1 . One night in March, five years ago, during happy hour at a bar in my hometown, I made a surprise announcement to my friends: I was going to shut down my law practice and attempt to travel around the globe in a year. What’s more, I would do it without taking any flights or making a single advance reservation of any kind. My announcement drew mixed reactions from my friends. Some offered support and encouragement, while others were more doubtful.
Once I’d said the words, there was no turning back. It took months to shut down my law practice and get things in order. Once I set off on my adventure in October 2016, I found that travelling without using planes was not easy. Trying to circle the globe in 16 months (it took me a bit longer than the initial 12 months I planned) made it even tougher. Even so, travelling overland was the most awe-inspiring way to truly understand the immensity of our wonderful planet.
I took three consecutive overnight buses to travel 3,000 km through Argentina, from Ushuaia, the world’s southernmost city, to the capital Buenos Aires. I would look out the windows for hours on end at the completely unspoiled plains, as if humans had never touched it.
It took seven consecutive days and nights on trains to get from Moscow to Beijing, each day spent gazing out the windows for hours as the West Siberian Plain swept by. Sometimes, I wouldn’t see a village or a human being for 10 hours. Later in my journey, it took 22 days on a cargo freighter to get from New Zealand through the Panama Canal and back to Philadelphia, to finish my round-the-world adventure.
It turned out that travelling with no reservations was far less difficult than I had imagined. Pulling into a city on a bus with a backpack, looking in a guidebook for a few suggestions of accommodations, and then finding an empty room was never much of a problem anywhere. It also kept me flexible and open about all my travel plans, which is advice I give everyone who asks—plan far less than you think you should.
1. The author’s trip was special in that .| A．he made it at the expense of giving up his job | B．it hardly cost him anything |
| C．he did not make advance booking or travel by air | D．it was a global trip |
| A．June 2017 | B．December 2018 |
| C．October 2017 | D．February 2018 |
①Moscow ②Philadelphia ③New Zealand ④Ushuaia ⑤Beijing ⑥Buenos
| A．⑤④①⑥③② | B．④⑥①⑤③② |
| C．④⑤①⑥③② | D．⑤①⑥④③② |
| A．challenging but pleasing | B．dangerous but wonderful |
| C．boring and disappointing | D．costly and painful |
Recently, two researchers, Jose Millan and Michele Tavella from the Federal Polytechnic School in Lausanne, Switzerland, demonstrated (展示) a small robotic wheelchair directed by a person's thoughts.
In the laboratory, Tavella operated the wheelchair just by thinking about moving his left or right hand. He could even talk as he watched the vehicle and guided it with his thoughts.
“Our brain has billions of nerve cells. These send signals through the spinal cord (脊髓) to the muscles to give us the ability to move. But spinal cord injuries or other conditions can prevent these weak electrical signals from reaching the muscles.” Tavella says. “Our system allows disabled people to communicate with external world and also to control devices.”
The researchers designed a special cap for the user. This head cover picks up the signals from the scalp (头皮) and sends them to a computer. The computer interprets the signals and commands the motorized wheelchair. The wheelchair also has two cameras that identify objects in its path. They help the computer react to commands from the brain.
Prof. Millan, the team leader, says scientists keep improving the computer software that interprets brain signals and turns them into simple commands. “The practical possibilities that BCI technology offers to disabled people can be grouped in two categories: communication, and controlling devices. One example is this wheelchair.”
He says his team has set two goals. One is testing with real patients, so as to prove that this is a technology they can benefit from. And the other is to guarantee that they can use the technology over long periods of time.
1. BCI is a technology that can ________.
| A．help to update computer systems |
| B．link the human brain with computers |
| C．help the disabled to recover |
| D．control a person's thoughts |
| A．By controlling his muscles. |
| B．By talking to the machine. |
| C．By moving his hand. |
| D．By using his mind. |
| A．scalp→computer→cap→wheelchair |
| B．computer→cap→scalp→wheelchair |
| C．scalp→cap→computer→wheelchair |
| D．cap→computer→scalp→wheelchair |
| A．make profits from them |
| B．prove the technology useful to them |
| C．make them live longer |
| D．learn about their physical condition |
| A．Switzerland, the BCI Research Center |
| B．New Findings About How the Human Brain Works |
| C．BCI Could Mean More Freedom for the Disabled |
| D．Robotic Vehicles Could Help to Cure Brain Injuries |
3 . There has been a lot of publicity (宣传) recently surrounding 5G, the next generation of wireless technology for the world. But what is this technology and how might it change our lives?
What is 5G?
