The Mars 2020 rover(02W), which sets off for the Red Planet this year, will not only search for traces of ancient life, but pave the way for future human missions, NASA scientists said Friday as they introduced the vehicle.
The rover has been constructed in a large, sterile room at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, near Los Angeles, where its driving equipment was given its first successful test last week.
Shown to invited journalists on Friday, it is scheduled to leave Earth in July 2020 from Floridas Cape Canaveral, becoming the fifth US rover to land on Mars seven months later in February.
“It's designed to seek the signs of life, so we’re carrying a number of different instruments that will help us understand the geological and chemical context on the surface of Mars,” deputy mission leader Matt Wallace told AFP.
Among the devices on board the rover are 23 cameras, two “ears” that will allow it to listen to Martian winds, and lasers used for chemical analysis.
Approximately the size of a car, the rover is equipped with six wheels like the former US rover, Curiosity, allowing it to travel along rocky land.
Speed is not a priority for the vehicle, which only has to cover around 200 yards(180 metres) per Martian day -approximately the same as a day on Earth.
Fuelled by a tiny nuclear reactor, Mars 202(has seven-foot-long(2 metres) articulated arms and a drill to crack open rock samples in locations scientists identify as potentially suitable for life.
We are hoping to move fairly quickly. We'd like to see the next mission launched in 2026 which will get to Mars and pick up the samples, put them into a rocket and finally bring them back to the Earth, "said Wallace. NASA’s Mars 2020 will remain active for at least one Martian year, which is around two years on Earth.
1. What does the underlined part “pave the way” in Paragraph 1 mean?| A．Making preparations | B．Finding suitable landing sites |
| C．Setting up research centers. | D．Constructing roads. |
| A．It looks much like a car with six wheels. |
| B．It is an updated of the US rover Curiosity. |
| C．It is solar-powered and can crack open rock samples. |
| D．It is able to perform different tasks on Mars in search of the signs of life |
| A．Lifestyle | B．Regional |
| C．World | D．Culture |
| A．The Mars 2020 rover has successfully passed its first driving test. |
| B．NASA is planning a new round of space exploration |
| C．Future human missions on Mars are on the way |
| D．A new rover will be launched to carry out scientific research on Mars |
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【推荐1】The moon, which has experienced a distinct and complex geological history, presents a striking appearance. The moon may be divided into two major terrains: the Maria (dark lowlands) and the Terrace (bright highlands). The contrast in the reflectivity (he capability of reflecting light) of these two terrains suggested to many early observers that the two terrains might have different compositions, and this assumption was confirmed by missions to the moon such as Surveyor and Apollo.
One of the most obvious differences between the terrains is the smoothness of the Maria in contrast to the roughness of the highlands. This roughness is mostly caused by the abundance of craters: the highlands are completely covered by large craters, while the craters of the Maria tend to be much smaller. It is now known that the vast majority of the moon’s craters were formed by the impact of solid bodies with the lunar surface.
Most of the near side of the moon was thoroughly mapped and studied from telescopic pictures years before the age of space exploration. Earth-based telescopes can recognize objects as small as a few hundred meters on the lunar surface. Close observation of craters, combined with the way the moon diffusely reflects sunlight, led to the understanding that the moon is covered by a surface layer with strange, winding marks. Although various land forms were discovered, the majority of astronomers’ attention was fixed on craters and their origins.
Astronomers have known for a fairly long time that the shape of craters changes as they increase in size. Small craters have relatively simple shapes. They have round-edged tops that are raised above the surrounding terrain, smooth, bowl-shaped insides, and depths that are about one-sixth their diameters. The complexity of shape increases for larger craters.
