1 . There is no denying that students should learn something about how computers work, just as we expect them at least to understand that the internal-combustion engine(内燃机）has something to do with burning fuel, expanding gases and pistons(活塞）being driven. For people should have some basic idea of how the things that they use do what they do. Further, students might be helped by a course that considers the computer's impact on society. But that is not what is meant by computer literacy.For computer literacy is not a form of literacy(读写能力）; it is a trade skill that should not be taught as a liberal art.
Learning how to use a computer and learning how to program one are two distinct activities. A case might be made that the competent citizens of tomorrow should free themselves from their fear of computers. But this is quite different from saying that all ought to know how to program one.Leave that to people who have chosen programming as a career. While programming can be lots of fun, and while our society needs some people who are experts at it, the same is true of auto repair and violin-making.
Learning how to use a computer is not that difficult, and it gets easier all the time as programs become more "user-friendly". Let us assume that in the future everyone is going to have to know how to use a computer to be a competent citizen. What does the phrase learning to use a computer mean? It sounds like "learning to drive a car", that is, it sounds as if there is some set of definite skills that, once acquired, enable one to use a computer.
In fact,"learning to use a computer"is much more like"learning to play a game", but learning the rules of one game may not help you play a second game,whose rules may not be the same.There is no such a thing as teaching someone how to use a computer. One can only teach people to use this or that program and generally that is easily accomplished.
1. To be the competent citizens of tomorrow, people should_____.| A．try to lay a solid foundation in computer science |
| B．be aware of how the things that they use do what they do |
| C．learn to use a computer by acquiring a certain set of skills |
| D．understand that programming a computer is more essential than repairing a car |
| A．programming a computer is as interesting as making a violin |
| B．people who can use a computer don't necessarily have to know computer programming |
| C．violin making requires as much skill as computer programming |
| D．our society needs experts in different fields |
| A．programs are designed to be convenient to users |
| B．programs are becoming less complicated |
| C．programming is becoming easier and easier |
| D．programs are becoming readily available to computer users |
| A．a set of rules |
| B．the fundamentals of computer science |
| C．specific programs |
| D．general principles of programming |
| A．to stress the impact of the computer on society |
| B．to emphasize that computer programming is an interesting and challenging job |
| C．to illustrate the requirements for being competent citizens of tomorrow |
| D．to explain the concept of computer literacy |
2 . eXp Realty is one of the world's fastest-growing and most successful real estate （房地产） companies. It has become famous not for investing in actual real estate, but for focusing on
virtual reality offices that allow its agents and brokers （中间商）to interact and socialize from anywhere around the globe.
Glenn Sanford, eXp Realty's founder and CEO, founded the company a decade ago, soon after the real estate market collapse of 2007. He couldn't afford to buy or rent office space. What's more important, he figured that focusing on a system that allowed his team to work remotely would help the company avoid possible real estate crises in the future. So eXp Realty relied on services like Google Docs, project management solutions like Trello, and communications app Slack to help its workforce work together in virtual reality. "The virtual campus is a big part of our growth engine. If we were limited to actual offices, the growth we've had simply wouldn't be possible," Scott Petronis, chief technology officer of eXp Realty said.
Having a virtual campus in the virtual world rather than in the real one apparently has several major advantages. For the most important one, eXp Realty can hire whatever talent they like, no matter where they are. As long as they have Internet connection, they can interact with their colleagues and the company management like avatars （虚拟人）because they can walk around the campus, enter various virtual facilities, and interact with each other. While the main focus is on work and brainstorming, eXp Realty is constantly adding fun stuff as well, like riding on a virtual lake and enjoying a drink at the bar.
At the beginning of 2018, eXp Realty had around 6,500 brokers, but till today that number has increased to over 12,000. They are operating in 300 markets across the US and Canada. If that isn't enough to convince you, the company was recently listed on the Nasdaq Stock Market, with first-day market capitalization of over $1 billion. But it doesn't own or lease any more physical space than what is required by law.
