1 . The number of weather-related disasters has increased by five times over the past 50 years, the latest report by the World Meteorological (气象) Organization (WMO) said on September. However, thanks to improved early warning systems and disaster management, the number of death from these hazards (危险) has been almost three times less.
According to the WMO, from 1970 to 2019, weather, climate and water hazards accounted for 50 percent of all disasters. Among the top 10 hazards that led to the largest loss of human life during this period were droughts, storms, floods and extreme temperatures. However, deaths fell from over 50, 000 in the 1970s to less than 20, 000 in the 2010s.
“Weather, climate and water extremes are increasing and will become more frequent and severe in many parts of the world as a result of climate change,” says WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas.
“That means more heat waves, drought and forest fires such as those we have observed recently in Europe and North America. We have more water vapor in the atmosphere, which is worsening extreme rainfall and deadly flooding. The warming of the oceans has affected the frequency and area of existence of the most intense tropical storms.”
“Economic losses are increasing as exposure increases. But behind the statistics lies a message of hope. Improved multi-hazard early warning systems have led to a significant reduction in deaths. Quite simply, we are better than ever before at saving lives,” Taalas said.
1. What do we know from the first paragraph?| A．Disasters connected with weather have gone up. |
| B．The number of weather-related disasters has decreased. |
| C．The number of deaths from hazards has been increasing. |
| D．Early warning systems have made disasters decline much. |
| A．There will be more extreme weather. |
| B．Extreme rainfall will no longer exist. |
| C．Water vapor in the atmosphere will go down. |
| D．Humans will defeat extreme weather in the end. |
| A．Improved warning systems will save economic losses. |
| B．Economic losses are going down as exposure increases. |
| C．More lives will be saved thanks to early warning systems. |
| D．Improved early warning systems will control extreme weather |
| A．A novel. | B．A brochure. | C．A magazine. | D．A guideline. |
2 . A new study reveals that pigeons (鸽子) can tackle some problems just like artificial intelligence, enabling them to solve difficult tasks that might challenge humans. Previous research has theorized that pigeons employ a problem-solving strategy, involving a trial-and- error approach, which is similar to the approach used in AI models but differs from humans’ reliance on selective attention and rule use. To examine it, Brandon Turner, a psychology professor at the Ohio State University, and his colleagues conducted the new study.
In the study, the pigeons were presented with various visual images, including lines of different widths and angles, and different types of rings. The pigeons had to peck (啄) a button on the right or left to indicate the category to which the image belonged. If they got it correct, they received food; if they were wrong, they received nothing. Results showed that, through trial and error, the pigeons improved their accuracy in categorization tasks, increasing their correct choices from about 55% to 95%.
Researchers believed pigeons used associative learning, which is linking two phenomena with each other. For example, it is easy to understand the link. between “water” and “wet”. “Associative learning is frequently assumed to be far too primitive to. explain complex visual categorization like what we saw the pigeons do,” Turner said. But that’s exactly what the researchers found.
The researchers’ AI model tackled the same tasks using just the two simple mechanisms that pigeons were assumed to use: associative learning and error correction. And, like the pigeons, the AI model learned to make the right predictions to significantly increase the number of correct answers. For humans, the challenge when given tasks like those given to pigeons is that they would try to come up with rules that could make the task easier. But in this case, there were no rules, which upsets humans.
What’s interesting, though, is that pigeons use this method of learning that is very similar to AI designed by humans, Turner said. “We celebrate how smart we are that we designed artificial intelligence: at the same time, we regard pigeons as not clever animals,” he said.
