1 . Every animal species carries unique viruses that have specifically adapted to infecting it. Over time, some of these have jumped to humans — these are known as “zoonotic” viruses.
As the population grows, we move into wild areas, which brings us into more frequent contact with animals we don’t normally have contact with. Thus viruses can jump from animals to humans and they can spread between humans, through close contact with body fluids (体液) like blood or urine.
Because every virus has evolved to target a particular species, it’s rare for a virus to beable to jump to another species. When this does happen, it’s by chance, and it usually requires a large amount of contact with the virus.
Initially, the virus is usually not well-suited to its new host and doesn’t spread easily. Over time, however, it can evolve in the new host to produce variants that are better adapted.
When viruses jump to a new host, a process called zoonosis, they often cause more severe disease. This is because viruses and their initial hosts have evolved together, and the species has time to build up resistance. The new host species, on the other hand, might not have evolved the ability to tackle (应对) the virus. For example, when we come into contact with bats and their viruses, we may develop rabies or Ebola virus disease, while the bats themselves are less affected.
It’s likely that bats are the original source of three recently emerged coronaviruses: SARS-CoV (2003), MERS-CoV (2012) and SARS-CoV-2. All of these jump from bats to humans via an intermediate animal; in the case of SARS-CoV-2, this may have been pangolins (穿山甲), but more research is needed.
1. Why is it rare for a virus to infect another species?| A．The new host can deal with the virus. |
| B．The new species builds up resistance. |
| C．Every virus can’t adapt to the new species. |
| D．Each virus develops to target a specific species. |
| A．The resistance of the old species. |
| B．The ability of the new host species. |
| C．The process of the viral infection. |
| D．The reason for the virus variation. |
| A．SARS-CoV. | B．SARS-CoV-2. |
| C．Not mentioned. | D．MERS-CoV. |
| A．Humans should not move into wild areas. |
| B．Wild animals are actually our best friends. |
| C．A virus can spread from animals to humans. |
| D．A virus can vary to infect another species. |
2 . After two years of careful consideration, Robert McCrum has reached a conclusion on his selection of the 100 greatest novels written in English. Take a look at a few in his list.
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (1719)
By the end of the 19th century, no book in English literary history had enjoyed more editions and translations. This world-famous novel is a complex literature that one cannot resist.
Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift (1726)
A great work that’s been repeatedly printed, Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels comes third in our list of the best novels written in English.
Clarissa by Samuel Richardson (1748)
Clarissa is a tragic heroine, pressured by her dishonorable family to marry a wealthy man she dislikes, in the book that Samuel Johnson described as “the first book in the world that shows the knowledge about the human heart.”
Tom Jones by Henry Fielding (1749)
Tom Jones is a classic English novel that gets the spirit of its age and whose characters are well-known since they have come to represent the society at that time.
Emma by Jane Austen (1816)
Jane Austen’s Emma is her most outstanding work, mixing the best parts of her early books with a deep sense of feelings.
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket by Edgar Allan Poe (1838)
Edgar Allan Poe’s only novel—a classic adventure story with supernatural elements—has fascinated and influenced generations of writers.
1. Which English book has got the most translations before the 20th century?| A．Tom Jones | B．Gulliver’s Travels | C．Robinson Crusoe | D．Emma |
| A．The human heart. | B．Quarrels in a family. |
| C．A love story. | D．The spirits of the time. |
| A．Their classic life styles. | B．Their representation of the society. |
| C．Their typical spirits of the age. | D．Their different nationalities. |
3 . When you say the word donkey, what things come to your mind? A few people might say they’re cute, but the majority think they’re stubborn, dumb and all-round less capable than their horse relatives.
However, this wasn’t the case for a recently unearthed ancient Chinese noblewoman who was unexpectedly found buried with her donkeys. Published in the journal Antiquity in March, Chinese archaeologists (考古学家) first discovered the tomb in Xi’an, Shaanxi, in 2012. The team examined the remains and identified the body as Cui Shi, a Tang Dynasty high-born lady who died in 878 AD.
Speaking to Science Magazine in 2012, the study’s co-author, Fiona Marshall, said the finding caused confusion as “donkeys … are not associated with high-status people”.
However, following years of further research, the team discovered artworks and artifacts that showed a sport known as “Lvju”. This was similar to modern-day polo (马球) and was popular among noble (高贵的) women at the time. They preferred to use donkeys instead of full-sized horses for safety reasons, due to their smaller size and slower speed.
Speaking to CNN, Marshall later said, “Historical documents also showed that ladies of the late Tang court loved to play donkey polo.”
