These days, ice is easy to get. You can walk to your ice maker and have ice fall into your glass. Hundreds or thousands of years ago, ice wasn’t this easy to be made or to get. In the past, it involved harvesting ice from frozen bodies of water.
People throughout history have known the value of ice. People in ancient China would wait till the winter to make ice blocks from frozen rivers and then they would use ice blocks to keep food cool through warmer months. In ancient cultures, ice was luxury (奢侈的). Royalty would ship ice and then use it for juice drinks and other treats. In an age where there were no ice makers, ice was truly short-in-time and a sign of power.
Sometimes its translucence (半透明) made it perfect for decorative purposes. Centuries ago, some Chinese villagers would freeze buckets and water, cut a hole in the top and pour out the unfrozen water. Then they’d put a candle into the center. And that are what we call ice lanterns (冰灯) now.
And there are now a lot of big events around the world, some of which result in entire multi-story buildings made from ice, with colored lights that make them look like a frozen fairy tale land.
In 1990, Alaska became the host of the annual World Ice Art Championships, which is now a month-long event that attracts dozens of teams and tens of thousands of visitors. Canada is home to several large ice-based events, including the Ice Magic Festival near Lake Louise and the Deep Freeze Festival in Edmonton.
But the biggest and most mind-blowing event is the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival, in Harbin, Heilongjiang, China. When complete, the grounds turn into a real ice world, full of huge buildings and beautiful art with the best visual effect. The village includes many features like the Great Wall of China and the Egyptian pyramids, all quite at home in this city that has a lower temperature in January.
1. What is the function of paragraph 1?| A．To bring in the topic. | B．To show the main idea. |
| C．To give the background. | D．To introduce the way of making ice. |
| A．The ice would only be used in winters. | B．The ice was transported by ships. |
| C．The ice would be made for juice drinks. | D．The ice was hard to get in warmer months. |
| A．They are not big enough to be host. | B．They are only to be seen in Canada. |
| C．They are all festivals about ice. | D．They are likely to happen in summer. |
| A．The Usage of Ice | B．The Icy Games’ Host |
| C．The Ice Was Not Cheap in the Past | D．The Art and Value of Ice |
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【推荐1】Whether it is “women and children first” or “every man for himself” in a shipwreck may depend on how long it takes the ship to sink, researchers said recently.
When the Lusitania was torpedoed (用鱼雷袭击) by a German ship in 1915, it sank in 18 minutes and the majority of the survivors were young men and women who responded immediately to their powerful survival instincts.
But when the Titanic struck an iceberg in 1912, it took three hours to go down, allowing time for more civilized instincts to take control — and the majority of the survivors were women, children and people with young children.
Economist Benno Torgler of the Queensland University of Technology in Australia and his colleagues studied the two sinkings in order to explore the economic theory that people generally behave in a “rational” and selfish manner. The two tragedies provided a “natural experiment” for testing the idea, because the passengers on the two ships were quite similar in terms of gender and wealth.
The major difference was how long it took the ships to sink. They suggested that when people have little time to react, instincts may rule. When more time is available, social influences play a bigger role. But psychologists noted that many factors other than following social norms (社会规范) could come into play in a disaster, including an evolutionary urge to save the species, attachments that are formed between individuals during the event and the leadership of authority figures.
The extent of altruism (利他主义) and how it occurs “is a very controversial issue,” said Anthony R. Mawson, a professor of preventive medicine at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. He thinks the dominant response was attachment behavior.
Psychologist Daniel Kruger of the University of Michigan, US thinks that the answer lies less in social norms and more in our evolutionary heritage. Human beings have a deep instinct to preserve our kind, he said, and that means “people are more likely to save those who have higher reproductive value, namely the young and women in child-bearing years”.
Kruger also stressed the importance of leadership during a disaster, noting that the Titanic’s captain appeared to have greater control than the Lusitania’s.
