1 . In the mid-1950s, I was a somewhat bored early-adolescent male student who believed that doing any more than necessary was wasted effort. One day, this approach threw me into embarrassment.
In Mrs. Totten’s eighth-grade math class at Central Avenue School in Anderson, Indiana, we were learning to add and subtract decimals (小数).
Our teacher typically assigned daily homework, which would be recited in class the following day. On most days, our grades were based on our oral answer to homework questions.
Mrs. Totten usually walked up and down the rows of desks requesting answers from student after student in the order the questions had appeared on our homework sheets. She would start either at the front or the back of the classroom and work toward the other end.
Since I was seated near the middle of about 35 students, it was easy to figure out which questions I might have to answer. This particular time, I had completed my usual two or three problems according to my calculations.
What I failed to expect was that several students were absent, which threw off my estimate. As Mrs. Totten made her way from the beginning of the class, I desperately tried to determine which math problem I would get. I tried to work it out before she got to me, but I had brain freeze and couldn’t function.
When Mrs. Totten reached my desk, she asked what answer I’d got for problem No. 14. “I…I didn’t get anything,” I answered, and my face felt warm.
“Correct,” she said.
It turned out that the correct answer was zero.
What did I learn that day? First, always do all your homework. Second, in real life it isn’t always what you say but how you say it that matters. Third, I would never make it as a mathematician.
If I could choose one school day that taught me the most, it would be that one.
1. Usually, Mrs. Totten asked her students to ________.| A．recite their homework together |
| B．grade their homework themselves |
| C．answer their homework questions orally |
| D．check the answers to their homework questions |
| A．asked questions in a regular way |
| B．walked up and down when asking questions |
| C．chose two or three questions for the students |
| D．requested her students to finish their usual questions |
| A．the class didn’t begin as usual |
| B．several students didn’t come to school |
| C．he didn’t try hard to make his estimate |
| D．Mrs. Totten didn’t start from the back of the class |
| A．An Unforgettable Teacher | B．A Future Mathematician |
| C．An Effective Approach | D．A Valuable Lesson |
2 . Animal-rights activists often complain that cute beasts get more sympathy than equally deserving ugly ones. If so, one would think a lovely creature like the mink (貂)would be easy to protect. Yet in the Netherlands, mink is the only animal that can still legally be farmed for their fur. That is about to change. On August 28th the government brought forward to this year a ban on mink-farming that had been scheduled to take effect in 2024. The timetable was sped up not because mink had become more adorable, but because they can contract covid-19 and spread it to humans.
Dutch farmers normally raised about 2.5 million minks a year, making the Netherlands the world's fourth-largest producer after Denmark, China and Poland. In April, a couple of minks and the farm hands who tended them were diagnosed with covid- 19. Genetic tracing showed that at least two workers had probably been infected by mink, rather than the other way around. The affected animals were destroyed and stricter hygiene rules imposed, but by summer the virus had spread to a third of the country's farms. In June, parliament voted to shut down the industry as soon as possible, and the cabinet agreed.
That was a win for the Netherlands Party for the Animals, which has four seats in the 150-memeber parliament. In 2013, it helped pass the law that gave mink farmers until 2024 to get out of the business.
Now the party and its supporters object to the generous compensation （补偿）the government has offered for bringing forward the deadline: $150 million, or $1 million per farmer. Some members of parliament claim that the compensation paid for destroying the infected minks was higher than the market price for their fur.
Fur farmers any modern standards allow minks to be raised humanely, and that they are not a big reason for the spread of the virus. But minks tend to live by themselves instead of living in groups: animal-rights advocates say they cannot be raised humanely in small cages. As for covid-I9, the worry is that mink could serve as a medium for it to attack human immunization （免疫）programs. The industry's value is modest （framers put it at $150 million 0 $200 million, activists at under $100 million）, and polls show the public overwhelmingly opposes it. "In a democratic country, that widespread belief has to translate into a political decision to ban fur farming," says Esther Ouwehand, leader of the Party for the Animals. The farmers accept they are shutting down. The remaining argument is over money.
