1 . A new study published this week in the journal Nature Communications has concluded that a 100 percent change to organic (有机的) food production in England and Wales would actually lead to a great increase in greenhouse gas emissions (排放). In turn, this would contribute to further climate change.
Although organic farming directly pours out fewer emissions than conventional farming—around 20 percent lower for crops and 4 percent for farm animals—it produces notably less food. As to this study’s findings, total organic agriculture in England and Wales would produce 40 percent less food. With less food in the market, the countries would need to increase food imports, which would produce more global greenhouse gas emissions.
Organic farming also increases the amount of absorbing carbon, a process where carbon dioxide (CO2) is “absorbed” out of the atmosphere and captured by plants and stored in the soil. However, even a total change to organic farming would only be equal to a tiny part of the higher emissions from overseas land use.
“We predict a drop in total food production of 40 percent under a fully organic farming process, compared to conventional farming, if we keep to the same national diet,” Dr Adrian Williams, lead author and reader in Agri-Environmental Systems at Cranfield University, said in a statement. “This results from lower crop quantity, because output is limited by a lower supply of nitrogen, which is mainly from other crops or solid waste from cattle on the grassland.”
Nevertheless, it is important to note that organic farming still holds some useful benefits for the environment, such as reducing exposure to chemicals and improving the varieties of creatures. In conclusion, the study suggests that organic farming will continue to play a key role in resolving the world’s environmental problems. However, it’s just one part of a much wider solution.
1. What will total organic agriculture bring to England?| A．More main food. | B．More species crop. |
| C．More food imports. | D．More fresh oxygen. |
| A．By taking in CO2. | B．By changing CO2. |
| C．By giving off CO2. | D．By producing CO2. |
| A．The ways to reduce organic farming. | B．The results caused by organic farming. |
| C．The solution to the environment problems. | D．The advantages of organic farming. |
| A．Organic farming, green food | B．Organic farming, our hope in future |
| C．Organic farming, a mistake we made | D．Organic farming, a double-edged sword |
2 . The police in Canada had to deal with the escape of 12 million bees on Monday. The bees flew off after the truck that was carrying them turned over. Most of the insects stayed close by, but enough were loose to cause a possible danger to the public. Police told people to stay indoors and keep their windows closed. Bee expert Chris Maund said it was lucky that the accident happened in the countryside. “Fortunately it happened in an area where there are no restaurants or houses around. If it happened in an area like a city center, all the bees would have been killed right away.” Mr. Maund said that people are not in danger as long as they keep their distance.
The bees were on their way back to their main beehives (蜂房) after being used to pollinate (授粉) blueberries. Bees and the traveling pollination service are an important part of Canada’s fruit industry. Maund said the truck and broken hives were being left on the highway overnight. He believes the bees will return naturally. The bees probably did not go very far because of the rainy weather. Bees breathe through their skin and can drown(溺死) in the rain. Firefighters wearing full protective clothes were at the scene making the bees wet to keep them from flying around. They also sprayed (喷) the bees with smoke to make them feel sleepy. The smoke can also make them think there is a fire, causing them to return to save their honey.
1. Where did the accident happen?| A．On the highway in the Canadian countryside. |
| B．Near an international bee research center. |
| C．On the way to a highway restaurant. |
| D．Near a big city center in Canada. |
| A．The bee experts. | B．The fire fighters. |
| C．The local people. | D．The police. |
| A．The bees had just pollinated blueberries. |
| B．The Canadian traveling pollination service is in trouble now. |
| C．The experts believed that these bees had gone far away. |
| D．Smoke and water often make bees feel energetic. |
| A．crops in Canada that need the work of bees |
| B．brave and respectable firefighters in Canada |
| C．12 million bees that had an accident in Canada |
| D．the relationship between crops and bees |
| A．free | B．hard | C．sure | D．easy |
3 . Are you at least 17 years old? Do you weigh more than 110 pounds? Do you consider yourself fairly healthy?
If you answered yes to all of these questions, you should be donating(捐赠) blood every two months. n my survey of my schoolmates, I found that only 50 percent of them have ever donated blood and that only 1 out of 13 of them donate regularly. The lack of blood donors is a serious problem that requires immediate action.
According to the American Red Cross Web pages, in the United States alone someone receives a blood transfusion(输血) once every three seconds. People who benefit from donations include cancer patients as well as babies. The need for blood never takes a vacation and neither should donors.
