Kar-go is the invention of the United Kingdom-based Academy of Robotics, which describes it as" Europe's first road-worthy autonomous delivery vehicle". Using AI, this autonomous delivery vehicle offers customers an app—similar to one used when ordering a taxi- allowing them to choose when and where their packages are delivered. Cormpanies like Tesla and Amazon have invested heavily in autonomous vehicles, which have the potential to create a sea of changes in business and society.

    Resembling something like a green egg on wheels, Kar-go's aim is to reduce the cost of what's known as the "last mile delivery challenge". This is the final stage of your online package's journey, from a local warehouse to your front door. Labor costs, paying drivers, the cost of fuel and the vehicle costs for maintaining small vehicles all contribute to making this the most expensive part of the delivery process. The first part of the package's journey is far cheaper, with high volumes of packages being transported to and from the same location. However, at the other end, drivers deliver smaller shipments to several different locations where the recipient may not even be available to collect.

    With the latest AI technology, Kar-go will deliver goods safely, sustainably and in style. The AI vehicle uses special technology to become an expert on its own individual route, learning from past experiences in order to help itself deal with new future obstacles (障碍物) on the road. Kar-go also has its very own internal sorting system, allowing the vehicle transport packages in the correct order for delivery.

    By 2030，the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders predicts the autonomous market could add $ 62 billion in economic growth in the UK, creating more than 420,000 new jobs. Eletric, self-driving, economic and capable of working 24/7，Kar-go promises to reduce the last mile delivery cost by up to 90%，providing an efficient solution to the rapidly-expanding online retail (零售) market.

In 1945, a 12-year-old boy saw a beautiful brooch (胸针) in a shop window that set his heart racing. But the price—five dollars—was too high for Reuben Earle. Five dollars would buy almost a week's food for his family.

Reuben couldn't ask his father for the money. Everything his father made through fishing went to his mother, Dora. Slim and beautiful, she was the center of the home and the glue that held it together. The housework was never-ending, and she struggled to feed and clothe their five children, but she was happy as her family and their well-being were all she cared about.

Nevertheless, he opened the shop's door and went inside. Standing proudly and straight in his flour-sack (面粉袋改做的) shirt and washed-out trousers, he told the shopkeeper what he wanted, adding, "But I don't have the money right now. Can you please hold it for me for some time?"

"I'll try, " the shopkeeper smiled. "People around here don't usually have that kind of money to spend on things. It should keep for a while."

Reuben respectfully touched his worn cap and walked out. He would raise the money and not tell anybody, for he thought Mum would get surprised when she saw that brooch. On hearing the sound of hammering (捶打) from a side street, Reuben suddenly had an idea that he could raise money by selling the used nail bags. People built their own homes in Bay Roberts, using nails bought in bags from a local factory. Sometimes the used bags were thrown away at the construction site, and Reuben knew he could sell them back to the factory for five cents a piece. That day he sold two nail bags and hid the money in a rusty soda tin.

注意：1）续写词数应为150左右；

2）请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。

Paragraph 1:

Every day after school, Reuben started his plan.

Paragraph2:

Finally, the time came!

关于上文提到的现象，有些人支持，而有些人反对。

    The University of Birmingham is the first excellent UK Russell Group university to announce that it will accept the "Gaokao" exam for high-flying Chinese students wishing to join its undergraduate courses in 2019.  High school students who complete the "National Higher Education Entrance Examination", or Gaokao, with top grades will be able to apply for direct entry onto Birmingham degree programmes without first completing a foundation year which is a routine for the freshman.

    Gaokao is usually taken by students in their last year of senior high school and, every year, each province in China sets the grades required to gain admission to its universities. It is usually held across China in early June.  Students are tested in Chinese, Mathematics, a Foreign Language and social sciences or natural sciences.

    University of Birmingham Vice-Chancellor Professor Sir David Eastwood said: "The University of Birmingham has been challenging and developing great minds for more than a century. We welcome people from around the globe to study at Birmingham and Chinese students form an integral part of our education and research community. We are further opening access to Birmingham's wealth of education opportunities for the brightest and most dedicated Chinese students by accepting this strict and important qualification. I look forward to welcoming these high-flying students to the University of Birmingham. "

    Gaokao is increasingly accepted by universities in Australia, the USA, Canada and mainland Europe. Birmingham will only be considering high quality students who achieve a minimum 80% Gaokao score and meet additional academic and English language requirements.

    Professor J on Frampton, Director of the University of Birmingham's China Institute said:" The University of Birmingham has a long history of educating students from China and one of our most famous graduates is Li Siguang-the founding father of Chinese geology. I am delighted that the University is now accepting the Gaokao. This gives the brightest and best Chinese students an opportunity to move straight into the first year of our undergraduate programmes and experience the benefits of studying at a global Top 100 university, such as Birmingham. "

    If you rent an apartment in Beijing, you also rent the landlord or landlady for at least a year. It's important you find a good match because you have to deal with them in the long term. For me, it was love at first sight with the elderly couple who owns my apartment.

    It was quite a tough trying to find the right apartment when I first arrived in Beijing. The apartments were either unsuitable or I find fault with the owners who looked indifferent at best and unfriendly at worst. But that all changed when the renting agent's car stopped in front of a hutong house in the heart of the capital.

