1 . Whatever she likes, you can always find something perfect for your mom, whether it is wine, coffee or clothes.
►For the bookworm
For the woman who took you to the library to get your very first card, show how much you appreciate her love of language and words with one of these book-themed cups for a Mother’s Day gift. You can choose from a good old-fashioned library card, a funny banned book’s pattern, or ones featuring your favorite literary characters, including Edgar Allen Poe and Alice in Wonderland. These are some of the most meaningful Mother’s Day gifts that moms have ever received. Library Card Cup, $ 18.49, Amazon. com.
►For the business traveler
When she’s not busy teaching her children how to tie their shoes and mind their manners, the mom you love is flying across the country for an important client meeting. She needs clothes that don’t give her anything else to worry about. It dries quickly and resists wrinkles. Florence Travel Dress by Orvis, $ 119, Amazon. com.
►For the gardener
If gardening is your mom’s beloved pastime, introduce her to the rapidly growing world of succulents (多肉植物) with this DIY kit (工具箱). Inside, you’ll find a white moss ball planter, a metal chain and hanging hook, two colors of reindeer moss (驯鹿苔), planting instructions, and an optional live succulent. Succulent Kokedama String Garden Kit, $ 33.97, windowbox. com.
►For the coffee lover
Every kid knows the number one rule of the household: Don’t talk to mom until she’s had her coffee. Show your understanding with a monthly brew (酿造) subscription. The coffee beans come from all over the world, including Peru, Brazil, Papua New Guinea and more. Atlas Coffee Club Subscription, $ 60 for three months, atlascoffeeclub. com.
1. Which of the following gifts should you send your mother if she loves reading?| A．A cup with a library card. | B．A fashioned library card. |
| C．A banned book’s pattern. | D．A book with literary characters. |
| A．It can resist being wet. | B．It’s convenient to carry. |
| C．It seems cheap to buy. | D．It can be wrinkle-free. |
| A．Moms looking after kids require more coffee. |
| B．Atlas Coffee Club provides world-class coffee beans. |
| C．People must purchase succulents in advance. |
| D．Succulents are popular nowadays. |
2 . Inside the World's Largest Flower Show
The RI IS Hampton Court Palace Flower Show is the largest annual garden and flower show in the world. The showground covers 33 acres and most visitors stay for about 5 hours. It takes place in the grounds of Hampton Court Palace each July and is organized by the Royal Horticultural Society（RHS）.
Getting There
The nearest train station is Hampton Court. Full information of all travel options can be seen on the Getting to Hampton Court Palace page.
Tickets
Ticket prices start from £21.50.
Prices vary depending on the time and date of your visit.
Each full paying adult may bring two children aged 16 and under free of charge to the show.
Tickets are available on the door.
Opening Times
10a.m. until 7:30p.m.. It closes at 5:30p.m. on Sunday.
Tuesday and Wednesday: RHS Members only.
Official Website:www.rhs.org.uk
Tips for Visiting
● You could visit Hampton Court Palace on the same day but allow plenty of time as it takes 3-5 hours to visit the flower show and 1-3 hours to visit the palace.
● This is a temporary outdoor event on open parkland and is subject to varying weather and ground conditions. A temporary walkway is laid but it can still get pretty muddy if there's been heavy rain. Open-toed shoes and high heels are not usually appropriate footwear.
● Left Luggage and a drugstore service are both available on the show site.
● The Advisory Service offers free gardening advice to visitors. Check the information boards for locations.
● Plant and Product Deposit: There is a plant and product deposit service available where you leave your purchases while you enjoy the rest of your day out.
1. Where can you get the tickets?| A．On the website. | B．At the station. |
| C．At the entrance. | D．In the garden. |
| A．Drugs. | B．Flowers. |
| C．Gardening advice. | D．Transportation. |
| A．Sparing sufficient time. | B．Consulting the information desk. |
| C．Wearing whatever shoes they like. | D．Making good use of deposit service. |
3 . It’s time for bed, the lights are out, and yet you’re wide awake. You do eventually manage to fall asleep, but even then, it’s a very shallow, restless sort of sleep.
Now more research suggests you needn’t look further than outside your window and at the moon for the cause of this sleeplessness. However, in a surprising twist, the findings weren’t entirely what the researchers expected. While we know that humans are a species ruled by light, the “lunar phase effect” (月相效应) affects sleep even when artificial sources of light are accounted for.
