1 . California has been using recycled wastewater for many years. A team has used it to make ice surfaces for the game of hockey(冰球运动). It has been used to make snow for the sport of skiing. And farmers use it to water their crops. But it has not been used directly for drinking water.
Recently, California officials approved new rules to let water agencies recycle wastewater and put it right back into the pipes that carry drinking water to homes, schools, and businesses. It is a big step for California.
California’s new rules would let—but not require—water agencies to take wastewater, treat it, and then put it right back into the drinking water system. That means proving to people that recycled water is not only safe to drink but also not dirty. California would be just the second US state to permit this, following Colorado. It has taken officials more than 10 years to develop these rules, a process that included several studies by independent groups of scientists.
A project in San Diego is aiming to produce nearly half of the city’s water through recycling wastewater by 2035. And the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California aims to produce up to nearly 570 million liters(升)a day for its 19 million people. Adel Hagekhalil is with Metropolitan Water. He said the new rules will permit new projects that have not yet been considered.
California’s new rules require the wastewater be treated for all bacteria and viruses, even if they are not present in the wastewater. In fact, the treatment is so intense that it removes all of the minerals that make fresh drinking water taste good. That means the minerals need to be added back at the end of the process. Polhemus is a director of the drinking water group for the California Water Resources Control Board. “It’s at the same drinking water quality, and probably better in many instances,” he said, adding that it takes time and money to build these treatment centers. So, they will only be available for bigger cities at first.
1. What does paragraph 1 mainly tell us about the recycled wastewater?| A．Its qualities. | B．Its functions. |
| C．Its target users. | D．Its disadvantages. |
| A．They made some new rules on pollution. |
| B．They spent ten years recycling wastewater. |
| C．They tried to make wastewater safe to drink. |
| D．They requested water agencies to speed up treating water. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Favorable. | C．Pessimistic. | D．Indifferent. |
| A．The Process of Recycling Wastewater Is Complicated |
| B．California Tries to Reduce the Wastewater Generation |
| C．California Permits Turning Wastewater to Drinking Water |
| D．New Wastewater Treatment Projects Have Been Approved |
2 . American researchers say the thought that machines could take over the world is becoming an increasing reality, rather than the nightmarish plot of a sci-fi horror movie. Now, they are fueling workplace worry, with some employees reportedly sabotaging (暗中破坏) and even attacking their robot replacements.
However, psychologists think that reminding ourselves of our humanity could help alleviate irrational (不合理的) fears about machines replacing people in the workplace. It involves repeating positive statements used to promote confidence and belief in your own uniquely human abilities. These statements help shift focus away from perceived failures or inadequacies and onto a worker’s strengths — those you already have and those you want to develop.
Lead author Professor Kai Chi Yam says in a media release, “Some economists theorize that robots are more likely to take over blue-collar jobs faster than white-collar jobs. However, it doesn’t look like robots are taking over that many jobs yet, at least not in America, so a lot of these fears are rather subjective.”
Yam’s team carried out tests and analyzed data from participants in the U.S., Singapore, and India. In one experiment, working with industrial robots fueled stress and unrest among 118 engineers employed by an auto manufacturing company in India. An online survey of 400 participants found self-affirmation exercises reduced feelings of hopelessness. The workers then wrote about characteristics or values that were important to them. “Most people are overestimating the capabilities of robots and underestimating their own capabilities,” Yam says.
While some individuals may have legitimate concerns, media coverage may be unnecessarily heightening fears among the general public. “Media reports on new technologies like robots and algorithms tend to be apocalyptic (毁灭性的) in nature, so people may develop an irrational fear about them,” Yam concludes.
1. Why do people hate robots in workplace?| A．They are attacked by robots. | B．They feel threatened by robots. |
| C．Robots appear in sci-fi horror movies. | D．Robots take charge of their workplace. |
| A．Remove all their fears and horrors. |
| B．Remind them of their advantages. |
| C．Help them focus better on their work. |
| D．Rid them of failures and inadequacies. |
| A．White-collar jobs won’t be replaced. |
| B．There are too many robots in the U.S. |
| C．Worries about robots are not justified. |
| D．Robots have taken the place of labor. |
| A．One of factors fueling people’s worries. |
| B．Other irrational fears of general public. |
| C．The media’s attitude toward robots. |
| D．The nature of robots and algorithms. |
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1.每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2.只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
I’m worried that you’ve been addicted to share pictures in WeChat circle recently. You even share all sort of photos in your daily life. Of course, WeChat makes better to understand each other and makes our life more colorful, which is very convenient for us to communicate with. However, there exist some potential trouble if we overshare. One serious problem is leaking privacy, that may cause a lot of trouble. Besides, oversharing can make others uncomfortably, for they think you are showing off.
Thus, neither should we post our personal information, or should we blindly add strangers to a list of friends. It’s much wise to set aside some time to accompany parents or do something more meaningful, such as reading books or taking exercise.
4 . Move over, helicopter parents. “Snowplow (扫雪机) parents” are the newest reflection of an intensive (强化的) parenting style that can include parents booking their adult children haircuts, texting their college kids to wake them up so they don’t sleep through a test, and even calling their kids’ employers.
Helicopter parenting, the practice of wandering anxiously near one’s children, monitoring their every activity, is so 20th century. Some rich mothers and fathers now are more like snowplows: machines moving ahead, clearing any difficulties in their children’s path to success, so they don’t have to suffer failure, frustration (挫折) or lose opportunities.
