1 . I was 15 years old the day I skipped school for the first time. It was easily done: Both my parents left for work before my school bus arrived, so when it showed up at my house on that cold winter morning, I simply did not get on. The perfect crime!
And what did I do with myself on that glorious stolen day, with no adult in charge and no limits on my activities? Did I get high? Hit the mall for a shoplifting extravaganza (狂欢)?
Nope. I built a warm fire in the wood stove, prepared a bowl of popcorn, grabbed a blanket, and read. I was thrilled and transported by a book—it was Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises—and I just needed to be alone with it for a little while. I ached to know what would happen to Jake Barnes and Lady Brett Ashley and Robert Cohn. I couldn’t bear the thought of sitting in a classroom taking another exam when I could be traveling through Spain in the 1920s with a bunch of expatriates (异乡客).
I spent that day lost in words. Time fell away, as the room around me turned to mist, and my role—as a daughter, sister, teenager, and student—in the world no longer had any meaning. I had accidentally come across the key to perfect happiness: I had become completely absorbed by something I loved.
Looking back on it now, I can see that some subtle things were happening to my mind and to my life while I was in that state of absorption. Hemingway’s language was quietly braiding itself into my imagination. I was downloading information about how to create simple and elegant sentences, a good and solid plot. In other words, I was learning how to write. Without realizing it, I was hot on the trail of my own fate. Writing now absorbs me the way reading once did and happiness is their generous side effect.
1. Why did the author skip school on that day?| A．Because her parents left home early. |
| B．Because it was a biting cold winter morning. |
| C．Because she was fascinated by a novel. |
| D．Because she was anxious to take the exam. |
| A．Reading a fiction by the fire. | B．Travelling with a bunch of expatriates. |
| C．Breaking the rules and regulations. | D．Being occupied by one’s passion. |
| A．I was tired of his roles in the real-life. |
| B．Hemingway's style influenced me a lot. |
| C．Becoming a writer was my childhood dream. |
| D．I learnt how to write on the internet. |
2 . About 12 million tons of plastic wastes are entering the oceans every year. This garbage pollutes the water, kills wildlife and breaks down into small pieces that fish and other creatures eat.
Now a group of Spanish fishermen will receive economic support to catch plastics. It is part of a new project. Carlos Martin is one of the fishermen taking part in the project. He and his partners collect the plastic in the ocean and bring it back to land every week. Martin thinks rivers carry a lot of plastics to the sea. He says his most concern is no more than that the plastics often get caught in the nets, which makes nets not work properly. They take on mud（泥）, causing the nets to break because they weigh so much.
Under the new programs, one million pounds will support ocean cleanup efforts for fishermen like Martin. The money is coming from the European Union and the Catalan government. Sergi Tudela, the General Director of Catalonia Fisheries, is responsible for the cleanup project. He said, "We are hopeful that if we are successful in this project, we can apply it to other areas in the Mediterranean（地中海）."
Government reports show that the amount of plastic wastes washing up along the Spanish coastline has grown by 65 percent in just six years. Fishing equipment makes up a large part of the about 8 to 12 million tons of plastics left in the world's oceans every year.
Martin says the fishing community now understands how big the problem is. He says, "In the past we didn't see it that way. We took the plastic garbage and threw it back into the water. I think that after a few year here we have realized the problem. Nothing is thrown into the water; we collect everything and bring it to shore.
1. What worries Martin most about plastic wastes at the beginning?| A．They pollute the sea environment. |
| B．They affect the quality and taste of fish. |
| C．They prevent the fishing nets from working well. |
| D．They kill wildlife and reduce his fishing amount. |
| A．Getting more money to support the project. |
| B．Getting help from other European countries. |
| C．Spreading the cleanup project to more places. |
| D．Praising the European Union for their helping to the oceans. |
| A．Its members do a lot of work for free. |
| B．It has stopped using plastic fishing equipment. |
| C．It has made positive changes to fight plastic wastes. |
| D．Its members find people sill throw the garbage carelessly. |
| A．New programs are changing fishermen's life |
| B．Money is given to Spanish fishermen to clean up oceans |
| C．Traditional fishing equipment causes a lot of plastic wastes |
| D．Spanish fishermen are encouraging people to clean up oceans |
3 . Some parents will buy any high-tech toy if they think it will help their child, but researchers said puzzles help children with math-related skills.
