Generally speaking, government regulations normally ban anything from smoking in public places to parking in certain zones. But officials in the Brazilian town of Biritiba Mirim, 70km (45miles) east of Sao Paulo, have gone far beyond that. They plan to prohibit residents from dying early because the local cemetery(墓地) has reached full capacity.
There’s no more room to bury the dead, they can’t be cremated(火化) and laws forbid a new cemetery. So the mayor has proposed a strange solution: outlaw death. Mayor Roberto Pereira says the bill is meant as a protest against federal regulations that prohibit new or expanded cemeteries in preservation areas. “They have not taken local demands into consideration”, he claims.
A 2003 decree(法令) by Brazil’s National Environment Council forbids burial grounds in protected areas. Mr. Pereira wants to build a new cemetery, but the project has been stopped because 98% of Biritiba Mirim is considered as a preservation area.
Biritiba Mirim, a town of 28,000 inhabitants, not only wants to prohibit residents from passing away. The bill also calls on people to take care of their health in order to avoid death. “I haven’t got a job, nor am I healthy. And now they say I can’t die. That’s ridiculous,” Amarido do Prado, an unemployed resident said.
The city council is expected to vote on the regulation next week. “Of course the bill is laughable, illegal, and will never be approved,” said Gilson Soares de Campos, an assistant of the mayor. “But can you think of a better resolution to persuade the government to change the environmental decree that is prohibiting us from building a new cemetery?” The bill states that “offenders will be held responsible for their acts.” However, it does not say what the punishment will be.
1.What is the bill to be proposed by the officials in Biritiba Mirim?
A. Ban on building a new cemetery.
B. Ban on parking in certain zones.
C. Forbidding buried grounds in preservation.
D. Prohibiting residents from dying early.
2.What can we infer from the phrase “have gone far beyond that” in the first paragraph?
A. The officials in Biritiba Mirim have made these regulations.
B. The officials in Biritiba Mirim have been to many places around the world.
C. The bill to be proposed by officials in Biritiba Mirim is much too unexpected.
D. The officials in Biritiba Mirim have built too many cemeteries in their town.
3.What’s the attitude of the mayor of Biritiba Mirim towards the federal regulations?
A. He remains silent about them.
B. He gives strong backing to them.
C. He objects to them.
D. He asks the residents for advice on them.
4.Which of the following is TRUE according to the text?
A. The mayor of the town wants to build a new cemetery against federal regulation.
B. The residents of the town sing high praise for the bill.
C. No better resolution of the problems has been thought out.
D. The government is going to change the environmental decree.
Thousands of taxi drivers in Shenyang, Liaoning province, reportedly blocked streets with their vehicles on Sunday in protest against unlicensed vehicles using taxi-hiring apps (打车软件) and apps-based car rental companies providing passenger services, including high-end cars. Although the drivers also complained about the withdrawal of the fuel subsidy by the government, their main complaint was the loss of business because of the rising number of Internet-based car services companies.
On Wednesday, news reports came that Beijing transport authorities will take measures to stop the illegal “taxi business” of private cars through the newly rising Internet apps, following the footsteps of Shenyang and Nanjing.
It is not yet clear how the Shenyang city government will handle the issue and whether it will declare the services offered by market leaders such as Didi Dache, a taxi-hiring app provider backed by Tencent Holdings, and Kuaidi Dache illegal. But Shanghai transport regulators have set a rule, by banning Didi Zhuanche, or car services offered by Didi Dache in December.
Such regulations will cause a setback to the car-hiring companies and investors that are waiting to cash in on the potentially booming business. Just last month, Didi Dache got $700 million in funding from global investors, including Singapore state investment company Temasek Holdings, Russian investment company DST Global and Tencent. Besides, the market is uncertain that Kuaidi Dache is about to finalize its latest round of funding after getting $800 million from global investors.
Regulatory uncertainties, however, could cast a shadow on the future of the Internet-based car-hiring services, which have become popular in most of China’s big cities. To be fair, these companies’ business model is anything but bad. For example, Didi Zhuanche works side by side with established car rental companies to provide high-end car service mainly for businesspeople through the Internet and mobile phone apps.
Every link in this business model chain has legal companies and services. Hence, it is hard to define it as illegal and ban it.
1.Why did taxi drivers in Shenyang block the streets with their vehicles?
A. Because they wanted the authority to increase their driving allowances.
B. Because they wanted to be taught how to use the taxi-hiring apps.
C. Because they wanted to make their main complaints known to the authority.
D. Because they wanted to appeal to passengers not to hire the private cars.
2.The author’s attitude to banning internet car-hiring service is______.
A. positive B. negative C. neutral D. unclear
3.Which of the following statements is false according to the passage?
