1 . The Maya city of Tikal is famous for its amazing palaces and temples. But something far more ordinary kept Tikal functioning: its water-purifying(净化) system, the earliest known of its kind.
Researchers recently discovered a volcanic mineral that traps microbes(微生物) and heavy metals in Tikal's largest reservoir(水库). Because the material is not found nearby, the finding suggests the presence of a man-made water-purifying device.
The finding denies the long-standing idea that the ancient worlds technological achievements belonged to the Eastern world, like Egypt, and China. The leading scientist of this research, Kenneth Tankersley says, “When talking about purifying water, the Maya were thousands of years ahead.”
Located in the forests of Central America, Tikal, is thought to have been home to more than 45,000 people. They had to struggle against a dry season lasting from November through April. Storing water in reservoirs was a solution, but that water had to be fit to drink, said Kenneth, “Keeping water clean was of great importance.”
A few years ago, the researchers were surprised to find that the largest reservoir, Corriental, had significantly fewer harmful chemicals than the others. “The water quality at Corriental was much higher.”
Somehow the Maya must have been purifying Corriental’s water, the team assumed. “The Maya used gardens as their bathrooms.” Kenneth said, “The water coming into the reservoir would not have been very clean.”
At the bottom of Corriental, scientists found four separate layers(层), each a few centimeters thick, of millimeter-scale “zeolites(沸石)”. This type of volcanic mineral can purify water and is still in widespread use today, Kenneth says, “Just about everything we drink, from bottled water to wine, runs through a zeolite purifying device.”
The Maya wouldn’t have known about the zeolite in rock, but they would have recognized the purifying effects, the researchers suggest. A zeolite-rich rock formation about 30 kilometers northeast of Tikal is the likely source of the material in Corriental reservoir, the team said last month in Scientific Reports. Water at this site “was clear and tasted good.”
1. What did the researchers find?| A．A new material called zeolites. | B．The purifying effects of zeolites. |
| C．An old water-purifying system. | D．High-quality water in Corriental. |
| A．By building the largest reservoir. | B．By using gardens as their bathrooms. |
| C．By getting rid of heavy metals. | D．By spreading four layers of zeolites. |
| A．The Maya drank bottled water. | B．The ancient Maya were very bright. |
| C．The system was created by accident. | D．The zeolites were found in Corriental. |
| A．the original water in Corriental was not clean enough |
| B．water supply in Tikal lasted from November to April |
| C．all ancient technological achievements belonged to the East |
| D．the Maya had a good understanding of the zeolite in rocks |
2 . London has a new unusual magazine. But it is not printed on paper. Everyone who has a television can receive it because it is on TV.
In order to read this magazine you have to have a decoder. Each page of it is numbered, so you only have to dial the number to choose which subject you want to read about. There is a wide choice — everything is included from cooking to the latest sports news.
If you want to read the news, the first thing you have to do is to turn to the index page which has an easy-to-remember page number, 100 for example. The news is on pages 101 to 109 so you push out the numbers and the news appears written across your screen. Perhaps you want to go out in the afternoon, so you press 181, and a brightly coloured weather map appears on the screen. But the weather is terrible so you decide to go shopping and dial 162 for a list of the week’s best bargains. But should you drive or take the train? To answer that question you only have to press 189 for the traffic report. It is very simple to use. But probably the best thing about the service is that it is being updated all the time. Journalists type new material directly onto the screen and whole pages of the magazine can be replaced in minutes.
London already has three services. One is transmitted (输送) by ITV while the other two on BBC. BBC engineers do not think that their idea will ever replace books and newspapers because they can be taken with you everywhere. But many people would agree that this is a breakthrough as great as the invention of printing, which could change not just our reading habits but our way of life thoroughly.
1. What can we know from the passage?| A．The magazine can be bought at any local newsstand. |
| B．Most of the postmen in London will lose their jobs some day. |
| C．The readers can get all kinds of information staying at home. |
| D．Everyone can read this magazine if they have a television. |
| A．Decoder. | B．Magazine. | C．Subject. | D．Program. |
| A．Help people find out the sum of certain figures. |
| B．Help people go shopping and have other entertainment. |
| C．Receive some special TV program for entertainment. |
| D．Read the information transmitted by TV signals. |
| A．A magazine printed and published in London. |
| B．A popular TV program about magazines. |
| C．An up-to-date way of keeping up to date. |
| D．A technology helping people to communicate. |
3 . Researchers at the University of Scotland have discovered a protein that can influence viruses developing and even can control cancer. Now the fight is on to fully understand how it works in the hope of turning the laboratory research into a treatment.
