【推荐1】One day Marilla said, “Anne, your new teacher, Miss Stacy, spoke to me yesterday. She says you must study for the examinations for Queen’s College in two years’ time. Then if you do well, you can study at Queen’s in Charlottetown for a year, and after that you’ll be a teacher!”

“That doesn’t matter, Anne. When Matthew and I adopted you three years ago, we decided to look after you as well as we could. Of course, we’ll pay for you to study.” So in the afternoons Anne and some of her friends stayed late at school, and Miss Stacy helped them with the special examination work. Diana didn’t want to go to Queen’s, so she went home early, but Gilbert stayed. He and Anne still never spoke and everybody knew that they were enemies, because they both wanted to be first in the examination. Secretly, Anne was sorry that she and Gilbert weren’t friends, but it was too late now.

For two years, Anne studied hard at school. She enjoyed learning, and Miss Stacy was pleased with her. But she didn’t study all the time. In the evenings and at weekends she visited her friends, or walked through the fields with Diana, or sat talking to Matthew.

“Your Anne is a big girl now. She’s taller than you,” Rachel Lynde told Marilla one day. “You’re right, Rachel!” said Marilla in surprise.

“And she’s a very good girl now, isn’t she? She doesn’t get into trouble these days. I’m sure she helps you a lot with the housework, Marilla.”

“Yes, I don’t know what I’d do without her,” said Marilla, smiling.

“And look at her! Those beautiful grey eyes, and that red-brown hair! You know, Marilla, I thought you and Matthew made a mistake when you adopted her. But now I see I was wrong. You’ve looked after her very well.”

“Well, thank you, Rachel,” replied Marilla, pleased.

That evening, when Matthew came into the kitchen, he saw that his sister was crying.

“What’s the matter?” he asked, surprised. “You haven’t cried since… well, I can’t remember when.” “It’s just… well, I was thinking about Anne,” said Marilla. “I’ll…I’ll miss her w hen she goes away.” “When she goes to Queen’s, you mean? Yes, but she can come home at weekends, on the train.”

“I’ll still miss her,” said Marilla sadly.

In June the Avonlea boys and girls had to go to Charlottetown to take their examinations.

“Oh, I do hope that I’ve done well,” Anne told Diana when she arrived back at Green Gables. “The examinations were very difficult. And I’ve got to wait for three weeks before I know! Three weeks! I’ll die!”

Anne wanted to do better than Gilbert. But she also wanted to do well for Matthew and Marilla. That was very important to her.

Diana was the first to hear the news, she ran into the kitchen at Green Gables and shouted, “Look, Anne! It’s in Father’s newspaper! You’re first… with Gilbert… out of all the students on the island! Oh, how wonderful!” Anne took the paper with shaking hands, and saw her name, at the top of the list of two hundred. She could not speak.

“Well, now, I knew it,” said Matthew with a warm smile.

“You’ve done well, I must say, Anne,” said Marilla, who was secretly very pleased.

For the next three weeks Anne and Marilla were very busy. Anne needs new dresses to take to Charlottetown.

1. Why are Anne and Gilbert enemies?

A．Because they were competitors in school.	B．Because they didn’t like each other.
C．Because it wasn’t mentioned in the passage.	D．Because their parents were enemies.

2. The paragraph “Oh Marilla! I’d love to be a teacher! But won’t it be very expensive?” should be put between.

A．paragraph   ③ and ④	B．paragraph   ⑦ and   ⑧
C．paragraph   ① and   ②	D．paragraph   ⑨ and ⑩

3. What will probably be written in the following paragraph?

A．Anne’s summer holiday.	B．What will Anne talk about her college life with Diana
C．How will Miss Stacy help Anne study.	D．What will Anne do before attending college.

4. What can we learn from the text?

A．Anne studied day and night.

B．Rachel was a teacher of Anne’s.

C．Marilla cried because Anne would leave forever.

D．When Anne became a teacher, she would have lived in the family for six years.

