Why was the man late?

A. He cleaned out the garage.

B. He fell over from the toolbox.

C. He tried to find his baseball bat.

How will the speakers go to Zhongshan Road?

A. By car. B. By bus. C. By subway.

When will the man leave for Perth?

A. On May 24th. B. On May 26th. C. On May 27th.

假定你是李华，你的父母让你邀请外教Smith到你家过端午节，请你就此事给他写一封电子邮件，内容包括:

1.发出邀请; 2.活动安排:体验包粽子、参加龙舟赛、品尝传统中国菜; 3.期待回复。

注意: 1.同数100左右;  2.可以适当增加细节.以使行文连贯。

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误.每句中最多有两处。每处错误仅涉及一个单同的增加、删除或修改。

增加:在缺词处加一个漏字符号(Ʌ)，并在其下面写出该加的词。

删除:把多余的词用斜线(\)划掉。

修改:在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。

注意:1.每处错误及其修改均仅限一词;

2.只允许修改10处，多者(从第11处起)不计分。

The new school year is around corner, so I need to buy something to my children and myself. Therefore, yesterday's afternoon I took them to a shoe store to buying some new shoes. My youngest kids wanted a pair of sports shoes and thus we bought one pair. My older son needed a pair of casual shoes for school. and we were found some on sale. The first pair which he tried on was a little small. so he put on other pair. and they fitted him perfectly. My daughter wanted beauty dress shoes and she got some high heels. I myself bought some boots because my old ones were wearing out.

阅读下面短文，在空白处填人1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。

Stand in line at any grocery store or sit in any hospital waiting room, and you see people staring at their phones, probably catching up on news or just relieving their boredom. This seems harmless enough. But could being on our phones affect our1.(able) to connect with the people around us?2.new study aimed to answer that question.

Researcher Kostadin Kushlev and his colleagues asked pairs of college students，3.were strangers to each other4.(come) into a small lab waiting room-either with or without their phones. They were told that the researchers were running a bit late and they needed to wait. While waiting, their faces were5.(secret) videotaped. Afterwards, the students6.(report) how they felt and how much they interacted(互动)with the other participants.

The researchers studied videotapes of the faces of airs who interacted，7.(measure) how often they smiled. The8.(result)?People with phones exhibited fewer smiles overall. They spent 30% less of the time smiling9.people without phones, signaling less interest in connecting with others. What's more, thirty-two participants with phones didn't interact at all in the waiting room. These findings show that using phones in public 10.(affect) one's interaction with others. Consequently. cell phones should be used wisely.

    A few years ago my wife and I took a trip to Costa Rica. Upon arrival we____a car and headed out to our first destination which was a few hours away. I had a____so I figured I'd be in great condition. About 20 minutes into the drive I found myself practically____in the unmarked streets and dirty roads. Upset. I turned to Siri, a virtual(虚拟的) assistant in my phone, for help.

I typed the____ to our destination in my phone and instantly Siri had ____ the best route(路线)to get there and we were on our way.

The only____was that things didn't always go the way I thought they would. With the streets not being well _____I would sometimes miss a turn and head in the ____direction. Luckily, Siri never got____with me. Any time I missed a turn Siri would simply ____and say, "Recalculating route. ____ route.”And within a few seconds, Siri would have a new route____to get us to our destination.

Sometimes the new route meant I had to____ to the right turn and sometimes she found a different route that took my new location into ____ .Eventually we made it to our hotel ____and enjoyed some beautiful scenery along the way.

Most people make the ____of thinking that success and happiness come from someone setting a goal and then ____ straight towards it. The____ is that there is no straight path to success. There isn't even the____ path. There are many paths that can get you to your goals. You just have to be____to recalculate your route when you miss a turn or there is something in your way.

