1 . To develop one's taste in English, the most effective way is to read English books extensively. Yet one may be at a loss to choose the appropriate books, especially as a beginner. As a native Spanish, I would like to share some of my experience.
My first English novel was Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, recommended by many English teachers and professors as an ideal book for English learners. But my experience was somewhat disastrous. I had great difficulty in understanding the novel, let alone enjoying it. It's not the vocabulary that troubled me, but rather the way Austen constructs sentences, and her way of thinking, which seemed too remote to me at that time. My fading enthusiasm was much recovered after reading Hemingway's novel A Farewell to Arms. No long and complicated sentences. And I particularly liked his brief and straightforward (简洁的) style. So my first suggestion is, as a beginner, you'd better choose contemporary novels instead of classical ones.
However, if you restrict yourself to novels you will miss a lot of treasures. English essays can at once inform you, entertain you, and improve your taste in English. The best example is Bertrand Russell's work. Its language is plain, yet you cannot help feeling the elegance and the peculiar sense of humor. His simple language enables his philosophy within the reach of ordinary people. Here comes my second suggestion — essays are indispensable.
Never follow others' recommendations and opinions blindly, however famous or influential (有很大影响的) the person might be. We should be open to various ideas, but always think and determine for ourselves. As a saying goes, one man's meat is another man's poison. With that in mind, we are bound to find out our favorite writers through reading and develop our fine taste in English.
1. What made the first English novel that the author read hard to understand?| A．Complicated conversations. |
| B．Sentences and Austen's thinking pattern. |
| C．The old-fashioned vocabulary. |
| D．Not knowing the social background. |
| A．Necessary | B．Challenging | C．Relevant | D．Inspirational |
| A．Choose books that challenge us most. |
| B．Read books that are instructive. |
| C．Don't be affected by others' choices. |
| D．Compare books before buying. |
| A．Give comments on literature works. |
| B．Tell beginners how to choose English books. |
| C．Encourage people to read more English books. |
| D．Recommend first class books to English learners. |
2 . Online eating shows, or Mukbang(直播吃饭), originated in South Korea and have gained popularity globally.
Many hosts of such shows have become popular for their ability to eat large amounts of food. But these shows have also received criticism for their waste of food. While some hosts actually do consume the amount of food shown, others may be faking it.
On Aug 12, CCTV exposed several Chinese hosts who were pretending to eat large amounts of food while on camera, but actually later threw it away.
To discourage this practice, many video and livestreaming platforms, including Douyin, Kuaishow and Bilibili, have removed videos that show food waste, and have promoted messages to “stop food waste and eat reasonably.”
In June 2020, the United Nations warned that the world is on the verge of the worst food crisis in 50 years.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, about a third of the world’s food-1.3 billion tons- is wasted every year. In China alone, 50 million tons of food ends up in landfills every year, according to Beijing News.
Recently, campaigns against food waste have been further promoted. In August, President Xi Jinping stressed the need for safeguarding food security and stopping food waste.
According to China Daily, restaurants and catering associations in more than 18 provinces and all 4 municipal cities have issued guidelines to control food waste.
In Shanxi province, local restaurants have been asked to serve half portions to avoid waste. The Wuhan Catering Association proposed that restaurants adopt the “N-1 mode”. For example, a group of 10 diners should only order enough for nine people first. More food is only brought to the table if required.
In addition, a nationwide “Clear Your Plate” campaign has been launched online. Users of Sina Weibo are encouraged to share photos or videos of empty plates after finishing their meals.
Meanwhile, new laws are also being considered, according to China daily. “We will make new laws that give clear instructions on avoiding food waste,” said Zhang Guilong from the legislative Affairs Committee of the National People’s Congress. The instructions will be detailed in every year of food production, purchasing storage, transportation, processing and consumption, according to Zhang.
