2 . In the rich countries of the West, the electric vehicle revolution is well occurring. Climate-conscious consumers drive Teslas or Polestars for reasons of morality (道德) and fashion. Poorer countries are also experiencing a wave of electrified trend. In Bangladesh, electric three-wheeler taxis, known as tuk-tuks, are rapidly replacing gas-powered ones on the streets. Such electric vehicles are climate friendly, cost effective, and help reduce air pollution.

Yet a glance under the hood (引擎盖) of these vehicles shows a poisonous secret: each tuk-tuk runs on five massive lead-acid batteries (铅酸电池), containing almost 300 pounds of lead (铅) in total. Every year and a half or so, when those batteries need to be replaced and recycled, about 60 pounds of lead leaks into the environment. Battery recycling, often at small-scale unregulated factories, is a highly profitable (高利润的) but deadly business.

Lead is dangerous, and any exposure to it is harmful to human health. Lead that has entered the environment hurts people on an unexpected scale. The numerous ways lead enters air, water, soil, and homes across the developing world and the enormous damage it does to human health, wealth, and welfare cause one of the biggest environmental problems in the world yet receives little attention.

The World Bank estimates that lead kills 5.5 million people per year, making it a bigger global killer than AIDS, malaria, diabetes, and road traffic deaths combined. On top of the shocking deaths, the social burden of lead poisoning is heavy, as is its contribution to global inequality — our research on the cognitive (认知的) effects of lead poisoning suggests that it may explain about one-fifth of the educational achievement gap between rich and poor countries.

But unlike many challenges faced by developing countries, lead poisoning is a problem that can be resolved through financial investment (财政投入). Better monitoring, research, and rules can help protect children all over the world from the unpleasant effects of lead poisoning and reduce the massive global costs it brings.

1. How does the author describe the lead problem in paragraph 2?

A．By listing some numbers.	B．By analyzing hidden causes.
C．By making an interesting comparison.	D．By explaining its working principle.

2. What can we learn about lead’s harm from the text?

A．Lead enters poor countries in one way.

B．Lead leaking has been avoided in all the countries.

C．Lead will definitely not harm anymore.

D．Lead poisoning may make poor societies poorer.

3. What can be done to solve lead poisoning in developing countries?

A．Fixing these used batteries.	B．Reducing the cost of recycling lead.
C．Ignoring the illegal use of lead.	D．Putting certain effort and money.

4. Which of the following is the best title for the text?

A．The Impacts of Lead Poisoning on Man.

B．The Global Lead Poisoning Problem.

C．The Ways to Solve Lead Problem.

D．The Benefits of Using Electric Vehicles.

5 . How many people were safe and sound in the accident?

A．103.

B．127.

C．134.

6 . I once stopped behind several cars, waiting at the red light. The wind blew fiercely. Ahead of me stood a young woman alongside the street rubbing her bare hands together and dancing to keep ______. Beside her rested a sign that read, “I have a baby and no food.”

Homeless and unemployed people are a ______ sight in many of our large cities, and most people drive by without ______ assistance. No doubt they have been taught that giving them money develops a dependent ______, or that the cash may be used to buy alcohol ______ the food it was intended for. Like me, they may have been taught that one should give money to a local charity, as these organizations can ______ those in need far more effectively

As I waited for the light to turn green, I felt ______ about that woman. She was obviously in need. And whether or not she actually had a baby really didn’t ______. What should I do?

Should I give her money?As I ______, the window of the car in front of me was ______ down and a hand reached out holding a pair of warm gloves. The driver ______ her own gloves and gave them to the woman. I saw the young woman ______ the words “Thank you” and a broad smile lit up her face.

As I was wondering, somebody else ______. As I tried to decide the best way to help, somebody else just did what she could. I made myself a(n) ______ that day to always do something. Whether it is big or small, just do something.

Something is almost always better than nothing!Too often we underestimate(低估)the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the ______ to turn a life around.

1.

A．calm

B．energetic

C．warm

D．polite

2.

A．perfect

B．terrible

C．strange

D．common

3.

A．receiving

B．offering

C．seeking

D．expecting

4.

A．method

B．experiment

C．tradition

D．lifestyle

5.

A．other than

B．rather than

C．more than

D．better than

6.

A．assist

B．recognize

C．control

D．classify

7.

A．crazy

B．cautious

C．conflicted

D．satisfied

8.

A．change

B．matter

C．bother

D．differ

9.

A．hesitated

B．insisted

C．compared

D．observed

10.

A．kept

B．rolled

C．fell

D．broke

11.

A．took off

B．put on

C．took down

D．put away

12.

A．eye

B．nose

C．mouth

D．face

13.

A．continued

B．left

C．acted

D．appeared

14.

A．appointment

B．chance

C．agreement

D．promise

15.

