2 . Last weekend, I said goodbye to another dear old friend. We had 12 fine years together, but our relationship was becoming dysfunctional(不正常的). Unwanted emissions and serious health problems were the final straw, leaving me with no choice but to make a trip to the knacker’s(收废汽车者的)yard.

I am now car-free for the first time in 20 years, and it feels strange. When I gave up meat, I did so mainly for environmental reasons, and I didn’t miss it at all. I would like to say the same about my car, but I can’t. It was first and foremost a financial decision: keeping the old car on the road was getting too expensive.

But doing the right thing for the wrong reasons is still doing the right thing — I now have a chance to rethink how I move myself and my family around, and can try to find a more environmentally friendly means of transport.

Going car-free is, I think, a lifestyle change that many of us are going to make over the next few years, as car ownership becomes increasingly unnecessary, expensive and socially unacceptable. However, it is easier said than done. Now my car is gone. I still need to get around. But how? I already cycle to work and use public transport when appropriate. But there are some occasions when a car seems to be the only way.

I won’t buy one: I have joined a car-share program and will use taxis more often. I will hire a car if I need to drive a long distance. But then I am still travelling in fossil-fuelled cars(燃油汽车), like when I quit meat and ended up eating more cheese. I fear I may have swapped one environmental problem for another.

I am also afraid to think about the ultimate fate of my car. I have just offloaded more than a ton of metal, plastic, rubber, fabric, electronics, oil and petrol that will end up in a landfill. There are millions of similar vehicles in the UK alone that will have to go somewhere.

Maybe I am overthinking it. According to Charlie Wilson, a climate scientist at the UK’s Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, getting rid of a private car is no doubt a positive step to reduce CO₂ emissions.

He points to research by the OECD’s International Transport Forum. “They showed that moving from a private vehicle fleet(车队)to a shared vehicle fleet can greatly cut the number of vehicles you need to deliver the mobility that we need and want. If that vehicle fleet is electrified, you can also bring CO₂ emissions close to zero.”

So in other words, just get rid of your car.

1. What do we know about the author’s car?

A．It was old.	B．It was green.
C．It was his first car.	D．It was a second-hand car.

2. What do the author’s giving up meat and saying goodbye to his car have in common?

A．He did both for the wrong reasons.	B．He thinks both help him save money.
C．He considers both are right decisions.	D．He did both out of concern for the environment.

3. What does the author fear?

A．He may have to spend more on travel.

B．His lifestyle might be changed completely.

C．He might get bored with public transportation.

D．His decision may fail to help the environment.

4. What does Charlie Wilson say?

A．It is wise to do away with old private cars.

B．It is very easy to deal with old private cars.

C．Electric cars are the solution to traffic problems.

D．The OECD plays a key role in promoting car-sharing.

3 . I have been the senior digital producer at News Corp since August 2018. At the completion of my Bachelor’s degree in Journalism at the University of Queensland, I joined the Sunshine Coast Daily as a journalist. After five years with the paper, I moved to Yahoo7 as a news producer. In 2017, I took up a new role at SBS as its evening news editor. Then I joined News Corp.

As a content producer at News Corp, not a day is the same, which is something I love about my job as it’s never boring. It’s certainly taught me to be flexible as it includes a constant mix of reporting and producing news stories. One minute I’ll be reporting on the national or world issue of the hour, and the next I’ll be focused on making our print stories sing online.

While working hard as a digital producer, I’m sad to see readers’ unwillingness to pay for quality journalism online. There are plenty of fantastic Australian journalists working hard to bring issues to the surface, and many put their reputations on the line to do so. It’s sad that the attitude now is that news should always be free.

Of course among all the resources there’s some fake news. Fake news keeps me on my toes! I always fact-check everything — for my own work and when doing others’ job for a short time. I always take the extra five minutes to do the proper research I need. It will save me time and trouble in the long run.

Finally, a great story must be easy to read and without errors from start to finish, and have the strongest possible headline and photo to sell it. If you’ve worked hard on a story and want to make sure it’s read, think smart and spend time building it properly for online publication. If you spend hours on a story and then rush the last step, you’re wasting your time as no one will see it.

