1 . When he was two years old, Ben stopped seeing out of his left eye. His mother took him to the doctor and soon discovered he had cancer in both eyes. After possible treatments failed, doctors removed both his eyes. For Ben, vision was gone forever.
But by the time he was seven years old, he had developed a technique for feeling the world around him: he clicked with his mouth and listened for the returning echoes. This method enabled Ben to determine the locations of open doorways, people, parked cars, garbage cans, and so on. He was echolocating: bouncing his sound waves off objects in the environment and catching the reflections to build a mental model of his surroundings.
Echolocation may sound like an improbable feat for a human, but thousands of blind people have perfected this skill, just like Ben did. The event has been written about since at least the 1940s, when the word ''echolocation" was first invented in a science article titled “Echolocation by Blind Men , Bats, and Radar.”
How could blindness give rise to the amazing ability to understand the surroundings with one's ears? The answer lies in a gift on the brain; huge adaptability.
Mother Nature filled our brains with flexibility to adapt to circumstances. Just as sharp teeth and fast legs are useful for survival, so is the brain's ability to reset, which allows for learning, memory, and die ability to develop new skills.
In Ben's case, his brain's flexible wiring repurposed his visual cortex for processing sound. As a result, Ben had more neurons available to deal with listening information, and this increased processing power allowed Ben to interpret soundwaves in shocking detail. Ben's super-hearing proves a more general rule: the more brain area a particular sense has, the better it performs.
1. How did Ben “see” after he had his eyes removed?| A．By using a walking stick. | B．By asking others for help. |
| C．By inventing a new system. | D．By echolocating surroundings. |
| A．Skill. | B．Task. | C．Sense. | D．Invention. |
| A．He laughs best who laughs last. | B．Actions speak louder than words. |
| C．God shuts one door but he opens another. | D．Man becomes learned by asking questions. |
| A．Culture Shock. | B．Human Biology. |
| C．Scientific Technology. | D．Environmental Protection. |
2 . Our bachelor uncle lived with us, who loved hunting and fishing; and it was one of the pleasures of our young life to go fishing with him.
I remember my first fishing experience as if it happened yesterday. I was very excited when I received that first fishing pole from my uncle's hand, and went fishing with him. It was a still, sweet day of early summer; the leaves seemed greener, the flowers brighter, the birds merrier, than ever before.
My uncle considerately placed me at the most favorable point. I threw out my line as I had so often seen others, and waited anxiously for a bite, moving the bait (鱼饵) in rapid movement on the surface of the water just like the jumps of a frog. Nothing came of it. "Try again," said my uncle. Suddenly the bait sank out of sight. "Now for it," thought I, "here is a fish at last."
I made a strong pull, and brought up a tangle of weeds. Again and again I cast out my line with aching arms, and drew it back empty. "Try once more," he said, "we fishermen must have patience to catch a fish." "But remember, boy," he said, with his big smile, "never say you've caught a fish until it is on dry ground. It's no use showing off anything until it's done."
How often since I have been reminded of the fish that I did not catch! When I hear people boasting of a work as yet undone, I will remember the wise caution of my uncle in that particular instance takes the form of a proverb of universal application: "NEVER BOAST (吹嘘) OF YOUR FISH BEFORE YOU CATCH HIM."
1. From the underlined sentence in Paragraph 2, we can infer that_____________.| A．the leaves and the flowers were not so beautiful before. |
| B．the birds ate lots of fish and felt far merrier than before. |
| C．that day the author was much happier than ever before. |
| D．that day the uncle was much happier than ever before. |
| A．Don't count your chickens before they're hatched. |
| B．Never put off till tomorrow what you can do today. |
| C．One false step will make a great difference. |
| D．True friends have hearts that beat as one. |
| A．Strong and brave. | B．Wise and patient. |
| C．Patient and strong. | D．Lazy and talkative. |
| A．A sweet day of summer | B．My first fishing pole |
| C．The way to catch a fish | D．The fish I didn’t catch |
3 . A PhD student in Michigan defended her paper while wearing a skirt made of rejection letters she received while studying. 29-year-old Caitlin Kirby printed out 17 of her rejection letters — from scholarships, academic journals, and conferences — then folded each one into a fan. She connected them in rows, and by the end she designed the item into a skirt and wore it.
