1 . Sweden produces about 4. 4 million tons of waste a year, but only 1% makes its way to the landfill. When it comes to waste management, Sweden is ahead of its time. How has Sweden done it?
In Sweden, everyone works hard to make the environment free of waste. People are taught to recycle from a very young age. They are asked to return cans and bottles to supermarkets. The government places recycling stations no more than 300 meters from homes, schools, and offices. These all help waste management in Sweden much easier and more practical.
The country also rewards those who recycle. In 1984, Sweden started the panta system. It encourages people to recycle bottles in exchange for money. The process is very simple. People put their items into a machine. Each piece has a small barcode that tells the machine how much it is worth. People can collect a voucher for that amount by pressing a green button, or they can donate the money to charity by pressing a yellow button. In 2021, the Swedish recycled 1.8 billion bottles and cans by using panta system.
Sweden recycles nearly 50% of what it throws away. But what about the other half? ________ Altogether Sweden has 34 waste-to-energy plants that provide 1, 445, 000 homes with heat and 780, 000 homes with electricity. Changing waste into energy has reduced Sweden’s CO2 emissions by 2.2 million tons a year. In 2016, Sweden had started running out of trash, so it began importing waste from other countries. It not only keeps the plants working, but also lets Sweden make much money. That is what makes Sweden different from the other countries.
Sweden’s waste management has made a great success. But still, the country is wondering how it can do more. They hope to see a day when landfills are a thing of the past.
1. The word “These” in Para. 2 refers to the ________ that help to recycle the waste.| A．plans | B．meanings | C．actions | D．reasons |
| A．find recycling stations easily | B．sell bottles to supermarkets |
| C．change the waste into energy | D．get rewards from machines |
| A．This waste is recycled by Swedish at home. |
| B．This waste goes to landfills and is burnt there. |
| C．This waste is put into machines and is sold abroad. |
| D．This waste goes to plants and is changed into energy. |
| A．celebrate the success of waste recycling in Sweden |
| B．advise other countries to ask for help from Sweden |
| C．introduce the Swedish method of waste management |
| D．show Sweden earns much money by recycling waste |
Sweden is Northern Europe’s largest country. Known for its natural beauty, Sweden is also home to Stockholm, the capital city made up of 14 islands. Here are several interesting facts about this Land of the Midnight Sun.
People in Sweden can enjoy only a few hours of light in winter. Or if people live above the Arctic Circle, none at all. To keep safe in the dark, Swedes have different ways of seeing and being seen. Many places are lighted with high-powered spotlights, and kids wear reflectors sewn onto their clothes. Drivers keep their eyes open because they know children will be outside in the dark.
Being close to the Arctic Circle also means months of ice. Ice is especially good for sparking, which is both a form of transportation and a fun choice for walking. “Spark” means “kick” in Swedish, which is what a person does-kicks the spark along the ice while holding onto the back of the little seat and standing on one blade.
When it comes to waste management, Sweden is ahead of its time. Swedes recycle nearly 50% of what they throw away. What about the other half? This is what makes Sweden different from the rest of the world: the waste goes to a power station where it is burned and changed into energy. In 2016, Sweden even began bringing waste from other countries. In this way, Sweden gets 100 million dollars every year.
Want to know more? Head over to http:/www.go-to-sweden.com.
1. How many aspects does the writer tell us about Sweden?| A．One. | B．Three. | C．Five. | D．Seven. |
A． | B． | C． | D． |
| A．The Land of Midnight Sun is Stockholm. | B．People enjoy the sunshine the whole year. |
| C．Sweden benefits from waste management. | D．Drivers wear special clothes to be seen well. |
| A．encourage people to visit Sweden | B．tell Swedish ways of recycling waste |
| C．show the writer’s love for Sweden | D．share something special about Swede |
Here’s a new warning from health experts: Sitting is deadly. Scientists are increasingly warning that sitting for long periods-even if you also exercise from time to time-could be bad for your health. And it doesn’t matter where the sitting takes place. Several studies suggest people who spend most of their days sitting are more likely to be fat, have a heart attack or even die.
