the latest diet fashion.
“For years, we’ve been trying to search for that silver-bullet diet and we’ve been miserably failing,” Segal said. “And that’s because the best diet for each person really has to be tailored to that individual.”
They conducted a personalized nutrition project at Weizmann, where hundreds of volunteers agreed to have their blood sugar tested after meals. One participant in the study, a woman named Ruti, said she was surprised that it was tomatoes — not ice cream or candies — that were raising her blood sugar level. Ruti recalled, “I have now significantly reduced my intake of tomato and I’m feeling much more energetic, which still surprises me. I have already lost a couple of pounds, and I have high hopes that I have finally found the answer to my weight struggle, too.”
The Israeli scientists found that some people can consume traditionally unhealthy foods with little or no rise in their blood sugar levels, while others have a stronger response, and therefore shouldn’t eat those foods. It’s those kinds of results that you can only find from a personalized diet.
“What we were surprised to find out was just like any other food, there is no such thing as good bread,” Elinav said. “The response to bread was completely individualized.”
35．What is suggested in the first sentence
A．Everyone has their own tastes.
B．Nutrition serves your body best.
C．The latest diet doesn’t fit each person.
D．People’s response to the same food is different.
36．What kind of diet have we continuously pursued
A．A diet that is low in fat and sugar.
B．A diet that works best for everyone.
C．A diet that begins a new diet trend.
D．A diet that provides all the nutrition.
37．Ruti’s example suggests that to control weight, one needs to________.
A．eat much fewer tomatoes
B．control their blood sugar levels
C．struggle for weight loss constantly
D．eat according to his or her blood sugar level
38．Why is Elinav’s opinion on bread mentioned in the last paragraph
A．To show the importance of good bread.
B．To explain the popularity of white bread.
C．To stress the need of the personalized diet.
D．To advise people not to eat unhealthy food.
A robot created at Stanford University in California is diving down to shipwreck and sunken (沉没的) planes in a way that humans can’t do. Known as OceanOneK, the robot allows its operators to feel like they’re underwater explorers, too.
OceanOneK is similar to a human diver from the front, with arms and hands and eyes that have 3D vision, capturing the underwater world in full color. The back of the robot has computers and eight multi-directional thrusters (推进器) that help it carefully explore the sites of fragile sunken ships. When an operator at the ocean’s surface uses controls to direct OceanOneK, the robot’s touch-based feedback system causes the person to feel the water’s resistance as well as the forms of artifacts (人工制品).
OceanOneK’s realistic sight and touch capabilities are enough to make people feel like they’re diving down to the depths-without the dangers or immense underwater pressure a human diver would experience.
The idea for OceanOneK came from a desire to study coral reefs in the Red Sea at depths beyond the normal range for divers. While OceanOneK was designed to reach maximum depths of 656 feet, researchers had a new goal: 1 kilometer, hence the new name for OceanOneK.
The researchers changed the robot’s body by using special foam (泡沫) to increase buoyancy (浮力)and fight the pressures of 1,000 meters-more than 100 times what humans experience at sea level. OceanOneK also got two new types of hands and increased arm and head motion.
During OceanOneK’s deep dive in February, team members discovered the robot couldn’t rise when they stopped for a thruster check. Floatation on the communications and power line had collapsed, causing the line to pile on the top of the robot.
They were able to pull the loose parts, and OceanOnek’s going down was a success. It dropped off a memorial marker on the seabed that reads, “A robot’s first touch of the deep seafloor-A vast new world for humans to explore.”
Khatib, a professor, called the experience an “incredible journey”. “This is the first time that a robot has been capable of going to such a depth, interacting with the environment, and permitting the human operator to feel that environment,” he said.
39．What can we know about OceanOnek
A．It works underwater with remote control.
B．It works underwater like a human diver.
C．It can repair fragile sunken ships underwater.
D．It can make human divers work better underwater.
40．Where does the idea for OceanOnek originate from
A．The failing experience of previous experiments.
B．The eager desire of deep sea exploration.
C．The academic research into treasures from shipwrecks.
D．The inspiration from coral reefs in deep oceans.
41．What problem did the researchers meet during OceanOnek’s deep dive in February
A．Failure to go up normally.
B．Loss of touch with the operators.
C．Floatation with sea current.
D．Collapse of a thruster at the seafloor.
42．What’s the text mainly about
A．Robots help people become ocean explorer.
B．Robots explore shipwrecks on the ocean bottom.
C．Robots search the ocean floor for sunken treasures.
D．Robots dive into the deep ocean to locate minerals.
It’s that time of year, again, somehow time for the list of UK LEGO events of this year 2023. Here is a rough guide.
Discovery Brick Show
Date:30th, April-1st, May
Place: Discovery Museum
Description: This LEGO show in central Newcastle returns, with LEGO models from builders across the UK, activities and a marketplace for LEGO-lovers.