She said that the idea behind her unique clothing item came out of a desire to normalize rejection and take pride in overcoming it. "The whole process of revisiting those old letters and making that skirt sort of reminded me that you have to apply to a lot of things to succeed," she said. "A natural part of the process is to get rejected along the way."
Caitlin's adviser, Julie Libarkin, a professor of earth and environmental science at Michigan State University, also encourages the acceptance of failure in her students. Libarkin believes it's important for students to get into habit of applying for things, and to get used to the feeling of rejection, so she encourages them to chase after any opportunity that comes their way. If a student doesn't get the grant or the spot in the academic journal, that's okay. They'll still have learned something in the process.
As for Caitlin? Her rejections over the years have led to great things: Since her doctorate, she's won a scholarship to do further research on urban agriculture in Germany.
Currently, she's a post-doctoral researcher at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. As for what the future holds? "I'm prepared to receive a few more rejection letters along the way," she joked heartily, "Maybe I'll make a longer skirt."
1. What can we learn about Caitlin Kirby's rejection letters?| A．She received 17 rejections in total. |
| B．29 of her rejections were from journals. |
| C．The rejections were connected into a fan. |
| D．She made some rejection letters into a skirt. |
| A．Favorable. | B．Ambiguous. |
| C．Skeptical. | D．Opposed. |
| A．Creative and considerate. | B．Caring and determined. |
| C．Optimistic and humorous. | D．Generous and intelligent. |
| A．Hard work pays off. |
| B．Education is the entrance to success. |
| C．Self-respect earns more respect. |
| D．One needs to normalize failures. |
4 . The traditional Chinese lunar calendar(农历）divides the year into 24 solar terms(节气）．Start of Winter, the 19th solar term of the year,begins this year on Nov 7 and ends on Nov 21.
Start of Winter is the first solar term of winter,which means winter is coming and crops harvested in autumn should he stored up.
In ancient times, the Start of Winter was regarded as the beginning of winter, however,due to geographical factors, the actual winter time varies from place to place.
In fact,the Start of Winter is not the beginning of winter in terms of meteorology(气象学）。The weather every year is different, so the beginning of winter could be quite different.And as China is very large, it starts at different times in different areas.
The beginnings of the four seasons were important festivals in ancient times. Before the Start of Winter,the ancient emperor would take a shower and have no more meat.On that day,the emperor would lead his officials to the countryside and"welcome the winter".
People eat dumplings on the beginning of winter. Legend has it that in the late Eastern Han Dynasty,Zhang Zhongjing invented "Jiao Ear"(娇耳）to treat typhoid(伤寒） patients with ear frostbite(冻疮）.He cooked mutton,hot peppers and herbs to drive out the cold and warm up the body.He put these materials into a dough skin and made them into an ear shape.Since then,people have learned to make the food which became known as "dumpling" or jiaozi. Today there is still a saying that goes "Eat dumplings on Start of Winter Day, or your ears will be frostbitten.”
1. Which of the following is right about Start of Winter?| A．It is one of the solar terns in Chinese calendar. |
| B．People begin to harvest crops on this day. |
| C．Winter begins on November 7 this year. |
| D．It begins in different months in different places. |
| A．the Start of Winter |
| B．the change of weather |
| C．the important festival |
| D．the beginning of winter |
| A．Importance of Start of Winter. |
| B．Customs of Start of Winter. |
| C．Origin(起源）of Start of Winter. |
| D．Food eaten on Start of Winter. |
| A．Because dumplings can drive away typhoid. |
| B．Because they wish for good luck for themselves. |
| C．Because eating dumplings can warm up their ears. |
| D．Because they want to prevent the coming of winter. |
5 . After an earthquake most survivors can be expected to recover over time, particularly with the support of family and friends. Some families will be able to return to their normal life quickly, while others will have to contend with the destruction of their homes, medical problems, and injury to family members. Children especially will need time to recover from the loss of a loved one or a pet or from the closing down of their school.
Children often turn to adults for information, comfort and help. Parents should try to remain calm, answer children’s questions honestly and remain understanding when they see changes in their children’s behavior.