1. What do we know about eXp Realty?| A．It relies much on technology. |
| B．It was founded by accident. |
| C．It's famous for its large offices. |
| D．It's a branch company of Google. |
| A．He could work closely with famous online services. |
| B．He is quite professional in the field of information technology. |
| C．Virtual offices can enable him to avoid potential real estate crises. |
| D．The starting base for the virtual real estate market was low at that time. |
| A．Agents and brokers can communicate timely. |
| B．It helps attract talents regardless of their location. |
| C．Companies can cooperate with high-tech avatars. |
| D．Employees can have a relaxing work environment. |
| A．is really a success |
| B．has some illegal businesses |
| C．is expanding its business worldwide |
| D．has poor performance in the stock market |
| A．Why Does Real Estate Industry Grow So Quickly? |
| B．Billion Dollar Real Estate Company一eXp Realty |
| C．Virtual Reality Office Vs. Physical Office Space |
| D．What Can Virtual Reality Do to Our Business? |
3 . Transport has a lot to answer for when it comes to harming the planet. While cars and trains are moving towards greener, electric power, emissions from air travel are expected to increase massively by 2050. If we want big green sky solutions, we need blue sky thinking. Fortunately, there's plenty of that happening right now, particularly the short-haul flights powered by batteries.
Harbour Air is the largest seaplane airline in North America, flying 30, 000 commercial flights in 40 seaplanes each year. Significantly, all Harbour Air routes last less than 30 minutes, making it perfectly fit for electric engines. “As an airline, were currently in the process of turning all our planes into electric airplanes. ” says CEO Greg McDougall. To make this happen, the airline has partnered up with MagniX to create the world's first commercial flight with an electric engine.
Making the skies electric isn't just good for the environment, it also makes sound financial sense: a small aircraft uses $400 on conventional fuel for a 100-mile flight, while an electric one costs $8-12 for the same distance, and that's before you factor in the higher maintenance costs of a traditional engine. There's also the added bonus that electric planes are just much more pleasant to fly in. No loud engine noise, no smell of fuel, just environmentally friendly peace and quiet.
While there has been real progress in the e-plane industry, the technical challenges that remain are keeping everyone's feet firmly on the ground. A battery, even a lithium one, only provides 250 watt-hours per kilogram; compare this to liquid fuel, which has a specific energy of 11, 890 watt-hours per kilogram. Carrying adequate batteries, however, would make the plane too heavy to get off the ground. In aircraft, where every bit of weight counts, this can't just be ignored.
The transition (过渡) from gas to electric in the automobile industry has been made easier by hybrids-vehicles powered by both fuel and electricity. Many believe the same patter could be followed in the air. Fuel consumption could be reduced as the electric component is switched on at key parts of the journey, especially on take-off and landing.
It's certainly an exciting time for electric flying. With companies like Harbour Air taking the lead, battery-powered planes, especially on short-haul journeys, are set to become a reality in the next few years.
1. According to Para. 1, what is happening in air transport?| A．New explorations of the sky are being launched. |
| B．Pollution caused by batteries is being controlled. |
| C．Efforts are being made to make air travel greener. |
| D．Demand for short-haul flights is increasing massively. |
| A．It runs short routes. |
| B．It has a strong partner. |
| C．Its planes can land on the sea. |
| D．It has planes with powerful engines. |
| A．give passengers more pleasant views |
| B．bring airlines more financial benefits |
| C．offer more enjoyable flying experiences |
| D．cost less in maintenance than traditional ones |
| A．To improve the ground service for e-planes. |
| B．To find qualified technicians for e-plane industry. |
| C．To calculate the energy needed to power e-planes. |
| D．To balance power and weight of batteries in e-planes. |
| A．To produce new electric components. |
| B．To increase battery consumption. |
| C．To use mixed-power technology. |
| D．To expand the landing field. |
| A．Short-sighted. | B．Wait-and-see. |
| C．Optimistic. | D．Skeptical. |
4 . Many parents worry that showing negative emotions in front of their children will cause them to suffer. For example, children may end up thinking it's their fault or simply "catch" the emotion. Indeed, this worry has a sound basis — the phenomenon of “emotional contagion"（情绪感染）is real, and one recent study found that parents can transfer their fear of going to the dentist, for example, to their children.
On the other hand, there is the natural idea that we should “be real" with our children, and that they will benefit from watching a parent who struggles and eventually deals with their negative emotions like any other human being.
