1 . With over 4. 1 billion people, or around 55 percent of the world’s population, living in urban areas, cities and towns worldwide are getting increasingly congested. In addition to spending many hours stuck in traffic, residents are also exposed to high air pollution levels caused by transportation emissions. Now, Saudi Arabia hopes to revolutionize urban living with “The Line”— a city designed around nature, without cars and roads!
“The Line” is designed by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS). Located in NEOM — a 10,000-square-mile high-tech planned development on the Red Sea coast in the northwestern Saudi province of Tabu — The Line will be the cornerstone of MBS s Saudi Vision 2030. The plan aims to diversify Saudi Arabia’s oil-dependent economy into other sectors, like tourism, and create exciting job opportunities for its citizens.
The 105-mile-long city, expected to cost between $100 billion and $200 billion, will be built along a straight line and is made up of several self-sustaining communities. To ensure all services are within a short, five-minute walk, each community will feature a three-layer infrastructure (基础设施).
The top “pedestrian layer” will be void of cars and roads, allowing residents to freely walk and bike in the surrounding green spaces. The second “service layer”, will include all essential daily services, such as schools, leisure facilities and grocery stores. The third “spine layer” will house high-speed subway and autonomous vehicles capable of transporting residents across communities in less than 20 minutes. The entire city will be powered with renewable clean energy sources such as solar and wind, and possibly even hydrogen.
If all goes according to plan t construction of this complex project will start before the 1st quarter of 2021. In addition to providing up to a million residents with a clean and stress-free living environment, The Line is expected to create 380,000 new jobs, start economic diversification, and contribute an astounding $ 48 billion to Saudi Arabia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by 2030. More importantly, MBS believes it will provide governments worldwide a “blueprint for how people and planet can co-exist in harmony.”
1. We can infer that “The Line” will be_________.| A．temporary | B．primitive | C．eco-friendly | D．conventional |
| A．Low crime rates. | B．High unemployment. |
| C．Super communities. | D．Diverse economic sectors. |
| A．Medical clinics. | B．Bus stops. |
| C．Underground trains. | D．Cycling lanes. |
| A．Saudi Arabia Has Created A Green City With No Cars Or Streets |
| B．“The Line” Will Be The Cornerstone Of MBS's Saudi Vision 2030 |
| C．“The Line”— Blueprint Of People And Animals Co-existing In Harmony |
| D．Saudi Arabia Announces “The Line”— A Low Carbon City Without Cars |
2 . I walked into my daughter's room as she was working on a science project. Normally,I would have been pleased about such a sight. But this time, her project involved much sand. While she'd put sheets of plastic under her work area, the sand was spreading all over our new floor.
My daughter felt my displeasure and began to defend herself. "I used sheets of plastic!" she responded irritably. I responded more angrily, "But the sand is gettlng all over ! "
"Where else am I supposed to do it?" she shouted.
"Why didn't she admit that she had done something wrong?” I thought to myself. I felt my fear, thinking of what her life would be like in the future if she couldn't realise her mistakes?
My fear was translated into more anger, this time about how important it was to admit mistakes. We had a quarrel. She said something disrespectful to me and raised her voice.
I wished this had never happened before. But my daughter and I were in embarrassment and felt terrible.
So I thought that I needed a good way to respond to my daughter. So I went to my wife and asked how I should have handled it.
"Sweetie, " she said, role-playing in the conversation with my daughter, "there's a lot of sand here and we need to clean it up before it destroys the floor. How can I help you?"
That's really a great way to deal with it: first identify the problem, next state what needs to be done and then offer to help. It's simple, right?
1. Why did the author feel displeased at the sight?| A．The daughter's project involved much sand. |
| B．The daughter worked too long on the science project. |
| C．The daughter put sheets of plastic under her work area. |
| D．The daughter spread the sand all over the new floor. |
| A．He was worried about his daughter' future life. |
| B．The new floor was covered with sand everywhere. |
| C．The daughter was angry with him. |
| D．The author didn't know how to handle the situation. |
| A．Indifferent and cold. | B．Understanding but worried. |
| C．Pleased and relaxed. | D．Annoyed but modest |
| A．Learn to deal with problems calmly and wisely. |
| B．Working on science projects does good to people. |
| C．Conduct Role-play in the conversation |
| D．Communicate with children patiently |
3 . A 15-year-old scientist and inventor has been named as Time's first ever Kid of the Year.
