1 . When I first saw the headline “Your Business Casual Attire（服装）Is Destroying the Planet”，I assumed it referred to microplastic pollution or something along those lines. But upon closer reading, I realized the author was making a rather different but interesting point.
What people wear to work affects the transportation they use to get to work. When someone insists on wearing “workplace attire”, which typically means snugly (贴身) tailored trousers, button-up tops, pencil skirts, suit jackets or mid-length dresses, it makes them unwilling to jump on a bike or walk any real distance. In an effort to preserve the look—and perhaps for ease of movement as well—they get into their cars instead.
Eben Weiss, the author of the article, argues this has to change. He thinks it's absurd that people have to worry about their clothes. If people dressed somewhat differently for work, they could still look tidy and professional, while also being ready to use human-powered energy to get there. Traffic in urban areas would be reduced; personal health would improve through daily exercise.
In order for this to change, however, workplace standards have to evolve and become more flexible. This is not an unrealistic expectation, considering that “it wasn't that long ago that jeans were only for mining and T-shirts were underwear.” There are plenty of in-between clothing choices that would allow one to ride a bicycle comfortably and still look neat for work.
It makes me think of my colleague’s article on walking, and how it is a form of climate action. He wrote, “What we have to do is everything we possibly can to encourage walking. That means making our streets more comfortable for walking, even if we have to take space back from parking and from roads.” This is all true, but it also requires you to buy a pair of comfortable shoes that makes walking a pleasant thing to do. The same goes for pants and shirts when riding a bicycle.
1. What does Eben Weiss think of “workplace attire”?| A．Fashionable. |
| B．Inconvenient. |
| C．Outdated. |
| D．Comfortable. |
| A．the means of transportation . | B．the effort to look cool. |
| C．the ease of movement. | D．the workplace attire. |
| A．To call on people to dress casually. |
| B．To prove people’s preference in clothes. |
| C．To show workplace standards can change. |
| D．To indicate they were the suitable clothing choices. |
| A．Dressing Properly Means a Lot in Workplace. |
| B．Means of Transportation Affects Climate Change. |
| C．Choosing Wrong Clothes Will Destroy Our Health. |
| D．Office Clothes Are a Barrier to Green Transportation. |
2 . Thousands of people living in the Chinese capital will celebrate the start of the Chinese New Year by heading for the ski resorts. Never mind that Beijing’s dry weather seldom produces snow. It is cold enough in winter for snow-making machines to make a covering for the hills north to the capital. And the rapid growth of a pleasure-seeking middle class has formed the basis for this new popularity.
Since Beijing’s first ski resort was opened ten years ago, the sport has enjoyed astonishing increase. There are now more than a dozen resorts. Clothes markets in the city have added bright colored ski suits to their winter collections. Mr. Wei, a manager of a newly-opened ski resort in Beijing, sees the growth of an industry that could soon lead Chinese to head for the ski resorts of Europe. In recent years ski resorts offering natural snow have opened in China. But many are in faraway areas of the country and can’t really match the equipment and services of some ski resorts in Europe.
Beijing’s skiing popularity is partly a result of the recent increase in private cars. This has led to the growth of a leisure industry in the capital’s suburbs (郊区), which until the late-1990s were unreachable to ordinary people. According to Mr. Wei, about 40% of the visitors to his resort come in their own cars. The rest are bused in by schools, businesses or government offices.
The problem is making money. Starting ski resorts requires quite a lot of money: hiring land from the local government, preparing the hills, buying snow machines, making sure there are enough water and electricity to run them, and buying ski equipment for hiring out to customers. The ski resort where Mr. Wei works cost nearly $4 million to set up. And, as so often in China when someone comes up with a good idea, many others rush in and price wars break out. Beijing now offers some of the cheapest ski training classes in the world, though with most people rather new to the sport, expecting a few more doing the same job.
1. What does this text mainly talk about?| A．Convenience for skiers brought about by private cars. |
| B．A sudden increase of ski training classes in Beijing. |
| C．Things to be considered when starting a ski resort. |
| D．Skiing as a new way of enjoying one’s spare time. |
| A．To visit more ski areas. | B．For better services and equipment. |
| C．For a large collection of ski suits. | D．To ski on natural snow. |
| A．transport to ski resorts |
| B．production of family cars |
| C．business of providing spare time enjoyments |
| D．part-time work for people living in the suburbs |
| A．The price of the ski training classes. |
| B．Lack of business experience. |
| C．Shortage of water and electricity. |
| D．Difficulty in making money. |
3 . About six years ago, I started having panic attacks. I began my journey to solve them with traditional tools, all of which were a great help. Thankfully, a year later treatment was no longer needed.