1. According to Benno Torgler, what led to the different results between the two shipwrecks?| A．The age when it happened. | B．The time it took the ships to sink. |
| C．The object which attacked the ships. | D．The way torpedoes attacked the ships. |
| A．The evolutionary urge to save the species. | B．The strict social norms. |
| C．The rational judgements. | D．The critical thinking |
| A．Because they are the hope of a family. |
| B．Because they are the possible leaders in the future. |
| C．Because they are more important to the survival of the species. |
| D．Because they have better instinct. |
| A．The tips of disaster survivals. |
| B．The differences of people’s attitudes in disasters. |
| C．The way people save others in face of emergency. |
| D．The reasons why people behave differently in a disaster. |
【推荐2】We all love gardens with beautiful flowers and leafy plants, choosing colourful species to plant in and around our homes. Plant scientists, however, may have fallen for the same trick in what they choose to research.
The research, published in Nature Plants, found there’s a clear bias (偏好) among scientists toward visually striking plants. This means they’re more likely chosen for scientific study and conservation efforts, regardless of their ecological or evolutionary significance. White, red and pink flowers were more likely to feature in research literature than those with dull, or green and brown flowers. Plants with tall stems also stood out. Plants with blue flowers — the rarest colour in nature — received most research attention. But interestingly, a plant’s rarity didn’t significantly influence research attention. The team had expected to find more endangered species among those most studied, it did not either.
This bias may direct conservation efforts away from less visually pleasing plants that are more important to the health of the overall ecosystem or in need of urgent conservation. A bias toward colorful plants could mean we may be missing species that could be in rapid decline toward extinction, and we don’t have even basic information on seed banking for conservation. This is not a tragedy, but something to consider when planning future work.
We often don’t know how important a species is until it’s thoroughly researched. In Australia, for example, milkweeds are an important food source for butterflies, while dull-flowered mat rushes are now known to be the home for rare native sun moths. From habitats to food, these plants provide foundational ecological services, yet many milkweed and mat rush species are rare, and largely neglected in conservation research.
The study shows the need to take biases into consideration in science and in the choice of species studied, for the best conservation and ecological outcomes. People should be more alert in all parts of the conservation process, from the science to listing species for protection.
1. Which of the following plants are highly researched?| A．Plants which are rare. | B．Plants with blue flowers. |
| C．Plants with brown flowers. | D．Plants which are endangered. |
| A．The efforts to save endangered species. | B．The ways to conserve dull plants. |
| C．The reasons for plants’ extinction. | D．The consequences of plant bias. |
| A．They deserve thorough research. |
| B．They are closely connected with each other. |
| C．They have received the least research attention. |
| D．They are more important than beautiful flowers. |
| A．Are beautiful plants the most useful? | B．How can we save less attractive plants? |
| C．Which plant species need our help? | D．Are attractive plants researched more? |
【推荐3】A lunar crystal (水晶) was found in lunar basalt particles (玄武岩颗粒) collected from the moon in 2020 when the Chinese moon mission landed in Oceanus Procellarum, returning with more than 1.7 kg of lunar samples delivered safely to the Earth.
The crystal found on the near side of the moon is giving scientists hope of providing limitless power for the world forever. It is made of material previously unknown to the scientific community and contains a key ingredient for the nuclear fusion (核聚变) process, a form of power generation that uses the same forces that fuel the sun and other stars. It is transparent and roughly the width of a single human hair, and it formed in a region of the moon where volcanoes were active around 1.2 billion years ago.
One of the primary ingredients found in this crystal is helium-3 (氦-3) , which scientists believe may provide a stable fuel source for nuclear fusion reactors. The element is incredibly rare on the Earth, but it seems to be fairly common on the moon. China’s next moon mission is expected to be carried out by Chang’e 6 in 2024, which will attempt to collect the first samples from the far side of the moon, which never faces the Earth.
Although it is too early for scientists to have made financial estimates on such a fuel source, it will undoubtedly be extremely costly. There is, of course, the matter of bringing the crystals back from the moon, especially in large amounts that are needed to fuel fusion reactors.
