【推荐1】Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

Smart Homes Around the Corner

Internet-connected lights, locks and laundry machines are close to becoming everyday household items, thanks in part to voice-activated speakers such as Amazon’s Echo and Google Home.

The market has witnessed increasing sales of lights that turn off when you say “good night,” smart locks that let in your friends before you get home, and other smart-home gadgets (小配件). Smart speakers and their digital assistants also have been growing in     1    . From your couch, you can ask these smart assistants to play your favorite music, check the weather, order pizza or    2    flights.

While the devices are still relatively expensive—you can get six     3    light bulbs for the price of a single smart one—    4    is likely to pick up further as prices fall in the future.

Moreover, the more people use such speakers, it turns out, the more things they want them to do. In some cases, that leads     5    to other smart gadgets for the home. People who own an Echo are    6    more likely to install other smart gadgets, said David Limp, Amazon’s senior vice president of devices and services. “They don’t start by rewiring the whole home. They start with a switch.” That switch, known as a smart plug, can make any appliance remote-controllable by cutting or    7    its power—just ask an assistant to turn it off or on.

U.S. sales of smart speakers have more than tripled (增至三倍) to nearly 25 million in 2017, as shown by a CTA (Commodity Trading Advisors)     8    . They’re expected to grow further this year, to about 36 million, as Apple’s HomePod joins the competition.

Smart-home products such as lights and security cameras are lagging behind, but they have been catching up. “We’re still in the early stages,” said Jeff Patton, a smart-home executive at General Electric. “While the gadgets aren’t yet     9    ” he said, “average people are much more aware of them”.

Alex Hawkinson, CEO of Samsung’s Smart Things smart-home business, said that about half of his new customers are coming because of smart speakers “    10    a lot of excitement.” Once people get their first smart product, such as a   smart plug, they are likely to buy more, market researchers say. They also tell friends and neighbors about them, and might buy some as gifts.

【推荐1】Complete the passage using the correct forms of the words and phrase in the box.

claim          contain          diverse        earn          occur          percentage        seek one's fortune          settle

Capital cities usually    1     a wide variety of people. This    2     due to people moving to the city to    3    . Although many    4     it is tough to    5     a good living in the city, most choose to     6    there. The latest report shows that the    7     of people moving to the city is on the rise. This in turn increases the cultural     8    of the city, which makes the city even more attractive to outsiders.

【推荐3】Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in each blank with a proper word given in the box. Each word can be used only once. Note that there is one more word than you need.

A. affordable     B. cultural     C. driving     D. influence E. materialism   F. outward-looking   G. resulted   H. shaped I. sharing   J. shift   K. specialized

Curiosity and Globalization are Driving a New Approach to Travel

Today’s political climate and negative headlines seem to point towards a more inward-looking global population - minds narrowing, borders going up. But with more people living and working overseas and becoming exposed to influences from different cultures, many of us are seeking a(n)     1    , connected world.

According to the recently published study from Culture Trip, 60% of people in the US and UK say that their outlook on life is shaped by the     2     from different cultures. As a society, we not only want to discover and experience other cultures, we want to learn from them, too. This is one of the many positive side effects of globalization. At the same time, the economic landscape of the last decade has resulted in a shift in values away from     3    , with younger generations more interested in collecting experiences than possessions.

Welcome to the “new culture economy”.

The collision(碰撞)of two trends - globalization and the experience economy - has     4     a new attitude to travel, with cultural curiosity at its heart. This is the “new culture economy”. The phenomenon is having a powerful impact on people’s interactions and definitions of     5     exploration, and presents an incredible commercial opportunity.

While globalization is usually talked about in the context of the     6     of trade and capital between countries, we shouldn’t forget that the     7     force behind it all it people. Education, travel, exposure to other customs and geographies and the cultural integration(融合)are the more influential social effects of globalization. People are increasingly living or working in countries other than the ones in which they were born - more than half of respondents from the study have friends living overseas, all of which has     8     in more interaction with global cultures.

Also, student debt and unaffordable housing have created a(n)     9     in spending patterns, and so a new set of values has emerged in which experiences matter more than ownership. Travel is absolutely necessary to most people’s lives - in fact, nearly half of all respondents cut down on their daily expenses so they can save money to travel more. For “generation rent” in particular, no matter how expensive an experience or a trip, it is still more     10     than a house.