Americans love cars. They go everywhere in them. 8 5％of people in the US go to and from work by car. And most adults have driving licenses. Why does this car culture exist?
How it started
America’s love of cars started after the war(战争)when soldiers returned home from World War II to rebuild their lives. They borrowed money from the government to buy houses and cars which became the symbols of status(地位). The more money they had, the bigger their cars were.
Making of roads
During the war, President Eisenhower noticed what good roads Germany had. He decided to build new four-lane(四车道)roads in America. He said if something happened suddenly, the two-lane roads wouldn’t be able to carry all the cars that would suddenly leave the cities. Car and oil companies liked his idea and building started.
Car lover
Not just teenagers are crazy about cars. Some Americans love their cars so much that they paint their cars beautifully. These are called Art Cars. Every April there is an activity in Houston, Texas, where they show their cars.
Pollution
Cars have polluted the environment. American President Bush refused a worldwide law that is against pollution. Many countries were angry about it. Bush said he had to think of the American economy(经济)and all the American people that make money from cars. Factories say they want to make cars that pollute less. But others say making cars that pollute less will never be as good as having fewer cars.
1. When did Americans begin to love cars?| A．Before the new two-lane roads were built. |
| B．After World War II. |
| C．During World War II. |
| D．Before World War II. |
| A．in Germany | B．by car and oil companies |
| C．in America | D．when something suddenly happened |
| A．companies | B．soldiers’ lives | C．houses | D．roads |
| A．They agreed with him. | B．They showed anger to it. |
| C．They paid no attention to it. | D．The passage doesn’t tell us. |
| A．It’s better to have fewer cars. |
| B．It’s better to make cars that pollute less. |
| C．It’s easier to make cars that pollute less. |
| D．It’s easier to make people have fewer cars. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】At 9:30, Rose said, “I hate going to bed. I want to stay up and watch a show!” At 6:00 in the morning, her alarm clock went off. Her mother heard her say, “The only thing I hate more than going to bed is getting up in the morning!”
What does Rose have in common with thousands of kids? She is not getting enough sleep. Have you ever stayed up later than you should? If you have, you know that not getting enough sleep can leave you feeling tired and upset. You may have even noticed that it’s hard to think clearly and stay focused (专注的) when you are overtired.
Need some motivation (动机) to go to bed on time? Here are some important advantages (好处) of getting a good night’s sleep. After a good night’s sleep, we are more energetic, smarter and even happier.
Do you like to play sports? It has been shown that football players, swimmers and tennis players all perform better after a good night’s sleep. Your coach may not tell you this, but the simplest way to improve your performance is to get enough rest.
Do you want to improve your grade? Healthy sleep habits improve your memory and your ability to pay attention to tasks, making schoolwork seem easier. While you get a snooze, your mind is very busy so you needn’t get a good rest like a long sleep. Researchers have found that it’s easier to learn after a good night’s rest. So, it’s no surprise that students who get enough sleep get better grades than those who don’t.
Science and experience have shown that getting a good night’s sleep is the key to success in whatever you do. Get a good night’s sleep. You’re worth it.
1. Why does the writer write the first paragraph?| A．To bring the topic of the passage. | B．To show the student’s study time. |
| C．To tell us there is a girl named Rose. | D．To tell us something about an alarm clock. |
| A．They don’t have enough sleep. | B．They can’t do well in ball games. |
| C．They don’t take enough exercise. | D．They can’t pay attention to their tasks. |
| A．A short sleep | B．A bad sleep | C．A good sleep | D．A long sleep |
| A．Rose enjoys getting up early. |
| B．Good sleep helps us think clearly and stay focused. |
| C．Healthy sleep habits make schoolwork more difficult. |
| D．The only way to improve performance is to get enough rest. |
| A．Science | B．Sport | C．Health | D．News |
【推荐2】It’s a challenge for people to live in very cold weather. We do not have animal fur to help us keep warm! We can make clothes and build houses to keep warm!
In winter, you must be careful. If you get stuck (受困) outside for a long time in very cold weather, you may feel difficult to move your body. So what can you do to stay warm?
First, find a big pile of snow and then dig a cave (洞穴). Make it big to keep air inside.
Second, climb into your cave. Before you climb inside, clean the snow on your clothes. The heat(热量) from your body will stay inside the cave. This is good! But if there’s much snow on your clothes, the snow will melt (融化). This is bad. Wet clothes will take the heat away from your body!
