【推荐3】When you walk on a sandy beach, it takes more energy than striding down a sidewalk — because the weight of your body pushes into the sand. As it turns out, the same thing is true for vehicles driving on road. The weight of the vehicles creates a very shallow indentation (凹陷) in the pavement (路面) and this makes it like continuously driving up a very shallow hill.

Jeremy Gregory, a sustainability scientist at M.I.T. and his team modeled how much energy could be saved — and how much greenhouse gases could be avoided — by simply stiffening (使变硬) the nation’s roads and highways. And they found that stiffening 10 percent of the nation’s roads every year could prevent 440 megatons of carbon dioxide equivalent emissions over the next five decades — enough to offset half a percent of projected transportation sector emissions over that time period. To put those emission savings into context — that amount is equivalent to how much CO2 you’d spare the planet by keeping a billion barrels of oil in the ground — or by growing seven billion trees — for a decade.

The results are in the Transportation Research Record.

As for how to stiffen roads? Gregory says you could mix a small number of synthetic fibers or carbon nanotubes into paving materials. Or you could pave with cement-­based concrete, which is stiffer than asphalt (沥青).

This system could also be a way to shave carbon emissions without some of the usual hurdles. Usually, when it comes to reducing emissions in the transportation sector, you’re talking about changing policies related to vehicles and also driver behavior, which involves millions and millions of people — as opposed to changing the way we design and maintain our pavements. That’s just on the order of thousands of people who are working in transportation agencies. And when it comes to retrofitting (翻新) our streets and highways — those agencies are where the rubber meets the road.

1. Why does the author mention “walk on a sandy beach” in Paragraph 1?

A．To present a fact.

B．To make a contrast.

C．To explain a rule.

D．To share an experience.

2. What suggestion does the author give to reduce CO2 emissions?

A．Hardening the road.

B．Keeping oil in the ground.

C．Growing trees for decades.

D．Improving the transportation.

3. What is the advantage of this suggestion?

A．Gaining more support.

B．Consuming less money.

C．Involving more people.

D．Facing fewer usual obstacles.

【推荐1】Wal-Mart is not just the world’s largest retailer(零售商). It’s the world’s largest company, which sells in three months what number-two retailer Home Depot sells in a year.

Wal-Mart exercises its power for just one purpose: to bring the lowest possible prices to its customers. At Wal-Mart, that goal is never reached. The retailer has a clear policy for suppliers: On basic products that don’t change, the price Wal-Mart will pay, and will charge shoppers, must drop year after year. But what almost no one outside the world of Wal-Mart and none of its 21,000 suppliers know is the high cost of those low prices. To survive in the face of its pricing demands, makers of everything from bikes to jeans have had to close US plants in favor of obtaining products from abroad.

Indeed, the real story of Wal-Mart, the story that never gets told, is the story of the pressure the biggest retailer constantly applies to its suppliers in the name of bringing us “every day low prices”.

The giant retailer’s low prices often come with a high cost. Wal-Mart’s pressure can crush the companies it does business with and force them to send jobs overseas. Are we shopping our way straight to the unemployment line? Of course, US companies have been moving jobs offshore for decades; long before Wal-Mart was a retailing power. But there is no question that the chain is helping accelerate the loss of American jobs to low-wage countries such as Thailand.

People ask, “How can it be bad for things to come into the US cheaply?” Sure, it’s great to have bargains. But you can’t buy anything if you’ re not employed.

There is no question that Wal-Mart’s drive to squeeze out cost has benefited consumers. By now, it is accepted wisdom that Wal-Mart makes the companies it does business with more efficient and focused. Wal-Mart itself is known for continuous improvement in its ability to handle, move, and track goods. It is legendary for forcing its suppliers to redesign everything from their packaging to their computer systems. It is also legendary for quite straightforwardly telling them what it will pay for their goods.

1. Wal-Mart’s low-price policy results in            .

A．more high-paying jobs	B．worse designed packages
C．bigger profit of its partners	D．more jobless American workers

2. What does the underline word “offshore” in the passage mean?

A．In abroad.	B．In the Ocean.
C．On the beach.	D．On an island not far from shore.

3. What can we infer from the passage?

A．Still more quality goods will be provided.	B．The food you get at Wal-Mart costs least.
C．The value of Mal-Mart is over assessed.	D．Wal-Mart is a very demanding company.

