Researchers at Stanford University have developed a new material that can move heat from buildings into space. The researchers say the material can cool buildings even on hot days.
The cooling material is a new kind of panels that could be placed on a roof like solar panels. However, instead of turning sunlight into energy as solar panels do, the new panels turn heat into infrared radiation (红外线辐射).
Shanhui Fan, a professor at Stanford University, says that the panels have a layer of material that is like sand, serving as a mirror. They take heat from buildings and reflect the light from the sun. Both the heat and sunlight are sent into outer space. Mr. Fan adds, “ They cool themselves without using electricity, even in the sun. So, what they do is send heat into outer space and also reflect the sunlight, so they don`t get heated up by the sun. And they can reduce the indoor temperature by nearly 5 degrees below the temperature outside”
Mr. Fan says it is like having a window into space and the heat is sent directly into space without warming air. Therefore, buildings in developing countries that do not have electricity or air conditioners could use the cooling panels.
The Stanford researchers say the main problem is creating actual cooling systems using the material. They say it may be possible to develop a cooling spray (喷洒) technology. The researchers believe the cooling spray technology could be developed in the next three to five years. They say as much as 15 percent of the energy used in the United States is spent providing power for air conditioning systems.
1. What is the feature of the new panels ?| A．They are more expensive. |
| B．They cannot turn sunlight into energy. |
| C．They will become hot under direct sunlight. |
| D．They can create infrared radiation by themselves. |
| A．They can warm air when they work. |
| B．They are cool to touch even in the sun. |
| C．They are developed to help poor countries. |
| D．They encourage people to give up air conditioners. |
| A．By reflecting sunlight into space directly. |
| B．By turning sunlight into infrared radiation. |
| C．By turning the heat of buildings into energy. |
| D．By covering buildings so that heat cannot reach them. |
| A．Negative | B．Doubtful | C．Positive | D．Unconcerned |
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【推荐1】Over a decade ago, scientists already recognized the potential smart cloths with sensors (传感器) could improve well-being. Nowadays the industry is starting to target specific health conditions. One example is diabetes. Now, Siren Care has developed an injury-detecting sock that could help people with diabetes prevent disability. Early detection is important in this process. Since skin ulcers (溃疡) are accompanied by a rise in temperature, studies show that detecting foot skin temperature at home could significantly reduce skin ulcers. Based on this, Siren produced a sock that can measure foot temperature in real time.
What’s special about Siren’s product is that the sensors exist in the fabric of the sock. The product is powered by “SirenSmart”, a kind of electronic yarn (纱线). They weave the yarn into a sock using ordinary weaving machines and connect the final product to a PCB battery, whose lifetime is two months if used daily. The socks are only on when they’re worn; they go into sleep mode when off.
All data from the socks is sent to the Siren app using Bluetooth technology, so the user can know the condition of his/her feet in real time. The application gives foot health scores and, when necessary, warns the user to adjust activity or see a healthcare professional.
Ran Ma, the company’s CEO, explains the sock can tell the user when to see a doctor. The socks are machine-washable, and don’t need to be charged. Every six months, the user gets a new box with seven pairs of socks to replace the used ones.
Siren presented their product this year in Las Vegas and announced that they’re planning to start shipping their socks this summer. More excitingly, Siren is already planning future applications that will go beyond diabetes care. Anyway, as smart clothing becomes accessible, you’ll begin to see this health technology become more common.
1. What does the underlined word “this” in Paragraph 1 refer to?| A．The result of the study. | B．The problem with skins. |
| C．The cause of skin ulcers. | D．The importance of early detection. |
| A．It can be charged. | B．It is sensitive to skins. |
| C．Its sensors can be seen. | D．It is comfortable to wear. |
| A．It cures its user of possible illness. |
| B．It informs its user of his/her foot health. |
| C．It assists its user to make a quicker recovery. |
| D．It tests its user’s physical strength in real time. |
| A．It has a bright future. | B．It is a profitable industry. |
| C．It is readily available. | D．It has widely applied. |
【推荐2】Researchers at MIT and in China developed a simple, solar-powered water desalination (脱盐) system. They have made a breakthrough in getting fresh drinking water from sea water by using sunlight.
