1 . Modern medicine’s ability to keep us alive makes it tempting to think human evolution may have stopped. But if we look at the rate of our DNA’s evolution, we can see that human evolution hasn’t stopped – it may even be happening faster than before.
Evolution is a gradual change to the DNA of a species over many generations. It can occur by natural selection, when certain traits created by genetic changes help an organism survive or reproduce. Such genes are thus more likely to be passed on to the next generation, so they increase in frequency in a population. Gradually, these changes and their associated traits become more common among the whole group.
By looking at global studies of our DNA, we can see evidence that natural selection has recently made changes and continues to do so. Though modern healthcare disrupts a key driving force of evolution by keeping some people alive longer, in countries without access to good healthcare, populations are continuing to evolve. Survivors of infectious disease outbreaks drive natural selection by giving their genetic resistance to offspring. Our DNA shows evidence for recent selection for resistance of killer diseases like Lassa fever and malaria. Selection in response to malaria remains in regions where the disease remains common.
Humans are also adapting to their environment. Gene change allowing humans to live at high altitudes have become more common in populations in Tibet, Ethiopia, and the Andes. The spread of genetic changes in Tibet is possibly the fastest evolutionary change in humans, occurring over the past 3,000 years. This rapid increase in frequency of a mutated gene that increases blood oxygen content gives locals a survival advantage in higher altitudes, resulting in more surviving children.
Diet is another source for adaptations. Studies show that natural selection favoring a change allowing adults to produce lactase – the enzyme (酶) that breaks down milk sugars – is why some groups of people can digest milk. Over 80 per cent of northwest Europeans can, but in parts of East Asia, where milk is much less commonly drunk, an inability to digest lactose is the norm. Like high altitude adaptation, selection to digest milk has evolved more than once in humans and may be the strongest kind of recent selection.
Yet, despite these changes, natural selection only affects about 8 per cent of our genome. But scientists can’t explain why some genes are evolving much faster than others. We measure the speed of gene evolution by comparing human DNA with that of other species. One fast-evolving gene is human accelerated region 1 (HAR1), which is needed during brain development. A random section of human DNA is on average more than 98 per cent identical to the chimp comparator, but HAR1 is so fast evolving that it’s only around 85 per cent similar. Though scientists can see these changes are happening – and how quickly – we still don’t fully understand why fast evolution happens to some genes but not others.
1. Which of the following statements may the author agree with?| A．Evolution occurs among several people overnight. |
| B．Genes may change and some are beneficial to people’s lives. |
| C．Evolution is done when the whole population possesses a certain gene. |
| D．The changed genes leading to higher survival rates are chosen deliberately. |
| A．explains | B．causes | C．upsets | D．heals |
| A．some people can resist infectious diseases like malaria |
| B．children in Tibet tolerate living environments with thin air |
| C．northwestern Europeans digest lactose better than East Asians |
| D．the human gene HAR1 resembles that of a chimp to a lesser extent |
| A．What Is Natural Selection? |
| B．Are Humans Still Evolving? |
| C．Why Will Certain Genes Evolve? |
| D．How Do Mutated Genes Function? |
2 . It’s late in the evening, time to close the book and turn off the computer. You’re done for the day. What you may not realize, however, is that the learning process actually continues in your dreams.
It might sound like science fiction, but researchers are increasingly focusing on the relationship between the knowledge and skills our brains absorb during the day and the often strange imaginings they generate at night. Scientists have found that dreaming about a task we’ve learned improves performance in that activity (suggesting that there’s some truth to the popular idea that we’re “getting” a foreign language once we begin dreaming in it). What’s more, dreaming may be an essential part of understanding, organizing and retaining what we learn.
While we sleep, research indicates, the brain replays the patterns of activity it experienced during waking hours, allowing us to enter what one psychologist calls a neural (神经的) virtual reality. A vivid example of such replay can be seen in a video researchers made recently about sleep disorders. They taught a series of dance moves to patients suffering from sleepwalking and related conditions. They then videotaped the subjects as they slept. Lying in bed, eyes closed, one female patient on the tape performs the dance moves she learned earlier.
This shows that while our bodies are at rest, our brains are drawing what’s important from the information and events we’ve recently encountered, then integrating that material into the vast store of what we already know. In a 2010 study, researchers reported that college students who dreamed about a computer maze (迷宫) task they had learned showed a 10-fold improvement in their ability to find their way through the maze compared with participants who did not dream about the task.
