请阅读下面文字，并按照要求用英语写一篇150词左右的文章。

The University of Cambridge confirmed on Monday that it had been using scores from China's national college entrance examination, or gaokao, as part of its admission criteria for Chinese students for several years.

It says in Weibo post, however, that it does not admit students only based on their test scores.

The University statement came after some Chinese media reported over the weekend that the university would start to admit Chinese students that ranked in the top 0.1 percent in the gaokao in their province, indicating that it would try to compete for talent with top universities in China.

The news immediately became one of the most viewed topics on social media, being read by 280 million users on Sina Weibo.

The gaokao is increasingly accepted by universities in Australia, the United States, Canada and Europe. The University of New Hampshire became the first US state university to accept the gaokao in its entrance criteria last year. The test is also recognized by 30 universities in Australia and 30 in Canada, as well as colleges in Italy, France and Spain.

［写作内容］

1.用约30个单词概述上述信息的主要内容；

2.谈谈剑桥大学接受中国高考成绩对你的启示，用2-3个理由或论据支撑你的看法。

［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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请认真阅读下列短文，并根据所读内容在文章后表格中的空格里填入一个最恰当的单词。注意；每个空格只填1个单词.请将答案写在答题纸上相应题号的横线上。

The future belongs to the flexible mind. This is the argument behind best-selling author Leonard Miodinow's new book, Elastic（灵活的），which examines the ever-increasing changes we find ourselves living through, and the ways of thinking best suited to them.

Do we need to develop a flexible mind?

Times we live in demand a flexible style of thinking. In politics, we now have to cope with more scandals in a single year than we used to encounter in a lifetime. Meanwhile, the speed and processing power of computers makes it difficult for us to navigate a landscape in which, the number of websites has been doubling every two to three years, and the way we use and access them is subject to frequent "disastrous changes". More importantly, social attitudes are changing just as fast.

Logical thought is an analysis that can be described by an algorithm （算术）of the kind that computers follow. Elastic thought cannot. Logical thought is solved to help us face the everyday challenges of life while elastic thought helps us succeed when circumstances change. Elastic thought is where our new ideas come from. Logical thought can  determine how to drive from our home to the grocery store most efficiently, but it's elastic thought that gave us the automobile.

What makes it hard to think "flexibly"?

Flexible thinking comes naturally to all humans, but one way it may be blocked is through another power exercised by our brain, the ability to tune out "crazy” ideas. A single information processor depends on an algorithm to solve a problem. The human brain, instead, acts as a set of interacting and competing systems. They use our knowledge and expectations of the world to assess ideas. That approach is well suited to a stable environment. But it can be less productive when circumstances change.

How can we learn to be more flexible in our own thinking?

One of the abilities most important to flexible thinking is the power to relax our mind and let our guard down. If we are constantly alerted, our ideas may have a narrow range, and tend to be conventional.

One can also cultivate flexible thinking by adjusting one's external conditions. Studies show that sitting in a darkened room, or closing our eyes, can widen our perspective. Low ceilings, narrow corridors, and windowless offices have the opposite effect. Being able to think without any kind of time pressure is also important when striving for novel ideas. Just as important, interruptions are deadly. A short phone call, e-mail or even a text message can redirect your attention and thoughts.

As a more general exercise to nurture our mental flexibility we can try to pay special attention to one of our strongly held beliefs, take it seriously and recall times in the past that we were wrong about something, our intellectual interactions may also be helpful.

    For most of recorded history, the struggle to eat has been the main focus of human activity, and all but a handful of people were either farmers or farm workers. Starvation was ever-present threat. Even the best years rarely yielded much of a surplus to carry over as an insurance against leaner times. In the worst situation, none but the powerful could be sure of a full stomach.

Now most people in rich countries never have to worry about where the next meal is coming from. In 1900 two in every five American workers laboured on a farm: now one in 5Q does. Even in poor places such as India, where famine still struck until the mid-20th century, the assumption that everyone will have something to eat is increasingly built into the rhythm of life.