1. What does the text mainly discuss?| A．The aim of the Surveyor and Apollo space missions. |
| B．Characteristics of the major terrains of the moon. |
| C．The origin of the moon’s craters. |
| D．Techniques used to discover the moon’s land forms. |
| A．To confirm earlier theories about the moon’s surface. |
| B．To reveal that previous ideas about the moon’s craters were unreasonable. |
| C．To provide detailed information about the moon’s surface. |
| D．To identify how the moon’s craters were made. |
| A．an aspect of the lunar surface discovered through lunar missions |
| B．a characteristic of large craters |
| C．a discovery made through the use of earth-based telescopes |
| D．features that astronomers observed to be common to the earth and the moon |
| A．some difference in the ways small and large craters were formed |
| B．the different shapes small craters can have |
| C．the reasons craters are difficult to study |
| D．the description of some features of large craters |
【推荐2】Meteorites (陨石) can offer clues about what the early solar system was like. But finding them is far from difficult. Now, some scientists are turning to drones (无人机) and machine learning to help spot freshly fallen meteorites much more efficiently. “A team of six people on a meteorite-hunting expedition can search about 200,000 square meters per day,” says Seamus Anderson, a planetary scientist in Australia.
Around 2016, Anderson began toying with the concept of using drones to take pictures of the g round to look for meteorites. That idea blossomed into a Ph.D. project. In 2022, he and his colleagues reported their first successful recovery of a meteorite spotted with a drone. They’ve since found four more meteorites at a different site. Drone-based searches are much faster than the standard search way. “You’re going from about 300 days of human effort down to about a dozen or so,” he says.
Anderson and his workmates have used drones to search for meteorites in remote parts of Western Australia and South Australia. The team is tipped off about a fall site by networks of ground-based cameras that track meteoroids flashing through the Earth’s atmosphere. The researchers have to do a series of fun but difficult work before the hunt. They pack a four-wheel drive vehicle with drone and computer equipment, battery charging stations, generators, fuel, food, camping equipment, tables, chairs and much more. The drive to the fall site can take more than a day, often on rough or nonexistent roads. Anderson says, “You hope you don’t pop a tire.”
After arriving, the team flies its primary drone at an altitude of about 20 meters. Its camera takes an image of the ground once every second, and the scientists download the data every 40 minutes or so when the drone lands to receive fresh batteries. A typical day of flying can net over 10,000 images, which are then divided digitally into 100 million or so smaller sections. Those “tiles”, each 2 meters on a side, are fed into a machine learning algorithm (算法) that has been trained to recognize meteorites based on images of real land rocks which are spray-painted black.
1. Why do the scientists study meteorites?| A．To spot the planetary course. | B．To promote machine learning. |
| C．To test the functions of drones. | D．To explore the past of solar system. |
| A．Their barriers. | B．Their causes. |
| C．Their efficiency. | D．Their concept. |
| A．Fun and light. | B．Smooth and flexible. |
| C．Difficult and unpleasant. | D．Complicated and tough. |
| A．By dividing them in half. | B．By storing them for analysis. |
| C．By combining them into a picture. | D．By linking them with a digital printer. |
【推荐3】It seems that we are one step closer to finding alien life and maybe a future home for humanity. Scientists from NASA have found a new solar system filled with planets that look like the Earth and could even support life.
The group of seven planets, which orbits a star called Trappist-1, is 39 light years away from the Earth in the constellation of Aquarius(水瓶座). And three of them are in the “habitable zone” - the area around a star where water is most likely to be found. This is important because water is necessary for life.
“This is an amazing planetary(行星的) system - not only because we have found so many planets, but because they are all surprisingly similar in size to the Earth”, astronomer Michael Gillon from the University of Liege in Belgium told The Independent.
Trappist-1 is a “dwarf star(矮星)” which is colder and shines dimmer than our sun. If a person were on one of the seven planets, everything would look a lot darker than usual. The amount of light heading toward our eyes would be about 200 times less than we get from the sun, according to The Independent.
