How Super Are Supermarkets?Buying e week’s gr...

How Super Are Supermarkets?

Buying e week’s groceries is tiring. You want to get it over and done with quickly, so you head for the nearest supermarket, you find everything you need under one roof, and you feel glad that those days of going in and out of different shops in the high street are over. Supermarkets seem to be a big plus. There is a downside, though.

In the UK 90% of all the food people consume is bought at 5 different supermarket chains. This makes these companies extremely powerful, which lets them use their huge buying power to squeeze small suppliers to get the best deal. Milk is a good example. Supermarkets like to use things like milk, which is the top of almost everyone’s shopping list to attract customers. To offer the lowest price possible to the consumer, the supermarkets force dairy farmers to sell milk at less than the cost of production. Supermarkets guarantee their good profits while farmers are left struggling to make ends meet, and the taxpayer pays to support the system without even knowing it.

It would be nice if local grocers supported local agriculture. But for the big supermarkets this just doesn’t make sense. Supermarkets don’t want little farmers thinking they can decide prices. So supermarkets have started a global search for the cheapest possible agricultural produce. In many supermarkets it is difficult to find anything which is produced locally.

UK farmers used to grow a lot of apples. Not anymore. In 1999 36% of apples were imported. By 2015 the figure had risen to 80% and the domestic production of apples had fallen by two thirds. The consumer might just be happy to get a reasonably priced meal made up of foods from Thailand, Spain, Italy and Zambia, but we should also bear in mind the Influence on local producers.

Then there’s packaging. Supermarkets like everything to be packed and wrapped so it can be piled neatly on shelves. Supermarkets produce nearly 10 million tons of waste packaging in the UK every year, of which less 5%is recycled. Some supermarkets make sure that large recycling bins are obvious in their car parks, showing that they are environment-friendly. But that is just an image.

When a new supermarket is planned there are claims about the number of new jobs that will be created. Unfortunately, the number of jobs lost in the area is larger than the number of new positions in the supermarket. On average each new supermarket leads to the loss of 276 jobs.

However, the modern world is all about shopping, and the freedom to buy whatever you what, so it would be impossible to stop people shopping at some particular kind of shop. But some measures do need to be taken when small suppliers lose profits, local producers suffer, sea levels rise and jobs are lost, anyway, we can’t just care about a free car park and special offers.

1.The author mentions “milk” in paragraph 2 to explain how supermarkets ____________.

A. cheat the taxpayers

B. support local dairy farmer

C. harm small suppliers ‘benefits

D .provide customers with the cheapest product

2.According to the passage, supermarkets keep price advantage by_______________.

A. competing against each other

B. importing foreign products

C. purchasing local products

D. reducing product tax

3.Which of the following shows the structure of the passage?

CP: Central Point　　 P:Point　　　　　 SP: Sub-point　　　　　 C:Conclusion

4.What is the author’s attitude towards supermarkets?

A. Critical　　　　　 B. Sympathetic　　　　 C. Doubtful　　　　 D. Cautious

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

How Super Are Supermarkets?

Buying e week’s groceries is tiring. You want to get it over and done with quickly, so you head for the nearest supermarket, you find everything you need under one roof, and you feel glad that those days of going in and out of different shops in the high street are over. Supermarkets seem to be a big plus. There is a downside, though.

In the UK 90% of all the food people consume is bought at 5 different supermarket chains. This makes these companies extremely powerful, which lets them use their huge buying power to squeeze small suppliers to get the best deal. Milk is a good example. Supermarkets like to use things like milk, which is the top of almost everyone’s shopping list to attract customers. To offer the lowest price possible to the consumer, the supermarkets force dairy farmers to sell milk at less than the cost of production. Supermarkets guarantee their good profits while farmers are left struggling to make ends meet, and the taxpayer pays to support the system without even knowing it.

It would be nice if local grocers supported local agriculture. But for the big supermarkets this just doesn’t make sense. Supermarkets don’t want little farmers thinking they can decide prices. So supermarkets have started a global search for the cheapest possible agricultural produce. In many supermarkets it is difficult to find anything which is produced locally.

UK farmers used to grow a lot of apples. Not anymore. In 1999 36% of apples were imported. By 2015 the figure had risen to 80% and the domestic production of apples had fallen by two thirds. The consumer might just be happy to get a reasonably priced meal made up of foods from Thailand, Spain, Italy and Zambia, but we should also bear in mind the Influence on local producers.

Then there’s packaging. Supermarkets like everything to be packed and wrapped so it can be piled neatly on shelves. Supermarkets produce nearly 10 million tons of waste packaging in the UK every year, of which less 5%is recycled. Some supermarkets make sure that large recycling bins are obvious in their car parks, showing that they are environment-friendly. But that is just an image.

