【推荐1】More than 4, 000 people died in car crashes in the United States in 1913. The nation’s roads weren’t built for vehicles that could speed along at 40 miles an hour.     1     , there was often confusion. Though police officers stood in the center of many of the most dangerous crossroads blowing whistles and waving their arms, few drivers paid attention.

    2    . Borrowing the red and green signals long used by railroads, and, tapping into the electricity that ran through the trolley lines. Hoge created the stoplight. Patented 100 years ago, the invention has shaped American cities and daily life ever since.

Hoge’s light made the first public appearance in 1914.     3    . A policeman sitting in a booth on the sidewalk controlled the signals with a switch(开关). “     4     as it makes for greater safety, speeds up traffic, and largely controls pedestrians in their movements across the street,” the city’s public safety director wrote after a year of operation. Six years later, we had William Potts, a police officer who had studied electrical engineering, to thank for the yellow light, but he could not patent his invention.

By 1930, all major American cities and many small towns had at least one electric traffic signal, and the innovation was spreading around the world.     5     .

A．Drivers approaching the intersection now saw two lights hung above it

B．When those machines met at a crowded intersection

C．The public is pleased with its operation

D．People there were not content with the invention

E．A Cleveland engineer named James Hoge had a solution for all this chaos

F．As it is remarkable that the passengers escaped with their lives

G．And the technology became symbol of progress

【推荐2】Robots have always had certain advantages over humans. They’re typically made of more durable materials than the soft tissue covering human bodies and since they can be repaired in the event of damage, they can basically “live” forever. But robots are usually heavy and awkward, and humans have always had a huge advantage in terms of dexterity.

Thanks to the mad scientists at Boston Dynamics, that appears to be changing. The humanoid Atlas robot, which has already showed incredibly impressive human-like abilities, just keeps getting better and better, and a new video by the company shows that its fluidity(流畅) of movement has now easily surpassed your own (and mine).

Atlas has slowly but surely been learning a lot of new skills over the past few years. It’s graduated from holding boxes and awkwardly walking to sprinting(冲刺) over obstacles and navigating(导航) all manner of difficult terrain(地形).

This latest show is an evolution of those skills, with the robot showcasing its ability to fall down, spin in the air, and even do a respectable handstand. It’s essentially a full-fledged(经过充分训练的) gymnastics routine being performed by a robot. Whether that’s awesome or scary depends on your point of view.

We created the maneuvers(招式) using new techniques that streamline the development process. First, an optimization algorithm(优化算法) transforms high-level descriptions of each maneuver into dynamically-feasible(动态可行的) reference motions. Then Atlas tracks the motions using a model predictive controller that smoothly blends from one maneuver to the next. Using this approach, we developed the routine significantly faster than previous Atlas routines, with a performance success rate of about 80%.

Still, being able to pull this off four out of five times is nothing to laugh at, and if Atlas is indeed learning things faster than ever before, we’ll likely be seeing even more impressive routines in the near future.

1. The word “dexterity” in Paragraph 1 means to be _________.

A．violent	B．flexible
C．light	D．stupid

2. What’s the author’s attitude towards the robot’s new ability?

A．awesome	B．scary
C．promising	D．doubtful

3. What’s the author’s purpose in writing Paragraph 5?

A．To show how Atlas made full-fledged gymnastics routine.

B．To explain how Atlas got the new maneuvers.

C．To promote the development of robots

D．To introduce the theory of Atlas.

4. What does the text intend to tell us?

A．Robots have always had certain advantages over humans.

B．Robots likely have more development in the near future.

C．Atlas can do everything that we want him to do.

D．Atlas is a fully-trained gymnast with a lot of skills.

【推荐3】Could looking through trees be the view to a greener future? Trees replacing the clear glass in your windows is not a work of science fiction. It's happening now.

Forest Products Laboratory researcher Junyong Zhu together with colleagues from the University of Maryland and University of Colorado has developed a transparent wood material that may be the window of tomorrow. Researchers found that transparent wood has the potential to outperform glass currently used in construction in nearly every way.