1.A. produced B. repaired C. rented D. purchased

2.A. car B. phone C. compass D. map

3.A. absorbed B. lost C. experienced D. free

4.A. address B. approach C. receipt D. schedule

5.A. polished B. discovered C. opened D. managed

6.A. fear B. difference C. sympathy D. problem

7.A. marked B. paved C. arranged D. expanded

8.A. illegal B. new C. wrong D. potential

9.A. generous B. mad C. concerned D. cautious

10.A. break down B. cut in C. get up D. go away

11.A. Abandoning B. Cancelling C. Reaching D. Changing

12.A. checked B. updated C. adjusted D. planned

13.A. point B. lead C. return D. apply

14.A. order B. direction C. account D. place

15.A. safely B. frequently C. hungrily D. gradually

16.A. mistake B. excuse C. accident D. trouble

17.A. accumulating B. withdrawing C. marching D. fleeing

18.A. answer B. truth C. condition D. privilege

19.A. first B. suitable C. accurate D. only

20.A. willing B. proud C. anxious D. ambitious

    Nature soothes(抚慰)our stressed-out souls.  We know that nature is the best prescription, and new research suggests we can gain benefits while visiting parks.

1.The study published in the International Journal of Environmental Health Research found that spending 20 minutes in a city park can make you happier, regardless of whether you use that time to exercise or not.

"In general,we found park visitors reported an improvement in emotional well-being(幸福感)after the park visit.”the study's lead author and University of Alabama at Birmingham professor Hon K. Yuen said in a statement.“2.”Instead, we found time spent in the park is related to improved emotional well-being.”

For the study, 94 adults visited three city parks in Mountain Brook, Alabama, completing a questionnaire about their subjective well-being before and after their visit. 3. A visit of between 20 and 25 minutes showed the best results, with a roughly 64% increase in the participants' self-reported well-being, even if they didn't move a great deal in the park. 4.

The study group was truly small. as the study's co-author and another UAB professor, Gavin Jenkins, acknowledges. 5.The challenge facing cities is that there is increasing evidence about the value of city parks but we continue to see the decrease of these spaces.

A. Something was used to track their physical activity.

B. You usually visit a small green space in your neighborhood.

C. However, its findings pointed out the importance of city parks.

D. If you want to feel happier, you just need to exercise for 20 minutes in a park.

E. The best part is that you needn't visit a national park or go far out of your way.

F. This means people can benefit from visiting a nearby park, regardless of physical ability.

G. But we didn't find levels of physical activity are linked to improved emotional well-being.

    Picture an iceberg(冰山).You'll probably imagine something white as snow rising up out of a blue sea. But icebergs can be all sorts of shades. They can be from a frosty blue to an attractive green.

Researchers and sailors have observed emerald(翠绿色)icebergs for years. A large piece of ice "mast-high" and "green as emerald" even appears in Samuel Taylor Coleridge's 1834 poem. But they haven't found out exactly why these icebergs look the way they do.

A new paper led by Stephen Warren was published. It all has to do with what icebergs are made out of. Icebergs break off glaciers(冰川)or ice shelves, which happens mainly around Antarctica and Greenland. They begin their lives as snowfall that accumulates over time. So. icebergs contain air pockets with the form of bubbles that spread light. With some exceptions and rare lines, glacier ice tends to look bluish white.

At first，Warren guessed that the green was a product of melt carbon. And it came from rotting plants or sea animals. But samples(样本)didn't prove it. Another idea started to take shape after they had found a high concentration of iron in a sample of sea ice from the Amery Ice Shelf.

When glaciers rub across land, they produce what's known as glacier flour. It is a product of bedrock being ground clown by the moving mass. As glaciers move away, these remains are usually washed out into water. in particles sometimes too small to be noticeable to your eyes. But on land. soil and rocks contain iron oxides that often have rosy colors. like reds, yellows, and browns-and since the sea ice contained 500 times more iron than the glacier ice, Warren wondered whether the remains were responsible for icebergs taking on a green appearance.

He doesn't know for sure. He's hoping to secure money so that he can return to the area and study the icebergs themselves.

