1 . Back in the early 2000s, lots of people couldn’t imagine life without alarm clocks, CD players, calendars, cameras, or lots of other devices. But along came the iPhone and other smartphones, and they took over the functions of many things that we used to think were completely necessary.
The success of smartphones can be a model for dealing with climate change because they represent a different approach to design, which is to focus on function rather than form. This approach requires concentrating on understanding the problems, and then engineering a wide range of potential solutions. By adopting this mindset, we can completely change our thinking about energy efficiency (效率).
Traditionally, improvements in energy efficiency have mostly been centered on individual devices, which can be quite fruitful. But focusing on individual devices is like if Apple had spent effort inventing a better alarm clock, a better CD player, a better calendar, and a better camera. Now with an iPhone, we don’t need the standalone (独立运行的) devices at all, because it can function as all of them.
So when it comes to energy efficiency, instead of only installing more efficient heaters, we should focus on the desired function: warmth. Through creative designs like coating (给……涂层) our house, we can get rid of the need for heaters, significantly saving nearly 99% energy.
Similarly, rather than merely focusing on making cars more efficient, we should consider the desired function — transportation. By developing an efficient transportation system that reduces the need for private cars, we can achieve greater energy savings.
The most energy-efficient car or heater is no car, or no heater, while still being able to get around and stay warm. In other words, it’s not thinking efficiently, but thinking differently.
1. What makes the iPhone a good example of environmental protection?| A．Choosing a simplest design. |
| B．Combining possible functions. |
| C．Perfecting individual instruments. |
| D．Reducing the energy consumption. |
| A．Improving technologies. |
| B．Using recyclable materials. |
| C．Figuring out various solutions. |
| D．Concentrating on the necessary needs. |
| A．Inefficient. | B．Classical. | C．Useless. | D．Perfect. |
| A．Think out of the box | B．Differences make it unique |
| C．Be economical with energy | D．Step out of the comfort zone |
1.节日的名称和时间；2.节日的习俗及意义。
注意：1.词数100左右；2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
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The Ministry of Culture and Tourism recently unveiled 10 nation a-level Yangtze River themed tourist routes. Yichang city in Central China’s Hubei province,
Visitors can take a cruise from downtown Yichang to the tribe, enjoy traditional ethnic group singing and dancing, rub shoulders with inheritors of intangible cultural heritage and go
During the May Day holiday, Yichang received over 6.07 million tourists, with
Since the May Day holiday, the country
A Change of Heart
It was a cold winter and my family had a tough struggle. Mum had a bitter time raising us kids by herself in our small community as dad passed away five years earlier. We relied on social assistance.
Looking back, I realized what Mum went through sending us kids to school. Every morning she would place a new piece of cardboard in our shoes because our shoes were worn out. When we got home, Mum would have French toast ready for us. Constant moving was typical for my family in those days, and it didn’t look like we’d be in our current house much longer. Rent was $25 a month, but Mum couldn’t pay it, and we knew we would be forced to leave right after Christmas on the first of January.
The holidays were fast approaching, and we were given $25 for Christmas from social services. Mum said that instead of buying food, she was going to use the money to pay our rent. That way we’d have a roof over our heads for a little while longer. Then she told us that there would be no Christmas gifts.
Unbeknown to Mum, I had been selling Christmas trees, shoveling (铲) snow and doing odd jobs to earn enough money to buy a new pair of boots. I knew exactly which boots I wanted. They were ten-inch, Top-Genuine, Pierre Paris boots, and they cost $23.
The big day for getting my boots came on Christmas Eve afternoon. I was very excited as I hurried up the road to catch the bus into town. It was only a half-mile walk, but on the way I noticed a house with Christmas lights and decorations. It was then that I realized at our house, we had no lights, no decorations and no turkey or ham for Christmas dinner.
注意：1. 续写短文词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡相应位置作答。
As I continued walking, I began to feel strangely ashamed.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________With decorations and food, I reached home.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Pan Yuzhen,
In 2016, Pan and other embroiderers from Guizhou went to the United Kingdom to participate in
“Miao embroidery is not only the
6 . I walked through the market for diapers (纸尿布), the thing we needed the most; they were the first thing I
“Nanas!”
