【推荐2】It’s true that quite a few most respected scientific authorities have confirmed that the world is becoming hotter and hotter. There^’s also strong evidence that humans are contributing to the warming. Countless recent reports have proved the same thing. For instance, a 2010 summary about the climate science by the Royal Society noted that: The global warming over the last half - century has been caused mainly by human activity.”

You may not believe that humans could change the planet’s climate, but the basic science is well understood. Each year, billions of tons of greenhouse gases are released into the atmosphere because of human activity. As has been known for years, these gases hold heat that would otherwise escape to space, wrapping the planet in an invisible blanket.

Of course, the earth’s climate has always been changing due to “natural” factors such as volcanic eruption or changes in solar, or cycles concerning the Earth’s going around the sun. According to the scientific research, however, the warming observed by now matches the pattern of warming we would expect from a build - up of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere - not the warming we would expect from other possible causes.

Even if scientists did discover another reasonable explanation for the warming recorded so far, that would give birth to a difficult question. As Robert Henson puts it: “If some newly discovered factor is to blame for the climate change, then why aren’t carbon dioxide and the other greenhouse gases producing the warming that basic physics tells us they should be?”

The only way to prove with 100% certainty that humans are responsible for global warming would be to run an experiment with two identical Earths-one with human influence and one without. That obviously isn’t possible, and so most scientists are careful not to state human influence as an absolute certainty.

The text is developed by ________.

A．giving typical examples

B．following the order of space

C．comparing and finding differences

D．analyzing a theory and arguing it

【推荐3】Scientists believe the earth is 4.6 billion years old. However, the mountains, valleys, rivers, deserts and forests we see today are much younger than that. For example, Qomolangma is about 60 million years old and the Amazon Rainforest is about 55 million years old. The Baltic Sea, the youngest sea in the world, is only about 15,000 years old.

The earth is always changing because of volcanoes, earthquakes and, of course, wind and rain. Some of these changes are very slow and others are quick. Water and ice can make very big changes to the planet. For example, glaciers can cut through mountains and make deep valleys.

It’s normal for our planet to change. But at the moment scientists think it’s changing faster than usual. They don’t understand everything that is happening but they know that temperatures are rising. Besides, the weather is getting wetter in some places and drier in others, and there are more big storms. Now there is a growing awareness that climate change is definitely not confined to a certain region or country. However, it is a problem all countries are involved. What’s more, there is no denying t hat industrial emissions has been the main influence of climate change for the last 50 years, overwhelming natural forces.

However, these changes are not bad for everyone. Because the Arctic is getting warmer, farmers in Greenland now can grow and sell vegetables. That wasn’t possible 50 years ago. Farmers in Greenland like the warm weather and hope it will continue.

1. Which of the following is the oldest?

A．The earth.	B．Qomolangma.
C．The Amazon Rainforest.	D．The Baltic Sea.

2. All of these lead to the changes of the earth EXCEPT ________.

A．glaciers	B．deep valleys
C．wind and rain	D．volcanoes and earthquakes

3. Why do farmers in Greenland like the warm weather?

A．They turned the impossible into possible.

B．The warm weather is good for the Arctic.

C．They now own businesses and become successful.

D．They benefit from the vegetable businesses that did not exist before.

4. Which do you think is the best title?

A．Global Warming	B．Beautiful Greenland
C．Our Changing Planet	D．The Old Earth

【推荐2】Reversal—change your perspective and solve your problem

It’s often your definition of a problem that limits you in finding a suitable solution. Creative solutions require a change of perspective.     1    

The reversal technique is a creative thinking technique that is based on the thought that to change your perspective, you sometimes need to change the order of the words in your problem definition.

How you change the order of the words doesn’t matter much, as long as the key words are reversed.     2     Your challenge is “How do we make sure that fewer people take cars to their work?”. Swapping (交换) the key words, you could rephrase this challenge as “How do we make sure that fewer cars take people to their work?”.

Not every problem statement is suitable for a reversal. Sometimes using this technique requires you to first rephrase the question altogether.     3     For instance, the question “How might we sell more washing machines?” is not easily reversed—there is no key word to swap with “washing machines”. Yet, when you rephrase the question to “How might we sell more washing machines to young parents?”, you can easily change it to “How might we sell more young parents to washing machines?”.     4     You could interpret this last sentence as “the washing machine pays the young parents to try it out”。Then, you could start communicating to potential buyers how much they will save each year when they choose your energy-efficient washing machine.

