1 . Road traffic crashes kill 1.25 million people each year worldwide. The statistics are part of the “Global Status Report on Road Safety 2015”. The report surveyed 180 countries, and it shows the number of annual deaths from traffic crashes is stabilizing（稳定）.And that is good news as the number of motor vehicles grow worldwide. But the data also show that road crashes are the NO.1cause of death among young people aged 15 to 29. Young adults around the world are the worst driving risks. Even in the U.S..drivers aged 15 to 24. account for about 30 percent of all driving-elated accidents .But the World Health Organization(WHO) says they are preventable.
The WHO report also finds a big gap in road safety and deaths between poor and rich countries Poor countries have only 54 percent of the world’s vehicles. But those countries have some of the worst safety statistics in the report. “Africa has only two percent of the world’s vehicles, but has the highest death rate on the road,” says Etienne Krug. The head of the WHO Department of Non-communicable Diseases. Sweden, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom are leaders in preventing traffic deaths.
Stronger road safety laws and stricter vehicle safety requirements in developing countries would prevent many accidents .Laws can quickly influence driving behavior. In only three years. 17 countries became safer by putting tougher road safety laws into effect. Some of those laws include banning drunk driving ,requiring cyclists and motorcycle drivers to wear helmets and making safety belts mandatory（强制性的）in all vehicles. Good injury care after a crash can cut the number of deaths from road injuries in half. Of course, there are also many other ways to make roads safer.
1. What does the underlined word “they” in Paragraph 1 refer to?| A．Motor vehicles | B．The statistics |
| C．Traffic crashes | D．Young drivers |
| A．People in developed countries are very skilled at driving. |
| B．Africa has to take some measures to prevent traffic deaths. |
| C．The Netherlands has done the best in avoiding traffic accidents. |
| D．Poor countries need to buy fewer cars to reduce traffic accidents. |
| A．Suggestions on good injury care. |
| B．More ways to make roads safer. |
| C．The number of deaths from accidents. |
| D．Other road safety laws in poor countries. |
| A．The danger of driving alone. |
| B．The ways to avoid road accidents. |
| C．The No.1 killer among the youth. |
| D．The importance of helmets in driving cars. |
2 . I went to a small and poor elementary school. I remember the first time a computer showed up in class. It was 5th grade and the computer was an Apple. It was the only computer in my school. This was the 80s and it was a $2600 machine.
Before I discovered computers, I took typing class on old typewriters and I was the kid in class that repaired the typewriters. I remember spending hours trying to figure out what each typewriter needed to fix a stuck key. I was also the Audio/Visual geek （狂热的人）. This meant I was the only one in the class who can thread （穿过）film onto the projector.
Anyway, when this Apple showed up, I immediately opened it. I had to see what was inside. This totally freaked out the teacher but it seemed clear I wasn't going to break it. I quickly learned how to get out of educational games and write things in BASIC. This was all in 5th grade.
I and my 5th grade teacher stayed in touch until her passing. I honestly don't know what I'd be doing if she hadn't done something extraordinary. She let my father and me took the Apple home. I'd spend the weekend programming, reading the massive notebooks. This was a $ 2000+computer in the middle of the 80s — the pride of the school —and they let me take it home. A year later, I came home from school one day and the family car was gone and there was a Commodore 64 left in its place. My parents had sold the car and bought a Commodore.
Now, I think about this crazy journey. I am standing on the shoulders not only of computer science giants, but also heroes like my parents and my 5th grade teacher. Thanks Mrs. Hill, for introducing me to computers even though you were breaking rules. Thanks, Mom and Dad, for bringing a computer home even when there wasn't money for one.
