【題目】A team of scientists from University of Freiburg in Germany are developing a shoe with a sensor to automatically tie its laces(鞋帶)that could be taken off when users click their heels together．

It’s been 26 years since we saw them magically tightening Marty McFly’s Nike boots in the film Back to The Future．

Now，self-tying shoelaces could actually become a reality this year，proving right one of the film’s fantastical predictions for what 2015 would be like．

Engineers have designed a shoe that can automatically lace up，adjusting itself to the shape of your foot．

Simply slip the controller on and pressure sensors will tell the ‘smart shoe’ when your foot is in position，triggering(觸發(fā))a tiny motor in the heel that pulls the laces tight.

When you want to take off the shoes，you click your heels together twice and the motor will release a spring(彈簧)in the shoe’s tongue，which loosens the laces enough for you to slip them off．

And the invention doesn’t even need to be plugged in to charge or have its battery replaced because it runs on power generated by the swing of your foot as you walk.

Engineer K1evis Ylli，of the Institute for Micromachining and Information Technology in southern Gemany，said the shoes could help a variety of different people.

“One focus is that it could be used in shoes for elderly people who have mobility problems，”he said．“But it could also work for children，or as a lifestyle product．”．

The design，which is still in a prototype(雛形)stage，cleverly gets the energy of the foot’s swing when opposing magnets in each shoe move past each other. It then uses that power to charge a battery．An hour of walking is enough to tighten the laces once，and it requires no energy to undo the shoes because that relies on the spring alone.

【1】Which of the following can be the best title of the text?

A．A fantastical prediction

B．A great invention in Germany

C．A shoe with self-tying laces

D．A popular lifestyle product

【2】What can we learn about the shoes?

A．They can automatically take off．

B．They can adjust themselves to your foot．

C．They need to be charged once．

D．They have been in design for 26 years．

【3】From the last paragraph we can know ____________．

A．the shoes have been put into use

B．the shoes need power to take off

C．the shoes promise to be popular

D．how the shoes work to produce energy

【題目】Cambridge graduates are the most employable in the world，according to a global league table．The ancient university is the best at producing graduates who are‘ready to work’，a poll of major employers found．

Oxford slipped to fourth place in the rankings having taken top spot last year．Harvard and Yale—part of the US‘Ivy League’of universities—were second and third respectively．

Five British universities were ranked in the top 20—one more than last year—and 12 were in the full list of 150．

But the UK as a country came third—behind the US and Germany—when companies were asked to name the best nation for producing work—ready graduates．

The table—the Global Employability(就業(yè)能力)University Ranking published by the International New York Times—also showed that universities in Asian countries were rapidly gaining ground on their western counterparts (對手)．

Asian universities claimed 20 percent of the top 150 places in 2014 compared with only 10 percent when the tables were first published in 2010．

The other British universities in the top 20 were University College London，in 14th place，Imperial College London，in 15th，and Edinburgh，18th．

The table showed the gap between a small number of top UK universities and less famous institutions．

Laurent Dupasquier，managing partner at Emerging，a French human resources consultancy，said：“The top tier players．global brands (which tend to be all American and British)．continue to lead，while other Anglo—Saxon universities，those that are mainly regional players，tend to develop less well，with an average of five places lost in comparison with last year．”

“Like the Premier League(英超聯(lián)賽)，the champions have an international community of students and think internationally，unlike their more locally oriented counterparts．”

The table was made following a survey of 2,500 major companies in 20 countries．Employers were asked to rank universities against a range of criteria including their production of graduates who are ready to work and their links with business．

The study claimed that‘the days of ivory towers are over’．

【1】Which university had the best work-ready graduates last year?

A．Cambridge． B．Oxford． C．Harvard． D．Yale．

【2】The underlined phrase“gaining ground”in Paragraph 5 probably refers to ____________．

A．falling behind

B．coming into conflict

C．making room

D．becoming more successful

【3】What can we learn about the UK universities from the text?

A．There are many quality gaps between UK universities．

B．The UK produced the most work-ready graduates this year．

C．Universities in the UK make up most of the top 20．

D．Almost all UK university graduates are employable．

【4】Why do regional UK universities tend to develop less well this year?

A．They couldn’t raise enough education fund．

B．They have students from all over the world．

C．They lack international students and think locally．

D．The UK government didn’t support them at a11．

【題目】In a class this past December, after I wrote some directions on the board for students about their final examination, one young woman quickly took a picture of the board using her smart phone. When I looked in her direction, she apologized: “Sorry. Was it wrong to take a picture?”

“I can’t read my own handwriting,”the young woman explained. “It’s best if I take a picture of your writing so I can understand the notes.”

That remark started a class-wide conversation about taking a picture instead of taking notes. For those in the photo-taking camp, motivations extended beyond their inability to comprehend their own handwriting. Some took pictures of notes because they knew their phone was a safe place to store material. They might lose paper, they reasoned, but they wouldn’t lose their phones. Some took photos because they wanted to record exactly the manner in which I had noted information on the board. Others told me that during class they liked to be able to listen to the discussion attentively.

Yet the use of cameras as note takers, though it may be convenient, does raise significant questions for the classroom. Is a picture an effective replacement for the process of note-taking?

