2 . 阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。       

The advance of technology in our lives has been kind of stopped in New York City. Up to now, lawmakers     1     (pass) a bill to ban cashless businesses. With many parts of the world going through a seemingly relentless (持续强烈的) drive to replace cash     2     plastic or digital payments, New York City officials have decided cash still has a     3     (value) part to play in our lives. Officials have approved legislation (立法) that forbids stores and restaurants from refusing     4     (accept) cash.They want to make shopping easier for people     5     (prefer) to pay via traditional means, through notes and coins,     6     means businesses in the city will no longer be able to require that     7     (customer) make use of cashless payment methods.

Businesses that break the new regulation could face heavy fines of up to $ 1,500 for each offense (违法行为). Critics of cashless businesses say they discriminate (歧视) against people who are much     8     (poor) than others. Many of them do not have bank accounts or credit cards. One citizen said, “I worry about the real—world discriminatory effect cashless businesses can have on New Yorkers,     9     (especial) in communities of color.” Many people also think     10     is unfair not to accept cash because some people can’t get credit.

3 . How much food do you buy each week? Are you someone who stuffs your fridge and cupboards full of foods so that you’ll always have something to eat? Or maybe, you’ re more efficient with your shopping, only buying what you need and using up your leftovers so that you keep food waste to a minimum.

Throwing away unwanted food has become a big issue in the developed world. While some of us throw away unwanted items, people in other parts of world face food shortages and are starving. It’s a shocking fact that a third of the world’s food is wasted each year. The actual figure is 1.3 billion tons of food, which is enough to feed a billion hungry people.

You may think supermarkets are the main contributors to this mountain of food. After all, they do get rid of stuff that’s past its sell-by-date and they often refuse to sell vegetables and fruit that are the wrong shape or look damaged. They’ve also been criticized for encouraging customers to buy more than they need through promotions such as “buy one and get one free”.

But we ourselves are mainly responsible for creating food waste. In Europe an incredible 53% of food waste comes from households, which results in 88 million tonnes of food waste a year. The food waste is buried and left to rot. Unfortunately, this causes greenhouse gases which eventually lead to global warming and climate change.

In Denmark, a woman called Selina Juul has been working hard to solve this problem. She convinced some supermarkets to stop selling their items in bulk (批量) so that people bought only what they needed. She produced a leftovers cookbook and she's set up an education programme in schools. This has helped create a significant 25% reduction in food waste, which shows that something can be done.

Clearly, we need to think twice when we put something in our shopping trolley, and when we’re at home, we should make the most of the food we have—using recipes that use up our leftovers or even sharing our food with our friends and neighbors.

1. What does the author intend to show in paragraph 2?

A．The world hunger.	B．The impact of wasting food.
C．The solutions to food shortages.	D．The severe food waste.

2. Why are supermarkets criticized according to the text?

A．They often change the prices of food.

B．They focus more on food's looks than qualities.

C．They make people buy more food than they need.

D．They often put up false advertisements for food.

3. What did Selina Juul do to help reduce the food waste?

A．She established an education programme in neighborhoods.

B．She persuaded supermarkets to change their ways of sale.

C．She convinced supermarkets to sell her leftovers cookbook.

D．She encouraged people to share food in communities.

4. What’s the main purpose of the text?

A．To advocate healthy eating habits.

B．To raise the public’s awareness of saving.

C．To draw people's attention to food security.

D．To blame the marketing methods of some supermarkets.

5 . Hardware in general, and smartphones in particular, have become a huge environmental and health problem in the Global South' s landfill sites(垃圾填埋场).

Electronic waste(e-waste) currently takes up 5 percent of all global waste, and it is set to increase rapidly as more of us own more than one smartphone, laptop and power bank. They end up in places like Agbogbloshie on the outskirts of Ghana's capital, Accra.It is the biggest e-waste dump in the world, where 10,000 informal workers walk through tons of abandoned goods as part of an informal recycling process.They risk their health searching for the precious metals that are found in abandoned smartphones.

