单选题 第一段 ①促进亚洲区域内、亚洲与世界其他地区之间的经济交流、协调与合作是博鳌亚洲论坛的宗旨。②当前全球经济面临压力，逆全球化和贸易保护主义言行抬头，可能给全球贸易与投资带来干扰，令人担忧。③在此情况下，亚洲各国应坚持推进市场开放、包容性增长和经济合作，以确保本地区经济的共同繁荣和可持续增长。 第二段 ④经济全球化是科技进步的必然结果。⑤在过去几十年中，它有力推动了全球经济增长，也持续推动了全球范围的减贫进程不断取得进展。⑥但经济全球化也带来了一些不容忽视的新问题。 第三段 ⑦上述结构性矛盾的根源，不在于经济全球化本身，而是由于现行全球治理体制同世界经济格局深刻变化不相适应所造成的。⑧因此，采取逆全球化措施，不可能解决这些结构性矛盾，甚至会为全球经济增长带来新的挑战。⑨世界必须主动顺应经济全球化，改革全球治理体系。

单选题 Japan owes a lot to China. Chinese demand for Japanese goods has helped Japan's economy recover, while competition has pressured executives to start restructuring Japan's companies and banks. Japan is an example of how China is offering two benefits to the global economy. One is the way in which China is acting as an economic engine, buying up ever-increasing amounts of goods and natural resources. The other is the flow of inexpensive Chinese goods that drag down consumer prices across the world. There are downsides, like the decline of manufacturing industries from Detroit and Perth. Folks in developed economies losing jobs or taking pay cuts would hardly agree that China's rising influence is a good thing. But at the moment, China's 9.5 percent growth rate is proving more of a blessing than a bane for countries like Japan. Quietly, at the start of this decade, Japanese companies began shifting production abroad, cutting costs, selling off extraneous businesses and paying down debt. 'The government also stepped up efforts to attract more foreign direct investment, something Japan had little use for in the past. Taken together, these actions largely prompted by China's advance, have led to the most organic and convincing recovery Japan has seen in years. While Japan has much further to got to make its economy more globally competitive, it is worth noting how far it has come from the dark days of the late 1990s. There are many benefits inherent in China's advance. One of them was spelled out by Anatole Kaletsky, an editor and economic columnist at The Times of London. He wrote on August 18 that China's rise is making the richest nations even richer. Along with pushing down global prices of mass-produced goods, China's influence may actually be pushing up the prices of products and services China does not or cannot make. That can be seen in the prices of things that China consumes — oil, financial services, luxury goods and real estate. Kaletsky said that as prices of luxury goods and financial services are driven higher, prosperous countries with service industries become wealthier, compared with manufacturing countries.

单选题 Para. 1 ①As Rachel Raymond from West Orange, N.J., tells it, the day last August when she flew on a private jet ranks as one of the most unreal experiences of her life. ②Ms. Raymond, and her husband, Daniel, along with their three children, took a flight in a seven-seat jet, a Cessna Citation III, complete with two pilots and a well-stocked bar, from Westchester County Airport, in White Plains, N.Y., to upstate Saratoga Springs. ③The Raymonds had decided to take an impromptu trip to Lake George because they had found a last-minute deal where they could fly on that route for only $500. Para. 2 'Daniel and I have always fantasized about flying private, but it's a luxury that we never thought that we would be able to pay for.' Ms. Raymond said. Para. 3 ①The charter was a 'SuiteDeal' from the private jet company JetSuite. ②These last-minute deals for one-way private jet charters within the United State cost between $500 and $2,000, and the money the Raymonds paid was comfortably within their budget. Para. 4 The Raymond's $500 trip is a more extreme example of how little flights on private jets can cost, but industry experts say that a trip on one today is less expensive than it ever has been in the past. Para. 5 ①Steve Wooster, the managing director of services and air operations for the luxury travel network Virtuoso, said that the proliferation of private jet brands has led to these lower prices. ②'There are many more suppliers than there ever used to be, and competition means prices have dropped,' he said. ③'Private jet flying is now open to a diversity of passengers, not just C.E.O.'s.' Para. 6 ①JetSmarter, around since 2013, is an example of a player in the private aviation space selling shared flights. ②The company operates on a membership model: Fliers pay a minimum of $15,000 a year and book seats on already scheduled flights through the JetSmarter app, which lists more than 150 domestic and international trips a day. ③Trips under three hours are included in the cost of the membership while longer ones are an average of $300 a person, according to Sergey Petrossov, the company's chief executive officer; most flights have an average of eight to 10 passengers. Para. 7 ①Members who want to set their own schedule can create a flight and post it to JetSmarter's app so that other interested members can buy seats for the route and help reduce the cost of the charter; if all the seats on the plane sell, the member who created the flight flies for free. ②These crowdsourced trips usually top out at $2,000 a person, a fraction of the $8,000 or more per hour it can cost for a traditional charter. ③'My goal is to make private jet flying less elitist,' Mr. Petrossov said. Para. 8 ①Blade, which doesn't require membership, also sells flights, but only from December through mid-March and on one route, between Westchester County Airport (with or without a helicopter transfer from Manhattan) and its own terminal in Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport. ② From $1,285 each way, fliers travel on a Bombardier commercial jet retrofitted with 16 seats and receive an array of amenities such as catered meals from Dean Deluca as well as iPad Pros loaded with first-run movies; they also get accommodations for the weekend at Faena Miami, a luxury beachfront hotel. Para. 9 The Miami route made its debut two years ago and has been so popular, said company founder Rob Wiesenthal, that this season, the flights will be offered four days a week, instead of the two days that they previously were.

