The Ebro Delta, in Spain, famous as a battleground during the Spanish Civil War, is now the setting for a different contest, one that is making rice farmers fight against two enemies: the rice-eating giant apple snail, and rising sea levels. What happens here will have a bearing on the future of European rice production and the overall health of southern European wetlands.
Located on the Mediterranean, just two hours south of Barcelona, the Ebro Delta produces 120 million kilograms of rice a year, making it one of the continent’s most important rice-growing areas. As the sea creeps into these fresh-water marshes, however, rising salinity (盐度) is hurting rice production. At the same time, this sea-water also kills off the greedy giant apple snail, an introduced pest that feeds on young rice plants. The most promising strategy has become to play one enemy off against the other.
The battle is currently being waged on land, in greenhouses at the University of Barcelona. Scientists working under the banner “Project Neurice” are seeking varieties of rice that can withstand the increasing salinity without losing the absorbency that makes European rice ideal for traditional Spanish and Italian dishes.
“The project has two sides,” says Xavier Serrat, Neurice project manager and researcher at the University of Barcelona, “the short-term fight against the snail, and a mid- to long-term fight against climate change. But the snail has given the project greater urgency.”
Originally from South America, the snails were accidentally introduced into the Ebro Delta by Global Aquatic Technologies, a company that raised the snails for fresh-water aquariums (水族馆) but failed to prevent their escape. For now, the giant apple snail’s presence in Europe is limited to the Ebro Delta. But the snail continues its march to new territory, says Serrat. “The question is not whether it will reach other rice-growing areas of Europe, but when.”
Over the next year and a half investigators will test the various strains of salt tolerant rice they’ve bred. In 2018, farmers will plant the varieties with the most promise in the Ebro Delta and Europe’s other two main rice-growing regions along the Po in Italy, and France’s Rhone. A season in the field will help determine which, if any, of the varieties are ready for commercialization.
As an EU-funded effort, the search for salt-tolerant varieties of rice is taking place in all three countries. Each team is crossbreeding a local European short-grain rice with a long-grain Asian variety that carries the salt resistant gene. The scientists are breeding successive generations to arrive at varieties that incorporate salt tolerance but retain about 97 percent of the European rice genome (基因组).
1. Why does the author mention the Spanish Civil War at the beginning of the passage?| A．It has great impact on the lives of Spanish rice farmers. |
| B．It is of great significance in the records of Spanish history. |
| C．Rice farmers there are engaged in another kind of battle of similar importance. |
| D．Rice farmers there are experiencing the hardships of wartime. |
| A．Striking the weaker enemy first. | B．Killing two birds with one stone. |
| C．Eliminating the enemy one by one. | D．Using one evil to fight against the other. |
| A．It can survive only on southern European wetlands. |
| B．It will invade other rice-growing regions of Europe. |
| C．It multiplies at a speed beyond human imagination. |
| D．It was introduced into the rice fields on purpose. |
| A．Cultivating ideal salt-resistant rice varieties. |
| B．Increasing the absorbency of the Spanish rice. |
| C．Introducing Spanish rice to the rest of Europe. |
| D．Popularizing the rice crossbreeding technology. |
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【推荐1】Casablanca, Sep. 24
A flood swept across the coastal plain about 100 miles southwest of here, killing hundreds of Moroccans in a market place yesterday morning.
Reports from the area said 218 bodies had been counted, and many of the people were missing.
The flood followed heavy rains, which filled the coastal plain and dry river beds and caused them to overflow. The flood, several feet high, hit the village of Khemis Nagua at midmorning yesterday as farmers from the surrounding area joined town people in an open market place. The roaring waters swept the villager’s living places, the market sheds (棚子), shoppers, cattle and farm tools for miles across the plain.
The flood was over almost as soon as it started, the reports said, as the water swept out to sea. Rescue workers quickly moved into the area from Safi, about 25 miles further south.
1. You can learn from the text that ________.| A．hundreds of people died in the flood |
| B．the flood lasted for several days |
| C．heavy rains followed the flood |
| D．the flood hit the village at midnight |
| A．how the flood swept the coastal plain |
| B．the flood in fall |
| C．why the terrible flood took place |
| D．a rescue attempt |
( KN="Khemis" Nagua, C=Casablanca S= Safi)
A． | B． |
C． | D． |
【推荐2】Some houses are designed to be smart. Others have smart designs. An example of the second type of house won an Award of Excellence from the American Institute of Architects.
