1 . In the near future, IOT （Internet of Things） will drive huge innovation （革新）in the way our food is grown. Plants will have a "voice"， not a human voice, but a voice based on data that can tell people, computers, and machines when, for example, they are thirsty, or need more sun, medicine, etc.
Take vertical （垂直的）farms, for example. Farming is moving indoors where the growth of plants can be monitored and controlled. The facilities are built vertically, so growing areas can be put in piles. This greatly reduces the amount of land needed for farming.
From an IOT point of view, vertical farms are connected in two ways. First, small sensors （传 感器）in the soil or connected to plants tell a control system exactly how much light, water, and nutrients are needed to grow the healthiest crops. Sensors will also tell vertical fanners when crops are nearing their peak for harvesting at just the right time to make sure it's still fresh when it reaches its final destination.
Second , vertical farms will be connected to other networks and information systems, including databases that track local demand. For example local restaurants may input when they need fresh food supplies. And vertical farmers could get that information so they know which crops to grow in what quantities. This type of IOT system would have been unimaginable a generation ago.
Today, vertical farms are being experimented. Yet, the numbers point to a bright future for the industry especially as the world's population continues to grow. For example, Green Sense Farms in Chicago is able to harvest crops 26 times a year using 85 percent less energy, one-tenth the water, and no pesticides. A side benefit of lower energy use is lower C02 output of two tons per month, with the added benefit of creating 46 pounds of oxygen every day.
1. What is the main idea of the text?| A．Voice machines help plants speak up. |
| B．Farmers are all turning to vertical farming. |
| C．IOT has brought great innovation to our future life. |
| D．Vertical farms driven by IOT are a future for agriculture. |
| A．By recording farmers harvesting crops. |
| B．By monitoring farmers working in their fields. |
| C．By analyzing information to preserve crops. |
| D．By passing information on to a control system. |
| A．Expand the output of crops. | B．Match supply with demand. |
| C．Determine the needs of farmers. | D．Move restaurants onto farms. |
| A．Negative. | B．Unconcerned. |
| C．Hopeful. | D．Doubtful. |
2 . We moved to Elmont in 1956. I was 4 years old. Elmont was a wonderful place to grow up. There were lots of kids，great schools and we had a big yard. Having grown up a city kid, my father, Nicholas Denaro, believed that grass was not just to look at, but that children were meant to play on it. We played games and badminton there. A white fence separated our backyard from a small wood. My friends and I jumped the fence and climbed trees.
My father had the most amazing hands. He could fix anything. He gave those amazing hands to his son, my younger brother, Frank, who also became handy around the house. But my father saved his green fingers for me. He grew flowers, tomatoes, strawberries and figs and he shared his love of gardening with me.
Fourteen years ago, I went to a local nursery and purchased a fig tree for Dad for Father’s Day. My mother, Bridget Denaro, called it the best gift I could have given him. He planted it exactly in the middle of the front yard.
He loved that tree and enjoyed delicious figs every year, except just after Sandy hit in 2012. He was so disappointed when cold weather just after the superstorm froze all the remaining figs.
In 2015，my father died of aspirating pneumonia (呼吸性肺炎) at 97. We sold our family home of 61years last year. We left behind Dad's tree, full of figs waiting to ripen. We briefly-considered taking it with us, but decided that his Father's Day fig tree belonged in Elmont. The new owners generously allowed me to take some branches so that I could have a precious reminder of my much-loved father and the Elmont home.
1. What can we learn about the author from the first paragraph?| A．She grew up in a city. | B．She only liked climbing trees. |
| C．She had a happy childhood. | D．She was naughty and stubborn. |
| A．How to garden well. | B．How to play games. |
| C．How to color fingers. | D．How to fix everything. |
| A．He was ill in hospital. | B．The cold hit the fig tree. |
| C．The tree didn’t bear figs. | D．He moved to another city. |
| A．To show her love of figs. | B．To share her childhood. |
| C．To remember her father. | D．To introduce her experience. |
3 . Beijing Imperial Court Food(宫廷菜)
Imperial Court Food is a style of food with origins in the Imperial Palace and it is well-known for the original features of the raw materials and carefully selected ingredients. In addition, the dishes are decorated with different colored vegetables and fruits in various shapes. Each dish has a special name, such as Yu Feng Huan Chao. Today, Imperial Court Food has become an important school of Chinese cooking with several places offering this special taste. While expensive, it is worth trying.
