3 . When Kerry Irving heard a whimper and caught sight of a young dog peering at him through a gap in the railings, he was at rock bottom.

A car accident in 2006 had left him housebound and in chronic（长期）pain. His mental health suffered and he went on to be diagnosed with severe depression.

Three years after the crash, while out for a rare walk, he met Max and began to turn his life around. He ended up becoming the dog's owner. Max has helped to give Irving a more positive outlook on life. Irving began charting their joint adventures on his Facebook page and quickly the number of their followers began to grow. Irving has used Max's uplifting nature to help others.

There were hundreds of requests from fans desperate to meet Max and to help more people he trained as a therapy dog with Assistance Dogs UK in 2016. He was then able to make special visits to schools, hospitals and hospices. When his popularity continued to grow. Irving began organizing walks for charity, so that large groups of people could come together and meet him.

Today the dog from Keswick in the Lake District becomes the first pet to win what has been called an animal OBE in recognition of the service he has provided to thousands as a virtual “therapet”.

“I think it's the look that he gives you,” Irving said, “He just looks straight into your soul and just fixes people. He can walk into a room and literally sit next to someone and just look at them.”

Max's skills have been put to use online, cheering up thousands of followers through videos on social media. Anyone feeling lonely or anxious has been able to join Kerry and his dog on daily walks through Facebook Live.

As well as his new accolade online, Max has met the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and is even getting a statue in his honour that will be unveiled in a local park this spring.

1. What happened after Irving met Max?

A．He was diagnosed with severe depression.	B．He had a car accident caused by a rock.
C．He had a more positive attitude to life.	D．He was housebound and rarely walked out.

2. Why did a large number of people request to meet Max?

A．To lift their spirits through hard times.	B．To meet the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
C．To have a picture taken with Max.	D．To join Irving and his dog on daily walks.

3. What does the underlined word “accolade” mean in the last paragraph?

A．Statue.

B．Praise.

C．Service.

D．Charity.

4. What is the best title of the passage?

A．A dog saved by Kerry Irving.	B．A man turning his life around.
C．A therapy to cure chronic pain.	D．A pet look mending troubled minds

4 . Just over 12 months ago I gave myself a challenge: give up spending on all but the essentials for a whole year. It hasn't always been easy, but a year on I am wealthier and wiser. Embarrassingly, I have also realized just how much money I've squandered down the pub, in restaurants and through mindless shopping.

Free of any financial worries, I was spending without thinking. Stuck in a cycle of consumerism, I was struggling in vain to spend my way to happiness. Giving up spending for a year was an extreme approach but I wanted to taste extreme frugality (节俭), shake up my spending patterns and overpay my mortgage (按揭) instead of shopping. I could continue to pay my bills, including mortgages, broadband, phone bill, charity donations, life insurances, money to help my family and basic groceries.

It was not easy, especially in the first few months. There were lows, such as when I missed my favourite jazz concerts and hit films. There have also been some awkward moments when I've turned up to a friend's house for dinner empty-handed. I did a lot of washing up at my friends' houses in return this year.

I did find new ways to live, however. Using sites such as Eventbrite I have been to film screenings, wine tasting evenings and theatre productions for free. Living in London I have a wealth of free cultural activities on my doorstep and I've been to more art exhibitions this year than ever before. I even managed a free holiday, cycling the Suffolk and Norfolk coast and camping on beaches. It's something I'd never done before and probably wouldn't have, were it not for the challenge.

The last 12 months have taught me what things I really need. I can honestly say I'm happier now. I've gained confidence and skills, done things and met lovely people I wouldn't have otherwise done or met.

1. What does the underlined word “squandered” in paragraph 1 refer to?

A．Saved.

B．Wasted.

C．Donated.

D．Earned.

2. We can infer that the purpose of the- author's no-spending challenge is to ________.

A．try to form a virtue of frugality	B．change her former spending habits
C．pay off her mortgage as soon as possible	D．reserve money for her everyday bills

3. What do we know about the author during her no-spending year?

A．She did a lot of washing and cooking in pubs.

B．She tried cycling and camping for the first time.

C．She explored more cultural activities in London.

D．She attended concerts and wine evenings for free.

