【推荐1】In 2015, astronaut Scott Kelly made himself a guinea pig for NASA's "twins study," designed to see what spaceflight does to the human body. It was for all the people who dream of human journeys to Mars and other destinations in space. Kelly rode a rocket into space and spent nearly a year on the International Space Station in low Earth orbit, while his identical twin brother, Mark Kelly, served as the comparison subject and stayed on Earth's surface.

The full results, published Thursday in the journal Science, showed that Scott Kelly experienced numerous physiological and chromosomal（染色体的）changes during his long stay in orbit, including changes in gene expression. His immune system went on high alert, both when he went to space and upon returning to Earth. His body acted as if it were under attack.

One of the most dramatic findings concerned epigenetics（实验胚胎学） — how genes are turned on or off to produce proteins. Gene expression changed in both Kellys during the study but in significantly different ways. The study found that more than 90 percent of Scott Kelly's gene expression changes returned to normal when he landed on the surface. His telomeres（染色体端粒）, structures which break over time as part of the natural aging process, lengthened in space. But that didn't necessarily mean being younger, the study found, because most telomeres shortened dramatically when he returned to Earth.

Months later, tests showed that slight changes in telomeres length still remained and left some influence on Scott Kelly, which means he and his brother are no longer identical twins. "He might be at some increased risk for cardiovascular disease or some types of cancer," said Susan Bailey, a biologist at Colorado State University who led one of the investigations in the study.

However, the researchers, echoing what NASA has suggested previously, said the twins study turned up no showstoppers — no shocking health consequences that would surely prevent a human mission to Mars or similar long-duration mission.

1. What does the underlined expression "a guinea pig" in Paragraph 1 mean?

A．a person who is strong enough to become an astronaut.

B．a person who is a leader of space exploration.

C．a person who is picked out for a scientific experiment.

D．a person who is faced with the harsh effects of space flight.

2. What happens to an astronaut's body during a space flight?

A．The permanent changes in gene expression.	B．The aging of cells.
C．The lengthened telomeres.	D．The failure in immune system.

3. What can we learn from the passage?

A．Scott Kelly will appear younger because his telomeres lengthened in space.

B．A long-duration spaceflight will be banned because of the damage to health.

C．Scott Kelly's gene expression changes were normal when he returned to the surface.

D．Scott Kelly might be more likely to develop cardiovascular disease or some types of cancer.

4. What can be a suitable title for the text?

A．Gene expression: Physiological Change of Proteins.

B．Space Experiment: Changes in Both Kellys.

C．Mars Exploration: an Unstoppable Human Mission.

D．Shortened Telomeres: the Killer of Astronauts.

【推荐1】India and China are leading the world greening task, a latest NASA study said on Monday. It has found that the world is a greener place than it was 20 years ago. Recent satellite data shows the greening pattern (模式) is very clear in China and India.

Data from NASA Earth satellites shows that human activities in China and India influence the greening of the planet, thanks to tree planting and agriculture. The influence comes mostly from great tree-planting programs in China and modern agriculture in both countries.

China’s great influence on the global greening mainly comes from its programs to keep and make forests larger in size. The goals of the programs are to make less land degradation (退化), less air pollution, and less climate change.

“When the greening of the Earth was first noticed,   we thought it was because of a warmer, wetter climate. Now with the satellite data, we see that humans are also playing an important part,” said Rama Nemani, research scientist at NASA and writer of the study.

“Once people realize there is a problem, they may try to deal with it. In the 1970s and 1980s in India and China, the situation about vegetation (植被) loss was severe. In the 1990s, people realize it, and today things have improved. Humans are very strong．That’s what we see in the satellite data,” adding Neman.

Land areas used to grow crops are comparable in China and India more than 770,000 square miles—and have not changed much since the early 2000s. Yet,   these areas have great increased both their green leaf areas and their food production.

1. Which of the following is TRUE?

A．The environment 20 years ago was greener than now.

B．India has really carried out a great tree planting program.

C．The study shows our environment is getting much worse.

