1 . 语法填空

Three Hours a Week: Play Time’s over for China’s Young Video Gamers

China has forbidden under-18s from playing video games for more than three hours a week, a stringent(严苛的)social intervention that it said was needed to pull the plug on a growing addiction to     1     it once described as “spiritual opium(鸦片)”.

The new rules,     2     (publish) on Monday, are part of a major shift by Beijing to strengthen control over its society and key sectors of its economy, including tech, education and property, after years of runaway growth.

The restrictions, which apply to any devices including phones, are a body blow to a global gaming industry that caters to tens of millions of young players in the world’s most profitable market.

They limit under - 18s to     3     (play) for one hour a day - 8 p.m. to 9 p.m. - on only Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, according to the Xinhua sate news agency. They can also play for an hour, at the same time, on public holidays.

The rules from the National Press and Publication Administration (NPPA) regulator coincide with a broader clampdown(压制)by Beijing     4     China’s tech giants, such as Alibaba Group and Tencent Holdings.

The campaign     5     (prevent) what state media has described as the “savage growth” of some companies has wiped tens of billions of dollars off shares traded at home and abroad.

Gaming companies will be barred from providing services to minors in any form outside the stipulated(规定)hours and     6     ensure they have put real-name verification systems in place, said the regulator,     7     oversees the country’s video games market.

The new rules swiftly became one of the most discussed topics on Weibo, China’s answer to Twitter. Some users expressed support for the measures     8     others said they were surprised at how drastic(严厉的)the rules were.

“This is so fierce that I’m utterly speechless,” said one comment that received over 700 likes.     9     expressed doubt that the restrictions could be enforced. “They will just use their parent’s logins, how can they control it?” asked one.

The NPPA regulator told Xinhua it     10     (increase) the frequency and intensity of inspections for online gaming companies to ensure they were putting in place time limits and anti-addiction systems. It also said that parents and teachers played key roles in curbing gaming addiction.

2 . Devotees of Stump-town Coffee, a high-end roastery with fewer than 10 total locations in four select cities, pride themselves on avoiding mainstream coffee chains. What they are probably unaware of, however, as they sip their mochas and cold brews, is that their favorite spot of individuality may soon be just another chain in the Phoenix airport. What they might suspect even less is that they will have a different shopping experience in the coffee shop.

Stump-town, the iconic small-scale brand, was recently acquired by Peet’s, a chain with a couple hundred locations. Peet’s has been in the news for taking over Intelligentsia, another well-loved and self-consciously indie coffee brand. Stump-town’s sale to Peet’s exemplifies an economic phenomenon not limited to the world of craft coffee. Stump-town joins the ranks of a number of popular brands that went from independent to corporate - then Italian San Pellegrino, now owned by the Swiss giant Nestle (along with its main competitor Perrier), the originally Quaker-owned chocolate-bar maker, Cad-bury, acquired by the U. S. corporation formerly known as Kraft, and The Body Shop, the cosmetics brand synonymous with ethical sourcing, bought by the French behemoth L’Oreal, to name a few.

Stump-town’s story is typical of an innovative young venture becoming a victim of its own success. Founded in 1999 by Duane Sorenson in his native Oregon, it turned into a national phenomenon and was at the forefront of the small-scale retailers that positioned coffee - making, and coffee-drinking, as a kind of art form. Stump-town’s business model rested on providing an intensely personal experience. Coffee-drinkers were treated with top-notch beans and unique brews crafted in Stump-town’s “coffee labs,” But these personal touches don’t fit well in the assembly lines of large-scale operations.

The arithmetic of the “bigger is better” paradigm(范例), or what economist call “economies of scale,” is simple enough. The larger the machine, the more lattes it can spew out. Most of all, scale translates into standardization: the conversion of an unpredictable creative process into a precise and highly economical algorithm(算法)of production. All of this means more profits.

But, based on studies of human behavior in places ranging from blood banks to daycare centers, academics now recognize that the calculus is more complex: People act more responsibly in the context of personal relationships that are meaningful to them than in strictly commercial deals, Loyal customers don’t mind going that extra mile to get the perfect cup of coffee.

