【推荐1】Loud cheers and applause broke out at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab on Monday, November 25, 2018, as the unmanned lander, called Insight, touched down on Mars, after nearly seven

years from design to launch to landing.

The great arrival of the spacecraft—designed to listen for quakes and shakes as a way to discover the Red Planet’s inner secrets, how it formed billions of years ago and, how other planets like Earth took shape—marked the eighth successful landing on Mars in Nasa’s history.

Minutes after InSight landed on the surface of Mars, the first image was sent back, showing a wide flat area as seen through a dirty camera.

The touchdown came after a nearly seven-month, 300 million-mile travel from Earth to Mars, during which the InSight spacecraft had to slow down from a speed of more than 12,000 mph. The spacecraft’s heat shelter helped the lander survive temperatures as high as 2,700℉.

Each step along the way was watched nervously at JPL, with updates delayed by the eight-minute light travel time between Earth and Mars. Mission controllers hugged each other with joy when the signals were received. “We are proud of everything that has gone on today,” they told us reporters.

The first picture of the surface of Mars was sent back to Earth by one of the MarCO nanosatellites (马可纳米卫星) that accompanied InSight during its travel to Mars. The dust from the landing made the view unclear. Pictures from it were expected to be clearer once the dust settled and the lens cover (镜头盖) was removed.

Hours later, InSight’s batteries were charging as expected. The InSight team also passed on another picture, taken by a different camera that’s fixed on the lander’s robotic arm. The view is clearer, showing the robotic arm and the seismometer, which is used to discover the actual movement of the ground.

1. What do we know about InSight lander from the passage?

A．It has landed successfully on Mars eight times.

B．It travelled all the way at the speed of 12,000 mph.

C．Mission controllers helped it survive high temperature.

D．The task of it is to find out the inner mysteries of Mars.

2. We know what Mars looks like by _______.

A．studying pictures InSight lander sends back

B．reading reports sent back by the person on Mars

C．collecting images sent back by MarCO nanosatellites

D．analyzing information the robot on InSight lander sends back

3. How did the mission controllers feel when they received signals from Insight?

A．Unconcerned.	B．Worried.
C．Amazed.	D．Excited.

4. The passage is most probably taken from _______.

A．a fiction novel	B．a news report
C．a travel magazine	D．an official statement

【推荐2】For centuries, humans have explored the Earth’s mountains, jungles and deserts. But despite covering more than 70% of the Earth’s surface, the ocean is still a relative mystery. In fact, just over 20% of the ocean bed has been mapped. Getting a fuller picture would enable us to guide ships more safely, build wind-farms and protect ocean species—all part of what’s known as the “blue economy”, projected to be worth $3 trilling by 2030.

Underwater robotic vehicles are helping gather that data quicker and more cheaply than ever before. But many of these vehicles depend on batteries which need to return to a boat or the shore to recharge, making it difficult to map more remote (遥远的) parts of the sea.

A startup called Seatrec is rising to the challenge, founded by oceanographer Yi Chao. Yi Chao developed technology to power ocean robots by taking advantage of “the naturally temperature difference” between colder and warmer parts of the sea, which in turn creates energy and powers the robot’s generator (发电机). They get charged by the sea, so their lifetime will be almost limitless,” Chao said.

The power module (组件) can be fixed on existing data-gathering robots which dive a kilometer down to examine the chemistry and shape of the seabed, creating a map of the surrounding area. The robot returns to the surface to send back its findings via satellite. A basic power module costs as much as $20,000. But the access to free, renewable energy and the ability to stay in the water longer make data gathering up to five times cheaper in the long run.

Started in 2017, the Seabed 2030 Project has increased awareness about the importance of the ocean floor and given researchers and companies a clear goal to work towards: map the entire seafloor by the end of this decade.

1. What’s the purpose of the first paragraph?

A．To uncover the mystery of the ocean.

B．To introduce the idea of “blue economy”.

C．To stress the importance of seabed mapping.

