W: So how did the meeting go? Did you manage to convince your customers? M: Well, it’s touch and go, I reckon. They seemed quite impressed with what we can offer. The product itself, and the production dates we gave them. W: Well, that sounds promising. You don’t sound very optimistic, though. Question: What seemed to have impressed the man’s customers? His promise. The price of his product. His business strategy. The quality of his product.

How did Greg start fire-walking?Listen to the conversation, mark each question as A, B, C or D according to your listening. W: So, Greg, this is certainly one of the most unusual hobbies I’ve heard of. How did it all start? M: It was in 1977 that I first fire-walked. I was taught by a friend, and was so transformed by the experience, I immediately wanted to share it with as many people as possible. I wondered why no one was teaching fire-walking to the general public, and felt it was a valuable service needing to be offered. For almost seven years, I was the only person on the planet teaching fire-walking classes. W: And have you had any problems teaching it? M: It’s not an easy thing to do, and I should mention that I made many mistakes in those early years, and several dozen people were badly burned. W: What kind of mistakes? M: I used to make the coal beds six to eight inches deep. I soon learned that it was not the amount of coal, or the length of the fire-walk, which created the resulting exuberance and exhilaration people experienced, but rather, it was simply the act of taking one step—one step into an inferno ! Once I realised I could create the same results using safer fire pits which were less deep and much shorter in length, my injury rate dropped to almost zero. W: That’s reassuring—almost zero! And why do you think people don’t get injured? M: In 1978, I began seriously researching fire-walking, and discovered that there really was no definitive theory about the phenomenon. Every published theory contradicted some other published theory. No one could agree on why fire-walkers were not harmed by the glowing, red-hot embers. It then seemed to me that the best way to research fire-walking was to persuade as many people as possible to do it, so as to accumulate a large group that could be observed and studied. Therefore, I took it upon myself to create such a group. It became my personal mission. No one before me had ever embarked on a crusade to convince as many people as possible to step into fire pits containing red-hot coals exceeding 1 ,200 degrees Fahrenheit. W: So, you’re still doing it? M: Yes, all the time. Care to join my group? W: I don’t think so, thanks. I value my feet! He took a fire-walking class. He learned the skill from a friend. He was taught by his father. He got the idea from a book.

The policeman looked me______several times and obviously disliked what he saw. from side to side over and over again round and round up and down

Some useful ideas were suggested while the social committee was______the club’s programme for the coming season. arguing discussing interacting commenting

With the spring here you can______these ski boots till you need them again next winter. do away with give away get rid of put away

______, computer has played an important role in modern life. What is known to all Since it is known As long as it is known As is known to all

The final recommendation was that the employee on probation______a special night class for one semester. would attend attended attends attend

—Mom, can you raise my allowance? —______ —All my friends get bigger allowances than I. [*] Do you think that will work? Have you finished your term paper? Can you come up with a good reason why I should? Would you like to show me how to do it?

—Hello! I’d like to mail this letter, please. —______ —Express. This is a university application form. It’s important that the university receive it by next Friday. Are you sure to mail it today? How would you like to send it? May I help you? What would you advise me to do?

[*] Scientists are particularly interested in the brains of people who speak more than one language【C1】flu______ because that skill is hard to acquire after about age seven. In one of Kuhl’s studies, for example, native Mandarin Chinese speakers spoke Chinese to nine-month-old American babies for twelve sessions over four weeks. Each【C2】______lasted about 25 minutes. At the end of the study, the American babies【C3】res______to Mandarin sounds just as well as Chinese babies. If a child【C4】reg______hears two languages, their brain forms a different pathway for each language. 【C5】How______, once the brain solidifies those electrical language pathways by around age seven, it gets harder to form new ones. By then, a baby’s brain has disposed of, or pruned, all the【C6】______(necessity) connections that the infant was born with. So, if you don’t start learning Spanish or Russian until middle school, you must struggle against years of brain development, and progress can be frustrating. A twelve-year-old’s brain has to work much harder to forget language connections than an infant’s brain does. “We ought to be learning new languages【C7】______ages zero and seven, when the brain does it naturally,“ Kuhl says. For teenagers and adults who want to learn new languages, baby studies may offer some useful tips. For one thing, researchers have found that it is far better for a language learner to talk with people who speak the language than to rely on【C8】______ (educate) CDs and DVDs with recorded conversations. When infants watched someone speaking a foreign language on TV, Kuhl found, they had a completely different【C9】exp______than they did if they watched the same speaker in real life. With real speakers, the babies’ brains lit up with electrical activity when they heard the sounds they had learned. “The babies were looking at the TV, and they seemed mesmerized,“ Kuhl says. Learning, on the other hand, did not【C10】hap______. “There was nothing going on in their brains,“ she says. “Absolutely nothing. “

