1 . Food experts say washing could spread the germs on your turkey in the kitchen sink or nearby food. But it's been a challenge trying to convince cooks to stop rinsing （冲洗）off raw poultry. Germs that can make people sick are common in the guts of healthy poultry and are legally allowed to be on raw turkey and chicken. The assumption is that nobody eats their poultry raw, and that thorough cooking will kill the bacteria.
The do — not — wash raw poultry advice from the USDA is relatively new and perhaps hasn't caught on because it goes against the common belief that washing makes things clean, said Chapman. Benjamin Chapman, a study author and food safety expert at North Carolina State University, said the instinct to wash raw poultry goes back at least decades when people relied more on visual clues to spot problems with poultry. Meanwhile, washing hands and surfaces are also important.
But food preparation is a complicated act, and germs from poultry can be spread even if it's not washed, especially when birds are removed from packaging.
The USDA-funded study stresses that point. Researchers sprayed raw chicken with a harmless strain of E. coli （大肠杆菌）and watched volunteer cooks at test kitchens. Among those who washed their raw chicken, about a quarter ended up spreading the bacteria to their lettuce. But even some of those who did not rinse the chicken got germs on the lettuce. And there are other opportunities for germs to survive on turkeys: melting and cooking.
To ensure a bird is thoroughly cooked, they say to use a thermometer to check that the deepest and thickest parts of it have reached 165 degrees. Even after the meal is cooked, you aren't out of the danger zone. To keep turkeys and other leftovers safe, experts say they should be refrigerated after two hours.
1. People don't accept USDA's advice because____.| A．the advice is relatively new |
| B．cleaning seems more trustworthy |
| C．cooks clean the turkey before cooking it |
| D．heat can kill most germs and no one eats raw food |
| A．Food packages carry germs. |
| B．Hands and surfaces are easy to get E. coli. |
| C．Germs from a turkey can be spread whether it is washed or not. |
| D．Multiple methods should be applied to food to get rid of germs. |
| A．Rinse off the turkey before it is heated. |
| B．Keep the turkey away from the lettuce and refrigerator. |
| C．Wash hands and packages before taking out the turkey. |
| D．Use a thermometer to check the temperature of the turkey. |
| A．Culture. | B．Science. |
| C．Education. | D．Medicine. |
2 . As digital devices （设备）have taken over society, “keyboard activity is now often recommended as a substitute for early handwriting," a new study notes. The idea is that typing may be easier for young children.
“Some schools in Norway have become completely digital," notes Audrey Vander Meer, the new study's leader, who measures brain activity to better understand learning and behaviors. She works at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim. The human brain has developed to interact with the world in as many ways as possible, she notes. She believes that young children should learn to write by hand successfully, and, at the same time learn to manage a keyboard.
Using a pen involves more of the brain than using a keyboard, her new findings show. This is because writing and printing involve complex movements that activate more areas of the brain. The increased brain activity, "gives the brain more 'hooks' to hang your memories on," she explains.
Think about it. The same movement is required to type each letter on a keyboard. By comparison, when we write, our brain needs to think about and recover memories of the shape of each letter. We also need to use our eyes to watch what shapes we're writing. And we need to control our hands to press a pen or pencil to shape the different letters. All of this uses and connects more areas of the brain.
Along the way, these processes appear to “open the brain up for learning", says Vander Meer. So learning through only one format — digital — could be harmful, she worries.
Vander Meer also points out that taking notes by hand stimulates （激发）"visual notetaking". Rather than typing blindly, the visual note-taker has to think about what is important to write down. Then, key words can be "interlinked by boxes, and arrows, and supplemented by small drawings".
1. What is the main idea of the text?| A．Digital devices are popular with students. |
| B．Handwriting beats typing in taking notes. |
| C．The process of taking notes changes thinking. |
| D．The new study makes contributions to science. |
| A．Communicate with the world. | B．Rely on keyboard activity. |
| C．Learn to write by hand. | D．Master basic drawing skills. |
| A．By studying how the brain develops. | B．By observing social phenomena. |
| C．By assessing functions of senses. | D．By comparing ways of taking notes. |
| A．Relationship. | B．Fashion. |
| C．Culture. | D．Science. |
3 . Renewable energy projects, including onshore and offshore wind and solar farms, have so far been subsidized (资助) by government support schemes. This has led to some to complain that clean energy is pushing up bills.
