People aged 75 and over spend more time on reading per weekend day than teenagers do.

A different and not mutually exclusive ___3___ holds that the future will be a wasteland of a different sort ，one ___4___by purposelessness：Without jobs to give their lives ___5___ ，people will simply become lazy and depressed. ___6___today’s unemployed don ’t seem to be having a great time. One Gallup poll found that 20 percent of Americanswho have been unemployed for at least a year report having depression，double the rate for ___7___ Americans. Also，some research suggests that the ___8___ for rising rates of mortality，mental-health problems，and addicting___9___poorly-educated middle-aged people is shortage of well-paid jobs. Perhaps this is why many ___10___ the agonizingdullness of a jobless future.

But it doesn ’t ___11___ follow from findings like these that a world without work would be filled with unease. Such visions are based on the ___12___ of being unemployed in a society built on the concept of employment. Inthe ___13___ of work，a society designed with other ends in mind could ___14___ strikingly different circumstances for thefuture of labor and leisure. Today，the ___15___ of work may be a bit overblown. “Many jobs are boring ，degrading，unhealthy，and a waste of human potential，” says John Danaher ，a lecturer at the National University of Irelandin Galway.

These days，because leisure time is relatively ___16___ for most workers，people use their free time tocounterbalance the intellectual and emotional ___17___ of their jobs. “When I come home from a hard day ’s work ，Ioften feel ___18___ ，” Danaher says，adding，“In a world in which I don’t have to work，I might feel ratherdifferent ”— perhaps different enough to throw himself ___19___ a hobby or a passion project with the intensity usuallyreserved for ___20___ matters.

1____

A.boasting

B.denying

C.warning

D.ensuring

2A.inequality

B.instability

C.unreliability

D.uncertainty

3A.policy

B.guideline

C.resolution

D.prediction

7A.rich

B.urban

C.educated

D.working

14A.disturb

B.restore

C.exclude

D.yield

16A.tricky

B.lengthy

C.mysterious

D.scarce

19A.off

B.against

C.behind

D.into

20A.technological

B.professional

C.educational

D.interpersonal

4A.characterized

B.divided

C.balanced

D.measured

17A.demands

B.standards

C.qualities

D.threats

5A.wisdom

B.meaning

C.glory

D.freedom

15A.model

B.practice

C.virtue

D.hardship

9A.under

B.beyond

C.alongside

D.among

18A.ignored

B.tired

C.confused

D.starved

6A.Instead

B.Indeed

C.Thus

D.Nevertheless

8A.explanation

B.requirement

C.compensation

D.substitute

13A.absence

B.height

C.face

D.course

10A.leave behind

B.make up

C.worry about

D.set aside

11A.statistically

B.occasionally

C.necessarily

D.economically

12A.chances

B.downsides

C.benefits

D.principles

The long summer holidays are finally over and some parents are pleased.“We worry more about their safety in the holidays,” explains one mother from North London.If teenagers are not wandering around on public transport in a big and potentially dangerous city, they are chatting to strangers in an internet chat room! Well, that’s an extreme picture of the UK toda y, but many parents are worried about how much freedom they can give their children during the holidays and at weekends.

Weekends are not the only time to worry! Newspaper are full of stories about too many school kids going to school by car because t heir parents do not want them to travel alone on a bus or train.This summer there were more frightening stories of teenagers disappearing with questionable friends that they met on the net.All the Media stories help increase parents fears, but is the UK really so dangerous?

Many young people feel that life for their parents was easier.In the 1960s young people played in the streets more and traveled around town without their parents.“At least our parents can keep tabs on us,” says 16-year-old Julia.“So many people have mobile phones now and their parents ring to find out where they are.I use my mobile to get Dad to come to the station when I arrive late.” Mobiles are not just expensive toys; they help keep young people safe.Most significantly, th ey help keep young people safe.Most significantly, they make parents feel better.Only one problem is, though, that some young people have been attacked by thieves who want to steal their mobile phones.