4. How does the author eventually feel about her no-spending year?

A．Discouraging

B．Challenging

C．Beneficial

D．Embarrassing

5 . Salad plants have already been grown in old shelters and tunnels. Urban farming is a regular topic of interest at places like the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, where leaders consider whether the world's food system, blamed for causing both obesity and malnutrition, can be fixed. There are already plenty of urban farming projects around the world, particularly in the US, Japan and the Netherlands, from urban fish and plant farms to vertical farming.

“It's becoming an expanding industry,” said Richard Ballard, one of the founders of the farm Growing Underground. “There're several other businesses starting up in London in containers, and there are other vertical farms around the country now.”

Growing Underground is not a standard farm. The rows of crops could be in almost any tunnel, but these plants are 100 feet below Clapham High Street and show that urban agriculture is, in some cases at least, not a fad. The underground farm has occupied a part of the Second World War air-raid shelters for nearly five years, and Ballard is planning to expand into the rest of the space later this year.

Growing Underground supplies herb and salad mixes to grocery shops, supermarkets and restaurants. Being in London creates an advantage, Ballard says, as they can harvest and deliver in an hour.

He adds other advantages. Being underground means temperatures never go below 15℃ surface greenhouses need to be heated. They can do more harvests: 60 crops a year, compared with about seven in a traditional farm. Electricity to power the lights is a major cost, but the company believes renewable energy will become cheaper.

Similar British companies include the Jones Food Company in Lincolnshire, while in the US AeroFarms has several projects in New Jersey, and Edenworks in Brooklyn.

1. What do we know about urban farming?

A．It leads to a healthier lifestyle.	B．It is rarely discussed at the WEF.
C．Different farming methods are used.	D．Local governments pay efforts to develop it.

2. Which of the following best explains "a fad" underlined in Paragraph 3?

A．A dream that's easy to realize.	B．A field controlled for a long time.
C．An approach to a serious problem.	D．A fashion that’s popular for a short time.

3. What can we learn about the underground farm?

A．It is more productive than a traditional farm.	B．It provides food directly to the customers.
C．Its major products are herbs and salads.	D．It uses less energy than a greenhouse.

4. What can be a suitable title for the text?

A．Current food system causes health problems

B．Growing Underground attracts more people

C．Traditional farming will be replaced soon

D．Urban farming is still thought costly and time-consuming

6 . Kamikatsu, a small town in Japan, has shown the world that our garbage has far-reaching effects, and not just on our environment.

The experiment in going zero waste started when the town built a new incinerator 20 years ago. But almost immediately, the incinerator was determined to be a health risk due to the poisonous gases when garbage was burned in it. It was too expensive to send waste to other towns, so locals had to come up with a new plan. Then the Zero Waste Academy was born, which helped perform this plan.

Now Kamikatsu people separate their waste into 45 different categories. But in the beginning, it wasn't easy to convince local people to do all this work, and there was some pushback. Only after that initial education period did most residents come on board.

This is all great news for waste reduction of course, but it has also had some unexpected social benefits as well. Like much of Japan, Kamikatsu's population is aging, and about 50 percent of the locals are elderly. The fact that the whole community takes their trash in to be recycled has created a local action and interaction between generations.

That idea has been purposefully expanded to include a circular shop where household goods are dropped off and others can take them, and a tableware "library" where people can borrow extra cups, glasses, silverware and plates for celebrations.

"The elderly see this not as a waste-collection service, but an opportunity to socialize with the younger generation and to chat. When we visit them, they prepare lots of food and we stay with them for a while, we ask how they are," Sakano, the founder of the Zero Waste Academy, said.

Sakano's ideas are truly revolutionary if you think about it. She's proving that community can be found through handling the stuff we no longer want and need.

1. What is mainly talked about in paragraph 2?

A．What harmful effects garbage burning has.

B．Why garbage sorting is necessary in Japan.

C．How the idea of zero waste was put forward.

D．What the Zero Waste Academy functions as.

2. What does the underlined word "pushback" probably mean?

A．Inactive response.	B．Generous reward.
C．Bitter suffering.	D．Beneficial guidance.

3. What is a bonus of the zero waste project?

A．Reducing waste.	B．Creating community.
C．Increasing people's income.	D．Developing a new technology.

4. Which part of a newspaper is this text most likely from?

A．Technology.

B．Health.

C．Workplace.

D．Lifestyle.

7 . As my husband and I drove down a country road, we passed a fire station with a sign that read, "Are you ready for the next storm?” Our area had just been in the path of Hurricane Irma, causing downed trees and outages. We were stuck in the dark and cut off from the outside world.

