1. TrueCar.com
Top dealers compete for your business by offering lower prices. TrueCar spends a lot of money and resources on making sure the entire car renting experience is simple and straightforward. If you’re in the market for a new car, give this site a try first.
TrueCar’s network checks many of the prices in your area and gets you the best price for the car you’re looking for.
2. Carvoy.com
It offers more control by allowing you to “build your car” and select your rental plan. The “build your car” option is one of the better options for those looking to add on features to their car. If you’re looking for cars with options like a sunroof or navigation (导航), it’s Carvoy that makes it very easy to get started with the process.
3. CarsDirect.com
They have a large collection of new and used cars, and also provide resources for car comparisons. In the business for many years, they are one of the first online car outlets. They have a staff that can usually help you if you give them a call. Their phone support is very good and they are mostly located in the United States.
4. CarRent.com
It delivers your rental car to the door, which is actually a huge selling point. Many people don’t like to go to a dealership or even drive somewhere to pick up a car. Imagine renting a car and having it delivered right to your doorstep, no driving necessary!
5. CostcoAuto.com
It offers member-only savings, many car selections and an easy sign-up process. The deals through Costco are great and unique. Many times they have deals with General Motors cars like Chevrolet. There are a lot of deals to be done, but the one thing that Costco does not do is negotiate the price.
1.What’s the selling point of TrueCar.com?
A. Its most reasonable prices for cars.
B. The diversity of its used cars.
C. Its delivery service to your door.
D. The special offers to its members.
2.What is the special service that Carvoy.com provides?
A. You can have other functions added to your car.
B. You can rent a car more easily than elsewhere.
C. You can design the whole car by yourself.
D. You can have better operation over your car.
3.If you are a good bargainer, it’s wise to avoid dealing with _______.
A. CarsDirect.com B. Carvoy.com
C. CarRent.com D. CostcoAuto.com
假设你是李津，你校学生会计划创办英语报，该报开设文学，体育，音乐，科 技；校园生活等五个栏目，学生会招募本校学生担任专栏作者，申请者需要提交不少于 100字的英文版的自荐信，请你给负责这项工作的外教Mr. Smith写信，主要内容包括：
（1）自我介绍（姓名，性别，年级）；
（2）你所申请的栏目及理由；
（3）对所申请的栏目的理解及计划。
注意：（1）不要逐字翻译提示内容，可适当增加信息。
（2）开头结尾己经给好，不计入总字数。
Dear Mr. Smith,
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Jin
阅读短文，并按照题目要求用英语回答问题。
My family and I belonged to a country club located across the street from the Long Island Sound. Each summer, the big attraction for us was the pool. I learned how to swim and joined the swimming team but was never really a good swimmer. However, swimming in my younger days was a way to keep cool, and swimming on a team gave me identity and a sense of belonging. It also became invaluable many years later.
Fast-forward (快进) to 1973 — I was married, pregnant and had a home. What made our little home even more wonderful was when I discovered that four blocks away was Rath Park Pool! For the next 30 years, most of our summer days were spent around that pool.
Each of my five kids took swimming lessons and learned all the different swimming strokes (姿势). They later joined the swim team and competed in meets. My daughter even became a lifeguard at the town pool. I sat back and happily took it all in!
As much as I would have liked to have life stand still, it doesn’t. My children outgrew their pool days and moved on. But the pool was still four blocks from my home, so I began to take up swimming again. And it was far better than I ever could have imagined. I got so much out of it that I joined the local pool so I could swim year-round. Whenever I swam, I would always come out feeling physically and mentally refreshed. I often felt that if I looked hard enough, I would be able to see all of the worries and problems I’ve had in life, sitting at the bottom of the pool!
What has swimming taught me? I’ve learned that balance is the key to being a good swimmer. If you are balanced in the water, you have no resistance. Working on staying balanced made me realize the similarities between life in and out of the swim lane (泳道). If you work on keeping yourself balanced, you will be able to swim right through the stress and problems life throws at you!
1.What influence does swimming ever have on the author according to Paragraph 1? (no more than 10 words)
2.What does Paragraph 3 mainly tell us? (no more than 10 words)
3.What is the meaning of the underlined sentence in Paragraph 4? (no more than 10 words)
4.What has the author learned from swimming? (no more than 15 words)
5.Name one of your favorite sports (swimming not included). What lesson can you learn from your sport? (no more than 20 words)
JENNIFER SALLS — A high school math teacher in Sparks, Nevada
It is possible to construct good online courses that would support mathematics learning with middle and high school students. However, these courses would not look like most current online courses.
