1 . Messages in honor of Stan Lee are pouring in on social media and other online sites.
Lee is the creator of famous comic book (连环漫画) characters, including Spider-Man, the Hulk, Black Panther and others. He died in Los Angeles, California, Monday. He was 95 years old. Marvel Entertainment and its parent company, Walt Disney, posted a video about the late writer, editor and publisher on their websites. Disney chairman and chief Bob Iger said Lee is "a super hero in his own right to Marvel fans around the world." He compared Lee to his comic book characters with "the power to inspire, to entertain, and to connect."
Lee was born Stanley Martin Leiber in New York City. He began writing for comic books at 19. He wrote under the name Stan Lee. He explained that he used a false name because he wanted to write a serious and great piece of literature someday. He did not want his link with comic books to be known when that happened. But it never did happen. As the pride in his work grew, he decided to legally change his name to Stan Lee.
Lee's comic book heroes stand apart from its competitor DC, the company that produced the seemingly perfect heroes like Superman and Wonder Woman. Lee's character often had super power, but they also had weaknesses and moral (道德的) failings. In a piece for Marvel in 1969, Lee discussed the importance of creating these balanced characters. Nobody is all good, or all bad, he wrote, like Tony Stark, also known as Iron Man. He is a deeply gifted inventor with serious mental health issues; or, Peter Parker, a sensitive, brainy high-school student who has no idea how to deal with the frightening abilities he gets from the bite of a radioactive spider. Even Steve Rogers, whose Captain America was the most Superman-like of the Marvel group, had problems. Rejected as a candidate for the armed forces, he volunteers to take a "supersoldier" substance to make him a super-fighting machine.
Actor Chris Evans has played that character in several Hollywood films. He posted a tribute (悼念) to Captain America's creator on Twitter Monday."There will never be another Stan Lee," he wrote. Actor, writer and funny man Seth Rogen never played one of Lee's characters but he remembered him with thanks in a Tweet."Thank you Stan Lee for making people who feel different realize they are special," he wrote.
1. Stan Lee created many famous comic character, except ________.| A．Iron Man | B．Superman |
| C．Captain America | D．Spider Man |
| A．he wanted to be famous for the false name |
| B．he didn't want to be known as a comic book writer |
| C．he wanted his name to be linked with his comic books |
| D．he didn't want to be known as a serious literature writer |
| A．They are good at making people feel special. |
| B．They are moral figures without weak points. |
| C．They are more balanced characters than DC heroes. |
| D．They are seemingly perfect heroes with super powers. |
| A．To remember a great cartoonist. |
| B．To introduce marvel comic heroes. |
| C．To encourage studies on comics. |
| D．To promote products of marvel. |
2 . EVEN the best of communicators can sometimes hit a wrong note, whether with a joke, turn of phrase, or even an ill-timed chuckle（轻笑）.
For instance, a former finance minister Ken Gabriel usually tries to keep things casual when answering reporters’ questions. But in a television interview on the news program 60 Minutes, some people felt his register was a little too casual—even careless.
At one point, Gabriel spoke about the bankers who have been widely blamed for causing the collapse of the financial sector: “I mean there were a whole bunch of folks who, on paper, if you looked at quarterly reports, were wildly successful, selling derivatives that turned out to be …completely worthless,” Gabriel said, with a chuckle.
Shocked by Gabriel’s laughter during the interview, journalist David finally asked: “You’re sitting here. And you’ re—you are laughing. You are laughing about some of these problems.”
Gabriel quickly explained himself by replying, “No, no. There’s gotta be a little humor to get you through the day.” But that exchange ended up making news, as TV pundits, journalists and public relations experts debated Gabriel’s tone.
One unnamed strategist for Gabriel’ s party said that the finance minister’ s attempts at humor were distracting: “Gabriel is gifted in so many ways, but humor is not something that he seems to be comfortable with. He does not come across as a funny guy.”
The TV critic Daniel, meanwhile, came to Gabriel’s defense.
“Gabriel isn’t a rookie …All this laughter seems clearly to be calculated rather than accidental. His laughs last night were designed as laughs of reassurance. They were designed to tell the TV audience he understands the severity of the situation.”
There would have been little debate if Gabriel had not laughed during a speech. Answering questions in a public setting, however, should allow for a more conversational register. But as Gabriel discovered, not everyone agrees on just how casual the tone should be.