1. According to the passage, why did animal - activists have an unexpected win for protecting minks?| A．Because mink's cute appearance won people's heart. |
| B．Because the minks could act as a host for an infectious disease. |
| C．Because the government carried out an act earlier than planned. |
| D．Because the farmers stopped raising minks, considering the great reward. |
| A．The farm-raised minks were born with the virus. |
| B．The fanners were infected with covid-I9 by minks. |
| C．The minks contracted covid- 19 from their caregiver. |
| D．The affected minks had contact with the virus in nature. |
| A．Minks can be easily bred by humans without bringing any harm to them. |
| B．It is acceptable to shut down mink fur industry because it isn't profitable. |
| C．Objection to fur industry is a main reason behind this governmental decision. |
| D．The amount of money to make up for the loss of the mink farmers was too high. |
| A．Cuteness Wins |
| B．An Unexpected Win |
| C．Winter for Minks |
| D．Farmers v.s. Activists |
3 . 
Video calls are a common occurrence, but have you imagined being able to touch the person on the other end of the line? Scientists are making this a reality.
Researchers at the University of new South Wales, Australia have invented a soft skin stretch device(SSD). A haptic device that can recreate the sense of touch. Haptic technology mimics the experience of touch by stimulating localized areas of the skin in ways that are similar to what is felt in the real world, through force, vibration or motion.
Vibration is the most common haptic technology today and has been built into many electronic devices such as one attached to the back of the trackpad(触摸板) in laptops, which simulates a button clicking. However, haptic feedback with vibration becomes less sensitive when used continuously. The existing technology also has great difficulty recreating the sense of touch with objects in virtual environments or located remotely. According to Mai Thanh Thai, lead author of the study.
The new technology overcomes issues with existing haptic devices. The research team introduced a novel method to recreate the sense of touch through a soft artificial “muscles”.
“Our three-way directional skin stretch device, built into the fingertips of the wearable glove we also created is like wearing a second skin-- its soft stretchable and mimics the sense of touch-- and will enable new forms of haptic communication to enhance everyday activities”said Thanh Nho Do, senior author of the study.
Imagine you are at home and you call your friend who is in Australia. You wear a haptic glove with the SSDs, and your friends also wears a glove with integrated 3D force sensors. If your friend picks up an object, it will physically press against your friend’s fingers. And their glove with 3D force sensors will measure with interactions. The force signals can be sent to your glove so your device will generate the same 3D forces. Making you experience the same sense of touch as your friend.
The haptic devices could be applied in various situations, allowing users to feel objects inside a virtual world or at a distance. It could also be used in medical practices. Doctors can feel a patient's organ tissues. With surgical tools without touching them.
1. What does the passage imply?| A．SSDs become less sensitive when used continuously. |
| B．SSDs can recreate the sense of touch without vibration. |
| C．SSDs have great advantages over existing haptic devices. |
| D．SSDs can help users touch the person through video calls. |
| A．How the device works. |
| B．Why the device is used |
| C．What the device creates |
| D．How the device is invented |
| A．hopeless | B．uncertain. |
| C．worrying. | D．cheerful. |
| A．A glove that can measure some interactions. |
| B．A sensor that can imitate touch at a distance. |
| C．A device that can recreate the sense of touch. |
| D．A tool could be applied in medical practices. |
4 . Many teachers believe frequent quizzes(小测验) help students better grasp classroom material. Crede, an associate professor of psychology, was skeptical that something as simple as a quiz could positively affect students’ academic performance. He decided to dig deeper and conduct an analytic study of existing research to see if there was any proof to the idea. What he discovered truly surprised him.
Crede analyzed data from previously published studies that examined 52 classes with almost 8,000 students, primarily college-level courses, to determine if frequent quizzes improved the students’ academic performance. Laboratory settings were kept out of the study because Crede wanted to observe whether similar studies from labs would apply to general classrooms.
Crede discovered that when students are quizzed over class material at least once a week, they tend to perform better on midterm and final exams compared to students who did not take quizzes. He also found that students who took frequent quizzes were less likely to fail the class, especially if they were struggling with the course content. Students who struggle the most in a class seem to benefit the greatest from frequent quizzes. The other surprising thing was how much quizzes helped reduce failure rates in classes. The chances of passing a class went through the roof where instructors used this. In addition to quiz frequency, another factor that seemed to positively affect students’ performance was immediate feedback from instructors. Also, quizzes that required students to answer with written responses proved more beneficial to their understanding of class material compared to multiple-choice questions.
