【推荐1】Mountaineers have noted that as they climb, for example, up to the 12,633 foot Humphreys Peak in Arizona, plant life changes greatly. In the Sonoran Desert, one climbs into a pine forest at 7,000 feet and a treeless tundra (冻土带) on the top of the mountain. It may seem that plants at a given altitude are associated in what can be called “communities” — groupings of species. The idea is that over time, plants that require particular climate and soil conditions come to live in the same places, and are frequently to be found together. Scientists study the history of plant life and build up a picture of how groups of plants have responded to climate changes and how ecosystems develop. But are these associations, which are real in the present, permanent?

A great natural experiment took place on this planet between 25,000 and 10,000 years ago, when small changes in the earth’s orbit caused great sheets of ice to spread from poles. These glaciers (冰川) covered much of North America and Europe to depths of up to two miles, and then, as the climate warmed, they retreated. During this retreat, they left behind newly uncovered land for living things to occupy, and as those living things moved in they laid down a record we can read now. As the ice retreated and plants started to grow near a lake, they release pollen (花粉). Some would fall into the lake, sink to the bottom and mix with the sand. By drilling into the lake bottom it is possible to read the record of the plant life around the lake. The fossil record seems clear; there is little or no evidence that entire groups of plants moved north together. Things that lived together in the past don’t live together now, and things that live together now didn’t live together in the past. Each individual living things moved at its own pace. The fossil record seems to be telling us that we should be thinking about preserving species by giving them room to move about — to respond to environmental changes.

1. According to the passage, the movement of individual species of plants ________.

A．occurs in groups

B．often depends upon the formation of lakes

C．does not occur in groups

D．depends upon climate and soil conditions

2. All of the following are true EXCEPT ________.

A．The ice age occurred when there were small changes in the orbit of the earth

B．fossil records seem to indicate that plants will be preserved if they have enough room to move

C．fossil records clearly show that entire groups of plants are unlikely to have moved together

D．in the ice age glaciers covered the world to depths of up to two miles

3. The underlined word “which” refers to ________.

A．the responses of plants to climate changes

B．the current theories of ecosystems

C．the development of ecosystems

D．plant life changes

4. The second paragraph is intended to ________.

A．support the main idea of the first paragraph

B．answer the question raised in first paragraph

C．make suggestions about responding to environmental changes

D．stress the importance of preserving species

【推荐2】A large analysis looked at hundreds of factors that might influence the risk of heart failure and found one dietary factor in particular that was associated with a lower risk: drinking coffee.

The analysis included extensive, decades-long data from three large health studies with 21,361 participants, and used a method called machine learning that uses computers to find meaningful patterns in large amounts of data.

“Usually, researchers pick things that they suspect would be risk factors for heart failure—smoking, for example- and then look at smokers vs nonsmokers,” said the senior author, Dr. David P. Kao at the University of Colorado. “But machine learning identifies variables (变量) that are predictive of either increased or decreased risk, but that you haven’t necessarily thought of.”

Using this technique, Dr. Kao and his colleagues found 204 variables that were associated with the risk of heart failure. Then they looked at the 41 strongest factors, which included smoking, blood pressure and the consumption of various foods. In all studies, coffee drinking was associated more strongly than any other dietary factor with a decreased long term risk of heart failure.

Drinking a cup a day or less had zero effect but two cups a day contributed to a 31 percent reduced risk, and three cups reduced the risk by 29 percent There were not enough subjects who drank more than three cups daily to know if more coffee would decrease the risk further.

The study was not able to account for different types of coffee or brewing (冲泡) methods, or the use of additives like sugar or cream. Then should you start drinking coffee or increase the amount you already drink to reduce your risk of heart failure? “We don’t know enough from the results of this study to recommend this,” said Dr. Kao, adding that additional research would be needed.

1. What does machine learning do in the study?

A．It offers a thorough analysis.	B．It compares opposite factors.
C．It finds patterns in limited data.	D．It helps choose the participants.