D．To explain the difficulty of exploring the sea.

2. What’s the disadvantage of the previous underwater robotic vehicle?

A．Its work efficiency is low.	B．It needs a land power station.
C．It has a data gathering problem.	D．Its battery limits the mapping area.

3. What do we know about Seatrec product?

A．It is a new kind of ocean robot.	B．It adds cost to seabed mapping.
C．It sends mapping data via satellite.	D．It applies energy-renewable technology.

4. What does this text mainly talk about?

A．Ocean robots mapping further.	B．A project of exploring the ocean.
C．A new way to protect the ocean bed.	D．Underwater batteries becoming powerful.

【推荐3】Animals can be reproduced by technology now; researchers can clone them. A clone is an exact copy of another animal or plant. Scientists have cloned a sheep which they have named Dolly. Researchers took genes from a ewe (母羊) and used them to create a copy (Dolly) of the ewe.

Why are scientists doing this research? One reason is to get information about genes so they can improve our health. They also want to learn how better farm animals can be produced. Cloning is a controversial issue for people. Some people think it is good because this research can help us, but other people think cloning is unacceptable. Some people think it might be possible to save endangered animals by cloning them. Tigers, elephants, and other endangered animals might be saved in this way.

In China, pandas are endangered because they are hunted and they are losing their habitat, so some Chinese scientists want to try to clone pandas to save them from extinction.

I don’t really like the idea of cloning animals, but I don’t think I want panda to become extinct. If the best way to save them is to make cloned pandas, they must be cloned.

I want to live with a lot of animals and nature. I don’t want animals to die out, especially pandas. I think humans must think more about protecting animals and nature. Maybe cloning is the way to save all endangered animals.

1. What is Dolly like?

A．It is like other ordinary sheep we often see.

B．It is a bit like the ewe.

C．It is exactly like the ewe researchers took genes from.

D．It is like a perfect sheep that researchers want to make.

2. What is the technology scientists use to clone animals?

A．They use the technology of animal improvement.

B．they take genes from an animal and use them to make a copy of it.

C．They change the genes of a ewe and then get them improved.

D．They combine advantages of some animals to make a better one.

3. By studying cloning, scientists can____.

A．make copies of many famous people in the world.

B．start a new industry where many more people may find jobs.

C．find ways to feed the whole world.

D．improve our health and produce fine animals.

4. From the passage we can learn that____.

A．people are all for the technology of cloning.

B．only scientists are interested in cloning.

C．people don’t hold the same opinion about cloning.

D．all the people think cloning unacceptable.

【推荐2】Farmers and hunters are calling for an extension (延期) to the Victorian duck hunting season, saying certain species are doing great harm to crops and waterways and need to be controlled. This season runs from 8:00 am today and will end in 20 days, down from the usual 12 weeks, with a bag limit of five listed game ducks per day.

Wayne Shields grows leafy greens on the Mornington Peninsula and he said the decision to reduce the duck hunting season would take its toll on farmers. “The wood ducks are the ones causing all of the damage; the black ducks are no problem around here. The wood ducks come in at night and they just clean me out completely and they’ve done it a number of times over a number of years,” he said.

Mr. Shields and his wife, Natasha, run Peninsula Fresh Organics and he said there was nothing he could do to stop the invasion (入侵). “I nearly went broke a few years ago. Back then I was planting 10,000 lettuce (生菜) a week and they would quite happily eat 10,000 lettuce a week.” Due to the damage caused by the wood ducks, Mr. Shields said there should be a year-round open season on the wood ducks and farmers should be allowed to shoot birds.

Professor Richard Kingsford, Director of the Centre for Ecosystem Science at UNSW, said although the wood ducks ate crops, extending the duck season may not achieve what farmers wanted. He is calling on the government to invest more in research to address the threat certain species of waterbirds caused for some farmers, so other nonlethal (非致命的) ways to destroy the birds can be found.

