1 . Transition. It’s a pleasant word and a calming concept. It means going surely and sweetly from somewhere present to somewhere future. Unless, that is, it is newspapers’ ‘transition’ to the _______ world, an uncertain and highly uncomfortable process.

Just look at the latest print circulation figures. The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian and many of the rest are down overall between 8% and 10% year-on-year, but their websites go ever higher.

All of that may well be true, depending on timing, geography and more. _______, everyone— from web academics to print analysis—says so. Yet pause for a while and count a few little things that don’t _______.

One is the magazine world, both in the UK and in the US. It ought to be _______, wrecked by the move to the tablets which fit existing magazine page sizes so perfectly. But, in fact, the rate of decline in magazine purchasing is relatively small, with subscriptions holding up strongly and advertising remarkable _______.

As for news and current affairs magazines — which you’d expect to find in the eye of the digital storm — they had a 8.4% increase to report. In short, on both sides of the Atlantic, although some magazine areas went down, many showed rapid growth.

You can discover a _______ phenomenon when it comes to books, Kindle and similar e-readers are booming, with sales up massively this year. The apparent first step of transition couldn’t be _______. Yet, when booksellers examined the value of the physical books they sold over the last six months, they found it just 0.4% down. Screen or paper, then? It wasn’t one or the other: it was _______.

So if sales in that area have fallen so little, perhaps the _______ mostly affects newspapers? Yet again, though, the messages are oddly ________. The latest survey of trends by the World Association of Newspapers shows that global circulation rose 1.1% last year (to 812 million copies a day). Sales in the West dropped back but Asia more than ________ the difference.

Already 360 US papers—including most of the biggest and best — have built paywalls around their products. However, the best way of attracting a paying readership appears to be a deal that offers the print copy and digital access as some kind of ________ package.

________, print is also a crucial tool in selling internet subscriptions. And its advertising rates raise between nine and ten times more money than online.

Of course this huge difference isn’t ________ news for newspaper companies, as maintaining both an active website and an active print edition is difficult, complex and expensive. But newspaper brands still have much of their high profile in print: a drift on the web, the job of just being ________ becomes far harder.

1.

A．publishing

B．online

C．ideal

D．unknown

2.

A．On the other hand

B．After all

C．To begin with

D．For instance

3.

A．stop

B．exist

C．emerge

D．fit

4.

A．regulated

B．advancing

C．collapsing

D．minimized

5.

A．solid

B．simple

C．creative

D．changeable

6.

A．cultural

B．common

C．scientific

D．similar

7.

A．later

B．harder

C．clearer

D．slower

8.

A．all

B．neither

C．both

D．either

9.

A．service

B．system

C．crisis

D．figure

10.

A．right

B．vague

C．designed

D．mixed

11.

A．made up

B．told apart

C．took over

D．held on

12.

A．joint

B．mysterious

C．modern

D．complex

13.

A．In other words

B．On the contrary

C．What’s more

D．Even so

14.

A．new

B．sad

C．big

D．good

15.

A．spared

B．updated

C．noticed

D．edited

2 . What is volunteer travel?

Volunteer travel involves taking a trip where all or part of the purpose of the trip is to participate in an arranged service opportunity helping others. Typically, the volunteer activity takes place in a foreign country, but some opportunities can involve national or regional projects.     1    

Charitable interests often go far beyond national boundaries. People in developed countries become interested in the struggles of people in less developed countries.     2     Volunteer travel is a way to combine a visit to a new location with meaningful work that has a direct impact on communities in other parts of the world.

    3     Historically, church groups made up a large part of this market. Once a year a religious organization or church would organize a trip to another country.     4     For example, it would be to help build a school in an impoverished(贫困的)area, or dig wells so a village would have clean water, or engage in hundreds of other projects that would impact those less fortunate. As international travel became easier and the Internet made communication between countries much easier, the interest in volunteer travel increased.

    5     Volunteering in other countries has become as accessible as browsing a website and signing up. Instead of traveling with a group that is organized at the volunteers home base, the volunteer may join a group that gathers at the worksite from all over the world. This sort of volunteer travel is sometimes referred to as voluntourism or vacanteerism.

A．The primary purpose of the trip was very specific.

B．This type of travel has been an option for many years.

C．Educational institutions also made volunteer travel an option.

D．Sometimes, donating money is not enough to satisfy the need to help.