Cost: Some free activities; entry to the marketplace requires a paid ticket.
Thirsk Brick Show
Date:12th February
Place: Thirsk& Sowerby Town Hall
Description: A small LEGO show in this town hall, back for its third year. The money that is made from the show goes to an aged care centre in the town. LEGO displays and some activities.
Cost: A small entry fee in aid of charity.
Hull Brick Festival
Date:13th-14th August
Place: Guildhall
Description: This show is in its seventh year and this time it’s in town for the whole weekend! Awesome
LEGO creations from the best builders in the UK, fun activities plus several specialist
LEGO traders with everything from new bargain sets, loose bricks to custom accessories.
Cost: Free entry; ticket booking is recommended.
Caterham Model Show
Date:17th September
Place: Sacred Heart Centenary Hall
Description: This remarkable LEGO and model show is back again this year. LEGO as well as non-LEGO displays, activities and traders who buy and sell a lot of unique LEGO creations.
Cost: Paid tickets are required for entry; see the event page for details.
43．Whose profits will be used to help people in need
A．Discovery Brick Show’s.
B．Thirsk Brick Show’s.
C．Hull Brick Festival’s.
D．Caterham Model Show’s.
44．Where will a free but ticketed LEGO event be hosted
A．In Discovery Museum.
B．In Thirsk& Sowerby Town Hall.
C．In Guildhall.
D．In Sacred Heart Centenary Hall.
45．What do the four events have in common
A．They have been held before.
B．They are aimed at selling LEGO models.
C．They have their marketplace.
D．They include some non-LEGO activities.
Humans have two different ages. There is chronological age(时序年龄), which measures how much time a person has spent on Earth, and then there is biological age, referring to how old a person seems. Many lifestyle factors like diet, exercise and psychological state can impact someone’s biological age.
A new study from Deep Longevity, the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Stanford University found that feelings that cause poor mental health like sadness, loneliness and general unhappiness add an extra 1.65 years to a person’s biological age. Meanwhile, smoking can add up to 1.25 years and suffering from restless sleep can add 0.44 years to a person’s biological age, according to the study.
As part of the study, researchers said they came up with a new “aging clock” based on data from 4,846 Chinese adults in 2015 as part of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS).
The data included 16 blood biomarkers like cholesterol and glucose levels as well as other health information like blood pressure, body mass index, lung function and sex.
Researchers compared the chronological age of CHARLS participants with the ages predicted by their new “aging clock.“ The results found that the new age was roughly 5.6 years older than the CHARLS participants’ actual ages. The team also found that smokers and those with a history of stroke, liver or lung disease were predicted to be older than the remaining 4,451 healthy adults in the cohort.
“Chronological age isn’t how old we really are,” said Professor David Sinclair, co-director of the Paul F.Glenn Center for the Biology of Aging at Harvard Medical School. We all age biologically at different rates according to our genes, what we eat, and how much we exercise. Biological age is what determines our health and ultimately our lifespan. Biological age is a number of candles we really should be blowing out. In the future, with advances in our ability to control biological age, we may have even fewer candles on our cake than the previous one.“
46．Which of the following has the biggest negative effect on our biological age
A．Smoking. B．Poor sleep. C．Being married. D．Feeling lonely.
47．What’s Professor David Sinclair’s attitude to the future of human’s biological age
A．Concerned. B．Indifferent. C．Optimistic. D．Ambiguous.
48．Where can the text be found
A．In a novel. B．In a health magazine.
C．In a biography. D．In a travel brochure.
49．Which can be a suitable title for the text
A．What Decides a Person’s Chronological Age.
B．What Adds Years to a Person’s Biological Age.
C．Chronological Age-How Old Are You Really
D．Biological Age-You May Be Older than You Are.
Seagrass meadows(海草床) are wonder plants growing beneath the sea. They feed and shelter sea life and are masterful at storing carbon. Thanks to the assistance of tiger sharks, a huge seagrass meadow in the Bahamas Banks was recently discovered, offering the world a tool to fight climate change.
Seagrass has usually been detected by Earth-orbiting satellites that identify darker patches in the blue water. In this study, tiger sharks were selected as research tools due to their highly consistent associations with seagrass ecosystems. They spend 70% of their time in seagrass meadows. The team equipped eight tiger sharks with satellite tags (电子跟踪器), seven sharks with camera tags, and used a 360-degree camera on a shark for the first time ever.
