1 . Things to do in Las Vegas
Explore the food and drink scene in Chinatown
It’s a bit of a secret, but Las Vegas has one of the most amazing Chinatown dining scenes in the country. There is incredible variety to be enjoyed throughout the district, such as roast meats at Raku, spicy Sichuan at Chengdu Taste, etc. Chinatown is about two miles of Spring Mountain Road easily reachable by taxi or rideshare.
Compete in esports
We already know video games are big business. Now they’ve become their own form of competitive sport. Las Vegas is fast becoming a centre for esports. Visit the HyperX Esports Arena at the Luxor, a multi-level venue that hosts tournaments, special events and stations for anyone to play.
Siegfried & Roy’s Secret Garden
Siegfried & Roy’s Secret Garden at the Mirage allows guests to enjoy an up-close experience will nature’s most charming creatures. Take a tour and mix with bottlenose dolphins, white tigers, white lions and so on. You can even upgrade to a VIP package and work alongside dolphin trainers.
Soak in the views at the Eiffel Tower
The centerpiece of the Paris Las Vegas is a half-size replica (复制品) of the Eiffel Tower. Take a lift to the observation platform to be absorbed in the views 46 stories above the Las Vegas Strip. Don’t forget to take a few photos. A new light show lightens the tower every 30 minutes after dark. If you’re hungry, try distinctive cuisine at the Eiffel Tower Restaurant, which has its：own mid-level views of the Strip.
1. Where can visitors enjoy various food?| A．At Chinatown. | B．In the HyperX Esports Arena. |
| C．On the top of the Eiffel Tower. | D．At Siegfried & Roy’s Secret Carden. |
| A．Food lovers. | B．Animal fans. | C．Came players. | D．Bird watchers. |
| A．A light show. | B．A sight-seeing lift. |
| C．A 46th-story restaurant. | D．An observation platform. |
2 . It is possible that interstellar（星际的）space explorers could face problems communicating with all the arrivals, their spoken language having changed in isolation（与世隔绝）along the way.
Therefore, a new paper by two American scholars Andrew McKenzie and Jeffrey Punske recommends that such crews include members with knowledge of what is likely to occur and how to adapt. They co-authored the article “Language Development During Interstellar Travel”, in which they discuss the concept of language change over time.
In a recent interview, McKenzie gamed it out.
“If you’ re on a spaceship for 10 generations; new concepts will emerge, new social issues will come up, and people will create ways of talking about them,” McKenzie said, and these will become the vocabulary particular to the ship. People on Earth might never know about these words. And the further away you get, the less you’re going lo talk to people back home.
So if we have Earth English and spaceship English, you will have to learn a little Earth English to send messages back, or to read the information that came with the spaceship.
“Also, keep in mind that the language back on Earth is going to change, too. So they may well be communicating like we’d be using Latin-communicating with this version of the language nobody uses.”
The authors also point out that an adaptation in the form of sign language will be needed for use with and among crew members who, genetics tell us，are sure to be born deaf.
“Every new spaceship will essentially offload linguistic（语言学）immigrants to a foreign land. Given the certainly that issues such as whether they will be discriminated will arise, and the uncertainty of exactly how they will progress, we strongly suggest that any crew exhibit strong levels of linguistic training in addition to simply knowing the required languages. There will be need for an informed linguistic policy on board that can be maintained without referring back to Earth-based regulations.”
If a study of the linguistic changes aboard ship could be performed, it would “add to its scientific value,” McKenzie and Punske conclude.
1. What does the underlined phrase “game it out” mean?| A．Offer a new concept. | B．Make a further study. |
| C．Give a detailed explanation. | D．Lose the game completely. |
| A．They will forget Earth English. | B．They will be using sign language. |
| C．They may have their own language system. | D．They may make adaptations to Earth English. |
| A．Through Earth-based linguistic policy. | B．Through adequate language training. |
| C．By knowing the required language. | D．By referring to informed rules. |
| A．Why space travelers change their language. |
| B．How language is changed in the future time. |
| C．The language challenge during interstellar travel. |
| D．New concepts of language created in a spaceship. |
3 . I recently gave a talk about zero waste living to university students. During the Q&A afterward, the unavoidable question of cost came up. One student pointed out that he “can’t afford to buy $30 toothpaste.” While the $30 price may be a bit generous, the student did raise a good point -that buying zero-waste products is often more expensive than the overly-packaged conventional ones.
