1 . The number of trees larger than two feet across has declined by 50 percent on more than 46, 000 square miles of California forests, the new study finds. No area was spared or unaffected, from the foggy northern coast to the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the San Gabriels above Los Angeles. In the Sierra high country, the number of big trees has fallen by more than 55 percent; in parts of southern California the decline was nearly 75 percent.
What is the second paragraph mainly about?
| A．The seriousness of big-tree loss in California. |
| B．The increasing variety of California big trees. |
| C．The distribution of big trees in California forests. |
| D．The influence of farming on big trees in California. |
2 . The creative team behind "Apes" used motion-capture (动作捕捉) technology to create digitalized animals, spending tens of millions of dollars on technology that records an actor’s performance and later processes it with computer graphics to create a final image (图像). In this case, one of a realistic-looking ape.
What does paragraph 2 mainly talk about?
| A．The cost of making "Apes." | B．The creation of digitalized apes. |
| C．The publicity about “Apes." | D．The performance of real apes. |
3 . The connection between people and plants has long been the subject of scientific research. Recent studies have found positive effects. A study conducted in Youngstown，Ohio，for example, discovered that greener areas of the city experienced less crime. In another, employees were shown to be 15% more productive when their workplaces were decorated with houseplants.
What is the first paragraph mainly about?
| A．A new study of different plants. | B．A big fall in crime rates. |
| C．Employees from various workplaces. | D．Benefits from green plants. |
4 . At this point, it is not clear why dogs seem to be equipped with the ability to recognize different facial expressions in humans. "To us, the most likely explanation appears to be that the basis lies in their living with humans, which gives them a lot of exposure to human facial expressions," and this exposure has provided them with many chances to learn to distinguish between them, Muller said.
What is the last paragraph mainly about?
| A．A suggestion for future studies. | B．A possible reason for the study findings. |
| C．A major limitation of the study | D．An explanation of the research method. |
5 . If you ever get the impression that your dog can "tell" whether you look content or annoyed, you may be onto something. Dogs may indeed be able to distinguish between happy and angry human faces, according to a new study
Researchers trained a group of 11 dogs to distinguish between images（图像）of the same person making either a happy or an angry face. During the training stage, each dog was shown only the upper half or the lower half of the person's face. The researchers then tested the dogs' ability to distinguish between human facial expressions by showing them the other half of the person's face on images totally different from the ones used in training. The researchers found that the dogs were able to pick the angry or happy face by touching a picture of it with their noses more often than one would expect by random chance.
The new study focused on whether dogs can_________.
| A．distinguish shapes | B．make sense of human faces |
| C．feel happy or angry | D．communicate with each other |
6 . Popularity is a well-explored subject in social psychology. Mitch Prinstein, a professor of clinical psychology sorts the popular into two categories: the likable and the status seekers. The likables’ plays-well-with-others qualities strengthen schoolyard friendships, jump-start interpersonal skills and, when tapped early, are employed ever after in life and work. Then there’s the kind of popularity that appears in adolescence: status born of power and even dishonorable behavior.
What is the second paragraph mainly about？
| A．The classification of the popular. |
| B．The characteristics of adolescents. |
| C．The importance of interpersonal skills. |
| D．The causes of dishonorable behavior. |
7 . When almost everyone has a mobile phone, why are more than half of Australian homes still paying for a landline（座机）?
These days you’d be hard pressed to find anyone in Australia over the age of 15 who doesn’t own a mobile phone. In fact plenty of younger kids have one in their pocket. Practically everyone can make and receive calls anywhere, anytime.
What does paragraph 2 mainly tell us about mobile phones?
| A．Their target users. | B．Their wide popularity. |
| C．Their major functions. | D．Their complex design. |
8 . 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 |
9 . Young children who have experienced compassionate (有同情心的) love and empathy (认同感) from their mothers may be more willing to turn thoughts into action by being generous to others, a University of California, Davis’ study suggests.
