1 . Sometimes when she felt bored, she would pick up one of the numerous biographies（传记）about herself and begin to note in. "I never did that" or "simply not true" she would write roughly in the margins at the sides of pages. Since journalists, biographers and more recently even "bloggers" had been writing about her since the day she was born, there was plenty of material to edit. Not that her notes or corrections were ever shared with the authors. Lately, however, she even seemed to have lost her appetite for correctness. Did it matter anymore if things were not right?
She knew that sitting alone chewing away on downbeat thoughts would not get her anywhere and would leave those around her confused and upset, should they ever catch her out. After all she was the decisive one, always on top of her game. A printed timetable for the following day lay on the table. A full day of openings and presentations, of smiling and nodding and flowers.
Shaking herself out of her gray mood, she stepped over towards the computer where a sudden burst of energy gave her an idea. The screen flashed up in front of her but instead of clicking on the familiar icons which would lead her to the emails Randolph considered she needed to read, she simply went to visit Mr. Google and began her search for train timetable.
A dish heaped with multi-coloured jellies and plenty of ice cream, served by a white-gloved train waiter with a perfect moustache. So many years had passed but she still remembered the jelly dissolving on her tongue in small but delicious mouthfuls. Each spoonful had to be lifted delicately to her mouth under the watched eye of her grandmother, who was a stickler for good manners. It was unlikely that they served jelly on the trains these days, what with all the concern about childhood fatness, but even a Spartan menu could not kill the romance of a train journey. As the timetable for Line-burst line flashed in front of her, she remembered that the Mayor of Alwoy would be expecting her to make a short, predictable speech at the opening of the now bridge.
1. Which of the following can be inferred from the passage?| A．The main character is probably a journalist writing blogs about royal members. |
| B．The main character is always busy editing plenty of material about herself. |
| C．The authors probably had chances to get the notes or correctness from the main character. |
| D．Randolph is probably an assistant or a secretary to the main character. |
| A．She wishes that she were still a child so that she could eat jellies and ice cream. |
| B．She is reminded of these foods because the thought of a train journey reminds her of them. |
| C．She wishes she still knew where the handsome train waiter was |
| D．Today's children aren't allowed to eat the same things that she ate as a child. |
| A．have mainly low fat, healthy foods | B．be suitable for a romantic dinner |
| C．include a range of sweets, but no jelly | D．include foods which are easy to transport |
| A．The main character will practise her speech for greeting the Mayor of Alwoy. |
| B．The main character will decide to take a rail journey. |
| C．Randolph will send some emails to the main character. |
| D．The main character will update her blog on the internet. |
2 . Canals have to be built on a level, otherwise the water drains out of them and the canal becomes useless. This was the great problem facing the early canal builders, and they overcame it in different ways. The early engineers like James Brindley simply followed the outlines of the countryside and kept their canals level though it often meant choosing very roundabout routes.
Later engineers, such as Thomas Telford, developed a new technique known as “cut and fill”in which they fixed a level through very accurate surveying. This allowed them to fill in the hollows on a route with the exact amount of soil they took from the higher ground. By this method, very direct routes could be taken, which cut down the time of a journey very considerably. A good example of this type of canal is Telford's Liverpool and Birmingham Junction Canal, which he began in 1826 to provide a direct route from the Midlands to the River Mersey.
It was seldom possible to build a completely level canal, of course, whichever method was used, and most canals were provided with locks in which barges were raised or lowered to new levels. If you look at the diagram on the right, you can see a barge being raised in a lock by means of water which was allowed into the lock basin, or pound, from the upper level of the canal. When a barge had to be lowered, water was allowed out of the pound into the lower level of the canal.
1. Brindley's canals were less efficient, most likely because ________.| A．he was not a good canal engineer |
| B．the techniques and skills available at the time were useless |
| C．his canals were built to keep the water drains out |
| D．they had too many roundabout routes |
| A．The outlines of the land could not be followed directly. |
| B．It could make travelling distances shorter and save journey time. |
| C．New surveying techniques had been invented successfully. |
| D．The distance between the Midlands and River Mersey is great. |
| A．help boats to travel in both directions |
| B．keep water levels changing all the time |
| C．allow large ships to travel in canals |
| D．transfer boats across differing water levels |
3 . Up-skilling is the future - but it must work for everyone
Automation and job replacement will be one of the most significant challenges for the global economy of the coming decades. A 2017 Mckinsey report established that 375 million workers will need to switch occupational categories by 2030. The World Economic Forum suggests that by 2022, automation will replace 75 million jobs globally - but create 133 million new ones.