Located on the shore of Sullivan’s Island off the coast of South Carolina, the award-winning cube-shaped beach house was built to replace one smashed to pieces by Hurricane (飓风) Hugo 10 years ago. Before Hugo, many new houses built along South Carolina’s shoreline were poorly constructed, and enforcement of building rules wasn’t strict, according to architect Ray Huff, who created the cleverly-designed beach house. Soon after Hugo, all new shoreline houses are required to meet stricter, better-enforced rules. The new beach house on Sullivan’s Island should be able to withstand a Level 3 hurricane with peak winds of 179 to 209 kilometers per hour.
At first sight, the house on Sullivan’s Island looks anything but hurricane-proof. Its redwood shell makes it resemble “a large party lantern (灯笼)” at night, according to one observer. But looks can be misleading. The house’s wooden frame is reinforced with long steel rods to give it extra strength.
To further protect the house from hurricane damage. Huff raised it 2.7 meters off the ground on timber pilings－long, slim wood pieces anchored deep in the sand. Pilings might appear insecure, but they are strong enough to support the weight of the house. They also raise the house above storm waves. The pilings allow the waves to run under the house instead of running into it. “These waves come ashore at terrible speeds and cause most of the damage done to beach-front buildings,” said Huff.
Huff designed the timber pilings to be partially hidden by the house’s ground-to-roof shell. “The shell masks the pilings so that the house doesn’t look like it’s standing with its pant legs (裤腿) pulled up,” said Huff. In the event of a storm, the shell should break apart and let the waves rush under the house, the architect explained.
1. After the Hurricane Hugo, new houses built along South Carolina’s shore line are required ________.| A．to be easily reinforced | B．to meet stricter building standards |
| C．to look smarter in design | D．to be designed in the shape of cubes |
| A．It is in the shape of a shell. | B．It is made of redwood. |
| C．It is strengthened by steel rods. | D．It is built with timber and concrete. |
| A．To anchor stronger pilings deep in the sand. |
| B．To prevent water from rushing into the house. |
| C．To withstand peak winds of about 200 km/hr. |
| D．To make the house look more hurricane-proof. |
| A．to give the house a better appearance |
| B．to strengthen the pilings of the house |
| C．to protect the wooden frame of the house |
| D．to slow down the speed of the big waves |
【推荐3】Against the supposition that forest fires in Alaska, Canada and Siberia warm the climate, scientists have discovered that cooling may occur in areas where burnt trees allow more snow to mirror more sunlight into space.
This finding suggests that taking steps to prevent northern forest fires to limit the release of greenhouse gases may warm the climate in northern regions. Usually large fires destroyed forests in these areas over the past decade. Scientists predict that with climate warming, fires may occur more frequently over next several centuries as a result of a longer fire season. Sunlight taken in by the earth tends to cause warming, while heat mirrored back into space tends to give rise to cooling.
This is the first study to analyze all aspects of how northern fires influence climate. Earlier studies by other scientists have suggested that fires in northern regions speed up climate warming because greenhouse gases from burning trees and plants are released into the atmosphere and thus trap heat.
Scientists found that right after the fire, large amounts of greenhouse gases entered the atmosphere and caused warming. Ozone(臭氧) levels increased, and ash from the fire fell on far-off sea ice, darkening the surface and causing more radiation from the sun to be taken in. The following spring, however, the land within the area of the fire was brighter than before the fire, because fewer trees covered the ground. Snow on the ground mirrored more sunlight back into space, leading to cooling.
“We need to find out all possible ways to reduce the growth of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.” Scientists tracked the change in amount of radiation entering and leaving the climate system as a consequence of the fire, and found a measurement closely related to the global air temperature. Typically, fire in northern regions occurs in the same area every 80 to 150 years. Scientists, however, found that when fire occurs more frequently, more radiation is lost from the earth and cooling results. Specifically, they determined when fire returns 20 years earlier than predicated, 0.5 watts per square meter of area burned are soaked up by the earth from greenhouse gases, but 0.9 watts per square meter will be sent back into space. The net effect is cooling. Watts are used to measure the rate at which energy is gained or lost from the earth.
