1 . If you were to throw, say, a banana peel 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 peel can take up to two years to be naturally processed, and with a third of motorists admitting to littering while driving, that’s a whole lot of discarded banana peels. An orange peel and a cigarette butt has a similar biodegrading (生物降解) term to that of a banana peel, 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 merely measure the severity 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 discarded 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 fly-tipping you could face a £20,000 fine or even jail time and, if you disposed of something dangerous, the court could give you five years to serve. Regardless of how severe 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 “discarded” in para1 mean?| A．Harmless. | B．Processed. | C．Thrown. | D．Long-lasting. |
| A．Glass bottles. | B．Tin cans. | C．Cigarette butts. | D．Banana peels. |
| A．The severity of rubbish can be measured by its lifetime. |
| B．Quite a few people were found guilty of illegally littering. |
| C．Every year UK taxpayers spend £500 million keeping streets free of dirt. |
| D．Cigarette-related litter and peels can be ignored for their fairly short lifetime. |
| A．To inform readers of different biodegrading terms. |
| B．To call for people not to litter illegally. |
| C．To encourage people to use fewer plastic bags. |
| D．To stress the importance of good behavior. |
2 . I came to study in the United States a year ago .Yet I did not know the real American society until I was injured in a car accident because after the accident I had to see a doctor and go to court.
After the accident .my roommate called a doctor for me. I was very grateful and determined to repay him one day. But the next day, he asked me to pay him $200 for what he had done. I was astonished. He had good reason to charge me, he said. And if I wanted to collect money from the person who was responsible for my injury, I’d have to have a good lawyer. And only a good doctor can help me get a good lawyer .Now that he had helped me find a good doctor, it was only fair that I should pay him.
But every day I went to see the doctor, I had to wait about 50 minutes. He would see two or three patients at the same time, and often stop treating one so as to see another. Yet he charged me $115 each time .The final examination report consisted of ten lines, and it cost me $215.
My lawyer was all smiles the first time we met. But after that he avoided seeing me at all. He knew very well the other party was responsible for the accident, yet he hardly did anything. He simply waited to collect his money. He was so irresponsible that I decided to dismiss him. And he made me pay him $770.
Now I had to act as my own lawyer. Due to my inexperience, I told the insurance company the date I was leaving America. Knowing that, they played for time…and I left without getting a cent.
1. The author’s roommate offered to help him because________.| A．he felt sorry for the author |
| B．he thought it was a chance to make some money |
| C．he knew the doctor was a very good one |
| D．he wanted the author to have a good lawyer |
| A．be properly treated |
| B．talk with the person responsible for the accident |
| C．recover before he leaves America |
| D．eventually get the responsible party（当事人） to pay for his injury |
| A．be responsible | B．accuse | C．ask as a price | D．demand |
| A．friendly | B．selfish | C．professional | D．busy |
3 . Many people turn to doctors or self-help books, but they forget a great thing that could help them fight illness: their friends.
Researchers are only now starting to pay attention to the importance of friendship in health. A 10-year Australian study found that older people with a large circle of friends were 22 percent less likely to die during the study period than those with fewer friends. A large 2007 study showed an increase of nearly 60 percent in the danger for obesity among people whose friends gained weight. And last year, Harvard researchers reported that strong social ties (关系) could improve brain health as we age.
“In general, the role of friendship in our lives isn’t well realized,” said Rebecca, a professor at the University of North Carolina. “Friendship has a bigger effect on our psychological (心理的) health than family relationships.”
While many friendship studies are about the close relationships of women, some research shows that it can do good to men too. In a six-year study of 736 middle-aged men, having friendships reduces the risk of heart disease. Only smoking was as important a danger factor (因素) as having little social support.
The exact reason why friendship has such a big effect isn’t clear. While friends can send a sick person to the hospital or pick up medicine, the advantages go well beyond physical help. Friendship clearly has a big psychological effect. “People with stronger friendships feel like there is someone they can turn to,” said Karen, a doctor. “The message of these studies is that friends make your life better.”
1. The three studies in paragraph 2 show that ________.| A．social ties have something to do with health |
| B．friends can help us lose weight |
| C．old people need friends the most |
| D．having more friends makes us healthier |
| A．health | B．unhappiness | C．excitement | D．fatness |
| A．Friendship is more important to women than to men. |
| B．What people need most is a friend’s care. |
| C．The value of friendship hasn’t been fully understood. |
| D．Friendship is more important than family relationship. |
| A．Smoking and lack of friends are also risk factors for health. |
| B．Friendship and family relationships have equal effects on health. |
| C．Close friendships are good for women but not for men. |
| D．It is clear why friendship has such a huge impact on health. |
| A．How to keep healthy. |
| B．The importance of doctors or self-help books. |
| C．The relationship between friendship and health. |
| D．How to improve family relationships. |
4 . I don’t realize that I’ve been at college for nearly one and half year until now. Looking back into the last year, what shall I say? It consisted of both happiness and sadness. Life always goes like this, up and down, as is so exciting. Now when I recall the past, no matter how I felt at that time, they are all treasures for me.
