1 . Some young people are blocking their parents on social media. Would you add your parents on Wechat?
Some children say they feel uncomfortable with their parents keeping an eye on their everyday activities and photos, as their parents either don’t support the things they do for fun, or would constantly worry over what they consider unsafe or inappropriate behavior.
So, what is your opinion? Should young people share their everyday activities with heir parents through social media like WeChat?
Some are for it. Young people can be friends with their parents.
Most young adults desire independence from their parents.Kids need to make their own choices.
| A．Social media is a good way for children to keep in touch with their parents. |
| B．This has become one of the biggest questions young Chinese facing in a digital age. |
| C．By treating each other as friends, families can work to rebuild their relationships. |
| D．They even say their friends’ circles are for friends of a similar age. |
| E．Blocking their parents on social media allows kids room to grow and build the self-confidence necessary to have a successful life. |
| F．37% of young people said they have blocked their parents from seeing their friends’ circles. |
| G．While others hold a different idea, arguing that the generation gap can’t be underestimated(低估）. |
2 . British researchers say they have created an artificial intelligence (AI) model that is highly effective at predicting rainfall within the next 90 minutes.
The model was built by scientists at Google-owned research company DeepMind in London. The company partnered with researchers at the University of Exeter in Britain and the Met Office, the British government’s national weather service. The team says tests of the system showed it produced more accurate predictions, or forecasts, for short-term rainfall than other existing systems.
Accurate nowcasting can be a very important tool for preparing for possible weather emergencies. It can be used by officials in the areas of water management, agriculture, air and ground traffic control and outdoor event planning. “We were especially interested in the ability of these models to make predictions on medium to heavy-rain events, which are the events that most impact people and the economy,” the team said. The scientists said their model aims to create predictive “movies” of immediate weather patterns. They said that, unlike other systems, theirs can accurately capture large-scale events, as well as several different rain possibilities. This combination permits “rainfall uncertainties” to be deeply explored.
During the testing process, the team said the model showed “statistically significant” improvements in these areas compared to competing methods. In addition, the researchers reported that a group of more than 50 weather experts from the Met Office rated the AI model to be more accurate and useful in 89 percent of cases than existing forecasting systems.
Despite the study results, researchers admitted that the model still has limitations. They said “more work is needed to improve the accuracy of long-term predictions and the accuracy on rare and intense events.” The team said it will now center on developing new methods to test and measure the model's performance. It will also work to create more specialized systems to work in real-world conditions.
1. What do we know about the new AI model?| A．The model is created by researchers of Met Office. |
| B．The model can predict any rainfall within 90 minutes. |
| C．The model needs improving in long-term forecasting. |
| D．The model has been used in real-world conditions. |
| A．The difficulty of accurate nowcasting. |
| B．The relationship between weather forecasting and economy. |
| C．The necessity of building the new AI model. |
| D．The principles of the new model. |
| A．To prove the advantage of the new model. |
| B．To compare the new model with the old systems. |
| C．To explain the rule of weather forecasting. |
| D．To show how the existing system works. |
| A．Existing Forecasting system Needs Improving |
| B．AI Predicts Immediate Rainfall Better than Existing Systems |
| C．New Explorations in Weather Predictions |
| D．New Methods on Testing the AI Model's Performance |
3 . Press your fingers into the back of your head,just above your neck. If you feel a small bony bump, you may find evidence of human evolution:it could be your body responding to common smartphone use in the 21st century.
According to a recent study,published in Scientific Reports,young people increasingly have bony bumps at the base of their skulls,right above the neck.Medical professionals call them enlarged external occipital protuberances (EEOPs, 枕外隆突).
Australian health scientist David Shahar,author of the study,told the BBC that over the past 10 years he's seen more and more patients with EEOPs. Together with other researchers from the University of the Sunshine Coast,Australia,they examined 1,200 skull x-rays from people aged 18-30. They also measured the bumps and noted each person's posture.
They found that one in four people had developed these growths. This led to their theory that smartphones are the cause.
According to their research,looking down at our phones adds stress onto the top of our spines(脊柱）。 To prevent damage to our spines, Shahar believes our bodies add fresh bony bump to help reduce the extra stress.
Most of the EEOPs measured just a few millimeters. However,several subjects were found with EEOPs as large as 30 mm.
In his report,Shahar said the results “highlightedthe need" for intervention. In other words, we need to change our posture while using our phones.
Many people assume our bones are solid and unmoving once we reach adulthood. In reality, they are alive and covered with blood vessels, which allows them to develop in unique ways for each person.
Aside from EEOPs, other noticeable recent changes in human bodies include shrinkingjaws, narrower elbows and generally smaller skeletons(骨骼）。The human body is adapting to modern life, so who knows what people in the future might look like?
