Israeli company Watergen has produced a device that generates clean, drinkable water out of air. The device called GENNY is small enough to be used in a home or office but can generate up to 30 liters of water a day. The water that GENNY produces is not only clean enough to drink, it’s also often cleaner than tap water.
GENNY takes air in and passes it through a filter (过滤器) to remove dust and dirt. The filter is powerful enough to work even in areas with high air pollution. The air then passes through a chamber where heating and cooling cause water vapor in the air to condense (凝结). This water is then passed through several more filters and minerals are added to make it healthier and taste better. Finally, the water is stored in a tank where it is continually circulated to keep it fresh.
A larger model, called the GEN-350, can produce up to 900 liters of water per day. The GEN-350 is now being used in hospitals that previously did not have a reliable source of fresh, clean water. Watergen has also developed an emergency response vehicle (ERV) that can carry a GEN-350 unit wherever it is needed. In addition to the GEN-350, the ERV carries a portable generator that supplies electricity for the GEN-350.
Watergen’s ERV is designed to bring water to people suffering from the effects of a serious earthquake, fire, flood or other situations. Once such an incident occurred in California in 2018. A fire started at a camp site and spread quickly over a wide area, destroying many thousands of acres of trees and many homes. One of Watergen’s ERVs was driven there and it provided water for its citizens and rescue workers. Besides, they also provided clean safe water for the residents of Texas and Florida in the aftermath of the devastation caused by hurricane’s Harvey and Irma.
1. What can we know about Watergen’s devices?| A．They’re available in different sizes. |
| B．They’ re made in numerous countries. |
| C．They’re extremely difficult to operate. |
| D．They produce less water in polluted regions. |
| A．keep the water fresh and clean | B．meet the water safety criteria |
| C．remove dust and dirt from the water | D．improve the flavor of the water |
| A．Deal with customers’ complaints. | B．Outperform its competitors. |
| C．Supply electricity for local people. | D．Respond to natural disasters. |
| A．To advertise an Israeli company. |
| B．To introduce an Israeli water device. |
| C．To explain the principles of purifying water. |
| D．To recommend a new brand of drinking water. |
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【推荐1】Across India, summers can be extreme. Temperatures outdoors can soar to 124°F (51℃), high enough to melt the surface of the streets.
Millions of urban lower-income families live in tiny, one-room houses crammed together. Such shacks have tin and asbestos (石棉的) roofs. These materials absorb the sun’s heat, rather than reflect it back into the atmosphere. Additionally, only a few trees grow between the jam-packed houses. Making matters worse is the residents’ poverty. Most households cannot afford to run air conditioners and coolers. All these factors make the inside of these tiny houses extremely hot. Under such conditions, residents find it difficult to live, let alone work. Productivity declines.
Social workers and scientists have realized that the quickest way to cool such houses is to change their roofs. That’s because the roof receives the most direct sunlight. Climate researchers came up with many strategies to produce cool roofs. One easy way was with paint. Light-colored surfaces reflect more heat than darker ones, so roofs painted white would be cooler than those painted in any other color. This wasn’t a new idea. In fact, Indians have traditionally whitewashed homes with chuna. The annual Monsoon rains, though, wash the chuna away. Climate experts hoped that the white paints would last longer. Research findings revealed that painting alone could bring down the heat by up to 9℉(5℃).
Problems persist, though. While the paint is fairly cheap, poor people cannot afford it without financial help. In addition, the sunlight bouncing off white-topped roofs makes them too bright to look at. Residents usually use the roofs for drying wet clothes and vegetables, like chilies. But the glare from the whitened surfaces makes it tough for them to do these tasks. A third problem is that white-roofedbuildings reflect the sun’s rays throughout the year. Ironically, this makes roofs too cool in regions where winters get extremely cold. And keeping warm is costly, too.
Despite these drawbacks, many households are supporters of cool roof initiatives. For most, the benefits of the roofs outweigh their flaws. Indeed, the white paint has given their lives a newlight.
1. What is a factor contributing to Indian houses’ extreme heat?| A．The building materials of the roofs. | B．Residents’ lack of green awareness. |
| C．The influence of the global economy. | D．There being no trees in the community. |
| A．It is effective. | B．It is innovative. | C．It is replaceable. | D．It is long-lasting. |
| A．Their brightness will lead to color blindness. |
| B．The paint will become too expensive to afford. |
| C．It will be inconvenient to dry stuff on the roofs. |
| D．Residents’ living cost will be higher in summer. |
| A．Light-colored paints. | B．A house-cooling strategy. |
| C．White-roofed buildings. | D．An energy-saving initiative. |
【推荐2】In late June, two companies were given permits to sell chicken meat that has been grown in a lab. The companies say they will be serving the meat in restaurants this summer.
