1 . With the world's attention on vaccines, now it feels like a good moment to sing the praises of an often forgotten contributor to their development. Three hundred years ago this month, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu got her daughter inoculated（接种）against smallpox, making her child the first person in the West to be protected in this way. Without Montagu's willingness to adopt a practice she had learned from other cultures, the introduction of vaccines around 80 years later would never have taken place.
Montagu first witnessed inoculation when she accompanied her husband to Turkey. Inoculation had started in Asia, probably in China, as early as the 10th century AD. Montagu observed how older women in Turkey took a tiny amount of pus（脓）from a person with smallpox. They then used needles to make cuts on people's wrists and ankles and added the pus to their bloodstream. This helped people gain immunity from future infection.
Like other visitors to the country, Montagu took steps to ensure that her son was inoculated. This worked well, but she knew that trying it in England would be far more challenging. Inoculation performed by unlicensed amateurs would threaten doctors' professional standing and potentially rob them of valuable income. Some people also disagree with the practice, as they saw it as going against nature.
Back in England, Montagu observed smallpox infections became increasingly severe. Eventually, in April 1721, she decided to use the Turkish practice to have her daughter inoculated, because she believed that the rewards would outweigh the risks. After a safe time had passed following the inoculation, Montagu allowed doctors to examine her daughter.
Doctors in Britain gradually accepted the practice. About 80 years later, a pioneering physician found smallpox vaccines to destroy smallpox completely. As early as last century, academics argued that Montagu was no more than an enthusiastic amateur. In truth, she made a vital scientific contribution towards finding the cure for smallpox.
1. What is the second paragraph mainly about?| A．The origin of smallpox inoculation. | B．Turkish women's invention of inoculation. |
| C．The benefits from smallpox inoculation. | D．Montagu's first access to inoculation. |
| A．Because it might harm doctors' interests. | B．Because deep down it was against nature. |
| C．Because it was a foreign practice. | D．Because it might cost valuable money. |
| A．The severe situation in smallpox infections. | B．The result of Montagu's daughter's inoculation. |
| C．A physician's discovery of smallpox vaccines. | D．Montagu's focus on its rewards rather than its risks |
| A．a fearless scientist | B．a brilliant inventor | C．a devoted explorer | D．an unsung hero |
2 . My brother Joe liked driving cars. He was especially
As a little boy, Joe would often say to me. “Sister, when I am old enough to drive my own car, I will fly so fast that angels will run scared.” With a big grin (咧嘴笑), he would
Joe was born blind. But he could
Growing up is a
One hot summer day when he was 16, Joe, with the help of stick, found his way to my stepfather’s car.
He felt the heat of the
I have heard various versions (版本) of this story. They all
| A．lacking in | B．doubtful about | C．fond of | D．afraid of |
| A．cheerful | B．disappointed | C．interested | D．worried |
| A．locate | B．imagine | C．experience | D．seek |
| A．really | B．definitely | C．fortunately | D．never |
| A．act | B．dream | C．drive | D．see |
| A．achieve | B．light | C．refuse | D．darken |
| A．Story | B．Life | C．Dream | D．Car |
| A．deserve | B．realize | C．satisfy | D．change |
| A．difference | B．balance | C．war | D．mix |
| A．nothing | B．anything | C．something | D．all |
| A．metal | B．keys | C．seals | D．stick |
| A．opened | B．began | C．fired | D．turned |
| A．come up with | B．come down to | C．get reduced to | D．catch up with |
| A．broke | B．exploded | C．roared | D．burst |
| A．Definitely | B．Hopefully | C．Amazingly | D．Fortunately |
3 . I’m an American-born Chinese. I wouldn’t say I’m more American than Chinese or vice versa. My character was equally molded by both cultures. For a long time, I was comfortable with being from two cultures. I was fluent in “Chinglish”.
However, as I grew up, something unexpected rose, causing a parallel tension between the two corresponding cultures. During Chinese events when I was in China, the host would sometimes make fun of America. My relatives would look at me and laugh, asking me how I felt. But how could I respond to a question like that? If I said I was uncomfortable, it would just make me seem even more American in their eyes. But I couldn’t pretend to laugh either. So, I often just stayed quiet and smiled.
Sometimes, I’d leave China feeling less Chinese than when I went in.
This past summer, on my way back to Rochester, a man at the airport kept asking my father and I where we were from. When I told him I was from the United States, he didn’t seem to believe me.
He then went on to ask the terrible question, “But like where are you really from, like, where were you born?” And no matter how specific our answers were, the man still seemed a little doubtful. He then went on to ask us if we knew where Tampa, Florida was and if we knew anything about it. It’s moments like these when I realize that sometimes my appearance makes it hard for me to seem fully American.
