1 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1. What does the woman want to know?

A．The best way to go to New York.

B．The quickest way to go to New York.

C．The cheapest way to go to New York.

2. How much does it cost to go to New York by bus?

A．$5.

B．$15.

C．$50.

3. What do we know from the conversation?

A．The woman will go to New York by bus.

B．It takes five hours to go to New York by bus.

C．The woman won’t go to New York by bus.

2 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1. What is the man doing?

A．Introducing the woman to his neighbors.

B．Giving the woman advice on how to find a flat.

C．Showing the woman around the neighborhood.

2. What is the woman eager to do?

A．Visit the night market.

B．Jog in the high school.

C．Shop in convenience stores.

3. Why does the woman look for a library?

A．To get some information.

B．To find a map of the city.

C．To borrow some books.

4. Where will the speakers go next?

A．To a restaurant.

B．To a bookstore.

C．To a park.

6 . It was the dawn of 1863, and London’s not-yet-opened subway system, the first of its kind in the world, had the city in a disturbance. Digging a hole under the city and putting a railroad in it seemed the stuff of dreams. Pub drinkers laughed at the idea and a local minister accused the railway company of trying to break into hell. Most people simply thought the project, which cost more than 100 million dollars in today’s money, would never work.

But it did. On January 10, 1863, 30,000 people ventured underground to travel on the world’s first subway on a four-mile stretch of line in London. After three years of construction and a few setbacks, the Metropolitan Railway was ready for business. The city’s officials were much relieved. They’d been desperate to find a way to reduce the terrible congestion (拥挤) on the roads. London, at the time the world’s largest and most prosperous city, was in a permanent state of congestion, with carts, tradesmen, cows, and commuters (通勤者) jamming the roads.

It’d been a Victorian visionary, Charles Pearson, who first thought of putting railways under the ground. But how could you get a railway through the center of a city? The answer was “cut and cover”. Workers had to dig a huge trench (壕沟), construct a tunnel out of brick archways, and then refill the hole over the newly built tunnel.

As soon as the Metropolitan Railway opened, Londoners rushed in to ride the new trains. The Metropolitan quickly became a vital part of London’s transport system.

The first tube line, the City and South London, opened in 1890 and proved so successful that half a dozen more lines were built in the next 20 years. And today, with more than 160 cities in 55 countries using underground rails to fight against congestion, we can thank Charles Pearson and the Metropolitan Railway for getting us started on the right track.

1. What did most people think of the subway system in 1863?

A．Costly.

B．Time-consuming.

C．Impractical.

D．Damaging.

2. Why did the government insist on carrying on the project?

A．London was the world’s largest city.

B．The streets were too crowded in London.

C．There were too many vehicles in London.

D．It wanted to make London another No.1.

3. What do the underlined words “cut and cover” in paragraph 3 refer to?

A．A way of subway constructing .	B．A tool to dig tunnels and holes.
C．A company to build a railway.	D．A method of transporting materials.

4. What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A．The London underground is still the best.

B．There are seven tube lines in London now.

C．Pearson’s ideal has come to fruition worldwide.

D．Pearson instructed the world’s subway building.

7 . It would be much more convenient if electric cars could be recharged wirelessly. Some electric toothbrushes and other small devices, such as mobile phones, can already be topped up in this way using a process called electromagnetic induction (电磁感应). This employs some kind of electrical current flowing through a coil (线圈) to create a varying magnetic field, which then generates another current in a second coil placed alongside it, which is used to recharge a battery.

As users of electric toothbrushes and phones will know, device and charger must be both close to each other and precisely adjusted for this process to work. That is tricky to achieve with an electric car, which sits above the ground and requires higher levels of energy transfer.

These problems are being overcome with advances like that made by WiTricity, a firm based near Boston. This company was founded in 2007 to commercialize the work of Marin Soljaèi and his colleagues at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dr Soljaëi knew, in theory, that by having the transmitting and receiving coils resonate (共振) at the same frequency it should be possible to transfer greater amounts of energy over longer distances. In practice, he sought to commercialize the system to large companies, such as BMW.

An advantage of wireless recharging is what WiTricity’s boss calls “power snacking”. This is topping up the battery when a car is stationary for a short time. The company provides systems to recharge taxis in this way while they wait in line, and to do the same for electric buses at bus stops. It is also possible to charge vehicles while they are on the move. That might make sense in places where vehicles often queue up, such as at airports.

1. How can electric devices be charged wirelessly?

A．By devices close to chargers.

B．By high levels of energy transfer.

C．By an electrical current flowing through a coil.

D．By a process of electrical currents transformation.

2. What makes it possible for electric cars to get lots of energy wirelessly?

A．Commercializing the system to BMW.

B．Charging vehicles while they are on the move.

C．The transformation of energy over longer distances.

D．The good cooperation between the transmitting and receiving coils.

3. What does the underlined word “stationary” in paragraph 4 probably mean?

A．Moving.

B．Motionless.

C．Firm.

D．Unchanging.

4. Which might be the most suitable title for the text?

A．Various forms of wireless-charging systems.

B．Advantages and disadvantages of wireless-charging.

C．How to charge a car with a wireless-charging system.

D．Wireless vehicle-charging is starting to look promising.

8 . Since the 1920s, a little-known policy called parking minimums has shaped many Americans’ life. In major cities, this meant that any type of building needed to reserve a certain number of parking spaces to accommodate anyone who might visit.

But as the country attempts to cut carbon emissions (排放), we should rethink what transportation and public space look like, especially in cities. Earlier this month, the city of Austin, Texas, became the latest community to undo parking minimums.

“If we want half of all trips to be in something other than a car, then we can’t, as a city, in my opinion, demand that every home or business have at least one parking space for each resident or customer,” said Zohaib Qadri, the Austin city council member who introduced the measure. Reducing dependency on cars was a huge push for the initiative in Austin. Qadri hopes the measure also will lead to a more sustainable city.

The undoing of this law could pave the way for cities to build denser (密集的) housing, increase public transit options, and reduce their carbon emissions, according to Donald Shoup, an engineer and professor. “It isn’t just the housing crisis and climate change; it’s a traffic jam; it’s local air pollution; it’s the high price of everything—except parking,” said Shoup.

Climate change and air pollution are particularly costly outcomes, with both estimated to cost the US billions of dollars every year. Parking spots, meanwhile, can run in the tens of thousands of dollars to construct, with one estimate putting that figure at almost $30, 000 per spot.

But undoing parking minimums does not mean that all parking will disappear overnight. It means that any off-street parking built will not need to meet any minimum standard.

“Austin is the same city that it was two weeks ago,” said Shoup. “It’s going to take quite a while for that city to really get the benefits of their parking space reforms. And so it just removes a roadblock and a barrier to other reforms.”

1. Why was parking minimums policy deserted in Austin?

A．To make room for green belts.	B．To help tackle climate problems.
C．To respond to residents’ demand.	D．To ease the heavy traffic.

2. What can we infer from Qadri’s words?

A．Parking space provides convenience.

B．Cars are used for half of people’s trips.

C．Each home needs more than one parking space.

D．Reducing parking space can reduce dependency on cars.

3. What is Donald Shoup’s attitude towards undoing parking minimums?

A．Supportive.

B．Concerned.

C．Doubtful.

D．Disappointed.

4. What can be the best title for the text?

A．The Harm of Climate Change	B．The Origin of Parking Minimums
C．The Reason for Too Many Emissions	D．A Possible Way to Fight Climate Change