Today, experts guess that over 50% of people worldwide live in cities. By the year 2050, they expect 70% are going to be living in cities. They also say that more of the world’s cities will be megacities!
A megacity is a huge city. It might be any city with over 10 million people. However, it is harder to count the exact number of people living in a city than one might think. For one thing, it is not always clear who to count. For the other, many megacities do not have clear borders(边界) for where the city ends. Suburbs and regions around the city may or may not be included in the city’s total population.
Even with the difficulty of saying where a city ends and who to count, it is clear that certain cities around the world are megacities. Sao Paulo, the city with the most people in South America, is one, New York, the most famous city in North America, is another. Then there is Tokyo, a megacity with over 30 million people. This makes it the largest megacity in the world.
A mega-region, develops when megacities become so big that we can consider them to be connected. One report by the United Nations said the largest mega-region today is in China. The megacities included in this region are Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and Guangzhou. However, a mega-region does not have to be limited to one country. In West Africa, a mega-region connects four countries: Nigeria, Benin, Togo, and Ghana.
An important fact about mega-regions is how much economic power they have. Research by the United Nations found that 66% of economic activity worldwide happened within the world’s 40 largest mega-regions. The research also showed that 85% of new ideas in technology and science came from these 40 mega-regions. Less than 20% of the world’s population, however, lives in these mega-regions.
1. What is the best title for the text?| A．Good Things about Living in Cities | B．Problems with Too Many People |
| C．Huge Cities and Regions | D．The City with the Highest Population |
| A．People are born every day. | B．The suburbs grow too quickly. |
| C．More people move to the cities. | D．Defining the border of the city is hard. |
| A．London. | B．Nigeria. | C．Guangdong. | D．Hong Kong. |
| A．Connected megacities. | B．Large areas with many suburbs. |
| C．Places with over 10 million people. | D．Countries with three or more megacities. |
| A．There is a mega-region in Africa. |
| B．One-third of the world’s population lives in them. |
| C．Most new ideas in science and technology come from them. |
| D．Two-thirds of the world’s economic activity happens in them. |
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During the long cold winter, we like to eat some food that may make us fat. This is sometimes because it helps us keep warm and gives us energy, but often it’s because we need something to cheer us up. And that’s why we call it “comfort food”.
This kind of food that makes us feel good is different from person to person. It depends on your palate(味觉) and the connection you have with certain tastes and smells. The most popular comfort food is probably the biscuit. It’s thought that the sugary snack often brings back happy memories of childhood and family.
Moving on from sweet and sugary snacks, famous cook and food writer Mary Berry thinks it becomes natural to think about comfort food as soon as the weather gets colder and the nights become darker. And she suggests soup and warming foods as feel-good winter treats.
For comforting dishes like noodles or pizza, many people like them also because they don’t require cooking skills in the kitchen. They are easy to make so we can get them quickly. However, we often eat too much. Even though we know they’re high in sugar or salt, we continue to pig out(大吃大喝). “By making us eat that food, our minds find a way to get a really good feeling. However, we often feel guilty(内疚的) because we don’t realize that.” said Psychologist Shira Gabriel.
Maybe we should take comfort from the fact that eating certain food just makes us feel happy. But, for some people, eating any kind of food brings joy, warmth, happiness and comfort.
1. What do the underlined words “comfort food” mean?| A．The food which can give people energy. | B．The food which can make people feel good. |
| C．The food which can keep people healthy. | D．The food which can help people keep cool. |
| A．Because it’s easy to make. | B．Because it tastes delicious. |
| C．Because it brings back our happy memories. | D．Because it provides enough sugar for us. |
A． | B． | C． | D． |
| A．Why do our minds make us eat much comfort food? |
| B．Why do we like to eat fattening food in winter? |
| C．Why do we like different kinds of comfort food? |
| D．Why does comfort food get popular around the world? |
| A．Eat less comfort food | B．How to keep healthy by eating |
| C．Some methods of feeling better | D．Why people like comfort food |
【推荐2】Sitting in front of the television is probably relaxing, but spending too much time in front of it may take years off your life. Watching less television may help you live a much longer life.
Australian researchers (研究者) studied more than 11, 000 people over the age of 25. Their study showed that if people watched TV for six hours a day, they lived about 4.8 years less than those who didn’t watch any television. Also, people who are over the age of 25 lose 22 minutes of life for every hour of TV that they watch.
Sitting in front of television isn’t healthy. The more TV you watch, the less exercise you’ll get. And the less exercise you get, the more likely it is that you’ll be ill.
Lennert Veerman, the researcher who led the study, says watching too much TV will influence (影响) people’s life expectancies (预期的寿命), even for people who have a good eating habit. He thinks it’s time for doctors to start asking their patients (病人) about how much TV they watch, as it can be indicator (指标) of their health.