Psychologist Susan Levine, an expert on mathematics development in young children at the University of Chicago, found children who play with puzzles between ages 2 and 4 later develop better spatial skills. Puzzle play was found to be a significant predictor of cognition (认知) after controlling for differences in parents’ income, education and the amount of parent talk, Levine said.
The researchers analyzed video recordings of 53 child-parent pairs during everyday activities at home and found children who play with puzzles between 26 and 46 months of age have better spatial skills when assessed at 54 months of age.
“The children who played with puzzles performed better than those who did not, on tasks that assessed their ability to rotate (旋转) and translate shapes,” Levine said in a statement.
The parents were asked to interact with their children as they normally would, and about half of the children in the study played with puzzles at one time. Higher-income parents tended to have children play with puzzles more frequently, and both boys and girls who played with puzzles had better spatial skills. However, boys tended to play with more complex puzzles than girls, and the parents of boys provided more spatial language and were more active during puzzle play than parents of girls.
The findings were published in the journal Developmental Science.
1. In which aspect do children benefit from puzzle play?| A．Building confidence. | B．Developing spatial skills. |
| C．Learning self-control. | D．Gaining high-tech knowledge. |
| A．Parents’ age. | B．Children’s imagination. |
| C．Parents’ education. | D．Child-parent relationship. |
| A．They play with puzzles more often. | B．They tend to talk less during the game. |
| C．They prefer to use more spatial language. | D．They are likely to play with tougher puzzles. |
4 . For many Americans, regular exercise is a complicated commitment—one made at the beginning of January that fades out within weeks or months. Busy work schedules, a lack of motivation and unease towards exercising in public all contribute to the discouraging statistics that only around a quarter of adults exercise enough per week.
This month, enterptiser Trent Ward and designer Yves Behar are uncovering their design for a mirror fitness system, Forme. Forme is reflective like a mirror, uses machine learning to heighten workouts, and offers attachments including ankle belts, rope handles and a heart rate monitor. When not in use, the two arms that form the resistance pulley (滑轮) system fold behind it and the display screen disappears, turning Forme into a simple full—length mirror.
Interest in home exercise has particularly increased recently around the world. Home workout apps have seen a significant uptick in downloads, and trendy brands like Peloton have rolled out free virtual workouts for everyone stuck indoors. One French athlete who was kept away from others chose to run an entire marathon on his 23-foot balcony.
But beyond the new restrictions affecting daily workout routines, Ward and Behar are tapping into the same concerns that have made every home workout appealing：the ability to save time and sweat in the privacy of one’s home. In an age of personal metrics (衡量标准)--where one can measure their heart rate and sleep cycles with smart watches and train for marathons with AI smart sneakers----Ward and Behar want to improve exercise through machine learning. Forme evaluates performance and adjusts weights accordingly. Easy access to one’s own performance data also makes it easier to track that progress and stay motivated.
Though it’s too soon to tell if mirror gyms will be the trend of the late 2010s to 2020s, Behar explained that having a screen in the home can become the basis for more than just fitness, such as shopping or telemedicine.
1. What does paragraph 2 mainly focus on?.| A．The ways to operate Forme. | B．The features of Forme. |
| C．The reasons to develop Forme. | D．The theory behind Forme. |
| A．By offering them online workouts for free. |
| B．By raising their interest in marathon. |
| C．By keeping them far away from others. |
| D．By entertaining them with all kinds of downloads. |
| A．The better results than outdoor activities. |
| B．The fresher air at home. |
| C．The privacy of home. |
| D．The convenient access to mass data. |
| A．Can Forme Have More Powerful Functions? |
| B．Does Regular Exercise Keep up with New Technology? |
| C．Is the New Trend of Smart Machines at Home available? |
| D．Is this AI—Powered "Mirror Gym" the Future of Home Exercise? |
5 . Plastic bottles by the side of a road are a common sight, an unseemly reminder of how often consumer products are thrown away carelessly. Now some of those bottles may become part of the road. A California company has put recycled plastic into road repaving (重铺)，which could revolutionize the industry with environmental benefits.
