1 . Macinley Butson was just 16 years old when she first had the idea to try and protect women from more — than — necessary radiation during breast cancer treatments—and now, her invention could be a game-changer in the medical field.
Butson, whose father works in medical physics, has always been interested in science. But she only began researching the harmful side effects of radiation treatment after her father discussed his experience with ineffective cancer treatments in his work. Since Butson had also recently lost a relative to breast cancer, she felt inspired to conduct her own research on the subject. She tried to begin her medical research by consulting scientific journals, but she found their academic terms almost impossible to understand.
She then turned to the Internet to find videos that taught how to read scientific journals. As she went deeper in her research, she stumbled upon a key bit of information: copper （铜）has been shown to be effective at protecting skin from radiation. An idea hit this Australian teen as she was viewing a film on medieval wars in her 10th grade history class. When she saw the scaled （鳞片） patterns of the mail （盔甲）,she was inspired to create a wearable protective tool out of copper. She then headed back online and watched videos on how to put together tiny scales. She made her own flexible scale-mail which she now calls SMART: Scale Mail for Radiation Therapy.
When her invention was tested in a laboratory setting, it reduced surface exposure to unnecessary radiation by 75%. And now Butson is working on getting her SMART into clinical settings for use.
1. Why did Macinley Butson start her research?| A．To assist her father with his work. | B．To save her relative from cancer. |
| C．To publish some articles in journals. | D．To find effective ways to treat cancer. |
| A．Came across. | B．Missed. |
| C．Passed on. | D．Required. |
| A．Videos online. | B．Scientific journals. |
| C．History textbooks. | D．Soldiers defensive clothes. |
| A．Stubborn. | B．Creative. |
| C．Selfless. | D．Considerate. |
2 . When we’re studying a new language, many of us approach it with fear and anxiety. However, we would benefit a lot by changing our focus, according to communication skills trainer Marianna Pascal.
Pascal has spent 20 years in Malaysia helping people speak better English. Over time, she has discovered a surprising truth: How well somebody communicates in a new language has very little to do with his language level — but a lot more to do with his attitude.
Pascal noticed that a lot of Malaysians went into English conversations with the feeling that they were going to be judged by how many mistakes they were going to make. And they had the idea of what good proper English is supposed to be and how far they would have to go to get there.
As a teacher,she’d noticed one specific student named Faisal. Despite not knowing much English,this guy could just sit and listen to anybody very calmly,clearly,and then he could express his thoughts beautifully.
Pascal realized when Faisal entered an English conversation, he didn’t feel judged. He entirely focused on the person that he was speaking to and the result he wanted to get. He got no thoughts about his own mistakes.
Pascal believes that speaking a language is not like those exams that many of us had to take in school,where a tiny spelling or grammar mistake would result in a big red X from the teacher. In the real world, small mistakes don’t matter — what matters is whether we’re able to make ourselves understood. She concludes, “If you want to speak English like Faisal with that great confidence, here’s the one thing that you can do when you speak: Don’t focus on yourself, focus on the other person and the result you want to achieve.”
1. Why was Faisal successful in English conversation according to Pascal?| A．His spoken English was quite excellent. |
| B．His attitude to speaking English was right. |
| C．He and his partner were good friends. |
| D．He made few grammatical mistakes. |
| A．Tolerant. | B．Careful. |
| C．Grateful. | D．Worried. |
| A．Try to express yourself correctly. |
| B．Remember to use a new language. |
| C．Avoid any mistakes while speaking. |
| D．Concentrate on what the other people say. |
3 . Heat stress from extreme heat and humidity (湿度) will annually affect areas that are now home to 1.2 billion people by 2100, assuming current greenhouse gas emissions (排放), according to a Rutgers study.
Most climate studies on projected heat stress have focused too much on extreme heat but did not consider the role of humidity, which is another key driver. “When we look at the risks of a warmer planet, we need to pay particular attention to the combined effects of extreme heat and humidity, which are especially dangerous to human health.” said Robert E. Kopp, director of the Rutgers Institute of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences.
