1 . These days there is so much tempting technology to look at: smart phones, tablets, computer games and TV screens. Much of children's entertainment and education comes from using them, so it's no wonder they spend so much time staring at them. But even if the saying that looking at a screen for too long gives you square eyes isn't true, there is still some concern. So, should we be worried?
Certainly for children who spend hours glued to a screen, there is a concern that their health might be at risk. Also there is a fear that their eyesight is declining too. Although there's not much evidence to prove this yet, recent findings have brought the problem into light.
Chris Hammond, consultant at St Thomas' Hospital, says “We find short-sightedness is becoming more common It has greatly spread in East Asia, Singapore, Taiwan, South Korea where approaching 90 of 18-year-olds are now short-sighted.”
But can this be linked to children's obsession with using electronic gadgets? Annegret Dahlmann, expert at Moorfields Eve Hospital in London. says lack of natural light seems to be the key issue. She's suggested that children in East Asia study a lot, using computers, smart phones or tablets, and they go outside less. Wearing glasses is one solution, but it's not ideal.
This leads to a dilemma: achieving short-term academic success or protecting your long-term eyesight. It's always going to be a challenge to drag children away from their screens and it's likely that more and more studying will be done online. But despite that, Professor Hammond says. “In countries like urban China, where 10% of children in each class per year are becoming short-sighted from about the age of six. there's an argument for saying we should be trying to prevent it.” It's evidence we can't turn a blind eye to. So, maybe it's time to hit the “off” button and get our children outside?
1. What can we infer from the first two paragraphs?| A．Recent findings have opened our eyes to the issue of eyesight. |
| B．Looking at a screen for too long will get you square eyes. |
| C．It has been confirmed that children's eyesight is failing. |
| D．Using electronic gadgets affects children's education. |
| A．Wearing glasses. | B．Heavy school work. |
| C．Lack of natural light. | D．Booming technology. |
| A．Learning online or offline. |
| B．Reading for pleasure or exams. |
| C．Focusing on study or protecting eyesight. |
| D．Protecting eyesight or promoting technology. |
| A．Study hard. | B．Head outdoors. | C．Quit computer. | D．Challenge more. |
2 . Dutch designer Daan Roosegaarde has spent much of his time seeking artistic solutions(解决方案)to solve our environmental problems. His past projects include "Bioluminescent(生物发光)Trees" to light streets, a "Smog-Free Tower" to clean Beijing's polluted air. and "Gates of Light". which uses the headlamps of passing cars to light up the 60 floodgates of the Afsluitdijk, a major dam in the Netherlands. Now, he is hoping to use his skills to solve a pressing global problem-space junk!
Scientists guess that there are over 500，000 bits of large rubbish. To deal with the problem, Roosegaarde intends to achieve his goal by educating the public about the need of the situation and coming up with possible solutions. The plan. called the Space Waste Lab. started in October 2018 with a laser(激光)show in the Netherlands. The unique outdoor artwork of LEDs used real-time tracking information to point at pieces of space junk floating at altitudes of 200 to 20,000 kilometers. The experience was designed to make the public know more about how much space junk there are.
To find a solution, the designer has been thinking with experts. One of the projects being considered is "Shooting Stars"，which attempts to reintroduce the trash to the atmosphere in a controlled way. Upon reentry. the waste would burn in the atmosphere like a shooting star. Roosegaarde envisages that if successful .burning space trash could someday replace fireworks at large public events!
In September 2018。the RemoveDEBRIS satellite successfully sent a net to catch a target while orbiting at an altitude of about 300 kilometers(190 miles). Sometime this year. the capsule will set free a harpoon that has been designed to remove space trash. At the end of its task，RemoveDEBRIS will let go a sail to bring the satellite itself and hopefully some trash, back into the atmosphere where it will burn up.
1. What can we infer about Daan Roosegaarde?| A．He is too aggressive to put forward good plans. |
| B．He is creative in solving environmental problems. |
| C．He is fond of spending all of his time seeking art skills. |
| D．He is sensitive to art reflected in environmental projects. |
| A．To confirm real-time information about space trash. |
| B．To show the great beauty of LEDs to common people. |
| C．To raise public awareness of the amount of space trash. |
| D．To inspire people to consider the solution to space trash. |
| A．Suspect. | B．Demand. |
| C．Advise. | D．Imagine. |
| A．Bringing the satellite to atmosphere to burn. |
| B．Keeping trash traveling along its own orbit. |
| C．Taking the satellite away from atmosphere. |
| D．Removing space trash out of the capsule. |
3 . Fou Ts'ong, a Chinese-born pianist known for his sensitive interpretations of Chopin, Debussy and Mozart.died on Monday at a hospital in London, where he had lived for many years. He was 86.