Frustratingly, about a year after that, I started to develop depression and began to have panic attacks once again. I tried what I knew best and went back to my previous tools, but I was still struggling and far from feeling well again until I got some new advice.
I loved to sing when I was young. My childhood had been filled with creativity, yet for most of my adult life, it was overlooked. A doctor told me that mental health problems are common among the creative minds of the world when creativity is suppressed(压制). To regain it, I decided to get back into singing. Then I joined a group called Sound, a pop band. Much better, I found the courage to audition(试音). I was amazed that I managed to get through such a risky situation and not have a panic attack. The audition itself was a win for me, never mind how I did.
I have now been a member of the band for three years. I love the performance. It reminds me of who I was at school. My path back then was always "do what you love". My entire education was filled with fond memories because of that, and I was starting to build that back into my adult life. Now, I am feeling a lot better. When I panic, distraction is key and singing does help. It sends me into a state in which my body works with pure joy. More importantly, I will have exercised my creativity and never feel panic.
1. What helped the author recover from panic at first?| A．New advice. | B．Live performances. |
| C．An audition. | D．Traditional tools. |
| A．The band | B．My childhood |
| C．Singing | D．Creativity |
| A．The audition was a success for me. |
| B．I joined a pop band for an audition. |
| C．I used to be good at singing when young. |
| D．Performance reminds me of who I was at school. |
| A．Fight with Panic | B．Live with Depression |
| C．Sing for Joy | D．Go for Creativity |
4 . It’s believed that Canada is one of the most wonderful choices for travelers. Travel in Canada has become exciting as a number of lakes including “Great Lakes” in Canada make it attractive. In fact, Canada has more lakes than any other country which contains fresh water. In addition to lakes, Canada has a number of beaches as it has a long coastline on its north, east, and west. Travelers from around the world come in large numbers to enjoy sunbath at various beaches.
Niagara Falls lie on the border of Canada and the US. It is now popular for its beauty and is a valuable source of hydroelectric power. Niagara Falls are most attractive during summer season when weather condition is charming and attractive. Any Canadian will recommend that to you. At the Canadian side, floodlights light up both sides of the fall for several hours after dark and the whole scene becomes magnificent.
When traveling to Canada, travelers can enjoy doing shopping at Toronto which is considered a leading city. It symbolizes American culture and the spirit of independence. Migrants form European, Latin American, Asian and Caribbean races inhabit the place and make it a multi-cultural society. Ottawa, on the other hand, is the capital of Canada and center of political activities.
Vancouver is an enlightening city in Canada which was named after British Captain George Vancouver, who explored the area in the 1790s. The city is a leading industrial place in Canada. Another tourist attraction in Canada is the capital city of British Columbia, Victoria. The city is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island.
Travel in Canada is being made easy as transportation facilities are of higher standard. Besides, very few people know that Canada is a high-paying country in terms of wages per hour. In addition to a popular tourist destination, Canada is an economic powerhouse of North America, particularly in agriculture products. Canada dairy industry exports milk products around the world.
1. What attracts travelers most in Canada according to the first paragraph?| A．Coastlines and sunbath. | B．Mountains and water. |
| C．Animals and plants. | D．Lakes and beaches. |
| A．Charming weather conditions | B．Summer Niagara Falls |
| C．Floodlights at Canadian side | D．The hydroelectric power |
| A．Its people come from different countries | B．It displays the Canadian bravery. |
| C．It is a political center in Canada. | D．Travelers can buy something cheap there. |
| A．Remind us to keep him in mind. | B．Compare Vancouver and Victoria. |
| C．Introduce the city of Vancouver. | D．Tell us a history story. |
5 . What if the Moon had never existed? For starters we know that the geophysical and climatological history of the Earth would have been different. Although there is still large uncertainty about how the Moon was formed, the most currently favored theory describes a disastrous collision between the Earth and another planetary object.
