2 . 阅读下面短文, 在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式.

A visually-challenged man from Beijing recently hiked (徒步) 40 days to Xi’an, as a first step     1     (journey) the Belt and Road route (路线) by foot.

On the 1,100 kilometer journey, the man Cao Shengkang,     2     lost his eyesight at the age of eight in a car accident, crossed 40 cities and counties in three provinces. Inspired by the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation     3     (hold) in Beijing, Cao decided to cover the route by hiking as a tribute (致敬) to the ancient Silk Road.     4     friend of his, Wu Fan, volunteered to be his companion during the trip.

Cao and Wu also collected garbage along the road, in order to promote environmental     5     (protect). Cao believes this will make the hiking trip even more     6     (meaning). The two of them collected more than 1,000 plastic bottles along the 40-day journey.

In the last five years. Cao     7     (walk) through 34 countries in six continents, and in 2016, he reached the top of Kilimanjaro, Africa’s     8     (high) mountain.

Now, Cao has started the second part of his dream to walk along the Belt and Road route. He flew 4, 700 kilometers     9     Xi’an to Kashgar on Sept. 20,     10     (plan) to hike back to Xi’an in five months.

3 . Friendship needs care and attention to keep it in good health. Here are five ways to sustain (保持) long-distance friendships.

·Set a regular date

Long-lasting friendships share the characteristic that both sides equally contact (联系) and share with one another. With busy schedules, squeezing in phone calls can be a challenge.     1    .

·More isn’t always merrier

Make sure you have communicated with your friend about how frequently each of you wants to be contacted and what method works best for you both.     2    . There are alternatives to constant written communication, such as leaving voice messages or having a group chat.

·Practise empathy (共情)

    3    . The friend who is remaining needs to be sensitive to all the additional time demands placed on the friend who has moved. The one in the new environment should be sympathetic to the fact that your friend may feel abandoned.

·     4    

Anniversaries and birthdays carry even more weight in long-distance friendships. Although technology might make day-to-day communication possible, extra effort goes a long way on special days. Simply keeping a diary that keeps track of friends’ birthdays and other important dates will make sure nothing slips by you.

·Don’t rely on technology alone

    5    , but long-distance friendships — even close ones — may require more conscious effort to sustain. Try to seek out chances to renew friendships. How to do it? Just spend face-to-face time together whenever possible.

A．Remember important dates

B．Compensate by writing letters

C．It is also helpful for you to be a friendship keeper

D．Try to find a time that works for both of you and stick to it

E．Friends need to talk about their preferred methods of communication

F．It is easy to have a sense of connectedness through social media

G．You may be the friend who left or the one who was left behind

5 . Can a small group of drones (无人机) guarantee the safety and reliability of railways and, at the same time, help railway operators save billions of euros each year? That is the very likely future of applying today’s “eyes in the sky” technology to make sure that the millions of kilometres of rail tracks and infrastructure (基础设施) worldwide are safe for trains on a 24/7 basis.

Drones are already being used to examine high-tension electrical lines. They could do precisely the same thing to inspect railway lines and other vital aspects of rail infrastructure such as the correct position of railway tracks and switching points. The more regularly they can be inspected, the more railway safety, reliability and on-time performance will be improved. Costs would be cut and operations would be more efficient (高效) across the board.

That includes huge savings in maintenance costs and better protection of railway personnel safety. It is calculated that European railways alone spend approximately 20 billion euros a year on maintenance, including sending maintenance staff, often at night, to inspect and repair the rail infrastructure. That can be dangerous work that could be avoided with drones assisting the crews’ efforts.

By using the latest technologies, drones could also start providing higher-value services for railways, detecting faults in the rail or switches, before they can cause any safety problems. To perform these tasks, drones for rail don’t need to be flying overhead. Engineers are now working on a new concept: the rail drones of the future. They will be moving on the track ahead of the train, and programmed to run autonomously. Very small drones with advanced sensors and AI and travelling ahead of the train could guide it like a co-pilot. With their ability to see ahead, they could signal any problem, so that fast-moving trains would be able to react in time.

1. What makes the application of drones to rail lines possible?

A．The use of drones in checking on power lines.	B．Drones’ ability to work at high altitudes.
C．The reduction of cost in designing drones.	D．Drones’ reliable performance in remote areas.

2. What does “maintenance” underlined in paragraph 3 refer to?

A．Personnel safety.	B．Assistance from drones.
C．Inspection and repair.	D．Construction of infrastructure.

3. What function is expected of the rail drones?

A．To provide early warning.	B．To make trains run automatically.
C．To earn profits for the crews.	D．To accelerate transportation.