Driverless trains are a type of train first developed in the 1960s. As the name shows, these trains operate automatically, without a driver. It is believed that any of the earliest driverless trains were first 【M1】______ used to transport passengers on the London Underground system 【M2】______ from 1967. However, these early trains weren’t true ’driverless’ 【M3】______ because they had no operators to open and close the doors. 【M4】______ Modern driverless train systems such as the Dubai Metro have no operators on board. Instead, the system is run through large control 【M5】______ centre. This has hundreds of CCTV camera so that the trains can be 【M6】______ monitored at all times. Using driverless trains can save a lot of money because large numbers of train drivers are no longer need. As well as being cheaper to 【M7】______ run, these train systems are often much less punctual and efficient. 【M8】______ This encourages more commuters to stop use cars in order to get to 【M9】_____ work every morning. If more cities had efficient driverless trains for transporting commuters, there would be less traffic congestion and pollutions in the world. 【M10】______

Walking gives us back our senses. We see, hear, smell the world as we never can when we ride. No matter what vehicle, it is the vehicle that is moving, not ourselves. We are trapped inside its fixed environment, and once we have taken in its sensory aspects—we turn off our perceptions and either go to sleep or open a magazine and begin dozing awake. But when we walk, the environment changes every moment and our senses are continuously being alerted. Around each corner of a city block, around each bend in a country road, there is something new to greet the eyes, the ears, the nose. Even the same walk, the one we may take every day, is never the same from one day to another, from one week and season to another.

【T1】近日，一份关于未来生活的报告称，超级摩天大楼、水下城市和3D打印房屋将在100年内全部成为现实。(be a reality)该报告由一群学者和未来学家们撰写而成。他们表示，不出一个世纪，人们便有望住进向地下延伸至25层的“摩地大楼”。包括未来建筑师、城市规划专家和威斯敏斯特大学讲师在内的学者表示，未来水下将建成一种“泡泡城市”，以使深水成为人类的宜居地。他们还相信，个人无人机将成为一种主要的交通方式，并被当作一种未来派“骡子”，用来载着整个家在世界各地度假旅行。报告合作者、空间科学家玛吉-阿德林-波得克博士说：【T2】“我们今天的生活和100年前相比发生了翻天覆地的变化，互联网彻底改变了我们交流、学习和掌控生活的方式”。(revolutionise) “就在10年前，像这样的技术仍是不可思议的，而如今，我们只需触碰一下智能手机，便可监视、控制我们的生活空间。” [*] 【T3】报告还表示，不仅家里的家具可以3D打印，就连整个房屋都可以复制打印。(not only…but also)而在办公场所，全息图将使虚拟会议成为可能。【T4】3D打印已经在食物上得到了应用，未来这一技术将变得更加智能。(smart)只需几分钟，我们便可从中意的大厨那儿下载菜品，打印即食。如今，商业太空飞行已是惯常之事，愈加智能的房屋也将装上能随情绪变化的LED屏墙面，省去重新装修的需要，人们拓殖月球和火星也必将实现。科学家称，智能手机革命已经引发了智能家居革命。【T5】我们的房屋将变得更加智能，它可以检测各种物质的存在，如人、宠物、烟雾、湿度、灯光和水分，而这还仅仅是个开始。(detect)

What is the finding reported in the news?16. Researchers have found that a substance used in toothpaste could be developed to fight drug-resistant forms of the disease malaria. They say the finding came from a study involving a ’ robot scientist. ’ They say it was programmed with artificial intelligence—the ability to copy human behaviour and make decisions. Scientists from Britain’s Cambridge University reported their findings in the journal Scientific Reports. 17. A huge iceberg, seven times the size of New York City, broke off of Antarctica, scientists said Wednesday. The iceberg that broke away is 5,800-square-kilometers large. It is described as weighing 1 trillion tons. That is about the same volume as the great Lake Erie between Canada and the U. S. Scientists at the University of Swansea in Britain described the iceberg as one of the largest ever recorded. It broke off from the Larsen C ice shelf over the last few days. 18. British Prime Minister Teresa May has officially started the process for Britain to leave the European Union (EU). May sent a letter to European Council President Donald Tusk on Wednesday. The move put Article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon into effect. The treaty is an international agreement on which the EU is based. Article 50 deals with how a member country can withdraw from the organization. May’s letter noted the historic nationwide vote on EU membership last year. It said the British people had not voted to “ harm the European Union or any of the remaining member states. “ 19. Lebanon’s first Oscar-nominated movie and a Chilean picture with a transgender actor are among five finalists for best foreign language film at the 2018 Academy Awards. The winner will receive an Academy Award, also called an Oscar. The 90th Academy Awards ceremony takes place on March 4th in Los Angeles, California. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences presents the best foreign language film award to a movie recorded in a language other than English. All the films under consideration were produced in a country other than the United States. 20. Four Chinese students passed a rigorous final round of face-to-face interviews in Shanghai and stood out in a group of 14 final candidates to earn prestigious Rhodes scholarships for post-graduate study at the University of Oxford. Aiming to educate promising students from around the world, Rhodes scholarships cover all expenses at Oxford, about $ 50,000 per school year. More than 12,000 students worldwide applied for the scholarships this year. A newly discovered function of toothpaste. A new development in artificial intelligence. A substance that can be developed to fight drug-resistant malaria. A newly developed robot scientist that can be used to treat malaria.

