1 . Once upon a time, the colors of the world quarreled without stop.

Green said: "Clearly I am the most important. I am the sign of life and of hope. I was chosen for grass, trees and leaves. Without me, all animals would die."

Yellow smiled quietly: "You are so serious. I bring laughter, pleasure, and warmth into the world. The sun is yellow, the moon is yellow, the stars are yellow. Without me there would be no fun."

Orange started next to blow herself: "I am the color of health and strength. I may be scarce（稀有的）, but I am precious for I serve the needs of human life. I carry the most important vitamins."

Red could stand it no longer, shouting out: "I am the ruler of all of you. I am blood-life's blood! I am the color of danger and of bravery. Without me, the earth would be as empty as the moon."

Indigo（靛蓝色）spoke more quietly but with just as much determination: "Think of me. I am the color of silence. You hardly notice me, but without me you all become superficial. You need me for balance and inner peace."

…

The colors went on boasting, each convinced of his or her own advantages. Their quarreling became louder and louder.

Suddenly there was a surprising flash of bright lightning and thunder rolled and boomed. Rain started to pour down cruelly. The colors crouched down（蹲下）in fear, drawing close to one another for comfort.

In the midst of the loud noises, rain began to speak: "You foolish colors, fighting amongst yourselves, each trying to control the rest. Don't you know that you were each made for a special purpose, unique and different? Join hands with one another and come to me." Doing as they were told, the colors united and joined hands. The rain continued: "From now on, when it rains, each of you will stretch across the sky in a great bow of color as a reminder that you can all live in peace. The Rainbow is a sign of hope for tomorrow." And so, whenever a good rain washes the world, and a Rainbow appears in the sky, let us remember to appreciate one another.

1. Why does Orange consider herself precious?

A．She serves the needs of human life.

B．She is the ruler of all colors.

C．She is the sign of life and of hope.

D．She brings laughter into the world.

2. Who would you like to see first when you're angry according to the text?

A．Red.

B．Yellow.

C．Indigo.

D．Green.

3. What are colors advised to do according to the last paragraph?

A．Hope for tomorrow.	B．Join hands with rain.
C．Boast themselves.	D．Admire one another.

4. What can be the best title for the text?

A．The advantage of colors	B．The symbol of colors
C．The color of friendship	D．The types of rainbow

2 . Arjun's Apps

One stormy day, twelve-year-old Arjun Kumar was late getting home from school. It had been raining heavily near his school in Chennai, India. This delayed his school bus, and when he finally arrived, Arjun’s parents were worried.

His parents’ concern gave Arjun an idea — he’d create an app, which can tell parents the location of their children’s school bus. While researching different ways to write apps, Arjun located an online programming tool on the website of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. MIT was making the tool, called App Inventor, available to anyone who wanted to use it. As the motto on MIT's website states, “Anyone Can Build Apps That Impact the World.”

Arjun got to work doing just that. Using App Inventor, he created an app called “Ez School Bus Locator.” If a school introduced this app into its bus system, parents could log on to see the locations and estimated arrival times of their children’s school bus. Like other mapping apps, Ez School Bus Locator relied on GPS. GPS helps users determine their location, based on signals from a set of twenty-four satellites that orbit Earth. GPS-based apps calculate the location of a device by measuring the distances from three different GPS satellites. That's how Arjun's app determined where the buses were located.

The app could also confirm whether individual children were on the bus. Ez School Bus Locator used a specific bar code to identify each student. Students checked in when they got on and off the bus by using bar codes on their phones. As the bus driver drove, the app sent automatic messages to parents.

Does Ez School Bus Locator sound like a good idea? MIT thought so. In 2012, MIT held a contest to honor the best apps that had been created using App Inventor. Arjun's app won first place in the K-8 division, and in 2013, the app was available for purchase online.

Arjun didn't stop there. He continued developing new apps and he even started his own software development company. When asked for pointers for other young inventors, Arjun advised, “Look for problems around you, and get inspired from them. You’ll see a lot of opportunities to use your skills to make this world a better place to live!”

1. What is the passage mainly about?

A．The life of inventor Arjun Kumar.	B．A student's invention of a bus locator app.
C．How App Inventor helped Arjun write an app.	D．How the rainy weather in India affected traffic.

2. What do we know about Arjun's app from the passage?

A．It could be downloaded online for free.

B．It helped the children know where they were.

C．It was introduced by Arjun into the school bus system.

D．It used bar codes to track which children were on board.

