3 . Joint Statement from the IOC and the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee

The President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Thomas Bach, and the Prime Minister of Japan, Abe Shinzo, held a conference call this morning to discuss the constantly changing environment with regard to COVID-19 and the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.

President Bach and Prime Minister Abe expressed their shared concern about the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, and what it is doing to people’s lives and the significant effect it is having on global athletes’ preparations for the Games.

In a very friendly and constructive meeting, the two leaders praised the work of the Tokyo 2020 Organizing Committee and noted the great progress being made in Japan to fight against COVID-19.

The unprecedented and unpredictable spread of the outbreak has seen the situation in the rest of the world worsening. Yesterday, the Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said that the COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating. There are more than 375,000 cases now recorded worldwide and in nearly every country, and their number is growing by the hour.

In the present circumstances and based on the information provided by the WHO today, the IOC President and the Prime Minister of Japan have concluded that the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in Tokyo must be rescheduled to a date beyond 2020 but not later than summer 2021, to safeguard the health of the athletes, everybody involved in the Olympic Games and the international community.

The leaders agreed that the Olympic Games in Tokyo could stand as a beacon (灯塔) of hope to the world during these troubled times and that the Olympic flame could become the light at the end of the tunnel in which the world finds itself at present. Therefore, it was agreed that the Olympic flame will stay in Japan. It was also agreed that the Games will keep the name Olympic and Paralympic Games Tokyo 2020.

1. What is the purpose of the conference call between the President of IOC and the Prime Minister of Japan?

A．To talk about the ways of dealing with the spread of COVID-19.

B．To talk about the effect of COVID-19 on people’s lives around the world.

C．To praise Japan for the great progress they made to fight against COVID-19.

D．To talk about the situation of COVID-19 and the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020.

2. What is the possible meaning of the underlined word in the 4th paragraph?

A．Slowing down.	B．Developing fast.
C．Spreading gradually.	D．Causing concern.

3. Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the conference call?

A．COVID-19 has a great effect on the athletes’ preparations for the Games.

B．The situation caused by COVID-19 is worsening in many countries around the world.

C．The Tokyo Olympic Games will be rescheduled to a date not later than summer 2021.

D．The Games to be held in Tokyo will be named the Olympic Tokyo 2021.

4. What can we learn from the last two paragraphs?

A．The Tokyo Olympic Games is put off only to protect the health of the athletes.

B．The world will see hope of pulling through brought by the Tokyo Olympic Games.

C．The Olympic flame will be used as a light at the end of a tunnel of Tokyo.

D．Both the Olympic Games Tokyo and Paralympic Games Tokyo will not be held in 2020.

4 . I first began to wonder what was doing on a college campus when my parents drove off, leaving me alone in a parking lot, wanting nothing more than to find my way safely to my dorm room. The fact was that no matter how mature I liked to consider myself, I was feeling just a bit first-gradish. Adding to my distress was the impression that everyone on campus was watching me. My plan was to keep my ears open and my mouth shut and hope no one would notice I was a freshman.

With that thought in mind, I raised my head, squared my shoulders, and set out in the direction of my dorm, glancing at the campus map in my hand. And then I spent the afternoon seeking out each of my classrooms so that I could make perfectly timed entrance before each lecture without having to ask silly questions about its whereabouts.

The next morning, I found my first class and marched in. I chose a seat in the first row and to the side. I was in the front, but out of the professor's direct line of vision. Then I opened my anthology（选集）of American literature and looked at the date at the top of a page. "Welcome to Biology 101," the professor began. Cold sweat broke out on the back of my neck. I got out my schedule and checked the room number. I was in the right room. Just the wrong building!

So now what? Get up and leave in the middle of the lecture? Wouldn't the professor be angry? Wouldn't they all stare at me? Forget it, I settled into my chair.

1. What does the underlined word "that thought" in paragraph 2 refer to?

A．missing her parents	B．working hard in college
C．showing maturity	D．being first-gradish

2. What would the author do next at the end of the story?

A．She would do the same as the other students in the room.

B．She would leave the room in the middle of the lecture.

C．She would ask the professor for a leave.

D．She would explain the mistake to the professor.

3. Which of the following is the best title of this passage?

A．My college

B．A Mistake

C．Fresh Start

D．A Freshman

5 . The TV series, The Longest Day in Chang'an, which was shown on Chinese online platforms last summer became a hit soon. Since then, it has been shown on partnering streaming platforms and TV networks abroad. Some websites overseas also offered the program to their users paying for it — the first time a Chinese series was broadcast as paid content abroad.