However, the most recently approved offshore wind projects will most likely operate with ‘negative subsidies’ -- paying money back to the government. The money will go towards reducing household energy bills as the offshore wind farms start producing power in the mid-2020s.
This is the conclusion of an analysis by an international team led by Imperial College London researchers published today in Nature Energy.
Lead researcher Dr Malte Jansen, from the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial, said: “Offshore wind power will soon be so cheap to produce that it will undercut fossil-fueled power stations and may be the cheapest form of energy for the UK. Energy subsidies used to push up energy bills, but within a few years cheap renewable energy will see them brought down for the first time. This is an astonishing development.”
The analysis for five countries in Europe, including the UK, focused on a series of government auctions (拍卖) for offshore wind farms between February 2015 and September 2019. Companies that want to build wind farms bid in the auctions by stating the price at which they will sell the energy they produce to the government.
These are known as ‘contracts for difference’ or CfDs. If a company’s bid is higher than the wholesale electricity price on the UK market once the wind farm is up and running, then the company will receive a subsidy from the government to top up the price.
However, if the stated price (规定价格) is less than the wholesale price, then the company will pay the government back the difference. This payback is then passed through to consumer’s energy bills, reducing the amount that homes and businesses will pay for electricity.
The winning companies said they could build new offshore wind farms for around £40 per megawatt hour (MWh) of power. This was a new record set by these wind farms with bids 30 percent lower than just two years earlier.
1. What does the passage mainly talk about?| A．Offshore wind farms to be built in the UK could reduce household energy bills by producing electricity very cheaply. |
| B．Offshore wind farms will not be subsidized by government in the near future. |
| C．The importance of CfDs. |
| D．The operation of negative subsidies. |
| A．will stop producing power in the mid-2020s |
| B．are paying money back to the government |
| C．will help reduce household energy bills |
| D．will all operate with ‘negative subsidies’ |
| A．make up |
| B．take up |
| C．cover |
| D．fill up |
| A．The renewable energy projects will lead to some to complain that clean energy is pushing up bills. |
| B．The company whose bid is less than the wholesale electricity price will receive a subsidy. |
| C．The stated electricity price is now higher than the wholesale electricity price. |
| D．Fossil-fueled power will be soon produced cheaply. |
| A．Curious. |
| B．Pessimistic. |
| C．Indifferent. |
| D．Optimistic. |
| A．A science fiction. |
| B．A financial magazine. |
| C．An advertisement. |
| D．A science report. |
4 . Most of the 500 whales stranded (搁浅)off Tasmania have now died. Dozens more stricken whales have been found in Australia’s largest ever mass stranding.The estimated total now stands at around 500, with the majority of that number dead and a tenth rescued by authorities on the Island state of Tasmania. Experts believe all of the animals would have been part of one large group. Officials began working to rescue survivors among an estimated 270 whales found on Monday on a beach and two sandbars near the remote coastal town of Strahan. Then another 200 whales were spotted from a helicopter on Wednesday less than 10 kilometres (six miles) to the south.All 200 had been confirmed dead by late afternoon. They were among the 380 whales that have died overall, with estimates from earlier today suggesting that 30 that were alive but stranded and 50 had been rescued since Tuesday, Mr Deka, Wildlife Service manager explained. He added,“We’ll continue to work to free as many of the animals as we can.We’ll continue working as long as there are live animals.”
It is not known what caused the animals to run aground. While stranding events are not unheard of, they are very rare in such large numbers. About 30 whales in the original stranding were moved from the sandbars to open ocean on Tuesday, but several got stranded again. About a third of the first group had died by Monday evening.
Australia’s largest mass stranding had previously been 320 pilot whales near the Western Australian town of Dunsborough in 1996.This week’s incident is the first involving more than 500 whales in Tasmania since 2009.Marine Conservation Programme wildlife biologist Kris Carlyon said the latest mass stranding was the biggest in Australia in terms of numbers stranded and died.
Marine scientist Vanessa Pirotta said there were a number of potential reasons why whales might become beached, including navigational errors.She explained, “They do have a very strong social system; these animals are closely bonded and that’s why we have seen so many in this case unfortunately in this situation.Rescuing them does not always work, because they are wanting to return back to the group, they might hear the sounds that the others are making, or they’re just disoriented and, in this case, extremely stressed, and just probably so exhausted that they in some cases don’t know where they are.” she added.
