1 . Tetraplegia (四肢瘫痪) patients are prisoners of their own bodies, unable to perform the slightest movement. Researchers have been working for years to develop systems that can help these patients carry out some tasks on their own. “Assistance from robots could help these people recover some of their lost abilities, since the robots can perform tasks in their place.”

Professor Billard carried out a study with Professor José del R.Millan. They have developed a computer program that can control a robot using electrical signals sent out by a patient’s brain. No voice control or touch function is needed, patients can move the robot simply with their thoughts. This involved developing an algorithm (运算法则) that could adjust the robot’s movements based only on a patient’s thoughts.

To use the system, all the patient needs to do is to look at the robot. If the robot makes an incorrect move, the patient’s brain will send an “error message” through a clearly identifiable signal, as if the patient is saying “No, not like that.” The robot will then understand that what it’s doing is wrong. The process goes pretty quickly — only three to five attempts are usually needed for the robot to figure out the right response and achieve the patient’s wishes.

“The robot’s AI program can learn rapidly, but you have to tell it when it makes a mistake so that it can correct its behavior,” says Professor Millán. “Developing the detection technology for error signals was one of the biggest technical difficulties we faced.” Iason Batzianoula, the study’s lead author, adds, “What was particularly difficult in our study was linking a patient’s brain activity to the robot's control system — or in other words, ‘translating’ a patient’s brain signals into actions performed by the robot.”

1. What’s the purpose of paragraph 1?

A．To attract more researchers.	B．To introduce the topic of this text.
C．To state the research of tetraplegia.	D．To show sympathy for the patients.

2. How do the robots perform their task?

A．By sensing the touch.	B．By monitoring computers.
C．By reading people’s thoughts.	D．By following voice commands.

3. What did Iason Batzianoula think of the robot’s AI program?

A．Challenging.

B．Cost-effective.

C．Fruitless.

D．Time-consuming.

4. What is the text mainly about?

A．The development of mind-controlled robots.	B．The sufferings of the tetraplegia patients.
C．The complexity of the algorithm.	D．The promising future of robots.

2 . Have you ever found picking out the face of a friend in a group photo is sometimes hard, especially when everyone crowds together? In the same way, it can also be hard to read a passage of text when the letters are too close together. In fact, a new study shows that spacing the letters farther apart can help anyone read faster, and possibly understand more.

Dyslexia is a common reading disorder. Crowded text was especially difficult for people with dyslexia to read. So researchers wanted to see if increasing the spacing between letters would help.

Steven Stagg, a scientist, studies how people think and learn. His team recruited 59 students between 11 and 15 years old, thirty-two of whom had dyslexia. While the researchers recorded them, each student read two passages out loud. One passage was in its original format. In the other, there was an increase of 2.5 points in the spacing between the litters. The recording allowed the scientists to measure their reading speed and count any mistakes, such as skipped words.

People with dyslexia often employ aids to help them read, such as colored overlays (覆盖物). This time they are offered by the researchers. Those colored overlays didn’t help either group of kids. However, kids with dyslexia read the wider-spaced text 13 percent faster than the text with original spacing. These kids also made fewer mistakes. Students without dyslexia read faster, too, although only by 5 percent.

This is very good news. It means teachers and publishers can print material with extra spacing between litters. Readers with dyslexia won’t feel singled out by having to use special aids for reading. An organization called Readability Matters is working on these issues. The group is trying to get tech companies to make changes that should make reading easier.

Stagg says, “Some methods have shown mixed results, but Letter spacing seems to be the one thing that everyone is finding works.”

1. What is the purpose of the first paragraph?

A．To make the article interesting.

B．To present a common problem.

C．To lead to the topic of the article.

D．To provide a new solution.

2. What do you know about people with Dyslexia?

A．They may understand everything while reading wider-spaced text.

B．They may read faster than normal kids while reading wider- spaced text.

C．They may free from dyslexia after increasing letter spacing.

D．They may feel singled out while using colored layouts for reading.

3. In which column of a newspaper can we probably find this passage?

A．Science study.	B．Campus life.
C．Star stories.	D．Business.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．Readers Try to Improve Reading Speed

B．You Just Need More Space

C．Colored Overlays Are Helpful Aids

D．Dyslexia Affects Reading Speed

3 . Climate breakdown threatens to cause a global food production crisis. The UN forecasts that by 2050, feeding the world will require a 20% expansion in global water use for agriculture. It is hard to see how agriculture can feed the population of the planet, let alone toward the end of the century and beyond. Agriculture is a major cause of climate breakdown, and both river and air pollution. Industrial fishing is similarly driving ecological collapse in seas around the world.

However, at this critical time, farming (a new kind of food technology) is creating astonishing possibilities to save both people and the planet. Farming will enable the return of vast areas of land and sea to nature, greatly reducing carbon emissions (排放物). It means an end to the employment of animals, a stop to overfishing, and a dramatic reduction in cutting down forests and the use of pesticides (杀虫剂). It is the best hope for stopping the destruction of the planet and, if it is done right, it means cheap and abundant food for everyone.

We are about to welcome one of the biggest economic transformations, of any kind, for 200 years. Arguments continue about plants against meat-based diets; however, new technologies will soon make these arguments irrelevant. Before long, most food will come neither from animals nor plants, but from micro-organisms (微生物).

Not only will food be cheaper, it will also be healthier. Due to the fact that farming creates food products built up from simple components rather than broken down from complex ones, hard fats and other unhealthy components can be screened out. Meat will still be meat, but it will be grown in factories rather than in the bodies of animals. Fats will still be fats, but food is likely to be better, cheaper and much less damaging to the living planet.

1. What is the major cause of sea ecological breakdown?

A．Food production.	B．Global farming.
C．Industrial fishing.	D．Climate breakdown.

2. What does Paragraph 2 mainly tell us about farming?

A．Its benefits.

B．Its security.

C．Its research.

D．Its limits.

3. What will provide the majority of food in the near future?

A．Sea animals.

B．Wild plants.

C．Micro-organisms.

D．Farm products.

4. Which of the following best describes the author’s attitude to farming?

A．Doubtful.

B．Positive.

C．Disapproving.

D．Unclear.