Children react differently to an earthquake depending on their ages, developmental levels and former experiences. Some will respond by withdrawing (不与人交往), while others will have angry outbursts (爆发). Parents should remain sensitive to each child’s reactions. Parents should spend time talking to their children，letting them know that it’s OK to ask questions and to share their worries. Although it may be hard to find time to have these talks, parents can use regular family mealtimes or bedtimes for them. They should answer questions briefly and honestly and be sure to ask their children for their opinions and ideas. Issues may come up more than once and parents should remain patient when you answer the questions again. For young children, parents, after talking about the earthquake, might read a favorite story or have a relaxing family activity to help them calm down. Parents should also tell children they are safe and spend extra time with them. They could play games outside or read together indoors. Most importantly, be sure to tell them you love them.
1. The underlined phrase “contend with” in Paragraph 1 can be replaced by “________”.| A．deal with | B．make up | C．put off | D．turn back |
| A．read a favorite story to comfort them |
| B．ask them to help do some housework |
| C．be patient and answer the question again |
| D．take them out to play games |
| A．Keep a close watch on children’s behavior. |
| B．Tell the children they are safe. |
| C．Tell the children you love them. |
| D．Ask educational experts for help. |
| A．All people will recover from an earthquake quickly. |
| B．Children may need a longer time to recover after an earthquake. |
| C．Children should turn to their classmates for help after an earthquake. |
| D．Children react in the same way as adults do to an earthquake. |
6 . A new device works like a solar panel, except that it doesn't harvest energy from the sun. It absorbs energy from the cold night sky.
A prototype(原型)of the device produced enough electricity at night to power a small light bulb. A bigger version might one day light rooms or charge phones. It also could power electronics in remote or low-resource areas that lack electricity.
The device makes use of the temperature difference between Earth and outer space.It then uses that difference to create electricity. As long as one side of it is cooler than the other, the generator can produce electricity.The cooler side faces the sky and is attached to an aluminum plate. That plate is sealed beneath a transparent(透明的)cover and surrounded with insulation(隔热材料)to keep out heat.The bottom of the generator is attached to an exposed aluminum plate. That plate is warmed by the local air. At night, the top plate can get a couple of degrees Celsius cooler than the bottom of the generator.
Researchers tested a 20-centimeter prototype one clear December night in Stanford,California. The generator produced up to about 25 milliwatts of power per square meter of device. That was enough power to light a small light-emitting diode, or LED bulb. Further improvements might increase its production to at least 500 milliwatts per square meter. To do that, the system might need more insulation around the cool top plate.
The device also could help power remote weather stations or other environmental devices,says Aaswath Raman. He is a materials scientist who worked on the device at the University of California, Los Angeles. This may be useful in polar regions that don't see sunlight for months at a time,Raman says. “If you have some low-power load and you need to power it through three months of darkness, this might be a way.”
1. What can we know about the new device?| A．It gains energy from the sun. | B．It 's been widely used in life. |
| C．It is cooler than a solar panel. | D．It'll be popular in special areas. |
| A．Application fields of the device. | B．The developing process of the device. |
| C．The working principle of the device. | D．Significant effects of the device. |
| A．By putting more insulation around the top plate. |
| B．By using it in extremely cold and clear nights. |
| C．By making its bottom cooler than the top plate. |
| D．By powering remote environmental devices. |
| A．A Device Using the Cold Night Sky to Produce Electricity |
| B．A Device Bringing New Hope for Those in the Cold Night |
| C．The Difference Between a Solar Panel and a New Device |
| D．The Temperature Difference Between Earth and Outer Space |
7 . Vinegar is great. It makes salad, fries and dumplings taste better, and you can even clean your windows with it. And now, according to scientists, it may even help the planet’s population survive climate change.
Researchers from the RIKEN Center for Sustainable Resource Science (CSRS) in Japan have found that growing plants in vinegar makes them more resistant to droughts. This could mean that in the future, worries about climate change affecting the world’s supply of food will be much less.
The discovery was made after the researchers studied the Arabidopsis, a plant known for its ability to survive in dry weather. It was found that when the plant was placed in drought-like conditions, it produced a chemical called acetate(醋酸盐)—the main component of vinegar.
