【推荐1】A major new facility to pull CO₂ out of the atmosphere has started operating in Iceland, which is a boost to an emerging technology that experts say could eventually play an important role in reducing greenhouse gases.

The plant in southwest Iceland is the biggest of its kind, its builder says. It is able to capture 900 tons of CO₂ every year but it needs heat and electricity to work. It is using energy produced from waste and is built on the roof of a waste incineration plant, and through the burning of rubbish, energy is generated.

Human-sized fans are built into a series of boxes. They take CO₂ out of the air, catching it in spongelike filters (过滤器). The filters are blasted with heat, freeing the gas, which is then mixed with water and pumped deep into deep underground basalt caves, where over time it turns into dark-gray stone. Pumping CO₂ into the ground is just one way to deal with it. The makers are also selling the gas to be used again. The CO₂ can be captured just a few 100 miles away. It is pumped through an underground pipeline directly into a greenhouse. Vegetables and plants love CO₂ and higher concentrations of the gas within the greenhouse improve the growth of plants.

By 2050, humanity will need to pull nearly a billion metric tons of CO₂ from the atmosphere every year through direct air capture technology to achieve carbon neutral goals, according to International Energy Agency recommendations. The plant in Iceland will be able to capture 4000 metric tons annually — just a small amount of what will be necessary, but an engineer in Climeworks, the company that built it, says it can grow rapidly as efficiency improves and costs decrease.

“This is a market that does not yet exist, but a market that urgently needs to be built,” said Christoph Gebald who co-founded Climeworks. “This plant that we have here is really the blueprint to further increase the size and really industrialize.”

1. What do we know about the carbon capture facility from paragraph 2?

A．It is built at high altitudes.	B．It uses waste to produce power.
C．It makes Iceland free of air pollution.	D．lt produces lots of heat during operation.

2. What is the third paragraph mainly about?

A．The methods of breaking down CO2.

B．The approaches to reusing waste gas.

C．The necessity of building greenhouses.

D．The workings of the carbon-catching plant.

3. What can we expect from the future carbon capture technology?

A．It will decrease the cost of energy production.

B．It can help reach the carbon neutral goals in advance.

C．It will speed up the reduction of CO2 levels in the air.

D．It may replace the traditional carbon storage system.

4. What can be inferred from the passage?

A．The capture of CO2 in the atmosphere is able to kill many birds with one stone.

B．CO2 will be delivered to greenhouses after being turned into dark-gray stones.

C．A major new market to pull CO2 out of the atmosphere has started operating.

D．The plants in Iceland greenhouses can capture a small amount of CO2.

5. What is Christoph Gebald’s attitude towards building the plants?

A．Ambiguous.	B．Neutral.
C．Disapproving.	D．Supportive.

【推荐3】In the classic novel The Day of the Triffids, giant plants terrorise humanity. Triffids can walk and are equipped with poisonous stingers, but their real power lies in their ability to communicate and so plot against us.

It sounds far-fetched, but since John Wyndham’s book was published in 1951, one aspect of this fiction has proved to be science fact: plants do talk to one another. It has long been known that insects such as pollinators (传粉者）and pests can distinguish between plants by the chemicals they release. What’s new is the idea that plants use their emissions to talk among themselves. “Plants release chemicals into the atmosphere—these can be viewed as a language in the sense that a plant releasing the chemicals can be viewed as ‘speaking’ and the plant receiving them as ‘listening’ and then responding,” says chemical ecologist James Blande at the University of Eastern Finland.

Now we are discovering that air pollution can disrupt these communications. In one study, Blande and his colleagues put individual bumblebees into a box containing paper flowers resembling those of black mustard (芥末). When the scientists injected the scent of real black mustard flowers that grew in either a clean or polluted atmosphere the bumblebees’ reactions were unequivocal: they were immediately attracted to the unpolluted scent, while that from polluted air left them flying around aimlessly.

It’s not just the clarity of plant language that gets disrupted，the “loudness” is affected, too. To find out how much things have changed since pre-industrial times, Jose Fuentes at the University of Virginia and his colleagues made a computer model that included historic air pollution levels. It revealed that scents(气味)produced by flowers that could once be picked up kilometres away now travel as little as 200 metres.