【推荐2】There is an old saying in Chinese: “To do a good job, one must first sharpen one’s tools.” When it comes to photography, however, it’s not exactly the case. In this year’s National Geographic Travel Photo Contest, Greenlandic Winter, a picture by Chinese photographer Chu Weimin, took first place in the cities category and won the overall grand prize as well.

When asked why he chose Upernavik, a small fishing village in Greenland, to take his pictures, Chu described the first time he spotted the village from an airplane. “Through my entire flight, I could only see the land, covered by pure white ice and snow. But I suddenly saw a big, warm dot in the far distance — Upernavik,” he told National Geographic. “The beauty of this tranquil (宁静的) village was beyond my imagination. It was a ‘wow’ moment for me.” This ability to identify a “wow moment” is what makes a good travel photographer.

According to Chu, he was moved by Upernavik’s blue tint at dusk, the warm yellow light from the windows, and the family of three walking along the snowy street. Although he is a professional photographer, many of Chu’s Greenland pictures were shot with his phone.

This attitude echoes that of Austrian-American photographer Ernest Haas (1921-1986). Haas told his students that they were too obsessed with cameras to understand the essence of photography. “The camera doesn’t make a bit of difference,” Haas said. “All of them can record what you are seeing. But you have to SEE.”

Perhaps it’s not just in photography that we’ve put too much emphasis on the role of tools. How many of you are reluctant to start a new sport or learn new software simply because you don’t yet have the “right” outfit (装备) or computer?

It’s true that “sharpened” tools make the work easier, hut as reporter Abhilash Pavuluri wrote on Firstpost: “In the end, it’s really the artist that makes a good painting, not the paintbrush.”

1. What do we know about Chu Weimin?

A．He is better at photographing people than scenery.

B．His award-winning picture is set in a peaceful village.

C．His shooting style stands out from other photographers.

D．He is the first Chinese person to win the National Geographic Photo Contest.

2. What’s the main purpose of Paragraph 3?

A．To explain why Chu’s picture stands out.

B．To introduce Chu’s love for Upernavik.

C．To recommend a good place for taking photos.

D．To describe Chu’s inspiration for the winning picture.

3. What makes a good photographer, according to Haas?

A．The ability to find beauty.

B．Enthusiasm for photography.

C．Having rich parents.

D．Owning the best camera equipment.

4. The underlined word “reluctant” in paragraph 5 has the closest meaning to ________.

A．glad	B．unwilling
C．confident	D．supposed

【推荐3】It never occurred to me when I was little that gardens were anything less than glamorous places. Granddad’s garden was on the bank of a river and sloped gently down towards the water. You couldn’t reach the river but you could hear the sound of the water and the birds that sang in the trees above. I imagined that all gardens were like this—a place of escape, peace and solitude. Granddad’s plot was nothing out of the ordinary when it came to features. He had nothing as grand as a greenhouse, unlike some of his neighbors. Not that they had proper “bought” greenhouses. Theirs were made from old window frames. Patches of plastic would be tacked in place where a carelessly wielded spade had smashed a pane of glass.

At home, his son, my father, could be quiet and withdrawn. I wouldn’t want to make him sound humorless. He wasn’t. Silly things would amuse him. He had phrases that he liked to use, “It’s immaterial to me” being one of them. “I don’t mind” would have done just as well but he liked the word “immaterial.” I realize that, deep down, he was probably disappointed that he hadn’t made more of his life. He left school without qualifications and became apprenticed to a plumber. Plumbing was not something he was passionate about. It was just what he did. He was never particularly ambitious, though there was a moment when he and Mum thought of emigrating to Canada, but it came to nothing. Where he came into his own was around the house. He had an “eye for the job.” Be it bookshelves or a cupboard—what he could achieve was astonishing.