That assumption, though, leads to complacency（自满情结）. Famine has ended in much of the world, but it still stalks parts of Africa -Ethiopia, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, to name three countries, depend on handouts of food. And millions of people still suffer from malnutrition. According to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation（FAO）, some 2 billion of the world's 7.3 billion people do not have enough to eat. Moreover, by 2050, the total population is projected to grow to almost 10 billion. Add this to the rising demand for meat, fish, milk and eggs, which is born of prosperity and which requires extra fodder to satisfy, and 70% more food will be needed in 2050 than was produced in 2009, the year the FAO did the calculation. That is a tall order. But it is not impossible.

Since the time of Thomas Malthus, an economist writing a little over 200 years ago, people have worried that population growth would outstrip（超过）food supply. So far, it has not. But neo-Malthusians spot worrying signs. One is that in some places the productivity of staples（主食）such as rice and wheat has reached a plateau（停滞期）.Neither new strains nor fancy agrochemicals are raising yields. Nor is there much unfarmed land left that is suitable to be brought under the plough. Neo-Malthusians also suggest that, if global temperatures continue to rise, some places will become unfarmable -particularly poor, tropical regions.

These are reasonable, concerns. But they can be overcome by two things: the application and spread of technology, and the implementation of sensible government policies.

Agricultural technology is changing fast. Much of this change is brought about by rich-world farmers and by rich fanners in middle-income places like Brazil. Techniques developed in the West 一 especially genome-based breeding that can create crops with special properties almost to order 一 are being adapted to make tropical crops. Such smart breeding, in alliance with new, precise techniques of genetic modification, should break through the yield plateaus. It can also produce crops with properties such as drought and heat-resistance that will. reduce the effects of global warming. Drought-resistant maize created in this way is already on the market.

The developing world applies as little to existing farming techniques as it does to the latest advances in genetic modification. Yield plateaus are a phenomenon only of the most intensively farmed parts of the world. Extending to the smallholders and subsistence farmers of Africa and Asia the best of today's agricultural practices, in such simple matters as how much fertilizer to apply and when, would get humanity quite a long way towards a 70% increase in output.

Indeed, government policy on reducing waste more generally would make a huge difference. The FAO says that about a third of food is lost during or after harvest. In rich countries a lot of food is thrown away by consumers. In poor ones it does not reach consumers in the first place. Bad harvesting practices, poor storage and slow transport mean that food is damaged, spoiled or lost to pests. Changing that, which is mostly a question of building things like better, pest-proof grain silos and monitoring their contents properly, would take a big bite out of the 70% increase.

The neo-Malthusians may throw up their hands in despair, but consider this: despite all the apparent obstacles, from yield plateaus to climate change, in the six years following the FAO analysis cereal production rose by 11%. If growth like that continues it should not only be possible to feed the 10 billion, but to feed them well.

1.According to Paragraphs 1 and 2, we can know that most people in the modern world ______ .

A.usually take food for granted .

B.are successfully getting rid of farming

C.tend to deal with lean years skillfully

D.enjoy equal rights to get good food

2.What does the underlined sentence, in Paragraph 3 probably mean?

A.Feeding a population of almost 10 billion can be expensive.

B.A precise calculation of the food growth rate is hard to make.

C.Increasing the output of food by 70% in given years is very difficult.

D.There is no parallel to the rising demand for high-quality food in history.

3.According to the passage, neo-Malthusians ______.

A.have disproved Thomas Malthus' argument

B.have contributed to the increased output of crops

C.have found that population growth will exceed food supply

D.have claimed that climate change may influence food production

4.What can we infer from the example of the develop world in Paragraph 7?

A.Technology is of little use if it is not adopted.

B.Yield plateaus are common to see all over the world.

C.The developing world has got used to existing farming techniques.

D.More advanced agricultural practices should be introduced to the developing world.

5.The underlined part "take a big bite out of" in the last but one paragraph is closest in meaning to “______ "

A.make a big profit of.

B.take full advantage of

C.indicate the influence of.

