Chapter1Land and PeopleGreat Britain is the largest island in Europe. It is made up of England, Scotland, and Wales.Together with Northern Ireland, it forms the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern lreland. This is the full name of the country which constitutes all these places. The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, or the United Kingdom, is “the UK" for short. However,most people call the UK ”Britain" or “Great Britain,” and some people simply say “England," which is incorrect and particularly annoys the Scots.According to the 2011 census, the total population of the UK was around 63 million. It is the third-largest in the European Union (behind Germany and France) and the 22nd-largest in the world.The UK is a developed country. According to 2013 statistics it has the sixth-largest national economy in the world (and third-largest in Europe) measured by nominal GDP and eighth-largest in the world (and second-largest in Europe) measured by purchasing power parity (PPP). It was the world's first industrialized country and the world's foremost power during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The UK remains a great power because it still has considerable economic,cultural,military,scientific and political influence internationally.The capital of the UK is London, which is among the world's leading commercial, financial,and cultural centers. Other major cities include Birmingham,Liverpool, and Manchester in England, Belfast and Londonderry in Northern Ireland, Edinburgh and Glasgow in Scotland, and Swansea and Cardiff in Wales.I.Geographical Features1. The UK's Geographical Location and Its SizeThe UK is bordered on the south by the English Channel. It is bordered on the east by the North Sea, and on the west by the Irish Sea and the Atlantic Ocean. The UK's only land border with another nation is between Northern Ireland and Ireland.The UK is separated from the rest of Europe by the English Channel. The English Channel between England and France is quite narrow and the narrowest part is called the Suraits of Dover, which is only 33 km across. In 1985 the British government and the French government decided to build a channel tunnel under the Straits of Dover so that England and France could be joined together by road. After eight years of hard work this channel tunnel, which is called"Chunnel,” was open to traffic in May 1994.The UK covers a total area of 244,110 sq km. lt runs 1,000 km from north to south and extends,at the widest part, about 500 km. So no part of the UK is very far from the coast and it provides a valuable resource. The British coast is long and has good, deep harbors. Sea routes extend far inland, providing cheap transportation.England is the largest, most populous, and wealthiest division of the UK. It makes up 130,400 sq km of the UK's total area.The area of Scotland is 78,800 sq km, the area of Wales is20,800 sq km, and the area of Northern Ireland is 14,100 sq km.This means that England makes up 53.4% of the area of the UK, Scotland 32.3%, Wales 8.5%, and Northern Ireland 5.8%.2.Rivers and LakesSince the UK has a moist climate with much rainfall, it has many rivers and lakes.Rivers in central and eastern Britain tend to flow slowly and steadily all year long because they are fed by the frequent rain. Many have been navigable, and from the earliest times they have served peoples interested in either commerce or invasion. The Highlands act as a divide and determine whether rivers flow west to the Irish Sea or east to the North Sea.Rivers and streams moving westward down from the Highlands tend to be swift and turbulent; rivers flowing eastward tend to be long and gentle, with slowly moving waters.The Thames and the Severn are the longest rivers in Britain and are almost equal in length. The Severn flows south out of the mountains of central Wales to the Bristol Channel at Bristol. It is 354 km long. The Thames,338 km long, flows eastward out of the Cotswold Hills and weaves through the metropolis of London. The Thames provides water to the city of London and is used to carry commercial freight. Other important rivers in England are the Mersey,which enters the Irish Sea at Liverpool; the River Humber on the east coast,into which the Trent River and several other rivers flow; and the Tyne River in northern England,which flows past Newcastle upon Tyne to the North Sea.In Scotland the important rivers are the Clyde and the Forth, which are joined by a canal. The River Clyde flows northwest, past Glasgow, and empties into the Atlantic at the Firth of Clyde. (Firth is the Scottish name for an arm of the sea that serves as the broad estuary of a river.) The River Forth flows eastward into the Firth of Forth, where Edinburgh rises on its south bank.The most important rivers in Northern Ireland are the Lagan, the Bann, and the Foyle.Most of the large lakes in the UK are located in the upland areas of Scotland and northern England,although Lough Neagh in Northern Ireland is the largest lake in the UK. Loch Lomond, on the southwestern edge of the Highlands of Scotland, is the largest on the island of Great Britain, measuring 37 km long and from 1.6 to 8 km ke Windermere is the largest of 15 major lakes in the famous Lake District of northwestern England.It is about 1.6 km wide and more than 16 km long.