More than 90 per cent of global trade today is carried out via ships — about 53000 merchant ships trading internationally. That number seems to increase quickly. A 2019 study, led by researchers at McGill University in Canada, has predicted an increase in ocean traffic of anything between 240 and 1209 per cent by 2050. In preparation for this increase, scientists and engineers around the world are dealing with the difficult question of how to navigate (航行) more safely.
On the west coast of the US, one such group has a single priority — whales. The region is home to not only busy international ports but also the rich feeding grounds of blue, humpback and fin whales. As a result of crossovers, ship strikes are thought to be one of the leading causes of death for whale populations.
Dr Briana Abrahms, a research ecologist at NOAA Fisheries’ Southwest Fisheries Science Center, is developing an app that will allow managers and ship crews to be alarmed to the possible location of blue whales. It is based on the group’s new model which predicts whale movements based on oceanographic conditions. “Ocean conditions can change on a daily basis,” Abrahms explains. “We know what conditions the whales like, so every single day we can look at where those conditions are and predict where the whales will go.”
Of course, knowing where the whales are is hardly relevant if captains ignore the information. Abrahms admits that voluntary slow-down plans for large ships on the east coast of the US (slower ships being less likely to kill whales) have seen low levels of obedience (遵守). Her hope is that more accurate data will encourage owners and managers to respond. “Part of the reason we think for the low obedience is that there isn’t much confidence among the shipping industry. If you say ‘slow down between July and November’, the shipping industry doesn’t believe that there is actually a whale there. By making it more accurate in predicting whales, we’re hoping our app will help,” Abrahms said.
1. Why does the author mention the 2019 study in Paragraph 1?| A．To tell the importance of shipping industry. |
| B．To show the fast increase in global trade. |
| C．To predict ocean traffic in the following years. |
| D．To explain the necessity of ensuring sailing safety. |
| A．Calculating the number of whales. |
| B．Telling possible locations of whales. |
| C．Predicting the consequence of ship strikes. |
| D．Forecasting the oceanographic condition. |
| A．Disapproving. | B．Optimistic. | C．Concerned. | D．Unclear. |
| A．Ways to avoid crossovers between ships and whales. |
| B．Methods of predicting severe weather. |
| C．Importance of rescuing wildlife in the sea. |
| D．Challenges of keeping a correct voyage. |
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【推荐1】Just off the Florida Keys lies the world’s third-largest coral reef (珊瑚礁), which was once an energetic habitat for millions of plants and animals. But an outbreak of stony coral tissue loss disease threatens to destroy 20 of the 45 species found there, including larger reef-building corals.
“This disease that is burning through the Florida Keys is an unbelievable event that is happening,” said Andrew Stamper, conservation science manager at Disney’s Animals, Science and Environment. “It’s like a wildfire.” Stamper said that would endanger Florida’s fishing industry and food supply. “Unfortunately, we do not know exactly what is causing this,” he said.
In order to save the reef, scientists have moved some species hundreds of miles away to a lab in Orlando. Scientists work to simulate breeding (繁殖) conditions in the lab. The conditions are exactly the same as the living conditions of the coral. The work needs a lot of care, effort and attention to detail. LED lights exactly copy the sun and moon cycles. Volunteers feed the coral in water treated to mimic its real habitat.
“This essentially is a gene bank,” said Jim Kinsler, leader of SeaWorld Orlando. “We’re trying to protect the genetics of these corals so that their offspring(后代)can eventually be returned back to the Florida reef area.”
The task of relocating the lab-grown coral to the sea is also a detailed task. Kinsler, who is part of a team of private and public partners operating the Florida Coral Rescue Center, said, “It’s the first time that many of them have been involved in rescuing an entire ecosystem,”
“We think the real challenge is just growing them out to a size, so we can test them in those waters, test their disease resistance (抵抗力), and then breed the successful corals by the hundreds of thousands literally,” said Andrew Walker, president of the Fish & Wildlife Foundation of Florida.