Even between clean and dirty environments today, a similar reduction in signal can be seen. Take lima beans. When one plant is attacked by spider mites, it emits chemical signals that make others nearby produce more sugary nectar. This, in turn, attracts predatory mites, which eat the attackers. If the atmosphere is clean, Blande found, the beans easily communicate with neighbours growing 70 centimetres away. But in polluted conditions, their warning cries can’t be heard more than 20 centimetres away.

1. The writer mentions the novel The Day of the Triffids in order to_________.

A．show how far-fetched the novel is

B．introduce the topic of the passage

C．warn readers of a possible danger

D．illustrate a new discovery of plants

2. The word “unequivocal”（in paragraph 3) is closest in meaning to_________.

A．familiar	B．unpredictable
C．different	D．inter-related

3. What can be inferred from the passage?

A．The scent of plants can’t travel in a shorter distance in polluted air

B．Classic novels are usually based on some proved scientific facts.

C．It was in pre-industrial times that pollution came into existence.

D．Warning cries made by insects are getting softer and softer.

4. What is the passage mainly about?

A．Chemical signals vary with the age of plants.

B．Pollinators and insects either damage or benefit plants.

C．Pollution has an impact on the communication between plants.

D．Plants communicate with each other by means of what they emit.

【推荐1】What is the most meaningless thing every Texan will do at the same time this weekend?

You guessed it. We will “fall back” when our clocks are set backward one hour in observance of daylight saving time.

This strange practice has an interesting history. In 1784, Benjamin Franklin published a critical essay in a French newspaper suggesting that Parisians could save $200 million through “the economy of using sunshine instead of candles”. Therefore ， many people owe the origin of the idea of daylight saving time to our Founding Father's writings. In the United States, the clock-changing practice began just over 100 years ago, in 1918, when Congress decided to control time by passing the Standard Time Act to save energy and create time zones. Back then, coal was our top energy source and ensuring that Americans had more daylight working hours made sense.

In 2008, the U. S. Department of Energy assessed the effect of observing daylight saving time on national energy consumption. It found that resetting our clocks amounts to a reduction in our total energy consumption of 0. 02%. The study also determined that sticking with one time could actually save about 0.5% of electricity per day nationwide. Apart from this, the risk of heart attack increases 10% in the days following springing forward, most likely caused by the interruption of biological rhythms. Studies also indicate we are more likely to get sick, we are less productive, and frankly we are just exhausted directly following the time change.

It is hard to explain why we still change our clocks. Perhaps it is due to special interests. Congress passed the Energy Act of 2005, which extended the length of daylight saving time an extra week in the fall, in large part due to an effort by candy producers to allow for an additional daylight hour on the night of Halloween for trick -or - treating.

This May, we sought to end this ancient practice. It would have allowed Texans to vote whether to stay on standard time year-round or daylight saving time year-round. Our proposal passed the House （众议院）133-9. Sadly, once the bill reached the Senate （参议院）,it was never referred to a committee. The proposal died in the Senate without even a word spoken about it on the floor.

I'm moving forward with plans to file the legislation （ 立 法） again in 2021. I urge you to contact your state legislators to move this legislation forward so that this weekend will be one of the last times we have to “fall back.”

1. The possible origin of the idea of daylight saving time is .

A．the ancient legal act	B．the influence of other countries
C．the need for time zones	D．the advice from a famous politician

2. What does Paragraph 4 mainly talk about?

A．The reasons for health problems.	B．The downsides of setting clocks back.
C．The changes in energy consumption.	D．The solutions to electricity shortages.

