1 . Bangladesh's floating gardens, built to grow food during flood seasons, could offer a continuous solution for parts of the world which are likely to suffer from flooding because of climate change, a new study has found.
Bangladesh's floating gardens began hundreds of years ago. The gardens are made from native plants that float in the rivers and operate almost like rafts (筏), rising and filling with the waters. Historically, they were used to continue growing food during rainy seasons when rivers were filled with water.
The farmers layer the plants about three feet deep, creating a version of raised-bed gardens that float in the water. Then, they plant vegetables inside those rafts. As the raft-plants rot away, they release nutrients, which help feed the vegetable plants.
But as climate change affected the volume of water in those rivers, the researchers wanted to understand whether Bangladesh's floating gardens could be a continuous farming practice. They interviewed farming families and found strong evidence that floating gardens provide stability, both in the amount of food available to feed rural populations and in a farming family's income.
They found that farmers typically use hybrid (杂交) seeds, which must be repurchased each year, to grow a diverse range of vegetables in the floating gardens. The gardens are also sensitive to pests, so farmers end up spending some money on both pesticides and fertilizers. But even with those expenses, they found, benefits outweighed costs. One farmer told the research team that he earns up to four times as much money from the gardens as from traditional rice fields.
However, before gaining profits, farmers often take out high-interest loans (贷款) to cover the investment costs of filling the beds and stocking them with plants. Luckily; there are also lower-interest loans from responsible government or non-governmental organizations, which could ease that burden.
1. How do vegetable plants grow according to the text?| A．By absorbing nutrition from raft-plants. | B．By taking shelter from climate change. |
| C．By living together with hybrid seeds. | D．By moving up and down with raised beds. |
| A．“Our life becomes tough when rivers flood.” | B．“Fewer vegetables are planted when water rises.” |
| C．“We harvest much more food during rainy seasons.” | D．“Climate change has little influence on our income.” |
| A．Affected. | B．Brought. | C．Beat. | D．Equaled. |
| A．A solution to climate problem has been found. | B．The gardens are built with rotted native plants. |
| C．Farmers earn more from traditional rice fields. | D．Low-interest loans lighten the stress of farmers. |
2 . Diving under the ice first started over 100 years ago when divers still used heavy suits to stay dry while getting their oxygen from ships on the surface. Today, divers use lightweight flexible suits and SCUBA (self-contained underwater breathing apparatus) gear that allow them to do much more under the water, while using modern technology to stay in communication with the surface and document what they find.
Though Antarctica may seem like a desert place, under the ice, cold water creates some of the most nutrient-rich waters in the world’s oceans. There are beautiful creatures of all shapes and sizes that a diver can get close to. The water is too cold, and most animals that have adapted to the cold conditions are smaller than their cousins in warm places.
Diving under the water requires more experience than your average tourist on holiday. Kelly recommends that only very experienced divers attempt the cold waters. Everything is more difficult in the cold.
It’s also important to watch out for seal attacks, which are highly uncommon but have become more of a concern in recent years, with one reported death in 2004. Kelly recommends at least one diver carry a stick while in the water.
In spite of the risks, the waters under the Antarctic seas offer incredibly novel and great experiences that most people could never imagine. Besides whales, seals and penguins, lucky divers will get to see a great variety of underwater wildlife, including beautiful worms, sponges, corals and kelp.
Surprisingly, while the world above the water in Antarctica is often shades of white and gray, and everything seems still, under the surface there is an amazingly colorful world.
1. When diving under the ice first started, divers ________.| A．breathed the air from ships on the sea | B．wore very light suits to keep warm |
| C．communicated with the surface by phone | D．got their oxygen from the water under the ice |
| A．Being a desert place, Antarctica lacks nutrition in its cold water. |
| B．Divers can take a close look at various beautiful creatures under the ice. |
| C．Only very experienced divers are recommended to attempt the cold waters. |
| D．Divers are advised to carry sticks to protect themselves from seal attacks. |
| A．The creatures in Antarctica | B．Travel in Antarctica |
| C．Diving under the ice in Antarctica | D．The colorful world under the ice |
3 . Governments, financial institutions, employers, border security and police services are increasingly using facial recognition technology. This allows them to quickly confirm an individual's identity. Systems are becoming so competent that a wanted criminal can be picked out. of a crowd of thousands of people. All that's required is an image in a database to compare with the image of any number of people in a crowd.
