1 . Now several cities and states are considering passing laws when it comes to people who walk while texting (发短信). A law passed in Honolulu allows police officers to fine pedestrians(行人) between $15 and $99 for staring at their phones while crossing the street.
“Unluckily, we’re a major city with more pedestrians on the crosswalks, particularly our old people, than almost any other city in the country,” said Honolulu mayor Kirk Caldwell at a meeting. “So, passing a law is necessary and timely.”
The town of Montclair, California, took it one step further and passed a law making it illegal to talk, text or use earbuds (耳塞) on the phone when crossing the street. For the first time, people will be given a warning, and after that, the fine is $ 100. What’s more, farther north in Ontario, under the “Phones Down, Heads Up Act”, pedestrians can be fined if caught crossing the road while holding and using the phones. Fines start at $ 50.
This movement to pass such laws has a reason: Pedestrian deaths are on the rise. According to the National Safety Council, there were 5,987 pedestrian deaths—the highest number since 1990. This problem isn’t new, nor is it limited to deaths. There are a rising number of injuries from texting while crossing a street.
According to research, texing resulted in a higher rate of incidents than failure to look right or left when crossing. By comparison, talking on the phone led to only a slight increase of accidents and listening to music had no influence on safety. The results were published in the journal Injury Prevention.
So, in the opinion of David Canepa, a member of the Board of Supervisors in San Mateo Country, California, the government should tell people where to look when they’re walking down the street. He said, “At the end of the day, people will understand the value of public safety. Making the laws will save lives.”
1. What is Kirk Caldwell trying to talk about in the second paragraph?| A．The increasing traffic accidents. | B．People’s dependence on phones. |
| C．The reason for passing the law. | D．Old people’s bad situation. |
| A．All of them will receive a warning first. |
| B．They’re fined at most 50 dollars in Ontario. |
| C．They’re fined at most 99 dollars in Honolulu. |
| D．They’re fined more than 100 dollars in California. |
| A．Texting while crossing roads. | B．Making calls when crossing roads. |
| C．Enjoying music when crossing roads. | D．Crossing roads without looking left or right. |
| A．They are hard to understand. | B．They are helpful for people. |
| C．They are against people’s wishes. | D．They are well received by pedestrians. |
2 . Recently, there is a view on the Internet that “the rise of pig price will lead to the rise of other food prices, thus leading to a substantial rise in overall prices”. It should be said that this judgment is not scientific. We should objectively understand the position of pork price in the overall price and its possible linkage effect.
At present, the main problem faced by the pork price is the lack of pork production capacity, which has nothing to do with inflation and will not lead to inflation. The rise of pork price only affects the upstream and downstream of pig industry and other related products such as meat, but has limited impact on the overall price. At present, China's agricultural product supply is sufficient; the production capacity of consumer goods is constantly improving; the service supply is more diversified, and the monetary policy remains stable, which provides a solid foundation for the stable operation of prices.
Keeping prices, especially the prices of important people's livelihood commodities, basically stable is related to the basic life of the people. In the face of rising pork prices, the state's policy of ensuring supply and stabilizing prices continues to increase. From choosing the right opportunity to put frozen meat reserve to starting the price subsidy mechanism, from rectifying the improper restriction and prohibition measures to protecting the land for pig farms, from special financial support to financial insurance escort, all departments are taking measures. With the gradual effectiveness of the measures, the price of pork will be stable in the future. It is worth noting that the data of the Ministry of Commerce on September 10th shows that the increase of pork wholesale price has fallen back from the previous week (from September 2nd to 8th).