2. What can be inferred from paragraph 5?

A．One cup a day or less is healthy.	B．The more coffee, the lower the risk.
C．Two cups a day leads to the lowest risk.	D．The ideal daily intake of coffee is unclear.

3. What is Dr. Kao’s attitude to the results of the study?

A．Unbelievable

B．Worried.

C．Cautious.

D．Satisfied

4. What does the author mainly talk about in the text?

A．A factor in lower risk of heart failure.	B．A way to avoid heart failure.
C．Reasons for drinking coffee.	D．Benefits of coffee.

【推荐3】As any plane passenger will confirm, a crying baby is almost impossible to ignore, no matter how hard you try. Now scientists believe they may have worked out why. A baby’s cry pulls at the heartstrings(扣人心弦) in a way while other cries don’t, researchers found.

Researchers found that a baby’s cry can trigger unique emotional responses in the brain, making it impossible for us to ignore them—whether we are parents or not. Other types of cries, including calls of animals in great pain, fail to get the same response, suggesting the brain is programmed to respond specifically to a baby’s cry.

A team of Oxford University scientists scanned the brains of 28 men and women as they listened to a variety of calls and cries. After 100 milliseconds — roughly the time it takes to blink(眨眼) — two parts of the brain that respond to emotion lit up. Their response to a baby’s cry was particularly strong. The response was seen in both men and women—even if they had no children.

Researcher Dr Christine Parsons said, “You might read that men should just notice a baby and step over it and not see it, but it’s not true. There is a special processing in men and women, which makes sense from an evolutionary(演化的) view that both men and women would be responding to these cries.” The study was in people who were not parents, yet they are all responding at 100ms to these particular cries, so this might be a fundamental response present in all of us regardless of parental status.

Fellow researcher Katie Young said it may take a bit longer for someone to recognize their own child’s cries because they need to do more “fine-grained analysis”. The team had previously found that our reactions speed up when we hear a baby crying. Adults performed better on computer games when they heard the sound of a baby crying than after they heard recordings of adults crying.

1. A baby’s cry is difficult to ignore because it ________.

A．keeps on crying	B．cries harder than adults
C．causes people great pain	D．makes people feel strong emotions

2. The underlined word “trigger” in Paragraph 2 probably means “________”.

A．cause

B．remove

C．avoid

D．cure

3. What may Christine Parsons agree to?

A．A crying baby makes no sense to people without children.

B．Parents can hardly recognize their own babies’ cries.

C．Men pay less attention to a crying baby than women.

D．Almost everyone makes certain response to a baby’s cry.

4. What’s the main idea of the text?

A．How to recognize different babies’ cries.

B．Why you can’t get a baby’s cry out of your head.

C．Why a baby is easy and likely to cry.

D．How to prevent a baby crying.

【推荐3】Choosing where to lay your head in London can be a tricky affair. But with a lot of fashionable design hotels to choose from, you can surely book into a satisfying one. Trust us.

The Ham Yard Hotel

If you need to be in Mayfair or Soho, Ham Yard is perfectly located as it's housed in an “urban village” setting at the bottom of Regent Street. The light-filled modern building is decorated with signature Kit Kemp inside.

Doubles from £ 662 per night

The Hoxton Hotel

East London's first "destination" hotel opened in 2006 and it's since won fans for its affordable rooms in a great location. Sure, its “shoebox" rooms are on the small side, but they're smartly designed and you'll get a fridge filled with snacks, a cool phone to use and fast WiFi.

Doubles from £ 138 per night

The Artist Residence Hotel

Occupying a handsome five-storey terrace in Pimlico, this hotel's grand surroundings cover up its cool inside. You'll find other artist living houses in Brighton, Penzance and Oxfordshire, but the touches to this London branch make it a must-visit.