1. What is the purpose of the new study?| A．To test a theory. | B．To evaluate a model. |
| C．To employ a strategy. | D．To involve an approach. |
| A．Draw circles. | B．Correct errors. | C．Copy gestures. | D．Identify images. |
| A．They are of equal intelligence. |
| B．They are good at making rules. |
| C．They respond rapidly to orders from humans. |
| D．They employ simple ways to get things done. |
| A．Pigeons’ trial-and-error method is revealed |
| B．Pigeons outperform humans in tough tasks |
| C．“Not smart” pigeons may be as smart as AI |
| D．AI models after pigeons’ learning approach |
3 . When reading, my mother likes to slice a paragraph or a sentence out and attach it to the wall of her kitchen. She picks boring sentences that puzzle me. But I prefer copying favorite bright lines into a journal in soft, gray No. 2 pencil, word by word.
She doesn’t know any of this. There's nothing shocking: for our chatting. we seldom begin certain conversations though we talk on the phone weekly, sometimes making each other laugh so hard that I choke and she cries. But what we don't say could fill up rooms. Fights with my father. Small failures in school. Anything that really upsets us.
My mother has never told me “I love you, Lisa.”—as if the four-word absence explains who I am—so I carry it with me, like a label on me. The last time she almost spoke the words was two years ago, when she called to tell me a friend had been in hospital. I said, “I love you, Mom.” She stopped for a while and then said, “Thank you.” I haven't said it since, but I've wondered why my mother doesn't until I've found a poem that supplies words for the blank spaces I try to understand in our conversations:
Don’t fill up on bread. I say absent-mindedly. The servings here are huge.
My son, middle-aged, says: Did you really just say that to me?
What he doesn’t know is that when we’re walking together, I desire to reach for his hand.
It's humble, yet heartbreaking. After copying it down in my journal, I emailed it to mom, adding “This poem makes me think of you.” My mother doesn’t read poetry—or at least, she doesn’t tell me, and I felt nervous clicking “Send”.
She never mentioned the poem. But the next time I went home for vacation, I noticed something new in the kitchen fixed to an antique board: the poem. The board hung above the heater, the warmest spot in the kitchen. The poem still hangs there. Neither my mother nor I have ever spoken about it.
1. What's the function of paragraph 1?| A．To stress the theme. | B．To establish the setting. |
| C．To represent the characters. | D．To create the atmosphere. |
| A．Shaky. | B．Distant. | C．Reserved. | D．Intense. |
| A．It reminded her of mom's love. |
| B．She wanted to apologize to mom. |
| C．It suited mom's taste of literature. |
| D．She needed an interpretation from mom. |
| A．A memory of golden days. |
| B．Daughter’s gratefulness to her. |
| C．A decoration in the plain kitchen. |
| D．Daughter's understanding of her. |
4 . I’ve been in an 18-year love-hate relationship with a black walnut tree.
It’s a unique tree. In late September or early October, falling fruits as hard as baseballs threaten the skulls (头骨) of you, your children, your neighbors and those that reside next door to them. Umbrellas in the yard are a must while dining in early August, and as for me, I wear my bike helmet while working in the garden.
The black walnut also releases a chemical substance through its roots as a competitive strategy. It’s poisonous to several common plants. There have been many new plant varieties that I brought home with hopes that maybe the black walnut would accept them, but they failed to flourish.
What does work are native plants that naturally grow in the area. Native plants are important to have around since they provide beneficial pollinators (传粉者) like birds, bees and butterflies with seeds and contribute to a healthy and biodiverse environment. Native plants for this area are generally easy to grow, so they experience less stress.
Have I thought of getting rid of this giant pain in my tiny backyard? Yes, however, getting rid of this tree standing at 50 feet with an 87-inch trunk is next to impossible. It’s also protected under the law. Rightfully so. Trees are important to the urban forest and for all of those that inhabit it.
Sometimes I think about my life without the black walnut. I can’t imagine a spring without the birds who arrive every year and loudly sing their songs before dawn. I’d miss falling asleep on lazy weekend afternoons as I look up into its leaves.
Every spring, I wonder what the season holds: What are the chances of being knocked unconscious while barbecuing? Like any good relationship, I’ll never be pleased. I’m stuck with this tree, so I’ll listen to its needs and give it the space it requires. In return, my walnut offers a habitat for wildlife and a reminder.
