1 . When a living thing gives off a glow, it’s called bioluminescence. Fireflies are a well- known example of bioluminescence. Many mushrooms are also bio-luminescent. Fireflies and other bio-luminescent creatures light up thanks to chemicals inside their bodies. These chemicals are known as luciferins, which cause a chemical reaction that gives off light.
Plants don’t naturally have luciferins, so there are no naturally bio-luminescent plants. In the past, scientists created glowing plants by adding DNA from glowing bacteria. But the glowing effect was weak. They also created glowing plants by adding luciferins to plants. In 2017, a team at MIT was able to cause watercress plants to glow for about four hours. Now, researchers at a Russian company called Planta, working with scientists from the United Kingdom and Austria, have come up with a new method of creating glowing plants which last as long as they are alive. The scientists focused on an acid that is found in both plants and mushrooms. By adding certain parts of the DNA from glowing mushrooms to ordinary tobacco plants, the scientists are able to create plants that can make their own luciferins using this acid. The scientists report that the greenish light is about 10 times brighter than in earlier ones, which is strong enough to be easily recorded with an ordinary camera, but doesn’t affect the health of the plants.
Glowing plants reflect the way plants work. The scientists point out that the glowing isn’t constant ,but seems to change, depending upon what is happening inside the plants. Younger parts of the plants glow more strongly than older parts. The flowers glow especially brightly. They’ve noticed moving patterns of light in the plants, which they think may show activity in plants that normally can’t be seen. The glowing also helps uncover how plants may be affected by things around them. For example, the plants glow much more strongly when a ripe banana skin is nearby.
1. What does the first paragraph focus on?| A．What bioluminescence is. | B．What luciferins are used for. |
| C．Why chemical reaction exists. | D．Why some living things glow. |
| A．By glowing constantly. | B．By using an input chemical. |
| C．By making glowing bacteria. | D．By absorbing natural light. |
| A．The activities of their light. | B．Their value to the scientists. |
| C．Their effects on other plants. | D．The spaces of their existence. |
| A．Scientists Create Glowing Plants | B．Glowing Plants Attract Scientists |
| C．Plants Glow Better and Better | D．Making Plants Glow Is Necessary |
2 . Scientists studying honeybees in Vietnam have discovered an unusual trick used by Asian honeybees to drive away giant hornets(大黄蜂).
Like bees in much of Asia, these bees were constantly being attacked by hornets. They can target hives(蜂巢) with precision, cutting off the heads of the bees and using younger bees for food. The honeybees there have developed some ways of fighting back. For example, by gathering around the hornets and beating their wings very quickly, the bees can raise the temperature high enough to kill the hornets.
Now scientists found something completely new. After the bees were attacked by giant hornets, the bees began collecting small bits of animal poop(粪便) from many kinds of animals, including pigs, cows and chickens, with their mouths and sticking it near the entrance to the hive. The scientists and beekeepers recorded over 300 giant hornet attacks on the beehives. They learned that the more poop there was near the hive entrance, the less likely the hornets were to attack. The poop also made the hornets 94% less likely to chew on the hive to make the entrance larger — something they have to do to get inside.
When the giant hornets attack a hive, they mark it with a special chemical. To see if the bees were using poop in response to the hornets, the scientists marked a hive with this special chemical, and they found the bees soon began to spot the entrance with poop. The scientists don’t know why the poop works to keep the hornets away. It could be that the poop smell hides the normally sweet smell coming from the hive. It’s also possible that the smell drives them away.
Asian honeybees have developed methods for fighting giant hornets. But that’s not true in North America. Recently, the first Asian giant hornets were discovered in North America, which are a close relative of the giant hornets that the researchers studied. Scientists are now working hard to wipe them out. Otherwise, honeybees there could be in trouble.
1. Which word best describes hornets’ attacking Asian honeybees?| A．Aimless. | B．Rare. |
| C．Risky. | D．Unwilling. |
| A．Field research. | B．Relevant reports. |
| C．Published statistics. | D．Beekeepers’ descriptions. |
| A．Why they find the hives easily. | B．How they are affected by the poop. |
| C．How they get a special chemical. | D．Why they attack hive entrances. |
| A．They aren’t able to deal with the hornets. |
| B．They are learning from Asian honeybees. |
| C．They’re close relatives of Asian honeybees. |
| D．They follow the hornets to move into Asia. |
3 . Growing salad in space is a step closer to becoming a reality, thanks to hundreds of thousands of young people who helped conduct an out-of-this-world experiment.
