1 . Independent living at home is the ideal for every aging person. But a fall or other health-threatening incidents can change everything rapidly.
The wearable “panic buttons” introduced in the late 1980s were a great advance. But they only work if people actually wear them and can reach the button in an emergency. Today there are passive wearables that automatically detect falls, and camera-based systems to monitor elder safety.
Coming from a 40-year career in the semiconductor and wireless communication field, Rafi Zack decided to find a better alternative. “People aren’t devoted to wearing small devices 24/7, and camera-based systems are an invasion（侵犯）of privacy,” he points out, “The most challenging aspect is a fall. How fast we can detect a fall matters because the medical situation worsens quickly. Sometimes people stay on the floor for a long time. We have to find out how to solve that problem.”
Zack is a co-founder, CEO and vice president of R&D at EchoCare Technologies which has developed ECHO (Elderly Care Home Observer), a cloud-connected monitor based on radar technology and machine learning.
Because radar sees through walls, one ECHO unit fixed on the ceiling or wall can monitor one person (or two persons, in a future version) in a standard-sized apartment in a senior living facility. The device detects falls, breathing difficulties, drowning in a bathtub and other dangerous events. It gives out warnings to potential health worsening conditions by continuously monitoring and analyzing the person’s location, posture（姿势）, motion and breath. EchoCare tested the device in the United States, Japan, Australia and Israel. ECHO was certified（认证）in 2019 in Japan with the most aging population in the world.
“Bathrooms were the main testing area where about 17,000 deadly accidents happen annually.” said SMK Director and Executive Vice President Tetsuo Hara. “Bathroom makers, home security service providers and nursing homes are highly interested in EchoCare’s solution.” Zack noted, “As more and more elder people live alone as a result of social distancing, there is an increased need to monitor them without the burden of wearables or privacy-invading cameras.”
1. What’s the advantage of ECHO over “panic buttons”?| A．It has camera-based systems. | B．It has been widely accepted. |
| C．It can function without cameras. | D．Its buttons can be easily reached. |
| A．It is designed to send out warnings regularly. |
| B．It monitors dangerous health-related events. |
| C．It was certified in many developed countries. |
| D．It detects more than one person at the same time. |
| A．It’ll become more popular with the elderly. |
| B．It’ll stop 17,000 deaths happening annually. |
| C．It’ll be used in nursing homes and hospitals. |
| D．It’ll help elderly people to live an active life. |
| A．An Advanced Medical Instrument |
| B．A High-tech Monitor for the Elderly |
| C．The Invention of a Healthcare Device |
| D．The Improvement of a Medical Facility |
2 . With the social media freely available, I've realized how easy it is to become a jealous cow. The truth is that however much I remind myself of the many wonderful things I have in my life, there are still moments when I look at those around me and feel bitterly upset by their success.
It's a horrible thing to admit! In an ideal world, I'd never want to be jealous of another person's achievements and I'd want to celebrate the successes of my friends. But sometimes it's hard, even when we want to. But I don't want to live my life as a jealous cow, and I assume you don't either.
It's easier to celebrate other people's wins if you celebrate your own. How often do we take the time to enjoy our success rather than instantly move onto the next thing we want to achieve? Last year, I decided to write a book. It was the only professional goal I set for myself and, while it tired me out, I got there. But as soon as it was done, I started planning my next goal-making the book a success. As I saw other people publishing books, I stopped celebrating and instead began to fear that mine wouldn't compete.
When I told a friend how I was feeling, she reminded me how much easier it is to clap for someone else when we also clap for ourselves. So, I took myself out for lunch, ordered a glass of wine and wrote myself a congratulations card. When I saw all those other books being written on my social media, I felt proud of each and every one of us who had battled to the end of the word count.
The other trick for celebrating other people's success is to realize that there is no limit on success. We can make more, which means that while it might seem as if others have everything and we have nothing, the reality is that life turns quickly and our luck could change at any time. If others have achieved those things, we can too. When we celebrate others, we're acknowledging their achievements but also cheering for ourselves as well as for our hopes and dreams and our belief that we can make them happen. And hopefully, when we do, those people will cheer for us too.