When we imagine an online course, we think of a solitary (孤立的)process in which a student is holed up with his or her computer, watching PowerPoints, paging through screens of text and solving a whole bunch of problems. While learning may be occurring, I suspect that it's short-term with little real understanding of mathematics. There are some students who learn well under these circumstances, but this is not true for the majority of students.
A good online course would take advantage of the many interactive resources. For example, if students were learning to solve equations, they would be directed to solve a carefully arranged set of problems using an interactive program. They would reflect on the interaction and share their observations with others taking the course.
Eventually, the lesson would move students toward solving equations, using their experiences with the interactive program as the jumping-off point. Students could experience real-world problems through video and simulations and use a variety of computer-based tools to solve these problems. Notice that a course like this is not solitary, but highly interactive, and it builds both problem-solving skills and conceptual knowledge.
BRIGID BARRON — A psychologist at Stanford University's School of Education
Whether or not any computing tool used in the classroom will interfere with or energize learning depends on how the teacher organizes its use.
When online courses are well designed, they offer learners and teachers wonderful opportunities. Hybrid models that combine classroom interaction with tools like blogs, podcasts, social networks and discussion forums can engage students in ways that traditional environments do not. When students are given challenging material, asked to carry out research and to create ways to share what they are learning with students from all over the world, engagement goes up.
There are other benefits. Assessment of student learning can be partly automated and designed to provide continuous feedback. When students need assistance, they can be directed to activities that will help them learn. Perhaps most importantly, online courses can help bridge gaps in course offerings within a school district. Many economically challenged schools don't have the resources to provide specialized or advanced courses, but those courses could be offered online.
Many students are already using technology in their own time to learn and create, for their own purposes or for school assignments (作业).If they know where to look, they can access online communities that foster their imagination and offer informal mentorship.
Instead of wondering whether teenagers are too easily distracted by computers, we should be figuring out how we can use digital media to sustain teenagers' interest and their desire to learn.
1.According to Jennifer Salls, in most current online classes, .
A.students hardly learn anything
B.students are made to learn all on their own
C.students are led to improve their self-study abilities
D.students focus more on theories than on problem-solving skills
2.Which of the following statements best summarizes Salls' opinions?
A.Online courses should try to make the most of interactive resources.
B.Schools today pay more attention to students, conceptual knowledge.
C.Students cannot learn mathematics effectively through online courses.
D.Thanks to online classes, teachers' work load can be greatly decreased.
3.Brigid Barron mentioned all of the following potentials of online classes EXCEPT
A.narrowing the gap between rich and poor
B.providing students with real-time feedback
C.teaching students how to exploit online resources
D.maintaining students' interest throughout the course
4.What does the underlined word “foster” in the passage probably mean?
A.help ... to recover B.help ... to grow
C.help ... to relax D.help ... to display
5.Both Salls and Barron believe that .
A.good courses should combine advanced technology and online resources
B.teachers play an important role in ensuring the effectiveness of online classes
C.students should be able to learn effectively through well-designed online classes
D.online courses are more effective only when students are assigned challenging tasks
First, car makers wanted to take the human out of driving. Now, motorcycle manufacturers (制造商)want to do the same. But just as the driverless car movement has faced skepticism, it's not entirely clear that the world needs autonomous motorcycles.
What would a self-driving motorcycle do? It would be designed to let the rider sit back and relax while the machine drives by itself. Manufacturers have actually been creating and improving prototypes (原型)of self-driving motorcycles for years, and they're only just now beginning to share them with the public. For instance, AB Dynamics and AutoRD released the Autonomous BMW Cl. It comes with autonomous software, GPS, and re-balancing technology.
Yamaha's Motoroid is a model that uses artificial intelligence and self-balancing technology. The Motoroid sounds very futuristic, but it can't drive on its own. It needs a rider to make turns. Another example of an autonomous-light motorcycle is Honda's Riding Assist-e, which can change the center of gravity autonomously. However, like the Motoroid, it's not completely self-riding and isn't ready for a highway on its own.
Safety concerns for autonomous motorcycles are similar to those that trouble self-driving cars Firstly, the autonomous system may make a mistake and endanger the rider. Self-driving cars have an unfortunate record of running red lights and causing accidents. Professor Adam says, "So one can be forgiven for worrying about the safety of a two-wheeled speed machine with no one behind the handlebars. '' Secondly, there's the question of responsibility: Who is at fault if a self-driving bike crashes into another car? More importantly, it's not easy to satisfy the official regulations before autonomous motorcycles ride on the road. And to develop the industry will cost billions of dollars.
But there's the biggest problem with all of these motorcycles. One of the joys of driving motorcycles is the driving. It seems unlikely that a rider, like a high-speed motorcycle collector who loves the thrill of turning around corners, will give up the experience of the ride.
