1 . Climate breakdown threatens to cause a global food production crisis. The UN forecasts that by 2050, feeding the world will require a 20% expansion in global water use for agriculture. It is hard to see how agriculture can feed the population of the planet, let alone toward the end of the century and beyond. Agriculture is a major cause of climate breakdown, and both river and air pollution. Industrial fishing is similarly driving ecological collapse in seas around the world.
However, at this critical time, farming (a new kind of food technology) is creating astonishing possibilities to save both people and the planet. Farming will enable the return of vast areas of land and sea to nature, greatly reducing carbon emissions (排放物). It means an end to the employment of animals, a stop to overfishing, and a dramatic reduction in cutting down forests and the use of pesticides (杀虫剂). It is the best hope for stopping the destruction of the planet and, if it is done right, it means cheap and abundant food for everyone.
We are about to welcome one of the biggest economic transformations, of any kind, for 200 years. Arguments continue about plants against meat-based diets; however, new technologies will soon make these arguments irrelevant. Before long, most food will come neither from animals nor plants, but from micro-organisms (微生物).
Not only will food be cheaper, it will also be healthier. Due to the fact that farming creates food products built up from simple components rather than broken down from complex ones, hard fats and other unhealthy components can be screened out. Meat will still be meat, but it will be grown in factories rather than in the bodies of animals. Fats will still be fats, but food is likely to be better, cheaper and much less damaging to the living planet.
1. What is the major cause of sea ecological breakdown?| A．Food production. | B．Global farming. |
| C．Industrial fishing. | D．Climate breakdown. |
| A．Its benefits. | B．Its security. | C．Its research. | D．Its limits. |
| A．Sea animals. | B．Wild plants. | C．Micro-organisms. | D．Farm products. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Positive. | C．Disapproving. | D．Unclear. |
2 . Theatres of the past
The Greek theatre
Theatres developed in many parts of Greece.Ancient Greek theatres were built in natural open
air sites on conveniently shaped hills.This allowed a great mass of people to enjoy a show at a time. Due to this, actors placed emphasis on exaggerated(夸张的）action and speech.And,colorful symbolic masks and costumes were used.
The Medieval theatre
The Medieval theatre started in churches.That's why medieval plays were about Bible stories. At first,it became a custm for priests(牧师）to act out brief scenes during Christmas and Easter.These acts attracted large crowds.Finally,the church refused to allow priests to participate in any such events again,so ordinary people began these performances outside.Performances were set in the town square,with several stage settings around it.
The Elizabethan theatre
The England's theatre developed rapidly in the years following the defeat of the Spanish Navy. The distinctive feature of Elizabethan theatre was the stage.It has three parts: the fore stage for outside scenes;the inner stage for scenes inside a building;an upper stage or balcony for various purposes. The reason for this design is that there were no scene changes or breaks during the play. Very little scenery was used,so the actors had to create a scene through their voices and dialogues. This led to a more poetic script(剧本), and poets became the main source of script writing.
The Restoration theatre
Some of the plays told sad stories, but the majority of the plays were really funny.Many specialized machines were used to create the scene. The stage was a very clever idea, in that on the sides of the stage large back shutters(百叶窗)painted with the scene.
1. Why did actors in ancient Greek theatres use exaggerated action and speech?| A．To build the theatres in open-air sites on hills. |
| B．To develop a brand-new way of performance. |
| C．To make a big audience easy to enjoy the show. |
| D．To match colorful symbolic masks and costumes. |
| A．The Greek theatre. |
| B．The Elizabethan theatre. |
| C．The Medieval theatre. |
| D．The Restoration theatre, |
| A．The stage was smartly designed. |
| B．The actors wore colorful costumes. |
| C．The performers were the ordinary people. |
| D．Most of the plays were about Bible stories. |
3 . Only 48% of school age children in the United States get 9 hours of sleep most weeknights, according to a new research being presented at the American Academy of Pediatrics ( AAP) 2019 National Conference & Exhibition in New Orleans. An abstract of the study, "Sounding the Alarm on the Importance of Sleep” , will be presented on Saturday, Oct. 26, at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans.
“Long-term sleep loss is a serious public health problem among children,” said abstract author Hoi See Tsao, MD, FAAP. "Insufficient sleep among adolescent, for example, is associated with physical and mental health consequences including increased risk of depression and obesity and negative effects on mood, attention and academic performance.”
Dr. Tsao said, "Our research shows that children who get enough sleep are more likely to flourish(健康成长)in comparison to children with insufficient sleep."
