1 . Improve Cloud Security
Sensitive customer data has constantly been found exposed on cloud servers without password protection. To ease the problem, database software makers have been trying to make security easier for cloud database managers. At the Enigma Conference in San Francisco, Kenn White, a security manager at database software maker MongoDB, will describe a new technique, called field level encryption, to make data safer on the cloud.
Field level encryption works by scrambling data before it’s sent to a cloud database and rearranging it in order when the data is needed for use. The promise of the product is to protect the contents of a cloud database, even if bad guys access it.
MongoDB’s new feature comes as more and more companies move user data to cloud servers, rather than run their own costly data centers. It was predicted that cloud computing would be a $214 billion industry by the end of 2019. That would be up more than 17% from 2018, when it was $182 billion.
Companies have rushed to the cloud without understanding all of the possible security consequences. Many companies have left countless databases exposed, revealing personal data. A database containing details about who lives in 80 million US households was left unprotected in 2019, just like the data on Facebook users.
Database managers want to store their data in an unreadable form, but they also want to be able to find specific pieces of information in the database with a simple search term. For example, someone might want to look up health care patients by their Social Security numbers, even if those numbers are stored as random characters. To make this possible, field level encryption lets database managers encrypt a search term on their machine and send it to the database as a query. The database matches the encrypted version of the search term with the record it’s storing and then sends it back to you.
This approach only works with specific kinds of data. For example, field level encryption isn’t useful for long text entries, like notes in a patient’s medical chart, because you can’t search for individual words.
Still, for data like account numbers, passwords and government ID numbers, field level encryption protects data and maintains a usable database.
Most importantly, White said, it’s simple to set up. Database managers turn it on with a one-time configuration change when they set up the database. “That’s really powerful,” he said in an interview.
1. The underlined word “scrambling” in paragraph 2 probably means________.| A．mixing | B．collecting | C．hiding | D．storing |
| A．Secure the safety of Internet pages. | B．Protect files with a unique style of storage. |
| C．Stop bad guys from accessing the database. | D．Enable companies to store files on the cloud. |
| A．Companies should move user data to cloud servers. |
| B．Cloud computing achieved a 17% increase in 2019. |
| C．Companies may be unaware of the risks of the cloud. |
| D．No companies were willing to run their own data centers. |
| A．present some facts | B．offer security advice |
| C．introduce a technique | D．recommend a product |
2 . Last year, I went through every high school senior’s nightmare: I was refused from all the colleges I applied to. It’s not that I was a bad student. I had a narrow vision, applying only to some key schools. So when I got refused, I got into a panic. I thought there was only one path to success, and I wasn’t on it. While all my friends were picking out twin extra-long sheets, I was left wondering what kind of future I could have.
When my panic faded, I signed in the community college. I wasn’t excited. I imagined community college classrooms with incompetent teachers that taught their students to sleep. I was so wrong. My art history professor was so poetic, and her lectures felt spoken word. My classmates were intelligent and came from all walks of life — still figuring things out like me.
I decided to give myself a year of experiment. Aside from general education, I took a range of classes. I know it seems like a random kind of classes, but it allowed me to know what I like and don’t like. I used to have this idea that I had to rush in order to achieve a certain level of success by a certain age, but a year of community college has taught me to slow down, and to recognize that things take time to adjust. I still hope to transfer to a four-year university next year, but I’ll be going about it as a more mature person.
Being around students from all walks of life has made me realize that I’m not late in the game at all. There’s more than one way to get where you want to be.
1. What caused the author’s “high school senior’s nightmare”?| A．He was rejected by the colleges he applied to. |
| B．He didn’t do well in some subjects at school. |
| C．He only took some key schools into consideration. |
| D．He got confused about which school to apply to. |
| A．The author’s friends have extra sheets. |
| B．The future for the author’s friends is clear. |
| C．The way to success is long for the author’s friends. |
| D．The author’s friends have many choices. |
| A．His art history professor was extremely expressive. |
| B．He didn’t like studying with students from all walks of life. |
| C．He thought the teachers in the community college had poor ability. |
| D．He learned students in the community college always slept in class. |
| A．There’s no need to hurry to achieve certain success. |
| B．A year of experiment is not worthwhile for him at all. |
| C．The way to success is to transfer to a four-year university. |
| D．It’s a waste of time being around students from all walks of life. |
3 . Some of my earliest memories of Mother come from the time we lived in Prairie Village. I was about 3 years old. Mother would take me on nature hikes along the small river’s banks.