Smaller institutions have much to offer - not just sentimentally, but also in terms of pure economics. The idea goes back to the 20^th century British economist E. F. Schumacher’s declaration that “Small is beautiful,” a notion fashionable again in the era of institutions “too big to fail.” Since the logic of scale is more attuned to quantity than quality, workers (whose wages are usually driven down), consumers (who enjoy lower prices, but usually get a worse product) and the landscape of the economy (which shows signs of marked decreases in diversity) all suffer from growth that is too rapid. Size is the traditional measurement of a company’s success, but when stability is pursued as passionately as profit, less may truly be more.

1. Which of the following statements about Stump-town Coffee is NOT true?

A．The brand of Stump-town used to highlight individuality.

B．The loyal consumers of Stump-town are aware of its intention for business expansion.

C．It was Stump-town’s own success that drew the attention of a large-scale corporation.

D．Stump-town’s acquisition case reflects a worldwide trend of independent brands going corporate.

2. What does “economies of scale” in the fourth paragraph mean?

A．It means bigger companies ensure a better relationship between the brand and its consumers.

B．It means economic returns increase with the rise of the cost.

C．It means standardized scale is the working model for big companies.

D．It means the precisely calculated process of mass production is the profitable model.

3. What can we infer from the last two paragraphs?

A．Blood banks offered valid proof for the idea “The bigger, the better.”

B．Loyalty of the customers is the central issue in the success of smaller businesses.

C．Smaller businesses make people feel emotional attachment, but they will ultimately fail because of their size.

D．Smaller companies stand a chance to succeed if they can ensure stability.

4. Which of the following is the bet title for the passage?

A．How Badly Hurting Are Those Acquisition Cases?

B．Should Every Business Scale Up?

C．How Long Will Uniformity Go in Globalization?

D．Will Stump-town Coffee Regain Its Identity?

3 . Directions: Complete the following passages 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. public             B. inadequate             C. lowered             D. released               E. disappointment F. casting          G. possibility          H. objective          I. desperately          J. balance K. compared

Why Aren’t Women Happier?

Why aren’t women happier these days?

That’s the question raised by a thought-provoking study, The Paradox of Declining Female Happiness,     1     last month. The research showed that over the past 35 years women’s happiness has declined, both     2     to the past and relative to men even though the lives of women in the US have improved in recent decades by most     3     measures.

The research, by University of Pennsylvania economists Stevenson and Wolfers, and made     4     by the National Bureau of Economic Research, found the decline in happiness to be widespread among women across a variety of demographic(人口统计)groups. The researchers, for instance, measured similar declines in happiness among women who were single parents and married parents, “    5     doubt on the hypothesis(假设)that trends in marriage and divorce, single parenthood or work/family     6     are at the root of the happiness declines among women,” they wrote.

One theory for the decline in happiness is that expectations for workplace and general advancement were raised too high by the women’s movement and women might feel     7     for not “having it all,” as a Los Angeles Times columnist recently put it.

The researchers acknowledge that’s a     8     :

“If the women’s movement raised women’s expectations faster than society was able to meet them,” the paper says, “they would be more likely to experience     9     in their lives.” But they add things could change for the better: “As women’s expectations move into adjustment with their experiences, this decline in happiness may reverse.”

Readers, why do you think women are unhappier than in the past? Do you think that if expectations for “having it all” were     10     to “move into adjustment with experiences,” women might be happier?

4 . 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.

Many procedures are available for obtaining data about a language.     1    range from a carefully planned, intensive field investigation of a foreign language in a foreign country to a casual study of one’s own mother tongue carried out in an armchair at home. To do this, someone has to act as a source of language data-an informant. Informants are ideally native speakers of a language,    2    provide words and sentences for analysis and other kinds of information about the language.

Many factors must be considered when selecting informants—    3    one is working with a single speaker or more people interacting. Age, sex, social background and other aspects of identity are important, as these factors are known to influence the type of the language used. The topic of conversation and the characteristics of the social setting are also highly relevant,    4    are the personal qualities of the informants.

Today, researchers often tape-record informants. This enables the linguist’s claims about the language    5    (check), and provides a way of making those claims more accurate as difficult pieces of speech can be listened to repeatedly. But obtaining naturalistic, good-quality data is never easy. People talk abnormally when they know they    6    (record), and sound quality can be poor. A variety of tape-recording procedures have thus been devised to minimize the ‘observer’s paradox’, a situation in which people feel strange to each other. Some recordings are made    7    the speakers being aware of the fact—a procedure that obtains very natural data, though ethical objections must be expected. Alternatively, attempts can be made to make the speaker forget about the recording,    8    keeping the tape recorder out of sight, or using radio microphones. A useful technique is to introduce a topic that quickly involves the speaker, and stimulates a natural language style, like asking older informants about how times have changed in their locality.

