1 . The United Nations’ World Food Program (WFP) won the Nobel Peace Prize on October 9, 2020. The Nobel Committee (委员会) is recognizing the group for its efforts to fight hunger and improve conditions for peace in areas affected by wars. The World Food Program has long been offering help to some of the world’s most troubled places. For example, the WFP created a special service that successfully kept providing help all over the world after the outbreak of COVID-19 stopped nearly all international flights.
Berit, chairwoman of the Nobel Committee, said on Friday, “With this year’s award, the committee wishes to turn the eyes of the world to the millions of people who suffer from or face the problem of hunger.” In announcing the award, the Nobel committee said “At present, food is the best vaccine (疫苗) against COVID-19.” And it added, “There will be 265 million people going hungry within a year, so of course this is also a call to the international community to offer enough fund to the World Food Program.”
Dan Smith, a director, said the Nobel committee had wanted to send a message of both hope and support for worldwide group work among countries “Hunger, just like climate change and the present COVID-19, is a world problem that can only be properly addressed by all countries working together,” he told Reuters, a British news agency.
The award comes with a gold medal and $1.1 million——a small amount compared to the money the WFP needs for its work. So far in 2020, the WFP has received almost $6. 4 billion in money or goods from all over the world.
1. Why does the committee decide to award the prize to the WFP?a. To encourage giving money to the WFP.
b. To attract worldwide attention to global hunger.
c. To honor the WFP’s hard work to cure COVID-19.
d. To recognize the WFP’s efforts to fight global hunger.
| A．abc | B．abd | C．acd | D．bcd |
| A．Viewed. | B．Worked. | C．Solved. | D．Encouraged. |
| A．The problem of climate change will soon end. |
| B．The worldwide food problem is still very serious. |
| C．People have lost hope in face of the food problem. |
| D．Worldwide group work has always focused on the food problem. |
| A．It’s still too little for the WFP’s programs. |
| B．It will all be given to each WFP member. |
| C．It can help solve many of the WFP’s problems. |
| D．It’s enough to support the WFP’s work for a long time. |
| A．The WFP’s Great Efforts Are Made. |
| B．The WFP Provides International Medical Help. |
| C．The WFP Wins the Nobel Peace Prize in 2020. |
| D．The Nobel Peace Prize Comes with a Gold Medal and $1. 1 Million. |
2 . While markets suffered recession, a number of groups enjoyed record growth.Here we list some of the top 100 company winners in a bad year.
1.Xiaomi Corporation
Sector: Technology HQ: Beijing, China
Huawei’s horrible year has been a windfall (意外之财) for China’s other big smartphone makers.With Washington’s Huawei sanctions (制裁) forcing Android users to turn to Xiaomi’s devices, it has risen above Apple to take third place in global smartphone market share.Its stock was added to Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index and it crossed the $100bn market cap mark last month.
2.Pinduoduo
Sector: E-commerce HQ: Shanghai, China
The e-commerce group’s rise was accelerated by the pandemic as hundreds of millions of Chinese shoppers turned to their smartphones rather than malls.The economic downturn raised demand for Pinduoduo’s extremely cheap goods with sales up 70 percent in the first nine months of the year.It also came closer to profitability as it set strict rules in discounts, and an antitrust investigation into its chief competitor Alibaba also helped.
3.Meituan
Sector: E-commerce HQ: Beijing, China
China’s “everything app” was hit hard by lockdown, as authorities closed restaurants and consumers shied away from food delivery.But Meituan bounced back in the second half of 2020 with growth at its food delivery business making up for declining travel sales.Investors are betting better days lie ahead — it now boasts 477m annual users.
4.Tesla
Sector: Automotive HQ: Palo Alto, US
Some thought Tesla’s $75bn valuation (估价) at the start of 2020 was looking impossible.By the time it entered the S&P 500 in December, it was almost nine times higher — more than the next seven car-makers combined.Tesla is expected to have produced about 500,000 cars over the year.But the industry shift to electric vehicles is unquestioned and investors believe its technology is years ahead of the competition.