I tried to handle the question as best I could in the moment, but I kept thinking about it afterward. I’m writing about it because I’m sure many others have similar doubts about their own abilities to reduce waste without breaking the bank.
First, once you begin to explore the zero waste world, you quickly realize how pointless many products in your life are. You start using fewer, buying less,and using them interchangeably. Soon you’ll find yourself spending less money overall, which balances the higher cost of the zero waste ones. The total number of products in my bathroom decreased by 50% when I became more focused on waste reduction.
Second, if you stop to examine those zero-waste products, you’ll see that they are usually of superior quality. Companies rarely redesign their packaging to be reusable without also upgrading them to be healthier, safer, and greener. So you’re paying extra money not just for non-disposable（一次性的）packaging, but also for a better product that does less harm.
In my experience, higher-quality skincare products last longer than cheap ones. My personal habits have developed gradually, too. Knowing an item costs more leads me to use it in small quantities and use it to the very end. Moreover, I sometimes even make my own. The price-per-unit is cheap.
To quote Lindsey Miles, a zero waste blogger, “Zero waste is not about what we can afford to buy. It is about what we choose not to buy.” To that student who got me thinking about this, I’d recommend starting with what matters to you. Over time you will figure out where you get the most value for your money. In return, you’ll gain a sense of liberation from the consumer culture, and a rewarding sense of accomplishment.
1. What can we benefit from zero waste products?| A．Saving regularly. | B．Balancing totally. | C．Living conveniently. | D．Spending -economically. |
| A．Zero-cost. | B．Top-grade. | C．Non-breakable. | D．Well-packed. |
| A．Buy what is necessary. | B．Choose what is affordable. |
| C．Consider where we save money. | D．Learn what consumer culture means. |
| A．To oppose wasting. | B．To analyze a social issue. |
| C．To promote a new product. | D．To advocate eco-consumption. |
4 . Ann started to work last summer. In order to have a holiday, she saved as much as she could and, this January, she booked a package tour to Spain. She left London airport early on the morning of the first Saturday in August. She was very excited, as this was her first trip abroad. When she arrived at Barcelona airport, the weather was beautiful.
At the hotel, she found that her Spanish money wasn’t in her handbag. All she had was a small purse with ten English pounds in it!
Ann found a place to change her English money for Spanish money. She would stay here for two weeks. After changing her money, Ann bought some cheese, some bread and some oranges. When she got back to the hotel, she told the tour guide that her doctor had told her not to eat much food, so she’d just have breakfast each day. This was all right, as she knew breakfast was included in the price of hotel.
For the rest of her holiday, Ann swam in the hotel or lay on the beach. She also went for long walks with Jane, a Scottish girl. However, when the others went to interesting places, Ann always said she wasn’t well. In fact, her holiday wasn’t bad, except that she was always hungry.
On the last day, Jane asked her why she never ate with them in the hotel restaurant. The food was excellent. Ann told her all about her money problem. Jane looked at her for a minute, and then said, “But didn’t you know? The price of this tour includes everything!”
1. Why was Ann so excited about the trip?| A．Because she had never been abroad. |
| B．Because she had saved enough money. |
| C．Because she had booked a cheap tour. |
| D．Because she had found a good job. |
| A．She didn’t find her purse. |
| B．She couldn’t find a place to change money. |
| C．She couldn’t find her Spanish money. |
| D．She didn’t understand Spanish. |
| A．she wanted to see a doctor. |
| B．she doubted the price of the hotels. |
| C．she had bought some food for her meals. |
| D．she would only take breakfast. |
| A．Ann was not allowed to eat much. |
| B．Ann’s Spanish money was stolen. |
| C．Ann missed some meals included in the tour. |
| D．Ann didn’t like the restaurant and the holiday. |
5 . Remote work, especially in a world affected by COVID-19, naturally leads to "flex time". Employees with small children might be getting the majority of their work done at night after the kids are in bed. Working early, you quit early. Starting late, work late.
