1 . Some Questions About Coronavirus
How long does coronavirus last?
Every case of coronavirus is different, but experts have a general idea of how long the typical course of the illness lasts. Most people can expect to recover within two weeks after the onset of symptoms, but more severe cases could last up to six weeks — and for some, dubbed “Covid long haulers,” symptoms can linger for months.
What are the symptoms of the coronavirus?
Symptoms of the coronavirus can seem a lot like the flu. Initially, a fever, cough, and shortness of breath emerged as the three most common symptoms of COVID-19. Now, other signs such as muscle pain, fatigue, and loss of taste and smell are on the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC) symptoms checklist.
How long does coronavirus live on surfaces?
Though the conronavirus is typically transmitted through the air via respiratory droplets (from an infected person sneezing or coughing) rather than by touching objects and materials, the virus can still remain viable on variety of surfaces, according to the CDC, though it’s not exactly clear for how long.
How is coronavirus spread?
According to the CDC, COVID-19 is spread mainly from person to person, usually through close contact (within six feet). Being near an infected person who coughs, sneezes, or talks can expose you to their respiratory droplet carrying the virus — and they can spread the virus even if they don’t have any symptoms yet. If those virus-containing particles are inhaled (吸入) or land in your eyes, nose or mouth, you could become infected.
1. How long does coronavirus stay on surfaces?| A．Two weeks. | B．Six weeks. | C．Months. | D．Unclear. |
| A．contacting close (within six feet) |
| B．being near an infected person |
| C．talking with a healthy person |
| D．inhaling some virus-containing particles |
| A．Entertainment. | B．Health. | C．Education | D．Travel. |
2 . It was in my first year of work as a doctor. My mouth was dry, my palms sweaty and my voice trembling. The only thing that kept me focused was the thought that things were so much worse for the family I was talking to.
A woman in her early twenties had been brought in after a road traffic accident. She had suffered multiple injuries and had been rushed up to theatre. The surgeons had been unable to save her life and she died on the table. Ashen-faced, the consultant (会诊医生) told the woman's family the news. “Tom, I think it would be nice if it came from you,” my consultant said.
I stared blankly. “What?” I asked.
“About organ donation,” he replied. I swallowed hard. Surely this would be the last thing they'd want to talk about. It felt acutely awkward and ill-timed to be considering this kind of conversation while they were being engulfed in grief. But the problem with organ donation is that every minute counts. The clock is ticking because the sooner organs can be transplanted, the better the chance they will survive in the recipient's (接受者) body.
I began to feel sick. I opened the door and sat opposite them, convinced that I was only going to make things worse for them.
“It's what she'd have wanted,” the mother said before I'd even finished. The father nodded. “She was always so generous,” her father added.
As my consultant and I left them, it occurred to me that I'd been wrong in thinking it would be an awkward conversation. Nothing could take away the pain of having lost their daughter. Yet this last, final act had comforted them and helped them feel that the spirit of their daughter lived on m this act of generosity. Strangely, it is one of the most heart-wanning conversations I have ever had.
1. The first two paragraphs suggest________.| A．the woman died on the scene |
| B．it was hard for the author to face death |
| C．the author witnessed the traffic accident |
| D．the woman's death was told by the consultant |
| A．He was caught in a dilemma. | B．He was seriously ill at that time. |
| C．He failed to transplant the organ. | D．The woman's chance of survival was slim. |
| A．To do the author a favor. | B．To show respect for the doctor. |
| C．To follow then daughter’s will. | D．To end the awkward conversation. |
| A．The consultant’s assistance. | B．The author’s consideration. |
| C．The donor’s kindness. | D．The recipient’s appreciation. |
3 . At eleven, I decided to learn to swim. There was a pool at the Y. M. C. A. offering exactly the opportunity. My mother continually warned against it, and kept fresh in my mind the details of each drowning in the river. But the Y. M. C. A. pool was safe.
I had a childhood fear of water. This started when I was three years old and father took me to the beach. The huge waves knocked me down and swept over me.
The pool was quiet. I was afraid of going in all alone, so I sat on the side of the pool to wait for others. Then came a big boy. He yelled, “Hi, Skinny! How'd you like to be ducked?” With that he picked me up and threw me into the deep end. I landed in a sitting position, and swallowed water. But I was not frightened out of my wits—when my feet hit the bottom, I would make a big jump, come out of the surface. It seemed a long way down. I gathered all my strength when I landed and made what I thought was a great spring upwards. Then I opened my eyes and saw nothing but water. I tried to yell but no sound came out. I went down, down, endlessly.
