1 . ......

What makes modern science uniquely powerful is its refusal to believe that it already possesses ultimate truth. The reliability of science is based not on certainty but on a complete absence of certainty. As John Stuart Mill wrote in “On Liberty” in 1859, “The beliefs which we have most warrant (依据) for, have no safeguard to rest on, but a standing invitation to the whole world to prove them unfounded.”

......

What is the main idea of paragraph 4?

A．It is unwise to believe in science.

B．Too much uncertainty lies in science.

C．The foundation of science is unfounded.

D．The lack of certainty makes science credible.

2 . ......

These kids are admittedly luckier than those for whom going back home is sadly not an option. But when choosing to live with your mum is the only way of coping with an insecure job, or with the costs of renting in the city, then that’s not much of a choice. Home is still the place where, when you have to go there, they have to take you in. But a healthy and successful society shouldn’t be sending quite many overgrown children hurrying back for shelter, and nor should it leave quite many parents feeling bad about it.

What is the author’s attitude to this trend?

A．Favorable.

B．Confused.

C．Tolerant.

D．Disapproving.

3 . In the past, most libraries didn’t focus much on programs for kids whose age made it impossible for them to be quiet on demand. But growing knowledge about the importance of kids and teens learning through hands-on experiences has since caused a sea change in how libraries connect with young readers. Now libraries begin offering interactive programs for kids, including crafts, board games, and story times. These types of programs certainly aren’t designed to be silent.

What is paragraph 3 mainly about?

A．The past and the present of libraries.	B．The reason for the change of libraries.
C．The activities for young children in libraries.	D．The connection between libraries and readers.

4 . I have watched good lives get put on hold because someone told a lie. I have seen people put in jail because of a lie. I have held the hands of a kind-hearted dying man who only wanted to know the truth about why his children were turned against him. Lies only hurt. Let’s remember that. Let’s not forget the damage that can be done, and maybe we will all get to live better lives, even though we are sharing a very difficult time. Lies are always uncovered. Always.

That may not help you right now, but it is something to hold onto.

What does “it” refer to in the last paragraph?

A．Lies will grow and spread.

B．Lies are not acceptable.

C．Lies will be exposed sooner or later.

D．One truth is better than a hundred lies

5 . Science is a process that builds upon existing theories and knowledge by continuously revising them. Every aspect of scientific knowledge can be questioned, including the general rules of thinking that appear to be most certain. So why is science trustworthy if it is always changing? If tomorrow we will no longer see the world as Newton or Einstein found it to be, why should we take seriously today’s scientific description of the world?

The answer is simple: Because at any given moment of our history, this description of the world is the best we have. The fact that it can be made better can’t diminish (降低) the fact that it is a useful instrument for understanding the world.

Consider a folk healer’s herbal medicine. Can we say this treatment is “scientific”? ...

What can we learn about today’s scientific description of the world?

A．It can be timeless.	B．It can be improved.
C．It is of little value.	D．It is the best at any moment.

6 . The misery of my bike commute in Calgary, Alberta, is the river valley hill. It’s not particularly steep, but at about a mile long, I rarely climbed up without arriving with sweat. Studies have shown the prospect of arriving at work sweaty is one of the biggest _________ to getting would-be bike commuters out of their cars. That’s especially true in a city like Los Angeles, where _________ may face long routes , hills or hot streets with a lack of shade.

“Pedelec”, or pedal electric-assisted bikes like the one I rode, can end that worry. They look and act like traditional bicycles, but their motors make pedaling much easier when required. Sometimes called the most energy-efficient motorized mode of transportation ever built, they’re also incredibly green. The biggest barrier may be the outdated attitude that sees bikes only as a recreational athletic opportunity rather than a practical _________ option.

At a time when cities across North America are struggling to combat crippling traffic and reduce climate emissions, e-bikes have the _________ to ease the both problems. And yet ridership has yet to truly _______.About 152,000 e-bikes were sold last year in the U.S., a figure that would be more than 5 million if Americans used them at the same rate as western Europeans.   

Many of the barriers to e-bike _________in North America are legislative. Patchwork rules treat e-bikes more like mopeds than traditional pedal bikes in some jurisdictions,meaning they are _______from bike lanes and from boarding public transportation.

Few places on the continent, _________, are better poised to break through barriers than California. Legislation was approved last year to encourage e-bike use, by legally differentiating the cycles from mopeds. In an attempt to head off worries about turbocharged machines flying down sidewalks and bike lanes at unsafe speeds, the law classifies bikes into different tiers to _______ lower-speed e-bikes, which top out at 20 mph, from faster-moving “speed pedelecs”, which are restricted from protected bike paths.

