Sit still. It's the rule of every classroom. But that is changing as evidence builds that taking brief activity breaks during the day helps children learn and be more attentive in class, and a growing number of programs designed to promote movement are being adopted in schools. "We need to recognize that children are movement-based," said Brian Gatens, the superintendent of schools in Emerson, N.J." In schools, we sometimes are pushing against human nature in asking them to sit still and be quiet all the time.We fall into this trap that if kids are at their desks with their heads down and are silent and writing, we think they are learning," Mr. Gatens added. "But what we have found is that the active time used to energize your brain makes all those still moments better, or more productive."
A 2013 report from the Institute of Medicine concluded that children who are more active show greater attention, have faster cognitive processing speed and perform better on standardized academic tests than children who are less active. And a study released in January by Lund University in Sweden shows that students, especially boys, who had daily physical education, did better in school.
＂Daily physical activity is an opportunity for the average school to become a high-performing school," said Jesper Fritz, a doctoral student at Lund University and physician at the Skane University Hospital in Malmo who was the study's lead author.
＂Activity helps the brain in so many ways," said James F.Sallis, a professor of family medicine and public health at the University of California, San Diego, who has done research on the association between activity breaks and classroom behavior."Activity stimulates more blood vessels in the brain to support more brain cells.And there is evidence that active kids do better on standardized tests and pay attention more in school." "Plus," he added," it makes kids want to come to school more-it's fun to do these activities."
But not all districts are embracing the trend of movement breaks. "The bottom line is that with only six and a half hours during the day, our priority is academics," said Tom Hernandez, the director of community relations for the Plainfield School District in Illinois, about 40 miles southwest of Chicago. He said that under state law, the schools provide daily physical education classes and that teachers in the district find ways to give students time during the day to refresh and recharge.
＂Kids aren't meant to sit still all day and take in information," said Steve Boyle, one of the co-founders of the National Association of Physical Literacy, which aims to bring movement into schools." Adults aren't either."
1. Brain Gatens is likely to agree that| A．all of the students should sit still |
| B．sitting still often means studying well |
| C．being quite is actually human nature |
| D．always sitting doesn't have good effects |
| A．activity helps the brain in only one way |
| B．activities can make children physically and mentally healthy |
| C．activities have nothing to do with children's academic performances |
| D．Daily activity is a chance for the average school to become a high one |
| A．they stimulate more blood vessels in the body |
| B．they activate all the brain cells but are tough on bodies |
| C．they give children fun and motivate all the brains to work |
| D．they give students time during the day to refresh and recharge |
| A．Discovery |
| B．Sports |
| C．Education |
| D．Science |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】A recent study points out a so-called “gender-equality paradox(性别平等悖论)”: there are more women in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) in countries with lower gender equality. Why do women make up 40 percent of engineering majors in Jordan, but only 34 percent in Sweden and 19 percent in the U.S.? The researchers suggest that women are just less interested in STEM, and when liberal Western countries let them choose freely, they freely choose different fields.
We disagree.
From cradle to classroom, a wealth of research shows that the environment has a major influence on girls’ interest and ability in math and science. Early in school, teachers, unconscious prejudice push girls away from STEM. By their preteen years, girls outperform boys in science class and report equal interest in the subject, but parents think that science is harder and less interesting for their daughters than their sons, and these misunderstandings predict their children’s career choices.
Later in life, women get less credit than men for the same math performance. When female STEM majors write to potential PhD advisors, they are less likely to get a response. When STEM professors review applications for research positions, they are less likely to hire “Jennifer” than “John,” even when both applications are otherwise identical—and if they do hire “Jennifer,” they pay her $4,000 less.
These findings make it clear that women in Western countries are not freely expressing their lack of “interest” in STEM. In fact, cultural attitudes and discrimination are shaping women’s interests in a way that is anything but free, even in otherwise free countries.
