1 . Ireland has had a very difficult history. The problems started in the 16th century when English rulers tried to conquer (征服) Ireland. For hundreds of years, the Irish people fought against the English. Finally, in 1921, the British government was forced to give independence to the south of Ireland. The result is that today there are two “Irelands”. Northern Ireland, in the north, is part of the United Kingdom. The Republic of Ireland, in the south, is an independent country.
In the 1840s the main crop, potatoes, was affected by disease and about 750,000 people died of hunger. This, and a shortage (短缺) of work, forced many people to leave Ireland and live in the USA, the UK, Australia and Canada. As a result of these problems, the population fell from 8.2 million in 1841 to 6.6 million in 1851.
For many years, the majority of Irish people earned their living as farmers. Today, many people still work on the land but more and more people are moving to the cities to work in factories and offices. Life in the cities is very different from life in the countryside, where things move at a quieter and slower pace.
The Irish are famous for being warm－hearted and friendly. Oscar Wilde, a famous Irish writer, once said that the Irish were “the greatest talkers since the Greeks”. Since independence, Ireland has revived (复兴) its own culture of music, language, literature and singing. Different areas have different styles of old Irish songs which are sung without instruments. Other kinds of Irish music use many different instruments such as the violin, whistles, etc.
1. What does the author tell us in Paragraph 1?| A．How the Irish fought against the English. |
| B．How Ireland gained independence. |
| C．How English rulers tried to conquer Ireland. |
| D．How two “Irelands” came into being. |
| A．food shortages and a lack of work in the 1840s led to a decline in population |
| B．people are moving to the cities for lack of work in the countryside |
| C．it is harder to make a living as a farmer than as a factory worker |
| D．different kinds of old Irish songs are all sung with instruments |
| A．the Irish character | B．the Irish culture |
| C．Irish musical instruments | D．a famous Irish writer |
| A．Life in Ireland | B．A Very Difficult History |
| C．Ireland, Past and Present | D．The Independence of Ireland |
2 . Since the modern Olympics began in 1896, it has been held in more than 40 different cities. That gives Olympic fans quite a few possible travel destinations to choose from!
Beijing, China
Olympic fans should consider visiting the Beijing Olympic Park to check out the special buildings of the so—called “Bird’s Nest” and “Water Cube”—the national stadium and aquatics center built for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Popular historic places in Beijing include the Forbidden City, the Summer Palace, and Tian’anmen Square.
Innsbruck, Austria
Located in the heart of the Alps, Innsbruck is known as a great winter destination—which explains why it has hosted not one but two Winter Olympics. Known for its mountainous views, Innsbruck is the perfect stop for outdoor adventurers.
Mexico City, Mexico
This wonderful travel destination offers a wide number of popular museums, historic buildings, and public parks. People will love shopping for fresh meat and produce at the markets, taking a cooking class, and generally eating their way through Mexico City, which is especially known for its culinary(烹饪的)experiences that include both globally well—known restaurants and locally favored street carts.
Melbourne, Australia
Nearly half a century before Sydney hosted the 2000 Summer Olympics, Melbourne became the first Australian host city in 1956. Head to the “cultural capital of Australia”, located in Victoria on the southeastern coast, for an energetic cafe culture and art scene. Melbourne offers something for every type of traveler and everyone can enjoy an evening at one of the city’s many rooftop bars or a day of wine tasting.
1. Where will you go if you are fond of adventure?| A．Beijing, China. | B．Mexico City, Mexico. |
| C．Innsbruck, Austria. | D．Melbourne, Australia. |
| A．Enjoy wonderful culinary classes. |
| B．Get profit from making delicious food. |
| C．Admire beautiful mountainous views. |
| D．Visit special stadiums for the Olympics. |
| A．It is famous for all kinds of wine. |
| B．It has many world—famous hotels. |
| C．It hosted the Summer Olympics twice. |
| D．It can satisfy different travelers’ needs. |
3 . Bullying (欺凌)can happen to anyone. A great many children around the world are bullied every year, but there are things that can be done to help.
What is bullying?
Bullying is when someone makes you feel bad of hurts you again and again. Bullying can happen at school, out of school and online. Bullying includes:
·calling people mean (恶意的)names
·laughing at people
·telling lies about people
·taking someone’s things without permission
·not telling someone play in a group
·hitting people
What is cyberbullying?
Cyberbullying includes:
·sending bad messages online
·sharing photos online without permission
·not letting someone be part of an online group
·spreading lies online
What can you do?
If someone is not kind to you, tell an adult that you know and like. For example, talk to a parent or a teacher.
If you get bad messages, don’t reply. You should save them and give them to your teacher, your family, or the police. Ask an adult for help. Don’t share something before you make sure it is true. That will help stop the cyberbullying.