1. According to the new findings, the prevention of northern forest fires may _______.| A．lead to a longer fire season | B．result in a warming climate |
| C．conserve the environment there | D．cause frequent forest fires |
| A．suggest that the fires will quicken climate warming |
| B．indicate that forest fires will pollute the atmosphere |
| C．analyze over-all aspects of how northern fires influence climate |
| D．reveal that measures should be taken to protect the environment |
| A．released | B．absorbed |
| C．reflected | D．distributed |
| A．warm the climate as the supposition goes |
| B．help to gain more energy rather than release more energy |
| C．destroy large areas of forests and pollute the far-off sea ice |
| D．reflect more sunlight into space and thus cool the climate |
【推荐1】The twilight (朦胧的) time between full wakefulness and being sound asleep may be packed with creative potential. Rumor has it that Thomas Edison, the famous inventor, used to prefer such moments between wakefulness and sleep. Supposedly, he used to fall asleep in a chair holding two steel balls. As he fell asleep, the balls fell into metal pans. The resulting sound woke him. Then, he could write down his inventive ideas before he fell into a deep sleep and forgot them.
Researchers tested Edison’s method of developing creativity with 103 healthy people. Volunteers came to the lab to solve a tricky number problem. After doing the task 60 times, they earned a 20-minute break in a quiet, dark room. They relaxed in chairs, each holding a light drinking bottle, something like the steel balls that Edison used. Participants were told to close their eyes and rest or sleep if they desired. Meanwhile, machines monitored their brain waves. About half of the participants stayed awake. Twenty-four fell asleep and stayed in the shallow short stage of sleep called N1. Fourteen others progressed to N2, a deeper stage of sleep.
After their rest, participants returned to their number problem. The researchers saw a clear difference between the groups. People with a shallow early sleep were 2.7 times as likely to spot the hidden trick as people who stayed awake. Shallow sleepers were 5.8 times as likely to spot the trick as people who reached the deeper N2 stage.
Such differences in such experiments are rare, says Delphine Oudiette, a cognitive neuroscientist. “The results raise an interesting possibility. It may help people to learn to reach that twilight stage of sleep on demand. It seems Edison was onto something about the creative powers of nodding off. But don’t put too much faith in his habits. He also is said to have considered sleep ‘a criminal waste of time’.”
1. Why is Thomas Edison mentioned in paragraph 1?| A．To imply the inspiration of the study. | B．To explain how habits can help. |
| C．To support the idea theoretically. | D．To lay scientific basis of the study. |
| A．It belonged to Thomas Edison. | B．It was made of a kind of steel. |
| C．It may serve as an alarm o'clock. | D．It was in the shape of a metal pan. |
| A．Being awake is as creative as being asleep. |
| B．Wakefulness differs from sleep in many aspects. |
| C．Being asleep is more productive than wakefulness. |
| D．Shallow sleepers may be better problem solvers later. |
| A．Ridiculous. | B．Doubtful. | C．Realistic. | D．Useful. |
【推荐2】Invasive (入侵) plants can cause a problem for gardeners and for wider ecosystems. The invasive species may be dangerous, as they can have a bad effect on ecology. They might beat native species, impacting biodiversity and taking a toll on local wildlife. As a garden designer, I always begin any planting with a clear idea of the native plants of the area and take care to avoid the use of any invasive species. But as I have undertaken my work, I have noted that there are a number of misconceptions about what the term “invasive” really means.
When we talk about invasive plants, we must know the difference between native plants which can produce new growth quickly, and invasive species. Some people may be concerned about plants which spread and produce new growth quickly through their root systems or across the ground. But these characteristics are not a problem. The plants may be a boon in creating ground cover, protecting the soil, and improving the garden for wildlife.
A good garden design should always have a high proportion of native plants. Native plants have evolved alongside the wildlife and people of a region and are best adapted to the climate and situation where you live. They fit into specific ecosystem and help you create a garden that is kind to people and planet, and which really will stand the test of time. Native plants can often be the best plants for place. They provide for your needs and create beautiful and abundant spaces.
It is also important to note that gardeners sometimes gain by considering nonnative species to fulfill specific functions and provide specific things. After all, many of the common crops we grow are not strictly native to where we live, but have been cultivated over many years to provide us with the production we require and desire. So, while native plants should always be the backbone of any garden, using solely locally native plants may be needlessly restrictive. There could be some very specific times when a plant not native to your specific location is the best choice, only if you understand how that plant produces new life through your own experience and from books.