But Agbogbloshie should not exist. The Basel Convention, a 1989 treaty aims to prevent developed nations from unauthorized dumping of e-waste in less developed countries. The E-waste industry, however, circumvents the regulations by exporting e-waste labelled as “secondhand goods” to poor countries like Ghana, knowing full well that it is heading for a landfill site.

A recent report found Agbogbloshie contained some of the most dangerous chemicals.This is not surprising: smartphones contain chemicals like mercury(水银), lead and even   arsenic (砷 ) Reportedly, one egg from a free-range chicken in Agbogbloshie contained a certain chemical which can cause cancer and damage the immune system at a level that's about 220 times greater than a limit set by the European Food Safety Authority(EFSA), Most worryingly, these poisonous chemicals are free to pollute the broader soil and water system. This should concern us all, since some of Ghana's top exports are cocoa and nuts.

Some governments have started to take responsibility for their consumers' waste.For example, Germany has started a project that includes a sustainable recycling system at Agbogbloshie, along with a health clinic for workers.However, governments cannot solve the problem alone, as there is am almost limitless consumer demand for hardware, especially when governments’ green policies are focused on issues like climate change.

Only the manufacturers can fix this.A more economically sustainable and politically possible solution is through encouraging hardware manufacturers to make the repair, reuse and recycling of hardware profitable, or at least cost-neutral.

1. What can we infer from paragraph2?

A．Electronic products need improving urgently.

B．Electronic waste is too complex to get fully recycled.

C．Electronic waste requires more landfill sites across Ghana.

D．Electronic pollution is a burning question in Agbogbloshie.

2. What does the underlined word"circumvents" in paragraph 3 mean?

A．Tightens

B．Abolishes

C．Avoids

D．Follows

3. What should be the biggest concern according to the text?

A．The violation of EFSA’s standard

B．The lack of diversity in Ghana s exports.

C．The damage to chickens immune system

D．The threat of polluted food around the world

4. What does the author think is the best solution to the e-waste problem?

A．Manufacturers' developing a sustainable hardware economy.

B．Governments' adjusting their green policies about e-waste.

C．Reducing customers' demands for electronic products.

D．Letting governments take on the main responsibility.

6 . “You’ll get square eyes!” my mother used to say as I sat for hour after hour glued to the TV. I ignored her, of course. Past-forward a few decades and now I’m the parent. My 5-year-old lives in a world where screens aren’t fixed pieces of furniture. You can’t even avoid them by going outside. Screens are not only in our pockets; they’re everywhere.

The concerns have grown with the screens. In the past decade, we have heard that they will damage our mental health. Many of us feel more distracted by them, feeling guiltier and more tired as a result.

The apps and websites we can access on our phones have also sparked widespread concern. Big tech companies are also good at making use of our need for social recognition, hooking us on likes, retweets and follower counts. Social media has created a culture of mass narcissism (自恋), which has led many to worry about the emotional stresses on teenagers. A quick online search brings up dozens of papers linking screen use or social media with harmful effects on mental health, including depression and suicide.

Such statements are alarming. They are also widely believed, thanks to popular books like iGen by Jean Twenge, which claims that digital technology has ruined a generation. Yet, Amy Orben at the University of Oxford, who studies the impact of digital technology and social media in particular on mental health, holds different views. She claims that the underlying data can be used to tell different stories. She also spotted shortcomings in several large studies that claimed to show correlations (相关性) between the use of devices with screens and depression in users.

Twenge stands by her own finding, pointing in turn to what she considers flaws in Orben’s research methods. For David Max, at Royal College of Child Health in London, the effect of screen time and social media use on mental health remains speculative. “We cannot regard social media overall as good or bad,” says Davie. “We don’t know whether in individual cases social media is not responsible,” he says.

The explosion of mobile phone use has revolutionized our lives. I can download movies, write articles, communicate with my family and broadcast to the world all at the push of a button. Rather than impose constraints (限制), we should take a look at our use of screens and ask how they fit with the activities and lifestyle.

