3 . For more than 60 years, the soft drink Sprite has come packaged in iconic (标志性的) green bottles. Now, that time has come to an end. Starting Aug. 1, the Coca-Cola Co., which produces Sprite, will package the lemon-lime drink in clear plastic bottles in North America, the company announced Wednesday.

By bottling Sprite in clear plastic, Coca-Cola says, the bottles will be able to be recycled more times. One goal, the company says, is to increase the supply of recycled plastic that the company can then use to make future bottles. “Taking colours out of bottles improves the quality of the recycled material,” said Julian Ochoa, the CEO of a plastic recycling company working with Coca-Cola.

Sprite’s green plastic bottles were already recyclable. But coloured plastic bottles are typically separated from clear plastic bottles during the recycling process in order to keep the recycled plastic from becoming discoloured, Coca-Cola said. The green Sprite bottles were more often recycled into things like clothes and carpeting, which are more difficult to recycle again.

Environmental organizations say the problem with Sprite bottles is not only the colour, but the material: single-use plastic. “Coca-Cola’s recent announcement is another greenwashing attempt from one of the world’s worst plastic polluters,” said Kate Melges, who leads the Plastics Project at Greenpeace, “We are in the midst of a massive (巨大的) plastic pollution crisis. This is not a useful practice.”

Coca-Cola produces more than 100 billion plastic bottles every year, according to data it provided in 2019, making it one of the world’s largest producers of single-use plastic waste.

Soft drink bottles are usually made of a type of plastic called polyethyleneglycol terephthalate (PET). PET is lightweight, food-safe and recyclable — but like other plastics, PET can take hundreds of years to decompose. “Bottles with recycled content will still be thrown away, sent to landfills, or littered,” said Matt Littlejohn of Oceana, an ocean conservation (保护) organization.

1. Why does the Coca-Cola Co. decide to use the new package?

A．To increase its production.

B．To cut jobs in its factories.

C．To make its operation greener.

D．To suit the needs of customers.

2. What is Kate Melges’ attitude towards Coca-Cola’s new plan?

A．Worried.

B．Uncaring.

C．Positive.

D．Doubtful.

3. What does the underlined word “decompose” in the last paragraph mean?

A．Grow up.

B．Take off.

C．Throw away.

D．Break down.

4. What can be the best title for the text?

A．Sprite to Be Packaged in Clear Bottles

B．Coca-Cola Loses Its Wide Popularity

C．Sprite Reduces Its Product Supply

D．Coca-Cola Is the Largest Polluter

4 . 假定你是李华，最近你在微博上看到一个热议话题“父母该不该用金钱鼓励孩子学习”，请你就此话题写一篇文章，表达自己的观点，内容包括：
1.你对用金钱鼓励孩子学习的看法；
2.你的父母(或其他亲人)是如何鼓励你学习的；
3.你认为怎样才能更好地鼓励孩子学习。
注意：
1.写作词数应为80左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6 . In February, news broke that Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff had taken a “digital detox(脱瘾)”: 10 tech-free days at a French Polynesian resort. For a small group of people, taking a step back from devices is an achievable dream, but for most, it’s an impossibility, especially.

A digital detox requires dismissing technology almost entirely: taking a break from screens, social media and video conferences for multiple days. The goals—reducing stress or anxiety, and reconnecting with the physical world—are well-intentioned. However, experts say a digital detox isn’t practical anymore for most people.

“Technology is very much a part of us now. We bank with an app, read restaurant menus on phones and even sweat with exercise instructors through a screen,” says Seattle-based consultant Emily Cherkin, who specialises in screen-time management. “It’s so embedded(嵌入式的) in our lives, we’re setting ourselves up for failure if we’re going to go phone-free for a week.”

As people become increasingly interdependent on technology, doing a digital detox no longer seems like a reasonable goal. But there may be a more realistic solution that will lessen our tech obsession(着迷), without forcing us to totally disconnect.

Rather than cutting out technology altogether, practice digital mindfulness. Make sure the use of technology is purposeful. Instead of a full detox, digital mindfulness may be more practical for some people: less worry about cutting tech out entirely, and more focus on being intentional with its use.

The goal shouldn’t be to cut off technology or to put a full stop. People still need to send an email, but can do so without getting distracted by the various online contents.

This approach is called “grey detoxing”—you’re not totally immersed(沉浸的) or totally cut off from technology. Instead of causing ourselves more anxiety by attempting to live without our phones for a week, we can approach unavoidable screen time in a way that feels right for our individual lives.

1. Why does the author mention Marc Benioff in paragraph 1?

A．To criticize the idea of digital detox.	B．To urge readers to take a digital detox.
C．To bring digital detox up for discussion.	D．To recommend a French Polynesian resort.

2. Why is a digital detox impossible for most people nowadays?

A．They are more stressed and anxious.	B．They are deeply influenced by tech.
C．They are unwilling to go phone-free.	D．They tend to be more pessimistic.

3. What might be a solution to tech obsession?

A．Going on a holiday to Polynesia.	B．Avoiding tech altogether.
C．Disconnecting occasionally.	D．Using tech purposefully.

4. What does the author think of less screen time in modern society?

A．It is achievable.	B．It is unreasonable.
C．It is ridiculous.	D．It is unrealistic.

7 . Even chess experts perform worse when air quality is lower, suggesting a negative effect on cognition(认知). Here’s something else chess players need to keep in check: air pollution.

That’s the bottom line of a newly published study co-authored by a researcher, showing that chess players perform objectively worse and make more suboptimal(次优的) moves, as measured by a computerized analysis of their games, when there is more fine particulate matter(颗粒物) in the air, notated as PM 2.5.

More specifically, given a modest increase in fine particulate matter, the probability that chess players will make an error increases by 2.1 percentage points, and the spectrum of those errors increases by 10.8 percent. In this setting, at least, cleaner air leads to clearer heads and sharper thinking.

