An ATM that spits out cupcakes instead of cash is now filling a popular demand in the American market：late-night desire for freshly baked sweets．
In six cities across the country, sugar addicts can now purchase a cupcake for $4．25 from an automatic machine 24 hours every day．The freshly baked goods are made by the California-based cupcake shop Sprinkles．
The idea came to the company's co-founders Candace and Charles Nelson when Candace was pregnant with their first child. Candace thought it was ridiculous that she owned cupcake bakeries aad couldn’t get a freshly baked treat at an unusual hour．That desire inspired the company’s first cupcake ATM in Beverly Hills,Calif．in 2012。
Charles said each ATM serves about l，000 cupcakes per day．The machine is so popular that when it appeared in Manhattan, customers were lined up around the block to use it.
Yet，inventing the first cupcake ATM was not as easy as convincing customers to use it．When the Nelsons started defigning the machine，they quickly realized nothing existed that could give a fully unbroken cupcake to a customer．The company had to partner with a European firm to develop the technology that could deliver a cupcake without dropping it several feet like a typical machine．After going through a seeond development cycle with the product, the ATMs can now satisfy tlle demand of growing customers and even make as many as four cupcakes at a time．
In terms of the company, the-machine allows Sprinkles to do the impossible：increase hours of operation without raising costs．Now the company can sell cupcakes around the clock through the ATM without paying employees.
Now the company is partnering with a Middle Eastern company to open 34 new locations abroad．
1.What’s the purpose of the text?
A．To tell us a newtrend of the diet．
B．To advertisefor the cupcake ATM．
C．To introduce a newly-invented cupcake ATM．
D．To advise more customers to buy cupcakes on ATM．
2.How did the Nelsons come up with the idea of’a cupulke ATM?
A．Their first child wagted to eat fresh cupcakes．
B．Candace hoped to eat a fleshly baked cupcake at any time．
C．The cupcakes they sold couldn’t satisfy the customers’ demands．
D．They couldn’t afford to employ enough workers．
3.What problem did the Nelsons face when starting to design the machine?
A．Serving an unbroken cupcake to customers．
B．Convincing the customers to use the machine．
C．Dealing with so many orders every day．
D．Making as many as four cupcakes at a time．
4.What does the underlined word‘‘it’’in Paragraph 4 refer to?
A．The machine． B．The block．
C．The cupcake． D．The customer．
5.What can we infer from the text?
A．The ATM will replace the traditional cake shops．
B．The ATM will appear in more cities in the world．
C．The company will promote different kinds of products．
D．People will get cupcakes through the ATM without paying．
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题
An ATM that spits out cupcakes instead of cash is now filling a popular demand in the American market：late-night desire for freshly baked sweets．
In six cities across the country, sugar addicts can now purchase a cupcake for $4．25 from an automatic machine 24 hours every day．The freshly baked goods are made by the California-based cupcake shop Sprinkles．
The idea came to the company's co-founders Candace and Charles Nelson when Candace was pregnant with their first child. Candace thought it was ridiculous that she owned cupcake bakeries aad couldn’t get a freshly baked treat at an unusual hour．That desire inspired the company’s first cupcake ATM in Beverly Hills,Calif．in 2012。
Charles said each ATM serves about l，000 cupcakes per day．The machine is so popular that when it appeared in Manhattan, customers were lined up around the block to use it.
Yet，inventing the first cupcake ATM was not as easy as convincing customers to use it．When the Nelsons started defigning the machine，they quickly realized nothing existed that could give a fully unbroken cupcake to a customer．The company had to partner with a European firm to develop the technology that could deliver a cupcake without dropping it several feet like a typical machine．After going through a seeond development cycle with the product, the ATMs can now satisfy tlle demand of growing customers and even make as many as four cupcakes at a time．
In terms of the company, the-machine allows Sprinkles to do the impossible：increase hours of operation without raising costs．Now the company can sell cupcakes around the clock through the ATM without paying employees.
Now the company is partnering with a Middle Eastern company to open 34 new locations abroad．
1.What’s the purpose of the text?
A．To tell us a newtrend of the diet．
B．To advertisefor the cupcake ATM．
C．To introduce a newly-invented cupcake ATM．
D．To advise more customers to buy cupcakes on ATM．
2.How did the Nelsons come up with the idea of’a cupulke ATM?
A．Their first child wagted to eat fresh cupcakes．
B．Candace hoped to eat a fleshly baked cupcake at any time．
C．The cupcakes they sold couldn’t satisfy the customers’ demands．
D．They couldn’t afford to employ enough workers．
3.What problem did the Nelsons face when starting to design the machine?