That event forever changed many aspects of the Earth's evolution. For example, with a relatively large natural satellite putting gravitational tidal forces (潮汐力) on it, the Earth's spin behavior has been quite different than it would have been otherwise. Day length has increased more rapidly than without a moon. And the natural changes in the direction of the Earth's spin axis (轴)-its poles-have been less than they would have been otherwise. A shorter day length and axial variations like these would have changed the Earth's climate history, and almost certainly have changed the way any life evolved.
But if a species like us had still appeared, its landscape for space exploration would also have been completely different. Without a large natural satellite, a mere quarter of a million miles away, there would have been no "easy" trip to make to another world. If there had been a first human mission to another world, it would likely have been to Mars. But this would surely have called for far more extensive designing of spacecraft and life-support systems for deep space. Perhaps instead the initial focus would have been entirely on Earth-orbiting equipment for people and robotic missions to other worlds. Or, maybe the attraction of the seemingly near impossible would still have encouraged these humans from an alternate reality to take the great leap to Mars as their first step outwards.
It is of course, impossible to know exactly what our world would really be like without the Moon-both physically, and in terms of human exploration. But one thing does seem clear: we probably take our natural satellite's existence far too much for granted. Not every inhabited planet in the universe will have its own ready-made gateway to the universe.
1. Why does the author use the question at the very beginning?| A．To introduce the widely accepted theory. | B．To mention the destructive collision. |
| C．To prove a wrong assumption. | D．To attract readers' interest. |
| A．Compare day lengths in different climates. |
| B．Introduce the evolution of life on the Earth. |
| C．Explain why the Earth's spin behavior remains. |
| D．Show how the Moon greatly influences the Earth. |
| A．The Earth's evolution. | B．The mission to Mars. |
| C．The trip to the Moon. | D．Earth-orbiting equipment. |
| A．To call on people to study the Earth. |
| B．To stress the significance of the Moon. |
| C．To speak highly of human exploration. |
| D．To prove assumptions about moonless Earth. |
6 . In 2015, Chennai was destroyed by one of the worst floods in over a century, leaving thousands without food, water and supplies. During the flood, many heroes arose, one of whom was Santosh, a young man who owned a take-out restaurant in Chennai.
When the first flood hit in November, he got a call from a company called Naga Rava. The company asked him to prepare 5,000 packets of food and give them to the flood victims. He, with his partners, took the order, cooked for 14 hours and delivered(递送) them. But that night, as they sat together discussing the event of the day, they actually felt ashamed(羞愧). “Here was a man not even from Chennai and he was going out of his way to help the affected people. We, while living here, had not really done anything ourselves for our own people,” said Santosh later.
He then began the groundwork for a collection to help cook more dishes. Little did he know that the November flood was just the beginning, and the real show was about to begin. The December flood affected them all. His own house got flooded and his family was trapped on the second floor. They lost phone connection and electricity. In spite of this, Santosh went back out into the flood, creating a kitchen and preparing food all by himself for the victims.
He did not sleep for four days, taking a one-hour break every day as he kept on cooking. As word got out about this man’s effort, others stepped out to join him. From children to the elderly, strangers came to help him in cooking, packing and transporting food. Up to 300 volunteers worked together to make it all happen. By the time the fourth day finally came to an end, Santosh and his team had prepared 170,000 food boxes and delivered them to people in need.
1. What inspired Santosh to help the affected people?| A．A call for help. | B．His cooking skills. |
| C．An act of kindness of a stranger. | D．The encouragement from his partners. |
| A．The help and support. | B．The severer flood. |
| C．Santosh’s family suffering. | D．Santosh’s cooking more food. |
| A．Energetic and helpful. | B．Determined and clever. |
| C．Selfless and caring. | D．Kind and wise. |
| A．Many Hands Make Light Work |
| B．Kindness Is Its Own Reward |
| C．Major Floods Brought Challenges To People |
| D．A Man Cooked 170,000 Meals For The Affected |
7 . Would it surprise you to learn that, like animals, trees communicate with each other and pass on their wealth to the next generation?
UBC Professor Simard explains how trees are much more complex than most of us ever imagined.
Although Charles Darwin thought that trees are competing for survival of the fittest, Simard shows just how wrong he was. In fact, the opposite is true: trees survive through their co-operation and support, passing around necessary nutrition “depending on who needs it”.
