1 . What is the best part of a typical relaxing summer day? Nothing is better than sitting in an armchair with a beer and some chips in your hand, enjoying the great comfort.

The much-loved combination of beer and chips is being exploited for the first time to deal with climate change. Chips firm Walkers has adopted a technique it says will cut CO₂ emissions (排放) from its production process by 70%.

The technology will use CO₂ captured from beer processing in a brewery (啤酒厂), which is then mixed with potato waste and turned into fertilizer. It will then be spread on UK fields to feed the following year’s potato crop. Creating fertilizer normally produces high CO₂ emissions, but the technology adopted by Walkers makes fertilizer without generating CO₂. So, the beer-and-chips combination performs a double function. It stops the emission of brewery CO₂ into the atmosphere — and it saves on the CO₂ normally generated by fertilizer production.

This Creative win-win solution was developed with an approval from the UK government by a 14-employee start-up called CCm. The fertilizer was experimented on potato seed beds this year, and next year Walkers will install CCm equipment at its Leicester factory to prepare for its 2022 crop.

A decision has not yet been made on which brewery Walkers will work with on this. The new technology adds to carbon-saving techniques already under way. The firm has installed an anaerobic digester (厌氧消化池), which feeds potato waste to bacteria to produce a useful gas. The gas is burned to make electricity for the chip-frying process — so this saves on burning gas or coal.

The new system will go a step further by taking away potato “cake” left after digestion — and mixing the brewery CO₂ into it to make an enriched fertilizer which will help put carbon back into the soil as well as encouraging plant growth.

It’s an example of scientists finding ways to use CO₂ emissions which otherwise would increase the over-heating of the planet.

1. What is the purpose of the first paragraph?

A．To draw readers’ attention.

B．To entertain readers.

C．To show how useful beer and chips are to our life.

D．To introduce a way of life.

2. Which of the following is an advantage of the system?

A．It will be totally cost-free.

B．It doesn’t consume any energy.

C．It will be a perfect solution to climate change.

D．It is environmentally-friendly.

3. What is Paragraph 3 mainly about?

A．How CO2 is turned into fertilizer.

B．How the technology stops CO2 emissions.

C．How an energy-saving green technology works.

D．The advantages of a new technology.

4. What can be inferred from the text?

A．The technology will fix the problem of global warming.

B．Walkers has a wide range of partner choices.?

C．This technology will be adopted by many chips firms soon.

D．Scientists are seeking solutions to climate change.

2 . Do you continue to be healthy in social isolation? NASA is looking for people to spend 8 months locked in a Russian lab for a new experiment.

When humans go to the moon and travel to Mars, they will need to be prepared for long-term space travel and even longer stays on these far-off destinations. Currently, NASA's Artemis program aims to land humans on the moon for the first time since NASA's Apollo 17 mission landed in 1972.

While the moon is the main goal of NASA's Artemis program, the agency's larger goal is to send people to Mars. But long-term space travel and habitation won't be easy. Such missions will present both physical and mental challenges as astronauts work to not only survive, but perform important scientific research in uniquely difficult environments.

In the upcoming NASA-Russia experiment, a group of people will live in a closed facility at Russia's Institute for Biomedical Problems, which is in Moscow. This habitat facility was used in2011 for notable series of Russian mock (模拟的) Mars missions known as Mars 500. During these missions, groups of people spent 520 and 105 days on two separate missions in the facility.

The facility, according to the statement, will have "environmental factors similar to those astronauts are expected to experience on future missions to Mars". The group of people will spend 8 months living together in isolation and working on scientific research.

By living and working in this Mars-like environment, participants in this study will help NASA researchers better understand the psychological and physiological (心理和生理的) effects of isolation. These missions help researchers not only perform relevant science experiments but also see how people might get on under strange conditions for long periods of time.

