People develop solar panels (太阳能板) to take energy from the sun and turn it into electricity. Over the past ten years, the price of solar panels has gone down greatly. In many parts of the world, solar energy is now the cheapest form of electricity. More and more people have started using solar energy to power their homes.
However, solar panels also have their problems. They stop working at night and on rainy days. Is it possible to make them produce electricity all the time?
Scientists at Suzhou University have invented a new solar panel now. It can produce electricity not only from solar energy but also from falling rain. When a raindrop falls on the solar panel and then rolls (滚动) down, it creates friction (摩擦力) on the surface (表面) of the panel, which can then be turned into electricity.
Sun Baoquan is one of the inventors, “Our new invention can produce electricity in any weather during the day,” he says. “It can even provide electricity at night if there is rain.”
The field of solar energy is developing fast. Scientists have made some improvement on solar panels. Some have been working on ways to join solar panels and wind power together. Some have been trying to use sunlight to produce liquid and gas fuels (液体和气体燃料).
Title: The | |
| The Cost | Solar energy is the |
| The Problems at First | Solar energy can’t work at night or on a rainy |
| The Theory (原理) of a New One | Some scientists turn the friction |
| The | Some scientists have been working on the way to put wind power and solar panels together. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Scientists find that hard-working people can live longer than idle (不工作的) people. Career women are healthier than housewives. Evidence shows that the jobless are in poorer health than the job-holder. A report shows that whenever the unemployment rate (失业率) increases by 1%, the death rate increases by 2%. All this comes down to one point: Work is helpful to our health.
Why is work good for health? It is because work keeps people busy, away from loneliness. Researches show that people feel not only unhappy but also worried when they have nothing to do. Instead, the happiest are those who are busy. Many high achievers who love their careers feel that they are happiest when they are working hard. Work serves as a bridge between man and reality. By work, people come into contact with each other. If people take part in some activities, they can find friendship and warmth. This is helpful to health. The loss of work sometimes means the loss of everything. It affects man in spirit and makes him easy to get ill.
Besides, work gives one a sense of fulfillment (充实感). Work makes one feel his value in society. When a writer finishes his writing or a doctor successfully operates on a patient or a teacher sees his students grow, they are happy beyond words.
From the above we can know that the more you work, the happier and healthier you will be. Let us work hard and study well and live a happy and healthy life.
回答下面5个问题，每题答案不超过6个词。
1. Who can live longer, hard-working people or idle people?
2. What does the writer want to tell us in the first paragraph?
3. How do people feel when they don’t have anything to do?
4. How can we find friendship and warmth in our daily life?
5. What do you think hard work can bring us? (自拟一句作答)
【推荐2】Fire was discovered many thousands of years ago. The first time humans saw fire was probably when a tree was destroyed by lightning(闪电). Humans soon learned how to make fire. They probably made the first fire by rubbing (摩擦) two sticks together.
Fire was very important to humans. They needed to keep warm at night. They used fire to cook food. They used fire to keep enemies and wild animals away. In some parts of the world fire was used to send messages. The Indians in America, for example, used fire to make smoke(烟雾) as a message. In some other countries people lit fires to warn their friends of danger.
Fire was also used to give light. Before the invention of the oil lamp(灯), humans burned sticks to get light.
One man even used fire to tell the time. He invented a candle clock. He made a candle that took exactly twelve hours to burn. Then he marked this candle in twelve equal(相等的) parts. He lit the candle and could tell the time by counting the number of parts left of the burning candle. But the candle clock did not always work well. If there was a wind blowing on the candle, it burned too quickly.
（一）根据短文内容简要回答问题。
1. How did Indians in America use fire?
2. What happened to the candle if there was a wind blowing on it?
（二）将短文中划线的句子译成汉语。
3.
4.
（三）请给短文拟一个适当的标题。
5.
【推荐3】Can we have too many friends?
(A)你有多少朋友? Making a lot of friends makes you (B) popular at school. Also, whenever you want to find someone for help, there is always a certain friend there. Now scientists suggest that parts of the brain in those with more friends are (C) larger than those with fewer friends.