Unlike normal chicken meat, lab-grown meat isn’t created by raising and killing chickens. Instead, it’s a meat product developed from animal cells that are grow n in a lab. The process is called “cell-based” or “cultured” meat.
The process of creating lab-grown meat is completely different from the normal meat raising process. Scientists have known for a long time how to keep living cells alive and grow them in a lab. In this case, experts choose cells that can grow quickly and will have good flavour. The first cells come from live animals. Then the cells are grown inside large steel tanks, where they’re fed with everything they need to grow. In a few weeks, the cells grow into sheets of meat. The companies then form this meat into more familiar shapes that can be cooked and sold.
The companies say that their meat is better for the environment than meat from animals. Raising animals for food uses huge amounts of land and water. It also creates a lot of pollution. Raising animals for food create s about 15% of the world’s greenhouse gases. That’s why cutting back on eating meat is one of the easiest ways to fight climate change.
There are many companies these days that focus on making plant-based meat substitutes (替代物). But since lab-grown meat is made from animal cells, it is very hard to tell it apart from actual meat. It looks, smells, and tastes like chicken.
Polls (民意调查) have shown that many people aren’t too interested in lab-grown meat. Lots of people believe that “it just sounds strange”. But Russel Phillips, a biologist, suggests people give it a try. He says that once people try the meat, they will be amazed. The common response must be, “Oh, it tastes like chicken.”
But right now, the meat is far more expensive than meat from animals. Now that the companies have been approved, they have the huge challenge of figuring out how to make much more meat far more cheaply. It will probably be a long time before you’re able to buy lab-grown chicken in stores.
1. To produce lab-grown meat, the companies should________.| A．study how to feed live animals. | B．decide where to store meat products. |
| C．add different flavours to sheets of meat. | D．select cells suitable for producing meat. |
| A．future. | B．advantage. | C．techniques. | D．process. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Worried. | C．Supportive. | D．Uninterested. |
| A．quality. | B．safety. | C．price. | D．taste. |
【推荐3】If you’re planning to go on a diet, or if you suffer from serious conditions like diabetes. Knowing exactly what and how much you’re eating is essential. In this day and age, we have calorie and nutrition calculators even on our smartphones, but they act only as guides, whereas a famous company’s revolutionary new device, CaloRieco, actually analyzes the food on your plate and provides accurate information in just a few seconds.
You’ve probably used caloric calculators before, and you know that they only offer general information. For example, a calculator will tell you the average number of calories in a hamburger. but it can’t tell you exactly how many calories are in the hamburger. The same goes for nutrients like protein or fat. And this is what makes the new CaloRieco so special.
The spokesman for the company said that its outstanding invention is aimed at dieters and diabetes sufferers, both of whom make up a sizable market. Displayed at a recent tech show, CaloRieco is a high-tech device that uses light reflection technology to determine the nutritional values of almost any food and also provide accurate calorie estimates. All you have to do is put your plate in the box-shaped device and wait between 10 and 20 seconds for it to analyze all the food.
Once it’s done analyzing the various ingredients in your meal, CaloRieco shows the number of calories, as well as the nutritional content on an LED display. According to the company the device is able to recognize the vast majority of foods, except soups and very dark dishes.
CaloRieco can also connect to your smartphone via an app, and send all the data about analyzed foods to your handheld device, so you can access it whenever you need.
Unfortunately, you’ll have to wait a bit longer to get your hands on your very own CaloRieco, as the device presented at the show is just a prototype(样机) which needs to be improved. It’s expected to be a hit in the next few years, but the price remains a mystery.
1. What is the advantage of CaloRieco?| A．It uses light reflection technology |
| B．It offers general information of food. |
| C．It is a high-tech device working as a guide. |
| D．It can present the exact calorie of analyzed food. |
| A．needs a long time to analyze the food. |
| B．can show the food data on the smartphone directly |
| C．can count the calories of all foods on your plate. |
| D．may be well received among dieters and diabetes sufferers |
| A．The smartphone. | B．The app | C．The data. | D．The food. |
| A．It’s perfect. | B．It’s promising. | C．It’s costly. | D．It’s available. |
【推荐1】As an archaeologist at Florida State University, Jessi Halligan and her team made a discovery, reported this past spring, in the Florida section of the Aucilla River.
Deep in a sinkhole, buried in a pile of sand and mastodon dung was a small, ancient knife used for hunting and cutting meat from the bone. The dung dates back roughly 14,500 years—some 1,500 years before the Clovis people, who were long thought to have been America’s first human residents.
Discover caught up with Halligan to learn more about the find and the world of underwater archaeology.
Q: First off，what’s the impact of the Aucilla River knife discovery?