单选题第一段①亚太是全球经济最大的板块，也是世界经济增长的一个主要引擎。②工商界是促进经济增长的生力军，是新发展理念的探索者、实践者。③这几年，每次出席亚太经合组织领导人非正式会议，我都抽出时间同工商界的朋友见面，共同探讨应对当前挑战的思路和举措。第二段④国际金融危机发生10年来，国际社会一起努力，推动世界经济逐步回到复苏的轨道。⑤今天，我们迎来了世界经济逐步向好的局面。⑥尽管仍然面临风险和不确定性，但全球贸易和投资回暖，金融市场预期向好，各方信心增强。第三段⑦我们正面临增长动能的深刻转变。⑧当前，改革创新成为各国化解挑战、谋求发展的方向。⑨结构性改革的正面效应和潜能持续释放，对各国经济增长的促进作用进一步显现。⑩新一轮科技和产业革命形成势头，数字经济、共享经济加速发展，新产业、新模式、新业态层出不穷，新的增长动能不断积聚。第四段发展之路没有终点，只有新的起点。“往者不可谏，来者犹可追。”世界正处在快速变化的历史进程之中，世界经济正在发生更深层次的变化。我们要洞察世界经济发展趋势，找准方位，果敢应对。

单选题 Para. 1 Iceland has discovered the secret to a booming tourist industry: First have a mammoth financial implosion, then an enormous volcanic explosion. Para. 2 The collapse of the Icelandic krona after the 2008 financial crisis transformed this Arctic island packed with 35 active volcanoes into a top destination by making it cheap for visitors. Para. 3 ①Two years later, Eyjafjallajokull erupted, spewing thick ash clouds into European skies. ②Millions of passengers were grounded for days and airlines suffered financial losses. ③But the explosion put Iceland on the map. ④The foreign news media descended on the island, beaming images around the world of spectacular landscapes, even as journalists struggled to pronounce the volcano's name. Para. 4 ①'Iceland has been saved by the crash and the eruption,' said Fridrik Palsson, who owns Hotel Ranga, a luxury resort just 19 miles from the slopes of Eyjafjallajokull, the 16-letter volcano that is often shortened to E-16 by foreigners. ②'I have never seen anything take off so fast,' he said. Para. 5 ①The combined effect of the catastrophes has been an invasion on a scale possibly unseen since Vikings raided the island hundreds of years ago. ②Tourists are expected to outnumber the local population of 330,000 by seven to one next year, according to official data. ③By comparison, last year visitors to France outnumbered the French by two to one. Para. 6 Tourism is now the island's biggest industry, taking over from fishing and aluminum smelting, much as the financial sector did in the years before the crash. Para. 7 ①Mr. Palsson, who used to sell Iceland as a place to see the Northern Lights, employs an astronomer in his hotel. ②He has also invested in three expensive telescopes that are powerful enough for guests to see the rings on Saturn or the fuzzy glow of a distant dying star. Para. 8 ①Reykjavik, Iceland's capital, looks like a Scandinavian version of Singapore: compact, clean, orderly, and rich. ②Streets are lined with Crayola-color houses and Mercedes cars. ③Chic coffeehouses sell kale-and-date sandwiches, and play Ethiopian jazz. ④Restaurants offer inventive Nordic cuisine using local ingredients like puffin and shark, Para. 9 ①The 101, a boutique hotel that was once an exclusive hangout for bankers (101 is also the city's richest postal code), is now filled with tourists. ②In a possible dig at the hotel's former denizens, a sculpture of what looked like a gray-suited banker hung on one wall, with a cryptic instruction, 'Disconnect the battery, remove the rear hood and hinge brackets,' inscribed beneath it. Para. 10 ①Tourists come from as far as Hong Kong. ②They chase the Northern Lights. ③They scale glaciers. ④They dive in the Arctic Circle with puffins, go horseback riding or take helicopter tours listening to ethereal, whale-like sounds by the Icelandic band Sigur Ros. ⑤Fans of 'Game of Thrones' flock to filming locations around the island, some, apparently, genuinely in search of Wildlings.