Nitrogen (氮) and carbon are shared through miles of underground fungi (真菌) networks, making sure that all trees in the forest ecological system give and receive just the right amount to keep them all healthy. This hidden system works in a very similar way to the networks of neurons (神经元) in our brains, and when one tree is destroyed, it affects all.
Simard talks about “mother trees”, usually the largest and oldest plants on which all other trees depend. She explains how dying trees pass on the wealth to the next generation, transporting important minerals to young trees so they may continue to grow. When humans cut down “mother trees” with no awareness of these highly complex “tree societies” or the networks on which they feed, we are reducing the chances of survival for the entire forest.
“We didn’t take any notice of it,” Simard says sadly. “Dying trees move nutrition into the young trees before dying, but we never give them chance.” If we could put across the message to the forestry industry, we could make a huge difference towards our environmental protection efforts for the future.
1. What can we learn from Professor Simard’s words in paragraph 3?| A．Trees depend on each other. | B．Trees protect their own wealth. |
| C．Trees compete for survival. | D．Trees provide support for dying trees. |
| A．Because they know more about the complex “tree societies”. |
| B．Because they seem more likely to be cut down by humans. |
| C．Because they look the largest in size in the forest. |
| D．Because they pass on nutrition to young trees. |
| A．How young trees survive. | B．How “tree societies” work. |
| C．How forestry industry develops. | D．How trees grow old. |
| A．Old Trees Communicate Like Humans. |
| B．Young Trees Are in Need of Protection. |
| C．Trees Are More Fantastic Than You Think. |
| D．Trees Contribute to Our Society. |
8 . My fifteen-year-old son has just returned from abroad with rolls of exposed film and a hundred dollars in uncashed traveler’s checks, and is asleep at the moment. His blue duffel bag lies on the floor where he dropped it. Obviously, he postponed as much sleep as he could: when he walked in and we hugged, his electrical system suddenly switched off, and he headed directly for the bed, where I imagine he beat his old record of sixteen hours.
It was his first trip overseas, so weeks before it, I pressed travel books on him, and a tape cassette of useful French phrases; drew up a list of people to visit; advised him on clothing and other things. At the luggage store where we went to buy him a suitcase, he headed for the duffels, saying that suitcases were more for old people.
During the trip, he called home three times: from London, Paris, and a village named Ullapool. Near Ullapool, he climbed a mountain in a rainstorm that almost blew him off. In the village, a man spoke to him in Gaelic, and, too polite to interrupt, my son listened to him for ten or fifteen minutes, trying to nod in the right places. The French he learned from the cassette didn’t hold water in Paris. The French he talked to shrugged and walked on.
When my son called, I sat down at the kitchen table and leaned forward and hung on every word. His voice came through clearly, though two of the calls were like ship-to-shore communication. When I interrupted him with a “Great!” or a “Really?”, I knocked a little hole in his communication. So I just sat and listened. I have never listened to a telephone so attentively and with so much pleasure. It was wonderful to hear news from him that was so new to me. In my book, he was the first man to land on the moon, and I knew that I had no advice to give him and that what I had already given was probably not much help.
The unused checks are certainly evidence of that. Youth travels light. No suitcase, not much luggage and a slim expense account, and yet he went to the scene, and came back safely. I sit here amazed. The night when your child returns with dust on his shoes from a country you’ve never seen is a night you would gladly turn into a week.
1. During the trip, the author’s son ______.| A．ran out of money | B．forgot to call his mother |
| C．had inadequate sleep | D．failed to take good pictures |
| A．Polite and careless. | B．Creative and stubborn. |
| C．Considerate and independent. | D．Self-centered and adventurous. |
| A．It is important to listen to your child’s story. |
| B．It’s easy to interrupt the chat with your child. |
| C．The author is proud of her son landing on the moon. |
| D．The son no longer needs much help from his mother. |
| A．Good parents should protect their children from potential dangers. |
| B．The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page. |
| C．It’s a win-win choice to give a child space to experience and explore. |
| D．Communication between parents and children is extremely important. |
9 . I have well travelled in Spain and visited a good number of Spanish cities. However, no city will ever quite match Cadiz, where I spent six months studying as a student.
Before that, I knew very little about Cadiz but I decided to take a risk and explore it. Well, the risk certainly paid off.
