2 . Each week, the BBC Autos editors select their favourite transport-related news stories, features and videos from around the web. This week, we noticed a trend toward offering creative solutions to global transportation problems.     1    .

Carry on without your carry-on

In an effort to save money and increase customer spending, United Airlines will restrict some passengers’ access to overhead compartments. The Huffington Post reports that United will be the first US airline to limit “basic economy” flyers to a single free carry-on bag that can fit under a seat.     2    . In addition, customers buying these low-fare tickets will be unable to accrue airline miles and will be randomly assigned seating the day of the flight.

    3    .   As BBC Autos reported back in October, airlines are struggling with reducing cargo weight. Because heavier bags — and heavier passengers — result in significantly higher fuel bills, airlines such as Samoa Air have implemented a “fat tax” that means overweight passengers have to pay more for a ticket.

Grandad’s Coke pool rust-removal stunt goes wrong

Not only are fizzy drinks(起泡饮料) capable of rotting teeth, they can also remove rust(锈). One Latvian grandfather decided to put cola to the ultimate rust-removal test by submerging his car in a pool of Coca-Cola. In a video posted online, the unnamed daredevil grandad fills a lined pit with 6,000 two-litre bottles of Coke. He then settles into the driver’s seat and speeds into the hole, smashing the front of his red Audi. Whether or not the rust was removed is unknown, but the Daily Mail contends that “    4    ”.

A．Improvement in the amount of rust on the car was far less than the damage to the vehicle.

B．The problems have stirred up heated discussion on the Internet.

C．Some of the suggestions are innovative and intelligent, but others are likely to make travelers     feel funny.

D．Coca-Cola is already a food giant, which attracts children and adults alike around the world.

E．In other words, starting next year, those who purchase the cheapest fares will not only be allowed one personal item that fits under the seat in front of them.

F．United’s move to limit carry-on bags and charge more for flying perks (飞行特权) isn’t a new concept.

3 . Architects have long had the feeling that the places we live in can affect our thoughts, feelings and behaviors. But now scientists are giving this feeling an empirical (经验的,实证的) basis. They are discovering how to design spaces that promote creativity, keep people _________, and lead to relaxation.

Researches show that aspects of the _________ environment can influence creativity. In 2007, Joan Meyers-Levy at the University of Minnesota, reported that the height of a room's ceiling _________ how people think. Her research indicates that higher ceilings encourage people to think more _________, which may lead them to make more abstract connections. Low ceilings, on the other hand, may inspire a more detailed _________.

In addition to ceiling height, the view _________ by a building may influence an occupant's ability to concentrate. Nancy Wells and her colleagues at Cornell University found in their study that kids who _________ the greatest increase in greenness as a result of a family move made the most gains on a standard test of attention.

Using nature to improve focus of attention ought to _________ academically, and it seems to, according to a study led by C. Kenneth Tanner, head of the School Design & Planning Laboratory at the University of Georgia. Tanner and his team found that students in classrooms with _________ views of at least 50 feet outside the window had higher scores on tests of vocabulary, language arts and maths than did students whose classrooms primarily __________ roads and parking lots.

Recent study on room lighting design suggests that __________ light helps people to loosen up. If that is true generally, keeping the light low during dinner or at parties could increase __________. Researchers of Harvard Medical School also discovered that furniture with rounded edges could help visitors relax.

__________ scientists have focused mainly on public buildings." We have a very limited number of studies, so we're almost looking at the problem through a straw," architect David Allison says. "How do you take answers to very specific questions and make__________, generalized use of them? That's what we're all __________ with."

1.

A．tired

B．informed

C．focused

D．delighted

2.

A．physical

B．chemical

C．historical

D．psychological

3.

A．transforms

B．interrupts

C．improves

D．affects

4.

A．primarily

B．freely

C．practically

D．originally

5.

A．prospect

B．review

C．comment

D．outlook

6.

A．composed

B．accompanied

C．afforded

D．reflected

7.

A．experienced

B．endured

C．shouldered

D．encountered

8.

A．kick off

B．hold up

C．turn up

D．pay off

9.

A．imbalanced

B．unblocked

C．unrelated

D．irrelevant

10.

A．separated

B．overlooked

C．resembled

D．connected

11.

A．bright

B．green

C．dim

D．blue

12.

A．attention

B．conversation

C．concentration

D．relaxation

13.

A．So far

B．However

C．Hence

D．Furthermore

14.

A．absolute

B．broad

C．narrow

D．concrete

15.