After discovering this, the scientists experimented further by adding acetate to the soil of other plants, and they stopped giving them water completely. After leaving the plants for 14 days, they found that the ones treated with acetate had survived, while the untreated plants had dried up and died. It’s hoped that this simple method of survival could soon be used to help farmers in dry countries keep their crops alive.
Jong Myong Kim, the co-author of the study, tells Popular Science that he’s already been in touch with people all over the world who are interested in trying this simple and cost-effective method out for themselves from flower growing companies to amateur gardeners. Although at this point keeping thirsty plants alive isn’t as easy as just pouring vinegar over them, Kim says he and his team are working on making the process as simple as possible. “Now we are trying to cooperate with some farmers, and also some companies, to make a method of applying this system,” he says.
And for those of us who always forget to ask our neighbors to water our plants when we go away, hopefully this means the end of returning home from a trip to find our favorite flowers have died.
1. What is mentioned as a feature of the Arabidopsis?| A．It produces acetate in wet conditions. |
| B．It is mainly composed of acetate. |
| C．It can survive in nowhere but desert. |
| D．It can be tolerant of drought. |
| A．find a simple way of keeping the crops of farmers alive |
| B．stop watering them |
| C．check the effectiveness of the acetate to resist drought |
| D．treat the dried-up plants |
| A．Objective. | B．Unsupportive. |
| C．Indifferent. | D．Optimistic. |
| A．Vinegar May End Hunger |
| B．Vinegar Keeps Plants Living Forever |
| C．How to Survive Climate Change |
| D．Plants Need Water |
8 . Alexa is Amazon’s cloud-based voice service available on hundreds of millions of devices from Amazon and third-party device manufacturers. With Alexa, you can build natural voice experiences that offer customers a way to interact with the technology they use every day.
Alexa is always eavesdropping (窃听). (So are Siri, Google Assistant, and any other virtual assistant you invite into your home.) This is and isn’t as horrible as it sounds. Although it’s true that the device can hear everything you say within range of its microphones, it is listening for its wake word before it starts recording.Once it hears that —“Alexa” is the default (默认), but there are other options — everything in the following few seconds is considered to be a command or a request and is sent to (and stored on) servers in the cloud, where the correct response is triggered. Think of a smart speaker like a dog: It’s always listening, but it understands only “cookie,” “walk,” or “Buddy.” Everything else goes right over its head.
Every time Alexa hears a command, Amazon — its parent company — has just learned something about you. Maybe the company learned only that you like to listen to the Police, or that you like funny jokes, or that you turn your lights off at 11 p.m. every night. If you were to say “Alexa, where should I bury the body?” you’re not going to have the police showing up at your door. (I know because I’ve tried it.)
Alexa does make mistakes.Sometimes this can be funny, such as when Alexa hears its wake word in a TV show.Other times it’s more serious, including an instance in 2018 when Alexa mistakenly sent an entire private conversation to a random person’s Echo device. Occasionally there are even humans listening to your request for weather reports or trying to figure out what you meant when you added “mangosteens” to your shopping list. Sound disturbing? You likely already agreed to it in the app’s terms of use when you installed the device.
What bits of privacy are you willing to sacrifice for the convenience provided by a smart speaker? If you trust that Amazon’s intentions are no more immoral than getting a better idea of what you want to buy on Prime Day, then you have your answer. If you worry about your private information falling into the hands of the wrong people, then you have another answer.
