Scientists have made a “breakthrough” in handling nuclear fusion (聚变). The US Department of Energy officially announced the milestone in fusion energy research.
For the first time, researchers created a nuclear fusion reaction that produced more energy than they put into the process. The experiment, conducted at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California, generated 3.15 megajoules of energy, more than the 2.05 megajoules put into creating it.
Nuclear fusion works by forcing together two atoms-most often hydrogen-to make a heavier one-like helium (氦). This explosive process releases massive amounts of energy, the Department of Energy explains. Fusion is the opposite of fission (裂变), the reaction that powers nuclear reactors used commercially today.
Fusion occurs naturally in the heart of the Sun and the stars, providing these cosmic (宇宙的) objects with fuel. Since the 1950s, scientists have been trying to reproduce it on Earth in order to make use of the so-called clean, cheap, and almost limitless electricity. According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, fusion generates four times more energy per kilogram than the fission used to power nuclear plants, and nearly 4 million times more energy than burning oil or coal. What’s more, unlike fossil fuels, fusion doesn’t release carbon dioxide the greenhouse gas that’s the main driver of climate change-into the atmosphere. And unlike nuclear fission, fusion doesn’t create long-lived radioactive waste, according to the Department of Energy. But so far, nuclear fusion hasn’t solved our energy problems on a grand scale.
The recent announcement is a huge step forward in nuclear fusion energy, but applying the technology at commercial scale is likely still years away. Chanda Prescod Weinstein, a theoretical physicist, pointed out that the process the Department of Energy uses requires tritium (氚), a rare and radioactive isotope (同位素)of hydrogen. “It may yet convey important information that is ultimately transformative. We don’t know yet,” Prescod Weinstein tweeted. Investors, including Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, have poured billions into clean energy field trying to make fusion commercially workable, and the recent announcement is likely to continue that trend.
1. What is the breakthrough in nuclear fusion reaction?| A．It releases massive amounts of energy. |
| B．It produces 3. 15 megajoules of energy. |
| C．It works by forcing together two atoms. |
| D．It generates more energy than that put into it. |
| A．To avoid the commercial use of fission. |
| B．To recycle the byproduct of radioactive waste. |
| C．To reduce emission (排放) of greenhouse gas. |
| D．To aim for the high efficiency in producing energy. |
| A．The attitude of investors. |
| B．The prospect of fusion energy. |
| C．The significance of the announcement. |
| D．The difficulty in producing fusion energy. |
| A．Critical. |
| B．Negative. |
| C．Optimistic. |
| D．Doubtful. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Kite Power
Will energy of the future be completely “green”? The search for new, clean energy sources has occupied the attention of scientists and politicians for years.
The current generation of wind power relies on rigid support structures and is limited to the height of up to 200m.
The technology is simple. Two kites are tied to a spool (线轴). As they soar at speeds of around 100 miles per hour in figures of eight, they pull cables which turn the drum, rather like an unrolling spool of thread. This generates electricity.
It is estimated that one gigawatt (十亿瓦特) of power can be produced at a cost of just 1.5 euros per megawatt hour.
In the future, it may be an efficient, cost-effective addition to the other sources of energy, or even a replacement for some of them.
| A．One common resource for green energy is the wind. |
| B．Higher than that, wind is significantly stronger and more persistent. |
| C．As one kite comes down, the other goes up, so electricity is generated continually. |
| D．That’s nearly 30 times less than the average cost in Europe of 43 euros per megawatt (兆瓦) hour. |
| E．A new power generating technology has recently given the phrase “go higher” a new meaning. |
| F．After the initial cost of design and establishment of a plant, little additional investment will be necessary. |
【推荐2】The Gata used to look annoyed when they received power bills that routinely topped $200. Last September the couple moved into a 1,500-square-foot home in Premier Gardens, an area of 95 “zero-energy homes” (ZEH) just outside town. Now they're actually eager to see their electricity bills. The grand total over the 10 months they've lived in the three-bedroom house: $75. For the past two months, they haven’t paid a cent.
ZEH communities are the leading edge of technologies that might someday create houses that produce as much energy as they consume. Premier Gardens is one of a half-dozen subdivisions (住宅开发项目) in California where every home cuts power consumption by 50%, mostly by using low power appliances and solar panels.