Instructors encourage students to take notes because the act of doing so is more than merely recording necessary information—it helps prepare the way for understanding. Encouraging students to take notes may be an old-fashioned instructional method, but just because a method has a long history doesn’t mean it’s out of date. Writing things down engages a student’s brain in listening, visual, and kinesthetic(觸覺的)learning—a view supported by a longstanding research. The act of writing down information enables a person to begin committing it to memory, and to process and combine it, establishing the building blocks of learning new concepts.

Taking a picture does indeed record the information, but it deletes some of the necessary mental engagement that taking notes employs. So can the two be equally effective?

I’m not sure how to measure the effectiveness of either method. For now, I allow students to take notes however they see fit—handwritten or photographed—because I figure that some notes, no matter the method of note-taking, are better than none.

【1】The woman apologized in the class because she____.

A. took a picture of the board

B. missed the teachers’ directions

C. had the bad handwriting

D. disturbed other students’ learning

【2】Students refuse to take notes by hand because_____.

A. they are unable to take notes

B. they are more likely to lose notes

C. they are interested in using their phones

D. they have a good memory of teachers’ instructions

【3】According to the passage, taking notes by hand_______.

A. requires students to think independently

B. is unsuitable for students to learn new ideas

C. helps students actively participate in learning

D. proves to be an old and useless learning method

【4】What’s the author’s opinion towards taking notes by phones?

A. Supportive. B. Neutral.

C. Doubtful. D. Disapproving.

【題目】Amazon just released its list of the 10 best-selling books of 2014，and chances all you’ve already seen people reading them on the train．It's not too late to read—or reread—the bestsellers of the year．The following are the top four of them．

“The Invention of Wings”by Sue Monk Kid

Set in the south in the early 1800s，this Oprah Book Club book follows the complicated relationship between Handful，a slave，and Sarah，her owner，as they grow up together from childhood．Their confusing friendship，in the face of politics and societal norms，becomes a beautiful and difficult thing to watch as it changes over time．

“Gray Mountain”by John Grisham

When the economic recession(蕭條)causes Samantha Kofer to lose her Wall Street law firm job．she takes a job at a legal aid clinic in Virginia until she can hopefully get back to big law．But while her new job，for the first time，puts her front and center in the court room，it also puts her in terrible danger．

“All the Light We Cannot See”by Anthony Doerr

This National Book Award Finalist follows both Marie—Laure，a blind French girl living with her father during World War II，and Werner，a German orphan with a skill for building and fixing radios．As their paths cross，this moving story will question how life and art are influenced by war．

“Twenty Seconds Ago(Jack Reacher，#19)”by Lee Child

After years of being out of the Army，Jack Reacher is pulled back into service at the CIA and State Department after someone tried to shoot the president of France．In Child’s latest Jack Reacher installment(系列叢書)，Reacher finds himself face to face with all old enemy and old memories．

【1】If you prefer emotional(情感)stories，you’ll choose _______________.

A．The Invention of Wings and Gray Mountain

B．All the Light We Cannot See and Twenty Seconds Ago

C．The Invention of Wings and All the Light We Cannot See

D．Twenty Seconds Ago and Gray Mountain

【2】What is Samantha Kofer?

A．A lawyer． B．A doctor．

C．A merchant． D．An official．

【3】Which book has won the top honor?

A．The Invention of Wings

B．All the Light We Cannot See

C．Gray Mountain

D．Twenty Seconds Ago

【4】What type of writing is this text?

A．A test report． B．An announcement.

C．A book review． D．Introduction of books．

【題目】He told me he had been offered a very well-paid __________ abroad.

A. service B. business

C. position D. work

【題目】短文改錯(共10小題；每小題1分，滿分10分)

假定英語課上老師要求同桌之間交換修改作文，請你修改你同桌寫的以下作文。文中共有10處語言錯誤，每句中最多有兩處。每處錯誤僅涉及一個單詞的增加、刪除或修改。

增加：在缺詞處加一個漏字符號(∧)，并在其下面寫出該加的詞。

刪除：把多余的詞用斜線(＼)劃掉。

修改：在錯的詞下劃一橫線，并在該詞下面寫出修改后的詞。

注意：

1．每處錯誤及其修改均僅限一詞；

2．只允許修改10處，多者(從第11處起)不計分。

The saying that practice makes perfect mean that after you have plenty of practice in what you were doing，you will be perfect in it．If you want improve your study and work，remembering that the most important thing is how to put the knowledge you have learned into practice．For example，when learning a language，though you can make full use for your talent，practice is necessary．If you only learn grammar rules by the heart and don’t do enough exercise，it’s certain that you can’t understand the language perfectly．But if you real practise a lot，maybe you will understand them much better．In this way，you can apply that you have learned better．

【題目】Playing on a frozen sports field sounds like a lot of fun. Isn't it rather risky，__________？

A. though B. also

C. either D. too

【題目】I was working as a waiter last month，__________ my friends were lying on the beach.

A. whenever B. though

C. for D. while

【題目】Can you explain __________ the sun goes down in the west?

A. why is it that B. why it is that

C. how it is that D. how is it that

【題目】-It's too cold now. Would you mind my __________ the window?

-__________. Go ahead.

A. to close; OK

B. closing; Certainly not

C. closing; Of course

D. to close; Good idea