1 . Work starts early on White Gate Farm in East Lyme, Connecticut. By 7 a. m., farm manager Dan Wood was at the East Lyme Post Office dropping off a box of fresh produce that later in the day would be delivered by mail to Chelsea Gubbins, who lives across town.
White Gate Farm is a member of Farmers Post, a pilot programme that enables smallholder farms across eastern Connecticut to ship fresh produce and other farm products to local households through the United States Postal Service (USPS). Farmers Post takes advantage of a USPS programme called Connect Local that allows small businesses to offer same-day and next-day delivery at a fixed low cost.
Food remains in the fields because either market prices are too low or the cost of the workforce is too high, or because the size and shape of the produce make it unattractive to stores. Each year, around 10 million tons of crops never get harvested, causing about 16% of total US food loss and waste.
“Food that is wasted has a much larger influence than just the loss of the food itself,” says Julia Kurnik, senior director of Innovation Start-ups at WWF. “Everything that went into growing it goes out the window as well—the water, the land, and the energy. And as the food breaks down, it produces greenhouse gases. The bad effects amplify greatly.”
Besides reducing food waste, selling farm products directly to local customers cuts down on the cross-country shipping of food grown in California or elsewhere. This reduces the so-called food miles that researchers believe cause about 6% of the world’s greenhouse gases. Fruits and vegetables, which are often transported out of season and require refrigeration, produce lots of greenhouse gases between farms and people’s plates.
Wood understands that Farmers Post can help to end that waste. “Farming is kind of like cooking for a big group.” he says. “This is helping us get right on the money, using almost 100% of what we grow and harvest.”
1. Why was Farmers Post started?| A．To provide professional modern farming methods. |
| B．To create more delivery jobs for local people |
| C．To pick up and carry customers to different farms. |
| D．To make the delivery of produce easier and cheaper. |
| A．The limited need for farm products. | B．The shortage of workers and harvesting tool. |
| C．Their low value and poor quality. | D．Bad weather and road conditions. |
| A．Increase. | B．Slow. | C．Switch. | D．Weaken. |
| A．The Food Safety Movement Has Met Some Challenges |
| B．A Farm-to-Table Programme Helps Reduce Food Waste |
| C．Farmers Post Explores Ways to Make High-Quality Products |
| D．Small Farms Play a Leading Role in Serving Communities |
2 . Sometime in the early 1960s, a significant thing happened in Sydney, Australia. The city discovered its harbor. Then, one after another, Sydney discovered lots of things that were just sort of there — broad parks, superb beaches, and a culturally diverse population. But it is the harbor that makes the city.
Andrew Reynolds, a cheerful fellow in his early 30s, pilots Sydney ferryboats for a living. I spent the whole morning shuttling back and forth across the harbor. After our third run Andrew shut down the engine, and we went our separate ways — he for a lunch break, I to explore the city.
“I’ll miss these old boats,” he said as we parted.
“How do you mean?” I asked.
“Oh, they’re replacing them with catamarans. Catamarans are faster, but they’re not so elegant, and they’re not fun to pilot. But that’s progress, I guess.”
Everywhere in Sydney these days, change and progress are the watchwords, and traditions are increasingly rare. Shirley Fitzgerald, the city’s official historian, told me that in its rush to modernity in the 1970s, Sydney swept aside much of its past, including many of its finest buildings. “Sydney is confused about itself,” she said. “We can’t seem to make up our minds whether we want a modern city or a traditional one. It’s a conflict that we aren’t getting any better at resolving.”
On the other hand, being young and old at the same time has its attractions. I considered this when I met a thoughtful young businessman named Anthony. “Many people say that we lack culture in this country,” he told me. “What people forget is that the Italians, when they came to Australia, brought 2000 years of their culture, the Greeks some 3000 years, and the Chinese more still. We’ve got a foundation built on ancient cultures but with a drive and dynamism of a young country. It’s a pretty hard combination to beat.”