4. What’s the best title for the passage?

A．The Fortune Wal-Mart Makes	B．The Wal-Mart you don’t Know
C．The Biggest Retailer—Wal-Mart	D．The Money Saving Tip in Wal-Mart

【推荐3】The Covid-19 disaster will have many losers, but it already has one clear winner: big tech. The large digital platforms, including Alphabet and Facebook, will come out of the crisis even stronger. They should use this good chance to reset their sometimes tense relations with their users. Otherwise the government is likely to do it for them.

Demand for online services has exploded and the infrastructure behind the internet has proved to be admirably reliable. Newcomers such as Slack and Zoom, which help businesses operate remotely, have become household names. Facebook has said that messaging activity has increased by 50%in those countries hit hard by the virus. Amazon is planning to hire 100,000 new staff to keep up with higher e-commerce.

Just as the big firms are standing even taller, many of the tech industry's younger, smaller firms are being crushed since the dotcom crash 20 years ago. Even before the coronavirus hit. trouble was starting to develop .Among many firms catering to consumers, the strategy of growing at all costs had turned out to be problematic, Some firms had already started laying off people. All this will make it easier for the big firms to hire the best talent.

If that happens, it is likely that regulators will do little or nothing to stop a round of expansion. In America antitrust(反垄断) investigations against Alphabet, Google's parent. and Facebook have essentially been put on hold, as officials deal with other priorities during a crisis. A new federal privacy law seems further away than ever. Even tech skeptics in the European Union want to rethink their approach to regulating artificial intelligence(AI). In an abrupt twist, big tech's business practice is essential to deal with the virus. Yet before Covid-19,such activity would have caused howls of great anger over privacy and prejudice.

In fact, more than ever it is clear that big tech firms play vital roles. There lies the trap, because almost everywhere other big firms, such as water or electricity, are heavily regulated and have their prices and profits capped(规定限额). Once this crisis passes, concerned citizens and governments could make a push for the state to have similar control over big tech.

The companies seem to sense this danger. Their best defence is to propose a new deal to the citizens of the world. That means clear rules on how they publish and moderate content, helping users own, control and profit from their own data, as well as fair treatment of competitors that use their platforms. This approach may even be more profitable in the long run. Today the most valuable firm in America is Microsoft, which has been more successful by building a reputation for being trustworthy.

1. The writer suggests the big techs use the outbreak of Covid-19 to      _

A．escape from the crisis of large digital platforms

B．improve their relationship with their users

C．ask for help from the government

D．demand more online services and reliable infrastructure

2. What has led big tech firms' business to increase rapidly?

A．The crush of the tech industry.	B．The strategy of growing at all costs.
C．The stricter antitrust investigations.	D．The loosened government regulations.

3. What does “that” in Paragraph 4 refer to?

A．The easier access of best tech talents to big tech firms.

B．The severe unemployment rate in companies.

C．The fast spread of the coronavirus.

D．A new round of expansion of big firms.

4. In Paragraph 6,Microsoft is used as an example of___.

A．benefiting from good relations with its users	B．catering to consumers whatever they want
C．sensing danger from other big firms in time	D．being heavily regulated by the government

【推荐3】Since 2008, the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India and China—the BRIC countries—have met every year to discuss topics of global importance. At their third summit (峰会) in China in 2011, the leaders invited South Africa to join, thus becoming the BRICS. The four foreign ministers met on the fringes of the United Nations General Assembly in the fall of 2016. Their leaders’ first meeting was held in Sapporo on the eve of the G8 Toyako-Hokkaido Summit in 2008, and their first standalone (单独的) summit was the following year in Yekaterinburg, Russia. Since then, the BRICS ministers responsible for foreign affairs, finance and the economy, trade, agriculture and health have met. At the official’s level, there have been meetings held to discuss science and technology, national security, competition and statistics.

While the concept “BRICS” was first created by Jim O’Neill of Goldman Sachs to refer to the investment opportunities of the rising economies, the leaders’ meetings transcend the financial topics to involve many different summit-level topics relating to global governance, such as development, peace and security, energy and climate change and social topics.

The mission of the BRICS Information Center is to serve as a leading independent source of information and analysis on the BRICS interaction and institutions. Documentation from the BRICS and research and reports will be published on this website as they become useable.