D.reduce a significant amount of

6.What does the author think of the future of le world's food supply?

A.It is worrying. B.It is promising.

C.It is controversial. D.It is uncertain.

    Somewhere in the highlands of Afghanistan, a hungry fox pounces （猛扑）on a tasty-looking leopard gecko （豹纹 壁虎）.But the lizard has a get — out — of — jail — free card: a separable tail. The dropped part waves in an energetic but uncontrolled way around long enough to distract the fox, allowing the gecko itself to run off and hide.

Leopard geckos are one of a few lizard species that possess this ability, known as autotomy （自切）.The technique is effective, but the tail can account for about a quarter of the lizard's body mass. So how do these animals adapt to losing so much of it that quickly?

When geckos lose their tail, they "take this more sprawled posture （四肢伸开的姿势）"and walk with their limbs spread out farther from their body, says Chapman University biologist Kevin Jagnandan. Most researchers initially assumed this posture was a response to a suddenly shifted center of mass. But when Jagnandan observed leopard geckos with a tail in his laboratory, he realized that they wag it as they walk, suggesting that these movements may be key to the lizards' movements.

To test this assumption, Jagnandan and his team assessed the postures of 10 geckos walking in various conditions: with their tail intact （完整的）；with their tail restricted by a small section of glued-on fishing rod （whose mass can be neglected）; and with their tail self-amputated. These comparisons allowed the researchers to distinguish the effects of lost mass from those of lost tail-wagging on the geckos’ movements.

The lizards with an immobilized tail adopted ways similar to those with no tail, the researchers reported in a study published in Scientific Reports. This result suggests the sprawling walk they adopt after losing their tail is not compensating for the missing mass but rather for the lack of tail-wagging. Jagnandan thinks tail movements help the lizards keep balance and stability as they walk. He suspects that the tails of mammals living in trees, such as cats and monkeys, serve a similar purpose.

Bill Ryerson, a biologist at Saint Anselm College, who was not involved in the study, was surprised by the findings. "We thought we had settled it ——it seemed pretty open-and-shut" that mass was the main factor, he says. The new study challenges this earlier idea in a "beautifully simple" way, Ryerson adds.

Jagnandan hopes that understanding how animals react to missing body parts could ultimately help engineers design robots that can move more efficiently as heavy loads — or even entire limbs --- are added and removed.

1.From the first two paragraphs we can learn that ______.

A.the fox likes to play with the gecko's tail

B.the fox falls for the trick of the gecko

C.moving without a tail is much tougher for the gecko

D.the gecko becomes inactive when losing its tail

2.Most researchers once thought geckos adopted the sprawled posture because ______

A.the posture was key to their movements

B.their center of mass had changed

C.the posture was their unique survival skill

D.they imitated other mammals' behavior

3.What can we know about the findings of the study?

A.They are in accordance with the expectation of Bill Ryerson.

B.They were obtained after researchers compared three geckos' movements.

C.They solved several mysteries concerning other mammals.

D.They can be applied to the field of artificial intelligence.

4.What does the passage mainly talk about?

A.Why leopard geckos prefer a habitat in the highlands.

B.How leopard geckos play hide and seek games.

C.How leopard geckos adapt to losing their tails.

D.What role tails play in leopard geckos' life.

    "We must learn not to take traditional morals （道德）too seriously." So said the biologist J. B. S. Haldane in a 1923 talk on science and the future. Haldane forecasted that scientific progress would destroy every belief and value. The future would be bright only "if mankind can adjust its morality to its powers". Haldane had a point: our powers have led to challenges that have never existed before. Climate change is a threat unlike any we have ever seen. Our machines might become smarter than us. Genetic engineering（基因工程）could change humanity forever.

In the face of such challenges, our evolved moral sense often proves not enough. Part of the problem is scale （规模）.The anthropologist Robin Dunbar says we can keep no more than about 150 meaningful relationships at once. But today, all 7 billion of us are connected—if not in meaningful relationships, not in meaningless ones, either. “Society" is now too big a concept for our brains to analyze.

