1 . The Internet has become part of modern life, bringing convenient services to everyone who can connect. While it seems hard to live without the Internet, it also brings new problems. For example, individuals, organizations and even governments can become targets of cyber attacks.
The past week marked China's sixth annual Cybersecurity Week, held from Sept 16 to 22 nationwide. The opening ceremony and major activities were held in Tianjin. First launched in 2014, the event was designed to raise public awareness of the importance of fighting online threats and cyber attacks. The theme of this year's event is "cybersecurity for the people and by the people".
The leaking (泄露）of personal information now stands out. " Efforts should be made to raise people's sense of fulfillment, happiness and security in cyberspace," said President Xi Jinping in an instruction for the event. "The country will safeguard the security of personal information and citizens' legal rights and interests in cyberspace. According to a report from the 2017 China Internet Security Conference, more than 90 percent of Android smartphones for sale in China contained serious safety bugs. Such flaws (缺陷)allow hackers to control entire phones and obtain the users' passwords, bank information and more.
To protect personal information, China issued its first cybersecurity law in June 2017. One key part of this law is meant to protect personal information. It rules that network operators are not allowed to leak, change or damage the personal information they gather. They are also not allowed to give personal information to others freely.
Apart from China, issuing laws to protect personal information and prevent junk electronic information is a common practice in other countries.
1. What is the purpose of the first paragraph?| A．To introduce the new Internet-based problems. |
| B．To show readers a new Internet-based trend. |
| C．To make a list of new cybercrimes online. |
| D．To call for protection of personal security. |
| A．Android smartphones sales are on the decrease. |
| B．Personal data protection comes into focus. |
| C．Netizens are sensitive to online information. |
| D．Nearly all smartphones contain security flaws. |
| A．Website designers. | B．Illegal hackers. |
| C．Network operators. | D．Internet-based companies. |
| A．Foreign practices to safeguard cybersecurity. |
| B．Countries producing laws of national security. |
| C．Effective ways to deal with personal security. |
| D．Advice on how to avoid leaking personal data. |
2 . You cannot judge a book by looking at its cover! That's what a group of parents and students in Hangzhou has found out this term.
When they came to school in September, the students were shocked to learn that their class teacher was to be a P.E. teacher. How could someone who teaches table tennis and basketball know anything about academics? Their parents were equally worried and pressured the school to replace ''Miss Muscle'' with a ''Miss Brain. '' However, the principal(校长) did not give in to the pressure and now the parents and students are happy that the school firmly insisted.
After three months, the P.E. teacher, whose name is actually Miss Su, has turned out to be a wonderful class teacher. She is intelligent, kind and helpful. She is a good leader who keeps her students active in their studies and participate in school activities. And she has won the parents over with her real caring for their children. In other words, Miss Su, the P. E. teacher, is ''pretty extraordinary. ''
The early negative reaction against Miss Su is an example of bias(偏见). A ''bias'' is wrong in thinking that has an influence on a person's opinions and decisions. For example, in business, tall men are more likely to be bosses. In the United States, anyone who is above 190 centimeters tall can expect to have a higher salary and to get more promotions than his shorter co-workers. Similarly, women have a difficult time climbing the career ladder because their bosses(mostly men!) think that women lack leadership skills and the necessary toughness to make difficult decisions. Neither of these opinions is based on facts or the talents of the individual. They're just bias.
1. What seemed to be the parents' early reaction to Miss Su?| A．They were excited. | B．They were amazed. |
| C．They were worried. | D．They were interested. |
| A．She is an excellent P. E. teacher. |
| B．She was finally removed. |
| C．She really cared about her students. |
| D．The headmaster was proved to be wrong. |
| A．tall men are usually excellent | B．people are often judged with bias |
| C．opinions should be based on facts | D．women lack leadership skills |
| A．Disagreeable. | B．Acceptable. |
| C．Careless. | D．Curious. |
3 . What do Tom Sawyer and jumping frogs have in common? Stories about both of them were created by one man: Mark Twain. Twain was four years old when his family moved to Hannibal, Missouri, located on the west bank of the Mississippi. Twain grew up there and was fascinated with life along the river—the steamboats, the giant lumber（木头）rafts, and the people who worked on them.
