Silkworms(蚕)were first brought from Asia to the ancient city of Byzantium around A. D. 550. It was two men who presented some silkworm eggs from China to Byzantine Emperor Justinian I in Constantinople, where he created a fruitful silk industry. Silkworms reached Italy through Sicily in the 12th century, and by the 13th century, silkworm farming had moved north to the Po River Valley. By the 16th century, silkworm farming had been introduced to the Como area.
Since silkworms require a constant, mild temperature, entire sections of farmhouses were turned over to them and whole families would often join in the work, adding fuel round the clock to fires to maintain the proper warmth. “Some even gave the worms the house and slept outside with the animals, ”says Ester Geraci, an official at Como’s Educational Silk Museum.
The process began with the 10-to 14-day incubation(孵化)of silkworm eggs. According to the museum, keeping the tiny, delicate eggs at just the right temperature was the task of the women. Once hatched, the worms, only about one millimeter long, had to be fed night and day. From a birth weight of only half a milligram, they would grow 10, 000-fold to a final weight of around five grams and a length of 8 to 9 centimeters in just 30 days. Then, in the final three days of their youth stage, the worms would start to make their cocoons (茧) out of one continuous thin silk-up to 1, 200 meters long-which they produced from near their mouths. After about a week, the cocoons were placed briefly in a hot, dry place to kill the adult insects inside. These cocoons were then put in hot water to facilitate the difficult and boring task of obtaining the silk. The minute end of the cocoon’s silk had to be located and placed onto a round object, which then unwound it from the water-warmed cocoon. The silk was then cleaned and made into fabric.
1. Which can best describe silkworm farming outside China?| A．It was a short-term investment. |
| B．It benefitted fruit growers. |
| C．It upset local emperors. |
| D．It was a success story. |
| A．Raising silkworms was a backbreaking job. |
| B．Silkworms like living in a cool environment. |
| C．Raising silkworms in farmhouses was common. |
| D．Silkworms living with other insects grow healthy. |
| A．They produce silk 3 days after being hatched. |
| B．They gain weight quickly in about a month. |
| C．They grow to 8 to 9 centimeters in two weeks. |
| D．They need one week to come out of their eggs. |
| A．To explain how silkworms reached Italy. |
| B．To encourage people to raise silkworms. |
| C．To introduce the farming of silkworms. |
| D．To show the life cycle of silkworms. |
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【推荐1】June Haimoff narrowly avoided stepping on a loggerhead turtle on Turkey's southern coast more than 30 years ago. This experience changed her life and the future of the beach she was wandering along.
Already attracted by the 4km stretch of sand, which forms a natural barrier between the Mediterranean Sea and the freshwater entries of the Dalyan River, she set up home there in the 1980s and soon fell in love with the turtles.
Three decades later the 95-year-old Englishwoman still has a small house overlooking Iztuzu beach, which she has campaigned to protect from developers and to preserve as a natural environment where the threatened turtles can produce their young.
"When I first saw a sea turtle breeding, I watched without moving. I remember tears in my eyes," she says.
"From that day I started to collect any kind of information about them that I could."
In 1987, Haimoff and a group of friends fought successfully to block a hotel construction project which would have endangered the turtles' breeding ground on the beach.
Since then the beach has remained under protection. All construction is banned as well as artificial lighting at night, when holidaymakers are kept away and the turtles come ashore to lay their eggs.
After its conservation success, Iztuzu also became a regional focus for turtles, with the establishment 10 years ago of the Sea Turtle Rescue Centre, which treats injured turtles from beaches across Turkey.
Haimoff, fondly known as "Captain June" because of her love of the sea, teaches visitors about those threats to the turtles, and trains her young students in environmental preservation. "I'm a woman in love with the turtles," she says.
1. How does Haimoff help the turtles?| A．By developing the economy of the area. |
| B．By teaching people about the threats to turtles. |
| C．By collecting turtles eggs along the coast. |
| D．By providing artificial light in the evening. |
| A．Dying. | B．Wondering. |
| C．Giving birth. | D．Making homes. |
| A．Brave and tough. | B．Thoughtful and determined. |
| C．Caring and enthusiastic. | D．Well-known and well-learnt. |
| A．Iztuzu beach — in danger of disappearing |
| B．Iztuzu beach — perfect birthplace of turtles |
| C．Captain June — a great teacher at an old age |
| D．Captain June — a kind protector of the turtles |
【推荐2】Earth’s second-longest man-made structure, though, is not a wall, but a fence. It spreads about 5,614 km across eastern Australia and is intended to stop the country’s dingoes (野犬) from hunting sheep, which are farmed mainly to the south.
