1 . How do you usually spend your spare time? Many people choose to be couch potatoes, but not Luo Han, a 9-year-old from Changsha, Hunan.

Luo Han completes at least two hours of outdoor activities every day and has raised a wave of discussion online. Although he is in primary school, he has already mastered sports like kayaking and paddling. His aptitude for outdoor sports is from his father Luo Ge, who actively encourages him to enjoy nature, rather than focusing only on his learning. After noticing that Luo Han did not go out for enough exercise after school, his father took him to do outdoor activities every day.

Many applauded them. “Exercise can ease brain fog and improve memory. Many students feel stressed about school work, so outdoor activities can help us keep our moods uplifted and improve our learning efficiency.” said Liu Yu, 18, a university freshman. Wang Tao, a parent of a 16-year-old, showed her support for the father. “It’s more than a way to relax. It’s a training of willpower,” she said. Her son He Xin, from Hefei Thomas School, Anhui, is a fan of outdoor sports. Although facing increasing pressure in his studies, he has joined the school’s athletic programs.

However, some have also expressed their concerns. “Two hours isn’t too much for a 9-year-old, but it might be difficult for high school students to guarantee this block of time when school becomes more demanding,” said Huang Xi, 16, from Liyang High School of Jiangsu province.

Ms. Zhu, who has a daughter in middle school, also agreed that two hours is too much for the majority of parents, especially on weekdays. “When I am off duty, I need to do housework. After my daughter finishes her homework, she prefers to watch TV. Neither of us would think of going outside for exercise,” Zhu said.

Other parents are concerned about the safety of outdoor activities. Zhang Zhijin has a son in high school. “Sometimes, teenagers can do crazy and risky things. We worry about accidents,” Zhang said.

1. Which of the following is true?

A．Liu Yu thinks outdoor activities can improve our learning.

B．Outdoor playing is only good to relaxation.

C．Luo Han ’s father thinks learning is more important than exercising.

D．Luo Han’s father thinks exercise on campus is enough for him.

2. What does the author mean by the underlined word “stressed” in Paragraph 3?

A．annoyed

B．excited

C．anxious

D．frightened

3. Which of the following may agree with Ms Zhu?

A．Huang Xi

B．Liu Yu

C．Wang Tao

D．Luo Han

4. What's the best title of the passage?

A．Please go out for exercise	B．Daily outdoor play and working
C．People’s concerns	D．Parent’s views on after-class work

2 . As the commercialization of 5G accelerates in China, more companies are exploring what smart cities will look like in the 5G times.

US chip giant Intel Corp, for instance, is teaming up with partners such as China Unicom to build a 5G smart park in Nanjing, to offer a peek into the future of such smart cities.

The future smart city must be data-centric (以数据为中心) and intelligently interconnected. So how to better capture, transmit, store and analyze data will be the center of the future. Intel’s advantages can be found in its hardware and software solutions which can meet demands of multiple scenarios (多情景分析). The company will be devoted to opening cooperation, creating an innovative ecology and working with partners to create an intelligent future.

The company’s project, the Future Technological Smart Center in Nanjing, aims to gather a wide range of domestic and foreign partners around artificial intelligence, internet of things, 5G, cloud computing and other technological innovations to explore what future cities will look like. Intel said the Nanjing project is designed to build industry benchmarks, implement excellent solutions, and offer experience for the construction of smart cities and parks in the Yangtze River Delta region and even the entire country.

A Deloitte report said that China has already included the smart city initiative in its national strategy and made significant investments in these projects.

Both first-tier cities and small and medium-sized cities are home to smart city projects. The nation has formed many smart city groups across the eastern and southern coastal areas of China, Deloitte said.

Deloitte senior partner Ma Jionglin said in an earlier interview that China is one of the most active countries in the world in building smart cities. With advances in urban management and the increasing emphasis on the work and lifestyle of people, smart cities will be entering a new stage of development.

1. Why is the US Intel company mentioned?

A．To show Intel is a high technical company.

B．To accelerate 5G commercialization in China.

C．To offer a peek into the future of such smart cities.

D．To prove many companies are exploring 5G smart cities.

2. How will Intel Corp create an intelligent future?

A．Through intelligent interconnection.

B．Through the help of foreign partners.

C．Through teamwork and innovative ecology.

D．Through advanced hardware and software technology.