In an article published this week in the British Journal of Sports Medicine, Elin Ekblom-Bak suggested that scientists have to rethink how they define physical activity in order to draw more attention to the dangers of sitting. “After four hours of sitting, the body starts to send harmful signals,” said Ekblom-Bak. She explained that genes regulating the amount of glucose and fat in the body start to shut down.
Even for people who exercise, spending long periods of time sitting at a desk is still harmful. Tim Armstrong, a physical activity expert at the World Health Organization, said it is better for those people to exercise more times across the day rather than in a single bout.
Still, in a study published in 2012 that tracked more than 17,000 Canadians for about a dozen years, researchers found people who sat more had a higher death risk, whether or not they exercised. “We don’t have enough evidence yet to say how much sitting is bad,” said Peter Katzmarzyk of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, who led the Canadian study. “But it seems the more you can get up from sitting, the better.”
Experts said more research is needed to find out how much sitting is dangerous, and what might be possible to offset those influence. “People should keep exercising because that has a lot of benefits,” Ekblom-Bak said. “But when they’re in the office, they should try to stop sitting as often as possible,” she said.
1. The new warning from health experts is to ________.| A．encourage people to do more exercise | B．ask people not to sit in the same place |
| C．advise people not to sit for a long time | D．make people pay attention to a heart disease |
| A．It results in a lower risk of deat. | B．It reduces glucose and fat in the body. |
| C．It makes people too lazy to do exercise. | D．It causes the body to send harmful signals. |
| A．cause | B．reduce | C．notice | D．accept |
| A．If people often sit too much, they will put on more weight. |
| B．Sitting for hours is harmless to people who do exercise every day. |
| C．People had better not sit for more than four hours in a single bout. |
| D．Canadians who did more exercise a day usually had a lower death risk. |
4 . In most cities you go to, you will see walls outside covered with paintings of names and pictures. This is called graffiti. Some people like these paintings, but others do not. People who like them see this graffiti as art, but others believe it makes cities look terrible and that the people who do it should be arrested.
These days in the UK there are still lots of places where you can paint graffiti because most people like graffiti that has a lot of beautiful colors.
▲ ? It is believed that the first graffiti was dated from ancient Greece and Rome. There are still examples of very old graffiti from Greek and Roman cultures. However, modern graffiti started in New York in the early 1970s. It came from parts of the city and the people who wrote it were often teenagers. Graffiti is still part of the city culture in many places in the world today.
Banksy is Britain’s most famous graffiti artist. Banksy’s art is admired around the world. His paintings usually have a political message. Banksy has become very famous, but nobody knows who he really is. Banksy’s art is so popular that people sometimes try to steal it so they can sell it. What makes Banksy angry is that the messages in his art are against the idea of money.
In some cities, tourists can take graffiti tours. One of these cities is Bogota in Colombia. There is a lot of beautiful graffiti in Bogota and much of it shows the history of the country or has a political message. You can also see parts of the city that tourists do not usually go to. The tour is very popular and is also free. However, they ask you to give some money if you like the tour. They use this money to help poor Colombian artists.
1. Graffiti is a ________.| A．colorful wall | B．wall painting | C．public service | D．popular artist |
| A．Who created graffiti | B．When did graffiti begin |
| C．Where can you enjoy graffiti | D．Why is graffiti popular in the world |
| A．Nobody knows who he really is. |
| B．Other people disagree with his idea of money. |
| C．People could understand the messages in his art. |
| D．Some people steal his works as their own collection. |
| A．learn about the history of Colombia |
| B．buy works of poor Colombian artists |
| C．book tickets for these tours in advance |
| D．visit the most famous graffiti artist Banksy |
Feeling sweaty from a summer heat wave? Don’t worry—not all your sweat* has to go to waste. Researchers from University of California, San Diego have developed a new device* that produces energy from the sweat on your fingertips.
The device is called a biofuel cell (BFC). From the outside, it looks like a simple piece of film connected to electrodes. So how does the device work? When you stick the biofuel cell to your finger, it takes in sweat. The enzymes* on the electrodes then help to produce electricity. Besides using the sweat, the device also produces small amounts of energy when it is pressed, so daily activities like typing, texting, or playing the piano are all good ways to generate electricity.