Because of that, Trappist-1, together with many other dwarf stars, was never on the list of places where scientists looked for alien life. But Michael Gillon, lead researcher behind the discovery, decided to give dwarf stars a chance. He built a telescope in Chile to observe 60 of the closest dwarf stars, and it turned out that Trappist-1 was worthy of the effort.
The researchers hope that they can spend more time watching the newly found planets to learn more about them. Even though more research is needed before determining whether these planets could really support life, the discovery is still encouraging. It shows just how many Earth-size planets could be out there.
“[The discovery] gives us a hint that finding a second Earth is not just a matter of if, but when,” NASA scientist Thomas Zurbuchen told The Telegraph.
1. What can be learned about the new solar system from the text?| A．It contains a sun and planets like the Earth. |
| B．Seven planets move around Trappist-1. |
| C．Water can be found on all of the planets. |
| D．There are aliens on the planets. |
| A．The size of the planets is similar to that of the Earth. |
| B．It has the same number of planets as our solar system. |
| C．Scientists have found alien life in the new solar system. |
| D．The planets are more suitable for humans to live than the Earth. |
| A．It is impossible to find alien life on the planets of Trappist-1 and other dwarf stars. |
| B．Scientists did not find a good place to observe dwarf stars according to the passage. |
| C．Trappist-1 and other dwarf stars don't provide as much heat and light as our sun can. |
| D．Scientists have observed dwarf stars, but they failed to find the possibility of survival. |
| A．Stronger | B．More powerful | C．Less bright | D．Less beautiful. |
| A．Scientists have found a second Earth. |
| B．People will move to another Earth soon. |
| C．Scientists are planning to explore another planet. |
| D．A new solar system may become home for humans. |
【推荐1】ChatGPT, a new chatbot model developed by US-based AI research laboratory OpenAI，has quickly become a hit globally due to its advanced conversational abilities.
It can write emails, computer codes, even academic papers and poems, and has passed a number of tests within seconds. Academicians worldwide are discussing whether AI should be used in education. Some universities have banned it. The New York City’s Department of Education, for example, banned the chatbot from its public school devices and networks, with some people warning that it could encourage more students to cheat, especially in exams.
Many more welcome this app, claiming that, like most technological advances and groundbreaking innovations in history, ChatGPT is a powerful tool for the development of higher education.
Embracing AI as early as possible is advisable. Higher education institutions should make preparations for including AI in their syllabus (教学大纲). They can start by offering related courses, because by understanding how it works, they can make better use of it. Besides, students with good knowledge of AI are more competitive when it comes to getting a good job, as an increasing number of jobs are being done by computer programmes—some in cooperation with humans, AI-powered education technologies can be adopted to make the learning experience more suitable for each student based on his or her strengths and weaknesses. As for professors, AI can free them from doing some dull tasks so they can concentrate on teaching and interacting with students.
Since we cannot avoid ChatGPT and other AI-powered applications from entering the field of higher education, we should make collective efforts to ensure they have a positive impact on society and the future of education. Despite AI helping make learning much more interesting and enjoyable, humans need to work very hard to win the race with technology.
1. Why do some higher education institutions forbid ChatGPT?| A．ChatGPT can write emails and computer codes quickly. |
| B．Some professors might not perform their duties properly. |
| C．Students would have conversations with each other via it. |
| D．Students might seek help from it in completing the exams. |
| A．Refusing. | B．Improving. | C．Accepting | D．Affecting. |
| A．It offers students an increasing number of jobs. |
| B．It personalizes students’ learning experience. |
| C．It equips students with competitive skills to cooperate with humans. |
| D．It handles uninteresting tasks so students can better focus on learning. |
| A．We should guard against AI apps. |
| B．AI will be more widely used in education. |
| C．The future of education relies on AI apps. |
| D．Humans will be left behind by technology. |
【推荐2】Communities across the world are starting to ban facial recognition technologies. The efforts are well intentioned, but banning facial recognition is the wrong way to fight against modern surveillance (监视). Generally, modern mass surveillance has three broad components: identification, correlation and discrimination.
