1 . It’s sometimes said that the US is a “melting pot” of different racial groups living together, but a decision last month set fire to the pot.
On Nov 24, a local court decided not to charge(控告) Darren Wilson, a 28-year-old white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, US. Wilson shot dead the 18-year-old unarmed black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson on Aug 9.
By Nov 26, people who were against the decision in 37 US states and Canada had taken to the streets, said a newspaper.
Wilson said that Brown had hit him and tried to get his gun. In fear for his life, Wilson shot Brown 12 times and killed him. However, some said that Wilson attacked Brown for breaking traffic laws, and shot him for no good reason.
People are wondering whether the same thing would have happened if Brown had been white. The deep racial divide in the US makes the case more than a crime story, said a New York Times article.
It’s been five decades since legal segregation (种族隔离政策) was banned, but a wide gap remains between black and white Americans. The unemployment gap between them is unchanged in 40 years, while the gaps in wealth, income and educational attainment have widened, according to the newspaper.
The case is the latest reminder for some people that the US judicial（司法的） system doesn’t treat black and white people the same, CNN reported.
Just days before the decision, a white police officer shot and killed a 12-year-old black child, Tamir Rice. Police said that Tamir had an air gun that looked real, according to CNN.
To help with the distrust between police and minority communities, President Obama said that he would ask Congress for $263 million to buy 50, 000 body-worn cameras for police to record themselves, and improve training to make sure law is obeyed.
“For the people who just feel pained because they get a sense that some communities aren’t treated fairly — I understand that, and I want to work with you, and I want to move forward with you,” Obama said on Dec 2.
1. Which of the following differences between black and white Americans isn’t mentioned in the text?| A．income | B．welfare | C．education | D．jobs |
| A．only black Americans care about the shooting |
| B．the case is not about a man but about legal segregation. |
| C．if Brown had been white, the same thing would not have happened. |
| D．many American Media pay attention to the case |
| A．gentle | B．caring | C．angry | D．hesitant |
| A．the shooting and the decision shock the United States |
| B．all American policemen are equipped with body-worn cameras |
| C．all people believe black Americans aren’t treated fairly. |
| D．The police ,Wilson will be charged with the shooting |
In the past，it took a long time for people
One example of this is a man who beat a dog
3 . As America continued to suffer from the pandemic (流行病), there were some ordinary individuals who held us together.
Here is how one
“We were
| A．story | B．project | C．record | D．saying |
| A．begun | B．finished | C．taken | D．served |
| A．fired | B．helped | C．hired | D．introduced |
| A．go | B．work | C．end | D．come |
| A．called | B．designed | C．advertised | D．closed |
| A．good | B．annoyed | C．grateful | D．sorry |
| A．cooked | B．ordered | C．reserved | D．donated |
| A．tip | B．dish | C．food | D．ticket |
| A．Suddenly | B．Actually | C．Fortunately | D．Generally |
| A．already | B．yet | C．also | D．still |
| A．observe | B．recommend | C．test | D．pay |
| A．anxious | B．smart | C．embarrassed | D．amazed |
| A．resist | B．explain | C．expect | D．recognize |
| A．important | B．necessary | C．obvious | D．lucky |
| A．knowing | B．promising | C．imagining | D．pretending |
| A．equally | B．possibly | C．partly | D．accidentally |
| A．In either case | B．On the contrary | C．What's more | D．Regardless of that |
| A．so | B．but | C．and | D．or |
| A．welcome | B．willing | C．responsible | D．confident |
| A．within | B．for | C．beyond | D．by |
4 . Healthcare staff and bank clerks have been on the front line of the health and economic crises striking the UK, but behind the scenes, another group of workers robots have been toiling away and overcoming both emergencies with no fear of COVID-19. But will COVID-19 speed up the rise of robots?
Robotic Process Automation (RPA) is software that robotizes repetitive back-office tasks. The National Health Service (NHS) has used it during the widespread disease to con-trol demand and capacity planning in caring for all levels of patients day and night. Jason Kingdon, Blue Prism's new chief executive who is recovering from COVID-19, says, “Before RPA, these were manual processes. You had to train a number of staff to put them in place. Now, you only need to train a single robot to manage the administration.” More than two fifths of bosses across 45 countries that responded to a survey by EY (Ernst & Young) said they were planning on accelerating spending on automation technology to prepare for a post-Covid world.