A lover of classical music from a young age, Mr. Fou began taking piano lessons when he was 7. Mr. Fou made his first stage appearance in 1952. The concert caught the attention of officials in Beijing, who selected him to compete and tour in Eastern Europe. Mr. Fou soon moved to Poland, where he studied at the Warsaw Conservatory(音乐学校)on a scholarship. To prepare for the fifth Chopin Competition in Warsaw in 1955.he practiced so diligently that he hurt his fingers and was nearly cut from the first round of the competition.
Mr. Fou was one of the first Chinese pianists to achieve global prominence when he took the third place in the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 1955. He also won a special prize for his performance of Chopin's mazurkas(马祖卜舞曲). Almost overnight, he became a national hero. To China, Mr. Fou's recognition in a well-known international competition was proof that the country could stand on its own artistically in the West. Chinese reporters flocked to interview Mr. Fou, while many others sought out his father, Fu Lei, for advice on child-rearing.
In 1981, a volume of letters written by his father, primarily to Mr. Fou, was published in China. Full of advice, encouragement, life teachings and strict paternal love, the book Fu Lei's Family, Letters became a best-seller in China. Besides influencing a generation of Chinese, Mr. Fu's words resonated(共鸣)long after his death with the person for whom they were intended.
"My father had a saying that 'First you must be a person, then an artist, and then a musician, and only then can you be a pianist.'" Mr. Fou once recalled in an interview. "Even now, I believe in this order-that it should be this way and that I am this way."
1. What can be learned from Paragraph 2?| A．Fou Ts'ong competed and toured in Beijing. |
| B．Fou Ts'ong first performed on the stage at 7. |
| C．Fou Ts'ong made great efforts for competitions. |
| D．Fou Ts'ong started learning music in Eastern Europe. |
| A．It earns Chinese art a place in the West. |
| B．It promotes the spread of Chinese culture. |
| C．It proves Chinese people's talent for music. |
| D．It enables Chinese art education to be recognized. |
| A．Mr. Fu's words. | B．Young Chinese. |
| C．Fou Ts'ong and his family. | D．Readers of Fu Lei's Family Letters. |
| A．Pursuing art is a long and painful process. |
| B．It requires various qualities to be a pianist. |
| C．Everyone should develop an interest in art. |
| D．Talent is of the greatest importance for a pianist. |
4 . Sora observed in amazement as Weilun picked up two large metal cans. She followed Weilun with a pail (桶) of clothes, watching him carry the two cans effortlessly. They were large and were covering Weilun’s small frame.
Sora’s father had sent her to the village to learn about rural life. Sora had never once done any household chores back home. She did not understand why her father would always chant “Where is your willingness to learn?” whenever she asked him if she could stay home for the holidays. Her father had given her a checklist on the life skills that she needed to learn, one of which was to wash clothes. She recalled washing a table cloth after an art lesson in school. That was a piece of cake, she thought. So Sora refused Weilun’s offer to help. Weilun then went to fill the large cans with water at the far end of the river.
Suddenly, a big bird dived from the sky when Sora placed the last piece of clothing back in the pail. Sora released her grasp of the pail in shock. Then she was relaxed to find it was aiming for a worm near her. But the clothes were drifting in the river. Weilun immediately came to help and Sora shifted the blame to the bird.
He pointed at the detergent foam (洗涤剂泡沫) on the surface of the river. “Don’t tell me you rinsed (漂洗) the detergent from the clothes in the river. Don’t you know that it may kill the river creatures? You caused the problem, not the bird!” Sora looked down in shame. “You think that you know everything, but you actually don’t.”
Sora closed her eyes to let Weilun’s words sink in for a moment. She finally understood the meaning behind her father’s chants. She walked towards Weilun and whispered, “Could you teach me all the life skills that my father had planned for me to learn?”
1. Why was Sora amazed?| A．Weilun was too small in size for the two large cans. |
| B．Weilun was willing to help his parents do some chores. |
| C．Weilun managed to carry the two large cans easily. |
| D．Weilun was willing to accompany her to the riverside. |
| A．She thought it was an easy task. |
| B．She had learned how to do it. |
| C．She wanted her father to be proud of her. |
| D．She wanted to learn new things by herself. |
| A．The bird was diving for food. |
| B．The bird was attacking her. |
| C．Sora was rinsing the detergent in the pail. |
| D．Sora was shocked to find a worm in the pail. |
| A．She wasn’t capable of living on her own. |
| B．She really lacked the willingness to learn. |
| C．Life skills could be learned in the country. |
| D．Her father wanted her to learn from Weilun. |
5 . You can either travel or read, but either your body or soul must be on the way. The popular saying has inspired many people to read or go sightseeing. Traveling just like reading, is a refreshing journey from the busy world. Books, brain food, can keep you company on your travel.
