A company has just launched what it calls “the world’s first free standardized English test” recently. Anyone can take the test for free. The new exam is called the EFSET, which is short for Education First Standardized English Test. The company, Education First, is known by the letters EF.
It is estimated that there are two billion English language learners worldwide. Many of them are interested in attending an American college or university. To do so, foreign students need to take the Test of English as a Foreign Language — better known as TOEFL. However, many foreigners are not wealthy enough to take the TOEFL. In addition, test-takers often have to travel overnight to reach an official testing site. The World Bank says an average Cambodian worker earns only about $1,000 per year. Approximately the cost of taking the TOEFL is 17.5 percent of the average worker’s yearly wage.
It is not just individuals who find the test pricey. Some governments also find it prohibitive. What’s more, not everyone needs official results from the TOEFL or IELTS — the International English Language Testing System. In the future, it’s likely that the government may use the EFSET to test millions of employees and students.
Experts believe that the EFSET meets the highest value in language testing. It uses special computer software that makes the questions easier or harder, depending on one’s performance. The EFSET measures all the English learners’ levels while the IELTS and TOEFL only measure learners’ levels from moderate (中等的) to advanced. The EFSET is unique in the sense that it gives free online access to anyone interested in measuring their English level.
There is a 50-minute and a two-hour version of the test, which its developers are calling the EFSET Plus. Both versions test only reading and listening skills. It’s hopeful that speaking and writing skills will be tested in the future. The IELTS and the TOEFL still use humans to rate the speaking and writing sections. It’s a huge deal for students who are in areas where they can’t get to the TOEFL or the IELTS. However, it is too early to know whether the EFSET results are acceptable for colleges and universities in America.
1.Why do many foreign students take the TOEFL?
A. To learn English well.
B. To be admitted to key universities.
C. To receive further education in America.
D. To find good jobs and earn much money.
2.What can we infer from Paragraph 2?
A. Only wealthy people can take the TOEFL.
B. The cost of taking the TOEFL is very high.
C. There are many official testing sites for the TOEFL around the world.
D. Few of the students in Cambodia can afford to take the TOEFL.
3. What can we learn about the EFSET?
A. It is similar to the TOEFL and the IELTS.
B. Everybody with different English levels can take it for free.
C. It tests the skills of reading, listening, writing and speaking.
D. American universities accept the EFSET results for admission.
4.What’s the best title for the passage?
A. How to get ready for the EFSET
B. Different ways to test English learners in the world
C. The new software developed by Education First
D. The free EFSET— an online test for English learners
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题
A company has just launched what it calls “the world’s first free standardized English test” recently. Anyone can take the test for free. The new exam is called the EFSET, which is short for Education First Standardized English Test. The company, Education First, is known by the letters EF.
It is estimated that there are two billion English language learners worldwide. Many of them are interested in attending an American college or university. To do so, foreign students need to take the Test of English as a Foreign Language — better known as TOEFL. However, many foreigners are not wealthy enough to take the TOEFL. In addition, test-takers often have to travel overnight to reach an official testing site. The World Bank says an average Cambodian worker earns only about $1,000 per year. Approximately the cost of taking the TOEFL is 17.5 percent of the average worker’s yearly wage.
It is not just individuals who find the test pricey. Some governments also find it prohibitive. What’s more, not everyone needs official results from the TOEFL or IELTS — the International English Language Testing System. In the future, it’s likely that the government may use the EFSET to test millions of employees and students.
Experts believe that the EFSET meets the highest value in language testing. It uses special computer software that makes the questions easier or harder, depending on one’s performance. The EFSET measures all the English learners’ levels while the IELTS and TOEFL only measure learners’ levels from moderate (中等的) to advanced. The EFSET is unique in the sense that it gives free online access to anyone interested in measuring their English level.
There is a 50-minute and a two-hour version of the test, which its developers are calling the EFSET Plus. Both versions test only reading and listening skills. It’s hopeful that speaking and writing skills will be tested in the future. The IELTS and the TOEFL still use humans to rate the speaking and writing sections. It’s a huge deal for students who are in areas where they can’t get to the TOEFL or the IELTS. However, it is too early to know whether the EFSET results are acceptable for colleges and universities in America.
1.Why do many foreign students take the TOEFL?
A. To learn English well.
B. To be admitted to key universities.
C. To receive further education in America.
D. To find good jobs and earn much money.
2.What can we infer from Paragraph 2?
