Have you ever imagined that your simple T-shirt could cool you down by up to 5℃ on hot summer days? Thanks to a recent discovery, the possibility is getting closer. The amazing invention aims to offer real relief for people eager to feel comfortable and fresh in the outdoors on extremely hot days.
Its inventors, engineers Ma Yaoguang of Zhejiang University and Tao Guangming of Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China, took a completely innovative approach. They designed a special textile(纺织物)that can absorb body heat and re-emit(重发出)its energy into space as mid-infrared radiation (MIR))This textile cools both the objects and their surroundings through a technique known as radiative cooling. This means that even when it looks like you are wearing a regular shirt, you are actually wearing a device that works like a mirror.
Research conducted at Stanford University in 2017 had already managed to cool the wearer by 3℃, but this previous trial was limited. So researchers still need to test the new approach to determine how effectively the new fabric cools while the wearers are standing or walking, and not directly facing the sky, like in their trials.They also need to examine and measure how well it works when T-shirts are not in close contact with the skin.
Inventors Yaoguang and Guangming are now looking out for textile manufacturers and clothing brands that are interested in using their fabric. They estimate that the new material will increase clothing manufacturing costs by just 10 percent.“We can make it with mass production which means everybody can get a T-shirt and the cost is basically the same as their old stuff,” Yaoguang said.
So if you are an athlete or simply someone that has to deal with the extremely high temperatures, be patient because your days of feeling hot and bothered may be coming to an end!
1. What is the purpose of the new invention?| A．To adjust the wearers’ temperature. | B．To change people's body temperature. |
| C．To cool people off in the hot weather | D．To protect clothes from becoming wet |
| A．By sending out absorbed heat. | B．By turning sunlight into energy |
| C．By keeping heat out completely | D．By using light colors to reflect sunlight |
| A．The invention needs further testing. | B．The previous studies lack evidence |
| C．The new fabric has a good cooling effect. | D．The new fabric applies to various situations |
| A．Barking up the wrong tree. | B．Robbing Peter to pay Paul. |
| C．Putting the cart before the horse. | D．Killing two birds with one stone |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Let’s learn about ancient technology
Where we live is surrounded by technology.
All of our modern things, however, are based on older technologies. And those were based on still older ones. Ancient people didn’t have large machinery and equipment.
Not all of these technologies were limited to modern people. The first “kitchen” flames are older still. Ancient human relatives were cooking food over fires in Europe 800,000 years ago. The first spear throwers (掷矛者) threw their weapons 279,000 years ago before modern humans existed.
Scientists have been trying to figure out how ancient people developed their tools and built their cities and monuments.
| A．Ancient people are really clever. |
| B．Not all of these technologies are useful. |
| C．Yet they built monuments even bigger than Stonehenge. |
| D．They use modern technologies to search for Mayan cities. |
| E．For example, we are surrounded by skyscrapers and the Internet. |
| F．Scientists believed the ancient living 80,000 years ago began to throw stone spears. |
| G．They have made great discoveries, but there is still a lot waiting to be discovered. |
【推荐2】Scientists think that growing garden grass could be the secret to solving our energy needs, and we may soon be able to replace our gasoline with “grassoline”.
The team, including experts from Cardiff University in Wales, has shown that hydrogen can be taken from grass in useful amounts with the help of sunlight and a cheap catalyst (催化剂) — something that speeds up a chemical reaction without being used up.
It is the first time that this has been shown and it could lead to a sustainable (可持续的) way of making hydrogen, reported Asian News International. This could be an important kind of renewable energy because it is high in energy and it does not give out harmful gases when it is burned.
Study co-author Michael Bowker said, “This is really a green source of energy. Hydrogen is seen as an important future energy carrier as the world moves from fossil fuels to renewable energy, and our research has shown that even garden grass could be a good way of getting it.”
Cellulose (纤维素), which is a key part of plants and the biopolymer (生物聚合物) found in the largest numbers on the earth, could be a great source of hydrogen.
In its study, the team looked at the possibility of getting hydrogen from cellulose using sunlight and a simple catalyst.
This is called photocatalysis (光催化作用) and in it, the sunlight starts the catalyst, which then makes cellulose and water into hydrogen. The researchers studied the effectiveness of three metal-based catalysts, of which nickel (镍) especially interested the researchers, as it is a much more common metal than gold and palladium (钯) and it saves more money.
According to Bowker, producing hydrogen from cellulose using photocatalysis has not been studied in detail. The team’s research shows that large amounts of hydrogen can be produced using this method with the help of a bit of sunlight and a cheap catalyst.
The study shows that it is effective to use real grass taken from a garden. “This is important as it avoids the need to separate and clean up cellulose, which can be both difficult and costly,” said Bowker.