1. What do we know about the Florida Keys?| A．It owns the world’s largest coral reef. |
| B．A disease broke out among people there. |
| C．The world’s third-largest coral reef is close to it. |
| D．It is now the habitat of millions of plants and animals. |
| A．The root of the disease is unclear. |
| B．A wildfire broke out in the Florida Keys. |
| C．The disease will spread across the Earth. |
| D．The disease has caused a great loss to the locals. |
| A．Copy. | B．Contrast. | C．Escape. | D．Feature. |
| A．To restore the coral in the lab. |
| B．To sell the coral in the normal size. |
| C．To make more people involved in protecting the ecosystem. |
| D．To produce masses of disease-resistant coral back to the sea. |
【推荐2】Endangered species
An endangered species is a group of animals that could soon become extinct.
Habitat destruction is the main reason why animals become endangered and this happens in two ways. When humans move into a new area, the animals’ habitat is destroyed and there is nowhere for them to live and nothing to eat because humans chop down trees and build houses and farms.
Endangered species are also the result of hunting and fishing. Animals have been brought to the edge of extinction because they are killed for their highly-valued meat, fur, bones or skin, or just for sport.
| A．Animal habitats are also destroyed because of pollution. |
| B．Eventually, all the creatures on Earth will enjoy being together. |
| C．Recent changes, however, have helped to improve the situation. |
| D．So what can individuals and governments do to protect endangered species? |
| E．Extinction happens when the last of the species has died out and there will be no more. |
| F．If we all cooperate and take these steps, we will protect these animals for future generations. |
| G．Overfishing has resulted in many large sea creatures becoming endangered species, like sharks. |
【推荐3】Growing up on a mountain farm in Tyrol, Fritz enjoyed watching how cows and horses interacted with each other more freely, once they’d been led out of the barn and into pasture. It was what he observed in his boyhood that took root in his pursuit of becoming a biologist. After he finished his study at university. Fritz landed work at Austria’s Konrad Lorenz Research Center, raising raven chicks by hand and teaching graylag geese how to open boxes as he pursued his PhD. Working this closely with free-living animals was exactly what he’d dreamed of as a boy.
In 1997, a zoo gave the research center its first northern bald ibis chicks (隐鹮) Nowhere near as teachable as geese—and not even close to super intelligent ravens—the ibises frustrated most of the scientists. But Fritz was fascinated. He devoted himself to taking care of them. After the ibises were first released back into the wild more than 20 years ago, Fritz learned that spending generations in zoo hadn’t reduced their drive to migrate (迁徙), though it did leave them geographically uninformed. In their search for “south”, some ended up in Russia. What the ibises needed, Fritz thought, was a guide.
Fritz decided he would teach the birds a new, safer migration route by guiding them himself in a tiny aircraft. And he was confident he could succeed in this daring, unconventional plan—because he had done it before. “Around that time, the movie ‘Fly Away Home’ was a huge hit with us biologists,” Fritz says. When he announced that he’d do the same with the ibises, he was initially laughed at. But Fritz didn’t give up. He modified an ultralight aircraft so it would travel at speeds slow enough for his winged students to keep up. He had been his young pupils’ only provider of food, love and hugs since they were just a few days old, and the ibises eagerly followed their teacher, who just happened to pilot a fairly noisy machine.
In 2004, three years after some initially bumpy (颠簸的) experiments, Fritz led the first batch of birds from Austria to Italy, and has since led 15 such migrations. Over that time, he has rewilded 277 young ibises, many of which then started to pass the route on to their own young.
1. What determined Fritz’s career choice?| A．Fritz’s childhood observation. | B．Fritz’s passion for biology. |
| C．Fritz’s growth environment. | D．Fritz’s interaction with animals. |
| A．They are easy to get lost in the migration. |
| B．They are lacking in the desire to migrate. |
| C．They are accustomed to the life in the zoo. |
| D．They are strikingly far from easy to teach. |
| A．The ibises were too awkward to find a new migration route. |
| B．The ibises needed a guide for lack of geographical knowledge. |
| C．Fritz wanted to prove that he could succeed in a daring plan. |
| D．Fritz wanted to recreate a touching scene of a popular movie. |
| A．sensitive but courageous. | B．innovative but demanding. |
| C．persistent and insightful. | D．enthusiastic and cooperative. |
【推荐1】Nearly twenty years have passed since China launched the first Beidou satellite in 2000. In that time more Beidou satellites were sent into orbit(轨道), forming the Beidou Navigation Satellite System(BDS, 北斗卫星导航系统). In late 2012, it began providing positioning, navigation, timing and messaging services for people in China and other parts of the Asia-Pacific region(区域).
