1 . An 8-year-old boy I know is small for his age, shorter and slighter than his friends, even smaller than his 5-year-old sister. Concerned about the increasing use and possible risks of growth hormone(生长激素), I asked his mother if she’d considered treating him with it. She replied, “Not really. He’s built like his father, who was short and slight as a boy and didn’t shoot up until college.”
His father, at 41, is now 6 feet tall, though still very slender. He recalls being a reasonably athletic child but without the physical power of his friends, making up for what he lacked in mass with speed and agility. “I enjoyed competitive sports and worked on skills others didn’t have,” he told me, and said he encourages his son to recognize and capitalize on the skills he has.
If only every parent with a short but healthy child approached the matter as sensibly. Experts estimate that 60% to 80% of children who are short for their age do not have a growth hormone deficiency(缺乏) or other medical condition that limits growth. But knowing there’s a therapy available to increase height, some parents seek a medical solution for a perceived problem, even when there is no medical abnormality. They should also know, however, that new research has linked growth hormone treatment to serious unfavorable health effects years later.
Dr. Adda Grimberg, a doctor at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, recalled that “Twenty years ago, families were focused on health. They came in with a child who was not growing right and wanted to know if there was an underlying disease. Now, more and more, they’re focused on height. They want growth hormone, looking for a specific height. But this is not like online shopping; you can’t just place an order and make a child the height you want.”
In 2003, the Food and Drug Administration approved use of recombinant human growth hormone for the condition known as “idiopathic short stature”, or short build of unknown cause, which is not a disease. But it has caused a growing number of parents to consider using the hormone to boost the height of their children.
The resulting rush to therapy reflects concerns about a widespread societal bias(偏见) against shortness, rather than a true medical need. Experts have noted that the practice backs up the belief that short stature is unacceptable, leading to an increasing demand for therapy. It is far better, Dr. Grimberg suggested, to help a short child develop coping skills than to buy inches through medicine.
1. As for the parents’ attitude to their 8-year-old boy’s shortness, the author is ________.| A．critical | B．tolerant | C．supportive | D．worried |
| A．They are eager to get the expected result. |
| B．They spare no effort to sort out the cause. |
| C．They feel disturbed by their children’s health. |
| D．They help develop their children’s coping skills. |
| A．It might be officially recommended. |
| B．It may fuel height discrimination. |
| C．It is pushed by a medical need. |
| D．It is targeted at certain diseases. |
| A．Shower the Short with Growth Hormones |
| B．Find Replacement for Growth Hormones |
| C．Assess the Effects of Growth Hormones |
| D．Weigh the Use of Growth Hormones |
2 . For people who struggle to read text, technology can be a lifeline. Actually, assistive technology (AT) tools for reading can also be useful to students who just need some extra assistance to aid reading fluency or comprehension. These tools are inexpensive and easy to find. They open up the wonderful world of reading, making text accessible to students of all abilities. But with so many tools out there, it’s not always easy to know which ones to use.
To help, here’s a guide to some best ones.
Graphic organizers
They are visual representations, like diagrams and mind maps, of ideas and concepts. You can use graphic organizers to help with comprehension while reading. Graphic organizers can be digital or pen and paper.
Annotation aids
They let you take notes and write comments while reading. This can make it easier to keep information. Annotation aids can be part of software or apps, or they can be traditional pens, markers, and sticky notes.
Display control
It allows you to control how text is displayed. When reading on a screen, you can change the font(字体), font size, and spacing of text. You can also cover parts of the screen to lessen distractions(干扰) while reading.
Text-to-speech (TTS)
It lets you see text and hear it read aloud at the same time. To use this tool, you click on words, and you’ll hear the words read by computer-generated voices. You can even read after it and record your own voice. TTS can also be used to change any digital text files into audio files.
Optical character recognition (OCR)
It can read aloud text from images and pictures. You can use OCR by taking photos of worksheets, paper documents, and even objects like street signs. Like TTS, OCR uses computer-generated voices.
Keep in mind that using AT reading tools won’t prevent people from learning to read. For example, experts say audiobooks can actually help kids become better readers.
1. If a reader prefers taking his feelings down while reading, he’d better use ________.| A．graphic organizers | B．annotation aids |
| C．display control | D．text-to-speech |
| A．Changing file types. | B．Editing photos of documents. |
| C．Reading words in pictures. | D．Using computer-generated voices. |
| A．accessible and beneficial | B．expensive but worthwhile |
| C．helpful and energy-efficient | D．innovative but complicated |
3 . As part of our mission to inspire the next generation of scientists, inventors and engineers, the Science Museum Group (SMG) has launched an exciting new online game—Total Darkness.
