1 . Jimmy Choi is a cyclist, and a world record holder for push-ups (俯卧撑). He also happens to be living with Parkinson's disease. He was diagnosed with the brain disorder in 2003, suffering from involuntary shaking and problems with walking and balancing. There is currently no cure. Jimmy has to quit the sports. Soon he commits himself to being a motivational speaker and advocating for people with the disease.
Jimmy often shares his struggles on social media, and in a recent video, he expressed his annoyance at the packaging of the pills he needs to take. It showed his shaking hand trying to get a tiny pill from the bottle. Jimmy wasn't the only one facing such a problem. Brian Alldridge, a videographer (电视录像制作人), saw his video and immediately decided to do something to help him and everyone else dealing with this problem. He sat down at his computer and taught himself 3D modeling software. Within two days, Brian designed a new medicine bottle that separates a single pill in a container.
Brian made his own video and offered his design free of charge to anyone with a 3D printer who would be willing to create a physical prototype (原型). “I expected maybe one or two people to message me when I couldn't guarantee that the device would actually work. Instead, thousands of people offered to print the thing the next day,” Brian said, feeling so surprised. “Even more told me that someone they knew could benefit from it.”
The online community took it from there, printing out many versions of Brian's design until they had a prototype to send to Jimmy. Jimmy was just surprised by their support, and he eagerly tested every version of it. The creators of the pill bottle now feel like there's nothing they can't do! “If you think of a way to improve the lives of others, there's most likely a way to make it happen.” Brian said.
1. What did Jimmy show in the recent video?| A．Poor packaging of his pills. | B．Bothering with reaching pills. |
| C．Design of a new medicine bottle. | D．Requirements for people with Parkinson. |
| A．He feels upset about leaving sports. | B．He makes great efforts to recover. |
| C．He becomes devoted to a new career. | D．He lives in great pain from the disease. |
| A．So many people responded to him. | B．The bottle worked better than expected. |
| C．His design benefited many patients. | D．Jimmy tried all versions of the bottle. |
| A．There is nothing they can't accept. |
| B．There is nothing they can't imagine. |
| C．There is nothing they can't control. |
| D．There is nothing they can't achieve. |
2 . Since Tesla founder Elon Musk published his White Paper On The Fifth Mode of Transportation in 2013, the concept of “Hyperloop” has caught the imaginations of engineers and investors across the world. Simply put, it is just an idea that vehicles filled with passengers or goods are sent through a nearly airless pipe at airliner-speeds of up to 1,223 kilometers per hour.
Critics(批评者) say Hyperloop may only amounts to a pipe dream that would be technically and financially impossible to achieve.
They argue that there are too many safety questions that need to be answered. What if the airless tube breaks? What if the train somehow crashes through the tube? What if earthquakes occur? Such events will be extremely difficult, if not impossible, to be engineered into the system, especially when a vehicle runs at such high speeds in a hundreds-of-miles-long airless tube.
Turning will also be extremely difficult for the high-speed hyperloop. They say that a hyperloop vehicle would need approximately 10 kilometers for a 90-degree turn at 965 kilometers per hour. This may determine how useful the hyperloop can be.
It's still unclear how much it would cost to build a hyperloop, but surely it would be in the billions of dollars. Financial documents leaked from Virgin Hyperloop in 2016 suggested its Hyperloop One would cost between $ 135 million and $ 193 million per kilometer ---significantly more than high-speed rail. Even with public funding, the ticket prices will be unacceptably high for passengers.
Last week, Virgin Hyperloop, one of the leading companies devoted to realizing Elon Musk's pipe dream, announced that for the first time it has conducted a test of its Hyperloop One with human passengers and set a new speed record; 386 kilometers per hour. It is aiming to hit 643 kilometers per hour for the next run.
“Hyperloop One wouldn't have existed unless we put it here. It is going to be that spot where the public can look and say, ‘that was a really big idea,’” said Giegel, co-founder of Virgin Hyperloop, “’but they came, they did it, and they made it a reality.’”
1. What can we know about “Hyperloop”?| A．It is a high-speed car designed by Elon Musk's Tesla. |
| B．It is a new idea for the next generation transportation. |
| C．It is a passenger train running in an airless pipe at high speed. |
| D．It is a spaceship running at a speed of 1,223 kilometers per hour. |
| A．Its safety. | B．Its speed. |
| C．Its low building costs. | D．Its cheap ticket prices. |
| A．386 kilometers per hour. | B．643 kilometers per hour. |
| C．965 kilometers per hour. | D．1, 223 kilometers per hour. |
| A．Human passengers on Hyperloop One | B．The ordinary people. |
| C．Virgin Hyperloop founders and engineers. | D．Visitors at Virgin Hyperloop. |
3 . Do you often listen to music at loud volumes? You should know that this habit is bad for your hearing, according to the World Health Organization(WHO).
