【推荐3】In American countryside, the message we hear is this: Go and get an education. Leave your small town and make something of yourself     1    . Leave. Go.

After graduating from a high school in Helena, Arkansas, I did go.

I went to Colby College in Maine. I had visited the school ahead of time, so I knew what I was getting myself into. I knew about the difference in weather.     2    . But I wanted to challenge and get out of my comfort zone. And you now what?     3    . Only one thing took me by surprise — few students were from the country side. Most of the other students at Colby were from big cities: New York, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco... And when I had conversations with these students — in or outside of class — we almost always focused on topics facing large American cities. In my education classes, it was always “urban this” and “urban that”.

    4    .

And this urban interest doesn’t just happen in college. I went to an education meeting a couple of years ago, and a professor, an expert in education, was there to give a speech. I was chosen to be part of a small group that got to meet with him. So there we were, five or six of us sitting in a room, and I asked him, “What are your thoughts on the state of education in the countryside?” And this man was speechless.

I’ll never forget that moment. It speaks to a larger truth. Towns like mine are forgotten.

More and more young people are heading for our big cities, leaving small towns and never coming back. But I don’t want to add to that movement.     5    . Now it’s my turn to help people younger than me. And you know what? I’m a sixth grade teacher in Helena now.

A．I want to do the opposite

B．Understood the difference in social atmosphere.

C．Get well prepared for your future.

D．I did love my time there.

E．Young people can’t go back to their towns.

F．It was like small town America didn’t exist.

G．Success and opportunity are found elsewhere.

【推荐1】On many travelers’ lists of things to do before they die, you’ll find “See the northern lights” written down. Rightfully so these lights are one of nature’s most jaw-dropping views.

In Sweden, the northern lights usually appear from late March or early April. Your best chance of catching a glimpse of them is on cold winter nights when the sky is clear, dark with little to no moonlight, and cloudless. You need to be away from city lights and go to the countryside. For those willing to brave the cold on winter nights, here are some of the best locations.

Abisko National Park

Abisko Natinal Park is a main location. The scientifically confirmed “blue hole”, a piece of sky over the Tornetrask lake that usually remains clear despite cloudy weather nearby, gives Abisko its own microclimate (局部地区气候), which is suitable for catching the lights.

Jukkasjarvi

The village of Jukkasjarvi only has about 550 people. But don’t let the small population size fool you: Jukkasjarvi owns the world’s first ice hotel and is one of the best places to view the northern lights. The ice hotel organizes guided tours for guests to the Esrange Space Center. There you can eat at a camp outside and see the Arctic winter sky for aurora borealis (北极光). Or why not try to get closer to the northern lights and watch them through an aeroplane window? The ice hotel arranges flights for the amazing northern lights experience.

Gallivare

You can drive a snowmobile to the mountain top in Gallivare for a private light show, or head a few kilometers to nearby villages to watch those lights shining across the dark winter sky. But remember if you do get the chance to see the northern lights in person, never whistle to them. According to ancient Sumi fairy, it brings you bad luck.

1. When are you likely to best enjoy the northern lights in Swede?

A．On cold winter nights with clear sky and a little moonlight.

B．On freezing winter nights in the rural area without moonlight or cloud.

C．On chilly winter nights in the city center with few lights and little cloud.

D．On winter nights when the sky is dark with little moonlight and no cloud.

2. What do you know about Jukkasjarvi?

A．It has up to 550 people.

B．It owns the world’s first hotel.

C．It is among the best places to view the northern lights.

D．You can eat at a camp inside and see the aurora borealis.

3. Where can the text be found?

A．A science report.

B．An art magazine.

C．A travel guide.

D．A botanical book.

【推荐2】A team of researchers at ETH Zurich has the perfect long-lasting solution to our fog problem. They have developed a very thin and gold-based transparent coating (涂层) that can convert sunlight into heat, which can be applied to glass and other surfaces to prevent them from fogging.

The special coating is developed using titanium oxide and gold particles. It selectively absorbs infrared radiations (红外线照射) from the sunlight and creates a heating effect that is powerful enough to keep fog away from the surface of an object. The coating basically employs heat to stop fogging. The coating absorbs a large part of the infrared radiation, which causes it to heat up—by up to 8℃.

Previously, products like anti-fogging sprays create a very thin film of water on the surface to remove fog. The problem with such surfaces is pollution. Along with water, the sprays also attract dirt, dust, oil, and various other dirty substances, and just a little dirt on the surface makes it useless. However, the new coating repels (排斥) water. Furthermore, the coating is significantly thinner, which makes it more transparent as well as flexible. It is heated passively and requires, during daytime, no additional energy source.

Gold might be expensive, but the researchers stress that their coating requires so little that the material costs remain low. Their coating is produced with standardized and readily scalable methods, all cost-effectively. However, although this product can work at very low levels of solar irradiation, it does rely on a certain amount of light.