While glass is the most common material used in window construction, it comes with quite a few bad consequences. Heat easily transfers through glass and amounts to higher energy bills when it escapes during cold weather and pours in when it's warm. Glass production used for construction also comes with a heavy carbon footprint. Manufacturing emissions alone are approximately 25,000 metric tons per year, without considering the heavy footprint of transporting the glass.

The innovation was developed using wood from the balsa tree, which is native to South and Central America. The team treated balsa wood to an oxidizing bath, where the wood is kept in a bleach solution at room temperature to remove the light-absorbing substance from the structure. The wood is then penetrated（注入）with a synthetic polymer called polyvinyl alcohol（PVA）, creating a product that is virtually transparent. So the transparent wood is created, which is far more durable and lighter than glass.

Switching to transparent wood could prove to be cost efficient as well. It is approximately five times more thermally efficient than glass. cutting energy costs. It is made from a sustainable, renewable resource with low carbon emissions.

With all of these potential benefits for consumers, manufacturing and the environment, the case for transparent wood couldn't be clearer.

1. What is the main problem with glass used in window construction?

A．It is inefficient in letting heat out.

B．It does not reflect light and heat.

C．It cause a high ecological cost

D．It is inconvenient to transport.

2. What does the underlined part "a bleach solution" refer to?

A．A liquid to make objects white.

B．A process to solve problems.

C．A container to store liquids.

D．A way to make colors fade.

3. What does paragraph 4 focus on?

A．How to make things transparent

B．How to produce the new material.

C．The benefits of the wood material.

D．The great importance of innovation.

4. What is the author's attitude towards transparent wood?

A．Skeptical.	B．Ambiguous.
C．Conservative.	D．Appreciative.

【推荐2】Despite all the ways we have to interact with others, people still feel isolated and lone. Loneliness is an increasing problem—so much so that, last year, the government introduced a loneliness strategy and minister for loneliness. We used to talk of the condition in relation to older people but rarely gender. It may come as a surprise then that so many of those affected by loneliness are men.

A recent YouGov survey for Movember, a charity event that raises awareness of men’s health issues, asked men about their friendships and whether they had people outside their homes they could swap their worries with. Half of men asked said they had two or fewer friends and one in eight had none—that’s 2.5 million men with no close friends. Even worse, men’s friendlessness doubles between their early 20s and late middle age.

Isolation can have physical and mental health implications. A 2017 report by the Commission on Loneliness said loneliness is as harmful to health as smoking 15 cigarettes a day. Research shows correlation between loneliness and heart disease and strokes, and other studies associate loneliness with depression. However, why are so many men affected? In our latest podcast, psychotherapist Noel Bell says some men feel they have to be self-reliant. Due to widespread social stereotypes(刻板印象), it can be viewed as a sign of weakness for men to admit they have a problem, express their deepest feelings or discuss a serious personal topic.

Perhaps due to the way generations of men have been raised, it is often difficult to recognize feelings of loneliness in the first place. Behavioural differences between boys and girls are not naturally born at birth, they are socialised. Girls are stereotypically seen as more emotional and talkative and so their communicative and expressive skills are more valued than those of boys by parents and teachers, according to researchers.

For some men, having a partner and a family can somewhat shelter them from the negative effects of loneliness—but what if their personal circumstances change? After a relationship breaks down or there is a loss of you beloved, some men find their friends have drifted away and they have no one to talk to. Social media can be beneficial if it leads to interaction in the real world, but online networks are no substitute for face-to-face friendships—the number of likes on your most recent post does not compare with genuine connection.

Social activities such as team sports aren’t for everyone and, if you’re already feeling lonely or isolated, it can be difficult to build the confidence to enter those environments and connect over a shared interest. There is also the danger that some male-dominated social environments encourage drinking alcohol and may not be the right places for those who are feeling the mental health effects of isolation. That said, ‘shoulder to shoulder’ active interactions for men, such as exercise, especially running, are proven to be beneficial. But such activities do not interest all men and this is where psychotherapy(心理疗法) can be of particular use.

