In 2013 Tallinn(爱沙尼亚首都塔林) became the world’s first capital city to offer people free public transport. Last year Estonia(爱沙尼亚) set the aim to become the first country with free public transport nationwide. Buses are now free of charge in 11 of its 15 counties.
Tallinn’s city government came up with the idea of free transport in 2008. Even though the city paid more than 70% of public-transport costs, ticket prices were still too high for poorer people. Crowdedness had also become a problem. Since 1991, the number of people owning cars has doubled.
Opponents(反对者) thought the idea unaffordable and critics(批评者) predicted the transport system would become overcrowded and lack money.
Surprisingly, public transport has improved, despite a €12 million hit to the system’s finances from lost ticket sales. Tallinn’s population has grown, leading to an increase in local tax intake. Additional revenu(财政收入) comes from tourists, who still have to buy tickets. The use of public transport in Tallinn has gone up by 10%, while the number of cars in the city has gone down by 10%, meaning less congestion.
Now other countries are looking at Estonia’s experience. Tallinn officials say they have had interest from France, Sweden, Poland, Italy and Germany. Other places have already introduced free public transport for certain groups or at certain times. In England 1/3 of all bus trips are fare-free especially for pensioners(领养老金者); Wales runs free travel at weekends to improve tourism. But so far full fare-free travel is rare. The city of Hasselt in Belgium ran free public transport for 16 years before reintroducing fares because of increasing costs.
1.Which of the following places offers full fare-free public transport?
A.Hasselt B.Estonia C.Wales D.Tallinn
2.What idea did the opponents and critics share about Tallinn’s free public transport?
A.The government wouldn’t have enough money to carry it out.
B.It wouldn’t help with the city’s over crowdedness.
C.It would lead to the heavy loss from ticket sales.
D.Years later the city would reintroduce fares from people.
3.What does the underlined word in paragraph 4 mean?
A.pollution B.population C.crowdedness D.income
4.Why do you think so many countries show interest in Estonia’s experience?
A.It offers more job opportunities for people.
B.It helps to solve the traffic problem in cities.
C.It encourages people to stop driving.
D.It attracts more tourists to take buses.
Imagine a cat that does not need someone to clean up after it keeps an older people company and helps them remember to take their medicine. That is the shared dream of the toy maker Hasbro and scientists at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. The researchers received a $ 3-million-dollar from the National Science Foundation for a special project. They want to find ways to add artificial intelligence, or AI, to Hasbro’s “Joy for All” robotic cat.
The cat has already been for sale for two years. Though priced at over 1,000 dollars, it sold quite well. It was meant to act as a “companion”(陪伴) for older people. Now the project is aimed at developing additional abilities for the cat. Researchers are working to decide which activities older adults may need the most. They hope to make the cat perform a small number of activities very well. Such activities include finding lost objects and reminding the older people to take medicine or visit their doctor. They also want to keep the cost down to just a few hundred dollars.
It is an idea that has appealed (有吸引力) to Jeanne Elliott. Her 93-year-old mother Mary Derr lives with her in South Kingstown. Derr has dementia (痴呆). The Joy for All cat that Elliot bought this year has become a true companion for Derr. The cat stays with Derr and keeps her relaxed while Elliott is at work. Elliot said a robotic cat that helps her mother to remember to take her medicine and be careful when she walks would be greater.
The researchers are trying to learn how the improved cats will complete helpful activities and how they will communicate. They say that they do not want a talking cat, however. Instead they are trying to design a cat that can move its head in a special way to successfully communicate its message. In the end, they hope to create an exchange between the human and the cat in which the human feels the cat needs them. By doing so, the researchers hope they can even help prevent feelings of loneliness and sadness among elderly people.
1.What’s the purpose of the project?
A.To reduce the pain of the elderly.
B.To increase the sales of a medicine.
C.To help make the robotic cat smarter.
D.To invent a robotic cat for the elderly.
2.What can we know about the cat?
A.It will be on sale in two years.
B.It may be cheaper in the future.
C.Its abilities will be made simpler for the elderly.
D.It can tell the activities that older adults need the most.
3.What does the example in Paragraph 3 show?
A.The cat gives much help to the elderly.
B.The cat works well to talk with the patient.
C.The cat can make the dementia patient less painful.