Third, try to make the floor of the cave higher. This will keep the sleeping area warm when the cold air goes into the cave.
Next, fill up the door hole (洞) with snow. This way, the heat will not get out.
Finally, if you can, share your cave with a friend. Two people make more heat than one person can.
1. Which of the following things can help keep warm in very cold weather?①houses ②clothes ③animal fur ④air ⑤cave ⑥shorts
| A．①③④ | B．②③⑥ | C．①②⑤ | D．④⑤⑥ |
| A．cave | B．house | C．snow | D．clothes |
| A．clean the snow on your clothes after climbing inside |
| B．wear wet clothes after climbing inside |
| C．try to make the floor of the cave lower than door hole |
| D．share your cave with a friend |
| A．how to dig a cave | B．how to keep warm alone |
| C．how to get more heat | D．how to be careful |
| A．newspaper | B．cookbook | C．science book | D．travel program |
【推荐3】Have you ever eaten at a restaurant that serves Western food? If so, do you remember what the menu looked like? Western restaurant menus are quite different from Chinese restaurant ones.
Most Western restaurant menus do not have as many pictures as Chinese ones do—with a picture, you can tell what is in a dish. In some expensive Western restaurants, a menu may not have any pictures at all.
But most Western menus show a list of ingredients (原料) for each dish. If you order a burger, the menu might tell you that the burger has cheese, ketchup and mustard (芥末). The menu can also tell you how the food is cooked, for example, whether it is fried or steamed (蒸).
Western restaurants use many different methods to design their menus and make them more attractive. In fact, there is a whole industry called “menu making”, according to the BBC. Menu makers are experts at designing menus. Their menus can increase sales and influence customers’ thoughts.
A well-designed menu can encourage customers to eat certain dishes. It can even make them believe that your restaurant’s food is of higher quality, even if they haven’t eaten the food yet.
For example, using descriptive (描述性的) words like “juicy” or “cheesy” can help dishes sell better. Instead of just writing “steak (牛排)” in their menu, a restaurant might write “sizzling steak”. This makes the steak sound more delicious.
Also, it is known that people pay the most attention to items at the top of a page. This is the best place for dishes that you want to order.
As you can see, menus are not just simple lists of food!
1. How are different between Western restaurant menus and Chinese menus?| A．Chinese menus with easy pictures. | B．Western menus with small pictures. |
| C．Chinese menus with easy pictures and ingredients. | D．Western menus with less or without pictures. |
| A．How Western people make their menus. | B．Why Western menus have no pictures. |
| C．Why Western menus list ingredients for each dish. | D．What Western menus are like. |
| A．鲜嫩 | B．热度 | C．价格 | D．质量 |
| A．It is easy to design a successful Western menu. |
| B．A well-designed menu can attract more customers. |
| C．Good menus depend on how well each dish is described. |
| D．Dishes at the top of a menu page are the most delicious ones. |
【推荐1】“The delivery man (送货员) has your food and is on his way.” This is a message you might get after you order food online. We know that delivery men bring your food to you. ________ That sounds interesting, doesn’t it?
Now Baidu and Meituan are working together to develop self-driving technology to deliver food. They are going to make some self-driving cars. People will mainly use the self- driving cars to send group orders. For example, if a company orders food for its workers, a self- driving car will bring all of their orders to the company.
Online food ordering is developing rapidly in China. So far, 300 million users have used different apps to order food online. Some experts say that self-driving cars will be a revolution (革命) of the food delivery.
Some people think there must be some problems about using self-driving cars to deliver food. For example, self-driving cars can drive well on flat roads, but can they drive well if the road is not flat? Some experts say that problems must be solved before using self-driving cars.
There will be self-driving delivery service soon, but it doesn’t mean that delivery men will lose their jobs. After all, self-driving delivery service cannot bring food to everyone in every city.
