1 . If you were to throw, say, a banana skin out of your car while driving along the motorway, that would be a completely harmless action, due to the fact that it’s part of a fruit—right? Actually, no. A banana skin can take up to two years to be naturally processed, and a third of drivers confess they litter while driving, that’s a lot of thrown banana skin. An orange skin and a cigarette butt (烟蒂) have similar biodegrading (生物降解) time to that of a banana skin, but tin cans last up to 100 years; and plastic bottles last forever, as do glass bottles.
Despite the fact that longer-lasting materials will serve to damage the environment and its animals for longer, we can’t measure the danger of a certain type of rubbish by its lifetime. For example, despite having a fairly short length of biodegrading time, more than 120 tons of cigarette-related litter is thrown in the UK every day.
It’s not a cheap habit either: to keep our streets clean annually costs UK taxpayers £500 million, and when you include our green spaces, that goes up to £1 billion. So, it’s not surprising that if caught throwing rubbish, you could face a £20,000 fine or even prison time and, if you threw something dangerous, the court could give you five years to serve. Regardless of how serious these punishments might seem, however, among the reported cases only 2,000 were found guilty out of 825,000, so we still have some way to go in making sure people obey the rules.
1. What does the underlined word “confess” in Paragraph1 mean?| A．Defend. | B．Admit. |
| C．Determine. | D．Assume. |
| A．Glass bottles. | B．Tin cans. |
| C．Plastic bottles. | D．Banana skins. |
| A．The punishment for throwing rubbish illegally is rather light. |
| B．The harm of rubbish can be measured by its lifetime. |
| C．Cigarette-related litter and fruit skins can be ignored for their fairly short lifetime. |
| D．A small number of people felt guilty of illegally littering. |
| A．To call for people not to litter illegally. |
| B．To inform readers of different biodegrading terms. |
| C．To encourage people to use fewer plastic bags. |
| D．To attach significance to good behavior. |
2 . An international group of electronic music composers is taking beats from the dance club to jungles and forests and back, all to help save nature's greatest singers. A Guide to the Birdsong of Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean is a new album that includes the sounds of endangered birds. The album will come out next month, whose proceeds will go directly towards efforts to save birds.
The whole project was born out of this idea of trying to combine birdsong, electronic music and conservation. A Guide to the Birdsong of Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean was organized by activist, music producer, Robin Perkins. He invited artists from each of the endangered birds 'homelands to build their own songs around the birds’ songs. There are contributions from ten artists in eight different countries.
First single Black Catbird was created by The Garifuna Collective, from Belize. Al Obando, guitarist and producer of the group, always took in national parks and viewed birds when on the road with the band. “There are no trails, and there are no signs there to tell you about what you reseeing,” Obando says. “So we're trying to do something for the birds and nature tourism.”
Another musician who responded to Robin's call is Tamara Montenegro, an artist from Nicaragua. She was shocked to hear of the serious situation of the Guardabarranco after being approached: “This beautiful creature I grew up adoring also faced the influence of the systematic human activities”. In response, she created a song inspired by this bird and the challenges it faces to live naturally.
The new album is the second edition, following on from A Guide to the Birdsong of South America, produced by Robin in 2015. That first album has raised, to date, over $15,000 benefitting conservation projects in South America. As with the first album, all of the money from the sales of the new album will support specific organizations, including Birds Caribbean.
1. What does the underlined word “proceeds” in Paragraph 1 refer to?| A．Profits. | B．Budgets. | C．Challenges. | D．Effects. |
| A．He created a hit single himself. |
| B．He was fond of observing birds. |
| C．He was the organizer of the new album. |
| D．He did a lot for birds in South America. |
| A．It was friendly to humans. |
| B．It was beautiful in appearance. |
| C．It was losing its living environment. |
| D．It was facing challenges from other birds. |
| A．To collect money for a project. |
| B．To popularize electronic music. |
| C．To recommend some famous artists. |
| D．To introduce a new album of electronic music. |
3 . More and more English-educated Chinese Singaporean parents are realizing the importance for their children to be not only good at the all-important English language, but also at Chinese. China has become a great political and economic superpower and they want their children to become bilingual.