On the Road, 1957, by Jack Kerouac
The book is a globally popular spiritual guide book about youth. The main character in the book drives across the US continent with several young people and finally reaches Mexico. After the exhausting and exciting trip, the characters in the book begin to realize the meaning of life. The book can be a good partner with you to explore the United States.
Life is Elsewhere, 1975, by Milan Kundera
Jean-Jacques Rousseau once said, “Man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains.” The book tells a young artist’s romantic but miserable life, about how he reads, dreams, and has a relationship. Experience the artist’s passionate life in the book during a trip to Central Europe. The book invites you to deeply reflect on your current life.
The Stories of Sahara, 1967, by Sanmao
The book narrates the author’s simple but adventurous life in the Sahara Desert, which seems a desolate and dull place. The fancy natural scenery and life there, along with the author’s romantic and intensive emotion, will inspire you to explore the mysterious land. Reading the book is like participating in a dialogue with the author, who is sincere and humorous.
Lotus, 2006 by Annbaby
This novel set in Tibet, tells three people’s stories, each with their unique characteristics. It reveals modern people’s emotions and inner life, their confusion about love, and exploration of Buddhism.The book is a good partner to bring you to the sacred land Tibet.
1. Which book is about the exploration of life value through a journey?| A．On the Road. | B．Life is Elsewhere. |
| C．The Stories of Sahara. | D．Lotus. |
| A．Jack Kerouac’s. | B．Sanmao’s. |
| C．Annbaby’s. | D．Milan Kundera’s. |
| A．Lotus is a religious book exploring Tibetan Buddhist culture. |
| B．On the road advises a classic route for driving across the US. |
| C．The stories of Sahara records its authors’ own life in the desert. |
| D．Life is Elsewhere demonstrates Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s own life. |
6 . Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are compounds(化合物;复合物) that are set to solve some tough challenges: producing water in the desert, removing greenhouse gases from the air and storing dangerous gases more safely.
The Arizona desert is really dry. Anyone stuck in it without water would die from dehydration (脱水) within three days, unless he had one of Omar Yaghi's next-generation water harvesters, who is a chemist at the University of California, Berkeley. Although daytime wetness is only about 10 percent, this rises to 40 percent at night, which means there's enough water in the atmosphere to support life - if it can be transformed into liquid form.
That's exactly what Yaghi's invention does. It's about the size of a small microwave oven, designed to suck the water from the air at night and turn it into drinking water the next day using only the heat of the sun as its power source. What makes it work is a special material called a MOF, which at normal temperatures attracts water molecules (分子) onto the surface of its internal small holes. Warm it up and get the water, each harvest producing one-third of a cup of pure drinking water. "A device the size of a washing machine could produce enough water for the basic needs of a household," says Yaghi.
These crystalline (结晶的) groups of metals linked by organic molecules can be made into materials with an extremely high absorption ability, attracting specific molecules to their surfaces. In this way, MOFscling toa variety of liquids and gases.
MOFs work thanks to their distinctive structure. In fact, one MOF the size of a sugar cube has so many small holes that they would cover an area as large as six football fields. MOFs are also extremely stable, light and have many different uses: their molecular structure can be varied to attract specific molecules. Adding a small amount of heat or pressure causes the MOF to give what it's holding. More than 70,000 different MOFs have been produced to date for various applications.
1. Why is the Arizona desert mentioned in the second paragraph?| A．To introduce water harvesters. |
| B．To stress the importance of water. |
| C．To show the severity of its condition. |
| D．To express the urgent need for water there. |
| A．Solar energy. |
| B．Water molecules. |
| C．Metal-organic frameworks. |
| D．MOFs' internal small holes. |
| A．Give off. |
| B．Tum into. |
| C．Hold onto. |
| D．Break down. |
| A．The future of the MOF technology. |
| B．Other uses of the MOF technology. |
| C．The improvement to the MOF technology. |
| D．Possible limitations of the MOF technology. |
7 . Zhang Guimei, a rural teacher in Huaping county, Lijiang, Yunnan province, breaking cycle of poverty in mountain areas realizes potential of students.
It was a chance meeting that revealed the reality of one life as it changed another. About 20 years ago, while on the way to visit a student’s house, Zhang Guimei noticed a girl sitting on the hillside. She was staring blankly into space. She was completely preoccupied. The girl, 13, told Zhang she was about to get married. It was arranged by her parents. “But I want to go to school,” the girl says. Zhang went to her house and tried to persuade her parents to let the girl return, to school and promised to pay for her tuition herself. However, they didn’t agree.
