Many people in England are angry that drivers park their cars on the pavements. Cars that are on the pavement prevent people from walking safely down the street. They have to walk into the road to get around the running cars. It’s a lot more difficult for blind people to walk around the town if cars are in their way. A spokesman for a charity told the BBC, “It can be frightening for anyone who is forced to step into a road because the pavement is blocked by a van, car or other badly parked vehicle. Imagine you have to step into a road where you can’t see oncoming traffic.”
A survey on parking in Britain found that 70 percent of people want a ban on parking on pavements. A town south of London has already started a system to get drivers to park in a proper car park. Any motorist who parks on the pavement gets a $115 fine. However, many people say the fines do not work. Local people say car owners ignore the fine and park where they want. One woman said there would soon be a very serious accident because of a car parked on the pavement. She wants her town to be like London, which has strict rules against pavement parking.
【写作内容】
1．用约30个单词概括上文的主要内容；
2．用约120个单词就“人行道停车”谈谈你的看法，内容包括：
(1)分析驾驶员在人行道上停车的原因；
(2)简述人行道停车给行人带来的不便；
(3)你对解决该问题有何建议？
【写作要求】
1．写作过程中不能直接引用原文语句；
2．作文中不能出现真实姓名和学校名称；
3．不必写标题。
【评分标准】
内容完整，语言规范，语篇连贯，词数适当。
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The Internet has become a way of life for many people around the world.So what would happen if one fine morning，you woke up to find the Internet has no existence? How would your life be changed? Well，your lifestyle might be impacted.If you were an Internet addict，you would find that your life has come to an end.With no online facilities，a considerable part of your time would be spent waiting in long lines at banks，post offices or government offices.You would be waiting for days or even weeks for your mail to arrive from another corner of the world.Suddenly，you would realize that your fastpaced life is running at a snail’s pace.
Without the Internet，your socializing would also be impacted.If you’d gotten very used to socializing online，you would now be clueless as to how you could share the pictures of your recent trip you went for with your friends across the globe.It would be difficult to interact with people living outside your locality.You might have to become a member of a club or a community in your neighborhood to make new friends.With no online social media，you would find yourself saying this very often: Let’s go and talk to them!
With no way to use emails，instant messaging，chat or social media，we would have to take advantage of the option of a telephone conversation，or sending a snail mail.Communication via the internet is free，whereas the options available otherwise would cost you extra money and time.Your would have to write letters and buy stamps，as we used to do before the Internet became popular.
The Internet has become a huge sea of information and resources.No Internet would mean no instant and easy access to information at the click of a button.You would have to walk down to your local library and actually search the whole place to get the information you’re looking for，with little chances that you’ll find what you seek instantly.The students who were accustomed to using the Internet for completing their assignments would have a tough time.There would be no way to get an education without actually going to a school or a college physically.
Without the Internet，things at your workplace would be turned upside down.If your work was largely Internetbased，your company might have to shut down.If your work involved only minor use of the Internet，for example，using online system to acquire statistics from the Internet，this simple task would now be a complicated and timeconsuming process.Your desk would be full of documents and files，and you would have a nightmare searching or sorting them out by hand.In any case，life without the Internet would seem like a nightmare! So enjoy living in the paradise we call the Internet and make wise use of it！
Can You Imagine the World Without the Internet？ | |
Paragraph outline | Supporting details |
Lifestyle | ·It would take you much longer time to get some public 1.. ·The pace of your life would 2. down. |
Socializing | ·You would not know how to share your things with your faraway friends. ·You would have difficulty interacting with people living outside your locality. ·You would need to join a club or a community to 3. new people. ·You would always be obliged to make facetoface 4. with others. |
Communication | ·Without emails，instant messaging or social media，you would have to use old communicating ways like telephone conversation. ·Communicating in old ways would be 5. and timeconsuming. |
Information | ·Large amounts of information and resources online would no longer be easily 6.. ·The students who were in the 7. of using the Internet would have trouble completing their assignments. ·It would be impossible for students to be 8. via the Internet. |
Workplace | ·Those companies that were heavily 9. on the Internet would close down. ·It would be complicated and timeconsuming to acquire some statistics. ·Your desk would be in a 10. and it would be hard for you to search or sort something out. |
In a certain store where they sell puddings, a number of these delicious things are laid out in a row during the Christmas season. Here you may select the one which is most to your taste, and you are even allowed to sample them before coming to a decision.
I have often wondered whether some people, who had no intention of making a purchase, would take advantage of this privilege. One day I asked this question of the shop girl, and I learned it was indeed the case.
“Now there’s one old gentleman, for instance,” she told me, “he comes here almost every week and samples each one of the puddings, though he never buys anything, and I suspect he never will. I remember him from last year and the year before that, too. Well, let him come if he wants it, and he is welcome to it. And what’s more, I hope there are a lot more stores where he can go and get his share. He looks as if he needed it all right, and I suppose they can afford it.”
