1 . This month, Germany’s transport minister, Alexander Dobrindt, proposed the first set of rules for autonomous vehicles (自主驾驶车辆). They would define the driver’s role in such cars and govern how such cars perform in crashes where lives might be lost.
The proposal attempts to deal with what some call the “death valley” of autonomous vehicles: the grey area between semi-autonomous and fully driverless cars that could delay the driverless future.
Dobrindt wants three things: that a car always chooses property (财产) damage over personal injury; that it never distinguishes between humans based on age or race; and that if a human removes his or her hands from the driving wheel — to check email, say — the car’s maker is responsible if there is a crash.
“The change to the road traffic law will permit fully automatic driving,” says Dobrindt. It will put fully driverless cars on an equal legal footing to human drivers, he says.
Who is responsible for the operation of such vehicles is not clear among car makers, consumers and lawyers. “The liability(法律责任) issue is the biggest one of them all,” says Natasha Merat at the University of Leeds, UK.
An assumption behind UK insurance for driverless cars, introduces earlier this year, insists that a human “ be watchful and monitoring the road” at every moment.
But that is not what many people have in mind when thinking of driverless cars. “When you say ‘driverless cars’, people expect driverless cars.”Merat says. “You know — no driver.”
Because of the confusion, Merat thinks some car makers will wait until vehicles can be fully automated without operation.
Driverless cars may end up being a form of public transport rather than vehicles you own, says Ryan Calo at Stanford University, California. That is happening in the UK and Singapore, where government-provided driverless vehicles are being launched.
That would go down poorly in the US, however. “The idea that the government would take over driverless cars and treat them as a public good would get absolutely nowhere here,” says Calo.
1. What does the phrase “death valley” in Paragraph 2 refer to?| A．A place where cars often break down. |
| B．A case where passing a law is impossible. |
| C．An area where no driving is permitted. |
| D．A situation where drivers’ role is not clear. |
| A．stop people from breaking traffic rules |
| B．help promote fully automatic driving |
| C．protect drivers of all ages and races |
| D．prevent serious property damage |
| A．It should get the attention of insurance companies. |
| B．It should be the main concern of law makers. |
| C．It should not cause deadly traffic accidents. |
| D．It should involve no human responsibility. |
| A．Singapore |
| B．the UK |
| C．the US |
| D．Germany |
| A．Autonomous Driving: Whose Liability? |
| B．Fully Automatic Cars: A New Breakthrough |
| C．Autonomous Vehicles: Driver Removed |
| D．Driverless Cars: Root of Road Accidents |
2 . Twice every month, Miranda Sam, a 66-year-old Ghanaian, visited the China Traditional Herbal Hospital, a private herbal facility at Pokuase, a suburb of the Ghanaian capital, for treatment.
“I was squeezing lemons, and when I finished, I could not get up or even move my legs, so I went to the hospital and did an X-ray examination, but they saw nothing. Meanwhile, I could not walk and was in a wheelchair,” the retired worker said. Hence Miranda decided to visit the herbal facility. “On two occasions, I had to do acupuncture(针灸), and I have found great relief. Now I walk unaided, so I keep coming for treatment,” she said.
As Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is gaining popularity in Ghana, many acupuncture clinics run by Chinese doctors pop up in the country. However, the China Traditional Herbal Hospital was established by 52-year-old Ghanaian business owner Bediako, after his fruitful encounter with the effects of TCM in 2012. With the help of a Chinese lady, Bediako set up a small clinic specializing in TCM. Years on, the facility has subsequently grown into a bigger herbal hospital. The hospital treats patients with a combination of local and Chinese herbal formulas. It supports this with the application of traditional Chinese medical methods.
Strokes(中风) account for 1.3 percent of all hospital admissions in Ghana, and 6.3 percent of all hospital deaths. But Bediako is confident that as more people with these conditions turn to the natural methods of healing, the pain and death rates would subside. “A gentleman was brought here three weeks ago, who could not sit, stand, or walk. He was first taken through acupuncture. I observed him on camera 30 minutes later, squatting(蹲), standing, and walking. You come here with your pain but will leave with a smile. That is our feature,” he said.
The hospital has started a second facility in Ashaiman near the capital, with plans to open other branches across the country to meet the growing demand.
1. What can we learn from Miranda’s words in Paragraph 2?| A．Her illness is not a bit severe. | B．Squeezing lemons is a risky job. |
| C．She is feeling better now. | D．She is unsure about what to do next. |
| A．It is located in the downtown area. |
| B．It was originally a specialized clinic. |
| C．It was established by a Chinese doctor. |
| D．It uses nothing but Chinese herbs. |
| A．Decline. | B．Remain. |
| C．Climb. | D．Change. |
| A．Negative. | B．Optimistic. |
| C．Uncertain. | D．Concerned. |
3 . Imagine a world where you move around in front of a personal computer in your own sound space. You listen to your favorite songs, play loud computer games or watch a movie — all without other people hearing the sound and without headphones.