1. What can we infer from Paragraph 1?| A．Social media is the source of the author's jealousy. |
| B．Frequent successes on social media encourage envy. |
| C．It is a pleasure to face others' successes on social media. |
| D．People tend to be crazy about immediate success online. |
| A．Appreciate what's been done. |
| B．Show it off on social media. |
| C．Reflect on gains and losses. |
| D．Waite for others' congratulations. |
| A．pursuing those achievable goals |
| B．devoting yourself to the next goal |
| C．admitting personal incompetence |
| D．changing your attitude to success |
| A．I'm so happy for us! |
| B．What a considerate friend! |
| C．I don't care about it! |
| D．How selfless you can be! |
3 . Smartphones, tablets and other digital devices can be addictive. They affect sleep. They draw kids into an alternate universe, often distracting（使分心）them from more productive-and healthier-real-world activities. And they are often linked to anxiety and depression, learning disabilities and obesity（肥胖）. Yet for many teenagers, cellphones and social media are also absolutely necessary tools for planning their social lives, keeping up with schoolwork and staying in touch with out-of-town friends and relatives.
How can parents make the most of the constructive uses of screen-based technology while minimizing its harmful effects？
The key is helping kids use technology as a tool, not a toy, “where there’s some purpose other than the medication of boredom,” says Jim Taylor, a psychologist and author of the book Raising Generation Tech：Preparing Your Children for a Media-fueled World. Taylor, like many other medical and mental health professionals, advises parents to set limits and stick to them. They should restrict the amount of time their kids spend on devices, create tech-free zones-no cellphones in their bedrooms, for example-and tech-free times, such as at the dinner table, in restaurants and on family outings.
Perhaps the best thing you can do is serve as a good role model by exhibiting the same online behavior you expect of your children, says Dr. Elias Aboujaoude, a Stanford University psychiatrist. “If parents are breaking their own rules,” Aboujaoude says, “kids cannot be expected to behave differently.”
Chad Landgraf, 44, of Oklahoma, told me he was worried about how addicted his 12-year-old son and 5-year-old daughter became when they were on their devices. So, hoping to set an example, he switched from e-books to old-fashioned print. “When I had my Kindle or ipad open, they. didn’t know if I was reading or surfing the net,” Landgraf says. “But at least if I have a paper copy of a book, they know I am reading. Modeling seems like the easiest way.”
1. What may be the result of children’s using digital devices?| A．Health improvement. | B．Free creation. |
| C．Sleep disorder. | D．Good conduct |
| A．Killing time by using screen-based technology. |
| B．Forbidding kids using smartphones. |
| C．Setting clear boundaries for kids. |
| D．Restricting tech-free family time. |
| A．He was afraid of becoming addicted. | B．He expected to be a role model. |
| C．He was tired of surfing the net. | D．He preferred paper copies of books. |
| A．Parenting in a digital world | B．Learning to be intelligent parents |
| C．Using smart devices wisely | D．Helping children behave themselves |
4 . With the world’s attention on vaccines (疫苗), now feels like a good moment to sing the praises of an often forgotten contribution to their development. Three hundred years ago this month, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu got her daughter inoculated (接种) against smallpox, making her child the first person in the West to be protected in this way. Without Montagu’s willingness to adopt a practice she had learned from other cultures, the introduction of vaccines around 80 years later would never have taken place.
Montagu first witnessed inoculation when she accompanied her husband to Turkey in 1717. Inoculation had started in Asia, probably in China, as early as the 10th century AD. Montagu observed how older women in Turkey took a tiny amount of pus (脓) from a person with smallpox. They then used needles to make cuts on people’s wrists and ankles and added the pus to their bloodstream. This helped people gain immunity from future infection.
Like other visitors to the country, Montagu took steps to ensure that her son was inoculated in Turkey. This worked well, but she knew that trying it in England would be far more challenging. Inoculation performed by unlicensed amateurs would threaten doctors’ professional standing and potentially rob them of valuable income. Churchmen also disagree with the practice, as they saw it as going against nature.
Back in England, Montagu observed the increased severity of smallpox infections. Eventually, in April 1721, she decided to use the Turkish practice to have her daughter inoculated, because she believed that the rewards would outweigh the risks. After a safe time had passed following the inoculation, Montagu allowed doctors to examine her daughter.
Doctors in Britain gradually accepted the practice. About so years later, a pioneering physician found smallpox vaccines to destroy smallpox completely. As early as last century, academics argued that Montagu was no more than an enthusiastic amateur. In truth, she made a vital scientific contribution towards finding the cure for smallpox.