“Gender-equality paradox” research misses those social factors because it relies on a broad measure of equality called the Gender Gap Index (GGI), which tracks indicators such as wage difference, government representation and health outcomes. These are important markers of progress, but if we want to explain something as complicated as gender representation in STEM, we have to look into people’s heads.
Fortunately, we have ways to do that. The Implicit Association Test (IAT) is a well-validated tool for measuring how tightly two concepts are tied together in people’s minds. The psychologist Brian Nosek and his colleagues analyzed over 500,000 responses to a version of the IAT that measures mental associations between men/women and science, and compared results from 34 countries. Across the world, people associated science more strongly with men than with women.
But surprisingly, these gendered associations were stronger in supposedly egalitarian (主张平等的) Sweden than they were in the U.S., and the most pro-female scores came from Jordan. We re-analyzed the study’s data and found that the GGI’s assessment of overall gender equality of a country has nothing to do with that country’s scores on the science IAT.
That means the GGI fails to account for cultural attitudes toward women in science and the complicated mix of history and culture that forms those attitudes.
Comparison | A recent study | The author’s idea |
Opinions | “Gender-equality paradox” | The environment including cultural attitudes and discrimination is |
Facts | • Early in school: Girls perform • Later in life: Female STEM majors are more likely to be | |
Tools | It is | IAT |
Findings | Women in liberal Western countries tend to | • The GGFs assessment of overall gender equality is not • The GGI can’t |
【推荐2】Until recently, the University of Kent prided itself on its friendly image. Not any more. Over the past few months it has been working hard, with the help of media consultants, to downplay its cozy reputation in favor of something more academic and serious.
Kent is not alone in considering an image revamp (翻新). Changes to next year’s funding regime (制度) are both forcing universities to justify charging students up to 9,000 in fees.
Nowadays, universities putting much more of a focus on their brands and what their value propositions are. While in the past universities have often focused on students’ social life and attractions of the university town in recruitment campaigns, they are now concentrating on more tangible attractions, such as employment prospects, engagement with industry, and lecturer contact hours, making clear exactly what students are going to get for their money.
The problem for universities is that if those benefits fail to materialize, students notice. That worries Rob Behrens, chief executive of the Office of the Independent Adjudicator (OIA), which deals with student complaints. “Universities need to be extremely careful that... they describe the reality of what’s going to happen to students,” he says. “Because competition is going to get greater for attracting students, there is a danger that universities will go the extra mile.”
One university told prospective engineering students they would be able to design a car and race it at Brands Hatch, which never happened, he says. “If universities spent as much money on handling complaints and appeals appropriately as they spend on marketing, they would do better at keeping students, and in the National Student Survey returns,” he says.
Ongoing research by Heist tracking prospective 2012 students suggests that they are not only becoming more sophisticated in thinking about what they want from a university, but are also spending more time researching evidence to back up institutional claims.
Hence the growing importance of the student survey and league tables. From next September, all institutions will also be expected to publish on their websites key information sets, allowing easier comparison between institutions—and between promises and reality—of student satisfaction levels, course information, and the types of jobs and salaries graduates go on to.
As a result, it is hardly surprising that universities are beginning to change the way they market themselves. While the best form of marketing for institutions is to be good at what they do, they also need to be clear about how they are different from others.
And it is vital that once an institution claims to be particularly good at something, it must live up to it. The moment you position yourself, you become exposed because you have played your joker, and if you fail in that you are in trouble.
1. What are universities putting their focus on to attract students?| A．A friendly reputation. | B．Student funding. |
| C．Students’ social life. | D．Practical benefits. |
| A．Universities may not be able to attract prospective students. |
| B．Students will become more sophisticated. |
| C．It will do harm to the reputation of the universities. |
| D．Universities may not be able to keep students. |
| A．make high promises to attract students | B．establish their own strengths |
| C．show graduates career perspective | D．show their feature courses |
| A．A person who are good at communication. |
| B．A thing that cannot be predicted. |
| C．The best thing that people cannot afford to lose. |
| D．A card that can be matched to any card. |
【推荐3】Over the past five years, researchers in artificial intelligence have become the rock stars of the technology world. A branch of AI known as deep learning, has proven so useful that skilled operators can command six-figure salaries to build software for Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google. The top names can earn over $1 million a year.