Restaurants of Imperial Court Food
Fangshan Restaurant
Fangshan Restaurant is the most famous one offering the first-class Imperial Court Food. The restaurant is made up of three parts and it can hold 500 people eating at the time. It is decorated in imperial style with the design of dragon and phoenix. Here is the best place to experience the life of the Chinese emperors in former days, Now, it serves nearly 800 kinds of Imperial Court Dishes. Among them, Man-Han Banquet is the most famous.
Yushan Restaurant
The layout(布局)of the restaurant follows the imperial palace. When eating in there restaurant, diners are served by waitresses in traditional imperial clothes.
Da Zhai Men
The dishes and snacks cooked in this restaurant are worthy to be tried. And, the traditional performances at night is one of the restaurant's attractions.
Royal Palace
Both of the food and services of this restaurant are so good. You can also enjoy some wonderful performances in this large courtyard.
1. Imperial Court Food stands out because of the following EXCEPT .| A．pleasant names | B．selective materials |
| C．reasonable prices | D．pretty decorations |
| A．Da Zhai Men. | B．Royal Palace. |
| C．Yushan Restaurant. | D．Fangshan Restaurant. |
| A．Da Zhai Men. | B．Yushan Restaurant. |
| C．Fangshan Restaurant. | D．Royal Palace. |
4 . Educational App Store
Busuu
Busuu helps you learn English language and the lesson's quality is guaranteed as it is based on CEFR language framework. Lessons range from beginners to advanced learners. Busuu is actually a great English app if you want to improve your spoken English by talking with native speakers.
Duolingo
Duolingo is one of the best English language apps today and highly recommended for English beginners. The system of the app helps you learn English quickly by spending twenty minutes a day. Duolingo structures your lessons that teach you about seven new words based on a topic and skill points being awarded for completing the lessons.
Memrise
Memrise uses some creative and easy ways to remember English words. The focus of this app is to help the users expand their vocabulary by learning English words in an effective way. Memrise also offers an offline mode to continue learning without Internet connection.
Rosetta Stone
Rosetta Stone is designed differently from average language apps on the marketplace today. It's trying to teach us English the way we'd learn it if we were children starting to learn the language. It has exercises designed to help you learn basic words. A variety of lessons are offered that Rosetta Stone has been using for years.
1. Which of the following is the most useful for speaking?| A．Busuu. | B．Duolingo. | C．Memrise. | D．Rosetta Stone. |
| A．It serves English beginners. | B．It works online or offline. |
| C．It helps develop vocabulary. | D．It promises quick progress. |
| A．To give ways of learning. | B．To promote its latest products. |
| C．To show its high technology. | D．To inspire language learners. |
5 . Here are free online classes offered by several universities.
