1 . Maryland has plenty of attractive history, with many of its sites kept in good condition. Here are four of the best.
Fort MacHenry (Baltimore)
When the British attacked Baltimore in 1812, the buildings became important to the city’s self-protection. Francis Scott Key, a Washington lawyer, watched the battle through the night. He was so moved by the sight of the American flag still flying by dawn’s early light that he penned a poem, which would become the US national anthem (国歌). Visitors can learn about the history by films and introductions offered here.
Casselman River Bridge (Grantsville)
This beautiful stone bridge was built in the early 19th century, serving as an important link on the National Road in the past. It was the nation’s first major highway, connecting the Potomac and the Ohio River. It is a popular area for fly fishermen, photographers, and history lovers. The nearby Spruce Forest Artisan Village has historic houses, small hotels,and recreated buildings.
Washington Monument (纪念碑) State Park (Boonsboro)
The largest stone monument on the top of South Mountain, built in 1827, is the nation’s first-ever monument honoring George Washington. During the Civil War, the Union Army used this high point as its signal station. Today, you can climb up inside and enjoy attractive views of the surrounding Maryland countryside. There are many historical things related to the monument and the Civil War battle of South Mountain.
B&O Railroad Museum (Ellicott City)
This small building is the nation’s oldest surviving railroad station. Dating from 1830, it was the B&O Main Linens first stop out of Baltimore, 13 miles distant. According to a local story, it also was the finishing line for machines replacing all horses within the year. Today, the station is a museum showing the early first years of America.
1. What can we know about Francis Scott Key?| A．His poem was used as the US national anthem. |
| B．He liked recording wars by poems. |
| C．He fought in the war of 1812. |
| D．His protection of the American flag moved people. |
| A．has convenient transportation | B．was designed to honor a soldier |
| C．played an important role in wartime | D．is the earliest monument in the country |
| A．Fort MacHenry. | B．Casselman River Bridge. |
| C．Washington Monument State Park. | D．B&O Railroad Museum. |
2 . Sweetest Day is celebrated on the third Saturday in October as a day to make someone happy. It is an occasion which offers all of us an opportunity to remember not only the sick, the aged, and children who have lost their parents, but also friends, workmates, relatives and neighbors whose helpfulness and kindness we have enjoyed.
Over 60 years ago, when a Cleveland man noticed that some people, such as children who lost their parents and patients who lay in bed, too often felt forgotten and neglected, he developed in his mind the idea of showing them that they were remembered. He did this by giving them small gifts. With the help of his friends and neighbors, he gave those people small gifts on a Saturday in October. During the years that followed, other Clevelanders began to take part in the celebration, which came to be called "Sweetest Day". Over time, the Sweetest Day idea of spreading cheer to the poor, the sick and children who had lost their parents was broadened to include everyone, and became an occasion for remembering others with a kind act or a small gift. Soon the idea spread to other cities all over the USA.
Sweetest Day is not based on any single group’s religious beliefs or on a family relationship. It is a reminder that a thoughtful word or deed enriches life and gives it meaning. Because for many people remembering takes the form of gift giving, Sweetest Day offers us the opportunity to show others that we care, in a positive way.
1. What group of people is the Sweetest Day intended for?| A．The sick. | B．The aged. | C．The orphans. | D．All the people. |
| A．Ignored. | B．Forgotten. | C．Remembered. | D．Loved. |
| A．He felt lonely and wanted to be noticed. |
| B．He wanted to be helpful to those who need love. |
| C．He needed someone to give out some small gifts. |
| D．He was helped by his friends and neighbors. |
| A．A gift is always needed on Sweetest Day. |
| B．Only those sick and children need to be remembered. |
| C．Sweetest Day is limited to families and friends. |
| D．It's a chance for everyone to express your care. |
3 . Sunflowers are something most of us usually think about in August, but with the arrival of the seed catalogs(分类), winter is a good time to start thinking about which ones you might want to grow this coming year. Most gardeners are familiar with the tall giant sunflowers. But there are three or four dozen other varieties.