When I came to consciousness, I found myself on bed in hospital. I never went back to the pool. I avoided water whenever I could. This misadventure stayed with me as the years rolled by. It deprived(剥夺) me of the joy of boating and swimming. Finally, I decided to get an instructor. Piece by piece, he built a swimmer. Several months later, the instructor was finished, but I was not. Sometimes the terror would return.
This went on till July. I swam across the Lake Wentworth. Only once did the terror return. When I was in the middle of the lake, I put my face under and saw nothing but bottomless water.
I laughed and said, “Well, Mr. Terror, what do you think you can do to me?”
I had conquered my fear of water.
1. Which of the following brought about the author's fear of water?| A．An unpleasant memory of the pool. | B．An outing to the beach with his father. |
| C．His mother's warning of drowning. | D．His poor skill in swimming. |
| A．He felt that the Y. M. C. A. pool was safe. |
| B．He knew how to swim in the pool. |
| C．He came up with an idea to go upwards. |
| D．He was waiting for others to save him. |
| A．Diligent and cautious. | B．Determined and far-sighted. |
| C．Dependable and adaptable. | D．Demanding and courageous. |
| A．When swimming across the Lake Wentworth, the author's still awfully scared. |
| B．Recovering from hospital, the author showed no interest in water activities. |
| C．At first the author dare not swim on his own and wanted others' company. |
| D．Under the guidance of the instructor, the author could swim freely and bravely. |
4 . Although we're surrounded by millions of bricks every day, most of us don't think about them too often. For thousands of years, the humble clay-fired bricks haven't changed.
They're made from natural materials, but there are problems with bricks at every step of their production. Bricks are made from clay—a type of soil found all over the world. Clay mining is harmful to plant growth. In conventional brick production, the clay is shaped and baked in kilns(窑) mostly heated by fossil fuels, which contributes to climate change. Once made, bricks must be transported to construction sites, generating more carbon emissions. With so many bricks produced globally, their impact adds up.
Gabriela Medero, a professor at Scotland's Heriot-Watt University, decided to find solutions to that. With her university's support, Medero set up Kenoteq in 2009. The company's signature product is the K-Briq. Made from more than 90% construction waste, Medero says the K-Briq—which does not need to be fired in a kiln—produces less than a tenth of the carbon emissions of conventional bricks. With the company testing new machinery to start scaling up production, Medero hopes her bricks will help to build a more sustainable world.
The K-Briq will be comparably priced to conventional bricks. Additionally, as a new product, the K-Briq has been subjected to strict assessment and authoritative certification. Reusing old bricks is an expensive process and there is no standardized way to check the strength, safety or durability (耐久性) of recycled bricks. Medero says that K-Briq could solve both these problems. She claims that K-Briq is stronger and more durable than fired clay bricks.
Over the next 18 months, Medero plans to get K-Briq machines on-site at recycling plants. "This will reduce transport-related emissions because trucks can collect K-Briq when they drop off construction waste," says Medero.
1. What inspired Medero to invent the K-Briq?| A．The poor quality of the conventional bricks. |
| B．The outdated style of the conventional bricks. |
| C．The high cost of manufacturing conventional bricks. |
| D．The problems with the conventional brick production. |
| A．It won't produce waste. |
| B．It brings no pollution to the air. |
| C．The plants occupy much less land than before. |
| D．The K-Briq is mainly made from construction waste. |
| A．The popularity of the K-Briq. |
| B．The advantages of K-Briq over traditional bricks. |
| C．The special materials used in K-Briq. |
| D．The advanced technology used for K-Briq. |
| A．To ensure fewer emissions. |
| B．To speed up the production. |
| C．To lower the production cost. |
| D．To collect more construction waste. |
5 . The beauty of the outdoors naturally encourages people to go outside. The drive toward the natural world is present in normal times. Now, as many people are locked indoors, spending hours in front of screens, the pull of watching wind blow branches of neighboring trees is hardly matched. Forest therapy is one way to satisfy the demand while improving personal health and well-being.
Inspired by the Japanese practice of shinrin-yoku, or "forest bathing", forest therapy is a guided outdoor practice, which encourages people to experience the pleasures of nature through all of their senses and be present in the body.
Research on shinrin-yoku began in Japan in the 1980s when leaders there noticed a sharp rise in stress-related illnesses in the country, resulting from people spending more time working in technology and other industrial work. Specific settings were created to guide people in outdoor experiences. Research showed forest bathing may help reduce stress, improve attention, and lift moods.
