1 . Most teenagers are still trying to find their passion and purposes in life. However, not Gitanjali Rao. The 15-year-old girl has been coming up with innovative solutions to worldwide problems since she was ten. It is, therefore, not surprising that the teenager has won the honor of “America's Top Young Scientist”.
In the third grade, Rao was inspired to build a device after witnessing the shocking story unfold in Flint, Michigan, where cost-cutting measures led to the use of a polluted river as the city's primary water supply and incredibly high levels of lead made their way into people's drinking water.
After two months' research, Rao designed a small and portable device that used sensors to instantly detect lead in water. Called Tethys, after the Greek Goddess(女神) of freshwater, it attaches to a cellphone and informs the residents via an app if their drinking water contains lead. The design earned her the 3M Young Scientist Challenge in 2017. She is currently working with scientists and medical professionals to test Tethys' potential and hopes the device will be ready for commercial use by 2022.
Later, Rao took on another social issue-drug addiction. Her app, called Epione, which won the Health Pillar Prize at the TCS Ignite Innovation Student Challenge in May 2019, is designed to catch drug addiction in young adults before it's too late.
More recently, the teenager has developed an app named Kindly, which uses artificial intelligence technology to detect possible signs of cyberbullying(网上欺凌). When users type in a word or phrase, Kindly is able to pick it up if it's bullying, and then it gives the option to edit it or send it the way it is. It gives them the chance to rethink what they are saying so that they know what to do next time.
All kinds of awesome, Gitanjali Rao has been selected from 5,000 equally impressive nominees(被提名人) for TIME Magazine's first-ever “Kid of the Year”.
1. What gave Rao the idea of inventing the device Tethys?| A．The incident of lead pollution. |
| B．The issue with drug addiction. |
| C．The shortage of water supplies. |
| D．The high cost of purifying water. |
| A．It'll remove metal from water. |
| B．It'll make it to market soon. |
| C．It'll win her a higher prize. |
| D．It'll be fitted to cellphones. |
| A．Receive pre-warning signals of threat. |
| B．Input words into a computer automatically. |
| C．Choose from secure social networking sites. |
| D．Weigh their words before posting them online. |
| A．Ambitious and humble. | B．Optimistic and adventurous. |
| C．Talkative and outstanding. | D．Creative and productive. |
2 . To many people, honey bees symbolize wealth, sustainability and environmentalism. But as a honey bee researcher, I have to tell you that only the first item on that list is defensible. Although they are important for agriculture, honey bees, which are usually imported from outside the local area, also disturb natural ecosystems by competing with native bees.
For several years the media has told us that bee populations are under threat. In response to this media campaign to"save the bees", raising honey bees has become a popular hobby. But as a species, honey bees are least in need of saving. Much media attention is given to honey bees at the expense of native bees, and this has led many citizens—myself once included—to mistakenly believe they are doing a good thing for the environment by raising honey bees. Unfortunately, theyare probably doing more harm than good.
“Beekeeping is for people; it's not a conservation practice, "says Shelly Smith, an environmental science professor. People mistakenly think keeping honey bees also helps the native bees, which are at risk of extinction. That's wrong.”
Smith and her research team recently surveyed one thousand local people in Canada and found that they had a surprisingly poor understanding of bee types and their roles in promoting flower growth. Most people’s attention is on saving honey bees when, from a conservationist's point of view, native bees are the ones in more need of support.
“To make matters worse, beekeeping companies and various non-science-based projects have financially benefited from the decline of native bee populations, "Smith explains. "These companies pretend they are interested in saving bees but their actions are actually damaging the native bee populations.”
The introduction of honey bees increases competition with native bee populations for food,putting even more pressure on the wild species that are already in decline. Honey bees are extremely efficient food gatherers and take over almost all local flower resources, thus leading to damaging competition—that is, where one species uses up a resource, not leaving enough to go around.