Aside from the panels on the roof, Premier Gardens looks like a community of traditional homes. But inside, special windows cut power bills by blocking solar heat in summer and keeping indoor warmth winter.
The rest of the energy savings comes from the solar units. They don't just feed the home they serve. If they generate more power than the home is using, the excess flows into the utility's power grid(电网). The residents are billed by “net metering”: they pay for the amount of power that they get from the grid, minus the kilowatts(千瓦) they feed into it. If a home generates more power than it uses, the bill is zero.
That sounds like a bad deal for the power company, but it's not. Solar homes produce the most power on the hot sunny afternoons when everyone rushes home to turn up the air conditioner. "It helps us lower usage at peak power times," says solar expert Mike Keesee. “That lets us avoid building costly plants or buying expensive power at peak usage time.”
What’s not to like? Mostly the costs. The special features can add $25,000 or more to the purchase price of a house. Tax breaks bring the cost down, especially in California, but in many states ZEHs can be extremely expensive. For the consumer, it's a matter of paying now for the hardware to save later on the power bill.
1. Why is the Gata eager to see their electricity bills now?| A．They want to cut down their utility' expenses. |
| B．They want to know if they are able to pay. |
| C．They want to see how much they have saved. |
| D．They want to avoid being overcharged. |
| A．They are built in harmony with the environment. |
| B．They have created cutting edge technologies. |
| C．They are subdivided into half a dozen sections. |
| D．They aim to be independent in power supply. |
| A．More pressure at peak time | B．Reduced operational costs. |
| C．Increased electricity output. | D．Less profits in the short term. |
| A．is a worthy investment in the long run | B．is but a dream for average consumers |
| C．gives the owner great tax benefits | D．contributes to environmental protection |
【推荐3】People’s first memories are all autobiographical (自传式的), or memories of significant experiences in their lives, and these events typically didn’t happen before the age of 2 or 3. In fact, most people can’t remember things from the first few years of their lives—a phenomenon researchers have called infantile amnesia.
However, research suggests that infants (婴儿) can form other kinds of memories. Within the first few days of life, infants can recall their own mother’s face and distinguish it from the face of a stranger. A few months later, infants can demonstrate that they remember lots of familiar faces by smiling most at the ones they see most often.
But if so, why do people experience infantile amnesia? Though it still isn’t clear whether it’s because we can’t form autobiographical memories, or whether we just have no way to retrieve (找回) them, scientists have a few guesses.
One is that autobiographical memories require you to have some sense of self. Researchers have tested this ability using a mirror recognition task called the rouge test. It involves marking a baby’s nose with a spot of red lipstick.
Researchers then place the infant in front of a mirror. Infants younger than 18 months just smile at the baby in the reflection, not showing any evidence of recognizing themselves or the red mark on their face. Between 18 and 24 months, infants touch their own nose, even looking embarrassed, suggesting that they connect the red dot in the mirror with their own face—they start to form some sense of self.
Another possible explanation is that because infants don’t have language until later in the second year of life, they can’t form narratives about their own lives that they can later recall. Finally, the hippocampus (海马体), which is the region of the brain that’s largely responsible for memory, isn’t fully developed in the infancy period.
Scientists will continue to investigate how these factors may contribute to infantile amnesia.
1. What can infants do in their first few months?| A．Memorize most of their family members. |
| B．Distinguish between familiar and unfamiliar faces. |
| C．Remember a string of events from the recent past. |
| D．Identify their own reflections in the mirror. |
| A．See their reflections as themselves. |
| B．Ignore the marks on their faces. |
| C．Enjoy playing with their reflections. |
| D．Show a strong interest in the mirror. |
| A．Infants’ inability to recall memories. |
| B．Infants’ immature hippocampus. |
| C．Infants’ undeveloped communication skills. |
| D．Infants’ unsteady autobiographical memories. |
| A．When do babies start remembering things? |
| B．Why is it hard to retrieve lost memories? |
| C．How do kids form their first memories? |
| D．Why can’t we remember being a baby? |
【推荐1】Soon, students will be receiving their latest report cards, even though many already know their grades. Thousands of schools nationwide have adopted what’s called “open grade books’’, online portals that allow both parents and kids to get up-to-the-minute progress reports.
