1 . A joint research team recently have developed a new electronic skin that is similar to human skin in strength, durability(耐久性) and sensitivity. The skin or e-skin may play an important role in next-generation personalized medicine, soft robotics and artificial intelligence.
“The ideal e-skin will mimic(模仿) the many natural functions of human skin, such as sensing temperature and touch, accurately and in real time,” says leading researcher Yichen Cai. However, making suitably flexible electronics that can perform such delicate tasks while also used repeatedly is challenging, and each material involved must be carefully engineered.
Most e-skins are made by putting an active sensor on the surface that attaches to human skin. However, the connection between them is often too weak, which reduces the durability and sensitivity of the material; otherwise, if it is too strong, it won’t be flexible enough, making it more likely to break the circuit.
“The landscape of skin electronics keeps shifting at a remarkable pace,” says Cai. “The discovery of 2D sensors has accelerated efforts to turn these quite thin but strong materials into functional, durable artificial skins.”
The new man-made skin built by the researchers could sense objects from 20 centimeters away. It could further make a quick response when touched in less than one tenth of a second. “ It is a striking achievement for an e-skin to maintain toughness after repeated use,” said Shen, “which mimics the softness and rapid recovery of human skin.”
This type of e-skin could monitor a range of biological information, such as changes in blood pressure, which can be detected from movements of arms and legs. This data can then be shared and stored on the cloud via Wi-Fi.
“One remaining problem to the widespread use of e-skins lies in mass production of high-resolution sensors,” adds group leader Vincent Tung “ however, the latest technology offers new promise. ”
1. What’s the feature of the new e-skin?| A．It can store information. | B．It’s quite hard and tough. |
| C．It’s flexible and sensitive. | D．It can replace human skin. |
| A．To stress the challenges of making e-skins. |
| B．To introduce the popularity of e-skins. |
| C．To show the process of making e-skins. |
| D．To compare the similarity between e-skins. |
| A．Adjust the blood pressure. | B．Recover the wounded skin. |
| C．Work as a remote controller. | D．Sense the outside temperature. |
| A．A Breakthrough in Hi-tech | B．Man-made Skin, Improved |
| C．E-skin, A Promising Business | D．The Widespread Use of E-skin |
2 . Every week in China, millions of people will sit in front of their TVs watching teenagers compete for the title Character Hero, which is a Chinese-style spelling bee. In this challenge, young competitors must write Chinese characters by hand. To prepare for the competition, the competitors usually spend months studying dictionaries.
Perhaps the show’s popularity should not be a surprise. Along with gunpowder and paper, many Chinese people consider the creation of Chinese calligraphy(书法) to be one of their primary contributions to civilization. Unfortunately, all over the country, Chinese people are forgetting how to write their own language without computerized help. Software on smart phones and computers allows users to type in the basic sound of the word using the Latin alphabet. The correct character is chosen from a list. The result? It’s possible to recognize characters without remembering how to write them.
But there’s still hope for the paint brush. China’s Education Ministry wants children to spend more time learning how to write.
In one Beijing primary school we visited, students practice calligraphy every day inside a specially decorated classroom with traditional Chinese paintings hanging on the walls. Soft music plays as a group of six-year-olds dip brush pens into black ink. They look up at the blackboard often to study their teacher’s examples before carefully attempting to reproduce those characters on thin rice paper. “If adults can survive without using handwriting, why bother to teach it now?” we ask the calligraphy teacher, Shen Bin. “The ability to write characters is part of Chinese tradition and culture,” she reasons. “Students must learn now so they don’t forget when they grow up.” says the teacher.