1. What is the difference about duck hunting this year?

A．Duck hunting is prohibited.	B．The duck hunting season is shortened.
C．The duck hunting season is prolonged.	D．Duck hunting is limited to a bag of ducks.

2. What can we learn from Paragraph 2?

A．Farmers suffer a huge loss from wood ducks.

B．Farmers actually approve of keeping black ducks.

C．Wood ducks wake farmers up completely at night.

D．Farmers support the reduction of the duck hunting season.

3. What did Mr. Shields suggest concerning the wood ducks?

A．Making more investment in wood ducks.	B．Making shooting birds permitted for farmers.
C．Doing nothing to stop the invasion.	D．Planting more lettuce on the farm.

4. What does Richard Kingsford think of the hunting season extension?

A．Indifferent.

B．Neutral.

C．Favorable.

D．Opposed.

【推荐1】The Manneken Pis is one of Brussels’ most popular tourist attractions. It has been peeing (撒尿) fresh water into a fountain in the Belgian capital since the 17th century. Now, the peeing boy has finally become environmentally friendly.

To everyone’s surprise, the famous statue used to waste 1,000 to 2,500 liters of drinking water a day. He peed water directly into the city’s sewers (下水道).

Energy engineer Regis Callens found this waste after fixing a water meter (水量计) in the statue. If his calculation is correct, then the peeing boy has wasted more than 250 million liters of water over the last 400 years.

As a result of this finding, a new system for delivering the water back to the naughty boy was created. Now he will no longer waste clean drinking water. Instead, he will use water recycled from a closed circuit (闭合回路). That means the water he pees out will be used again in an almost endless cycle.

The solution came out during the Brussels Water Week. A local official said, “We will also set up the system in schools and sports centers. We should set an example. We will encourage everyone in Brussels to pay attention to their water consumption.”

The Manneken Pis is a copy of the 1619 original, which is in a nearby museum. He is often dressed up in different costumes throughout the year to celebrate festivals and special events.

1. What wasn’t expected by the public according to the text?

A．The Manneken Pis was environmentally unfriendly.

B．The calculation of Regis Callens was not correct.

C．The system was created to send water back to the boy.

D．The city’s sewers were blocked because of the statue.

2. What can we learn from the words of the local official in Paragraph 5?

A．The solution was useful to local people.

B．Water waste will become more serious.

C．Citizens are encouraged to protect the statue.

D．The system will be used widely in the future.

3. Which one can be the best title of the text?

A．A Popular Tourist Attraction	B．A Water-saving Statue
C．A Water Meter in the Statue	D．A Solution to Water Waste

【推荐2】After a lot of local and state warnings, research and bans of hoverboards (平衡车), the federal government issued a statement on Wednesday. The message: Many of the machines are a major fire risk.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced the recall (召回) of more than a half-million hoverboards.The safety commission said that the battery-powered machines had been the cause of at least 60 fires. The announcement affects 10 companies that make or sell the products, including Razor and Swagway, two of the leading manufacturers.

Hoverboards, which do not actually hover or fly, have been the subject of regulatory examination in recent years. Officials have banned them from airplanes and sidewalks, and the safety commission carried out research last fall because of reports of fires and explosions.

The risk of fires from the machine's electrical system and battery(电池) pack has attracted the most attention from the safety commission, which says it will now turn its focus toward the risk of falls and other accidents. The agency is worried that flaws (缺陷) in the board's design could lead riders to lose their balance.

There is no federal safety standard specific to hoverboards. Underwriters Laboratories (UL), a standards-setting and testing organization, came up with voluntary electrical requirements for self-balancing hoverboards as a result of the safety commission's research, said Elliot F. Kaye, the chairman of the CPSC.

He required consumers to return any hoverboard that did not reach the standards set by the company. However, part of the problem, he explained, was that many hoverboards had been sold by temporary stands such as those in malls or college campuses — fly-by-night sellers that can be harder to track down or get in touch with. “That is a deeply frustrating aspect of it,” Mr. Kaye said. “Somebody can just put up a stand, order some products, disappear, and there's nobody there to take responsibility when things go wrong.”