单选题第一段①近年来，葡萄牙成功应对欧洲主权债务危机挑战，在发展国民经济、弘扬民族文化、促进社会进步等方面取得重要成就，古老大地不断焕发勃勃生机。②中国和葡萄牙虽然分处亚欧大陆东西两端，但两国人民友谊源远流长，历久弥坚。③几百年前，中国青花瓷漂洋过海来到葡萄牙，同当地瓷器制作技术相融合，形成了独具魅力的“葡萄牙蓝”。④葡萄牙东北部的弗雷索城很早就使用源于中国的桑蚕织造技术，享有“丝绸之乡”的美誉。第二段⑤当代，两国人民友好交往的佳话不断涌现。⑥一对中国老教师夫妇克服疾病困难，数十年如一日在葡萄牙教授中文、传播中华文化。⑦这样的故事还有很多，见证了两国人民跨越时空的友谊。⑧当前，中国和葡萄牙都处在各自发展的关键阶段。⑨中国正在全面深化改革，扩大对外开放。⑩葡萄牙也在励精图治，寻求更大发展。中方愿同葡方一道，共同创造中葡关系更加美好的明天。

单选题 当今，世界各国的实力较量涉及诸多因素，其中最重要的一个要素是市场规模。哪个国家的市场大，对其他国家的吸引力就越大，也越容易处于领先地位。中国有14亿人口，这就决定了它拥有世界上最大的消费市场。经济学家都认为，过去这些年，中国市场发展的速度是世界上最快的。 连续九年，中国是世界上最大的汽车市场。2016年，美国销售了1,700万辆汽车，同年中国则销售了2,400万辆。其中在中国的美国合资公司销售的汽车占比很大。中国还是世界上最大的智能手机市场，也是最大的服装、电商、国内旅游和农产品市场。中国市场展现了惊人的发展潜力。在中国，中产和富裕阶层人士迅速增长，年轻人有了全新的消费习惯，线上线下销售渠道覆盖了全国各地。随着医疗、养老产业不断发展，还将进一步提升中国人的消费能力。

单选题 作为远古人类留给我们的宝贵的文化遗产，岩画堪称是记载人类早期社会生活的百科全书，它不仅传承着源远流长的古代文明，也是史前人类文化、宗教、民俗以及原始艺术史的见证。 在世界上，中国岩画是诞生最早、分布最广、内容最丰富的国家之一，而贺兰山又是华夏土地上遗存最集中、题材最广泛、保存最完好的岩画地区之一。在贺兰山腹地，共发现20余处遗存岩画，其中最具代表性的是贺兰山贺兰口岩画。 贺兰山岩画在山口内外分布着近6000幅岩画，其中罕为人见的人面像岩画就有70幅之多。据考证，贺兰山口岩画是不同时期先后刻制的，大多为北方游牧民族创作。岩画造型粗犷稚拙、构图朴实自然，牛、马、驴、鹿、鸟、虎等动物栩栩如生，各种人头的造型同样是千奇百态。凭着自己对社会现实的理解与感悟，对美好生活的追求与向往，把自己的亲身感受与体验，忠实地记录在岩石之上，同时也为后人留下了神秘瑰丽的贺兰山岩画。 有学者说贺兰口是史前人类凭借自然魅力打造的祭祀圣地，又有专家认为，贺兰口岩画是象形文字前的图画文字，在文字没有发明前，这里的人们艰难地把他们的理想、愿望、欢乐、悲伤，通过岩画的形式表现出来。于是，在亘古不变的贺兰山上，写就了一部史前人类的“天书”。