A. Only wealthy people can take the TOEFL.
B. The cost of taking the TOEFL is very high.
C. There are many official testing sites for the TOEFL around the world.
D. Few of the students in Cambodia can afford to take the TOEFL.
3. What can we learn about the EFSET?
A. It is similar to the TOEFL and the IELTS.
B. Everybody with different English levels can take it for free.
C. It tests the skills of reading, listening, writing and speaking.
D. American universities accept the EFSET results for admission.
4.What’s the best title for the passage?
A. How to get ready for the EFSET
B. Different ways to test English learners in the world
C. The new software developed by Education First
D. The free EFSET— an online test for English learners
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
In 1992, I had just launched a new business called Video News International.
It was the world's first video journalist network. The idea was to cover news and sell the service to news organizations.
One day, a young intern (实习生) who was working for us named Anthony Lappe pulled me aside.
"There is something you have to see," he told me. "Comcast is doing this really cool thing."
"What?"
"The Internet," he said. "It's going to be really big."
Anthony later introduced me to the head of the Internet project.
"We are looking for content to put on our network here," the guy said to me.
Well, I said I had lots of content to offer.
The guy's eyes lit up. "Cool," he said. "We would like to put it on our network."
Well, I was always looking for new clients.
"What are you going to pay?" I asked.
He said that they could not pay anything for the content, but they would set up a URL for me.
"What's that?" I asked.
"It's kind of like your address on the web."
"What would I do with this URL thing?"
"Well, it could be your business."
"I don't see how it is a business, and there's not even any advertising," I cleverly replied.
"Not yet," he said. "But one day there might be."
I thought about it for two seconds.
"Naah..." I said. "I've got bigger fish to fry. I've got to be going now. Maybe we can cooperate next time."
And I walked out.
Idiot!
Well, that Internet thing turned out to be so much bigger than I had thought. I wish I had never made such a mistake. Sorry Anthony. You were right.
1.The head of the Internet project expected the author to _______.
A. become a user of their product
B. put advertisements on their web
C. provide video news for their network
D. get an email address from the Internet
2.The guy's offer was rejected because the author ______
A. didn't think it a good deal
B. was unwilling to trust a stranger
C. was too occupied to start a new business
D. was worried about the safety of e-business
3.What does the underlined sentence mean?
A. I don't believe your words.
B. I ought to cook dinner now.
C. I need to get more payment.
D. I have something more important to do.
4.Which of the following can be the best title for this text?
A. Power of New Technology
B. Never Too Old to Learn
C. My Biggest Mistake Ever
D. Building a Business Partnership
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
The company has just launched an advertising campaign to ____ their newly produced bicycles.
A. advocate B. urge C. motivate D. promote
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
Has the world just witnessed its first ever robot suicide? Boring housework was seemingly too much for one cleaning robot to take, when it apparently rebelled and decided to end it all.
The robot was given the tiresome task of cleaning up some spilt grain before it climbed on to a kitchen hotplate 1.___ it destroyed itself, according to reports in Austria. It had reportedly grown tired of 2._____(force) to clean the house every day and decided to become a martyr(殉道者) to the robot cause.
“Somehow it seems 3.____(restart) itself again before it made its way along the work surface. Then it pushed a cooking pot out of the way and basically that was the end of it,” explained fireman Helmut Kniewasser, who 4._____(call) to deal with the fire at Hinterstoder in Kirchdorf. “It pretty quickly started to melt underneath and then stuck to the kitchen hotplate. It then caught fire. 5.___ _____ _____ we arrived, it had become just a pile of ash.” He added: “The entire building 6.____ _____be evacuated (疏散) and there was severe smoke damage particularly in the flat in which the robot had been in use. “It’s a mystery how it came to be started and ended up making its way to the hotplate.” 7.____ took an hour to clean and make the building safe. The homeowner plans to charge the robot’s manufacturer.
高三英语语法填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
The hospital nearby has just got a , ______ you’d call it, er……a scanner.
A.that B.which C.what D.how
高三英语单项填空困难题查看答案及解析
The hospital nearby has just got a , ______ you’d call it, er……a scanner.
A.that B.which C.what D.how
高三英语单项填空中等难度题查看答案及解析
With the approval of the Singapore government, a company called nuTonomy has become the first-ever to test self-driving cars with the public. Interested people could sign up for a free trial run at no cost. When they received an invitation from the company, they could book a ride on the driverless taxi service from their smartphones.Not surprisingly,the rides proved very popular,with dozens of customers eagerly trying out the cars each day.
