1 . The Most Beautiful Train Stations in the World

Tokyo Station Marunouchi Building

The wide-open entrance square on the Marunouchi side of Tokyo’s main train station would look more at home in Amsterdam or Paris. Kingo Tatsuno’s classical European design took over six years to complete, finally opening in 1914. The statin has received several facelifts since the Second World War, most recently in 2012. It’s one of the biggest and busiest train stations in the world.

Beijing West Railway Station

The idea of building this station in the capital of China was put forward as early as 1959 but didn’t come to reality until 1996. It was the largest station in Asia at the time, although Shanghai’s Hongqiao Station has since surpassed it. The station itself has a unique architectural (建筑的) style, with the main body of the building having quite a functional Russian look, but the rooftop is decorated with three amazing Chinese pagodas.

Duoliang Station, Taiwan

This is the smallest station on this lit by a distance. In fact we’re not really choosing Duoliang for architectural reasons. This station is all about location, location, location. Surrounded by hi top greenery on one side and amazing Pacific Ocean scenery on the other, it’s one of the most scenic spots in all of Taiwan. This isn’t even a working station anymore, but the platforms have been adapted into viewing spots, extremely popular with local train spotters.

Stazione Milano Centrale in Milan

Milan’s central train station looks pretty much exactly as you’d imagine it. There are a mix of styles at play here, from Art Nouveau to Art Deco, but the entire building is filled with a classic sense of Roman monumentality. The outer look is guarded by two statues, while its insides are equally impressive, as grand stonewalls curve (弯曲) into the station’s glass ceilings.

1. What do Tokyo Station and Beijing West Railway Station have in common?

A．Both have European features.

B．Both were built in the early 1990s.

C．Both have been rebuilt several times.

D．Both are the largest domestic stations.

2. What do train spotters favor most about Duoliang Station?

A．Its distance.	B．Its small size.
C．Its surrounding scenery.	D．Its architectural style.

3. What makes Stazione Milano Centrale impressive?

A．Roman buildings	B．Its various styles.
C．Statues on the walls	D．The curving ceilings.

4 . 从方框中选择正确的词或词组（3个多余），用其正确的形式完成句子。

determine     strong       equal       history       when       fly       healthy       attack     destroy     establish impress       sweep away       other than       more than       be responsible for       focus on     remind of     in shock

1. I’m not outgoing so I’m a little anxious right now. I want to make a good first ________.
2. I know I’ll have to study harder as a senior high school student and get used to________a lot more.
3. But spending too much time online is unhealthy and makes it very difficult________other things in life
4. Inca builders cut stones to exact sizes so that nothing was needed to hold walls together________ the perfect fit of the stones.
5. It’s amazing that there are _________8000 statues, and no one in modern times knew about them until the 1970s
6. When the Chinese team was preparing for the 2015 World Cup, her_________was tested
7. Jordan’s skills were impressive, but the mental________that he showed made him unique.
8. By being positive about myself and my body, I became both happier and________.
9. People were ________—and then, later that afternoon, another big quake shook Tangshan again.
10. Fishermen, tourists, hotels, homes, and cars________by huge waves caused by the strong earthquake that reached a magnitude of 9.0
11. When our relationship is close and we’re________, I only need a few words to bridge the gap between us.
12. A short________ from Cusco takes you from the Andes into the Amazon rainforest.
13. After that, a committee________to limit damage to the Egyptian buildings and prevent the loss of the cultural relics.
14. They also hope to further educate people about the importance of safeguarding________and cultural relics for future generations to understand and appreciate.
15. Zhaxi and other volunteers watched over the antelopes day and night to keep them safe from________.

6 . Some days, you are just not feeling motivated (积极性高的). You don’t want to get out of bed. You don’t want to communicate with others. You don’t want to do anything.    1    .

Here are four things you can try to get motivated.