Of the three options, moors, woods or river—the river was the one that usually got my vote. On a stretch of the river I was allowed to disappear with my imagination into another world. With a fishing net over my shoulder I could set off in sandals that were last year’s model, with the fronts cut out to accommodate toes that were now right to the end. I’d walk along the river bank looking for a suitable spot where I could take off the painful sandals and leave them with my picnic while I ventured out, tentatively, peering through the water for any fish that I could scoop up with the net and take home. After the first disastrous attempts to keep them alive in the back yard, they were tipped back into the water.

I wanted to leave school as soon as possible but that seemed an unlikely prospect until one day my father announced, “They’ve got a vacancy for an apprentice gardener in the Parks Department. I thought you might be interested.” In one brief moment Dad had gone against his better judgment. He might still have preferred it if I became a carpenter. But I like to feel that somewhere inside him was a feeling that things might just turn out for the best. Maybe I’m deceiving myself, but I prefer to believe that in his heart, although he hated gardening himself, he’d watched me doing it for long enough and noticed my unfailing passion for all things that grew and flowered and fruited.

1. What is the writer’s attitude to his father in the second paragraph?

A．He was regretful that his father had not achieved more.

B．He was irritated that his father used words he didn’t understand.

C．He was sympathetic to the reasons why his father behaved as he did.

D．He was grateful that his father had not taken the family to Canada.

2. What does the writer mean by the underlined phrase “came into his own”?

A．was able to do something by himself

B．was able to show his talents flat out

C．was able to continue his day job

D．was able to forget his failure

3. What can we infer from the passage?

A．The writer felt irritated that the garden was less enchanting

B．The writer was an excellent fisherman for his gift

C．Around the house lied the father’s dream of being carpenter

D．The fishing trip illustrated the writer’s carefree childhood.

4. What is the main idea of the last paragraph?

A．His father is unsure about his son’s future

B．His father was tired of giving way to his son.

C．His father had been impressed by his son’s love of gardening.

D．His father had been trying to find a job his son would enjoy.

【推荐1】The Lifecycle of a T-shirt

We all probably have a lot of T-shirts, but do you ever stop and think about the influence of a T-shirt on the planet? You'd probably be surprised to learn what's involved in the lifecycle of just one T-shirt.

There are 5 major stages：material, production, shipping, use and disposal (处理). The material stage involves farming, irrigating, fertilizing, harvesting and ginning. While cotton is a natural fiber (纤维) and not as harmful to the environment as man-made fibers, it still takes a toll in the material and production stages. Commercial cotton farming uses a large amount of water, and the use of pesticides (杀虫剂) is widespread across the globe, especially in cotton farming. Studies have shown that farmers spend around $4. 1 billion on pesticides annually, of which 25% was spent on cotton crops in the US.

Once the cotton is grown and harvested, so begins the production stage: spinning, knitting, bleaching, dyeing, cutting, sewing, etc. —these processes also use a great deal of water and energy. Commercial dyes and bleaches are harmful pollutants, and can eventually pollute groundwater.

After the T-shirt is produced, it enters the transportation stag. This often involves overseas shipping. Take a look in your closet. Chances are that most of your cotton garments (衣服) are made in China or India. Garments can be shipped via plane, ship or truck, all of which spill CO₂ into the atmosphere. Calculations show that CO₂ emissions from light trucks alone amount to 1. 15 pounds per mile.

Once T-shirt reaches the retail market, it is purchased. This stage may seem like the least environmentally damaging part. But consider the number of times you've washed and dried your favorite T-shirt. Washing machines are certainly becoming more efficient. However, the average American household does 400 loads of laundry per year, using about 40 gallons of water per load. Such excessive water use is combined with the large amount of energy used by dryers.

The final stage of life is disposal. This release harmful emissions, or involves a landfill where cotton takes years to break down. Current US records show that an estimated 15% of clothes and shoes are recycled, which means that consumers send a shocking 85% of these materials to landfills.

We all need new clothes every once in a while, but let's all try to keep in mind what goes into the production of clothing. It has a real impact on the planet.

There are a lot of things and you can do to help reduce your impact. Reuse and recycled clothes. If they're too worn out to wear, cut them up and use them as cleaning rags. Donate them to charity or another organization that recycles textiles. When possible, make an effort to buy organic cotton. Turn down the thermostat (恒温器) on your washer, and line dry your clothes when the weather will allow it.