Over the last year we have been developing Total Darkness with the aim of creating an experience that can have a positive impact on people’s attitudes towards STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths), as well as having a focus on self-reflection, rather than asking players to recall specific facts or concepts.
Total Darkness is a digital storytelling experience which encourages young people to recognise how the skills they use every day relate to STEM and can help them develop their confidence in science thinking. The game invites the player to solve a mysterious power cut in their hometown. The game puts players in control, allowing their choices and decisions to guide them through the story.
As the player navigates through the darkened streets of the town, equipped only with a torch, they will face various challenges. Using their curiosity, communication skills and creative problem solving, they will discover new theories about what might have caused the blackout(停电；断电). But with every step their torch fades, and the player must solve the mystery before the battery runs out.
The player’s choices and actions throughout the game will score them curiosity, creativity or communication points. At the end, the skills the player has used will be revealed along with their science style, showing how they could put their skills into action in the real world.
Total Darkness is aimed at 8-15 year-olds—an important stage in teens’ science development. Research shows that as teens make the step between primary and secondary, many move away from an interest in science as other influences have a stronger pull in their lives.
Total Darkness is a free online game playable on smartphone, tablet and desktop. Play now at totaldarkness.sciencemuseum.org.uk.
1. Total Darkness aims to help players ________ .| A．recall scientific concepts |
| B．better understand STEM |
| C．improve storytelling abilities |
| D．develop communication skills |
| A．Judgement. | B．Teamwork. |
| C．Equipment. | D．Gaming skills. |
| A．To promote a new product. |
| B．To introduce the SMG’s mission. |
| C．To explain the rules of an online game. |
| D．To emphasize the importance of STEM. |
4 . Vaccines(疫苗) may soon make their first film appearance. Led by expert Maria A. Croyle, researchers have developed a thin sheet that preserves vaccines for long periods without refrigeration. This means the carefully cooled small bottles now used to ship vaccines could potentially be replaced by lightweight films that can be mailed in an envelope and stored on a shelf.
Croyle’s laboratory began developing the technology in 2007. Inspired by amber’s ability to preserve the DNA of insects, the researchers set out to create their own version of the substance by mixing “a lot of sugar and a little bit of salt, much like hard candy,” Croyle explains. The vaccine-containing film is administered by mouth—sweet news for many who dislike needles.
The film is tailored to suit each specific vaccine candidate and provide a protective coating. “We’ve learned over time that the key to really stabilizing whatever the film holds is to have it intermixed with all the components,” Croyle says, adding that the process is quick and uses affordable, standard equipment. “We really wanted to come up with something that would be transferable to developing countries.”
Immunization(免疫) programs depend heavily on keeping vaccines cold(2℃-8℃) as they are transported, sometimes over thousands of kilometers to far-away locations. Delivery can be difficult and costly, and transport disruptions can cause the vaccines to be ineffective.
But this new product can store live viruses, bacteria and antibodies for several months at 20℃. In a paper published in Science Advances, the scientists show that the live viruses in one vaccine were preserved in the film even after 36 months. They also find that a flu vaccine suspended in their film compares favourably with a traditional flu shot(流感预防针). “The study demonstrates early proof of concept for an exciting platform for vaccine product development,” says Lisa Rohan, a pharmacologist, who was not involved in the study. She also notes that each vaccine type would need a custom formulation(配方) for future stages of development.
Finding partners to mass-produce for clinical trials is the researchers’ most pressing problem, Croyle says. They are also exploring packaging methods to keep their films stable up to 40℃.
Size is a major advantage—a letter-sized sheet of the film can carry more than 500 doses(剂) of vaccine, about 1⁄900 the weight of the same amount of traditional doses. By making it easier and cheaper to ship and preserve vaccines efficiently, Croyle says, the technology could vastly improve immunization rates the world over, particularly in middle- to low- income countries.
1. What can we learn about the film?| A．It contains animal’s DNA. | B．It will replace vaccines. |
| C．It comes in different flavours. | D．It can hold bio-products. |
| A．key component | B．development schedule |
| C．possible advantages | D．transportation requirements |
| A．advise personalizing vaccines |
| B．suggest the product is promising |
| C．prove the study is supported widely |
| D．stress the functions of a new platform |
| A．Advertising the film worldwide. | B．Improving the film’s capacity. |
| C．Reducing the shipping cost. | D．Seeking ideal manufacturers. |
5 . Albert Einstein’s 1915 masterpiece “The Foundation of the General Theory of Relativity” is the first and still the best introduction to the subject, and I recommend it as such to students. But it probably wouldn’t be publishable in a scientific journal today.