At that time in Chinese history, animals were often placed in tombs so that they could be used for a specific purpose in the afterlife. The study determined that Cui Shi likely requested that her beloved donkeys be buried with her, so that she could continue her favorite sport after death. In total, three donkeys were found inside her tomb with riding gear (装备), including stirrups (马镫). “This context provides evidence that the donkeys in her tomb were for polo, not transport,” lead author Hu Songmei of the Shaanxi Academy of Archaeology told Science Magazine.
Before the study, it was believed that donkeys were only used to carry loads, but now it may be time to see them as a sign of achieving high social status(地位), well, in ancient times.
1. What do most people think of donkeys, according to the text?| A．They are as adorable(可爱的) as horses. | B．They are stubborn and not so capable. |
| C．They were necessary in ancient sports. | D．They were a sign of high social status. |
| A．She didn’t connect donkeys with nobles. |
| B．She hadn’t seen donkeys in ancient tombs before. |
| C．She didn’t expect to find donkeys in a woman’s tomb. |
| D．She didn’t understand why animals were in human tombs. |
| A．Horses were preferred in Lvju. |
| B．Lvju was similar to modern-day soccer. |
| C．Lvju was popular among common people. |
| D．Donkeys were preferred in the sport for safety. |
| A．she intended to use them for transport after death |
| B．her family didn’t want her to be lonely after death |
| C．she wanted to continue to play Lvju after death |
| D．noble women needed donkeys to maintain their dignity |
4 . China Science Daily announced Thursday that it has used software to automatically generate news stories about the latest discoveries from the world’s leading science journals. The robot science reporter, called “Xiaoke”, was co-created by the newspaper and researchers from Peking University in about half a year.
It is the latest case of Chinese news organizations using computer technology to create content. According to its inventors, Xiaoke has generated over 200 stories based on the English abstract of papers published in journals such as Science, Nature, Cell and the New England Journal of Medicine.
Before publication, the automatically generated articles will go through a review process. A group of scientists and the newspaper’s editors will check the content or give supplementary (补充的) information.
Zhang Mingwei, head of the program and vice editor-in-chief of the newspaper, said inventors would make Xiaoke a “cross-linguistic (跨语言的) academic secretary” to help Chinese scientists overcome language barriers and have easy and quick access to the latest scientific advances in English-language publication. Lead researcher Wan Xiaojun, of Peking University in charge of the system’s design and technology, stressed that the content generation tool could do far more than translation. According to Wan, Xiaoke is good at selecting complex words and sentences, which can help turn articles full of confusing technical terms into easy and readable news reports.
The readers of the robot reporter is not limited to professionals but also includes the general public. Science reporting is important in spreading information about discoveries and in popularizing knowledge to people.
1. What can we learn about “Xiaoke”?| A．It is a professional translator. |
| B．It has the most advanced AI. |
| C．It can make up fiction stories. |
| D．It generates science news reports. |
| A．Upgrade the artificial intelligence. |
| B．Select complex words and sentences. |
| C．Check the content and add information. |
| D．Help it get the latest scientific advances. |
| A．Science. |
| B．Education. |
| C．Entertainment. |
| D．Health. |
| A．The robot writer of science news. |
| B．The readers of the science reports. |
| C．The editor-in-chief of the newspaper. |
| D．The latest case of news organizations. |
5 . Anyone who commutes(通勤)by car knows that traffic jams are an unavoidable part of life. But humans are not alone in facing potential backups.
Ants also commute—between their nest and sources of food. The survival of their habitats depends on doing this efficiently.
When humans commute, there’s a point at which cars become dense(稠密) enough to slow down the flow of traffic, causing jam. Researchers wanted to know if ants on the move could also get stuck. So they regulated traffic density by constructing bridges of various widths between a colony of Argentine ants and a source of food. Then they waited and watched, trying to find out at what point they are going to have a traffic jam.
But it appears that that never happened. They always managed to avoid traffic jam. The flow of ants did increase at the beginning as ants started to fill the bridge and then levelled off at high densities. But it never slowed down or stopped, even when the bridge was nearly filled with ants.
The researchers then took a closer look at how the behaviour of individual ants impacted traffic as a whole. And they found that when ants sense overcrowding, they adjust their speeds and avoid entering high-density areas, which prevents jams. These behaviors may be promoted by pheromones, chemicals that tell other ants where a trail is. The ants also manage to avoid colliding(碰撞) with each other at high densities, which could really slow them down.
Can ants help us solve our own traffic problems? Not likely. That’s because when it comes to getting from point A to point B as fast as possible, human drivers put their own goals first. Individual ants have to be more cooperative in order to feed the colony. But the research could be useful in improving traffic flow for self-driving cars, which can be designed to be less like selfish humans—and more like ants.