1.Why is Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem mentioned in the text?

A. It tells why icebergs look the way they do.

B. It describes vividly what icebergs are like.

C. It says causes of the appearance of icebergs.

D. It proves the existence of colorful icebergs.

2.What can we know about Stephen Warren's paper?

A. It draws on researchers' and sailors' views.

B. It is the record of the movement of icebergs.

C. It talks about how icebergs come into being.

D. It is a collection of various social phenomena.

3.What does the underlined word "it" in paragraph 4 refer to?

A. A sample of sea ice. B. Warren's first guess.

C. Warren's idea on iron. D. A product of melt carbon.

4.What is paragraph 5 mainly about?

A. The possible reason why icebergs look green.

B. Where most of icebergs eventually disappear.

C. How icebergs take in the colors from glaciers.

D. The way in which icebergs breaks off glaciers.

    Experts say there are about 6，500 languages spoken throughout the world. But the United Nations guesses that about half of these languages are in danger of disappearing.

One organization seeking to save world languages is Wikitongues. It has a simple goal: to provide the tools and support that people need to save their languages. When a language disappears, many other things can go away as well. For example, parts of a community's(社区的)culture. knowledge and identity can also be lost.

Because of this, Udell. co-founder of Wikitongues. believes the process of bringing languages hack must be done by community members themselves. he said. "There is no way an outside organization can save someone's language for them.”

Wikitongues was started in 2016 as an open Internet collection of world languages. The self-described "community" is operated by volunteers from around the world. The collection is in the form of language videos that people speaking the languages add to the Wikitongues website.

Udell says saving languages does count. There are many examples of languages that disappeared but later returned to use. "Hebrew went extinct(灭绝的)in the 4th century BC, and was revived(复兴)in the 1800s. Now once again，it's the mother tongue of half of the world's Jewish population.”Another example is a Native American tribe.  The tribe's language went extinct in the 1940s. But the tribe was able to successfully build up a "language recovery" in recent years.

One of Wikitongues' volunteers is Theron Kolokwe. who lives in Namibia. His native language is Subiya. which is spoken by about 30.000 people.

"I want the world to know about my language,” Kolokwe said. But his goal goes beyond just sharing his language with others through video. He is also working to create a dictionary and language teaching materials that can be used in schools.

1.What does Udell consider important in saving languages?

A. Gathering language information. B. Relying on the language speakers.

C. Setting up an outside organization. D. Combining languages with culture.

2.How does Wikitongues help save languages?

A. By getting language videos from its speakers collected.

B. By building an online dictionary for each language.

C. By creating a real-life community for its speakers.

D. By requiring volunteers to learn new languages.

3.What do the examples in paragraph 5 suggest?

A. The achievements of Wikitongues. B. The influences of languages on life.

C. The significance of saving languages. D. The difficulty with language recovery.

4.What can be a suitable title for the text?

A. Wikitongues Is Struggling to Spread Languages

B. Wikitongues Starts a Language Learning Website

C. Wikitongues Is Bringing Old Languages Back to Life

D. Wikitongues Seeks to Save World's Dying Languages

    Dutch designer Daan Roosegaarde has spent much of his time seeking artistic solutions(解决方案)to solve our environmental problems. His past projects include "Bioluminescent(生物发光)Trees" to light streets, a "Smog-Free Tower" to clean Beijing's polluted air. and "Gates of Light". which uses the headlamps of passing cars to light up the 60 floodgates of the Afsluitdijk, a major dam in the Netherlands. Now, he is hoping to use his skills to solve a pressing global problem-space junk!

Scientists guess that there are over 500，000 bits of large rubbish. To deal with the problem, Roosegaarde intends to achieve his goal by educating the public about the need of the situation and coming up with possible solutions. The plan. called the Space Waste Lab. started in October 2018 with a laser(激光)show in the Netherlands. The unique outdoor artwork of LEDs used real-time tracking information to point at pieces of space junk floating at altitudes of 200 to 20,000 kilometers. The experience was designed to make the public know more about how much space junk there are.

