1 . Shoppers around the world are crazy buying because of fears over the coronavirus(新型冠状病毒), which caused a critical plague in China and even other countries at the beginning of 2020. People in countries such as England, Japan, Singapore and Australia have been emptying supermarket shelves of toilet paper, face masks, hand wash products and dried and canned food. Photos and videos of shoppers in Australia quarreling over the last pack of toilet roll in a supermarket have spread across social media swiftly.
However, governments have advised their citizens that there is no need to "panic buy". They added that panic buying would only reduce the supply of products needed by patients and medical staff, which could exacerbate the problems the COVID-19 virus is causing. Singapore's prime minister comforted Singaporeans that: "We have enough supplies. There's no need to stock up." A week after the panic buying fever, things have calmed down and shoppers have gone back to purchasing items in normal quantities.
Psychologists say panic buying is an "unwise" behaviour that is part of a condition called FOMO一the fear of missing out. Dr. Katharina Wittgens said a herd mentality(从众心理)sets in during disasters that causes people to copy the actions of others. People watch the news of items being bought in quantity and immediately rush out to the stores to do the same. She said people were taking on too much the risks of dying from the coronavirus. She said: "Far more people die in car accidents or household accidents per year but we don't panic about these things in the morning before we go to work."
1. What is the reason for shoppers in different countries crazy buying?| A．The approach of 2020 New Year's Day. |
| B．The shortage of resources and supplies in their nations. |
| C．The discount from supermarkets. |
| D．Their concern about the virus. |
| A．release | B．worsen |
| C．solve | D．quicken |
| A．People think no one needs the supplies. |
| B．People do not believe what others said. |
| C．People tend to follow others' actions in the period of disaster. |
| D．People are wiser in making decisions. |
| A．People should not panic over the virus. |
| B．People want to do something different from others. |
| C．People buy little when they go to the stores. |
| D．More people die from car accidents. |
2 . The next time a giant Big Mac or Coke flashes into your mind when you’re walking home from the pub, you may not simply have the snacks.
A British hi-tech company has created a new advertising system that uses lasers (激光) to project images up to 200 metres tall from the sides of tall buildings, enabling advertisers to reach people from virtual billboards in the sky. Passers-by will see each image for only between one tenth and quarter of a second, as their eyes catch the light from certain angles.
Advertising agencies and big businesses have already signalled their interest, but Skyline campaigners have branded the technology “greedy” and said that it could fill our skies with showy and tasteless brands.
The Echo system uses a high laser projector to bounce light off a narrow reflective strip fixed to the side of a building, visible up to 1km away. This creates large-scale images that are captured briefly in the viewer’s eye as a result of the “persistence of vision” effect: the same effect that leaves an imprint (印记) of a light source on your vision after you’ve turned away.
Daniel Siden, the technology’s inventor, explained: People often think this could be subversive, but it’s actually less invasive and more fun than traditional advertising. Mr.Siden said that the system was safe because of the distance between the projector and passers-by. And images would be above the line of sight of drivers and cyclists and below the field of vision of airline pilot. The images have been tested and shown not to cause epileptic seizures (癫痫发作).
Because it uses only one strip of reflected light, the system needs a small amount of the power, about one-twentieth of a standard 96-sheet digital outdoor display for an image of the same height.
Still, some Skyline campaigners dislike the technology and believe it delivers subliminal advertising (隐形广告). Barbara Weiss of the Skyline Campaign, said: “It’s actually offensive. London’s latest tall buildings are not particularly well-built or well designed, but unfortunately people are forced to look at them. Adding stupid advertising that’s invasive in its nature will only make it worse.”
1. Why does the writer use the example of Big Mac, Coke in paragraph 1?| A．Because he attempts to promote these products to potential consumers. |
| B．Because he wants to introduce a new advertising technology to readers. |
| C．Because he studies the association between products and images in advertising. |
| D．Because he tries to illustrate the effectiveness of flashing images of advertised goods. |
| A．Pedestrians can see the flashing images from specific angles. |
| B．It’s a new system developed by an advertising agency. |
| C．The image will no longer exist in vision after you’ve turned away. |
| D．The system consists of a laser projector, a reflective strip and a physical billboard. |
| A．subconscious | B．damaging | C．harmless | D．imaginative |
| A．Environmentalists worried about energy consumption. |
| B．Drivers, cyclists and pilots whose sight might be affected. |
| C．The Skyline Campaign regarding the technology as flashy. |
| D．The patients who suffer from epileptic seizures. |
3 . Could it be time to say goodbye to Earth? According to NASA, a giant asteroid is heading for Earth next month. Well, when we say heading for Earth, we actually mean its heading for Earth’s vicinity（周边）, passing within 3,908,791 miles of our planet.
