1 . People in Japan tend to live longer and stay healthier in their later years, with an increasing number of old people living alone. Japan is on a fast track to “ultra-age” with people aged 65 or above accounting for 28 percent of its total population in 2019；it was 26.7 percent in 2017. On the other hand, the number of births in 2019 fell to its lowest (about 941,000) since records began in 1899.

Demand for care services for elderly people has increased. A shrinking (缩小) working population means fewer able-bodied adults are available to look after the elderly. State-provided facilities for the elderly are not enough, which causes elderly people to turn to private ones but they are expensive.

The country will be short of 380,000 of health nurses by 2025. The government has to turn to advanced robots to meet the shortage. A study found that using robots encouraged one third of the people to become more active and independent. Yet there is no robot that can provide the emotional support to the elderly.

Japan provides a case study for China, which is also faced with a fast aging population. 17.23 million babies were born in China in 2019, about 630,000 fewer than in 2018. People aged 60 accounted for 17.3 of China’s population in 2019. With a shortage of elderly care facilities and unbalanced supply, China may find it hard to deal with the rapidly increasing number of senior citizens.

To meet the challenge, the Chinese government should make policy changes, which Japan is unwilling or unable to do or even consider. China should pay attention to the signals its aging population is sending and take proper and timely action.

1. What do we learn about the old Japanese?

A．More and more old Japanese prefer to live on their own.

B．A lot of old Japanese have to continue working at old age.

C．Some old Japanese remain active with the help of robots.

D．Japanese aged 65 or above make up one third of its population.

2. What can we know about state-provided care facilities for the elderly in Japan?

A．They are expensive.	B．They are inconvenient.
C．They are affordable.	D．They are fashionable.

3. What do the Japanese do to deal with the shortage of health nurses?

A．They hire foreign health nurses.

B．They employ advanced robots.

C．They set up more nursing schools.

D．They train the elderly to tend themselves.

4. What is the main idea of the last two paragraph?

A．Japan has to take action to deal with the aging population.

B．Robots can’t provide emotional support to the elderly.

C．China is now faced with a fast aging population.

D．Japan’s aging population issue is a timely lesson for China.

2 . Financial Education-Awareness Dilemma

When it comes to financial education, the majority of today's youth will regard it as a necessity for certain specific people who want to make their career in the financial world.     1     Actually, elementary financial education is a must for all, as money transaction is an essential part of our day-to-day life.

Suppose you have $100 in a saving account that pays simple interest at the rate of 2%per year. lf you leave the money in the account, how much will you have accumulated after 5 years: more than $102, exactly $102, or less than $102? The test might look simple, but only half of the people surveyed gave the correct answer.

    2    The explanation goes as follows: People with low levels of financial literacy suffer from that lack of knowledge at every stage of their lives. Researchers on this subject say people with a high degree of financial literacy are more likely to plan for their retirement.     3    

On the contrary, people who have a lower degree of financial literacy tend to borrow more, accumulate less wealth, and pay more in fees related financial products. They are less likely to invest, more likely to experience difficulty with debt, and less likely to know the terms of their mortgages and other loans. Thus, the cost of this financial ignorance is very high.     4    

What   is the solution?     5     Like reading and math, financial education must become part of the core curriculum in our schools. Likewise, parents should engage in regular, constructive conversations about money matters. This will give their kids a solid foundation for financial well-being, which will keep on giving returns throughout the course of their lives.

A．Financial education must start early.

B．However, they miss an important point.

C．Why does each of us have to face a financial challenge?

D．Why does financial literacy matter so much in our society'?

E．Rich people are generally better educated on financial management.

F．Besides, these people have more than double the wealth of people who don’t.

G．For example, they frequently make late credit card payments, overspend their credit limit, etc.

3 . Each year, backed up by a growing anti-consumerist movement, people are using the holiday season to call on us all to shop less.