1. What did the recent study find about EEOPs?| A．They grow on one's neck. |
| B．They may stop growing when you reach 30. |
| C．They could lead to many health problems. |
| D．They increasingly occur among young people. |
| A．Gene problems. |
| B．Aging bone layers. |
| C．Cellphone use. |
| D．Extra stress. |
| A．EEOPs increase the stress on our spines. |
| B．EEOPs are actually beneficial to our spines. |
| C．Young people's bones adapt in similar ways. |
| D．Young people should exercise to improve their posture. |
| A．To persuade readers to protect their spines. |
| B．To recommend some healthy habits of using phones. |
| C．To explain why human bodies develop EEOPs. |
| D．To show some recent changes in human bodies. |
4 . Scientists did research on about 3,500 people. They asked them to name their favorite kind of music. “We found that the musical styles people like are closely linked to their personalities,” Gosling said.
RAP/HIP-HOP
Known for their quick speech, some rappers can say more than 700 syllables (音节) a minute!
If you like rap/hip-hop, you are energetic (精力充沛的) and have away with words. You put a fresh spin on things, whether it’s new moves on the dance floor or your hip style.
CLASSICAL
In the 18th century, classical musicians were like rockstars. Beethoven and Mozart, for example, played in crowded concert halls.
If you like classical, you are open to new ideas and like debating with friends. Creative and imaginative, you can easily spend many hours writing or painting.
COUNTRY
Country music came from the folksongs of English, Scottish, and Irish settlers of the southeastern United States.
If you like country music, you express your opinions well, which makes you the ideal class president or team captain. Traditional and loyal, you enjoy spending time with your family.
POP
Pop music is designed to appeal to (吸引) almost everyone, and it does. Each year, the industry brings in about 30 billion dollars!
If you like pop, you are attractive to your friends. You can make great difference, like planning for a huge party or inspiring your team to victory.
ROCK/ALTERNATIVE
In the 1950s, rock music created a brand-new culture. Teenagers, for the first time, had an identity (身份) separate from adults and children.
If you like rock / alternative, you are a risk-taker who never accepts no for an answer. You rise to any challenge, like doing very well in a big exam or landing the lead in the school play.
If these personality profiles don’t match you, that’s OK. These are just for fun.
1. What does the underlined part “You put a fresh spin on things” mean in the passage?| A．You can express your idea in a clever way that makes it seem better than it really is. |
| B．You have the ability to attract others’ attention. |
| C．You are always willing to communicate with others. |
| D．You are willing to express your thoughts to others all the time. |
| A．you are traditional and prefer to stay with your family |
| B．you are easy to accept new ideas |
| C．you are welcome and your friends like to be with you |
| D．you have a quick speech and can say 700 words in a minute |
| A．in the 18th century, classical musicians were like pop stars |
| B．country music came from the old songs of the native Americans |
| C．pop music is liked by the largest number of people in the world |
| D．everyone can find his personality in this passage |
| A．When music came into being |
| B．What your favorite music says about you. |
| C．Some basic information about music. |
| D．How to like music. |
5 . If you want to stay in shape, but don’t have the time to go to the gym, the Mobile Gym is a good solution. It’s basically a large bus filled with the latest fitness equipment. You can find everything you need for a complete workout, and here’s the best part — you don’t need to go to the gym, and the gym comes to you!
The Mobile Gym was the idea of Adam Zickerman, founder of Inform Fitness, a popular chain of gyms across the United States. It hit him when he ordered lunch from a food truck one afternoon. So why not put a gym on a truck?
Zickerman experimented with a few designs and then invested $60,000 on making adaptations and fixing machines. He didn’t really need an advertising budget as the bus advertised itself. Carole Pallmeyer, for instance, found herself driving behind the Mobile Gym one day. At first she thought it was a regular bus with ads for a gym. But then she realized the bus itself was a gym, so she booked workout sessions for her entire family. “We are all busy, but we know the bus is coming and make sure we are home at 4:30 for the workouts,” she said. “You forget you’re on a bus because the workouts are tightly scheduled.”
Unfortunately, it is illegal to use the fitness equipment while the bus is moving, so you don’t get to save time by working out during the rush time. It operates only once a week, only two clients (客户) can be accommodated at a time on the bus. And it doesn’t come cheap. Sessions start at $100, while in-house workouts are $65. But the Mobile Gym appears to be a big hit.