The protein is called Hira. Technically it is a histone（组蛋白）complex, but it is easier to understand in terms of what it can do. Three years ago Dr Taranjit Singh Rai and colleagues at the Beatson Cancer Institute and Glasgow University reported that Hira could possibly suppress the division of cells that causes cancer. In the course of that research, Dr Rai found out something unusual. In the lab they have established that the Hira protein has a role to play in the anti-viral fight, thus, making it have a fundamental role to play in fighting against cancer.
The trick in using it to fight diseases may lie in increasing Hira levels in our cells. “I think what researchers might be interested in is how we can increase levels of this protein to deal with the viruses better, Dr Rai said.
Dr Rai has led an international study and support has come from Cancer Research UK and the results are published in the journal Nucleic Acids Research. But there is a major concern that the research is still limited to the laboratory.
It is going to take some time, probably years, before this work can move out of the lab and into clinics and hospitals. But the researchers are excited Hira will one day be the basis of a new approach in medicine.
1. What does the underlined word “suppress" in Paragraph 2 probably mean?| A．Motivate. | B．Monitor. | C．Control. | D．Improve. |
| A．Hira has been used in the medical treatment. |
| B．More studies should be done on Hira. |
| C．The levels of Hira in cells are unchangeable. |
| D．Hira can bring about side effects. |
| A．Cautious. | B．Optimistic. |
| C．Disapproving. | D．Doubtful. |
| A．A new way to use the protein. |
| B．A new approach to improving the division of cells. |
| C．A new medicine that can fight diseases. |
| D．A protein that can stop viruses developing. |
4 . The London Interdisciplinary School (LIS), scheduled to open in 2021 with a target of admitting 100 students, will abandon traditional academic subjects and offer a three year bachelor of arts and sciences degree designed to deal with real-world issues. The curriculum is built around interdisciplinary problems—knife crime, childhood obesity, plastic pollution, among others—as well as quantitative and qualitative research skills. Employers like the Met Police and Virgin will provide project ideas and offer five -week work experience for students.
“We’re going to try and create a really transformational educational experience where all the people in the institution are waking up every morning and saying, ‘How can we take these brilliant young people and give them an amazing learning experience?” says Ed Fidoe, a co-founder of the LIS. The idea is similar to a U.S. liberal arts (通识教育) degree but also more specifically focused on multiple subjects— economics, psychology, sociology, statistic, etc. — to solve complex problems like childhood obesity. In other words, the problem, not the subject, sits at the center of the curriculum. The skills students develop, the founders hope, will more closely come into agreement with what an Al-infused, automated world demands: collaboration(协作) between people and machines, critical thinking, speaking and writing skill, and data management, to name just a few things.
The challenges of building a new university from scratch are daunting(令人生畏的): students have to sign up for, and pay for, something untested; all the teachers will have to teach in a totally new and different way; and there’s a risk that an interdisciplinary curriculum will be interesting but thin. Fidoe says it’s a tall order. “Are any 17-year-olds going to be crazy enough to come to something that doesn’t exist yet against something that’s been around for 150 years?” he says.
In the U.K, students apply through an admissions service center, and exam results are more important than anything else. On the contrary, at the LIS, students will instead apply directly during a pre-determined “selection day” where everyone is invited to participate. This day will include a face-to-face interview so that the college can better understand a student’s background, motivations, and passions.
1. What is the aim of the LIS?| A．To provide more and more project ideas for students. |
| B．To take a real-world approach to higher education. |
| C．To help employers to develop the students’ skills. |
| D．To conduct qualitative and quantitative research. |
| A．It is subject-centered. | B．It is based on AI technology. |
| C．It centers around social concerns. | D．It covers every aspect of society. |
| A．It’s interesting to teach in a new approach. |
| B．It’s bound to put the curriculum in order. |
| C．It’s exciting to take on new challenges. |
| D．It’s hard to build the new university. |
| A．It pays more attention to exam results. |
| B．It focuses more on the face-to-face interview. |
| C．It emphasizes students’ personal experiences and qualities . |
| D．It stresses the importance of is pre-determined “selection day”. |
Forget a pen and paper! This new-fashioned school relies on iPad’s, touch screens, projectors and even electronic locker keys. The Philadelphia School of the Future’s main goal is to equip students with the most knowledge in technology fields. While it struggled back when it opened in 2006, it is now one of the most in-demand schools.
