Beep! Beep! Barcode (条形码) makes it faster and easier to buy things in stores. This year, it is 50 years old!
On a Sunday afternoon in 1971, IBM engineer George Laurer thought of a code that could be printed on food labels(商标). Later it developed into the Universal Product Code, which was used by many grocery companies starting in 1973, according to The New York Times. Before this, cashiers (收银员) had to ring up prices by hand.
Today, barcodes are scanned over 6 billion times every day and used by 2 million companies worldwide. What information does a barcode hold? Where the product comes from, where it has been, its price... you name it. It can also help stores keep track of(追踪) their products. For example, if there are 10 boxes of milk and a customer buys one, it will be recorded so that the store owner knows there are nine boxes left. In the 1980s, libraries started using barcodes to keep track of books in this way.
The next generation of barcodes, such as QRcodes, can hold more information. They can tell customers if product has allergens (过敏原) or if it is organic (有机的). This provides customers with a greater level of trust in the products they buy.
1. How old is the barcode?2. How did the cashiers ring up prices before 1973?
3. Why did libraries start using barcodes?
4. What can the next generation of barcodes tell customers?
5. What does the passage mainly tell us?
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Dreams may make you smart. This was discovered by scientists who do research on dreams.
What is a dream exactly? Scientists explain that during sleep time your brain reviews your experiences in the day. It tries to connect your new experiences with the old memories (记忆). As your brain connects things, it turns them into a story, and then you get a dream.
Dreams may help you deal with worries and fears. What has happened during the day maybe painful. While you are sleeping, however, the brain will replay the painful memories in a safe dream space. There the bad memories become less painful. And you will feel better after waking up.
Dreams also seem to be able to help you learn. This idea is supported by a study. So scientists advise you not to stay up all night studying, especially when an exam is coming. They say a sweet dream might help you get higher marks.
Dreams may make you more creative, too. It was reported that a famous songwriter came up with his best song in a dream, and wrote it down as soon as he woke up. However, dreams alone can’t bring about creativity. In fact, the songwriter spent a lot of time thinking about the song before the dream. In a word, hard work matters (要紧) more for creativity, though dreams also have a role to play.
1、2题完成句子：3-5题简略回答问题。
1. Your brain tries to
2. The bad memories become
3. What might help you get higher marks?
4. What is more important for creativity?
5. Do you like the feeling of having dreams at night? Why or why not?
Fun with apps
What makes smartphones fun and useful? The apps, of course. Besides (除了) some popular ones like WeChat, QQ and Tik Tok, what other apps do you know? In fact, there are many apps that you can have fun with. Check out some of them here.
Vocabulary.com
Vocabulary.com offers (提供) some help to the English learners, even a linguist (语言学家), to make their English language skills better. Why is Vocabulary.com special? That’s because it’s much more than just a dictionary (字典). It has the basic features of a dictionary app—explanations, pronunciations and grammar tips—but it also has a word learning system. This means that you can practise the words you learn through a fun game. The game will help you remember words more quickly. The app knows that even if you look up a word, you may still forget it soon. So it helps you remember words by saying them again and again in the game. It’s like carrying your English teacher in your pocket!
Prisma
Are you a fan of art? Here’s an app just for you. Prisma is a photo-editing app unlike any other. The photo filters (滤镜) on the app can make your pictures look like works of art. What’s more, the filters on Prisma never get old. Prisma offers a new photo filter every day. However, it also gives you freedom to change the filters with image-enhancing (图像增强) tools. Imagine you can have a picture painted by Picasso, too! How amazing!
1. What apps are popular according to the passage?2. How can we practise the words we learn on Vocabulary.com?
3. What kind of app is Prisma?
4. Why do the filters on Prisma never get old?
5. Which app do you like best? Why? (请自拟一句话作答)
【推荐3】Trees are useful to man in three very important ways. The first important way is that they provide (提供) man with food, wood and other products. Trees provide not only man with food, but also many animals with food. Without trees, many animals could not live on the earth. It’s not easy for man to live on the earth, either.
The second important way is that trees give us shade. On a hot summer day, people long to have a rest in the shade of a tree after they have walked a long way. You can imagine (想象) how important the shade of a tree is to man and animals.
The third important way is that trees help to stop drought (干旱) and floods (洪水). However, in many parts of the world, man has not known the third important way. He has cut trees down in large numbers. In the end, he finds that he has lost his best friends.
1~2题完成句子；3题简略回答问题；4题找出并写下全文的主题句；5题将文中画线句子译成汉语。
1. Trees provide man with
2. It’s not easy for
3. What does “his best friends” refer to (指的是) in the last sentence?
4.
5.
