Have you noticed your life becoming a little easier? Now, when you go to a certain shopping mall, you can enjoy its free Wi-Fi there. When you want to take a taxi, you can book one with your phone. In fact, all these can be seen as the basic parts of a smart city.
The idea of a smart city was brought up by US company IBM in 2010. Generally, a smart city is a city that uses digital technologies such as the Internet to improve city planning, save money and resources, and make our life convenient. How smart can a city be? Here are great examples that we can learn from.
In 2009, Dubuque became the first smart city in the US. The city used smart water meters to take the place of traditional water meters. They can detect（探测〉water waste and leakage（泄漏）and send data to let the house owner know. The same system is used for other city resources like electricity and natural gas. This way, people know how they use their resources and are glad to help reduce waste.
Santander in Spain also gives us a look at the future. If people point a phone toward a nearby bus stop, the phone immediately shows all bus lines that serve the stop as well as their arrival times. The government organized a research team and provided an App（应用程序〉that collects data on almost everything: light, temperature, and the movements of cars and people. Opening the App near a supermarket provides immediate information on special
According to the passage, which of the following is RIGHT?
| A．Digital technologies are used in smart cities. |
| B．An English company first raised the idea of a smart city. |
| C．A smart city is mainly made up of free Wi-Fi and phones. |
| D．A smart city is still an idea and hasn’t come into being. |
The underlined word “convenient” is the closest in meaning to _____.
| A．useful | B．normal |
| C．suitable | D．easy |
Compared to traditional water meters, smart water meters do better in .
| A．cleaning water | B．supplying water |
| C．saving water | D．producing water |
The example of Santander shows the use of smart systems in aspects（方面）EXCEPT _____.
| A．business | B．health care |
| C．traffic controlling | D．public transportation |
What’s the main idea of the passage?
| A．Digital technologies help improve city planning. |
| B．Smart cities will make our future life better and smarter. |
| C．Smart cities are very common in both Dubuque and Santander. |
| D．Spain and the US take the leading position in building smart cities. |
Mom is usually home on Sunday but this week she was going to a big golf game and I was all alone in the house. I was mad at Mom for divorcing Dad.
I kept looking at the telephone until I couldn’t stand it any longer. I picked up the receiver and dialed Dad’s number over in Bakersfield. I even remembered to dial 1 first because it was long distance. “You promised to phone me this week but you didn’t,” I said, feeling I had to talk to him.
“Take it easy, kid,” he said. “I just didn’t get around to it. I was going to call this evening. The week isn’t over yet.”
I thought about that.
“Something on your mind?” he asked.
“I hoped you would call, so I waited and waited.” Then I was sorry I said it.
“There was heavy snow in the morning,” he said, “I had to chain up on highway 80 and lost time.”
I know putting chains on eight big wheels in the snow is no fun．I felt a little better, as long as we were talking. “How is Bandit?” I asked.
There was a funny silence. For a minute I thought the line was dead. Then I knew something must have happened to my dog.
“Well, kid—”, he began. “My name is Leigh!” I almost yelled. “I’m not just some kid you met on the street!”
“Keep your shirt on, Leigh,” he said. “When I had to stop along with some other truckers to put on chains, I left Bandit out of the cab, I thought he would get back … I have sent out a call to CB radio, but I didn’t get an answer yet.” I was about to say I understood when there came the bad part, the really bad part. I heard a boy’s voice say, “Hey, Bill, Mom wants to know when we’re going out to get the pizza?”From the story we know that _______．
| A．Leigh was a deserted boy |
| B．Leigh’s dad never had a rest on Sundays |
| C．Leigh’s dad lived in another city |
| D．Leigh’s mother often went to golf games |
The underlined sentence “Keep your shirt on” probably means “_____” .
| A．Stop talking |
| B．Calm down |
| C．Put on your shirt |
| D．Keep warm |
Who is Bandit?
A. Leigh’s friend B. Leigh’s dog
C. Leigh’s brother D Leigh’s shirtThe worst part in Leigh’s eyes may be that ________．
| A．his dad got remarried |
| B．his parents got divorced |
| C．his dad didn’t love him |
| D．his mom didn’t take him to pizza |
Nearly a quarter-century after a German boy threw a message in a bottle off a ship in the Baltic Sea, he’s received an answer.