1. What is the second paragraph mainly about?| A．The origin of smallpox inoculation. |
| B．Montagu’s first access to inoculation. |
| C．The benefits from smallpox inoculation. |
| D．Turkish women’s invention of inoculation. |
| A．it was against human nature | B．it might harm doctors’ interests |
| C．it was beyond doctors’ abilities | D．it might shake churchmen’s belief |
| A．The increased severity of smallpox infections. |
| B．A physician’s discovery of smallpox vaccines. |
| C．The result of Montagu’s daughter’s inoculation. |
| D．Montagu’s focus on its rewards rather than its risks. |
| A．An unsung hero | B．No limit to creation |
| C．Development of vaccines | D．A historic medical innovation |
In Africa, the honeyguide birds can respond to human calls to lead people to honey—what scientists describe as a mutualistic interaction, or one that benefits both creatures. The birds tweet and fly from tree to tree to guide honey seekers to hidden bee nests, typically inside trees. Then, humans open the trees to find honey, and the birds can dine on beeswax, their favorite food. |  |
Dogs have an excellent sense of smell, which is why the folks at Penn Vet Working Dog Center are training dogs to identify the smell of cancer using tissue and blood samples from people who suffer. The scientists hope to develop a way for dogs to screen samples first, then perform follow-up testing on the samples the dogs flagged—a system for spotting cancer in its early stages. |  |
Having a snake wrapped around your neck isn’t necessarily what you usually expect. But Monty, a 13-year-old snake has been helping customers relax with neck massages(按摩). It’s unlikely he was trained to do the job and is just pulsating like any other snake would when around a person’s neck. Regardless, this special snake books out a few weeks in advance. |  |
The Guide Horse Foundation has been training miniature horses (those standing 34 inches or less) as assistance animals for the visually damaged since 1999. Miniature horses are ideal service animals for people who feel uncomfortable with dogs or who want a guide animal with a longer life span. The horses typically live from 30 to 40 years. |  |
1. According to the text, which animal can help you relax?
| A．A snake. | B．A dog. |
| C．A honeyguide bird. | D．A miniature horse. |
| A．blind people who dislike dogs | B．blind people who can live longer |
| C．animal lovers who search for honey | D．animal lovers who suffer from cancer |
| A．special training | B．great potentials |
| C．unique jobs | D．high intelligence |
6 . Light pollution is a significant but overlooked driver of the rapid decline of insect populations, according to the most comprehensive review of the scientific evidence to date.
Artificial light at night can affect every aspect of insects' lives, the researchers said. "We strongly believe artificial light at night — in combination with habitat loss, chemical pollution.invasive (入侵的) species, and climate change — is driving insect declines, " the scientists concluded after assessing more than 150 studies.
Insect population collapses have been reported around the world, and the first global scientific review published in February, said widespread declines threatened to cause a "catastrophic collapse of nature's ecosystems".
There are thought to be millions of insect species, most still unknown to science, and about half are active at night. Those active in the day may also be disturbed by light at night when they are at rest.
The most familiar impact of light pollution is moths (飞蛾) flapping around a bulb, mistaking it for the moon. Some insects use the polarisation of light to find the water they need to breed, as light waves line up after reflecting from a smooth surface. But artificial light can scupper (使泡汤) this. Insects are important prey (猎物) for many species, but light pollution can tip the balance in favour of the predator if it traps insects around lights. Such increases in predation risk were likely to cause the rapid extinction of affected species, the researchers said.
The researchers said most human-caused threats to insects have analogues in nature, such as climate change and invasive species. But light pollution is particularly hard for insects to deal with.
However, unlike other drivers of decline, light pollution is relatively easy to prevent. Simply turning off lights that are not needed is the most obvious action, he said, while making lights motion-activated also cuts light pollution. Shading lights so only the area needed is lit up is important. It is the same with avoiding blue-white lights, which interfere with daily rhythms. LED lights also offer hope as they can be easily tuned to avoid harmful colours and flicker rates.
1. What is discussed in the passage?| A．Causes of declining insect populations. |
| B．Consequences of insect population collapses. |
| C．Light pollution: the key bringer of insect declines. |
| D．Insect declines: the driver of the collapsed ecosystem. |
| A．How light travels in space. |
| B．How light helps insects find food. |
| C．How the food chain is interrelated. |
| D．How light pollution affects insects. |
| A．Selective things. | B．Similar things. | C．Variations. | D．Limitations. |
| A．To offer solutions. |
| B．To give examples. |
| C．To make comparisons. |
| D．To present arguments. |
7 . It appears to fit with most people's experience: how Christmas seems to come around quicker every year? Questionnaires by psychologists have shown almost everyone feels time is passing faster now compared to when they were half or a quarter as old. Most strikingly, lots of experiment have shown that, when older people are asked to guess how long the time is, or to ‘reproduce’ the length of periods of time, they guess a shorter amount than younger people.
