1 . After about two weeks of intense negotiations in Paris, delegates from around the world reached an international agreement on Dec. 12 to address climate change. For the first time in history, 195 countries have promised to reduce greenhouse gas（GHG）emissions and to increase these reductions over time.
The agreement goes beyond requiring developed countries like the US to take actions to cut down emissions. It's a universal agreement requiring some form of action from every country, rich or poor.
The agreement sets the date for an emissions peak "as soon as possible". It would also limit warming worldwide to less than 2℃ above the levels in the 1800s. According to scientific studies 2℃ is the point at which climate change will bring destructive consequences to the planet, including rising sea levels, severe droughts, increased flooding, destructive storms, and widespread food and water shortages.
The deal also urges wealthy countries to set a non- binding goal of providing more than $100 billion（650 billion yuan）per year in public and private financing by 2020 for poorer countries to help them invest in clean energy and combat the impact of climate change.
The Paris deal asks countries to make voluntary promises based on an analysis of each country's economy, politics and technology. However, the deal also includes a series of legally binding（有约束力的）requirements. It requires countries to reconvene every five years, starting in 2020, with updated plans that would cut their further emissions. Countries will also be legally required to reconvene every five years starting in 2023 to publicly report on their progress.
The Paris deal alone won't solve global warming. Its effectiveness will depend on whether each country enacts（立法）their promise. But the deal "could be viewed as a signal to global financial and energy markets, triggering a fundamental shift away from investment in coal, oil and gas as primary energy sources like wind, solar and nuclear power", according to The New York Times.
1. Which of the following is true according to the passage?| A．The agreement requires only developed countries to take actions to cut down emissions. |
| B．The agreement would limit warming worldwide to 2℃ less than the levels in the 1800s. |
| C．The agreement requires some form of action from all the countries in the world |
| D．The constant global warming will do great harm to the planet. |
| A．do something to fight against the influence of climate change |
| B．invest more in coal, oil and gas as primary energy sources |
| C．provide more than $100 billion per year in public and private financing |
| D．report on their progress of reducing their emissions every 5 years in Paris |
| A．Meet | B．Report. | C．Promise | D．Return. |
| A．a science magazine | B．a newspaper |
| C．a school text | D．an economic lecture |
2 . We say that technology is a double-edged sword -while it brings convenience, it also brings new problems. The sword of “social media” even has a gender preference in its damage: It cuts deeper into girls than boys.
Earlier studies have shown that spending too much time on social media is bad for teenagers’ mental health. Constantly watching their friends show off “perfect” lives can hurt their own self-esteem (自尊). That’s not to mention the problems caused by online shaming and bullying (霸凌).
Jean Twenge, a professor at San Diego State University in the US, recently discovered an alarming trend: Since 2010, the number of teenage girls who suffer from major depression – showing signs like self-harm and suicide (自杀) - has increased much faster than that of boys. In an article she wrote at The Conversation, Twenge said social media, again, was to blame.
For starters, girls use social media more than boys. Boys tend to spend their screen time on games, where they talk to their teammates through headphones. This counts as real human contact. Girls, however, simply type and browse through posts, which is a much more isolated (孤立的) experience. “They’re not having a real-time conversation with someone,” Mary Fristad, psychologist at The Ohio State University, told NPR.
And when it comes to online shaming, girls are also more vulnerable than boys. “Girls face more pressure about their appearance, which could be exacerbated (加重) by social media,” wrote Twenge.
Shannon McLaughlin, for example, is an 18-year-old from Blackburn College in the US. She shared with the Guardian how social media made her feel depressed. “I was constantly confronted (面对) by women with skinny bodies who were praised for the way they looked. This was only made worse by the diet fixes and skinny culture,” she said. But McLaughlin found a solution. She started volunteering with the National Citizen Service, where she made face-to-face contact with people. “It’s so easy to forget the importance of real connections when we have hundreds of people that we’re trying to impress at our fingertips,” she told the Guardian. And she hopes that others “look up from their phones and focus more on the world around them”.