1. What can we learn about the Character Hero?| A．It’s open to people of all ages and all walks. |
| B．It’s the most-viewed TV programs in China. |
| C．It aims to spread Chinese culture to the world. |
| D．It draws great public attention across the country. |
| A．Chinese people don’t refer to dictionaries very often. |
| B．Chinese people no longer use brush pens or practice calligraphy. |
| C．Chinese people are using the Latin alphabet instead of the characters. |
| D．Chinese people needn’t write by hand as often with the help of technology. |
| A．necessary for adults to survive in China |
| B．a requirement made by the Education Ministry |
| C．helpful to keep Chinese tradition and culture alive |
| D．an ability to be developed only when you are students |
| A．A news report. | B．A science report. |
| C．An advertisement. | D．Children’s literature. |
3 . Social media is taking over our lives: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and now, TikTok. These social media platforms have transformed from a way to stay connected to an industry where even kids can make money off their posts. While this may seem like another opportunistic innovation, it’s really full of hidden false realities.
The median income (中位收入) recorded in the United States of America was about $63,000 in 2018. TikTokers can make anywhere from $50,000 to $150,000 for a TikTok brand partnership, and TikTokers with over a million followers can make up to $30,000 a month — $360,000 a year. They are making more than the average person trying to feed their family and keep a roof over their heads, simply by posting a 15-second video.
This is mad in more ways than one. Not only is it an overpaid “job”, it promotes undeserved admiration from viewers and a false sense of reality. Many of these famous TikTokers are still teens, and the effects of fame at such an early stage in life might cause issues later in life, such as mental illness. Teens between the ages of 13 and 17 make up 27% of TikTok viewers, who can be easily influenced by what they are watching. They can put a false sense of self-value into who they look up to and what they represent: money, fame, being considered conventionally attractive.
While TikTok has become a great tool for marketing, it’s important to understand how this content affects young viewers. If we’re constantly consuming content that hsows us all we need to do to be successful is be conventionally attractive and post a 15-second video featuring a new dance, it will challenge our knowledge of what really makes someone successful and will in turn affect our individual work ethics (伦理). What about the people who miss birthdays and family holidays due to their jobs and aren’t getting paid nearly as much as these TikTokers?
Richard Colyer, president and creator of Metaphor, Inc., had his own view on this issue.
“It sounds great that kids can make money for doing the latest dance moves in a 15-second video, but we should feed the minds of kids and not just their bank accounts. TikTok can be great if used properly. Money alone is not good, technology alone is not good and connectedness can be bad if it’s only online.”
Again, as a fellow consumer of TikTok, I do enjoy the app when I have some time to kill and need a good laugh. I’m not against someone making a living on entertainment, but what does getting famous of a 15-second video teach young people?
1. What does the underlined word “this” in Paragraph 1 refer to?| A．Social networking. | B．Making money on social media. |
| C．A job offered by TikTok. | D．Staying connected to the Internet. |
| A．They tend to live an adult life too soon. |
| B．They are forced to pay for certain services. |
| C．They may abandon other social media. |
| D．They are likely to develop false values. |
| A．TikTok can be a positive influence if teens employ it wisely. |
| B．Young TikTokers should be banned form making money. |
| C．It is better to involve education on investment in TikTok videos. |
| D．Contents of videos need checking before their release online. |
| A．Say No to TikTok. | B．Join Young TikTokers |
| C．TikTok — A Mine of Money | D．A Job vs An Entertainment |
4 . The vaccine (疫苗) news continues to seem very encouraging. Britain started its mass vaccination effort and the U.S. isn’t far behind.
But there is still one dark cloud hanging over the vaccines that many people don’t yet understand.
The vaccines will be much less effective at preventing death and illness in 2021 if they are introduced into a population where the coronavirus is still severe—as is now the case in the U.S.
A vaccine is like a fire hose (消防龙头). A vaccine that’s 95 percent effective, as Moderna’s and Pfizer’s versions appear to be, is a powerful fire hose. But the size of a fire is still a bigger determinant of how much destruction occurs.
At the current level of infection in the U.S. (about 200,000 confirmed new infections per day), a vaccine that is 95 percent effective—distributed at the expected pace—would still leave a terrible toll (伤亡人数) in the six months after it was introduced. Almost 10 million or so Americans would catch the virus, and more than 160,000 would die.
