【推荐2】Scientists say baby sharks are at risk of being born smaller and without the energy they need to survive because of warming oceans from climate change.

Scientists working with the New England Aquarium in Boston, Massachusetts studied epaulette sharks. They found that warmer conditions sped up the sharks’ growing process. That meant the sharks were born earlier and very tired.

John Mandelman is vice president and chief scientist of the Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium. He said it is widely believed that epaulette sharks are “hardy,” or able to survive difficult conditions. “What it means is this very resilient species is more vulnerable than we thought, and this could be true of other sharks,” he added.

The scientists studied 27 sharks using the New England Aquarium’s reproduction program. Some were raised in average summer water temperatures, about 27 degrees Celsius. Others were raised in higher temperatures around 29 degrees Celsius and 31 degrees Celsius. They found that the sharks raised in the warmest temperatures weighed much less than those raised in average temperatures. They also showed reduced energy levels.

Epaulette sharks can grow to a length of about one meter. Their name comes from large spots on their bodies that look like decorations on some military clothing. The sharks are listed as stable and a species of “least concern” on the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species.

One study this year found that worldwide numbers of oceanic sharks and rays dropped more than 70 percent between 1970 and 2018. Overfishing is a main concern, while climate change and pollution also threaten sharks. Mariah Pfleger is an ocean scientist at the protection group Oceana. She said the study should serve as a warning to ocean governing agencies that careful supervision is needed to prevent the loss of more sharks. “This study further exemplifies that sharks will not be immune to a warming ocean,” Pfleger added.

1. The new study shows us that warming oceans may lead to baby sharks’         .

A．later birth and less weight.

B．later birth and more weight.

C．earlier birth and less weight.

D．earlier birth and more weight.

2. Which is not the reason for the dropping number of oceanic sharks in the last 50 years?

A．Climate change.

B．Pollution.

C．Overfishing.

D．Supervision.

3. From the text, what can we know about epaulette sharks?

A．They can grow to about one centimeter in length.

B．They are named after their body characteristics.

C．They are least endangered species.

D．They are able to survive all kinds of conditions.

4. What’s Mariah Pfleger’s attitude towards the study?

A．Positive.

B．Negative.

C．Indifferent.

D．Arbitrary.

【推荐3】These days, Fred’s huge skeleton (骨架) is exhibited in the Indiana State Museum. His tusks (长牙) were recently the subject of a research study tracing the life 13,000 years ago of mastodons, distant relatives of modern elephants.

By analyzing the chemical compounds (化合物) in Fred’s tusks, a team of researchers could construct a detailed account of his seasonal migration patterns. Josh Miller, a paleoecologist (古生态学家) at the University of Cincinnati, is one of the researchers studying Fred. “He has beautifully preserved bones and tusks, which provides a great opportunity for our research on his seasonal migration patterns,” Miller said.

Mastodons’ tusks generally grow in distinct layers, similar to the tree rings. As a result, the nutrients that build the layers of their tusks can tell us a lot about what they experienced. The team particularly focused their analysis on the variations in two elements in the layers: strontium (锶) and oxygen. The former is the key to understanding where Fred spent his life, while the latter tells us the season he was in any particular region. Then, with some statistical modeling, Miller and his team gained insight into the daily record of Fred’s behavior over ten thousand years ago.

The result indicated that Fred would have grown a lot when he was young. But there’s a year when his growth is reduced. “Probably like the modern male elephant, a male mastodon is just really obnoxious when growing up to be a bother and often arouses family members’ anger. At that point, the mom and aunts will essentially kick him out of the family.” Miller predicted.

After Fred set off to attend to himself, his tusks reflected where he travelled around. Based on the analysis, Fred would return to mate every summer in Northeastern Indiana, because his tusks started to show signs of injuries around this time. When competing for mates, mastodons get into huge battles with their own natural weapons   sharp tusks. And that was exactly what brought Fred’s story to an untimely end.