With your teammates working during different hours, you may be getting messages at all hours of the day, night, or weekend, making you always available. That might be necessary in some industries during these challenging times, but certainly not in every industry and not for everyone in any industry. Once this takes root in your company culture, it becomes difficult to "reset" later. Besides, “always-on” isn't sustainable (可持续的), which increases pressure and quickly turns your company into an unpleasant place to work.
If your company adapts "flex time", how can you accommodate your employees’ needs while still protecting your culture and your team's work-life balance? The key is to encourage flex time while also setting clear "communication hours" (for example, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m.）. Outside of those hours, employees should be encouraged to change their settings to "Do Not Disturb" and to use the “schedule send” feature of their email client so that messages only get delivered during communication hours.
If messages must happen outside of the set communication hours, such as for urgent or time-sensitive issues, make employees phone or text only. This way people can comfortably close down all other communication channels like email, WeChat, WeCom, etc. The act of having to call or text someone is usually enough to give the sender a pause to think, "Do I really need this person now, or can the communication wait?" This allows everyone on your team to work whenever is appropriate for them, but not feel like they have to work all the time to accommodate everyone else's schedule. A word of “Thanks for being so responsive” to someone answering an email outside of the defined communication hours definitely brings empathy (同理心) which smooths the urgency while also cultivating the trust and culture.
1. What may result in the phenomenon of "always-on"?| A．COVID-19. | B．Some industries. |
| C．Increasing pressure. | D．Flexible working time. |
| A．The phenomenon of "flex time". | B．The disadvantages of “flex time”. |
| C．The necessity of “flex time”. | D．The company culture of “flex time”, |
| A．It helps to make up for the shortcomings of “flex time". |
| B．It should be set from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. |
| C．Employees mustn't be disturbed within the hours. |
| D．Employees are still responsive outside of the hours. |
| A．Neutral. | B．Supportive. |
| C．Opposed. | D．Indifferent. |
6 . Dogs feel their way through the world with their noses. Researchers have started imitating this super skill with an artificial-intelligence-based detective tool. In a study published in February in PLOS ONE, a multinational team reported an AI-powered system that is as accurate as trained dogs at correctly identifying cases of prostate cancer from urine samples. Andreas Mershin, a research scientist from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, wants to eventually integrate the technology into smartphones: There would be a tiny sensor in the phone with AI software running in the cloud.
Prostate cancer, the second most deadly cancer in men worldwide, is difficult to detect. The most widely used test can miss 15 percent of cancers. Trained dogs, on the other hand, were able to identify patients with prostate cancer from urine samples more than 96 percent of the time. Yet dogs can get bored and tired, so researchers want to develop an AI system that works more consistently.
Living cells produce chemicals that come out from the skin, blood, urine and breath. Artificial noses, including the "Nano Nose" that Mershin and one of his colleagues developed, can already detect those chemicals at the same parts-per-billion concentration as dogs. The team added to the chemical sensing an artificial neural network—a type of AI algorithm that can learn from looking at examples how to identify faces, for instance.
As the 2015 Journal of Urology study showed, dogs can be trained to reach more than 96 percent accuracy, and the AI can be trained to reach that same rate. Mershin plans to train the AI algorithm using data from the "Nano Nose", which is currently one third the size of an iPhone 10 and could be further shrunk to be integrated into smartphones.
1. What is the Nano Nose?| A．A device. | B．A method. |
| C．A database. | D．A research team. |
| A．It has the ability to sense chemicals. | B．It can collect samples in the cloud. |
| C．It has the minimum error. | D．It can ensure consistency. |
| A．Made smaller. | B．Cut shorter. | C．Expanded. | D．Upgraded. |
| A．To train dogs to detect diseases. | B．To identify artificial faces. |
| C．To produce AI noses to detect diseases. | D．To add an AI sensor to the smartphone. |
7 . I was so worried about handing my little boy over during his first week of school, but you made it easier. You smiled at him like a mother would at her own child.You showed warmth and your hugs were always on offer.After a day in class with you, Charlie would come home singing. Whenever I hear Do Your Ears Hang Low or see him stretching to the sky when singing about the days of the week, I will think of you.I didn't tell you at the time, but I loved your morning song so much that I implemented it in my own class (I'm a teacher, too).
