1 . The door of a small cage opens up and a bird flies into a large enclosure (围场). The bird lands on a tree and moves its red head to the side, as if it is surprised. “That’s what it feels like to be free,” said Juan Camilo Panqueba, who works at a wildlife center in the Colombian city of Bogota, far from the Caribbean coast, where the bird usually lives.
Birdsong contests have taken place all over the Caribbean for hundreds of years. Although catching any wildlife is not permitted by the law, wildlife trafficking (非法交易) still happens a lot in Colombia, as the officials were too busy fighting with the drug trade, nongovernment fighters and other dangerous groups. Until recently, they did not enforce (强制实施) the law. Now, as dangerous groups have fallen and with the drug trade mostly destroyed, officials are taking another look.
Three weeks ago, Colombian officials saved birds from a group. The group was mostly people who had recently moved to Bogota from the Caribbean and Venezuela. Officials accuse (控告) the group of setting up a songbird competition on social media. In a closed Facebook group, crowds cheered and recorded the loudness and the number of calls from each bird. The owner of the winning bird received＄100, and people who correctly predicted the winner could also win money. Environmental officials say the birds were badly hurt, because they were kept in the small cages and forced to listen to loud music all day long to make sure they can sing. In the wild, the birds sing to protect themselves or find a mate. “For them, it was like cruel harm,” noted Juan Camilo Panqueba, who works at Bogota’s wildlife center. There, he and others care for birds and more than 1, 000 animals.
Colombians have grown to understand the importance of wildlife, and officials are working to end animal trafficking.
1. Colombia has lots of wildlife trafficking because ________.| A．there was no law to protect wildlife |
| B．people from other countries kept coming |
| C．Colombians are people that like birds very much |
| D．the government didn’t have enough time to carry out the law strictly |
| A．It’s a new form of entertainment. |
| B．The birds were badly treated during the contest. |
| C．Finding their mates was what birds sang for. |
| D．All the owners of the birds can win a prize. |
| A．There will be less and less harm to wildlife. |
| B．Government officials will keep the wild animals. |
| C．Birdsong contests will be more and more popular. |
| D．Many wild animals will die out because of the trafficking. |
| A．The bird training methods are important. |
| B．There are many kinds of wildlife in Colombia. |
| C．Colombia has introduced laws to stop the harm to wildlife. |
| D．Birdsong contests did a lot of harm to birds and Colombia is trying to stop it. |
2 . In the small village of Goss in Austria, a century-old brewery tradition had a novel transformation towards Sustainability (可持续性), Göss in home to the Gösser Brewery, the world’s first large scale zero-carbon brewery.
Owned and operated by the Heineken Group, the world's third-largest beer maker, the Gösser Brewery was relaunched as a zero-carbon facility in June. The brewery produces 1.4 million bottles of beer every day using a mix of entirely renewable energy sources, including hydropower, biogas and waste heat. This has brought its carbon emissions (排放) down from 3, 000 tons a year to zero.
Andreas Werner, brew master at Gösser Brewery said, “Our Cöss brewery may be in a small town but our goal was to make a big influence. I am proud of what we have achieved for the Heineken Group and want to help our other breweries and the wider brewing industry makes renewable energy part of their energy mix, just as we have done.”
The brewery is helping Heineken achieve its commitment to a 40 percent reduction in CO2 emissions from production by 2022, which is kept in the company’s Brewing a Better World stability strategy.
To power its production, the Gösser Brewery uses 100 percent hydropower sources for eletnicity-35 percent from biomass for heating, 10 percent from biogas from waste water, 3-5 percent from a solar plant, and 50 percent from biogas generated from the spent grain fermentation (发酵) tank.
For this creative move towards sustainability, the brewery won the EU Sustainable Energy Award and Citizens Choice Award in June. The awards cognize creative projects in energy efficiency and renewability in Europe. “The Goss brewery is the stand-out example of this work and our commitment to sustainability,” Roland Verstappen, Heineken’s director for public and movement affairs said.
