A. Specifically, the Internet and mobile devices have completely changed the way people interact with each other.
B. While technology has developed over thousands of years, the last century has seen an explosion in it that has influenced fundamental changes in how humans see the world and interact with others.
C. Technology is more than an abstract concept associated with advanced tools and systems. It also shapes the way people behave, grow and develop, both within their own lives and in their relationships with others.
D. However, technology is sometimes considered to disconnect people from others around them. With cell phones, most people think that it’s easier and more convenient to text instead of meeting in person. An article shows that almost 60 percent of people feel disconnected from others around when they are on their phones.
E. Technology is helping people build newer and necessary communication skills in this sense. Office employees and managers use technology to send e-mails to one another in business. On social media, just share a few of your images and people start communicating on and about your images according to their viewpoint.
2 . A team of researchers at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, has developed a system to use a smartphone camera to test for viral infections. In their paper published in the journal Science Advances, the group describes their system, which involves the use of an external microchip device and a smartphone system that uses a trained deep-learning algorithm.
As the pandemic has gripped the world for most of this year, scientists have been looking for ways to slow the spread of the next one. In this new effort, the team has developed a smartphone-based system that can be used by non-medical people to test for a variety of viral infections.
The system is made up of a smartphone, an external microchip device and software. Body fluid samples are placed into a channel on the microchip device, which is then dipped in a small amount of H2O2. The resulting reaction leads to the formation of bubbles. The bubbles develop in unique patterns based in part on viruses in the fluid sample. The user points their smartphone camera at the bubbling sample and starts the deep-learning algorithm that has already been trained to identify the patterns and therefore recognize the presence of viruses. The whole process takes about 50 minutes. The researchers have thus far taught their system to recognize just three viruses, Zika and Hepatitis B and C. But testing shows the system to be 99% accurate. They note that their system is more portable and cost-effective than other solutions in the works.
The researchers suggest that their system could be rapidly trained to recognize new viruses if the need arises, and the microchip device could be sent to hot spots in the future. Such technology, the researchers suggest, could help to stop future pandemics if used widely. The researchers also note that the system could be immediately useful in infection prone areas lacking testing labs.
1. What’s the purpose of the text?A.To advise people to use a new smartphone camera. |
B.To introduce the development of deep-learning algorithm. |
C.To explain the invention of a new microchip device. |
D.To show a new finding about testing for viral infections. |
A.To educate ordinary people with medical skills. |
B.To help prevent the pandemic from spreading fast. |
C.To try to treat an illness with a smartphone camera. |
D.To make smartphones more portable and powerful. |
①Bubbles of a liquid sample are formed. ②Samples react with H2O2.
③Fluid samples are collected in a special device. ④Viruses in bubbles are recognized automatically.
⑤The software is started to examine the bubbles.
A.③②①⑤④ | B.③①②④⑤ |
C.②③①⑤④ | D.②①③④⑤ |
A.Indifferent. | B.Doubtful. | C.Confident. | D.Curious. |
3 . A man in Brisbane, Australia, survived a house fire early Wednesday morning because his pet parrot, named Eric, sounded the alarm.
Anton was asleep when his home caught fire just after 2:00 a.m., according to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). Anton didn’t hear the smoke detector(探测器). Instead, he heard Eric calling his name repeatedly, ABC reported. “I heard a bang and Eric — my parrot— he started to yell so I woke up and I smelled a bit of smoke,” Anton told ABC. “I grabbed Eric, opened the door and looked to the back of the house and saw some flames,” he added. “And so I grabbed my bag and bolted downstairs.” Officials told ABC that Anton’s home did have a smoke detector, but it didn’t go off before Eric started calling “Anton! Anton!” Queensland Fire and Emergency Services Acting Inspector Cam Thomas told ABC that the firemen were able to contain the fire before it spread to other properties(财产).
