The webs that spiders build to catch insects seem weak. However, the strength of spider thread is greater than steel (钢铁). Webs can even stand up to very strong storms.
In each spider web, some threads are sticky, but some are not. When a spider is moving on the web, it will not step on the sticky threads. After a time the silk will lose its stickiness and become unable to catch insects. Then, spiders usually eat their own web.
Now a team of scientists has worked out why the spider web is so strong. It is not just the strength of the thread, but the clever design of the web. “The key to a web’s success is its ability to keep its shape and strength even after some of the threads break,” said scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (麻省理工学院). The scientists found the thread itself has the ability to become softer or harder. So it can hold different types of heavy things.
In tests, scientists used three other strong materials made into the same webs. The spider thread was six times stronger than any other material. More surprisingly, when the scientists took away up to 10 percent of the threads from different places, the web didn’t become any weaker. Actually, it became up to 10 percent stronger.
The spider web’s clever design gives scientists many new ideas. The findings could help design safer buildings and even a new type of strong material. “It’s a really good chance,” said Markus Buehler, a professor at MIT.” It may give us some new ideas for engineering.”
1. What does the underlined word “silk” in Paragraph 2 refer to?| A．Thread. | B．Spider. | C．Web. | D．Design. |
a. the spider’s thread is sticky
b. the thread has a lot of strength
c. the web has a clever design
d. the web can keep the strength forever
| A．ab | B．ac | C．bc | D．bd |
| A．people can use spider webs to build houses |
| B．the findings give people new ideas for buildings |
| C．there are many reasons why the spider web is so strong |
| D．Professor Buehler will make a new type of material |
| A．A study in MIT. | B．How spiders catch insects. |
| C．The strongest web in the world. | D．The secret of spider webs. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】In the books The Three-Body Problem, Trisolarans (三体人), a type of alien, can dehydrate (脱水) their bodies. They can then ride out terrible environments and come back to life again hundreds of years later. Is it possible that humans could be like that as well?
Scientists have now found some clues by studying water bears which can live without water for decades, according to University of Tokyo biologist Takekazu Kunieda.
When water bears find themselves somewhere without water, they go into a form called a tun. In this form, there are no signs of life, and they can survive pretty much anything. Deep freezing, volcanic fire, the dark space ... these tiny water bears just sleep it off and wake up once they are safe again.
But how do these little eight-legged water bears live without water? Scientists may be onto the answer now.
“It’s thought that as water leaves a cell, some kind of protein must help the cell keep its strength to avoid breaking apart,” said Kunieda. Now scientists have found proteins special to water bears. The proteins protect their cells against dehydration.
Scientists also put those proteins into human cells. They found these proteins can strengthen the human cell so that it won’t shrink when losing water. With experiments using human cells showing successful results, Trisolarans might one day come to be a reality.
1. What can Trisolarans do?| A．They can protect themselves from dehydration. |
| B．They can live in water for hundreds of years. |
| C．They can help other dead things come back to life. |
| D．They can dehydrate themselves and live in bad environments. |
| A．It becomes a tun. | B．It goes to live near volcanic fire. |
| C．It finds a dark space to sleep in. | D．It gives up living. |
| A．Their special cells. | B．Their way of dehydrating. |
| C．A kind of protein in their bodies. | D．The strength of their body. |
| A．How humans can live underwater. | B．What water bears can do for humans. |
| C．A scientific finding on water bears. | D．The story of The Three-Body Problem. |
Tom the cat and Jerry the mouse are two of the most popular cartoon (卡通) characters (角色) in the world. In the short cartoons, Tom is always trying to catch Jerry.
William Hanna and Joseph Barbera both worked for MGM in the late 1930s.
The first Tom and Jerry cartoon was shown in cinemas in 1940.
| A．It was a great success. |
| B．But he never has any success. |
| C．Most of them are around seven minutes long. |
| D．Their boss told them to make funny cartoons. |
| E．The stories are full of fun and have a long history. |
Like many animals, leopards are disappearing because people hunt them. They kill them for their beautiful coats. The Sinai leopard, for example, from Egypt, is now probably extinct（绝种的）.