Sean Weaver, president of TechniSoil Industrial in the northern California city of Redding, said, “With this new technique, the repaved roads are stronger, flatter, safer and last longer than those made with regular asphalt (沥青).”
More appealing to environmentalists, the repaved roads incorporate 100% of the old asphalt - sparing the air from dozens of trips by trucks pulling away and bringing in building materials - and provide a new market for plastic products that could otherwise wind up in a landfill.
“Everybody that's looked at it said this will be one of the most transformative road construction technologies ever,” Weaver said. “We're recycling what's there, and we're delivering a road that's better than the original, at no higher cost than it would cost you to repave that road the traditional way.”
The process involves four large construction vehicles linked together in what's called a recycling train which scoops up the top 3 inches of asphalt on a lane, grinds (磨碎)them on a mill and mixes them with TechniSoil's G5 binder (粘合剂),containing from 2% to 20% of liquefied plastic. The mixed product is deposited back on the road, paved and rolled over. There’s no heat involved in the operation, which essentially replaces the traditional binder - bitumen, a leftover from refining oil - with a stronger plastic composite. The other elements of asphalt, such as crushed rock, gravel, sand and filler, remain in place.
1. What’s the new move of the California company?| A．To put asphalt into road construction. |
| B．To revolutionize the recycling industry. |
| C．To use recycled plastic in road repaving. |
| D．To add plastic bottles to house-building. |
| A．The technique they use is cost-saving. |
| B．His company enjoys a high reputation. |
| C．The road-construction process is complex. |
| D．Environmentalists think highly of the new roads. |
| A．How roads are repaved in the new way. |
| B．Where the new building materials are mixed. |
| C．Why there is no heat in the road construction. |
| D．What materials are used in the road repaving. |
6 . Reducing plastic waste isn't easy because the cheap material is found in almost every household item. Now a delicious and nutritious solution has come up to help reduce our dependence on this environmental hazard（危害）.
David Christian, the co-founder of Evoware, says the idea of creating the biodegradable （生物降解的）products came from concern at the country's high pollution rate. Indonesia is home to four of the world's worst polluted river. Since single-use packaging is a large contributor to the problem, Evoware decided to deal with that first.
After investigating various materials, the company settled on seaweed. Unlike corn, commonly used for biodegradable containers, seaweed does not require resources like water or large amounts of space. Since Indonesian farmers already harvest more seaweed than they can sell, it's easy for the company to find the material.
Though they will not reveal their production process, Evoware says the seaweed packaging contains no chemicals and is safe to consume. The company has also invented single-use cups, which can break down 30 days after they're thrown away.
While replacing plastic with the seaweed products may seem appealing to most of us, it is a hard-sell in Indonesia. According to Christian, The awareness to reduce single-use plastic is still very low. This makes our bioplastic unnecessary.” Also a factor is the cost, which is higher than using plastic. Hopefully, Evoware will succeed in convincing Indonesians and people worldwide that switching to their products will be helpful to protecting our beautiful planet.
1. What problem did Evoware decide to deal with first？| A．Ways to clean the four worst polluted rivers. |
| B．How to deal with single-use packaging. |
| C．Means to contribute to the country’s economy. |
| D．What nutritious materials for people to use. |
| A．It could be found everywhere in his country. |
| B．It was most commonly used for packaging. |
| C．It didn't require much space and was easy to get. |
| D．It grew thickly in most of the polluted rivers. |
| A．Sometimes it's hard to get people to reduce the use of plastics. |
| B．Their seaweed products have won government support. |
| C．Their new products have received worldwide popularity. |
| D．The cost of making seaweed products will be lowered soon. |
7 . Described as the world’s most environmentally friendly protein, Solein is made by applying electricity to water to release bubbles of carbon dioxide and hydrogen. Living microbes(微生物) are then added to the liquid to feed on the carbon dioxide and hydrogen bubbles and produce the Solein, which is then dried to make the powder. It’s a natural fermentation(发酵) process similar to beer brewing. The dried Solein has a protein content of 50 percent and looks and tastes just like wheat flour.
