A common overbooking problem on a United Airlines flight on Sunday ended with a man being bloodied and dragged from his seat and an already troubled airline earning more bad press. How did it all go so wrong?

Overbooking on flights happens all the time. Empty seats cost airlines money, so they offset(抵消) the number of passengers who miss flights by selling too many tickets. In this case, the problem arose because United decided at the last minute to fly four members of staff to a connection point and needed to bump four passengers to make way for them.

When there’s an overbooking issue the first step is to offer an inducement to the passengers to take a later flight. On Sunday passengers were offered $400, a hotel room for the night, and a flight the following afternoon. When no-one took the offer, the amount was upped to $800. Still no-one bit, so a manager boarded the flight and informed passengers that four people would be selected to leave the flight.

That selection is based on several factors, but frequent fliers and higher fare-paying passengers are given priority to stay aboard, a spokeswoman for United confirmed.

A couple who were selected agreed to leave the plane voluntarily. A third passenger, reportedly the wife of the man who was forcibly removed, also agreed. The man, who said he was a doctor and had to see patients in the morning, refused. An airline manager told him that security would be called if he did not obey. their conversation ended with the man being yanked from his seat onto the floor and dragged off, blood visible on his face.

United Airlines CEO said the airline would review the event and reach out to the passenger, but the spokeswoman could not confirm whether United was in touch with him yet.

1.  Why does overbooking on flights always occur?

A. United bumped four passengers to spare seats for its staff.

B. Airlines expect to earn as much money as possible.

C. Airlines want to make up for a loss of empty seats.

D. It happens by accident.

2. What can we inferred about the selection mentioned in the text?

A. People are selected at random by the computer.

B. Frequent fliers will never be asked to leave.

C. The selected doctor may be the low fare-paying passengers or not a frequent flier.

D. The selected passengers will be offered no money.

3.  Which of the following statements about four passengers is true?

A. Four people were directly selected to leave at first.

B. The couple of the doctor agreed to leave voluntarily.

C. The doctor was dragged off without any hurt.

D. The doctor refused to leave because he had to see his patient next morning.

4.  What does the underlined part “reach out to” in Paragraph 6 refers to?

A. Get in contact with       B. Make up for    C. Apologize to        D. Team up with

The days of having to remember your ID could soon be a thing of the past. The famous tourist town of Wuzhen, China, is now using facial recognition technology to act as its entry pass through the gates of the attraction. The system uses cameras to notice people as they approach the entry, and checks these against a database of registered visitors within a few seconds. The technology is thought to be up to 99.77 percent accurate and able to distinguish people better than a human.

Wuzhen is a popular tourist town with visitors going there in large numbers to see its stunning river system and museums. Baidu, a web firm often referred to as “Chinese Google”, created the system. When people now check in to their accommodation, they will have their photo taken and uploaded to a central database upon leaving and re-entering the town, the system will re-check that they are still a guest at a hotel, before allowing them back in.

The technology is being used to track the 5,000 visitors that stay in the town’s hotels every day. Yuanqing Lin, director of the Institute of deep Learning at Baidu, told The Verge, “With our technology, you don’t need to give your ID. When you are approaching a gate, it will take a photo of you and compare that photo to the database.” Wuzhen used to monitor its visitors using a ticket-entry system, but this could easily be abused. It was discovered that some people were sharing their tickets to avoid paying.

Baidu’s system is based on neural networks, which can process huge amounts of data--- more than one billion faces. As well as recognizing faces, the system can also discover facial movements, so it can’t be fooled by someone holding up a mask.

Baidu is also using the software for employee entry at its Beijing headquarters.

5.  What can be learnt about the facial recognition technology from the passage?

A. The technology could soon be a thing of the past.

B. The technology can be over 99.77% accurate.

C. The technology can match visitors’ faces with those in the database

D. The technology is being used to track where the 5,000 visitors are going.

6.  Which of the following word can replace the underlined word “stunning” in  paragraph 2?

A. popular        B. attractive       C. brilliant      D. funny

7.   How does Wuzhen monitor its visitors now?

A. By using facial recognition technology

B. By using a ticket-entry system

C. By using ID card

D. By using tickets

8.  What is the passage mainly about?

A. Facial recognition is widely used in China.

B. Baidu, a web firm, is using the recognition system.

C. Chinese tourist town Wuzhen is using facial recognition.

D. Wuzen is a popular tourist town with many visitors going there to see the system.

About three decades ago, China was known as the “Bicycle Kingdom”. But the two-wheeled approach of transport’s popularity began to fade, with many bikes soon replaced by their fuel-powered competitors.

But recent months have seen a repopulality of the humble bike across China, with an increasing number of people choosing cycling instead of driving to schools, to workplaces or to do sightseeing. The introduction of bike-sharing schemes, pioneered by start-up company like Ofo and Mobike, has brought the trend to a new level. According to data shown by iResearch Consulting Group, the first week of this year saw 5.85 million active users of Mobike while Ofo had 1.4 million active users.