1. Leopards________.
| A．live in family groups |
| B．live alone |
| C．live together |
| D．live with other animals |
| A．sleep | B．jump |
| C．wait and catch small mammals | D．rest |
| A．Leopards have beautiful fur |
| B．Leopards eat animals and plants |
| C．Leopards sleep 12 hours a day |
| D．The Sinai leopard probably extinct |
| A．they kill them for their meat |
| B．they attack people all the time |
| C．they are dangerous |
| D．they kill them for their coats |
【推荐1】The next step is to learn how to write longer articles. The article writing process is almost the same as the paragraph writing process. Follow these steps and you’ll be able to write a great article.
Step 1 Choose a title and make sure you understand it. Choose a title that interests you and that you have some ideas about. It’s the first thing you should think about carefully before writing.Article titles are often longer and more complicated than paragraph titles. Read the title carefully and make sure you understand what it is asking you to write about before you go on to step 2.Step 2 Brainstorm your ideas in a mind map.  Articles are longer than paragraphs. Try to write more follow-up ideas (supporting material)under each of the sub-headings (副标题) in a mind map. Remember to think about what is the best way to organize your ideas before you start to number them.Step 3 Write your article and notice the structure. As articles are longer than paragraphs, you will need to write a paragraph for your introduction, not just a topic sentence.The body of your article will also be longer, so you will need to write a complete paragraph about each of the sub-headings.Similarly, your conclusion will be a short paragraph, not just a concluding sentence. | Supporting MaterialCan Be:Facts ExplanationsExamples Statistics QuotesWays of Organizing Your Ideas:Listing In order of time Spatial order In order of importance Cause and effectGeneral specific |
| A．to choose a proper title for the article |
| B．to list all the supporting materials you can think of |
| C．to organize your ideas properly |
| D．to re-read and check the mistakes in your article |
①fact ②body ③conclusion ④cause and effect ⑤introduction
| A．①③⑤ | B．①②④ | C．②③⑤ | D．②④⑤ |
| A．Steps of writing an article. |
| B．Ways of organizing your ideas. |
| C．What supporting material can be. |
| D．Advice about making changes to your article. |
【推荐2】With two in five plant species（物种）at risk of disappearance, the Germplasm Bank of Wild Species（中国西南野生生物种子资源库）, or GBOWS, in Yunnan Province is racing against time to protect the nation’s plant species.
Founded in 2007, GBOWS is a research and preservation（保存）bank for rare and endangered plants and animals. As the largest bank of wild species in Asia in terms of species, GBOWS has preserved 85,046 seeds from 10,601 species and 60,262 biological samples（生物样本）of 2,203 animal species. The number of seeds at GBOWS is close to that of the world’s biggest seed bank—the Millennium Seed Bank in the United Kingdom.
So how does the bank work? Scientists collect the endangered and useful wild species and send them to the seed bank. Once the seeds arrive at GBOWS, they’re dried and preserved in a special room. X-rays will make sure the seeds are undamaged and no insects are hidden inside after they are cleaned and separated from broken ones. The seeds are then frozen（冷藏）, preserved in glass bottles and placed in a huge room at -20℃ for long-term preservation. Each bottle has a barcode（条形码）. By scanning it, scientists can view detailed information about the seeds inside.
The bank works with many international organizations on collection, exchange and research. It has 2,176 sets of seeds from 45 countries and regions, with each set including thousands of seeds.
“As China has rich and special plant and animal species, we plan to increase the number of our collections and conduct further research to protect endangered species,” says Li Pei, a worker at GBOWS. “If the world ends one day, these collections will bring hope of a new beginning to life on Earth.”