Get Curious About Your Feeling

Take a moment to really investigate your feeling. Does it change? Or does it remain the same?    2    . Watch it for a while. Notice what changes. This has actually been shown to be an effective strategy for dealing with unwanted emotions; helping you to become more aware of your own experience, and teaching you to be with it.

Get Up And Shake Your Body

Seriously, do it. You may even want to jump around a little bit, do some push-ups, and really get that blood flowing. When you sit at your desk for too long, you become stiff (僵硬的).    3    . You may even want to take a quick walk around the neighborhood, with added benefits if you spend time in nature.

    4    

There is no one rule for getting you into action, because it always depends on you. Some people like to work in the morning, while others can only be productive late at night. If you find yourself stuck, think back to a time when you last felt motivated. Then ask yourself: how can you recreate this context (情境) to move you to action?

Do Something Right Now

    5    . Instead, we get started doing something, and then we feel motivated to continue doing that thing. For example, motivation to exercise is often the result of a few previous exercise. Action always matters first in your path to motivation.

A．Find Your Personal Sweet Spot

B．Explore Your Own Feelings

C．If everything else fails, just do something

D．We don’t suddenly feel motivated to do certain things

E．Whether you want to or not, you will have to show up

F．Don’t try to force it to change, and instead just let it be there

G．A quick and easy way to change this is by getting back in your body

8 . I finally climbed into bed at 1: 20 in the morning. My friends had helped me celebrate my 31st birthday in the basement apartment, where I lived.

Earlier in the day I had prepared for the unlikely event of a flood. We are about a third of a mile from the banks of the Ahr River. It had been raining buckets that week and the government had sent out a flood warning, though not for where I was. Still, I’d placed sandbags on the floor outside my garden door and put electronics on tables. “Silly bro!” My friends laughed at me for doing that, but I thought, why take a chance?

As I drifted off to sleep, I was awakened by the sound of rushing water, as if I were lying beside a waterfall. When I got off the bed, I was shocked that cold water was rising fast. In darkness, I grabbed my cellphone and turned on the flashlight. When I stepped out of the bedroom, I saw water shooting through the gaps of the door.

I began to panic. I knew I had to get out—fast! In bare feet, I started to make my way to the only escape: the door that led upstairs to the main floor. Finally I made it to the door and tried several times to-pull it open even just a little bit, but the rushing water shut it again. I looked around for anything I could use to keep it open. There in the corner was a coat rack (架子). I took it and, once again, opened the door, throwing the coat rack between the door and the frame (门框) to keep the door from shutting. Finally, I managed to make a gap just wide enough to squeeze (挤) through and make it into the hallway.

I leaped on to the stairs and ran outside. I stood there in the darkness, wet through. What was once a lovely street was now a waterscape, with floating ruins instead of people and cars. The river had drowned (淹没) the neighborhood!

1. What does the underlined sentence in paragraph 2imply?

A．Better safe than sorry.

B．It never rains but it pours.

C．A lost chance never returns.

D．A friend in need is a friend indeed.

2. What was the author doing when water flooded in?

A．Celebrating his birthday.

B．Sleeping in the basement.

C．Placing sandbags by the door.

D．Playing with electronic devices.

3. Which of the following might be the most difficult for the author during the escape?

A．Making his way to the door.

B．Finding a coat rack.

C．Keeping the door from shutting.

D．Squeezing through the gap.

4. How did the author feel when standing on the street?

A．Sad and shocked.

B．Annoyed and anxious.

C．Surprised and disappointed.

D．Puzzled and awkward.

9 . I’m retired and not responsible for much these days. My wife’s work, on the other hand, is never-ending. Diana takes care of her parents in their mid-nineties,_________home and garden, volunteers for various community organizations. She is also a devoted cat lover, and cats have always been her___________of choice.