At the end of 2018, BDS started to provide global services. “This marked Beidou’s entering a ‘global era’ from its ‘regional era’, ” BDS Spokesman Ran Chengqi said at a news conference.
Now with two more Beidou satellites launched on Dec.16th, 2019, BDS has 53 satellites in orbit－more than US government’s Global Positioning System(GPS), which has 31 active satellites. That launch means the core(核心) of Beidou’s third-generation network is now in place. It is expected to greatly improve the system’s ability to serve users worldwide.
A signal receiver on Earth－your smart phone, for example, measures its distance from at least three satellites by recording the amount of time it takes to receive their signals. Then it can calculate(计算) its location. With so many satellites, BDS can provide a more accurate(精确的) calculation. While GPS calculates locations to within a few meters, BDS reduces the error to centimeters. This high-precision(高精确度的) service is useful for land surveying, mapping, agriculture and automated driving.
China is willing to share BDS with the world. According to Ran, BDS products have been exported(出口) to more than 120 countries and regions. “The Beidou system will always stick to the development idea of ‘China’s Beidou, the world’s Beidou and the first-class Beidou ’, serving the world and benefiting mankind,” Ran told reporters after the latest launch. He added that future plans call for a smarter and more accessible(易使用的) system with Beidou as its core, to come online by 2035.
1. According to the passage, which of the following is true?| A．BDS is only used in China. | B．GPS has more satellites than BDS. |
| C．BDS develops step by step. | D．The first Beidou satellite provided global services. |
| A．how BDS works | B．what BDS is |
| C．why people prefer BDS | D．how the signal is received |
| A．The system is expected to improve in the future. | B．BDS is perfect at present. |
| C．Other countries refuse to use BDS. | D．It is challenging to export BDS products. |
| A．BDS or GPS? | B．China’s Beidou, the world’s Beidou! |
| C．Advance with the world! | D．Prepare for future! |
【推荐2】A digital footprint is a record of a person’s online activity, and it’s becoming more common for companies to perform social media checks before hiring people, Business News Daily reported.
When posting on social media platforms, some students don’t think enough about how it could affect them in the future. Sometimes students post reckless (鲁莽的) content to their social media profiles without considering the potential consequences: They could be creating a damaging digital footprint that may prevent them from getting hired.
Before determining who to hire, 70 percent of companies screen potential applicants and look at their social media, with 18 percent of employees losing their job due to their social media posts, according to a September 2022 study by CareerBuilder, a company that helps employers hire in the United States. “Sometimes some people’s social media tell a lot more about somebody than an interview,” said Rithika Mothukuri, a senior media studies and production major.
A 17-year-old lost out on a job opportunity after the company performed a background check and saw her videos on TikTok, Buzzfeed reported. Many of the videos shared overly personal stories, which was enough to cost her a job.
Therefore, students should ensure a search for their name doesn’t surface inappropriate content because even one unprofessional post could potentially ruin job opportunities. They should perform a digital declutter if there is such content though it may be very challenging to do that. So the most important is to refrain (避免) from posting content that contributes to a negative image in the first place.
“I never had anything controversial or something that could get me fired from a workplace or school or something, but there are many cases of that happening and we should be learning from their mistakes,” said Kieran Mc Carney, a junior social work major.
While having a clean digital is important, it’s also important that students avoid doing anything that can be considered inappropriate in their real life. In this way, even others cannot post inappropriate images or videos of them on social media.
1. What problem is discussed in the second paragraph?| A．Students have too many reckless behaviors in life. |
| B．Social media platforms could harm students’ future |
| C．Too much inappropriate content is present on social media. |
| D．What students post online may damage their images. |
| A．To recommend a way of understanding people. |
| B．To show interviews have become less important. |
| C．To show most companies consider social media content. |
| D．To prove companies are cautious when hiring people. |
| A．Clear-up. | B．Add-up. | C．Check-in. | D．Take-over. |
| A．Content founded on social media platforms is very reliable. |
| B．Students should avoid inappropriate behavior in life. |
| C．Companies shouldn’t care about people’s personal life. |
| D．Students should stop posting anything on social media. |
【推荐3】Aspirin was discovered in 1897, and an explanation of how it works followed in 1995. That, in turn, has encouraged some research leads on making better pain relievers through something other than trial and error. This kind of discovery—answers first, explanations later—is called "intellectual debt". We gain understanding of what works without knowing why it works. We can put that understanding to use immediately, and then tell ourselves we'll figure out the details later. Sometimes we pay off the debt quickly; sometimes, as with aspirin, it takes a century; and sometimes we never pay it off at all.