A: A lot of us thought the Americas were populated by folks who came from Siberia across the Bering Land Bridge into Alaska and Canada. However，Canada wasn’t walkable 14,500 years ago—it was covered by ice. So if people were in Florida 14,500 years ago and there was no land route through Canada, then the first people who came to the Americas probably came by boat. Therefore, we really need to start re-examining when and where people came from and what we thought we knew. We don't have all the answers we thought we did.
Q: Why did you decide to get into archaeology?
A: To me, if s that combination of things: using your body as a tool to help you understand things, as well as using your brain to think about what those things meant and applying that to the big picture about people.
Q: How many underwater archaeologists are there?
A: For every 100 archaeologists, maybe one to five of them are underwater archaeologists, and most of them are shipwreck archaeologists. I’m one of only a few dozen maybe in the whole world who focus on landscapes that got covered by sea level rise or prehistoric settlements that were land but ended up underwater.
Q: _______________
A: The water’s really dark，so you can’t see very far, and you can’t have as many people working at the same time. Also, you can’t talk underwater, so you have to communicate through hand signals, which can slow things down.
1. According to Halligan, in what way is the Aucilla River knife discovery important?| A．It is among the discoveries that have been made by archaeologists like Halligan. |
| B．It can solve the mystery why Canada remained unwalkable 14,500 years ago. |
| C．It provides a new perspective to think about America’s first human residents. |
| D．It helps to answer where early Americans came from and when they arrived. |
| A．She excels in water sports like diving. |
| B．She studies the water area that used to be land. |
| C．She focuses mainly on the research on shipwreck. ' |
| D．She is interested in early human residents in America. |
| A．What are some of the challenges you face underwater? |
| B．What has been misunderstood about archaeology? |
| C．What appeals to you most in your job? |
| D．What good does this job give to you? |
The researchers identified 15 blue whales that have appeared off the coast of British Columbia and the Gulf of Alaska since 1997. Four of these whales were recognized as ones that were once sighted off California shores, suggesting that the whales are returning to an old migration pattern between the coasts.
Before commercial whaling began in the early 1900s, blue whales were found widely throughout the North Pacific and California waters. But from the 1920s to the 1960s,whaling severely reduced the whale populations. Blue whales never recovered in the Northern Pacific, making sightings in this area rare. However, much larger groups of whales have been observed close to California since the 1970s.
The scientists had previously thought that the California population was separate from the population that had historically lived in North Pacific waters. But the current study shows that whales off the coast of British Columbia and the Gulf of Alaska are likely part of the California population.
To identify the blue whales, the researchers looked at photos of cetaceans taken in the North Pacific Ocean and compared them with a library of blue whale pictures taken along the West Cost of the United States and Southern Pacific. Up to now, the researchers are not quite sure why the whales are changing their migration patterns, but they suspect that the whales may be following their food moving farther north by the changes in ocean conditions.
1. According to the passage, blue whales are .
| A．following a fixed route of migration |
| B．dying out due to commercial whaling |
| C．moving from the south to the north |
| D．rarely found in the Southern Pacific |
| A．is different from the California population |
| B．is probably part of the California population |
| C．has become the largest group since the 1970s |
| D．has lived there since the 1960s |
| A．land creatures | B．whale species |
| C．ocean conditions | D．migration patterns |
| A．Commercial whaling. | B．Weather conditions. |
| C．Life reproduction. | D．Food resources. |
【推荐3】It is well known that most great people are also famous people，but famous people may not be great people．
As a political leader，Zhou Enlai is well known to the world．Of course，he is not only a good diplomatist and statesman．Zhou Enlai was born in Huai'an，Jiangsu，on March 5，1898．In 1917，he finished school in Nankai Middle School，and then went to France to learn Marxist theory．In 1922，he joined the Chinese Communist Party．After that，he was active in his work and directed the Party work in Shanghai．
He led the famous uprising﹣﹣﹣﹣Nanchang Uprising on August 1st，1927．Then he took part in the Long March．From 1937 to 1945，he worked in South China．
After the People's Republic of China was founded，he was elected Premier of China．He put all his heart into the work and always worked until midnight．He had no time to think about himself，but only the Chinese people．He loved his homeland and people，and he helped many children in poor family but he did not have his own child in his life．
Premier Zhou died on January 8th，1976．The whole nation was in deep sorrow at his death for he was loved by all the people．Our beloved Premier Zhou will always be alive in our Chinese people's hearts．He is a great Marxist and communist．
1. According to the passage，what do you think of Zhou Enlai？| A．He is only a good diplomatist |
| B．He is a great person． |
| C．He is a famous people |
| D．He is a great politician |
| A．A guidance |
| B．A leader． |
| C．A premier |
| D．A politician |
| A．about 27 years |
| B．about 8 years． |
| C．about 49 years |
| D．about 54 years |
| A．The founder of the People's Republic of China |
| B．Our beloved Premier Zhou． |
| C．A great student in Nankai Middle School |
| D．A great Marxist and communist． |