1. What can we learn about the author from paragraph 2?| A．He was a hard-working student. |
| B．His family was too poor to buy him a computer. |
| C．He had already had some skills to operate a computer. |
| D．He was one of the clever ones who could handle a computer. |
| A．Frightened. | B．Interested. | C．Amused. | D．Annoyed. |
| A．Thoughtful. | B．Grateful. | C．Relaxed. | D．Anxious. |
| A．Why We Need Computers | B．How I Learned to Use a Computer |
| C．How I Got My First Computer | D．Thanks For Giving Me a Computer |
3 . When you start working on something but don’t finish it, thoughts of the unfinished work continue to jump into your mind even when you’ve moved on to other things. Psychologists refer to this psychological phenomenon as the Zeigarnik effect. The effect was first observed by a Russian psychologist named Bluma Zeigarnik. While sitting in a busy restaurant in Vienna, she noted the waiters had better memories of unpaid orders. Once the bill was paid, however, the waiters had difficulty remembering the exact details of the orders.
In one of her studies, participants were asked to complete simple tasks such as putting together puzzles, or solving math problems. Half of the participants were interrupted halfway through these tasks. After an hour-long delay, Zeigarnik asked the participants to give an account of what they’d been working on. She discovered that those who had their work interrupted were twice as likely to remember what they had been doing as those who had actually completed the tasks.
We can use this effect to our advantage. For example, if you’re struggling to memorize something important, momentary interruptions might actually work to your advantage. Rather than simply remember the information over and over again, review it several times and then take a break. While you’re focusing on other things, you’ll find yourself mentally returning to the information you were studying.
We often put off tasks until the last moment, only completing them in a rush at the last possible moment. Unfortunately, this tendency can lead to heavy stress and even poor performance. One way to overcome this is to put the Zeigarnik effect to work. Start by taking the first step, no matter how small. Once you’ve begun，but not finished your work, you’ll find yourself thinking of the task until, at last, you finish it. You might not finish it all at once, but each small step you take puts you closer to your final goal.
1. What does the Zeigarnik effect refer to ?| A．Waiters tend to have good memories. |
| B．Once interrupted, one will forget things easily. |
| C．Most people can’t focus on one thing for a long time. |
| D．People remember unfinished tasks better than completed ones. |
| A．Describe their tasks. | B．Express their feelings. |
| C．Test their intelligence. | D．Design simple activities. |
| A．Repeat over and over again. | B．Divide up our study session. |
| C．Focus on several tasks at a time. | D．Have enough rest before studying. |
| A．How to get rid of heavy stress. |
| B．Why we should set a final goal. |
| C．How to break the habit of delaying work. |
| D．Why we always complete tasks in a rush. |
4 . Do you know how children in other countries spend their schooldays and what kind of games they always play?
Children in Brazil
| School | The school year runs from February to December. Children attend (上学) school for about four hours in the morning or the afternoon. About a quarter of children in Brazil do not attend school at all. |
| Play | Football is the most popular sport. Brazil’s beautiful beaches also make swimming and volleyball popular. |
| Family | Brazilian families are often large. Nearly a third of the population is under eighteen! |
| School | The school day begins from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm, with a two-hour lunch break. Schools close on Wednesday and Sunday, and are closed for a half day on Saturday. |
| Play | Football, bicycling and tennis are favorite sports in France. In some areas, pelote, a traditional ball game, is also very popular. |
| Family | Most French mothers work. The majority of preschool (幼儿园) children attend day care centres known as crèches. France has laws about naming children and all names have to be chosen from an official list. |
| School | Schools in Japan are very competitive (竞争的). Even pre-schoolers may attend “cramming (填鸭式教学的) schools” to prepare for exams. There is a summer break about six weeks, but the children have homework during this time. |
| Play | Comic books have been popular in Japan since the 1700s. Comics now account for about 40% of all published materials in Japan. Kite flying is enjoyed by people of every age. |
| Family | Homes in Japan are small on average. The typical family of four lives in five small rooms. Most fathers in Japan work long hours. As a result, some children only see their fathers on weekends or holidays. |
① Kite flying. ② Bicycling. ③ Football. ④ Pelote.
| A．②③④ | B．①②③ |
| C．①④ | D．①②③④ |
| A．Places with beautiful beaches. |
| B．The name of the place where French mothers work. |
| C．A day care centre for preschool children. |
| D．Cramming schools to improve children’s exam results. |
| A．like to read comic books | B．write their names on an official list |
| C．only see their fathers on weekdays | D．do not attend school |
5 . Morten Petersen used to live in a windowless basement flat in Copenhagen. If he didn't get out in the daytime, he would lose track of time and start becoming annoyed and depressed. "When you are living in a basement with only artificial light, it becomes very clear that something is lacking,’’ he says. “It's an emotional,physical and mental thing all combined. ”
You can say that again. Our lifestyles have rapidly changed with light. Prior to the invention of gas lighting at the turn of the 19th century, the only artificial light we could rely on was from flickering firelight, candles or whale-oil lamps. People also spent many more of their waking hours outside. Over time,the technology of artificial light has been advancing,thus changing the way people live and work.
