Building started in AD 122 and finished in AD 130, the Hadrian’s Wall goes across from the east to the west coast of northern Britain. It was built to control people entering the Roman Empire from what is now Scotland. A colorful new artwork was made last year to celebrate the Hadrian’s Wall 1900 Festival.
The artwork stands beside the remains of the Hadrian’s Wall. It is called The Future Belongs To What Was As Much As What Is. It is 9 metres wide and 16 metres tall. The artwork was designed by artist Myerscough, who is known for her bright and colorful creations. “The moment I stood in the remains and found they were unchanged from Roman times, I had an overwhelming feeling of wanting to make an artwork here. I knew immediately this was the right place.” said Myerscough.
Myerscough worked with the poet Ellen Moran and community groups to create the artwork. And the wall of the artwork is covered with small signs painted by local people. Some words and phrases on the signs were chosen by the poet Ellen Moran, such as “freedom”, “love” and “everybody’s welcome”. The artwork attracted lots of tourists. Anybody who visited would love it, because they could go inside it and look down, to see the same view as Roman soldiers had seen. It could help people see the Hadrian’s Wall from a different perspective.
As part of the Hadrian’s Wall 1900 Festival, the art celebration was open to the public until 30th October, 2022. After that, the artwork was completely removed and the signs were given back to the local people who helped paint them.
1. According to the passage, where is Hadrian’s Wall on the map?A． | B． | C． | D． |
| A．strong | B．tiring | C．uncertain | D．unforgettable |
| A．Myerscough created the bright artwork by herself. |
| B．Local people chose the words on the artwork wall. |
| C．Roman soldiers saw views better through the artwork. |
| D．The artwork closed down after 30th October, 2022. |
| A．A tourist attraction in Rome times |
| B．Hadrian’s Wall, a symbol of peace |
| C．Art celebration for Hadrian’s Wall |
| D．An artist known for bright artworks |
Biotech foods are produced from animals and plants that have been made genetically different. Genetic alteration is nothing new. Humans have been changing the genetic features of plants for thousands of years by keeping seeds from the best crops and planting them the following years, and by breeding varied kinds to make them taste sweeter, grow bigger, or last longer.
Traditional breeders always used plants or animals that were related, or genetically similar. However, today’s genetic engineers can transfer just a few genes at a time between species that are distantly related, or not related at all. There are surprising examples: Mouse genes have been put into lettuce plants to make a plant that produces vitamin C. Moth genes have been put into apple trees to help it from being affected by diseases. Anyway, the purpose of traditional and modern techniques is the same to insert genes from an animal or plant that carries a desired feature into one that does not.
Q: ?
According to a 2016 report from the National Academy of Sciences, “No differences have been found that show a higher risk to human health and safety from these genetic foods (GE foods) than from non-GE ones.” Some GE foods might even be safer than non-GE foods.
However, many people fear that when moving genes across completely different species, something could go wrong in the function of the inserted gene or that of the host DNA, with the possibility of unexpected health effects.
Q: Can biotech foods help feed the world?
According to the WHO, between 250,000 and 500,000 kids go blind every year in short of vitamin A, with half of those children dying of losing their sight. “Golden rice”—a biotech variety named for its yellow color—is thought to be a possible solution to the suffering and illness caused by vitamin A shortage.
Other experts, however, hold the opposite opinion. “Golden rice alone won’t greatly reduce vitamin A shortage.” says Professor Nestle of New York University. “Whether it will improve vitamin A levels remains to be seen.”
Q: What’s next?
Whether biotech foods will help get rid of world hunger or improve the lives of all remains to be seen. Their possibility is extremely large, yet they carry risks. If science goes on with great care, testing new products completely and using dependable judgment, the world may avoid the dangers of genetic alteration while enjoying its benefits.
