James Watt was an English boy. He was very clever and liked to ask questions.
One day, the boy was sitting in his grandmother’s kitchen. Above the fire an old-fashioned teakettle was hanging. The water within it was beginning to bubble. A thin cloud of steam was rising from the spout(壶嘴). Soon the lid(盖子)began to rattle and shake. The hot vapor puffed(冒出)out at a fast rate. Yet when the boy glanced under the lid he could see nothing.
“Grandma, what’s in the kettle?” little Watt asked. “Water, my child-nothing but water.” his grandma answered.” But I know there is something else. There is something under the lid and makes it rattle.” Grandmother laughed. “Oh, that is only steam,” she said. “You can see it coming out of the spout and puffing up under the lid.” “But you said there was nothing but water in the kettle. How did the steam get under the lid?” “Why, my dear, it comes out of the hot water. The hot water makes it.”
James lifted the lid and glanced inside again. He could see nothing but the bubbling water. The steam was not visible until it was fairly out of the kettle. “How strange!” he said. “The steam must be very strong to lift the heavy iron lid. Grandma, how much water did you put into the kettle?” “About a quart, James.” “Well, if the steam from so little water is so strong, why would not the steam from a great deal of water be a great deal stronger? Why couldn’t it be made to lift a much greater weight? Why couldn’t it be made to turn wheels?” Grandmother made no reply. These questions were more puzzling than profitable, she thought. She went about her work silently, and James sat still in his place and studied the teakettle.
So many years later, James Watt tried hard to make steam work for people. Finally he became very famous because he invented the first steam engine.
1. What can we conclude from the passage?| A．The steam comes from the hot water but can not be seen. |
| B．The grandmother laughed because James Watt was stupid. |
| C．The boiled water in the kettle made the lid rattle and shake. |
| D．The more water there is ,the more powerful the steam will be. |
| A．Because she desired to work silently. | B．Because she was very busy at that time. |
| C．Because she was tired of these questions. | D．Because she found them difficult to answer. |
| A．clever but stubborn | B．smart and observant |
| C．determined but rigid | D．hardworking and cautious |
| A．James Watt was inspired by the power of steam. |
| B．James Watt always made his grandmother puzzled. |
| C．James Watt made great contributions to our society. |
| D．James Watt liked to ask questions when he was young. |
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【推荐1】Multiple measures have been taken to cut down on food waste, but one young man is making a big difference with technology.
Liu Jichen, 23, a student from Tsinghua University, has developed a WeChat mini-program called “Clear Your Plate”. After a meal, users can open the mini-program and take a picture of their empty plates. Once the image is recognized by the AI, students can collect points and use them to buy gifts or purchase charity meals for children in poor rural areas.
Liu and his team, together with other organizations, launched the “Clear Your Plate” campaign in November for the third year. It has swept over 1,017 universities across the country. Furthermore, the one-month campaign attracted almost 1.6 million participants and collectively reduced food waste by 862 tons and carbon emissions by 3,337 tons, China Youth Daily reported.
“Technological innovation is a good way to reduce food waste,” Liu thought. He organized a team to work on the project at the end of 2017. To solve the AI’s problem of identifying photos of empty plates, the team spent half a year collecting over 100,000 samples in canteens and restaurants. In 2018, the mini-program was officially put into operation on Oct 16, World Food Day. They then launched a campaign later that year.
“There were so many unknowns in research and development. For our team members, the biggest challenge was whether we were confident enough to complete it,” Liu said. They not only achieved their goal, but now, the mini-program has more than 5 million registered users.
“We hope our efforts can start a new trend among the younger generation by encouraging them to cherish their food and contribute Chinese wisdom and solutions to global food security challenges,” he added.
1. What can we know about the “Clear Your Plate” mini-program?| A．It is an exchange of food for rewards. |
| B．It helped reduce food waste by 3,337 tons. |
| C．Its 5 million registered users are all students. |
| D．It aims to reduce food waste and encourage people to cherish food. |
| A．They felt uncertain whether they could complete the project. |
| B．They found it difficult to promote the campaign. |
| C．They had difficulty gathering enough samples. |
| D．They lacked professional technical support. |
| A．Optimistic and demanding. | B．Generous and responsible. |
| C．Talented and humorous. | D．Creative and determined. |
| A．The influence of the “Clear Your Plate” mini-program across China. |
| B．A meaningful mini-program launched by a group of young people. |
| C．An appeal from young people to fight food security challenges. |
| D．The power of AI technology to fight food waste in China. |
【推荐2】When John Todd was a child, he loved to explore the woods around his house, observing how nature solved problems. A dirty stream, for example, often became clear after flowing through plants and along rocks where tiny creatures lived. When he got older, John started to wonder if this process could be used to clean up the messes people were making.