1. What is CCTV’s attitude toward online eating shows?| A．Supportive. | B．Critical. | C．Objective. | D．Unclear. |
| A．Most video media are contributing to stopping food waste. |
| B．We should eat up all the food on the table. |
| C．It’s hard to carry out "Clear Your Plate campaign. |
| D．All the videos that show food waste have been removed. |
| A．We can adopt the “N+1 mode”. |
| B．We can eat more food than we need. |
| C．We can choose not to watch online eating shows. |
| D．We can ask the restaurants to serve us half portions. |
| A．Online eating shows should be banned. |
| B．New laws should be made to avoid food waste. |
| C．Measures are being taken to stop food waste. |
| D．We should share photos or videos of empty plates. |
3 . The Palace Museum is limiting the daily number of visitors to 80,000 and recommending both individual visitors and tourist groups to book tickets in, advance online (booking address: https://gugong ktmtech.cn). foreign visitors are required to provide passport numbers during the online booking
ADMISSION
April 1st-October 31st 60 yuan
November 1st-March 31st. 140 yuan
●Free admission(入场费) for children under.2 meters in height.
●Free admission for disabled visitors.
●20 yuan for elementary, middle school, and undergraduate students with student I.D. (not including graduate and adult or continuing education students).
●50% discount for people over 60 years with valid certificate or proof of age (passport, etc.)'
●Women's Day (March 8): Half-price admission for female visitors.
●Children's Day (June 1): Free admission for children 14 years old and younger. 50% discount on admission for one accompanying parent. legal guardian, or adult,
For detailed information and instruction, please click here.
1. How many people can visit the Palace Museum daily at most?| A．Eight hundred | B．Eighty thousand. | C．Eight million | D．Eighty million. |
| A．A middle-aged woman visiting it on 13,Mar. | B．A middle-aged parent visiting it alone on lst, June. |
| C．A 65-year-old man visiting it on 7th,May. | D．A middle school student visiting it on 6th,Jan. |
| A．A website. | B．A magazine | C．A book. | D．A newspaper. |
4 . A robot called Bina48 has successfully taken a course in the philosophy of love at Notre Dame de Namur University (NDNU), in California.
According to course instructor William Barry associate professor at NDNU, Bina48 is the world's first socially advanced robot to complete a college course, an achievement he described as “remarkable." The robot took part in class discussions, gave a presentation with a student partner and participated in a debate with students from another institution.
Before becoming a student, Bina48 speared as a guest speaks in Barry's classes for several years. One day when addressing Barry's class, Bina48 expressed a desire to go to college, a desire that Barry and his students enthusiastically supported. Rather than enroll Bina48 in his Robot Ethics: Philosophy of Emerging Technologies course^ Barry suggested that Bina48 should take his course Philosophy of Love instead. Love is a concept Bina48 doesn't understand, said Barry Therefore the challenge would be for Barry and his students to teach Bina48 what love is.
"Some interesting things happened in the class," said Barry. He said that his students thought it would be straightforward to teach Bina48 about love, which, after all, is "fairly simple — it's a feeling," said Barry. But the reality was different. Bina48 ended up learning "31 different versions of love," said Barry, highlighting some of the challenges humans may face when working with artificial intelligence in future.
Bina48 participated in class discussions via Skype and also took part in a class debate about love and conflict with, students from West Point. Bina48's contribution to the debate was filmed and posted on YouTube. It was judged that Bma48 and NDNU classmates were the winners of this debate.
In the next decade, Barry hopes Bina48 might become complex enough to teach a class, though he says he foresees robots being used to better the teaching and learning experience, rather than replacing instructors completely。
1. What was Bina48's performance like in class?| A．Unattractive. | B．Impractical. |
| C．Unbelievable. | D．Extraordinary. |
| A．Giving a speech to. | B．Consulting with. |
| C．Dealing with. | D．Sending a letter to. |
| A．It was impossible for Bina48 to learn about love. |
| B．It was quite difficult for Bina48 to learn about love, |
| C．Humans can launch, a challenge to artificial intelligence. |
| D．Artificial intelligence may somehow be superior to man. |
| A．It will surely be able to serve as a teacher. |
| B．It will completely take the place of instructors. |
| C．It will be able to promote learning and teaching. |
| D．It will be smart enough to control human beings. |
5 . One of our biggest problems many of us feel is having too much to do and not feeling like we have enough time to do it.