Ⅱ.Climate1.A Maritime ClimateWhen we say climate we mean the average weather conditions at a certain place over a period of years.We don’t mean the day-to-day weather conditions at a certain place. Though it seems that people are always complaining about the weather in the UK because it is rainy and so changeable and unpredictable,the climate in the UK is in fact a favorable one. The UK has a maritime climate. Winters are mild,not too cold and summers are cool,not too hot.It has a steady reliable rainfall throughout the whole year.It has a small range of temperature.The average temperature in winter in the north is 4—6℃and in summer in the south is 12—17℃.So even in winter one can still see stretches of green grass in the open country,in the parks and round the houses.2.Factors Which Influence the ClimateThe UK is an island country which lies between latitude 50°to 60°north. It lies farther north than even the northernmost par of Heilonjiang Province of China. Compared with other countries of the same latitudes it has a more moderate climate. This is influenced mainly by three factors:(1)The surrounding waters tend to balance the seasonal differences by heating up the land in winter and cooling it off in summer. As the sea heats up and cools off relativelyb slowly it brings warm air in winter and cool air in summer.(2)The prevailing southwest winds or the Westerlies (winds which come from the west) blow over the country all the year round, bringing warm and wet air in winter and keeping the temperatures moderate.(3) The North Atlantic Drift, which is a warm current, passes the western coast of the British Isles and warms them.Since the UK's climate is of the maritime type, it is characterized by cool temperatures, frequent cloudy days and rainstorms. It changes from day to day, and this makes it difficult to forecast. It is so changeable that sometimes one can experience four seasons in the course of a single day. Day may break as a fine spring morning; an hour or so later black clouds may have appeared from nowhere and rain may be pouring down. At midday conditions may really be wintery with the temperatures down to about 8 °C. Then in the Jater atfternoon the sky will be clear, the sun will begin to shine again, and for an hour or two before darkness falls, it will be summer. It has been said that the uncertainty about the weather has had a definite effect upon the Englishman's character. It tends to make him cautious, for example. You may laugh when you see an Englishman going out on a brilliantly sunny morning wearing a raincoat and carrying an umbrella. However, most frequently it comes in drizzles and you don't necessarily need an umbrella.3.RainfallThe UK has a steady reliable rainfall throughout the whole year.The average annual rainfall in the UK is over 1,000 mm. It has 750 mm to 1,250 mm of rainfall along the coast in the east and south except a small area in the southeastern corner of the country which receives less than 750 mm. In the west there is as much as 1,250 mm to 2.000 mm of rainfall and in some areas in the northwest it is over 2,000 mm.The Westerlies blow over the UK all the year round, bringing warm and wet air from the Atlantic Ocean. They rise, climb the highlands and the mountains in the west, become colder and then cause heavy rainfall. There is not so much rainfall in the east because after climbing over the highlands and mountains the air gets warmer and drier when it descends and does not give so much rain.As a result of the rainfall distribution in Britain there is a water surplus in the north and west, and a water deficit in the south and east. Reservoirs have therefore to be built in such highland areas as Central Wales,the Lake District and the Scottish Highlands, so that water can be stored here and then transferred to the more populated and industrial areas of lowland Britain.Generally speaking,the climate in the UK is favorable and equable (neither too hot nor too cold).Extremes of heat or cold, or of drought or prolonged rainfall are rarely experienced. It is estimated that on average about 3-6 cubic meters of rain per person per day fall over the UK. Thisis far more than is needed,but problems still remain. Sometimes there are several months of drought, and at other times too much rain causes flooding. Fog,smog, frost and severe gales are not uncommon and often cause great damage to crops and to people's life. In 1952 the sulphur dioxide in the four-day London smog,an unhealthy atmosphere formed by mixing smoke and dirt with fog, left 4,000 people dead or dying.Since then most cities in the UK have introduced “clean air zones” whereby factories and households are only allowed to burn smokeless fuel.Although the UK does not experience hurricanes, that is,storms with a strong fast wind such as typhoons or cyclones, many areas are subjected to severe gales, especially in winter.III.Plant and Animal Life1.Plant LifeThe mild climate,ample rain, and long growing season in the UK support a great variety of plants,which grow exceptionally well. Most of the UK was once covered with thick,deciduous forests in which oak trees predominated.