【推荐1】Just as regulation has helped increase fuel efficiency, cut exhaust smokes and introduce anti-slip equipment, so government involvement is needed to get the connected car on the road. It is beginning to happen. Earlier this year, Europe’s standards-setting agencies agreed a common set of agreements for cars and traffic infrastructure (基建) to communicate. Others should follow. Governments should then set firm deadlines for all new cars to be fully connected and capable of matching, and a date for existing cars to be re-improved with a basic locator beacon (定位器) and the ability to receive risky warnings.

If cars are to connect, new infrastructure will have to be built. Roads and parking spaces will need sensors to monitor them; motorways will need specific lanes for matching. But this will not necessarily be expensive. Upgrading traffic signals so they can be controlled remotely by a central traffic management system is a lot cheaper than building new roads.

The sooner these changes are made, and cars are plugged into a smart traffic section, the quicker Singaporean variable pricing — for parking as well as road use — can become the criterion. Motorists will then have the motive, as well as the ability, to avoid the busiest places at the busiest times, and the horrible death that roads take in human lives should start falling.

In the past, more people driving meant more roads, more jams, more death and more smokes. In the future, the connected car could offer mankind the pleasures of the road with rather less of the pain.

1. What do governments truly expect of the connected car?

A．It’ll be standard-friendly.	B．It’ll get fully prepared soon.
C．It’ll be under command.	D．It’ll promote infrastructure.

2. What will happen if traffic signals are to upgrade?

A．More sensors are offered by the companies.

B．More special roads are needed by motorists.

C．The whole project is more economical to operate.

D．The whole society is crazier about the new cars.

3. Which is most UNLIKELY to benefit from such changes?

A．Motorists.	B．Singaporeans’ pricing.
C．Road death.	D．Traditional traffic sections.

4. Which best describes the author’s attitude in the text?

A．Positive.	B．Critical.
C．Objective.	D．Doubtful.

【推荐2】On my fourth day in a self-driving car, I finally felt comfortable enough to let it stop itself. Before then, Id allowed the car- a Volvo S90 sedan to control the direction, with my hands still on the wheel, and to adjust speed in traffic. By Day 4, I was ready to make a jump into the future.

With the car traveling on a busy road, I activated the driverless mode. Soon, a traffic light turned red. For a split second, I prepared to get on the brakes. There was no need. The cameras and computers in the Volvo recognized the traffic conditions and smoothly began applying the brake.

If you're anything like most people, you're familiar with this anxiety. Almost 80 percent of Americans fear traveling in a self-driving car, a recent survey found.

Researchers at the University of Chicago have conducted some clever experiments studying the phenomenon. They asked participants to complete tasks and compared their performance with a computer system's. After the computer made a mistake, people were unwilling to use it again. After the people made mistakes, their self-confidence wouldn't change. It didn't matter that the human beings made more mistakes than the computer. So it is with driving. More than 37,000 Americans died in crashes last year, most from human error. The death count from cars goes beyond that from guns. So if you are shocked and angry by guns and want things to change, you should feel the same about car crashes.

Technology creates an opportunity to save lives. Computers don't get drunk or distracted by text messages, and they don't have blind spots. Just look at commercial airlines: Automation has helped all but get rid of deadly crashes among American air carriers. The last one happened in 2009.

The technology for self-driving cars still isn't good enough. But it is improving rapidly. Within a few years, many cars will have advanced crash-avoidance systems and driving will be revolutionized sooner than many people now understand.

1. How does the author introduce the topic?

A．By offering a piece of news.	B．By describing an experience.
C．By giving background information.	D．By introducing a latest car.

2. What can we know from the fourth paragraph?

A．The participants lost self-confidence after making mistakes.

B．The participants would ignore the mistakes made by the computer.

C．Car crashes is no less shocking than gun incidents.

D．The death count from cars is the same as that from guns.

3. The author mentioned commercial airlines___________.

A．to advertise for the commercial airlines.	B．to assess the security of driverless cars.
C．to find fault with computers.	D．to prove the advantage of technology.

4. What's the author's attitude towards self-driving cars?

A．Favorable.	B．Indifferent.
C．Skeptical.	D．Concerned.