First, you need to understand that sunflowers don’t all bloom at the same time. In my trials I grouped. them according to bloom time. Early means they bloom in late July or early August. The mid-season ones bloom in mid-August. The late season sunflowers usually flower from late August to early September.
For the early sunflowers, in my trials Pacino was one of the best one year, but was not as striking this past year. It has yellow flowers, about four inches across, and is about two fee high. Other low-growing, early choices are the yellow Sunspot, Del Sol, or Dwarf Yellow Spray. The latter has a lot of branches as its name indicates. Double Dandy is an early, low, red and yellow combination.
For the mid-season choices, this past year my best performers included three varieties that attain heights of five feet—the red-orange Claret, the strikingly dark red Moulin Rouge, and the gold Sunny. Two four-foot sunflowers that I’d recommend for home gardens are the red-yellow combination Ring of Fire, an All-America Selections Award winner, Lemonade, with its interesting mix of light and yellow petals(花瓣).
If you are looking for a late season variety, my favorite is Titanic, a double gold, four-foot tall variety that bloomed much of September and into October in my trials this past year. Other good choices include the light yellow Valentine, the gold Soraya, and the double gold Giant Sungold. This winter, as you leaf through(翻阅) the seed catalogs as the the snow gently falls outside your window, think about summer sunflowers. Thoughts of these flowers are sure to warm the coldest of winter days.
1. What can we learn from the first paragraph?| A．There are many different varieties of sunflowers. |
| B．The writer likes the tall giant sunflowers best. |
| C．You can try to grow sunflowers in winter. |
| D．Sunflowers only bloom in August. |
| A．Sunny. | B．Claret. |
| C．Moulin Rouge. | D．Dwarf Yellow Spray. |
| A．It is two feet high and about four inches across. |
| B．The color of it is a combination of red and yellow. |
| C．It can only be planted in the southern areas of America. |
| D．It usually blooms much of September and into October. |
| A．Two. | B．Three. | C．Four. | D．Five. |
4 . While it's not impossible for birds to fly in the rain, they usually choose not to. You may see birds fly for a few seconds in poor weather, but most of them prefer to stay put on rainy days.
Why does rain make it harder for birds to fly? You might imagine that moving through the air while being pelted by raindrops would be pretty unpleasant. However, it's not the rain itself that makes flying difficult. Instead, birds are influenced by the drop in the air pressure that comes with most rainstorms. When pressure drops, the air is less thick, which makes it harder for birds to fly. Moving through the sky in areas of low air pressure takes a lot of energy.
Most birds need to eat several times a day—rain or no rain. Luckily, most birds' feathers（羽毛）are highly waterproof（防水的）, protecting the skin beneath. Many birds can also make oil that they can spread over their feathers to further protect themselves from the rain. Most birds don't like rain. In fact, in a 2010 study, a team of researchers studied birds living in a Costa Rican rainforest. They found that the birds had higher levels of stress hormone（应激激素）on rainy days. That may not surprise you. After all, many animals feel stressed out during storms. Pet owners often find that rain and thunder make their animals nervous. Some animals are so strongly influenced by nature that they almost seem to forecast the future.
No one really knows how many birds die during a storm or series of storms. But the number is certainly higher than usual. They fly into trees or windows; they get lost over the ocean or a large lake; their food sources are made more difficult to get but, at the same time, they need more food to get warm. However, if rain continues for some time, birds will have to challenge the storm.
1. What makes it harder for birds to fly in the rain?| A．The wet air. | B．Food shortage. |
| C．Raindrops. | D．The low air pressure. |
| A．Cleaned. | B．Hit. |
| C．Frightened. | D．Protected. |
| A．Why birds can fly in the rain |
| B．How birds are influenced by rain. |
| C．How birds survive long rainy days. |
| D．Why birds' feathers are waterproof. |
| A．Birds will develop the ability to fly in the rain |
| B．Birds fly only when necessary on rainy days. |
| C．Birds have nowhere to hide in rainstorms. |
| D．Birds need less food on rainy days. |
5 . Rosie Dutton teaches a weekly class for 10- and 11-year-olds. During a recent class, Dutton used apples to brilliantly explain the effects of bullying.
