1 . Tired of standing in line? Wait a bit longer, and you may never have to again.

Amazon has opened 24 of its Amazon Go stores, which use cameras and artificial intelligence (AI) to see what you’ve taken off shelves and charge you as you walk out. Some companies are closely copying Amazon’s approach to using AI-powered cameras fixed in ceilings. But others are trying an entirely different way to skip the checkout: smart shopping carts. These companies have added cameras and sensors (传感器) to the carts, and are using AI to tell what you’ve put in them. Customers pay by entering a credit card, or through an online payment system. When a customer exits the store a green light on the shopping cart shows that their order is complete, and they’re charged.

The companies behind the smart carts, including Caper and Veeve, say it’s much easier to add technology to the shopping cart than to an entire store. Amazon’s Go stores rely on hundreds of cameras in the ceiling. The shelves also include sensors to tell when an item is removed. Ahmed Beshry, co-founder of Caper, believes the technology to run Go is too expensive to use in a large-format grocery store. Neither Caper nor Veeve has said how much their smart shopping carts will cost, making it difficult to compare the different formats. Shariq Siddiqui, CEO of Veeve, said, “We’re always happy when Amazon is doing something. They force retailers (零售店) to get out of their old school thinking.”   

Each time a business uses AI and cameras, it raises questions about customers’ privacy and the effect on jobs. Beshry notes that the cameras in his shopping cart point down into the cart, so only a customer’s hand and part of their arm will be captured (拍摄) on camera.

1. What do we know about the smart shopping carts?

A．They are able to recognize goods put in them.

B．They are linked to the cameras fixed in the ceilings.

C．They flash the green light when the order is canceled.

D．They can tell customers where to find what they want.

2. What does Beshry think of the technology used in Amazon’s Go stores?

A．It is likely to help retailers to think differently.

B．It has attracted many more retailers than before.

C．It is far more expensive than their shopping carts.

D．It may reduce the cost of running a store greatly.

3. When it comes to AI and cameras, what makes the public worried most?

A．That they can only buy goods online.

B．That goods in the stores may be more expensive.

C．That they have to wait in a line for a longer time.

D．That somebody may know their privacy.

4. What is the main idea of the text?

A．The new technology improves retail sale.

B．AI-powered cameras are used in retail stores.

C．Artificial intelligence affects the future of job market.

D．Smart shopping carts will let you skip the line.

2 . The endangered pandas in the Qinling Mountains might face a new threat: the loss of their food, bamboo, which makes up 99% of their meals.

Adult pandas spend most part of the day eating bamboo and have to take in at least 40 pounds a day to stay healthy. However, a new study published in Nature Climate Change warned that they may soon find their food gone because most of the bamboo in the Qinling Mountains might disappear by the end of the century as a result of rising temperature worldwide.

A team made up of researchers from Michigan State University and the Chinese Academy of Sciences has studied the effects of climate change on the bamboo in the Qinling Mountains. They have found that bamboo is very sensitive to climate changes. “80% to 100% of the bamboo would be gone if the average temperature rises 3.5 degrees worldwide by the end of the century,” said Liu Jianguo, one of the report’s authors.

He added, “This is how much the temperature would rise by 2100 even if all countries will keep their promises in the Paris Agreement. But you know what is happening all around the world.”

In recent years, China has been trying its best to protect the endangered pandas by setting up more and bigger natural reserves.

“But it is far from enough and the endangered pandas need cooperation from the rest of the world, because their future is not just in the hands of the Chinese,” said Shirley Martin from the World Wildlife Fund but not a member of the team.

The Qinling Mountains, in the southwest of China, are home to about 260 pandas. That is about 13% of China’s wild panda population. In addition, about 375 are living in research centers and zoos in China.

1. How many wild pandas are there in China?

A．About 260.	B．About 635.
C．About 2,635.	D．About 2,000.

2. What does Liu Jianguo mean in Paragraph 4?

A．China needs more help from the World Wildlife Fund.

