1 . Parking in the CBD of any Australian city is expensive, hard to come by and often an unavoidable headache. But Rylan Kindness, a 16-year-old entrepreneur (企业家) from Brisbane, thinks he might have the answer to this problem.
It was after Rylan realized his parents were spending hours to try and find parking deals in the city that he came up with the idea for a centralized system. This system shows users the best price for parking in the area they want and offers users a daily deal with a discount.
Rylan now doubles as a high school student and the CEO of Parking Deals Australia, a role he took on four months ago when he launched the business from his bedroom.
Parking Deals Australia isn’t even Rylan’s first business. When he was barely 11, Rylan came up with an idea to sell wholesale (批发的) scooter parts (儿童滑板车配件) online, purely because he just wanted some extra money. On the side, he’s succeeding in other passions as well.
And despite Rylan clearly being a high-achiever and having a knack (诀窍) for business, he admitted it hasn’t always been smooth sailing.
“I’ve learned so many crazy things through trial and error. Every day I fail somewhere but I always try to get better. My biggest failure was when I first set up everything and thought it was what everyone else would like but it’s a shock when you see people not enjoying what you’re doing. It makes you want to cry a little bit but then you polish the product and keep going,” he said.
While Rylan didn’t want to say exactly how much his now-bustling company is worth, he did admit he’s making a tidy profit.
“I earn more in one day than I was earning for three months work in a cafe but I’m investing it all back into the business. ... what I’ve learned is that if you’re starting a business just to make money, you’re definitely going to fail. I’m there to help millions of people and that’s what really gets me going,” he said.
Rylan’s goal with Parking Deals Australia is to take it countrywide.
“We want to be everyone’s second step in their parking journey and save millions of people millions of dollars,” he said.
1. According to the article, the centralized system can ______.| A．analyze users’ parking habits |
| B．show the nearest parking lot for drivers |
| C．show areas with available parking spaces |
| D．recommend the cheapest parking spaces |
| A．He got the idea for the parking system from his parents. |
| B．He started to display a talent for business when he was about 11. |
| C．He left school to run his own company four months ago. |
| D．He started his first business by setting up Parking Deals Australia. |
| A．has shown him that the beginning is the most difficult time |
| B．has taught him to work through failures by improving |
| C．has pushed him to attempt crazy things, even when he fails |
| D．has inspired him not to care too much about others’ opinions |
| A．To earn some extra money for making bigger investments. |
| B．To become one of the most successful entrepreneurs in Australia. |
| C．To help people while making a profit. |
| D．To expand his influence on a national scale. |
2 . Visitor Code of Conduct
Please help us maintain a healing environment for our patients. Visiting hours and policies vary throughout the hospital. Please ask a staff member about the policy on the unit you wish to visit. We ask that you obey the following visitor rules:
◆Do not visit if you are sick (fever, cough, sore throat, nausea, or vomiting) or have been exposed to chicken pox (水痘) or other contagious (传染的) illnesses within the past three weeks.
◆Clean your hands each time you enter and leave the patient’s room.
◆Follow isolation precautions (隔离预防措施) that are posted on the patient’s door.
◆Do not touch patient equipment, patient wounds, or bandages while visiting.
◆You must wear shoes and shirts at all times. Clothing must be clean and neat.
◆Visitors are limited to two per patient each time.
◆Do not use waiting rooms on a unit if you are not visiting a patient in that unit.
◆Waiting rooms are not for overnight stays.
◆Children must have adult supervision (监护) at all times and must be respectful of the hospital’s healing environment. Some units do not allow children’s visiting.
You will be asked to leave for violating (违反) any of the above rules or for the following:
◆Your behavior creates a risk to patients, families or staff.
◆You appear to be ill.
◆You refuse to follow isolation precautions.
◆You are not respectful or considerate of others.
◆You fail to supervise children.
If you believe someone is violating these rules, or you need assistance, please notify security by dialing 7363 on the hospital phones or 813-844-7363 on your mobile phone. Security is available at all times. Waiting areas are monitored at all times by a security video camera.