单选题 他是个极其自负的怪人。除非事情与自己有关，否则他从来不屑对世界或世人瞧上一眼。对他来说，他不仅是世界上最重要的人物，而且在他眼里，他是惟一活在世界上的人。他认为自己是世界上最伟大的戏剧家之一、最伟大的思想家之一、最伟大的作曲家之一。听听他的谈话，仿佛他就是莎士比亚、柏拉图、贝多芬三人集于一身。想要听到他的高论十分容易，他是世上最能使人精疲力竭的健谈者之一。同他度过一个夜晚，就是听他一个人滔滔不绝地说上一晚。有时，他才华横溢；有时，他又令人极其厌烦。但无论是妙趣横生还是枯燥无味，他的谈话只有一个主题：他自己，他的所思所为。 他狂妄地认为自己总是正确的。任何人在最无足轻重的问题上露出丝毫的异议，都会激起他的谴责。他可能会一连好几个小时滔滔不绝，千方百计地证明自己如何如何正确。有了这种使人耗尽心力的雄辩本事，听者最后都被他弄得头昏脑涨，耳朵发聋，为了图个清净，只好同意他的说法。

单选题 ①上个月召开的中国共产党全国代表大会，明确提出中国将坚持和平发展道路，坚定不移在和平共处五项原则基础上发展同各国的友好合作，积极促进“一带一路”国际合作，继续参与全球治理体系改革和建设，推动建设相互尊重、公平正义、合作共赢的新型国际关系，推动构建人类命运共同体。②这可以从亚洲开始，从周边起步。③中国将按照亲诚惠容理念，继续奉行与邻为善、以邻为伴的周边外交政策，奉行互利共赢的开放战略，把自身发展同地区国家发展对接起来，把自身安全同地区国家安全融合起来。④中国的发展只会给东亚乃至世界发展繁荣带来机遇，不会对任何国家构成威胁。⑤中方愿与峰会各方齐心协力，维护地区和平发展合作的良好势头，积极推进东亚经济共同体建设，共同谱写东亚合作新篇章、开创东亚发展新愿景!

单选题Para.1Fromthefoyerofhissmallguesthousesome100feetfromtheshoreline,MohamedNizar,52,waswonderinghowlonghisbusinesscouldremainviable.Para.2Lastyear,duringanunusuallynastystorm,watersnakedthroughthenarrowstreetsofGuraidhoo,asmallislandintheMaldives,poolingaroundthefloorofthethree-roomhouseandchasingawayguests.Para.3①Downalongthebeach,thepicturewasevenworse.②Erosionoftheshorehasbecomesosevere,hesaid,thattheownerofaneighboringguesthousestakesplasticjerrycansinthesandtocurbfloodingduringseaswells.Para.4①'Whatisthelagoonnowusedtobethefootballfieldonthisisland,'Mr.Nizarsaidonarecentafternoon.②'Ihavetoleavethisguesthouseifitkeepseroding.③Iamsureofit.'Para.5GuesthouseshaveproliferatedacrossthisarchipelagointheIndianOcean,astheMaldivesshiftsawayfromcateringtotheandwelcomesbudget-conscioustravelers.Para.6Butunlikeresortislands,whichspendmillionsofdollarsonconstructingseawails,dredgingsandandhiringmarinebiologists,islandswithsmall-scaleguesthousesaremostlyreliantonthegovernmentforprotectionfromshoreerosionandrisingseas,whichmanyonGuraidhooattributetoclimatechange.Para.7①Residentssaythefundsforconservationprojectsareavailableintheformoftouristtaxes,paidthroughbusinessownerstothegovernment.②Theproblem,theysay,isthatitisunclearwherethemoneyisgoing—orwhetheritultimatelycansavetheworld'slowest-lyingcountry.Para.8'IftheMaldivesdon'texist,we'renotlosingjust400,000people,'saidMaeedMohamedZahir,thedirectorforadvocacyatEcocare,anenvironmentalorganizationbasedinMalé,thecapital.Para.9①'We'relosinganationality,anidentity,aculturalhistory,alanguage,ascript,'headded.②'We'relosingthebeaches.③We'relosingthecoconutpalms.④We'relosingeverything.'Para.10①Now,withguesthousesinjectingcashintolocaleconomiesandprovidinggreateremploymentopportunitiesoutsidetheresortindustry,manyhopethisnewrevenuegeneratorisheretostay.②Thatis,ofcourse,iftheislandsremainabovewater.Para.11①TohelpfundconservationandwastemanagementprojectsintheMaldives,thegovernmentpassedabilllevyinga'greentax'ontouristsvisitingresorts.②Foreverynightbooked,touristspay$6.③Lastyear,guesthouses,whichwereinitiallyexemptfromthepolicy,wereaddedtothelistofgreentaxpayingbusinessesatadiscountedrateof$3anight.Para.12①Guraidhoohasapermanentpopulationofaround1,900people,buthosts12guesthousesandanother1,000dayvisitors.②Butresidentssaythegovernmenthasyettostartworkontheirisland.Para.13①'Itisverysimple,'saidMohamedSolih,50,theownerofIthaaBeachInn.②'Thecowthatgivesmoremilkhastobefedmore.③Soislandsthatpaytourismtaxesshouldbeapriorityinshoreprotectioninitiativesbythegovernment.'Para.14①Askedhowgreentaxesarespent,theMinistryofEnvironmentdirectedquestionstothecountry'sEnvironmentalProtectionAgency,whichdirectedquestionstotheMinistryofFinance.②TheMinistryofFinancedeclinedtocommentdespiterepeatedquestions.③Areviewofthecountry'sbudgetproposaldidnotyieldinformationaboutwheregreentaxrevenueisallocated.

