1 . 
On a boat near Costa Rica, a team of scientists is helping a turtle（海龟）. The animal is having trouble breathing, and the team discovers why there is something inside its nose. A scientist tries to get it out, but the turtle cries in pain. Finally, after eight long minutes, a long object is pulled out. It is a 10-centimeter plastic straw（吸管）.
The video of the turtle’s rescue（救援）has been viewed millions of times on YouTube. It has helped raise a growing problem—the world’s seas are full of plastic. Since 2000, there has been huge increase in worldwide plastic production, but we recycle less than one-fifth of it. A lot of this plastic waste ends up in the ocean. Today, scientists think about 8.1 billion kilograms go into the sea every year. Most of the plastic will never biodegrade but remain there for a long time.
This ocean plastic hurts millions of sea animals every year. Some fish eat plastic because it’s covered with sea plants, and it looks and smells like food. Typically （通常）, eating plastic leads to more hunger. “Imagine you ate lunch and then just felt weak and hungry all day,” says scientist Matthew Savoca. “That would be very terrible. Sometimes eating pieces of plastic can seriously hurt sea animals and even result in death. ”
Plastic is useful to people because it’s strong and lasts a long time, but this is bad news for sea animals. According to Savoca, “Single-use plastics, such as straws, water bottles, and plastic bags, are the worst. ” These objects are used only once before we throw them away. About 700 sea animals, including the turtle from the video, have been caught in or have eaten this kind of plastic. Luckily, the turtle was alive and returned to the ocean.
How will plastic affect sea animals in the long term? “I think we’ll know the answers in 5-10 years,” says Debra Lee Magadini from Columbia University. But by then, another 25 million tons of plastic will already be in the ocean.
1. The passage begins with the story of the turtle to ________.| A．provide a reason |
| B．lead in the topic |
| C．show an opinion |
| D．describe an event |
| A．get off | B．get down | C．move away | D．break down |
| A．The ocean plastic is mistaken for food by some sea animals. |
| B．Scientists know clearly about the influence of plastic pollution. |
| C．Only single-use plastics can put sea animals in danger or even death. |
| D．8.1 billion tons of plastic waste goes into the sea every year from the land. |
| A．The Ocean Saving Project |
| B．A Turtle’s Rescue |
| C．How Plastic Harms Sea Animals |
| D．Where Plastic Production Come From |
Everyone knows and feels proud of national heroes and famous leaders. But there are those everyday young heroes who just make a difference when the need suddenly happens.
The yellow school bus is such a known and important part of childhood. Parents would always tell kids to pay more attention of the safety before getting on the bus. The ride is the beginning of a weekday and there are no teachers around. It’s just a time for short sleeps and joking with friends. Studies even show that teenagers aren’t really awake and watchful until around 8: 30, when the school bus arrives at the school gate. So 13-year-old Jeremy Wuitschick had to be a true hero for saving the school bus from an accident when other students were sleepy or just had small talks.
It was a common morning in April 2012. Jeremy was sitting in his usual place only a few seats from the front when he saw the driver suddenly slump down(倒下) . The bus kept going along the road, but the driver’s hands had left the wheel and nothing was guiding the school bus.
Without thinking, the seventh grader Jeremy Wuitschick jumped into actions, holding the controls and leading to the side of the road. He couldn’t break the bus—he couldn’t reach the pedals(脚踏). But he managed to bring the bus to a stop by pulling the keys out. Other kids on the bus dialed 911. And one of Jeremy’s classmates, Johnny Wood, praised himself to be a hero as well, performing CPR(心肺复苏) on the driver until help arrived. Thanked to Jeremy Wuitschick and his classmates’ timely help, the driver and all the students were safe.
The dictionary meaning of a hero is: “a person of great courage or ability, beloved for his or her brave actions and unusual qualities.” It is certain that Jeremy is a young hero by his great courage and quick thinking.
1. How did Jeremy Wuitschick save lives?| A．He warned all the students to get out of the bus quickly. |
| B．He pulled the keys out and managed the car to a safer place. |
| C．He asked the driver to stop the car by stepping on the pedals. |
| D．He guided the school bus with the driver’s hands on the wheel. |
| A．Teachers should be on the school bus. | B．The driver fell asleep on that morning. |
| C．Parents like talking on the school bus. | D．The kids gave different helps for the driver. |
| A．To introduce some ways to meet difficulties. | B．To tell the driver the importance of safety |
| C．To show people the problems of school buses. | D．To encourage the young to do right actions. |
As online schooling took effect during the coronavirus pandemic（新冠疾病）, parents across the United States noted that many children did not have their own learning areas at home.