Doubles from £ 225 per night

The Great Northern Hotel

London's first railway hotel has just got a multi-million-pound redecoration. Dating back to 1854, the Great Northern Hotel now stands proud between the Eurostar's St. Pancras terminal and King's Cross. Mini rooms modelled on sleeper carriages sit beside store rooms filled with tea, coffee and cakes, but the main attractive thing is the extra hours' sleep you'll get being so close to the train platform ----we calculate it as a three-minute dash.

Doubles from £ 188 per night

1. How much should a couple spend in the Ham Yard Hotel for two nights?

A．£ 225.

B．£ 276.

C．£ 662.

D．£ 1,324.

2. Which hotel will you choose if you want to get online quickly?

A．The Ham Yard Hotel.	B．The Artist Residence Hotel.
C．The Hoxton Hotel.	D．The Great Northern Hotel.

3. What is special about the Great Northern Hotel?

A．It is quite near to the railway station.	B．It has some artist living houses around.
C．It is a railway hotel with a short history.	D．It is the first railway hotel in the world.

【推荐1】My son is a disabled teenager. He is in and out of hospital and school. His learning disabilities and behavior issues are a barrier for him, and he is teased on campus. At home, he curses and punches me.

He is on a waiting list for his disorder which contributes to his anxiety. Meanwhile, there are hospital appointments to manage, at least four consultants on the go, and an imminent（迫近的）transfer to adult services. The bureaucracy of caring keeps me busy.

I used to work in the theatre industry but had to quit when my son kept getting excluded from school. I never expected that my life would turn out like this. But now, amazingly, I am doing a PhD at a Russell Group university, looking at non­white heroes and heroines in historical drama. It is fascinating: under­represented characters! Hidden histories! Diversity!

I am starting to win awards for my research and I feel like a success story. Almost. There’s just one problem: I can’t get funding. I keep missing out on studentships and scholarships. These awards—which are mainly funded by research councils or universities directly—are worth about￡14,000－￡16,000 a year and usually include a fee waiver (saving a further￡5,000). That’s a lot of money.

But the funding tends to go to students half my age with straight-A academic results—not to people like me, who have taken an unusual path to academia. When I was turned down for the last studentship I applied for, I asked why. The decision maker—a professor in my department and the head of a research institute—told me “it all comes down to excellent academic results”．They don’t say this on the application forms: it’s all about the originality of your project, your research statement, your supervisor’s supporting statement, the expert group that considers you, the level of competition. But when it comes down to it, this is clearly what they want. Someone with my background is never going to get a studentship if the decisive criteria are undergraduate and master’s results.

When I started my PhD and realized that I would need financial help, I went to the student advice office and told them that I am a carer. They asked what that meant and then offered me advice on benefits, but not funding. I went to the student union advice service—they referred me back to student advice. I went to the graduate school. Same response. I spoke to a vice dean and a supervisor. I had to tell them what a carer is. You get the picture. I was invisible. So, I gave up, decided to apply annually for the studentships and kept my part-time job.

UCAS announced this year that young carers will now be able to identify themselves in their applications, so that universities will be able to support them.

But how is this going to happen if staff at these institutions don’t even know what a carer is?

The student welfare vice-president at the union has finally agreed with me that carers are an under-supported and under­represented group on campus. We are going to ask student records to add an option to the equality and diversity monitoring section, so that we can identify as carers and hopefully raise awareness. Wish us luck.

1. According to the passage, which of the following statements is TRUE?

A．Only undergraduates and masters can get the studentship.

B．The writer shows great interest and enthusiasm in her academic research.

C．In spite of her son’s illness, the writer continued to work to feed her family.

D．The writer’s disabled son does not respect his mother.

2. According to the decision maker, the writer’s application for funding was turned down mainly because.

A．she has a disabled son

B．the bureaucracy of caring kept her busy

C．her academic results were not good enough

D．the competition was too fierce

3. What is the correct order of the following events?
a. The author won awards for her research.
b. The author spoke to a vice dean and a supervisor.
c. The author decided to apply annually for studentships.
d. The author started her PhD.