单选题 第一段 ①中国是世界上最大的发展中国家，美国是世界上最大的发达国家。②中美经贸关系既对两国意义重大，也对全球经济稳定和发展有着举足轻重的影响。 第二段 ③中美两国建交以来，双边经贸关系持续发展，利益交汇点不断增多，形成了紧密合作关系，不仅使两国共同获益，而且惠及全球。④特别是进入新世纪以来，在经济全球化快速发展过程中，中美两国遵循双边协定和世界贸易组织等多边规则，拓展深化经贸合作，基于比较优势和市场选择形成了结构高度互补、利益深度交融的互利共赢关系。⑤双方通过优势互补、互通有无，有力促进了各自经济发展和产业结构优化升级，同时提升了全球价值链效率与效益，降低了生产成本，丰富了商品种类，极大促进了两国企业和消费者利益。 第三段 ⑥中美两国经济发展阶段、经济制度不同，存在经贸摩擦是正常的。⑦双方为此付出了不懈努力，保障了中美经贸关系克服各种障碍，不断向前发展，成为中美关系的压舱石和推进器。

单选题 第一段 ①综合分析国内外形势，我国发展面临的机遇和挑战并存。②世界经济有望继续复苏，但不稳定不确定因素很多，主要经济体政策调整及其外溢效应带来变数，保护主义加剧，地缘政治风险上升。③我国经济正处在转变发展方式、优化经济结构、转换增长动力的攻关期，还有很多坡要爬、坎要过，需要应对可以预料和难以预料的风险挑战。 第二段 ④实践表明，中国的发展成就从来都是在攻坚克难中取得的。⑤当前我国物质技术基础更加雄厚，产业体系完备、市场规模巨大、人力资源丰富、创业创新活跃，综合优势明显，有能力有条件实现更高质量、更有效率、更加公平、更可持续的发展。

单选题 第一段 ①扎实推进区域协调发展战略。②完善区域发展政策，推进基本公共服务均等化，逐步缩小城乡区域发展差距，把各地比较优势和潜力充分发挥出来。 第二段 ③塑造区域发展新格局。④加强对革命老区、民族地区、边疆地区、贫困地区改革发展的支持。⑤以疏解北京非首都功能为重点推进京津冀协同发展，高起点规划、高标准建设雄安新区。⑥以生态优先、绿色发展为引领推进长江经济带发展。⑦出台实施粤港澳大湾区发展规划，全面推进内地同香港、澳门互利合作。③制定西部大开发新的指导意见，落实东北等老工业基地振兴举措，继续推动中部地区崛起，支持东部地区率先发展。⑨促进资源型地区经济转型。⑩壮大海洋经济，坚决维护国家海洋权益。

