1 . The sharing economy is an economic model known as a peer-to-peer(P2P)based activity of getting, providing, or sharing goods and services that is often promoted by on-line platforms (平台) It allows persons and groups to make money from the assets (资产) which is not
Concerns about the sharing economy often includes the uncertainty about
Another
There is also a fear that lots of information shared on online platforms can create racial or sex bias (偏见) among users. This can happen when users are allowed to
| A．in danger | B．in use | C．in order | D．in hand |
| A．taken out | B．picked out | C．rented out | D．sold out |
| A．services | B．supplies | C．gifts | D．goals |
| A．values | B．customers | C．markets | D．rules |
| A．managed | B．punished | C．provided | D．judged |
| A．offer | B．order | C．accept | D．stop |
| A．higher | B．lower | C．full | D．right |
| A．case | B．opinion | C．topic | D．concern |
| A．impolite | B．impatient | C．improper | D．impossible |
| A．highly | B．widely | C．narrowly | D．deeply |
| A．official | B．special | C．unfair | D．equal |
| A．which | B．who | C．where | D．when |
| A．formal | B．unique | C．dishonest | D．specific |
| A．cheat | B．choose | C．impress | D．recognize |
| A．errors | B．styles | C．details | D．records |
In the past few years, more than half of bookstores in China have closed down,
So far, the government
Demand on tourism burst as the Minsu market’s recovery sped up during the May Day holiday. Oceans of tourists flooded into Zibo in China’s Shandong Province for its BBQ,
The Minsu in rural areas still gain
Among customers booking the Minsu in rural areas, the “post-80” and “post-90” generations are still the mainstream. The
China’s high-end manufacturing industry is developing fast
The number of A-share-listed manufacturing companies reached 3,313 last year,
“The fast development of China’s high-end manufacturing industry results from the country’s
Companies in the high end manufacturing industry have continuously improved heir ability to make
5 . Though the COVID-19 pandemic has badly affected the food industry, the prefabricated food (预制菜) market has witnessed a fast growth.
“I bought some prefabricated food in late April when my community was locked down due to the coronavirus outbreak,” a Beijing-based resident Yu told Global Times. “It was then that I realized there were so many different sorts of prefabricated food. All you need to do is to put some water into the heating package and a fair meal would be ready in minutes.”
Prefabricated food has become increasingly popular over the last two years, with plenty of companies entering the business and different kinds of productions keeping hitting the shelves. The total market scale for prefabricated food reached 345.9 billion yuan in 2021. It is expected that China’s prefabricated food market will stay a high growth rate in the near future, with a market scale estimated to reach 1.07 trillion yuan in 2026.
Many investors have started to pour money into it. From 2013 to 2021, a total of 71 investments were conducted in the prefabricated food sector(行业). Even so there are problems linked to the growth of the industry. For instance, the prefabricated food industry is made up of a long value chain from production, cold-chain logistics(冷链物流) to delivery, which requires companies to realize smooth operation.
In addition, the sector’s product quality problem has also begun to come under the spotlight, becoming one of the most common complaints by consumers, according to an analysis released by China Consumer Association(CCA). “There are prefabricated food products with no detailed labels and many restaurants do not inform customers when offering them prefabricated food.” CCA’s analysis said.
CCA emphasized that with the rapid development of the prefabricated food market, relevant rules need to be rolled out to promote the standardized development of the industry and to guide the industry’s healthy growth.
1. What can we infer from the Beijing-based resident Yu’s description?| A．She suffered a lot during the period when her community was locked down. |
| B．She had known prefabricated food quite a lot before the pandemic broke out. |
| C．The pandemic to some extent increased the popularity of prefabricated food. |
| D．Numerous cooking skills are needed to prepare prefabricated food at home. |
| A．Promising but worthless. |
| B．Profitable but insecure. |
| C．Popular but unsuccessful. |
| D．Well-received but challenging. |
| A．Draw people’s great concern. |
| B．Disappear from people’s sight. |
| C．Have the potential to get settled. |
| D．Have a positive effect on customers. |
| A．Canceling some rules. |
| B．Making some regulations. |
| C．Promoting the sales. |
| D．Enriching the production varieties. |
A new phenomenon is taking hold worldwide—“shrinkflation”. This is when companies reduce the size of their products or range of services while
So far, the chocolate maker Cadbury
7 . Shop prices in the United Kingdom accelerated at their fastest rate in more than 10 years last month, according to a closely watched measure. The British Retail (零售) Consortium, or BRC and NielsenIQ Index showed retail price annual inflation (通货膨胀) rose sharply to 1.8 percent in February, up from 1.5 percent in January. This is the highest rate recorded by the indicator since November 2011, the BRC said in a news release.