Hamburger University
No, this school isn’t about perfecting the hamburger. Actually, it sort of is! The McDonald’s training facility is where restaurant managers go to learn the craft (手艺). From making a hamburger to dealing with complaining customers, it takes a lot to handle the running of Micky D’s. Also, imagine having Hamburger University on your resume (简历), now that would make you stand out from the crowd!
Real Life Clown (小丑) College
While movies and televisions shows love to make fun of kids and adults alike running off to join clown college or the circus but turns out, it wasn’t made up. The Ringling Brothers set up a number of courses and schools around the United States to teach willing students the art of clowning around. It’s a tough job alright? Imaging wearing a bright red nose while kids scream at you for a balloon animal.
Charles Howard Santa Claus School
Set up in the 1930’s this famous institution aims to produce the very best Santa’s. Potential Mr Claus’ will learn how to interact with children and of course, how to laugh like the real deal. While you wouldn’t take the course unless you planned on being a professional Santa, it sure would be fun to play dress up for a day!
1. What do we know about The Philadelphia School of the Future?| A．It has been run smoothly since 2006. |
| B．It employs digital device in fruitful ways. |
| C．Its popularity has declined in recent years. |
| D．It aims to spread knowledge in many fields. |
| A．The Philadelphia School of the Future. | B．Hamburger University. |
| C．Real Life Clown College. | D．Charles Howard Santa Claus School. |
| A．Entertaining. | B．Ancient. |
| C．Wild. | D．Unusual. |
6 . Should doctors ever lie to benefit their patient — to speed recovery or to cover the coming of death? In medicine as in law, government, and other lines of work, the requirements of honesty often seem dwarfed (变矮小) by greater needs: the need to protect from brutal news or to uphold a promise of secrecy; to advance the public interest.
What should doctors say, for example, to a 46-year-old man coming in for a routine physical checkup just before going on vacation with his family who, though he feels in perfect health, is found to have a form of cancer that will cause him to die within six months? Is it best to tell him the truth? If he asks, should the doctor reject that he is ill, or minimize fee gravity of the illness? Should they at least hide the truth until after the family vacation?
Doctors face such choices often. At times, they see important reasons to lie for the patient’s own sake; in their eyes, such lies differ sharply from self-serving ones.
Studies show that most doctors sincerely believe that the seriously ill patients do not want to know the truth about their condition, and that informing them risks destroying their hope, so that they may recover more slowly, or deteriorate (恶化) faster, perhaps even commit suicide (自杀).
But other studies show that, contrary to the belief of many physicians; a great majority of patients do want to be told the truth, even about serious illness, and feel cheated when they learn that they have been misled. We are also learning that truthful information, humanly conveyed, helps patients cope with illness: help them tolerate pain better, need less medicine, and even recover faster after operation.
There is urgent need to debate this issue openly. Not only in medicine, but in other professions as well, practitioners may find themselves repeatedly in difficulty where serious consequences seem avoidable only through deception (欺骗). Yet the public has every reason to know professional deception, for such practices are peculiarly likely to become deeply rooted, to spread, and to trust. Neither in medicine, nor in law, government, or the social sciences can there be comfort in the old saying, “What you don’t know can’t hurt you.”
1. What is the passage mainly about?| A．Whether patients really want to know the truth of their condition. |
| B．Whether patients should be told the truth of their illness. |
| C．Whether different studies should be carried on. |
| D．Whether doctors are honesty with their patients. |
| A．tell the patient the truth as soon as possible |
| B．choose to lie to him about his condition at that moment |
| C．tell him to shorten the family vacation |
| D．advise him to cancel the family vacation |
| A．Sometimes government tells lies because they need to meet the public interest. |
| B．Doctors believe if they lie, those seriously-ill patients will recover more quickly. |
| C．Truthful information helps patients deal with their illness in some cases. |
| D．Many patients don’t want to know the truth, especially about serious illness. |
| A．supportive | B．indifferent |
| C．opposed | D．neutral |