1. What can we infer from the first paragraph?| A．There are too many invasive plants in the area. |
| B．The writer has suffered a lot from invasive plants. |
| C．Invasive plants always bring problems to ecosystems. |
| D．People may have misunderstanding of invasive plants. |
| A．Something useless. | B．Something beneficial. |
| C．Something dangerous. | D．Something difficult to control. |
| A．The advantages of native plants. |
| B．The importance of invasive plants. |
| C．The methods to grow native plants. |
| D．The disadvantages of invasive plants. |
| A．They are important in biodiversity. |
| B．They should be strictly prohibited. |
| C．They can be planted with careful study. |
| D．They prove to be useful in the gardening. |
【推荐3】Several U.S. cities have introduced taxes on drinks with added sugar in order to reduce consumption, but new research suggests these policies currently have one deadly flaw.
The study found that sugary drink taxes only reduce purchasing if price labels at stores mention that consumers are paying that tax when they buy the drink. "If cities want these policies to be effective, they need to regulate how these sugary drinks are labeled at stores-and they currently don't do that," said Grant Donnelly, lead author of the study and assistant professor at The Ohio State University.
The research included a field study at two convenience stores in San Francisco, which currently has a tax on sugary drinks of 1 cent per ounce. Researchers varied the price labels placed on the sugary drinks over the eight-week study: One that simply said the price for the 12-ounce drink（$1.52）; one that had the price and the message "Includes SF Sugary Drink Tax"; and one that included the same message and added that the tax would support local university student programs.
The researchers compared sales of the drinks during the study period to the two immediately previous weeks. During this time, the sugary drink tax was in effect, but there were no price labels on any drinks. They also compared sales to the two years before the tax was: in effect.
Results showed the share of sugary drinks bought when the labels simply showed the price was not significantly different from the two-week period before the study. But the share of sugary drinks purchased did decline when the labels mentioned the price included the added tax. Labels that noted where the taxes would be spent had no significant effect beyond the labels that simply noted the added tax.
Another study found that when consumers were told the tax was only 12 cents, they reported they were much more likely to still purchase the drink. "People don't like taxes, but they think this tax is much higher than it actually is, "Donnelly said." If you tell consumers the true cost of the tax, it is no longer effective in reducing purchases. If cities want these policies to be effective, they must require that labels mention the added tax but not reveal how much it is."
1. What is the current problem with the sugary drink tax?| A．There are no measures to cut taxes. | B．It is not well received in stores. |
| C．It doesn't have the satisfactory effect. | D．Customers refuse to pay the taxes. |
| A．The way of conducting the study. |
| B．The process of collecting the related data. |
| C．Increasing the sales of sugary drinks before the tax. |
| D．Comparing sales of sugary drinks before and after the tax. |
| A．The label showing the price of the drinks. |
| B．The label showing how much the tax is. |
| C．The label showing what the tax is used for. |
| D．The label showing the price included the added tax. |
| A．The government should raise the tax on sugary drinks. |
| B．Showing the amount of tax on the labels is helpful. |
| C．Most people don't know that sugary drinks are taxed. |
| D．People overestimated how much sugary drinks are taxed. |
【推荐1】Electronic book publishing has many of the same risks and opportunities as electronic music publishing. By delivering text directly to the reader's computer screen, the e-book could cut down costs, and allow creators to deal directly with their audience, bypassing traditional publishers and traders. But it also raises the possibility of mass piracy(盗版). Phil Rance, founder and managing director of Online Originals, a London-based e-book publisher, sums it up，“No one wants Napster to happen to books.”
Indeed, the most popular MP3 may have put the frighteners on an industry that generally operates some way behind the “bleeding edge”. The Meta Group, a leading US-based market researcher, says publishers are far too concerned about protecting their rights,“ We believe all the recent legal control over Napster is like putting a finger in a river that is already overflowing. Publishers need to deal with reality and come up with new ways to develop wide electronic distribution, asking the question, ‘How can we change the certainty of wide distribution to our advantage?’ ”
At the moment, most publishers would like to limit the use of e-books to the person who bought them, or to the computer used to download them. If that can be done, e-books become just an extra income stream in a publishing industry that would continue to operate the way it does today, according to Terry Robinson, business manager for the digital rights aspect, “you've cracked the market,” he says.