It is well known that, to master any language, especially one’s mother tongue, one must begin from childhood. But there are challenges and barriers for children of English-speaking homes to succeed in their journey towards bilingualism.
Take my family as an example. While my wife and I are products of English education, we had some foundation in Chinese which we kept up in our working life. But the language of communication in our home is mainly English.
We are glad that our three children had between 8 and 11 years’ Chinese schooling before switching over to English schools. Their foundation in Chinese has become an advantage in their adult life. They can hold their own in the spoken language, but would find it hard to write a business letter in Chinese for lack of usage.
We have a grandson who will be two years old shortly. His parents have given us the unenviable task of making him bilingual. It is a very tough assignment, as we are with him only a couple of hours on most days. For the rest of the time, he is being surrounded by English sounds by his busy parents.
Fortunately, our perseverance is paying off. After eight months, he has been used to hearing Chinese sounds, and even he can now quite comfortably identify common everyday objects in Chinese.
1. Why is it becoming necessary for some Chinese Singaporean children to learn Chinese?| A．Because most of the Singaporeans come from China. |
| B．Because their parents are missing their motherland. |
| C．Because China has become a great political and economic superpower. |
| D．Because Chinese is the official language in the UN. |
| A．a person who knows English | B．a person who knows Chinese |
| C．a person who knows only one language | D．a person who knows two languages |
| A．there are challenges for children of English-speaking homes to learn Chinese |
| B．his foundation in Chinese is a big advantage in teaching his grandson |
| C．he is quite good at teaching small children Chinese |
| D．learning Chinese is very popular in Singapore |
| A．all the children in Singapore need to learn Chinese |
| B．understanding Chinese is becoming an advantage in Singapore |
| C．the author’s children know nothing about Chinese |
| D．the author feels it easy to teach others Chinese |
4 . If it really is what’s on the inside that counts, then a lot of thin people might be in trouble.
Some doctors now think that the internal fat surrounding important organs like the heart or liver could be as dangerous as the external fat which can be noticed more easily.
“Being thin doesn’t surely mean you are not fat”, said Dr. Jimmy Bell at Imperial College.
Since 1994, Bell and his team have scanned nearly 800 people with MRI machines to create “fat maps” showing where people store fat.
According to the result, people who keep their weight through diet rather than exercise are likely to have major deposits of internal fat, even if they are slim.
Even people with normal Body Mass Index scores can have surprising levels of fat deposits inside. Of the women, as many as 45 percent of those with normal BMI scores (20 to 25) actually had too high levels of internal fat. Among men, the percentage was nearly 60 percent.
According to Bell, people who are fat on the inside are actually on the edge of being fat. They eat too many fatty and sugary foods, but they are not eating enough to be fat. Scientists believe we naturally store fat around the belly first, but at some point, the body may start storing it elsewhere.
Doctors are unsure about the exact dangers of internal fat, but some think it has something to do with heart disease and diabetes (糖尿病). They want to prove that internal fat damages the body’s communication systems.
The good news is that internal fat can be easily burned off through exercise or even by improving your diet. “If you want to be healthy, there is no shortcut. Exercise has to be an important part of your lifestyle, ” Bell said.
1. What is this passage mainly about?| A．Thin people may be fat inside. |
| B．Internal fat is of no importance. |
| C．Internal fat leads to many diseases. |
| D．Thin people don’t have diabetes. |
| A．the exact dangers of internal fat |
| B．being slim is not dangerous at all |
| C．internal fat is the cause of heart disease |
| D．being slim doesn’t mean you are not fat inside |
| A．Internal fat leading to disease has been proved. |
| B．Thin people usually have internal fat even if they are slim. |
| C．It is easier to burn off internal fat than external fat. |
| D．Exercise plays an important role in people’s life for keeping healthy. |
| A．A long road. |
| B．A good diet. |
| C．A clear difference. |
| D．A short distance. |
5 . If you walked by James Fasulo’s bedroom, in Queens, New York, you might hear the 8-year-old talking. You might think he was speaking with a friend, or with his 4-year-old sister, Anna. More likely, James would be talking to his smart speaker, an Echo Dot. “I use it daily,” he says.
