I grew up in Hastings, a small coastal town in East Sussex, famous for 1066 years of history and seaside charm. I have a memory as a boy, saving my pocket money by placing it in a special drawer, the golden pound coins collecting into a neat pile. When I was 14 in 2007, I saved up money for a gap year, by working at a bingo hall, and I put the money into a savings account. I remember getting £70 ($91) interest rates one year, which made me feel very rich indeed.
Skip forward to 2018 and I was living and working in Beijing, China, as a journalist. All around me Beijing residents were paying for everything using just their smart phones. They would walk up to a counter of a restaurant, shop, or convenience store, and offer up a QR code(二维码)for the cashier to scan. Once scanned, the online system would immediately deduct(扣除) the exact amount owed from the payer’s e-wallet. No reaching for cash and waiting for change. The transaction would take seconds.
But I was a stubborn holdout. My friends, both Western and Chinese, would make fun of me for being so traditional – for sticking to ―dirty cash. But there were a couple of reasons why I kept using physical money and avoided getting into e-payments and e-wallets. Firstly, it felt safer. I wasn’t really aware of how electronic money would work on my smart phone and I feared it would somehow get easily taken away. Secondly, I feared that by moving to e-payments, I would end up spending more. I would lose all sense of how much, day by day, I would be spending.
Were these fears justified? As more and more people across the world escape cash, these are essential issues for me to consider.
1.Which of the following made the writer feel very rich?
A.Saving £70 ($91) by placing it in a special drawer.
B.Collecting £70 ($91) coins into a neat pile.
C.Putting £70 ($91) into a savings account in bank.
D.Getting £70 ($91) interest rates from a bank.
2.Which’s not the advantage of e-payments?
A.No reaching for cash. B.No waiting for change.
C.Taking only few seconds. D.Spending more money.
3.Why didn’t the writer like to accept the e- payments at first?
A.Because he was too traditional to save money.
B.Because he liked the sense of paying in cash.
C.Because he thought e-payments would deduct more.
D.Because he knew how e-payments work on smartphones.
4.What can we infer about the writer from the last paragraph？
A.He accepted the idea that money is abstract.
B.He eventually turned to using e-payments.
C.He thought the pain of e-payment is delayed.
D.He insisted that having physical cash is safer.
European architecture in Tianjin is a window showing China’s historical changes. In a one-day tour, you can see some old western-style private residences, former Imperial Gardens and enjoy Tianjin snacks, like a time traveler.
The Garden of Jingyuan
The Garden of Jingyuan was constructed in 1921. It’s now an excellent example of an old private residence in Tianjin, which is now well-preserved. The last emperor of the Qing Dynasty, Puyi, once lived here after his abdication(退位), from July 1929 to November 1931. He changed the name to Jingyuan, which references his desire to strengthen and ennoble his spirit by living in a peaceful environment.
Address: 70 Anshan Road, Heping District
Transport: Anshan Road (Subway Line 1)
Tickets & Opening Hours: Closed Monday; Tuesday to Sunday, 8:30-5:00p.m. RMB ¥20 per person
Zhangyuan Garden
This grand mansion was built in 1915 by Zhang Biao, a former high-ranking official in the Qing Court. In 1924, Dr. Sun Yat-sen and his wife Soong Ching Ling stayed in it for several months. In 1925, Puyi, the last emperor of China, had a brief stay here after his abdication from Beijing. It is certainly a strange coincidence that the founder of the Republic of China and the last emperor chose exactly the same place to live, though at different times.
The mansion is visible from the street, but the buildings and gardens are not open to the public at present.
Italianate Street
Nearly 200 European-style buildings have been conserved in the old Italian Concession(租借地)and form the modern --Italian-style Street on the north bank of the Haihe River. The street has been developed as a shopping center and entertainment district. A square named after Marco Polois surrounded by numerous Italianate large buildings. Pictures of their former residences will be a highlight of your photo albums.