In 1877, Paul Janet suggested the proportional theory, where a child of 10 feels a year as I 10 of his whole life while a man of 50 as 1/50, so the subjective sense of the 50-year-old man is that: these are insignificant periods of time which gallop.
There are also biological theories. The speeding up of time is linked to how our metabolism (新陈代谢)gradually slows down as we grow olden Children's hearts beat faster than They breathe more quickly. With their blood flowing more quickly, their body clocks “cover” more time within the space of 24 hours than ours do as adults. On the other hand, older people are like clocks that run slower than normal, so that they lag behind, and cover less than 24 hours.
In the 1930s, the psychologist Hudson Hoagland found body temperature causes different perceptions of time. Once, when he looked after his ill wife, he noticed she complained he'd been away for a long time even if only away for a few moments. Therefore, Hoagland tested her perception of time at different temperatures, finding the higher her temperature, the more time seemed to slow down for her, and that raising a person's body temperature can slow down his sense of time passing by up to 20%.
Time doesn't necessarily have to speed up as we get older though. It depends on how live our lives, and how we relate to our experiences.
1. What do the questionnaires and experiments find?| A．Time now is shorter than before. |
| B．Aging makes people think slowly. |
| C．The old feel time flies faster than the young. |
| D．The old value time more than before. |
| A．Fly swiftly. | B．Pause briefly. |
| C．Move slowly. | D．Pass stably. |
| A．A kid with slower metabolism. | B．A child with low body temperature. |
| C．A grown-up feeling freezing. | D．An adult with a high fevel. |
| A．How time flies! | B．To live a full life! |
| C．Why time passes at different speeds? | D．How to save more time? |
8 . When you hear the beginning of your favorite song from the radio, suddenly your neck is covered in goose bumps.
It's such a thing that a group of scientists call “skin excitement”—a feeling of cold caused not by a drop in temperature or sudden scare, but by the sense of beauty. “Skin excitement” can come from a song, a painting, a moving movie scene, or even a beloved memory-pretty much anything that causes the giving out of pleasure-soaked dopamine in your brain. But it does not come for all of us.
Your favorite music uncovers a lot about your personality，and so does how you respond to that music. Studies suppose that as few as 55 percent of people experience “skin excitement” when listening to music. And if you count yourself among this group, the goose bumps on your skin aren't the only giveaway—scientists can read it in your brain, too. In a new study published in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, Harvard researchers performed brain scans on 10 students who said they reliably got cold when listening to music, and 10 students who didn't. They found that the cold-prone brains may really be excited by stronger emotions.
Cold-prone brains are generally more likely to show stronger emotional intelligence than no-cold brains. Cold-prone minds tend to have unusual active imagination, reflect more deeply on their emotions, and appreciate nature and the beauty of music and art to a stronger degree than no-cold brains.
So, what type of music causes the chills? It seems that the type is not so important; participants in the new study reported getting cold from songs of every kind. And any song connected with a strong emotional memory of the listener can produce the most reliable results. For me, that's the song Sailing to Philadelphia by Mark Knopfler, which I listened to as a kid in the car with my dad, on the way to the summer camp.
1. What can we learn about “skin excitement” in the text?| A．It helps to produce doparmine. | B．It is caused by the pain in the skin. |
| C．It can be experienced by every music listener. | D．It is the human body's reaction to something nice. |
| A．The percentage of music lovers in students. |
| B．The solutions to the goose bumps on one's skin. |
| C．The differences between cold-prone and no-cold brains. |
| D．The relationship between one's music preference and personality. |
| A．Beautiful and intelligent. | B．Emotional and dishonest. |
| C．Imaginative and sensitive. | D．Brave and strong-minded. |
| A．Responses to Music Vary among People | B．A Feeling of Cold Is Caused by Horrible Music |
| C．Your Favorite Music Reveals Your Personality | D．Favorite Music May Bring Forth Goose Bumps |
9 . An 85-year-old primary school constructed in 1935 in Shanghai has been lifted off the ground in its entirety and relocated using new technology called the “walking machine.” The project marks the first time this “walking machine” method has been used in Shanghai to relocate a historical building.