Why not? After all, it would pass with flying colours the tests of correctness and significance. And while popular belief holds that the paper was incomprehensible to its first readers, in fact many papers in theoretical physics are much more difficult.
As the physicist Richard Feynman wrote, “There was a time when the newspapers said that only 12 men understood the theory of relativity. I do believe there might have been a time when only one man did, because he was the only guy who caught on, before he wrote his paper. But after people read the paper a lot understood the theory of relativity in some way or other, certainly more than 12.”
No, the problem is its style. It starts with a leisurely philosophical discussion of space and time and then continues with an exposition of known mathematics. Those two sections, which would be considered extraneous today, take up half the paper. Worse, there are zero citations of previous scientists’ work, nor are there any graphics. Those features might make a paper not even get past the first editors.
A similar process of professionalization has transformed other parts of the scientific landscape. Requests for research time at major observatories or national laboratories are more rigidly structured. And anything involving work with human subjects, or putting instruments in space, involves piles of paperwork.
We see it also in the Regeneron Science Talent Search, the Nobel Prize of high school science competitions. In the early decades of its 78-year history, the winning projects were usually the sort of clever but naive, amateurish efforts one might expect of talented beginners working on their own. Today, polished work coming out of internships(实习) at established laboratories is the norm.
These professionalizing tendencies are a natural consequence of the explosive growth of modern science. Standardization and system make it easier to manage the rapid flow of papers, applications and people. But there are serious downsides. A lot of unproductive effort goes into jumping through bureaucratic hoops(繁文缛节), and outsiders face entry barriers at every turn.
Of course, Einstein would have found his way to meeting modern standards and publishing his results. Its scientific core wouldn’t have changed, but the paper might not be the same taste to read.
1. According to Richard Feynman, Einstein’s 1915 paper ________.| A．was a classic in theoretical physics |
| B．turned out to be comprehensible |
| C．needed further improvement |
| D．attracted few professionals |
| A．Unrealistic. | B．Irrelevant. |
| C．Unattractive. | D．Imprecise. |
| A．The application of research findings. |
| B．The principle of scientific research. |
| C．The selection of young talents. |
| D．The evaluation of laboratories. |
| A．What makes Einstein great? |
| B．Will science be professionalized? |
| C．Could Einstein get published today? |
| D．How will modern science make advances? |
6 . Nick Torrance, a junior in high school, suffers from muscular dystrophy, and attends school in a specialized wheelchair. The muscle disease prevents him from accomplishing many everyday tasks, such as carrying his books and putting things away in his locker. So he had a fellow student assigned to help him. But Amy Smith, the school’s occupational therapist, thought that being able to do something simple like opening his locker on his own would be empowering.
Amy initially thought they would be able to buy a device to help. But searching online turned up nothing that could meet their needs—everything needed a keycode or some other physical action, things her disabled student couldn’t do. After the outside search for a method came up short, she looked within the school itself for an answer. Amy turned to the school’s robotics instructor.
The instructor, in turn, suggested that two of his most capable students take on the project: Micah Stuhldreher and Wyatt Smrcka. They took first place in a national robotics competition, so they were a natural choice to tackle the locker door problem with a robotics solution. Micah and Wyatt wasted no time getting down to work and for an hour each school day, the boys brainstormed, built, and rebuilt various versions of the device until they landed on the perfect solution one year later.
Like in any device development, it took a lot of trial and error for Micah and Wyatt to make something that would work for their target audience. For example, they initially built a locker-opening button, but Nick wasn’t strong enough to push it, so they replaced it with a sensor.
Now, between classes Nick steers his electric wheelchair to his locker and waves his hand over a sensor on the arm of the wheelchair. A few seconds later, the locker door swings open. Another wave closes the door. Nick can make it with ease—it may be a small thing, but it gives him a sense of independence.
1. Why did Amy Smith want a device?| A．To increase her student’s confidence. | B．To encourage cooperation at school. |
| C．To inspire a robotics invention. | D．To help treat a muscle disease. |
| A．move around easily | B．put his things away |
| C．continue his schooling | D．open and close his locker |
| A．Caring and passionate. | B．Talented and ambitious. |
| C．Sensitive and insightful. | D．Humble and warmhearted. |
7 . Elizabeth Spelke, a cognitive (认知的) psychologist at Harvard, has spent her career testing the world's most complex learning system-the mind of a baby. Babies might seem like no match for artificial intelligence (AI). They are terrible at labeling images, hopeless at mining text, and awful at video games. Then again, babies can do things beyond the reach of any AI. By just a few months old, they’ve begun to grasp the foundations of language, such as grammar. They’ve started to understand how to adapt to unfamiliar situations.