A．cdba

B．dcba

C．cdab

D．dabc

4. It can be inferred from the passage that.

A．the writer likes reading success stories

B．the university’s efforts to help carers are far from ideal

C．the writer is a non­white woman

D．carers are favored in the process of application and enrollment

5. The writer’s purpose is mainly to.

A．call on more people to care about disabled teenagers

B．inform the readers of a carer’s difficulties

C．complain about the barriers she met in getting funding

D．give advice on how to get a studentship

【推荐2】I have come to southern Florida to see how licensed local snake hunters are helping the government cope with the recent explosion of invasive Burmese pythons (缅甸蟒蛇) that is destroying the region’s wildlife by eating almost everything—from squirrels to rabbits to foxes—in their path.

Thirty years ago, there were no Burmese pythons in Florida. Now most experts agree there may be as many as 100,000 to 200,000. And they’re reproducing at an alarming rate. The government has to pay to catch and kill the powerful snakes, which can grow to be 20 feet long, as thick as a telephone pole, and weigh over 200 pounds.

I’m with Tom Rahill, a python hunter, who has caught over 500 of the snakes over the last decade and become known as “the snake whisperer” for his success. As we walk along the river bank, I watch Rahill occasionally push a stick into the thick grass. As he looks for more signs, he tells me his stories and about special living habits of snakes.

Suddenly Rahill shouts, “SNAKE! There, slowly crossing the limestone road, is a Burmese python.” He rushes to the snake. It looks like a five-to-six-footer. Its thick, full belly indicates it must have killed and eaten recently.

Expertly, Rahill moves around the snake as it strikes out at him. He then grabs it with one hand firmly behind its head. I grab its tail firmly as the snake tries hard to wrestle itself away from me. Then, just as Rahill predicted, it poops (排便) all over me.

My pants are covered with smelly Burmese python poop. But I don’t care. We’ve finally bagged our python. Rahill and I high-five each other. He asks me if I want to keep hunting. I quickly tell him, “Let’s go!” As Rahill puts it, there are a lot more pythons out there.

1. Why does the government pay to catch and kill Burmese pythons?

A．Because few people dare to catch Burmese pythons.

B．Because Burmese pythons break the region’s ecological balance.

C．Because Burmese pythons are difficult to catch.

D．Because Burmese pythons are dangerous to people.

2. What do we know about Tom Rahill?

A．He is a licensed python hunter.

B．He is good at telling stories.

C．He knows how to speak to snakes.

D．He caught 500 pythons last year.

3. How does the author feel about hunting pythons with Rahill?

A．Guilty.	B．Disappointed.
C．Funny.	D．Excited.

4. What does the author mainly tell us in this text?

A．The dangerous situation of the wildlife in southern Florida.

B．The endangered Burmese python in southern Florida.

C．An experience of hunting the ecology-threatening Burmese pythons.

D．An experienced python hunter —Tom Rahill.

【推荐3】This is what's known as a 'Buddy' or Friendship Bench'. They're needed because playgrounds can be lonely places sometimes. And these benches can help pupils feeling lonely to find a friend. Benches like this have been around for a while now in some schools. But in Ireland, they are trying to do something a bit different with them.

This school in Cork in the south of Ireland is the 47th to get one from a social enterprise called Buddy Bench Ireland that doesn't just provide schools with benches, it also runs special workshops with trained child psychiatrists. They use the bench as an opportunity to start conversations about mental well-being. They talk about the importance of being aware of your feelings and those of others. The children need to understand what the bench is about, what it symbolizes— friendship, listening to each other and the most important thing is to express feelings.