1. Before you visit a unit in the hospital, you should ______.| A．make an appointment | B．ask permission from the doctor |
| C．check the visiting policy | D．have your clothes disinfected |
| A．touch patient equipment | B．visit patients in groups of two |
| C．stay overnight in the waiting room | D．change into slippers in the patient room |
| A．Children can go to any unit if they are supervised. |
| B．If you seem to be ill, you can still visit unless it is contagious. |
| C．Visitors who violate the rules will not be allowed to visit again. |
| D．You can ask for security’s help at any time. |
3 . Someday, umbrellas may do more than just keep people dry. A researcher in the Netherlands has designed a simple sensor(传感器) that “listens”to rain. And that sensor can turn an umbrella into a rain-measuring expert.
Tools like this can let anyone gauge the weather. That can help scientists make sure that satellites and radar(雷达)systems that track storms are doing a good job.
“Rain radar is a beautiful way of seeing where rainfall is up in the air. But you never know where it hits the ground, "says Rolf Hut. He designed the umbrella sensor.
Researchers want to know how much rain makes it to the planets surface. Not all rain that falls from a cloud reaches the ground. And it can be difficult for radar and satellites to measure that rain, particularly in cities. A host of big buildings can change how air and rain move during a storm. “It also explains why a single, expensive sensor-the kind that might be found at an official weather station-won’t give accurate( 精确的 )city-wide data, Hut says. But by putting a low-cost rain measuring tool into people's hands, scientists can learn more about how much rainfall differs in these and other hard-to-measure places.
On the inside of the umbrella is a small, yellow disk (磁盘). It is the rainfall sensor. The sensor is attached to a black Bluetooth headset that sends the collected data to a smartphone.
Hut came up with the idea to stick the same type of sensor on an umbrella when he was talking to kids about science. He showed them a photo of a policeman who was holding an umbrella and talking to a crowd in a microphone. Why not put the two together? He thought it could make a cool rainfall sensor .
When a storm came through, Hut compared the umbrella’s new“ear”for rain to official rain measuring equipment. And to his delight, he found the umbrella's measurements were“pretty good. ” His next step is to improve the umbrella sensor to be more accurate
1. The purpose of this passage is to_______| A．promote a unique umbrella | B．inform us of a new invention |
| C．make readers interested in science | D．praise a researcher for his Invention |
| A．change | B．control |
| C．measure | D．sense |
| A．Big buildings influence the move of air and rain |
| B．They are lacking in weather measuring equipment |
| C．Rainfall differs hugely depending on various areas |
| D．Their collected data cannot be sent to smartphones |
| A．Hut is not satisfied with his new invention at all |
| B．Hut's invention is something useful but expensive. |
| C．He got the idea when talking to kids about science |
| D．A policeman in the rain helped Hut with the invention |
4 . Hawaii could become the first state to ban sunscreens with chemicals that may harm the environment. So maybe you should pack a sunhat and long sleeves for the trip to Waikiki.
State lawmakers passed a bill banning sunscreens containing oxybenzone and octinoxate chemicals believed to cause harm to marine life and coral reefs (珊瑚礁). The bill will prohibit the sale and distribution of sunscreens with those chemicals on the island “without prescription from a licensed healthcare provider.”
“Amazingly, this is a first-in-the-world law,” Gabbard, who introduced the bill, told the Honolulu Star-advertiser. “when you think about it, our island heaven, surrounded by coral reefs, is the perfect place to set the golden standard for the world to follow. This will make a huge difference in protecting our coral reefs, marine life and human health.”
The bill will come into effect on January 1, 2021 if signed by Hawaii’s governor.
Critics of the bill question studies linking the chemicals to coral reef decay (腐烂) and say banning sunscreens should discourage people from wearing skin protection altogether, increasing skin cancer cases. Alexandra Kowcz, chief scientist of a research project, said the bill rests on a “limited body of scientific research.” Henry Lim, president of the American Academy of Dermatology Association, told US TODAY “a sunscreen ban could create significant confusion” about why wearing sunscreen is important. Plus, there aren’t many sunscreen options on the market without these chemicals.