单选题 It was a dark and stormy evening, rapidly turning into the proverbial dark and stormy night, and I needed to find a place to stay. I was driving along an Austrian freeway, so I did what I've done on any number of previous occasions: I took the near exit and looked for a sign pointing to the nearest gasthof, or inn. The exit was Gleisdorf, between Graz and the Hungarian border. And off the highway, a couple of kilometers along the road, there it was, a sign at a lefthand turn, pointing up a narrow country road into the dark. The sign read 'Gasthof Gruber' — so of course I followed the indication. Fifteen minutes or so later, I found myself in the village of Markt, at a quaint-looking inn whose windows glowed invitingly and whose balconies were full of flowers. A smiling woman in a floor-length dirndl led me to a comfortable room, equipped with a television and private bath. I dropped my bags, went back downstairs, and settled into the dining room, which was heated by a big, old-fashioned tiled stove. Soon I was sipping a glass of sturm, a mildly alcoholic, fleshly fermented grape juice, and digging in to a bowl of delicious soup. The room, with a full breakfast, cost 30, or about $ 36, and my dinner, with wine, cost 10. One of the pleasures of driving in Austria is, in fact, stopping for the night. All parts of the country are studded with family-run country inns that, like the Gasthof Gruber, offer spotless, moderately priced rooms and good, sometimes excellent, food that often features specialties of the region. Room prices average ∈25 to ∈35 for a single. Some inns are clustered in towns or villages along main roadways. But many are deep in the countryside or in mountain hamlets reached by winding lanes. Standardized green signs bearing the name of a gasthof and the symbols of a bed and crossed knife and fork point the way at many intersections. In popular vacation areas, there may be half a dozen or more such signs stacked on one post or standing next to each other at a turn-off. In years of driving regularly in Austria, I have rarely booked a room in advance, trusting always that I will find a pleasant place to stay by following the signs. I've rarely been disappointed, and often my night in a gasthof has proved such an enjoyable oasis between bouts of long-distance driving that I found it difficult to leave in the morning and get back on the road.

单选题第一段①五年来，中国经济实力跃上新台阶。②国内生产总值从54万亿元增加到82.7万亿元，年均增长7.1%，占世界经济比重从11.4%提高到15%左右，对世界经济增长贡献率超过30%。③财政收入从11.7万亿元增加到17.3万亿元。④居民消费价格年均上涨1.9%，保持较低水平。⑤城镇新增就业6600万人以上，13亿多人口的大国实现了比较充分就业。第二段⑥经济结构出现重大变革。⑦消费贡献率由54.9%提高到58.8%，服务业比重从45.3%上升到51.6%，成为经济增长主动力。⑧高技术制造业年均增长117%。⑨粮食生产能力达到1.2万亿斤。⑩城镇化率从52.6%提高到58.5%，8,000多万农业转移人口成为城镇居民。第三段创新驱动发展成果丰硕。全社会研发投入年均增长11%，规模跃居世界第二位。科技进步贡献率由52.2%提高到57.5%。载人航天、深海探测、量子通信、大飞机等重大创新成果不断涌现。高铁网络、电子商务、移动支付、共享经济等引领世界潮流。“互联网+”广泛融入各行各业。大众创业、万众创新蓬勃发展，日均新设企业由5千多户增加到1万6千多户。快速崛起的新动能，正在重塑经济增长格局、深刻改变生产生活方式，成为中国创新发展的新标志。

单选题 Para. 1 Last spring, Bhairavi Desai, a middle-aged woman without a driver's license and thus an unlikely leader for thousands of mostly male drivers in the world's largest market for hired vehicles, delivered emotional testimony in front of New York City's Taxi Limousine Commission about the mounting existential difficulties in her field. Para. 2 The executive director of the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, Ms. Desai had been a labor activist for 21 years but she had never seen anything like the despair she was witnessing now—the bankruptcies, foreclosures and eviction notices plaguing drivers who were calling her with questions about how to navigate homelessness and paralyzing depression. Para. 3 'Half my heart is just crushed,' she said, 'and the other half is on fire.' Para. 4 ①The economic hardship that Uber and its competitors had inflicted on conventional drivers in New York and London and other cities had become overwhelming. ②For decades there had been no more than 12,000 to 13,000 taxis in New York but now there were myriad new ways to avoid public transportation, in some cases with ride-hailing services like Via that charged little more than $5 to travel in Manhattan. Para. 5 ①While Uber has sold that 'disruption' as positive for riders, for many taxi workers, it has been devastating. ②The gross annual bookings of full-time yellow-taxi drivers in New York declined and their annual salary fell from $88,000 a year to just over $69,000. ③Medallions, which grant the right to operate a taxi in New York City, were now depreciating assets and drivers who had borrowed money to pay for them, once a sound investment strategy, were deeply in debt. ④Ms. Desai was routinely seeing grown men cry and she had become increasingly concerned about the possibility that they would begin taking their lives. Para. 6 For taxi drivers staring down an even bleaker future of driverless cars at a moment when Washington considers a weekly paycheck bump of $1.50 an occasion to break out the layer cake, it is hard to see where the metaphoric Prozac will come from. Para. 7 ①The problems facing the city's taxi drivers have become so bad, Ms. Desai said, that even on New Year's Eve many complained that they roamed around unable to pick up fares. ②At about that time she had received a call from a woman who runs a community radio station in the Bronx, with an audience made up mostly of Dominican livery drivers. ③Two drivers that the host knew of had killed themselves and other drivers were on the show talking about the isolation and fear they Saw all around them. Para. 8 ①Doug Schifter, a livery driver in his early 60s, killed himself with a shotgun in front of City Hall in Lower Manhattan. ②In the days preceding his death, Mr. Schifter wrote a lengthy Facebook post laying out the structural cruelties that had left him in such dire circumstance. ③He had lost his health insurance and accrued credit card debt and he would no longer work for 'chump change,' preferring, he stud, to die in the hope that his sacrifice would draw attention to what drivers, too often unable to feed their families now, were enduring.

