1 . 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. |
2 . 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. |
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 . After about two weeks of intense negotiations in Paris, delegates from around the world reached an international agreement on Dec. 12 to address climate change. For the first time in history, 195 countries have promised to reduce greenhouse gas（GHG）emissions and to increase these reductions over time.
The agreement goes beyond requiring developed countries like the US to take actions to cut down emissions. It's a universal agreement requiring some form of action from every country, rich or poor.
The agreement sets the date for an emissions peak "as soon as possible". It would also limit warming worldwide to less than 2℃ above the levels in the 1800s. According to scientific studies 2℃ is the point at which climate change will bring destructive consequences to the planet, including rising sea levels, severe droughts, increased flooding, destructive storms, and widespread food and water shortages.
The deal also urges wealthy countries to set a non- binding goal of providing more than $100 billion（650 billion yuan）per year in public and private financing by 2020 for poorer countries to help them invest in clean energy and combat the impact of climate change.
The Paris deal asks countries to make voluntary promises based on an analysis of each country's economy, politics and technology. However, the deal also includes a series of legally binding（有约束力的）requirements. It requires countries to reconvene every five years, starting in 2020, with updated plans that would cut their further emissions. Countries will also be legally required to reconvene every five years starting in 2023 to publicly report on their progress.
The Paris deal alone won't solve global warming. Its effectiveness will depend on whether each country enacts（立法）their promise. But the deal "could be viewed as a signal to global financial and energy markets, triggering a fundamental shift away from investment in coal, oil and gas as primary energy sources like wind, solar and nuclear power", according to The New York Times.
1. Which of the following is true according to the passage?| A．The agreement requires only developed countries to take actions to cut down emissions. |
| B．The agreement would limit warming worldwide to 2℃ less than the levels in the 1800s. |
| C．The agreement requires some form of action from all the countries in the world |
| D．The constant global warming will do great harm to the planet. |
| A．do something to fight against the influence of climate change |
| B．invest more in coal, oil and gas as primary energy sources |
| C．provide more than $100 billion per year in public and private financing |
| D．report on their progress of reducing their emissions every 5 years in Paris |
| A．Meet | B．Report. | C．Promise | D．Return. |
| A．a science magazine | B．a newspaper |
| C．a school text | D．an economic lecture |
5 . 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. |
6 . 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. |
7 . People may set an alarm on the phone or clock that sounds like this: beep beep beep. That hard, unpleasant sound may be making it harder to shake off the sleepy feeling in the morning known as grogginess. So, is there a better way to wake up? A recent study says yes. The answer is music.
The study, carried out by researchers in Australia, involved 50 people. The researchers found that people who wake up to musical alarms reported feeling more awake and alert. Stuart McFarlane, a lead writer of the study stated, “We are very surprised by these findings as one might expect a harsh beeping sound to be more successful,” at waking up a person.
Sleep inertia is another term for grogginess. It means a person has a heavy feeling when waking up, and has trouble getting moving again after sleeping. McFarlane said people need to better understand sleep inertia’s harmful effects on human performance later in the day.
Not everyone will experience the full effect. But for those who do, “care should be taken” when performing duties that require a top performance within this period, he said. This includes “dangerous tasks like driving or riding our bikes” shortly after waking up. The same is true for people who work in dangerous situations shortly after they wake, including firefighters and pilots.
So, what makes musical alarms better for waking up? The researchers think the music may be more successful in reducing sleep inertia because it has several tones, compared to the single tone of a “beeping” alarm. McFarlane said that the changes over time between the music tones may help increase a person’s attention when waking from sleep.
And is there a kind of music that is best to wake up to? There may be, McFarlane said. “We could suggest alarm sounds that are tune full and easy to hum or sing along with. The current sounds I have been using include ‘Close to me’ by the Cure and ‘Borderline’ by Madonna.”
No matter how you wake up, experts say, the amount of sleep you get also matters a lot.