To find a solution, the designer has been thinking with experts. One of the projects being considered is "Shooting Stars"，which attempts to reintroduce the trash to the atmosphere in a controlled way. Upon reentry. the waste would burn in the atmosphere like a shooting star. Roosegaarde envisages that if successful .burning space trash could someday replace fireworks at large public events!

In September 2018。the RemoveDEBRIS satellite successfully sent a net to catch a target while orbiting at an altitude of about 300 kilometers(190 miles). Sometime this year. the capsule will set free a harpoon that has been designed to remove space trash. At the end of its task，RemoveDEBRIS will let go a sail to bring the satellite itself. and. hopefully some trash, back into the atmosphere. where it will burn up.

1.What can we infer about Daan Roosegaarde?

A. He is too aggressive to put forward good plans.

B. He is creative in solving environmental problems.

C. He is fond of spending all of his time seeking art skills.

D. He is sensitive to art reflected in environmental projects.

2.Why was a laser show held in October 2018?

A. To confirm real-time information about space trash.

B. To show the great beauty of LEDs to common people.

C. To raise public awareness of the amount of space trash.

D. To inspire people to consider the solution to space trash.

3.What does the underlined word "envisage" in paragraph 3 probably mean?

A. Suspect. B. Demand. C. Advise. D. Imagine.

4.What is the function of a sail?

A. Bringing the satellite to atmosphere to burn.

B. Keeping trash traveling along its own orbit.

C. Taking the satellite away from atmosphere.

D. Removing space trash out of the capsule.

Amazing Train Rides

Taking a train in the winter is fun. The mountains turn from green to white. and you can enjoy them on the journey. Now many holiday-themed trains add fun. All aboard!

●Aurora Winter Train: Alaska

This seasonal scenic train that heads north from Anchorage is popular. From the Winter Train you'll see a snow-white Denali, America's tallest peak(山峰)-and with any luck, a trackside moose(驼鹿).You can get off the train after three hours at Talkeetna to ski in Denali or continue on for another nine hours to Fairbanks for some northern lights viewing. There're few better places, as Fairbanks is America's northernmost city.

●The Ski Train, Colorado

The Ski Train is a joyful ride even for non-skiers. The ride connects Denver's 1914 Beaux-Arts station with the Winter Park ski area. One minute you're in downtown Denver's Beaux-Arts Union Station and two hours later you're stepping off the train. 100 feet from a Winter Park ski lift. What a wonderful ride it is!

●Amtrak California Zephyr: Chicago to San Francisco

Long-distance train travelers adore west wind in any season, but winter adds the appeal of sugary snow outside the window as you travel over the Rockies and Sierras. Departing daily all winter from both Chicago and San Francisco, the 51-hour journey offers hotel-level service in a bedroom. Or you can break up the trip with stops to sleep(and ski)in Denver or Salt Lake City.

●Canyon & Christmas trains: Arizona

Snowbirds" who escape the Midwest cold in December by flying to Arizona wish for memories of a Christmas away from the desert. With a short drive from Phoenix to Clarkdale (near Sedona).they'll see small pines and red rock hills while hugging the Verde River on the four-hour Verde Canyon train in indoor and open-air cars.

1.What should you do if you go to Fairbanks from Anchorage to see northern lights?

A. Change trains in Denali. B. Take a 12-hour train ride.

C. Climb over the tallest peak. D. Travel through a moose farm.

2.On which ride can you enjoy comfortable accommodation?

A. Aurora Winter Train. B. The Ski Train.

C. Amtrak California Zephyr. D. Canyon ﹠Christmas trains.

3.What is the similarity of the four winter train rides?

A. They are all available during the whole year.

B. They are intended for young travel enthusiasts.

C. They offer the passengers good chances of skiing.

D. They provide access to winter scenery on the way.

听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。

1.Why did the speaker collect bottles and trade them?