Rising global temperatures are increasing exposure to heat stress, which harms human health. Heat stress is caused by the body’s inability to cool down properly through sweating. Body temperature can rise rapidly, and high temperatures may damage the brain and other vital organs. What’s more, heat stress can result in heatstroke (中暑), which is the most serious heat-related illness, can kill or cause permanent disability without emergency treatment.
Annual exposure to extreme heat and humidity above safety guidelines will be projected to affect areas that are currently home to about 500 million people, if the planet warms by 1.5℃ and nearly 800 million at 2℃. The planet has already warmed by about 1.2℃ above late 19th century levels.
An estimated 1.2 billion people would be affected with 3℃ of warming, as expected by the end of this century under current global policies. That’s nearly four times the number of people affected today, and nearly 12 times the number who were affected in no industrial age.
1. What can we infer from the first two paragraphs?| A．Many areas will be flooded by the end of 2100. |
| B．Exposure to polluted air may cause cancer. |
| C．Less attention has been paid to the effect of humidity. |
| D．Heat stress makes it harder to forecast the weather. |
| A．Sweating a lot. | B．Damaging organs. |
| C．Causing heart-attack. | D．Leading to high blood pressure. |
| A．About 800 million. | B．About 500 million. |
| C．About 1.2 billion. | D．About 300 million. |
| A．How to prevent heat stress |
| B．Heat stress may affect more people |
| C．The combination of heat and humidity |
| D．The earth may get warmer and warmer |
4 . People often ask how I decide where to go, and I usually get hesitated with my response, as I don’t actually have an answer to that. For more than three years, I have been making movements with the universe, traveling from location to location at seemingly random intervals.
A friend of mine posted a Facebook status asking if anybody was interested in a job teaching English in China. So I jumped on a coming plane. Walking into my first class, I was bombed by 16 strange children who couldn’t understand a single word out of my mouth. When I walked out of my last class, six months later, I had made a personal connection with them. Some of my students could barely speak Chinese or English. But somehow, through determination and force, we connected.
Every class was not only a lesson in English, but in good fellowship, being a role model, being a parent, and being a friend. I became a father to some, an older brother to others. I was loved and adored, feared and hated. I had to learn discipline, and not only how to deal it out, but how to discipline and conduct myself as a role model. But in between the discipline, I had to make learning a fun experience. And they forgave me when I yelled or got upset. And when they threw temper or bruised their knee or missed their mommy, I forgave them, kissed their bruises better, and gave them a shoulder to cry on.
Teaching English in China is, by far, the most emotionally rewarding and fulfilling thing I’ve ever challenged myself to do. I have walked away from this job with a softened heart, knowing that I have made a difference in so many lives. I want that. I want my teachings to be reciprocal because they taught me how to unconditionally open my heart and how to be a more 1oving and patient person.
1. What can we learn about the writer before he came to China?| A．He didn’t have a fixed job. | B．He was a professional writer. |
| C．He worked in a travel agency. | D．He taught in a language school. |
| A．Hard. | B．Exciting. |
| C．Touching. | D．Inspiring. |
| A．He was casual and patient. |
| B．He was responsible but sensitive. |
| C．He was cautious but bad-tempered. |
| D．He was self-reflective and considerate. |
| A．Beneficial. | B．Interacted. |
| C．Encouraging. | D．Acceptable. |
5 . If you expect to work in the future in the travel industry, you should begin learning Chinese.
That’s because Chinese people spent nearly$258 billion in total on international travel last year. That’s more than twice the combined amount spent on international travel by people from the United States and Germany, the next two biggest-spending nations. The Chinese are relative(相对的)newcomers when it comes to traveling beyond their nation’s borders and only a small percentage of them travel outside of China each year. Given the size of that nation’s population. even that small percentage represents well over 100 million Chinese travelers to foreign destinations.