When you saw I was troubled, you hugged me with your smile and I knew everything would be OK. You made parents feel as cared for as our children.In the short time I knew you; you taught me about the type of teacher I desire to be. You never seemed disturbed by the mountain of paperwork or impossible work-life balance that comes with the role. Instead, you appeared to embrace every minute.
I can't understand why you've been taken from us. Telling Charlie was one of the hardest things I've had to do.I'm not sure he fully understands, but he told me he loved you and has been asking whether your"robot powers"will work in heaven.
A friend once told me white feathers are angels telling us that loved ones in heaven are well. On the first day collecting the children without you，a white feather floated through the sleet (雨夹雪). Watching the younger ones bounce and gigle as they tried to catch it was beautiful.
I wish I had told you all of this when you were with us.I hope that you knew how you brought happiness to everyone you met and how loved you were. Goodbye, Dear Friend.
1. What does the underlined word "implemented" in Paragraph l probably mean?| A．Looked back on. | B．Looked forward to. |
| C．Thought highly of. | D．Made use of. |
| A．They need to sing songs before children. |
| B．They need to feel the affection as well. |
| C．They find it hard to handle their kids. |
| D．They find it necessary to hug the teachers. |
| A．inform us of the loved one's death |
| B．remind us it's time for a snowball fight |
| C．tell us the teacher stays in our mind after death |
| D．warn us of the falling snow when collecting children |
| A．To make a remark on Charlie's teacher. |
| B．To say goodbye to her fellow teacher. |
| C．To take pity on her fellow teacher. |
| D．To recall and show respect for Charlie's teacher. |
8 . Delivering medical supplies to hard-to-reach places has been an issue for years. Worldwide, more than two billion people lack access to essential life-saving supplies, such as blood and vaccines（疫苗）. In the African nation of Rwanda, for example, several remote health clinics do not have sufficient quantities of blood and other healthcare products. A company called Zipline is trying to address this problem. It uses drones（无人机）to transport medical supplies around Rwanda. A drone can now deliver medicine in 30 minutes.
Drones are also assisting emergency organizations after natural disasters. In 2015, for example, a powerful hurricane destroyed thousands of buildings in the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu. Around 75,000 people lost their homes, and at least 15 died. After the storm, drones photographed the damage. These surveys helped emergency workers assess the situation quickly and answer important questions: Which areas were hardest hit? Were crops damaged? What roads were affected?
Drones are also helping to protect wildlife populations in parts of Africa and Asia. Every year, poachers（偷猎者） kill thousands of elephants, rhinos, and other endangered animals. To stop them; the environmental organization World Wildlife Fund is using drones to find where poachers are hiding and if they are carrying weapons. Equipped with infrared video cameras, drones can easily identify people and animals at night. These drones are not only helpful, they are affordable.
As well as finding poachers, drones can be used to track animals. Scientists at Liverpool John Moores University （LJMU）plan to employ drones for an ambitious conservation project: documenting the world's wildlife. The long-term project will start with scientific surveys of animal populations. And animal species can then be identified using special software.
Ironically（讽刺地）, a tool originally created for military use is increasingly being used to save lives instead of taking then. Drones have the potential to provide solutions that will benefit both humans and animals.
1. What does the text focus on?| A．Importance of saving lives. |
| B．Development of drones. |
| C．Applications of drones. |
| D．Ways to protect animals. |
| A．Helping predict disasters. |
| B．Providing data for evaluation. |
| C．Organizing emergency workers. |
| D．Reporting local weather. |
| A．Track poachers. |
| B．Design new practical drones. |
| C．Record wild animals in detail. |
| D．Develop an assessing software. |
| A．They need to be fitted with video cameras. |
| B．They are unavailable to ordinary people. |
| C．They should be limited to military use. |
| D．They have a promising prospect. |
9 . Can a fish be depressed? This question has been on my head ever since I spent a night in a hotel across from a sad-looking fish. His name was Bruce Lee.
