“An aquaponics (鱼菜共生) system grows both fish and plants that can be harvested sustainably (可持续地),” said David Landkamer, an aquaculture specialist. “It’s an elegant system.”
Here’s how it works: Fish are typically raised in indoor tanks or outdoor ponds, where they produce waste. The water with the waste from the tank flows to a planting tray where plants grow in the water without soil. The waste is poisonous to the fish but is a rich fertilizer for the plants. As the plants absorb the nutrients, the water is purified for the fish. The clean water can then be recycled to the fish tank. Most importantly, because you can’t use chemicals or fertilizers that would harm the fish, it’s a natural organic production system.
“You can grow just about any kind of plant,” Landkamer said. Any leafy greens such as lettuce, kale, Swiss chard and arugula are the easiest to plant. You can also grow herbs, cucumbers, snow peas, eggplants, tomatoes, cabbages, cauliflower, peppers, beans, red onions and even potatoes.
“Aquaponics, which began in ancient China and Mexico, is gaining popularity around the world as a means of local food production,” Landkamer said. He regularly fields questions from people who want to start small-scale, backyard aquaponics operations or even commercial-scale aquaponics farms. “It is possible for hobbyists to start out with aquaponics kits available online and at stores,” Landkamer said.
Depending on which species of fish you choose, you may need to add a heater of some kind to keep the water temperatures just right for the fish and plants. “Aquaponics farmers often use inexpensive heat supplies such as solar greenhouses or hot compost (堆肥),” he said.
“These systems require monitoring to make sure everything is in balance and running smoothly,” Landkamer said. “You have to pay attention and see how well the fish are feeding, how well the plants are growing and see whether the water is circulating properly.”
1. What is David Landkamer’s attitude toward aquaponics?| A．Unclear. | B．Cautious. | C．Doubtful. | D．Appreciative. |
| A．It can be set indoors. | B．It produces green food. |
| C．It does no harm to the fish. | D．It needs no soil to grow plants. |
| A．Looks up. | B．Keeps off. | C．Deals with. | D．Goes beyond. |
| A．It runs automatically. | B．It consumes no energy. |
| C．Every part of it must work properly. | D．Its temperature should be high enough. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】In recent years, 3D printers have mostly been used to create small, specialized items (物品). This includes parts for automobiles, airplanes and medical devices. Many consumer products can also be 3D-printed as well, from clothes to foods. Now, an increasing number of start-up (新创办的) companies are using 3D printing to build entire homes. Since the technology is still developing, not many have yet been built. However, the top companies plan to greatly increase production in the coming years.
The start-up company Icon, based in Austin, Texas, made news in 2018 by completing the first permitted 3D-printed home in the US. At the time, it said the home had been built in just a day. Since then, the company says it has been developing new technologies in robotics, software and manufacturing materials. It designed its own 3D printer and said the robot-powered machine could create buildings up to 185 square meters. The printing process uses a cement-based mixture that Icon says is stronger and saves more money than traditional building materials.
Up to now, Icon has completed 24 3D-printed homes in the US and Mexico. Among them was a community of 3D-printed homes in a poor neighborhood in Mexico. The company has also completed a series of buildings for homeless people in Austin. And it says it plans to open America’s first housing development of 3D-printed homes this summer.
A New York company, SQ4D, also uses 3D printing technology to build homes. In February, the company showed off a 130-square-meter model home to demonstrate (证明) its printer’s abilities. SQ4D plans to sell its homes starting at $299, 000. The company has even started listing the homes on the Internet selling site Zillow. Kirk Andersen is SQ4D's director of operations. He told Reuters the 3D printer will permit buyers to easily create their own home design, room by room.
While 3D printing as a home-building method is just getting started, Andersen said others in the construction industry need to get prepared for big changes. “This is the beginning. This is just scratching the surface,” he said.
