A man rides at full speed on a single-wheeled bike, leaning back on a seat fixed above a recycled tyre as he performs wheelies (杂技). This machine is just one of many crazy inventions from Make It Extreme, a You Tube channel run by Michael Mavros and George Shiailis, two best friends who use old materials to create unique and innovative mechanical projects.
The partners of this DIY design make the inventions to promote the joys of mechanical engineering and inspire creativity in others.
On Make It Extreme, they transform everyday objects and vehicles into extreme versions of themselves, pushing creative boundaries in the process. They build and design their projects, film and edit the entire process, then finally showcase the results.
“By passionately crafting furniture, engines, tools, toys and vehicles while using our imagination, we try to offer innovative solutions to various mechanical challenges,” explains Mavros, “We’ve shared this passion since our early years, and now, through our channel, we share it with millions of other people in an easily understandable way.”
For its 100th video, Make It Extreme introduced the Monotrack bike, constructed entirely from recycled and old materials. They utilised a 100cc two-stroke engine from an old scooter (摩托车), cutting the sidewalls of a used car tyre and fitting it around a recycled motor. The bike reflects their commitment to sustainability and creativity, purely for the joy and curiosity it brings.
“The idea for the Monotrack bike came from an old wartime photo where we saw a similar vehicle,” says Mavros, “Our creations are often inspired by things we’ve encountered before. For example, the Monowheel, where a person sits inside a huge wheel, was inspired by similar vehicles from decades ago, and our tank chair stemmed from the idea of creating an accessible adventure vehicle for people with limited mobility.”
Make It Extreme now has almost two million subscribers who are eager to tune in every month to see the partners’ latest invention. And Mavros promises that 2024 will see them create their most daring project yet.
1. Why do Mavros and Shiailis run Make It Extreme?| A．To make profits. | B．To earn popularity. |
| C．To develop hobby. | D．To awaken innovation. |
| A．Practical. | B．Eco-friendly. | C．Costly. | D．Convenient. |
| A．Why the old things were used. | B．Where the Monowheel was found. |
| C．What their inspirations originated from. | D．How the Monotrack bike was invented. |
| A．Nothing is impossible. | B．Hard work will pay off. |
| C．Success needs perseverance. | D．Many hands make light work. |
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【推荐1】Robots and humans will soon be living in harmony (和睦). A singing robot is being taught to create jazz with a human in a project.
Antonio Chella from Italy is working with a Telenoid robot. To start with, the Telenoid will be trained to follow the movements and simple sounds made by a human singer, and to connect music with different emotional states. Chella then plans to see if the robot can use these connections to create music.
Intelligence is often regarded as the ability to find connections between the existing things. But Chella suggests that a conscious(有意识的) creature should be able to go a step further and introduce new connections that result in the creation of something new.
Some jazz musicians say that they should have a mental library of musical phrases so that they are able to combine them in new ways. More importantly, however, this combination happens in a state that is similar in a sense to dreaming. Chella wants to copy these states in a machine.
“This work raises interesting questions about the link between consciousness and music making,” says Philippe Pasquier, a musician and computer scientist. But he is skeptical about whether a robot musician needs a physical body.
Pasquier argues that the robots are faced with two challenges(挑战). Software that can copy Bach has already been developed. But interpretation(演绎)includes human’s different tastes and judgments. “What made the Beatles famous was not so much their works, but the fact that the interpretations of the works were wonderful,” he says.
It is not yet clear how a robot would go about interpreting music in a new way. But by copying humans and then learning to sing, Chella’s robot could provide clues.
What seems to be important is that human composers often listen to lots of music made by others. So Chella’s robot had better listen to those jazz standards first.
1. Which of the following is the robot’s first step before it tries to create jazz?| A．Living with human beings in harmony. |
| B．Connecting actions with human’s emotions. |
| C．Copying a human singer’s movements and sounds. |
| D．Learning to communicate with human beings freely. |
| A．doubtful | B．worried |
| C．certain | D．concerned |
| A．They are household robots. | B．They can talk with researchers. |
| C．They are faced with two challenges. | D．They will become human singers. |
| A．Chella’s robot needs a physical body to make music. |
| B．How to interpret jazz is a piece of cake for Chella’s robot. |
| C．A new kind of software should be developed to copy Bach. |
| D．Chella’s robot should listen to much jazz to create something new. |
【推荐2】There have been many great inventions that changed the way we live. The first great invention was one that is still very important today—the wheel. This made it easier to carry heavy things and to travel long distances. For hundreds of years after that there were few inventions that had as much effect as the wheel. Then in the early 1800’s the world started to change. There was little unknown land left in the world. People did not have to explore much anymore. They began to work instead to make life better. In the second half of the 19th century many great inventions were made. Among them were the camera, the electric light and the radio. These all became a big part of our life today.