That was the moon festival last year, which was also the first time we went out after we entered the college. It was said that the sea in Dalian was well-known and was also a wonderful place to watch the moon. After getting all the food and drinking ready, we four girls set off for the seaside. There were many people and we picked up a less crowded beach. At first, we enjoyed ourselves by drinking and eating. When the moon turned brighter, we played with the seawater. As a result, we were all drenched with water. Bathing in the moonlight, we ran and laughed. We seemed to land on another world, where was full of fresh air, laughter and love. The laughter is still echoing(回响) on my mind so far.
Life doesn’t stay the same, occasionally having a particular taste. That is sadness. What impressed me deeply is a failure in a singing competition. It was the first time I had given a performance on such a large stage in front of so many people. I was so nervous that the whole song was performed out of tune. As you could imagine, I was greeted with boos from the audience. I still remembered how dismal I felt that moment and I sat alone crying at the seaside. After that, I talked to mother about it. She told me that it was not a failure; at least, I was brave enough to show myself publicly.
Everything has passed. I’ve stored them at the bottom of my heart. I am in the second grade already. Yet much needs me to challenge. On the way, there's both happiness and distress. However, I will go ahead just all the same.
1. The author of the text is ______.| A．a boy | B．a girl |
| C．the passage doesn’t say | D．none of the above |
| A．dried | B．wet |
| C．frozen | D．washed away |
| A．full of happiness | B．filled with sadness |
| C．made up of laughter and tears | D．not worth living |
| A．It was wonderful | B．It was disappointing |
| C．The passage doesn’t say | D．It was perfect |
| A．A friend in need is a friend indeed. |
| B．Do wrong once and you’ll never hear the end of it. |
| C．Where there is a will, there is a way. |
| D．Time and tide wait for no man. |
5 . 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. |
6 . Mirroring body language is a way to bond and to build understanding. It is a powerful tool that we use without even knowing it.
The most obvious forms of mirroring are yawning and smiling. When you see someone yawn, you are likely to yawn immediately. Smiling is also pretty contagious-seeing a smiling person makes you want to smile too.
Mirroring body language is a nonverbal way to say “I am like you, I feel the same”. Research shows that people who experience the same feelings are likely to trust, understand and accept each other.
Women have the natural ability to pick up and understand body signals. Therefore, it is not surprising that a woman is more likely to mirror another woman than a man is to mirror another man. That's why women are regarded as better talkers, even if they might not really have more close friends.
It is interesting that when a man tries to mirror a woman's body language while she is talking, he may seem to her as caring, intelligent and attractive.
Mirroring body language is an excellent way to build trust and understanding quickly. If you want to set up a connection with a new person, mirror his or her gestures, sitting position, tone of voice and talking pace. This will make them feel that there is something about you that they like.
While mirroring body language gains you acceptance, you still need to take into consideration your relationship with the person you are mirroring. If you are in a lower social position and are mirroring the body language of your boss, he will view you as arrogant. However, if you want to defeat those who are trying to prove superior to you, mirroring their body language will help defeat them and change their position.
1. What does the underlined word “contagious” in paragraph 2 mean?| A．Affecting each other. | B．Powerful to show one's feelings. |
| C．Attractive to the others. | D．Being gentle to people around. |
| A．send wrong messages | B．hide true feelings |
| C．win others' acceptance | D．avoid misunderstanding |
| A．You will appear very attractive. | B．It will help to soften his position. |
| C．You will seem unacceptably proud. | D．It will be a good way to build trust. |
| A．It is important to copy the others' gestures. |
| B．Why women are regarded as better talkers. |
| C．Men is not good at nonverbal communication. |
| D．Mirroring body language can be a useful tool. |
7 . “Nomophobia”, NO Mobile Phone phobia(恐惧) is a 21st-century term for the fear of not being able to use your smartphone. Smartphone addiction is on the rise, surveys show, and a new study released adds to a growing body of evidence that smartphone addiction is harming our minds literally.
Smartphone addiction affects many people from all across the globe. Over 1.8 billion people own smartphones and the average owners check their screens 150 times a day. Considering those numbers, it shouldn’t come as a surprise when 44% of people (compared with 20% in 2011) admit feeling anxious when they can’t have access to their phones.
Researchers from Harvard University used brain imaging to study the brains of 19 teenage boys who were diagnosed with smartphone addiction. Compared with 19 teenagers who were not addicted, the brains of the addicted boys had significantly higher levels of GABA, which decelerates neurons (神经元)， than levels of glutamate-glutamine, which energizes brain signals. That results in poorer attention and control, which you don’t want to have, because you want to stay focused. So that means you are easier to get distracted.
“Addicted teenagers in the study also had significantly higher scores in anxiety, depression and levels of impulsiveness (冲动) ,” said Dr. Leslie Perlow, who led the study.