A 13-year-old Russian, Daniil Korotkikh, was walking with his parents on a beach when he saw something lying in the sand.
“I saw that bottle and it looked interesting,” Korotkikh told The Associated Press on Tuesday. “it looked like a German beer bottle and there was a message inside. ”
It said, “My name is Frank, and I’m five years old. My dad and I are traveling on a ship to Denmark. If you find this letter, please write back to me, and I will write back to you.” The letter, dated 1987, included an address in the town of Coesfeld.
The boy in the letter, Frank Uesbeck, is now 29. His parents still live at the letter’s address.
The Russian boy and the German man met each other earlier this month through an internet video link. The Russian boy said he did not believe that the bottle actually spent 24 years in the sea. He believed it had been hidden under the sand where he found it for a long time.
Uesbeck was especially happy that he was able to have a positive effect on a life of a young person far away from Germany. “It‘s really a wonderful story,” he said. “And who knows? Perhaps one day we will actually be able to arrange a meeting in person. ”What is this passage mainly about?
| A．Message in a bottle. |
| B．A beautiful beer bottle. |
| C．Traveling on a ship. |
| D．Meeting an old friend. |
When the German boy threw the bottle into the sea, ________________.
| A．he was going back home. |
| B．he was already 29 years old. |
| C．he was walking with his parents on a beach. |
| D．he was traveling to Denmark by ship with his dad. |
According to the text, which of the following statements is TRUE?
| A．Korotkikh’s parents still live in the town of Coesfeld. |
| B．The German boy did not believe that the bottle actually spent 24 years in the sea. |
| C．Frank Uesbeck and Daniil Korotkikh have met each other in person. |
| D．Daniil Korotkikh and Frank Uesbeck have got in touch with each other. |
Why was Uesbeck very happy when he got the information of the 24 years’ beer bottle?
| A．Because he could have a new friend. |
| B．Because the two boys could surf the internet together. |
| C．Because he finally got what he had lost. |
| D．Because he could have a positive influence on a life of a young person. |
A teenager who is preparing to go to high school has probably heard all kinds of different things about high school freshmen from his parents , fiends , or old brothers and sisters. The change from middle school to high school can seem like a frightening experience for teens going into high school , but it is not always so hard as it may seem. Usually , middle school students can get used to high school life within a few months of their freshman year. A few tips for high school freshmen are as follows.
Grades are important . While it is important for a student to try to do his best in school , the grades that he gets in high school are even more important , since they are what colleges will look like when considering his application (申请)for their school .
Classes . The classes a freshman takes throughout his whole high school can help them a lot when he gets ready to go to college or look for a job . Some special classes allow students to get college credits（学分）while they are still in high school in some countries . Most high school classes will have more homework than middle school classes and this can be a hard adjustment (适应) at first .
Being prepared . Middle school classes might not request students to prepare very much before they attend them . But high school teachers will expect students to get everything ready before the class begins .It is also important for students to study for tests and do all homework that is required during class.
Making good choices. Most high school students have more freedom than middle school students, but what a student does with this freedom is very important to his future life for many years after high school is over. Peer pressure（同龄人压力）, while it can be good sometimes, is often a problem with younger teens .It is important for a teen to make good choices throughout his high school career so that he can be successful later on in his life .
High school is a memorable experience for teenagers .They should not be afraid of becoming a freshmen . After studying for a period of time , they will surely enjoy it. The first paragraph mainly tells readers that _________.
| A．It is necessary for teens to worry about something |
| B．there are few differences between high school and middle school |
| C．teens are too worried to go to high school |
| D．It is not so difficult for teens to get used to high school life |
According to the passage , which of the following is right ?
| A．The grades in middle school are not important |
| B．All the classes don’t allow the students to get credits in high school in some countries |
| C．A teenager may hear things about high school from their teachers |
| D．What a teen does with his freedom in high school has nothing to do with his college life. |
What will be considered when a college decides whether to accept a student’s application or not ?
| A．His choice in middle school |
| B．His unforgettable experience in high school |
| C．His grades in high school |
| D．His college credits in high school |
The passage suggests that ________.
| A．The teens don’t always have a problem with peer pressure |
| B．If a teen makes good choices in his high school , he will surely succeed in later life |
| C．The life in high school is less difficult than it looks |
| D．A teen needn’t be worried about his high school life because everything will be exactly the same as before. |
Donald Watson was a man who thought very much about the food he ate. He was born in yorkshire， England , in September 1910. And he died in November 2005, at the age of 95. That is a very great age. Watson explained that it was because he never ate any food from animals.