1. What did Twenge find in her recent study?| A．Overuse of social media harms teenagers’ mental health. |
| B．Social media does more harm to girls than boys. |
| C．Girls suffered more from bullying than boys. |
| D．Online shaming and bullying are to blame for teenagers’ depression. |
| A．Girls have less real-time interaction with people. |
| B．Playing games allows boys to have more fun than girls. |
| C．Girls suffer more pressure on social media. |
| D．Girls usually desire more contact with others. |
| A．adjusting oneself well | B．fighting back bravely |
| C．being unconcerned about something | D．being likely to be at risk of something |
| A．Ignore social media and stop following a diet. |
| B．Connect more with the real world. |
| C．Constantly take part in volunteer work. |
| D．Make better use of phones for socializing. |
3 . You may not know a lot of people when you start high school. Even if you know some freshman (新生), you still feel nervous that you don’t know any upperclassmen and teachers. How are you going to make friends among this sea of unknown faces?
Most high schools holds a freshman orientation before school actually starts, which is helpful not only because you can know your way around the buildings and get to meet some of your teachers, but also because you get to meet fellow freshmen. That way，when you show up on your first day of school, you may already recognise a few familiar faces. When you talk to your new classmates, you will probably find that a lot of them are feeling just like you are. They are all new to the school and don’t know what to expect. Talking about a common concern with them can help you develop friendships.
The work in school is something that freshmen are probably worried about. The work in high school builds on what you learnt in middle school, giving you a more advanced knowledge of many subjects. So you may find you have more work to do or that it’s a bit more challenging. If you ever find your work too difficult, teachers can give you extra help.
High school also has more extracurricular activities than middle school does, such as clubs, music and theatre groups and sports teams. This is a good time to explore your interests and try new things.
High school gives you the chance to learn how to manage your time, to develop your social skills and interests, and more importantly, to be more independent and responsible.
1. Who is this passage written for?| A．Freshmen’s parents. | B．Middle school students. |
| C．Freshmen at high school. | D．Upperclassmen in high school. |
| A．Game. | B．Training. |
| C．Discussion. | D．Examination. |
| A．The work in high school. | B．The freshman orientation. |
| C．The ability to make friends. | D．The relationship with teachers. |
| A．develop their interests and try new things |
| B．make new friends |
| C．improve their learning ability |
| D．build up healthy bodies |
4 . “Look how stupid he is!" a 7-year-old said to her dad Daniel Funke, pointing to a picture of a famous person on the Internet. The photo showed the man writing his name with his pen turned upside down.
Of course, the photo was not the original one. It had been changed to look like him using the pen the wrong way. Funke quickly pointed out the mistake, and his daughter got an on-the-spot education in fake news. By then, however, many people had already shared it on social media.
“The pitfalls of sharing misinformation and fake news can be very serious," says Laeeq Khan, who heads the Social Media Analytics Lab at Ohio University in Athens. Sharing something that’s not true can cost people their lives, he says. Last year, people in India used a messaging app, WhatsApp, to spread fake stories about a kidnapping ring. The lies caused violent attacks in which people died.
Fake news stories hurt people in other ways, too. For example, fake reports lead some parents to refuse vaccines (疫苗) for their children. Yet without vaccines, children can get serious diseases or even die.
“About seven in 10 Americans were telling us that fake news has a big influence on the confidence in our government,” says Jeffrey Gottfried. He’s a journalism and media-research expert at Pew Research Center in Washington, D.C. Researchers there did a survey in the United States about the influence of made-up news. About half the people in the survey said they had shared misinformation online. Most of them said they didn’t realize it at the time.
Besides causing serious results, sharing a fake story makes it harder for people to tell what's real. And when people find out a story is not real, they may not trust other information from a person who spread it. Therefore, it's important to do fact-checking before sharing news stories.