Driven by concerns about resource exhaustion, over recent years environmentalists have increasingly turned their sights on our “consumer culture”. Groups such as The Story of Stuff and Buy Nothing New Day are growing as a movement that increasingly blames all our ills on our desire to shop.

We clearly have a growing resource problem. The produces we make, buy, and use are often linked to the destruction of our waterways, biodiversity, climate and the land on which millions of people live. But to blame these issues on Christmas shoppers is misguided, and puts us in the old trap of blaming individuals for what is a systematic problem.

While we complain about environmental destruction over Christmas, environmentalists often forget what the holiday season actually means for many people. For most, Christmas isn’t an add-on to an already heavy shopping year. In fact, it is likely the only time of year many have the opportunity to spend on friends and family, or even just to buy the necessities needed for modern life.

This is particularly, true for Boxing Day, often the target of the strongest derision(嘲弄) by anti-consumerists. While we may laugh at the queues in front of the shops, for many, those sales provide the one chance to buy items they’ve needed all year. As Leigh Phillips argues, “this is one of the few times of the year that people can even hope to afford such ‘luxuries’, the Christmas presents their kids are asking for, or just an appliance that works.”

Indeed, the richest 7% of people are responsible for 50% of greenhouse gas emissions. This becomes particularly harmful when you take into account that those shopping on Boxing Day are only a small part of our consumption “problem” anyway. Why are environmentalists attacking these individuals, while ignoring such people as Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, who has his own￡1.5bn yacht with a missile defence system?

Anyway, anti-consumerism has become a movement of wealthy people talking down to the working class about their life choices, while ignoring the real cause of our environmental problems. It is no wonder one is changing their behaviours—or that environmental destruction continues without any reduction in intensity.

1. It is indicated in the 1st   paragraph that during the holiday season, many consumers .

A．ignore resource problems

B．are fascinated with presents

C．are encouraged to spend less

D．show great interest in the movement.

2. It can be inferred from Paragraphs 2 and 3 that the environmentalist movement .

A．has targeted the wrong persons

B．has achieved its intended purposes

C．has taken environment-friendly measures

D．has benefited both consumers and producers

3. The example of Roman Abramovich is used to show environmentalists’ .

A．madness about life choices

B．discontent with rich lifestyle

C．ignorance about the real cause

D．disrespect for holiday shoppers

4. It can be concluded from the text that telling people not to shop at Christmas is .

A．anything less than a responsibility	B．nothing more than a bias
C．indicative of environmental awareness	D．unacceptable to ordinary people

4 . Directions: After reading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word; for the other blanks, use one word that best fits each blank.

Innovations that will change the classroom

American schools are going high - tech. Many symbols we still associate with classrooms and learning, like chalkboards, pens, notebooks - even classrooms     1     --- are quickly becoming outdated.

As this week marks The Huffington Post’s 10th anniversary, we’ll take a look at some products that     2     (introduce) to classroom in the past decade and have the potential to change the educational landscape in the years     3     (come).

1. Remote Learning

Some schools are cutting down on snow days, thanks to technology. Rather than giving kids the day off     4     weather conditions are too dangerous for commuting, these schools are asking students to follow classroom lessons online.

Although kids     5     (hope) for a snow day may not particularly appreciate these advancements in digital learning, online lessons allow these kids to complete their coursework and still interact with peers. Some students with medical conditions     6     “go” to school via video conferencing or even with the help of robots enabled with video chat that they can control remotely.

2. eBooks

Discovery Education has been replacing traditional textbooks with original “techbooks” for six years. These “techbooks” can also be switched to Spanish or French, Kinney said,     7     allows some parents who don’t speak English to help their kids with their homework.

3. Educational Games

In-class gaming options have evolved to include more educational options. GlassLab creates educational games that are now being used in more than 6,000 classrooms across the country. Teachers get real-time updates on students’ progress as well as suggestions on     8     subjects they need to spend more time perfecting.