When a new supermarket is planned there are claims about the number of new jobs that will be created. Unfortunately, the number of jobs lost in the area is larger than the number of new positions in the supermarket. On average each new supermarket leads to the loss of 276 jobs.

However, the modern world is all about shopping, and the freedom to buy whatever you what, so it would be impossible to stop people shopping at some particular kind of shop. But some measures do need to be taken when small suppliers lose profits, local producers suffer, sea levels rise and jobs are lost, anyway, we can’t just care about a free car park and special offers.

1.The author mentions “milk” in paragraph 2 to explain how supermarkets ____________.

A. harm small suppliers ‘benefits

B. support local dairy farmer

C.cheat the taxpayers

D.provide customers with the cheapest product

2.According to the passage, supermarkets keep price advantage by_______________.

A. competing against each other

B. reducing product tax

C. purchasing local products

D. importing foreign products

3.What is the author’s attitude towards supermarkets?

A.　 Doubtful　　　　 B. Sympathetic

C. Critical　　　 D. Cautious

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

If your family is like many in the United States, unloading the week’s groceries includes hauling a case or two of bottled water into your home. On your way to a soccer game or activity, it’s easy to grab a cold one right out of the fridge, right?

But all those plastic bottles use a lot of fossil fuels and pollute the environment. In fact, Americans buy more bottled water than any other nation in the world, adding 29 billion water bottles a year to the problem. In order to make all these bottles, manufacturers use 17 million barrels of crude oil. That’s enough oil to keep a million cars going for twelve months.

Imagine a water bottle filled a quarter of the way up with oil. That’s about how much oil was needed to produce the bottle.

So why don’t more people drink water straight from the kitchen faucet? Some people drink bottled water because they think it is better for them than water out of the tap, but that’s not true. In the United States, local governments make sure water from the faucet is safe. There is also growing concern that chemicals in the bottles themselves may leach into the water.

People love the convenience of bottled water. But maybe if they realized the problems it causes, they would try drinking from a glass at home or carrying water in a refillable steel container instead of plastic.

Plastic bottle recycling can help—instead of going out with the trash, plastic bottles can be turned into items like carpeting or cozy fleece clothing.

Unfortunately, for every six water bottles we use, only one makes it to the recycling bin. The rest are sent to landfills. Or, even worse, they end up as trash on the land and in rivers, lakes, and the ocean. Plastic bottles take many hundreds of years to disintegrate.

Water is good for you, so keep drinking it. But think about how often you use water bottles, and see if you can make a change.

Betty McLaughlin, who runs an organization called the Container Recycling Institute, says we should try using fewer bottles: “If you take one to school in your lunch, don’t throw it away—bring it home and refill it from the tap for the next day. Keep track of how many times you refill a bottle before you recycle it.”

And yes, you can make a difference. Remember this: Recycling one plastic bottle can save enough energy to power a 60-watt light bulb for six hours.

高三英语填空题中等难度题查看答案及解析

"But Ijust paid 1．69 for this bottle of wine last week．How is it that the price is 2.25?"

There are at least three things going on that have caused the price of wine to rise．All haveto do with the supply and demand factors of economics．

The first factor is that people are drinking more wine than ever before．This demand formore wine has increased wine sales in America at the rate of 15 percent a year．

The second factor is that the supply of wine has stayed relatively the same, which meansthat the same number of bottles is produced each year．Wine producers are trying to open upnew land to grow more grapes．But in at least three wine producing areas of the world-France,Germany, and California --- new vineyards（葡萄园）will not be useable in the near future．Wines are produced in other countries, such as Italy, Spain, and Portugal, as well as Argentine,Australia, Austria, and Chile．And these wines will be seen more often on the American market．But none of these countries will be able to fill the good wines．

The third factor is that costs of wine production are soaring．The workers who make wineare asking for more money, and the machinery needed to press the grapes is becoming moreexpensive．

When the demand for something is greater than the supply, prices go up．When productioncosts, meaning the price of labor and machinery rise, the producer adds this increase to theprice of the wine．For these reasons, that bottle of wine now costs 2．25 instead of 1．69．

1.What is the main idea of this passage?

2.This passage is written to      ．

3.Theunderlined word "soaring" means"___ .

高三英语阅读理解简单题查看答案及解析

Sometimes we may find that every week there are a lot of new stories about how climate change is affecting the planet, or new plans to battle its effects like the one announced by President Barack Obama the other day. But the concept itself isn't new at all --- in fact, scientists have been exploring questions about climate change for almost 200 year.