Facial recognition is a technology that can be used to identify people without their consent. Once we are identified, the data about who we are and what we are doing can be correlated with other data. This might be movement data, which can be used to “follow” us as we move throughout our day. It can be purchasing data, Internet browsing data, or data about who we talk to via email or text. It might be data about our income, ethnicity, lifestyle, profession and interests. There is an entire industry of data brokers who make a living by selling our data without our consent.
It’s not just that they know who we are; it’s that they correlate what they know about us to create profiles about who we are and what our interests are. The whole purpose of this process is for companies to treat individuals differently. We are shown different ads on the Internet and receive different offers for credit cards. In the future, we might be treated differently when we walk into a store, just as we currently are when we visit websites.
It doesn’t matter which technology is used to identify people. What’s important is that we can be consistently identified over time. We might be completely anonymous (匿名的) in a system that uses unique cookies to track us as we browse the Internet, but the same process of correlation and discrimination still occurs.
Regulating this system means addressing all three steps of the process. A ban on facial recognition won’t make any difference. The problem is that we are being identified without our knowledge or consent, and society needs rules about when that is permissible.
Similarly, we need rules about how our data can be combined with other data, and then bought and sold without our knowledge or consent. The data broker industry is almost entirely unregulated now. Reasonable laws would prevent the worst of their abuses.
Finally, we need better rules about when and how it is permissible for companies to discriminate. Discrimination based on protected characteristics like race and gender is already illegal, but those rules are ineffectual against the current technologies of surveillance and control. When people can be identified and their data correlated at a speed and scale previously unseen, we need new rules.
Today, facial recognition technologies are receiving the force of the tech backlash (抵制), but focusing on them misses the point. We need to have a serious conversation about all the technologies of identification, correlation and discrimination, and decide how much we want to be spied on and what sorts of influence we want them to have over our lives.
1. According to Para 2, with facial recognition, .| A．one’s lifestyle changes greatly | B．one’s email content is disclosed |
| C．one’s profiles are updated in time | D．one’s personal information is released |
| A．discrimination based on new tech surveillance is illegal |
| B．different browsing data bring in different advertisements |
| C．using mobiles anonymously keeps us from being correlated |
| D．data brokers control the current technologies of surveillance |
| A．call for banning facial recognition technologies |
| B．advocate the urgent need for changes in related laws |
| C．inform readers of the disadvantages of facial recognition |
| D．evaluate three broad components in modern mass surveillance |
【推荐3】However exciting space travel sounds, astronauts must still suffer with bad food. Now, food in space has to be dehydrated (使脱水) or precooked and stored. This means astronauts aren’t really eating fresh food.
New technology may change this. Scientific American reports that a specially-designed oven will be sent into space this autumn with NASA’s NG-12 cargo mission. Far from the common vacuum-packed meals, astronauts may get to enjoy freshly baked cookies before the end of 2020.
Why aren’t they baking cookies in space already? For one thing, there’s the risk of a fire. Engineers also have to overcome the challenge of micro-gravity(微重力), which prevents heat from circling inside ovens the same way it does on Earth.
Astronauts will still have to wait a while before they can have their cookies, though. After baking, the results will be sent back to Earth for safety testing. If successful, this will be the first oven to bake food in space.
“ I believe... that will be game-changing for both science and astronauts,” food technology researcher Maeena Naman Shafiee told Scientific American.
One of the main diving forces behind this project has been NASA’s 2018 research into the effects of “confinement and isolation”. Unlike on the International Space Station (ISS), astronauts traveling out of Earth’s orbit may not be able to speak to their loved ones on future missions, which could lead to negative feelings.
It’s hoped that the chance to bake and sense familiar smells can bring joy to astronauts.
“Is the ISS going to smell like fresh-baked cookies? We don’t know,” said NanoRacks’ communications manager Abby Dickes. “But that’s feeling we all know and love... that will make someone feel at home.”
