1 . Answering the Community Needs of Our City
The Siver City Council recognizes that citizens have certain needs. To better meet your needs, we have made several changes to community facilities in 2020. The followings shows how we have tried to make your life better.
Transport
☆Three stations for the suburbs have been added to the western train service.
☆20 new buses for the southern line were purchased in January.
☆50 per cent of city bus-stops have been upgraded.
Communication
☆Broadband cableis now available to ll parts of the city.
☆All of the new Government buildings are smart-wired for better computer service!
Medical Facilities
☆The new state-of-the-art Nightingale Hospital was opened in June.
☆To overcome a shortage of trained medical staff at Dover Hospital, 10 doctors have been employed from overseas.
☆Some facilities at Station Street Hospital have been upgraded.
Education
☆Textbooks will be free to all primary students in 2020!
☆Rental for private schools has been reduced.
Protection and Security
☆Extra police now patrol(巡逻)the tourist areas.
☆50 new police officers graduated in July and have taken up duties in the city area.
Entertainment/Recreation
☆The new Central Community Building opened in May.
☆5,000 new fiction books were bought for the Silver City Library.
1. What’s the notice mainly about?| A．The work carried out by the people of Silver City. |
| B．The facilities available in Silver City. |
| C．Some improvements in Silver City. |
| D．Information for interested tourists. |
| A．Travel books are provided in the new library. |
| B．More bus lines and stops are bought in Silver City. |
| C．Free medical treatment is available at Station Street Hospital. |
| D．There are more police officers on duty now. |
| A．the community | B．the local government |
| C．the Silver City Library | D．a travel agency |
2 . How many coins have you got in your pocket right now?Three?Two?Or one? With a phone card you can make up to 200 calls without any change at all.
What do you do with it?
Go to a telephone box marked “Card Phone”.Put in your card,make your call and when you’ve finished,a screen tells you how much is left on your card.
It costs no extra for the cards,and the calls cost 10p per unit,the same as any other payphone call.
You can buy them in units of 10,20,40,100 or 200.
Now appearing in a shop near you
Near each Card Phone place you’ll find a shop where you can buy one. They’re at bus,train and city tube(地铁) stations.
At many universities,hospitals and clubs,restaurants and gas stations on the highway and shopping centers.
At airports and seaports.
No more broken payphones
Most broken payphones are like that because they’ve been vandalized(破坏了的).There are no coins in Card Phone to excite thieves’interest in it. So you’re not probably to find a vandalized one.
Get a phone card yourself and try it out.Or get a bigger wallet.
1. There are three parts in the passage.Which section do you think is about why card phones are good?| A．Part 1. | B．Part 2. | C．Part 3. | D．None. |
| A．4 pounds. | B．40 pounds. |
| C．400 pounds. | D．100 pounds. |
a.Put in your phone card.
b.Look at the screen to find out how many calls you can still make.
c.Go to the telephone box marked “Card Phone”.
d.Make your call.
| A．a,b,c,d | B．c,a,d,b | C．a,d,c,b | D．c,d,a,b |
| A．Phone cards are cheap | B．You cannot use all payphones |
| C．Thieves will not break card phones | D．Or people have to carry much money |
| A．a warning | B．a note |
| C．an advertisement | D．an announcement |
3 . There is a very special wolf that lives in Africa.They are actually called the African wild dogs,or painted dogs.
These animals live in open woodlands, or in the plains of Africa. Today, however, most of the animals can be found in eastern or southern Africa. These animals are beautiful. They have rounded ears instead of pointed like most dogs, and they have four toes on each of their four feet, also a unique characteristic because other dogs have five. Their fur is always different from each other. The fur is usually a combination of black, brown, red and white, and sometimes even yellow. No wonder they’re called the painted dogs.
The African wild dog is a very social animal. They live in groups and have numbers from five to about twenty. The members of a group are always very close to one another. They communicate in their own language or body language. When someone is very old or sick, the others will help, and they are willing to share the food with the elders and with those who are weak, which is what we should learn from.
The family does everything together, from raising young, to sleeping together, to hunting. When they hunt, they will work together using team work to kill animals that are larger than them.
They sometimes hunt farm animals. This is unfortunate, because both poachers, and people who own farms shoot the painted dogs who are just trying to survive.
