1 . When you were at school, the last thing you probably wanted to do was to spend your weekends going to work. There was homework to do, sports to play and fun to have. But our parents probably persuaded us to find a job to earn some money and get some life experience. When I was a teenager I delivered newspapers to people’s homes. I then progressed to a Saturday job in a supermarket: stacking shelves and working at the checkout.
Today in the UK you are allowed to work from the age of 13, and many children do take up part-time jobs. It’s one of those things that are seen almost as a rite of passage(成人仪式). It’s a taste of independence and sometimes a useful thing to put on your CV(简历). Teenagers agree that it teaches valuable lessons about working with adults and also about managing their money.
Some research has shown that not taking up a Saturday or holiday job could be deleterious to a person later on. A 2015 study by the UK Commission on Employment and Skills found that not participating in part-time work at school age had been blamed by employer’s organizations for young adults being ill-prepared for full-time employment, but despite this, recent statistics have shown that the number of schoolchildren in the UK with a part-time job has fallen by a fifth in the past five years.
So, does this mean that British teenagers are now afraid of hard work? Probably not. Some experts feel that young people feel going out to work will affect their performance at school, and they are under more pressure now to study hard and get good exam results and a good job in the long term. However, Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, told BBC News that “Properly regulated part-time work is a good way of helping young people learn skills that they will need in their working lives.” In reality, it’s all about getting the right balance between doing part-time work and having enough time to study and rest.
1. How did the author feel about doing part-time jobs on weekends when he was a teenager?| A．Delighted. | B．Interested. | C．Unwilling. | D．Angry. |
| A．Learning to be independent. | B．Gaining some life experience. |
| C．Being prepared for future jobs. | D．Spending what they earn as they like. |
| A．Valuable. | B．Harmful. | C．Necessary. | D．Impossible. |
| A．Students should spend all their time on studies. |
| B．Students should have as many part-time jobs as possible. |
| C．Doing part-time jobs must affect students’ school results. |
| D．It’s important for students to balance part-time jobs and studies. |
2 . We’ve been told since we were children that “It’s good to share”. Parents and teachers keep reminding us to share toys and books. When we grow up, we share photos, life stories and opinions with people around us and with those we don’t know via social media. Psychologists believe that the behavior of sharing is beneficial to setting up positive emotional connection.
Today, the action of sharing takes on extra meaning. It has spread to almost every aspect of our lives. We are using technology to reduce the money that we spend on goods and services, or to make money out of those that we don’t use ourselves at all. These differ from car shares to home shares, and even to pet shares. The sharing economy is creating new ways of thinking and is providing services to people when and where they want them.
This popular ways of sharing is a response to our increasing demand for quality goods and services at competitive prices, all delivered at the click of a button. Whether we’re a lender or a borrower, it’s a win-win situation. What’s more, sharing encourages us to reuse items, thereby cutting down on waste. And set-ups such as bike and car sharing do a further favor for the environment by reducing the number of polluting vehicles on the road.
But the sharing economy is not without its problems. The sharing economy is developing faster than existing regulations and related laws are still on the way. Some companies are taking unfair advantage of this situation to expand their share of the market, often at the expense of more traditional companies. In addition, the sharing economy is subject to abuse of trust. Some people have experienced damage to their properties while renting out their homes, and others have found themselves victims of theft or attack while sharing rides. Finally, personal data is not yet safe. Sharing platforms collect personal information about almost every part of our lives.
Nonetheless, there is no doubt that the sharing economy is increasingly relevant to our daily lives as well as to the global economy. it is growing at such a rate that we can only imagine what it will be like in the future.
1. Paragraph 2 and 3 are mainly about the ________ of sharing economy.| A．definition | B．benefits | C．technology | D．development |
| A．rules | B．ideas | C．conditions | D．ways |
| A．lead to unfairness among strangers |
| B．cause distrust to traditional companies |
| C．bring about safety problems to users |
| D．limit the awareness of self-protection |
| A．Negative. | B．Doubtful. | C．Positive. | D．Unclear. |
3 . Have you ever wondered where the chocolate in your favorite candy bar comes from? Chocolate comes from the cacao tree, which grows in warm, tropical areas of West Africa Indonesia,Malaysia, Mexico, and South America. And who eats the delicious chocolate made from the cacao grown in these places? The majority of chocolate is consumed in Europe and North America. This probably sounds like a familiar story-developing countries produce inexpensive raw materials that are manufactured and sold as finished goods in developed countries, and generally, that is what happens with chocolate. Large chocolate companies buy cacao beans at a low price and produce cocoa and chocolate products to sell at a relatively high price.