So, if you're finding that living in social isolation works for you, you might be particularly well-suited for living in a Mars-like environment and this could be for you. But first, you have to qualify. NASA is looking for "highly motivated" Americans between the ages of 30-55, who must speak both Russian and English fluently and have a Master of Science, Doctor of Philosophy, Doctor of Medicine, or military officer training. Applicants with other related experience may also be considered. Those who are chosen to be a part of this group will be paid for their work.

1. What do we know about the new experiment?

A．It will find the best way for humans to live on Mars.

B．It is the first of its kind to be carried out since 1972.

C．It is prepared for NASA's human spaceflight program.

D．It will decide the people to be sent to the moon by NASA.

2. Why does the author mention "Mars 500" in the text?

A．To explain why the facility has been chosen.

B．To compare the similarities among related missions.

C．To show Russia's achievement in space exploration.

D．To indicate the new experiment will have great success.

3. What is Paragraph 6 mainly about?

A．The process of the experiment.	B．The purposes of the experiment.
C．The popularity of the experiment.	D．The preparations for the experiment.

4. Which can be a suitable title for the text?

A．Artemis: NASA's new program	B．Love isolation? NASA wants you!
C．NASA's Mars exploration program	D．Want to have a trip to Mars? Come!

3 . As the effects of climate change become more disastrous, well-known research institutions and government agencies are focusing new money and attention on an idea: artificially cooling the planet, in the hopes of buying humanity more time to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

That strategy, called solar climate intervention (干预) or solar geoengineering, involves reflecting more of the sun’s energy back into space — abruptly reducing global temperatures in a way that imitates the effects of ash clouds flowing out from the volcanic eruptions. The idea has been considered as a dangerous and fancied solution, one that would encourage people to keep burning fossil fuels while exposing the planet to unexpected and potentially threatening side effects, producing more destructive hurricanes, wildfires floods and other disasters.

But. as global warming continues, producing more destructive hurricanes, wildfires floods and other disasters, some researchers and policy experts say that concerns about geoengineering should be outweighed by the imperative to better understand it, in case the consequence of climate change become so terrible that the world can’t wait for better solutions.

One way to cool the earth is by injecting aerosols (气溶胶) into the upper layer of the atmosphere. where those particles reflect sunlight away from the earth. That process works, according to Douglas MacMartin, a researcher at Cornell University.

“We know with 100% certainty that we can cool the planet,” he said in an interview. What’s still unclear, he added, is what happens next. Temperature, MacMartin said, is an indicator for a lot of climate effects. “What does it do to the strength of hurricanes?” he asked, “What does it do to agriculture production? What does it do to the risk of forest fires?”

Another institution funded by the National Science Foundation will analyze hundreds of simulations of aerosol injection, testing the effects on weather extremes around the world. One goal of the research is to look for a sweet spot: the amount of artificial cooling that can reduce extreme weather events without causing broader changes in regional rainfall patterns or similar impacts.

1. Why do researchers and government agencies work on cooling the earth?

A．To prevent natural disasters.	B．To win more time to reduce gas emissions.
C．To imitate volcanic eruptions.	D．To encourage more people to bur fossil fuels.

2. What are researchers worried about in terms of global warming?

A．More volcanoes will throw out.

B．More solar energy will go into space.

C．More disasters will endanger the future of the world.

D．People will keep burning fossil fuels to keep warm.

3. What can be inferred from Douglas’ words in an interview?

A．He thinks more research remains to be done.

B．He is optimistic about the effect of cooling the earth.

C．He is concerned about the reduction in agriculture production.

D．He disapproves of the practice of solar climate intervention.

4. What does the underlined words “sweet spot” in the last paragraph mean?

A．The rainfall pattern of a region.

B．The modest drop in temperature.

C．The number of extreme weather events.

D．The injection amount of aerosol.

4 . In the 1960s and 1970s, the greatest fear was that the human race, and possibly all advanced life forms on the planet, could be wiped out by nuclear missiles. Today, however, environmental problems have taken over as the greatest risk to life on Earth. Scientists are thinking of ways to lower this risk, such as replacing coal and oil with forms of renewable energy. But they are also preparing for the worst: what can we do if the terrifying scenes in films such as The Day After Tomorrow happen in real life? What is our plan B for Earth?

