1 . The Intelligent Transport team at Newcastle University have turned an electric car into a mobile laboratory named “Drive LAB” in order to understand the challenges faced by older drivers and to discover where the key stress points are.

Research shows that giving up driving is one of the key reasons for a fall in health and well-being among older people, leading to them becoming more isolated and inactive.

Led by Professor Phil Blythe, the Newcastle team are developing in-vehicle technologies for older drivers which they hope could help them to continue driving into later life.

These include custom-made navigation (导航) tools, night vision systems and intelligent speed adaptations. Phil Blythe explains: “For many older people, particularly those living alone or in the country driving is important for keeping their independence, giving them the freedom to get out and about without having to rely on others.”

“But we all have to accept that as we get older our reactions slow down and this often results in people avoiding any potentially challenging driving conditions and losing confidence in their driving skills. The result is that people stop driving before they really need to.”

Dr Amy Guo, the leading researcher on the older driver study, explains, “The Drive LAB is helping us to understand what the key stress points and difficulties are for older drivers and how we might use technology to solve these problems.”

“For example, most of us would expect older drivers always go slower than everyone else but surprisingly, we found that in 30mph zones they struggled to keep at a constant speed and so were more likely to break the speed limit and be at risk of getting fined. We’re looking at the benefits of systems which control their speed as a way of preventing that.”

“We hope that our work will help with technological solutions to ensure that older drivers stay safer behind the wheel.”

1. What is the purpose of the Drive LAB?

A．To explore new means of transport.	B．To design new types of cars.
C．To teach people traffic rules.	D．To find out older driver’s problems.

2. Why is driving important for older people according to Phil Blythe?

A．It keeps them independent.	B．It helps them save time.
C．It builds up their strength.	D．It cures their mental illnesses.

3. What do researchers hope to do for older people?

A．Ensure their safety with the help of technology.

B．Improve their diving skills.

C．Provide advice on repairing their cars.

D．Organize regular physical checkups.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．A New Model Electric Car	B．Keeping Older Drivers on the Road
C．A Solution to Traffic Problems	D．Driving Services for Elders

2 . 下列文段直接来自所学的课文。请根据英文首字母提示，填入符合课文含义的词，使到文段意思完整，通顺，符合课文原意。

I wake up to the sound of the wind buffeting the cloth of my tent. Even though the sun is brightly shining, telling whether it is morning or night is     1     I’m above the Arctic Circle, where in summer the sun never sets. Checking my     2    . I see that it is 7: 30 a.m. I leave my tent and walk over to the mountain     3    . Spreading out before me, branches of the Rapa River flow through the v    4     below. I’m in the remote far north of Sweden in Sarek National Park, a place with no roads or     5    .

Sarek’s mountains used to be covered by vast sheets of i    6    . Around 9,000 years ago, this ice melted, leaving behind about 100 glaciers. Soon after, reindeer began to arrive. Following the reindeer were the Sami     7    , who made this t    8     their home. Getting here is quite difficult, so     9     from the Sami very few people have ever seen Sarek. In 1909, Sarek was made a national park in order to keep the land in its natural     10    .

3 . A thief dropped a winning lottery ticket (彩票) at the scene of his crime, but he has been given a lesson in _______. The man whom he robbed _______ the ticket and won the ￡25,000 prize. But the man managed to find the thief, and handed over the _______.

The robbery happened when Professor Sabbatucci was changing a tyre on a highway. Another motorist, who stopped “to_______”, stole a suitcase from his car and drove off. The professor found the _______ ticket and brought it home.

The next day, the professor saw the lottery _______ on TV and realised it was a winner. He _______ the ￡25,000 prize, but he decided not to keep the money. He made an announcement on the radio, _______, “I’m trying to find the man who robbed me. I have ￡25,000 for him — a lottery _______. Please meet me.”

The professor received hundreds of ________ from people who were hoping to ________ him into handing them the money. But there was one voice he ________ and he arranged to meet the man in a park.

The robber gave back the ________ and burst into tears. He could not ________ what was happening.“Why didn’t you keep the money?” he asked. The professor replied, “Because it’s not mine.” Then he walked off, turning down the thief’s ________ to share the prize.

1.

A．friendship

B．honesty

C．bravery

D．adventure

2.

A．held out

B．took out

C．made up

D．picked up

3.

A．crime

B．lecture

C．money

D．evidence

4.

A．explore

B．rest

C．watch

D．help

5.

A．stolen

B．dropped

C．forgotten

D．damaged

6.

A．results

B．story

C．loss

D．sales

7.

A．presented

B．took

C．donated

D．shared

8.