1. Why does the author compare smart speakers to dogs?| A．To show smart speakers are life companions like dogs. |
| B．To show smart speakers are sensitive to users’ commands. |
| C．To show smart speakers are woken by specific words. |
| D．To show wake words for smart speakers are different. |
| A．The tech company knows less than users imagine. |
| B．The tech company is spying on users’ everyday life.. |
| C．The tech company turns a blind eye to some crimes. |
| D．The tech company is interested in users’ music taste. |
| A．All-round. |
| B．Imperfect. |
| C．Funny. |
| D．Immoral. |
| A．It is a matter of opinion. |
| B．Privacy is a high price to pay. |
| C．It is part and parcel of life. |
| D．Convenience always comes first. |
9 . Best Gifts to Children This Season
Marble (弹珠游戏) Circuit
With brightly colored pieces and a seemingly simple layout, Marble Circuit doesn’t present as a tough logic game—but don’t underestimate (低估) its difficulty. After drawing a challenge card, players must arrange pieces and fill in holes on the game board to allow the right number of marbles to run through the channels and into each box at the bottom of the board. Because it requires more patience and abstract, special thinking skills than some other kinds of logic puzzles, Marble Circuit is recommended for the over-8 crowd. (Mind Ware, $ 24. 95)
Botzees
Kids can follow directions or use their imaginations to build a robot out of the 130 blocks, and then command it to dance, sing, drum and light up with the companion app on a smart device (设备) or tablet. Though the robot-building appealed to younger testers, kids aged 5 and up enjoyed the toy’s advanced features (特色). (Pai Technology, $ 99. 99)
How to Code a Rollercoaster
Just as coding can be used to tell stories, this is a story about coding. This picture book does a good job of introducing and explaining what code is, how computers understand it, and introducing common coding terms—variables, loops, if/then. The volume is part of the popular “Girls Who Code” series, but intended for the younger reader. (Penguin Random House, $ 17. 99)
Code Like a Girl
Miriam Peskowitz features women in the computer science field in this how-to book. It shows how people are working to make tech a more inclusive place to code. Written with a cookbook-like feel, the book provides encouraging, step-by-step tips and tricks for learning the Python computer language, and more. (Penguin Random House, $ 21. 99)
1. What can we know about the gifts?| A．Botzees enables its players to build a robot as they want. |
| B．Marble Circuit is an easy logic game for those 7-year-olds. |
| C．How to Code a Rollercoaster is written by a famous writer. |
| D．Code Like a Girl is about female scientists’ achievements. |
| A．Botzees. | B．How to Code a Rollercoaster. |
| C．Code Like a Girl. | D．Marble Circuit. |
| A．They are for teenagers. |
| B．They are related to technology. |
| C．They have the picture introductions. |
| D．They can be bought on Penguin Random House. |
10 . He Zehui, a Chinese nuclear physicist, accomplished great things in physics and became an outstanding scientist.
Her family is famous for producing three famous women scientists, including her two sisters. She graduated from Tsinghua University in 1936 with a degree in physics, and then went on to study at the Technical University of Berlin, where she was the top in her class, outperforming her future husband Qian Sanqiang — China's "father of the atomic bomb”. In 1940, she earned a Ph. D. in Engineering.
The couple made great discoveries in the field of uranium fission （铀核裂变），which drew global attention and earned them worldwide reputations, also marking a milestone in the development of China's experimental fission physics. Many Western media called the couple the “Marie Curie and Pierre Curie of China”・
As one of the pioneers in nuclear science and technology in China, Professor He contributed a great deal to nuclear physics. During the 1950s, she started the research and development of nuclear emulsions（核乳胶）in China and their research reached the advanced world level at that time. He and her research group took the lead in building China's first nuclear reactor and accelerator. She was awarded the first Award of the National Prize of Natural Sciences for making outstanding achievements in supporting the national program of nuclear weapon development.
Throughout her career, He conquered many obstacles, and was always on the front lines of China's science-related work. She published dozens of papers yet placed little value on personal fame. The world's top physicists recognized He as a famous scientist, “ Chinese Madame Curie”.
He passed away in Beijing in 2011 at the age of 97, nearly 20 years after Qian Sanqiang. She dedicated herself to science, living a simple life, always nurturing young researchers and maintaining the highest standards that she had always valued. She loved her country and science; to both she is now an icon.
1. What is the focus of paragraph 2 about He Zehui?| A．Identity background. | B．Character personalities. |
| C．Education experiences. | D．Profession competence. |
| A．He died following his wife in 1991. |
| B．He won the National Prize of Natural Sciences. |
| C．He assisted He Zehui to develop fission physics. |
| D．He is also a remarkable Chinese scientist. |
| A．For her great contributions to nuclear physics. |
| B．For her accomplishment in the atomic bomb. |
| C．For her continuous achievement in natural science. |
| D．For her research of nuclear emulsions. |
| A．Ambitious, talented, conservative and determined. |
| B．Unselfish, patriotic, indifferent to fame and devoted to science. |
| C．Aggressive, imaginative, strong in mind and kind in heart. |
| D．Knowledgeable, awesome, creative and sociable. |