Officially classified as 52768 (1998 OR2), the near-miss has been predicted to occur on April 29. According to NASA, the asteroid is traveling toward us at 19,461 miles per hour and is about half the size of Mount Qomolangma.
The space agency first discovered the object in 1998 and said it would be “large enough to cause global effects” if it were to hit Earth. But despite being classed as “potentially hazardous （有危险的）”, scientists said it is not on the list of potential future Earth impact events.
Currently, the agency has identified 20,000 Near-Earth Objects. Of these, only a few are considered potential impactors, which NASA tracks via their automated Sentry System.
The near-miss 1998 OR2 might not pose a threat, but many scientists agree it’s only a matter of time before a huge asteroid collides with Earth.
Cardiff University scientist Ian McDonald told BBC Today, “Doomsday asteroid hits aren’t confined to the past. There are always rocks flying through space. One of these will hit us and it will have pretty dramatic effects.”
The last Earth impact was in 2013, and terrifyingly nobody saw it coming. Dubbed（被称为）the Chelyabinsk meteor, it exploded just 30 kilometers from Earth’s surface, shattering windows and rocking buildings for over 500 square kilometers, according to the BBC.
This impact injured around 950 people in Russia, but it just goes to show how precarious life on Earth is and how it could be devastated（毁坏的）by larger future impacts.
1. What can we learn about 1998 OR2?| A．It is as large as Mount Qomolangma. |
| B．It is heading for Earth at 3,908,791 mph. |
| C．It is likely to occur at the end of March. |
| D．It is estimated not to be a threat to Earth. |
| A．There is little chance that the doomsday asteroid hits Earth. |
| B．A mega asteroid could unavoidably threaten Earth one day. |
| C．Potential impactors could be tracked and destroyed. |
| D．Mega asteroids could collide with Earth more often in the future. |
| A．compare it with the upcoming 1998 OR2 |
| B．present the dramatic effects of Earth impacts |
| C．show how frequent Earth impacts are |
| D．prove that little can be done in the face of an Earth impact |
| A．uncertain | B．unprepared |
| C．precious | D．diverse |
4 . Breakdancing may make its debut (首次亮相) as an Olympic sport at Paris 2024, Tony Estanguet, head of the Paris 2024 organizing committee, said on February 21. Skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing which have already been added to Tokyo 2020, have been invited to return in Paris.
Estanguet said the choices responded to a need to make the Olympics “more urban” and “more artistic”. “We have chosen to present the International Olympic Committee (IOC) with the four sports because they are creative, appealing to youth and completely in line with our vision. They reflect perfectly Paris 2024's identity.”
Breakdancing is an example of a sport “which can be played anywhere and anytime in urban and other environments”. It appeared at the 2018 Summer Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires in the form of headtohead “battles”. In competitive breakdancing, “breakers” face off in “battles” against each other, either as individuals or teams. Breakdancers use a mix of physical and artistic skills combining elements from gymnastics or acrobatics (杂技)．
The IOC had announced that the number of competitors at Paris 2024 would be restricted to 10,500, which limited the opportunity to add sports. But the organizers said the inclusion would not need the construction of facilities(设施) and would involve just 248 competitors, including 32 breakdancers. The surfing events are likely to be held in established surf centers such as Biarritz or Lacanau in southwest France.
The inclusion still needs to be rubberstamped by the IOC, which is expected to decide on which sports to add in Paris 2024 after Tokyo 2020.
