A dense wave of smog began in the Chinese city of Harbin and the surrounding Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning Provinces on 20 October 2013. Unseasonably warm temperatures with very little wind across northeastern China coincided with the smoke from local farmers’ burning straws and the start-up of Harbin’s coal-powered central heating system．
Record densities of fine particulates（微粒）were measured in the city. In Harbin, the levels of PM2.5 （particulate matter） rise to 1,000 micrograms per cubic meter, worse than Beijing’s historic highs．Visibility was reduced to below 50m in parts of Harbin, and below 500m in most of the neighbouring Jilin Province. On Fa Yuen Street in Harbin, visibility of less than 5m was reported. The smog reduced after October 23, 2013 and completely broke up on October 28, 2013 by the first local snow and icy rain due to a cold front moving in from Russia．
Harbin lies in the north of China where winter temperatures can drop to -40℃, demanding a six-month heating season. Daily particulate levels of more than 40 times the World Health Organization recommended maximum level were reported in parts of Harbin. The smog remained till 23 October, when almost all monitoring stations in Heilongjiang, Jilin,and Liaoning Provinces reported readings above 200μg/m³for PM2.5. PM 2.5 is the amount of particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter in the air, with the WHO recommending a maximum 24-hour mean （平均值） of 25 micrograms per cubic meter （μg/m³）．On the morning of 25 October, PM2.5 measurements in Harbin had fallen to an average of 123μg/m³.
All highways in the surrounding Heilongjiang Province were closed. In Harbin, all primary and middle schools were closed for three days and authorities stopped flights at the airports. Hospitals reported a 23 percent increase in admissions for breathing problems. However, this smog will have no influence on Harbin Ice Festival events later in December 2013.
Air pollution in Chinese cities is of increasing concern to China’s leadership. Particulates in the air can affect human health and also have influences on climate and rainfall. Pollution from the burning of coal has reduced life expectancy by 5．5 years in the north of China, as a result of heart and lung diseases.
One cause of the heavy smog in the northeastern Chinese cities may be _____．
| A．the lasting cold weather |
| B．farmers’ burning of forests |
| C．too much strong wind |
| D．the start-up of heating system |
One serious influence of the heavy smog was that_____．
| A．Harbin Ice Festival would be cancelled |
| B．highways in Heilongjiang were free of charge |
| C．all flights at the airport were cancelled |
| D．doctors in hospitals were kept from working |
The harmful smog was most serious on ______．
| A．October 20 | B．October 23 |
| C．October 25 | D．October 28 |
What measure might be practical to reduce the happening of heavy smog?
| A．Forbidding people to own their private cars． |
| B．Advocating people having one meal a day． |
| C．Using natural gas to cook instead of coal． |
| D．Encouraging family’s coal-fired heating． |
Does money buy happiness? Not! Ah, but would a little more money make us a little happier? Many of us smirk(傻笑，假笑) and nod. There is, we believe, some connection between financial fitness and emotional fulfillment. Three in four American college students—nearly double the 1970 proportion— now consider it “very important” or “essential” that they become “very well off financially”. Money matters.
But a surprising fact of life is that in countries where nearly everyone can afford life’s necessities, increasing wealth matters surprisingly little. The connection between income and happiness is “surprisingly weak,” observed University of Michigan researcher Ronald Inglehart in one 16-nation study of 170,000 people. Once comfortable, more money provides diminishing returns(报酬递减). The second piece of pie, or the second $100,000, never tastes as good as the first. Even lottery winners and the Forbes’ 100 wealthiest Americans surveyed by University of Illinois psychologist Ed Diener have expressed only slightly greater happiness than the average American. Making it big brings temporary joy. But in the long run wealth is like health: its complete absence can create suffering, but having it doesn’t guarantee happiness. Happiness seems less a matter of getting what we want than of wanting what we have.
Has our happiness, however, floated upward with the rising economic tide? Are we happier today than in 1940s, when two out of five homes lacked a shower or tub? Actually, we are not. Since 1957, the number of Americans who say they are “very happy” has declined from 35 to 32 percent. Meanwhile, the divorce rate has doubled, the teen suicide(自杀) rate has increased nearly three times, the violent crime rate has gone up nearly four times, and depression has mushroomed. Economic growth has provided no boost to human morale. When it comes to psychological well being, it is not the economy.