This is far worse than the toll in a different situation where the vaccine was only 50 percent effective but the U.S. had reduced the infection rate to its level in early September (about 35,000 new daily cases). In that case, the death toll in the next six months would be kept to about 60,000.
It’s worth pausing for a moment on this comparison. If the U.S. had maintained its infection rate from September and Moderna and Pfizer had announced this fall that their vaccines were only 50 percent effective, a lot of people would have panicked.
But the reality we have is actually worse.
How could this be? No vaccine can get rid of a pandemic immediately, just as .no fire hose can put out a forest fire. While the vaccine is being distributed, the virus continues to do damage.
There is one positive way to look at this: Measures that reduce the virus’s spread—like mask-wearing, social distancing and rapid-result testing—can still have great consequences. They can save more than 100,000 lives in coming months.
1. How does the author mainly present his argument?| A．By giving definitions. | B．By categorizing facts. |
| C．By drawing comparisons. | D．By appealing to emotions. |
| A．Improving the effectiveness of the vaccines. |
| B．Producing a greater variety of vaccines. |
| C．Looking at the situation in a positive way. |
| D．Wearing masks and practicing social distancing. |
| A．The vaccines are less effective than expected. |
| B．The US have controlled the spread of the coronavirus. |
| C．The death toll in the next six months will be about 60,000. |
| D．Fewer people will die if the infection rate is lower. |
| A．The vaccine is the hope of wiping out the pandemic. |
| B．The public are optimistic about the effects of the vaccine. |
| C．The public are concerned about the high infection rate. |
| D．The distribution of vaccine will end the pandemic quickly. |
5 . As people get older, the types of friends they have tend to change. As young adults, humans have a lot of friends. With age, they often prefer to spend their time with just a few close, positive individuals. Researchers long believed that this change was unique to humans, but a new study finds that chimps also have similar tendencies.
One explanation for the humans to get picky about social connections has to do with awareness of our limited life span. “People monitor how much time we have left in our life and choose emotionally-fulfilling relationships in old age,” says one of the study's lead authors Alexandra G. Rosati, a psychologist at the University of Michigan. As people age, they don’t want to be surrounded by a large group of negative friends, but would prefer to be near a handful of optimistic individuals.
Rosati and her colleagues were curious whether chimps would show similar features even though they don’t seem to be aware of their upcoming death. Researchers used 78, 000 hours of observations made over 20 years from the Kibale Chimpanzee Project in Uganda. The data looked at the social interactions of 21 male chimps between 15 and 58 years old. The researchers only studied male chimps because they show stronger social bonds and have more social interactions than female chimps.
Researchers found that wild chimpanzees share a similar pattern. “They interact with others in more positive ways as they get older. Younger adults, in contrast, show more aggression and were more likely to form one-sided relationships where their partner did not reciprocate. ”says Rosati. For example, the older chimpanzees would sit close to their long-time companions and groom (给……梳毛) each other, while younger chimps had more one-sided relationships where they would groom a friend, but the action wasn't returned. The study was published in the journal Science.
“This aging pattern may be the result of shared changes in our abilities to manage our emotions with age,” Rosati says. “This shared pattern between chimpanzees and humans could represent an adaptive response where older adults focus on important social relationships that provide benefits and avoid interactions that have negative consequences as they lose competitive fighting ability.”