D.The cat should be designed to satisfy patients’ need.
4.What can we infer from the last paragraph?
A.Each family can afford such a cat in the future.
B.A talking cat is quite popular among the elderly.
C.Feelings of sadness among the elderly are unavoidable.
D.The feeling of being needed is important to the elderly.
Are you getting enough protein（蛋白质）? The question provides its own answer: If you are worrying about the amount of protein in your diet, then you are almost certainly eating more than enough.
You merely need to visit a western supermarket today to see that many people regard protein as some kind of excellent medicine — one food companies are profitably adding to anything they can. “When the Box says ‘Protein’, Shoppers say ‘I’ll take it’” was the headline of a 2013 article in The Wall Street Journal.
The intensity of our protein obsession can only be understood as part of a wider series of diet battles that go back half a century. If we now thirst for protein as if it were water, it may be because the other two macronutrients — fats and carbohydrates — have each in turn been made to seem poisonous (有毒的) in the public mind.
In the current nutrition wars, protein has emerged as the last macronutrient left standing. David L. Katz, an American doctor and public health scholar who is the director of the Yale-Griffin Prevention Research Center said, “First they told us to cut fat. But instead of whole grains and lentils, we ate low-fat junk food.” Then food marketers heard the message about cutting carbohydrates and sold us protein-enriched junk foods instead.
For decades now, there has been a tendency to think about what we eat and drink in terms of nutrients, rather than read whole ingredients in all their complexity. A combination of diet fads and clever marketing has got us here. It doesn’t matter whether we fixate on “low fat” or “low carbohydrates” or “high protein” — we are making the same old mistakes about nutrition in a new form.
1.How does the author begin the article?
A.By raising a question.
B.By giving an assumption.
C.By describing a phenomenon.
D.By illustrating a typical case.
2.How many kinds of macronutrients does food provide us with according to paragraph 3?
A.Two B.Three
C.Four D.Five
3.What is the author’s attitude towards protein according to the text?
A.Cold. B.Crazy.
C.Sensible. D.Critical.
假设你是红星中学高三一班的学生李华，为校刊英语园地写一篇题为“Our Spring Outing” 的英文稿件。请根据以下四幅图的先后顺序，叙述上周你们班从准备春游到春游结束的完整过程。
注意：词数不少于60.
提示词：游乐园 amusement park 垃圾箱 bin
假设你是红星中学高三学生李华，请你给英国朋友写一封电子邮件，内容包括：
（1）你们原相约7月份一同爬长城；
（2）由于你自身某种原因（请说明具体原因），你无法按原计划前往；
（3）表达你的歉意并建议将旅行推迟到8月份。
注意：
1. 词数不少于50；
2. 开头和结尾已经给出，不计入总词数。
Dear Chris,
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua
Imagine a child standing on a diving board four feet high and asking himself the question: “Should I jump?” This is what motivation or the lack of it can do. Motivation and goal setting are the two sides of same coin. 1. Like the child on the diving board, you will stay undecided.
2. More than that, how should you stay motivated to achieve the goal? First, you need to evaluate yourself, your values, your strengths, your weaknesses, your achievements, your desires, etc. Only then should you set your goals.
You also need to judge the quality and depth of your motivation. This is quite important, because it is directly related to your commitment. There are times when your heart is not in your work. 3. So, slow down and think what you really want to do at that moment. Clarity(清晰) of thoughts can help you move forward.
Another way of setting realistic goals is to analyze your short and long term objectives, keeping in mind your beliefs, values and strengths. Remember that goals are flexible. 4. They also need to be measurable. You must keep these points in mind while setting your goals.
Your personal circumstances are equally important. For example, you may want to be a pilot but can’t become one because your eyesight is not good enough. 5.You should reassess your goals, and motivate yourself to set a fresh goal.
You will surely need to overcome some difficulties, some planned, but most unplanned. You cannot overcome them without ample motivation. Make sure that you plan for these difficulties at the time of setting your goals.
A. This can affect your work.
B. So how should you motivate yourself?
C. However, this should not discourage you.
D. So why should we try to set specific goals?
E. They can change according to circumstances.
F. Motivation is what you need most to do a good job.
G. Without motivation, you can neither set a goal nor reach it.