1. Which statement does the writer argue for?| A．Honey bees endanger native bees. |
| B．Honey bees are a symbol of wealth. |
| C．Honey bees are important for agriculture. |
| D．Honey bees can defend natural ecosystems. |
| A．Beekeeping is a still-popular traditional hobby. |
| B．The media is responsible for misleading the public. |
| C．Citizens’ attempts to protect the environment are effective. |
| D．The media campaign has failed to promote honey bee businesses. |
| A．Beekeeping companies' making great profits. |
| B．The quick expansion of bee-friendly habitats. |
| C．The public's ignorance of bee varieties and roles. |
| D．Insufficient attention given to saving honey bees. |
| A．By listing examples. | B．By making comparisons. |
| C．By analyzing survey data. | D．By explaining cause and effect. |
3 . Learning a second language is difficult at any age and it only gets harder the longer you wait to open that dusty French book. Now, in a new study, scientists have pointed the exact age at which your chances of reaching fluency（流利）in a second language seem to rise： 10.
The study, published in the journal Cognition, found that it's "nearly impossible” for language learners to reach native-level fluency if they start learning a second language after 10. But that doesn't seem to be because language skills go downhill “It turns out you're still learning fast. It's just that you run out of time, because your ability to learn starts dropping at around 17 or 18 years old,“ says study co-author Joshua Hartshorne, an assistant professor of psychology at Boston College.
Kids may be better than adults at learning new languages for many reasons. Children's brains are more plastic than those of adults, meaning they're better able to adapt and respond to new information. "All learning involves the brain changing,“ Hartshorne says, “and children's brains seem to be a lot more skilled at changing. "
These findings may seem discouraging, but it was heartening for scientists to learn that the critical （关键的）period for fluent language acquisition might be longer than they previously thought. Some scientists believed that the brief window closes shortly after birth, while others stretched it only to early adolescence. Compared to those estimates, 17 or 18 when language learning ability starts to drop off——seems old.
“People progress better when they learn by immersion （沉 浸）rather than simply in a classroom. And moving to a place where your desired language is spoken is the best way to learn as an adult. If that's not an option, you can create an immersive environment by finding ways to have conversations with native speakers in their own communities," Hartshorne says. By doing so, it's possible to become conversationally fluent——even without the advantage of a child's brain.
1. What is the most important finding of the new study?| A．The best age to learn a second language. |
| B．The possibility of speaking fluent language. |
| C．The change of language skills over the time. |
| D．The great approaches to learning a language. |
| A．Their focus is language learning only. |
| B．They are more interested in languages. |
| C．They are more adaptable to new things. |
| D．Their brain always ignores big changes. |
| A．Joining friends in their learning. | B．Turning to immersive learning. |
| C．Studying in a quiet classroom. | D．Training the brain to a kid's brain. |
| A．Science. | B．Travel |
| C．Health. | D．Education. |
4 . I went snowboarding in France with my little brother and what we lacked in skill was made up for in enthusiasm. That day, fresh snow had been falling. We stopped near the top of an off-path section. I let my brother disappear into the trees ahead, figuring I would soon catch up.
I began to pick up speed when I was suddenly thrown off balance. Just as I was regaining control, I ran into the trunk of a large tree. It was like hitting a solid wall. The pain was instant.
I quickly realized the situation could get very serious. Nobody would be coming past. There was no phone signal. It was snowing and cold. If I waited, I would probably be rescued eventually. But the chance of freezing to death before that happened was too high for me to risk staying put.
I managed to get the board off from my feet and moved it under my stomach so I was lying on it. I faced down the mountain and used the board to slowly drag and slide my body down the steep, tree-lined slope (斜坡).
It took about two hours before a skier found me and I got help. I couldn't feel my hands or my toes from the cold, but the relief at knowing I was safe was massive.
I had broken one of my backbones, so I had an operation where the doctors inserted plates. The constant pain was unbearable, but it wasn't as bad as seeing the pain and worry I put my family through.
The recovery road was tough, but I was lucky. Gradually, I was able to walk, then swim, then cycle and then run. I haven't been back to the slopes yet, but it might happen someday— I will, however, choose the paths.
1. How did the author feel at the start of snowboarding?| A．Confident. | B．Amused. | C．Nervous. | D．Panic. |
| A．He was cold and hungry. |
| B．He preferred to challenge himself. |
| C．He was aware of the risks of waiting. |
| D．He wanted to catch up with his brother. |
| A．Follow the safer path. |
| B．Do more sports activities. |
| C．Receive training in the future. |
| D．Never go snowboarding again. |
| A．To share a lesson. | B．To keep a diary. |
| C．To recommend a sport. | D．To make a comment. |
5 . If Confucius(孔子)were still alive today and could celebrate his September 28 birthday with a big cake, there would be a lot of candles. He'd need a fan or a strong wind to help him put them out.
