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
閱讀快車系列答案科目：高中英語 來源：2015-2016學年天津靜海縣一中高二3月考英語（A卷）（解析版） 題型：單項填空
— Did Linda know the news?
—Yes, no sooner ______ than I told her about it.
A. has she arrived B. she had arrived
C. had she arrived D. she has arrived
查看答案和解析>>
科目：高中英語 來源：2015-2016學年黑龍江大慶鐵人中學高一3月考英語試卷（解析版） 題型：七選五
根據短文內容，從短文后的選項中選出能填入空白處的最佳選項。選項中有兩項為多余選項。
Life comes in a package, which includes happiness and sorrow, failure and success, hope and despair. Life is a learning process（過程）. 1.
Happiness achieved by bringing a smile on another face gives a certain level of achievement. __2. Sorrow is basically because of death of a loved one, failure and despair. But these things are temporary（暫時的）.
3. . It helps us to succeed and teaches us to survive and shows us an exact way, while success brings in money, fame, pride and self—respect. The only way to express our thanks for our success, achievements and happiness is to be respectful to the failure.
Hope is what keeps life going. 4. Hope builds in patience.
5. . Life also teaches us not to regret over yesterday, because it has passed and is beyond our control. Tomorrow is unknown, for it could either be bright or dull. So the only alternative is to work hard today, so that we will enjoy a better tomorrow.
A. Life teaches us not to despair even in the darkest hour, because after every night, there is a day.
B. With each passing day we learn to deal with various situations.
C. Different people have different attitudes towards success and failure.
D. Hope makes us dream.
E. Failure is the path to success.
F. Never stop doing whatever you are fond of.
G. Only when we are in sorrow can we realize the true worth of happiness.
查看答案和解析>>
科目：高中英語 來源：2015-2016學年廣東惠州市高二4月考英語試卷（解析版） 題型：語法填空
根據所給中文句子，補充完整英文翻譯。
1.等我爬到山頂的時候，已經是上氣不接下氣了。
By the time I got to the top of the hill, I was quite .
2.他連伙食錢都不夠，更不必說娛樂了。
He hasn't enough money for food, amusements .
3.上星期我才察覺到我的所得是多么的低。
Only last week did I become how low my finances were.
4.你多長時間收到你姐姐一封信?
How often do you your sister?
查看答案和解析>>
科目：高中英語 來源：2015-2016學年廣東惠州市高二4月考英語試卷（解析版） 題型：閱讀理解
|
“BEST PRODUCT WE'VE EVER SEEN”－THIS REALLY WORKS－ON SALE NOW Need to lower your cholesterol（膽固醉）？We strongly recommend CholestrolblockTM. This really works, and now is the best time to buy，because of a special offer for the first 250 customers only for a limited time. * Takes cholesterol out of food，no matter what you eat. * Clinically demonstrated effective in university and hospital testing． * Lowers cholesterol absorption up to 42% or more． * “NO SIDE EFFECTS unlike Liptor?, Zocor?，Crests?＆other commonly prescribed（處方的） medications－safe and effective. * “Outsells all other brands on Internet every month. LIMITED TIME ONLY一Try Cholesterol Watchers free with purchase. （108） |
1.If you happen to be the 200th customer to buy Cholesterolblock, you will .
A. be able to buy it at a low price
B. be the luckiest one online
C. try it free of charge
D. change your diet
2.Liptor?，Zocor?，Crestor? are ．
A. diseases B. side effects C. medicines D. cholesterol
3.Where can you most probably read this passage?
A. In a travel guide book．
B. On a university bulletin board（布告牌）．
C. In a health magazine.
D. In a doctor's prescription.
查看答案和解析>>
科目：高中英語 來源：2016屆福建高三普通高中畢業班4月質量檢查英語試卷（解析版） 題型：短文改錯
短文改錯
Last month, I find that my little brother looked up to me. I noticed he started copying way that I was dressed. He even began copying my ways of speaking and greet my friends. At first, I thought that he was play jokes. So I yelled at him, “Knock it off ”. Much with my surprise, he burst in to tear. Then I realized that what he was doing those things just because he admired me. To comfort my sadly brother, I took him to shop at the store of a blue shirt like me. Our mother smiled proud when we happily came back home in our shirts.
查看答案和解析>>
科目：高中英語 來源：2016屆福建高三普通高中畢業班4月質量檢查英語試卷（解析版） 題型：閱讀理解
If you need to spend time on the road，it’s important to find ways to keep safe on your feet. Don’t suppose it's your right of way. Yes, you might be crossing at the right place, at the right time, within the crosswalk area, but you are still exposed to danger. It could be a distracted driver, or a cyclist with a loose sense of traffic rules, so you could still get hurt. You can be in the right legally, but that won’t be much help when you're in the hospital.
Follow pedestrian signals. Just as drivers aren’t supposed to speed up to beat a light when crossing through an intersection, pedestrians need to take the same care when obeying their own signals. If the hand is flashing and the countdown is into single digits (數字），stay where you are. Trying to outrun the flashing hand is unsafe，especially as cars try to clear the intersection before the light turns red.
Give drivers enough time to stop when crossing. Don’t suppose that drivers will jam on their brakes when you hit the crosswalk signals. Some provinces, such as Alberta, issue (發出）a ticket if you don’t give drivers enough time to brake.
Cross quickly. Once you’ve followed all of the other rules, and it is safe to cross the street, don’t then just wander along in front of six lanes (車道）of traffic. There’s no need to run or jog, but respect the drivers who respected you enough to stop for you.