Robert Nichols, Books Director at BOL agrees, “Rights management is absolutely important. Publishers just say that, ‘until copyright is secure, we're not going to talk’．”
1. According to the text, what is the similarity of e-books to electronic music？| A．They both result in piracy. |
| B．They both lead to price reduction. |
| C．They both bring in much money to creators. |
| D．They both avoid industry management. |
| A．wide use of e-books may increase the income. |
| B．the publishing markets should be brought back to normal. |
| C．publishers haven’t agreed on rights management up to now. |
| D．most publishers prefer e-books for the extra income. |
| A．copyrights management | B．price control |
| C．market share | D．original works |
| A．A Magic Book |
| B．The Fight Against Mass Piracy |
| C．Risks and Challenges Go Hand in Hand |
| D．The E-book----a New and Big Challenge |
【推荐2】Taking charge of yourself involves putting to rest some common beliefs. At the top of the list is the notion that intelligence is measured by your ability to solve complex problems; to read, write and compute at certain levels; and to resolve abstract equations (方程式) quickly. This vision of intelligence asserts (断言) formal education and bookish excellence as the true measures of self-fulfillment. It encourages a kind of intellectual prejudice that has brought with it some discouraging results. We have come to believe that someone who is very good at some form of school discipline is ''intelligent''. Yet mental hospitals are filled with patients who have all of the professional certificates. A truer indicator of intelligence is an effective, happy life lived each day and each present moment.
If you are happy, if you live each moment for everything it's worth, then you are an intelligent person. Problem solving is a useful help to your happiness, but if you know that given your inability to solve a particular problem you can still choose happiness for yourself, or at a minimum refuse to choose unhappiness, then you are intelligent. You are intelligent because you have the ultimate weapon against the big N.B.D. — Nervous Break Down.
''Intelligent'' people do not have N.B.D.s because they are in charge of themselves. They know how to choose happiness over depression, because they know how to deal with the problems of their lives.
You can begin to think of yourself as truly intelligent on the basis of how you choose to feel in the face of trying circumstances. Everyone who is involved with other human beings in any social context has similar difficulties. Disagreements, conflicts and compromises are a part of what it means to be human. Similarly, money, growing old, sickness, deaths, natural disasters and accidents are all events which present problems to actually all human beings. But some people are able to make it, to avoid abandoning themselves to depression and unhappiness despite such occurrences, while others collapse or have N.B.D.s. Those who recognize problems as a human condition and don't measure happiness by an absence of problems are the most intelligent kind of humans we know; also, the most rare.
1. According to the author, the notion of intelligence measured in terms of one's ability to read, write and compute _____________.| A．will help remove intellectual prejudice | B．is a widely held but wrong concept |
| C．will contribute to one’s self-fulfillment | D．is the root of all mental suffering |
| A．does not mean that one is highly intelligent |
| B．may make one mentally sick and physically weak |
| C．does not indicate one's ability to write professional documents |
| D．may result in one's inability to solve complex real-life problems |
| A．how to accept some common beliefs |
| B．how to persuade others to compromise |
| C．how to find the best way to achieve success in life |
| D．how to avoid depression and make his life worthwhile |
| A．Difficulties are part of everyone's life. |
| B．Depression and unhappiness are unavoidable in life. |
| C．Everybody should learn to avoid challenging circumstances. |
| D．Good feelings can contribute to eventual academic excellence. |
【推荐3】Literature is an important part of a total language arts program at all grade levels because of the many benefits it offers.
Literature provides pleasure to listeners and readers.It is a relaxing escape from daily problems,and it fills leisure moments.Making time for recreational reading and using high-quality literature help to develop enthusiastic readers and improve achievement.Developing a love of literature as a recreational activity is possibly the most important outcome of a literature program.
Literature builds experience.Through reading,children expand their horizons through vicarious(引起共鸣的)experiences.They visit new places,gain new experiences,and meet new people.They learn about the past as well as the present and learn about a variety of cultures,including their own.They discover the common goals and similar emotions found in people of all times and places. Nory Ryan's Song by Patricia Reilly,Giff,a hard survival story,is set in Ireland during the potato hunger of I845,and Patricia Polacco's The Butterfly ,deals with Nazis,resistance,and Jewish persecution(迫害)during World War II.
