1 . You may not pay much attention to your daily elevator (电梯) ride. Many of us use a lift several times during the day without really thinking about it. But Lee Gray, PhD of the University of North Carolina, US, has made it his business to examine this overlooked form of public transport. He is known as the “Elevator Guy”.
“The lift becomes this interesting social space where etiquette (礼仪) is sort of strange,” Gray told the BBC. “Elevators are socially very interesting but often very awkward places.”
We walk in and usually turn around to face the door. If someone else comes in, we may have to move. And here, according to Gray, lift users unthinkingly go through a set pattern of movements. He told the BBC what he had observed.
He explained that when you are the only one inside a lift, you can do whatever you want — it’s your own little box.
If there are two of you, you go into different corners, standing diagonally (对角线地) across from each other to create distance.
When a third person enters, you will unconsciously form a triangle. And when there is a fourth person it becomes a square, with someone in every corner. A fifth person is probably going to have to stand in the middle.
Newcomers to the lift will need to size up the situation when the doors slide open and then act decisively. Once in, for most people the rule is simple-look down, or look at your phone.
Why are we so awkward in lifts?
“You don’t have enough space.” Professor Babette Renneberg, a clinical psychologist at the Free University of Berlin, told the BBC. “Usually when we meet other people we have about an arm’s length of distance between us. And that’s not possible in most elevators.”
In such a small, enclosed space it becomes very important to act in a way that cannot be construed (理解) as threatening or odd. “The easiest way to do this is to avoid eye contact,” she said.
1. Why is Lee Gray known as the “Elevator Guy”?A.Because his business is to sell the elevator to people. |
B.Because he is the inventor of the elevator. |
C.Because he has made it his research to examine the elevator. |
D.Because he has overlooked this form of public transport. |
A.turn around and greet one another |
B.look around or examine their phone |
C.make eye contact with those in the elevator |
D.try to keep a distance from other people |
The point in the chart refers to one person.
A. | B. | C. | D. |
A.judge | B.ignore | C.put up with | D.make the best of |
A.someone’s odd behaviors | B.the lack of space |
C.their unfamiliarity with one another | D.their eye contact with one another |
注意:1.词数100左右;
2.开头已写好,不计入总字数;
3.可适当增加细节,以使行文连贯。
Nowadays, more and more parents are sending their children to study abroad.
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3 . You come home on a hot summer day, hoping to have a cool bath, but find there is no water. Then you see how important water is in your daily life. While sometimes you have the idea in many parts of the world, water is not just about one’s everyday needs.
In countries like Tanzania, water is hard to get, and the job of collecting water falls on women’s shoulders. Girls often have to leave school to collect water, while their brothers stay at school studying. The girls spend more time collecting water. That means they have less time for learning.
For these girls, “Knowledge is Power” is not just words; it’s a sad fact in real life. As they spend less time at school, they have fewer chances of getting good jobs, and they often have no choices on important matters, like who to marry. These girls are often married into poor families. They have little money or knowledge to take care of their children. For the baby girls who are lucky enough to survive(生存), their life may be still around “water”, just like their mothers’.
1. What do the underlined words “the idea” mean?A.Water is important in one’s everyday life. |
B.Water is not just about one’s everyday needs. |
C.It's nice to have a cool bath on a hot summer day. |
A.men’s | B.women’s | C.boys’ |
A.not just words | B.a sad fact in real life | C.both A and B |
A.The girls have a hard life in countries like Tanzania. |
B.Why it’s important to save water. |
C.How water may give a country power. |
Born in the province of Ancona, Italy, in 1870, Montessori became the first female doctor in her country after she
5 . Children are a delight. They are our future. But sadly, hiring someone to take care of them when you're going to work is getting more expensive by the year.
Earlier this month it was reported that the cost of involving an infant or small kid at a childcare centre rose 3 percent in 2012, faster than the general cost of living. There are now large strips of the country where daycare(日托)for an infant costs more than 10%of the average married couples' income.
This is not necessarily a new trend, but it is somewhat puzzling me. The price of professional childcare has been rising since the 1980s. Yet during that time, pay for professional childcare workers has stood still Actually caregivers(护理员)earn less today than they did in 1990. Considering that labor costs are responsible for about 80% of a daycare center's expenses, one would infer that stable wages means stable prices.
So who is to blame for higher child care costs?
Childcare is a carefully regulated industry. States lay down rules about how many children each employee is allowed to watch over, the space care centers need per child, and other details. And the stricter the regulations are, the higher the costs will be. In Massachusetts. where childcare centers must hire one teacher for every three infants, the price of care averaged more than $ 16,000 per year. In Mississippi, where centers must hire one teacher for every five infants, the price of care averaged less than $ 5,000.
