1 . In recent years, China has witnessed the growth of luxury (奢侈品) brands. In this market, Chinese consumers are now the largest spenders. It’s clear that a new generation of young, materialistic people is increasingly relying on luxury brands to improve its self-image. I am a fashionist too, at least in spirit — I love to look at clothes and shoes. But I don’t understand why people spend lots of money on designer labels. When a young woman buys a handbag that costs two months of her salary, that’s a scary thing.

What’s interesting is that scientists have found that having luxury things doesn’t lead to happiness. Study after study has shown that although we want material things, when we get them we don’t suddenly become “happy” people. In fact, a series of studies by Leaf Van Boven at the University of Colorado, US, has shown that individuals who spend money on travel and similar experiences get more pleasure than those who invest it in material things. That’s because experiences are more easily combined with a person’s identity. If I travel to Yunnan, that adventure affects how I think in the future. My memories become a part of me.

Moreover, as Van Boven has observed, young people who pursue happiness through “things” are liked less by their peers. People prefer those who pursue happiness through experiences.

It’s natural to want to express yourself through your appearance. So my advice is: create a look that isn’t tied to a designer label. Convey your own message. Take some lessons from the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. He was always in Levis jeans and a black turtleneck. Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, routinely appears in hoodies and sneakers. These people, successful people, have style. You don’t have to break the bank to send a message about who you are. Take a trip. Go out into the world. Then come back and confidently create your own signature look.

1. What can we infer from the first paragraph?

A．The author enjoys buying luxury brands herself.

B．The author agrees to overspend money on material things.

C．The author is critical of youths tying their looks to designer labels.

D．The author finds it natural for fashionists to follow fashion trends.

2. Leaf Van Boven’s studies showed that ______.

A．people dislike those who love luxuries

B．traveling changes a person’s identity greatly

C．luxuries have a negative effect on people’s happiness

D．experiences can bring people more happiness than luxuries

3. What is the author’s advice on expressing oneself?

A．Be selective about designer labels.	B．Create your own personal unique style.
C．Choose simple and fashionable styles.	D．Try styles like Mark Zuckerberg’s.

4. The main purpose of the article is to ______.

A．prove how luxury leads to an unpleasant life

B．tell how to express yourself through appearances

C．report on a series of studies about luxuries and happiness

D．persuade readers to invest in experiences instead of luxuries

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.

2. What was the reason for O’Connor’s being refused by the law firm?

A．Not having training in law.	B．Her little work experience in court.
C．Her identity as a woman.	D．Her poor financial conditions.

3. Who made a great contribution to the civil-rights movement in the U.S.?

A．Jane Addams.	B．Rachel Carson.
C．Sandra Day O’Connor.	D．Rosa Parks.

4. What can we infer about the women mentioned in the text?

A．They are highly educated.	B．They are truly creative.
C．They are pioneers.	D．They are peace-lovers.

4 . A new survey by Harvard University finds more than two-thirds of young Americans disapprove of President Trump’s use of Twitter. The implication is that Millennials prefer news from the White House to be filtered through other source, not a president’s social media platform.

Most Americans rely on social media to check daily headlines. Yet as distrust has risen toward all media, people may be starting to beef up their media literacy. Such a trend is badly needed. During the 2016 presidential campaign, nearly a quarter of web content shared by Twitter users in the politically critical state of Michigan was fake news, according to the University of Oxford. And a survey conducted for BuzzFeed News found 44 percent of Facebook users rarely or never trust news from the media giant.

Young people who are digital natives are indeed becoming more skillful at separating fact from fiction in cyberspace. A Knight Foundation focus-group survey of young people between ages 14 and 24 found they use “distributed trust” to verify stories. They cross-check sources and prefer news from different perspectives---especially those that are open about any bias(偏向). “Many young people assume a great deal of personal responsibility for educating themselves and actively seeking out opposing viewpoints,” the survey concluded.

Such active research can have another effect. A 2014 survey conducted in Australia, Britain, and the United States by the University of Wisconsin-Madison found that young people’s reliance on social media led to greater political engagement.

Social media allows users to experience news events more intimately(密切地) and immediately while also permitting them to re-share news as a projection of their values and interests. This forces users to be more conscious of their role in passing along information. A survey by Barna research group found the top reason given by Americans for the fake news phenomenon is “reader error,” more so than made-up stories or factual mistakes in reporting. About a third say the problem of fake news lies in “misinterpretation or exaggeration of actual news” via social media. In other words, the choice to share news on social media may be the heart of the issue. “This indicates there is a real personal responsibility in counteracting(抵制) this problem,” says Roxanne Stone, editor in chief at Barna Group.