The project started in 2015, when British astronaut Tim Peake took a million rocket seeds with him on his journey to the International Space Station (ISS). The seeds spent six months there before they were sent back to Earth in 2016. In a message sent from the ISS, Peake said the science experiment was to find out if the conditions in space, such as lack of gravity, affected the seeds’ ability to grow.
Around 600,000 pupils at 8,600 schools in the UK were then asked to grow the rocket seeds that had been to space, along with regular seeds that had never left the planet. Peake described the experiment as “one of the largest and most inspirational experiments of its kind”.
The results of the study, which have just been published, found that the space seeds grew more slowly than the ones that had stayed on Earth, because they had aged quicker. Researchers on the experiment said this was due to the stresses of space travel, such as the zero-gravity atmosphere and high levels of cosmic rays, which slowed the growth of the plants. Cosmic rays are high-energy, fast-moving particles(微粒) made up of tiny bits of atoms. Most of them come from outside the solar system, although some come from the Sun.
Now researchers are hopeful that if the seeds are properly protected, it might be possible to grow plants during future space missions to other planets. Dr Jake Chandler, from Royal Holloway, University of London, who led the study, said, “the prospect of eating home-grown salad on Mars may be one small step closer”.
1. Why did Tim Peake take seeds to ISS?| A．To explore the secret of gravity. |
| B．To have astronauts grow salad in ISS. |
| C．To arouse young kids’ interest in salad. |
| D．To test the space influence on seeds’ growth. |
| A．Encouraged. | B．Interested. | C．Confused. | D．Doubtful. |
| A．The results of the study is disappointing. |
| B．The space seeds age more slowly than the earth ones. |
| C．The earth seeds grow faster than the space ones. |
| D．Most of the particles come from the solar system. |
| A．Students will help out in space salad study. |
| B．Man will probably eat salad grown on other planets. |
| C．More pupils will be involved in salad growing. |
| D．Man will mainly depend on salad grown on Mars. |
4 . Chelsea Phaire lives in Danbury, Connecticut. She was 8 when she decided to start the charity. Chelsea said her mother and she had a conversation about the fact that not everyone had access to art, which made her so sad. But it took her parents some time to get on board with the idea. They wanted her to wait until she was a little older.
Finally, Chelsea was able to launch her charity last year. For her 10th birthday, she asked her friends to donate art supplies instead of giving her presents. Since then, Chelsea has saved money from her birthday and from helping out at her dad’s barbershop to buy art supplies for her charity, whose mission is to deliver art supplies to kids in all 50 states and, eventually, to kids in other countries. As of July 7, Chelsea’s Charity had given away nearly 3,000 art kits(成套工具).
Chelsea has always had a passion for helping out. She loves knowing she’s giving back to her community. The art kits she puts together go to kids in homeless shelters and hospitals, and to children who have been affected by school shootings.
Because of the coronavirus pandemic(新冠疫情), the charity has suffered financially. Chelsea says, “Instead of personally giving art kits out, we had to mail them,” which was expensive. But increased attention on her efforts has helped donations boom.
Art is a significant part of Chelsea’s life. She says it has helped her through difficult times. This is why she feels it’s so important to make sure everyone has access to art. Art is also a great way to release emotions, Chelsea says. “If everyone knows how to channel their negative emotions and thoughts into art, then we can prevent the next big disaster and we could solve world peace,” she adds. “You never know unless you try.”