While many people in China will remember Confucius on his special day, few people in the United States will give him a passing thought. It's nothing personal. Most Americans don't even remember the birthdays of their own national heroes.
But this doesn't mean that Americans don't care about Confucius. In many ways he has become a bridge that foreigners must cross if they want to reach a deeper understanding of China.
In the past two decades, the Chinese studies programs have gained huge popularity in Western universities. More recently, the Chinese government has set up Confucius Institutes in more than 80 countries. These schools teach both Chinese language and culture. The main courses of Chinese culture usually include Chinese art, history and
philosophy(哲学). Some social scientists suggest that Westerners should take advantage of the ancient Chinese wisdom to make up for the drawbacks(缺陷)of Western philosophy. Students in the United States, at the same time, are racing to learn Chinese. So they will be ready for life in a world where China is an equal power with the United States. Businessmen who hope to make money in China are reading books about Confucius to understand their Chinese customers.
So the old thinker's ideas are still alive and well.
Today China attracts the West more than ever, and it will need more teachers to introduce Confucius and Chinese culture to the West.
As for the old thinker, he will not soon be forgotten by people in the West, even if his birthday is.
1. The opening paragraph is mainly intended to______________.| A．provide some key facts about Confucius |
| B．attract the readers' interest in the subject |
| C．show great respect for the ancient thinker |
| D．prove the popularity of modern birthday celebrations |
| A．have a great interest in studying Chinese |
| B．take an active part in Chinese competitions |
| C．try to get high scores in Chinese exams |
| D．fight for a chance to learn Chinese |
| A．Forgotten Wisdom in America |
| B．Huge Fans of the Chinese Language |
| C．Chinese Culture for Westerners |
| D．Old Thinker with a Big Future |
| A．a personal biography | B．a history paper |
| C．a cultural newspaper | D．a philosophy textbook |
6 . Twenty years ago, I became involved in pet therapy (治疗) work. As digging deeper into the job, I had an urge to be a recorder of their daily work to let more and more people know their efforts and contributions. After all, they could not say our languages. It was when I got familiar with the work that I got my golden retriever puppy (金毛寻回犬), whom I named Angel. As she matured and went through obedience training, I realized that she would be a good partner.
Angel is ten now and still works every week. As a rule, she visits two hospitals, a day care for the elderly, and our library’s PAWS for Reading program. Angel has also helped out at a children’s special-needs camp. She is so popular that everywhere we go people recognize her, especially the kids she has worked with.
We have seen some very special things through our pet therapy work. I brought Angel to our local hospital to visit a woman who was completely paralyzed (瘫痪的) on her right side from a stroke. One day, my husband, Jack asked her if she wanted to give Angel a treat. She nodded and gently took the treat, raised her right hand and started petting Angel. Her friend was in the room and said, “She hasn’t been able to move that hand since she had her stroke!”
Somehow it seems appropriate that when Angel visits the hospital, she also performs tricks for the patients with her paws. The best one is when she crouches on the floor and crosses her paws. She stays still and doesn’t move until Jack says “Best wishes”. It’s the best wishes for all the people Angel meets as well as for her.
1. Why does the author want to be a recorder?| A．Pets cannot record themselves. | B．Pets should be highly praised. |
| C．Pets’ labor should be made aware of. | D．Pets daily work is important. |
| A．Busy but rewarding. | B．Interesting but tiring. |
| C．Funny and amusing. | D．Important and demanding. |
| A．She cured her disease. | B．She visited her at times. |
| C．She gave her best wishes. | D．She played tricks on her. |
| A．A loyal dog. | B．Selfless love. |
| C．A silent angel. | D．Great devotion. |
7 . Uggs(雪地靴) are certainly ugly, or at least inelegant. The shapeless boots, pulled on in a hurry, can make anyone look like a slob（懒惰的人）, which has made them the target of disrespect. It hasn’t been hard to find someone strongly condemning them. “Ugg boots are no sexy,” The Independent declared in 2003, “unless you’re Mrs. Bigfoot on a lone mission across Antarctic to find Mr. Bigfoot. When wearing the boots, a writer of The Gloss complained, “There’s nothing to indicate that you don’t have square, horrible shoeboxes in place of human feet.” In 2015, one coffee shop on Brick Lane in east London ever banned ugg-wearers.