1. What do we know about breakdancing?| A．It involves multiple skills. | B．It's limited to group competition. |
| C．It will show up in Paris 2024. | D．It never appeared in the world events. |
| A．attract young people | B．perfectly reflect Paris' identity |
| C．make Paris more urban and artistic | D．can be played anytime and anywhere |
| A．10,500 competitors will compete for the new sports. |
| B．More surf centers will be specially designed for Paris 2024. |
| C．The IOC will reject the proposal because of inadequate facilities. |
| D．The inclusion won't require additional competition space to be built. |
| A．Recognized. | B．Canceled. | C．Refused. | D．Designed. |
5 . How do you usually spend your spare time? Many people choose to be couch (沙发) potatoes, but not Luo Han, a 9-year-old from Changsha, Hunan. Luo Han completes at least two hours of outdoor activities every day and has raised a weave of (一波) discussion online. Although he is in primary school, he has already mastered sports like kayaking (皮划艇) and paddling (划桨). His aptitude (才能) for outdoor sports is due to his father Luo Ge, who actively encourages him to enjoy nature, rather than focusing only on his learning. After noticing that Luo Han did not go out for enough exercise after school, his father took him to do outdoor activities every day.
“Exercise can ease brain fog (脑疲劳) and improve memory. Many students feel stressed about school work, so outdoor activities can help us keep our moods uplifted and improve our learning efficiency (效率),” said Liu Yu, 18, a university freshman.
However, some have also expressed their concerns.
“Two hours isn’t too much for a 9-year-old, but it might be difficult for high school students to guarantee (确保) the time when school becomes more demanding,” said Huang Xi, 16, from Liyang High School of Jiangsu Province.
Ms Zhu, who has a daughter in middle school, also agreed that two hours is too much for the majority of parents, especially on weekdays. “When I am off duty, I need to do housework. After my daughter finishes her homework, she prefers to watch TV. Neither of us would think of going outside for exercise,” Zhu said.
Other parents are concerned about the safety of outdoor activities. Zhang Zhijin has a son in high school. “Sometimes, teenagers can do crazy and risky things. We worry about accidents,” Zhang said.
1. What news about Luo Han has caused online discussion?| A．His talent for outdoor sports. |
| B．The way he gets along with his father. |
| C．Daily time he spends on outdoor activities. |
| D．The way he deals with learning and outdoor sports. |
| A．It can help them learn better. | B．It is more helpful to those under stress. |
| C．It helps them build character. | D．It often leads to poor school performance. |
| A．Easy. | B．Difficult. | C．Efficient. | D．Risky. |
| A．There is too much school work for high school students. |
| B．Most parents can’t afford to spend two hours outdoors on weekdays. |
| C．Most parents are worried about the safety of outdoor activities. |
| D．Parents should care more about their children's learning. |
6 . Johnny Cash was born in 1932 in the southern state of Arkansas. His parents were poor cotton farmers. As a school boy, he began writing songs and he performed on radio programs. After high school, he joined the United States Air Force and served as a radio operator in Germany.
He returned to the United States in 1954 and formed a band with two friends and performed at local events. They began recording for Sun Records in Memphis. One of the songs Cash wrote became the first country music hit record for the company. It was “Cry, Cry, Cry.”
Johnny Cash performed all across the United States and Canada. By 1958, Johnny Cash was a successful recording artist, songwriter and singer. He was invited to perform at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee.
Johnny Cash won many awards, including eleven Grammy Awards and the Kennedy Center Honors. He was elected to both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He also received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
He died on September 12, 2003, in Nashville at the age of seventy-one.
Fans say that Johnny Cash's music was important because it told simple stories about life and death. They say he cared about social issues and continued to express support for those who are poor and without political power. One of the last songs he recorded was one made popular by the rock and roll group Nine Inch Nails. It is called “Hurt.”
1. Johnny Cash returned to the United States after ________.| A．he finished high school | B．he formed a band |
| C．he served in US Air Force in Germany | D．his song Cry, Cry, Cry became famous |
| A．Johnny Cash performed his famous song Cry, Cry, Cry at the Grand Ole Opry |
| B．Johnny Cash didn't care about social problems |
| C．Johnny Cash's music was only loved by his fans |
| D．the Grand Ole Opry is a place where famous singers hold their concerts. |
| A．Beat | B．Failure | C．Strike | D．Success |
| A．he won many awards in his lifetime |
| B．he often performed in the Grand Ole Opry |
| C．his songs expressed support for the poor people with no political power |
| D．his songs were sung by the rock and roll group Nine Inch Nails |
7 . Many people have their breakfast with a glass of milk. Right now, cows, buffalos, goats and sheep provide most of the world’s milk. But soon, people could get milk from roaches (蟑螂).