One result is conflicting demands that are hard to solve. The bad situation of our fellow humans makes us use every possible way to deal with climate change. But that could hurt our own way of life. And then there's the urge to just forget all that pressure and get on a plane to somewhere sunny. Given this cognitive（认知的）overload, our original emotional responses tend to win out. We do what feels right. But such responses don't necessarily produce the best results. So how can we make sure we do what really is right?

It's a hard nut, but never fear: moral philosophers are on the case. Some, such as those based at the Centre for Effective Altruism in Oxford, UK, aim to maximize the good we can do by quantifying the results of our actions. Many of their suggestions have raised eyebrows: that it may be better to become a generous banker than work for a charity, for example.

Others suggest modifying our moral brains directly, through drugs. The difficulties with this idea are obvious: who decides what makes improvement? Given the practical difficulties of large-scale morality hacking （入侵），we should perhaps stick to education. We are not simply prisoners of our emotions: we can reason our way to workable solutions. Science alone will not get us there. So no, we shouldn't take traditional morality too seriously where it fails to address modem problems.

1.J. B. S. Haldane forecasted that scientific development would ______.

A.lead to the corruption of public morals

B.present a challenge to traditional morals

C.bring disasters and fears to human beings

D.affect human beings powers of adjustment

2.We can learn from Paragraph 2 that ______.

A.collective wisdom is a good solution to modem challenges

B.Robin Dunbar thinks it is hard to build up meaningful relationships

C.our evolved moral sense is too limited to solve the problems of modem society

D.the large scale of social connections makes our relationships less meaningful

3.What is implied in the last paragraph?

A.Most people put the blame for modem problems on science.

B.Science can help with the modification of our moral brains.

C.The combination of reason and humanity can make more effective morality.

D.Human beings have a long way to go before they can overcome modem problems."

    Beneath the joy of music lies the often mysterious field of music theory. But what if you could learn to understand the often intimidating （使人望而生畏的）language of key signatures, pitch （音高），mode （音乐的调式）,melody and more? What if you could recognize these components at work while listening to your favorite music? What if you could "speak" the language of music?

In Understanding the Fundamentals of Music, award winning composer and professor Greenberg offers you a spirited introduction to this magnificent language, avoiding what for many of us has long been the principal roadblock: the need to read music. With these 16 fascinating lectures, discover what parts of musical speech sound like, rather than what they look like on paper. You'll quickly find yourself listening to music with new levels of understanding and appreciation whether at a concert, at home or in your car.

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1.Anyone ordering a CD of Understanding the Fundamentals of Music will .

A.obtain a paper version for free

B.be offered the highest discount

C.be required to pay for transportation costs

D.get other musicians instruction besides Robert Greenberg's .

2.What's special about The Great Courses?

A.Its academic tests are optional.

B.It focuses on readers' speaking skills.

C.It is recommended by many a musician.

D.It is readily accessible to its subscribers.

    Since the age of three, Hill had dreamed of becoming a dancer. "The only thing that I loved was dance," she told CBS News. That ambition nearly _______ in 2010. Hill, then a 17-year-old student in a small town, was in an accident that left her paralyzed from the _______ down. For most people, that would have _______ any hope of a dancing career. For Hill, it was the beginning. _______ being an obstacle, her wheelchair empowered her. "I wanted to _______ to my myself I was still 'normal'."

Hill danced in her wheelchair alongside her school dance team. "Half of my body was _______ from me," Hill told Today. "and it definitely took a lot of learning and _______ After graduation, Hill wanted to _______ her dance network to include women who had _______ various spinal cord injuries but shared her ________. "It was such an amazing experience?”

Hoping to reach more people in a ________ city, Hill moved to Los Angeles in 2014 and formed the Rollettes. "I want to ________ the stereotype （模式化观念）of wheelchair users.", Dancing on wheels can be just as artful as the foot-based ________ . In dance competitions, they rocked their bodies to ________, and struck poses in dynamic routines. They're having fun, and as the audiences' reactions ________   , the fun is infectious. Hill has ________ what many of us never will: her childhood dream. ________ the Rollettes have helped her find something else just as ________. Every year she holds a dance camp for wheelchair users to help them find their ________ strength they've never seen before. In 2019, 173 participants who used to be restricted lonely attended her camp. For many, it was the first time they'd felt they ________.