The traditional way to get these jobs has been a Doctor’s degree in computer science from one of America’s top universities. Earning one takes years and requires a person who can be devoted to study, which is rare among normal people. Moreover, graduate students are regularly attracted away from their studies by various high-paid jobs.
That is changing. Last month Fast.ai, an education non-profit based in San Francisco, kicked off the third year of its course in deep learning. Since its beginning it has attracted more than 100,000 students from India to Nigeria. The course comes with a simple idea: there is no need to spend years obtaining a Doctor’s degree in order to practise deep learning. Fast.ai’s course can be completed in just seven weeks.
For example, a graduate from Fast.ai’s first year, Sara Hooker, was hired into Google’s highly competitive AI residency programme after finishing the course, having never worked on deep learning before. She is now a founding member of Google’s new AI research office in Accra, Ghana, the firm’s first in Africa.
To make it accessible to anyone who wants to learn how to build AI software, Jeremy Howard, who founded Fast.ai with Rachel Thomas, a mathematician, says middle school mathematics is enough. Fast.ai is not the only A.I. programme. AI4ALL, another non-profit organization, founded by leading technologists including Dr. Fei-Fei Li, works to bring AI education to schoolchildren that would otherwise not have access to it.
Howard’s ambitions run deeper than just dealing with the shortage in the AI labour market. His aim is to spread deep learning into many hands, so that it may be applied in as many fields as possible. The ambition, says Mr Howard, is for AI training software to become as easy to use and common as sending an email on a smart phone.
1. What’s Paragraph 2 mainly about?| A．The way to get a Doctor’s degree. |
| B．The difficulties to get a Doctor’s degree. |
| C．The importance to get a Doctor’s degree. |
| D．The necessity to get a Doctor’s degree. |
| A．It aims to produce AI graduates in a fast way. |
| B．It aims to collect money for poor students. |
| C．It charges a high free for offering courses. |
| D．It becomes popular only in India and Nigeria. |
| A．India. | B．Nigeria. |
| C．Ghana. | D．America. |
| A．They are both meant for children. |
| B．They require advanced math. |
| C．They have the same founder. |
| D．They are both non-profit. |
| A．Anxious. | B．Disappointed. |
| C．Optimistic. | D．Surprised. |
【推荐1】China’s Tianwen 1 Mars probe (探测器) conducted its fourth orbital correction on Friday evening, as the spacecraft makes ready for its arrival in orbit around Feb. 10, according to the China National Space Administration.
The name comes from the long poem Tianwen, meaning Heavenly Questions or Questions to Heaven, written by Qu Yuan, one of the greatest poets of ancient China. In Tianwen, this name conveys the Chinese nation’s steady effort in pursuing truth and culture of exploring nature and the universe. CNSA also unveiled ( 发 布 ) the logo of China’s planetary exploration missions, featuring the letter C, signifying China, international cooperation and capacity of entering space.
Tianwen I has flown for 197 days and more than 465 million kilometers on its journey to the planet. It is now around 184 million km from Earth and I. 1 million km from Mars. Depending on the two planets’ orbits, Mars is between 55 and 400 million km from Earth. Mars probe Tianwen I is seen in its first selfies in space on Oct. 1, 2020. The administration also published a black-and-white picture of Mars taken by Tianwen I, the first snapshot (抓拍的照片) from the Chinese craft.
Tianwen I, the country’s first independent Mars mission, was launched by a Long March 5 heavy-lift carrier rocket on July 23 from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan province, kicking off the nation’s planetary exploration program.
A successful landing would make China only the second nation to place a spacecraft on the Martian planet. China would also be the first to successfully orbit, land and deploy ( 部署) a vehicle in the same mission. According to experts, searching for signs of life on Mars will be the first and foremost scientific goal. China is open and inclusive in the development of its space technology not least because it believes that the exploration of outer space should help build a community with a shared future for mankind.
