1 . How much money is time worth? The question really matters, especially for the government. Before pursuing projects, governments weigh costs and benefits. And for many projects, especially those having to do with roads or bridges, one of the biggest benefits is time saved.
A new study sponsored by the rideshare company Lyft conducted experiments on 3.7 million customers in nine American cities. They adjusted prices and wait times to test when users requested and didn’t request rides. Then, they were able to figure out how much people are willing to pay to wait less for their rides.
For a long time, researchers have relied on surveys in which they asked questions like “How much would you pay to save five minutes?” People in these surveys may not accurately give the value of their time because it’s hypothetical (假设的). But Lyft’s data has information on the actual decisions that people make about how they value their time. If Lyft makes you wait five minutes more for your ride, will you take it? What if it charges you more for a shorter wait?
After analyzing the numbers, the researchers found a precise estimate for the average value of time: $19 an hour. They’ve also found that people’s value of time shifts throughout the day. The value of time is 50% larger in peak commute (通勤路程) time than in non-peak commute time. During commute time, minutes matter. People don’t want to be late for work. The value of saving minutes on rides increase when it’s raining or snowing.
Regarding their overall estimate, we should note that their experiments were conducted in nine of the richest urban areas in America. These are busy areas where being five minutes late for business meetings or dinner reservations can matter. Plus, the residents there are the type of people who pay for taxis. The researchers said they took pains to address these by adjusting their samples to match nationally representative surveys done by the government, and that they were confident in their findings. Maybe more research is needed to prove their findings.
1. What did the researchers do in the study?| A．They asked some Lyft customers questions. |
| B．They monitored some Lyft customers’ behavior. |
| C．They analyzed previous data on Lyft customers. |
| D．They tested their assumptions on Lyft employees. |
| A．They included too many questions. |
| B．They made the participants wait too long. |
| C．They collected assumptions instead of facts. |
| D．They failed to win the participants’ full support. |
| A．After enjoying the snowy scene. | B．After attending a business meeting. |
| C．When on holiday in the countryside. | D．When riding to work in the rush hour. |
| A．Skeptical. | B．Critical. | C．Approving. | D．Unconcerned. |
| A．A policewoman. | B．A judge. | C．A lawyer. |
3 . A caring mother is the single most important factor in preventing teenagers from abusing (滥用) drugs and alcohol, researchers said on Friday. An international study showed that teenagers living with both parents are less likely to suffer from alcohol and drug problems, and a strong maternal bond is the most effective way to fight against them.
“These findings suggest that living with both parents may prevent drug use,” said Dr. McArdle, of Newcastle University in northern England, who led the study. “They also suggest that attachment (依恋), particularly to mothers, is a more effective factor and that this truly across cultures and substances.” The report, which is published in the journal Addiction, involved nearly 4,000 teenagers in England, Ireland, Italy, Germany and the Netherlands. They were questioned about their use of several kinds of drugs and alcohol. The teenagers also filled in questionnaires about their relationship with their parents and grandparents, how well they were supervised (监护) after school and whether they were allowed to meet friends at home.
“Both the quality of family relationships and the structure of families have significant influences on youth drug use, McArdle said in a statement. But he added a strong maternal bond offered the greatest protection against developing drug habits. The rate of drug abuse among teenagers living with both parents and who had a good relationship with their mothers was 16.6 percent. If either factor was missing, the drug abuse rate rose to 32 percent. More than 42 percent of teenagers living in one parent families who did not have a strong bond with their mothers used drugs.
Drug prevention campaigns in British schools and on television warn teenagers about the danger of drugs and alcohol but McArdle said no one is dealing with the problem of parental responsibility.