1. What can be inferred from the first paragraph?| A．270 whales were rescued on Monday. |
| B．380 whales were found dead on Tuesday. |
| C．500 whales were found stranded and dead. |
| D．200 whales spotted from a helicopter were dead. |
| A．Rescue work is not done in time. |
| B．The number of the death is large. |
| C．The cause of the event is still a mystery. |
| D．There was no other similar event in recent years. |
| A．Navigational errors. |
| B．Overhunting of the human beings. |
| C．Whales’ group living style. |
| D．Whales’ confusion and exhaustion. |
| A．A newspaper. | B．A magazine. | C．A textbook. | D．A travel brochure. |
5 . A team from Northwestern University has developed a soft, skin-interfaced sensor that can analyze the molecular (分子的) composition of sweat for things like cortisol, blood sugar, and vitamin C, sending the data to the wearer's smartphone. This data, the researchers hope, will allow people to better control their stress levels throughout the day.
Cortisol, also called the stress hormone, can be measured in a person's sweat. Released from the adrenal glands (肾上腺) under periods of physical and mental stress, it can be a powerful performance enhancer—increasing energy production and glucose (葡萄糖) availability for the muscles during a "fight or flight" situation, for instance being attacked by a lion. However, cortisol can also be released because of modern stressors such as money problems, issues at work, and other day-to-day worries that if built up over time, create the chronic anxiety and can lead to an increased risk for diabetes, depression, high blood pressure and obesity.
When someone wears the chip sweats, the liquid runs through small channels into a series of chemical test sensors that look for different biological signals which could suggest a rise in cortisol.
Previous attempts in years past at creating devices like this were limited by the need to take sweat samples to laboratories for analysis, removing any ability for the individual to act on the data in a way that might prevent buildup of stressful feelings, or even an anxiety attack.
Such a device could be paramount in helping people relieve depressive or stressful feelings (not least because exercising hard enough to cause sweating helps with anxiety on its own).
Furthermore, the percent of the population of American adults with regular feelings of worry, nervousness, or anxiety is around 11.2%, while there are nearly 60 million doctors' visits where mental or behavioral health is the chief concern. Putting power into patients' hands—in the form of a detailed diagnosis of cortisol levels, could help significantly to lower those numbers.
1. What's the function of the newly developed sensor?| A．To examine the component of sweat. |
| B．To show when one lacks vitamin. |
| C．To connect wearable devices to smartphones. |
| D．To control people's stress levels the whole day. |
| A．What may create the profile of chronic anxiety. |
| B．What may cause the release of the stress hormone. |
| C．How cortisol can enhance one's energy production. |
| D．How cortisol can be measured in a person's sweat. |
| A．Significant. | B．Useless. |
| C．Accessible. | D．Weak. |
| A．A product review. | B．A guidebook. |
| C．A magazine. | D．A science fiction. |
6 . Beaches are not only great for lying on and doing water sports, and in fact one of the best ways of enjoying them is a classic beach walk. Here at iWantSun.co.uk we’ve been searching the globe to find you the world’s best and most famous beach walks, and here’s our pick of the top. Click on the most interesting walks and join our tourist program.
The Footpath of the Gods, Amalfi Coast, Italy
The name says it all really and you truly feel excited there, walking along this wonderful mountain path, which offers some of the most striking views on the planet. The path begins at the town of Bomerano to charming Positano along the UNESCO World Heritage area of the Amalfi Coast. The whole walk will take you about four and a half hours to complete and pass over narrow rocky paths.
Sydney’s Great Coastal Walk, Australia
Sydney’s coastline is one of the most beautiful and diverse landscapes in the world. Here you have national parks, historic sites, shining and quiet beaches all in one place. Sydney’s Great Coastal Walk runs all the way from Barren Joey in the north to Royal National Park in the south and takes an unbelievable seven days to complete. However, if you’re not up to doing the full walk, there are many different parts of the walk that you can do right in the city itself. Walking from the city’s famous Bondi Beach to the sweeping curve(大半径曲线) of Bronte Beach takes just an hour, which takes in some top sceneries.
Great Ocean Walk, Australia
The Great Ocean Walk covers 104km along Victoria’s famous Great Ocean Road, located on the southern coast of Australia, from the holiday town Apollo Bay to the splendid Twelve Apostles. The Twelve Apostles are the area’s famous stone landmarks which stand out like giants from the sea. The walk passes through a range of landscapes and sights, from national parks, famous surfing spots and deserted beaches, to wild coastlines, waterfalls, lush(茂盛的) forests, historic lighthouses and ghostly(幽灵似的) ship wrecks(残骸). Day walks and shorter three-hour walks such as The Wreck Beach Walk or the Lighthouse Cemetery and Lookout Walk can also be enjoyed.