3. It can be inferred from the last two paragraphs that .

A．daylight saving time will last for another two years

B．the author will continue what he has been doing

C．Texans voted for standard time year-round

D．state legislators are for the proposal

4. The passage aims to .

A．analyze the practice of daylight saving time

B．explain the consequences of daylight saving time

C．convince people of the necessity of daylight saving time

D．persuade people to make efforts to stop daylight saving time

【推荐2】The teacher who did the most to encourage me was, as it happens, my aunt. She was Myrtle C. Manigault, the wife of my mother’s brother Bill. She taught me in second grade at all-black Summer School in Camden, New Jersey.
During my childhood and youth, Aunt Myrtle encouraged me to develop every aspect of my potential, without regard for what was considered practical or possible for black females. I liked to sing; she listened to my voice and pronounced it good. I couldn’t dance; she taught me the basic dancing steps. She took me to the theatre—not just children’s theatre, but adult comedies and dramas—and her faith that I could appreciate adult plays was not disappointed.
My aunt also took down books from her extensive library and shared them with me. I had books at home, but they were all serious classics. Even as a child I had a strong liking for humour, and I’ll never forget the joy of discovering Don Marquis’s Archy & Mehitabel through her.
Most important, perhaps, Aunt Myrtle provided my first opportunity to write for publication. A writer herself for one of the black newspapers, she suggested my name to the editor as a “youth columnist”. My column, begun when I was fourteen, was supposed to cover teenage social activities—and it did—but it also gave me the freedom to write on many other subjects as well as the habit of gathering material, the discipline of meeting deadlines, and, after graduation from college six years later, a solid collection of published material that carried my name and was my passport to a series of writing jobs.
Today Aunt Myrtle is still an enthusiastic supporter of her “favourite niece”. Like a diamond, she has reflected a bright, multifaceted (多面的) image of possibilities to every pupil who has crossed her path.
1. Which of the following did Aunt Myrtle do to the author during her childhood and youth?

A．She lent her some serious classics.

B．She cultivated her taste for music.

C．She discovered her talent for dancing.

D．She introduced her to adult plays.

2. What does Archy and Mehitabel in Paragraph 3 probably refer to?

A．A book of great fun.	B．A writer of high fame.
C．A serious masterpiece.	D．A heartbreaking play.

3. Aunt Myrtle recommended the author to a newspaper editor mainly to ______.

A．develop her capabilities for writing

B．give her a chance to collect material

C．involve her in teenage social activities

D．offer her a series of writing jobs

4. We can conclude from the passage that Aunt Myrtle was a teacher who ______.

A．trained pupils to be diligent and well-disciplined

B．gave pupils confidence in exploiting their potential

C．emphasized what was practical or possible for pupils.

D．helped pupils overcome difficulties in learning

【推荐3】Have you ever listened to a private conversation? Maybe you were standing by a door or in a hallway and you heard people talking about someone else. You paused ... you perked up your ears ... and you listened. These people were not speaking to you. You eavesdropped.

To eavesdrop means you secretly listen to something said in private. Nosy people, people who like to gossip and spies are all good eavesdroppers. When it was first used in the 1600s, "eavesdrop" was the water that fell, or dropped, from the eaves of a house. After even more time passed, "eavesdropper" described someone who stood near a house to secretly listen to a conversation happening inside.

English has another expression related to eavesdropping and the home: the walls have ears. This means be careful what you say as there might be people listening.

Some word experts say this expression may come from story about an ancient Greek ruler who had an ear-shaped cave cut and connected between the rooms of his palace. This form of eavesdropping became common practice with rulers from many cultures.

There’s a great one more for eavesdropping – to listen in on. When you listen in on something, you listen to people speaking without joining in, usually secretly. But not always. You can listen in on a class at university or listen in on a meeting at work. These examples do not suggest that you were listening secretly.

Now, maybe you were minding your own business. Maybe you just happened to have overheard a private conversation. Overhearing is more innocent than eavesdropping. You can overhear something by being in the wrong place at the right time.

1. How many expressions are mentioned on listening in different ways?

A．3.	B．4.
C．5.	D．6.

2. Which is TRUE about the word of “eavesdrop”?

A．It means the fallen water from a house now.

B．It was first used in 1600 in ancient Greece.

C．Rulers seldom eavesdrop in many cultures.

D．It didn’t originally mean “to listen secretly”.

3. Which word or phrase means to listen to something by coincidence?

A．Eavesdrop.	B．Listen in on.
C．Overhear.	D．The walls have ears.

4. What can we learn from the passage?

A．Overhear and eavesdrop take on the same meaning.

B．A gossip or a spy is good at eavesdropping.

C．The walls have ears means be careful when listening.

D．“Listen in on” always means listen secretly.