So, they got busy. They built, collected, and donated desks. Hundreds, maybe even thousands of students in the U.S. now have workspaces to call their own. Parents say this is helping their children get through long days of online learning at home.
One father, named Mitch Couch, lives in central California. His children are both studying at home. And they kept taking over the kitchen table for their online school lessons. He said this gave him an idea—he would make them their own desks.
After seeing how it helped his family, he had a thought. Why not provide other children with their own desks? His idea was to show others how to build desks for the children. He made a quick You Tube video to guide parents in desk-making.
The desks he made were child-size, simple and not costly. Couch said that he built his children’s desks for about ＄20. He made them from plywood（胶合板）. A single piece of plywood, 1.2 meters by 2.4 meters, makes four desks. He also added a built-in（嵌入的）area for books and papers. It was a simple structure, but it worked.
The first order was for around 20 desks. But it quickly increased at least 50 more. On a recent day, Couch was building more than 10 desks in an area outside of his house. Neighbors stop by to shake his hand. He has received many thank-you messages and pictures from parents. Some parents said that their children were doing better and focusing（关注）more because they had their own space.
Another father, this time in Omaha, Nebraska, also began making desks for his own family. Marcus Holley has eight children and does not have strong building skills. So, he searched online and found a simple design for desks cost about ＄24 to build. After his family’s needs were met, he began making for others.
In Gaithersburg, jessica Berrellez was already involved in a project with other moms. They were providing virtual（虚拟）educational materials for children from poor families. The next step was supplying headphones, whiteboards, and desks. So, they started a Facebook group, Desks by Dads. Now, others give suggestions on how to improve the design. Money now comes from donations. Also, there are about 60 desk-building helpers —from older people to other thankful parents. The group has built and delivered 138 desks to kids in need. The number of orders might be growing in the future.
1. Mitch Couch made his children their own desks because ________.| A．his children had no desks for online school lessons at home |
| B．his children loved the desks their father made for them |
| C．the teachers asked parents to make desks for the students |
| D．the desks were so expensive that he couldn’t afford them |
| A．the price of the desks | B．the size of the desks |
| C．where to get the desks | D．what the desks are like |
| A．Marcus Holley made desks for others before he made them for his children. |
| B．The desks made by Mitch Couch were popular with many people. |
| C．Only young fathers got involved in making desks to help children. |
| D．The desk-building helpers won't help other families any more. |
Earlier in June, the Ueno Zoo in Tokyo said that Shin Shin, the giant panda from China, was going to have a baby. And then on June 23rd, 2021, the happy news came: Shin Shin had given birth not to one baby, but two.
Yutaka Fukuda, the zoo director, said the twin births were a welcome surprise. “When the first one was born, I was excited,” he said during a news conference（新闻发布会）Wednesday morning. “When I received a report on the second, I was shocked and surely happy.”
A zoo spokesperson, Naoya Ohashi, said that when pandas have twins, they usually raise（养育）just one of them, so zookeepers make sure the mother feeds one while the other stays in an incubator（恒温箱）. They plan to change the babies from time to time so that they both experience a natural diet.
Tokyo planned to return Shin Shin to China in February. But Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike, asked China to extend（延长） her stay by five years, because he was afraid that without pandas, there would be fewer visitors at the zoo. The Ueno Zoo reopened earlier in June after a five-month shutdown because of the pandemic（疫情）.
There are around 1, 800 giant pandas in the wild in China, as well as around 500 raised by humans around the world. China’s practice of giving pandas to other countries started more than 1, 000 years ago. Chinese Empress Wu Zetian sent two pandas in 685 to Emperor Tenmu of Japan. Today, China gives pandas to other countries and allows them to keep pandas for ten years. And all descendants（后代）still belong to China.
Possibly, no other animals in the world have shouldered the responsibility of being messengers of peace. The practice of giving pandas to other countries helps China strengthen ties（关系）with them.
1. When were the twin pandas born in the Ueno Zoo in Tokyo?2. How did the zoo director feel when he received a report on the second baby panda?
3. Why did Yuriko Koike ask China to extend Shin Shin’s stay by five years?
4. How many giant pandas are there in the wild in China?
5. What do you think of China’s practice of giving pandas to other countries?
5 . Number of Kids Watching Online Videos Doubled in 4 Years
A new study has found that the number of young Americans who watch online videos each day has more than doubled in the past four years.