The Internet and other digital tools have some drawbacks. They’re often distracting,     9     most developments have exciting implications for the future. Over the last 10 years, technological innovations have made education more interactive, immediate and     10     (personalize), -- and have shown us the potential for more accessible and effective classrooms.

5 . 阅读下面短文，根据所给情节进行续写，使之构成一个完整的故事。

Excited screams of joy，the sounds of two happy little girls playing in the sand，rang across the beach. But I walked along，barely aware of it. I'd come to this remote beach on my sailboat，a place to escape. My wife and I had recently separated，our marriage in trouble. I worried about my two boys，just six and eight. It seemed like forever since I'd heard them laugh. But I didn't know what to do to make things better.

“Help！Help！”The girls shouted. I'd meant to tell them to stay away from the dangerous water. Now one of them was in the ocean，beyond the surf line. I could just hear her screams over the waves. Any second now she'd be swept away. I ran across the sand as fast as I could. The other girl was at the edge of the surf line，yelling.

“Wait！Stop！Don't go any farther！”I charged into the waves and was reaching for her when a wall of water dashed over us. For half a second I saw her disappear under another big wave. I'm a strong swimmer, but I could feel the wave pulling me hard. I swam to her and seized her, her little body shaking, trembling. But where is the other girl? I saw a waving arm. A head broke the surface, not far away. The arms of the girl I'd rescued were wrapped desperately around my neck. She was breathing with sobs. “Let go of my neck. I need you on my back. Hold my shoulders so I can swim to your friend. ”

She loosed her hands and I shifted her to my back. “She's my sister, Sarah, and I am Lillian,” she said. For a moment I thought of my boys. How much they loved each other. How much I loved them.

I looked across the water and saw a small head after a big wave. I quickened my swimming，fighting for each breath. Tiny arms pressed against my shoulder. I reached out and held the second little girl. She was in total tiredness，taking deep breaths，crying quietly.

注意：1.所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2.至少使用5个短文中标有下划线的关键词语；
3.续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；
4.续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。
Paragraph 1：

I swam hard with the two girls and looked toward shore，but I couldn’t see anyone.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Paragraph 2:

“Mommy!” The loud cry wakened my consciousness,

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6 . Walmart will soon use 360 robot cleaners across a few hundred of its stores. Using maps input by human employees, the AI-powered cleaners will travel in the store with no difficulty, sweeping the floor--just as human employees used to do.

Perhaps the most striking thing about these robot workers is how not-striking they are. Sci-fi movies suggest a future full of human-like robots who appear with their horrible qualities. Now the future is coming into view, and it looks like a giant lie. It's easy to imagine walking past an Auto-C on a shopping trip without even noticing its presence.

AI has already started to become a part of our everyday life. In New Jersey this week, dozens of workers were hospitalized after a robot at an Amazon fulfillment centre accidentally broke a can and enveloped workers in eye-and-lung-damaging gas. Days earlier in California, an auto-piloted Tesla drove a drunk, sleeping driver down a highway, which no doubt did some potential risk to the other drivers on the road. Highway patrol officers figured out on the spot how to stop the AI car.

Of course, industrial accidents and drunk drivers existed well before AI. Tools with the power to release the burden of physical labor—horses, steam machines, self-driving cars—also come with the power to injure. And the presence of AI-powered machines just steps away from us is, for now, still a rare thing for most people.

But the nature of robots’ coming into our daily life lives will make it harder to recognize—or object to—the bigger changes they bring later. Walmart insists that the robot cleaners give employees more time for customer service and other tasks. Critics point out that they could just as easily become an excuse to reduce staff and wages.

1. What is the difference between sci-fi movies and the reality?

A．Now the human-like robots is hard to recognize.

B．Now people don’t go to see the sci-fi movies.

C．Now the human-like robots can tell lies.

D．Now it is easy to ignore the robots.