1. What’s the purpose of Paragraph 1?| A．To show us how to name a bank. | B．To introduce the topic of the passage. |
| C．To call on people to value their time. | D．To tell us the importance of plant species. |
| A．GBOWS has 10,601 animal species in total. |
| B．All of the seeds at GBOWS are found in China. |
| C．The number of seeds at GBOWS is the largest in the world. |
| D．Other Asian banks have fewer wild species than GBOWS. |
① The seeds are sent for X-rays.
② The dried seeds are put into a special room.
③ The seeds are put into a room at -20℃.
④ The broken seeds are taken out.
| A．②→④→①→③ | B．②→①→④→③ |
| C．④→②→①→③ | D．④→①→③→② |
| A．creative | B．challenging | C．meaningful | D．dangerous |
| A．The bank’s ways to preserve seeds. | B．The contributions GBOWS has made. |
| C．China’s efforts to protect plant species. | D．A bank that collects seeds for the future. |
【推荐3】Every living thing needs to reproduce. Reproducing means creating more members of your group. In order for plants to reproduce, they have to spread their seeds (种子) to other areas. Plants have developed all kinds of ways to do this.
The simplest way is gravity. Many seeds are inside of fruit. When a piece of fruit gets too heavy, it falls from a tree to the ground. Sometimes animals will pick up the fruit and drop it in another area. That helps move the seed even farther away. Apples spread this way.
Other plants use wind to spread their seeds. Dandelions are a good example of this. Dandelion seeds are so light that when wind blows, it carries dandelion seeds to new places. Maple (枫树) seeds also use wind. Their seeds are connected with long, thin leaves that look like wings. When the seed falls from the tree, its “wings” help it fly farther from the tree.
Some animals help plants spread their seeds. The animals eat the seeds. While the seed is in the animal’s body, it stays whole. When the seed leaves the animal, it’s in a new place.
Ants also help spread seeds. Some seeds have a special smell that attracts ants. The ants bring the seeds back to their home, which of course is underground. They only eat part of the seed. They leave the rest of the seed underground. After that, the seed can start growing.
根据材料内容选择最佳答案。
1. What does the word “gravity” mean in the second paragraph？
| A．The action that makes animals drop seeds. |
| B．The help that moves seeds even farther away. |
| C．The need that comes from animals and plants. |
| D．The force that causes fruit to fall to the ground. |
| A．They use ants. | B．They use wind. |
| C．They use smells. | D．They use animals. |
a. They only eat part of the seed.
b. They help seeds fall from the tree.
c. They carry seeds to the underground home.
d. They pick up the fruit and move it far away.
e. They leave the rest of the seed underground.
| A．b, d, e | B．a, b, d | C．a, c, e | D．b, c, d |
| A．Nature. | B．Culture. | C．Education. | D．Technology. |
| A．How Plants Spread Seeds? | B．Why Animals Pick Up Seeds? |
| C．How Wind Helps Seeds Spread? | D．Why Seeds Have a Special Trip? |
【推荐1】According to a survey, there is one autistic (患自闭症的) kid in every 54 children. Autism influences (影响) the way children feel and hear, and how they see the world. They need much help in daily lives.
A special helper comes to Mendip School, a school for autistic students in England. It’s a friendly robot (机器人) called Pepper. Pepper joins the students between 12 and 19 years old at the school for about two weeks.
Every time Pepper meets students in the school’s hallway, the robot says hello and asks them how they feel. Pepper can do a lot of things like dancing and telling stories. “Because of Pepper, there is a lot of dancing in school. And children love the robot’s jokes,” says a teacher called Conley. “Some children didn’t like to talk or play with others in the past. But now, it’s not so difficult for them to start up new friendships with others.”
Using robots to help autistic children is not new. However, most robots only teach skills (技能) to children. That’s not what autistic children really need. Pepper is different. It works to get autistic children happy.