1. What is special about the Gösser Brewery?| A．It’s the world’s third largest zero-carbon brewery. |
| B．No carbon will be given off during its production. |
| C．It can produce 1.4 million bottles of beer annually. |
| D．The Heineken group newly opened it to produce more beer. |
| A．The resources of making beer. |
| B．The production of beer bottles. |
| C．The examples of sustainable energy. |
| D．The composition of hydropower sources. |
| A．It has won two international awards for its creativity. |
| B．It has helped more industries turn to renewable energy. |
| C．It has led to the draft of Heineken’s Brewing a Belter World strategy. |
| D．It has played an important role in Heineken’s achieving its goal of CO2 reduction. |
| A．A brewery’s creative move to achieve sustainability. |
| B．Profits gained from the transformation of an old brewery. |
| C．The brewery industry’s responsibility for protecting the environment. |
| D．A small business making a big difference by mixing various sources. |
3 . On 19 March 2018, you were born. I knew absolutely nothing of you and hadn’t even considered adding another member to our family.
You see, at that time I was becoming increasingly concerned about our teenage daughter. She had been spending more and more time away from the family, bad tempered and unsociable. She seemed unhappy most of the time. She had talked of wanting a dog for a long while, so I thought: if I do this for her, it will boost her mood, get her out more and give her a new focus.
To my surprise, our daughter’s reaction was not what I expected when I introduced the two of you-had 1 made a mistake?
I soon began to understand that you were not going to bring her out of her sadness. Yet you still needed taking care of, so, naturally, most of the duties of your care fell upon me.
Then, in July, our daughter was diagnosed with anorexia (厌食症). Our lives were turned upside down, as she faced the biggest challenges of her life. My husband and I had different ideas about what would be the best course of action to take; the illness sent the whole family into chaos. Without you, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity, to find clarity. On our walks together, you gave me the freedom to think clearly and rationally (理性地). I found a calmness that I never would have, had I been at home with Google.
In September, we kept our daughter off school and I looked after her, putting everything else on hold. During that time I bonded with her and she bonded with you. She rejoined school in the middle of September, and was slowly but surely on the road to recovery.
Thank you for your constant love and playfulness, and for showing me the simple pleasures of life. But most of all, thank you for being my light in the dark.
1. Who does the author write the letter to?| A．Her daughter. | B．Her dog. | C．Her husband. | D．Herself. |
| A．She needed a lifelong friend. |
| B．She would like to know more about dogs. |
| C．She wanted a dog 1o ease the tension in the family. |
| D．She hoped u dog could relieve her daughter of bad mood. |
| A．It cured her daughter of her disease. |
| B．It made her husband stay elear-minded. |
| C．It helped her belter deal with the difficult situation in her life. |
| D．It strengthened the relationship between her daughter and her. |
| A．She had anorexia. | B．She was a devoted mother. |
| C．She felt guilty to her dog. | D．She recovered from her sadness. |
4 . In June 2017, Tiffany Johnson, 34, from North Carolina, was on a ship with her husband, James Johnson, when they decided to take a ten-minute boat ride from Paradise Island to go snorkeling (浮潜) in the sea.
The couple were enjoying their journey, when Ms Johnson was faced with a shark (鲨鱼), which caught hold of her arm and tore it off up to the elbow (肘). Ms Johnson said, “I was able to swim back to the boat with my injured arm lifted up above the water. Once I got to the boat, we used a beach towel as a bandage for my arm.”
She was rushed to the nearest hospital where she underwent an operation that lasted five hours. “Medically, it does not make sense that I am still alive. I didn't even require blood transfusion (输血). When I really had time to digest it all, I cried a lot. Not really tears of sadness, but rather pure thankfulness that I was alive. I had just lived through a near-death experience and I was just so fortunate to still be here,” Ms Johnson said.
