1 . In 1909, Forster published a science fiction short story, The Machine Stops, in which a future civilization falls apart because its technology — much of which sounds a lot like the internet — collapses. Last Friday, after Storm Eunice caused the biggest national power cut on record to more than 55,000 homes across southern and eastern England and South Wales, people begin to think Forster’s imagined machine was really stopping.
It’s not unreasonable to think that Forster’s machine is seizing up when your gas heating doesn’t work because the pump is electric, when you have to go for a drive to charge the mobile phone, when everything in the freezer is going off, when you can’t get on the internet because the WiFi needs mains power, and much of your home technology — from smart doorbells to smart speakers — doesn’t work because, even if it has battery back-up, it still needs Wi-Fi. Millions of landlines will stop working by 2025 because they will use the internet, requiring a broadband connection.
The death of the landline will spell the moment when we are finally full hostages to the electricity supply. As hundreds of thousands of households across northern England lost power because of Storm Arwen last December, people in remote areas without mobile reception were left unable to call for help, as their landlines were phased out in favour of broadband-enabled phones reliant on electricity.
What are we to do to keep our homes working when electricity can no longer be relied on? People have taken to firing up wood burners to keep warm. Those with oil-fired kitchen ranges for cooking,heating and hot water,have been feeling particularly grateful for that reliable appliance.
“A more radical solution is house batteries. However,for society as a whole,it is less likely to be put into action because home batteries are not a neat and wonderfully clean solution”,says Dr Constable,“Lithium-ion batteries are dangerous. They cause fires. That’s why airlines are cautious about them and why you can’t take those little electric scooters on the London.”
1. Why did people begin to believe Forster’s imagination?| A．A smart home was not reliable at all. | B．They saw the biggest national disaster. |
| C．Forster gave a solution to their trouble. | D．What Forster described became a reality. |
| A．By analysing the troubles. | B．By listing a lot of facts. |
| C．By sharing an expert’s idea. | D．By recommending a fiction. |
| A．Substitutes ought to be prepared before they are needed. |
| B．The smarter technology is, the less we need to worry about. |
| C．The more technology we rely on, the more powerless we may be. |
| D．Home batteries are a wonderful choice when there is no electricity. |
| A．Being Left Hostages to Electricity | B．Time to Look for New Energy |
| C．Days at Home without Electricity | D．Collapsing of Future Civilization |
2 . “Preventing obesity and smoking can save lives, but it doesn’t save money,”reported researchers. “ It was a small surprise, for it is against the common belief,” said Pieter van Baal, who led the study. “But it makes sense. If you live longer, then your costs of the health system will be more.”
The researchers found that from age 20 to 56, fat people had the most expensive health costs. But on average, healthy people lived 84 years. Smokers lived about 77 years, and fat people about 80 years. Smokers and fat people tended to have more heart disease than healthy people. Therefore, in the long run, the thin and healthy group spent about $417,000, from age 20 on. Smokers spent about $ 326,000 and fat people $371,000.
“The result throws a bucket of cold water onto the idea, based on guesswork, that obesity is going to cost trillions of dollars,” said Patrick Basham, a professor of health politics. “If we’re going to worry about the future of obesity, we should stop worrying about its financial impact,” he said.
“The benefit of obesity prevention may not be seen immediately in terms of cost saving in tomorrow’s budget, but there are long-term gains,” said Baal. “These are often immeasurable when it comes to people living longer and healthier lives.” In the meanwhile, he said that governments should recognize that successful smoking and obesity prevention programs mean that people will have a higher chance of dying of something more expensive later in life.
“Lung cancer is a cheap disease to treat because people don’t survive very long. But if they are old enough to get Alzheimer’s(早年性痴呆症) one day, they may survive longer and cost more. We are not advising that governments stop trying to prevent obesity,” Baal said.” But they should do it for the right reasons.”
1. Among middle-aged people, whose costs of the health system is the most?| A．Those who are heavy smokers. |
| B．Those who are overweight. |
| C．Those who are too thin. |
| D．Those who are suffering from heart attacks. |
| A．It turns out to be innocent. |
| B．It comes from scientific studies. |
| C．It is based on medical evidence. |
| D．It has changed over the past years. |
| A．reducing the risk of suffering cancer |
| B．weakening obesity’s financial impact |
| C．making sure of people’s long and healthy life |
| D．reducing the money spent on medical programs |
| A．A Recent Medical Study Shows the Truth about Health |
| B．Preventing Obesity and Smoking May Cost More |
| C．Obesity and Smoking Lead to Expensive Diseases |
| D．Governments Change Attitude towards Obesity and Smoking |
3 . You probably know who Marie Curie was, but you may not have heard of Rachel Carson. Of the outstanding ladies listed below, who do you think was the most important woman of the past 100 years?