So when young people are critical of an over-tweeting president, they reveal a mental discipline in thinking skills---and in their choices on when to share on social media.

1. According to the Paragraphs 1 and 2, many young Americans cast doubts on ________.

A．the justification of the news-filtering practice

B．peoples preference for social media platforms

C．the administration’s ability to handle information

D．the reliability of social media as a source of news

2. According to the Knight Foundation survey, young people ________.

A．prefer biased perspectives on news

B．tend to voice their opinions in cyberspace

C．check out news by referring to diverse resources

D．like to exchange views through “distributed trust”

3. The Barna survey found that a main cause for the fake news problem is ________.

A．readers’ lack of knowledge	B．journalists’ mistaken reporting
C．readers’ misinterpretation	D．journalists’ made-up stories

4. Which of the following would be the best title for the text?

A．A Rise in Critical Skills for Sharing News Online

B．A Counteraction Against the Over-tweeting Trend

C．The Accumulation of Mutual Trust on Social Media

D．The Platforms for Projection of Personal Values and Interests

5 . E-waste is fast becoming a serious problem around the world. This report will examine this problem and provide some possible ways to solve it.

    1     It is often cheaper to buy new products than to repair old ones. Also, through clever advertising, companies always encourage people to change their old TVs, mobile phones and computers for the latest models. E-waste is created when we throw away old ones. In the EU alone, about 8,700,000 tons of e-waste is produced each year. Sadly, just over 1,000,000 tons is recycled. Burying (填埋) e-waste or burning it cause serious problems for the environment.     2     These things can then get into the ground or pollute the air when they are burnt.     3     However, their plans are not always managed properly. Sometimes electronics are just sent to poor countries such as Ghana. Here they are often burnt in public areas, which is very bad for people’s health, Setting up recycling centers is a good way to solve this problem. E-cycling centers could recycle the parts that can be reused and deal with the rest properly.     4    This means that producers must take back old products. They should then make sure old products are properly recycled or reused. As for us, we should try to cut down on e-waste.     5     And don’t buy a product just to have the latest model. E-waste is a serious problem in the modern world. Both producers and users must take actions and try to keep it to the smallest amount.

A．Change electronics only when we have to.

B．We live in a society that is producing and using electronics all the time.

C．Electronics have dangerous things in them.

D．We should change our electronics as soon as possible.

E．In recent years, many countries have started recycling e-waste.

F．Electronics are safe things so we don’t need to change them.

G．Another way is to make producers responsible for their used products.

6 . In May 1987 the Golden Gate Bridge had a 50th birthday party. The bridge was closed to motor traffic so people could enjoy a walk across it. Organizers expected perhaps 50,000 people to show up. Instead, as many as 800, 000 crowded the roads to the bridge. By the time 250,000 were on the bridge, engineers noticed something terrible：the roadway was flattening under what turned out to be the heaviest load it had ever been asked to carry. Worse, it was beginning to sway（晃动）. The authorities closed access to the bridge and tens of thousands of people made their way back to land. A disaster was avoided.

The story is one of scores in To Forgive Design：Understanding Failure, a book that is at once a love letter to engineering and a paean（赞歌）to its breakdowns. Its author, Dr. Henry Petroski, has long been writing about disasters. In this book, he includes the loss of the space shuttles（航天飞机）Challenger and Columbia, and the sinking of the Titanic.

Though he acknowledges that engineering works can fail because the person who thought them up or engineered them simply got things wrong, in this book Dr. Petroski widens his view to consider the larger context in which such failures occur. Sometimes devices fail because a good design is constructed with low quality materials incompetently applied. Or perhaps a design works so well it is adopted elsewhere again and again, with seemingly harmless improvements, until, suddenly, it does not work at all anymore.

Readers will encounter not only stories they have heard before, but some new stories and a moving discussion of the responsibility of the engineer to the public and the ways young engineers can be helped to grasp them.

"Success is success but that is all that it is," Dr. Petroski writes. It is failure that brings improvement.

1. What happened to the Golden Gate Bridge on its 50th birthday?

A．It carried more weight than it could.

B．It swayed violently in a strong wind

C．Its roadway was damaged by vehicles

D．Its access was blocked by many people.

2. Which of the following is Dr. Petroski's idea according to paragraph 3?

A．No design is well received everywhere

B．Construction is more important than design.

C．Not all disasters are caused by engineering design

D．Improvements on engineering works are necessary.