1. The phrase “maternal bond” in the first paragraph refers to ______.| A．the education of mothers | B．the guidance of schools on mothers |
| C．whether the mother uses drugs | D．the supervision (监管) of mothers on children |
| A．16-year-old Tom from a happy big family. |
| B．18-year-old Juliet living with her single father. |
| C．17 year-old Kate supervised by her single mother. |
| D．19-year-old Mark cared by his parents. |
| A．Teenagers were asked about their relationship with parents. |
| B．Teenagers from several countries filled in the questionnaires. |
| C．Teenagers with both parents won’t have the drug use problem. |
| D．Teenagers in British schools are warned against drug abuse. |
| A．schools should answer for the drug problem |
| B．television and media are to blame |
| C．parents and the society are responsible for the drug problem |
| D．mothers are the cause of youth drug use |
4 . Like most of us, I try to be mindful of food that goes to waste. The arugula (芝麻菜)was to make a nice green salad, rounding out a roast chicken dinner. But I ended up working late. Then friends called with a dinner invitation. I stuck the chicken in the freezer. But as days passed, the arugula went bad. Even worse, I had unthinkingly bought way too much; I could have made six salads with what I threw out.
In a world where nearly 800 million people a year go hungry, “food waste goes against the moral grain,” as Elizabeth Royte writes in this month’s cover story. It’s jaw-dropping how much perfectly good food is thrown away — from “ugly” (but quite eatable) vegetables rejected by grocers to large amounts of uneaten dishes thrown into restaurant garbage cans.
Producing food that no one eats wastes the water, fuel, and other resources used to grow it. That makes food waste an environmental problem. In fact, Royte writes, “if food waste were a country, it would be the third largest producer of greenhouse gases in the world.”
If that’s hard to understand, let’s keep it as simple as the arugula at the back of my refrigerator. Mike Curtin sees my arugula story all the time — but for him, it's more like 12 bones of donated strawberries nearing their last days. Curtin is CEO of DC Central Kitchen in Washington, D.C., which recovers food and turns it into healthy meals. Last year it recovered more than 807,500 pounds of food by taking donations and collecting blemished (有瑕疵的) produce that otherwise would have rotted in fields. And the strawberries? Volunteers will wash, cut, and freeze or dry them for use in meals down the road.
Such methods seem obvious, yet so often we just don’t think. “Everyone can play a part in reducing waste, whether by not purchasing more food than necessary in your weekly shopping or by asking restaurants to not include the side dish you won’t eat,” Curtin says.
1. What does the author want to show by telling the arugula story?| A．We pay little attention to food waste. | B．We waste food unintentionally at times. |
| C．We waste more vegetables than meat. | D．We have good reasons for wasting food. |
| A．Moral decline. | B．Environmental harm. |
| C．Energy shortage. | D．Worldwide starvation. |
| A．It produces kitchen equipment. | B．It turns rotten arugula into clean fuel. |
| C．It helps local farmers grow fruits. | D．It makes meals out of unwanted food. |
| A．Buy only what is needed. | B．Reduce food consumption. |
| C．Go shopping once a week. | D．Eat in restaurants less often. |
5 . The good news is that more people bought electric vehicles (EVs) in 2020. The bad news is that sport utility (多用途的) vehicles (SUVs) continued to grow in popularity, too. “The fall in oil consumption due to the first trend was completely canceled out by the second,” said Laura Cozzi, an officer at the International Energy Agency (JEA).
Between 2010 and 2020, global carbon dioxide emissions (排放) from conventional cars fell by nearly 35 billion tons, due to reasons such as fuel efficiency improvements as well as the switch to electric cars. Emissions from SUVs rose by more than 50 billion tons. “While the growth in EVs is encouraging, the boom in SUVs is heart-breaking,” says Peters at the Cicero Climate Research Centre in Norway.
There are many reasons for the growing popularity of SUVs. For example, rising economic boom in many countries means more people are able to afford them. Some people see them as status symbols. Also, SUVs are heavily advertised by car-makers, whose profit is higher on these vehicles. Some countries, including France, have introduced plans under which more taxes are paid on heavier cars. But Peters thinks that people who are rich enough to afford SUVs won’t be deterred by slightly higher taxes. “There are now some electric SUVs available, but I hope one day you will see more electric vehicles brought to the SUV market,” says Peters.