1. The underlined phrase “takes a toll” probably means “___________”.

A．uses energy

B．wastes water

C．has a bad effect

D．takes a lot of time

2. What can be inferred from this passage?

A．The use stage is the least environmentally harmful of the five stages.

B．Cotton clothes are buried because they are hard to break down.

C．The clothing cost is relatively low in China and India.

D．The production process may affect water safety.

3. What is the purpose of this article?

A．To introduce the five stages in the lifecycle of clothing.

B．To persuade people to purchase more organic cotton.

C．To promote eco-friendly actions related to clothes.

D．To encourage people to donate clothes to charity.

【推荐2】A tiny Alaska village has experienced a boom in tourism in recent years as polar bears spend more time on land than on Arctic sea ice.

More than 2,000 people visited the northern Alaska village of Kaktovik in 2018 to see polar bears in the wild. The far north community lies in an area where increasingly higher temperature has sped up the movement of sea ice, the primary habitat(栖息地) of polar bears. As ice has gradually moved to deep water beyond the continental shelf, more bears are remaining on land to look for food.

Polar bears have always been a common sight on sea ice near Kaktovik, but villagers started noticing a change in the mid-1990s. More bears seemed to stay on land, and researchers began taking note of more female bears making homes in the snow on land instead of on the ice to raise their babies. U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service biologists began hearing reports of the increasing number of polar bears in the area in the early 2000s. As more attention was given to the plight (困境)of polar bears about a decade ago, more tourists started heading to Kaktovik.

The village had fewer than 50 visitors annually before 2011, said Jennifer Reed, of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. "Today we’re talking about hundreds and hundreds of visitors, many from around the world each year," Reed said. Most tourists visit in the fall, when bears are forced toward land because sea ice is farthest away from the shore. Bruce Inglangasak, a local hunter who sometimes offers wildlife-viewing tours, said been offering polar bear tours since 2004. Most of his clients(客户) are from China and Europe, as well as from the lower 48 U. S. states. Many tourists stay several days in the village, which has two small hotels. The villagers have benefited a lot from that. In turn, they provide more effective protection for polar bears with financial support from tourism development.

1. What causes more polar bears to stay on land in Kaktovik?

A．Food shortage.	B．Climate change.
C．Habitats, movement to shore.	D．Their preference for land.

2. How did common people feel about more sight of bears on land?

A．Excited.

B．Puzzled.

C．Concerned.

D．Shocked.

3. What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A．Hotels in Kaktovik are in demand in autumn.

B．Kaktovik has about 50 visitors annually.

C．Inglangasak makes a living as a tour guide.

D．Tourism affects the balance of nature.

4. Which saying can describe the text?

A．The fittest can survive.	B．After a storm comes a calm.
C．There is always opportunity in crisis.	D．Every coin has two sides.

【推荐1】I never knew anyone who’d grown up in Jackson without being afraid of Mrs. Calloway, our librarian. She ran Jackson’s Carnegie Library absolutely by herself. SILENCE in big black letters was on signs hung everywhere. If she thought you were dressed improperly, she sent you straight back home to change your clothes. I was willing; I would do anything to read.

My mother was not afraid of Mrs. Calloway. She wished me to have my own library card to check out books for myself. She took me in to introduce me. “Eudora is nine years old and has my permission to read any book she wants from the shelves, children or adults,” Mother said.

Mrs. Calloway made her own rules about books. You could not take back a book to the library on the same day you’d taken it out; it made no difference to her that you’d read every word in it and needed another to start. You could take out two books at a time and two only. So two by two, I read library books as fast as I could go, rushing them home in the basket of my bicycle. From the minute I reached our house, I started to read. I knew this was extreme happiness, knew it at the time.

