1. What does Jim like?
| A．Antiques. | B．Chinese culture. | C．Valuable paintings. |
| A．They used Jim’s key. |
| B．They broke the window. |
| C．They knocked at the door. |
| A．Jim’s watch. | B．Jim’s phone. | C．Jim’s iPad. |
| A．Jim. | B．David. | C．Jack. |
2 . Will your job be done by a robot in the future? Bank of England economist s predict that almost half of all UK jobs are under threat of automation. But could even the admired profession of teaching soon have to compete against powerful electronic educators?
At first glance, teaching might seem impossible to be replaced by robots. Teachers use a range of soft skills that machines find hard to copy exactly. They judge pupils’ needs and tailor feedback accordingly. They adapt materials to make them more engaging and effective. And they provide kind care: looking out for students who drop behind or disturb the class.
Despite that, some believe the future of education will be technological. Futurist Thomas Frey, from Business Insider magazine, predicts that “by 2030 the largest company on the internet is going to be an education-based company that we haven’t heard of yet.”
He thinks that ‘bots’— online robot teachers will make education so efficient that students will be able to compress (压缩) an entire undergraduate degree into six months of learning. A bot learns what your “idiosyncrasies” “interests” and “reference points” are, “and it figures out how to teach you in a faster and faster way over time,” according to Frey.
Whether or not such incredible speeds will be reached over the last decade, there has been a huge increase in online learning platforms. Companies such as Udemy and Khan Academy produce courses that allow millions to learn at home for free at their own pace. But there are limitations. Without the face-to-face inspiration of a classroom environment, the majority of students fail to complete online courses. How to keep motivation to learn is one more skill that online teachers will need to master.
Indeed, Frey admits there is some way to go: “Nobody has quite cracked the code for the future of education.” What do teachers themselves think about this? Professor Donald Clark from Derby University in the UK thinks that we should accept change, even though people will lose their jobs.
1. What’s the second paragraph mainly about?| A．Teaching by robots can be replaced. | B．The advantages of face-to-face teaching. |
| C．Human teachers will be replaced by robots. | D．The potential of the electronic educators. |
| A．Personalities. | B．Senses. | C．Nationalities. | D．Families. |
| A．To tell how online learning is progressing. | B．To show the significance of online learning. |
| C．To explain people how online learning works. | D．To suggest the shortcomings of online learning. |
| A．How robots will change in the future. | B．How artificial intelligence will destroy jobs. |
| C．How educators will meet the future challenge. | D．How electronic educators will lose their jobs. |
3 . Norwood was driving last February. The laughter and chatter from the four teenage girls inside her car quickly gave way to screams — another car T-boned (T形撞击) them, sending their car
Shaken, but otherwise OK, she crawled out through the window. With two of her friends, who’d also managed to
But halfway, she realized that Simmons wasn’t with them.
Had the accident happened earlier, she might not have known what to do. But Norwood, who wants to pursue a
| A．taking | B．sailing | C．putting | D．looking |
| A．crashed | B．broke | C．turned | D．changed |
| A．enjoy | B．energize | C．employ | D．free |
| A．fortune | B．car | C．life | D．fellow |
| A．Desperately | B．Innocently | C．Carefully | D．Luckily |
| A．silent | B．frozen | C．unconscious | D．clumsy |
| A．land | B．hospital | C．comfort | D．safety |
| A．controlled | B．checked | C．adjusted | D．observed |
| A．option | B．significance | C．way | D．sign |
| A．potential | B．career | C．trend | D．belief |
| A．trained | B．devoted | C．entered | D．competed |
| A．staring | B．feeding | C．breathing | D．whispering |
| A．wonder | B．problem | C．doubt | D．response |
| A．rescued | B．rushed | C．examined | D．guaranteed |
| A．astonished | B．embarrassed | C．confused | D．injured |
Digitalization,
However, experts noted that too much social media use is known to have a negative influence
The results of the study
Participants who replaced 30 minutes of social media with exercise every day for two weeks
“This shows us how vital it is
5 . Walking in the city is very different from walking in the park. A small psychology study suggests urban(城市的) environments can slow your step and possibly increase your mental load. A walk through nature, on the other hand, appears to ease your mind and quicken your pace. The findings show that natural settings may potentially reduce cognitive (认知的)tiredness and improve reaction times straight away. The study, which includes two experiments with two different approaches, was conducted among 65 university students in the lab.