1. What did Miller’s study mainly focus on?

A．Effective ways of tusk preservation.	B．Inner structure of Fred’s skeleton.
C．Possible tracks of Fred’s migration.	D．Special functions of mastodon tusks.

2. How did researchers learn about Fred’s behavior in the ancient age?

A．By analyzing nutrients in Fred’s bones.

B．By reviewing statistical records of previous studies.

C．By modeling data of chemical elements in Fred’s tusks.

D．By referring to the growth of tree rings to study Fred’s tusk layers.

3. What can be inferred about Fred from the last paragraph?

A．He was killed by his opponents.	B．He reunited with his family later.
C．He was drawn to cross-species fights.	D．He was weak in living independently.

4. In which section of a newspaper will the article appear?

A．Geology.

B．Culture.

C．Education.

D．Science.

【推荐1】Do good stories really lead to good lives? Studies suggest they do. York University psychology professor Ian McGregor and Holmes found that if you provide students with an ambiguous (不明确的) story about a breakup and then ask them to tell a slanted (有偏见的) version that places the blame on just one of the parties, the students begin to believe their own stories. Two weeks later, even after re-reading the story script, the students still said the person they previously defended was relatively innocent. Forty weeks after the initial study, the participants had forgotten almost all the details, but they still knew who to blame.

“Stories shape memory so dramatically,” says Holmes. “Once you tell a story, it’s hard to get out of that story’s framework and they tend to get more dramatic over time.”

This tendency can either form a foundation for good marriages or separate couples. People who tell stories about partners that emphasize their negative qualities will tend to remember things that fit into that thesis (论点) and forget the positive traits they previously reported. Negative storytellers tended to get divorced while people who told stories about their partners’ strengths saw their relationships strengthen over time.

Taken together, psychologists’ research makes one point: We don’t just tell stories. Stories tell us. They shape our thoughts and memories and even change how we live our lives.

Storytelling isn’t just how we construct our identities. Stories are our identities. Every story is a gift, a little part of yourself that you share with the audience. Who doesn’t like gifts?

1. How did Ian McGregor and Holmes get their finding?

A．They did researches in the lab.	B．They analyzed data from the Internet.
C．They carried out an experiment on students.	D．They used a questionnaire to get information.

2. What does the underlined word “traits” in paragraph 3 probably mean?

A．Qualities.

B．Views.

C．Reactions.

D．Suggestions.

3. What should people do to strengthen relationships with their partners?

A．Talk more with their partners.	B．Focus on their partners’ strengths.
C．Tell more their partners’ stories.	D．Share their partners’ stories with others.

4. What is the purpose of the author’s writing the text?

A．To tell us a story.	B．To give us some advice.
C．To show us how to tell a story.	D．To explain to us a scientific finding.

【推荐2】London’s Kew Gardens reopens its Temperate House, the world’s largest Victorian glasshouse.

For the first time in its history, the Grade I-listed structure was restored to bare metal and modernized. More than 5,280 liters of paint was used, enough to cover four football fields, and 15,000 panes of glass was replaced. The house opened to the public on Saturday, May 5.

The large greenhouse is now home to an arranged collection of different plants from areas of temperate (温带的)climates around the world — areas sometimes described as the Goldilocks zone of the planet, where plants are safe from coldness.

These include some of the rarest and most threatened species, for which the botanic (植物的)garden is a final shelter. Among the more than 1,000 different species of temperate plants is the extremely rare South African cycad Encephalartos woodji, a plant that has disappeared from the wild and is now found in botanic gardens and private collections.

This tree has been named “the loneliest plant in the world”, because only male plants remain - each a clone of the specimen at Kew, which was collected in the middle of the 19th century. Some plants contain both male and female parts, but this species requires a female to produce seeds.

Lead gardener Scott Taylor, who is overseeing the Temperate House collection stressed the importance of having an insurance population of one of the world’s most endangered plants.