That study’s chief researcher Herbert Smith suggested that studying right before bedtime or taking a nap following a study session in the afternoon might increase the probability of dreaming about the material. Think about that as you go to sleep tonight.
1. What happens when one enters a dream state?| A．The body continues to act as if the sleeper were awake. |
| B．The neural activity of the brain will become intensified. |
| C．The brain once again experiences the learning activities of the day. |
| D．The brain behaves as if it were playing a virtual reality video game. |
| A．It replaces old information with new material. |
| B．It processes and absorbs newly acquired information. |
| C．It regroups information and places it in different files. |
| D．It systematizes all the information collected during the day. |
| A．Staying up late before finally going to bed. |
| B．Having a period of sleep right after studying. |
| C．Having a dream about anything you are interested in. |
| D．Thinking about the chances of dreaming about the material. |
| A．How study affects people’s dreams. |
| B．Why people learn more after sleeping. |
| C．What time students should study and sleep. |
| D．How dreaming may lead to improved learning outcomes. |
3 . Last summer, two nineteenth-century cottages were rescued from remote farm fields in Montana, to be moved to an Art Deco building in San Francisco. The houses were made of wood. These cottages once housed early settlers as they worked the dry Montana soil; now they hold Twitter engineers.
The cottages could be an example of the industry’s unusual love for “low technology”, a concept associated with the natural world, and with old-school craftsmanship（手艺）that exists long before the Internet era. Low technology is not virtual (虚拟的) —so, to take advantage of it, Internet companies have had to get creative. The rescued wood cottages, fitted by band in the late eighteen-hundreds, are an obvious example. Other companies are using a broader interpretation（阐释）of low technology that focuses on nature.
Amazon is building three glass spheres filled with trees, so that employees can “work and socialize in a more natural, park-like setting.” At Google’s office, an entire is carpeted in glass. Facebook’s second Menlo Park campus will have a rooftop park with a walking path.
Olle Lundberg, the founder of Lundberg Design, has worked with many tech companies over the years. “Our tech engineers are the ones who feel impoverished, because they’re surrounded by the digital world,” he says. “We’ve found that introducing real crafts is one way to regain their individual identity.”
This craft-based theory is rooted in history. William Morris, the English artist and writer, turned back to pre-industrial arts in the eighteen-sixties, just after Industrial Revolution. The Arts and Crafts movement defined itself against machines. “Without creative human occupation, people became disconnected from life.” Morris said.
Research has shown that natural environments can restore our mental abilities. In Japan, patients are encouraged to “forest-bathe”, taking walks through woods to lower their blood pressure.
These health benefits apply to the workplace as well. Rachel Kaplvin, a professor of environmental psychology, has spent years researching the restorative effects of natural environment. Her research found that workers with access to nature at the office - even simple views of trees and flowers - felt their jobs were less stressful and more satisfying. If low-tech offices can potentially benefit the brains and improve the mental health of employees then, fine, bring on the cottages.
1. The writer mentions the two nineteenth-century cottages to show that _________| A．Twitter is having a hard time |
| B．Old cottages are in need of protection |
| C．Early settlers once suffered from a dry climate in Montana |
| D．Internet companies have rediscovered the benefits of low technology |
| A．is related to nature | B．is out of date today |
| C．cosumes too much energy | D．exists in the virtual world |
| A．Critical | B．positive |
| C．worried | D．doubtful |
| A．Past Glories, Future Dreams |
| B．The Virtual World, the Real Challenge |
| C．High-tech Companies, Low-tech Offices |
| D．The More Craftsmanship, the Less Creativity |
4 . Smartphones are our constant companions. For many of us, their glowing screens are a ubiquitous (十分普遍的) presence, drawing us in with endless distractions. They are in our hands as soon as we wake, and command our attention until the final moments before we fall asleep.
Steve Jobs would not approve.
In 2007, Jobs took the stage and introduced the world to the iPhone. If you watch the full speech, you will be surprised by how he imagined our relationship should be with this iconic invention. This vision is so different from the way most of us use these devices now.
In his remarks, Jobs spent an extended amount of time demonstrating how the device utilized (应用) the touch screen before detailing the many ways Apple engineers had improved the age-old process of making phone calls. It’s the best iPod we’ve ever made,” Jobs exclaimed at one point. “The killer app is making calls,” he later added. Both lines drew thunderous applause.
