1 . We talk a lot about air pollution. Here in Hong Kong we always complain about light pollution as well. Then, there is noise pollution. It's the same in many cities around the world, and in Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal, people have been complaining about the noise made by drivers who continually sound their car horns (喇叭). That is until recently, when something was finally done about it.
The Chief District Officer of Kathmandu had received many complaints about horn pollution. He said that everyone felt the use of the car horn in recent years had become excessive. Researchers in Kathmandu found that for about 80 percent of the time, it really was not necessary for drivers to use their car horns. Sounding the horn to make a noise had become more of a habit. It was no longer being used as it was supposed to be used: to warn people of danger.
At the beginning of the Nepali New Year in 2017, the local government passed a law to ban the use of car horns unless used correctly. Within six months, 11,000 fines had been collected by the local traffic police. The fine was about HK $360. A taxi driver in Kathmandu can make about HK $1,000 per day, so he could lose about one-third of his money if he broke the law.
As usual, there were many complaints from drivers. They said that cows and dogs were free to walk on the roads. They always caused danger. Sounding a car horn was the only way to get them to move out of the way. And while there were quite a few traffic lights in the streets of Kathmandu, very few of them worked. This meant there was often a traffic mess.
The ban on using a car horn went ahead, and within a few weeks the streets of Nepal's capital were quieter — even though they were still just as busy. Because of the ban, drivers are a little more careful when they drive. Fewer accidents have been reported. The local government says the horn ban will now be copied in other areas of Nepal.
1. What do Hong Kong and Kathmandu have in common?| A．Both have been troubled by light pollution. |
| B．Both have succeeded in fighting air pollution. |
| C．Both have been faced with the problem of noise pollution. |
| D．Both have received many complaints about horn pollution. |
| A．Too much. | B．Quite simple. | C．Very correct. | D．More dangerous. |
| A．No traffic lights in the streets can work. |
| B．The traffic on the roads is usually very heavy. |
| C．Animals are not allowed to walk on the streets. |
| D．Drivers are required to drive on one-way streets. |
| A．It is unfair. | B．It is worrying. | C．It is interesting. | D．It is successful. |
2 . Nowadays more and more people like to travel, especially when vacations come. A great number of people rush out of their homes or companies to travelling spots. They either drive or take a bus, a train, a ship and so on. Some even ride bikes.
However, there is another way of travelling — poorism. People have a tour in the poorest areas of the world. Some people may take a one-day poor tour, and some even pay to stay in very poor neighborhoods to experience the lowest living standards in the world. Poorism tours take place around the world, and not just in the third world countries. You can, for instance, tour New York neighborhoods in the Bronx, in the Bund of Shanghai. Such tours can take people into the heart of poor areas within some large and rich cities. These tours may awaken people to pay more attention to long-standing poverty, or the effects of war.
Some suggest that tours in the poor areas can raise social care. And the money from the tour can be donated to help the people there.
1. What's the meaning of the underlined word “poorism” in the second paragraph?| A．贫困 | B．穷人 | C．穷游 | D．可怜的人 |
| A．to show how rich they are |
| B．to experience the poor life |
| C．to enjoy the beautiful scenes |
| D．to see poor people |
| A．care for the poverty more |
| B．know about the countryside |
| C．go to big cities |
| D．go into the heart of rich cities |
3 . An Italian company has told staff to stop sending any internal (内部) emails for a week in an effort to reduce stress levels.
Home textiles company Gabel, based in the northern Como region, appointed an expert to interview its employees about what their main concerns were at work, the local La Provincia di Como website reports. Many said that managing the huge volume of internal emails was a burden during the working day. That pushed the company’s management to propose a solution, which — somewhat ironically — was sent to all staff in an email.
“Together we will begin the following experiment, which will take us back in time to when people talked more,” managing director Emilio Colombo wrote, declaring an “email-free” week until 13 November. “We invite you not to use email for internal communications (between colleagues at the same location), in favor of a more direct and immediate contact.”
The company’s president, Michele Moltrasio, tells the BBC it hasn’t been easy to stop such an “ingrained” practice, temporarily, but that employees have welcomed the challenge. “They are rediscovering the pleasure of meeting and talking rather than writing,” he says. And that includes Mr. Moltrasio, who is avoiding emails along with everyone else. “Even if from next week we all go back to using email, these days of experimentation are very worthwhile, to understand and rethink the methods and pace of working,” he says.
Several recent studies have found that a high volume of emails raises stress levels at work. In 2013, researchers said that a full inbox led to peaks in people’s blood pressure and heart rate. And last year, a study at the University of British Columbia found that limiting email use during the day lowered people’s stress levels “significantly.”