Yet even experts like Spelke don’t understand precisely how babies — or adults, for that matter — learn. That gap points to a puzzle at the heart of modern artificial intelligence: We're not sure what to aim for.
Consider one of the most impressive examples of AI, Alpha Zero, a programme that plays board games with superhuman skill. After playing thousands of games against itself at a super speed, and learning from winning positions, Alpha Zero independently discovered several famous chess strategies and even invented new ones. It certainly seems like a machine eclipsing human cognitive abilities. But Alpha Zero needs to play millions more games than a person during practice to learn a game. Most importantly, it cannot take what it has learned from the game and apply it to another area.
To some AI experts, that calls for a new approach. In a November research paper, Francois Chollet, a well-known AI engineer, argued that it’s misguided to measure machine intelligence just according to its skills at specific tasks. “Humans don’t start out with skills; they start out with a broad ability to acquire new skills,” he says. “What a strong human chess player is demonstrating is not only the ability to play chess, but the potential to fulfill any task of a similar difficulty.” Chollet posed a set of problems, each of which requires an AI programme to arrange colored squares on a grid (格栅) based on just a few prior examples. It’s not hard for a person. But modern machine-learning programmes-trained on huge amounts of data — cannot learn from so few examples.
Josh Tenenbaum, a professor in MIT's Center for Brains, Minds & Machines, works closely with Spelke and uses insights from cognitive science as inspiration for his programmes. He says much of modern AI misses the bigger picture, comparing it to a cartoon about a two-dimensional world populated by simple geometrical (几何形的) people. AI programmes will need to learn in new ways — for example, by drawing causal inferences rather than simply finding patterns. “At some point — you know, if you’re intelligent — you realize maybe there's something else out there,” he says.
1. Compared to an advanced AI programme, a baby might be better at _______________.| A．labeling images | B．identifying locations |
| C．playing games | D．making adjustments |
| A．Stimulating. | B．Measuring. | C．Beating. | D．Limiting. |
| A．AI is good at finding similar patterns |
| B．AI should gain abilities with less training |
| C．AI lacks the ability of generalizing a skill |
| D．AI will match humans in cognitive ability |
| A．What is exactly intelligence? |
| B．Why is modern AI advanced? |
| C．Where is human intelligence going? |
| D．How do humans tackle the challenge of AI? |
8 . Once small farmers in Masii, a remote village in Kenya, have picked their crops, all they can do is wait until a buyer trucks through. The system works fairly well for beans and corn, but mangoes-the area’s other main crop-spoil (腐烂) more quickly. If the trader is late, they rot.
Obadiah Kisaingu, a farmer in Masii, estimates 40% of the village’s mango crop is lost to spoilage. But a simple coating could change that. A company, SmartTech, has created a product that doubles the shelf life of fresh produce, enabling farmers like Kisaingu to access far-off, larger markets. More time for fresh produce on grocers' shelves also means less food waste-a $2.6 trillion problem, according to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
James Rogers, CEO of SmartTech, who has a Ph. D in materials science, wanted to solve the problem for food much in the same way that oxide barriers preventing rust (锈) have achieved for steel. Fortunately, researchers have found when plants made the jump from water to land hundreds of millions of years ago, they developed cutin, a barrier which is made of fatty acids that link together to form a seal around the plant, helping keep water in.
The cutin was such a grand strategy that today you'll still find it across the plant kingdom. Not that it's exactly the same solution across the board: An orange can last longer than a strawberry not so much because of the thickness of its skin, but because of the difference in the arrangement of those cutin molecules (分子)on the surface. SmartTech’s challenge was first identifying the key components of cutin. After extensive trials, Rogers and his team developed a natural and tasteless protective coating from plant material-stems, leaves and skins. The product extends the sweet spot between ripening and rot. And best of all, the treated produce doesn't require refrigeration.
SmartTech traveled a long road to get here. It was six years from launch before products applied with the substance were in stores. SmartTech-treated fruits and vegetables are already in large grocery chains in Europe and the U. S. and the company recently gained regulatory approval in several less developed countries in South America.
“SmartTech has huge potential to turn poor farmers in Africa into commercial farmers,” says Rogers. “That means more money in pockets, and more food in stomachs.” But whether the company can cost-effectively reach small farmers in far-off areas still remains a challenge.