1. What does the underlined word “this” in paragraph 2 refer to?| A．Surviving. | B．Commuting. | C．Finding food. | D．Avoiding jams. |
| A．Through closer observation. | B．By regulating their numbers. |
| C．By finding out the dense points. | D．By controlling the widths of their path. |
| A．They follow a special route. |
| B．They level off at high densities. |
| C．They never stop or slow down on the way. |
| D．They depend on their natural chemicals to adjust their speeds. |
| A．Traffic jams | B．Survival of an ant colony |
| C．Unavoidable? Not for ants! | D．Differences between human and ants |
6 . Recently researchers at the University of Zurich are adding a new member to the drone ( 无人机） family. Unlike most drones whose application is to make selfies ( 自拍)or transport something, this drone was built with first aid workers and rescue efforts in mind. Disaster sites are rarely logical shapes and sizes. So having a drone that could change its shape and size to fit through tight spaces on the fly could prove extremely valuable.
As is often the case in experimental robotic projects, researchers met some technical setbacks ( 挫 折 )at the beginning. The airplane mode of the existing aircraft such as passenger planes，helicopters and the common drones couldn’t meet the demand of different environmental features. Eventually, they turned to animals for inspiration— specifically how some birds can fold their wings to fly through narrow passages.
What makes it distinguishing is that when faced with a narrow passage, it can change into an H shape. Or it can shrink itself into an O shape, arms folded into its body. And if that wasn’t enough, it can also transform into a T shape, allowing an onboard camera mounted (镶嵌)on the central frame to get as close as possible to its focal object.
While the working concept model is impressive, the researchers aren't done with the folding drone yet. They want to improve the structure of the drone so that it can fully fold in three dimensions, offering even more shapes. And they want to create full auto-operation—a drone that looks at the shifting terrain(地形）in，for example, an apartment building partly destroyed by an earthquake and changes its shape to meet its current needs.
Researchers say their final goal is to give the drone a high-level instruction such as “enter that building, inspect every room and come back and let it figure out by itself how to do it”. Therefore, it’s reasonable to hope the new drone will play an important supporting role in disaster rescue.
1. What was the new drone initially designed to?| A．Take air photography. | B．Provide disaster relief. |
| C．Convey a heavy load. | D．Send a message signal. |
| A．birds’ flying features | B．small helicopters |
| C．passenger planes | D．common drones |
| A．it can change its shape | B．it has a unique X shape |
| C．its arms are flexible | D．it can reach its target |
| A．It’s hard to turn the model into reality. |
| B．It’s required to add more functions to it. |
| C．It’ll play an active part in rescue work. |
| D．It will change the way of disaster relief. |
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1. Who can provide Lancom with a huge potential for innovation in learning?| A．Culture researchers. | B．AI specialists. | C．Language experts. | D．Art designers. |
| A．A flexible system. | B．An effective method. |
| C．The brain-training technique. | D．The informative content. |
| A．personalised courses | B．multiple languages |
| C．pricing policy | D．service team |
8 . From Madrid to Buenos Aires to Panama City to Lisbon, President Xi Jinping has tirelessly promoted the building of a community of shared future for mankind, and the Belt and Road Initiative(倡议) as a means to achieve that.
But all don’t see it that way. While some are quick to see its positive potentials, other countries insist on viewing it skeptically. There have been the usual doubts about the intention behind, although the mysterious threat they speak of is one they seem unable to explain clearly.
To some of them, it is a vague assumption that investments from China are potential “debt traps” that call for extreme caution or “threats to national security”. That is why the business combinations involving Chinese companies which would be mutually( 相互地)beneficial have hit the rocks. The Chinese telecommunications technology giant Huawei, for instance, has found the doors to the 5G telecommunications markets of advanced countries closed to it on “national security” grounds. Likewise, the European Union has agreed on a framework regulating foreign investment(投资 ) particularly those from China on the same account.
Even as Chinese and Portuguese leaders discuss bilateral( 双边的)cooperation under the Belt and Road, there is no lack of concern about “Chinas influence”. But existing EU rules do not forbid Lisbon from seeking such a partnership. If Lisbon sees no harm from foreign investment, no outsider is in a position to prevent it from making a choice in its own best interests.
Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa has reminded EU decision-makers of his country's desire for foreign investment, and advised the latter to avoid taking “the path of protectionism”. It was a timely reminder.
Facing the challenges in today, s world, China and the countries that have embraced the Belt and Road are convinced it is the way to common development and the world’s lasting peace and stability.