As this example shows, some reversals will require a very flexible way of thinking.     5     However, thinking about the tiny amount of time it will “cost” you to try out a reversal, you have very little to lose and, potentially, lots to gain.

A．The problem statement is much more logical.

B．Often it helps to add one or more key words to the sentence.

C．Rephrasing your challenge is to change the problem statement.

D．A great way to do this is by “reversing” your problem statement.

E．For instance, imagine you are responsible for limiting the traffic jam in your area.

F．Admittedly, it is a very unusual challenge, but it might just stimulate a creative thought.

G．Not everyone will be able to move from an unreasonable statement to a useful solution.

【推荐3】Are you afraid of going to the dentist(牙医)?If so, you’re not alone.

These fears could just be in our heads, however. According to a recent survey by Martin Tickle, a professor at the University of Manchester in the UK, the pain isn’t felt most of the time in dental surgeries(牙科手术). In fact, among the 451 interviewed patients, 75％reported no pain at all during their visits, including situations when they had their teeth pulled out.

Could it be the sound of the drill(钻头)then?

“I found that the sound of drilling can evoke deep worry in dental patients. Actually they don’t have any pain, ”Hiroyuki Karibe, a scientist at Nippon Dental University in Tokyo, told The Guardian.

To find the reason why a drill might bring on a racing heart, Karibe divided the volunteers into low-fear and high-fear groups based on how much they feared a trip to the dentist. Volunteers were played the sound of a drill while their brain activities were watched by a machine.

What Karibe found in the low-fear group was increased activity in the areas of the brain relative to auditory processing(听觉处理), which means, for these people, the sound of dental drills is no different from other sounds.

In the high-fear group, however, the brain area that was activated(激活)was different. It was the area that carries out a number of duties, including learning, feelings and, most importantly, memory. This means that these volunteers not only heard the sound, but they remembered it——they made connections between the sound of a drill and the worry it produced in the past, causing their worry to return.

Understanding how brains reply to the sounds of dentists’ drills could help scientists find ways to make patients more relaxed, according to Karibe, because patients who worry about going to the dentist might keep putting off their visits. But the best way is to keep your teeth healthy.

1. How does the writer explain that the pain isn’t felt most of the time in dental surgeries?

A．By showing facts with numbers.	B．By asking questions one by one.
C．B y giving examples group by group.	D．By comparing results of patients.

2. According to the fourth paragraph，what does the word“evoke”mean in Chinese?

A．减轻	B．引起
C．显示	D．阻止

3. How did the sound of drilling produce different results to the volunteers in the study?

A．It produced some worry in the volunteers in the low-fear group.

B．For the low-fear group, it activated the brain area dealing with learning, feelings and memory.

C．For the high-fear group，it caused more activities in the brain area relative to auditory processing.

D．It made people in the high-fear group remember their past uncomfortable memories.

4. What is the last paragraph mainly about?

A．How the study might be useful.

B．Some new ways to treat teeth.

C．The proper way to treat dental patients.

D．The importance of keeping our teeth healthy.

5. What’s the purpose of the passage?

A．To show US different areas of fear in brains．

B．To introduce US a recent survey by a scientist．

C．To help US have less fear of a trip to the dentist．

D．To make it clear that the sound of drilling is not terrible．

【推荐2】Wouldn’t you want to travel more often without breaking the bank? If you are interested, read on to find out how you can do simple things to save money next time you go on vacation.

Airfares

Plan in advance and visit discount websites to see if there are better deals. If you are planning to stay in two countries and an airline makes you change planes on those countries anyway, you might be in luck. Check pricing on the flights to see if you can stay a few days at the country of the flight change instead of changing planes right away since airlines often let you do that for the same price.

Accommodations

Sometimes the smaller towns close to where you are going have hotels that are much less expensive. If you don’t mind the 15-minute ride, you might just save a large amount of money. Home exchanges are pretty cool and popular especially in Europe. If you are of the adventure type, this could be exciting and refreshing. Sometimes smaller hotel chains are willing to give you free upgrades or even free nights. If you are staying at a destination for at least a few days, consider a vacation home instead of hotels. They are often more comfortable and your cost will probably be cheaper.