“ We have an important job to keep all of these things going,” Mr. Taylor said. “For some plants, they are down to a few in the wild — a wildfire, an earthquake, and they’re gone. ’’

1. Where may you find South African cycad Encephalartos woodii?

A．In any of London’s gardens.	B．In a personal collection of temperate plants.
C．In the laboratory of cloning plants	D．In the wild in London.

2. Why does Scott Taylor think the trees are endangered?

A．There aren’ t such male trees any more.	B．There aren’ t female trees any more.
C．Because of the overhunting of the trees.	D．Because of the difficulty in producing.

3. What would be the best title for the passage?

A．The Grade I-listed Structure Was Completed	B．The World’s Largest Glasshouse Reopens
C．How to Build a Greenhouse	D．How to Protect the Wildlife

【推荐3】Scientists have developed a new type of smart bandage (绷带) that can signal the type of bacterial (细菌的) infection it’s protecting, just like a traffic light, as well as release the right type of drugs on demand. The traffic light system works just like this: Green means no bacteria or a low concentration of bacteria, yellow means drug-sensitive (DS) bacteria responsive to standard antibiotics (抗生素) and causes antibiotic release, and red means drug-resistant (DR) bacteria that need extra help to be wiped out.

In testing the bandage on mice, the research team was able to successfully treat both DS and DR infections using the new method. However, the common methods of sensing resistance are limited by time, the requirement for professional personnel, and expensive instruments. Moreover, the abuse of antibiotics causes the accelerated process of bacterial resistance.

It’s easy to see how a simple bandage and light could overcome some of these limitations. Treatment doesn’t have to wait for a doctor to make a diagnosis, and the bandage can get the right sort of drugs applied at the earliest opportunity. What’s more, the person wearing the bandage gets real-time feedback on what’s happening with the infection, if there’s an infection at all. The researchers say it offers numerous benefits over existing treatments that make use of light, including photodynamic therapy or PDT.

We’ve been seeing quite a few upgrades to the traditional bandage in recent years, thanks to advances in science — like the nanofiber mesh that attracts bacteria and draws some of it out, speeding up the healing process. Then there’s the novel bandage for treating burns, which stops bacteria from multiplying and lowers the risk of infection.

The more work that a bandage can do while it’s protecting a wound, the better. Efforts to improve bandages continue and now we've got a bandage that not only releases antibiotics, but also tells the patient exactly what’s going on too.

1. What is the smart bandage mainly designed to do?

A．Avoid the use of antibiotics.	B．Clear out harmful bacteria.
C．Detect bacterial infections.	D．Increase treatment options.

2. What is the advantage of the smart bandage?

A．It saves much time and cost.	B．It removes the risk of infection.
C．It prevents the bacterial resistance.	D．It improves doctor-patient relationship.

3. What can be inferred from the last two paragraphs?

A．Traditional bandages are out of use now.

B．More smart bandages will be developed.

C．Progress in science calls for more research.

D．People are urged to study medical science.

4. What does the text focus on?

A．A successful test on mice.	B．A colour-changing bandage.
C．Sensing drug-resistant bacteria.	D．Preventing abuse of antibiotics.

【推荐1】According to new health guidelines, even a minute or two of physical exercise is better than nothing: just walking upstairs and down again, before continuing your otherwise entirely sofa-based afternoon of crisps and television, makes for a healthier life than if you hadn' t bothered. The previous recommendation was for a 10-minute minimum, but for years’ the general direction of research has been toward the conclusion that there is no minimum at all. This doesn51 just go for exercise^ either. Five minutes in nature can boost your mental health; and while one daily serving of vegetables may be too few, it's definitely preferable to zero. If you are wondering whether or not some tiny but healthful activity is worth it, the answer^ almost always, is yes.

It' s a little strange   actually, that this is even a topic of debate. Of course anything is better than nothing. For one thing, it's a good start for building habits. For another, tiny actions are valuable in themselves. Human bodies aren't digital devices, and health generally isn't a matter of reaching fixed thresholds （门槛）；what is good for the organism in large quantities is usually good in smaller ones, too.