In the Age of Intelligence, while machine learning presents lots of problems and gets things wrong, at least we know enough to be wary of the predictions produced by the system and to argue that they shouldn't be blindly followed: but if a system performs perfectly（and we don't know why）, then we come to rely on it and forget about it and suffer consequences when it goes wrong.
It's the difference between knowing your car has faulty brakes and not knowing: both are bad, but if you know there is a problem with your brakes, you can increase your following distance, drive slowly and get to a mechanic as soon as possible. If you don't know, you' re likely to find out the hard way, at 80mph on the highway when the car in front of you comes to a sudden stop and your brakes give out.
We don't have much by way of solutions. Most important, we shouldn't trick ourselves into thinking that machine learning alone is all that matters. Indeed, without life value, machine learning may not be meaningful answers at all.
1. What is the purpose of mentioning aspirin in the first paragraph?| A．To present the research process of aspirin. |
| B．To introduce a similar situation machine learning faces. |
| C．To show the difficulty in explaining how aspirin works. |
| D．To prove we can use something even when we don't understand. |
| A．Negative. | B．Doubtful. | C．Anxious. | D．Watchful. |
| A．By telling a story. | B．By giving a definition. |
| C．By doing an experiment. | D．By making comparison. |
| A．It's OK as long as a system works well. | B．It's impossible to pay off Intellectual debt. |
| C．It's unwise to rely blindly on machine learning. | D．It makes no sense to pay attention to life value. |
【推荐1】The fire at Notre-Dame de Paris has been put out, but its spire and a large part of its wooden roof have been damaged. The terrible damage causes a sudden pain for people all over the world. What a pity that we cannot see the damaged parts of the wonder anymore.
But the good news is that we can see them through a video game called Assassin’s Creed Unity. In this game, the player can travel to one city after another and enter the buildings exactly like what they are in reality, and see Notre-Dame as it was before the fire. Further, with virtual (虚拟的) reality technology one can even look around the undamaged Notre-Dame as if it were still there. Maybe digital technology could help to better protect the architectural cultural heritage.
The idea of making digital models of ancient buildings to save their data dates back to the 1990s and the necessary technology has continued to advance since then. By scanning (扫描) the ancient buildings, building 3D models with a series of images, as well as measuring (测量) everything accurately, engineers can make a copy as accurate as the real one.
As computers and smartphones are hugely popular, the digital model has great useful value. First, it allows tourists to feel the cultural relics without touching them. The virtual tour of the Mogao Caves in Gansu Province is a good example of this as tourists can view the paintings without standing near them. Furthermore, it can make the digitized cultural relics more famous through the Internet. In 2000, a virtual tour of the Great Wall became very popular at the Hanover World Expo, which increased the number of foreign tourists visiting the site in the following years. Above all, it preserves all the information of the cultural relics.
Of course, however accurate a model is, it is not the original (原件). Maybe we will have better technologies in the future, but digital technology offers a useful way to preserve the architectural cultural heritage at the moment.
1. What can we see about Notre-Dame in the game?| A．The big fire. | B．Its original look. |
| C．Its wooden shape. | D．The damaged Notre-Dame. |
| A．Build 3D models of full size. | B．Scan photos of the buildings. |
| C．Measure all their parts exactly. | D．Take apart the ancient buildings. |
| A．By giving examples. | B．By classification. |
| C．By comparison. | D．By listing data. |
| A．Delighted. | B．Supportive. | C．Doubtful. | D．Unconcerned. |
【推荐2】Parents who have books in the home increase the level of education their children will attain(获得), whether rich or poor, according to a 20-year study led by Mariah Evans.