The data researchers collected was astonishing. The world’s largest seagrass ecosystem, measuring at least 66,900 square kilometers, has been discovered. This reflects a 41% increase from previous estimates of global seagrass. Seagrass can capture (捕获) huge quantities of carbon by photosynthesis (光合作用) and stores it on the seafloor. In terms of climate change, this is excellent news; seagrass is 35 times faster a removing carbon than tropical rainforests. When referred to global seagrass carbon stock estimates, the study indicates that seagrass in the Bahamas may contain 19.2% to 26.3% of all the carbon stored in seagrass meadows on Earth.
Yet seagrass meadows are rapidly disappearing, with over 92% of meadows in the UK gone, according to the World Wildlife Fund. Scientists are collecting seeds and trying to grow new seagrass meadows through restoration projects. This new discovery offers optimism and proves the importance of the ocean for healing.
The sharks led us to the seagrass ecosystem in the Bahamas, which we now know is likely the most significant blue carbon sink(蓝色碳汇) on the planet. What this discovery shows us is that ocean exploration and research are essential for a healthy future. The untapped potential of the ocean is limitless. These meadows can be protected and can be replicated (复制,仿制), offering hope for climate change around the globe.
50．Why were tiger sharks chosen as research tools
A．They are more flexible than other sea animals.
B．They can quickly adjust themselves to the deep sea.
C．They have a strong connection with seagrass ecosystems.
D．They can be easily equipped with experimental devices.
51．What are the numbers in paragraph 3 mainly about
A．The decline of global seagrass meadows.
B．The impact of climate change on sea life.
C．The rapid increase in the amount of carbon on Earth.
D．The potential value of the world’s largest seagrass ecosystem.
52．What are scientists doing to protect seagrass
A．Planting more seagrass meadows.
B．Developing new technology to collect seeds.
C．Mapping the distribution of seagrass meadows.
D．Encouraging people to join in restoration projects.
53．Which could be the best title for the text
A．The New Way of Removing Carbon
B．The Significance of Ocean Exploration
C．A New Discovery: World’s Largest Seagrass Meadow
D．Tiger Sharks: Scientists’ Essential Helper to Study Climate
When I was a kid, my mother used to tell me Chinese folk stories before bedtime. My mother is an immigrant. She told me those stories so that I wouldn’t forget the culture that she had left. Even though I hadn’t ever experienced that culture at firsthand, she wanted me to remember it.
Of all her stories, my favourites were about Sun Wukong, the monkey king who had many superpowers. Eventually, though, I moved on to other kinds of heroes. When I was in the fifth grade, I bought my first American comic book. Afterwards, Superman, Spider-man and Captain America replaced Sun Wukong in my heart.
I became crazy about comic books. I loved them so much that I went on to work towards a career in comics. Today I am a professional graphic novelist. My most well-known book is American Born Chinese, published in 2006. Monkey King is one of my main characters, but the book isn’t direct adaptation of my mother’s stories. Instead, I invited Monkey King into my story so that I could talk about the uneasiness of growing up as an Asian American. The character I knew from my childhood expressed his emotions without reservation. I needed him to emote on my pages.
For research, I tracked down an English translation of Journey to the West, the centuries-old Chinese classi that first told the monkey king’s story. As I read it, I realized that American superheroes hadn’t replaced Sun Wukong in my heart after all -they were simply Western expressions of everything I loved about the monkey king. The monkey king’s story has lasted for centuries and travelled across continents and cultures. Journey to the West is the very definition of “timeless”.
My mother now has Alzheimer’s. She’s forgotten all of the stories she used to tell me, but I remember. In many ways, I’ve built my whole career on those moments before bedtime. With every comic book I create, I am trying to relive the wonder I felt when my mother told me the stories of Sun Wukong.
54．What did the author’s mother expect him to do
A．Earn a living by writing. B．Keep their cultural root.
C．Experience Chinese art first hand. D．Remember all the stories she told him.
55．What can we learn about the book American Born Chinese
A．It uses the character Sun Wukong as a symbol.
B．It reflects the growing pains of American children.
C．It is the best-seller among American born Chinese.
D．It encourages people to seek their roots back in Asia.
56．What did the author think of Journey to the West
A．It’s really a popular classic works. B．It’s more attractive than western comic books.
C．It’s easy to understand. D．It’s a book reflecting the real world.
57．What is the last paragraph mainly about
A．The author’s concern for his mother.
B．The approach to creating comic books.
C．The author’s memory of his childhood experience.
D．The influence of the stories of Sun Wukong on the author.
Climate Acts Must Focus on Youth
Children and young people are bearing the burden of climate change. However, they are consistently overlooked in the design and content of climate policies and related measures. The rights of the youth need to be put in a central place in a country’s climate change plan as extreme weather events are threatening their lives and destroying the infrastructure critical to their well-being.
The scientific community has sounded the alarm that climate change is a global emergency, and the risks of deadly drought, frequent floods, heat waves, extreme weather, and poverty will significantly worsen.
