【推荐2】Prashant Mandal shares a small hut with his wife and four kids, lives on less than $2 a day and recently suffered medical debts of more than $4,000 after his teenage son got sick last year. Yet, despite Mandal’s modest earnings, he spends 20 percent of his income on solar energy, an expense which is key to drawing in customers and helping his children to study. Across the globe, about 1.2 billion people live without electricity. Such limitations are not only inconvenient, but they put people in low-income countries at a greater risk of developing serious health condition. People living without electricity typically rely on kerosene lamps and other harmful light sources, which can lead to burns, injuries, poisoning and other risks .

Realizing the need for a more efficient energy source, a handful of for-profit companies have developed business models that enable under-served people to purchase solar energy, and, in turn, protect themselves and the environment in the process. Simpa Networks, which focuses its efforts on rural India, is such a company that has found a way to make solar energy affordable and accessible to people in need. Customers are charged a small down payment. Then, through its “progressive purchase” model, they pay in advance for a designated amount of energy consumption. A number of other companies have found ways to get solar energy into the hands and homes of people who typically can’t afford electricity. MPOWERD, a New York-based company, invented an inflatable solar light that is powered by the sun, and is also able to store that energy.

The Luci, which can provide light for up to about 12 hours, is marketed in the developed world as an efficient camping light. Those sales allow the company to keep its production costs down so that they’re actually affordable in low-income countries. “Energy poverty is discouraging but solvable if we all work together,” said John Salzinger, MPOWERD’s co-founder. “Every single consumer’s purchase helps us reduce costs, and then we pass those savings on to those who need affordable lights the most.”

1. Why does the text mention Prashant Mandal in Paragraph 1?

A．To tell us the situation of his family.	B．To state Prashant Mandal’s sufferings.
C．To show the convenience of solar energy.	D．To lead in the topic of the article.

2. What do the underlined words “ under-served people” in Paragraph 2 refer to?

A．Those who can produce solar energy.

B．Those who have access to enough electricity.

C．Those who live without sufficient electricity.

D．Those who are willing to use solar energy.

3. How do customers buy solar energy from Simpa Networks?

A．They can pay step by step.	B．They can pay after using it.
C．They must fully pay first.	D．They can buy it at a discount.

4. What attitude to energy poverty does John Salzinger hold?

A．Concerned.

B．Optimistic

C．Discouraged

D．Neutral

【推荐1】Scientists have created the world’s first living, self-healing (自愈) robots using stem cells from frogs. Named after the African clawed frog from which they take their stem cells, xenobots are less than a millimeter wide (0. 04 inches) — small enough to travel inside human bodies. They can walk and swim, survive for weeks without food, and work together in groups. These are “entirely new life-forms,” said project co-leader Michael Levin, director of the Allen Discovery Center.

The researchers removed living stem cells, which have the ability to develop into different cell types, from frog embryos (胚胎), and left them to incubate (孵化). Then, the cells were cut and reshaped into specific “body forms” designed by a supercomputer.” They’re neither a traditional robot nor a known species of animal,” said robotics expert Joshua Bongard. The cells then began to work on their own and even have the regenerative power; when the scientists cut the living robot almost in half, its cells automatically zippered its body back up.

Xenobots don’t look like traditional robots-they have no shiny clothing or robotic arms. Instead ,they look more like a tiny drop of moving pink flesh. The researchers say this is deliberate-this biological machine can achieve things typical robots of steel and plastic cannot do.” Traditional robots degrade (降解) over time and can produce harmful ecological and health side effects,” researchers said in the study. As biological machines, xenobots are more environmentally friendly and safer for human health, the study said.

Research is being done into using the robots to clean up radioactive waste or even microplastics from the oceans. Scientists are also trying to include a greater variety of cells; a new nervous system for example. However, some people argue that the addition of nerve cells would cause moral problems. The general public have also expressed concern that humans would be taken control of by robots. However, Michael Levin thinks there’s no need to worry. “Xenobots have no ability to reproduce or evolve. The supercomputer which is used to produce them does use artificial intelligence. But for now, all is fine,” said Levin.