Every new technology with widespread impact has given rise to new fears. So the best bet may simply be to ask yourself what level of screen use makes you and those around you happy and try to stick to it. If you find yourself over addictive, don’t panic—and certainly don’t feel guilty. Nobody knows anything worth getting scared about.

1. According to the passage, people give likes, retweet or count followers to __________.

A．share one’s lifestyles	B．show respect for others
C．seek social recognition	D．relieve emotional stresses

2. The underlined word “speculative” probably means “__________”.

A．doubtful	B．specific
C．important	D．abstract

3. What can be learned from the passage?

A．Teenagers are more affected by screen use both physically and mentally.

B．Orben claims it is far too early to blame screen use for ruining a generation.

C．Big tech companies help to produce many research papers on mental health.

D．Twenge mainly introduces the overall benefits of digital technology in her books.

4. The passage is written to __________.

A．encourage readers to reduce the time of screen use

B．share different opinions on the effects of screen use

C．explain why screen use may have negative effects on people

D．relieve people’s concerns and worries about the use of screens

7 . Gretchen Altman is smiling, leaning back casually, a cup of coffee in hand — Hills Bros. Coffee, to be precise. It looks like a casual shot, but if you hit like, leave a comment, and tag a friend, you can get three different cups of coffee, for free.

Altman is part of a growing trend of "micro-influencers". She has a small following — around 6,000 on Instagram(社交平台). Her going rate is $300 to $800 to promote something. She does some posts in exchange for free goods, as long as it’s stuff she believes in.

As a micro-influencer she has a much closer relationship with her followers than a big social media star. "I’m just living a normal life and people relate to that," she says. "They just feel like I’m a friend of theirs."

But it worries consumer rights groups. Several recent studies have found that young audiences are largely unable to understand when something is sponsored content.

In some cases, it’s clear. When a big star takes to a social media to advertise Coca-Cola, for example, the assumption is that he or she’s probably getting paid to do so. And the posts are clearly labeled as ads, with the caption "advertisement" or "sponsored content".

But what happens when an everyday person with just a couple thousand followers takes to social media to extol(颂扬) the virtues of a product? The motivations are not so clear cut. The problem with these social media posts is that you don’t know whether it’s an ad or not.

Altman is diligent about using those hashtags(标签). She loves what she does and sees it as a business, but she doesn’t necessarily want to be a social media celebrity.

"With social media being so integrated into our everyday lives, we have this unique opportunity that I don’t think anyone has ever had before where we can each be our own brand," Altman says.

1. What does a micro-influencer do according to the passage?

A．Give enough likes.	B．Post to promote sales.
C．Recommend some comments.	D．Design advertisements.

2. What makes consumer rights groups feel worried?

A．Sponsored ads content.

B．Ads with caption on posts.

C．The unclear motivations of the posts.

D．The increasingly growing number of audiences.

3. How does Gretchen Altman feel about being a micro-influencer?

A．Annoyed.

B．Delighted.

C．Ambitious.

D．Depressed.

4. Which of the following can be the best title?

A．Instagram Advertising: Do You Know It, When You See It

B．To be a Micro-influencer or to be a Big Star

C．We Can Each Be Our Own Top Brand

D．Hills Bros. Coffee, Your Coffee

8 . Student loan (贷款) debt has become a worldwide problem. In America, the country's overall student debt reached a record of $1.6 trillion in 2019. The average person with student loan debt owed between $20,000 and $25,000. A recent Japanese government report says it has been lending over $9 billion yearly to students since 2010. Similar conditions exist in Africa and South America.

Several factors account for high student loan debt. One is that employers everywhere have increased their demands for skilled workers, making higher education a requirement for many jobs. The students, however, after graduation, often find that their country's economy is not strong enough to support their financial needs, so their ability to pay back the loan becomes a problem.

To solve the problem, many countries are seeking their ways. Australia has developed a system where students do not have to pay anything back until they are earning at least $40,000 a year. In America, several candidates running for president in the 2020 election have offered more extreme solutions that all or at least some of these loans will be forgiven.