“There are so many benefits to having the Mobile Gym come to you,” Zickerman said. “Only five to seven exercises complete a total-body workout when performed using our special equipment.” He also added that a 20-minute workout might sound easy, but it is really difficult and provides instant results. “It is very challenging and clients understand quickly why rest is important between workouts ”
1. What inspired Zickerman to invent the Mobile Gym?| A．A usual order for a meal. | B．A casual visit to a gym. |
| C．A tight schedule for workout. | D．A specific experience of exercise. |
| A．It saves much of clients ’time. |
| B．It creates adequate private space. |
| C．It offers special equipment needed for a total-body workout. |
| D．It provides clients with an appropriate and effective workout. |
| A．Concerned. | B．Negative. | C．Objective. | D．Optimistic. |
6 . In many respects one could call John Beltzer the world's most successful songwriter. Every song that he writes is guaranteed to be a real hit not on the popularity charts, but in a child’s heart. The reason for this is that every song that Beltzer writes is for a seriously ill child. The songs never fail to make the children smile and to raise their spirits. They also play them over and over. This means more by far to Beltzer than being ranked high on the popularity charts.
Thirty-eight year old Beltzer is the founder and president of Songs of Love, a nonprofit group. This group combines the volunteer efforts of musicians, songwriters, singers, and studio technicians to create unique, happy songs that reflect a child's personality.
Beltzer believes that music is very healing. When an adult listens to a favorite song, it makes him feel good: thus when a little child listens to a song written just for him, the result is very uplifting. Since its founding in 1996, Songs of Love has been responsible for the composition, taping and sending more than 780 songs to children in life-threatening conditions, all for free.
Unmarried with no children of his own, Beltzer had never thought much about writing songs for children. He says that one day while he was walking down the street the idea came to him and he instantly felt that he could make a success of it. He went home and called St Jude's Children's Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. He told them he wanted to write songs for seriously ill children, and wrote six songs in four days. Upon receiving the songs, the hospital called him with high praise. Soon after that the mother of a little girl with cancer called him to thank him and then the little girl herself did so. At that point he knew that this was his “calling”.
As is true with most charitable ventures, Songs of Love is almost always in need of money. To help in this respect, Beltzer has moved back home to live with his retired parents, who also help support his work. His long-term goal is to offer Songs of Love to patients of all ages, including nursing home residents and the mentally ill. Among other efforts to raise money, Beltzer sells CDs and tapes, expecting much bigger sales. Meanwhile, Beltzer himself continues to be the most productive writer in Songs of Love, making sure that all requests for songs written for critically ill children will be met.
1. Why is John Beltzer, to some extent, called the world's most successful songwriter?| A．Every song he composes tends to be a hit. |
| B．All songs are played over and over again. |
| C．His songs are intended specially for those unlucky children. |
| D．He as well as his songs always enjoys a grand popularity. |
| A．Satisfactory. | B．Adequate. |
| C．Inspirational. | D．Appropriate. |
| A．Beltzer had had the idea of writing songs for seriously ill children long before actually doing so. |
| B．The hospital in Tennessee didn't respond to Beltzer's request immediately and positively. |
| C．Song writing is the only source of income for Songs of Love. |
| D．Running charitable activities makes Beltzer's finance really tight. |
| A．Social and intelligent. | B．Compassionate and considerate. |
| C．Conventional and patient. | D．Confident and ambitious. |
7 . You’ve heard that plastic is polluting the oceans — between 4.8 and 12.7 million tonnes enter ocean ecosystems every year. But does one plastic straw or cup really make a difference? Artist Benjamin Von Wong wants you to know that it does. He builds massive sculptures out of plastic garbage, forcing viewers to re-examine their relationship to single-use plastic products.
At the beginning of the year, the artist built a piece called “Strawpocalypse,” a pair of 10-foot-tall plastic waves, frozen mid-crash. Made of 168,000 plastic straws collected from several volunteer beach cleanups, the sculpture made its first appearance at the Estella Place shopping center in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Just 9% of global plastic waste is recycled. Plastic straws are by no means the biggest source (来源) of plastic pollution, but they’ve recently come under fire because most people don’t need them to drink with and, because of their small size and weight, they cannot be recycled. Every straw that’s part of Von Wong’s artwork likely came from a drink that someone used for only a few minutes. Once the drink is gone, the straw will take centuries to disappear.
In a piece from 2018, Von Wong wanted to illustrate (说明) a specific statistic: Every 60 seconds, a truckload’s worth of plastic enters the ocean. For this work, titled “Truckload of Plastic,” Von Wong and a group of volunteers collected more than 10,000 pieces of plastic, which were then tied together to look like they’d been dumped (倾倒) from a truck all at once.
Von Wong hopes that his work will also help pressure big companies to reduce their plastic footprint.