The researchers will develop the coating further for other applications. In the process, they will examine whether other metals work just as well as gold. There is no need to fear, however, this would cause a car or a building to heat up more in the summer. The researchers have already filed a patent. Hopefully, this groundbreaking product will soon be available on the market.

1. How does the new coating work to remove fog?

A．By reflecting part of sunlight selectively.

B．By keeping cool air away from the object.

C．By creating a thin film of water on the surface.

D．By absorbing infrared radiations to heat the coating.

2. Why does the author mention previous anti-fogging products?

A．To stress the advantages of the new coating.

B．To introduce the inspiration behind the new coating.

C．To prove the difficulty of creating anti-fogging products.

D．To explain the reason for the anti-fogging coating being popular.

3. What is the limitation of the new coating?

A．It is considerably expensive.

B．It depends on sunlight to work.

C．It lakes too much time to produce.

D．It is difficult to clean and maintain.

4. What do the researchers plan to do next

A．Seek more materials as the coating.

B．Apply for a patent for the invention.

C．Develop the product for more practical uses.

D．Explore the environmental impact of the coating.

【推荐3】Water is everywhere, from soil to the cells inside our own bodies. Depending on factors like location, age, and sex, the average human is between 55—60% water. So what role does water play in our bodies, and how much do we actually need to drink to stay healthy?

The water in our bodies works to adjust temperature, and to nourish(滋养) the brain and other body parts. Water isn’t only in our blood. An adult’s brain and heart are almost three quarters water, while lungs are 83% water.

If we are mainly made of water, why do we still need to drink so much? Well, each day we lose two to three liters(升) through our sweat, urine(尿) and even just from breathing, which helps our bodies get rid of waste. While these functions are necessary to our survival, we need to compensate for the water loss. Keeping a balanced water level is essential to avoid dehydration(脱水), which can have bad effects on overall health. Dehydration is usually caused by over consumption of water in a short amount of time. It can cause obvious drops in energy, mood and blood pressure. In severe cases, it will cause headache, and even death.

However, on a normal basis, maintaining a well-hydrated system is easy to manage for those of us who are fortunate enough to have access to clean drinking water. For a long time, it’s commonly believed that we should drink eight glasses a day. But now it is suggested that the amount of water we need to drink depend largely on our weight and the environment. The recommended daily intake varies from between 2. 5—3. 7 liters of water for men, and about 2—2. 7 liters for women.

While directly drinking water is the healthiest, coffee or tea can also be alternatives to make up for water loss. Water within food makes up about a fifth of our daily water intake. Fruits and vegetables like strawberries and cabbage are over 90% water, and can provide valuable nutrients as well. Drinking well also has various long-term benefits. Studies have shown that it can lower the chance of stroke(中风) and reduce the risk of certain types of cancer. No matter what it is, getting the right amount of liquid makes a healthy life.

1. Where is the text probably from?

A．A health magazine.	B．A doctor’s diary.
C．A food magazine.	D．A travel brochure.

2. Which of the following belongs to the functions of water in our bodies?

A．Removing body waste.

B．Increasing temperature.

C．Causing drops in energy.

D．Improving blood pressure.

3. What does the underlined phrase “compensate for” in Paragraph 3 probably mean?

A．Reduce in.	B．Increase in.
C．Make up for.	D．Hold back.

4. What can we learn from the last paragraph?

A．We should drink eight glasses a day.

B．Only directly drinking water is healthy.

C．All people should drink 2. 5—3. 7 liters of water.

D．Weight will influence the amount of water we need to drink.

【推荐1】

Twin Cities Campus · Office of Admissions

240 Williamson Hall · 231 Pillsbury Drive SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455

Dear Blair Connie,

Congratulations! You have been admitted to the University of Minnesota (U of M) Twin Cities. Your college of admission is the College of Science and Engineering.

We believe your accomplishments have prepared you well to thrive here. When you step on campus as a Golden Gopher, you will be involved in our world-class academic programs and will shape your future in cutting-edge facilities.

Choose a community bursting with Gopher pride. By choosing the U of M, you choose to work with classmates and professors who are “Driven to Discover.” When you choose the U of M, you will...

■Discover exceptional academics. With thousands of courses to pick from each semester, you can engage with professors who are leaders in their fields and make meaningful connections with your fellow students in our technology-packed active learning classrooms.

■Discover unique opportunities. At the U of M, your college experience goes beyond the classroom. Your knowledge and talents can shine in one of our 900+ student organizations.

■Discover an ideal location. Campus is in the center of Minneapolis and St. Paul, where you can work as trainees at one of the 18 Fortune 500 companies or thousands of startups and nonprofits in the Twin Cities.

■Discover great value. The U of M is committed to four-year graduation, which lowers your costs and gets you an internationally recognized degree sooner. The University has been named “best value” by Forbes, Princeton Review, and Kiplinger’s.