The mechanic examined the car engine______but could find nothing wrong with it. altogether exactly thoroughly throughout

You can______your shorthand ability by taking notes in short-hand during lectures. keep keep in keep on keep up

You must remember not to______from the point when you write an essay. revolve go out go off wander

It was a horrible ride through the pouring rain. ______he had a puncture and for the last hour had to push the bicycle. In case Even so In fact To make matter worse

Nowhere but in China______the reforms so clearly, which have surprised us all. have we seen that we saw we have seen that we have seen

A letter of application is a sales letter in which you are both salesperson and product, for the purpose of an application is to attract an employer’s attention and persuade them to grant you an interview. To do this, the letter presents what you can offer the employer, rather than what you want from the job. [*] A letter of application must communicate your ambition and enthusiasm. Yet it must, at the same time, be modest. It should be neither aggressive nor meek: neither pat yourself on the back nor ask for sympathy. It should never express dissatisfaction with a present or former job or employer. And you should avoid discussing your reasons for leaving your last job. Keep in mind the following principles when writing your letter of application: 1. Start by attracting attention. You must say, of course, that you are applying and mention both the specific job and how you heard about it. But try to avoid a mundane opening. Instead of: I would like to apply for the position of legal secretary, which you advertised in the Los Angeles Times of Sunday, August 10... Try something a bit more original: I believe you will find my experiences in the Alameda District Attorney’s office have prepared me well for the position of legal secretary, which you advertised in the Los Angeles Times of Sunday, August 10... 2. Continue by describing your qualifications. Highlight your strengths and achievements and say how they suit you for the job at hand. Provide details and explanations not found on your resume, and refer the reader to the resume for the remaining, less pertinent facts. 3. Assure the employer that you are the person for the job. List verifiable facts that prove you are not exaggerating or lying. Mention the names of any familiar or prominent references you may have. In some way, distinguish yourself from the mass of other qualified applicants. 4. Conclude by requesting an interview. Urge the employer to action by making it easy to contact you. Mention your telephone number and the best hours to reach you, or state that you will call them within a few days. A complete application should contain both a letter of application and a resume. While it is possible to write a letter so complete in detail that a resume seems redundant, it is always most professional to include both. Questions 56 to 60 Complete the following schema with no more than three words according to the passage. [*]

You are seeking a feeling of well-being and “ oneness“ with the car. Don’t let anybody, car expert or not, tell you which car suits you best. On this one, the ball is entirely in your court. Above all, the right car will feel comfortable and easy to handle. Today’s car makers go to great lengths to make their products pleasurable to drive. Do not buy a car you cannot enjoy. [*] 【B1】______It is the only way you can make decent decisions about how the car will fit into your life. Some drivers feel they have to test a car “to its limits“ but this leaves them none the wiser about how the car behaves in normal motoring. 【B2】______It is common for buyers of new cars to drive too little: 50% of Ford Escort buyers do not try the car at all before buying. And too many salesmen regard the test drive as a formality. It is not. You need time to get used to the controls, to decide whether a particular seat will give you backache, to judge if the ventilation suits you. If you are trying a used car, it is far more likely to display hidden gremlins on a lengthy test drive. Certainly. Any experienced car salesman can reel off dozens of examples of people whose pre-conceptions were completely changed after a test drive. 【B3】______That way, you will be discouraged from buying a sports car when an estate is what you really need. Unlike the other phases of car purchase (checking the mechanics, negotiating the price) , car expertise is not needed for test driving. 【B4】______Only on roads you know, will you be able to tell exactly what a car is like, how it copes with bumps, how much effort the steering requires. Yes and no. If the car has the same shape and mechanical specification as the one you are seeking, then the test drive will be valid. If the salesman is simply trying to interest you in a more expensive model, then you should hold out for the car you wanted in the first place, or try another dealer. 【B5】______Car manufacturers actually require their dealers to have demonstration models just to attract private customers such as you. Questions 61—65 Complete the passage with the following sentences. There are two extra sentences that you do not need to use. A. Better to make someone who understands how you will use the car, and will have to travel in it. B. No. Test driving is an essential part of the car-buying process, not a favour the car salesman graciously grants. C. It is also important to get a driving license first. D. Drive at your normal speed. E. Drive on familiar roads, says Andrew Fraenkel, road test editor of Autocar magazine. F. Does it matter if I drive a slightly different model from the one I am interested in? G. Drive for at least half an hour, longer if possible.