I call this soaring wealth and shrinking spirit “the American paradox.” More than ever, we have big houses and broken homes, high incomes and low confidence, secured rights and reduced civility. We are good at making a living but often fail at making a life. We celebrate our prosperity(繁荣) but long for a purpose. We treasure our freedoms but long for connection. In an age of plenty, we feel spiritual hunger.Which of the following statements best expresses the author’s view?
| A．The more money we earn, the less returns we have. |
| B．The more money we earn, the happier we would be. |
| C．In the long run, money cannot guarantee happiness. |
| D．In the long run, happiness grows with economy. |
“The second $100,000 never tastes as good as the first” because _____.
| A．it is not so fresh as the first $100,000 |
| B．it is not so important as the first $100,000 |
| C．profit brought by it is less than that from the first $100,000 |
| D．happiness brought by it is less than that from the first $100,000 |
According to the passage, people do well in making a living but don’t _____.
| A．have any primary aim | B．know how to spend money |
| C．know how to enjoy life | D．keep in touch with other people |
The things that happened after 1957 are given to show that _____.
| A．people’s spiritual needs cannot be fulfilled by wealth |
| B．family problems become more and more serious |
| C．young people are not happy about their life |
| D．social crimes have increased significantly |
My favorite English teacher could draw humor out of the driest material. It wasn’t forced on us either. He took Samuel Johnson’s dictionary, Addison’s essays, and many other literary wonders from the eighteenth century and made them hilarious, even at eight o’clock in the morning. The thing that amazed me most was that the first time I read these works on my own some of them seemed dead, but the second time, after his explanation, I couldn’t believe that I hadn’t seen the humor. The stories and poems and plays were suddenly filled with allusions(典故) and irony and hilarious moments. I learned more from him than from any other teacher.
My least favorite English teacher also made people laugh. Some students found him to be wonderfully funny. Many others did not. He assigned journals over a six week period, to be written in every day. At the end of the six weeks I had a notebook full of bits and pieces about my ideas, short stories, reactions to what we had read, and so on. Our teacher announced that we would be grading each other’s journals. Mine was passed to Joe, that class clown, who always behaved in a funny or silly way. He saw it fit to make joke of and said, “This writing isn’t fit to line the bottom of a birdcage.” Our teacher laughed at that funny remark. It hurt me so much that the anger from it has driven my writing and teaching ever since.
So what makes the difference? Humor is one of the most powerful tools teachers or writers have. It can build up students and classes and make them excited about literature and writing, or it can tear them apart. It is true that humor is either productive or counter-productive and self-defeating.The passage mainly discusses _____.
| A．teaching | B．literature |
| C．humor | D．knowledge |
The underlined word “hilarious” in Paragraph 1 probably means _____.
| A．funny | B．tiring |
| C．inspiring | D．brilliant |
With his favorite English teacher, the writer found it most amazing that _____.
| A．his teacher was very learned |
| B．his teacher was very humorous |
| C．the works by Johnson and Addison were very humorous |
| D．few were able to find humor in works by Johnson and others |
The English teacher the writer disliked most _____.
| A．was not able to make students laugh |
| B．hurt his students’ feelings |
| C．didn’t let his students do the grading |
| D．had no sense of humor |
Submitting Assignment Online
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After you complete an assignment, it is important to save your work. This ensures that assignment being uploaded to the system is the most updated version. Your word processing program may attempt to save the assignment to a folder on your computer. We recommend creating a new folder, named after your course, in a location that is easy to remember, such as “My Documents.”
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3. Review the directions and click the CONTINUE button. You will be routed to the “Special Assignment Upload” screen.
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5. Find the location on your computer where you saved your assignment, and select the file.
After you have selected the file, click the UPLOAD button to upload your assignment to the system. Assignment Submission Dates
Assignments must be submitted by midnight on the specified due date. Submit your assignment on time so that it reaches the system on or before the due date. No late assignments will be accepted or marked. Assignments delivered after the due date will not be assessed and will be failed. Please manage your time carefully as family and work demands will not be accepted as excuses for late or non-submissions. Tutors and administrators do not have the authority to grant extensions.Which of the following file names is acceptable for submitting assignment?
| A．research paper.doc | B．research paper.pdf |
| C．researchpaper.doc | D．researchpaper.rtf |
Students are advised to save an assignment to a specific folder in order to _____.
| A．sign in the system |
| B．remember where the document is |
| C．choose the appropriate application |
| D．remember the document name quickly |
If you summit your assignment late, you _____.
| A．can have a second chance | B．should ask a tutor for help |
| C．may apply for an extension | D．will get a fail for the work |
How long has 3-D technology been around? Most of us might think of crowds of teenagers in a 1950’s movie house watching Bwana Devil in 3-D. But 3-D technology made its first appearance on the scene in 1838 with the first stereoscope(体视镜). And the first actual 3-D movie was a 1903 film called Le Ariveed’un Train.