(Deciduous trees are those that lose their leaves every year.)The impact of centuries of dense human polpulation has massively altered the flora of the UK, and only tiny remnants of these forests remain today.Before they were affected by centuries of clearing and human use, the great oak forests spread over the best soils in Britain. Forests were unable to establish themselves in the poorer soils of the mountains,wetlands,heath,and moorlands.The plants common to these wilder areas are heather,gorse and peat moss.These regions have been altered by heavy grazing of livestock and by controlled burning.Controlled burning creates environments suitable for game birds,which feed on the shoots of the new covered by towns and farmland.The marginal wetlands that remain continue to be threatened by reclamation for farms and homes,and some wetland plant species now grow only in conservation areas.2. Animal LifeBritain has many smaller mammals, and the larger ones tend to be gentle. The only surviving large mammals are red deer, which live in the Scottish Highlands and in Exmoor in southwestern England, and roe deer, foud in the woodlands of Scotland and southern England. At one time boars (wild pigs) and wolves roamed Britain, but they were hunted to extinction.Many smaller mammals inhabit Britain, including foxes,otters, red squirrels, and wildcats. Otters are found mainly in southwestern England and in the Shetland and Orkney islands.The red squirrel, driven out of most of its range by the imported gray squirrel, is now limited mainly to the Isle of Wight and Scotland. Wildcats are found only in parts of Scotland.Bird-watching is a popular national pastime. Britain is home to a large variety of birds, due in lange measure to its position as a focal point of a migratory network.Saltwater fish were once important to Britain's economy. Cod, herring and mackerel are still caught off the coasts of Britain, although quotas are now imposed. Lobster, crab,and other shellfish are caught along inshore waters.IV. People1.Ethnic GroupsFor centuries people have migrated to the British Isles from many parts of the world,some to avoid political or religious persecution, others to find a better way of life or to escape poverty. In historic times migrants from the European mainland joined the indigenous population of Britain during the Roman Empire and during the invasions of the Angles,Saxons,Jutes,Danes,and Normans. The Irish have long made homes in Great Britain.Many Jews arrived in Britain toward the end of the 19th century and in the 1930s. After 1945 large numbers of other European refugees settled in the country. The large immigrant communities from the West Indies and South Asia date from the 1950s and 1960s. There are also substantial groups of Americans, Australians, and Chinese, as well as various other Europeans, such as Greeks, Russians,Poles, Serbs, Estonians, Latvians, Armenians,Turkish Cypriots, Italians, and Spaniards. Beginning in the early 1970s, Ugandan Asians and immigrants from Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Sri Lanka have sought refuge in Britain. People of Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi origin account for more than half of the total ethnic minority population, and people of West Indian origin are the next largest group. The foreign-born element of the population is concentrated in inner-city areas, and more than half live in Greater London.nguagesOf the surviving languages the earliest to arrive in Britain were the two forms of Celtic: the Goidelic (from which Irish, Manx, and Scottish Gaelic derive) and Brythonic (from which the old Cornish language and modern Welsh have developed). Among the contemporary Celtic languages Welsh is the strongest: about one-fifth of the total population of Wales are able to speak it. Scottish Gaelic is strongest among the inhabitants of the islands of the Outer Hebrides and Skye, although it is still heard in the nearby North West Highlands.In Northern Ireland very little Irish is spoken. The last native speakers of Cornish died in the 18th century.The second link with Indo-European is through the ancient Germanic language group, two branches of which, the North Germanic and the West Germanic, were destined to make contributions to the English language. Modern English is derived mainly from the Germanic dialects spoken by the Angles, Saxons, and Jutes (who all arrived in Britain in the 5th century AD) and heavily influenced by the language of the Danes (Vikings), who began raiding the British Isles in about 790 and later colonized parts of northern and eastern England.Under the Norman and Angevin kings, England formed part of a continental empire,and the prolonged connection with France retained by its new rulers and landlords made a deep impression on the English language. Many additions to the English language have been made since the 14th century,but the Normans were the last important linguistic group to enter Britain.3.ReligionThe various Christian denominations in the UK have emerged from schisms that divided the church over the centuries.The greatest of these occurred in England in the 16th century, when Henry VIII rejected the supremacy of the Pope. This break with Rome facilitated the adoption of some Protestant tenets (a principle or belief held by a person) and the founding of the Church of England,still the state church in England,although Roman Catholicism has retained adherents (supporters).In Scotland the Reformation gave rise to the Church of Scotland,which was governed by presbyteries—local bodies composed of ministers and elders—rather than by bishops,as was the case in England.Roman Catholicism in Ireland as a whole was almost undisturbed by