1 . “The new normal” is one of those phrases that can accurately apply to a wide variety of life situations, including a medical diagnosis, death or change in life and work. The phrase implies both the newness of each of those circumstances, as well as the necessity that they will need to be normalized, integrated into the reality of our daily lives. Once we’ve settled into new routines and emotional patterns, our “normal” won’t be quite so new anymore, will it? The question is a subject of debate.
There is a large middle ground between the event that increases the need for “the new normal” and its final acceptance. Some people think it can’t handle tragedies. But the phrase keeps coming up in conversation, and it has made me realize that“normal”is the last word I would use to describe the fragile place I currently occupy. I find myself there as I mourn the loss of my grandfather, who died in September. For example, the new normal is to have Thanksgiving without Grandfather, then to remember him on what would have been his 75th birthday just a few days later. In other words, during this year of firsts, the new normal is a time of transition, not of arrival.
It strikes me that this is something to be celebrated, not worried over. Part of living positively is meeting ourselves wherever we are. And as I continue to navigate this in-between time, this period of slowly accepting my father’s absence from the Earth, I recognize that each step along the way is a worthwhile part of a healthy grieving process.
The same idea would apply to more positive changes, like a new home or job, as well as the challenges of the end of a relationship or a difficult medical reality. The new normal isn’t something any of us step into all at once. It’s something we become, move toward, and, eventually, accept. Let’s not be in a rush to reach that destination. The journey has much to teach us.
1. Which occasion should “the new normal” be applied to?| A．A person’s illness outbreak. | B．A person’s routine working. |
| C．A person’s constantly normal life. | D．A person’s annual birthday celebration. |
| A．The fear of it. | B．The attitude to it. |
| C．The reason for accepting it. | D．The difficulty in describing it. |
| A．Forget the dead. | B．Live optimistically. |
| C．Treasure the process over the result. | D．Mourn over a family member’s absence. |
| A．To tell us to value our past challenges. | B．To tell us some meaningful life stories. |
| C．To teach us how to handle our tragedies. | D．To teach us how to cope with life changes. |
2 . There was a time when a trip to the supermarket in the United States often ended with a seemingly simple question from the cashier, “Paper or plastic?” Well, which type of bag would you choose?
While both types of bags have some influence on the environment, it has long been supposed that paper bags are better. They are made from a renewable source, are broken down easily, burn without giving off thick smoke and can be recycled. However, the producing process behind paper bags uses more energy than that of plastic ones. How can this be true?
Studies show that paper bag production requires four times as much energy as plastic bag production. And the amount of water used to make them is twenty times larger. Besides, the influence on forests is very serious. It takes about fourteen million trees to produce ten billion paper bags, which happen to be the number of bags used in the United States yearly. In terms of recycling, the idea that paper bags are more environment-friendly than plastic ones can be quickly discarded. Research shows it requires about 98% less energy to recycle plastic than it does to recycle paper.
Even though paper bags might be more harmful than plastic ones, plastic still seems to be considered as the more harmful of the two by governments. In Ireland, for example, a tax has been introduced to discourage the use of plastic bags. People have to pay 22 cents for every plastic bag, and as a result, their use has dropped quickly.
There’s no doubt that it makes more sense to reuse these bags. However, we don’t seem to be doing that at present. That may be because they fall apart quickly. If so, cloth bags are a better choice, but still, their production also has a bad influence on the environment. So what to do? How should we answer the question of “Paper or plastic?” It seems that we first need to ask ourselves one more general question: “What can I do to help the environment?”
1. Why does the author ask the question at the end of paragraph 1?| A．To express the author’s doubts. |
| B．To tell readers how to save money. |
| C．To show the kindness of the cashier. |
| D．To introduce the point for discussion to arouse readers’ interest. |
| A．need more water to produce | B．require less energy to recycle |
| C．have less influence on forests | D．take more time to break down |
| A．Shared. | B．Discussed. | C．Given up. | D．Put forward. |
| A．Paper or cloth? | B．A new bag or your own one? |
| C．Paper or plastic? | D．A small bag or big one? |
3 . As the carbon countdown clock ticks on, cities must be more imaginative and cooperative, a lively round table hosted in Newham by a non-profit organization Friends of the Earth said.
“Net zero is around the corner,” said Mike Wake, Director of Friends of the Earth. “The UK has cut greenhouse gas emission (排放) by 40% to date mostly through the growth of large renewable generation on the grid (输电网), but further cuts will be needed as London tries to find new ways of using energy.
“While Newham has lower greenhouse gas emission per head than the UK, it has high levels of fuel poverty, poor air quality and leaky homes. Vastly improved energy efficiency, especially on older and leakier homes, along with more efficient forms of heating and an expansion of low carbon heat networks, will help,” said Wake.