Some people may think it queer to choose fingertips as the source of sweat, but in fact, they are the sweatiest part of the body. Each finger produces between 100 and 1,000 times more sweat than most other areas.
To date, the device is the most effective on—body energy producer. Before it is invented, most power producing wearable devices require wearers to perform exercise or depend on other sources, such as sunlight or large changes in temperature. But the new device uses a passive system to produce electricity from sweat in your fingertips.even if you are sleeping or sitting completely still. One of the researchers Lu Yin said, “Uniike other sweat—powered wearables this one requires no exercise, no physical input from the wearer in order to be useful. This work is a step forward to making wearables more practical, convenient and accessible.”
It’s also quite comfortable to wear the device. The size of the device is about 1cm². Its material is flexible as well. “So you don’t need to worry about it being too rigid or feeling strange. You can comfortably wear it for a long period of time,” said Yin.
However, at the moment, the device can only store up a little bit power, and would take about three weeks of constant wear to power a smartphone, but the researchers hope to increase its power in the future.
1. A biofuel cell can ________.| A．protect fingertips | B．cause a heat wave |
| C．make use of sweat | D．develop new devices |
| A．strange | B．unsafe | C．dirty | D．traditional |
① Edward has a good sleep in his bed. ② Betty sends a text message to her mom.③ Nick plays basketball with his classmates④ Lily dries the sweat on her hands with a fan.
| A．②③④ | B．①③④ | C．①②④ | D．①②③ |
| A．It can influence the temperature greatly. |
| B．It can power a smartphone in a day. |
| C．It makes you comfortable when you’re in pain. |
| D．It works for nearly 24 hours a day when you wear it. |
People love walking through a giant puzzle. In a corn maze, they can follow miles of paths and run into lots of dead ends before they finally find their way out. The corn maze has been growing for almost 30 years.
Simple corn mazes began appearing in the 1980s. In 1993, the first big corn maze created for the public to enjoy was made in Annville Pennsylvania, by Don Frantz. Then, in a cornfield as big as two and a half football fields, Mr. Frantz cut “The Amazing Maize Maze” with the help of his family and friends. When it was done, almost two miles of pathways snaked through the cornfield. Since then, thousands of corn mazes have been created around the world.
For many farmers, a corn maze means a boost of extra income. During the opening weekend, 6,000 visitors came to get lost in Mr. Frantz’s maze. Charging only $5 per person, he earned almost $ 32,000 in two weeks.
Brett Herbst is also a maze designer. In 1999 he set a world record for the world’s largest corn maze, an image of the solar system with nine planets in it. He now has a business called The MAiZE, which has designed more than 4,000 mazes around the world. “Corn mazes help people connect with their roots,” he says. “People are so far removed from farm life that they are drawn to something real, something organic.”
Today, a great number of people enjoy seeking fun in a corn maze. Mr. Herbst says, “When we see families at the farm having fun, we know that they are making memories that will last a lifetime.”
1. The first big corn maze for the public appeared in ________.| A．1980 | B．1985 | C．1993 | D．1999 |
| A．was smaller than a football field | B．allowed visitors to have fun for free |
| C．was created by Don Frantz alone | D．attracted many visitors at the beginning |
A． | B． | C． | D． |
| A．Corn Maze—A True Story of Puzzles |
| B．Corn Maze—Designing Your Puzzle |
| C．Corn Maze—The Puzzle on the Farm |
| D．Corn Maze—Connecting Your Roots |
These days there is so much tempting technology to look at: smartphones, tablet computers, computer games and TV screens. Much of our entertainment and education comes from using them, so it’s no wonder we spend so much time staring at them. But even if the saying that looking at a screen for too long gives you square eyes isn’t true, there is still some concern that it can affect your eyesight. So, should we be worried?
Certainly for children who spend hours glued to a screen there is a concern that their health might be at risk. The lack of physical activity can lead to an increase in their weight. But there is a fear that their eyesight is becoming worse, too. Although there’s not much evidence to prove this yet, recent findings have opened our eyes to the problem.