1.A.initiated B.ended C.withdrew D.postponed

2.A.head B.knee C.waist D.ankle

3.A.dashed B.quit C.lost D.abandoned

4.A.Regardless of B.Far from C.Out of D.Apart from

5.A.justify B.convince C.confirm D.prove

6.A.taken away B.cleared away C.worn away D.turned away

7.A.patience B.competence C.intelligence D.independence

8.A.accumulate B.attract C.boycott D.expand

9.A.multiplied B.submitted C.suffered D.possessed

10.A.virtue B.determination C.dimension D.identity

11.A.riper B.remoter C.larger D.busier

12.A.break off B.break up C.break in D.break down

13.A.practice B.variety C.performance D.access

14.A.music B.beats C.instructions D.directions

15.A.indicate B.express C.illustrate D.conclude

16.A.comprehended B.compensated C.adored D.attained

17.A.But B.Instead C.So D.Still

18.A.superior B.premier C.normal D.meaningful

19.A.main B.inner C.unique D.physical

20.A.scared B.matured C.belonged D.sustained

—I will hang out with friends this afternoon. May I do the homework tomorrow?

—______ You have to finish it today.

A.What of it? B.You don't say

C.What's up D.Not on your life!

—I just feel ______! How could I have made such a stupid mistake in yesterday's competition?

— Hi, come on― cheer up! It's not that bad.

A.off the top of my head B.down in the dumps

C.hot under the collar D.on cloud nine

______ the opening ceremony of the first China International Import Expo in Shanghai was President Xi, where he announced new measures to further expand opening-up,

A.Attending B.Attended C.To attend D.Having attended

But for his determination to stick it out, he ______ it as a top-ranked player in tennis.

A.shouldn't have made B.could make

C.wouldn't have made D.wouldn't make

______ as a platform, the Belt and Road Initiative strengthens the ties between China and the rest of the world, as well as between various regions with China.

A.To serve B.Having served C.Served D.Serving

She's always suggesting ways ______ I can improve my cooking. I know she means well but this really annoys me.

A.that B.which C.how D.when

I always read newspapers backwards because the back pages are ______ the sport is.

A.that B.where C.how D.what .

Mr. Smith gave her one of the pills that he ______ for stomachache or something like that.

A.will have taken B.had been taken C.has taken D.had been taking

______ the content of this letter can be confidential; security is an issue that you must address.

A.Although B.Since C.Unless D.After

Those charged ______ mend their ways within given periods, and those failing to do so will be shut down.

A.shall B.may C.can D.could

Mastering the art of presentation goes hand in hand with carefully packaging the content of what you want to ______.

A.polish up B.take in C.make out D.get across

Although I've called Edinburgh my home for the last nine years, I still feel a strong emotional ______ to the place where I spent my childhood.

A.attachment B.admission C.discrimination D.approach

The first Winter Olympic Games took place in 1924. It had a ______ participation of only 293 athletes from 16 countries.

A.narrow B.shallow C.modest D.slight

I truly believe that success should be defined ______ health and happiness.

A.in view of B.in terms of C.in line with D.in sympathy with

This information allowed our soldiers to prepare mentally and ______ the actions they would be required to take.

A.imitate B.appreciate C.anticipate D.equate

假定你是李华，你校为了弘扬中华文化，计划举办一场中国古诗英语翻译大赛，请你写信邀请对中国古诗有一定研究和兴趣的交换生George一同参加，内容包括：

1. 大赛举办的目的；

2. 大赛的时间和规则；

3. 你邀请的理由。

注意：

1. 词数100左右；

2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。

Dear George,

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Yours,

Li Hua

假定英语课上英语老师要求同桌之间互相修改作文，请你修改你同桌的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。错误涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。

删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。

增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在该词下面写出该加的词。

修改：在错的词下划一横线，在该词下面写出修改后的词。

注意：1、每处错误及修改均仅限一词。

2、只允许修改10处，多者（从11处起）不计分。

I recently had a bad cold. My Chinese friends suggested that I drank some hot water, what made me think of some common home remedies back in the US.