According to ABC, there may be a crime(犯罪)and policemen are looking into what caused the fire. In the meantime, Anton is glad that he and Eric survived. “I’m in shock but I’m fine,” he told ABC. “Everything’s all right so long as I have myself and the bird.”
1. What is the right order of the following?a. Anton saw some flames.
b. Anton heard Eric calling his name.
c. Anton bolted downstairs.
d. Anton’s house caught fire at midnight.
e. Anton woke up and smelled the smoke.
A.dbeac. | B.debac. | C.daebc. | D.deabc |
A.Awkward | B.Lucky. | C.Shocked | D.Annoyed |
A.Eric got badly injured in the fire. |
B.The house was burnt to the ground. |
C.Someone might have set fire to the house. |
D.The police couldn’t find the cause of the fire. |
4 . The word "orange" describes both a color and a fruit. Which one came first might be surprising. "Orange" when used as the name of the fruit came before "orange" as a word to describe color. While the shade itself existed before the fruit, there was not a name in the English language for the color. Before the introduction of the fruit to English-speaking countries, the color was usually described as a shade of red or yellow.
In the early 16th century, Portuguese traders brought oranges from India to Europe. The Europeans had not seen the bright colored fruit before and didn't have a name for it. The fruits were named "narancia" by Italians and "narange" by the French and were sometimes referred to as "golden apples" by English speakers.
"Orange" was first used in a phrase to describe shades of colors, including in a third-century Greek text translated into English, in 1576. It describes Alexander the Great's servants as dressed in "orange colour velvet (天鹅绒)In 1578, a Latin-American dictionary defined "melites" as "a precious stone of orange color”. While orange represents the color of the objects, it needed the word "color" to follow it in order for the meaning to be clear. In the mid-1590s, Shakespeare described a beard as "orange tawny", one of the first instances of "orange" without the word "color" as part of the expression. Tawny is a brown color often used on its own. Orange was not yet a color, just a shade of brown.
In 1616, in an account describing varieties of tulips (郁金香)that can be grown, orange was used as a stand-alone color. When Isaac Newton performed his experiments on the color spectrum (色谱),he listed it as one of the seven basic colors. After almost half a century, orange was recognized as a color on its own.
1. Which is the right time order of the appearance of "orange"?A.As a fruit→as a color→the shade itself. |
B.The shade itself→as a color→as a fruit. |
C.The shade itself→as a fruit→as a color. |
D.As a color→the shade itself→as a fruit. |
A.Melites. | B.Narange. |
C.NaranciA. | D.Golden apples. |
A.My ball is a melite. | B.The ball is orange colour. |
C.The orange ball is beautiful. | D.I have an orange ball. |
A.How to plant oranges | B.The spread of oranges |
C.Orange used as a color | D.Shakespeare and oranges |
5 . How many coins have you got in your pocket right now?Three?Two?Or one? With a phone card you can make up to 200 calls without any change at all.
What do you do with it?
Go to a telephone box marked “Card Phone”.Put in your card,make your call and when you’ve finished,a screen tells you how much is left on your card.
It costs no extra for the cards,and the calls cost 10p per unit,the same as any other payphone call.
You can buy them in units of 10,20,40,100 or 200.
Now appearing in a shop near you
Near each Card Phone place you’ll find a shop where you can buy one. They’re at bus,train and city tube(地铁) stations.
At many universities,hospitals and clubs,restaurants and gas stations on the highway and shopping centers.
At airports and seaports.
No more broken payphones
Most broken payphones are like that because they’ve been vandalized(破坏了的).There are no coins in Card Phone to excite thieves’interest in it. So you’re not probably to find a vandalized one.
Get a phone card yourself and try it out.Or get a bigger wallet.
1. There are three parts in the passage.Which section do you think is about why card phones are good?A.Part 1. | B.Part 2. | C.Part 3. | D.None. |
A.4 pounds. | B.40 pounds. |
C.400 pounds. | D.100 pounds. |
a.Put in your phone card.
b.Look at the screen to find out how many calls you can still make.
c.Go to the telephone box marked “Card Phone”.
d.Make your call.