Katherine Sellgren from BBC News interviewed Chris Hammond, professor of ophthalmology at King’s College London and consultant ophthalmic surgeon at St Thomas’ Hospital. He said, “We know that myopia, or short-sightedness, is becoming more common... It has reached a very high level in East Asia and Singapore, where coming near to 90% of 18-year-olds are now short-sighted.”
But can this be connected to children’s obsession with using electronic products? Annegret Dahlmann-Noor, consultant ophthalmologist at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London says lack of natural light seems to be the key reason. She also thinks children in East Asia study a lot, using computers, smartphones or tablet computers, and they go outside less, which could be a cause of short-sightedness. Wearing glasses is one solution, but it’s not perfect or most suitable.
This leads to a dilemma: achieving short-term success in study or protecting your long-term eyesight. It’s always going to be a challenge to pull children away from their screens and its likely that more and more studying will be done online, through a screen. Professor Hammond says, “in countries like urban China, where 10% of children in each class per year are becoming short-sighted from about the age of six, there’s an argument for saying we should be trying to prevent it.” It’s evidence we can’t turn a blind eye to. So, maybe it’s time to hit the “off” button and get our children outside!
1. What will happen to a kid if he keeps his eyes on the tablet computer for a long time?| A．He will become more active. | B．His eyesight will become weak. |
| C．He will learn a lot from the tablet. | D．His looking should be dressed up. |
| A．In East Asia. | B．In West Asia. |
| C．In South Asia. | D．In Middle East. |
| A．sleep less, often playing games | B．study a lot, hardly going outside |
| C．focus on smartphones all the time | D．stay in natural light for a long time |
| A．10% of children of each class in China cities are becoming short-sighted. |
| B．Most children succeed in their subjects in short terms but 10% short-sighted. |
| C．All children should be pulled from electric products like tablets and smart phones. |
| D．Some proper measures should be taken to deal with the myopia problem of the children. |
In space, it’s impossible to go outside a spacecraft without wearing a spacesuit. Temperatures in the sunlight can reach 120℃. Without a spacesuit your blood would boil and your body would break open. And you`d be exposed to dangerous radiation from the Sun. In the shade, with temperatures falling to-100℃, you would freeze to death. And one other small thing—there’s no oxygen, so you wouldn’t be able to breathe.
A spacesuit is made of lots of different layers, all protecting the astronaut from the dangers of walking in space. The outer layers connect together so that all of the astronaut’s body is covered. On the astronauts chest is the Hard Upper Torso piece, or HUT. All the controls for the spacesuit are on the HUT.
Air and water tubes connect the HUT to a backpack that the astronaut wears. The backpack holds oxygen and water and provides electricity for the suit. A fan moves the oxygen through the suit so the astronaut can breathe. And the water flows through a special piece of clothing that is worn under the suit—the Liquid Cooling and Ventilation Garment. It is full of tubes. Water flows through them to keep the astronaut cool during a spacewalk.
The backpack also has a radio in it. This radio is connected to a cap on the astronaut’s head under the large helmet. This allows the astronaut to talk with the others in the spacecraft, and with people on the Earth.
Altogether, a spacesuit has fourteen layers. One garment is rather surprising. Some spacewalks can last for six or eight hours. There are no toilets out there, so a very important part of the spacesuit is a diaper!
1. The controls for a spacesuit are on the ___________.| A．helmet | B．Hard Upper Torso piece |
| C．backpack | D．Liquid Cooling and Ventilation Garment |
| A．Drinking lots of water | B．Going outside a spacecraft |
| C．Water flows through tubes | D．A radio is connected to a cap |
| A．an instrument that provides electricity |
| B．an inventor that we use to make air move |
| C．a kind of bag or box that you wear on your back |
| D．a piece of cloth that a baby wears between its legs |
| A．To introduce the dangers of astronauts in space. |
| B．To explain how astronauts communicate in the sky. |
| C．To discuss the advantages and disadvantages of spacesuits |
| D．To describe the main parts of a spacesuit and how they work. |
9 . In most cities you go to, you will see walls outside covered with paintings of names and pictures. This is called graffiti. Some people like these paintings, but others do not. People who like them see this graffiti as art, but others believe it makes cities look terrible and that the people who do it should be arrested.