1. What was Xiaomi’s original rank in global smartphone market share?| A．2nd | B．3rd | C．4th | D．5th |
| A．The economic downturn | B．Alibaba’s being investigated |
| C．Its strict rules in discounts | D．People’s avoidance of food delivery |
| A．core technology | B．economical products |
| C．the creativity | D．cooperation with others |
3 . Parties and social gatherings no longer excite us the same way they once did. This is not due to a lack of desire to socialize, but the smartphone.
At parties, people focus more on their smartphones than on their drinks. According to a recent study from International Data Corporation, over half of all Americans have a smartphone and reach it the moment they wake up, keeping it in hand all day. In addition, too many people are using smartphones while driving and as a result, they get into car crashes. 34 percent of teens admit to text while driving, and they confirm that texting messages are the major interruption while driving. People’s attachment（依恋）to their smartphones is unbelievably becoming more important than the lives of themselves and others.
Just as drivers dismiss the importance of focusing while on the road, many people also fail to recognize the significance of human interaction. When with their friends, some people pointlessly check or send messages in the presence of their friends, which means that their friends are less important. In addition, relying on our smartphones to make friends does not give us the same advantages as making new friends in the real world. Face-to-face conversations will give us the chance to improve our communication skills in the long run.
As many people risk their lives and the lives of people around them just to send a text or mindlessly check their messages, smartphones are in many ways more dangerous to people. The technology shows the achievement weaken the value of communication. Not only is the smartphone affecting our desire to interact face to face, but it is also lowering people’s ability to communicate.
1. What’s the purpose of this text is?| A．To request us to pay attention to communication skills. |
| B．To express a concern about the overuse of the smartphone. |
| C．To advise us to be cautious（谨慎的）about the smartphone. |
| D．To call for an end to the use of the smartphone while driving. |
| A．giving examples | B．listing figures |
| C．analyzing the effects | D．comparing facts |
| A．by using smartphones | B．in different ways |
| C．under a free circumstance | D．in a face-to-face way |
| A．face-to-face communication becomes less important |
| B．parties and gatherings limit people’s social circle |
| C．people’s communication skills are weakened |
| D．people are more and more narrow-minded |
4 . Mobile phones have become a problem for middle schools. Some middle schools in Australia have prevented students from carrying mobile phone during school hours.
Mobile phone use among children has become a problem for the school this year. Several children have got mobile phones as Christmas gifts, and more students will want them.
Mary Bluett, an official, said mobile phone use is a distraction to students during school hours and it also gives teachers so much trouble in their classrooms. Teachers were also saying that sometimes students might use phone messages to cheat during exams.
She said some schools had tried not to let students use mobile phones at school. Some parents felt unhappy because they couldn't get in touch with their children.
Many teachers said students should not have mobile phones at school, but if there was a good reason, they could leave their phones at school offices. They also said there were many reasons why the students should not have mobile phones at school. They were easy to lose and were a distraction from studies.
Many people say that they understood why parents would want their children to have mobile phones, but they think schools should let the students know when they can use their mobile phones.
1. Middle school students are prevented from carrying mobile phones ________.| A．because they often talk with their friends |
| B．when they are free from homework |
| C．when they are at school |
| D．because they cheat in exams |
| A．by telling lies to their parents | B．by making trouble in class |
| C．from some mobile phone users | D．from their parents and friends |
| A．Something that makes you happy. | B．Something that takes away your attention. |
| C．Something that makes you focused. | D．Something that makes you crazy. |
| A．No school in Australia has done anything about the mobile phone use among students. |
| B．Teachers don't allow the students to leave their mobile phones at school offices. |
| C．Some students had their mobile phones stolen at school. |
| D．Parents give their children mobile phones for no good reason. |
| A．students shouldn't have mobile phones at school except for some special reasons |
| B．it is impossible to stop students from using mobile phone at school |
| C．some parents felt unhappy because they couldn't use their phones at school |
| D．parents should teach their children how to use mobile phones during school hours |
5 . Educators in China have long struggled with the problem of overworked schoolchildren. Attempts to do away with some test oriented teaching often face resistance from parents, who worry that their offspring could lose out in the race to get into a good university. Some officials are taking a new approach. In the south-western province of Yunnan, they have not only revised the PE( Physical Education) test in the zhongkao, an examination for entrance to senior secondary school. They have also given it the same grades in the exam as all-important subjects like maths and Chinese. Eight provinces have joined Yunnan too.
