1 . You might have heard about how honey bees are doing poorly these days. It’s different, though, from the situation many of the world’s vulnerable (脆弱的) animals find themselves in. We want them to live their lives and grow stronger, but are we willing to change our lifestyles to make it happen? The decrease in honey bees is a bit different, because if honey bees can’t live well, neither can people and, eventually people won’t eat as a result.

As happened in 2017, U.S. beekeepers lost 40 percent of their bees because of a disease. It’s really about the earnings of beekeepers and the reduced amount of bees. But it doesn’t stop there. Honey bees go around doing pollination (授粉). And do you know what need to be pollinated? That’s our crops. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) estimates bees pollinate about $15 billion worth of apples and peaches each year in the United States alone.

So, we 21st-century humans not only take notice, but also start trying to fix the problem. It’s infeasible that we give every bee the treatment. We can’t imagine how huge the task is and how hard we carry on it! The most promising immediate solution seems to prevent the disease. That’s where the bee vaccine (疫苗) comes.

Scientists have long thought immunizing (使免疫) bees will be unworkable, but a 2015 study discovered that bees transfer immunity to their babies through protein. Vaccinating a bee won’t help that bee, but if you vaccinate the queen of bees, she can pass her immunity on to her later generations through her eggs.

The new vaccine will treat for American foulbrood (AFB), a serious disease that quickly destroys bees. It’s in the testing phases and most likely headed for bee boxes near you. And don’t worry, it doesn’t require a tiny doctor’s chair and needle to deliver the vaccine—the queen bee can drink the medicine in a little sugar water and pass it along to her later generations.

1. What does exactly the author intend to tell us through the 2017 beekeepers’ incident?

A．The beekeepers lead a terrible life.

B．The number of bees continues to decrease.

C．The decline of bees affects the production of grain.

D．The pollination work of bees is huge and complicated.

2. What does the underlined word “infeasible” in Paragraph 3 mean?

A．Practical

B．Impossible

C．harmful

D．Convenient

3. What does Paragraph 4 suggest?

A．The bee vaccine is hard to develop.

B．Bees will learn skills from the queen.

C．Bees can transfer immunity to each other.

D．The bee vaccine can take effect in the long run.

4. What can be inferred about the vaccine from the last paragraph?

A．It’s applied to all sick bees.

B．It will be delivered to bees by skilled doctors.

C．It works by allowing the queen of bees to take it.

D．It has been put into use and makes many bees survive.

2 . For British people, the word karaoke caused foggy and unpleasant memories at the office Christmas party. The less-talent performers faced the karaoke machine instead of listeners. They totally enjoyed themselves and didn’t care about what people thought even though it sounded like they tried singing their worst. Many people thought such singing was more like a stupid show. But recently the sing-along activity has been popular again. Karaoke nights have come out around the UK.

Iain Irving, the founder of Supercube, a karaoke gathering place in Edinburgh, said the COVID-19 made karaoke totally different this time. What people used to think of karaoke had become the real past. Irving said, “It is almost like that a suffering man had to go through, about sadness and worry in front of his friends. But karaoke is supposed to be about relaxing oneself in music.” According to Irving, Let It Go from Frozen is the most popular song in Supercube. And letting go is exactly what karaoke is all about. “When you sing, it does make you feel good,” said Irving.

It’s no surprise that karaoke finds its voice again. Singing is known to be bonding (粘合). However, how long has it been since you and your friends sat together to sing songs to your heart’s content? Social media has almost replaced most people’s real social life. Rob Pursey, the founder of Hip Hop Karaoke, said, “Social media can separate us a bit, but karaoke differs. I think people are looking for and they fall in love with those exciting feelings of getting together.”

The COVID-19 has been going on for several months in the UK. Everyone is tired of the news on the Internet, so it’s nice for people to come out to sing their favorite songs to a cheering crowd. “With boring news ruling the headlines, we are all eager to escape, and karaoke provides it. You just feel like you’re on a different planet for a couple of hours,” said Irving.

1. What was the British people’s attitude to the karaoke activity in the past?

A．Positive

B．Negative

C．Uninterested

D．Doubtful

2. According to Irving, what’s the feature of people singing karaoke under the influence of the COVID-19?

A．They intend to release feelings through karaoke.

B．They like to sing different kinds of pleasant songs.

C．They expect to find strength in songs to fight the virus.

D．They listen to others singing instead of singing together.

3. What do Rob Pursey’s words in Paragraph3 suggest?

A．Karaoke should include various games.

B．Social media will cost people much time.

C．Social media make communication more effective.

D．Karaoke brings people the pleasure of close communication.

4. What would be the best title for the text?

A．Karaoke’s return to the UK.

B．The benefits of singing karaoke.

C．British people’s debate over karaoke.

D．The development of karaoke in the UK.

3 . Will your kids love your favorite childhood reads? Let’s get to it: Five Little Peppers and How They Grew. I’m reaching way back with this one (1881), but after all, who doesn’t love a good rags to-riches story?

