| 1. 难度：中等 | |
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To ensure an excellent experience during your tour of the Mark Twain House, here are some guidelines and general information: The House is Shown Only by Guided Tour. To ensure an optimum (最佳) experience, house tours are limited to 14 people, first-come, first-served. If your group has more than 10 people, call (860) 280-3130 to reserve a discounted group tour in advance of your visit. If you have a party of fewer than 10 people feel free to purchase tickets online: We will hold them at Will Call. The tour schedule is usually online about a month in advance. Our site is made up of three buildings The Webster Bank Museum Center at the Mark Twain House & Museum is always your first and last stop as it houses our ticket counter, museum store, film, exhibits and cafe. All tours gather in the museum center before heading over to Mark Twain’s historic 1874 home. Mark Twain’s historic carriage house is the third building on our property, but is generally not open to the public. The hayloft (干草棚) has been repurposed into offices and the main floor of the barn is a space available for rent for parties and meetings. Coupons & Discounts The Mark Twain House offers only a few coupons and discounts. The price you pay for admission helps us maintain the beauty of this icon of American architecture. If you are lucky enough to find one of those special offers online or at your local library, keep in mind they are good only for the general Mark Twain House Tours. No passes or discounts may be applied to our specialty tours. 1.What kind of tour booked beforehand enjoys a discount? A.Specialty tour. B.Guided tour C.Group tour with 9 people. D.Group tour with 13 people. 2.Which place is not available to tourists? A.The Webster Bank Museum Center. B.Mark Twain’s historic carriage house. C.The hayloft. D.Mark Twain’s historic 1874 home. 3.What is the purpose of charging admission fees? A.To earn more money. B.To well preserve the house. C.To support Mark Twain’s family. D.To offer parties and meetings.
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| 2. 难度：中等 | |
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When Lina was awoken by the sound of thunder, she was alone on the island. The air was cool and bullfrogs croaked. It was that brief moment when the summer sun had set but the stars hadn't yet appeared. Lina rubbed her eyes and looked around. “Hello?” she called. “Celia? Marie” There was no response. The moon was rising now, shedding light on the island. They had always called it “Forgotten Island” because no one but they seemed to remember its existence. It wasn’t on any of the maps they could find, and even the forest rangers didn’t know about it. Lina loved that the island, hidden in a heavily-wooded side stream of the river, was a secret between the three friends — her, Celia, and Marie. But now Lina was here alone, and it was night. Worse still, it was her own fault. “Come on, Lina, let Marie row the boat.” Celia had said. Marie was two years older than Lina, but she was a hopeless rower. That’s why Lina refused and rowed the boat to the island. The argument that followed the refusal took the usual form. Celia took Marie’s side, as she always did. Lina had exploded and yelled at them to just leave. So they got back in the boat and left. A bolt of lightning crossed the darkened sky, accompanied by a deafening thunder clap. The storm was here. As the first cold raindrop slid down her neck, Lina’s mind returned to her current problem. She was stuck here by herself. She just hoped she didn’t become as forgotten as the island. The thought of it sent a chill (寒意) down her back. Suddenly, Lina spotted something in the water. It was a boat, and inside it were Marie, Celia, and Marie's dad, who was steering through the fast flowing waters. As the boat approached, they saw Lina waving and the worried expressions on their faces turned to relief. In her excitement Lina jumped into the river. Only once she was in the icy water did she remember how fast the water was moving. Luckily a strong arm reached into the water and pulled her out. She smiled weakly at Marie’s dad and, without a word, hugged Celia and Marie. They didn’t seem to mind becoming wet. 1.What can be inferred about the island? A.It is very near the ocean. B.It is a popular place for boating. C.It is surrounded by thick forest. D.It has never been reached by others. 2.Why did Lina get angry? A.Marie would not help row the boat. B.Lina was left alone on the island. C.Marie didn't know how to row the boat. D.Celia supported Marie in the disagreement. 3.What caused Lina to feel a chill? A.Her shame about the unnecessary argument. B.The first raindrops of the approaching storm. C.The idea that no one would come to save her. D.The drop in temperature as the sun went down. 4.Who pulled Lina out of the water? A.Marie’s father. B.Lina herself. C.Marie. D.CeliA.