B．It is difficult to control the temperature rise within 3.5℃.

C．Bamboo is sensitive to the changes of temperature.

D．China is making great efforts to protect the pandas.

3. What can we learn from the first paragraph?

A．The Qinling Mountains can provide enough bamboo for the pandas.

B．Pandas in the Qinling Mountains are only threatened by the loss of food.

C．Lots of the bamboo in the Qinling Mountains will probably disappear.

D．Pandas have already eaten 99% of the bamboo in the Qinling Mountains.

4. Which can be the best title for the text?

A．The Disappearance of Bamboo

B．Necessity to Change Pandas’ Food

C．A New Threat Faced by the Pandas

D．Efforts Made to Save Pandas

3 . It is quite reasonable to blame traffic jams, the cost of gas and the great speed of modern life, but manners on the road are becoming horrible. Everybody knows that the nicest men would become fierce tigers behind the wheel. It is all right to have a tiger in a cage, but to have one in the driver’s seat is another matter.

Road politeness is not only good manners, but a good sense. It takes the most cool-headed drivers great patience to give up the desire to beat back when forced to face rude driving. On the other hand, a little politeness goes a long way towards reducing the possibility of quarrelling and fighting. A friendly nod or a wave of thanks in answer to an act of politeness helps to create an atmosphere of good will and becomes so necessary in modern traffic conditions. But such behaviors of politeness are by no means enough. Many drivers nowadays don’t even seem able to recognize politeness when they see it.

However, misplaced politeness can also be dangerous. A typical example is the driver who waves to a child crossing the street at a wrong place into the path of oncoming cars that may not be able to stop in time. The same goes for encouraging old ladies to cross the road wherever and whenever they want to.

An experienced driver, whose manners are faultless, told me it would help if drivers learnt to correctly join in traffic stream without causing total blockages that give rise to unpleasant feelings. Unfortunately, modern drivers can’t even learn to drive, let alone master the roadmanship (公路驾车技能). Years ago, experts warned us that the fast increase of the car ownership would demand more give-and-take from all road users. It is high time for all of us to take this message to heart.

1. Which of the following can be the best title for this passage?

A．Traffic Jams.	B．Good Manners.
C．Road Politeness.	D．Modem Drivers.

2. What often cause(s) troubles on the road?

A．Traffic jams.	B．The behaviour of the drivers.
C．The great speed of modern life.	D．Terrible road conditions.

3. According to the writer, what should a good driver do?

A．Encourage children to cross the road whenever they want to.

B．Beat back when forced to face rude driving.

C．Be able to recognise politeness when he sees it.

D．Join in a traffic stream quickly however other people feel.

4. It is not always right for drivers to _____.

A．master the roadmanship

B．neglect politeness when they see it

C．give a friendly nod in answer to an act of politeness

D．encourage old ladies to cross the road whenever and wherever they want to

4 . Take a look inside a high school classroom. You will most likely find a teacher at the front of the class and students sitting at their desks. Yet, look closer, and you might notice a familiar scene: many of these students are not paying attention. Instead, they are dozing off (打盹) or even completely asleep.

Today, most of high school students are not getting enough sleep. This lack (缺乏) of sleep is a serious problem, especially as students are doing more than ever with their time. They come to school early, spend hours listening to teachers and taking tests, and come home to be faced with even more homework.

Most kids need at least nine hours of sleep per night in order to function properly. Yet the period of this nine hours shifts as a child gets older. After puberty (青春期), the body’s internal clock changes so that it is difficult for teens to fall asleep before 11 p.m. So even if a student falls asleep at eleven, they would need to sleep until at least 8 a.m. to get a full night’s sleep. Considering the time at which most high schools in this country begin, those nine hours are clearly being shortened. Few high schools start after 8 a.m.

However, there are schools that have paid attention to this research and delayed (延迟) the start of their school day. In schools where the start time is after 8:30 in the morning, the teachers believe that there has been a real change in their students. They note that the students miss class less, pay more attention in class, perform better in class,and report lower levels of depression(沮丧). The researchers of these studies say that the results are quite important and that more schools should consider delaying their start time of their school day.