E．The Internet has helped make community service in general more popular.

F．These trips are usually arranged by church organizations, human interest groups or non-profits.

G．A new trend is that for-profit tour operators arrange group travel around volunteer opportunities.

3 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

Charles Dickens

It has been 150 years since Charles Dickens died, 184 years since his first work was released to the public and 156 years since his last completed book came out. In all of this time, these novels have never been out of print. Dickens may have left us, but his work remains timeless,     1     (fascinate) the majority of those who open their pages.

Most people have read, watched or at least heard of Dickens’ stories, but what makes him and his work so popular? Since he began novel writing in his 20s, Dickens constantly produced quality classics. Year after year his awaiting fans were not left     2     (disappoint) as their minds were fed with complex tales of romance, crime, hope and despair.

In the Victorian era he lived in, much of the work Dickens produced     3     (model) on the literature before him. He was one of the first writers of the time     4     (portray) honest examples of working-class people, giving many something to relate to. He focused on unfolding the good and bad qualities of characters which allowed his readers to follow their journeys and understand     5     they may have acted in the unusual or shocking ways that they did.

Any Dickens fans will know the diverse and outrageous (耸人听闻的) characters coming to life between the pages.     6     was special about this novelist’s ability in imagining these characters’ stories is that it comes from his own life’s path.     7     a young boy left to take care of himself in a workhouse to the wealthy figure he became through his writing successes, he knew what it was like to see in different lights. This deep understanding of his characters gave his fictional stories the strong element of believability     8     is needed in a good novel.

Over a century and a half later, Dickens’ themes can be relevant to today’s world problems. His words and imagery have been transformed further into the media of modern film, television and even musical adaptations.     9     set in a time unfamiliar to readers today, his work still enables everyone to relate to the love, hardship and sense of family that pours from the narratives. It is this aspect     10     has carried Charles Dickens into the 21st century.

4 . 请阅读下面一则寓言故事，并完成一篇读后感。内容包括：
1. 寓言故事的概要； 2. 你的观点及例证； 3. 得出的结论。
注意：1. 词数100左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，是行文连贯。

The Animal School Adapted from a work by George H. Reavis Once upon a time, the animals decided to organize a school. They adopted a curriculum consisting of running, climbing, swimming and flying. To make it easier to administer(管理), all the animals took all the subjects. The duck was excellent in swimming, but he made only passing grades in flying and was very poor in running. So, he had to stay after school and also drop swimming in order to practice running. This was kept up until his webbed feet were badly hurt and he was only average in swimming. The squirrel was excellent in climbing until he developed disappointment in the flying class where his teacher made him start from the ground up instead of from the treetop down. He also got a D in running. The eagle was a problem child. In the climbing class he beat all the others to the top of the tree, but insisted on using his own way to get there…

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5 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写一段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。（字数150左右）

"Why did you do this without asking for my permission first? Don't you know it's a total waste of time and it will have a bad influence on your study?" That's what my mother yelled at the ten-year-old me when she found out that I had signed up for an English story-telling competition.

I bowed my head; yes, she was right. By then I was entering Grade Six, faced with the biggest challenge yet to come — the examination to enter my dream junior high school. For that. I had given up my beloved piano lesson, my favourite cartoon program and even the joyful weekend family reunion with my cousins. I wouldn't be surprised at all if my very strict-university-teacher mother got angry at me when I chose to do anything that had little to do with study at that important moment. In her opinion, if I hadn't spent all my time on my study I would have difficulty in entering my dream junior high school.

But that's not all to it. When I was ten, I was nervous, shy, tongue-tied when facing strangers, and essentially a bookworm. These signs looked fatal (致命的) to my mother, and possibly to you, too; she thought that I could be anything but a good public speaker.

Well, I myself actually said no to my English teacher at first, because I had never done anything like that before and I was afraid. But he told me that — since I liked reading so much, why not try to tell a story I love to everyone? He also promised me that the judges were not frightening at all; just think of them as carrots and cabbages in a vegetable garden.

The ten-year-old me was persuaded by my teacher's words.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Apparently surprised by my determination, my mother looked as if she was close to another explosion-but she only sighed and agreed.
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6 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。

Carter Druse was born in Virginia. He loved his parents, his home and the south. But he loved his country, too. And in 1861, when the US was divided by a terrible war, Carter Druse, a southerner, decided to join the army of the north.

