Some people believe that greed and selfishness has become the basis of modern society, and we should return to the old traditions of family and community then we will have a better life. To what extent do you agree or disagree with the above opinion?
In this fast-paced world, many values are undergoing major changes. While people traditionally prioritize caring, sharing and generosity in life and work, modern people seem to be more self-absorbed and self-concerned.
Modern people act selfishly to survive the harsh competition of life. They say that it is a jungle out there. To survive, you have to fight with whatever means that come handy. Obviously greedy and selfishness go perfectly well with such ideas. In a company, employees do everything they can to get better pay and higher position, even at the cost of colleagues. We are in any way advocating any selfish conduct. It is just that people are pressured to act in a certain way due to outside influences.
In spite of common practice, it is hard to conclude that modern society is built on greed and selfishness, both of which are not newly invented vocabulary. In ancient times people also did greedy and selfish things though such behaviors were more condemned then. But we can not ignore the fact that people in the past lived a relatively more isolated life and faced less pressure compared with their modern counterparts.
Are we happier to share with others and be generous to them? There is no fixed answer either. Some people take great pleasure helping and giving to others while others feel happy doing the opposite. But I personally think that people should not be too selfish. Caring for others can actually encourage the development of a mutually beneficial relationship.
In conclusion, modern people appear to be more self-centered than those in the past due to strong outside pressure. However, we should encourage people to know the importance of being caring and generous and to build a mutually beneficial relationship with others.
Are Modern People Becoming More Selfish?
| Main comparisons |
Contexts |
| __ |
In the past people put caring, sharing and generosity in the first ___ |
| Nowadays, people seem to be more ____ |
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| ___ |
People in the past appeared to be modest and self-effacing(谦让的). |
| People may strive to achieve their own __ |
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| The author’s understanding |
|
| ___ |
Fierce __ |
| The author’s ___ |
A relationship which can __ |
阅读下面短文，根据所读内容在文后的第76至85小题的空格上填上适当的单词或短语。每空不超过3个单词。
The Gobi is one of the world’s great deserts. The desert basins of the Gobi are bounded(边界限制) by the Altai mountains and the grasslands of Mongolia on the north and by the Tibetan Plateau(青藏高原) to the southwest.
The word Gobi means “desert” in Mongolian. The Gobi is most famous in history as part of the great Mongol empire, and as the area of several important cities along the Silk Road.
The Gobi measures over 1,600 km southwest to northeast and 800 km from north to south. The desert is widest in the west. It covers 1.3 million square kilometers in area, making it one the largest deserts in the world. Much of the Gobi is not sandy but is covered with rock. The desert holds so many animals, such as Gobi bear, the wild camel and the black-tailed gazelle(羚羊), and is sometimes visited by wolves. The Kerulen River is the Gobi’s largest stream. It flows into small salt lakes or disappears into the sand. Nearly all the soil here has been removed by the north-westerly winds. The sand and wind storms are common. The Gobi has cold winters and short, hot summers. The Gobi is crossed by a high way, which links Ulaanbaata with Jining, China.
76
| 77 |
one of the world’s great deserts, the Gobi, 78by the Altai mountains and on the north and by the Tibetan Plateau to the southwest, lies in the northwest of China. |
| 79 |
the word of its name came from Mongolian. It acted 80an important part in the history of great Mongol empire, which was famous for the Silk Road. |
| size |
the west of the desert is widest. It covers1.3 million square kilometers, 81over 1,600 km southwest to northeast and 800 km from north to south. |
| animals |
many animals live on the desert, such as Gobi bear, 82and the black-tailed gazelle, and is sometimes visited by wolves. |
| 83 |
the Gobi 84rock mostly, and the soil has been moved by the north-westerly wind. The largest stream is Kerulen River, which flows into 85at last. The sandstorm, cold winters and short, hot summers are very common. |
阅读下面短文，简要回答问题。
Baloney is a kind of sausage that many Americans eat often. The word also has another meaning in English. It is used to describe something—usually something someone says—that is false or wrong or foolish.
Baloney sausage comes from the name of the Italian city, Bologna. The city is famous for its sausage, a mixture of smoked, spiced meat from cows and pigs. But, boloney sausage does not taste the same as beef or pork alone.
Some language experts think this different taste is responsible for the birth of the expression baloney. Baloney is an idea or statement that is nothing like the truth...in the same way that baloney sausage tastes nothing like the meat that is used to make it.
Baloney is a word often used by politicians to describe the ideas of their opponents.
The expression has been used for years. Fifty years ago, a former governor of New York State, Alfred Smith, criticized some claims by President Franklin Roosevelt about the successes of the Roosevelt administration. Smith said, “No matter how thin you slice it, it is still baloney.”
A similar word has almost the same meaning as baloney. It even sounds almost the same. The word is blarney. It began in Ireland about 1600.
The lord of Blarney castle, near Cork, agreed to surrender the castle to British troops. But he kept making excuses for postponing the surrender. And, he made them sound like very good excuses, “this is just more of the same blarney.”
The Irish castle now is famous for its Blarney stone. Kissing the stone is thought to give a person special powers of speech. One who has kissed the Blarney stone, so the story goes, can speak words of praise so smoothly and sweetly that you believe them, even when you know they are false.