Over half a billion children live in high flood zones and nearly 160 million live in areas of extremely high drought, said a report released in 2015 by the United Nations Children’s Fund, or UNICEF. Polluted air has a huge impact on children’s brain development. It is estimated about 2 billion children live in areas with air quality that is well above international pollution standards. Air pollution, lack of safe water, undernutrition is strongly linked to pneumonia, a leading cause of death among children, killing nearly 2, 400 children a day. The increase of diseases such as malaria and dengue fever have the greatest impacts on children, for example, 90 percent of the disease burden that is attributable to climate change is born by children under the age of five. The UNICEF report said all these challenges are exacerbated by climate change.
Through the intergovernmental cooperation on climate change, the UN has made it clear the impacts of climate change are global in scope and unprecedented in raising. Actively responding to climate change is not only imperative, but also key to sustainable development for generations to come as children and young people are the future of mankind.
We are all glad to see children and young people are encouraged to play a key role in addressing climate-related risks by promoting environmentally sustainable lifestyles and setting an example for their communities.
58．What’s the author’s main purpose in the first paragraph
A．To give a summary. B．To give some evidences.
C．To express his emotions. D．To put forward his view.
59．How does climate change impact young children
A．It harms children’s health. B．It has a huge impact on children’s education.
C．It reduces births of new babies. D．It leads to the change of children’s lifestyle.
60．What is the author’s attitude towards the issue
A．Approving. B．Intolerable. C．Concerned. D．Indifferent.
61．Who are probably the intended readers of the text
A．Engineers. B．Environmentalists. C．Sports fans. D．Music lovers.
The world has faced a food crisis of unprecedented(前所未有的) proportions in 2022—the largest in modern history, as conflict, the COVID-19 pandemic, climate crisis and rising costs have combined to pose great risks for hungry people across the world. As many as 828 million people go to bed hungry every night. The number of those facing acute food insecurity has risen from 135 million to 345 million since 2019. A total of 49 million people in 49 countries are suffering hunger, according to figures from the United Nations’ World Food Programme.
“We are facing an unprecedented global food crisis and all signs suggest we have not yet seen the worst. For the last three years, hunger numbers have repeatedly hit new peaks,” WFP Executive Director David Beasley said. He warned that things can and will get worse unless there is a large-scale and coordinated(协调一致的) effort to address the causes of this crisis.
There are many reasons for prevailing high levels of food insecurity. These reasons include conflicts, climate changes and weather extremes, economic slowdowns and downturns. In addition, these drivers often do not act alone. For instance, conflicts are often accompanied by economic downturns, which affect livelihoods and the ability of people to earn resources, leading to increasing poverty levels and higher prevalence(流行) of food insecurity.
Unfortunately, the main reasons for high levels of food insecurity have not improved this year. People in the Horn of Africa are facing a fifth consecutive(连续的) failed rain season in parts of Ethiopia, Kenya and Somalia, which will constrain their production, and is likely to push many people deeper into food insecurity.
Moreover, there is uncertainty about the weather. And climatic shock affecting any major producer or exporter will introduce additional uncertainty into production and consequently prices, which in turn impact the ability to purchase food, particularly of the most vulnerable people.
62．How does the author lead in the topic
A．By making a comparison. B．By sharing personal experience.
C．By giving opinions with evidence. D．By listing facts and accurate figures.
63．What can we know from David Beasley’s words
A．This global food crisis won’t last longer.
B．It’s certain that the global food crisis will get worse.
C．We need to work together to deal with the global food crisis.
D．There will be another new peak of hunger numbers in three years.
64．What does the underlined word in Paragraph 3 mean
A．Characters. B．Operators. C．Factors. D．Activities.
65．What is the best title for the passage
A．The Issue of Food Safety B．The Unprecedented Food Crisis
C．Conflicts Causing Food Shortage D．Efforts Put into the Study of Food Insecurity
Here are some of the world’s most unusual events.
World Ice Golf Championship, Greenland
For more than 10 years the World Ice Golf Championship has been seen as the most extreme golf competition in the world. In 1997, architect Rolf Henning-Jensen was asked to design the world’s first ice golf course among huge iceberg and heavy snows of Uummannaq, a small town on the west coast of Greenland-600 km north of the Arctic Circle. There golfers face extreme temperatures as their first task to deal with. Then it will take players time and patience to accommodate themselves to white “green” and orange balls to play with. Determined by weather conditions, this event is scheduled for March each year in Greenland.
Balloon Fiesta, the United States
Have you ever been taken to the sky in a hot air balloon The yearly Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta gives you the chance to enjoy a bird’s-eye view of the city and countryside. Since 1972, perfect October weather, blue skies and wind known as the “Albuquerque box” have worked together to allow balloonists to control their way thanks to the direction of blowing winds. This is the only place in the world to enjoy balloons flying in the blue skies each October.