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| 3. 难度：中等 | |
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When you don’t have a car and need to get around, are you more likely to call for an Uber or Lyft, or a cab? Last Friday, Lyft — the ride-sharing company, went public as its stocks (股票) started trading on the market. Lyft has become the first big initial public offering of the “gig economy” age. While the company is not making profits yet, it is changing the meaning of work. What is gig economy and what makes it so appealing? Gig works are independent contracts (合同) or part-time jobs such as Uber. In the gig economy, companies hire independent contractors instead of full-time employees. This is different from traditional companies where full-time workers hold a lifetime career. In the past, only small companies hired contractors, while today, employers like Amazon and Google rely on temporary workforce. These companies save costs as they are not legally required to provide healthcare benefits, retirement savings or paid time off to gig workers. Gig work appeals to different people for different reasons. For some, it affords flexible timings and for otliers who are looking for full-time jobs, it provides a source of income to support themselves. Some people work a full-time job and supplement (补充) their salary with gig jobs such as driving for Uber or Lyft. Joining the gig economy may be simple, but maintaining a steady career is easier said than done. Gig work comes with unsteady pay and workloads. You're your own boss. It sounds fun, but when you have no self-control and an unsteady job, you might splurge all your money the first week and live on bread pieces for the rest of the month! Besides a strong sense of responsibility, gig workers have to stay up to date to get companies to hire them. Despite the challenges gig workers face, nearly 60 million Americans are part of this workforce. As this number grows, we have to see how society and companies adapt to this new world of work! 1.What can be learnt about Lyft from the passage? A.It has built up a large fortune. B.It marks the arrival of gig economy age. C.It employs a fixed number of full-time workers. D.It appeals to people as a means of public transport. 2.Who are most likely to become gig workers? A.People seeking for a steady income. B.Those desperate to get paid vacations. C.People in need of flexible working hours. D.Those concerned about retirement accounts. 3.What does the underlined word “splurge” in paragraph 4 mean? A.Spend money freely. B.Deposit money automatically. C.Earn money quickly. D.Allocate money randomly. 4.What is the message mainly conveyed in the passage? A.Gig workers have to face some potential challenges. B.Gig workers have to possess some much-needed qualities. C.The appearance of gig companies will solve the job problems. D.People should adjust to new work trends with the rise of gig companies.
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| 4. 难度：中等 | |
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Just last month，AI-generated art arrived on the auction (拍卖) stage of Christie’s, proving that artificial intelligence can not only be creative but also produce world-class works of art — another significant AI milestone blurring the line between human and machine. Naturally, the news sparked off debates about whether the work produced by Paris-based art collective Obvious could really be called art at all. Popular opinion among creatives is that art is a process by which human beings express some ideas or emotions, filter them through personal experience and set them against a broader cultural context. The story raised additional questions about ownership. In this circumstance，who can really be named as the author? The algorithm (算法) itself or the team behind it? At GumGum, an AI company that focuses on computer vision, we wanted to explore the intersection of AI and art by devising a Turing Test of our own in association with Rutgers University’s Art and Artificial Intelligence Lab and Cloudpainter, an artificially intelligent painting robot. We were keen to see whether AI can，in fact, replicate (复制) the intent and imagination of traditional artists, and we wanted to explore the potential impact of AI on the creative sector. To do this，we enlisted a broad collection of diverse artists from traditional pain-on-canvas artists to 3-D rendering and modeling artists alongside Pindar Van Arman — a classically trained artist who has been coding art robots for 15 years. Van Arman was tasked