A.a,b,c,d | B.c,a,d,b | C.a,d,c,b | D.c,d,a,b |
A.Phone cards are cheap | B.You cannot use all payphones |
C.Thieves will not break card phones | D.Or people have to carry much money |
A.a warning | B.a note |
C.an advertisement | D.an announcement |
6 . Joseph Banks was born on 13 February 1743 in London.His passion for botany began at school.From 1760 to 1763 he studied at Oxford University, during which time he received a great deal of fortune.In 1766 Banks traveled to Newfoundland and Labrador, collecting plant and other specimens(标本).The same year he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society.
In 1768 he joined the Society's expedition, led by Captain James Cook, to explore the uncharted lands of the South Pacific.The expedition circumnavigated(环航) the globe and visited South America, Tahiti, New Zealand, Australia and Java.Banks collected a great number of specimens on the way and, on his return, his scientific account of the voyage and its discoveries sparked considerable interest across Europe.
Banks was interested in plants that could be used for practical purposes and be introduced into other countries for possible commercial use.After he became president of the Royal Society in 1778, he promoted the career of many scientists and in his capacity as director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, sent many botanists abroad to find new plants and extend the Gardens' collection.
In 1781 Banks was made a baronet (准男爵), and in 1795 received the order of Knight Commander of the Bath; two years later he was admitted to the Privy Council(枢密院).In 1793 his name was given to the Banks Islands, a volcanic group of islands near Vanuatu in the Pacific.These were explored and named by Captain Bligh-Banks had helped arrange a previous expedition of Bligh's.Banks died on 19 June 1820.
1. Please choose the correct order about what happened to Jose Banks.a.He received the order of Knight Commander of the Bath.
b.He sent many botanists abroad to find new plants.
c.He joined the Society's expedition.
d.He elected a fellow of the Royal Society.
A.c, d, a, b | B.d, c, b, a | C.d, b, c, a | D.c, d, b, a |
A.showed | B.amused | C.caused | D.declared |
A.Adventurous. | B.Humorous. | C.Demanding. | D.Skeptical. |
A.Because he visited the islands. |
B.Because he was admitted to the Privy Council. |
C.Because he had close relationship with Captain Bligh. |
D.Because he had helped arrange a previous expedition of Bligh's. |
7 . If you exhibit positive characteristics such as honesty and helpfulness, the chances are that you will be thought as a good-looking person, for a new study has found that the perception (认知) of physical attractiveness is influenced by a person's personality.
The study, which was led by Gary W. Lewandowski, has found that people who exhibit negative characteristics, such as unfairness and rudeness, appear to be less physically attractive to observers. In the study, the participants viewed photographs of opposite-sex individuals and rated them for attractiveness before and after being provided with information about their personalities.
After personality information was received, participants also rated the probability of each individual's becoming a friend and a dating partner. Information on personality was found to significantly change the probability, showing that cognitive (认知的) processes modify (修改) judgments of attractiveness.
"Thinking a person as having a desirable personality makes the person more suitable in general as a close relationship partner of any kind," said Lewandowski.
The findings show that a positive personality leads to greater expectation of becoming friends, which leads to greater expectation of becoming romantic partners and, finally, to being viewed as more physically attractive. The findings remained consistent regardless of how "attractive" the individual was formerly thought to be or of the participants' current relationship status.
"This research provides a positive outcome by reminding people that personality goes a long way toward determining your attractiveness; it can even change people's impressions of how good-looking you are," said Lewandowski.