The first of the two experiments in the new study focused on people’s way of walking and cognitive load. During this trial, participants were fitted with sensors and a dozen motion control cameras were set up to watch them repeatedly walk down a 15-metre room at their natural speed. The wall opposite them showed an image of either a nature scene or a city scene. After each walk, participants were asked to rate their feelings of discomfort in the visual environment. On the whole, when walking in city settings, people reported more discomfort and they walked at a slower pace, indicating a higher cognitive load.
The second experiment dug into some of the higher-level cognitive processes that might be at play. In the trial, participants were asked to distinguish between basic visual shapes on the computer while also in the presence of a natural or urban image(the same ones from the first experiment). Measuring reaction times in both natural and urban settings, the team found results to support their idea. In urban environments, participants were slower in distinguishing between simple shapes. The authors think this is because urban environments are more distracting(令人分心的) for our brains and take longer to process, but more research is needed to prove that idea.
1. How were the experiments conducted mainly?| A．By comparing. | B．By giving data. |
| C．By giving examples. | D．By explaining facts. |
| A．It can make us feel relaxed and react quickly. | B．It can activate our thinking and speed up our step. |
| C．It can make us less tired and improve our memory. | D．It can make us become more focused and creative. |
| A．They had a lower cognitive load. | B．They had to slow down their pace. |
| C．They couldn’t concentrate properly. | D．They felt uncomfortable after walking. |
| A．Urban environment makes us more concentrated. | B．People’s feelings are decided by their pace of walking. |
| C．The result of the experiments is widely appreciated. | D．People tend to get tired more easily walking in the city. |
6 . Are you a moviegoer? If so, then there’s no better place to watch something than on the big screen at the cinema. You enter the dark hall and take your seat, ready to be entertained.
Over the last few years, cinemas have seen a resurgence (复兴). Customers have been attracted by comfortable seats, and lots of choice of things to watch. Multiplexes (多放映厅影院) can screen up to twenty films at the same time, catering for all different tastes.
One answer to that question is convenience. Rather than going out, it’s so much easier to stay in and watch a movie on a high-definition TV screen via a streaming service.
| A．This isn’t great news for cinemas. |
| B．There’s plenty of choice, and it’s relatively cheap. |
| C．This has put the future of cinemas under the spotlight. |
| D．The idea of waiting to make your movies more profitable doesn’t make sense. |
| E．But recently, so new cinemas have had to close because of reduced ticket sales. |
| F．In addition, 3D and even 4D movies can give the audience an extra immersive experience. |
| G．But while you engage yourself in some movie magic, many others are now getting their film fix at home. |
1.支持方的观点；
2.反对方的观点；
3.你的观点。
注意：1.词数100左右；
2.开头和结尾已给出。
Dear Mr. Brown,
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua
8 . The city of Rotterdam is planning to take apart a famous old bridge so that the world’s largest sailboat can be brought through the city once it’s completed. However, not everyone is happy about the plan.
Rotterdam’s Koningshaven Bridge, which local people call “De Hef”, is no longer in use. It’s an old bridge that was damaged by bombing during World War II. But it’s still important to many people in Rotterdam. When the city planned to take the bridge down in the 1990s, many people complained. Instead, the city fixed the bridge up and left it in place as a monument.
That’s a problem for the boat building company Oceanco. The company is building a huge sailboat, and the boat is too big to fit under the bridge. When the boat is finished, it’s expected to cost more than $500 million. It will be the world’s largest sailboat. Large sailboats are often called yachts but this is a super yacht. It will be 417 feet (127 meters.) long. When it’s finished , it will also be taller than the bridge. So Oceanco has asked the city to take the central part of the bridge down to allow the boat to pass through. The city has agreed and the government plans to rebuild the bridge afterward. Oceanco will have to pay for all the work done for the bridge. The work is expected to take a few weeks some time this summer.
The locals are upset about the plan of taking a historic monument apart. Despite the public’s protest against the plan, the city appeared to agree to the arrangement. Last week, a person speaking for the mayor said that the Koningshaven River is the only path the sailboat can take to the sea. The mayor’s office also pointed out the arrangement has economic efficiency, including providing a lot of jobs for the well-being of local people.
1. What happened to Rotterdam’s Koningshaven Bridge?| A．It was taken down in the 1990s. |
| B．It was damaged in World War II. |
| C．It was destroyed and then deserted. |
| D．It was fixed and returned to normal. |
| A．To pay for the work done to the bridge |
| B．To complete the sailboat in a few weeks. |
| C．To get the bridge pulled down for the boat. |
| D．To make the sailboat long and tall month. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Excited | C．Opposed. | D．Optimistic |
| A．National pride. | B．Economic benefits |
| C．Tourism development. | D．Local industries. |
9 . Marks &Spencer(M&S) is planning to remove “best before” labels from 300 varieties of fruit and vegetables in its stores to cut food waste. The change will rely on customers using their judgment to determine whether goods are still fine to eat.