In lab studies, children tested at ages 4 and 6 showed more willingness to give up the tokens (代金券) they had earned to fictional children in need when two conditions were present—if they showed bodily changes when given the opportunity to share and had experienced positive parenting that modeled such kindness. The study initially included 74 preschool-age children and their mothers. They were invited back two years later, resulting in 54 mother-child pairs whose behaviors and reactions were analyzed when the children were 6.
“At both ages, children with better physiological regulation and with mothers who expressed stronger compassionate love were likely to donate more of their earnings,” said Paul Hastings, UC Davis professor of psychology. “Compassionate mothers likely develop emotionally close relationships with their children while also providing an early example of satisfying the needs of others,” researchers said in the study, published in November in Frontiers in Psychology” Emotion Science.
In each lab exercise, after attaching a monitor to record children’s heart-rate activity, the examiner told the children they would be earning tokens for a variety of activities, and that the tokens could be turned in for a prize. The tokens were put into a box, and each child eventually earned 20 prize tokens. Then before the session ended, children were told they could donate all or part of their tokens to other children.
Taken together, the findings showed that children’s generosity is supported by the combination of their socialization experiences—their mothers’ compassionate love—and their physiological regulation, and that these work like “internal and external supports for the ability to act prosocially that build on each other”.
In addition to observing the children’s propensity (习性) to donate their game earnings, Hastings suggested that “being in a calmer state after sharing could reinforce (加强) the generous behavior that produced that good feeling.”
1. How do young children loved by their mother tend to become in later years?| A．Considerate. | B．Emotional. |
| C．Generous. | D．Optimistic. |
| A．The process of the research. | B．The result of the experiment. |
| C．The reactions of the children. | D．The importance of Mom’s love. |
| A．Their moms love them deeply. | B．They donate the tokens easily. |
| C．They behave physiologically. | D．They are calmer after sharing. |
| A．What Contributes to Generosity? |
| B．The More You Give, the Calmer You Will Be |
| C．Do You Prefer to Receive or Give? |
| D．More Giving, Less Receiving |
10 . Nearly everyone knows eBay is a website where you can buy and sell pretty much anything. There are other Internet auction (拍卖) sites, but none come close to eBay for brand-name recognition. And for good reason: eBay is the largest English-language online auction site in the world. Buyers come to eBay for the best chance of finding the particular thing they want. Sellers come for the largest pool of buyers, which they hope means the best chance of selling at the highest possible price.
Buying things on eBay is pretty simple. You can type a term into the search field, or click through the categories list to get to what you want. Inside an individual item listing, you’ll see the current asking price, and a little button to click if you wish to place your own bid. Enter a price, occasionally come back to see if someone has bid higher than you and wait for the end of the auction period. If your bid is the highest, you win! Now all you have to do is arrange payment and shipping method with the seller. eBay is only in the business of putting buyers and sellers together for a small fee from the seller. It doesn’t handle the actual payment or shipping of goods. In other words, it isn’t a big department store, or a warehouse. It’s the owner of a flea market, and you have to do your own deals with the individual sellers in their virtual stalls.
To be a skillful eBay buyer, you should learn when to trust sellers and how a proxy (代理人) bid can save you from going online every half-hour to up your bid. Experienced eBay users also know how to use escrows (公正托管) to guarantee goods, and how to avoid selling tricks such as fake bids that push up prices. The more often you buy on eBay, the more you learn.
1. Why is eBay the best website for people to buy and sell things?| A．Because it has all brand products. |
| B．Because the trade language is English. |
| C．Because sellers and buyers can close their deals. |
| D．Because sellers can find a swimming pool there. |
| A．Find the current asking price. |
| B．Click a button to place your own bid. |
| C．Enter a price which is higher than others. |
| D．Find what you want in the categories list. |
| A．Get goods from eBay. |
| B．Determine payment and shipment. |
| C．Send somebody for the goods. |
| D．Talk about the price of the goods. |
| A．How to be a skillful buyer at eBay. |
| B．How to make sure of qualified goods. |
| C．How to avoid being cheated by others. |
| D．How to spare you from going online frequently. |