1. In the study the participants were required to ______.A.try to make friends with each other |
B.try to prove positive characters make people more attractive |
C.exhibit negative characters such as unfairness and rudeness |
D.rate one's attractiveness by photos before and after knowing her or his personality |
a. find a person with a positive personality
b. view the person more physically, attractive
c. want to make friends with the person
d. want to be his/her romantic partner
A.a→c→d→b | B.d→c→b→a |
C.c→b→a→d | D.a→d→c→b |
A.The research reminds people to pay more attention to the personality. |
B.Personality can change people's impressions of one's appearance. |
C.The judgment of one's attractiveness always stays unchanged. |
D.Positive personality may lead to more friends. |
A.subjective | B.objective | C.skeptical | D.negative |
8 . Curtis Whitson knew the water fall was coming. He'd rafted down the Arroyo Seco, a river in central California, before. But this year was different. Heavy snow and spring rains had turned the usually manageable falls into something fierce. And this year, instead of his friends, Whitson's companions were his wife, Krystal Ramirez, and his 13-year-old son, Hunter. As the three of them approached the falls late in the afternoon of the third day of their camping trip, Whitson could tell from the increasing roar of water in the narrow canyon that they were in serious trouble. There was no way they’d be able to rappel down(绕绳下降) the rocks as planned.
“The water was just gushing through there with tremendous force,” recalls Whitson.
They could wade to the shore, but would anyone find them there? They had no mobile phone service, and they hadn’t seen a single person in the past three days.
As he considered what to do, Whitson hit on a bit of luck-he heard voices coming from the other side of the falls. He yelled, but the sound of the rushing water drowned him out.
We have to get these people a message, Whitson thought.
Then he spotted his green Nalgene water bottle. Whitson grabbed it and carved “Help!” on it. Ramirez also reminded him that he had a pen and paper, which she'd brought to play games with, in his backpack. Whitson knew it was a long shot. But he scrawled “We are stuck here at the waterfall. Get help please!” and pushed the note into the bottle, throwing it over the waterfall perfectly.
“All right, that’s all we can do,” Whitson told Hunter.
It took 30 minutes to navigate back upstream to the beach where they made a fire. With no reasonable expectation that their message in a bottle would find its way to anyone, they spelled out SOS in white rocks. As the evening wore on, they placed a headlamp with a flashing light on a ledge (岩石突出部) . Then, just after midnight, they heard a helicopter hovering above them. Whitson ran over to the headlamp and started flashing it at the helicopter. He, Ramirez, and Hunter were waving and hollering when they heard the magic words: “This is Search and Rescue. You have been found.”
It was a moment of pure happiness as the three chatted with the officers who had rescued them. Together, they marveled at the unlikelihood of it all. Two men had seen the water bottle in the water. When they picked it up, they noticed the writing on it - “Help!”.
A few days after news of the rescue broke, one of the hikers contacted Whitson.
That’s when he learned the story. There were actually two little girls hiking with the men that day. It was the girls who first spotted the bottle and swam to get it. Whitson is planning on having a big barbecue to meet the hikers-and thank them.
1. Which was NOT the trouble the Whitsons faced?A.The water falls were fierce. |
B.There was no mobile phone service. |
C.All of them were not experienced in rafting. |
D.They had to rappel down the rocks. |
① They spelled out SOS on the rocks.
② Whitson squeezed the note “Get help please” into the bottle.
③ Whitson yelled to the other side of the falls.
④ Whitson carved “help” on his green bottle.
A.③④②① | B.②③④① | C.①④③② | D.④③②① |
A.It is a fantastic idea. | B.It’s a big challenge. |
C.It’s a wild attempt. | D.It’s a long exploration. |
A.to celebrate their survival |
B.to show gratitude to the hikers |
C.to have a family union |
D.to meet and thank the rescue officers |
9 . Rocky was a 65-pound dog. Rita was his eleven-year old owner. When Rocky was given to her, Rita immediately liked him. Whenever she was not in school,the two were always together and within touching distance. The family would lovingly call the pair “R and R".
But Rocky had one shortcoming. He feared water very much because of a terrible experience. When he was at the age of seven weeks long before he met Rita,he was nearly drowned by a naughty boy who had been blamed by his father.