Scientists have studied the monkeys. They found that parts of the brain in more sociable monkeys were larger.①
As for humans, the researchers at McGill University, Canada, studied 18 people. Then researchers looked (D) ________ brain scans (扫描). They found that, just as monkeys, parts of the brain in humans with larger social groups were larger.②
After study, scientists were sure about one thing: Some brain regions (区域) that are larger suggests other regions might be (E) ________, lead scientist Mary Ann Noonan said to Live Science.③
For example, (F) if you’re spending a lot of time with friends, you won’t have much free time to learn other skills such as playing the piano, Noonan said. These parts of the brain stay small. So maybe we should stick to a smaller, but closer, group of friends.
1. 将划线部分（A）处译成英语：2. 写出（B）和（C）处划线部分同义词或近义词：
3. 在（D）和（E）的空白处分别填入合适的单词：
4. 将划线部分（F）改写为：if you’re spending
5. 将句子 “They were better at understanding of other monkeys.”放入①②③中合适的位置为：
Hi, I am Toby from New Zealand. I like doing water sports and my favorite sport is swimming. Now, let me tell you about a new water sport—riding on the water. That sounds interesting, right?
The water bike looks like a bike or a plane. With it, people can ride on the water. This water bike has a cool name and it is Manta 5 Hydrofoil. It can run quickly and move (移动) on the water at twenty kilometers an hour.
Manta 5 Hydrofoil comes from New Zealand. Do you want to know its price? Well, it’s between $6,000 and $8,000. The price is high, but it sells very well in New Zealand.
It’s not difficult for people to ride on it and lots of people think it is cool and fun to ride on the water.
1. What sport does Toby like best? (不超过5个词)2. How far can Manta 5 Hydrofoil move in an hour? (不超过5个词)
3. What do many people think of riding on the water? (不超过10个词)
【推荐2】The biggest secret about inventing is that anybody can do it! Perhaps this sounds crazy, but it's true. Maybe you have the wrong idea about inventing, so read on to discover the truth.
★Wrong idea No. 1: An invention has to be something completely new.
Inventing means creating something "new", but the idea could come from something that already exists(存在). The Wright Brothers, for example, got the idea for building a "flying machine" from watching birds.
★Wrong idea No. 2: Inventors are born, not made.
There are a lot of factors(因素)that make invention possible. Take Mozart for an example. He was born with a (3)talent for musical composition. But other factors were also important for his creativity. His father was a music teacher, and Mozart practiced for hours every day, from the time he was four years old. Thomas Edison said that being an inventor was "99% hard work and 1% inspiration"!
Very successful creators don't give up when they get something wrong. As one inventor said, "A failure was the right answer to the wrong question."
★Wrong idea No. 3: Inventors are always old people.
Don't believe that you can't invent something when you are young. Here are two examples of young inventors：Louis Braille went blind when he was a child. When he was fifteen, he invented a system of reading and writing for blind people that is still used in most countries today.
As a young man, George Nissen was watching some artists performing in a show. He watched how they fell into the safety net and then jumped back up again. This gave him an idea, and he invented the trampoline(蹦床).
1. How many wrong ideas about inventing are mentioned(提及)in the passage?2. Who got the idea for building a "flying machine" from watching birds?
3. What does the underlined word "talent" mean in Chinese?
4. What did Louis Braille invent?
5. Give a best title to the passage.
One day in 1903, French scientist Edouard Benedictus climbed high to get something on a high shelf in his laboratory. A careless accident happened. He hit an empty glass flask(烧瓶), and it fell to the stone floor.
Benedictus climbed down, expecting to see a mess, but he found a surprise. The glass hadn’t broken into a million pieces! It had cracked(破裂), but it had held together. Benedictus wondered why.
His helper gave him an explanation: He had used the flask to hold liquid plastic(液态塑料). Then he’d put the flask aside and forgotten to wash it. The liquid plastic dried, so the flask looked empty. Benedictus realized the dried plastic had kept the cracked glass from falling apart.
The same week, Benedictus read a report about a car accident in the newspaper. Reading the piece of news, he was lost in deep thought. At that time, the car was a new and exciting invention, and many people were driving fast on the roads. When accidents happened, people were often hurt by flying broken glass. Suddenly Benedictus thought of the broken flask. Could his accident be something useful? Could he make glass safe for cars?