3. What’s Ma Jionglin’s attitude towards building smart cities in China?

A．Negative.

B．Positive.

C．Critical.

D．Indifferent.

4. What is the text mainly about?

A．The construction process of smart cities.

B．Intel’s exploration to build smart cities in China.

C．Chinese national strategy and investments on smart cities.

D．China’s leading role in building 5G technology in the world.

3 . I’d planned to spend my weekend in the sun, enjoying flowers outdoors. But that was ____ the pair of disgusting crows (乌鸦) arrived. Out of nowhere, they had set up their base ____ in our backyard.

We first ______ our feathered enemies on Friday morning. It was early, and the sound the birds made ______ through our neighborhood. I figured they’d ______ soon. But, no. They were getting louder and probably ______ my neighbors nearly as much as us with the noise. I admit I got a little ______.

Then, on Sunday afternoon, I saw our dog Quatchi staring at something on the ground. I went to ______ and found a small coal-black bird in the grass. Its eyes were milky, and it stayed perfectly ______ as my dog walked towards it. Only when Quatchi ______ his nose to its head did it walk away. I ______ the dog inside and came back with my camera.

It never occurred to me that the young would be hanging out on the ground, growing and gaining ______ as its parents guarded it from above. The second I saw this little creature I ____ the crows.

To be honest, I’ve never been much of a bird person. And I wish they’d chosen another backyard. But I’m also ______ that I got to see this little bit of nature unfold up close. It’s pretty amazing.

The experience has also ______ my desire to create a beautiful backyard garden that attracts lots of bees, butterflies, and yes, birds. They are welcome here.

1.

A．after

B．when

C．until

D．before

2.

A．organization

B．camp

C．business

D．trap

3.

A．accepted

B．drove

C．discovered

D．invited

4.

A．traveled

B．flew

C．ran

D．flowed

5.

A．sing

B．fight

C．fall down

D．quiet down

6.

A．attracting

B．annoying

C．frightening

D．amusing

7.

A．excited

B．amazed

C．curious

D．desperate

8.

A．prevent

B．defend

C．explore

D．assist

9.

A．cold

B．enthusiastic

C．still

D．friendly

10.

A．touched

B．threw

C．pointed

D．connected

11.

A．awarded

B．locked

C．praised

D．fed

12.

A．strength

B．pity

C．advantage

D．freedom

13.

A．hated

B．respected

C．admired

D．forgave

14.

A．pitiful

B．grateful

C．painful

D．careful

15.

A．discouraged

B．ensured

C．strengthened

D．proved

4 . Bob Dylan has won the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature, announced Sara Danius, Swedish Academy’s permanent secretary, on Thursday in Stockholm.

The Nobel Prize in Literature for 2016 is awarded to Bob Dylan “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition,” Danius said at the Swedish Academy.

“As an artist, he is versatile; he has been active as painter, actor and scriptwriter,” said the official statement.

Apart from his large production of albums, Dylan has published experimental work. He has written the autobiography Chronicles (2004), which describes memories from the early years in New York and his life at the center of popular culture, it added.

Born on May 24, 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota, in the United States, the 75-year-old rock singer is the first songwriter to win the glorious award and the first American to win since novelist Toni Morrison in 1993.

Barack Obama said the honour was well-deserved. “Congratulations to one of my favourite poets,” he wrote on Twitter.

Dylan, who took his stage name from the poet Dylan Thomas, had long been regarded as a potential prize winner.

Former Poet Laureate Sir Andrew Motion is among those who have ever praised Dylan’s lyrics, saying they are often the best words in the best order.

Dylan began his musical career in Minnesota before heading for New York. Many of his best-known works date from the 1960s, when he became an informal historian of America’s troubles. His songs Blowing in the Wind and The Times They are A-Changing were popular in the anti-war and civil rights movements.

Few experts, though, expected the academy to extend the award to a folk music songwriter. In 112 years, no songwriter has ever won before. What makes a man who has only ever written three books a suitable winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature?

1. What does the underlined word in Para 3 mean?

A．able to do things in different fields

B．able to understand others’ feelings

C．able to produce a lot

D．able to succeed at an old age

2. Many of Bob Dylan’s best-known songs _______________.

A．were written before he arrived in New York.

B．date back to the middle 1970s.

C．were often sung in the political movements.

D．show America’s troubled history.