These reforms are in response to demands by the central government for a more well-rounded approach to education. In 2017 primary and secondary schools were ordered to hire only specialists to teach PE and art. In October they were directed to organize daily gym classes, and now to include PE and art in the zhongkao. The government says it wants to foster a “lifelong habit of exercise” .
The government worries about how many youngsters are in poor shape. In 2017 officials in Guangzhou found that only 2.6% of local children were in “excellent” health. Half of pupils surveyed there had myopia(近视). Today one in five Chinese children is overweight, up from just one in 20 in 1995. The state news agency, Xinhua, summed it up with a headline: “Why good times produce weak children”.
But parents do not want their children to be distracted from their books. They are used to pupils getting full marks in PE with hardly any effort, partly because examiners have tended to grade generously to avoid “unfairly” punishing hard-working students, says Mr Zhu. Schools often cancel PE and art classes in favour of other subjects. This will change with the new reforms. But parents are already complaining that PE will be just one more source of stress. Mr Zhu sighs over the use of exam pressure to get people’s attention. Still, he hopes it is a giant leap towards greater fitness.
1. Which of the following words can replace the underlined word in paragraph 1?| A．removed | B．promoted | C．guiding | D．excessive |
| A．In order to meet the demands of government for cultivating all-rounded students. |
| B．To make students not fall behind in being admitted to a good university. |
| C．Because PE and art are more important for students compared to other subjects. |
| D．Because a healthy body is essential to students’ growth. |
| A．Parents do not think the reform will have a big impact on their children. |
| B．The change of examination is an inappropriate way to improve students’ fitness. |
| C．The scores of PE will be higher than art in the future examinations. |
| D．As is often the case, teachers give higher PE grades to hard-working students. |
| A．Good times produce weak children. | B．A new trend in “zhongkao”. |
| C．Health is the most important for children. | D．Fewer exams, less stress. |
6 . At the foot of the Tianmu Mountain in Zhejiang, a homestay (民宿) is attracting travelers from far and wide, which has won architectural medal at the 2021 German iF Design Awards.
The owners of the homestay are a couple in their late 30s who decided to return to their hometown three years ago. Li Xiumei used to be in charge of a division at a company in Hangzhou, and her husband was a sales director. It was an ordinary situation where Li’s husband was on business trips a lot and Li still worked on weekends. City life sometimes is not easy.
In 2018, they quit jobs and went back to Dongtianmu village, which lies in a forest of bamboo. The first time they drove into the village was one late afternoon. The cooking smoke was rising from the foot of the mountain, which gave them a very different feeling from the city.
The homestay was built beside her husband’s old countryside house. The old house is preserved (保留), while a brand-new building was built on its side and the whole site is made up of four courtyards. It has been updated to have a hall, a tea room, a kitchen, a dining room. Japanese cherry trees are planted in the east courtyard. A swimming pool is placed in the west courtyard, with a bar located on one side.
Li and her husband love gardening and music, and their new home gives them enough space to continue their interests and relax in the heart of nature. Li wants to share the quiet country life, so she makes her new home a homestay. In 2019, the homestay became an online hit after guests shared their experiences on social media. “The longer I stay here, the more I feel it was the right choice to come back, and this is more meaningful than making money,” Li says.
1. How did Li feel about city life?| A．Satisfied. | B．Noisy. | C．Attractive. | D．Tired |
| A．The forest of bamboo. | B．The smoke of cooking. |
| C．The fresh air in the village. | D．The feeling of loneliness. |
| A．It is ancient and broken. | B．It can hold many guests. |
| C．It must have been carefully designed. | D．It has been rebuilt by the couple. |
| A．Continuing their music dream. | B．Living in the countryside. |
| C．Staying at the old house. | D．Developing a city. |
7 . China’s population decline may be much faster than expected, with the number of people in the country halving within the next 45 years, a new study has warned. The prediction was based on the official birth rate of 1.3 children per woman last year- well below the figure of 2 needed to keep the number stable-and forecast a much more dramatic decline than previous estimates. China’s current population is over 1.4 billion and in 2019 the United Nations estimated that China would still have around 1.3 billion people by 2065.