He told his father about his decision one morning at breakfast. The old man looked at his only son for a moment, too shocked to speak. Then he said, “Please don’t tell your mother about your decision. She is sick, and we both know she has only a few weeks to live. ”

Carter’s father paused, again looking deep into his son’s eyes. “Carter, ” he said, “No matter what happens, be sure that you always do what you think is your duty. ”

Both Carter Druse and his father left the table that morning with broken hearts. And Carter soon left his home and everyone he deeply loved behind.

One sunny afternoon, a few months later, Carter Druse was sent to guard a road which was only a few miles from an enemy’s base. It began in a forest, down in the valley, and climbed up the side of a huge rock. Anyone standing on the top of this high rock would be able to see down into the valley.

Hidden in the valley’s forest were thousands of Carter’s fellow soldiers. They had marched for thirty-six hours. Now they were resting.

Their plan was to attack by surprise their enemy on the other side of the valley. But if their enemy learned about the army hiding in the forest, the soldiers would find themselves in a trap with no escape. That was why Carter Druse had been sent to guard the road and it was his duty to be sure that no enemy soldier spied on the valley, where the army of the north was hiding.

注意：
1. 续写词数应为150左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。

Suddenly, he saw a man on horseback standing on the huge rock.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

At that instant, the horseman turned his head and looked in Carter’s direction.

_________________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

7 . Directions：Fill in each blank with a proper word chosen from the box.Each word can be used only once.Note that there is one word more than you need.

A.overall     B.flooding     C.secure       D.invested     E.concentrated     F.consisted G.expense     H.prospects     I.narrowly     J.stood        K.factor

By some measures, South Korea is the most educated country in the world.Observers，however，have described Korean society as having an“almost cult（邪教）-like devotion to learning". Studying long hours at hagwons（辅导机构）has become so ubiquitous（普遍存在的）and excessive that Korean authorities in the 2000's deemed（认为）it necessary to impose curfews（宵禁令），usually at10 p.m.，and patrol prep schools in areas like Seoul's Gangnam district，where many of these schools are     1     .However，that only drives nighttime cram classes underground behind closed doors.

This extreme competitiveness has created a number of social problems：Suicide，for instance，is the leading cause of death among teens in Korea，which has the highest suicide rate     2     in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development（OECD）.Student surveys has shown that poor grades and fears of defeat are major reasons for suicidal thoughts，while Korea simultaneously has a growing teenage drinking problem.

Social pressures to succeed in the labor market，meanwhile，have given rise to a phenomenon called “employment cosmetics'"--one of the driving factors behind Korea's boom in cosmetic surgery，since job applicants are commonly required to submit an ID photo，and many employers     3     physical attractiveness into their hiring decisions. In another sign of competition at any cost,private household debt in Korea is soaring，driven in part by surging expenditures on education and private tutoring.

Social pressures are further amplified by Korea's relatively high youth unemployment rate，which     4    at 11.2 percent in 2016--a record number not seen since the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s. Despite all the time，finances，and emotional resources     5     in their education，Korean youth find it increasingly difficult to     6     desired quality，socially prestigious jobs.The country's obsession with higher education continues to sustain a “college education inflation（贬值），"     7     the Korean labor market with a supply of university graduates that hold degrees of deflated value whose earnings     8     are decreasing.

While a university degree used to be a solid foundation for social success in Korea，observers have noted that many current graduates lack the skills needed for employability in a modern information society，and that the education system is too     9     focused on university education，while under-emphasizing vocational training. Korea's Confucian-influenced system has also been criticized for relying too much on rote memorization and university entrance prep at the       10     of creativity and independent thought.

8 . 阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。续写的词数应为150左右。

It was a Friday afternoon in November. After school, while all other students left the classroom and headed towards home, Mike stayed to go over what he had learned that day. About twenty minutes later, he took out his schoolbag, and decided to return home.