As the research paper published in Energy & Environmental Science explains, equipment applied in this system includes several layers of flat evaporators (蒸发器) that turn water sources into fresh water through solar energy, as well as condensers (冷凝器) that cool the gas into the liquid. The authors of the paper are MIT students Lenan Zhang and Lin Zhao, Professor Evelyn Wang, and nine other researchers at MIT and at Shanghai Jiao Tong University in China.
How the system uses each of the multiple stages to remove salt from the water is critical to its efficiency. The heat released per stage will be used by the next stage. In this way, the team’s device can convert (转换) the energy of sunlight into the energy of water evaporation with an efficiency of 385 percent.
The device can be considered as a multilayer solar still. The heat is absorbed by its flat panels and then transferred to make water evaporate. The vapor then cools down and turns into liquid water on the next panel. As the water is collected, the released heat is transferred to the next layer.
The team’s 10-stage system produces pure water. Its quality is above the city drinking water standards. It also has the highest yield compared to other similar systems, at a rate of nearly six cubic decimeter per hour for every square meter of the solar collecting area. The system is distinguished from some others by the fact that there is no accumulated salt to be got rid of. Most materials of the demonstration unit don’t cost much and are easy to get.
Further experiments will be carried out on the device to optimize (优化) the choices of materials and test its durability under realistic conditions. Researchers will also work on the design of the device to make it more consumer-friendly. It is expected that the system could finally help developing regions that are short of electricity supplies but rich in sea water and sunlight handle water crises.
1. What contributes most to the high efficiency of the device?| A．The recycling of released heat. | B．The choice of materials. |
| C．The use of multilayer equipment. | D．The simplicity of the structure. |
| A．What the device is for. | B．How solar energy is collected. |
| C．How the device works. | D．What makes the device. |
| A．The quality of water it produces. | B．Its zero accumulation of salt. |
| C．Its stable and high production level. | D．The low cost of its condensers. |
| A．To make it suitable for use by consumers. | B．To make it environment-friendly. |
| C．To check its performance in labs. | D．To reduce its cost. |
【推荐3】Every year, TIME for Kids highlights inventions that arc making the world better and a bit more fun. Which of the following are you most excited about?
Keeping Kids Calm
Purrble comes to the rescue for anxious kids. This toy has seven sensors. They respond to touch. Purrble’s heartbeat speeds up when you play with the toy. Then you comfort Purrble by petting it. This slows its heartbeat down. It calms you too. In a study of 20 families, 19 parents said that Purrble helped their kids calm down.
Listen to this
MobiWAN helps you communicate by directing calls through your head. The headset speaker and microphone, created by Mobilus Labs, use bone-conduction technology. Sound vibrations(振动) are sent through the wearer’s skull(头骨). This lets workers stay in touch in noisy places, such as a construction site or a ship in a storm.
Read to me
Reading is a challenge for millions of people. They may struggle with poor eyesight, dyslexia, or other issues. But with computer vision and artificial intelligence, the OrCam Read can read any piece of text aloud. The OrCam Read can also read text in multiple languages.
Helping hand
The Mega Cyborg Hand kit was created by Thames & Kosmos. It helps kids build a robotic hand that copies the movements of a real hand. The device is made up of plastic pieces and tubes filled with water. Once assembled(组装) and slipped on, it passes force from the user’s fingers to the fingers of the robotic hand. The Mega Cyborg Hand can be adjusted to fit arms of almost any size. It easily switches from left-handed to right-handed to “claw.”