COVID-19 has already left tens of millions unemployed, so firms won't be short of cheap labour on the other side of the crisis. But experts still think Al will be the more cautious choice for companies. One of them said, “It's important to remember that even in China, which has much lower wages, 12.5 million manufacturing jobs have been cut over the past four years as more robots have been adopted.”
However, Al is overhyped (过分提倡)in many ways and poor application could lead to a rise in anxiety towards automation. Again, we should think of history as a guide. A lot of, workers riots(暴动) in the early 19th century happened during the continental blockade of the Napoleonic Wars when there was significant mess to trade in Britain. These things are not unrelated.
1. What does the underlined phrase “toiling away” in paragraph 1 mean?| A．Walking slowly. | B．Working lazily. |
| C．Working hard. | D．Walking toughly. |
| A．He prefers to use robot workers. |
| B．He has refused to accept robots' service. |
| C．He wishes to employ more human staff. |
| D．He dislikes the survey by EY. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Worried. |
| C．Indifferent. | D．Opposed. |
| A．Robots Have Taken the Place of Humans |
| B．COVID-19 Has Terrible Effects on Our Life |
| C．It’s Time to Stop Robots from Taking the Place of Humans |
| D．COVID-19 Speeds up the Trend of Robots Replacing Humans |
5 . Over half of Tokyo’s residents don’t think the postponed 2020 Olympics should be held in 2021, backing either a further delay or complete cancellation because of fears for the coronavirus, according to a poll(民意调查) published on Monday.
The survey carried out by two Japanese news organizations is only a single data point, but comes after health experts warned that even a year’s delay may not be enough to hold the Games safely.
The poll found 51.7 percent of respondents hope the Games in 2021 are postponed again or canceled, while 46.3 percent want to see the rescheduled Olympics go ahead. Among those opposed to the 2021 Games, 27.7 percent said they want them canceled altogether, while 24 percent would prefer a second postponement.
The telephone poll, conducted by Kyodo News and Tokyo MX television between Friday and Sunday, received 1,030 replies. Of those who said they want to see the Games held in 2021, 31.1 percent said the event should be on a smaller scale, while 15. 2 percent said they want to see fully developed Olympics.
Tokyo 2020 was postponed in March as the coronavirus spread across the globe, causing the worst disruption(中断) to the Olympics since two editions were canceled during World War II. The Games are now scheduled to begin on July 23, 2021, although they will still be known as the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Officials from Japan and the International Olympic Committee(IOC) have warned that it will not be possible to postpone them again, and even the year-long delay has created significant financial and logistical(后勤的) headaches.
Earlier in June, the mayor of Tokyo Yuriko Koike told AFP that the rescheduled Olympics will be safe despite the coronavirus pandemic, promising to make a “120-percent effort” to ensure the first-ever postponed Games can go ahead. Koike has been heavily involved in preparations for the Games, traveling to Rio for the handover ceremony after the last Summer Olympics.
1. What can we learn about the poll from the text?| A．It lasted two days in total. |
| B．It was conducted by the IOC. |
| C．It was carried out on the phone. |
| D．It aimed to evaluate the safety of the Games. |
| A．About 533 respondents don’t want to see the Games held in 2021. |
| B．There are more respondents hoping to delay the event rather than cancel it. |
| C．Over half of the respondents would like to see the delayed Games go ahead. |
| D．Some respondents support delaying the event because they need full-scale Olympics. |
| A．The athletes are strongly opposed to it. |
| B．COVID-19 will be under control soon. |
| C．They have made full preparations for them. |
| D．It will be too costly to bear a second time. |
| A．Disappointed. | B．Optimistic. |
| C．Worried. | D．Indifferent. |
6 . Now, Amazon has opened a brick﹣and﹣mortar bookstore in downtown Bethesda, and I am not thrilled. One reason is that there is no cafe area. But the biggest reason I am profoundly disappointed is that the new Amazon store does not accept cash. I refuse to use a credit card to pay for small purchases, such as books. I prefer to use cash.