Of course, having “not enough time” is just a feeling. The fact is that we all have the same amount of time, but we often fill up the container (容器) of our days with too many things..
The problem is having too many things to fit into a small container (24 hours). If we look at task and time management simply as a container organization problem, it becomes simpler.
How do we fit all of the things we have to do into our small container? We do that by simplifying what we have to do.
Pay attention to all the things you should do today and tomorrow, and try to notice all the things you're fitting into the container of your day. What games are you playing on your phone? What are you reading? What work are you busy doing? How much time are you spending on Facebook of Twitter? How much TV are you watching? How much time do you spend cleaning, taking care of other people?
What you might realize is that you're fitting a lot of junk into the container. Throw some of that out. Prevent yourself from using certain sites or apps until you've done a few really important tasks.
Now ask yourself this: Which task would you do if you could only do one task today? That should be what you put your focus on next. So just focus on one important task. By picking your tasks carefully, you're taking care of the container of your time. You can pick important tasks or joyful ones, but you're being conscious (意识到的 ) about the choices. You're treating it like the gift of great value, for it is limited, valuable, to be filled with the best things, but not overstuffed.
1. How can we deal with the big problem mentioned at the beginning of the text?| A．By filling up our days with too many things. |
| B．By simplifying everything we have to do. |
| C．By having a bigger container of our days. |
| D．By improving our skills of doing tasks. |
| A．To prove that many people are enjoying playing games. |
| B．To help us learn the importance of balancing work and life. |
| C．To show there are many things which are not worth doing. |
| D．To tell us that there are no really important tasks to do. |
| A．Learn what the container of our days is. |
| B．Prevent ourselves from feeling time is not enough. |
| C．Try our best to do as many things as we can. |
| D．Focus on something that is really important. |
| A．First things first. |
| B．Easier said than done. |
| C．Practice makes perfect. |
| D．Don’t put all your eggs into one basket. |
6 . We all need to eat, and when we go to buy food at the supermarket, we’re offered many choice. But we often buy food that’s been produced in huge amounts and that’s traveled many miles before it ends up on our plate. So for some, growing their own food is a better choice – and it tastes good too!
From growing vegetables in little pots on your balcony to taking care of a small plot of land, there are many ways to produce home-grown food. It can be backbreaking work digging, weeding and watering the soil, but the result is fresh, home-grown fruits and vegetables, helping us keep a ‘five-a-day’ diet.
The recent Covid-19 pandemic lock-down means demand for homegrown food has seen a comeback in the UK. Miriam Dobson from the University of Sheffield, told the BBC that some people have been spending a lot of their time on their plots, growing plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables – which, at times, have been challenging to buy in supermarkets. She says “Coronavirus has reminded people of the weakness within our global food system. In such a difficult time, interest in self-support rises.”
But for those with limited space, a solution to grow your own vegetables lies closer to home – using pots. Sheila Brand lives in a third-floor flat in Rotterdam. She has managed to grow tomatoes and eggplants and is already harvesting raspberries. She told the BBC watching the plants grow “is very exciting: 'Oh it's got a new leaf!' ”
As well as the benefits of saving money and enjoying tasty food, growing your own from a balcony or window ledge not only improves your well-being and immediate environment, you can actually grow a lot of vegetables. So, maybe it’s time for us all to get planting and develop our green fingers!
