1．　　To students in England, the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) examination(1)       the zhongkao in China. After two years of the COVID﹣19 pandemic, England's GCSE exams have been changed. It affects Year 11 exam takers, like me.
　　Back in February, the GCSE exam boards (委员会) said they (2)       the amount of information (3)       need to know for the summer exams. This is due to the many interruptions (停课) in our education over the past two years. Not all schools (4)      continue teaching their students during lockdown. Reductions on the syllabus (教学大纲) came mostly as (5)      relief but also caused some confusion. We were pleased that there was (6)       material to learn, but what's been cut out is not always clear. This has caused some confusion among students.
　　Most people in my school take at least nine GCSE exams. Five exams (English, Math, physics, chemistry and biology) are obligatory, and another four can (7)       , for example, French, philosophy, history or art. I am taking 12 GCSE exams this year, (8)      the workload (负担) can get a bit too(9)      sometimes. So my friends and I are very happy(10)       the reduction.
　　With the final exams coming up in two weeks, everyone in my year is busy(11)      . Some of my friends, (12)      are super organized, are still taking on extracurricular activities!I keep reminding them that they need to give themselves breaks (13)       being too tired;it will do more damage than good!This applies to all students. (14)       you feel nervous about schoolwork, take a (15)       break to refresh your mind. It will help you be more productive!

2．　　It was the start of Daylight Savings Time, the night when we all move our clocks forward an hour, I didn't want to wake up too (1)       or sleep in too late. This caused me to overthink things and (2)      during the night.
　　I was disturbed by how quiet the room was. Although the desk fan was on low and the electric beater bad kicked on and was running noisily, it still seemed strangely (3)      to me. Something seemed missing. It was only then I realized that I didn't bear a snoozing beagle snoring away.
　　My beagle dog, Snoopy bad (4)       over a year ago. As she had got older and her (5)      became worse, she had started to snore loudly when she slept. At first, I found her snoring(6)      . It made it harder for me to fall asleep. Yet, as time passed, it became a blessing, she became my personal white noise machine and when I woke up during the night her snoring would(7)       me and ease me back to sleep.
　　Now her(8)      was gone and it was so quiet. I sighed and remembered all the (9)      . Snoopy bad given me over the years. She never judged me, she never argued with me, and each day she gave me the gifts of laughter and unconditional love.
　　Life is short for dogs and for us. Embrace each second of it(10)       the pleasures it brings. Live each day like it was your last.

3．　　For her 85th birthday, I gave my mother Susan an iPad. She'd never used a computer. She had a trying relationship with her TV remote control and a painful experience with her mobile phone. However, this time she was dying to learn about the iPad. She believed that if she didn't keep up with technology, she would find herself in a computerized kitchen, "unable to open a can of soup".
　　Our first task was email. She quickly learned the basic rules but couldn't understand why she has to email others when she could phone or visit in person.
　　Next, we dealt with Netflix, the widely﹣used video website. Mom is a movie lover and she was surprised by the number of crime movies that Netflix can offer. One Saturday, she called me because she was having trouble logging onto (登录) Netflix. I suggested it might require an update. "They probably have fewer people working as it's a long weekend," she told me.
　　Later, she taught herself to learn FaceTime and started her experiments with podcasts and even started emailing her grandchildren.
　　As she became more familiar, she began wondering about all the icons (图标), so we set up a weekly lecture, which takes place on the phone, each of us with our iPads. One day, I tried for 45 minutes to help her find the search bar. "It looks like a magnifying glass (放大镜), "I kept saying. Finally, she asked: "You mean the frying pan?"
　　Unexpectedly, she made great progress. Now she becomes interested in E-books and even check them out in the middle of the night. She watches TV series and knows what's popular. It's great to see how much her confidence has grown. Yesterday, she FaceTimed me. "I've made a decision," she said. "I'm going to learn how to operate every piece of technology in the apartment — including the TV remote." However, I still can't wait for the day when we can sit down in person and surf the Internet together.

4．　　We all know there is a problem with plastic pollution. Five trillion plastic bags are used every year. One million plastic drinking bottles are bought every minute.
　　What if we could use plastic waste to build roads?This is exactly what Toby McCartney has done.
　　In 2019, McCartney's UK﹣based company, MacRebur, built the world's first plastic road in Elgin town, Scotland. The plastic waste was made into grains and then mixed with bitumen (沥青). The road looks just like any other road. But it has improved strength and is more stretchy (有弹性的) thanks to the plastic.
　　"Our technology can not only help solve the problem of plastic waste but also produce roads that deal better with changes in the weather, reducing cracks and holes on the roads," McCartney told the BBC.
　　McCartney's idea came from d trip to India. "I saw people in India would put plastic waste into the holes on the roads and burn it The plastic would melt down and cover the hole," said McCartney.
　　"I knew that there must be some similarities between the plastic and bitumen, which both come from oil. That's how I started to think about mixing them," he said.
　　After lots of testing, McCartney found the perfect recipe. And now his company has built many plastic roads around the world, from Australia to Europe. A one-kilometer stretch of road uses about 684, 000 plastic bottles or 1. 8 million plastic bags. The road itself can be recycled at the end of its lifetime. The materials can be reused to build new roads.
　　"We're just a small part of ending the plastic problems, bat it's nice to be part of it." McCartney said. "I just don't want my daughters to live in a world where there are more plastics in our oceans than fish."