Special attention will be paid to the interaction (合作) and each other’s influence of the BRICS with the world, and including the BRICS relationship with the Group of Eight (G8), Group of Twenty (G20), and other different summit institutions and broadly many-sided organizations.

1. We can learn about BRICS from the passage that _______________

A．South Africa refused to join it in 2008.

B．It was first called the Group of Eight in 2008.

C．Its leaders held the first standalone summit in 2009.

D．Its ministers have met every year since 2008.

2. What does the underlined word “transcend” probably mean?

A．pay attention to

B．go beyond

C．turn to

D．replace

3. The BRICS information Center___________.

A．can deal with all kinds of information

B．is an independent organization

C．doesn’t have its own website

D．has a lot of researchers

4. What can we infer from the last paragraph?

A．BRICS has specially stressed the interaction.

B．BRICS has built good relationship with other organizations.

C．BRICS will build closer relationship with G20.

D．BRICS will make much difference to the world.

【推荐1】阅读下列短文，从每题所给的A、B、C、D四个选项中，选出最佳选项。
In my first week as a graduate student at Cambridge University in 1964 I met with a fellow student, two years ahead of me in his studies; he was unsteady on his feet and spoke with great difficulty．This was Stephen Hawking．I learned that he had a bad disease and might not live long enough even to finish his Phd degree．
But, amazingly, he has reached the age of 73．Even mere survival would have been a medical miracle, but of course, he didn’t merely survive．He has become arguably the most famous scientist in the world for his brilliant research, for his bestselling books, and, above all, for his astonishing victory over hardship．
Stephen received his “death sentence” in 1964, when I thought it was hard for him to go on with his study．Stephen went from Albans School to Oxford University．He was said to be a “lazy” undergraduate, but his brilliance earned him a first-class degree, an “entry ticket” to a research career in Cambridge and a uniquely inspiring achievement．Within a few years of the burst of his disease he was wheelchair-bound, and his speech was so unclear that it could only be understood by those who knew him well．But his scientific career went from strength to strength: he quickly came up with a series of insights into the nature of black holes (then a very new idea) and how the universe began．In 1974 he was elected to the Royal Society at the exceptionally early age of 32．
The great advances in science generally involve discovering a link between phenomena that were previously conceptually unconnected — for instance, Isaac Newton realized that the force making an apple fall to earth was the same as the force that holds the moon and planets in their orbits．Stephen’s revolutionary idea about a link between gravity and quantum(量子) theory has still not been tested． However, it has been hugely influential; indeed, one of the main achievements of string theory(弦理论) has been to confirm and build on his idea． He has undoubtedly done more than anyone else since Einstein to improve our knowledge of gravity and he is one of the top-ten living theoretical physicists．

1. What impressed the author most about Stephen Hawking?

A．His brilliant research．

B．His bestselling books．

C．His serious disease．

D．His defeating hardship．

2. What made Stephen Hawking start his research career at Cambridge?

A．His death sentence．

B．His “lazy” attitude．

C．His above-average talent and ability．

D．His rich experience．

3. It can be inferred that Stephen Hawking was born ________．

A．in the early 1940s

B．in the late 1940s

C．in the early 1930s

D．in the late 1930s

4. What can we learn from the text?

A．Hawking’s theory was proved years ago．

B．Hawking was not as successful as Newton．

C．String theory built on Hawking’s idea．

D．Hawking’s theory has had little influence on others．

5. Which of the following is Not True according the passage?

A．He achieved one success after another in his career despite his disease．

B．He couldn’t walk when the author first met him at Cambridge．

C．He not only survived his disease but contributed greatly to science．

D．He is among the greatest scientists to improve the knowledge of gravity．

【推荐2】For the first time since local extinction in 1996, Nubian giraffes have returned to Pian Upe Wildlife Reserve in northeastern Uganda. Fifteen of this vitally endangered animals were moved over 400 km from Murchison Falls National Park in October 2019.

The 11 female and 4 male giraffes are aged two to four: “We chose younger giraffes because they have a longer reproductive lifespan,” says Robert Aruho, a doctor of Uganda Wildlife Authority (UWA), who let the move.