1. What can we learn about 3D printing technology from Paragraph 1?| A．It has been perfect already. |
| B．It enjoys the highest status (地位n.). |
| C．It is being used for building homes. |
| D．It helps produce some large and unique items. |
| A．They’re more comfortable. | B．They’re more environment-friendly. |
| C．They’re more complex (复杂的adj.). | D．They’re less expensive. |
| A．The development of smart homes. | B．The importance of 3D printers. |
| C．3D printing in building homes. | D．Construction industry’s future. |
| A．Technology. | B．Health. | C．Education. | D．Environment. |
【推荐2】Whether in the home or the workplace, social robots are going to become more common in the next few years. Social robots are about to bring technology to the everyday world in a more humanized way, said Cynthia Breazeal, chief scientist at the robot company Jibo.
While household robots today do the normal housework, social robots will be much more like companions than mere tools. For example, these robots will be able to tell when someone is happy or sad. This allows them to respond more properly to the user.
The Jibo robot is designed to be a personalized assistant. You can talk to the robot, ask it questions, and make requests for it to perform different tasks. The robot doesn’t just deliver general answers to questions; it responds based on what it learns about each individual in the household. It can do things such as reminding an elderly family member to take medicine or taking family photos.
Social robots are not just finding their way into the home. They have potential applications in everything from education to health care and are already finding their way into some of these spaces.
Fellow Robots is one company bringing social robots to the market. The company’s “Oshbot” robot is built to assist customers in a store, which can help the customers find items and help guide them to the product’s location in the store.
The more interaction the robot has with humans, the more it learns. But Oshbot, like other social robots, is not intended to replace workers, but to work alongside other employees. “We have technologies to train social robots to do things not for us, but with us,” said Breazeal.
1. What can a Jibo robot do according to Paragraph 3?| A．Take your family pictures and deliver milk. |
| B．Follow your orders or remind the old to take pills. |
| C．Answer your questions and make requests. |
| D．Communicate with you and help you with homework. |
| A．A shop assistant. | B．A tour guide. |
| C．A language teacher. | D．A private nurse |
| A．be our workmates | B．train employees |
| C．improve technologies | D．take the place of workers |
| A．A new design idea of household robots. | B．Marketing strategies for social robots. |
| C．An introduction to social robots. | D．Information on household robots. |
【推荐3】Cortana, Alexa ,Siri ,These are names of robotic voices that are often programmed on electronic tablets. They also become default (默认) identities for people with speech disorders who rely on technology to communicate. Now some speech scientists are developing personalized voices to reflect the broader diversity of the people who use them. To do it, they are tapping into a vast network of volunteers who are donating their voices to share with people who can’t speak.
The effort to build an international “Human Voicebank” has attracted more than 17,000 volunteers from 110 countries, including Priyanka Pandya, a 16-year-old from Columbia, Md., who plans to spend her winter vacation recording a string of sentences into her computer “To be able to give somebody the gift of voice, I think that’s really, really powerful,” she said.
“Everyone has a voice,” said Rupal Patel, founder of VocaliD, the company that started the voicebank. “Even people who are unable to speak have sounds that are unique to them.” Her company designs personalized voices by recording the unique sounds of the user, and then mixing them with 6 to 10 hours of recordings from a voice donor, matched by age, gender and region. The company is developing voices now for its first 100 customers.
Also, people’s voices change. The company is looking for donors who are willing to record their voices, and then record them again a few years later, as they get older.
Some of the first customers say they are happy with the results, John A. Gregoire was one of the first customers to receive a personalized voice from Vocalid last December. The voice came eight years after he developed ALS (肌萎缩侧索硬化症) and more than six years have passed since his voice became unintelligible to everyone except his wife and youngest son. “Having a distinctive voice is like getting something back that was stolen.” John said.