That isn’t as crazy as it might sound. New research shows this “milk” is super-nutritious. What’s more, some scientists have already found milk from a lot of insects.
In 2004, Subra Rama started studying milk crystals found inside the roach. At the time, he was teaching biochemistry at the University of Iowa City.
To learn more about the milk crystal from roaches, the scientists used X-rays to look at the atoms in it. The data revealed the chemical secret of the roach crystal. They showed that roach milk is a “complete food”. It contains sugar with a fatty acid stuck to it. Fatty acids are the building blocks of fats. The protein in the milk is also full of essential amino (氨基的) acids, which are the building blocks of proteins. Since our bodies can’t produce the “essential” ones, we need to get them from our food. And so do baby roaches.
Barbara Stay, a biologist at Iowa University, also worked on the new study. She says the new data show that the roach milk is “three times more nutritious than cow’s milk and four times more nutritious than buffalo’s milk”.
Rama would like to see roach milk turned into a protein supplement to feed hungry people. But not everyone is confident that it can be done.
Marcel Dicke studies insects as a potential source of human food at Wageningen University in the Netherlands. Dicke says this is a “sound study”. However, in his opinion, “Extracting (提取) milk from roaches can only likely be done in a destructive way with only small quantities”. That means you’d have to raise and kill many bugs to get very little milk.
1. What is the opinion of the scientists about milk in Paragraph 2?| A．Many insects are sources of milk. |
| B．Milk is an important part of breakfast. |
| C．Milk from insects is the most nutritious. |
| D．Milk from insects is well accepted now. |
| A．Useless. | B．Disappointing. | C．Good. | D．Expensive. |
| A．simple | B．challenging | C．safe | D．necessary |
| A．Roach milk is in our plate |
| B．Roach milk could be produced industrially |
| C．A probable new super food — Roach milk |
| D．Roach milk will be widely used soon |
8 . During the outbreak of novel coronavirus, cities are locked down and borders are closed. Science, on the contrary, is becoming more open. And this "open science" is already making a difference.
Soon after the epidemic started in China, a research team from Fudan University in Shanghai successfully sequenced （测定序列）the DNA of the virus. But they didn't keep the information to themselves. Instead, they placed the sequences on GenBank, an open-access data platform, so researchers around the world could download them for free and start studying the virus.
Due to this openness, pharmaceutical （制药的）companies across the globe are now able to work simultaneously （同时地）to develop a vaccine. “There may be room for multiple different vaccines for different purposes and different age groups,”, Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security in the US, told Al Jazeera. "The bigger menu we have of vaccines, the more resilient （有适应力的）we'll be against coronavirus outbreaks in the future.”
Major drug companies around the world are also sharing their study results. Remdesivir, a drug originally developed by US company Gilead Sciences to treat Ebola, is found to be promising in fighting against the novel coronavirus. Currently, two trials of the drug are already underway in China, and the results might be available as soon as April, according to The Verge.
This openness in science is going to be even more critical in the future. “With climate change, increasing globalization, and population shifts, epidemics will not go away, and might even become more frequent," Dan Barouch, a Harvard Medical School professor, told Harvard Magazine.
He said, "No one group can do everything. It has to be a coordinated （合作的）approach. But I do think that the world has a greater sense of readiness this time to develop knowledge, drugs, and therapeutics （疗法）very rapidly.”
Every epidemic is indeed a crisis, but it can also be a learning opportunity. One redeeming （补偿的）factor of the COVID-19 outbreak is that it is helping science adapt for the better.
1. What does the article mainly talk about?| A．Coordinated efforts to fight the epidemic. |
| B．Something positive we've learned from the epidemic. |
| C．The significance of openness and sharing of scientific knowledge. |
| D．What needs to be done to prevent future epidemics. |
| A．They alerted the world to the danger of the virus. |
| B．They helped remove people's fear of the virus. |
| C．They showed the world how to produce a vaccine. |
| D．They invited collective efforts worldwide to develop a vaccine. |
| A．expressing disapproval. |
| B．extremely important. |
| C．serious, uncertain and possibly dangerous. |
| D．making fair, careful judgments. |
| A．Epidemics will be less frequent thanks to scientific development. |
| B．The world is becoming better prepared to deal with epidemics. |
| C．No single group can fight against the epidemics independently. |
| D．The increase in globalization may worsen future epidemics. |
9 . What do you do with old stuff? That dress you bought for a party three years ago, for example. You wore it once and put it away somewhere. So, what to do?