A．joking

B．saying

C．wondering

D．replying

9.

A．number

B．case

C．win

D．receipt

10.

A．notes

B．emails

C．letters

D．calls

11.

A．trick

B．find

C．lead

D．draw

12.

A．recognised

B．reminded

C．recorded

D．recovered

13.

A．car

B．suitcase

C．package

D．check

14.

A．explain

B．blame

C．believe

D．realise

15.

A．deal

B．promise

C．payment

D．offer

4 . Playing sports offers you more than just physical benefits (好处).     1     The benefits are the same whether or not you’re good at sports. If you are not good enough to play competitively on a school team, you can play sports with your friends.

Making new friends.

Playing sports enables you to create friendships you otherwise might not have formed.     2     You play together happily and gradually know each other. Many times, the friendships you create on the field remain strong when you are not playing sports.

Understanding the value of health.

Taking part in sports improves your health in many ways.     3     This gets you thinking about what to eat and how to treat your body so as to achieve the highest performance levels. Thus, playing sports can lead to better eating habits and prevent you from becoming too fat.

Building team spirit.

Sports provide children with the important lesson of learning how to work in a team.     4     By working together they will learn each other’s strengths and weaknesses and will be better able to decide and work out the best plan for the team. This will without doubt help them in their future lives and jobs as well.

    5    

Playing sports requires a lot of time and energy. Some may think this would take students’ attention away from schoolwork. However, the opposite is true. Sports require memorization, repetition and learning — skills that are directly relevant (有关的) to schoolwork.

A．Doing better in your studies.

B．Everyone has to work together to achieve the goal.

C．To be a good athlete, you must take care of yourself.

D．Sports can help you in your study and fit in with society as well.

E．Sports bring teens together from different schools and backgrounds.

5 . 假定你是李华，你的笔友Tony发邮件想了解你所喜欢的音乐，请根据以下要点给他回一封邮件。
喜欢的音乐类型：流行音乐。
原因：（1）活泼，有天生的节奏感，适合自己的年龄；
（2）缓解紧张的情绪（如学习后的疲劳、不愉快的心情等）；
（3）歌词简单易懂。
注意：1. 词数80左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
3. 邮件的开头和结尾已给出，但不计入总词数。
参考词汇：天生的节奏感a natural sense of rhythm
Dear Tony,

How are you doing?

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Yours,

Li Hua

6 . There is a popular saying in the English language: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” Well, that is not true. Unkind words, name-calling or even the so-called “the silent treatment” can hurt children as much as being physically hit, sometimes even more so. A recent study of middle school children showed that verbal (言语的) abuse by other children can harm, the development in the brain. The study was a project of researchers at Harvard Medical School in Massachusetts. Researcher Martin Teicher and his team studied young adults, aged 18 to 25. These young men and women had not ever been treated in a cruel or violent way by their parents. The researchers asked the young people to rate their childhood exposure to verbal abuse from both parents and other children. Then the researchers performed imaging tests on the brains of the subjects.

The images showed that the people who reported suffering verbal abuse from peers in middle school had underdeveloped connections between the left and right side of the brain. The two sides of the brain are connected by a large bundle of connecting fibers called the corpus callosum. This was the area that was underdeveloped.

The middle school years are a time when these brain connections are developing. So, unkind, hurtful comments from children or adults during this period have the greatest effect. The researchers tested the mental and emotional condition of all the young people in the study. The tests showed that this same group of people had higher levels of fear, depression, anger and drug abuse than others in the study.

The researchers published their findings online on the American Journal of Psychiatry's website.

Parents cannot control what other people say to their children, but they can prepare their children.

1. Why does the author use the popular saying at the beginning?

A．To show the power of words.

B．To introduce an opposite view.

C．To prove the author's argument.

D．To show ancient people's wisdom.

2. What did the people studied in the research have in common?

A．They were hurt by unkind words.

B．They performed poorly in imaging tests.

C．They had their brain slightly damaged.

D．They experienced no physical abuse at home.

3. What will be discussed in the next paragraph?

A．Comments on the findings.

B．Approaches to further studies.

C．Suggestions to parents.

D．Different opinions on the matter.

4. What is the main idea of the passage?

A．Unkind words hurt the brain.

B．Verbal violence should be stopped.

C．The way we speak matters.

D．Words are worse than sticks and stones.

7 . Maybe you have heard the expression—when in Rome, do as the Romans do. So when you want to do business in France, you have to get to know French culture, to make marketing plans, and to run your business by local laws.