The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County is one of Twain's best loved short stories, and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer is one of his most famous novels. Both these works are celebrated by events held during National Tom Sawyer Days, which originated in the late 1950s and became national in the 1960s. Children enter their frogs in the jumping contest during National Tom Sawyer Days. There's also a fence painting contest to see who can paint the fastest. The idea for this contest comes from a scene in The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, in which Tom has been told to paint the fence in front of the house he lives in. It's a beautiful day, and he would rather be doing anything else. As his friends walk by, he makes them believe that it's fun to paint, and they join in the “fun”. By the end of the day, the fence has three coats of paint!
Although the story of Tom Sawyer is fiction, it's based on facts. If you go to Hannibal, you'll see the white fence, which still stands at Twain's boyhood home.
1. Which of the following statements about Mark Twain is TRUE?| A．He was born in Hannibal. |
| B．He enjoyed his life in Hannibal. |
| C．He spent most of his childhood on the Mississippi. |
| D．He often went rafting（坐船漂流）on the Mississippi with his parents. |
| A．about forty years ago |
| B．in memory of a great writer |
| C．shortly after Twain's death |
| D．to improve kids' interest in reading |
| A．Bob, painting the longest. |
| B．Julia, painting most carefully. |
| C．Jim, painting in the newest way. |
| D．John, painting in the shortest time. |
| A．the story of Tom Sawyer is based partly on Twain's experiences |
| B．the story of Tom Sawyer is based totally on Twain's imagination |
| C．Twain's old house is painted by the fence painting competitors |
| D．Twain's old house is visited by people from all over the country |
4 . Scientists have found an unusual way to prevent our planet from overheating: move it to a cooler spot. All you have to do is send a few comets（彗星）in the direction of earth, and its orbit will be changed. Our world will then be sent into a safer, colder part of the solar system.
This idea for improving our climate comes from a group of US National Aeronautics and Space Administration（NASA）engineers and American astronomers. They say their plan could add another six billion years to the useful lifetime of our planet—effectively doubling its working life.
The plan, put forward by Dr. Laughlin, and his colleagues Don Korycansky and Fred Adams, needs carefully directing a comet of asteroid（小行星）so that it passes close by our planet and sends some of its gravitational energy to Earth.
“Earth’s orbital speed would increase as a result and we would move to a higher orbit away from the Sun,” Laughlin said.
Engineers would then direct their comet so that it passed close to Jupiter or Saturn. The comet would pick up energy from one of these giant planets. Later its orbit would bring it back to Earth, and the process would be repeated. In the short term, the plan provides an ideal way to global warming, although the team was actually concerned with a much greater danger. The Sun is certain to heat up in about a billion years and so “seriously endanger” our biosphere—by cooking us. That’s why the group decided to try to save Earth.
The plan has one or two worrying aspects, however. For a start, space engineers would have to be very careful about how they directed their asteroid or comet towards Earth. The smallest miscalculation（误算）in orbit could fire it straight at Earth—with deadly results.
There is also the question of the Moon. As the scientific American magazine points out, if Earth was pushed out of its current position it is “most likely that the Moon would be stripped away from Earth,” it states. This would change our planet’s climate.
1. If the plan is successful, Earth will have a working life of _________ years.| A．12 billion | B．6 billion |
| C．18 billion | D．24 billion |
| A．A few comets are moving to the direction of Earth. |
| B．Earth’s working life is coming to an end soon. |
| C．Earth will become too hot for mankind to keep alive. |
| D．The moon is moving farther away from Earth. |
| A．Earth might be moved too far away and man might be frozen to death. |
| B．The comet might hit Earth and man might lose the moon. |
| C．The comet might hit Jupiter or Saturn and never return to Earth. |
| D．Earth’s working life might be greatly shortened. |
A． | B． |
C． | D． |
5 . History tells us that footwear was one of the first things ancient people learned to make. Footwear helped them across rocky paths or hot sands without injuring themselves. The earliest footwear we know of was simply a piece of plaited (编织的) grass or leather tied to the feet.