1. From the first paragraph of the article, what’s the correct point of view we can get?| A．The rise of pig price will lead to the rise of other food prices, which will lead to the sharp rise of overall prices. |
| B．The rise of pig price will lead to the decrease of other food prices, which will lead to the sharp decline of overall price. |
| C．People should objectively understand the position of pork price in the overall price and its possible linkage effect. |
| D．It is not important to understand the position of pork price in the overall price and the linkage effect it can produce. |
| A．The reason for the rise of pork price is related to inflation. |
| B．The reason for the rise of pork price is related to the death of pigs. |
| C．The reason for the rise of pork price is related to market demand. |
| D．The reason for the rise of pork price is related to the lack of pork production capacity. |
| A．The price of pork will keep rising. | B．The price of pork will probably be stable. |
| C．The price of pork will not be stable. | D．The price of pork will never be stable. |
| A．The Price of Pork Is Rising. |
| B．What will People Do in the Face of Rising Pork Prices? |
| C．The Impact of Rising Pork Prices. |
| D．The Impact of Rising Pork Prices on People. |
3 . What is the connection between violence and sports? Psychologists(心理学家) say that there are many reasons for violence at sports events. One is alcohol(酒精).
David Sampson, a sports sociologist, agrees. “These are often celebratory riots(暴乱)— a large number of very happy people mixed in with large amounts of alcohol. They don’t often seem dangerous in the beginning, but things get violent quickly. ”
Dave Zarifis, head of public safety at Northern Iowa University says, “Some people don’t even come to celebrate.
Social psychologist Dr Sharon Kennedy says that there are a few things officials can do to prevent violence.
| A．They just follow the crowd. |
| B．Many fans drink a lot at games. |
| C．They want to drink hard and make trouble. |
| D．Another reason for violence at sports events is the crowd itself. |
| E．Making sure that an area is not overcrowded is very important. |
| F．Be careful when you are at a stadium because there are cameras there. |
| G．Never follow blindly no matter how many people are doing the same thing. |
4 . The term “gig economy (零工经济)” has been out there for a while, but what does it mean for the people involved? On the consumer side, we think of it as shopping with smart devices and social media. On the job side, it is working as a freelance contractor (working independently for different companies rather than being employed by one particular company).
Like anything else, there are pros and cons to consider before joining the gig economy. Happy “giggers” appreciate the independence and flexibility that it can offer. It can give them more control over their lives, for example, and they can often work from home. The downsides include the lack of benefits such as sick leave, vacation pay and health insurance, reduced job security, and potentially higher taxes.
Unsurprisingly, employers like gig workers! Not paying benefits can save them almost 40 percent on staff costs. But if you’re seeking gig work, you don’t have to sell yourself cheap. Joe Griston, regional director for Freelancer.com, says, “Forty seven percent of the projects on Freelancer.com are awarded to the median (中值的) job seekers or higher.”
Research suggests that, by 2022,43 percent of the U.S. workforce will be made up of these freelancers. This is not just an American phenomenon. In the U.K., the Office of National Statistics reports that, “The number of self-employed workers in the U.K. rose by 20 percent between 2008 and 2015...Part-time self-employment grew 88 percent from 2001 to 2015, but just 25 percent for full-time workers.”
Gig workers must find out work opportunities themselves. In addition to the skills that a worker applies on the job, a gigger needs to create a strong online personal brand, know how to navigate gig platforms, and provide first rate service both in person and through digital devices. A gigger can take several gigs if time doesn’t conflict, which can ensure him or her a respectable income.
1. What does the underlined “it” in the second paragraph refer to?| A．Anything else. | B．The gig economy. |
| C．The flexibility of giggers. | D．The independence of giggers. |
| A．Because the salary of gig workers is low. |
| B．Because gig workers are mostly able people. |
| C．Because they can save half on staff costs. |
| D．Because they needn’t pay for giggers’ benefits. |
| A．Gig economy is becoming a trend. |
| B．Full-time workers will disappear someday. |
| C．The U.S.has more gig workers than the U.K. |
| D．Giggers have taken up 43% of the U.S.workforce. |
| A．Giggers don’t worry about any benefits. |
| B．Gig workers can have paid vacations. |
| C．Giggers enjoy more freedom in working. |
| D．Gig workers have more working opportunities. |
5 . More than 80 colleges are creating a website where students will be able to apply to dozens of them. Some of the top names in higher education are joining the effort under a group called the Coalition for Access, Affordability and Success, whose goal is to simplify the application process, especially for low-income students.