Let me tell you about Brooke, a three-year-old girl with cancer. Brooke has spent about half of her life in the hospital receiving treatments. Her treatment will require about 500 units of blood in total, of which only 250 units have been replaced. She still needs the other half of the total amount to continue her treatment. If she doesn’t receive this blood, she will not live to start kindergarten.
Examples like Brooke’s are becoming all too common these days, with only 1 in 20 Americans donating blood and this number keeps dropping each year. These facts are extremely worrying considering that nearly half of us here will need blood sometime in our lives.
You can now see the seriousness of the problem with the lack of blood donations. Fortunately， it is a problem that can be easily solved. Each and every one of you can be part of the solution. All you have to do is go to the nearest Red Cross and donate your blood.
1. How does the author explain the problem mentioned in Paragraph2?| A．By making comparisons. | B．By answering questions. |
| C．By describing his own experiences. | D．By presenting research findings. |
| A．The strong need for blood. | B．The suffering of patients. |
| C．The benefits of taking vacations | D．The efforts of the Red Cross. |
| A．can’t wait to start kindergarten |
| B．stays alive by receiving blood daily |
| C．doesn't get fair treatment in the hospital |
| D．will need another 250 units of blood |
| A．To present some new medical results. | B．To persuade people to donate blood. |
| C．To explain the risks of blood donation. | D．To call on people to save a little girl. |
4 . An 80-year-old man and his family may soon get a bill for the cost of his rescue mission. After an all-night search by rescuers, James Clark of Dublin, Ohio, was found “not moving and exhibiting what appeared to be signs and symptoms on low nody temperature to the point of not being able to speak any clear words," according to a statement. Rescuers wrapped him in a sleeping bag and carried him out about 1.7 miles to safety.
Similarly, in 2015, a family of four received an about 8500 bill after their daytime hike left them lost in the dark and requiring search and rescue ( SAR). This raises an interesting question: Who pays for the cost when you get lost or injured in the great outdoors?
The high cost of SAR missions is what prompted states like New Hampshire to pass laws that establish programs like Hike Safe to hold individuals more financially accountable for their rescues. However, some people have called for more strict laws to shift SAR costs off taxpayers. They say such a move would ultimately make people more responsible, but it's a controversial idea. “Society rescues people all the time-auto accident victims, home fire victims-and at far greater cost than wildemess hiker rescues.” writes Backpacker.
Critics say putting a price tag on SAR could cause people to hesitate before calling for help in emergency situations. But Heggie says this isn't actually the reason why the National Park Service doesn't charge for SAR. “If an agency such as NPS starts charging the public for SAR costs, the agency essentially has to conduct SAR operations. If something goes wrong during the SAR operation, someone could lead to a lawsuit(起诉).”
Both Heggie and Kupper say the best way people can avoid needing rescue is simply by being prepared, suggesting that people research hikes before they go pay attention to their surroundings, pack essential gear and not rely on a cellphone as a survival kit. "The best time to prevent SAR incidents is when people are still at home，” Heggie said.
1. What state was James in when he was rescued?| A．He lost his way home. | B．He daren't move alone, |
| C．He was in danger of dying. | D．He couldn't express himself. |
| A．To reward the rescuers. | B．To reduce outdoor activities. |
| C．To prevent hikers calling for help. | D．To make hikers take responsibility. |
| A．The possibility of being charged. | B．The heavy burden of medical costs. |
| C．The difficulty in doing a SAR operation. | D．The fear of doing fewer SAR operations. |
| A．Packing necessary things. | B．Preparing well in advance. |
| C．Imagining accidents at home. | D．Taking a cellphone everywhere, |
5 . For many parents, raising a teenager is like fighting a long war, but years go by without any clear winner. Like a border conflict between neighboring countries, the parent-teen war is about boundaries: Where is the line between what I control and what you do?
Both sides want peace, but neither feels it has any power to stop the conflict. In part, this is because neither is willing to admit any responsibility for starting it. From the parents’ point of view, the only cause of their fight is their adolescents’ complete unreasonableness. And of course, the teens see it in exactly the same way, except oppositely. Both feel trapped.