The ancient Egyptians seem to have invented the first footwear with a firm sole (鞋底) — sandals. Egyptian royalty usually wore sandals that had a different style from those with lower status (身份), while slaves were not allowed to wear anything on their feet. The sandal is still the basic form of footwear in many countries, particularly those with a hot climate, whereas in cold climates, an entirely different type of shoe appeared — the moccasin — a slipper-shaped shoe made of soft but strong leather.
The Greeks were the first to develop shoes with heels (鞋跟). Then, in the Middle Ages, shoes with long points at the toe became very chic for the nobility. These shoes were often very difficult to wear. Other trends followed, with square-toed shoes, wide shoes, and even shoes that could make a woman stand two feet taller. Not surprisingly, these sometimes led to accidents. Even today, fashion rather than comfort often leads to the kind of shoes women wear.
Mechanical shoemaking appeared in the 1800s in North America. Until then, shoes had been made with the same kinds of hand tools used by the ancient Egyptians. And in 1858, a machine was invented that could stitch (缝合) the sole of a shoe to the upper part. Now it was possible to make shoes that were shaped to fit either the left or right foot. Toward the end of the 1800s came a new type of shoe that was specifically designed for sports — the sneaker — and it soon become an all-time favorite.
1. What did shoes often show in ancient times?| A．The rich resources. | B．People's different beliefs. |
| C．People's status in society. | D．The changeable climates. |
| A．Valuable. | B．Convenient. |
| C．Fashionable. | D．Comfortable. |
| A．shoes were often very difficult for people to wear. |
| B．all the shoe patterns made by the Greeks were the same. |
| C．the only function of footwear was to protect people's feet. |
| D．people wore the same-shaped shoes on their two feet |
| A．By providing examples. | B．By making comparisons. |
| C．By following the order of time. | D．By following the order of importance. |
6 . Artificial intelligence (Al) is practically everywhere today. There are so many products out there which use Al. Some are being developed, some are already in use, and some failed and are being improved, so it’s very difficult to name a few of them and regard them as the best.
Vi
It is an Al personal trainer which is mainly concerned with fitness and coaching. It, however, requires the use of bio-sensing earphones and other fitness tracking equipment! It can play your favourite music while you work out and all you have to worry about is the exercise you're doing.
Deep Text
Do you ever wonder how an ad appears suddenly just when you are looking for something similar? This is because of Deep Text. It uses real-time consumer information to produce data which in turn is used to target consumers. Thus, if you search online for flight tickets from Bangalore to Delhi, it is very likely that an ad relating to hotels in Delhi will soon follow.
Hello Egg
If you live alone and miss your mother because you always miss your breakfast or don’t know what to eat for dinner, then Hello Egg is exactly what you are looking for. A very healthy choice of the 2-minute noodles and oats, Hello Egg provides you with a detailed weekly meal plan about the needs of your body. It is truly a modern AI-powered home cooking tool for the young.
Wordsmith
You can put Mr. Smith into your Microsoft Excel using their free API, and let it write up detailed analysis of the stories behind your numbers. It can produce detailed reports on thousands of pages of spreadsheets in seconds.
1. What can we learn about Vi from the text?| A．It is an AI music player. |
| B．It is a bio-sensing earphone. |
| C．It doesn't work without bio-sensing earphones. |
| D．It can make you more energetic while you work out. |
| A．Deep Text. | B．Vi. |
| C．Wordsmith. | D．Hello Egg. |
| A．Produce a detailed report. | B．Provide us with a detailed meal plan. |
| C．Book a ticket ahead of time. | D．Offer us information on hotels for traveling. |
7 . Both of Omar's parents were poets. For as long as Omar could remember, his parents spent at least one evening each week at a poetry reading, which usually took place at a small coffee house.