【推荐1】When I was about twelve，I headed to a restaurant for dinner with my family．It was winter，and on that night，the wind was really blowing hard．

As my mom and I headed to the restaurant from our car，a girl about my age and her mother came up to us. They asked if we had any spare change （零钱）. My mom right away asked where they lived．They pointed to an old car in a parking lot across the street. The girl said there were six of them living in that car．My mom said she had something to do after handing the people a few dollars. She sent me inside the restaurant with my dad and my three siblings （兄弟姐妹）. But she didn't come．Later，I found out she had gone home and put all the food in our cupboards （食橱） into a few bags．Then，she brought that food over to the car and handed the bags to the family．I wasn't there when that happened，but I can only imagine the joy it brought to those people．

A few days later, when I actually found out about what she had done, I asked her why she helped those people. She told me that they were not lucky. I remember the face of that girl who had asked us for change. She was the same age as me, yet we looked so different．

Here I stood，dressed in almost new clothes, headed to eat in a restaurant and then back home to the bedroom I shared with my younger sister. I remember thinking that the other girl didn't have any food to eat and she was heading back to a cold car shared with five other people．

After painting this picture in my mind, I understood why my mom had done what she did. I will never forget what she did that night, and how she taught me one of the best lessons I ever learned．

1. From the passage, we can know the writer's mother was ______ ．

A．humorous	B．determined
C．kind-hearted	D．selfish

2. From Paragraph 2, we can learn that ______ ．

A．the poor family had no place to live

B．the poor girl was older than the author

C．the writer's mother didn't know how to cook

D．the poor girl lived near the restaurant

3. Which of the following is TRUE according to the passage？ ______

A．It was a winter morning when the story happened．

B．There were six people in the writer's family．

C．A few months later the writer found out what her mother had done．

D．The writer couldn't understand what her mother did．

4. What is probably the writer's purpose of writing this passage？ ______

A．To tell us why to help poor people．

B．To give an introduction to her mother．

C．To tell us to show love to others．

D．To talk about a social problem．

5. What is the best title of the passage？ ______

A．How to support a poor family

B．A friend in need is a friend in deed

C．The hard life of a little girl's family

D．A lesson in kindness from my Mum．

【推荐2】August 1990, Boston

Dear Maya Shao-ming,

To me, June 6, 1990 is a special day. My long-awaited dream came true the minute your father cried, “A girl!” You are more than just a second child, more than just a girl to match our boy. You, little daughter, are the link to our female line, the legacy of another woman’s pain and sacrifice 31 years ago.

Let me tell you about your Chinese grandmother. Somewhere in Hong Kong, in the late fifties, a young waitress found herself pregnant (怀孕) by a cook, probably a co-worker at her restaurant. She carried the baby to term, suffered to give it birth, and kept the little girl for the first three months of her life. I like to think that my mother—your grandmother—loved me and fought to raise me on her own, but that the daily struggle was too hard. Worn down by the demands of the new baby and perhaps the constant threat of starvation, she made the painful decision to give away her girl so that both of us might have a chance for a better life.

More likely, I was dropped at the orphanage (孤儿院) steps or somewhere else. I will probably never know the truth. Having a baby in her unmarried state would have brought shame on the family in China, so she probably kept my existence a secret. Once I was out of her life, it was as if I had never been born. And so you and your brother and I are the missing leaves on a family tree.

Do they ever wonder if we exist?

Before I was two, I was adopted by an Anglo couple. Fed three square meals a day, I grew like a wild weed and grasped all the opportunities they had to offer—books, music, education, church life and community activities. In a family of blue-eyed blonds, though, I stood out like a sore thumb. Whether from jealousy or fear of someone who looked so different, my older brothers sometimes teased me about my unpleasing skin, or made fun of my clumsy walk. Moody and impatient, burdened by fears that none of us realized resulted from my early years of need, I was not an easy child to love. My mother and I conflicted countless times over the years, but gradually came to see one another as real human beings with faults and talents, and as women of strength in our own right. Lacking a mirror image in the mother who raised me, I had to seek my identity as a woman on my own. The Asian American community has helped me regain my double identity.

But part of me will always be missing: my beginnings, my personal history, all the delicate details that give a person her origin. Nevertheless, someone gave me a lucky name “Siu Wai”. “Siu” means “little”, and “Wai” means “clever”. Therefore, my baby name was “Clever little one.” Who chose those words? Who cared enough to note my arrival in the world?