In November she had her first robotic hand fitted. She had to learn how to use her arm all over again and admitted that this was very challenging being a mom of three children. “Everything is different. It doesn't function the same way as a hand does; it is more like a tool. So it has been a learning experience and I am still learning more than two years later. This latest version is only a few months old; I can now bring my arm closer to my body. It functions OK, but I'm still learning,” Ms Johnson said.
In the times when she felt unsure, her belief kept her focused on the things she could control. “Finally, I have learned that you don't always have a choice when things happen, but you always have a choice in how you respond. I have been asked to talk with some patients that have had a hard time. It has been good to be able to use this to help, encourage, and spread hope,” Ms Johnson said.
1. What happened to Ms Johnson in 2017?| A．She fell sick on a ship. | B．She got lost on Paradise Island. |
| C．She was attacked by a shark. | D．She was separated from her husband. |
| A．It led to her husband's death. | B．It was lucky and unexpected. |
| C．It was an easy thing to accept. | D．It made her feel hopeless. |
| A．Ms Johnson's real arm. | B．Ms Johnson's useless tool. |
| C．Ms Johnson's youngest child. | D．Ms Johnson's new robotic hand. |
| A．Strong and optimistic. | B．Proud and careful. |
| C．Courageous and talkative. | D．Creative and determined. |
5 . The world has seen many inventions. While most people are proud of those associate with their names, there are things making inventors feel the other way.
The pop-up (弹出) advert, by Ethan Zuckerman
Pop-up ads are convenient for those who are interested, but most people get annoyed when they are on computers. They may contain computer viruses. Just as we would blame the inventor, the man humbly accepted his invention isn’t one of the best. In his essay, Zuckerman wrote about the most hateful thing, “I wrote the code to launch the window and run an ad in it.”
The emoticon, by Scott E. Fahlman
Emoticons began to occupy screens crazily in 2011 and gained great popularity, especially with young men. It had been four years since Fahlman first used a “smiley face” in a computer message. He created the emoticon as a joke marker. But things are different. “It has gone to places I don’t approve of,” he complained to The Wall Street Journal in 2013. “It shouldn’t have been created.”
The office cubicle (隔间), by Bob Propst
In 1968, Bob Propst came up with the idea office cubicles, something that “would build a futuristic and tidy office style with no real walls or doors and provide a more comfortable environment”. But the man has come to hate what he has invented, as Propst recalled to Fortune at age 80, “They’ve changed and just become cubicles”.
The K-Cup, by John Sylvan
It seems everyone has a Keurig coffee maker for K-Cups. John Sylvan invented the K-Cup, aimed at facilitating office life of white-collar workers. Now it’s common in houses and companies. However, the single-serve plastic coffee cups aren’t eco-friendly. “I feel bad sometimes that I ever did it”, Sylvan admits. But! Good news for Mr. Sylvan: Keuring now offers varieties of recyclable K-Cups.
1. When was the emoticon invented?| A．In 2007. | B．In 2009. | C．In 2011. | D．In 2013. |
| A．The pop-up advert. | B．The emoticon. | C．The office cubicle. | D．The K-Cup. |
| A．They benefit human life greatly. |
| B．Their creators are blamed by the public. |
| C．Their inventors feel regretful. |
| D．They are very popular with young people. |
6 . Tobias Weller is nothing short of extraordinary.
At 9-years-old, he’s dealt with things most of us won’t face in our lifetimes. Simple tasks, like standing on his own two feet, are impossible for him and he requires assistance for most activities we consider basic. But Just because he’s someone who needs help, that doesn’t mean he can’t give help.
At first Tobias decided to complete a sponsored one-kilometer walk. But for some reasons, the race was canceled, and Tobias’ plans were destroyed.
The moment young Weller learned about Captain Tom, a 100-year-old British vet who has now raised 41 million dollars for charities by walking in his walker, he decided if a century-year-old man could walk for miles, he could also make it happen.