Over 1 billion young people are at risk of hearing loss due to listening to loud noises for long periods of time, WHO said.
The United Nations has standards for safe listening. It is not safe to listen to sounds that are louder than 85 decibels (dB,分贝) for eight hours or 100 dB for 15 minutes. The sound of a busy road is about 85 dB and the sound of a rock concert can be about 100 dB.
Some people might think that their music isn't all that loud.
WHO said the “safe level” for most sound is below 80 decibels for up to 40 hours a week.
| A．This is what causes hearing loss. |
| B．But this can depend on where you are. |
| C．Loud noises are harmful to the inner ear. |
| D．There are different ways to protect your hearing. |
| E．A level of 80 decibels is roughly equal to the noise of a subway. |
| F．Young people are more sensitive to different sounds than elder people. |
| G．Listening to music or watching a TV show at loud volumes can harm your hearing. |
4 . One night Peter received a call from his social worker asking, “Can you take in an 11-year-old boy just for the weekend?" It was just a few days after he had said goodbye to two brothers he was fostering（收养）, so he told the social worker that his heart was deeply saddened by the loss of the two boys that had just been reunited with their birth parents. Peter thought he didn't have enough energy left to care for another child at the moment. But the worker convinced him.
The social worker arrived at his home with the boy at 6 am after driving five hours from another county. There is a huge shortage of foster families in Oklahoma so when a child enters the foster care system, social workers are often forced to place the children outside of the county of origin, often removing the child from the only place he or she has ever known. Add in the fact that older children are much more difficult to place.
Peter asked why Anthony, the boy, was in foster care. Then he knew that the boy had been abandoned(抛弃）by his mother when he was 2. He was then placed with a family. But almost ten years later, the family abandoned him at the hospital. Peter was shocked," It's like my life!”
The two have been together ever since. And on the 12th of November, Anthony finally got to share Peter's last name officially. However, Peter didn't stop fostering kids. “It's hard to be a single foster dad but it's worth every minute of it. We are about to have another child next month and we are excited.”
1. What can we infer about Peter from the first paragraph?| A．He is rich. |
| B．He is kind. |
| C．He is busy. |
| D．He is brave. |
| A．Peter asked him to do so. |
| B．He knew Peter liked the boy. |
| C．Peter lived in the boy's birthplace. |
| D．He couldn't find a foster family locally. |
| A．He likes his present life. |
| B．He worked at the hospital. |
| C．He wanted to have a family. |
| D．He also had a poor childhood. |
5 . Researchers continue to show the power behind our sense of smell. Recent studies have found, among other things, that the smell of foods like pizza can cause uncontrollable anger in drivers on roads.
The study explains that smell is unique in its effects on the brain. According to Conrad King, the researcher who carried out the study, “more than any other senses, the sense of smell goes through the logical part of the brain and acts on the systems concerned with feelings. This is why the smell of baking bread can destroy the best intentions of a dieter.”
Smell, which determines the unbelievable complexity of food tastes, has always been the least understood of our senses. Our noses are able to detect up to 10,000 distinct smells. Our ability to smell and taste this extremely large range of smells is controlled by something like 1,000 genes (基因), which make up an amazing 3% of the human genome.
According to Conrad King’s study, smelling fresh pizza or even the packaging of fast foods can be enough to make drivers feel impatient with other road users. They are then more likely to speed and experience uncontrollable anger on roads. The most reasonable explanation is that these can all make drivers feel hungry, and therefore desperate to satisfy their appetites. In contrast, the smells of peppermint （薄荷）and cinnamon（桂皮香料） were shown to improve concentration levels as well as reduce drivers’ impatience. Similarly, the smells of lemon and coffee appeared to promote clear thinking and mental focus.
However, the way genes control smell differs from person to person. A study by researchers in Israel has identified at least 50 olfactory(嗅觉) genes which are switched on in some people and not in others. They believe this may explain why some of us love some smells and tastes while others hate them. The Israel researchers say their study shows that nearly every human being shows a different pattern of active and inactive smell-detecting receptors.