A. The problem referred to in the passage exists in all cities
B. App-based car rental is functional to some degree
C. The government should regulate the app-based car rental market
D. Didi Dache is a China-foreign joint company
4.we can learn from the passage that _____.
A. Shenyang forbade apps-based car rental companies
B. Shanghai is the second city banning Didi Zhuanche
C. some international investment companies have strong faith in the future of apps-based car rental companies
D. it is not difficult to picture the apps-based car rental companies illegal
A Hong Kong Disneyland park admission ticket is your passport to a full day of magical adventures. Learn the ways to buy your tickets now.
Three types of 1-day ticket are available:
Ticket Type Price
General Admission Ticket (aged 12—64)
HK $ 499
Child Ticket (aged 3----11) HK $ 355
Senior Ticket (aged 65 or above) HK $ 100
Free admission for Child aged under 3.
Book Online Now
Purchase tickets conveniently through our website, then pick up your tickets starting from 1 hour after you have purchased online.
Purchase Tickets Directly at Hong Kong Disneyland Ticket Express
You can purchase tickets at the Hong Kong Disneyland Ticket Express, conveniently located at the MTR Hong Kong Station. Open from 9:00 am ---- 8:00 pm on Mondays to Fridays and from 9:00 am ---- 5:00 pm on Saturdays, Sundays and Public Holidays.
Purchase 2 Park Tickets at one of the following locations and receive a FREE limited-edition Disney gift:
★ Avenue of Stars Kiosks
You can purchase tickets at Avenue of Stars Kiosks in Tsim Sha Tsui. Open daily from 9:00 am ----10:30 pm.
★ Asia World-Expo Box Office
You can purchase tickets at Asia World-Expo Box Office. Open Mondays to Fridays from 10:00 am ---- 6:00 pm.
Reserve Tickets for Hotel Guest
As a hotel Guest of Hong Kong Disneyland Hotel or Disney’s Hollywood Hotel, Park tickets are reserved for your purchase at front desk. Open daily from 9:00 am ---- 8:00 pm.
Buy at Hong Kong Disneyland Main Entrance
Guests can purchase tickets on the day of their visit at the Main Entrance Ticket Booths or Guest Relations Windows. Open daily from 30 minutes before Park opening until Park closes.
1.In which place can you get a free gift for buying two tickets?
A. Hong Kong Disneyland Ticket Express.
B. Asia World-Expo Box Office.
C. Hong Kong Disneyland main Entrance.
D. Disney’s Hollywood Hotel.
2.For a young couple with a 2-year-old kid spending a day in the park, they have to pay at least .
A. HK $ 998 B. HK $ 854
C. HK $ 499 D. HK $ 1353
3.To buy tickets at Hong Kong Disneyland Ticket Express on Sundays, you have to get there before .
A. 10:30 pm B. 6:00 pm C.8:00 pm D. 5:00 pm
Who’s in control of your life? Who is pulling your string? For the majority of us, it’s other people—society, colleagues, friends, family or our religious community. We learned this way of operating when we were very young, of course. We were brainwashed. We discovered that feeling important and feeling accepted was a nice experience and so we learned to do everything we could to make other people like us. As Oscar Wilde puts it, “Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry(模仿), their passions a quotation.”
So when people tell us how wonderful we are, it makes us feel good. We long for this good feeling like a drug. Therefore, we are so eager for the approval of others that we live unhappy and limited lives, failing to do the things we really want to. Just as drug addicts and alcoholics live worsened lives to keep getting their fix (一剂毒品). We worsen our own existence to get our own constant fix of approval.
But, just as with any drug, there is a price to pay. The price of the approval drug is freedom—the freedom to be ourselves. The truth is that we cannot control what other people think. People have their own agenda, and they come with their own baggage and, in the end, they're more interested in themselves than in you. Furthermore, if we try to live by the opinions of others, we will build our life on sinking sand. Everyone has a different way of thinking, and people change their opinions all the time. The person who tries to please everyone will only end up getting exhausted and probably pleasing no one in the process.
So how can we take back control? I think there’s only one way—make a conscious decision to stop caring what other people think. We should guide ourselves by means of a set of values---not values imposed（强加）from the outside by others, but innate values which come from within. If we are driven by these values and not by the changing opinions and value systems of others, we will live a more authentic, effective, purposeful and happy life.
1.What Oscar Wilde says implies that _____________.
A. most people’s thoughts are controlled by others
B. most people have a variety of thoughts
C. we have thoughts similar to those of others
D. other people’s thoughts are more important
2.What does the author try to argue in the third paragraph ?
