【推荐1】Imagine how you’d feel if you had to get more than 9,000 tons of junk out to the sidewalk. That’s how much trash is floating around in space. In fact, there’s about 4 million pounds flying over our heads in low-Earth orbit. Daan, a Dutch artist, and his team at Space Waste Lab have come up with a creative plan that could clear up space junk in a spectacular fashion.

①Most space waste comes from dead satellites and rockets. Functioning satellites are the backbone of the information systems that keep our world running smoothly. But all the satellites eventually become obsolete within just a few decades. When they die out, there’s the problem of them drifting in outer space, collecting in what scientists call the “graveyard orbit”.

Maybe you’re thinking, “Why should I care about garbage 12,500 miles above me?” Well, all that fun stuff that satellites help beam down to us — mobile games, Instagram, cat videos — could be shut down by space waste. Lots of old junk floating around up there, plus new satellites added each year, means more and more high-speed collisions (碰撞). And when chunks of junk crash into one another, they break apart into millions of pieces, quickly building up speed and turning into fast-moving objects, which are dangerous to operational satellites as well as astronauts working on the International Space Station.

②Space waste is a problem that’s escalated so much that some scientists say that by 2050 we’ll be forced to stop launching new spacecraft altogether, including new satellites. Think about that for a minute. When the last satellites finally become disused, GPS, cell phones, and the Internet will no longer function.

③So we have to find a way to deal with this space garbage, and Daan pictures a sort of trash pickup, which involves groups of small spacecraft casting large nets into orbit that would collect space debris(碎片) and send it back toward Earth at top speed. Here’s the best part — while reentering Earth’s atmosphere, the pieces of junk would burn up all at once, creating a light show similar to hundreds of shooting stars falling in the night sky. A spectacle indeed!

To get ready for such an amazing effort, Space Waste Lab has been traveling to major cities across Europe and enlightening the public on the problem of the junk in space. ④But Daan doesn’t just talk about ways to relieve the problem — he’s created something a little grander than that. In October 2018, his team launched Space Waste Lab Performance, an outdoor art exhibition that shows the location of each piece of space trash using large lasers that make each debris look a bit like a star wandering slowly and silently over the sky, allowing viewers to wave and say, “Hello, space trash!”

1. According to the passage, which sentence best replaces the question mark in the diagram?

A．There is more junk floating in space each year as new satellites are added.

B．Satellites can help people track the weather and find new locations.

C．Working satellites can be damaged and astronauts can be hurt.

D．The Space Waste Lab Performance can show people where satellites are located.

2. Which of the following best supports the idea that space waste should be dealt with very soon?

A．Sentence ①	B．Sentence ②
C．Sentence ③	D．Sentence ④

3. Which of the following might be the best title of the passage?

A．Space Junk Harms Digital Systems

B．Test of Waste Collection Nets

C．A New Glimpse into Outer Space

D．Artists’ Proposal to Save Space

4. What’s the writer’s attitude towards Daan’s project?

A．Critical.

B．Indifferent.

C．Neutral.

D．Approving.

【推荐2】A number of Americans predict that driverless cars will revolutionize the form of travelling in cities and on highways However, recent experiments have shown that autonomous vehicles also have the potential to improve the quality of life for millions of Americans, especially the elderly and disabled, so long as the government and lawmakers carry out smart policies

A retirement community in Alabama which has been transformed by a small group of driverless taxis shows the potential of self-driving cars to change people's lives in America. Although the modified Ford Fusions are currently limited to a two-mile road, residents are already having the benefits of them to take part in social activities which they would otherwise be unable to enjoy simply because they could not get to them.

When the experimental run finally reaches 15 miles of road, these residents whose average age is 77 will also have a convenient and reliable new way to keep their appointments. Because these cars continue to serve residents there, it is not difficult to understand why California is gradually simplifying regulations for the business.

In New Jersey, ahead-thinking policies have the potential to unlock other hidden benefits of autonomous vehicles, especially for those with physical disabilities . The New Jersey Disability Righted for the development of this technology , saying that it could give people with disabilities greater opportunities in the workforce and enable them to lead more satisfying and independent lives.

