2 . Jack Andraka was 15 when he came up with an idea for a new way to test for pancreatic (胰腺) cancer. When Andraka was 14, a family friend died of the disease, and this affected him deeply. This kind of cancer is particularly serious because there is no test you can have done to find it in the early stages. By the time standard tests determine you have the disease, it is often too late. Realizing that this was the case, Andraka decided to try to develop a test that might catch problems at the earliest stages.

The road ahead looked difficult for Andraka. He was still a high school student, and he wanted to create something that no one else had done. But Andraka read endlessly about the disease, wrote a proposal for his idea, and sent it out to 200 cancer researchers. Only one professor, Dr.Anirban Maitra, responded positively. Dr.Maitra agreed to work with Andraka on his idea, giving him guidance and access to a laboratory.

The next big reward for Andraka’s perseverance was winning the grand prize at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. This great award is given to young innovators who have developed a world-changing idea. Developing the test is likely to take many years, but Andraka hopes the test will eventually improve people’s lives and maybe save them.

Jack Andraka is not alone as a young innovator. After all, there were 1,499 other contestants for the Intel award, and all of them had ground-breaking ideas. For Andraka, having a family that loves science and encourages creative thinking gave him an advantage. But the key for Andraka is that reading, research, and discovery are just plain fun, and the chance to improve the world around him in the process makes it even better.

1. Why did Andraka decide to develop a test for pancreatic cancer?

A．His friend’s encouragement.	B．An upsetting experience.
C．His extensive reading.	D．An important test.

2. What difficulty did Andraka meet at the beginning of his research?

A．Lack of positive replies from experts.	B．Heavy pressure from his schoolwork.
C．Little access to research equipment.	D．Great need of money to develop a test.

3. Which of the following leads to Andraka’s award winning?

A．The competition with other contestants.	B．His determination to improve the world.
C．The support from his family.	D．His passion for discovery.

4. What can we learn from Andraka’s story?

A．Practice makes perfect.	B．Hard work leads to success.
C．One good turn deserves another.	D．Failure is the mother of success.

3 . Americans are now allowed to get a COVID-19 vaccine （疫苗）. But the process in America is not going as smoothly as some had hoped. Many people are still facing a wait for their first shot. Moreover, the vaccines aren't available to kids under 16 yet. That's because scientists have only tested if the vaccine works in adults.

The good news is that there are two companies, Moderna and Pfizer, making COVID-19 vaccines. They are now running clinical trials（临床实验）to test their vaccines in teens and kids. Volunteers are given a treatment plan and then evaluated after.

Clinical trials are designed with safety in mind and usually done in adults first. They work like this: volunteers get placed into one of two groups. One group receives the vaccine. The other group gets a placebo. This is a shot given in the same way as the vaccine but with no effect. Scientists can compare the effects of the real vaccine against the placebo to see if the vaccine works. Researchers want to know everything that a person experiences when they get the shot, so they can detect any harmful effects. If anything did happen, the trial would stop immediately.

Some teens are eager to volunteer because they want to help people. Maybe you're the right age to be part of a clinical trial for the COVID-19 vaccine. Why not volunteer For A Vaccine Trial? Interested kids should read about the trials because every trial has risks. They should talk to their doctor and weigh the benefits and risks. Every vaccine has rare side effects in a few patients.

If you want to participate in a trial, you can try to sign up online by just clicking here, clinicaltrials gov. which lists every clinical trial in the US, including COVID-19 vaccine trials.

1. Why kids under 16 can't get a COVID-19 vaccine?

A．Because the vaccine is too hard to get.

B．Because the vaccine is too expensive for them.

C．Because they are not at the risk of getting COVID-19.

D．Because the effectiveness of the vaccine for kids hasn't been tested .

2. What does the underlined word "placebo" in paragraph 3 refer to ?

A．A substance to comfort patients	B．A pill to treat patients
C．A prize to award patients	D．A way to cure patients

3. What's the purpose of this article?

A．To tell American adults they can get a COVID-19 vaccine.

B．To inform that American children can't get a COVID-19 vaccine.

C．To give information about clinical trials of vaccines in teens and kids.

D．To provide information for potential volunteers on trials.

4. Where does this passage probably come from?

A．Newspapers.

B．Magazines.

C．Internet.