But the familiar story has a new chapter. Beginning in the 1980s, some consumers learned that cacao farmers were living difficult and uncertain lives. The farmers received money for their crops based on world markets and the market price for cacao was sometimes so low that farmers received less for their crops than the crops had cost to produce. In response, groups of consumers in Europe and the United State developed "fair trade" organizations to guarantee that farmers of cacao, as well as coffee and tea, would receive fair and consistent prices for their crops.
Fair trade organizations benefit farmers by buying cacao beans or other products from them directly at higher-than-market prices and eliminating "middle men" such a exporters. Fair trade organizations also encourage farming techniques that are not harmful to the environment or to farm workers, for example, growing cacao without chemical pesticides or fertilizers in the shade of rain forest trees. One organization Equal Exchange, helps farmers set up farming cooperatives in which they can share resources and work on projects such as community schools. Another, Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International(FLO), guarantees that products bearing its label meet standards that improve the lives of growers and producers.
The results of fair trade are a better standard of living for some farmers and nicer chocolate bars made with organically produced cocoa that consumers don't feel guilty about buying. And although fair trade chocolate is somewhat more expensive than other chocolate and now makes up only 1% of chocolate sold, the fair trade idea is spreading quickly. You may soon see fair trade chocolate right next to the more famous bars in your favorite store.
1. The underlined word "that"in Para. l refers to________.| A．the unfair trade between countries |
| B．the high price of chocolate products |
| C．the traditional production of raw materials |
| D．the major consumption of the finished food |
| A．promote chocolate sales |
| B．increase the production of chocolate |
| C．reduce the cost of growing crops |
| D．offer support to the farmers |
| A．There will be more fair trade chocolate in the future. |
| B．Fair trade chocolate is not as tasty as other chocolate. |
| C．Consumers feel guilty about buying fair trade chocolate. |
| D．There is probably no reason to worry about cacao farmers. |
| A．give tips on how to undertake fair chocolate trade |
| B．advise people to join in Fair trade organizations |
| C．encourage farmers to adopt organic farming |
| D．inform people of fair trade chocolate |
4 . More People Are Leaving the Rat Race for the Simple Life
Time is more precious than money for an increasing number of people who are choosing to live more with less and liking it.
Kay and Charles Giddens, two lawyers, sold their home to start a B&B hotel. Four years later, the couple dishes out banana pancake breakfast, cleans toilets and serves homemade chocolate chip cookies to guests in a B&B hotel surrounded by trees on a hill known for colorful sunsets.
"Do I miss the freeways? Do I miss the traffic? Do I miss the stress? No," says Ms. Giddens. This is a phenomenon that's fairly widespread. A lot of people are reevaluating their lives and figuring out what they want to do. If their base is being damaged, what's the payoff?
Simple living ranges from cutting down on weeknight activities to sharing housing, living closer to work, avoiding shopping malls, borrowing books from the library instead of buying them, and taking a cut in pay to work at a more pleasurable job.
Vicki Robin, a writer, lives on a budget equal to a fifth of what she used to make. "You become conscious about where your money is going and how valuable it is," Ms. Robin says, "You tend not to use things up. You cook at home rather than eat out..."
Janet Luhrs, a lawyer, quit her job after giving birth and leaving her daughter with a nanny for two weeks. "It was not the way I wanted to raise my kids," she says, "Simplicity is not just about saving money: it's about me sitting down every night with my kids to a candlelit dinner with classical music.”
Mrs. Luhrs now edits a magazine, Simple Living, which publishes tips on how to buy recycled furniture and shoes, organize potluck dinners instead of expensive receptions, and generally how to consume less.
"It’s not about poverty," Mrs. Luhrs explains, "It's about conscious living and creating the life you want. The less stuff you buy, the less money goes out of the door, and the less money you have to earn."
1. Kay and Charles Giddens sold their home to________.| A．pay off the debt |
| B．start a private hotel |
| C．cut down expenses |
| D．buy living necessities |
| A．works as a reporter of a magazine |
| B．has an interest in classical music |
| C．spends more time with her kids |
| D．helps people buy recycled clothes |
| A．By using figures. |
| B．By asking questions. |
| C．By giving examples. |
| D．By making comparisons. |
5 . Regardless of how famous they are, and despite the star treatment they receive, many celebrities make it a point to give back to charities. Some have even set up their own private foundations. Their widely publicised visits to troubled areas of the world help to raise awareness of issues such as famine and poverty. According to Jane Cooper of Unicef UK, celebrities have a unique ability to reach huge numbers of people, many of whom might not otherwise be engaged in charitable causes. She pointed out that famous faces had played a significant role in raising funds in recent years, and their energies had produced tangible results, such as enabling millions of children in poorer countries to attend school.