The findings were based on a survey of about 1,700 young people aged 8 to 18. The group researches youth technology activity and offers guidance for parents.
The survey found that all screen time for young Americans did not change much over the past four years. On average, preteens spent just under five hours of screen time on devices (phones or computers etc.) each day. Teens had about seven and a half hours of screen time. The numbers did not include time young people spent on their devices doing homework, reading books or listening to music.
Common Sense Media’s director of research, Michael Robb, told The Associated Press that such screen time among American youth “really is the air they breathe”.
The findings suggest a continuing change by young people to move away from traditional television to watch online videos.
YouTube, which is owned by Google, was the number one choice of youth for online videos, even among the preteens surveyed.
Robb said the common use of YouTube by young people “puts a lot of pressure(压力)” on parents to find ways to limit what their children see.
In answer to the survey, YouTube said the company is rethinking the way to solve the problem.
But experts say it is easy for many children to get to the videos they want to watch, whether on YouTube or another service.
Sarah Domoff is a professor at Central Michigan University who studies the effects of technology on youth and families. She told the AP that parents often do not have the time or skills to limit what their children are watching effectively. Domoff said she thinks many parents could do more to try to track(追踪) the screen time of their children. She added, however, that tools aimed at limiting usage on services such as YouTube could be greatly improved. “It’s really hard to block out certain things unless you’re really standing over(监视) your child,” Domoff said.
1. What’s Paragraph 3 mainly about?| A．Time that preteens spent on all screens now is less than teens’. |
| B．Young Americans didn’t spend more time on screen in the past four years. |
| C．More young Americans watch online videos now than in the past four years. |
| D．Young people spent more time on homework and books than online videos in the past four years. |
| A．Many more young people use YouTube. |
| B．YouTube is too difficult for the old to log in. |
| C．YouTube is much easier for young people to log in. |
| D．Young Americans think YouTube is ordinary enough. |
| A．It’s impossible for kids to watch videos online freely. |
| B．No change will happen after YouTube improve the way. |
| C．YouTube will cooperate with other companies in service. |
| D．YouTube will be able to improve the way as parents would like. |
6 . Meet-a-scientist: Anne
Have you ever played with K’nex, Lego, or Mechana? Anne loved playing with toys to build things. She was interested in trying to understand how different pieces could fit together. She made up a system that turned on the light switch, like a Rube Goldberg machine!
Although she loved trying to do new things, this early science exploration wasn’t always easy for Anne. She remembers getting upset when she couldn’t understand how to get a Lego Robot to do what she wanted. Her dad told her: “Getting upset with a lack of progress is normal. When that happens, just take a break and then come back to it when it feels fun again!”
When Anne went to middle school, she was required to do a project for the science fair. Her first project was on soaking (浸泡) different kinds of wood in water and then seeing how much of a load (负载) they could hold before breaking. By following the steps of the scientific method and then creating a good presentation, she received recognition at the science fair. She says: “Even though I didn’t win, that helped prove myself that I was possibly good at science.”
So why go into science professionally? Anne says, “It was the most interesting thing I’d ever done. I have never run out of interesting things to learn about and I really like learning things. There are always unanswered questions, and they are the kind of questions that I find interesting! Even if other people already know the answers and you could look it up online, teaching yourself the process of finding answers is more important than finding the answers.”
1. What was she interested in?2. Was the early science exploration easy for her?
3. When was she required to do a project for the science fair?
4. How did she received recognition at the science fair?
5. What makes her succeed?
7 . The World's Fastest Trains
Discover the high speed automobiles on tracks, the fastest forms of public transport in the world.
 | Shanghai Maglev（磁悬浮列车） Shanghai(China) Having been put into use since 2004, this train transports passengers to and from Pudong International Airport every 15 to 20 minutes. The journey covers a distance of 19 miles in an impressive eight minutes or less. |
 | Shinkansen H5 & E5 224mph Tohoku to Hokkaido (Japan) Japan's super fast trains are some of the most regular. The bullet trains（子弹头列车）, speedier types of the country's first high-speed system, were first put into use in 1964, and they still go between Japan's cities in record time nowadays. |
 | Italo and Frecciarissa Milan to Florence/Rome(Italy) If the impressive top speed isn't enough, this train is built using almost entirely renewable units. Journeys from Milan to either Florence or Rome are finished in less than three hours. |
 | Jingzhang Intercity Beijing and Zhangjiakou(China) China can be proud of having the world's fastest driverless train, with one of the top speeds among trains around the world. This train was built to improve transport as China hosts the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. |