But do children actually use the bench? It's something an independent academic study has been looking at. We found that 40% of the children told us that they had actually used the benches at the time of the study. And over 90% said that they would talk to a child if that child was sitting on the bench. So, certainly there doesn't appear to be any issues around whether they are properly used. Children's mental health at school is increasingly a concern in many countries. Buddy Bench Ireland is hoping these benches will not only handle issues like social isolation and bullying but also give a future generation the confidence to open up about their feelings. Therefore, they are attempting to make the bench gain high popularity in Ireland schools in a larger scale.

1. Why the school in Cork in the south of Ireland uses the bench?

A．To help children with psychological problems fully recover.

B．To replace the old benches in school.

C．To cut the cost of school's facility.

D．To start conversations about mental well-being.

2. What makes the bench work in Ireland schools?

A．Teachers and parents encourage children to try it.

B．All the children understand what the bench is about.

C．Most children are willing to express feelings.

D．The bench helps children get rid of loneliness.

3. What will Buddy Bench Ireland expect of the bench?

A．It will deal with social isolation and bullying completely.

B．It will motivate a future generation to bravely convey their feelings.

C．It will make children prefer the bench to old one.

D．It will appeal to more students to sit on it.

4. In your opinion, what content will be covered in the following paragraph ?

A．The reasons for the popularity of the bench.

B．The importance of being aware of students’ mental well-being.

C．The concrete approaches to promoting the use of the bench in more schools.

D．The ways to make the bench function effectively.

【推荐1】Self-driving cars (无人驾驶汽车)might make your future travel a lot more pleasant, but they won't reduce traffic.

Car producers (汽车生产商)have said that traffic reduction is one of the many advantages of having self-driving cars on the road. The idea is that self-driving cars will reduce accidents caused by human mistakes. But experts say self-driving cars' influence on traffic will probably be bad.

Lew Fulton, a professor of New York University, said that self-driving cars won't solve traffic problems unless a pricing system is put in place that discourages self-driving cars. For example, many companies are interested in developing self-driving cars to do something, which could increase traffic on the road, Fulton said.

Massachusetts lawyers (马萨诸塞州律师)have already suggested introducing a tax (税)on driver-less cars. It calls for at least $ 0.025 per mile.

Traffic jams could also worsen as companies like Lucid Motors try to produce self-driving cars with reclining seats (可躺座椅). People may choose to live farther outside of cities if they can travel in cars that allow them to sleep and relax. But that increases the number of people travelling in and out of cities during rush hour, Fulton said.

Some cities have already started to discourage people from taking car trips alone. For example, Chicago and New York City have set up lanes (车道)that single-passenger cars must pay some money to use. That money increases during rush hour.

1. What do car producers think of self-driving cars?

A．They save buyers' money.

B．They are fast.

C．They are safe.

D．They increase traffic slightly.

2. What do Massachusetts lawyers suggest?

A．Introducing a tax on car producers.

B．Pushing up the running costs of self-driving cars.

C．Increasing the selling price of self-driving cars.

D．Calling for drivers to avoid travelling during rush hour.

3. What will happen if there are self-driving cars with reclining seats?

A．People are likely to travel longer distances.

B．People will spend less money on transport.

C．More people will live in city centres.

D．There will be lighter traffic during rush hour.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．What cars will we drive in the future?

B．Where will we travel with self-driving cars?

C．How can self-driving cars solve traffic problems?

D．Why self-driving cars could be terrible for traffic?

【推荐2】A lot of us lose life’s tough battles by starting a frontal attack— when a touch of humor might well enable us to win. Consider the case of a young friend of mine, who was on his trapped way to work shortly after receiving an ultimatum(最后通牒) about the job. Although there was a good reason for Sam’s being late—serious illness at home—he realized that this by-now-familiar excuse wouldn’t work any longer. His supervisor was probably already pacing up and down preparing a dismissal speech.

Yes, the boss was. Sam entered the office at 9:35. The place was as quiet as a locker room; everyone was hard at work. Sam’s supervisor came up to him. Suddenly, Sam forced a grin and stretched out his hand. “How do you do!” he said, “I’m Sam Maynard. I’m applying for a job, which, I understand, became available just 35 minutes ago. Does the early bird get the worm?”