5G stands for fifth generation, meaning the next step in the progression of technology to replace the current 4G system. 4G was the replacement for 3G, which came after 2G, and so on. These systems are wireless computer networks. Earlier “G” systems were designed to improve mobile communication operations. Each new technology brought major improvements in speed and greatly increased network capacity. The new 5G system promises more of the same. It is expected to permit more users to do more things-at a faster rate. Higher internet speeds and larger network capacity should result in better performance for device users connected to 5G. However, technology experts say there is a major way that 5G is different than the earlier systems. It will move well beyond mobile network technology to affect many more devices and industries than other “G” versions.
When will it be available?
Before we can all use 5G, wireless companies and phone makers will have to complete and deploy (部署) a whole new system. New phones and communication equipment must be built. American wireless companies have been preparing for the new system for some time. They have been creating new network equipment and buying broadcasting space to carry 5G signals. They have built news G antennas(天线)to serve American cities and towns. Wireless providers will invest at least $275 billion n 5G-related networks in the United States, the industry group CTIA reported. The first U.S, launch of 5G is expected to happen sometime this year. Industry experts expect it will take a few more year to go nationwide. It will take even longer to reach rural areas. China is expected to launch 5G sometime in 2020, while European nations are likely to build their systems more slowly over time.
1. Which system is widely used nowadays?| A．5G. | B．2G. | C．3G | D．4G. |
| A．It will allow more users to do more things. | B．The internet speed will be much higher. |
| C．The users will spend much less money on it. | D．It will affect more devices and industries |
| A．5G system has nothing to do with phone makers. |
| B．There is much work to do before 5G comes into use. |
| C．New phones will be much smarter than those used now. |
| D．4G system will be stopped as soon as 5G comes into use. |
| A．USA→China→European nations. | B．China→USA→European nations. |
| C．USA→European nations→China. | D．European nations→China→USA. |
4 . 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. |
5 . The story of chocolate begins with the discovery of America in 1492. Columbus was the first European to come into contact with cacao. Columbus was struck by how much value the Indians placed on them as he did not know the beans were used by currency. It is unlikely that Columbus brought any of these beans back to Spain and it was not until about 25 years later that Cortez grasped the commercial possibilities when he found the Aztecs using the beans to make the royal drink “chocolate”.
The Spanish, in general, were not fond of the bitter drink so Cortez and his followers made it more palatable by adding cane sugar and later cinnamon and vanilla were added. Spanish monks let the secret out back home and, although the Spanish hid it from their neighbors for a hundred years, finally chocolate’s popularity grew until it was their fashionable drink at the French court and the wise choice of customers at London meeting houses.
The cacao tree is strictly a tropical plant only in hot, rainy climates. Thus, its cultivation is limited to countries not more than 20 degrees north or south of the equator (赤道). The cacao tree is very delicate and sensitive. It needs protection from the wind and requires a fair amount of shade under most conditions. This is true especially in its first two or three years of growth. A newly planted young cacao tree is often sheltered by a different type of trees. It is normal to plant food crops for shade such as bananas, plantain, coconuts or cocoyams. Rubber trees and forest trees are also used for shade. Once established, however, cacao trees can grow in full sunlight, provided there are fertile soil conditions and intensive farming. With cutting and careful cultivation, the trees of strains will begin bearing fruit in the fifth year. With extreme care, some strains can be stimulated to produce good crops in the third and fourth year.
The process of turning cacao into chocolate hasn’t changed much since the Swiss made the major breakthroughs in the process in the late 1800s. First the beans go through a process of fermentation ( 发酵 ) and drying. They are then sorted by hand before cleaning and then roasting. Winnowing ( 风 扬 ) follows which removes the hard outer layers and leaves what is as the “grains”. A crushing and heating process known as Hunte’s Process is then used to remove nearly half of the cocoa butter from the nibs. This makes unsweetened chocolate. Basic eating chocolate is made from a mixture of the unsweetened chocolate with some of the cocoa butter along with other ingredients such as sugar and vanilla. The resulting product is then “purified” and this purifying gives chocolate the silky texture that we know so well. The finished result is then shaped, cooled, packaged by machine, distributed, sold and of course, eaten!
1. Why didn’t Columbus bring beans back to Spain at once when he found cacao?| A．Because he couldn’t afford to buy the cacao bean. |
| B．Because he didn’t know how to turn cacao bean into chocolate. |
| C．Because he was not aware of the monetary value of cacao bean then. |
| D．Because Spaniards then didn’t favour the chocolate that the Aztecs originally drank. |
| A．affordable | B．agreeable | C．patent | D．portable |
| A．Cacao trees need a lot of looking after to be used commercially. |
| B．Cacao trees require hot, rainy climates and adequate sunlight. |
| C．Cacao trees won’t produce fruit until the fifth year. |
| D．Cacao trees can grow well in all continents. |
① The chocolate is reheated to melt it, put into patterns and then cooled to make its final shapes.