1. When was Shanghai Maglev put into use?
| A．In 1964. | B．In 1980. | C．In 2004. | D．In 2018. |
| A．267 mph. | B．224 mph. | C．220 mph. | D．217 mph. |
| A．Shanghai Maglev. | B．Shinkansen H5＆E5. |
| C．Jingzhang Intercity. | D．Italo and Frecciarissa. |
| A．the super-fast maglev | B．the regular bullet train |
| C．the shuttle with renewable units | D．the fastest driverless train |
8 . This 12-year-old Girl Built a Robot to Find Plastics in the Ocean
Anna Du was walking along the beach when she noticed plastics there. She reached down to pick them up, and quickly realized there were many more tiny pieces than she could deal with. It seemed impossible to clean them all up.
Du, 12 years old at the time, tried to solve the problem like any good scientist—first, by doing a little research. That’s how she learned that 8 million tons of plastics end up in the oceans every year.
Then she got to work building something that could help solve the problem; a remote-operated vehicle(遥控潜水器), or ROV. Her ROV can move through water and find plastics on the ocean floor.
The actually cool part of Du’s ROV is the detection(探测) system. She uses a camera along with three different kinds of light to find the plastics. She also uses visible(可见的) light to find unnatural colors that might make the plastics stand out.
“She has a very good engineering sense to break down a problem like this and then go after it,” says engineer Casey Machado. “It sounds simple, but it’s a level of thinking that’s really amazing. ”
Du started attending public events and workshops at a university when she was five years old, and so she picked up the engineering skills necessary to build her ROV. She says actually getting her ROV to move through water well was not easy. She failed many times, but she never gave up trying and testing.
When asked about future plans, she mentions wanting to address the effects of climate(气候) change. “I think there are a lot of problems that could be solved with new inventions,” says Du.
Du thanks her parents, who for years have taken her to student outreach activities, for supporting her interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). She says she has been able to meet students and scientists there.
“I know I want to be an engineer because I like building things to help solve world problems,” says Du. “But I’m not sure what kind of engineer I want to be yet.”
1. What did Anna Du notice while walking along the beach?____________________________________________________________________
2. How old was Du when she did a little research to solve the problem?
____________________________________________________________________
3. What can Du’s ROV do?
____________________________________________________________________
4. Why does Du want to be an engineer in the future?
____________________________________________________________________
5. What made Du succeed in building her ROV?
____________________________________________________________________
9 . The big Interview
Brenda was a reporter for her school newspaper, but she didn't care about her schoolwork much .A few days ago, she knew that Rashad Fuller, a famous football star, would come to her school.Brenda admired him and she wanted to follow in his footsteps.So she volunteered to interview Fuller.
When Brenda came home with the big news, her family began offering her questions to ask Fuller except her father.He wanted his children not only to take care of their bodies, but also to develop their minds. “You cannot be dependent on just one thing,” he often said.
Finally, the hour arrived.Brenda started the interview by asking Fuller how he got started in sports.
“I was always good at football .”he said. “In high school, football became the most important thing in my life.But in his senior year of high school, Fuller hurt his knee.He was unable to play anymore that year. “That's when I met my hero.my role model” Fuller told Brenda.
“Who was that?”She asked him.
“My hero was Dr. Philip Taylor.He treated my knee.”
“My dad?” Brenda cried out.
“Why was my dad your hero?” she asked.
“Because he said that all things were possible if I worked hard,” Fuller said.
Fuller told Brenda how her father had advised him to become the best football player he could.but Dr.Taylor also told Fuller to take advantage of other opportunities.
“Although I might give up football, I was ready for my next job.In the university, I studied to become a doctor like your father,” he said. “I want to achieve more.”
The interview was over.Brenda thanked Fuller and went back On her way home, she seemed to know what she should do about her sports and schoolwork.Most of all, she wanted to go home quickly and tell her other hero about her big day.
1. Why did Brenda want to interview Rashad Fuller?| A．Because her families liked his team. | B．Because she admired him very much. |
| C．Because she wanted to be a good reporter. | D．Because her families wanted her to work harder. |
| A．proud | B．satisfied | C．surprised | D．happy |
| A．keeping practicing hard. | B．having a good job in the future. |
| C．following her role models. | D．balancing her sports and schoolwork. |
Every four years, people will look forward to the biggest sport game, the Olympic Games.
| A. The second problem is the health. B. This year, The Rio held the 31th Olympic Games. C. The gold medals are free from mercury（汞） D. Though facing so many problems E. As the media much pay attention to report the progress |