Even if it happens, switching to electric SUVs isn’t a good solution. Due to their size and bigger batteries, it takes more resources to build electric SUVs, and they consume around 15 percent more electricity. That means higher emissions unless the electricity comes entirely from renewable sources, and higher electricity demand makes it harder to green the electricity supply.
1. What can we infer from Paragraph 2?| A．Scientists should devote themselves to improving fuel efficiency. |
| B．Electric vehicles will certainly take the place of sport utility vehicles. |
| C．The popularity of SUVs destroys some efforts at environmental protection. |
| D．The emission of carbon dioxide of motor vehicles has hit a new low. |
| A．Encouraged. | B．Blocked. |
| C．Removed. | D．Connected. |
| A．SUVs are discounted heavily. |
| B．SUVs are often advertised by car producers. |
| C．SUVs are taxed at a lower rate in some countries. |
| D．SUVs consume fewer resources than other vehicles. |
| A．The electric SUVs should be made smaller and lighter. |
| B．The electric SUVs are a good guarantee for less pollution. |
| C．More electric SUVs don’t necessarily mean “environment-friendly”. |
| D．Future electric SUVs will be powered with completely green energy. |
6 . In the eighth grade, I was student-body president of Erwin Middle School in Asheville. I considered this quite an
I spent several nights lying in bed,
The speech I gave on graduation day was only 12 minutes long, but what it started was
Throughout the summer, I worked on developing a program to carry our
Then word began to
All this was
The Erwin High “Committed Class of Millennium” would like to encourage your class to start a
| A．intention | B．honor | C．enjoyment | D．advantage |
| A．invited | B．transformed | C．promoted | D．introduced |
| A．normally | B．constantly | C．completely | D．gradually |
| A．but | B．for | C．or | D．so |
| A．thinking | B．arguing | C．dreaming | D．talking |
| A．controlled | B．freed | C．involved | D．trained |
| A．trapped | B．upset | C．moved | D．hit |
| A．success | B．dropout | C．pass | D．graduation |
| A．explore | B．leave | C．graduate | D．develop |
| A．unreliable | B．reasonable | C．acceptable | D．unbelievable |
| A．tell | B．admit | C．remember | D．suggest |
| A．pressure | B．behavior | C．response | D．respect |
| A．commitment | B．research | C．application | D．responsibility |
| A．chose | B．followed | C．found | D．started |
| A．disappear | B．spread | C．leak | D．come |
| A．congratulations | B．support | C．questions | D．doubt |
| A．amazing | B．interesting | C．relaxing | D．convincing |
| A．appointment | B．impression | C．decision | D．difference |
| A．progressed | B．quitted | C．cared | D．tried |
| A．requirement | B．performance | C．program | D．ceremony |
7 . Welcome to one of the largest collections of footwear (鞋类) in the world that will make you excited. Here at the Footwear Museum you can see exhibits (展品) from all over the world. You can find out about shoes worn by everyone from the Ancient Egyptians (埃及人) to pop stars.
Room 1 The celebrity (名人) footwear section is probably the most popular in the entire museum. Started in the 1950s there is a wide variety of shoes and boots belonging to everyone from queens and presidents to pop stars and actors! Most visitors find the celebrities’ choice of footwear extremely interesting. | Room 2 Most of our visitors are amazed and shocked by the collection of “special purpose” shoes on exhibition here at the Museum of Footwear. For example, there are Chinese shoes made of silk (蚕丝) that were worn by women to tie their feet firmly to prevent them from growing too much! |
Room 3 As well as shoes and boots the museum also exhibits shoe shaped objects. The variety is unbelievable. For example, there is a metal lamp that resembles (像) a pair of shoes, and Greek wine bottles that look like legs! | The Footwear Library People come from all over the world to study in our excellent footwear library. Designers and researchers come here to look up information on anything and everything related to the subject of footwear. |
| A．Room3. | B．Room 2. | C．The Footwear Library. | D．Room 1. |
| A．share the same theme | B．have the same shape |
| C．are made of the same material | D．belong to the same social class |
| A．The oldest exhibits in Room 1 were made in the 1950s. |
| B．All the exhibits in Room 2 were made of silk. |
| C．Researchers come to the Footwear Library for information. |
| D．Room 3 shows shoes and legs. |
| A．design shoes | B．visit the museum | C．do research | D．buy popular shoes |
8 . They are drawing the attention of the world. They bear the responsibility to shape our future. Who are they? They are the young generation who were born after 2000.