Many Americans admit that autonomous vehicles will be the future of transportation, but it is too often overlooked that this future cannot arrive fast enough for millions of Americans on others for day-to-day travel. The policymakers should follow the lead of places like California and New Jersey, and pass regulations to unlock these hidden benefits of driver-less cars.

1. What's the attitude of most American people to the future of autonomous vehicles?

A．Uncertain.

B．Doubtful.

C．Indifferent.

D．Optimistic.

2. What is the modified Ford Fusion ?

A．The collection of social activities.

B．The name of a retirement community.

C．A kind of autonomous vehicle.

D．A two-mile road for self-driving cars.

3. What do the examples in the third and fourth paragraphs want to prove?

A．What are preventing the development of the technology.

B．Why driver-less cars are restricted in many states in America.

C．How driver-less technology benefits the aged and disabled.

D．When driver-less cars can enter people's life eventually.

4. What does the author attempt to inform us in the last paragraph?

A．The concept of autonomous vehicles has been widely recognized.

B．The weak groups are often overlooked despite technology advances.

C．The benefits of driverless cars have been fully unlocked.

D．Regulations should go hand in hand with driverless technology.

【推荐3】An unconventional method for growing rice has been found to increase yields (产量) by 20 to 50percent. Reports from China, India, Southeast Asia and Africa suggest that average yield increases of 20to 50 percent are regularly being achieved by farmers adopting the “system of rice intensification (SRI)” which needs one-tenth as many seeds and aims to stimulate (激发) the root system of plants rather than trying to increase yields in the conventional way by using improved seeds and fertilizers.

The idea of using less to gain more is seen as an important innovation for adapting farming to climate change and a way to increase yields at a time when human populations are growing fast but traditional plant breeding (育种) and genetically modified (改变) techniques have failed to increase yields more than a few percentage points, says Norman Uphoff, professor of International Agriculture at Cornell University.

The new way to grow rice needs only half as much water, and proves most popular in water-stressed countries, says Tavseef Mairaj Shah, a Ph. D. researcher. “Rice growing in Kashmir largely depends on irrigation systems that draw water from the river Jhelum. But climate change is leading to drier winters, untimely rains, and warmer summers.”

“SRI is a great technique, not just from the water-saving perspective but because it offers better yields and soil conditions. Different studies, both at the experimental level and farmer—participative level, have shown that SRI improves yields with less water,” Shah adds.

Some academics, the global seed industry and the international community once rejected reports of “fantastic” yields, accusing farmers of falsifying (篡改) records and researchers of carelessness and “non-science”. But more than 600 articles, checked by SRI International Network and Resources Center at Cornell University, have shown benefits.

Uphoff says, “Attitudes are changing. The original hostility (敌意) has gone.” However, the early opposition has resulted in comparatively little scientific research being conducted into SRI and a slow understanding by funders.

1. How does SRI increase the yields of rice?

A．By sowing more seeds.	B．By using improved seeds.
C．By adopting special fertilizers.	D．By improving its root system.

2. Compared with the conventional method for growing rice, SRI ________.

A．needs less water

B．increases labor costs

C．requires better soil conditions

D．depends on genetically modified techniques

3. What was the global seed industry’s initial (最初的) attitude toward reports on SRI?

A．Curious.

B．Doubtful.

C．Approving.

D．Uninterested.

4. What is the passage mainly about?

A．How to increase yields?

B．People’s attitudes towards SRI.

C．A novel means of growing rice.

D．The disadvantages of conventional plant breeding.

【推荐1】Even though vaccination (接种疫苗) is a powerful defense against disease, some voices are against it. In a recent letter, the American Medical Association (AMA) urged big social media including Amazon, Facebook and Google to take action to defend medical science on their platforms.

It said that vaccine-preventable diseases that do harm to the public health like measles (麻疹) are on the rise. Measles cases worldwide jumped more than 30% in 2017 compared to 2016, with the largest increases seen among nations in the Americas, Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean. Vaccine-preventable diseases are increasing largely because many people are unwilling to get vaccinated. And some of these people even encourage others to refuse vaccination. So this year, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the anti-vaccination movement a top-10 health threat.

