【推荐1】Farming is destroying the planet, but there could be a much more environmentally friendly way to feed ourselves: using renewable energy to turn carbon dioxide into food. “This is becoming a reality,” says Pasi Vainikka at Solar Foods, a company that is building the first commercial-scale factory that will be able to make food directly from CO2.

There can be no doubt that immediate attention to find greener ways to grow food is required. Conventional agriculture, including organic farming, causes damage to the environment in many ways. It requires a lot of land, leading to habitat loss and deforestation. It is also the source of a third of all greenhouse gas emissions and releases other pollutants. It isn’t very efficient, either. Crops typically transform less than 1 percent of light energy into usable biomass (生物量).

Instead, Solar Foods plans to avoid photosynthesis (光合作用) altogether, and grow bacteria that use hydrogen as their source of energy. At the factory, renewable electricity will be used to split water to produce hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen will be added to large containers, where the bacteria grow, along with CO2 and ammonia (氨气). The end result will be a yellow powder called Solein.

Solein is made of bacterial cells and is up to 70 percent protein. It can be used as an ingredient in all kinds of foods. “We are aiming at replacing animal-sourced proteins, which we think have the highest environmental impact,” says Vainikka.

Compared with plant crops, Solein will use 100 times less water per kilogram of protein produced, 20 times less land and emit a fifth as much CO2, according to Solar Foods. There are other benefits, too: factories could be situated anywhere in the world and production won’t be affected by weather conditions.

“With Solar Foods and other companies scaling up their systems, this is truly beginning a new era of agriculture,” says Dorian Leger at Connectomix Bio in Germany. “I think these trends are exciting and will help bend the carbon curve as well as lead to improved global food supply security.”

1. What is the author’s purpose in mentioning conventional agriculture in paragraph 2?

A．To demonstrate its influence on crops.

B．To compare different farming methods.

C．To highlight the urgent need for alternatives.

D．To provide an example of agricultural types.

2. What is mainly presented in paragraph 3 concerning Solein?

A．Its production process.	B．Its storage condition.
C．Its ingredient materials.	D．Its investment potential.

3. What is one of the features of Solein?

A．It is low in protein.	B．Its production is weather sensitive.
C．It is resource-limited.	D．Its production is location-independent.

4. Which statement would Dorian Leger probably agree with?

A．The use of Solein may help reduce carbon emissions.

B．Solein will dominate the agricultural development.

C．Solein can help achieve global food safety.

D．The prospect of Solein remains to be seen.

【推荐2】The school year has barely started in Denver, and French teacher Tiffany Choi is already worried that her students are suffering from absent-mindedness. The problem isn’t texting, playing video games or passing notes. It’s Denver’s ongoing heat wave.

“Today was a little bit hot, so I noticed kids were very sleepy and they were having to get up to drink water quite often.” said Choi, who works at Denver’s East High School. “If you lose too much water, and you have to keep going to the water fountain, that can take away from their classroom experience.” While nodding off in class on a warm day may seem like a right of passage for the average teen, Choi’s observation carries a bigger consequence than parched (干燥的) lips.

“There’s been quite a few media reports about teachers noticing that students weren’t able to focus on hotter days,” said R Jisung Park, a researcher, “Does a hotter climate during the school year actually affect the rate of learning?” The drops in academic achievement couldn’t be explained by hotter weekends or hotter summers, but the trend was connected to higher temperatures on school days alone.

The connection between lost learning and a greater number of hot days is one more example of how climate change is already affecting our lives-and it’s an alarm bell for what we stand to lose in the future. Humans still have time to lessen the worst consequences of continued global warming. But unless significant changes occur in the next decade-which seem more and more unlikely—the world will be locked into an inescapable period of heat waves unlike our species has ever seen.

1. What may cause students absent-minded according to the text?

A．Video games.	B．Text messages.
C．Heat waves.	D．Classroom notes.

2. What can be inferred from the second paragraph?

A．Lacking water is vital for kids being sleepy.

B．Extreme heat may lower a kid’s ability to learn.

C．Nodding off in class is a sign of respecting teachers.

D．Kids are more interested in drinking water than sleeping.

3. How does the author feel about dealing with the future global warming?

A．Optimistic.	B．Uncertain.
C．Worried.	D．Firm.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．The hotter it grows, the less kids are learning.

B．The consequences of continued global warming.

C．The reasons why kids are absent-minded in class.

D．The hotter it grows, the more focused kids become.

【推荐3】China's Bao Yongqing has been named the overall winner of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition for 2019, claiming one of the world's top photography awards.

The competition is developed and produced by the Natural History Museum in London. The 55th competition in 2019 drew more than 48,000 entries from 100 countries. The winning entry by Bao, a native of Qinghai province, is titled The Moment. It captures a remarkable standoff (僵持) between a Tibetan fox and a marmot (旱獭), and was taken on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. "Photographically, it is quite simply the perfect moment," said Roz Kidman Cox, the chairwoman of the judging panel. "The expressive intensity (紧张) of the postures makes you surprised, and the thread of energy between the raised paws seems to hold the protagonists in perfect balance," Cox said.   "To have captured such a powerful interaction between a Tibetan fox and a marmot — two species key to the ecology of this high-grassland region — is extraordinary." Museum Director Michael Dixon said the picture captured "nature's ultimate challenge — the battle for survival".