The Power of Team Culture University of Pennsylvania via Coursera Taught by Greg Urban Behind the success and failure of teams lies team culture. In this course, you will learn how to recognize team culture. Knowledge of the ideas and information in this class enables you to be a better team leader. |
Shakespeare's Life and Work Harvard University via edX Taught by Stephen Greenblatt The course will introduce different kinds of literary analysis (文学分析) that you can use when reading. With short videos filmed, you can visit Stratford-upon-Avon, where Shakespeare was born in 1564; London, the lively city where he began as an actor; and the Globe Theater, where his first plays were performed. This online tour will transport you to another age and give you a new opinion on his timeless work. |
Stanford Introduction to Food and Health Stanford University via Coursera Taught by Maya Adam In this course, learners will be given the information and practical skills they need to begin improving the way they eat. This course will focus on practical discussions about real food and the environment in which we consume (吃) it. |
Chinese for Beginners Peking University via Coursera Taught by Xiaoyu Liu This is an ABC Chinese course for beginners, including introduction of phonetics and daily expressions. After taking this class, learners can have a basic understanding of Chinese Mandarin and make basic conversations of daily living. This is a course on Chinese speaking, The learners don't need to study Chinese characters, so it is easier to follow and complete this course. |
| A．Greg Urban. | B．Stephen Greenblatt. |
| C．Maya Adam. | D．Xiaoyu Liu. |
| A．It’s taught through Coursera. |
| B．It’s given by Stanford University. |
| C．It offers an online visit to London. |
| D．It provides skills of filming videos. |
| A．The writing of Chinese characters. |
| B．The advice of daily living in China. |
| C．The history of Chinese characters. |
| D．The simple conversations in Chinese. |
6 . We probably still remember as a child being discouraged from allowing our handwriting to slope backwards — We were warned the relaxed letters would be taken as a sign of an idle(懒散的) personality.
According to research from the National Pen Company in the U.S., your handwriting can give away clues about 5,000 different personality traits based on the way you space your letters and how you sign your name. A closer look at someone’s handwriting style can provide you surprising insights about their character and personality, enabling you to come off like a proper Sherlock.
According to the results, the size of someone’s handwriting can determine the type of personality they have. People with small handwriting tend to be shy, bookish and very careful. Tiny letters indicate the writer has somewhat low self esteem but is intelligent, whereas outgoing people who love attention will have larger handwriting. Moving onto the spacing of words, people who leave large gaps between words enjoy their freedom, while people who write words close together can’t stand to be alone.
If handwriting leans to the right, the person is open to new experiences and enjoy meeting new people. If it is to the left, that person tends to keep themselves to themselves. People whose handwriting doesn’t lean in either direction are logical and practical.
The results also claim that a person’s health can be identified from their handwriting, for example, people with high blood pressure tend to have writing that is sometimes heavy and dark, and at other times light.
The process of analyzing handwriting is called graphology( 笔迹学). It is classed as a pseudoscience (伪科学) because there are debates about how accurate it can be at determining psychological and even physical features.
1. Why does the author mention our child experience in Paragraph 1?| A．To arouse readers’ interest in the topic. |
| B．To waken one of our old memories. |
| C．To imply his love in handwriting. |
| D．To put forward an argument. |
| A．Become a handwriting master. |
| B．Act like a detective. |
| C．Work in a proper way. |
| D．Feel like a psychologist. |
| A．How to leave gaps between words. |
| B．How important the handwriting is. |
| C．What the size and space of words suggest. |
| D．Why we have different sizes of handwriting. |
| A．Graphology has been highly recognized. |
| B．Graphology can be helpful in mental healing. |
| C．People hold different ideas to graphology. |
| D．Physical conditions can be determined by handwriting. |
7 . In the aftermath of the deadliest fire California history last fall, it was difficult for anyone in the town of Paradise to find hope.
Shane Grammer paid close attention to the news of the fire’s deadly path. He felt quite powerless to help when seeing the picture shared by his childhood friend Shane Edwards in the town, in which Edwards photographed a white chimney, the only part of his house left after the fire.
“I’ve got to paint that chimney,” he said. “I’m not trying to say anything. It’s just that I’m an artist. And it was an opportunity for me to express myself and be an artist, wasn’t it?”
Grammer spent three hours spray-painting the image of a woman on the chimney in black and white, which was strikingly mysterious. Perhaps it served as a reminder of the hope of life or just life itself.
Then Grammer put its picture on social media. On seeing it, the victims of the fire could not contain themselves. “Beautiful and impressive,” one of them remarked. And another said, “You bring wonder and hope.”