“It is a completely new kind of food, a new kind of protein, different to all the food on the market todav in how it is produced as it does not need agriculture.” Dr Pasi Vinikka, the chief executive of Solar Foods told The Guardian. The process used to produce Solein — converting hydrogen and carbon dioxide to calories — is amazing, as the wonder food can be produced anywhere in the world. It’s also 10 times more energy-efficient per hectare than photosynthesis (光合作用), and 10 to 100 times more environment and climate-friendly in water use than animal or plant based food production.
“Solein also contains all the essential amino acids(氨基酸), but because it is produced using carbon dioxide and electricity, it does not require large amounts of land to produce,” the Solar Foods website explains. “Another unique characteristic of Solein is that it is able to take carbon directly from carbon dioxide without needing a source of sugar.”
While Solar Foods does not expect Solein to challenge conventional protein production methods in the next two decades, it does expect it to become a “new harvest” for humanity, which is significant considering so far we have only relied on plants and animals for sustenance. The Helsinki-based company plans to open its first Solein factory at the end of 2021 and scale up production to two billion meals per year by 2022.
1. Which of the following statements best describe the features of Solein?| A．It is a new kind of food containing all the nutrition. |
| B．It is made from water and carbon dioxide by applying electricity. |
| C．It is produced without consuming much land and energy. |
| D．It is a kind of man-made wheat flour. |
| A．relating | B．changing |
| C．contributing | D．adapting |
| A．The company thinks Solein would have a rewarding future. |
| B．Solein is supposed to challenge traditional protein production. |
| C．There is still a long way for Solein to be put into production. |
| D．Humans can completely rely on Solein to survive. |
| A．To promote a new kind of technology. |
| B．To introduce a new kind of food. |
| C．To make an ad for a new kind of protein. |
| D．To call on people to protect the environment. |
8 . NOT that long ago, the world wondered whether clean energy could survive without government support. Now the question is how far it can spread. The number of electric vehicles. which was about 1 million in 2015, last year reached 2 million. In electricity generation, too, trend is with the greens. In the first half of this year wind, solar and hydro generated a record 35% of Germany's power.
Greater success is breeding greater ambition. California is proposing to reach 60% renewable energy by 2030: 176 countries have clean-energy goals. Hawaii, America's most oil-dependent state, has promised to be 100% renewable by the middle of the century. So have 48 poor countries vulnerable to climate change. This week the number of multinationals making a commitment to running their operations on 100% renewable energy rose to 100.
But not every target is helpful. To see why, consider that goal of 100% renewable energy. It makes solving climate change seem easy. In fact, though wind and solar can generate the whole country's electricity some day, renewables still account for less than 8% of the world's total power output. Moreover, cleaning up electricity is only part of the battle. Even though gas-fired heating and cooking can be at least as big a source of greenhouse-gas emissions, renewable heating gets little attention. Transport policy is unpredictable, too. Carmakers may hit their goal of annual sales of 10 million electric vehicles in a decade, but battery-powered road transport, shipping and aviation are dreams. A much-quoted claim that America could rely on wind, solar and hydro alone for its electricity has recently been bitterly criticized by a group of respected academics.
Most importantly, a 100% renewables target confuses means with ends. The priority for the planet is to stop net emissions（净排放量）of greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide. Putting too much emphasis on wind, solar and other renewables may block off better carbon-reduction paths. After decades of investment, it is wrong to leave nuclear power off the table. Carbon emissions in Germany actually rose because it chose to phase out nuclear power gradually and so burned more coal. New technologies, such as "direct air capture" systems designed to separate carbon dioxide from the air, may in time prove vital. Likewise, greater energy efficiency could reduce emissions by even more than using renewables would.
1. It can be inferred from the passage that .| A．the problem of climate change will be solved by using 100% renewable energy |
| B．with new technologies, Germany successfully cut down carbon emissions |
| C．it is probable that ships will one day be powered by battery |
| D．America is not likely to completely rely on wind, solar and hydro energy one day |
| A．promoting energy efficiency |
| B．blocking off carbon-reduction paths |
| C．using non-renewable heating |
| D．abandoning electric vehicles |
| A．ignore | B．reduce | C．use | D．invent |
| A．Fashion | B．Politics | C．Economy | D．Education |
9 . A mum-of-two, Cherish Reardon, was bullied (欺凌) throughout her teenage years and struggled with anxiety for years. In March 2017, Cherish was struggling to adapt to life as a stay-at-home mum when she started exploring ways she could work for herself. Cherish said, “I am eager to work through the website at home. It is a good way to avoid a job interview!”