Amid these legislative ________, e-bikes have become more accessible to consumer. Finding them in bike shops isn’t as __________ as it once was, and their cost has fallen as the price of lithium-ion batteries has dropped. Today, a decent e-bike, while still __________, is comparable in price to a high-end mountain bike. After years of ____________over mixing pedal and motor power, cycling advocacy organizations also are finally throwing their support behind e-bikes. Dave Snyder, the executive director of the California Bicycle Coalition, __________ the state’s new legislation based partly on the __________that e-bikes help out those who“just can’t ride as far or as fast as they need to”.

1.

A．advantages

B．processes

C．barriers

D．complements

2.

A．riders

B．builders

C．customers

D．volunteers

3.

A．production

B．communication

C．facilities

D．transportation

4.

A．routine

B．potential

C．temporary

D．major

5.

A．make of

B．carry on

C．bring up

D．take off

6.

A．adaptation

B．adoption

C．adjustment

D．justification

7.

A．proved

B．alerted

C．banned

D．authorized

8.

A．however

B．unless

C．meanwhile

D．anyway

9.

A．originate

B．combine

C．separate

D．satisfy

10.

A．factors

B．benefits

C．limits

D．damages

11.

A．proper

B．critical

C．sensational

D．difficult

12.

A．expensive

B．distinctive

C．sensitive

D．intensive

13.

A．trouble

B．concern

C．power

D．scale

14.

A．favored

B．folded

C．referred

D．gifted

15.

A．appeal

B．address

C．amount

D．advocate

7 . What’s your baby doing right now? I hope he or she is not rolling on the floor. Such behaviour might seem natural and age-appropriate but this laid-back environment could come back to haunt you at a later date.

Eventually you may be forced to reflect upon those wasted opportunities. In allowing your baby to unproductively behave just like, well, a baby, you may be failing to foster his or her personal growth. Are you denying your child the chance to achieve his or her full potential as a well-rounded baby?

You see, some parents are hot-housing their infants as we speak. While your baby’s programme revolves around the traditional routines of sleeping, eating and playing, other people’s offspring are on the fast-track to certain giftedness. And Baby Einstein DVDs, which were all the rage when I was a new mother, are really the least of your problems.

Ever eager to exploit our perceived inadequacies, smart marketers have found something else for parents to feel guilty about. There’s a manufactured fear that we’re squandering those valuable moments when a baby’s brain is said to be like a sponge, ready and willing to soak up new information at an alarming rate.

I’ve never seen the point of deliberately setting up your little one to be more advanced than his or her peers. I like the idea of babies just being babies and children just being children. Anyway, if they can read at the age of three then what will they learn in their first year of school?

One thing’s for sure: for some people parenting has taken on the proportions of a competitive sport. Some children wrestle with after-school activities every day of the week. Others are enrolled in extra tuition — sometimes simply to reach an acceptable standard and other times in order to be top of the class. There are tennis camps, swim academies and dancing schools. Some households even speak English downstairs and French upstairs. What? That’s not how you run your home? Oh dear. I see bilingualism passing your child by, for sure.

1. What does the author imply in paragraph 2?

A．The author likes raising baby at home.

B．Many parents don’t realize their babies’ potentials.

C．We don’t have enough time or money to raise babies.

D．Many parents foster their children’s personal growth by any chance.

2. How did the author feel about Baby Einstein DVDs when she was a new mother?

A．They were good enough for mothers.

B．They were effective in teaching babies.

C．They were cheaper than other products.

D．They were popular with many mothers.

3. What does the author think of setting up little babies to be more advanced early?

A．It’s a good way to build up potentials.

B．It’s not helpful to baby’s development.

C．It’s vital to develop baby’s brain.

D．It’s not so cheap to be invested by all parents.

4. What does the author suggest parents do?

A．Give children more sports.

B．Develop children more.

C．Let babies grow as they are.

D．Develop children’s bilingualism.

8 . Doctors in the U. K. are warning children born in the age of tablets(平板)and touch screens are missing the fine motor skills needed to operate the simpler tools in life: pens and pencils.

After all, it’s easier to give a child an iPad than encouraging them to do muscle-building play such as building blocks.

Certainly penmanship(书法)has been on the decline since the appearance of keyboard. Some Arizona educators are even considering dropping cursive(草书)writing entirely from classes. They think teaching a kid to use soon-to-be ancient tools like pens and pencils is a waste of time and money.

The thing is, there’s more than one point to penmanship. A pencil is what develops hand strength and dexterity(灵巧)that children will need throughout their lives. It’s a lifelong learning tool that helps the world produce its surgeons and pilots.

And the bad cursive writing opens the door for an all-important lesson on the virtues of practice. A keyboard, on the other hand, ticks off each letter with perfect precision from the very start. But it robs a kid not only of the joys of getting something right, but also developing a written identity.

