For decades,the San Francisco Bay area has been the heart of the computer technology industry.Many of the biggest technology companies have their headquarters in the area called Silicon Valley.But the area has not always been associated with charity(慈善).
Now,a new generation of entrepreneurs(企业家)appears to be changing Silicon Valley.One example is Marc Benioff,a donor(捐赠者),who has called on wealthy donors to give more to their communities.He also is the founder of Salesforce.com,a computer services company in San Francisco who has helped build a children’s hospital and given millions of dollars to non-profit organizations in the city.
Money from the technology industry has also started to change the face of charity.Benjamin Soskis writes about the history and ideas behind charity in America.His articles have appeared in The Atlantic magazine and a number of major publications.He says,traditionally,donors have given after they spent much of their lives building up wealth.Usually donors are in their 70s.But an increasing number of people appearing on the list of top donors are younger than 40 years of age.Benjamin Soskis says that is something new.“There’s a whole new model that’s appearing in which people give and accumulate at the same time.”
Some of the young donors on this year's top 50 list have started to change in the way people see charity.That is especially the case in the San Francisco area,where giving money and making money appear to be coming together.“I think it's fair to say that charity is now a part of the Silicon Valley identity.”
1.What is true of Marc Benioff?
A.He joined a non-profit organization.
B.He advised donors to build hospitals.
C.He made San Francisco a city of charity.
D.He set up the company of Salesforce.com.
2.What is special about the donors of Silicon Valley?
A.They prefer to give rather than make money.
B.They give after accumulating a lot of wealth.
C.They are much younger than the usual donors.
D.They donate more money to their communities.
3.Which of the following can be the best title for the text?
A.The age of charity
B.The changing faces of charity
C.In search of new faces
D.From computer base to charity centre
Shake Shack is a new kind of restaurant becoming more popular in the U S.The restaurants are not“fast food.”They are known as“fast casual.”
Observers say Americans want more choices and fresh food when choosing where and what to eat.This trend is one reason why the fast food restaurant McDonald’s has struggled financially.In the last quarter of 2014,McDonald’s net income dropped by about$300 million.The January earnings report brought more bad news.Worldwide sales dropped for the eighth month in a row and even more than expected.While McDonald’s is struggling to get their customers back,Shake Shack,is doing well in making money.The New York-based burger chain had a very successful IPO,or initial public offering,of shares at the end of January.On its first day of trading,Shake Shack went from$21 a share to just under$46 a share.Being part of the“fast casual”trend has helped Shake Shack.Other fast casual restaurants in the U.S.include Chipotle and Panera.
Bonnie Riggs,a restaurant expert with NPD has studied Americans’restaurant habits for almost 30 years.She says one reason why Americans like fast casual food is that it’s new.It is creative,it is something different and people like to try new things.Her study shows Americans made 61 billion visits to restaurants last year.Three out of four visits were to fast food restaurants,like McDonald’s.Fast casual is still a small percentage of restaurant visits,but it has developed fast.Just as Ms.Riggs says,“It’s growing by leaps and bounds,because they meet consumers’needs.They know it's being prepared while they wait,it’s fresh,quality food,good tasting food at what they say are reasonable and affordable prices.”
Many Americans still like their fast food.They just are not going as often.They are finding other ways to have a meal.
1.What is the trouble with McDonald’s?
A.Its share goes down to$21.
B.Shake Shack has taken its place.
C.It’s not popular with Americans.
D.Its sales and income have dropped.
2.We can learn from Bonnie Riggs that Americans____________.
A.1ike to try something new
B.care only about the quality
C.don’t like fast food any more
D.pay more restaurant visits to fast casual
3.What does the underlined phrase“by leaps and bounds”in Paragraph 3 mean?
A.Steadily. B.Rapidly.
C.Slowly. D.Normally.
4.Which of the following best describes fast casual?
A.Fresh-made and tasty.
B.High-quality and expensive.
C.Farm-to-table and traditional.
D.Time-consuming and special.
书面表达
为了减少食物浪费 ,中国最近开展了“光盘行动”。假如你是某校的学生李华,请以“Against Food Waste”为问题,写一篇120字左右短文,拟发表在学校网站英文版上。内容包括如下 :
1.就餐浪费现象描述:据报道,每年全国在餐馆被倒掉的食物估计可养活2亿人
2.就餐浪费的原因
3.提出你的倡议
注意:陈述要点,可适当发挥,不要简单翻译。
短文改错
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文,请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误,每句中最多有两赴,每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加:在缺词处加一个漏字符号(八),并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除:把多余的词用斜线(\)划掉。
修改:在错的词下划一横线,并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意:1.每处错误及其修改均限一词。
2.只允许修改10处,多者(从第11处起)不计分。
When I was a child, I spent more than ten years learn the violin.Therefore, I couldn't understand "real music".After I graduated at high school, a friend of mine suggested that we started to learn the guitar because we all thought it was cool.l will never forget the day on that we went to buy guitars in the guitar store. There I saw a guitar player playing the guitar, which I really enjoyed.He became my the first guitar teacher.It took me such a long time choose a guitar among several wonderful model.Now the guitar is the most importantly part of my life and I practice it every day.
Minimalism (简约主义) is a term that describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is reduced to its most basic features.
As for me, minimalism functions well not in art or design, but in my daily life.
When I was packing for university, I found it extremely difficult to let go of some of the things I owned. I knew I couldn’t take everything with me, but I kept asking myself “how could I possibly throw this away?”, “what if I need it one day?”, and “what about all of the memories?” Now that I’ve moved, and left that stuff behind, I don’t even miss it. Whether or not I got rid of it, it barely makes a bit of difference to me now.