And yet, over the years, plenty of strange and unattractive shoes have met with the approval of the fashion establishment. The problem with uggs wasn’t that they were ugly; it’s that they were common.
But a funny thing happened on the way to fashion’s tomb: the universal ugg has not gone anywhere. Uggs have quietly stayed here since their best time. Once you start paying attention, you’ll be shocked to discover how many people are still wearing them. They are worn by mothers in town and in the country, by teenagers on Saturday shopping trip and by people in fashion.
Perhaps the secret of uggs’s unstoppable success is that, if there is a dividing line between public appeal and private style，it might be a pair of cozy boots. They are certainly comfortable, soft and warm, as if your feet were in the hugging of someone who really loves you. At $150 a pair, they are neither cheap nor entirely out of range. They are casual and indulgent(纵容的）.
Somehow uggs, the boots that so many people hate, have managed to challenge the cruel logic of the fashion cycle and carry on whether you approve of them or not.
1. What is the best title of the passage?| A．Uggs Refuse to Die |
| B．Uggs Have Existed So Long |
| C．Uggs Enter the Fashion Circle |
| D．Uggs Have Gone Somewhere |
| A．To prove uggs’ toughness |
| B．To prove uggs’s popularity |
| C．To prove people’s approval |
| D．To prove people’s condemning. |
| A．Uggs are very common |
| B．Uggs are inelegant and ugly |
| C．Uggs are worn by teenagers |
| D．Uggs stay there regardless |
| A．They are very comfortable |
| B．They own private style |
| C．They have public appeal |
| D．They are very cheap |
8 . Times of difficulty can bring out the best in humanity, and that's certainly the case for 10-year-old Chelsea Phaire. This young resident in Danbury, Connecticut lifted the spirits of foster children by sending them over 1,500 art kits (艺术包)since the outbreak of Covid-19.
Chelsea's passion project began in 2018 when she received an art kit for her 8th birthday, which contained art supplies, books, activities, and puzzles. It suddenly struck her: so many less fortunate children lacked access to the same art supplies. Determined to help kids in need, Chelsea encouraged her friends and family to donate supplies and create art kits. Chelsea put together 40 art kits, which she hand-delivered to children living in homeless shelters in Danbury.
But that was only the beginning, Chelsea kept the ball rolling. She shared her wish list on Amazon, listing the needed supplies to make even more art kits. She even donated her own tooth fair airy money toward the project. By the time the pandemic (流行病)hit, her relatives and friends all got involved. With their help, Chelsea gathered nearly 1,500 art kits to send to Children in homeless shelters across the country.
Chelsea always had a strong desire to start a charity from the time she was only 5 years old. When she got a little older, her parents agreed and helped her found Chelsea Charity. aiming to provide more art supplies and art lessons for children who need it most. You can follow the latest updates and fundraising activities on Instagram@ chelseascharity.
We can all learn a little something from Chelsea. Even in times of trouble, something as simple and seemingly small as an art kit can bring remarkable joy to others. And as is the case with Chelsea, kindness has a ripple( 连锁) effect. One person's act of generosity inspires those around them to do the same.
1. Why did Chelsea start her passion project| A．To celebrate her eighth birthday. | B．To donate art supplies to charity. |
| C．To lift kids' spirits in the pandemic. | D．To spread kindness to kids in trouble. |
| A．She was proud of her wish list. | B．She was devoted to her project. |
| C．She was interested in fairy tales. | D．She was dying for more donation. |
| A．By delivering art kits to children in person. | B．By employing more people for her project. |
| C．By getting it well publicized through media. | D．By providing art lessons for homeless people. |
| A．A small act of kindness can go a long way. | B．We should be generous and kind to everyone. |
| C．Great things can only be done by mass effort. | D．We should just be ourselves in times of trouble. |
9 . When it came to role models, Diana Ortiz said her mother, Marcia Dominguez, was the “hero”. Ms. Dominguez came to the United States from Cuba in 1979. She went to college and got a job as a social worker — all the while raising three children in America mostly on her own.