1. Why does the author wear a bike helmet while working in the garden?| A．To protect the injured skull. | B．To prevent herself from sunburn. |
| C．To avoid being hit by the nuts. | D．To reduce the chance of getting bitten by bees. |
| A．It attracts beneficial pollinators. |
| B．It lets out poison to drive away pests. |
| C．It produces a chemical fatal to some plants. |
| D．It competes for nutrition with similar species. |
| A．The volume of its fruits may bring inconvenience. |
| B．The tree outcompetes the native plants in the garden. |
| C．The tree is home to numerous birds and other creatures. |
| D．The presence of the tree takes up much space of the garden. |
| A．it’s better to give than to take |
| B．trees and plants have their own ways to flourish |
| C．even a good relationship is not always trouble-free |
| D．acceptance, instead of resistance, is the better way to be |
5 . Non-Credit Courses
The Pre-College Program offers non-credit courses. Students will experience college-level courses given by some of our college’s leading experts and will receive written feedback (反馈) on their work at the end of the course. Pre-College students will also receive a grade of Satisfactory/Unsatisfactory and a certificate of completion at the conclusion of the program.
All non-credit courses meet from 9:00 a. m.-11:30 a. m. daily and may have additional requirements in the afternoons or evenings.
COURSE: Case Studies in Neuroscience
·June 11— July 2
·Leah Roesch
Using student-centered, active-learning methods and real-world examples, this course is designed to provide a fuller understanding of how the human brain works.
COURSE: Psychology of Creativity
·June 15—June 28
·Marshall Duke
Why are certain people so creative? Is it genetic (遗传的), or a result of childhood experience? Are they different from everyone else? This popular psychology course highlights the different theories of creativity.
COURSE: Creative Storytelling
·June 21 — July 3
·Edith Freni
This college-level course in creative storytelling functions as an introduction to a variety of storytelling techniques that appear in different forms of creative writing, such as short fiction and playwriting.
COURSE: Sports Economics
·July 19 — August 1
·Christina DePasquale
In this course we will analyze many interesting aspects of the sports industry: sports leagues, ticket pricing, salary negotiations, discrimination, and NCAA policies to name a few.
1. Who is the text intended for?| A．The general public. | B．College freshmen. |
| C．Educational experts. | D．High school students. |
| A．Sports Economics. | B．Creative Storytelling. |
| C．Psychology of Creativity. | D．Case Studies in Neuroscience. |
| A．Leah Roesch’s. | B．Edith Freni’s. |
| C．Marshall Duke’s. | D．Christina DePasquale’s. |
6 . In southeastern Brazil, local fishers walk into dark waters in search of mullet (鲻鱼) On their own, it would be tricky to find the silvery fish. But the humans get help from an unusual partner: wild bottlenose dolphins.
With nets in hand, the fishers patiently wait as their cetacean (鲸类的) partners drive the fish toward the shore. A signal from the dolphins—usually a deep dive—indicates when they should cast their nets. This fishing partnership has passed down through the generations, lasting for more than a century.
While researchers knew humans profited from this pairing, they couldn't confirm whether it benefited the dolphins. Now, in a new study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers suggest cetaceans that hunt with humans have more chances to live than those that don't.
“Human-wildlife cooperation in general is a rare phenomenon at a global scale.” says Mauricio Cantor, a biologist at Oregon State University and leader of the study. “Usually humans gain the benefit, and nature pays the cost. But this interaction has been happening for over 150 years.”
Fishers were more successful when they worked with the dolphins. When dolphins were present, the fishers were 17 times more likely to catch prey (猎物) and netted nearly four times more mullet when they timed their casting with the cetaceans' signals. Eighty-six percent of all 4.955 mullet caught during the study period came from “synchronous (同时的) interactions”—when the allies organized their actions perfectly with one another.
The study also revealed dolphins hunting with humans had a 13 percent increase in survival rate over other dolphins. These cooperative dolphins are more likely to stay near the shore, reducing their chance of entanglement (缠绕) in illegal fishing equipment. Besides, the dolphins can take some fish directly from the fishers’ harvest.