It starts early, when parents get on wait lists for excellent preschools before their babies are born and try to make sure their kids never do anything that may frustrate them. It gets more intense when school starts: running forgotten homework to school or calling a coach to request that their children make the team.
Rich parents may have more time and money to devote to making sure their children don’t ever meet with failure, but it’s not only rich parents practicing snowplow parenting. This intensive parenting has become the most welcome way to raise children, regardless of income, education, or race.
Yes, it’s a parent’s job to support the children, and to use their adult wisdom to prepare for the future when their children aren’t mature enough to do so. That’s why parents hide certain toys from babies to avoid getting angry or take away a teenager’s car keys until he finishes his college applications.
But snowplow parents can take it too far, some experts say. If children have never faced a difficulty, what happens when they get into the real world?
“Solving problems, taking risks and overcoming frustration are key life skills,” many child development experts say, “and if parents don’t let their children experience failure, the children don’t acquire them.”
1. What do we know about snowplow parenting?| A．It appeared before helicopter parenting. |
| B．It costs parents less than helicopter parenting. |
| C．It was a typical phenomenon of the 20th century. |
| D．It provides more than enough services for children. |
| A．Its cost. | B．Its benefits. | C．Its popularity. | D．Its ending. |
| A．To show teenagers are no better than babies. |
| B．To advise teenagers not to treat their cars as toys. |
| C．To advise parents not to buy cars for their teenagers. |
| D．To show it’s appropriate to help children when necessary. |
| A．Children lacking problem-solving ability in reality. |
| B．Children mastering more key life skills than parents. |
| C．Children gaining great success in every aspect of life. |
| D．Children meeting no problems or frustration after growing up. |
5 . Giving children music lessons won’t just introduce them to music―it could also greatly improve their language skills.
While many studies have shown that learning an instrument can affect things like the language ability, it isn’t understood if this is a side effect of a general improvement of cognitive (认知的) skills, or something that directly affects language processing.
Now, we are getting closer to an answer, thanks to a study of 74 Chinese kindergarten children, led by Robert Desimone from MIT. For the study, Desimone’s team chose children from the Chinese education system, with the support of education officials who wanted to see how it might improve their learning.
The 4-to-5-year-old Mandarin-speaking children in the study were divided into three groups. One group received a 45-minute piano lesson three times a week, while another received extra reading instruction classes. The third group acted as controls, taking no extra lessons beyond their usual classes.
The classes lasted for six months, after which the children were tested on their ability to tell words based on differences in tones, consonants (辅音), or vowels (元音). The test results showed that the children who had taken piano lessons performed better at telling the difference between words that differ by a single consonant, when compared with the children who took extra reading lessons. Compared to the control group, both the music learners and the extra reading group did better in telling the difference between words based on vowel differences.
“It looks like for recognising differences between sounds, including speech sounds, it’s better than extra reading. That means schools could pay more attention to music,” Desimone says. “It’s not worse than giving extra reading to the children, which is probably what many schools are trying to do―get rid of the art education and just have more reading.”
1. What does the underlined word “it” in Paragraph 3 refer to?| A．Learning a musical instrument. |
| B．A study of children’s schooling. |
| C．The Chinese education system. |
| D．Improvement of cognitive skills. |
| A．Ways to improve their study. |
| B．Three extra piano lessons a week. |
| C．Extra lessons about reading tips. |
| D．Nothing except their usual studies. |
| A．Learning music improved learners’ memory. |
| B．Children taking piano lessons didn’t perform well. |
| C．The extra reading group were good at telling vowels. |
| D．The piano turned out to be better than other instruments. |
| A．Children who learn music perform better at school. |
| B．It isn’t wise to cut back on music lessons. |
| C．Schools will increase reading classes. |
| D．Many schools value art education. |
6 . It’s important for children to take part in social activities during their summer holidays. “Kids should have a break during the summer. They’ve worked hard during the school year and this is their time to relax, but they should continue communicating with their friends and meeting new people,” said Dr. Jin Han. He’s a professor at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.
Spending time with friends and meeting new people by doing fun and educational activities such as music, arts and sports programs in summer help with their development. “If children spend a lot of time alone on their electronic equipment, then they will fail to communicate with others,” Han said. “In today’s world, it’s very easy for kids to stay indoors all day and keep in touch with others, but that is not a good way to connect with others. Face-to-face communication is necessary and important. Parents should restrict the time their children spend on electronic equipment. For example, the time they spend on their phones cannot be more than one hour a day.”
It’s also important for children to spend quality time with their parents and sisters or brothers. “It’s not the length of time, but the quality of time that families spend together that is really valuable,” Han said. “This type of communication is not something that you can get from anywhere else. It doesn’t matter how old the child is, because family bonding (人与人之间的关系) experiences can happen at any time.”
Having children spend time with friends and families doesn’t have to spend money in the wallet, either. For example, going to the neighborhood swimming pool or having a picnic is a great way to spend quality time together.
1. What does Dr. Jin Han think about the summer holidays according to the first paragraph?| A．It is necessary for children to have a rest during summer holidays. |
| B．Children should relax as much as possible during summer holidays. |
| C．Making new friends in summer holidays is difficult for children. |
| D．Children should prepare for schoolwork in summer holidays. |
| A．Increase. | B．Control. | C．Spend. | D．Employ. |
| A．How long children spend with families matters. |
| B．What to do with families depends on the parents. |
| C．When to spend time with families makes a difference. |
| D．How to enjoy the time with families is of great importance. |
| A．The importance of friends and families. | B．The introduction of some social activities. |
| C．The suitable ways to spend summer holidays. | D．The necessity of face-to-face communication. |