As a result, Veerman has called on people to turn off their TV and get off the sofa to get some exercise. “Exercise is good,” He said, “Even light activity is good for healthy.”
1. Australian researchers did a study on ________.| A．what people should do to live longer |
| B．what people usually do to relax after work |
| C．how watching too much TV can be bad for people |
| A．Why watching TV is bad for our health. |
| B．Why people don’t exercise enough. |
| C．How often people should exercise. |
| A．Doctors. | B．Patients. | C．Readers. |
| A．Go to the doctor often. |
| B．Have a healthy eating habit. |
| C．Get more exercise and watch less TV. |
【推荐3】Hummingbirds (蜂鸟) are the smallest birds that live on Earth. Most of the more than 300 kinds of hummingbirds live in America. The largest hummingbird is only 21～23 cm long and weighs 18～24 g. The wings (翅膀) of a hummingbird move very quickly. You can’t see them move.
Hummingbirds’ life is quite long.
Hummingbirds have strong bodies. A lot of hummingbirds travel to warmer places during the winter. Some of them can fly up to 8,000 km. They have long wings which help them fly very fast. With them, they can fly not only forward, but also straight up and down.
The bee hummingbird is the smallest of the hummingbirds. It lives in Cuba. It’s only about 5.5 cm long, and it weighs only 1.6～1.8 g. This hummingbird moves its wings at a speed of about 80 times per second.
根据材料内容，从下面五个选项中选出能填入文中空缺处的最佳选项，使短文意思通顺、内容完整。
| A．They can live up to 8 years. |
| B．But you can hear them. |
| C．You can hardly see its wings when it flies. |
| D．And they are the only birds that can fly backwards. |
| E．Now, the hummingbird is in great danger. |
【推荐1】New York is a very large city with 8 million people. How do so many people move about the city on their way to work and school? So, we should know something about its transport(交通). In New York you can travel about the city by underground, bus, taxi and car.
The underground runs on the railroad lines under the city. Traveling by underground is the fastest way to get around the city. The second way to travel around the city is by bus. It’s a slower way to travel. This is because the bus moves in road traffic which is often heavy.
You can also travel around the city by taxi. This is the most expensive way, but the taxi will take you to the very place you wish to go to. If traffic is heavy, the taxi will be slow.
During the mornings and afternoons, there is the “rush hour”. This is the time when the traffic is very heavy with people going to and from work. The last way to get around New York is using your own car. However, it’s not easy for you to drive, especially when you are driving in the “rush hour”. The best time to travel around the city is from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. because it isn’t “rush hour”.
1. How many ways of traveling around the city are mentioned in the passage?| A．Two | B．Three | C．Four |
| A．by subway | B．by taxi | C．by bus |
| A．比赛中的冲刺时刻 | B．一小时内所跑的路程 | C．(上下班)交通高峰 |
| A．From 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. | B．From 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. | C．From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. |
| A．there is no “rush hour” from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. |
| B．the traffic is heavy at noon |
| C．most people have lunch at home |
【推荐2】Welcome to Longhui Huayao Village. It lies at the eastern foot of Xuefeng Mountain. It's about 110 kilometers away from the County Seat(县政府所在地) of Longhui. It's an old village in the hills with a lot of beautiful waterfalls, trees and interesting rocks. Tourists are interested in not only the nature beauty of the village but also the culture of Huayao People. Huayao People are a special group of Yao People.They are famous for their special clothes which are as colorful as flowers. There are many interesting things in Huayao culture, such as wedding custom(婚俗), Tao-nian-bai Festival(讨念拜节) and so on.
I hope that more and more people can visit the village and know more about our special culture.
1. Longhui Huayao village lies ______.| A．at the eastern foot of Xuefeng Mountain | B．at the southern foot of Xuefeng Mountain | C．at the western foot of Xuefeng Mountain |
| A．many beautiful waterfalls, trees and interesting rocks |
| B．few waterfalls, flowers and interesting rocks |
| C．a lot of beautiful flowers, waterfalls and trees |
| A．Miao | B．Yao | C．Hui |
| A．Their special clothes. | B．Their special food. | C．Their special festivals. |
| A．Yes, there are. | B．No, there aren't. | C．We don't know. |
As the capital of China, Beijing is known as a modern city. But when you walk down one of its busy and noisy main streets into a small hutong (胡同),
Among all these hutongs, there are certainly some interesting and special ones. Jiuwan Hutong is the one with the most curves (曲线).
| A．Hutongs are a symbol of Beijing culture and also a part of Chinese culture. |
| B．So far, there have been more than 6,000 hutongs in Beijing. |
| C．you may get a different feeling. |
| D．People in Beijing love them because hutongs bring them a lot of joy and relaxation. |
| E．It’s only about 390 meters long. |
Li Jun, Hunan
Now more and more people are buying and selling things on the Internet. Hackers around the world are interested in this. They often break in your system, but it's very difficult to find them. They even can take your money out of the bank.