1. Traditional breeders bred an animal or plant by ________.| A．keeping the gene of the same plant each year |
| B．using some related plants or animals to breed |
| C．creating an animal or plant with undesired features |
| D．transferring a few genes at a time from one plant to another |
| A．What exactly are biotech foods |
| B．How to insert genes into biotech foods |
| C．Are biotech foods really safe for humans |
| D．Can biotech foods harm the environment |
| A．with care, the use of biotech foods could possibly be realized |
| B．the world has already seen great progress thanks to biotech foods |
| C．biotech food development has been slowed by the many related risks |
| D．the risks of biotech foods seem to be greater than any possible benefits |
| A．show both sides of the biotech food topic |
| B．make biotech foods seem as attractive as possible |
| C．convince the readers that biotech foods are dangerous |
| D．explain why biotech foods will probably not be successful |
Are video games bad? Some people say there is too much bad behavior in games, especially action video games. They say that children should not play these kinds of games and that young people should concentrate on communication and other important skills. What is the effect on people? Is playing action video games always bad?
One study shows that playing action video games causes changes in some areas of the brain. One area controls working memory, where we store information we learn. We use working memory to make the best choice. The other area controls hand-eye coordination. This is our physical reaction to things we see. Another study also shows us people who play action video games act more quickly than those who do not. Why is this? The study says that people are always predicting what will happen. This is true for any task. For example, you do this when driving. You predict how other drivers will move. The idea is that people are always creating models using their past experiences. This helps people react quickly because they have an idea of what will happen.
Action video game players get lots of practice predicting. In those games, they are often required to move quickly, jump, dodge, and fight their way through levels filled with enemies and obstacles. They play a game and build models for what happens in different situations. The result is that they become good at quickly predicting what will happen. Due to this, they do better on video games and at other learning tasks to some degree.
Some people point out the negative effects of video games, but the numbers show the world won’t stop playing them. Whether action video games are “good” or “bad” for players depends on various factors, including the player’s age, personality, and gaming habits. No matter what direction action video games will take, we all hope that men can live with action video games peacefully.
1. Some people don’t like video games because they think ________.| A．games show bad behavior |
| B．children learn communication skills |
| C．too many people play them |
| D．they hardly bring people any benefits |
| A．remember information better |
| B．know what will happen next |
| C．use it to predict and react quickly |
| D．play action video games more often |
| A．word puzzle | B．table chess | C．role play | D．car racing |
| A．hopeful | B．cold | C．proud | D．uncertain |
The company OpenAI introduced ChatGPT to the world. It is the latest type of AI chatboxes. A chatbox is a computer program just like human conversation. AI is also known as artificial intelligence. It uses algorithms. In other words, it teaches a machine to find out patterns and make decisions. Anyone can use ChatGPT for free now, so that the company can collect people’s ideas on how to improve the chatbot.
People have tested how ChatGPT works. Reporters found out that it was able to write articles with rightful opinions for newspapers. Teachers asked it to write answers to exam questions. ChatGPT could almost get full marks. Even programmers, people who write computer code, tried out ChatGPT. The chatbot is able to solve difficult coding challenges and answer very quickly. It even wrote short poems to explain how the coding worked. In daily life, it helped a father brainstorm ideas of a birthday party for his son that combines the kid’s two favourites, rabbits and basketball.
Moreover, when people ask ChatGPT questions, it can find mistakes. If it is asked what happened when Columbus arrived in America in 2023, older AIs might give a story. ChatGPT can recognize that Columbus reached America in the 1400s. The bot can also refuse to answer questions that are not proper. Ask it for advice on stealing a car, for example. The bot will say that stealing a car is a serious crime and can have bad results. Instead, it gives advice such as “taking the bus”.
ChatGPT might help people solve problems, but the AI is trained using texts from the Internet. Often, the texts are used without being allowed by the writers of those texts. Some argue that technology doesn’t respect people’s work. Some argue that people will use the chatbot to copy others’ work and sell it as their own. Elon Musk set up OpenAI in 2015, but left it in 2017. In 2022, he bought Twitter and then he pointed out that OpenAI could use the Twitter database for training in the past, but not for now. This AI technology is bad for the planet too. Training ChatGPT might make more than 284 tons of CO2 and lead to climate change that will heat up the earth.