Baking cookies in space would mark an important step, offering a small comfort in the difficult and unfamiliar environment of space travel. Astronauts have already grown plants aboard the ISS.
With commercial space travel now being planned, who knows what other developments may surprise us in the future?
1. What can astronauts do with the new oven in space in the future?| A．They can cook a meal | B．They can eat cookies. |
| C．They can bring more fresh food | D．They can prepare food quickly |
| A．Cooking in space needs some special cooking skills. |
| B．Micro-gravity makes it dangerous to cook in space. |
| C．It’s expensive and inconvenient to bring fresh food to the space. |
| D．It’s difficult to heat food the same way as on Earth because of different gravity. |
| A．To prepare some fresh food for astronauts. |
| B．To bring the feeling of home to the astronauts. |
| C．To make improvements in space travel. |
| D．To provide a new game for astronauts to play in space. |
| A．unknown | B．imaginable | C．surprising | D．confusing |
【推荐1】Researchers have confirmed that there are several effective methods for cleaning the N95 masks worn by health professional so that they can be used more than once,the National Institutes of Health announced Wednesday.
A research already showed that the masks,designed for one-time use,can be reused in a crisis.And the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in March authorized reuse because of shortages driven by the Covid-19 pandemic.
None of these rules or methods are intended for the cloth masks recommended or in some locations required for use by everyone in public.
Earlier research had not,of course,involved the new coronavirus.The new research determined which cleaning procedures were most effective.
N.I.H.publicized the study because it could be helpful to health care professionals in the crisis.Dr.Munster and his colleagues tested four methods of killing the virus:UV light,dry heat, vaporized hydrogen peroxide(YHP)(汽化过氧化氢）and ethyl(乙醇）alcohol.Of those methods,they did not recommend ethyl alcohol because although it killed the virus,it degraded the mask material.
Vaporized hydrogen peroxide,a method often available in large hospitals,was effective, and left the masks still functioning for at least three rounds of cleaning,as did UV light.
Dry heat,at 70C,was effective,but the masks withstood only two rounds of cleaning.Dr. Munster said that"vaporized hydrogen peroxide would be the method of choice if that's available."However,he said,a nursing home might not have that,while for dry heat,what's needed is basically an oven.
Another recent study from Canadian researchers confirmed the value of cleaning.It included masks of different brands and found that the material of the mask was still effective after 10 rounds of vaporized hydrogen peroxide cleaning.
The findings are intended to be useful for health care workers wearing N95 masks.With personal protective equipment in short supply at many overwhelmed hospitals,some front-line workers have complained that masks were rationed.
The public has been advised not to use or try to buy N95 masks because they would be preventing health care workers from having lifesaving equipment.
1. Of the different cleaning procedures of N95 masks,which one is the least effective?| A．UV light | B．dry heat |
| C．vaporized hydrogen peroxide(VHP) | D．ethyl alcohol |
| A．a fixed allowance of something that is scarce |
| B．the amount of something one normally has |
| C．to assign to someone for a particular purpose. |
| D．to restrict the distribution of something |
| A．The public has been advised not to use N95 masks. |
| B．The health care workers are in great need of N95 masks. |
| C．N.I.H.announced N95 masks can be reused if cleaned effectively. |
| D．Personal protective equipment is in short supply at many hospitals. |
【推荐2】The killdeer, a small bird known for its high-pitched ( 声调高的) call, could lead to the cancellation of one of Canada's biggest music festivals.
