2 . Math and literature are probably two of the subjects that bring students headaches. However, mathematicians choose to join the two together—they wonder whether the beauty of math can be found in literary works.

Once Upon a Prime: The Wondrous Connections between Mathematics and Literature, a book published recently by UK mathematician Sarah Hart, presents some interesting thoughts about “three”. She argues that the number has a special hold on Western literature and languages in general.

Many common phrases are in three words, such as “ready, set, go”. Being the first things kids may learn, some nursery rhymes (童谣) have a word repeated three times, such as “row, row, row your boat”. In stories, there are usually three main characters, such as Harry. Ron and Hermione in the Harry Potter series. For a series of novels, there are usually three books rather than four, according to Hart.

Three is the minimum number of points that can define a two-dimensional shape. Three sticks can create a triangle, a stable structure. These characteristics behind the number three give it “a sense of strength and completeness” which balances a story, according to the book.

Similarly, another study connected math and storytelling by mapping out readers’ “emotional experiences”. Researchers at the University of Vermont, US, analyzed more than 1,300 fiction works. As each book was divided into many 10,000-word parts, they rated how “happy” each part made readers feel. The ratings were then grouped into arcs (弧线), which showed how the readers’ emotions changed while reading.

The researchers summarized the arcs in six shapes, which covered almost all novels. The simplest patterns were “rise” and “fall”, showing that the plot was straightforward. Two of the most popular story shapes among readers were “rise-fall” and “fall-rise-fall”. It showed that more twists and turns in the stories are preferred by readers.

So why do researchers analyze the mathematics of literature? As the study’s lead author Andrew Reagan told Scientific American, turning words into data “can teach us more about stories.”

1. What does paragraph 3 focus on in relation to the number “three”?

A．Its significance in literary works.

B．Its various interpretations in literature.

C．Its occurrences in literature and language.

D．Its importance in mathematical concepts.

2. Why is the number “three” significant in Western literature and languages according to Hart’s book?

A．It brings a feeling of power and unity.	B．It carries a special meaning in math.
C．It can create a strong emotional impact.	D．It indicates the innovation of storytelling.

3. How did researchers at the University of Vermont connect math and storytelling?

A．By recording the use of numbers in fiction works.

B．By analyzing math knowledge used in different novels.

C．By comparing the number of characters in some works.

D．By using shapes to show the readers’ reading experiences.

4. What is the point of analyzing the mathematics of literature according to Reagan?

A．To improve readers’ mathematical skills.

B．To gain a deeper understanding of stories.

C．To explore the role of literature in teaching math.

D．To uncover hidden mathematical patterns in stories.

3 . Roughly 2,000 years ago, Mount Vesuvius erupted, destroying the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. In 1752, workers digging in Herculaneum uncovered a home that had belonged to a rich person. Inside, workers discovered over 600 scrolls (卷轴) , most of which were made from papyrus — a paper-like material.

The heat from the volcano had burned the scrolls so much that they looked like chunks of charcoal (木炭块) . These scrolls were so fragile that just touching them could make them fall apart. So scientists have been looking for ways to read the scrolls without opening them. Brent Seales, a computer scientist at Kentucky University, has been working on this for over 20 years.

Dr. Seales has developed a method of using a CT scanner to take 3D X-ray images of a papyrus scroll. Then he uses a computer program to "unroll" the scroll, and gets pictures of what it looks like on the inside. In 2016, his team used this method to read a burned scroll found near the Dead Sea. But the ink in the scrolls from Herculaneum was made from charcoal and water and didn't show up well in CT scans. So he decided to train an AI program, hoping to find the writing on the scrolls by looking for places where the papyrus was rougher.

Though Dr. Seales was making progress, it was slow going. Then he encountered two businessmen, who had the idea of creating a contest for decoding (破译) the scrolls. The contest, called the Vesuvius Challenge, was announced in March. About 1,500 people have participated in the contest and they're sharing information as they make progress. In August, Casey Handmer found a pattern that revealed where the ink had been on the scrolls.

Following Mr. Handmer's lead, Luke Farritor, a 21-year-old student at Nebraska University, created an AI program that found a whole word: “”, or “porphyras” which means “purple”. This was the first word ever read from these ancient scrolls. For his efforts, Mr. Handmer won $10,000.

“Now it is time to explore these words,” Dr. Seales says.

1. What is paragraph 1 intended to show about the scrolls?

A．Their features.	B．Their creation process.
C．Their source.	D．Their historic value.

2. What can we know from paragraph 3?

A．The CT scanner couldn't work well for all scrolls.