My mother shared this feeling of mine. Now, I think of her as reading so much of the time while doing something else. I remember her reading a magazine while taking the part of the Wolf in a game of “Little Red Riding Hood” with my brother’s two daughters. She’d just look up at the right time, long enough to answer—in character —“The better to eat you with, my dear,” and go back to her place in the magazine article.

1. Which of the following best describes Mrs. Calloway?

A．Quiet.	B．Considerate.
C．Boring.	D．Strict.

2. What do the underlined words “this feeling” refer to in the last paragraph?

A．Interest in games.	B．Love for Mrs. Calloway.
C．Desire to read.	D．Fear of the library rules.

3. Where is the text probably from?

A．A guidebook.	B．An autobiography.
C．A news report.	D．A book review.

【推荐2】Five-year-old Willard Wigan struggled to tell the difference between an M and a W or a 6 and a 9. Unfortunately, his schoolteacher knew nothing about dyslexia (阅读障碍症), a learning disability that can make letters and numbers confusing. She didn’t try to help him. Not surprisingly, Willard didn’t like school. Usually, his mind drifted — to playing outside, to his dog Maxie, or to the ants that lived near his family’s garden shed. Willard was especially curious about those ants. He felt like them — small and insignificant. Thus, when he noticed some ants trying to build a house, he decided to help them! Willard constructed a little building. Then he sprinkled sugar inside to encourage the ants to move in. When they did, Willard built more houses.

At school, Willard still struggled, but now he knew he could do something special. Maybe he wasn’t a failure after all. If he had trouble with his reading or math, Willard would later go home and create tiny furniture for the ant houses. He even built an ant school, with teeny swings, ladders, seesaws, and a merry-go-round. His artistic skill increased, and a love for little things began to grow in his heart.

At age nine, Willard began carving faces on toothpicks. He discovered that his ability improved when he held his breath as he worked. When he quit school at age 15 to help support his family, Willard still spent his spare time carving. His confidence grew as more people appreciated his talent. Eventually, he quit his factory job to pursue his dream of becoming one of the best artists in the world. Now, years later, Willard carves the tiniest artwork in the world! His sculptures are so small that several can fit on a period at the end of a sentence.

Because of their beauty and rarity, his sculptures have made Willard a wealthy man. But he says, “Success isn’t about material things like an expensive watch or a costly ring; it’s about chasing and achieving your dreams.”

Willard Wigan, a microsculptor, has done just that. The man who felt small as a boy has shown the world that something small can really be big.

1. Which of the following best describes Willard’s teacher?

A．Unsympathetic.

B．Unhelpful.

C．Impatient.

D．Careless.

2. Why did Willard become interested in building homes for ants?

A．Because he had a love for little things.

B．Because he was absent-minded in class.

C．Because he wouldn’t have to struggle at school.

D．Because he thought they both seemed unimportant.

3. What can we infer from the text?

A．Willard gave up his study in school to pursue his dream.

B．Willard became popular when more people appreciated his work.

C．Willard was able to carve small artwork in a short period of time.

D．Willard found a way to make better artwork when he was at school.

4. Which of the following may Willard agree with?

A．Failure is the mother of success.

B．Success belongs to those who don’t give up.

C．Dreaming big is the first step in achieving your goals.

D．Talent is sometimes more important for success than hard work.

【推荐3】Abandoned outside an orphanage as a baby and adopted at the age of three by a family in the Netherlands, 16-year-old model Abbing has become known around the world, as a model who has appeared in fashion magazines-but also as an inspiring representative of the albino(白化病人)community.

When it comes to modelling, Abbing has found her difference more of a blessing: She is represented by the Zebedee Talent agency, which aims to make people who have disabilities more visible in the world of fashion.

“I want to help people to see that being different is good, and definitely not some curse (诅咒), as they believe in countries like Tanzania and Malawi, ” said Abbing. “Some companies try to include models who are different, but sometimes for the wrong reason, because they want to say: ‘Hey, look at us! We are also including people with differences or people of different color’. ”

But Abbing welcomes what she sees as a shift. People now want to learn about and accept differences. “They should also talk with people with differences directly, ask them questions and listen to what they have to say,” she urged.