3. Why did Arjun continue to work on software development?

A．To inspire more young inventors.	B．To win many awards for his inventions.
C．To solve problems that he saw in the world.	D．To earn money to continue his education at MIT.

4. What can we learn from Arjun Kumar's story?

A．Youth means limitless possibilities.	B．A man owes his success to his family support.
C．If you don't aim high, you will never hit high.	D．Good problem solvers are problem finders first.

3 . More than two-thirds of adults in the United States are overweight and half of them are trying to lose weight. According to a recent study, led by Evan Forman, a psychology professor from Drexel University, a smartphone app called OnTrack can predict ahead of time when users are likely to lapse in their weight loss plans and help them stay on track.

People on weight loss plans often experience lapses, which can prevent successful weight loss or even lead to weight regain, according to Forman. The study evaluated the effectiveness of the app among weight loss program participants and individuals attempting to follow an online weight management plan from Weight Watchers for eight weeks.

OnTrack uses advanced statistical methods — machine learning — to learn over time a user’s individual patterns of eating. Specifically, it learns patterns that are predictive of staying on one's weight loss plan and patterns that are predictive or lapsing from one's plan. When the app detects the risk of lapsing is high, it sends a special coaching message that matches the reasons someone is at risk. For example, the app can predict a person is eating late at night because of being bored at home with tempting food. The predictions get better over time as the app learns a user's behavioral patterns.

According to Forman, over the course of the study, participants averaged a 3.13 percent weight loss and reduction in unplanned lapses. The next step is clinical trial to confirm the apps ability as a weight loss tool.

1. What is OnTrack used to do?

A．To keep track of phones.	B．To plan route for its users.
C．To predict possible mental disease.	D．To help stick to weight loss plans.

2. What is Paragraph 3 mainly about?

A．The basic principles of OnTrack.	B．The main patterns of healthy eating.
C．The importance of weight loss plans.	D．The development of machine learning.

3. Which of the following would Forman agree with?

A．OnTrack may have side effects.	B．OnTrack is popular among young people.
C．OnTrack does very well in predicting lapses.	D．OnTrack is a clinically proven weight loss tool.

4. Why does the author write the text?

A．To give tips on losing weight.	B．To introduce a smartphone app.
C．To analyze what leads to lapses.	D．To encourage people to keep fit.

4 . Facial recognition technology has been already widely used by governments and some advertising companies. The technology uses machine learning tools to search for faces in an attempt to identify people.

In a recent study, scientists announced they had developed machine learning tools to track the faces of individual wild chimpanzees (黑猩猩). Dan Schofield said that the system was developed to improve the quality of information collected about chimpanzees in the wild over a long period of time.

"For species like chimpanzees, which have complex social lives and live for many years, getting a snapshot of their behavior from short-term field research can tell us only so much," Schofield said.

The researchers wanted to get a more complete understanding of the lives of the chimpanzees by studying them over several generations. But doing this would have required searching through hundreds of hours of video recordings of chimpanzees in the wild.

The researchers recorded the activities of a group of chimpanzees that lived in the West African nation of Guinea. A facial recognition computer model was trained with more than 10 million images of the animals. The model was then used to search for, recognize and track individual chimpanzees. The system was able to identify individual chimpanzees correctly about 92 percent of the time. It successfully identified the animals' sex 96 percent of the time.

The study included an experiment with humans to see how they could perform against the machine learning system in making identification. Humans were able to correctly identify individual chimpanzees about 42 percent of the time. The machine learning tool was much faster in completing the experiment. Human experts took about 55 minutes, while the computer took only several seconds.

The researchers say they are permitting other scientists to use the system for similar projects. They hope the method will be used for other species to record animal behavior and monitor different animal populations in the environment.

1. What can we infer from Schofield's words?

A．Researching chimpanzees needs more information.

B．Chimpanzees can live as long as humans.

C．Chimpanzees like to get a snapshot too.

D．Short-term field research provides more information.

2. What does the underlined word "this" refer to?

A．Recording chimpanzees in the wild.

B．Studying chimpanzees over several years.

C．Understanding the lives of chimpanzees completely.

D．Getting a snapshot of chimpanzees' behavior.

3. What did the experiment with humans prove in the study?

A．Humans make more accurate identification.

B．The machine learning system is more effective.

C．Humans can't identify the animals' sex correctly.

D．Machine learning tools take a little more time to identify the animals.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．Facial Recognition for Animals Is Becoming Popular.

B．Facial Recognition Is Helping Animals Live in the Wild.

C．Facial Recognition Plays a Role in Raising Animals.