theseevents,but in what became Northern Ireland the Anglican and Scottish (Presbyterian) churches had many adherents.The British tradition of religious tolerance has been particularly important since the 1950s, when immigrants began to introduce a great variety of religious beliefs.There are large and growing communities that pactice Islam, Hinduism, and Sikhism.The largest number of Muslims came from Pakistan and Bangladesh.,The lange Sikh and Hindu communities originated in India. There are also many Buddhist groups.4.UrbanizationBy any standard the UK is among the most urbanized of countries. The greatest overall change that accompanied Britain's early industrial development was, in fact, the large-scale urbanization. The increasing percentage of employees in offices and service industries ensures continued urban growth, Of every 10 people in the UK, nine live in towns and more than three of them in one of the country's 10 largest metropolitan areas. The Greater London metropolitan area—the greatest port, the largest center of industry, the most important center of office employment, and the capital city—is by far the largest of these. The need for accommodating business premises (offices) has displaced population from Inner London, and this outward movement, in part, has led to the development of new towns outside the 16-km-wide Green Belt that surrounds London's built-up area.Large metropolitan areas also formed in industrial areas during the 19th and early 20th centuries.Although coalfields or textile manufacture started the initial growth of many of these urban areas, coal mining had virtually ceased in all of them by the end of the 20th century, and heavy industry and textile production had given way to a more diverse form of manufacturing and service activities. Birmingham dominates the extensive built-up area of the West Midlands metropolitan area,but the industrial Black Country—named for its formerly polluted skies and grimy buildings—also has several large and flourishing towns.In Greater Manchester, with a similar number of inhabitants, urbanization accompanied the mechanization of the cotton textile industry. Across the Pennines similar mechanization of wool textiles created the West Yorkshire metropolitan area, with Leeds and Bradford as its twin centers. The metropolitan area of Tyne and Wear (centered on Newcastle upon Tyne) and the Greater Glasgow metropolitan area are also located on coalfields. Greater Glasgow has about one-third of Scotland's people. Merseyside (centered on Liverpool) has traditionally served as a seaport and distribution center for Greater Manchester and the rest of Lancashire.Other large metropolitan areas in Great Britain include South Yorkshire(centered on Sheffield),Nottingham,and Bristol.About one-fifth of Northern Ireland’s people live in Belfast.In addition to these large metropolitan areas,there are many other minor urban areas and large towns,several of which line the coast.With so much urban and suburban concentration, the problems of air,water,and noise pollution have caused much concern in the UK. Clean-air legislation has brought considerable progress in controlling air pollution.Smoke-control areas have been established in most cities and towns, and there has been a shift from coal to cieaner fuels.Pollution of the rivers remains a large problem, particularly in the highly industrialized parts of the UK, but vigilance,research, and control by the National River Authorities and general public concern for the environment are encouraging features of contemporary Britain.5. Population GrowthFrom the 18th century until well into the 19th century, Britain's population soared as the death rate dropped and the birth rate remained high. During this period the total population increased from about 6 million in the 1760s to 26 million in the 1870s. Toward the end of the 19th century and into the 20th century the birth rate stabilized and the death rate remained low. The population took on the characteristics of a modern, developed,and prosperous state. Family size decreased and the median age of the population pared to the rest of the world, the UK has a smaller percentage of younger people and a higher percentage of older people, with more than 20% over the age of 60; those under the age of 15 make up only 13% of the population. Britain's population has been growing slowly, slower than the average for countries in the European Union (EU).6. Migration PatternsBeginning in the 1950s, the immigration of nonwhite(“New Commonwealth") people from such developing nations as India, Pakistan, and the countries of the West Indies became significant, and from 1957 until 1962 there was a net migration gain. Since then restriction on the entry of New Commonwealth citizens has decreased the primary inflow,but dependents of immigrants already in the UK are still admitted. The reasons for restricting entry were in part economic but were also associated with the resistance of the existing population to the new arrivals. Nevertheless, thc UK continues to gain people from the New Commonwealth.Migration within the UK has at times been sizable. Until 1700 the relatively small population was sparsely distributed and largely rural and agricultural, much as it had been in medieval times. From the mid-18th century, scientific and technological innovations created the first modern industrial state.At the