1. Why do humans change their preference for friends in old age?| A．They don’t like making new friends. |
| B．Their friends pass away one by one. |
| C．They adapt to the changes in nature. |
| D．They know their life is running out. |
| A．To show the study was done scientifically. |
| B．To show how scientists tried to prove their assumption. |
| C．To show how hard it was to observe the chimps. |
| D．To show male chimps are unaware of upcoming death. |
| A．Repay their kindness. | B．Take care of them. |
| C．Get along well with them. | D．Sit close to them. |
| A．People Prefer Positive Partners in Old Age |
| B．Positive Bonds Benefit Chimps in Many Ways |
| C．Aging Chimps like Us Get Picky About Friends |
| D．Chimps Share Similar Tendencies with Humans |
6 . Civita, the dying town
Some 120 kilometers north of Rome, street signs along the road tell drivers they’re bound for “the dying town” Civita di Bagnoregio. The village stands on a declining plateau(高原). It has gone through landslides(泥石流), earthquakes, and erosion (腐蚀) since humans’ first settlement about 2, 500 years ago. Nowadays Civita has been reduced to only 90 by 150 meters.
In the Middle Ages, the size of the plateau was three times its size nowadays, and the population was over 3, 000, yet the river surrounding Civita gradually made the town collapse from the bottom up. Since 1695, when a destructive earthquake took place in Civita, many people were forced to escape from their hometown, and the population there has never recovered. By the 1920s, there were merely 600 residents in the town. Currently, there are only about 10 residents. What a small population it has!
The survival of Civita is uncertain. However, as the news that the town was about to disappear started to widely spread, more and more people wanted to visit it. Now up to 10,000 people visit Civita per day. And there is doubt as to whether it is dying. The flood of people and money leads to natives longing for the rescue of the town.
Yet the actual situation in Civita is that there are no grocery stores, hardware, or convenience stores. People living there can only have access to a handful of restaurants and tourist shops. Besides, they have to get supplies through a narrow, 300-meter-long bridge that connects them to the outside world.
Today, Civita is pursuing a UNESCO World Heritage designation, in order to earn official recognition of its landscape and adaptability to nature. Recently, the town presented a 242-page document to the UNESCO, hoping that it will help strengthen Civita’s role as a site of historical and cultural significance. Also, Civitas UNESCO team plans to create tourist attractions in the surrounding towns. If Civita recovers successfully, other towns in the same situation could find a direction based on its experience.
1. What has made Civita become smaller?| A．The inconvenient transport. |
| B．The natural conditions. |
| C．The settlement of humans. |
| D．The decrease of the population. |
| A．Because they want to rescue it. |
| B．Because they are attracted by its scenery. |
| C．Because they are interested in its natives. |
| D．Because they want to catch the last chance to see it. |
| A．The stores in the town. |
| B．The daily activities of local people. |
| C．The appearance of the town. |
| D．The living conditions in the town. |
| A．Unchangeable. |
| B．Hopeful. |
| C．Disappointing. |
| D．Doubtful. |
7 . After years of observing human nature, I have decided that two qualities make the difference between men of great achievement and men of average performance: curiosity and discontent. I have never known an outstanding man who lacked either. And I have never known an average man who had both. The two belong together.
Together, these deep human urges (驱策力) count for much more than ambition. Galileo was not merely ambitious when he dropped objects of varying weights from the Leaning Tower at Pisa and timed their fall to the ground. Like Galileo, all the great names in history were curious and asked in discontent, “Why? Why? Why?”
Fortunately, curiosity and discontent don’t have to be learned. We are born with them and need only recapture them.
“The great man,” said Mencius, “is he who does not lose his child’s heart.” Yet most of us do lose it. We stop asking questions. We stop challenging custom. We never doubt.
We just follow the crowd that desires only the calm and restful average. The crowd encourages us to occupy our own little corner, to avoid foolish leaps into the dark, to be satisfied. We will have to force ourselves to do just the opposite so as to waken our curiosity and discontent.
How should you start, modestly, so as not to become discouraged? I think of one friend who couldn’t arrange flowers to satisfy herself. She was curious about how the experts did it. Now she is one of the experts, writing books on flower arrangement.
One way to begin is to answer your own excuses. You haven’t any special ability? Most people don’t; there are only a few geniuses. You haven’t any time? That’s good, because it’s always the people with no time who get things done. Harriet Stowe, mother of six, wrote parts of Uncle Tom’s Cabin while cooking. You’re too old? Remember that Thomas Costain was 57 when he published his first novel, and that Grandma Moses showed her first pictures when she was 78.