4. Which is the most suitable title for the text?

A．What Faults Can Be Detected with Drones

B．How Production of Drones Can Be Expanded

C．What Difficulty Drone Development Will Face

D．How Drones Will Change the Future of Railways

7 . As Ginni Bazlinton reached Antarctica, she found herself greeted by a group of little Gentoo penguins (企鹅) longing to say hello. These gentle, lovely gatekeepers welcomed her and kick-started what was to be a trip Ginni would never forget.

Ever since her childhood, Ginni, now 71, has had a deep love for travel. Throughout her career (职业) as a professional dancer, she toured in the UK, but always longed to explore further. When she retired from dancing and her sons eventually flew the nest, she decided it was time to take the plunge.

After taking a degree at Chichester University in Related Arts, Ginni began to travel the world, eventually getting work teaching English in Japan and Chile. And it was in Chile she discovered she could get last-minute cheap deals on ships going to Antarctica from the islands off Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost tip of the South American mainland. “I just decided I wanted to go,” she says. “I had no idea about what I’d find there and I wasn’t nervous, I just wanted to do it. And I wanted to do it alone as I always prefer it that way.”

In March 2008, Ginni boarded a ship with 48 passengers she’d never met before, to begin the journey towards Antarctica. “From seeing the wildlife to witnessing sunrises, the whole experience was amazing. Antarctica left an impression on me that no other place has,” Ginni says. “I remember the first time I saw a humpback whale; it just rose out of the water like some prehistoric creature and I thought it was smiling at us. You could still hear the operatic sounds it was making underwater.”

The realization that this is a precious land, to be respected by humans, was one of the biggest things that hit home to Ginni.

1. Which of the following best explains “take the plunge” underlined in paragraph 2?

A．Try challenging things.	B．Take a degree.
C．Bring back lost memories.	D．Stick to a promise.

2. What made Ginni decide on the trip to Antarctica?

A．Lovely penguins.	B．Beautiful scenery.
C．A discount fare.	D．A friend’s invitation.

3. What does Ginni think about Antarctica after the journey?

A．It could be a home for her.	B．It should be easily accessible.
C．It should be well preserved.	D．It needs to be fully introduced.

4. What is the text mainly about?

A．A childhood dream.	B．An unforgettable experience.
C．Sailing around the world.	D．Meeting animals in Antarctica.

9 . In 1916, two girls of wealthy families, best friends from Auburn, N. Y. — Dorothy Woodruff and Rosamond Underwood — traveled to a settlement in the Rocky Mountains to teach in a one-room schoolhouse. The girls had gone to Smith College. They wore expensive clothes. So for them to move to Elkhead, Colo. to instruct the children whose shoes were held together with string was a surprise. Their stay in Elkhead is the subject of Nothing Daunted: The Unexpected Education of Two Society Girls in the West by Dorothy Wickenden, who is a magazine editor and Dorothy Woodruff’s granddaughter.

Why did they go then? Well, they wanted to do something useful. Soon, however, they realized what they had undertaken.

They moved in with a local family, the Harrisons, and, like them, had little privacy, rare baths, and a blanket of snow on their quilt when they woke up in the morning. Some mornings, Rosamond and Dorothy would arrive at the schoolhouse to find the children weeping from the cold. In spring, the snow was replaced by mud over ice.

In Wickenden’s book, she expanded on the history of the West and also on feminism, which of course influenced the girls’ decision to go to Elkhead. A hair-raising section concerns the building of the railroads, which entailed (牵涉) drilling through the Rockies, often in blinding snowstorms. The book ends with Rosamond and Dorothy’s return to Auburn.

Wickenden is a very good storyteller. The sweep of the land and the stoicism (坚忍) of the people move her to some beautiful writing. Here is a picture of Dorothy Woodruff, on her horse, looking down from a hill top: “When the sun slipped behind the mountains, it shed a rosy glow all around them. Then a full moon rose. The snow was marked only by small animals: foxes, coyotes, mice, and varying hares, which turned white in the winter.”

1. Why did Dorothy and Rosamond go to the Rocky Mountains?

A．To teach in a school.	B．To study American history.
C．To write a book.	D．To do sightseeing.

2. What can we learn about the girls from paragraph 3?

A．They enjoyed much respect.	B．They had a room with a bathtub.
C．They lived with the local kids.	D．They suffered severe hardships.

3. Which part of Wickenden’s writing is hair-raising?

A．The extreme climate of Auburn.	B．The living conditions in Elkhead.
C．The railroad building in the Rockies.	D．The natural beauty of the West.

4. What is the text?

A．A news report.

B．A book review.

C．A children’s story.

D．A diary entry.