James often asks his Dot to tell jokes, report the time and temperature, and play music. And his sister? “She asks it to play songs from Frozen,” he says.
As of December 2017, there were about 67 million smart speakers in households in the United States, according to a study by National Public Radio and Edison Research. A year later, that number had jumped to nearly 119 million. That’s a 78% increase.
“Families are very interested in trying these products,” says Caroline Knorr of Common Sense Media. Kids like James and Anna also love that they are fun.
Smart speakers include devices (设备) such as Google Home and Amazon Echo. Common Sense Media made a survey of more than 1, 000 parents with kids ages 2 to 8. The survey asked about how kids use smart speakers. It also asked about privacy.
Nearly half of the parents said their kids use the speakers, and half of those kids use them daily. Of parents who have, at some point, turned off a smart speaker’s microphone (麦克风), about one-third of them did it because they didn’t trust the device.
“A smart speaker might behave like a human in some of the ways it answers us,” says Florian Schaub, an assistant professor at the University of Michigan School of Information. “But that’s really a company collecting data (数据) about you. Everything you say to a smart speaker is recorded by these companies.”
“Companies use the recordings in different ways,” Schaub says, “such as to personalize service or decide which ads to play.” If users don’t like this, he suggests they mute the speaker when it’s not in use and consider setting privacy controls.
James Fasulo says he doesn’t worry about privacy. But his mom, Nancy Ellwood, does. “Sometimes, the speaker flashes (闪现) its lights when we’re not talking directly to it, ” she says. “I wonder what it’s doing.”
1. What do we know about James Fasulo’s Echo Dot?| A．It can move around freely. |
| B．It can be controlled by voice. |
| C．It is mainly used to play music. |
| D．It is shaped like a human being. |
| A．Smart speakers are less helpful for kids. |
| B．Google Home is smarter than Amazon Echo. |
| C．Some users have less trust in smart speakers. |
| D．Smart speaker users have rapidly increased in number. |
| A．Fix up. | B．Talk to. |
| C．Turn off. | D．Research into. |
| A．Anna Fasulo. | B．James Fasulo. |
| C．Caroline Knorr. | D．Nancy Ellwood. |
6 . Among the four skills in learning English, which one of these is the “odd-man-out”? The answer is speaking. The other three you can do alone on your own. But you can’t really speak alone! Speaking to yourself can be “dangerous” because men in white coats may come and take you away!
Where can you find people to speak English? And how can you practice speaking when you are alone?
At school—If you pay to go to a language school, you should use the opportunity to speak. If your teacher asks you to speak in pairs or groups with other students, try to say as much as possible. Don’t worry about your mistakes. Just speak!
Conversation Clubs—Many cities around the world have conversation clubs where people can exchange one language for another. Look in your local newspaper to find a conversation club near you. They are usually free although some may charge a small entrance fee.
Shopping—Even if you don’t want to buy anything, you can ask questions about products that interest you in a shop. “How much does this cost? ” “Can I pay by cheque? ” Often you can start a real conversation—and it costs you nothing!
Café and Bars—There are often American, Britain, Irish and Australian bars in many large cities. If you can find one, you’ll probably meet many people speaking English as a first or second language.
Language is all around you— Everywhere you go, you find language. Shop names, street names, advertisements, notices, and car numbers.... When you walk down the street, practice reading the words and numbers that you see. Say them to yourself. It’s not exactly a conversation, but it will help you to “think” in English. But don’t speak too loud!
Songs and Videos—Repeat the words of an English song singing with the music until it becomes automatic. It’s good practice for your memory and for the mouth muscles that you need for English.
Above all, speak as much as possible! Make as many mistakes as possible! When you know that you have made a mistake, you know that you have made progress!
1. What does the underlined part “odd-man-out” probably mean according to the passage?| A．Someone or something that can be easily mistaken for another. |
| B．Someone or something appearing different from the others. |
| C．Someone or something standing out of the group. |
| D．Someone or something arranged in pairs. |
| A．Because everyone will make mistakes in learning English. |
| B．Because making mistakes is a must in making progress in learning English. |
| C．Because everyone will meet people speaking English with some mistakes. |
| D．Because making mistakes can make one realize the importance of speaking. |
| A．To tell us that English is all around us. |
| B．To tell us that we can speak English alone. |
| C．To give us some advice on how to practice speaking English. |
| D．To tell us speaking is the easiest of the four skills in learning English. |
7 . Saving Money
Where you save your money often depends on what you are saving for. If you are saving to buy a dictionary or to go to a concert, then you probably keep your money somewhere in your room.