El Colacho, Spain
The world’s most dangerous festival takes place every year in a small Spanish village Castillo de Murcia near Burgous. El Colacho means the devil’s jump and in fact this is the act of baby-jumping. Its purpose is to force a devil to leave the child’s body. Men dressed as devils jump over small babies to guard them against illness and bad spirits. Many consider the festival to be dangerous as “jumping devils” could hurt babies. But locals believe the action protects their babies from bad things and organize the jump in the streets, so people can watch or even join.
66．What does the schedule of World Ice Golf Championship depend on
A．Transport. B．Economy. C．Weather. D．Golfers’ time.
67．What can we learn about Balloon Fiesta
A．It is usualy held in spring. B．It is held in every October.
C．It is known as “Albuquerque box”. D．It is the only place to watch birds in balloons.
68．Why is the festival El Colacho celebrated
A．To wish babies good health. B．To celebrate babies’ birthdays.
C．To attract visitors around the world. D．To catch the bad spirits hidden in babies.
British teen Kitty Tait wakes up at 5 am every day to bake bread, but it’s not just any old bread. The young girl who runs the Orange Bakery in her home town, with her dad Alex, adds a little humor to her bakes.
“If something is fun to eat, it makes it even tastier!” the teen baking star, who overcame depression after discovering the art of bread making, said. It was watching her dad make a simple loaf of white bread that changed her life forever. “Something that was so unpromising — a bit like how my brain felt at the time — had turned into something so magical,” she recalls.
Soon, Kitty was baking loaves for her neighbors. And before she knew it, there was a subscription service followed by a pop-up in her neighbor’s garage where she sold almost 100 loaves of bread and doughnuts (甜甜圈) in half an hour. “At that moment, I realized that this was what I wanted to do with my life,” she says.
A few months later, after raising enough money through crowdfunding,the teen rented a small retail space in town and her dad quit his job to become her business partner. They’ve been running the Orange Bakery ever since, selling everything from Marmite and cheese swirls to Danish pastries.
“I’m just really excited about people eating good bread, whether it is made by themselves or bought from a bakery,” says Kitty. “My main mission is to make bread inclusive and joyful because I have found so much joy in it.”
Today, the Taits are part of the global baking community, running baking classes at local schools.
69．What can we learn about Kitty before her picking up baking
A．She worked part-time at a bakery.
B．She suffered from a mental illness.
C．She turned something magical into reality.
D．She learned baking from her mom and neighbors.
70．Which word can describe Kitty’s bread in her neighborhood
A．Popular.
B．Graceful.
C．Updated.
D．Ordinary.
71．What can we conclude about Kitty’s father from paragraph 4
A．He had ever been a good teacher.
B．He bought the Orange Bakery for Kitty.
C．He made a contribution to Kitty's cause.
D．He had ever done foreign trade in a company.
72．What is Kitty’s main focus
A．Making baking a fun thing.
B．Earning as much as possible.
C．Running joyful baking classes.
D．Thinking up better ways of baking.
When you want advice to achieve something, whom would you rather ask: the top performer in that area or someone barely getting by Most people would choose the top performer. That person’s advice, however, may not be any more helpful.
“Skillful performance and skillful teaching are not always the same thing, so we shouldn’t expect the best performers to necessarily be the best teachers as well,” said David Levari (Harvard Business School), lead author of a recent Psychological Science article.
Across four studies, he and co-authors found that top performers don’t give better advice than other performers, at least in some domains(领域). Rather, they just give more of it. “Our studies suggest that at least in some instances, people may overvalue advice from top performers,” the researchers wrote.
“In our experiments, people given advice by top performers thought that it helped them more, even though it usually didn’t. Surprisingly, they thought so even though they didn't know anything about the people who wrote their advice,” said Levari. “Top performers didn’t write more helpful advice, but they did write more of it, and people in our experiments mistook quantity for quality,” Levari added.
So, why wasn’t the advice more helpful Levari and colleagues have a few ideas. First, skilled performers may overlook fundamental advice because natural talent and extensive practice have made conscious thought unnecessary. Second, top performers may not be skilled communicators. Even when an excellent performer does have explicit information to share, they may not be especially good at sharing it. Finally, a large quantity of advice may be more than what can realistically be carried out.
“We spend a lot of time and money looking for good advice, whether from coworkers and coaches, teachers and tutors, or friends and family,” said Levari. “The next time you get advice, you should think less about how much of it there was, and more about how much of it you could actually use.”
73．How did the author introduce the topic of the text
A．By comparing data.
B．By raising a question.
C．By describing a definition.
D．By presenting the survey result.
74．Which of the following agrees with Levari’s opinion
A．Top performers give poor advice.