Unfortunately, I don't have all the daycare center regulations, but I wouldn't be surprised if as the rules. have become more complicated, prices have risen. The tradeoff (交换)might be worth it in certain cases, after all, the health and safety of children should probably come before cheap service. But certainly, it doesn't seem to be an accident that some of the cheapest daycare available is in the least regulated South.
1. What problem do parents of small kids have to face?A.The ever-rising child care prices. | B.The budgeting of family expenses |
C.The balance between work and family. | D.The selection of a good daycare center. |
A.Why the prices of child care vary greatly from state to state |
B.Why increased child care prices have not led to better service. |
C.Why childcare workers' pay has not increased with the rising childcare costs. |
D.Why there is a severe shortage of childcare professionals in a number of states. |
A.Steady increase in labor costs. | B.Strict government regulations. |
C.Lack of support from the state | D.High administrative expenses. |
A.Caregivers should receive regular professional training. |
B.Less complicated rules about childcare might lower costs. |
C.It is vital to strike a balance between quality and costs. |
D.It is better for different States to learn from each other. |
6 . With the development of our society, cellphones have become a common part in our lives. Have you ever run into a careless cellphone user in the street? Maybe they were busy talking, texting or checking updates on WeChat without looking at what was going on around them. As the number of this new "species" of human has kept rising, they have been given a new name—phubbers (低头族).
Recently a cartoon created by students from China Central Academy of Fine Arts put this group of people under the spotlight. In the short film, phubbers with various social identities bury themselves in their phones. A doctor plays with his cellphone while letting his patient die. A pretty woman takes a selfie (自拍) in front of a car accident site. And a father loses his child without knowing about it while using his mobile phone. A chain of similar events will finally lead to the destruction(毁灭) of the world.
Although the ending of the film sounds unrealistic, the damage phubbing can bring is real. Your health is the first to bear the effect and the result of it. "Always bending your head to check your cellphone could damage your neck," Guangming Daily quoted doctors' words. "The neck is like a rope that breaks after long-term stretching." Also, staring at cellphones for a long time will damage your eyesight gradually, according to the report.
But that's not all. Being a phubber could also damage your social skills and drive you away from your friends and family. When getting together with family or friends, many people prefer to play their cellphones while others are chatting happily with each other and this creates a strange atmosphere, Qilu Evening News reported.
It can also cost your life. There have been lots of reports on phubbers who fell to their death, suffered accidents, and were robbed of their cellphones in broad daylight.
1. Why does the author give the example of a cartoon in Paragraph 2?A.To suggest phubbers will destroy the world. |
B.To call for people to go walking without phones. |
C.To tell people the bad effects of phubbing. |
D.To advise students to create more cartoons like this. |
① Destructing the world.
② Affecting his social skills.
③ Damaging his neck and eyesight.
④ Getting separated from his friends and family.
A.①②④ | B.②③④ | C.①③④ | D.①②③④ |
A.Supportive. | B.Confident. | C.Disapproving. | D.Unconcerned. |
A.Ways to avoid the risks of phubbing. | B.Bad effects of phubbing. |
C.Daily life of phubbers. | D.Behaviours of phubbers. |
7 . A simple piece of clothesline hangs between some environmentally friendly Americans and their neighbors.
On one side stand those who see clothes dryers as a waste of energy and a major polluter of the environment. As a result, they are turning to clotheslines as part of the " what-I-can-do-environmentally".
On the other side are people who are against drying clothes outside, arguing that clotheslines are unpleasant to look at. They have persuaded Homeowners Associations (HOAs) to ban(禁止) outdoor clotheslines, because clothesline drying also tends to lower home value in the neighborhood. This had led to a Right-to-Dry Movement that is calling for laws to be passed to protect people's right to use clotheslines.
So far, only three states have laws to protect clotheslines. Right-to-Dry supporters argue that they should be removed.
Matt Reck, 37, is the kind of eco-conscious person who feeds his trees with bathwater and reuses water drops from his air conditioners to water plants. His family also uses a clothesline. But on July 9, 2007, the HOA in Wake Forest, North Carolina told him that a dissatisfied neighbor had telephoned them about his clothesline. The Recks paid no attention to the warning and still dried their clothes on a line in the yard. " Many people say they are environmentally friendly but they don't take matters in their own hands," says Reck. The local HOA has decided not to take any action, unless more neighbors come to them.
North Carolina lawmakers say that banning clotheslines is not the right thing to do. But HOAs and housing businesses believe that clothesline drying reminds people of poor neighborhoods. They worry that if buyers think their future neighbors can't even afford dryers, housing prices will fall.
Environmentalists say such worries are not necessary, and in view of global warming, that idea needs to change. As they say, "The clothesline is beautiful. " Hanging clothes outside should be encouraged. We all have to do at least something to slow down the process of global warming.