The presentation confirms that Jobs imagined a simpler iPhone experience than the one we actually have more than a decade later. For example, there was no App Store when the iPhone was first introduced, and this was by design. Jobs was convinced that the phone’s carefully-designed native features were enough. He did not seek to completely change the rhythm of users’ daily lives. He simply wanted to take experiences we had already found important－listening to music, placing calls, generating directions－and make them better.
The minimalist (简约主义者) vision for the iPhone Jobs offered in 2007 is unrecognizable today－and that is a shame.
Under what I call the “constant companion model,” we now see our smartphones as always-on portals (通道) to information. We have become so used to it over the past decade that it is easy to forget the novelty (新奇之处) of the device. It seems increasingly clear to me that Jobs probably got it right from the very beginning: Many of us would be better-off returning to his original minimalist vision for our phones.
Practically speaking, to be a minimalist smartphone user means only using your device for a small number of features that do things of value to you. Otherwise, you simply put it away outside of these activities. This approach dethrones (废黜) this device from the position of a constant companion down to a luxury object, such as a fancy bike, that gives you great pleasure when you use it but does not dominate your entire day.
Early in his 2007 keynote, Jobs said, “Today, Apple is going to reinvent the phone.” What he didn’t add, however, was the follow-up promise: “Tomorrow we’re going to reinvent your life.” The smartphone is fantastic, but it was never meant to be the foundation for a new form of existence.
If you return this innovation to its original role, you will get more out of both your phone and your life.
1. The underlined word “it” in the last but two paragraphs probably refers to .| A．information | B．the smartphone |
| C．the always-on portal | D．the constant companion model |
| A．It allowed the users to have access to the internet. |
| B．It was actually an iPod that could make phone calls. |
| C．It was installed with applications by third-party developers. |
| D．It could fulfill people’s desire to multitask in their daily lives. |
| A．expect to reinvent his life with the device |
| B．buy the latest model of iPhone and see it as a luxury |
| C．remove all the unnecessary applications from the device |
| D．spend more time working than playing with his device |
| A．tell readers why Steve Job created the iPhone |
| B．remind readers not to be addicted to their smartphones |
| C．show readers that smartphones can greatly change our lives |
| D．encourage readers to block internet access on their smartphones |
5 . If you think that running marathons will help you live a long and healthy life, new research may come as a shock. According to a recent scientific study, people who do a very strenuous workout are as likely to die as people who do no exercise at all.
Scientists in Denmark have been studying over 1,000 joggers and non-joggers for 12 years. The death rates from the sample group indicate that people who jog at a moderate pace two or three times a week for less than two and a half hours in total are least likely to die. The best speed to jog at was found to be about 5 miles per hour. The research suggests that people who jog more than three times a week or at higher speeds of over 7 mph die at the same rate as non-joggers. The scientists think that this is because strenuous exercise causes structural changes to the heart and arteries (动脉). Over time, this can cause serious injuries.
Peter Schnohr, a researcher in Copenhagen, said, “If your goal is to decrease the risk of death and improve life expectancy, jogging a few times a week at a moderate pace is a good strategy. Anything more is just unnecessary, and it may be harmful.”
The implications of this are that moderate forms of exercise such as tai chi, yoga and brisk walking may be better for us than “iron man” events, triathlons and long-distance running and cycling. According to Jacob Louis Marott, another researcher involved in the study, “You don’t actually have to do that much to have a good impact on your health. And perhaps you shouldn’t actually do too much.”
1. The underlined word “strenuous” in Paragraph 1 refers to “______”.| A．hard | B．regular |
| C．practical | D．little |
| A．suggest giving up jogging |
| B．show risks of doing sports |
| C．provide supportive evidence |
| D．introduce the research process |
| A．It may injure the heart and arteries. |
| B．It can make the body tired out. |
| C．It will bring much pressure. |
| D．It consumes too much energy. |
6 . Imagine looking at a view of mountaintops and wondering about the name of each peak. Suddenly, above each mountaintop, a name appears on the sky. The words are not written in smoke by skywriting planes. The words are actually not in the sky at all. They come from tiny computers in contact lenses (隐形眼镜).
Computers have become smaller and smaller over the decades. The first computers filled houses. Transistors (晶体管) and then chips allowed computers to become small enough to fit on a desktop, then a laptop, and finally a phone. When experimenting with further contraction in size, developers often have to deal with the limits of human eyesight, which control how small the computers can be and still present visible information.
One new solution employs microprojectors (微型投影机) to create a readable display (显示) for tiny computers. These machines project computer information onto any surface. Though an impressive breakthrough, there are potential problems. Such public displays can lead to privacy concerns; most people do not want their information displayed on a wall for everyone to see. Besides, these projectors are extremely expensive, and their screens give users headaches.