I lost my Chinese name for 18 years. It was Americanized for convenience to “Sue”. But like an ill-fitting coat, it made me uncomfortable. I hated the name. But even more, I hated being Chinese. It took many years to become proud of my Asian origin and work up the courage to take back my birth-name. That, plus a little knowledge of classroom Cantonese is all the Chinese culture I have to offer you. Not white, certainly, but not really Asian, I try to pave the way between the two worlds and bridge the gap for you. Your name, “Shao-ming”, is very much like mine—“Shao” means “little”. And “ming” is “bright”, as in a shining sun or moon. Whose lives will you brighten, little Maya? Your past is more complete than mine, and each day I cradle you in your babyhood, generously giving you the loving care I lacked for my first two years. When I pat you, I comfort the lost baby inside me who still cries for her mother.

Sweet Maya, it doesn’t matter what you “become” later on. You have already fulfilled my wildest dreams.

I love you.

Mammy

1. Why is June 6, 1990 a special day for Mommy?

A．Her dream of being a mother came true.	B．She found her origin from her Chinese mother.
C．She wrote the letter to her daughter.	D．Her female line was well linked.

2. How does Mommy feel about her being given away?

A．It is bitter and disappointing.	B．It is painful but understandable.
C．She feels sorry but sympathetic.	D．She feels hurt and angry.

3. What does “I stood out like a sore thumb” in Paragraph 5 mean?

A．I walked clumsily out of pains.	B．I was not easy to love due to jealousy.
C．I was impatient out of fear.	D．I looked different from others.

4. What can be inferred from Mommy’s Anglo family life?

A．She used to experience an identity crisis.	B．She fought against her American identity.
C．She forgot the pains of her early years.	D．She kept her love for Asia from childhood.

5. Why did Mommy name her daughter “Shao-ming”?

A．To match her own birth-name.	B．To brighten the lives of the family.
C．To identify her with Chinese origin.	D．To justify her pride in Chinese culture.

6. By “Your past is more complete than mine,” Mommy means______.

A．her past was completed earlier than Shao-ming’s

B．Shao-ming has got motherly care and a sense of roots

C．her mother didn’t comfort her the way she did Shao-ming

D．her past was spent brokenly, first in Asia, then in the US

【推荐3】Most people watching Jeremy Lin these past two months saw Jeremy Lin, New York Knicks star; but I, watching him, saw someone else. That was my elder brother, Bob, who is athletic and energetic. He could never sit still when he was in second grade; he had to get up every now and then and run around the room. And sure enough, he grew up to be a starting player for an N.C.A.A. championship lacrosse（长曲棍球）team. He was a Nike-endorsed marathoner, too, and reached the top of Mt. Everest, unguided, in his 50s.
And yet my family never watched his lacrosse games. We did watch some of his marathons, but that wasn’t until he was in his 20s. When Bob was in his glory days, our Shanghainese-born parents were bent on getting him into medical school. There was a loving aspect to it: I can remember my father working through math books with him, lesson by lesson, at the big blackboard in the attic. Bob never did become a doctor, though; and neither did I. It wasn’t until my younger sister came along that someone in the family finally wore a white coat.
Bob today could be the fittest 58-year-old on the planet. His doctor estimates his biological age at 35; he’s still climbing big mountains in the Himalayas. And, like Jeremy Lin, he’s charming. No one sees Bob without leaving with a laugh. He sometimes jokes he could be mayor of his building, and it’s true. To know him is to cheer for him.
And yet my parents did not cheer for him. What if my mother had sat on the sidelines with her statistics, like Jeremy Lin’s mother? What if my father had played videos of athletes for my brother to watch and imitate? It’s hard not to wonder.
And how did Jeremy Lin’s parents manage to do these remarkable things? Amy Chua, the tiger mother, recalls her immigrant father beating the kids whenever they mispronounced a Chinese word. How is it that Jeremy Lin’s immigrant father in particular, Gie-Ming Lin, encouraged his son to follow such an untraditional path?
1. Bob’s glory days were those ________.

A．when he was doing well in math

B．when he was in second grade

C．when he was made mayor of his building

D．when he showed his talents in sports

2. From the passage we can tell that Bob is ____________.

A．active and optimistic

B．clever and determined

C．brave and helpful

D．considerate and independent

3. Which of the following statements is probably TRUE?

A．Bob was always ignored by his parents

B．Bob could also have been a sport star.

C．Bob’s parents often watched his games.

D．Nobody in the author’s family was a doctor.

4. From the last two paragraphs we can infer that ___________.

A．parents should always study together with their children

B．parents should know how to educate their children properly

C．children should be punished when they do anything wrong

D．children should try to live up to the hopes of their parents