“It is quite difficult to make good sunscreens that do not contain these chemicals based on the currently approved sunscreen active ingredients list in the U.S. ”said Lim.
At least one in five Americans will develop skin cancer in their life, according to the American Academy of Dermatology Association.
The only way to know if a sunscreen doesn’t contain oxybenzone and octinoxate is to check the label. A non-profit organization, which ranks sunscreen brands based on effectiveness and chemical composition, reports some sunscreens are environmentally friendly.
1. What do we know about the bill?| A．It has been supported by healthcare providers. |
| B．It is aimed at promoting tourism in Hawaii. |
| C．It will prohibit sunscreens of all kinds. |
| D．It may help to protect marine life and coral reefs. |
| A．The bill based on limited studies is misleading. |
| B．The ban will benefit people with skin cancer. |
| C．The chemicals are to blame for coral reef decay. |
| D．Sunscreens on the market should all be banned. |
| A．20% of people may suffer skin cancer in their life. |
| B．Checking the label helps to distinguish sunscreens. |
| C．Sunscreens are commonly ranked by market sales. |
| D．Making eco-friendly sunscreens is just impossible. |
| A．Positive. | B．Negative. |
| C．Objective. | D．Skeptical. |
5 . Most autonomous vehicles test-driving in cities navigate (导航) by using 3-D maps marking every edge of roadside with almost centimeter-level accuracy. But few places have been mapped in such detail, which has left most areas like smaller towns inaccessible to those driverless cars.
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) now have developed a new navigation system that guides autonomous vehicles without such accurate maps. This technology can help driverless cars travel almost anywhere.
The navigation system maps out a course down unfamiliar roads much as a human driver would by continually scanning its surroundings, with a laser sensor (激光感应器), to measure how close it is to the edges of the road. Meanwhile, the car also follows a tool like a smart phone map app that provides directions to its destination, as well as information about the rules of the road, such as speed limits and the positions of stoplights. Teddy Ort, a roboticist at MIT, test-drove a car equipped with this navigation system on a one-way road. It slowly traveled one kilometer without any human assistance.
This system assumes that a car has a clear path down the road, but it can be paired with other existing computing technology to discover in-road obstacles (障碍), says Ort. The researchers also plan to build a version of this system which can spot markings painted on streets, so that the car can drive on two-way roads. "Self-driving cars with this navigation system may need other sensors to work in different conditions,” Alexander Wyglinski, and electrical engineer at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. "Since laser sensors don’t work well in rain or snow, these cars might need additional imaging technologies to drive safely in bad weather. "
1. What may be a problem for most driverless cars?| A．They fail in test-driving. |
| B．Their maps are out-dated. |
| C．They run in limited areas. |
| D．Their guides are unreliable. |
| A．It includes accurate maps. |
| B．It removes in-road obstacles. |
| C．It works by detecting the road. |
| D．It features a smart phone app. |
| A．To confirm the test-drive results. |
| B．To indicate further research areas. |
| C．To recognize scientists’ achievements. |
| D．To show the creativity of driverless cars. |
| A．Autonomous cars beat human drivers on country roads. |
| B．Navigating self-driving cars may work in different conditions. |
| C．Smart mapping technology adds to the functions of self-driving cars. |
| D．A new navigation system helps autonomous cars drive remote roads. |
6 . When I was a.boy there were no smart phones, and our television or only got one channel clearly,Still, I was never bored.The fields, hills,and woodlands around my home were the perfect playground.I can remember once hiking to a nearby lake.At the backside of it I was amazed to find an old dirt road that I had never seen before.It was full of muddy tracks and deep woods bordered it on both sides, but exploring it still seemed like a fine adventure.
I walked on and on for hours.I was sure my guardian angel was whispering in my ear"Turn around and head back home", but I was stubborn, so I walked on.There was still neither a car nor a house in sight.I noticed that the sun was starting to go down and I grew scared.I didn't want to end up trapped on this road, and I was worried that it would be dark before I could make my way back to the lake again.