1. What was the author’s first job after graduation like?

A．It required lots of nighttime work.	B．It lasted for only a couple of months.
C．It fitted in with her major at university.	D．It was concerned with digital production.

2. What can we learn about the author’s job at News Corp?

A．She has quite flexible working hours.

B．She has to move between different tasks.

C．She has to report the same issues over and over.

D．She focuses more on print stories than online stories.

3. What does the author expect of the readers?

A．They should be more polite.	B．They should be more patient.
C．They should be more thankful.	D．They should be more generous.

4. What does the underlined part “keeps me on my toes” in the last but one paragraph mean?

A．Lets me get mad.	B．Makes me watchful.
C．Gets myself into trouble.	D．Lets me work with others.

4 . 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。

Willis Carrier     1     (design) the first air-conditioning unit in 1902, just a year after     2     (earn) his master's degree in engineering from Cornell University. At a Brooklyn printing plant, changes in heat and humidity (湿度) were causing the size of the printing paper to keep changing slightly, making     3     hard to arrange different colours. With Carrier's invention, temperature and humidity levels could     4     (control), so the problem was solved. The invention also allowed industries such as those of film, processed food, and textiles     5     (improve) the quality of their products.

In 1914, the first air conditioner was put in a private house. However, it took up too much space, and later models cost too much for most people. Cooling for human comfort, rather than industrial needs,     6     (actual) took off when three air conditioners were set up in the J.L. Hudson Department Store in Detroit, Michigan. People crowded into the shop to experience the new invention. The fashion spread from department stores to cinemas, whose income rose steeply (急剧地) as a result     7     the comfort they provided. According to research     8     (conduct) in the 1950s, air conditioning increased productivity amongst     9     (employee).

Jed Brown,     10     is an environmentalist, complains that air conditioning is a cause of global warming. However, he has to admit that it provides a healthier environment for many people in the heat of summer.

6 . Nowadays in some countries, people waste a lot of food that was bought from shops and restaurants. Why do people waste food? What can be done to reduce the amount of food they throw away?
You should write at least 150 words.
1.介绍食物浪费的现象；
2.分析食物浪费的原因；
3.提出解决方案；
4.总结。
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

7 . The smartphones that can take selfies (自拍) have become popular. However, according to recent news reports, the love for taking a beautiful selfie has killed 12 people this year.     1    

While the problems have been known for a while, they didn’t catch people’s attention until the death of Hideto Ueda at Taj Mahal in India. Hideto Ueda was trying to take a selfie with his friends when they fell off some stairs. He hurt his head badly and passed away soon.

Other serious accidents include a Russian woman who fell off a bridge when she was trying to take an exciting selfie. Three Indian students suffered a similar fate after they were run over by a train while taking a selfie on the railway tracks.     2     So they could have been avoided.

    3     In July, the Russian government began a program in the country to alert (警告) its young citizens to the danger of this hobby. The campaign’s slogan was “Even a million ‘likes’ on social media are less important than your life and healthy body”.

Many countries are banning the tool that has contributed to the rise in injuries—the selfie stick! Many museums and theme parks including Disney support the government’s decision.     4     The West Japan Railway became the first in the world to give up the sticks both inside Japan’s trains and out on the railway.

While the action may help reduce the incidents, the only way to stop taking selfies related to injuries and deaths is that everyone should take responsibility.     5     So the next time you or your friends decide to take a selfie that appears a little risky, be sure to stop and ask yourself—is it worth it?

A．Please keep off smartphones.

B．All of them came from carelessness.

C．They have no permission to use selfie sticks.

D．It is not just for themselves, but also for their friends.

E．To solve the danger taking selfies brings, officials are taking action.

F．Governments start calling on the public to give up selfie sticks every now and then.

G．So some believe that capturing the “ultimate” selfie is causing people to take unnecessary risks.

9 . Humans, by nature, have always lived in groups and social interaction is fundamental for every part of our health. Lack of it can lead to feelings of isolation and loneliness. A strong support network and solid community bonds promote our emotional and physical health, and are critical components of a balanced adult life. However, just as with many other aspects of our lives, there seems to be a limit to how large our personal networks can grow.