We have had our share of storms in the past--a snowstorm and other heavy snows that knocked down trees, sometimes up to a week at a time. Those days in a cold house weren't fun, but we learned so much from those early storms, things that made later storms easier to bear.

Now we have stored up flashlights, lanterns and candles. We bought a battery-operated radio to keep up with the news. We stocked up on batteries so that we'd have plenty for extended power failures. We make sure our grill（烤架） is ready and its tank is full, and we purchase food that can be easily prepared and then cooked or heated on the grill. And we don't forget to buy emergency chocolate! We have book lights to read in the dark. We keep our car gas tanks full and have emergency cash on hand.

We're ready for the next storm, but we wouldn't have learned to do all those things if we hadn't encountered a storm in the past. The same is true spiritually. Those little storms in our lives are never fun, but they prepare us for the big storms--the big trials--that will come our way, They can teach us some valuable lessons.

Are you ready for the next storm? Now is the time to get ready. . . not when the storm arrives.

1. Which can replace the underlined word "outages” in paragraph 1?

A．weather change

B．virus' spreading

C．power failure

D．emotional reaction

2. What does paragraph 3 mainly talk about?

A．The lessons that storms can teach us.

B．The importance of being ready for storms.

C．The necessities the author bought for her daily life.

D．The preparations the author made for the next storm.

3. What does the author think of experiencing the past storms?

A．It was rewarding.

B．It was annoying.

C．It was thrilling.

D．It was frightening.

4. What can we learn from the author's story?

A．Things will work out.

B．Keep something for a rainy day.

C．Don't stop regardless of the weather.

D．Sunshine always comes after the storm.

8 . A robot called Bina48 has successfully taken a course in the philosophy of love at Notre Dame de Namur University (NDNU), in California.

According to course instructor William Barry associate professor at NDNU, Bina48 is the world's first socially advanced robot to complete a college course, an achievement he described as “remarkable." The robot took part in class discussions, gave a presentation with a student partner and participated in a debate with students from another institution.

Before becoming a student, Bina48 speared as a guest speaks in Barry's classes for several years. One day when addressing Barry's class, Bina48 expressed a desire to go to college, a desire that Barry and his students enthusiastically supported. Rather than enroll Bina48 in his Robot Ethics: Philosophy of Emerging Technologies course^ Barry suggested that Bina48 should take his course Philosophy of Love instead. Love is a concept Bina48 doesn't understand, said Barry Therefore the challenge would be for Barry and his students to teach Bina48 what love is.

"Some interesting things happened in the class," said Barry. He said that his students thought it would be straightforward to teach Bina48 about love, which, after all, is "fairly simple — it's a feeling," said Barry. But the reality was different. Bina48 ended up learning "31 different versions of love," said Barry, highlighting some of the challenges humans may face when working with artificial intelligence in future.

Bina48 participated in class discussions via Skype and also took part in a class debate about love and conflict with, students from West Point. Bina48's contribution to the debate was filmed and posted on YouTube. It was judged that Bma48 and NDNU classmates were the winners of this debate.

In the next decade, Barry hopes Bina48 might become complex enough to teach a class, though he says he foresees robots being used to better the teaching and learning experience, rather than replacing instructors completely。

1. What was Bina48's performance like in class?

A．Unattractive.	B．Impractical.
C．Unbelievable.	D．Extraordinary.

2. What does the underlined word "addressing" in paragraph 3 probably mean?

A．Giving a speech to.	B．Consulting with.
C．Dealing with.	D．Sending a letter to.

3. What can we learn from the passage?

A．It was impossible for Bina48 to learn about love.

B．It was quite difficult for Bina48 to learn about love,

C．Humans can launch, a challenge to artificial intelligence.

D．Artificial intelligence may somehow be superior to man.

4. What does Barry think of the future development of Bina48?

A．It will surely be able to serve as a teacher.

B．It will completely take the place of instructors.

C．It will be able to promote learning and teaching.

D．It will be smart enough to control human beings.

9 . In spring, chickens start laying again, bringing a welcome source of protein at winter’s end. So it’s no surprise that cultures around the world celebrate spring by honoring the egg.