1. Which of the following might be the best title for the text?| A．What is grogginess? | B．Why are musical alarms better? |
| C．Which music is the best? | D．How can we overcome grogginess? |
| A．Sleep inertia is another cause for grogginess. |
| B．How long a person sleeps is of great importance. |
| C．The ‘beeping’ alarm is not effective mainly because of its noisy tone. |
| D．It is dangerous for everyone to effective mainly because of its noisy tone. |
| A．example of good musical alarms |
| B．more finding of the application of music |
| C．explanations about why music is more helpful |
| D．suggestions on how to sleep well and feel fresh each morning |
| A．Health. | B．Fiction. | C．Technology. | D．Entertainment. |
8 . As a basic food in the Asian diet， soybeans（大豆） have been used to make tofu and soy milk for hundreds of years． But now， they are also being turned into an alternative to plastic wrap．
William Chen， a professor of food science and technology at Singapore's Nanyang Technological University， invented the environmentally﹣friendly food wrap． It's made of cellulose（纤维素），a form of fiber， obtained from the waste generated by soy bean product producers． The beans are pressed to squeeze out juice that's used to make tofu and soy milk． And what's left is usually thrown away， but Chen takes the waste and puts it through a fermentation（发酵） process， during which cellulose is produced．
Cellulose﹣based plastic wraps have been on the market for a few years， but Chen says that most are made from wood or corn， grown for that purpose． By contrast， his wrap is made from a waste product， which doesn't compete with other crops for land and is more sustainable． Chen's technology could help to solve two problems at once： cutting plastic production and reducing the amount of food waste．"In Singapore， the amount of food waste generated every year could fill up 15，000 Olympic﹣sized swimming pools，" Chen says．
F&N， a soy﹣based drinks producer， has partnered with Chen's lab and provides the product， straight from the factory． The company is conducting a study to assess whether the food wrap could complete commercially with conventional products． Chen adds，"The soy﹣based wrap costs almost nothing to make in the lab because the raw materials are free． Commercial production would involve additional expenses， such as storage and quality control， however， we have not calculated those costs yet．"
Chen hopes neighboring soy﹣loving countries will be inspired by Singapore to adopt his innovation． "My dream is that our technology， which is cheap and simple， will cut plastic and food waste and create a cleaner environment，" Chen says．
1. What is the second paragraph mainly about？| A．The introduction to William Chen． |
| B．The process of producing soy milk． |
| C．The way to make soy﹣based wrap． |
| D．The benefit of eating soy products． |
| A．It saves land for industry． |
| B．It's more easily broken down． |
| C．It is made from the food waste． |
| D．It has been put into practice for many years． |
| A．A lack of competitiveness． |
| B．Poor quality of the wraps． |
| C．A shortage of raw material． |
| D．An increase in production costs． |
| A．A personal diary． |
| B．A travel guide． |
| C．A book review． |
| D．A scientific magazine． |
9 . Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft, which has been transporting all astronauts to and from the International Space Station（ISS）since 2011, typically carries a crew of three. However, the MS-14 capsule launched（发射）from a Russian spaceport in southern Kazakhstan on August 22, 2019, had just one passenger—a human-like robot named Skybot F-850.
The robot is the latest version of Russia’s FEDOR robots, which were initially designed to help with search and rescue efforts. Skybot is good at many human skills, including driving a car, having short conversations, and even telling jokes. But since it lacks some special sills, the spacecraft to the ISS was piloted from the ground by scientists from Russia’s space Agency. Roscosmos.
The six-foot-tall, 350-pound robot had another important task while on board. Without risking the lives of human astronauts, it helped Roscosmos researchers test the safety and flight experience of the new Soyuz-2.1, a carrier rocket, which carried the spacecraft into orbit. The feedback（反馈）will be important in determining if the rocket is safe to transport future human crews to space.
Though the launch into orbit went smoothly, Skybot’s arrival at the ISS was delayed by three days, from August 24 to August 27. The delay didn’t seem to bother the robot, which announced its arrival, “Sorry about the delay. Met with traffic. Ready to work now.”
Skybot’s two-week task is largely a test to measure its ability to work effectively in microgravity, and includes simple tasks like using tools. If all goes well, Russia hopes to send more advanced versions of the FEDOR robots to help astronauts with special tasks.
Earlier this year, the US space agency launched two little robots called Astrobees to help astronauts with daily chores, like finding lost pieces of equipment. Meanwhile, the European Space Agency’s social AI-powered CIMON spent a year assisting astronauts, before returning to Earth on August 27, 2019.
1. What is Skybot F-850 unable to do？| A．Drive a vehicle like humans. | B．Conduct short conversations. |
| C．Say something funny to people. | D．Pilot the spacecraft to the ISS. |
| A．Two days. | B．Three days. |
| C．Five days. | D．Fourteen days. |
| A．is bound to take the place of human crews |
| B．isn’t the first robot to help at the space station |
| C．worked with two other robots to assist astronauts |
| D．was launched to measure its security and flexibility |
| A．A science experiment. | B．A news report. |
| C．A technology guidebook. | D．A research paper. |
10 . It doesn’t kill germs better than cooler water, but turning tap temperatures high, the US burns carbon equal to the emissions of Barbados.