These days in the UK there are still lots of places where you can paint graffiti because most people like graffiti that has a lot of beautiful colors.
▲ ? There are examples of very old graffiti from Greek and Roman cultures. However, modern graffiti started in New York in the early 1970s. It came from parts of the city and the people who wrote it were often teenagers. Graffiti is still part of the city culture in many places in the world today.
Banksy is an England-based graffiti artist. His art is admired around the world. His paintings usually have a political message. Although Banksy has become very famous, nobody knows who he really is. Banksy’s art is so popular that people sometimes try to steal it so that they can sell it at a high price. This makes Banksy angry because the messages in his art are against the idea of money.
In some cities, tourists can take graffiti tours. One of these cities is Bogota in Colombia. There is a lot of beautiful graffiti in Bogota and much of it shows the history of the country or has a political message. You can also see parts of the city tourists do not usually go to. The tour is very popular and is also free. However, they ask you to donate some money if you like the tour. They use this money to help poor Colombian artists.
1. Graffiti is a kind of ________.| A．city walls | B．wall paintings | C．public services | D．beautiful colors |
| A．Who created graffiti | B．Where can you enjoy graffiti |
| C．When did graffiti begin | D．Why is graffiti popular around the world |
| A．Nobody knows who he really is. | B．Some people make money with his art. |
| C．People misunderstand his political messages. | D．Other people disagree with his idea of money. |
| A．buy works of poor Colombian artists | B．talk about Colombia’s history in a show |
| C．meet the most famous graffiti artist Banksy | D．visit some special but not well-known places |
10 . One midsummer day, biologist Andrew Parker knelt in the baking sand of an Australian desert and gently placed the right back leg of a small lizard into a dish of water. The small lizard that has learned to survive in the extreme heat—has a secret that attracted Parker. “Look!” he shouted. “Its back is completely drenched!” In less than a minute, water from the dish had traveled up the lizard’s leg, across its skin, and into its mouth. It was drinking through its foot. The lizard can also do this when standing on wet sand. Parker had come here to solve the riddle of how it does this, with a specific purpose in mind: to make an object to help people collect water in the desert.
Parker is a leading scientist in the field of biomimetics*—applying designs from nature to solve problems in engineering, materials science, medicine, and other fields. His studies of the body coverings of butterflies and beetles have led to brighter screens for cell phones.
The work of Parker is only one part of a growing global biomimetics movement. Scientists around the world are trving to copy a wide variety of nature’s design secrets. In the United States, researchers are looking at the shape of humpback whale fins to help wind turbines* produce more electric energy. The shape of the body of a certain fish has inspired* designers at Mercedes—Benz to develop a more efficient car design. By analyzing how termites — a kind of insect keep their large mounds’ at the right temperature and humidity, architects in Zimbabwe have built more comfortable buildings. And in Japan, medical researchers have developed a painless needle that is similar in shape to the proboscis* of a mosquito.
Perhaps, one of the most useful applications of biomimetics is the robot. Professor Ronald Fearing is creating a tiny robot fly that can be used in surveillance or rescue operations. Although it will be years before his robot fly can perform anything like an actual fly. Fearing is confident that over time he will close the gap between nature and human engineering.
Nowadays, the gap with nature is gradually closing. Researchers are using more powerful microscopes, high-speed computers and other new technologies to learn more from nature. A growing number of biomimetic materials are being produced. And although the field of biomimetics has vet to become a successful commercial industry, it has already developed into a powerful tool for understanding nature’s secret.
1. Andrew Parker went to the Australian desert to ________.| A．study the diet of lizards | B．learn how lizards collect water |
| C．catch and bring back a lizard | D．prove that lizards don’t need water |
| A．wet | B．dry | C．hot | D．cold |
| A．improve wind turbines | B．invent a painless needle |
| C．build more comfortable buildings | D．develop a more efficient car design |
| A．To give us examples of some biomimetics designs. |
| B．To show us the rapid development of biomimetics. |
| C．To tell us scientists are working on biomimetics. |
| D．To introduce some great scientists working on biomimetics. |