1. What is mainly discussed in the second paragraph?

A．Why high school students feel sleepy in the classroom.

B．Why high school students should get more sleep.

C．How to lighten high school students’ homework load.

D．The life of high school students at present.

2. What does the underlined word “shifts” in Paragraph 3 probably mean?

A．arrives

B．changes

C．reduces

D．increases

3. How do the teachers feel about the results from delaying their school day?

A．Disappointed.

B．Puzzled.

C．Surprised.

D．Satisfied.

6 . Donna Strickland was awarded the 2018 Nobel Prize in Physics jointly with Arthur Ashkin and Gérard Mourou.It’s the first time in 55 years that a woman has won this famous prize, but why has it taken so long? We look at five other pioneering female physicists — past and present — who actually deserve the prize.

Jocelyn Bell Burnell

Perhaps the most famous snub (冷落): the student Bell discovered the first radio pulsars in 1967, when she was a PhD student at Cambridge.The Nobel Prize that recognised this landmark discovery in 1974, however, went to her male supervisor, Antony Hewish.Recently awarded a £2.3 million Breakthrough Prize, which she gave away to help under-represented students, she joked to The Guardian, “I feel I’ve done very well out of not getting a Nobel Prize.”

Lene Hau

Hau is best-known for leading the research team at Harvard University in 1999 that managed to slow a beam of light, before managing to stop it completely in 2001.Often topping Nobel Prize prediction lists, could 2019 be Hau’s year.

Vera Rubin

Rubin discovered dark matter in the 1980s, opening up a new field of astronomy.She died in 2016, without recognition from the committee.

Chien-Shiung Wu

Wu’s “Wu experiment” helped disprove the “law of conservation of parity”.Her experimental work was helpful but never honoured, and instead, her male colleagues won the 1957 Nobel Prize for their theoretical work behind the study.

Lise Meitner

Meitner led groundbreaking work on the discovery of nuclear fission.However, the discovery was acknowledged by the 1944 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, which was won by her male co-lead, Otto Hahn.

1. When was the discovery of radio pulsars recognised by the Nobel?

A．In 1944．

B．In 1967．

C．In 1974．

D．In 1980．

2. Which woman is most likely to win a Nobel Prize later according to the text?

A．Donna Strickland.	B．Jocelyn Bell Burnell.
C．Lene Hau.	D．Vera Rubin.

3. What do we know about the five females?

A．The five female scientists did greatly in chemistry.

B．Vera Rubin had opened up a new field in geometry.

C．Lise Meitner’s teacher won a Nobel Prize for her work.

D．The five female scientists haven’t been awarded Nobel Prize.

7 . Georgia O’Keeffe always thought of herself as an artist. By 1928, the rest of the world did, too. At the age of 41, she was living in New York City and becoming a well-known painter. Still, O’Keeffe wasn’t happy. New York had been a good source of ideas for almost ten years. Now those ideas were drying up. O’Keeffe felt like she needed a change. She had visited New Mexico in 1917 with her sister. The wide open space had thrilled her. “Maybe I should go back,” she thought. In April 1929, O’Keeffe packed her bags.

The wide open space of New Mexico drew O’Keeffe in. She spent hours just watching the sky change. Because the light was so clear, she felt like she was seeing it for the first time. The beauty of the land renewed her. She couldn’t wait to start painting. Cows’ and horses’ skulls and desert flowers filled her canvases (画布). The colors of the desert inspired O’Keeffe. As a result, she made new choices in her artwork. “The color up there is different,” she explained. She loved the dusty blues and greens.

That August, O’Keeffe went home to New York. It was the start of a pattern. Each spring, she traveled to New Mexico to paint. These trips restored her spirit. Then, in the fall, she would return to New York. There, she showed her work. Each time O’Keeffe visited New Mexico, she explored a little more.