1. One of the reasons why supporters of clothes dryers are trying to ban clothesline drying is that________.A.clothes dryers are cheaper |
B.clothesline drying reduces home value |
C.clothes dryers are energy-saving |
D.clothesline drying is not allowed in all of the US states |
A.He is a warm-hearted man. | B.He is a cruel man. |
C.He is an inexperienced gardener. | D.He is a man of social responsibility. |
A.Housing businesses. | B.Environmentalists. |
C.Homeowners Associations. | D.Reek's dissatisfied neighbors. |
A.Clothesline drying: a way to save time and money. |
B.Clothesline drying: a lost art to be used. |
C.Opposite opinions on clothesline drying. |
D.Different varieties of clotheslines. |
8 . Today, getting information is as easy as opening a browser on your computer/phone, typing in a question and waiting a second for a long list of links to load. These websites will promise to answer your question. But actually, they may not be all that trustworthy. Figuring out which site is believable and which is false takes work. It isn’t impossible, though. Actually, it is what every good journalist (新闻记者) does daily. And students and other non-journalists also can do it.
To check a new claim (声明), good reporters contact experts on the topic. In journalism, such experts are known as “sources”. This may be a scientist who discovered something new in the lab. Or it could be the witness to a crime.
However, not everything is easy. For instance, if there’s a forest fire, how do you know where it started, when and how? You can ask government officials, but they may not know. You can talk to people near the fire shortly after it started. But unless someone spotted the fire as it happened, people may never know for sure. They may simply offer speculation. Saying something “might have” or even “probably” started that fire isn’t a fact. So you’d have to qualify any statement about the fire’s origins.
I describe such words as “weasel words”. These words and phrases include “might” “could have” “was likely to have been”, etc. Whenever something isn’t known for sure, journalists will highlight their uncertainty by using weasel words. They never over-blow claims to the readers.
A good reporter should be paid for the work he does. Some blogs and even news sites are authored by unpaid writers. Many of these writers are untrained in reporting, and their reports may not provide the depth. Thus, if the news you’re reading is free to the world online, consider what that may mean. Overall, you should be skeptical (怀疑的). That’s acting like a journalist.
1. According to the first paragraph, we know that every day a good journalist tries to________ .A.get information | B.check information |
C.write information | D.analyze information |
A.By listing some facts. | B.By giving an explanation. |
C.By raising some questions. | D.By giving an example. |
A.They are annoying to the readers. |
B.They should be avoided in a report. |
C.They are a sign of a good journalist. |
D.They make a difference to a report. |
A.Keep in Doubt like a Good Reporter |
B.Learn from a Good Journalist |
C.Check Facts You Can Trust |
D.Gain Believable Information |
There are different
We watch many acts of violence on TV, and then we don’t feel violence is violence. I think it’s time for us to spend more time
I think TV violence has too much bad influence
10 . Students in the Chinese city have been ranked in top place in international school tests, according to a report published by the World Bank.
It found that the standard of teaching was the biggest advantage, including a system of regular teacher training and upgrading of skills. Teachers in Shanghai spend only a third of their time teaching—with most of their time being spent on training, preparation and study from instructors.
There are serious requirements to get into teaching and even though teachers can be driven away, the study found that, in practice, this seldom happened. Instead, there was a system paying very strong attention to training and a career built on incentives(奖励) for the best teachers.
There are incentives for teachers to work in rural schools. And there can be rotations(轮流)of teachers working in the most disadvantaged schools.
The World Bank also found that Shanghai benefited from a special system in which stronger schools helped weaker schools and expected to raise their teaching levels.
The most recent international Pisa tests, run by the OECD, have put Shanghai in top place for maths, reading and science.
Report author Xiaoyan Liang said: “One of the most impressive aspects(方面) of Shanghai’s education system is the way it improves, supports, and manages teachers, who are central to any effort to raise the education quality in schools.”
She said the high level of public respect for teachers in Shanghai was another reflection of “How well they teach. They’re true professionals”.
1. Why can the students in Shanghai be ranked in top place in international school tests?A.Because the teachers work very hard. |
B.Because of its high standard of teaching. |
C.Because the students study very hard. |
D.Because of the smart and rich students. |
A.By taking part in many competitions. |
B.By asking them to be trained for a little time. |
C.By driving away those who are bad at teaching. |
D.By rewarding them based on their performance. |
A.work in rural schools | B.compete with each other |
C.spend most time teaching | D.challenge global tests |
A.Its education quality is the best in China. |
B.It’s difficult to work there as a teacher. |
C.Stronger schools often helped weaker schools. |
D.Its teachers enjoy the highest pay level. |