73.Find in the passage a word closest in meaning to the underlined word “baloney”.
74.According to Americans, what does baloney refer to? (回答词数不超过8个)
75.What do you know about the lord of Blarney castle, near Cork? (回答词数不超过6个)
I fell in love with England because it was quaint(古雅)—all those little houses, looking terribly old-fashioned but nice, like dolls’ houses. I loved the countryside and the pubs, and I love London. I’ve slightly changed my mind after seventeen years because I think it’s an ugly town now.
Things have changed. For everybody, England meant gentlemen, fair play and good manners. The fair play is going, unfortunately, and so are the gentlemanly attitudes and good manners—people shut doors heavily in your face and politeness is disappearing.
I regret that there are so few comfortable meeting places. You’re forced to live indoors. In Paris I go out much more, to restaurants and nightclubs. To meet friends here it usually has to be in a pub, and it can be difficult to go there alone as a woman. The cafes are not terribly nice.
As a woman, I feel unsafe here. I spend a bomb on taxis because I will not take public transport after 10 p.m. I used to use it, but now I’m afraid.
The idea of family seems to be more or less non-existent in England. My family is well united and that’s typically French. In Middlesex I had a neighbor who is 82 now. His family only lived two miles away, but I took him to France for Christmas once because he was always alone.The writer doesn’t like London because she___.
| A．is not used to the life there now | B．has lived there for seventeen years |
| C．prefers to live in an old-fashioned house | D．has to be polite to everyone she meets there |
Where do people usually meet their friends in England?
| A．In a café. | B．In a restaurant. | C．In a nightclub. | D．In a pub. |
The underlined part “it” (in Para.4) refers to ___.
| A．a taxi | B．the money | C．a bomb | D．public transport |
The writer took her neighbor to France for Christmas because he ___.
| A．felt lonely | B．had never been to France |
| C．was from a typically French family | D．didn’t like the British idea of family |
A man spoke with the Lord about heaven and hell. The Lord said to the man, “Come, I will show you hell.” They entered a room ___1___ a group of people sat around a huge pot of meat. Everyone was skinny, desperate and starving. Each ___2___ (hold) a spoon that could reach the pot, but each spoon had a handle so much longer ___3___ their own arms ___4___ it could not be used to get the stew into their own mouths. The suffering was terrible.
“Come, now I will show you ___5___.” The Lord said after a while. They entered another room, similar __6___ the first—the pot of meat, the group of people, the same long-handle spoons. ___7___ there everyone was happy, healthy and satisfied.
“I don’t understand,” said the man. “___8___ are they happy here when they were miserable in the other room and everything was the ___9___?” The Lord smiled. “Ah, it is simple,” he said. “Here they have learned to feed each ___10___.”
Directions: Read the following passage. Fill in the numbered blanks by using the information for the passage. Write NO MORE THAN 3 WORDS for each answer.
A Low-Carbon Economy (LCE) refers to an economy which has a minimal emission of greenhouse gas (GHG), namely, carbon dioxide into the biosphere(生物圈). Recently, most of the scientists and the public hold the opinion that the climate is changing because there is such an accumulation of CO2 in the atmosphere due to human activities. The over-concentration of these gases is producing global warming that affects long-term climate, with negative impacts on humanity in the foreseeable future. LCE, therefore, is proposed as a means to avoid catastrophic climate change.
All nations which are considered carbon intensive societies and societies which are heavily populated should become zero-carbon societies and economies. Several of these countries have promised to become 'low carbon' but not entirely zero carbon, and claim that emissions will be cut by 100% by balancing emissions rather than ceasing all emissions.
Nuclear power and the strategies of carbon capture and storage (CCS) have been proposed as the primary means to achieve a LCE while continuing to exploit non-renewable resources. Scientists are afraid, however, whether the spent-nuclear-fuel can be stored, and whether it is secure. Also they are not certain about the costs and time needed to successfully implement CCS worldwide and whether the stored emissions will leak into the biosphere or not. Alternatively, many have proposed renewable energy should be the main basis of a LCE, but, they have their associated problems of high-cost and inefficiency; this is changing, however, since investment and production have been growing significantly in recent times. Furthermore, it has been proposed that to make the transition to an LCE economically attractive we would have to attach a cost (per unit output) to GHGs through means such as emissions trading and/or a carbon tax.
A LCE is aimed to integrate all aspects of itself from its manufacturing, agriculture, transportation to power-generation around technologies that produce energy and materials with little GHG emission and thus around populations, buildings, machines and devices which use those energies and materials efficiently and dispose of or recycle its wastes so as to have a minimal output of GHGs.
Title: 71
I. 72: an economy with a minimal output of GHG
II. 73of the present economy:
● global warming
● long-term climate change
● 74on humanity
III. 75 :
●to produce energy and materials with little GHG emission
● to use those energies and materials efficiently
● to have 76of GHGs
IV. 77to achieve a LCE:
●nuclear power
●the strategies of carbon capture and storage
● renewable energy
● 78
● a carbon tax
V. 79:
● spent-nuclear-fuel storage / storage of spent-nuclear-fuel
● 80
● uncertainty about the costs and time needed