B．The materials of the Herculaneum scrolls were rare.

C．An AI program is the most useful in decoding the scrolls.

D．Seales went to the Dead Sea to search for decoding methods.

3. What is the purpose in holding the Vesuvius Challenge?

A．To share scroll-reading technologies.	B．To develop ways to write on the scrolls.
C．To push researchers to study AI.	D．To attract people to explore the scrolls.

4. What might be the best title for the text?

A．Reading Burned Ancient Scrolls Without Opening Them

B．Organizing an International Contest to Write Scrolls

C．Developing Technology to Help Appreciate Scrolls

D．Unearthing Many Ancient Scrolls in Herculaneum

5 . There’s a useful concept from psychology that helps explain why good people do things that harm the environment: the false consensus (共识) effect. That’s where we overvalue how acceptable and widespread our own behavior is in society. Put simply, if you’re doing something (even if you secretly know you probably shouldn’t), you’re more likely to think plenty of other people do it too. What’s more, you likely overestimate how much other people think that behavior is broadly OK.

This bias (偏见) allows people to justify socially unacceptable or illegal behaviors. Researchers have observed the false consensus effect in drug use and illegal hunting. More recently, conservationists are beginning to reveal how this effect contributes to environmental damage.

In Australia, people who admitted poaching (偷猎) thought it was much more widespread in society than it really was, and had higher estimates than fishers who obeyed the law. They also believed others viewed poaching as socially tolerable; however, in reality, more than 90% of fishers took the opposite stand on this. The false consensus effect has also shown up in studies examining support for nuclear energy and offshore wind farms.

Just as concepts from psychology can help explain some forms of environmental damage, so too can they help solve it. For example, research shows people are more likely to litter in areas where there’s already a lot of trash thrown around; so making sure the ground around a bin is not covered in rubbish may help.

Factual information on how other people think and behave can be very powerful. Energy companies have substantially reduced energy consumption simply by showing people their difference in electricity use compared to their neighbors. Encouragingly, stimulating people’s natural desire for social position has also been successful in getting people to “go green to be seen”, or to publicly purchase eco-friendly products.

As the research evidence shows, social standards can be a powerful force in encouraging and popularizing environmentally friendly behaviors. Perhaps you can do your bit by sharing this article!

1. Which example best illustrates the false consensus effect?

A．A student spends long hours surfing the Internet.

B．A blogger assumes many people dislike his posts.

C．A smoker believes people generally approve of smoking.

D．A driver frequently parks illegally in public places.

2. How did most Australian fishers view the issue of poaching?

A．It is contradictory.	B．It is impractical.
C．It is widespread.	D．It is unacceptable.

3. What do words “go green to be seen” refer to in paragraph 5?

A．Develop green habits for better health.

B．Choose green items that are easy to spot in stores.

C．Join green movements for personal fulfillment.

D．Make green choices that others can perceive.

4. What is a recommended approach to solving environmental problems?

A．Justify social standards.	B．Publicize sustainable practices.
C．Encourage technological innovations.	D．Highlight personal responsibilities.

6 . When robots and humans interact in the same environment, it is important for them to move in techniques that monitor an environment, predict the future actions of humans, identify secure track for a robot and control its movements accordingly.

Predicting human behavior and movements, however, can be incredibly challenging. Determining the future movements of a robot, on the other hand, could be far easier. If human users could anticipate the movements of robots and the effects these will have on the surrounding environment, they should then be able to easily adapt their actions in order to avoid accidents.

With this in mind, researchers at Kyushu University in Japan recently created a near-future perception system named Previewed Reality that allows human users to forecast future changes in their environment, which could then inform their decisions and guide their actions. This system compiles (编译) a data-set containing information about the position of objects, humans and robots within the same environment, to then produce simulations (模拟) of events that could take place in the near future. These simulations are presented to human users via Virtual Reality (VR) or Augmented Reality (AR) headsets.

To collect information about the position of different objects, robots, and humans in the same environment, the researchers used a number of strategically placed sensors, including optical trackers that monitored the movements of objects or robots, and a RGB-D camera which mainly tracked human actions. The data gathered by the sensors was then fed to a motion planner and a dynamics simulator. Combining these two system components allowed the researchers to forecast changes in a given environment and synthesize (合成) images of events that are likely to occur in the near future, from the viewpoint of a specific human. Human users could then view these synthesized images simply through a VR headset or an AR display.

“This system provides human-friendly communication between a human and a robotic system.” the researchers explained. In their next studies, they plan to expand and simplify the perception system, for instance by creating a lighter and more affordable version that can operate on smart phones or other portable devices.