Facial recognition (人脸识别) cameras are everywhere, including in your phone. Many people depend on this technology to unlock (解锁), open doors or pay for things quickly, but there is a problem: everyone is wearing masks (口罩).
Now, the companies have improved the facial recognition technology. It can now work well even if people are wearing a mask. A company in Beijing named Hanwang has said that their product can correctly recognize (识别) 95 percent of people wearing masks. What’s the secret?
Facial recognition software (软件) is about more than just unlocking your phone. This technology is also about public safety. For example, you don’t need to show an ID card, which can be lost or stolen. It also means that diseases aren’t spread by touching things. It has become especially important now because of the COVID-19. It helps with safety and peace of mind.
There is also a weakness of this technology: it fails when people wear both a mask and sunglasses. In this situation, all of the key facial information is lost.
1-2题完成句子；3题简略回答问题；4题找出并写下第三自然段的主题句；5题将文中划线句子译成汉语。
1. Facial recognition cameras can help people unlock their phones, open doors or
2.
3. In what situation can’t this technology work?
4.
5.
【推荐2】In Shanghai City, when people throw away wet waste, they must take the wet waste (mainly food waste) out of the rubbish bag first. Then, they throw the rubbish bag into another trashcan(垃圾桶). This is not easy to do.
Shi Yuan is a 14-year-old student from Shanghai Wenlai Middle School. One rainy day in May, 2019, when he was throwing away wet waste, he got food waste all over his trousers. Then, he decided to do something about this. He made a special rubbish bag for wet waste. The bag has a band of adhesive tape(粘贴带). When one end of the tape is open, the bag turns upside down by itself. Then, people can easily throw wet waste into the trashcan. Shi’s idea won him a prize in the Shanghai Adolescents Science & Technology Innovation Contest. So far, he has sold over 2 million bags online. And on May 4, 2020, he began to sell his bags in 11 supermarkets in Shanghai.
“Like many other kids, I’m also busy with homework and I like to play. The only difference is that I like to find ways to make life easier,” Shi said.
1. What do people need to do first before throwing away wet waste?They need to
2. What does Shi Yuan do?
He is a
3. How was the weather when Shi got food waste all over his trousers?
It was
4. How many bags has Shi sold online?
He has sold
5. Where did Shi begin to sell his bags on May 4, 2020?
In eleven
A young Dutch inventor, Boyan Slat, at the age of 18, has developed a floating device (设备) to stop plastic waste moving into rivers before it reaches the seas. In the same year, he also founded an environmental group called The Ocean Cleanup. Its purpose is to develop the system and move it to the right place, then get it ready for use.
Recently, the 25-year-old Slat announced the next step in his fight: a floating device that he called “Interceptor”. It can remove plastic out of rivers. The device is powered by energy from the sun.
“We need to close the tap, which means preventing more plastic from reaching the ocean in the first place,” Slat said. He added the waste from land to sea was carried mainly through rivers.
Experts say 8 million metric tons of waste flowing into the oceans each year are from rivers, creeks (小溪) and seaside areas. The plastic endangers fish and other sea living things. Three of the machines have already been moved to Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam. Slat said a fourth was going to the Dominican Republic.
Slat said he believed 1,000 rivers were responsible for about 80% of the plastic going into the world’s oceans. He said he wanted to try to clean up the plastic bottles and other rubbish in the next five years.
He added, “This is not going to be easy, but imagine if we do get this done, we could truly make our oceans clean again.”
Slat showed how it worked by putting hundreds of yellow rubber ducks into the water at the launch event in the Dutch city of Rotterdam. Interceptor caught almost all of them.
Jan Van Franeker is with the Wageningen Marine Research Institute. He told the The Associated Press(AP), “I am really happy they finally moved towards the source of the litter. The design, from what I can see, looks pretty good. ”
1. How old was Slat when he founded The Ocean Cleanup? (不超过5个词)2. What is Interceptor powered by? (不超过8个词)
3. Where are 8 million metric tons of waste flowing into the oceans each year from? (不超过8个词)
4. What does Slat want to do in the next five years? (不超过16个词)
5. What does Jan Van Franeker think of Slat’s invention? (不超过4个词)
【推荐1】We need to be responsible for our environment. Being a frugal consumer(节俭的消费者) is one way to help. But, what exactly does that mean?
Use It Up
You can use things up instead of wasting them. Squeeze that last bit of toothpaste out of the rube. Use the last little piece of soap. Don’t throw away any bits of the biscuit at the bottom of the box.
Wear It Out
You do not always need to have new things. Suppose your sneakers have broken laces, but they still fit you. Repair them and wear them longer. You don’t have to have the latest iPhone until the old one doesn’t work anymore. Then you can get a new one. Think twice before replacing something that still works.
