【推荐1】The sun is going to expand into the orbit of Mercury according to scientific calculations, which will result in the entire Earth catching on fire. Who will save the world?

This imaginative tale is at the heart of the latest Chinese sci-fi movie The Wandering Earth. Unlike many American space-themed films where the solution to a disaster Earth faces is always fleeing (逃离) the planet in spaceships, this time we’re taking the Earth with us. The film, which has become the country’s most successful film of all time, has offered a different and more ambitious idea.

The “ambition” didn’t come from nowhere. For thousands of years, “homeland” has had a soft spot in the hearts and minds of Chinese people. One old idiom that shows a strong feeling that Chinese people have had for their homeland is “luoyeguigen”, which means returning to one’s homeland in old age, like fallen leaves returning to the roots of their tree.

“What is Chinese sci-fi?” Guo Fan, the film’s director, said in an interview. “A vehicle that really expresses our cultural and spiritual core (核心) can be called Chinese sci-fi. Otherwise, we’re just following others and telling the same Hollywood stories.”

And the makers of The Wandering Earth may have chosen the best time to tell its Chinese sci-fi story. The film was released on Feb. 5, the first day of Chinese New Year. It was a time when many people had just made the hard journey back to their hometowns. So to them, there is only one possible way to tell the story: Earth goes wherever humans go, because it’s our home.

1. The main purpose of the opening paragraph is to __________.

A．give a brief account of the film

B．warn people of the coming threat

C．explore ways to avoid the disaster

D．introduce the topic of the passage

2. The underlined phrase “a different and more ambitious idea” refers to __________.

A．fleeing the Earth in spaceships

B．bringing in huge success

C．filling the gap in Chinese sci-fi movies

D．helping Earth make its escape

3. Which of the following is unlikely to account for the success of the film?

A．The rich imagination of the story.

B．Hollywood-style space stories.

C．The special cultural background.

D．The time chosen to release the film.

4. What is likely to be the title for the passage?

A．Chinese Sci-Fi Catches Up

B．The Most Successful Chinese Sci-Fi

C．Chinese Sci-Fi Sets a New Path

D．Chinese Sci-Fi Challenges Hollywood

【推荐2】It has been a year since 1 first saw UBTech's Walker robot at CES 2019. I was blown away by its ability to perform many tasks.

A year later, it had come a long way, gaining much better motor skills and the ability to maintain balance. During a CES 2020 demo(演示), UBTech showed how far Walker had come.The robot walked over to a table, picked up a bottle opener and used it to remove the cap from a bottle of soda. It picked up the bottle and a glass and poured the liquid in, without spilling.During the demo, Walker also performed a number of serious Yoga( 瑜伽) poses, including standing on one foot and leaning back.

UBTech said that the ability to pour drinks required visual servo( 伺服系统) technology using its cameras to judge the position of objects. The same methods allowed Walker to uncap a marker and draw a picture of a flower on a piece of paper at another point in the demo.

All of the betterment was made via software as UBTech hasn't made any physical adjustments too the robot since we saw it last year. On the inside, the robot uses a combination of a few different operating systems on these internal PCs, including Ubuntu, ROS and Android. Its battery promises up to 2 hours battery life after a 2-hour charge time,

UBTech continues development on this pioneering robot, but doesn't have public launch date. The company is targeting Walker toward the home, with an emphasis on helping seniors or. just doing house cleaning. To make it stable enough to adapt to all these different conditions is a huge challenge. However, if development of Walker continues, this robot could eventually be a game-changer.

1. How did the author feel when first seeing the robot?

A．Amazed.	B．Proud.
C．Awkward.	D．Disappointed.

2. What is Paragraph 2 mainly about?

A．The demos of CES 2019.	B．The improvements of the robot.
C．The robot's motor ability.	D．The robot's ability to remain steady.

3. What enables the robot to draw pictures?

A．The cap of the marker.	B．The ability to pour drinks.
C．The using of more cameras.	D．The system of position judging.

4. What can we infer from the last paragraph?

A．The robot is stable enough to help the old.

B．The robot has been available to the public.

C．Our life could be greatly influenced by the robot.

D．The basic concept of robot making will be changed.

【推荐3】Indonesia’s air force has seeded clouds with salt in an effort to stop rain from falling on the flooded capital, Jakarta. The seeding operation follows deadly flash floods and landslides that hit the capital after some of the heaviest rain ever recorded. Indonesian officials said that as of Friday, at least 43 people had been killed in the disaster. Tens of thousands of people have been displaced.

Cloud seeding is a process that involves shooting salt into clouds in an attempt to create artificial rain. It is often used in Indonesia to help put out forest fires. The current operation aims to get the clouds to drop water and break up before they reach Jakarta.

Indonesia’s air force teamed up with the country’s technology agency to carry out three rounds of cloud seeding on Friday. Officials said more cloud seeding would take place as needed.

The latest flooding followed heavy rainfall on December 31 and into the early hours of New Year’s Day. The water covered large areas of Jakarta and nearby towns. The start of 2020 weather was one of the most extreme rainfall events since record keeping began in 1866, Indonesia’s weather agency said on Friday. The officials said climate change had increased the risk of extreme weather. They warned that heavy rainfall could reach a high point in mid-January and should be expected to last until mid-February.

News videos showed floodwaters spreading across Jakarta. Images showed groups of people walking through water and mud-covered cars, some of them sitting on top of each other. President Joko Widodo blamed delays in flood control projects for the disaster. Among the projects is the building of a canal that has been delayed since 2017 because of property right issues.

Jakarta has been slowly sinking. A main cause is the amount of ground water being drawn out from under the city. Rising sea levels have made the threat of flooding even worse. Last year, Widodo announced he would move Indonesia’s capital to East Kalimantan province on Borneo island to reduce the burden on overpopulated Jakarta.