When not in front of the camera, Abbing loves climbing and swimming, and used to love competitive sports. It’s important for her to focus on what is possible, rather than what isn’t. “At school, teachers tend to look at the things you cannot do. I really didn’t like that, although they meant well, I would rather they had focused on the things I can do instead.”

Abbing loves travelling, meeting new people and particularly working with artists. The teen also pours her creativity into decoration artwork. ”Because I see the world from a different angle, my artwork turns out a little different as well, " she said.

1. What is the main reason for Abbing’s being chosen by Zebedee?

A．Her physical disability.

B．Her youthful appearance.

C．Her success in the fashion world.

D．Her fame in the albino community.

2. What does Abbing think of some companies hiring disabled models?

A．It is racial discrimination.

B．It is a positive change.

C．It is completely justified.

D．It is real acceptance of difference.

3. Which of the following best describes Abbing?

A．Creative and honest.

B．Outgoing and patient.

C．Confident and optimistic.

D．Athletic and humorous.

4. What message does Abbing’s story convey?

A．Everyone is born equal.

B．Don’t judge a book by its cover.

C．Love makes the world go around.

D．You are beautiful the way you are.

【推荐1】3D TV, Without the Glasses

If you’re thinking about buying a 3D TV, you might want to wait a while. Researchers have developed new 3D technology that doesn’t need any special glasses to work its magic. The new technology could advance the development of 3D on mobile devices, too.

Bioethics Panel Gives Yellow Light to Anthrax Vaccine Trial in Children

A U.S. bioethics committee has said that the country may consider testing the anthrax vaccine in children. The panel advises that the vaccine be tested in progressively younger age groups and includes the caveat(警告) that testing should only take place if risks are “minimal.”

Evolution via Roadkill

We usually think of evolution happening over thousands or millions of years, but it can be surprisingly speedy-literally. In just 3 decades, highway-dwelling swallows(燕子)have evolved shorter wingspans(翼展) to better dodge oncoming cars.

Patients Should Get DNA Information, Report Recommends

Would you want to know if you were at risk for cancer? What about a fatal heart condition? A group of genetics experts, along with the influential American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics, have recommended that anyone whose genome is sequenced for any medical reason must be told about their genetic susceptibility to serious health problems, regardless of whether they want to know.

Congress Completes Work on 2013 Spending Bill

This week, the U.S. Congress passed a bill to fund the government until the end of the fiscal(财政的) year, and research agencies now know how much to spend in 2013. The so-called continuing resolution retains the sequester and its $85 billion cut in discretionary spending. The bill throws NASA’s planetary programs a lifeline and gives the National Science Foundation a bit of a boost, but the National Institutes of Health’s funding stays   flat at 2012 levels-bad news for biomedical research.

Making Moonshine Safe to Drink

Home-brew drinkers in developing countries often risk blindness or even death from methanol poisoning when they drink. Now, scientists have made a reusable wireless chip that can analyze a drink’s methanol content and warn users of any danger. In 2 years, they hope to develop a product that can send results directly to a cell phone.

1. If you are concerned about your future health, you will probably be interested in .

A．3D TV, Without the Glasses

B．Patients Should Get DNA Information, Report Recommends

C．Congress Completes Work on 2013 Spending Bill

D．Making Moonshine Safe to Drink

2. Which of the following can replace the underlined word dodge?

A．Fly.

B．Avoid.

C．Move.

D．Leave.

3. Most probably, you will read the above information in .

A．a product introduction	B．a tour guide
C．a web page	D．a newspaper

【推荐2】Questioning the existence of aliens is something that scientists have done for decades. In fact, most people do believe that aliens exist in some fashion. The main necessities for life are water and some form of energy source. Not surprisingly, there are some planets, exoplanets and moons that fit the bill. Here are several best chances at finding life in the universe.