1. What are Baidu and Meituan working together for?| A．Making new kinds of cars. |
| B．Using a new kind of technology to deliver food. |
| C．Finding more and more delivery men to work for them. |
| D．Attracting more users to use their online food service. |
| A．Maybe there will be smart robots sending food to you in the future. |
| B．It’s pretty convenient because you don’t need to cook by yourself. |
| C．Can you imagine that self-driving cars will bring food to you in the near future? |
| D．Baidu and Meituan are planning to choose some people to be delivery men. |
| A．Successfully. | B．Quickly. | C．Quietly. | D．Comfortably. |
| A．The science world. | B．The school life. | C．The food safety. | D．The driving safety. |
| A．Online food service in China | B．The future of delivering food. |
| C．The future of delivery men. | D．Advantages (优点) of self-driving cars. |
【推荐2】We often praise the world of science.
It explains the world and makes our lives easier with technology. One of the most exciting fields in science is artificial intelligence (人工智能，简写为AI).
However, one of the most famous scientists has a very dark warning for us about this type of technology.
“The development of full artificial intelligence could mean the end of the human race,” said Professor Stephen Hawking to the BBC.
This is a basic type of AI, which is very useful. However, Hawking fears the possibility of creating technology that can match or surpass (超越) human intelligence. And it’s easy to imagine how terrible things may be.
But not every scientist is pessimistic (悲观的) about AI technology. “I believe we will be in control of the technology for a long time,” said Rollo Carpenter, a scientist from the UK. “
| A．The advantages of it to solve many of the world problems will be realized. |
| B．This is an area where scientists are working on creating machines that think like humans. |
| C．Hawking is a well-known British physicist. |
| D．Many TV shows and films show killer machines that are far cleverer than us. |
| E．The computer learns how Hawking thinks and suggests the words he may want to use next. |
【推荐3】When researchers study some animals in the wild, it usually means a human has to get close to them to collect information. However, people make animals nervous. When human researchers are around, animals don’t act as usual.
A team of researchers from France wanted to find a way to study penguins (企鹅) without changing their natural behavior. They did an experiment.
First, they put some small monitors (监测仪) on a group of penguins. These monitors could record how fast their hearts beat. They found when a penguin felt nervous, its heart beat faster. Then they sent a small, remote-controlled (遥控的) robot to the penguins. The robot could read information from the monitors and send it back to the researchers. When the robot got close to the penguins, some of them felt nervous and tried to run away. However, the researchers found that the penguins’ hearts didn’t beat as fast as they did when a human got close to them. The feeling of being nervous also went away more quickly.
Finally, the researchers gave the robot black arms and a black and white face. When they sent it back to the penguins, they did not run away from it. Some of the penguins even treated it as if it were a real baby penguin.
With the help of this robot, now researchers are able to collect information about penguins without changing the way they behave. What’s more, they are able to collect five times more information than they did in the past.
1. Which of the following is the right order according to the passage?a. Researchers gave the robot black arms and a black and white face.
b. Researchers sent a small, remote-controlled robot to the penguins.
c. Researchers could collect five times more information than they did in the past.
d. Researchers put some small monitors on a group of penguins.
| A．b-c-a-d. | B．d-b-a-c. | C．a-b-c-d. | D．c-a-b-d. |
| A．Robots. | B．Researchers. | C．Penguins. | D．Black arms. |
| A．The final robot was not safe. | B．The experiment was not good. |
| C．The final robot won’t be used again. | D．The experiment was very successful. |
| A．Why to Study Penguins. | B．A Team of Penguin Researchers. |
| C．A Better Way to Study Penguins. | D．How Fast a Penguin’s Heart Beats. |
【推荐1】Traveling to work by car gets more expensive today. People can do nothing about the world's price of petrol（汽油）. They have to work hard to pay for petrol. However, some people are trying not to drive to work.
People have found out that it is good to ride a bike to work. More and more people return to bikes.
Children often go to school by bike. But now businessmen（生意人）are going to work by bike, too. "The bike is easy to use," says Molly, "and it is also very cheap. You can buy 300 bikes at the price of a small car. A bike doesn’t use expensive petrol. A 12-year-old child can learn to use a bike. And most bikes can be used for along time. "
Mr. Brown goes to his hospital by bike every day. He says, "A bike doesn't need a lot of money and bike riding is good for our health. Today most people get fat because they don't get enough exercise. So I tell my patients to ride bikes. What's more, in big cities it's usually quicker to travel by bike than by bus or by car. Drivers can’t do anything but get angry when there is a traffic jam. "
1. The first paragraph mainly tells us _________.| A．it's good to drive to work | B．it's too expensive to drive to work |
| C．some people stop to drive to work | D．it's cheap to ride a bike to work |
| A．patients | B．workers | C．businessmen | D．students |
| A．100 | B．200 | C．300 | D．400 |
| A．学生 | B．病人 | C．医生 | D．司机 |
| A．it's good to ride bikes | B．there are too many cars |
| C．the traffic is heavy | D．cars are expensive for us |
【推荐2】B
How funny would it be to see memes(表情包) in our textbooks? Fourteen high school students from Sichuan Province have made this a reality.
