1 . Foreign visitors to the UK might be disappointed when they learn that not everyone there speaks like Harry Potter and his friends. Usually, there’s an assumption by many non-Brits that everyone in Britain speaks with what’s known as a Received Pronunciation (RP，标准发音) accent, also called “the Queen’s English”. However, while many people do talk this way, most Britons speak in their own regional accents (口音).
Scouse, Glaswegian and Black Country — from Liverpool, Glasgow and the West Midlands — are just three of the countless non-RP accents that British people speak with. There are even differences in accents between towns or cities just 30 kilometers apart. What is even more disappointing is that not speaking in a RP accent may mean a British person is judged and even treated differently in their everyday life.
In a 2015 study by The University of South Wales, videos of people reading a passage in three different UK accents were shown to a second group of people. The group then rated how intelligent they thought the readers sounded. The lowestrated accent was Brummie, native to people from Birmingham, a city whose accent is considered working class.
However, there is no need to be disappointed though you are not speaking in a RP accent. In fact, doing the opposite may even give you strength.
Kong Seongjae, 25, is an Internet celebrity from Seoul. After studying in the UK, he picked up several regional accents. He’s now famous for his online videos, where he shows off the various accents he’s learned. “British people usually get really excited when I use some of their local dialect words, and they become much friendlier. I think it makes a bit of bond between local people and foreigners to speak in their local accent,” he said.
So if you’re working on perfecting your British accent, try to speak like someone from Liverpool, Glasgow or Birmingham. You may not sound like Harry Potter, but you are likely to make more friends.
1. What can we infer from Paragraph 1?| A．Non-Brits usually hold that all Britons speak in a RP accent. |
| B．Only “the Queen’s English” is accepted in the UK. |
| C．Foreign visitors are disappointed at their on spoken English. |
| D．Any Received Pronunciation around the world is also called “the Queen’s English”. |
| A．Favored by foreign visitors to the UK. | B．Closest to the RP accent. |
| C．Smart and easy to understand. | D．Spoken by people of lower class. |
| A．Speaking in a RP accent. | B．Speaking in regional accents. |
| C．Speaking the Brummie accent. | D．Speaking like Harry Potter. |
| A．A study about the most intelligent accent in Britain. |
| B．A comparison between different British accents. |
| C．How much British people value the RP accent. |
| D．The influence of regional accents on people’s lives. |
2 . Oliver’s journey with tai chi began in her early 20s, when she was suffering from a back injury, which left her lying in bed for six months.
“As an active youngster at that time, I couldn’t bear resting in bed,” she explained. “My muscles became wasted and stiff(僵直的) for lack of use, and I was often in a lot of pains. So, I felt that some physical exercise would help.”
She then discovered tai chi when she spotted by chance a poster advertising classes and decided to try the mysterious and exotic(异国的) sport. Oliver was immediately struck by the gentle and beautiful movements of tai chi, and to her delight, found that her occasional pains disappeared after years of practice.
“It not only helps me improve physical strength, but also provides me with many mental benefits, such as improved mood and focus, and less anxiety and depression,” she added.
To further understand tai chi and the Chinese philosophy behind it, Oliver decided to begin a journey to China. In 2005, Oliver established the Double Dragon Alliance Cultural Center, which acts as a bridge for foreign people seeking to gain a better understanding of Chinese culture. The center supports kung fu masters in teaching martial arts(武术) and organizes events for people to experience various aspects of Chinese culture.
Apart from her tai chi classes, Oliver now serves as the director of the British Cultural Center at Shanghai University. Reflecting on her work, Oliver said, “For quite many years, my work is actually like a cultural bridge. If you don’t have someone in the middle who is appreciative of all the cultures and have the desire to connect people, then it’s hard for them to get to know each other. I hope I can be the bridge to bring people close together. We need to foster mutual understanding among cultures to promote peaceful relations and friendship across the globe.”