2. Why were some workers in hospital in New Jersey?

A．They damaged the robot first.

B．The robot caused an accident on purpose.

C．The robot made a mistake by chance.

D．The robot driving them on the highway had an accident.

3. What is the attitude of the author to AI?

A．Supportive

B．Objective

C．Doubtful

D．Indifferent

4. What is the main idea of the passage?

A．Artificial intelligence is bringing great effect to our daily life.

B．Walmart will soon use 360 robot cleaners across its stores.

C．We should say no to artificial intelligence.

D．Artificial intelligence is dangerous to our life.

7 . 腾讯公司(Tencent Company)就微信用户的阅读偏好做了一项调查，调查结果如下图。请你仔细观察这张图片，然后谈谈这张图片反映出的现象或问题，并向微信用户提出你的建议。
提示：
WeChat: 微信
Moments: 朋友圈
Respondents: 受访者
Text: 微信朋友圈文章
Articles: 微信公众号文章

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

8 . Talking to human-like devices can be great fun - just ask Siri to tell you a joke. But it may also lead to problems.

A recent study by scientists from the University of Kansas (KU) in the US found that human-like devices keep people from seeking out normal human interaction when they feel lonely.

During a series of experiments, participants were asked to write about a time when they felt lonely. They also took part in an online game of “catch” against a computer program that was designed to “throw” the ball other player more often, but participants believed they were playing with real people online.

Participants were then introduced to human-like products, including a vacuum cleaner (真空吸尘器) designed to appear as if it were smiling. They were also asked to think about their phone in human-like terms, considering questions like “how much does it help you?”

The results showed that the participants were happy with the comfort they got from the machines and didn’t need to seek out normal human interaction.

Generally, when people feel socially excluded, they seek out other ways to reduce the feeling of loneliness. Normal ways include increasing their number of social media friends or engaging in behaviors to seek out interaction with other people, according to Jenny Olson, assistant professor of marketing at KU.

But it wasn’t all bad news, as the team found that there were limits to how far this effect would extend.

“As soon as we tell people we know that it looks like the [vacuum cleaner] is smiling, they seemed to realize it was a machine and not a person,” Olson told Daily Mail. “The effect goes away. This seems to happening on a very subconscious level.”

Researchers believe the results are important for consumers to realize how these types of products could affect their social interaction with real people, especially because so many new products feature interactivity.

“If someone notices they are talking more to Siri lately, maybe that has something to do with felling lonely,” Olson said. “From that standpoint, it’s important to be aware of it.”

The study could also help companies design products that can increase the well-being of people who feel lonely, without sacrificing normal social interaction.

“Maybe it is more about improving our current relationships,” Olson said, “such as taking a break from screen time and focusing on developing your real personal connections.”

1. Researcher from the University of Kansas found that _______.

A．human-like devices may help people interact with others.

B．interaction with human-like devices may make people feel lonely.

C．lonely people may easily become addicted to human-like devices.

D．human-like devices may reduce people’s social interaction in real life.

2. During the experiments, participants _______.

A．were allowed to talk with human-like devices.

B．were shown devices with human features.

C．played online games with both machines and real people.

D．were encouraged to engage in normal human interaction.

3. The underlined phrase “this effect” in Paragraph 7 refers to the fact that _______.

A．lonely people are more likely to seek out interaction with other people.

B．lonely people are content to only interact with human-like machines.

C．the feeling of loneliness deepens as people interact more with human-like devices.

D．People who are socially excluded would get uninterested in socializing.

4. What is the significance of the study according to Jenny Olson?

A．It shows people why human-like products make them feel lonely.

B．It warns people to stop using human-like devices completely and focus on real social interaction.

C．It may help the well-being of people who fell lonely and improve their current relationships.

D．It points out the effects of human-like devices and could help companies improve their products.