So next time when you’re looking for a beach holiday, don’t just think about the holiday towns and the sand, but consider a more active sun holiday. If you have interest in any of the above places, please contact us, and we can give you the best services.
1. When you arrive at Amalfi Coast, _____.| A．the scenic beauty can fill you with charm |
| B．the walking can be started from Positano |
| C．you must be fed up with the footpath |
| D．narrow rocky paths may trap you |
| A．It takes more than a week to complete. |
| B．It really has the longest coastline in the world. |
| C．It provides visitors with a variety of great landscapes. |
| D．It starts from Barren Joey in the south. |
| A．Apollo Bay is at the end of the Great Ocean Walk |
| B．visitors have various walking choices in the Great Ocean Walk |
| C．the Twelve Apostles stand below the surface of the sea |
| D．most visitors have to finish the 104 km walk quickly |
| A．an online advertisement | B．travel magazines |
| C．a handbook to tourists | D．a poster in a foreign travel agency |
1. How should we read the following sentence with proper pauses?
| A．Buffalo buffalo Buffalo/ buffalo buffalo/ buffalo Buffalo buffalo. |
| B．Buffalo buffalo/ Buffalo buffalo buffalo/ buffalo Buffalo buffalo |
| C．Buffalo buffalo Buffalo/ buffalo buffalo buffalo/ Buffalo buffalo. |
| D．Buffalo buffalo/ Buffalo buffalo/ buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo. |
| A．The relative pronouns in English can be omitted. |
| B．In English, place names can be used as adjectives. |
| C．The city has the same name with a kind of American bison. |
| D．The word buffalo has the same form of singular and plural. |
| A．Wandering the Earth |
| B．Linguistics Around Us |
| C．Popular Animal Science |
| D．Collins English Grammar |
8 . In the 1960s and 1970s, the greatest fear was that the human race, and possibly all advanced life forms on the planet, could be wiped out by nuclear missiles. Today, however, environmental problems have taken over as the greatest risk to life on Earth. Scientists are thinking of ways to lower this risk, such as replacing coal and oil with forms of renewable energy. But they are also preparing for the worst: what can we do if the terrifying scenes in films such as The Day After Tomorrow happen in real life? What is our plan B for Earth?
One option is to explore other planets to see if we could live on them. The most likely choice is Mars, which is relatively close to Earth and has an environment less hostile than that of other planets. Mars has fascinated people since ancient times, and today our interest in Martian exploration is greater than ever before. Besides, more governments are making efforts to educate the public on the Red Planet.
There is no doubt that humankind is drawn towards Mars. However, sending people there will require all the skill, courage and intelligence. While the Moon can be reached within days, it would take months to reach Mars, travelling through dangerous solar radiation. And even if the first settlers do reach Mars safely, they may not be able to return to Earth — ever. Staying alive will be a daily challenge, but as proved by the Biosphere 2 experiment, not impossible. As early as the 1980s, scientists were building Biosphere 2 in the Arizona desert, consisting of a closed space in which people, animals and plants could live together. Although the two-year experiment was not a success, it did provide us with a better understanding of how humans might be able to live on another planet.
For now, human settlement of Mars is still decades away. Until we are finally able to live on another planet, we need to take much better care of our own. Right now, it's the only one we have!
1. What was the biggest threat to humans in the 1960s and 1970s?| A．Human race themselves. | B．All advanced life forms. |
| C．Nuclear missiles. | D．Environmental problems. |
| A．It's closest to the earth. |
| B．It has relatively appropriate living conditions. |
| C．It has drawn the public's attention in recent years. |
| D．It has a more hostile environment. |
| A．Humans have visited Mars. |
| B．The Biosphere 2 experiment proved to be valueless. |
| C．Humans will have to go and live on another planet. |
| D．Our Plan A includes developing renewable energy resources. |
| A．The Traveler. | B．Environmental Concerns. |
| C．All About Space. | D．Biology for Fun, |
9 . Earthworms don’t move fast. But humans can accelerate the worms’ spread. Fishermen often use invasive(蔓延性的) earthworms to catch fish. Many have introduced invasive earthworms to rivers, streams and lakes previously unexposed to these animals. Gardeners who use earthworms to make their soil rich may unknowingly introduce invasive ones. The worms even give rides in the mud on wheels, potted plants and road materials shipped around the nation.