A．benefit

B．potential

C．convenience

D．skill

8 . 阅读下面材料, 在空白处填入适当的内容 (1个单词) 或括号内单词的正确形式。

A fifteen-year-old boy     1    ( name) Justin Foster in Dover, New Hampshire went missing two days ago. It was not until the lunchtime the next day that he    2    (find) missing. His mother became     3     ( worry) and asked her husband to call the police. People offered many different explanations for his    4     (disappear). Kelly, his sister, said that Justin did return home the night before and even     5     (hear) him put on his favourite CD. She said she happened to see a large spaceship     6     (fly) outside, so she thought Justin must have been taken away     7     aliens. Some people also said that they themselves experienced this kind of thing. But Detective Sam Peterson,    8    took charge of the case(案例), said that there was     9    ( real) no hard evidence (证据) that aliens took him, and they wouldn’t give up until they found out    10    had happened.

9 . Today’s grandparents are joining their grandchildren on social media, but the different generations’ online habits couldn’t be more different. In the UK the over-55 s are joining Facebook in increasing numbers, meaning that they will soon be the site’s second biggest user group, with 3.5 million users aged 55-64 and 2.9 million over-65s.

Sheila, aged 59, says, “I joined to see what my grandchildren are doing, as my daughter posts videos and photos of them. It’s a much better way to see what they’re doing than waiting for letters and photos in the post. That’s how we did it when I was a child, but I think I’m lucky I get to see so much more of their lives than my grandparents did.”

Interestingly, Sheila’s grandchildren are less likely to use Facebook themselves. Children under 17 in the UK are leaving the site - only 2.2 million users are under 17 -but they’re not going far from their smartphones. Chloe, aged 15, even sleeps with her phone. “It’s my alarm clock so I have to,’ she says. “I look at it before I go to sleep and as soon as I wake up.”

Unlike her grandmother’s generation, Chloe’s age group is spending so much time on their phones at home that they are missing out on spending time with their friends in real life. Sheila, on the other hand, has made contact with old friends from school she hasn’t heard from in forty years. ”We use Facebook to arrange to meet all over the country,” she says. “It’s changed my social life completely.”

Parents have an important role to play if they want their kids to spend more time in real life. Peter, 38, who spends most of his time in front of a screen, is recently determined to set a better example to his kids. In the evening or at weekends, he would leave his smartphone home and take his kids out to nature.

1. What can we learn from Paragraph 1?

A．Older people have difficulty using social media.

B．Children spend more time with their grandparents.

C．More and more elderlies begin to use social media.

D．Social media have become more friendly to the elderly.

2. How does Sheila feel about social media?

A．Worried.

B．Satisfied.

C．Excited.

D．Disappointed.

3. What can be concluded from the passage?

A．People tend to have less social life as they get older.

B．Young people are getting away from their smartphone.

C．More young people choose to meet their friends in person.

D．Social media actually help old people to meet their friends.

4. What’s the best title for this passage?

A．Different Online Habits Across Generations	B．The Good Old Days Without Smartphones
C．The Next Generation of Social Media	D．The Use of Smartphones at School

10 . The famous Spanish painter Pablo Picasso once said, “Every child is an artist. The problem he has is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”

This is both encouraging and discouraging. The fact that we were all born to be artists is certainly exciting, and yet the reality has proven that many of us have failed to remain one.

Fortunately, some people have seen the problem and want to solve it.

Western educators have suggested that we introduce the concept of “STEAM” instead of “STEM”—traditional “core majors” including science, technology, engineering, and math—since the “A”, which stands for “art”, is just as important.

And on April 11, China’s Ministry of Education issued a guideline. Colleges and universities are required to provide more art-related courses and students need to earn a certain number of art credits in order to graduate.

These efforts came after many scientific studies had found that art education helps students develop self-confidence and teamwork skills, as well as habits of mind such as problem solving and critical thinking, according to The Washington Post.

It’s true that none of these skills is aimed for specific jobs. But as former US ballet dancer Damian Woetzel told The Atlantic, the purpose of art is “to give kids the tools to become adults who are creative, adaptable, and expressive—capable of having their eyes and ears and senses alive”. And we can now see how we lost track of our born “artist self” on our way to growing up: We failed to keep our abilities to see, hear and feel, and became blind, deaf and insensitive adults.

Hopefully, art education can help turn things around.

1. What is the function of the first paragraph?

A．To introduce the topic.	B．To summarize the whole passage.
C．To introduce a famous artist.	D．To encourage us to be artists.

2. Why should the concept of “STEAM” be introduced according to western educators?

A．Art is as important as traditional “core majors”.

B．All of us should learn art in college.

C．Traditional “core majors” are out of date.

D．Western education is more helpful.

3. What can we predict from the guideline issued by China’s Ministry of Education?

A．More art-related courses will appear in all schools.

B．College students will have to gain enough art credits to graduate.

C．More students will major in art at colleges and universities.

D．Art will become much more important than science.

4. What is the best title of the passage?

A．Every child is an artist	B．Learning from the artists
C．Bringing art to life	D．Life is art