That is the possibility presented by “sound beaming”, a new technology from Noveto Systems, an Israeli company. On Friday, the company introduced a desktop device that sends sound directly to a listener without the need for headphones or a special receiver.
Noveto Systems gave The Associated Press (AP) a chance to test its SoundBeamer 1.0 before its introduction. The AP’s Louise Dixon writes that listening to the device is like something from a science fiction movie.The sound seems so close that it feels like it is inside your ears while also in front, above and behind them.
Noveto expects the device will have many uses. Office workers could listen to music or conference calls without others hearing. People could play a game, a movie or music without waking up others in the same room. Because the device does not use headphones, it is possible to hear other sounds in the room clearly.
The device uses a 3-D sensing module that finds and follows the ear position of the listener. It sends ultrasonic waves (超声波) to create sound pockets by the user’s ears. The 3-D method creates sound on all sides of the listener, therefore the listeners feel completely transported into the scene.
By changing a setting, the sound can follow a listener around when he moves his head. It is also possible to move out of the sound beam's path and hear nothing at all.
While the idea of sound beaming is not new, Noveto was the first to launch the technology.
According to the chief executive officer Christophe Ramstein, a “smaller” version of the device will be ready for release to consumers next year.
1. What does the underlined word “possibility” in Paragraph 2 refer to?| A．The listener may put on music to block out other sounds. |
| B．The listener may hear sound only for him or her without using headphones. |
| C．The listener may enjoy songs or movies without being interrupted by others. |
| D．The listener may have the ability to pick up some special sounds. |
| A．Amazing. | B．Impossible. |
| C．Strange. | D．Meaningful. |
| A．It places the listener on the scene to hear the sound. |
| B．It fixes a sound beam’s path which can not be changed. |
| C．It follows the listeners around to send and receive sounds. |
| D．With 3-D tracking technology, it sends ultrasonic waves to the target listener. |
| A．To promote the SoundBeamer. | B．To introduce a new sound device. |
| C．To recommend new headphones. | D．To explain a technical phenomenon. |
4 . Research has shown that disrupting one's natural “morning lark” (早起鸟) or “night owl” (夜猫子) tendency can result in immoral behavior at work.
Who doesn't love a flexible work schedule? Being able to make your own hours, come in when you're ready and leave when you're done, step out to attend a child's presentation at school, have a midday appointment, or even squeeze in a quick workout or nap as a guaranteed pick-me-up — flexibility greatly improves one's quality of life.
The benefits don't stop there, however. Research has shown that having flexible work hours actually makes one a better person. How so? It's been found that disrupted sleep patterns —in the form of having to act outside of your normal inclination to be a morning “lark” or a night “owl” — can result in strange, unethical, and out-of-line behavior.
Science journalist Linda Geddes said, “If you don't get enough sleep, research suggests you are more likely to have unethical behavior, such as being mean, bullying your fellow employees or falsifying receipts. But it's not just owls: the larks tend to behave more unethically in the evening, and owls in the morning. So ideally, you want to introduce flexible working."
Employers would be wise to allow their employees to start whenever they feel ready — whether it's at the crack of dawn or at 11 a.m., and to allow breaks or pauses in the day as needed — because that would mean better productivity, performance, and behavior.
This shift is already happening, with the New York Times recently reporting that 27 percent of US employers now offer the flexibility to work outside normal business hours, up from 22 percent in 2014; and 68 percent allow telecommuting as needed (up from 54 percent in 2014). With the national unemployment rate at its lowest in 50 years, employers are having to become more competitive in what they offer workers, and flex-hours seem like a no-brainer, highly beneficial to all.
1. What is mainly talked about in Paragraph 2?| A．Ways to improve life quality. |
| B．People's activities in their free time. |
| C．Methods to get a flexible work schedule. |
| D．The advantages of flexibility in work time. |
| A．Judgment. | B．Tendency. | C．Reaction. | D．Choice. |
| A．They will show their nature more easily. |
| B．They tend to suffer from sleep problems. |
| C．They tend to behave immorally in their work. |
| D．They will get more flexibility in working time. |
| A．The unemployment rate is increasing. |
| B．Employers are getting more free time. |
| C．Flexible working has been creating more jobs. |
| D．More employers adopt a flexible work schedule. |
5 . E-cigarettes Ban:Good news for Tobacco?