“But the future requires a shift to a more communal solution,” the representatives said. District heating, which pipes hot water from a central source to connected homes or businesses, is often a cheaper and lower-carbon method of heating highly populated areas. “It’s the lowest cost and low carbon solution for the future,” Wake added.
“There are new technologies to use wasted heat,” Wake said. “We worked with businesses to decarbonise (使环保) energy supply. Rather than wasting, spare heat generated by manufacturing and other activities can be captured and used to heat nearby properties. Friends of the Earth has already helped save Newham thousands of tonnes of emissions through district heating plans, solar PV and more energy efficient measures in the homes.”
But the challenges are substantial. Newham has London’s second-highest rate of fuel poverty. “Anyway, I’m confident and hopeful about the collective challenge,” said Wake. “But for Newham to be at the forefront of a green economy, to solve fuel poverty and deal with structural equalities, we must spare no effort.”
1. What does Wake think of cutting greenhouse gas emission in the UK?| A．It doesn’t work at all. | B．It ended a short time ago. |
| C．It is very difficult to continue. | D．It still needs to be improved. |
| A．Expensive. | B．Peaceful. | C．Public. | D．Complex. |
| A．By releasing wasted heat. |
| B．By starting up many businesses. |
| C．By making national heating plans. |
| D．By solving the issues about energy. |
| A．Worried. | B．Positive. | C．Uncaring. | D．Critical. |
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号(∧)，并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线(\)划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1.每处错误及其修改均仅限一词;
2.只允许修改10处，多者(从第11处起)不计分。
My 19-year-old cousin set off from Brisbane to the Whitsundays last Friday evening, face a long 12 hours drive. He was moving back home before two years of living away. He had a friend for company, two cats and a car full of all of his belonging. At midnight, the car broke down and they found themselves was trapped in Gympie. Fortunately, a kindly man came to their rescue. The man took them to his house, when they had a shower and a rest. I also drove them to get spare parts for the car. In end, my cousin and his friend make it home early Sunday morning
5 . Saying no can be unsettling or unnatural since society often teaches us that a “no” can be considered as rude or insensitive. Many of us have been conditioned to say yes just to avoid confrontation and conflict.
But learning how to say no more frequently can yield many benefits including improving your general mental health, establishing clear boundaries, encouraging self-care and enhancing your self-worth and confidence.
According to Psychology Today, successfully using more healthy answers of “no” will mean finding a way that feels authentic for you. They suggest adopting the “sandwich method”, which means sandwiching something that may be considered negative between two positives. This could be as simple as saying something like “Thank you for inviting me, but I won’t be able to join you. I’d love to meet some other time and I’ll check my schedule and see what works.”
Honesty is key to making this work. You have to really check in with yourself and understand why you are saying no. The most important thing is to be aware of your personal needs and make decisions that reflect your self-respect and value your time and resources.
“Not being able to say no can be hard, and may even push you into a space where you’ re exhausted in every possible way. It’s difficult to be in this position, because you always end up prioritizing others’ needs and wants above yours, which in the long run isn’t healthy for you. It is arduous emotionally, mentally and physically,” psychotherapist Shaina Vasundhara Bhatia told Healthshots.
It might take a long time until this new thought model begins to take root, until then Synergy Health Programs recommends rehearsing(排练) in advance what your “no” will sound like, being honest about why what has been requested does not work for you, taking your time to think through the consequences of your decision and then offering your response.
With time, you will begin to gain the benefits of being true to yourself and you might find that by saying no when something doesn’t feel right, you are actually opening the door to a healthier you.
1. How does the text explain the “sandwich method”?| A．By using an example. | B．By referring to quotes. |
| C．By making comparisons. | D．By mentioning a magazine. |
| A．Beneficial. | B．Struggling. |
| C．Natural. | D．Unimportant. |
| A．It doesn’t come easy. | B．It doesn’t require tips. |
| C．It proves very harmful. | D．It is an immediate response. |
| A．To show the harm of “yes”. | B．To encourage us to be honest. |
| C．To tell the benefits of self-care. | D．To guide us to learn to say no. |
6 . 阅读下面短文, 根据所给情节进行续写, 使之构成一个完整的故事。
A Christmas Visit
As 17-year-old Torriell Norwood drove through St. Petersburg, Florida, last February with her friends to pay a visit to the great park, she shared her dream of becoming a doctor. She had recently taken some first aid courses. The other girls shared stories of their experiences and adventures. But the laughter and chatter from the four teenage girls in the car quickly gave way to screams, As they passed a road junction(交叉路口), a car crashed into the side of their vehicle, sending their black car sailing into the yard of a nearby home. It only stopped when it crashed into a tree. All of the girls were in panic.