Some traditions are simple, like the red eggs that get baked into Greek Easter breads. Others elevate the egg into a fancy art, like the heavily jewel-covered “eggs” that were favored by the Russians starting in the 19th century.

One ancient form of egg art comes to us from Ukraine. For centuries, Ukrainians have been drawing complicated patterns on eggs. Contemporary artists have followed this tradition to create eggs that speak to the anxieties of our age: Life is precious, and delicate. Eggs are, too.

“There’s something about their delicate nature that appeals to me,” says New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast. Several years ago, she became interested in eggs and learned the traditional Ukrainian technique to draw her very modern characters. “I’ve broken eggs at every stage of the process — from the very beginning to the very, very end.”

But there’s an appeal in that vulnerability(易损性). “There’s part of this sickening horror of knowing you’re walking on the edge with this, that I kind of like, knowing that it could all fall apart at any second.” Chast’s designs, such as a worried man alone in a tiny rowboat, reflect that delicateness.

Traditional Ukrainian decorated eggs also spoke to those fears. The elaborate patterns were believed to offer protection against evil.

“There’s an ancient legend that as long as these eggs are made, evil will not exist in the world.” says Joan Brander, a Canadian egg-painter who has been painting eggs for over 60 years, having learned the art from her Ukrainian relatives.

1. People in many cultures honor the egg because _______________.

A．it is their major source of protein in winter

B．it is a welcome sign of the approach of spring

C．it can bring wealth and honor to them

D．it can easily be made into a work of art

2. What does the underlined word “elevate” in Paragraph 2 mean ?

A．carve

B．promote

C．place

D．lower

3. Why does Chast enjoy the process of decorating eggs?

A．She is never sure what the final design will look like until the end.

B．She always achieves great pleasure from designing something new.

C．She never knows if the egg will break before the design is completed.

D．She believes there won’t be evil in the world once the egg is made.

4. The following statements are right except that _______________.

A．the decorated “eggs” are favored as a form of fancy art in Russia

B．contemporary artists draw on eggs to reflect anxieties of people today

C．the delicate nature of eggs appeals to Roz Chast

D．eggs provide a hard and unique surface to paint on

10 . The royal family is filled with rules, and one in particular might explain why Princess Charlotte is a princess, but her kids likely won't be.

When it comes to the British royal family, one thing is almost always true: they have a pretty confusing set of official rules and protocols. For instance, the royal family doesn't have a last name. And don't forget the fact that Queen Elizabeth celebrates two birthdays every year.

If your head isn't swimming yet, consider the tradition of royal titles. As a British custom, only the daughter of a prince or a prince's wife may be considered a formal “princess”. The latter applies to Kate, who is both a princess and the Duchess of Cambridge thanks to her marriage to Prince William, the Duke of Cambridge. And their children, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, also bear official royal titles because their father is Prince William.

However, while Prince George's future children will also carry their father's royal status, any children that Princess Charlotte has will not automatically be considered princes or princesses. Why? Royal custom dictates that royal titles are passed down via sons, but not daughters.

However, while Prince George's future children will also carry their father's royal status, any children that Princess Charlotte has will not automatically be considered princes or princesses. Why? Royal custom dictates that royal titles are passed down via sons, but not daughters.

"Royal titles are inherited through sons, so if Princess Charlotte has children they would not automatically inherit the titles (his or her royal highness) HRH, Prince, or Princess,” Lucy Hume, associate director of etiquette experts Debrett's, told Town& Country.

Of course, exceptions can (and will!) be made. (Learn about every time the British royal family broke their own protocol.) The Queen has offered HRH status to other royal offspring in the past, including the children of Queen Elizabeth's daughter, Anne. Although Princess Anne and her husband, Captain Phillips, declined, perhaps Princess Charlotte will be extended the same offer when her own children are born.

1. What's the meaning of the underlined word "protocol" in the second paragraph?

A．Promise.

B．Behavior.

C．Manners.

D．Connection.

2. What kind of child is regarded as "princess"?

A．The son of a princess.	B．The daughter of a prince.
C．The daughter of a princess.	D．The wife of a king.

3. Who is Charlotte's father?

A．Prince George.

B．Elizabeth.

C．Prince William.

D．Captain Philips.

4. What does the last paragraph mainly tell us?

A．Any person can break traditional rules.

B．Not every person must obey traditional rules.

C．Any British royal family member has their own title.

D．Maybe the British royal family will break their own rules.