The proposed ban on flavored e-cigarettes may drive many Americans back to cigarettes,said Christopher Palmeri and Jeff Green in the Los Ange Times.
Responding to an outbreak of hundreds of serious lung illnesses from vapes(电子烟)that killed a seventh person this week, FDA(食物药品监管局)will outlaw everything but tobacco-flavored-cigarettes, as Michigan and New York state recently did. Flavors like buttered popcorn and mango helped create "an explosion" in teen vaping. But hundreds of thousands of teens already addicted to nicotine-and 9 million adults who vape--may simply replace vaping with tobacco products. By banning favored vapes the government may be "closing the shed door after the horse has gotten out."
Nobody vapes "because the flavor is so amazing," said David Marcus in The Federalist com. That's why the ban is so clueless."If kids want to taste bubble gum,they can buy,you know,bubble gum." Vaping giants like Juul need to be honest about the fact that they’re in the nicotine business, and monitor themselves accordingly. They should spend billions ensuring that stores don’t sell to minors instead of touting the "scientific conclusion"that e-cigarettes are safer than smoking. The burning involved in smoking cigarettes creates tar and a bunch of chemicals not present in e-cigarettes' watery vapor. True, but nicotine is also a dangerous and addictive drug and vaping liquid itself contains chemicals that damage blood vessels(血管)."The idea of safe smoking" is"a lie," and the vaping industry's fruit- and candy-flavored pods" are proof of evil intent."
"The massive increase in teen vapers" is a reasonable concern, said Robert Gebelhoff in Washington Post.com.But the evidence suggests that the lung illnesses that led the government to act were caused by black-market products cut with dangerous substance.Banning favored vapes will only drive more nicotine addicts and teens to the black market,which will be happy to provide fruity pods. Instead of banning flavors, the government "should empower the FDA to fully regulate the industry." That would let science,"not panic,guide our policy."
1. What led to the proposed ban on e-cigarettes?| A．Popular flavors like mango led to teen nicotine addiction. |
| B．The lack of proper legal supervision in the vaping industry. |
| C．An increased number of deaths resulting from lung diseases. |
| D．The sharp increase in the sale of unhealthy tobacco products. |
| A．FDA would regulate the tobacco industry more effectively. |
| B．The vaping industry would be more strictly monitored. |
| C．The evil intent of the vaping industry would be revealed. |
| D．The tobacco industry might regain its previous glory. |
| A．Promoting | B．challenging | C．assuming | D．tolerating |
| A．Supportive. | B．Disapproving | C．Uninterested | D．Impartial. |
6 . Professor Stephen Hawking recently came out with a serious warning for people. While at the Starmus Festival, a festival in Trondheim, Norway, celebrating science and the arts, Hawking warned people that the human race is in serious danger.
Hawking criticized President Donald Trump for denying climate change. Then the physicist warned the audience, “I am not denying the importance of fighting climate change and global warming, unlike Donald Trump, who may just have taken the most serious, and wrong, decision on climate change this world has seen.”
Hawking proposed that the leading countries should send astronauts to the Moon before 2020 to restart a movement of more exploration in space. BBC reported that Hawking suggested that we “build a lunar base in 30 years’ time and send people to Mars by 2025.”
According to BBC, Professor Hawking said, “Spreading out into space will completely change the future of humanity.” He continued, “I hope it would unite competitive nations in a single goal, to face the common challenge for us all.” The physicist shared more ideas to motivate the younger generation to continue exploring space. Hawking stated, “a new and ambitious space program would excite (young people), and stimulate interest in other areas, such as astrophysics and cosmology.”
Hawking also revealed his vision for other forms of energy that could move us to a new planet. He warned the audience, “The Earth is under threat from so many areas that it is difficult for me to be positive.” He continued, “Our natural resources are being drained, at an alarming rate. We have given our planet the disastrous gifts of climate change, rising temperatures, reduction of the polar ice caps, deforestation, and decimation (大量毁灭) of animal species. We can be ignorant, unthinking lot (人).”
The professor warned the audience that doing nothing would lead nowhere. He said, “If we succeed, we will send a probe (航天探测器) to Alpha Centauri within the lifetime of some of you alive today. It is clear we are entering a new space age. We are standing at the threshold (起点) of a new era. Human colonization and moving to other planets is no longer science fiction, and it can be science fact.” Hawking advised the audience to move to other worlds because we are running out of space.