Australia’s dingo fence does not stand alone. There are millions of kilometres of fences in the world. Some are aimed to limit the movement of animals, some the movement of people, and some only to mark the boundary (界限).
Recently things have been changed by a report from Professor Alex Mclnturff. One discovery he has made is that more than half of the fence research studies focus on just five countries-America, Australia, Botswana, China and South Africa. A second is that only a third of those examined the impact of fences on target species involved, meaning the animals purposely intended to be kept in or out.
In fact, Australian fences intended to keep out dingoes are also barriers (障碍) to long-necked turtles, which travel great distances over land when moving between nesting sites. In Botswana fences built to prevent cattle from wildlife-borne disease influence the migration routes of wildebeest.
Fences are not so bad for every creature. Hawks in Montana gladly sit on newly built fences to hunt small animals, while fence-based spiders in South Africa achieve better results than their tree-based cousins when it comes to catching insects.
Often, though, the winners are creatures that cause trouble for ecological environment. Keeping dingoes out of large parts of Australia has allowed red foxes to increase greatly. Native rodents (啮齿类动物) have suffered as a result. Some have been brought to the edge of extinction.
1. Which is the purpose of building fences in Australia?| A．To lengthen the boundary. | B．To help people move around freely. |
| C．To protect farm animals. | D．To stop wild animals from being hunted. |
| A．Fence research studies. | B．The five countries. |
| C．Target species. | D．The impact of fences. |
| A．Long-necked turtles in Australia. | B．Cattle in Botswana. |
| C．Tree-based spiders in South Africa. | D．Red foxes in Australia. |
| A．The Report by Alex Mclnturff |
| B．Fences-Barriers to Wildlife |
| C．Earth’s Longest Man-made Structure |
| D．Rodents-in Danger of Extinction |
【推荐3】Begus is a linguist at the University of California, Berkeley. He got the chance, last summer, to observe sperm whales in their wild Caribbean habitat. With him were marine biologists and roboticists. There were also cryptographers and experts in other fields. All have been working together to listen to sperm whales and figure out what they might be saying. They call this Project CETI. Project CETI’s team is not the only group turning to AI for help deciphering animal talk. Researchers have trained AI models to sort through the sounds of prairie dogs, dolphins, naked mole rats and many other creatures.
Long before AI came into the picture, scientists and others have worked toward understanding animal communication. Some learned that vervet monkeys have different calls when warning of leopards, eagles or pythons. Others discovered that elephants communicate in rumbles too low for human ears to hear. Bats chatter in squeaks too high for our hearing. Still other groups have explored how bees communicate through dance.
“It took us a long time to measure all these things,” says researcher Karen Bakker. AI, she notes, has the potential to greatly speed up this type of research. Perhaps one day we’ll be able to use AI to build a futuristic CHAT box that translates animal sounds into human language, or vice versa.
“AI could eventually get us to the point where we understand animals,” says Bakker. What’s interesting to her is what we can learn from how bats and other creatures talk among each other. We should listen to animals in order to better protect them, she argues. For example, a system set up to record whales or elephants can also track their locations. This can help us avoid whales with our boats or protect elephants from illegal hunters.
1. What is Project CETI aimed at?| A．Applying AI to animal research. |
| B．Improving the living conditions of sperm whales. |
| C．Preventing animals from being hunted. |
| D．Decoding animal talk. |
| A．By listing figures. | B．By citing examples. |
| C．By making comparisons. | D．By analyzing causes. |
| A．Positive. | B．Uncaring. |
| C．Ambiguous. | D．Disapproving. |
| A．AI: A Potential Threat to Human Future |
| B．AI: The Cutting Edge Modern Science |
| C．AI: A Tool to Understand and Conserve Animals |
| D．AI: A Field of Fierce Major-country Competition |
【推荐1】Snoring(打鼾) is noisy breathing during sleep. It is a common problem among all ages and it influences about 90 million American adults. People most at risk are males and those who are overweight, but snoring is a problem of both genders, although it is possible that women do not present this complaint as frequently as men.