Northern Uganda is home to Nubian giraffes. They have large, rectangular blotches (矩形斑点) set irregularly against a cream background. The lower legs are noticeably white and not patterned. Pian Upe’s grassy land held large numbers of giraffes in the 1960s before conflict in the Karamoja region saw them hunted illegally. “The habitat is perfect, and effective anti-hunting measures are now capable of supporting at least 700 individuals,” explains Aruho.

Nubian giraffes are Uganda’s only giraffe species and most of them inhabit Murchison Falls. “We can’t have all our eggs in one basket,” Aruho says, “We have a unique opportunity to act now to prevent them dying out.”

Back in 2015, the UWA moved 15 Nubian giraffes from Murchison Falls to Lake Mburo National Park. After that, 9 of the 10 females quickly became pregnant. From a little over 300 Nubian giraffes in the mid 1990s in Uganda there are now about 1,650. A further 25 giraffes will move from Murchison to Pian Upe in October 2020.

“In Uganda we continue to work closely with the UWA to increase numbers and populations of threatened Nubian giraffes. Boosting existing populations is vital for securing their future in the country,” Aruho says.

1. Why were younger giraffes moved to Pian Upe Wildlife Reserve?

A．They were in greater danger than the older.

B．It was easier for them to adapt to a new habitat.

C．They would reproduce more in future.

D．It cost less to move younger giraffes there.

2. Why did the author say “return” in Para. 1?

A．The local didn’t support the movement at first.

B．The giraffes used to live in Pian Upe in the 1960s.

C．The giraffes’ habitats were built a long time ago.

D．People moved all giraffes to escape local conflict.

3. What is the original intention of the move according to Aruho?

A．It’s better for giraffes to live in different places.

B．700 giraffes is a point of what the reserve affords.

C．Measures should be taken to stop local conflicts.

D．Nubian giraffes look so attractive as to be hunted illegally.

4. Which chart can describe the move of Nubian giraffes since 2015?
P= Pian Upe   L=Lake Mburo   M= Murchison Falls

A．	B．
C．	D．

【推荐3】All you need to know about German Tutor

Do you call yourselves language novices or beginners? Whatever you like to call yourselves, we can enable you to speak a new language.

In order to put our money where our mouth is, we commissioned researchers from two universities in America to conduct a study that tested the effectiveness of our German Tutor app for German beginners in just two months. Then we challenged 15 employees to learn as much German as possible by using the app in just three weeks.

Here are three reasons why you should use German Tutor to learn a new language.

1. You will make great progress.

The study’s findings: 85% of our participants were complete beginners to German.However, they learned the language faster than more advanced learners.

German Tutor challenge’s findings: Although our employees were complete beginners, they made satisfactory progress. Before taking the challenge, they struggled to even comprehend German sentences, but after only three weeks, they could successfully talk with a native.

2. You don’t need to spend a lot of time.

The study’s findings: Our study drew a conclusion that participants only needed to study by using the German Tutor app for about two hours per week to improve their German by at least one college semester level, while the complete German beginners only needed a total time of 15 hours over two months to improve by one college semester level.

German Tutor challenge’s findings: Our employees spent about 15 minutes a day on German Tutor during their three-week challenges.

3.You will enjoy learning with German Tutor.

The study’s findings: An amazing 99% of the participants said that they wouldn’t stop using German Tutor after the study, as it is easy to use and the sense of success can greatly motivate them to continue their learning.

German Tutor challenge’s findings: Most of our employees fell in love with German and many of them promised to continue learning it.

1. Why did German Tutor carry out the study?

A．To show how the app works	B．To see how popular the app is
C．To find how often the app is used	D．To prove how effective the app is

2. How long did the study last?

A．15 hours

B．Three weeks

C．Two months

D．Over two months

3. What could German Tutor’s employees achieve after their challenge?

A．They could teach complete beginners.

B．They could talk with native German speakers

C．They could only comprehend German sentences.

D．They could reach the same level as more advanced learners.

4. What makes the participants of the study continue to use German Tutor?

A．Personal preference	B．Low cost
C．Innovative design	D．The sense of success

5. Which of the following statements is NOT true according to the passage?

A．You will make great progress after using German Tutor.

B．German Tutor challenge found that 99% of the participants would stop using German Tutor after the study.

C．Using German Tutor may save your time in learning German.

D．German Tutor is an app for language novice.