"I was amazed by the overseas audience's love for this show," Cao Dun, director of The Longest Day in Chang'an, told Bejing Review. "I was worried that they wouldn't understand the complex political structure of the Tang dynasty. But in reality the show is prompting foreign audiences to research Tang dynasty's history to better understand the plot. "

The unique culture in ancient China is not a barrier but a bridge to connect with foreign audiences. In the TV series, every figure is given enough space to flesh out his or her character. Telling stories of ordinary Chinese people that resonate (引起共鸣) with the audience might be the way to communicate with the world. "The success of the TV series shows that beauty is a universal language crossing borders," he told Beijing Review.

His ambition is to distinguish Chinese dramas from the TV shows in the rest of the world. "The TV series is a step in my plan to tell Chinese stories to the world," Cao said. "After describing the impressive beauty of the Tang dynasty, I am looking for several plays that tell stories of today's China. I don’t want to copy any country's production. Chinese dramas have to be built on our rich culture and Chinese people's everyday life," Cao added.

1. What do we know about the TV series?

A．It was first put on overseas.

B．It can be appreciated for free.

C．It is about the development of the Tang dynasty.

D．It was very popular once it was shown.

2. What does the underlined word "prompting" in paragraph 2 probably mean?

A．Requiring.	B．Reminding.
C．Encouraging.	D．Informing.

3. What made the TV series a success?

A．Stories of ordinary people.	B．Recognition of beauty.
C．Diversity of Chinese culture.	D．Personalities of every figure.

4. What is Cao Dun’s ambition?

A．To tell Chinese stories to the world.	B．To make a successful TV series.
C．To show China’s different nationalities.	D．To learn the ancient political structure.

6 . The tea gardens in Sri Lanka are actually large estates( 种植园). The best tea usually comes from plants grown on high grounds, the cool hilltops with rows and rows of tea plants. The plants are about one metre apart. The plant is often pruned so that it remains only 60 to   90 centimetres high. Pruning is important because it encourages the growth of tender shoots, or young leaves. It is from these shoots that the best tea is got.

Practically all the tea pickers are women. The estates prefer to employ women pickers because they are more careful. Their thin fingers can easily remove the twin leaves and new shoots from the plant, which are the parts used for processing tea. The pickers carry large baskets into which they throw their pickings. A skilled worker can harvest between 9 to 14 kilogrammes of tea leaves a day. Usually new shoots can be picked from the plants about every ten or fifteen days.

Processing tea shoots into the familiar dry tea leaves requires great care and skill. There are various methods of processing depending on the type of tea required. For black tea, the young green leaves are first spread out on shelves to dry. This process removes much of its water and the leaves become soft. After this, the leaves are passed through heavy rollers. This operation will press the leaves for juices which give the tea both its colour and taste. Then the leaves are spread out on floors and left to ferment（发酵）under wet conditions. Fermentation develops the rich taste of black tea. The fermented leaves are then dried with a hot-air blower until they become rolled-up black leaves. The final step is to sort and grade them before the black tea is ready for sale to countries all over the world.

1. In the first paragraph, the word “pruning” means ________ .

A．regular cutting of the plants

B．frequent watering

C．regular use of chemicals

D．growing the plants high in the mountain

2. One of the reasons why women are employed to do the picking is that ________.

A．they work harder than men do in the picking

B．they can throw their pickings more easily into the baskets

C．their fingers fit them better for the job

D．they can more easily find the twin leaves

3. How many processing steps are mentioned in the last paragraph?

A．Three.

B．Four.

C．Five.

D．Six.

4. What is the writer’s purpose in writing the passage?

A．To introduce various methods of tea processing.

B．To persuade readers to buy tea from Sri Lanka.

C．To tell a story that had happened in the tea gardens.

D．To inform readers of tea growing, picking and processing.

7 . Last year, my oldest son Matthew went off to college. Things at home were not as “busy” as they used to be. We still had our 15-year-old son Gabriel with us, but we missed having Matthew around.

My wife soon had a crazy idea. “Let’s get a dog.” she suggested. I wasn’t exactly thrilled with the idea, but I agreed. I mean, what better way to replace a kid that has gone off to college than to get a dog.

When we got to the animal shelter, it seemed like every dog was a pit bull (比特犬). I’d had many bad experiences with pit bulls as a child, so I didn’t want to take one of them home with me.

While I walked along the rows and rows of cold metal cages, a dog caught my eye. He was scared, and looked like he’d given up on life. There was only one problem: he was a pit bull.

As he looked at me with his big, beautiful eyes, I could see into his soul. I could see how scared he was and that he just wanted a happy life. I couldn’t just walk away — I had to at least go over and look at him. I approached his cage, and he just sat there, looking at me. I stuck   my finger through the hole in the cage and petted him on the head. I expected him to get mad, but he didn’t.