Fresh food price rises as well as health, beauty, and furniture prices contributed to the inflationary increase, said the BRC. Helen Dickinson, the BRC’s chief executive, said retailers were also being impacted by higher shipping rates, as well as labor shortages, commodity price increases and rising energy prices. “Food inflation remained the key driver behind higher prices, particularly for fresh food, which has been impacted by poor harvests, both in the UK and globally,” Dickinson said. “There is little sign of change, with the Bank of England predicting price rises to continue until at least the spring.”
The rise in shop prices adds to the cost of living pressure faced by British households already ready for a major increase in energy bills next month. Mike Watkins, head of retailer and business insight at research company NielsenIQ, said retail prices would likely continue to rise throughout the next few months.
“Inflation has increased since the start of the year and the potential trend in shop prices will be upwards over the next few months,” he said. “With falling income for most households, retailers will need to keep encouraging customers to spend by offering choice and value and, for some, discounts as well as added benefits for loyal shoppers.” Dickinson added, “Price rises will be unwelcome news for households who already face falling income because of the rise in national insurance and energy price caps.”
The Bank of England is trying to deal with inflation with higher interest rates, and is predicted to raise borrowing costs for the third time in a row this month, noted the BBC. In a response to a Treasury committee report into last year’s budget, Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak said on Wednesday that Britain’s economy and public finances were “vulnerable (易受伤害的)” to higher inflation and interest rates.
1. What is the second paragraph mainly about?| A．How price rises influenced British households. | B．What factors resulted in the high inflation. |
| C．Price rises would continue until at least the spring. | D．Food inflation remained the key driver behind higher prices. |
| A．All the people in a family. | B．All the possessions in a family. |
| C．All the savings members of a family have. | D．All the occupations members of a family have. |
| A．By investing in more fields. | B．By decreasing borrowing costs. |
| C．By supplying more money. | D．By raising interest rates. |
| A．UK retail prices rise fastest for decade |
| B．Households in UK face falling income |
| C．Rise in shop prices adds to living pressure in UK |
| D．UK retail price annual inflation rises to 1.5 percent in January |
8 . For years, Apple's business has centered around the iPhone, but sales of that once-revolutionary but now commonplace device have slowed. And the entire world of computers has been flipped (翻动) on its head. Apple has been diversifying beyond hardware, selling iCloud storage to its customers, a $10 a month music streaming service and movies and television shows through iTunes.
But Monday's concerned announcement takes that diversification to a whole new level. Apple said it was launching a lot of new services, from news to video games and a credit card. Its biggest project is entertainment streaming service Apple TV+.
Apple is expected to invest many billions a year, according to analysts, on making video content to compete in a crowded market that includes Amazon, Netflix, Hulu and Disney.
The real magic in consumer technology is happening less and less inside the devices people carry around and more and more in server farms scattered around the world, where massive amounts of data get processed and then transmitted to electronics like the Amazon Echo or Google Home.
In fact, the electronics people are excited about buying are becoming vessels for sending and receiving data. And in that area, Apple has fallen behind companies like Google, Amazon and Microsoft, which now pull in significant revenue from selling cloud services, which is a fancy term for data center usage and storage.
The invite Apple sent to invitees said simply, “It's show time.” The question now is whether Apple can break a leg.
1. Where does the magic of consumer technology come from?| A．Streaming service. | B．iCloud storage. | C．Server farms. | D．Video games. |
| A．Income. | B．Advertisements. | C．Equipment. | D．Games. |
| A．The sales of iPhone have been taking the lead in the world. |
| B．Apple expects to develop many new functions in its phone. |
| C．People are crazy about getting some new electronics in life. |
| D．Apple provides a lot of new services for its consumers now. |
| A．Apple's new efforts to compete against competitors. |
| B．Electronics will play important roles in technology. |
| C．Some companies do better than Apple in technology. |
| D．Apple is able to benefit a lot from its diverse service. |
9 . Today the paper industry has, like many others, been hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. But the industry is expected to bounce back in 2022, and by 2023, it’s predicted to reach new heights of $1, 031 billion. Here’s how that might happen.
The world was affected by the Great Toilet Paper Shortage of 2020, as people rushed to pile up this bathroom product. In reality, there was never a true shortage. It’s not clear exactly why the mass hysteria occurred.
To nobody’s surprise, today the tissue market is still booming. Demand for toilet paper, tissues and paper towels has been growing for years. As an added bonus, many companies are now branching out into medical tissue papers. Some have temporarily switched to surgical face masks and gowns to meet the demand for personal protection equipment.
