【推荐2】Tomorrow’s food experts’ menus could feature items prepared with complex cooking techniques and presentation—all at the push of a button. Columbia University mechanical engineers have designed a 3-D printer that can produce and cook dishes at the same time with details at the millimeter scale.

The proof-of-concept design, described in Science of Food, combines a multiwavelength laser cooker, roughly the size of five smartphones put together, with a microwave-oven-sized food printer. Beyond applying complex substance and presentation designs, this type of software-controlled setup could someday scan a QR code to automatically prepare dishes adapted to individual eating habits and dietary requirements, says Blutinger, lead author of the paper and a digital-cooking researcher at Columbia.

The new technology is “astounding”, says Megan Ross, a food scientist who studies 3-D printing at Ireland’s University College Cork and was not involved in the study. Ross notes that the design is still at an early stage and that many technical challenges still remain, such as preventing cross contamination (交叉污染) between layers of uncooked and cooked meat. Still, Ross is impressed by the device’s ability to produce foods outside the kingdom of traditional cooking. “Is this going to be sold in shops everywhere in the next few years? No,” she says. “But everyone has to start somewhere.”

Compared with 3-D-printed chicken cooked in a traditional oven, the laser-cooked chicken had nearly twice as much weight and size, the researchers found. “That chicken is going to be juicy,” says Liam Macleod, a Denver-based chef (厨师) and former 3-D food printing specialist at the Culinary Institute of America who was not involved in the study. Macleod does not think such technology will ever replace chefs, but it might “add a tool to their collection” to deliver a new sensory experience. “Cooking is a skill set that has been practiced and perfected for thousands of years,” he says. “It’s very exciting to come up with something new and unique that people haven’t experienced yet.”

1. What do we know about the technology?

A．It’s improved from a previous one.

B．It has received popularity in the US.

C．It is easy to operate.

D．It will come into the market soon.

2. What is Ross’s opinion towards the new technology?

A．Favorable

B．Unconcerned

C．Doubtful

D．Unfavorable

3. What does Macleod think about the technology?

A．It will probably replace cooks in the future.

B．The food produced will save much space.

C．It will not stand the test of time.

D．It will be of great help to cooks.

4. What can be a suitable title for the text?

A．An Improved Food System

B．Laser-Focused Chef

C．3-D Food Printer Invented

D．Juicy Chicken:Are You For It?

【推荐3】As many as 3.9 per cent of people have aphantasia (心盲症), the inability to picture images in their heads. But formally diagnosing (诊断) the condition is difficult. A simple physiological test involving a webcam could one day offer a solution.

Rebecca Keogh at Macquarie University in Australia and her colleagues have studied the effectiveness of a test they have developed for aphantasia by recruiting 56 people without the condition and 18 people who said they have it.

The test is based on changes to pupil (瞳孔) size. Looking at a bright object causes a person’s pupils to constrict while dim objects cause the pupils to dilate (扩大). The researchers guessed that a similar effect could be observed if people were told to imagine a bright or dark object.

In their tests, the researchers tracked each person’s pupil size using an infrared (红外的) camera. They showed a participant a bright image of an object on a screen for 5 seconds, and told him/her to memorize it. After the image disappeared, the participant’s pupils returned to their original size. He/She was asked to imagine the object in his/her head. This task was repeated until he/she had looked at 16 bright images and 16 dark images. The pupils of all participants changed in response to seeing bright and dark images on the screen. About 90 per cent of those without aphantasia also showed pupil size changes when told to imagine those images. However, the same was true of just 39 per cent of people who said they had aphantasia.

Thomas Andrillon at the Paris Brain Institute suggests the test could one day be used to check if someone has aphantasia. But Keogh says the test still needs to be refined before it can be used widely. “We cannot run this study without access to infrared glasses that can measure pupil size,” she says. This is because the pupil size changes seen in those without aphantasia are still very small—a change in diameter (直径) of about 0.2 to 0.4 millimetres. The team wants to gather more data with larger sample sizes and hopes to develop a test that can be done at home via a laptop webcam.

1. What can we do to diagnose aphantasia?

A．Changing the pupil size.	B．Imagining images in the head.
C．Tracking a similar effect via a laptop.	D．Doing a physiological test with a webcam.

2. How was the test carried out?

A．By analyzing data.	B．By classifying facts.
C．By making comparisons.	D．By giving detailed examples.

3. What can be inferred from paragraph 4?

A．The infrared camera interrupts participants’ behaviors.

B．Images on the screen changed in response to pupil movements.

C．All participants’ pupils change according to imagined images.

D．An infrared camera can detect aphantasia by tracking pupil changes.

4. What is the main idea of the last paragraph?

A．Diagnosing aphantasia still has a long way to go.

B．Access to infrared glasses is not a necessity in the test.

C．A laptop webcam can be widely used to cure aphantasia.

D．Data with sample sizes are quite enough to confirm the result.

【推荐1】Imagine a world without money. With no way to buy stuff, you might need to produce everything you need unless you could figure out how to exchange some of the things you made for other items.

Economists like me believe that using money makes it much easier for everyone to specialize, focusing their work on a specific activity. As economists have known since David Ricardo’s work in the 19th century, there are gains for everyone from exchanging goods and services-even when you end up paying someone who is less skilled than you.

People have traded goods and services with one kind of money or another, whether it was trinkets, shells, seeds or cash for tens of thousands of years. People have always obtained things without money too, usually through barter. It involves exchanging something, such as a cookie, for something else-like a pencil.

