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。
Imagine you are thinking about attending a college, and you find a school you would like 1. (attend) . So you go to the school’s website to find information about admission process.
Time goes by and you still do not have the answers. You almost feel like giving up. But then 2.message appears on your computer. It 3. (say) something like: “How can I help?” Writing back to the website, you try to explain 4. (you) problem. Then, almost immediately, the person with whom you are in contact provides the information you are seeking.
In fact, you are not 5. (actual) communicating with a school official. You are in contact with a computer program, or chatbot.
This might sound strange，but chances are this would not be the first time you have communicated with a computer program without knowing 6.. In recent years, chatbots 7. (become) a common tool for banks and large companies around the world.
Having human beings available to answer people’s questions can be costly, requiring many workers. And in most 8. (case), employees can only work a set number of hours in a day, 9. (increase) the amount of time customers wait for a response. So not just companies, 10. a growing number of colleges and universities have also begun using chatbot technology.
Time spent in a bookshop can be most enjoyable, whether you are a book-lover or merely go there to buy a book as a present. You may even have entered the shop just to find ______from a sudden shower.
Whatever the ______, you can soon become totally unaware of your surroundings. The desire to ______ a book with an attractive cover is irresistible but you might end up with a rather ______ book. A book-lover ______ adopts this method of selection. All too often you soon become ______ in some book or other, and usually it is too ______when you realize you have spent far too much time there and must ______ to keep some forgotten appointment — without buying a book, of course.
This opportunity to escape the reality of everyday life is, I think, the main ______ of a bookshop. There are not many places where it is ______ to do this. A music shop is very much like a bookshop. You can wander round such places to your heart’s content. If it is a good shop, no assistant will ______you with the unavoidable greeting: “Can I help you, sir?” You needn’t buy anything you don’t want. In a bookshop an assistant should remain in the ______ until you have finished browsing. Then, and only then, are his services _______ Of course, you may want to find out where a particular section is, but when he has ______you there, the assistant should retire considerately and look as if he is not interested in ______ a single book.
1.A.direction B.shelter C.way D.comfort
2.A.weather B.place C.reason D.time
3.A.pick up B.pass on C.write D.buy
4.A.special B.creative C.surprising D.dull
5.A.often B.nearly C.rarely D.easily
6.A.absorbed B.bored C.tired D.forgotten
7.A.easy B.late C.lucky D.happy
8.A.take away B.rush off C.put off D.make up
9.A.function B.value C.attraction D.purpose
10.A.important B.popular C.friendly D.possible
11.A.approach B.help C.warn D.support
12.A.office B.distance C.way D.shop
13.A.obvious B.necessary C.refused D.realized
14.A.gave B.made C.put D.led
15.A.finding B.showing C.reading D.selling
You have the grades, the test scores, and the English proficiency (水平) to get into college in the United States. 1.
In the US, scores alone can’t guarantee a place at a college. Indeed, it’s normal for admissions (招生) officers to turn away students who have high scores. This is where the essay comes in. 2.
This is your opportunity to show the admissions committee the person behind those numbers– the real you. 3. No matter what your topic is, the essay should not be a description of events. It should say something you’ve learned about life.
Here is what Harvard’s Dean of Admissions is looking for in an essay: how well you can think; whether you have a questioning nature; whether you are open to ideas; whether you have a unique way to express your ideas. No matter how great your English is, your ideas and the ability to connect them to events will distinguish you among the other applicants.
4.
Some students use cliches (陈词滥调) like “expanding my horizons (眼界)”, which are so overused. Colleges would think you don’t care enough to make original phrases. The worst is plagiarizing (抄袭). It’s the easiest way to get rejected. Only lazy students copy and paste other’s works such as some internet resources called “successful essays”. Finally, beware of empty words. 5. If a college asks “Why this college?”, don’t reply weightless words like “for football games on campus”.
A.And many experts agree with this.
B.It shows schools that you can communicate through writing.
C.What are some of the most common mistakes students make?
D.Now you need the essay.
E.When students don’t know what to say, they often make it up with meaningless things.
F.Sometimes, essay makes no difference.
G.You can show your character, values, beliefs and aspirations (抱负).
Joseph Goldberger was a doctor for the United States Public Health Service and he was an advocate for scientific and social recognition of the links between poverty and disease. In 1914, Goldberger was asked by US Surgeon General Rupert Blue to study a skin disease that was killing thousands of people in the South. The disease was pellagra (糙皮病)．
Goldberger traveled to the state of Mississippi where many people suffered from pellagra. He studied the victims and their families. Most of the people lived a hard life. The doctor came to believe that the disease didn’t pass on from one to another, but was instead related to food. He received permission from the state governor to test this idea at a prison. Prisoners were offered pardons if they took part. One group of prisoners received their usual foods, mostly corn products. A second group ate meat, fresh vegetables and drank milk. Members of the first group developed pellagra. The second group did not.
But some medical researchers refused to accept Goldberger’s idea. For the South, pellagra was more than simply a medical problem. There were other things, including Southern pride.
So Goldberger had himself injected (注射) with blood from a person with pellagra. He also took liquid from the nose and throat of a pellagra patient and put them into his own nose and throat. He even swallowed pills that contained skin from pellagra patients. An assistant also took part in the experiments. So did Goldberger’s wife. None of them got sick.