Zhang says she feels sorry not being able to help “We always say, each child should stand on the same starting line, but these girls didn’t even have a chance to get on the track,” she tells Xinhua News Agency.
That fateful encounter persuaded Zhang to build a free big school for girls, aiming to help break the cycle that saw women drop out of education, marry early and spend their whole life in the remote mountain. The priority of less well-off families was to spend whatever scarce resources they had on educating their sons.
After years trying to raise funds, in 2008, Huaping High School for Girls, a free public high school, was founded at the foot of the Shizi Mountain in Huaping, where Zhang is the principal.
Over the decades, the principal walked thousands of kilometers, visiting students’ families in the deep mountain, talking to villagers, persuading girls to go back to school. She donated her wages and bonus to support rural education and poor people. It has been worth it. More than 1. 800 graduates have been admitted to college, which is regarded a “miracle” in the remote area, as most students didn’t perform well in academic study before the school was established.
In early December. she was named a national outstanding member of the Communist Party of China for her dedication to education in rural China. She was also given the honor of the country’s “role model for teachers”, advanced worker “and” outstanding woman”. Her moving stories inspire thousands of people.
1. What does the underlined word “preoccupied” probably mean in paragraph 2？| A．Cautious. | B．Regretful. | C．Worried. | D．Merciful. |
| A．Women are poor in academic fields. | B．There are few women schools in China. |
| C．Few girls are admitted to universities. | D．Girls in rural areas receive little education. |
| A．Independent and tough. | B．Faithful and honest. |
| C．Inspirational and generous. | D．Determined and conventional. |
| A．Zhang Guimei helps change the life of girls from poor families. |
| B．Zhang Guimei creates a miracle in advanced technology. |
| C．Zhang Guimei is awarded as an international heroine. |
| D．Zhang Guimei devotes her life to fighting poverty. |
8 . There is certainly evidence that actors experience a blending of their real self with their assumed characters. For instance, Benedict Cumberbatch said, “My mum says I'm much more impatient with her when I'm filming Sherlock.”
Mark Seton, a researcher at the University of Sydney, has even coined the term “post-dramatic stress disorder” to describe the lasting effects experienced by actors who lose themselves in a role. “Actors may often prolong habits of the characters they have embodied,” he writes.
A recent finding doesn't involve acting, and it indicates that merely spending some time thinking about another person seemed to rub off on the volunteers’ sense of self led by Meghan Meyer at Princeton University. Across several studies, these researchers asked volunteers to first rate their own personalities, memories or physical attributes, and then to perform the same task from the perspective of another person. For instance, they might score the emotionality of various personal memories, and then rate how a friend or relative would have experienced those same events.
After taking the perspective of another, the volunteers scored themselves once again: the consistent finding was that their self-knowledge was now changed—their self-scores had shifted to become more similar to those they'd given for someone else. For instance, if they had initially said the trait term “confident” was only moderately related to themselves and then rated the term as being strongly related to a friend's personality, when they came to rescore themselves, they now tended to see themselves as more confident. Remarkably, this morphing of the self with another was still apparent even if a 24-hour gap was left between taking someone else's perspective and re-rating oneself.
“By simply thinking about another person, we may adapt our self to take the shape of that person” said Meyer and her colleagues. That our sense of self should have this quality might be a little discouraging, especially for anyone who has struggled to establish a firm sense of identity. Yet there is an optimistic message here, too. The challenge of improving ourselves—or at least seeing ourselves in a more positive light—might be a little easier than we thought. By roleplaying or acting out the kind of person we would like to become, or merely by thinking about and spending time with people who embody the kind of attributes we would like to see in ourselves, we can find that our sense of self changes in desirable ways.
“As each of us chooses who to befriend, who to model, and who to ignore” write Meyer and her colleagues, “we must make these decisions aware of how they shape not only the fabric of our social networks, but even our sense of who we are.”
1. The first two paragraphs mainly ______.| A．state that acting requires skills |
| B．explain the stress that an actor faces |
| C．show that a role leaves a mark on the actor |
| D．stress the importance of devoting oneself to a role |
| A．Influence. | B．Strengthen. |
| C．Confuse. | D．Determine. |
| A．brings changes to one's self-knowledge |
| B．motivates one to better understand himself |
| C．helps people deal with their identity problems |
| D．produces temporary effects on one's character |
| A．It offers instructions on making friends. |
| B．It proposes a means to improve ourselves. |
| C．It gives advice on adjusting one's emotions. |
| D．It presents a way to deal with stress disorder. |
9 . Last week, Vodafone started a test of the UK’s first full 5G service, available for use by businesses in Salford. It is part of its plan to trial the technology in seven UK cities. But what can we expect from the next generation of mobile technology?