At this time, Grammer became aware that something deeper had been transformed by a purely artistic expression. “When the first mural (壁画) moved so many people, I knew I had to come back,” he told the journalist. Grammer returned to Paradise eight times in three months, during which he completed 17 murals of victims and other figures, including the original one, on walls, pickups, and shards of buildings.
Today, Grammer’s efforts have developed into a movement. He has also painted murals in dark places around the world that seriously need some light.
Ironically, the first painting, on the chimney in Paradise, existed for just several months, since the bulldozer (推土机) was a merciless art critic. But Grammer couldn’t be more pleased about it, which means the spirit of Paradise is rising again.
1. Why did Grammer say he wasn’t trying to say anything?| A．Because he felt quite helpless. |
| B．Because he didn’t want to show his feelings. |
| C．Because he had his way to express himself. |
| D．Because he felt it difficult to say something. |
| A．People’s inner feelings. |
| B．People’s remarks. |
| C．The meaning of the murals. |
| D．The artistic expression. |
| A．The bulldozer was so cruel that it destroyed Grammer’s mural. |
| B．The people in Paradise are in high spirits now. |
| C．Grammer is not happy with the destruction of his mural. |
| D．Paradise is recovering from the disaster in a short time. |
| A．Painting: A Way of Bringing Light |
| B．Artistic Murals Brought Victims Hope |
| C．Creativity: A Chimney Left after the Wildfire |
| D．Achievements May Come after A Disaster |
8 . Junior golf competition calendar full of new events, changes
New to the schedule
Mack Champ Invitational
Champ is using junior golf to honor his late grandfather Mack Champ with the first Mack Champ Invitational. The Cameron Champ Foundation will put on the event, to be played March 20-22 at Memorial Park Golf Course in Houston. The goal of the tournament is to focus on identifying talented players from diverse backgrounds as a way to honor the legacy left by Mack, who passed away in October 2019.
Notah Begay Junior Invitational
One goal of junior golf? Get noticed, preferably by a college coach. The Notah Begay Junior Invitational will offer something quite unusual to its participants: an event broadcast by Golf Channel. Players, ages 8 to 18, must qualify into this event, to be played at a yet-to-be-announced location on a yet-to-be-announced date.
Different dates and format changes
U.S. Junior Amateur
The major men’s amateur events on the USGA schedule–think the U.S. Amateur and U.S. Mid-Amateur–require a companion course for the extremely large field. For the first time in the 73-year history of the U.S. Junior Amateur, the USGA will require one more course. The tournament will start with 264 players playing both Hazeltine National Golf Club and Chaska Town Course in the expanded field.
AJGA Thunderbird International Junior
When the NCAA Championships move to Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona, for the next three years. The Thunderbird, which has divisions for girls and boys, typically has been played at the end of May, but this year, for the first time, it will be played April 9-12, which means, of course, that it finishes on Masters Sunday.
1. Which event is available on TV?| A．Mack Champ Invitational. |
| B．Notah Begay Junior Invitational. |
| C．U.S. Junior Amateur. |
| D．AJGA Thunderbird International Junior. |
| A．The origin of its history. |
| B．The time of the event. |
| C．The number of courses. |
| D．The location of Golf Club. |
| A．April 29. | B．May 10. |
| C．April 10. | D．May 29. |
9 . If you live near a park, you’ve probably observed this unique squirrel behavior. As winter approaches, these creatures begin what looks like preparation for a wide scavenger（觅食）hunt. In great numbers, these squirrels begin to bury nuts! This kind of behavior raises a lot of questions for squirrel enthusiasts—the most pressing being how the squirrels find their nuts again. Eastern gray squirrels, in particular, bury their nuts far and wide. Scientists themselves aren’t even quite sure of everything that goes into this hiding behavior, but they have some ideas.