She was still speaking when an elderly gentleman walked up to the counter and began looking closely at the row of puddings with great interest.
“Well, that’s the very gentleman I’ve been telling you about, ”whispered the shop girl. “Just watch him now.” And then turning to him, “Would you like to sample them, sir? Here’s the spoon for you to use.”
The elderly gentleman, who was poorly but neatly dressed, accepted the spoon and began eagerly to sample one after another of the puddings, only stopping occasionally to wipe his red eyes with a large torn handkerchief.
“This is quite good.”
“This is not bad either, but a little too heavy.”
All the time it was quite obvious that he sincerely believed that he might eventually buy one of these puddings, and I am positive that he did not for a moment feel that he was in any way cheating the store. Poor old man! Probably he had come down in the world and this sampling was all that was left to him from the time when he could afford to come and select his favorite pudding.
Amidst the crowd of happy, richlooking Christmas shoppers, the little black figure of the old man seemed pitiful and out of place, and in a burst of benevolence, I went up to him and said, “Pardon me, sir, will you do me a favor? Let me purchase you one of these puddings. It would give me such pleasure.”
He jumped back as if he had been stung, and the blood rushed into his wrinkled face.
“Excuse me,” he said, with more dignity than I would have thought possible considering his appearance, “I do not believe I have the pleasure of knowing you. Undoubtedly you have mistaken me for someone else.” And with a quick decision he turned to the shop girl and said in a loud voice, “Kindly pack me up this one here. I will take it with me.” He pointed at one of the largest and most expensive puddings.
The girl took down the pudding from its stand and started to make a parcel of it, while he pulled out a worn little black pocketbook and began counting out shillings and pennies on to the counter. To save his “honor” he had been forced into a purchase which he could not possibly afford. How I longed for the power to unsay my tactless words! It was too late though, and I felt that the kindest thing I could do now would be walk away.
“You pay at the desk,” the shop girl was telling him, but he did not seem to understand and kept trying to put the coins into her hand. And that was the last I saw or heard of the old man. Now he can never go there to sample puddings any more.
1.By saying “it was indeed the case” in Paragraph 2, the author meant that ________.
A. many shoppers would sample puddings before buying them
B. the Christmas season was the time to promote pudding sales
C. some people just sampled puddings but didn’t buy them
D. the store’s allowing people to sample puddings was a privilege
2.From her words, we know that the shop girl ________.
A. looked down upon the old man
B. felt pity for the old man
C. thought poorly of sampling puddings
D. was good at pretending to be friendly
3.The underlined word “benevolence” in Paragraph 10 is closest in meaning to “________”．
A. curiosity B. appreciation
C. meanness D. kindness
4.The old man finally bought a pudding because ________.
A. he had intended to buy the pudding
B. he was annoyed by the author’s offer
C. he didn’t want others to help him
D. he decided not to cheat the store any more
5.After saying the words to the old man, the author wanted to walk away because he ________.
A. found himself in a rather awkward situation
B. felt upset that the old man refused his offer
C. decided to pay the money for the pudding
D. failed to express himself to the old man
6.What can we learn from the author’s experience?
A. Never judge a book by its cover.
B. Old people are mentally weak.
C. Helping others involves respect.
D. Don’t take advantage of stores.
Now a group of scientists, including ones from CalTech, MIT and the LIGO Scientific Collaboration finally found the gravitational waves(引力波)．They announced they were able to see ripples(波纹) in the structure of spacetime.
What are these gravitational waves? Well, imagine throwing a rock into a pond. When the rock hits the flat surface of the water, it creates ripples. Spacetime is like the surface of the water. So gravitational waves are like the ripples moving out from where the rock hits the water.
It was Einstein who said these gravitational waves should be observable. But these are not huge waves. They are smaller than the size of an atom, which is why it took so long to find them.
Since 2002, scientists have been watching for these gravitational waves, using a giant scientific tool called LIGO. They have been watching two black holes in another galaxy(星系) faraway. The two were spinning around each other, moving closer and closer together. When they finally crashed into each other, gravitational waves were caused. With great power and force, they rang throughout the universe, like a giant bell. Those waves, traveling at the speed of light, finally reached the Earth, some 1.3 billion years later. The National Science Foundation said that each of the black holes was 29 to 36 times the mass of our sun.
This discovery means our understanding of the heavens has changed greatly.
1.The author explains the gravitational waves by ________.
A. presenting recent research findings
B. drawing a vivid picture
C. comparing them to something familiar
D. using proper examples
2.According to the author, finding the gravitational waves means ________.
A. there is a better way to deal with physics problems
B. we have a better understanding of the universe
C. we have reached a new level in earth studies
D. there exists another galaxy in the universe
3.What does the word “they” in Paragraph 4 refer to?