5．　　If you have problems describing people, don't worry!We'll use popular film characters to help you learn some useful words.

6．　　On Nov 8, Wang Yaping, a female astronaut of Shenzhou XIII mission, became China's first and the world's 16th female spacewalker. The expected six﹣month journey in space has left many curious about the differences between male and female astronauts, especially in extravehicular (舱外的) activities (EVAs). Although female astronauts may face lots of physical challenges, they have unique advantages.
　　Understanding between astronauts is very important for carrying out EVAs. Women are better in communication and language expression, and this helps female astronauts conduct EVAs. Their strong communication skills and energy also cheer up the crew throughout their stay, according to Pang Zhibao, a spaceflight researcher in Beijing.
　　Men and women are different in body size, which also gives women unique advantages for spacewalks. "Their generally smaller size is an advantage, as women will be able to control their weight better and thus perform a wider variety of tasks, " Pang told China Daily. Women in general weigh less, eat less food, consume less oxygen, and therefore required less fuel to get into space. A taikonaut must weigh between a 55 kilograms and 70 kilograms to fit in the cabin of spacecraft and consume less fuel.
　　A different body shape requires a different spacesuit. A personalized spacesuit was prepared for Wang's EVAs, which was lighter than that of the male. Designers optimizethe pattern of this spacesuit in the lower limb (下肢) area to make it more suitable for astronauts with slimmer figures.
　　According to Pang, many studies have found that female astronauts are well adapted to space missions more quickly, and have advantages over male astronauts in qualities such as attention to detail and thinking more carefully. Men are considered to perform better in short﹣ term tasks with clear goals, while women are better in longer﹣term tasks, according to National Geographic.
　　Women's participation in EVAs is a necessary part of space missions, and we are experiencing history thanks to Wang's bravery, according to Yang.

7．　　Sam is a great designer working within a well-known publishing company. For the last three years, he has been working from home. He prefers working from home because he can spend more time lending a helping hand to his family and have a better work-life balance. In fact, Sam isn't alone. (1)       Many countries share similar situations.
　　But why?This is because technology makes it possible for people to surf the Internet and hold online meetings easily. (2)       Office space is expensive, so if an organization can reduce its workstations, it may be able to move to a smaller office. (3)      Thus, many homeworkers save a lot of time and they can start the day fresher.
　　Sam says, "I have been working from home since my son was born and have been really enjoying it. (4)       I've known my boss and colleagues for a long time now, which really helps because you've got to trust each other. You also need to have regular contact, or you really miss out on the social side of work.
　　(5)       Some argue that the only people who can work from home are those who do an unnecessary job. Luckily, for Sam and the 2. 1 million like him, trot may people think that way. If the trends continue to rise, they may get the last laugh.

A. However, not everyone agrees with Sam though.
B. Travelling to work can be very time-consuming and tiring
C. But I can tell you that homeworking requires personal skills.
D. In Britain, there are 2. 1 million people who work from home at present.
E. Other reasons for homeworking are the benefits to both employers and employees.

8．阅读短文, 根据下列句子及所给单词的首字母写出所缺单词．注意使用正确形式, 每空限填一词．
　　Kenshi Yonezu is a Japanese singer. You must have h(1)      his songs, Lemon, which had millions of plays in 2018. After that he became famous around the world. When Yonezu was y(2)      , he didn't like talking to others. He always drew pictures or played a(3)      . His parents worried about him. He had difficulty with language and was diagnosed with autism in his twenties. But he didn't give up. He is very talented. All of his music is w(4)       by himself. I like Yonezu not only because of his great songs, but also his s(5)      . His positive attitude toward life is worth learning.

14．央视推出的大型原创文化类竞技节目《中国汉字听写大会》热播了三季, 引起了人们对汉字书写的关注．假如学校要举办一场演讲比赛, 请你以"传递书写文明, 领略汉字之美"为主题, 根据以下思维导图写一篇演讲稿．

注意:
1. 参考词汇:中国汉字(Chinese characters)、提高意识(raise awareness);
2. 词数:80词左右(短文的开头已给出, 不计入词数);
3. 不得透露学校、姓名等任何个人信息, 否则不予评分．
　　Boys and girls, have you ever experienced this moment?You pick up a pen and start to write something down, but you can't remember what the characters look like. _____________________________________________________________________________________________