单选题 Para. 1 Civil rights advocates say the arrest of a Coast Guard lieutenant charged with planning a massive domestic terrorist attack show the military has allowed a problem with white nationalism in the ranks to fester while it focused on aggressively vetting immigrants. Para. 2 Branches of the U.S. military have boosted background checks on immigrant recruits since last year, changing the naturalization process, adding extra security screenings and discharging hundreds who had been recruited specifically for valuable foreign language and medical skills. Para. 3 At the same time, advocates charge that military officials have failed to take effective action to root out enlistees who support white nationalism and white supremacy, pointing to the case of Christopher Paul Hasson, who was arrested last Friday, as a notable example. Para. 4 ①'[The vetting] is not happening to native-born Americans at all,' said retired Army Reserve Lt. Col. Margaret Stock, who has fought for the rights of immigrant enlistees in court. ②'That's one of the reasons why they're having such a huge problem right now with white supremacists in the military. ③That's actually the big security threat right now.' Para. 5 ①A survey by the Military Times found that nearly one in four U.S. troops said they had seen white nationalism among military members. ②Thirty percent of respondents also said that white nationalists posed a significant threat to national security. Para. 6 But the military's most recent focus has been on toughening standards for immigrants who want to enlist. Para. 7 ①The U.S. Army discharged more than 500 immigrant enlistees last year, the Associated Press reported in October, after those immigrants were recruited for their skills and promised a path to citizenship. ②These immigrants entered the Army under the Military Accessions Vital to the National Interest (MAVNI) program, which started a decade ago to bring in people who had vital language and medical skills. Para. 8 ①The Washington Post reported last month that the Defense Department is working on a plan to examine military recruits with foreign ties, including some U.S. citizens. ②And multiple reports have documented the way that the Pentagon's vetting system for MAVNI recruits now can flag activities. Para. 9 ①The Pentagon has pushed back on complaints about how it has handled MAVNI recruits, saying the system is working normally. ②A Pentagon spokeswoman said that long wait times for background investigations can happen because MAVNI recruits omen come from countries with lots of terrorist activity and poor government records. Para. 10 Some members of the military and veterans have spoken out against the crackdown on immigrants. Para. 11 ①'The leadership at the Pentagon is sending a terrible message that the U.S. military does not welcome anybody who has connections to foreign countries, which is totally counterproductive,' Stock said. ②'We need people in the military who speak foreign languages, who understand foreign cultures, who come from foreign cultures. ③It's been a long tradition that those folks serve and we can't deploy globally without them.' Para. 12 She argued that the stricter scrutiny of immigrants may even be contributing to the problem of white nationalism. Para. 13 'Immigrants are 13.5% of the population so if you're going to make them unwelcome in the military, you're going to have problems recruiting people and you're going to have to take native born Americans who are not qualified,' she said.

