1 . Home prices remained divergent in China during December, with some of the first-tier cities recording price drops, while second and third-tier cities saw increases due to the varied market policies, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Thursday.

Newly built commercial housing prices in the first-tier cities－namely Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen－remained stable in December, while those in second and third- tier cities rose by 0.6 percent and 0.5 percent respectively from November 2017.

The same trend was witnessed in second-hand home prices, which dropped slightly by 0.1 percent in first-tier cities and rose 0.3 percent in both second and third-tier cities in December, said Liu Jianwei, a senior statistician at the NBS.

In September 2017, the local governments of several regional capitals launched new restrictions to further slow home sales, in response to the central government’s call to end housing speculation and cool the red-hot housing market in certain cities.

As housing regulations in larger cities have tightened, investors have started looking for opportunities in medium-sized and small cities, thus causing a noticeable home price increase in third-tier cities.

Fan Hengshan, deputy secretary-general of the National Development and Reform Commission, said at an economic forum on Thursday that housing prices in third and fourth-tier cities have risen too fast, and this needs to be monitored carefully.

“The home price increase in third-tier cities will have a fairly large impact, considering that a large part of China’s gross domestic product and population come from these cities,” said Zhang Zhiwei, chief economist and head of equity strategy for China at Deutsche Bank, during a recent media briefing.

Zhang estimated that third-tier cities accounted for a major part of Chinese residents’ 50 trillion yuan wealth gains, driven by rising home prices in 2017.

“Despite a relatively large increase in home prices in third-tier cities, studies have found that at the end of 2017, local residents in 85 third-tier cities need to save four to eight years of their income to buy a home, meaning that house price to income ratios are not too high in these cities,” he said.

1. What does the underlined word “divergent” in the first paragraph mean?

A．Diverse	B．Stable
C．Increasing	D．Decreasing

2. What do we know from the passage?

A．Housing prices in the first-tier cities dropped slightly in December.

B．Home prices in medium-sized and small cities remained stable in November.

C．National housing prices rose in most time of 2017.

D．The second-hand home prices dropped slightly in the first-tier cities while rose in both second and third-tier cities in November.

3. Why did the housing prices in the third and fourth-tier cities rise fast?

A．Because the local governments didn’t launch any restrictions and regulations.

B．Because the governments in the first-tier cities have carried out tougher measures.

C．Because there are more people living in these cities.

D．Because people there saved more money than other cities.

4. Where is the passage probably taken from?

A．A science book.	B．A newspaper.
C．A fashion magazine.	D．A text book.

2 . Getting stuck in a traffic jam is one of the most boring problems for people living in big cities.The fact that you’re moving so slowly leads too stress,anger and the wish that your car could just fly over the traffic like an airplane.

Soon,however, that wish could come true .On May 8, US car-renting company Uber showed off what it described as “the transportation mode of the future: on-demand air   transport,”reported ABC News .

According to Nikhill Goel, head of products for Uber Air, the company's air taxi service may launch test flights in the US cities of Dallas and Los Angeles , as well as Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, as early as 2020. If everything goes according to plan, passengers will be able to fly to work by 2023 .

When the Olympics comes to Los Angeles in 2028 . Uber “expects to have hundreds , if not thousands , of its aircraft in the skies.” Goel told Newsweek .

So what would Uber's flying vehicles be like ?

They are small , electric aircraft that take off and land vertically (垂直地) , and they give off zero emissions (排放) and are quiet enough to operate in cities .

Just like an airplane , the vehicles will have fixed wings to help them glide . But while a helicopter has just one big fixed rotor (定量) . Uber's vehicles will have multiple rotors , which will help increase fuel efficiency (效率) while reducing emissions and noise.

Because of these fixed wines and multiple rotors . Uber’s flying taxis“should be quieter and safer than a helicopter.” reported ABC News .

However , the service still has a long way to go before it's ready to accept passengers.For example , to avoid any potential accidents . Uber is working with NASA to study air traffic control problems associated with low-flying aircraft. But just as Dubai's Mayor Betty Price said in a news release . “This program is revolutionary and future -oriented (面向未来的). ”

1. Uber 's flying taxis are expected to start to take passengers in______

A．2020

B．2023

C．2028

D．2030

2. How are Uber 's flying taxis different from helicopters?

A．They have one big rotor

B．They need more fuel to fly.