A. The black holes.
B. The gravitational waves.
C. The scientific tools.
D. The galaxies.
4.This passage mainly talks about ________.
A. a new theory of gravitational waves opposite to Einstein’s
B. a description of the scientific research on black holes
C. the relationship between black holes and gravitational waves
D. the discovery of gravitational waves Einstein believed observable
Dubai is one of the economically richest places in the world. With its numerous malls, hotels, resorts and beautiful beaches, Dubai has always been a popular holiday destination. This city was visited by around 5 million tourists each year. The government wanted to increase this number to 15 million. However, there was a shortcoming in this plan. Dubai had only 45 miles of coastline, which was nowhere enough for so many people. To handle this issue, an island that looked like a palm tree was built in 2006 and named the Palm Jumeirah.
The plan for the island was extraordinary. It was to host several hotels, shopping malls, restaurants and homes. Although the initial plan was to build the island from concrete, a decision was taken to create it from sand, so as to give it a natural look.
To make sure that this project was a success, the best engineers from across the world were employed. Engineers from Holland formed the majority in this group. To begin with, the engineers calculated the strength of storms at sea, and also the expected amount of rise in water levels due to global warming. And then they found that the proposed location for the island was neither very wide nor deep.
One of the difficulties encountered by the engineers was to put sand on the seabed to create the breakwater(防波堤), protecting the Plam Jumeirah from tidal forces. Finding the right sand for the project was a difficult task, as the sand from Dubai’s deserts was too fine. Instead, sand from the sea was used, as it was coarser(粗糙) and more waterresistant in nature. Once the breakwater was built, construction of the island began.
The Palm Jumeirah is really an impressive feat(伟绩) of engineering. However, the project is so large that it may have changed the ecology of the region. In addition, large quantities of money and resources go into sustaining the island, which is a major concern at the moment. Only time will tell if building the Palm Jumeirah is actually a good decision.
1.The first paragraph is intended to show ________.
A. the geographical features of Dubai
B. Dubai’s plan to attract more tourists
C. the reason for building the Palm Jumeirah
D. Dubai’s difficulty in developing the tourism industry
2.To build the island, the engineers ________.
A. overcame a number of challenges
B. were sent to Holland to receive training
C. did research on the formation of storms at sea
D. found the proper location for the island accidentally
3.What is the author’s attitude towards the construction of the Palm Jumeirah?
A. Positive. B. Objective.
C. Indifferent. D. Negative.
1．Ensure passport is valid.
Passports are required for travel to the U．S.and must be valid for the entirety of the traveler’s stay.
2．Complete the application for a tourist visa，Form DS160.
This is an online form available through the U．S.Department of State.
3．Print the DS160 confirmation page.
After successfully completing the application，the applicant will receive a confirmation with a 10digit barcode.Take a printout of this page.This page is required to schedule a visa interview.
4．Upload a digital photograph.
The DS160 application requires the applicant to upload a digital photograph that meets the following requirements：
The digital photograph must be a square.
Minimum dimensions must be 600 pixels by 600 pixels.
Maximum dimensions must be 1200 pixels by 1200 pixels.
Image must be in color.
Image must be in the JPEG format.
File size of the image must be less than or equal to 240 kilobytes.
5．Pay the application fee for the B2 tourist visa.
The fee can be paid electronically as a bank transfer or in cash at designated(指定的) bank branches.
6．Make an appointment for the visa interview.
After paying the application fee，the applicant will have to schedule two appointments as part of the tourist visa process：
The first appointment is at the Offsite Facilitation Center(OFC) to provide biometrics information，which includes fingerprinting and photograph.
The second appointment is with the consulate(领事馆) or embassy for a personal visa interview.
7．Complete the visa fingerprinting at an OFC.
This appointment should be scheduled at least a day or two before the interview at the consulate.As part of this appointment，the applicant’s digital photograph and fingerprints will be taken.
8．Attend the visa interview at the designated U．S.consulate or embassy on the day and time the appointment.
The applicant brings the following to the visa interview：
Passport (and old passports if any)
Passportstyle photograph
The DS160 confirmation page
Visa application fee receipts
Interview appointment letter
Supporting documents
9．Receive a B2 visa and travel to the U．S.
If the interview goes well，the consular officer will approve the visa application and give the applicant a B2 visa.
1.The passage mainly focuses on .
A. how to apply for a U．S.tourist visa
B. strict process of passport application
C. making preparations for visa documents
D. the U．S.tourist advertisement of applying for visa
2.What are applicants required to do when applying for B2 visa?
A. Complete the visa fingerprinting after the interview.
B. Pay the application fee only through bank transfer electronically.
C. Print out Form DS160.
D. Attend a personal visa interview.