Helium-3 produces significantly less radiation and nuclear waste than other elements. The current nuclear fusion process has raised serious safety concerns, and as a result, scientists have been searching for a way to create nuclear power from nuclear fusion. During the fusion process, radioactive waste is not produced, potentially making a securer and more efficient fuel source.
Around 25 tons of helium-3 could power the US for a year. Multiple private companies and countries with space agencies have signaled their intentions to mine the moon for helium-3, and this latest discovery could kick start the race.
1. What can we learn about the crystal?| A．It is 1.7 centimeters wide. |
| B．It is expected to power the Earth. |
| C．It is commonly found on the Earth. |
| D．It is made of previously familiar material. |
| A．Collect up nuclear waste. |
| B．Find out the elements of helium-3. |
| C．Set up lunar nuclear fusion reactors. |
| D．Take back the samples of lunar crystals. |
| A．It is low in cost. | B．It is clean and safe. |
| C．It absorbs radiation. | D．It produces no waste. |
| A．A Struggling Race to Make Crystals |
| B．An Undoubted Discovery Powering the US |
| C．An Efficient Way to Collect Crystals from the Moon |
| D．A Rare Moon Crystal Discovered by Chinese Scientists |
【推荐1】The rate of childhood obesity in the U. S. has tripled over the past 50 years. The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) made waves this year by recommending that doctors put obese kids as young as two years old on intensive, family-oriented lifestyle and behavior plans. It also suggested prescribing weight-loss drugs to children l2 and older and surgery to teens 13 and older. This advice reflects the organization’s adoption of a more active position on childhood obesity.
Yet the lifestyle programs the AAP recommends are expensive, inaccessible to most children and hard to maintain. Few weight-loss drugs have been approved for children. And surgery has potential risks and few long-term safety data. Furthermore, it’s not clear whether interventions in youngsters help to improve health or merely add to the psychological burden overweight kids face from the society.
Rather than paying close attention to numbers on a scale, the U. S. and countries with similar trends should focus on an underlying truth: we need to invest in more and safer places for children to play where they can move and run around, climb and jump, ride and skate.
Why is it so hard to get kids moving? Experts blame the problem on the privatization of sports — as public investment in school-based athletics dwindles, expensive private leagues have grown, leaving many kids out. In addition to fewer opportunities at school, researchers cite increased screen time and a lack of safe places for them to play outside the home. New York City, for example, had 2,067 public playgrounds as of 2019 — a very small amount for its large population. In Los Angeles in 2015, only 33 percent of youths lived within walking distance of a park.
Kids everywhere need more places to play. Public funding to build and keep up these areas is crucial, but other options such as shared-use agreements can make unused spaces available to the public. These opportunities aren’t primarily about changing children’s waistlines — they’re how we keep childhood healthy and fun.
1. What can we learn from the first two paragraphs?| A．Childhood obesity is well under control in recent years. |
| B．Weight-loss surgery are recommended to children 12 and older. |
| C．AAP plays a more active role in fighting against childhood obesity. |
| D．Expensive as it is, lifestyle programs are practical for most children. |
| A．decline | B．quit | C．increase | D．develop |
| A．Prepare fitness equipment at home. |
| B．Live within walking distance of a park. |
| C．Promote investment in private athletics. |
| D．Open up playgrounds when school’s out. |
| A．Sports play an important role in children’s growth. |
| B．More safe areas for outdoor fun are in urgent need. |
| C．Family-oriented lifestyles are crucial to children’s health. |
| D．Medical intervention is important to ease psychological burden. |
【推荐2】People always underestimate (低估) others’ desire for constructive feedback (反馈) and therefore don’t provide it, even when it can improve another person’s performance. according to research published by the American Psychological Association.
Previous research suggests people avoid giving feedback because they’re afraid that it will embarrass or upset the other person, or that doing so may harm their relationships. Nicole Abi-Esber of Harvard Business School and her colleagues theorized there might be another reason why people refuse to give feedback: They simply don’t fully recognize the potential of their input to improve others’ outcomes, leading them to underestimate others’ desire for such feedback.