The room exploded in laughter, except that the supervisor had to clamp off a smile and walked back to his office. Sam Maynard had saved his job— with the only tool that could win, a laugh.

Humor is a most effective, yet frequently ignored, means of handling the difficult situations in our lives. It can be used for patching up differences, apologizing, saying “no”, criticizing, getting the other fellow to do what you want without his losing face. For some jobs, it’s the only tool that can succeed. It is a way to discuss subjects so sensitive that serious dialogue may start a quarrel. For example, many believe that comedians on television are doing more today for racial and religions tolerance than people in any other form.

1. Why was Sam late for his job?

A．Because he was seriously ill at home.	B．Because he received an ultimatum.
C．Because he was busy applying for a new job.	D．Because he was caught in a traffic jam.

2. The phrase “clamp off” in Paragraph3 means________.

A．try to hold back

B．pretend to set

C．send off

D．give out

3. Which of the following statements can we infer from the passage?

A．Many lose life’s battles for they are always late.

B．Sam was supposed to come to his office at 8:30.

C．It wasn’t the first time that Sam came late for his work.

D．Humor is the most effective way of solving problems.

4. What’s the main idea of this passage?

A．Sam Maynard saved his job with humor.	B．Humor is important in our lives.
C．Early bird can get the worm.	D．Humor can solve racial discriminations.

【推荐3】As an archaeologist at Florida State University, Jessi Halligan and her team made a discovery, reported this past spring, in the Florida section of the Aucilla River.

Deep in a sinkhole, buried in a pile of sand and mastodon dung was a small, ancient knife used for hunting and cutting meat from the bone. The dung dates back roughly 14,500 years—some 1,500 years before the Clovis people, who were long thought to have been America’s first human residents.

Discover caught up with Halligan to learn more about the find and the world of underwater archaeology.

Q: First off，what’s the impact of the Aucilla River knife discovery?

A: A lot of us thought the Americas were populated by folks who came from Siberia across the Bering Land Bridge into Alaska and Canada. However，Canada wasn’t walkable 14,500 years ago—it was covered by ice. So if people were in Florida 14,500 years ago and there was no land route through Canada, then the first people who came to the Americas probably came by boat. Therefore, we really need to start re-examining when and where people came from and what we thought we knew. We don't have all the answers we thought we did.

Q: Why did you decide to get into archaeology?

A: To me, if s that combination of things: using your body as a tool to help you understand things, as well as using your brain to think about what those things meant and applying that to the big picture about people.

Q: How many underwater archaeologists are there?

A: For every 100 archaeologists, maybe one to five of them are underwater archaeologists, and most of them are shipwreck archaeologists. I’m one of only a few dozen maybe in the whole world who focus on landscapes that got covered by sea level rise or prehistoric settlements that were land but ended up underwater.

Q: _______________

A: The water’s really dark，so you can’t see very far, and you can’t have as many people working at the same time. Also, you can’t talk underwater, so you have to communicate through hand signals, which can slow things down.

1. According to Halligan, in what way is the Aucilla River knife discovery important?

A．It is among the discoveries that have been made by archaeologists like Halligan.

B．It can solve the mystery why Canada remained unwalkable 14,500 years ago.

C．It provides a new perspective to think about America’s first human residents.

D．It helps to answer where early Americans came from and when they arrived.

2. What is special about Halligan as an archaeologist?

A．She excels in water sports like diving.

B．She studies the water area that used to be land.

C．She focuses mainly on the research on shipwreck. '

D．She is interested in early human residents in America.

3. Which of the following is most likely to be the last question?

A．What are some of the challenges you face underwater?

B．What has been misunderstood about archaeology?

C．What appeals to you most in your job?

D．What good does this job give to you?