I continued to walk on with something growing inside of me.My heart was pounding and my legs were aching. I was almost in tears when I turned one last curve and saw something in the distance.It was a house that I recognized . I jumped up and down and laughed out loud.It was still over a mile away, but my legs felt like feathers and I hurried back to my house in no time.I walked in with a big smile on my face just in time for dinner.
I remembered this recently when I saw a sign that said"All roads lead home"It is true.In life, all roads, no matter how they twist and turn, can lead us home again.What is important,though, is how we travel them.Are we going to go forth in fear or are we going to go forth in faith?Are we going to make this life a terrible trip or are we going to make this life a joyful journey? The choice 1s ours.
1. Why did the author hardly feel bored when he was young?| A．Because he could have fun in nature. | B．Because he could watch TV all day. |
| C．Because he had many friends. | D．Because he used to explore the old dirt road. |
| A．He thought he would be scolded by his parents. | B．He felt contradictory in mind. |
| C．He thought be would be trapped in the woods. | D．He was unconscious. |
| A．Always make choices on our own. | B．All roads lead home. |
| C．It's our attitude that matters in our life. | D．Every effort is worthwhile. |
7 . With the average American going through more than 700 pounds of paper per year, many firms are looking for ways to discourage their employees from over-using the office printer.
Toshiba America Business Solutions has come up with an alternative idea. It has introduced the e-STUDI04508LP, a printer that gives users the option to print with erasable toner (墨粉) — allowing a single piece of paper to be reused several times.
To reuse a piece of paper, the printer basically uses the same process as a normal printer, but in reverse (反过来), said Bill Melo, chief marketing executive for Toshiba America Business Solutions. Paper printed with the erasable toner is fed back into the printer, superheated, and the toner gets removed and put in a discard tank.
There are a couple of catches. All of the printouts using the erasable toner have to be in blue ink, which is the only color in which erasable toner is now available. And the company said that people may want to stop reusing the printouts after five times through the eraser because small traces of erased text will build up over time.
The $15,420 printer is aimed at offices and schools, where there are often large numbers of printouts that outlive their usefulness quickly. With the erasable toner, it' s possible to load any short-lived handouts back onto the printer to be erased and then reused.
Still, convincing customers to commit to erasable toner isn't always easy. Melo said not all its customers were happy about only having the erasable option.
The model, Melo said, should better serve the needs of those who want to be environmentally conscious but also may need something more permanent on occasion.
1. What' s special about Toshiba' s printer?| A．It' s low-priced. | B．It' s fashionable. |
| C．It' s lightweight. | D．It' s eco-friendly. |
| A．A discard tank. | B．Light colored ink. |
| C．Special writing paper. | D．A high enough temperature. |
| A．Theories. | B．Differences. |
| C．Problems. | D．Characteristics. |
| A．They asked for more patterns. |
| B．Some expressed dissatisfaction. |
| C．They considered it hard to operate. |
| D．Some worried about its recycling. |
8 . We travel the world to experience an unfamiliar culture. It’s an added bonus when the destination happens to be home to several cultures, thanks to its diverse population.
Toronto
Toronto happens to be one of the most diverse in the world. In fact, nearly half of Toronto’s residents were born in another country. This cultural mix is most apparent in the city’s community pockets, including Chinatown, Greektown, Little Italy etc. And although English is most widely spoken here, the streets are constantly filled with over 140 different languages.
Los Angeles
Los Angeles is known and loved for its varied landscape, which offers opportunities to swim at the beach, hike in the park and explore a lively city all on the same day. That diversity also extends to its population—people from approximately 140 countries, speaking 86 different languages call the City of Angeles home where visitors can get a taste of multicultural mix.
Sydney
English-speaking visitors to Sydney won’t have any trouble buying their tickets to the Opera House or ordering up some Aussie barbecue, as it’s the main language used here. That said, it’s not the only language you may overhear. Approximately 250 different dialects are spoken in this Australian city. This makes sense, given that 40 percent of the population were born overseas.
Singapore
Singapore might be small, but it packs in a lot of diversity. The Southeast Asian destination has four official languages—English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil—and approximately 40 percent of its population were born abroad.