Eating

Figure out where you will be and eat before you actually go out. Avoid breakfast from the hotels because chances are good that the breakfast from the hotel is expensive and isn’t great. It probably pays to walk out the front door in the morning and find a local cafe. You might just discover the local favorite unexpectedly. Want a breakfast that costs nothing? Ask for some bread to-go at the restaurant the night before. In addition, fancy lunches are often much less expensive than dinners. If you eat a big lunch and a light dinner, it’s also healthier.

1. The text is mainly about ______.

A．tips on economical travel	B．trips in different countries
C．dos and don’ts during a trip	D．budgets for a package holiday

2. What kind of travelers will choose a vocation home?

A．Those who want an adventure trip.

B．Those who dislike small hotel chains.

C．Those who don’t mind long-distance trips.

D．Those who plan to live in one place for few days.

3. To save money on eating, you are expected to ______.

A．eat more for dinner than lunch

B．have three meals in the hotels

C．buy bread from restaurants

D．try a local cafe for breakfast

【推荐3】The number of birds in North America has declined (减少) by almost 3 billion since 1970, according to a study published in Science. The researchers estimated changes in the populations of 529 species using long-term bird-monitoring databases. Those data showed that the number of individual birds across all of those species had decreased by 29 percent, from around 10 billion in 1970 to just over 7 billion in 2017.

“The data they used provide probably the best long term, large information on species abundances (物种丰度) for any group of animals or plants anywhere in the world,” Natalie Wright, a bird biologist tells The Atlantic. “There’s always uncertainty, but if they are wrong, they are likely underestimating the size of population declines.”

The team also examined 10 years’ worth of data from a network of 143 weather radars, which pick up bird migrations, and found a reduction in migratory biomass of about 14 percent since 2007. “Two completely different and independent monitoring techniques thus signal major population loss across the continent,” the authors wrote in their paper.

The results are particularly concerning because many of the species showing declines are not considered rare or in danger, but are almost everywhere and potentially act as important contributors to food webs and ecosystem (生态系统) function. More than 90 percent of the loss in abundance in the survey data was due to declines in 12 families including sparrows and blackbirds. Some other species, including many ducks, instead showed increases in abundance-possibly as a result of focused conservation efforts in recent years.

The findings should be a wake-up call. Many of the birds studied spend time in multiple countries within and beyond North America. What our birds need now is a historic, global effort that unites people and organizations with one common goal: bringing our birds back.

1. How does the first paragraph show the bird reduction?

A．By comparing figures.	B．By doing experiments.
C．By using experts’ words.	D．By listing some examples.

2. What can we infer about the function of the data according to Natalie Wright?

A．It’s wrong.	B．It’s formal.
C．It’s helpful	D．It’s useless.

3. Which of the following is particularly worrying?

A．The population of widespread species is declining.

B．Few species across the continent show the increase.

C．Some ducks are likely to lose their ecosystem function.

D．The focus of conservation efforts has turned out wrong.

4. What is the author’s purpose in writing the text?

A．To point out the importance of raising birds.

B．To call on people to work together to bring birds back.

C．To analyze the concerning results of long-term research.

D．To inform people of the dangers many species are facing.

【推荐1】Play it safe. Don’t take risks. High school is too early to make a difference. None of these criticisms were enough to stop me. I saw a real problem in the education system, and I wanted to deal with it. Some people pay over $70 an hour for private tutoring. My company charges less. I started my business only about four months ago, but I already have 11 tutors and make over $200 in revenue (收益) a week.

It started when someone contacted me and asked me to tutor her child for $15 an hour once a week. Friends began to take notice, and asked me where I got the part-time job — and that was when my eyes opened to the opportunity in front of me. I created a website, wrote a marketing plan and found qualified tutors who were friends of mine. We received an overwhelming response, with over 30 people requesting tutoring. As it progressed, I found my business knowledge limited. So I went to used book sales where I picked up lots of business textbooks.

The road to a successful business, however, was not easy. My partner didn’t respond to many of the people, so many potential clients were lost. Once I discovered what my partner was hiding from me, I immediately messaged each person personally saying I would get back to them soon, and I pointed them to our website. After a few weeks, word from mouth began to spread. Clients began coming to us, and we no longer had to advertise heavily.

You may be wondering why I started a business in the first place. It is a great way to show leadership experience, make money for yourself, and give you the opportunity to employ your classmates. While it is one of the riskiest things you can do, it is one of the most rewarding things. Leadership is one of the main qualities colleges look for, and the bravery and experience you show through starting a business shines through on applications.