Research into the likelihood that a job will be impacted by digitization has largely focused on the "auto-matability" of the role and the following economic regional and political effects of this. What this research doesn't take into account is something more important for the millions of taxi drivers and retail workers across the globe: their likelihood of being able to change to another job that isn't automatable. Recent research suggests that the answer to this may be that the skills that enable workers to move up the ladder to more complex roles within their current areas might be less important than broader skills that will enable workers to change across divisions.
In July, Amazon announced that it would spend $700 million retraining around 30% of its 300,000 US workforce. While praiseworthy, it will be interesting to see the outcome. In the UK, the National Retraining Scheme has largely been led by employers, meaning that those on zero-hours contracts and part-time workers - often low-skilled --- will miss out. Governance will be a crucial element of ensuring that such schemes focus on individuals and life-long learning, rather than upskilling workers into roles that will soon also face automation.
According to the Mckinsey report, "growing awareness of the scale of the task ahead has yet to translate into action. Public spending on labour-force training and support has fallen for years in most member countries of the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development," which impacts more than just the low-skilled.
The global impact of automation is also put into relief by research demonstrating that, between 1988 and 2015, income inequality increased throughout the world. Billions of people do not have the essentials of life as defined by the UN Sustainable Development goals.
Alongside climate change, automation is arguably tech's biggest challenge. As with globalization, governments and employers -- and us workers -- ignore its potential consequences at risk to ourselves.
1. It can be known from Paragraph 2 that ________.| A．recent research has found ways to face automation |
| B．broad skills are of great significance in changing jobs |
| C．regional economy can affect the automatability of a job |
| D．it is even harder for workers to move up the social ladder |
| A．Supportive. | B．Critical | C．Doubtful | D．Sympathetic |
| A．Less spending on training | B．A slowdown of globalization |
| C．Social unrest and instability. | D．An increase in income inequality |
| A．argue the urgency of creating new jobs |
| B．compare globalization with automation |
| C．analyze the automatability of certain jobs |
| D．stress the important of upskilling workers |
4 . Celebrating Czech traditions
Have you ever witnessed the 300-year anniversary of a village? To me, it is so amazing that this village, named Bysicky, which is located in Bohemia in the Czech Republic, has sustained blizzards and wars for all this time, but has still kept its special charm.
Unlike transportation you’d find in Prague such as the metro or tram, the most common way to get around in the countryside is by bike, as it’s a lot more convenient. So on Saturday morning. I departed from home on a bike ride with my host family. After an 8-kilometer journey, we finally arrived at the village.
There was a road that led straight into the center of the village. Many stalls selling pizza, beer and ice cream were by the roadside. You could hear guitar music coming from the other side of the road, where an outdoor stage stood on large area of meadow.
When the performance from the guitarists finished, group of children wearing traditional costumes came on stage. As the crowd applauded loudly, the children were divided into three groups. A group of older kids playing different musical instruments stood on the left side, a group performing typical Czech dances was on the right, and a choir sang beautifully in the center.
Many of those present were relatives of the children, and we were there because my sister was a member of the dancing group. On the edge of the grassland, there were girls riding horses.
The end of the road led to a circled space, where the city hall stood in the middle, surrounded by a circle of colorful cottages. In front of the houses there were also many markets and a radio station reporting on the event.
So this is what a typical village celebration looks like, with markets food and performances from traditional Czech culture, which was quite different from festivals in big cities. Czech people value their history, so there will always be parties to celebrate a place’s existence or an important person from history. There are no high buildings in these villages, but people still like to go there to spend their weekends because of the peaceful environment. I guess that is what life really means.
1. What can we learn from the text about Bysicky?| A．The most convenient transport here is the metro. |
| B．The outdoor stage was set up in front of the city hall. |
| C．The author’s host family lives in the village. |
| D．It has a long history and is usually peaceful. |
| A．came across a famous choir giving a performance | B．heard music played by a group of guitarists |
| C．danced with local kids in traditional costumes | D．rode horses on the grass nearby |
| A．The author dislikes festivals in big cities. |
| B．Czech people take pride in their culture and history. |
| C．Czech people don’t like to live in high buildings. |
| D．Czech people always enjoy their lives to the fullest. |
| A．To describe a typical village celebration in the Czech Republic. |
| B．To give tips on how to tour around Bysicky. |
| C．To inform us of different traditional Czech festivals. |
| D．To explain the long history of Bysicky and its people |
5 . In a time when too much emphasis has been attached to utilitarianism (功力主义), it doesn’t come as a surprise to me that we people no longer believe in poetry. Utility is now often the standard of what one should devote his or her time and energy to and what he or she shouldn’t, but don’t get me wrong. I am not saying or stating that one should not consider utility at all when making crucial decisions. On the contrary, everyone should take it into account. Medicine, law, business and engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance and love, these are what we stay alive for.