As smoke rose from the car, a bystander(旁观者)shouted, “It’s about to blow up . Get out. ”The impact had bent the driver’s door, meaning it wouldn’t open. The bystander seized the door handle of the car, using all his strength to pull it open, but failed. Shaken, but otherwise OK. Norwood crawled out through the window. She had a cut on the right side of her face. Her lovely face became very pale. Along with two of her friends, who’d also managed to free themselves, she ran for her life.
But halfway down the street, she realized that her best friend, Azarria Simmons, was not with them. Norwood ran back to the car and found Simmons lying in the back seat. “She isn’t moving,” Norwood shouted, with her heart beating hard. She threw open the back door and pulled her friend out, avoiding the broken glass as best she could. She dragged Simmons a few feet to safety and laid her on the ground. She checked per pulse. Nothing. She put her head against Simmons’s chest. No sign of life. That’s when she started CPR(心肺复苏术)
注意：
1. 续写词数应为150左右;
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
If the accident had happened a few weeks earlier, she might not have known what to do.
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After a while, the CPR worked and Simmons regained her consciousness.
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7 . When I zipped through elementary school way back in the 1950s, in English class we were encouraged to express ourselves through creative writing, public speaking or perhaps taking part in some form of drama. And as we shared our creativity we were improving our communication skills. The emphasis here was how best to convey our thoughts and talents as clearly as possible. Yet it seemed that all spoken word exercises were being taught only from the speaker’s point of view, with little or no time spent teaching the fine art of listening.
And that was a missed opportunity because young children are remarkable listeners. They take in words, ideas and speech patterns, quite often without our awareness. Yet somewhere along the way, we teach them to stop listening. Perhaps they would benefit from lessons in selective silence, concentration, while focusing on knowing how to process all incoming information. Sadly, to the best of my knowledge, no such programs are offered.
We seem to allocate less time to actually listening to one another. There is no question that we are a nation of bad listeners. One reason might be the fact that we have become a much more visual society as result of exposure to television, the Internet and all manner of hand-held wireless devices. We tend to be more self-absorbed and primarily focused on hearing ourselves talk rather than listening to others.
I attended a small family gathering a few years ago and almost everyone except my 86-year-old aunt was constantly texting or checking email on their iPhone. It made me wonder why we had bothered get together in the first place as we were paying so little attention to one another. We could just as easily have had an online get-together.
Listening is indeed a rare and special talent. And one that takes a lot of practice. But once you have gotten comfortable with the technique, you might find your next tete-a-tete a whole lot more meaningful. Simply listening for nuances in conversation will provide so much more context and substance for the words you are hearing. Remember, in order to be interesting, you must first be interested. And in conversation, you are supposed to be listening, not waiting to talk.
1. What is the author’s attitude toward the English class in the 1950s?| A．Carefree. | B．Tolerant. | C．Favorable. | D．Objective. |
| A．We have less time to communicate. | B．We have a sense of self-importance. |
| C．The rapid development of technology. | D．The lack of care and understanding for others. |
| A．His aunt wasn’t good at listening. |
| B．His aunt didn’t like attending family gatherings. |
| C．His family members were engaged in hot discussions. |
| D．His family members showed little interest in one another. |
| A．To lead discussions. | B．To give suggestions. |
| C．To create expectations. | D．To make comparisons. |
8 . About 5,000 children die each day because of preventable diseases such as cholera (霍乱) and dysentery (痢疾), which spread when people use unclean water for drinking or cooking. A lack of water for personal health leads to the spread of totally preventable diseases like trachoma (沙眼), which has blinded some six million people.
Water troubles also trap many lowincome families in a cycle of poverty and poor education and the poorest suffer most from lack of access to water. People who spend much of their time on ill health, caring for sick children, or collecting water at a distance averaging 3.75 miles a day don’t have educational and economic chances to better their lives.
Agriculture is called the lion’s share of clean water worldwide, using some 70 percent, and industrial use needs another 22 percent. Water areas have no political borders and nations don’t always work together to share common resources, so water can be a frequent source of international problems as well.
Daybyday demand keeps growing, further draining water sources, from great rivers to groundwater. “We’re going deeper into debt on our groundwater use,” Postel said, “and that has great effects on global water safety. The rate of groundwater use has doubled since 1960.”
Some of Earth’s groundwater is fossil water created when Earth’s climate was far different. Today such water is as limited as petrol. “But we’re pumping much of them out faster than ever,” Postel explained. “Man’s growing thirst also causes a major problem about water and our ecosystems. And that also creates a cost to us, to our sons and to our grandsons, not just to nature.”
