1 . Today, we study literature from a young age—learning about our histories, faraway worlds and influential people. Whether we notice or not, these stories—both fiction and non-fiction—guide us throughout our lives. They allow us to see the world through another’s eyes, open up our world and teach us about every subject known to man.
Despite their importance, many people throw out their old books—laying waste the wisdom that lies on each page. In an effort to save this knowledge and share it with those less fortunate, a garbage man in, Bogota, Colombia has been saving thrown-away books for 20 years and sharing them with those in need.
“I hated to see all the books in the dustbins of wealthier neighborhoods. So I started to rescue them,’’ said Gutierrez. The first book he found was a copy of the classic novel Anna Karenina. The Tolstoy book was later joined by The Little Prince, Sophie's World, The Iliad and a number of novels. Today, he has collected around 25,000 books.
His growing collection didn’t go unnoticed. Gutierrez’s neighbors were soon borrowing the books to help with their children’s homework. “There was a lack of them in our neighborhood, so we started to help,”said Gutierrez.
The ground floor of Gutierrez’s home is now filled with books, from floor to ceiling. Over spilling with books, he opened it up as a free library, with the help of his wife Luz Gutierrez and their three children.
Word eventually spread around about Gutierrez and his books. Most of the books now come from donations. He now travels around the country, delivering free books to poor and remote districts. The library, named “The Strength of Words", has donated books to some 235 schools, institutions and community libraries across Colombia.
1. How does the author introduce the topic of the text?| A．By stating some facts. |
| B．By contradicting a theory. |
| C．By describing a scene. |
| D．By referring to documents. |
| A．A heavy financial burden. |
| B．A companion in difficult times. |
| C．The beginning of his charity campaign. |
| D．One of his greatest achievements in life. |
| A．A good book is a light to the soul. |
| B．A bad beginning makes a bad ending. |
| C．Actions speak louder than words. |
| D．One man's garbage is another man' s treasure. |
| A．Tolstoy books recovered from dustbins. |
| B．Literature now appeals to garbage collectors. |
| C．Free libraries popular with neighborhood kids. |
| D．Garbage man builds a library from rescued books. |
2 . How do you turn “dumb” headphones into smart ones? Rutgers engineers have invented a cheap and easy way by transforming headphones into sensors that can be plugged into (插入) smartphones, identify their users monitor their heart rates and perform other services.
Their invention, called HeadFi, is based on a small plug-in headphone adapter that turns a regular headphone into a sensing device (装置). Unlike smart headphones, regular headphones lack sensors. HeadFi would allow users to avoid having to buy a new pair of smart headphones with sensors to enjoy sensing features.
“HeadFi could turn hundreds of millions of existing, regular headphones worldwide into intelligent ones with a simple upgrade (升级),” said Xiaoran Fan, a HeadFi primary inventor.
A Rutgers-led paper on the invention, which results in "earable intelligence", will be formally published in October at MobiCom 2021, the top international conference on mobile computing and mobile and wireless networking.
Headphones are among the most popular wearable devices worldwide and they continue to become; more intelligent as new functions appear, such as touch-based gesture control, the paper notes. Such functions usually rely on aiding sensors, such as accelerometers, gyroscopes and microphones that are available on many smart headphones.
HeadFi turns the two drivers already inside all headphones into a versatile (多功能的) sensor, and it works by connecting headphones to a pairing device, such as a smartphone. It doesn't require adding aiding sensors and avoids changes to headphone hardware or the need to customize headphones, both of which may increase their weight and size. By plugging into HeadFi, a converted headphone can perform sensing tasks and play music at the same time.
The engineers conducted experiments with 53 volunteers using 54 pairs of headphones with prices ranging from $2. 99 to $15 ,000. HeadFi can achieve 97. 2 percent to 99. 5 percent accuracy on user identification , 96. 8 percent to 99. 2 percent on heart rate monitoring and 97. 7 percent to 99. 3 percent on gesture recognition.
1. What does Xiaoran Fan think of HeadFi?| A．Secure to operate. | B．Simple to use. |
| C．Easy to substitute. | D．Convenient to store. |
| A．It can't work with headphones alone. |
| B．It actually functions as a versatile sensor. |
| C．It makes headphones larger and heavier than usual. |
| D．It doesn't work when headphones are playing music. |
| A．the various functions of HeadFi | B．the wide popularity of headphones |
| C．the great complexity of headphones | D．the excellent performance of HeadFi |
| A．How to Use Headphones Appropriately |
| B．Headphones Can Be Upgraded Instantly |
| C．How to Make Regular Headphones Intelligent |
| D．New Uses Have Been Found in Headphones |
3 . A new study shows that the more people read any kind of fiction, the better their language skills are likely to be. The piece was written by Sandra Martin-Chang, professor of education, and PhD student Stephanie Kozak. They found that people who enjoyed reading fiction at leisure (休闲) and those who identified themselves as readers scored higher on language tests, whereas those who read to access specific information scored more poorly on the same tests.
As leisure reading declines as a pastime for younger adults especially, Martin-Chang says emphasizing the fun aspect of it can draw them back to novels while at the same time improving their verbal abilities.
Martin-Chang and Kozak used a scale called the Predictors of Leisure Reading ( PoLR) to investigate reading behavior ( motivations, obstacles, attitudes and interests). They then examined how well the PoLR predicted the language skills o£ 200 undergraduate students, with all data gathered at York University. The researchers note that the age range of the subjects in the study is of key interest. In early adulthood, reading becomes self-directed rather than imposed by others, which makes this a key time to develop one's own reading habits. This population is also rather understudied, with most existing research focusing far more on children.