1. How long does Pepper stay at Mendip School?| A．For about three weeks. | B．For about two months. |
| C．For about half a month. | D．For about half a year. |
①Dance. ②Tell stories. ③Tell jokes. ④Clean hallways.
| A．①②③ | B．①②④ | C．②③④ | D．①③④ |
| A．Pepper is an autistic teacher. |
| B．Pepper is not good with autistic children. |
| C．Pepper is the first robot to help autistic children. |
| D．Pepper gives what autistic children really need. |
| A．More robots will help autistic children. |
| B．It’s good for autistic children to have robots at home. |
| C．A friendly robot helps autistic children. |
| D．Autistic children don’t know how to make friends. |
【推荐2】A Vending Machine that Cooks
A vending machine that cooks Jianbingguozi, a popular snack in northern China, was invented by a company in 2022, and it was enjoyed by children, adults and even business partners. Buyers can take their orders on the screen, and then this robot does the cooking in front of them. It takes the robot about three minutes to cook one order all by itself. The company’s CEO said that he worked six years in robotics industry to come to this idea and spent another four years to build this model.
____________________________________
The Dolphin I, the intelligent water rescue robot independently developed by Yunzhou Technology, became a hit online recently for its successful rescue of a boy who was washed away by waves in Weihai, Shandong Province on Aug 9. The Dolphin I has many advantages. For example, it has high floatage(漂浮性), and its direction can be controlled. It can overturn to adjust its position even in dangerous water conditions by itself. It is easy to be remote-controlled with one hand and the operator does not need to have extra training before using it.
The Exoskeleton(外骨骼) robots
China is now leading the way in the area of exoskeleton, an external(外部的)skeleton that supports and protects the body, giving it power to do almost impossible things. One of the exoskeleton robots on show can be placed on people whose legs are disabled and help them to walk. According to the seller, one model was used during the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Winter Games torch relay to help disabled players run.
1. In which part of a magazine can we read the news?| A．Culture. | B．Science. | C．Health. | D．Education. |
| A．Visitors liked it most. | B．It is the coolest in the world. |
| C．Only kids could enjoy Jianbingguozi made by it. | D．It needs no help during its cooking. |
| A．Yunzhou Technology. | B．A Water Rescue Robot Wins High Praise Online! |
| C．How to Rescue a Boy in Water Successfully? | D．A Remote Controlled Robot. |
| A．China is the best at making them. |
| B．The disabled users can walk easily with the help of them. |
| C．People can use them to do all the impossible things. |
| D．They have been widely used among disabled players. |
| A．control themselves | B．do some cooking |
| C．serve people | D．protect human bodies |
【推荐3】You must know the word “fast”, but do you know “FAST”, Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope（500米口径球面射电望远镜）? It’s a great invention of the world.
Nan Rendong first came up with the idea of building this new super huge radio telescope in 1994. It took him about eleven years to find the best place to build it. Since FAST began to be built, Nan Rendong had devoted（致力）all to it.
At the moment of the great dream coming true, all people are missing the greatest astronomer.
Since November, 2018, there was a planet named “Nan Rendong”.
| A．Nan is the father of FAST. |
| B．It lies in Guizhou Province, China. |
| C．Looking up to the sky, there is a star shining. |
| D．It took not only time and efforts but also his life. |
| E．And it’s also a powerful tool for people to find the secrets of the universe. |
【推荐1】In the future we may not need to have money in our pockets. Is life easier when people don’t need to carry any money at all? Is money heavy to carry? Is it safe to carry money? Maybe in the future each of us will have only one small credit card （信用卡）. We will use it to buy all the things easily.
Of course, we may still have some of the same problems with cards we now have with money. For example, we always lose money. Maybe we will lose the cards. Maybe someone will take the cards. Someone may make a card that looks like our cards. Since we can’t buy anything without our cards, the credit cards may be no better than money.
Is there something easier to use than credit cards? Each of us has a thumbprint （拇指指纹）.
No two thumbprints are the same. Maybe someday the government will keep people’s thumbprints with a number. When you want to buy something, you will put your thumb on a machine or a computer. Each store or business will possess one. Everyone’s thumbprints will be in the computer. It will be hard to lose our thumbprints! It will be hard for someone to steal it or to make one like it.
