12-year-old John Thomas Robertson is a born train fan. "I’ve liked trains probably from the day I was born," he told Good Morning America. "When I was very little," he said, "my grandpa got me a train model. I would just watch it go round for hours and hours."
When Robertson finally had the opportunity to ride on a train, he felt great. His journey was so mind-blowing that he couldn’t keep it to himself: he decided to take all his classmates to go on a ride with him. When he found that some of his classmates couldn’t pay the fare, he collected cans (罐子) and bottles and raised more than $1,000 for them.
That trip was such a happy one that he made it a yearly action. "It never gets boring for some reason; it’s just fun," he said. "It really lets people get away from their busy life and have fun.
Every October, Robertson takes a new group of children to ride on the train —but now, he has a problem. Several disabled children were refused because the train was not accessible (可用的) to disabled people. "He was angry to think that children of his own age couldn’t ride a train," his mother said.
But he wouldn’t say no: he recently sent a letter to the train office for help. To his surprise, the leader, Ty Pennington, accepted the letter in person. He said that he and his workers would work on making a train accessible to disabled people. The first time John Thomas Robertson took a train, ________.
| A．he was frightened by it |
| B．he acted as a driver |
| C．he watched it for hours |
| D．he fell in love with it |
The author says John Thomas Robertson is a born train fan, because he ________.
| A．was greatly attracted to trains since early childhood |
| B．said so in Good Morning America |
| C．took a group of disabled children to travel by train |
| D．was taken to a train the day he was born |
The underlined words "mind-blowing" can be replaced by ________.
| A．important | B．terrible | C．amazing | D．disappointing |
The disabled children were refused to get on the train because _________.
| A．the trains then weren’t accessible to the disabled |
| B．Robertson had not saved enough money for the tickets |
| C．they couldn’t afford the train tickets |
| D．the driver would not allow them to do so |
According to the last paragraph, we can see that Robertson is a ________ child.
| A．helpful and crazy | B．kind and clever |
| C．kind but boring | D．lazy but kind |
In recent years, the price of gas has been rising sharply, and people have made many adjustments.
There was, for a time, considerable unemployment in the auto industry, and three quarters of the garages and service stations have gone out of business. However; the bicycle and motor-scooter business has flourished（兴旺); and many people have found employment there: Now that Federal Motors has brought out its new Lilliput, which travels forty miles on a gallon, the auto business is picking up again. The factories that haven't switched over to two-wheel transportation are working on their new smaller models. There is talk, too, about bringing out new steam and electric automobiles that will be just as economical as the old cars.
In the meantime, streetcars are gradually replacing buses all over the country because of the greater economy of electric power. And many people who have seldom used public transportation are now riding the streetcars while their automobiles rust（生锈）in their garages. There's no market at all for their big, luxurious cars, for only the wealthy can now afford to operate them. Many people are now shopping in their own neighborhood, and small businesses are thriving.
Ministers, educators, and editorial writers are pointing out that there has been a great improvement in family life. Families now stay at home more for their fun, and children and parents are becoming better acquainted. The stores report a booming business in parlor games, hobby materials, books, musical instruments and albums.
People have lost their pale indoor look. The revival of the lost art of walking has brought a healthy pink back to many a cheek. This return to the heels has revolutionized the clothing styles; people now need to be ready for all kinds of weather:
These conditions, however, may not last. Already our clever chemists are at work on new synthetic fuels which, they say, will put us right back where we were一on wheels. Shall we wish them success or not?The following sentences are the results of the gas price rising EXCEPT____________.
| A．More people prefer to travel on public transportation which costs less than driving cars. |
| B．People return to the traditional exercise of walking, which helps them to look healthier. |
| C．People shop in nearby stores without having to drive, so small businesses are increasing. |
| D．The auto industry has been forced to develop new models which are more expensive. |
Which is NOT the effect the rising oil price have on families ?
| A．Family life has improved a lot. |
| B．Children and parents make acquaintances with more people than before. |
| C．Families now stay at home more to have fun. |
| D．Families develop all kinds of hobbies. |
What’s the writer’s opinion to these adjustment？
| A．Objective | B．Supportive |
| C．Ambiguous | D．Indifferent |
What is the main idea of this passage?
| A．This passage mainly shows the chain reactions of the rising gas price |
| B．This passage mainly discusses whether it's necessary to work on new fuels |
| C．This passage mainly warns people not to use too much gasoline |
| D．This passage mainly pictures what life will be like if gas runs out |
China will soon put its first domestically（国内地）developed electric aircraft into mass production, and designers expect a huge market at home and abroad.