Rao is a high school student from Colorado. She was chosen from 5,000 U.S.-based nominees ( 提 名 ). Time said in a statement that Rao stood out for her ability to apply scientific ideas to real-world problems and her efforts to motivate other kids to take up their own causes. Rao told the Associated Press that the prize is “nothing that I could have ever imagined. And I'm so grateful and just so excited that we're really taking a look at the upcoming generation and our generation, since the future is in our hands.” She insists that starting out small doesn't matter, as long as you're enthusiastic about it.
It's just the latest recognition for the teenager, who was named last year to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list. Rao won praise in 2017 after she developed a portable device（设备） to detect lead (铅) in water. She went on to cooperate with scientists in the water industry to try to get the device on the market.
The young scientist has also developed an app called Kindly that uses artificial intelligence to help prevent cyberbullying (网络欺凌). It allows teens to type in a word or phrase to find out if the words they're using are hurtful and amount to（等于）bullying, and thus should be avoided.
In an interview with Time, Rao said that her pursuits（追求） in science started early as a way to improve conditions in society. In a world where science is increasingly questioned or challenged, Rao insists that its pursuit is an important act of kindness. It is the best way that a younger generation can better the world. Science and technology are being employed as never before to handle various issues, such as global warming, the outbreak of disease and so on, she noted.
“We have science in everything we're involved in, and I think that's the biggest thing to put out there, that science is cool, invention is cool, and anybody can be an inventor," Rao said.“ Anybody can do science.
1. What is one of the reasons for Rao being honored by Time?| A．The up-to-date ideas she had come up with. |
| B．The large amounts of time she had devoted. |
| C．The influence she has on young generations. |
| D．The optimistic attitude she holds to the future. |
| A．functional | B．environment-friendly |
| C．efficient | D．money-saving |
| A．Her tolerance for problems. | B．Her amazing brain power. |
| C．Her exposure to challenges. | D．Her concern about society. |
| A．High School Student Struggling for Big Dream |
| B．Young Scientist Named TIME's Kid of the Year |
| C．Scientific Achievements Applied to Our Real Life |
| D．Advanced Inventions Used in Bettering the World |
4 . English spelling has been changing for over a thousand years and the spelling difficulties we have today is the result of many different things that have taken place over this time.
It was a tricky beginning for English spelling. Quite simply, the 23-letter Roman alphabet has never been enough — even Old English (spoken 450-1150) had about 35 sounds, and the number is now even bigger. But the English spelling was and still is based on the Roman alphabet.
More spelling problems came in when the French introduced new spelling rules — their own of course? and not always helpful. Using “c” instead of “s” for words like city was confusing because “c” also sounds “k” in words like cat.
And then printing arrived in the 15th century — and with it more mess (混乱). William Caxton (who set up the printing machines in the first place) liked Dutch spellings and so he introduced the “gh” in ghost and ghastly. Some printers were Europeans and they introduced favourite spellings too from their own languages. Such spelling rules were not helpful either!
One of the biggest problems for English spelling has always been changes in pronunciation. Printing helped to stablise (使……稳定……) the spelling of words, but then some sounds changed their shape? and others even disappeared altogether. Think of those silent letters in words such as walk, through, write, right, know — these were once pronounced.
Many silent letters appeared just because some famous busybodies wanted to make the language look more beautiful. This caused serious mess. Let’s take rhyme as an example. It came from the French word rime. But it was changed to rhyme to give it a nicer look. It was an interesting idea, but hardly helpful for someone trying to spell the word! The 16th and 17th centuries saw many extra letters introduced in this way.
All these events lead to the messy spelling system we have today. But you know, there are in fact over 80% of words spelled according to regular rules.
