Feeling blue about the world? “Cheer up,” says science writer Matt Ridley. “The world has never been a better place to live in, and it will keep on getting better both for humans and for nature.”

Ridley calls himself a rational optimist—rational, because he’s carefully weighed the evidence; optimistic, because that evidence shows human progress to be both unavoidable and good. And this is what he’s set out to prove from a unique point of view in his most recent book, The Rational Optimist . He views mankind as grand enterprise that, on the whole, has done little but progress for 100,000 years. He backs his findings with hard facts gathered through years of research.

Here’s how he explains his views.

1）Shopping fuels invention

It is reported that there are more than ten billion different products for sale in London alone. Even allowing for the many people who still live in poverty, our own generation has access to more nutritious food, more convenient transport, bigger houses, better cars, and, of course, more pounds and dollars than any who lived before us. This will continue as long as we use these things to make other things. The more we specialize and exchange, the better off we’ll be.

2) Brilliant advances

One reason we are richer, healthier, taller, cleverer, longer-lived and freer than ever before is that the four most basic human needs—food, clothing, fuel and shelter—have grown a lot cheaper. Take one example. In 1800 a candle providing one hour’s light cost six hours’ work. In the 1880s the same light from an oil lamp took 15 minutes’ work to pay for. In 1950 it was eight seconds. Today it’s half second.

3) Let’s not kill ourselves for climate change

Mitigating(减轻) climate change could prove just as damaging to human welfare as climate change itself. A child that dies from indoor smoke in a village, where the use of fossil-fuel(化石燃料) electricity is forbidden by well- meaning members of green political movements trying to save the world, is just as great a tragedy as a child that dies in a flood caused by climate change. If climate change proves to be mild, but cutting carbon causes real pain, we may well find that we have stopped a nose-bleed by putting a tourniquet(止血带) around our necks.

1.What is the theme of Ridley’s most recent book?

A. Weakness of human nature.

B. Concern about climate change.

C. Importance of practical thinking.

D. Optimism about human progress.

2. How does Ridley look at shopping?

A. It encourages the creation of things.

B. It results in shortage of goods.

C. It demands more fossil fuels.

D. It causes a poverty problem.

3.The candle and lamp example is used to show that__________.

A. oil lamps give off more light than candles

B. shortening working time brings about a happier life.

C. advanced technology helps to produce better candles.

D. increased production rate leads to lower cost of goods.

4. What does the last sentence of the passage imply?

A. Cutting carbon is necessary in spite of the huge cost.

B. Overreaction to climate change may be dangerous.

C. People’s health is closely related to climate change.

D. Careless medical treatment may cause great pain.

5. According to the passage, which of the following statements is True?

A. Matt Ridley doesn’t think the world is a good place to live in.

B. Climate change won’t cause a child’s death.

C. Matt Ridley based his unique point of view on his long-term research.

D. People will have more freedom for the development of the world.

阅读下列应用文及相关信息，并按照要求匹配信息。首先请阅读下列社会研究报告的文章标题及插图：

下面是这些研究报告的主要内容。请把相关的内容与它们的标题匹配起来。

1.Work appears to be taking its toll on the relationship between dads and their families, a new study finds. CareerBuilder’s annual Father’s Day survey found that 22 percent of fathers say their work has negatively affected relationships with their children, while 26 percent believe their job has hurt relationships with significant others．

2.U．S．workers are looking for a little pat on the back，according to a new study．The latest Globoforce Workforce Mood Tracker revealed that more than half of employees would leave their current job to go work for a company that recognized their efforts. The research shows a direct correlation between recognition and retention．

3.It’s lonely at tile top, and CEOs know that better than anyone, according to a new poll．While being a CEO may come with prestige and financial benefits．a study by RHR International, a global executive talent development firm, revealed that the high, ranking position is often accompanied by isolation．

4.While women are doing less housework than they used to. they still take on the brunt of the household cleaning chores. New research indicates that this extra work stresses them out，and that stress worsens when there is salary or gender inequality present in the relationship. Though both men and women spend less time spent on domestic duties, women still take on a large amount of the work, studies show．

5.Saying “thank you” may be a simple way to boost marital happiness，new research suggests. This cycle of appreciation may also make for longer-lasting relationships.” Feeing appreciated by your partner influences how you act in your relationship, and how much you want to stay in that relationship,”study researcher told LiveScience．

【写作内容】

你的笔友George 是英国某动物保护协会的成员，想了解2011年在上海举办的动物运动会的情况。请你根据下表，向他介绍该运动会的相关情况。

参考词汇：海野生动物园 the Shanghai Animal Park 动物运动会 Animal Games

田径赛 track and field 尊严 dignity

【写作要求】只能用5个句子表达全部内容;信件开头和结尾已给出，不计入总句数。

【评分标准】句子结构正确，信息内容完整，篇章连贯

Dear George,

I’m glad to have received your letter, in which you require some information about the Shanghai Animal Games. Here are some details about it.