An audio tape recording does not solve all the linguist’s problems, however. Speech is often ambiguous or unclear. Where possible, therefore, the recording has to be supplemented by the observer’s    9    (write)comments on the non-verbal behavior of the participants, and about the context in general. A facial expression, for example, can dramatically alter the meaning of    10    is said. Video recordings avoid these problems to a large extent, but even they have limitations as the camera cannot be everywhere, and transcription always benefits from any additional commentary provided by an observer.

5 . Female penguins get stranded

Every year, thousands of Magellanic penguins (麦哲伦企鹅) get stranded along the coast of South America, but, _________ about 75% of those that get stuck are female. Now scientists say they have worked out what is behind the gender _________: the females migrate further north than males.

Magellanic penguins finish breeding in Patagonia in February, and, during the _________ winter months, head north, reaching as far as Brazil, in search of anchovies (风尾鱼). But every year thousands become stranded, with many _________ to safety on board military aircraft by human.

Writing in the journal Current Biology, researchers in Japan and Argentina report how they _________ tracking device to eight male and six female penguins in 2017 and tracked where the birds went after they left the breeding grounds of Cabo dos Bahfa in Argentina and began the migration north in April.

Previously it was unknown whether male and female’s took different paths or not. “Although some _________ are made, the exact reason for the _________ stranding has been unknown due to the lack of information on their behavior outside the breeding season.” said Takashi Yamamoto, a co-author of the report from the Institute of Statistical Mathematics in Japan.

The results from the study offer a clearer picture. _________ the authors note that only a small number of penguins were tracked, all the female’s generally traveled further north. The male, meanwhile, predominantly stuck to waters of the Argentinian coast. The study also found male _________ dived deeper than female’s: about 59 metres compared with about 35 metres.

The authors offer a number of reasons why males and females may head to different areas— including to avoid __________ for food—and why they dive to different __________ —the females’ smaller bodies may restrict the depths they can reach. They also suggest the different sexes may seek waters of different temperatures, with the __________ females preferring warmer, shallower surroundings.

While researchers are still trying to understand why penguins end up stranded, Yamamoto and colleague’s suggest those that end up further north may have used more energy swimming or catching __________ prey, leaving them exhausted. Climate change, pollution in the area or injury from fishing equipment could also play a role. Reports of standings have noted that many penguins are unwell or exhausted, with some even washing up dead.

“__________, plastic remains have been reported in the stomach of beach-washed Magellanic penguins,” said Yamamoto, adding that a stewed sex ratio could potentially lead to a population decline.

While the findings may not help prevent strandings, Yamamoto said it could help with __________ of the species. “If we do not consider any action, such as marine zoning, I expect that the number of stranding individuals will increase.”

1.

A．desperately

B．puzzlingly

C．obviously

D．undoubtedly

2.

A．combination

B．frustration

C．conflict

D．imbalance

3.

A．following

B．previous

C．starting

D．finished

4.

A．dismissed

B．withdrawn

C．airlifted

D．extended

5.

A．attached

B．equipped

C．lifted

D．injected

6.

A．evaluations

B．assumptions

C．descriptions

D．conclusions

7.

A．deep-rooted

B．ice-covered

C．storm-stricken

D．female-biased

8.

A．Because

B．While

C．After

D．When

9.

A．legally

B．physically

C．typically

D．simply

10.

A．searching

B．competing

C．asking

D．defending

11.

A．widths

B．levels

C．depths

D．rates

12.

A．lighter

B．heavier

C．rougher

D．smoother

13.

A．fixed

B．scared

C．deposited

D．scattered

14.

A．After all

B．In addition

C．However

D．For example

15.

A．perseverance

B．conversation

C．conservation

D．reservation

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

A. suffering     B. intensive     C. demanding     D. adopting     E. inactive     F. adapting     G. available H. guarantee     I. distinctive     J. discouraging     K. distinct

Health and diet

In recent cars, many Asian countries have noticed a worrying new problem: obesity, which is also very serious in China. More than a third of Chinese adults are overweight. Even more worrying is the level of obesity among Chinese children. It is estimated that the number of children in China     1     from obesity is increasing by 10 % every year.