Talk to your parent or teacher or an adult if you see bullying or if you are worried about a friend.
Say sorry if you are not kind to someone. You can write a message or talk to the person.
And always remember: think about how to be kind in the future.
For more information, visit our home page at www.kidsword.com.
1. According to the passage, the followings are bullying EXCEPT:| A．laughing with people | B．hitting people |
| C．telling lies about people | D．calling people mean names |
| A．at school | B．at home | C．on the Internet | D．on the street |
| A．share them with friends | B．keep them as your secrets |
| C．reply to them at once | D．give them to your teacher |
4 . Imagine a world without insects. It might sound good at first without creepy-crawly bugs and annoying flies in your apartment. However, the consequences would be disastrous.
The number of insects has dropped by more than half in the past decades, according to British biologist Dave Goulson, author of Silent Earth: Averting the Insect Apocalypse. As insects make up most of the known species on this planet, this data is not good news.
Insects are indeed on the path to extinction, according to the first global scientific review of insect population decline, which was published in the journal Biological Conservation in January 2019. The researchers say intensive agriculture has been the main cause of the decline. Pesticides (杀虫剂), in particular, destroy insect habitats. Urbanization and climate change are also significant factors. “Unless we convert our ways of producing food, insects will go down the path of extinction in a few decades.”
What would happen to Earth without insects? It’s almost impossible to predict, but the consequences would be far—reaching. We need insects to pollinate (授粉) crops, recycle plant and animal material, keep the soil healthy and much more. Without insects, many animals would have nothing to eat, and the predators (捕食者) of those animals would go hungry as well. The ecosystem would be thrown off balance.
“If insect species losses cannot be halted, this will have catastrophic consequences for both the planet’s ecosystems and for the survival of mankind,” said Sanchez-Bayo, one of the authors of the review. The first step to halt this process is “to engender a society that values the natural world, both for what it does for us and for its own sake”, Sanchez—Bayo suggests. “The obvious place to start is with our children, encouraging environmental awareness from an early age.”
1. What’s people’s general impression of insects?| A．Quite unpleasant. | B．Very interesting. |
| C．Extremely helpful. | D．Unexpectedly disastrous. |
| A．Change. | B．Abandon. | C．Expand. | D．Simplify. |
| A．Insects ensure the earth’s diversity. |
| B．Insects maintain the earth ecosystem. |
| C．Insects make the soil dry and healthy. |
| D．Insects help slow down climate change. |
| A．Exploit nature in a gentle way. |
| B．Change our way of producing food. |
| C．Educate younger generation to be aware of it. |
| D．Provide insects with enough habitats and food. |
5 . Computers have become amazingly exact at translating spoken words to text messages and searching a large supply of valuable information for answers to difficult questions. At least, that is, so long as you speak English or other world's main languages. But try talking to your phone in Yoruba, Igbo or any number of widely spoken African languages and you'll find difficulty in accessing information, trade and other benefits of the global tech economy.
American tech giants don't have a long history of making their language technology work well outside the wealthiest markets, a problem that has also made it harder for them to discover dangerous misinformation on their platforms. Google, for instance, upset members of the Yoruba community when its language app mistranslated a nice African god as a devil. Part of the reason is that there's just not enough online data in those languages for the Al systems to effectively learn how to get better at understanding them.
“We are getting to the point where if a machine doesn't understand your language, it will be like it never existed,” said Vukosi Marivate, who has devoted some of his Al research to the southern African languages of Xitsonga and Setswana. “Considering our history, some of the bias (偏见) is intentional. The history of the African continent and in general in colonized (殖民化的) countries, is that when language had to be translated, it was translated in a very narrow way,” Marivate added.
However, Google and Microsoft are among the companies that say they are trying to improve technology for so-called "low-resource" languages that Al systems don't have enough data for. Computer scientists at Meta announced a breakthrough on the path to a "universal translator" that could translate multiple languages at once and work better with lower-resourced languages. Meanwhile, Marivate and other researchers have founded a research project across Africa. Increasingly, people are joining hands to develop a variety of language approaches.
1. What can we learn from Paragraphs 1 and 2?| A．Yoruba and Igbo are widely spoken in the world. |
| B．English speakers fail to access online information. |
| C．The online data of African languages is limited. |
| D．Computers can translate all text messages exactly. |
| A．To make a prediction. | B．To draw a comparison. |
| C．To reach a conclusion. | D．To give an example. |
| A．Friendly. | B．Unconcerned. | C．Dissatisfied. | D．Proud. |
| A．Joint Efforts to Improve AI in African Languages | B．Computers Good at Translating Spoken Language |
| C．US Tech Giants Misunderstand African Languages | D．African Researchers Exchange Ideas with Tech Giants |
6 . According to the World Economic Forum(WEF), eight million tons of plastic waste is being poured out into the oceans every year. That's the equivalent (相等物)of an entire garbage truck being dumped every three minutes, and the source of the problem—the world's cities. In Amsterdam, a simple solution has been found that could stop up to 86 percent of plastic waste ever reaching the oceans—a barrier made of bubbles (气泡).