In this article, I’ll describe three no-win situations that commonly arise between teens and parents and then suggest some ways out of the trap. The first no-win situation is quarrels over unimportant things. Examples include the color of the teen’s hair, the cleanliness of the bedroom, the preferred style of clothing, the child’s failure to eat a good breakfast before school, or his tendency to sleep until noon on the weekends. Second, blaming. The goal of a blaming battle is to make the other admit that his bad attitude is the reason why everything goes wrong. Third, needing to be right. It doesn’t matter what the topic is—politics, the laws of physics, or the proper way to break an egg—the point of these arguments is to prove that you are right and the other person is wrong, for both wish to be considered an authority—someone who actually knows something—and therefore to command respect. Unfortunately, as long as parents and teens continue to assume that they know more than the other, they’ll continue to fight these battles forever and never make any real progress.
1. Why does the author compare the parent-teen war to a border conflict?| A．Both are about where to draw the line. |
| B．Both can continue for generations. |
| C．Neither has any clear winner. |
| D．Neither can be put to an end. |
| A．The teens tend to have a full understanding of their parents. |
| B．The teens agree with their parents on the cause of the conflict. |
| C．The teens cause their parents of misleading them. |
| D．The teens blame their parents for starting the conflict. |
| A．give orders to the other |
| B．know more than the other |
| C．gain respect from the other |
| D．get the other to behave properly |
| A．Solutions for the parent-teen problems. |
| B．Examples of the parent-teen war. |
| C．Causes for the parent-teen conflicts. |
| D．Future of the parent-teen relationship. |
6 . The U.S. is still out in front of global competitors when it comes to innovation (革新), but American universities-where new ideas often spread-have reason to look over their shoulders.
That's especially true for technologies like 5G phone networks and artificial intelligence. In President Donald Trump's opinion, they're exactly the fields where the U.S. has to lead - and also the ones where Asia, especially China, is catching up. Universities from China get more patents than their U.S. peers in wireless communications, according to research firm GreyB Services. In AI, 17 of the top 20 universities and public research organizations are in China, with the Chinese Academy of Sciences topping the list, says the World Intellectual Property Organization in Geneva.
There's a special place for universities in the development of science. Universities educate future scientists and can be incubators (孵化器) for pie-in-the-sky ideas-some of which turn out to be game-changers. The list ranges from Google's search engine to DNA technology that's behind a whole industry of gene-manipulating (基因编辑) treatments.
However, government aids to universities haven't been growing for more than a decade, meaning they've declined in real terms and as a share of the economy, leading to the cost increase for universities and meanwhile somehow discouraging the teaching staff from putting all their hearts into their scientific research.
“If you look at the federal dollars, they've not really changed considerably,” says Stephen Susalka, head of AUTM, a technology transfer association whose members include 800 universities. “Other countries are catching up. We can't be satisfied with what we have achieved.”
1. What does the underlined phrase “look over their shoulders” in Paragraph 1 mean?| A．Watch out | B．Take off |
| C．Stand up | D．Hide away |
| A．Chinese universities have obtained more patents than other countries |
| B．the Chinese government provides aids to Chinese universities |
| C．wireless communications are changed dramatically these years |
| D．U.S. universities may lose their lead in some high-tech fields |
| A．Universities can be birthplaces of game programmers. |
| B．Pie-in-the-sky ideas from universities can be revolutionary. |
| C．Universities play an important role in science development. |
| D．Gene-manipulation helps to develop DNA technology. |
| A．Worried. | B．Disapproving. |
| C．Positive. | D．Unconcerned. |
7 . I had been living with Dino and his family for ten days or so, who lived and worked in the rainforest. They were the “bad guys”, burning much of the western Amazon to tun it into cattle farms. They were also some of the nicest and warmest hosts. They are a family trying to survive in a very tough environment through hard work. Their view and understanding of the problems the Amazon faces are different from mine. I see the Amazon as an extraordinary valuable life that should be treasured and protected at all costs-the world needs it, and we all need it. However, the Dinos see the Amazon as a vast, lasting resource that feeds them. After talking extent win them, I realized their respect for it was as deep as my own: they just saw it very differently.
Cattle farming in the Amazon is perhaps mainly responsible for the fires we are seeing now. It is an industry of cutting forest, burning it and turning it to cattle farms. Fires spread throughout the Amazon every year as a result of that practice. Putting cattle on the land means replacing trees with animals that produce damaging levels of greenhouse gases. This is just about the most stupid thing humans can do.