D．Textbooks.

4 . I'm at Sony's New York headquarters, where the Japanese electronics company is showing the new version of its robot dog, Aibo. When I was a kid, I received a furry robot dog for Christmas one year, but quickly lost interest because it was way more fun to play with my real dog. Who would buy a $2900 fake dog when they could have a living one for far less?

“Aibo, sit,” I said. The robot's ears perked up, with its eyes fixed on me. But it did not sit. “Sit!” I tried again. Aibo just raised its head, with a look—that was not unlike the response you'd get from an untrained puppy. I made one last attempt to get the dog to sit before giving up. In response, it barked at me and wagged its tail. That simple gesture melted my doubt. I patted its head, and the robot responded slightly to my touch. As I played with it for the next half hour, I became more and more charmed by is playful personality. I even started to imagine what it would be like to take it home.

Aibo was first introduced in 1999, with new versions released every year or so. The older versions have a limited range of movement and little artificial intelligence. Some don't even have eyes. The sixth generation of Aibo, which Sony is launching in the United States after introducing it in Japan late last year, is the most lifelike one yet. It can walk, sit, lie down, and even play dead. There's a camera equipped with facial recognition on the dog's nose and a camera that maps the space around it at the base of its tail. In Japan, the new Aibo sold out right away, and Sony has sold 20,000 of the robots as of July.

Aibo isn't meant to be an assistant that performs tasks like calling your family and friends on your behalf and it's not tracking your behavior for the express purpose of monitoring your health. It's meant to copy the kind of companionship a real-life dog offers.

1. What was the author's attitude to Aibo at first?

A．Positive.

B．Neutral.

C．Negative.

D．Unconcerned.

2. What do we know about the sixth generation of Aibo from paragraph 3?

A．It has a camera on its ear.	B．It is popular with customers in Japan.
C．It was first produced in the United States.	D．It needs improvements in artificial intelligence.

3. Why was Aibo created?

A．To keep people company.	B．To monitor people's health.
C．To do some simple work.	D．To make life more intelligent.

4. What is the best title for the passage ?

A．An assistant robot dog	B．A most lifelike robot dog
C．A real-life dog	D．A playful dog

6 . The world's best-selling cookies were celebrating their 100th birthday in 2012. More than one century ago, America's National Biscuit Company, also known as Nabisco, sold its first Oreo sandwich cookies lo a Hoboken grocer. Today, Oreos are popular all over the world. We twist（旋转）them. we dip them in milk, and we love them. But just how much do we know about them?

The name is a mystery. No one knows the origin of the word“Oreo”until now. Some believe it comes from the French word for gold, because the original packaging was mostly gold. Others have offered the guess that it comes from the Greek word for mountain, because the test version of the cookie had a hill-like design on it.

The Oreo became kosher in 1998. All Oreo packing now bears a symbol, just above the package weight, indicating it is a kosher food. Hydrox cookies had long been a common kosher choice, but because this type of cookies didn't make much profit, it was discontinued in 2003.

Two versions appeared at first. The options include original and lemon meringue（蛋白酥）. The original was far more popular, and Nabisco discontinued lemon meringue in the 1920s.

They're sold in more than 100 countries. In terms of sales, the top five markets are the U.S., China, Venezuela, Canada and Indonesia. In some countries, like China, Nabisco's parent company, Kraft, changed the recipe to attract more consumers.

450 billion. That's how many Oreo cookies have been sold worldwide since they hit the market.

1. Why do some people think the word“Oreo”comes from the Greek word?

A．The cookies are made in a mountain.	B．The symbol on the cookie is like a hill.
C．The cookies for testing look like a mountain.	D．The word sounds like“mountain”in Greek.

2. Why were Hydrox cookies out of production in 2003?

A．The company lacked raw materials.	B．The cookies were neither healthy nor safe.
C．The taste was not popular with young people.	D．The company didn't make much money from them.

3. What is the purpose of the text?

A．To attract more people to buy Oreo cookies.

B．To celebrate the 100th birthday of Oreo cookies.

C．To compare the sales of Oreos in different countries.

D．To introduce some information about Oreo cookies.

7 . Americans love their national parks. Last year, these lands attracted 331 million people. Visitors expect to be provided with roads, bridges, restrooms and more. The more people come, the more it costs to keep up the infrastructure(基础设施).