One option is to explore other planets to see if we could live on them. The most likely choice is Mars, which is relatively close to Earth and has an environment less hostile than that of other planets. Mars has fascinated people since ancient times, and today our interest in Martian exploration is greater than ever before. Besides, more governments are making efforts to educate the public on the Red Planet.

There is no doubt that humankind is drawn towards Mars. However, sending people there will require all the skill, courage and intelligence. While the Moon can be reached within days, it would take months to reach Mars, travelling through dangerous solar radiation. And even if the first settlers do reach Mars safely, they may not be able to return to Earth — ever. Staying alive will be a daily challenge, but as proved by the Biosphere 2 experiment, not impossible. As early as the 1980s, scientists were building Biosphere 2 in the Arizona desert, consisting of a closed space in which people, animals and plants could live together. Although the two-year experiment was not a success, it did provide us with a better understanding of how humans might be able to live on another planet.       

For now, human settlement of Mars is still decades away. Until we are finally able to live on another planet, we need to take much better care of our own. Right now, it's the only one we have!

1. What was the biggest threat to humans in the 1960s and 1970s?

A．Human race themselves.	B．All advanced life forms.
C．Nuclear missiles.	D．Environmental problems.

2. Why is Mars so attractive to scientists?

A．It's closest to the earth.

B．It has relatively appropriate living conditions.

C．It has drawn the public's attention in recent years.

D．It has a more hostile environment.

3. What can be inferred from the passage?

A．Humans have visited Mars.

B．The Biosphere 2 experiment proved to be valueless.

C．Humans will have to go and live on another planet.

D．Our Plan A includes developing renewable energy resources.

4. From which magazine would the passage probably be taken?

A．The Traveler.	B．Environmental Concerns.
C．All About Space.	D．Biology for Fun,

5 . As heat waves continue to ravage the planet, air conditioners are becoming more and more common. However, these "active" cooling devices are posing problems because the electricity consumption which most people are concerned about and the release of ozone-damaging chemicals worsen the greenhouse gas effect, resulting in the creation of heat islands and further thermal pollution. Therefore, "passive" cooling, which doesn't have such effects, has attracted considerable attention from both scientists and ordinary people in recent years.

In a recent study, a team of researchers from China and US presented an eco-friendly, low-cost smart coating to keep buildings cooler while consuming zero electricity. Infrared radiation-based passive cooling has been investigated since 2014, but challenges, mainly the expensive and unsustainable design, have greatly limited their large-scale and widespread application. Besides, the imbalance in cooling ability of these coatings during the day and night tends to lead to great day-night temperature differences as more heat is lost than gained at night.

The solution therefore requires a "smart" mechanism that can both enhance daytime cooling and minimize nighttime heat loss. To do this, the researchers created a new smart coating comprised of conventional building materials, including titanium dioxide nanoparticles, fluorescent microparticles, and glass microspheres that were engineered to reflect most of the sunlight. Specifically, the titanium dioxide particles effectively reflect sunlight through light scattering（撒播）while the fluorescent particles increase the amount of reflection by changing the absorbed sunlight into fluorescence emissions, which drive more heat away from the building. Meanwhile, the glass microspheres re-send mid-infrared broadband radiation, allowing not only heat loss, but allowing heat exchange to take place between the building and the sky.

The coating was tested on a model concrete building. Through this efficient heat exchange with the sky, daytime cooling was strengthened while nighttime cooling was reduced. The building's inside temperature was always maintained at around 26℃, even when the out-side temperature varied from 24℃ to 37℃ during the day. We believe this new coating will make it to commercialization soon, enabling a sustainable, passive cooling technology that could help to fight climate change and the global energy crisis.

1. What is the virtue of passive cooling?

A．It is simple to design.	B．It uses no chemicals.
C．It is smart.	D．It uses no power.