I’ve learned that over time people forget, or their need for a particular object eventually disappears. Either they store it away or they get rid of it.
You might think nostalgically(怀旧的) about the toys you cared about when you were a child, but what is making you smile now is not the thing itself but the memory of it. I’ve heard it a hundred times, “you don’t need things to make you happy.” It takes something life-changing like moving across the country to realize how true this is.
Speaking of which, for a lot of people, minimalism is about able to move. It’s about being able to go almost anywhere at any time because you don’t have many possessions to carry. When you keep things you don’t need they become a burden that ties you to a place. Moving to university was a good time to let go of a lot of stuff. And when I visit for the holidays, I’ll probably get rid of even more, to lighten the burden.
Of course there are exceptions. There are some things that are irreplaceable, very rare or expensive or we simply love and cherish for some reason or another, since we are humans. But after we keep those, how much is left that we don’t really need?
Hence, minimalism. And why does minimalism bring happiness? That was a bit of a roundabout way of saying that, it’s because what really makes me happy is freedom. And the key to freedom is minimalism because minimalism reduces our attachment to things.
Attachment to too many objects creates a great mess and can severely hold back our freedom to do whatever we want, while minimalism helps us start new projects, move, travel, learn new things, work, expand, be debt-free, be healthy – really living life to our full potential.
I left the nest to fly onwards and upwards, I can’t do it with old things weighing me down. And that is why I have adopted minimalism with open arms.
1.In paragraph l, the writer gives the definition of minimalism to .
A.introduce a topic B.present his own idea
C.describe a scene D.offer an argument
2.Many people don’t want to let go of some of their belongings because .
A.they haven’t had any life-changing experiences
B.they fear their memories will be gone with the thrown-away stuff
C.they hope to live life to their full potential by storing things away
D.they may have to change their lifestyle because of the loss of them
3.Which of the following is NOT the reason why the writer favors “minimalism” in life?
A.It takes the burden off her while she is moving.
B.It reduces her attachment to her personal things.
C.It enables her to gain the freedom that she desires.
D.It helps her to realize how true life is.
4.By saying “there are exceptions”, the writer means
A.little is left if we keep what we cherish most in our life
B.minimalism should be practised accordingly in different situations
C.minimalism is a method difficult to employ in reality
D.life is full of exceptions so it’s difficult to preserve what we value
5.What’s the main idea of the passage?
A.Minimalism brings happiness.
B.Minimalism is applied in many fields.
C.Minimalism makes people think nostalgically.
D.Minimalism is about able to move.
It’s really a tough job for automakers doing marketing and sales in China, where competition is acute and customers have little loyalty. They have tried a range of tricks in recent years.
But there should be a moral bottom line. Unfortunately, a Buick dealership used the tragedy of a two-month-old infant to advertise its cars last week on Weibo – Micro blog. And Hyundai Motor followed suit.
On March 4, an SUV was stolen with the infant left inside alone in the northeastern city of Changchun. The news spread widely on Weibo after the baby’s father called the local police and radio station for help. The next day it was revealed that the infant was choked to death and buried in snow by the thief. The online community expressed its deeply felt sympathy and condolences.
The Buick dealership posted a photo of the baby and two of its cars on its official Weibo account to advertise its GPS system that can locate the stolen car. “A few thoughts on the Changchun stolen car and baby incident: when buying a car it's entirely OK to choose a brand with advanced technology,” said the post. Though the post was made before tragic fate of the infant was known, the action generated a storm of outrage on Weibo. Some online commentators said it is “marketing at the cost of lives” and “extremely despicable.”
Worse was the post on Hyundai's off icial Weibo account that advertised the anti - theft system on its new SUV Santa Fe, an entry made after the child was known to have died. The action also enraged micro bloggers.
Both posts were soon deleted. The Buick dealership made an apology on Weibo to the family of the victim and the public. But screenshots saved by users continued to be posted and the negative impact on both brands persists.
The two brands probably didn’t expect such a firestorm of fury from the Internet community, but they really made a big mistake sinking below the moral bottom line. They certainly ruined their own brand images.
The Chinese have the same proverb as the English language – a little leak will sink a great ship. It takes decades to build the great ship of a respectable brand but it can take just a moment of negligence to make it fail completely.
For those in corporate marketing, two lessons should be learned: first, be careful in the era of social media when one wrong can be easily magnified and have disastrous impacts in just a few clicks.
Second and more importantly, think with your brain and heart. Never break the moral bonds of respect for human life and sympathy for our fellow man.
1.Who is to blame for the tragedy of Changchun infant according to the passage?
A.The baby’s father B.Buick and Hyundai dealership
C.Weibo D.Not clear
2.Which of the following statements is correct?
A.The missing infant was found alive in the stolen car.
B.Micro blog marketing of tragic infant death fuels firestorm of criticism.
C.People can’t see the two posts any more because they were deleted.
D.The two car brands mentioned in the passage spoiled their own reputation by selling the stolen car.
3.What does the underlined word – “despicable” in paragraph 4 mean?
A.Immoral B.Important
C.Distinguished D.Considerable
4.The reason why Hyundai’s post was worse than Buick’s is that _________.
A.Hyundai dealership didn’t make an apology on Weibo
B.Buick dealership expressed its deeply sympathy and condolences
C.Hyundai’s post was made after people knew the infant had died
D.Buick’s car was more advanced on its GPS system
5.In the last paragraph, the author encourages people _____________.
A.not to sink below the moral bottom line
B.not to sympathize our fellow man
C.to think twice before making decision
D.to magnify the mistakes people make