② The beans are harvested on the farm.
③ Some cocoa butter is then obtained using Hunte’s Process to make cooking chocolate.
④ The cooking chocolate is then mixed with other ingredients to make the various types of eating chocolate available today.
⑤ The beans are winnowed after fermentation and drying and these two processes produce the grains.
⑥ The finished product is wrapped, sent to shops and then sold.
| A．②①③④⑤⑥ | B．②③①⑤④⑥ | C．②④⑤①③⑥ | D．②⑤③④①⑥ |
6 . 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. |
7 . Being a young boy, I began to learn what people said was not always what they really meant or felt. And I knew it was possible to get others to do what I wanted if I read their real feelings and responded suitably to their needs. At the age of eleven, I sold rubber door-to-door after school and quickly worked out how to tell if someone was likely to buy from me. When I knocked on a door, if someone told me to go away but their hands were open and they showed their palms (the inside surfaces of their hands), I knew it was safe to continue because they weren't angry although they may have a dismissive(不屑的) attitude. If someone told me to go away in a soft voice but used a pointed finger or closed hand, I knew it was time to leave.
As a teenager, I became a salesperson, and my ability to read people earned me enough money to buy my first house. Selling gave me the chance to meet people and study them close and to know whether they would buy or not.
I joined the life insurance(保险)business at the age of twenty. And I went on to break several sales records for my company, becoming the youngest person to sell over a million dollars’ worth of business in my first year. This achievement allowed me to become a member of the well-known Million Dollar Round Table(MDRT), which recognizes the world’s top achievers in life insurance. I was lucky that the skills I’d learned as a boy in watching body language while selling could be used in this new area, and were directly related to the success I could have in any business closely connected with people.
1. Which of the following meant the author must give up the rubber sale?| A．A customer’s gentle voice. | B．A customer’s open palms. |
| C．A customer’s finger shape. | D．A customer’s sign of anger. |
| A．To prove the magic of his studying body language |
| B．To show off his unusual insurance-selling achievements |
| C．To attract more people to buy his life insurance |
| D．To simply let readers know about his good luck |
①He bought his first house
②He got the chance to meet people and watch body language
③He became a member of MDRT
④He broke the first sales record for the insurance company
| A．①②④③ | B．②①④③ | C．①④②③ | D．①④③② |
| A．The study of selling products. | B．The life insurance business.. |
| C．The research of body language. | D．The work for the MDRT |
| A．intelligent but overconfident | B．open-minded and determined |
| C．thinking and sharp-eyed | D．grateful and gentle |
8 . By the mid-1920s, Pablo Picasso, one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. had been one of the most celebrated men .In 1957, when Pablo Picasso was in his seventh decade, he joked that x-ray technology might one day reveal a lost work underneath one of his early paintings. Today, that prediction became reality although the technology involved goes far beyond x-rays.
Using hyper-modern tools to peer into one of his Blue Period paintings, researchers have not only shown a hidden piece of art history in astonishing new detail, they have revealed a striking amount of insight into Picasso's creative process and style.
The investigation focused on"La Miséreuse accroupie, "or" Crouching Woman, "painted in 1902 and currently owned by the Art Gallery. The painting, an oil on canvas (画布) piece drawing a crouching (蜷坐的) woman who wears a long coat, shows Picasso’s typical Blue Period colors: grey, green, blue and white. It shows that the innovative modernist was inspired by the lines of an underlying landscape painted by an unknown artist.
The analysis also exposes several changes to the woman described in the painting,many of which Picasso ultimately abandoned. Researchers released their findings on Saturday’s press conference of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Austin, Texas. “We think now it's a landscape painted by someone enrolled at the fine arts academy in Barcelona, someone in Picasso’s orbit but not in his close circle, ”says Kenneth Brummel, assistant curator of modern art for the Art Gallery of Ontario.
As to why Picasso would have “recycled” another artist’s canvas(油画布), reasons could range from economic necessity, as a young artist still establishing himself, to deep inspiration driven by the lines of the image already laid down there. Picasso often re-used canvases for this reason."
“He didn't shave off the canvas or put a preparatory layer over it,” Brummel says.“ Picasso saw this landscape, found inspiration, and decided he was going to paint it immediately."
1. According to the text ,the most likely process of Picasso's painting?①Picasso reused another artist's canvas.
②Inspired by a landscape painting, Picasso decided to paint one too.
③Picasso painted a woman on the landscape painting.
④Not happy with the landscape, Picasso covered it totally.
