【推荐2】NASA’s Mars detector (探测器), Opportunity, succeeded in finding signs that water once existed on the planet. Opportunity landed on Mars in January. Scientists now believe that the planet could once have supported life.
This discovery was chosen by Science, one of the world’s leading magazines, as the most important scientific achievement of 2004 last Friday.
“This little, wheeled, one-armed box went around another planet and has done something no human has ever managed,” according to Science. “It has discovered another place in the universe where life could once have existed.”
“Although we still can’t say that life could have existed in this environment, it is now certain that there was water on Mars,” said Steve Squyres, one of the scientists working on the Mars mission. The evidence comes from pictures and chemical readings taken by Opportunity. It includes marks on rocks like those caused by flowing water on Earth and salty chemicals like those found in dried-out sea-beds. Scientists said the new evidence proved beyond doubt that water has existed on Mars. But it is still unknown whether the water on Mars was like an ocean or justice.
While Opportunity has not found any signs of life, the presence of water means life is possible. “In everything we know about life on Earth, there is no example without liquid water,” Squyres said. “So water is important for the search for life on Mars.”
Researchers agree that a future mission (任务) should bring back physical samples (样品). But some scientists worry about the risk that this could introduce dangerous foreign creatures to Earth. “The problem here is how to get the samples back,” Squyres replied. “I think it is our responsibility to limit any risk.”
1. ________ prove that water existed on Mars.

A．The physical samples with salty chemicals

B．The marks on rocks and salty chemicals

C．Scientific achievements of 2004

D．Creatures from Mars

2. Which of the following is TURE according to the text?

A．It is now certain that there was water on Mars.

B．The water on Mars was like an ocean.

C．Evidence of life on Mars has been found.

D．Search for life on Mars is a great risk to humans.

3. How did scientists draw the conclusion that there was water on Mars?

A．The world’s leading magazine has announced the fact.

B．Scientists have taken many pictures and chemical readings on the Mars.

C．Astronauts have got some rocks from Mars.

D．Scientists have made a study of the pictures and readings sent back by Mars detector.

4. It can be inferred that, if the creatures from Mars came to Earth, ________.

A．they would be kind to humans

B．they would be cruel to humans

C．they would be a great danger to Earth

D．it would be hard to say whether it would be a good news or bad news

【推荐3】For years video games have been criticized for making people more antisocial, overweight or depressed. Bui now researchers are finding that video games can actually change us for the better and improve both our body and mind.

Games can help to develop physical skills. Pre-school children who played interactive games have been shown to have improved motor skills, for example they can kick, catch and throw a ball better than children who don’t play video games. A study found that those who played video games were 27 percent faster and made 37 percent fewer errors than those who didn’t.

Games also benefit a variety of brain functions, including decision-making. People who play action-based games make decisions 25 percent faster than others, according to one study. It was also found that the best gamers can make choices and act on them up to six times a second, four times faster than most people. In another study by researchers from the University of Rochester in New York, experienced gamers were shown to be able to pay attention to more than six things at once without getting confused, compared with the four that most people can normally keep in mind.

There is also evidence that gaming can help with psychological problems. At the University of Auckland in New Zealand, researchers asked 94 young people diagnosed with depression to play a 3D fantasy game called SPARX and in many cases, the game reduced symptoms of depression more than conventional treatment.

The effects are not always so positive, however. Indiana University researchers carried out brain scans on young men and found evidence that violent games can adjust brain function after as little as a week of play, affecting regions in the brain associated with emotional control and causing more aggressive behavior in the player. But Danhne Bavelier, one of the most experienced researchers in the field, says that the violent action games that often worry p parents most may actually have the strongest beneficial effect on the brain. In the future, we may see many treatments for physical and neurological (神经的) problems, which include the playing of video games.

1. In what way playing video games benefits very young children?

A．Muscle control.	B．Social interaction.
C．Decision-making.	D．The ability to focus.

2. Which type of video game improves the decision-making speed?

A．Interactive games.	B．Action-based games.
C．3D fantasy games.	D．Violent games.

3. What is the authors attitude to video games?

A．Indifferent.

B．Objective.

C．Worried.

D．Critical.

4. What is the text mainly about?

A．The effects of different types of video games.

B．The negative effects of playing video games.

C．The beneficial effects of playing video games.

D．The effects of games on people’s behavior.

【推荐1】Scientists have long sought to prevent sharp memories from fading with age, but the problem remains unsolved. Now research published in Scientific Reports suggests virtual reality might help older people recall facts and events based on specific details.