Urbanization（都市化）has continued to significantly threaten architectural heritage. In the capital Beijing, for instance, more than 1,000 acres of its historic hutongs and traditional courtyard homes were destroyed between 1990 and 2010.
In the early 2000s, cities including Nanjing and Bejjing-due to the critics’ protest about the loss of old neighborhoods-drew up long-term plans to preserve what was left of their historic sites, with protections introduced to safeguard buildings and restrict developers.
These conservation efforts have taken different forms. In Beijing, a near-ruined temple was transformed into a restaurant and gallery, while in Nanjing, a cinema from the 1930s was restored to its original form, with some additions providing it for modern use. In 2019, Shanghai welcomed Tank Shanghai, an arts center built in renovated（重修的）oil tanks.
“Relocation is not the first choice, but better than destroying,” said Lan, the Shanghai primary school’s project supervisor. “I’d rather not touch the historical buildings at all.” Building relocations he said however, are “a workable option.” “The central government is putting more emphasis on the protection of historical buildings. I’m happy to see that progress in recent years.”
Shanghai has arguably been China’s most progressive city when it comes to heritage preservation. The survival of a number of 1930s buildings and 19th-century “shikumen” （or “stone gate”） house have offered examples of how to give old buildings new life.
“We have to preserve the historical building no matter what, ” Lan said. “The relocation has challenges, but in general, it is cheaper than destroying and then rebuilding something in a new location.”
1. How did cities respond to the loss of historical sites?| A．They criticized the developers. | B．They rebuilt the historic hutongs. |
| C．They ended the significant threat. | D．They proposed the protection project. |
| A．All original form. | B．A new addition. | C．A cinema. | D．A temple. |
| A．Provide strong evidence. | B．Introduce different opinions. |
| C．Summarize previous paragraphs. | D．Add some background information. |
| A．Walking Machine: a New Technology | B．Rebuilding: a New Option for Relics |
| C．Old Building Torn down for Modern Use | D．Historical Site “Walks” to New Life |
10 . Not long ago, Linda Khan was sitting by a hospital bed in Houston, feeling ill at ease. Beside her lay her father who needed a heart surgery. The two of them had engaged in nothing but depressing small talk. Then, her eye fell on a pile of books. She picked up one, and started to read it out loud. "Right away it changed the mood and atmosphere," she says. Reading gave the daughter a way to connect with her father. Listening allowed the father travel on the sound of his daughter's voice into a place where he felt himself again. “From then on," Khan says, “I always read to him."
In a 2010 survey in the United Kingdom, elderly adults who joined weekly read-aloud groups reported better concentration, less anxiety, and an improved ability to socialize. The survey authors owed these improvements in large part to the “rich, varied diet of serious literature" that group members consumed, with fiction encouraging feelings of relaxation and calm, poetry fostering focused concentration, and narratives giving rise to cognitive (认知的) thoughts, feelings, and memories. In truth, almost any kind of reading to another person can be beneficial.
Readers get rewards too. For Neil Bush, the late-life hospitalizations of his famous parents, George H. W. and Barbara Bush, became opportunities to repay a debt of gratitude. “When I was a kid, they would read to me," he said. With his parents in and out of care, “We've been reading books about Dad's foreign policy and, more recently, Mom's autobiography." Bush went on, his voice thick with emotion, “And to read their amazing life to them has been a remarkable blessing to me, personally, as their son."
To many people, reading to parents may seem so far outside the normal range of regular activities, and it may even feel odd and improper. However, there are still a lot many who brave the momentary strangeness of reading to elderly adults and both reader and listeners are, to borrow a phrase from Wordsworth, surprised by the joy of it.
1. What did reading offer to Linda and her father?| A．A way to establish a bond. | B．A way to travel together in reality. |
| C．A way to treat the disease. | D．A way to engage in learning. |
| A．Improvements in mental health. | B．Benefits of reading to others. |
| C．Changes in cognitive process. | D．Development of social skills. |
| A．Reading benefits more than the listener |
| B．Parents should red more to their kids. |
| C．Children should show their gratitude. |
| D．Reading to parents is children's duty |
| A．Improper and odd. | B．Abnormal but worthy. |
| C．Rewarding and joyful. | D．Interesting but unnecessary. |