“We find that when individuals are exposed to higher levels of air pollution, they make more mistakes, and they make larger mistakes,” says Juan Palacios, an economist in Sustainable Urbanization Lab.

“It’s pure random exposure to air pollution that is driving these people’s performance,” Palacios says. “Against comparable opponents in the same tournament round, being exposed to different levels of air quality makes a difference for move quality and decision quality.”

The researchers also found that when air pollution was worse, the chess players performed even more poorly when under time limitation. “We find it interesting that those mistakes especially occur in the phase of the game where players are facing time pressure,” Palacios says.

“There are more and more papers showing that there is a cost with air pollution, and there is a cost for more and more people,” Palacios says. “And this is just one example showing that even for these very excellent chess players, who think they can beat everything, it seems that with air pollution, they have an enemy who harms them.”

1. What effect does air pollution have on chess players?

A．They make fewer good choices.	B．They perform subjectively worse.
C．They suffer body discomfort.	D．They lose all games with computers.

2. What does the underlined word “spectrum” in paragraph 3 probably mean?

A．Magic.

B．Process.

C．Range.

D．Balance.

3. What does Palacios express in the last paragraph?

A．His appeal for attention to chess players.

B．His concern about air pollution.

C．An example of chess players’ performance.

D．Approaches to dealing with air pollution.

4. What’s the main idea of the text?

A．Air pollution is a tough enemy chess players face.

B．Chess players make more and more mistakes.

C．There is a cost with air pollution for more people.

D．Chess players perform poorly under time limitation.

8 . I believe that we can use social media for a lot of great things and it’s important especially for business owners like me. Ever since I started my calligraphy business two years ago, I’ve never spent a day without going on social media, especially a kind of social app on my phone, on which I promoted my products and services and got in contact with possible customers.

Later I found it got in the way of more important things. I hate to say I was hooked by it, but I was. Every time I turned on my phone, I would dive into it. For a long time, I had been I ignoring other parts of my life, like my family, my friends and my happiness. One day, I was thinking that a break should have happened long before to me.

Then I decided to remove the app off my phone for a month and only use that on my computer to keep track of my business. I wanted a clean break to reflect and plan for the future.

I had believed that if I spent less time on the platform, I would miss out much. Actually, I was so wrong. During this month off, I realized there was much to enjoy in life. I found more time to enjoy my hobbies and contacted my good friends that I had lost touch with, I was refilled with energy in all aspects of my life.

This one month off the app on the phone was healthy for me. If it were not for my business, I would like not to have it on my phone. I downloaded the app again on my phone, but only used it to post my own content. I didn’t intend to paint social media in a negative light, but now I just don’t think the way I was using it was healthy. It’s difficult to find balance, but I’m going to try to do it anyway. I’m going back, but it’s going to be different.

1. What did the author mainly do on social media?

A．He connected with his friends.	B．He worked on business activities.
C．He learned calligraphy on his own.	D．He shared advice about keeping fit.

2. What do the underlined words “hooked by” in paragraph 2 mean?

A．Opposed to.

B．Injured by.

C．Addicted to.

D．Frightened by.

3. What did the author learn after removing the social app from his cellphone?

A．It was meaningless to share on social media.

B．There was lots of fun away from social media.

C．The social app contributed little to his business.

D．The social app in the computer was more practical.

4. Why does the author decide to go back to social media?

A．One month away from social media upsets him.

B．He wants to seek more hobbies on social media.

C．He has confidence in balancing social media and life.

D．His friends ask him to communicate on social media.

9 . Three high school seniors from Callisburg, Texas, learned that an old gatekeeper in their school didn’t have enough money to retire, so they decided to help him out.

The three students, Greyson Thurman, Marti Yousko and Banner Tidwell, from Callisburg High School created a GoFundMe page on Feb. 15, which attracted many people after Thurman posted a video of the old man’s cleaning a hallway on the Internet. The video was accompanied by music and text that included a link to the GoFundMe page they created.

“This is our 80-year-old gatekeeper who had his rent raised and had to come back to work. Let’s help Mr James out,” the post read. “No one at his age should have to be cleaning our messes up to continue to live.”

Through the page, they got more than 8,000 donations totaling about $260,000. Most of the donations came from Callisburg’s students and staff. “It’s amazing,” said Jason Hooper, Callisburg High Principal. In his opinion, the need was met because of the three kind kids. All the students who joined in the activity met that need.

The three students said they had to help the old man after he was forced out of retirement due to the rising cost of living in the north Texas area. “It’s just so sad to see an 80-year-oldman having to do things that no 80-year-old person should have to do,” said Tidwell.

Mr James is hardly alone. About 1.5 million retirees have had to rejoin the workforce due to the high inflation(通货膨胀), according to an analysis of the data by the US Department of Labor. About 1 in 6 retirees is considering returning to work in search of greater financial security, according to a survey published this month from Paychex.

Money got from the activity was enough to send Mr James back into retirement. He could get ready to go back to retirement and would live a comfortable life.

1. What is paragraph 2 mainly about?

A．How to create a page.

B．What to do for people in need.

C．A brief introduction to Callisburg High School.

D．The way the three students helped the gatekeeper.

2. Which did Jason Hooper think was surprising?

A．So many people loving the video.

B．The three kids making a difference.

C．An 80-year-old gatekeeper still working.

D．The total number of the money lent to the gatekeeper.

3. What does the author intend to show through paragraph 6?

A．The high inflation of the US.	B．The way most retirees are living.
C．The living situation of the retirees.	D．What 1 in 6 retirees is considering.

4. In which section of a newspaper can we find the text?

A．Society.

B．Economy.

C．Literature.

D．Travel.