“I noticed that whenever I ordered a drink at a restaurant, it would usually come with a straw in it, and I don’ I usually need a straw,” he said. “This seemed like a huge waste. Straws are made of oil, a precious and finite resource. Is making single - use plastic straws, which will be used for a matter of minutes before being tossed away, really what we want to do with this resource?”
Cress started asking restaurants in Burlington, Vermont, where he lived at the time, to stop providing straws automatically to customer and make them optional instead. Many agreed and his request made ripples (涟漪) nationwide. The restaurants that make the switch report a reduction in the number of straws they use between 50 and 80%.
The anti - straw sentiment has crossed borders into the UK, where straws have been included in a government plan to ban ail plastic waste by 2042.
Last year large pub chain Wetherspoons announced that it would replace plastic straws with paper alternatives across 900 outlets. After the announcement, many smaller chains and pubs across the country followed suit. According to Wetherspoons CEO John Hutson, the move will save 70 million plastic straws a year and the reaction from patrons has been “very positive”.
Offering alternatives or making plastic straws optional, rather than banning them completely, is a common trait among these campaigns. “There are many other viable alternatives to single - use plastic drinking straws that are less harmful to the environment, wildlife and humans,” said Jackie Nunez, founder of The Last Plastic Straw. 24. What can we learn from Paragraph 1? A. Plastic straws are too costly to produce. B. All plastic straws are dumped into the sea. C. Plastic straws are too small to be recycled. D. Plastic straws cause great pollution.
25. What did Milo Cress ask his local restaurants to do? A. To make plastic straws optional.
B. To stop the use of plastic straws. D. To reject the request for plastic straws.
C. To charge the use of plastic straws.
26. What is the Wetherspoons’ effort to reduce the use of plastic straws? A. To ban the use of plastic straws. C. To offer customers alternatives.
B. To close some of its outlets. D. To seek the government’s support.
27. What is the Wetherspoons customers’ attitude towards the move? A. Uncaring.
B. Favorable.
C
Nowadays there is less and less contact between the old and the young. There are many reasons for this, but the result is the same: increasing numbers of children without grandparents and old people who have no contact with children. And more old people who are lonely and feel use- less, along with more and more families with young children who desperately need more support. It’s a major problem in many societies.
That’s why intergenerational programmes, designed to bring the old and the young together, are growing in popularity all over the world, supported by UNESCO and other local and international organisations. There are examples of successful initiatives all over the world. Using young people to teach IT skills to older people is one obvious example. Using old people as volunteer assistants in schools is another, perhaps reading with children who need extra attention.
One successful scheme in France is combining a residential home for the elderly with a creche/nursery school in the same building. The children and the residents eat lunch together and share activities such as music, painting, gardening and caring for the pets which the residents are encouraged to keep. In the afternoons, the residents enjoy reading or telling stones to the children and, if a child is feeling sad or tired, there is always a kind lap to sit on and a cuddle (依偎). There are trips out and birthday parties too.
The advantages are enormous for everyone concerned. The children are happy because they get a lot more individual attention and respond well because someone has lime, for them. They also learn that old people are not different or frightening in any way. And of course, they see illness and death and learn to accept them. The residents are happy because they feel useful and needed. They are more active and more interested in life when the children are around and they take more interest in their appearance too. And the staff are happy because they see an improvement in the physical and psychological health of the residents and have an army of assistants to help with the children.
28. What is the social problem talked about in Paragraph 1? A. A generation gap.
B. Caring for children. D. The support for the aged. C. Ambiguous.
D. Disapproving.
C. Intergenerational contact.
29. What do the programmes mentioned in Paragraph 2 aim to do?
A. Make the old take care of children. B. Help the old people learn new things. C. Encourage the young to care for the old. D. Increase contact between the old and the young. 30. What is special about the scheme in France? A. Joining an elderly house with a kindergarten. B. Hiring old people as child - care workers. C. Helping children face misfortunes bravely. D. Using children to accompany the old.
31. In which aspect does the scheme benefit the old? A. It builds up their strength.
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 antomobile 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,
B. They live a healthier life. D. They are closer to their relatives.
C. It creates a family atmosphere.
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. C. Drivers.
B. Tech companies. 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. D. To support car companies.
C. To limit the use of digital devices.
34. What is the present - day solution to the conflict between digital devices and driving? A. Teaching people traffic rules. B. Fixing digital devices in cars.
B. Improving self-driving technologies. 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。
How similar are language and music?
Language is part of our daily lives, no matter where we live in the world. 36 Both language and music play a huge role in our culture and here are some of their similarities.
? Both language and music have a writing system.
In English we record language using the alphabet, which is a collection of letters. Similarly, we use notes to keep a record of music. Musicians read notes and create meaning in the form of music. 37 By writing pieces of text or music, we are able to share experiences through time. We can read the ideas or hear the composition of someone who lived hundreds of years ago.
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