【推荐2】A California family drives a car that could help protect the environment. When Jon and Sandy go to the store or to their daughters’ soccer games, they drive in high-tech style. They drive a $1 million, fuel-cell-powered car. It may be the world’s most expensive car and one of the most environmentally friendly cars. The FCX is the first fuel-cell-powered car to be used by a family anywhere in the world. The FCX uses hydrogen and oxygen for fuel. Car makers have been working to develop vehicles that are better for the environment. They are developing cars that use fuel other than gasoline. And then what is fuel cell technology? Fuel cell technology works by changing the chemicals hydrogen and oxygen into water. This process produces electricity, and water vapor which comes out of the exhaust pipe. Most cars release dangerous gases such as carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide. Many scientists say these gases are major contributors to global warming. “The FCX is driven just like any other vehicle on the road, but without the gases which pollute the environment,” scientists say. Fuel cell technology has been around since the 1800s, but scientists have yet been to perfect it. They say it may take years before the technology is ready for widespread use. Another earth-friendly car is already on the market. Hybrid cars use both gasoline and an electric motor. They are becoming more popular with customers because they cut pollution and improve fuel efficiency.
1. Which of the following about the FCX is not true?

A．It may be the most expensive car in the world.

B．It is one of the most environmentally friendly cars.

C．It releases dangerous gases to pollute the air.

D．It uses hydrogen and oxygen for fuel other than gasoline.

2. According to the passage, what is the major cause for global warming?

A．Gases from FCX.	B．Water vapor from cars.
C．Hydrogen and oxygen.	D．Gases from cars.

3. From the passage, we know that fuel cell technology ______.

A．works by water	B．has a history for over two hundred years
C．works by electricity	D．has been widely used since the 1800s

4. We can infer from the passage that ______.

A．future cars will be environmentally friendly

B．there will be no gasoline for cars

C．people can’t afford to buy cars in the future

D．global warming has been stopped

5. Hybrid cars are popular because ______.

A．they are the fuel-cell-powered cars

B．they are energy-saving and cut pollution

C．they are perfect cars in the world

D．they produce no gases to pollute the environment

【推荐1】In the US and Britain, the slogan around colleges was “Save water. Shower with a friend.” Now, Wuhan University has come up with another system for the campus bathhouse. It charges students for the amount of time in a shower. Before entering the bathhouse, students pay for the amount of time they want in the shower with cash or their student ID card. The clock starts ticking the minute the tape is turned on. It pauses when a button is pressed for soap. An integrated circuit(IC) card reader at each tap shows the time. No money, no water. The benefits of the new system can be seen with the old system, which charged 1 Yuan for each person regardless of time in the shower. The university used about 320 tones of water daily under the old system, but only 160 tons now.
Many students use the new system but opinions on it are divided. Some students say it is bad because bathing had become a sort of race. Many people using it for the first time are not sure how long they need to shower. Some might be embarrassed if their time is up and they’re still covered in soap. They have to ask the bathhouse worker to help them buy extra time.
“It’s a flaw in the system that you can not buy extra time on the ID card,” said Ren, a freshman in Wuhan University. The university is also considering some students’ suggestions that they be allowed to pay after they’ve finished the shower. Not surprisingly, some are complaining about losing the hour shower. But many students say the move helps them develop a water-saving sense.
Without the time limits, most students tended to shower for 30 to an hour in the bathhouse.
Some even used the hot water to wash their clothes. “In my experience, 10-20 minutes is enough,” said Dai Zhihua, a third-year student who usually takes 8 minutes.
A similar system has been installed in other universities. Shanghai Normal University introduced it at its Fengxiang Campus in September. The bathing fee there is 0.2 Yuan per minute. One male student responded by setting a record with a two-minute shower.
1. According to the passage, which of the following is NOT true?

A．Students pay for the amount of time they want in the shower.

B．The clock times all through while the student is bathing except when the bather paused for soap.

C．If money runs out, there will be no water.

D．Having finished bathing, the student has to pay for it.

2. The underline word “flaw” (Paragraph3) most probably means______.

A．perfection

B．advantage

C．pity

D．fault

3. Since the new system has performed, ______ of water can be saved.

A．a quarter	B．one third
C．one half	D．two thirds

4. It can be inferred from the passage that______.

A．the new operation can solve the water crisis.