The website not only gives students one place to send their applications, but also gives them tools to get started years in advance. On the site, students will be able to request advice from college admissions offices and they can create digital portfolios(文件夹) with the help of their teachers and instructors.
Members of the coalition(联盟) include private universities such as Harvard and Stanford and public counterparts such as the University of Virginia, University of Florida and Ohio State University. The colleges came together to fix a problem: Complex admissions processes deter students from applying and those who come from low-income families can’t afford the instructors and classes within reach of their wealthier peers. High schools, for example, can already buy software to help instructors track their students through the application process, but many can’t afford it.
More than 600 colleges now accept the standardized Common Application. Unlike the Common Application, which aims to create a uniform application process among schools, the new website aims to help students dive deeper into many distinct applications. It will give them a place to store their checklists and essays and invite anyone to provide feedback and edit.
Each college will have its own portal(入口) where students can submit applications, but they’ll all be accessible through the same site. The portfolio tool will let students add any extra information they want. Artists can include samples of their work and musicians can link to performance videos.
1. What is the aim of the Coalition for Access, Affordability and Success?| A．To make applying for college easier. |
| B．To give students more choices of subjects. |
| C．To donate money for low-income students. |
| D．To increase the quality of higher education. |
| A．It is the founder of the website. | B．It is the most famous among them. |
| C．It is a public counterpart. | D．It is a private university. |
| A．Assist. | B．Prevent. | C．Protect. | D．Separate. |
| A．It is hard to use. | B．It is very practical. |
| C．It is very effective. | D．It is very expensive. |
6 . A new study shows that the household consumers (家庭消费者) are focusing more on reducing their energy costs by using technologically advanced home appliances. The lighting control held the largest share in the smart home market in 2016. The increase in the adoption (采用) rate of intelligent lighting controls by households worldwide has fuelled the growth of the smart home market. These have the ability to reduce electricity consumption because they adjust (调节) the artificial light according to the surroundings.
Four years ago, I was in a discussion about Nest Thermostat (恒温器), sharing my view that if a house is built properly, it doesn't need a smart thermostat. It probably wouldn't do much good there because with careful placement of high-quality windows, you seldom need to heat or cool it at all. Since then, other studies have shown that in a leaky old house, smart thermostats can be very effective and save energy.
But is smart lighting saving energy? A smart lighting system might turn off or adjust the brightness of a bulb (灯泡), but an LED bulb already uses very little electricity, say 7 watts per bulb. But when you make it smart, it is always connected, consuming a bit of power to talk to the controller or bridge; one guy with a meter tested it at 0.4 watts per hour, or 9.6 watts in a day. It means that if you have a pile of smart bulbs and devices, you are consuming a fair bit of electricity.
Except for smart thermostats in leaky houses, none in the smart market saves energy. Asking Siri, voice control on any of Apple devices, to turn off the lights is fun, but we would be better off in terms of energy and exercise if we got up and reached for a light switch. Rather than saving energy, the smart home is wasting it.
1. What does the underlined word “fuelled” in paragraph 1 probably mean?| A．Controlled. |
| B．Promoted. |
| C．Predicted. |
| D．Detected. |
| A．They are well-designed. |
| B．They are energy-efficient. |
| C．They are not very useful. |
| D．They are not always automatic. |
| A．LED bulbs are very bright. |
| B．LED bulbs are of little value. |
| C．Smart lighting has developed quickly. |
| D．Smart lighting does little to save electricity. |
| A．To use Siri for fun. |
| B．To improve smart lighting. |
| C．To give up smart thermostats completely. |
| D．To turn to the traditional way of turning off lights. |
7 . During the holidays, you may be heading into the British countryside for a walk. However, the countryside scene may not be what you think. On the country roads you might see dog poo (粪便) left by irresponsible owners, or much rubbish. Most people getting to the countryside are well-behaved but there’re exceptions. Some even allow their dogs to run off the leash (拴狗的绳子).