    I saw an elderly couple, in their 70s perhaps, waving to me. They were warm and welcoming at first glance, and when I saw them attentively hanging up the curtains in what would become my bedroom, I was just about sold on the place and the owners!

    Chinese people talk about yuanfen, meaning fate that brings people together. Before I met my current landlords, I thought the concept of yuanfen was overrated. A generous landlady who liked me and wanted me to move into her apartment had used the term in reference to me. But it was this lovely couple that changed my mind about the concept.

    We have become accustomed to visiting each other at home. The couple's apartment is lovingly decorated, boasting a recent wedding photo of themselves taken in bridal wear. The landlord likes to smoke and sip tea, while the landlady takes great pride in her appearance.

    After three years, I dare say they treat me a bit like a "daughter", despite having two grown sons, one of them close by. They give me gifts of tea or clothes, and I bring them souvenirs from my trips. A match made in heaven, indeed!

In an effort to fight the "throw - away culture" and promote reuse and repair, the city of Berlin has taken the unique step of opening its own secondhand department store.

This isn't your grandma's thrift shop (旧货商店). It resells perfectly good items that would otherwise be thrown away. A pun (双关)on the German words for "department store" and "conserving house", B - Wa(h)renhaus sells a wide variety of products. Far from simply selling old items, the electronic goods have been fixed by expert technicians and come with year's guarantee. And, to reach more secondhand shoppers, the store was set up right in the middle of the famous Karstadt department store.

With the success of its first six - month trial run, the city plans to open four more similar operations in other parts of Berlin. By 2030, it hopes to have at least one location in each of Berlin's 12 districts. Since 2008, the city has reduced average annual household waste by about 25 pounds per resident. It also recycles about 49% of its mineral construction waste. Currently, the city estimates (估计) that 8% of abandoned electronic goods and 6% of huge items thrown away can actually be reused.

"Three years ago, we started collecting all kinds of used goods," city spokesperson Dorothee Winden said. "The goal is to give these things a new life with somebody who can use them."

Sneaker is a kind of shoe worn by many people all over the world. Some say that the word "sneaker" is another word for tennis shoe, 1no one really knows where the word came from. 2 say it came from the old English verb "sneak", which 3 to move silently and quickly. The only thing we are 4 is that when you put on a pair of sneakers, you 5 light-hearted, light-footed and ready to play.

Sneakers of some kind are used by 6 who play tennis, basketball, and other sports. New design has been made 7 for people who run slowly. But perhaps sneakers are8used by children in the United States. In fact American children of 9 ages would much rather  play in sneakers than anything else, except perhaps 10 at all.

New York City once held a poetry contest (诗歌比赛) for children. The subject was only "sneaker". Thousands of children sent in their 11 and praised the sneakers they love. One prize winner called 12 poem "The Sneaker and the World Peace". "When everyone is wearing sneakers," she said, "it will be impossible to 13."

American school children can be seen every day 14 sneakers of all colours. They put them on in the morning and take them off 15. Sneakers are 16 washed. In fact the older and dirtier they are, the 17 loveable they are. When their sneakers wear out (穿破), children hate to throw them off. How do you explain the closeness between 18? Perhaps another young 19 in the New York Poetry Contest said it best. "A shoe is just a shoe," he said. "But a sneaker is a 20."

    Yesterday was a crazy day. I felt very tired I had a lot of work stuff going. Then I got message from one of my teammates. It said, “ We want to let you know that there are people who see and (true)appreciate all your hard work.” This meant more to (I)than anything else . And it made me think that maybe I need to set time aside(tell)the people in my life how much I appreciate what they did. Say “Thank you” the delivery guy, telling him that you appreciate how hard he (work); tell your daughter that you are proud of her (perform)at school; tell your mom that you notice how much she does for the family.

    Sometimes when a long time goes by without(recognize)for the good we do, we start to get upset, but a simple statement of appreciation could make us become(energy)again for a good long time.

    Stories of Animals Acting Just Like Humans

    ◆Monkeys do math

    If monkeys manage the world, we might have stayed away from the recent banking hardship. In an experiment led by Keith Chen at Yale, monkeys showed an understanding of pricing and planning the money, as well as a wish to stay away from losses when required to buy food with money. Makes sense this one looks like it's checking its stocks (股票) on a smart phone. Think that's impressive?

    ◆Camel eats breakfast with people

    The first time Joe ate with British farmers, he was uninvited. The four-year-old Bactrian camel stuck his head through their open kitchen window, and emptied a fruit bowl. Now the couple, who rent out reindeer, camels, goats, and other creatures for television shows, movies, and photo shoots, set a place at their table for the confident double-humped creature, where Joe eats grain food and his favorite: bananas on toast.

    ◆Marmots (土拨鼠) befriend a boy

    A group of marmots in the Austrian Alps has made friends with eight-year-old Matteo Walch by chance, whose family vacations there in summer. Typically, they beat their tails, chatter, and whistle to warn other marmots of danger, but with Matteo, they behave much differently, allowing the boy to feed, pet, and even touch noses with them. "Watching them makes me feel a connection with nature," says Matteo. How sweet!