1 . Homeowners Hermine Ricketts and her husband, Tom Carroll, held a ceremonial planting of vegetables in their garden on the day when a Florida law went into effect that removed local bans across the state on vegetable gardens at residential properties. It was one of the rules that had forced the couple, who lived in Miami Shores, to uproot(根除) all the vegetables in the garden that Ricketts had kept for almost twenty years.
Ricketts had her vegetable garden in her front yard because it faced south and her backyard was mostly in the shade. The retired architect said she gardened for the food and also for the peace it brought her.
“This is a peach tree that I planted, and around it, I had kale, and in between the kale, I had some cabbages,” Ricketts said then.
But then a zoning ordinance(条例) was tightened by Miami Shores Village to forbid vegetables in front yards on the ground, saying that they were unpleasant to look at. Village officials told Ricketts to uproot all her vegetables or she would face a $50 daily fine according to the ban.
And she fought back, joining up with the Institute for Justice, a national law firm, to challenge the ban.
It took six years, but they won. The Florida Legislature passed a bill protecting vegetable gardens, and Governor Ron DeSantis signed it. “After nearly six years of fighting... I will once again be able to legally plant vegetables in my front yard,” Ricketts said in a statement. “I’m grateful to the Legislature and the Governor for standing up to protect my freedom to grow healthy food on my own property.”
She complained that the fight even had to happen. “We had kept a beautiful, nutritious garden for many years before the Village went out of its way to ban it and then scared us with ruinous fines,” she said.
“Gardening is wonderful,” Ricketts added gladly. “I feel victory.... I have no words.”
1. Why did Ricketts position her vegetable garden in the front yard?| A．It was peaceful out there. | B．It could get enough sunlight. |
| C．It offered more vegetables. | D．It was mostly in the shade. |
| A．It required a regular fine. | B．It had been effective for twenty years. |
| C．It was tightened to forbid ugly gardens. | D．It was removed after Ricketts’ ceremony. |
| A．Proud. | B．Grateful. | C．Dissatisfied. | D．Disapproving. |
| A．A Ban on Vegetable Gardens in Front Yards. |
| B．A Bill Signed to Protect Vegetable Gardens. |
| C．A Couple Held a Ceremonial Planting of Vegetables. |
| D．A Couple Won the Right to Plant Vegetables in Front Yards. |
2 . The Big Debate
Are road tests necessary for teen drivers?
Some say new drivers should be able to get a license without taking a road test.
| What you need to know ● The minimum age to get a driver’s license in most states is 16. Teens must complete a driver’s education course, pass a written test, and take a road test. ● Since the pandemic, Wisconsin has waived (放弃) road tests for drivers ages 16 and 17. The state is considering making this change permanent. Iowa and Nebraska have similar waivers. ● Studies show that teens ages 16-19 are at the highest risk of any age group to be in a motor vehicle crash. | |
| Yes - of course teen drivers need a test Even after taking a driving course and practicing for hours, teens do not have enough real-world experience to start driving on their own. It’s important to test a teen’s knowledge of the rules of the road—and not just with a written test. Plus, a road test ensures that every driver who passes has a certain level of knowledge. Nothing can substitute for a road test. | No - it’s not necessary for safe driving After 50 hours of supervised driving plus a driver’s education course, teens are more than prepared to get a license. And think of the time that will be saved. It lets busy motor vehicle departments complete work that piled up during the pandemic. Experts agree that practice is the best way to reduce car accidents. Skipping the road test and letting teens drive earlier gives them time to get better. |
| What do you think? What do you think? Are road tests necessary for teen drivers? Now that you’ve read more of the issue, have a parent or guardian visit the week junior.com/polls with you so you can vote in our debate. Vote YES if you think road tests are necessary for teen drivers or NO if you don’t. We’ll publish the results next week. | |
| A．Being older than 19. | B．Having driving experience. |
| C．Passing required tests. | D．Completing all school courses. |
| A．It gets teens prepared. | B．It reduces car accidents. |
| C．It saves time and effort. | D．It promotes driving education. |
| A．Teens. | B．Parents. | C．Drivers. | D．Experts. |
3 . My generation — people born after 1990 — are accustomed to “all-in-platform” life, where we use mobile apps of different platforms to do almost everything in life.