1. What can Purrble do?| A．It can help people design kinds of toys. |
| B．It can play games with children. |
| C．It can cure people’s illness. |
| D．It can keep children calm. |
| A．Purrble. | B．MobiWAN. |
| C．The Mega Cyborg Hand. | D．OrCam Read. |
| A．A guide book. | B．A book review. |
| C．A kid magazine. | D．A story book. |
【推荐1】In most parts of the world, many students help their schools make less pollution. They join an “environment club”. In an environment club, people work together to make our environment clean. Here are some things students often do.
No–garbage(垃圾)lunches. How much do you throw away after lunch? Environment clubs ask students to bring their lunches in bags that can be used again. Every week they will choose the classes that make the least garbage and report them to the whole school.
No–car day. On a no-car day, nobody comes to school in a car---not the students and not the teachers. Cars give pollution to our air, so remember: walk, jump, run, or bike! Use your legs! It’s lots of fun!
Turn off the water! Did you know that toilets(厕所) can waste twenty to forty tons(吨)of water an hour? In a year, that would fill a small river! In the environment clubs, students fix(修理)those broken toilets.
We love our environment. Let’s work together to make it clean.
1. Environment clubs ask students________.| A．to run to school every day | B．to fill a river every day |
| C．not to forget to take cars | D．not to throw away lunch bags |
| A．in clubs | B．in shops | C．at school | D．at home |
| A．go bike riding | B．go to school in a taxi | C．take a walk | D．build a car |
| A．a small river | B．a club | C．a lot of water | D．a toilet |
| A．How students help make less pollution. | B．How students clean their school. |
| C．Asking students to join the environment club. | D．How students help teachers. |
【推荐2】From a distance, they look like nothing more than thin red lines on the horizon, easily lost in the rough blue of the Atlantic Ocean. But get closer and the significance of the 140m-long tubes becomes apparent: they are the beginning of an entirely new industry in the hunt for clean power.
Yesterday, the red snake-like objects were laid as part of the world's, first wave-power station, off the coast of the northern Portuguese town of Agucadoura. The project marks the latest step in Portugal's moves to become a leader in developing renewable energy sources.
At the heart of the power station are three round wave energy converters(转换器), designed and built by a British company Pelamis Wave Power. Moving up and down on the endless supply of waves in the open sea, they change the motion into electricity, without sending out any of the carbon dioxide responsible for warming the planet.
The Pelamis wave machines will produce 2.25 Megawatt(MW兆瓦), enough for the annual needs of about 1,500 homes. Eventually, the station will be expanded with a further 25 Pelamis machines so that it can produce up to 21MW of power. That will save 60,000 tons of CO2 per year compared with a conventional fossil fuel plant.
“The future of wave energy starts today,” said ManuelPinho, Portugal's economics minister. “Portugal wants to be good in renewable energy. We are among the top five in the world, and we are just in the beginning of the process. We think this can create an industrial revolution and a lot of opportunities for jobs and research and we want to lead the trend.”
In addition to this flagship wave power, the Portuguese are spending large amounts of money on other renewable technologies. In the past three years, the country has enlarged 3 times its hydroelectric capacity and 4 times its wind power sources-northern Portugal has the world's biggest wind farm. They are already spending &250m on more than 2,500 solar panels to build the world's largest solar farm near the small town of Moura in eastern Portugal. It will have twice the area of London's Hyde Park and supply 45MW of electricity each year, enough to power 30,000 homes.
1. What are the tubes in the water used to do?| A．To decorate the coast. | B．To hunt for ocean animals. |
| C．To take advantage of the waves. | D．To prevent huge waves in the ocean. |
| A．There will be less unemployment. | B．Industry have been fast developed. |
| C．Fewer waves will damage the coast. | D．Carbon dioxide will be reduced. |
| A．Portugal is rich in new energy resources. |
| B．Portugal is short of renewable energy. |
| C．Portugal's solar plant will be as large as London's Hyde Park. |
| D．Portugal will bring in technologies to develop wave and solar energy. |
| A．The Future of Renewable Energy Starts Today | B．Portugal's Moves to Employ Ocean's Power |
| C．The Fossil Energy Is to Be out of Date | D．Clean Energy Is on Its Way in Portugal |
【推荐3】Great white sharks are typically loners, swimming through the world’s vast oceans largely on their own. That’s why scientists were so confused and impressed when they noticed an odd pattern in tracking data from two sharks. Simon and Jekyll.