In the bushes we found insects, cocoons (茧) and butterflies. She made a butterfly net for me. While running after a butterfly in our back yard, I put the net down. Mother and I built snowmen, much taller than I, and we laughed aloud after a snowball fight. In the season of rain and flowers, singing birds and sunny mornings, the cocoon broke open, and a brilliant white butterfly came out.
One of our favorite books was “The Tale of Mr. Jeremy Fisher.” I would sit at Mother's side as she read the story. I consider the years spent with Mother “On the River” a foundation to a lifelong interest in science, inspiring me, in part, to choose a career in medicine. I recall sitting with Mom on the front of the house in Baldwin late one June evening. Dad’s tail-lights were disappearing quickly as he drove off to see his Dad, who was dying in Garnett.
Mom said, “Oh, kids, we’re only here for such a short time....” Her words were also kind of scary to me at the time, because what I heard her say was that we are all destined (注定) to die, and she had told me once before that she was afraid to die. I guessed her message was more than “Our life on earth is short and we are all destined to die” She meant that “Make the most of life while you can, here on earth. Reach for the stars!” Mother also said “Oh, kids! We’ll have the stars!” She had 5 of the stars she’d brought onto this earth. In 1963, 6th star was added, named Kip.
All of us did well in our life. 1971 found me attending Baker University, and I found a star and married her in the middle of medical school. I have added four more stars: Dean, Christine, Dan, and Dave. Dean found a star and married her. He and Shakeena now have 3 stars: Demetrius, Olivia, and Maxwell. Mom loved babies, children, and youth so much... We have the stars!
1. When the writer was three years old, his mother ________.| A．taught him a lot of knowledge | B．taught him how to enjoy himself |
| C．took him to get close to nature | D．let him catch butterflies every day |
| A．His mother’s words. | B．His grandfather’s death. |
| C．The book his mom read. | D．His life in his childhood. |
| A．Live a happy life and try your best. |
| B．Make full use of your time and aim high. |
| C．Enjoy yourself and be a star in the future. |
| D．Enjoy your life to the full length and be happy. |
| A．the writer’s mother was not afraid to die at all |
| B．the writer’s grandpa died on that late night in June |
| C．Shakeena is the writer’s daughter-in-law |
| D．Olivia must be the writer’s mother’s grandchild |
4 . Jack Andraka was 15 when he came up with an idea for a new way to test for pancreatic (胰腺) cancer. When Andraka was 14, a family friend died of the disease, and this affected him deeply. This kind of cancer is particularly serious because there is no test you can have done to find it in the early stages. By the time standard tests determine you have the disease, it is often too late. Realizing that this was the case, Andraka decided to try to develop a test that might catch problems at the earliest stages.
The road ahead looked difficult for Andraka. He was still a high school student, and he wanted to create something that no one else had done. But Andraka read endlessly about the disease, wrote a proposal for his idea, and sent it out to 200 cancer researchers. Only one professor, Dr.Anirban Maitra, responded positively. Dr.Maitra agreed to work with Andraka on his idea, giving him guidance and access to a laboratory.
The next big reward for Andraka’s perseverance was winning the grand prize at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair. This great award is given to young innovators who have developed a world-changing idea. Developing the test is likely to take many years, but Andraka hopes the test will eventually improve people’s lives and maybe save them.
Jack Andraka is not alone as a young innovator. After all, there were 1,499 other contestants for the Intel award, and all of them had ground-breaking ideas. For Andraka, having a family that loves science and encourages creative thinking gave him an advantage. But the key for Andraka is that reading, research, and discovery are just plain fun, and the chance to improve the world around him in the process makes it even better.
