1 . Bookstores are fascinating places. That’s because the books on the shelves can take you away to magical lands, help you learn a foreign language, or cook a delicious meal. But when your community is too small to house a real brick bookstore, sometimes you have to make a compromise. A mobile bookstore that brings books around the country was the result. That is the case for Rita Collins, 70, who dreamed of opening a used bookstore after retiring from teaching.
A business planning class from the American Booksellers Association convinced Collins to abandon her idea that opening a bookstore in the small town where she lives, which would not be sustainable. Eureka, Montana, located just seven miles from the Canadian border, only has a population of 1,517. Collins asked her instructors about a traveling bookstore on wheels and they were skeptical. But she persevered.
Collins was inspired by Dylans Mobile Bookstore, a traveling bookstore in Wales run by Jeff Towns. She contacted Jeff for advice but she was largely on her own when it came to building her bookstore. First, she had to find a vehicle large enough to stand in. Then she had to have it refitted with shelves that would hold the books at a 15-degree angle so that they would stay in place while in transit. Collins named her bookstore St Rita’s Traveling Bookstore, which has been on the road since 2015.
At first, she drove through Montana and then she made her first cross-country trip in 2016. After she retired in 2017, it became a full-time job all year round. Collins and her mobile bookstore have visited 30 states, stopping at festivals and events along the way. While the locations change, some things always stay the same. Collins loves meeting people and making connections. While she loves what she does, Collins doesn’t think she can keep doing it. In several years, she hopes to pass her traveling bookstore onto another bibliophile who shares the same interest and will keep it on the road.
1. Why did Collins abandon opening a bookstore?| A．It would cost a lot of money. | B．It was not promising. |
| C．It would be out of date. | D．It was not approved. |
| A．To beautify the mobile bookstore. |
| B．To make full use of space of the shelves. |
| C．To keep the bookstore’s balance. |
| D．To protect the books from falling down. |
| A．Merciful and delightful. | B．Intelligent and reasonable. |
| C．Determined and social. | D．Generous and lovely. |
| A．A book lover. | B．A publisher. |
| C．A famous writer. | D．An editor. |
2 . Due to climate changes, Arctic ice is breaking up earlier in the spring, and its area is decreasing. This is creating problems for polar bears that make their homes off northern Alaska and in Hudson Bay.
Polar bears off Alaska normally hunt and raise their young on ice sheets that float on the ocean. But as the ice has melted, the polar bears have been forced to spend more time on land. There, they have begun to frequent beaches, feeding on the remains of whales caught by native hunters. For polar bears, this food is less nutritious than seals that they normally catch on ice sheets. The shrinking (减少) ice has also forced more polar bears into the ocean. In the past, they only had to swim short distances between ice sheets. But as the ice has shrunk, polar bears have been forced to swim longer and longer distances in the open ocean. This poses a severe danger during rough weather, and an increasing number of drowned polar bears have been observed.
In Hudson Bay, the ice breaks up three weeks earlier in the spring now than it did 20 years ago. Polar bears on Hudson Bay fast (绝食) during the summer, waiting for ice to form in the fall to hunt. Every year, the summer gets longer, and the bears get skinnier. Over the past 25 years, the average weight of the female bears has dropped 68 kg. This loss affects their ability to reproduce, and already the number of births has dropped by 15 percent. Unless the bears can learn to survive these climate changes, these giants of the ice may one day disappear.
1. What is Arctic ice doing earlier each year?| A．It's freezing. | B．It's hardening. |
| C．It's melting. | D．It's expanding. |
| A．Their young are dying. | B．Their diet is changing. |
| C．Their health is improving. | D．Their families are growing. |
| A．They are having fewer young now. | B．They suffer from various sicknesses. |
| C．They don't need stronger protection. | D．They can't find enough good males. |
| A．Medical News. | B．Society Today. |
| C．Wildlife Journal | D．Design Magazine. |
3 . Discovering the beauty of the science and maths that shape our everyday lives, an experience in Wonderlab will fuel your imagination and inspire you to see the world around you in new and exciting ways. Come and enjoy yourself!