Benedictus spent a lot of time in the lab, trying to find out the best way to make safety glass. Finally, Benedictus put some liquid plastic between two pieces of glass and pressed them together. When he hit it, the “glass-and-plastic sandwich” cracked, but it didn’t break into small pieces. Benedictus succeeded! He wrote in his diary, “I produced my first piece of Triplex (the name for his invention)—full of promise for the future.”
Benedictus was right. So far, his method of putting plastic between pieces of glass is still used today.
A great accidental invention | |
| The accident | ● In 1903, Edouard Benedictus climbed high to get something on a high shelf in his laboratory. He hit an empty glass flask by ● He felt |
| The reason | His helper |
| The application (运用) | ● Benedictus got an idea to make a kind of safety glass for cars ● Benedictus put some liquid plastic between two pieces of glass and pressed them together. When he hit it, the “glass-and-plastic sandwich” cracked, but it didn’t break into small pieces. Benedictus made a(n) |
Artificial Intelligence (人工智能) or AI has been used in many different fields to perform certain tasks, including education, heavy industry, toys and games and so on.
Education
There are a number of companies that create robots to teach subjects to children, ranging (范围) from biology to computer science. With the help of AI, MOOC, or Massive Open Online Course, allows students from around the world to take classes online. Though such tools have not become popular yet.
Heavy Industry
Robots have become common in many industries, and are often given jobs that are considered dangerous to humans. Repetitive (重复的) jobs may lead to mistakes or accidents while robots can be very helpful to avoid them.
Toys and Games
Companies like Mattel have been creating AI-enabled toys for young people, even for kids aged three.
Those toys are able to understand conversations, give smart answers and learn quickly. AI has also been used in video games, for example video game bots (视频游戏机器人), which are designed (设计) to fight against you in the game.
AI Is of Great Use
| Education | Companies create robots MOOC allows students from around the world to take classes online. |
| Robots are often given jobs that are considered dangerous to humans. Robots can be very helpful to avoid | |
| Toys and Games | Mattel has been creating AI-enabled toys for young people, even for Those toys are able to understand conversations, give smart answers and |
How do astronauts live and work on a space station? You can get the answer from the Tiangong Class, a series of lectures from China: s space station. In the Tiangong Class, Chinese astronauts became the “teachers in space”. Months ago, three Shenzhou-13 astronauts, Wang Yaping, Ye Guangfu and Zhai Zhigang, gave their first class. Thousands of young students took the class.
With the help of the other two astronauts, Wang first gave the students a tour around. She showed students how to live and work on the space station. After the tour, the astronauts did some interesting experiments. In one experiment, Wang made a small water film and put a pink folded paper flower on it. Soon the flower blossomed. “I made the flower with my daughter while on earth and I always think of her when I see the flower,” said Wang. “Students, all of you are flowers of the motherland. I hope your dreams can blossom like flowers.”
During the class, the students learned how different space is from the earth. Many students showed great interest in space and science. A girl, a fifth-grade student, said, “It was an eye-opening experience. The experiments really surprised me. They were wonderful! I want to be an astronaut, too!”
1-2题完成句子；3-4题简略回答；5题将文中划线句子译成汉语。
1. In the Tiangong Class, Chinese astronauts became the “teachers
2. Wang showed students how to
3. What did the astronauts do after the tour?
4. What are all of the students according to Wang?
5.
 One American university used a robot as a teacher to help students with their problems. And none of the students knew that was a robot in the beginning! Jill Watson, an IBM-designed robot, has been helping graduate students at Georgia Institute of Technology (美国佐治亚理工大学) solve problems with their design projects. When answering their questions, Jill seems to be an excellent teacher. She can give wonderful answers quickly. She sounds natural and usually says good words. After 5 months, the students were told that their "teacher" was a robot, and many were shocked. Now many students like to ask questions on their school's website. It usually takes teachers too much time to answer them. So the university had such an idea of making Jill Watson. It's a faster way to help the students with their problems. Jill can quickly find possible answers to the questions in her own computer and make sure they are all right. After that, she tells the students in an electronic voice that sounds like a famous actress. She was trained by Georgia Tech researchers before being thrown into the mix with nine other teachers. |
1. What does Jill seem to be when she answers questions?
2. How long did it take to know that their "teacher" was a robot?
3. Why do many students like to ask questions on their school's website now?
4. How can Jill quickly find possible answers to the questions?
5. Who trained Jill before being thrown into the mix with nine other teachers?
【推荐1】What is small talk? It means that the conversation is about some little things, which are not important. 3. You can make small talk while waiting in line at the store, or waiting for the bus or the elevator. Though the topics in small talk are not important, small talk itself is very important. It makes people relaxed, it breaks the ice, it shows friendliness（友谊）and good manners（行为）, and it makes the time pass pleasantly.