The real reason for the debate is not that the facts are in dispute （争议）.It's that information is dangerous. When public bodies recommend^ say, a 10-minute minimum, it's because they worry that if they don't, people who might otherwise have exercised for 10 minutes will stop after two.

Even this column risks making things worse. If you had truly been planning to spend all day on the sofa, perhaps I have inspired you to take a five-minute walk; but if there is a chance that you would have gone to the gym for an hour, reading these words might persuade you to settle for the stroll （散步）instead.

Ideally, we would stop thinking about healthy behaviours in terms of minimums: within reason, you should be doing as much exercise as you can, not as little as you can get away with—while remembering that nothing is too minor to be not worth the bother. This is a sensible approach to much of life, I would say, from being a good friend or paying attention to your kids, to saving money or reducing your environmental impact. However much you do9 it will never be enough. But that is not a reason to do nothing—on the contrary^ it' s a reason to do something.

1. Tiny healthy actions are worthwhile because •

A．they contribute to good habits and health

B．they provide abundant choices for fitness

C．they add a new dimension to people, s lives

D．they are easily conducted in people5 s daily lives

2. Why don public bodies recommend a minimum time for exercise?

A．People have their own concept of time.

B．It contradicts with new health guidelines.

C．There is a lack of scientific research on it.

D．People may misinterpret its real intentions.

3. What does the writer want to stress in the passage?

A．Life lies in movement.

B．All roads lead to Rome.

C．Actions speak louder than words.

D．Anything is better than nothing.

【推荐2】It may not come as a surprise but the world as a whole is getting richer. Some people have more disposable(可自由支配的)income to spend on luxuries such as holidays, cars, TVs and smart phones. Recent data has shown that the number of people living in extreme poverty has halved in recent decades. So should we celebrate the fact that more of us now have a better standard of living?

Maybe not. While the gap between the rich and the poor in some countries is narrowing, there is still a lot of inequality in other places-some people have a lot of money and opportunities and others don't. A recent report by Oxfam and Credit Suisse revealed how divided many of us are when it comes to wealth. A lot of the money in the world is in the hands of very few people. In fact, 48% of global wealth is owned by the richest l% of the population.

But some countries are attempting to reduce this inequality and make the poor, less poor. According to David Bryer from Oxfam, Brazil has been taking "some really sensible measures--measures around having more progressive tax, around investing in a higher minimum wage and investing in central public services." Having a higher minimum wage can help people eat better and seek a better education. And more people with more money buy more things-and factories can produce more. In turn, a factory which produces more will need more workers. So, more jobs are created.

Other wealthy individuals are doing their bit to help reduce inequality. Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft, earned a lot of money from his company but when he retired, he and his wife Melinda, created a foundation to help the poor. He thinks that rich people should, of course, pay their taxes but he also advises that they should all "look at taking their wealth and being philanthropic (乐善好施的 ) , both in their own country and to help the global poorest."

Bill Gates feels that giving money to help poor people is "fulfilling". But if other super-rich people don't want to experience this fulfillment then, according to Oxfam, very soon the wealthiest l% will soon own more money than the rest of the world's population. Do you think that is fair?

1. The first two paragraphs mainly tell us _________.

A．the poverty and inequality in a richer world

B．some sensible measures to make the 'poor less poor

C．the increase of global wealth in recent decades

D．the narrowing gap between the rich and the poor

2. What is the government in Brazil doing to the minimum wage?

A．Limiting it.	B．Increasing it.
C．Making it lower.	D．Setting it free.

3. What do Bill and Melinda Gates think very rich people should do with some of their money?

A．Spend it on their luxuries.	B．Give it to help the poor.
C．Invest it in their business.	D．Hand it over to their children.

【推荐3】According to a recent study in China, eating an egg a day may lower the risk of cardiovascular(心血管的) disease.