This is all I know about the animal games. I hope this can be of some help to you.

Yours,

WuJie

阅读下面短文，然后按照要求写一篇150词左右的英语短文。

Social Practice

Social practice has been more and more popular in schools. Senior school students are asked to enter society and get some ideas of it. Surely, social practice has many advantages. Firstly, social practice can offer students a chance to contact society and meet different kinds of people. In this way students can gain some precious social experience, which will be useful to their future career. Secondly, students can apply what they have learned in class to practical work, thus knowing themselves more clearly. Thirdly, social practice can bring them some financial reward and make them more independent of their family.

However, some problems may arise if no correct guidance is made. For example, some students get overly interested in social practice and want to work full-time and earn more money, thus neglecting their studies. And some students are likely to get in touch with the dark side of society, which will affect their future values.

In order to carry out social practice smoothly, students should first know their objective. They should put their studies in the first place and see social practice just as a useful supplement(补充), so they ought to try to strike a balance between social practice and their studies.

【写作内容】

1. 请以约30个词概括上文的内容;

2. 请以约120个词谈谈你对“社会实践”的看法，包括如下要点：

(1) 谈谈社会实践的重要性;

(2) 你或你朋友所经历过的一次社会实践;

(3) 你认为如何协调好学习与社会实践的关系。

【写作要求】

1. 可以用事例或者其他论述方法支持你的观点，也可以参照阅读材料的内容，但不能直 接引用原文句子;

2. 作文中不能出现真实的姓名和学校名称。

【评分标准】 概括准确，语言规范，内容合适，篇章连贯。

The moment happened 30 yours ago but it was still fresh in my memory. I was a college freshman and had  up most of the night before laughing and talking with friends. Now just before my first of the day my eyelids were feeling heavier and heavier and my head was drifting down to my desk to make my textbook a . A few minutes nap（小睡）time before class couldn’t  , I thought.

BOOM! I lifted my head suddenly and my eyes opened wider than saucers. I looked around with my  beating wildly trying to find the cause of the . My young professor was looking at me with a boyish（孩子气的）smile on his face. He had deliberately dropped the textbooks he was carrying onto his desk. “Good morning!”, he said still  . “I am glad to see everyone is awake. Now let’s get started. ”

For the next hour I wasn’t sleepy at all. It wasn’t from the  of my professor’s textbook alarm clock either. It was instead from the fascinating discussion he led. With knowledge and good   he made the material come alive. His insight was full of both wisdom and loving-kindness. And the enthusiasm and joy that he  with were contagious（有感染力的）. I the classroom not only wide awake, but a little smarter and a little better as well.

I learned something far more important than not  in class that day too. I learned that if you are going to do something in this life，do it well，do it with  . What a wonderful place this would be if all of us did our work joyously and well. Don’t sleepwalk（梦游）your way through  then. Wake up! Let your love fill your work. Life is too not to live it well.

1.A. tookB. dividedC. stayed D. put

2.A. classB. testC. taskD. lecture

3.A. platformB. pillow C. carpet D. wall

4.A. benefit B. helpC. lastD. hurt

5.A. heartB. mindC. thoughtD. head

6.A. troubleB. noiseC. failure D. incident

7.A. smilingB. talking C. complainingD. shouting

8.A. soundB. shock C. interruption D. blow

9.A. gestureB. senseC. humor D. design

10.A. taughtB. spread C. combined D. started

11.A. decoratedB. filledC. leftD. entered

12.A. discussingB. speakingC. cheatingD. sleeping

13.A. joyB. speedC. aimD. determination

14.A. workB. lifeC. journeyD. college

15.A. hardB. complexC. shortD. simple

阅读下面短文,按照句子结构的语法性和上下文连贯的要求,在空格处填入一个适当的词或使用括号中词语的正确形式填空,并将答案填写在答案卷上。

Life gets noisier every day and very few people can be free from noise of some sort or another. It doesn’t matter 1. you live — in the middle of a modern city, or a faraway village — the chances 2. you will be disturbed by jet airplanes, transistor radios, oil-powered engines, etc, are almost everywhere. We seem 3. (get) used to noise, too. Some people feel quite lonely 4. background music while they are working.

Scientific tests have shown that total silence can be very 5. (frighten) experience for human beings. 6. , some people enjoy listening to pop music which is very loud, and this can do harm to 7. eardrums (耳鼓). The noise level in some disco is far above the usual safety level for heavy industrial areas.

One recent report about noise and concentration 8. (suggest) that although a lot of people say that any noise disturbs their concentration, 9. really affects their ability to concentrate is a change in the level of noise. It goes on to say that a background noise, 10. doesn’t change too much (music, for example), may even help people to concentrate.