I pulled out my wallet only to find the lonely bills: a five and two ones, with no coins. If the bananas didn’t weigh too much, I had just enough cash to
The total
It was already halfway written, while a
Trying my best to
I’ll never forget that day,
| A．picked out | B．gave out | C．worked out | D．turned out |
| A．confused | B．alarmed | C．curious | D．disappointed |
| A．announced | B．argued | C．roared | D．cried |
| A．cover | B．measure | C．charge | D．cut |
| A．bought | B．grabbed | C．removed | D．refused |
| A．quality | B．debt | C．amount | D．balance |
| A．note | B．message | C．recipe | D．cheque |
| A．embarrassing | B．puzzling | C．inspiring | D．surprising |
| A．sound | B．noise | C．voice | D．yell |
| A．change | B．reward | C．discount | D．award |
| A．spending | B．extra | C．budget | D．donation |
| A．go through | B．burst into | C．take in | D．hold back |
| A．but | B．since | C．yet | D．though |
| A．treatment | B．benefit | C．effect | D．charity |
| A．in fact | B．in particular | C．in turn | D．in case |
7 . The ranking of universities and colleges at the national global level is a well-known doubtful practice. Imperfect approaches generate inaccurate results of these institutions. Nowadays, prestigious (有威望的) law and medical schools have started to walk away from this “evaluation”.
There are two obvious methodological problems with all of this. One is that the numerical rankings suffer from false precision. Is there really a difference between No.10 and No.11 in the undergraduate (本科生) school rankings? Johns Hopkins University famously had a plan called“10 by 20”with the goal of getting to No.10 by 2020. Hopkins is a great undergraduate institution — whether it’s No.10 or No.11 is meaningless, but it did indeed make it into the top 10 ahead of schedule, which no doubt delighted its trustees and students.
The other methodological problem is that rankings reward those schools that promote measurements by admitting students who have had the advantages of better pre-college education and test preparation coaching, and whose wealth will make them likely future donors. Equally worthy applicants without such resources will fail to enter the schools.
The good news is that in recent months, a reckoning (清算) has begun. Last September, Columbia University chose not to participate in the undergraduate rankings after an enterprising professor discovered that the school was fudging its own numbers. If Columbia’s data were corrected, it would drop from No. 2 to No. 18. Two months later, law schools began pushing back. Yale and Harvard Law Schools announced that they would refuse to provide data to U. S. News, and several outstanding law schools followed suit.
This resistance to rankings has now begun in the world of science. This is a great sign. In announcing its decision, the dean of Washington University’s medical school said, “…it is time to stop participating in a system that does not serve our students or their future patients.”
1. Why does the author mention Johns Hopkins University?| A．To share an experience. | B．To give specific example. |
| C．To make a detailed comparison. | D．To illustrate a complicated concept. |
| A．Its data was not based on facts. |
| B．It was left behind by other universities. |
| C．It didn’t think the system served their students. |
| D．Other universities chose to refuse to participate in the rankings. |
| A．Objective. | B．Indifferent. | C．Supportive. | D．Opposed. |
| A．Resistance to Educational Rankings |
| B．The Ranking of Universities and Colleges |
| C．Educational Rankings: Scientific or Imperfect |
| D．Reasons for Universities’ Refusal of Rankings |
8 . Music is an international language, spanning cultures across the world, and, in fact, across time. Looking at today’s musical landscape, certain cities truly stand out for their music scenes. Here we’re naming some of our favorite cities for music.
NashvilleWith the nickname “Music City”, Nashville makes our list of best music cities. You’re bound to hear live music anywhere, whether at your hotel bar, or at the historic Ryman Auditorium. Nashville is not only home to the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Johnny Cash Museum, but it’s still active in the recording studio scene.
ViennaIf you’re after classical music on your next vacation, be sure to head to Vienna. Once the capital of the Habsburg Empire, the city was the center of all societal affairs which included music. The greatest classical composers—from Mozart to Haydn to Beethoven to Mahler—all lived and worked in Vienna at one point or another.
New YorkNew York has been described as a “melting pot (熔炉)” of cultures, and that applies to its music, too. The 20th century was particularly fruitful for New York’s music scene. During this time, it became the birthplace of hip-hop, disco, and salsa music, among other styles. The list truly goes on and on.