1. The writer probably agrees that credit cards are ________ to carry than money.| A．heavier | B．more difficult | C．easier | D．larger |
| A．We can’t use the cards easily. | B．We won’t be able to make enough cards. |
| C．We may not know how to use the cards. | D．We may sometimes lose the cards. |
| A．have | B．lend | C．sell | D．spend |
| A．money | B．credit cards | C．thumbprints | D．phones |
【推荐2】When you have dinner, you follow table manners. When you have a lesson, you obey the rules in the classroom. But have you ever thought about needing to mind your manners in the digital world when you use phones, e-mails and social medias, like QQ, We Chat, Twitter, etc?
As new research by Oxford University noted. “It’s just important to treat people with respect online as it is in real life.” The study came up with some rules of good manners to live by in the digital age.
Their first advice is not “over-sharing” on social media, which means not posting every detail about your life online, because some of us are not creative enough to always show off our thoughts and lives on social media.
The manners also include not looking through others’ phones and not gossiping about others over message, especially when you choose “reply all” to send a message to a group of people. Although gossip is not a harmful chat that can make conversations exciting, it can also be a way to spread something untrue about other people. Gossip can be even stronger on social media than in real life, so it’s better not to gossip.
Moreover, when you have bad news for someone, do not leave text messages on social media, chat with him or her by calling or sending personal messages.
Nowadays technology has offered us different ways to contact others. It is important to remember how to behave towards others online.
1. According to the passage, we shouldn’t over-share details of our life on social media because_____.| A．it may allow bad people to steal our personal information easily |
| B．nobody is interested in our personal life unless you are a star |
| C．over-sharing will disturb others although you may have creative thoughts and lives |
| D．not each of us can express our thoughts and lives creatively |
| A．随笔 | B．恶意评论 |
| C．爱说长道短的人 | D．流言蜚语 |
| A．The author mentions 5 kinds of social media. |
| B．No one would mind your behaviour on social media. |
| C．The author gives some advice on how to behave on social media. |
| D．Only few people follow the social manners in the digital world. |
| A．A | B．B | C．C | D．D |
【推荐3】Almost every kid around the world loves snacks (零食) , but they seldom (很少) care how healthy they are. Although some snacks like chocolate and candies are found everywhere, others are special to a country or a culture. Let’s have a look.
In Japan, matcha (抹茶) is a kind of green tea powder (粉) . It is made from tea leaves and can be used with ice cream or cake. In fact, matcha came from China first but took off in Japan. Biscuits or cookies covered with chocolate are also a Japanese favorite.
Potato chips and French fries are very popular in the US. They are cheap but tasty. But they are high in calories and eating too much may make you fat. Popcorn is another typical (典型的) snack. People eat it when they are watching sports games or visiting the amusement park. Most cinemas also sell popcorn.
In the UK, many people sit down for snacks at around 4 p.m. every day. They call it “afternoon tea”. Traditional afternoon tea is biscuits and tea. People also have the scone (烤饼, 司康饼) with jam and cream, which is probably the most classic English snack. Potato chips and French fries are Popular in the UK, too.
Do you want to eat snacks in a healthy way? Here are some helpful tips. Have a look! A handful of walnuts (核桃) are great for your brain. But a whole bag will add nothing but fat. If you’re crazy for chocolate, try a hot chocolate drink instead of a chocolate bar. Don’t eat too many snacks after dinner.
1. The underlined phrase “took off” in Paragraph 2 probably means_________.| A．flew away | B．got up quickly |
| C．left in a hurry | D．became popular quickly |
| A．Popcorn and chocolate. | B．Biscuits and cookies. |
| C．Potato chips and French fries. | D．Scones and candies. |
| A．Don’t eat too many snacks after dinner. |
| B．The most unhealthy snacks around the world. |
| C．Some special snacks to a country or a culture. |
| D．All the kids around the world love eating snacks. |
A． | B． | C． | D． |