In small talk, it is important to remember to smile and keep the conversation relaxed. It’s also good to show a sense of humor. You can talk about the weather, an interesting story in the news or on TV, a sports event, a play or a movie, or you can ask those parents about their new babies.
What shouldn’t you talk about? Well, you shouldn’t talk about politics（政治）or religion（宗教）. 4. Also, you should not talk too long on a topic or ask questions that are too personal. Give other people a chance to speak and listen to what they say.
根据短文内容完成下列各题。
（一）阅读短文内容，回答下列问题。
1. What does small talk mean?
2. Is small talk important? Give one example.
（二）将画线的句子翻译汉语。
3.
4.
（三）请给短文拟一个适当的英文标题。
5.
Most people agree that a pet adds joy to a person’s life. Scientists are now finding that having a pet may keep its owner healthy. And good health may add years to a person’s life.
Scientists have been studying the connection between pets and health for years. In 1990, a study was done with people aged 65 and older. It shows that pet owners go to the doctor less than people without pets. Do pets make people happier? Do they help people live on their own longer? If the answer to these questions is yes, then having pets may be a good idea.
Can pets really help people live longer? Rebecca Johnson did a survey to find out. Johnson taught nurses how to care for older people. She shared the findings of her study at a meeting about pets and the aging. Her study shows that having pets may cause people to age more slowly.
The human body makes many chemicals (化学物质). Some of the chemicals make people feel good. Others make people feel bad. In Johnson’s study, levels of the good chemicals rose when people were around pets. Levels of the “bad” chemicals went down. The good chemicals seemed to slow the aging of cells (细胞). If this is true, maybe people should spend more time with their pets. Then the levels of good chemicals will go up. People might feel better and age more slowly.
They might even live longer.
| General | Having a pet may keep its owner in good |
| Fact 1 | |
| Fact 2 | Having pets may cause people to age |
| Explanation | The human body makes both good and bad chemicals. Levels of the good chemicals |
【推荐3】More and more people are using mobile phones now. Smartphones are used as televisions, cameras and music players. They are also used for sending e—mails or surfing the Internet. If someone talks about mobile phones, many Chinese will think of Huawei.
In China, even in the world, Huawei is a wonder. Ren Zhengfei set up Huawei Company in 1987. After more than 30 years of development, the company has become the world’s second largest maker of smartphones behind Korea’s Samsung. It has also become the world’s largest supplier(供应商)of 5G.
But recently, Huawei faced some difficulties. The U.S. government ordered a ban(禁令)on its sales in America. American officials said Huawei gave information that it collected to the Chinese government. At the same time, the U.S. government planned to stop selling parts and services to Huawei, which was believed that Huawei’s business would be hurt.
“We have never received such a request from the Chinese government and we have never tried to get into other systems to collect information.” Ren Zhengfei, Huawei’s founder and president said. “The ban from the U. S. would have little effect on our company. Huawei has enough ability to deal with the problems.” Ren added.
In an interview several years ago, Ren Zhengfei said, “I started Huawei with only ￡400 at the beginning but now it has become a $100 billion company. The experience was not as romantic(浪漫的) as you imagine.”
Facing the ban of the U.S., Huawei is growing. Huawei’s smartphone sales around the world rose 50 percent compared to a year earlier in the first three months of 2019. It may beat Samsung as the largest smartphone maker in the near future.
1题完成句子；
2、3题简略回答问题；
4题找出并写下第三段的主题句；
5题将文中画线句子译成汉语。
1. Smartphones are used for sending e— mails or
2. When did Ren Zhengfei start Huawei Company?
3. Why did the U. S. government order a ban on Huawei’ sales in America?
4.
5.