Before, there used to be many large groups throughout the land, but now the African wild dog is very rare. They are also losing their population because of their own loss of habitat thanks to human’ s farming and forest cutting.
1. From the passage we learn that the African wild dog .| A．lives in the north of Africa | B．has sixteen toes altogether |
| C．has pointed ears like most dogs | D．lives in forests in groups |
| A．They all have colorful fur. |
| B．The dogs in the same group are of different colors. |
| C．Artists love to paint them in different colors. |
| D．None of them has the same color. |
| A．They always do everything together. |
| B．They help the sick, the elderly and the weak. |
| C．They are always very close to one another. |
| D．They communicate in their own language. |
| A．Poachers kill some of them. | B．They are short of food sometimes. |
| C．They are losing their habitat. | D．Farmers shoot some of them. |
| A．The Travelers. | B．Fashion Weekly. |
| C．Animal World. | D．Star Magazine. |
4 . The worst outbreak of desert locusts (蝗虫) in decades is presently underway in the Horn of Africa. It is the biggest of its kind in 25 years for Ethiopia and Somalia — and the worst Kenya has seen for 70 years.
What we are seeing in East Africa today is unlike anything we’ve seen in a very long time. Its destructive potential is enormous, and it’s taking place in a region where farmers need every gram of food to feed themselves and their families. Most of the countries hardest hit are those where millions of people are already vulnerable (脆弱的) or in serious humanitarian need, as they endure the impact of violence, drought, and floods.
We have acted quickly to respond to this outbreak. The primary method of battling locusts is the aerial spraying of pesticides (杀虫剂). FAO’s “Locust Watch” service explains that “although giant nets, flamethrowers, lasers, and huge vacuums have been proposed in the past, these are not useful for locust control. People and birds often eat locusts but usually not enough to significantly reduce population levels in large areas.”
The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has released $10 million from its Central Emergency Relief Fund to support a huge scale-up in aerial operations (空中作业) to manage the outbreak.
But the window to contain this crisis is closing fast. Before the beginning of March we must bring this infestation (虫害) under control as that is when the rain and planting season begins. If left unchecked (未受制止的) — and with expected additional rains — the number of locusts in East Africa could increase 500 times by June.
We must act now to avoid a full-blown catastrophe. And we will. At the same time, we need to pay attention to a bigger picture. This is not the first time the Greater Horn of Africa has seen locust outbreak approach this scale, but the current situation is the worst in decades. This is linked to climate change. Warmer seas mean more tropical storms, generating the perfect breeding conditions for locusts.
1. What is implied in paragraph 2?| A．People in East Africa are suffering droughts. |
| B．People in East Africa are going through floods. |
| C．The locust outbreak will cause crop failure. |
| D．The locust outbreak is worsening locals’ life. |
| A．We need a bigger picture to study the disaster. |
| B．It is the second outbreak of locusts in East Africa. |
| C．It is the largest outbreak of locusts ever in history. |
| D．The outbreak of locusts is fueled by global warming. |
| A．To analyze and compare. |
| B．To inform and call for action. |
| C．To argue and discuss. |
| D．To introduce and assess. |
| A．A guidebook. | B．A health magazine. |
| C．A news report. | D．A chemistry paper. |
5 . If you think of pumpkins as an orange-colored squash that's carved as the key ingredient for holiday season pies, you wouldn't be wrong.
But there's much more to pumpkins, which are full of nutrients that provide an impressive collection of health benefits, says Lisa Jones, a registered dietitian based in Philadelphia. Pumpkins may be good for carving, but they're even better for a variety of healthy nutrients, she says. “Pumpkins provide a diverse variety of nutritional benefits in addition to being an ingredient in pies or festival decoration.”
The best part about pumpkin is that it's so easy to work it into your daily food. When preparing various dishes, add pumpkin to things like soups or bake with it in breads. There are so many things you can do with pumpkin beyond pumpkin pie. Pumpkins are seasonal, ripening in fall. But you can get pumpkin products, like canned puree or soup, in many stores throughout the year.