1. Some countries that hold a negative attitude towards the Initiative mainly doubt its______| A．power | B．mystery | C．intention | D．potential |
| A．Fallen Into a trap | B．become a hit |
| C．made a difference | D．failed to work out |
| A．Huawei has caused serious security problems abroad |
| B．the EU will take relatively strict measures on Chinese investment |
| C．the Road and Belt Initiative has gained much popularity for “China’s influence” |
| D．China's investment in Portugal has been extremely smooth |
| A．Negative. | B．Positive. | C．Doubtful. | D．Unclear. |
9 . Researchers in the field often use camera traps to remotely photograph the lives of animals. These stationary cameras have a sensor that is triggered(启动，引发) by heat or movement, letting researchers monitor animals without disturbing them.
The traps can be used for months at a time, sometimes catching hundreds of thousands of images. But these images, and the valuable information they reveal, typically just sit on researchers’ hard drives, unavailable to anyone else, according to Jorge Ahumada, a scientist at environmental nonprofit Conservation International. So he launched Wildlife Insights, an online platform where researchers could share their photos. His idea is to encourage teamwork between biologists and wildlife conservation organizations, and bring camera trap footage(片断) to the fore of conservation efforts.
The site uses Artificial Intelligence designed by Google to overcome a key problem with these kinds of photos: camera traps produce an astronomical number of images to manually analyze, says Ahumada, many of which are blank images where the camera was triggered by its surroundings and not by wildlife. Manually sorting and deleting these photos is a laborious task.
To get around that, after someone uploads footage to the Wildlife Insights database, its AI checks if the image was taken from a camera trap and automatically removes all blank images. If there is an animal in the image, the AI will identify the species.
As well as collecting and reviewing the photos, the platform will provide analytics that could reveal trends in species’ population for different projects. That information could help researchers understand whether a species is increasing its range or if its numbers are dwindling.
While open access is key, the platform has taken steps to make sure this information doesn’t get into the wrong hands. “You will have to ask Wildlife Insights for permission to get the locations of the images,” says Ahumada. “We will manage this process carefully because we know that poachers(偷猎者) could use this information to find endangered species.”
1. What’s the purpose of Wildlife Insights?| A．To raise money for wildlife protection. |
| B．To monitor wildlife in an undisturbed way. |
| C．To encourage researchers to set camera traps. |
| D．To make camera trap images available to the public. |
| A．Sorting wildlife images quickly. | B．Tracking the photographed species. |
| C．Analyzing the origins of blank images. | D．Checking the performance of camera traps. |
| A．Puzzling | B．Doubling | C．Dropping | D．Missing |
| A．To protect the privacy of uploaders. | B．To avoid the illegal use of them. |
| C．To charge fees to stop poachers. | D．To ensure the accuracy of them. |
10 . Jumping Clay
Grades: K-2
Time: 3:25 pm — 4:25 pm Tuesday Jan 16, 23, 30 Feb 6, 3, 27 (No class 2/20)
Explore the Arctic and Antarctic in this creative hands-on workshop! Each student will create their own 3-D Polar display including the landscape and animals such as polar bears, penguins and whales while learning about basic shapes and color mixing. Jumping Clay is an air-drying polymer clay that is 100% safe and non-toxic and completely mess free! Beginners welcome! All materials included. Cost: $90
Vacation Destination
The ERfC Vacation Destination Center is located at Enfield Street school,1318 Enfeild Street. Vacation Destination is open from 7:00 am — 6:00 pm on the following days this school year:
December 26-29, 2020
February 20, 2021
April 9-13, 2021
June 25-29, 2021
A variety of theme-based activities are provided throughout the day and include enrichment and recreational activities such as sewing, sports & games, arts & crafts and science activities. Daily fee: $ 45
ERfC Counselors in Trainning Team for High School Students
Students in grades 9-12 who are looking to develop leadership skills are encouraged to join the ERfC CIT Team. High school students will gain experience working with children in different age groups, discover new strengths, and learn team-building skills. Training is provided and summer opportunities will be available. Contact Melissa Shea atmshea@erfc.us.
Tonight in Thompsonville
Located at St. Patrick’s Hall, 64 Pearl Street, Enfield Join us for a free family dinner and a variety of family fun activities. In addition to a family dinner, evenings include hands-on educational activities designed for parents and children to enjoy together. Community providers attend to share information about health, nutrition, physical activity,education, and other services such as SNAP, Care 4 Kids, early childhood programs and out-of-school time activities.
1. What is the main purpose of Jumping Clay?| A．To guide children to protect wild animals. |
| B．To teach children to use clay materials properly. |
| C．To encourage children to improve their creativity. |
| D．To help children learn about the Arctic and Antarctic. |
| A．December 30, 2020. | B．February 22, 2021. |
| C．April 12, 2021. | D．June 24, 2021. |
| A．Jumping Clay. | B．Vacation Destination. |
| C．ERfC CIT Team. | D．Tonight in Thompsonville. |