But there’s more surprising medical use for paper: rapid tests. The system is widely used for many routine tests, such as to detect pregnancy and HIV. And there are already rapid tests out there that use paper to identify if a person has developed antibodies to Covid-19.
Equally, food hygiene has become more of a concern. There has been a sharp decrease in the number of customers wanting to reach into a pot to fetch spoons, forks or straws for obvious reasons, causing restaurants to use more and more disposable packaging. Meanwhile, schools have started to provide paper lunch boxes so that students don’t need to eat all together in a canteen.
Then there’s art. After months of lockdowns and disruption to social calendar, practical hobbies such as DIY, crafts, art and baking have recently experienced a renaissance. Some paper companies have seen more interest in paper for education, art and design.
Of course, some aspects of paper production have taken more of a hit.
“We supply a lot of paper that ends up in hotel, so we’ve seen a drop in sales,” says Nick Bizzell, the director of London-based Bizzell Paper. But Bizzell is still optimistic. He pointed out that demand for certain types of paper, such as the A4 kind used in offices, has been shrinking for decades, after losing the battle against computers. But overall the paper industry is growing.
Paper is now protecting us from viral infections and boredom, and it will always be a valuable material in our life.
1. What does the underlined phrase “the mass hysteria” probably refer to?| A．The mass production of toilet paper in 2020. |
| B．The true shortage of toilet paper caused by the public. |
| C．The effect of Covid-19 on the paper industry. |
| D．The unreasonable storage of toilet paper among the public. |
| A．Rapid tests and physical checkup. |
| B．Surgical face masks and eating tools. |
| C．Medical protection equipment and food packaging. |
| D．The treatment of Covid-19 and pregnancy detection. |
| A．Being unable to socialize. |
| B．The promotion of paper companies. |
| C．Being interested in art education. |
| D．The marketing strategies of paper companies. |
| A．Paper industry on the decline. |
| B．Paper industry in the recovery. |
| C．The blow of Covid-19 to the paper industry. |
| D．The effect of medicine on the paper industry. |
10 . For decades, wealthy nations have transported plastic waste, and the environmental problems that go with it, to poorer countries, but researchers have found a potential bright side of this seemingly unequal trade.
In a study, researchers analyzed 11 years of data on the global plastics trade against economic measures for 85 countries. They found that the import of plastic waste was associated with growth in GDP in the low-income countries. They stressed that plastic waste is still a big problem, especially for developing countries, as the majority of it doesn’t get recycled and even plastics that are recycled still finally negatively affect the environment.
For the study, researchers analyzed data from the United Nations and the World Bank looking at several economic variables as well as trade information on common plastic waste. While they found an association between economic benefits and plastic waste imports in the low-income countries, for the high-income countries there was no association between importing waste and economic growth.
While the study didn’t assess exactly how the plastic waste was made use of in the developing countries, the authors note that it’s likely they’re recycling some of the plastic for use in industry. There was also some evidence that the low-income countries were trading the plastic waste among themselves regionally.
The researchers stressed that there is much complexity in global trading of plastic waste. In the future, they plan to investigate the regional trade among countries as well as changes in more recent years. Even with the economic benefits of importing plastic waste, reducing environmental harm from plastics would still likely require changes from both high-income countries and low-income countries.
“Some people might argue that developed countries need to create more ways to better process plastic waste at home, instead of looking for other destinations for plastic waste abroad,” one of the researchers said. “Some communities in the United States may do well in recycling plastic waste, but in others, there is still room for improvement. Producing and using less plastic would be another way to reduce environmental harm.”
1. How does most imported plastic waste end up in developing countries?| A．Being unrecycled. | B．Being repurposed. |
| C．Being sold repeatedly. | D．Being processed scientifically. |
| A．How complex the global trading of plastic waste is. |
| B．How developing countries use the imported plastic waste. |
| C．Whether developing countries trade plastic waste with each other. |
| D．Whether high-income nations benefit financially from importing plastic waste. |
| A．More effective ways have been found to have plastic waste processed. |
| B．Plastic should be completely banned for environmental protection. |
| C．Developed countries should help poorer countries process plastic waste. |
| D．The degree to which plastic waste is recycled varies greatly across America. |
| A．Recycling Plastic Waste Still Has a Long Way to Go |
| B．Plastic Waste Does Play an Important Role in the Global Trade |
| C．Plastic Waste Has Some Economic Benefits for Developing Countries |
| D．Developed Countries Shift Environmental Harm by Exporting Plastic Waste |