same time, agriculture underwent technical and tenurial changes that allowed increased production with a smaller workforce, and revolutionary improvements in transport made the movement of materials and people easier. As a result,by the late 19th century a mainly rural population had largely become a nation of industrial workers and town dwellers.Industry, as well as the urban centers that inevitably grew up around it, concentrated near the coalfields,while the railway network, which grew rapidly ather 1830,enhanced the commercial importance of many towns.The migration of people,especially young people, from the country to industrialized towns took place at an uprecedented rate in the early railway age, and such movements were relatively confined geographically.Migration from agricultural Ireland was an exception, for, when the disastrous potato disease of 1845-1849 led to widespread famine, large numbers moved to Great Britain to become urban workers in Lancashire,Clydeside (the Glasgow region), and London.The rural exodus (a lot of people leaving a place at the same time) went on, but on a greatly reduced scale after 1901.Soon after World War I, new interregional migration flows began when the formerly booming 19th-century industrial and mining districts lost much of their economic momentum. Declining heavy industry in Clydeside, northeastern England, South Wales, and parts of Lancashire and Yorkshire caused a lot of people to lose jobs, and many migrated to the relatively more prosperous Midlands and southern England. This movement of people continued until it was checked by the relatively full employment conditions that occurred soon after the start of World War II.In the 1950s job opportunities in the UK improved with government sponsored diversification of industry, reducing the volume of migration to the south. The decline of certain northern industries—coal mining, shipbuilding, and cotton textiles in particular—had nevertheless reached a critical level by the late 1960s, and the emergence of new growth points in the West Midlands and southeastern England made the drift to the south a continuing feature of British economic life. During the 1960s and 1970s the areas of most rapid growth were East Anglia, the South West, and the East Midlands, partly because of limitations on growth in Greater London and the development of new towns in surrounding areas.During the 1980s the government largely abandoned subsidies for industry and adopted a program of rationalization and privatization. This resulted in the collapse of coal mining and heavy industry in the north and the West Midlands of England and in the Lowlands of Scotland and a similar loss of heavy industry in Northern Ireland, thus creating a wave of migration from these regions to the more prosperous south of England, especially East Anglia,the East Midlands,and the South West.As the economy became stable during the 1990s,migration from Scotland, Northern Ireland, and northern England decreased.While the South East (including Greater London) was the chief destination of external immigrants into Britain, this region, along with the West Midlands, produced a growing internal migration to surrounding regions of England during the 1990s. This pattern reflected a larger trend of migration out of older urban centers throughout Britain to surrounding rural areas and small towns at the end of the 20th century.。
新概念五年级下学期英语阅读理解校外专项练习班级：__________ 姓名：__________1. 阅读理解并判断句子的正误。
Bob Pearson is an old man. He has two big houses and a new car. He has no wife, but he is a father of four children. He has two sons and two daughters. One son is from England. His name is Bill. The other son is from America. His name is Mike. One of his daughters is from China. Her name is Lanlan. The other one is from Japan. Her name is Nikon.Bob Pearson is not the children''s real father, but he loves them very much. The children love their 'father', too. Bob Pearson has many toys for the children. He gives different toys to different children. The boys play with toy cars. The girls play with dolls and toy animals. Bob Pearson is the children''s 'father', and he is their good friend, too.( )（1）Bob Pearson has six children.( )（2）Bob Pearson is a nice young man.( )（3）Nikon is a Japanese girl.( )（4）Bill and Mike are from England.( )（5）Nikon and Lanlan like toy animals.2. 阅读短文，回答问题。
2023~2024学年第一学期初二期中阳光调研试卷英语2023.11注意事项:1.本试卷分第I卷（选择题）和第Ⅱ卷（非选择题）两部分。
满分120分;考试时间100分钟。
2.答题前,考生务必将自己的学校、班级、姓名用0.5毫米黑色签字笔填写在答题卡相对应的位置上,认真填写自己的考试号并用2B铅笔把考试号对应的数字涂黑。
3.答选择题必须用2B铅笔把答题卡上对应题目的答案标号涂黑,答非选择题必须用0.5毫米黑色签字笔写在答题卡指定的位置上,不在答题区域内的答案一律无效,不得用其他笔答题。
第I卷（五大题,共69分）一、听力选择（共20小题;每小题1分,满分20分）A）听对话回答问题本部分共有10道小题,每小题你将听到一段对话,每段对话听两遍。
在听每段对话前,你将有5秒钟的时间阅读题目:听完后,你还有5秒钟的时间从题中所给的A、B、C三个选项中选出最佳选项。
1.What do the students do after school?2.What is Tom good at?3.Where did the woman go yesterday?4.What does Tom look like?A.Tall with small eyes.B.Short with small eyes.C.Tall with big eyes.5.What are the speakers mainly talking about?A.The school clubs.B.The football club.C.The tennis club.6.Where was the girl yesterday afternoon?A.In the park.B.At school.C.At home.7.What are they talking about?A.A play.B.A trip.C.A photo.8.How did the woman come back?A.By bike.B.On foot.C.By car.9.What is the woman's advice?A.To ask Nancy for help.B.To join a DIY club.C.To finish his homework.10.What will the girl do this weekend?A.See a film.B.Practice playing football.C.Stay at home.B）听对话和短文答题你将听到一段对话和两篇短文,对话和短文各听两遍。