The two males were first tagged off the coast of Georgia. When they reached Long Island, reseatchers noticed their tracks were remarkably similar. Then they arrived in Novia Scotia within practically the same day - they have traveled more than 4,000 miles together!
“Most animals don’t form any emotional bonds with each other and there are no previous records of two sharks traveling together for such a long period,” Bob Hueter, chief scientist for Ocearch, the group tracking the sharks says, “But we have found that some whites may remain close while hunting to benefit from food pieces after a kill. So we are wondering if this one-time event is similar to that. If so, it will open the door to the secret of sharks’ migration law.”
Now, scientists are trying to puzzle out what’s going on. Researchers suppose that there may be some reasons, such as seawater temperatures and the amount of light each day. And they further put forward other possibilities. Are the two sharks friends or relatives? And do they have more companions that aren’t tagged swimming with them? To uncover the secret, the researchers are running genetic tests For the further research direction.
But no matter what their relationship, the pair’s unique behavior is of great significance in the foreseeable future. At the very least, the discovery that sharks may hang out together could impact conservation efforts. The reseurch lteam, for example, is working to help people view sharks less as blood-thirsty monsters and more as vital players in a healthy ocean ecosystem worthy of protection. They are “humanizing”, which adds to the limited understanding human have of sharks. “They have a mother, a father and siblings,” the team shares, “They’re just trying to make a living in the ocean, and we need them for the balance of life in the sea.”
1. What drew scientists’ attention about Simon and Jekyll?| A．The destination they reached. |
| B．The distance they covered. |
| C．The way they traveled together. |
| D．The species they belong to. |
| A．Traveling in pairs. |
| B．Migrating regularly. |
| C．Hunting food together. |
| D．Traveling for a long time. |
| A．The procedure of the test. | B．The results of the research. |
| C．The assumption of the causes. | D．The significance of the pair’s travel |
| A．They are friendlier and closer to humans than hefore. |
| B．Their relationship has been figured out by the rescarch |
| C．Human’s limited understanding leads to their extinction. |
| D．Their jourcy offers new insight into ocean conservation. |
【推荐1】U. S. electric carmaker Tesla Inc. started construction of its new China factory on January 7. It becomes the first to benefit from a new policy allowing foreign carmakers to set up wholly-owned subsidiaries (全资子公司) in China.
The new plant, named Gigafactory 3, is Tesla’s first plant outside the United States. It is located in Lingang Area in the southeast harbor of Shanghai. Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Shanghai government officials attended the groundbreaking ceremony (动工仪式)。“This will be the most advanced Tesla gigafactory," Musk said. “With resources here, we are able to build this factory in record time, and we are hoping to have initial production of Tesla Model 3 toward the end of the year and volume production (批量生产) next year.”
The factory, with an investment of over 50 billion yuan, is the largest foreign-invested manufacturing project in Shanghai’s history. It is expected to produce around 3, 000 Model 3 vehicles a week in its early stages. When it becomes fully operational, the factory will produce 500, 000 vehicles per year. The production at the Shanghai plant will help Tesla significantly lower its cost and prices. This will make it more competitive in the Chinese new-energy vehicle (NEV) market.
China is the world’s largest auto and NEV market. NEV sales in the mainland jumped 75.6 percent in the first 10 months of 2018 from a year earlier, hitting 860, 000 units. The Chinese government desire to become the global NEV leader, with technologies that meet the highest international standards by 2025.
Tesla has tapped into China’ s growing electric car market. The company set up in October 2018 its first overseas R&D innovation center (研发创新中心) in Beijing, with focus on tasks such as localization and software and hardware development. It has established its charging network covering most cities in China’s developed regions.