A. To save money to get some candy bars for himself.

B. To get money to buy his mother a birthday gift.

C. To gain the experience of making money alone.

2.What did the speaker see his mother doing as he got near his house?

A. Crying silently. B. Collecting cards. C. Looking for him.

3.How did the speaker's mother feel at last?

A. Annoyed. B. Sorrowful. C. Moved.

4.What does the speaker intend to do by sharing the story?

A. Encourage people to exchange presents.

B. Show the love between parent and child.

C. Praise the understanding among people.

听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。

1.What does the woman dislike doing?

A. Phoning others. B. Making friends. C. Answering questions.

2.Why would the woman talk to her friend in a shopping center?

A. Her friend enjoys shopping very much.

B. They can talk and shop at the same time.

C. She prefers talking with people in public.

3.What will the woman probably do?

A. Get in touch with her friends more.

B. Study hard to achieve higher grades.

C. Be independent of her friends and parents.

4.What is the relationship between the speakers?

A. Teacher and student. B. Mother and son. C. Father and daughter.

听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。

1.What does the man say about the closest gas station?

A. It costs more. B. It charges less. C. It offers good service.

2.How far is the cheapest gas station?

A. A few blocks away. B. About two miles away. C. About five-minute ride away.

3.What should the woman do at the first traffic lights?

A. Take a right turn. B. Walk straight. C. Turn left.

听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。

1.Where does the conversation probably take place?

A. At a bus station. B. On a bus. C. In a white building.

2.What does the man suggest doing?

A. Having a drink together. B. Staying at home all day. C. Going back to the office.

听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。

1.When is the man's report due?

A. Tonight. B. Tomorrow. C. The day after tomorrow.

2.How does the man find VR technology?

A. It's difficult. B. It's ridiculous. C. It's interesting.

What does the man mean?

A. The woman should get the skirt.

B. The woman turns out to be a fool.

C. The woman shouldn't go to the party.

What happened to the man last weekend?

A. He caught a wrong train. B. He failed to go for a trip. C. He forgot to buy tickets.

Where does the woman sit now?

A. By the window. B. By the door. C. In the back row.

What are the speakers mainly talking about?

A. Plants. B. Animals. C. Rainforests.

Who is washing the windows?

A. The man. B. A cleaner. C. The woman.

假定你是李华，你们班来自意大利的交换生Alex最近生病住院，很久没有来上课。请你根据所给提示用英语给他写一封电子邮件，要点包括:

1.表示同情；

2.给予安慰；

3.表达祝愿。

注意:

1.词数120左右(开头和结尾已给出，但不计入总词数)；

2.可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。

Dear Alex,

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Yours,

Li Hua

下面是一段短文，请你对其进行修改。文中共有10处错误，每句中最多有两处。错误涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。

增加:在缺词处加一个漏词符号(∧)，并在此符号下面写出该加的词。

删除:把多余的词用斜线(＼)划掉。

修改:在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。

注意:1.每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；

2.只允许修改10处，多者(从第11处起)不计分。

It’s true that everyone want to be in good health. I’m very glad to give you some advices on how to keep healthy.

First of all, we need to keep a healthy and balance diet. Various kinds of food can provide us for different nutrients which our body needs. Secondly, we should also take exercise regular. As the saying goes, life lies of movement. Thirdly, we ought to get enough rest and sleep. Have you hear that early to bed and early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise? Last but not least, we’d better to keep a healthy mind. That is to say, we should look at everything in a positive way. Don’t forget to laugh much and cry less. You know, laughter is best medicine.

阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容(1个单词)或括号内单词的正确形式。将答案填写在答题卡的相应位置。

Have you ever heard the term “dark ride” and wondered  1.  it meant? How about “flat ride”? Let’s explore some of the more common 2.(type) of rides.