B．The new operation can raise students’ environmental awareness.

C．a similar operation has been set in other universities.

D．The university has saved a lot of water by using the new system.

5. In which column can you find this passage?

A．People.	B．Society
C．Campus Life.	D．Lifestyle.

【推荐1】Train Information

All customers travelling on TransLink services must be in possession of a valid ticket before boarding. For ticket information，please ask at your local station or call 13 12 30.

While Queensland Rail makes every effort to ensure trains run as scheduled，there can be no guarantee of connections between trains or between train services and bus services.

Lost property(失物招领)

Call Lost Property on 13 16 17 during business hours for items lost on Queensland Rail services.

The lost property office is open Monday to Friday 7:30am to 5:00pm and is located(位于)at Roma Street station.

Public holidays

On public holidays, generally a Sunday timetable operates. On certain major event days，i.e.

Australia Day, Anzac Day, sporting and cultural days, special additional services may operate.

Christmas Day services operate to a Christmas Day timetable，Before travel please visit translink. com. au or call TransLink on 13 12 30 anytime.

Customers using mobility devices

Many stations have wheelchair access from the car park or entrance to the station platforms.

For assistance, please Queensland Rail on 13 16 17.

Guardian trains (outbound)

Depart	Origin	Destination	Arrive
6:42pm	Altandi	Varsity Lakes	7:37pm
7:29pm	Central	Varsity Lakes	8:52pm
8:57pm	Fortitude Valley	Varsity Lakes	9:52pm
11:02pm	Roma Street	Varsity Lakes	12:22am

1. What would you do to get ticket information?

A．Call 13 16 17.	B．Visit translink .com.au.
C．Ask at the local station.	D．Check the train schedule.

2. At which station can you find the lost property office?

A．Altandi.

B．Roma Street.

C．Varsity Lakes.

D．Fortitude Valley.

3. Which train would you take if you go from Central to Varsity Lakes?

A．6:42 pm.

B．7:29 pm.

C．8:57 pm.

D．11:02 pm.

【推荐2】A shocking 53.6 million tons of electronic waste were discarded（丢弃）last year, a new UN-backed report has revealed. The report shows that e-waste is up 21%from five years ago. This isn't surprising, considering how many more people are adopting new technology and updating devices regularly to have the latest versions, but the report also shows that national collection and recycling strategies are nowhere close to matching consumption rates.

E-waste contains materials including copper（铜）, iron, gold and silver, which the report gives a conservative value of $ 57 billion. But most are thrown away or burned rather than being collected for recycling. Precious metals in waste are estimated to be worth $ 14 billion, but only $4 billion-worth is recovered at the moment.

While the number of countries with national e-waste policies has grown from 61 to 78 since 2014, there is little encouragement to obey and a mere 17% of collected items are recycled. If recycling does occur, it's often under dangerous conditions, such as burning circuit boards to recover copper, which "releases highly poisonous metals" and harms the health of workers.

The report found that Asia has the highest amounts of waste overall, producing 24.9 million metric tons (MMT), followed by Europe at 12 MMT, Africa at 2.9 MMT, and Oceania at 0.7 MMT.

But whose responsibility is it? Are governments in charge of setting up collection and recycling points, or should companies be responsible for recycling the goods they produce? It goes both ways. Companies do need to be held accountable by government regulations and have incentives to design products that are easily repaired. At the same time, governments need to make it easy for citizens to access collection points and deal with their broken electronics in a convenient way. Otherwise, they may turn to the easiest option-the landfill.

1. What can we learn from the first paragraph?

A．What e-waste refers to.

B．Where e-waste is collected.

C．Why e-waste is increasing rapidly.

D．How many kinds e-waste includes.

2. What do the statistics in paragraph 2 show?

A．The functions of policies.

B．The great damage to environment.

C．The change of consumption rates.

D．The urgency of recovering e-waste.

3. What is the problem with recycling e-waste at present?

A．It does harm to the workers' health.

B．It lacks national policy support.

C．It hardly makes profits.

D．It takes too much time.

4. How should the problem be solved according to the passage?

A．New technology should be used to update old devices.

B．Governments and companies should take responsibilities.

