【推荐2】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.

A.lanes             B.charged        C.dramatically        D.mostly       E. estimated   F.powered G.connectivity   H.filters            I.dependent            J.advocates   K.invasion

E-Scooters

Over the past two years, electric scooters have become ever-present in many of Europe and America’s biggest cities. Britain is the last major western European country to hold out against the     1     . E-scooters are not allowed on public roads, though people do ride them on cycle     2     and pavements . But where they are permitted, the number of e-scooter sharing companies soars     3     . To their     4     , e-scooters are revolutionary: the “iPhone Of urban transport”. To their critics, they are dangerous, anti-social and very annoying.

As with a dock less(无桩) bike, scooters are fitted with GPS trackers and wireless     5     . Customers download an app and scan a QR code on the scooter to unlock it. They are then     6     a small amount. Bird, which launched its e-scooter in Santa Monica, California in September 2017 charges $l plus 15 cents per minute, on average, in the US-to travel where they want to go, at a maximum speed of around 15mph. At night, the scooters are rounded up, charged and returned to popularity.

E-Scooters have the potential to solve some of the worlds biggest transport problems. Most cities are already dangerously polluted and heavily congested, and it is simply not an option to put more cars and taxis on the streets. Scooters are efficient; one kilowatt hour of energy carries a car     7     by petrol less than a mile, and an e-scooter 80 miles.

Scooters are clean, cheap, and they require little new infrastructure. For a country like car-     8     America, they could genuinely transform an     9     60% of US journeys under six miles. Even in European cities, which     10     have good public transport systems, they are very useful for travelling the“final mile”. According to Bird, 40% of taxi-riding journeys in London are under two miles, so e-scooters could help take a lot of cars off the streets.

【推荐1】Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. accounts     B. echoes     C. fearlessly     D. tackling     E. operated     F. mastery G. particularly     H. character     I. informers     J. striking     K. unrivalled

He fascinated Victorian England with his     1     skill at cracking cases, based on astute (机敏的) logical reasoning and grasp of forensic science, not to mention a     2     of disguises and encyclopedic knowledge of the criminal underclass.

But this detective was not Sherlock Holmes but a real life investigator, Jerome Caminada, who, as a new research suggests, helped inspire Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s celebrated hero.

A biography of Caminada reveals a series of     3     similarities between him and the fictional character, in terms of their unorthodox methods and character. It also establishes strong     4     between the real detective’s cases and plot lines used by Doyle. The author, Angela Buckley, has even established that Caminada’s casework involved     5     an alluring (迷人的) and talented criminal, similar to Irene Adler, and that the detective even had a Moriarty-like nemesis who plagued him over the course of several cases until a final, dramatic confrontation. Mrs. Buckley said, “Caminada became a national figure at just the time that Sherlock Holmes was being created. There are so many parallels that it is clear Doyle was using parts of this real     6     for his.”

The son of an Italian father and Irish mother, Caminada was based in Manchester, but was involved in cases which took him across the country, and he enjoyed a nationwide profile in the press, where     7     of his exploits were widely reported. Most of his career was spent with Manchester City Police Force although he later     8    , like Holmes, as a “consulting detective”. As the fictional character relied on a network of underworld contacts — the Baker Street Irregulars — so Caminada was known for his extensive web of     9    , whom he would often meet in the back pew of a church. These characters helped him build up an encyclopedic knowledge of the criminal fraternity, among whom he would often move in disguise—another tactic in common with Holmes. Like his fictional counterpart, Caminada was noted for his tendency to wander the streets of the roughest neighborhoods alone at night,     10     intervening in any crimes he encountered.

【推荐2】Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. vision   B. sure   C. serve   D. regard   E. transformers   F. worthy   G. question H. claim   I. magnetic   J. charm   K. mere

Like many of my generation. I have a weakness for hero worship. At some point, however, we all begin to     1     our heroes and our need for them. This leads us to ask what makes a hero.

Despite immense differences in cultures, heroes around the world generally share a number of characteristics that instruct and inspire people.

A hero does something worth talking about. A hero has a story of adventure to tell and a community who will listen. But a hero goes beyond     2     fame.

Heroes serve powers or principles larger than themselves. Like high-voltage (高电压)     3    , heroes take the energy of higher powers and step it down so that it can be used by ordinary people.

The hero lives a life     4     of imitation. Those who imitate a genuine hero experience life with new depth, enthusiasm, and meaning. A     5     test for would-be heroes is what or whom do they serve? What are they willing to live and die for? If the answer or evidence suggests they     6     only their own fame, they may be famous persons but not heroes.

Madonna and Michael Jackson are famous, but who would     7     that their fans find life more abundant?

Heroes are catalysts (催化剂) for change. They have a     8     from the mountaintop. They have the skill and the     9     to move the masses. They create new possibilities. Without Gandhi, India might still be part of the British Empire. It may be possible for large-scale change to occur without leaders with     10     personalities, but the pace of change would be slow, the vision uncertain, and the committee meetings endless.

【推荐3】Directions：Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery was preparing the wall text in 2014 to accompany an image of the boxer Mayweather Jr. During the process, the Washington museum decided to note that Mr. Mayweather had been“charged with domestic violence on several occasions,”receiving“punishments ranging from community service to jail time.”

Such context is common for     1     subjects in art, but far less so for artists themselves. Men like Picasso or Schiele were known for mistreating women, but their works hang in     2     museums without any asterisks（星号）.

Now, museums around the world are     3     with the implications of a decision, by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, to     4     postpone a Chuck Close exhibition because of     5     of sexual harassment（骚扰）involving potential portrait models that have involved the artist in controversy. Mr. Cloze has called the allegations“lies”and said he is“being severely criticized.”

The     6     has raised difficult questions about what to do with the paintings and photographs of Mr. close—held by museums like the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Tate in London and the Pompidou in Paris, as well as by high-spending collectors—and whether the work of other artists accused of questionable     7     needs to be revisited.

It is a provocative（引起争论的）moment for the art world, as the public debate about     8     creative output from personal behavior moves from popular culture into the realm of major visual artists from different eras and the institutions that have long collected and exhibited their pieces.

“We’re very used to having to defend people in the collection, but it’s always been for the sitter”rather than the artist, said Kim Sajet, director of the Portrait Gallery, which has a large body of Mr. Close’s work.“Now we have to think to ourselves,‘Do we need to do that about Chuck Close?’”

“You can’t talk about portraiture in America without talking about Chuck Close,”she added.“There are lots of amazing artists who have been less than admirable people.”

Whatever museums     9     decide to do about Mr. Close, some say they can no longer afford to simply present art without     10     the issues that surround the artist—that institutions must play a more active role in educating the public about the human beings behind the work.