My dad once told me that “life is suffering,”, which now I think is probably a unanimous (无异议的) opinion among most people. With a tough life inevitably comes a tough language---and that is what poetry is and why poetry is needed. It offers people a way to talk about the difficult-to-describe things in life, like death, suffering, profound joy and transformation. So whenever I hear someone say that poetry is not a must, or it’s an option, or it’s only for the educated middle classed, I suspect that he or she must have had things pretty easy.
But how can people live without poetry when poetry is nothing but a ceaseless flow of genuine human emotions? Unlike what the academics may tell you, my suggestion about bring poetry into your lives is that don’t analyze it and don’t ask others to analyze it. Don’t deconstruct it or try to make meaning of it. Just find the poems that wake you up, that make you feel as if you’ve submerged (沉浸) yourself in a mineral hot spring or an ice bath. Find the poems that make you feel almost irrational joy or sadness. Find the poems that make you want to roll around in them or paint their colors all over your bedroom ceiling. Those are the poems you want to play with. Find the poems that communicate with the deepest parts your being and welcome them in.
If finding others’ poems no longer satisfies you, compose your own! You don’t have to be a poet to compose poetry. After all, poetry is not a luxury only for members desire or genuine willingness to vent feelings. It’s about searching for the real meaning of life and also about giving meaning to life. Just like Walt Whitman’s “O Me! O Life!”, a poem that ends by speaking directly to its readers: “the powerful play goes on and you may contribute a verse,” poetry is about everyone. And now I want to ask you the mother of all inspirational questions; “What will your verse be?”
Inspired by Jeanette Winterson’s book:
Why Be Happy When You Could be normal?
1. The author thinks that poetry is very important for human beings because it ________.| A．has nothing to do with the shared belief in utility |
| B．symbolizes a status as an educated middle class |
| C．offers a medium for describing hard experiences |
| D．reveals a fundamental truth that life isn’t all roses |
| A．deconstruct and making meaning of it |
| B．enjoy a mineral hot spring or an ice bath |
| C．paint it over his or her bedroom ceiling |
| D．get consumed by irrational joy or sadness |
| A．only a true poet can write poems |
| B．no poem can appeal to everyone |
| C．life feels just like a powerful play |
| D．every human is entitled to poetry |
| A．Composing Poetry | B．Poetry for Life |
| C．The Art of poetry | D．Analyzing poetry |
6 . A sensational new scientific discovery in the ocean near Australia may explain the most massive extinction of living things in Earth’s history. For years, scholars have been frustrated in trying to analyze why 90 to 95 percent of sea life and 75 percent of and life vanished about 250 million years ago. The extinctions were so enormous that they are called The Great Dying. To date, some authorities on ancient life thought that a volcanic eruption or a sudden change in the environment affected all life on Earth. Other specialists have doubted these theories, maintaining that it was not plausible that a solo volcano could bring about such chaos. From the outset, critics believed these claims were exaggerated.
By contrast, there is wide acceptance of the idea that a meteor (流星)which hit Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula 65 million years ago was the primary cause of the dinosaurs’ extinction. Nevertheless, until now they had no evidence of an intense meteor impact 185 mill on years earlier. Now they do.
American geologists have been examining rock samples from a deep sea crater (火山口)near the northwest coast of Australia. The samples were initially collected and preserved by petroleum technicians seeking oil. Now the geologists and their colleagues believe that the precise splits in the rock’s structure show a typical pattern for meteors. There is a clear distinction from volcanic patterns. In fact, a spokesperson went so far as to say that these rocks completely revise the way scientists perceive the mass extinctions from the ancient era. Academics say that the meteor’s crater s the size of Mount Qomolangma, the highest mountain on Earth! Literally, the meteor made a mark on Earth as it drowned in the sea. The Earth could not absorb such a harsh blow without sustaining global devastation. Things must have come to a standstill. Evidently, the blow was fatal for many forms of life.
Bear in mind that all this was long before mammals---including humans--emerged in Earth’s history. Still, we would be wise to pay attention to the damage a meteor can cause. Fortunately, meteor strikes on Earth are few and far between.