    1     The French take great pride in their language, so anyone who does not speak it may run the risk of being disrespected by his French colleagues or business partners. Also, another reason why learning French is important is that it is a great way to show every possible French business partner that you care and respect their country's culture and language.

The first thing you should do when meeting someone new is to shake his hand firmly and always look the person in the eye. In social meeting with friends, kissing is common.

Use first names only after being invited to.     2     The French will sometimes introduce themselves using their surname first, followed by their first name.

Dress well.     3     Your business clothing is a reflection of your success and social status. Always try to be tasteful and stylish. Women are advised to dress simply but elegantly. Wearing make-up is practised widely by businesswomen.

The French are passionate about food, so lunches are common in doing business in France, which usually consist of an appetizer (开胃菜), a main meal with wine, cheese, dessert and coffee, and normally take up to two hours.     4    

Do not begin eating until the host says “bon appetite”. Pass dishes to the left, keep wrists above the table and try to eat everything on the plate.     5     This may suggest that you find the food tasteless. If eating in a restaurant, the person who invites always pays.

A．The French draw information about people based on their appearance.

B．This is a time for relationship building.

C．Remember to be as polite as possible.

D．Language should be the focus of anyone planning to do business in France.

E．Be careful with adding salt, pepper or sauces to your food.

F．Use Monsieur or Madame before the surname.

G．Make an appointment with your business partner in advance.

8 . I always knew that I depended too much on my phone. But I didn’t know how much. So I decided to do this _______ to find out.

Every morning since I got a smartphone, I’ve used The Weather Channel App to find out what to _______. On the first morning I had to dress without guidance, but _______ I was able to guess that the day would be cold and foggy by looking out of my window.

I couldn’t tell what time it was. I haven’t worn a _______ for more than a year, because my phone showed the time. So I was late for _______ friends who had been on the bus for two hours from Santa Monica to Palos Verdes. I was also late for my part-time job. And _______, I couldn’t call people to tell them that I was running late.

Getting places was harder, too. I got _______ because I couldn’t use the GPS on my phone. My driving, though, got a lot _______ because I no longer had my phone in one hand checking directions while _______ with the other.

But the number one trouble was not having my contact list. I forgot to write down my friends’ and family members’ phone numbers before I ________ the challenge. It was sad to realize that I couldn’t remember my brother’s and my mom’s cell phone numbers. Oh, how I ________ to turn on the phone for just a second to look up phone numbers!

Even with all the problems, however, I found ________ not worrying about missing a text message or an e-mail.

This challenge was a(n) ________ learning experience. It surprised me how I’d taken no notice of even the ________ things like remembering phone numbers. We all should ________ some time to think about how we can depend less on our cell phones.

1.

A．task

B．duty

C．job

D．challenge

2.

A．carry

B．wear

C．take

D．see

3.

A．carefully

B．strangely

C．thankfully

D．surprisingly

4.

A．watch

B．hat

C．suit

D．ring

5.

A．making out

B．bringing up

C．calling out

D．picking up

6.

A．even so

B．after all

C．in all

D．even worse

7.

A．caught

B．changed

C．lost

D．hurt

8.

A．easier

B．safer

C．slower

D．quieter

9.

A．driving

B．chatting

C．writing

D．moving

10.

A．supported

B．forgot

C．started

D．reported

11.

A．felt

B．wished

C．liked

D．hated

12.

A．peace

B．silence

C．patience

D．confidence

13.

A．curious

B．unbelievable

C．comfortable

D．common

14.

A．happiest

B．nicest

C．simplest

D．clearest

15.

A．spend

B．waste

C．enjoy

D．spare

9 . 阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容（1个单词）或用括号内单词的正确形式填空。

Chinese paper cutting has the history more than 1,500 years at least. It is one of the     1     (old) handicrafts (手工艺品) in China. At first, Paper cutting was only popular among     2     countryside, and the masters were farm     3    (wife). Today, the art has developed into art forms     4     can fully represent (代表) Chinese traditional folk culture. As the paper cutting combines many folk art forms such as painting and cutting, it can serve as the window for one who     5     (want) to know the traditional Chinese folk art.

As a folk art, paper cutting has a strong local feature. Many places in China are famous     6     their featured (特色的) paper cutting. Chinese people put their hope to the paper cutting to praise people’ creation to the nature and encourage people     7    (keep) going. There are cutting for window, door, wall, and those for roof and light as well as for marriage and different festivals. Many of them     8    (use)during the New Year and marriage to add up the happy atmosphere (气氛).

Chinese people,     9    (especial) people in northern China, like to use paper cutting as a decoration when Chinese New Year is coming. Chinese paper cutting is not only a decoration,     10    also an emotion.