3. What is the main idea of the passage?

A．Dylan’s winning the Nobel Prize in Literature.

B．Dylan’s life experiences as an artist.

C．Dylan’s contribution to the American literature.

D．Dylan’s musical career in America.

5 . Janus, the Roman god, has two faces looking in opposite directions. So does artificial intelligence (AI). On one side are the positive changes, enabling people to achieve more, far more quickly, by using technology to improve their existing skills. Look the other way, though, and there are plenty of potential pitfalls.

Like Janus, technological change may also cause disruption(混乱), but AI is likely to have a bigger impact than anything since the appearance of computers, and its consequences could be far more disruptive.

In the years ahead, AI will raise three big questions for bosses and governments. One is the effect on jobs. Although CEOs publicly praise the broad benefits AI will bring, their main interest lies in cutting costs. One European bank asked Infosys to find a way of reducing the staff in its operations department from 50,000 to 500. The McKinsey Global Institute estimates that by 2030 up to 375m people, or 14% of the global workforce, could have their jobs replaced by AI.

A second important question is how to protect privacy as AI spreads. The internet has already made it possible to track people’s digital behavior in minute detail. AI will offer even better tools for businesses to monitor consumers and employees, both online and in the physical world. Consumers are sometimes happy to go along with this if it results in personalised service or promotions. But AI is bound to bring invasion of privacy that is seen as unacceptable. For example, law-enforcement officials around the world will use AI to spot criminals, but may also monitor ordinary citizens.

The third question is about the effect of AI on competition in business. A technology company that achieves a major breakthrough in artificial intelligence could race ahead of rivals, put others out of business and lessen competition. This is unlikely to happen in the near future, but if it did it would be of great concern.

It is too early to tell whether the positive changes brought by AI will outweigh the risk. But it will put an end to traditional ways of doing things and start a new era for business and for the world at large.

1. Janus is mentioned to .

A．introduce the topic	B．praise the Roman god
C．tell its difference	D．support AI

2. The underlined word “pitfalls” in paragraph 1 is probably means .

A．consequences

B．risks

C．effects

D．benefits

3. What’s the main idea of the passage?

A．AI is a double-edged sword.

B．People show great concern about AI.

C．privacy is threatened by AI.

D．AI will enjoy a bright future.

4. What’s the author’s attitude towards AI?

A．Objective.

B．Positive.

C．Worried.

D．Subjective.

6 . Some of the greatest problems we face today are concerned with the gradual destruction of our environment. Brown clouds; wildlife ____; polluted water. These ____ all seem so huge. So my family does what we can. We take cloth bags to stores instead of using plastic bags. We walk where we don’t have to ____.

But does it do any good?

I recently learned something about flamingos (火烈鸟). These beautiful birds gather in     ___ groups of a thousand or more. Every year, when the time ____ for migration, a few flamingos start the process by taking off from the lake. But ____ of the others seem to notice, so the tiny group returns.

However, the next day they ____ again. This time a few more struggle along with them, but the vast majority still ____ no attention, so these pioneers come back.

The ____ continues for several more days. Every time a few more birds join in but, _____ the thousands of others still take no ____, the great migration plan is once again ____.

Then one day something ____. The same small group of birds takes wing and a tiny number more join in, just as before. And this time their total number, though still quite ____, is enough to tip the balance. As one, the whole group takes flight and the migration ____. What a ____ sight it must be – thousands of flamingos taking to the sky at once!

A few can make a ____. It’s true that all of the great problems of the world have been solved because of the ____ efforts of a few.

If you believe in a cause (事业), don’t ____! Others will someday take notice and together we will ____ even our greatest problems.

1.

A．protection

B．extinction

C．migration

D．separation

2.

A．questions

B．costs

C．examples

D．problems

3.

A．drive

B．run

C．cycle

D．stand

4.

A．tiny

B．different

C．huge

D．similar

5.

A．comes

B．passes

C．varies

D．moves

6.

A．all

B．any

C．none

D．most

7.

A．gather

B．try

C．sing

D．appear

8.

A．attract

B．require

C．escape

D．pay

9.

A．plan

B．trend

C．activity

D．movement

10.

A．since

B．though

C．unless

D．while

11.

A．responsibility

B．notice

C．chance

D．measure

12.

A．put off

B．cut off

C．carried out

D．worked out

13.

A．approaches

B．works

C．changes

D．disappears

14.