1. Why is Qu Yuan’s poem mentioned in the text?| A．To tell the origin of space exploration. |
| B．To describe space exploration vividly. |
| C．To highlight the importance of space exploration. |
| D．To show Chinese continuous struggle in space exploration. |
| A．function | B．development | C．operation | D．structure |
| A．To build a common future for man. | B．To prove our achievement in space research. |
| C．To discover signs of life on this planet. | D．To expand the understanding of the space. |
| A．Letter C Logo symbolizes creation between countries. |
| B．China was the first nation to land a spacecraft on Mars. |
| C．Tianwen I made its fifth orbital correction around Feb. 10. |
| D．Tianwen I started a new chapter in Chinese planetary exploration. |
【推荐2】One of the most important changes cities must make to improve life in them is to separate people from their cars. Even when you have a strong public transport system in moving people between population hubs, the last mile - that section between the railway station and someone’s home, for example - can lead to car use if it’s considered too far or too dangerous to walk.
The idea of a low-traffic neighbourhood (LTN) - where cars are banned from quieter ‘rat runs’ (偏僻小路) to keep them on the major routes - has taken off in parts of the UK. LTNs attempt to filter out cars from residential streets using bollards, camera-controlled gates or even planters full of flowers placed across the road, while pedestrians, cyclists and emergency vehicles can still pass.
Analysis for the active transport charity Sustrans found that “driving a mile on a minor urban road is twice as likely to kill or seriously injure a child pedestrian, and three times more likely to kill or seriously injure a child cyclist, compared to driving a mile on an urban A-road,” and that heavy car traffic in residential areas can lead to a rise in social isolation. LTNs reduce this danger, leading to a three-fold reduction in injuries, and have been shown to increase the number of visitors to local businesses.
Also popular are e-scooter hire trials, which are taking place in towns and cities including Middlesbrough, Bristol and Chelmsford. The trials see gaggles of electric scooters available to be picked up from street corners. The scooters are hired using an app and then, once they’re finished with, parked elsewhere inside the trial area, where they’re collected and recharged by the hiring company. A Department of Transport report on e-scooter use found they were “widely perceived to have environmental and convenience benefits,” but suffered from comparisons to children’s toys.
But that’s not all. The world’s first hub for demonstrating electric air taxis and drones opened in Coventry earlier this year. The taxis and drones based at the hub all take off and land vertically like helicopters and are being used to travel short journeys or deliver cargo.
Weaning us off our car addiction is one of the more difficult barriers standing between us and healthier cities. The first step that needs to be taken will be to tackle the dominance of the car.
1. What can we learn from Paragraph 1?| A．People are considered reliant on cars to travel. |
| B．Public transport system still needs improvement. |
| C．Pollution from cars has an impact on people’s life quality. |
| D．Residential areas are usually far away from the railway station. |
| A．It’s a way to encourage social interaction and local business. |
| B．It’s a series of measures to reserve the streets to walking residents. |
| C．It’s a system that employs high technology to keep cars on the main roads. |
| D．It’s a practice proved effective in keeping children safe from traffic accidents. |
P=Paragraph
A． | B． |
C． | D． |
| A．To call on readers to construct a healthier city. |
| B．To promote the latest developments in car alternatives. |
| C．To introduce possible ways to get rid of dependence on cars. |
| D．To inform citizens of technological advances to tackle social problems. |
【推荐3】Nuclear bombs. That’s the go-to answer for incoming space objects like asteroids(小行星) and comets, as far as Hollywood is concerned. Movies like Deep Impact and Armageddon rely on nuclear weapons, delivered by stars like Bruce Willis, to save the world and deliver the drama.
But planetary defense experts say in reality, if astronomers spotted a dangerous incoming space rock, the safest and best answer might be something unnoticeable, like simply pushing it off course by crashing it with a small spacecraft.