A. We need to pay for what we want to get.
B. Changing opinions may cost us our freedom.
C. We may lose ourselves to please others.
D. The price of taking drugs is freedom.
3. In order to live a happy, effective and purposeful life, we should _________.
A. care about others’ opinions and change opinions all the time
B. guide ourselves by means of values from the outside
C. stick to our own values
D. persuade others to accept our opinions
4.It can be concluded from the passage that __________.
A. it’s important to accept others’ opinions
B. it’s better to do what we like
C. we shouldn't change our own opinions
D. we shouldn’t care what others think too much
阅读下面短文，然后按要求写一篇150词左右的英语短文。
Big or small, rejection affects us all. Harry Potter was rejected. So was The Twilight Saga. If authors J. K. Rowling and Stephenie Meyer hadn’t kept trying with publisher after publisher, we’d all have missed out on some great adventures.
Rejection doesn’t have to be about the big thing like not getting into your top college, not making the team, or not getting asked to the prom (舞会). Everyday situations can lead to the feeling of rejection, too, like if your joke doesn’t get a laugh, if no one remembers to save you a seat at the lunch table, or if the person you really like talks to everyone but you.
Feeling rejected is the opposite of feeling accepted. But being rejected (and we will all be at times) doesn’t mean someone isn’t liked, valued, or important. It just means that one time, in one situation, with one person, things didn’t work out.
Rejection hurts. But it’s impossible to avoid it altogether. In fact, you don’t want to— people who become too afraid of rejection might hold back from going after something they want. Sure, they avoid rejection, but they’re also 100% guaranteed to miss out on what they want but won’t try for.
【写作内容】
1. 以约30个词概括上文的主要内容。
2. 以约120个词就“How to deal with rejection”这一话题发表你的看法，内容包括：
(1) 讲述一次你被拒绝的经历； (2) 你当时的感受； (3) 你认为应该如何正确面对拒绝。
【写作要求】
作文中可以使用亲身经历或虚构的故事，也可以参照阅读材料的内容，但不得直接引用原文中的句子。
【评分标准】
概括准确，语言规范，内容合适，语篇连贯。
请认真阅读下列短文,并根据所读内容在文章后表格中的空格里填入一个最恰当的单词。注意：每个空格只填1个单词。请将答案写在答题卡上相应题号的横线上。
Research shows that the summer before college can be a dangerous time for teenagers, as they are between home and high school on the one side, and a more challenging and independent existence as a college student on the other.
Take drinking for example. Research has reported that teenagers tend to increase their alcohol use during the summer before college and in their first term. Such drinking can lead to tragedy: it’s estimated that more than 1,100 college students at 18 to 24 years of age die each year from alcohol-related injuries, including car crashes, and almost 600, 000 are injured under the influence of alcohol.
In addition to drinking, future freshmen may also have gaps in their knowledge about other aspects of university life. A study has found that students are “generally aware” of the fact that they have to place them into college courses and their school’s curricular requirements. In addition, many students hold misunderstandings such as “Getting into college is the hardest part”, and “I can take whatever classes I want when I get to college”. In fact, students’ courses may be determined by their level of preparation.
It is found that college-bound high-school graduates are faced with a number of potentially frightening tasks during the summer. For example, colleges typically require students to take placement tests(分班考试)and fill out a lot of paperwork, including housing and medical forms, over the summer. Completing these tasks may be especially frightening for low-income and first-generation college-bound students whose families may be short of experience with the college-going process.
In addition, it’s only in the summer after high-school graduation when students face the reality of paying the first college bill, which often includes unexpected costs like required health insurance. For college-intending students, successfully controlling the post-high-school summer thus requires a level of finance that may be unrelated to their ability to succeed in the classroom. As a result, students who have already broken through many barriers to college admission may fail to enter college.
Paring college-bound students with “fellow advisers”---students already in college who have been trained to support and coach their learners through the summer---improves the rate at which the learners show up at college. Even more wonderful, a low-cost campaign of text messages---in which researchers sent recent high-school graduates and their parents a series of eight to ten text-message reminders of key tasks to complete over the summer---is just as effective in increasing the rate of students who successfully make the change to college.
A little “summer pushing” could be a key step in getting students all the way across the finish line.
The Key to College Success: Summer | |
Facts | The summer before college throws 1. dangers to high-school graduates. |
College life is challenging and needs students’ 2. . | |
Reasons for college failure | Many misfortunes happening to future freshmen are related to 3. . |
Future freshmen have false 4. about college life. | |
Tasks related to going to college may create some 5. for a certain group of high-school graduates. | |
Finance may become a6. even to those who can give good academic performance. | |
7. | Get ready, as the level of preparations really does8. . |
Future freshmen may be recommended to 9. to “fellow advisers”. | |
Text messages can be used as 10. of completing key tasks. | |