Xiao Yu, Guangdong
I'm a 14-year-old girl in Tibet. The Qinghai-Tibet Railway was built in 2006. I can reach Beijing by train in about 48 hours. I can often go to visit my grandpa.
Joma, Tibet
I'm 13 years old. I want to invent a machine. My machine will forecast the earthquake better and make people run to safe places.
Lin Yan, Sichuan
1. What does Li Jun think of using the computer at home?
| A．It can help children improve their study. |
| B．It's good for a child's performance in math, science and English. |
| C．It's bad for children's study. |
| D．It's good for children to chat with each other. |
| A．They sell things on the Internet. |
| B．They break in others' system to get money or other things they want. |
| C．They buy things on the Internet. |
| D．They protect the Internet. |
| A．by train | B．by bus |
| C．by plane | D．by subway |
| A．制止 | B．预报 |
| C．发现 | D．处理 |
| A．To be a hacker. |
| B．To be a teacher. |
| C．To be a doctor. |
| D．To be a scientist. |
【推荐2】Nowadays lots of kids are at home alone after school. Are you one of them? Kids who regularly take care of themselves are called “latchkey kids” (钥匙儿童).
This nick name (昵称) got its start in the 1940s. Many men fought in the Second World War and women had to take jobs in factories to keep the country going. With both parents away, lots of kids went back to empty houses after school. Latchkey kids wore house keys around their necks and they used the keys to open doors.
Today, it’s common for both parents to work. As a result, a new generation of kids are spending some time alone after school. It becomes necessary for both parents and kids to make some rules. There are a lot of questions to talk about:
Should you call your mum, or dad as soon as you get home?
Should you do your homework first?
Can you watch TV or play computer games? If so, how long?
What can you eat if you want a snack?
Can friends come over? If so, how many?
...
As latchkey kids, knowing how to stay safe is just as important as following the family rules. Talk about the following questions with your parents:
What should you do when the phone rings?
What should you do if someone knocks at the door?
What should you do if someone breaks into the house?
What should you do if you cut yourself while cooking?
...
You may feel ________ when you are at home alone. Don’t worry. Keeping yourself busy is helpful. There are many things which can make you feel that time goes by quickly.
●Read a magazine. ●Write an email. ●Phone a friend.
1. Latchkey kids ________.
| A．like collecting keys | B．live with their grandparents |
| C．have part-time jobs in factories | D．regularly stay at home alone after school |
| A．bored | B．excited | C．relaxed | D．pleased |
| A．there’s no need to make family rules |
| B．latchkey kids should learn to protect themselves |
| C．time passes slowly when latchkey kids are busy |
| D．parents should never leave their kids alone at home |
Take any long piece of paper and glue the ends of the paper together. You have made a ring. Take a second long piece of paper, twist(扭转) one of the ends through 180°, and glue the ends together.
Now you have made a Mobius band. The band is named after the German mathematician August Ferdinand Mobius who discovered it in September 1858. It is special because it is single-sided. To prove it, you can draw a line along the middle of a common ring. The line is only on one side of the paper. However, if you draw a line after you make the Mobius band, pay attention not to take the pen off the paper when drawing the line, just keep on going until you return to the starting point. Once you’ve finished, you’ll get an unbroken line which goes along both sides of the paper.
It is also kind of fun to see what happens when you cut the band. If you cut it in half along the middle of the Mobius band, you do not get two Mobius bands. Instead, after you cut the band, it turns into one large twisted ring. Then, if you cut this ring in half along the middle of the band again, you get two connected twisted rings. As an experiment, try cutting around a Mobius band one-third of the way from the edge. What do you get? Make a collection of Mobius bands — fat ones. Mark them in fourths, fifths, sixths, and cut around them. Keep a record of your results.
1. The underlined “band” in Paragraph 2 refers to a ________.| A．music group | B．ringed object | C．math problem | D．special line |
| A．it is unbroken | B．it has a line on it | C．it is made of paper | D．it has only one side |
A． | B． | C． | D． |
| A．A large twisted ring. | B．Two connected twisted rings. |
| C．Three Mobius bands. | D．Four separate Mobius bands. |
| A．do more experiments with Mobius bands | B．raise questions about Mobius bands |
| C．make a collection of Mobius bands | D．get two different Mobius bands |