That’s just what NASA did on Monday evening, when a spacecraft headed direct into an asteroid called Dimorphos, which is around 7 million miles away and poses no threat to Earth. It’s about 525 feet across and orbits another larger asteroid.
In images streamed as the impact neared, the egg-shaped asteroid grew in size from a little spot on screen to have its full rocky surface come quickly into focus before the signal went dead as the spacecraft hit right on target.
Events happened exactly as engineers had planned, they said, with nothing going wrong. “As far as we can tell, our first planetary defense test was a success,” said Elena Adams, the mission systems engineer, who added that scientists looked on with “both terror and joy” as the spacecraft neared its final destination.
The impact was the peak of NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), a 7-year and more than $300 million effort which launched a space vehicle in November of 2021 to perform humanity’s first ever test of planetary defense technology. It will be about two months, scientists said, before they will be able to determine if the impact was enough to drive the asteroid slightly off
course, probably shortening its original orbit.
NASA plans to launch an asteroid-hunting space telescope named NEO Surveyor in 2026. “We’ve tracked lots of space rocks, especially the larger ones that could cause extinction-level events. Thankfully, none currently threaten Earth. But many asteroids the size of Dimorphos haven’t yet been discovered, and those could potentially take out a city if they came crashing down.” explains Lindley Johnson, NASA’s Planetary Defense Officer.
1. What’s the function of Paragraph 1?| A．It adds some background information. |
| B．It introduces the topic of the passage. |
| C．It presents author’s main idea. |
| D．It serves as an abstract of the essay. |
| A．They monitored the spacecraft with satellites in space. |
| B．They recorded the whole process with a telescope. |
| C．The little spot on the screen suddenly disappeared. |
| D．The signal from the spacecraft was lost as it hit the target. |
| A．To test technology for defending Earth. |
| B．To end the asteroid’s threat to Earth. |
| C．To search for evidence of alien life. |
| D．To show engineers’ terror and joy. |
| A．NASA’s plan will definitely a success. |
| B．Larger asteroids will no longer threaten Earth. |
| C．NEO Surveyor is aimed to track smaller asteroids. |
| D．Asteroids are equally destructive whatever the size. |
【推荐1】Look on almost any street comer in America and you will see a fast food shop, the McDonald’s. Did you ever wonder why the McDonald's is so successful everywhere you go?
It certainly doesn't lie in the price of the food or the customer service there. If you stop for lunch at an airport McDonald's，half the continent away, the meal will be almost the same as the lunch you could order at the McDonald's that's closest to your home. What's more, anytime you eat at a McDonald's, you may feel nostalgia (怀旧之情)because the tastes are so similar to your first Happy Meal when you were a child.
The success of the McDonald's, which truly set the stage for other franchise (特许经销权) businesses all over the world, is owed to Ray Kroc. Ray，in 1954, partnered with Dick and Maurice McDonald, the founding brothers behind the first McDonald’s restaurant，to make this small restaurant a nationwide sensation (轰动). Ray's pushing the McDonald's farther than the founders proves an important concept in leadership: the Law of the Lid (盖子法则). The higher the person's ability to lead, the higher the lid on his or her potential.
The McDonald brothers understood how to run a business. They were excellent managers, but when they tried marketing the McDonald's concept, they failed. Their thinking patterns in leadership limited the lid of their potential on the level of what they can do or become. In contrast, the lid of potential in Ray's life was sky high due to his leadership. Between 1955 and 1959, he succeeded in opening 100 McDonald's restaurants. Today the company has more than 35,000 locations in over 120 countries around the world!
If you can get a handle on this law, you will see the unbelievable effect of leadership on every aspect of your life or your company. Wherever you look, you can find smart people who are only able to go so far because of the limitations of their leadership. That's why in times of trouble, organizations naturally look for new leadership. To lift the lid on your potential, continue your study of leadership.