Some professors in several universities recently studied what the effects of debt forgiveness might be. They found that, overall, sudden debt relief greatly improved the borrowers' lives. Not only did they have more money, but they were more likely to move to a new area and seek better paying work.

Yet the professors' research doesn't include what might happen to financial institutions or the overall economy if debt were totally forgiven. It only looks at how debt forgiveness would help the borrowers. They warn of some other possible negative effects. If a borrower knew that if he ran into any trouble he would be saved because he could get the debt relief, then he might actually become more reckless (轻率的) with his borrowing in the future.

No matter what, the professors agree that if countries do decide to approve some student debt relief the neediest students should be helped first.

1. How does the author introduce the problem of student loan?

A．By making a comparison.	B．By making classifications.
C．By presenting some statistics.	D．By setting down general rules.

2. What can we learn about student loan debt relief?

A．It will surely provide some benefits to borrowers.

B．It has already been carried out in the United States.

C．It aims to encourage more students to borrow money.

D．It will prevent a person from landing a well-paying job.

3. What is the professors' attitude to debt forgiveness?

A．Uncaring.	B．Positive.
C．Disapproving.	D．Cautious.

4. What's the main idea of the text?

A．Student loan debt is the most serious problem worldwide.

B．Growing global student debt fuels search for solutions.

C．Student loan debt tends to pull the needy out of trouble.

D．People hold different opinions on debt forgiveness.

9 . 听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1. What’s the topic of the show today?

A．The language learning

B．The language loss

C．The climate change

2. What is the probable relationship between the two speakers?

A．The host and guests.

B．Teacher and students.

C．Boss and employee.

3. How many languages will probably disappear soon?

A．About 6,000

B．About 3,000

C．About 1,000

4. Why does Allan refer to the article in Nature?

A．To reach a final agreement

B．To ask people to learn the language

C．To give a more specific example

10 . In modern society there is a great deal of argument about competition. Some value it highly, believing that it is responsible for social progress and prosperity. Others say that competition is bad; that it sets one person against another; that it leads to unfriendly relationship between people.

I have taught many children who held the belief that their self­worth relied on how well they performed at tennis and other skills. For them, playing well and winning are often life­and­death affairs. In their single­minded pursuit of success, the development of many other human qualities is sadly forgotten.

However, while some seem to be lost in the desire to succeed, others take an opposite attitude. In a culture which values only the winner and pays no attention to the ordinary players, they strongly blame competition. Among the most vocal are youngsters who have suffered under competitive pressures from their parents or society. Teaching these young people, I often observe in them a desire to fail. They seem to seek failure by not trying to win or achieve success. By not trying, they always have an excuse: “I may have lost, but it doesn't matter because I really didn't try.” What is not usually admitted by themselves is the belief that if they had really tried and lost, that would mean a lot. Such a loss would be a measure of their worth. Clearly, this belief is the same as that of the true competitors who try to prove themselves. Both are based on the mistaken belief that one's self­respect relies on how well one performs in comparison with others. Both are afraid of not being valued. Only as this basic and often troublesome fear begins to dissolve can we discover a new meaning in competition.

1. What does this passage mainly talk about?

A．Competition helps to set up self­respect.

B．Opinions about competition are different among people.

C．Competition is harmful to personal quality development.

D．Failures are necessary experiences in competition.

2. The underlined phrase “the most vocal” in Paragraph 3 means ________.

A．those who try their best to win

B．those who value competition most highly

C．those who are against competition most strongly

D．those who rely on others most for success

3. What is the similar belief of the true competitors and those with a “desire to fail”？

A．One's worth lies in his performance compared with others'.

B．One's success in competition needs great efforts.

C．One's achievement is determined by his particular skills.

D．One's success is based on how hard he has tried.

4. Which point of view may the author agree to?

A．Every effort should be paid back.

B．Fear of failure should be removed in competition.

C．Winning should be a life­and­death matter.

D．Competition should be encouraged.