C．They have fewer fixed wings

D．They should be quieter and safer

3. Which is true about the flying cars according to the passage?

A．They can be as efficient as airplanes and helicopters

B．They must be in larger number a few years later.

C．They nearly do no harm to the environment.

D．They will surely help passengers avoid accidents

4. What is the passage mainly about?

A．Ubers plan to launch flying taxis

B．The advantages of Ubers flying taxis

C．Different opinions about Uber's flying taxis.

D．The difficulties Uber is facing in testing flying vehicles

3 . 听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1. What is a major challenge that Stevie Wonder has had to face?

A．His unsuccessful records.

B．Pressure from other musicians.

C．Not being able to use his eyes.

2. When did Stevie Wonder start his professional career?

A．At the age of 6.

B．At the age of 11.

C．At the age of 19.

3. How many Grammy Awards did Stevie Wonder receive?

A．10.

B．25.

C．30.

4. What kinds of songs did Stevie Wonder often record?

A．Rap songs about life.

B．Sad songs about death.

C．Happy songs about love.

4 . Researchers define self-control or self-discipline as“ability to control or change one’s inner responses”.    1     However,some people think that as an immediate consequence of leading lives of constant self-control,they aren’t likely to gain a lot of pleasure from life.

    2     To start,414 adults completed on online survey.In the survey,they rated the their self-control by indicating how much they agreed with 14 statements,such as“I indeed do certain things that are bad for me,if they are fun.”

In their study,205 adults were given smart phones and required to report their emotions at random moments throughout the week.     3     If so,they had to report how hard they tried to resist them,and whether they eventually ended up acting on them.

The researchers found that the more self-control people had,the more satisfied they were with their lives in the long run.     4       In fact,such people’s increased happiness to a large extent accounted for the increased life satisfaction.

These researchers also figured out that people high in self-control are simply less likely to find themselves in situations where that’s even an issue.They don’t waste time fighting inner battles over whether or not to eat a second piece of cake.    5     And that,it would seem,makes them happier……even if occasionally a little bit sad.

A．In a word,they are not bothered about such little desires.

B．Researchers checked these general ideas through a survey and study.

C．It is generally believed that in the long run self-control can make people happier.

D．Meanwhile,they were also asked to report whether they were experiencing any desires.

E．However,people with more self-control were also more likely to be happy in the short run.

F．But they are still uncertain why some people are more able to control their inner responses.

G．Most adults reported they failed to control their desire to play video games before an exam.

5 . More than loo genes are related with increased risk of developing schizophrenia (精神分裂症), bipolar disorder (躁郁症) and alcoholism (酗酒), confirms a large study published in the recent issue of the British scientific journal Nature.

The world’s largest study into the genetic basis of mental illnesses was led by researchers from British universities, including University College London (UCL), Cardiff University and King's College London (KCL).

Researchers believe that they are now much closer than before to understanding the complex biological causes, which make some people being at high risk of developing mental illnesses. They also believe that these findings could lead to new treatments.

The researchers analyzed the DNA of about 37,000 patients with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or alcoholism, and compared the smallest genetic changes to those found in about 113,000 healthy people. They then identified about 128 independent genetic variants (变体) at 108 locations on the human chromosomes (染色体) that contribute significantly to developing schizophrenia — 83 of these sites have never before been linked to the illness, according to scientists.

For example, people with the variant of the GRM3 gene, thought to be important in brain signaling, are around 2 to 3 times more likely to develop schizophrenia or alcohol dependence. The variant, which is found in approximately one in every 200 people, is also associated with a three times risk of developing bipolar disorder.

“We could be looking at the next big drug target for treating mental illness,” Professor David Curtis from UCL, co-author of the paper, said. “The work opens up new ways to prevent and treat mental illnesses by revealing the mechanisms involved in their development.”

1. What can we learn from Paragraph 3?

A．Researchers are disappointed at curing biological causes.

B．Researchers are worried about the complex biological causes.

C．Researchers have found the method of curing biological causes.

D．Researchers are confident for figuring out the complex biological causes.

2. According to Paragraph 4, the researchers found       .

A．there are 37,000 patients with mental illnesses in the world

B．most of the sites have never before been linked to mental illnesses

C．there is little difference between the patients and the healthy people

D．the cause of mental illnesses has nothing to do with the genetic changes

3. We can learn from Paragraph 5       .

A．the variant of the GRM3 gene is important

B．the number of people with the variant of the GRM3 gene is large

C．the number of people with the variant of the GRM3 gene is small

D．people with the variant of the GRM3 gene aren’t likely to suffer schizophrenia

4. What’s the main topic discussed in the text?

A．The importance of gene variants.