He looked out of the window and found it was going to rain soon. The wind was blowing violently, and the dark clouds were gathering. Luckily, Mike brought an umbrella to school that morning. Carrying his schoolbag and the umbrella, Mike walked out of the classroom in a hurry. His home was more than three kilometers away. Being afraid of the heavy rain, Mike quickened his steps. After Mike had just walked for dozens of meters, it began to thunder and rain lightly. Mike put up his umbrella to prevent himself from getting wet. He didn't want to get sick because of the cold rain. All of the passers-by alongside the road quickened their steps, and the air was filled with people's anxiety. When Mike walked for about eight minutes, he saw a black car that was not far away slowly pulling up beside the road. A middle-aged driver stepped out of the car and appeared anxious. He checked one of the car's tyres (轮胎），finding his car couldn't move on unless the tyre was repaired. He then brought out some tools from the back of his car and bent down to fix the tyre. It began to rain heavily. But the man didn't return to his car. Instead, he continued to fix his car. He was alone, without an umbrella over his head. The drops of the rain coldly hit the trees' leaves, the ground, and also the man. The raindrops soon left big marks on his gray coat. Seeing that, Mike somehow felt quite sorry for the man. He couldn't help thinking, “If my father is trapped in such a situation, how upset he'll be! And how strongly he may wish that some kind person could help him!”

Paragraph 1:

Thinking of that, Mike ran to the man, without hesitation.

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Paragraph 2:

Before long, Mike's shoulder got wet due to the rain.

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9 . 假定你是李江，你的笔友 Peter来信说，下周他要在课堂上作与“基因编辑”主题相关的介绍展示，希望你能帮助他。你给他写封信，内容包括以下几点：
1.“基因编辑”在生活中的应用；
2.你对该项技术的看法。
注意：1.词数80左右；
2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
Dear Peter,

Hearing that you are going to do a presentation on “gene editing” in your class next week,I would like to share with you some relevant information.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

I am hopeful that the above information is useful to you.

Yours,

Li Jiang

10 . Neuro-technology has long been a favourite of science-fiction writers. In “Neuromancer”, a wildly inventive book by William Gibson written in 1984, people can use neural(神经的) implants to get into the sensory experiences of others. Iain M. Banks came up with the idea of a neural lace, a mesh (网格) that grows into the brain, in his “Culture” series of novels. “The Terminal Man” by Michael Crichton, published in 1972, imagines the effects of a brain implant on someone who is convinced that machines are taking over from humans.

Where the sci-fi led, philosophers are now starting to follow. In Howard Chizeck’s lab at the University of Washington, researchers are working on an implanted device to administer deep-brain stimulation (DBS) in order to treat a common movement disorder called essential tremor. Traditionally, DBS stimulation is always on, wasting energy and robbing the patient of a sense of control. The lab’s ethicist (伦理学家), Tim Brown, a doctoral student of philosophy, says that some DBS patients suffer a sense of isolation and complain of feeling like a robot.

To change that, the team at the University of Washington is using neuronal activity associated with intentional movements to turn the device on. But the researchers also want to enable patients to use a conscious thought process to override these settings. That is more useful than it might sound: stimulation currents for essential tremor can cause side-effects like distorted (失真的) speech, so someone about to give a presentation, say, might wish to shake rather than make his words unclear. Giving humans more options of this sort will be essential if some of the more advanced visions for brain-computer interfaces are to be realized. Hannah Maslen from the University of Oxford is another ethicist who works on a BCI project. One of her jobs is to think through the distinctions between inner speech and public speech: people need a dependable mechanism for separating what they want to say from what they think.

That is only one of many ethical questions that the sci-fi versions of brain-computer interfaces bring up. What protection will BCIs offer against neural hacking? Who owns neural data, including information that is gathered for research purposes now but may be understandable in detail at some point in the future? Where does accountability lie if a user does something wrong? And if brain implants are performed not for treatment but to improve people’s abilities, will that make the world an even more unequal place?

1. What do the three books mentioned in paragraph 1 have in common?

A．They are all among what philosophers like best.

B．They all tell the stories well beyond imagination.

C．They are all works of the greatest sci-fi writers of the time.

D．They all deal with people’s losing control of their brains.

2. The research of the team at the University of Washington is intended to _____.

A．improve the accuracy of DBS	B．let patients decide when to turn on DBS
C．get rid of the side effects of DBS currents	D．separate what we think from what we say

3. What can be inferred from the passage?

A．Neuronal activity fails to work without intentional movements.

B．Brain-computer interfaces do more harm than good.

C．People suffering from essential tremor will shake.

D．DBS settings cannot be changed once fixed.

4. What will the passage most probably talk about next?

A．How these questions will be handled.

B．Why these questions used to be ignored.

C．Which questions come from science fiction.

D．Who has first raised these questions.