“Vaccination is one of the most cost-effective ways of avoiding disease — it currently prevents 2-3 million deaths a year, and a further 15 million could be avoided if global coverage of vaccinations improved,” WHO said.

A research article published in 1998 in a medical journal suggested a link between a vaccine and the development of autism (自闭症) in young children. Although the research has been suspected and many other studies have proved that vaccinations do not cause autism, the article is still impressing people strongly today. Another reason for the growth in the anti-vaccination movement is widespread misinformation on social media, which can turn people against vaccination. If a concerned parent consistently sees information in their Newsfeed that casts doubt on the safety of vaccines, it could cause them to disregard the advice of their children’s physicians and public health experts and refuse to follow the recommended vaccination schedule. So access to true information about vaccine safety is badly needed.

1. What does the AMA require social media to do on their platforms?

A．Join hands to develop new vaccines.

B．Introduce life-threatening diseases.

C．Give up the anti-vaccination movement.

D．Spread the positive effects of vaccination.

2. Why does the author mention the measles cases in paragraph 2?

A．To stress the danger of measles.

B．To show the result of anti-vaccination.

C．To prove vaccination doesn’t work well.

D．To explain the reason for anti-vaccination.

3. Which of the following leads to the anti-vaccination phenomenon?

A．Parents’ concerns over vaccine safety.

B．The high cost of vaccination.

C．A research relating vaccination to high death rate.

D．Experts’ advice spread on social media.

4. What is the author’s attitude towards vaccination?

A．Doubtful.

B．Ambiguous.

C．Positive.

D．Negative.

【推荐2】Until the 1990s coffee was rarely served in China except at luxury hotels aimed at foreigners. When Starbucks opened its first outlet there in 1999, it was far from clear that the country’s avid tea-drinkers would take to such a different-and usually more costly- source of caffeine. Starbucks tried to attract customers unused to coffee’s bitter taste by promoting milk and sugar-heavy concoctions(调和) such as Frappuccinos.

But coffee has become fashionable among the middle class in China. Starbucks now has about 3, 800 outlets in China- more than in any other country outside America. Statista, a business-intelligence portal(门户网站), says the roast coffee market in China is growing by more than 10 % a year. Starbucks and its rivals see big opportunities for expanding there.

So too, however, do home-grown competitors. A major new presence is Luckin Coffee, Beijing- based chain. Since its founding less than two years ago, it has opened more than 2,300 outlets. On May 17th Luckin’s initial public offering on the Nasdaq stockmarket raised more than $570m, giving it a value of about $4bn.

Luckin’s remarkable growth is sign of change. No longer do Chinese consumers see coffee as such a luxury. Most of Luckin’s outlets are merely kiosks where busy white-collar workers pick up their drinks, having ordered them online. Super-fast delivery can also be arranged through the company’s app. Independent coffee shops are springing up. The growth is striking given the country’s reputation for its tea-drinking culture where many residents like to relax in teahouses sipping tea served gracefully.

But the two markets are different. The teahouses tend to cater to older people who like to spend long hours playing mahjong and gossiping. At the coffee shops it is rare to see anyone over 40. Young people use them for socialising, but much of their interaction is online -sharing photos of their drinks and of the coffee-making equipment. An option on the Chinese rating app Dianping allows users to search for wanghong ("internet viral") coffee houses: ones with particularly photogenic decor(照片装饰) where better to sip and We Chat?

1. How did Starbucks try to appeal to Chinese consumers?

A．By reducing the price slightly.	B．By introducing the benefits of coffee.
C．By making coffee taste not so bitter.	D．By promoting its products effectively.

2. What does Luckin Coffee’s growth suggest?

A．People tend to like coffee’s bitter taste.

B．People’s views on coffee-drinking have changed.

C．People in China can afford coffee now.

D．Tea is no longer part of Chinese culture.

3. What does the underlined word “kiosks” in paragraph 4 mean?

A．Places where people can drink beer.

B．Restaurants where food can be taken away.

C．Shops aimed at people who like drinking coffee.

D．Small shops or stores where newspapers and drinks are sold.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．Coffee is taking off in China.

B．Tea-drinking is not popular.

C．Coffee or tea, which do you prefer?

D．Coffee has become people’s favorite in China.