【推荐1】On some Swedish trains, passengers carry their e-tickets in their hands—literally. About 3,000 Swedes have chosen to insert grain-of-rice-sized microchips beneath the skin between their thumbs and index fingers. The chips, which cost around $150, can hold personal details, credit-card numbers and medical records. They rely on Radio Frequency ID (RFID), a technology already used in payment cards, tickets and passports.

By one estimate there are 10,000 cyborgs with chip implants around the world. Sweden, home to several microchip companies, has the largest share. Fifty employees of Three Square Market, a Wisconsin-based firm, volunteered to receive chip implants that can be used to pay at vending machines and log in to computers.

Jowan Österlund, the founder of BioHax, a Swedish firm, claims chips are more secure than mobile phones because they are hard to hack. But skeptics still have concerns. RFID chips do not have GPS, but they leave a digital trail when they interact with doors, printers or turnstiles. In 2004 the Mexican attorney-general and his staff had chips inserted in their arms that tracked who had accessed sensitive information.

So why take the risk? Convenience is one draw. The infrastructure for microchip use exists wherever contactless IDs or payments are accepted. Sweden is well suited, as the world’s second most cashless country (after Canada). But the chips have little use unless companies play along. Few shops recognise chip implants yet. Even those organisations that do have had teething troubles. When Swedish rail officials began scanning passengers’ microchips, they saw LinkedIn profiles rather than evidence of ticket purchases. For now the chips are used largely as digital business cards, substitutes for keys or to store emergency documents such as wills.

So exhibitionism is another explanation. Chip enthusiasts include followers of a “trans-humanist” ideology that seeks to make full use of human bodies with technology. Elon Musk, an American entrepreneur, has invested in tech that merges machines with human brains. Some Christians, meanwhile, fear that microchips are “marks of the beast” foretold in the Bible. Hardly, says Mr Österlund. After all, “people once thought the Beatles were the Antichrist.”

1. With an inserted microchip, people can do the following except ________.

A．storing emergency documents in it	B．taking a train without a paper ticket
C．paying wherever they shop without cash	D．looking up their medical records from it

2. By mentioning the Beatles in the last paragraph, the author intends to ________.

A．prove there is no need to fear microchips

B．show they were once looked down upon

C．explain how people think about microchips

D．compare them with the popular microchips

3. What does the passage mainly talk about?

A．Different ways to have microchips inserted into human bodies.

B．Technology behind microchips being inserted into human bodies.

C．Great convenience inserted microchips bring to people in their daily life in Sweden.

D．Reasons why Sweden has the most people in the world to have microchips inserted.

【推荐2】Your car is a necessary part of your life． You use it every day． Of course， you want to hold on to it so you make sure it has the latest alarm and immobilizer （汽车防盗器）．But despite all these， cars like yours are still stolen every day． In fact， in this country，one car is stolen almost every minute! And if your car is stolen， you only have a 50：50 chance of seeing it again．

Each year，car crime costs nearly £3 billion． Of course， if you're insured （保险），you won't lose out， or will you？ Firstly， you will have to pay extra insurance later on， and then you may not be offered the full amount by the agent． You will probably have to hire a car and you will also lose he value of the contents and accessories （配件）in the car．

Now comes the solution． An RAC Trackstar system， hidden in one of 47 possible secret locations in your car， is the key to our system． If your car is stolen， radio signals are sent at twenty﹣second intervals from the car to the RAC Trackstar National Control Center via a satellite network． Then a computer gives he vehicle's exact location， speed and direction．

The RAC Trackstar National Control Center， which operates 24 hours a day， 365 days a year，will immediately inform the police in the area where the car is located． Because the police receive information every twenty seconds，they will always know the vehicle's location． Once the thief has been arrested，your car will be returned to you．

RAC Trackstar is unique in being able to provide the National Control Center with details of the exact location of your car， its speed and direction． And speed is the key to successful recovery of a stolen vehicle． RAC Trackstar Control will immediately tell the police if you report your car stolen and under the 24﹣hour Guardian Option． It will also tell you if your car has been stolen． RAC Trackstar's constant updates mean the police are kept informed of the car's location． All these greatly improve your chances of seeing your car again．

1. If your car is stolen，you will have to     ．

A．pay more insurance

B．hire a new car

C．buy a RAC Trackstar system

D．inform the National Control Center

2. The Trackstar system can tell the police     ．

A．who the thief is

B．how the car is stolen

C．where the car is

D．what brand the car is

3. According to the passage，with RAC Trackstar， people will     ．

A．surely get their stolen car back

B．lose no time in finding their stolen car

C．predict whether their car has been stolen

D．have less chances of having their car stolen

4. We can learn from the passage that     ．

A．RAC Trackstar system is installed in the car

B．you won't lose money if your stolen car is insured

C．the speed of the car will help the police find the stolen car

D．without an RAC Trackstar，you can't get your lost car back

【推荐3】The Internet of Things (IoT) aims to get everything and everyone talking. Attaching sensors to “things”, such as cows, cars and refrigerator, and then assigning them unique IP addresses allow them to “talk” to the Internet. Of course, the IoT will involve much more than a handful of sensors. Networking company Cisco estimates that 50 billion Internet-connected devices and objects will
be sending over data by 2020.