C．Non-poisonous metals had better be used in e-device.

D．Citizens must play a key role in recycling e-waste.

【推荐3】The baby is just one day old and has not yet left hospital. She is quiet but alert (警觉的). Twenty centimeters from her face researchers have placed a white card with two black spots on it. She stares at it carefully. A researcher removes the card and replaces it by another, this time with the spots differently spaced. As the cards change from one to the other, her gaze(凝视) starts to lose its focus—until a third, with three black spots, is presented. Her gaze returns: she looks at it for twice as long as she did at the previous card. Can she tell that the number two is different from three, just 24 hours after coming into the world?

Or do newborns simply prefer more to fewer? The same experiment, but with three spots shown before two, shows the same return of interest when the number of spots changes. Perhaps it is just the newness? When slightly older babies were shown cards with pictures of objects (a comb, a key, an orange and so on), changing the number of objects had an effect separate from changing the objects themselves. Could it be the pattern that two things make, as opposed to three? No again. Babies paid more attention to squares moving randomly(随意地)on a screen when their number changed from two to three, or three to two. The effect even crosses between senses. Babies who were repeatedly shown two spots became more excited when they then heard three drumbeats than when they heard just two; likewise(同样地) when the researchers started with drumbeats and moved to spots.

1. The experiment described in Paragraph 1 is related to the baby's ________.

A．sense of hearing	B．sense of sight
C．sense of touch	D．sense of smell

2. Babies are sensitive to the change in ________.

A．the size of cards	B．the colour of pictures
C．the shape of patterns	D．the number of objects

3. Why did the researchers test the babies with drumbeats?

A．To reduce the difficulty of the experiment.

B．To see how babies recognize sounds.

C．To carry their experiment further.

D．To keep the babies' interest.

4. Where does this text probably come from?

A．Science fiction.	B．Children’s literature.
C．An advertisement.	D．A science report.

【推荐1】He is regarded as having one of the brightest minds on the planet.But outstanding astrophysicist（天体物理学家）Stephen Hawking admitted that he did not learn to read until he was eight years old.In a public lecture at the Royal Albert Hall,Professor Hawking also admitted that he was not active in studying while at Oxford University,where he studied physics,and that only the diagnosis that he might die young from motor neurone（神经元）disease made him concentrate on his work.

Professor Hawking said,"My sister Philippa could read by the age of 4 and then she was definitely brighter than me."He said that he was unexceptional at school and was never further than halfway up his class."My classwork was very untidy,and my handwriting was the despair of my teachers,"he said."But my classmates gave me the nickname Einstein,so presumably they saw signs of something better."

But he said that it was when doctors told him that he probably only had a few years to live at the age of 21 that he was galvanized into focusing on his work and a period of productivity that resulted in some of his early breakthroughs.He said,"When you are faced with the possibility of an early death,it makes you realize that life is worth living and there are lots of things you want to do."

1. Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?

A．Stephen Hawking is the second Einstein in the world.

B．Stephen Hawking couldn't read at the age of 7.

C．Stephen Hawking's handwriting was once terribly bad.

D．Stephen Hawking's sister once performed much better than him.

2. What made Stephen Hawking devote himself to his work?

A．Patience.

B．Knowledge.

C．Disease.

D．Laziness.

3. What can we learn from the last paragraph?

A．Stephen Hawking didn't realize his dreams in physics.

B．It was possible for Hawking to face the early death.

C．The purpose of the doctor's diagnosis was to encourage him to work hard.

D．His life might be taken away by long hard work.

4. From whom did Hawking get a relatively just estimation when he was at school?

A．His sister.

B．His classmates.

C．His teachers.

D．His parents.

【推荐2】Each year, half a million people die from brain aneurysms（动脉瘤）—when a blood vessel（血管）bursts in the brain. An aneurysm is a bulge（膨胀）in a blood vessel that can burst. If that happens in the brain, it can be deadly. For survivors, physical disabilities are often severe. They may include memory problems, loss of balance, trouble speaking and even blindness. But new technologies are increasing survival rates and reducing disabilities.