1. The author mentions the small farmers in Kenya to _______________.| A．stress their need for preserving produce |
| B．show their difficulty in harvesting crops |
| C．evaluate their loss caused by slow transport |
| D．help express their wish to reach larger markets |
| A．It is financially supported by FAO. |
| B．It is intended to replace refrigeration. |
| C．It is designed to thicken produce’s skin. |
| D．It is based on plants’ own defence system. |
| A．To profit farmers. | B．To earn more money. |
| C．To produce more food. | D．To expand grocery chains. |
| A．prove a theory | B．promote a product |
| C．introduce a company | D．present a technology |
9 . Craig Foster, bare-chested, was diving in bitterly cold waters off the southern-most tip of Africa when he saw her--an octopus hiding under a coat of shells and stones．
Deeply attracted, he began following this incredibly shy creature．He kept coming back every day to the same place where he first met her, trying to stay very still in her presence．For weeks she refused him: hiding in her home, or pushing her liquid body into the nearest crack to escape．And then, after Foster's dogged persistence for 26 days, she reached out and touched him．
In the documentary "My Octopus Teacher", this tender moment moves you in a way you never thought an octopus tentacle（触手）wrapped around a human hand could．The nature documentary won Best Feature at the EarthxFilm Festival 2020．
"If you gain the trust of that animal over a period of months, it will actually ignore you to a certain degree and carry on with its normal life, and allow you to step inside its secret world," Foster says in his documentary．
We see her outsmarting a shark by riding on its back, growing a new tentacle after surviving a shark attack, and finally wasting away after laying her eggs．"The octopus showed me many behaviors that were completely new to science," Foster says．
After years of filming some of the planet s most dangerous animals, Foster was burnt out, depressed, and disconnected．"I was struggling．My only way to heal felt like I needed to be in the ocean, my go-to happy place as a child," he says．
Completely involving himself in the underwater world has calmed his mind．Over the years other animals have reached out to make contact, including dolphins, whales and even sharks．"But nothing has compared to this 'once-in-a-lifetime' bond with the octopus," Foster says．
The octopus changed Foster's life forever．Foster says the octopus taught him that humans are part of the natural world, and not simply visitors．"Your own role and place in the natural world is the most precious gift we humans have received," he says．
1. Foster followed the octopus with _______________．| A．great patience | B．a professional goal |
| C．scientific curiosity | D．an adventurous spirit |
| A．enjoyed Foster's attention | B．taught Foster surviving skills |
| C．placed trust in Foster gradually | D．benefited from Foster's company |
| A．The natural world offers many gifts． |
| B．Humans belong to the natural world． |
| C．The natural world never fails to impress． |
| D．Humans should protect the natural world． |
10 . 
The Education Outreach Section of the United Nations Department of Public Information invites young people from around the world between the ages of 15 and 24 to submit 10- to 15-second videos in English on how the Sustainable Development Goals can build peace. When making your videos, think about why ending poverty, addressing climate change, forging equality and ensuring access to education are important to creating a more peaceful world.
The most engaging videos will be featured on the United Nations International Day of Peace YouTube channel. Some will even be shown at an official event at United Nations Headquarters in New York on 16 September.
We will be posting selected clips at www.youtube.com/channel from 13 June (the start of the 100-day countdown) through 21 September, the International Day of Peace.
When you make your video, please state your name and country at the beginning. And remember that all videos should be appropriate for younger audiences.
We’ll be accepting your submissions from now until 1 September. So start sending your videos to unitednationspeaceday@gmail.com today!
Background: The International Day of Peace falls on 21 September. The General Assembly has declared this as a day devoted to strengthening the ideals of peace, both within and among all nations and peoples. Every year on this day, the United Nations calls on the people of the world to remember their common humanity and join together to build a future free of conflicts. The theme for this year, “The Sustainable Development Goals: Building Blocks for Peace”, highlights how ending poverty, protecting the planet and ensuring prosperity for everyone all contribute to global harmony. The Sustainable Goals cover a broad range of issues, including poverty, hunger, health, education, climate change, gender equality, water, sanitation, energy, environment and social justice.
More information on the International Day of Peace and the Sustainable Development Goals: http://www.un.org/en/events/peaceday.
1. The participants should ______.| A．be at least twenty-four years old |
| B．upload clips onto the appointed website |
| C．come up with solutions to global problems |
| D．submit the videos no later than 1 September |
| A．My name is Jimena, and I’m from Peru. |
| B．Hello, I’d like to introduce the event first. |
| C．Today I want to say something to young audiences. |
| D．What is the key to creating a more peaceful world? |
| A．put on a YouTube channel |
| B．posted on the web for one year |
| C．shown at the theater in New York |
| D．filmed on the International Day of Peace |
| A．To collect video materials for the websites. |
| B．To raise young people’s concern about world peace. |
| C．To draw attention to the education of the next generation. |
| D．To popularize the International Day of Peace among the youth. |