I knew that this dog had never felt love before, and that he was enjoying every bit of the love I could give him in that moment. Tears began to stream down my face because I felt everything that this poor creature was feeling right then. He just wanted to be loved; he just wanted a home and a family.

It’s been a year since we took the dog home, and our lives have been changed forever.

Now, his favorite thing to do is give us kisses with his giant tongue every morning. He is always there to greet us when we come home with a huge smile. He’s shown us more love than any other living creature on Earth ever had before. And every time I look into his eyes I see love,compassion and gratitude — things I never thought that a pit bull was capable of feeling.

1. Why did the author’s wife want to get a dog?

A．Because she liked a pit pull.

B．Because she thought it was a crazy idea.

C．Because she wanted the dog to replace her kid.

D．Because one of their children was admitted to college.

2. Which word has the similar meaning to the underlined word “thrilled”?

A．Accepted.

B．Excited.

C．Frightened.

D．Delighted.

3. What was the author and his wife’s life like with the pit bull?

A．They missed having Matthew around even more.

B．They found it hard to get along with him.

C．They lived a life full of love.

D．They regretted adopting him.

4. What is the main purpose of the article?

A．To share a warm story about adopting a pet.

B．To stress the benefits of keeping a pet.

C．To suggest people keep a pet of their own.

D．To give advice on how to keep a pet.

8 . Short and shy, Ben Saunders was the last kid in his class picked for any sports team. “Football, tennis cricket-anything with a round ball, I was useless”, he says now with a laugh. But back then, he was the object of jokes in school gym classes in England’s rural Devonshire.

It was a mountain bike he received for his 15th birthday that changed him. At first the teen went biking alone in a nearby forest. Then he began to cycle along with a runner friend. Gradually, Saunders set his mind building up his body, increasing his speed, strength and endurance. At age 18, he ran his first marathon.

The following year, he met John Ridgway, who became famous in the 1960s for rowing an open boat across the Atlantic Ocean. Saunders was hired as an instructor at Ridgway’s school of Adventure in Scotland, where he learned about the older man’s cold-water exploits (英勇行为). Intrigued, Saunders read all he could about Arctic explorers and North Pole expeditions, then decided that this would be his future.

Journeys to the Pole aren’t the usual holidays for British country boys, and many people dismissed (不予考虑) his dream as fantasy. “John Ridgway was one of the few who didn’t say, ‘You are completely crazy’,” Saunders says.

In 2001, after becoming a skilled skier, Saunders started his first long-distance expedition toward the North Pole. He suffered frostbite, had a closer encounter with a polar bear and pushed his body to the limit.

Saunders has since become the youngest person to ski alone to the North Pole, and he’s skied more of the Arctic by himself than any other Briton. His old playmates would not believe the transformation.

This October, Saunders, 27, heads south to explore from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole and back, an 1800-mile journey that has never been completed on skis (滑雪板).

1. We can learn from the text that Ridgway ______.

A．dismissed Saunders’ dream as fantasy.

B．built up his body together with Saunders.

C．hired Saunders for his cold-water experience.

D．won his fame for his voyage across the Atlantic.

2. What do we know about Saunders?

A．He once worked at a school in Scotland.

B．He followed Ridgway to explore the North Pole.

C．He was chosen for the school sports team as a kid.

D．He was the first Briton to ski alone to the North Pole.

3. The underlined word “Intrigued” in the third paragraph probably means ______.

A．excited.

B．convinced.

C．delighted.

D．fascinated.

4. It can be inferred that Saunders’ journey to the North Pole ______.

A．was accomplished by his old playmates.

B．set a record in the North Pole expedition.

C．was supported by other Arctic explorers.

D．made him well-known in the 1960s.

9 . Round and Round They Go

Space is becoming more crowded. On December 3, a Falcon 9 rocket made by Space X thundered into the sky. On board were 64 small satellites, more than any American company had launched before in one go. They have a variety of uses, from space-based- radar to the monitoring of radio-frequency- emissions.

These objects are part of the latest breed of low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellites. This launch is just taste of what is planned. Space X and One Web, a communications firm, plan to launch satellites in their thousands, not hundreds. The pair are set to double the total number of satellites in orbit by 2027.

That promises to change things dramatically on Earth. LEO satellites can bring internet connectivity to places where it is still unavailable or unaffordable. This will also be a lasting source of new demand for the space economy. Morgan Stanley, a bank, projects that the space industry will grow from $350 billion in 2016 to more than $1. I trillion by 2040. New internet satellites will account for a half this increase.