Consider that if society stops teaching children how to push a pen, how long before we won’t be able to read it? Maybe the pen will someday be history. But we all need to know how to read history.

As blogger Starre Vartan puts it, “As an art lover, I visit as many museums as I can, and a major part of many exhibitions, original written documents are included, all of which requires the reader to be able to decipher(破译)handwriting from times past.”

And, in an age when people turn increasingly to the same old emoji(表情符号)to express themselves, those lines on paper may be one of the few remaining bastions(堡垒)of identity.

1. Which of the following may belong to hand muscle-building play according to the text?

A．Hide-and-seek.	B．High jumping.
C．Role playing.	D．Cutting and sticking.

2. What is some Arizona educators’ view on penmanship?

A．It is a traditional art.	B．It is out of date.
C．It brings people joy.	D．It does harm to kids.

3. What message does the author want to convey in paragraph 5?

A．Penmanship is beneficial.	B．Penmanship needs practice.
C．The keyboard is also important.	D．Every kid needs a written identity.

4. What can we infer from blogger Starre Vartan’ words?

A．Learning cursive is necessary.

B．Written documents are treasures.

C．Readers need to write much more.

D．Cursive writing can hide messages.

9 . For children of the last twenty years born into this modern life, these technological marvels seem like elements of the periodic table: a given ingredient that is simply part of the universe. Younger generations don’t even try to imagine life without modern conveniences. They do not appreciate theunprecedented (史无前例的) technology that is in their possession; rather, they complain about the ways in which it fails to live up to ideal expectations. “My digital video recorder at home doesn’t allow me to program it from my computer at work.” “It’s taking too long for this interactive map to display on my portable GPS”.

What does the underlined statement in paragraph 6 probably mean?

A．Space exploration provides us with new technology.

B．Adults learn technology while they are doing household chores.

C．High expectation makes up for the limitation of technology designers.

D．Consumers regard many technological inventions as unremarkable

10 . “Lonely” is defined in the dictionary as “unhappy because you are alone or do not have anyone to talk to”. However, in my perspective, “being alone” can also be meaningful and enjoyable. In other words, “being alone” isn’t equivalent to “loneliness”. Actually, we can literally enjoy our time when staying alone.

Think of loneliness as the “tunnel phase” of our lives. It’s a time when we don’t have a group of friends around to keep us company; when we are away from the hustle and bustle (熙熙攘攘) of the outside world; when we get the chance to tune in to our inner monologue (独白); when we are given the time to recharge ourselves on our own so that we can focus entirely on ourselves. It is during these periods that, without being disturbed and distracted, we are able to discover the things we truly want from our lives. This process is like digging a tunnel, through which we improve ourselves, achieve our goals and get a jolt of power to prepare for the or darkness we may meet with in our future lives.

A distinguished figure skater (花滑冰运动员) once said in his interview that he often felt lonely, but the external environment would to some extent affect his mind and body, making it difficult for him to concentrate during his practice and performance, and thus he was actually willing to be alone and at times would rather be isolated from the world. This type of “loneliness” must be one of the reasons why he has been able to deliver so many elaborate and splendid performances throughout his career.

So don’t be frightened by the temporary void or unhappy feeling when you have to he alone. Instead, cherish and enjoy the sense of loneliness you get when you are completely free. Spend time with yourself.

We become more independent in loneliness. We grow stronger in loneliness. Most importantly, we find our complete selves in loneliness. When we learn to embrace the feeling of “loneliness” and enjoy the time in which there is no other, loneliness itself ceases to exist.

1. What’s the author’s opinion about “being alone”?

A．Being alone is as something shameful

B．Being alone means being lonely and helpless

C．There is no point in being alone.

D．We appreciate our time more when we are alone.

2. How does the author develop Paragraph 2?

A．By providing examples.

B．By analyzing causes.

C．By making comparisons.

D．By listing figures.

3. Why is the distinguished figure skater mentioned in the passage?

A．To show athletes always feel lonely.

B．To demonstrate the factor of the success.

C．To indicate solitude (独处) is as important as practice.

D．To confirm the positive effect of “loneliness”.

4. What can we learn from the last two paragraphs?

A．Time spent with yourselves is more enjoyable than that with others.

B．People will always feel depressed when faced with being alone.

C．Loneliness can benefit us a lot in many aspects.

D．Loneliness can exist all the time, so we should change our attitude toward it.

5. What is the author’s purpose for writing this passage?

A．To illustrate different opinions on staying alone.

B．To encourage people to learn to value and enjoy their time of loneliness.

C．To persuade people into staying away from others.

D．To offer some suggestions on how to spend time alone.