1. We can use ChatGPT for free now, because it ________.| A．is able to teach machines | B．needs to improve itself |
| C．helps students with exams | D．writes poems about coding |
| A．Q: What happened after paper was invented in America? AI: Paper started to change how knowledge was spread. |
| B．Q: Show me how to use other people’s bank card without being noticed. AI: For your information, that is against the law. |
| C．Q: Is Li Bai, a poet in modern China, famous all over the world? AI: Yes, because his poems are fantastic. |
| D．Q: Find something for my mum as a Mother’s Day gift. She likes classic music and cooking. AI: Among all the gifts listed online, there’s no such gift. |
| A．Musk bought the Twitter database for OpenAI to use. |
| B．Training ChatGPT is good for the climate on the earth. |
| C．ChatGPT used texts after being allowed by the writers. |
| D．Musk stopped OpenAI from using the Twitter database. |
A． | B． |
C． | D． |
In the 1900s in America, kids traveled to school in different ways. Many walked. Others rode in farm trucks or on bikes. Some rode in school buses called “kid hacks.” Kid hacks were wooden horse-drawn carriages. It had two long bench seats with little space in the middle for people to pass. The carriages were open on the sides, so kids might get wet on rainy days!
By the mid-1920s, more cars were on the roads, and some transport companies started to make buses out of steel. But buses still looked different from place to place.
That changed in 1939, when transportation officials from around the country met to come up with a set of standards for school buses. They wanted to make buses safer. Besides, if all school buses looked alike, it would be easier for factories to build them quickly and more conveniently.
The school bus’s color was one of the 44 standards people discussed at that seven-day meeting. After trying 50 kinds of color on the wall, they settled on the orange-yellow. And that’s still what you see on buses today. National School Bus Glossy Yellow, as the color is officially called, has advantages. The color was chosen because studies had shown yellow was the most eye-catching to human beings and because it could be seen clearly in the morning and evening light when school buses usually operated.
And now the yellow bus is about to go green. The American School Bus Council says that over 25 million school children ride more than 480,000 school buses each day, making school buses the largest transport system in America. Fewer than 1,200 of those buses were electric in 2020, but that number could rise to 10,000 by 2026.
So the next time you step onto a school bus, you can feel good knowing that your ride is much safer and drier than it would have been 100 years ago!
1. What was the kid hack like?A． | B． |
C． | D． |
| A．to keep it dry on rainy days | B．to ask more people to take buses |
| C．to build more beautiful buses | D．to make it safer and easier to produce |
| A．chose | B．replaced | C．mentioned | D．collected |
| A．The situation of American school buses nowadays. |
| B．The introduction of ancient American school buses. |
| C．The difference between kid hacks and school buses. |
| D．The development of school buses in the United States. |
6 . Run-away Pepper*
Do you like tricks? Try the following steps and show a clever trick!
You’ll need:
A glass of water
Dishwashing soap(not hand soap)
Pepper
Follow the steps:
①First, secretly put a little dishwashing soap on one finger. Don’t let anyone see!  ②Then, get a glass of water(Don’t set your soapy finger in it!), some pepper and a friend. Add some pepper on top of the water.  ③Challenge your friend to put a finger in the water and test his or her power to make the pepper leave. The pepper may stick to your friend’s finger instead of going away.  ④Now you try it, with your secret soapy finger. Say loudly, “Pepper! Go away!” And it will!  |
The key to the trick:
There’s a skin of pepper on the water. But dishwashing soap will break it and push the peppery skin away, so the pepper seems to escape from your finger.
1. The passage is mainly about ________.| A．a trick | B．a finger | C．the pepper | D．the soap |
| A．Touch the water with your soapy finger. | B．Wash your hands with the hand soap. |
| C．Add some pepper on your friend’s finger. | D．Put much dishwashing soap on your finger. |
| A．Health. | B．Culture. | C．Science. | D．Environment. |
7 . Sophia is a most famous robot. She comes from Hanson Robotics, and David Hanson, head of Hanson Robotics, is her creator. He has been developing robots in the past 25 years. He believes realistic - looking robots will be able to connect with people and help industries such as health care and education.
Sophia has many abilities. She can copy human facial expressions, hold conversations and know people by their looks or voices. She can also speak, joke, sing and even make music. Now, the next step is to make her an artist. Hanson is so excited about this idea. He imagines Sophia as a creative artwork and she herself can create art as well.