For instance, I ordered a cup of coffee on Monday using an online delivery app. Then, I called a taxi by tapping on the app of a ride-booking service. Next, I bought some necessities on shopping platform Taobao. That done, I moved on to various other online destinations to get my daily fix of music, reading, social networking and so forth.
Platforms now play an increasingly important role in almost all aspects of day-to-day life, not just in economic and political processes. Consumption and social interaction are closely linked to platforms now.
But, I began to get confused recently. I thought I was being treated differently. My friend and I called a taxi at the same time on a ride-hailing platform (打车平台) and found that for the same destination, the prices were different. The price indicated on my phone was higher. One of the potential reasons could have been that I regularly use the ride-hailing platform and have a higher ranking while my friend doesn’t use it that often. So, the ride-hailing platform offers discounts to newbies like her, to attract and have such customers.
China’s latest efforts in regulating monopolistic or improper market behavior are of great significance in protecting consumers’ lawful rights.
“The essence of platform-based monopoly (垄断) is that a large number of users are gathered on only a select few platform companies, leading to uneven data gathering different platforms. But in China some platforms use their own data and traffic (流量) to expand capital in a disorderly way,” said Wang Yong, deputy director of the Institute of Economics at Tinghua University.
Data monopoly also brought another inconvenience for comumers — platforms block links to each other. For instance, link to WeChat Pay of Tencent is not available on Alibuba’s Taobao while there is no Alipay link on JD app’s payment options.
Last year, Meituan was charged with preventing customers from using Alipay as a payment option on Meituan apps and platforms.
In July, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology launched a six-month special rectification (专项治理) for the internet industry, asking platform operators to stop blocking each other’s link.
“More efforts should also be made to strike a good balance between personal information protection and interconnectivity between platforms Companies are being encouraged to further develop data encryption (加密) technology so that the data are available but not visible.”
1. What is the author’s purpose in writing Para.2?| A．To offer some tips on using apps on mobile phone. |
| B．To share his experience with mobile apps. |
| C．To further explain what is “all-in-platform” life. |
| D．To help readers familiarize themselves with mobile apps. |
| A．The author encountered so called “big data price discrimination”. |
| B．The author and his friend were treated differently by taxi drivers. |
| C．Due to the author's higher ranking, the platform offered him a cheaper price. |
| D．The ride-hailing platform offers discounts to regular customers. |
| A．to gather personal information |
| B．to expand capital |
| C．to protect consumers' rights |
| D．to use their data and traffic wisely |
| A．Sympathetic. | B．Approving. |
| C．Critical. | D．Grateful. |
| A．Data monopolies and the inconvenience they bring to mobile app life. |
| B．Mobile apps have greatly changed our lives. |
| C．How to protect personal information on mobile apps. |
| D．Platforms have impacted every aspect of our daily lives. |
4 . Some places in the world have strange laws. It's important for you to know about them before going there.
Whoever likes to chew gum (口香糖) may have to leave Singapore. The government really wants to keep the city clean and will fine you for chewing gum.
Before you leave for the United Arab Emirates, you'd better make sure you aren’t visiting during Ramadan (斋月). During that time you aren’t allowed to eat or drink in public. Tourists have been fined up to $275 for drinking in public.
In Thailand it's against the law to drive a car or motorcycle without a shirt on, no matter how hot it is. Punishments are different in different areas and can include warnings and tickets costing about $10. No joke--the local police will stop you.
Studies in Denmark have shown that cars with their headlights on are more noticeable by other drivers than those with their headlights off. Drivers there are required to leave their headlights on even during the day, or they may face a fine up to $100.
Make sure you know about these laws before your next trip. Better safe than sorry.