1. What’s the meaning of the phrase hit a wrong note?| A．Say something wrong. | B．Do something wrong. |
| C．Write down something wrongly. | D．Play the music wrongly. |
| A．Tried to account for it. | B．Found an excuse for it. |
| C．Refused to say anything about it. | D．Learned a lesson from it. |
| A．The banker. | B．David. |
| C．The unnamed strategist. | D．Daniel. |
| A．Debatable speeches of Gabriel. | B．Be cautious while you are speaking. |
| C．Gabriel’s rude behavior in speeches. | D．Honest or not, it’s hard to say. |
3 . Concerned about pollution and congestion (拥塞), a growing number of local governments are trying to reduce the number of drivers in Europe’s big cities. Some, like London and Stockholm, have introduced congestion charges to discourage driving during peak hours. Paris has tried banning cars from driving on certain days, depending on whether they have even or odd number plates. Perhaps the most ambitious plan to curb cars comes from Oslo, Norway’s capital.
The change that is most easily to be noticed in Oslo is somewhat different from that in other European cities. Late last year, the government removed some 700 parking spaces from the city centre, replacing them with benches, bicycles and more pavements. The mere 50 or so spots that remain are largely reserved for handicapped residents and local businesses that rely on deliveries. Another big change has come in the form of zoning reform. Some roads in the city centre have been closed off to private cars; others have been changed so that traffic can only flow in one direction.
Enforcement has been severe, though. The city government has placed signs informing drivers of the new rules, but not everyone has paid them much attention. In addition, Norway’s conservatives believe strongly in the idea of car ownership, and shopkeepers worry that fewer cars might mean fewer customers. It is still too early to assess how effective the new measures have been. Still, early data show that pedestrian traffic in the city centre was up by 10% in the fourth quarter of 2018 over a year earlier, which suggests the reforms are working as intended.
Hanna Marcussen, vice-mayor for urban development and a member of the Green Party, notes that Oslo’s most successful shops are on the high street, where most customers are pedestrians anyway. The government is busy compiling tax records to measure the economic impact of its reforms. Research on Stockholm’s congestion-pricing scheme finds that the benefits from factors such as shorter travel times and safer roads far outweigh the fees paid by drivers.
The fact that the city’s efforts to control traffic have been controversial has forced the government to take an incremental (递增的) approach, constantly negotiating with suspicious business owners. Ms Marcussen compares the government’s traffic reforms to Norway’s public-smoking ban, which was passed in 2004. She said many people complained before the law was passed, but few today would demand loudly to let people smoke in pubs again.
1. Which of the following is closest in meaning to the underlined word “curb” in paragraph 1？| A．Support. | B．Control. |
| C．Replace. | D．Abandon. |
| A．The removal of public parking. | B．Creating more one-way traffic. |
| C．The limitation on cars in rush hours. | D．Placing strict restrictions on private cars. |
| A．Cars are hardly banned. | B．Anti-car policies are in vain. |
| C．The car industry is declining. | D．The reforms haven’t come easily. |
| A．New things need to be tested repeatedly. |
| B．Timing is important to the success of reforms. |
| C．More efforts are to be put in the traffic reforms. |
| D．Most people will finally support the traffic reforms. |
4 . The driver who cuts you off in traffic.The neighbors who don't pick up after their dog.Situations such as these get our hearts racing and send our stress levels skyrocketing.Anger isn't a pleasant feeling.Some of us bottle up the emotion, while others explode in a wild rage (狂怒).Both habits do considerable harm to our bodies, our minds, and our relationships.
“Anger may fee1 uncomfortable and a lot of people think they have to get rid of their anger," says Patrick Keelan, a registered psychologist in Calgary, Alberta.“But anger is an emotion built into us to signal that something needs to be addressed.When we take notice of that signal and actually wrestle with the problem instead of turning a blind eye to it, we' re usually much better for it.”
Unfortunately, many of us have been conditioned to keep our emotions hidden.Increasingly,research is suggesting that this can have long-term effects on our health.Investigators at the University of Rochester noticed that people who contain their emotions tend to live shorter lives.When we're angry, stress hormones are released, which can make us more likely to develop a wide range of diseases, including diabetes, depression, immune related conditions.
Is it better, then, to scream and howl whenever something makes you mad? That's probably the reason why“rage rooms" have popped up in many American cities, where folks are invited to let steam off by violently smashing (打碎) stuff in a“safe" environment.However, the research indicates that when people display anger aggressively, it can actually increase the intensity of the anger -- and increase the likelihood of aggressive actions in the future.It doesn't take much imagination to predict how such behavior can affect your relationship with your spouse, your kids, or your colleagues.It also hurts your health.A large 2016 study at McMaster University found that people are more than twice as likely to have a heart attack after an angry explosion.