D．Facial Recognition Is Used to Identify and Track Animals.

5 . Scientists in England are using two self­directed water vehicles to explore the animal and plant life of the Celtic Sea.

The Celtic Sea is a body of water off the southern coast of Ireland. The area is known for its unusual sea life. Scientists want to know why sea creatures are so attracted to this part of the Atlantic Ocean.

One of the research vehicles is powered by batteries (电池). It collects information for the National Oceanography Center in Southampton, England, and the World Wildlife Fund. The vehicle’s low energy requirements permit it to stay floating on water for up to 30 days. Reports of what it finds in the Celtic Sea are sent by satellite.

Stephen Woodward is an engineer who helped design the vehicle. He says the vehicle has equipment that can discover small organisms called zooplankton (浮游动物) and fish. He adds that other sensing equipment measures water currents and other features of sea life. The vehicle also creates a map of the sea.

Another vehicle is powered by the sun and the wind.It can stay floating on water for months. The robotic vehicle sends information about the so­called biodiversity hotspots. A biodiversity hotspot is an area of an ocean that has a lot of plant and animal life activity.

Lavinia Suberg is one of the scientists studying the Celtic Sea. She says productive ocean areas, like the Celtic Sea, attract zooplankton. The zooplankton then attracts fish. She adds that areas with a large increase of fish often attract sea mammals and birds.

Using these robotic ocean vehicles greatly reduces the cost of exploring the sea with manned laboratories. Scientists can spend more time analyzing the collected information. They say the research will give them a better understanding of the needs of the Celtic Sea for future management and protection.

1. Why do the British scientists explore the Celtic Sea?

A．To study the geography of the sea.	B．To learn why the sea is rich in sea life.
C．To test their self­directed water vehicles.	D．To learn about the sea creatures in the sea.

2. According to the text，the water vehicles ________.

A．are controlled directly by humans	B．work depending on the map of the sea
C．can send the information back directly	D．can keep floating on water for a long time

3. According to Lavinia Suberg, the sea mammals and birds ________.

A．are afraid of living alone	B．mainly feed on zooplankton
C．like to live in warm ocean areas	D．are especially interested in fish

4. What is the last paragraph mainly about?

A．The aim of sea exploration.	B．The cost of exploring the sea.
C．The importance of the water vehicles.	D．Ways to deal with the collected information.

6 . Is it to their body temperature? Save energy? Find food? Tiger sharks at Ninglaoo Reef are thought to search the seafloor for prey(猎物) as they dive down and scan for direction as they swim up to the surface. But could there be other reasons why the sharks continuously move up and down?

That’s what Sammy is hoping to find out for her Ph.D. research. Sammy attached tracking devices to 24 tiger sharks. Best described as Fitbits for sharks, the devices recorded activity rates and other data 20 times a second. Fitbits also contained video cameras, so Sammy could see the habitats the sharks moved through and the animals they met. She watched how the sharks reached to prey and how the prey reached to them.

Tiger sharks can be pretty lazy --- something as simple as a turtle noticing a shark and turning away could cause the shark not to bother hunting it. Stomach content analysis has found their normal prey items, such as turtles, rays and fish. But it has also found some really interesting things, such as licenses, cans and nails.

Sammy says that studying tiger sharks can help her better understand the ecosystem as a whole. How they move through water and feed can help her figure out how they might be influencing animals beneath them in the food chain.

“My time watching tiger sharks hunt was the best month of my Ph.D., if not any life.” Sammy says. “At first, I was a bit apprehensive about it...getting that close to some very big animals. But they were very chilled(温驯) once you had them controlled alongside the boat. They’d just sit there, you’d attached the tracking devices, you’d take the line off and they’d just swim off really calmly, it was pretty amazing to see. They’re just absolutely beautiful animals.”

1. Why does Sammy do her research?

A．To find some scientific data.

B．To develop others’ interest in tiger sharks.

C．To find out how tiger sharks move.

D．To further understand tiger sharks’ moving.

2. What does Sammy think of studying?

A．It’s of great benefit.

B．It’s a tiresome job.

C．It’s filled with challenges.

D．It’s simple and calls for little efforts.

3. What does the underlined word "apprehensive" in the last paragraph mean?

A．Curious.	B．Doubtful.
C．Fearful	D．Enthusiastic.

4. Which can be the best title for the text?

A．How do tiger sharks find food?

B．Why do tiger sharks dive?

C．What can we do to protect tiger sharks?

D．What roles do tiger sharks play in the food chain?