If you are saving for a big purchase like a mountain bike or a school trip, where would you save your money?
One place to save money is the bank. Putting your money in a savings account will help your money earn more money. If you put your money in a piggy bank (猪形储蓄罐子), one year later you'll still have the same amount of money you put in. If you put your money in a savings account, one year later, you'll have more money than you put in. Why?
When you keep your money in a bank, your money earns interest. Interest is the amount of money a bank pays you to use your money. The bank uses your money (and the money of other people, too) to loan money to people and businesses.
The bank will send you a statement several times a year. A bank statement tells you how much money there is in your account. It also tells you how much interest you have earned. If you leave your money in the bank, you can watch it grow!
Another way you can save money is to buy a certificate of deposit or CD. If you have some money that you don't need to use for a long time, this is a good way to make your money grow.
You can buy a CD at a bank. You agree not to use the money for a certain period of time. That period might be from six months to five years. You can't touch your money during that time. If you do, you must pay a penalty, or fee.
Since the bank is using your money for that time period, it will pay you interest. You will earn more interest with a CD than in a savings account. Can you guess why? It's because you promise to leave your money in the bank for a certain period of time. Banks pay different rates of interest. So, you may want to compare rates in newspaper ads before buying a CD.
1. Which way will help your money earn more money?| A．Putting your money in your room. | B．Putting your money in a piggy bank. |
| C．Putting your money in your pocket. | D．Putting your money in a savings account. |
| A．a bank lends to people | B．a bank loans to businesses |
| C．a bank pays you | D．a bank uses |
| A．the amount of money you have in the bank |
| B．the current rates of interest |
| C．the current rates of exchange |
| D．the best way to save your money |
| A．"deposit" | B．"borrow" |
| C．"use" | D．"cash" |
8 . “Serena, don’t forget your promise to me that you will mow (割) Mrs Matin’s yard this weekend,” said Dad, “Don’t let me down.” Serena was the oldest child in the family, and one of her chores was to mow their yard. Mrs Martin, their elderly neighbor, was unable to take care of her yard, so Serena’s dad had volunteered Serena for this job. Since Mrs Martin’s yard was not very big, Serena knew the job would go quickly.
However, she still resented her dad’s promise.
“Why didn’t you ask me first?” Serena had complained.
“Did you ask me first when you volunteered me to be in the school festival last fall?” asked Serena’s father.
“Well, no, I didn’t ask you first, but you would have done those things anyway. You’re always willing to help.”
“I try when I can,” Dad answered.
“Serena, we have known Mrs Martin for a very long time. She has often helped our family. Now we can do something for her. Besides, the feeling you get from helping someone makes you wonder who is really helping whom.”
“I don’t know, Dad,” said Serena. “The only feeling I get from mowing our yard is tired.”
“Just you wait and see,” said Dad.
After breakfast, Serena made her way to Mrs Martin’s yard. She was good at her job and soon had Mrs Martin’s yard looking tidy. Mrs Martin came outside with a big glass of orange juice and offered it to her. Serena stopped her work and gratefully enjoyed the drink, while Mrs.Martin talked to her about all of the flowers in her yard. Seeing the joy in Mrs Martin’s eyes, Serena began to understand how much the yard meant to Mrs. Martin.
After finishing her drink, Serena returned to work with a new attitude. A warm feeling began to spread through her body. Her dad was right. It was hard to tell who was helping whom!
