happiness in the little things. Julia smiled and said, \make you the happiest are us, right, Mommy?\24.How did Julia probably feel after hearing what her mother said in Paragraph 2? A. Quite satisfied. B. Quite surprised. C. A little confused. D. A little disappointed.
25.Why did the author advise to play beauty shop? A. She decided to relax herself. B. She planned to finish her work. C. She liked the game very much. D. She wanted to keep her promise.
26.What does the underlined sentence “It was a blast!” in Paragraph 4 probably mean? A. It was different. B. It was ordinary. C. It was amazing. D. It was successful.
27.What message does the author intend to convey in this text? A. Family life brings us greatest joy. B. Life is made up of small pleasures. C. Happiness can be gained in little things. D. Little things can make a great difference.
C
To understand how much we rely on ecosystem services, imagine a world where humans are the only species – perhaps in a spaceship far from Earth.
There are no plants releasing oxygen, so you have to engineer a way to make it yourself. So straight away you need a chemical processing plant on board your ship. That same plant will have to make water too.
There is also nothing to eat, so you must artificially make food. You could synthesise(人工合成) chemicals like sugars and fats, but making it delicious would
be extremely hard. As of 2015, we can't even make an artificial burger that everyone finds convincing.
Let's not even get started on the microorganisms(微生物) living in your gut, many of which are beneficial. The point is that, while we could in theory do all these things artificially, it is far easier to let the existing wildlife do them for us. The scale of these ecosystem services, when you add them up, turns out to be extraordinarily large.
In 1997, ecologist Robert Costanza and his colleagues estimated that the ecosystem provides services worth around $33 trillion a year. For comparison, they noted that the entire global economy at the time produced around $18 trillion a year. Five years later, the team took the argument a step further by asking how much we would gain by conserving biodiversity. They concluded that the benefits would outweigh the costs by a factor of 100. In other words, conserving nature is a unbelievably good investment.
By contrast, letting species decline and go extinct looks like a bad move. A 2010 study concluded that unchecked species loss would wipe 18% off global economic output by 2050.
You may perhaps be feeling that all this talk of economics and growth is strange. It's all rather cold and heartless, without any of the love for the natural world that we were talking about earlier. Well, many environmentalists feel the same way. 28.What does the author want to tell us by mentioning an artificial burger in Paragraph 3?
A．Artificial things are similar to natural ones.
B．Artificial things can hardly be the same as natural ones. C．We have a long way to go to develop artificial things. D．We can hardly distinguish artificial things from natural ones. 29.What’s the main problem with doing many things artificially? A． Its high costs. B． Its negative effects. C． Its being difficult.
D． Its being impossible.
30. What factor does the author stress to support his/her statement? A． Political systems. B． Cultural traditions. C． Economic benefits. D． Environmental protection.
31.What’s the author’s purpose of writing the passage? A． To prove the value of biodiversity.
B． To stress the importance of the environment. C． To tell us how the ecosystem works. D． To teach us how to protect the ecosystem.
D
As self — driving cars come closer to being common on American roads, much of the rhetoric (说辞) promoting them has to do with safety. About 40,000 people die on U. S. roads every year, and driver errors are linked to more than 90 percent of crashes. But many of the biggest advocates of autonomous vehicles aren’t car companies looking to improve the safety of their existing products. Huge backing for self - driving technologies is coming from Silicon Valley giants like Google and Apple.
Those of us who have studied the relationship between technology and society tend to look more carefully at the motivations behind any technological push. In this case, it’s clear that in addition to addressing safety concerns, Silicon Valley firms have a strong incentive (动机) to create a new venue for increasing the use of their digital devices. Every minute people spend on their mobile phones provides data - and often money - to tech companies.
At present, digital devices and driving are in conflict: There are serious, often fatal, consequences when drivers use smartphones to talk or to text. Regulators and safety advocates look to resolve dial conflict by banning phone use while driving - as has happened in virtually every state. But the tech companies are taking a different approach. The obvious answer for Silicon Valley is creating an automobile
in which continuous cellphone use no longer poses a threat to anyone.
In recent years, the amount of time adults spend on their mobile devices has grown rapidly. At the moment, it’s around four hours a day for the average adult in the U. S. However, that rapid growth is likely to slow down as people run out of time that ’ s available for them to use their devices. Unless, of course, there’s a new block of time that suddenly opens up. The average American now spends about 48 minutes in a car every day, a sizable opportunity for increased cellphone use.
So as the public conversation around autonomous cars highlights the safety advantages, don’t forget the tech industry ’ s powerful desire for more profits, which goes well beyond simply saving us from ourselves. 32. Who are responsible for most traffic accidents in America?
A. Car companies. B. Tech companies. C. Drivers. D. Self - driving cars. 33. What is Silicon Valley’s motive for promoting self - driving technologies? A. To make more money.
B. To reduce traffic accidents.
C. To limit the use of digital devices. D. To support car companies.
34. What is the present - day solution to the conflict between digital devices and driving?
A. Teaching people traffic rules.
B. Improving self-driving technologies. C. Fixing digital devices in cars. D. Banning phone use while driving.
35. What does the underlined phrase “a new block of time” possibly refer to? A. The working time.
B. People’s spare time.
D. The time spent on mobile devices.
C. The time spent in the car.
第二节(共5小题；每小题2分，满分10分)
根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。
Within the past year an increasing number of firms have poured hundreds of millions
of do11ars to compete to become China’s“Uber for bikes”．On almost every street corner in China’s major cities，bikes of different shapes，sizes，and colors are lined up next to one another．Pedestrians looking for a lift can open their smartphones，unlock a bike parked nearby and jump on for a ride． 36
Mobike can produce 10 million bikes a year．Then there’s ofo，which now claims 10 million users in 33 cities for its bright yellow bikes．And Bluegogo，Xiaoming and around a dozen more copy—cat firms，many of which have started up in the past six months． 37
While Mobike and ofo are easy to use，they’re equally easy to abuse．The“park anywhere”policy is a blessing and a curse(诅咒)． 38 But it also allows riders to park their bikes in remote locations with no nearby foot-traffic．
39 They call on volunteer users to spot and report thrown—away bikes．And they have also hired in-house teams specifically for rounding up the bikes which are placed at random．Big investors are putting in a steady flow of funds to support the ongoing bike-sharing boom．But concern about whether such an investment makes economic sense continue to increase．40 The“blood—making”capacity of the bike-sharing industry still remains to be seen．
A．Riders place their bikes anywhere．
B．The companies seem to take the problem seriously． C．Ofo raised $450 million from a range of investors． D．The industry itself questions if the boom can keep going．
E．These sharing firms have clearly made cycling cool again in China． F．Of course，they need to pay a fee once they arrive at their destination． G.On the one hand it increases the possibility that bikes will be found in neighbourhood.
第三部分 英语知识运用(共两节，满分45分)
第一节 完形填空(共20小题；每小题1．5分，满分30分)
阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项(A、B、C、和D)中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
These days，upcycling(升级改造)is popular with people．They 41 something unique