1. Why did Andraka decide to develop a test for pancreatic cancer?| A．His friend’s encouragement. | B．An upsetting experience. |
| C．His extensive reading. | D．An important test. |
| A．Lack of positive replies from experts. | B．Heavy pressure from his schoolwork. |
| C．Little access to research equipment. | D．Great need of money to develop a test. |
| A．The competition with other contestants. | B．His determination to improve the world. |
| C．The support from his family. | D．His passion for discovery. |
| A．Practice makes perfect. | B．Hard work leads to success. |
| C．One good turn deserves another. | D．Failure is the mother of success. |
5 . China’s TikTok, which has taken the world by storm, is working its magic in its home nation, too.
The Chinese version of TikTok, called Douyin, has amassed (累积) 400 million daily active users, parent company Byte Dance (字节跳动) revealed in its annual report this week. This is an impressive growth for the addictive video app, which had 250 million daily active users in January last year.
The report, which describes users’ behavior and trends, shows the cultural difference between China and the US, said Katherine Wu, an investor at New York-based firm Notation Capital.
Things that trend in these two countries are completely different. For example, knowledge-based content is extremely popular in China, but less so in the U.S. Also, those creators that did the most dance videos in China are users born in the 60s, while in the US, it seems that it’s mostly teenagers who are creating the dances.
Byte Dance claimed that Douyin has established itself as the largest knowledge, culture and art platform in China. 14.89 million “knowledge-based content videos” were shared on the app last year, it claimed. For example, one of the world’s most valued startups claimed that the number of users who posts videos about chemistry reached 130 million people last year. “On the art and culture front, videos related to those topics had 543.1 billion plays on Douyin last year.” it claimed.
Education has become a main use case for Byte Dance. TikTok, which is estimated to have earned more than $50 million last year, already counts educational content as one of the most consumed categories on its app across the world. The app launched an educational campaign in India last year, where it has amassed more than 200 million users.
1. The difference in trends between China and the US reflects the difference in ________.| A．culture | B．education |
| C．knowledge | D．hobby |
| A．Music videos | B．Knowledge-based videos |
| C．Humorous videos | D．Videos about chemistry |
| A．analyzing reasons | B．showing survey results |
| C．stating arguments | D．providing statistics and examples |
| A．To introduce the app --TikTok. |
| B．To help customers use TikTok. |
| C．To reveal the popularity of TikTok. |
| D．To recommend TikTok to customers. |
6 . Every day, art comes alive in the Metropolitan Museum of Art and through its exhibitions and events, revealing new ideas and unexpected connections across time and across cultures.
Making The Met 1870-2020
The signature exhibition of The Met’s 150th-annivei-sary year takes visitors on a fascinating journey through the history of one of the world’s top cultural institutions. Rarely seen valuable records, photographs, and stories of both behind-the-scenes work and the Museum’s community outreach enhance this unique experience.
The New British Galleries
The British Galleries exhibit almost seven hundred works of art, including a large number of new acquisitions. particularly objects made in the, nineteenth century that were purchased with this project in mind.
About Time: Fashion And Duration
The Costume Institute’s 2020 exhibition tracks a century and a half of fashion—from 1870 to the present - along a troubled timeline, on the occasion of The Met’s 150th anniversary. Employing Henri Bergson’s concept of la durée (duration), it explores how clothes generate time-related associations that mix past, present, and future.
Art of Native America: The Charles and Valeric Diker Collection
This splendid exhibition in the Museum’s American Wing shows 116 masterworks, ranging in date from the second to the early twentieth century, the diverse works are promised gifts, donations and loans to The Met from the pioneering collectors Charles and Valerie Diker.
1. what makes the exhibition Making The Met 1870-2020 unique?| A．Travelling around the world. |
| B．Some valuable records, photographs and stories. |
| C．Photography skills. |
| D．Diverse masterworks. |
| A．The New British Galleries. | B．Art of Native America. |
| C．About Time: Fashion And Duration. | D．Making The Met 1870-2020. |
| A．A statue made in 106. | B．A vase made in 318BC. |
| C．A teapot made in 2020. | D．A violin made in 1999. |
7 . Looking for educational and inspiring books for your children? You cannot miss these tales of surviving in the wild.