7 . An era in which an Alzheimer’s diagnosis can begin in a doctor’s office is now arriving. Advances in technologies to detect early signs of disease from a blood sample are helping doctors to identify the memory-robbing disorder more accurately and to screen participants more quickly for trials of potential treatments for the more than five million people in the U.S. afflicted with Alzheimer’s. Estimates predict that, by 2030, there will be 76 million people worldwide who will receive a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s or other dementias.

Last fall, a blood test developed by C2N Diagnostics in St. Louis, Mo., became available to most of the U.S. as a routine lab test—regulated under the CMS Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) program. It has also received a CE mark as a diagnostic medical device in the European Union—indicating it has met safety, health and environmental protection standards for the region.

“The development of a blood-based test for Alzheimer’s disease is just amazing,” says Michelle Mielke, a neuroscientist and epidemiologist at the Mayo Clinic. “The field has been thinking about this for a very long time. It’s really been in the last couple of years that the possibility has come to fruition.”

The C2N test, called PrecivityAD, uses an analytic technique known as mass spectrometry to detect specific types of beta-amyloid(ß-淀粉样蛋白), a protein fragment that is a pathological-hallmark of disease. Beta-amyloid proteins accumulate and form plaques visible on brain scans two decades before a patient notices memory problems. As plaques build up in the brain, levels of beta-amyloid decline in the surrounding fluid.

Such changes can be measured in spinal fluid samples—and now in blood, where beta-amyloid concentrations are significantly lower. PrecivityAD is the first blood test for Alzheimer’s to be cleared for widespread use and one of a new generation of such assays that could enable early detection of the leading neurodegenerative disease—perhaps decades before the onset of the first symptoms.

1. What can we know about Alzheimer’s diagnosis from the text?

A．It has been used widely by doctors.	B．It may have a brilliant market.
C．It cannot be used in the future	D．It is hard for doctors to accept.

2. According to the text, which description about the blood test developed by C2N is false?

A．It is difficult to be applied in the future.	B．Its development to the disease is remarkable.
C．It has been approved by EU.	D．It has achieved the goal of testing recently.

3. What does the underlined word “such changes” in the last paragraph refer to?

A．Decrease in plaques of the brain	B．Vanishment of a protein fragment.
C．Reduction in the levels of beta-amyloid.	D．Plaques visible on brain scans.

4. What would be the best title for this text?

A．A creative test for detecting Alzheimer’s.	B．Research on the test about detecting Alzheimer’s.
C．Development of the C2N test.	D．The development of a blood-based test.

8 . One of the astronomy's most well-known telescopes-the 305-metre-wide radio telescope at Arecibo, Puerto Rico-is closing forever. Engineers cannot find a safe way to repair it after two cables supporting the structure suddenly and catastrophically broke, one in August and one in early November.

The Arecibo telescope, which was built in 1963, was the world's largest radio telescope for decades and has historical and modern importance in astronomy. It was the site from which astronomers sent an interstellar radio message in 1974, in case any extraterrestrial might hear it, and where the first known extrasolar planet was discovered, in 1992. It has also done groundbreaking work in detecting near-Earth planets, observing the puzzling celestial blasts known as fast radio bursts, and studying many other phenomena.

The cables that broke helped support a 900-tonne platform of scientific instruments, which hangs above the main telescope dish. The first cable broke panels at the edge of the dish, but the second tore huge gashes in a central portion of it. If any more cables fail-which could happen at any time-the entire platform could crash into the dish below. The US National Science Foundation(NSF), which owns the Arecibo Observatory, is working on plans to safely lower the platform down in a controlled fashion.

NSF's officials insist that the cable failures came as a surprise. After the first, engineering teams spotted a handful of broken wires on the second cable, which was more crucial to holding up the structure, but they did not see it as a major problem because the weight it was carrying was well within its design capacity.

Some of the observatory's scientific projects may be able to be transferred to other facilities, said Ralph Gaume, the NSF's head of astronomy. And he expects scientists to suggest where to shift their research. Science does continue at other portions of the Arecibo Observatory, which includes more than the 305-metre-dish. They include two lidar facilities that shoot lasers into the atmosphere to study atmospheric phenomena.

1. What is Paragraph 2 mainly about?

A．The history of building the telescope.	B．The key role of the telescope in astronomy.
C．The benefit of learning astronomical events.	D．The process of locating near-Earth planets.