Jane Addams (1860-1935)Anyone who has ever been helped by a social worker has Jane Addams to thank. Addams helped the poor and worked for peace. She encouraged a sense of community (社区) by creating shelters and promoting education and services for people in need. In 1931, Addams became the first American woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
Rachel Carson (1907-1964)If it weren’t for Rachel Carson, the environmental movement might not exist today. Her popular 1962 book Silent Spring raised awareness(意识) of the dangers of pollution and the harmful effects of chemicals on humans and on the world’s lakes and oceans.
Sandra Day O’Connor (1930-present)When Sandra Day O’Connor finished third in her class at Stanford Law School, in 1952, she could not find work at a law firm because she was a woman. She became an Arizona state senator (参议员) and in 1981, the first woman to join the U. S. Supreme Court (最高法院). O’Connor gave the deciding vote in many important cases during her 24 years on the top court.
Rosa Parks(1913-2005)On December 1,1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Rasa Parks would not give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger. Her simple act landed Parks in prison. But it also set off the Montgomery bus boycott (抵制). It lasted for more than a year, and kicked off the civil-rights movement. “The only tired I was, was tired of giving in,” said Parks.
1. What is Jane Addams famous for in history?| A．Her social work. | B．Her teaching skills. |
| C．Her efforts to win a prize. | D．Her community background. |
| A．Not having training in law. | B．Her little work experience in court. |
| C．Her identity as a woman. | D．Her poor financial conditions. |
| A．Jane Addams. | B．Rachel Carson. |
| C．Sandra Day O’Connor. | D．Rosa Parks. |
| A．They are highly educated. | B．They are truly creative. |
| C．They are pioneers. | D．They are peace-lovers. |
4 . I've discovered the joy of a new thing. Online grocery shopping. But I actually enjoy going to the supermarket.
Seems I'm not the only one，only about 3% of people do grocery shopping online，compared with around 30 % who shop for clothes and electronics. I was interested，so I decided to do my own very unscientific research.
Step one: I talked to a small group of friends about their preferences.One mother described it as the happiest thing in her week when she was stuck at home with two small kids and handsome young men would arrive at the door bearing groceries.Seems busy mums are very much in favour of home deliveries(送货).
Step two: sign up and try it myself. My choice was Aussie-owned Countdown.
I managed to do the whole shop in about 15 minutes. The only problem is that you have to place an order of at least $ 50 and pay the seemingly standard $ 15 delivery fee. But given the cost of groceries，who has ever left a supermarket spending less than $ 50? l was impressed Countdown offered same-day delivery on a Sunday when I placed my order at 9:30 am.
Sure enough，at about 2:30 pm，I got a phone call from a delightful courier chap（快递员)called Ian，who told me he was at my house with the groceries and was leaving them on the back deck. Two minutes later he called again saying he'd left the groceries in the house because we'd left the backdoor wide open.He even offered to lock the house up and put the key some where safe.
I have a real fear that we will more and more quickly move to online shopping for everything and shops will become something of the past.
As a teenager，hanging around the shops on a Saturday with friends is what we did.So even though I enjoy the experience of online grocery shopping，perhaps I'll just stick with my regular trips to my local New World to keep real shops alive a bit longer.
1. What did the mother mentioned in Paragraph 3 think of online grocery shopping?| A．She loved it. | B．She was against it. |
| C．She would give it a try. | D．She had no interest in it. |
| A．Its high quality groceries. | B．Its low delivery fees. |
| C．Its good service. | D．Its low prices. |
| A．She finds it much easier. | B．She can save more money |
| C．She has a fond feeling for it. | D．She had a bad online shopping experience. |
| A．Is Online Shopping Popular? | B．The Joy of Grocery Shopping |
| C．The Future of Online Shopping | D．Is Supermarket Shopping Dying? |
5 . China Youth says that more and more girl students have entered colleges to study in the recent few years. As we know, once the number of boys was larger than that of girls and boys did much better than girls in our country for a long time. Now, things have changed a lot.
In recent years, the proportion (比例) of girl students is growing fast. In 1998, about 39.7% of college students were girls. In 2000, it was 41.07% and in 2001, the number was 42.14%.
There are several reasons for this.
Firstly, there is little difference between boys and girls in their intelligence (智力). That’s to say, girls are as clever as boys. And boys have more interests than girls, so they may not always do well in their study.