2. Why couldn't the former coating be applied commercially?

A．It was hard to design.

B．Its material was hard to produce.

C．Its heat loss and cooling are imbalanced.

D．It wasn't tested on a model concrete building.

3. Which of the following can replace the underlined word "mechanism" in paragraph 3?

A．Metal.

B．System.

C．Platform.

D．Building.

4. What is the text mainly about?

A．The principle of air-conditioning.

B．The differences between active and passive cooling.

C．A new coating to keep buildings cool without electricity.

D．A new building to maintain its inside temperature without electricity.

6 . China is one of the first countries to breed a medical culture. In comparison with Western methods, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) adopts a vastly different approach. For thousands of years, Chinese people have accumulated rich experience in fighting all sorts of diseases, therefore forming a unique medical theory under the guidance of ancient Chinese philosophies (哲学).

The core behind TCM is that the human body's life is the consequence (结果) of the balance between Yin and Yang. Yang functions to safeguard us against outer harm, and Yin is the inner base to store and provide energy. When the balance between the two aspects is disturbed, people fall ill.

One of the traditional techniques of TCM, acupuncture (针刺疗法) means insertion of needles into superficial (表面的) structures of the body—usually at acupoints (穴位)—to restore the Yin Yang balance. It is often accompanied by moxibustion (艾灸疗法), which involves burning mugwort on or near the skin at an acupoint.

The first known text that clearly talks about something like acupuncture and moxibustion as it is practiced today is The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon. It is the earliest and most important written work of TCM and is considered the fundamental and most representative medical text in China.

Acupuncture and moxibustion have aroused the interest of international medical science circles. And TCM is gradually gaining worldwide recognition. The WHO issued a document in 2002 that appealed to more than 180 countries to adopt TCM as an alternative in their medical policies. In 2010, acupuncture and moxibustion of traditional Chinese medicine were added to the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by the UNESCO. Presently, TCM has been back in the news for its effectiveness in improving the cure rate of the COVID-19 since its outbreak in January 2020.

1. What is the key feature of TCM?

A．It adopts different medical approaches.	B．It's based on ancient Chinese philosophies.
C．It helps to restore body's self-balance.	D．It's gained experience through rich practice.

2. What can we learn about The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon from the text?

A．It distinguishes acupuncture from moxibustion.

B．It's a foundation of world medical research.

C．it stresses the importance of using acupoints.

D．It greatly contributes to the development of TCM.

3. Why does the writer write this text?

A．To review the development of TCM.	B．To introduce TCM to the world.
C．To tell TCM and Western medicine apart.	D．To argue for TCM in fighting COVID-19.

4. What might be talked about in the paragraph following the text?

A．How TCM helps in the current situation.	B．Why TCM is gaining popularity.
C．Why TCM gets recognition from WHO.	D．How other countries adopt TCM.

7 . Looking back is a wonderful thing. It allows you to see what has led you here and, hopefully, how society has changed and improved.

Take, for instance, my career goal. First, I wanted, in 1999, to be a “farmer”, soon archaeologist, then driving instructor and somewhere along the way, footballer.

I had grown up in a football-loving family. I remember the exact moment when I said “I’m sad I can’t be a footballer” while watching the game with Dad as a pre-teen. He asked why not. “Because I’m not a boy.” He immediately responded, “You can, if you want to.” “Yeah, I suppose so,” I sighed, “but no one watches women’s football.”

Looking back, I can see exactly why I felt like that. At school, there was an unwritten rule that sports like hockey and netball were “girl” sports and rugby and football were for the boys. I’d never seen a women’s football match on TV. You see, you can’t be what you can’t see, and lack of representation leads, at best, to misunderstanding, and at worst, fear and negative opinions.