Researchers analyzed responses from parents and caregivers of 49,050 children ranging in age from 6-17 years old in the combined 2016-2017 National Survey of Children's Health. They answered questions on how many hours of sleep a randomly selected child in their household slept on an average weeknight. For the study, sufficient sleep was defined as sleeping greater than or equal to 9 hours on an average weeknight.
The researchers found that sufficient sleep, was positively associated with several individual flourishing markers, as well as the combined childhood flourishing measure. The researchers also identified risk factors associated with insufficient sleep, which included lower levels of parental or caregiver education, the presence of mental health conditions and so on.
Dr. Tsao said the study strengthened the importance of increasing efforts to help children get the recommended amount of sleep for their age. “Interventions like these may help children demonstrate more measures of childhood flourishing, enhance their development and give them brighter futures, " she said.
1. What does the second paragraph mainly talk about?| A．The harm of long-term lack of sleep. |
| B．The cause of long-term lack of sleep. |
| C．The way to improve sleep quality. |
| D．The advice against sleep loss. |
| A．Children and parents. | B．Researchers and caregivers. |
| C．Parents and researchers. | D．Parents and caregivers. |
| A．Dr.Tsao denies the efforts |
| B．Dr. Tsao thinks highly the study. |
| C．New interventions can help children sleep |
| D．New interventions are of little importance. |
| A．In a science report. | B．In a personal diary |
| C．In a travel magazine. | D．In a geography textbook. |
4 . It was late, about 10:15 p.m, when Janice Esposito arrived at the New York train station and began the 20-minute drive home. She had traveled the route so many times that she almost drove on autopilot (自动驾驶):a left onto Station Road, then a left on Montauk Highway, and then-bang! Out of nowhere, a car T-boned Janice’s car, pushing her backward onto the railroad tracks.
As it happened, Pole DiPinto was gelling ready for bed. He'd just closed his book when he heard the loud crash not far outside his bedroom window. A volunteer firefighter and retired teacher, 64, never stopped to think, He grabbed a flashlight and still in his pajamas (睡衣), ran out the door. “Any firefighter would have? done what I did,” he said, “We're always on duly.”
The first car he came upon was the one that had hit Janice. Once DiPinto concluded the driver was OK, he looked around and spotted Janice's car lay across the railroad tracks. And then he heard a terrible sound: the bells signaling an on-coming train.
DiPinto rushed to Janice's cur and banged on the driver's side window. She just looked at him, her eyes unfocused. “I don't know where I am,” she said. She seemed unhurt. “Honey, you're on the railroad tracks,” DiPinto shouted, “We have to get you off right now!” He pulled hard on the door handle, but it didn't work. The heavy train, traveling at 65 miles per hour, was heading toward them. DiPinto ran to the passenger side and threw open the door. “Please, God, don't let her be trapped”, he thought. He pushed aside the airbags, grabbed Janice's arms, and pulled her toward him across the passenger seat until he could help her out and walk her to safety. Within six seconds, he estimated, the train crashed into the car.
“It was like a Hollywood movie,” DiPinto told reporters the next day. But this one had a difference. That night, the hero arrived in pajamas, not in a fire truck.
1. Which of the following words can best replace the underlined word "T-boned" in Paragraph 1?| A．Crashed into. | B．Came across. |
| C．Pushed forward. | D．Scratched the side of. |
| A．He was the volunteer firefighter who was on duty that night. |
| B．He wasn't aware of the coming train when he was rescuing Janice. |
| C．He was in sound sleep in his bedroom when the accident happened. |
| D．He first confirmed the other driver before he came to Janice's rescue. |
| A．Janice didn't know where she was. |
| B．The airbags protected her in some way. |
| C．DiPinto rescued Janice without difficulty. |
| D．All the doors of Janice's car were in good condition. |
| A．A Hero in Pajamas. | B．A Hollywood Movie. |
| C．A Dangerous Heavy Train. | D．A Horrible Car Accident. |
5 . A chance meeting between two men who realized they had both been abused in the same Surrey children’s care home has led to a campaign that has seen hundreds of former residents claiming they were also victims of physical, emotional and sexual abuse.
Music producer Raymond Stevenson, physically abused during his time at the Shirley Oaks home in the 70s, met a childhood friend last year who revealed he’d been abused in the institution. Within a few months, the Shirley Oaks Survivors Association(SOSA) was hundreds strong.