1. What did an Italian company do to reduce its employees’ pressure at work?| A．Ask its employees not to send emails anymore. |
| B．Launch a campaign to stop using emails temporarily. |
| C．Ask experts to design a new way of communication. |
| D．Interview employees about their concerns at work. |
| A．Deep-rooted. | B．Highly-praised. | C．Newly-released. | D．Commonly-seen. |
| A．Emails have been an outdated means of communication in the company. |
| B．Employees don’t communicate with each other so directly as they did in the past. |
| C．It is quite easy for employees to stop using emails. |
| D．Employees’ working stress is due to the large number of emails they deal with every day. |
| A．Negative. | B．Supportive. | C．Doubtful. | D．Reserved. |
4 . A quarrel at home may result in you falling ill. Don't laugh, it's true. Family matters including living habits and even the way we speak have a big effect on our health, doctors say.
Wang Xiaoyu, a Senior 2 girl from Xichang, Sichuan Province, fainted (晕倒) in class when she heard her classmates quarrel at the top of their voices. Quarrels between her parents also put the girl into a coma. It is because she is suffering from depression , caused by bad relations at home, doctors explained."We don't get sick or stay well by ourselves," says Dr Robert Ferrer from the US. Ferrer shows that family forces may explain up to a quarter of health problems, in his recent research.
The genes you get from your family may cause illness. If one of your parents has a heart attack, your risk of being affected (影响) may double. But effects on health are not only written in our DNA.
Unrelated people who live under the same roof also get similar problems. Diet, lifestyle and environment affect our health, too.
Ferrer's research also found that if teenagers feel they are ignored (忽视) or unimportant at home they are more likely to get sick.
We may never fully understand all the effects that families have on our health. But just as individual problems can have effects on others, a small improvement can have big benefits , Ferrer said.
1. Which of the following can best explain why Wang Xiaoyu fainted in class?| A．Because her classmates often quarreled in class. |
| B．Because her parents used to quarrel. |
| C．Because of her depression caused by bad family relations. |
| D．Because her classmates shouted loudly at her. |
| A．We get sick or stay well by ourselves. |
| B．Only the genes we get from our family have a big effect on our health. |
| C．Our health has nothing to do with diet, life style and environment. |
| D．Teenagers who are ignored at home get sick more easily than those who are not. |
| A．embarrassment | B．faint | C．tiredness | D．sadness |
| A．Family relations. | B．The reasons why we get sick. |
| C．Happy family makes you healthy. | D．A research about teenagers' health. |
5 . We all know the feeling of waking up in the middle of the night with a pounding heart and sweaty palms. Relax, you say to yourself— it was just a bad dream. Well, it may be that you really should relax, because nightmares might actually be good for you.
According to New York magazine, bad dreams can improve your mental health. A bad dream tends to be based on a real-life concern, for example, an approaching test or a fear of a person. To eliminate these worries the brain turns the dream into a story in the form of a bad dream.
A bad dream enables you to distance yourself from your anxieties, and turn something you’re worried about now into a memory. The result is that when you wake up, you’re able to move forward and face the future.
A study, featured in The Atlantic magazine, showed something similar. In a survey of more than 700 French students taking a medical school entrance exam, over 60 percent had negative dreams about the test the night before. These included not finishing on time, leaving a question blank, or being late. Those who reported dreams about the exam, even bad ones, did better on it than those who didn’t, suggesting that nightmares do in fact prepare us for the future.
“We think nightmares are so common that they have some purpose to process stressors,” Anne Germain, director of the Sleep Center at the University of Pittsburgh, said.
So, the next time you lie awake at night after a bad dream, remember that it may be the brain’s way of putting your fears behind you and readying you for the future. Although a nightmare may make you afraid in the short term, it might be helping you to move on from the bad stuff you might be facing in the real world. Perhaps we should try to accept our nightmares rather than allow them to keep us awake. After all, lack of sleep causes far more problems than dreams do.
1. Which of the following best explains “eliminate” in Paragraph 2?| A．Remove. | B．Reflect. | C．Satisfy. | D．Strengthen. |
| A．To show medical school entrance exams will cause anxiety. |
| B．To show those who have nightmares will do worse in an exam. |
| C．To show nightmares help students perform better in an exam. |
| D．To show most of the students will be stressed before an exam. |
| A．We should keep ourselves awake. |
| B．We should relax and go on sleeping. |
| C．We should study bad dreams carefully. |
| D．We should prevent it from happening. |
| A．A diary. | B．A guidebook. | C．A novel. | D．A magazine. |
6 . Returning to a book you’ve read many times can feel like drinks with an old friend. There’s a welcome familiarity - but also sometimes a slight suspicion that time has changed you both, and thus the relationship. But books don’t change, people do. And that’s what makes the act of rereading so rich and transformative.
