【推荐1】Described as the world’s most environmentally friendly protein（蛋白质）, Solein is made by applying electricity to water to release bubbles of carbon dioxide and hydrogen. Living microbes (微生物) are then added to the liquid to feed on the carbon dioxide and hydrogen bubbles and produce the Solein, which is then dried to make the powder. It’s a chemical change process similar to beer brewing. The dried Solein has a protein content of 50 percent and looks and tastes just like wheat flour.

“It is a completely new kind of food, a new kind of protein, different to all the food on the market today in how it is produced as it does not need agriculture.” Dr Pasi Vainikka, the chief manager of Solar Foods told The Guardian. The process used to produce Solein—changing hydrogen and carbon dioxide is amazing, as the wonder food can be produced anywhere in the world. It’s also 10 time-efficient than photosynthesis (光合作用), and 10 to 100 times more environment and climate-friendly in water use than animal or plant-based food production.

“Solein also contains all the essential amino acid (氨基酸),but because it is produced using carbon and electricity, it does not require large amounts of land to produce, ” the Solar Foods website explains. “Another unique characteristic of Solein is that it is able to take carbon directly from carbon dioxide without needing a source of sugar.”

While Solar Foods does not expect Solein to challenge conventional protein production methods in the next two decades, it does expect it to become a “new harvest” for humanity, which is significant considering so far we have only relied on plants and animals for sustenance. The Helsinki-based company plans to open its first Solein factory at the end of 2021 and increase production to two billion meals per year by 2022.

1. Why is Solein described as environmentally friendly?

A．Because it is man-made by using electricity.

B．Because it contains all the nutrition people need.

C．Because it is made consuming less land and energy.

D．Because it is produced from water and carbon dioxide.

2. What does Solar Foods expect of Solein?

A．It’ll have a rewarding future.

B．It’ll reach consumers in 2020.

C．It’ll challenge traditional protein production.

D．It’ll be a complete replacement for plants and animals.

3. What does the underlined word “sustenance” in last paragraph mean?

A．survival	B．food
C．material	D．support

4. Where is this text most likely from?

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

【推荐2】Sudoku (数独) puzzles give your brain a hard time: Every number from 1 to 9 must appear in each of the nine horizontal (横向的) rows, in each of the nine vertical columns and in each of the nine boxes.

For many of us, this can be a reason for a headache, but in the very rare case of a German man, a Sudoku puzzle even caused seizures (痉挛).

In a new case study from the University of Munich, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, Dr. Berend Feddersen introduces a student who was 25 years old when he was buried by a snow slide during a ski tour. For 15 minutes, he didn’t get enough oxygen, which severely damaged certain parts of his brain. “He had to receive treatment on the scene. Luckily he survived,” says Feddersen, the author of the study.

Weeks after the accident, when the young man was ready for recovery treatment, something bizarre happened: When the patient solved Sudoku puzzles, he suddenly had seizures of his left arm — something the medical world hadn’t seen before.

Feddersen explains: “In order to solve a Sudoku, the patient used parts of his brain which are responsible for vision-space tasks. But exactly those brain parts had been damaged in the accident and then caused the seizures once they were used.”

This particular case is an example of what doctors call reflex epilepsy (反射性癫痫), according to Dr. Jacqueline French, professor from NYU Langone School of Medicine.

“You have to have an injury of your brain first, and then seizures like that can happen,” she says.

In the meantime, the patient from the case study stopped solving Sudoku puzzles forever and has been seizure-free for more than five years. “Fortunately, he can do crossword puzzles. He never had problems with those,” Feddersen says.

1. In the accident, the student ______.

A．began to experience seizures in his left arm

B．got the vision-space part of his brain damaged

C．had to be sent to hospital as soon as possible

D．found his Sudoku ability seriously weakened

2. It can be learned from the text that ______.

A．the man cannot complete crossword puzzles now

B．it is Sudoku playing that brings about his seizures

C．the man’s symptoms are common and widely observed

D．the seizures cause much trouble to the man’s daily life

3. This text can be best described as______.

A．a medical test	B．a warning to skiers
C．a news report	D．a research paper

【推荐3】A new argument has been put forward as to whether penguins are disturbed by the presence of tourists in Antarctica.   
Previous research by scientists from Keil University in Germany monitored Adelie penguins and noted that the birds’ heart rates increased dramatically at the sight of a human as far as 30 meters away. But new research using an artificial egg, which is equipped to measure heart rates, disputes this. Scientists from the Scott Polar Research Institute at Cambridge say that a slow moving human who does not approach the nest too closely, is not viewed as a threat by penguins.
The earlier findings have been used to partly explain the 20 per cent drop in populations of certain types of penguins near tourist sites. However, tour operators have continued to insist that their activities do not adversely affect wildlife in Antarctica, saying they encourage non-disruptive behavior in tourists, and that the decline in penguin numbers is caused by other factors.
Amanda Nimon of the Scott Polar Research Institute spent three southern hemisphere summers at Cuverville Island in Antarctica studying penguin behavior towards humans. “A nesting penguin will react very differently to a person rapidly and closely approaching the nest,” says Nimon.   “First they exhibit large and prolonged heart rate changes and then they often flee the nest leaving it open for predators (掠夺者) to fly in and remove eggs or chicks.” The artificial egg, specially for the project, monitored both the parent who had been ‘disturbed’ when the egg was placed in the nest and the other parent as they both took it in turns to guard the nest.
However, Boris Culik, who monitored the Adelie penguins, believes that Nimon’s findings do not invalidate his own research. He points out that species behave differently – and Nimon’s work was with Gentoo penguins. Nimon and her colleagues believe that Culik’s research was methodologically flawed because the monitoring of penguins’ responses needed capturing and restraining the birds and fitting them with beart-rate transmitters. Therefore, argues Nimon, it would not be surprising if they became stressed on seeing a human subsequently.
1. According to the passage, what overall message is presented?

A．No firm conclusions are drawn.

B．Neither Culik’s nor Nimon’s findings are of much value.

C．Penguin reduction is closed related to tourist behavior.

D．Tourists are not responsible for the fall in penguin numbers.

2. Which ONE argument of the following is stated in the passage?

A．Penguins are harder to research when they have young.

B．Tour operators should encourage tourists to avoid Antarctica.

C．Not all penguins behave in the same way.

D．Penguins need better protection from tourists.

3. What do you notice about the views presented in the passage?

A．They are groundless.

B．They are factual.

C．They are descriptive.

D．They are conflicting.

4. What does the underlined word (final line) probably mean?

A．later on

B．carmly

C．separately

D．in the same place