The bleached animal bones and skulls that O’Keeffe found excited her because she could see their special beauty. The bones didn’t mean death to O’Keeffe. To her, they showed the lasting beauty of the desert. The landscapes, clear light, and bright colors also spoke to her. She often painted close-ups of the rocks and mountains. Later, she began to travel more in search of new ideas. However, she always came back to New Mexico.

As O’Keeffe grew older, her eyesight began to fail. Still, O’Keeffe wasn’t ready to give up. Her friend Juan Hamilton helped her work with watercolors. He also taught her to sculpt. As a result, she made art into her 90s. When she died at the age of 98, Hamilton sprinkled her ashes over the desert. Her body became part of the land that had touched her art and her life.

1. Why was O’Keeffe unhappy in New York in 1928?

A．She was lack of the creative ideas.

B．She felt disappointed about her job.

C．She was not successful as an artist.

D．She felt bored with life in a big city.

2. What can we know about O’Keeffe after her trips to New Mexico?

A．She received great reputation there.

B．She discovered the meaning of her life.

C．She chose to settle down in that city.

D．She got new thoughts from the scenery.

3. What can we know about O’Keeffe from the passage?

A．She was never afraid of failure and death.

B．She was passionate about art.

C．She was patient with the coming chances.

D．She was curious about the nature of people.

4. Which of the following could be the best title for this article?

A．Lifestyle in the Desert

B．Special Love for Art

C．Inspiration from the Desert

D．Modern Women Artists

8 . My sister Alice and I have been trying to get people to stop dropping cigarette butts (烟头) for seven years. One day, we were walking in our hometown and saw hundreds of cigarette butts on the ground. They made the town look so ugly that we decided to start a group to make people stop dropping butts. We called it “No Butts About It”.

At first, we drew pictures with “The Earth is not your ashtray (烟灰缸)” written on them. We put the pictures around our hometown — in parks, on beaches, and along roads. We wanted to make people understand that dropping butts hurts the environment. Most smokers don’t think that dropping butts hurts the Earth. But it does, and all rubbish does!

Later, we wrote to companies and asked them for money to help us. We used the money to buy ashtrays and gave them to smokers. We wanted smokers to carry the ashtrays with them so they didn’t have to drop butts.

At the moment, we are trying to get cigarette companies to put an ashtray in each pack of cigarettes. Some companies want to do it. Many people have started to join our group since it began. Today there are 45 other “No Butts About It” groups in America.

Now there are even groups in England, Australia, and India! Many newspapers have written about my sister and me over the last seven years. And we have won many prizes for what we do. But we are not interested in prizes. We just want to make the Earth a better and cleaner place for animals, plants and people. One day, it will be.

1. What did the writer think about the cigarette butts in the first place?

A．They made the town smelly.

B．They made the town unhealthy.

C．They made the town dirty.

D．They made the town poor.

2. What did the writer do with the cigarette butts?

A．Gave ashtrays to the smokers.

B．Stopped people buying cigarettes.

C．Picked up the cigarette butts.

D．Won prizes for starting groups.

3. What can we know from the passage?

A．No companies wanted to give money to them.

B．The writer believes that the Earth will be a better and cleaner place.

C．There are only 45 “No Butts About It” groups in the world.

D．The writer likes to be on newspapers and win prizes.

4. Which is the best title for the passage?

A．Save our town from cigarette butts

B．Buy yourself an ashtray

C．Cigarette butts also destroy other countries

D．No butts prizes

9 . What’s On?

Electric Underground

7.30pm－1.00am   Free at the Cyclops Theatre

Do you know who’s playing in your area? We’re bringing you an evening of live rock and pop music from the best local bands. Are you interested in becoming a musician and getting a recording contract? If so, come early to the talk at 7.30 pm by Jules Skye, a successful record producer. He’s going to talk about how you can find the right person to produce your music.