2023Section I Use of EnglishDirections:Read thefollowing text.Choose the best word(s)for each numbered blank and mark A,B,C or D on the ANSWER SHEET.(10 points)It’s not difficult to set targets for staff. It is much harder, 1 ,to understand their negative consequences.Most work-related behaviors have multiple components. 2 one and the others become distorted.Travel on a London bus and you’ll 3 see how this works with drivers.Watch people get on and show their tickets.Are they carefully inspected? Never. Do people get on without paying? Of course! Are there inspectors to 4 that people have paid? Possibly, but very few. And people who run for the bus? They are 5 . How about jumping lights? Buses do so almost as frequently as cyclists.Why? Because the target is 6 . People complained that buses were late and infrequent. 7 , the number of buses and bus lanes were increased, and drivers were 8 or punished according to the time they took. And drivers hit these targets. But they 9 hit cyclists. If the target was changed to 10 , you would have more inspectors and moresensitive pricing.If the criterion changed to safety,you would get more 11 drivers who obeyed traffic laws. But both these criteria would be at the expense of time.There is another 12 : people became immensely inventive in hitting targets. Have you 13 that you can leave on a flight an hour late but still arrive on time? Tailwinds? Of course not! Airlines have simply changed the time a 14 is meant to take. A one-hour flight is now ballad as a two-hour flight.The 15 of the story is simple. Most jobs are multidimensional, with multiple criteria. Choose one criterion and you may well 16 others.Everything Can be done faster and made cheaper,but there is a 17 Setting targets can and does have unforeseen negative consequences.This is not an argument against target-setting.But it is an argument for exploring consequences first.All good targets should have multiple criteria 18 critical factors such as time, money, quality and customer feedback. The trick is not only to 19 just one or even two dimensions of the objective, but also to understand how to help people better 20 the objective.1. [A] Some [B] Most [C] Few [D] All2 ．[A] put [B] take [C] run [D] come3 ．[A] Since [B] If [C] Though [D] Until4 ．[A] formally [B] relatively [C] gradually [D] literally5 ．[A] back [B] next [C] around [D] away6 ．[A] onto [B] off [C] across [D] alone7 ．[A] unattractive [B] uncrowded [C] unchanged [D] unfamiliar8 ．[A] site9 ．[A] So 10．[A] immediately 11．[A] surprised 12．[A] problem 13．[A] Above all 14．[A] bridge 15．[A] form 16．[A] posts17 ．[A] artificial 18．[A] Finally 19．[A] memories 20．[A] restrict [B] point[B] Yet[B] intentionally[B] annoyed[B]option[B] In contrast[B] avoid[B] through[B] links[B] mysterious[B] Consequently[B] marks[B] adopt[C] way[C] Instead[C]unexpectedly[C] frightened[C] view[C] On average[C] spot[C] beyond[C] shades[C] hidden[C]incidentally[C] notes[C] lead[D] place[D] Besides[D] eventually[D] confused[D] result[D] For example[D] separate[D] under[D] breaks[D] limited[D] Generally[D] belongings[D] exposeSection II Reading ComprehensionPart ADirections:Read thefollowingfour texts.Answer the questions below each text by choosing A,B,C or D.Mark your answers on the ANSWER SHEET.(40points)Text2Communities throughout New England have been attemptingto regulate short-term rentals since sites like Airbnb took off in the2010s. Now with record-high home prices and historically low inventory,there’s an increased urgency in such regulation,particularly among those whoworry that developers will come in and buy up swaths of housing to flip for a fortune on the short-term rental market.In New Hampshire,where the rental vacancy rate has dropped below 1percent,housing advocates fear unchecked short-term rentals will put further pressure on an already strained market. The State Legislature recently voted against a bill that would’ve made it illegal for towns to create legislation restricting short-term rentals.“We are at a crisis level on the supply of rental housing,”said Nick Taylor, executive director of the Workforce Housing Coalition of the Greater Seacoast. Without enough affordable housing in southern New Hampshire towns,“ employers are having a hard time attracting employees, and workers are having a hard time finding a place to live,” Taylor said.However, short-term rentals also provide housing for tourists, pointed out Ryan Castle,CEO of a local association of realter.“A lot of workers are servicing the tourist industry,and the tourism industry is serviced by those people coming in short term,”Castle said,“and so it’s a cyclical effect.”Short-term rentals themselves are not the crux of the issue, said Keren Horn,an expert on affordable housing policy.