Ordinary people, too, are using facial recognition to unlock their phones, computers and other devices. Such systems are generally quite secure. They also are instantaneous (瞬间的) and relieve people of the need to memorize passwords or PINs ( Personal Identification Numbers).
Despite these advantages, human rights groups in the U. S. have protested against the growing use of facial recognition technology for two main reasons. The first is that current facial recognition systems frequently make mistakes with certain groups of people. A study conducted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology examined three systems and found that they wrongly identified up to 34 percent of women who had dark skin. Another government study on facial recognition systems found that their error rates were higher for black women and Asians as well as for African men and women. The systems were much more reliable when they were used to identify white men, suggesting that their facial recognition technology had mainly been trained using white faces.
The second reason is that these systems could be used in ways that would harm human rights. If the systems improved enough to become one hundred percent reliable, police departments might use them to identify people taking part in legal protests and demonstrations. Gathering and storing such information about citizens could violate their privacy rights.
In response to such concerns, the U. S. city of Portland has forbidden the use of facial recognition by government agencies as well as by stores, restaurants and hotels in the city.
1. What does this article explain about facial recognition technology?| A．What damage it can cause to machines. |
| B．Why it was surprisingly cheap to develop. |
| C．How it has been employed by consumers. |
| D．Which schools have profited from it most. |
| A．They haven't been widely available. |
| B．They don't save companies money. |
| C．They can't be tested by scientist. |
| D．They aren't sufficiently accurate. |
| A．It doesn't cause a serious danger to people. |
| B．It shouldn't be allowed in some businesses. |
| C．It's helping to keep minority groups safe. |
| D．It'll boost employment throughout the city. |
4 . In an incredible display of compassion and kindness, a man from Turkey was spotted trying to warm a pigeon in the most creative way.
Sabahattin Yılmaz was at home one chilly day. After a rain shower had passed, he noticed something landed on the sill (窗台) outside his window—a cold and wet pigeon. The animal was trembling and soaked; it clearly didn’t have the chance to seek shelter before the rain began. Feeling for the poor pigeon, Yılmaz thought of a way to dry him off.
Rather than pick him up and take him inside to warm up, Yılmaz plugged in a hairdryer and used it to dry off the bird. Little did he know that his neighbor captured the whole moment on video. In the video, Yılmaz can be seen leaning out of his window. He was stretching his arm as far as he can so the hot air can reach the pigeon. The bird willingly let the man warm him up, crouching (蹲伏) to let his outer feathers dry.
Yılmaz told the media that he spent about fifteen minutes drying off the bird. He said he had just opened his window when he saw the pigeon around the corner of the sill. He described it as wet and “about to freeze” from the cold and rainy weather.
After fifteen minutes, Yılmaz gave the pigeon birdseed, which he ate happily. However, the bird remained wet still. “I saw that it was still there so I warmed it up again, after the pigeon recovered again, and after eating a good amount of seed, it flew away,” Yılmaz recalled.
He also didn’t know that he was being recorded at the time and that the video was shared online. He simply did it out of the kindness of his heart. “The pigeon is a living creature and deserved to continue living, that is why I did it,” he said.
1. What is the text mainly about?| A．An online video about a pigeon became a hit. |
| B．A man warmed up a wet and cold pigeon. |
| C．A man invented a creative way to help birds. |
| D．A man lives in harmony with a pigeon. |
| A．It was scared and flew away. |
| B．It was annoyed and refused his help. |
| C．It was ready to accept his assistance. |
| D．It was happy to settle in his home. |
| A．A man was filming Yılmaz’s kindness. |
| B．A pigeon was jumping back and forth when dried off. |
| C．Yılmaz was warming a pigeon in a novel way. |
| D．Yilmaz was stretching his arms to catch a pigeon. |
| A．Indifferent but creative. | B．Patient and ambitious. |
| C．Talented but careless. | D．Sympathetic and warm-hearted. |
5 . Just as a hungry brain craves (渴望) food, a lonely brain craves people. A new brain study demonstrates this. After being left alone, it shows people's brains would be activated at the sight of other people. The action was in the same brain region that speeds up when a hungry person sees food.