There are three concepts to consider when it comes to emotional display in front of children: suppression （压抑），"uncontained" expression, and talking about emotions. Suppression of emotion is when you hide the outward signs of an emotion. Unfortunately, it doesn't work very well — the act of suppressing your emotion actually increases your blood pressure. Observers can pick up on your distress despite your efforts to hide it, making them feel stressed. The recent research has also found that when parents feel negative emotions and keep them from their children, they experience lower relationship quality and decreased responsiveness to their child's needs.
On the other hand, “uncontained" expression of anger and sadness by the parent is also not salutary for the child. Uncontained means high intensity emotion, with no attempts to regulate or take ownership of it. Shouting, smashing （摔）things and blaming someone else for "making you angry" are all example of this .
So, what is the middle ground? That would be talking about emotion taking ownership of them and showing your child that you are trying to deal with them. Classic research found that six-year-old kids had better emotional understanding and perspective-taking skills if their mothers had talked to them about their emotions at the age of three. In fact, the more the mothers had talked, the better the outcome would be.
So next time you feel sad, angry or frustrated and your child is watching you expressing emotion, do explain what's going on in terms they can understand.
1. The author uses the example of going to the dentist mainly to _______.| A．explain parents' common fear |
| B．introduce the topic of negative emotions |
| C．show children may catch parents' emotions |
| D．present the consequences of transferring negative emotions |
| A．she will not make her kids feel stressed |
| B．she can hide her emotions from her kids |
| C．she will often shout at her kids for no reasons |
| D．she can't respond effectively to her kids' needs |
| A．Enough. | B．Beneficial. |
| C．Necessary. | D．Reliable. |
| A．To encourage parents to "be real" with our children. |
| B．To call on parents to develop a positive attitude to life. |
| C．To inform parents of the consequences of negative emotions. |
| D．To recommend parents to talk about negative emotions with children. |
A． | B． |
C． | D． |
5 . People get truly happy and success by becoming the best and the most genuine(真实的) version of themselves, not on the outside - on the inside. It's not about a brand or a
It sounds simple, I know. The problem is, it's very hard to do, it takes a lot of work, and it can take a lifetime to
That's what Steve Jobs
Now, let's be
Not only that, but what Jobs was talking about, or what I'm talking about, requires focus and discipline, two things that are very hard to
There's a business concept called opportunity cost. When you choose one course of action, you will miss out on all the other opportunities you might choose to
And yet, the opportunity for adventure is right there in front of each and every one of us. Until you take it, you'll never know what you might
| A．personality | B．quality | C．talent | D．reputation |
| A．put | B．leave | C．figure | D．check |
| A．Everything | B．Anything | C．Something | D．Nothing |
| A．rewards | B．chances | C．advantages | D．responsibilities |
| A．aim | B．sense | C．effect | D．result |
| A．planned | B．meant | C．mentioned | D．informed |
| A．endless | B．abundant | C．random | D．limited |
| A．mind | B．voice | C．action | D．heart |
| A．trust | B．deny | C．admire | D．forget |
| A．however | B．whichever | C．whenever | D．whatever |
| A．drawn close attention | B．attached great importance | C．made all the difference | D．struck a sensitive nerve |
| A．realistic | B．enthusiastic | C．energetic | D．optimistic |
| A．challenging | B．dynamic | C．fragile | D．consistent |
| A．turn out | B．bring about | C．fall on | D．involve in |
| A．come by | B．stand by | C．look for | D．care for |
| A．get down | B．give in | C．give rise | D．pay attention |
| A．preserve | B．create | C．pursue | D．abandon |
| A．frequently | B．rarely | C．actively | D．passively |
| A．achieve | B．survive | C．believe | D．relieve |
| A．enjoy | B．expect | C．design | D．start |
6 . Average age is rising around the world——a demographic （人口统计）change that may pose a significant challenge to efforts to slow down climate change.
Hossein Estiri at Harvard University and Emilio Zagheni of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Germany, have found that energy use increases as we get older, and not just because we tend to get wealthier. An ageing population could mean a greater proportion of society with higher energy use, their study suggests.
