【推荐1】To be clear, plastic bags are rightly thought of as a threat that's harmful to human health. According to the National Resources Defense Council, over a decade ago, the average American family took home almost 1,500 plastic shopping bags a year, filling our cabinets, kitchen drawers, and landfills (垃圾填埋场). Today the numbers are slightly better: According to National Geographic, as of 2018, shoppers in the United States use almost one plastic bag per resident per day.

This is not a story on the evil of plastics, but on whether the reusable bag can justify its existence. Although more environmentally friendly than traditional single-use plastic bags, reusable bags, depending on what they are made of, are more energy-intensive (耗能) to recycle.

According to a report by the United Nations Environment Program, “depending on what they are made of, reusable bags might have to be deconstructed in a costly recycling process to separate the different materials. As a result, in many cases, reusable bags are not recycled." That means despite the best intentions, millions of reusable bags designed to replace the need for traditional plastic shopping bags, will also end up in landfills.

Another point to consider, not all reusable bags are equal in terms of their recyclability. There are a wide range of reusable bag options on the market, and reusable bags tend to be made of more than one material to give the bag added reinforcement (耐用) and added street fashion. On a life cycle basis, stronger, heavier bags-no matter what material they are made of-will have a more severe environmental effect. That's because heavier bags use more resources to produce as well as distribute.

Just like plastic bags did, reusable bags multiply rapidly. Used for promotional (促销的)purposes and marketing of all kinds, reusable bags' growing popularity means bags that have been used very little (or not at all) can be found piled in streets, in garbage cans in city parks, and basically everywhere. Therefore, consumers have come to see them as disposable, defeating their very purpose.

In the end, the best practice for reusable bags is to have no half measures: Either use them all the time or don't use them at all. Using a reusable bag once or twice, and then throwing it away, doesn't do the environment any favors.

1. What can we learn from the passage?

A．Plastic bags are refused by environmentalists.

B．Shops in America have limited the use of plastic bags.

C．The need of strong and fashionable reusable bags is more than the supply.

D．Reusable bags demand more resources to produce and recycle than expected.

2. The words “very purpose" in Paragraph 6 refer to the intention of __________.

A．being left in landfills

B．being used as much as possible

C．replacing plastic bags

D．promoting goods on the market

3. Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?

A．How to Recycle Reusable Bags

B．Disadvantages of Plastic Bags

C．Reusable Bags? Think Twice!

D．Plastic Bags, Less Popular?

4. Which of the following shows the development of ideas in the passage?
I: Introduction     CP: Central Point     P: Point     Sp: Sub-point (次要点)     C: Conclusion

A．	B．
C．	D．

【推荐3】Heads turned, tears dropped, and gossip-filled whispers went on and on from the hospital passages to the house windows. There was a problem: a daughter had been born. She wasn’t the first disappointment born to her family. Although my aunt didn’t care about giving birth to a girl, her mother-in-law constantly reminded her of the criticism she would have to face if she gave birth to a daughter. In India, most people held these views.

When I visited my relatives during the summer, one sentence managed to fill me with anger and start arguments with my so-called relatives. “You are a girl, stay within your limits.” They simply don’t know how different it is living in the US. Anyway, comparisons to my cousins led me to end the arguments for the moment and accept the way they lived their lives.

My words didn’t make sense to them so my mind was set on proving them wrong.

Although their words didn’t tear me apart, their actions managed to. The amount of sexism(性别歧视) in this culture, especially my hometown, made me feel bad. It was the 21st century, yet women had to eat after the men at family gatherings. They had to cook all the family meals and were asked to take jobs that required little skill or education. It was time to change these views.

As I was growing older, the same relatives repeatedly questioned me about my future: “What do you want to be?” And the answer was always the same：electrical engineer. I have a passion for electronics; as clichéd(陈词滥调的) as it sounds, I was born to do it. When I connect wires together to repair something, I can’t contain my excitement. But when I tried to explain this to my relatives, all of them, except for my parents and grandparents, would be shocked and laugh at me — laugh because they didn’t think I could live up to my goals, being a “girl and all”. It was time to change these views.

In my world, being a girl is not a problem. Rather, it is an opportunity to allow passion, not stereotypes(成见), to shape my future. I decided to channel my relatives’ views into positive energy. Rather than letting them bring me down, I let them be motivation to achieve my goal of becoming an engineer. I, a female, will become a successful engineer.

1. The first paragraph was mainly written to             .

A．describe how bad the author’s aunt felt for having a baby girl

B．describe the pressure the author’s aunt had to face when she was going to have a baby

C．show that most Indian people are strongly prejudiced against women

D．show that the author’s aunt’s generation is fighting against prejudice against women

2. From the second and third paragraphs, it can be concluded that             .

A．the author realized that just using words couldn’t change the relatives’ sexism

B．the author’s friends and relatives were jealous about her life in the US

C．the author got used to being reminded to stay within her limits after she was born

D．the author often argued with her relatives because she believed US lifestyles were right

3. According to the text, the author decided to change her relatives’ views by             .

A．achieving her ambition of changing her hometown

B．using her relatives’ comments as motivation

C．letting stereotypes influence her future decisions

D．achieving her dream of becoming an engineer

4. In the article, in what way does the author show how serious the amount of sexism was in her hometown?

A．By describing feeling defeated after arguments.

B．By describing people’s words, behavior and common practices.

C．By stressing the conflicts she had with her relatives.

D．By giving examples of how her goals were laughed at repeatedly.