1. What are needed to get hydrogen from grass?| A．A catalyst and palladium. | B．Water and cellulose. |
| C．Sunlight and a biopolymer. | D．Sunlight and a catalyst. |
| A．It is cheap, green and sustainable. |
| B．It is the best to produce the renewable energy. |
| C．It is more productive and efficient than other methods. |
| D．It can replace the way to make fossil fuels completely. |
| A．It can produce the largest amount of hydrogen. |
| B．It can avoid separating and cleaning up cellulose. |
| C．It is more common than other metals and costs less. |
| D．It works quicker than other metals during photocatalysis. |
| A．Catalysts that could be taken from grass. |
| B．A new way of making hydrogen from cellulose. |
| C．The potential of hydrogen as a renewable energy. |
| D．The connection between hydrogen and photocatalysis. |
【推荐3】We are all aware of the damaging pollution that’s created by driving petrol and diesel (柴油) vehicles. Many of the world’s cities are blocked with traffic, creating fumes containing gases such as nitrogen oxides. The solution for a cleaner, greener future could be electric vehicles. But how optimistic should we be? There was much excitement last year when the UK government announced it will ban the sale of new petrol and diesel cars from 2030. But is that easier said than done?
The road to global traffic being totally electric is still a long way off. Currently, battery life is an issue — a fully charged battery won’t take you as far as a full tank of petrol. There are also limited numbers of charging points to plug an EV into. Of course, technology is always improving. Some of the biggest tech companies, like Google and Tesla, are spending huge amounts of money developing electric cars. And most of the big car manufacturers are now making them too. Colin Herron, a consultant on low-carbon vehicle technology, told the BBC: “The big leap forward will come with solid state batteries, which will appear first in mobile phones and laptops before they progress to cars.” These will charge more quickly and give cars a bigger range. Cost is another issue that may discourage people switching to electric power. But some countries offer incentive, such as cutting prices by reducing import taxes, and not charging for road tax and parking. Some also provide exclusive lanes for electric cars to be driven on, overtaking traditional cars which might be stuck in jams.
These kinds of measures have made Norway the country with the most electric cars per capita (人均) at more than thirty electric cars per 1000 inhabitants. But Colin Herron warns that “electric motoring” doesn’t mean a zero-carbon future. “It’s emission-free motoring, but the car has to be built, the battery has to be built, and the electricity does come from somewhere.” Maybe it’s time to think about making fewer journeys or using public transport.
1. What can we infer from the question at the end of paragraph 1?| A．We should not be too optimistic about the future. |
| B．Electric vehicles may not solve the traffic problems. |
| C．It’s not a good idea to replace petrol vehicles with electric ones. |
| D．It is not easy to obtain a greener future by means of electric vehicles. |
| A．payment | B．income | C．encouragement | D．method |
| A．Electric motoring will create a zero-carbon future. |
| B．Electric cars might not get stuck in traffic jams in the future. |
| C．There are four obstacles on the road to global traffic being totally electric. |
| D．Putting solid-state batteries in electric cars first will be a “great leap forward”. |
| A．Total Electric Traffic: a Long Way to Go |
| B．Electric Vehicles: a Road to a Greener Future |
| C．Electric Power or Petrol: a Tough Decision to Make |
| D．Petrol and Diesel Vehicles: a Main source of Gases |
【推荐1】Pablo Picasso was an artist who worked in early part of the 20th century. Recently it was discovered that underneath his masterpiece, The Blue Room, there is another painting.
Four major art collecting institutions worked together for five years to prove the existence of the second painting, which they had long suspected. The first clue that there were two paintings on the same canvas, was the unusual brush strokes on The Blue Room. The brushstrokes didn’t quite match the painting on The Blue Room.
To identify the second painting, the artwork was set up in front of special cameras called infrared cameras. Those cameras showed that there was something underneath the main painting. Then using other high-tech equipment, the scientists were able to see through the first painting to one of a bearded man in a bowtie, sitting in a chair, leaning on his hand.
It was an exciting discovery. Now, people are asking many questions about the painting that Picasso covered up. Everyone wants to know who the man in the bowtie is, and why Picasso painted him.
The bowtie painting was likely completed shortly before The Blue Room painting was. Pablo Picasso was a very prolific painter. That means he painted a lot. In order to save money, he often wouldn’t buy new canvasses for his ideas. Instead, he would simply paint over some of his other paintings.
Experts believe they will discover many more secondary paintings under Picasso’s masterpieces because today’s technology is so much more effective for this kind of work.