1. What does the writer probably do?

A．He is probably a student.	B．He is probably a teacher.
C．He is probably a client.	D．He is probably a salesman.

2. The writer wanted to improve his business skills by ______.

A．attending a class	B．listening to lectures
C．finding a partner	D．reading business books

3. What does the writer think of his partner?

A．Reliable.

B．Dishonest.

C．Determined.

D．Responsible.

4. What does the writer mainly talk about in the last paragraph?

A．His advice on starting a company.

B．His business plan in the near future.

C．His motivation of starting a business.

D．The process of applying for a college.

【推荐2】I’m Andrew Siegel and this is my garden. This is where my family and I grow a lot of different vegetables, flowers and herbs. Gardening has been really important to my family because it gives us an opportunity to spend time outside together, away from all the electronics.

Especially for my five-year-old, it really gives her an opportunity to be in touch with nature-all the little animals, insects and things that come out here.

We find that a lot of the things that we plan for in the garden don’t always go the way that we’d like them to, and some of the things that we don’t plan for become what we enjoy the most that year. So it’s something that my family and I have learned: To appreciate(欣赏) all of it.

My advice for beginner gardeners is to just start. Get a pot, get a little bit of dirt, get a tomato plant or whatever plant you want and just get started.

I think sometimes it seems a little challenging. Trust me, it does not need to be perfect. You will enjoy every little thing you get out of it.

Gardening has taught me patience, something I don’t naturally have a lot of. It takes weeks, takes months before the work you put into it comes out. You learn not only to be patient, in that end product, but you’ve also learned that, after years of gardening, the end product is just part of it.

The journey of growing has become much more important to me than the actual produce that we get in the end. Nothing has been so valuable as the time I spend out here. I’m by no means in a farmland, but I do have my own little piece of what I consider heaven, and I’ve really learned to appreciate every little moment-every insect, every plant, every flower-and when you can appreciate it in that way, there’s nothing better.

1. What does the underlined word “five-year-old” in paragraph 2 refer to?

A．The author.	B．The author’s daughter.
C．The insect.	D．The little animal.

2. What is the most important for Andrew Siegel in gardening?

A．Planting different vegetables and flowers.

B．Staying at home together with her family.

C．Enjoying the whole process of growing.

D．Harvesting what the family planted.

3. Which of the following can be the best title?

A．The Joys of Gardening	B．The Benefits of Gardening
C．Being in Touch with Nature	D．Being Patient with Life

【推荐3】If you know a bottle of water has been recycled from urine (尿液), will you drink it? Chinese astronauts have done so.

China National Space Administration(CNSA)says it uses a high-tech machine to recycle wastewater. The machine will recycle everything from sweat, the water for washing hands, shower water, water used for brushing teeth, and even urine, to make drinking water.

It saves CNSA millions of YMB each year. At present, each CNSA astronaut uses about 4.4 liters of water every day. It costs about ￥150 million a year to transport water up to space.

The urine recycling system is needed for astronaut stations because it won’t have to ship up as much water to the station by space shuttles or rockets. Besides, it’s important as the space station is about to expand from three people living on board to more.

The recycling system was brought up to the space station last August by space shuttles. The three-man crew stood holding their drinks and congratulated engineers in CNSA center that worked on the system.

“This is something that has been the stuff of science work,” astronaut Chen Dong said before taking a small mouthful. “The taste is well worth trying.”

Is the water clean? Scientists say the wastewater will go through a very complicated (复杂的) process. For example, different chemicals will be put in the wastewater; the water will be heated to 130C to get rid of bacteria. The recycled water is thousands of times better than the water from a city tap, scientists say.

1. What can the water recycled from urine be used for?

A．Drinking.

B．Washing hands.

C．Brushing teeth.

D．Taking a bath.

2. Why is a high-tech machine to recycle wastewater needed on space stations?

A．To get astronauts to keep healthy.

B．To help astronauts do experiments.

C．To provide astronauts a basic living condition.

D．To save the cost of transporting water up to space.

3. Scientists get rid of bacteria in the wastewater by ________.

A．recycling

B．freezing

C．heating

D．collecting

4. What does the text mainly talk about?

A．Water recycled from urine tastes good.

B．How to recycle the wastewater on space.

C．New technology is used in the Chinese space station.

D．CNSA uses a high-tech machine to recycle wastewater for astronaut stations.