Many of you have probably had this experience: You get on a train and are ready to have a short sleep or read a book, only to find that the young lady in front of you is watching a TV show on her mobile phone without the earphones (耳机). The child next to you won’t stop crying. And the passenger behind you talks on his phone during the whole trip.

Wish the train could be less noisy? There’s a choice for you. The Beijing Shanghai high-speed railway, one of China’s busiest high-speed rail lines, started to provide quiet carriage(车厢) service on December 23, 2020. Passengers who are willing to follow the rules can choose the quiet carriage when booking their tickets.

In quiet carriages, passengers should enjoy music or videos through the earphones. Train station announcements are turned down. Doors at the ends of the quiet carriages are kept closed to reduce noise from other carriages. Train attendants (乘务员) will make sure that passengers follow the rules and remain quiet.

Some people have pointed out that this kind of quiet environment should be offered in all carriages. They say that having quiet carriages might make people think that they don’t need to be quiet in other carriages.

While some Internet users are in favor of the new service, it has also led to discussions about just how quiet passengers should be in quiet carriages. Many people have raised questions such as “What if I snore (打鼾)?” and “Can we talk to others if we need to?”.

3 . Ancient China produced many types of beautiful works of art. Among them, calligraphy(书法), poetry and painting were the most famous. Often they would be put together in art. These became important starting with the Song Dynasty.

Calligraphy is the art of handwriting. In the old time, the Chinese considered writing as an important form of art. Calligraphers would practice for years to learn to write perfectly, but with style. Each of over 40,000 characters needed to be written correctly. And each stroke(笔画) in a character had to be written in a certain order.

Poetry was also an important form of art. Great poets were famous all over the country. And all educated people were expected to write poetry. During the Tang Dynasty, poetry was so important that writing poetry was part of the examinations to become a civil servant(文官) and work for the government.

Chinese painting was often connected with calligraphy. It is one of the oldest artistic traditions in the world. The most traditional way of Chinese painting is known as “national” or “native” painting, which is quite different from Western painting. People can draw mountains, homes, birds, trees and water on it.

5 . The Internet, mobile phones and Ipads are part of our lives now. Technology is greatly affecting all ways of our lives, from the ways we work to the ways we play. And it even causes a number of social problems such as cloning humans.

We have had lots of technology and it has changed our lives a lot. There is no doubt that humans will continue to use more and more technology. Here are some examples of modern technology that will change our ideas and will affect our lives greatly.

Global Positioning System (GPS) (全球定位系统)

It’s a system that uses radio signals from satellites to show exact (精确地) information. It tells you where the user is on the earth in all weather conditions. It’s made up of three parts: satellites, control equipment (设备) on land and receivers.

Space Technology

Russian and American scientists have worked together for the International Space Station (ISS) for a long time. They hope the ISS will provide a long-lasting lab. Such a lab will bring humans limitless (无限的) advantages. It’s even hoped that one day space technology will take humans to their new houses in space.

Underwater Robot

Hercules is a kind of Underwater Robot with some high technology equipment. It will be used to search for ancient ships which were destroyed into the deep sea during their journey long ago.

The world is changing so quickly that it’s hard for us to catch up with all the new inventions because they seem to come out every month. It’s important for us to learn about new technology and the role that it plays in our lives. So we should be willing to accept modern technology, or we will fall behind the time.

6 . It happens every spring. Flowers suddenly burst out everywhere on the same day as if they were in tune with one another. But how exactly do plants “know” when to flower?

It is a question that has puzzled biologists for years. But according to Science Daily, a US research group may have finally answered it-the secret lies in the protein called FKF1. This allows plants to sense the differences in day lengths so that they can tell the seasons are changing.

Researchers spotted the FKF1 protein when they were studying a plant called Arabidopsis. We found that the FKF1 protein is a photoreceptor（感光器）. This means it is sensitive to, and can be activated by sunlight.

Plants produce the protein every day in the late afternoon throughout the year. If there is no light at this time, for example, in winter, when the sun goes down early, the protein won’t be activated. But when spring comes and the days get longer, the FKF1 protein can be activated by daylight as the plants “know” it is time to flower. “The presence of light in the late afternoon is the signal for plants that the days are getting longer and that it is the best time for flowering.” explained Pakato Imaizumi assistant professor at the University of Washington and leader of the study.

The daylight-sensing system also keeps plants from flowering when conditions are poor for growing, such as during autumn or winter. When the weather is cold and days are short.

Although researchers have only studied how the FKF1 protein works in the Arabidopsis, they believe that the process is similar in many other more complex（复杂的）plants, including crops like rice and wheat. This could be useful to the agricultural industry.

“If we can control the timing of flowering, we might be able to increase crop yield by quickening or delaying this.” Imaizumi said “Also, if we could control the timing of flowering in horticultural plants, they may be worth more commercially（商业上）.”