But in spite of these successes there is evidence to suggest that celebrity endorsement (代言) may be overrated. In a survey of members of the public to find out if celebrity involvement would encourage people to donate, researchers found that the impact was not as great as previously thought. When shown a list of well-known organisations and famous people who represent them, over half of respondents were unable to match the celebrity with the cause. What’s more, three quarters claimed that they didn’t respond to celebrity endorsement in any way. The survey also showed that a few names did stand out as being associated with particular charities. But the presence of a celebrity in a campaign, was not a significant factor when it came to a decision to donate time or money. Instead, the majority of people contribute because of personal connections in their lives and families which make a charity important to them.
In another study aimed at young people, most participants cited a compelling (无法抗拒的) mission as their main motivation to give. The second most important incentive was if a friend or peer recommended supporting a particular cause. Only two percent of respondents said they were motivated by celebrity endorsement. This seems to contradict the general assumption that teenagers are particularly influenced by famous people. One possible explanation is that there is a general fatigue (疲倦) with celebrity culture. There is also a suspicion that the stars are the one who benefit most when they offer to do charity work. Some critics have accused that celebrities might actually take attention away from issues by attracting more attention than the causes they represent.
So taking all these issues into account, is it time for charities to rethink their campaign strategies and look for alternative ways to reach new audiences? Whichever point of view you favour, there seems to be opportunities for more research into how charity campaigns might develop relationships with celebrities to maximise their potential. This in turn will open up more engagement, and better targeted campaigns-which can only benefit those who really matter — the people and animals that are in need of assistance.
1. What does the underlined word “tangible” in paragraph I probably mean?| A．Definite. | B．Complicated. | C．Limited. | D．Temporary. |
| A．they gain benefit from the charities |
| B．they are forced to finish a necessary task |
| C．they believe in the famous people they like |
| D．they are inspired by the people around them |
| A．what celebrities achieve in doing charities |
| B．How young people react to celebrity culture |
| C．why young people are hardly influenced by celebrities |
| D．who is to blame for taking attention away from charities |
| A．Objective. | B．Positive. |
| C．Negative. | D．Unclear. |
Smartphones are becoming more and more of a necessity for high school students. Therefore, a discussion was held about
7 . Technological change is everywhere and affects every aspect of life, mostly for the better. However, social changes brought about by new technology are often mistaken for a change in attitudes.
An example at hand is the involvement of parents in the lives of their children who are attending college. Surveys on this topic suggests that parents today continue to be “very” or “somewhat” overly-protective even after their children move into college dormitories. The same surveys also indicate that the rate of parental involvement is greater today than it was a generation ago. This is usually interpreted as a sign that today’s parents are trying to manage their children’s lives past the point where this behavior is appropriate.
However, greater parental involvement does not necessarily indicate that parents are failing to let go of their “adult” children.
In the context (背景) of this discussion, it seems valuable to first find out the cause of change in the case of parents’ involvement with their grown children. If parents of earlier generations had wanted to be in touch with their college-age children frequently, would this have been possible? Probably not. On the other hand, does the possibility of frequent communication today mean that the urge to do so wasn’t present a generation ago? Many studies show that older parents—today’s grandparents—would have called their children more often if the means and cost of doing so had not been a barrier.
Furthermore, studies show that finances are the most frequent subject of communication between parents and their college children. The fact that college students are financially dependent on their parents is nothing new; nor are requests for more money to be sent from home. This phenomenon is neither good nor bad; it is a fact of college life, today and in the past.
Thanks to the advanced technology, we live in an age of bettered communication. This has many implications well beyond the role that parents seem to play in the lives of their children who have left for college. But it is useful to bear in mind that all such changes come from the technology and not some imagined desire by parents to keep their children under their wings.
1. The surveys inform us of ________.| A．the development of technology |
| B．the changes of adult children’s behavior |
| C．the parents’ over-protection of their college children |
| D．the means and expenses of students’ communication |
| A．parents today are more protective than those in the past |
| B．the disadvantages of new technology outweigh its advantages |
| C．technology explains greater involvement with their children |
| D．parents’ changed attitudes lead to college children’s delayed independence |
| A．Technology or Attitude? |
| B．Dependence or Independence? |
| C．Family Influences or Social Changes? |
| D．College Management or Communication Advancement? |
8 . As Artificial Intelligence(AI) becomes increasingly sophisticated, there are growing concerns that robots could become a threat. This danger can be avoided, according to computer science professor Stuart Russell, if we figure out how to turn human values into a programmable code.