1. What is the text mainly about?

A．The advantage of AI technology.	B．The introduction of a latest robot.
C．The medical value of African frogs.	D．The application of robots in medicine.

2. Which of the following best explains “regenerative” underlined in Paragraph 2?

A．Healing by itself.	B．Replacing old cells.
C．Living much longer.	D．Defending against attacks.

3. What do we know about xenobots?

A．They can break up steel and plastic while degrading.

B．They can do everything that traditional robots can do.

C．They do less harm to the environment and human health.

D．They often change their color deliberately while moving.

4. What is Michael Levin’s attitude toward the development of xenobots?

A．Ambiguous.	B．Positive.
C．Skeptical.	D．Cautious.

【推荐2】Lancom is a worldwide language learning app and a leader in the online language learning industry with millions of active subscribers. We house a broad range of experts united by the common goal of creating the best language learning tools possible. With advice from AI specialists, art designers and culture researchers, our multi-language experts endow (赋予) Lancom with an enormous potential for innovation within the world of language learning. Our courses, totalling 20,000 hours of content in 20 different languages, guarantee you language skills you can use right away.

At the core of Lancom is a world-class effective method that enhances language learning with advanced technology. Examples and dialogues are recorded with real native speakers instead of automatic computers. Lancom trains your brain to learn efficiently, so you absorb more information while in the app and continue learning outside of it. The app makes our practical language lessons available wherever and whenever. We work directly for our learners, not for any third party. And it’s all supported by an efficient customer service team, available through telephone, email and online chat.

Millions of learners have their own stories and their own reasons for learning a new language. Lancom cares about you and addresses your individual learning type. Lancom is the only product to offer courses tailored to your native language, building on grammar and words you already know. Our content is about real-life topics that are relevant because we know what matters to you is what sticks best. You will find it very rewarding to learn with Lancom.

1. Who can provide Lancom with a huge potential for innovation in learning?

A．Culture researchers.	B．AI specialists.
C．Language experts.	D．Art designers.

2. What lies at the core of the Lancom app?

A．A flexible system.	B．An intelligent technology.
C．The brain-training technique.	D．The informative content.

3. Lancom claims that it is unique in its ________.

A．personalised courses	B．multiple languages
C．pricing policy	D．service team

【推荐3】When you are learning English, you find it not clever to put an English sentence, word for word, into your own language. Take the sentence “How do you do?”as an example. If you look up each word in the dictionary, once at a time, what is your translation(翻译)? It must be a wrong sentence in your own language.

Languages do not just have different sounds. They are different in many ways. It’s important to master(掌握)the rules for word order(顺序)in the study of English, too. If the speakers put words in a wrong order, the listener can’t understand the speakers’ sentences easily. Sometimes when the order of words in an English sentence is changed,the meaning of the sentence changes. But sometimes when the order is changed, the meaning of the sentence doesn’t change. Let’s see the difference between the two pairs of sentences.

“She only likes apples.” “Only she likes apples.”

“I’ve seen the film already.” “I have already seen the film.”

When you are learning English, you must do your best to get the spirit(精神实质)of the language and use it as the English speakers do.

1. From the passage we know that ________ when we are learning English.

A．we shouldn’t put every word into our own language

B．we should look up every word in the dictionary

C．we need to put every word into our own language

D．we must read word by word

2. The writer thinks it is________ in learning English.

A．difficult to understand different sounds

B．possible to remember the word order

C．important to master the rules in different ways

D．easy to master the rules for word order

3. We can learn from the passage that________

A．the meaning of an English sentence always changes with the order of the words

B．the order of words can never change the meaning of an English sentence

C．sometimes different order of words has a different meaning

D．if the order of words is different,the meaning of the sentence must be different

4. Which is the best title for this passage?

A．Different Orders, Different Meanings

B．How to Speak English?

C．How to Put English into Our Own Language?

D．How to Learn English?