Although it has such a long history, the technology has still remained based on one simple principle-----to make 3-D effects you must find a way to project two slightly different pictures to each eye. Modern 3-D technology works by rapidly flickering(闪动) two versions of the movie and projecting them onto each eye. The brain does the rest of the work, combining the two pictures together into one and giving the show the appearance of depth, the third dimension.
But does this exposure, especially long exposures, cause harm to the child’s developing brain and visual system? Unfortunately, long-term studies on new flicker digital 3-D technology and children aren’t yet available. We do not know if regular or daily 3-D viewing over years affects the developing visual system, although older 3-D methods basically do the same thing and are not considered harmful.
The question of possible harm in modern 3-D use in TV is really based on two facts: the amount of time children will now be watching 3-D TV each day and the sensitivity some children show in reaction to 3-D viewing. It is difficult to make actual lab studies of longer term 3-D viewing in children because of the possible harm of the experiment. Researchers will have to wait until 3-D TV technology is already in the marketplace for a number of years, then check heavy 3-D TV watchers and compare them with non-watchers.
With a 3-D television technology in the home, we will soon be able to answer the question of whether or not longer and more frequent periods of 3-D exposure cause more changes in the visual system. We may find that the bigger problem is the introduction of a new technology that leads to even more time spent on TV rather than playing outdoors.According to the text, 3-D technology ______
| A．was refused by people when it first appeared. |
| B．will soon change the way we watch TV. |
| C．does no good to our visual system. |
| D．has a history of nearly 200 years. |
Paragraph 2 is mainly about________
| A．how 3-D technology works. |
| B．why 3-D movies are popular |
| C．the history of 3-D technology. |
| D．the influence of 3-D technology. |
What’s the method suggested in paragraph 4?
| A．To wait and see | B．To carry out lab studies |
| C．To stop making 3-D movies | D．To improve 3-D technology |
The author’s purpose in writing the text is to _______
| A．ask children not to watch 3-D movies |
| B．discuss if 3-D viewing is harmful to children. |
| C．introduce the advantages of 3-D technology. |
| D．predict the development of 3-D technology. |
When Lady Gaga releases a new, pleasing and easily remembered single, it quickly goes around the world. Now scientists have discovered the same thing happens with the songs of another creature----the humpback whale. The mammals become absorbed by new tunes just like people do, and the most popular original whale songs spread globally like hit singles.
Male humpback whales are famed for the loud, long and complicated songs they make during the mating season. Each song lasts for 10 to 20 minutes and the males can sing nonstop for 24 hours. At any one time, all the males in a population sing the same song.
But a study shows that this song changes over time and spreads around the oceans. Dr. Ellen Garland of Queensland University, said: “Songs move like cultural communication from one population to another, causing all males to change their song to a new version.”
Researchers recorded songs from six neighboring populations of whales in the Pacific over a decade. They found that new versions of the songs appear over time and always spread from west to east. It takes two years for songs that appear in the waters off Australia to be heard in French Polynesia.
Most of the new songs contain material from the previous year mixed with something new. “ It would be like getting an old Beatles song together with U2,” she said. “ Occasionally they completely throw the current song out of the window and start singing a completely new song”.
Dr. Garland believes that a small number of whales may migrate to other populations carrying the new songs with them, or that they are heard by passing whales.
The researchers suspect whales adopt new songs to make themselves distinct. Dr. Garland said: “ we think this male search for new songs is in the hope of being that little bit different and perhaps more attractive to the opposite sex.”What is the main idea of the text?
| A．The humpback whale likes to hear Lady Gaga’s songs. |
| B．The humpback whale’s tunes sound like Lady Gaga. |
| C．Lady Gaga’s new single gained worldwide popularity. |
| D．The songs of humpback whales can spread globally. |
According to the text, we can learn that_______
| A．humpback whales don’t like living in groups. |
| B．new songs contain nothing that is in the old songs. |
| C．humpback whales in the west change their tunes first. |
| D．female humpback whales can sing loud and long songs. |
According to the text, male humpback whales sing new songs to ______
| A．follow the fashion. |
| B．attract female whales. |
| C．communicate with each other. |
| D．get accepted by another population. |
In which part of the website may the text appear?
| A．News | B．Amusement. |
| C．Education. | D．Health |