1 . In the rich countries of the West, the electric vehicle revolution is well occurring. Climate-conscious consumers drive Teslas or Polestars for reasons of morality (道德) and fashion. Poorer countries are also experiencing a wave of electrified trend. In Bangladesh, electric three-wheeler taxis, known as tuk-tuks, are rapidly replacing gas-powered ones on the streets. Such electric vehicles are climate friendly, cost effective, and help reduce air pollution.

Yet a glance under the hood (引擎盖) of these vehicles shows a poisonous secret: each tuk-tuk runs on five massive lead-acid batteries (铅酸电池), containing almost 300 pounds of lead (铅) in total. Every year and a half or so, when those batteries need to be replaced and recycled, about 60 pounds of lead leaks into the environment. Battery recycling, often at small-scale unregulated factories, is a highly profitable (高利润的) but deadly business.

Lead is dangerous, and any exposure to it is harmful to human health. Lead that has entered the environment hurts people on an unexpected scale. The numerous ways lead enters air, water, soil, and homes across the developing world and the enormous damage it does to human health, wealth, and welfare cause one of the biggest environmental problems in the world yet receives little attention.

The World Bank estimates that lead kills 5.5 million people per year, making it a bigger global killer than AIDS, malaria, diabetes, and road traffic deaths combined. On top of the shocking deaths, the social burden of lead poisoning is heavy, as is its contribution to global inequality — our research on the cognitive (认知的) effects of lead poisoning suggests that it may explain about one-fifth of the educational achievement gap between rich and poor countries.

But unlike many challenges faced by developing countries, lead poisoning is a problem that can be resolved through financial investment (财政投入). Better monitoring, research, and rules can help protect children all over the world from the unpleasant effects of lead poisoning and reduce the massive global costs it brings.

1. How does the author describe the lead problem in paragraph 2?

A．By listing some numbers.	B．By analyzing hidden causes.
C．By making an interesting comparison.	D．By explaining its working principle.

2. What can we learn about lead’s harm from the text?

A．Lead enters poor countries in one way.

B．Lead leaking has been avoided in all the countries.

C．Lead will definitely not harm anymore.

D．Lead poisoning may make poor societies poorer.

3. What can be done to solve lead poisoning in developing countries?

A．Fixing these used batteries.	B．Reducing the cost of recycling lead.
C．Ignoring the illegal use of lead.	D．Putting certain effort and money.

4. Which of the following is the best title for the text?

A．The Impacts of Lead Poisoning on Man.

B．The Global Lead Poisoning Problem.

C．The Ways to Solve Lead Problem.

D．The Benefits of Using Electric Vehicles.

2 . Nowadays, the world is slowly becoming a high-tech society and we are now surrounded by technology. Facebook and Twitter are innovative tools; text messaging is still a somewhat existing phenomenon and even e-mail is only a flashing spot on the screen when compared with our long history of snail mail. Now we adopt these tools to the point of essentialness, and only rarely consider how we are more fundamentally affected by them.

Social media, texting and e-mail all make it much easier to communicate, gather and pass information, but they also present some dangers. By removing any real human engagement, they enable us to develop our abnormal self-love without the risk of disapproval or criticism. To use a theatrical metaphor (隐喻), these new forms of communication provide a stage on which we can each create our own characters, hidden behind a fourth wall of tweets, status updates and texts. This unreal state of unconcern can become addictive as we separate ourselves a safe distance from the cruelty of our fleshly lives, where we are imperfect, powerless and insignificant. In essence, we have been provided not only the means to be more free, but also to become new, to create and project a more perfect self to the world. As we become more reliant on these tools, they become more a part of our daily routine, and so we become more restricted in this fantasy.

So it is that we live in a cold era, where names and faces represent two different levels of closeness, where working relationships occur only through the magic of email and where love can start or end by text message. An environment such as this reduces interpersonal relationships to mere digital exchanges.

Would a celebrity have been so daring to do something dishonorable if he had had to do it in person? Doubtful. It seems he might have been lost in a fantasy world that ultimately convinced himself into believing the digital self could obey different rules and regulations, as if he could continually push the limits of what’s acceptable without facing the consequences of “real life.”

1. Which word can replace the underlined word “innovative” in Paragraph 1?

A．Traditional.

B．Dangerous.

C．Useful.

D．New.