1. Why did Oliver try tai chi?| A．To solve a mystery. | B．To recover physical state. |
| C．To treat her mental illness. | D．To advance her knowledge of China. |
| A．Her well-being improved. | B．She became talkative. |
| C．Her pain came less often. | D．She became open-minded. |
| A．Give kung fu performances. | B．Learn Chinese philosophy. |
| C．Bring kung fu masters together. | D．Promote cultural exchange. |
| A．Try Tai Chi to Relieve Pain |
| B．Tai Chi: a Global Cultural Bridge |
| C．A British Tai Chi Lover Builds Cultural Bridge in China |
| D．Tai Chi Enjoys Great Popularity Around the World |
3 . Facebook has developed a kind of AI (人工智能) translating between any pair of 100 languages without depending on first translating to English.
Facebook’s system was trained on a data set of 7.5 billion sentence pairs collected from the web across 100 languages, though not all the languages had an equal number of sentence pairs. “What I was really interested in was cutting out English as a middle man. Globally there are plenty of countries where they speak two languages that aren’t English,” says Angela Fan of Facebook AI, who led the work.
For some language pairs, the new system shows prominent improvements in translation quality. For example, translating from Spanish to Portuguese is extremely strong because Spanish is the second-most spoken first language worldwide, meaning the researchers can get a lot of data. Translation between English and Belarusian (白俄罗斯语) also is improved because the AI can translate Russian into English, which shares similarities with Belarusian.
While the system isn’t in use on the social network site, Facebook plans to put it to work soon to manage the 20 billion translations made every day when people click “Translate” on posts (帖子) written in more than 160 languages. “Future work will be done on other languages,” says Fan, “especially for languages where we don’t have a lot of data, like South-East Asian and African languages.”
The work “breaks away from the English-centric models and tries to build more different models,” says Shelia Castilho of the ADAPT Centre at Dublin City University, Ireland. “That’s pretty new and different. But it’s hard to know if the AI does a right translation work,” says Castilho. “The users may not know the other language, so they cannot judge the correctness of the translation.”
1. What’s Angela Fan’s purpose of doing the research?| A．To collect data of all kinds of people. |
| B．To make learning different languages easier. |
| C．To achieve her dream of becoming a translator. |
| D．To avoid using English as a middle man in translation. |
| A．There is much data on Spanish. |
| B．Portuguese is similar to Spanish. |
| C．Researchers have a good knowledge of the two languages. |
| D．Spanish is spoken by the largest number of people. |
| A．The safety of AI translation. | B．The correctness of AI translation. |
| C．The way of using Facebook. | D．The number of posts on the website. |
| A．Facebook AI Can Talk with the Users |
| B．Facebook Wants to Buy a New System |
| C．Facebook AI Can Translate Any Pair of 100 Languages |
| D．Facebook Has Lost Many Users |
4 . Perhaps you have ever heard the saying: Change is the only constant. Everyone, without doubt, goes through changes in their life, whether it is a physical state of aging or a mental state of emotional maturity. However, some are afraid to make the conscious decision to move or they think it's too late to have a fresh start.
I have a friend named Jack. At the age of 37, he is a Senior Manager at one of the Big Four. He has a great salary, owns his own apartment and enjoys the fine things in life, but not without the heavy burdens that his job brings. On the surface, it looks like he has got life figured out. Yet when I once asked if he was happy with his work, he answered that he some- times wished to quit his job to do something less stressful. But he’d become accustomed to this lifestyle and felt that it would be too late to give it up to achieve a new ambition.
For him, the risks are too high, so whether he can't abide his present job or not, he has to choose to suck it up. You might have come to a similar situation as Jack’s or you might be a Jack. You're now facing a wall. No matter what it is—the stress of your job or the terrible feeling, it’s time that you had to decide whether you'll tear down that wall or continue to let it enclose you. I suggest pushing back the boundaries and breaking the fixed patterns. Why do you feel it's too late to start over? That is simply because you're comparing yourself with others—younger or more successful individuals. In fact, you should compare yourself with the older version of you.