1. How many letters are there in the Roman alphabet?| A．23. | B．26. | C．35. | D．48. |
| A．Sit. | B．Cycle. | C．Calm. | D．Knee. |
| A．Sound changes. | B．Silent letters. |
| C．Borrowed spelling rules. | D．Printing mistakes. |
| A．To call for a much simpler spelling. |
| B．To tell how to recognize foreign words. |
| C．To explain why English spelling is so difficult. |
| D．To show how to pronounce difficult words. |
5 . Two unusual groups — the same companies that are causing the most pollution, the BP oil company and Delta Air Lines, both announced plans to become carbon neutral (碳中和) by 2050 through decreasing resource usage as well as applying useful technology. Several other large oil companies, like Shell, Total, and Eni, have announced similar goals. Other airlines, like Qantas and JetBlue, are working on the same plan. Since airline travel causes around 2- 3% of the world’s greenhouse gases, making airlines carbon neutral would be a great step. Some people believe the companies are “greenwashing”. They are running the businesses the way they used to perform, and none plan to stop their polluting activities right away. Or some companies plan to meet some climate goals by buying “carbon offsets (补偿)”which means paying someone else to cut pollution or remove greenhouse gases. But it’s not always clear that offsetting truly lowers pollution.
Global heating is a huge part of the climate emergency. The world is getting hotter mainly because humans are burning “fossil (化石) fuels” like coal and oil. These fuels give off pollutants often called greenhouse gases. To become carbon neutral, it’s necessary to stop burning fossil fuels. Climate experts have said the best solution is to leave oil and coal in the ground, although it’s still hard to reach for the moment. The usual way most companies adopt is planting trees and allowing more areas for forest. “It’s slow but good,” said an expert from UNEP.
Man-made technology to remove large quantities of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere doesn’t exist yet. The idea behind this technology is that polluting gases could be removed from the atmosphere, caught, and stored somehow — usually underground. Though many questions remain about how the companies hope to meet their goals, since the main technology they expect and need is inaccessible, their planned changes are actually keeping up with the development of modern society. What’s more, they are putting billions of dollars into the effort to make carbon catch technology happen.
1. Why do some people say the companies mentioned in paragraph 1 are greenwashing?| A．They just buy carbon offsets. | B．They pay lip service to environmental issues. |
| C．They all plan to be carbon neutral. | D．They do not share a common plan and goal. |
| A．Expanding forest coverage. | B．Stopping burning fossil fuels. |
| C．Catching and storing the gases. | D．Closing down polluting factories. |
| A．Ambiguous. | B．Skeptical. | C．Positive. | D．Critical. |
| A．What Possibly Leads to Global Heating |
| B．Companies Take on Climate Emergency |
| C．Who Are Responsible for Greenhouse Gases |
| D．Technology for Climate Change Is on the Way |
6 . These people are studying English. However, they are now facing some problems.
I am Pablo. I work 50 hours a week as a taxi driver, so I talk to people all day. They understand me, but I know I make a lot of mistakes. No one corrects me. My vocabulary is strong. Grammar is my problem. I'm trying to change little by little. For example, I don't use the past tense (时态). I always say, “I drive him to the office this morning” instead of “I drove him to the office this morning”. |
My name is Maria Luisa. I'm teaching myself English, and I'm good at grammar. However, it's really difficult to find ways to practice English. I live in an area where everyone speaks my language. My neighbors and friends speak Spanish. I can speak Spanish in the supermarket and at the post office. |
I am Li Ping. I understand the grammar and the readings in my class and I think my writing is good, but I'm very nervous when I speak English. I don't want to make any mistakes because I'm afraid people will think that I'm stupid. Also, my pronunciation isn't good. When I speak, people often say, “What? Say that again”. |
I am Yoshi. I have been in the United States for one year. I'm studying hard and I know grammar well, but the vocabulary is very difficult. When I listen, I don't understand many of the words. When I try to read, there are three or four new words in every sentence. I feel discouraged. |
| A．Pablo. | B．Maria Luisa. | C．Li Ping. | D．Yoshi. |
| A．Try to have a wide vocabulary. | B．Develop a good knowledge of grammar. |
| C．Read as many English books as possible. | D．Make friends with Englishspeaking people. |
| A．She can't pronounce words in English correctly. | B．She speaks at a very fast speed. |
| C．Her grammar is terrible. | D．Her voice is very low. |
7 . A boy was dying of terminal leukemia (白血病). His mother took his hand and asked, “Bopsy, did you ever think about what you wanted to be when you grew up?”
“Mommy, I always wanted to be a fireman when I grew up.”