Rather than people staying up later and sleeping less during the full moon, it was just before the full moon that sleep was shorter and lighter. “It turns out that the nights before the full moon are the ones that have most of the moonlight during the first half of the night,” said Horacio Iglesia, a professor of biology at the University of Washington in The Guardian. The opposite was true just before the new moon — people tended to sleep more and go to bed earlier.
Ninety-eight participants across three Indigenous communities in Argentina wore wrist monitors tracking sleep patterns over the course of one to two months. While one community had no access to electricity, the second community had limited access, and the third community was located in an urban setting with full access to electricity.
The study also found that this lunar phase effect on sleep also appeared to have greater impact on people who had more limited access to electricity. In every community, participants’ peak (高峰) sleepless period occurred in the three to five days leading up to the full moon night, while the opposite was true for the new moon, the study authors found.
Wanting further insight, the researchers compared their data to the results of a similar study of 464 Seattle-based students at the University of Washington. The findings proved consistent.
This research supports the view that try as we may, we can’t ever fully get away from some forces of nature.
1. What makes it hard for people to fall asleep?| A．Visual distance. | B．Faded light. |
| C．Artificial light. | D．Bright moonlight. |
| A．Before the full moon. | B．During the full moon. |
| C．Before the new moon. | D．During the new moon. |
| A．The third community slept least during the new moon. |
| B．Lunar phase effect affected the first community more. |
| C．Peak sleepless period often happened at the same night |
| D．The result of the research differed from previous ones. |
| A．Shallow Sleep Does Harm to Health | B．The Moon Affects Our Sleep Cycles |
| C．People Live in Harmony with Nature | D．Sleep Patterns Differ from Each Other |
4 . Paris boasts a wealth of world-class museums and arehitectural masterpieces. From the world’s largest art museum to France’s most famous landmark, there is plenty to experience in the French capital.
The Louvre Museum
As the most visited art museum in the world and also the largest, the Louvre should be top of your list. It would take you no fewer than 100 days to visit the 35,000 works of art on display across 300 rooms – and that’s if you spend just 30 seconds looking at each one.
The Moulin Rouge（红磨坊）
The Moulin Rouge in Montmartre, with its iconic red windmill, was built in 1885. The venue pioneered the famous French cancan dance, and has now become one of the most famous cabarets in the world. Expect flamboyant handmade costumes of feathers and elegance at every turn.
The Eiffel Tower
Originally built to commemorate the centennial of the French Revolution in 1889, the impressive Eiffel Tower has become the most iconic landmark(地标) of France. The first floor is home to the 58 Tour Eiffel restaurant while the second-floor observation deck provides spectacular bird’s eye views – the best in the city.
The top of the Arc de Triomphe
The Arc de Triomphe, a Neoclassical take on the ancient Roman areh, is one of Paris’s most iconic attractions. It’s worth hiking the 284 stairs to reach the platform on top of the areh as the views span right across the city, towering above the capital at 50m tall.
1. What can visitors expect to do while visiting Paris?| A．Watching the ballet. |
| B．Enjoying the local food. |
| C．Reaching the platform on top of the areh easily. |
| D．Fully understanding the Louvre within one day. |
| A．The Arc De Triomphe. | B．The Louvre Museum. |
| C．The Eiffel Tower. | D．The Mourin Rouge. |
| A．Museum-goers. | B．Hiking-lovers. |
| C．Dance-lovers. | D．Travel-devotees. |
5 . Gary Koppelman, an award-winning science teacher, didn’t think he’d make it to college. In elementary school, he struggled with math and reading. Speaking in front of his classmates made him awkward. He was teased constantly. By the time he began high school, his instructor told him to forget about college.
Fortunately, Koppelman’s high school teacher, Doug Cline, frequently praised Koppelman’s strengths, and helped him handle incidents of teasing. In 1970, Koppelman got admitted into Eastern Michigan University to pursue a degree in teaching. There, his professor noticed his difficulty in reading and challenges with hearing. Following his professor’s advice, Koppelman started seeing his teachers after lectures to receive extra help and designing projects to understand theories better. In 1976, Koppelman graduated with a master’s degree in elementary education.