Young people like going out with friends, but t hey now need to learn how to get home safely.Five million young people in the UK between the ages of 9 to 16 use chat rooms to make friends, but they, too, need to be careful and never give their personal details to a stranger.Young people today have mor e opportunities to meet new people and go out at night more than their parents ever did.Now school, television programs and newspapers must help teenagers to enjoy their freedom and to be responsible for their own safety.

6.Some parents are upset about the summer holidays mainly because their children().

A.wander around on bus in the city

B.chat to strangers in Internet chat rooms

C.make questionable friends on the net

D.are taken little care of by teachers

7.For the sake of the safety, many parents send their kids to school ().

A.by car

B.by bus

C.by train

D.by public transport

8.Most significantly, mobile phones ().

A.enable parents keep a close watch on their kids

B.help keep teenagers safe

C.make parents feel less worried

D.protect teenagers from being attacked

9.Teenagers should never give any strangers ().

A.their mobile phone numbers

B.their family address

C.their personal information

D.their parents'names

10.This passage is mainly about ().

A.freedom for teenagers in summer holidays

B.safety for teenagers in summer holidays

C.activities for teenagers in summer holidays

D.troubles for teenagers in summer holidays

A、they grant microcredentials

B、they grant nanodegrees

C、they run long programmes about some very specific knowledge or skills

D、they veered away from lectures on Plato or black holes in favor of courses that make their students more employable

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 26-40 which are based on Reading Passage 3 below.

HIGHS & LOWS

Hormone levels - and hence our moods - may be affected by the weather. Gloomy weather can cause depression, but sun shine appears to raise the spirits. In Britain, for example, the dull weather of winter drastically cuts down the amount of sunlight that is experienced which strongly affects some people. They become so depressed and lacking in energy that their work and social life are affected. This condition has been given the name SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder). Sufferers can fight back by making the most of any sunlight in winter and by spending a few hours each day under special, full-spectrum lamps. These provide more ultraviolet and blue green light than ordinary fluorescent and tungsten lights. Some Russian scientists claim that children learn better after being exposed to ultraviolet light. In warm countries, hours of work are often arranged so that workers can take a break, or even a siesta, during the hottest part of the day. Scientists are working to discover the links between the weather and human beings' moods and performance.

It is generally believed that tempers grow shorter in hot, muggy weather. There is no doubt that 'crimes against the person' rise in the summer, when the weather is hotter and fall in the winter when the weather is colder. Research in the United States has shown a relation- ship between temperature and street riots. The frequency of riots rises dramatically as the weather gets warmer, hitting a peak around 27-30℃. But is this effect really due to a mood change caused by the heat？ Some scientists argue that trouble starts more often in hot weather merely because there are more people in the street when the weather is good.

Psychologists have also studied how being cold affects performance. Re searchers compared divers working in icy cold water at 5℃ with others in water at 20℃ (about swimming pool tempera ture). The colder water made the divers worse at simple arithmetic and other mental tasks. But significantly, their performance was impaired as soon as they were put into the cold water - before their bodies had time to cool down. This suggests that the low temperature did not slow down mental functioning directly, but the feeling of cold distracted the divers from their tasks.

Psychologists have conducted studies showing that people become less sceptical and more optimistic when the weather is sunny. However, this apparently does not just depend on the temperature. An American psychologist studied customers in a temperature-controlled restaurant. They gave bigger tips when the sun was shining and smaller tips when it wasn't, even though the temperature in the restaurant was the same. A link between weather and mood is made believable by the evidence for a connection between behaviour and the length of the daylight hours. This in turn might involve the level of a hormone called melatonin, produced in the pineal gland in the brain. The amount of melatonin falls with greater exposure to daylight. Research shows that melatonin plays an important part in the seasonal behaviour of certain animals. For example, food con sumption of stags increases during the winter, reaching a peak in February/ March. It falls again to a low point in May, then rises to a peak in September, before dropping to another minimum in November. These changes seem to be trig gered by varying melatonin levels.