1. What is most probably the key to the McDonald's success?| A．Its fair price. | B．Its consistency in food. |
| C．Its Happy Meal for children. | D．Its warm and friendly service. |
| A．He opened the first McDonald's. |
| B．He made the most popular food in the McDonald's. |
| C．He set up various stages for guests in the McDonald's. |
| D．He expanded the McDonald's into a worldwide business. |
| A．Ray Kroc lacked a strong sense of effectiveness and leadership. |
| B．A person's leadership determines the potential of his business. |
| C．The lid on the McDonald brothers' potential is fairly high. |
| D．An excellent manager is also good at marketing. |
| A．Leadership counts | B．Ways to realize our potential |
| C．Popularity of the McDonald's | D．Secrets of running a business |
【推荐2】Dandelions
I remember as a young child bringing a bunch of brilliant yellow flowers to my mother. It didn’t matter that the stems felt sticky or that both my parents cursed the presence of these flowers in the lawn. I thought they were beautiful!
And there were so many of them! We spent hours picking the flowers and then popping the blossoms off with a snap of our fingers. But the supply of dandelions (蒲公英) never ran out. My father or brothers would chop off all the heads with the lawnmower (割草机) at least once a week, but that didn't stop these hardy wonders.
And for those flowers that escaped the honor of being hand-delivered to my mother or the sharp blades of the lawnmower, there was another level of existence. The soft roundness of a dandelion gone to seed caused endless laughter of delight as we unconsciously spread this flower across the yard.
As I worked in my garden last week, pulling unwanted weeds out of the space that would become a haven for tomatoes, corn, peas and sunflowers, I again marveled at the flower that some call a weed.
And I thought, if only I had the staying power of a dandelion. If only I could stretch my roots so deep and straight that something tugging on my stem couldn’t separate me completely from the source that feeds me life. If only I could come back to face the world with a bright, sunshiny face after someone has run me over with a lawnmower or worse, purposely attacked me in an attempt to destroy me. If only I could spread love and encouragement as freely and fully as this flower spreads seeds of itself.
The lawns at my parents' home are now beautiful green blankets. The only patches of color come from well-placed, well-controlled flowerbeds. Chemicals have managed to kill what human interference couldn’t. I hope you and I can be different. I hope that we can stretch our roots deep enough that the strongest poison can't reach our souls. I hope that we can overcome the poisons of anger, fear, hate, criticism and competitiveness.
1. The author’s parents probably viewed the dandelions in the lawn as ________.| A．supplies of seeds | B．beautiful wonders |
| C．unwanted weeds | D．patches of colors |
| A．The flowers were meant as a joyful gift to her mother. |
| B．The flowers evolved into a stronger species because of frequent mowing. |
| C．The flowers were tough enough to spread new lives themselves. |
| D．The flowers that some called a weed were difficult to pull out. |
| A．The author’s family enjoyed the dandelions as much as she did. |
| B．The author purposefully replaced some dandelions with crops. |
| C．The dandelions were never successfully removed from the lawn. |
| D．The author felt sorry but encouraged by the fate of the dandelions. |
| A．share the inspirations she gained from the dandelions |
| B．arouse public awareness to pay close attention to the beauty in life |
| C．show the importance of planting dandelions |
| D．express the shame that only she saw the beauty of the dandelion |
【推荐3】China will have the most 5G connections of any nation by 2025, according to a new study, while Europe will fall behind Korea, the United States and Japan in terms of 5G penetration (渗透) by that year.
5G is the fifth generation of network technology. It is expected to bring unbelievable speeds to Internet users, with some operations running 10 times faster than on 4G networks. 5G is also expected to unlock the potential in a lot of new services, including artificial intelligence, science of robots, self-driving cars, and the Internet of things.
The GSMA said that China’s three major mobile operators — China Unicom, China Mobile, and China Telecom—are already moving ahead with 5G networks. While most nations will have 5G by updating existing foundations, the study noted that China plans to build part of its 5G networks.
A One of the major distinguishing factors between Chinese mobile operators and those in the rest of the world is the intention to erect the new and independent 5G networks. That is, China is determined to build a completely advanced 5G. The high cost underlines China’s seriousness about paying whatever it takes.