Asking teachers to grade written quizzes daily or weekly may discourage some from carrying them out in their classes. Instead, it is recommended that instructors give online quizzes that can be automatically graded by a course management system. Quiz attributes(属性) proved insignificant in the study, including whether the tests were pop quizzes or planned, or if they were online or on paper.
1. What did Crede do to ensure his study’s accuracy?| A．He focused on what happened in classrooms. |
| B．He researched as many students as he could. |
| C．He made laboratory settings as real as possible. |
| D．He gave easy quizzes to make every student do well. |
| A．Frequent quizzes could remove students’ failure in classes. |
| B．Instructors’ feedback was more important than frequent quizzes. |
| C．Frequent quizzes were especially useful to the struggling students. |
| D．Multiple-choice questions shouldn’t be included in frequent quizzes. |
| A．Accessing the Internet less frequently. |
| B．Having too many exam papers to mark. |
| C．Being unable to get appropriate test materials. |
| D．Finding it hard to choose the right type of quiz. |
| A．Quizzes Stimulate a Passion for Creation | B．Quizzes Improve Academic Performance |
| C．Quizzes Create a Heavy Burden | D．Quizzes Increase Boredom |
5 . They say everything is bigger in Texas. While that may be true, some of the best things in Texas are quite small. Case in point: tiny Mount Vernon, a town of just under 3,000 people. But if you do come across Mount Vernon, you might just get an intention to stay. That happens a lot around here, and it’s worth noting how remarkable that is.
Tom Wilkinson was born in Mount Vernon 87 years ago and moved back after he retired from his career as a college English professor in Dallas. Like many of his neighbors, Wilkinson can track his ancestors back to the pioneers who settled here in the 1870s. And like many, he values the simple life you can’t easily find in big cities. “People are still polite. They hold the door open for you.” he says, “We grow strong roots here!”
Preserving and honoring the past has been key to helping Mount Vernon survive. The residents have restored and reopened some of the empty stores, including the old barbershop, built more than 100 years ago. An old general store was turned into a combination space. Wander in on any given day and you might find a book club discussion, a Coffee Ladies meet-up, or a work session for the local genealogy(家谱) group among the tables of people chatting over cups of coffee and plates of food.
Mount Vernon has the kind of big hearts you tend to find in a small town. For instance, when a local policeman was diagnosed with cancer last year, ten-year-old Lola McKellar set up a lemonade stand to raise money for his treatments. In 2015, when a 350-year flood sent water rushing into local homes, an army of volunteers showed up to get a wheelchair-bound neighbor and his wife to higher ground, and then came back to help rebuild.
1. What does the author think of Mount Vernon?| A．Remote. | B．Wealthy. |
| C．Primitive. | D．Attractive. |
| A．He preferred the simple and natural life. | B．He could continue his language teaching. |
| C．He could live together with his ancestors. | D．He could meet more neighbors of his age. |
| A．It is in danger of extinction. | B．It is quickly changing over time. |
| C．It is conservative but harmonious. | D．It is being disturbed by the outside world. |
| A．The history of Mount Vernon. | B．The humanity of Mount Vernon. |
| C．The volunteers of Mount Vernon. | D．The reconstruction of Mount Vernon. |
6 . Perhaps thousands of people have searched for a bronze chest full of gold and jewels hidden in the Rocky Mountains between Santa Fe and the Canadian border hidden by a millionaire adventurer. At least four people died in their search for the treasure.
But it's all over now. Fenn's Treasure has been found. The 89-year-old adventurer named Forrest Fenn, who created the treasure hunt, announced the news via his website. “I don't know the person who found it, but the poem in my book led him to the precise spot,” Fenn wrote. “The treasure was confirmed by a photograph the lucky finder sent me.”
Forrest Fenn, the man who started the hunt, lives in Santa Fe. He was a pilot in the Vietnam War and later accumulated his wealth as a dealer in art and antiques. Fenn was diagnosed(诊断) with cancer in 1988 and had planned to die peacefully in the woods with his treasure. But when his cancer became less serious, he changed his plan, eventually writing the poem that described his dream resting place, which is where he hid the treasure. The poem appeared in a memoir called The Thrill of the Chase. Fenn said that the chest wouldn't be found by accident; only a treasure hunter who correctly interpreted the clues(线索) would find it.