【推荐3】What is the most popular way to travel in the whole world，not counting a human being's two legs？You say by car？No.Train？Wrong again.Airplane？I'm sorry，but you're not even close.The most popular way of going from one place to another is by bicycle.And it is a surprise to most Americans.After all，we see thousands of cars each day.We don't see nearly as many bikes.

In the United States most bike riders are either young people or adults bicycling for exercise.About nine million bikes are sold in America each year.Nearly three million are sold to adults.The rest are to children.But in the rest of the world，far more people use the bike as their main way of traveling.They ride bikes to work，to school，and to stores.

Bicycles have been around for a long time-about 300 years.You would not like to ride around on those early bikes，though.They didn't have any pedals(脚蹬).The riders had to push along with their feet.And this bike only went straight ahead.There was no way to turn the front wheel.If the rider wanted to change direction，he or she had to get off and move the bicycle.When pedals were put on the front wheels，riding became easier.The most popular kind of bike in the late 1800s had a very high front wheel and a small back wheel.It was a long fall to the ground!

Another problem was that there were no rubber tires(橡胶轮胎).So bike was called the "Boneshaker" at that time. Then in the 1880s，air-filled rubber tires were put on the bicycle's wheels, which made people feel more comfortable. Since then the bicycle has not changed very much.Of course bikes come in different shapes and colors now，but the main design is still the same.

1. Compared with those in America，bikes in the rest of the world .

A．are much cheaper	B．are more popular
C．are mainly used by children	D．are mainly used to do exercise

2. Why did people dislike riding early bikes？

A．They were too large.	B．They were dangerous.
C．They were hard to control.	D．They were too high for many people.

3. The underlined word "Boneshaker" in the last paragraph shows the bike was .

A．uncomfortable

B．slow

C．broken

D．old

4. The author wrote this text mainly to .

A．warn readers about bicycle safety.

B．introduce the new shapes of bicycles.

C．encourage readers to bicycle for exercise.

D．tell readers the history of bicycles.

【推荐1】The days of having to carry a phone charger everywhere could soon be over. Michigan researchers have revealed a major breakthrough in harvesting energy from human motion. They say it could lead to smartphones powered for a week by the motion of a swipe(重击).

Michigan State University’s low-cost device, known as a nanogenerator, has already been tested. Scientists successfully operated an LCD touch screen, a bank of 20 LED lights and a flexible keyboard, all with a simple touching or pressing motion and without the aid of a battery. The groundbreaking findings, published in the journal Nano Energy, suggest “We’re on the path toward wearable devices powered by human motion,” said Nelson Sepulveda, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and lead researcher of the project.

“What I foresee, relatively soon, is the capability of not having to charge your cell phone for an entire week, for example, because that energy will be produced by your movement,” said Sepulveda, whose research is funded by the National Science Foundation.

Electrical energy is created when the device is compressed by human motion. The completed device is as thin as a sheet of paper. The device used to power the LED lights was palm-sized, while the device used to power the touch screen was as small as a finger. Advantages such as being lightweight, flexible and low-cost could make it a promising and alternative method in the field of Mechanical-energy harvesting.

The device also becomes more powerful when folded. Sepulveda said, “You can start with a large device, but when you fold it once, and again, and again, it’s much smaller and has more energy. Now it may be small enough to put in a specially made heel of your shoe so it creates power each time your heel strikes the ground.”

Sepulveda and his team are also developing technology that would transmit the power generated by the heel strike to, say, a wireless headset.

1. Who is Nelson Sepulveda?

A．The major researcher in the project.	B．A professor of engineering.
C．The fund supplier of the research.	D．A journalist writing for Nano Energy.

2. The underlined word device in the 2nd paragraph is closest in meaning to ________.

A．keyboard

B．smartphone

C．screen

D．machine

3. From the passage we know that the nanogenerator ________.

A．becomes more powerful when kept flat

B．has already come into market in the USA

C．is lightweight and flexible though expensive

D．makes it possible to produce power by walking

4. The purpose of the passage is to ________.

A．persuade people to buy the device	B．bring in a new way to save energy
C．introduce a breakthrough in science	D．honor Nelson Sepulveda for his contributions

【推荐2】Thermoelectric generators (热力发电机) turn waste heat into electricity without producing greenhouse gas emissions, like a free lunch. But the high cost of these devices has prevented their widespread use. Now, researchers have found a way to make cheap thermoelectrics that work just as well. The work could pave the way for greener car engines, and other energy-generating devices.