B．The research of gene variants.

C．The cause of mental illnesses.

D．Gene variants linked to mental illnesses.

6 . Every animal sleeps, but the reason for this has remained foggy. When lab rats are not allowed to sleep, they die within a month.     1    

One idea is that sleep helps us strengthen new memories.     2     We   know that, while awake, fresh memories are recorded by reinforcing (加强) connections between brain cells, but the memory processes that take place while we sleep have been unclear.
Support is growing for a theory that sleep evolved so that connections between neurons(神经元) in the brain can be weakened overnight, making room for fresh memories to form the next day.       3    

Now we have the most direct evidence yet that he is right.     4    The synapses in the mice taken at the end of a period of sleep were 18 per cent smaller than those taken before sleep, showing that the connections between neurons weaken while sleeping.

If Tononi’s theory is right, it would explain why, when we miss a night’s, we find it harder the next day to concentrate and learn new information — our brains may have smaller room for new experiences.

Their research also suggests how we may build lasting memories over time even though the synapses become thinner. The team discovered that some synapses seem to be protected and stayed the same size.     5     “You keep what matters,” Tononi says.

A．We should also try to sleep well the night before.

B．It’s as if the brain is preserving its most important memories.

C．Similarly, when people go for a few days without sleeping, they get sick.

D．The processes take place to stop our brains becoming loaded with memories.

E．That’s why students do better in tests if they get a chance to sleep after learning.

F．“Sleep is the price we pay for learning,” says Giulio Tononi, who developed the idea.

G．Tononi’s team measured the size of these connections, or synapses, in the brains of 12 mice.

7 . They may be just passing your office, computer bag slung (悬挂) over one shoulder. Or they may be sitting in a car outside it, causally tapping away at a laptop. They look like innocent passers-by. In fact, they are stealing your corporate secrets.
Drive-by hacking is the trendy term given to the practice of breaking into wireless computer networks from outside the buildings that house them. A recent study in the UK, sponsored by RSA Data Security, found that two-thirds of organizations with wireless networks were risking their data in this way. Security experts patrolled (巡逻) several streets in the City of London seeking evidence of wireless networks in operation.
Of 124 that they identified, 83 were sending data without encrypting（加密）them. Such data could readily be picked up by a passer-by armed only with a portable computer, a wireless modem and a few pieces of software that can be freely downloaded from the Internet.
The data could include sensitive company documents containing valuable information. Or they could be e-mail identities and passwords that could be used by hackers to log into corporate networks as if they were legal users.
Most companies using wireless networking technology do not take even the simplest of measures to protect their data. Nearly all wireless network technology comes with some basic security features that need only to be activated (激活) in order to give a minimum level of security, for example, by encrypting the data being passed over the network.
Raymon Kruck, business development manager at Check Point Software, a security technology specialist, believes this could be partly a psychological problem. People see the solid walls of their building as safeguards and forget that wireless networks can extend up to 200 meters beyond physical walls.
Companies without any security at all on their wireless networks make it ridiculously easy for hackers to break in. Switching on the security that comes with the network technology should be automatic. Then there are other basic steps a company can take, says Mr. Kruck, such as changing the passwords on the network from the default (默认) setting.
Companies can also install firewalls, which form a barrier between the internal network and the public Internet. They should also check their computer records regularly to spot any abnormal activity, which might betray the presence of a hacker.
1. According to the study sponsored by RSA Data Security, two thirds of the subjects _______.

A．had most of their company data stolen

B．depended on wireless computer networks

C．were exposed to drive-by hacking

D．were unaware of the risk of wireless hacking

2. Which of the following is NOT considered in the study?

A．The number of computer hacking incidents.

B．The number of wireless computer networks identified.

C．The way in which data are sent and received.

D．The way in which data are hacked and stolen.

3. Most wireless network technology has_________.

A．data encryption program

B．password security programs

C．illegal-user detection

D．firewall

4. Raymond Kruck most probably agrees that wireless network security involves ________.

A．wireless signal administration

B．changes in user’s awareness

C．users’ psychological health

D．stronger physical walls

5. The passage is most likely to be seen in a __________

A．book review

B．science fiction

C．textbook

D．computer magazine