Several treasure hunters went missing while attempting to find the chest, including hunter Jeff Murphy and Mike Petersen, both of whom went missing in Yellowstone National Park in 2017. Fenn said that he had never been to the Yellowstone National Park, and that the treasure was not in a dangerous place. "It was in the thick forest of the Rocky Mountains and had not been moved from the spot where I hid it more than 10 years ago," Fenn wrote on his website. It is illegal to remove anything from a national park, which would cause trouble in legally claiming the treasure if it was found there.
1. What contributed to the finding of the treasure?| A．Fenn's announcement. | B．A poem in Fenn's book. |
| C．Fenn’s vivid description. | D．A photo on Fenn's website. |
| A．Who Forrest Fenn was. | B．Where Fenn hid the treasure. |
| C．How the treasure hunt began. | D．What Fenn did to find the treasure. |
| A．It was in Yellowstone National Park. |
| B．It was found by someone by chance. |
| C．It was moved from one place to another. |
| D．It was in Fenn's chosen resting place. |
| A．Taking. | B．Burying. | C．Protecting. | D．Acknowledging. |
7 . The area around Taal Lake on Luzon Island in the Philippines is known for its natural beauty. Tourism is popular there as travelers go there to see the scenery that surrounds Taal Volcano, one of the most active volcanoes in the country. It was quiet for years until January 12, 2020 when the volcano erupted. Since then, the cities surrounding the volcano have been covered with ash and many people are forced to leave home.
But the ash didn't stop the residents of Binan, a city that is 35 km south of Manilla, from finding a way to help their neighbors in the towns that suffered the most from Taal. Binan Mayor Walfredo Dimaguila ordered the city residents to collect the ash and to put it in sacks (麻袋) to be sent to the state-owned factory that can produce 5,000 bricks a day to turn it into bricks to use for rebuilding damaged communities.
“What we plan is to turn them into hollow blocks and bricks and sell them to interested companies,” Dimaguila said. But he noted, the money would be donated to the people directly affected by the volcano. “When Batangas (the region where Taal is located) is in recovery, the bricks can not only be used to build schools, community halls and livelihood centers but also help deal with ash pollution for the earth,” Dimaguila said. “The misfortune of our neighbors in Batangas is there. Let's transform this into opportunity.”
The Philippines, located in the Pacific “Ring of Fire: zone of fire” and part of the typhoon belt, is a country that is known for natural disasters like earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and major storms. But the Filipino people show their strong will and community spirit.
1. What has happened to Taal Volcano?| A．It attracts more and more visitors. |
| B．It becomes quieter and quieter. |
| C．It is covered with ash completely. |
| D．It causes bad effects on the locals. |
| A．To collect volcanic ash for recycling. |
| B．To save sacks for factories to use. |
| C．To set up a factory for making bricks. |
| D．To build communities for people from disasters. |
| A．Companies are expected to donate money. |
| B．Bricks made of volcanic ash are popular. |
| C．Batangas has been the most misfortune. |
| D．Turning ash into bricks benefits the earth. |
| A．Taal Lake on Luzon Island is destroyed. |
| B．Taal Volcano has enjoyed popularity. |
| C．Disasters always hit the Philippines. |
| D．The Filipino people turn ash into treasure. |
8 . Beijing will provide COVID-19 vaccinations(接种疫苗）for certain groups in nursing homes, including the elderly and caregivers, on a voluntary basis to prevent a renewed outbreak at nursing homes during autumn and winter, the local government said.
Those who will receive the vaccines include nursing home kitchen workers, security guards and cleaners. Beijing Daily reported on Friday.
Xing Yinli ,director of Jingkangyuan, a nursing home in Fengtai district with about 290 elderly residents(居民），said they have received the document(文件）recently and will strictly follow its guidance.
It’s our top duty to strengthen prevention and control.,"Xing said,adding they have been using methods such as keeping detailed records of resident contacts outside the nursing home,and encouraging online visits for family members..
As to vaccinations, she said they will ask for permission from residents,their family members and workers before giving vaccines.