In the UK, we might take it to a charity shop. The first charity shops appeared in Britain in the 19th century. The Salvation Army was one of the first to run a second-hand clothing shop to provide the needy with affordable clothes. This was followed by charities such as the British Red Cross, who also relieved hardship and raised money for the war effort during World War Two. In 1947, Oxfam opened a charity shop in High Street, Oxford, which is the modern form we know today. These days, charity shops are a common sight with around 11, 200 shops across the UK, according to the Charity Retail Association. During business hours the public can donate their unwanted items to a charity shop-clothes, books, electronics, furniture. These items are checked for wear and tear and if found still serviceable, priced up to be sold at a heavily discounted price.
For many, this is a win-win situation. To the charity, it means a valuable source of income. To the consumer, it provides the opportunity to buy, often extremely cheap items and clothes. To the donator, it may help to assuage consumer guilt. “You can make a pretty good case to yourself that you are doing good, because what you are doing is going towards a charitable cause and you are saving stuff from landfill(垃圾堆),” Clare Press, fashion journalist and sustainable style advocate, tells the Guardian.
There are sometimes hidden treasures for the buyers, too. Take a screen print for example. It was bought for 99p and later found to be by English artist Ben Nicholson. It was sold for￡4, 200. So next time you need to rid yourself of something, spare a thought for the charity shop-after all, charity begins at home!
1. The text is mainly written to________.| A．comment on the benefits of charity shops |
| B．analyze the popularity of the UK charities |
| C．list the names of the first UK charity shops |
| D．introduce something about UK charity shops |
| A．British Red Cross | B．The Salvation Army |
| C．Oxfam | D．Charity Retail Association |
| A．Ease. | B．Add. | C．Mix. | D．Increase. |
| A．Get rid of unwanted items. | B．Start charity from daily life. |
| C．Be environmentally friendly. | D．Make a difference for the future. |
10 . A first-year undergraduate student in Chengdu, recently complained online that her mother refused to raise her monthly allowance to 4, 500 yuan （ $ 633） even when she said her current allowance 2,000 yuan was not enough to cover her expenses, sparking a debate on how much money a college student needs per month. One expert shares his views on the issue with China Daily: Students should pursue education, not comfort.
Even for a college student studying in a first -tier city in China, 2, 000 yuan is enough to cover all his or her monthly expenses. In fact, for a college student in Chengdu a monthly allowance of 2, 000 yuan is more than enough. According to a survey conducted by a bookkeeping platform, the average monthly expense for an undergraduate in cities other than Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou was less than 2, 000 yuan in 2019; for Chengdu, it was 1, 900 yuan.
Claiming that she can hardly afford new clothing and cosmetics with her 2, 000 yuan monthly allowance, the undergraduate student in Chengdu criticized her mother for refusing to raise her pocket money. Her “meager” allowance, she said, prevented her from buying branded goods that her hostel-mates enjoyed.
By the time a person enters a college, she or he should have developed a healthy consumption habit. And a youth should adjust her or his consumption according to her or his family income. On a deeper level, the money they spend in college should depend on how much they value their parents’ hard work. Besides, some college students could take up part-time jobs to meet their monetary needs if they feel their parents don't or can’t send them enough money. In this way they can also learn to meet the requirements of life in the future and develop healthy consumption ion habits. More importantly, they should always bear in mind that education is their top priority in college.
1. What's the expert' s attitude to the issue about the undergraduate student?| A．supportive. | B．neutral. | C．He was critical. | D．He was unconcerned. |
| A．less than 2, 000 yuan | B．633 dollars | C．more than 2, 000 | D．1, 900 yuan |
| A．Empty. | B．Fruitful. | C．Mean. | D．Pitiful. |
| A．College students should keep their expenses in line with their family conditions. |
| B．College students should deal with their living expenses problems reasonably. |
| C．College students consumption level is determined by their parents. |
| D．College students should take up a part-time job to cover their expenses. |