He is right, but I can’t help wishing they would keep those old ferries.
1. What is the first paragraph mainly about?| A．Sydney’s striking architecture. | B．The cultural diversity of Sydney. |
| C．The key to Sydney’s development. | D．Sydney’s tourist attractions in the 1960s. |
| A．He goes to work by boat. | B．He looks forward to a new life. |
| C．He pilots catamarans well. | D．He is attached to the old ferries. |
| A．It is losing its traditions. | B．It should speed up its progress. |
| C．It should expand its population. | D．It is becoming more international. |
| A．A city built on ancient cultures is more dynamic. |
| B．A city can be young and old at the same time. |
| C．Modernity is usually achieved at the cost of elegance. |
| D．Compromise should be made between the local and the foreign. |
1. 描述当下实体购物和网络购物发展的态势；
2. 你对网络购物的看法以及原因。
注意：1. 写作词数应为80左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节， 以使行文连贯。
参考词汇: physical store 实体店
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注意：1．词数100左右；
2．可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
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5 . Going against the trend of going to well-known yet crowded tourist destinations on vacation, a growing number of holidaymakers in China are spending their holidays at less-known places to look for unique and relaxed holiday experiences. “Reverse tourism” (反向旅游) has appeared as a new trend among young holidaymakers in China.
During the weeklong public holiday, which ended on Oct 7, large numbers of vacationers, especially youth who long to escape their busy city lives, avoid popular holiday destinations in order to get off the beaten track and enjoy some peace and quietness.
According to data from online travel agency Qunar, the number of rooms booked at hotels in less-traveled cities during the holiday was up 30 percent year-on-year. Bookings for four and five-star hotels in less-traveled places, including Linxia in Gansu province and Shizuishan in Ningxia, all increased at least 10 times from the same period of 2021. Even 12.5 percent of youth who normally have little time for themselves simply had a time in a hotel to make the much-awaited holiday more relaxing.
Besides crowds, some vacationers chose less-traveled places to save on the cost of trips to popular destinations, which often involve expensive tickets, meals and hotel stays. What’s more, less-known attractions are able to offer more natural experiences, according to social media posts. And unlike popular destinations, some undeveloped places with little online attention can offer more surprises.
Jiang Han, a senior researcher at the Beijing-based public policy think tank Pangoal (盘古智库), said that reverse tourism will become one of the future directions for the market and is an opportunity for growth which can match the camping economy.
1. If you support “reverse tourism”, you will probably choose ________.| A．a famous tourist destination on holidays |
| B．a cheap and popular vacation |
| C．a developed destination to enjoy yourself |
| D．a less-known place for relaxed experiences |
| A．By giving numbers. | B．By listing reasons. |
| C．By comparing opinions. | D．By giving definitions. |
| A．Negative. | B．Doubtful. |
| C．Positive. | D．Unconcerned. |
| A．Vacationers can save money while travelling. |
| B．More and more people accept less-travelled destinations. |
| C．People prefer to spend their holidays by travelling. |
| D．Young people often have little time to travel around. |
6 . Schools in US are huge consumers (消费者) of energy. According to ENERGY STAR, K-12 schools spend more than $ 6 billion every year on energy, far more than the amount spent on other resources, and at least 30 percent of this energy is used inefficiently or needlessly.
Realizing that, some schools are looking for measures to save energy in several ways, from low-cost adjustments, such as turning off lights in unused rooms, to large-scale projects, such as turning to green equipment.
As solar energy (太阳能) is becoming a more financial choice for powering buildings, more schools are making the move toward the renewable energy and using solar panels (电池板) on their rooftops. According to an online solar marketplace Energy Sage, schools have their strong points to use solar energy. They often have the kind of enough space, suitable locations that are perfect for setting up solar panels.
In September 2020, a nonprofit Generation 180 released its third edition of a study on solar use in US schools. The findings showed that more than 7,300, or 55 percent, of K-12 public and private schools used solar energy, the number has increased by 81 percent since 2014.