Stress raises levels of cortisol, which plays a role in high blood pressure, heart disease and headaches. In test subjects, levels of cortisol decreased after a walk in the forest. Trees give off oils called phytoncides that have special properties and may influence immunity(免疫力). Exposure to natural tree oils helps lift depression, lower blood pressure. One study showed a rise in the number and activity of immune cells, which fight viruses and cancer, among people who spent three days and two nights in a forest compared with people taking an urban trip. This benefit lasted for more than a month after the forest trip!
Don't worry if you don't have three days to spend in the forest. A recent study showed spending at least 120 minutes a week in nature improved self-reported health and well-being. It doesn't matter whether the 120 minutes represents one long trip, or several shorter visits to nature. So, even as we are honoring physical distancing, it's possible and essential to get outside for 20 minutes every day and enhance our well-being.
1. What does the underlined sentence in paragraph 1 imply?| A．Interaction between neighbors is rare. |
| B．The beauty of nature is often ignored. |
| C．People's urge to be outside is stronger. |
| D．Public physical condition is worsening. |
| A．To find a way to help people work out. |
| B．To deal with a national health crisis. |
| C．To provide an effective exercise guide. |
| D．To get people away from technology. |
| A．What long-term stress could cause. |
| B．How long people should stay in nature. |
| C．How forest therapy affects the body. |
| D．Whether exposure to forests is helpful. |
| A．Limiting time spent outdoors properly. |
| B．Spending at least 2 hours in nature a day. |
| C．Making a plan to exercise every day. |
| D．Keeping our connection with nature. |
6 . As a child, Jane Goodall had a natural love for the outdoors and animals. And at age 23, she left for Nairobi, Kenya. There, Jane met famed Dr. Louis Leakey, who offered her a job at the local natural history museum. She worked there for a time before Leakey decided to send her to the Gombe Stream Game Reserve in Tanzania to study wild chimpanzees. He felt her strong interest in animals and nature, and her knowledge as well as high energy made her a great candidate to study the chimpanzees.
In December 1958, Jane returned home to England and Leakey began to make arrangements for the expedition(考察), securing the appropriate permissions from the government and raising funds. In May 1960, Jane learned that Leakey had gained funding from the Wilkie Brothers Foundation.
Jane arrived by boat at the Gombe Stream Game Reserve on the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika with her mother. The early weeks at Gombe were challenging. Jane developed a fever that delayed the start of her work. Finally, an old chimpanzee named David Greybeard began to allow Jane to watch him. As a high-ranking male of the chimpanzee community, his acceptance meant other group members also allowed Jane to observe. It was the first time that Jane had witnessed David Greybeard using tools. Excited, she telegraphed Dr. Leakey about her observation. He wrote back, "Now we must redefine 'tool' and 'man' or accept chimpanzees as humans."
Jane continued to work in the field and, with Leakey's help, began her doctoral program without an undergraduate degree in 1962. At the University of Cambridge, she found herself at odds with senior scientists over the methods she used—how she had named the chimpanzees rather than using the more common numbering system, and for suggesting that the chimps have emotions and personalities. She further upset those in power at the university when she wrote her first book, My Friends, the Wild Chimpanzees, aimed at the general public rather than an academic audience. The book was wildly popular, and her academic peers were outraged. Dr. Jane Goodall earned her Ph. D. on February 9, 1966, and continued to work at Gombe for the next twenty years.
1. Why did Leakey appoint Jane to Tanzania?| A．Jane asked to change her workplace. |
| B．Jane was not suitable for her previous job. |
| C．Jane's abilities and talents were discovered. |
| D．The natural history museum was out of business. |
| A．Agree. | B．Disagree. | C．Resemble. | D．Coincide. |
| A．A new direction of knowledge. |
| B．A common achievement. |
| C．Worth farther discussion. |
| D．Absolute nonsense. |
| A．Challenging senior scientists is a must in gaining fame. |
| B．Cooperation is the only key to making significant discoveries. |
| C．Passion and hard work can make a difference in scientific research. |
| D．The ability to raise funds counts for achieving great success. |
7 . Until now, scientists haven’t been able to study the new rock on the moon.The new samples from Chang’e 5 will change this. They’re from near Mons Rümker, a volcanic mountain where the rock is thought to be much younger-- about 1 billion years old.
There are a lot of reasons scientists are eager to study this younger rock, one of which is that it could help us more precisely date not only the moon, but many rocky planets and other objects.