They wrote a set of creative textbooks that includes five subjects: Chinese, English, Maths, Chemistry and Physics. They share their notes and experiences to help you prepare for high school entrance exams. You can see funny memes almost everywhere in their textbooks. The language they use is not too serious.
Each textbook has its own highlights(亮点), too. The English textbook introduces tongue twisters(绕口令), movies and TV series. The chemistry textbook has wuxia characters. There is a boy named Shangguan Huaxue(chemistry) in the book. He meets a girl and they learn chemistry together. It has ancient poems and wuxia-style descriptions.
Yan Zuhuai, 15, a top student from Chengdu No.7 High School, is the textbooks’ editor-in-chef. He got the idea to create the books in June. “Many underclassmen wanted me to share my notes with them. When I saw people sharing bikes, I thought, why not share knowledge as well?” Yan said.
But when he put all of his notes together, he found that they were boring. Realizing that his classmates enjoy online novels and memes, he decided to add these things. He wrote guidelines and samples for each textbook and invited 13 students to join him in creating them.
Their first drafts(草稿) came out in August. Students and teachers praised them. But Yan felt the books needed to be improve. In October, he and his team learned how to use the design software to improve the books. The final version(版本) will come out at the end of December. About 2,500 people have preordered them. Many publishing houses have shown great interest in them.
1. What subjects are included in the set of creative textbooks?| A．Chinese, Maths and History. | B．English, Maths and Physics. |
| C．Chinese, Physics and Computer. | |
| A．下层人士 | B．课后机构 | C．学弟学妹们 |
①He put all of his notes together but found they were boring.
②Their first drafts came out.
③The final versions will come out.
④He got the idea to create the books.
⑤He invited 13 students to join him in creating them.
| A．④①⑤②③ | B．①④⑤②③ | C．④①⑤③② |
| A．The language in the creative textbooks is too serious. |
| B．The English textbooks introduces movies, TV series and so on. |
| C．Many publishing houses haven’t shown any interest in them. |
| A．The textbooks can be harmful to students. |
| B．Fifteen students use the software to improve the books. |
| C．The creative textbooks are so welcomed by the students. |
【推荐3】
Are you troubled by housework, such as cleaning tables or tidying your room? A new robot is here to help! In January, short videos of a robot called Mobile Aloha cooking at someone’s home caught lots of attention online.
In the videos, we can see the robot preparing dishes on its own, from cutting vegetables to cooking eggs. It’s also good at watering plants, petting cats, cleaning the floor and washing clothes. Linda, a 40-year-old housewife joked, “As long as this thing doesn’t try to kill me while I am asleep, I am in real need of it.”
Well, another video may disappoint her. Mobile Aloha carelessly broke glasses and plates, knocked into things and even burned a dish. In fact, Mobile Aloha isn’t good at doing housework on its own. Instead, it learns from human actions before doing each kind of housework. When the situation changes, it can’t work well without a human “teaching” it. The robot can successfully move chairs 80 percent of the time. For cooking dishes, it’s only 40 percent. In short, it’s far from perfect. AI robots are good at tasks such as math and playing chess, but they perform worse than a one-year-old child when it comes to simple tasks like cleaning. And it’s the same for Mobile Aloha. For example, if its body doesn’t move correctly-even just with a small deviation, its arm may move too far to pick up a glass.
Well, robots are not ready to control the world yet!