单选题 Para. 1 Eight Egyptian museum officials are to face a disciplinary tribun al for their role in a botched repair job that caused lasting damage to the famed golden burial mask of King Tutankhamen, one of the country's most prized artifacts, the country's administrative prosecutor has said. Para. 2 The judicial action is the latest step in an embarrassing saga at the state-run Egyptian Museum in Cairo where workers accidentally knocked the beard from the 3,300-year-old artifact as they repaired a light fixture in its display case, and then made things worse by trying to glue it back on. Para. 3 ①Tourists took photos of museum employees as they reattached the blue-and-gold beard using an insoluble epoxy resin that left a visible ring of glue around the edge of the beard. ②Fears that the damage was irreversible proved unfounded, however, after German experts carefully removed the epoxy and restored the solid gold mask using beeswax, the adhesive used by the ancient Egyptians. Para. 4 ①The mask was returned to public display last month, albeit with some fine scratches caused by improvised earlier attempts to remove the glue stains using a sharp object. ②In a statement, the administrative prosecution authority, which investigates legal violations involving public servants, accused eight officials, including a former director of the museum and a former head of restoration, of 'gross negligence and blatant violation of scientific and professional rules.' Para. 5 'In an attempt to cover up the damage they inflicted, they used sharp instruments such as scalpels and metal tools to remove traces of the glue on the mask, causing damage and scratches that remain,' the statement said. Para. 6 The accused officials have been suspended from their jobs and now face possible dismissal and heavy fines, but they will not go to prison. Para. 7 ①The scratches to the mask will not be visible to most visitors, according to Monica Hanna, an archaeologist and a member of Egypt's Heritage Task Force, an initiative to protect the nation's cultural heritage. ②Ms. Hanna blamed the debacle on declining standards at the 104-year-old museum, which is home to the world's largest collection of mummies and other Pharaonic antiquities but has become increasingly neglected in recent years. Para. 8 ①'There's been a shift in the people working there,' she said. ②'The experienced people have retired and the new ones do not have adequate training.' Para. 9 Ms. Hanna said part of the collection was set to be shifted to two new museums in the coming years—the Grand Egyptian Museum, an $800 million project under construction near the Giza pyramids, and the National Museum of Egyptian Civilization，which has been completed but is yet to open to the public. Para. 10 ①The mask of Tutankhamen, an enigmatic young king, was discovered by the British archaeologist Howard Carter at the Valley of the Kings in 1922. ②It set off a global fascination with Egyptology that became a cornerstone of Egypt's tourism industry. Para. 11 ①That industry has suffered badly in recent years. ②In recent months, though, Tutankhamen became the focus of renewed interest after the British Egyptologist Nicholas Reeves promoted a tantalizing theory that behind his burial chamber lies the long-sought tomb of Queen Nefertiti.

单选题 Para. 1 Mexico City's Roma has long been a place of secrets and spells, where the boundary between real and imaginary dances like clothes fluttering in the breeze on the barrio's rooftop washing-lines. Para. 2 ①Those celestial laundries feature in Roma, Alfonso Cuarón's cinematic memoir, a movie that transports its viewers to the then-faded district a couple of miles to the west of the ancient centre of the vast sprawl that is Mexico City. ②It has already won four Baftas and received a rapturous 10 nominations for this year's Oscars, including for best director and best film. Para. 3 ①Roma has a grand hinterland, as its ornate, fin de siècle mansions, with their shuttered French windows and intricate balconies, suggest. ②Some of them have been redeveloped, of which the best-known is Casa Lamm, now an upmarket arts centre-cum-restaurant-cum-bookshop. ③The area's heyday was in the first half of the 20th century, when it became the desirable neighbourhood for wealthy Europeans; by the time Leonora and her fellow émigré artists arrived, refugees from the second world war, it was beginning to fade. Para. 4 ①That continued through Cuarón's childhood; perhaps the director's decision to shoot his movie in black and white reflects it. ②But the spacious houses were there, as Roma's lingering shots depict: open-plan living rooms, internal courtyards, Bauhaus-style windows, open-air iron staircases leading to the rooftop laundries. ③Leonora's house is five minutes' walk from Cuarón's; the movie was shot on the street where he grew up, Tepeji, in the house opposite his family's own. Para. 5 ①The biggest blow to Roma's fortunes came suddenly and without warning, 15 years or so after the year in which the film is set. ②An 8.1-magnitude earthquake devastated the city, killing 5,000, and Roma was one of the barrios that was hardest-hit. ③The disaster's legacy remains: the churned-up, uneven pavements on some side roads; the occasional still-ruined building, usually housing stray cats. ④The area's rehabilitation was slow, and in some ways it continues, but the run-down ambience led to cheap rents and a way of life that was affordable for a new generation of artists, and their influence has helped shape its current air of bohemianism. Para. 6 ①Roma's cafés and bars are lively places. ②The most popular ones include Buna Café, great for people-watching; Borola Café with its airy interior and wide range of delicious coffees; and the tiny roadside shacks, where you can buy a beverage to go or linger in the sunshine, drinking it all in. Para. 7 ①Roma is the area's stylish eclecticism that gives it the edge. ②It seems to have taken the essence of this complicated, busy, gritty, art-fixated, colourful, musical city and made it its own: but it's not touristy like Coyoacán, where Frida Kahlo lived, or high-rise like Polanco, where American business people flock. ③It's not expensive like ultra-fashionable Condesa, or crowded like the Zócalo, the city's historic heart. ④And it's a proper neighbourhood, where frequent visitors know the bartenders and the baristas, the porters in the hotel hallway and the friendly staff in the local launderette.