Korea will lead the world in terms of 5G penetration in 2025, when 66 percent of the nation’s total connections will be 5G, according to GSMA. This compares to 50 percent in the US,49 percent in Japan, 36 percent in China, 30 percent in Europe, and a global average of 18 percent. Out of the five economies leading on 5G, Europe will have the lowest participation in 2025, as the area is moving more slowly in having its 5G networks.
1. What will 5G bring?| A．A completely new pattern for daily life. |
| B．Excellent networks and national safety. |
| C．Amazing speeds for public transportation. |
| D．Realizing the potential in many new services. |
| A．It will develop rapidly. | B．It may be lack of government support. |
| C．It will move forward slowly. | D．It may fall behind Europe. |
| A．bring up. | B．set up. |
| C．turn up. | D．pick up. |
| A．Some Chinese will use 5G in 2025. |
| B．Koreans cannot own 5G in 2025. |
| C．Only five countries will have 5G in 2025. |
| D．Europe will pay little attention to 5G in 2025. |
【推荐1】A review of 100 years of fossil evidence reveals that 100 million years ago part of the Sahara Desert was arguably the riskiest place on our planet,wih a concentration of large predatory(食肉的）dinosaurs unmatched in any comparable modern ecosystem on land. The analysis of fossils from theso-called Kem Kem beds shows the presence in the area of large-scale predatory dinosaurs,reptiles and other hunters, all living together in what was at the time a river system full of very large fish, rather than a desert.
Paleontologist Nizar Ibrahim, lead author of the study, said that the Kem Kem ecosystem was a highly enigmatic place,ecologically speaking, since typically ecosystems present a larger number of plant-eating animals than predators, and predators themselves will come in a variety of sizes,with one larger predator being dominant. In the Kem Kem beds,fossils of predators outnumber those of plant-eating dinosaurs, and several of the predators living together in the area, such as the Carcharodontosaurus, the Spinosaurus,the Abelisaur and the Deltadromeus, were as big as a Tyrannosaurus rex (T.rex) - one of the largest dinosaurs that ever lived. This is strange “even by dinosaur standards,” according to Ibrahim, since the T. rex, which was present in North America tens of millions of years later, was “the unarguable ruler of its ancient ecosystem.”
It is unlikely that the large predators in the Kem Kem ecosystem ate one another. What's more realistic, according to Ibrahim, is that they ate the abundant and supersized fish present in the area - fish like coelacanths"the size of a car” and sawfish that could reach 25 feet in length.
The study of the Kem Kem beds carried out by Ibrahim and a group of international researchers across the U.S., Europe and Africa draws attention to the importance of learning more about Africa,which remains paleontology's forgotten continent.It shows that African ecosystems"do not simply copy the ones we know from North America,Europe or other better-known places,"and it also reveals clues about what happens to life when dramatic changes in climate come into play.
1. What does the underlined word “enigmatic" in Paragraph 2 probably mean?| A．Dangerous. |
| B．Peaceful. |
| C．Puzzling. |
| D．Remote. |
| A．The T.rex was the real ruler of the ecosystem. |
| B．There once lived dangerous supersized dinosaurs. |
| C．There was an underground river instead of a desert. |
| D．The number of plant-eating dinosaurs went beyond that of predators. |
| A．Sawfish once completely dominated North America. |
| B．Coelacanths were much larger than the Deltadromeus. |
| C．The Carcharodontosaurus and the Spinosaurus lived on fish. |
| D．The Abelisaur and the T. rex became extinct at the same time. |
| A．African ecosystems have their uniqueness. |
| B．Humans have caused great changes in climate. |
| C．Fossils of predators proved to be alien species. |
| D．The Sahara Desert was formed 100 million years ago. |
【推荐2】Imagine a cat that does not need someone to clean up after it keeps an older people company and helps them remember to take their medicine. That is the shared dream of the toy maker Hasbro and scientists at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island. The researchers received a $ 3-million-dollar from the National Science Foundation for a special project. They want to find ways to add artificial intelligence, or AI, to Hasbro’s “Joy for All” robotic cat.