When my family moved to America from a small village in Guangdong, China, we brought not only our luggage, but also our village rules, customs and culture. One of the rules is that young people should always respect elders. Unluckily, this rule led to my very first embarrassment in the United States.

I had a part-time job as a waiter in a Chinese restaurant. One time, when I was serving food to a middle-aged couple, the wife asked me how the food could be served so quickly. I told her that I had made sure they got their food quickly because I always respect the elderly. As soon as I said that, her face showed great displeasure. My manager, who happened to hear what I said, took me aside and gave me a long lecture about how sensitive(敏感) Americans are and how they dislike the description “old”. I then walked back to the table and apologized to the wife. After the couple heard my reason, they understood that the problem was caused by cultural differences, so they laughed and were no longer angry.

In my village in China, people are proud of being old. Not so many people live to be seventy or eighty, and people who reach such an age have the most knowledge and experience. Young people always respect older people because they know they can learn from their rich experience.

However, in the United States, people think “growing old” is a problem since “old” shows that a person is going to retire or that the body is not working well. Here many people try to keep themselves away from growing old by doing exercises or jogging, and women put on makeup, hoping to look young. When I told the couple in the restaurant that I respect the elderly, they got angry because this caused them to feel they had failed to stay young. I had told them something they didn’t want to hear.

After that, I changed the way I had been with older people. It is not that I don’t respect them any more; I still respect them, but now I don’t show my feelings through words.

1.Jack brought the couple their food very fast because[_______________.

A．the manager asked him to do so B．he respected the elderly

C．the couple wanted him to do so D．he wanted more pay

2.When Jack called the couple “elderly”, they became[____________.

A．nervousB．satisfied

C．unhappyD．excited

3.In Jack’s hometown,______________.

A．people dislike being called “old”

B．people are proud of being old

C．many people reach the age of seventy or eighty

D．the elderly are the first to get food in restaurants

4.After this experience, Jack___________.

A．lost his job in the restaurant

B．made friends with the couple

C．no longer respected the elderly

D．changed his way with older people

5.Which of the following is TRUE?

A．The more Jack explained, the angrier the couple got.

B．Jack wanted to show his feelings through words after his experience.

C．The manager went back to the table and apologized to the couple.

D．From this experience, Jack learned more about American culture.

My parents influenced us with the concepts of family, faith and love for one’s motherland when l was young．Even though we struggled to make ends meet, they stressed how fortunate we were to live in a great country with limitless opportunities．

I got my first real job when l was ten．My dad, Benjamin, injured his back working in a cardboard - box factory and was retrained as a hairstylist．He rented space in a little mall and gave his shop the fancy name of Mr．Ben's Coiffure．

The owner of the shopping center gave Dad a discount on his rent for cleaning the parking lot three nights a week, which meant getting up at 3 a.m. to pick up rubbish. Dad used a little machine that looked like a lawn mower．Mom and I emptied rubbish cans and picked up rubbish by hand．It took two to three hours to clean the lot．I'd s1eep in the car on the way home. I did this for two years, but the lessons I learned have lasted a lifetime, I acquired discipline(自制力) and a strong work morality(道德), and learned at an early age the importance of balancing life's competing interests---in my case, school, homework and a job．This really helped during my senior year of high school, when l worked 40 hours a week flipping hamburgers at a fast–food joint while taking a full load of college-prepared courses．The hard work paid off．I attended the U．S．Military Academy and went on to receive graduate degree in law and business from Harvard．Later, I joined a big Los Angeles law firm and was elected to the California state committee．In these jobs and in everything else I’ve done, I have never forgotten those nights in the parking lot．The experience taught me that there is dignity in all work and that if people are working to provide for themselves and their families, that is something we should honor．

1.According to the text, the author thinks .

A．he is lucky to have many chances to get a job

B．it is difficult to find a job to make ends meet

C．his parents are full of complaint about their life

D．it is not acceptable to live in such bad conditions

2. In order to get a discount on rent, .

A．his father had to work as a hairstylist

B．his father had to work in a cardboard - box factory

C．they had to clean the-parking lot three nights a week

D．his father had to pick up litter by hand three hours a day

3.Which of the following is NOT true of the author?

A．He got the graduate degrees from Harvard．

B．He took a college - prep courses at high school．

C．He took a part-time job during his senior year．

D．He regretted having worked in the parking lot．

4.What does the underlined sentence "The hard work paid off" mean?

A．The author got a high pay by working hard．

B．The author complained of the hard work．

C．The effort which he made had no effect．

D．The hard work was worthwhile for the author．

5.We can learn from the text that _

A．it is unimaginable for a child to help his family

B．it is honored to work for one's family as a member

C．it is unnecessary to keep work rules-of behavior

D．the harder the work is, the more interest one shows

Robots industry is developing so rapidly that there is no denying that we may one day find ourselves surrounded by robots.