Later that day she went to the fire department, where she met Fireman Bob. She explained her son’s final wish and asked if it might be possible to give her six-year-old son a ride around the block on a fire engine. Fireman Bob said, “Look, we can do better than that. We’ll make him an honorary fireman for the whole day. He can come down to the fire station, eat with us, go out on all the fire calls, the whole nine yards! And, we’ll get a real fire uniform made for him.”
Three days later Fireman Bob picked up Bopsy, dressed him in his fire uniform and escorted (护送) him from his hospital bed to the waiting hook and ladder truck. Bopsy was in heaven. Having his dream come true, with all the love and attention that was lavished (慷慨给予) upon him, Bopsy lived three months longer than any doctor thought possible.
One night all of his vital signs began to drop and the head nurse called the fire chief and asked if it would be possible to send a fireman in uniform to the hospital to be with Bopsy as he made his transition. The chief replied, “We can do better than that. We’ll be there in five minutes. Will you please do me a favor? When you hear the sirens (警报器) screaming and see the lights flashing, will you announce over the PA system that it’s just the fire department coming to see one of its finest members one more time? And will you open the window to his room?”
About five minutes later a hook and ladder truck arrived at the hospital, extended its ladder up to Bopsy’s third floor open window and 14 firemen and two fire-women climbed up the ladder into Bopsy’s room. They hugged him and held him and told him how much they loved him. With his dying breath, Bopsy looked up at the fire chief and said, “Chief, am I really a fireman now?”
With those words, Bopsy smiled and closed his eyes for the last time.
1. Why did Bopsy’s mother go to the fire department?| A．Her son wanted to get a fire uniform. |
| B．Her son wanted to ride on a fire engine. |
| C．She wanted her son to become a real fireman. |
| D．She wanted to help her son to realize his dream. |
| A．The fire engine was nine yards long. |
| B．The whole journey that day was very upsetting. |
| C．Bopsy could experience everything as a fireman. |
| D．All the sirens of the fire engines would scream that day. |
| A．Because Bopsy begged her to do so. |
| B．Because Bopsy saw the firemen as his family members. |
| C．Because she wanted Bopsy to be approved as a real fireman. |
| D．Because she wanted to do something for Bopsy before he died. |
| A．Where there is a will, there is a way. |
| B．Sometimes there are miracles because of love. |
| C．Great things may be done by painstaking efforts. |
| D．A mother understands what a child does not say. |
8 . Schuylerville High School students have a broad range of interests, which are reflected by the number of clubs and organizations in which our pupils participate. Here are some of the most popular clubs.
Environmental Club
Open to students in grades 9-12
Advisor: Mrs. Flores
The High School Environmental Club is open to all students interest increasing environmental awareness throughout the school. Activities include: recycling, environmental competitions, volunteering with green schools and outdoor events. This run student club collects and recycles paper products throughout the school building.
Freshman Class
Open to students in grades 9-10
Advisor: Mr. winslow
The freshmen class participates in several activities throughout the year to raise money for the class account. The class officers meet once a month to discuss business that affects the entire class. All members of the freshman class are encouraged to participate in some type of community service during the year.
Literary magazine
Open to students in grades 10-12
Advisor: Mr. Sgambati
Members of the Literary Magazine collect, edit and often contribute to the body of student work. Literary Magazine meetings will also give students the opportunity to share and receive feedback on the creative pieces that they re working on, as well as the chance to learn about writing practices and strategies.
Mock Trial Team
Open to students in grades 11-12
Advisor: Mrs. Lewis
Mock Trial is an after-school activity that helps students develop useful knowledge about the law. Students play out all the roles and use general rules of evidence and fact explanations in a school court. They will work with a real lawyer and an advisor to further understand the court process.
1. At which club can you take part in the community service?| A．Environmental Club. | B．Freshman Class. |
| C．Literary Magazine. | D．Mock Trial Team. |
| A．To encourage students to be lawyers. | B．To develop students’ writing skills. |
| C．To explain all kinds of facts at school. | D．To help students learn more about laws. |
| A．A news report. | B．A school website. |
| C．A research paper. | D．A science magazine. |
9 . Most people hate change, which is sad since We often go through intense changes in life. And for some of us, even the smallest changes can upset our day. So the question is: Why do most of us find making adjustments to our lives so hard?