The way the bubble barrier system works is basically that it is a tube placed diagonally (沿对角线地)on the bottom of the waterway. "The tube has a lot of tiny holes," according to Phillip Ehrhorn, Chief Technology Officer in The Great Bubble Barrier, "We pump air through it, and the air bubbles will rise towards the surface. The plastics are brought to the surface with the air bubbles and then, with the natural flow of the river, towards one side of the river." Then the other part of the bubble barrier system collects and removes the waste.
"Ship traffic is a key economic driver；we won't be able to stop that. So, we would have to find a solution which would not affect all the other existing activities and the ecosystem," Phillip added. The bubble barrier does exactly that. While it provides no block to water traffic and sea life can pass through freely, it also catches plastic waste of all sizes.
The Great Bubble Barrier is trying to work together with Amsterdam and local Non-governmental Organizations(NGOs)to evaluate what the bubble barrier system is catching so as to carry out new policies and additional measures on land. In this way, plastics entering the water could be reduced in the first place. "Our next step is a bubble barrier within Europe and we, of course, want to move to Asia because we think we can make a lot of influence there." said Francis Zoet, the founder of The Great Bubble Barrier.
1. What contributes to the invention of the bubble barrier?| A．Suggestions from the WEF. | B．Large amounts of sea waste. |
| C．Construction of the waterway. | D．Requests from the government. |
| A．Creating tiny holes on the tube. | B．Removing the waste in the water. |
| C．Sending plastics to the surface. | D．Changing the speed of the river flow. |
| A．The waste | B．Ship traffic. | C．Sea life. | D．The bubble. |
| A．Plastics entering the water will increase. | B．The city will evaluate the bubble barrier. |
| C．The NGOs will move to Europe and Asia | D．The bubble barrier will benefit more places. |
7 . In Chinese cities, people in yellow or blue suits riding e-bikes are easy to see. They hurry between traffic, rushing from restaurants to homes and businesses, regardless of wind or rain. They are food delivery men.
Although they make our life more convenient, this can come at a cost for them. “
The article pointed out that on food delivery service platforms Eleme and Meituan, the time limit and route for each delivery order is calculated by an algorithm. But the algorithm doesn't consider real-life situations, such as red lights, speed limits and fully occupied elevators.
Many people criticized the platforms and asked them to improve the regulations imposed on the deliverymen. In response, on Sept 9, Eleme announced it would add a button to the app.
The Shanghai Customer Council commented that the move was illogical, adding that the deliverymen are following rules made by their employers.
| A．Delay could mean a decrease in pay. |
| B．Based on the algorithm, the deadline for a delivery order within 2 kilometers is 30 minutes, according to China Daily. |
| C．our convenience witnesses their sweat. |
| D．Problems should be solved between the companies and their employees. |
| E．That's how deliverymen are pushed to no end of pessimism. |
| F．It allows customers to prolong the time limit for their order, and encouraged customers to show more respect for deliverymen. |
| G．The food deliverymen are trapped in the app. |
8 . Men have long been puzzled by the amount women pack, when they go on holiday. They despair as they watch their beloved spend much money on extra baggage charge. Nearly half of these women admitted to lying about the weight of their case to their partner before leaving for the airport, in fear of being made to unload some unnecessary items.
But it's a fact that women pack more than they need. On average, a woman needs around 57 items in suitcase for a two-week holiday, yet most women pack nearer to 150 items, ranging from skirts, tops, underwear and high heels. In addition, women pack more sun cream, make-up and hair appliances than they are likely to need. They all take up space in the suitcase, only a third of them will see the light of day once at the holiday place.
79 percent of women admitted to taking extra items with them, with the reason for this being ''just in case''. Women plan their holiday wardrobe months in advance. Packing enough clothes and other items to last a month is not enough for some women. They'd take a chance to shop for new items while holidaying abroad. So they'll return with even more luggage in their cases.
Professor Karen Pine said, ''Women are tempted to take familiar items with them on holiday, often everything except the kitchen sink. Some people find traveling stressful, particularly when they're unsure about the home comforts available at their holiday place. They over- pack to help cope with those feelings of stress and reduce the uncertainty. ''
This will come as no surprise to some men, who are used to trying to squeeze their partner's luggage into the boot of the car with their own, smaller case. On the other hand, men pack very lightly, with only an average of 40 items for a two-week holiday.