In the laboratory, hamsters put on more weight when the nights are getting shorter and their melatonin levels are falling. On the other hand, if they are given injections of melatonin, they will stop eating altogether. It seems that time cues provided by the changing lengths of day and night trigger changes in animals' behaviour - changes that are needed to cope with the cycle of the seasons. People's moods too, have been shown to react to

A．They were less able to concentrate.

B．Their body temperature fell too quickly.

C．Their mental functions were immediately affected by the cold.

D．They were used to swimming pool conditions.

Although the United States covers so much land and the land produces far more food than the present population needs, its people are by now almost entirely an urban society. Less than a tenth of the people are engaged in agriculture and forestry(林业), and most of the rest live in or around towns, small and large. Here the traditional picture is changing: every small town may still be very like other small towns, and the typical small town may represent a widely accepted view of the country, but most Americans do not live in small towns any more. Half the population now lives in some thirty metropolitan areas (large cities with their suburbs) of more than a million people each — a larger proportion than in Germany or England, let alone France. The statistics (统计) of urban and rural population should be treated with caution because so many people who live in areas classified as rural travel by car to work in a nearby town each day. As the rush to live out of town continues, rural areas within reach of towns are gradually filled with houses, so that it is hard to say at what moment a piece of country becomes a suburb. But more and more the typical American lives in a metropolitan rather than a small town environment. If now America has 250 million people, how many of them are engaged in agriculture and forestry ____________ A. About 25 million.

B. More than 25 million.

C. Less than 25 million.

D. Less than 225 million.

Which of the following four countries has the smallest proportion of people living in metropolitan areas _____________ A. United States.

B. Germany.

C. France.

D. England.

What’s the meaning of the word “metropolitan” in the middle of the passage _________A.Of a large city with its suburbs.

B.Of small and large towns.

C.Of urban areas.

D.Of rural areas.

According to the passage, what can we learn about small towns in the United States _________ A. Most small towns become gradually crowded.

B. Small towns are still similar to each other.

C. As the traditional picture is changing, towns are different.

D. Small towns are turning into large cities.

Why is it hard to say when a piece of country becomes a suburb __________ A. Because they are the same.

B. Because the rush takes place too quickly.

C. Because the process is gradual.

D. Because more and more Americans live in metropolitan areas.

请帮忙给出每个问题的正确答案和分析，谢谢！

“We’re trying t o help people not spend time on yard work，”said Steven Waelbers, the designer of t he robot. “We want people to enjoy t heir free time with their family.”The electric robot can run by itself in right directions with the help of two beacons(信号塔) that must be placed in the yard. the robot includes a camera and ultrasound sensor (超声传感器) that Waelbers said would stop quickly when it finds pets and people.

Owners of the robot will need t o regulate t he values stored in the robot. then it will confirm the task it’s going to take. Before the robot operate by itself, an owner must manually wheel it around the yard 一 taking it around any obstacles like trees, bushes or mailboxes. By doing this, the robot is taught how long and wide the lawn is, and won’t accidentally(不小心) destroy your rose hush or run to the neighborhood.

Once this setup is complete, and the $3,999 robot has been trained on where to cut grass, rake leaves and shovel snow, it operates without any supervision.

Waelbers has always loved to build robots and play with electronics. He started work on a high-tech company after his father asked him to make a robot that would shovel snow for him. Waelbers plans to start sales in early 2017.

26. This article mainly talks about()

A. a newly-designed robot

B. The founder of a company

C. problems with a new product

27. According to Steven Waelbers, the robot is designed to()

A. encourage people to do exercise

B. help people keep healthy and fit

C. make people enjoy family time

28.the robot would stop in front of pets and people thanks to()

A. the remote controller

B. the ultrasound sensor

C. the big and square yard

29. Which of the following steps should be done in the first place？()

A. An owner must wheel the robot around the yard by himself.

B. The robot learns and stores the length and width of the lawn.

C. The robot operates the task it’s going to take without supervision.

30. Which of the following about Waelbers is TRUE？()

A. He didn’t love building robots when he was a young boy.

B. His father asked him to make a robot that could play balls.

C. He is starting to sell this snow-shoveling robot in early 2017.