"The RX1E is scheduled to receive its airworthiness（耐飞性，适航性，适航）certificate from the Civil Aviation Administration of China before the end of this year, with production expected to start next year," Yang Fengtian, an academic at the Chinese Academy of Engineering told China Daily on Thursday.
"This will be the first electric aircraft to be certified by our civil aviation authority. The success of the plane means China has become a technology leader in this filed," he added.
An electric aircraft runs on electric motors, with electricity coming from fuel cells, solar cells, ultracapacitors, power beaming or batteries.
Most of today's electric aircraft are experimental demonstration models. The first manned, electrically powered flight was made in 1973.
"We plan to reach an annual production of 100 such aircraft within three years, and the construction of a manufacturing plant that can make 100 RX1Es each year has begun in Shenyang," Yang said, adding that the plane, together with a set of batteries, will sell for nearly 1 million yuan ($163,000).
The convenience of use, easy maintenance, low operating costs, high safety levels and eco-friendliness will bring the RX1E many buyers to serve a wide range of purposes, such as police patrols, flight training, entertainment and mapping surveys, he added.
Yang said he expects that the Chinese market will need at least 1,000 RX1Es to meet the demand from general aviation businesses.
With a maximum takeoff weight of 480 kg and a cruise speed of up to 160 kilometers per hour, the RX1E can fly 90 minutes based on a full charging of its batteries.
It is able to carry loads for 230 km and fly at an altitude of nearly 3,000 meters.
Yang said, "In addition to the domestic market,_______________________________________."In which section is this article most likely to be found in a newspaper?
| A．Environment | B．Technology |
| C．Military | D．Travelling |
We can learn from the passage EXCEPT_________.
| A．Both the production of RX1E and construction of plant are yet to start. |
| B．The new electric aircraft has at least five advantages over other aircrafts. |
| C．Production of RX1E for domestic air travelling can be met in 3 years. |
| D．Electricity was not a main source of power for aircrafts before 1971. |
Which option is not the advantage of RX1E according to the passage?
| A．RX1E can utilize different energy source to power the engine. |
| B．RX1E has a big size, thus it can serve multiple purposes. |
| C．RX1E does not cause as much harm to the environment. |
| D．RX1E can be operated and maintained easily at an acceptable price. |
What is Yang most likely talking about in the last paragraph?
| A．Electric aircrafts developed by other countries |
| B．Disadvantages of newly developed electric aircraft |
| C．Other aircrafts currently in domestic market |
| D．Prospects of electric aircraft in foreign markets |
What might be the best title of the passage?
| A．Electric aircrafts are welcome in China and abroad. |
| B．Advantages of newly developed electric aircraft |
| C．Aircrafts currently in domestic market |
| D．First electric plane ready for the production line |
We’re unleashing the five most popular songs in the Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart, for the week ending November 15, 2014.
We don’t get any new songs this week…but things do get shaken up a bit.
It all starts in fifth place, where Jessie J, Ariana Grande, and Nicki Minaj dip a notch with “Bang Bang.” Jessie says she wanted to assemble this lineup for a long time - she says she only met the other two after the song went to number one on iTunes. Jessie also says she wanted to use Nicki five years ago on her debut single, “Do It Like A Dude.”
Taking over fourth place is Maroon 5 with “Animals.” This band has been around for 20 years…but not always under this name. The Los Angeles group formed in 1994 as Kara’s Flowers, and released one album under that name in 1997. Four years later the members re-grouped as Maroon 5, and the rest is chart history.