Gee Whizz

8.30pm-10.30pm   Comedy (喜剧)at Kaleidoscope

Come and see Gee Whizz perform. He’s the funniest stand-up comedian on the comedy scene. This joyful show will please everyone, from the youngest to the oldest. Gee Whizz really knows how to make you laugh! Our bar is open from 7.00pm for drinks and snacks(快餐).

Simon’s Workshop

5.00pm-7.30pm   Wednesdays at Victoria Stage

This is a good chance for anyone who wants to learn how to do comedy. The workshop looks at every kind of comedy, and practices many different ways of making people laugh. Simon is a comedian and actor who has 10 years’ experience of teaching comedy. His workshops are exciting and fun. An evening with Simon will give you the confidence to be funny.

Charlotte Stone

8.00pm-11.00pm     Pizza World

Fine food with beautiful jazz music; this is a great evening out. Charlotte Stone will perform songs from her new best-selling CD, with James Pickering on the piano. The menu is Italian, with excellent meat and fresh fish, pizzas and pasta(面食). Book early to get a table. Our bar is open all day, and serves cocktails, coffee, beer, and white wine.

1. Who can help you if you want to have your music produced?

A．Jules Skye.

B．Gee Whizz.

C．Charlotte Stone.

D．James Pickering.

2. At which place can people of different ages enjoy a good laugh?

A．The Cyclops Theatre

B．Kaleidoscope

C．Victoria Stage

D．Pizza World

3. What do we know about Simon’s Workshop?

A．It requires membership card.	B．It lasts three hours each time.
C．It is run by a comedy club.	D．It is held every Wednesday.

4. When will Charlotte Stone perform her songs?

A．5.00pm-7.30pm.

B．7.30pm－1.00am.

C．8.00pm-11.00pm.

D．8.30pm-10.30pm.

10 . If it had not been for Fan Jinshi and her team, the world cultural heritage of Dunhuang Mogao Caves in a remote Chinese desert might have long been destroyed by sand, weather or humans.

Born in Beijing and raised in Shanghai, Fan has spent half a century fighting an uphill battle to preserve the ancient Buddhist wall paintings at Dunhuang, in Northwest China’s Gansu Province. The 1,653­-year­-old Dunhuang Mogao Caves are a huge collection of Buddhist art—more than 2,000 buddha figures and 45,000 square metres of paintings spread among 735 caves. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Archaeologist Fan was sent to Dunhuang after graduating from Peking University in 1963. While in Dunhuang, a remote village in the desert then, Fan lived in an abandoned temple. At first, she did not even dare to go out to the toilet at night. To protect the treasures from sand and dampness, Fan and other workers put doors on the caves, planted trees and started monitoring temperature and humidity in the caves. They also controlled the number of visitors.

In the late 1990s, with tourism booming nationwide since national holidays were extended, the local government planned to go public with Dunhuang Mogao Caves, but found Fan firmly in_their_way.   “The heritage would have been destroyed if it had been listed，” she said.

Dunhuang Academy has now photographed and cataloged online all the sculptures and paintings. “Despite our efforts to minimise damage, we can’t completely stop them from being eroded. But the digital database will last.”

Fan was grateful when her husband joined her in Dunhuang in 1986 after 19 years of separation. Her two sons grew up seldom with her accompany. “I have not been a good mother or wife. With regard to my family, I’m full of guilt，” she said. Fan, 81, retired four years ago as the director of Dunhuang Academy but continues her efforts as a national political adviser.

1. When was Fan separated from her husband?

A．In 1963.	B．In 1967.
C．In 1986.	D．In the late 1990s.

2. What does the phrase “in their way” in Paragraph 4 mean?

A．Go to a place.

B．Be in favour of something.

C．Reject something.

D．Give in to something.

3. What is the passage mainly about?

A．The history of Dunhuang Mogao Caves.

B．The attractions of Dunhuang Mogao Caves.

C．Fan’s devotion to preserving Dunhuang Mogao Caves.

D．The appeal for the protection of Dunhuang Mogao Caves.

4. What kind of person do you think Fan is?

A．Considerate.	B．Kind.
C．Humorous.	D．Devoted.