Babak Parviz, a researcher at the University of Washington, created another solution: inventing a screen visible only to a person wearing a contact lens. Parviz created a computer in a contact lens that uses the wearer’s field of vision as the display. To create the display, Parviz took ordinary soft contact lenses with a wirelessly controlled system. At some point, Parviz says, it will be possible to connect the lens to a remote personal computer device such as a cellphone or a laptop. By looking in a certain direction, the wearer sends the computer visual information about what he or she sees. The device then uses this information to point out the names of peaks.
These contact lenses are inserted and removed in much the same way as ordinary contact lenses. In addition, the computers in the lenses won’t block the wearer’s sight at all. Although now the computers are not on lenses treating eyesight problems, Parviz hopes that someday the technology will progress to that level.
1. The contact lenses in the text can ________.| A．treat eyesight problems | B．offer beautiful views of nature |
| C．project information on wall surface | D．show information about what wearers see |
| A．expansion | B．spread |
| C．reduction | D．revolution |
| A．put people’s privacy at risk | B．save computer information |
| C．cause serious illnesses | D．support users’ needs |
| A．saving users’ expenses | B．reducing computers’ size |
| C．limiting the field of vision | D．guarding remote computers |
| A．Tiny Computers, Amazing Sights | B．Smaller Lenses, Closer Views |
| C．Progress towards Clearness | D．Road to the Small World |
7 . We never talked about school as the ticket to the future. I was in the classroom, but I wasn’t there to learn how to write, read or even
I had a(n)
Now I am 41 years old. One day, I planned to
The experts say what once
| A．listen | B．paint | C．speak | D．act |
| A．jump | B．hide | C．sleep | D．succeed |
| A．but | B．and | C．although | D．so |
| A．Chinese | B．history | C．geography | D．English |
| A．important | B．strange | C．necessary | D．unwise |
| A．turned to | B．looked after | C．looked down upon | D．paid attention to |
| A．managed | B．failed | C．liked | D．tried |
| A．gradually | B．frequently | C．immediately | D．directly |
| A．drive | B．fly | C．walk | D．ride |
| A．making | B．buying | C．fetching | D．sending |
| A．pocket | B．machine | C．clothes | D．arms |
| A．shyly | B．proudly | C．excitedly | D．angrily |
| A．girl | B．man | C．woman | D．boy |
| A．upset | B．glad | C．regretful | D．grateful |
| A．news | B．jobs | C．chances | D．ideas |
| A．work | B．write | C．read | D．teach |
| A．author | B．assistant | C．teacher | D．doctor |
| A．company | B．factory | C．house | D．classroom |
| A．hurt | B．worried | C．hit | D．surprised |
| A．excuse | B．ability | C．help | D．desire |
8 . A block chain is a data structure that stores time-ordered data in an ever-growing list, like an accounting ledger (分类账簿). The block chain data structure is maintained using a distributed, peer-to-peer network of computers with no central “master”. As with many new concepts, block chain technology generates much optimism and also a huge amount of interest and excitement. Just what is it good for?
In short, block chains may improve any process where people need to access, confirm, send or store information securely. This information could be a person’s identity, a product’s shipment history or digital property like money.
Typical databases, spreadsheets (电子数据表), and ledgers store information about objects, people, and the interactions between them. Much of the world’s information, from credit card transactions to medical and financial records, is stored in these types of systems.
These types of systems have considerable, well-documented weaknesses that arise from their being centralized. A centralized record is hard to understand and is exposed to unauthorized access or distribution. It is also, because it is a ‘master’ copy, exposed to permanent changing or deletion.
Block chains are also used to store information. Crucially, however, they differ in two ways.
First, information is parceled up into blocks and sealed. Bitcoin, for example, which is the most famous practical example of a production block chain, stores all transactions across the network every ten minutes or so in a single, newly formed block. Each block is then added to the previous one to form a chain.
Second, this “chain of blocks” is not stored centrally. Instead, each block is copied and distributed around an entire network of peers - be they individuals, public institutions, or businesses - using distributed ledger technology. (The terms “block chain” and “distributed ledger” are often used interchangeably; for the sake of clarity, block chain technologies tend to employ distributed ledger technology.)
Each time someone adds a new block to the chain, meanwhile it is added to everyone’s copy.