1. What can Mobile Aloha do?
a b c d e f
| A．a.b.c.d.e.f. | B．a.c.d.e.f | C．a.c.e.f. | D．a.c.d.e. |
| A．By learning from humans. | B．By learning from failures. |
| C．By learning from other AI robots. | D．By asking programmers for help. |
| A．Mobile Aloha is ready for sale. |
| B．Mobile Aloha is popular with housewives. |
| C．It is expensive to have Mobile Aloha do housework. |
| D．Even kids may do cleaning better than Mobile Aloha. |
| A．difference | B．adventure | C．experience | D．experiment |
| A．AI—Perfect for Housework! |
| B．AI Controlling Humans. |
| C．Mobile Aloha Beats Humans! |
| D．Mobile Aloha—Cleaning or Messing up? |
Quantity(数量) | Item(项目) | Unit Price(单价) |
2 3 1 1 5 | notebook pen knife Pencil- box eraser | $3.5 $1.5 $1 $2.5 $0.5 |
Subtotal (小计) | $17.5 | |
Tax (税金) | $0.5 | |
Total | $18 | |
Cashier (收银员): The total is $18.
Tommy: OK. Here is $20.
Cashier: Thanks. Here is your change (找零). Do you need a bag?
Tommy: Yes, please.
Cashier: Here you go.
Tommy: Thank you. Have a nice day.
1. Tommy should pay (付款) ________ for pens.
| A．1.5 dollars | B．3 dollars | C．4.5 dollars | D．6 dollars |
| A．pencil- box | B．pen | C．knife | D．notebook |
| A．0.5 dollars. | B．2 dollars. | C．17.5 dollars. | D．18 dollars. |
| A．This is for you. | B．Please come. | C．Come on. | D．Here you are. |
| A．Tommy buys five erasers. | B．The unit price of the notebook is 7 dollars. |
| C．The shop doesn't have any bags. | D．Tommy buys four kinds of things. |
【推荐2】China is celebrating its 70th founding anniversary this year. Eight people received the Medal of the Republic, now let’s learn about four of them.
| Shen Jilan has served 13 ideas for the country since 1954. She came up with the idea of equal pay for equal work between men and women. The idea was written into China’s first law in 1954. | Sun Jiadong, an engineer, made great contributions to developing Chinese satellite technology and space exploration. He was main designer of both the Beidou navigation（导航）system and China’s lunar exploration project. |
| Zhang Fuqing was a soldier during the Liberation War（解放战争）. He was twice awarded the title of Combat Hero. In 1955, he volunteered to work in the remote countryside in Hubei province and has been helping poor people there ever since. | Tu Youyou, a scientist, is known for winning the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2015. She discovered artemisinin（青蒿素）, a medicine that can be used to treat malaria. Her finding has saved millions of lives. |
1. According to the text, the four people all received __________.
| A．the Nobel Prize | B．the Medal of the Republic |
| C．the Friendship Medals | D．the National Honorary Titles |
| A．malaria is a kind of illness |
| B．Sun Jiadong only designed the Beidou navigation system |
| C．Shen Jilan’s 13 ideas were written into China’s first law |
| D．Zhang Fuqing was twice awarded the Medal of the Republic |
| A．a story | B．a notice | C．a report | D．a guidebook |
【推荐3】Many parents always complain their children can't do things well when they are coming to see me.
In fact, all the parents are facing a serious problem—what character should they play in their children's life. When children reach the age of 16, parents need to realize that the children have grown up. After they grow up, they should learn to make decisions by themselves because this is very important for them. If they can't make their own decisions, they will never find out their ability and become independent.
To be honest, many children even adults can’t make their own decisions. So, parents should help children learn to make their own decisions and help to make the decisions more meaningful.
I have a German friend. He was born in a rich family. He lives in Washington with his parents. When he was 18 years old, he wanted to travel around America. He then talked with his father about it. His father supported his idea and then gave him only $100. I was astonished after I heard the news. However, to my surprise, he traveled around the whole country during intermissions (间歇) between working time. After he finished the journey, his father told me why he gave his son only $100 at first.
"I thought it was time for him to begin to learn what life is," he said. "Through this journey, he had learned that life wasn't as easy as he had thought. "
1. The writer is most probably a _________.| A．psychologist | B．waiter | C．businessman | D．shopkeeper |
| A．make money | B．make decisions | C．find out their ability | D．face serious problems |
| A．most adults can't make their own decisions |
| B．parents shouldn't help children learn to make their own decisions |
| C．when children reach the age of 16, parents need to help them find jobs |
| D．if children can't make their own decisions, they will never find out their ability |
| A．pleased | B．lucky | C．surprised | D．afraid |
| A．serious | B．cold | C．terrible | D．independent |