D．Both China and India pay attention to modern agriculture.

2. The programs to keep and make forests larger in size have                      .

A．one goal

B．two goals

C．three goals

D．four goals

3. At first scientists thought that ________ caused the greening of the Earth．

A．modern agriculture	B．climate change
C．tree-planting programs	D．science research

4. The best title for the passage may be “_________”.

A．India and China are making the Earth greener

B．More than 770,000 square miles of crops

C．Recent satellite data shows the greening pattern

D．The Earth is becoming warmer and wetter

【推荐2】Climate change and land-use change are projected to make wildfires more frequent and intense, with a global increase of extreme fires of up to 14 per cent by 2030, 30 per cent by the end of 2050 and 50 per cent by the end of the century, according to a new report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and GRID-Arendal.

The paper calls for a complete change in government spending on wildfires, changing their investments from reaction and response to prevention and preparedness.

The report, Spreading like Wildfire: The Rising Threat of Extraordinary Landscape Fires, finds a higher risk even for the Arctic and other regions previously unaffected by wildfires. The report had been released before representatives of 193 nations held a meeting in Nairobi for the restarted 5th session of the UN Environment Assembly (UNEA-5.2), between 28 February and 2 March, 2022.

The publication calls on governments to adopt a new “Fire Ready Formula” with two-thirds of spending devoted to planning, prevention, preparedness, and recovery, with one third left for response. Currently, direct responses to wildfires typically receive over hall of related cost, while planning and prevention receive less than one per cent.

To prevent fires, authors call for a combination of data and science-based monitoring systems with native knowledge and for a stronger regional and international cooperation.

“Current government responses to wildfires are often putting money in the wrong place. Those emergency service workers and firefighters on the frontlines who are risking their lives to fight forest wildfires need to be supported. We have to reduce the risk of extreme wildfires by being better prepared: invest more in fire risk reduction, work with local communities, and strengthen global commitment to fight climate change.” said Inger Andersen, UNEP Executive Director.

Wildfires disproportionately (不成比例地) affect the world’s poorest nations. With an impact that extends for days, weeks and even years after the flames die down, they block progress towards the UN Sustainable Development Coals and deepen social inequalities.

1. What does the paper appeal to the government to do with wildfires?

A．Invest more money on forecast.

B．Give advanced warning to wild animals

C．Focus on the act of stopping them from happening,

D．Plant more tress to make up for the loss of forests.

2. What’s Inger Andersen’s attitude towards the current government’s measure?

A．Supportive.

B．Critical.

C．Unfair.

D．Unconcerned.

3. What is the author likely to talk about next?

A．The areas hit by climate change.

B．The names of the world’s poorest nations.

C．The relationship between wildfires and health.

D．The bad effects of wildfires on different fields.

4. What is the main idea of the text?

A．Wildfires are spreading worldwide.

B．The UN held a meeting to discuss wildfires.

C．Governments should prepare themselves for wildfires.

D．The UNEP Executive Director released a report on wildfires.

【推荐3】阅读短文，并按照题目要求用英语回答问题。

In 2019, the state of California was on fire. Alexandria Villaseor, who was 13 at the time, witnessed the destruction of Northern California’s Camp Fire, which would go on to burn more than 150,000 acres of land. Villaseor was scared. “That’s when I found out how important climate education was,” she reflected. “And just how much we lacked climate education these past couple of years.”

Villaseor, at the age of 15, was determined to have a bigger conversation. She quickly realized the fight requires international, government-level changes. For her, what started as local concern turned into a year-long protest in front of the United Nations’ New York City headquarters and a global campaign for more compulsory climate education. She sat on a bench in front of the headquarters, begging for the world’s leaders to take climate change seriously.

Her action received national attention, with millions of other students around the world joining in the movement. “It’s completely unacceptable not to learn anything about our planet and our environment in school, after all the young people would inherit the Earth.” Villaseor said, “That’s why I think that climate education is so important, and that’s why I focus a lot on it now.”