B．Top performers give better advice.
C．Top performers give useful advice.
D．Top performers give more advice.
75．What did Levari suggest people do when getting advice
A．Learn about its writer.
B．Consider its practicality.
C．Think less about its quality.
D．Find more related information.
76．What is the best title for the text
A．Top Performers Can Be Trusted
B．Trying Common Performers' Advice Is Great
C．Common Performers May Give More Advice
D．Top Performers Don't Always Give Better Advice
参考答案：
1．B 2．A 3．D 4．A
【导语】这是一篇说明文。介绍了ChatGPT的出现，市场反应，并对它的优点及弊端进行分析。
1．主旨大意题。根据第二段“ChatGPT remembers the thread of your dialogue, using previous questions and answers to inform its next responses. It derives its answers from huge volumes of information on the Internet. ChatGPT is built on top of the OpenAI GPT-3 family of large language models and is fine-tuned (a method of transfer learning) using both supervised and reinforcement learning (监督和强化学习). (ChatGPT会记住你对话的线索，使用之前的问题和答案来告知它的下一个回答。它从互联网上的海量信息中获得答案。ChatGPT建立在OpenAI GPT-3家族的大型语言模型之上，并使用监督学习和强化学习进行了微调)”可知，本段描述了ChatGPT的操作使用，告诉我们它的工作原理。故选B项。
2．推理判断题。根据第三段中“A few days after its launch, more than 1 million people were trying out ChatGPT. UBS analyst Lloyd Walmsley estimated in February 2023 that ChatGPT reached 100 million monthly users in January, accomplishing in 2 months what took TikTok about 9 months and Instagram two and a half years. (ChatGPT上线几天后，就有超过100万人在试用。UBS分析师Lloyd Walmsley在2023年2月估计，ChatGPT在1月份的月用户数达到了1亿，只用了两个月的时间，就完成了TikTok大约9个月和Instagram两年半的任务)”可知，本段所列数字显示ChatGPT非常受欢迎。故选A项。
3．推理判断题。根据第四段中“As of Feb. 1, 2023, OpenAI has aChatGPT pro plan, ChatGPT Plus, which allows users to have general access even during peak times. This service does come at a cost of $20/month. (截至2023年2月1日，OpenAI推出了aChatGPT专业计划ChatGPT Plus，允许用户在高峰时段也能进行一般访问。这项服务的费用是每月20美元)”可知，ChatGPT Plus的目的是在高峰时段给予用户优先访问权。故选D项。
4．细节理解题。根据最后一段中“ChatGPT has limited knowledge due to its programming but Google has unlimited knowledge which is updated every day. (由于它的编程，ChatGPT的知识有限，但谷歌有无限的知识，每天都在更新)”可知，与谷歌相比，ChatGPT局限性是基于有限的数据进行操作。故选A项。
5．C 6．D 7．B
【导语】本文是一篇应用文。文章介绍STEM（科学、技术、工程和数学）职业联盟为学生和家庭提供的一些制造业活动。
5．推理判断题。根据第一段“National Manufacturing Day occurs annually on the first Friday of October to motivate today’s students to become the next generation of innovator leading the manufacturing industry. In order to support this celebration, the coalition offers three different collections to all students, educators, and families on modern manufacturing that support learning wherever it takes place.(每年10月的第一个星期五是国家制造日，旨在激励今天的学生成为引领制造业的下一代创新者。为了支持这一庆祝活动，该联盟为所有学生、教育工作者和家庭提供了三种不同的现代制造业系列，以支持学习。)”可知，STEM职业联盟目的是引导学生从事制造业工作。故选C。
6．细节理解题。根据Manufacturing focused Career Profiles (简介)中的“Explore the profiles of excellent manufacturing professionals who used the skills they learned at school to become the kind of problem solvers that make a difference.(探索优秀的制造专业人士的个人资料，他们利用在学校学到的技能成为解决问题的人，发挥了作用。)”，可知Manufacturing-focused Career Profiles活动会向学生介绍制造大师，故选D。
7．细节理解题。 根据第二段“The following resources are available to all at no cost:(以下资源可供所有人免费使用:)”可知这些活动都是免费的，故选B。
8．C 9．B 10．C 11．D
【导语】本文是一篇议论文。对于是否在受到气候变化严重影响的河流上建造水坝，科学家们的意见不一，支持的一方认为修建水坝可以缓解气候变化，反对的一方认为修建水坝会破坏生态系统且加剧气候变化。
