1 . Large amounts of waste, or garbage, are filling streets in Nepal’s capital, Kathmandu, after protesters blocked a road leading to a landfill outside the city. People in Bancharedanda where the garbage is kept blame the government for not doing enough to protect them from the waste.
One British tourist, Richard McSorley, recently talked about the problem. He remembered how clean Kathmandu was when he first visited it many years ago. “If I were a new tourist, I would be despondent now,” McSorley said, while pointing to a load of garbage next to a city street. For weeks, treatment of waste has been a continuous problem in the city surrounded by hills. The problems started after people in the village of Bancharedanda refused to have the garbage thrown at a nearby landfill.
Biswas Dhungana was one of the protesters. He said the villagers were refusing to permit trucks loaded with garbage to enter. They say government officials have done little to provide basic equipment and effective ways to deal with the garbage. He added, “We have been forced to live like pigs in terrible conditions for several years as the government has not done anything to keep the village clean.”
Last week, hundreds of villagers built a wall of rocks on the road leading to Bancharedanda. It forced about 200 trucks filled with Kathmandu’s garbage to return without dumping their load. It was said that protesters also threw stones from surrounding hills.
Sunil Lamsal is an official to watch over how Kathmandu’s garbage is treated. He said, “I am working to deal with the concerns of the locals in Bancharedanda. But now, garbage continues to grow on the streets of Kathmandu. This has led to increased danger for people living in the capital. In the light of it, the government will soon take further positive measures to tackle the problem, as the environment affects every family.”
1. How does the author begin the text?| A．By listing statistics. | B．By asking questions. |
| C．By describing a phenomenon. | D．By drawing a comparison. |
| A．Disappointed. | B．Dependent. | C．Dynamic. | D．Disabled. |
| A．Government officials. | B．Foreign visitors. |
| C．City residents. | D．Truck drivers. |
| A．Punish the protesters. | B．Meet the villagers’ demand. |
| C．Stop the villagers’ illegal actions. | D．Urge every family to clean their village. |
1. What do we know about the University of Oxford?
| A．It is in the north of England. |
| B．It is the oldest university in England. |
| C．It was founded in the twelfth century. |
| A．A college. | B．A shop. | C．A restaurant. |
| A．Movie-lovers. | B．Book-lovers. | C．History-lovers. |
1. What is Tom doing at the beginning of the conversation?
| A．Doing the dishes. | B．Cleaning the room. | C．Playing on his phone. |
| A．A businessman. | B．A student. | C．A sportsman. |
| A．Excited. | B．Grateful. | C．Unhappy. |
4 . When I was about seven years old, my mother often told me that pork needed to be cooked thoroughly-the harder, the better, because if there was even a little bit of pink in your pork，you could get Trichinosis (旋毛虫病).I didn’t know what Trichinosis was. However, it was described to me as a terrible disease that I didn’t want to get. Therefore, in my life, I hadn’t eaten any pork product before checking to see if it was fully cooked. On most days, I even refused to eat any pork.
Years later, I became a middle-aged father. I was eating dinner in a friend’s house and she was serving pork. I was terrified at some pink in it. I immediately explained to our host and the other guests the danger that was clearly present in this meal. I insisted that the pork should be cooked further, thinking that I had saved everyone with my quick-thinking and keen awareness.
It was only after I went home that evening that I decided to see how many people in our country actually got Trichinosis. I checked online and found out there were less than 15 cases in the entire country that year, and I wasn’t even sure those were from eating undercooked pork.
As adults, we may say things casually to children because we want them to be safe. We may make things seem more dangerous or worse than they actually are. After all, we want children to take what we say seriously. However, we can also overemphasize something and cause fear in children that they may carry with them for the rest of their lives. The bottom line is that our children are listening to us all of the time, and we are setting a good example to them about how adults communicate.
1. How did the author behave when he ate pork as a child?| A．Confusedly. | B．Casually. | C．Cautiously. | D．Curiously. |
| A．Proud. | B．Angry. | C．Calm. | D．Foolish. |
| A．Check the quality of pork. |
| B．Give his explanation about pork. |
| C．Prove his data analysis of Trichinosis right. |
| D．Find the truth about people with Trichinosis. |
| A．Adults should set a good example to children. |
| B．Children’s behavior may cause fear in parents. |
| C．Children often do the opposite of what adults say. |
| D．Parents’ words may have lasting effects on children. |
5 . Interesting Events in America
The Noquemanon Ski Marathon
The Noquemanon Ski Marathon runs from 24th to 26th in January in the Ishpeming and Marquette areas of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula in January. The 25th is the big day with cross-country ski events ranging from 12 km to 50 km in a variety of classes. There is also a 15-mile snowshoe event. On January 24th there are junior races, and on January 26th there are snow bike and snowshoe competitions.