“This looks like a very smart way to realize high performance,” says Li-Dong Zhao, a materials scientist. He notes there are still a few more steps before these materials can become high-performing. However, he says, “This will be used in the not too far future.”

Thermoelectrics are semiconductor devices placed on a hot surface. That gives them a hot side and a cool side. If a device allows the hot side to warm up the cool side, the electricity stops flowing. A device’s success at preventing this, as well as its ability to conduct electrons, feeds into a score known as the figure of merit (优值系数), or ZT.

Researchers have produced thermoelectric materials with increasing ZTs. The record came in 2014 when Mercouri Kanatzidis came up with a tin selenide (硒化物) with a ZT of 3.1. Yet the material was too fragile to work with. “For practical applications, it’s a non-starter,” Kanatzidis says.

Getting through that door will still take some time. The tin selenide the team makes is mixed with Na, creating a “p-type” material that conducts positive charges. To make working devices, researchers also need an “n-type” version to conduct negative charges.

Zhao’s team is now working on making an n-type version. Once successful, researchers should have a clear path to making a new generation of super-efficient thermoelectric generators. Those could be installed everywhere from automobile exhaust pipes to water heaters and industrial smelters to scavenge some of the 65% of fossil fuel energy that winds up as waste heat.

1. What is the first paragraph mainly about?

A．The wide use of thermoelectric generators.

B．The inventors of current thermoelectric generators.

C．The reason why researchers make cheap thermoelectrics.

D．The greener ear engines that contribute to environmental protection.

2. How does Li-Dong Zhao feel about cheap thermoelectric generators?

A．Indifferent.	B．Worried.
C．Critical.	D．Positive.

3. What do you know about the research in 2014 from paragraph 4 and 5?

A．It was far from a success for practical applications.

B．A tin selenide with a ZT of 3.1 can be easy to work with.

C．Researchers made an “n-type” version to make working devices.

D．A “p-type” material made from the tin selenide conducts negative charges.

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

A．Produce.	B．Recycle.
C．Spot.	D．Increase.

【推荐3】A new high tech mirror，designed specifically for cancer patients，will only become reflective when a user smiles into it.The plug-in device，which exactly looks like a tablet，comes equipped with a mirror，a built-in camera，and a smart material triggered(触发)by some software.Facial recognition technology captures the face and instructs the surface of the mirror to change when a smile is detected.It can hang on a wall or sit on a table，much like a conventional mirror.Unlike a regular mirror，however，the price is currently standing at a surprising $2000—$3000.

After witnessing a close family member struggle through cancer treatments，Turkish industrial designer Berk Ilhan decided to focus his work primarily on products that would cultivate joy and benefit cancer patients directly.

“She told me in the first days after her diagnosis，it was difficult for her to look in the mirror and acknowledge she had cancer.”he said.“Our facial expressions affect how we feel.If we flex(绷紧)our facial muscles to smile，our brains think that something good happened and as a result，we feel happiness.”

After earning his master’s degree at the School of Visual Arts in New York，Ilhan spent several weeks visiting cancer hospitals in Turkey，speaking to both patients and doctors.He spent two years designing and developing the mirror.The idea behind it is that smiling，even when forced，can make us feel better，according to research known as the facial feedback hypothesis.Laughter is linked to improved immune system function，and some researchers claim it can even increase our lifespans.

Ilhan is currently producing the mirror in limited quantities at the previously mentioned price.The product，however，will soon be launching a campaign in which Ilhan hopes to raise enough funds to bring the price down to $500.He also intends to donate the mirror to hospitals when it is financially possible to do so.

1. What does the author intend to do in Paragraph 1 ?

A．To advertise a new high tech mirror.

B．To give a brief introduction of a mirror.

C．To emphasize the importance of smiling.

D．To introduce facial recognition technology.

2. What does“she”underlined in Paragraph 3 refer to?

A．A cancer doctor.

B．An industrial designer.

C．A family member of the designer’s.

D．A student at the School of Visual Arts.

3. Why did Berk Ilhan design the mirror?

A．To prove a theory.

B．To make a large profit.

C．To get a doctor’s degree.

D．To benefit cancer patients.