1. What is the biggest strength of a block chain?| A．It promotes people’s enthusiasm about new technology. |
| B．It strengthens the security of processing information. |
| C．It enables people to store more data in time order. |
| D．It stores a large part of world’s information. |
| A．they are difficult to operate | B．they can be accessed easily |
| C．they have a central “master” | D．they store considerable documents |
| A．making comparisons | B．giving examples |
| C．making a list | D．showing the effect and causes |
| A．To analyze the weaknesses of typical systems. |
| B．To encourage the popularity of the block chain. |
| C．To introduce the new concept of the block chain. |
| D．To compare the two different data structures. |
9 . The Last Robot-Proof Job in America?
You can get most food, such as warm cookies or vodka, to your doorstep in minutes. But try getting a red snapper (红鲷鱼). Until recently, if you could obtain it, it would likely have been pre-frozen and shipped in from overseas.
A new tech startup is aiming to
There is one thing,
“
By 1 a.m. each night, the company collects
Then, what can a fishmonger see that a computer can’t? DeGregorio showed me his part of the
Is he ever
| A．maintain | B．remedy | C．substitute | D．recognize |
| A．free | B．overseas | C．separate | D．fresh |
| A．therefore | B．otherwise | C．however | D．thus |
| A．ensure | B．propose | C．concede | D．remind |
| A．overpriced | B．misidentified | C．displaced | D．modified |
| A．computer | B．cuisine | C．fish | D．marketing |
| A．Rather than | B．Thanks to | C．Except for | D．Prior to |
| A．fund-raising | B．online-grocery | C．fish-selling | D．non-profit |
| A．significant | B．worthy | C．responsible | D．ridiculous |
| A．sales | B．orders | C．alternatives | D．statistics |
| A．analyze | B．supply | C．prioritize | D．feed |
| A．require | B．process | C．predict | D．value |
| A．calculation | B．decoding | C．correction | D．selection |
| A．smash | B．touch | C．wipe | D．roll |
| A．concerned about | B．eager for | C．delighted with | D．capable of |
10 . Communication technologies are far from equal when it comes to conveying the truth. The first study to compare honesty across a range of communication media has found that people are twice as likely to tell lies in phone conversations as they are in emails. The fact that emails are automatically recorded — and can come back to haunt (困扰) you — appears to be the key to the finding.
Jeff Hancock of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, asked 80 students to keep a communication diary for a week. In it they noted the number of conversations or email exchanges they had lasting more than 10 minutes, and confessed to how many lies they told. Hancock then worked out the number of lies per conversation for each medium. He found that lies made up 14 per cent of emails, 21 per cent of instant messages, 27 per cent of face-to-face interactions and an astonishing 37 per cent: of phone calls.
His results to be presented at the conference on human-computer interaction in Vienna, Austria, in April, have surprised psychologists. Some expected emailers to be the biggest liars, reasoning that because deception makes people uncomfortable, the detachment (非直接接触) of emailing would make it easier to lie. Others expected people to lie more in face-to-face exchanges because we are most practiced at that form of communication.
But Hancock says it is also crucial whether a conversation is being recorded and could be reread, and whether it occurs in real time. People appear to be afraid to lie when they know the communication could later be used to hold them to account, he says. This is why fewer lies appear in email than on the phone.
People are also more likely to lie in real time—in an instant message or phone call, say— than if they have time to think of a response, says Hancock. He found many lies are spontaneous (脱口而出的) responses to an unexpected demand, such as: “Do you like my dress?”
Hancock hopes his research will help companies work out the best ways for their employees to communicate. For instance, the phone might be the best medium for sales where employees are encouraged to stretch the truth. But, given his result, work assessment where honesty is a priority, might be best done using email.
1. What does the phrase “to stretch the truth” in the last paragraph mean?| A．to tell the truth | B．to understate something |
| C．to overestimate something | D．to deceive people |
| A．Because it takes more time to think than to speak. |
| B．Because lies in emails may do harm to their credit. |
| C．Because of the detachment of emailing. |
| D．Because they are practiced to be more honest in emailing. |
| A．Emails contain more lies than other communication media. |
| B．Face-to-face communication contains more lies. |
| C．Face-to-face communication contains more lies because it is not recorded. |
| D．Deception makes people uncomfortable, which reduces mistakes in phone calls. |
| A．Honesty is always the best policy. |
| B．Employees should choose suitable media for different communication purposes. |
| C．If honesty is important, employees should choose face-to-face talk. |
| D．Employees should be honest with their clients, their bosses and their rivals. |