For years, educators have thought the strongest predictor(预示物) of attaining high levels of education was having parents who were highly educated. But, the study showed that the difference between being raised in a bookless home compared to being raised in a home with a 500-book library has as great an effect on the level of education a child will attain as the difference between having parents who are barely literate (有文化的) and having parents who have a university education.
Being a sociologist, Evans was particularly interested to find that children of less-educated parents benefit the most from having books in the home. What kinds of investments should we make to help these kids get ahead? The results of this study indicate that getting some books into their homes is an inexpensive way that we can help these children succeed. Evans said, “Even a little bit goes a long way. Having as few as 20 books in the home still has a significant impact on motivating a child to a higher level of education, and the more books you add, the greater benefit the children get.”
The researchers were struck by the strong effect having books in the home had on children's educational attainment even above and beyond such factors as education level of the parents, the father's occupation or the economic level of the country.
Having books in the home is twice as important as the father's education level, and more important than whether a child was brought up in a developing country or a developed country. Surprisingly, the difference in educational attainment for children born in a developed country and children born in a developing country was just 2 years, less than two-thirds of the effect that having 500 or more books in the home had on children.
1. In the past educators held a point of view that ______ .| A．children whose family had a library would possibly attain high levels of education |
| B．children who were born in poor families studied harder than those in rich families |
| C．children whose parents are highly educated would attain high levels of education |
| D．parents’ level of education had nothing to do with their children’s levels of education |
| A．Making somebody want to do something. |
| B．Helping somebody to finish something |
| C．Making somebody pretend to do something. |
| D．Preventing somebody from achieving something. |
| A．The economic level of the country. | B．The father’s occupation. |
| C．Education levels of parents. | D．Having books in the home. |
【推荐3】Girl with a Pearl Earring
Johannes Vermeer is a Dutch painter of the 17th century. Vermeer’s paintings are realistic pictures of scenes from everyday life. Not many of Vermeer’s paintings still exist. When one was put on sale in London in 2004, someone paid ￡16,000,000 for it, so you can see Vermeer is an artist who is valued very highly.
One of Vermeer’s most beautiful and well-known paintings is the Girl with a Pearl Earring. It shows a pretty young woman with blue cloth around her head and a large, shining pearl earring. We do not know much about Vermeer’s life, and the English writer Tracy Chevalier decided to think of a story to explain who the girl is in this painting. She gave the book the same name as the painting. Chevalier imagines that the girl in the painting works for the Vermeer family. Her name is Griet.
She comes from a poor family and does the cleaning and housework. Some of Vermeer’s family are nice to her, but others are not. The Vermeer family needs him to sell paintings to live. Vermeer works all day in his studio. He does not like anyone else to go into it, but Griet can go in to clean it. A rich man who often buys Vermeer’s paintings thinks Griet is beautiful and suggests Vermeer paint her. This makes trouble for the girl because Vermeer’s wife is unhappy that Vermeer allows Griet in his studio and paints her, and not his wife. She wants to send Griet away but the wife’s mother stops her, as she wants Vermeer to work and earn money.
Griet becomes interested in Vermeer’s work and more friendly with the artist. He asks her to make special colours for him and she spends more time in the studio.
Vermeer is not happy with the painting. Something is wrong-he cannot finish it. Then he remembers his wife’s lovely pearl earring. He asks his mother-in-law（岳母）for it and she gives it to him as she wants the painting finished and sold. When the wife is out, Griet wears the pearl earring and Vermeer paints it. When the painting is nearly finished, the wife sees it and is very angry that this girl she hates has had her earring. Griet loses her job and is sent away, but the butcher’s son loves her and takes care of her. In the end, they marry and lead a happy life.
This is Chevalier’s explanation of the famous painting and the expression on the girl’s face. The book has been made into a film with the same name. Do you think the story matches the picture？
1. Vermeer’s paintings are expensive because ______.| A．there are not many in the world | B．they are very large |
| C．they show everyday life | D．they are based on true stories |
| A．she needs to clean | B．she needs to paint |
| C．Vermeer likes her | D．she works as a student painter |
| A．wants the painting for herself | B．wants Vermeer to make money |
| C．likes Griet very much | D．hates her daughter |
| A．happy | B．sad | C．uncertain | D．negative |