1. According to Hawking, what is the first step for humans to spread out into space?| A．To build a lunar base. |
| B．To send people to Mars. |
| C．To send astronauts to the Moon. |
| D．To change the future of humanity. |
| A．Spreading out into space. |
| B．Facing the common challenge of humans. |
| C．Stimulating young people’s interest in other areas. |
| D．Motivating the younger generation to explore space. |
| A．speeded up | B．stored |
| C．used up | D．explored |
| A．Worried. | B．Confused. |
| C．Positive. | D．Indifferent. |
| A．To warn the audience that humans are in danger. |
| B．To predict what will happen to the earth in future. |
| C．To stress that humans are entering a new space age. |
| D．To encourage the audience to move to other planets. |
| A．the Earth is under threat and the human race is in serious danger |
| B．a new and ambitious space program would excite young people |
| C．astronauts have found a better world in the space than the Earth |
| D．humans have found other forms of energy to move to a new planet |
7 . Kyle Cassidy and three other members of the Annenberg Running Group were stretching on the grounds of the University of Pennsylvania, waiting for a few latecomers. The Penn colleagues and other community members meet three days a week for a roughly 30-minute jog and an occasional lecture. That's right― during some runs, one of them delivers a talk. Topics range from the brain to Bitcoin.
But on this day last January, it would not be their normal run. The first clue that something was off was the man who sprinted past them. "Running at an amazing pace," Cassidy told Runner's World admiringly. Cassidy discovered why the sprinter was so fleet of foot when another man ran by, yelling, “Help! He took my phone and laptop!"
At that, the group did what running clubs do: They ran, trailing the suspect down the streets of Philadelphia until he ducked into a construction site. The runners split up. Cassidy ran around to the far side of the site to cut the thief off while the others wandered the neighborhood hoping he had dumped the loot （赃物）in a backyard.
No luck. So they decided to ask residents whether they'd seen the guy. When they knocked on the door of one row house, they were in for a surprise. Unknown to them, he had already emerged from the construction site—and was hiding behind a bush by that very house. As the owner opened the door, the suspect darted out from behind the bush ... and right into the arms of campus police, who'd joined the chase shortly behind the runners.
The members of this running group are not hard-core athletes. But they do understand the benefit of a little exercise. ''Running is typically a useless sport where you turn fat cells into heat," Cassidy told The Philadelphia Inquirer. "But occasionally it can be useful, and here was one of those opportunities."
1. Why do the group members gather together?| A．To do some stretching. | B．To have a regular run. |
| C．To deliver a lecture. | D．To cover some topics. |
| A．Dashed. | B．Pushed. |
| C．Jumped. | D．Escaped. |
| A．the assistance of the runners | B．the owner of the row house |
| C．the campus police on patrol | D．the joint efforts of the people |
| A．Athletic and generous. | B．Courageous and ambitious. |
| C．Helpful and humorous. | D．Thoughtful and demanding. |
8 . Time and how we experience it have always puzzled us. Physicists have created fascinating theories, but their time is measured by a pendulum (钟摆) and is not psychological time, which leaps with little regard to the clock or calendar. As someone who understood the distinction observed, ''When you sit with a nice girl for two hours it seems like a minute, but when you sit on a hot stove, a minute seems like two hours. ''
Psychologists have long noticed that larger units of time, such as months and years, fly on swifter wings as we age. They also note that the more time is structured with schedules and appointments, the more rapidly it seems to pass. For example, a day at the office flies compared with a day at the beach.
Expectation and familiarity also make time seem to flow more rapidly. Almost all of us have had the experience of driving somewhere we've never been before. Surrounded by unfamiliar scenery, with no real idea of when we’ll arrive, we experience the trip as lasing a long time. But the return trip, although exactly as long, seems to take far less time. The novelty of the outward journey has become routine.
When days become as identical as beads (小珠子)on a string, they mix together, and even months become a single day. To counter this, try to find ways to interrupt the structure of your day-- to stop time, so to speak.
Learning something new is one of the ways to slow the passage of time. One of the reasons the days of our youth seems to be full and long is that these are the days of learning and discovery. For many of us, learning ends when we leave school, but this doesn't have to be.
1. What is the underlined sentence in paragraph 1 used to show?| A．Psychological time is quite puzzling. |
| B．Time should not be measured by a pendulum. |
| C．Physical time is different from psychological time |
| D．Physical theory has nothing to do with the true sense of time |
| A．Our sense of time changes. |
| B．We spend less time at the beach |
| C．More time is structured and scheduled |
| D．Time is structured with too many appointments. |
| A．excitement | B．unfamiliarity | C．imagination | D．amusement |
| A．To give various explanations about time |
| B．To describe how we experience time physically |
| C．To show the differences of two kinds of time |
| D．To explain why time flies and how to slow it down |
9 . More and more travellers in China nowadays prefer homestays rather than traditional hotels, as they seek private living experiences. The house-sharing model was first introduced by the website Couchsurfing.com in 2003. It is still the largest website for travellers to find accommodation (住宿) without much money to spend.
