coming out with newer models. But what do you do with a serviceable but outdated device? Here’s a guide for figuring out what you might do with last year’s model (or even older ones).
DONATE TO CHARITY
Several charities accept old phones as a donation. But these groups probably won’t physically give your old phones to people in need. Instead, they’ll often sell your phone to recyclers and keep the money which goes towards daily management. Nearly 60 percent of the phones charities collect are resold, according to a recent survey. They will pay for shipping if you are mailing three or more phones.
SELL SELL SELL
Once new models come out, older ones will flood onto eBay and other resale sites. How much money you can make off your old phone depends on the brand and how much wear and tear it’s seen.
The resale site Gazelle, for example, is offering $140 for a Verizon-ready Samsung Galaxy S7 in “good” condition. What does “good” mean? The phone has no cracks on the screen or body, powers on and makes calls, and is free of major scratches. A “perfect” phone that looks like it’s never been used will land you $15 more.
REUSE, REPURPOSE
Even without cellular service, your old phone will be able to get on Wi-Fi, so you can use it to post on Facebook or do pretty much anything else you want provided you are in Wi-Fi range. Keep it for yourself, give it to a broke friend, or load it up with kid-friendly apps and games and hand it down to your children. Or just keep it as a backup in case something horrible happens to your main phone.
56. Why do charities choose to sell a large proportion of their donations? A. Their management has made such a decision.
B. They need the earnings to cover their daily expenses.
C. The donations they have received exceed what they need. D. They can earn more profits without paying for shipping. 57. Which of the following is TRUE about old models?
A. Old models crowd onto online resale sites before new models are launched. B. The better condition old models are in, the higher price they will fetch. C. The old models handed down to your kids should be able to get on Wi-Fi. D. You should always have an old model at hand in case your main phone fails. B
The idea of exploring the past through the human history of a single crop has been around for a while. What is striking about James Walvin’s new book is that, while focusing only on sugar, it does not restrict itself to the past. Rather, the book takes the story of perhaps the most popular crop of all time and brings it disturbingly into the present day.
Walvin begins his research where most of us begin our relationship with the stuff: the sweet shops of childhood memory. If sugar is a guilty pleasure then it is one with which almost every one of us is drunk on a daily basis. The unstoppable march of sugar raises the question: why? After all, sugar cane(甘蔗)is difficult to grow and the processes of refinement and clarification required to produce eatable sugar are time-consuming and expensive. Yet, as Walvin explains, sugar has one enormous temptation: it satisfies our seemingly born desire for sweet tastes, but the satisfaction that sugar provides comes at a terrible cost, both to those who produce it and those who consume it.
Sugar changed world history more profoundly than any other crop. It fuelled the Atlantic slave trade and the African wars. We’re familiar with the story of how millions of enslaved Africans were transported to the Caribbean, the US and Brazil, but the growing global demand for sugar also led to the migrations of other groups. The profitability of sugar production also inspired American producers to ship thousands of poor Indians from their homeland to the Caribbean, South America and Fiji as well as Japanese peasants to plantations in Hawaii. The story of sugar, then, is not just one of changing diets and expanding waistlines, but also one of mass migrations—both forced and voluntary, both familiar and unfamiliar.
Sugar’s story in the 20th and 21st centuries can only be told with reference to the development of American agricultural businesses and the giant food corporations, most notably the Coca-Cola Company. The modern anti-sugar movement is demanding better labelling and the reduction of sugar in foods and drinks targeted at children.
The sugar industry stands today where the tobacco corporations stood in the 1960s, accused of knowingly contributing to a global health crisis and obesity. This is just the latest moral crisis faced by the food giants of the sweet stuff. 58. What can we learn from Paragraph 1?
A. Walvin’s book focuses only on sugar in the past.
B. History of sugar is investigated for its destructive effects. C. Walvin’s book coversstories from the past to the present day. D. A single crop can reflect the whole course of human history.
59. By mentioning migrations of differentgroups, the author aims to ________. A. illustrate the difficulty of sugar cane plantation B. criticize the greed of American sugar producers C. confirm the huge impact of sugar on human history D. explain the reasons for slave trade and African wars
60. What attitude does the author hold towards sugar according to the passage? A. Critical. B. Ambiguous. C. Casual. D. Favorable. C
The most eye-catching part of the government’s recent air-quality strategy is to ban sales of new petrol and diesel cars by 2040. The reason behind the government’s strategy is poor air quality, which is thought to be linked to about 40,000 premature deaths a year.
Client Earth, the campaign group leading the call for reform, has described the ban as “not enough”. It emphasises that clean air zones and sustainable transport infrastructures both work, and can be implemented more quickly. Even so, some argue that the target is too soon. The motor industry, however, does not argue that the cars won’t be ready in time. This is unsurprising, given that Tesla already has an all-electric model, most manufacturers have at least one hybrid (混动汽车)on sale.
The voices of disagreement offer three main arguments: electric vehicles don’t reduce greenhouse gas emissions; we don’t have enough power available; and there are not enough essential materials like lithium(锂)which support most new electric vehicle battery technologies.
The first two arguments are closely related. The problem is not the absolute amount of electric vehicles on the road but when we charge them. The issue is “peak demand”. We design our electricity infrastructure systems to ensure these peaks are covered. Peak demand in the UK is between 5pm and 7pm in winter. This is usually when electricity is at its most “dirty”, as this is
when we need almost all of our generating(发电)capacity, including the old coal plants, diesel back-up generation and gas. Without managed charging, drivers plugging the car in on return from work face using diesel engines and coal-derived power to charge vehicles. Hardly a win for air quality or climate change.