The research shows people who eat eggs on a daily basis have lowered the risk of dying from cardiovascular disease by more than 10%, compared with those who don't eat eggs in their daily meals.Despite the high-quality protein, eggs also have high amounts of cholesterol（胆固醇）, and therefore doctors once thought that they might be harmful to patients with heart disease, as Yu Canqing, the co-author of the study explained

Due to the limited size of sample and information, however, existing studies on the relationship between eggs and cardiovascular disease are still debatable. That is why Yu and his colleagues continue to do the research.

At first, they used information from an ongoing study of about half a million adults living in 10 regions of China. They further narrowed down the data to 416, 213 participants who had never been diagnosed with cancer, cardiovascular disease or diabetes(糖尿病). Among these adults aged between30 to 79, a little more than 13% claimed to eat about an egg per day, while over g% of them said that they never or hardly ever had eggs. Nearly all the participants ate chicken eggs instead of duck eggs, Yu noted。

The researchers tracked the selected group for almost 9 years, concentrating on major coronary(冠状动脉病)events, such as heart attacks and strokes. After analysing the data, the researchers found that people who ate about an egg a day had a lower risk of heart disease compared with those who did not eat eggs. According to the data, participants eating one egg daily had lowered the risk of haemorrhagic stroke(出血性中风) by about26% and ischaemic heart disease(缺血性心脏病)by12%。

1. In the past, doctors warned patients to avoid eating too many eggs because______.

A．eggs can increase the risk of cardiovascular disease

B．eggs contain too much high-quality protein

C．eggs have high amounts of cholesterol

D．eggs contain nutritional elements

2. According to the passage, which of the following statements is true?

A．The participants come from different regions of China.

B．More than 15%of the participants said they ate about an egg a day.

C．All the participants ate chicken eggs

D．During the follow-up, the risk of haemorrhagic stroke has been lowered by 30%.

3. What is the best title for the passage?

A．An Egg a Day for You and Me

B．An Egg a Day to Lower the Risk of Cardiovascular Disease

C．An Efficient Cure to Cardiovascular Disease

D．An Egg a Day to Cure Heart Disease

【推荐1】Johnny Smith was a good math student at a high school. He loved his computer. He came home early every day, then he worked with it till midnight. But Johnny was not a good English student, not good at all. He got an F in his English class. One day after school Johnny joined his computer to the computer in his high school office. The school office computer had the grades of all the students: the math grades, the science grades, the grades in arts and music, and the grades in English. He found his English grade. An F! Johnny changed his English grade from an F to A. Johnny' parents looked at his report card. They were very happy. "An A in English!" said Johnny's Dad. "You're a very clever boy, Johnny."

Johnny is a hacker. Hackers know how to take informationfrom other computers and put new information in. Using a modem, they join their computers to other computers secretly. School headmasters and teachers are worried about hackers. So are the police, for some people even take money from bank computer accountand put it into their own ones. And they never have to leave home to do it! They are called hackers.

1. Johnny changed his English grade with the computer in _______.

A．the classroom	B．the school office
C．a bank near his house	D．his own house

2. When Johnny's parents saw the report, they were happy because _______.

A．Johnny was good at math	B．Johnny loved computers
C．Johnny could join one computer to another	D．they thought Johnny was not poor in English any longer

3. Who are worried about hackers in the story?

A．Johnny's parents	B．School headmasters, teachers and the police.
C．The police.	D．School headmasters and teachers.

4. What should the hackers know well, do you think, after you read this story?

A．Information	B．Back computer accounts
C．Computers.	D．Grades.

5. The last paragraph is about _______.

A．Johnny	B．computers
C．hackers	D．moden

【推荐2】The three phases of life are increasingly a thing of the past. Where once working lives fitted neatly into the model of education, employment and then retirement, the simplicity of that division is being challenged by changing standards of the workforce.

Increasing numbers of workers, nearing their long-imagined transition into retirement, seem to be actively postponing the moment at which they down tools. Newly released figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) have shown that there are over a million more over 50s in part-time work than a decade ago. And with nine out of 10 employers reporting difficulties hiring workers, there’s likely to be a growing market for their talents as bosses extend their searches to older people, including those who are willing to take on part-time responsibilities.