1. Why will so many hoverboards be recalled?

A．They aren't easy to use.	B．They are likely to cause fires.
C．They don't actually hover or fly.	D．They caused many traffic accidents.

2. What will the CPSC pay attention to?

A．The recycling of hoverboards.	B．The popularity of hoverboards.
C．The balance risk of hoverboards.	D．The price controls of hoverboards.

3. Which of the following set safety standards for hoverboards?

A．The CPSC.

B．Razor.

C．Swagway.

D．UL.

4. What is the main idea of the passage?

A．Many hoverboards can make people fall easily.

B．The designs of hoverboards needed improving.

C．CPSC intended to recall some hoverboards.

D．People were discouraged from buying hoverboards.

【推荐3】It’s said that every Irish “mammy” has her own way to cook Irish stew(炖菜). Simple but satisfying, it has fed the poor over centuries, which makes it a national dish.

The ingredients tell the story. First up, there’s the “spud”, as the Irish call the potato. First brought to Ireland in the 16th century, it was an unbelievable food, providing bumper crops that could be stored over the cold winter months. Soon, everyone was eating it — for breakfast, lunch and tea.

With the arrival of the spud, the population increased from one million to eight million in less than three centuries. But this dependence on the vegetable would prove disastrous when crops were struck by disease in the 1840s. The great famine(饥荒)that followed killed over a million people — and forced millions more to run to other countries. It’s hard to believe that during the years of famine, Ireland continued to export huge quantities of food to Great Britain, its colonial master at the time.

Today, Ireland is an independent nation. Nobody thinks about the potato famine as they enjoy their Irish stew but there’s a bone-deep awareness of the country’s long connection with the spud.

Potatoes are all well and good, but the stew gets its taste from the meat. It used to be made with mutton as it was the only meat available to the poor. However, the only way to make it good enough to eat was to stew it in the pot for hours.

Today, most people use lamb. However, this remains slightly traditional among purists, who also criticize(批评)the addition of ingredients like carrots, parsnips, thyme and supermarket-bought materials.

1. Why was the potato called an unbelievable food in the 16th century?

A．It could be accepted by both the poor and the rich.	B．It could be cooked into many delicious dishes.
C．It could be kept for a long time.	D．It could grow in winter in Ireland.

2. What did the dependence on the potato lead to in the 1840s?

A．The growing population.	B．A very serious famine.
C．A war between Ireland and Britain.	D．Millions of people rushing to Ireland.

3. What is the most important step when cooking Irish stew?

A．Stewing the dish for hours.	B．Using enough potatoes.
C．Picking up the high-quality lamb.	D．Adding different kinds of ingredients.

4. What is this text mainly about?

A．Ways to cook Irish stew.	B．The present situation of Irish stew.
C．The importance of potatoes.	D．An Irish national dish about potatoes.

【推荐1】Upskilling is the future—but it must work for everyone

Automation and job replacement will be one of the most significant challenges for the global economy of the coming decades. A 2017 Mckinsey report established that 375 million workers will need to switch occupational categories by 2030. The World Economic Forum suggests that by 2022, automation will replace 75 million jobs globally—but create 133 million new ones.

Research into the likelihood that a job will be impacted by digitization has largely focused on the “automatability” of the role and the following economic regional and political effects of this. What this research doesn’t take into account is something more important for the millions of taxi drivers and retail workers across the globe: their likelihood of being able to change to another job that isn’t automatable. Recent research suggests that the answer to this may be that the skills that enable workers to move up the ladder to more complex roles within their current areas might be less important than broader skills that will enable workers to change across divisions.