Right now, Villaseor is working with the American Administration on its climate plan, which has promised to center on the needs of young people and communities most impacted by climate change. She even spoke at the 2021 Democratic National Convention. “This was definitely a huge moment when I realized that people were listening to the voices of me and youth climate activists.” Villaseor said.

When she isn’t connecting with her fellow youth activists, Villaseor is like most other teens. “My favorite thing to do, of course, is sleep,” she said, “I like to read a lot. I like fantasy books, normally. I also like to write.”

1. What does Paragraph 1 mainly tell us? (no more than 10 words)
___________________________________________________
2. How did Villaseor make the world’s leaders attach importance to climate education? (no more than 15 words)
___________________________________________________
3. How do you understand the underlined sentence in Paragraph 3? (no more than 15 words)
___________________________________________________
4. When was the huge moment to Villaseor? (no more than10 words)
___________________________________________________
5. What do you think of Villaseor? Please explain in your own words? (no more than 20 words)
___________________________________________________

【推荐1】Bright Nights, Big Problems

Astronomers rate the darkness of our skies on a range of 9 (brightest) to 1 (darkest), and most of us spend our lives in the light of levels 5 to 8. All over the globe our nights are growing brighter, and almost nowhere are they growing darker. Studies increasingly link our overuse of light at night with health concerns such as sleep disorders and diseases. Other studies report the damaging ecological consequences and the big waste of energy. But the steady loss of darkness from our lives is not easily measured, for the true value of darkness is something we are barely aware of.

Since the beginning of time, a sky with stars was part of the common human experience. Everywhere on Earth, on most nights, people came face to face with the universe. This experience influenced their beliefs—their very understanding of their place in the world. Today, many of us live under skies which are polluted by light. We live under a night sky showing much fewer stars. Although our night sky continues to shape us, it is the absence of the universe around us that influences our beliefs to create. We are being shaped by a less experience of darkness, and most of us don’t even know what we are missing.

Our Milky Way galaxy is home to several hundred billion stars, and the universe home to several hundred billion other galaxies. A sky with a large number of stars encourages us to emphasize our importance, to imagine humanity as the center of all things. Face to face with the endless size of the universe, we have the chance to know how insignificant we really are. But we also realize the true largeness of our living on this planet, and realize that we have an enormous responsibility to care, that there is no other place to go, that home is here.

“Everyone needs beauty as well as bread,” wrote John Muir, American naturalist. Lighting designers understand that without darkness, there is no “city of light”, and they work constantly to create their city’s atmospheric beauty by mixing artificial light with darkness. And with night’s moonlit geographies, its smells of desert rain and autumn fires, its insect symphonies interrupted by a bird’s call on a lake, natural darkness has many offerings of its own.

Yet we are completely involved in artificial light. Much of this lighting is wholly unnecessary, born of habit and lack of awareness. So let us become aware: simply by keeping our existing lights we could significantly reduce their negative effects on our body, our mind, our soul. Artificial light at night is a wonder, a quality that enriches our lives. But the same has always been true of darkness, and can be again.

1. The author suggests that because of light pollution we ______.

A．tend to come face to face with the universe

B．need a lot of imagination to understand the universe

C．are considerably less creative than our ancient ancestors were

D．experience the world in a different way to previous generations

2. What does the author think about humans in Paragraph 3?

A．We have an over-confident belief in our own value.

B．We behave as if nothing exists apart from ourselves.

C．We ignore the requirement of looking after our planet.

D．We avoid thinking too deeply about our role on Earth.

3. Why does the author include references to rain, fires and wildlife?

A．To illustrate the boring life at night without artificial light.

B．To explain why people think lighting is necessary at night.

C．To provide an example of the attractive qualities of night-time.

D．To highlight the differences between urban and natural environments.

4. We can learn from the last paragraph that the author is ______.

A．clear about the reasons why artificial light is essential

B．dissatisfied with people’s lack of interest in artificial light

C．willing to draw comparisons between artificial light and darkness

D．hopeful that people will become aware of the negative impact of lights

【推荐2】Some people are so rude!