8．推理判断题。根据第一段“Around the world, rivers seem to be either flooding or shrinking (缩小). While Pakistan’s rivers have left one-third of that country flooded and millions of people without homes, a drought unseen for 500 years has left Europe’s major waterways almost dry. In the United States, the Kentucky River suffered deadly flooding this sunmer, while the Colorado River dropped sharply, which brought about water distribution cuts across several states.(在世界范围内，河流要么泛滥，要么萎缩。巴基斯坦的河流使该国三分之一的土地被洪水淹没，数百万人无家可归，与此同时，一场500年未遇的干旱使欧洲的主要水道几乎干涸。在美国，肯塔基河今年夏天遭受了致命的洪水，而科罗拉多河的水位急剧下降，导致几个州的供水中断)”可知，本段提到多条河流或发洪灾或干旱，或水位急剧下降，目的是为了引出话题：为应对该问题，专家们对修建水坝持不同看法。故选C。
9．细节理解题。根据第二段中“There is little disagreement about what’s going on. Scientists have warned for years that our changing climate will cause the frequency of both rainfall and droughts to increase, making the wet wetter and the dry drier, with more extreme impacts on rivers.(人们对正在发生的事情几乎没有分歧。多年来，科学家们一直警告说，不断变化的气候将导致降雨和干旱的频率增加，使潮湿的地方更潮湿，干燥的地方更干燥，对河流产生更极端的影响)”可知，气候变化加剧了自然灾害，这是科学家们长期以来的担忧。故选B。
10．推理判断题。根据最后一段中Isabella Winkler的话“They have been praised as a source of green energy but they are actually not.(它们被誉为绿色能源的一种来源，但实际上并非如此)”可知，Isabella Winkler认为水坝并不是解决气候问题的方法，无法带来绿色能源。因此，Isabella Winkler对建设水坝持否定态度。故选C。
11．主旨大意题。通读全文可知，文章前两段介绍了气候变化使洪涝和干旱灾害频发，并提出了科学家们争论的焦点：水坝的作用，第三段介绍了支持者的观点，第四、五段主要介绍了反对者的看法。由此可知，本文主要呈现的是科学家们对修建水坝是否对气候变化起作用的不同观点。故选D。
12．C 13．D 14．A 15．D
【导语】本文是一篇说明文。我们的大脑是如何记住每一个动作的呢？它如何学习新的知识？Jackie Schiller教授和她的团队在单神经元水平上检查了大脑，揭开了谜团。
12．推理判断题。根据第一段“From the moment we are born, we interact with the world through movement. We move our lips to smile or to talk. We extend our hand to touch. How does our brain remember this wide range of motions How does it learn new ones How does it make the calculations necessary for us to grab a glass of water, without dropping it, squashing it, or missing it (从我们出生的那一刻起，我们就通过运动与世界互动。我们动嘴唇是为了微笑或说话。我们伸出手去触摸。我们的大脑是如何记住如此广泛的动作的呢？它是如何学习新知识的？它是如何进行必要的计算，让我们抓起一杯水，而不掉到地上，压扁它，或者错过它？)”，第二段第一句“Technion Professor Jackie Schiller from the Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and her team examined the brain at a single-neuron (单神经元) level to shed light on this mystery. (以色列理工学院鲁斯和布鲁斯·拉帕波特医学院的杰基·席勒教授和她的团队在单个神经元水平上检查了大脑，以揭示这个谜团)”可知，作者从我们日常生活中所做的动作开始，提出了几个问题，是为了引入话题——我们的大脑是如何记住如此广泛的动作的呢？故选C项。
13．主旨大意题。根据第三段“This discovery, published recently in the Science, promises changes not only to our understanding of how the brain works, but better understanding of conditions ranging from Parkinson’s disease to autism. And if that isn’t enough, these same findings are expected to advance machine learning, providing inspiration for new architectures. (最近发表在《科学》杂志上的这一发现，不仅有望改变我们对大脑工作方式的理解，还有望更好地理解从帕金森病到自闭症等各种疾病。如果这还不够，这些相同的发现有望推动机器学习，为新架构提供灵感)”可知，这一发现有助于我们对大脑工作方式的新的理解，还可帮助我们更好地理解各种疾病、推动机器学习，因此本段主要介绍了该发现可以应用的方面。故选D项。
14．推理判断题。根据第四段“‘We used to think of each neuron as a sort of whistle, which either rings, or doesn’t,’ Prof. Schiller explains. ‘Instead, we are looking at a piano. Its keys can be struck at the same time, or in order, producing an infinity (无限) of different tunes.’ (席勒教授解释说：‘我们过去把每个神经元看作一种哨子，要么响，要么不响。相反，我们看到的是一架钢琴。它的琴键可以同时敲击，也可以按顺序敲击，从而产生无限不同的曲调。’)”可知，Schiller推翻了以往的对神经元的工作原理的理解，而是把神经元比喻成一架钢琴，强调的是神经元的运作方式。故选A项。