Address: The Cross Between Shengli Road and Ziyou Road, Hebei District
Transport: Jianguo Road (Subway Line 2)
Tickets & Opening Hours: Access all day for nothing
If you want to feel old-people’s lives and taste snacks in Tianjin, you can tour to Confucian Temple near the Ancient Culture Street . Most snacks in Tianjin are made of flour. Some are deepfried or baked while some are made into sticky sweets. Goubuli steamed stuffed baozi, ear-hole fried cake and Guifaxiang fried dough twists are the top three local snacks.
1.What can we know from Puyi’s renaming the place to Jingyuan?
A.He wanted to feel old-people’s lives and taste snacks.
B.He desired to strengthen and ennoble his imperial palace.
C.He was determined to well preserve this Chinese-style residence.
D.He would like to lead a quiet and calm life after his abdication.
2.Which of the following tourist attractions is not open to the visitors?
A.The Garden of Jingyuan B.Italianate Street
C.Zhangyuan Garden D.Confucian Temple
3.What’s the best thing you can do in Italianate Street?
A.Buying Italian clothes for your family.
B.Taking pictures with Italian friends.
C.Enjoying European-style buildings.
D.Walking around the Marco Polo Square.
假如你是高三学生李津，请你代表你的同学们，结合下面要点提供的信息给你们的外教 Mr. Black写一封电子邮件，向他提出一些建议。
要点：
（1）问候并说明大家都很喜欢上他的课；
（2）今天受同学的委托向老师提几点建议；
（3）想了解美国同龄人的学习和生活；
（4）想了解美国一些著名大学的信息。
注意：（1）词数不少于100；
（2）开头和结尾已经写出，不计人总词数；
（3）可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
参考词汇：同龄人peer
Dear Mr Black,
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Your student,
Li Jin
阅读表达
When I started my medical career, I worked 80 to 100 hours a week as a family doctor in a small town in Idaho. Sleep was an afterthought. It was the early 1990s and I bought a coffee machine, and served up 4 to 5 cups of coffee a day. I lived an extremely tiring life and pushed my way through on adrenalin (肾上腺素).
I learned how to keep myself awake despite my exhaustion. I didn’t have a stop button. I lived on adrenalin until my adrenalin ran out and I suddenly got very ill. Every system in my body broke down. I didn’t choose to change my life-my body chose for me. That is when I had to learn to rebuild my life and my energy and respect the way my body worked. I learned the hard lesson that my body was a biological organism that needed care. I realized that if I wanted to enjoy my life, I would have to learn the care and feeding instructions needed for being a healthy woman.
Unfortunately, many suffer the same fate I did. We have all been given a beautiful creation--- our physical body. But none of us were born with an operating manual or instruction book. How do we make it feel good, take care of it, make it run like it was designed--- balanced and in perfect rhythm? Most of us don’t learn how to manage our energy and bodies well. We use drugs, sugar, caffeine and alcohol to manage our energy and moods.
Now it’s time to make a change for the benefit of your health. If you don’t, your health will suffer. Don’t burn the candle on both ends. Without health, you can do nothing.
1.Why did the author use to drink 4 to 5 cups of coffee a day? (no more than 10 words)
2.What did the author learn from her sudden illness? (No more than 10 words)
3.How do you understand the underlined sentence in Paragraph 2? (No more than 10 words)
4.How do many people manage their energy and moods? (No more than 10 words)
5.What lesson can you learn from the story? (No more than 20 words)
One of the greatest sources of unhappiness，in my experience，is the difficulty we have in accepting things as they are．
When we see something we don’t like，we wish it could be different．We cry out for something better．That may be human nature，or perhaps it’s something ingrained(根深蒂固的) in our culture．The root of the unhappiness isn’t necessarily that we want things to be different．However, it’s that we decided we didn’t like it in the first place．We’ve judged it as bad，rather than saying, “It's not bad or good，and it just is it．”
In one of my books，I said“You should expect people to mess up and expect things to go differently than you planned”．Some readers said it's too sorrowful to expect things to go wrong．However, it’s only negative if you see it as negative and judge it as bad．Instead，you could accept it as the way the world works and try to understand why that is．
This can be applied to whatever you do：how other people act at work，how politics works and how depressing the news media can be．Accept these things as they are，and try to understand why they’re that way．It will save you a lot of sadness，because you’ll no longer say,“Oh．I wish bad things didn’t happen!’’