To test their theory, the researchers conducted a series of experiments involving 1,984 participants. In one experiment. participants were presented with 10 imaginary awkward social situations at work, where they could either give or receive constructive feedback, In another experiment, participants were asked to recall a situation where they could either have given or received constructive feedback. In the final experiment, participants were paired, with one practising a speech for a competition and the other assigned to listen and provide feedback.
Across all the experiments, people in a position to give feedback consistently underestimated potential receivers’ desire for it. The more consequential the feedback was, the more likely participants were to underestimate the other’s need for feedback and the less likely they were to offer it. The gap was smaller in more everyday, less important situations, such as when the other person had food on their face.
The researchers were surprised to find that simply asking people to quickly reflect “If you were this person, would you want feedback?” helped participants recognize the value of feedback to the other person and helped close the giver-receiver gap. “Take a second and ask yourself if you would want feedback if you were them. Most likely you would, and this realization can help empower you to give them feedback,” said Abi-Esber.
“Feedback is key to personal growth and improvement.” said coauthor Francesca Gino, also of Harvard Business School. “The next time you hear someone mispronounce a word, or see a dirty mark on their shirt, point it out to them — they probably want feedback more than you think.”
1. What makes people fail to give feedback according to previous research?| A．Their own sense of embarrassment. | B．Their fear of unpleasant outcomes. |
| C．Their poor ability to interact with others. | D．Their failure to realize others’ needs. |
| A．Regular. | B．Understandable. |
| C．Important. | D．Achievable. |
| A．Urge them to recall great feelings of helping others. |
| B．Train them to pay attention to much bigger problems. |
| C．Encourage them to ask about the other persons’ desire. |
| D．Get them to imagine they’re in the other persons’ shoes. |
| A．Present a fact. | B．Give warnings. |
| C．Provide advice. | D．Make a summary. |
【推荐3】The climate change and environmental crises are now closely connected with our daily lives. We've collected a small selection of our favourite documentaries, charting the history and future of the challenges we face.
 | KISS THE GROUND The documentary adopts a light voice when exploring the power of the worlds soils to draw in carbon from the air. The film begins by examining how farming and pesticides have led to soil loss, tracking the damage done to ecology, health and climate. The solution is found through regenerative faming —a field receiving more and more attention. |
 | ICE ON FIRE Dramatically titled, Leonardo DiCaprio's 2019 documentary focuses on the melting polar ice caps of the Arctic. The documentary explores the planetary impact of melting ice, but intelligently includes solutions. DiCaprio explores renewable energy technologies and sustainable economies to put forward a vision for a cleaner future. |
 | CHASING CORAL It can be difficult to really understand what climate breakdown looks like. In 2017, Chasing Coral brought the very real impacts of climate change into sharp focus. The insight into the world's corals suffering from ocean acidification and temperature rise is impressive. |
 | REBUILDNG PARADISE Wildfires — once a natural regulator of ecosystems, now an increasing phenomenon thrown out of rhythm by climate change — are so frequent that many hardly consider the consequence. While it's one thing to deal with the financial loss and restoration, it's something quite different to repair the broken spirit of a community. In Rebuilding Paradise, we follow the journey of the citizens of Paradise, California, as they attempt to restart their lives from the ashes of the destructive 2018 wildfires. |
| A．KISS THE GROUND | B．ICE ON FIRE |
| C．CHASING CORAL | D．REBUILDING PARADISE |
| A．Wildfires nowadays break out as frequently as before. |
| B．Wildfires have both physical and psychological impacts. |
| C．The damage caused by wildfires can never be recovered. |
| D．Wildfires do more harm to economy than to the environment. |
| A．They focus on the speed of the global warming. |
| B．They relate to the global issue of climate change. |
| C．They analyze the frequency of the natural disasters. |
| D．They present solutions to dealing with the challenges. |