with using his Cloudpainter machine to create pieces of art based on the same data set as the more traditional artists. This data set was a collection of art by 20th century American Abstract Expressionists. Then, we asked them to document the process, showing us their preferred tools and telling us how they came to their final work. Amazingly, while at face value the AI artwork was indistinguishable from that of the more traditional artists, the test revealed that the creative spark and ultimate agency behind creating a work of art is still very much human. Even though the Cloudpainter machine has evolved over time to become a highly intelligent system capable of making creative decisions of its own, the final piece of work could only be described as a collaboration (合作) between human and machine. Van Arman served as more of an “art director for the painting”. As AI becomes an unstoppable force, it raises some difficult questions about the future role of humans in an increasingly automated world. Instead of worrying about AI’s threat to human creative supremacy, the future will be about accepting new technologies and the possibilities it brings for speeding up the process. It’s better to think of AI as your next creative assistant; beautiful pieces of work can be produced in collaboration with it. 1.According to popular opinion, the AI-generated work_______. A.should have been based on personal experience B.was set against a broader cultural context C.couldn’t be considered art at all D.expresses no idea or emotion 2.What did the experiment at GumGum show? A.AI artworks could be easily identified B.AI artworks could show human emotions. C.AI had trouble making sensible decisions. D.AI couldn’t complete a work independently. 3.Which of the following statements would the author agree with? A.Beautiful pieces cannot be works of AI. B.AI could be an advanced tool for artists. C.AI could challenge the supremacy of humans. D.New technologies can pose a danger to humans. 4.What is the best title for the passage? A.Can AI Create True Art? B.Can AI Threaten Humans? C.Will Human Art Disappear? D.Are AI Artworks Distinguishable?
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| 5. 难度：困难 | |
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Putting children in daycare helps working parents take their minds off childcare. 1. How daycare negatively affects children is related to many factors. One study has suggested that some children who spend long hours in daycare centers experience more stress than those who spend more time in a setting with a mother. Another study has shown that children who are shy have a higher level of the hormone cortisol (皮质醇) which is released when an individual shows signs of stress. 2. And as a result the child may not mix well with the other children and the teachers at the daycare center, a situation that can cause stress. Another negative impact of daycare is that there is less communication between a mother and her child. 3. So it is essential for a child to develop a deep bond with his or her mother, since this will lay the foundation for all the relationships he or she will form later on in life. Children who spend a lot of time with their mothers experience healthy social and emotional development, while long hours in daycare can disrupt this bonding. Children who lose out on precious mother-child bonding are observed to have behavioral problems as they grow older. Children in daycare centers also feel unprotected compared to children at home. In a daycare center, when one caregiver attends to more than one child at the same time, she may not be able to look deeply into why a child is mixing well or not. 4. Another negative aspect of daycare is that children there are more likely to fall ill if they come in contact with sick children. 5. Well-maintained daycare centers contribute a great deal to the overall development of a child by providing a structured environment. Children become more social by interacting with other children of the same age, and learn new activities that are not always available if they arc brought up only at home. A.But daycare has its disadvantages. B.Look for a daycare center that is well-maintained. C.However, the advantages of daycare cannot be ignored. D.This is because a shy child will not open up freely in public. E.Babies become extremely attached to their primary caregivers. F.In such cases, a child may become either completely quiet or aggressive. G.You can cut the time in daycare centers by making alternative childcare arrangements.