The study involved 42 healthy older adults from the San Francisco Bay Area. Half spent a dozen hours over four weeks playing a virtual-reality game called Labyrinth; they wore headsets (耳机) and walked in place, walking virtual neighborhoods while completing small tasks. The other half, in the control group, used tablets to play games that did not require recalling details. After 15 sessions (期), the latter performed roughly the same as before on a long-term memory test. But the Labyrinth players gain an improvement in memory through the VR game. A scientist Peter Wais of the University of California said the improvements brought them up to the level of another group of younger adults taking the same memory tests.

Meredith Thompson, an education researcher, studies learning through VR games but was not involved in the new study. “It would be great to actually follow people over time and see what this type of game does for long-term memory.” She says, “adding VR can provide greater involvement than other games. Wais's team is now studying how long the observed effects last and which elements of the training have the most impact.”

A cognitive (认知) psychologist, Daniel Simons, who was also not involved in the study, notes experiments with other games that are said to train the brain have often failed to support this. And it remains unclear how test performance in a laboratory setting might translate to real-world situations. The outcome, Simons notes, “needs to be repeated, ideally with a much larger group, before it’s treated as a strong finding.”

For now, Wais says, the team hopes its studies with similar-sized groups will help draw funding to test the game with more participants.

1. What is the passage mainly about?

A．Virtual reality improves older adults' memory.

B．People of different ages should play VR games.

C．Virtual reality changes people's memory.

D．People's memory gradually fails as they age.

2. What can we infer from Meredith Thompson's words?

A．The experiment result still needs improving with more financial support.

B．What effects the experiment will have is still unknown.

C．The testing result of the experiment is not practical in reality.

D．It takes a longer period to figure out its effects on long-term memory.

3. According to Daniel Simons, the research needs to be improved due to _________.

A．the lack of support officially	B．the impractical application in real world
C．the unsatisfying test performance	D．the limited number of participants

4. Where may the passage come from?

A．A novel.	B．A magazine.
C．A brochure.	D．A guidebook.

【推荐2】Cinco de Mayo is probably the holiday most often celebrated that no one understands.

Literally (根据字面意思) “Fifth of May”, Cineo de Mayo is a Mexican holiday celebrating the Battle of Puebla, which took place on May 5, 1862. In 1861, France sent a big army to invade Mexico, as they wanted to collect some war debts. The French army was much larger, better trained and equipped than the Mexicans struggling to defend (保卫) the road to Mexico City. The French army reached Puebla, where the Mexicans won a huge victory. The victory was short­lived, as the French army regrouped and continued, and eventually took Mexico City, but the joy of an unlikely victory against France is remembered every May fifth.

Mexico celebrates its independence on September 16, because it was on that day in 1810 that Miguel Hidalgo invited his people to take up arms and join him in fighting against Spanish rulers. Independence Day is a much more important holiday in Mexico. For some reason, Cinco de Mayo is celebrated more in the United States of America, by Mexicans and Americans alike, than it is in Mexico. One theory for why it is more popular in the USA is that at one time, it was celebrated in all of Mexico and by Mexicans living in former Mexican areas such as Texas and California. It was ignored in Mexico after a while but still celebrated in the north of the border, which never got out of the habit of remembering the famous battle.

In Puebla and in many American cities with large Mexican populations, there are parades, dancing and festivals. Traditional Mexican food is often served or sold. Mariachi (街头音乐) bands fill town squares, and a lot of beers are served. It’s a fun holiday, really more about celebrating the Mexican way of life than about remembering the battle which happened 157 years ago. In the USA, schoolchildren decorate their classrooms and try their hand at cooking some basic Mexican food. All over the world, Mexican restaurants bring in mariachi bands and offer specials for what’s almost certain to be a packed house.

1. Why do more Americans celebrate Cinco de Mayo?

A．Some American areas once belonged to Mexico.

B．Americans are influenced by Mexican culture.

C．Mexicans don’t form the habit of having a holiday.

D．Many Mexicans value Independence Day.

2. How can schoolchildren celebrate Cinco de Mayo?

A．By performing music at restaurants.

B．By trying making some Mexican food.

C．By turning the classroom into a battlefield.

D．By offering special gifts to their teachers.