Today, the Lionesses will take on Scotland in the World Cup, and people across the world will tune in — over 950,000 tickets have been sold so far. But, although women’s football is one of FIFA’s best investments — with a pound for pound return, the majority of female players are earning under a fair wage. Some argue that’s because viewing statistics are lower than those of men’s, but the rise in support shows the demand is there. Hopefully, more investment will push female football forward.

Today, I’ll be cheering on the Lionesses, because it’ll mean talented, skillful female footballers being broadcast into millions of homes and maybe, just maybe, a little girl believing that she can also be a Lioness one day.

1. Which of the following best describes the author’s career goals?

A．Realistic.	B．Changeable.
C．Consistent.	D．Long-sought.

2. Why didn’t the author believe she could be a footballer?

A．She was not talented enough.

B．People lost faith in women’s football.

C．Girls were forbidden to play football.

D．She had no example to follow.

3. What can we know about women’s football from Paragraph 5?

A．It’s better paid than men’s.	B．It is increasingly popular.
C．It has no market demand.	D．It is not profitable.

4. What does the text mainly want to tell us?

A．Society advances with time.	B．Women deserve equal rights.
C．Each goal is worth pursuing.	D．Hard work always pays off.

8 . If you live in certain parts of the world, you will see something magical happen each fall. It is the changing of the color of the leaves on many different trees. Each year deciduous (落叶的) trees go through a process in which their green leaves become bright yellow, gold, orange and red before turning brown and falling onto the ground.

Photosynthesis (光合作用) is the process for trees to make their food taking energy from the sun, water from the ground, and carbon dioxide from the air, they make sugar to “eat” so they can grow into strong, healthy trees. The leaves of a tree are where photosynthesis happens because the chlorophyll (叶绿素) in the leaves is what makes photosynthesis possible. Chlorophyll also has another job—it is what makes leaves green. When the seasons change in places where deciduous trees grow and the days get shorter and the weather gets colder, it is harder for the chlorophyll in the leaves to make the food needed to stay green. So instead of making more food, the leaves start using food they have stored away for this time of year.

As the leaves use the food that has been stored away, cells form at the bottom of each leaf. These cells act like a door between the leaf and the rest of the tree—a door that closes very slowly and doesn’t shut until all the leaf’s food is gone. While this is happening, the colors in the leaves of the trees are able to show through. In fact, the red, yellow, gold and orange colors are hiding in the leaves all summer long. The colors just can’t be seen in the summer because of all the chlorophyll in the leaves.

You might be wondering how the rest of the tree keeps growing when the weather turns cold and the leaves die and fall. Doesn’t the rest of the tree need the food made by the tree’s leaves?

Not really. The tree trunk and branches get food from the roots of the tree. The roots supply water, vitamins and minerals they get from the ground. Trees need sunshine and warm weather to grow, but they also need time to rest like bears that sleep during the winter.

1. Why do leaves change colors?

A．They save some energy to stay alive.

B．The chlorophyll stores some food away.

C．They have to get used to the cold weather.

D．They can’t get enough energy from the sun.

2. In which situation do leaves fall off deciduous trees?

A．When there is no sunlight any longer .

B．When the food stored away in the leaves is use up.

C．When the chlorophyll in the leaves stops working.

D．When cells start to form at the bottom of each leaf .

3. How do trees survive in winter?

A．By getting food from the ground.

B．By storing food in their branches.

C．By storing food in their roots.

D．By making the most use of the dead leaves.

4. What is the purpose of the text?

A．To study how trees survive in winter.

B．To tell about the importance of photosynthesis.

C．To explain why leaves change colors.

D．To show the changes of trees in the whole year.

9 . It’s often said that creative people see the world differently from the rest of us and a Harvard study is providing one explanation.Scientists studied brain scans of people after asking them to come up with creative uses for everyday objects.And they found a specific pattern of connectivity that correlated with the most creative responses.

“What this shows is that the creative brain works differently,”said Roger Beaty,the first author of the study.Beaty and colleagues examined brain data from previous studies and found that,by simply measuring the strength of connections in these people’s brain networks,they could estimate the originality of these people’s ideas.