On behalf of the U of M, we are honored to have you join our academic community. In the coming weeks you will receive additional information about your next steps to becoming a U of M student. Welcome to the Class of 2024!

Executive Director of Admissions

Sincerely

Heidi Meyer

1. What does the underlined phrase “a Golden Gopher” refer to?

A．A freshman.

B．A professor.

C．An amateur.

D．An inspector.

2. Which of the following is the benefit of choosing the U of M?

A．The university invites leaders in different fields to teach on campus.

B．There are numerous clubs which offer students various activities.

C．It is so ideally located that you have easy access to famous top brands.

D．Many magazines rank it among the top universities with high tuition.

【推荐3】NASA’s (美国宇航局的) newly announced space tourism program is possibly the biggest mistake in the agency’s history.

Beginning as early as 2020, NASA will offer visits to the International Space Station for $35,000 per night, not including transportation, to pretty much anyone who can pass a physical.

The reason this is a mistake, and a big one, is that NASA has worked for generations to create an image of astronauts as extraordinarily skilled, highly trained, courageous heroes. For example, NASA invites grade schools to participate in creating experiments that are carried on the space station. The astronauts talk to kids from space, sending a message that if you study, work hard and learn math and science, you may reach these heights, too.

According to one report, Las Vegas-based Bigelow Aerospace is making plans to haul four tourists at a time to the space station on SpaceX rockets. U.S. taxpayers forked over a hundred billion dollars to build the International Space Station. It would be nice to try to preserve the image of it as an inspirational achievement, instead of turning it into a flying Howard Johnson’s.

NASA’s press release about the space tourism program tries to cast it as a partnership with the private sector to “provide expanded opportunities” at the space station to “manufacture, market and promote commercial products and services.” But it also states that one goal is “quantifying NASA’s long-term demand for activities in low-Earth orbit.”

The space station has been costing U.S. taxpayers between $1.5 billion and $3 billion each year. If it’s perceived as a private Disneyland for the top tax bracket, public support for the entire space program could be at risk.

But worse, we will have degraded what once inspired us. Sometimes a nation needs stars in its eyes.

1. What is NASA’s space tourism program?

A．To invite students to attend their experiments.

B．To send visitors to the space station.

C．To run a restaurant in the space station.

D．To build a Disneyland in the space station.

2. Why does the writer view the space tourism program as a big mistake?

A．It may influence the science experiment negatively.

B．It will cost people a lot of money.

C．It is too dangerous for visitors.

D．It may destroy the image of astronauts.

3. What does the underlined word “stars” refer to?

A．Planets.

B．Satellites.

C．Wealthy tourists.

D．Astronauts.

【推荐1】The bus stops in the Dutch city of Utrecht are as beautiful as they are practical. Now, 316 bus stops feature a green roof that adds some life to the city, while also storing rainwater, catching dust, and providing some much needed shade during the warmer months. This project is good for the honey bee population that is attracted to the plants on the roof. To keep up this successful ecosystem, municipal（市政的）workers drive around in electric cars, taking care of the mini gardens.

Another one of the biggest benefits to come out of these green stops is the improved air quality. Smoking, cars, and bacteria all contribute to polluting the air we breathe. These eco-friendly public spaces act as an air purifier for city people, though humans aren’t the only group that benefit from them.

Utrecht has also made great efforts towards moving their transportation system away from gas-guzzling（高耗油的）buses. The city replaced 10 gas-guzzling buses with electric powered buses and plans to have only CO₂ inactive buses on the road by 2028.

The buses have a system that records the driver’s efficiency and rider’s comfort levels. Drivers can win prizes based on how safe and comfortable the ride was. The city is also one of the most bicycle-friendly places in the world. Roads have been redesigned for cyclists’ convenience and there is a new state-of-the-art 6,000 space bicycle parking area that is located beneath Utrecht’s central train station.

Utrecht offers prize money to keep citizens energized and motivated to live greener lives. There are even prize money for people to transform their roofs into green roofs too. Achieving the goals of an eco-friendlier city takes cooperation and Utrecht is leading the way to protect our environment.

1. What is special about the bus stops in Utrecht?

A．They are eco-friendly.

B．They can save a lot of energy.

C．They are artificially-intelligent.

D．They can provide electric power for buses.

2. What can we infer about the changes to the transportation system in Utrecht?

A．Not all buses are gas-guzzling at present.

B．Gas-guzzling cars have been completely replaced.

C．Only electric private cars are allowed on the roads.

D．Buses have air purifiers fixed on them.

3. What might passengers think of the bus service in Utrecht?

A．Buses are always too crowded.

B．Buses are often behind schedule.

C．Buses are too big for redesigned roads.

D．Buses are generally comfortable and safe.