On my coastal farm in Essex I’m lucky that there’re many regular walkers who act as my unofficial farm neighbourhood watch. They tell me if they find someone hasn’t picked up their dog’s poo or if they have come across rubbish. Unluckily, it’s difficult to catch people in the act. How often have you actually seen someone leaving their dog’s poo on the ground?
However, we have the Countryside Code (规章): rules to make sure that we respect and enjoy the countryside. A lot of the code seems common sense: respect others, take your litter home, and keep dogs under control. Yet some farmers have suffered as a result of dog owners believing that their pet won’t run towards sheep and cows, frightening them. The results of ignoring the code’s principles aren’t taken seriously enough. What’s clear to some people might not be clear to others, especially if you live in a city and have little understanding of farming practices. Not everyone might know that dogs could worry farm animals. Therefore, public education needs great improvement. In the past there were television advertisements but perhaps online posts would be more useful today.
The countryside is for us all, and we have a shared responsibility to make sure that it looks good and works well. This means supporting those who work and own the land to keep it as best as they can. Breaking the code really affects those who run our countryside. We need to respect this far more if we are all to enjoy it.
1. What do some people who go to the countryside in the holidays do according to the author?| A．They generally fail to respect the land. | B．They may pollute the local environment. |
| C．They want to take part in farming work. | D．They don’t really enjoy countryside views. |
| A．farm owner | B．government official |
| C．neighborhood watch | D．visitor in the countryside |
| A．The code is thought to be too strict. | B．There’s no education about the rules. |
| C．Farmers hardly communicate with visitors. | D．They have little knowledge related to farming. |
| A．Show support for land owners. | B．Stress the importance of the farms. |
| C．Call for good behavior in the countryside. | D．Picture a perfect view of the countryside. |
8 . Between 30 and 40 percent of food produced for humans never gets eaten in the USA, ending up in landfills (垃圾填埋场), where it breaks down and produces greenhouse gases. Now, Elena Belavina, a professor from Cornell University, has an interesting solution. He says that opening more grocery (食品杂货) stores could reduce (减少) food waste greatly.
People of most US cities don’t have enough choices when it comes to grocery shopping, which means that people will overbuy when visiting a store. They buy more than what they can really eat, which means food goes to waste. However, when there are more stores in a neighborhood, people will shop daily or many times a week, buying just what they need, which means less food goes to waste.
For example, Belavina found that in Chicago, adding just three or four markets within a 10-square-kilometer area reduced food waste by 6 percent to 9 percent. Europe (and much of the rest of the world) is famously good at this, with stores meeting shoppers’ different needs, such as bread, cheese, meat and produce.
Belavina’s research did find that increasing the number of grocery stores would lead to more food waste by sellers, but this is less than food waste produced by customers. “We at home throw away 10 times more food than the grocery stores,” she said. This is why focusing on solutions to reducing life rubbish will have a greater help than focusing on sellers. Belavina suggests that when adding more stores isn’t workable, people should explore other shopping methods such as online orders. “Any service that makes it easier and allows you to shop more often is helpful. To reduce food waste, what people need to do is bring fewer groceries home.”
1. What will people do when there are more shops around?| A．They will eat more healthily. |
| B．They will shop more often. |
| C．They will eat more food. |
| D．They will buy too much. |
| A．To compare it with other US cities. |
| B．To show it has the similar problem. |
| C．To point out its importance in the US. |
| D．To prove Belavina’s solution is workable. |
| A．We should try to avoid shopping online. |
| B．We should shop at stores near our home. |
| C．We should shop in small shops more often. |
| D．We should increase the ways of shopping. |
| A．The reasons for food waste. |
| B．The change of shopping methods. |
| C．The advantage of more shops around. |
| D．The importance of self-control in shopping. |
9 . We live in the age of globalization; about 250 million people worldwide now live in countries other than the one in which they were born.