All that___________when two small black-and-brown dogs rushed into our yard and___________Diana’s heart. They were homeless dogs. In their___________for survival, the two had figured out a way to___________people and find food and shelter in the wilderness. Diana made an intended effort not to frighten them. She called them to dinner with a___________voice, letting them know they were safe. At first, they would not let her___________them. As days turned into weeks, their bond (关系) slowly grew.___________, she had them sitting in her lap and following her around the yard. My wife was instantly changed from cat lady to dog lady.

It wasn’t long before the dogs were considering their role as “watchdogs”. Their once-wild____________transformed into loyalty and devotion towards us. Their energy and enthusiasm are infectious (有感染力的),____________us to appreciate the simple pleasures in life. Their____________has put a sense of liveliness into our home. As we____________this chapter of our lives with our dog “friends”, I am grateful for the ____________joy they have brought us and the ____________they continue to teach us about the importance of kindness and unconditional love.

1.

A．tends to

B．turns to

C．gives way to

D．looks forward to

2.

A．job

B．pet

C．toy

D．fan

3.

A．stopped

B．failed

C．changed

D．happened

4.

A．attacked

B．warmed

C．broke

D．gladdened

5.

A．hunger

B．demand

C．hurry

D．struggle

6.

A．identify

B．greet

C．enjoy

D．avoid

7.

A．confused

B．forgiving

C．comforting

D．sacred

8.

A．observe

B．touch

C．call

D．feed

9.

A．Privately

B．Immediately

C．Gradually

D．Obviously

10.

A．behavior

B．attitude

C．nature

D．emotion

11.

A．reminding

B．informing

C．advising

D．warning

12.

A．presence

B．influence

C．survival

D．adventure

13.

A．explore

B．read

C．search

D．enjoy

14.

A．secret

B．equal

C．normal

D．unexpected

15.

A．skills

B．courses

C．lessons

D．tricks

10 . Science fiction novels often turn into a nightmare (噩梦) halfway through—and for blue-collar workers who are at the bottom level of the labor force, there’s a doubt about the way the robot revolution story will end. By 2035, one in three jobs could be automated (自动化) by robots, predicts PwC, a business company.

“Robotics is traditionally applied to problems that fall into the categories ‘dirty,’ ‘dull,’ and ‘dangerous,’” says Jonathan Aitken, a robotics expert at the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom. “Automation of a repeated process is always achievable. The lack of variability means that the process is the same, time after time. This is the reason that robots fell naturally into automotive production.” It’s been the case since the first robots appeared on production lines.

But it’s not just blue-collar jobs that are feeling the difficult situation from the rise of the robots. White-collar roles are also affected, particularly those focused on data sorting, a task well-suited for artificial intelligence. Financial services is one area that has turned to automated robots carrying out trades. When a computer can pick stocks better and quicker than a human, it makes sense to make use of them, and almost all Wall Street firms do

Jobs where workers are less likely to be replaced by robots include those in health care, although surgical (外科手术的) robots, which are controlled by remote health-care professionals in order to carry out more precise procedures, are already being used in hospitals. However, the gentle touch and caring comfort of a well-trained nurse or doctor can’t be copied by a robot automation.

“It’s important to ask the question of whether we want robots doing certain jobs,” says Aitken. “In replacing a human, especially in a human-facing role, we’re being asked to accept the robot. This is something that’ll take time to achieve. People still like people.”

1. In which workplace are robots most widely used at present?

A．Schools.

B．Hospitals.

C．Factories.

D．Banks.

2. What is the disadvantage of Robots according to the text?

A．Doing repeated jobs.	B．Having no remote control.
C．Not being automated enough.	D．Lack of human-like feeling.

3. What does Aitken think of robots replacing a human?

A．Unavoidable.

B．Risky.

C．Optimistic.

D．Doubtful.

4. Which is the best title for the passage?

A．Will Robots Take Our Jobs?	B．Can Robots Do Jobs Best?
C．Robots: Future Labor Force	D．Robots: Masters of Traditional Jobs