The last problem, material availability, is trickier. Lithium and the rare earth metals used in electric vehicles present problems. It’s not only a question of whether there are enough of these materials, but also their toxicity, convenience of recycling and their geopolitical availability of their supply chains. Much like the issue of peak demand, without strong policy and behavioural and technical advances, we could easily see the rise of global conflict and exploitation around the critical materials for electric mobility.
While a ban on petrol and diesel car sales in 2040 is easily achievable, what really matters is how well the above issues are dealt with. Electric cars do nothing for traffic jams. Their power source needs careful management, and their supply chains may be no less problematic than those of petrochemical fuels. Conversely, they can reduce air pollution and help meet climate change commitments. Like many technical solutions they need strong regulation around them. We should improve our dialogue on electric mobility, seeking clear government policy on energy market integration and strong standards on material sustainability.
61. The underlined word “implemented” in Paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to ________. A. abolished B. conducted C. replaced D. updated 62. What can we infer from the calm reaction from the motor industry? A. All manufacturers have already had at least one electriccar on sale.
B. The motor industry plans to focus on sustainable transport infrastructures. C. The motor industry has already adjusted its products to reduce air pollution. D. The recent air-quality strategy is unrealistic and impossible to follow. 63. According to the author, the best time to get your car charged is ________. A. when “peak demand” ends B. directly after returning from work C. when other people do D. right before moving to work 64. Which of the following best expresses the meaning of the underlined part in Paragraph 6? A. Careful management is likely to address the problems with both types of cars.
B. It seems that currently petrol and diesel cars are more problematic than electric cars. C. Petrol and diesel cars and electric vehicles seem to face the same problems nowadays. D. Currently electric vehicles seem to face more problems than petrol and diesel cars do. D
A story of a young Hemingway who is poor and living in Paris, AMoveable Feast is a novel-cum-memoir(回忆体小说)of the writer. The book is also a tribute to the numerous characters he meets.
Hemingway projects himself to us as a young man. He examines his younger self and his weaknesses, but we also get a sense of homesickness for the struggle and hardship that characterized his introduction into a writer’s life in literature.
The book is often hilariously funny, as well as incredibly touching. The novel is a tour of many of the great figures in modern literary history, and a remarkable recall of their carefree lifestyle.
A Moveable Feast is more a series of anecdotes than any attempt at a rather logic narrative. It moves from subject to subject, creating miniature portraits and taking in the atmosphere of Paris at
the time. Rather than concentrating on himself, Hemingway prefers to point his fiction outwards, examining early friends and acquaintances with breath-taking detail.
The figures which he depicts include Ford Maddox Ford, Ezra Pound, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Gertrude Stein. Stein, in particular, stands out in the book as a grand madam of letters—a great teacher to Hemingway, a distinguished innovator in literature, and just a little bit crazy.
She enjoys the power she projected over people. Hemingway sees her as a self-serving, self-satisfied unpleasant old lady, but he still makes her seem somehow likable.
There is also a series of interesting anecdotes regarding the young F. Scott Fitzgerald and his troubled relationship with his wife. In one anecdote, Hemingway and Fitzgerald go on a road trip.On a particularly lonely evening, they go to a restaurant, where Fitzgerald tells his friend that Fitzgerald’s wife is jealous (and, actually severely mentally ill). She picks away at his confidence so much so that he is frustrated. Fitzgerald asks Hemingway to reassure him.
The book is brilliant for literary gossip, but A Moveable Feast is also an extended meditation (冥想)on Hemingway’s transition to becoming a great writer. He also discusses how he believes writing should be performed. He puts great emphasis on subconscious processes. He sets aside time to work on his stories, does his best not to think about them at other times, and aims at writing truthfully.
Hemingway’s modus operandi(手法)in literature—his plain sentences, his simple structure, his close observation of the ways of the world—are boiled down to one central principle in this book: do your best to write what is true. Hemingway suggests that if that’s the only thing one can do when writing, then you will be well on your way to writing something that is good.
And that is probably the key to the success of A Moveable Feast. I think there is no author that makes you want to write more than Hemingway; every sentence he writes seems to suggest a joy.
In his memoirs, however, he creates a shell around that feeling. He presents a life that, despite its hardships (in the early part of his career he often felt hungry because he wasn’t eating enough), is definitely attractive.
Wandering around the streets of Paris, sitting in cafés with a notebook and a pencil, and attempting to fix the world with words are the meat and bones of this interesting self-portrait. Smart, brilliant, at times incredibly touching, A Moveable Feast is the product of a great master looking back through the mists of time and desperately wishing for a youth that was long past. 65. What can best summarize the feature of Hemingway’s early literary life? A. Reward. B. Struggle. C. Progress. D. Freshness. 66. How did Hemingway develop this book?
A. By organizing events in a rather logic order. B. By centering events around his private life. C. By listing funny stories about different subjects. D. By examining details with his friends.
67. What is special with regard to Gertrude Stein? A. She is crazy about innovation in literature. B. She is usually selfish and sometimes jealous. C. She is generous to give others guidance on literature. D. She is helpful in improving Hemingway’s writing.
68. The principle that Hemingway sticks to in his writing is to ________. A. describe things as they are B. mix up fantasy with facts
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