1.Who is the text intended for?
A. Drivers. B. Cyclists. C. Police. D. Pedestrians.
2.What does the underlined word “distracted” in Paragraph 2 mean?
A. Considerate. B. Strange.
C. Kind-hearted. D. Absent-minded.
3. In what case would pedestrians in Alberta be fined?
A. Racing against time with drivers.
B. Following crosswalk signals.
C. Crossing the crosswalk area.
D. Walking outside six lanes.
4. What can be a suitable title for the text?
A. Rules for Traffic Police
B. Tips to Keep Safe on Your Feet
C. Things Every Driver Should Know
D. Signals for Both Pedestrians and Drivers
查看答案和解析>>
科目：高中英語 來源：2015-2016學年四川廣元市高一下期第一次段考英語卷（解析版） 題型：閱讀理解
LONDON --- A British judge on Thursday sentenced a businessman who sold fake(假冒的) bomb detectors(探測器) to 10 years in prison, saying the man hadn't cared about potentially deadly consequences.
It is believed that James McCormick got about $77.8 million from the sales of his detectors - which were based on a kind of golf ball finder - to countries including Iraq, Belgium and Saudi Arabia.
McCormick, 57, was convicted(判罪) of cheats last month and sentenced Thursday at the Old Bailey court in London.
"Your cheating conduct in selling a great amount of useless equipment simply for huge profit promoted a false sense of security and in all probability materially contributed to causing death and injury to innocent people," Judge Richard Hone told McCormick. "you have neither regret, nor shame, nor any sense of guilt."
The detectors, sold for up to $42,000 each, were said to be able to find such dangerous objects as bombs under water and from the air. But in fact they "lacked any grounding in science" and were of no use.
McCormick had told the court that he sold his detectors to the police in Kenya, the prison service in Hong Kong, the army in Egypt and the border control in Thailand.
"I never had any bad results from customers," he said.
1. Why was McCormick sentenced to prison?
A. He sold bombs. B. He caused death of people.
C. He made detectors. D. He cheated in business.
2.According to the judge, what McCormick had done _______.
A. increased the cost of safeguarding
B. lowered people's guard against danger
C. changed people's idea of social security
D. caused innocent people to commit crimes
3. Which of the following is true of the detectors?
A. They have not been sold to Africa
B. They have caused many serious problems.
C. They can find dangerous objects in water.
D. They don't function on the basis of science.
4. It can be inferred from the passage that McCormick _______.
A. sold the equipment at a low price
B. was well-known in most countries
C. did not think he had committed the crime
D. had not got such huge profit as mentioned in the text
查看答案和解析>>
科目：高中英語 來源：2016屆江蘇南通、揚州、泰州高三第二次調研測試英語試卷（解析版） 題型：閱讀理解
The defeat of Lee Sedol, the world’s strongest Go (圍棋) player, by a Google artificial intelligence (AI) program, looks like another milestone towards a world where computers can do almost anything a human can. It is not. There are uncountable things that only a human can do, and that no computer seems close to. The problem is that the purely human things are not economically useful to anyone. The things that computers can be taught to do are by contrast economically fantastic. But even the most powerful programs are not human, just as a shovel (鏟車). They have no feelings. What they have is power, but this power is growing at a rate that should frighten us all.
It might be less frightening if computers were truly intelligent, but even the most powerful networks are less human than monstrous Martians (火星人). Their power will be used to make money for the firms that finance their development, and then for others quick and clever enough to take advantage of the new world. It is far more likely that they will increase inequality and still further remove the middle classes as we move towards an hourglass (以金錢來衡量的) society in which everyone is either very rich or very poor and likely indebted.
One of the ill effects of the spread of more intelligent computer networks is, at the same time, the spread of what might be called artificial stupidity. If AI is employed largely to replace unskilled labour, it is most productive when labour is kept unskilled or redefined that way. So much of the work in service industries is now simplified until it might be automated (自動化). And robots will never need pensions. AI is slowly reducing skilled work, like some forms of medical diagnosis (診斷), at the same time, as older doctors complain that the traditional human skills of diagnosis are falling out of medical training. The belief that everything worthwhile can be measured and then managed is far more damaging to humanity than the threat of artificial intelligence on its own.
But no victory in complicated Go games can bring us closer to truly human-like computers.
1.By mentioning the defeat of Lee Sedol, the author intends to tell us that ______.
A. computers can completely replace humans in everything
B. humans are of no practical economic values to the society
C. the power of computers is growing at a frightening rate
D. AI programs can not compare with humans economically
2. We can learn from Paragraph 2 that the power of computers will ______.
A. improve the quality of human life
B. promote equality at work places
C. make contributions to human development
D. widen the gap between the rich and the poor
3.What does “artificial stupidity” in Paragragh 3 mean?
A. Unskilled workers become stupid.
B. AI discourages skilled work.
C. Computers don’t need pensions.
D. AI is ruining medical training.
4. What is the author’s attitude towards the future of artificial intelligence?
A. Optimistic. B. Supportive. C. Sceptical. D. Cautious.
查看答案和解析>>
湖北省互聯網違法和不良信息舉報平臺 | 網上有害信息舉報專區 | 電信詐騙舉報專區 | 涉歷史虛無主義有害信息舉報專區 | 涉企侵權舉報專區
違法和不良信息舉報電話：027-86699610 舉報郵箱：58377363@163.com