In July, Amazon announced that it would spend $700 million retraining around 30% of its 300,000 US workforce. While praiseworthy, it will be interesting to see the outcome. In the UK, the National Retraining Scheme has largely been led by employers, meaning that those on zero-hours contracts and part-time workers—often low-skilled—will miss out. Governance will be a crucial element of ensuring that such schemes focus on individuals and life-long learning, rather than upskilling workers into roles that will soon also face automation.

According to the Mckinsey report, “growing awareness of the scale of the task ahead has yet to translate into action. Public spending on labour-force training and support has fallen for years in most member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development,” which impacts more than just the low-skilled and poorly compensated.

The global impact of automation is also put into relief by research demonstrating that, between 1988 and 2015, income inequality increased throughout the world. Billions of people do not have the essentials of life as defined by the UN Sustainable Development goals.

Alongside climate change, automation is arguably tech’s biggest challenge. As with globalization, governments and employers—and us workers—ignore its potential consequences at risk to ourselves.

1. It can be known from Paragraph 2 that         .

A．recent research has found ways to face automation

B．broad skills are of great significance in changing jobs

C．regional economy can affect the automatability of a job

D．it is even harder for workers to move up the social ladder

2. What is the author’s attitude towards retraining programs?

A．Supportive.	B．Critical.
C．Skeptical.	D．Sympathetic.

3. According to the author, what is one consequence of automation?

A．Less spending on training.	B．A slowdown of globalization.
C．Social unrest and instability.	D．An increase in income inequality.

4. The passage is written to         .

A．argue the urgency of creating new jobs	B．compare globalization with automation
C．analyze the automatability of certain jobs	D．stress the importance of upskilling workers

【推荐2】People in the United States honor their parents with two special days: Mother’s Day, on the second Sunday in May, and Father’s Day, on the third Sunday in June.
Mother’s Day was proclaimed a day for national observance by President Woodrow Wilson in 1915. Ann Jarvis from Grafton, West Virginia, had started the idea to have a day to honor mothers. She was the one who chose the second Sunday in May and also began the custom of wearing a carnation.
In 1909, Mrs. Dodd from Spokane, Washington, thought of the idea of a day to honor fathers. She wanted to honor her own father, William Smart. After her mother died, he had the responsibility of raising a family of five sons and a daughter. In 1910, the first Father’s Day was observed in Spokane. Senator Margaret Chase Smith helped to establish Father’s Day as a national commemorative day, in 1972.
These days are set aside to show love and respect for parents. They raise their children and educate them to be responsible citizens. They give love and care.
These two special days are celebrated in many different ways. On Mother’s Day people wear carnations. A red one symbolizes a living mother. A white one shows that the mother is dead．Many people attend religious services to honor parents. It is also a day when people whose parents are dead visit the cemetery. On these days families get together at home, as well as in restaurants. They often have outdoor barbecues for Father’s Day. These are days of fun and good feelings and memories.
1. According to the passage, which of the following about the second Sunday in May is not true ?

A．It is a day to show love to mothers

B．It is a day to wear carnations

C．It is a day for people to visit the cemetery

D．It is a day for many people to attend religious services

2. Choose the right time order of the following events.
a. The first Father’s Day was observed
b. Mother’s Day was proclaimed a day for national observance
c. Father’s Day became a day for national observance.
d. The idea of honoring fathers was bought up

A．a b c d

B．d a b c

C．b a c d

D．d a c b

3. Who plays the most important role in Father’s Day becoming a national commemorative day?

A．Mrs. Do

B．Margaret Chase Smith

C．Ann Jarvis

D．Woodrow Wilson

4. From the passage, we know in the U.S ________________.

A．one should wear a red carnation if one’s mother pass away

B．on Mother’s Day, families often go out to have barbecues

C．on Father’s Day, people often stay at home to celebrate the special day.

D．The purpose to have these two special days is to show love to parents

5. The author’s purpose of writing this passage is to __________

A．call on people to love and respect their parents.

B．introduce Mother’s Day and Father’s Day.

C．tell the difference between Mother’s Day and Father’s Day

D．show how important fathers and mothers are