Bao, in a group interview on Wednesday, said of the photo: "It is very difficult and rare to capture this kind of moment, so I knew it was something very special. It took about two or three hours to get this photo. I was watching them for a long time. I have paid attention to this competition for a long time, and my first purpose was to show my image to the world, and secondly to protect the environment and my homeland. In my hometown, everyone looks after the animals, so when I go home with this award, it will be an encouragement to our people to be more protective of animals and the environment." In addition, the photographer said: "This competition is one of the most important among photographers in China, so I wanted to draw people's attention to animal protection. I hope it will introduce a passion for animals to more people."

1. What does the underlined word "protagonists" in the second paragraph mean?

A．Onlookers.	B．Photographers.
C．Hunters.	D．Main characters.

2. What can we know about the competition according to the first two paragraphs?

A．It originated from London.

B．It is a domestic competition in China.

C．It draws worldwide attention, making it the best event in photography.

D．Its entries are strictly restricted, mainly focusing on endangered animals.

3. What is the main reason for Bao's winning the award?

A．His capturing a crucial scene between two typical species.

B．His spirit of never giving up in the face of difficulties.

C．His devotion to wildlife protection.

D．His publicizing the knowledge of rare animals.

【推荐1】As a boy, I was a little ashamed of my hometown. Visitors almost always made unfriendly: remarks about the distinct smell as they approached the town. However, since I am now working in the tourism industry, I have realized the significance of that smell to the town and even to the world. This is where the Canadian oil industry originated, growing from oil springs to a local miracle in Petrolia.

The “black gold” those first pioneer drillers pumped (用泵输送) out of the ground in the 1860s was the foundation on which our little town was built. In the 1880s, with a population of 5, 000, Petrolia was one of the richest towns in Canada, all because of the foul-smelling substance extracted (提取) from the ground.

Many amazing stories about these great people have been written. Those adventurous individuals brought their hard-earned industry skills to the far corners of the globe, and assisted in the development of major oil fields around the world. Past richness can be seen through out the town There is a story hidden behind each street.

A few historical industrial buildings also remain complete, as they’ve been preserved for a century. Fairbank Heavy Hardware and the Oil Well Supply Company continue to provide the tools and materials required to serve many oil wells in the area that are still pumping and producing the: precious goods. These are just a few of the amazing structures built in a time of wealth and glory.

The present atmosphere of the town is inviting and enthusiastic. Walking tours, a variety of restaurants, unique stores and professional summer theatres and special events throughout the year make it a popular destination for many people.

No longer ashamed, I now smile with pride when I think of my hometown. As our new slogan states, “You’ll Be Surprised!”

1. What does the author probably do?

A．A teacher.

B．A guide.

C．An engineer

D．A policeman.

2. What can we know about the author’s hometown?

A．There are oil fields in it.	B．There is a famous spring in it.
C．Its smell attracts visitors.	D．It is hated by many people.

3. Why does the author mention the two companies in Paragraph 4?

A．To prove the two companies’ richness.

B．To show the contribution of the oilmen.

C．To tell us the adventurous stories of the drillers.

D．To introduce the historical evolution of the town.

4. What makes the author feel proud of his hometown?

A．His love for work.	B．Local people’s help.
C．The town’s development.	D．The world’s change.

【推荐2】Across the United States, there are several places where two independent towns grew together to become one city ---- but kept both their names.

Winston-Salem is one of them. It’s a mid-sized city in what’s called the plateau（high land）, between the Atlantic Coast and the inland mountains in the state of North Carolina. The Winston part is a relatively new place, founded early this century. It’s home to the nation’s biggest open-air tobacco market.

The giant R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company’s headquarters is in Winston-Salem, and Winston is the name of one of Reynolds’ best-known cigarette brands. Fast-growing Winston soon surrounded the much older town of Salem, so in 1913, people in the area voted to combine them into a single place.

From a historical and tourist point of view, Salem, or Old Salem, as it’s called today, is the interesting and unusual part of town.

Salem was founded in the 1700s by the Moravians. They spoke German, and their community was religiously based, with single men and single women living apart in separate dormitories. The Moravians greatly valued women’s work and brainpower. In fact, one of the nation’s oldest boarding schools for young women— the Moravians’ Salem Academy founded in 1772 — is still in operation.

Over the years, Salem lost its Moravian character. That all changed, though, when a nonprofit group began to rehabilitate the historic area. These days Old Salem is what’s called a living history museum, with exhibits, music, and tours of 18th-century houses, taverns and Moravian dormitory buildings just seven blocks from the tallest skyscraper in Winston-Salem.

The historic community is booming again. Just as R. J. Reynolds is taking in millions of dollars making cigarettes across town, Old Salem is generating about $ 115 million a year in tourism revenue and donations.

1. From the passage we can know that____________.

A．Winston-Salem is the name of a city

B．Salem is home to the tobacco market

C．the city Winston-Salem has two names

D．Old Salem is the name of a tobacco brand

2. It can be inferred from Paragraph 3 that__________.

A．the two cities benefited each other

B．Salem developed faster than Winston

C．R.J. Reynolds Company has moved into Salem

D．the combination meets the wishes of the people

3. The city Salem is special for its__________.

A．boarding school	B．lifestyle and tradition
C．respect for brainpower	D．religious belief

4. The underlined word “rehabilitate” in Paragraph 6 is closest in meaning to “_______”.

A．reconstruct

B．evaluate

C．enlarge

D．decorate

5. What will probably be talked about in the following part?

A．Some other attractions in Winston-Salem.

B．How Winston makes profits from tourism.

C．Other examples of cities combined by two parts.

D．Something about the boarding school for women.