Recently, I’ve noticed this whole system stresses out my 11-year-old daughter, Audrey. “It seems that if my grades do decrease, I’m worried on what my parents are going to say,’’ Audrey said. Hearing her say this breaks my heart. I wonder: Do other parents and kids feel this way? I put a call out to my network and found Carrie Du Bois.
“I thought it was a mistake,’’ says Du Bois.
About three years ago, Du Bois called the leader of the Sequoia Union High School District in San Mateo County to find out why she was receiving a daily email of her son’s grades. The leader told her the portal was working as it should.
Du Bois called every mental health professional she knew and they all told her the same thing: The supply of constant data on academic progress can overemphasize the importance of grades. Her district has since changed systems and no longer sends out daily grade updates. However, hundreds of other schools in the Bay Area still do.
A spokeswoman for the Santa Clara Unified School District said the feedback they’ve received from parents is overwhelmingly positive. Other parents have also told me the portals give them insights into their kids’ lives and open up conversations beyond “how was your day.”
Most of the portals offer parents the option of turning off daily notifications. Mental health care professionals advise that a healthier and more accurate measure of progress is checking grades once a week or even once a month. It’s what I have decided to do.
1. What can be a suitable title for the text?| A．The Education System Has Gone Wrong |
| B．Parents Are Worrying about Their Kids |
| C．A Good Way to Motivate the Kids to Work Hard |
| D．Open Grade Books Are Stressing Kids Out |
| A．They allow parents to get their kids’ daily grades reports. |
| B．Neither parents nor kids like them because they create anxiety. |
| C．Most kids make progress in school due to them. |
| D．All parents have to receive daily grade updates online. |
| A．Because Du Bois doesn’t like it. |
| B．Because of Du Bois’ effort against it. |
| C．Because Du Bois knew many mental health care professionals. |
| D．Because the supply of constant data on academic progress hurt kids. |
| A．Most parents will turn off daily notifications. |
| B．No parents agree with the mental health care professionals. |
| C．The author will pay less attention to Audrey’s daily grades. |
| D．The author doesn’t care about her daughter’s accomplishments. |
【推荐2】China's first astronaut 38-year-old Yang Liwei returned safely to earth Thursday morning, when his craft Shenzhou 5 touched down as scheduled after more than 21 hours in the earth's orbit. Chinese premier Wen Jiabao called the landmarkdebutflight a “complete success”. The descent capsule(返回舱) carrying Lt. Col. Yang Liwei touched down on the grasslands of the Gobi Desert, in central Inner Mongolia at 6:23 am Thursday (Beijing Time), the Beijing-based China's Aerospace Command and Control Center said. Minutes later, Yang grabbed the capsule hatch with his hand, pulled himself out, smiled and waved at recovery teams and reporters. “It is a splendid moment in the history of my motherland and also the greatest day of my life,” Yang, a former fighter pilot from Northeast China's Liaoning Province, said immediately after emerging. In an interview with CCTV, China's state television, Yang said he was “feeling excellent”. Shenzhou 5 landed at dawn, 4.8 kilometres (3 miles) from its designed landing target, the officials said. “The spaceship operated well,” the astronaut Yang Liwei said in his first publicized comments. “I feel very good and I am proud of my motherland.” After a physical exam on spot, Yang's condition was found as "good." Li Jinai, the commander of China's manned space program, called Yang a “space hero” and a “national hero”. Following Yang's touchdown, China's premier Wen Jiabao immediately spoke to Yang from Beijing's command and control centre and offered his congratulations.
Within hours, Chinese space officials announced that the country's space dreams will continue with a "Shenzhou 6" mission, most possibly within a year. They said China also had worked out plans to conduct space walking by its astronauts, and eventually build up a space station. However, Chinese scientists ruled out building a space shuttle, like the United States.
Yang's flight came four decades after the former Soviet Union and the United States pioneered manned spaceflight. Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin orbited the Earth in April 1961. One month later, the United States launched Alan B. Shepard Jr.