The ending of the three phases of working life isn’t simply down to people living longer or financial necessity － though those are certainly important factors － but also to an increasing desire to maintain a purposeful life. One survey of British retirees over 50 found that 85 per cent of them felt they’d retired too young – stopping working had left a void that they subsequently regretted.

The 2015 film The Intern conveyed this human need to have value. In it, Robert De Niro plays a 70-year-old widower who finds himself a fish out of water when he joins a trendy internet start-up. In the end, not only does he find the sense of belonging that he craves but his colleagues come to rely on his experience and different perspective. It’s a plot we can increasingly expect to play out in real-life offices over the decades to come as people live ever longer.

Already, we are seeing people in their 50s and 60s looking ahead to a retirement lasting 30 years, choosing instead to build second careers that they can maintain into their 70s or beyond. Freed from the financial burden of young children, they can prioritise flexibility, shorter working hours or more rewarding jobs in areas such as charity work or teaching. Many do it for no money at all, volunteering behind the till in charity shops or showing people round National Trust properties.

However, it’s the next generation where the effect of living longer will really be felt, and the financial necessity will start to bite. In the West, more than half of the children born in 2016 have a life expectancy of more than 100 years. In their book, The 100-Year Life, London Business School professors Lynda Gratton and Andrew Scott suggest that acquiring sufficient funds to see oneself through a 40- or 50-year retirement will likely be beyond all but the highest earners.

Then there’s the often repeated claim that young people today are the first generation to be poorer than their parents. Certainly property prices are changing the way they plan for the future. In the mid-Nineties, the average home cost less than three times the average wage; last year, ONS stats placed that ratio at eight times wages.

The overall effect of these trends is that young people recognize that they will likely have to postpone dreams of retirement and instead strap on(绑住) more debt spread over longer spans. It’s why 44 per cent of under 30s say they expect to be working well into their 70s and why data this year from the Bank of England show that 16 per cent of UK mortgages(按揭贷款) now have terms of 35 years or more – a figure that has tripled in the past decade.

All of these factors look set to contribute to a workforce that has a significantly wider range of ages in the future. In an era of work when we’ve all learned to be more inclusive, only eight per cent of firms with a diversity programme have adapted it to go beyond gender, race and sexuality and into age. Incorporating older employees into the workforce is set to be the next big thing at the office.

If Robert De Niro has anything to teach us, it’s that this can be an enormous force for good for both employees and businesses.

1. What do the underlined words “down tools” in Paragraph 2 mean?

A．stop working	B．undertake part-time jobs
C．learn a new skill	D．imagine the future life

2. The following may account for the ending of the three phases of working life EXCEPT _________.

A．a longer life	B．financial needs
C．a meaningful life	D．delayed retirement policy

3. The author introduces the details of the film The Intern in order to __________.

A．tell us Robert De Niro is a helpful retiree

B．indicate that retirees can also benefit society

C．illustrate that retirees desire to live meaningfully

D．share Robert De Niro’s second career with us

4. What trend will the next generation face?

A．Their life expectancy will be longer.

B．They will be richer than their parents.

C．They can live within their means.

D．They will fail to pay off their mortgage.

5. The main reason for young people postponing retirement is ___________.

A．longing for a more purposeful life

B．inability to make their ends meet

C．a shorter term of mortgages

D．eagerness for experience from old employees

6. What does the passage mainly talk about?

A．Different attitudes to retirement between the young and old.

B．Financial issues facing both old people and young people.

C．Age being no bar in the modern world of work.

D．The new standards of the workplace.

【推荐3】

1. By using the app released by SOLEIF, people can

A．watch a video about the statue's history

B．appreciate the exhibits in the museum

C．view the statue from different angles

D．see a life-size model of the statue

2. Where can we find both apps and popular videos?

A．tinyurl.com

B．uefa.com

C．Apple's iPad

D．SOLELF

3. The following words can be used to describe the Xploro app EXCEPT

A．entertaining

B．interactive

C．informative

D．sensitive