A．beginning

B．interacting

C．competing

D．struggling

4 . Writer and journalist Cristina Odone aroused widespread anger by suggesting that her daughter was being pressured to take science for graduation exams and this was unreasonable for a child with a literary bent. She even claimed that “this focus on STEM[Science,Technology,Engineering and Mathematics] subjects sends a message that makes her and me uncomfortable:doing a man's work is more impressive than doing a woman's.”

Like many others, I totally disagree with her position as a scientist. Taking science to age 16should simply be seen as part of obtaining a well-rounded education. Furthermore, identifying STEM as a man's subject leads in part to our serious lack of diversity（多样性）in the scientific workforce. Meanwhile, many male authors and poets might be surprised to learn that literature is“woman's work”.

Novelist Lucy Ellman once wrote,“The purpose of artists is to ask the right questions, even if we don't find the answers，whereas the aim of science is to prove some silly points.” But proving some silly points might save your life，light your home，allow you to surf the web or visit your relatives living far away. Only someone who has never considered how extensive the outputs of science are in our society could write such a“silly”sentence.

However, having said that, I am not trying to denigrate the work of the humanities. I do not see this as an either/or situation but it's all part of being human. I admire and appreciate those who try to express things hard to be described in words, but it simply isn't my strength. I may wholeheartedly believe that science is vital but that doesn't mean I think the humanities（or indeed the social sciences）are not. Since science costs more to do than arts subjects, more funding should go to science. That statement is not equal to saying that the humanities should not be properly funded. Somehow, we are constantly being put in opposition, a divide that is damaging to both scientists and non-scientists.

So why are the humanities important to me？I would say it is exactly because I am human. I sit here typing listening to a Schubert piano trio. I have been reading EP Thompson's The Making of the English Working Class to try to understand how our society was and is the shape it is. Scientists may be capable of dealing with the ethics（道德标准） of their work, but they cannot and should not answer the question of whether we should do this in isolation. Answering the many questions that our developing scientific capabilities throw up requires the input of researchers from many fields.

So let us enjoy our capabilities on all fronts, recognizing that we each have different strengths and weaknesses. It's time to ban the damaging divide that sets one part of the research community against another and celebrate our humanity as well as the Humanities.

1. The writer quotes words from Cristina Odone and Lucy Ellman to show that________.

A．doing a man’s work is more impressive than doing a woman’s

B．some people may have a narrow understanding of science

C．the purposes of artists and scientists are totally different

D．a well-rounded education is crucial to the diversity in society

2. By saying “I am not trying to denigrate the work of the humanities”, the writer probably means________.

A．“I am not an expert in the work of the humanities”

B．“I don't think the work of the humanities important”

C．“I don't want to play down the work of the humanities”

D．“I admire and appreciate the work of the humanities”

3. Why does the writer mention listening to music and reading books in Paragraph 5？

A．To explain how extensive the outputs of science are.

B．To call on scientists to understand the society and the shape of it.

C．To prove that the humanities are important to scientists too.

D．To advise scientists to deal with the ethics of their work.

4. The purpose of this passage is to________.

A．reveal people’s weakness in expressing complex thoughts in words.

B．reject the idea that science only proves some silly points.

C．illustrate that scientists have strengths and weaknesses.

D．appeal to stop treating humanities and science as opposites.

5 . Directions: Complete the passage with the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. participants        B. missing        C. remotely       D. doubtful     E. conducted F. rush   G. tolerated     H. particularly       I. reflects        J. efficient        K. monitors

Digital technology — email and smart phones especially — have vastly improved workers' ability to be productive outside of a traditional office. Even so, most white-collar work still happens in an office. One reason is that, according to findings of a new survey of office workers     1     by Wakefield Research for the IT company Citrix, most bosses are     2     about remote working. Half of the workers say their boss doesn't accept it and only 35 percent say it's     3    .

Suspicious bosses will likely have their doubts reinforced (加深) by the same survey, which shows that 43 percent of workers say they've watched TV or a movie while “working” remotely, while 35 percent have done housework, and 28 percent have cooked dinner. If people find no one     4     him, he will become lazy and no pressure particularly in their own house where it is very comfortable place.

It is true, however，that working at home makes people much more     5    , because it allows workers to take care of annoying housework while still getting their jobs done. It's much faster, for example, to shop for groceries at a quarter to three than to stand in line during the after-work    6    .

The fact that such practices remain officially unaccepted     7     how far we haven't come as a society from the days when we expected every full-time worker to be supported by a full-time homemaker.