3. By celebrating Cinco de Mayo, people mainly show ________.

A．where the history is honored most

B．what special customs they have

C．how Mexicans gained independence

D．who should be remembered forever

4. According to the passage, people celebrate Cinco de Mayo because Mexicans ________.

A．paid off their war debts

B．succeeded in defending Mexico City

C．gained independence from Spanish

D．defeated the French army in Puebla

【推荐3】No one can deny China’s efforts to reach for the sky.
At one kilometer high, the two Phoenix Towers planned for Wuhan, the capital of Hubei province in central China, will be the tallest in the world if completed on schedule in 2017.
The towers will also be pink, crazily futuristic and environmentally friendly.
Designed to sit on an island in a lake, the largest of the towers will stand 172 meters taller than Burj Khalifa in Dubai.
“We were asked to create an iconic building for Wuhan, which embodies a strong environmental and social content as well as reflecting Chinese tradition,” Laurie Chetwood of UK-based design firm Chetwoods Architects told CNN.
The design is inspired by dualism(二元论) in Chinese culture-the traditional Chinese phoenix symbol of the two birds, Feng and Huang, as well as the idea of yin and yang.
Feng and Huang, or phoenix, are a pair of mythical birds in Chinese culture traditionally used to denote royalty.
Three large spheres containing restaurants will be accessible via suspended   “skywalks” between the two towers.
The spheres “represent planets orbiting the towers”, according to the designers.
The larger building will also have the unlikely boast of housing the world’s tallest kaleidoscope(万花筒) driven by a wind turbine(涡轮机).
A commercial square at the towers’ base will meet China’s growing demand for cultural tourism.
“You’ll have a French street, a Japanese street, a Turkish street, and so forth… to allow people to see the world without necessarily having to leave China,” Chetwood told the Guardian.
The towers are designed to have green features such as pollution-absorbing surfaces to filter the city’s air as well as technology to filter the water.
The towers are designed to be able to produce enough power to fulfill their own needs and those of neighboring areas.
“If you work in the UK, if you come up with anything that’s off the wall ( 有点出格的) or slightly out there, you sort of get kicked back,” Chetwood said. “ In China it goes the other way- they ask for a bit more. That’s a stimulating experience for a designer.”
1. Which of the following about the two Phoenix Towers is TRUE?

A．Their inspiration comes from Chinese culture.

B．At present they are the tallest in the world.

C．They will be surrounded by three ground-level spheres.

D．People will have a taste of foreign flavors inside the spheres.

2. According to Laurie Chetwood in the last paragraph, China’s response to new ideas is _________.

A．doubtful	B．negative
C．cautious	D．enthusiastic

3. This article focuses on the _________ of the two Phoenix Towers.

A．appearances	B．construction
C．features	D．height

4. Which would be the best title for the passage?

A．The Phoenix Towers: Pink and controversial.

B．The Phoenix Towers: Super tall and green.

C．The Phoenix Towers: Work of a Great Architect.

D．The Phoenix Towers: Work of China-UK cooperation.

【推荐1】After waking up, you may feel frustrated that you cannot recall the dreams you had last night. Artificial intelligence (AI) may be able to help.

Previously, there have been AI models that can turn text into images. They can do this by learning from a large amount of data from both tests and images. This time, researchers from Osaka University in Japan have trained an AI system called Stable Diffusion to re-create images based on people’s brain scans, reported Science magazine.

The researchers used an online data set provided by the University of Minnesota, US, which consisted of brain scans from four participants as they each viewed a set of 10,000 photos. The scans were recorded by functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI,功能性磁共振成像).

The AI then learned about the brain activities by analyzing changes in blood flow shown by the FMRI data - when a part of the brain is activated, more blood will flow to it. It then matched the brain activities with the photos. Through this method, AI learned how human brains would react when seeing different photos.

Finally, the researchers tested the AI on additional brain scans from the same participants when they viewed photos of a toy bear, airplane, clock and train. If the person looked at an airplane, for example, the AI would use the brain scan data to create an image of a very blurry (模糊的) airplane. Then, it would turn on the previous “text-to-image” model and improve the quality of the image by feeding itself the keyword “airplane”. The final images were “convincing” with about 80 percent of accuracy, according to the researchers.

The new study created a novel approach that incorporates texts and images to “decipher (解码) the brain”, Ariel Goldstein from Princeton University, US, told Science magazine. In the future, scientists hope that the technology can be used to record imagined thoughts and dreams or allow people to understand how differently other animals perceive reality.

1. What do we know about Stable Diffusion?

A．It can help train people’s minds.	B．It can fully present people’s dreams.
C．It was created to draw people’s brains.	D．It can produce pictures from people’s thoughts.

2. How did the AI system learn about human brain activities?

A．By analyzing descriptions of human thoughts.

B．By studying patterns of blood flow in the brain.

C．By recording brain scans from four participants.

D．By examining 10,000 photos about human brains.

3. How did the AI system improve the quality of the final images?

A．By integrating additional brain scans.	B．By adjusting various visual elements.
C．By employing a “text-to-image” model.	D．By inputting text from human observers.

4. What is the potential use of this technology according to scientists?

A．To improve text-to-image models.	B．To create more accurate brain scans.
C．To learn how animals view the world.	D．To help people interpret their dreams.

5. What makes the best title for the passage?

A．The Research on AI System	B．The Power of Science Magazine
C．The Forms of Dreams	D．The Study for Brain Activities