Unfortunately, the funds needed are not enough. The national parks have a backlog(积压未办之事) of more than $11 billion in things that need to be repaired or replaced. The Interior Department has proposed a solution: higher fees.

The increase would apply at 17 of the most popular parks, including Yellowstone and Acadia, during peak months. Currently, a seven-day pass costs $25 or $30 for a carload of parents and kids. Under this proposal, the fee would rise to $70 for each vehicle, with each motorcycle charged $50 and cyclists $30 per person.

That $70 may sound steep, but for a family of four spending a week inside, it works out to $2.50 per person per day. A one-day ticket at the gate for Great America, by comparison, costs $54.99 for children and $74.99 for adults. And let’s not even talk about Walt Disney World. For most people, the additional cost would be a tiny part of their total outlay(费用). Studies show that entrance fees make up only 1.2 to 1.5 percent of visitors’ total trip expense.

The proposed change would yield $70 million, a 34 percent increase. And visitors may be consoled(安慰的) to know that 80 percent of each fee they pay will go to the park they visited.

Nature provides Americans with the wonders of these parks for free. But making them accessible and enjoyable for millions of people costs money and the administration has a sound idea for how to get it.

1. What is the function of the first paragraph?

A．To lead to the topic of the text.

B．To display the needs of Americans.

C．To show how much Americans love traveling.

D．To tell how much Americans love national parks.

2. What is the problem troubling American national parks?

A．The equipment is old.	B．They are lacking in money.
C．So many visitors come.	D．The pollution is too serious.

3. What is Paragraph 4 mainly about?

A．The entrance fees are low.	B．Effect of the proposal is obvious.
C．The increase is not that much.	D．Opinions on the proposal are different.

4. Which of the following may the author agree?

A．It is acceptable to make the change.

B．Parks must be open to people for free.

C．Visitors should know where the money goes.

D．More services should be provided for visitors.

8 . A new study shows a link between bad technology and higher stress levels of employees. The research involved experiments in which brainwaves were measured as people were put through a series of bad technology experiences. The experiments involved adults of many ages with different levels of computer skills.

Subjects were tested with simple computer problems, like troubled sign-in operations. Others dealt with slow-speed connections to the Internet. Still others experienced system crashes. “The moment people started using bad technology, we saw a doubling of their levels of stress,” said Olivier Oullier, president of EMOTIV. “I was a bit surprised by that, because you rarely see those levels going so high,” he said. The experiments showed that technology-related stress had a lasting effect, he added.

In addition to tech failures affecting the mental health of employees, the problems can also affect a company’s business, the research found. Bad problems can reduce productivity, especially that of younger workers. The research showed a thirty percent production drop among study subjects under age 40.

“As stressful as the tech problems were for those in the study”, Oullier said, “such effects were likely to be even more severe in the real world.” He said the subjects knew they were involved in an experiment so they may not have been as personally affected by the results. He also said the continuing coronavirus crisis has sharply increased stress levels around the world. So real tech problems drive up those already high stress levels.

Another issue is that many employees are working remotely and this can also add to tech difficulties. In an office, computer support helpers are usually available to help workers solve tech problems. But working from a kitchen or home office, employees are often on their own.

The amount of work an employee can get done in a day can increase as much as 37 percent when effective technology is used, along with supporting software and services. Using good technology can save employees 23 minutes per hour. And on average, bad tech was found to interfere with employee performance by up to 30 percent.

1. How did researchers carry out experiment?

A．By involving employees of similar ages.

B．By asking employees to finish the same task.

C．By exposing employees to bad technology problems.

D．By offering employees different types of computers.

2. How did the author show the research’s finding in Paragraph 2?

A．By giving an example.	B．By making comparisons.
C．By using others’ opinion.	D．By following the order of time.

3. What’s the meaning of the underlined word “productivity”?

A．Imagination.	B．Happiness.
C．Health.	D．Output.

4. What’s the most suitable title for this passage?

A．Higher Stress Levels of Younger Workers

B．Technology Problems Linked to Higher Stress Levels

C．Effects of Bad Technology Experiences on Employees

D．Employees’ Productivity and Working Environment

9 . Researchers at CU Boulder have developed a wearable device that changes the human body into a biological battery. The device is stretchy(弹性的) enough that you can wear it like a ring, sport band or any other thing that touches your skin. It also taps into a person's natural heat-employing thermoelectric generators to change the body's internal temperature into electricity. "In the future, we want to be able to power your wearable electronics without having to include a battery," said Jianliang Xiao, an associate professor at CU Boulder.