These experiences made me question if I was more Chinese or American.
I felt like I was neither. So, if I wasn’t completely one culture or the other, what was I? In China, I would feel more American, while in America, I would feel more Chinese. There was no balance between my two cultures.
But this doesn’t mean that I don’t embrace (拥抱) both my identities. I love both my Chinese cultural identity and my American one. I just need to learn to love them together.
1. How did the author feel about his identity at the very beginning?| A．Special. | B．Confident. | C．Confused. | D．Ridiculous. |
| A．Because he found it hard to remain quiet and have a big smile. |
| B．Because he was unable to speak fluent Chinese at his hometown. |
| C．Because he had lost face in front of his relatives and friends. |
| D．Because he was treated as an American by his Chinese relatives. |
| A．His cultures. | B．His experience. | C．His look. | D．His air tickets. |
| A．Being Culturally Homeless | B．A Boy with Two Identities |
| C．A Chinese Boy Born in American | D．Better Chinese than American |
4 . There is an older homeless woman who sometimes is sitting near where I am living, begging for money.
Whenever I see her, I will give her something. If I don’t take some money with me, I will
Today I was passing her again, giving her some
She
| A．Uncertainly | B．Naturally | C．Interestingly | D．Unfortunately |
| A．showed off | B．taken over | C．searched for | D．referred to |
| A．leave | B．buy | C．choose | D．protect |
| A．talk | B．explain | C．describe | D．report |
| A．information | B．money | C．advice | D．luck |
| A．satisfied | B．interested | C．surprised | D．excited |
| A．spend | B．waste | C．pass | D．miss |
| A．proved | B．discussed | C．mentioned | D．remembered |
| A．shocked | B．uncomfortable | C．fresh | D．unbelievable |
| A．yes | B．hello | C．sorry | D．thanks |
| A．seldom | B．always | C．sometimes | D．often |
| A．happy | B．tired | C．awkward | D．relaxed |
| A．asking | B．expecting | C．advising | D．inviting |
| A．rich | B．polite | C．lucky | D．normal |
| A．lights | B．pride | C．anger | D．tears |
5 . Although Friends came to an end in 2004, it’s still considered one of the best sitcoms to ever make its way onto our screens. This show thrust the likes of Lisa Kudrow, Matthew Perry, Jennifer Aniston, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer, and Courteney Cox into the limelight (聚光灯), and everyone had their favorites. Women wanted to have their hair cut just like Rachel, many people wanted to be as confident as Joey, and others wanted to be able to sing just like Phoebe! However, it seems as though Lisa Kudrow’s experience on the set of Friends wasn’t as perfect as it seemed.
Recently, Lisa Kudrow was asked to speak on Marc Maron’s podcast (播客), and she opened up about her experiences with her own body image. She noted that, while working on Friends, she would often compare herself to her co-stars. She would look at Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox, and she would then see her flaws compared to their perfections. She would see them as extremely thin and beautiful women, but then she looked at herself on her screen and saw someone who was much larger.
Because she often felt as though she was less of a woman because she felt larger than her co-stars, Lisa would lose weight on purpose to feel better about herself. The more she lost weight, the more she received compliments from those who knew her, and complete strangers. This heightened the idea that she needed to be thin to be beautiful.
Now, Lisa has put weight back on and feels more beautiful than ever.
1. Who were most probably Matthew Perry and Jennifer Aniston?| A．Stars from Friends. | B．Characters from Friends. |
| C．Fans of Friends. | D．Coauthors of Friends. |
| A．Because she didn’t work well with other stars. |
| B．Because she thought she was too fat. |
| C．Because she wasn’t her audience’s favorite. |
| D．Because she was poor at playing her role. |
| A．Don’t think much of your appearance. |
| B．Don’t express your true feelings to your fans. |
| C．Don’t focus much on the comments of co-stars. |
| D．Don’t make too much comparison with others. |
| A．Dislike. | B．Comment. | C．Praise. | D．Requirement. |
6 . “What is the story of your piano?” a new friend asked over dinner. My piano sits in the corner of my small living room.
My piano has a story? “All pianos have stories” she said. Suddenly, my piano’s story came flooding out of me fully-formed as if I’d always had this tale to tell.
I loved music since childhood. I started with the recorder and moved on to instrument like the violin, trumpet (小号) and guitar. But playing the piano had always been my dream, a dream our family could not afford.