1. What can we know about the voicebank?| A．It collects all kinds of voices. |
| B．It gains strong public support. |
| C．It helps to recognize special voices. |
| D．It offers people personalized voices free. |
| A． Customers' desire for personalized voices. |
| B．VocaliD's efforts to develop personalized voices. |
| C．Customers'satisfaction with personalized voices. |
| D．VocaliD's success in designing personalized voices. |
| A．Unclear. | B．Soft. |
| C．Incomplete. | D．Rough. |
| A．Volunteers donate their voices to VocaliD. |
| B．Vocalic is devoted to building a voicebank. |
| C．The Human Voicebank wins fame among people with speech. |
| D．The Human Voicebank helps people with speech problems. |
【推荐1】Urban sprawl (无序扩张) means a pattern of poorly-planned development stretching away from an urban center. This trend of outward growth became common in the United States after World War II when people started leaving heavily-populated cities for new suburbs.
The rise of the suburbs led to small communities connected by roads and dependent on cars. This trend generally comes with unfavorable environmental and social impacts, including traffic jams, air pollution, loss of forest and agricultural land and communities that are more segregated (隔离的) by race and class.
As suburban neighborhoods multiplied, public transportation failed to keep up. Instead, transportation in the suburbs centered around road construction for the use of cars rather than connecting neighborhoods with bus and rail systems or providing alternative options like cycling lanes and pedestrian paths.
Not everyone had an equal shot at the American suburban dream. Suburban communities were generally whiter and wealthier, while people of color were often stuck in urban centers.
As more land is taken up by housing, roads, and shopping centers, critical wildlife habitat is destroyed. This change can lead to a decrease in biodiversity. In addition, loss of open space contributes to declining air and water quality.
In the 1950s people became aware of negative impacts of urban sprawl. Over time, citizens and local governments sought to address those concerns. In the 1970s. Portland, Oregon became one of the first cities to apply smart growth strategies. The city concentrated on population growth in the urban center rather than expanding suburbs. Today, it reflects many smart growth principles; diverse housing options, plentiful greenspace, mixed-use developments, preservation of ecologically important areas, and multiple transportation options.
Today, cities around the world are adopting these principles to deal with pollution and climate change, conserve open space, energy and other natural resources, and generally improve the well-being of citizens.
1. What does urban sprawl lead to?| A．Economic growth. | B．Rise of population in the suburbs. |
| C．Environmental improvements. | D．Better connected neighborhoods. |
| A．Buses. | B．Cars. | C．Rail systems. | D．Bicycles. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Skeptical. | C．Indifferent. | D．Disapproving. |
| A．To explain one of the smart growth principles. |
| B．To show the importance of preserving natural resources. |
| C．To give an example of how people’s concerns are addressed. |
| D．To provide evidence of negative impacts of losing biodiversity. |
【推荐2】Sports can help you keep fit and get in touch with nature. However, whether you are on the mountains, in the waves, or on the grassland, you should be aware that your choice of sport might have great influence on the environment.
Some sports are resource-hungry. Golf, as you may know, eats up not only large areas of countryside, but also tons of water. Besides, all sorts of chemical and huge amounts of energy are used to keep its courses in good condition. This causes major environmental effects. For example, in the dry regions of Portugal and Spain, golf is often held responsible for serious water shortage in some local areas.
There are many environment-friendly sports. Power walking is one of them that you could take up today. You don’t need any special equipment except a good pair of shoes; and you don’t have to worry about resources and your purse. Simple and free, power walking can also keep you fit. If you walk regularly, it will be good for your heart and bones. Experts say that 20 minutes of power walking daily can make you feel less anxious, sleep well and have better weight control.
Whatever sport you take up, you can make it greener by using environment-friendly equipment and buying products made from recycled materials. But the final goal should be “green gyms”. They are better replacements for traditional health clubs and modern sports centers. Members of green gyms play sports outdoors, in the countryside or other open spaces. There is no special requirement for you to start your membership. And best of all, it’s free.
1. Which of the following does the author most probably like?| A．Doing yoga in a gym. | B．Playing table tennis in a sports center. |
| C．Driving a motorbike on the street. | D．Running around a lake. |
| A．By listing numbers. | B．By comparison. |
| C．By analyzing causes. | D．By quoting experts. |
| A．compare the two types of sports |
| B．teach us how to make sport greener |
| C．call on us to take up green sports |
| D．introduce different types of sports |
【推荐3】Cell phones, tablets, laptops, smart-watches: the modern world is packed with a lot of devices that bring us connectivity, entertainment and information. Our hunger for the latest models leads to the “throwaway” culture, which means consumers often throw away old devices as soon as new ones come to the market, a habit that can have a significant effect on waste streams and the environment.