In March, a digital (数字的) artwork Sophia created with an Italian artist, Andrea Bonaceto, was sold for $ 688.888. The digital work is titled “Sophia Instantiation”. It’s a 12-second video which shows Bonaceto’s portrait (肖像) changing into Sophia’s digital painting. Along with it is the physical artwork painted by Sophia.
The buyer, a digital artwork collector and artist, later sent Sophia a photo of his painted arm. The robot then added that photo to her knowledge and painted more on top of her artwork. Sophia described the work as the first digital artwork cooperated (合作) between an AI and an artwork collector.
Sophia’s artwork is part of a growing trend (趋势). More and more digital artworks are on sale now. For example, a digital artwork by an artist, Beeple, was sold for nearly $ 70 million, becoming the most expensive digital artwork ever sold.
1. What do we know about Hanson?| A．He is interested in painting. | B．He makes little money from Sophia. |
| C．He created the robot Sophia. | D．He spent 25 years developing Sophia. |
| A．Because the collector taught her how to paint. |
| B．Because she copied the painting of the collector. |
| C．Because she painted a picture after receiving the collector’s photo. |
| D．Because all her works were collected by the collector. |
| A．Sophia’s artwork costs the most. | B．Beeple must be a very famous artist. |
| C．No one can afford digital artworks. | D．Digital artworks are all made by robots. |
| A．Sophia, a Robot Artist. | B．David Hanson.Creator of Sophia. |
| C．Digital Artworks, Popular Again. | D．Hanson Robotics, Sophia’s Company. |
It’s well-known that sunshine influences people’s health. And new research shows it may also make people eat more—but only if they’re male*.
The finding is from Carmit Levy, a researcher who had been studying how sunlight affects the risk of skin diseases. She exposed* a group of mice to sunlight for a few weeks, and unexpectedly found that sunlight made male mice get heavier, but not females*. The males also worked harder to get food that was difficult to reach.
That interested her, so Levy and her team did further studies. They invited volunteers for two tests. Both showed that men and women were affected differently by sunlight. Then, they got data from almost 3,000 people. These data told that 1,330 men required about 2,188 daily calories* in summer months and only needed 1,875 calories in other months. The 1.661 women needed about 1,500 calories each day all year long.
Encouraged by this, the team ran more mouse experiments to test what might explain such findings. And the reason may be connected with these three things. The first is p53. Its levels will rise when the body is under stress. For animals that are usually active at night, such as mice, sunlight can be a cause of stress. The second key player is ghrelin. When the stomach is empty, it travels to the brain to send the message that the body needs food. The last is estrogen*. Its levels are much higher in females than males.
Here’s what may happen in male mice exposed to sunlight. First, the stress of sunlight makes p53 in the skin start to work. This p53 then tells the skin to create ghrelin. Therefore, the mice eat more. But in female mice, the estrogen seems to interfere the production of ghrelin. As a result,the female mice may not feel so hungry. That’s to say, estrogen provides females with a greater protection against various forms of stress.
The idea that sunlight may affect the need for food is interesting. But being sure the key players and how they work with each other will require much more research.
1. After exposing the male mice to sunlight for weeks. Levy found they ________.| A．gained some weight | B．got food more easily |
| C．ate in a healthy way | D．suffered from skin diseases |
| A．encourage more people to form new eating habits |
| B．compare the eating habit of people with that of the mice |
| C．see how many calories men and women need through a year |
| D．check if people are affected by sunlight in the same way as mice |
| A．Waste. | B．Reduce. | C．Develop. | D．Complete. |
| A．The p53 in the skin of mice will rise when night falls. |
| B．The ghrelin could make mice’s stomachs empty more quickly. |
| C．The scientists have been able to control people’s need for food. |
| D．The estrogen may protect female mice from the stress of sunlight. |
A tiny forest is a small area of closely planted, fast growing local trees. It is created to copy a natural forest, bringing all its benefits, but for a small space in cities. The first tiny forest was planted by a Japanese plant expert. Dr. Akira Miyawaki in the 1970s. It was so great that it grew quickly in countries such as Denmark, Britain, Germany, Ireland and Spain.