1. What did the extremely heavy rainfall result in?

A．The seeding operation failed.	B．Forty-three people were missing.
C．An airplane carrying salt crashed.	D．A great many people lost their homes.

2. Why was the cloud seeding operated on Friday?

A．To put out forest fires.	B．To reduce natural rain.
C．To test the country’s technology.	D．To stop rain from flooding the capital.

3. What does the underlined word “them” refer to in paragraph 5?

A．Videos.

B．People.

C．Cars.

D．Projects.

4. What can be learned from the passage?

A．Jakarta is facing great challenges.	B．The artificial rain resulted in floods.
C．The flood control projects worked well.	D．The continuous rain would become weak.

【推荐1】Professional rock climber Emily Harrington has made history after successfully free climbing Yosemite National Park’s El Capitan on 4 November 2020.

Harrington, 34, became the fourth person — and the first woman — to ever scale the 3,000-foot El Capitan without the help of a rope or other equipment. “The people before me who have achieved this are kind of like some of my heroes in rock climbing,” she said, “so it feels pretty special to join that group.”

But Harrington’s climb was not without injury — at one point, she slid and was left with a serious wound on her forehead that required her to take a break. “I took a fall and I couldn’t get my feet out and my head actually hit the wall,” she recalled, “I got this wound on my forehead. I rested a little bit longer, bandaged (包扎) it up, and then tried again,” Harrington said, adding that although she “kind of didn’t really want to try again,” she powered through because “ I felt like I should try again.”

After 21 hours and 13 minutes, Harrington scaled all of El Capitan, achieving a feat (壮举) she failed to finish twice last year. “That was my life dream. I achieved it,” she said.

Harrington said she’s hopeful that her journey has inspired others. “I hope that as a result of my story more people will get to experience climbing, or at least try.”

Harrington previously scaled Mt. Qomolangma, the tallest mountain in the world. As a former member of the USA climbing team, Harrington has competed in five U.S. sport climbing championships and two North American championships.

1. What does the underlined word “scale” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?

A．Remove.

B．Mount.

C．Measure.

D．Weigh.

2. What does the writer want to impress on the readers in Paragraph 4?

A．The risk of the climbing.	B．Harrington’s determination.
C．The meaning of failure.	D．Harrington’s expert skills.

3. What is the main idea of the last paragraph?

A．Harrington’s achievements.	B．US sport climbing events.
C．The climbing team’s arrangements.	D．The secret to Harrington’s success.

4. Where is this passage probably taken from?

A．A travel journal.	B．A story book.
C．A news report.	D．A science magazine.

【推荐3】It was the final climb on his quest to reach the highest summit on all seven continents. When Christopher Kulish finally reached Mount Everest’s 29,035-foot peak, he joined an elite group known as the “Seven Summits Club”. But the 62-year-old Colorado attorney died suddenly Monday after returning to the first camp below the mountain’s summit. He’s the second American to die in the past week after reaching Everest’s highest point. His family believes the cause was a heart attack, according to the Denver Post. “He saw his last sunrise from the highest peak on Earth,” his brother, Mark Kulish, said in a statement to the Denver Post. “We are heartbroken at this news.”

Last week, 55-year-old Donald Lynn Cash of Utah collapsed and died just after reaching the Everest peak. He too had reached the highest point on all seven continents. Including Christopher and Cash, at least 11 people have died on Mount Everest this year.

The deaths come among reports of overcrowding on the popular mountain. The Nepali government granted a total of 381 permits to climb Everest this year, a number that doesn’t include guides who are on the mountain as well. For some climbers, that traffic has meant longer wait times — some told the Himalayan Times the wait has exceeded two hours between the last camp and the peak. Mountaineer Vanessa O’Brien, who has also climbed the seven summits, said when there’s a crowd, being a more experienced climber won’t help you. “It doesn’t matter if you’re the best racecar driver in the world. If you’re stuck in traffic, you’re stuck in traffic,” she said in an interview.

And when a climber is stuck in that traffic, “their body is starting to deteriorate.” O’Brien, who set a record as the fastest woman to reach the highest peak on every continent, also said the descent is often harder than the climb.

Climbing expert Alan Arnette said there’s no simple explanation for the string of deaths. He said weather that has led to a shorter climbing season is one factor causing overcrowding. He also said the cost to climb Mount Everest has decreased, which means more people are making the journey. He urged the governments in charge of granting permits to limit how many people can be on the mountain at once.

Still, Christopher was no beginner. His family said he’d been mountain climbing for five decades. He arrived at the base camp nearly two months before his climb so he could give himself time to adapt to the conditions. When he made his journey, his family said he was climbing with a small group in almost ideal conditions after some of the overcrowding had cleared.

His brother described being a lawyer as a “day job” for Christopher. Climbing was his passion. “He was an inveterate climber of peaks in Colorado, the West and the world over,” Mark Kulish said. “He passed away doing what he loved.”

1. What do we know from Christopher?

A．He has reached the highest point on all seven continents.

B．He joined the “Seven Summits Club” at the base camp.

C．11 people following him died after reaching the Everest peak this year.

D．He died from a heart attack below the mountain’s summit.

2. What made longer wait times on Mount Everest?

A．Lacking guides.	B．Overcrowding.
C．Bad weather.	D．Getting Government’s permission.

3. Why did Christopher arrive at the base camp so early before climbing?

A．To wait for his friends.	B．To learn about the mountain.
C．To clear the traffic jam.	D．To adapt to conditions earlier.

4. What does the underlined word “inveterate” in the last paragraph probably mean?

A．Experienced.

B．Famous.

C．Excellent.

D．Addictive.