2 . Several studies in recent years have suggested that ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft can worsen traffic problems in cities, which continue to have high rates of private vehicle ownership.

Recently, a new study has found that ride-sharing services result in much more pollution than other kinds of private and public transportation. Ride-sharing trips also draw passengers away from more environment-friendly methods of travel, like public transportation, walking or biking, the study found.

The new study, carried out by the not-for-profit group Union of Concerned Scientists, represents an attempt to center on how ride-sharing services affect pollution. The research examined the effects of ride-sharing services on seven of America’s largest cities.

Overall, the researchers reported that ride-sharing trips now “result in an estimated 69 percent more climate pollution on average than the trips they displace.” The study notes that the same passengers could have chosen to travel by bus, train, bike, scooter or on foot.

One of the big reasons they give for this result is that ride-sharing vehicles are often driven with no passengers in the car. This happens when drivers are either waiting for rider requests, are on the way to pick up passengers or are driving in between pickups. This situation, known as “deadheading”, takes up about 42 percent of all ride-sharing driving activity, the study found. The researchers said that deadheading results in about 50 percent more carbon dioxide than one person driving in a private vehicle. Both Uber and Lyft do offer a choice of a “pooled” ride, which involves drivers picking up additional riders during the same trip.

The study urges services like Uber and Lyft to work to increase the number of pooled rides. It also urges the two companies to increase the number of electric vehicles on the road and to improve connections to public transportation centers.

Both Uber and Lyft have said in the past that most studies on the subject overstate the effects of their services on pollution. They have noted that the majority of vehicles on the road belong to private individuals or companies. Uber told Reuters news agency in a statement it had no comment on the latest report. But the company said it aims to be part of the solution to address climate change by working directly with cities. The statement added that Uber would continue to promote pooled trips and other means of transportation.

1. What does the underlined word “they” in Para. 4 refer to?

A．The researchers.	B．Ride-sharing trips.
C．The same passengers.	D．Environment-friendly methods of travel.

2. What can we learn from the passage?

A．Most studies have overstated the effects of Uber’s and Lyft’s services on pollution.

B．Ride-sharing services are playing an active role in dealing with climate change.

C．People may be discouraged from taking public transportation due to ride-sharing services.

D．Climate pollution resulting from ride-sharing trips has increased by 69 percent on average.

3. What is the main idea of the passage?

A．Ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft can worsen traffic problems in cities.

B．The reasons for more pollution caused by ride-sharing services have been found.

C．Ride-sharing trips lead to more pollution than other kinds of private and public transportation.

D．The disadvantages of ride-sharing trips outweigh the advantages they have brought to people.

3 . Since App Store was set up, it has been selling consumers one simple thing: choice. Whether you wanted to play games, read the news, or do a thousand other things, there was something for whatever you desired.

Then something funny happened. Logging into the App Store today is like going into a shopping mall with only a coupon (优惠券) for one thing: There’s so much choice; it might be easier to give up than to choose.

It isn’t just consumers who are burdened, though. Too much content of all kinds also has economic effects. When countless choices are available, it causes pressure, pushing prices down and driving us a bit crazy.

So what is the way forward? Less choice itself may be a sensible strategy. There are already signs that this is happening. Firstly content companies are looking to prevent their offerings from getting lost in the tons of stuff. Most obvious is Disney, which is planning to open its own streaming service next year. The point is to narrow the focus so that those seeking Disney cartoons will have one place to go, rather than being around various services.

Yet if that represents a careful first step, there are more extreme options too. Consider the idea of a wine club: from tens of thousands of bottles each year, subscribers pay someone to select the most interesting ones. Perhaps what comes next for digital content is similar — carefully selected offerings from trusted sources that put choices in the hands of customers in order to get rid of the anxiety of choosing.

Up to now, too much choice in digital media has only one solution: the algorithm (运算法则). But we’ve seen the trouble with algorithms on You Tube. They feed you only what you’ve already said you like, not things you may not know you’re into. Worse, they have a tendency to serve up disturbing content. The way forward can’t simply be more or better algorithms.

Instead, it’s time for digital companies to start thinking about how to put limits on things: on how much we can use a device, or what we are available to choose from. As we move further into the digital revolution, what people ask for is clear: Less.

1. Faced with too much choice, consumers are more likely to__________.

A．choose carefully

B．feel anxious

C．use a coupon

D．push down prices

2. What’s the purpose of mentioning the “wine club” in paragraph 5?

A．To teach customers how to choose a bottle of wine wisely.

B．To show digital companies how to narrow customers’ focus.

C．To demonstrate what some customers’ extreme options are.

D．To save customers from getting lost in the choice of the APP Store.

3. What can we infer from the passage?

A．In order to sell choice better, digital companies should offer less.

B．You Tube tends to feed people what they are possibly interested in.

C．Algorithms can help consumers and companies make better choices.

D．Those seeking Disney cartoons have easy and quick access to them.

4. What do we know about the algorithm?

A．It manages to offer what consumers will possibly like

B．It helps to remove disturbing content from digital media

C．It offers consumers things based on what they’ve said they like

D．It’ll solve the problem of having too much choice

4 . Where are the speakers?

A．On a football field.

B．At a park.

C．In a hospital.

5 . “Creativity is the key to a brighter future,” say education and business experts. Here is how schools and parents can encourage this important skill in children.

If Dick Drew had listened to his boss in 1925, we might not have the product that we now think greatly important: a new type of tape. Drew worked for the Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company. At work he developed a kind of material strong enough to hold things together. But his boss told him not to think more about the idea. Finally, using his own time, Drew improved the tape, which now is used everywhere by many people. And his former company learned from its mistake. Now it encourages people to spend 15 percent of their working time just thinking about and developing new ideas.