After studying agriculture, medicine, and fisheries in college, John went back to observing nature and asking questions. Why can certain plants trap harmful bacteria (细菌)? Which kinds of fish can eat cancer-causing chemicals? With the right combination of animals and plants, he figured, maybe he could clean up waste the way nature did. He decided to build what he would later call an eco-machine.
The task John set for himself was to remove harmful substances from some sludge (污泥). First, he constructed a series of clear fiberglass tanks connected to each other. Then he went around to local ponds and streams and brought back some plants and animals. He placed them in the tanks and waited. Little by little, these different kinds of life got used to one another and formed their own ecosystem. After a few weeks, John added the sludge.
He was amazed at the results. The plants and animals in the eco-machine took the sludge as food and began to eat it! Within weeks, it had all been digested, and all that was left was pure water.
Over the years, John has taken on many big jobs. He developed a greenhouse — like facility that treated sewage (污水) from 1,600 homes in South Burlington. He also designed an eco-machine to clean canal water in Fuzhou, a city in southeast China.
“Ecological design” is the name John gives to what he does. “Life on Earth is kind of a box of spare parts for the inventor,” he says. “You put organisms in new relationships and observe what’s happening. Then you let these new systems develop their own ways to self-repair.”
1. What can we learn about John from the first two paragraphs?| A．He was fond of traveling. | B．He enjoyed being alone. |
| C．He had an inquiring mind. | D．He longed to be a doctor. |
| A．To feed the animals. | B．To build an ecosystem. |
| C．To protect the plants. | D．To test the eco-machine. |
| A．To review John’s research plans. | B．To show an application of John’s idea. |
| C．To compare John’s different jobs. | D．To erase doubts about John’s invention. |
| A．Nature can repair itself. | B．Organisms need water to survive. |
| C．Life on Earth is diverse. | D．Most tiny creatures live in groups. |
【推荐3】Late one night in 1982, a Yale University medical student named Martin witnessed a miserable scene at a local hospital. A toddler was admitted, and several nurses attempted to insert an IV needle into one of the child’s tiny veins. Each time they missed the vessel, the child screamed more shrilly, and the mother grew more worried.
There has to be a better way, thought Martin, now a professor of biomedical engineering at Rutgers University. The incident changed his outlook on medicine. Thoroughly frightened by what he had witnessed, Martin started to imagine what would happen if the process of drawing blood could be automated.
At that time, automation was found primarily on assembly lines for cars, where robots were so powerful and dangerous that they were fixed to the ground and enclosed in metal cages. In 1985, a modified robotic arm was used to perform a brain biopsy on a 52-year- old man. Today, surgical robots are commonplace in medical facilities around the world. Controlled by doctors wielding virtual forceps and scalpels in front of a computer terminal, they help perform a range of complex procedures, from hip replacements to kidney transplants. Despite these advances, the deployment of robots in hospitals has been limited: They assist in some of the most highly skilled tasks in health care, while remaining apparently absent in scenes like the one Martin witnessed as a medical student. Martin’s biomedical engineering lab has spent the past decade trying to repair this imbalance. Thanks to advances in sensors and artificial intelligence that have improved the quality and lowered the cost of robotics, they are now developing a blood - draw robot small enough for clinicians to carry in their pockets.
It’s an expensive proposal, which faces funding challenges. But, as scientists point out, the novel corona virus presents a novel situation - one where applications for the machine could expand beyond a routine blood draw to include antibody testing and vaccination. In the future, automated venipuncture (静脉穿刺) could also lead to greater safety for both patients and medical personnel by removing the need for unnecessary physical contact.
1. What inspired Martin to automate the process of drawing blood?| A．His curiosity about medicine. |
| B．His dream since his childhood. |
| C．His desire to ease the suffering of people. |
| D．His sympathy for the toddler. |
| A．They are highly skilled in health care tasks. |
| B．Their application in hospitals has been limited. |
| C．Their future use in more medical fields is promising. |
| D．They help control the spread of the novel coronavirus. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Critical | C．Puzzled. | D．Objective. |
| A．Science. | B．Economy. | C．Entertainment. | D．Education. |
【推荐1】On March 25, 2010, Kate and David Ogg heard the words every parent fears: Their newborn son wasn’t going to make it. Their twins—a girl and a boy—were born two minutes apart and 14 weeks premature, weighing just over two pounds each. Doctors had tried to save the boy for 20 minutes but saw no improvement. His heartbeat was nearly gone, and he’d stopped breathing. The baby had just moments to live.