Consuming pumpkin can help fight cancers, says Mahmoud Ghannoum, professor and director in a medical center. Pumpkins have plenty of beta carotene, which is an antioxidant, playing an important role in protecting the body from cancers. Pumpkin is a good source of minerals, vitamin C and fiber, all of which are associated with heart health and keep your skin strong, healthy and, hopefully, wrinkle-free. The squash also contains a healthy amount of vitamin E, which helps reduce damage caused to your skin by ultraviolet light. Besides, the fiber in pumpkin can help you feel full ——which, in turn, boosts your odds of consuming healthy portions of food. Every half-cup of cooked pumpkin provides about 3 grams of fiber. Pumpkins are also low in calories: a cup of cooked pumpkin contains about 50 calories, which helps with weight management.
1. What does Lisa Jones think of pumpkin?| A．It can be used in various western dishes. |
| B．It is more than used in dishes or decoration. |
| C．It is easy to carve pumpkin into diverse shapes. |
| D．It suits people from diverse cultural backgrounds. |
| A．It ripens in fall. | B．It can be bought all over the year. |
| C．It is not hard to add it to daily dishes. | D．It can be made into various products. |
| A．The classification of pumpkin. | B．The characteristics of pumpkin. |
| C．Different ways to consume pumpkin. | D．The potential benefits of consuming pumpkin. |
| A．A review. | B．A guidebook. | C．A fiction. | D．A website. |
6 . Bird watching is a wonderful year-round activity. It is a wonderful way to learn about nature and enjoy many of the delights of nature. In addition, it is an activity that can be enjoyed almost anywhere in the world. Here are a few great destinations in the United States for bird watching lovers to visit.
Hakalau Forest, Hawaii
This beautiful Hawaiian forest on the Manua Kea on the Big Island is a good destination to see some of Hawaii’s unique birds. Birders should be sure to look for the Hawaiian Honeycreeper(旋蜜雀), as well as 3 kinds of Hawaiian ducks and more.
Ramsey Canyon Preserve, Arizona
Southeast of Tucson, this is a wonderful place for watching hummingbirds (蜂鸟). Birders can see up to 14 kinds of these fun little birds. In addition, about other 75 kinds of birds call the valley home, including red-faced birds, and many others.
San Luis Complex, California
The place within the San Joaquin Valley provides enough opportunity for birders to enjoy many species of California birds. Birders even have the opportunity to see Aleutian Canada Geese. Visitors to this place should also keep an eye out for the groups of tule elk (驼鹿) that call the area home.
Klamath Basin Complex, Oregon
This Oregon destination is an amazing bird watching place. Many types of geese and ducks call this place home. Visitors to the place can see Snow Geese, Canada Geese and a lot of kinds of animals.
1. What kind of birds can be seen in Ramsey Canyon Preserve?| A．Hummingbirds. | B．Canada Geese. |
| C．Honeycreepers. | D．The Hawaiian ducks. |
| A．Many kinds of birds live there. | B．It is a good place for bird watching. |
| C．Visitors can see some geese. | D．Visitors can see some kind of deer. |
| A．A biology textbook. | B．A travel magazine. |
| C．A research paper. | D．A health magazine. |
7 . Due to climate changes, Arctic ice is breaking up earlier in the spring, and its area is decreasing. This is creating problems for polar bears that make their homes off northern Alaska and in Hudson Bay.
Polar bears off Alaska normally hunt and raise their young on ice sheets that float on the ocean. But as the ice has melted, the polar bears have been forced to spend more time on land. There, they have begun to frequent beaches, feeding on the remains of whales caught by native hunters. For polar bears, this food is less nutritious than seals that they normally catch on ice sheets. The shrinking (减少) ice has also forced more polar bears into the ocean. In the past, they only had to swim short distances between ice sheets. But as the ice has shrunk, polar bears have been forced to swim longer and longer distances in the open ocean. This poses a severe danger during rough weather, and an increasing number of drowned polar bears have been observed.
In Hudson Bay, the ice breaks up three weeks earlier in the spring now than it did 20 years ago. Polar bears on Hudson Bay fast (绝食) during the summer, waiting for ice to form in the fall to hunt. Every year, the summer gets longer, and the bears get skinnier. Over the past 25 years, the average weight of the female bears has dropped 68 kg. This loss affects their ability to reproduce, and already the number of births has dropped by 15 percent. Unless the bears can learn to survive these climate changes, these giants of the ice may one day disappear.