Literature provides a language model for those who hear and read it.Good literature exposes children to correct sentence patterns,standard story structures,and varied word usage.Children for whom English is a second language can improve their English with the interesting context,and all children benefit from new vocabulary that is woven into the stories.
Literature develops thinking skills.Discussions of literature bring out reasoning related to sequence;cause and effect; character motivation; predictions;visualization of actions, characters, and settings; critical analysis of the story;and creative responses.
Literature helps children deal with their problems.By finding out about the problems of others through books, children receive insights into dealing with their own problems,a process called bibliotherapy. Children might identify with Gilly,living angrily in a foster home in Katherine Paterson's The Great Gilly Hopkins,or with Mary Alice,a city girl forced to live with her grandma in a“hick town"in Richard Peck's A Year Down Yonder.
1. What is likely to be the most significant consequence of a literature program?| A．The habit of reading for pleasure. | B．The lessons learned from works. |
| C．The achievements of language skills. | D．The ways of thinking developed by reading. |
| A．To introduce two great masterpieces.. |
| B．To expand children's horizons in literature. |
| C．To prove literature includes a variety of cultures. |
| D．To give examples of books that provide such experiences. |
| A．educational | B．practical |
| C．changeable | D．reliable |
| A．Power of Books | B．Ways of Reading |
| C．Source of Human Progress | D．Benefits of Literature |
【推荐1】From talking robots and video phones, technology has become so advanced that the previously impossible seems to occur on a daily basis. And yet—we still have no cure for the common cold.
Why can’t we stop the common cold? According to Peter Barlow, a scientist at Edinburgh Napier University, the main challenge lies in the many different types of cold viruses that are produced by the rhinoviruses (鼻病毒). There are at least 160 types. They change so easily that they quickly become resistant to drugs. In other words, a single cure isn’t likely to work on every type of cold.
However, researchers from Stanford University have found a possible answer. They discovered a protein that the viruses need. Without it, they can't spread inside your body.
To identify the gene which produces the specific protein needed by the viruses, researchers used a gene-editing technique to test all genes one by one for thousands of cells. These modified (改变的) cells were then exposed to a range of rhinoviruses which cause the common cold.
All the viruses were unable to copy inside cells without a gene that produces a specific protein, called methyltransferase (甲基转移酶) SETD3.
Then, they tested genetically modified mice, which were completely unable to produce the protein. The mice were able to live healthy, normal lives without the protein.
“Lacking that gene protected the mice completely from the common cold,” associate professor Jan Carette, from Stanford, told the BBC.
“These mice would always die, but they survived and we saw a very strong protection.”
Carette said the plan is to find a drug which can keep back the protein for a limited time, rather than produce genetically modified humans.
“We have identified a fantastic target that all rhinoviruses require and depend on. Take that away and the virus really has no chance,” said Carette.
1. Why does the author mention talking robots and video phones in the first paragraph?| A．To stress the importance of technology. |
| B．To encourage readers to share their ideas. |
| C．To introduce the topic of the text. |
| D．To recognize the progress of science. |
| A．It helps the viruses copy inside our bodies. |
| B．It stops the viruses from changing easily. |
| C．It protects the viruses against drugs. |
| D．It forces the viruses to spread fast. |
| A．To identify a fantastic target. |
| B．To slow copying speed of some genes. |
| C．To produce genetically modified humans. |
| D．To find a drug to temporarily block the protein. |
| A．A New Experiment on Viruses. |
| B．New Defense Found for Viruses. |
| C．A Chemical Curing Modified Viruses. |
| D．Gene-editing Technology to Control Viruses. |
【推荐2】Do you continue to be healthy in social isolation? NASA is looking for people to spend 8 months locked in a Russian lab for a new experiment.
When humans go to the moon and travel to Mars, they will need to be prepared for long-term space travel and even longer stays on these far-off destinations. Currently, NASA's Artemis program aims to land humans on the moon for the first time since NASA's Apollo 17 mission landed in 1972.
While the moon is the main goal of NASA's Artemis program, the agency's larger goal is to send people to Mars. But long-term space travel and habitation won't be easy. Such missions will present both physical and mental challenges as astronauts work to not only survive, but perform important scientific research in uniquely difficult environments.
