D
As I was reading a recent story in Slate on 20-somethings complaining about how the economy was ruining their life plans, I couldn’t help but think the 20-somethings sounded like a bunch of spoiled children who grew up expecting everything to be easy for them. As a 20-something myself, I certainly share their disappointment: my husband and I probably won’t be able to buy a house until we’re in our 40s, and we too are burdened by student loans(贷款). But why should it be any different? Being young persons in America, shouldn’t they take up all of the challenges and opportunities that this country offers?
Consider some of these views shared in the Slate story: Jennifer, 29, owner of a two-bedroom apartment with her husband, worries that she won’t be able to have children for at least a decade because they can’t afford to buy a house yet.
I read that, and I thought, what planet is she living on where you need to own a house in order to have kids? Has she ever visited a developing country, or even downtown areas in this one? Home ownership is a luxury(奢华), not a fertility requirement.
A 26-year-old in the story despairs(绝望) that he can’t afford to get a Ph.D. in literature. Well, that sounds a bit like expressing disappointment that no one will pay you to write poetry on the beach in Thailand for five years.
Yes, it’s sad that these young people feel so lost. But I think the problem is their extremely high expectations, not economic reality. Beth Kobliner, author of Get a Financial Life: Personal Finance in Your Twenties and Thirties, says that she thinks people’s expectations are slowly adjusting, but today’s 20-somethings grew up at a time when 
everyone’s wealth appeared to be expanding. Their parents probably saw their home values rise along with their investments. “So you have people who have grown up in an environment where people had great expectations of what living well means,” says Kobliner.
This recession(衰退) will certainly play a role in forcing those expectations into more realistic group. In the meantime, it seems a lot better for our mental health to focus on being grateful－for our one-bedroom apartments, for living in modern cities, or perhaps just for being able to eat three meals a day－than on longing for some kind of luxury life.
67．What makes the author think the 20-somethings sound like a bunch of spoiled children?
A．They expect everything to be easy for them.
B．They complain that the econo
my is spoiling their life plans.
C．They are reluctant to face all of the challenges.
D．They are burdened by student loans.
68．The underlined word “fertility” in Paragraph 3 probably means .
A．baby production B．pleasant
C．baby comfort D．essential
69．Which of the following is not one of the complaints of the 20-somethings?
A．They can’t have children for at least a decade to buy a house.
B．They have only one-bedroom apartment to live in.
C．They can’t buy a house until 40 because of student loans.
D．They despair at not being able to afford a Ph.D. in literature.
70．What is the author’s purpose of writing this passage?
A．To tell us what the author’s attitude towards the 20 – somethings.
B．To explain why young people can’t afford to buy a house.
C．To suggest what we should do when young people’s high hopes create despair.
D．To explain what the 20 – something’s high expectations are.
D
There are an extremely large number of antsworldwide. Each individual (个体的) ant hardly weigh anything, but put together they weigh roughly the same as all of mankind. They also live nearly everywhere, except on frozen mountain tops and around the poles.Foranimals their size, ants have been astonishingly successful, largely due to their wonderfulsocial behavior.
In colonies (群体) that range in size from a few hundred to tens of millions, they organize their lives with a clear division of labor. Even more amazing is how they achievethis level of organization. Where we use sound and sight to communicate, ants dependprimarily on pheromone (外激素), chemicals sent out by individuals and smelled or tastedby fellow members of their colony. When an ant finds food, it produces a pheromone that will lead others straight to where the food is. When an individual ant comes under attack or is dying, it sends out an alarm pheromone to warn the colony to prepare for a conflict as a defense unit.
In fact, when it comes to the art of war, ants have no equal. They are completely fearless and will readily take on a creature much larger than themselves, attacking in large groups and overcoming their target. Such is their devotion to the common good of the colony that not only soldier ants but also worker ants will sacrifice their lives to help defeat an enemy.