One morning after a fire, I returned to the land. I felt as though I had seen the blue smoke from those blackened tree trunks that remained upright, which are memorials to human stupidity.
The problems the Amazon faces are perhaps more complex now than ever before, but they are curable. We need to decide where and how we appoint and apply values based on sensible economic models that favor both the farmer and the forest. One of the issues facing the Brazilian Amazon now is a loosening of rules by the current administration which has opened up more land for deforestation(毁林) and burning. This could be disastrous, both for the Amazon and the rest of the world.
1. What does Paragraph 2 mainly talk about？| A．The consequences of cattle farming. | B．The main cause of forest fires. |
| C．The causes of greenhouse gases. | D．The importance of cattle farming. |
| A．It helped the author recall his memory about the land. |
| B．It reminded us of our foolishness of destroying the land. |
| C．It's not surprising to see the land destroyed by the fire. |
| D．It's amazing to see the trees keep straight after the fire. |
| A．The writer and Dino respected the Amazon equally in different ways. |
| B．Cattle farming is not to blame for the fires happening in the Amazon. |
| C．The problems the Amazon faces are more complex and can't be solved. |
| D．The Dinos are considered to be bad for burning the forest to make a fortune. |
| A．Prevent the deeds of burning. | B．Offer more land. |
| C．Take stricter measures. | D．Appoint economic models. |
8 . Tabichi’s father,uncle,and cousins have all worked as teachers. He could see that his relatives were making a real difference to people’s lives and wanted to do the same. So for the past 12 years, Tabichi has worked as a math and science teacher in the hope that his lessons will give students a chance to improve their situations.
However,working at a remote village school in Kenya hasn’t been easy. The unique challenges and obstacles have forced Tabichi to find unique solutions for his students. The school only has one computer and unreliable Internet access. The school also has no library or laboratory. To make matters worse,there are not enough books for all the students and the school is desperately in need of more teachers. Most of the students are not able to concentrate, because they haven’t had enough meals at home.
One of the other major challenges that Tabichi faces is keeping kids in school as long as possible. So Tabichi spends most of his time outside of the classroom working on ways to keep kids in school. When the 36-year-old gets the feeling that a student is at risk of dropping out, he works to persuade families to put more value in education. To help those in poverty afford food,uniforms,and books, Tabichi also gives away 80 percent of his salary. Despite all the obstacles he faces, Tabichi is credited for improving the school and keeping much of the village’s youth in school. He has also managed to set up science clubs and addressed food insecurity issues.
Thanks to his tireless work,his students have excelled. In recent years,students have won national and international science competitions. In March of 2019, Tabichi was voted the best teacher in the world and won the prize of $1 million.
1. What inspired Tabichi to be a teacher?| A．The high salary of teachers. |
| B．His father’s demand on him. |
| C．Contributions a teacher can make. |
| D．His relatives’ encouragement. |
| A．The difficulties Tabichi’s school faced. |
| B．The life of a remote village in Kenya. |
| C．Tabichi’s unique teaching ways for his students. |
| D．Most of the students’ distraction on their learning. |
| A．Giving students the best lessons. |
| B．Helping students get rid of poverty. |
| C．Persuading students not to drop out. |
| D．Getting students away from any risk. |
| A．Pitiful. | B．Lucky. |
| C．Punctual. | D． Selfless. |
9 . Every day Yang Hongwei takes the bus home from work, staring silently at the European-style villas(别墅), luxury cars and twinkling lights from the shopping center that he sees through the window.
Yang works for a software company in Zhongguancun. He dreams of such a life, away from poverty, and that hope has kept him in Beijing for three years since he graduated from university.
Soon Yang squeezes his way off the bus to the reality of his life: his home-a 10-square-metre room that costs 550 yuan or about one-fifth of his salary in rent every month. It’s very cold inside the house as it has no central heating system. He has to stand the long and cold winter. Determined to achieve his dream, Yang says he has changed jobs “numerous” times in the past three years and is considering quitting his present job.
Yang’s frustration over his life as a migrant(移民) is shared by many other graduates that have moved into big cities. Together they have come to be called the “ant tribe”, a term created by Chinese sociologists to describe the struggles of young migrants, who, armed with their diplomas, flood to big cities in hopes of a better life only to put up with low-paying jobs and poor living conditions. They share every similarity with ants. They live in colonies in crowded areas. They’re intelligent and hardworking, yet unknown and underpaid. The term, sociologists have said, also reflects their helplessness in a world governed by the law of the concrete jungle-only the strongest survive.