I grew up in an immigrant Chinese family in Toronto. My father waited tables in a Chinese restaurant, and my mother worked in a Chinese laundry. Despite our poor childhood, my siblings (兄弟姐妹) and I were always fed with love. I can’t remember which birthday it was when she spared the money to buy me a doll. Of course, by then I’d grown out of the age of wanting dolls, but she worked too hard to know that, and I never told her. I happily and gratefully accepted the doll because I loved the gift that was her loving me enough to buy it for me.
So it was eventually with my piano. It was in my last year of high school. I took piano lessons for about a year before university forced me to stop. I had to make a decision: to work towards the more practical goal of medical school or my love for music. Finally I chose to stop piano lessons.
I moved that piano around with me over the next decade — until my son was born. He showed an early interest in music, so I put him in piano lessons. I played that piano through my son — although guitar was finally his instrument of choice .
I’ve come to realize that for my career, I’ve let all personal pleasures fall away. I figured I’d get back to playing the piano when I retire. Maybe it’s time to get that piano retuned (重新调音) again, this time for myself, before it’s too late to enjoy. Maybe that’s something we all should do right now .
Sometimes a single question can open whole paths of thinking and discovery. So, what is the story of your piano?
1. What do we know about the author from the first four paragraphs?| A．She was born in a musical family. |
| B．She had a poor but happy childhood. |
| C．Her interest in dolls never faded. |
| D．Her parents were too busy to care for her. |
| A．Her parents persuaded her to do so. |
| B．She faced study and career pressure. |
| C．She couldn’t afford piano lessons. |
| D．Her university didn’t provide such lessons. |
| A．Restart her piano dream. |
| B．Ask her son to learn piano. |
| C．Buy a new piano for herself. |
| D．Focus on her medical career. |
| A．To explain the influence of music on her. |
| B．To encourage readers to play an instrument. |
| C．To look back on her childhood experience. |
| D．To share her story about an unrealized dream. |
7 . What makes a human being? Is it our thoughts? Our emotions? Our behavior?
All of these things make us who we are, but at the center of the matter is the genome (基因组) — the genes inside our bodies that may determine everything from our hair colour to our intelligence. But if we could change our genome, what would it mean to us?
In an online video posted on Nov 26, He Jiankui, a biological researcher from Southern University of Science and Technology in China, said that he had helped to make the world’s first genetically edited babies.
These are twin girls, born in November, with genes edited in an attempt to help them fight against possible future infection (感染) with the AIDS virus.
He said that he chose to do this because HIV infections are a big problem in China. “I feel such a strong responsibility that it’s not just to make a first, but also to set an example,” He told the Associated Press(AP).
The announcement has caused an international storm. Some believe that success will benefit the families of HIV patients. Considering that HIV is “a major and growing public health threat,” attempted gene editing for HIV is justifiable, Harvard Medical School genetics professor George Church told AP.
However, others think that gene editing technology is still unsafe to attempt.
“Gene editing itself is experimental and is still associated with unexpected mutations (突变), causing genetic problems early and later in life, including the development of cancer,” Julian Savulescu, a specialist in ethics at the University of Oxford, told BBC News.
Others fear that this could open the door to using gene editing technology to make designer babies. It might give the parents the choices to choose everything from their baby’s eye color to intelligence.
“You could find wealthy parents buying the latest ‘upgrades’ for their children, leading to even greater inequality than we already live with,” Marcy Darnovsky, director of the San Francisco Center for Genetics, told BBC News.
1. Why did He Jiankui make the genetically edited babies?| A．Because he wanted to be a leader in gene editing technology. |
| B．Because he tried to do his part in fighting against HIV infection. |
| C．Because he attempted to help the twin girls who were infected with AIDS. |
| D．Because he wanted to become the first to make the genetically edited babies in the world. |
| A．indifferent | B．understanding | C．objective | D．unfavorable |
| A．Gene editing can determine everything inside a person’s body |
| B．Gene editing may widen the gap between the rich and the poor |
| C．Gene editing may enable wealthy parents to design their babies |
| D．Gene editing can cause genetic problems sooner or later in life |
8 . Snowy wanted to be a show jumping horse. Every day she would
Snowy was very excited, but when she saw how
“I did it!" she shouted happily.
Again, Snowy was
So never be afraid of
| A．ask | B．warn | C．force | D．advise |
| A．old | B．fat | C．clever | D．careful |
| A．deep | B．high | C．long | D．far |
| A．wait | B．leave | C．stay | D．settle |
| A．see | B．stop | C．start | D．arrive |
| A．speed | B．power | C．doubt | D．courage |
| A．Suddenly | B．immediately | C．However | D．Besides |
| A．Remember | B．Try | C．Carry | D．Study |
| A．nervous | B．happy | C．upset | D．serious |
| A．missed | B．liked | C．entered | D．needed |
| A．appeared | B．changed | C．begun | D．continued |
| A．dangerous | B．important | C．familiar | D．terrible |
| A．pride | B．anger | C．patience | D．kindness |
| A．early | B．young | C．small | D．smart |
| A．failures | B．worries | C．uncertainties | D．difficulties |
9 . You have probably read about robots replacing human labour as a new era of automation takes root in one industry after another. However, a new report suggests humans are not the only ones who might lose their jobs.
