Americans drove more miles in 2015 than any year since the U.S. government started keeping records 45 years ago. The U.S. Department of Transportation (USDT) recently reported that Americans drove a record of 3.148 trillion miles last year. In case you are wondering, that is enough to take 337 round trips from Earth to Pluto.
There are a number of reasons why Americans are driving more miles. The social experts agree that the first is the price of gas, which has dropped to the level of the year 2004 in the past year. The American Automobile Association (AAA) said that the average price of gas was just $1.71 a gallon. That could be the lowest price since 2004.
P.J. Sriraj, a director of the Urban Transportation Center at the University of Chicago, notes that the lower cost to fill up a car is just one reason. Another reason is that more Americans are back to work after the 2008 economic recession, and they drive to their jobs.
Besides, more Americans have to travel a long distance every day between home and the office. There are a lot of Americans who must travel more than 45 miles per day for their jobs. And as for many, there is not enough public transportation.
Because of the heavy traffic, roads are becoming more and more crowded. While modern cars are more fuel-efficient, the improvement is not enough to offset more cars on the road. “There is no doubt that driving more will make the air dirtier,” said P.J. Sriraj. And many Americans showed a great concern in a recent survey.
1.The USDT report shows that in 2015 ________.
A. Americans drove record-breaking miles
B. Americans drove 3.148 trillion miles a day
C. Travel to Pluto was popular with Americans
D. The government began to record driving miles
2.P.J. Sriraj thinks the reason why Americans drove more miles is ________.
A. the low prices of gas and cars B. the 2008 economic depression
C. the Urban Transportation Center D. more people’s coming back to work
3.What makes many Americans worried?
A. Having to drive far to work. B. Having no public transportation.
C. Too many cars’ pollution of the air. D. Small improvement of modern cars.
4.How is the whole passage developed?
A. By explaining causes. B. By giving examples.
C. By following time order. D. By making comparison.
The human athlete has a special trick that no other animal has. It is called self-talk. Athletes talk to themselves to warm up, to focus and to help themselves believe they will win. A few simple words like “I can do it!” and “It is now or never!” can make the difference between winning gold or not.
Self-talk is also used by speakers, actors and other performers. Before a speech, politicians believe that their words will win votes. And, self-talk helps students stay calm even when stumped by hard exam questions. Self-talk is a life skill you can use wherever you are, whenever you need it.
The whole idea of talking to themselves seems strange to many people. Imagine your teacher saying, “For homework, talk to yourself for half an hour tonight.” You might think he is playing a joke on your class. Instead, adults teach kids all about talking to other people. There are many books on why, when, what and how to communicate with the rest of the world. Thus, you can grow up knowing a lot more about people around you than about yourself.
It is good to speak and listen to others. But there is great value in making time to listen to yourself. When you do, you get to know yourself better. Along the way, you may discover the power you have for using words well.
Such ideas are so exciting to psychologists that they have been trying to learn more about self-talk. In the study, people found certain lost items at home more easily when they talked to themselves while searching for the things.
1.By saying “It is now or never!”, the athlete means that “________”.
A. the time is valuable B. it is possible to win gold
C. I must try my best to win D. it is never too late to learn
2.What is the main idea of paragraph 2?
A. Self-talk makes a speech wonderful.
B. Self-talk is helpful for different people.
C. Self-talk helps the students pass the exam.
D. Self-talk is especially important for performers.
3.Why do many of us learn less about ourselves?
A. We don’t like doing the homework.
B. We don’t know how to talk to ourselves.
C. There are no books about ourselves.
D. We spend too much time in learning other people.
假如你是李华，你的家乡遭受了一次雪灾。请你根据所给提示为你校英文报写一篇英语短文，报道此次事件。
时间 | 2017年1月19日 |
原因 | 暴风雪 |
灾情 | 积雪厚度达30厘米，交通中断； 许多房屋被毁，100多人无家可归。 |
救援 情况 | 1. 部队赶来帮助转移被困村民； 2. 地方政府及时为村民提供帐篷、食物、衣服及药品等。 |
注意：1. 100字左右；
可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
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文中共有10处错误，每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（^），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜钱（\）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1. 每处错误及其修改均仅限一词
2. 只允许修改10处，多者（从11处起）不计分。
Last week, we watched an excited basketball match in our school. It is between Grade 1 and Grade 2 students. During a match, the players from all teams played very hard. Grade 2 was a stronger team. However, for our surprise, Grade 1 won at last. The player jumped and hugged to celebrate their success. Just then, the players from the other team that approached and said “Congratulations!” to them. They wore smiles on faces and you couldn’t tell from their expressions that they lost the match. We were touching by the scene and felt what important a role sport plays in daily life.
It is reported 1. gender (性别) differences exist mainly in terms 2. sense of space and language ability. But that doesn’t necessarily mean all women have a poor sense of space or all women are good at languages. Women can become excellent drivers as long as they have the courage to challenge 3. (tradition) gender roles and believe in themselves.
In London, only one in ten bus drivers is a woman. Yet, according to the results of recent research, women are better at 4. (deal) with problem passengers, have fewer accidents and are quicker at learning to drive buses than men.
Connie Wilson 5. (become) a bus driver a year ago. “At first, driving 6. bus was quite frightening,” she says. “I had no idea of the size of the vehicle or how 7. (control) it. But after seven weeks of training, I passed the test first time. Trying to keep to the timetable when the traffic is heavy 8. (be) not easy but I like the challenge! Some passengers can be rude, 9. (especial) if they’ve had to wait a long time for the bus. But most are pleased to have a woman driver. There is no reason 10. women can’t do the job just as well as men. I’d say that to any woman.
1.Luckily, the fire _______ by the time we got there.
2.The haze (雾霾) is over, and we can _______ fresh air freely again.
3.While _______ to run away, she fell off the horse and died.
4.There are 10, 000 Mobikes _______ in our city now.
5.The boss gave us a 20-minute speech. _______, he wanted us to work harder with less pay.
6.Here is the book. First _______ it and then tell me what you think of it.
7.Most slimmers (减肥者) _______ putting weight back on.
8._______, an adult laughs about 15 times a day.
9.The man who _______ the shop was found by the police.
10.According to new scientific research, alarm clocks may _______ radiation (辐射) that is bad for your health.