The first part of the 20th century saw more great inventions. The helicopter in 1909. Movies with sound in 1926. The computer in 1928.And jet planes in 1930. This was also a time when a new material was first made. Nylon came out in 1935. It changed the kind of clothes people wear. The middle part of the 20th century brought new ways to help people get over disease. They worked very well. They made people healthier and let them live longer lives. By the 1960’s most people could expect to live to be at least 60. By this time most people had a very good life.
Of course new inventions continued to be made.But man now had a desire to explore again. The world was known to man but the stars were not. Man began looking for ways to go into space. Russia made the first step. Then the United States took a step. Since then other countries, including China and Japan, have made their steps into space. In 1969 man took his biggest step away from the earth. Americans first walked on the moon. This is certainly just a beginning though.
New inventions will someday allow us to do things we have never yet dreamed of.
1. Camera was invented after ________.| A．1850 | B．1950 |
| C．1800 | D．1900 |
| A．Because there were few inventions that had as much effect as the wheel for hundreds of years. |
| B．Because there was little unknown land left in the world. |
| C．Because people did not have to explore much anymore. |
| D．Because people began to work to make life better instead of exploring unknown world. |
| A．helicopters, computers, jet planes, nylon |
| B．new ways to help people get over disease |
| C．new materials |
| D．people |
| A．Man wanted to move to other stars. |
| B．Other countries wanted to catch up with America. |
| C．Other countries wanted to follow Russia. |
| D．Going into space is a dream for man to realize. |
| A．Great Inventions of the 20th Century |
| B．How Wheels, Cameras and Computers Were Invented |
| C．Peopl’s Attitudes Towards Inventions |
| D．Great Inventions Influence Our Way of Living |
【推荐3】Children grow quickly, especially their feet, but many families cannot buy new shoes each time a child needs them. As a result, about 300 million children around the world go barefoot. Those children risk picking up diseases and parasites(寄生虫) from the soil.
An American man may have a solution for those barefoot kids—a shoe that grows with the child. Kenton Lee is the creator of The Shoe That Grows. He explains how the shoe works and how it is able to last so long.
“It grows in three places: the front; it can also grow on the side with Velcro; and on the back with our buckle. It can last up to five years. The bottom is compressed(压缩的) rubber like tire rubber. The top is just high-quality leather.” The shoe comes in two sizes: small that fits children aged 4 to 9 and large for children aged 9 to 14.
Lee says he got the idea for the shoe while working as a volunteer in an orphanage in Kenya.“...and there was a little girl in a white dress walking next to me. And I just remember looking down and seeing how small her shoes were. They were so small that she had to cut open the front of her shoes to let her toes stick out. And I just remember thinking, “Wouldn’t it be nice if there were a pair of shoes that could grow with her feet?”
However, Lee says it was not easy to turn his idea into a reality. “I kept writing down I should do this because of this or because of that.” Finally, in 2009 Lee founded a non-profit organization called Because International. In the office of Because International, Lee keeps a pair of his own shoes to help him remember his promise. “I told myself I would not get new shoes until the idea was done. So, those are the shoes that I wore for a little over five years.”
1. Which of the following is the characteristic of the newly invented shoes?| A．They are more expensive. | B．They are not so comfortable. |
| C．They can grow with a child. | D．They come in different sizes. |
| A．All the teenagers. | B．Children aged 4 to 14. |
| C．Middle-aged women in Africa. | D．Senior citizens with low income. |
| A．To remind him of his promise. | B．To copy the design of them. |
| C．To get a change conveniently. | D．To use them as an example. |
【推荐1】A survey found that children would rather be YouTubers than astronauts. But it’s not surprising that young people — up to 1.3 million in the UK — want to make money by creating social media content.
The lifestyles we see advertised on social media are attractive, but is being an influencer a successful career path? Underneath the shiny surface lie pay inequality and mental health issues. Successful influencers will be the first to claim that anyone can make it in the industry. But in reality, it’s far from the truth. Social media economy expert Brooke Erin Duffy says that for most people who are trying to become an influencer, their passion will often become free work for their companies.
Influencers are also often at the mercy of algorithms (演算法) — the behind-the-scenes computer programs that determine which posts are shown, in which order, to users. Platforms share little detail about their algorithms, yet they finally determine who and what gains attention and influence online, which are most valued by the influencers.
Constant online presence finally leads to one of the most widespread issues of the influencer industry: Mental health concerns. Influencers can connect to their platform workspaces and audience at any time of day or night — for many, there is no longer a clear separation between work and life. Coupled with the fear of losing attention, this can lead to influencers’ overwork and mental health issues.