Omar had very fond memories of the coffee house on Sixth Street where the people's personalities were as colorful as the coffee cups. He loved going to early evening poetry readings at Cody's Coffee Shop. He would sit in the audience next to his parents, the smell of coffee floating through the air and the gentle voices of the poets removing his childish worries with the rhythm of their poems.
There was one woman who came to Cody's every week just as his parents did. Her name was Mrs. Aboud. She never read, but she had a bright smile for everyone, and she would clap (手) loudly after each reading.
Eventually, Omar began writing his own poetry. Mrs. Francis, Omar's English teacher, advised him to enter a poetry contest ( 比赛). At first Omar was proud and excited. However, when he read the contest rules, he became concerned. The contest was an oral(口头的) reading. Omar had no doubt that he could write high-quality poetry, but he was a very shy young man. He doubted that he could stand in front of a large group to read his poems calmly.
“It would make me very proud”, his father said, and Omar knew that he had to go through with it somehow.
So on the day of the contest, he selected his favorite poem, put on his best clothes, and appeared at the auditorium (会堂).
When he stepped onto the stage, though, something wonderful happened! There in the audience, right beside his parents, was Mrs. Aboud. Omar could almost smell the coffee at Cody's Coffee Shop. He focused on his parents and Mrs. Aboud and tuned out everyone else. Now it was easy to read his poem in a clear, calm voice. When he finished, everyone in the auditorium applauded.
1. What is the second paragraph mainly about?| A．Poetry | B．A coffee house |
| C．Omar's parents | D．Omar's worries |
| A．Clever. | B．Patient |
| C．Creative | D．Supportive. |
| A．He wanted to win a prize. |
| B．He wanted to face his fears. |
| C．He wanted to please his teacher. |
| D．He wanted to surprise his father. |
| A．ignored | B．attracted |
| C．forgot | D．impressed |
8 . Chinese painting, also known as the traditional national painting, one of the traditional paintings with a long history, has its unique and independent system. Using brushes, ink, and Chinese pigments (天然颜料), a painting is drawn on a special kind of paper (Xuan paper) or silk. The traditional subjects are figures, landscapes, flowers and birds.
In comparison with Western painting, Chinese painting has its own artistic characteristics. After a careful study of the object, a painter can discover the rules of its structure, and then produce it by the mind’s eye. It is not merely a simple copy, but it combines the object with the artistic concept of the producer, turning a natural image into an “artistic image”. The object can show the artist’s feelings and personality to achieve the effect of “being alike not only in spirit, but also in appearance”. Not all the objects are to be drawn on the paper, and much space is left for the imagination. The use of lines is important in Chinese painting. Clear, swift, sharp and changeable lines are combined with the push, point and press of the brush and ink to show the quality of the object and variations of tone (色调). Ancient Chinese artists listed 18 different ways of drawing lines with the brush in figure painting. Different ways of creating lines are used when painting a landscape, flowers and birds, clouds, and bamboos.
Traditional Chinese painting and calligraphy are different branches of art stemming (起源) from the same origin. They use the same kind of tools and all the lines used in painting are variations of the points and lines of calligraphy. Though they are different artistic forms, they are closely linked in terms of their expression of thoughts and feelings. They influence each other to create another artistic feature.
1. Which of the following words can describe the common subjects of traditional Chinese painting?| A．Valuable. | B．Independent. |
| C．Special. | D．Natural. |
| A．reflects social problems of his times | B．describes mainly a natural image |
| C．expresses his thoughts | D．tells a true story |
| A．traveling | B．learning to draw lines |
| C．reading | D．studying calligraphy before drawing |
| A．Using the similar techniques. | B．Starting from the same period. |
| C．Belonging to the same artistic form. | D．Covering the same themes. |
9 . Britain's got talent——but we're still wasting it. That's the main finding of a new report by researchers from Oxford University. Children of similar cognitive (认知) ability have very different chances of educational success； it still depends on their parents' economic, socio-cultural and educational resources. This contradicts a commonly held view that our education system has developed enough to give everyone a fighting chance. The researchers looked at data from groups of children born in three decades: 1950s, 1970s and 1990s.