The humanoid (human like) robots with two legs such as Honda Motor Co. Ltd’s ASIMO would likely have an easier time climbing up stairs inside homes than a robot that moves on wheels, developers say.

But it will be some time before such devices make their way into people’s homes.

“They may look smart, but they are still quite stupid,” Shimoyama said. “I don’t think they will ever be as smart as humans.”

While safety is an obvious concern, robots also need to be sensitive to people’s needs.

Researchers at Fujitsu Frontech Ltd and Fujitsu Laboratories responsible for developing “Enon”, a guide and patrol (巡逻) robot designed for use in shopping malls and corporate facilities (公共场所), are working on this.

Enon, which has a humanoid upper body but no legs, is equipped with a touch screen on its chest and space in its stomach to carry loads weighting up to 10 kg.

In guide mode, it will check a newcomer and approach the person with a nod and a greeting: “Are you a visitor? Hello.”

Visitors requiring directions can point to icons (图标) displayed on Enon’s chest screen. If the restroom icon is pressed, the screen will display a map that shows the way.

The robot will then face and point in the direction of the restroom, although it won’t actually walk the visitor there.

Enon is now in use at four locations in Japan, including a shopping mall near Tokyo. The main goal is to make it more helpful for the elderly.

“People who work in the transportation sector often ask whether we can build a robot that will find elderly people who look lost in train stations, and ask them if they are all right,” said Toshihido Marita, director of Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd’s autonomous system laboratory. “Actually that is hard to do, very hard,” he said.

1.The advantage of Honda Motor Co. Ltd’s ASIMO is that _________.

A. it can do any housework for us

B. it can talk with patients or old people

C. it can climb up stairs as humans

D. it can walk smoothly with its wheels

2. According to Shimoyama, robots _________.

A. can be made to do everything humans do

B. will be made as smart as humans in the future

C. will remain as stupid as before

D. can never compete with humans in intelligence

3.Most important of all, a robot should be made _________ at present.

A. safe and elegant B. safe and functional

C. elegant and cheap D. sensitive and cheap

4.Which of the following statements about “Enon” is NOT true?

A. It can be used as a guide in hospitals.

B. It can help shoppers carry goods selected.

C. It can be used to welcome guests in restaurants.

D. It can be used to stop thieves in malls.

5.Enon is mainly designed to help _________.

A. old people B. mall owners C. tourists or newcomers D. shoppers

My grandfather came from Hungary and was the only one in his family who settled down in the United States. The rest of his family remained in Europe. When World War I broke out, he seemed to have become another man, downhearted. Such obvious change was not born out of concern for his welfare, but out of fear: if his only son, my uncle, had to go to war, it would be cousin fighting against cousin.

One day in 1918, my Uncle Milton received his draft notice. My grandparents were very upset. But my mother, at the age of 10, felt on top of the world about her soldier brother going off to war. Realizing how he was regarded by his little sister and all of her friends, my uncle bought them all service pins, which meant that they had a loved one in the service. All the little girls were delighted.

The moment came when my uncle and the other soldiers, without any training but all in uniforms, boarded the train. The band played and the crowd cheered. Although no one noticed. I’m sure my grandmother had a tear in her eye for the only son. The train slowly pulled out, but not about a thousand yards when it suddenly paused. Everyone stared in wonder as the train slowly returned to the station. There was a dead silence before the doors opened and the men started to step out. Someone shouted, “The war is over!” For a moment, nobody moved, but then the people heard someone bark orders at the soldiers. The men lined up in two lines, walked down the steps, and with the band playing, marched down the street, as returning heroes, to be welcomed home. My mother said it was a great day, but she was just a little disappointed that it didn’t last a tiny bit longer.

1.What the grandfather was most worried about was ______.

A. the spread of the world war

B. the safety of his two cousins

C. a drop in his living standards

D. his relatives killing each other

2.The underlined phrase “draft notice” means “______”.

A. order for army service B. train ticket for Europe

C. letter of rejection D. note of warning

3.What did the “service pins” （in Para. 2） stand for in the eyes of the little girls?

A. Strength.B. Courage.C. Victory.D. Honor.

4.Which of the following words can best describe the ending of the story?

A. Disappointing. B. Unexpected. C. Uncertain. D. Inspiring.

5.Which of the following statements is True according to the passage?

A. The grandfather felt downhearted because he was afraid of receiving a draft notice.

B. The train was traveling fast to the front when the news came that the war was over.

C. None of the soldiers who got on the train for the front line had been trained in advance.

D. Most people including the mother were disappointed that the war didn’t last a bit longer.