Rosie Dutton started out by showing the class two perfect-looking apples. But unknown to the students, she had dropped one of the apples repeatedly on the floor. She picked up the dropped apple and began insulting (侮辱；损害) it.
“I started to tell the children how I disliked this apple, that I thought it was ugly and it was a horrible color,” Dutton wrote. “I told them that because I didn't like it, I didn't want them to like it either.”
They passed that apple around in a circle and the kids joined in on the insults. Then, Dutton took a completely different approach with the other apple.
“We then passed another apple around and started to say kind words to it,” the 31-year-old wrote.
She eventually cut both of them open to reveal that the apple that had been insulted was bruised (青肿的) inside. The apple that received praise wasn't.
“When people are bullied, especially children, they feel horrible inside and sometimes don't show or tell others how they are feeling,” Dutton wrote in her post. “If we hadn't cut that apple open, we would never have known how much pain we had caused it.”
“Unlike an apple, we have the ability to stop this from happening. We can teach children that it's not OK to say unkind things to each other,” the 31-year-old explained in her post. She later added, “More and more hurt and damage happens inside if nobody does anything to stop the bullying. Let's create a generation of kind, caring children.”
1. What didn't the students know in advance?| A．She had dropped one apple repeatedly on the floor. |
| B．She had dropped two apples repeatedly on the floor. |
| C．The two apples were perfect-looking in appearance. |
| D．She had picked the two apples from the same tree. |
| A．By reading famous sayings. | B．By listing the numbers. |
| C．By making comparisons. | D．By quoting some examples. |
| A．brave | B．considerate |
| C．active | D．honest |
| A．One woman found an incredible way to teach a history lesson. |
| B．People have the ability to stop bullying from happening again. |
| C．A teacher encourages students to put what they learned to use. |
| D．A teacher uses a bruised apple to show bad effects of bullying. |
6 . When I became president of Sustainable (可持续的) Spartans in May 2020, I had no idea how to successfully run a club on the Internet. My team and I were challenged with how to attract members and continue sustainable projects on campus (校园) while most students lived at home.
Despite the circumstances, my incredible team and I pushed forward. We organized events members could participate in regardless of location. Instead of focusing on building a more sustainable campus, we thought it was more important to get more and more students to accept sustainability.
In September, our Vermicomposting project began with the support from an online workshop. Vermicomposting is the process by which worms turn food waste and other materials into fertilizer. The workshop tied together club members and workshop students, educating and inspiring some to start their own worm bins at home.
In October, we held our first SpartansPickUp Day, co-hosted with Spartans Sierra Club. Fourteen teams of students safely picked up trash and posted pictures online. The cooperation brought some environmental student organizations together and attracted more student participation.
Our most notable accomplishment was working with the Office of Sustainability to build a pollinator (授粉者) garden on campus. The garden would improve the campus' climate by attracting pollinators, increasing biodiversity and reducing soil loss. We posted some videos of the garden, and students were expecting to return to campus to visit it.
Student organizations provide an important aspect of college life and I'm proud to say we've carried that into the digital space. Personally, I've discovered my club is an incredible outlet for me to dive into my sustainability passion and take a step back from the great stress of job search and online learning. I encourage all students to join a student organization to find how you can translate your passion into meaningful projects.
1. What made it difficult for the author to do her work?| A．Lack of her team's spiritual support. | B．The absence of students on campus. |
| C．The existing environmental problems. | D．Her inability to run sustainable projects. |
| A．To create a safe living environment. |
| B．To spread the idea of sustainability. |
| C．To raise money for its future projects. |
| D．To build a clean and beautiful campus. |
| A．By attracting students back to the campus. |
| B．By seeking financial help from authorities. |
| C．By working with some other organizations. |
| D．By gathering all students for some field trips. |
| A．Leadership is the basis of success on campus. |
| B．Cooperation is a quality everyone should have. |
| C．Participating in sustainable projects is very easy. |
| D．Joining student organizations really matters a lot. |
7 . Kitchen Products That Will Make Your Life Easier
Food Chopper（切碎机）with Storage Container
Using a food chopper to save time and effort when preparing dinners is always a smart idea. But using a food chopper that doubles as a storage container is more convenient. This one is made of BPA-free plastics and comes with three interchangeable blades（刀片）so you can chop your vegetables in various sizes.