Forget the one kilometer, Tobias was going to walk a marathon—26.2 miles—in order to raise money for his two favorite charities. He went up and down his street for months. First with 50 meters a day, but as he grew stronger, the distance expanded and eventually he built up to 750 meters a day. It took him 70 days to cross that finish line, but he did it.
His mother, Ruth Garbutt, presented him with a medal as he crossed the finish line.
She said: “I’m so, so proud of Tobias. I’m bursting with pride for all he’s achieved and how hard he’s worked during the marathon…He couldn’t push the walker at the start of the marathon and now he can, he can push it on the flat and he’s proved today he can push it uphill as well.”
Honestly, just wow. The amount of pain and extreme tiredness he must have suffered during his walks is unimaginable. But he never stopped, he just kept pushing, and in the end he raised over $111, 000 for his charities.
“I’m pleased to raise loads of money. Other children who aren’t as lucky as me can benefit from the money that’s been raised.” Tobias said.
1. Tobias decided to walk a marathon mainly to ________.| A．challenge himself |
| B．strengthen his body |
| C．contribute to charities |
| D．compete with Captain Tom |
| A．It was canceled finally. |
| B．It lasted more than two months. |
| C．Tobias finished it without a walker. |
| D．Tobias was awarded the first prize. |
| A．Ambitious and calm. | B．Strong-willed and kind. |
| C．Courageous and honest. | D．Determined and cooperative. |
7 . Because the commercial internet has been developed with so little regard for privacy, tech companies have been able to turn personal data into considerable profits, raising billions of dollars off their ability to collect and sell information about anyone who has wandered within shouting distance of their software. This week, Google announced a step in the right direction-but not a huge step, nor one that will stop Google from continuing to collect immense amounts of personal data.
At issue is how online companies track internet users as they browse (浏览) from site to site online, typically through cookies (information that a website leaves in your computer so that the website will recognize you when you use it again). The most harmful version, “third-party” cookies, is the web alternative of a company posting security guards across the internet to monitor what you do, even when you’re on other companies’ sites.
Google declared in a blog post Wednesday that it would no longer use or support third-party cookies, nor would it create or use any other technology that tracks individual users across the web. Given that Google is a main supplier of online advertising technology, its change in approach will impact far and wide.
That’s welcome news, although with huge amounts of warning. As Lee Tien of the Electronic Frontier Foundation noted, third-party cookies were already on the retreat, with Apple and other makers of popular web browsers moving to block them. Meanwhile, Google, Facebook and other Big Tech companies continue to collect personal information in large quantities from people who use their sites and services through first-party cookies and similar techniques.
The concerns about personal data collection are the same whether it’s being collected through first-party or third-party techniques, said Michelle Richardson of the Center for Democracy and Technology. “Companies may use the information to discriminate among internet users, offering different goods, services and even prices to different users.”
Instead of helping advertisers track individuals, Google says, it is improving a technology that assigns users namelessly to large groups with common interests. That’s an improvement, even though it too may be at risk of abuse. But why do any form of tracking at all? Privacy advocates say pitches (兜售) can be targeted effectively by basing them on where the user is at the moment, not where he or she has browsed previously online.
Ultimately, lawmakers are going to have to lay down regulations giving people far more control over whether and how personal information is used online. Ideally the federal (联邦的) government will set a strong floor under online privacy protections, but until then it will be up to state lawmakers or voters to act, as this state has done with its groundbreaking online privacy laws. It’s good to see Google move the ball forward, but there’s much farther to go.