Contact:noquemanon.com
The Annual Wine and Art Walk
Grand Haven, Michigan, will hold its annual wine and art walk from 5:00 pm to 8:30 pm in January 1st. Stores will display local artists’ works, and the wine from various areas of Ita-ly will be available for you to taste. A wine glass can be purchased along with tasting tickets.
Contact:tinyurl.com/yxxevyfo
The Lake Superior Ice Festival
Winter is the star from January 24th to 25th during the Lake Superior Ice Festival in Superior, Wisconsin. There will be all kinds of sports events, among which ice racing with stock cars and motorcycles, curling, hockey, ice carving, ice skating do stand out.
Contact: superioricefestival.com
The Quilt Show
The McHenry County Historical Society will show off quilts from its collection at the Woodstock Opera House in Woodstock running for three years from January 1st. Quilts include one made by the women of the Richmond Congregational Church in 1887.
Contact:tinyurl.com/qu83sov
1. What can visitors do in The Annual Wine and Art Walk?| A．Enjoy Italian art. | B．Get a free wine glass. |
| C．View local artworks. | D．Taste some American local wine. |
| A．noquemanon.com. | B．tinyurl.com /yxxevyfo. |
| C．superioricefestival.com. | D．tinyurl.com/qu83sov. |
| A．They cover sports. | B．They focus on competitions. |
| C．They’ll be intended for women. | D．They’ll take place in the same month. |
6 . Migratory(迁徙的)birds have an unusual ability to locate themselves, finding their way across sometimes thousands of kilometers between seasonal areas. Those migratory birds that travel at night, often alone, are especially impressive.
While it has been known that birds use the earth’s magnetic(磁性的)field for guidance since the 1960s, that exact systems have remained hard to understand. Seeking to understand this sensory secret, researchers looked at a type of protein, cryptochrome 4(CRY4), found in the light-detecting cells in the eyes of robins(知更鸟), and compared its magnetic sensitivity to the CRY4 protein found in two non-migratory birds—chickens and pigeons. Robins are small and much-loved birds,seen as symbols of European winters, which migrate in response to food shortage in the colder months.
In the study, researchers found specific changes associated with the CRY4 protein in rob-ins that may allow them to sense magnetism within their eyes,leading them to think it is likely that robins have a“living compass”, and may be able to “see” the earth’s magnetic field to locate themselves.
The researchers explain that this works through a system by which the protein shows a light-driven chemical reaction that causes the effects that can increase magnetic signals. This happens through a quantum(量子)phenomenon in which an outside magnetic field affects chemical reactions by changing the spin of weakly paired electrons.
The new discovery is exciting for the researchers, offering a window into a sensory world which humans can only imagine,though the researchers advise that further testing of CRY4 in their eyes should be necessary to finally prove whether the birds can sense magnetism.
1. What can we learn about migratory birds from the text?| A．They only migrate at night. |
| B．They have a good sense of direction. |
| C．They are puzzled by the magnetic field. |
| D．They use inner light to find ways at night. |
| A．To warn them of food shortage. |
| B．To block out signals from the earth. |
| C．To keep them warm in cold months. |
| D．To help them sense magnetic properties. |
| A．It hardly makes sense. |
| B．It contradicts public opinion. |
| C．It needs to be further proved. |
| D．It will be applied to lighting system. |
| A．Robins’ Eyes May Have a Built-in“Compass” |
| B．Turning off Lights Can Save Migratory Birds |
| C．Robins:Migratory Birds with the Best Eyesight |
| D．Use Protein to Improve Migratory Birds’ Eyesight |
A revised law
The law was passed
The law also states that China will deal
8 . Researchers found that our bodies aren’t just programmed to be nice. They reward us for being kind.
One of them, psychology professor Sonja Lyubomirsky from University of California, has put that concept to the test in many experiments over 20 years and has repeatedly found that people feel better when they are kind to others, even more than when they are kind to themselves. In one experiment, she asked subjects to do an extra three acts of kindness for other people a week and asked a different group to do three acts of self—kindness. They could be small, like opening a door for someone, or big. The same even occurred with spending money on themselves or others. She found that the people who were kind to others became happier and felt more connected to the world than those who just did acts of self—kindness.
Lyubomirsky thinks it is because people spend too much time thinking and worrying about themselves and when they think of others while doing acts of kindness, it redirects them away from their own problems.
The other researchers have found that we prize kindness over any other value. When psychologists put values into ten categories and asked people what was more important, kindness comes out on top, beating physical pleasure, creativity, ambition, security, seeking social justice and power, said University of London psychologist Anat Bardi, who studies value systems.