The pleasant woman at the front desk assured me that he was well taken care of. Was I incorrectly assuming his laziness was a sign of being upset?
When I sought answers from scientists, I assumed that they would find the question ridiculous. But they did not. New research has been totally shifting the way that scientists think about fish cognition (认知)，building a case that pet and owner are not nearly as different as many assume. The neurochemistry (神经化学）is so similar that it’s scary, said Julian Pittman，a professor. We tend to think of them as simple living things, but there is a lot we don't give fish credit for.
Dr. Pittman likes working with fish, in part, because they are so obvious about their depression. A zebrafish gets dropped in a new tank. If after five minutes it is hanging out in the lower half, it’s depressed. If it’s swimming up top, then it’s not.
Is depression the right word? There's the obvious issue that we cannot ask animals how they feel, says Dr. Diego A. Pizzagali . Neither fish nor rats can catch the entire range of depression as we know it.
There is a heated debate about whether anxious or depressed is a more appropriate term. But what has convinced Dr. Pittman, and others, over the past ten years is watching the way the zebrafish lose interest in just about everything: food, toys, exploration, just like clinically depressed people who are withdrawn. The same is true of fish.
One of the things we're finding is that fish are naturally curious and seek novel things out, said Dr. Braithwaite. In other words, your goldfish is probably bored. To help get rid of depression, she urges introducing new objects to the tank or switching up the location of items.
1. What is Paragraph 3 mainly about?| A．Fish are considered simple living things. |
| B．Pet and owner are always assumed the same. |
| C．Scientists have learnt a lot about fish cognition. |
| D．Fish and human beings have something in common. |
| A．Quiet and shy. |
| B．Happy and excited. |
| C．Interested and careful. |
| D．Disappointed and surprised. |
| A．They need oxygen from the air. |
| B．They are not born to be curious. |
| C．They lack new things to explore. |
| D．They can’t locate the positions of items. |
| A．Fish Depression Is not a Joke. |
| B．Fish Can Be a Boring Pet. |
| C．Fish Need Better Care More. |
| D．Fish Cognition Does not Exist. |
10 . The new year always brings predictions. You know who gets them right?
BLUETOOTH
In his futuristic 1953 novel Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury anticipated Bluetooth, describing wireless earphones that allowed for "an electronic ocean of sound, of music and talk" to be transferred through the air. Imagine how thrilled he would have been with a Bluetooth toaster! That was the idea behind Griffin's Connected Toaster, which warned you via smartphone when your toast was done. At $ 100, this baby cost a lot of bread, which may be why it was discontinued just two years after launch.
SMART WATCH
The Apple Watch lets you chat, play games, and watch videos on a device fastened to your wrist. Cool, huh? The Jetsons thought so… in 1962 — when Steve Jobs was still in second grade!
WI-FI
Nikola Tesla called it! In 1909, the famous electrical engineer told the New York Times, "It will soon be possible to send wireless messages all over the world so simply that any individual can carry and operate his own equipment." No doubt he was thinking of the Kérastase Hair Coach brush, which measured brushing speed and employed a micro-phone to listen to your hair, all to compute an overall hair-quality score sent to your smartphone. (Alas, it too is gone.)
GPS
Writer Arthur C. Clarke (2001: A Space Odyssey) saw a world in which no one got lost. In 1956，he wrote that satellites “could make possible a position-finding grid (铁网) whereby anyone could locate himself by means of a couple of dials on an instrument about the size of a watch.” Clarke didn't mention that his system might also track another person, such as a criminal. Last year, the New York City police arrested a robber who was wearing a GPS ankle monitor — because he was still on probation (缓刑) for a prior crime.
1. Which of the predictions is the earliest?| A．BLUETOOTH. | B．SMART WATCH, |
| C．WI-FI. | D．GPS. |
| A．Too expensive. | B．Out of date. |
| C．A little awkward | D．Energy-consuming. |
| A．A GPS ankle monitor. |
| B．A robber-arresting instrument. |
| C．A watch that could see the world. |
| D．An instrument that could locate a person. |