3. What does the last paragraph suggest?

A．Failure can lead to progress.	B．Success results in overconfidence
C．Failure should be avoided.	D．Success comes from joint efforts.

4. What is the text?

A．A news report	B．A short story.
C．A book review	D．A research article.

7 . A new study published this week in the journal Nature Communications has concluded that a 100 percent change to organic (有机的) food production in England and Wales would actually lead to a great increase in greenhouse gas emissions (排放). In turn, this would contribute to further climate change.

Although organic farming directly pours out fewer emissions than conventional farming—around 20 percent lower for crops and 4 percent for farm animals—it produces notably less food. As to this study’s findings, total organic agriculture in England and Wales would produce 40 percent less food. With less food in the market, the countries would need to increase food imports, which would produce more global greenhouse gas emissions.

Organic farming also increases the amount of absorbing carbon, a process where carbon dioxide (CO₂) is “absorbed” out of the atmosphere and captured by plants and stored in the soil. However, even a total change to organic farming would only be equal to a tiny part of the higher emissions from overseas land use.

“We predict a drop in total food production of 40 percent under a fully organic farming process, compared to conventional farming, if we keep to the same national diet,” Dr Adrian Williams, lead author and reader in Agri-Environmental Systems at Cranfield University, said in a statement. “This results from lower crop quantity, because output is limited by a lower supply of nitrogen, which is mainly from other crops or solid waste from cattle on the grassland.”

Nevertheless, it is important to note that organic farming still holds some useful benefits for the environment, such as reducing exposure to chemicals and improving the varieties of creatures. In conclusion, the study suggests that organic farming will continue to play a key role in resolving the world’s environmental problems. However, it’s just one part of a much wider solution.

1. What will total organic agriculture bring to England?

A．More main food.	B．More species crop.
C．More food imports.	D．More fresh oxygen.

2. How does organic farming increase the amount of absorbing carbon?

A．By taking in CO2.	B．By changing CO2.
C．By giving off CO2.	D．By producing CO2.

3. What is the last paragraph mainly about?

A．The ways to reduce organic farming.	B．The results caused by organic farming.
C．The solution to the environment problems.	D．The advantages of organic farming.

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

A．Organic farming, green food	B．Organic farming, our hope in future
C．Organic farming, a mistake we made	D．Organic farming, a double-edged sword

8 . 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。

When stores first started to ask whether customers wanted a paper receipt or an emailed receipt,I always took the email option. I knew I was giving up a little privacy when I did because the store had my email. Ever since, digital receipts     1     (be) increasingly common at a lot of different businesses and that’s a good thing.

Digital receipts offer a few improvements over traditional paper receipts. One is health-related. Lots of receipt paper contains bisphenol-A (双酸-A), or BPA. This chemical can     2     (potential) influence or outright change some bodily processes, like hair     3     (grow), hormone function and cell repair. Reducing receipt paper reduces     4     risk of BPA exposure for not only consumers but also for employees     5     handle the paper on a more routine basis.

The     6     (two) improvement is environmental. Receipt paper consumes a lot of trees, some 10 million of them a year,according to Green America. And at least half of that is probably used by businesses for     7     (they) still-too-long receipts. They also use up about 21 billion gallons of water a year -and these data are just for the United States! That’s so many trees and so much water, but all becomes much     8     (easy) than before after     9     (email) the receipt. Pile on the fact that BPA-coated paper can’t     10     (recycle) and you end up with a bunch of receipts in landfills.

9 . Every day Yang Hongwei takes the bus home from work, staring silently at the European-style villas(别墅), luxury cars and twinkling lights from the shopping center that he sees through the window.

Yang works for a software company in Zhongguancun. He dreams of such a life, away from poverty, and that hope has kept him in Beijing for three years since he graduated from university.

Soon Yang squeezes his way off the bus to the reality of his life: his home-a 10-square-metre room that costs 550 yuan or about one-fifth of his salary in rent every month. It’s very cold inside the house as it has no central heating system. He has to stand the long and cold winter. Determined to achieve his dream, Yang says he has changed jobs “numerous” times in the past three years and is considering quitting his present job.

Yang’s frustration over his life as a migrant(移民) is shared by many other graduates that have moved into big cities. Together they have come to be called the “ant tribe”, a term created by Chinese sociologists to describe the struggles of young migrants, who, armed with their diplomas, flood to big cities in hopes of a better life only to put up with low-paying jobs and poor living conditions. They share every similarity with ants. They live in colonies in crowded areas. They’re intelligent and hardworking, yet unknown and underpaid. The term, sociologists have said, also reflects their helplessness in a world governed by the law of the concrete jungle-only the strongest survive.