Specific Benefits The IoT will allow people to track things and processes like never before. Airplane manufacturers will be able to continuously track the condition of airplane parts, allowing them to do preventive maintenance and avoid costly downtime. Consumers could install smart meters in their homes to monitor energy usage and observe energy price changes in real time. That would allow people to adjust their habits and use electrical appliances during lower-priced hours.

Some Fears Some critics fear that the IoT could end up being a fashion that people lose interest in over time. Having Twitter feeds on refrigerator doors may sound cool at first, but the attraction could fade as quickly as the excitement over last year’s smartphone! Other critics are doubtful that companies making Internet-connected appliances will provide long-term software updates. If that happens, a refrigerator or washing machine that should last 10 years or more could last two or three due to software that’s outdated.

A Positive Example Early this year, owners of the Tesla Model S electric car received a recall notice alerting them to a charger plug needing to be fixed. Amazingly, owners of the Model S sat back while the company performed an “over the air” wireless update. Customers confirmed the update by tapping on the car’s touchscreen console to see that the Model S was running the latest software version. No trip to the dealer was required! Perhaps Tesla’s remote fix is a sign of things to come. Someday soon, people’s lives might become a lot more efficient and convenient thanks to the IoT.

1. How do researchers get everything and everyone talking?

A．By establishing the IoT and launching a handful of sensors.

B．By connecting sensors with them and appointing them unique IP addresses.

C．By communicating with them all the time through the IoT.

D．By sending people to track them day and night and collect useful data.

2. According to the article, which of the following is NOT TRUE?

A．IoT can help people do preventive maintenance and save money.

B．IoT can help people monitor energy usage and observe price changes timely.

C．IoT can help people adjust their habits and use electrical appliances more smartly.

D．IoT can help people investigate things and update a lot of important data.

3. What else do critics worry about the IoT besides its probably ending up being a fashion?

A．People will lose interest in it as quickly as the thrill over last year’s smartphone.

B．Refrigerators and washing machines will be replaced by other devices in a few years.

C．Whether related companies will provide long-term software updates or not.

D．The software provided by companies will be outdated easily and quickly.

4. According to the passage, when owners of the Tesla Model S electric received a recall notice, they ______.

A．just waited in the car while the maintenance is being done through wireless update

B．were required to go to the nearest 4s store to make some adjustments or repairs

C．could definitely depend on the IoT to send them the charger plug to be fixed

D．had to confirm the update with the help of the equipment provided by the company

【推荐1】Over the past half-century, North America has lost more than a quarter of its entire bird population, or around 3 billion birds.

“We saw this great net loss across the entire bird community,” says Ken Rosenberg, a scientist in Ithaca, N.Y. “But we also knew that other bird populations were increasing. And what we didn’t know is whether there was a net change.”

Common birds with decreasing populations include dark-eyed juncos and red-winged blackbirds, says Rosenberg. Grassland birds have suffered a 53% decrease, and more than a third of the shorebird population has been lost. Bird populations that have increased include raptors (猛禽), like the bald eagle, and waterfowl.

“The numbers of ducks and geese are larger than they’ve ever been, and that’s not an accident,” says Rosenberg. It’s because hunters who mainly want to see healthy waterfowl populations for sportful hunting have raised their voices.

“People are doing a wonderful effort to try and understand our bird populations with a lot of uncertainty, but the actual systems that we have in place to try and answer really tough questions like this are really far short of what we need,” Ted Simons in North Carolina State University says.

“In all, the conclusions weren’t necessarily surprising,” says Kristen Ruegg, a biologist at Colorado State University. There have been hints (暗示) that the loss was this large from all kinds of sources over the past few years. But in most cases, these were species-specific records of local extinctions or models of projected losses, resulting from things like climate change. This really sort of wakes people up to the idea that this is happening.

Elise Zipkin, a quantitative ecologist at Michigan State University, says the loss can be a big problem. “Just because a species hasn’t gone extinct (灭绝) or isn’t even necessarily close to extinction, it might still be in trouble,” she says. We need to be thinking about conservation (保护) efforts for that.”

1. Which of the following becomes more than before?

A．Dark-eyed juncos.	B．The bald eagle.
C．Grassland birds.	D．The shorebirds.

2. Why do duck and goose populations increase?

A．To hunt for fun.	B．To provide rich foods.
C．To escape net loss.	D．To keep people healthy.

3. What does the underlined word “tough” mean in Paragraph 5?

A．Extra.	B．Interesting.
C．Difficult.	D．Official.

4. What can we infer from Elise’s words in the last paragraph?

A．Bird loss can be a big problem.	B．Climate change causes part of bird loss.
C．Protecting birds is quite necessary.	D．What is happening is worth considering.

5. How does the author support the subject of the text?

A．By giving examples.	B．By showing ideas.
C．By explaining numbers.	D．By providing research results.