1. What do the first two paragraphs talk about concerning Brazilian fishers?| A．They trick dolphins into fishing for them. |
| B．They harvest more fish with dolphins' help. |
| C．They have been training dolphins over a century. |
| D．They cast the fishing nets when dolphins surface. |
| A．Nature favors human beings at a huge cost. |
| B．Fishers benefit from cooperating with cetaceans. |
| C．Human-wildlife interaction is a new global trend. |
| D．Dolphins working with man have higher survival rate. |
| A．Prey. | B．Mullet. | C．Partners. | D．Researchers. |
| A．To appeal for the protection of sea creatures. |
| B．To show a unique human-dolphin relationship. |
| C．To applaud for development in fishing research. |
| D．To encourage fishers to better draw on dolphins. |
7 . On an extremely cold December night, fire trucks arrived in the sleepy little town of Manton, Michigan and shot to Chittle’s home. Was it because of a fire or a child climbing too high to a dangerous place? Rather, it was for helping make a dream come true.
Outdoor activities and a slow pace of life are a mainstay in this rural town. When people were unable to leave the community, Scott Chittle decided they needed a safe place to come together and something joyful during the winter months. And what is a better outdoor activity to get people outside than ice skating?
To fulfil his dream, Chittle downloaded instructions on how to build an ice rink and then ordered a 3,000 square foot waterproof cloth and some wood to create walls online. It took 12 fire trucks to get enough water to fill the plot.
It took a little time and some neighborly persuasion as Chittle went door to door to convince people to come to see his creation, and soon Chittle’s backyard ice rink became a Manton hot spot. Children were skating and shooting, a fire was burning, and hot chocolate was steaming in to-go cups. “When things were tough, it was a place,” says Chittle’s neighbor Audrey Hooker. “It was fantastic because we just came together and became calm and happy instead of concerned.”
But the goodwill didn’t stop with Chittle. When the community heard how much money he used to make this project happen, everyone stepped forward. A fundraiser brought in about $1,300, and letters flooded to Chittle’s home stuffed with cash. “Almost 30 complete strangers knocked on my door to just shake my hand and say thank you, most of them handing me money as well and three asking for a hug,” says Chittle. “This has been a community thing. It’s more than me. I want to show the rest of the world what a little effort and the best intentions can do.”
1. Why did fire trucks come to Manton?| A．To deal with an emergency. | B．To send water to the community. |
| C．To ensure people’s safety in the town. | D．To help with Chittle building the ice rink. |
| A．Persuade his neighbors to make donations. | B．Purchase a piece of land behind his house. |
| C．Turn to the Internet for tips and materials. | D．Research the popular lifestyles in Manton. |
| A．It made the community popular in Mantan. | B．It slowed down the pace of the residents’ life. |
| C．It offered people there comfort and company. | D．It inspired the residents to do outdoor activities. |
| A．Everyone could make a difference to society. | B．Chittle received acts of kindness from others. |
| C．The community got better due to the ice rink. | D．Chittle had goodwill to the whole community. |
8 . Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) recently announced that they have figured out how to engineer a biofilm (生物膜) that harvests the energy in evaporation (蒸发) and changes it to electricity. This biofilm, which was announced in Nature Communications, has the potential to revolutionize the world of wearable electronics, powering everything from personal medical sensors to personal electronics.
“This is a very exciting technology, says Liu Xiaomeng, a graduate student in electrical and computer engineering in UMass Amherst’s College of Engineering and the paper’s lead author. “It generates real green energy, and unlike other so-called ‘green-energy’ sources, its production is totally green.”
That is because this biofilm—which is a sheet of bacterial cells and as thin as a sheet of paper—is produced naturally by an engineered version of the bacterium Geobacter sulfurreducens. G sulfurreducens is known to produce electricity and has been used previously in “microbial batteries” to power electrical equipment. But such batteries require that G sulfurreducens be properly cared for and fed a constant diet. By contrast, this new biofilm, which can supply as much energy as a comparably sized battery, works continuously, because it is dead. And because it is dead, it doesn’t need to be fed.