Don't become that person who lets life pass by only to regret it when you are making your way into old age. Don't let your life plateau（停滞不前）and waste away in the daily chores. Don't give up the potential you still have hidden and be locked away by your current state. Now, you’d better bravely start going after the things you want to do, without abandoning your dreams, ambitions and responsibilities.
1. What kind of people does Jack represent according to the author?| A．Those leading a happy life. |
| B．Those having an easeful career. |
| C．Those thinking it's too late to change. |
| D．Those having a high ambition to work. |
| A．Value. | B．Recommend. | C．Understand. | D．Tolerate. |
| A．Let life stand still. |
| B．Enjoy the present job. |
| C．Have a small goal in life. |
| D．Consider ourselves as a failure. |
| A．Everyone Can Meet a Jack |
| B．Don't Try to Control Yourself |
| C．Never Think Change Is Too Late |
| D．You Should Make Alteration Earlier |
5 . As the winner of six gold medals, cyclist Sir Chris Hoy is one of Britain's most successful Olympians. Now he has written a book to help young people achieve their own goals in life, called Be Amazing! An Inspiring Guide to Being Your Oum Cham pion. The book is packed with stories from his cycling career and the lessons he learned along the way. Speaking to The Week Junior, Hoy says the book's advice can apply to anything, whether it's sport, the arts or science.
When he was young, Hoy never thought he would have a career in cycling. “First of all, I wasn't that good at it,” he says. Heever thought that successful people were just certain to be great and were different from everyone else. But after growing up, Hoy realized that wasn't true and he saw whatever can happen if you work hard at something you love. He won his first gold medal at the 2004 Olympics in Greece in a time trial event. In this event, the cyclists took it in turns to see who could go the fastest round a track. Before Hoy's turn came, the world record had been broken three times. However, he focused on his own performance and won gold. Hoy said hearing his name followed by the words “Olympic champion” was truly magical.
If Hoy could give his younger self a piece of advice, it would be, “Not everyone can win a gold medal, so there has to be more than that. There has to be enjoyment and fun at the heart of everything.”
1. What is Chris Hoy’s main purpose of writing the book？| A．To get young people to buy it. |
| B．To make the young learn how to cycle. |
| C．To help the young realize their dreams. |
| D．To let young people know his sports career. |
| A．His works of art. |
| B．His cycling profession. |
| C．His educational theories. |
| D．His academic achievements. |
| A．Interest and effort. |
| B．Technique and talent. |
| C．Warmth and strength. |
| D．Energy and curiosity. |
| A．He did well in cycling as a boy. |
| B．He has broken the world record three times. |
| C．He won his first Olympic gold medal in Australia |
| D．He thinks the key to doing everything is pleasure. |
6 . How do young people learn best？This is something I think a lot when I am teaching foreign languages to young people.I often
After moving to southern Italy，I was
I wanted these students to be
One day I decided to prepare a dialogue in English and rather than simply getting students to repeat the phrases，I got them to chant(反复唱)
So when teaching English to young people now，I
| A．suggest | B．know | C．find | D．guess |
| A．materials | B．processes | C．attitudes | D．methods |
| A．anxious | B．lucky | C．surprised | D．puzzled |
| A．considered | B．realized | C．proved | D．insisted |
| A．develop | B．practice | C．support | D．increase |
| A．global | B．native | C．equal | D．easy |
| A．students | B．teachers | C．writers | D．readers |
| A．experienced | B．interested | C．concerned | D．puzzled |
| A．Besides | B．Therefore | C．However | D．Luckily |
| A．fairly | B．eagerly | C．nearly | D．seldom |
| A．come up with | B．put up with | C．keep up with | D．catch up with |
| A．that | B．it | C．one | D．them |
| A．mattered | B．valued | C．worked | D．wondered |
| A．persuade | B．encourage | C．remind | D．command |
| A．expressions | B．conversations | C．courses | D．measures |
7 . When recalling my high schoolGonzaga College High School，I am excited.It was founded in 1821，which was in the center part of D．C.，within the shouting distance(距离) of the Capitol building.