Koppelman’s discoveries about his own learning challenged him to design an alternative method to teach science to young children and create the Environmental Life Lab at Blissfield Elementary. He tries to provide opportunities for students to engage with natural world, ask questions, collect and analyze data, and work together to come up with answers. “In the science lab, every day feels like a field trip day,” a seventh grader said.
“At a young age, children are so attracted by animals and insects,” Koppelman said. “It’s hard to explain to people who are not teachers what it looks and feels when something in nature or science touches a child’s sense of awe and wonderment. But I see it every day.”
“Life science is a powerful springboard to get students interested in earth and physical science, and then extend that into math, geography, and social studies. There is nothing else like it,” claimed Linda Mueller, the school’s headmaster. “Blissfield consistently outperforms state averages on standardized science tests, and sometimes near the top of the state.”
1. What do we know about Koppelman’s elementary school life?| A．It was interrupted constantly. | B．It was unforgettable with joy. |
| C．It was filled with achievements. | D．It was depressing with difficulty. |
| A．By having daily field trips. | B．By getting them exposed to nature. |
| C．By giving standardized tests. | D．By seeking help from other teachers. |
| A．It is hard to explain science to people. |
| B．Science is different from other subjects. |
| C．Koppelman’s teaching method has paid off. |
| D．Blissfield tops the state’s elementary schools. |
| A．Devoted and creative. | B．Reliable and punctual. |
| C．Humorous and modest. | D．Disciplined and talkative. |
6 . You have distinct opinions on where the best coffee is in your local area. But if the entire city had a high chance of providing a tasty cup, it could be the personal heaven for coffee lovers.
Rome, Italy
Italy is known for its love of quality food, and the same applies to the coffee. Rome is packed with cafes that keep the city running. Coffee brewers take their business very seriously, so that you rarely meet a watered-down cup.
Melbourne, Australia
Melbourne loves coffee so much that they hold an annual coffee festival and have their own coffee-related publication, the Melbourne Coffee Review. What makes Melbourne coffee shops unique is the way the city is divided: the city is divided into several villages, each with its own specific culture. The most recommended drinks to get in Melbourne are typically lattes or other coffee drinks with milk.
Vienna, Austria
When it comes to coffee, Vienna goes hard: the city had its coffee shops listed as “intangible heritage(非物质文化遗产)” by UNESCO in20l1. Vienna cafes pride themselves on their atmosphere, taking the furnishings and decoration of shops quite seriously. These spaces are great social or people-watching atmospheres. Viennese particularly enjoy cappuccinos and the local Wiener Melange.
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Considered the “birthplace of coffee”, and one of the world’s top coffee bean producers today, it’s no surprise that coffee is an important part of Ethiopian culture. If you have friends or relatives there, expect to be invited to coffee ceremony. You’ll enjoy roasting and grinding(研磨) the beans, then brewing them in a clay pot before finally enjoying the final product with your hosts.
1. Which city hosts a coffee festival every year?| A．Rome | B．Melbourne. |
| C．Vienna. | D．Addis Ababa. |
| A．Their atmosphere is unique. | B．They are hardly decorated. |
| C．Their signature coffee is the latte. | D．They divide the city into blocks. |
| A．Produce coffee beans. | B．Buy hand-made cups. |
| C．Enjoy self-made coffee. | D．Decorate coffee shops. |
7 . Every day, it seems that some new algorithm (算法) enables computers to diagnose a disease with unprecedented accuracy, renewing predictions that computer's will soon replace doctors. What if computers could replace patients as well? If virtual humans could have replaced real people in some stages of a coronavirus vaccine trial, it could have sped development of a preventive tool and slowed down the pandemic. Similarly, potential vaccines that weren't likely to work could have been identified early, reducing trial costs and avoiding testing poor vaccine candidates on living volunteers. These are some of the benefits of “in silico medicine”, or the testing of drugs and treatments on virtual organs or body systems to predict how a real person will respond to the therapies.
The modeling begins by feeding anatomical data drawn from noninvasive (非侵入式) high- resolution imaging of an individual's actual organ into a complex mathematical model of the mechanisms that govern that organ's function. Algorithms running on powerful computers resolve the resulting equations and unknowns, generating a virtual organ that looks and behaves like the real thing.