Here’s how that works: Scientists date lunar rock by using something called a chronology curve（年代学曲线）, says Jollliff, a scientists at Washington University in St. Louis. Basically, they estimate the age of the rock by counting the number of craters（火山口） in the area the rock comes from; those increase as objects strike the rock over time. To make this estimation, scientists need to match the number of craters to a precise age. Right now, they only have data points for lunar rock that is 3 to billion years old. Modern techniques can date the new sample extremely accurately, and once scientists know its precise age, they can add a valuable data point to their chronology curve. The dating system will also help us more accurately estimate the age of all sorts of objects in space, like rocky planets and other moons.
Another reason scientists are keen to study this young volcanic rock is to find out more about how volcanism works on the moon. Jollliff says that it’s unclear why there was volcanic activity on the moon for such a long period of time. Most of the moon; s volcanic activity, he says, is thought to have occurred 3 or 4 billion years ago, when the moon was still pretty young. But since the moon does not have plate structure, which drives volcanism on Earth, it’s unclear what could have caused much later volcanic activity. “That’s something that you can find out of the samples by studying them in the lab,” Jollliff says.
1. What does the underlined word “this” in paragraph 1 refer to?| A．The fact of being unable to study the new rock. |
| B．The new rock from near Mons Rümker. |
| C．One of the reasons to study the moon;s new rock. |
| D．The study of the moon’s younger rock. |
| A．ensure there was volcanic activity on the moon. |
| B．more precisely date only the moon. |
| C．date lunar rock by using a chronology curve. |
| D．explore how volcanism works on the moon. |
| A．Scientistsare keen to study this young volcanic rock. |
| B．Scientists can’t know why volcanic activity exists on the moon. |
| C．The moon’s volcanic activity occurred 3 or 4 billion years ago. |
| D．It’s clear what could have caused much later volcanic activity. |
| A．How scientists study the younger rock. |
| B．Why the research is important. |
| C．Why the younger rock is worth studying. |
| D．What scientists do to study the younger rock. |
8 . It is widely believed that smiling means a person is happy, and it usually occurs when they're meeting another person or a group of people. However, a new study led by the body language expert Dr Harry Witchel shows this isn't always the case.
In his research, he asked 44 participants aged 18—35 to play a geography quiz game consisting of nine difficult questions so that they often got the answer wrong. Participants seated interacted with a computer alone in a room while their faces were video recorded.
After the quiz, the participants were asked to rate their experience using a range of 12 emotions including “bored”, “interested” and “frustrated”. Meanwhile, their facial expressions were then computer analysed frame by frame in order to judge how much they were smiling based on a scale of between 0 to 1.
Dr Witchel said: “According to some researchers, a real smile reflects the inner state of cheerfulness or amusement. However, behavioral ecology theory suggests that all smiles are tools used in social interactions, meaning cheerfulness is neither necessary nor rich for smiling. Our study showed that in these humancomputer interaction experiments, smiling isn't driven by happiness; it is associated with subjective involvement(主观参与) , which acts like a social fuel for smiling, even when socialising with a computer on your own.”
Surprisingly, participants didn't tend to smile during the period when they were trying to figure out the answers. However, they did smile right after the computer game informed them if their answer was correct or wrong. Participants smiled more often when they got the answer wrong. Dr Witched added: “During these computerised quizzes, smiling was greatly increased just after answering questions incorrectly.This behaviour could be explained by selfratings of involvement, rather than by ratings of happiness or frustration.”
1. Why did Dr Witchel use difficult questions in the quiz game?| A．To make it hard for participants to answer them correctly. |
| B．To make the answer period last as long as possible. |
| C．To discover the most intelligent participants. |
| D．To create a stressful situation for participants deliberately. |
| A．Other researchers' opinion of a real smile is quite right. |
| B．Smiles aren't necessarily useful tools in social interactions. |
| C．Subjective involvement doesn't motivate smiling in social interactions. |
| D．Witchel's study finding is consistent with behavioural ecology theory. |
| A．Participants were asked to interact with each other in the quiz. |
| B．Participants in the quiz smiled less often when they got the answer wrong. |
| C．In Dr Witchel's opinion, smiling is connected with subjective involvement. |
| D．Dr Witchel thinks that a real smile reflects the inner state of cheerfulness. |
| A．What Contributes to Real Happiness? |
| B．How to Identify Whether a Person Is Really Happy? |
| C．Smiling Doesn't Necessarily Mean Happiness. |
| D．People Generally Hold a Wrong View on Happiness. |
9 . There are around 100 tribes(部落)that live in global isolation, mostly in South America and India. The Sentinelese have lived on one of the Andaman Islands in Eastern India for 60, 000 years. They protect their island by fighting against people from outside. Their language is different from any other known language. Another Andaman tribe is the Jarawa. In the past, they were independent and fought against anybody trying to make contact with them. But in 1998, the Indian government built a road across their land, and since then, they’ve had more contact with the outside world.