But they’re not everywhere yet. In the Great Lakes region, “20 percent of the land is earthworm-free,” says Cindy Hale, a research biologist. Of the remaining 80 percent of land, half of the land has fewer than two earthworm species-meaning there isn’t yet too much impact on the ecosystem, she explains. For these regions, she says, now is the time to take action. According to Hale, educating the public, especially fishermen, is one approach to stopping the spread of invasive earthworms. Identifying which lands are currently earthworm-free is another.
Ryan Hueffmeier, a program coordinator for Great Lakes Worm Watch, has been working on a model that will help create large maps of areas with minimal(最小的) or no damage from earthworms. Ultimately, landowners can use it to identify earthworm activity on their property. once identified, lands with minimal or no earthworm damage should be protected.
But scientists suspect that once invasive earthworms arrive they can’t be removed. And even if all could be, affected forests might never return to the way they were. “It’s very much a story of learning to live with them,” concludes Lee Frelich of the University of Minnesota’s Center for Forest Ecology.
Forest ecologists have called earthworms “ecosystem engineers” because they can change or create habitats that otherwise would not be present. Whether this is a good thing depends on the situation.
“What the earthworms do and how we value it is what really matters.” said Hale. “In one place-farm fields or gardens-we really like European earthworms and what they do, so we consider them good. In native hardwood forests, we really don’t like what they do-so we consider them bad. You really have to understand how an organism(微生物) affects an ecosystem. Things aren’t black and white.”
1. Why are fishermen and gardeners mentioned in the first paragraph?| A．To attract more people to fishing and gardening. |
| B．To introduce different uses of invasive earthworms. |
| C．To stress the importance of invasive earthworms to humans. |
| D．To show humans’ effect on the spread of invasive earthworms. |
| A．Finding out areas free of earthworms. |
| B．Extending a ban on the fishing industry. |
| C．Making maps of areas with most earthworms. |
| D．Informing the public of different earthworm species. |
| A．Objective. | B．Positive. |
| C．Ambiguous. | D．Doubtful. |
| A．A biology textbook. | B．An official report. |
| C．A science magazine. | D．A research paper. |
10 . Described as the world’s most environmentally friendly protein（蛋白质）, Solein is made by applying electricity to water to release bubbles of carbon dioxide and hydrogen. Living microbes (微生物) are then added to the liquid to feed on the carbon dioxide and hydrogen bubbles and produce the Solein, which is then dried to make the powder. It’s a chemical change process similar to beer brewing. The dried Solein has a protein content of 50 percent and looks and tastes just like wheat flour.
“It is a completely new kind of food, a new kind of protein, different to all the food on the market today in how it is produced as it does not need agriculture.” Dr Pasi Vainikka, the chief manager of Solar Foods told The Guardian. The process used to produce Solein—changing hydrogen and carbon dioxide is amazing, as the wonder food can be produced anywhere in the world. It’s also 10 time-efficient than photosynthesis (光合作用), and 10 to 100 times more environment and climate-friendly in water use than animal or plant-based food production.
“Solein also contains all the essential amino acid (氨基酸),but because it is produced using carbon and electricity, it does not require large amounts of land to produce, ” the Solar Foods website explains. “Another unique characteristic of Solein is that it is able to take carbon directly from carbon dioxide without needing a source of sugar.”
While Solar Foods does not expect Solein to challenge conventional protein production methods in the next two decades, it does expect it to become a “new harvest” for humanity, which is significant considering so far we have only relied on plants and animals for sustenance. The Helsinki-based company plans to open its first Solein factory at the end of 2021 and increase production to two billion meals per year by 2022.
1. Why is Solein described as environmentally friendly?| A．Because it is man-made by using electricity. |
| B．Because it contains all the nutrition people need. |
| C．Because it is made consuming less land and energy. |
| D．Because it is produced from water and carbon dioxide. |
| A．It’ll have a rewarding future. |
| B．It’ll reach consumers in 2020. |
| C．It’ll challenge traditional protein production. |
| D．It’ll be a complete replacement for plants and animals. |
| A．survival | B．food |
| C．material | D．support |
| A．A textbook. | B．A novel. |
| C．A magazine. | D．A brochure. |