Much has been written about the "unbanked" people who are too poor to afford a credit card or a debit card（借记卡）and who don't have a smartphone. No﹣cash policies are discriminatory against people of low income. In Massachusetts, it is illegal for retail establishments to discriminate against cash﹣paying customers. Several lawmakers in the district are thinking of adopting similar laws.
I am not a person of low income. I do have a credit card, and I occasionally use it. But it is my choice, for lifestyle and money management reasons, to use my credit card only for large purchases. I have decided not to own or use a smartphone, which means that I cannot use apps to make purchases.
For all their convenience, credit cards do come with problems. There are privacy concerns, because credit card purchases can be tracked. There are risks that those using credit cards may become victims of identity theft. And a cashless economy is dependent on functioning computers and uninterrupted power sources. Computers can be hacked, and power outages occur. In these circumstances, a cashless economy simply won't function.
My decision not to patronize stores that discriminate against cash﹣paying customers means that the only bookstore in downtown Bethesda will not be getting my business. In refusing to patronize such businesses, I am standing up for the "unbanked" who can't afford credit cards or smartphones and also for people like me who simply choose to use cash.
1. Why is the author disappointed at the new bookstore mainly？| A．Because there is no cafe area. |
| B．Because there are only e﹣books. |
| C．Because it rejects cash payment. |
| D．Because it doesn't accept credit cards. |
| A．The drawbacks of no﹣cash policy. |
| B．The credit risks of a cashless economy. |
| C．The convenience of credit card payment. |
| D．The privacy concerns of online shopping. |
| A．Sponsor. | B．Shop in. | C．Purchase. | D．Flee from. |
| A．Angry. | B．Worried. | C．Optimistic. | D．Enthusiastic. |
7 . Happiness is not a warm phone, according to a new study exploring the link between young life satisfaction and screen time. The study was led by professor of psychology Jean M. Twenge at San Diego State University (SDSU).
To research this link, Twenge, along with colleagues Gabrielle Martin at SDSU and W. Keith Campbell at the University of Georgia, dealt with data from the Monitoring the Future (MtF) study, a nationally representative survey of more than a million U. S. 8th-, 10th-, and 12th-graders. The survey asked students questions about how often they spent time on their Phones, tablets and computers, as well as questions about their face-to-face social interactions and their overall happiness.
On average found that teens who spent more time in front of screen devices — playing computer games, using social media, texting and video chatting — were less happy than those who invested more time in non-screen activities like sports, reading newspapers and magazines, and face-to-face social interactions.
"The key to digital media use and happiness is limited use," Twenge said. "Aim to spend no more than two hours a day on digital media, and try to increase the amount of time you spend seeing friends face-to-face and exercising — two activities reliably linked to greater happiness."
Looking at historical trends from the same age groups since the 1990s, it's easy to find that the increase of screen devices over time happened at the same time as a general drop-off in reported happiness in U. S. teens. Specifically, young peopled life satisfaction and happiness declined sharply after 2012. That's the year when the percentage of Americans who owned a smartphone rose above 50 percent. By far the largest change in teens' lives between 2012 and 2016 was the increase in the amount of time they spent on digital media, and the following decline in in-person social activities and sleep.
1. Which method did Twenge's team use for the study?| A．Calculating students' happiness. |
| B．Asking students certain questions. |
| C．Analyzing data from a survey. |
| D．Doing experiments on screen time. |
| A．By making a comparison. |
| B．By giving an example. |
| C．By making an argument. |
| D．By introducing a concept. |
| A．To draw a conclusion from the study. |
| B．To offer some advice to the readers. |
| C．To prove social activities' importance. |
| D．To support the researchers' finding. |
| A．Quitting Phones Equals Happiness |
| B．Screen Time Should Be Banned |
| C．Teens' Lives Have Changed Sharply |
| D．Screen-addicted Teens Are Unhappier |
8 . If you think grandparents like recalling the good old days, you’re in for a surprise. According to a recent survey, most think nostalgia just isn’t what it used to be.
Richard Drew, from the estate agent Retirement move—which carried out the survey, said, Grandparents don’t seem to want to turnback time.
The study found nearly eight in ten Grandparents say the Internet has improved life thanks to online shopping, offering new ways of communicating and online banking. It’s not just shopping online that’s had a positive impact—shops are better now too.