They also described how solar schools were saving millions in energy bills, and provided several cases to show the increased savings achieved by solar-powered school districts. For example, an Arkansas school used its every year’s energy savings of nearly $ 100,000 to increase its teachers’ salaries.
The Interstate Renewable Energy Council, which tracks the number of K-12 schools with solar equipment and helps schools go solar, says on its website that schools with solar setups have an opportunity to educate students about clean energy, and show them that they are doing something for students’ and the planet’s health and future.
Third-party ownership also makes funding for 79 percent of schools to use solar energy possible, meaning a majority of schools don’t have to spend large amounts of money but can get the rewards of solar energy.
1. How does the author lead in the topic of the text in the first paragraph?| A．By giving an example. | B．By raising a problem. |
| C．By offering an evidence. | D．By making a comparison. |
| A．Enough space to fix solar equipment. |
| B．Fund support from solar marketplace. |
| C．Free access to using solar energy. |
| D．Being the largest consumers of the energy. |
| A．Increasing their operating expense. |
| B．Threatening their teachers’ income. |
| C．Raising the students’ environmental awareness. |
| D．Reducing their total amount of energy consuming. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Doubtful. | C．Cautious. | D．Worrying. |
Live streaming (直播) has gone popular in China. Many have turned
Chinese authorities have introduced a set of updated regulations (管理) on live streaming industry
The document also calls for cooperation to carry
8 . Well over half of the average diet in the UK and US now consists of ultra-processed food (UPF) — or, as one scientist prefers to put it, industrially produced edible (可食用的) substances. Though defining it technically is complex, the simple explanation is that it contains items you wouldn’t normally find in a kitchen.
Sometimes UPF looks like junk food obviously artificial and high in salt, fat and sugar. But it often comes in reliable forms such as soup, muesli or yogurt. Unfortunately, almost every food that comes with a health claim on the packet is UPF. And a vast body of data has emerged in support of the theory that UPF damages the human body and increases rates of cancer, mental illness, etc.
Produced by a handful of multinational companies, UPF is created to be cheap to produce and transport, with industrially derived (提取的) substances replacing costlier ingredients (原料) and ensuring long shelf lives. It is also designed to make us buy more — essential in a system where businesses must keep growing to satisfy their shareholders each quarter. Global consumption is rising fast, especially in middle-income countries.
The impact is firstly on individual bodies, but through them on health services. This is a social problem that cannot be solved by telling consumers to check product labels. UPF consumption is not propelled by laziness or greed, but poverty, intensive marketing and foods designed to make us keep eating:
Taking on big food is harder than tackling big tobacco has been. It requires addressing a broad range of products that many people cannot simply cut out. But it is possible and necessary. Addressing poverty is central: when people can afford to eat more healthily, they generally do. The government should ensure that people learn not only about the risks of UPF, but also about how to eat well. Measures should be taken to ensure that the food consumption is pushed by nutritional needs and appetites — not by financialised growth.
1. What can we know about UPF?| A．It can’t be found in a kitchen. | B．It looks like junk food but is healthy. |
| C．It is most popular in rich countries. | D．It may harm physical and mental health. |
| A．Forbidden. | B．Proved. | C．Driven. | D．Assessed. |
| A．To handle the tobacco problem first. | B．To limit the production of UPF. |
| C．To ban people from consuming UPF. | D．To raise people’s awareness of healthy diet. |
| A．UPF: Blame Businesses, Not Consumers | B．UPF: Convenience Food |
| C．UPF: Time to Reach More People | D．UPF: A Sensitive Issue |
9 . Even before the Internet brought unlimited consumer options directly into our homes, choice had long been seen as the driving force of capitalism (资本主义). The possibility of consumers to choose between competing providers of products and services decides which businesses will grow rapidly and which will bite the dust. The competitive environment caused by consumers’ free choice supposedly drives innovation and efficiency, delivering a better overall consumer experience.