The idea of “greenhouse gases” goes back to 1824, when Joseph Fourier wondered what was regulating the earth's temperature. Fourier concluded that the atmosphere must be responsible for containing the heat absorbed from the sun and described it as a box with a glass lid: As light shines through the glass, the inside gets warmer as the lid traps the heat. As Fourier's ideas spread, it came to be called “the greenhouse effect”.

Scientists continued to study the greenhouse effect. Until a Swedish chemist named Svante Arrhenius came along, scientists understood how global warming actually works. After years of work, Arrhenius determined that the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere did in fact have a direct effect on global temperatures.

Arrhenius found that CO2, and other gases trap radiation, which warms the atmosphere. Arrhenius was the first to suspect that burning coal could contribute to the greenhouse effect. But Arrhenius welcomed the warming effect on the planet. At a lecture later that year, Arrhenius noted that creatures of a warmer earth “might live under a milder sky and in less barren surroundings”.

While Arrhenius' findings won him the 1903 Nobel Prize in chemistry, scientists kept debating whether the greenhouse effect was increasing until 1950, when researchers finally began to find strong data supporting it. By the end of the 1950s, American scientists had been sounding the alarm on the long-term consequences of climate change. Climate change research has come a long way since Fourier first described the greenhouse effect – still, maybe Arrhenius should have been more careful of what he wished for.

1.What can we know from Paragraph 1?

A. Climate change has caused terrible disasters.

B. The topic of climate change has been talked a lot.

C. Scientists should work harder to research climate change.

D. The whole world should cooperate to protect the environment.

2.What does the underlined word “it” in Paragraph 2 refer to?

A. The atmosphere.

B. The idea.

C. The earth.

D. The earth's temperature.

3.What's the main idea of Paragraph 3?

A. Serious consequences of climate change.

B. The history of studying the greenhouse effect.

C. Significant research findings about climate change.

D. Scientists' doubts about the cause of global warming.

4.What did Arr henius think of the greenhouse effect?

A. It was beneficial for creatures on the earth.

B. It was totally responsible for climate change

C. It brought more troubles than benefits to human beings.

D. It worked as a punishment for human harmful activities.

5.What's the author's attitude towards Arr henius' expectation?

A. Cautious.　　 B. Defensive.　　 C. Positive.　　 D. Negative.

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

Sometimes we may find that every week there are a lot of new stories about how climate change is affecting the planet, or new plans to battle its effects. But the concept itself isn’t new at all — in fact, scientists have been exploring questions about climate change for almost 200 years.

The idea of ''greenhouse gases'' goes back to 1824, when Joseph Fourier wondered what was regulating the earth's temperature. Fourier concluded that the atmosphere must be responsible for containing the heat absorbed from the sun and described it as a box with a glass lid: As light shines through the glass, the inside gets warmer as the lid traps the heat. As Fourier's ideas spread, it came to be called ''the greenhouse effect''.

Scientists continued to study the greenhouse effect. Not until a Swedish chemist named Svante Arrhenius came along, did scientists understand how global warming actually works. After years of work, Arrhenius determined that the level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere did in fact have a direct effect on global temperatures.

Arrhenius found that CO2, and other gases trap radiation, which warms the atmosphere. Arrhenius was the first to suspect that burning coal could contribute to the greenhouse effect. But Arrhenius welcomed the warming effect on the planet. At a lecture later that year, Arrhenius noted that creatures of a warmer earth ''might live under a milder sky and in less barren surroundings''.

While Arrhenius' findings won him the 1903 Nobel Prize in chemistry, scientists kept debating whether the greenhouse effect was increasing until 1950, when researchers finally began to find strong data supporting it. By the end of the 1950s, American scientists had been sounding the alarm on the long-term consequences of climate change. Climate change research has come a long way since Fourier first described the greenhouse effect — still, maybe Arrhenius should have been more careful of what he wished for.

1.What does the underlined word ''it'' in Paragraph 2 refer to?

A.The climate change. B.The greenhouse effect.

C.The atmosphere. D.The heat from the sun.

2.When did the scientists first find evidence for the bad effect of global warming?

A.In 1824. B.In 1903.

C.In 1950. D.200 years ago.

3.What's the author's attitude towards Arrhenius' wish?

A.Optimistic. B.Negative.

C.Neutral. D.Ambiguous.

4.What's the main idea of the text?

A.Causes of climate change. B.Effects of greenhouse gases.

C.Findings about global warming. D.Explorations on climate change.