Cadiz, Europe’s oldest city, hangs off Spain’s southern coast on a peninsula (半岛), surrounded almost entirely by water. As you leave the shady streets of the historical old city and explore more of it, you are met with vast areas of the blue Atlantic Ocean and white sandy beaches, which in my opinion are some of the best in Spain!
One of the great things about Cadiz is the wonderful, rich culture of food and drink. There are little tapas (小吃) bars lining every street and most will serve tapas for around 1.50~2 euros, meaning you can try a whole variety of Andalusian dishes.
Cadiz has also come to be known as “The Singing City”. It comes from the annual carnival (狂欢节), one of the biggest in Europe. A very large number of people go to Cadiz to see it. During those ten days, Cadiz’s narrow streets are filed with the sound of singing as musical groups fight for a place in the contest, which takes place on the last Saturday of carnival. The songs perfectly show the sense of humor of the Gaditanos, who, besides being so warm and welcoming, are said to have the best sense of humor in Spain!
That is my experience of Cadiz: a wonderful, typically Andalusian city which is often overlooked but well worth a visit. I can currently living in Huelva, just a short drive from Cadiz, so please pay attention to my next sharing!
1. What dose the word “that” underlined in paragraph 2 refer to?| A．Studying in Cadiz. | B．Competing in a match. |
| C．Teaching a student. | D．Becoming an explorer. |
| A．The unknown origin and long history of Cadiz. | B．The beautiful life of people living to Cadiz. |
| C．The geographic position and scenery of Cadiz. | D．The author’s complex attitude towards Cadiz. |
| A．A number of local people enjoy humorous songs. |
| B．Singing is everywhere during a big annual carnival. |
| C．Many grand carnivals attract well-known singers. |
| D．A lot of singing competitions take place each year. |
| A．A post on the Internet. | B．A geography textbook. |
| C．A travel brochure. | D．A biography. |
10 . If humans were truly at home under the light of the moon and stars, we would go in darkness happily, the midnight world as visible to us as it is to the vast number of nocturnal(夜间活动的) species on this planet. Instead, we are diurnal(白天活动的) creatures, which explains what we’ve done to the night: We've engineered it to receive us by filling it with light.
The benefits of this kind of engineering come with consequences—light pollution. Light pollution is largely the result of bad lighting design, which washes out the darkness of night and completely changes the light levels and rhythms to which many forms of life, including, ourselves, have adapted. Wherever human light spills into the natural world, some aspect of life is affected.
In most cities the sky looks as though it has been emptied of stars, leaving behind a vacant haze(霾) that mirrors our fear of the dark. We've grown so used to this orange haze that the original glory of an unlit night—dark enough for the planet Venus to throw shadow on Earth—is wholly beyond our experience.
We've lit up the night as if it were an unoccupied country, when nothing could be further from the truth. Among mammals alone, the number of nocturnal species is astonishing. Light is a powerful biological force, and on many species it acts as a magnet(磁铁). The effect is so powerful that scientists speak of songbirds and seabirds being ''captured'' by searchlights on land or by the light from gas flares on marine oil platforms.
Frogs living near brightly lit highways suffer nocturnal light levels that are as much as a million times brighter than normal, throwing nearly every aspect of their behavior out of joint, including their nighttime breeding choruses. Humans are no less trapped by light pollution than the frogs. Like most other creatures, we do need darkness. Darkness is as essential to our biological welfare, to our internal clockwork, as light itself.
Living in a glare of our making, we have cut ourselves off from our evolutionary and cultural heritage—the light of the stars and the rhythms of day and night. In a very real sense, light pollution causes us to lose sight of our true place in the universe, to forget the scale of our being, which is best measured against the dimensions of a deep night with the Milky Way—the edge of our galaxy—arching overhead.
1. What is probably the best title of the article?| A．Powerful light. | B．Orange Haze. |
| C．Calls of Nature. | D．Disappearing Night. |
| A．The sky. | B．The planet. | C．The world. | D．The night. |
| A．show how light pollution influences animals |
| B．compare the living habits of both species |
| C．explain why certain species has died out |
| D．provide examples of animal protection |
| A．human beings mustn't explore the night |
| B．light pollution harms the world’s eyesight |
| C．man should rethink its position in the universe |
| D．light pollution has destroyed some world heritages |