More broadly the Wakefield survey suggests that employers may be     8     a low-cost way to give workers something of value. Sixty-four percent of those survey     9     who haven't worked     10     would rather give up some bonus in order to get even one day a week working from home. Under such circumstances, smart firms need to find ways to let their employees have enough flexibility to manage their time efficiently..

8 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

Life Doesn’t Just Happen to Us

Being good at something and having a passion for it are not enough. Success depends mainly on our view of ourselves and of the events in our lives.

When twelve-year-old John Wilson walked into his chemistry class on a rainy day in 1931, he had no way of knowing that his life was to change completely. The class experiment that day was to show     1    heating a container of water would bring air bubbling to the surface. Somehow, the container the teacher gave Wilson     2    (heat) mistakenly held something more volatile(易挥发的) than water. When Wilson heated it, the container exploded,     3    (leave) Wilson blinded in both eyes.

When Wilson returned home from hospital two months later, his parents attempted to find a way to deal with the disaster that     4    (happen) to their lives. But Wilson did not regard the accident     5    a disaster. He learned braille(盲文) quickly and continued his education at Worcester College for the Blind. There, he not only did well as a student but also became an     6    (accomplish) public speaker.

Later, he worked in Africa,    7    many people suffered from blindness for lack of proper treatment. For him, it was one thing to accept his own fate of being blind and quite another to allow something to continue when it     8    be fixed so easily. Wilson did his best to prevent the preventable     9     tens of millions in Africa and Asia could recover their sight.

Wilson received several international awards for his great contributions. He lost his sight but found a vision. He proved that it’s not what happens to us     10    determines our lives- it’s what we make of what happens.

9 . Directions: Read the following passage. Summarize the main idea and the main point(s) of the passage in no more than 60 words. Use your own words as far as possible. 

Wearable technology can reportedly tell you a lot more than just the number of calories you’re burning or how many steps you’ve walked… That clever smartwatch can actually tell that you’re about to get a cold, days before you start feeling poorly. As New Scientist reports, researchers at Stanford University in California have discovered that wearable tech can now detect when you’re about to fall prey to (感染) a frightening winter bug, simply by tracking your vital statistics.

After monitoring 40 smartwatch users for up to two years, the team has demonstrated that the devices can be used to detect the first signs of coming illness. The participants’ pulse and skin temperature were continuously monitored throughout the period, with the scientists noting that their smartwatches recorded unusually higher heart rates and skin temperatures up to three days before the volunteers began displaying symptoms of cold or flu.

Study leader Michael Snynder said: “Once these wearables collect enough data to know what your normal baseline readings are, they can get very good at sensing when something goes wrong. We think that if your heart rate and skin temperature are elevated for about two hours, there’s a strong chance you’re getting sick.” “Continuous tracking of your vital signs is more informative than having a doctor measure them once a year and comparing them with population averages,” he added.

The team now hopes to create an algorithm (算法) that will let smartwatches notify you when you’re about to get sick. Well, at least that might give us the chance to stock up on vitamins and wrap up warm before the germ attacks!

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

10 . Directions: Complete the following passage by using the words in the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. classify B. contains C. detailed D. maintains E. multiply F. necessarily G. passive H. relatively I. subject J. total   K. unusual

Can a precise word total ever be known? No, says Professor David Crystal, known chiefly for his research in English language studies and author of around 100 books on the     1    . “It’s like asking how many stars there are in the sky. It’s impossible to answer,” he said.

An easier question to answer, he     2    , is the size of the average person’s vocabulary. He suggests taking a sample of about 20 or 30 pages from a medium-sized dictionary, which     3     about 100,000 entries or 1,000 or 1,500 pages.

Tick off the ones you know and count them. Then     4     that by the number of pages and you will discover how many words you know. Most people vastly underestimate their     5    .

“Most people know half the words-about 50,000-easily. A reasonably educated person about 75,000 and a really cool, smart person well, maybe all of them but that is rather     6    . An ordinary person, one who has not been to university say, would know about 35,000 quite easily.”

The formula can be used to calculate the number of words a person uses, but a person’s active language will always be less than their     7    , the difference being about a third.

Prof Crystal says exposure to reading will obviously expand a person’s vocabulary but the level of a person’s education does not     8     decide things. “A person with a poor education perhaps may not be able to read or read much, but they will know words and may have a very     9     vocabulary about pop songs or motorbikes. I’ve met children that you could     10     as having a poor education and they knew hundreds of words about skateboards that you won’t find in a dictionary.”