⑤Picasso made changes to the woman
| A．②③④ | B．④②③ |
| C．①③⑤ | D．②①④ |
| A．He reused it because he hated wasting anything. |
| B．He hid his own paintings beneath the landscape. |
| C．He took the advantage of it and created a new one. |
| D．He kept it to himself with the permission of its owner. |
| A．People often celebrated Picasso’s success. |
| B．Picasso was not well-off when he started his career. |
| C．Picasso became successful overnight. |
| D．Picasso was good at imitating other artists’ works. |
| A．Picasso's predication turned out to be joke. |
| B．High technology uncovered art mysteries. |
| C．Seeing is not always believing. |
| D．Lost Artwork Found Under Famous Picasso Painting. |
9 . Eat like a king in the morning, a prince at noon, and a peasant at night. This saying is all about the importance of breakfast. And now scientists can tell us just why it’s so important. According to a study carried out at Imperial College London, UK, skipping the first meal of the day not only means you eat more at lunch, but also that your brain wants to find more unhealthy foods.
The study suggests that there is a special part of our brain called the orbitofrontal cortex, which plays an important part in making choices about what we eat. It is used for identifying the taste of food, especially when skipping breakfast. It is more likely to target high-calorie foods when you’re on an empty stomach.
Scientists did an experiment on this. Dr Tony Goldstone from Imperial College London, scanned the brains of 21 men and women, around the age of 25. On the first day, these people skipped breakfast before the scans. On the second day, they had cereal, bread and jam as breakfast. After the scan on both days, they had their lunch.
When the volunteers had skipped breakfast, they ate around 20 percent more at lunch, compared with days when they had eaten breakfast. Their brain scans also showed the orbitofrontal cortex was especially responsive to high-calorie foods. “We believe that bit identifies the value of foods — how pleasant, how delicious something is,” Goldstone told The Guardian.
1. From Paragraph 1, we learn that ________.| A．scientists found out why eating breakfast is important |
| B．it’s easy to lose weight without breakfast |
| C．there’s no need to have good food for supper |
| D．eating breakfast makes your brain smarter |
①The volunteers skipped breakfast. ②The volunteers had lunch.
③The volunteers had a brain scan.
| A．①②③ | B．③②① | C．①③② | D．③①② |
| A．of the usual breakfast | B．more than the usual breakfast |
| C．of the usual lunch | D．more than the usual lunch |
| A．Breakfast still most important | B．Three meals a day |
| C．Experiments on breakfast | D．Experiments on lunch |
10 . A ship that sank off the coast of California decades ago was recently reconstructed in detail. The 3D digital model even included hundreds of sponges (海绵动物) that have gathered on the ship’s surface since it sank.
Named American Heritage, the supply ship sank in Santa Monica Bay on May 4, 1995, and for decades its exact location was unknown. Researchers with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) spotted a strange shape in that area in 2008. But it wasn’t until May 2018 that MBARI scientists identified its exact location and mapped the site in detail, showing what appeared to be a shipwreck (失事船只).
Even then, the identity of the shipwreck was uncertain. Yet another MBARI team revisited the location to do further exploration. They sent remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and took photos of the damaged ship. Though it was covered with deep-sea sponges and other animals, the scientists were able to spot letters spelling out its name, confirming that the shipwreck was American Heritage.
As one of the MBARI scientists who found American Heritage, chief ROV pilot Knute Brekke had worked on the ship before. And he was on duty with the diving company American Pacific Marine — the owner of American Heritage — the night the ship began taking in water and eventually sank.
MBARI spokesperson Kim Fulton -Bennett said to Live Science about the discovery, “The model is not complete, as floating ropes and poor visibility kept the pilots from getting too close to the wreck. But the 3D reconstruction is detailed enough to show that American Heritage is now home to thousands of sponges. Shipwrecks often turn into the shelter for diverse communities of ocean life.”
1. What is the main idea of the text?| A．A valuable treasure was discovered. |
| B．Special sponges were found under sea. |
| C．3D model reconstructed a sunken ship. |
| D．A sunken ship was gotten out of water. |
① Something strange was found in the area.
② ROVs were sent under sea to take photos.
③ A ship sank in Santa Monica Bay.
④ The identity of the ship was confirmed.
⑤ Scientists tried to locate the shipwreck.
| A．②③⑤④① | B．③①⑤②④ |
| C．⑤③①④② | D．④③①②⑤ |
| A．He was familiar with the sunken ship. |
| B．He was in charge of a diving company. |
| C．He was responsible for the rescue work. |
| D．He was the first one to witness the accident. |
| A．Critical. | B．Doubtful. | C．Amazed. | D．Objective. |