A．Serving an unbroken cupcake to customers．
B．Convincing the customers to use the machine．
C．Dealing with so many orders every day．
D．Making as many as four cupcakes at a time．
4.What does the underlined word‘‘it’’in Paragraph 4 refer to?
A．The machine． B．The block．
C．The cupcake． D．The customer．
5.What can we infer from the text?
A．The ATM will replace the traditional cake shops．
B．The ATM will appear in more cities in the world．
C．The company will promote different kinds of products．
D．People will get cupcakes through the ATM without paying．
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Attention！_______ in the form right now，making sure that every detail supplied is accurate.
A. Filling B. Fill C. To f ill D. Being filled
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
It is a psychological strategy that all parents will be familiar with: instead of scolding an misbehaving child, focus instead in rewarding them for good behaviour.
Now the idea is well received outside the nursery, with implications for everything from recycling clothes to policing.
Consumers end up with piles of unwanted clothes. Every year in the UK, 300,000 tonnes ends up in landfill — 235 million individual items.
Now however, apps such as ReGain, Regive and Stuffstr are making it simpler — and more worthwhile — for people to return their unwanted clobber.
The ReGain app can be used to find one of 20,000 drop-off points. In return, the diligent consumer earns rewards such as discount coupons for high street retailers. Stuffstr works in partnership with John Lewis to help people get cash in return for unwanted items from the chain.
“Possibly the one prediction that we economists get right is that if you incentivise (激励) a behaviour, you will get more of it,” says Dr Matthew Levy, a lecturer in economics at the London School of Economics.
He cites research, including his own, showing that financial incentives encouraging regular exercise, stopping smoking and losing weight effectively promote healthy behaviours and that there is no backlash when the incentives are removed.“If anything, the incentives can be used to jump-start a healthy habit that keeps going,”he says.
In the four months after its launch, the ReGain scheme received almost 17,000 parcels containing 47 tonnes of used clothes and shoes, of which 95% could potentially be reused, according to its founder Jack Ostrowski.
“We need to find a way to influence behaviour, and discount coupons help,” he says. The platform is also working with brands and retailers to find ways to divert used clothes from landfills and into the production of new clothes, he adds.
Other reward schemes have had success in encouraging behavioural change.
When police in Canada issued“positive tickets”— coupons for free food or movie tickets — to reward good behaviour among young people, they reported an almost 50% drop in youth-related service calls.
“My officers would say‘In the old days we’d drive up in the police car and the kids would run away from us, now they run to us’.”
In a similar venture, Hull city council have announced plans to launch a digital reward token — the HullCoin — that can be earned by volunteering and spent at local retailers.
Elsewhere, a study on the recruitment of health workers in Zambia found that highlighting economic incentives during the recruitment process caused future employees to be more motivated and task-focused.
“Obviously different groups are motivated by different factors,” says Ostrowski. “For some, the‘feel good’factor is enough, and for others, that reward stimulus is required.”
1.Dr Matthew Levy might agree that______.
A. there is an undesired effect when the incentives are removed
B. economists always make some predictions to convince people
C. used clothes would be recycled via incentives, otherwise in landfill
D. financial incentives are the key to people’s getting rid of bad habits
2.The benefits of financial stimulus are mentioned EXCEPT ______.
A. increasing the sales of clothing and food
B. young people’s behaving well in public
C. leading to people’s disgust at smoking
D. future employees’ concentrating on tasks
3.It can be inferred from the passage that___________.
A. ReGain helps consumers get rewards from John Lewis
B. ReGain has the biggest share in the 20,000 drop-off points
C. ReGain has the absolute advantage over Regive and Stuffstr
D. ReGain plays a positive role in making for recycling clothes
4.What can be the best title?
A. Use carrots, Not sticks B. The magic of reward coupon
C. The better you are, the more you’ll get D. Positive or Negative
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Now that she is out of a job, Lucy ____ going back to school, but she hasn’t decided yet.
A. had considered B. has been considering
C. considered D. is going to consider
高三英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析
A．Use cash．Instead of paying things with credit cards, use cash for non-bill spending such as eating out, gas and groceries．Spending cash makes the spending more real, and there’s an added advantage of knowing when you’re out of cash.
B．Small weekly savings transfers．I got this idea from my friend, who automatically deducts(扣除) $20 a week from his check to savings．I decided that I could live with the deduction of $40/week without really feeling it — it’s a relatively small transfer that I barely notice, and I save about $2,000 a year!
C．Stay at home．Going out makes you spend money unnecessarily．You eat at restaurants, go to the mall, and stop at the gas station for snacks．It’s hard to avoid spending when you’re on the road．Instead, stay at home and find free entertainment．It’s also a great way to bond with your family.