1. What does the author think of human sense of smell?| A．It is complex. | B．It is uncontrollable. |
| C．It is changeable. | D．It is powerful. |
| A．To find out how smell influences people. |
| B．To teach people how to choose proper food. |
| C．To study why some food like pizza harm people. |
| D．To explain why different people love different foods. |
| A．Only a few genes decide our sense of smell. |
| B．Different genes have different effect on people. |
| C．Different people are sensitive to different smells. |
| D．Every person owns at least 50 different olfactory genes. |
| A．Logic and behavior. | B．Smell and its influence. |
| C．Sense ability and food tastes. | D．Olfactory genes and our olfactory system. |
●网络给学习带来的变化；
●网络给生活带来的改变：比如交流方式、购物方式、娱乐形式等。
注意：
1. 词数100左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，使行文连贯；
3. 开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。
The Internet Has Changed My Life
The Internet is playing an important part in our lives.
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7 . There is a very long list of rules for the New York City subway. Don’t put your feet on a seat, don’t carry open cups of coffee or soda, don’t take more than one seat... Those are just a few of the rules. There are hundreds more.
With so many rules, why is it still unpleasant to ride the subway?
Some people think that the problem is that no one enforces the rules. Other passengers sometimes try to enforce rules. But you can’t rely on them because New Yorkers have unwritten rules against talking to strangers and making eye contact with strangers. How can you tell someone to take her shopping bags off the seat and throw away her Coke without talking to her or looking at her? It is difficult.
There are other New Yorkers who think that the subway is unpleasant because there are not enough rules. One rider wrote a letter to The New York Times a couple of weeks ago suggesting a few more subway rules. Here are some of the rules that she would like to see:
—Don’t lean on the poles. You prevent other people from holding on. They can fall down.
—Talk quietly. The trains are already too noisy.
—Give your seat to elderly passengers or to parents with small children.
If those unwritten rules of etiquette are written down, will the rude people be more likely to follow them? It doesn’t make sense to make more rules that no one will enforce.
The real problem is that we are forgetting how to be nice to each other. It is embarrassing that we need a rule to tell us to give our seat to elderly passengers. Nobody should need to be reminded to do that.
I say we stop talking about the rules and try to remember our manners. Let’s be nice to each other not because a police officer might tell us to get off the train, but because it is the right thing to do. Then New York City would be more civilized —both above ground and below.
1. Don’t make eye contact and don’t talk to strangers are examples of .| A．New York subway rules | B．personal preferences on the subway |
| C．behavioral habits in New York City | D．unpleasant experiences on the subway |
| A．manners | B．phenomena | C．festivals | D．moods |
| A．The authority should set stricter rules. |
| B．The government should employ more police. |
| C．The citizens should ride the subway less. |
| D．Everyone should take better care of their behavior. |
| A．The acting. | B．The plot. | C．The music. |
9 . KIPP schools work closely with families to create a welcoming school environment where students can succeed. Through phone calls, emails, home visits, and parent-teacher conferences, KIPP schools regularly communicate with families about their child’s academic development to help students from educationally underserved communities develop the knowledge, skills, character, and habits needed to succeed in college and the competitive world beyond.
Enroll (注册)at a KIPP School
KIPP schools are tuition-free, public schools open to all students. To enroll your child in a KIPP school, please contact the school in your community directly by phone or email.
A safe and structured environment
Students need physical and emotional safety in order to take risks and learn from their successes and their mistakes. Our schools provide an environment with minimal distractions (干扰)and more time for academics, so our students love school and maximize their learning.
A three-way partnership
By choosing KIPP, students, parents, and teachers make a commitment to excellence. All three parties are in it together. They sign an agreement called the “Commitment to Excellence,” which ensures that each will do whatever it takes to help the student learn.
All KIPP schools share a common approach and yet every KIPP school is unique. Tour a school to better understand the culture, schedule, and curriculum.
1. Who are allowed to be admitted to KIPP schools?| A．Students from all classes. |
| B．Students with good talents. |
| C．Students from poor families. |
| D．Students with special education. |
| A．To communicate with each other. |
| B．To reduce parents’ worries. |
| C．To lengthen the time in learning. |
| D．To share their experience. |
| A．To attract tourists. |
| B．To make a summary. |
| C．To introduce the school. |
| D．To make a suggestion. |
| A．She went on a trip. | B．She stayed at home. | C．She visited her parents. |