Back in 1992, a British scholar named Robin Dunbar came up with a hypothetical (假设的) number defining the maximum sum of meaningful human relationships a person can have. The number, which was later named after him, was discovered accidentally while he was studying the cleaning and brushing tendencies — a social behavior —of non-human primates (灵长类动物). Around that time, researchers had discovered that the large brain of these primates was a result of their socially complex societies. The relevance was that the larger the brain, the larger the animal's social group was likely to be. Scientists could then theoretically use an animal's brain size to calculate how many members could make up this group. Dunbar applied this theory to humans, and the resulting number was roughly 150.

Dunbar's Number, however, only refers to the limit of meaningful contacts within our social network. It does not account for other relationships. Human social relationships tend to have numerous layers, and extend outward from the individual in circles with the same centre. The innermost circle contains five people: our loved ones. The next circle holds of our good friends. The third circle is reserved for people we consider friends, and the fourth is where the limit of 150 can be found. Nowadays, with various forms of electronic communication, such as websites for social networking and microblogging people find it very convenient to create online communities to share information, ideas, personal messages, and other contents. Consequently, it is possible for a human to get into the fifth (500acquainitances) circle, an impressive breakthrough that was difficult to achieve in the past.

1. What can be learned about Dunbar's Number in Paragraph 2?

A．It is confirmed by the social reality.

B．It serves as an accurate measurement.

C．It is backed by a certain theoretical basis.

D．It establishes links between health and network.

2. Which of the following diagrams illustrates human social relationships?

A．	B．
C．	D．

3. Why is it easy today to go beyond the fourth circle of human relationships?

A．Human brains are becoming bigger and bigger.

B．Social media have contributed to the phenomenon.

C．Meaningful contacts grow significantly with age.

D．People are eager to improve every aspect of their lives.

4. What can be a suitable title for the text?

A．Group Living: A Solution to Health Problems

B．Dunbar's Theory: A Ladder to Career Success

C．Social Network: A Soured of Endless Pleasure

D．Dunbar's Number: A Measure of Social Relations

10 . It's tough for students in Asia's giant countries, where the competition for college entrance can be fierce. In India, over a million students have been finding out their final results in various high school exams. You have to get 90% or better in the 12th boards — India's final year tests which are mostly held in March 一 to get into many top school and university courses. In China, the world's biggest university entrance test, commonly known as the Gaokao, is an academic testing event held in June in Chinese mainland and is joined by millions of participants.

Perhaps all that pressure and stress is why, this year, thousands have been clicking on videos and pictures with a clear message: there's more to life than getting into college.

In India, in a video message, Indian comedian and actor Vir Das told students not to worry about their marks. More than a quarter of a million people have viewed the video. You are going to meet someone, " he says, “until you discover that the person you were waiting for wasn't the person you were looking at, or person you ever thought you'd meet. You will beg and borrow and steal, so that eventually you can risk and rent and lose, so that maybe you can own and invest and grow . . . What do all of these things have in common? Not one of them requires a mark sheet. "

Das said it was inspired by his own experience after scoring poorly in the 12th boards. He said he eventually got to study his chosen subject, economics, at an American university 一 but soon after discovered drama which led to his current career.

"I thought my life was over after exams and I had a terrible two months, he said. "Students can be depressed. They need to hear from a third person that everything is all right. "

1. We can learn from Paragraph 1 that the 12th boards ________.

A．take place twice a year

B．are the world's biggest test

C．take place before the Gaokao

D．are held in many Asian countries

2. What does Vir Das try to tell us in Paragraph 3?

A．Test scores aren't very important.

B．High school students are living a tough life.

C．College entrance exams are extremely difficult.

D．High school students need to win the college entrance exam.

3. What do we know about Vir Das?

A．He failed to attend a university.

B．Economics is his current career.

C．Drama has always been his great hobby.

D．He was depressed after the 12th boards.

4. What is the message mainly expressed in the passage?

A．All roads lead to Rome.

B．Success comes from hard work.

C．Attitude makes a great difference.

D．Your choice determines your future.