A．significant

B．reasonable

C．adequate

D．small

15.

A．continues

B．delays

C．finishes

D．begins

16.

A．familiar

B．strange

C．magnificent

D．unrealistic

17.

A．point

B．decision

C．difference

D．mistake

18.

A．useless

B．tireless

C．extra

D．special

19.

A．give up

B．give in

C．give away

D．give out

20.

A．identify

B．understand

C．predict

D．solve

7 . As Internet users become more dependent on the Internet to store information, are people remember less? If you know your computer will save information, why store it in your own personal memory, your brain? Experts are wondering if the Internet is changing what we remember and how.

In a recent study, Professor Betsy Sparrow conducted some experiments. She and her research team wanted to know the Internet is changing memory. In the first experiment, they gave people 40 unimportant facts to type into a computer. The first group of people understood that the computer would save the information. The second group understood that the computer would not save it. Later, the second group remembered the information better. People in the first group knew they could find the information again, so they did not try to remember it.

In another experiment, the researchers gave people facts to remember, and told them where to find the information on the Internet. The information was in a specific computer folder (文件夹). Surprisingly, people later remember the folder location (位置) better than the facts. When people use the Internet, they do not remember the information. Rather, they remember how to find it. This is called “transactive memory (交互记忆)”

According to Sparrow, we are not becoming people with poor memories as a result of the Internet. Instead, computer users are developing stronger transactive memories; that is, people are learning how to organize huge quantities of information so that they are able to access it at a later date. This doesn’t mean we are becoming either more or less intelligent, but there is no doubt that the way we use memory is changing.

1. The passage begins with two questions to ________.

A．introduce the main topic	B．show the author’s attitude
C．describe how to use the Internet	D．explain how to store information

2. What can we learn about the first experiment?

A．Sparrow’s team typed the information into a computer.

B．The two groups remembered the information equally well.

C．The first group did not try to remember the formation.

D．The second group did not understand the information.

3. In transactive memory, people ________.

A．keep the information in mind

B．change the quantity of information

C．organize information like a computer

D．remember how to find the information

4. What is the effect of the Internet according to Sparrow's research?

A．We are using memory differently.

B．We are becoming more intelligent.

C．We have poorer memories than before.

D．We need a better way to access information.

8 . They say there are three ways to experience the Grand Canyon; on foot, on mules(骡子) or by air. We chose the first. Up early, my husband and I and our three children couldn't wait to get started. We decided to walk along a lovely path named Bright Angel Trail.

As we set out, I was shocked at how narrow the path was. And I couldn't help noticing that the other tourists weren't like us. They had heavy backpacks, water bottles, and hats. But as usual we were dressed. As the sun rose higher, Arizona's famous heat seemed to roast us. There was no shade and our legs were aching. We decided to go back, with the girl on my back and the boys far behind. By the time we finally got back, our legs were like jelly.

The next day, after we'd had a long rest and a good breakfast, we were ready for another view of the Canyon—by air. After our last walk, this would be the easiest thing in the world.

We called to each other excitedly as the plane took off and circled around the Canyon. But the smiles on our faces disappeared as the pilot tossed(翻转) the plane around, pretending he was going to hit the ground. I shouted, "STOP, TAKE US BACK!" When we finally arrived back on land, once again our legs were like jelly. We hardly spoke as we drove back.

As I said, there are three ways to view the Grand Canyon. We never tried the mules, but personally I'd suggest a fourth: buy yourself a good magazine like National Geographic. That way, you can see the Canyon, without fear or tiredness.

1. Which of the following is true according to the second paragraph?

A．They made a careful preparation before the trip.

B．The children were more joyful than their parents.

C．Bright Angel Trail was not as lovely as they expected.

D．The summer heat prevented them from enjoying the view.

2. The underlined expression "Our legs were like jelly" probably means ______.

A．we were weak	B．we were unhappy
C．we were dissatisfied	D．we were disappointed

3. Which of the following best describes their Canyon trip by air?

A．It proved to be frightening.	B．It was more comfortable.
C．It turned out to be exciting.	D．It made each of them tired.

4. We can infer from the passage that ____.

A．experiencing the Canyon on mules would be the best way

B．one needs to dress less when visiting the Grand Canyon

C．the writer was not serious when she made the suggestion

D．the whole family narrowly escaped from the air accident