1. Why did Tesla start construction of its new plant Gigafactory 3?| A．Because o[ a new policy allowing foreign companies to invest car industry. |
| B．Because Tesla didn’t have other plants elsewhere. |
| C．Because Tesla could improve its NEV quality in China. |
| D．Because Tesla wanted to upgrade its innovation in China. |
| A．In the southeast China. | B．In the southeast of Beijing. |
| C．In Lingang Area of Shanghai. | D．In Lingang Area, northeast of Shanghai. |
| A．it will be very popular in China |
| B．it’s price will be cheaper than any other vehicle in China |
| C．it will be energy saving |
| D．its production will help Tesla bring down its cost and prices |
| A．U.S. electric carmaker Tesla began construction of its new plant in Shanghai. |
| B．Tesla’s first plant outside the U. S. is named Gigafactory 3. |
| C．Because of resources in Shanghai, Gigafactory 3 is supposed to be built in record time. |
| D．Gigafactory 3 is the largest foreign-invested manufacturing project in China. |
Jessie Behan，president of the 25th Hour Coalition(联盟)which is a group of Canadian women who have changed to a longer day，said the struggle for women to maintain work-1ife balance motivated her to research the body’s natural clock．“Many of my girlfriends are having kids，getting married，and I see the sufferings of dealing all that when you’re a working woman，”she said．“Women like myself are sick of living their lives by a 24-hour clock．”
A 2007 study by Charles Czeisler found a switch to longer days could be beneficial，especially for frequent travelers，shift workers，astronauts and those who experience trouble sleeping or waking．
In a similar study，Czeisler showed the body’s natural clock averages 24 hours and 11 minutes in both young and older people．The current 360-degree clock has 720 minutes，giving each minute 0．5 degree．With the new 25-hour day，30 minutes is added to each 12-hour period making each minute 0.48 degree．
While still a relatively small movement—the 25th Hour Coalition has 160 Facebook members，Behan is hoping for large changes．“The goal is to get as many women on board；there’s no harm in just trying it out and seeing．If it gets big，maybe the government will decide to standardize it．”
A recent online survey by Reader's Digest，which included 150 people in each of the 13 countries，suggests it's not just Canadians looking for longer days．Readers were asked“what would you do with an extra hour”if given a choice between sleep，work，exercise and family time．In Spain，half of respondents(被访者)said they’d like an extra hour in the day to devote to family time．The same was found for respondents in Brazil，the US and Britain，who chose family time over sleep，which came in at a close second．Only in India did work top the list with 50 percent of respondents claiming they could use an extra hour at the office．
1. Some Canadian working women are campaigning for the 25-hour day in order to_______．
| A．have more chances at work |
| B．keep a balance between life and work |
| C．experience something new |
| D．have a better sleep |
| A．intends to make more Facebook friends |
| B．hopes to get benefits from more people |
| C．considers it is harmless to form such an organization |
| D．thinks it can help those women to realize their dreams |
| A．Respondents from most nations want more family time． |
| B．Respondents from developed countries experience more stress． |
| C．Most Canadian respondents claim that they need more family time． |
| D．Indians are the most hardworking of the 13 nations． |
【推荐3】The unquestioned role of a student is to learn as much as possible through whatever means it takes to acquire knowledge. Teachers and professors are human beings and are therefore not perfect. No one knows the correct answer to every question even when you limit the questions to a certain field of study. Having certain skepticism (质疑) about what they are being taught can help students to make the teachers even better by correcting mistakes and misinformation.
Students certainly have a huge role in their own abilities to learn. Teachers should act more as guides along the way rather than try to force each student to learn. The best teachers in the world cannot teach an unmotivated student. If the teacher, for whatever reason, cannot motivate the student, then the student must somehow find a way to motivate himself or herself.
One method of doing this is by becoming an active rather than a passive student. The more the student involves himself or herself in the act of studying, the better he or she can learn. One of the best ways to become more active is simply to ask the teacher or professor questions. Students who passively sit in a classroom and take everything that the teacher says for granted are not fully using their mental capacities to learn.