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| 6. 难度：中等 | |
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It is 5 am and it’s too dark to see the fields of volcanic rock and trees on either side of the highway. But over the lights of my car, I get a taste of the _________ I’m really here for, as a few stars Pierce (渗透) the inky _________ sky. Today our relationship to the universe is largely connected byes _________, such as telescopes and NASA assignments. But for thousands of years, humans could _________ look up on a clear night to be _________ at the bright spots that stretched (延伸) directly over them. But over time, we’ve _________ ourselves from our sky, building a covering of artificial light between ourselves and the dark depth of space. Our _________ , neon signs (霓虹灯), and other electric lights are increasingly flooding the night sky and _________ the stars. _________ , about one third of the world’s population cannot see the Milky Way from where they live. And some can’t even recognize it. The sense of wonder for the night sky __________, and that means something vital to humanity is lost as well. That’s why I’ve dragged myself out of bed hours before __________. Like 99 percent of Americans, I live with __________ pollution and I’ve never seen a truly night sky. So I’m here to __________ my first glance. As I __________ out of the car, I __________ raise my face up towards the sky, worrying whether I can make it. There it is, __________ across the sky as far as I can see. The Milky Way is so vivid that my eyes don’t even have to __________ the dark to see it. I expect to feel the __________ of the sky, perhaps as though I’m falling into a bottomless hole. Instead, the blanket of stars above me is so thick that it is hard to __________. In black and white, the whole scene feels surreal. As I get back in the car, I pass a __________ that says “Never Stop Looking Up.” 1.A.view B.issue C.event D.cause 2.A.clear B.black C.blue D.dirty 3.A.emotion B.survey C.imagination D.technology 4.A.completely B.hardly C.simply D.rarely 5.A.depressed B.frightened C.confused D.amazed 6.A.excused B.distanced C.freed D.defended 7.A.shops B.decorations C.streetlights D.buildings 8.A.covering B.beating C.unlocking D.reflecting 9.A.Moreover B.Instead C.Therefore D.Meanwhile 10.A.increases B.disappears C.struggles D.pours 11.A.sunrise B.dark C.sunset D.dusk 12.A.noise B.air C.waste D.light 13.A.turn out B.search for C.apply for D.figure out 14.A.step B.look C.wonder D.think 15.A.formally B.confidently C.nervously D.casually 16.A.putting B.walking C.cutting D.stretching 17.A.adjust to B.turn to C.depend on D.throw away 18.A.length B.width C.depth D.strength 19.A.test B.weigh C.catch D.measure 20.A.note B.sign C.letter D.signal
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| 7. 难度：中等 | |
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阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容（1 个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式。 The traditional Chinese name chop (名章) or seal has been used for thousands of years. 1. is quite likely that people began using name chops because Chinese characters are so complex and few people in ancient times2.(be) able to read and write. In addition, chops date back to a time3.there was no other form of4.(identify) such as ID cards. A chop also served as a valid signature. All official5.(document) in China needed a chop to be valid. Today, most Chinese are educated, but the tradition6.(keep) alive in China. If you spend any length of time in China, you will almost 7.(certain) need to have a chop. If you’re staying a short time, a chop makes a(n) 8. (amaze) souvenir. A chop can be made quickly, but first you will need to have your name9. (translate) into Chinese characters. There are many different sizes and styles of chops. Inexpensive small chops can be carved 10.wood or plastic — upmarket chops are made from ivory, jade, marble or steel. Only a special type of slow-drying red ink is used for a name chop, so if you buy a chop in China, get an inkpad (印泥盒) too.
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| 8. 难度：简单 | |
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假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处.每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。 增加:在缺词处加一个漏字符号( 删除:把多余的词用斜线(\)划掉。 修改:在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。 注意:1.每处错误及其修改均仅限一词； 2.只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。 Three years ago I fail in an important exam in my life and became the student in an ordinary school. Disappointing as I felt at the shabby campus and the poor equipment, I found the teachers patiently. Besides, I enjoyed the friendly atmosphere in class. I decided make the best of it. I worked hard but got along well with my teachers and classmate. Whenever I had difficulties, you were always available. Soon I became one of the most best students in my class. My experience tells me that it’s not what you are given but how you make use of it which determines who you are.
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| 9. 难度：中等 | |
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假定你是李华，你校将于下周举行“40公里徒步活动”。请你代表学生会写一封电子邮件给你校外籍教师Peter，邀请他参加本次徒步活动。内容包括： 1．向他发出邀请； 2．介绍本次徒步活动； 3．活动注意事项。 40公里徒步活动：a 40-km hiking trip 注意： 1．词数l00左右： 2．可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯 3．开头结尾已经给出 Dear Peter, _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Yours， Li Hua
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