In silico clinical trials are already underway to an extent. Heart Flow Analysis, for instance, enables clinicians to identify CAD (冠心病) based on CT images of a patient's heart. The Heart Flow system uses these images to construct a fluid dynamic model of the blood running through the coronary blood vessels, thereby identifying abnormal conditions and their severity. Without this technology, doctors would need to perform an invasive operation to decide whether and how to intervene. Experimenting on digital models of individual patients can also help personalize therapy for any number of conditions and is already used in diabetes care.
The philosophy behind in silico medicine is not new. The ability to create and simulate the performance of an object under hundreds of operating conditions has been a cornerstone of engineering for decades, such as for designing electronic circuits, airplanes and buildings. Various obstacles remain to its widespread implementation in medical research and development.
The predictive power and reliability of this technology must be confirmed, and that will require several advances. Those include the generation of high quality medical databases from a large, ethnically diverse patient base that has both women and men; improvement of mathematical models to account for the many interacting processes in the body; and further modification of Al methods that were developed mainly for computer-based speech and image recognition and need to be extended to provide biological insights.
In recent years American and European regulators have approved some commercial uses of computer-based diagnostics, but meeting regulatory demands requires considerable time and money. Creating demand for these computer-based diagnostic tools is challenging as well. In silico medicine must be able to deliver cost-effective value for patients, clinicians and health care organizations to accelerate their adoption of the technology.
1. According to the text, “in silico medicine” might help ________.| A．discover the cause of an illness |
| B．quicken the creation of new medicine |
| C．recognize the symptoms of a disease earlier |
| D．avoid including unhealthy volunteers in trials |
| A．works effectively in CAD treatment |
| B．offers personalized therapies to patients |
| C．reduces the chances of invasive operations |
| D．builds models after identifying abnormal conditions |
| A．money and time from the regulators |
| B．replacement of old mathematical models |
| C．more proof of its effectiveness and dependability |
| D．progress in speech and image recognition technology |
| A．Looking to Al to End Experimental Study |
| B．In Silico Medicine Saved Millions of Lives |
| C．Exploring the Future of Algorithm in Medicine |
| D．Virtual Patients Could Revolutionize Medicine |
8 . The Rise of Voice Technology
Voice technology has come a long way. Just a few years ago, it would have been unusable. But now, those who follow the technology know that it has got considerably better.
Writing with your voice raises several interesting questions. How difficult is it actually? Human speech involves a lot more starting and stopping with errors and the need for repairing broken sentences than you may think. Even gifted speakers make mistakes. To turn the spoken word into reasonable writing requires lots of planning. You’ll need some kinds of notes or other organisers to make it work.
Another question turning speech into writing raises is the style. How would writing make the change that people speak their writing rather than type? Chances are that it would come up with many more short sentences and more concrete language, which is good. It would probably also rely on prepared phrases a lot more often, which is not available when you are speaking quickly.
To confirm this, a column was not written, but dictated (听写). It was composed from brief notes written down for structure only, and it was edited for length, with all of the original errors kept in. Here were the results. The first was that the literal accuracy was extremely high. There weren’t many cases where the software had heard one word incorrectly and written down another. But the other result was that the readability of this column was rather bad. Obviously, the blame is not with the technology at all, which turns out to be rather good. Speaking into writing relies on a better human brain than the one we currently possess. Writing is hard. There’s a reason it can’t be done at the speed of speech, in real time.
To clarify the matter, this time paragraph breaks were added after the whole writing. Punctuations (标点) had to be spoken aloud, and after a full stop, the first word in the new sentence was capitalized automatically. Some minor punctuation marks were added to make it clearer. To improve accuracy, people “trained” the software beforehand, reading a prewritten passage aloud. Actually it turns out to be more effective. All of these ensure the satisfactory completion of turning speech into writing.
Language is the most important tool for human interaction, and voice is one beautiful part of language. With the maturity of modern technology, it has given birth to a great change in the human-computer voice interaction.