Holding in third place is Tove Lo with “Habits (Stay High).” Where did that name come from? This Swedish artist’s real name is Ebba Tove Elsa Nillson. “Lo” is Swedish for lynx - a species of wildcat that Tove says she fell in love with as a little girl.
After eight weeks, Meghan Trainor falls off the Hot 100 pedestal: “All About That Bass” falls to second place. Last week, she and Miranda Lambert sang this song at the Country Music Association Awards in Nashville, and Meghan kicks off a headlining North American tour next February in Vancouver, Canada.
Taylor Swift re-takes the Hot 100 title, with "Shake It Off" - giving her three total weeks at the top - but that’s only the beginning of her phenomenal week. Taylor’s 1989 album just opened at number one by selling 1.2 million domestic copies. That’s the largest sales week since The Eminem Show sold 1.3 million copies, way back in 2002.
That’s a wrap for this week, but as you know, the chart is always changing. Come back in seven days for an all-new lineup.What is TRUE according to the passage？
| A．There are many news songs this week. |
| B．The article introduces from the first place song. |
| C．“Do It Like A Dude” is sung by Jessie J, Ariana Grande, and Nicki Minaj. |
| D．“Habits (Stay High)” is sung by a Swedish singer Ebba Tove Elsa Nillson. |
How long has the band Maroon 5 been around under this name?
| A．17. | B．18 | C．20 | D．13 |
We can infer from the passage?
| A．Taylor’s 1989 album created the largest sales. |
| B．The chart is updated every week. |
| C．Meghan kicks off a headlining North American tour next February. |
| D．“All About That Bass” has never taken the Hot 100 title. |
Like many developing countries, Cambodia’s mainly agricultural society is changing fast, driven by urbanization and falling fertility rates. As young workers move to the cities, older people are staying back in the villages, where they have little support.
After Sok Soeun’s husband died 12 years ago, she left her village for the Saravan pagoda in Phnom Penh.
Twenty elderly people - most of them women - live here assisting the monks with Buddhist ceremonies.
In return, attendees donate cash that the women spend on food and medicine.
Although former civil servants and soldiers get a pension, more than 80 percent of Cambodia’s 850,000 elderly did not have formal employment and so do not qualify.
Like 73-year-old Soeun, many are widows and struggle to get by.
“My kids come here every two or three months and give me between 10 and 25 dollars," she said. "It depends - they are poor. But what can I do? It’s my fate. I’ve been at this pagoda for 12 or 13 years. Recently I started getting more ill, and so now I can’t join the religious events.”
Experts want the government to provide geriatric health care and a universal pension.
Annie Nut, an adviser to the non-profit organization HelpAge Cambodia, says such help is critical because of the increased responsibilities carried by many grandparents.
“Because of course when you migrate to the city or to another country it is very difficult - especially as a low-qualified laborer or worker - to bring your own children because their services are very expensive and renting a house is out of the question. So the grandparents have to take care of the grandchildren at home, and they also have to be the guardian of the households and the crops,” said Nut.
HelpAge has, with government support, set up 400 village-level groups to foster volunteer care of the elderly at the community level.
The opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party has proposed a $10 monthly pension and free healthcare for the elderly.
Opposition legislator and former minister of women’s affairs, Mu Sochua, speaks of a moral obligation to help.
“As I say, our culture elevates the elderly. We look up to the elderly - and for what they have gone through with Pol Pot and they have survived, the least the future government of the Cambodia National Rescue Party, the least thing we can do is provide them with that minimum package starting with $10 a month,” said Mu Sochua.