They found significant evidence of a wastage of talent. Individuals with high levels of cognitive ability but with disadvantages in their social origins are unable to translate their ability into educational achievement to the same extent as their more advantaged counterparts (对照组). The research, funded by the Nuffield Foundation, found that only about half of the difference in educational achievement between children from advantaged and disadvantaged parental backgrounds is due to differences in their cognitive ability. The other half is due to other factors (因素)associated with their backgrounds.
“If we compare the educational achievement of children born in the 1990s to those in the late 1950s and early 1970s, we see that parents' economic resources have become a less important factor, but their socio-cultural and educational resources have grown in significance," says Dr. Bukodi. “That means that your parents' place in society and their own level of education still play a big part in how well you may do."
These experts are now calling for policy-makers to acknowledge that formal qualifications is only one channel for upward mobility (流动性)for high-ability individuals of disadvantaged backgrounds. Dr. Bukodi says, “These findings show that there are limits to how far inequalities of opportunity can be reduced through educational policy alone. Changes in educational policy aren't having the powerful effect we want."
1. What is the main finding of the research?| A．We're wasting talent due to education system. |
| B．Children of similar cognitive ability have different chances of educational success. |
| C．Children's cognitive ability depends on different educational resources. |
| D．Education system has developed enough to give chilidren a fighting chance. |
| A．By making a comparison. |
| B．By discussing a result. |
| C．By giving examples. |
| D．By presenting reasons. |
| A．Children's cognitive ability. |
| B．Parents' economic resouces. |
| C．Educational policy. |
| D．Parents' socio-cultural and educational backgrounds. |
| A．Favorable. | B．Objective. |
| C．Doubtful. | D．Negative. |
10 . When Zhangzijun was a little kid. He was doing very badly in math. His parents had tried everything: tutors, cards, special learning….. everything they could think of. Finally they took him to a catholic（天主教的）school.
After the first day, Zhangzijun came home with a very serious look on his face. He didn’t kiss his mother hello. Instead, he went straight to his room and started studying. Books and papers were spread out all over the room and Zhangzijun was hard at work. His mother was surprised. She called him down to dinner and as soon as he finished eating, he went back to his room, without a word. In no time he was back hitting the books as hard as before. This went on for some time, day after day while the mother tried to understand what was happening.
Finally, Zhangzijun brought home his report card. He quietly put it on the table and went up to his room and hit the books. His mom looked at it and to her surprise, Zhangzijun got an A in math. She could no longer hold her curiosity.
She went to his room and asked, ”Son, what was it? Was it the nuns (修女)?”
Zhangzijun looked at her and shook his head, “No. ”
“Well then,” she asked again. “What was it?”
Zhangzijun looked at her and said, “Well, on the first day of school, when I saw that man nailed (钉)to the plus sign, I knew they weren’t joking. ”
1. Why did Zhangzijun’s parents send him to a catholic school?| A．Because he could eat well there. |
| B．Because he could learn more about nuns. |
| C．Because his parents wanted him to do better in his math. |
| D．Because his parents didn’t want him to learn math any more. |
| A．was still the same as usual | B．ate so much at dinner |
| C．didn’t kiss her hello after school | D．worked hard but said little |
| A．Zhangzijun felt sorry for the mail |
| B．Zhangzijun was afraid of being nailed |
| C．Zhangzijun didn’t like the plus sign |
| D．Zhangzijun liked playing jokes on others |
| A．mistaking might do good sometimes |
| B．teachers should be strict with their students |
| C．a catholic school is much better than other ones |
| D．nuns are good at helping children with their math |
