【推荐1】Losing an arm means losing the ability to grab as well as a sense of touch. Scientists have been working on mind-controlled prostheses (义肢) and have successfully built a few to help patients regain their ability to grab. But regaining the sense of both has been quite a challenge—until now.

Seven years ago, a group of Swedish scientists created a new type of prosthesis, which has since been tried out on three patients to see how they perform in their daily lives. The study result was recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

According to the study, this is the first time that people who have had an arm amputated have experienced the sense of touch using mind-controlled arm prostheses.

The new prosthesis is “neuromusculoskeltal”. As the name indicates, the prosthesis is connected directly to a person’s nerves, muscles and skeleton. The sense of touch becomes possible by stimulating nerves that used to be connected to the biological hand before the amputation.

When a patient grabs an object, for example, force sensors planted in the prosthetic thumb would measure contact and pressure. The collected information would then be transmitted to the patient’s nerves that lead to the brain. The patient would then be able to “feel” the characteristics of the object being touched and perceive its pressure against the prosthetic hand, which can be important when handing delicate objects—an egg, for example.

“The ability of the patients to discern (觉察) smaller changes in the intensity of sensations has improved,” Max Ortiz Catalan, associate professor at Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, and the leader of the study, told Science Daily.

According to Catalan, the new study has shown that their prosthesis is qualified as a “clinically viable replacement for a lost arm”.

“The sensors are not the obstacle for restoring sensation,” Catalan added. “The challenge is creating neural interfaces (神经接口) that can seamlessly transmit large amounts of artificially collected information to the nervous system, in a way that the user can experience sensations naturally and effortlessly.”

And they did it.

With the development of prosthesis technology, people who suffer from limb loss will have a greater chance of getting their normal lives back.

1. What can we learn about the new prosthesis?

A．It has been successfully put into market.

B．It fails to meet patients’ demands.

C．It is directly linked to a patient’s brain.

D．It can not only grab objects but also help patients to feel.

2. The underlined word “amputated” in paragraph 3 can be best replaced by “_________”.

A．hurt.

B．removed.

C．folded.

D．bent.

3. What is Catalan’s attitude towards the new prosthesis?

A．favorable.

B．disapproving.

C．indifferent.

D．objective.

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

A．a new prosthesis enjoying popularity

B．How to use the prosthesis

C．Restoring touch

D．Helping the disabled

【推荐2】Chokwe Selassie, aged 13, is working hard to help drivers avoid potholes(坑洼). The eighth-grader was inspired to kick off his creation on a recent morning, when his mother was driving him to school. Their car was damaged as it went over a huge pothole in the middle of the street in their hometown of Jackson, Mississippi. He decided to do something about the pothole problem in his city. His solution: an app that warns drivers when there is a pothole ahead.

Chokwe developed the app with his friends Rodriguez Ratliff and Emmanuel Brooks. When the app detects a pothole, it is highlighted in red. And if you get close to the pothole, your phone will warn you. Drivers can also use the app to report any potholes they meet, and to look for other routes they can take to avoid roads that have them.

The app relies on current available information about the streets of Jackson. It works by using the city’s 311 call system, and uses information already stored in a database. Through the call system, citizens dial 311 to report non-emergency problems, which include potholes. Chokwe and his friends determined that focusing on the 10 busiest streets in Jackson would give them a large enough sample size to test the prototype(原型).

Although the app isn't yet available for sale, Chokwe is already looking for ways to improve it. The prototype remains limited to 10 streets in Jackson, but he hopes to add more, so that it includes every street in the city. And then he wants to go even farther until it's nationwide.

1. The passage is mainly about ________.

A．a solution to traffic jams	B．an App to detect potholes
C．pothole problems in big cities	D．poor road conditions

2. What’s the closest meaning of the underlined phrase “kick off” in Paragraph 1?

A．leave	B．invent
C．begin	D．change

3. How does the app work through the 311 call system?

A．By replying to citizens’ calls.

B．By broadcasting traffic accidents.

C．By settling non-emergency problems.

D．By using its information about potholes.

4. Which can be Chokwe’s future target?

A．Encouraging more kids to create apps.

B．Taking part in more learning programs.

C．Making the app available for sale online.

D．Making the app include streets nationwide.

【推荐3】WeChat is a social mobile application with voice and text messaging timeline and several social features like ‘Message in a Bottle’. WeChat, a popular instant messaging tool run by Tencent Holdings, aims to help users access mobile services without downloading separate apps, which experts said may challenge the business of smartphone app distributors such Apple Store.

This new feature, named ‘Mini Programs’, allows WeChat users to find a variety of services such as ticket buying by scanning a QR (quick-response) code, saving them the trouble of installing a number of different apps on smart devices, according to the transcript of a speech by Zhang Xiaolong, Tencent’s senior executive vice president, on Wednesday. The new function is expected to come online on January 9.

Zhang, known as the father of WeChat, emphasized that ‘Min Programs’ is not a mobile app distributing function.

Still, experts and app developers said that the rollout (推出) of ‘Mini Programs’ on WeChat will erode the market share of app distributors like Apple Store in China.

“‘Mini Programs’ will attract lots of start-ups, because a program based on WeChat can help them build up businesses at much lower costs,” a Shanghai-based app developer, told the Global Times Wednesday.