The clock is ticking: a baby boom at the end of the Khmer Rouge’s rule and a declining fertility rate mean that by 2050 the country will have more than 4 million senior citizens - a fivefold increase.Which is not the reason why Cambodia’s Elderly face increasing hardship ?
| A．Many young people go to the urban areas. |
| B．The fertility rates is rising. |
| C．Old people need to support their children. |
| D．Old people are short of help in villages where they remain. |
What is true about Sok Soeun?
| A．She works in the Saravan pagoda in her village. |
| B．Her children come to see her two or three years. |
| C．She is a widow who makes a living by helping the monks with religious events. |
| D．She is not well enough to look after herself. |
According to the passage, what may be the solution to this problem?
| A．Government should decrease the old people’s responsibility. |
| B．Young people should stay at home to support family. |
| C．People should look up to the old who support the family. |
| D．Government should supply free healthcare and a universal pension to the old. |
Why do many grandparents have to attend to their grandchildren?
| A．Grandchildren need to guard the household and the crops. |
| B．It is very difficult to move to the city or another country as a low-qualified laborer or worker. |
| C．The low-qualified workers can’t afford the expenses of raising their children in the city. |
| D．Their services are very expensive and renting a house is out of question. |
第三部分 阅读理解（共20小题;每小题2分,满分40分）
High-tech gadget shows draw throngs of excited consumers each year in the United States, Japan, Europe and the Arabian peninsula. Though many people are already surrounded with all kinds of smart electronic devices, some always need one more -- better and smarter than the previous one.
At electronic shows, visitors flock around the newest tablet computers, cameras, 3D television screens, even small robots, dreaming of taking one home.
Consumers spend hours waiting in lines and spend hundreds of dollars to be among the first to get the latest smart phone.
The modern world seems to be infatuated with shiny expensive objects that keep us connected, help us navigate, record our thoughts and memorable events, and even talk to us. So infatuated, we no longer merely "own" our gadgets -- we have relationships with them, according to clinical psychologist and life transition therapist Francine Lederer.
“It’s a lot easier to have, right, a one-sided relationship with your computer, your phone, than it is with a live person. So that at the end of the day, you don’t need to worry about somebody being angry with you, you don’t need to worry about getting blamed for anything,” she said.
Magical devices
Although having a thousand Facebook friends may be perceived as equivalent to having a thousand real, authentic friendships, Lederer said in reality it is not so.
“It comes down to a lot of the internal stuff. How we feel about ourselves, our own sense of self-esteem, our self-worth, a lot of those things,” she said.
But gadgets are magical. They fascinate us the same way we are intrigued by a magician’s trick, said psychology professor at the University of the South Pacific, Robert Epstein.
“If you don’t know how they’re doing it, that’s very fascinating and intriguing. But if they do it 10 times or 20 times or 100 times, it gets boring and you want something else. That’s why magicians do not repeat the same trick over and over again,” he said.
Plugged in, isolated
Epstein, former editor-in-chief of Psychology Today magazine, said he is concerned that gadgets will take on a life of their own.
“All we’re seeing so far is a little bit of the so-called wearable technology that you might wear on your wrist or in your glasses, but we’re moving very rapidly, whether the public knows it or not, toward real biological interfaces so that the gadgets will be built into us to some extent,” he said.
Lederer said the danger is that our dependence on electronic gadgets is increasingly being perceived as normal.
“I think our society in a way, and the media, often times normalizes the extent to which we use these gadgets and phones, but the reality is, it’s really not healthy for us,” she said.
Scientists predict that gadgets with biological interfaces may be available within the next 20 years and, coupled with strong artificial intelligence, will be much smarter than today.What does the underlined phrases “be infatuated with” mean？
| A．be worried about | B．be used to |
| C．be attached to | D．be popular with |
Why do people like to have relationships with gadgets?
| A．Because they are cleverer. |
| B．Because they will not have burden with the gadgets. |
| C．Because they have no feelings. |
| D．Because they are easier to operate. |
What’s the similarity between gadgets and magicians according to the passage?
| A．They both make people happy. |
| B．We will be bored with them. |
| C．They both cheat people. |
| D．They both don’t use the same trick repeatedly. |
What is Lederer’s opinion?
| A．It’s abnormal for us to rely on electronic gadgets too much. |
| B．Gadgets will take on a life of their own. |
| C．It’s healthy for us to use model electronic gadgets. |
| D．The gadgets will be built into us to some extent. |
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