The researchers administered a series of measures over two separate half-hour sessions. First, the volunteers completed the 48-question PoLR scale measuring various reading factors. They were then given language tests similar to those found in the SAT and a measure of reading habits called the Author Recognition Test. Those who scored higher read more and have better verbal abilities than those who scored lower. After analyzing the data, the researchers concluded that reading enjoyment, positive attitudes and deeply established interests predicted" better verbal abilities and that they were more strongly associated with exposure to fiction than non-fiction.
Besides having better verbal abilities, lifelong readers are known to be more understanding, more empathetic （同感的），less prejudiced, to attain higher socioeconomic status and even to live longer, healthier live than non — readers. Teachers and parents can inspire a love of reading by letting young people read what they want, without guilt or shame.
1. According to the new study, people's language skills are mainly influenced by their reading| A．environments | B．speeds | C．motivations | D．frequencies |
| A．approved | B．recommended | C．forced | D．evaluated |
| A．By making data analysis. | B．By conducting wide surveys. |
| C．By consulting previous studies. | D．By making reasonable assumptions. |
| A．Great pleasure of reading. | B．Various benefits of reading. |
| C．Ways to be a lifelong reader. | D．Methods of developing reading skills. |
4 . The Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins of Shark Bay in Western Australia have an unusual way of obtaining food.
They drive fish into a large, empty marine gastropod shell. Then they carry the shell and captured(捕捉)fish up to the surface, and shake it upside down. Then, the fish go straight down into the dolphins' stomachs. It's called shelling, only the second tool use recorded among dolphins, and the first that dolphins have been seen learning from their friends, just like great apes.
The dolphins were first observed using tools over 20 years ago, slipping sea sponges over their beaks(喙)to protect them as they searched for food. This behaviour is called sponging, and it allows the dolphins to access food in deeper water channels than non-sponging dolphins.
Sponging is a skill passed down from mothers to daughters-a type of learning called vertical transmission. But there is another kind of learning, horizontal social transition, in which individuals pick up skills from their social peers-their friends.
There are similarities between dolphin and great ape societies that have led scientists to believe that dolphins should be capable of horizontal leaning.
Now a team of researchers led by behavioural ecologist Sonja Wild of the University of Konstanz in Germany has finally identified it.
Their data comes from over a decade's worth of observations. Between 2007 and 2018, the researchers documented over 1.000 individual dolphins across nearly 5,300 encounters with the animals.
They used genetic, behavioural and environment data to model the likely transmission pathways, and found that shelling was likely spread among friends, rather than passed down from parents.
This opens the door to a new understanding of how dolphins may be able to behaviourally adapt to changing environments.
In 2011, a large marine heatwave destroyed the seagrass habitat of Shark Bay, in which the dolphins search for food. This resulted in a die-off of both fish and the invertebrates that live in the giant shells that the dolphins use for their fishing, and, afterwards there was an immediate increase in the dolphin's shelling behaviour. It's possible that both the decrease in fish and the increase in shells could have played a role in this uptick.
1. What is the second paragraph mainly about?| A．The process of shelling. | B．The importance of tool use. |
| C．The eating habits of dolphins. | D．The similarity between dolphins and apes. |
| A．It is used by most dolphins. | B．It is a skill newer than shelling. |
| C．It is passed down from mothers. | D．It is helpful in searching for food. |
| A．It is easier than sponging. | B．It is a tradition among them. |
| C．Their food has become less. | D．Their fishing tools are fewer. |
| A．Shelling or Sponging, Dolphins Have the Final Say |
| B．Dolphins Are Learning Tool Use from Their Friends |
| C．Changing Environments Are Affecting Dolphins' Life |
| D．The Second Tool Use Among Sea Animals Was Recorded |
5 . They' re not the world' s tallest or longest bridges, but a string of river crossings made from tree roots are engineering wonders that contain lessons for modern architects.
The town of Cherrapunji in the Khasi Hills is credited with the world record for annual rainfall of over 75 feet! And in this rainy, wet climate, the rubber fig tree grows with abandon. The tree has a secondary root system that grows up above the ground floor and lets the tree easily grow on top of big stones and even out in the middle of streams. Long ago, the Khasis, a tribe in Meghalaya region, realized they could make use of these roots to their own advantage. By controlling and directing the secondary roots, they have created strong living bridges with which to cross streams and rivers by themselves.
To make a tree grow in a certain direction, the tribespeople use the trunks of a betel nut tree whose middle is got rid of, as a guidance system. The thin, tender roots of the rubber tree are placed so they grow in the direction of the tree trunk rather than fanning out. Eventually, the roots reach the other side of the river and grow into the soil. This process can take well over a decade before the bridge is fully functional and then over time the bridge grows and strengthens. Rocks are placed along the bridge' s sides to improve the footpaths.
Some of these bridges are over 100 feet long and can even support the weight of fifty or-more people at a time. These bridges are used daily by the people of the villages around Cherrapunji and a few are thought to be more than 500 years old. There is even a double decker bridge , known as the “Umshiang Double-Decker Root Bridge", which features two bridges grown right on top of each other. It is thought to be the only bridge of its kind.
1. What do we know about the bridges in Meghalaya?| A．They resemble the fig tree roots. |
| B．They're works of modern architects. |
| C．They take a very short time to build. |
| D．They're constructed by the villagers. |
| A．It plays the role of a guide. |
| B．It bears the weight of the bridge. |
| C．It protects the surface of the bridge. |
| D．It delivers materials across the river. |
| A．A complex system. |
| B．A construction process. |
| C．A scientific theory. |
| D．A natural landscape. |
| A．Its history. |
| B．Its material. |
| C．Its shape. |
| D．Its length. |