The measure, to be rolled out this week, will affect 85% of the supermarket’s fresh pro-duce offering. “Best before” labels differ from “use by” dates, with the former often merely a measure of aesthetics(美学), while the latter tending to indicate a safety risk if ignored. “Best before” labels were meant to help consumers, but instead were blamed for creating mountains of waste from perfectly eatable food.
Tesco, the UK’s largest supermarket chain, had already announced the end of best before dates on its own-brand fruit and vegetables as far back as 2018, while the German supermarket Lidl also says it does not include best before information to reduce food waste. Now M&S is doing the same, with the aim to halve(减半) food waste from its products by 2030 com-pared with 2018. Achieving those targets would put it in line with the UK’s commitment to meet the United Nations’ goal of halving food waste by 2030 compared with 2007.
Reducing food waste is a vital part of tackling carbon emissions associated with farming and food distribution(分配). WRAP, a food waste charity, estimates that as much 45%of global greenhouse gas emissions can only be tackled by changing the way we make and consume products and food. It said that removing dates on fresh fruit and vegetables can save the equal of 7 million shopping baskets of food a year.
Catherine David, a director at WRAP, said, “We’re thrilled to see this move from M&S, which will reduce food waste and help tackle the climate crisis. We urge more supermarkets to get ahead on food waste by cutting date labels from fresh produce, allowing people to use their own judgment.”
1. What does Marks &Spencer intend to do?| A．Maintain the safety of their products. |
| B．Ask customers to pick out eatable produce. |
| C．Sell its own-brand fruit and vegetables. |
| D．Remove “use by” labels from its fresh produce. |
| A．Denied. | B．Canceled. | C．Introduced. | D．Examined. |
| A．Meet government regulations. |
| B．Improve food safety standards. |
| C．Increase sales of fresh produce. |
| D．Get rid of dates labels on fresh produce. |
| A．M&S’s new move to reduce food waste. |
| B．Tesco follows M&S’s lead on food labels. |
| C．M&S calls for a fight against climate crisis. |
| D．Effective methods to protect the environment. |
10 . American students had been learning at home for more than a year during the pandemic (流行病). When they returned to in-person learning, teachers began to see more behavioral problems.
Sarah Potpinka is an art teacher at Putnam High School in Connecticut. She said she saw more fights and arguments among students online and in person. Some refused to wear the required face coverings. Other students broke school rules by leaving in the middle of class to meet up with friends. Obviously throughout this pandemic, the students spent a lot of time at home and because of that they lack in those social skills.
Bad behavior among students is part of what experts are calling a mental health crisis among children. Even before the pandemic, research found that bad behavior in the classroom was increasing.
A group of mental health organizations say in a recent Hopeful Futures Campaign report that one in three students reported feeling lonely or hopeless. Half of all mental illnesses are present by the age of 14 but few students get the services they need. The report, released last month, also warns that suicide is the second leading cause of death among those aged 14 to 18 in 2019.
Richard Douglas is a school psychologist at Putnam High School with over 30 years of experience.Douglas said that during the pandemic there have been many things that disrupt (破坏) families. More time at home could lead to more arguments with family members. Douglas feels school officials provide enough support to deal with the mental health crisis at Putnam. For the school of around just 250students, there is also a counselor, a social worker, and two recently hired interventionists (干预者). Interventionists help identify learning and behavioral problems among students.
Despite behavioral problems among students after returning to in-person classes, Potpinka said the change has been better for the students. She said it is easier to keep students engaged in schoolwork face to face. It is also easier to seek help for them when there is trouble.
1. What does the underlined word “that” in paragraph 2 refer to?| A．Bad behavior. | B．Staying at home. | C．The pandemic. | D．Breaking school rules, |
| A．The absence of mental health services. | B．The importance of the mental health report. |
| C．The development of depression in children. | D．The seriousness of students’ mental problems. |
| A．Uncaring. | B．Worried. | C．Optimistic. | D．Doubtful. |
| A．US Schools Struggle With Bad Behavior but See Opportunities |
| B．Hopeful Futures Campaign Released a New Report |
| C．Students Face Learning Challenges During the Pandemic |
| D．A Hidden Crisis Affecting Millions of Students |