The secret behind this new biofilm is that it makes energy from the moisture (水分) on your skin. While we daily read stories about solar power, at least 50% of the solar energy reaching the earth goes toward evaporating water. “This is a huge, undiscovered source of energy,” says Yao Jun, professor of electrical and computer engineering at UMass Amherst, and the paper’s one senior author. Since the surface of our skin is constantly moist with sweat, the biofilm can “plug into” it and change the energy locked in evaporation into sufficient energy to power small equipment. “Our next step is to increase the size of our film to power more intelligent wearable electronics,” says Yao, and Liu points out that one of the goals is to power entire electronic systems, rather than single equipment.
1. Which of the following can biofilm do according to the first paragraph?| A．Update wearable electronics. | B．Get power from evaporation. |
| C．Supply energy to microbial batteries. | D．Transform the way of generating electricity. |
| A．It is comparatively thinner. | B．It is environmentally friendly. |
| C．It adopts a rare energy source. | D．It decreases the cost in usage. |
| A．By interacting with solar power. | B．By making electricity out of sweat. |
| C．By gaining energy from electronic system. | D．By employing water to generate electricity. |
| A．Intelligent. | B．Flexible. | C．Delicate. | D．Promising. |
9 . Anytime I travel on my bicycle across the country, I’m always amazed by how kind people can be to strangers.
One night, my friends and I were camping in a town in Missouri. There was a severe storm and we were getting
Fortunately, we spent the night in a nice dry home. We were
The kindness of a stranger always
That family
| A．annoyed | B．impatient | C．excited | D．nervous |
| A．warn | B．show | C．convince | D．guarantee |
| A．demand | B．concern | C．desire | D．responsibility |
| A．drowned | B．deserted | C．killed | D．trapped |
| A．even | B．merely | C．often | D．simply |
| A．submitted | B．exchanged | C．checked | D．updated |
| A．experiences | B．messages | C．traditions | D．comments |
| A．fear | B．order | C．gain | D．offer |
| A．especially | B．officially | C．occasionally | D．definitely |
| A．ask about | B．complain about | C．agree with | D．associate with |
| A．reveals | B．shakes | C．strengthens | D．shapes |
| A．states | B．wishes | C．saves | D．gives |
| A．impressive | B．practical | C．satisfactory | D．evident |
| A．funded | B．inspired | C．owed | D．delighted |
| A．drove | B．sought | C．helped | D．pointed |
10 . How Not to Be Awkward
Not all of us are outgoing and ready to take the world by storm. Many among us are shy and may even feel kept apart from others. This usually happens when a person is still in his or her teen years and going through the socialization process.
Stay in shape and dress up well
Sometimes, awkwardness could be due to being overweight. When you are large in size, you tend to get very self-conscious So, in order to avoid this, get into the habit of exercising every day
Be optimistic
Another effective tip on how not to feel awkward is to always keep a smile on your face.
This one really helps. Awkwardness generally develops when a person remains isolated from others. So, in order to change this situation, join groups For instance, if you are a reading lover, join a book club. Joining people in book reading sessions as well as debates will help remove your awkwardness. Choose any activity of your choice, such as playing team sports or joining a dance class, and soon you will find your comfort level around people increasing day by day!
Develop your personality
Being a book-worm or an Internet addict will not get you anywhere. For self-improvement, take up a hobby that adds meaning to your life. Learn singing or try adventure sports.
| A．Participate in Team Activities. |
| B．Learn how to end a conversation. |
| C．Secondly, have appropriate clothes on. |
| D．If you look sad, nobody will actually like being with you. |
| E．Something as simple as listening to music will do wonders too. |
| F．So, what can a person do to overcome this tendency to be awkward? |
| G．Awkwardness could be because you do not have anything in common to talk about. |