【推荐1】If you want to disturb the car industry, you’d better have a few billion dollars: Mom-and-pop carmakers are unlikely to beat the biggest car companies. But in agriculture, small farmers can get the best of the major players. By connecting directly with customers, and by responding quickly to changes in the markets as well as in the ecosystems, small farmers can keep one step ahead of the big guys. As the co-founder of the National Young Farmers Coalition (NYFC, 美国青年农会) and a family farmer myself, I have a front-row seat to the innovations among small farmers that are transforming the industry.

For example, the Quick Cut Greens Harvester is a tool developed just a couple of years ago by a young farmer, Jonathan Dysinger, in Tennessee, with a small loan from a local Slow Money group. It enables small-scale farmers to harvest 175 pounds of green vegetables per hour — a huge improvement over harvesting just a few dozen pounds by hand — suddenly making it possible for the little guys to compete with large farms of California. Before the tool came out, small farmers couldn’t touch the price per pound offered by California farms. But now, with the combination of a better price and a generally fresher product, they can stay in business.

The sustainable success of small farmers, though, won’t happen without fundamental changes to the industry. One crucial factor is secure access to land. Competition from investors, developers, and established large farmers makes owning one’s own land unattainable for many new farmers. From 2004 to 2013, agricultural land values doubled, and they continue to rise in many regions. Another challenge for more than a million of the most qualified farm workers and managers is a non-existent path to citizenship — the great barrier to building a farm of their own.

There are solutions that could light a path toward a more sustainable and fair farm economy, but farmers can’t awkwardly put them together before us. We at the NYFC need broad support as we urge Congress to increase farmland conservation, as we push for immigration reform, and as we seek policies that will ensure the success of a diverse and ambitious next generation of farmer from all backgrounds. With a new farm bill to be debated in Congress, consumers must take a stand with young farmers.

1. Why does the author mention car industry at the beginning of the passage?

A．To introduce the progress made in car industry.

B．To introduce a special feature of agriculture.

C．To introduce a trend of development in agriculture.

D．To introduce the importance of investing in car industry.

2. What does the author want to illustrate with the example in paragraph 2?

A．Loans to small local farmers are necessary.

B．Technology is vital for agricultural development.

C．Competition between small and big farm is fierce.

D．Small farmers may gain some advantages over big ones.

3. What is the difficulty for those new farmers?

A．To gain more financial aid.	B．To hire good farm managers.
C．To have farms of their own.	D．To win old farmers’ support.

4. What should farmers do for a more sustainable and fair farm economy?

A．Seek support beyond NYFC.	B．Expand farmland conservation.
C．Become members of NYFC.	D．Invest more to improve technology.

【推荐2】My university has now topped the U.S. News &. World Report rankings for 11 years running. Given Princeton’s success, you might think I would be a fan of the list. Not so. Don’t get me wrong. I am proud of Princeton’s teaching, research and commitment to service. I like seeing our quality recognized. Rankings, however, are a misleading way to assess universities. Different schools have distinct strengths, structures and missions. The idea of picking one as “best”, as though educational programs competed like athletic teams, is strange.

However, the U.S. News rankings attract great attention and a huge customer base. Applicants and their families rely on the rankings and feel pressure to get into highly regarded institutions. As a result, many schools make intense efforts to move up in the rankings. This competition produces damaging consequences. For example. some universities avoid doing difficult but valuable things—such as admitting talented lower-income students who can succeed at university if given appropriate support.

Still, students and families need comparative information to choose universities. If rankings mislead, what is the alternative? For generations, buyers have turned to Consumer Reports for advice about almost everything except university education. When Consumer Reports evaluates a product, it assesses multiple factors so that potential buyers can make their own choices wisely, Similarly, university applicants need information about some basic variables. Graduation rates are crucial. A university that does not graduate its students is like a car with a bad maintenance (维修) record. It costs money without getting you anywhere. What applicants need is not the average graduation rate, but the rate for students with backgrounds like their own. For example, some places successfully graduate their wealthy students but do less well for lower income students. Applicants should also see some measures of post-graduation outcomes.

Here is a partial list of other factors that matter: cost of tuition (学费) and fees; high-quality teachers actively engaged in undergraduate instruction; and a learning culture composed of diverse students who study hard and educate one another. Judged by these criteria, many schools could be “Consumer Reports Best Buys”. Applicants should be excited to get into any of them; they should pick the one they find most appealing; and they should not waste time worrying about which is “the best”.

It would be great to have a Consumer Reports for universities. I hope that some national publication will have the courage to produce an annual, user-friendly Consumer Reports-style analysis of higher education institutions, even if it is not as attractive as a football-style set of rankings. In the meantime, those of us who understand the imperfection in the rankings must call them out—even when, indeed especially when, we finish at the top.

1. What is the author’s attitude towards university rankings?

A．Supportive.

B．Disapproving.

C．Indifferent.

D．Neutral.

2. Why does the author mention Consumer Reports?

A．To emphasize the need of overall evaluation of universities.

B．To present the information of potential buyers.

C．To highlight the difficulty of choosing universities.

D．To reveal the multiplicity of consumers.

3. What can we learn from this passage?

A．It is not likely to have a Consumer Reports for universities.

B．The top universities can see the imperfection in the rankings better.

C．The most suitable university for applicants may not rank the top.

D．The average graduation rate is crucial to lower-income applicants.

4. What is the main idea of the passage?

A．There is no such thing as a good or bad student.

B．Education equality is an ideal hard to be realized.

C．Discrimination against poor students brings loss of talents.

D．An alternative approach is needed to assess universities.