Another estimate published in The Lancet by researchers with the University of Washington last year suggested the Chinese population would halve by 2100. But the new research, from Professor, Jiang Quanbao and colleagues with the institute for population and development studies at Xian Jiaotong University, warned that the country’s population decline may have been severely underestimated. The UNs projection, for instance, was based on the assumption that China's fertility rate would remain at above 1.7 children per woman. China had 12 million newborns last year, 25 percent lower than the UN’s estimate.
The Chinese authorities “need to pay close attention to the potential negative inertia of population growth and make a plan in advance,” wrote Jiang in the study published in the Journal of Xian University of Finance and Economics. The new birth rate, though unexpectedly low, was based on data from the latest census, which is believed to be the most accurate yet because it was collected entirely with the aid of digital devices for the first time and cross-checked with other government data sets. Though the census findings have only partially been disclosed to the public, the limited information already shed a new light on changes and future development trends in the Chinese population, according to the researchers.
The pandemic may have had an impact on childbirth last year- but Jiang and his colleagues said the chances that the birth rate would rebound were low. They said it was more likely that the total population would soon start a rapid decline due to the drop in the number of women of child-bearing age. “If the fertility rate drops to 1, in 29 years the population in our country will fall by half,” they said. According to the new census data, children make up about 17 per cent of the population, while the proportion of over-60s rose to over 18 per cent. The researchers said it was the first time that China had more seniors than young people.
1. Which word can replace “decline”?| A．Increase | B．Decrease | C．Improve | D．Focus |
| A．The findings are inaccurate. |
| B．The census is independent of other government data sets. |
| C．Everybody can have easy access to the full contents. |
| D．Digital devices played an important role in conducting the latest census. |
| A．Positive | B．Indifferent | C．Concerned | D．Optimistic |
| A．China faces serious population problems. |
| B．China’s population problems are being overestimated. |
| C．Women in China report low fertility desire. |
| D．Polices are being carried out to encourage fertility desire. |
8 . If you turn over a plastic bottle, like those we use to drink water, you'll notice a number "1"— that means it's made of a material called PET. Some bags, like the kind that holds milk or coffee, get a "2", meaning they're made of a material called HDPE. At material recovery factories, plastics get sorted (分类) based on these numbers (they go up to 7), which shows how recyclable (可回收的) they are.
Plastic marking numbers 1 and 2 are recyclable. They can be made into carpet, clothing, plastic package, as well as other products, according to Live Science.
Recycling gets more difficult with higher numbers, called "mixed plastic". This waste makes up 69% of all the plastic we use in the daily life. It's much more expensive to deal with than numbers 1 and 2. In the past, mixed plastics would be sent to other countries. But two years ago, almost no country was allowed to buy foreign plastic waste.
Recycling companies had to find a new market, but many failed. For example, in Los Angeles, recycling companies still won't recycle any plastics with numbers higher than 2. Instead, they are burying or burning them.
According to Live Science, what the USA needs is machines that can be used to recycle other kinds of plastic. But Hocevar, a scientist, comes up with a different solution: "The really simple answer is there isn't so much throwaway plastic in the world."
Someone may ask, "Is recycling worth it?" For bottles with "1" or"2", the answer is "yes", said Hocevar. There's also a growing market for plastics marked "5", a flexible (灵活的) plastic that includes yogurt containers (酸奶容器). For other numbers, the answer was simpler; a "no" on numbers3, 4, 6 and7.
1. What does the number on plastic products mean?| A．How recyclable the products are. |
| B．Where the products were made. |
| C．What recycle technology is needed. |
| D．Where the products would end up. |
| A．The cost to recycle mixed plastic. |
| B．The solution to dealing with plastic waste. |
| C．The plastic waste in our daily life. |
| D．The difficultly in recycling mixed plastic. |
| A．Burn or bury mixed plastic. |
| B．Stop producing mixed plastic products. |
| C．Sell the mixed plastics to other countries. |
| D．Make more machines to recycle mixed plastic. |
| A．On a milk container. | B．On a coffee bag. |
| C．On a yogurt container. | D．On a water bottle. |
9 . I'm an early user of social media. For the most part, I've enjoyed the time I've spent on the site. But like many friends I know, I was also starting to feel like my visits to Facebook were just a waste of time.