Snoring is often the loud or harsh sound that can occur as you sleep. You snore when the flow of air makes the tissue in the back of your throat vibrate(颤动) as you breathe. The sound most often occurs as you breathe in air, and can come through the nose, mouth or both two organs. It can occur during any stage of sleep.
About half of people snore at some point in their lives. Snoring is more common among men, though many women snore. It appears to run in families and becomes more common as you get older. About 40 percent of adult men and 24 percent of adult women are habitual snorers. Men become less likely to snore after the age of 70.
Sleeping on your back may make you more likely to snore. You may snore when your throat or tongue muscles are relaxed. And substances(物质) that can relax these muscles may cause you to snore. These include alcohol, muscle relaxants and other medicine.
Snoring can be a nuisance to your partner and anyone else nearby. You may even snore loudly enough to wake yourself up. Though, in many cases people do not realize that they snore. Snoring can also cause you to have a dry mouth when you wake up.
Light snoring may not disrupt your overall sleep quality. Heavy snoring may be connected with a risk factor in the heart disease, stroke and many other health problems. So never take it lightly.
1. Why do some people snore during their sleep?| A．Because there is something wrong with their throat. |
| B．Because noises are made when they breathe out. |
| C．Because the tissue in their throat is vibrating. |
| D．Because they use their mouth and nose to breathe meanwhile. |
| A．Men suffer much more because of their snoring. |
| B．Women are easier to become habitual snorers. |
| C．Snoring may have something to do with genes. |
| D．The older you turn, the more seriously you snore. |
| A．Sports. | B．Education. |
| C．Culture. | D．Science. |
【推荐2】Anxiety is often viewed as a negative feeling but this emotion can be used to help us manage uncertainty, stay safe and prepared.
A growing number of psychologists and neuroscientists are arguing that anxiety and other negative feelings have a role to play in our lives. Psychologist Todd Kashdan, director of the Well-Being Lab at George Mason University, points out that sometimes it’s right to worry.
Anxiety is an adaptive strategy in human evolution.
Interestingly enough, thanks to the emotion we do not miss an opportunity to get things prepared.
| A．It helps us to prepare for the uncertain future. |
| B．We have every reason to be aware of the harm anxiety brings. |
| C．Anxiety continually pushes us to take responsibility and complete must-do tasks. |
| D．However, not facing our anxiety, probably we lose its benefits, and can make things worse. |
| E．For example, the fear of heights keeps us from falling off a cliff while taking a selfie. |
| F．Neuroscientist Wendy Suzuki believes that anxiety actually serves us by sending out a warning. |
| G．Today, it might mean leaving a job because of a predatory boss. |
【推荐3】In a tiny, lab-grown garden, the first seeds ever sown in lunar dirt have come up. This small crop, planted in samples (样本) returned by Apollo tasks, offers hope that astronauts could someday grow their own food on the moon.
But plants planted in lunar dirt grew more slowly and were thinner than others grown in volcanic(火山的) material from Earth, researchers report 12 May in Communications Biology. That finding suggests that farming on the moon would take a lot more than a gardening skills.
“Ah! It’s so cool!” says a botanist (植物学家) Richard Barker. “Ever since these samples came, back, there’s been botanists that wanted to know what would happen if you grew plants in them,” says Barker, who wasn’t involved in the study. “But everyone knows those precious samples are priceless, and so you can understand why NASA was unwilling to publish them.”
The team planted seeds in tiny pots that each held about a gram of dirt. Four pots were filled with samples returned by Apollo 11, another four with Apollo 12 samples and a final four with dirt from Apollo 17. Another 16 pots were filled with earthly volcanic material used in past experiments to copy moon dirt. All were grown under LED lights in the lab and watered with nutrients.
“Nothing really compared to when we first saw the seedlings as they were coming up in the lunar dirt,” says Anna-Lisa Paul, a plant biologist. “That was a moving experience. We could not speak when we watched the very first plants growing in unique materials.”