A “dark ride” is an industry term for any amusement park or theme park ride that uses vehicles to send passengers into an indoor environment and through 3. series of scenes. Ride vehicles take many forms 4.(include) cars on a track, trackless vehicles and boats 5. float in a channel of water. Some dark rides attempt to tell a story, while others are just a collection of interesting scenes.

A “flat ride” refers to attractions at amusement parks, carnivals, fairs and theme parks that typically spin around.

They 6.(usual) include a circular platform and are placed on the ground. The term is used to refer to a large number of rides. 7.(depend) on their speed and other features, they may or may not be considered thrill rides. Generally, “kiddie rides” 8.(intend)for young riders. More thrilling flat rides that include high speeds in the amusement industry are called “spin-and-spew,” “spin-and-puke,” or “whirl-and hurl” rides.

A “motion simulator ride” uses seats that move with point-of-view media projected onto a screen 9.(provide)viewers with the illusion(错觉)that they are moving and physically taking part in the action. Most motion simulator rides are presented in theaters of various sizes. Although viewers never move more than a few inches in any 10.(direct), they can feel as if they are speeding wildly and free-falling etc.

    Two years ago, something happened that changed me and changed how I lived in my neighborhood. In two days, I lost all of the things that were very ______ to me. My job as a senior writer for a national magazine came to a(n)______ and a relationship with a man that I loved ended ______. Suddenly, everything had changed. My ______ sank and I felt a terrible sadness. I wondered how or ______ I would be able to ______ myself out. The losses I ______ made me lose confidence and made me delicate, ______ as a result I began to connect more ______ with my neighbors and the world around me. I learned that the woman from El Salvador had ________ from her country with two young daughters after her husband had been murdered. She cleaned houses to make ends ______ and send her daughters to college.  I learned that  ______  my neighbors came to LosAngeles 15 years ago, they did not ______ English and the father cleaned offices ______ $ 8 an hour. Later, he drove delivery trucks. Today he owns three apartment buildings and has made more money than I ______ ever will in my lifetime.

Now, many of my neighbors are my ______. At Christmas, I give them red wine and cake, and ______ they give me potted flowers. When my car wouldn’t start a few months ago. and it looked like it would have to be towed(拖走)away, another ______ from Guatemala, a sweet man named Angel, quickly ______ out his tools and got the car ______. I discover how extraordinary they are. They were hard-working, honorable people who, like me, are just looking forward to living well and experiencing some happiness.

1.A. worthless B. attractive C. important D. pleasant

2.A. end B. beginning C. conclusion D. crossing

3.A. badly B. sadly C. successfully D. happily

4.A. mind B. temper C. confidence D. heart

5.A. if B. that C. which D. what

6.A. turn B. pull C. take D. set

7.A. accepted B. gained C. experienced D. experimented

8.A. and B. or C. but D. so

9.A. perfectly B. fully C. luckily D. kindly

10.A. escaped B. flew C. left D. avoided

11.A. see B. join C. get D. meet

12.A. before B. while C. unless D. when

13.A. say B. speak C. tell D. practice

14.A. for B. in C. on D. about

15.A. simply B. easily C. probably D. specially

16.A. relatives B. friends C. guests D. hosts

17.A. in turn B. in order C. in return D. in general

18.A. friend B. visitor C. passer-by D. neighbor

19.A. pointed B. handed C. stood D. brought

20.A. started B. changed C. checked D. examined

    Travel is one of the activities people carry out most often during their spare time. Although travel may cost a lot of money, most people like to travel. Maybe, for them, to broaden their horizons and to be happy and healthy, are more important than money. 1. The following tips on travel may help you if you plan to travel later on.

2. If you want to enjoy a wonderful trip, you should think carefully about where to go. Before making a decision, you should seek others advice and try to know more about the place that you are going to, including how to get there, the cost, the sights you plan to visit, and so on.