When I was about 10, I got a flu, and my mom didn’t take me to the doctor. First, she had me to take several hot shower. Then, she told me to put as many clothes as I could. After that, I slept under a thickly blanket. I was sweating so much as I felt like I’d just taken a bath. Within a day, my flu was gone. This kind of “sweating” is the common home remedy in the West. Other remedies include drinking ginger soda when you have a stomachache and eat chicken noodle soup when you have a cold.

阅读下面材料， 在空白处填入适当的内容（不多于3个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式。

Over the past ten years I 1.(travel)abroad and home has become more of a feeling 2. a place. So 3. is important that I can celebrate the new year with the loved ones. New Year’s Eve has become the only time to reconnect with my friends which makes me feel at home. Every year we try 4.(unite)wherever we are and remember the time when we knew each other. 5., a lot of people feel that New Year’s Eve can’t live up to 6.(expect). Ideas such as the New Year’s kiss and resolutions create much pressure for people to have 7. night to remember, 8.will change their lives and perhaps make the next year worth 9.(live). I think those people are missing the point. 10.Christmas is about family, why can’t New Year be about friends?

    Many times, the small things in life, which we often ________, are more important than the ones that we consider far more valuable.

This theme is highlighted in Kenny Roger’s song Buy Me a Rose.

This song tells the ________ of a wife whose husband ________ her very much. However, she thinks that the ________ her husband shows her his love is not ________ .

According to her husband, the best way of showing his love to his wife is by ________ her with all the wealth and comforts of life. ________, he works hard day and night and is thus not able to ________ any of his time to her.

His wife, however, ________that this is not what she wants. All she wants from him is to show her more ________ by giving her more of his time, caring for her and by ________ his feelings for her. These are the things that she ________ in her life and not the big, flashy things that he has given her.

“Buy me a rose, call me from work.”

Open a door for me, what would it hurt?

Show me you love me by the look in your eyes.

These are the little things I ________ the most in my life.”

To her, these are all the things that can ________ great joy and happiness.

Although her husband loves her very much, his way of showing his love for her is creating ________ between the two.

This song leads us to ________ on how we lead our lives and how to make a person ________ .

People who are closer to us ________ more sincere expression of our love. Spending time with them ________ spending money on them is a better way of expressing our love. We should learn to express our feelings than to show our love through ________ goods.

1.A.treasure B.decline C.ignore D.feature

2.A.pride B.story C.joy D.truth

3.A.loves B.hates C.ignores D.appreciates

4.A.reason B.process C.way D.method

5.A.unique B.common C.clear D.appropriate

6.A.providing B.connecting C.equipping D.feeding

7.A.Actually B.Gradually C.Consequently D.Eventually

8.A.save B.devote C.spend D.waste

9.A.argues B.lies C.guesses D.warns

10.A.chances B.choices C.affection D.presents

11.A.expressing B.hiding C.changing D.considering

12.A.puts down B.picks up C.worries about D.longs for

13.A.give B.need C.get D.challenge

14.A.bring about B.bring up C.bring out D.bring forward

15.A.differences B.understanding C.distances D.success

16.A.move B.fight C.reflect D.depend

17.A.rich B.happy C.relaxed D.lovely

18.A.need B.gain C.give D.deserve

19.A.rather than B.more than C.less than D.better than

20.A.wealthy B.rare C.material D.extra

    One of the best aspects of travel is in discovery. Whether you're burying yourself in a new culture or wandering the streets of a foreign city, you're finding new things to see and experience. Part of that discovery is in what you learn about yourself. 1..

Here are some of those ways:

◆ 2.