1. How does Chelsea pay for her charity?| A．She asks her relatives for much money. |
| B．She helps her father with his business. |
| C．She sells art supplies she makes by herself. |
| D．She makes money from working for friends. |
| A．It is difficult to get donations. |
| B．Her operation cost has increased. |
| C．Few volunteers are willing to run her charity. |
| D．She can’t continue her charity for the pandemic. |
| A．Art is not for everyone. |
| B．Art is her lifelong career. |
| C．Art can cheer up the world. |
| D．Art is an emotional expression. |
| A．Artful Giving. | B．Real Art. | C．Chelsea Phaire. | D．Chelsea’s Dream. |
5 . It was a hot, damp Summer day a few years ago. I had just pulled into the local gas station to fill my tank. After pumping the gas I started to walk inside to pay. That is when I noticed them. Two elderly women were standing back from their car. There was a mixture of shock, fear, and dread on their faces. I looked and saw what they saw. Five yellow jackets had started to build a nest around their gas cap. My eyes widened. I shared the ladies’ fear.
Yellow jackets had never been friends of mine. Several times these tempered wasps（黄蜂） had attacked me while I was mowing my lawn, giving me multiple stings（蜇）each time I ran over their ground nests. They are the reason I never mow my lawn in shorts anymore. The worst time, however, happened when I was a young boy. A friend of mine and I were running and playing in my backyard. I must have stepped on one of their hidden nests again because before I knew it both of us were being chased（追赶） and stung over and over by the yellow jackets while we ran away screaming. I ran to my mom with tears in my eyes. She immediately ran a cold bath and put us both in it to ease the pain before giving us medicine to fight all the poison in our little bodies from the stings.
Still, I knew I couldn’t let fear stop me now. I reached into my back pocket for a paper towel I had there, tore out the nest and stepped on it while the angry wasps buzzed around me. Both of the ladies thanked me and I said, “You’re welcome!” with a smile and a happy heart.
In this life you can’t let the fear of being stung either physically or emotionally keep you from doing what is right. All of us loving each other can change the world for the better. And the only way you can do this is one loving act, one kind word, and one shared smile at a time. Don’t let the yellow jackets in your life hold you back then. Live! Love! Do good today!
1. What do the author and the two women have in common?| A．Eagerness to meet. | B．Fear of being stung. |
| C．Running after wasps. | D．No money to pay for gas. |
| A．To have a good time. | B．To avoid wasp stings. |
| C．To find the wasp’s nest. | D．To attack partners easily. |
| A．She chased the wasps away. |
| B．She gave them some medicine first. |
| C．She forced the poison out of them. |
| D．She helped them to have a cold shower. |
| A．Many drops make a shower. |
| B．One act of kindness means a lot. |
| C．Time brings a great change to the world. |
| D．Whatever you can do can make a difference. |
6 . The paper, published in May by the Journal of Marketing Research, analyzed purchases made from a single large European retailer and found that free shipping did encourage customers to buy more. But it also increased purchases of items that historically have higher return rates, such as clothing or products from lesser-known brands. Thus, returns also increased as a result of the promotions, to the point where profits were erased.
In one part of the paper, during the typically four-week periods when free shipping was offered, online order volumes rose 11%. But when the cost of returns was compared with the sales proceeds(收入), the authors calculated that on balance the results for the promotion periods amounted to an average 0.7% loss.
In one analysis that ran for two months, the researchers found that the return rate for customers who bought low-risk products — like office supplies, or products from well-known brands — averaged about 22%.
In another analysis, the researchers attempted to better understand motivations of online shoppers by measuring their attitudes toward free shipping. They found two things were happening. First, consumers saw free shipping as compensation for taking a risk on a product. Second, feelings of gratitude for having shipping costs eliminated(消除) made them happy and thus more willing to make a risky purchase.
Prof. Neslin advises companies to look at whether their own free-shipping promotions are profitable before they launch such campaigns. Also, he advises companies to identify which products get returned more often than others and try to provide customers with more information about those products, so they can make more-informed choices.
1. What erased the profits according to the first paragraph?| A．The risky customers. | B．The European retailer. |
| C．The returned items. | D．The lesser-known brands. |
| A．Consumers risked purchasing a product when free shipping came along with it. |
| B．Free shipping encouraged customers to buy products from well-known brands. |
| C．Online order volumes rose only when free shipping was offered as compensation. |
| D．Purchases of office supplies also increased during the typically four-week periods. |
a. Design profitable free-shipping promotions.
b. Make sure they have shipping costs removed.
c. Provide more information about their products.
d. Distinguish products with higher returned rates.
| A．abc | B．abd | C．acd | D．bcd |
| A．Low-risk products. | B．Return rates. |
| C．Increased purchases. | D．Free shipping. |
7 . Many teachers believe frequent quizzes (小测验) help students better grasp classroom material. Crede, an associate professor of psychology, was skeptical that something as simple as a quiz could positively affect students’ academic performance. He decided to dig deeper and conduct an analytic study of existing research to see if there was any proof to the idea. What he discovered truly surprised him.