Behaving in this selfless and devoted manner, these little creatures have survived on Earth, for more than 140 million years, far longer than dinosaurs. Because they think as one, they have a collective (集体的) intelligence greater than you would expect from itsindividual parts.We can learn from the passage that ants are ____________.
| A．not willing to share food |
| B．not found around the poles |
| C．more successful than all other animals |
| D．too many to achieve any level of organization |
Ants can use pheromones for______.
| A．escape | B．communication |
| C．warning enemies | D．arranging labor |
What does the underlined expression "take on" in Paragraph 3 mean?
| A．Accept. | B．Employ. |
| C．Play with. | D．Fight against. |
Which of the following contributes most to the survival of ants?
| A．Their behavior. | B．Their size. |
| C．Their number. | D．Their weight |
C
As Internet users become more dependent on the Internet to store information, are people remember less? If you know your computer will save information, why store it in your own personal memory, your brain? Experts are wondering if the Internet is changing what we remember and how.
In a recent study, Professor Betsy Sparrow conducted some experiments. She and her research team wanted to know the Internet is changing memory. In the first experiment, they gave people 40 unimportant facts to type into a computer. The first group of people understood thatthe computer would save the information. The second group understood that the computer would not save it. Later, the second group remembered the information better. People in the first group knew they could find the information again, so they did not try to remember it.
In another experiment, the researchers gave people facts to remember, and told them where to find the information on the Internet. The information was in a specific computer folder (文件夹). Surprisingly, people later remember the folder location (位置) better than the facts. When people use the Internet, they do not remember the information. Rather, they remember how to find it. This is called "transactive memory (交互记忆)".
According to Sparrow, we are not becoming people with poor memories as a result of the Internet. Instead, computer users are developing stronger transactive memories; that is, people are learning how to organize huge quantities of information so that they are able to access it at a later date. This doesn't mean we are becoming either more or less intelligent, but there is no doubt that the way we use memory is changing.The passage begins with two questions to ______.
| A．introduce the main topic |
| B．show the author's altitude |
| C．describe how to use the Interne. |
| D．explain how to store information |
What can we learn about the first experiment?
| A．Sparrow's team typed the information into a computer. |
| B．The two groups remembered the information equally well. |
| C．The first group did not try to remember the formation. |
| D．The second group did not understand the information. |
In transactive memory, people ______.
| A．keep the information in mind |
| B．change the quantity of information |
| C．organize information like a computer |
| D．remember how to find the information |
What is the effect of the Internet according to Sparrow's research?
| A．Weare using memory differently. |
| B．We arebecoming more intelligent. |
| C．We have poorer memories than before. |
| D．We need a better way to access information. |
B
When her five daughters were young, Helene An always told them that there was strength in unity (团结). To show this, she held up one chopstick, representing oneperson. Then she easily broke it into two pieces. Next, she tied several chopsticks together, representing a family. She showed the girls it was hard to break the tied chopsticks. This lesson about family unity stayed with the daughters as they grew up.
Helene An and her family own a large restaurant business in California. However, when Helene and her husband Danny left their home in Vietnam in 1975, they didn't have much money. They moved their family to San Francisco. There they joined Danny's mother, Diana, who owned a small Italian sandwich shop. Soon afterwards, Helene and Diana changed the sandwich shop into a small Vietnamese restaurant. The five daughters helped in the restaurant when they were young. However, Helene did not want her daughters to always work in the family business because she thought it was too hard.
Eventually the girls all graduated from college and went away to work for themselves, but one by one, the daughters returned to work in the family business. They opened new restaurants in San Francisco and Los Angeles. Even though family members sometimes disagreed with each other, they worked together to make the business successful. Daughter Elisabeth explains, "Our mother taught us that to succeed we must have unity, and to have unity we must have peace. Without the strength of the family, there is no business."
Their expanding business became a large corporation in 1996, with three generations of Ans working together. Now the Ans' corporation makes more than $20 million each year. Although they began with a small restaurant, they had big dreams, and they worked together. Now they are a big success.Helene tied several chopsticks together to show ______.
| A．the strength of family unity |
| B．the difficulty of growing up |
| C．the advantage of chopsticks |
| D．the best way of giving a lesson |
We can I earn from Paragraph 2 that the An family ______.
| A．started a business in 1975 |
| B．left Vietnam without much money |
| C．bought a restaurant in San Francisco |
| D．opened a sandwich shop in Los Angeles |
What can we infer about the An daughters?