Beaumont Bacon is a survivor who makes light of her experience because she is a comedian（喜剧演员）. She uses humor to make others laugh. Now she’s working on a new show. Michael Alexander is her doctor. He operated on Beaumont Bacon after her attack. “She had bleeding in the frontal area of her brain, so right above the eyes. The part that was in the brain was about maybe the size of an egg. So, that’s a fairly large bleed.”

Ms. Bacon had a better chance at survival than most people because of Dr. Alexander. He directs the Neurovascular Center in Los Angeles. The center offers new technologies that include placing a catheter（导管）into an aneurysm, then threading wires to promote blood clots（血栓）. This technique reduces the chances of another burst blood vessel. “You don’t have to open up the skull（头盖骨）or open up the brain to do surgery. It’s all done from inside the blood vessels. So it reduces the amount of blood loss, and the recovery is much faster.”

For Beaumont Bacon’s recovery, the hospital worked to prevent problems commonly found in patients with a burst aneurysm. The problems include brain swelling that can shut down blood vessels. She spent a month in a coma（昏迷）—unable to communicate with doctors, friends and loved ones. But with a year of treatment, she recovered. Now, she is making people laugh.

1. What do you know about aneurysms?

A．No technologies can treat them nowadays.

B．They may cause severe disabilities.

C．Few people die from them every year.

D．They are deadly wherever they happen.

2. The new technology has the following benefits EXCEPT that ________.

A．it is much faster for the patient to recover

B．it brings no problems after the operation

C．it reduces the amount of blood loss

D．it doesn’t need to open up the brain to operate

3. It can be known from the passage that Beaumont Bacon ________.

A．was always in an unconscious state after the operation

B．recovered soon after the treatment

C．returned to work after the treatment

D．was the first to try the new technology

4. The author shows the effect of the technology by ________.

A．providing an example	B．making comparisons
C．offering data	D．giving explanations

【推荐3】St Andrews & the Fishing Villages of Fife

An ancient university, breathtaking medieval ruins, and old-fashioned coastal villages: explore all this and more on our adventure through Fife.

Places you’ll explore

Forth Bridge – An incredible engineering achievement, and a UNESCO World Heritage sight. Anstruther – Be charmed by the cobbled lanes and quaint（古色古香的）buildings of this traditional fishing village.

St Andrews Cathedral – This ruined cathedral was once one of Scotland’s most splendid buildings.

St Andrews Old Town – Enjoy the 1,000 years of history as you explore the old streets and ancient castle.

The Old Course – Golf was so popular in Scotland, but it was banned in the 15th century. And nowhere was it more popular than in St Andrews, the Home of Golf.

Historic Village of Falkland – This quaint town in the Kingdom of Fife boasts a beautiful palace and a peaceful setting.

Tour detail

Departs 09:30 – Rabbie’s Cafe Bar, Waterloo Place, Edinburgh, EH1 3EG Returns 18:00 approx

Prices

• Adult price: £45 per person

• Discount price: £40 per person (Seniors over 60 and children between 5 and 15; unfortunately, we don’t allow children under 5 years old on the tour)

Important information

• Pack your waterproof clothing and walking shoes

• Falkland Palace is closed from November to Easter

Tour inclusions

• Transport in a 16 seat Mercedes mini-coach

• Air conditioning as standard

• The stories and services of a Rabbie’s driver-guide

Tour exclusions

• Entry fees to visitor attractions

Customer reviews

A great day

Howard Carroll, posted on 18/05/2017

A great day out. Fully recommend the tour. Gillian and Eric were not only friendly but very knowledgeable.

Excellent tour guide M W Grzelak, posted on 15/02/2017

First time but not my last. Grant was an excellent and intelligent guide who cherishes his Scottish heritage. The tour offered the best venues (场地) and just enough time to experience them.

1. What do we know about the places included in the tour?

A．Anstruther has a modern look.

B．St. Andrews Cathedral is in good condition.

C．There is an ancient castle in Falkland Village.

D．Golf was once a very popular sport in St Andrews.

2. A 48-year-old father with his 16-year-old daughter and 5-year-old son should pay at least____.

A．£120	B．£125
C．£130	D．£135

3. Which of the following statements is TRUE about the tour?

A．Tour guide services are provided.

B．Falkland Palace is open in December.

C．The tour lasts for two days.

D．Entry fees to all attractions are included.