The first hint of trouble for Ottawa's Bluesfest, an outdoor festival that draws around 300, 300 people each year, came last week after workers at the site found one of the birds. It had laid four eggs nearby, effectively claiming the main stage area as its nesting ground. “This is one of the most challenging problems we're been presented with, but we feel we can work through this, said Mark Monahan, executive director of the festival. "Anything that changes the schedule has a major effect, so we're taking it very seriously. "
The discovery meant that government officials rushed to protect the nest and the eggs, hiring a security guard to watch over them 24 hours a clay. Environmentalists were also brought in. "We don't know when the eggs might hatch, “said Monahan. What is known is that the young killdeer will likely leave the nest soon after they are hatched, leading many to hope that the eggs hatch in the next day or so.
The festival is now asking permission from Environment Canada to relocate the nest some 50 meters away or take it to a wildlife center. Moving the nest would also ensure the bird and its young would be protected during the festival’s 11 - day run, said Monahan. It’s highly likely that the festival thousands of attendees would cause huge problems for the bird and its eggs. Monahan was confident that the festival would go on as planned, however. ‘‘ Most of the people we’re working with …are looking for a positive solution," Monahan said. “There is no one saying that the festival can't go on. "
As news of the dilemma spread, it left residents divided. Some supported the bird, saying that moving the nest might result in the eggs being abandoned. Others expressed annoyance that protecting the eggs of the small bird, which is widespread across North America, was risking an annual festival that contributes millions of dollars to the local economy.
The killdeer's tendency to build its nest in open fields or flat areas has caused issues in other areas of the US: earlier this year, construction on a health center in Wisconsin was temporarily stopped after a killdeer and its four eggs were discovered.
1. What can we learn about Bluesfest?| A．It is the first music festival in Canada. |
| B．It is a music festival held every two years. |
| C．It is a challenging outdoor activity in Ottawa. |
| D．It is an important event for music lovers |
| A．Pressure from the government. |
| B．Disagreements with the public. |
| C．The need to protect the bird's eggs. |
| D．The lack of experience in hosting the event. |
| A．Ask government officials for help. |
| B．Move the nest to another place. |
| C．Seek advice from environmentalists. |
| D．Hire security guards to protect the eggs. |
| A．encouraging | B．difficult | C．extreme | D．dangerous |
【推荐3】The Alexander technique
Until earlier this year, I didn’t know anything about the Alexander technique—and saw no reason to think I should. One day, the backache I regularly suffered was more painful. I was brought up to think that the preferred way of dealing with aches is to do nothing and hope they’ll go away, but I eventually went to the doctor. After examining me, he said, “You actually have bad posture (姿势). Go off and learn the Alexander technique.” Three months later I could walk straighter and sit better.
The Alexander technique is a way of learning how you can get rid of harmful tension in your body. The teaching focuses on the neck, head and back. It trains you to use your body less severely and carry out the movements that we do all the time with less effort. There is little effort in the lessons themselves, which sets apart the Alexander technique from yoga or pilates, which are exercise-based. A typical lesson involves standing in front of a chair and learning to sit and stand with minimum effort. You spend some time lying on a bench with your knees bent to straighten the spine (脊椎) and relax your body while the teacher moves your arms and legs to train you to move them correctly.
The technique helps to break the bad habits accumulated over years. Try folding your arms the opposite way to normal. This is an example of a habit the body has formed which can be hard to break. Many of us carry our heads too far back. The head weighs four to six kilos, so any inappropriate posture can cause problems for the body. The technique teaches you to let go of the muscles holding the head back, allowing it to go back to its natural place on the top of our spines.
So who was Alexander and how did he come up with the technique? Frederick Alexander, an Australian actor born in 1869, found in his youth that he had vocal (声音的) problems during performances. He analyzed himself and realized his posture was bad. He worked on improving it, with excellent results. He brought his technique to London and opened a teacher-training school, which is still successful today.
So if you’re walking along the road one day with shoulders bent forward, feeling weighed down by your troubles, give a thought to the Alexander technique. It will help you walk tall again.