Oh, those little Peppers. How well I remember Phronsie, Ben, Polly, Joel and Davie, and how hard they worked in the little brown house to help their poor mother, Mamsie. My kids are not yet at an age when they realize just how poor the Peppers are. But my kids are as drawn to this story as I was as a child. And I am not the one to turn down an opportunity to share an example of children gladly helping their mother.

I’m not reaching back quite as far with 1943’s Cherry Ames, Student Nurse by Helen Wells, but convincing my kids that once it wasn’t easy for nurses to wear caps and dresses. When I was little, I couldn’t get enough of Cherry’s adventures. How pioneering Cherry was! She had a job when there were few jobs available to women, she never got married, and she solved mysteries when men couldn’t. Cherry always knew what to do. She was smart, pretty, strong and ambitious. I love her.

I know the time will come when my son asks, “Come on, Mom, Didn’t you read any books with men in them?” and I’ll have to answer honestly, “No. But maybe one day a few.”

The day will come when we can go back to the library and see what is new on the shelves, and that will be a great day. But for now, I plan not to let any book on our shelves go to waste. It may seem that reaching for a book that’s more than a century older than my kids is just as ambitious as reading Frankenstein, but I’m really confident, this time.

1. What do the author’s kids feel about Five Little Peppers and How They Grew?

A．Frightened.

B．Interested.

C．Puzzled.

D．Disappointed.

2. What’s the author’s attitude towards Cherry?

A．Doubtful.

B．Unconcerned.

C．Praiseful.

D．Afraid.

3. What can we infer about the author?

A．She is very poor,

B．She likes books about women.

C．She dislikes classical literature.

D．She is confused about her career.

4. What does the author prefer to do at present?

A．Read less and faster.

B．Go back to the library,

C．Ask her kids to read books kept at home.

D．Inspire her kids to read newly published books.

4 . Avi Loeb, a scientist, believes that we are not alone in the universe. The belief fits with Loeb’s alien (外星的) spaceship theory that at least one alien spaceship might be flying over the orbit (轨道) of Jupiter, which won the international attention last year.

Astronomers in Hawaii found the first known interstellar (星际的) object in late 2017. It was a bit of light moving so fast past the sun that it could only have come from another star. Almost every astronomer on the planet was trying to figure out how the object, called “Oumuamua” got to our far-away, part of the Milky way galaxy. “One possibility is that ‘Oumuamua’ is debris (碎片) from an advanced technological equipment,” Loeb said. “Technology comes from another solar system just showed up at our door.”

“‘Oumuamua’ is not an alien spaceship,” Paul Sutter, another scientist wrote. He suggested Loeb was seeking publicity. Most scientists think “Oumuamua” is some sort of rock. They think it could be an icy wandering comet.

Loeb says that “Oumuamua’s” behavior, means it can’t be a block of rock shaped like a long photo. He thinks it's more likely an object that’s very long and thin, perhaps like a long pancake or a ship’s sail. Loeb says that if someone shows him evidence that contradicts his beliefs, he will immediately give in.

Loeb believes himself a truth-teller and risk- taker in an age of very safe, too-quiet scientists. “The worst thing that can happen to me is that I would be relieved of my management duties, and that would give me even more time to focus on science,” Loeb says. He said he wouldn’t mind giving up all the titles he had and returning to the Israeli farming village where he grew up.

1. What does Loeb say about “Oumuamua”?

A．It is an icy comet.

B．It looks like a long photo.

C．It is actually some sort of rock.

D．It may come from another alien civilization.

2. What does the underlined word “contradicts” in paragraph 4 probably mean?

A．Searches for.	B．Depends on.
C．Turns to.	D．Goes against.

3. What do you think of Loeb?

A．He is foolish.

B．He is unsatisfied with his titles.

C．He is a firm believer in scientific truth.

D．He is uncertain about his career future.

4. What’s the best title for the text?

A．Have Aliens Paid a Visit in Spaceships?

B．Do We Really Know about Space Theory?

C．Scientists Are Working on High Technology

D．Astronomers Are Encouraging Space Travel

5 . International UN Volunteer Program 2021

If you are interested and ready to become a UN volunteer, you can join a million volunteers to register and become an international volunteer through any of the available opportunities cutting across a wide range of professions. UN volunteer job is available to the volunteers from any part of the globe. You can contribute your time, skills and knowledge through volunteering with the UN. This is an opportunity to create a positive impact and be a significant force for achieving peace and development.

What it involves

The International UN Volunteers promote peace and development in communities around the globe, while supporting the ideals and aspirations (抱负) of the United Nations.

Volunteers come from 160 countries, representing many cultures and backgrounds. They bring a wide variety of perspectives (观点) and approaches.

As a volunteer, you can learn about different cultures, expand your networks, study foreign languages and gain professional and life experiences.

Requirements for becoming a UN volunteer

*25 years old or older (no upper age limit).

* University degree or higher technical diploma (文凭).

*Two years of relevant volunteer experience in a professional background will gain the priority to be employed.

* Good working knowledge of at least one of UNV's three working languages: English, French or Spanish.

* Ability to work in a multicultural environment.

* Willingness to work with people and local organizations to draw upon the synergies (协同作用) between expert solutions and local knowledge.