Swallows and Amazons by Arthur Ransome
A tale of a joyful childhood summer spent sailing in the Lake District of England, this novel is based on Ransome’s own family. Two groups of children each have their own sailboat, and spend the summer defending against an imagined enemy, camping, fishing, and exploring, while trying to catch their enemy’s boat.
The Swiss Family Robinson by Johann David Wyss
Inspired by Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe, Wyss decided to write a story about how a Swiss family survived a ship accident and made a new way of life on an unexplored island in the East Indies so that his four sons could learn about basic family values, the use of the natural world and self-reliance. Morals aside, it’s a great thrilling story.
A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton-porter
Poor, unpopular Elnora Comstock grows up in the dangerous but beautiful wetlands of northern Indiana, building an unusual life. She loves wildlife more than anything. The book was written as a protest against logging (伐木), drilling for oil (钻井油) and drying up rivers for agriculture that were taking place in the Limberlost Swamp.
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell
The main character, Karana, is a woman left on what’s now called La Isla de San Nicolas, just off the coast of California. She struggles in the strange conditions, experiences natural disasters and lives alone on the lonely island. Her story is inspired by that of a real woman who spent 18 years alone on the island.
1. What did Wyss write The Swiss Family Robinson for?| A．Showing the basic values. | B．Teaching his own children something important. |
| C．Recording a ship accident. | D．Honoring Daniel Defoe. |
| A．Girl of the Limberlost. | B．The Swiss Family Robinson. |
| C．Swallows and Amazons. | D．Island of the Blue Dolphins. |
| A．They are based on real story. | B．They are written mainly for parents. |
| C．They contain important morals. | D．They tell adventurous experiences. |
8 . The paper, published in May by the Journal of Marketing Research, analyzed purchases made from a single large European retailer and found that free shipping did encourage customers to buy more. But it also increased purchases of items that historically have higher return rates, such as clothing or products from lesser-known brands. Thus, returns also increased as a result of the promotions, to the point where profits were erased.
In one part of the paper, during the typically four-week periods when free shipping was offered, online order volumes rose 11%. But when the cost of returns was compared with the sales proceeds(收入), the authors calculated that on balance the results for the promotion periods amounted to an average 0.7% loss.
In one analysis that ran for two months, the researchers found that the return rate for customers who bought low-risk products — like office supplies, or products from well-known brands — averaged about 22%.
In another analysis, the researchers attempted to better understand motivations of online shoppers by measuring their attitudes toward free shipping. They found two things were happening. First, consumers saw free shipping as compensation for taking a risk on a product. Second, feelings of gratitude for having shipping costs eliminated(消除) made them happy and thus more willing to make a risky purchase.
Prof. Neslin advises companies to look at whether their own free-shipping promotions are profitable before they launch such campaigns. Also, he advises companies to identify which products get returned more often than others and try to provide customers with more information about those products, so they can make more-informed choices.
1. What erased the profits according to the first paragraph?| A．The risky customers. | B．The European retailer. |
| C．The returned items. | D．The lesser-known brands. |
| A．Consumers risked purchasing a product when free shipping came along with it. |
| B．Free shipping encouraged customers to buy products from well-known brands. |
| C．Online order volumes rose only when free shipping was offered as compensation. |
| D．Purchases of office supplies also increased during the typically four-week periods. |
a. Design profitable free-shipping promotions.
b. Make sure they have shipping costs removed.
c. Provide more information about their products.
d. Distinguish products with higher returned rates.
| A．abc | B．abd | C．acd | D．bcd |
| A．Low-risk products. | B．Return rates. |
| C．Increased purchases. | D．Free shipping. |
9 . 
Video calls are a common occurrence, but have you imagined being able to touch the person on the other end of the line? Scientists are making this a reality.