This year, several young athletes have shone brightly at the Beijing Winter Olympics, giving the public a glimpse of their generation’s nature.
Obviously, the young generation is filled with “brave warriors” who want to challenge impossibilities and push boundaries. Freestyle skier Gu Ailing is a good example. After she finished strong in the first two jumps in the women’s freeski big air event, it was certain that she could get a medal. But instead of playing it safe, the 18-year-old skier pushed herself to the limit. On the last jump, Gu decided to attempt a difficult trick: a left double cork 1620—four and a half rotations in the air—before landing.
“I have never done the ‘left 16’ before,” Gu told China Daily, “but I felt it was a chance to push myself to the limit.”
For the young athletes, the sport is never just about scores, but also about having as much fun as possible.
Born in the US, Gu faced criticism and doubts for representing China in the Beijing Winter Olympics. When questioned by The Guardian at a news conference on Feb. 8, the “post-00” said boldly that she wasn’t trying to make everyone happy. “I’m an 18-year-old girl out here living my best life. I’m having a great time,’’ Gu said. “It doesn’t really matter if other people are happy or not, because I feel I’m doing my best and I’m enjoying the entire process.”
Gu’s good friend, Chinese snowboarder Su Yiming also shares a similar attitude. He takes sports as a way to have fun.
After he was judged to have lost the gold to Canadian athlete Max Parrot in the men’s slope-style final, the 17-year-old didn’t feel upset. Instead, he was happy to have the chance to compete with his idol.
“When I was on the podium hugging Max Parrot, it felt unreal,” Su told China Daily. “All I did today was enjoying the runs and concentrating on my tricks. As long as I am on my snowboard I am happy.”
This is young generation that dares to push the limits but also enjoys life.
1. Why did Gu Ailing attempt a more difficult trick in the last jump?| A．To win a gold medal. | B．To inspire the “post-00”. |
| C．To challenge her potential. | D．To have fun in the process. |
| A．They don’t care what others think. |
| B．Sport is to push one to the limit and have fun. |
| C．They compete for medals to the best of their ability. |
| D．They are extremely accustomed to challenging difficult tricks. |
| A．Gu’s last jump has proved “practice makes perfect”. |
| B．Su lost his gold medal due to his poor performance. |
| C．Gu Ailing was criticized because she couldn’t make everyone happy. |
| D．The new understanding of sports from the “post-00”appeals to the public. |
| A．Just Have Fun in Sports | B．Gold Medals Don’t Matter |
| C．Winning Big in Life And Sports | D．Gu&.Su— Idols of the “Post-00” |
9 . You might text your friend a white lie to get out of going to dinner, exaggerate your height on a CV online to appear more attractive or invent an excuse for your boss over email to save face.
Social psychologists have long wondered where people tend to lie the most — that is, in person or through some other communication medium. A 2004 study was among the first to investigate the connection between deception (欺骗) rates and technology. Jeff Hancock’s team had 28 students report the number of social interactions they had through face-to-face communication, the phone, instant messaging and email over seven days. Students also reported the number of times they lied in each social interaction.
The results suggested people told the most lies on the phone and the fewest through email, which is broadly in line with a “feature-based model”. According to the model, specific aspects of a technology — whether people can communicate back and forth smoothly, whether the messages are fleeting and whether communicators are distant — predict where people tend to lie the most.
When Hancock conducted his study, few students had a Facebook account. The iPhone was in its early stage. What would his results look like nearly 20 years later?
In a new study, I recruited (招募) 250 people and studied interactions from more forms of technology. The participants recorded their social interactions and number of interactions with a lie over seven days, across face-to-face communication, social media, the phone, texting, video chat and email. The results show people seem to lie according to the “feature-based model”.