For that to happen, however, three worries must be overcome. Debris(碎片)is the most familiar concern. As long ago as 1978, Donald Kessler, a scientist at NASA, proposed situation in which, when enough satellites were packed into low-Earth orbits, any collision could cause a chain reaction which would eventually destroy all space craft in its orbital plane(平面). The syndrome which bears Mr. Kessler's name weighs heavily on the minds of executives at the new satellite firms. Debris could cause entire tracts(广阔的一片) of space to be unusable for decades.

Solutions exist. One is to grab malfunction satellites and pull them down into Earth's atmosphere. Another is to monitor space more intensively for debris; a US Air Force program me called Space Fence is due to start in 2019. But technology is only part of the answer. Rules are needed to govern the safe disposal(清除) of old satellites from low-Earth orbit. The United States' Federal Communications Commission is revising its regulations with this in mind. Other countries should follow suit.

Cyber-security is a second, long-standing worry. Hackers could take control of a satellite and seal intellectual property, redirect data flows or cause a collision. The satellite industry has been slow to respond to such concerns. But as more of the world's population comes to rely on the infrastructure of space for access to the internet, the need for action intensifies.

The third issue follows from the first two. If a simple mistake or a cyber-attack can cause a chain reaction which wipes out hundreds of billions of dollars of investment, who is liable? Underwriters(保险商) are studying the plans of firms that wish to operate large numbers of satellites. But there is a long way to go before the risks are well understood, let alone priced.

As space becomes more commercialized mind-bending prospects open up: packages moved across the planet in minutes by rocket rather than by plane, equipment sent to other small planets, passengers launched into orbit and beyond. All that and more may come, one day. But such activities would raise the same questions as LEO satellites do. They must be answered before the space economy can truly develop.

1. What can we learn about LEO satellites from the passage?

A．They are supposed to limit the space economy.

B．They are expected to increase in large numbers.

C．They are designed to move beyond the Earth as far as possible.

D．They are mainly intended to bring internet connectivity to remote areas.

2. To deal with debris in space, the author suggests________.

A．depending entirely on the modern technology

B．monitoring the movement of spaceships carefully

C．strengthening rules to remove old satellites safely

D．destroying all the satellites with problems instantly

3. What does the underlined word “intensify” in Paragraph 4 probably mean?

A．Measure.

B．Increase.

C．Spread.

D．Repeat.

4. Which of the following can be classified as the third worry?

A．Lack of satellite regulations.

B．Loss of intellectual property.

C．Crisis of confidence in the field.

D．Slow response of satellite industry.

5. What is the author's attitude toward the launch of LEO satellites?

A．It should be further confirmed for its ownership.

B．It should be continued because of its advantages.

C．It should be done carefully to avoid potential risks.

D．It should be stopped in face of the space economy.

10 . Very often, when we see young people sitting there, looking at the screen of a mobile phone and smiling, we may think nothing is wrong. But when we come to the question “how much time do they actually spend on media（传播媒介）daily?”, the answer is surprising: young people spend about nine hours every day using media, and this only includes media used for enjoyment.

Today's young people seem to have become crazy multitaskers. They often use media when doing other activities. Some watch TV when doing homework, some text（发短信）, and some others listen to music. But what do young people think of this? A research showed that two thirds of them believed watching TV or texting had no influence on their schoolwork. Half of them thought using social media made no difference. However, researches have given a different answer: “media multitaskers” did worse in tests.

Scientists did a research among more than 400 students. It shows that those who text a lot have more trouble sleeping and do worse in their study. In another research, students who didn't text during a lesson took down a lot more notes than those who were texting. A similar research also found that students who texted when doing schoolwork had lower overall（总体的）grades.

According to a research, if a kid uses social media a lot, especially at night, he or she will sleep worse and feel more nervous and depressed（消沉的）. On the one hand, young people stay up late to check messages and information. They may also be woken up by messages they receive. On the other hand, even the light from a screen could influence their sleep. Some other researches also show that children who use media at night go to bed later, get fewer hours of sleep each week, and become sleepy more easily during the daytime.

1. The underlined word “multitaskers” in Paragraph 2 refers to people who _________.

A．ask a lot of questions

B．use different media for learning

C．have several mobile phones

D．do several tasks at the same time

2. From the passage we can learn that a kid will probably _________ if he or she uses social media a lot at night.

A．become more worried

B．get more excited

C．take fewer notes in class

D．sleep much better

3. What is the passage mainly about?

A．Social media is very popular among young people.

B．Using media too much has a bad influence on young people.

C．The use of social media has both advantages and disadvantages.

D．Mobile phones are the main tools students use for school learning.