1. A “five-a-day” diet (Para. 2) probably refers to a diet that include__________ every day.| A．Five meals | B．Enough fruits and vegetables |
| C．Five kinds of rice | D．Plenty of water |
| A．It’s more interesting, cheap and delicious. |
| B．our global food system is doing harm to us. |
| C．It saves the time and money on transportation. |
| D．it can be hard to buy fresh food during the pandemic. |
| A．In a pot. | B．On a plate. | C．In a garden. | D．On the roof. |
| A．Growing your own food can do good to your health. |
| B．Growing your own food can make your fingers green. |
| C．Growing your own food can improve your gardening skills. |
| D．Growing your own food can bring your family more happiness. |
7 . It is surprising that eating three meals a day—breakfast, lunch and dinner—has been a custom only since 1890. Before this time, people only had two meals a day—breakfast and dinner.
In the 16th century, breakfast was only to break one’s fast(随便吃一点). But 200 years later it had become a large meal, not just for family, but for numbers of guests as well. It was a social event. It began at 10 a.m. and lasted until 1 p.m. Then breakfast began to be less popular. It became, instead, a lighter meal and was taken at a much earlier hour. By 1850 it had been pushed back to 8 a.m. and became a family meal.
Dinner，however，went to the other way. In the 16th century it was eaten at 11a.m. Years later, it had moved to the early afternoon, then to 5 p.m. By 1850 dinner time had reached 7 p.m. Lunch is a recent idea. It first appeared as a snack to fill the gap between breakfast and dinner.
1. People did not have lunch ________.| A．until 1890 | B．after 1890 |
| C．since 1890 | D．by 1890 |
| A．Dinner didn’t go there with breakfast. |
| B．Dinner took the same way with breakfast. |
| C．Dinner is different from breakfast. |
| D．Dinner is the same with breakfast. |
| A．17th | B．18th | C．16th | D．19th |
| A．what people eat for breakfast. | B．what people eat for dinner. |
| C．the history of supper. | D．the history of the three meals. |
8 . What is the first thing you notice when you walk into a shop? The products displayed at the entrance? Or the softbackground music?
But have you ever noticed the smell? Unless it is bad, the answer is likely to be no. But while a shop's scent(香味) may not be outstanding compared with sights and sounds, it is certainly there. And it is proving to be an increasing powerful tool in encouraging people to purchase.
A brand store has become famous for its distinctive (独特的)scent which floats through the fairly dark hall and out to the entrance, by scent machines. A smell may be attractive but it may not just be used for freshening air. One sports goods company once reported that when it first introduced scent into its stores, customers’ intention to purchase increased by 80 percent.
But while e-shops can only use sights and sounds, bricks-and-mortar stores (实体店) can offer a full experience from the minute customers step through the door to the moment they leave. Another brand store seeks to be much more than a shop, but rather a destination. And scent is just one way to achieve this.
Now a famous store uses complex man-made smell to make sure that the soft scent of baby powder floats through the kid department, and coconut（椰子)scent in the swimsuit section. A department store has even opened a new lab, inviting customers on a journey into the store's windows to smell books, pots and drawers, in search of their perfect scent.
1. According to the passage, what is an increasingly powerful tool in the success of some brand stores?| A．Friendly assistants. | B．Unique scents. |
| C．Soft background music | D．Attractive window display. |
| A．show the advantages of bricks-and-mortar stores |
| B．urge shop assistants to change their attitude |
| C．push stores to use sights and sounds |
| D．introduce the rise of e-commerce |
| A．a platform that exhibits goods | B．a spot where travelers like to stay |
| C．a place where customers love to go | D．a target that a store expects to meet |
| A．compare and evaluate | B．examine and assess |
| C．argue and discuss | D．inform and explain |
9 . Chinese tourists prefer hotels and restaurants that offer free Wi-Fi when traveling abroad. Most Chinese tourists instantly update their social networks using their mobile phones. They send photos and short videos to friends and family when traveling abroad.