Yet Chinese citizens flew, on average, just 65 miles last year versus(与……相对)the 227 miles flown on average by US residents(居民), the 285 miles flown on average by Germans, the 271 miles flown on average by those from the United Kingdom, and the 632 miles flown by the average Canadian last year.
China’s high total spending on international travel and its low average number of miles flown on international travel may show that while only a small percentage of China’s residents actually travel outside their homeland, and those who do spend a lot of money don’t go that far. But there are reasons for China’s low average of miles travel on international trips. A small percentage of Chinese now have enough money to travel internationally, though the number of people who do travel outside of China is growing fast every year. Besides, a large percentage of Chinese people traveling abroad stay close to home.
However, as more and more Chinese gain the financial ability to travel internationally and as Chinese become more and more interested in visiting destinations farther and farther away from home, their spending on international travel and the average distances flown will both rise rapidly.
1. Why does the author suggest learning Chinese for the future work in travel industry?| A．Being good at Chinese is a must for future work. |
| B．Chinese is most commonly used in travel industry. |
| C．Travel industry requires employees to learn Chinese. |
| D．China is a big-spending nation in international travel |
| A．People from different countries have different preferred destinations. |
| B．China has a relatively low average number of miles flown on travel. |
| C．Chinese people are more willing to travel abroad compared with Canadians. |
| D．People going on a journey around the world hate taking international planes. |
| A．Try to save their money. | B．Improve their ability to travel. |
| C．Choose to stay close to home. | D．Travel in America and Germany. |
| A．It’s bright. | B．It’s confusing. |
| C．It’s hopeless. | D．It’s unclear. |
6 . Four Bookstores Worth Visiting Around the World
◆ Word on the Water
London, England
This floating bookstore in the Regent's Canal is known as "The London Bookbarge". Formerly mobile, it has now found a permanent home where visitors can browse all year round, warm themselves up by a wood-burning fire in the winter and enjoy the performances of music and poetry on the rooftop stage in the summer.
+44 7976886982, https://www.atlasobscura.com
◆ EL Ateneo Grand Splendid
Buenos Aires, Argentina
This theater-turned-cinema-turned-bookstore is an example of the connection between the performing arts and books. It preserves the traditional ceiling and special curtains of the former theater and books line the walls, including where the audience once sat in box seats.
+54 1148136052, https://www.atlasobscura.com
◆Kay Craddock Antiquarian Bookseller
Melbourne, Australia
This shop sells only antique and second-hand books. Visitors can search for the strange collection of owl figurines (猫头鹰雕像) scattered throughout or they can check out the shelves to find classics，such as a collection by Jane Austen printed in 1833 selling for ＄15, 000.
+61 (0)396548506, https://www.kaycraddock.com
◆ Zhongshuge Bookstore
Hangzhou, China
Each location of this Chinese bookstore chain is architecturally unique, but the location in Hangzhou stands out. Stairs and seats built into round bookshelves combined with mirrored ceilings give the optical illusion (视觉幻象) of countless books. Other optical illusions include a tunnel of books and what appears to be a long roller coaster of books in the children's book room.
+86 057188003279, https://weibo.com/67661899
1. To appreciate poetry shows, you'll dial___________.| A．+54 1148136052 | B．+44 7976886982 |
| C．+61 (0)396548506 | D．+86 057188003279 |
| A．Word on the Water. | B．Zhongshuge Bookstore. |
| C．EL Ateneo Grand Splendid. | D．Kay Craddock Antiquarian Bookseller. |
| A．Its special designs. | B．Its floating locations. |
| C．Its performing arts. | D．Its second-hand classics. |
7 . The Franklin Institute is one of the oldest and most beloved science museums in the U.S.
Why Visit
In 1824, the Franklin Institute opened in Independence Hall in memory of Benjamin Franklin and his scientific achievements. In 1934, with the construction of the current building and the nearby Fels Planetarium, it became a hands-on science museum.