The beauty of rereading lies in the idea that our bond with the work is based on our present mental register. It’s true, the older I get, the more I feel time has wings. But with reading, it’s all about the present. It’s about the now and what one contributes to the now, because reading is a give and take between author and reader. Each has to pull their own weight.
There are three books I reread annually .The first, which I take to reading every spring is Emest Hemningway’s A Moveable Feast. Published in 1964, it’s his classic memoir of 1920s Paris. The language is almost intoxicating (令人陶醉的)，an aging writer looking back on an ambitious yet simpler time. Another is Annie Dillard’s Holy the Firm, her poetic 1975 ramble (随笔) about everything and nothing. The third book is Julio Cortazar’s Save Twilight: Selected Poems, because poetry. And because Cortazar.
While I tend to buy a lot of books, these three were given to me as gifs, which might add to the meaning I attach to them. But I imagine that, while money is indeed wonderful and necessary, rereading an author’s work is the highest currency a reader can pay them. The best books are the ones that open further as time passes. But remember, it’s you that has to grow and read and reread in order to better understand your friends.
1. Why does the author like rereading?| A．It evaluates the writer-reader relationship. |
| B．It’s a window to a whole new world. |
| C．It’s a substitute for drinking with a friend. |
| D．It extends the understanding of oneself. |
| A．It’s a brief account of a trip. |
| B．It’s about Hemingway’s life as a young man. |
| C．It’s a record of a historic event. |
| D．It’s about Hemingway’s friends in Paris. |
| A．Debt |
| B．Reward. |
| C．Allowance. |
| D．Face value. |
| A．He loves poetry. |
| B．He’s an editor. |
| C．He’s very ambitious. |
| D．He teaches reading. |
7 . Australia is no stranger to wildfires. The country’s weather patterns create heat and dryness, which fuel occasional bushfires in a natural cycle. However, one that started last September continues to burn, and it may not be natural at all. Scientists say that man-made climate change has played a role in the fire’s creation and duration.
Peter Gleick, a US climate scientist, told Time, “the extent, the severity, and the intensity of these fires wouldn’t have been so bad without the fingerprints of climate change.”
According to Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology, the country’s temperatures have risen by more than one degree Celsius since 1920. The spring of 2019 was Australia’s driest in 120 years. In December, the country saw its hottest day ever, with an average temperature of 41.9℃.
“Due to enhanced (过度的) evaporation（蒸发）in warmer temperatures, the vegetation and the soils dry out more quickly,” Stefan Rahmstorf, a lead author of the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Fourth Assessment Report, told Time.
Worse still, researchers at the UK Bureau of Meteorology believe that wildfires like this might become “normal conditions” in the future, according to the BBC. They looked at 57 research papers published since 2013, which examined the relationship between climate change and the risk of wildfires. They found that the link between the two has already been observed in many parts of the world, including the western US, Canada, southern Europe, and even Scandinavia and Siberia.
“These are impacts we are seeing for one degree of global climate change. The impact will get worse if we don’t do what it takes to make the world’s climate stable,” Corinne Le Quere, a professor from the University of East Anglia in the UK, told the BBC. “What we are seeing in Australia is not the ‘new normal’. It’s a transition(过渡)to worse impacts.”
1. What was the wildfire starting last September related to according to scientists？| A．Air pollution. | B．Human activities. |
| C．Environment changes. | D．Natural cycle. |
| A．The meaning of climate change | B．The influence of climate change |
| C．The control of climate change | D．The possibility of climate change |
| A．Plants stayed as lively as usual. |
| B．Australia never suffered a hot day. |
| C．The plants and the soils became dry faster. |
| D．Every season became the driest in the year. |
| A．We might see more wildlife. |
| B．We were to see less disasters. |
| C．It could be impossible to see wildfires. |
| D．It would be more difficult to prevent wildfires. |
8 . The Museum of London is starting to unearth what might turn out to be as many as 3,000 human skeletons(遗骸) under a train station in the United Kingdom’s capital. The bones were exposed when workers began building a new entrance to a train station in London, England.
As the first city burial(埋葬) ground in London, Bedlam was probably used between 1569 and 1738. Its name comes from the nearby Hospital of Saint Mary of Bethlehem, which people also called Bedlam. Often, the people buried in Bedlam could not afford to be buried anywhere else. The burial ground also served as an overflow cemetery(墓地). That means that if other cemeteries became full, a person would be buried in Bedlam instead. It is believed that there could be a total of 20,000 skeletons in the overall burial ground.