2. What is the potential threat caused by the novel communication tools?

A．Sheltering us from virtual life.	B．Removing face-to-face interaction.
C．Leading to false mental perception.	D．Making us rely more on hi-tech media.

3. What can be inferred from the last two paragraphs?

A．Technologies have changed our relationships.

B．The digital world is a recipe for pushing limits.

C．Love can be better conveyed by text message.

D．The digital self need not take responsibility.

4. Which of the following is a suitable title for the text?

A．Addiction to the Virtual World	B．Cost of Falling into Digital Life
C．Interpersonal Skills on the Net	D．The Future of Social Media

3 . Tackling lonely emotions

Do you feel lonely? The World Health Organization (WHO) recently addressed loneliness as a pressing health threat.     1    

Loneliness is a state of mind marked by feelings of isolation despite wanting social connections. So people who are lonely usually experience the emotional pain of not being connected with others.     2     People who enjoy spending time by themselves continue to maintain positive social relationships that they can return to when they want connection.

Social isolation impacts the health and well-being of all age groups across the world.     3     Between 5 and 15 percent adolescents experience loneliness, but the numbers are likely to be underestimations, said the organization.

Social disconnection in adolescence can lead to poorer education outcomes, since young people who have experienced loneliness in high school are more likely to drop out of university. Lack of social connection carries a risk of early death equivalent to other better-known risk factors such as smoking, obesity and air pollution, or potentially even greater.     4     but previous studies have shown that loneliness has been linked to anxiety and depression and can increase the risk of heart disease by 30 percent. A 2015 study looked at the immune systems of its participants who were identified as lonely. It showed that they tend to have more inflammation(炎症) and less immunity.     5    

To tackle this crisis, the WHO launched the Commission on Social Connection, which held its first leadership meeting to outline solutions to build social connections at scale.

A．The following aspects are something concerning how to tackle loneliness.

B．It called for countries and organizations to make social connections a priority.

C．Solitude (独处) on the other hand, is voluntary.

D．It can be a result of feeling stressed due to loneliness.

E．According to the WHO, one in four old people experience social isolation.

F．Loneliness cannot be identified as a fatal emotional factor,

G．Loneliness not only has a far-reaching impact comparable to smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day according to a 2017 study.

5 . The rapid increase of the oil price has brought the world to its senses. Scientists are seeking suitable alternative (替换) but so far in vain. They are considering how they can make better use of the two other major fuels, coal and natural gas, but they have found that neither can replace oil in their economics. In recent years, there has been a growing concern for the environment and coal is not a popular fuel with environmentalists. Natural gas, the purest of the three fuels, is also the most limited in supply.

The answer would seem to lie in nuclear power stations. They need very little fuel to produce enormous amounts of power and they do not pollute the atmosphere. Their dangers, however, are so great and the costs of building them are also high. Not only could one accident in a nuclear power station spread as much radioactivity (放射物) as a thousand Hiroshima atom bombs, but the radioactive waste from these stations is extremely dangerous.

Scientists have recently turned their attention to natural sources of energy: the sun, the sea, the wind and hot spring, of which the sun seems the most promising source for the future. Houses have already been built which are heated entirely by solar energy. However, solar energy can only be collected during daylight hours, and in countries where the weather is unreliable, an alternative heating system has to be included.

However, many scientists are optimistic that new ways of generating large amounts of energy will be successfully developed, but at the same time they fear the consequences. If the world population goes on increasing at its present rate, we may, in fifty years’ time, be burning up so much energy that we would damage the earth’s atmosphere. By raising the temperature of the atmosphere,we could melt the Arctic and Antarctic ice-caps and change the pattern of vegetable and animal life throughout the world——a frightening possibility.

1. What does the underlined phrase “in vain” in Paragraph1 mean?

A．without doubt

B．without results

C．in progress

D．under attack

2. The natural gas cannot take the place of oil because       .

A．it is too pure	B．the source of it is limited
C．its price is increasing	D．it may cause more pollution

3. Which of the following will cause pollution to the environment?

A．coal

B．natural gas

C．wind energy

D．solar energy

4. Nuclear power cannot take the place of the oil because       .

A．it may pollute the atmosphere

B．it cannot generate large amounts of power

C．it may use up enormous amounts of fuel

D．it may cause great danger to us if not properly handled

7 . Social media has completely taken over everyday life, affecting how society runs and changing individuals in ways that even they can feel. While social media can act as a platform for people to express themselves, it can also be overwhelming, especially for high school teens.