1. Why did the researchers develop the system?

A．To predict future changes in human behavior.

B．To record developments in the field of robotics.

C．To enhance safety of human-robot interactions.

D．To make good use of virtual reality technology.

2. What is special about Previewed Reality?

A．It simulates near-future events via VR headsets.

B．It enables human users to perceive future events.

C．It guides robots to track humans’ movements easily.

D．It helps determine the position information of objects.

3. What is paragraph 4 mainly about?

A．The functions of the system components.	B．The dynamic way to synthesize images.
C．The inner structure of Previewed Reality.	D．The working procedure of Previewed Reality.

4. What might the researchers do in the future?

A．Promote the new version through advertising.

B．Trial this perception system with smart phones.

C．Make the system accessible on portable devices.

D．Apply some new techniques to robotic systems.

9 . The conventional wisdom about insects has been that they are unthinking, unfeeling creatures whose behavior is entirely hardwired (天生的). But in the 1990s researchers began making surprising discoveries about insect minds. Some species of wasps (黄蜂) recognize their nest mates’ faces and acquire impressive social skills. For example, they can infer the fighting strengths of other wasps relative to their own just by watching other wasps fight among themselves.

Given the substantial work on the complexity of insect cognition (认知), it might seem surprising that it took scientists so long to ask whether, if they are that smart, could also be sentient, capable of feeling. Since we have no direct window into the inner world of an animal that cannot verbally communicate its thoughts and feelings, the question of whether insects are sentient remained academic.

15 years ago, I performed an experiment in which we asked whether bumblebees could learn about threat from their natural enemies. We built a plastic spider model with a mechanism that would briefly trap a bumblebee between two sponges before releasing it. The bumblebees showed a significant change in their behavior after being attacked by the robotic spider. Perhaps unsurprisingly, they learned to avoid flowers with spiders and meticulously scanned every flower before landing. Curiously, however, they some times even fled from imaginary threats, scanning and then abandoning a perfectly safe, spider-free flower. Although this incidental observation did not constitute formal evidence of an emotionlike state, it did open the door to the idea that such states might exist in insects.

Some research suggested that insects might have positive states of mind. Researchers discovered that bees actively seek out drugs such as nicotine and caffeine when given the choice and even treat themselves with nicotine when sick. Male fruit flies stressed by being robbed of mating opportunities prefer food containing alcohol, and bees even show withdrawal symptoms when removed from an alcohol-rich diet.

Why would insects consume mind-altering substances if there isn’t a mind to alter? But these suggestive hints of negative and positive mind states still fell short of what was needed to demonstrate that insects are sentient.

What does the text mainly discuss?

A．What insects’ various behavior can reveal.

B．How insects communicate their thoughts.

C．What amazing powers insects possess.

D．Whether insects are capable of feeling.

10 . New bio-plastics are being made in laboratories from straw, wood chips and food waste, with researchers aiming to replace oil as the source of the world’s plastic.

The new approaches include genetically modifying bacteria to eat wood and produce useful chemicals. But the bio-plastics are currently significantly more expensive to make than fossil fuel-based plastics.

Land and seas around the world, from high mountains to deep oceans, have become polluted with plastic, prompting major public concern. The world has produced 8bn tons of plastic since the 1950s and demand is still rising.

While some waste plastic is recycled, much of it is burnt to produce electricity, resulting in carbon emissions that drive climate change. In contrast to plastic made from oil, plastics made from plant-based materials only release the carbon the plants absorbed from the air as they grew. Bio-plastics will also give more options for products that biodegrade (生物降解) in the environment, although they can be made very long-lasting if required.

“Plastics are an incredible enhancement to our daily lives,” said Paul Mines, CEO of Biome Technologies in the UK, which has spent t5m in the last five years on bio-plastics research. “But we can’t go on using fossil fuel-based materials. About 6-7% of every barrel (桶) of oil is used to make plastics.”

“Using plant materials is feasible,” said professor Simon, at the University of York. “Replacing half of the nation’s plastic bottles could be done using just 3% of the sugar beet crop, 5% of wheat straw or 2.5% of food waste,” he said.

Currently, just a few thousand tons of bio-plastic are used in the UK each year, compared to millions of tons of conventional plastic. Mines said this could rise to about 20,000 tons in the next five years.

......

What is the main idea of the passage?

A．Plastics arc necessary in daily life.	B．Oil is the source of the world’s plastic.
C．Bioplastic making is a promising industry.	D．Scientists are researching bioplastic making.