They combined two decades, worth of data from thousands of US households and used this to build a model to reveal how energy use varied across 17 age groups between 1987 and 2009. They found that, on average, children's energy consumption （消耗）climbs as they grow up, before dipping slightly when they leave home. Consumption then rises again when people hit their 30s, before briefly dropping after 55, and then beginning to climb again. The study involved factors such as income, local climate and the age, type and size of a person's home. The increase in energy use at various points in our lifespan （寿命）seems to be the result of life style and how our needs change as we age.
Why does demand grow so much in our 30s? “We need more of everything. More space, a bigger TV two fridges," says Estiri. The study found that, in warmer parts of the US, energy use increases in people over the age of 65—probably as a result of increased use of air conditioning, This suggests that there is a feedback effect between climate change and an ageing population that will only make matters worse.
Heat waves have become more common in the US in recent years and are expected to become more frequent due to global warming. More older people using more electrical energy to keep cool as temperatures rise could add to emissions （排放），and thus drive more warming until our energy supply becomes entirely fossil fuel-free.
“This confluence （汇集）of population, ageing and climate change on energy demand is really important to start thin king about," says Estiri. Benjamin Sovacool at the University of Sussex, UK, says the work shows the importance of demographics when it comes to cutting carbon emissions. Most modelling of climate change mitigation （减缓气候变化的模型） assumes people's energy consumption either stays the same or only changes by a small amount over time.
"This study directly challenges that entire body of research by forcing it to fight with the temporality and complexity of the consumption of energy, says Sovacool.
Catherine Mitchell at the University of Exeter, UK, says the research could have an important influence on policy makers. "What the paper says is that there is a lot of work about how buildings use energy, but probably not enough about how the people in them use energy," she says.
1. By saying “not just because we tend to get wealthier" in Paragraph 2, the writer probably means that .| A．poor people can't bring down the high demand for energy |
| B．a comfortable life is not the main cause of in creased energy use |
| C．there are some other reasons leading to the increase in energy consumption |
| D．people being wealthy or not has nothing to do with the rise of energy consumption |
| A．Children consumes more energy when they leave home. |
| B．Energy consumption drops briefly before people hit 55. |
| C．The researchers built a model to study the data from US households. |
| D．Energy consumption varies with the change of lifestyle and demand at different ages. |
| A．Energy will stop increasing when people get older. |
| B．His research could inspire policymakers to change current polices. |
| C．Various factors influencing energy consumption should be considered. |
| D．Old people should use fossil fuel-free rather than electrical energy to keep cool. |
| A．It is expensive and difficult to promote. |
| B．It overestimates the household energy consumption. |
| C．It did not take climate change adaptation into account. |
| D．It regards energy consumption as stable or as only slightly changing. |
| A．More emphasis should be put on people's energy use. |
| B．The government can't do much without the support of the study. |
| C．It is the buildings, not the people in side, that consume the majority of the energy. |
| D．Policymakers have been working on how to cut down people's energy use. |
| A．Health. | B．Environment. |
| C．Human. | D．Technology. |
7 . When people learn to play video games, they are learning a new literacy. Of course, this is not the way the word “literacy” is normally used. Traditionally, people think of literacy as the ability to read and write. Why, then, should we think of literacy more broadly?
Nowadays, language is not the only important communication system. Images, graphs, diagrams and many other visual symbols are particularly significant. Thus, the idea of different types of “visual literacy” would seem to be an important one. For example, being able to read the images in advertising is one type of visual literacy.
Furthermore, very often today words and images of various sorts are juxtaposed in a variety of ways. In newspapers and magazines as well as in textbooks, images take up more and more of the space alongside words. In fact, in many modern high school and college textbooks, images not only take up more space, they now carry meanings that are independent of the words in the text. If you can’t read these images, you will not be able to understand their meanings from the words in the text as was more usual in the past.
Now there are different ways to read different types of texts. Literacy is multiple, then, in the sense that the legal literacy needed for reading law books is not the same as the literacy needed for reading physics texts or cartoon books. And we should not be too quick to dismiss the latter form of literacy. Many cartoon books are full of images that would make a modern literary critic’s heart beat fast and confuse any otherwise normal adult.