1. What does the underlined phrase “on the retreat” in Para 4 most probably mean?| A．Exposed. | B．Removed. | C．Emerging. | D．Fading. |
| A．is developing new technologies to stop data collection |
| B．refuses to work with companies tracking privacy |
| C．intends to abandon its advertising technologies |
| D．resolves to stop the use of third-party cookies |
| A．are still collecting personal information |
| B．are blocked by big companies like Apple |
| C．are mainly used by advertising companies |
| D．are less concerning than third-party cookies |
| A．It is less satisfactory than expected. |
| B．It needs to be more forceful to be effective. |
| C．It will accelerate the disappearance of cookies. |
| D．It has driven lawmakers to make new regulations. |
8 . Sawyer Current’s first visit to Isla Mujeres, a small island off the coast of Cancun, Mexico, was meant to be a getaway. But instead of relaxing on white sand beaches, Current was disappointed at the number of unwanted animals wandering the streets. “Dogs were everywhere, coming out of the bushes and along the sides of the road,” she recalls of that trip 25 years ago. “They were dirty and covered with fleas and scars.” “It was sad,” she says. “I just couldn’t stand to watch it.”
Current decided to help fix it. She built a second home on Isla Mujeres in 2000, and beginning with a skinny, toothless cat she rescued from the streets, she went on to find homes for more than 2,000 dogs and cats. Today, thanks to Current’s efforts, the island no longer has a wild-dog problem, and “people are more aware of their pets’ needs,” says Marcelino Velazquez, 34, a property manager from Isla Mujeres. “They vaccinate them and don’t abandon them on the streets. The way of thinking has changed.”
For Current, it was a hard-fought transformation. “At first I was angry and thought it was horrible,” Current says of the conditions on the island when she began her work. “But these weren’t bad people. They were people without resources.” When she first arrived, the community had no small-animal vet, and animal control consisted of a team of government workers who’d round up street dogs in a truck and kill them. “I used to follow the truck, and when they’d go for lunch, I’d let the dogs out,” she says. “One time I let the air out of their tires.”
At one point she was caring for more than 65 rescued dogs in her home, and she estimates she has spent about $1 million of her own savings on her efforts. “It was exhausting,” she admits. Now Isla Animals has an on-site shelter with a small staff, and many volunteers and donors among the island’s tourists. Each year the group re-homes more than 170 pets, many of which fly with volunteers to families in the U.S. and Canada.
“There’s nothing in the world like finding a starving dog, nursing it back to good health and finding it a loving home,” Current says.
1. What made Current feel disappointed with the island?| A．Insects biting people. | B．People without resources. |
| C．Houses in poor conditions. | D．Animals abandoned in the streets. |
| A．To show the local people how to solve their problems. |
| B．To draw public attention to what she was doing. |
| C．To stop the workers from killing the animals. |
| D．To help the government punish bad people. |
| A．Loving. | B．Ambitious. | C．Intelligent. | D．Cautious. |
9 . A Bridge Linking Art and the Audience
According to a 2018 report, people aged between 16 and 24 make up about 15 percent of the population but only 10 percent of museum-goers. Similarly, people aged over 35 go half as much as you would expect from their population size. We have reached the point of recognising the disconnection between art and the audience but haven’t yet determined how to bridge the gap. Two answers to tackling this challenge lie in telling a greater diversity of art histories and communicating these stories in more accessible ways.
In 2018, a radio program called Art Matters was started with the aim of discussing art from a pop-culture viewpoint with topics that would engage younger and more diverse audience. It offers an accessible pathway to art history with conversations on different topics. Art history is about storytelling; art content shines when there is an effort to bring audience along for the discussion.
More traditional institutions are paying attention. Recently the Getty Museum issued a social-media challenge for people to recreate paintings using items they had at home. Users displayed incredible creativity, and the museum was flooded with submissions. This reaction proves that there is a potential desire for the audience to engage with art topics if the format is appealing. Since many people feel intimidated and think that there’s a base level of understanding required to join the conversation, the Getty initiative serves as a reminder that there are many pathways to engaging with it.
Another result of the Getty challenge was the exposure given to a diversity of artworks. The famous opera singer Peter Brathwaite, for example, made scores of attractive recreations highlighting centuries of black paintings. His efforts opposed the idea that there were not many historical paintings of black figures. It is extremely important that we do a better job of showing the complex and diverse stories that are represented in art.