Today, it holds the distinction of being Pennsylvania’s most visited museum. In the museum’s rotunda (圆形厅), a 20-foot-tall marble statue pay respect to the Founding Father and famous scientist.
Must-See
While the entire museum offers interactive fun, highlights include the high-tech Your Brain exhibit which offers a glimpse into the inner workings of the human brain; Sports Zone, which focuses on the scientific aspects of sports; Two Escape Rooms, where participants solve puzzles and riddles before time runs out; and the on-sile Virtual Reality Demonstration Space.
Pricing
General Admission to the Franklin Institute includes access to three floors of hands-on science exhibits including permanent interactive exhibits, Live Science programs, the Joel N. Bloom Observatory and one show in the Fels Planetarium. Discounts are available for groups of 15 or more.
To purchase tickets, please click the ticket price to be directed to our online ticketing page where all the ticket prices are available. If you prefer to order tickets over the phone, please call 215 -448 -1200(9:00 am-5:00 pm).
Member Tickets
Members of the Franklin Institute receive exclusive (独有的) ticketing benefits, including discounted prices and no service fees. Please select your Membership level before purchasing member tickets.
1. What is the original purpose of the Franklin Institute?| A．To show respect to the Founding Father. |
| B．To honor Franklin and his achievements. |
| C．To attract more visitors and make profits. |
| D．To remind visitors of the famous scientist. |
| A．Tickets for science exhibits are sold out. |
| B．Interactive exhibits are strongly recommended. |
| C．Discounts are available for most visitors. |
| D．The ticket prices are listed on the website. |
| A．A museum guide. | B．A science show review. |
| C．A brief announcement. | D．A scientific report. |
8 . George Nakashima always insisted that he was a simple woodworker, not an artist. Even though major museums exhibited his works and the director of the American Craft Museum called him a national treasure, Mr Nakashima rejected the label of artist. For almost fifty years he simply went on shaping wood into beautiful chairs, tables, and cabinets.
Nakashima had a clear goal. He intended each piece of furniture he made to be as perfect as possible. Even making a box was an act of creation, because it produced an object that had never existed before. Initially Nakashima used local wood, sometimes from his own property. Later, he traveled to seek out English oak, Persian walnut, African zebra wood and Indian teak. He especially liked to find giant roots that had been dug out of the ground after a tree was taken down. Nakashima felt that making this wood into furniture was a way of allowing the tree to live again.
Most furniture makers prefer perfect boards, but Nakashima took pleasure in using wood with interesting knots (节疤)and cracks. These irregularities gave the wood personality and showed that the tree had lived a happy life.
He never failed to create an object that was both useful and beautiful. One early piece Nakashima designed was a three-legged chair for his small daughter, Mira, to use when she sat at the table for meals. The Mira chair became so popular that Nakashima later made both low and high versions. Another famous piece, the Conoid chair, has two legs supported by bladelike feet. Always, Nakashima's designs were precise and graceful, marked by a simplicity that revealed his love for the wood.
As the years passed, Nakashima's reputation grew and his work received many awards. His children Mira and Kevin, now adults, joined the team of crafts - people in their father's studio. Nakashima's dream of integrating work and family had come true.
1. Which of the following best describes Nakashima?| A．Generous and outgoing. | B．Honest and simple. |
| C．Capable and friendly. | D．Creative and modest. |
| A．His art work made trees live again. |
| B．He used precious wood materials. |
| C．His chairs were beautifully designed. |
| D．He was devoted to making furniture. |
| A．He loved his work and family. |
| B．He made chairs of the same style. |
| C．He sought for a simple life and art. |
| D．He was lost in researching the wood. |
| A．They had an art studio of their own. |
| B．They still lacked the ability to create art works. |
| C．They had a common interest with their father. |
| D．They enjoyed the same reputation with their father. |
9 . Can dogs and cats live in perfect harmony in the same home? People who are thinking about adopting a dog as a friend for their cats are worried that they will fight. A recent research has found a new recipe of success. According to the study, if the cat is adopted before the dog, and if they are introduced when still young (less than 6 months for cats, a year for dogs), it is highly probable that the two pets will get along swimmingly. Two thirds of the homes interviewed reported a positive relationship between their cat and dog.