“I saw him gasp (喘气), but the doctor said it was no use,” Kate said. “I know it sounds stupid, but if he was still gasping, that was a sign of life. I wasn’t going to give up easily.”
Still, the Sydney couple knew this was likely goodbye. In an effort to treasure her last minutes with the tiny boy, Kate asked to hold him.
“I wanted to meet him, and for him to know us,” Kate told Today. “We’d resigned ourselves to the fact that we were going to lose him, and we were just trying to make the most of those last, precious moments.”
Kate unwrapped the boy, whom the couple had already named Jamie, from his hospital blanket and ordered David to take his shirt off and join them in bed. The first-time parents wanted their son to be as warm as possible and hoped the skin-to- skin contact would improve his condition. They also talked to him.
"We were trying to attract him to stay.” Kate said. “We explained his name and that he had a twin that he had to look out for and how hard we had tried to have him.”
Then something miraculous happened. Jamie gasped again—and then he started breathing. Finally, he reached for his father’s finger. The couple’s lost boy had made it.
1. What do we know about the newborn boy mentioned in Paragraph 1?| A．He weighed only two pounds. |
| B．He almost died. |
| C．He was two minutes older than his twin sister. |
| D．He had no heartbeat. ‘ |
| A．To keep in touch with their son. |
| B．To follow the doctors’ requirements. |
| C．To communicate with their son. |
| D．To better their son’s condition. |
| A．touching | B．unexpected |
| C．ridiculous | D．fortunate |
| A．A Lucky Boy. | B．Endless Love |
| C．Life-giving Touch | D．An Unforgettable Experience |
1. The writer’s purpose in writing this story is ________.
| A．to tell an interesting experience |
| B．to show the easiest way out of a difficulty |
| C．to describe the trouble facing a newly married woman |
| D．to explain the difficulty of learning to cook from books |
| A．The canned orange had gone bad. |
| B．She didn’t use the right kind of flour. |
| C．The cookbook was hard to understand. |
| D．She did not follow the directions closely. |
| A．She didn’t see the use of keeping it |
| B．She meant to joke with her husband. |
| C．She didn’t want her husband to see it. |
| D．She hoped it would soon dry in the sun. |
| A．The rising and falling movement. |
| B．The strange-looking marks. |
| C．Its shape. |
| D．Its size. |
| A．surprised at his being interested in the bin |
| B．afraid that he would discover her secret |
| C．unhappy that he didn't enjoy the meal |
| D．curious to know what disturbed him |
【推荐3】Whenever the word “hero” comes to me, I immediately think of three Hs: honorable, hardworking, and happy. When I think more about this word, I picture someone who has accomplished good things for people and tries to do the right thing. Hattie Elizabeth Alexander is one person whom I find to be very heroic.
Hattie was born in Baltimore, Maryland on April 5, 1901. During her time at college she earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Bacteriology and Physiology. These were just the first steps towards what she was finally going to be remembered for. After college Hattie attended Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and received her medical degree.
After her education, she pursued her career, and after much time and hard work, she drastically reduced the number of infants (幼儿) dying from meningitis (脑膜炎). Hattie was very devoted to her work and helped at as many locations as she could. Spending plenty of time in the laboratory, Hattie successfully developed a cure against the disease, which decreased the death rate to 20 percent. At the same time, she was also a teacher working with Columbia University.
She was a caring lady interested in other people’s lives. When she was teaching at Columbia University, other members would talk to her about students that were failing their classes, and somehow Hattie could always find convincing reasons as to why they should not be driven away. Later, Hattie became an instructor in Pediatrics at New York City’s Babies Hospital. After many honors, she became the first woman president of the American Pediatric Society in 1965. This was her last major achievement, for soon after, Hattie died of cancer on June 24, 1968.
Hattie is my hero because her positive attitude and strength helped her accomplish great things for others. She gave them her strength by developing medicines against disease, which, by doing so, made them stronger. This is what makes Hattie Elizabeth Alexander my hero.
1. According to the passage, Hattie Elizabeth Alexander ______.| A．cared a lot about other people’s private lives |
| B．received her Bachelor’s Degree in Johns Hopkins School |
| C．spent all her time in the laboratory developing cures for illnesses |
| D．always tried her best to help prevent students from dropping out of college |
| A．slightly | B．hardly | C．greatly | D．totally |
| A．she was an honorable, hardworking and happy person |
| B．she was a very devoted woman doctor with many honors |
| C．she was a caring lady who helped many students finish college |
| D．she was the first woman President of the American Pediatric Society |
| A．An Honorable Woman | B．My Hero — Hattie Elizabeth Alexander |
| C．A Woman Accomplishing Great Things | D．The First Woman President of the APS |