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

During the COVID-19 crisis, even the simple act of buying groceries has been completely transformed. For seniors this task is even more challenging. Concordia University's ACT project team has joined with community partners in the neighbourhood to fill this gap. They've rapidly created a new program-COVID-19 Grocery Response NDG.

The program uses a model that pairs volunteers with seniors, based on availability and language. Those volunteers are trained by ACT's team via video conferencing and then given a list of older adults. The volunteer calls the individuals and takes their order, working with grocer offerings of a Provigo store in the area. When the call is over, the order gets sent to Provigo, which gathers and delivers the order to the senior. It won't take the place of the work of the food bank; seniors are paying for their groceries.

There is also an important social element to the call, which doubles as a friendly check -in. The volunteer chats a bit with the senior, who may be very lonely and anxious. One volunteer says it has also been a rewarding experience and gives her the opportunity to help others while staying at home, which they are all being encouraged to do.

The program is a response to a number of factors, including the fact that many older adults are on a fixed income and may not have the internet access needed to order groceries online. It is targeting seniors who aren't able to access New Hope's usual meals on wheels service.

So far the project is a success, with a growing number of volunteers and seniors. As for what's next, Concordia is optimistic but acknowledges that the team will need to be nimble to accommodate the changing realities of the COVID-19 pandemic. We are at a critical time and we need to do everything we can, together, to help out.

1.What do the volunteers do to help the seniors?

A.Help them pay the bill. B.Send their order to the store.

C.Write a shopping list for them. D.Deliver their groceries lo the door.

2.What can we infer about the programme from paragraph 3?

A.It benefits both sides. B.It helps the store survive.

C.It goes beyond expectation. D.It encourages people to purchase online.

3.Who might be the potential client of the program?

A.Daisy aged 45 with a heavy debt. B.David who enjoys meals on wheels service.

C.Alexander aged 75 with a retirement pension. D.Elspeth who knows noting about online shopping.

4.What does the underlined word “nimble” probably mean?

A.Flexible. B.Beneficial.

C.Accessible. D.Qualified.

高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析

I walked into the grocery store not particularly interested in buying something. The sorrow of 1  my husband of 37 years was still too painful. And this grocery store held so many sweet 2. Bob often came with me and almost every time he'd 3  to go off and look for something special. I'd always see him walking down the walkway 4  the three yellow roses in his hands. Bob knew I loved yellow roses. With a heart 5 with pain, I came to the meat shelf, I searched for the 6 small steak and remembered how Bob had loved his steak.

Suddenly a woman came beside me. She was in a soft green dress. I 7  as she picked up a large pack of T-bones, 8  them in her basket, hesitated, and then put them back. She saw me watching her and she smiled. "My husband loves T-bones, but 9 , at these prices, I don't know."

"My husband passed away eight days ago," I told her. "Buy him the steaks. And value every 10  you have together."

She smiled and I saw the feeling in her 11 as she placed the package in her basket and 12 away. I turned and pushed my cart forward too. Several minutes later I saw first the green suit and then 13  the pretty lady coming to me. In her arms she carried something. On her face was the 14 smile I had ever seen.

As she came closer, I saw what she held and 15 welled down. "These are for you, " she said and placed three beautiful yellow roses in my arms. She placed a gentle kiss on my cheek, then smiled again. I wanted to tell her what the roses 16, but still unable to speak. I watched as she walked away as tears clouded my 17. I looked down at the beautiful roses and found it almost 18 . How did she know?

Suddenly the 19 seemed so clear. I wasn't alone. "Oh, Bob, you haven't 20me, have you?" I whispered, with tears in my eyes. He was still with me, and she was his angel.

1.                A．leaving         B．losing          C．passing   D．failing

2.                A．flowers         B．roses           C．thoughts  D．memories

3.                A．pretend        B．happen         C．refuse    D．decide

4.                A．by             B．between        C．with D．during

5.                A．full            B．pleased         C．filled D．crowded

6.                A．perfect         B．beautiful        C．pretty    D．very

7.                A．saw            B．watched        C．found    D．glared

8.                A．fell            B．carried         C．took D．dropped

9.                A．honestly        B．generally        C．usually   D．exactly

10.               A．dinner         B．moment        C．time  D．year

11.               A．hands          B．voice          C．eyes  D．basket

12.               A．wheeled        B．ran            C．slipped    D．left

13.               A．realized        B．thought        C．recognized D．received

14.               A．saddest        B．funniest        C．strangest  D．brightest

15.               A．words          B．feelings        C．tears D．sweats

16.               A．stood          B．described       C．designed  D．meant

17.               A．cart           B．sight           C．roses D．package

18.               A．unknown       B．uncommon      C．unlike D．unreal

19.               A．question        B．case           C．answer    D．puzzle

20.               A．forgotten       B．disappointed    C．hated D．missed

高三英语完型填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

I walked into the grocery store not particularly interested in buying something. The sorrow of 36 my husband of 37 years was still too painful. And this grocery store held so many sweet 37. Bob often came with me and almost every time he'd 38 to go off and look for something special. I'd always see him walking down the walkway 39 the three yellow roses in his hands. Bob knew I loved yellow roses. With a heart 40 with pain, I came to the meat shelf, I searched for the 41 small steak and remembered how Bob had loved his steak.