Once we see this multiplicity of literacy, we realize that when we think about reading and writing, we have to think beyond print. Reading and writing in any field, whether it is law, rap songs, academic essays or cartoon books, are not the only ways of decoding(解密) print. Video games are a new form of art. They will not replace books; they will sit beside them, interact with them, and change them and their role in society in various ways, as, indeed, they are already doing strongly with movies. We have no idea yet how people “read” video games, what meanings they make from them. Still less do we know how they will “read” them in the future.
1. What is the broad meaning of literacy?| A．The ability to read, write and view. |
| B．The ability to read, listen and play. |
| C．The ability to speak, write and think. |
| D．The ability to listen, speak and think. |
| A．Put together. | B．Pulled out. |
| C．Taken away. | D．Replaced with. |
| A．Proud. | B．Upset. |
| C．Grateful. | D．Curious. |
| A．are too violent to risk experimenting with for the purposes of understanding literacy |
| B．are unrealistic and should not fall into the same categories as the other texts he describes |
| C．are not yet entirely understood in terms of literacy, but are already impacting other forms of expression such as filmmaking |
| D．are irrelevant in academic discussion because no one has yet determined how to explain the ways that people understand them |
| A．A historical explanation of the very first video game and its evolution. |
| B．A technological definition of video games, how they are made, and how they are played. |
| C．Examples of the way that some people currently interpret video games and what they mean to them. |
| D．A price comparison of video game consoles and whether or not quality has a direct impact on literacy. |
| A．Education. | B．Health. |
| C．Advertisement. | D．Traveling. |
8 . My father was born in a small town in the US. He wasn’t sure what he wanted from
It’s easy to feel
Getting along well sometimes seemed
On occasions like that, we had to learn to let go of our anger because we were
This is why road trips were like
If we were
| A．move | B．belief | C．experience | D．life |
| A．get out | B．struggle on | C．live up | D．walk around |
| A．drove | B．took | C．served | D．controlled |
| A．anxious | B．upset | C．lonely | D．helpless |
| A．wasted | B．spent | C．worked | D．chatted |
| A．easier | B．safer | C．better | D．cleverer |
| A．break down | B．turn over | C．clear up | D．cool off |
| A．impossible | B．alternative | C．necessary | D．available |
| A．discussions | B．arguments | C．embarrassments | D．amusements |
| A．settle | B．rest | C．watch | D．sit |
| A．tolerance | B．sharing | C．communication | D．respect |
| A．light | B．quick | C．thick | D．fast |
| A．sadness | B．silence | C．panic | D．disappointment |
| A．buried | B．crazy | C．impatient | D．stuck |
| A．journey | B．holiday | C．exploration | D．march |
| A．dragging | B．sending | C．helping | D．pushing |
| A．unusual | B．common | C．mobile | D．free |
| A．expected | B．earned | C．missed | D．valued |
| A．somewhere | B．anyway | C．anytime | D．somehow |
| A．suitcases | B．phones | C．boxes | D．books |
9 . In fifth grade, on a merry New York City day, my classmates spread across our raggedy classroom carpet. Our teacher had us practicing holiday songs for the upcoming winter show, and with holiday seasonal passion we sang. When we came to one of the Hanukkah (a Jewish festival) songs, a few classmates and I got up and started dancing. We flew around the classroom laughing, our movements becoming irregular as the song progressed. Then one boy stood up and said something along the lines of, “Stop! You’re making fun of Jewish people!”
Our student-teacher stopped the song. The boy looked at us angrily as the student-teacher began to lecture us on our behavior. How we were being disrespectful to the boy’s culture — how the dancing was wrong. I was surprised at the outburst and, as a Jewish person myself, did not understand why the boy was offended, or why I was in trouble. I was embarrassed and made to feel disrespected my own culture.
At the beginning of middle school, with the Hanukkah song incident still fresh in my mind, I began to interact more with my Jewish heritage (血统). I started going to Hebrew school. I carefully listened to prayers and committed them to memory. The legitimacy (正统) of my Jewish heritage was questioned by my peers, especially around the Jewish holidays. They would ask if I was “really Jewish,” as if there was a standard set of requirements I needed to meet. I didn’t have my Bat Mitzvah (犹太成人礼), so that meant I couldn’t be truly Jewish, they said. I asked myself if the accusations were true. It felt like I need to prove my Jewish-ness in some way. I began looking for ways to connect with and represent my Judaism.