One thing we will see in the preparation for the test is lots of tricks with the new tech. Earlier this year, operators paid almost £1.4 billion for the 5G wavelengths, and to compensate for that cash, they will need to catch the eye of consumers. In September, Vodafone used its bit of the range to display the UK’s first hologram (全息) call. The Manchester City captain Steph Houghton appeared as a hologram in Newbury. It isn’t all holograms, however: 5G will offer faster internet access. with Ofcom (英国通讯管理局) suggesting that video that takes a minute to download on 4G will be available in just a second.
The wider application is to support connected equipment on the “internet of things” -not just the internet-enabled fridge that can reorder your milk for you, but the network that will enable driverless cars and delivery drones (无人机) to communicate with each other.
Prof William Webb has warned that the technology could be a case of the emperor’s new clothes. Much of the speed increase, he claims, could have been achieved by putting more money in the 4G network, rather than a new technology. Other different voices have suggested that a focus on rolling out wider rural broadband access and addressing current network coverage would be more beneficial to the UK as a whole.
Obviously, 5G will also bring a cost to consumers. It requires a handset for both 5G and 4G, and the first 5G-enabled smart phones are expected in the coming year. With the slow pace of network rollout so far, it is likely that consumers will end up upgrading to a new 5G phone well before 5G becomes widely available in the next couple of years.
1. Why does Prof William Webb say “the technology could be a case of the emperor’s new clothes”?| A．He is in favor of the application of the new technology. |
| B．5G will bring a cost to consumers in their daily life. |
| C．5G helps people communicate better with each other. |
| D．He prefers more money to be spent on 4G networks. |
| A．making a speech to | B．trying to solve |
| C．managing to decrease | D．responding to |
| A．it’ll take several years to make 5G accessible to the public in the UK |
| B．5G service shows huge development potential and a broad market |
| C．customers are eager to use 5G smart phones instead of 4G ones |
| D．it’s probable that 5G network rollout is speeding up in Britain |
| A．Vodafone is successful in spreading the 5G service. |
| B．Steph Houghton appeared as a hologram by 4G . |
| C．The application of 5G will make life much easier. |
| D．5G phones are available in rural areas of the UK. |
10 . The great-grandmother is learning English with the help of her family when she is at the age of 91. She hopes to use the language at next year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo. Takamizawa was one of the more than 200, 00 people who requested to volunteer for Tokyo’s 2020 Games. English is not required for service, but it is a useful skill for volunteers to have.
But Takamizawa had not been able to learn the language when she was young. Takamizawa said that she was in high school when World War Two started. She said, “In my second year there, English was banned because it was the enemy language.”
Takamizawa said her grandchildren helped persuade her that she was not too old to learn. “When I talked to my grandchildren about my wish, they said, ‘It’s not too late. We will teach you one word a day’ ”. Natsuko is Takamizawa’s granddaughter and main English teacher. Natsuko sends a new English word to her grandmother’s phone every day. They also often work together directly on phrases that Takamizawa will need for the Olympics. “Welcome to Tokyo, this is the Olympic stadium, how can I help you?” Takamizawa answers when asked to say an English phrase she has learned. Natsuko explains that she wanted to give her grandmother something to enjoy. “I can clearly see her English is getting better. It’s my joy now.”
The EF English Proficiency Index is a measure of the level of English spoken in a country. Japan ranks 49th among countries where English is not the first language. This situation is slowly changing as younger generations welcome English. However, Takamizawa believes real change will not happen unless Japanese people become more open to the rest of the world. With around 500 days to go until the games begin, the whole Takamizawa family is ready to welcome the world to Tokyo.
1. Why couldn’t Takamizawa learn English when she was young?| A．Because English was useless. |
| B．Because she was too young to learn English. |
| C．Because English was forbidden to learn. |
| D．Because she was unwilling to learn English. |
| A．Takamizawa gets strong support from her family. |
| B．Takamizawa’s grandchildren love her a lot. |
| C．Natsuko is Takamizawa’s granddaughter and only English teacher. |
| D．Natsuko teaches Takamizawa English mainly by talking with her. |
| A．English is not the first language in Japan. |
| B．The level of English spoken in Japan is relatively low. |
| C．Younger generations in Japan welcome English. |
| D．Japanese people become open to the rest of the world. |
| A．Where there is a will, there is a way. | B．It is never too late to learn. |
| C．The early bird catches the worm. | D．Two heads are better than one. |