Livia Tomova, a neuroscientist, who studies how the brain produces mental activities, and her colleagues began this study. They recruited (招募) 40 people. On one day, the participants had to fast—not eat anything at all—for 10 hours. On another day, the same people were placed in a room for 10 hours. They couldn't see anyone. No friends, no family and no social media. They weren't even allowed to check their email. After both days, Tomova and her colleagues put the people in a MRI machine. It shows activity in the brain by tracking how much blood is flowing to each region.
At the end of each day, the participants showed high activity in a brain area called the midbrain. The scientists were interested in two, small areas within it. Both areas produce dopamine, a chemical that is important in craving and rewards. The two areas activated when hungry participants saw pictures of tasty pizza or juicy hamburgers. After the volunteers had been isolated, those brain areas became active when they saw social activities they missed. It might be playing sports or chatting with friends.
The midbrain plays an important part in people's motivation to seek food or friends. In fact, it responds to food and social signals even when people aren't hungry or lonely. But hunger and loneliness increased the reactions and made people's responses specific to the thing they were missing. And the more hunger or isolation the volunteers said they were experiencing, the stronger the activity in this part of the brain. Tomova and her colleagues published their results November 23 in Nature Neuroscience.
1. How does Tomova test out the result of the study?| A．By stimulating desire. | B．By controlling blood flow. |
| C．By monitoring brain activity. | D．By examining mental activities. |
| A．It consists of two areas. | B．It helps motivate desire for food. |
| C．It stops working when people are full. | D．It decreases responses to lost friends. |
| A．A midbrain area. | B．A social activity. | C．A volunteer. | D．A hamburger. |
| A．Dopamine—a Sure Sign of Age | B．Midbrain—a Nest for the Thoughts |
| C．Hunger Makes Mental Health Struggle | D．Loneliness Makes Our Brains Need People |
6 . Yoga originated in ancient India some 5,000 years ago. It has since spread across the world to many cultures. In the last few years, yoga has been offering classes aiming at the hearing impaired(听障者).
Most yoga classes are based on a model in which students learn by listening to their teacher's statements. As many yoga positions limit the ability to see the teacher, hearing-impaired participants who rely on lipreading (唇读) or sign language are left on their own during a class.
Recognizing the hearing -impaired are eager to attend yoga classes, one British yoga studio determined to fill the lack. Bethaney Mouzer, a yoga instructor launched Sign Yoga in 2019, with the goal of bringing yoga to people for whom the practice may have previously been forbidden.
Mouzer, who was born to non-hearing parents, is used to existing two worlds. After becoming a yoga teacher in 2015, she fielded requests from many people who were interested in yoga, but struggled to find teachers to accommodate their needs.
At first Mouzer started out small, holding single-day workshops at local studios in Birmingham and Worcester, where she signed continuously throughout the classes. The sessions were an immediate hit, and Mouzer began posting classes online via a Facebook page called Sign Yoga. Finally, once there was enough demand, Mouzer also started teaching in London.
Today, Sign Yoga is a mostly online company, with live Zoom classes and pre - recorded lessons accessible to students, as well as occasional in-person classes held in local parks. Mouzer ran a Deaf Accessible Yoga Teacher Training workshop in May.
1. How are most yoga classes carried out?| A．By following teachers' instructions. |
| B．By adjusting yoga positions frequently. |
| C．By encouraging students to participate. |
| D．By ignoring the needs of disabled learners. |
| A．To satisfy the needs of sign language. |
| B．To make a fortune by teaching Yoga. |
| C．To compensate for her suffering while learning Yoga. |
| D．To make Yoga accessible to the hearing-impaired. |
| A．Refused. | B．Answered. | C．Presented. | D．Repeated. |
| A．Kind. | B．Romantic. | C．Grateful. | D．Good-tempered. |
7 . Top trends in IT for 2021
The year of 2020 was almost entirely dominated by the coronavirus pandemic, and its effects have not only changed life on Earth but our digital lives as well. What are the technological trends that will continue into and through 2021? Let’s take a look.