2. According to Paragraph 3, we know that________.

A．NSF's officials tried to repair the platform

B．the second cable failure destroyed the platform

C．the scientific instruments broke down due to the cables

D．the platform would not break down if no more cables should fail

3. Why were NSF's officials careless about the broken wires on the second cable?

A．The cable was not very old.

B．The wires were specially designed.

C．The weight the cable bore did not go beyond its limit.

D．The cable was not as important as the first one.

4. What will happen to the ongoing scientific projects at the observatory?

A．All of them will be shut down.	B．Some of them will be moved to other facilities.
C．They will be distributed to different scientists.	D．Some of them will be put off.

9 . Masks that helped save lives are proving a deadly danger for wildlife, with birds and sea creatures trapped in the shocking number of thrown-away facial coverings. Single-use masks have been found around pavements, waterways and beaches worldwide. Worn once, the thin protective materials can take hundreds of years to decompose. “Face masks aren't going away any time soon—but when we throw them away, these items can harm the environment and the animals,” Ashley Fruno of animal rights group PETA said.

In Britain, a gull was rescued by the RSPCA after its legs became tangled in the straps of a mask for up to a week. The animal welfare charity took it to a wildlife hospital for treatment before its release.

The biggest impact may be in the water. More than 1.5 billion masks made their way into the world's oceans last year, accounting for around 6,200 extra tonnes of ocean plastic pollution, according to environmental group Oceans Asia.

Conservationists in Brazil found one mask inside the stomach of a penguin after its body was washed up on a beach, while a dead pufferfish was discovered caught inside another off the coast of Miami. French campaigners found a dead crab trapped in a mask near the Mediterranean. Masks and gloves are “particularly problematic” for sea creatures, says George Leonard, chief scientist from NGO Ocean Conservancy. “When those plastics break down in the environment, they then enter the food chain and impact entire ecosystems.” he added.

There has been a shift towards greater use of reusable cloth masks as the pandemic has worn on, but many are still using the lighter single-use varieties. Campaigners have urged people to bin them properly and cut the straps to reduce the risk of animals becoming trapped. Oceans Asia has also called on governments to increase fines for littering and encourage the use of washable masks.

1. What's Paragraph 1 mainly about?

A．The problem of littering masks.	B．The long time to break down masks.
C．The threat of masks to wildlife.	D．The protective use of masks to people.

2. What did the animal welfare charity do to the gull?

A．They gave first aid to the bird.	B．They released the bird at once.
C．They kept the bird for about a week.	D．They sent the bird to hospital.

3. How is Paragraph 4 developed?

A．By providing examples.	B．By giving explanations.
C．By making comparisons.	D．By analyzing causes.

4. Which measure has been taken to help solve the problem?

A．Forbidding the use of single-use masks.	B．Wearing reusable cloth masks.
C．Cutting the masks up before throwing.	D．Increasing fines for binning masks.

10 . Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of China, Korea, and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea in the south. It is made up of over 3, 000 islands, the largest of which are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku. Most of Japan's islands are mountainous, and many are volcanic, including the highest mountain, Mount Fuji.

The characters that make up Japan's name mean "the sun's origin", so Japan is also sometimes known as "The Land of the Rising Sun", a name that comes from the country's eastward position relative to mainland Asia.

The climate of Japan varies upon location-it is hot in the south and cool in the north. For example its capital and largest city Tokyo is located in the north and its average August high temperature is 31℃ and its average January low temperature is 2℃. By contrast, Naha, the capital of Okinawa, is located in the southern part of the country and has an average August high temperature of 30℃ and an average January low temperature of 14℃.

Its capital and largest city is Tokyo. At 377, 872 square kilometers, Japan is the sixty-second largest country by area. It has the world's 10th largest population, with nearly 128 million people. The Greater Tokyo Area, with over 30 million people, is the largest city area in the world.

Japan is the world's third largest economy power behind China and is the sixth largest exporter and importer and is a member of the United Nations, G8, G4, and APEC.

1. What's the first paragraph mainly about?

A．Japan's mountains.	B．Japan's largest island.
C．Japan's location and characteristics.	D．Japan's neighbours.

2. What's the temperature difference between the January average of Tokyo and that of Naha?

A．2℃.

B．10℃.

C．12℃.

D．14℃.

3. What can we infer form the passage?

A．Tokyo is the largest city area in the world.

B．China is the world's second largest economy power.

C．Japan is the sixty-second largest country by population.

D．Japan has become a member of five international organizations.

4. Which could be the best title for the passage?

A．Japan, an Island Country	B．The Population and Geography of Japan
C．The History and Economy of Japan	D．A Brief Introduction to Japan