Available on Amazon. $ 18. 99
Mixing Bowl Set with No-skid（防滑的）Bottoms and Pour Spouts
This clever set of mixing bowls solves a few problems we didn't realize we had. For one thing, it has no-skid bottoms, so you can more easily have control over the bowl while using a hand mixer or other tools. And for another, the specially designed part makes it easy to pour liquid from the bowl into a pan or baking dish with hardly any effort. Plus, they're pretty cute.
Available on Amazon. $ 21. 97
Rubbermaid Fresh Works Produce Saver
Do you feel like you're constantly throwing away fresh vegetables you just bought? Rubbermaid's Fresh Works containers come in a variety of sizes, and are made to help food and vegetables remain fresh for as long as possible-saving your time and money in the long run.
Available on Amazon, $ 6. 99
Heat-Resistant Gloves
These aren't your grandma's potholders. These heat-resistant gloves are made with high-quality silicone, making them effective against high temperatures and non-slip. They're also multi-purpose, since you can use them inside when removing plates from the oven or outside while barbecuing.
Available on Amazon, $ 14. 99
1. How much should you pay for the product used to keep food fresh?| A．$ 18. 99. | B．$ 21. 97. | C．$ 6. 99. | D．$ 14. 99. |
| A．It protects people from getting burnt. | B．It is used to contain liquid. |
| C．It is made of BPA plastics. | D．It has two main functions. |
| A．It is convenient to clean. | B．It keeps steady when used. |
| C．It helps you save a lot of money. | D．It saves you time for cooking. |
8 . If you’ re after cheap UK train tickets, check the suggestions below and see how you could bag yourself a bargain. We'll even highlight the cheapest prices!
·Booking in advance
Train tickets in the UK usually go on sale 3 months before the date of travel. Look out for advance tickets, as these tend to be cheaper when they 're first released. Be quick though, as they may sell out on busier routes.
Find out more about our advance ticket alert tool.
·Traveling off-peak
When travelling by train in the UK, you can benefit from reduced fares by choosing the time periods of day that are less busy. When searching for tickets with us, we'll display all available tickets and options, highlighting the cheapest ones.
Learn more about off- peak train time from our website.
·Using the price prediction tool
Our clever little price prediction tool will predict the future and let you know when ticket prices are about to go up, meaning you’ll never miss out on the best value fares. Beat the rush and save on price too (Currently available in the UK app only).
Discover the magic of price prediction.
·Choosing the season ticket calculator
If you travel on the same route more than three times a week, then season tickets could help you to save both valuable time and money. Besides that, they're also available in a number of flexible options to suit different time frames.
Check out our season ticket calculator today to get started.
1. What is the feature of traveling off- peak by train in the UK?| A．The trains are too crowded. |
| B．Train tickets are often sold out. |
| C．There are more passengers at this time. |
| D．The travel time periods are relatively unoccupied. |
| A．Call ahead and ask. |
| B．Check the American app. |
| C．Refer to the price prediction tool. |
| D．Download the season ticket calculator. |
| A．To advertise train services. |
| B．To encourage passengers to travel abroad. |
| C．To help visitors spend less money on railway tickets. |
| D．To offer services to the train passengers on the way. |
9 . The human face is a remarkable piece of work. The astonishing variety of facial features helps people recognize each other and is important to the formation of complex societies. So is the face’s ability to send emotional signals, whether through an unconscious reddening of face or a false smile. People spend much of their waking lives, in the office and the courtroom as well as the bar and the bedroom, reading faces, for signs of attraction, trust and cheat. They also spend plenty of time trying to dissimulate.