D．Don’t get catalogs(商品宣传册)．Their announcements of sales or cool new products make it very temting(引诱人的) to buy something you don’t need．Instead, stop getting the catalogs, and you’ll spend less.
E．Keep a 30-day list．If you have an impulse(冲动) to buy something you don’t absolutely need, put it on a 30-day list．You can’t buy anything but necessities — everything else goes on the list．When the 30 days are up, you can buy it — but most likely, the strong urge to buy it will be gone, and you can evaluate it more calmly.
F．Cook at home．I know it seems more difficult than eating out．But it doesn’t have to be hard．Make home-made pizza with a ready-made crust, some sauce, cheese and veggies．Put some spices on something and throw it in the oven while you cook some brown rice．Not only is this much cheaper than eating out, but it’s healthier.
阅读下面几位消费者的情况介绍，并为他们匹配合适的建议。
1.Mr．And Mrs．Brown are a newly-married couple who work in the same company．They don’t earn much in their work, but they have to spend a larger part of their income to pay for their rent and daily necessities．Furthermore, they seldom eat at home because neither of them cooks well．Therefore, they have to pay a lot more extra money for food.
2.Mrs．Wang enjoys shopping very much because she is free all day long．Whenever she is wandering in the shops or stores, she will have a strong impulse and find it difficult for her to get back home with her hands empty．But it is quite often that she will find what she has bought is almost useless when she gets home.
3.Tony is a university student in New York, who is far away from his parents．He pays everything with his credit card．He finds it very cool for him to purchase with his credit card．However, he often finds his money has already run out in the middle of the month.
4.Miss Betty is a high school girl whose parents give her some money every week．As her parents don’t earn much money, she wants to save some money secretly so that she can buy a digital camera.
5.Miss Catherine is a young girl who is easily to be persuaded into buying something useless．She will get encouraged to buy something when she sees an advertisement．Her parents have warned her many times against doing such stupid things, but it doesn’t work much.
高三英语信息匹配中等难度题查看答案及解析
Killer whales in Alaska’s Bering Sea have figured out an easy way to get fed. Instead of seeking out the fish them- selves, the clever whales chase down fishing boats and steal the entire catch of the day, as much as 20,000 to 30,000 pounds.
Killer whale “thieves” are not a new phenomenon. Japanese fishermen have reported being followed by killer Whales since the 1950s. However, the increasing frequency of whale fish theft in the Bering Sea's continental shelf is now threatening the livelihood of fishermen.
Paul Clampitt, a local fisherman, says his crew tried to keep the whales away with loud sounds. Though that worked for a short time, the whales now consider the noise “ a dinner bell”. Jay Herbert tried using sonar to keep the whales away. He also met with little success. According lo the experienced fisherman, the smart whales deliberately seek out longliners (延绳钓渔船）, and, all the first opportunity presented to them, steal the fish, leaving behind just the lips of the fish caught!
NOAA Fisheries biologist John Moran is not surprised at the whales’ thieving skill. The expert says whales are skilled hunters who can distinguish the sounds of different boats and even recognize the sounds of the operating system that places the fishing equipment into the ocean. The expert jokes, “ Grabbing a fish off a line is nothing.” Since they are social animals, it is easy for whales to pass their skills on to others.
Killer whales are not the only whale species that have learned to steal from humans. In the Gulf of Alaska, sperm whales also conduct similar thefts. Longline fishermen off Washington, Chile, Australia, Hawaii, and many other countries have reported similar incidents. There is, unfortunately, no easy fix to this problem. One of the possible solutions is using pot traps similar to the ones used to catch crabs. However, the cost of switching from longline to pot fishing is too high, especially for small-scale fisheries. There is also no guarantee that the catch will be safe from the intelligent whales which, many fear, will eventually figure out how to open the pots!
1.What concerns fishermen in Alaska?
A. The killer whales eating their fish. B. The decrease of numbers of whales.
C. The killer whales chasing their boats. D. The high cost of operating fishing boats.
2.What may be the means to protect fishermen’s catch at present?
A. Loud sounds. B. Pot traps.
C. Sonar. D. Dinner bells.
3.What can we know from the text?
A. Whales can learn from each other.
B. Whales’ thieving skills surprise experts.
C. Whales are able to communicate with fishermen.
D. Killer whales are the most intelligent whale species
4.What can be the best title for the text?