If we shouldn't bottle up our angry feelings but aggressive behavior isn't healthy either, how should we handle things that tick us of? It's the extreme highs and lows that cause the damage.If you're able to apply techniques that smooth out some of those peaks and valleys, you can have a gentler ride.
1. What does the underlined phrase“bottle up" in paragraph 1 mean?| A．Build up. |
| B．Hold back. |
| C．Let off. |
| D．Bring out. |
| A．Uncomfortable and avoidable. |
| B．Terrible and threatening. |
| C．Confusing and complex. |
| D．Normal and natural. |
| A．It leads to people's depression. |
| B．It warns people against violence. |
| C．It adds to people's anger. |
| D．It helps people to calm down. |
| A．Possible causes of anger. |
| B．Tips on handling anger. |
| C．Possible harm of anger. |
| D．Tips on avoiding anger. |
5 . Colors are not only used for decorations or for adding to the beauty of an object. In color psychology (心理学), black is the color of power, but it also stands for evil (邪恶) in some people’s minds. Black could make you appear thinner, which is why it can be a good choice if you think you’re overweight. Black can also give people a feeling that you are independent (独立的).
Red reflects energy, power and strength. Red is useful when you want to draw some attention to yourself. But red may cause a faster heartbeat and breathing, so it could be an irritating (恼人的) color if overused.
Staying in a blue room can make you calm. However, if overused, it may lead to a sad feeling. When wearing blue, you leave the impression that you are loyal and trustworthy.
Green is known as a relaxing color. Staying in a green room can make you more relaxed. That’s one of the reasons why factory walls are printed green.
Yellow is an irritating color. In some takeaway restaurants (外卖餐馆), the walls are painted yellow in order not to let customers stay for long periods in the restaurants and free up more space for other customers. Just like red, yellow is an eye-catching color and it could also increase the heart beat.
Pink shows kindness. When one wants to get help, a good choice would be heading for someone who is wearing pink or white.
1. According to color psychology, besides red, ______is a color that can make you easily noticed.| A．black | B．blue | C．yellow | D．pink |
| A．blue, no matter how much used, can calm people down |
| B．yellow can help restaurants make customers stay longer |
| C．pink is the only color that shows kindness |
| D．both black and red can stand for power |
| A．Because green can make workers hopeful. |
| B．Because green can make workers feel relaxed. |
| C．Because green can make workers more confident. |
| D．Because green is a symbol of nature. |
| A．How to Choose Colors |
| B．Psychology Effects (影响) of Colors. |
| C．Colors Make Our Life Wonderful. |
| D．Be Careful with Color Choices. |
6 . We’ve all had cases where we’ve waited just a bit too long to pay an electric bill or speeding ticket. But one man, from California by reasonable assumption，who goes by “Dave”，recently took procrastination (拖延) one step further, by paying a parking ticket almost a half-century after it was given.
In December 2018, the Minersville Police Department in Pennsylvania received a letter in the mail. Whoever wrote the letter decided it was best to keep his name somewhat unknown，so he put the return address as “Wayward Road，Anytown California” under the name “Feeling guilty”.
When the officers opened the envelope，they found a brief letter, along with a $5 bill, and a parking ticket dating all the way back to 1974. The note read，“Dear PD，I've been carrying this ticket around for 40 plus years always intending to pay. Forgive me if I don't give you my info. With respect，Dave.”
Even though the initial parking ticket was only for $2, “Dave” must have felt awfully guilty because he left 150 percent，or $3, in interest.
Michael Combs, the Police Chief of the Minersville Police Department, stated in an interview that the same ticket would cost about $20 if it were given today. Combs went on to share that the original ticket from 1974 was given to a vehicle that had an Ohio license plate.
Because there was no system for tracking tickets given to out-of-state cars back then，“Dave” could have gotten away with never paying the $2 fine. But apparently，guilt got the best of him，and he decided to finally cough up the money more than 40 years past its due date.