In New Zealand, farmers are using drones（无人机）to herd and monitor cows and sheep, taking up the position that highly intelligent dogs have held for more than a century. The robots have not replaced the dogs entirely, Radio New Zealand reports, but they have appropriated（盗用）one of the animal's most powerful tools: barking. The DJI Mavic Enterprise, a $ 3,500 drone favored by farmers, has a feature that lets the machine record sounds and play them over a loudspeaker, giving the machine the ability to imitate its canine counterparts.
Corey Lambeth, a shepherd on a farm, told RNZ the machines are surprisingly effective. “That's the one thing I've noticed that when you're moving cows the old cows stand up to the dogs, but with the drones, they've never done that,” he said, noting the drones move cows faster, with less stress, than the dogs do.
The drones come in handy for more than just herding cows and sheep. The robots allow farmers to monitor their land from afar, monitoring water and feed levels and checking on the animals' health without disturbing them. Jason Rentoul told RNZ that a two- hour herding job that used to require two people and two teams of dogs could be accomplished in 45 minutes using a single drone. “On a hilly farm where a lot of stuff is done by farmers on foot, the drones really save a lot of man hours,” he said.
For now, farmers say, there is still a need for herding dogs, primarily because they have a longer lifespan than drones, can work in bad weather and do not require an electrical socket every few hours to recharge.
1. What does the underlined part in Paragraph 2 refer to?| A．Farmers. | B．Dogs. | C．Sheep. | D．Loudspeakers. |
| A．Herding dogs will gradually lose their position on the farmland. |
| B．The drones can help monitor weather conditions with the current technology. |
| C．The drones are multifunctional and leave the animals undisturbed. |
| D．The market for the DJI Mavic Enterprise is pretty small because of its high price. |
| A．The drones can't bark as loudly as the dogs do. |
| B．Cows are not used to seeing the drones. |
| C．The drones are much more expensive. |
| D．The drones' power is limited and they need charging. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Objective. | C．Critical. | D．Doubtful. |
10 . In May this year, as part of our 150th anniversary, we asked readers aged between 18 and 25 to enter an essay competition. The task was to tell us, in no more than 1,000 words, what scientific advance they would most like to see in their lifetimes, and why it mattered to them.
The response was phenomenal: we received 661 entries. Some entrants hoped that science would make their lifetimes much longer than they can currently expect. Many looked forward to work that will end climate change. Others wanted to see advances in our understanding of human history, crop growth, space exploration, and medical technologies. The ideas were inspiring.
The winner is a compelling essay by Yasmin Ali, a PhD student at the University of Nottingham, UK. Ali submitted a piece on Beethoven, her brother’s hearing loss and the science which she hoped would one day cure it. It stood out to the judges as a reminder of why many scientists do research: to make the world better tomorrow than it is today.
All essays were judged by a group of Nature editors. The top ten submissions were then ranked by three members of a separate judging group: Magdalena Skipper, editor-in-chief of Nature; Faith Osier, a researcher; and Jess Wade, a physicist. All submissions were kept anonymous throughout the process.
We also selected two runners-up(非冠军的获奖者).Physicist Robert Schittko at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, proposes that nuclear fusion(核聚变) could offer a solution to the climate crisis, in a piece that effortlessly mixes grand ambition with gentle humour. And chemist Matthew Zajac at the University of Chicago in Illinois wrote a powerful personal account of why he wants to see advances in the field of same-sex reproduction.
The results show that today’s young scientists have a wealth of ideas, talent and conviction that research can transform their world. We look forward to seeing what they do next.
1. What’s the essay competition about?| A．The scientific expectation. |
| B．The fantastic scientific ideas. |
| C．The dreams of future life. |
| D．The celebration of anniversary. |
| A．She showed great talent in music. |
| B．She found the cure for the loss of hearing. |
| C．She appealed for people to care about hearing loss problem. |
| D．She reminded people to remember the meaning of science development. |
| A．Robert Schittko won the second place. |
| B．There were two winners in the essay competition. |
| C．Matthew Zajac presented his view of same-sex reproduction. |
| D．The two runners-up were selected for the same field they chose. |
| A．Doubtful. |
| B．Favorable. |
| C．Impossible. |
| D．Ignorant. |