Experts think studying the skeletons may help them learn about London’s past, including questions about the Black Death, a deadly disease that had a terrible influence on much of the world. It started in the mid-1300s and swept through Asia, Africa, and Europe. Historians believe almost 50 million people died of the disease, including many of those buried at Bedlam. “Sixteen sixty-five saw the very last recorded period of the disease,” says Jay Carver, the leading expert on the project. Carver and his team believe the Bedlam bodies may explain why the outbreak suddenly stopped.
The dig site also sits above an even older Roman(古罗马的) road (between the 2nd and 3rd century A. D. ). Archaeologists(考古学家) have already found a large number of objects from Roman times, including horseshoes and urns. Nick Elsden, the project manager for the site, says, “This is the UK’s largest archeology project, in what is one of the oldest areas of the city, so we stand to learn a great deal.”
1. The underlined word “exposed” in Paragraph I probably means “________”.| A．studied | B．found |
| C．returned | D．searched |
| A．served as a cemetery for poor people | B．used to be a train station |
| C．got its name thanks to Jay Carver | D．was once taken up by Germen |
| A．Sadness. | B．Anger. |
| C．Regret. | D．Expectation. |
| A．History of the Black Death | B．Skeleton secrets in London |
| C．The Museum of London | D．A Roman road in Bedlam |
9 . What will man be like in the future—in 5000 or even 50,000 years from now? We can only make guesses, of course, but we can be sure that he will be different from what he is today, for man is slowly changing all the time.
Let us take an obvious example, Man, even five hundred years ago, was shorter than he is today. Now, on averse, men are about three inches taller. Five hundred years is a relatively short period of time, so we mayassumethat man will continue to grow taller. Again, in the modern world we use our brains a great deal. Even so, we still make use of only about 20% of the brain’s capacity. As time goes on, however, we shall have to use our brains more and more, and eventually we shall need larger ones! This is likely to bring about a physical change too: the head, in particular the forehead, will grow larger. Nowadays our eyes are in constant use. In fact, we use them so much that very often they become weaker and we have to wear glasses. But over a very long period of time it is likely that man’s eyes will grow stronger.
On the other hand, we tend to make less use of our arms and legs. These, as a result, are likely to grow weaker. At the same time, however, our fingers will grow more sensitive because they are used a great deal in modern life.
But what about hair? This will probably disappear from the body altogether in course of time because it does not serve a useful purpose any longer. In the future, then, both sexes are likely to be bald (光秃的).
Perhaps all this gives the impression that future man will not be a very attractive creature to look at! This may well be true. But in spite of all these changes, future man will still have a lot in common with us. He will still be a human being, with thoughts and emotions similar to our own.
1. The passage mainly tells us that ________.| A．humans needn’t wear glasses in the future |
| B．man’s life will be different in the future |
| C．future man will look quite different from us |
| D．man is growing taller and uglier as time passes |
| A．predict | B．think |
| C．pretend | D．know |
| A．future life is always predictable(可预测的) |
| B．human beings will become less attractive in the future |
| C．less use of a bodily organ (器官) may lead to its degeneration (退化) |
| D．human beings hope for a change in the future life |
| A．colour and height | B．size and appearance |
| C．thought and observation | D．thought and emotion |
At the root of volunteering is the idea that one person may have the ability to offer services that can help other people. Tracy, a good friend of mine, however, recently came back from India with a
“I first heard about Mother Teresa in my high school, we watched a video(录像) about her work in India and all over the world. I was so moved by her spirit to help others and her endless love for every human being that after I graduated from high school, I too wanted to try her kind of work. So with two friends I flew to Calcutta for a few weeks.”
“I was asked to work in a home for sick people. I helped wash clothes and sheets, and pass out lunch. I also fed the people who were too weak to feed themselves and tried to cheer the up. I felt it was better to share with them than to think that I have helped them. To be honest, I don’t think I was helping very much. It was then that I realized that I had not really come to help, but to learn about and experience another culture(文化) that helped improve my own understanding of life and the world.”
1. According to the text, a volunteer refers to a person who ______.
| A．is willing to help those in need without pay | B．can afford to travel to different places |
| C．has a strong wish to be successful | D．has made a big fortune in life |
| A．after she met Mother Teresa |
| B．after she finished high school |
| C．when she was touring Calcutta |
| D．when she was working in a hospital |
| A．She liked to work with Mother Teresa. |
| B．She had already had some experience. |
| C．She was asked by Mother Teresa’s example. |
| D．She wanted to follow Mother Teresa’s example. |
| A．Going abroad to help the sick. |
| B．Working in Mother Teresa’s home. |
| C．Doing simple things to help the poor. |
| D．Improving oneself through helping others. |