There are many reasons for this situation. The simplest explanation is that food is now     2     in greater quantities than ever before. Also, Chinese society is changing and people are     3     new kinds of lifestyle. There has been an influx of Western style fast food like hamburgers and fried chicken. These foods contain a lot of calorie and are a major cause of obesity. In addition, many children in China spend too much time in front of TVs or computers. To make things worse, millions of families drive around instead of cycling or walking. This     4       lifestyle is another reason for heavier people.

Increasing obesity is worrying for many reasons. The condition can lead to serious health problems, including increased risk of heart disease and even diabetes. Dealing with their health problems seems really costly and     5     , thus affecting people’ life negatively.

The government in China is taking action to deal with obesity, however. In many primary and middle schools, young students are receiving low calorie lunches with more vegetables and less meat and fat. Also, parents are     6     children from watching TV and playing computer games. In some big cities, there are also “fat camps” where seriously obese children receive     7     training, aiming at losing extra fat.

It is not     8     if these measures will be enough to slow down or stop the obesity trend in China. It is clear, though, what we are doing now is to guide people in     9     to healthier and more active lifestyle. It is the     10     of the rise in the index of people’s happiness.

7 . Directions: Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box. Each word can only be used once. Note that there is one word more than you need.

A. applies       B. casually       C. considered       D. customary       E. empty       F. fellow G. individual       H. literally       I. longevity       J. regards       K. related

Whether you’re ringing in Chinese New Year with a bottle of champagne, making a toast at a wedding, or     1     drinking baijiu, a popular type of Chinese alcohol with your friends, knowing a few Chinese toasts to say will always liven the mood. Here is a beginner’s guide to short Chinese toasts and other Chinese drinking culture tips. Ganbei,     2     translating into “dry your cup”, essentially means “cheers”. This phrase can either be a very casual toast or sometimes this toast is an indication for each person to     3     the glass in one gulp. If it is the latter case, this only     4     to men during the first round of drinks at the beginning of the night, and women are only expected to take a sip. Suiyi is the same as “at random” or “arbitrarily”. But with     5     to giving a toast, it also means “cheers”. This toast indicates you want each person to drink as he or she wishes. Wan shou wu jiang is a toast used to wish for     6     and health.

Now that you know what to say, how do you actually give a toast? When giving a toast in Chinese, raise your glass as you give the toast. Depending on where you are, your     7     drinkers will either raise their glasses and then drink, clink glasses and then drink, or tap the bottom of the glasses against the table and then drink. If you are giving a toast with a table full of people, it is not expected that anyone clink glasses. But there will be times when you find yourself clinking glasses with a(n)     8    . If that person is your superior, it is     9     that you touch the rim (边缘) of your glass below the rim of their glass. To exaggerate that you acknowledge this person’s higher status, touch the rim of your glass to the bottom of their glass. This custom is especially important when it comes to business meetings.

The host of the party or meeting will be the first to make the toast. It is     10     rude if anyone besides the host makes the first toast. The host will also give the last toast to indicate that the event is coming to an end. Now that you know how to give a Chinese toast, drink up and enjoy socializing!

8 . 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.

Why true happiness isn't about being happy all the time

Over the past two decades, the positive psychology movement has brightened up psychological rescarch with its science of happiness and human potential. It argues that psychologists should not only investigate mental illness but also what makes life worth living.

The founding father of positive psychology, Martin Seligman, describes happiness as experiencing frequent positive emotions, such as joy, excitement and satisfaction, combined with deeper feelings of meaning and purpose. It implies a positive attitude in the present and an optimistic outlook for the future. Importantly, happiness experts have argued that happiness is not a stable ,unchangeable feature but something flexible that we can work on and eventually strive towards.

Recent research indicates that psychological flexibility is the key to greater happiness and well-being.For example,being open to emotional experiences and the ability to endure periods of discomfort can allow us to move towards a richer, more meaningful existence. Studies have also demonstrated that the way we respond to the circumstances of our lives has more influence on our happiness than the events themselves. Experiencing stress, sadness and anxiety in the short term doesn't mean we can't be happy in the long term. Putting up with sorrow can make us tougher and lead us to take action in our lives, such as changing jobs or overcoming hardship. Often when people have faced difficulty, illness or loss, they describe their lives as happier and more meaningful as a result.