4. What are people living in Utrecht encouraged to do?

A．Give up smoking.	B．Create gardens on their roofs.
C．Paint their roofs green.	D．Buy more honey.

【推荐2】California Condor’s Shocking Recovery

California condors are North America’s largest birds, with wind-length of up to 3 meters. In the 1980s, electrical lines and lead poisoning(铅中毒) nearly drove them to dying out. Now, electric shock training and medical treatment are helping to rescue these big birds.
In the late 1980s, the last few condors were taken from the wild to be bred(繁殖). Since 1992, there have been multiple reintroductions to the wild, and there are now more than 150 flying over California and nearby Arizona, Utah and Baja in Mexico.
Electrical lines have been killing them off. “As they go in to rest for the night, they just don’t see the power lines,” says Bruce Rideout of San Diego Zoo. Their wings can bridge the gap between lines, resulting in electrocution(电死) if they touch two lines at once.
So scientists have come up with a shocking idea. Tall poles, placed in large training areas, teach the birds to stay clear of electrical lines by giving them a painful but undeadly electric shock. Before the training was introduced, 66% of set-freed birds died of electrocution. This has now dropped to 18%.
Lead poisonous has proved more difficult to deal with. When condors eat dead bodies of other animals containing lead, they absorb large quantities of lead. This affects their nervous systems and ability to produce baby birds, and can lead to kidney(肾) failures and death. So condors with high levels of lead are sent to Los Angeles Zoo, where they are treated with calcium EDTA, a chemical that removes lead from the blood over several days. This work is starting to pay off. The annual death rate for adult condors has dropped from 38% in 2000 to 5.4% in 2011.
Rideout’s team thinks that the California condors’ average survival time in the wild is now just under eight years. “Although these measures are not effective forever, they are vital for now,” he says. “They are truly good birds that are worth every effort we put into recovering them. ”
1. California condors attract researchers’ interest because they _________.

A．are active at night

B．had to be bred in the wild

C．are found only in California

D．almost died out in the 1980s

2. Researchers have found electrical lines are _________.

A．blocking condors’ journey home

B．big killers of California condors

C．rest places for condors at night

D．used to keep condors away

3. According to Paragraph 5, lead poisoning _________.

A．makes condors too nervous to fly

B．has little effect on condors’ kidneys

C．can hardly be gotten rid of from condors’ blood

D．makes it difficult for condors to produce baby birds

4. This passage shows that _________.

A．the average survival time of condors is satisfactory

B．Rideout’s research interest lies in electric engineering

C．the efforts to protect condors have brought good results

D．researchers have found the final answers to the problem

【推荐3】Cortana. Alexa. Siri. These are names of robotic voices that are often programmed on electronic tablets. They also become default(默认) identities for people with speech disorders who rely on technology to communicate. Now some speech scientists are developing personalized voices to reflect the broader diversity of the people who use them. To do it，they are tapping into a vast network of volunteers who are donating their voices to share with people who cannot speak.

The effort to build an international “Human Voicebank” has attracted more than 17，000 volunteers from 110 countries，including Priyanka Pandya，a 16－year－old from Columbia，Md. ，who plans to spend her winter vacation recording a string of sentences into her computer. “To be able to give somebody the gift of voice，I think that’s really，really powerful，” she said.

“Everyone has a voice，” said Rupal Patel，founder of VocaliD，the company that started the voicebank. “Even people who are unable to speak have sounds that are unique to them. ” Her company designs personalized voices by recording the unique sounds of the user，and then mixing them with 6 to 10 hours of recordings from a voice donor，matched by age，gender and region. The company is developing voices now for its first 100 customers.

Also，people’s voices change. The company is looking for donors who are willing to record their voices，and then record them again a few years later，as they get older. But some of the first customers say they are happy with the results.

John A. Gregoire was one of the first customers to receive a personalized voice from VocaliD last December. The voice came eight years after he developed ALS (肌萎缩侧索硬化症)and more than six years since his voice became unintelligible to everyone except his wife and youngest son. “Having a distinctive voice is like getting something back that was stolen，” John said.

1. What does the author say about the voicebank?

A．It collects all kinds of voices.

B．It gains strong public support.

C．It helps to recognize special voices.

D．It offers people personalized voices free.

2. The example of John A Gregoire is given in the text to stress ________.

A．customers’ desire for personalized voices

B．VocaliD’s efforts to develop personalized voices

C．customers’ satisfaction with personalized voices

D．VocaliD’s success in designing personalized voices

3. What does the underlined word “unintelligible” mean?

A．Unclear.	B．Soft.
C．Incomplete.	D．Rough.

4. What is the main idea of the text?

A．VocaliD is devoted to building a voicebank.

B．Volunteers donate their voices to VocaliD.

C．The Human Voicebank helps people with speech problems.

D．The Human Voicebank wins fame among speechless people.