Joseph Goldberger died of cancer in 1929. He was fiftyfive years old. Several years later, researchers discovered the exact cause of pellagra: a lack of vitamin B3 known as niacin.
1.Who were likely to get pellagra according to Goldberger?
A.People in the south of America.
B.People having a poor diet.
C.People in prison.
D.People touching pellagra patients.
2.What did Goldberger want to prove by the experiments mentioned in Paragraph 4?
A.Pellagra wasn’t so terrible.
B.Pellagra could be cured.
C.Pellagra didn’t spread.
D.Pellagra wasn’t a medical problem.
3.Why did some medical researchers refuse to accept Goldberger’s idea?
A.Goldberger’s idea sounds ridiculous.
B.They have done their own research.
C.The result hurt their pride.
D.Goldberger didn’t do enough research.
4.Which words can be used to describe Goldberger?
A.Selfless and friendly. B.Devoted and determined.
C.Patient and expert. D.Stubborn and enthusiastic.
Just a year ago, the colors were bright under the waves. Now it’s gray — the Maldivian reef is dead. The coral is killed by the pressure of rising temperatures.
Coral reefs are areas underwater where small creatures live. The coral is hard material formed on the bottom of the sea by the skeletons of those creatures. But the world has lost about half its coral reefs in the last 30 years. Scientists are working to prevent their destruction. Due to global warming, over 90 percent of corals are expected to die by 2050. “To lose coral reefs is to fundamentally undermine the health of a very large proportion of the human race,” said Ruth Gates, director of the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology.
Why are coral reefs important? Coral reefs support a fourth of all marine species, as well as half a billion people worldwide. They serve as barriers to protect coastlines from the storms. They provide billions of dollars from tourism, fishing and other trade. They are also used in medical research for cures for diseases. “Everyone should be concerned,” said biologist Ove Guldberg at Australia’s University of Queensland. “This is not just some distant dive destination. This is the basic structure of the ecosystem we depend on.”
The ocean is getting warmer. A rising temperature of just one to two degree Celsius can force coral to expel the algae (驱逐海藻) that live there. This leaves their white skeletons uncovered. It is a process called “bleaching”. Sixteen percent of the world’s corals died of bleaching in 1998. The problem has become much worse in recent years.
“We’ve lost 50 percent of the reefs, but that means we still have 50 percent left,” said Ruth Gates, who is working in Hawaii to breed corals that can better withstand increasing temperatures. She is also trying to “train” corals to survive rising temperatures. Gates says it is time to start “thinking outside the box”— find creative ways to help them.
1.What does the underlined word “undermine” in paragraph 2 mean?
A.Regain B.Weaken
C.Promote D.Develop
2.What can we learn from Ove Guldberg’ words?
A.People won’t find a dive destination in the future.
B.The effort to save corals will turn out to be fruitless.
C.The bright sea has lost its charm because of those dead corals.
D.The destruction of coral reefs will affect the earth ecosystem.
3.What’s the fourth paragraph mainly about?
A.The harm of algae. B.The importance of coral reefs.
C.The process of “bleaching”. D.The change of ocean temperature.
4.What is Ruth Gates’ attitude towards the protection of corals？
A.Worried B.Positive
C.Casual D.Curious
“O gentle sleep!\Nature’s soft nurse, how have I frightened thee\That thou no more wilt weigh my eyelids down.”Henry IV, as portrayed by Shakespeare, would have sympathized with people who struggle with insomnia (失眠). Now a major publisher has come up with a novel idea.
In a project to be launched this week, Penguin Random House has cooperated with the Sleep Council and the Children’s Sleep Charity in creating collections of “Sleep Tales” for adults and children. Combining “cutting-edge technology and the ancient art of storytelling to help solve an age-old problem”, these audiobooks are part soundscape, part descriptive narrative, with softly spoken voices to calm anxieties and take listeners to the land of nod.
Each story lasts about 15 minutes, enabling listeners to set their sleep timer. The stories draw on the Sleep Council’s research into sounds that help people wind down, such as waves lapping on a shore, soft rainfall and birdsong.
Richard Lennon, publisher at Penguin Audio, told the Guardian the project was inspired partly by the realization that increasing numbers of people were listening to audio books “as they’re going to sleep or as part of their bedtime routine”. He said both adults and children respond to something comforting and familiar as they are nodding off.
Asked whether a boring story could have the same effect, he said the stories needed to be “engaging enough not to put you off”: “This is about creating the right environment and headspace for you … to go to sleep. Strangely, if you’re bored, it doesn’t have that effect.” Audience research had been very positive, Lennon said. One listener reported: “The story made my mind stop racing.”
1.Why is the poem mentioned at the beginning of the passage?
A.To introduce the works of Shakespeare.
B.To appreciate the rhythm of the poem.
C.To lead to the topic of the passage.
D.To offer an example of people with insomnia.
2.What’s the character of the audio books of “Sleep Tales”?
A.Their target readers are children.
B.Every story is long and interesting.
C.They are read vividly in different tones.
D.They can make listeners sleepy.
3.What can we learn from Richard Lennon’s words?
A.Not many people prefer listening to audio books before sleep.
B.A boring story is more likely to make people sleepy.
C.The environment is very important for reading stories.
D.The audio books prove effective in helping people sleep in the research.
4.Which is the best title for the passage?
A.Releasing audio books to send listeners to sleep
B.The new trend of people’s reading habit
C.Audio books are becoming more and more popular
D.Ways to help people sleep easily