Unlike feeling happy, which is a temporary state, leading a happier life is about individual growth through finding meaning. It is about accepting our humanity with all its ups and downs, enjoying the positive emotions, and making use of painful feelings in order to reach our full potential.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

9 . In “minority report”, a policeman played by Tom Cruise, gathers information from three psychics (通灵者) and arrests future criminals before they break the law. In the real world, prediction is more difficult. But it may no longer be science fiction, thanks to the growing predictive power of computers. That prospect scares some, but it could be a force for good-if it is done right.

Machine learning, a branch of artificial intelligence, can lead to remarkably accurate predictions. It works by chewing vast quantities of data in search of patterns. Take, for example, restaurant hygiene (卫生). The system learns which combinations of sometimes vague factors are most suggestive of a problem. Once trained, it can assess the risk that a restaurant is dirty. The Boston mayor’s office is testing just such an approach, using data from online reviews.This has led to a 25% rise in the number of spot inspections that uncover offences.

Governments are taking notice, A London district is developing an algorithm (运算法则) to predict who might become homeless. In India Microsoft is helping schools predict which students are at risk of dropping out. Machine-learning predictions can mean government services arrive earlier and are better targeted. Researchers behind an algorithm designed to help judges make bail (保释) decisions claim it can predict likelihood of committing crimes again so effectively that the same number of people could be bailed as are at present by judges, but with 20% less crime.To get a similar reduction in crime across America, they say, would require an extra 20,000 police officers at a cost of $2.6 billion.

But computer-based predictions are sometimes debatable. ProPublica, an investigative-journalism outfit, claims that a risk assessment in Bmoward County, Florida, wrongly labelled black people as future criminals nearly twice as often as it wrongly labelled whites. Citizens complain that decisions which affect them are taken on incomprehensible grounds.

These problems are real, but they should not spell the end for machine learning as a policy tool. Instead, the priority should be to establish some ground rules and to win public confidence.The first step is to focus machine learning on applications where people stand to gain extra help at school, say, rather than extra time in jail.

1. The example of restaurants is used in paragraph 2 in order to _________.

A．illustrate how accurate the predictions are

B．urge that the government should take action

C．stress that vague factors can make a difference

D．show how machine learning changes people’s lifestyle

2. What can be inferred about the bail decisions based on the algorithm?

A．More money would be spent to uncover offences.

B．More policemen would be required to reduce crime.

C．Less crime has been reported since the algorithm was applied.

D．Fewer people that are likely to commit crimes would be bailed.

3. What conclusion does the writer draw from the risk assessment in Broward County?

A．In which area machine learning is applied matters.

B．Machine learning as a policy tool is coming to a dead end.

C．Public confidence in computer-based predictions is increasing.

D．The government should not rely on computer-based predictions.

4. Which of the following can be the best title of this passage?

A．Clever computers	B．The power of learning
C．The government that depends on AI	D．Decisions that contribute to better algorithm

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 delivered       B management       C overlooked        D.products        E.rural     F. shifted G.strategies       H.sufficient       I. tremendous        J.urbanisation       K.worst

National governments neglecting development needs of cities

National governments around the world are neglecting the needs of their major cities with non-existent or inadequate development policies, a new report has found. National governments are key to making cities more sustainable, because cities are limited distinctly in the policy measures they can take for themselves, the report points out. However, only a quarter of the world’s governments have urban development policies at all, and most of those that do exist are far from     1     to make cities sustainable.

The report looks at the key measures of energy production, transport, waste     2     and infrastructure(基础建设)，For instance, putting in adequate public transport can transform the lives of citizens and the carbon footprint of the cities they live in. Encouraging the use of electric vehicles above petrol-driven cars can also have a(n)     3     effect, not just on greenhouse gas emissions but also on removing some of the key causes of air pollution.

The report, from the Stockholm Environment Institute and the Coalition for Urban Transitions and funded by Bloomberg Philanthropies, suggests national governments have     4     the needs of their major cities even when they have in place national policies on issues such as climate change and greenhouse gas emissions.Derik Broekhoff of the Stockholm EnvironmentInstitute,the lead author of the study, said“Now is the time for national governments to put cities at the heart of their national development     5     . Countries must consider what policies need to be     6     in order to ensure their countries and cities are prepared for the unprecedented     7     and climate challenges the world is facing.”

Cities around the world are facing rapid population growth, and are likely to be among the areas     8     hit by dramatic climate change, in part because many are at risk of rising sea levels, floods and droughts. For most of human history, the     9     population was greater than those of cities, and it is only in just over the last decade that this balance has     10     with most of the world’s populations now living in urban centres, a trend that is expected to speed up even further.