Bartering sounds convenient, but it’s hard to pull off. Let’s say you’re a carpenter who makes chairs and you want an apple. You would probably find it impossible to buy one. Just imagine what a trouble it would be to drag the chairs you’ve made to the shopping mall in the hopes of cutting great deals through barter with the sellers.

Paper money is far easier to carry. You might be able to sell a chair for $50. You could take that $50 bill to a supermarket, buy two pounds of apples for $5 and keep the $45 in change.

Nowadays, of course, many people pay for things without cash or coins. Instead, they use credit cards or make online purchases. Others simply wave a smartwatch at a designated device. Others use bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies. But all of these are just different forms of money that don’t require paper.

No matter what form it takes, money ultimately helps make the trading of goods and services go more smoothly for everyone involved.

1. What does the underlined phrase “pull off” in Paragraph 4 probably mean?

A．Change.

B．Achieve.

C．Cease.

D．Intervene.

2. Which of the following statement is TRUE according to the text?

A．Money hasn’t been used until thousands of years ago.

B．People have to make all their necessities if there’s no money.

C．Money comes in more forms in modern times than in ancient times.

D．People benefit from exchanging goods and services even with someone less skilled.

3. What can be inferred from this text?

A．Paper money will ultimately disappear in the future.

B．Barter is the only way to get things if there’s no money.

C．Money makes the society more productive and convenient.

D．Exchanging something for something else is popular nowadays.

4. Where can this text come from?

A．A news report.

B．A financial magazine

C．A science fiction.

D．A research paper.

【推荐3】Kitesurfing is by far the latest craze (狂热) in sports. The idea of using a kite to raise speed for the surfer seems like a new exciting challenge, yet the art of kitesurfing dates back to the 13^th century when it was used as a simple way of transportation. Kitesailing, as it was known, was a way that the Chinese used the kite to help their small boats slide across water.

In the 1800s, George Pocock took the basic kite design to a whole new level by increasing the size of the kite and used them as a sail to push carts (马车) on land and ships on the water. The designs of the kites were engineered with four lines, the same design being used today. The wind would lift the kite big enough off the ground and it was powerful enough to push the cart running. These kites were able to push a man-made vehicle across the ground, snow, ice and water.

The kites depended on the wind and it was necessary to get off the ground or water to get them to fly. Once the kite was in the air, it produced its own wind, which was faster and it created a higher rate of speed for the vehicle. Yet one problem still remained. The earlier kites were flown from the land and off the flat ground, not on the water where kitesurfing took place. In the 1980s, Wipika and Kiteski marketed water launch kites. These kites could be sailed again after falling into the water due to shortage of wind.

In the late 1990s, off the Hawaiian coast of Maui, the extreme sport opportunities were offered to the surfers. Its popularity has increased as one of the fastest growing water sports in the past couple of years. Today, there are organizations, competitions, videos and magazines worldwide about this increasingly popular sport.

1. Chinese people first started ____________.

A．the sport of kitesurfing	B．using kites to push carts
C．making use of kitesailing	D．using kites to fly in the sky

2. Why did George Pocock increase the size of the kite?

A．To make it easier to engineer.	B．To make it more powerful.
C．To allow it to leave the ground quickly.	D．To improve its security.

3. What is the weakness of the earlier kites?

A．They couldn’t be launched from the water.	B．They were engineered with one line.
C．They created a lower speed for the vehicle.	D．They were wasted after falling into the water.

【推荐3】John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath, published in 1939, was followed ten years later by A.B. Guthrie’s The Way West. Both books record a migration, though that of Guthrie’s pioneers is considerably less bleak (没有希望的) in origin. What strikes one at first glance, however, are the commonalities. Both Steinbeck’s and Guthrie’s characters are primarily farmers. They look to their destinations with nearly religious enthusiasm, imagining their “promised” land the way the Biblical Israelites envisioned Canaan. Both undergo great hardship to make the journey. But the two stories differ clearly in origin. Steinbeck’s Oklahomans are forced off their land by the banks that own their mortgages (抵押借款), and they follow a false promise— that jobs as seasonal laborers await them in California. Guthrie’s farmers willingly remove themselves, selling their land and trading their old dreams for their new hope in Oregon. The pioneers’ decision to leave their farms in Missouri and the East is frivolous and ill-founded in comparison with the Oklahomans’ unwilling response to displacement. Yet it is they, the pioneers, whom our history books declare the heroes.

1. From the context of the passage, it can be determined that the word frivolous most nearly means ______.

A．silly.

B．careful.

C．difficult.

D．unexpected.

2. Which of the following sentence can best illustrate “Both undergo great hardship to make the journey.”?

A．The migrants in The Way West cross the Missouri, then the Kaw, and make their way overland to the Platte.

B．The Oklahomans’ jalopies (破旧的汽车) break down repeatedly, while the pioneers’ wagons need frequent repairs.

C．Today’s travelers would consider it a hardship to spend several days, let alone several months, getting anywhere.

D．The Joad family in The Grapes of Wrath loses both grandmother and grandfather before the journey is complete.

3. Which of the following is an important difference between Steinbeck’s and Guthrie’s characters?

A．Steinbeck’s and Guthrie’s characters are primarily farmers.

B．Steinbeck’s migration was forced, while the Guthrie farmers chose to leave their land.

C．They look to their destinations with nearly religious enthusiasm, imagining their “promised” land the way the Biblical Israelites envisioned Canaan.

D．none of these

4. The language in the paragraph implies that which of the following will happen to the Oklahomans when they arrive in California?

A．They will find a means to practice their religion freely.

B．They will be declared national heroes.

C．They will not find the jobs they were promised.

D．They will realize their dreams when reaching the city.