Fear of change is nothing new. Over a century ago, the Parisians were unhappy over a particular addition to their city: the Eiffel Tower. In fact, the citizens were so angry about the plans for the tower that they protested its construction. As strange as it may seem, their anger was completely natural. They were given no choice about the huge change that was going to be made, so they became angry.
But we get upset over changes even when we do have a say in the matter and think about them carefully. Changes are brought about every day by the decisions we make: which school to attend, which job to take, whom to marry. Voluntary changes also make most of us uneasy because we don't know how those changes will affect our future.
People have discovered that the key to overcoming the fear and anger associated with change is to be flexible. When they are flexible, people can adapt to new situations more easily. Being flexible is especially important in the 21st century as technology makes change occur faster than ever before. Those who oppose change, especially with technology in the workplace, may find themselves out of a job.
When change comes, and you have no choice but to face it, embrace it. A positive attitude helps a lot. In fact, the change may turn out to be the best thing for you. That new job you got may end up being much better than your old one. You may make the best friends of your life in the new city you moved to. Don't merely focus on how you feel about change; instead decide to accept the change. The change is the reality, and it's up to you whether the change will be a success or a failure. You never know—your next change may be your life's Eiffel Tower!
1. Why did the building of the Eiffel Tower make the Parisians unhappy?| A．Because they didn't like the design of the Eiffel Tower. |
| B．Because they couldn't avoid accepting the Eiffel Tower. |
| C．Because it was no use building the Eiffel Tower. |
| D．Because the Eiffel Tower seemed strange. |
| A．We are not supposed to face the changes and let them alone. |
| B．We should actively accustom ourselves to the new circumstance. |
| C．We should not take the changes seriously and avoid them as much as possible. |
| D．We should know that the changes merely bring us bad influence. |
| A．The change will probably make you fail like the Eiffel Tower. |
| B．The change is like the Eiffel Tower which is not good for our future life. |
| C．Your future life is never known just like the Eiffel Tower unknown to the Parisians. |
| D．Your future life is likely to be a great achievement due to the change. |
| A．The Psychology of Change |
| B．The ways to Overcome the Fear |
| C．Changes That Disturb Us |
| D．The Bad Effect of Changes |
10 . Some people believe that a Robin Hood is at work, others that a wealthy person simply wants to distribute his or her fortune before dying. But the donator who started sending envelopes with cash to deserving causes，accompanied by an article from the local paper, has made a northern German city believe in fairytales.
The first envelope was sent to a victim support group. It contained €10,000 with a cutting from the Braunschtveiger Zeitung about how the group supported a woman who was robbed of her handbag; similar plain white anonymous (匿名) envelopes, each containing €10,000, then arrived at a kindergarten and a church.
The envelopes keep coming, and so far at least €190,000 has been distributed. Last month, one of them was sent to the newspaper’s own office. It came after a story it published about Tom, a 14-year-old boy who was severely disabled in a swimming accident. The receptionist at the Braunschweiger Zeitung opened an anonymous white envelope to find 20 notes of €500 inside, with a copy of the article. The name of the family was underlined.
"I was driving when I heard the news.”Claudia Neumann, the boy’s mother, told DerSpiegel magazine.“I had to park on the side of the road; I was speechless.”
The money will be used to make the entrance to their house wheelchair-accessible and for a course of treatment that their insurance company refused to pay for.
“For someone to act so selflessly, for this to happen in such a society in which everyone thinks of himself, was astonishing," Mrs. Neumann said. Her family wonder whether the donator is a Robin Hood character, taking from banks to give to the needy.
Henning Noske, the editor of the Braunschweiger Zeitung, said:“Maybe it is an old person who is about to die. We just do not know.” However, he has told his reporters not to look for the city’s hero, for fear that discovery may stop the donations.
1. The Braunschweiger Zeitung is the name of_____________ .| A．a church | B．a newspaper |
| C．a bank | D．a magazine |
| A．The donation amounted to €190,000. | B．The donation was sent directly to his house. |
| C．His mother felt astonished at the donation. | D．The money will be used for his education. |
| A．the donation will continue to come | B．the donator is a rich old man |
| C．the donation comes from the newspaper | D．the donator will soon be found out |
| A．Money Is Raised by the Newspaper | B．Newspaper Distributes Money to the needy |
| C．Robin Hood Returns to the City | D．Unknown Hero Spreads Love in Envelopes |