In late October,Shaoxing,Zhejiang province carried out an emergencyCOVTD-19 vaccine program,allowing the public to ask for injections(注射）in advance,with key groups first. A similar program was also organized in Jiaxing,Ningbo and Yiwu in Zhejiang.
Nationwide,emergency use of home grown COVID-19 vaccines was approved in June and launched in late July. China now has four coronavirus candidate vaccines in the third stage clinical trials(临床试验）.
The document from Beijing also said nursing homes should conduct nucleic acid testing(核酸检测） every month among kitchen workers and residents who leave the nursing homes to see a doctor. Tests will cover all people in nursing homes considered at high risk if new infections are reported in the city. Besides, routine disinfections (消毒） should be strengthened in kitchens, storerooms and restrooms, it said. The document also recommended noncontact visits from family members.
1. Where can you probably find this article?| A．In a newspaper. | B．In a fashion magazine. |
| C．In a book review. | D．In a travel journal. |
| A．The nursing home kept detailed records of residents, |
| B．All the members will make preparations for injections. |
| C．The nursing home takes prevention and control seriously. |
| D．Jiaxing is the first city to have carried out an emergency program. |
| A．China is providing vaccinations nationwide. |
| B．China has made great progress in coronavirus vaccines. |
| C．Chain has taken the lead in coronavirus vaccines worldwide. |
| D．The four candidate vaccines have finished clinical trails |
| A．Nursing homes should conduct nucleic acid testing. |
| B．Beijing nursing homes are to be provided vaccines. |
| C．Certain groups will have vaccines first in late June. |
| D．Routine disinfections should be strengthened in kitchens. |
9 . The scientists who re-engineered the plastic-eating enzyme(酶) PETase have now created a new enzyme called “cocktail” , which can digest plastic up to six times faster.
PETase breaks down PET back into its building blocks, creating an opportunity to recycle plastic and reduce plastic pollution. PET is the most common thermoplastic(热塑性塑料) used to make single-use drinks bottles, which takes hundreds of years to break down in the environment, but PETase can shorten this time to days. The initial discovery set up the prospect of a revolution in plastic recycling, creating a potential low-energy solution to tackle plastic waste.
Now, the same trans-Atlantic team have combined PETase and its “partner”, a second enzyme called MHETase, to generate much bigger improvements: simply mixing PETase with MHETase doubled the speed of PET breakdown, and engineering a connection between the two enzymes to create a “super-enzyme”, increased this activity by a further three times.
The team was co-led by the scientists who engineered PETase, Professor John McGeehan and Dr Gregg Beckham. Professor McGeehan said: “Gregg and I were chatting about how PETase attacks the surface of the plastics and MHETase chops things up further, so it seemed natural to see if we could use them together. Our first experiments showed that they did work better together, so we decided to physically link them. It took a great deal of work, but it was worth the effort — we were delighted to see that our new enzyme is up to three times faster than the separate enzymes.”
The original PETase enzyme discovery indicated the first hope that a solution to the global plastic pollution problem might be within grasp, though PETase alone is not yet fast enough to handle the tons of PET bottles. Combining it with a second enzyme, and finding together they work even faster, means another leap forward has been taken towards finding a solution to plastic waste. PETase and the new combined MHETase-PETase both work by digesting PET plastic. This allows for plastics to be made and reused endlessly, reducing our reliance on fossil(化石) resources.
1. What can we learn about “cocktail” from the text?| A．It doubles the breakdown of plastics. |
| B．It takes hundreds of years to break down. |
| C．It contributes to breaking down plastic quickly. |
| D．It deals with the plastic waste three times faster. |
| A．A new study of PET. | B．The breakdown of PET. |
| C．The discovery of PETase. | D．The functions of PETase. |
| A．Co-leading the trans-Atlantic team. | B．Combining PETase and MHETase. |
| C．Attacking the surface of the plastics. | D．Talking about conducting experiments. |
| A．PET pollution is no longer a difficult problem to deal with. |
| B．New enzyme is speeding up our reliance on fossil resources. |
| C．MHETase-PETase makes the world free from plastic pollution. |
| D．Plastic-eating enzyme “cocktail” promises new hope for plastic waste. |
10 . 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. |
| 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. |
| A．By providing examples. | B．By giving explanations. |
| C．By making comparisons. | D．By analyzing causes. |
| 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. |