Quantum computing
Like its name suggests, quantum computing is based on the principles of quantum theory, which explains the behavior of matter and energy at the atomic and subatomic levels.
Different from classical computers, which store and process data as either ones or zeros, quantum computers use something called quantum bits-or qubits. Qubits allow information to be stored in more than one state, so it can be both one and zero at the same time.
Therefore, quantum computers can handle complex operations at speeds much faster than traditional computers without needing as much energy. Quantum computers have proven to be especially helpful during the pandemic For instance, they were used to search for potential vaccines and find other therapies to help affected people. Its potential will be explored more in 2021.
Working from home
There’s no real going back to normal “Gerard Grech, CEO of networking company Tech Nation, told Wired magazine. The pandemic has given us an opportunity to rethink how we work and why.
After working from home for much of 2020, some companies noticed an increase in productivity when their employees worked remotely. Not only that, but providing this option canal so help cut down operating costs for companies.
This is great news for workers, too, as many people have wanted more flexibility with their work arrangements for quite sometime. More hybrid workspaces with work from home options will thrive this year.
Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity has recently become more important because people are more dependent on working online- to name one of the main reasons.
In fact, according to Forbes, hackers took advantage of the pandemic and ramped up cyber attacks worldwide. In just the first four months of 2020. alone, attacks on banks increased 238 percent and cloud servers by 600 percent.
One solution is the cybersecurity mesh. This method puts a security barrier around each individual instead of around the company or organization. You can think of the cybersecurity mesh as each person being in their cybersecurity bubble instead of everyone staying in a walled city.
Going into 2021 and beyond, cybersecurity will become crucial a sour world becomes even more digitalized and interconnected.
1. What makes quantum computers faster than traditional ones?| A．The way they store data. | B．The number of bits they use. |
| C．The common materials they use. | D．The diversity of data they can store. |
| A．Remote working should be reconsidered. |
| B．The pandemic has given new insight into our routines. |
| C．We must adapt to new situations more quickly. |
| D．The damage caused by the pandemic can not be undone. |
| A．It was developed by hackers during the pandemic. | B．It ensures cybersecurity like a walled city. |
| C．It can defend individuals against cyber attacks. | D．It provides a secure online trading platform. |
8 . In an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus, many New York City venues are closed. Here’s a selection of art to be found around town.
Jane Freilicher
For more than fifty years, as Abstract Expressionism gave way to Pop, then to Minimalism, and on to Neo-Expressionism, until art’s isms (主义) exhausted themselves, Freilicher devoted herself to painting “eternally fixed afternoons”, finding beauty at home. The fifteen works in the exhibition at the Kasmin gallery, lead you into the artist’s inside.—Andrea K. Scott (kasmingallery.com)
Betye Saar
Two years ago, the Getty Research Institute mentioned Betye Saar as “the conscience (良心) of the art world for over fifty years”. The small but abundant exhibition “Betye Saar: Call and Response”, at the Morgan Library & Museum, pairs the artist’s found-object collection with her less often seen sketchbooks (素描簿).—A.K.S. (themorgan.org)
Frederick Weston
When this black, H. I. V.—positive artist arrived in New York from Detroit, in 1973, he wanted to become a fashion designer. But the city’s culture scene at the time was overwhelmingly white, and Weston withdrew into a world that he could control. An exhibition of Weston’s work is on view at Ortuzar Projects, which is to remind us that society’s best visual critics often fall through the cracks, and to question why it still takes us so long to recognize them.—Hilton Als (ortuzarprojects.com)
Stella Zhong
A raised floor, the color of greenish grey transforms the Chapter gallery into something like a sci-fi stage set or a mini golf course. Zhong, who was born in Shenzhen, China, achieves an effect that is playful and strangely cold. Moving around in the exhibition is rather like living in the space of a video game.—J. F. (chapter-ny.com)
1. Where are some private objects on display?| A．At Ortuzar Projects. | B．At the Kasmin gallery. |
| C．At the Chapter gallery. | D．At the Morgan Library & Museum. |
| A．Jane Freilicher’s. | B．Betye Saar’s. |
| C．Frederick Weston’s | D．Stella Zhong’s. |
| A．Betye Saar died young for the art world. |
| B．Frederick Weston’s works reflect serious social matters. |
| C．Jane Freilicher changed her painting style a few times. |
| D．Stella Zhong is holding an exhibition of hi-tech products. |
9 . Black Valley, 63 kilometers from downtown Chongqing, is one of the best preserved natural wonders around the municipality. The national 5A-level scenic spot is a popular summer resort for sightseeing, forest adventures, outdoor camping, hunting and angling.