1. What is the purpose of the first two paragraphs?| A．To bring up the topic of the text. | B．To tell an interesting news story. |
| C．To provide the main idea of the text. | D．To list people's popular online behavior. |
| A．Mistakes. | B．Problems. | C．Advantages. | D．Possibilities. |
| A．About 30% of online news wasn't real. |
| B．Made-up news spread faster than expected. |
| C．Made-up news had a bad influence on children. |
| D．Many Americans shared fake news without knowing it. |
| A．Positive | B．Unclear | C．Worried | D．Supporting |
5 . We all know the hard work that filmmakers and actors put in to provide us with entertainment, but it seems that even regular moviegoers like us have a big impact on how a movie turns out too.
For decades, film studios have used so-called test screenings to get feedback from members of the public before a movie comes out. While test audience members are usually asked to fill in a questionnaire after a screening, telling the film studio what they liked and didn’t like, media giant Disney has come up with a more high-tech solution.
According to a paper published this summer by the company’s researchers, Disney is measuring test audiences’ reactions by using special cameras placed inside cinemas. Pairing the cameras with special software, the company can track what each audience member is feeling at any point in the movie, from anger to joy.
It’s hoped that this new method will allow more detailed feedback from test audiences. Rather than relying on audience members to recall their feelings after the movie’s over, it can accurately read their reactions in real-time.
Test screenings are highly valued in the movie industry, and several well-known movies have been greatly altered following feedback. Viewers of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) would have left the cinema feeling a whole lot differently if it weren’t for its test audience’s feedback. “In one cut of the film that was tested, E.T. died instead of going home in his spaceship,” wrote media website Den of Geek.
But for those who are concerned about privacy, the cameras won’t be installed in public cinemas. After all, unless you’re part of a test audience, being in front of the camera is best left to the movie stars.
1. What can we learn from the passage?| A．Even regular moviegoers put in hard work to provide us with entertainment. |
| B．Film studios have used a more high-tech solution to get feedback from the audience. |
| C．It is not convenient for Disney to test audiences’ feelings in public cinemas by using special cameras. |
| D．Film studios wouldn’t like to test audiences’ reactions in public cinemas. |
| A．developed | B．changed | C．made | D．provided |
| A．being in front of the camera is left to movie stars. |
| B．film studios have got feedback from test audiences before a movie comes out. |
| C．film studios are concerned about audiences’ privacy. |
| D．many audience members are afraid of them being monitored. |
| A．Important reactions | B．Can cameras be installed in cinemas? |
| C．A high-tech solution | D．How to make a successful movie? |
6 . Living with your parents comes with its perks – meals ready, laundry done, pills and hot water at your bedside when you’re feeling unwell. But your parents can still drive you crazy – talking about your habits without a stop and trying to get involved in your relationships.
This partly explains why the idea of “living alone” is spreading rapidly across the world with more young adults preferring to go solo.
According to statistics gathered by the market research firm Euro-monitor International, the number of people living alone globally has almost doubled in the last decade and a half.
This rush to solitude (独居) is not only limited to the US and Europe, where social security is well developed. In fact, over recent years, it has grown most quickly in countries with booming economies, like China for example.
Census (人口普查) data released by the National Health and Family Planning Commission of China in May showed that today over 58 million Chinese people live alone. That’s a number bigger than that of US, UK and France combined”, the Economist reported.
In the past, adulthood in China used to mean getting married and having children. Not following this route was seen as a taboo (禁忌). This is still the mainstream standard, but things are starting to change. Living alone is shifting from being a transitional stage after graduation and before marriage to a long-time state for many.
The marriage age in China is rising, especially in urban areas. In Beijing, the average age of men getting married is 27.8, while that of women is 26.2, according to iFeng News.
Better employment opportunities allow women to have greater equality with men. That might make women more inclined to stay single and free from the burden of starting a new family.