1. According to the passage, which helps to turn speech into writing in terms of style?| A．There is careful planning in advance. |
| B．Errors and broken sentences are avoided. |
| C．People type words as fast as they say them. |
| D．The writing contains more prepared phrases. |
| A．processing errors in a column. |
| B．adding minor punctuation marks. |
| C．increasing the number of brief notes. |
| D．integrating short paragraphs in writing. |
| A．human brains are responsible for poor dictated writing. |
| B．writing with voice promises to improve the quality of writing. |
| C．writing is an unnatural act that can hardly be learned and improved. |
| D．technology has a long way to go in the human-computer voice interaction. |
| A．Why people fully intend to turn speech into writing. |
| B．What role voice technology plays in improving readability. |
| C．Where the human-computer voice interaction is at an advantage. |
| D．How voice technology enables the change from speech into writing. |
9 . The exact location from where Vincent van Gogh is likely to have painted his final masterpiece, perhaps just hours before his death, has been determined with the help of a postcard.
The scene in Tree Roots, a painting of trunks (树干）and roots growing on a hillside, was first spotted on a card dating from 1900 to 1910 by Van der Veen, the scientific director of the Institute Van Gogh. Following a comparative study of the painting, the postcard and the current condition of the hillside, researchers concluded that it was highly possible that the place where Van Gogh made his final brushstrokes had been unearthed.
The main trunk in the painting has survived the 130 years since the Dutch master’s death. It has long been believed that Van Gogh had been working on Tree Roots shortly before he took his own life with a shot to the chest. Andries Bonger, the brother-in-law of Van Gough's brother Theo, had described in a letter how the “morning before his death” Van Gogh had “painted a forest scene, full of sun and life” Van der Veen said, t4The sunlight painted by Van Gogh suggests that the last brushstrokes were painted towards the end of the afternoon.”
Teio Meedendorp, a senior researcher at the Van Gogh Museum, said the spot, some 150 meters from the hotel where Van Gogh had stayed the last 70 days of his life, would likely have been passed on a number of occasions by him. “The scene on the postcard shows very clear similarities to the shape of the roots on Van Gogh’s painting,” he said. “He must often have passed by the location when going to the fields behind the castle of Auvers, where he painted several times during the last week of his life and where he would take his own life.”
1. What is Tree Roots?| A．A trunk. |
| B．A hillside. |
| C．A drawing. |
| D．A postcard. |
| A．He had a close relationship with his brother. |
| B．What he drew in his paintings all came from real life. |
| C．He was working on his artwork shortly before killing himself. |
| D．He was so sick in his last days that he spent all the time in a hotel. |
| A．In the fields. | B．In a local hotel. |
| C．In the castle of Auvers. | D．In the scene on the postcard. |
| A．To remember a famous painter. Van Gogh. |
| B．To introduce Van Gogh's life and his works. |
| C．To describe the influence of Van Gogh in art. |
| D．To tell the place in Van Gogh’s last painting. |
10 . What is PayQwiq?
PayQwiq is a fast and secure payment service that helps you go quickly through the Tesco checkout. It lets you add your credit or debit card details to the app so you can use your smart phone to pay for your shopping with just one scan. Not only that but it collects your Clubcard points automatically. This means you can now go wallet-free in all UK Tesco stores. So why not give it a go? It only takes a moment to download and you will receive these benefits.
●Collect your Clubcard points automatically
●Pay for your weekly shop up to £250
●Use PayQwiq offline, even with no signal
●Track your spending in Tesco
Sign up to PayQwiq and collect 100 extra Clubcard points for each week you pay with the app, for up to 5 weeks—that’s up to 500 extra points.
Available to new customers who sign up by 3 September 2020 and make all payment by 31 October 2020.One offer per customer. Only one qualifying deal per week will collect the extra points. Additional payments in the same week will not receive extra points. Clubcard points will be added to a future Clubcard statement.
How does it work?
Head to the App Store or Google Play to download the PayQwiq app.
As soon as you’ve added your card details, you’ll be ready to shop using just your phone.
And there’s no need to worry about your bank details being stored on your phone—they’re all securely protected in our data centers. So not only is it quicker and easier, it’s safer too.
1. If customers use PayQwiq in UK Tesco stores, they can________.| A．get Clubcard points automatically. | B．pay for their weekly shop without limit. |
| C．budget their everyday spending. | D．win 500 extra points at a time. |
| A．users cannot pay without signal. |
| B．users must sign up by 3 September 2020. |
| C．PayQwiq can guarantee convenience and safety. |
| D．PayQwiq can be downloaded only from Google Play. |
| A．To stress the importance of PayQwiq. | B．To describe the function of PayQwiq. |
| C．To introduce the benefits of PayQwiq. | D．To popularize the use of PayQwiq. |