“I think individuals being able to rent out their second home is a good thing.If it’s their vacation home anyway,and it’s just empty,why can’t you make money off it?”Horn said. Issues arise, however, when developers attempt to create large-scale short-term rental facilities— de facto hotels — to bypass taxesand regulations. “I think the question is, shouldn’t a developer who’s really building a hotel,but disguising it as not a hotel,be treated and taxed and regulated like a hotel?” Horn said.At the end of 2018, governor Charlie Baker of Massachusetts signed a bill to rein in those potential investor-buyers. The bill requires every rental host to register with the state mandates they carry insurance, and opens the potential for local taxes on top of a new state levy. Boston took things even further,requiring renters to register with the city’s Inspectional Services Department.Horn said similar registration requirements could benefit struggling cities and towns, but “if we want to make a change in the housing market, the main one is we have to build a lot more.”26. Which of the following is true of New England?A. Its housing supply is at a very low level.B. Its communities are in need of funding.C. Its rental vacancy rate is going up slowlyD. Its home prices are under strict control.27. The bill mentioned in Paragraph 2 was intended toA. curb short-term rental speculation.B. ensure the supply of cheap housing.C. punish illegal dealings in housing.D. allow a free short-term rental market.28. Compared with Castle, Taylor is more likely to supportA. further investment in local tourism.B. an increase in affordable housing.C. strict management of real estate agents.D. a favorable policy for short-term workers.29. What does Horn emphasize in Paragraph 5?A. The urgency to upgrade short-term rental facilities.B. The efficient operation of the local housing market.C. The necessity to stop developers from evading taxes.D. The proper procedures for renting out spare houses.30. Horn holds that imposing registration requirements isA. an irrational decision.B. an unfeasible proposal.C. an unnecessary measure.D. an inadequate solution.Text3If you’re heading for your nearest branch of Waterstones,the biggest book retailer in the UK, in search of the Duchess of Sussex’s new children’s book The Bench, you might have to be prepared to hunt around a bit, the same may be true of The President’s Daughter, the new thriller by Bill Clinton and James Patterson.Both of these books are published next week by Penguin Random House(PRH), a company currently involved in a stand-offwith Waterstones.The problem began late last year,when PRH confirmed that it had introduced a credit limit with Waterstones “at a very significant level”. The trade magazine The Bookseller reported that Waterstones branch managers were being told to remove PRH books from prominent areas such as tables, display spaces and windows, and were“ quietly retiring them to their relevant sections” .PRH declined to comment on the issue, but a spokesperson for Waterstones told me:“Waterstones are currently operating with reduced credit terms from PRH, the only publisher in the UK to place any limitations on our ability to trade. We are not boycotting PRH titles but we are doing our utmost to ensure that availability for customers remains good despite the lower overall levels of stock.We are hopeful with our shops now open again that normality will return and that we will be allowed to buy appropriately.Certainly,our shops are exceptionally busy.The sales for our May Books of the Month surpassed any month since 2018.”In the meantime,PRH authors have been the losers.Big-name PRH authors may suffer a bit, but it’s those mid-list authors, who normally rely on Waterstones staff’s passion for promoting books by lesser-known writers, who will be praying for an end to the dispute.It comes at a time when authors are already worried about the consequences of the proposed merger between PRH and another big publisher,Simon &Schuster—the reduction in the number of unaligned UK publishers is likely to lead to fewer bidding wars, lower advances, and more conformity in terms of what is published.“This is all part of a wider change towards concentration of power,”says literary agent Andrew Lownie.“The publishing industry talks about diversity in terms of authors and staff but it also needs a plurality of ways of delivering intellectual contact, choice and different voices. After all, many of the most interesting books in recent years have come from small publishers.”We shall see whether that plurality is a casualty of the current need among publishers to be big enough to take on all-comers.31. The author mentions two books in Paragraph 1 to presentA. an ongoing conflict.B. an intellectual concept.C. a prevailing sentiment.D. a literary phenomenon.32. Why did Waterstones shops retire PRH books to their relevant sections?A. To make them easily noticeable.B. To comply with PRH’s requirement.C. To respond to PRH’s business move.D. To arrange them in a systematic way.33. What message does the spokesperson for Waterstones seem to convey?A. Their customers remain loyal.B. The credit limit will be removed.C. Their stock is underestimated.D. The book market is rather slack.34.What can be one consequence of the current dispute?A. Sales of books by mid-list PRH writers fall off considerably.B. Lesser-known PRH writers become the target of criticism.C. Waterstones staff hesitate to promote big-name authors’ books.D. Waterstones branches suffer a severe reduction in revenue.35. Which of the following statements best represents Lownie’s view?A. Small publishers ought to stick together.B. Big publishers will lose their dominance.C. The publishing industry is having a hard time.D. The merger of publishers is a worrying trend.Text4Scientific papers are the recordkeepers of progress in research.Each year researchers publish millions of papers in more than 30,000journals. The scientific community