1. What is true of the first Chinese astronaut Yang Liwei?| A．He is now a fighter pilot. |
| B．He was helped to get out of the descent capsule. |
| C．He spent nearly a day in space. |
| D．He was called a “space hero” and a “national hero” by China's premier Wen Jiabao. |
| A．space walking | B．setting up a space station |
| C．building up a space shuttle | D．sending up “Shenzhou 6” |
| A．first public appearance | B．space |
| C．carrying person | D．space-ship |
| A．Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first man in the world to travel in space. |
| B．the United States launched Alan B. Shepard Jr. about 40 years ago. |
| C．China is the third country in the world to carry out the manned space flight successfully. |
| D．“Shenzhou 6” will carry more than one astronaut in the mission. |
【推荐3】Until now, robots have carried their pretty weak brains inside them. They've received instructions such as take this, or cany that—and done it. Not only that, but they’ve worked in environments such as factories and warehouses specially designed or adapted for them.
Cloud robotics promises something entirely new: robots with super-brains stored in the online cloud. The thinking is that these robots, with their intellectual impact, will be more flexible in the jobs they do and the places they can work, perhaps even speeding up their arrival in our homes.
Google Cloud and Amazon Cloud both have robot brains that are learning and growing inside them. The dream behind cloud robotics is to create robots that can see, hear, understand natural language and the world around them.
The Fetch Cloud Robotics Platform is a cloud-driven autonomous Mobile Robot(AMR )solution that addresses material handling and data collection for warehouses.
One of the leading players in cloud robotics research is Robo Brain, a project led by researchers at Stanford and Cornell universities in the US. Funded by Google, Microsoft government institutions and universities, the team are building a robot brain on the Amazon cloud, learning how to integrate different software systems and different sources of data.
Another one to watch is the Everyday Robot Project, by X, “the moonshot factory" at Alphabet Google's parent company. The project aims to develop robots intelligent enough to make sense of the places we live and work. They' re making headway too-testing cloud robots in Alphabet offices in Northern California. So far, the tasks are simple, such as sorting the recycling (pretty slowly says X), but it's the shape of robots to come.
1. What's the difference between common robots and cloud robotics?| A．They can do entirely different jobs. |
| B．They are controlled by different instructions |
| C．Cloud robotics have larger brain than common robots. |
| D．Cloud robotics can "think" of themselves while common robots can't. |
| A．Appreciative | B．Negative | C．Indifferent | D．Disagreeable. |
| A．Nowadays robots can work everywhere. |
| B．Cloud robotics promises to help people in families. |
| C．Robo Brain got money from Google, Microsoft and X. |
| D．Robots by Google Cloud and Amazon Cloud are totally different things. |
| A．a travel brochure | B．A literature paper. |
| C．A science magazine | D．A healthy Guide. |
【推荐1】At the International Grand Bazaar (大巴扎集市) in Urumqi, capital of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (新疆维吾尔自治区), Wang Ge, a paper-cutting artist, runs a small store where dazzling examples of her work are on display in the popular tourist destination. With just a pair of scissors and paper, the 65-year-old native craftswoman creates traditional animal paper-cuts, fruit, land-mark buildings and even complicated dance scenes.
Wang is an inheritor (继承者) of Xinjiang’s precious cultural heritage of paper cutting. Growing up in the region and influenced by diverse ethnic cultures, she is committed to telling Xinjiang stories through her paper cutting while protecting and promoting the traditional folk art.
She has cultivated her craft since childhood and grew up in a family fond of the skill. At the age of 4, she began to copy her grandmother and mother, using scissors to cut out patterns of flowers, birds, fish and insects. Wang recalls her grandmother was skilled at cutting traditional window decorations for weddings and Spring Festival.
“Paper cutting is a combination of folk art and daily life,” said Wang, who graduated from the art department of Xinjiang Normal University. During her decades of paper cutting, she has been inspired by real-life experiences, especially those relating to ethnic culture in the region. She often travels to Kashgar, Hotan and Aksu prefectures in southern Xinjiang to explore how local ethnic people live.
“The bazaar is a window on Xinjiang,” she said. “I hope that I can spread Chinese cultural heritage to people of different ages and from different countries.” After the COVID-19 outbreak, Wang gave online lectures on paper cutting, attracting 100,000 viewers and teaching students unable to attend school how to cut the images of medical workers from paper. Wang said she was pleased to see pupils who lacked colored paper painting the white paper red and green as a substitute art form.