Suddenly a woman came beside me. She was in a soft green dress. I 42 as she picked up a large pack of T-bones, 43 them in her basket, hesitated, and then put them back. She saw me watching her and she smiled. "My husband loves T-bones, but 44, at these prices, I don't know."

"My husband passed away eight days ago," I told her. "Buy him the steaks. And value every 45 you have together."

She smiled and I saw the feeling in her 46 as she placed the package in her basket and 47 away. I turned and pushed my cart forward too. Several minutes later I saw first the green suit and then 48 the pretty lady coming to me. In her arms she carried something. On her face was the 49 smile I had ever seen.

As she came closer, I saw what she held and 50 welled down. "These are for you, " she said and placed three beautiful yellow roses in my arms. She placed a gentle kiss on my cheek, then smiled again. I wanted to tell her what the roses 51, but still unable to speak. I watched as she walked away as tears clouded my 52. I looked down at the beautiful roses and found it almost 53. How did she know?

Suddenly the 54 seemed so clear. I wasn't alone. "Oh, Bob, you haven't 55me, have you?" I whispered, with tears in my eyes. He was still with me, and she was his angel.

1.                A．losing          B．leaving         C．passing   D．failing

2.                A．flowers         B．roses           C．memories D．thoughts

3.                A．decide         B．happen         C．refuse    D．pretend

4.                A．by             B．with           C．during    D．between

5.                A．full            B．filled           C．pleased   D．crowded

6.                A．very           B．beautiful        C．pretty    D．perfect

7.                A．watched        B．saw            C．found    D．glared

8.                A．fell            B．carried         C．dropped  D．took

9.                A．exactly         B．generally        C．usually   D．honestly

10.               A．moment        B．dinner         C．time  D．year

11.               A．hands          B．eyes           C．voice D．basket

12.               A．left            B．ran            C．slipped    D．wheeled

13.               A．realized        B．recognized      C．received  D．thought

14.               A．saddest        B．funniest        C．brightest  D．strangest

15.               A．words          B．tears           C．feelings   D．sweats

16.               A．stood          B．described       C．meant D．designed

17.               A．sight           B．cart           C．roses D．package

18.               A．unknown       B．uncommon      C．unreal D．unlike

19.               A．question        B．answer         C．case  D．puzzle

20.               A．missed         B．disappointed    C．hated D．forgotten

高三英语完型填空中等难度题查看答案及解析

阅读下面的短文，然后按照要求写一篇150词左右的英语短文。

No One Dares to Help

On a recent Sunday, I was buying groceries in a supermarket when I heard the sound of a car accident. It was close but not very close, so I continued shopping.

As I took a right turn on Munadhama Street, I saw a man lying on the ground in a small pool of blood. He wasn't dead.

The idea of stopping to help or to take him to a hospital crossed my mind, but I didn't dare. Cars passed without stopping. Pedestrians and shop owners kept doing what they were doing, pretending nothing had happened.

I was still looking at the wounded man and blaming myself for not stopping to help. Other shoppers peered at him from a distance, sorrowful and sympathetic, but did nothing.

I went on to another grocery store, staying for about five minutes while shopping for tomatoes, onions and other vegetables. During that time, the man managed to sit up and wave to passing cars.

No one stopped. No one did anything. No one lifted a finger.

The wounded died alone the street. The only reaction came from a woman in the grocery store. In a low voice, she said, “My God, bless his soul.”

An offer of aid could have saved the man’s life.

【写作内容】

1．以约30个词概括文章的内容；

2．以约120个词就“To help or not to help”为标题发表你的看法，并包括如下要点：

（1）读完文章后的感受；假设你当时就在事故现场，你是伸出援助之手还是袖手旁观？

（2）以你自己亲身经历或虚构的经历说明你的选择；

（3）从这一事件中所取得的一些启示。

【写作要求】

1．作文中可使用自己的亲身经历或虚构的故事，也可以参照阅读材料的内容但不得直接引用原文中的句子；

2．文中不能出现真实姓名和学校名称。

高三英语书面表达中等难度题查看答案及解析