You should consider travel insurance. 3. Once such injury or accident happens to you, you may not have to suffer both physically and financially as long as you have travel insurance.

4. Here’s an example: Nine friends ate at a restaurant when on a school trip overseas, eight had diarrhea(腹泻)the next day. The one who didn’t get sick was the only one who had ordered a dish that didn’t need to be touched by human hands right before serving.

Mind your basic safety. It’s easy to let your guard down when you travel. After all, you’re more relaxed and there are so many new sights to focus on.  5. So, watch out for your personal safety at all times.

A. Know more about the place you plan to visit.

B. However, nothing is more important than your life.

C. You may easily get into trouble if you don’t obey the rules.

D. Make sure to take things that you need during the travel.

E. Travel can be a wonderful experience and a sweet memory.

F. Be careful about what to eat when you are far away from home.

G. Especially if you plan to take part in adventure activities, you may get injured.

    Pigeons in London have a bad reputation. Some people call them flying rats. And many blame them for causing pollution with their droppings. But now the birds are being used to fight another kind of pollution in this city of 8.5 million.

“The problem for air pollution is that it’s been largely ignored as an issue for a long time,” says Andrea Lee, who works for the London-based environmental organization Client Earth. “People don’t realize how bad it is, and how it actually affects their health.” London’s poor air quality is linked to nearly 10,000 early deaths a year. Lee says, citing(引用)a report released by the city manager last year. If people were better informed about the pollution they’ re breathing, she says, they could pressure the government to do something about it.

Nearby, on a windy hill in London’s Regent’s Park, an experiment is underway that could help—the first week of flights by the Pigeon Air Patrol. It all began when Pierre Duquesnoy, the director for DigitasLBi, a marketing firm, won a London Design Festival contest last year to show how a world problem could be solved using Twitter. Duquesnoy, from France, chose the problem of air pollution.

“Basically, I realized how important the problem was,” he says.  “But also I realized that most of the people around me didn’t know anything about it.” Duquesnoy says he wants to better measure pollution, while at the same time making the results accessible to the public through Twitter.

“So”, he wondered, “how could we go across the city quickly collecting as much data as possible?” Drones were his first thought. But it’s illegal to fly them over London. “But pigeons can fly above London, right?” he says. “They live—actually, they are Londoners as well. So, yeah, I thought about using pigeons equipped with mobile apps. And we can use not just street pigeons, but racing pigeons, because they fly pretty quickly and pretty low.”

So it might be time for Londoners to have more respect for their pigeons. The birds may just be helping to improve the quality of the city’s air.

1.What can we infer about London’s air quality from Paragraph 2?

A. Londoners are very satisfied with it.

B. The government is trying to improve it.

C. Londoners should pay more attention to it.

D. The government has done a lot to improve it.

2.Duquesnoy attended the London Design Festival to _________.

A. entertain Londoners. B. solve a world problem.

C. design a product for sale. D. protect animals like pigeons.

3.Why did Duquesnoy give up using drones to fly across London?

A. Because they are too expensive. B. Because they fly too quickly.

C. Because they are forbidden. D. Because they fly too high.

4.Which can be the best title for the text?

A. Clean air in London. B. London’s dirty secret.

C. London’s new pollution fighter. D. Causes of air pollution in London.

    Squirrels aren’t natural city dwellers(居民). In 1986 the sight of one in a tree near New York’s city hall so surprised passers-by that a newspaper published a report about the “unusual visitor”.

Around that time, the tree-dwelling animals were being set free in America’s urban areas to “create pockets of peace and calm like the countryside,” says University of Pennsylvania historian Etienne Benson, who studied our relationship to squirrels over the course of five years.

First, they were introduced to Philadelphia, then to New Haven, Boston, and New York City. Park visitors were encouraged to feed them, and security guards ensured their safety. In the 1910s a leader of the Boy Scouts of America(an organization teaching boys practical skills)said that teaching children to feed squirrels could show the rewards of treating a weaker creature with sympathy, says Benson.