measures the quality of those papers in a number of ways,including the perceived quality of the journal (as reflected by the title’s impact factor) andthe number of citations a specific paper accumulates. The careers of scientists and the reputation of their institutions depend on the number and prestige of the papers they produce,but even more so on the citations attracted by these papers.Citation cartels,where journals,authors,and institutions conspire to inflate citation numbers, have existed for a long time. In 2016, researchers developed an algorithm to recognize suspicious citation patterns,including groups of authors that disproportionately cite one another and groups of journals that cite each other frequently to increase the impact factors of their publications.Recently,another expression of this predatory behavior has emerged:so-called support service consultancies that provide languageand other editorial support to individual authors and to journals sometimes advise contributors to add a number of citations to their articles.The advent of electronic publishing and authors’need to find outlets for their papers resulted in thousands of new journals. The birth of predatory journals wasn’t far behind.These journals can act as milk cows where every single article in an issue may cite a specific paper or a series of papers.In some instances,there is absolutely no relationship between the content of the article and the citations.The peculiar part is that the journal that the editor is supposedly working for is not profiting at all — it is just providing citations to other journals.Such practices can lead an article to accrue more than 150 citations in the same year that it was published.How insidious is this type of citation manipulation?In one example, an individual - acting as author, editor, and consultant - was able to use at least 15 journals as citation providers to articles published by five scientists at three universities. The problem is rampant in Scopus, a citation database, which includes a high number of the new “international” journals. In fact, a listing in Scopus seems to be a criterion to be targeted in this type of citation manipulation.Scopus itself has all the data necessary to detect this malpractice. Red flags include a large number of citations to an article within the first year. And for authors who wish to steer clear of citation cartel activities:whenan editor, a reviewer,or a support service asks you to add inappropriate references, do not oblige and do report the request to the journal.36.According to Paragraph 1,the careers of scientists can be determined by________.[A] how many citations their works contain.[B] how many times their papers are cited.[C] the prestige of the people they work with.[D] the status they have in scientific circles.37. The support service consultancies tend to________.[A] recommend journals to their clients.[B] list citation patterns their clients.[C] ask authors to include extra citations.[D] advise contributors to cite each other.38. The Function of the “milk cow” journals is to________.[A] boost citation counts for certain authors.[B] help scholars publish articles at low cost.[C] instruct First-time contributors in citation.[D] increase the readership of new journals.39. What can be learned about Scopus from the last two paragraphs?[A] It Fosters competition among citation providers.[B] It has the capability to identify suspicious citations.[C] It hinders the growth of “international” journals.[D] It is established to prevent citation manipulation.40. What should an author do to deal with citation manipulators?[A] Take legal action.[B] Demand an apology.[C] Seek professional advice[D] Reveal their misconduct.Part CDirections:Read the following text carefully and then translate the underlined segments into Chinese.Write your answers on the ANSWER SHEET.(10points)46.AI can also be used to identify the lifestyles choices of customers regarding their hobbies, favorite celebrities, and fashions to provide unique content in marketing messages put out through social media.47.Some believe that AI is negatively impacting on the marketer's roleby reducing creativity and removing jobs,but they are aware that it is a way of reducing costs and creating new information.48.Algorithms used to simulate human interactions are creating many of those concerns,especially as no-one is quite sure what the outcomes of using AI to interact with customers will be.49.If customers are not willing to share data,AI will be starved of essential information and will not be able to function effectively or employ machine learning to improve its marketing content and communication.50.The non-intrusive delivery of the marketing message in a way that is sensitive to the needs of target customers is one of the critical challenges to the digital marketer.Section III WritingPart A51.Write a notice to recruit a student for Prof. Smith’s research project on campus sports activities. Specify the duties and requirements of the job.Write your answer about 100 words on the ANSWER SHEET.Do not use your own name in the notice; use “Li Ming”instead.(10 points)Part B52.Directions:Write an essay of 160-200 words based on the picture below. In your essay you should1) describe the picture briefly,2) interpret the implied meaning, and3) give your comments.You should write neatly on the ANSWER SHEET. (20 points)。