Economic migrants look overseas to find better jobs and an improved standard of living. They often travel to one of the many developed countries. These countries often have low birthrates, and as a result, are in need of working-age adults. Then there are retirees — people who want to spend their later years in a country with a lower cost of living. This group of migrants usually come from countries where the cost of retirement is high.
Today, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is one of the top places for economic migrants: they make up over 80 percent of the population. However, Japan’s migrant population is just one in fifty. Where migrants go depends on many things, such as job opportunities there or cultural and language differences.
The huge number of migrants is a cause of worry within the host country, and it is sometimes believed that migrants lead to the depletion of that country’s resources. However, many people disagree about that. A study by researchers Christian Dustmann and Tommaso Frattini showed that on the whole, migrants from Europe contributed more to Britain’s economy than they benefited from the value of public services.
Besides, most migrants send money home to their families; according to the World Bank, international migrants sent home about $600 billion in 2015, an amount comparable to the national wealth of the twentieth richest country in the world.
In addition to the economic benefits, migrants may contribute to the cultural diversity of their host countries. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) works with governments to protect migrants’ rights. Through a global movement called “Migrants Contribute,” it also raises awareness of the value of migrants’ contributions. Being able to experience many cultures just by walking down the street is something that our grandparents might never have imagined. In many global cities today, it’s already a reality.
1. What does Paragraph 2 mainly talk about?| A．A brief history of globalization. |
| B．The future of economic migrants. |
| C．The reasons for people’s migration. |
| D．The rise and fall of international migration. |
| A．Protection. | B．Reduction. |
| C．Formation. | D．Application. |
| A．Few migrants send most of their money home. |
| B．Migrants help support their home countries. |
| C．Many migrants become rich after their migration. |
| D．Migrants always choose to move to rich countries. |
| A．Positive. | B．Doubtful. |
| C．Worried. | D．Unconcerned. |
10 . We’re increasingly relying on automation and artificial intelligence in everyday life. But we still don’t quite trust robots and fear they will take our jobs.
Humankind has a complicated relationship with robots. On the one hand, we appreciate how they can do dangerous, repetitive work so we don’t have to. Robots don’t need vacations or medical insurance. And in areas such as agriculture, where farmers can’t find enough people to pick the produce, robots can shoulder some of those tasks. But polls (民意调查) show that the growing robotization of the planet makes us feel deeply agitated - and threatened.
Pew Research Center surveys found that more than 80 percent of Americans believed thạt by 2050, robots would do much of the work humans now do and about 75 percent believed that would make economic inequality worse. Across lines of race, age, and education, people who said automation has hurt workers outnumbered those who said it’s helped workers by two to one.
National Geographic sent David Berreby around the world to look at the present and future state of robots in society.
“Robots now deliver food in Milton Keynes, England, carry supplies in a Dallas hospital, disinfect (给……消毒) patients’ rooms in China and some European countries, and wander parks in Singapore, asking pedestrians (行人) to maintain social distance,” Berreby writes.
“It’s an unavoidable fact that we are going to have machines, artificial creatures; that will be a part of our daily life,” Carnegie Mellon University AI roboticist Manuela Veloso told Berreby. “When you start accepting robots around you, like a third species, along with pets and humans, you want to relate to them.”
A third species? That’s a new idea indeed. But were not there yet. So far, Berreby reports, robots can’t equal the human mind’s ability to do a lot of tasks, especially unexpected ones, and robots haven’t yet mastered common sense - all sill required to be a magazine editor.
1. What does the underlined word “agitated” in paragraph 2 probably mean?| A．Disappointed | B．Proud. | C．Comfortable | D．Worried. |
| A．Most people regarded workplace automation as good. |
| B．Most people agreed robots helped stimulate the economy. |
| C．More people thought robots did more harm than good. |
| D．More people feared robots would bring more social problems. |
| A．People enjoy robots’ company. |
| B．People have a growing reliance on robots, |
| C．Robots will pose a serious threat to humans. |
| D．Robots will soon replace humans in many fields. |
| A．Disapproving. | B．Favorable. | C．Concerned. | D．Reserved |