When I walked into a store in December, I noticed the abundance of Christmas items, and lack of Hanukkah pieces. Maybe there would be a menorah (烛台) in storefronts, or a few dreidels (陀螺) and chocolate gold coins, if I was lucky. Instead of feeling left out or ignored, I started to make a game out of it. In high school, I would walk the streets of the city and peer into store windows, marking down all the Hanukkah related things I discovered.
1. Why did the class sing the songs according to paragraph 1?| A．To prepare for the coming performance. | B．To make the angry boy happy. |
| C．To celebrate a traditional Jewish festival. | D．To respond to the happy dancers. |
| A．Excited→ surprised→ confused. | B．Surprised→ embarrassed→ ashamed. |
| C．Excited→ embarrassed→ ashamed. | D．Confused→ surprised→ embarrassed. |
| A．Racial discrimination. | B．Identity question. |
| C．Culture attack. | D．Criminal charges. |
| A．She opened a store to sell Hanukkah items. |
| B．She searched for the things related to her own culture. |
| C．She advocated her own culture and made it known to more. |
| D．She requested to have a bat mitzvah in front of her classmates. |
| A．Optimistic and considerate. | B．Sensitive and ambitious. |
| C．Intelligent and delicate. | D．Conventional and practical. |
10 . Prosocial behaviors are those intended to help other people. Behaviors that can be described as prosocial include feeling empathy(同感) and concern for others and behaving in ways to help or benefit other people.
Prosocial behavior has long posed a challenge to social scientists seeking to understand why people engage in helping behaviors that are beneficial to others, but costly to the individual performing the action. Why would people do something that benefits someone else but offers no immediate benefit to the doer?
Psychologists suggest that there are a number of reasons why people engage in prosocial behavior. In many cases, such behaviors are fostered during childhood and adolescence as adults encourage children to share, act kindly, and help others. Prosocial behaviors are often seen as being compelled by a number of factors including egoistic reasons (doing things to improve one's self-image), reciprocal benefits (doing something nice for someone so that they may one day return the favor), and more altruistic reasons (performing actions purely out of empathy for another individual).
Characteristics of the situation can also have a powerful impact on whether or not people engage in prosocial actions. For example, if you drop your purse and several items fall out on the ground, the likelihood that someone will stop and help you decreases if there are many other people present. This same sort of thing can happen in cases where someone is in serious danger, such as when someone is involved in a car accident. In some cases, witnesses might assume that since there are so many other present, someone else will have surely already called for help. All the examples are what we call the bystander effect, the tendency for people to become less likely to assist a person in distress when there are a number of other people also present.
Why do people help in some situations but not in others? Experts have discovered a number of different situational variables that contribute to (and sometimes interfere with) prosocial behaviors. First, the more people that are present decreases the amount of personal responsibility people feel in a situation. People also tend to look to others for how to respond in such situations, particularly if the event contains some level of ambiguity. Fear of being judged by other members of the group also plays a role. People sometimes fear leaping to assistance, only to discover that their help was unwanted or unwarranted. In order to avoid being judged by other bystanders, people simply take no action.
Experts have suggested that some key things must happen in order for a person to take action.
1. What can we learn from paragraph 2?| A．Social scientists feel it hard to understand why helping behaviors exist. |
| B．Helping behaviors are costly to people who receive the action. |
| C．Social scientists have been researching on prosocial behavior for quite long. |
| D．It is quite challenging for people to perform helping behaviors. |
| A．empathy for another individual | B．instant benefits of helping others |
| C．parental influences in the early life | D．the desire to better one's self-image |
| A．To show that some people are in need of immediate help. |
| B．To indicate that some people think their help is not needed. |
| C．To suggest that some people perform helping behaviors quickly. |
| D．To demonstrate how the situation can impact helping behaviors. |
| A．When hearing an injured lady crying for help, the neighbors didn't take action. |
| B．Seeing an old man slipping on the icy road, many people volunteered to help. |
| C．A woman had a heart attack on the train and you were the only doctor there. |
| D．On the scene of your colleague's traffic accident, you called the police for help. |
| A．possible benefits of prosocial behavior |
| B．various reasons for prosocial behavior |
| C．situational influences on prosocial behavior |
| D．skills and knowledge to provide assistance |