In the upcoming NASA-Russia experiment, a group of people will live in a closed facility at Russia's Institute for Biomedical Problems, which is in Moscow. This habitat facility was used in2011 for notable series of Russian mock (模拟的) Mars missions known as Mars 500. During these missions, groups of people spent 520 and 105 days on two separate missions in the facility.
The facility, according to the statement, will have "environmental factors similar to those astronauts are expected to experience on future missions to Mars". The group of people will spend 8 months living together in isolation and working on scientific research.
By living and working in this Mars-like environment, participants in this study will help NASA researchers better understand the psychological and physiological (心理和生理的) effects of isolation. These missions help researchers not only perform relevant science experiments but also see how people might get on under strange conditions for long periods of time.
So, if you're finding that living in social isolation works for you, you might be particularly well-suited for living in a Mars-like environment and this could be for you. But first, you have to qualify. NASA is looking for "highly motivated" Americans between the ages of 30-55, who must speak both Russian and English fluently and have a Master of Science, Doctor of Philosophy, Doctor of Medicine, or military officer training. Applicants with other related experience may also be considered. Those who are chosen to be a part of this group will be paid for their work.
1. What do we know about the new experiment?| A．It will find the best way for humans to live on Mars. |
| B．It is the first of its kind to be carried out since 1972. |
| C．It is prepared for NASA's human spaceflight program. |
| D．It will decide the people to be sent to the moon by NASA. |
| A．To explain why the facility has been chosen. |
| B．To compare the similarities among related missions. |
| C．To show Russia's achievement in space exploration. |
| D．To indicate the new experiment will have great success. |
| A．The process of the experiment. | B．The purposes of the experiment. |
| C．The popularity of the experiment. | D．The preparations for the experiment. |
| A．Artemis: NASA's new program | B．Love isolation? NASA wants you! |
| C．NASA's Mars exploration program | D．Want to have a trip to Mars? Come! |
【推荐3】The school was founded in 1959 by Sisters of the Roman Union of the Order of Saint Ursula (established in 1535), at the invitation of Archbishop Verineux of Hualien diocese(教区)and the local government. At that time, economic conditions in Taiwan were still undeveloped. Hualien, at the ''back of the mountains" suffered from an inconvenient location and lacked resources to develop its local economy. Thus, the Sisters followed the spirit of the Gospel(信条)to make a "preferential option for the poor" and invited the Ursulines worldwide to cooperate. Many Ursuline school children in Europe saved their pocket money just to help establish an Ursuline school in Taiwan, which was very far away from them.
Women's education is part of the mission of the Roman Union of the Order of Saint Ursula. Through its belief that “Life transmits life; love nourishes(滋养)love", the Institute seeks to fully educate young women fitting in well with the society, capable of taking up the responsibility of becoming a stable force in society and promoting family life as the basic strength of that society. The early establishment of Stella Maris Girl's Junior High School was a response to the inadequacy and inequality of women's education. A High School was added to it three years later, and the school was renamed Stella Maris Girl's High School. In 1970, in correspondence with the social and environmental trends and the request of the Archbishop the school started to recruit (招 收)boys, and changed its name to the current one: Stella Maris High School.
With its focus firmly placed on whole person education concepts, respect for Catholic educational goals, and educational concepts of respect, freedom, and love, the school makes every effort to fulfill students' potential and develop their personality. Gradually, with the development of Taiwan's economy, the school adjusted its structures. It established a Kindergarten Teachers5 Department and Dress and Fashion Department in 1976, Arts and Craft Department in 1987, and the Information Systems and Integrated(集成)High School in 1996. The range of Stella Maris High School has gradually grown to completeness.
1. Why was the school founded?| A．To spread Christianity. |
| B．To help with local economy. |
| C．To cooperate with local people. |
| D．To promote the quality of education. |
| A．adapting themselves to society |
| B．placing value on family life |
| C．acting as a stable force in society |
| D．supporting their husbands' careers |
| A．Being single-sex. | B．Being complete. |
| C．Being traditional. | D．Being modern. |
| A．Where the school is. |
| B．When the school was founded. |
| C．What are the majors in the school. |
| D．How much school fees are needed. |