1. What are Von Wong’s artworks intended for?| A．Beautifying the city he lives in. | B．Introducing eco-friendly products. |
| C．Drawing public attention to plastic waste. | D．Reducing garbage on the beach. |
| A．To show the difficulty of their recycling. |
| B．To explain why they are useful. |
| C．To voice his views on modern art. |
| D．To find a substitute for them. |
| A．Calming. | B．Disturbing. |
| C．Refreshing. | D．Challenging. |
| A．Artists’ Opinions on Plastic Safety |
| B．Media Interest in Contemporary Art |
| C．Responsibility Demanded of Big Companies |
| D．Ocean Plastics Transformed into Sculptures |
8 . The Biggest Stadiums in the World
People have been pouring into stadiums since the days of ancient Greece. In around 80 A.D., the Romans built the Colosseum, which remains the world’s best known stadium and continues to inform contemporary design. Rome’s Colosseum was 157 feet tall and had 80 entrances, seating 50,000 people. However, that was small fry compared with the city’s Circus Maximus, which accommodated around 250,000 people.
These days, safety regulations-not to mention the modern sports fan’s desire for a good view and comfortable seat — tend to keep stadium capacities (容量) slightly lower. Even soccer fans tend to have a seat each; gone are the days of thousands standing to watch the match.
For the biggest stadiums in the world, we have used data supplied by the World Atlas list so far, which ranks them by their stated permanent capacity, as well as updated information from official stadium websites.
All these stadiums are still functional, still open and still hosting the biggest events in world sport.
·Rungrado 1st of May Stadium, Pyongyang D.P.R. Korea. Capacity: 150,000. Opened: May 1,1989.
·Michigan Stadium, Ann Arbor, Michigan, U. S. Capacity: 107,601. Opened: October 1, 1927.
·Beaver Stadium, State College, Pennsylvania, U. S. Capacity: 106,572. Opened: September 17, 1960.
·Ohio Stadium, Columbus, Ohio, U. S. Capacity: 104,944. Opened: October 7,1922.
·Kyle Field, College Station, Texas, U. S. Capacity: 102,512. Opened: September 24, 1927.
1. How many people could the Circus Maximus hold?| A．104,944. | B．107,601. | C．About 150,000. | D．About 250,000. |
| A．Michigan Stadium. | B．Beaver Stadium. | C．Ohio Stadium. | D．Kyle Field. |
| A．They host big games. | B．They have become tourist attractions. |
| C．They were built by Americans. | D．They are favored by architects. |
9 . One of the greatest biologists the work has ever seen was Charles Darwin. Darwin was born to a middle-class family in Shrewsbury, England, in February, 1809. His father was the leading doctor of the town.
In 1825, at the age of sixteen, Darwin was sent to Scotland to study medicine.
Darwin's father then sent him to Cambridge to become a clergyman（牧师）. During his Cambridge years, Darwin loved to collet beetles（甲虫）, but to him it was only a hobby. He didn't take it seriously.
Somehow, Darwin managed to graduate from Cambridge in 1831. Upon graduation, Professor Henslow arranged for him to go with Captain Fitzroy on a survey trip around the world. During the voyage, Darwin collected rocks, bones, and insects. He took many notes on all that he observed.
The widely believed theory in those days was that God created each creature separately and individually.
| A．One person at Cambridge, however, did. |
| B．As a boy, Darwin showed a great interest in living things. |
| C．He studied there for two years and continued to do poorly. |
| D．Shrewsbury was a busy market town surrounded by rich farmlands. |
| E．In 1859, Darwin published his famous book On the Origin of Species. |
| F．The thoughts that led to his theory of evolution were beginning to form. |
| G．By the time Darwin died in 1882, he was recognized as one of England's greatest scientists. |
10 . The end of British pub culture?
British beer and pubs are famous around the world. Things are changing. However,
For thousands of years, the most important two buildings in any British village have been the church and the pub. Traditionally, the church and the pub are at the heart of any village or town, since it is where the people gather to socialize and exchange news. After all, the word “pub” is actually short for “public house”. As a result, British pubs are often old and well preserved.
Many British pubs have old names referring to the monarchs, such as the king’s head or the queen Victoria, but of course this doesn’t mean they are only for kings and queens.
That’s how it used to be.
To save their business, pubs are trying to diversify to attract new customers. Now there are a number of different types of pubs. Besides a “traditional pub”, a “gastro pub” serves higher-quality food than usual.
As you can see, British pubs now offer something for everyone. And with various “save the pub” campaign, there are signs that people are regathering around these new kinds of pubs while supporting the traditional ones to back its great British custom with pride.
| A．Don’t British people like drinking beer? |
| B．Many of them have become historic sites that tourists visit. |
| C．Is this the end of a great British tradition? |
| D．A “microbrewery” often has fresher beer than other types of pub. |
| E．Some pubs are allowed law to stay open after 11 pm. |
| F．Pubs have always welcomed people from all classes and parts of society. |
| G．Now there are worrying signs that things are beginning to decline. |