Secondly, girls are more careful than boys. They work harder at school and they do better in all exams.
Another reason is that with the development of society, people pay more and more attention to girls’ education.
1. China Youth says that more and more ______.| A．boys are clever than girls |
| B．girls have entered colleges |
| C．boys can’t go to school |
| D．girls begin to study at school |
| A．girls at schools in 1998 |
| B．boys at schools in 2001 |
| C．girls in colleges in 2001 |
| D．boys in colleges in 1998 |
| A．three | B．two | C．four | D．five |
| A．Boys may not do well in their study as girls because they don’t like studying. |
| B．Boys are much cleverer than girls because they’re interested in many things. |
| C．Girls study harder, but they couldn’t get higher marks than boys. |
| D．Girls’ intelligence is the same as boys’. |
6 . Over the past few months, COVID-19 has caused great uncertainty around the world affecting people's lives in all aspects.Education is also greatly affected. With students all turning to online instruction, live-streamed classes have become popular among schools and universities.
In China, the use of e-learning is unusual not only in size but also in depth.
In fact,online instruction as an alternative teaching mode has been expanding rapidly in recent years.Many Chinese start-ups focus on AI applications in online courses,and various online educational platforms are set up.
Compared with formal instruction,online courses save abundant costs and create a flexible teaching mode(模式）－homeschooling,especially during a crisis.
| A．However,online teaching has its own disadvantages. |
| B．The traditional face-to-face teaching style has been challenged. |
| C．Chinese colleges and universities started the spring term online. |
| D．Moreover,online education is fairly acceptable to college education. |
| E．Online teaching provides a chance to reconsider the current education system. |
| F．For one thing,the impressive practice sets a good example to other countries. |
| G．So,it's early to predict how the future of the education system will look like. |
7 . “The price of books for our students is just getting higher and higher and，combined with the rising cost of tuition，it’s killing these students，”said Peter Jason，a college professor. “Remember，students are one of the poorest groups of people in America. Almost half of them have at least one part-time job. In fact，one of my students has three jobs. And she still manages to have high scores and go to school full-time. ”
Textbook prices are traditionally high. Adding to that problem, many college teachers change textbooks year after year; they either upgrade to a new edition or switch to an entirely different textbook. This further hurts students because if an instructor no longer uses a particular textbook，that book has no resale value.
Dr. Jason decided to make reading a little easier and a lot cheaper for his students by writing his own book on public speaking. “Many books have an increased price because of CD-ROMs，lots of color photographs and pictures. I talked to my students，and many of them，like me，prefer to keep things simple! So，a few years ago，I wrote my own textbook. Compared to most other public speaking books，mine is half the number of pages，and one-third the price. That is，$30 instead of $90. When I wrote a second edition last year，students only had to buy the 35 new pages, For only $7. 00，they had almost a new book. Now my loose-leaf textbook enjoys great popularity among the students. Maybe in the future more writers and publishers will try it. ”
1. What did Dr. Jason say about students at college?| A．They are short of money. |
| B．They need better textbooks. |
| C．They should do part-time jobs. |
| D．They are trying to get high scores. |
| A．To choose cheaper textbooks. |
| B．To write a textbook himself. |
| C．To speak to his students. |
| D．To use old textbooks. |
| A．About 7 dollars. | B．About 30 dollars. |
| C．About 37 dollars. | D．About 90 dollars. |
| A．Dr. Jason’s textbook has CD-ROMs and nice pictures. |
| B．More writers and publishers will write simpler textbooks. |
| C．Dr. Jason teaches public speaking at a college. |
| D．Dr. Jason’s textbook is not well received. |
8 . I agree with the view that stars in the entertainment business are usually overpaid.
Unfortunately, professionals from other fields are paid so much less that it is hard to disagree with the statement. Teachers, nurses, laboratory researchers etc. are never listed among the best-paid professionals.
In conclusion, I think there may be some reasons why entertainment stars earn high salaries.
| A．Things should be changed now. |
| B．But overall 1 agree that they are overpaid. |
| C．There are many people living on very limited incomes. |
| D．Yet they make a much greater contribution to human society. |
| E．So this short working life may be reasonable for the very high pay. |
| F．Furthermore, the majority of stars do not hold their top position long. |
| G．However, it is also true that only a few people can get these huge salaries. |
9 . In 2012, an iPhone fell into my hands. This smart technology seemed like the entrance to only fun and positive things like chatting with friends and blogging.
However, seven years later, I had become horribly limited to it. Recent reports show that I’m not alone. According to a study, the average American spends five hours a day on smart devices (装置) and about 2.5 of those hours are spent on social, messaging, media and entertainment apps.