4. What can be the best title for the text?

A．High-Tech Mirror That Works When You Smile

B．Our Facial Expressions Affect How We Feel

C．High-Tech Mirror VS Regular Mirror

D．Turkish Designer Promotes Mirrors

【推荐1】阅读下面短文，根据短文内容在答题卡相应题号后的横线上写下相关信息，完成对该问题的回答。

Today, technological advances are rapidly making it possible to automate(自动化)much of the work currently carried out by humans. This applies to both blue-collar jobs through robotics and the Internet, and white-collar work through artificial intelligence. The wide applicability of these technologies has led to broad concern about the destruction of jobs. Indeed, according to a 2014 Oxford study, 47% of jobs in the US could be replaced by automated processes in the next two decades.

Of course, as many have noted, while technology has always removed the need for some types of jobs, it also creates new ones. Technology is a set of tools that we use in different ways to increase efficiency. The Industrial Revolution destroyed some jobs but created many more. It also increased the total wealth of society and began to create a middle class who could enjoy health, education, and other benefits that previously had been available only to the wealthiest. It can be challenging to predict the kinds of jobs that this new revolution will create and in what quantities, which makes the situation seem worse than it actually is. But nine of the top ten most in-demand jobs of 2012 didn’t exist in 2003, suggesting that this latest revolution is creating new employment opportunities.

For many, this picture is overly optimistic. The new jobs require a completely different skills set-you can’t turn an assembly plant(组装厂)worker into a data scientist overnight. Others are concerned that we are facing a permanent reduction in the need for human labor. Science fiction has long imagined a future where we no longer have to work and can spend our time on more noble pursuits. It seems that neither our social norms nor our economic systems are ready for it.

1. How is white-collar work automated by technology?
________________________________________________________________________________
2. What benefits did the Industrial Revolution bring to the society?
________________________________________________________________________________
3. Please decide which part is false in the following statement, then underline it and explain why.
The technological advances are creating many new employment opportunities, so people think there is a growing need for human labor.
________________________________________________________________________________
4. What is your attitude towards the technological advances?(about 40 words)
________________________________________________________________________________

【推荐3】Rapid advances in artificial intelligence (人工智能), also called AI, and the rapid using of robots across different industries are causing the fear of jobless growth. Reponses (回应) to these developments have focused on what to do to ensure that robots don’t steal jobs.

Bill Gates, for example, has called for the taxing of robots that take away jobs. This has led to responses from leading economists, such as Larry Summers, who argues against the idea, saying that robots are job creators and that the idea of taxing them is absolutely wrong. Another idea is to use a basic income for all—the idea that everyone receives a minimum income—to pay for the impact of technological unemployment (失业). This idea also causes arguments.

The focus on these arguments is misplaced. Jobs are not created or lost because of a single technology, but because of the business models designed to make use of the power of the technology.

Maybe, we’ve seen a similar example in history, with recorded music in the last century. It wasn’t the 1930s recording technology itself that threatened (威胁) the jobs of live musicians (音乐家). It was its combination with radio broadcasting, jukeboxes (点唱机) and the way businesses operated that led to job losses. Hotels, restaurants and bars replaced live musicians with jukeboxes. A single recording could be played over and over without requiring the appearance of musicians.

As I argue in Innovation and Its Enemies: Why People Resist New Technologies, the early recording of music destroyed the jobs of some live musicians and made them make less money than before. The social objections (反对) became larger about monopoly (垄断) power and less about the technology itself.

1. What’s Larry Summers’ argument against?

A．Taxing robots.	B．Replacing robots.
C．Reducing the use of robots.	D．Paying the jobless for using robots.

2. Why does the author write Paragraph 3?

A．To give us advice.	B．To show us an example.
C．To present us his point of view.	D．To tell us the power of technology.

3. What made live musicians lose their jobs in the 1930s?

A．The threat from the customers.	B．The impact of unemployment.
C．The use of recording technology.	D．The increasing number of live musicians.

4. What’s the author’s attitude towards the new technology?

A．Surprised.

B．Positive.

C．Doubtful.

D．Curious.

【推荐1】Since the sex of a sea turtle(海龟)is determined by the heat of sand hatching the eggs, scientists had suspected they might see slightly more females. Climate change, after all, has driven sea temperatures higher, which, in these creatures, favors female children. They found female sea turtles from Raine Island, the Pacific Ocean's largest and most important green sea turtle living area, now outnumber males by at least 116 to 1. "This is extreme," says turtle scientist Camryn Allen.