To teenager Bryson Lan, quitting social media helped eliminate (消除) a significant distraction in his routine and keep up with teachers. “I was scrolling through social networking sites so much,” Lan said. “I was also starting to struggle since I entered my high school year. When school started, I was super overwhelmed (不知所措的), and I was just not ready for it.”

Most teenagers fear that by eliminating these apps, they will miss out on connections with their peers and feel a significant loss to their social life. However, Lan found he didn’t miss anything during his time without social media.

Another problem with social media is the amount of “junk content” posted. People are regularly posting and updating on social media, and much of the content has no meaning to other viewers and is ultimately a time suck.

However, social media isn’t all negative. Social media can be a place to develop passions and boost creativity. For example, Lan found his interest in photography blossom after seeing works from other photographers on social media. “Social media is a good place where you can have a portfolio (作品集) or upload your works,” Lan said. “A lot of people have photography accounts or art accounts. In some ways, I think it actually furthers your hobby.” “Thanks to this revolutionary development of social media, we can enjoy a world where everyone is closer than before,” Lan said. “But we also need to have the skills to make good use of social media, and that depends on each person’s efforts.”

1. What did getting rid of social media bring Lan?

A．More distractions.	B．Confusion about life.
C．A smaller social circle.	D．More attention on his studies.

2. What does the underlined phrase “a time suck” in paragraph 4 mean?

A．A waste of time.

B．A timetable.

C．A lack of time.

D．A time switch.

3. What’s Lan’s attitude towards social media?

A．Doubtful.

B．Unclear.

C．Objective.

D．Supportive.

4. What’s the main idea of the text?

A．Most teenagers’ opinions on social media.	B．The effects social media has on teenagers.
C．Innovative development of social media.	D．The problems social media brings people.

10 . In the days before the Internet, critical thinking was the most important skill of informed citizens. But in the digital age, according to Anastasia Kozyreva, a psychologist at the Max Planck Institute of Human Development, and her colleagues, an even more important skill is critical ignoring.

As the researchers point out, we live in an attention economy where content producers on the Internet compete for our attention. They attract us with a lot of emotional and eye-catching stories while providing little useful information, so they can expose us to profit-generating advertisements. Therefore,we are no longer customers but products, and each link we click is a sale of our time and attention. Toprotect ourselves from this, Kozyreva advocates for learning the skill of critical ignoring, in which readers intentionally control their information environment to reduce exposure to false and low-quality information.

According to Kozyreva, critical ignoring comprises three strategies. The first is to design ourenvironments, which involves the removal of low-quality yet hard-to-resist information from around. Successful dieters need to keep unhealthy food out of their homes. Likewise, we need to set up a digital environment where attention-grabbing items are kept out of sight. As with dieting, if one tries to bank onwillpower not to click eye-catching “news”, he’ll surely fail. So, it’s better to just keep them out of sightto begin with.

The next is to evaluate the reliability of information, whose purpose is to protect you from false and misleading information. It can be realized by checking the source in the mainstream news agencies which have their reputations for being trustworthy.

The last goes by the phrase “do not feed the trolls.” Trolls are actors who internationally spread false and hurtful information online to cause harm. It may be appealing to respond to them to set the facts straight, but trolls just care about annoying others rather than facts. So, it’s best not to reward their bad behaviour with our attention.

By sharpening our critical ignoring skills in these ways, we can make the most of the Internet while avoiding falling victim to those who try to control our attention, time, and minds.

1. What can we learn about the attention economy from paragraph 2?

A．It offers little information.	B．It features depressing stories.
C．It saves time for Internet users.	D．It seeks profits from each click.

2. Why does the author mention dieters in paragraph 3?

A．To discuss the quality of information

B．To prove the benefits of healthy food.

C．To show the importance of environments.

D．To explain the effectiveness of willpower.

3. What should we do to handle Internet trolls according to the text?

A．Reveal their intention.	B．Turn a deaf ear to them.
C．Correct their behaviour.	D．Send hard facts to them.

4. What is the text mainly about?

A．Reasons for critical thinking in the attention economy.

B．Practising the skill of critical ignoring in the digital age.

C．Maximizing the benefits of critical ignoring on the Internet.

D．Strategies of abandoning critical thinking for Internet users