The cat has already been for sale for two years. Though priced at over 1,000 dollars, it sold quite well. It was meant to act as a “companion”(陪伴) for older people. Now the project is aimed at developing additional abilities for the cat. Researchers are working to decide which activities older adults may need the most. They hope to make the cat perform a small number of activities very well. Such activities include finding lost objects and reminding the older people to take medicine or visit their doctor. They also want to keep the cost down to just a few hundred dollars.
It is an idea that has appealed (有吸引力) to Jeanne Elliott. Her 93-year-old mother Mary Derr lives with her in South Kingstown. Derr has dementia (痴呆). The Joy for All cat that Elliot bought this year has become a true companion for Derr. The cat stays with Derr and keeps her relaxed while Elliott is at work. Elliot said a robotic cat that helps her mother to remember to take her medicine and be careful when she walks would be greater.
The researchers are trying to learn how the improved cats will complete helpful activities and how they will communicate. They say that they do not want a talking cat, however. Instead they are trying to design a cat that can move its head in a special way to successfully communicate its message. In the end, they hope to create an exchange between the human and the cat in which the human feels the cat needs them. By doing so, the researchers hope they can even help prevent feelings of loneliness and sadness among elderly people.
1. What’s the purpose of the project?| A．To reduce the pain of the elderly. |
| B．To increase the sales of a medicine. |
| C．To help make the robotic cat smarter. |
| D．To invent a robotic cat for the elderly. |
| A．It will be on sale in two years. |
| B．It may be cheaper in the future. |
| C．Its abilities will be made simpler for the elderly. |
| D．It can tell the activities that older adults need the most. |
| A．The cat gives much help to the elderly. |
| B．The cat works well to talk with the patient. |
| C．The cat can make the dementia patient less painful. |
| D．The cat should be designed to satisfy patients’ need. |
| A．Each family can afford such a cat in the future. |
| B．A talking cat is quite popular among the elderly. |
| C．Feelings of sadness among the elderly are unavoidable. |
| D．The feeling of being needed is important to the elderly. |
【推荐3】Let us suppose it is now about A. D. 2063. Let’s make believe it is about fifty years from now. Of course, things have changed and life is very different.
Voyages to the moon are being made every day. It is as easy to take a holiday on the moon today as it was for the people in 1960 to take a holiday in Europe. At a number of scenic spots on the moon, many hotels have been built. The hotels are air-conditioned, naturally. In order that everyone can enjoy the beautiful scenery on the moon, every room has at least one picture window. Everything imaginable is provided for entertainment of the young and the old.
What are people eating now? People are still eating food. But many foods now come in pill form, and the food that goes into the pill continues to come mainly from green plants.
Since there are several times as many people in the world today as there were a hundred years ago, most of our planet’s surface has to be filled. The deserts are irrigated with water and crops are no longer destroyed by pests. The harvest is always good.
Farming, of course, is very highly developed. Very few people have to work on the farm. It is possible to run the farm by just pushing a few buttons now and then.
People are now largely vegetarians. You see, as the number of people increases, the number of animals decreases. Therefore, the people have to be vegetarians and we are healthier both in our bodies and in our minds, and we know the causes and cure of disease and pain, and it is possible to get rid of diseases. No one has to be ill any more.
Such would be our life in 2063.
1. When was the passage written?| A．In about A. D. 2060. |
| B．In about 1960. |
| C．In about 2013. |
| D．In about 2004. |
| A．Many tourists. |
| B．Many other animals. |
| C．Many plants. |
| D．A sea. |
| A．Biscuits in pill form. |
| B．Foods in pill form. |
| C．Foods in water form. |
| D．Foods in gas form. |
| A．there are fewer population |
| B．there are more pests |
| C．there is less water |
| D．the crops are getting better |