With concerns about e-waste growing, some companies are now turning to chemistry to develop solutions to recycle items like old cell phones, extracting value at the same time. One such example is the work being carried out by Mint Innovation, a clean tech firm based in Auckland, New Zealand. “We’ve developed a biological process for recovering valuable metals from electronic waste,” said Ollie Crush, the company’s chief scientific officer.
Crush explained that Mint Innovation’s system included grinding(磨碎)waste up into a powder. “The reason why we must do this is that we need to make sure that we’re exposing all the metal contained within to a chemical filtering(过滤)process,” he added.
When it comes to recovering a valuable material like gold, the technique used by Mint Innovation has a number of steps. According to a video, chemicals dissolve (溶解) the powdered waste into a solution, with any materials that haven’t dissolved filtered out. Microbes are then added to the mix. Gold atoms catch on to them in a process called “selective biosorption”. Next, the microbes coated gold are filtered, producing a paste which is then turned into a solid, “recycled” gold.
“Nearly 50% of the value of e-waste comes from the gold,” Cameron Weber, a senior lecturer at Chemical Sciences, said. “In fact, there’s actually more gold in e-waste as a concentration than there is in gold that’s been mined, which shows you the value of being able to take your e-waste and recycle and reuse some of the elements that are found in it,” he added.
Looking ahead, Crush, explained the process could potentially have a number of interesting applications. “The future for Mint Innovation is to prove that our technology works with a number of different materials,” he said. “So, we’ll just keep trying to see where our microbial process makes more sense.”
1. What is Mint Innovation trying to do?| A．To develop eco-friendly products. | B．To change the “throwaway culture”. |
| C．To collect harmful things in e-waste. | D．To get valuable things from e-waste. |
| A．Mixing e-waste with gold. | B．Reusing elements of e-waste. |
| C．Turning e-waste into tiny pieces. | D．Exposing e-waste to special chemicals. |
| A．The ways of dealing with e-waste. | B．The necessity of reducing e-waste. |
| C．The difficulty of recycling e-waste. | D．The meaning of recycling e-waste. |
| A．Concerned. | B．Positive. | C．Doubtful. | D．Objective. |
Winners are great at overcoming problems. For example, if you were late because your car broke down, maybe you need to have your car examined more regularly. Or, you might start to carry along with you the useful phone numbers, so you could call for help when in need. For another example, if your colleague causes you problems on the job for lack of responsibility or ability, find ways of dealing with his irresponsibility or inability rather than simply blame the person. Ask to work with a different person, or don’t rely on the person. You should accept that the person. Ask to work with a different person, or don’t rely on this person. You should accept that the person is not reliable and find creative ways to work successfully regardless of how your colleague fails to do his job well.
This is what being a winner is all about—creatively using your skills and talents so that you are successful no matter what happens. Winners don’t have fewer problems in their lives; they have just as many difficult situations to face as anybody else. They are just better at seeing those problems as challenges and opportunities to develop their own talents. So, stop focusing on “whose fault it is.” Once you are confident about your power over bad situations, problems are just stepping stop on for success.
1. According to the passage, winners__________
| A．deal with problems rather than blame others |
| B．meet with fewer difficulties in their lives |
| C．have responsible and able colleagues |
| D．blame themselves rather that others |
| A．avoid | B．accept | C．improve | D．consider |
| A．find a better way to handle the problem |
| B．blame him for his lack of responsibility |
| C．tell him to find the cause of the problem |
| D．ask a more able colleague for help |
| A．excuses for their failures |
| B．barriers to greater power |
| C．challenges to their colleagues |
| D．chances for self-development |
| A．A Winner’s Secret. | B．A Winner’s Problem. |
| C．A Winner’s Opportunity. | D．A Winner’s Achievement. |
The burning of fossil fuels is one of the best-known causes for global warming. The major reason for fossil fuels contributing so much to global warming is the release of carbon that occurs during the burning of fossil fuels. When people burn fossil fuels, they release large amounts of carbon by way of the release of carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide in the air then leads to global warming.