1. What is Arctic ice doing earlier each year?| A．It's freezing. | B．It's hardening. |
| C．It's melting. | D．It's expanding. |
| A．Their young are dying. | B．Their diet is changing. |
| C．Their health is improving. | D．Their families are growing. |
| A．They are having fewer young now. | B．They suffer from various sicknesses. |
| C．They don't need stronger protection. | D．They can't find enough good males. |
| A．Medical News. | B．Society Today. |
| C．Wildlife Journal | D．Design Magazine. |
8 . Do you need a human to create a beautiful scent (气味)? That’s the question being asked as artificial intelligence (AI) starts to enter the perfume(香水) industry.
Companies are increasingly turning to technology in order to create more bestselling, unique fragrances that can be produced in just minutes. Last year, Swiss-based fragrance developer Givaudan Fragrances launched Carto, an artificial intelligence-powered tool to help perfumers(调香师). Through machine learning (a way computers improve outcomes automatically by learning from past results) Carto can suggest combinations of ingredients.
Using a touch screen, the perfumer can pull together different scents using data from the brand’s vast library of fragrance formulas (配方) — a much more efficient process than using traditional forms. A small robot immediately processes the fragrances into perfumes, making it easier for perfumers to test their new scents.
German fragrance house Symrise has gone one step further and teamed up with IBM Research to create an AI called Philyra. Like Carto, Philyra can’t actually sniff anything. But it is not designed to replace perfumers.
“It’s machine-learning and sometimes the results have been wrong,” says Claire Viola, vice president of digital strategy fragrance at Symrise. “It’s still a project, the more we test, the more it continues to improve. It constantly needs training.”
1. What is Carto according to the passage?| A．a bestselling unique fragrance. | B．a Swiss-based fragrance developer. |
| C．an AI-powered tool. | D．combinations of ingredients. |
| A．The process of making fragrance. | B．Two ways of making fragrance. |
| C．The importance of a small robot. | D．The popularity of a small robot. |
| A．It will replace perfumers in the near future. |
| B．It’s the most effective technology to produce perfume. |
| C．The results will be perfect when using it. |
| D．We should train and improve it, because it’s machine-learning. |
| A．Lifestyle | B．Entertainment |
| C．Advertisement | D．Science & technology |
9 . Most people feel that dreams are unique to humans, but many dog owners will likely disagree. They have noticed that their dogs at various times during the sleep may shake legs, snort (哼) and sometimes growl (低声吼叫) which gives the impression that they are dreaming. These things may wonder us about whether dogs dream.
Scientists confirm that dogs probably do dream. It turns out that dog brains and human brains have many similarities during sleep cycles. Researchers used special machines to measure electrical activity in a dog’s brain and a human’s brain. Scientists already knew that when humans dream, a certain part of the brain is active during sleep. Researchers discovered that the same part of the brain is active in sleeping dogs. Scientists have other data that back up these findings.
Many people dream that they are trying to move but cannot. Interestingly, part of that experience is not a dream. When people sleep, the brain produces a chemical that causes the dreamer to become temporarily paralyzed (使麻痹). Researchers think this happens so that people cannot physically act out dreams while they are sleeping. Dog brains make the same chemical. In one study during which this chemical was blocked, sleeping test dogs performed physical activities, such as standing up, sniffing around the room for imaginary rabbits, or chasing imaginary balls.
Because of these similarities, researchers believe that the content of a dog’s dream might come from the same source as a human’s dream. “People’s dreams are usually based on things they did that day,” says Dr. Samantha Hudspith. “So we have reasons to believe that dogs dream about the things they’ve done that day. Of course, there will never be a way to prove this. Dogs cannot describe their dreams the way that humans can.”
1. Which statement is TRUE?| A．Only humans dream. |
| B．The dogs’ shaking legs during the sleep means that they must be dreaming. |
| C．The contents of dogs’ dream is the same as those of humans. |
| D．Whether dogs dream of the things they’ve done that day can not be confirmed. |
| A．It woke up. | B．It stopped dreaming. |
| C．It acted out its dream. | D．It couldn't move its body. |
| A．The guide | B．The report | C．The magazine | D．The brochure |
| A．Similarities Between Humans and Dogs | B．Do Dogs Dream? |
| C．Signs of Dog Dreams | D．Why Do Dogs Dream? |
10 . 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. |