* Ability to adjust in difficult living conditions and sometimes remote locations.

* Strong interpersonal and organizational skills.

1. What benefit can an International UN volunteer enjoy?

A．Expanded networks.

B．A free high education opportunity.

C．Working as a clerk in the UN later.

D．Opportunities to travel in more than 160 countries.

2. What is required for the applicant?

A．Good command of Russian.

B．Excellent organizational skills.

C．A high school diploma.

D．At the age of 18 or older.

3. Who is most likely to get the volunteer opportunity?

A．One with technical diploma.

B．One with good cooperation ability.

C．One with excellent spoken English.

D．One with years of relevant volunteer experience.

6 . When it comes to eating, more and more Americans are ordering online instead of eating out. In some restaurants, cooks make food for other online restaurants at the same time. Online orders are only 5% of all restaurants orders, but they are growing about 20% each year.

The increase in online ordering in the US has created openings for new kinds of businesses. One is called Kitchen United. It builds kitchens for restaurants that want to enter take-out markets. Chick-Fil-A, The Halal Guys and Dog Haus all have opened kitchens through it. Another company, DoorDash, sends food to customers who order online. Fuad Hannon is the head of new business at DoorDash, He says, “The industry is still young. It may be too soon to know how it will grow, but what we know is that people love to get their favorite food sent.”

Two other businesses, Grubhub and Uber Eats, say their virtual (虚拟的) restaurant programs help small businesses compete. Both reach out to restaurant owners with suggestions for online. restaurants based on data from customer searches. This information helps owners. think about everything from how people get their food to what should go on the menu.

Kristen Adamowski heads Uber Eats. She says they have helped start 4,000 virtual restaurants worldwide, about half of them in the US and Canada.

Virtual restaurants have the benefit of testing new ideas without taking on expensive rents or employing more workers like traditional ones. But small restaurants should look at the risks before starting an online restaurant suggested by third-party app businesses. Those businesses offer no training for kitchen' workers to get used to making new foods. Other things to consider: whether their delivery containers are right for new dishes, or whether they want to increase their dependence on outside delivery drivers. Those are not small or easy things.

1. What can we learn about online food orders in the US from paragraph 1?

A．They’ve replaced traditional restaurant orders.

B．They take up only 20% of restaurant orders.

C．They’ve taken up most of the market,

D．They are rapidly increasing yearly.

2. What does Fuad Hannon think of DoorDash in paragraph 2?

A．Its customers are young.

B．It will surely develop well.

C．Its future remains to be seen.

D．It will help people build more restaurants.

3. Which gives advice to online restaurant operators?

A．Uber Eats.

B．Dog Haus.

C．Chick-Fi1-A.

D．DoorDash.

4. What can be concluded from the last paragraph?

A．Better late than never.

B．Think carefully before you act.

C．Failure is the mother of success.

D．Where there is a will, there is a way.

8 . A number of people hold an optimistic attitude toward artificial intelligence's ability to reshape education nowadays. However, many feel such claims are overblown.

Kentaro Toyama, a professor at the University of Michigan School of Information, is one of those doubtful about the idea of using AI in the classroom.

Toyama mentioned a situation he encountered while working in an after-school program in digital literacy（数字技术素养）. He said, “In trying to teach students to use technology, the greatest difficulty is the technology itself." As soon as he looked away from the students, they would “very quickly find the most fun games they could find on the computer and start playing them”. That reveals the problem with putting too much faith in Al for teaching. “There is great potential for it to be a distraction." he said.

Toyama once surveyed a large group of people about their preference for the following educational situations: a school with no teachers but powerful AI, one with bad teachers but strong computers, one with good teachers but no computers, or one with great teachers and many computers. The result showed that nobody would send their children to a school with powerful AI but no teachers, or one with bad teachers but strong computers. Toyama concluded, "Good teachers are what matters; everything else is secondary compared to that."

Toyama is also concerned that AI and technology may widen the gap between disadvantaged schools and wealthier schools. He said, "In the case of schools, well-resourced schools will find the best ways to use technology. But if you' re in a school district that is underfunded and parents are not involved, it doesn't make a difference how good the technology is, and it will not turn that situation around."

When asked when schools should adopt AI, Toyama suggested that they should wait until the basics are in place, teachers want it, and the technology is proved to have positive educational values.

1. What does the underlined word "it" in Paragraph 3 probably refer to?

A．AI.

B．Faith.

C．Teaching.

D．Computer.

2. Why does the author mention the survey in Paragraph 4?

A．To emphasize the key factor in education.

B．To recommend his favorite school for parents.

C．To compare the differences between AI and teachers.

D．To prove that preference for schools varies among people.

3. Which of the following statements will Toyama probably agree with?

A．Al has the potential to reshape teaching and learning.

B．A good school should put students and technology first.

C．AI will be able to educate students as well as real teachers.

D．Al and technology may unbalance educational resources.

4. What is the best title of the text?

A．Al Reshapes Education	B．Using Al in the Classroom?
C．Will AI Dominate School?	D．AI and Technology