Driverless cars are a great option for those who do not know how to drive and for those who do not enjoy driving.Some researchers even believe that such cars can make road travel safer by reducing human errors.But since driving requires many of our senses to be on alert(高度警觉), replacing that by machines is easier said than done.
The environment in which cars operate is constantly changing—from roads and pedestrians to co-travelers. A driverless car needs special equipment to analyze its surroundings. Then, it must translate that information into a practical route and safe travel. To be truly autonomous, a car has to do this independently without human input. Today, some cars have a certain degree of autonomous functions. But even the completely automated vehicles still require a driver to take back control under uncertain conditions.
The island city-state is well known for excellent roads and drivers who obey the rules. This has made it ideal for real-world testing and feedback. The government has encouraged research in autonomous vehicles, since it can improve safety and potentially reduce the traffic burden as well.
1.What is the text mainly about?
A. Driverless cars travel safely on the road now.
B. Driverless taxis have been tasted in Singapore.
C. Singapore is the best place to produce driverless cars.
D. Singapore government has decided to use driverless taxis.
2.Which factor matters most when a driverless car travels on the road?
A. The input from human.
B. The directions of its users.
C. The changing environment.
D. The mood of the co-travelers.
3.What can we infer about the driverless curs from Paragraph 2?
A. They have many human senses.
B. They are not absolutely safe on road.
C. They can make people enjoy driving.
D. They are popular with skilled drivers.
4.Why is Singapore a suitable place to test the car?
A. Because it has a small population.
B. Because the pedestrians obey the rules.
C. Because it is famous for its car industry.
D. Because it owns nice roads and polite drivers.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Wal-Mart is not just the world's largest retailer (零售商). It's the world's largest company, which sells in three months what number-two retailer Home Depot sells in a year.
Wal-Mart exercises its power for just one purpose: to bring the lowest possible prices to its customers. At Wal-Mart, that goal is never reached. The retailer has a clear policy for suppliers: On basic products that don't change, the price Wal-Mart will pay, and will charge shoppers, must drop year after year. But what almost no one outside the world of Wal-Mart and none of its 21,000 suppliers know is the high cost of those low prices. To survive in the face of its pricing demands, makers of everything from bikes to jeans have had to close US plants in favor of obtaining products from abroad.
Indeed, the real story of Wal-Mart, the story that never gets told, is the story of the pressure the biggest retailer constantly applies to its suppliers in the name of bringing us "every day low prices".
The giant retailer' s low prices often come with a high cost. Wal-Mart' s pressure can crush the companies it does business with and force them to send jobs overseas. Are we shopping our way straight to the unemployment line? Of course, US companies have been moving jobs offshore for decades, long before Wal-Mart was a retailing power. But there is no question that the chain is helping accelerate the loss of American jobs to low-wage countries such as Thailand.
People ask, "How can it be bad for things to come into the US cheaply?" Sure, it's great to have bargains. But you can' t buy anything if you' re not employed.
There is no question that Wal-Mart's drive to squeeze out cost has benefited consumers. By now, it is accepted wisdom that Wal-Mart makes the companies it does business with more efficient and focused. Wal-Mart itself is known for continuous improvement in its ability to handle, move, and track goods. It is legendary (传奇) for forcing its suppliers to redesign everything from their packaging to their computer systems. It is also legendary for quite straightforwardly telling them what it will pay for their goods.
1. How do suppliers meet the requirements of Wal-Mart?
A. To sell even more goods in three months.
B. To cut down the employment rate sharply.
C. To charge shoppers at a much higher price.
D. To run the business in a well-organized way.
2. Wal-Mart's low price policy results in ____.
A. more high-paying jobs
B. better designed packages
C. bigger profit of its partners
D. more jobless American workers
3. What can we infer from the passage?
A. Still more quality goods will be provided.
B. The food you get at Wal-Mart costs least.
C. The value of Mal-Mart is over assessed.
D. Wal-Mart is a very demanding company.
4.What's the best title for the passage?
A. The Fortune Wal-Mart Makes
B. The Wal-Mart you don't Know
C. The Biggest Retailer—Wal-Mart
D. The Money Saving Tip in Wal-Mart
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
It’s just been three months after the first bike-sharing company arrived in Singapore, but reports of abuse and vandalism(故意破坏)of shared bikes in the city keep appearing on social media.