There are several possible explanations for these results. Phone and video chat, for example, might make deception less costly to a social relationship if caught. Deception rates might also differ across technology because people use some forms of technology for certain social relationships. For example, people might only email their colleagues (同事), while video chat might be a better fit for more personal relationships.
People often believe just because we use technology to interact, honesty is harder to come by. Not only is this perception (看法) misguided, but it is also unsupported by enough evidence. The belief that lying is common in the digital age just doesn’t match the data.
1. What does the author intend to do in the first paragraph?| A．Reveal the tendency of people to tell lies on social media. |
| B．Introduce the topic of technology’s role in people’s telling lies. |
| C．Demonstrate the increasing popularity of social media. |
| D．Illustrate people’s ways of social interactions. |
| A．Their participants were all students. |
| B．They both aimed to reduce deception rates. |
| C．Their results were both consistent with a certain model. |
| D．They analyzed the same kind of social relationships. |
| A．Social media users tend to lie more. |
| B．Close people are more likely to lie to each other. |
| C．Lying can greatly influence friendships. |
| D．Deception rates can be reduced by using technology. |
| A．It is unacceptable among friends. |
| B．It worsens interpersonal relationships. |
| C．It doesn’t happen as frequently as expected. |
| D．It is in line with advances in technology |
10 . Star Wars fans would be familiar with the good relationship between humans and droids (机器人) in the movies. In the movie Solo: A Star Wars Story, Lando Calrissian risked his life to rescue his co-pilot, a female droid L3-37. In real life, a humanoid robot, Sophia, has recently been granted (给予) citizenship in Saudi Arabia. Increasingly, people are ready to see robots as resembling humans. Given this phenomenon, I believ it is necessary to consider giving robots certain rights humans enjoy.
Experts have argued that since robots have now acquired human-like qualities, it is appropriate to consider if they should have rights just as humans. Sophia has a human like face and utilizes artificial intelligence to respond to speech and express emotions. For such a lifelike being that is potentially capable of expressing emotions, does it not deserve the right to be loved and respected?
Robots should also be given legal and moral protection as harming a robot may be similar to harming humans. Since people tend to form attachments to social robots, it becomes possible for companies to control the hardware and software to exploit this emotional attachment. There is a danger that data that is stored in the robot could be uploaded to the cloud. There would then possibly be situations in which the government or private sector retrieves (检索数据) the information stored in a robotic toy or social robot. With these uncertainties, it is clear why robots should be protected, just as humans.
An even more irresistible reason to grant human rights to the robots is the protection of societal values. We should stop a young child from kicking or tearing a toy robot apart because it resembles a real life. Giving robots certain rights will ensure that societal standards are set.
Still, many have roundly argued that no matter how sophisticated (老练的) they may be, robots are still machines. It is therefore quite ridiculous to treat them as living beings and grant them rights. However, with the advancement in technology, it is a matter of time before robots are fully anthropomorphized (赋予人的特征), and we would have to consider granting them rights.
In conclusion, deciding whether robots deserve human rights is by no means an easy task, but now is the time to start the conversation on this and seriously consider the possibility.
1. Why does the author mention the two examples in the first paragraph?| A．To remind readers of the importance of robots. |
| B．To discuss the necessity of rescuing robots. |
| C．To set readers thinking about an issue about robots. |
| D．To describe the relationship between humans and robots. |
| A．Robots should be legally and morally protected. |
| B．There is possible information risk. |
| C．Humans are doing harm to robots. |
| D．Robots should be given more emotional attachment. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Favorable. |
| C．Negative. | D．Uncaring. |
(①=Para. 1 ②=Para. 2 ③=Para. 3 ④=Para. 4 ⑤=Para. 5 ⑥=Para. 6)
| A．①—②③④⑤—⑥ | B．①②—③④⑤—⑥ |
| C．①—②③—④⑤⑥ | D．①—②③④—⑤⑥ |