1. How much do we know about “Dave”？| A．He lives in Wayward Road，Anytown California. |
| B．His car probably came from Ohio at that time. |
| C．The police are trying to find out more about him. |
| D．“Dave” is of course the man’s real name indeed. |
| A．He completely forgot about it in the past 44 years. |
| B．He didn’t find it until almost half a century later. |
| C．He didn’t pay for it just because of procrastination. |
| D．He failed to find out who he should pay the money to. |
| A．A strong sense of guilt. |
| B．Fear of being tracked by the police. |
| C．Worry about being fined more. |
| D．Sudden change of his financial situation. |
| A．Police Chief of the Minersville Police Department Shares a Story |
| B．Parking Ticket Carried Around for Almost Half a Century from Ohio |
| C．Unusual Letter Comes from Wayward Road, Anytown California |
| D．Mysterious Procrastinator Finally Pays 44-Year-Old Parking Ticket |
7 . Sometimes fishing ships disappear: Captains turn off the radios that broadcast their locations, leaving regulators wondering whether the ships are fishing illegally. Now, researchers have shown that albatrosses(信天翁)bearing small detectors can find these doubtful ships, even in the middle of the open ocean. After a 6-month study with the large seabirds, the researchers say that more than one-third of ships in the southern Indian Ocean are fishing illegally.
“These are animal police,” says Boris Worm of Dalhousie University. “You’re empowering animals to survey their own environment, ”Worm says. “That’s pretty cool.” The method could also help albatrosses themselves, which can be killed when they get caught or accidentally eat fishing hooks. The researchers will be there on time.
Illegal fishing is a major concern for environment biologists, especially in remote areas. Over the past decade, scientists have studied the problem with data from automatic identification systems (AISs) on ships, which send their identity, location, speed, and direction to satellites. But AlSs can be turned off. Researchers suspect that fishing ships turn off AISs when they are fishing illegally or want to prevent competitors from knowing where they are getting a good catch.
Albatrosses make good spies. The birds, which live on fish, can spot a fishing ship from as far away as 30 kilometers. Some species fly hundreds or thousands of kilometers while hunting. Between December 2018 and June 2019, the birds met 353 ships. Those locations were sent to the lab in less than 2 hours. If they did not match the locations of ships with an active AIS, the team knew the ships had switched it off. In international waters, 37% of detected ships had their AlS switched off and fished illegally.
Although the albatrosses can detect ships, they cannot track them over longer distances, one scientist says. He says, “What you need to do is to look for patterns to take pictures as evidence.” More albatrosses will be arranged in March and April around the Prince Edward Islands in the southern Indian Ocean to reveal the illegal fishing.
1. What is the main idea of the first paragraph?| A．Fishing ships disappear sometimes. |
| B．Illegal fishing is very serious in the open ocean. |
| C．Some seabirds are used to monitor the illegal fishing. |
| D．One-third of ships in the southern Indian Ocean are fishing illegally. |
| A．They can get enough food. |
| B．They can get saved when in danger. |
| C．They can protect their own rights of fishing. |
| D．They can avoid being killed or eating fishing hooks. |
| A．By sending locations of ships. |
| B．By turning off AISs of the ships. |
| C．By following the ships as far as possible. |
| D．By taking the pictures of ships fishing illegally. |
| A．Education. | B．Politics. | C．Science. | D．Health |
8 . Suppose you are about to complete high school and are thinking about attending a college or university. After doing some research, you find a school you would like to attend, but have questions about the application process. So you go to the school’s website in the hope of finding a few answers.
Time goes by and you, a student, still do not have the answers. You almost feel like giving up. But today, as you can see, artificial intelligence is so advanced. You find a message appears on your computer or personal electronic device. It says something like: ''How can I help? '' Writing back to the website, you try to explain your problem. You possibly get a few questions to clarify what your concerns are. Then, almost immediately, the person with whom you are in contact provides the information you are seeking.
In fact, you are not actually communicating with a school official. You are not even dealing with a human being. You are in contact with a computer program, or chatbot. It is using artificial intelligence, AI for short, to understand and communicate with you. This might sound strange. But chances are that this would not be the first time you have communicated with a computer program without knowing it. In recent years, chatbots have become a common tool for banks and large companies around the world.
Having human beings available to answer people’s questions and complaints can be costly, requiring many workers. And in most cases, employees can only work for several hours in a day, increasing customers’ waiting time for a response, but the chatbot can work around the clock. So not only companies, but a growing number of universities have also begun using the chatbot technology.
Australia's University of Adelaide noted a major improvement in its service to student after employing a chathot to deal with application questions in 2018. It said that students received responses 13 times faster, and students’ approval of the quality of service increased by 60 percent. And just the speed of reacting to questions is the chatbot's major strength.