Travel means new foods, cultures and places to explore. Try speaking that new language or eat a new kind of food you never knew existed. When you’re thrown outside of your normal circumstances, you’ll discover more about who you are and what you're like.

◆ The chance to reinvent yourself

At home, people can see you a certain way and classify you into a personality type that can be hard to escape. 3.. You're free to break away from how people normally see you and reinvent yourself.

◆ Building confidence

You've just traveled across a country, tried a new language and bargained over prices in a market. They're all things you didn't know you could do before, but you dug up a new-found sense of adventure and somehow made it work. 4.. And the more challenges you take on, the more sure of yourself you become.

◆ Choices and organizing skills

What's the best route to take so I see all the major attractions? What's the best way to get to the next city and back so I don't miss my flight? How should I organize my itinerary (行程)? 5.. You have to organize your trip so that you have a place to stay and transportation to and from certain destinations.

A.With travel, come challenges

B.Travel is about making choices

C.Forcing you out of your comfort zone

D.Trips don't always go according to plan

E.Having time to reflect on your life

F.Travel can give you a chance to explore other sides of your personality

G.Like most experiences, travel can change you in ways you might never have expected

    With their long histories, the United Kingdom’s universities have earned reputation and become favored destinations for many international students. However, while many people dream of attending these institutions, a growing number of the schools have fallen victim to cheating scandals (丑闻) in recent years.

The Telegraph reported that investigations for cheating have risen at Leeds University, from 127 in 2014/15 to 516 last year. Over the same period, cases at Queen Mary University of London increased from 104 to 248, and Nottingham University tripled to 514.

The increase has been linked to the rise of essay mills (论文作坊). These are companies that, for a fee, provide original essays, written by real people, for specific university assignments. Widely advertised on social media, these essay mills target those who struggle with their university workloads.

Even though many students have the ability to complete work on their own, it is believed that the pressure of too many deadlines and a lack of discipline encourage them to use essay mills.

In response, many universities have introduced new measures, such as oral exams to test students’ knowledge of assignments and subject areas. New software is also helping catch cheaters. Currently, most UK universities use Turnitin to check assignments for plagiarism (剽窃). Now it is being used to analyze students’ natural writing styles. This way, it may detect abnormal changes in their written assignments.

Despite the risks, essay mills seem like an easy ticket to a degree. However, a majority do not deliver the A+ essays they promise, and students are vulnerable to being cheated and blackmail (敲诈). According to the BBC, multiple Coventry University students were blackmailed up to $5,000 (35,190 yuan) after using an essay-writing service last year.

A Nottingham University spokesman told the Guardian, “The best way to deal with essay mills is for the government to legislate (立法) against them and block their webpages at a national level.”

Currently, these sites are legal in the UK, but other countries, including New Zealand and Australia, have banned them altogether. Students in Australia could even face two years in jail and a $210,000 fine if found guilty of cheating.

1.Why do many students turn to essay mills, according to the writer?

A.Because they want to pay for top marks.

B.Because essay mills are popular on social media.

C.Because they find college work is too difficult.

D.Because they have heavy workloads and they are undisciplined.

2.The underlined word “vulnerable” in Paragraph 6 is closest in meaning to “_______”.

A.knowing little about something

B.paying close attention to something

C.well prepared for something

D.likely to suffer from something

3.What is the best way to deal with essay mills, according to the Nottingham University spokesman?

A.The government should make laws to ban them.

B.Students found guilty of cheating should be put into jail.

C.Teachers should change the way of testing their students.

D.Universities should better manage their campus websites.

4.What is the main idea of the article?

A.The increase of cheating at UK universities.

B.The rise of essay mills in the UK.

C.Pressures faced by students in the UK.

D.Attitudes toward plagiarism in different countries.

    Did you know that most humans are able to recognize about 1 million different colors? Well, some people can’t recognize this many because of something called colorblindness. If someone is colorblind, that means they can’t see as many colors as others – or, in rare cases, can’t see any colors at all.