New OrleansThe city is filled with jazz, where you can listen to the great music every night. Of course, you can catch jazz at venues across town—the genre was born here, after all. If you’re a huge jazz fan, you might want to consider visiting during the annual New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.
1. Which city is more attractive to visitors who want to know the classical musicians?| A．Nashville. | B．Vienna. | C．New York. | D．New Orleans. |
| A．It is a meeting pointing for various styles of music. |
| B．It is recognized as the birthplace and hot area of Jazz. |
| C．It holds musical festivals for hip-pop and disco fans each year. |
| D．It enables people to enjoy the live shows inside and outside hotel bars. |
| A．A poster. | B．A news report. | C．An encyclopedia. | D．A magazine. |
9 . Adults usually do not remember most of the things that are taught by their teachers at school. But this story is one such lesson that I will never forget. Every time I drift off course, I think of this story.
It was a normal Monday morning, and my teacher was teaching us on important things in life and about devoting ourselves to what is important to us. This is how the story went.
An old man lived in a certain part of London, and he would wake up every morning and go to the subway. He would get onto the train right to Central London, and then sit at the street corner and beg. He would do this every single day of his life. He sat at the same street corner and begged for almost 20 years.
His house was dirty, and a stench (恶臭) came out of the house and it smelled terrible. The neighbors could not stand the smell any more, so they called for the police officers to clear the place. The officers knocked down the door and cleaned the house. There were small bags of money all over the house that he had collected over the years.
The police counted the money, and they soon realized that the old man was a millionaire (百万富翁). They waited outside his house expecting to share the good news with him. When the old man arrived home that evening, one of the officers told him that there was no need for him to beg any more as he was a rich man now, a millionaire.
But the old man said nothing at all; he went into his house and locked the door. The next morning he woke up as usual, went to the subway, sat at the street corner and continued to beg.
Clearly, this old man had no great plans, dreams or anything significant for his life. We learn nothing from this story other than staying focused on the things we enjoy doing.
1. The underlined part in the first paragraph may mean ______.| A．I wouldn’t like to go to school | B．I get lost in the direction of life |
| C．I get tired of learning my subjects | D．I fail to listen to lessons attentively |
| A．the old man wouldn’t buy tickets for the train |
| B．the old man kept begging money from them every day |
| C．there was something dangerous in the old man’s house |
| D．they couldn’t bear the smell from the old man’s house |
| A．felt worried | B．became excited | C．remained calm | D．became nervous |
| A．Make great plans for your life. | B．Keep on doing what is important. |
| C．Do something that is good to society. | D．Depend on yourself rather than others. |
“We’re leaving!” Dad called.
Cody grabbed his flip-flops (平底人字拖鞋). He was about to race downstairs when he noticed the tiny airplane on his cousin’s desk. “That would be fun to take to the beach,” he thought, “I don’t think Quinn will mind if I borrow it.” Quinn didn’t really play with toys these days anyway. He had a summer job now. Cody quickly put the airplane into the pocket of his bathing suit.
He could hear the waves crashing as he, Dad, and Uncle Jeff unloaded the car. Cody put down his towel and made a runway in the sand. Then he took out the airplane and imagined taking off. After a steep climb, he put the plane through a series of loops, rolls, and dives (俯冲).
“Cody, are you coming with us?” Dad called. Dad and Uncle Jeff were eager to catch some waves.
Cody carried his bodyboard and ran after them. They dived and swam out to where they could stand to catch the waves. When Cody spotted the coming wave, he turned toward shore and started kicking. As the wave picked him up and shot him forward, he felt as if he were flying. Dad and Uncle Jeff caught the same wave and they all cheered with joy. They rode wave after wave.
Soon Cody’s teeth were chattering. He was glad when they decided to head back to their place on the sand. He lay down on his towel, enjoying the warm sunshine. But in a sudden panic, he sat up. “Where is the airplane?” He murmured and searched the sand around him, but found only broken seashells.
Cody walked around and kept looking for the airplane wherever it may be. But as it became clear that the air plane was lost, he was thrown into fear, wondering what to tell Quinn. On the way back home, he felt more and more upset.
注意：1.续写词数应为80词左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Just when Cody stepped off the car, he felt something sharp in his pocket.
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