Researchers at the University of new South Wales, Australia have invented a soft skin stretch device(SSD). A haptic device that can recreate the sense of touch. Haptic technology mimics the experience of touch by stimulating localized areas of the skin in ways that are similar to what is felt in the real world, through force, vibration or motion.
Vibration is the most common haptic technology today and has been built into many electronic devices such as one attached to the back of the trackpad(触摸板) in laptops, which simulates a button clicking. However, haptic feedback with vibration becomes less sensitive when used continuously. The existing technology also has great difficulty recreating the sense of touch with objects in virtual environments or located remotely. According to Mai Thanh Thai, lead author of the study.
The new technology overcomes issues with existing haptic devices. The research team introduced a novel method to recreate the sense of touch through a soft artificial “muscles”.
“Our three-way directional skin stretch device, built into the fingertips of the wearable glove we also created is like wearing a second skin-- its soft stretchable and mimics the sense of touch-- and will enable new forms of haptic communication to enhance everyday activities”said Thanh Nho Do, senior author of the study.
Imagine you are at home and you call your friend who is in Australia. You wear a haptic glove with the SSDs, and your friends also wears a glove with integrated 3D force sensors. If your friend picks up an object, it will physically press against your friend’s fingers. And their glove with 3D force sensors will measure with interactions. The force signals can be sent to your glove so your device will generate the same 3D forces. Making you experience the same sense of touch as your friend.
The haptic devices could be applied in various situations, allowing users to feel objects inside a virtual world or at a distance. It could also be used in medical practices. Doctors can feel a patient's organ tissues. With surgical tools without touching them.
1. What does the passage imply?| A．SSDs become less sensitive when used continuously. |
| B．SSDs can recreate the sense of touch without vibration. |
| C．SSDs have great advantages over existing haptic devices. |
| D．SSDs can help users touch the person through video calls. |
| A．How the device works. |
| B．Why the device is used |
| C．What the device creates |
| D．How the device is invented |
| A．hopeless | B．uncertain. |
| C．worrying. | D．cheerful. |
| A．A glove that can measure some interactions. |
| B．A sensor that can imitate touch at a distance. |
| C．A device that can recreate the sense of touch. |
| D．A tool could be applied in medical practices. |
10 . Regardless of whether or not you are young, there are particular habits that give away your true age. Like falling asleep on the very thought of a second glass of wine, some issues simply sign to the world that you are just over 40. Now, a brand-new study reveals that there is one factor you do along with your smartphone that reveals your age: turning to a PIN(personal identification number) to unlock your telephone rather than a fingerprint or facial recognition means you are of an older technology.
The study, carried out by researchers on the University of British Columbia, explored the links between age and smartphone use by remotely monitoring smartphone customers' habits. “As researchers working to protect smartphones from illegal access, we need to first understand how users use their devices,” defined Konstantin Beznosov, a professor involved in the research.
To get more information, the researchers selected 134 volunteers, ranging in age from 19 to 63, and had them set up a tailored app to their Android telephones for two months. The app recorded all of their lock and unlock occasions, together with whether or not they choose auto or guide lock, and the actions of the telephone on the time of unlocking. This is how they found the generational variations in unlocking habits.
The researchers additionally collected information on the size of consumer periods. The staff discovered that along with an individual's most popular technique for unlocking their telephones, the period of time spent on the telephone additionally related with age.
As one report on the study explains “Study showed that older users used their phone less frequently than younger users. For every10-year- interval in age, accordingly there was a 25 per cent decrease in the number of user sessions. In other words, a 25-year-old might use their phone 20 times a day, but a 35-year-old might use it only 15 times.”
So, in case you unlock your smartphone by hand, you may chalk it as much as a generational desire.
1. What will a man in his sixties probably use to unlock his phone?| A．Passwords. | B．Fingerprint. | C．Facial recognition. | D．Voice control. |
| A．Gaining illegal access. | B．Checking their phones. |
| C．Using special app. | D．Recording with cameras. |
| A．One. | B．Two. | C．Three. | D．four. |
| A．Unlocking says your age | B．Secrets to smartphones safe |
| C．Smartphones change our lives | D．Ways to unlock your smartphones |