1. What does the author suggest in Paragraph 1?| A．She felt no better after the treatment. |
| B．She got bored with the Alexander technique. |
| C．She was sceptical about the doctor’s method. |
| D．She was unwilling to seek treatment for her backache. |
| A．Physical tension shouldn’t be completely relieved. |
| B．The technique shouldn’t be combined with other exercises. |
| C．The practice of the technique shouldn’t be attempted alone. |
| D．Familiar physical actions shouldn’t be done with much effort. |
| A．He managed to recover his vocal powers. |
| B．He was eager to make a name for himself. |
| C．He developed a form of exercise for actors. |
| D．He had to leave home to develop his technique. |
| A．The occurrence of back pain is widespread. |
| B．Alexander improved the technique to treat body pain. |
| C．The Alexander technique helps overcome posture problems. |
| D．People with back pain are victims of inappropriate postures. |
【推荐1】Maybe you are familiar with scenes in movies where a pilot has got into an emergency mid-flight and you hear him shout "Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!". But what does “Mayday" mean? Mayday is an internationally recognized distress call（求救信号）,mostly used by pilots and boat captains. The signal can be sent out on any channel by radio communication.
This emergency call originated in the 1920s. At that time, the standard distress call was "SOS" and was typically used by navy captains. The message was sent in Morse code by telegraph. In Morse code, “SOS” is three dots, three dashes and three dots. The signal was unmistakable. However, aircraft pilots use radio calls, so sending out “SOS” could be misheard as other letters, such as “F”.
Frederick Stanley Mockford, a radio officer at Croydon Airport in London, was asked to think of a word that would indicate distress. Because of the number of flights that flew between Croydon and Paris, he chose Mayday, as it sounds similar to the French word aider", which means “help me”.
Facing a threatening situation, pilots are required to repeat the signal three times in case of radio interference（干扰）or loud background noise. If the pilots don't get a reply within two minutes, they should repeat it. Once they receive a reply, more information including the code of the flight, their current situation and the number of people on board should be reported. Sometimes pilots are directed to a nearby airport or location where they can make an emergency landing. While Mayday signals indicate a life-threatening situation, they do not always end in deaths.
Despite dangers, air travel is still the safest means of transport.
1. How did navy captains call for help before the 1920s?| A．By sending "Mayday" by telegraph. | B．By calling "Mayday" by radio. |
| C．By sending “SOS” by telegraph. | D．By calling "SOS" by radio. |
| A．It is a signal mainly used in European countries. |
| B．It is only used by pilots and boat captains. |
| C．It was sent by telegraph in the beginning. |
| D．It was invented by a radio officer in the 1920s. |
| A．When to use Mayday signals. | B．How to use Mayday signals to call for help, |
| C．How Mayday signals were recognized. | D．What makes Mayday signals useful. |
| A．Sports. | B．Fashion. | C．Art. | D．Science. |
【推荐2】Chinese audiences seemed not to have been satisfied with the third season of the highly anticipated food documentary A Bite of China.
Even though the series has maintained high viewership ratings since its comeback last week, much higher than other programs aired at the same time, the ranking on Douban, a social networking website featuring films, literature and events, slipped to 4.2 out of 10, as of Tuesday, compared with 9.3 and 8.4, respectively, for the first two seasons.
Picky viewers complain that some of the narration is not accurate, while others pinpoint misleading content. At the same time, food blogger @barbara questioned whether it is appropriate to give a close-up shot of the poisonous plant Nandina(南天竺)in a food program.
A Bite of China, which debuted in 2012, became hugely popular nationwide for its quality introduction of some rarely-known and mouth-watering domestic cuisine. In the new show, however, watchers are not satisfied with “irrelevant” food references, such as lipsticks made of Chinese traditional medicine and martial arts master.
The first episode introduced a hand-made iron frying pan from east China’s Shandong province, which prompted thousands of Chinese Internet users to buy one from China’s leading e-commerce website Tmall in the next few days. Sales of the pan at “Zhensanhuan” surged 6,000 times compared with a year ago, according to Beijing Youth Daily.