Plants grew in all the pots of lunar dirt, but none grew as well as those planted in earthly material. “The healthiest ones were just smaller,” Paul says. The moon-grown plants were tiny. Faced with that, explorers need to do more research to let plants grow strongly on the moon. I believe we will succeed in time.
1. What does the research on plants grown in the lunar dirt show?| A．Growing foods on the moon is necessary. |
| B．Skills are the key to farming on the moon. |
| C．Farming’ on the moon needs many factors. |
| D．Astronauts want to grow food on their own. |
| A．Some plants need planting in special soils. |
| B．Botanists are interested in studying new things. |
| C．It is a selfish action for NASA to keep the secret. |
| D．The samples brought from the moon are valuable. |
| A．It is practical. | B．It is hopeful. |
| C．It only attracts astronauts. | D．It challenges most experts. |
| A．The First Plant Has Been Grown in Moon Dirt |
| B．Astronauts Have Brought Things Worth Spreading |
| C．Botanists Have Found a New Kind of Plant Lately |
| D．Farming on the Moon Has Been Accepted by People |
【推荐1】The Nobel economics prize was awarded on Monday to Harvard University professor Claudia Goldin for research that has advanced the understanding of the gender (性别) gap in the labor market.
The announcement went a tiny step to closing the Nobel committee’s own gender gap: Goldin is just the third woman to win the prize out of 93 economics laureates (获奖者). She has studied 200 years of women’s participation in the workplace, showing that despite continued economic growth, women’s pay did not continuously catch up to men’s and a divide still exists despite women gaining higher levels of education than men. “I’ve always been an optimist. But when I looked at the numbers, I found in the 1990s, our labor force participation rate for women was the highest in the world, and now it isn’t the highest in the world,” Goldin told The Associated Press.
“Although Goldin’s research does not offer solutions, it allows policymakers to deal with the problem,” said Randi Hjalmarsson, a member of the Nobel committee. “She explains the source of the gap, and how it’s changed over time and how it changes with the stage of development. By finally understanding the problem and calling it by the right name, we will find a solution.”
Goldin, 77, told AP that what happens in people’s homes reflects what happens in the workplace. Women often have to take jobs that allow them to be on call at home—work that often pays less.
“Goldin tried to fill in missing data for her research,” Hjalmarsson said. For parts of history, systematic labor market records did not exist, and, if they did, information about women was missing. “So Goldin had to be a detective to find novel data sources and creative ways to use them to measure these unknowns.”
1. What can we infer from the second paragraph?| A．Men gained higher levels of education than women. |
| B．The women’s pay caught up to men’s 200 hundreds years ago. |
| C．Many women scientists have won the Nobel economics prize these years. |
| D．At the late 20th century, American women labor force participation rate was the top. |
| A．Randi Hjalmarsson didn’t agree with Goldin. |
| B．Most of the women usually prefer to be housewives. |
| C．What happens in family life often mirrors that in the workplace. |
| D．Goldin’s research offered the policymakers solutions to the problem. |
| A．Lack of experience. | B．Lack of support. |
| C．Lack of money. | D．Lack of data. |
| A．A Solution to the Gender Gap in the Labor Market |
| B．Claudia Goldin—a Great Economics Data Detective |
| C．The Third Woman Who Wins the Nobel Prize in the World |
| D．Nobel Economics Prize Goes to Harvard University Woman Professor |
1. Werner Forssmann (Nobel prize winner in 1956)
Forssmann was a German scientist. He studied how to put a pipe inside the heart to measure the pressure inside and decide whether a patient needs surgery.
Experiments had been done on horses before, so he wanted to try with human patients. But it was not permitted because the experiment was considered too dangerous.
Not giving up, Forssmann decided to experiment on himself. He anaesthetized (麻醉) his own arm and made a cut, putting the pipe 30 centimeters into his vein. He then climbed two floors to the X-ray room before pushing the pipe all the way into his heart.
2. Barry Marshall (Nobel prize winner in 2005)
Most doctors in the mid-20th century believed that gastritis was down to stress, spicy food or an unusually large amount of stomach acid. But in 1979 an Australian scientist named Robin Warren found that the disease might be related to a bacteria called Helicobacter pylori.