1. What does the author mainly discuss in the passage?| A．Water shortage has been a most serious challenge. |
| B．So many children die of polluted water every day. |
| C．Diseases should be properly controlled and treated. |
| D．Wasting water leads to the unrest of the world. |
| A．Because nations don’t always work together to save water. |
| B．Because agriculture uses about two thirds of clean water. |
| C．Because more people live on the agricultural produce. |
| D．Because agriculture is much stronger than industry. |
| A．groundwater is rich for us to use | B．there is no need to dig deep for groundwater |
| C．we are using our next generation’ water | D．we should use river water instead of groundwater |
| A．Water should be distributed equally. | B．Laws should be passed from groundwater. |
| C．We shouldn’t use water from rivers. | D．We should protect our ecosystems. |
9 . There is always something that happens in the world that everyone fears will happen to their town, city or country: natural disasters. The scariest part of it is that no one will ever see it coming. Though technology helps us prepare, but it never actually tells the people what time it’s going to hit. It is always estimated, but the result is never 100% accurate.
However, that is not the point of this article. Two different natural disasters in two different parts of the world have happened in the past few weeks. One is a major flood that has hit Louisiana in the United States. The other was an earthquake that hit Amatrice, Italy. However, there is a major difference in the news coverage(新闻报道) of the two tragedies.
As for the flooding in Louisiana, it is reported that this disaster is the worst to hit the United States since super-storm Sandy and it’ll cost at least $30 million. In only the first couple of weeks, 13 people had died. However, like me, many people did not hear about this tragic event. I did not learn about it until about three weeks after it happened.
In Italy, however, it covered all media instantly. The earthquake in Italy happened on Tuesday morning. That same day, I was on Twitter and that was all that was over the news feed. Every other post was about the earthquake. Some would have the opinion that Amatrice, Italy was one of the most beautiful towns in that country. I got in deep sorrow because there were more people killed in this quake than the flooding. So far, they have a total of 73 dead and over one-hundred missing.
I understand that technically the earthquake in Italy was worse than the floods in Louisiana. However, I believe that if a natural disaster happens, they all should be equally covered and taken equally as serious. We are one world united and should be there for all of the people out there who are in need of help. We may not be able to accurately predict disasters, but we can surely lend a hand out for the needy.
1. How does the author develop the passage?| A．By narration. | B．By comparison. |
| C．By definition. | D．By classification. |
| A．He didn’t care about the flood. | B．He felt nervous about the news. |
| C．The media didn’t cover it in time. | D．The flood frightened the author a lot. |
| A．Proud. | B．Critical. | C．Pitiful. | D．Sad. |
| A．Italy isn’t good at predicting the natural disasters. |
| B．All natural disasters should be covered equally. |
| C．The world should be united into one instantly. |
| D．America should help Italy predict natural disasters. |
10 . A nurse at a Los Angeles hospital took a photo of a woman who accidentally damaged her own eyes with pencils, and the patient sued the hospital after the picture was sent on the Internet, her lawyer said on Wednesday.
The woman, whose name was not mentioned, was treated at Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center after she unintentionally inserted the pencils through her eyes and was rushed to the hospital, her lawyer, Douglas Johnson, said. The injury left the woman blind, according to the lawsuit, filed on Monday in Los Angeles Superior Court.
The as-yet unidentified nurse took the photograph of the patient with the pencils still sticking out of her eyes, then shared the picture with another person, who passed the image to Joshua Shivers. Shivers, in turn, used his mother’s computer to post the image to a “ shock ” website, and the photo has since been viewed more than 192,000 times.
“Everybody knows that as soon as someone gets their hands on something like this, it spreads quickly and the harm is done,” said Douglas, who specializes in privacy cases.
County spokesman David Sommers said officials are investigating what is stated in the lawsuit, and he refused to comment further. The lawsuit also names as defendants Joshua Shivers and his mother, Linda. They could not be reached for comment.
The woman who blinded herself has since received mental help, learned to read braille and “gotten her life back on track” by enrolling in college, the lawsuit stated.
1. Why did the woman sue the hospital?| A．Because the nurse treated her badly. |
| B．Because her image was posted to a website. |
| C．Because the hospital didn’t cure her eye disease. |
| D．Because she was injured by a pencil in the hospital. |
| A．steals | B．desires | C．misses | D．possesses |
| A．They said nothing. | B．They felt they were wronged. |
| C．They believed they could win the lawsuit. | D．They thought they were to blame for their deeds. |
| A．the nurse has done nothing wrong | B．the woman lived a normal life eventually |
| C．the woman forgave Joshua Shivers finally | D．the woman’s eyesight recovered completely |