Although almost half said life is better now compared to when they were in their twenties, this didn’t stop Grandparents complaining about manners, traffic and driving etiquette.
| A．Opinions on films differed great. |
| B．Many of them are fond of watching film. |
| C．The results suggest there’s never been a greater time to be retire. |
| D．The main reason is that technology makes their life more comfortable. |
| E．Almost six in ten said their quality of life was better than their parents. |
| F．It is mainly because of the advances in technology, healthcare and more. |
| G．When asked to use words to describe today’s life, they chose “stressful” and “selfish”. |
9 . Like many of us, Brittney Woodrum had a lot of plans for 2020. The University of Denver graduate student was going to travel the world and continue her work for the various non-governmental organizations (NGOs) she'd been working for before graduate school. However, when a serious infectious disease started, Woodrum began to accept that her travel plans would have to be put on hold. But what she couldn't accept was staying at home and “waiting this thing out.”
So, the Kentucky native began to look for an organization she could partner with to get the most out of her newly flexible schedule. She quickly found and committed to Shelterbox — a mostly volunteer-run organization that provides emergency shelter and tools for displaced families around the world — recognized internationally by the green box which physically holds the relief products. She joined as an ambassadress and learned that participating in physically challenging projects with the bluish-green box was central to the organization's mission.
As a hiker and lover of the outdoors, the 27-year-old decided she was going to climb all 58 of Colorado's 14,000 feet mountains with the goal of raising awareness and funding for families around the world who have lost their homes and are now facing the threat of the disease. 78 days and nearly 600 miles of hiking later, Woodrum raised $85,000 from friends, family and strangers around the world.
Woodrum said because the project came together so quickly, she didn't think she would raise more than $ 5,000. Word seemed to spread very quickly and a lot of people were equally moved by Shelterbox's mission and what I was doing," she said. "I have a large amount of gratitude to everyone who came out to support me both virtually and physically.”
The journey was not easy. “There were a lot of variables (可变因素) involved, from the weather to my health and well-being.” She said, “I am so relieved that everything went better than expected.”
1. What can we learn about Shelterbox?| A．Its goal is to rebuild homes for the homeless. |
| B．It is an official disaster relief organization. |
| C．It often sets a tight schedule for its ambassadors. |
| D．Its ambassadors should carry green boxes for tasks. |
| A．Reliable and intelligent. | B．Generous and flexible. |
| C．Adventurous and sympathetic. | D．Creative and determined. |
| A．Confident | B．Unexpected | C．Unsatisfied. | D．Ambitious. |
| A．Hard Journey to Raise Money | B．New Plan of Brittney Woodrum |
| C．Shelterbox Stands by Poor Families | D．Student Climbs Mountains for Charity |
10 . Dan Morrison had been an experienced barber for a shop for years. He
Such a
The "Haircuts for the homeless" thing lad always been on Sean's
"I
Tuesday through ' Sunday, Dan's barbershop would be just a
| A．hesitated | B．resigned | C．graduated | D．failed |
| A．sidewalk | B．market | C．square | D．platform |
| A．setting aside | B．keeping up | C．giving out | D．taking over |
| A．condition | B．report | C．business | D．scene |
| A．argument | B．objection | C．fun | D．exception |
| A．impressed | B．amazed | C．pleased | D．excited |
| A．respect | B．gratitude | C．affection | D．sympathy |
| A．explain | B．compromise | C．decline | D．leave |
| A．attract | B．encourage | C．support | D．comfort |
| A．honor | B．behalf | C．way | D．mind |
| A．running into | B．turning to | C．hearing of | D．looking for |
| A．unnecessary | B．unbelievable | C．uneasy | D．unreasonable |
| A．tasks | B．keys | C．choices | D．tools |
| A．gradually | B．eventually | C．especially | D．directly |
| A．purchased | B．named | C．donated | D．used |
| A．wonderful | B．creative | C．familiar | D．consistent |
| A．alternative | B．attempt | C．experiment | D．opportunity |
| A．politeness | B．kindness | C．invitation | D．advice |
| A．normal | B．unique | C．new | D．modern |
| A．casually | B．randomly | C．strictly | D．occasionally |