Seeing my older brother experience Gonzaga a few years before me，I had an idea of how special this school was before my entering to school.Through him，I could see the pride and friendship among Gonzaga students.
My true love for Gonzaga，however，began in my freshman year.I remember during my freshman guidance(新生入学指导)，the team spirit organization sat our class down on the playground and taught us all the game cheers.I remember feeling a sense of energy and pride among these students that I had never experienced from a high school before I mean，it was just a high school—much school pride could these kids really have? But it was not just a high school，and it only took a few football games for me to realize that I went to the most prideful school in the D．C.
I spent the rest of my first year meeting some of the coolest and most interesting people I have ever known.Some of the funniest，smartest and kindest guys I have ever met went to this school.No matter how athletic(擅长运动的)you were or how much money your parents had，you were just another Gonzaga kid.You were friends with everyone.If you went to Gonzaga，teacher or student，you were in on the joke.
When my freshman life came to an end，I began to understand what it meant to be part of Gonzaga students.Serving the poor right there on Campus at the McKenna center，I got a view on poor people that I will value for the rest of my life.Through football I learned how to develop better selfcontrol and built some of the greatest friendships.In the classroom，I had many laughs with friends and teachers alike.I also learned how to manage my time and gained a lot of information，but most importantly，I learned how to put the world and others before myself.
1. Why did the author consider Gonzaga College High School special before getting into it?| A．Because of its long history. |
| B．Because of its excellent location. |
| C．Because of his brother's experiences there. |
| D．Because of its short distance from the Capitol building. |
| A．made students feel energetic and proud. |
| B．led to the author's love for football games. |
| C．gave an introduction to the high school. |
| D．helped the author find the pride and friendship. |
| A．To introduce the advantages of his high school. |
| B．To show he really learns a lot in his high school. |
| C．To state the importance of high school education. |
| D．To explain how sports activities make students athletic. |
| A．How special my high school was. |
| B．The memories of my loving high school. |
| C．How proud I was of my efforts in high school. |
| D．The challenges during my high school years. |
8 . Smart thermostats (温控器)have become the face of smart home technology for most, but depending on what your home is like, it's possible to say the Ecobee3 is superior.
Most of the smart thermostats carry the same benefits, including the Ecobee3. They can learn your preferences and schedules, and then adjust the temperature accordingly. They're better-looking and more enjoyable to use than the basic pieces of plastic that occupy most households. And once you're able to heat up or cool down your house from your phone, without having to get out of bed, you won't want to go back to the past.
If you live in a larger house, the Ecobee3 can be much more convenient—offering you a couple of more remote sensors (传感器). Yes it gets pretty expensive at that point. But having those gives you effective control over the temperature in different rooms around your house. In comparison, other thermostats' measurements are largely limited to the area in which they're installed (安装).
If you live in a smaller place, that's no big deal；the Ecobee3 still has distinct advantages. It is touch-enabled, making it less annoying when you want to enter a Wi-Fi passwords see weather information, and so on.
Still, all the smart thermostats are pretty great. Which one is best just depends on whether you need a whole-home solution or a simpler one. For now, if it's the former, go with the Ecobee3. Their presence will probably make you more conscious about saving energy. Ecobee3 Smarter Wi-Fi Thermostat with Remote Sensor is available at all shopping websites.
1. How can you control Ecobee3?| A．By installing Wi-Fi. | B．By replacing its sensors. |
| C．By using the relative phone. | D．By closing power supply. |
| A．Its size is different | B．Its price is lower. |
| C．Its password is simpler. | D．Its coverage area is larger. |
| A．It makes us enjoy travelling and work better. |
| B．It leads us to hope to open a shop online. |
| C．It leads us to build our own smart houses. |
| D．It helps us pay attention to environmental protection. |
| A．To show the future of Ecobee3. |
| B．To attract people to buy Ecobee3. |
| C．To introduce how to use Ecobee3. |
| D．To explain why Ecobee3 was invented. |