15．主旨大意题。通读全文，尤其是根据第一段“How does our brain remember this wide range of motions How does it learn new ones (我们的大脑是如何记住如此广泛的动作的呢？它是如何学习新知识的？)”，第二段“Technion Professor Jackie Schiller from the Ruth and Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine and her team examined the brain at a single-neuron (单神经元) level to shed light on this mystery. They found that calculation happens not just in the interaction between neurons, but within each individual neuron. It turns out that each of these cells is not a simple switch, but a complicated calculating machine.(以色列理工学院鲁斯和布鲁斯·拉帕波特医学院的杰基·席勒教授和她的团队在单个神经元水平上检查了大脑，以揭示这个谜团。他们发现，计算不仅发生在神经元之间的相互作用中，而且发生在每个单独的神经元内部。事实证明，这些细胞中的每一个都不是一个简单的开关，而是一个复杂的计算机器。)”可知，科学家揭开了人脑学习和记忆动作的奥秘，“The Mystery of Learning and Remembering Movement Has Been Uncovered (学习和记忆运动的奥秘已被揭开)”适合作本文标题。故选D项。
16．A 17．C 18．B 19．C
【导语】本文是一篇记叙文。野生动物摄影师Sam和妻子Vera救了一只两周龄的南非白面大羚羊并为其取名Meme，七个月后把她成功放归野外，几个月后再次与她意外相遇。
16．推理判断题。根据第一段“Wildlife photographer Sam Turley and his wife Vera found a two-week-old blesbok (南非白面大羚羊)—whom they named Meme—on her own. She was spotted wandering around on her own after her mother passed away. (野生动物摄影师萨姆·特利和他的妻子维拉发现了一只两周大的南非白面大羚羊独自（呆着），他们给它取名为Meme。在她母亲去世后，有人看到她独自四处游荡。)”可知，野生动物摄影师Sam和他妻子Vera发现了一只南非白面大羚羊独自在周围游荡，她的母亲已经去世。所以Meme在被发现时成了孤儿。故选A项。
17．推理判断题。根据第二段第四句“Meme would follow Vera wherever she went and sometimes the couple would have a blesbok, a dog and a cat all walking together. (无论薇拉走到哪里，Meme都会跟着她，有时，这对夫妇会带着一只南非白面大羚羊、一只狗和一只猫一起散步。)”可知，Meme在这个家里很适应。故选C项。
18．词句推测题。根据划线词所在句“After rescuing the lonely animal, Sam and Vera found it extremely emotional to have to release her back out into the wild to fend for herself—even though they knew it was the right thing to do. (在拯救了这只孤独的动物之后，山姆和维拉发现，不得不把她放回野外让她自己fend，这让他们非常激动——尽管他们知道这是一件正确的事情。)”，及上下文可知，夫妇俩把一个两周龄的南非白面大羚羊救回并抚养长大，最终要放归大自然，目的是让它能自己照顾自己，此处fend意为“照看，照料”，与Care意思相近，故选B项。
19．推理判断题。根据第二段第三句“So it required a huge amount of patience and compassion to keep her fit and healthy but it deserved the effort. (所以这需要极大的耐心和同情心来保持她的健康，但这是值得的。)”，第二段最后一句“It was a privilege to be let into the blesbok’s secret world and they learned more about the blesbok than they thought was ever possible. (被允许进入南非白面大羚羊的秘密世界是一种特权，他们对南非白面大羚羊的了解比他们想象的要多。)”，以及最后一段最后一句“They had put so much time, effort and energy into raising her but to see her walking in a herd of blesboks made it all worthwhile. (他们花了那么多的时间、精力和精力来抚养她，但看到她在一群南非白面大羚羊中行走，这一切都值得了。)”可知，救下这只南非白面大羚羊以及之后的一切付出都是值得的，故选C项。
20．B 21．C 22．A 23．D
【导语】本文是一篇说明文。本文介绍了拖延症的定义、原因以及疗法。
20．推理判断题。根据第一段“Some 20 percent of adults are procrastinators (拖延症患者). Everyone might put off a task or two, but long-term procrastinators do it at home, at school, at work and in their relationships. (大约20%的成年人是拖延症患者。每个人都可能会推迟一两个任务，但长期拖延者会在家里、学校、工作和人际关系中拖延。)”可知，长期拖延症患者不只是在任务上拖延，而是生活中的方方面面都是如此，这说明拖延已经成为他们的一种习惯。故选B项。
21． 推理判断题。根据第二段“The results suggest procrastinators may be impulsive (冲动), worriers and have trouble regulating their emotions. But procrastinators are not lazy. They’re actually very busy doing other things than what they’re supposed to be doing. (研究结果表明，拖延者可能很冲动，是个发愁的人，难以控制自己的情绪。但是拖延者并不懒惰。他们实际上忙着做其他事情，而不是他们应该做的事情。)”可