“It was always school first，” Diana said, “My mom had us in a straight line. If we got out of line, she corrected us. She was a perfect woman. She was beautiful, she had the education and she had everything — but the illness took over. When I was 11, it frightened me to see how quickly my mother's health was ruined by cancer. A week before I turned 14, my mother died at age 50. I had tried to prepare myself, but on the first morning I woke up without my mother, the sense of loss was painful.”
Diana had not seen her father for five years, who refused to provide for her. Diana then entered the city's foster care system. She has spent about four years in foster homes.
Despite Diana's hard teenage years, the values her mother had planted in her mind inspired her to go after higher education. Since August 2010, she has been a fulltime student majoring in law. A public organization offers her tuition but she has parttime jobs to help people like her and earn more life experience. Her goal is a job in the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
For now, Diana works 20 hours a week as a cashier at Marshalls, earning D|S7.25 an hour. In November, she moved into her own public housing studio apartment on the Lower East Side. She pays D|S236 a month in rent. Although she is out of foster care, Diana has been speaking at workshops for foster youths. She emphasizes that nothing should get in the way of their success, not the trials of their lives or what they may have lost.
“I tell the young who have the similar experience like me, ‘Why are you going to let what happened to you affect you in the long run？’” Diana said, “ ‘Why are you going to sit there and feel sorry for yourself? You're wasting precious time.’ It is a message my mother would approve of. My mom taught me that everything is not given to you. You have to go out and get it.”
1. Which of the following words can be used to describe Ms. Dominguez?| A．Learned, independent and strict. |
| B．Positive, simple and graceful. |
| C．Hardworking, dependent and tough. |
| D．Kind, determined and lonely. |
| A．She was provided for by a law institute. |
| B．She depended on foster care system. |
| C．She relied upon the people like her. |
| D．She supported herself by doing parttime work. |
| A．The sense of loss from her mother's death. |
| B．The eagerness to achieve success. |
| C．The deep influence of her mother's values. |
| D．The wish to win prizes to please her mother. |
| A．success comes with her own struggle and efforts |
| B．rich experience helps her find better jobs |
| C．her tuition will be increased sharply |
| D．nobody is perfect in the world |
10 . Returning to a book you’ve read many times can feel like drinks with an old friend. There’s a welcome familiarity - but also sometimes a slight suspicion that time has changed you both, and thus the relationship. But books don’t change, people do. And that’s what makes the act of rereading so rich and transformative.
The beauty of rereading lies in the idea that our bond with the work is based on our present mental register. It’s true, the older I get, the more I feel time has wings. But with reading, it’s all about the present. It’s about the now and what one contributes to the now, because reading is a give and take between author and reader. Each has to pull their own weight.
There are three books I reread annually .The first, which I take to reading every spring is Emest Hemningway’s A Moveable Feast. Published in 1964, it’s his classic memoir of 1920s Paris. The language is almost intoxicating (令人陶醉的)，an aging writer looking back on an ambitious yet simpler time. Another is Annie Dillard’s Holy the Firm, her poetic 1975 ramble (随笔) about everything and nothing. The third book is Julio Cortazar’s Save Twilight: Selected Poems, because poetry. And because Cortazar.
While I tend to buy a lot of books, these three were given to me as gifs, which might add to the meaning I attach to them. But I imagine that, while money is indeed wonderful and necessary, rereading an author’s work is the highest currency a reader can pay them. The best books are the ones that open further as time passes. But remember, it’s you that has to grow and read and reread in order to better understand your friends.
1. Why does the author like rereading?| A．It evaluates the writer-reader relationship. |
| B．It’s a window to a whole new world. |
| C．It’s a substitute for drinking with a friend. |
| D．It extends the understanding of oneself. |
| A．It’s a brief account of a trip. |
| B．It’s about Hemingway’s life as a young man. |
| C．It’s a record of a historic event. |
| D．It’s about Hemingway’s friends in Paris. |
| A．Debt |
| B．Reward. |
| C．Allowance. |
| D．Face value. |
| A．He loves poetry. |
| B．He’s an editor. |
| C．He’s very ambitious. |
| D．He teaches reading. |