Better education comes from teachers who are able to get their students to think about a subject rather than merely absorb a certain amount of information. Having a healthy skepticism can improve a student's ability to both think and absorb knowledge in a learning situation.
Teachers are human beings and no one is one hundred percent right all of the time, even in a classroom situation. Perhaps a teacher would simply unconsciously say the wrong word or pass on some misinformation that the teacher truly believed was correct. A student's question could prevent an entire classroom from becoming confused or misinformed.
There is of course a fine balance between a student having a healthy skepticism and just being a downright skeptic. But with the proper attitude toward learning and a little skepticism, both the students and teachers can improve upon the learning process and maximize learning efficiency.
1. Which of the following is the author's main argument?| A．Passive learning results from passive teaching in class. |
| B．A student's ability plays a huge role in the learning process. |
| C．A healthy skepticism fully depends on students' motivation and ability. |
| D．A healthy skepticism and proper attitude contribute to effective learning. |
| A．use little of their mental ability while studying |
| B．seldom involve themselves completely in learning |
| C．can hardly tell the right from the wrong in class |
| D．simply ask their teachers questions without thinking |
| A．help the unmotivated students patiently |
| B．instruct students in the learning process |
| C．make no mistakes in the teaching process |
| D．answer all the questions raised by students |
| A．keeping skepticism to a certain degree is important |
| B．having a good attitude can ensure the learning process |
| C．taking everything for granted makes a student learn nothing |
| D．a teacher's ability can be improved by encouraging doubts |
【推荐1】When Benjamin was in eighth grade, he quit the swim team. "I'm not Michael Phelps, why am I even on the team? ”he said.
A US therapist who researches perfectionism at Northwestern University realized years later what had happened. Benjamin's perfectionism was creating unrealistic standards. Unable to meet them, he quit.
“My perfectionism prompted high expectations, and that caused real suffering," Ben said. He is not alone in feeling that perfectionism can lead to anxiety. So many millennials suffer from the ills of perfectionism that psychologists are issuing warnings and schools are emphasizing the need to accept failure.
Northwestern has held meetings that offered tips on how students could deal with a perfectionism problem. Jessica, leading the events and researches, said every generation is a sponge for the messages it receives. Millennials, more than any other generation in American society, are receiving clear messages around achieving," she said. "There's an absence of messaging that trying your hardest is still OK. "
The American Psychological Association also found that recent generations of college students have reported higher levels of perfectionism than earlier generations. This “desire to achieve along with being overly critical of oneself and others" affects young people's mental health, according to research data from over 40,000 college students.
Researchers noted that social media adds comparative pressure, along with the drive to earn money and achieve career goals. Perfectionists often create unrealistic goals, which can lead to a higher risk of failure.
In college, Benjamin found himself surrounded by so many intelligent people that he felt he should have been achieving a higher level than he was. "It makes you feel kind of crazy,“ he said.
This type of thinking can lead to people putting in less effort, which, as they fall behind, can create more anxiety. "It makes people feel kind of isolated. ”And that,“ Benjamin added, “can cause students to drift away from their school.”
1. Why did Benjamin give up on the swim team?| A．Because he is not Michael Phelps. |
| B．Because he lacked the passion. |
| C．Because he couldn't live up to his expectations. |
| D．Because swimming was too difficult for him to learn. |
| A．dream of becoming Michael Phelps | B．set up achievable standards |
| C．surrounded by intelligent people | D．put less effort and feel anxious |
| A．Accepting failures. | B．Learning swimming. |
| C．Chasing perfectionism. | D．Befriending other people. |
| A．Millennials are never told that trying hard also counts. |
| B．Millennials pursue perfection just as earlier generations do. |
| C．Social media add pressure in comparison with peers. |
| D．Perfectionism leads to realistic goals and causes a higher risk of failure. |
【推荐2】Yoga originated in ancient India some 5,000 years ago. It has since spread across the world to many cultures. In the last few years, yoga has been offering classes aiming at the hearing impaired(听障者).