The concept may sound like something out of The Matrix film series, in which a race of robots have enslaved humans to harvest their precious organic energy. Xiao and his colleagues aren't that ambitious: Their devices can generate about 1 volt (伏特) of energy for every square centimeter of skin space-less volt per area than what most existing batteries provide but still enough to power electronics like watches or fitness trackers.

Scientists have previously experimented with similar wearable devices, but Xiao's is stretchy, can heal itself when damaged and is fully recyclable-making it a cleaner alternative to traditional electronics. "Whenever you use a battery, you're depleting(消耗) that battery and will, eventually, need to replace it," Xiao said. "The nice thing about our device is that you can wear it, and it provides you with constant power."

Just pretend that you're out for a jog. As you exercise, your body heats up, and that heat will radiate out to the cool air around you. Xiao's device captures that flow of energy rather than let it go to waste. "The thermoelectric generators are in close contact with the human body, and they can use the heat that would normally be sent into the environment," Xiao said.

1. What does Xiao expect of his device at present?

A．It will be used for medical purposes.

B．It will be made smaller and wearable.

C．It will change natural power into electricity.

D．It will supply constant power to wearable devices.

2. Why does the author mention The Matrix series in the text?

A．To give an explanation.	B．To make a comparison.
C．To introduce a topic.	D．To analyze the cause.

3. What does the third paragraph mainly talk about?

A．The strengths of Xiao's device.

B．The convenience of using a battery.

C．The replacement of wearable devices.

D．The development of traditional electronics.

4. What do we know about Xiao's device from the text?

A．It operates with plenty of power.

B．It is designed for practical use.

C．It benefits people's health in a way.

D．It's based on traditional electronics.

10 . The traditional working day doesn't benefit night owls(夜猫子),with people who prefer to stay up late twice as likely to underperform at work as early birds ;a new study from Finland has6uggested.

Early risers tend to work better early in the morning, while evening types are the opposite. The researchers asked 5,881 individuals born in 1966 in northern Finland about their working life and health and questioned them about their sleep patterns in 2012 when they were 46 years old. The study participants were monitored over a period of four years.

Ten percent of the men and 12% of the women were "evening types", 72% of whom worked in day jobs,the researchers found. A quarter of people classified as evening types rated their own performance at work as poor. This was a significantly higher proportion(比例) than among early birds.

"If evening types have to work in the early morning, they won't rate their work ability as high as morning types. The opposite would be true as well. If normal business hours were 3 p.m. to 11 p.m., the early morning types would feel worse than evening types," said Kristen Knutson, an associate professor at Northwestern University.

Suzanne Hood, an associate professor at Bishop's University in Qucbec, Canada, said that night owls shouldn't be alarmed by the findings.

"Rating job performance doesn't necessarily tell you about the quality of the work in real terms," noted Hood. "Also, the study was observational—it doesn't mean that being a night owl makes you less able to work."

"For example, the employee who seems like a slow starter in the morning might be the person who's most able to work effectively into the evening to meet an important deadline," said Hood. "If there is some opportunity for flexibility in scheduling, allowing employees some control over what time of day they complete their work may help to optimize(优化) performance and productivity."

1. What do we learn about the study from Finland?

A．It lasted from 1966 to 2012.

B．It was conducted mainly in the lab.

C．72% of participants were early birds.

D．A minority of participants were night owls.

2. Which word best describes Kristen Knutson's attitude to night owls?

A．Objective.	B．Worried.
C．Supportive.	D．Unconcerned.

3. What would be a great solution to work performance according to Suzanne Hood?

A．Starting early in the morning.

B．Choosing different work schedules.

C．Following normal business hours.

D．Finishing one's work later than usual.

4. Which of the following can be the best title for the text?

A．Night Owls Tend To Perform Badly At Work

B．Early Birds Are More Likely To Gain Advantages

C．Are You A Night Owl? Blame It On Your Genes

D．Which Do You Prefer, Morning Type Or Evening Type?