1. What is mainly talked about in the text?| A．How to make your trip around the world safe. |
| B．Why there are strange laws in the world. |
| C．Interesting places you can go to around the world. |
| D．Some strange laws you should know about for your trip. |
| A．you should wear your shirt even though it's hot |
| B．the police will play a joke on you |
| C．the police will give you tickets costing about $10 |
| D．you should always keep your headlights on |
| A．In Thailand it's against the law to drive a car or motorcycle with a shirt on. |
| B．The Singaporean government cares a lot about its environment. |
| C．Tourists in the United Arab Emirates shouldn't eat in public. |
| D．You can turn your headlights off in daytime in Denmark. |
5 . We’ve all been there, trying our best to do our bit to help save the planet, when a really essential item that you had to order online arrives in such an unbelievable amount of packaging that it makes you feel like it’s an unprepared game of passing the parcel.
It’s made even worse by the fact that some of the packaging can’t be recycled. In fact, 10 million tonnes of packaging waste are produced in the UK every year. A lot of this ends up in landfill, two-thirds of which could have instead been recovered.
The good news, however, is that how packaging waste is managed is in for a BIG shake-up in line with the “polluter pays principle”. By placing the main point of duty to pay on brand owners, they will be encouraged to choose more sustainable packaging options which are recyclable and reusable as much as possible. Otherwise, they will have to pay higher fees.
This is a system known as Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) — meaning that those who have control over packaging design decisions will be encouraged to do the right thing for the planet at the beginning and consider what happens at the end of the packaging’s life from the start.
What this means is that instead of local authorities picking up the bill for household waste management, companies will have instead to pay for managing your household packaging waste as well as the form businesses, and they will be met with the associated little costs too.
And, as an added bonus, the new EPR laws on packaging will also mean that producers are required to put clear mandatory (强制性的) labelling on packaging, for example, this could be “RECYCLE” or “DO NOT RECYCLE”. Of course, we hope that the “DO NOT RECYCLE” category labelling is the minority. It is aimed that by 2030, 78% of packaging will be recycled in the UK.
1. What can we know from the first two paragraphs?| A．Two-thirds of packaging waste is recycled. |
| B．Over-packaging is often the case in life. |
| C．The quality of goods cannot be guaranteed. |
| D．Online shopping is getting less popular. |
| A．Designers. | B．Producers. | C．Customers. | D．Local authorities. |
| A．Pay higher taxes and recycle the packaging waste. |
| B．Put clear labelling on packaging and promote sales. |
| C．Cut packaging waste and improve packaging recycling. |
| D．Follow the packaging design trend and to right things. |
| A．Their labelling on packaging will be simple and generous. |
| B．The majority of their packaging needn’t be recycled. |
| C．They will be of high quality and inexpensive. |
| D．They’ll arrive in the right amount of recyclable packaging. |
6 . More than 20,000 drivers and front seat passengers are killed or seriously injured each year. At a speed of only 30 miles per hour it is the same as falling from a third floor window. Wearing a seat belt saves lives; it reduces your chance of death or serious injury by more than half.
Therefore drivers or front seat passengers over 14 most vehicles must wear a seat belt. If you do not, you could be fined up to $50. It will not be up to the drivers to make sure you wear your belt. But it will be the driver’s responsibility to make sure that children under 14 do not ride in the front unless they are wearing a seat belt of some kind.
However, you do not have to wear a seat belt if you are reversing(倒退) your vehicle; or you are making a local delivery or collection using a special vehicle; or if you have a valid(正当的) medical certificate(证书) which excuses you from wearing it. Make sure these cases supply to you before you decide not to wear your seat belt. Remember you may be taken to court for not doing so, and you may be fined if you cannot prove to the court you have been excused from wearing.