When he was a boy , Watson stayed on a farm. .He loved to see the animals. He said that they gave so much to people. And all the animals were so friendly. Then , one day , he saw a man killing a pig . He was very sad. . From then on, Watson decided that he would never again eat meat . Twenty years later he decided that he wouldn’t eat anything from animals, such as milk, cheese or eggs. He became vegan (素食主义者).
Watson formed a group called “The Vegan Society”. In its newspaper, The Vegan Society thought it was terrible and wrong to eat food from animals. At first, there were not many people who agreed with him . They thought it was crazy to do it .Most people thought it was too difficult and unhealthy. However, over time , more and more people began to agree with Watson and The Vegan Society.
People become vegans for many reasons. Watson and his friend stopped eating because they loved animals. They believed that it was wrong to hurt another living thing .
Now, people also become vegans for environmental reasons. Keeping animals takes a lot of resources(资源)， including water and food. Also, in some places, people are cutting down trees to create more land for cows. By avoiding food from animals, vegans hope to protect these forest areas.
Finally, just like Watson, some people believe that being a vegan is healthier. They believe that food from animals causes heart problems, a high body weight and many other health problems. We know from the text that Watson __________.
| A．lived a very long life |
| B．refused to eat meat at 20 |
| C．helped kill a pig on a farm |
| D．enjoyed good food very much |
The underlined word “it’ in paragraph 3 means “ ________”.
| A．agreeing with Watson |
| B．publishing a newspaper |
| C．forming “The Vegan Society” |
| D．avoiding all food from animals |
Watson refused to eat meat ______.
| A．because of his love of animals |
| B．because of environmental reasons |
| C．because he had a lot of health problems |
| D．because keeping animals needs lots of resources |
What’s the best title (标题)for the text?
| A．Donald Watson : a new way to eat |
| B．Animal protection in England |
| C．The Vegan Society：a special group |
| D．Healthy eating habits |
You probably know that frogs hop ( 双足跳 ). But did you know that there’s a small frog in the Pacific Northwest that bellyflops（肚子先着水）? It’s called a tailed frog.
Dr.Rick Essner, who has been studying tailed frogs for the past few years, says, “ I’ve looked at thousands of jumps and have never seen them land on their feet like other frogs.” Most of the time, tailed frogs land on their stomachs and then bring their back legs in to prepare for another jump.
Essner forst noticed these frogs because of the way they swim. Other frogs kick both of their back legs at the same time. But when a tailed frog swims, it pushes first with one leg and then the other.
To try to find out why tailed frogs bellyflop, Essner and other scientists collected and filmed different kinds of frogs. They found that all of the frogs start their jumps the same way: they hold out their legs. The change comes in the landing. Tailed frogs can't move their back legs as quickly as other frogs do. Maybe they don’t need to. Tailed frogs live around water and quickly jump into the water to escape danger.
Early frogs developed around watery areas and could jump quickly into the water to escape danger. Scientists think those frogs blended in with (与…融合在一起) the green plants on the side of the rocky rivers, just like today’s tailed frogs. “Ｉwould guess that other animals would have problems detecting them, ” explains Essner. When other animals find those early frogs, the frogs could jump into the river. They didn’t need to continue hopping.
Tailed frogs and other kinds of frogs went their own ways about 200 million years ago. Tailed frogs stayed by rivers. Other kinds of frogs moved to places where new hopping skills allowed them to survive. What’s special about the detailed frog ?
| A．It has a long tail |
| B．It jumps on one foot |
| C．It stars its jump differently |
| D．It lands differently from other frogs. |
Why do tailed frogs bellyflop?
| A．They have never left the water to live . |
| B．They have trouble in holding out their legs |
| C．Their back legs can’t catch up while jumping.. |
| D．Their front legs develop better than the back ones. |
The underlined word “detecting” in Paragraph 5 means “______”.
| A．eating | B．killing |
| C．using | D．discovering |
When they are in danger, the detailed frogs would _________.
| A．jump into the water for protection |
| B．hop around quickly |
| C．hide in the green plants near the river |
| D．jump into the rock |