Another source of carbon dioxide comes from deforestation. In forests there is a large amount of carbon that is stored in the trees and other plants. This carbon is out of the atmosphere because the trees consume the carbon from carbon dioxide. When people cut down trees, they are frequently burned. This burning releases the carbon dioxide into the atmosphere that was stored in organic matter. Even when new trees are planted, it can take up to one hundred years to make up for the carbon that was released. It is commonly thought that because trees absorb more carbon dioxide, the atmosphere experiences positive effects.
Sophie Armstrong, the writer of Earth Care put it, “There’s no doubt that the earth is becoming warmer because of human activity rather than a random but natural phenomenon.
1. Which of the following titles goes with the text?
| A．A Rising Population |
| B．Saving Sources of Energy |
| C．Global warming: The causes |
| D．Carbon Dioxide |
| A．rising population | B．burning of fossil fuels |
| C．greenhouse gas | D．cutting down or burning trees. |
| A．human activity | B．sources of energy |
| C．natural forces | D．the polluted atmosphere |
| A．Economy. | B．Art | C．Environment | D．Health |
【推荐3】Schoolbooks typically present explorers as intrepid individuals who, for example, sail wooden ships to new lands or climb Mt. Qomolangma alone. But today most explorers who are making fundamental discoveries are scientists. And whether the frontiers are tiny, like the human genome, or massive, like our deepest oceans, we still have much left to learn about planet Earth.
Exploration is science in its most basic form — asking questions of the natural world and, we hope, using the answers for the betterment of everything on Earth.
Exploration has great value. It inspires us, widens our knowledge and gives us hope for a better future. And the practical payoffs can even be lifesaving. Scientists who spent decades exploring what was in the atmosphere found that over time the concentration of carbon dioxide was rising. Without that discovery, we humans would now be living like the proverbial frog in a pot of gradually heating water, unsure why the environment around us is changing, and slowly boiling to death.
The human drive to overcome challenges is an essential aspect of the human drive to explore, which, in most cases, spurs innovation. Early human submersibles that reached the bottom of the deepest ocean trenches (海沟) made the trip just once, stressed by the enormous pressures there. But eventually a more stress-resistant deep–submergence vehicle, the Limiting Factor, allowed investor and undersea explorer Victor Vescovo to reach trench bottoms numerous times. Now there are roughly 4,000 autonomous Argo floats across the world’s oceans that dive down to 2,000 feet and resurface every 10 days. The Argo group will also deploy (部署) dozens of sensors every year that will gather biological and chemical data, leading to new observations about marine life.
Ocean research groups also have made it a priority to openly share their discoveries and data with the public and to inspire the next generation of young scientists. Anyone can go along for the ride — we can all be explorers. Maybe one day you’ll explore the Great Barrier Reef, the desert, or a rain-forest canopy (树冠).
Captain James T. Kirk began each episode of the original Star Trek television series by saying, “Space, the final frontier (前沿).” Not necessarily. We still have plenty to discover right here on Earth, and we eagerly await surprises from the newest worlds we find.
1. The underlined word “ intrepid” in the first paragraph is closest in meaning to ________.| A．inspiring | B．perseverant | C．fearless | D．industrious |
| A．illustrate the significance of exploration | B．stress the importance of knowledge |
| C．argue for the necessity of innovation | D．show the impact of global warming |
| A．fruitful results have been achieved in ocean exploration |
| B．new technologies push human exploration in the ocean |
| C．the human desire to overcome challenges leads to innovation |
| D．sea life observation is the final purpose of ocean exploration |
| A．To show exploring the earth can still be fruitful. |
| B．To show few modern scientists are true explorers. |
| C．To explain exploring is an in-born human quality. |
| D．To explain the space will be human’s final frontier. |