Make It Do
When something you want is not on hand, look for something else that you already have to take its place. Suppose you are packing your lunch for tomorrow and want a butter sandwich. You are out of butter. Have a cheese sandwich instead so that you can use all of the cheese. Learn to fix broken boys instead of just throwing them away. With an little thought, you can make something do, instead of buying something new.
Do Without
Think about all those things that you would like to have. Do you really need them? How long will you really play with that new toy you saw on TV? Making the things that we want uses up our world ’ s resources(资源). And, getting rid of the things we don’t want any more takes up even more resources and space.
1. We need to be responsible for our environment , don’t we?_________________________________________________________
2. How do we deal with the last little piece of soap?
_________________________________________________________
3. When do we need to get a new iPhone?
_________________________________________________________
4. What should we do when something we want is not on hand?
_________________________________________________________
5. Which way takes up more resources, making things that we want or getting rid of the things we don’t want any more?
_________________________________________________________
6. What does the writer want to tell us?
_________________________________________________________
Electives (选修课) are always popular with students because they offer the chance to learn something exciting, and they’re a welcome break from required courses lie math and physics. Here are just a few of the fascinating electives lucky teenagers can take in some of China’s high schools. Which are the best electives in your school?
Identifying (鉴定) precious stones
Ever seen a diamond and wondered whether it was real? Students at Nanjing Foreign Language School can choose a course on which they learn how to tell if a stone is fake. The course teaches students how to identify rubies, sapphires (蓝宝石), emeralds and other stones from just pretty copies. “When I visited Lushan Mountain, what I learned turned out to be very useful.” said Lv Wenyi,16.
Self-defense skills
At Chongqing Bashu High School, they offer a self-defense course-just for girls. Students on this course have the chance to study basic self-protection skills in a one-on-one training situation. They learn how to get away when they need to and defend themselves against attacks. “I feel safer in myself now,” said Zhang Yi, 15, a girl who took the course.
Pottery
The famous pottery picture in the film Ghost is a lasting memory for many moviegoers. Young artists at Tianjin Experimental High School, love to get their hands dirty creating beautiful pieces. Students learn how to design and make different kinds of clay projects. At the end, they have the skills to make their own clay bowls, cups, vases and pots.
Couplets (对联)
How many of you can write a couplet? This old literary form is gradually disappearing, but Chinese culture lovers at The Jiangning Campus of the High School Affiliated to Nanjing Normal University are trying to revive (复兴) it. On the elective, teenagers study old couplets and try to rhyme their own lines. Many of this year’s students are looking forward to the Spring Festival, when they’ll be able to show off their new skills.
Horse riding
Horsemen can look pretty cool, can’t they? Teenagers at Beijing National Day School can now choose a course in riding skills. They learn how to communicate with their horses and use reins (缰绳). To ride a horse in the proper way, a student must hold the head forward and keep the back straight. Students come away from this elective not only knowing how to ride a horse gracefully, but also physically fitter!
| Fascinating Electives | ||
| ·Electives ·By taking electives, students can have a | ||
| Five | Identifying precious stones | Students learn how to tell |
| Self-defense skills | ·Only ·They learn how to | |
| Pottery | ||
| Couplets | ·Students study old couplets and rhyme their own lines. ·Many students can’t | |
| Horse riding | Students are | |
Humans share the Earth with all kinds of wildlife and have lived in peace with them for thousands of years.
Many of our animal friends may not be around for much longer, however, and many of them are in great danger. According to a study, the populations of animals including mammals (哺乳动物), birds and fish have fallen by an average of 60 percent since 1970. What’s worse, a study in 2014 found that species (物种) are dying out 1,000 times faster than normal.
Sadly, it is because of humans that animals are in this situation now. By increasing human development, we may end up seriously harming the environment on which animals live and depend. Human development has caused pollution in oceans and three quarters of the world’s land to be affected (影响). The balance between animals and their ecosystems has been greatly harmed by humans.
Luckily, many people have realized that our action in fact does harm to animals, risking our own lives as a result, so effective steps have been quickly taken to save both these endangered animals as well as ourselves. The World Wildlife Fund has called on governments and businesses to protect nature. In China, many natural reserves (保护区) have been built up and harmful behavior such as selling rhino horns (犀牛角), tiger bones and ivory has been banned (禁止).
People have been taking steps in the right direction, which is encouraging news. The numbers of many animals have increased. The protection of animals still has a long way to go. In the end, to protect animals is to protect ourselves, and we should spare no effort toward living in harmony (和谐) with nature.
1. What do humans share with wildlife according to the passage?2. In paragraph 2, how many studies are mentioned about the danger wildlife is in?
3. Who is responsible for the current (目前的) situation?
4. What has China done to save the endangered wildlife?
5. What is the writer’s purpose of writing the passage?