Biologist Michael Jensen wanted to know if climate change had already changed turtles' sexes. By using genetic(基因的) tests, he'd figured out that he could follow turtles of all ages. Still, his research data would lack an important detail: sex. Only after a turtle matures is it possible to tell its sex from the outside -- mature males have slightly longer tails. By then turtles can be decades old, so scientists often use Iaparoscopy(腹腔镜检查)，sending a thin tube into each animal, but that's not so practical if you're hoping to examine hundreds of creatures. Fortunately, at a turtle conference, he met Allen, and all she needed was a little blood.

They compared their results with temperature data for nesting beaches. What worries them is that Raine Island has been producing almost female turtles for at least 20 years. This is no small thing. More than 200,000 turtles come to nest there. During high season, 18,000 turtles may settle in at once. "But what happens in 20 years when there are no more males coming up as adults? Are there enough to maintain the population?" says Allen. They also found cooler beaches in the south are still producing males, but that in the north, it's almost entirely females hatching. These findings clearly point to the fact that climate change is changing many aspects of wildlife biology.

But how widespread is this phenomenon -- and what is the consequence?

1. How might the scientists feel if there were slightly more female turtles?

A．It's normal.

B．It's unique.

C．It's extreme.

D．It's doubtful.

2. What is a scientist's conventional way to identify a turtle's sex?

A．Testing its blood.	B．Doing genetic tests.
C．Using laparoscopy.	D．Watching its tail.

3. Why do the findings worry Jensen and Allen?

A．Too many females gather near Raine Island.	B．Sea turtles may end up dying out.
C．Turtle populations are in decline.	D．Female turtles cause temperatures to rise.

4. What does the last paragraph imply?

A．People should stop the phenomenon.

B．People have to test the consequence.

C．Climate change has changed sea turtles' sexes.

D．More work needs doing about the phenomenon.

【推荐3】Buildings can become greener. They can use more recycled steel and can be built in off-site factories，greatly reducing lorry journeys. But no other building material has environmental credentials（认证）as exciting and overlooked as wood.

The energy required to produce a laminated（复合的）wooden beam is one-sixth of that required for a steel one of comparable strength. As trees take carbon out of the atmosphere when growing，wooden buildings contribute to negative emissions by storing the stuff. When a mature tree is cut down，a new one can be planted to replace it，capturing more carbon. After buildings are pulled down，old beams and panels are easy to recycle into new structures. And for improving older buildings to be more energy efficient，wood is a good insulator（绝缘体），A softwood window frame provides nearly 400 times as much insulation as a plain steel one of the same thickness and over a thousand times as much as an aluminium one.

A race is on to build the world's tallest fully wooden skyscraper. But such buildings are still uncommon. Industry disunity，cut-throat competition for contracts and low profit margins（差额）mean that most building firms have little money for greener construction methods beyond what regulation requires

Governments can help urge the industry to use more wood，particularly in the public section. That would help wood-building specialists achieve greater scale and lower costs. Zero-carbon building regulations should be changed to take account of the emissions that exist in materials. This would favour wood as well as novel ways of producing other materials.

Construction codes could be adjusted to make building with wood easier. Here the direction of travel is wrong. Britain，for instance，is banning the use of wood on the outside of tall buildings after 72 people died in a tower fire in London in 2017.That is a nonsense. Grenfell Tower was covered in aluminium and plastic，not wood. Modern cross-laminated wood panels perform better in fire tests than steel ones do.

Carpentry alone will not bring the environmental cost of the world's buildings into line.

1. What's the text mainly about?

A．Wood is the first choice for green buildings.

B．The public section makes good use of wood.

C．Building companies cannot afford greener construction.

D．Steel can reduce the environmental costs of buildings.

2. What does Paragraph 2 focus on?

A．Origins of wood structures.

B．Advantages of wood for building.

C．Reasons for green window frames.

D．Differences between steel and wood

3. Which of the following will discourage greener construction?

A．The races of wooden skyscrapers.	B．Strict regulations on materials.
C．The push of the government.	D．Fierce industry competition.

4. What can be inferred from the text?

A．Wood is to blame for a big building fire.

B．Britain will lift the ban of using wood on the outside wall.

C．Building with wood is facing an unfavorable situation.

D．The environmental costs of buildings rely on carpentry.