Immediately, Cherish tried going into fashion. She first focused on vintage-inspired (复古风的) dresses. In order to get her Popsy Clothing started online, Cherish had to put all savings into the business and turned to family for extra backing — she managed to raise & 10,000.
In the first few months, Cherish would only sell a few in the online marketplace. But soon she realized that mums like herself were the ones buying into the brand and NOT the 16-year-old girls what she had expected. Along with the Etsy shop and website, the mum-of-two set up a web page called Frocks & Friends to share fashion tips. Cherish said, “Now we ask my customers what sort of printed cloth they like best. I feel like it is their idea as well as ours.”
Last year, Popsy Clothing turned over almost £ 1,000,000, appearing on Gok Wan’s Fashion Roadshow. In 2019, the business sold 33,200 dresses and Popsy has now branched out into kids clothing and tights. Describing how her business has helped her anxiety, Cherish said, “Anxiety is always going to be with me to a certain degree, but I think I’ve learnt how to manage it and I’ve got support of many other women. Knowing that I’m not alone and other people struggle with it as well, that has been amazing.
1. What is the name of the clothing brand of Cherish?| A．Etsy. | B．Popsy Clothing. |
| C．Frocks & Friends. | D．Fashion Roadshow. |
| A．To look after her children at home. | B．To create her own business attentively. |
| C．To set her free from suffering anxiety. | D．To escape facing others due to her anxiety. |
| A．Ambitious and determined. | B．Confident and humorous. |
| C．Experienced and sensitive. | D．Generous and imaginative. |
| A．Cherish has been suffering from anxiety a lot. |
| B．Cherish has managed to handle her life and work. |
| C．Many women in the world have anxiety disorders. |
| D．Customers have taught her how to cure her illness. |
10 . Would you drink water that had once been washed down a toilet after it’s been cleaned? Think about it! The climate is warming and fresh water is falling short. So recycling wastewater into drinking water may become a necessity.
However, “People are disgusted (使厌恶，使作呕) by recycled water, because it was once wastewater, the water that goes down your showers or your toilets. And even though it’s cleaned up to a standard that is the same if not better than commercially bottled water, the key barrier to accept it is people’s disgust regarding it.” Riverside psychologist Daniel Harmon said.
In a recent set of experiments, Harmon and his colleague Mary Gauvain learned how difficult it can be for people to get over their disgust at the thought of drinking recycled water. Harmon said, “Our study was aimed at investigating whether commercials, or these pro-environmental messages actually work. That is, whether they can get people to accept recycled water and consume recycled water.”
In one experiment, the researchers had some participants watch a short video promoting water conservation. And in another experiment, they added a video explaining why recycled water might result in disgust, even though all pollutants have been cleared away. And neither video had a strong effect on people’s willingness to drink recycled water or to sign a document supporting the practice. In fact, watching the video that directly explained recycled water’s disgusting factor was no more persuasive than the water conservation video alone. Perhaps because reason or logic doesn’t work at all. Harmon thought, “Disgust is such a powerful reaction that simply giving more information is not going to be effective because disgust is not really a reasonable response.”
Harmon said it’s probably going to take a lot more to get people to accept recycled water. For example, it might help to see members of their community drinking water that’s gone, as it’s called, from “toilet to tap”, with no ill effects.
1. What does wastewater refer to in Paragraph 2?| A．Water once used in showers. |
| B．Water polluted by industrial waste. |
| C．Water used to wash down streets. |
| D．Water causing diseases to spread widely. |
| A．To check if commercials are reliable. |
| B．To prove pro-environmental messages do matter. |
| C．To investigate if people know about waste water. |
| D．To see whether recycled water will be accepted. |
| A．It is an unreasonable reaction. |
| B．There is no persuasive evidence about it. |
| C．It needs more logic and reasons to overcome it. |
| D．It is caused by pollutants in recycled water. |
| A．A biology textbook. | B．A travel brochure. |
| C．A scientific magazine. | D．A medicine magazine. |