By the early 20th century, though, America began to regret the friendliness it had shown squirrels. Cities had once been filled with animals—from horses pulling goods to dairy cows. By the 1950s those working animals had been moved to the countryside. Pets and wild animals such as birds and squirrels were all that remained of the urban animal kingdom.

Before long, people’s enthusiasm for squirrels wore off, and they started to see them as annoyances. By the 1970s many parks banned feeding the creatures. Today, it is rare to find kids with their parents offering food to squirrels under a tree. And, unfortunately, with more and more buildings being constructed in the city, fewer inhabitable(适宜栖息的)areas are left for the little tree-dwelling animals.

What would be lost if the last of these city dwellers were forced to leave? “I think there’s something constructive to have other living creatures in the city that are not humans and not pets but share the land with us,” says Benson. “It’s a good thing to live in a landscape where you see other creatures going around making lunch. It’s good for the soul.”

1.What’s the purpose of introducing squirrels to Philadelphia?

A. To entertain park visitors. B. To keep the natural balance.

C. To encourage kids to protect animals. D. To make the urban life more peaceful.

2.What was the Boy Scouts leader’s attitude towards feeding squirrels?

A. Disagreeable. B. Doubtful. C. Supportive. D. Uncaring.

3.What might have happened to squirrels in cities around the 1960s?

A. They might have inhabited more homes.

B. They might have begun to go out of favor.

C. They might have been introduced to more cities.

D. They might have been moved to the countryside.

4.What does Benson suggest in the last paragraph?

A. Squirrels living in cities are annoying.

B. Feeding squirrels should be discouraged.

C. Squirrels should be allowed to live in cities.

D. It is possible for people to keep squirrels as pets.

    I thought we all knew why independent school students do better than those in the state sector(公立学校). They have more money, more funding and better resources and they don’t have the more challenging students we get in the state sector.

That was before I became a teacher-researcher in a two-year project led by my college, aiming to find the best way to support high-ability students. With funding from the London Schools Excellence Fund, we teamed up with some of the country’s top private schools, like Eton and St Paul’s, as well as a number of state schools, to find out how to bring the knowledge-rich learning that characterizes independent schools into the state sector.

Before the project, I hadn’t had much contact with people who had been educated there. But the first thing I found when I visited was that teachers are the same. In the independent sector, they have challenges too—just different ones.

After two years, our research project has produced a huge set of findings.

One of the most useful findings was the importance of independent learning habits outside the classroom. I realized that although I was always telling students that they needed to do four to five hours of private study a week, they didn’t have a clear idea of what this could look like beyond making notes. So I set them different activities including reading articles, doing activities and completing examination questions.

I started to put much more emphasis on activities outside the classroom, like researching topics beyond the syllabus(教学大纲) or discussing things in the news. And I praised anyone who asked questions in class, so we created a culture where students were proud to ask a question rather than seeing it as a way of flagging up the fact that they hadn’t understood something.

My research is beginning to have a real influence. My students now come to class and tell me what they want to know about. But they no longer expect me to do the research—they want to find out for themselves. At the end of the year I gave students a questionnaire on independent learning. One wrote, “Independent learning would limit the help I got from other students. It helps you to think for yourself.”

1.What did the author say about independent school students before her research?

A. They were troublemakers.

B. They enjoyed excellent learning conditions.

C. They performed worse than state school students.

D. They faced the same challenges as state school students.

2.Why did the author join the project?

A. To introduce good learning methods to state schools.

B. To exchange teaching ideas with other teachers.

C. To partner with other schools in education.

D. To find enough funds for state schools.

3.What changes did the author make in her classes?

A. She focused on group learning. B. She worked out a different syllabus.

C. She encouraged independent learning. D. She carried out various activities in class.

4.How is the author’s research going?

A. It has made a big difference. B. It has failed to make progress.

C. It is questioned by her students. D. It involves many more students.