The prototypes for self-riding motorcycles are here, and manufacturers are busy putting them to the test, but it might be a while before we see them on the open road.
1.What can we learn from Paragraph 2?
A.Manufacturers' competition with each other is quite fierce.
B.Manufacturers are quite creative when making driverless cars.
C.Manufacturers are very optimistic about self-driving motorcycles.
D.Manufacturers have made some progress in promoting self-driving motorcycles.
2.The examples of Yamaha's Motoroid and Honda's Riding Assist-e show that .
A.autonomous motorcycles still have a long way to go
B.Yamaha and Honda compete with each other fiercely
C.autonomous motorcycles have a big improvement in safety
D.Yamaha and Honda have defeated other autonomous motorcycle makers
3.What Professor Adam said in the 4th paragraph probably means _______.
A.autonomous motorcycle should obey traffic regulations
B.it's convenient and safe to ride an autonomous motorcycle
C.mistakes made by autonomous motorcycles can be forgiven
D.it's normal that autonomous motorcycles' safety is doubted
4.What is the biggest challenge of self-driving motorcycles?
A.They are unable to appeal to many riders.
B.They can't guarantee the riders, safety.
C.They can't suit the official regulations.
D.They are too costly to produce.
5.Which of the following statements would the author agree with?
A.Self-riding motorcycles will be very popular one day.
B.Self-riding motorcycles are necessary to social development.
C.Users are likely to lose fun when riding self-riding motorcycles.
D.People will be fond of self-riding motorcycles for its convenience.
I was enjoying this afternoon more than I had expected. Often, the tryouts for the spring musical tested the limits of my patience and nerves, with one hopeful girl after another taking turns walking onto the wooden stage, delivering an adequate but uninspired version of some Rodgers & Hammerstein number, and then being politely excused by Mrs. Dominguez as the next name on the list was called.
However, this was to be my third straight year in the musical, and the confidence that my seniority afforded me around the more nervous newcomers allowed me to take pleasure in radiance (光辉)of my own balance.
I had already sung my audition (试唱)song an hour ago, starting the day's ceremonies. This year, I used "God Bless the Child", a choice I found to be quite sophisticated since Billie Holiday's version of it was familiar mostly to adults, and even then, mostly to adults of the previous generation. More importantly, it required a reserved performance, which I felt showcased my maturity, especially because most of the other auditioners chose songs that would show their enthusiasm, even if it meant their technical mastery would not be on full display.
Normally, the first audition was feared by most. Mrs. Dominguez would ask if anyone wanted to volunteer to "get it over with,” but no one would make a sound. Then, she would call the first name off her list and the room would drop into an uncomfortably serious silence as the first student walked nervously up to the stage. I often imagined during those moments that I was witness to a death-house resident taking his march toward a quick curtain.
But not this year. I had decided to make a show of my own self-confidence by volunteering to go first. Such a fearless act, I had figured, would probably instill (灌输)even more fear into my competition because they would realize that I had something they clearly lacked. Mrs. Dominguez had seemed neither surprised nor charmed by my decision to go first. Although she was annoyed by my escalating (增加)pride, I also acknowledged that I was one of the more talented actors and was probably correct in assuming myself a winner.
At this late stage of the afternoon, I felt like a queen, sitting in the back of the auditorium with my royal court of friends and admirers. They took care to sit far enough away from Mrs. Dominguez that they would not be caught in the act of belittling (贬低)the other students’ auditions.
To me, the endless parade of the ambitious who sang their hearts out for three minutes each was like clowns performing for my amusement. As Mrs. Dominguez read another name off her list, I prepared myself for a special treat.
1.What did the writer do one afternoon?
A.She enjoyed her time watching the audition.
B.She performed in the school spring musical.
C.She attended the selective trial of the school musical.
D.She helped Mrs. Dominguez to select musical talent.
2.The writer believed the song she chose for her audition .
A.was the most sophisticated song by Billie Holiday's version
B.would allow her to more effectively showcase her enthusiasm
C.would be the most inspiring Rodgers and Hammerstein number
D.would likely be more recognizable to her parents than to her friends
3.The main purpose of the underlined statement in paragraph 5 is .
A.offer a contrast created by the writer's decision to go first
B.present reasons why this year's audition was the strangest
C.suggest that the writer's imagination no longer involved the same imagery
D.inform the reader that students' fears of going first were something of the past
4.Why did the writer volunteer to perform the first audition of that day?
A.To guarantee her role in the play.
B.To break the uncomfortable silence.
C.To show the competitors her advantages.
D.To leave a good impression on the audience.
5.The passage portrays the writer as .
A.concerned and nervous
B.proud and indifferent (漠不关心的)
C.friendly and generous
D.confused and surprised