A. Fishermen Facing Danger B. Whales Teasing Fishermen
C. Thieves Stealing from Fishermen D. Whales Living All over the World
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
“There is an out – of – date idea that children grow up and leave home when they’re 18,and the truth is far from that,” says Mr．Larry Bumpass of the University of Wisconsin．Today unexpected numbers of young adults are living with their parents．“There is a great change in the middle class,” declares Allan Schnaiberg of Northwestern University, whose son, 19, moved back in after an absence of eight months．
Scientists show a number of reasons for this return to the nest．The marriage age is rising, a condition that makes home and its pleasantness particularly attractive to young people．A high divorce （离婚） rate and a low remarriage rate make some differences．For some, the expense of an away - from - home college education has become so great that many students now attend local schools．Even after graduation, young people find their wings tied by terrible housing costs．
Living at home, says Knighton, a school teacher, continues to give security （安全保卫） and moral（道义的） support．Her mother agreed．“Its strange for the kids to pay all that money for rent．It makes sense for kids to stay at home．” But sharing the family home requires changes for all．There are the hassles over bathrooms, telephones and privacy．Some families, however, manage the careful balancing act．But for others, it proves too difficult．Michelle Del Turco, 24, has been home three times and left three times．“What I considered a social drink, my dad considered an alcohol （酒精） problem,” she explains．“He never liked anyone I dated, so I either had to hide away or meet them at friends' houses．”
Just how long should adult children live with their parents before moving on? Most scientists feel lengthy homecomings are a mistake．Children, can end up with a sense of defeat and failure．And aging parents, who should be enjoying some freedom, find themselves stuck with too many things．Many agree that brief visits, however, can work well．
1.According to the author, there was once a trend in the U．S．________．
A．for young adults to leave their parents and live separately
B．for middle class young adults to stay with their parents
C．for married young adults to move back home after a lengthy absence
D．for young adults to get jobs nearby in order to live with their parents
2.Which of the following does not lead to young adults returning to the nest?
A．Young adults find housing costs too high．
B．Young adults are not old enough．
C．Young adults look for parental comfort and support．
D．Quite a number of young adults attend local schools．
3.The underlined word “hassles” in the passage probably means _________．
A．agreements B．worries
C．disadvantages D．quarrels
4.According to the passage what is the best for both parents and children?
A．They should share the family expenses．
B．Children should leave their parents when they are grown up．
C．Adult children should live away from their parents and visit their parents from time to time．
D．Parents should support their adult children when they are in trouble．
5.．One of the disadvantages of young adults returning to slay with their parents is that ______．
A．there will certainly be inconveniences in even-day life
B．most parents find it difficult to keep a bigger family going
C．the young adults try to be overprotected by their parents
D．public opinion is against young adults staying with their parents
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Nowadays, millions of lonely singles are now going online instead．The World Wide Web is quickly becoming the world’s most popular matchmaker（媒人）．
Singles are flocking（涌向）to the Internet mainly because their busy lifestyles leave them little time to look for a significant other．Using dating sites（约会网址）is quick and convenient．Many singles say the regular dating scene has just led them from one bad experience to another and are ready to try something else．Dating sites also make it easy to avoid someone you are not interested in．In the real world, however, ignoring someone you don’t like can be difficult．
Despite all the advantages, online dating also presents its own set of problems．People aren’t always those who they declare to be in their online description．Safety is another concern．You are just likely to find a criminal online as you are Mr．Or Miss Right．
Online dating experts recommend following a few safety tips:
Guard your personal information．Never give out your personal information online．This includes your last name, phone number, home address and place of work．
Watch for red flags．Do any of the people you are chatting with make disrespectful comments? Do they try to control you? Do they give false information about themselves? If so, forget them!
Meet in a safe place．When meeting someone in person, choose a public location with other people around．
Following these tips and you might be able to find the person of your dreams．
1.The underlined words in the second paragraph “a significant other” mean “________”．
A．a true friend B．a matchmaker C．a marriage partner D．a happy family
2.According to the passage, many lonely singles don’t appreciate the regular dating scene because it is
_________．
A．unpopular B．troublesome
C．convenient D．forgettable
3.From this passage, we can infer that ____________．
A．there are mostly homely and unemployed people online
B．the police had better find criminals online
C．we can find love only through the dating sites
D．following safety tips ensures a safe online dating experience.
4.Which of the following is NOT a suitable place for meeting someone you get to know through the Internet for the first time?
A．At his / her house． B．At the museum．
C．At McDonald’s． D．At the bookstore．
高三英语阅读理解困难题查看答案及解析
—I must leave right now by bike instead of waiting for a taxi.
—Well, The ground is still quite wet.
A. good idea! B. go ahead.
C. have a nice trip. D. take care.
高三英语单项填空简单题查看答案及解析
What time is it now? My watch is________.
A．out of shape B．out of place
C．out of step D．out of order
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析