1. The underlined word “resented” (Paragraph 2) means___________.| A．understood | B．welcomed |
| C．broke | D．disliked |
| A．Through Dad’s words. | B．Through Serena’s actions. |
| C．Through Mrs Martin’s behaviour. | D．Through the author’s statement. |
| A．Annoyed. | B．Surprised. |
| C．Guilty. | D．Pleased. |
| A．Serena likes the job of mowing her family’s yard. |
| B．Mrs. Martin and Serena did the work together. |
| C．Mrs Martin shared her love for the yard with Serena. |
| D．Dad volunteered himself to take part in the school festival. |
9 . The world can be a scary place when you' re young. It can be even scarier when you' re a young little blue penguin(企鹅) , the tiniest of the penguin species. Luckily, there are some humans willing to help. They stepped in to protect Billy, a blue penguin that appeared on a beach in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Spotted on November 29 at the slipway at Moncks Bay, near Sumner，in Christchurch，the little penguin immediately attracted a small crowd. Jeff Mein Smith saw the crowd while he was bicycling that afternoon, and he biked home to get his camera. When he returned to the scene，he found that the penguin had received a little sign, one that read “Hi, I'm waiting for my mum to come back. DOC(Department of Conservation) knows I'm here. Please leave me alone. Keep your dog away. Thanks, Billy the baby blue penguin.”
Billy didn't move away from the sign. The DOC arrived later that afternoon to pick up Billy, though they were surprised to see it on the beach. “It's unusual for a blue penguin to be out in the open on the beach during the day, ”Anita Spencer, a DOC senior ranger, told Stuff.
Billy was taken to the Christchurch Penguin Rehabilitation Center after being retrieved from the beach. Volunteers believe the bird may actually be a female penguin, and is around 2 months old. The chick weighs a mere 550 grams, less than a standard basketball. A blue penguin should weigh around 900 grams at this age. Most little penguins grow up to weigh 1 kilogram.
The center will help the little penguin gain some weight by feeding it fish juice, before it's set free into the ocean.
1. Why can the world be frightening to a young penguin?| A．It is a rare species. |
| B．It faces potential danger. |
| C．It is surrounded by the crowd. |
| D．It is threatened by dogs. |
| A．is a male penguin |
| B．has expressed its thanks |
| C．weighs less for its age |
| D．prefers living on the beach |
| A．Ignored. | B．Cured. |
| C．Given away. | D．Brought back. |
| A．It will be reported to Stuff. |
| B．It will be visited by the locals. |
| C．It will be taken good care of. |
| D．It will be fed with fruit juice. |
10 . Twenty-five years ago, most young Britons wanted a career in law, to be a doctor, or, if they were creatively minded, to take up singing. But today, things stand differently.
According to a survey by Tesco Mobile, a UK telecoms company, the “dream job” of young people aged between 16 and 25 in the UK is a video blogger, or “vlogger”. The survey, carried out among 1 , 002 people, found that as much as 40 percent of them put vlogger as their number one choice on a list of ideal jobs.
The only reason for this change is undoubtedly the Internet and social media. They have made it so much easier to reach a global user, without having to get a job in show business in the traditional way.
“In years gone by, the biggest stars were shaped and trained by the Hollywood studios； now, anyone with a computer camera can become an icon (偶像)，" a Tesco Mobile spokesperson said in a news release(发布会).“These self-made stars record their hobbies to an admiring fan-base. Vloggers are the big stars of today because they are normal people interacting with their fans about everyday life.”
However, what people see is only the great side of being a vlogger and they ignore the fact that only those who are successful get fame and fortune. There are the dreams that come true and the dreams that still remain dreams.
This is why although vloggers are popular, some young people choose jobs that don't necessarily earn them fame, but allow them to make good use of the Internet to share their hobbies. Young Israeli David Leshaw, for example, runs a business called the Finishers Club. It's an online platform(平台)for runners to keep a record of their races. He told the website Zippia that his job allows him to express his thought, and is always a learning experience. And that's enough for him.
1. What's the most popular job among British young people nowadays?| A．A lawyer. | B．A doctor. | C．A vlogger. | D．A singer. |
| A．Because of the popularity of the computers. |
| B．Because the traditional show business has disappeared. |
| C．Because there are computer cameras for everyone to use. |
| D．Because Internet and social media made it easy to reach a global user. |
| A．To discuss. | B．To force. |
| C．To communicate. | D．To take part in. |
| A．All vloggers can't be successful. | B．Vloggers should be supported. |
| C．Vloggers should be encouraged. | D．Vloggers are very helpful to society. |