Located in Heishan town, Wansheng Economic Development Zone, the scenic spot spans over 103 square kilometers, 97 percent of which are covered by primitive forests. With over 110,000 negative oxygen ions in each cubic centimeter of air, it is dubbed as a natural oxygen bar and “the most beautiful healthcare-themed valley.”
Black Valley is also known as “the natural gene bank of Chongqing and Guizhou regions” for the diversity of its rare plants and wildlife, including Cathaya argyrophylla, Davidia involucrata, Trachypithecus francoisi and clouded leopards.
Scenic spot level: AAAAA
Address: Heishan town, Wansheng Economic Development Zone, 63 kilometers from downtown Chongqing Opening hours: 8:30 am - 3:30 pm (peak season from November to February), 9:00 am-3:00 pm (off season from March to October)
Ideal sightseeing season: from May to September
Ticket price: 60 yuan ($8.72) during off season and 100 yuan during peak season, sightseeing bus and cable not included.
Notes:
1. It is recommended that tourists start from the higher southern area for a downward journey.
2. The average temperature is 18.1 degrees.
3. It’s a good idea to experience the local folk culture of the Miao ethnic group, especially when you choose to visit in May when the traditional Caishan Festival of Miao ethnic group is celebrated.
1. What can we know about Black Valley?| A．It lies in downtown Chongqing. |
| B．Plants and wildlife are rarely seen there. |
| C．A visit there costs at most 100 yuan. |
| D．The air is very high in negative oxygen ions there. |
| A．January. | B．March. | C．May. | D．July. |
| A．Culture. | B．Travel. | C．Nature. | D．Wildlife. |
10 . The UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) Volunteer Center works with many external partners to provide this list of current volunteer opportunities. Search here for an opportunity in the community that suits your interests or skills. Good luck!
Medical Volunteer Abroad Programs
Volunteering Solutions have been organizing medical volunteer abroad programs in different countries for 12 years. Participants (preferably medical students) joining these programs will work under the guidance of professional doctors and nurses. The medical volunteering opportunities, offered in different areas like Emergency and General Medicine, are available throughout the year with flexible start dates and durations.
Answer Crisis Calls at a Helpline
Community Helpline currently has opportunities for students as a Volunteer Crisis Listener. It provides a nonjudgmental listening ear to the callers while also assisting individuals in coping with mental health issues to prevent serious crises. No previous experience is required but completion of a five-week training program is required. The crisis line is open from 8 am to 8 pm every single day. A "shift" consists of 3 hours and we ask that you sign up for 1 shift a week.
Youth Education Volunteers Needed
Youth Education Volunteers at LINC Cares serve at after school programs and summer camps that provide fun recreational activities support strong educational habits, and promote good health and positive social development for children from low-income families. Volunteers serve at the after-school program one weekday per week from 2:30 pm to 5:30 pm.
1. What do we know about Medical Volunteer Abroad Programs?| A．Volunteers will work domestically. | B．There are various volunteering areas. |
| C．Volunteers will work independently. | D．There is a fixed volunteering time. |
| A．Judge the caller when listening. | B．Be capable of stopping crises. |
| C．Complete a training program. | D．Work twelve hours per day. |
| A．Volunteer programs. | B．Educational courses. |
| C．Recreational activities. | D．Charity work. |