1. How does the author introduce the topic of the text?| A．By assumption. | B．By comparison. |
| C．By definition. | D．By data. |
| A．To tell time and tide wait for no man. |
| B．To advise students should clarify their questions. |
| C．To present the communication convenience brought by Al. |
| D．To show the phenomenon that students are addicted to computers. |
| A．Its low cost. | B．Its ease of use. |
| C．Its short working hours. | D．Its quick response. |
| A．Artificial intelligence is developing rapidly. |
| B．Robots are gradually replacing human services. |
| C．Employees chat with robots without knowing them. |
| D．More universities use chatbots to communicate online. |
9 . Scientists may one day be able to destroy viruses in the same way that opera singers break wine glasses. New research mathematically determined the frequencies at which simple viruses could be shaken to death.
The capsid (壳) of a virus is something like the shell of a turtle, said physicist Otto Sankey of Arizona State University. “If the shell can be damaged by mechanical vibrations (震动), the virus can be destroyed.”
Recent experimental evidence has shown that laser (激光) pulses with the right frequency can kill certain viruses. However, locating these resonant (共振的) frequencies is a bit of trial and error. Experiments must try various conditions, Sankey said.
To further this search, Sankey and his student Eric Dykeman have developed a way to calculate the vibrations of every atom in a virus shell. From this, they can determine the lowest resonant frequencies. An experiment has recently shown that pulses of laser light can cause destructive vibrations in virus shells. Sankey said, “Like pushing a child on a swing from rest, one sudden push gets the virus shaking.”
However, it is difficult to calculate what sort of push will kill a virus, since there can be millions of atoms in its shell structure. A direct calculation of each atom’s movements would take several hundred thousand Gigabytes of computer memory, Sankey explained.
The team plans to use their technique to study other, more complicated viruses. However, it is still a long way from using this to destroy the viruses in infected people. “This is such a new field, and there are so few experiments that the science has not yet had enough time to prove itself,” Sankey said. “We remain hopeful but remain skeptical at the same time.”
1. What is the new way to kill viruses?| A．Replacing viruses’ capsids with shells. |
| B．Breaking viruses’ capsids by vibration. |
| C．Locating the position of certain viruses. |
| D．Damaging the conditions that viruses like. |
| A．To prove how simple the new theory is. |
| B．To explain how to start the virus shaking. |
| C．To suggest the idea comes from our real life. |
| D．To show the destructive power of vibrations. |
| A．The shell structure of viruses. |
| B．The lack of computer memory. |
| C．The challenging part of the research. |
| D．The importance of atoms’ movement. |
| A．Disapproving. | B．Worried. |
| C．Uncaring. | D．Positive. |
10 . Rapid progress in artificial intelligence, also called AI, and the wide use of robots across different industries are causing the worry about the growth in joblessness. People have different opinions on this development, and they mainly have focused on what to do to make sure that robots don't steal jobs.
Bill Cates, for example, have called for taxing(对…征税)robots that take away jobs. This has led to disagreement from other leading figures, such as Larry Summers, who thinks that robots are job creators and that it is totally wrong. Another idea is to use a basic income for all-the ides that everyone receives the lowest income-to pay for influence of technological unemployment. This idea also causes disagreement.
However, jobs are not created or lost because of a single technology, but because of the business system designed to make use of the power of the technology.
We have seen a similar example in history, with recorded music in the last century. It wasn't the 1930s recording technology itself that affected the jobs of the live musicians. It was its connection with radio broadcasting，jukeboxes(自动唱机)and the way businesses operated that led to the job losses. Hotels, restaurants and bars replaced live musicians with jukeboxes. A single recording could be placed over and over without requiring the appearance of the musicians.
The early recording of music destroyed the jobs of some live musicians and made them earn less money than before. The social dissatisfaction was largely about monopoly power(垄断势力)and less about the technology itself.
Job creation or loss has to be considered with everything considered. This is the best explained by looking at the difference between recorded music in the last century and robots now.
1. What's people's main attention according to the first paragraph?| A．Artificial intelligence. | B．The growing opportunities. |
| C．Not letting robots take away jobs. | D．Stopping the wide use of robots. |
| A．The idea of taxing robots. | B．The belief that robots steal jobs. |
| C．Rapid progress in artificial intelligence. | D．Disagreement between leading figures. |
| A．He agrees with Bill Gates' opinion. | B．He thinks robots can create jobs. |
| C．He supports the idea of taxing robots. | D．He praises using a basic income for all |
| A．There will be more social dissatisfaction in the future. |
| B．Monopoly power is a terrible social phenomenon. |
| C．We should tell job creation or loss with full consideration. |
| D．Recorded music is completely different from robots. |