New technology based on this research might also lead to higher use of biofuel（生物燃料）plants. This would be helpful for providing energy.

7 . ①It is true that people with better education are usually able to get better-paid jobs. In other words, they have more chances to choose a good job while people with little or no education don’t.

②It seems that the purpose of education is to make people get jobs. But this isn’t accepted by all people. Some people may think that a person should spend the best years of his life getting education only for a way of living. This was probably one of the earliest reasons of education. In fact, if education is just a way of making a living, people don’t need to spend so much time at school. People can get education for a living in a short time. Subjects like history and geography need not be taught to everyone. Even language and maths need not be taught in detail（详细地）either. Here it is clear that education is much more than teaching a man to get a way of living.

③Education is well-rounded（全面的）and it is mainly for improving a man. It is not only to teach him to speak, read and write, but also to develop his creative thinking and other abilities. After that, it is to make him a wise man and thankfully enjoy the achievements of humans. Education is to make a man lead a better life. Educated people are expected to be able to listen to good music, read good books, watch good plays and take an interest in the world.

④I would agree that making a good living is an important reason for education, but certainly not the most important or the main reason.

A．	B．
C．	D．

8 . Is your TV connected to the Internet? What about your chair, or your fridge? Probably they are not. But in the future, most things in your home may be connected, thanks to the so-called “Internet of things”.

The Internet of things may be coming sooner than you think. Earlier this year, Samsung CEO spent a lot of time talking about the Internet things. He said that five years from now, every Samsung product will be part of the Internet of things, no matter whether it’s a remote control or a washing machine.

So, how do household (家用的) objects that are part of the Internet of things work? Well, think of a common chair. When connected to the Internet, the chair warms up when it knows the user has just walked into the room and is feeling cold.

An Internet-connected camera could help people feel safer in their homes. It can know people’s faces and has an infrared sensor (红外传感器), so even if it’s dark it can see when someone passes by and send you a message on your smartphone to let you know who’s there. If the person is someone you don’t know, it can tell you that, too.

But according to MIT Technology Review, whether companies are connecting dog food bowls or security systems to the Internet, there may be some problems. For example, many early connected-home objects don’t have much built-in security, which means they could be hacked (被黑客攻击). Moreover, it could be difficult to get these new machines to work together especially when they are made by different companies. To fight this, many companies have joined the Open Interconnect Consortium, which had 45 members by late 2014.

So, picture this: you enter your home. The temperature changes to make you feel comfortable. Your favourite music starts playing for you. Do you think that this would be a good thing? It may happen sooner than you think.

9 . Will humans someday live and work on Mars（火星）? Many scientists think so. In fact, they are already working on plans to turn Mars into a new Earth.

Humans need three basic things to live: water to drink, air to breathe and food to eat. Because of the shortage of those above, it is impossible to live on Mars right now. Then how can we make Mars a right place for humans to live on? The answer is to change the environment of the planet so that it is similar to Earth’s.

On Mars, the temperature is about —60℃. So one of the main purposes is to warm it up. One idea for warming Mars comes from a problem here on Earth ——climate change. Most scientists agree that Earth is becoming warmer because of increased levels of greenhouse gases（气体）in our atmosphere（大气）. We might create similar conditions on Mars by building factories that give off greenhouse gases. The gas will change the atmosphere on Mars. Rain will fall, and it may be possible to grow plants for food. There will be many difficulties in changing Mars. The program could take many centuries, and the cost will be high. We have some of the technology, such as the ability to create greenhouse gases, but not the money. Anyway, life on Mars is a real possibility for future people.

10 . Smartphones, Poor Sight

Look around and you’ll see people busy on their smartphones. Smartphones do make our lives easier. But have you ever thought about what they mean to your eyes?

According to a study, half of British people own smartphones and they spend an average of two hours a day using them. There has been a 35% increase in the number of people in the UK who suffer from short-sightedness (近视) since smartphones were introduced there in 1997.

Staring (盯) at smartphones screen for long time gives you dry eyes. When looking at something in the distance, your eyes automatically blink (自动眨眼) a certain number of times. However, when you look at things closer to your face, the blinking slows down. This reduces the amount of tears and causes discomfort in your eyes. Another bad habit is using smartphones in dark rooms before going to sleep. If you look at a bright screen while your pupils (瞳孔) become larger, too much light enters your eyes. This can do harm to the eyes and cause a disease called glaucoma (青光眼).

While you’re probably not going to stop using your smartphone, there are a few things you can do to protect your eyes. Hold your phone at least 30 centimeters away from your eyes when using it. Take a break every hour and try the following: look at something at least five meters from you and then focus on the tip of your nose. Repeat this several times. It should reduce the discomfort in your eyes.