Today, the average westerner spends 90 per cent of their life indoors. That means we are getting less light during the day and being exposed to more light at night. This pattern is increasingly being linked to disturbed sleep and circadian rhythms — 24-hour changes in our biology and behavior — with consequences for our physical and mental health. Meanwhile, getting too little sunlight is contributing to vitamin D shortage and may be weakening our immune and cardiovascular systems as well.
Our changed relationship with the sun is greatly affecting our biology .That's why people like Petersen are being taken in by researchers to help investigate how much damage we do by shying away from the light, and just how much light we need. The good news is that researchers are finding even small increases in your exposure to bright light will bring about great changes to your health.
1. Why is Morten Petersen mentioned in paragraph 1?| A．To explain a reason. | B．To state an opinion. |
| C．To introduce the topic. | D．To offer background information. |
| A．People's outdoor activities. | B．Relationship between people. |
| C．The origin of gas lighting. | D．The influence of light. |
| A．A small increase in vitamin D. | B．Physical and mental disorders. |
| C．More time spent outdoors. | D．More quality sleep. |
| A．Come out for more sunlight! | B．Never live in a basement! |
| C．Lifestyles have changed greatly. | D．Artificial light makes a difference. |
6 . The search engine Google celebrated on Thursday the 110th birthday of the first Native American woman engineer.Google honored Mary Ross with a special Google Doodle on its homepage.
Ross was born on August 9，1908，in the state of Oklahoma.She was the great-granddaughter of John Ross，the longest—serving chief of the Cherokee Nation.Her work is considered important to the early stages of the age of space travel.
Ross showed special abilities in math and science from an early age.As a student，she developed an interest in aviation，or the practice of flying aircraft.She went on to earn a master’s degree in mathematics from Colorado State Teachers College，now called the University of Northern Colorado.
During World War II，Ross began working for the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation as a mathematician.She earned a special certification in the field from the University of California in1949.Ross was later chosen to join Lockheed’s top—secret Skunk Works team that worked on aircraft designs.The name refers to a group that is permitted to work independently on advanced projects.She was the only female engineer among the team’s 40 members.
Early on，she researched defense systems.By the late 1950s，her work centered on satellites and a series of space rockets called Agenda.The rockets were extremely important in the 1960s during the Apollo moon program.
Ross also helped develop early design ideas for space travel between planets，including flyby space flights to study Venus and Mars.Ross retired from Lockheed in 1973.But she continued to give talks at high schools and colleges to encourage more women and Native Americans to study engineering.She died in 2008，a few months before her 100th birthday.
Many celebrated Ross’life on social media.Twitter user Aaron Perez，for example，wrote:“Mary Ross was an engineer who pioneered in the field of satellites.I never would have known if it wasn’t for the doodle.Women engineers deserve more recognition.”
1. Why did Google celebrate Mary Ross’110th birthday?| A．She invented a new flying aircraft. |
| B．She had been a great designer ever. |
| C．She contributed a lot to space travel. |
| D．She got a master’s degree in mathematics. |
| A．She worked on Agenda. |
| B．She gave talks at high schools. |
| C．She helped women study engineering. |
| D．She planned the Apollo moon program. |
| A．Caring and cautious. | B．Talented and creative. |
| C．Generous and patient. | D．Courageous and optimistic. |
| A．Social media is very popular in the world. |
| B．Every Twitter user thinks highly of Mary Ross. |
| C．More attention should be paid to women engineers. |
| D．Man has made greater progress in space technology. |