Creativity is not something one is just born with, nor is it necessarily a character of high intelligence. The fact that a person is highly intelligent does not mean that he uses it creatively. Creativity is the matter of using the resources one has to produce new ideas that are good for something.

Unfortunately, schools have not tried to encourage creativity. With strong attention to test results and the development of reading, writing and mathematical skills, many educators give up creativity for correct answers. The result is that children can gain information but can’t recognize ways to use it in new situations. They may know the rules correctly but they are unable to use them to work out practical problems.

It is important to give children choices. From the earliest age, children should be allowed to make decisions and understand their results. Even if it’s choosing between two food items for lunch, decision-making helps thinking skills. As children grow older, parents should try to let them decide how to use their time or spend their money. This is because the most important character of creative people is a very strong desire to find a way out of trouble.

1. What did the company where Drew once worked learn from its mistake?

A．It should encourage people to work a longer time.

B．People should be discouraged to think freely.

C．People will do better if they pay all attention to their work.

D．It is necessary for people to spend some of their working time developing new ideas.

2. What can we know from the passage about creativity?

A．It is something that most people are born with.

B．It is something that has nothing to do with intelligence at all.

C．It is a way of using what one has learned to work out new problems.

D．It is something that is not important to the life in the future at all.

3. Why don’t schools try to encourage creativity?

A．They don’t attach importance to creativity education.

B．They don’t want their students to make mistakes.

C．They pay no attention to examination marks.

D．They think it impossible to develop creativity in class.

4. What should the parents do when their children decide how to spend their money?

A．Allow them to have a try.

B．Try to help them as much as possible.

C．Take no notice of whatever they do.

D．Order them to spend the least money.

7 . Many Chinese students think American students enjoy more freedom than them at school. But American schools also have their rules. If the students break the rules, they willget punishment, too. On the first day of a new term, 128 students of Morton High School were sent home for wearing the wrong clothes. There are altogether 1200 students in the school. Usually only 20 students break the school dress rule every day. So the headmaster Theresa Mayerik said it was the worst new term she had ever seen.

At Morton High School, students’ favorite clothing such as baggy (宽大的) trousers, low-necked shirts and tanktops (紧身短背心) are not allowed in classrooms. Some students think they have the right to choose what to wear. But the headmaster doesn’t think so. “I’d be supportive if half the school was sent home, because 99% will get the message that our school are for education.” “Freedom” does not mean “free of restrictions (约束)”. That is to say there is no total freedom in the world, no matter in the US or in China.

1. 128 students of Morton High School were sent home for _______.

A．not finishing their homework	B．being late for school
C．not wearing the right clothes	D．not listening to the teachers in class

2. Some students in Morton High School think that they have the right to ________.

A．decide when to go to school	B．go to school or not
C．eat and drink in class	D．choose what to wear

3. What does the underlined word “supportive” mean in Chinese?

A．高兴的

B．支持的

C．害怕的

D．反对的

4. What’s the writer’s attitude to the school dress rule?

A．Agree.

B．Disagree.

C．Not sure.

D．Unclear.

8 . 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。

The University of Cambridge    1    (use) scores on gaokao as part of its admission criteria for Chinese students for the last few years, according to its official Weibo account.

However, it does not admit students simply     2     (base) on their test scores. In addition to top scores on gaokao, Chinese    3     (apply) also need to meet English language requirements, participate in an interview    4     take a subject-specific written admission assessment.

Internet users have     5     (broad) welcomed the move,     6     (say) this is a blessing for Chinese students    7    want to enter the university, though the requirement     8    (set) high, reported China Daily.

Stephen Toope, vice-chancellor of the university, said the reason for accepting gaokao scores is that Cambridge wants as much information as possible to evaluate candidates who are possibly suitable    9    studying here.

“Global universities must seek connection, communication and collaboration if we wish to see changes that will make the world a better place for everyone,” he said in March during a visit to Peking University, “All the universities are now trying to seek an approach to    10     (provide) an equal environment for students from all over the world.”

9 . 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。

Billionaires Race to Space

In late July 2021, Jeff Bezos achieved an out-of-this-world ambition. The billionaire founder of Amazon     1     (fly) to the edge of space—62 miles (100 kilometers) above Earth’s surface—on a rocket designed by his company Blue Origin.

“Best day ever,” Bezos said over the radio to mission control after landing safely back on Earth,     2    others weren’t so impressed. They called the mission     3    huge waste of money. Bezos, they argued, should be spending his billions to improve things on Earth.

Bezos wasn’t the first billionaire to set his sights on space. Nor was he the first     4     (criticize) about wasting enormous personal wealth. A week     5    the Amazon founder made history, business owner Richard Branson did, too. Branson became the first person to fly to space on a rocket he helped fund,     6     (develop) by his company Virgin Galactic.

Critics say that the money     7     (go) toward commercial space travel would be better spent on     8    they see as more important pursuits. These include working to cure diseases, reducing poverty, and helping to solve the climate crisis. Besides, launching spacecrafts is harmful to the planet, critics declare. As naturalist Holly Haworth pointed out in Sierra magazine, “traveling in rockets is arguably the most carbon-emitting thing an individual can do.”

But supporters of commercial space travel argue that it does benefit humanity. Personal funds are put toward high-paying jobs and a new industry. That’s money they could have spent on new luxury cars or villas for     9    (they), supporters say. Plus, their companies are investing in new technologies     10     increase access to space and drive innovation in other areas as well.