“We have been in contact with over 300 people and the stories we are getting are just terrible,” Stevenson says. “Every time we interview someone and hear about what happened to them, it brings tears to our eyes. Reliving(再现) some of the horrors they went through hasn't been easy.”
There have been two major police investigations into abuse at children’s homes in South London and three people including a swimming instructor, William Hook, have been condemned for offences relating to Shirley Oaks.
Another operation is currently on-going, but SOSA has lost faith in the authorities who they claim have covered up the whole picture of abuse in Shirley Oaks. “We don’t trust them and that’s why we have decided to do this campaign ourselves,” Stevenson explains.
A couple of weeks ago, dozens of former Shirley Oaks residents crowded into a Lambeth council(议会）meeting-the authority which ran the show until its closure the mid-1980s. Councilor after councilor spoke of their shame at what had been allowed to happen to children in their care.
Among the crowd was the award-winning author Alex Wheatle who has written about the abuse he suffered as a child at Shirley Oaks. “We have not come here to go to war with the council；we have come here to gain your support, ” Wheatle told the meeting.
The Shirley Oaks association is doing more than compiling evidence. It is using music to press its case. A song entitled “Don’t Touch It—It’s Mine” includes personal testimony(证词) from victims. “I was abused mentally, physically, emotionally and violently,” the track begins. “Of the original 16 of us, 12 have killed themselves...”
“We’re not going to be told lies anymore,” Stevenson explains. “We are not going to leave it in the hands of lawyers, politicians or council officials to tell us what happened to us. We want to discover it ourselves and we know music and dance and poetry are ways that can tell a greater story.”
1. What is the purpose of setting up SOSA?| A．To show sympathy for the abused children in society. |
| B．To reveal the abuse at a children’s care home. |
| C．To find the living victims from a care home. |
| D．To aid those people abused at a young age. |
| A．The former victims depend much on the police for investigation. |
| B．Twelve of the sixteen children were killed in Shirley Oaks. |
| C．All the people committing offences in Shirley Oaks have been arrested. |
| D．The former local authorities must have neglected their duty. |
| A．Collecting evidence for the police. |
| B．Creating music for the campaign. |
| C．Going to war with the government. |
| D．Turning to lawyers for assistance. |
| A．SOSA sings for justice. |
| B．Child abuse in Shirley Oaks. |
| C．Terrible memories in Shirley Oaks. |
| D．A campaign to abuse the authorities by SOSA . |
6 . A recent study questions whether placing attention on economic growth is the best way to improve child nutrition in low-and middle-income countries. Subu is a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health in Massachusetts. He says there is a common belief on the best way to improve child health in developing countries. He puts it this way: “Let’s just go after economic growth and then everything else will just follow.” But he says that is not always true.
Take India for example. A common measure of a country’s economic health is GDP (gross domestic product). India’s GDP has been growing by more than five percent a year. That is a higher growth rate than most Western countries. Yet more than two-fifths of India’s children are underweight. And Subu says, the percentage of underweight children has changed little since the early 1990s. He and other researchers asked a question, “Was economic growth failing to benefit children in countries other than India?” They looked at health surveys carried out since 1990 in 36 low-and middle-income countries, mostly South of Africa’s Sahara Desert. The researchers compared the effect of GDP growth and signs of child malnutrition-like physical weakness, slow growth and being underweight. But the researchers found only a small relationship.
The group reported their findings in the Journal Lancet Global Health. Subu says money should be spent on clear water, waste-treatment system and other programs. “Without these directing measures, what we are seeing is that economic growth by itself is not making much difference,” said Subu.
But that is not how Lawrence Haddad sees the case. He is head of the Institute of Development Studies in Britain. Lawrence Haddad says malnutrition has dropped sharply over the past 20 years in countries like Vietnam, Ghana or Brazil. He says economic growth was responsible for half of those declines. “The other half is because of improvements in water, health systems and nutrition programs,” said Haddad.
1. Why does the author take India for example?| A．To stress the importance of GDP. |
| B．To arouse reader’s interest in the topic. |
| C．To prove economic growth can’t improve child nutrition. |
| D．To show India has a higher growth rate than most Western countries. |
| A．Lacking nutrition. | B．Getting nutrition. |
| C．Providing nutrition. | D．Wasting nutrition. |
| A．Two-fifths of India’s children are underweight. |
| B．Economic growth only fails to benefit children in India. |
| C．Lawrence Haddad looked at health surveys carried out since 1990. |
| D．Subu believed economic growth itself could hardly make a difference. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Disapproving. |
| C．Unconcerned. | D．Doubtful. |