For one, scientists have observed gray squirrels frequently burying and reburying their nuts. The scientists assumed that this behavior was to help always keep a fresh memory of the nuts! locations. However, it’s not only memory that the squirrels need to combat（战斗）in order to find their nuts! The gray squirrel community is rampant(猖獗的)with nut stealing. The squirrels can lose up to 25% of their hidden nuts to such thieves! Luckily, the squirrels have developed some clever methods to protect their nuts. Scientists have observed the squirrels creating false caches（储藏）in order to trick thieves. If the squirrels are worried about thieves, they will also start to hide their nuts in difficult-to-reach places（like under bushes or in muddy areas）.
While it might be frustrating for squirrels to lose their carefully hidden nuts, it can be beneficial for other organisms. In particular, it can help the forest itself! A study done at the University of Richmond reports that squirrels fail to recover up to 74% of the nuts they bury. This misplacing of so many acorns (the seeds of oak trees), the study says, is likely responsible for oak forest regeneration. When squirrels misplace these buried acorns, they allow for these seeds to eventually grow into full oak trees! The squirrels’ habit of widespread caching is also important to the growth of the forest, as it allows the genetic（基因的）information to spread far.
What seemed like a harmless scavenger hunt is actually part of an endless complex ecosystem in our forests!
1. In what aspect do squirrels puzzle people most?| A．The way they search for food. | B．The places they hide in winter. |
| C．The location of their hidden food. | D．The way they recover hidden nuts |
| A．They often fight with each other for food. |
| B．They tend to feel more secure in bushy places. |
| C．They are cautious about storing food for winter. |
| D．They survive largely thanks to their team spirit. |
| A．Squirrels can starve due to lack of food. |
| B．It can be beneficial that squirrels lose their nuts. |
| C．It’s easy to get squirrels’ genetic information. |
| D．Squirrels always misplace their nuts deliberately. |
| A．Why do squirrels steal nuts? |
| B．How do squirrels survive the winter? |
| C．The secrets behind squirrels’ burying nuts. |
| D．The ecosystem in the forest. |
10 . Jakarta, Indonesia (AP)—When a garbage collector came to Ghina Ghaliya’s house in the Indonesian capital and asked if she had an old mobile phone that his children could use to access the Internet, it sparked (引发) an idea for a broader campaign to help students stuck at home by COVID-19.
“He said it does not matter if it is an ugly one, as long as his children can use it for learning from home,” said Ghaliya, a journalist at a national newspaper.
Shortly after COVID-19 hit Indonesia, Ghaliya and 11 other journalists in Jakarta organized a group to provide food and money for people in need. They stared hearing from parents who wanted their children to be able to study online but lacked a way to access the Internet.
Ghaliya and the other journalists decided to shift（转移）their focus to providing mobile phones for underprivileged students, many of whom were still not allowed to do face-to-face learning when the new school year started in July.
They announced their campaign through social media and the response was strong, with some people donating(捐赠)second-hand units and others giving cash. So far, nearly 300 phones have been distributed to Indonesian students around Jakarta as well as to remote regions like Papua, the country’s most eastern province.
Khaissyah Levi, 16, is a high school student in Depok, who attends online classes in the morning. His father Deny Sayuti had been lending his mobile phone to him for his studies, but that meant Sayuti could only do his work as a motorcycle taxi driver for part of the day, missing out on peak times like the morning rush hour.
Sayuti worte to Ghaliya’s group in August, and his family received a mobile phone a month later. Sayuti believes that his son can now do better with his online studies. “Now I see him more comfortable, and he can directly reach out to his friends and teacher,” Sayuti said.
1. Why did the garbage collector ask Ghaliya for a mobile phone?| A．To play online games. | B．To send a text message. |
| C．To call police for help. | D．To help his son study online. |
| A．Dependent. | B．Desperate. |
| C．Unfortunate. | D．Unhealthy. |
| A．People reacted coldly to Ghaliya’s campaign. |
| B．Papua is a less developed district in Indonesia. |
| C．Ghaliya’s group advertised a mobile phone brand. |
| D．Social media was not accepted by the Indonesians. |
| A．He depends on it for online learning. |
| B．It helps him much in making a living. |
| C．He contacts his son at school with it. |
| D．It guides him when traveling abroad. |