Does it mean you can never change things? Not at a11．But change things not because you can’t accept things as they are，but because you enjoy the process of changing，learning and growing．
Can we make this world a better place? You can say that you’11 continue to try to do things to help others，to grow as a person，to make a difference in this world．That’s the correct path you choose to take，because you enjoy that path．Therefore，when you find yourself judging and wishing for difference，try a different approach：accept，and understand．It might lead to some interesting results．
1.The author believes that we feel unhappy maybe because ___________.
A.it is our natural emotion in the life
B.culture asks us to be different from others
C.everyone has their own opinions on things
D.we dislike something in the beginning
2.Some readers think the words in the author’s book is too ______________.
A.depressing B.frightening C.delighting D.idealistic
3.In Paragraph 4，the underlined word "it" refers to ____________．
A.acting well at work and in politics
B.feeling depressed for the news media
C.accepting and understanding what has happened
D.saying something negative when bad things come
4.In the last paragraph，you are advised _____________．
A.to help others and make a difference
B.to enjoy what you have to do in the work
C.to judge yourself and make a wish for you
D.to try a new way when making the world better
5.What is the main theme of the passage?
A.Expecting things to be different gives us hope．
B.Accepting can make our life happier and better．
C.Traditional culture becomes root of unhappiness．
D.Judging good or bad is important for our world．
Now, perhaps, more than ever before, people are wondering what life is all about, and what it is for. Seeking material success is beginning to trouble large numbers of people around the world. They feel that the long-hour work culture to make more money to buy more things is eating up their lives, leaving them very little time or energy for family or hobbies. Many are turning to other ways of living and downshifting is one of them.
Six percent of the workers in Britain took the decision to downshift last year. One couple who downshifted are Daniel and Liz. They used to work in central London. He was a newspaper reporter and she worked for an international bank. They would go to work by train every day from their large house in the suburbs, leaving their two children with a nanny. Nearly twice a month Daniel had to fly to New York for meetings. They both earned a large amount of money but began to feel that life was passing them by.
Nowadays, they run a farm in the mountains of Wales. “I always wanted to have one here,” says Daniel, “and we took almost a year to make the decision to downshift. it's taken some time getting used to, but it's been worth it. We have to think twice now about spending money on car repairs and we no longer have any holidays. However, I think it's made us stronger as a family, and the children are a lot happier.”
Liz, however, is not quite sure. “I used to enjoy my job, even though it was hard work and long hours. I'm not really a country girl, but I suppose I'm gradually getting used to looking after the animals. One thing I do like, though, is being able to see more of my children. My advice for other people wanting to do the same is not to think about it too much or you might not do it at all.”
1.What do the first two paragraphs tell us?
A.People seldom work long hours to make money.
B.People hardly buy more things than necessary.
C.People are sure everything they own is in the right place.
D.People realized there is more to life than just making money.
2.When Daniel was a reporter he _____.
A.was well paid B.disliked his job C.missed his children D.lived in central London.
3.Daniel and Liz both agree that the move to the farm ______.
A.was easy to organize B.has improved family life
C.was extremely expensive D.has been a total success
4.What does the underlined "it" in the last paragraph refer to?
A.Child-caring B.Liz’s advice C.Downshifting D.Liz' job.
5.The underlined word "downshifting" in the second paragraph means ____.
A.repairing your car by yourself
B.spending money carefully
C.moving out to the countryside to live a simple and better life
D.living in a big house in the suburbs and dining out once a week