Crede analyzed data from previously published studies that examined 52 classes with almost 8,000 students, primarily college-level courses, to determine if frequent quizzes improved the students’ academic performance. Laboratory settings were kept out of the study because Crede wanted to observe whether similar studies from labs would apply to general classrooms.
Crede discovered that when students are quizzed over class material at least once a week, they tend to perform better on midterm and final exams compared to students who did not take quizzes. He also found that students who took frequent quizzes were less likely to fail the class, especially if they were struggling with the course content. Students who struggle the most in a class seem to benefit the greatest from frequent quizzes. The other surprising thing was how much quizzes helped reduce failure rates in classes. The chances of passing a class went through the roof where instructors used this. In addition to quiz frequency, another factor that seemed to positively affect students’ performance was immediate feedback from instructors. Also, quizzes that required students to answer with written responses proved more beneficial to their understanding of class material compared to multiple-choice questions.
Asking teachers to grade written quizzes daily or weekly may discourage some from carrying them out in their classes. Instead, it is recommended that instructors give online quizzes that can be automatically graded by a course management system. Quiz attributes (属性) proved insignificant in the study, including whether the tests were pop quizzes or planned, or if they were online or on paper.
1. What did Crede do to ensure his study’s accuracy?| A．He focused on what happened in classrooms. |
| B．He researched as many students as he could. |
| C．He made laboratory settings as real as possible. |
| D．He gave easy quizzes to make every student do well. |
| A．rose | B．appeared |
| C．faded | D．lost |
| A．Frequent quizzes could remove students’ failure in classes. |
| B．Instructors’ feedback was more important than frequent quizzes. |
| C．Frequent quizzes were especially useful to the struggling students. |
| D．Multiple-choice questions shouldn’t be included in frequent quizzes. |
| A．Accessing the Internet less frequently. |
| B．Having too many exam papers to mark. |
| C．Being unable to get appropriate test materials. |
| D．Finding it hard to choose the right type of quiz. |
8 . As the dangerous Hurricane Delta closed in on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, Ricardo Pimentel opened his home — to about 300 dogs.
Not surprisingly, the house smelled terrible, he said. But it was worth it: All survived the storm. “It doesn’t matter if the house is dirty. It can be cleaned,” he said. “The things they broke can be fixed or bought again, but what’s beautiful is to see them happy, healthy and safe, without wounds and with the possibility of being adopted.”
It all started with an Oct. 6 social media post. Pimentel told friends he had cut branches and boarded up windows at the Tierra de Animales shelter he founded nearly a decade ago about 20 miles southwest of Cancun, where he also lives with his family. He warned of the hurricane’s disastrous power. Concerned that stores might remain shut after the storm, leading to food shortages, he asked for donations.
To keep the dogs safe from the storm, he moved them inside. It took hours to lead hundreds of them indoors by leash(皮带).
A following online post included photos of what looked like a carpet in his hallway. A closer look showed that the carpet was alive — many, many dogs, crowded together. The post was shared widely on social media and grabbed headlines across the globe.
Afterwards, he was surprised by the generosity of people from around the world who donated thousands of dollars. It was, he said, perhaps the biggest fundraising moment since he founded Tierra de Animales. And local residents stepped forward to help clean up the damage at the shelter.
1. How did Pimentel save the dogs from the storm?| A．He asked for adoption of them. | B．He kept them inside his house. |
| C．He tied them with belts. | D．He moved them out. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Doubtful. |
| C．Disappointed. | D．Optimistic. |
| A．Humorous. | B．Ambitious. |
| C．Caring. | D．Demanding. |
| A．The biggest fundraising moment |
| B．The best way to take care of dogs |
| C．A man sheltered 300 dogs from Hurricane Delta |
| D．A dangerous hurricane hit Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula |
9 . Dogs feel their way through the world with their noses. Researchers have started imitating this super skill with an artificial-intelligence-based detective tool. In a study published in February in PLOS ONE, a multinational team reported an AI-powered system that is as accurate as trained dogs at correctly identifying cases of prostate cancer from urine samples. Andreas Mershin, a research scientist from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, wants to eventually integrate the technology into smartphones: There would be a tiny sensor in the phone with AI software running in the cloud.