Don’t suffer in silence. A psychotherapist is not a friend, nor is therapy a substitute for a meaningful friendship. A therapist will, however, help a client identify what may be creating barriers to them building supportive friendships and determine the factors that may be causing their feelings of isolation. A therapist will work with the client to address their issues, providing a fair, non-judgemental space in which a lonely person can work out what is best for them and how to move towards a more connected and contented life. Bell, a famous therapist, says too many men enter therapy only when a situation has reached crisis point and he encourages men not to bottle up their emotions. “Reflecting on your feelings is healthy and normal,” he says.

1. Who used to be the prime victims of loneliness?

A．Junior students.	B．Isolated ministers.
C．Mature men.	D．Senior citizens.

2. What does the survey done by YouGov imply?

A．Men tend to expand their social circle after their adolescence.

B．Young and middle-aged male adults suffer more from loneliness.

C．Loneliness remains at the same level despite different ages.

D．Deep friendships are difficult to maintain between the males.

3. According to the Nobel Bell, men’s loneliness is relevant to _______.

A．the fear of dying of heart disease and strokes

B．the depression popular among men of all ages

C．the conventional view on how men should behave

D．their reliance on outside assistance through hardships

4. In terms of social stereotypes, girls are better at _______.

A．gaining sympathy from men	B．hiding their true emotions
C．disciplining their own behavior	D．interacting with other people

5. Why does the author mention social media in Paragraph 5?

A．To stress the importance of real interaction to men.

B．To introduce a possible way out of loneliness for men.

C．To contradict the belief that men feel lonely online.

D．To illustrate how social media can relieve depression.

6. When might a psychotherapist be of particular use?

A．When there is no substitute for the current therapy.

B．Not until a man is fully conscious of the crisis point?

C．When active interactions fail to attract a lonely man.

D．After a man is excluded from a team of common interests.

【推荐3】Want to get your package delivered via robots? Now there’s an app for that. If you live in Washington D. C. , or Redwood, you may have glimpsed a small, boxy robot rolling along a local sidewalk, minding its own business, but attracting the attention of many curious onlookers.

The autonomous machines were part of a pilot program last year by Starship Technologies focusing on delivering meals from local restaurants in dozens of cities around the world. This week, the company unveiled plans to broaden its delivery service beyond food to include package, a move that led it to declare itself “the world’s first robot package delivery service”. The next time you order food, this cute robot might roll up to deliver it. The package delivery service is not available to everyone yet.

The wheeled robots have a top speed of 4mph and can detect obstacles from 30 feet away. “The robot can operate through anything,” Nick Handrick, head of operations for Starship’s D.C. office, said. “ If you had something in the way — a stick — it’s able to climb sticks.”

To sign up for the service, which costs a little more than $ 10 per month, customers need to download the company’s app. Customers then create a “Starship Delivery Address”, a unique address inside a Starship facility, where they can have package sent from places such as Amazon.com. Once a package is delivered to the Starship address, customers receive a text notification that allows them to schedule a home delivery via robot. The robots are opened by customers via a mobile phone code.

Barriers exist for robotic ground delivery, with many states requiring that humans be in control of delivery robots. Those regulations haven’t stopped Starship Technologies from accumulating experience on streets around the globe ahead of the company’s latest launch. The company says its robots have covered more than 125,000 miles in more than 100 cities in 20 countries.

1. What can we know about the robotic delivery?

A．It is part of a trial project by Starship Technologies.

B．You can use the service free of charge via smart phones.

C．The robots are opened by customers with a text notification.

D．The robotic delivery is available to everyone at present.

2. What does the underlined word “unveiled” in paragraph 2 probably mean?

A．Revised	B．Released
C．Restored	D．Reset

3. What is the last paragraph mainly about?

A．The good news of the service.

B．The disadvantages of the robotic delivery.

C．How the robotic delivery works.

D．Robotic delivery develops despite challenges.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．A New Robot Was Invented	B．Wheelless Robots Are on the Way
C．How Robots Deliver Packages	D．Packages Will Be Delivered by Robots