9 . It was an autumn day, and 1 was standing in the kitchen, hanging my head over the counter and trying to figure out how many calories were in a bowl of homemade yogurt and fruit. And I felt annoyed.

I was 16, and my best friend and I had gone to our first Weight Watchers meeting. It was the trend in the mid-1980s，and even though I was an athlete, like many teen girls, I didn't necessarily like what I saw in the mirror. But after a week or so of recording every meal and snack and calculating the calories, I had had enough. I went back to my routine of chowing whatever I wanted, running and skiing, and let that be that. And it's still pretty much what I do; as long as the workouts are regular and the food is whole and balanced, my body's set point hasn't varied for years.

The weight loss trend of three decades ago−full of scales and counting calories−has fallen away. Now fasting is popular. The ways to keep fit vary: on the 5:2 diet a person eats for five days and fasts for two days each week, while the 18:6 refers 10 fasting for 18 hours and then eating within a six-hour window each day.

In this issue, Associate Editor Mark Barna tries to understand the science behind the fasting plans. Researchers have found that animals like monkeys age more slowly after years of eating less, and in the lab in humans, they saw improvements in a number of signs that indicate risk of some hard to cure diseases. The hope for healthy weight loss isn’t over yet, but at least now the calculators don’t have to be out at every meal.

1. What made the author annoyed?

A．Her body was not as strong as an athlete’s.

B．There were too many calories in the yogurt and fruit.

C．The Weight Watches meeting was not necessary for her.

D．She had to work out the calories in every meal and snack.

2. Which of the following can replace the underlined word “chowing”?

A．Eating.

B．Doing

C．Cooking.

D．Choosing.

3. How do people keep fit now?

A．They limit the calories they take in.

B．They lose weight only.

C．They fast daily or weekly.

D．They eat enough every day.

4. What do we know about the researchers’ finding in this passage?

A．People grow more slowly if they eat less.

B．People are healthier if they eat less.

C．People have stopped losing weight now.

D．People calculate their food for every meal.

10 . How often do you exercise? A new study found that most kids aged 12 to 15 weren't getting enough physical activity. The results were based on about 800 kids. As part of the study, the kids tracked and reported on their own activity levels, and took physical exams.

U. S. fitness guidelines suggest an hour or more of physical activity every day. According to the study, only 1in 4 U.S. kids get enough physical activity.

"It's certainly worrying to see that our kids have such a limited amount of physical activity each day,” said Dr. Stephen Pont. He is an expert on children's health.

Few kids in the study met the guidelines on physical activity that raises the heart rate and makes people breathe harder. Overall, about 25% said they got an hour of that kind of exercise every day. Kids also reported on which activities they did most often outside of school gym class--basketball for boys and running for girls.

The study found that fat teenagers were less active than normal-weight girls and boys. Fat girls were slightly less active than normal-weight girls, but levels were similar among overweight and normal-weight boys. The study also said that the percent of fat children aged 2 to 19 was 17%, or about 12.5 million kids.

"There's always room for improvement," said Tala Fakhouri, who was the leader of the study. She also said the results provide useful information to help with fitness campaigns such as Let's Move, which was initiated by Michelle Obama in 2010. To inspire kids to eat right and get in shape, Michelle visits schools and holds exercise events. She also calls on schools to offer regular gym classes.

The study also found kids who get physical education at school may get better grades.

1. What is the result of the new study?

A．800 kids don't get enough physical activity.

B．Most U.S. kids don't get enough exercise.

C．Kids should get physical activity every day.

D．It's important to take physical exams.

2. Which of the following sports do girls like best?

A．Swimming.

B．Basketball.

C．Running.

D．Gym.

3. What's the purpose of the campaign Let's Move?

A．To help kids to keep fit.	B．To provide useful information.
C．To offer regular gym classes.	D．To hold exercise events.

4. According to the study children with enough exercise may__________.

A．be less active than fat children	B．be more willing to help others
C．do better in their studies	D．try their best to get in shape