Russell argues that as robots take on more complicated tasks, it’s necessary to translate our morals into AI language.
For example, if a robot does chores around the house, you wouldn’t want it to put the pet cat in the oven to make dinner for the hungry children. “You would want that robot preloaded with a good set of values, ” said Russell.
Some robots are already programmed with basic human values. For example, mobile robots have been programmed to keep a comfortable distance from humans. Obviously there are cultural differences, but if you were talking to another person and they came up close in your personal space, you wouldn’t think that’s the kind of thing a properly brought-up person would do.
It will be possible to create more sophisticated moral machines, if only we can find a way to set out human values as clear rules.
Robots could also learn values from drawing patterns from large sets of data on human behavior. They are dangerous only if programmers are careless.
The biggest concern with robots going against human values is that human beings fail to so sufficiently test and they’ve produced a system that will break some kind of taboo.
One simple check would be to program a robot to check the correct course of action with a human when presented with an unusual situation.
If the robot is unsure whether an animal is suitable for the microwave, it has the opportunity to stop, send out beeps, and ask for directions from a human. If we humans aren’t quite sure about a decision, we go and ask somebody else.
The most difficult step in programming values will be deciding exactly what we believe in moral, and how to create a set of ethical rules. But if we come up with an answer, robots could be good for humanity.
1. What does the author say about the threat of robots？| A．It may constitute a challenge to computer progranmers. |
| B．It accompanies all machinery involving high technology. |
| C．It can be avoided if human values are translated into their language. |
| D．It has become an inevitable peril as technology gets more sophisticated. |
| A．They are aggressive. | B．They are outgoing. |
| C．They are ignorant. | D．They are ill-bred. |
| A．By interacting with humans in everyday life situations. |
| B．By following the daily routines of civilized human beings. |
| C．By picking up patterns from massive data on human behavior. |
| D．By imitating the behavior of property brought-up human beings. |
| A．Determine what is moral and ethical. | B．Design some large-scale experiments. |
| C．Set rules for man-machine interaction. | D．Develop a more sophisticated program. |
1. 食物浪费的现象及危害；
2. 你爱惜食物的做法；
3.你的倡议。
注意：1.词数不少于80；
2..开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。
Good morning,everyone.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
That's all. Thank you for listening.
10 . We’ve all been there: in a lift, in line at the bank or on an airplane, surrounded by people who are, like us, deeply focused on their smartphones or, worse, struggling with the uncomfortable silence.
What’s the problem? It’s possible that we all have compromised conversational intelligence. It’s more likely that none of us start a conversation because it’s awkward and challenging, or we think it’s annoying and unnecessary. But the next time you find yourself among strangers, consider that small talk is worth the trouble. Experts say it’s an invaluable social practice that results in big benefits.
Dismissing small talk as unimportant is easy, but we can’t forget that deep relationships wouldn’t
even exist if it weren’t for casual conversation. Small talk is the grease(润滑剂) for social communication, says Bernardo Carducci, director of the Shyness Research Institute at Indiana University Southeast. ＂Almost every great love story and each big business deal begins with small talk,＂ he explains. ＂The key to successful small talk is learning how to connect with others, not just communicate with them.＂
In a 2014 study, Elizabeth Dunn, associate professor of psychology at UBC, invited people on their way into a coffee shop. One group was asked to seek out an interaction(互动) with its waiter; the other, to speak only when necessary. The results showed that those who chatted with their server reported significantly higher positive feelings and a better coffee shop experience. ＂It’s not that talking to the waiter is better than talking to your husband,＂ says Dunn. ＂But interactions with peripheral(边缘的) members of our social network matter for our well-being also.＂
Dunn believes that people who reach out to strangers feel a significantly greater sense of belonging, a bond with others. Carducci believes developing such a sense of belonging starts with small talk. ＂Small talk is the basis of good manners,＂ he says.
1. What phenomenon is described in the first paragraph?| A．Addiction to smartphones. |
| B．Inappropriate behaviours in public places. |
| C．Absence of communication between strangers. |
| D．Impatience with slow service. |
| A．Showing good manners. | B．Relating to other people. |
| C．Focusing on a topic. | D．Making business deals. |
| A．It improves family relationships. | B．It raises people’s confidence. |
| C．It matters as much as a formal talk. | D．It makes people feel good. |
| A．Conversation Counts | B．Ways of Making Small Talk |
| C．Benefits of Small Talk | D．Uncomfortable Silence |