However you start, remember there is no better time to start than right now, for you’ll never be more alive than you are at this moment.
1. In writing Paragraph 1, the author aims to ________.| A．give an example |
| B．present an argument |
| C．propose a definition |
| D．make a comparison |
| A．Trial and error leads to the finding of truth. |
| B．Creativity results from challenging authority. |
| C．Greatness comes from a lasting desire to explore. |
| D．Ambition is more important than curiosity and discontent. |
| A．Lead a life of adventure. |
| B．Follow the fashion. |
| C．Develop a questioning mind. |
| D．Observe the unknown around you. |
| A．The Keys to Achievement |
| B．Never Too Late to Learn |
| C．Curious Minds Never Feel Content |
| D．Reflections on Human Nature |
8 . In the Amazon rainforest of Venezuela, Yanomami hunter-gatherers exist on cassava, palm hearts and wild bananas. They also hunt frogs and monkeys using techniques that would have been familiar to their ancestors 11,000 years ago. The extraordinary continuity of their culture, and the fact that some of the groups have had little contact with outsiders, led biologists to wonder whether the Yanomami might reveal what the human digestive system looked like before industrialization supplied the world with processed foods and antibiotics.
In 2019, researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine had a chance to find the answer in a previously unknown Yanomami village. Health workers collected feces (排泄物) from about 30 villagers. When the researchers cultured and analyzed microbes (微生物) from the feces in their laboratory, they discovered whole categories of bacteria that were absent from the guts (肠道) of people from industrialized countries. Even more strikingly, they found the microbial population in the average Westerner to be about half as diverse as the community inside these hunter-gatherers. The researchers realized that the microbes might have implications beyond basic science. People’s microbial communities are believed to play a role in disorders like obesity, diabetes and Alzheimer’s, which shorten lives and overburden health care systems. These disorders don’t trouble these preindustrial hunter-gatherers, however. Therefore, researchers want to learn which microbes protect them and figure out how to reintroduce them in modern societies. It has the potential to affect health more profoundly than the discovery of the fabled Fountain of Youth.
But the opportunity might be more fleeting than youth itself. “The world is becoming urban so fast.” says microbiologist Maria Gloria, co-author of the study that reveals the Yanomami microbiome (微生物群). “Our lifestyles are killing microbial diversity.” Although nobody has yet determined exactly what the Yanomami mystery bugs are doing and how they improve an individual’s health, she believes that scientists need to collect and preserve as many microbes as possible for future breakthroughs. “We cannot afford to wait,” she says, “or we’ll have lost the high diversity of the human microbiome of traditional peoples before we understand how to use the microbiome to improve health.”
1. What did the researchers find out in 2019?| A．The hunter-gatherers had a different digestive system. |
| B．Microbial communities were to blame for many disorders. |
| C．People from industrialized countries had less diverse microbes. |
| D．Some categories of bacteria did not exist in the villagers’ guts. |
| A．By collecting health data. |
| B．By conducting experiments. |
| C．By interviewing the villagers. |
| D．By recording the Yanomami’s daily life. |
| A．The opportunity seems more precious than youth. |
| B．The opportunity enables people to stay young forever. |
| C．The opportunity is of great significance to modern society. |
| D．The opportunity disappears so quickly that we cannot afford to miss it. |
| A．We are close to solving the mystery of Yanomami microbiome. |
| B．Processed foods and antibiotics have changed human digestive system. |
| C．Treating diseases by introducing beneficial bacteria has been made possible. |
| D．The discovery of those microbes will help cure many life-threatening diseases. |
9 . Are you interested in working with animals? Now here comes the CHANCE. Kirby Wildlife Park has set up the unique Keeper Experience package. The fantastic experience is available to anyone over the age of 18 who is reasonably fit. We regret that for health and safety reasons, participants who are pregnant, in a wheelchair or suffering from illnesses cannot take part.