Of course, the obvious move would just be to steer clear of Facebook and other social media sites. But as a writer, I have to use social media several times a day. And once I'm in the site, it's almost impossible to take no notice of those notices reminding me of posts in my personal feed（信息推送）. I felt like I had to find the one or two meaningful posts that made my social media feed worth the time.
Then I came across a post by Melissa Hartwig, the founder of the Whole30 program. In the post she said "Don't act like social media just happens to you; make it work FOR YOU."
It hit home with me. I immediately set out to change the way I was using social media. I hid and unfollowed groups and accounts（账户）that were not adding something active to my life. I didn't stop to think. I just clicked my way through the feed.
I'm not burying my head in the sand. I continue to follow people whose opinions on different topics differ from my own, but their words are interesting and open-minded.
Then I limited my interaction（互动）on social media. Unless I had something to say, I no longer interacted. A study found that inactive use of social media has a bad effect on our mood, while active use—sharing thoughts and commenting on others' posts—improved mood.
The result? I can say without doubt that I no longer worry about getting into a time-wasting vacuum（真空）. That's because my feed is nowhere near as bottomless as it once was.
1. Which word can best replace the underlined part "steer clear of" in Paragraph 2?| A．Share. | B．Explore. |
| C．Quit. | D．Improve. |
| A．His friends' influence. | B．A sentence in a post. |
| C．The Whole30 program. | D．A talk with Melissa Hartwig. |
| A．He set a time limit. |
| B．He hid his own accounts. |
| C．He interacted less with others. |
| D．He no longer read different opinions. |
| A．It met great difficulties. | B．It was a waste of time. |
| C．It attracted more friends. | D．It got a satisfying result. |
10 . When a person in the United States gets the COVID-19 vaccine (疫苗), the person receives a small piece of paper called a “COVID-19 Vaccination Record Card”.
It is a piece of paper with the logo of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, or CDC, and the name and date of the vaccine. Because it is so simple, it could be easy to fake.
Many people in the US are now buying fake(假的) vaccination cards without getting a shot, as universities, workplaces and other places are requiring proof of vaccination.
The Associated Press reports that students and teachers at universities around the U.S. are worried about fake cards. Sellers are using social media apps like Instagram to advertise fake vaccination cards. The prices change from $25 to $200. The AP notes that many college students seem interested in buying the cards. On the website Reddit, one person wrote, “I need one, too, for college. I refuse to be a guinea pig.”
It is reported that more than 700 universities and colleges require proof of vaccination. Most schools simply ask their students to take a photo of their card and send it to a school website. Benjamin Mason Meier is a professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, UNC. He studies international health policy. He said, unlike some countries, the US is not using a digital system to record vaccine status. He said the US is depending on “a flimsy paper card”, and students have told him they knew of others who had used fake vaccination cards. Rebecca Williams also works at UNC. She is a researcher at the school’s Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention. She said she was not surprised that people were worried about fake vaccination cards. “This is why I think the development of a reliable(可靠的) national digital vaccine passport app is very important,” she said.
There is a law that should stop people from making fake vaccination cards. If someone uses the CDC logo without permission, they can be lined and punished by up to five years in prison. The US Department of Justice recently charged a person in California with making fake vaccination cards.
College students who already have the vaccine are criticizing those who would rather spend money to buy a fake than get a free shot. Maliha Reza, an electrical engineering student at Pennsylvania State University, called those students “dumb”. “I’m angry about that,” she said. “Like, there is more anger than I could describe now.”
1. Why do some college students buy fake vaccination cards?| A．They are easy to get. |
| B．Many Americans are still uncertain about getting the vaccine. |
| C．Students have an interest in the fake vaccination cards. |
| D．To get a vaccine shot is expensive. |
| A．Having a law that should prevent people from making false vaccination cards. |
| B．Developing a reliable national digital vaccine passport app. |
| C．Using a digital system to record vaccine status. |
| D．Having all the students take a photo of their vaccination card and send it to the school website. |
| A．Weak. | B．Useful. | C．Strict. | D．Advanced. |
| A．To spread a digital system to record the vaccination shots. |
| B．To explain why the US should prevent making the fake vaccination cards. |
| C．The stress the influence of the COVID-19 vaccination. |
| D．To reduce the US university leaders’ worry about fake vaccination cards. |