1. This passage is probably taken from ______.| A．medical magazine | B．a legal document |
| C．a textbook | D．a government information booklet |
| A．reduces road accidents by more than half |
| B．reduces the death rate in traffic accidents |
| C．saves lives while driving at a speed up to 30 miles per hour |
| D．saves more than 16,000 lives each year |
| A．make the front seat passenger wear a seat belt |
| B．make the front seat children under 14 wear a seat belt |
| C．stop children from riding in the front seat |
| D．wear a seat belt each time he drives |
| A．to pay a fine rather than wear a seat belt |
| B．to wear a seat belt for health reasons |
| C．not to wear seat belt for health reasons |
| D．to get a valid medical certificate before wearing a seat belt |
1. What is the speaker?
| A．A policewoman. | B．A school teacher. | C．A guide. |
| A．3. | B．4. | C．5. |
| A．Over 18. | B．Under 16. | C．Over 16. |
| A．There are so many traffic accidents. |
| B．The traffic moves on the left side of the road. |
| C．We should not move on the left side of the road. |
8 . Repair or replace? This is a difficult choice for people when appliances (家用电器) that they own, like TVs and refrigerators, break down. Too often, the only option, or at least the cheaper one, is to replace an appliance rather than get it repaired.
But now in the UK, people don’t have to do this. Manufacturers (制造商) are now legally required to make spare parts that people can buy to repair their products.
The right to repair rules are designed to deal with “built-in obsolescence” where manufacturers build appliances to break down after a certain period on purpose to encourage people to buy new ones.
These new rules should bring an end to the frustration (沮丧) of having to throw away a product because a small part is no longer working and no longer supplied. Rather than having to buy a whole new product, replacement parts must now be sold directly by the manufacturer for 10 years, whether or not they are still selling the complete product.
Some companies said the rules could make appliances more expensive. John Elliott, chairman of Ebac, said, “The rules will influence companies who have been in a race to the bottom on prices for many white goods, but it will not make much difference to my business. We don’t look to make the cheapest washing machine. We look for one that’s going to do the job and last a long time.”
The company has been manufacturing washing machines for about fifty years. “Our focus is always on quality — not just a low price,” Mr Elliott said. “The secret of a product that’s easy to repair and long-lasting is the design.”
Rob Johnson, operations director at repair business Pacifica, said that his company was now hoping to enlarge its team of engineers because of new rules. The company already has 400 skilful engineers going into homes to fix about 6,000 appliances per week.
He said the rules “give customers real choice” about whether to repair or replace their product.
1. What does the underlined word “this” in paragraph 2 refer to?| A．Fixing broken appliances. | B．Buying cheaper appliances. |
| C．Replacing broken appliances. | D．Finding spare parts of appliances. |
| A．Sell certain products for at least ten years. |
| B．Make sure their products last for ten years. |
| C．Sell spare parts of their products for ten years. |
| D．Have their products serviced for over ten years. |
| A．It will stick with its original focus. | B．It will lose business to its competitors. |
| C．It will sell its products at higher prices. | D．It will make its products easier to repair. |
| A．Take on more engineers. | B．Start a new repair business. |
| C．Give customers lessons on repairing. | D．Train its engineers to be more skilful. |
9 . New Zealand has announced it will outlaw smoking for the next generation, so that those who are aged 14 and under today will never be legally able to buy tobacco.
“New legislation (法规) means the legal smoking age will increase every year, to create a smoke-free generation of New Zealanders,” associate Health Minister Dr Ayesha Verrall said on Thursday. “This is a historic day for the health of our people”, she said.
The government announced the rising age alongside other measures to make smoking unaffordable and inaccessible, to try to reach its goal of making the country entirely smoke-free within the next four years. Other measures include reducing the legal amount of nicotine in tobacco products to very low levels, cutting down the shops where cigarettes could legally be sold and increasing funding to addiction services. The new laws will not restrict vape (电子烟) sales.
New Zealand’s daily smoking rates have been dropping over time-down to 11.65% in 2018, from 18% a decade earlier. But smoking rates for Maori and Pacifika were far higher-29% for Maori and 18%for Pasifika. “If nothing changes, it would be decades till Maori smoking rates fall below 5%,” Verrall said. She said to end smoking in the next four years was within reach:“I believe it is. The issue is, though, if we don’t change what we’re doing, we won’t make it for Maori-and that’s what the plan is really focused on”.