What to seeSpread across seven different zones, there're loads of opportunities to get hands on with real scientific phenomena. Observe live experiments at our Chemistry Bar, see lightning strike before your eyes, play with forces on giant slides or travel through space under a canopy (苍穹)of stars. You can also take part in explosive science demonstrations led by our talented team of explainers. With 50 mind-blowing wonders of science to enjoy, Wonderlab is an experience unlike any other. Besides, a selection of shows will be performed daily in Wonderlab’s beautiful new show space. They are free of charge and last 20 minutes.
Tickets♦ Day pass: £ 6 per person.
This ticket gives you day-long access to Wonderlab, perfect whether you're planning a special trip to the Museum or simply passing through London and want to feed your curiosity.
♦ Annual pass: £ 10 per person.
For less than the price of two visits, give yourself a year packed full of wonder, curiosity and breathtaking experiences.
Opening timesOpen seven days a week, 10:00 — 18:00 (last entry 17:15). Wonderlab will be closed on December 24，25 and 26 and will be open as usual from December 27.
During school holidays our opening hours are 10:00 — 19:00 (last entry 18:15). Please note that in peak periods ( from midday onwards) we are experiencing long queues due to the gallery’s popularity.
1. What can you do in Wonderlab?| A．Explore stars. | B．Produce lighting. |
| C．Join in explosion shows. | D．Do chemistry experiments. |
| A．£ 12. | B．£ 20. |
| C．£32. | D．£40. |
| A．To introduce Wonderlab. | B．To attract people to Wonderlab. |
| C．To explain how Wonderlab works. | D．To analyze why Wonderlab is attractive. |
4 . The Notre Dame (巴黎圣母院) fire has been put out, but its spire (尖顶) and a large portion of its wooden roof have been damaged. The terrible destruction causes a sudden sharp pain to people around the world. “What a pity that we cannot see the damaged parts of the wonder anymore.”
But the good news is that there is at least one way of seeing them, namely through a video game called Assassin’s Creed: Unity. In this game, the player can travel to one city after another and enter the buildings exactly like what they are in reality, and see Notre Dame as it was before the fire. Further, with virtual reality technology, which is already quite mature, one can even look around the undamaged Notre Dame as if it is still there. Maybe digital technology could help to better protect architectural cultural heritage.
The idea of making digital models of ancient buildings to save their data dates back to the 1990s and the necessary technology has continued to advance since then. By scanning the ancient buildings with lasers, building 3D models with multiple images, as well as measuring everything precisely, engineers can make a copy as accurate as the real one.
As computers and smartphones are hugely popular, the digital model has great useful value. First, it allows tourists to feel the cultural relics without touching them. The virtual tour of Dunhuang Grottoes in Gansu Province is a good example of this as tourists can view the paintings without standing near them. Furthermore, it can make the digitized cultural relics more famous by spreading awareness about them via the Internet. In 2000, a virtual tour of the Great Wall became very popular at the Hannover World Expo, which increased the number of foreign tourists visiting the site in the following years. Above all, it preserves all the information of the cultural relics.
Of course, however precise a model is, it is not the original. Maybe we will have better technologies in the future, but the digital technology offers a practical way to preserve architectural cultural heritage at the moment.
1. What can we see about Notre Dame in the game?| A．The damaged Notre Dame. | B．Its wooden shape. |
| C．The big fire. | D．Its original look. |
| A．Build 3D models of full size. | B．Scan the photos of the buildings |
| C．Measure all the parts exactly. | D．Improve the technology needed. |
| A．By giving examples. | B．By classification. |
| C．By comparison. | D．By listing data. |
| A．Delighted | B．Supportive |
| C．Doubtful | D．Conservative |