While the data showed that regions across the brain were involved in creative thought,Beaty said the evidence pointed to three subnetworks.And they were the default mode(默认状态)network,the salience(突出)network and the executive(管理的)control network.They appear to play key roles in creative thought.The default mode network, he said,is involved in memory and mental acting,so the theory is that it plays an important role in processes like mind-wandering,imagination,and natural thinking.The salience network notices important information.When it comes to creativity,it may be responsible for arranging the ideas that come from the default mode network.Lastly,the executive control network works to help people keep their focus on useful ideas while getting rid of those that aren’t working.Beaty said,“People who think more flexibly and come up with more creative ideas are better able to use these networks that don’t typically work together and bring these systems online.”

Based on the results of that study,Beaty and colleagues developed a predictive model and tested against brain scan data collected for earlier studies on creativity.“We used already-published data...we found that based on how strong the connections are in these networks,we could guess pretty accurately how creative you’re going to be on a task,”Beaty said.He added,“It’s also not clear whether this can be modified with some kind of training.Creativity is complex,and we’re only working on the surface here.”

1. What were the participants asked to do in the study?

A．To tell scientists their different ways of seeing the world.

B．To show their special ways to connect with others.

C．To talk about their most exciting experiences.

D．To think of new uses of ordinary objects.

2. What does the underlined word“estimate”in Paragraph 2 mean?

A．Improve.

B．Judge.

C．Spread.

D．Praise.

3. The default mode network will influence a person when the person is .

A．giving up useless ideas	B．organizing thoughts
C．making decisions	D．brainstorming

4. What can we infer from Beaty’s words in the last paragraph?

A．The study is very helpful in determining one’s creativity levels.

B．We can become more creative with the help of some training.

C．Enough work has been done to better understand creativity.

D．Some people can be born with higher levels of creativity.

10 . For many parents, raising a teenager is like fighting a long war, but years go by without any clear winner. Like a border conflict between neighboring countries, the parent-teen war is about boundaries: Where is the line between what I control and what you do?

Both sides want peace, but neither feels it has any power to stop the conflict. In part, this is because neither is willing to admit any responsibility for starting it. From the parents’ point of view, the only cause of their fight is their adolescents’ complete unreasonableness. And of course, the teens see it in exactly the same way, except oppositely. Both feel trapped.

In this article, I’ll describe three no-win situations that commonly arise between teens and parents and then suggest some ways out of the trap. The first no-win situation is quarrels over unimportant things. Examples include the color of the teen’s hair, the cleanliness of the bedroom, the preferred style of clothing, the child’s failure to eat a good breakfast before school, or his tendency to sleep until noon on the weekends. Second, blaming. The goal of a blaming battle is to make the other admit that his bad attitude is the reason why everything goes wrong. Third, needing to be right. It doesn’t matter what the topic is—politics, the laws of physics, or the proper way to break an egg—the point of these arguments is to prove that you are right and the other person is wrong, for both wish to be considered an authority—someone who actually knows something—and therefore to command respect. Unfortunately, as long as parents and teens continue to assume that they know more than the other, they’ll continue to fight these battles forever and never make any real progress.

1. Why does the author compare the parent-teen war to a border conflict?

A．Both are about where to draw the line.

B．Both can continue for generations.

C．Neither has any clear winner.

D．Neither can be put to an end.

2. What does the underlined part in Paragraph 2 mean?

A．The teens tend to have a full understanding of their parents.

B．The teens agree with their parents on the cause of the conflict.

C．The teens cause their parents of misleading them.

D．The teens blame their parents for starting the conflict.

3. Parents and teens want to be right because they want to ______.

A．give orders to the other

B．know more than the other

C．gain respect from the other

D．get the other to behave properly

4. What will the author most probably discuss in the paragraph that follows?

A．Solutions for the parent-teen problems.

B．Examples of the parent-teen war.

C．Causes for the parent-teen conflicts.

D．Future of the parent-teen relationship.