Prostate cancer, the second most deadly cancer in men worldwide, is difficult to detect. The most widely used test can miss 15 percent of cancers. Trained dogs, on the other hand, were able to identify patients with prostate cancer from urine samples more than 96 percent of the time. Yet dogs can get bored and tired, so researchers want to develop an AI system that works more consistently.
Living cells produce chemicals that come out from the skin, blood, urine and breath. Artificial noses, including the "Nano Nose" that Mershin and one of his colleagues developed, can already detect those chemicals at the same parts-per-billion concentration as dogs. The team added to the chemical sensing an artificial neural network—a type of AI algorithm that can learn from looking at examples how to identify faces, for instance.
As the 2015 Journal of Urology study showed, dogs can be trained to reach more than 96 percent accuracy, and the AI can be trained to reach that same rate. Mershin plans to train the AI algorithm using data from the "Nano Nose", which is currently one third the size of an iPhone 10 and could be further shrunk to be integrated into smartphones.
1. What is the Nano Nose?| A．A device. | B．A method. |
| C．A database. | D．A research team. |
| A．It has the ability to sense chemicals. | B．It can collect samples in the cloud. |
| C．It has the minimum error. | D．It can ensure consistency. |
| A．Made smaller. | B．Cut shorter. | C．Expanded. | D．Upgraded. |
| A．To train dogs to detect diseases. | B．To identify artificial faces. |
| C．To produce AI noses to detect diseases. | D．To add an AI sensor to the smartphone. |
10 . I’m a standup comic. One day, a woman from The Daily News called and said she wanted to do an article on me. When she had finished interviewing me for the article, she asked, “What are you planning to do next?” Well, at the time, there was absolutely nothing I was planning on doing next, so I asked her what she meant, pausing for a moment. She told me she was interested in me! So I thought I’d better tell her something. What came out was, “I’m thinking about breaking the Guinness Book of World Records for Fastest-Talking Female.”
The newspaper article came out the next day, and the writer had included my parting remarks about trying to break the world’s Fastest-Talking Female record. At about 5: 00 p.m. that afternoon I got a call from Larry King Live, which I had never heard of, asking me to go on the show. They wanted me to try to break the record, and they told me they would pick me up at 8: 00---because they wanted me to do it that night!
Then I sat down to figure out what on earth I was going to do on the show. I called Guinness to find out how to break a fast-talking record. They told me I would have to recite something either Shakespeare or the Bible. Shakespeare and I had never really gotten along, so 1 figured the Bible was my only hope. I began practicing and practicing, over and over again. I was both nervous and excited at the same time.
Then I decided just to give it my best shot, and I did. I broke the record, becoming the World’s Fastest-talking Female by speaking 585 words in one minute in front of a national television audience. I broke it again two years later, with 603 words in a minute. My career took off.
People often ask me how I did that. I tell them I live my life by this simple philosophy: I always say yes first; then I ask, “Now, what do I have to do to accomplish that?” Then I ask myself, “What is the worst thing that can happen if I don’t succeed? The answer is, I simply don’t succeed! And what’s the best thing that can happen? I succeed!
What more can life ask of you? Be yourself, and have a good time!
1. Why did the author pause before telling her next plan?| A．She took little interest in the topic. |
| B．She refused to share it with others. |
| C．She didn’t have any plan in her mind. |
| D．She needed time to think over the plan. |
| A．She was persuaded to set a Guinness record. |
| B．She was invited to give comic performances. |
| C．She succeeded in making a fortune overnight. |
| D．She finally agreed to make her parting remarks. |
| A．She could recite the Bible. |
| B．She received an interview. |
| C．She broke the record twice. |
| D．She developed her philosophy. |
| A．Do nothing by halves |
| B．Practice for perfection |
| C．Just say yes to yourself |
| D．Always hope for the best |