1. Where can people enjoy fascinating scenery?| A．In Singapore. | B．In Toronto. |
| C．In Sydney. | D．In Los Angeles. |
| A．People speak other languages besides English. |
| B．Travelers can kill time on the beach. |
| C．The majority of residents are Chinese. |
| D．More than half of the population were born overseas. |
| A．language teaching | B．reading and writing |
| C．touring and culture | D．cooking and swimming |
9 . A rainy day can be a chance to recharge. While you relaxed on the sofa with a movie, the raindrops falling on your windows might one day provide the power for your TV. This is the idea behind an invention that harvests energy from water.
The technology is based on the triboelectric (摩擦电的)effect. An engineer at the University of Hawaii, David Ma knew that it’s possible to generate electricity by rubbing two things together. So, he thought, “Why don’t we use water?”
A drop of water sliding across a surface coated with two different materials would generate enough friction to create an electrical charge. By placing metal wires that the drop of water touched as it moved, it should be possible to harvest electricity, he reasoned.
It worked. In fact, the researchers lit up 15 LED bulbs with a single moving water drop.
This is not the first time that scientists have got electricity from water-generated friction( 摩 擦 ). Earlier experiments, though, harvested the charge produced in a surface by a sliding drop of water. There, the surface had acted as an electrode(电极). This is different. The energy of friction is being harvested from the water itself.
“It turns out,” Ma says, “the charge in the water drop is way more than the charge produced in the other electrode.” In fact, his team’s model generated almost 100 times more power than previous experiments from a single drop of water.
“The technology could someday power phones, sensors or other small electronics,” says Christopher Oshman, an engineer at the Colorado School of Mines. “This work is a step toward harvesting the energy of moving objects all around us, including ourselves, to power the electronic appliances we use every day,” he says.
Ma has shown that the technology can work in a lab, Oshman says. Next, the Colorado researcher would like to see it tried on a larger scale, such as on an umbrella.
1. How did the author introduce the topic of the text?| A．By telling a story. |
| B．By raising a question. |
| C．By giving an example. |
| D．By imagining a situation. |
| A．The wire. | B．The drop of water. |
| C．The surface. | D．The electricity. |
| A．The water itself acts as an electrode. |
| B．It is based on the triboelectric effect. |
| C．It produces electricity from water-made friction. |
| D．It uses a surface coated with two different materials. |
| A．It has a promising future. |
| B．It will do well on an umbrella. |
| C．It works well in the real world. |
| D．It will replace batteries someday. |
10 . Do you worry about entering senior high school? Everything, from study to environment, has changed. Can you adapt yourself to it?
You’re not alone. Remember that everybody else in your year is in the same boat. You may not notice it, but they’re just as nervous as you are.
Moving to senior high school is a chance, not a problem. Things are different, and all you need to do is to be polite and learn the new rules.
The teachers will help. If you don’t know what to do or are worried about something, then ask for help. Teachers are probably the best people to turn to, because they have experience in helping new students. Pay attention to what your teachers say.
Everything changes. There are lots of differences between junior high school and senior high school. You will have your lessons with different teachers in different rooms. You will have homework for different subjects on different days, so make sure you get organized. Make sure you know which rooms your classes are in and which days you have your different subjects on.
Other points:
If you’ve got an older brother or sister at the school, then ask them for advice.
Be yourself! It sounds simple, but things will become better if you just act naturally.
Having early nights makes a difference. You’ll also find it easier to get up in the morning!
1. What does the author think of entering senior high school?| A．It sounds simple. | B．It is a difficult problem. |
C．It’s a good chance.  | D．It’s worrying. |
A．turn to your teachers  | B．follow your younger brother |
| C．write your problems down | D．go to bed early |
| A．Ask your classmates for help. | B．Don’t be shy. |
| C．Pay attention to others. | D．Just act naturally. |
| A．teach students how to organize themselves |
| B．tell students a story |
| C．help students that are going to senior high school |
| D．tell students how to make full use of time |