One late afternoon,Rita's mother took R and R to a shopping area near a lake. Rita was running along the wooden bridge over the water,enjoying the beautiful scenery around. Suddenly a boy on a bicycle hit Rita. She let out a cry of pain and fell into the lake.
Rita's mother was at the entrance of a store not far away. She rushed to the lake shouting for help. Rocky seemed to forget his fear and jumped into the water to save his owner. Rocky immediately swam to Rita and held her by the shoulder's clothes with his mouth. Rita's face was quickly out of the water and she could cough.Luckily,the water was calm,they were not far from the bank,and Rocky finally reached a depth where his feet were on solid ground. He pulled Rita hard until her head was completely out of the water, and then he stood beside her, licking(舔) her face.
Rita and her family firmly believed that it was only the big dog's love for the little girl that caused him to take action that might be life-dangerous.
1. From the text, we know .A.Rita was once blamed |
B.Rocky was eleven years old |
C.Rita spent her spare time with Rocky |
D.Rocky lived in Rita's home since his birth |
A.Brave. | B.Honest. | C.Unkind. | D.Dangerous. |
A.At noon. | B.At night. | C.In the morning. | D.In the afternoon. |
① Rocky came into Rita's life.② Rocky was nearly drowned.
③ They were playing near the lake. ④ Rocky saved Rita from the water.
A.①②④③ | B.②①③④ | C.③①②④ | D.④③②① |
A.It is love that can defeat fear when in danger. |
B.It is life-dangerous for children to be left alone. |
C.Anyone who treats animals badly should be blamed. |
D.Children should be encouraged to keep a pet as a friend. |
10 . When I was young at school, I loved to talk, which was not appreciated by Miss Jordan, my tenth-grade English teacher.
She wasn't a popular teacher because she was not good-looking and was so strict. Whenever she got upset, she would lower her head and look at you over the top of her glasses.
One day in her class, while I was busy talking, I didn't realize that she had stopped teaching. She stared straight at me. “Young lady, I would like to see you after school.”
For punishment she told me to write a thousand-word essay on education and it must be handed in by the following Wednesday. Well, that day came. I wasn't worried. It was a good paper. And I expected praise from her. The next day, however, she called me forward, looking at me over her glasses, and returned my paper. "Go back and rewrite. Remember, each paragraph must have a topic sentence." Then came the second time, the grammar. The third time, the spelling. The fourth time, the punctuation. The fifth, it wasn't neat enough. I was sick.
The sixth time, I rewrote the whole paper slowly, in ink, leaving generous space. Seeing it, she removed her glasses and smiled. She finally accepted the paper. After that, I put the whole thing out of my mind.
Two or three months passed, one day Miss Jordan said to us, “Class, do you still remember an essay contest held citywide? They have announced the winners. Yes, Mary has won the first prize."
I was amazed! It was the first time I had won a prize. Years later, I told a reporter the story and expressed my great thanks to Miss Jordan. Soon after that, I got a letter from Miss Jordan, and it said, "What I did wasn't that important. What mattered was the lesson you had learnt. When you wrote and rewrote that paper for me, you began to learn how to discipline yourself.”
1. What made Miss Jordan unhappy with the author?A.She often lowered her head in class. | B.She always talked too much in class. |
C.She often made her classmates upset. | D.She often laughed at Miss Jordan's glasses. |
①Grammar. ②Punctuation. ③Topic sentence. ④Spelling. ⑤Neatness.
A.③②①⑤④ | B.③①⑤②④ | C.③①④②⑤ | D.③⑤④②① |
A.Active and open-minded. | B.Honest but cold-blooded. |
C.Energetic and kind-hearted. | D.Strict but broad-minded. |
A.A naughty girl | B.A good lesson in life |
C.An essay contest | D.A terrible memory in mind |
A.No pains, no gains. | B.Love me, love my dog. |
C.All roads lead to Rome. | D.Two heads are better than one. |