However, recent experiments on consumer behaviour have suggested that too many options can lead to a range of anxieties in consumers—from the fear of missing out (FOMO) on a better opportunity, to the loss of pleasure in a chosen activity (thinking “why am I doing this when I could have been doing something else?”) and regret from choosing poorly. The raised expectations presented by a broad range of choices can lead some consumers to feel ill-informed and indecisive when making a purchasing decision.
Fortunately, randomness offers us a simple way to overcome the choice-related anxieties. When faced with a multitude of choices, many of which you would be happy to accept, throwing a coin may be the better option. This “randomized” strategy can help us to focus on our true preference and sometimes making a quick good choice is better than making a slow perfect one, or indeed making no decision at all.
It’s important to remember that you are not required to follow the randomized decision blindly. The suggested choice is just designed to put you in the position of having to seriously consider accepting the specified option, but doesn't force your hand one way or the other.
For those of us who struggle to make decisions, it’s comforting to know that when struggling with a selection, we can get out a coin and allow it to help. Even if we resolve to reject the outcome, being forced to see both sides of the argument can often kickstart or speed up our decision-making process.
1. Which is closest in meaning to “bite the dust” in paragraph 1?| A．Survive. | B．Fail. | C．Adapt. | D．Benefit. |
| A．too many options could make consumers more anxious |
| B．more choices usually led to better consumer experiences |
| C．companies are more innovative in a competitive environment |
| D．customers could make better decisions with enough information |
| A．Focus on our true preference. | B．Delay the decision indefinitely. |
| C．Accept the randomized strategy. | D．Throw the coins more than once. |
| A．Economy. | B．Politics. | C．Health. | D．Psychology. |
10 . Globalization (全球化) means that people, ideas, technology, money, services and many other things are moving between countries and changing the way people think and act.
Not everyone thinks the same way about globalization. Some people think it is bad，and some people think it is good. Some believe that globalization helps rich people get richer and makes poor people poorer. These people say that globalization helps big companies like Coca-Cola and McDonald’s destroy local businesses. However, the people who think globalization is a good thing argue that globalization helps poorer people to become richer. They also think that it doesn’t destroy local cultures. These people also believe globalization helps prevent wars. This is because countries with economic (经济的) connections will try hard to keep good relationships so that their economies aren’t destroyed.
Whether you think globalization is good or bad, it affects the world in two areas: jobs and cultures.
Globalization has had a very strong influence on jobs all over the world. For some workers, such as engineers, lawyers and bankers, globalization has been a good development. These workers are able to successfully compete globally and have seen an increase in their pay. But for those who work in factories or in the service industry (at hotels, shops and restaurants), it has not been good. Workers from poorer countries are trying to get these types of jobs. They will do the same job for less money. This decreases the pay for that job, so people get paid less to do it.
Cultures have also been affected by globalization. Foods such as Japanese noodles, Indian curry and French cheeses have spread around the world. We can also see an increase in the use of Chinese characters in tattoos (纹身). Some people get these tattoos but they don’t really know what the characters mean. Globalization also affects the film industry. Most people have seen American movies. But because of globalization, Korean, Indian and Japanese movies have become more worldwide.
No one knows the future of globalization. Most experts agree that it will continue to grow and have an increasingly greater influence on people’s life in the future.
1. Some people think globalization is good because it may __________.| A．change local cultures | B．help local businesses develop |
| C．help stop wars among countries | D．make rich people become richer |
| A．engineers will get a lower pay |
| B．globalization greatly affects people’s jobs |
| C．workers from rich countries get paid less |
| D．people can get favorite jobs more easily |
| A．enjoy foods from different countries | B．go to different countries for movies |
| C．own the same culture in the end | D．know Chinese characters very well |
| A．Globalization is sure to do good to people. |
| B．Globalization may change people’s life in the future. |
| C．Globalization will be limited in the future. |
| D．Globalization will be loved throughout the world. |