1. What is special about Picasso’s The Blue Room?| A．Another painting is underneath. | B．It was made of two parts. |
| C．It was a copy by another artist. | D．It portrays a man in a bowtie. |
| A．By high-tech means. | B．By scientific experiments. |
| C．By analyzing Picasso’s style. | D．By careful observation. |
| A．To play jokes on a friend. | B．To hide a secret. |
| C．To save money. | D．To show his skills. |
| A．More efforts are needed in future. | B．It will not be their only discovery. |
| C．Modern technology is incredible. | D．The Blue Room will be worth more. |
June 15 - September 15
Saturday - Thursday: 8:00 am - 8:00 pm
Friday: 9:00 am - 9:00 pm
Regular Hours
January 1 - June 14 and September 16 - December 31
Saturday - Thursday: 8:00 am - 5:00 pm
Friday: 9:00 am - 9:00 pm
Individual Ticket Prices
| Venues | Adult（12＋） | Senior（60＋） | Child（3 - 11） | Group（at least 3 persons） |
| Exhibit | Halls | Exhibit | Halls | Exhibit |
Exhibits:
◆ A Bird’s World
This exhibit includes a sample of every bird found in New England. It provides a lot of information about bird behavior, and New England birdwatchers will also find a useful bird “dictionary”. With this, you can learn how to understand the bird language you hear being chirped just outside your window at home.
◆Butterfly Garden
This garden offers a wonderful chance to get close to all kinds of living butterflies from New England and across the world. You can also look inside the “Emergence Box” to see hanging chrysalids（蝶蛹）change into adult butterflies. If you’re lucky, you might see a new butterfly crawl out of its casing.
◆Discovery Center
Designed for children under 8 and their parents, the Discovery Center offers lots of fun, hands - on activities that are designed to help them discover through playing. A perfect area for early learners, this educational environment emphasizes the use of real objects for exploring natural history, physical science, and technology topics.
◆Take a Closer kook
Explore the world around you using sight, hearing, touch and smell. Test yourself to see what you can discover when you pay attention to your senses, and learn how technology extends them.
1. If you visit the exhibits on a Wednesday in August, you can stay there until ________.
| A．3 pm | B．8 pm | C．9 pm | D．5 pm |
| A．$60.00 | B．$80.00 |
| C．$20.00 | D．$68.00 |
| A．Take a Closer Look | B．Butterfly Garden |
| C．Discovery Center | D．A Bird’s World |
| A．a sight - seeing park | B．a science park |
| C．a training center | D．an art center |
【推荐3】Researchers have recently discovered that gut microbiome (肠道微生物群)—bacteria that grow within our body-helps the brain build important social skills.
According to a paper published in PLOS Biology in November, zebra fish were used to research subjects to test how a lack of microbiome could alter social skills. Zebra fish are social animals as even 2-week-old fish starts to hang out in groups of 4 to 12.
The experiment started with making a group of fish “germ-free” through their diet. The other group were injected with a healthy mix of gut bacteria after they were hatched (孵化出来). About 15 days later, the second group began swimming in groups while the “germ-free” group “shockingly, didn’t,” Judith Eisen, a co-author of the new research, said to Quanta Magazine.
The team then examined the fish’s brains, discovering obvious differences between the two groups. The ones who lacked the gut microbiome had more interconnections among the neurons (神经元) in their brains in charge of social behavior. It also led to fewer microglia, the neural immune cells (神经免疫细胞) that help clean the brain’s unwanted neurons. With less microglia to clear the brain’s neurons, social neurons were seen to have overgrown. This made the fish more cautious in social situations.
Scientists supposed that the bacteria could release a special chemical that crosses the blood-brain barrier to reach the brain directly. Or, the immune cells might move between the gut and the brain, sending messages. Although the experiments were only on fish, the findings can theoretically be applied to humans. The team wishes to explore how gut microbiome affects the human brain in the future, which may lead to solutions to mental health problems.
Perhaps many people who claim that they have “social phobia” (社交恐惧症) can blame their guts. However, social phobia, or social anxiety disorder, can be a serious illness if overlooked. According to the National Health Service in the UK, it is more than shyness but instead a constant fear of social situations. Patients may experience panic attacks which are an overwhelming fear and anxiety that last for a few minutes.
1. What did the research aim to find out?| A．The causes of social phobia. | B．The way zebra fish build social skills. |
| C．The influencing factors of social behavior. | D．The link between gut bacteria and social behavior. |
| A．By examining the fish’s guts. | B．By collecting and analyzing data. |
| C．By observing the fish’s appearance. | D．By comparing different groups of fish. |
| A．They tend to behave less socially. | B．They have more neural immune cells. |
| C．Their brains have fewer unwanted neurons. | D．Their social neurons are loosely connected. |
| A．It is often overlooked. | B．It is caused by inactive neurons. |
| C．It should be taken seriously. | D．It affects the amount of gut microbiome. |