Some Amazon tribes avoid contact because of unhappy memories. The Mashco-Piro left their vegetable gardens after rubber companies killed most of their tribe at the beginning of the 20th century. Those who survived became nomadic(游牧的)and started hunting animals in the forest.
The Awa live in the Amazon forests ofBrazil. Out of 350 members, 100 have no contact with the outside world. They left their villages and adopted a nomadic lifestyle around 1850 to escape attacks by Europeans. In the following years, farmers in nearby communities started cutting the trees to expand their farmland. The Awa lost most of their hunting land. The few Amazon tribes that still exist are fighting to keep their traditional way of life.
Survival, an organization that fights for the rights of tribal people, says that uncontacted tribes are the most vulnerable(弱势的)humans on the planet and that’s why their environment should be unavailable to the rest of us. After years of pressure, the organization got Brazil’s government to clear non-natives from the Awa land. All non-Awa people are leaving so the tribe can get their forest back.
But some think it's impossible for tribes to stay isolated forever in a connected world. Contact will be made one day. So the question is：Whose choice should it be, ours or theirs?
1. What can we learn about the Sentinelese from the first paragraph?| A．They resist contact from the outside world. |
| B．They speakthe same language as the Jarawa. |
| C．They are wild about fighting with other tribes. |
| D．They have got help from the Indian govemment. |
| A．To protect their hunting land. | B．To search for food sources. |
| C．To avoid threats from Europeans. | D．To maintain their original way of life. |
| A．The tribes should be left undisturbed. |
| B．The tribes should fight for more living space. |
| C．The cribes should live in harmony with nature. |
| D．The tribes should adapt to the connected world. |
| A．The Nomadic Tribes in the World | B．Seeking Survival of Tribes |
| C．The Unavailable Tribal Environment | D．Protecting the Tribal Forests |
10 . Researchers have watched Asian honey bees hunt for animal feces（粪便）, carry it home, and then apply it around the entrance to their nests. Their findings document the behavior for the first time.
"It turns out that by applying animal feces around colony entrances, Asian honey bees are able to stop giant hornets（大黄蜂）from their nest entrances. The hornets are less likely to try to break into the colonies by landing and chewing at their entrances in a multiple-hornet attack, which is the most deadly kind of hornet attack that honey bees experience," lead researcher Heather Mattila said.
Called "fecal spotting", what the bees are doing is using a tool, researchers suggest. "Tool use is a controversial topic and the criteria to identify it have been defined and redefined many times over," Mattila says. "Across the majority of definitions, we look for an animal holding something, placing it with intentionality, and using it in a way that improves the function of the thing that the tool was applied to. This behavior of honey bees meets all of these criteria.”
Mattila and her fellows have been studying Asian honey bees in Vietnam since 2013. They’ve done fieldwork watching colonies in wooden hives（蜂房）managed by local beekeepers. They cleaned the front of the hives and then tracked how the bees looked for animal feces to build up defenses against their hornet enemies.
They found that giant hornets were much less likely to land on hive entrances or chew their way into the hives when there were more fecal spots around the entrances.
Attacks by groups of giant hornets can sometimes wipe out entire colonies of honey bees so protective measures like these are key to survival. Interestingly, the animal feces keeps away the hornets, but the bees don't have a problem picking it up or toting it around.
"At this point, we don't know why animal feces disgusts hornets but is attractive to bees," Matilla says. "It is definitely something that needs to be studied further.”
1. Why do Asian honey bees take animal feces home?| A．To build their nests. | B．To defend their nests. |
| C．To shelter nest entrances. | D．To set a trap for enemies. |
| A．To show tool use is a controversial topic. |
| B．To show the concept of tool use is hard to define |
| C．To show there are many definitions about tool use. |
| D．To show "fecal spotting" is a tool using phenomenon. |
| A．How honey bees find animal feces. |
| B．Why giant hornets attack honey bees. |
| C．What is the key to honey bees’ survival. |
| D．Why giant hornets hate feces while bees don't. |
| A．Honey Bees Are Cleverer than Giant Hornets |
| B．Tool Using Skills Make Honey Bees Stand Out |
| C．Honey Bees Employ Tools to Fight Giant Hornets |
| D．Honey Bees Use Various Ways to Defend Hornets |