Most yoga classes are based on a model in which students learn by listening to their teacher's statements. As many yoga positions limit the ability to see the teacher, hearing-impaired participants who rely on lipreading (唇读) or sign language are left on their own during a class.
Recognizing the hearing -impaired are eager to attend yoga classes, one British yoga studio determined to fill the lack. Bethaney Mouzer, a yoga instructor launched Sign Yoga in 2019, with the goal of bringing yoga to people for whom the practice may have previously been forbidden.
Mouzer, who was born to non-hearing parents, is used to existing two worlds. After becoming a yoga teacher in 2015, she fielded requests from many people who were interested in yoga, but struggled to find teachers to accommodate their needs.
At first Mouzer started out small, holding single-day workshops at local studios in Birmingham and Worcester, where she signed continuously throughout the classes. The sessions were an immediate hit, and Mouzer began posting classes online via a Facebook page called Sign Yoga. Finally, once there was enough demand, Mouzer also started teaching in London.
Today, Sign Yoga is a mostly online company, with live Zoom classes and pre - recorded lessons accessible to students, as well as occasional in-person classes held in local parks. Mouzer ran a Deaf Accessible Yoga Teacher Training workshop in May.
1. How are most yoga classes carried out?| A．By following teachers' instructions. |
| B．By adjusting yoga positions frequently. |
| C．By encouraging students to participate. |
| D．By ignoring the needs of disabled learners. |
| A．To satisfy the needs of sign language. |
| B．To make a fortune by teaching Yoga. |
| C．To compensate for her suffering while learning Yoga. |
| D．To make Yoga accessible to the hearing-impaired. |
| A．Refused. | B．Answered. | C．Presented. | D．Repeated. |
| A．Kind. | B．Romantic. | C．Grateful. | D．Good-tempered. |
【推荐3】Having an older brother comes with plenty of benefits. However, a new study finds an interesting downside: children with older brothers take longer when it comes to developing language skills.
The study, conducted by a group of researchers in Paris, France, builds upon early research that having older brothers is associated with poor linguistic(语言的)development. Now, researchers say they have come to a more specific conclusion: only children with an older brother show these linguistic difficulties. One would assume(假设) that children with older brothers would grow up around more conversation on a daily basis, thus speeding up their language development. But researchers say such children actually take longer than their older brothers to begin developing these skills. Researchers studied more than 1,000 children from birth to the age of five-and-a-half years old. Each child’s language skills were tested at ages 2, 3, and 5.5, using tests specially designed to measure many aspects of language development such as vocabulary and syntax(句法). What the research team discovered was significant: children with an older brother had, on average, a two-month delay in their language development compared to studied children with an older sister. As far as explaining this phenomenon, researchers have given two assumptions. The first is that older sisters tend to talk more often than older brothers, which would make up for parents being less present than they were for their first child. The second assumption is that older sisters usually compete with their brothers and sisters less than older brothers for their parents’ attention.
So far, the study’s authors say they can’t say for certain why children with older brothers have a harder time developing language skills. In the future they’d like to investigate it further.
1. What does the word “downside” mean in the first paragraph?| A．slide. | B．advantage. |
| C．upside down. | D．disadvantage. |
| A．Children with older brothers will speak earlier. |
| B．No one knows exactly the reason why children with brothers speak later. |
| C．Children with an older sister had a two-month delay in speaking. |
| D．Researchers studied over 1,000 children of all ages. |
| A．The parents will never care about them any more. |
| B．The older brothers will always fight with them. |
| C．The development speed of their linguistic skills will be put off. |
| D．They won’t enjoy life-long close relationships with the older brothers. |
| A．Young brothers usually speak earlier? |
| B．Having older brothers always benefits you? |
| C．Parents love older brothers more? |
| D．Sisters often compete with brothers? |