However, it wasn't all sweetness and light. There was a reported coldness between the cat and dog in 25% of the homes, while aggression and fighting were observed in 10% of the homes. One reason for this is probably that some of their body signals were just opposite. For example, when a cat turns its head away it signals aggression, while a dog doing the same signals submission.
In homes with cats and dogs living peacefully, researchers observed a surprising behavior. They are learning how to talk each other's language. It is a surprise that cats can learn how to talk “dog”， and dogs can learn how to talk “cat”.
What's interesting is that both cats and dogs have appeared to develop their intelligence. They can learn how to read each other's body signals, suggesting that the two may have more in common than we previously suspected. Once familiar with each other's presence and body language, cats and dogs can play together, greet each other nose to nose, and enjoy sleeping together on the sofa. They can easily share the same water bowl and in some cases groom each other.
The significance of the research on cats and dogs may go beyond pets — to people who don't get along, including neighbors, colleagues at work, and even world superpowers. If cats and dogs can learn to get along, surely people have a good chance.
1. The underlined word “swimmingly” in Paragraph 1 is closest in meaning to “without ________”.| A．a message | B．delay |
| C．introduction | D．a problem |
| A．they are cold to each other |
| B．they look away from each other |
| C．they misunderstood each other's signals |
| D．they are introduced at an early age |
| A．We should learn to live in harmony. |
| B．We should know more about animals. |
| C．We should live in peace with animals. |
| D．We should learn more body languages. |
10 . A team of engineers at Harvard University has been inspired by Nature to create the first robotic fly. The mechanical fly has become a platform for a series of new hightech systems. Designed to do what a fly does naturally, the tiny machine is the size of a fat housefly. Its mini wings allow it to stay in the air and perform controlled flight tasks.
“It's extremely important for us to think about this as a whole system and not just the sum of a bunch of individual components,” said Robert Wood, the Harvard engineering professor who has been working on the robotic fly project for over a decade. A few years ago, his team got the goahead to start piecing together the components. “The added difficulty with a project like this is that actually none of those components are off the shelf and so we have to develop them all on our own，” he said.
They engineered a series of systems to start and drive the robotic fly. “The seemingly simple system which just moves the wings has a number of interdependencies on the individual components, each of which individually has to perform well, but then has to be matched well to everything it's connected to，” said Wood. The flight device was built into a set of power, computation, sensing and control systems. Wood says the success of the project proves that the flying robot with these tiny components can be built and manufactured.
While this first robotic flyer is linked to a small, offboard power source, the goal is eventually to equip it with a builtin power source, so that it might someday perform datagathering work at rescue sites，in farmers' fields or on the battlefield. “Basically it should be able to take off, land and fly around，” he said.
Wood says the design offers a new way to study flight mechanics and control at insectscale. Yet, the power, sensing and computation technologies on board could have much broader applications. “You can start thinking about using them to answer open scientific questions, you know, to study biology in ways that would be difficult with the animals, but using these robots instead，” he said. “So there are a lot of technologies and open interesting scientific questions that are really what drives us on a daytoday basis.”
1. The difficulty the team of engineers met with while making the robotic fly was that ________.| A．they had no model in their mind |
| B．they did not have sufficient time |
| C．they had no readymade components |
| D．they could not assemble the components |
| A．can just fly in limited areas at the present time |
| B．consists of a flight device and a control system |
| C．can collect information from many sources |
| D．has been put into wide application |
| A．The robotic fly is designed to learn about insects. |
| B．Animals are not allowed in biological experiments. |
| C．There used to be few ways to study how insects fly. |
| D．Wood's design can replace animals in some experiments. |