“Kindness, like religion, does seem to be universal,” said Oliver Curry, a researcher from University of Oxford. “I think reasoning is the secret. We’re kind because under the right circumstances we all benefit from kindness. That is why we donate blood when there are disasters.”
1. Why can being kind to others make people feel happy according to Lyubomirsky?| A．It takes their attention away from their own problems. |
| B．The world becomes much better due to their kindness. |
| C．Their problem seems less serious compared to others’. |
| D．Their action gives them a sense of power and achievement. |
| A．Making a lot of money. | B．Volunteering and donating. |
| C．Inventing a new machine. | D．Finding a rare and delicious food. |
| A．Social values. | B．Personal virtues. | C．Religious beliefs. | D．Potential rewards. |
| A．We Can Be Programmed to Be Kind |
| B．Researchers Find That Being Kind Pays Off |
| C．Happier People Tend to Do Kind Acts |
| D．Research Shows Random Kindness Helps the Needy |
9 . Last summer, Steven Eaton received more than 200 young people on his organic farm. None of them said that they wanted to make money from farming. Some of them described it as a kind of protest against the idea that success means a big paycheck and many took it as a means to protect the environment.
Steven Eaton understands such idealists(理想主义者)and he was one of them about a decade ago. In 2010, he was in a law school in Washington, DC, but not enjoying it much. Then he applied to work on a farm in West Virginia in summer.
“I felt lost when I was in the city. It’s in the field that I found peace and harmony in my life,” recalls Eaton, who now runs an organic farm close to New York City. “So I went back to West Virginia after graduation.”
Farming—the independence and the connection to something as real as soil and food—was the one thing that he wanted to throw himself into. And he’s been doing it ever since.
But it wasn’t always a big happy folk dance.
“I had a lot of failures in the first couple of years and I didn’t really know what I was doing,” he laughs.
Eventually, he learned to be realistic about farming. “It’s good to be an idealist. But if you’re going to stick with it, and expect to make a living at it, you’ve got to be realistic about the business aspects: Money, managing money, borrowing money, and all the things that a business person has to do. You have to learn to like that and be willing to be good at that. That may even mean burning a little more fossil fuel, so you can get your produce to cities, where people pay higher prices.”
That sense of farming as a practical form of idealism is probably the biggest thing the young people have to learn. When you’re farming, you have to put survival first.
1. Why did many of the young people want to become farmers?| A．To make a lot of money. | B．To apply their learning to practice. |
| C．To protect the environment. | D．To study the pollution in agriculture. |
| A．Idealistic. | B．Realistic. | C．Selfless. | D．Successful. |
| A．Put environment before profit. |
| B．Be realistic about the business aspects. |
| C．Stick to your idealism forever. |
| D．Find a much easier job than farming. |
| A．Outdated. | B．Useless. | C．Funny. | D．Valuable. |
10 . Today, the original Beetle has largely disappeared from the world’s roads since Volkswagen stopped producing it in Germany in 1978. But the instantly recognizable car was once everywhere. From the 1970s to the 1990s, more than 21 million Beetles were produced worldwide. Many adults in their 40s or above have a story about the Beetle, or at least a memory.
Part of its universal appeal is its unique look. There’s something about the car that just makes people smile: its happy shape, its cheerful colors, and perhaps its small size. However, the smiles that beetles evoke, in people are not simply due to their design. It has a character almost. It has a sort of soul in a way. It’s beyond a machine. For the better part of a century this car has been a part in people’s lives. Seeing these cars on the road is like a time capsule. It opens people to memories and stories that might otherwise go untold. By allowing us to travel back in time, they remind us of what’s important. In today’s world, this car represents something very basic and earthy and genuine. Exactly the kind of travel we need right now.
“My parents had three, a white one, then a red one, and then an orange one. It was the car I grew up with,” said actor Ewan McGregor. “They would put us in the back of the Beetle in Scotland and drive to France for camping holidays in summer. My first car was a 1978 Beetle and now I own two, parked at my home in Los Angeles.”
McGregor thinks the car’s future is electric. He has recently turned his 1978 model into a fully electric car. “Moving forward, maybe we’ll just have to think; smaller cars, low emissions (排放), and something that makes us feel happy,” he says.
1. When was the production of Beetles stopped in Germany?| A．In the 1990s. | B．In the 1980s. | C．In the late 1970s. | D．In the early 1960s. |
| A．To keep an unpleasant feeling in one’s mind. |
| B．To find out information about one’s character. |
| C．To bring a feeling or a memory into one’s mind. |
| D．To ask somebody to do something in a rude way. |
| A．He wants to be reminded of his childhood. |
| B．They are used to decorate his new home. |
| C．He has too many children for just one car. |
| D．His parents have left one of their cars to him. |
| A．Advertisement. | B．Lifestyle. | C．Environment. | D．Economy. |