1. The word “plausible” (paragraph 1) is closest in meaning to “______”.| A．available | B．incredible |
| C．reasonable | D．ridiculous |
| A．Because they were very resistant | B．Because there weren’t any then |
| C．Because they lived in isolated areas | D．Because they hid themselves in the caves |
| A．Scholars agreed that a single volcano caused The Great Dying |
| B．75 percent of land life continued 250 million years ago |
| C．Volcanic rocks and meteors have different patterns |
| D．When the meteor hit land Mount Qomolangma sprang up. |
| A．The Dinosaurs’ End | B．Crater on Qomolangma |
| C．Contradictory Claims | D．A Meteor’s Impact |
7 . More than a decade ago, cognitive scientists John Bransford and Daniel Schwartz, both then at Vanderbilt University, found that what distinguished young adults from children was not the ability to retain facts or apply prior knowledge to a new situation but a quality they called “preparation for future learning.” The researchers asked fifth graders and college students to create a recovery plan to protect bald eagles from extinction. Shockingly, the two groups came up with plans of similar quality (although the college students had better spelling skills). From the standpoint of a traditional educator, this outcome indicated that schooling had failed to help students think about ecosystems and extinction, major scientific ideas.
The researchers decided to go deeper, however. They asked both groups to generate questions about important issues needed to create recovery plans. On this task, they found large differences. College students focused on critical issues of interdependence between eagles and their habitats. Fifth graders tended to focus on features of individual eagles (“How big are they?” and “What do they eat?”). The college students had cultivated the ability to ask questions, the cornerstone (最重 要部分)of critical thinking. They had learned how to learn.
Museums and other institutions of informal learning may be better suited to teach this skill than elementary and secondary schools. At the Exploratorium in San Francisco, we recently studied how learning to ask good questions can affect the quality of people's scientific inquiry. We found that when we taught participants to ask “What if?” and “How can?” questions that nobody present would know the answer to and that would spark exploration，they engaged in better inquiry at the next exhibit-asking more questions, performing more experiments and making better interpretations of their results. Specifically, their questions became more comprehensive at the new exhibit. Rather than merely asking about something they wanted to try，they tended to include both cause and effect in their question. Asking juicy questions appears to be a transferable skill for deepening collaborative inquiry into the science content found in exhibits.
This type of learning is not confined to museums or institutional settings. Informal learning environments tolerate failure better than schools. Perhaps many teachers have too little time to allow students to form and pursue their own questions and too much ground to cover in the curriculum. But people must acquire this skill somewhere, Our society depends on them being able to make critical decisions about their own medical treatment, say, or what we must do about global energy needs and demands. For that, we have an informal learning system that gives no grades, takes all comers，and is available even on holidays and weekends.
1. What is traditional educators interpretation of the research outcome mentioned in the first paragraph?| A．Students are not able to apply prior knowledge to new problems. |
| B．College students are no better than fifth grader in memorizing facts. |
| C．Education has not paid enough attention to major environmental issues. |
| D．Education has failed to lead students to think about major scientific ideas. |
| A．they have learned to think critically. |
| B．they are concerned about social issues. |
| C．they are curious about specific features. |
| D．they have learned to work independently. |
| A．It arouses students’ interest in things around them. |
| B．It cultivates students’ ability to make scientific inquiries. |
| C．It trains students’ ability to design scientific experiments. |
| D．It helps students realize not every question has an answer. |
| A．train students to think about global issues |
| B．design more interactive classroom activities |
| C．make full use of informal learning resources |
| D．include collaborative inquiry in the curriculum |
8 . Welcome to Adventureland!
Everyone loves Adventureland! The Parks and Exhibitions were built for you to explore (探索), enjoy, and admire their wonders. Every visit will be an unforgettable experience. You will go away enriched, longing to come back. What are you going to do this time?
The Travel Pavilion
Explore places you have never been to before, and experience different ways of life. Visit the Amazon jungle (丛林) village, the Turkish market, the Tai floating market, the Berber mountain house and others. Talk to the people there who will tell you about their lives, and things they make. You can try making a carpet, making nets, fishing ...
The Future Tower
This exhibition shows how progress will touch our lives. It allows us to look into the future and explore the cities of the next century and the way we’ll be living then. Spend some time in our space station and climb into our simulator (模拟装置) for the Journey to Mars.
The Nature Park
This is not really one park but several. In the Safari Park you can drive among African animals in one of our Range Cruisers: see lions, giraffes, elephants in the wild. Move on to the Ocean Park to watch the dolphins and whales. And then there is still the Aviary to see ...
The Pyramid
This is the center of Adventureland. Run out of film, need some postcards and stamps? For all these things and many more, visit our underground shopping center. Come here for information and ideas too.
1. The Travel Pavilion is built to help visitors ______.| A．realize the importance of travelling |
| B．become familiar with mountain countries |
| C．learn how to make things such as fishing nets |
| D．learn something about different places in the world |
| A．the Travel Pavilion | B．the Future Tower |
| C．the Safari Park | D．the Pyramid |
| A．The Pyramid. | B．The Nature Park. |
| C．The Future Tower. | D．The Travel Pavilion. |