As the name suggests, the place doesn’t have to be big. An area the size of about 200㎡ is perfect. 600 trees, with as many as 40 different kinds, can be planted in the place. With 2 to 7 trees every square metre, the trees are planted much more closely than the ones in normal forests. But there’s still room for the trees to grow naturally without the use of fertilizers.
To plant a tiny forest, one starts with testing the soil and choosing right kinds of trees. In cities, the soil is often in poor condition. It is important to create loose and rich soil. When the soil is prepared, the community will invite school children on a planting day. The forests need 2 to 3 years of care from children. Then the trees can become self-growing. It’s believed if children plant their own forest and spend a lot of time caring for it, they will grow up to be healthy adults with a sense of responsibility for the society.
Trees and forests aren’t special pieces of nature that should only exist in the countryside. They need to be a part of life in cities too.
1. The idea of a tiny forest came from a scientist in ________.| A．Britain | B．Japan | C．Germany | D．Spain |
| A．There are usually about 7 kinds of trees. |
| B．It usually covers an area of about 600㎡. |
| C．It grows quickly with the help of fertilizers. |
| D．Trees are planted closely in small places in cities. |
| A．help children grow into responsible adults |
| B．tell children the way to test the soil condition |
| C．teach children knowledge about the community |
| D．let children experience the life in the countryside |
| A．Save the World with a Tiny Forest | B．Tiny Forest: Great Hope far Children |
| C．Learn to Grow Your Own Tiny Forest | D．Tiny Forest: Super Tiny, Super Powerful |
Humans are getting away from the nature gradually because of the developing technology. But now Digital Technology is offering us an opportunity to listen to the sounds in the nature in powerful ways, making us get closer to the worlds of animals and plants.
All around the nature, there are sounds that we struggle to pick up and understand. Elephants, for example, communicate with each other using infrasound, a sound far below our human hearing range. Coral in the ocean also communicates with each other through sound waves, with one purpose of attracting baby coral to areas where it can successfully grow. This is a shocking fact as coral doesn’t have any ears!
To pick up sounds humans are normally unable to hear, scientists have placed listening devices in these environments. Researchers have attached tiny microphones to honeybees and turtles, and stuck listening posts that can receive different sound waves from coral reefs and trees. These devices are controlled by computers and networked with digital sensors and satellites. When interconnected, these digital devices work like a hearing aid: enabling humans to observe and record nature’s sounds beyond the limits of our own listening ability. After the sounds are recorded, AI is then able to determine their meanings.
With this technology, humans can not only understand the animals, but also communicate back to them. For example, a team of researchers in Germany decoded the honeybees’ behavior with AI. Then they taught tiny robots how to do the honeybee dance. Using these dancing machines, the scientists were able to order the honeybees to stop moving, and to communicate where to fly to collect a specific nectar. In addition to the possibility of speaking with animals, the research could also be used to create a form of healing for animals and plants. That’s to say, in the near future, scientists might be able to get coral to grow in certain areas by playing “healthy reef” sounds, which could help to heal some of the damage we have caused.
Now, Digital Technology provides a new way for humans to listen to the vivid sounds all around us. The dream of allowing humans to socialize with different animals and plants throughout the nature is being on its way.
1. According to the passage, now people can use Digital Technology to ________.| A．see coral’s ears | B．listen to the sounds of trees |
| C．play with elephants | D．dance with honeybees themselves |
a. Analyze the meanings with the help of AI. b. Place listening devices into the nature world.
c. Collect the sounds from the animals or plants. d. Connect the devices with computers and networks.
| A．b→d→c→a | B．b→c→d→a | C．c→b→a→d | D．c→d→b→a |
| A．More people will choose to live in the nature. |
| B．There will be much fewer animals in the nature. |
| C．People can protect the environment more easily. |
| D．Robots can be used to communicate with anything. |
| A．Digital-tech: An Invention to Change People’s Life |
| B．Digital-tech: A Suggestion to Rebuild the Nature World |
| C．Digital-tech: An Aid to Enable People to Hear Everything |
| D．Digital-tech: A Skill to Help People to Talk with the Nature |