A survey in Ant TribeⅡ found nearly 30 percent of the “ants” are graduates of famous key universities-almost three times the percentage of 2009. Most have degrees in popular majors, such as medicine, engineering, economics and management. In addition, 7.2 percent of the “ants” have at least a master’s degree compared to 1.6 percent in 2009. Most said the economic recovery did not really improve their financial situations, and 66 percent said their incomes fell short of their expectations, the survey also found.

For two years, Lian Si, a post-doctoral fellow at the Center for Chinese and Global Affairs of Peking University, who has studied the phenomenon, led a team of more than 100 graduate students to follow the groups in university towns like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Wuhan and Xi’an. Lian evaluates the total population of the “ant community” in major cities at one million across China, with about 100,000 found in Beijing alone. Lian predicts that an increasingly challenging job market will see the ant tribe growing further in number. Another 6.3 million graduates are expected to join migrant workers and other job hunters in what promises to be a fierce labor competition.

The ant tribe’s embarrassing living situations have become a serious social issue, and the government should develop “second-and-third-tier cities” to attract more graduates from big cities. However, “ants” expect more study and training opportunities in big cities, which keeps them in positive mindsets despite their situations. As in the case of Yang, he is optimistic about getting a new job soon, having received eight interview offers in a week after sending out his resume. The prospect of landing a higher-paying job keeps him hopeful of moving out of the slum district(贫民区) soon. The sooner, the better.

1. Yang has worked in Beijing since graduation from university ______.

A．to live in a beautiful villa of European style

B．to have more opportunities to be promoted

C．to enjoy a busy life in a software company

D．to struggle for a better-off life in a big city

2. Which of the following best describes “ant tribe”?

A．It refers to the group of low-income graduates living in embarrassing conditions.

B．It refers to the people who work hard like ants but are paid little.

C．It refers to the sociologists and scholars researching into some social phenomena.

D．It refers to some well-educated people who can’t survive in society.

3. What does the writer think of the phenomenon of “ant tribe”?

A．“Ant tribe” has become too serious a social problem to solve.

B．It is the government’s duty to solve the problem of “ant tribe”.

C．Both the government and the graduates have the responsibility.

D．The existence of “ant tribe” has little influence on job markets.

4. The passage is mainly about ______.

A．the “ant tribe’s” dream and reality

B．a recent survey about the “ant tribe”

C．the “ant tribe’s” living conditions

D．a new urban lifestyle-”ant tribe”

10 . Goldfish have pretty boring lives, so maybe it’s a good thing they can only concentrate for nine seconds! But according to new research, humans are becoming like goldfish. Our attention span (时长) is getting shorter...and it’s all because of technology.

“We move quickly from one site to another on the web, ”says Doctor Ted Selker, a computer scientist from Massachusetts, “and we are losing the ability to concentrate.” With millions of websites to choose from, the attention span of the average internet user is just seconds. There are other digital distractions (分心) too: email, instant messaging and quickie movies on websites. Some people are worried about the effect on young people. “You need time to understand and think about what you read,” says Julia Wood, from London. “Young people search the net all the time and their brains become full of useless information but there is no time to make sense of it. I am trying to persuade my pupils to read more books, so that they concentrate on one subject for longer.”

Other teachers are trying more unusual methods to improve students’ concentration. Anne Savan, from Wales, was so worried about her students that she started playing Mozart during her science lessons. She says that it had an amazing effect: “The music made them calmer, and their concentration was much better.”

But not everyone believes that there is a problem. Ray Cole, an educational psychologist says: “On the web, young people learn to make quick decisions about what is and isn’t worth reading.

They might look at five unhelpful websites very quickly, before stopping and reading a sixth useful website more carefully. In a world with so much information available, this is an important skill.”

1. Why does the writer mention “goldfish”?

A．To analyze data.	B．To introduce a topic.
C．To settle problems.	D．To suggest a way out.

2. What may cause a shorter attention span according to Dr. Ted Selker?

A．Skipping around the internet.	B．Time to digest information.
C．Traditional methods of reading.	D．Making decisions.

3. What will help students overcome a short attention span?

A．Receiving emails.	B．Texting messages.
C．Reading more books.	D．Watching quickie movies.

4. What is Ray Cole’s attitude towards looking through websites quickly?

A．Cautious.	B．Unfavorable.
C．Skeptical.	D．Supportive.