It’s hard to explain when the love and joy I felt for my iPhone turned into a dependency. I fell asleep to my phone every night and woke to it each morning. I checked the weather app every morning before I chose how to dress for the day. I used it to help me find my way through a city I should know well enough on my own. I updated my email box every time I picked my phone up.
Just like with any addiction, my phone dependency began to influence my life. While spending time with family, I’d stare into a small screen on my lap instead of being involved in communicating with my loved ones. At work, my productivity levels dropped. And then, my four-year relationship came to an end. Eventually, I was left with years of memories and a mobile phone that couldn’t provide enjoyable company across a dinner table, share in the joys of experiencing a concert or kiss me goodnight before bed.
Now, I move through life with more purpose and intention. I’ve cut back on carelessly giving away my limited time and attention to my phone. Instead, I focus my efforts on being as present as possible. Truly training the mind to stay present is a long and challenging road, but it’s important to start somewhere.
I hope you’ll take a deep look at your own phone habits and reevaluate how important a role you are letting it play in your life. Whether or not you’ve reached a place in your life where your screen time feels problematic, there’s no harm in mindfully giving your current practices some thought.
1. What does the author mean by saying “I’m not alone” underlined in Paragraph 2?| A．He takes his iPhone for company. |
| B．He has many friends around him. |
| C．There’re many Americans like him. |
| D．Blogging brings him great pleasure. |
| A．was quite confused about some apps |
| B．became hopelessly addicted to his iPhone |
| C．was afraid of spending more time on his iPhone |
| D．never dressed himself by checking the weather app |
| A．Why the author’s productivity levels dropped. |
| B．Why the author finally had phone dependency. |
| C．How the author bravely corrected his mistakes. |
| D．How the author’s life was negatively affected. |
| A．Persuade people to live a no-phone life. |
| B．Advise people to use their phones reasonably. |
| C．Inspire people to consider their roles in life again. |
| D．Urge people to devote their spare time to screens. |
10 . The world’s top automakers are increasingly offering more electric vehicle models. This growth is expected to continue， with more people choosing to hit the road with clean-running electric- powered cars.
Environmentalists have praised the automakers for taking major steps to limit harmful pollutants linked to worldwide climate change. But electric vehicles are also known for not producing another kind of pollution—noise. They run on batteries instead of fuel， and can operate in silence.
While many people might consider this a good thing， quiet cars can also cause problems. The main danger is that people walking in areas around electric vehicles face a greater risk of being hit if they cannot hear the cars coming.
Governments in the United States and Europe have recognized this problem. So， they have set requirements for manufacturers to add warning sounds to vehicles operating on electricity.
The U.S.Department of Transportation finalized its rules a year ago. The rules require electric and hybrid (混合能源) vehicles to be equipped with some kind of warning sound when moving at speeds up to 30 kilometers per hour. The rules are aimed at preventing injuries among people walking or riding bicycles and to protect the blind.
So what kinds of sounds can we expect to hear from the next generation of electric vehicles? One of the easiest solutions would be for carmakers to simply reproduce the sound a car would make if it actually did run on fuel. But many industry officials believe this would be a mistake.They say this would not support the electric vehicle’s true identity. It would also limit great possibilities to link the car’s sound to a whole new image, which could help increase sales.
Frank Welsch is head of technical development at Germany’s Volkswagen. He said that finding the perfect sound mix is not an easy process. “The electric vehicle sound is its identity,” he said. “It cannot be too annoying. It cannot sound like anything we had in the past.”
An official from Mercedes-Benz said the sound was designed to provide a safe warning without annoying passengers inside the vehicle. He said the goal was to create a car that remains completely quiet on the inside, but fills the sound requirements and supports the model’s image on the outside.
It might seem strange to think that part of our automotive future is currently being developed in the same kinds of recording studios used by musicians. But that is exactly what is happening.
1. The underlined words “hit the road” in Paragraph 1 probably mean_________.| A．clean a road | B．start a trip |
| C．avoid an accident | D．reduce noise pollution |
| A．introduce the topic of the passage |
| B．list the advantages of automobiles |
| C．provide some facts about electric cars |
| D．stress the importance of saving energy |
| A．limit pollutants | B．increase sales |
| C．prevent injuries | D．make cars smarter |
| A．Electric Car Sounds Promote Sales to a Large Degree |
| B．Recording Studios Will Create Sounds for All Electric Cars |
| C．Governments Call on People to Design Electric Car Sounds |
| D．Electric Cars Need Creative Sounds to Replace Engine Noise |