A survey in Ant TribeⅡ found nearly 30 percent of the “ants” are graduates of famous key universities-almost three times the percentage of 2009. Most have degrees in popular majors, such as medicine, engineering, economics and management. In addition, 7.2 percent of the “ants” have at least a master’s degree compared to 1.6 percent in 2009. Most said the economic recovery did not really improve their financial situations, and 66 percent said their incomes fell short of their expectations, the survey also found.
For two years, Lian Si, a post-doctoral fellow at the Center for Chinese and Global Affairs of Peking University, who has studied the phenomenon, led a team of more than 100 graduate students to follow the groups in university towns like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan and Xi’an. Lian evaluates the total population of the “ant community” in major cities at one million across China, with about 100,000 found in Beijing alone. Lian predicts that an increasingly challenging job market will see the ant tribe growing further in number. Another 6.3 million graduates are expected to join migrant workers and other job hunters in what promises to be a fierce labor competition.
The ant tribe’s embarrassing living situations have become a serious social issue, and the government should develop “second-and-third-tier cities” to attract more graduates from big cities. However, “ants” expect more study and training opportunities in big cities, which keeps them in positive mindsets despite their situations. As in the case of Yang, he is optimistic about getting a new job soon, having received eight interview offers in a week after sending out his resume. The prospect of landing a higher-paying job keeps him hopeful of moving out of the slum district(贫民区) soon. The sooner, the better.
1. Yang has worked in Beijing since graduation from university ______.| A．to live in a beautiful villa of European style |
| B．to have more opportunities to be promoted |
| C．to enjoy a busy life in a software company |
| D．to struggle for a better-off life in a big city |
| A．It refers to the group of low-income graduates living in embarrassing conditions. |
| B．It refers to the people who work hard like ants but are paid little. |
| C．It refers to the sociologists and scholars researching into some social phenomena. |
| D．It refers to some well-educated people who can’t survive in society. |
| A．“Ant tribe” has become too serious a social problem to solve. |
| B．It is the government’s duty to solve the problem of “ant tribe”. |
| C．Both the government and the graduates have the responsibility. |
| D．The existence of “ant tribe” has little influence on job markets. |
| A．the “ant tribe’s” dream and reality |
| B．a recent survey about the “ant tribe” |
| C．the “ant tribe’s” living conditions |
| D．a new urban lifestyle-”ant tribe” |
10 . Goldfish have pretty boring lives, so maybe it’s a good thing they can only concentrate for nine seconds! But according to new research, humans are becoming like goldfish. Our attention span (时长) is getting shorter...and it’s all because of technology.
“We move quickly from one site to another on the web, ”says Doctor Ted Selker, a computer scientist from Massachusetts, “and we are losing the ability to concentrate.” With millions of websites to choose from, the attention span of the average internet user is just seconds. There are other digital distractions (分心) too: email, instant messaging and quickie movies on websites. Some people are worried about the effect on young people. “You need time to understand and think about what you read,” says Julia Wood, from London. “Young people search the net all the time and their brains become full of useless information but there is no time to make sense of it. I am trying to persuade my pupils to read more books, so that they concentrate on one subject for longer.”
Other teachers are trying more unusual methods to improve students’ concentration. Anne Savan, from Wales, was so worried about her students that she started playing Mozart during her science lessons. She says that it had an amazing effect: “The music made them calmer, and their concentration was much better.”
But not everyone believes that there is a problem. Ray Cole, an educational psychologist says: “On the web, young people learn to make quick decisions about what is and isn’t worth reading.
They might look at five unhelpful websites very quickly, before stopping and reading a sixth useful website more carefully. In a world with so much information available, this is an important skill.”
1. Why does the writer mention “goldfish”?| A．To analyze data. | B．To introduce a topic. |
| C．To settle problems. | D．To suggest a way out. |
| A．Skipping around the internet. | B．Time to digest information. |
| C．Traditional methods of reading. | D．Making decisions. |
| A．Receiving emails. | B．Texting messages. |
| C．Reading more books. | D．Watching quickie movies. |
| A．Cautious. | B．Unfavorable. |
| C．Skeptical. | D．Supportive. |