Who sends an e-mail or a text message that just says “Thank you”? Who leaves a voice mail message rather than texts you? Who asks for a fact easily found on Google? Don’t these people realize that they’re wasting your time?

Maybe I’m the rude one for not appreciating life’s little politeness. But many social agreed standards just don’t make sense to people drowning in digital communication.

In texts, you don’t have to declare who you are or even say hello; E-mail, too, is slower than a text; Voice mail is a now impolite way of trying to connect.

My father learned this lesson after leaving me a dozen voice mail messages, none of which I listened to. Exasperated, he called my sister to express his dissatisfaction that I never returned his phone calls. “Why are you leaving him voice mails?” my sister asked. “Just text him.”

In the age of the smartphone, there is no reason to ask once-acceptable questions about: the weather forecast, a business’ phone number, or directions to a house, a restaurant, which can be easily found on Google Maps. But people still ask these things. And when you answer, they respond with a thank-you e-mail.

How to handle these differing standards? Easy: Consider your audience. Some people, especially older ones, appreciate a thank-you message. Others, like me, want no reply.

The anthropologist(人类学家) Margaret Mead once said that in traditional societies, the young learn from the old. But in modern societies, the old can also learn from the young. Here’s hoping that politeness never goes out of fashion but that time-wasting forms of communication do.

1. Why didn’t the author listen to his father’s voice mail messages?

A．He thought voice mail would waste his time.

B．He thought voice mail was an impolite way of trying to connect.

C．He thought voice mail was an important way of communication.

D．He thought his father left him too many voice mails.

2. What seems to be the author’s attitude toward texts?

A．Favorable.	B．Doubtful.
C．Reserved.	D．Disapproving.

3. What does the author suggest modern people do in communication?

A．Learn from the old generation.

B．Ask once-acceptable questions.

C．Respond with a thank-you email.

D．Consider their audience.

【推荐3】Have you ever wondered why the world is full of so many people who are incredibly incompetent at the very thing they are paid to do? If so, an educationalist called Laurence J. Peter may have the answer.

In Peter’s view, most people were promoted based on their current performance, with no real consideration of their ability to take on greater responsibility. Eventually, “every employee tends to rise to his or her level of incompetence”, as he wrote. This is the law he termed the“Peter Principle”.

The strongest evidence for the theory comes from a recent study of 131 companies that all used the same performance management software. As you might expect, the team found that the best salesmen or saleswomen were the ones who tended to be promoted. And the study found that managers who used to be very high-performing sales workers tended not to bring significant assistance to their colleagues.

There are lots of potential reasons why this might occur. The personal drive-even aggression-that is needed to promote your own individual sales doesn’t necessarily transform into the interpersonal skills necessary to motivate others, for instance.

In the meantime, knowledge of the “Peter Principle” might be useful for each of us personally. If you frequently find yourself disappointed with your own boss or with your subordinates (下属), it’s worth considering the possibility that you’ve already reached your “level of incompetence”.

That’s not always easy to recognize. As Peter put it, “competence, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder”, but a modest awareness may just encourage you to correct your weaknesses, or to find a new position where your unique talents are of greater value.

1. Which of the following may Peter be in favour of?

A．An able employee may not be in the right place.

B．Employees with higher pay tend to perform better.

C．Whoever performs well in a firm deserves to be promoted.

D．There is no fixed criterion for assessing an employee’s ability.

2. What is the result of the study?

A．The “Peter Principle” makes sense both in companies and schools.

B．The best sales workers have got promoted due to their teamwork spirit.

C．The companies are in need of employees with good communicative skills.

D．Managers, once with good sales performance, may contribute little to others’progress.

3. How does the “Peter Principle” benefit each of us personally?

A．It makes us qualified for a higher position.

B．It reminds us of the importance of learning from others.

C．It inspires us to fulfill ourselves in a suitable position.

D．It provides guidance on how to improve our competence.

4. What would be the best title for the text?

A．General Rules in a Company	B．Reasons for Getting Promoted
C．Knowledge of the “Peter Principle”	D．The Development of a Famous Theory