Encouraged by her great experience of homestays in France, Maggita, 30, considered short-term hire as her first choice in her future trips. She later went back to her hometown Shanghai and ran a "shared accommodation" business.
The short-term hire idea has been a win-win business model. For travellers, they can rent a special room at a reasonable price and also enjoy a firsthand experience of the local culture, compared with traditional hotels. For owners, they can gain much with daily rental. Now Maggita has quit her last job in an IT company and become a host of some 20 homestays, which enables her to earn a monthly income of around 40,000 — 50,000 yuan.
In recent years, China has seen many homestay booking websites such as Xiaozhu and Tujia. Chen Chi, the founder and CEO of Xiaozhu, said the model is to share rooms or apartments that are not in use with people who need them. Instead of the traditional view that Chinese people feel uncomfortable living with strangers, Chen found that a large number of travellers got along well with house owners.
However, experts have pointed out a series of problems brought about by the fashion. Lacking supervision (监管) to those accommodation sharing websites, the service quality and accommodation safety cannot be guaranteed (保障).Experts suggest that the online websites should closely work together with communities and local police stations to improve the services.
1. What can we learn about homestays from the first paragraph?| A．They started in China. | B．They offer the best service. |
| C．They can be money-saving. | D．They are popular with the youth. |
A．Taken up.  | B．Given up. |
| C．Looked for. | D．Gone for |
A．Useless.  | B．Relaxing. |
| C．Well-accepted. | D．Uncomfortable. |
| A．Homestays need to be improved. |
| B．Some experts don't support homestays. |
| C．Lacking supervision is the biggest problem of homestays. |
| D．The police should manage the homestay services. |
10 . These days, it's not unusual to see middle-aged men collecting Star Wars action figures, office workers wearing Hello Kitty accessories, or celebrities like David Beckham playing with Lego bricks. It's becoming more and more common to see adults taking an interest in toys, comic books and the activities that are traditionally associated with children. This phenomenon has given rise to a new word: kidult.
What lies behind the phenomenon? One is about adults' nostalgia （怀旧之情）for the carefree days of childhood, and this is especially true with today's fast-paced, stressful lifestyles. Another is about a societal change in recent decades where people are starting families later. As a result, they have more time and money to spend on themselves. Some adults could only window-shop for their dream toys when they were kids, but now they can afford that radio controlled car or high-priced doll they have always wanted.
Businesses have been quick to exploit the kidult trend, and the number of toy stores that target adults has risen. Companies are repackaging products from past decades and also bringing out new ones for adults. Lego, for example, has brought out an architectural series featuring landmarks from around the world.
Society traditionally disapproves of adults who refuse to put aside childhood interests, viewing the refusal as a sign of social immaturity and irresponsibility. Those who agree with this view sometimes claim that kidults are suffering from the pop-psychology concept known as Peter Pan Syndrome, an anomaly （异常）that people remain emotionally at the level of teenagers. On a grander scale, these kidult opponents （对手）argue that such delayed adulthood causes couples to marry later and have fewer children. This in turn can lead to shrinking national economies, for there needs to be a generational replenishment （补充）
of the workforce.
From the standpoint of kidults, though, this phenomenon is seen as nothing but harmless fun. Kidults insist that having youthful interests keeps them young, happy and creative, and their refusal to conform to society's acceptable tastes shows independent thinking. Besides, they argue that being part of the social trend of delayed adulthood is not purely a personal choice. The real causes include expensive housing, increased educational requirements for employment and poor work opportunities.
Whether the kidult phenomenon will continue to grow or prove to be a passing trend is anyone's guess. As the debate about it continues, remember that there is nothing wrong with being young at heart.
1. What does the kidult phenomenon refer to?| A．Adults act like children. |
| B．Adults have child-like tastes. |
| C．Adults go in for collecting toys. |
| D．Adults like playing with children. |
| A．Different living conditions. |
| B．More choices about toys. |
| C．High pressure of modern life. |
| D．Good memories of childhood. |
| A．Get used to. |
| B．Look forward to. |
| C．Take advantage of. |
| D．Make way for. |
| A．By strongly opposing kidult opponents. |
| B．By convincing readers to accept kidults. |
| C．By refusing to take a stand on the issue. |
| D．By presenting both sides of the argument. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Positive. |
| C．Disapproving. | D．Uncaring. |