The majority of these shared bikes are stationless, which means they don’t need to be stopped at a designated(指定的)spot. They lock themselves after your ride is over, and you’re meant to just leave the bike at the side of a road.
But users have been chaining up bicycles outside their apartments, preventing others from using them. Some people bring them up to their apartment floors, so they can’t be found easily by other users. Some people have removed the bikes’ number plates or codes, and some even have painted over the bikes to claim the bikes for themselves. Most of the abused bikes belong to either Singapore-based oBike, or ofo, a bike-sharing giant based in China.
ofo has encouraged Singaporean users to report issues. oBike said that the number of bicycles that were damaged made up less than one percent of its fleet. The company said in February that it planned to bring in “tens of thousands” of bikes by mid-2017. The company has yet to ban anyone from its service, but said that it would take appropriate action – including making reports to the police.
oBike also introduced a shortcoming system, similar to that of its competitor, China-based Mobike. Users start with 100 points, which get taken away for errant(出格的)behaviour such as forgetting to lock the bike, or parking at non-designated areas. Users are banned from using oBike when their scores reach zero. oBike has an eight-man operation team that can remove bicycles parked casually.
When approached for comment, Mobike said, “In China, just as in Singapore, there are always a tiny minority of people who abuse the bikes, so we designed our system to prevent this type of abuse.”
1.Who is the owner of most of the abused bikes?
A. Chinese government.
B. Local government.
C. A bike-sharing giant based in China.
D. The users of the bikes.
2.What is the attitude of the oBike toward the abuse of bikes?
A. Tolerant. B. Indifferent.
C. Supportive. D. Disapproving.
3.What is the meaning of the underlined word “that” in the fifth paragraph?
A. System.
B. Bike.
C. Company.
D. Report.
4.What can we learn from the passage about shared bikes?
A. They will be introduced soon.
B. The abuse of the bikes is on the increase.
C. They are very expensive.
D. They are well preserved by users.
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析
Dutch officials toasted on Tuesday the opening of what is being called the world’s first 3D-printed concrete bridge, which is meant to be used by cyclists. There was applause as officials wearing hard hats and workmen’s jackets rode over the bridge on their bikes at the opening ceremony in the southeastern town of Gemert.
“The bridge is not very big, but it was rolled out by a printer which makes it unique,” Theo Salet, from the Eindhoven University of Technology, told Dutch broadcaster NOS. Work on printing the bridge, which has some 800 layers, took about three months after starting in June and it is made of pre-stressed concrete, according to the university. “One of the advantages of printing a bridge is that much less concrete is needed than in the conventional technique in which a mould (泥浆) is filled,” it said on its website, adding “a printer deposits the concrete only where it is needed.”
The eight-metre (26-foot) bridge crosses a water-filled channel to connect two roads, and it was tested for safety to bear loads of up to two metric tons in cooperation with the BAM Infra Construction company. Although designed for bikes, it could take up to 40 trucks, the designers said “We are looking to the future,” said the head of BAM, Marinus Schimmel. “3D printing meant fewer rare resources were needed and there was significantly less waste,” he added.
The Netherlands is among countries, with the United States and China, taking a lead in the cutting-edge technology of 3D printing, using computers and robotics to construct objects and structures from scratch without using much traditional manpower. Last year a Dutch architect unveiled (提示) a unique 3D printer with which he hopes to construct an “endless loop” building. And a Dutch start-up called MX3D has begun printing a stainless-steel bridge, of which a third is already completed. The aim is to finish printing by March and lay the bridge over an Amsterdam canal in the future.
1.According to the text what makes the bridge unique?
A. It adopts 3D printing
B. It opens only to cyclists.
C. It is made of new material.
D. It uses much less concrete.
2.According to Marinus Schimmel. the bridge ________.
A. fails to bear heavy loads more safely
B. needs no concrete and mould
C. is designed for bikes and trucks
D. is cost-efficient and eco-friendly
3.According to the last paragraph, which of the following statement is true?
A. The 3D-printed bridges are all designed for bikes.
B. 3D-printed construction saves much human labor.
C. United States and China develop slowly in 3D printing.
D. The stainless-steel bridge by MX3D has been put into use.
4.What is the best title for the text?
A. The Value of the 3D Printing Technology
B. The Netherlands Leads the Way in 3D Printing
C. World’s First 3D-printed Bridge Opens to Cyclists
D. 3D Printing is Widely Used in Building Bridges
高三英语阅读理解中等难度题查看答案及解析