People typically wash their hands seven times a day in the United States, but they do it at a far higher temperature than is necessary to kill germs, a new study says. The energy waste is equivalent to the fuel use of a small country.
It’s cold and flu season, when many people are concerned about avoiding germs. But forget what you think you know about hand washing, say researchers at Vanderbilt University. Chances are good that how you clean up is not helping you stay healthy; it is helping to make the planet sick.
Amanda R. Carrico, a research assistant professor at the Vanderbilt Institute for Energy and Environment in Tennessee, told National Geographic that hand washing is often “a case where people act in ways that they think are in their best interest, but they in fact have inaccurate beliefs or outdated perceptions.”
Carrico said, “It’s certainly true that heat kills bacteria, but if you were going to use hot water to kill them it would have to be way too hot for you to tolerate.”
She explained that boiling water, 212°F (99.98°C), is sometimes used to kill germs — for example, to clean drinking water that might be polluted with germs. But “hot” water for hand washing is generally within 104°F to 131°F (40°C to 55°C.) At the high end of that range, heat could kill some germs, but the sustained contact that would be required would scald the skin.
Carrico said that after a review of the scientific literature, her team found “no evidence that using hot water that a person could stand would have any benefit in killing bacteria.” Even water as cold as 40°F (4.4°C) appeared to reduce bacteria as well as hotter water, if hands were scrubbed, rinsed (冲洗) and dried properly.
In fact, she noted that hot water can often have an unfavorable effect on hygiene. “Warmer water can harm the skin and affect the protective layer on the outside, which can cause it to be less resistant to bacteria,” said Carrico.
Using hot water to wash hands is therefore unnecessary, as well as wasteful, Carrico said, particularly when it comes to the environment. According to her research, people use warm or hot water 64 percent of the time when they wash their hands. Using that number, Carrico’s team calculated a significant impact on the planet.
“Although the choice of water temperature during a single hand wash may appear minor, when multiplied by the nearly 800 billion hand washes performed by Americans each year, this practice results in more than 6 million metric tons of CO2 equivalent emissions annually,” she said.
That’s roughly equal to the emissions of two coal-fired power plants, or 1,250, 000 passenger vehicles, over the course of a year. It’s higher than the greenhouse gas emissions of small countries like El Salvador or Armenia, and is about equivalent to the emissions of Barbados. If all US citizens washed their hands in cooler water, it would be like eliminating the energy-related carbon emissions of 299,700 US homes, or the total annual emissions from the US zinc or lead industries.
The researchers found that close to 70 percent of respondents said they believe that using hot water is more effective than warm, room temperature, or cold water, despite a lack of evidence backing that up, said Carrico. Her study noted research that showed a “strong cognitive（认知的） connection” between water temperature and hygiene in both the United States and Western Europe,compared to other countries, like Japan, where hot water is associated more with comfort than with health.
The researchers published their results in the July 2013 issue of International Journal of Consumer Studies. They recommended washing with water that is at a “comfortable” temperature, which they noted may be warmer in cold months and cooler in hot ones.
1. What does the writer mainly focus on when writing this passage?| A．Whether hot water helps kill germs effectively in hand washing. |
| B．How hot water contributes to the serious worsening of our planet. |
| C．Why the consumption of hot water is unnecessary and wasteful. |
| D．What the advantages and disadvantages of using hot water are. |
| A．burn | B．improve | C．soften | D．wrinkle |
| A．two coal-fired power plants |
| B．US zinc or lead industries |
| C．1,250, 000 passenger vehicles |
| D．El Salvador or Armenia |
| A．Boiling water at 212°F (99.98°C) works effectively in killing germs. |
| B．Warmer water can damage the protective layer of the outside skin. |
| C．There is much difference between cold water and hot water in reducing bacteria. |
| D．Americans have inaccurate beliefs or outdated perceptions in hand washing. |
| A．Warmer in winter and cooler in summer. |
| B．Between 104°F to 131°F (40°C to 55°C). |
| C．Below 104°F (40°C) or above 131°F (55°C). |
| D．Warm enough to kill germs and clean up. |
| A．Universal Science Fiction |
| B．Science & Discoveries |
| C．Environment & Protection |
| D．Exploration of America |