People can unlock the shared bikes by simply using their smartphone. The bikes are equipped with GPS and can be left anywhere in public for the next user. They’re popular among many Chinese people as they provide an effective solution to the “last mile” problem, which refers to the final leg of a person’s journey.

However, the schemes have also led to problems such as illegal parking, damage on purpose and theft. To deal with these problems, the company came up with the idea of encouraging people to return the bikes to stations by rewarding free time for their next rides.

9.  Why did the two-wheeled approach of transport become less popular?

A. Because China is no longer a bicycle kingdom.

B. Because cycling is not convenient.

C. Because fuel-powered competitors were replaced by riding.

D. Because mostly driving took the place of cycling.

10. What can we learn from the passage?

A. The bike’s popularity began to fade.

B. Only Ofo and Mobike created the trend to a new level of using bikes.

C. The shared bikes offer a useful approach to the final leg problem.

D. The company rewarded some money and free time to the users.

11. What is the best title of this passage?

A. the new mode of humble bikes              B. the development of humble bikes

C. the advantages of humble bikes              D. the issue of humble bikes

There are often many assumptions made about young people aged 15 to 21, but only a few can be proved with hard evidence. Now, new research has been published to help people get a better idea of these misunderstood young people.

According to an international survey in 2016, young people in emerging economies like China and India have a greater sense of hope about the future, compared with those living in Europe, North America and Australia.

The survey was carried out between September and October by the Varkey Foundation, a UK-based non-profit organization. It surveyed 20,000 young people who were born between 1995 to 2001 in 20 countries. They were asked questions about their hopes, ambitions, personal views and community values.

It was found that 53 percent of those questioned in China thought the world was becoming a better place – the highest percentage among the countries surveyed. Some 93 percent of them also felt hopeful for the future because of advances in technology, such as in medicine, renewable energy and computing. Indian youth were the second most optimistic, with 49 percent taking a positive view of the world’s prospects.

As for young people in China, what they fear most is the impact of climate change – some 82 percent of those who responded to the survey said so. Vikas Pota, chief executive of the Varkey Foundation, said it was encouraging that young people in China were aware how serious the problem of climate change is.

“This is surely a hopeful development. The young population of China is more aware than anyone of the seriousness of the climate crisis – and will be pressing for change,” he told South China Morning Post. The overall survey showed a sense of optimism in the attitudes and opinions of the generation that is likely to shape the next few decades, according to Pota.

“They are more likely to travel, to migrate across borders and to build friendships in other countries than any previous generation,” he said. “Global citizenship is not dead. It could just be getting started.”

12.  What can we infer from Paragraph 1?

  A. Young people often have better ideas.

  B. Young people are better than assumed.

  C. Young people are always misunderstood.

  D. Assumptions about young people are hard to prove.

13.  The survey shows us that _______.

  A. about half of the Chinese youth are positive about the future.

  B. 49% Indians take a positive view of the world’s prospects.

  C. Chinese youth are the most optimistic about the future.

  D. European youth have no hope for the future.

14.  What was Pota’s attitude towards Chinese youth?

  A. satisfied        B. critical       C. objective       D. worried

15.  What’s the best title for the passage?

  A. Chinese youth misunderstood    B. Chinese youth encouraging

  C. Chinese youth pessimistic       D. Chinese youth optimistic

Three Ways to Deal With Digital Stress

Social media never sleeps. 16 In this case, you need to take a break from the digital world in the following steps.

Switch off from work.

Turn off phone and computer and set aside some free time each evening to relax.   17    If it is necessary to check your messages, at least try to check them less often and set aside a portion of time.

   18   

Many of us spend a vast percentage of our day surfing on the internet or texting on our mobile phones, which can cause us to miss out many sources of pleasure, such as conversations with the people around us. Try to have important conversations in person. Making more time for proper conversations will also help to give your relationships a boost.

Don’t feel pressured to have it all.

   19  Although it may be tempting to purchase the latest mobile phone, or to set up an account for every social media site. Remember that technology is meant to be there to enhance your life instead of ruining your mood. So try to stick to wait you find useful and don’t feel under pressure to keep up with trends.

Spend a day or afternoon without any technology and live in the real world instead.    20    The impact they have on your energy levels will surprise you.

A.  Meet face to face.

B.  Have more conversations with your Friends.

C.  Have a bath, read a book, or take an exercise class.

D.  There are several disadvantages in using digital media too much.

E.  It is important to realize that it is not essential to have and know it all.

F.  Listen to the birds singing, take in the view and call someone for a conversation. 

G.  However, you feel tired and seriously lacking in motivation after your indulgence in digital screen.