If you seem to have the symptoms of smart device addiction, experts have some suggestions in addition to mindfulness training. First, turn off your phone at certain times of the day, such as in meetings, when having dinner, playing with your kids, and of course, driving. Remove social media apps, like Facebook and Twitter from your phone, and only check-in from your laptop. Try to stop yourself to 15-minute intervals at set times of the day when it won’t affect work or family life. Don’t bring your cellphone and its harmful blue light to bed, and use an old-fashioned alarm to wake you. And last, try to replace your smart device time with healthier activities such as meditating or actually interacting with real people.
1. What is the conclusion of the research?| A．Smartphone addiction leads to distraction. |
| B．Smartphone addiction easily causes anger. |
| C．Smartphone addiction is harmful to the mind. |
| D．Smartphone addiction brings about anxiety and depression. |
| A．In Paragraph 2. | B．In Paragraph 3. |
| C．In Paragraph 4. | D．In Paragraph 5. |
| A．Speeds up. | B．Slows down. |
| C．Adds to. | D．Cuts down. |
| A．To use an old-fashion cellphone. | B．To participate in more social activities. |
| C．To stop fifteen-minute intervals. | D．To turn off the blue light on bed. |
8 . Being able to take advantage of truly unlimited data is a smartphone user's dream, but everyone I've talked to about 5G is more excited about the usage unlocked by next - generation wireless devices. From smart home security to self - driving cars, all the Internet - connected equipment in your life will be able to talk to each other at lightning - fast speed with reduced delay.
"5 G is one of those forerunners, along with artificial intelligence, of this coming data age, ” said Steve Koenig, senior director of market research for the Consumer Technology Association. "Self - driving vehicles are emblematic in this data age - they show application of data completely. With one single task, driving, you have large amounts of data coming from the vehicle itself, and a variety of sensors (传感器)are collecting a lot of information to model its environment as it moves. It's pulling in data from other vehicles about conditions down the road. There's lots of data behind that task, which is why we need the speed and lower latency ((延迟).
AR glasses and virtual (虚拟的)reality headphones haven't yet been inside the mainstream, but tech companies are joyfully saying that such equipment will eventually replace our smartphones. With 5G, that could actually happen. This is notable because companies such as Apple are reportedly developing AR glasses to improve - or even replace - smartphones.
Ericsson showed at February's Mobile World Congress in 2019 how smart glasses could become faster and lighter with a 5G connection, because instead of being weighed down with components, the glasses could rely on outside equipment for processing power.
But don't get too excited. There's still a lot of work to be done in the meantime, including some necessary testing to make sure the radio plays nicely with basic systems and service construction so that 5G isn, t concentrated only in big cities.
1. What does the first paragraph focus on?| A．Potential of 5G. | B．The super speed of 5G. |
| C．Usage of smart equipment. | D．The future of smart equipment. |
| A．available | B．productive | C．representative | D．popular |
| A．Uncertain. | B．Optimistic. | C．Cautious. | D．Disapproving. |
| A．To make radio play nicely. | B．To construct big 5G cities. |
| C．To do 5G trials effectively. | D．To expand 5G coverage fully. |
9 . People are less willing to rely on their knowledge and say they know something when they have access (接近) to the Internet, suggesting that our connection to the web is affecting how we think.
Professor Evan Risko, of the Department of Psychology at the University of Waterloo, led a recent study where the team asked about 100 participants (参与者) a series of general-knowledge questions, such as naming the capital of France. For half of the study, participants had access to the Internet. They had to look up the answer when they responded that they did not know the answer. In the other half of the study, participants did not have access to the Internet.
The team found that the people who had access to the web were about 5 percent more likely to say that they did not know the answer to the question. Furthermore, in some cases, the people with access to the Internet reported feeling as though they knew less compared to the people without access.
“With the popularity of the Internet, we are almost frequently connected to large amounts of information. And when that data is within reach, people seem less likely to rely on their own knowledge,” said Professor Risko.
Studying the results, the researchers thought that access to the Internet might make it less acceptable to say you know something but are incorrect. It is also possible that participants were more likely to say they didn’t know an answer when they had access to the web because online searching offers an opportunity to confirm their answer, and the process of finding out the answer is rewarding.
“Our results suggest that access to the Internet affects the decisions we make about what we know and don’t know,” said Risko. “We hope this research helps us understand how easy access to large amounts of information can influence our thinking and behaviour.”
1. The study by Professor Risko shows that ________.| A．we are easily cheated by the web |
| B．the web is making our life harder |
| C．we are becoming dependent on the web |
| D．the web helps us make correct decisions |
| A．They were funny. | B．They were simple. |
| C．They were personal. | D．They were difficult. |
| A．made more progress | B．showed less confidence |
| C．gave wrong answers | D．showed more optimism |
| A．Goal. | B．Dream. |
| C．Distance. | D．Information. |