1. What does the underlined word “perks” in para 1 mean?| A．advantages | B．disadvantages | C．preference | D．tradition |
| A．the number of people living alone has almost doubled in China |
| B．people are more likely to live alone in developed countries |
| C．many Chinese think it unacceptable for young people to live alone |
| D．the average age of men getting married is 27.8 while that of women is 26.2 |
| A．they want to be independent of their parents |
| B．the marriage age in China is rising. |
| C．they have the same chance to earn their living as men |
| D．they dislike their parents being involved in their relationships |
| A．China’s youth break free | B．Living with your parents or living alone |
| C．A new life style | D．China’s new youth |
7 . I am Tony, a volunteer stem cell courier. Since March 2019, I have done 99 trips——of those, 56 have been abroad. I have 42 hours to carry stem cells in my little box because I've got two ice packs and that's how long they last. In all, from the time the stem cells are harvested from a donor to the time they can be implanted (移植) in the patient, we've got 72 hours at most. So I am always conscious of time.
Last year, I had a trip where I was caught by a hurricane in America. I picked up the stem cells in Providence, Rhode Island, and was meant to fly to Washington then back to London. But when I arrived at the check -in desk at Providence, the lady on the desk said: "Well, I'm really sorry, but I've got some bad news for you - there are no flights to Washington." So I took my box and put it on the desk and I said: "In this box are some stem cells that are urgently needed for a patient- please, please, you've got to get me back to the United Kingdom." She just dropped everything. She arranged for a fight on a small plane to be held for me, rerouted (改道) me through Newark and got me back to the UK even earlier than originally scheduled.
For this courier job, I' m consciously aware that in that box I've got something that is potentially going to save someone’s life.
1. What does the underlined word "courier" mean in paragraph !?| A．provider. | B．collector. | C．delivery man. | D．medical doctor. |
| A．The operation needs that much time. |
| B．The donor can only wait for that long. |
| C．He can't stay away from his job too long. |
| D．The ice can only last such a period of time. |
| A．To help save a patient. | B．To avoid being hit by Tony. |
| C．To get the stem cell. | D．To drop everything. |
| A．Tiresome. | B．Interesting. | C．Meaningless. | D．Significant. |
8 . Suppose your permanent residence, or hukou, was in Chongqing, you worked in Beijing and you needed to get a passport for a business trip abroad. What should you do?
You have to go back to Chongqing, which is 1,500km away, and apply to local public security authorities for the passport, because in China public services are closely linked to hukou. But a new regulation, which is part of the hukou reform, will make this annoying experience a thing of the past.
The regulation targets China’s newly introduced residence permit system, which will take effect on Jan 1, 2016. It allows people who don’t have local hukou to receive more access to basic public services in the cities where they are living. These include education, basic employment services, automobile registration, and passport and ID card application processing.
You can apply for a residence permit at the local police station, which has jurisdiction (管辖权) over the area where you live. The documents needed for the permit application include your ID card, photos and materials that prove that you have a job, a place to live, or that you are studying at an education institution.
To certify that you have a place to live, a house rental contract or property ownership certificate will do. For employment, a business license, job contract, or employment certificate can do the trick. If you are a student applying for the permit, show your student card or other documentation issued by your school.
Despite all this, maybe you are still not happy about not having a local hukou. Don’t worry. People will have a chance, as the country is reforming the hukou system further.
1. What is the purpose of the first 2 paragraphs?| A．To introduce the topic of the passage. | B．To emphasize the focus of the passage. |
| C．To summarize the main idea of the passage. | D．To arouse the readers’ interest of reading |
| A．receive more access to basic public services |
| B．provide proofs of identification |
| C．present a house rental contract |
| D．show your student card or other documentation |
| A．apply | B．prove | C．permit | D．test |
| A．China plans to create a new hukou system |
| B．Getting a hukou may be easier with new policies |
| C．Other reforms that will bring people more happiness |
| D．People will not need hukou in China soon. |