A typical day
9:15 Arrival
9:30 Health and Safety Briefing
10:00 Apes and Monkeys
While cleaning out the enclosure (围场) you will find out about how enclosures are enriched with novel items and new smells to stimulate the animals′ senses and imitate their natural environment.
12:00 Lunch
14:00 Big Cats
As one of the highlights of this volunteer experience, you will feed the cats and learn about their nutritional needs. The keeper will give you an introduction to how cat behavior can be read to get an idea of their welfare and health.
16:30 Meet the Team
Meet more of the staff and learn how you can get further involved with work at the park. Learn about our animal adoption plan, what it takes to be a good keeper and where to obtain the right qualifications for a career in animal welfare.
Booking and cancellation
The Keeper Experience is available on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays throughout the year, and must be booked at least two weeks in advance. Full payment is needed when booking.
Cancellations must be made more than fourteen days before the event. Otherwise, you won′t receive a full refund.
1. What kind of people can experience working with animals in Kirby Wildlife Park?| A．A pregnant woman. |
| B．A man who is quite healthy. |
| C．A teenager sitting in a wheelchair. |
| D．A student under the age of 18. |
| A．At 12:00. |
| B．At 9:30. |
| C．At 10:00. |
| D．At 16:30. |
| A．a booking should be made over two weeks before the event |
| B．people are allowed to cancel a booking with a full refund at any time |
| C．cancellations need to be made on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays |
| D．participants can have the unique experience every day throughout the year |
10 . Today we can do everything with apps: pay bills, order food and shop for anything. Mobile technology means we can hold the world in our hands. However, when it comes to technology and health care, chances and challenges come together.
Let's start with the ways to get health care. Telemedicine can allow a patient to use technology to see the doctor online and get a diagnosis and instructions without leaving home.
In addition, there are many patient websites. These allow for different kinds of interactions about our health needs without involving the medical team. Setting a date with doctors and reading lab results are readily achieved by technology.
A whole new age of medical care seems likely to come in the future. But every coin has two sides. What might be on the other side of techno-health care?
Firstly, we should think about the health care experience as a whole. A usual visit to a doctor begins with a receptionist, who can see and tell how a patient is doing. This may influence the treatment effect. It's unlikely that a patient website will have such intuition.
Next, sharing the details of one's life requires trust, which takes time to build. This is certainly true in health care, where some of life's best and worst moments involve doctors. The human touch should not be undervalued and is unlikely to be there over the smartphone.
Lastly, test results can be difficult to understand. When someone without a medical degree sees a flagged result with no explanation on the website, there's room for all kinds of stories to form in their minds—and also great worry .
So how does medicine adapt to the new technology age? Very talented companies are working on it. There is medical equipment that can be used at home to send necessary signs and heart sounds through telemedicine. It seems likely that some companies will find a way to explain test results.
But what it will not achieve is the warmth of human interaction and touch. Patients often need someone to listen to-and care about — their journey story, which will never be realized through a human-less technology. Technology should be a tool, but depending on it totally will most certainly have unexpected effects. Let's not allow our humanity to be one of them.
1. How does technology help health care?| A．It encourages doctors to voice their needs on the websites. |
| B．It offers the patient a convenient way to get a diagnosis. |
| C．It improves relations between doctors and patients. |
| D．It provides a chance to build a medical team. |
| A．An interesting experience. | B．An ability to understand. |
| C．A chance to win. | D．A fair decision. |
| A．Patient websites require trust from doctors. | B．Talented companies can give medical advice. |
| C．Flagged results may cause worry for patients. | D．Medical equipment collects patients' stories. |
| A．Technology can deal with unexpected effects. |
| B．Telemedicine can take the place of usual health care. |
| C．Techno-health care should take humanity into consideration. |
| D．It is difficult for patients to adapt to the new technology age. |