1. What does the underlined word “cultivated” mean?| A．Protected. | B．Sold. | C．Developed. | D．Showed |
| A．studying art at university |
| B．keeping touch with ethnic culture |
| C．living in a family with preference to paper-cutting |
| D．taking lessons on the Internet during Covid-19 |
| A．optimistic and ambitious | B．skillful and devoted |
| C．thoughtful and energetic | D．traditional and kind |
| A．Wang is good at using Internet even at an old age. |
| B．Traditional culture can be an effective way to spread social value. |
| C．There are still lots of students too poor to go to school. |
| D．Online teaching can help produce different art forms. |
| A．To promote Xinjiang’s tradition. | B．To introduce a paper-cutting artist. |
| C．To tell how paper-cutting is spread. | D．To explain why paper-cutting is attractive. |
Dressed in a dark blue waterproof jacket, outdoor shoes and a small backpack, 25-year-old Ye Tian tries to get in an abandoned coking plant (焦化厂) in Beijing.
An intern (实习生) for a German company in Beijing, Ye is among thousands of youth interested in city adventures, what they call “ urban exploration ” — “urbex” for short.
The aim of this trending hobby is to explore structures — usually abandoned ruins or hidden areas of the manmade environment.
Urban explorers are interested in these sites because they can understand cities from a different angle. Ye, for example, said he enjoyed the contrast between Beijing’s two sides.
“ Widely known scenic spots and historical sites can only reflect the bright side of the city, or what the city wants you to see,” Ye said. “ But abandoned places show you the past [that is] hidden deep in people’s memories.”
In the eyes of Pan Ran, who is in her early 30s and works in Canada, an abandoned building can also evoke the spirits of those who lived and worked there.
“ There are diaries and letters recording the owners ’ lives, ” she said. “And one time, I found a whole box of 8-millimeter videotapes of a family.”
Pan couldn’t watch the tapes at the site, as the power supply had been cut. She didn’t take them away with her either, as there is “a very important rule of urbex that you can't remove any souvenirs’ from a site”, Pan said.
While urban exploration can get people to extraordinary places that few have visited, it ’ s sometimes dangerous. Climbing up tall buildings and tip-toeing through abandoned structures can sometimes be a life-threatening affair.
Injuries and even death are not unheard of within the urbex community.
“In the beginning, I was pretty audacious and believed the riskier the places you go, the better photos you get, ” said Du Tianyu, 22. “ But that is not necessarily the case. After doing my calculations, I learned to stop when I reach the limit.”
1. According to the passage, what is Ye Tian’s hobby? (no more than 5 words)2. Why are some young people interested in places like the coking plant in Beijing?(no more than 15 words)
3. What is the important rule of urbex according to Pan Ran? (no more than 10 words)
4. What does the underlined word “audacious” probably mean in the last paragraph? (1word)
5. Would you like to take part in urbex of a city? Give your reason. (no more than 20 words)
【推荐3】Language is part of our daily lives, no matter where we live in the world. Similarly, music is a part of many people’s lives. Both language and music play a huge role in our culture and here are some of their similarities.
◆Both language and music have a writing system. In English we record language using the alphabet, which is a collection of letters. Similarly, we use notes to keep a record of music. Just as you are reading this collection of letters and find meaning in it, musicians read notes and create meaning in the form of music which we can hear. So just as you read English, you can read music. By writing pieces of text or music, we are able to share experiences through time. I can read or hear the ideas of someone who lived hundreds of years ago, which is really quite exciting.
◆Both vary with culture. You can make a good guess at where someone is from by listening to the language they use. In the same way, we know that styles of music are different around the world, giving us the opportunity to explore many different cultures through their music and providing us with music for every situation.
◆Both share feelings. You can know that I am angry through my words. Similarly, music can sound angry, sad or happy. Music can show you exactly how the composer was or is feeling, and allows us to share that feeling. When you feel happy, you may want to sing and dance to a happy song to celebrate your happiness, while you probably want to listen to sad music when you are feeling down. I think we have all used music to express our feelings.
1. What’s the main idea of the text?| A．Language is part of people’s daily lives. | B．Music plays an important role in people’s lives. |
| C．Language and music are similar in many ways. | D．Music is more important than language for us. |
| A．By giving examples. | B．By making a comparison. |
| C．By describing details. | D．By listing reasons. |
| A．Talking to a composer. | B．Singing a happy song. |
| C．Dancing to delightful music. | D．Listening to unhappy music. |