Technology is rapidly catching up with the human ability to read faces. In America, facial recognition is used by churches to track prayers’ attendance; in Britain, by shopkeepers to spot past thieves. This year Welsh police used it to arrest a suspect outside a football game. In China, it verifies the identities of ride-hailing (网约车) drivers, permits tourists to enter attractions and lets people pay for things with a smile. Apple’s new iPhone is expected to use it to unlock the home screen.
Compared with human skills, such applications might expand steadily in scale. Some breakthroughs, such as flight or the Internet, obviously transform human abilities; facial recognition seems merely to encode them. Although faces are unique to individuals, they are also public, so technology does not, at first sight, intrude (侵扰) on something that is private. And yet the ability to record, store and analyze images of faces cheaply, quickly and on a vast scale promises one day to bring about major changes to our understanding of privacy, fairness and trust.
Start with privacy. One big difference between faces and other biometric (计量生物学的) data, such as fingerprints, is that they work at a distance. Anyone with a phone can take a picture for facial-recognition programs to use. FindFace, an app in Russia, compares snaps of strangers with pictures on VKontakte, a social network, and can identify people with a 70% accuracy (精确程度) rate. Even if private firms are unable to join the dots between images and identity, the state often can. Photographs of half of America’s adult population are stored in databases that can be used by the FBI. Law-enforcement agencies now have a powerful weapon in their ability to track criminals, but at enormous potential cost to citizens’ privacy.
1. What does the underlined word “dissimulate” in Paragraph 1 mean?| A．Hide emotions from others. |
| B．Make known to the public. |
| C．Act in disregard of laws. |
| D．Become friends with others. |
| A．Safety and first aid. |
| B．Social services. |
| C．Finance and trade. |
| D．Fairness and trust. |
| A．Benefits resulting from facial breakthrough. |
| B．Facial Recognition: nowhere to hide. |
| C．The power of human faces. |
| D．Technologies concerning facial recognition. |
10 . Tracking wildlife is a tough job. Take the case of a one-eared leopard named Pavarotti.
Kasim Rafiq, a wildlife biologist at Liverpool John Moores University. “So I used to get up at the crack of dawn, follow his tracks and try and find him. So one day, I went out, and I was looking for him. And his tracks took me off road through this woodland area...and...”
Before he knew it, the wheel of his Land Rover was stuck in a deep hole. He wasted several hours getting it out. And then, on the way back to camp, he came across some local tour guides and their safari (观赏野兽的旅行) guests, who’d had way better luck spotting Pavarotti. “Basically, they laughed and they talked to me that they’d seen him that morning.”
Rafiq then realized that tourist wildlife sightings might be an untapped source of information about wild animals.
So he and his team worked with a safari lodge in Botswana to analyze 25,000 tourist photographs of wildlife. They compared those data to the estimates they made with traditional wildlife biology methods.
It turned out that the estimates from tourists’ photos were just as good as those gleaned (四处搜集) from traditional methods. And the tourists were actually the only ones to see elusive (难以捉摸的) leopards — the researchers would have missed the cats without the citizen science data. The results are in the journal Current Biology.
The idea is not to put wildlife researchers out of a job. “The reality is there are so many interesting things we still have to find out about these large carnivores (食肉动物) and so many conservation (保护) projects that need to be carried out that we don’t have the time or resources to do them all.” And tourist photos might help make sure that all the local carnivores are spotted.
Thanks for listening for Scientific American-60-Second Science. I’m Christopher Intagliata.
1. What happened to Rafiq when he tracked Pavarotti?| A．He was lost in the woods. |
| B．He was trapped in a deep hole. |
| C．He found Pavarotti with tourists’ help. |
| D．He met Pavarotti on the way back to camp. |
| A．The photos are sources of information about wildlife. |
| B．The photos are mirrors of the wildlife researchers’ life. |
| C．The photos taken by tourists are of high quality. |
| D．The photos taken by tourists are especially beautiful. |
| A．The researchers have missed the data of cats. |
| B．The information from tourists’ photos was equally good. |
| C．The value of tourist photos hasn’t been proven. |
| D．Only the traditional methods can track wildlife. |
| A．On TV. | B．In a magazine. | C．On a radio. | D．In a book. |