If a start-up wants to promote its business via a separate application, it has to hire a special team to develop two different apps— one each for iOS and Android.

Lsiunched in 2011, WeChat has evolved to include services such as ‘Order Taxi’, ‘Food Delivery’, e-commerce and payments from just an instant messaging app.

1. What can we know about ‘Mini Programs’?

A．It’s expensive.	B．It’s complex.
C．It’s convenient.	D．It’s free.

2. Why do lots of start-ups choose the ‘Mini Programs’?

A．It can cut the costs of building business.	B．It can help build up business.
C．It can help them make a big fortune.	D．It can promote their business.

3. What does the underlined word “erode” probably mean in Paragraph 4?

A．reduce

B．increase

C．improve

D．promote

4. What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A．WeChat will be a perfect app.	B．WeChat will meet a great challenge.
C．WeChat will meet needs of more people.	D．WeChat will replace other apps.

【推荐2】Race walking shares many fitness benefits with running, research shows, while most likely contributing to fewer injuries. It does, however, have its own problem.

Race walkers are conditioned athletes. The longest track and field event at the Summer Olympics is the 50-kilometer race walk, which is about five miles longer than the marathon. But the sport’s rules require that a race walker’s knees stay straight through most of the leg swing and one foot remain in contact (接触) with the ground at all times. It’s this strange form that makes race walking such an attractive activity, however, says Jaclyn Norberg, an assistant professor of exercise science at Salem State University in Salem, Mass.

Like running, race walking is physically demanding, she says, According to most calculations, race walkers moving at a pace of six miles per hour would burn about 800 calories(卡路里) per hour, which is approximately twice as many as they would burn walking, although fewer than running, which would probably burn about 1,000 or more calories per hour.

However, race walking does not pound the body as much as running does, Dr. Norberg says. According to her research, runners hit the ground with as much as four times their body weight per step, while race walkers, who do not leave the ground, create only about 1.4 times their body weight with each step.

As a result, she says, some of the injuries associated with running, such as runner’s knee, are uncommon among race walkers. But the sport’s strange form does place considerable stress on the ankles and hips, so people with a history of such injuries might want to be cautious in adopting the sport. In fact, anyone wishing to try race walking should probably first consult a coach or experienced racer to learn proper technique, she says. It takes some practice.

1. Why are race walkers conditioned athletes?

A．They must run long distances.

B．They are qualified for the marathon.

C．They have to follow special rules.

D．They are good at swinging their legs.

2. What advantage does race walking have over running?

A．It’s more popular at the Olympics.

B．It’s less challenging physically.

C．It’s more effective in body building.

D．It’s less likely to cause knee injuries.

3. What is Dr. Norberg’s suggestion for someone trying race walking?

A．Getting experts’ opinions.

B．Having a medical checkup.

C．Hiring an experienced coach.

D．Doing regular exercises.

4. Which word best describes the author’s attitude to race walking?

A．Skeptical.	B．Objective.
C．Tolerant.	D．Conservative.

【推荐3】For some people, running outdoors is a great way to exercise. What may not be so great is seeing trash all over the ground. Well, some people are doing something about it. They are plogging! Plogging began in Sweden in 2016. A Swedish man named Erik Ahlstrom became concerned about the amount of trash and litter he saw each day on his way to work and he began picking up the trash. That is how plogging was born!

Plogging, by that term，may have officially begun in Sweden. But many people who exercise outdoors have been doing this for years. Take Jeff Horowitz for example. He is a personal trainer in Washington，D. C. He would often pick up trash while running outside. He even turned it into a game; he would try to pick up the trash without stopping.

Today, plogging is an official activity, one that is becoming increasingly popular. Plogging can build closer social connections in a community, and it can also be fun. When Dana Allen goes plogging around D. C., she invites her friends, and they make a day of it. Although Allen enjoys plogging，she doesn’t do it all the time. When she is training for a serious marathon race，the trash has to wait.

Cities around the world now hold plogging events. The goal is to spread the idea that littering is not acceptable. Along with cleaning up the environment, there may be another reason to choose plogging. One fitness app，Lifesum，records one hour of plogging as burning 288 calories. Usual jogging burns about 235 calories.

Getting ready to plog is similar to getting ready to jog. Ploggers do some deep knee bends as well as some balancing exercises and then they put on protective gloves. There are other safety rules for plogging. The main one is to plog in areas where there are not too many people. Stopping quickly in front of someone. to pick up an empty bag of potato chips, for example, could cause a crash.

1. What do we know about Jeff Horowitz from the text?

A．He was the first person to plog.	B．He has been actually plogging.
C．He is in support of eco-travelling.	D．He is an expert in picking up trash.

2. What is so special about Dana Allen’s plogging?

A．She doesn’t always do it with her friends.

B．She always finds it interesting to do it.

C．She nearly does it in a park every day.

D．She doesn’t insist doing it every day.

3. What do the numbers in Paragraph 4 mainly tell us?

A．Picking up trash is important.	B．Plogging events are of little use.
C．Plogging is a better workout.	D．The idea of plogging is strange.

4. Why should ploggers choose to plog in less crowded areas?

A．To avoid a crash.	B．To save energy.
C．To pick up more trash.	D．To make it unknown.