1. What is the main idea of the passage?| A．Women are good at picking holiday suitcase. |
| B．Women over-pack by two third when on holiday. |
| C．Women will go shopping every time they go on holiday. |
| D．Women take good care of themselves while holidaying. |
| A．they want to show off their items |
| B．they prefer a more comfortable holiday |
| C．they are afraid they'll need them during the holiday |
| D．they would like to clean their clothes wardrobe very much |
| A．Opposed. | B．Supportive. | C．Positive. | D．Concerned. |
| A．Going on holiday will cost a lot. |
| B．Women don't prefer to go on a holiday. |
| C．People tend to feel tired and stressed on holiday. |
| D．It's understandable that women over-pack in a sense. |
9 . Goldfish have pretty boring lives, so maybe it’s a good thing they can only concentrate for nine seconds! But according to new research, humans are becoming like goldfish. Our attention span (时长) is getting shorter...and it’s all because of technology.
“We move quickly from one site to another on the web, ”says Doctor Ted Selker, a computer scientist from Massachusetts, “and we are losing the ability to concentrate.” With millions of websites to choose from, the attention span of the average internet user is just seconds. There are other digital distractions (分心) too: email, instant messaging and quickie movies on websites. Some people are worried about the effect on young people. “You need time to understand and think about what you read,” says Julia Wood, from London. “Young people search the net all the time and their brains become full of useless information but there is no time to make sense of it. I am trying to persuade my pupils to read more books, so that they concentrate on one subject for longer.”
Other teachers are trying more unusual methods to improve students’ concentration. Anne Savan, from Wales, was so worried about her students that she started playing Mozart during her science lessons. She says that it had an amazing effect: “The music made them calmer, and their concentration was much better.”
But not everyone believes that there is a problem. Ray Cole, an educational psychologist says: “On the web, young people learn to make quick decisions about what is and isn’t worth reading.
They might look at five unhelpful websites very quickly, before stopping and reading a sixth useful website more carefully. In a world with so much information available, this is an important skill.”
1. Why does the writer mention “goldfish”?| A．To analyze data. | B．To introduce a topic. |
| C．To settle problems. | D．To suggest a way out. |
| A．Skipping around the internet. | B．Time to digest information. |
| C．Traditional methods of reading. | D．Making decisions. |
| A．Receiving emails. | B．Texting messages. |
| C．Reading more books. | D．Watching quickie movies. |
| A．Cautious. | B．Unfavorable. |
| C．Skeptical. | D．Supportive. |
10 . It was the last time Susan Butcher ran the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in 1992. An hour into the race, Susan and her sled dog team sped down a hill and crashed into a fallen tree. Although hurt, Susan continued the difficult race.
The Iditarod Race started in 1925 when a doctor in Nome, Alaska was desperately in need of medicine to stop the spread of a deadly disease. Only a hospital had what he needed, but it was 700 mile-away! In January, it was too dangerous to send a boat and too stormy for his tiny airplane. The only hope was to use several sled dog teams following a trail, called the Iditarod Trail. They passed the medicine from one sled team to another. Wind and snow did not stop the men and their dogs. The medicine was delivered in record time. The race follows the route of the famous medicine run. Over 1,000 miles long, it is considered the toughest race in the world.
Susan Butcher was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In her teens Susan was given a Siberian husky dog and became very interested in huskies as sled dogs. After reading about the Iditarod Race, Susan moved to Alaska. She got several jobs to earn money to buy herself a sled and a team of huskies. After years of hard work and training, Susan achieved her dream of racing on the Iditarod Trail.
In 1978, at the age of 24, Susan entered the race for the first time and became the first woman to finish in the top 20. In 1982 she came in second. In 1984 she was leading her team across a frozen waterway when they fell into the water. Her lead dog managed to pull Susan and the other dogs out of danger. Remarkably, she came in second.
In her fourth race, in 1985, a starving moose (驼鹿) attacked her dogs, killing two and injuring eleven. Susan had to leave the race. In 1986 Susan joined the race again. This time, she won. She won again in 1987. In 1988 she became the first person ever to win three Iditarod races in a row. Unbelievably, Susan won for the fourth time in 1990.
1. According to text, Susan Butcher entered the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race at least times.| A．six | B．seven | C．eight | D．nine |
| A．how the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race began |
| B．how the spread of a deadly disease was stopped |
| C．how tough the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race was |
| D．how Susan Butcher began to show interest in the race |
| A．continuously | B．eventually | C．remarkably | D．respectively |
| A．Snowstorm. | B．Lack of food. |
| C．Accidents. | D．Lack of experience. |
