全卷满分：150分 考试时间：120分钟 2024.10
第一部分：听力（共两节，满分30分）（略）
第二部分：阅读（共两节，满分50分）
第一节（共15小题；每小题2.5分，满分37.5分）
阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项选出最佳选项。
A
Hand gestures (手势) have been commonly used in our daily communication. They add to the message by filling in what words sometimes leave behind. But are you somewhat aware of the history that goes behind some of these popular hand gestures?
Handshake
Whether you’re greeting someone for the first time, or successfully negotiating (商定) an agreement, shaking hands is usually the go-to gesture. Who decided on this customary gesture, anyway? The history of the handshake dates back to ancient Greece, showing that neither person was carrying a weapon.
Thumbs up and thumbs down
Maybe you’re familiar with the popular story of this hand gesture dating back to Roman times. When a gladiator (角斗士) lost, the crowd would either stick their thumbs out to have him killed or just not make any sign at all. The thumbs up decided the gladiator’s fate (命运). After WWII, thumbs up only came to mean that things were going smoothly. And thumbs down meant the opposite.
High five
According to some sources, the high five first became popular when baseball players
performed at Dodger Stadium on October 2, 1977. Glenn Burke, one of the capable players, lifted his arm high above his head and slapped palms (手掌) with his teammate Dusty Baker to celebrate a milestone home run, marking what is widely regarded as the first recorded example of a high five.
The fist bump
The fist bump comes from boxers in the 1970s after people began imitating how they touched gloves before a competition. Later, instead of shaking hands, first bumps became popular among basketball players. The gesture soon spread to all basketball lovers, and, before long, to the President of the United States.
21. What did “thumbs up” mean to a gladiator in Roman times?
A. Being cheered. B. Being killed. C. Being appreciated. D. Being blamed.
22. Which gesture is in celebration of a home run?
A B
C D
23. Which aspect do all the four gestures mention?
A. The history. B. The future. C. The power. D. The importance.
B
Kevin Beard is my class instructor. Most weeks, I’d greet Kevin as he set up gloves, mats, and other equipment. So I was shocked when I arrived one day to find him standing in front of the room telling a story, with tears streaming down his cheeks. I was worried something had gone terribly wrong in his life, but as I listened to him talk, I heard him use words like “amazing” and “accomplishment.” I realized his tears weren’t out of sorrow, but happiness. Just a few days earlier, he’d received his GED (General Equivalency Diploma), at the age of 52.
Having dyslexia (阅读障碍), Kevin left school at a young age and then managed to support himself by taking odd jobs. In his mid-30s, Kevin finally landed an opportunity for a job with some promise: working for a sheriff’s department (治安部门). Amazingly, when he came clean with them about his education, they said they’d hire him as long as he got his GED. He agreed, optimistic about this new career potential, and kind of excited about giving school another chance.
Kevin studied with a tutor (家庭教师), and he did it for more than a decade, learning and practicing and correcting his mistakes, every free moment he had, often late into the night. It was a huge challenge, something Kevin compares to “climbing a mountain.” In fact, as Kevin took tests along the way, he did something interesting with each of his results. He posted them on his bedroom wall so that he could watch his progress. “I needed to see myself moving forward, and I wanted to speak,” he said.
Finally, he made it. “I can’t really describe what it’s like to finally achieve this,” he said. “I can hardly even put it into words. People are giving me graduation gifts! It’s a dream come true.”
This might sound like a perfect ending. But for Kevin, it’s a new beginning. He’s on a roll, and his next step is college. “Now that I’ve accomplished my GED, I’m hungry for education,” he said.
24. Why did Kevin cry in the classroom?
A. He was worried about his future. B. He had reached one of his goals.
C. He was moved by a touching story. D. He had experienced something terrible.
25. What was the response of the sheriff’s department when they learned of Kevin’s education?
A. They gave him hope.
B. They refused him directly.
C. They assessed his suitability for the job.
D. They recommended a part-time job to him.
26. How did Kevin encourage himself to keep going to get his GED?
A. By reporting his test results to his tutor.
B. By writing himself encouraging words.
C. By reminding himself of his progress.
D. By taking time to do things that interest him.
27. What can we learn from Kevin’s story?
A. Practice makes perfect. B. Grasp all, lose all.
C. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. D. The early bird catches the worm.
C
Will you eat everything in your lunch box today? If not, what will you do with what’s left over? Save it for another time or throw it in the bin?
A new report by the United Nations estimates (估计) 17% of all the food produced around the world gets wasted each year. That means 931 million tons of wasted food! Most of the waste (61%) happens in households, while food services such as restaurants and cafes make up 26 percent and shops make up 13 percent, the UN found.
“Many countries haven’t yet known how much food they have wasted, so they don’t understand how serious the problem is,” said Clementine O’Connor, from the UN Environment Program and co-author of the report.
Food waste is also bad for the environment. The UN Environment Program estimates that wasted food is responsible for 8-10% of global greenhouse gas emissions (排放物). If food waste were a country, it would have the third highest greenhouse gas emissions in the world, after only the US and China.
The report found food waste in homes wasn’t limited to higher income countries such as the US, the UK and Australia. Food waste researcher, Professor Brian Roe, from Ohio State University in the US, said food was also sometimes wasted in poor countries because they didn’t have refrigerators.
Professor Brian Roe said household and cultural habits could lead to waste at home, including “buy one, get one free” deals. Meanwhile, “use-by” or “best-before” dates on products could also be causing people to throw away food. People could be throwing out food because they think it is unsafe to eat, when in fact the date only shows when quality might decline.
28. Where does most of food waste happen?
A. At home. B. At cafes. C. At shops. D. At restaurants.
29. Why does the author compare food waste to a country?
A. To tell us greenhouse gas emissions are very serious.
B. To tell us the US produces the most greenhouse gas.
C. To show food waste is quite common all over the world.
D. To show food waste does great harm to the environment.
30. What does Professor Brian Roe try to tell us in the last paragraph?
A. How food waste happens. B. The harm of food waste.
C. Why we shouldn’t waste food. D. The ways to reduce food waste.
31. What would be the best title of the text?
A. Why do people waste food? B. Where do people waste food?
C. Food waste is a serious problem D. Food waste happens in different countries
D
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term “couch potato” first appeared in print in a December, 1979 edition of the Los Angeles Times. Since then, it has become a familiar term for a person who spends a lot of time sitting, and little time exercising. Although there does not seem to be any particular reason why the term “couch potato” is used rather than “couch tomato”, a person may become a “couch potato” because living this way is said to make you round like a potato. The term is also said to have something to do with the high-calorie (卡路里) food like potato chips.
People now would say “couch potato” whenever they talk about overweight and obesity (肥胖). Indeed, “couch potatoes” are believed to have heart disease risks, which can be avoided by regular exercise.
It is true that technology and modern life in general make us sick, fat, lazy and physically/mentally soft. The more time people spend using technology, particularly televisions and computers, the less time they will spend being physically active.
“Couch potato” kids are a particular concern. Media reports repeatedly claim that children today are fatter than their elder generations, but less athletically skilled, less interested in physical activities and more addicted (上瘾的) to “junk food” and technology such as televisions and computers. The message is clear: today’s children are fat because they are lazy and eat too much. Moreover, because technology is becoming more sophisticated (复杂的), children are less able to resist (抵抗，忍得住) technology’s attraction, and are more likely to spend more time using technology, less time doing physical activities and, therefore, more likely to be fat.