Online visibility (关注度) also places content creators at risk of significant online abuse (恶语) — not only in relation to how they look or what they do (or don’t post), but also negative viewpoint of influencing as a career. The potential of online abuse can lead to mental and physical health issues, including depression, anxiety, and eating disorders.
Although becoming an influencer may look attractive to more and more people, the industry’s dark underside still needs to be improved through some rules and regulations in this industry.
1. What can we learn from Brooke Erin Duffy’s words?| A．To tell people of the profit of social media. |
| B．To stress that becoming an influencer is not easy. |
| C．To prove the benefits of being a successful influencer. |
| D．To show the relation between content creation and free work. |
| A．Attention and influence. | B．Social media platforms. |
| C．Detail about algorithms. | D．Computer programs. |
| A．Their career viewpoint and eating disorders. |
| B．Their clear separation between work and life. |
| C．Their fear of losing visibility and online abuse. |
| D．Their connection to platform workspaces and audience. |
| A．Positive. | B．Objective. | C．Unconcerned. | D．Hopeful. |
【推荐2】Chances are you’ve heard the phrase “like a moth to a flame”——and probably seen it in action at a nighttime fire or barbecue, too. It turns out, however, this age-old saying may not be quite right. Rather than being attracted to light, moths’ tendency to fly toward brightness is a behavioral response to help them determine which way is up, suggests a new study published in the journal Nature Communications.
To avoid falling down to the ground, insects need to know which way is up, says study coauthor Yash Sondhi, a National Geographic Explorer. Without systems to maintain spatial (空间的) orientation, the brightness of the sky, even at night, has always been a strong indicator of “up”——until artificial lights came along. If they mess that up, they start plummeting.
Sondhi and a team of researchers set up experiments to investigate how different lights influence flight behavior. First, the researchers suspended a light bulb from a rope between two trees——resembling a typical downward-pointing light——and in a separate test, they turned the light upward by mounting it on a tripod (三脚架). In both cases, insects leaned their winged backs to the bulb. But when the light was pointed up, the insects often bumped to the ground.
What if the light is spread over a wide area? The researchers stretched a large white sheet across the tree and projected a UV light on it. If the insects were truly “attracted” to the light, they should fly up toward it. Instead, the insects cruised (巡航) straight through this illuminated corridor, flying how they would during the day. The team then placed the sheet on the ground and shined the light on it, which is when something truly odd happened: All these moths flying over it turned upside down and crashed out of the sky. Directionality of light is a huge factor in the pattern we have seen, not just brightness or color.
“Artificial lights may cause a mismatch between the insect’s sense of which way is up and true direction of gravity, which spells trouble for insects population.” says Sondhi.
1. What can be inferred about “like a moth to a flame” in the new study?| A．A moth is generally attracted by a flame. | B．Artificial lights are valuable for a moth. |
| C．Brightness indicates up for a moth. | D．A moth has a sense of direction. |
| A．Crashing. | B．Speeding. | C．Freezing. | D．Suspending. |
| A．UV lights on the tree. | B．Upward-pointing lights. |
| C．Downward-pointing lights. | D．Lights of different colors. |
| A．Concerned. | B．Dismissive. | C．Doubtful. | D．Neutral. |
【推荐3】You may be surprised to learn that English gets 30 to 45 percent of its words from French. The reason goes back to the year 1066, when Norman forces invaded (入侵) what is now Britain. The Normans were from northern France and spoke French. During the Norman occupation, French became the language of England’s rulers and wealthy class. This lasted for more than 300 years. Other people in England continued to speak English during this period.
Over time, the two languages combined and shared words. Some researchers believe that about 10,000 French words eventually entered the English language. However, although English took many French words, their meanings have not always stayed the same. Sometimes the differences in meanings can be very important, and lead to funny or strange situations if the words are used in the wrong way.
Take, for example, the French word college. In English, college can often be used in place of the word university, or sometimes as a school within a university. However, in French, college actually means “middle school”, or the level of schooling for students in grades five or six through eight.
There are many other similar words in the two languages with completely different meanings. In English, the word chat is a verb which means “to talk casually”; but in French, the word chat is the word for an animal: a cat.
If an English speaker says someone is jolly, that means they are cheerful or friendly. But in French, jolie means someone is goodlooking or pleasant to look at. In any case, both are nice things to say to someone.
1. What language did the upper class speak in Britain of Norman times ?| A．English. |
| B．French. |
| C．Both English and French. |
| D．Some unknown language. |
| A．The teenager time. |
| B．University in French. |
| C．Middle school in English. |
| D．University in common sense. |
| A．Comparison between two languages. |
| B．Difficulty in grasping English. |
| C．French words in English. |
| D．Development of English. |