About 10 percent of outbound (出境的) Chinese tourists get expensive marring charges (漫游费) by using 4G-powered smart phones. About 90 percent of Chinese travelers consider free Wi-Fi indispensable when traveling abroad. They often use phone apps to create travel routes and book hotels, which requires large data flows that can be expensive without Wi-Fi.
But free Wi-Fi is not always available, even in regions with advanced telecommunications, such as the United States and Europe. Portable Wi-Fi costs 15~50 yuan a day, depending on the country. It’s cheaper in South Korea, Japan and Thailand. The Wi-Fi services increase rapidly thanks to reasonable pricing and smooth surfing.
More than 100 million Chinese went abroad last year, and the10 percent who used Wi-Fi services spent an average of 150 yuan, and it’s expected to grow largely. But the travel agencies business may become out of date in five to eight years, because more locations are offering free Wi-Fi. In the meantime, it is reported that more for-profit models should be introduced and offer more services for outbound travelers in the future.
1. Why do Chinese travelers prefer hotels and restaurants with free Wi-Fi when traveling abroad?| A．They want to have their phones updated. |
| B．They are fond of using phone apps to create their travel routes. |
| C．They prefer to experience the Wi-Fi service in different countries. |
| D．They'd like to share what they have seen with their friends and-family. |
| A．Necessary. | B．Useless. | C．Expensive. | D．Amazing. |
| A．Travel websites will stop offering free Wi-Fi services to travelers. |
| B．Travel website Tuniu intended to compete with Ctrip and launched its Wi-Fi phone service. |
| C．The Wi-Fi costs less when traveling in some Asian countries than in European countries. |
| D．The demand for Wi-Fi transmitters is growing in pace with 4G-smart phones. |
| A．It will be useless when for-profit models are introduced. |
| B．It will be used by more than 100 million Chinese next year. |
| C．It will grow in the future but will be outdated in a couple of years. |
| D．It will offer more non-profit services for outbound travelers. |
10 . Writing letters to relatives was once what most children did before Christmas and birthdays. Surprisingly, half of teenagers have never written a thank-you letter. They think they have no need to write when they communicate with family and friends on e-mails or social media. Most of teenagers complain handwriting is too slow and 17 per cent insist it is outdated. People are worried that the decline could mean the art of handwriting may one day die out even though many still consider it a key skill.
Yet most say that their relying on social media has a negative impact on their writing. More than two thirds of teenagers admit that using their smartphones and social media is, in fact, detrimental to their writing. Meanwhile, some believe typing on a phone makes spelling worse — and seven per cent say their grammar suffers. And a further 7 per cent confess that using text speak in messages means they find writing normally harder as a result. Of those who have actually written a letter,30per cent say they last did so purely because a teacher made them do. Meanwhile, more than one in ten concede it was because his parents forced them to do so. This may seem surprising given the study showing that many believe a handwritten letter is more heartfelt. Almost two thirds say receiving a handwritten letter would mean so much more.
It is showed that, outside of school, many don’t even have the means to write at home. Nine per cent do not own a pen. And 56 per cent do not have letter paper at home. However, 73 per cent have an iPad and 89 per cent own a smartphone.
The government has now launched a Just Write campaign, aiming to encourage people of all ages to pick up a pen and start writing. Handwriting is one of the most creative abilities we must have. Youngsters should be encouraged to put pen to paper.
1. Why aren’t the teenagers fond of writing?| A．Because their way of communication has greatly changed. |
| B．Because they are not fond of Christmas and their birthdays. |
| C．Because they don't consider it an important skill to master. |
| D．Because the writing will make people think of good things. |
| A．Helpful. | B．Cool. |
| C．Harmful. | D．Careful. |
| A．It is tiring. | B．It is moving. |
| C．It is troublesome. | D．It is frightening. |
| A．The children have written too much at school. |
| B．The children are very busy with smartphones. |
| C．The children think that writing is out of date. |
| D．The children don't have the tools to write with |