◆TRAPPIST-1

TRAPPIST-1 is a planetary system a few dozen light-years away, whose discovery was announced in early 2017. This system consists of seven Earth-like exoplanets orbiting an "ultra-cool" star, and it is one of our shots at finding possible life beyond our own solar system.   

◆Titan

Titan is the largest moon of Saturn, the sixth planet from our Sun. This moon could potentially harbor life but possibly not in the sense that we think. Titan does not exactly fit the description of being in a typical habitable zone.

Titan has water, and it has liquid. It just doesn't have liquid water. The water on this moon is completely solid because of the extremely cold temperature.

◆Europa

Europa is one of Jupiter's moons here in our own solar system. It is another candidate due to its potential to hold liquid water. Europa is thought to have all the necessities for life including water, energy sources, and the right chemical build-up.

◆Mars

The Red Planet, the fourth from the Sun, is probably one of the most talked-about potential candidates for extraterrestrial(地球外的) life and even for human colonization. Despite some different voices, finding extraterrestrial life on Mars really is a serious possibility.

We know by now that we won't find little green men or any intelligent form of life that we understand. However, there is evidence that there was and may still be microscopic life on the small red planet.

1. The common point of these celestial bodies is that _______.

A．solid water exists on them respectively

B．life might exist on each of them

C．they all contain liquid water

D．each of them has living things on it

2. Which celestial body could have life different from human imagination?

A．TRAPPIST-1.	B．Titan.
C．Europa.	D．Mars.

3. Which of the following statements is TRUE?

A．Europa is the most talked-about potential candidate for extraterrestrial life.

B．TRAPPIST-1 is the only body that contains life beyond the solar system.

C．All the scientists do believe that aliens exist in some manner.

D．There is proof that life existed on the celestial body Mars.

【推荐3】Every November, Time magazine picks out what it calls “The 25 Best Inventions” of the year. Here, Teens has chosen some of the most interesting ones.

Ember Mug

It’s hard to always keep coffee at the right temperature, especially in winter. It’s too hot to drink at first, but before we know it, it gets too cold and loses all its taste. The perfect level of warmth for a cup of coffee only lasts for 37 seconds, which makes the Ember Mug a great innovation. It keeps your coffee or tea at a certain temperature, anywhere between 45℃ and 62℃ once you set it through a smart-phone app.

Tasty One Top

TV cooking shows make cooking look so easy, but it’s almost impossible to get the recipes to cook the same as how the professionals cook. However, the Tasty One Top DIY cooking companion is here to help. Developed by Buzzfeed, the cooker can be connected to a smartphone app, which has more than 1,700 recipes and videos. You choose a recipe and the app will let the cooker know what to do. For example, it’ll tell you when to turn your steak or when to add certain ingredients.

Jibo

Smart speakers from companies like Amazon and Xiaomi have added a lot of fun to our lives, but they’re still just faceless speakers. However, Jibo, developed by MIT professor Cynthia Breazeal, has brought smart technology to life. Said to be “the world’s first social robot for the home”, Jibo looks like a cartoon character. Inside its “head”, there are various sensors (传感器) and cameras, which allow it to recognize faces and speech. It can also set alarms, remind you of important things, tell you the weather and read news or messages from your friends and family.

1. Which of the following is true of Ember Mug?

A．It’s an invention to heat coffee in 37 seconds.

B．It can make a cup of tea.

C．It’s hard to keep coffee at the right temperature by Ember Mug.

D．You can use it by setting through a smart-phone app.

2. How can Tasty One Top help people?

A．By giving people different recipes.

B．By helping people cook intelligently.

C．By saving energy while cooking.

D．By offering different kinds of cooking apps.

3. What can Jibo probably be?

A．A faceless robot.

B．A family assistant.

C．A cartoon character.

D．A smart alarm.

4. What does the underlined word “innovation” mean?

A．matter	B．magazine
C．invention	D．temperature

5. What is the purpose of the passage?

A．To advertise high-tech products.

B．To introduce some new inventions.

C．To encourage subscription to Time.

D．To tell about some “tasty” products.