So he teamed up with his colleague, Barry Marshall, to continue the study. When their request to experiment on patients was denied, Marshall bravely drank some of the bacteria. Five days later, he lost his appetite and soon was vomiting each morning – he indeed had gastritis.
3. Ralph Steinman (Nobel prize winner in 2011)
This Canadian scientist discovered a new type of immune system cell called the dendritic cell. He believed that it had the ability to fight against cancer.
Steinman knew he couldn’t yet use his method to treat patients. So in 2007, when doctors told him that he had cancer and that it was unlikely for him to live longer than a year, he saw an opportunity.
With the help of his colleagues, he gave himself three different vaccines based on his research and a total of eight experimental therapies(疗法). Even though Steinman eventually died from his cancer, he lived four and a half years, much longer than doctors had said he would.
1. The main purpose of the passage is to ________.| A．present some dangerous experiments that Nobel prize winners did on themselves. |
| B．list difficulties that scientists went through in order to make important discoveries. |
| C．explain why some scientists chose to experiment on themselves. |
| D．introduce a few Nobel prize winners who did experiments on themselves. |
| A．Forssmann’s experiment ended in failure. |
| B．Forssmann had the pipe pushed all the way into his heart. |
| C．Barry Marshall succeeded by drinking some Helicobacter pylori. |
| D．Barry Marshall’s experiment on himself confirmed that most doctors’ belief about gastritis was correct. |
| A．a kind of bacteria | B．a kind of stomach disease |
| C．a new type of therapy | D．a large amount of stomach acid |
| A．discovered a new type of cancer cell called the dendritic cell |
| B．tried different therapies containing the dendritic cell on himself |
| C．had his request to experiment on patients denied |
| D．believed that he was better than doctors at treating cancer |
| A．In a newspaper. | B．In a poster. |
| C．In a textbook. | D．In a science book. |
【推荐3】If you’re a fan of fast fashion, your choices may be narrowing in the near future.
At the end of 2020, fast-fashion giant H&M said it would close 350 stores worldwide. Recently, Spanish fashion giant Inditex announced that it would close all its Bershka, Pull & Bear and Stradivarius stores in China. It all indicates that fast fashion is slowing down, noted the website Fast Company.
A major reason is the shift in the mindset (心态) of consumers. Millennials, those who were born in the 1980s or 1990s, are now the largest consumer group. Unlike their predecessors (前人), millennials are more financially stable, and thus low-priced fast fashion is not their priority. According to The South China Morning Post, more people are starting to care about quality and the stories behind a product.
Another factor is the growing concern over the fashion industry’s effect on the environment. As The New York Times noted, the fashion industry is one of the largest polluters of clean water and three-fifths of clothes produced in a year end up in landfills (垃圾场). As there is more awareness of the climate crisis, younger people are pursuing more eco-friendly choices.
Molly, 22, is one of them. Before she went to college, she used to go frequently to fast-fashion shops like Forever 21 and H&M. But after taking a class that focused on the environmental impact of clothing production, her preference changed. Now, she tries to shop in a way that is both sustainable (可持续的) and affordable: She shops second-hand. “My friend showed me how easy it was to be thrifty (节约的), and I developed a new personal style that focused less on trends but on basics that don’t go out of style,” she told MTV News.
In order to survive in the competitive market, many fast-fashion brands are making changes as well. For example, Inditex said that the company plans for all of its clothes to be sustainable by 2025.
“Sustainability is a never-ending task in which everyone here is involved,” said Pablo Isla, CEO of Inditex.
1. Why is fast fashion unpopular among millennials?| A．Millennials attach more importance to quality. | B．Millennials follow former generations’ style. |
| C．Millennials like brands with a long history. | D．Millennials prefer cheaper clothes. |
| A．Climate change should be blamed on the fashion industry. |
| B．More people prefer eco-friendly fashion products. |
| C．Unsold clothes are a threat to the environment |
| D．Low-quality fashion products don’t last long. |
| A．how the fast-fashion industry is suffering a big loss. |
| B．how competition is becoming more fierce in the fashion industry. |
| C．how a major company can change their products to fit the market. |
| D．how sustainability has become the top priority for most fashion brands. |
| A．Hopeless. | B．Promising. | C．Unclear. | D．Unpredictable. |