Smoking has already been widely replaced by vaping among teenage New Zealanders, which is also attracting many young people who would never have taken up smoking-according to surveying of 19,000 high school students this year, nearly 20% were vaping daily or several times a day. “While there are some concerns about vaping, one thing is for certain-its harm is ignorable compared with tobacco smoking”, said Letitia Harding, the CEO of ARFNZ (哮喘和呼吸基金会).
Verall said the legislation would be introduced in 2022, with the age limits coming in in 2023.
1. What’s the final goal of the new legislation?| A．To make the country entirely smoke-free within years. |
| B．To forbid the people aged 14 and under to buy tobacco. |
| C．To make buying tobacco hard. |
| D．To increase the legal smoking age. |
| A．Purchase of smoking becomes easier and less pricy. |
| B．The vape sales will be greatly influenced. |
| C．It benefits the building of a smoke-free generation. |
| D．Everyone is allowed to purchase tobacco with permit. |
| A．New Zealand’s daily smoking rate is quite low. |
| B．It has taken a long time to decrease the rate of smoking. |
| C．The smoking rate will be higher over the years. |
| D．Smoking rates are not equal among different parts in New Zealand. |
| A．A Historic Day of Smoking |
| B．Decreasing Smoking Rate of New Zealand |
| C．Vape-replacement of Tobacco |
| D．New Zealand to Ban Smoking for Next Generation |
10 . The United States Congress has passed a bill which created a new requirement for carmakers: they must have systems built into new cars as early as 2026 that can keep drunk people from driving cars.
“It’s a remarkable decision.” said Alex Otte. She is president of the organization Mothers Against Drunk Driving. Otte added that the bill would remove “the number-one killer on America's roads”.
Last month, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration（NHTSA）reported that an estimated 20,160 people died in car crashes in the first half of 2021. That is the highest first-half total since 2006. The agency says that fast driving, drunk driving and not wearing seatbelts are reasons for the increase. Each year, around 10,000 people in the United States are killed because of alcohol-related ear crashes. That is almost 30 percent of all traffic deaths, the NHTSA says.
Currently, some people who were charged with drunk driving in the past must use a breathalyzer device in order to start their car. A breathalyzer measures blood alcohol level. The device can turn off a car if the driver's blood alcohol level is too high.
The bill does not name a kind of technology, only saying that it must identify whether that driver may be drunk.
Sam Abuelsamid is with Guidehouse Insights, a market research company. He said the most likely system to prevent drunken driving is infrared（红外线的）cameras that look for driver behavior.
The cameras make sure a driver is watching the road, and they look for signs of being sleepy or drunk. If the system sees any signs, the car will warn the driver. If the behavior continues, the car will turn on warning lights, slow down and move to the side of the road. Such technology is already being used by some carmakers.
The bill also requires carmakers to create back-seat reminders to tell parents if a child is left in the back seat. Congress has also ordered the NHTSA to make new safety requirements for cars. Many carmakers, however, have already made those changes in their latest models.
1. What may Alex Otte agree with?| A．The requirement is very necessary. | B．Carmakers will be against the requirement. |
| C．2021 has seen the most car crashes since 2006. | D．Few traffic deaths are related to drunk driving. |
| A．Its costs. | B．The technology it uses. |
| C．Its effectiveness | D．The company that produces it. |
| A．They measure blood alcohol level. | B．They can partly control the car. |
| C．They can be used as emergency brakes | D．They can prevent children from being left in the back seat. |
| A．Harm Resulting from Dunk Driving Is Being Recognized |
| B．The Total Number of Traffic Deaths Is Going Historically High |
| C．More Carmakers Use New Technology to Stop Dunk Driving |
| D．US Congress Requires New Technology to Stop Drunk Driving |