In response to overwhelming criticism and questions, A Bite of China production crew responded on Weibo that they seek innovation despite the risks following the first two phenomenal seasons.
“It is unavoidable to make comparisons with the first two, and some audiences may not accept the changes,” the crew said. “We explore the culture and civilization behind food, and give food a historic touch. That’s why we feature culinary(烹饪的)tools, feast and rituals, as well as a healthy diet to show Chinese wisdom and philosophy, which has not been shown in any food programs before.”
1. Why does the passage mention Nandina?| A．Because some of the narration is not accurate. |
| B．Because it may be improper to give a close-up shot of a poisonous plant. |
| C．Because it is misleading content. |
| D．Because it is not attractive at all to most picky viewers. |
| A．some mouth-watering domestic cuisines |
| B．food-unrelated items |
| C．some rarely-known cuisines |
| D．the increasing sales of the pan at “Zhensanhuan” |
| A．It makes comparisons with the first two episodes. |
| B．It tells the story of some martial arts related to food. |
| C．It receives overwhelming criticism and questions from audience. |
| D．It focuses on cooking tools, rituals and healthy eating. |
| A．'A Bite of China III' Draws Criticism from Audiences |
| B．'A Bite of China III' Maintains High Viewership Ratings |
| C．'A Bite of China III' Changes for the Worse |
| D．'A Bite of China III' Explains its Purposes |
【推荐3】Some people always seem to have sunny outlooks, while others never stop complaining. Naturally, scientists have asked why
In a study, University of Minnesota researchers David Lykken and Auke Tellegen analysed well-being questionnaires answered by 254 twins over a 10-year period. They found that identical twins' （同卵双胞胎）happiness was much closely paired over time than that of fraternal twins （异卵 双胞胎）.In a smaller sample of twins separated in infancy （婴儿期）and raised apart—removing the influence of a shared environment—the effect was slightly more pronounced. The authors went on to calculate that about 50 per cent of happiness genetic. The scientific community is still arguing about the exact number; but the basic finding is widely accepted.
If a large part of happiness is genetic, does that mean the rest can be acquired by upgrading your job, your house or where you live?
Decades of research support the theory of hedonic adaptation （享乐适应），sometimes called "happiness treadmill （快乐水车理论）"：after negative and positive life changes, individuals tend to return to a baseline level of well-being. One study examined 3,658 Germans who moved into new houses because they were frustrated with their old ones. Housing satisfaction generally rose in the first year and then began falling, though remained higher than before the move. But life satisfaction remained unchanged. Other studies have found that spikes in well-being after marriage, or a job promotion tend to fade within months. On the flip side, even after calamitous changes like widowhood, disability, and job loss, happiness usually trend upward again （although slowly and with more variability）.
In other words, chasing material life changes doesn’t offer much joy. Does that mean happiness is out of our control? Not at all, says Sonja Lyubomirsky, a psychology professor at the University of California, Riverside and the author of The Myths of Happiness. After conducting a review of 51 "happiness interventions"—including writing letters of gratitude, counting one's blessings and practicing random acts of kindness—Lyubomirsky and her co-author, Nancy L. Sin, found that these simple activities had a significance effect on well-being. In addition, enjoying positive experiences tended to increase appreciation of them.
"Happiness is not something where you either have it or you don't. You definitely can do something about it," says Lyubomirsky.
1. What does the theory of Hedonic adaptation refer to?| A．A person's happiness grows over time. |
| B．A person, tend to be happier when positive changes occur. |
| C．A person tends to be less happy when negative changes occur. |
| D．A person's long term happiness is not significantly affected by any event. |
| A．significant. | B．disastrous |
| C．gradual. | D．constant |
| A．He who makes others happy is truly happy. |
| B．Joy and sorrow are next-door neighbors. |
| C．Man is the master of his happiness. |
| D．Joys shared with others are more enjoyed. |