Social media have offered a platform for people who have not traditionally had a seat at the table. Anyone can recognise a gap in the field and address it. Accounts have gathered tens of thousands of followers. They are the proof that there is hunger to hear these art histories, and these themes work brilliantly for museum programming.
But there is only so much that can be done without the museums and galleries changing meaningfully from within. We need to see a better balance of these stories represented in permanent collections. We also need a much wider diversity of people and interests represented on board. Ensuring that art-and writing and talking about art-is able to continue on the rising generation of storytellers, inside and outside of institutions, getting the funding and support they need to paint a brighter picture for the part.
1. What challenge is the author trying to tackle?| A．People doubt a great diversity of artworks. |
| B．Fewer and fewer young people go to museums. |
| C．Art appears too distant from common audience. |
| D．Adult audience has a different understanding of art. |
| A．Tired. | B．Worried. | C．Annoyed. | D．Surprised. |
| A．make the art history stories accessible in a traditional way. |
| B．change meaningfully for activities like the Getty challenge. |
| C．limit the number of storytellers both in and out of institutions. |
| D．improve the permanent collections by adding famous artworks. |
| A．lacks the channels to understand and talk about art history. |
| B．prefers to view artworks and hear art stories on social media. |
| C．feels satisfied with people and interests represented on board. |
| D．refuses to engage with diverse art topics and art history stories. |
10 . My Biggest Challenge
As a writer on an adventure sports magazine, I’d always fought shy of doing the adventurous stuff myself, preferring instead to observe the experts from a safe distance and relay their experiences to readers in the form of written language. Thus, when I was challenged to take part in a mountain climb in aid of raising money for charity — and to write about it afterwards — I was unwilling, to say the least.
I was lucky enough to have a brilliant climbing coach called Keith, who put me through my paces after my daily work. He gave me knowledge about everything from the importance of building muscle groups to how to avoid tiredness through nutrition. It quickly became apparent that the mechanics of climbing were more complex than I had imagined. There was the equipment and techniques I’d never even heard of, all of which would come in handy on the snow-capped peak I’d be climbing.
Aware of the challenge, Keith made a detailed action plan and I forced myself to stick to it, doing a daily workout at the gym and going on hikes with a heavy pack. I perfected my technique on the climbing wall and even went to climb the mountains to get vital experience. My self-belief increased alongside my muscle power and I became confident about finishing the climb.
All too soon I was on a plane to my destination. On that day, when I looked up at the mountain, I thought of abandoning it. But then I remembered all the hard work I’d done and how disappointed Keith would be if I gave up at the last minute-not to mention letting down the charity and the sense of failure I’d experience myself. With a deep breath I gathered my equipment and headed out into the sunshine to meet the rest of the group.
And as I sit here now, tapping away on my laptop, I’m amazed at the details in which I can recall every second of the climb: the burning muscles, the tiredness, the minor problems along the way. Could I have been better prepared? Possibly. Would I be back for another go? Thankfully not. The feeling of being excited when I stood on top of the world is a never-to-be-repeated experience but one I will enjoy forever nevertheless.
1. At the beginning of the activity, the author revealed his ______.| A．disappointment in the coming adventure. |
| B．expectation of writing about his experience. |
| C．lack of enthusiasm for the challenge he’d been offered. |
| D．curiosity about taking part in the mountain climb for charity. |
| A．The knowledge about climbing was really confusing. |
| B．The equipment was the key factor to reach the peak. |
| C．Climbing was much more complicated than expected. |
| D．Hard training was far more important than making plans. |
| A．He was relieved that he wouldn’t have to do it again. |
| B．He was well satisfied that he had done his best for it. |
| C．He was surprised that he had managed to complete it. |
| D．He was regretful that it wasn’t as smooth as imagined. |