| A．They did not finish their college education. |
| B．They could not bear to work in the family business. |
| C．They were influenced by what Helene taught them. |
| D．They were troubled by disagreement among family members. |
Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?
| A．How to Run a Corporation |
| B．Strength Comes from Peace |
| C．How to Achieve a Big Dream |
| D．Family Unity Builds Success |
阅读下列短文，从1～4题所给的四个选项(A、B、C和D)中，选出最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Welcome to the Electronic Village to explore new ways of language teaching and learning.
| Electronic Village Program (Thursday, June 18, 2015) |
|
| Nearpod ❖9:00 am to 10:00 am ❖Room 501 Nearpod is a software program that creates a rich context (语境) for students to learn vocabulary. The presenter will show how to use it. |
TEO ❖ 2:00 pm to 3:00 pm ❖Room 502 Our students come from different backgrounds but have the same desire to learn on-line. The presenter will use examples from his first on-line class to explain how any teacher can begin teaching on-line with TEO. |
| Kahoot ❖10:30 am to 11:30 am ❖ Room 601 Kahoot software can be used to create grammar tests which can be graded on a network. It can provide students with instant feedback (反馈), including reports about their strengths and weaknesses. |
Prezi ❖3:30 pm to 4:20 pm ❖Room 602 Uses of Prezi in listening and speaking courses draw students' attention to speaking more fluently. The presenter will show how students can use Prezi to confidently present on a variety of topics, including introducing family, friends, and hobbies. |
| 1． |
Nearpod can be used to.
|
| 2． |
If you want to improve your speaking skills, you can go to.
|
| 3． |
Which of the following can assess your grammar learning?
|
| 4． |
A teacher who wants to learn on-line teaching is expected to arrive by.
|
A sunflower is a sunflower. A mobile phone is a mobile phone. But can you combine the two to do something for your local environment? As early as next year it may well be possible. When you have finished with your mobile phone you will be able to bury it in a garden or a plant pot and wait for it to flower.
A biodegradable(生物所能分解的)mobile phone was, this month, introduced by scientists. It is hoped that the new type of phone will encourage consumers to recycle.
Scientists have come up with a new material over the last five years. It looks like any other plastic and can be hard or soft, and is able to change shape. Over time it can also break down into the soil without giving out any poisonous chemicals. British researchers used the new material to develop a phone cover that contains a sunflower seed. When this new type of cover turns into waste, it forms fertilizers. These feed the seed and help the flower grow.
Engineers have designed a small transparent(透明的)window to hold the seed. They have made sure it only grows when the phone is thrown away. “We’ve only put sunflower seeds into the covers so far. But we are working with plant experts to find out which flowers would perform best. Maybe we could put roses in next time,” said one scientist.
As phone technology is developing so quickly, people are constantly throwing their mobiles away. This means manufacturers are under pressure to find ways of recycling them. Some 650 million mobile phones have been sold this year. Most of them will be thrown away within two years, adding plastic, heavy metal and chemical waste to the environment. A biodegradable cover can offer some relief for nature, according to the scientists.
“The seed comes out and the flower grows in the pot so you don’t have to concern yourself with the phone when you have finished using it,” said Kerry Kirwan. She leads the research team, which is based at the University of Warwick in Britain.What is the purpose of this passage?
| A．To tell the popularity of biodegradable cell phones. |
| B．To persuade the reader to buy the biodegradable cell phone. |
| C．To discuss the development of phone technology. |
| D．To introduce an environmental-friendly cell phone to readers. |
People throw away their cell phones most probably because .
| A．there is something wrong with them |
| B．no sunflowers can grow out of them |
| C．they are out of fashion |
| D．they are becoming cheaper and cheaper |
It could be learned from the passage that .
| A．developing the new type of phone is mainly to protect the environment |
| B．phone-makers will benefit much more from the new type of phone |
| C．the new type of phone will certainly be popular with users all over the world |
| D．the phones that can be recycled are available only in Britain now |
What might be the most suitable title for this passage?
| A．Sunflower and Phone. | B．Plant Your Phone. |
| C．Protect Our Environment. | D．No Worry about Phone. |