Thankfully, special glasses have already been made to help fix some types of colorblindness. Now, according to new research published in Optics Letters, scientists have brought this solution one step further.

Sharon Karepov and Tal Ellenbogen, engineers from Tel Aviv University in Israel, have found a way to apply this technology to contact lenses. This new method is so groundbreaking because it can be customized to fix many different kinds of visual disadvantages.

People are able to see colors because of how the eye is structured. At the back of our eyes, there are three different kinds of cone-shaped (圆锥形的) cells that absorb light waves. When light waves are absorbed, the cells send a message to the brain for the image to be processed.

If something is wrong with these cone-shaped cells, this can cause problems when the brain processes the image. One of the most common types of colorblindness is red-green colorblindness. People who have this specific type of visual disadvantage have difficulty telling apart the colors red and green.

“Problems with distinguishing red from green interrupt simple daily routines such as deciding whether a banana is ripe,” Karepov explained.

Karepov also stressed the importance of applying this finding to create special contact lenses instead of relying on color-correcting glasses.

“Glasses based on this correction concept are commercially available, however, they are significantly heavier than contact lenses.” Karepov continued. “Our contact lenses … create a customized, simple and durable way to correct these disadvantages.”

1.Why is Sharon Karepov and Tal Ellenbogen’s finding groundbreaking?

A.They found an effective method to cure colorblindness.

B.They found what causes different kinds of visual disadvantages.

C.They developed special contact lenses to fix many visual disadvantages.

D.They developed glasses to fix all visual disadvantages.

2.What is the cause of colorblindness, according to the text?

A.Only one type of cone-shaped cell exists in the eyes.

B.Cone-shaped cells cannot process images received.

C.The brain fails to absorb light waves.

D.Cone-shaped cells in the eyes don’t work properly.

3.Why are the customized contact lenses better than special glasses, according to Karepov?

A.They are easier to make. B.They are cheaper.

C.They are simpler and more durable. D.They can help correct colorblindness.

4.Which of the following can be the best title?

A.Special Contact Lenses—Seeing the World’s Full Beauty

B.Glasses to Correct Colorblindness

C.Colorblindness Preventing People from Seeing Colors

D.Colorblindness—Something is Wrong with Cone-shaped Cells

    I entered a cabinetmaking(家具制造)program. I didn’t think I would be good at making furniture. I’m not handy. Nobody in my family is.

I had great teachers, but making furniture is hard. There are so many steps and something can go wrong at each one. I couldn’t even get organized. My toolbox always looked as if a hurricane had gone through it.

I didn’t fully know what I was committed to in the beginning, but I kept attending class. I tried to be wrapped up in math. The projects forced me to solve new kinds of problems. My brain started to build new connections. Working in this new physical manner and giving it 100 percent of my effort had huge benefits for my mental health. I got over my fear of embarrassment and asked for help at every opportunity.

I spent that year truly learning. True learning is the most challenging experience, especially for those of us who are learning a new set of skills. I could understand exactly what was wrong with the furniture I made, but I couldn’t fix those problems. And yet, I kept trying. I failed again and again, until I learned to fail better.

In the end, I finished the program—with honors, no less! My grades were helped by my good written work. I also learned how to use tools. Having to constantly push myself to step outside my comfort zone has made me a more well-rounded person.

Maybe most importantly, the school gave me a more realistic idea of my strengths and limitations. I’m stronger than I thought!

1.What can we know about the author from the first two paragraphs?

A.She had a gift for making furniture. B.She lacked practical skills.

C.She disliked making everything in a mess. D.She went to the program to surprise her family.

2.What was the biggest challenge the author encountered?

A.Physical condition. B.Psychological preparation.

C.To know how to correct mistakes. D.Not being good at math.

3.What do you think of the author?

A.Hard-working and determined. B.Confident and efficient.

C.Cooperative and creative. D.Modest and talented.

4.What did the author benefit most from the project?

A.She won an award for good writing. B.She became stronger both mentally and physically.

C.She became skillful at making furniture. D.She had a better understanding of herself.