1 . Biologists from the John Innes Centre in England discovered that plants have a biological process which divides their amount of stored energy by the length of the night. This solves the problem of how to portion out（分配） energy reserves during the night so that the plant can keep growing, yet not risk burning off all its stored energy.

While the sun shines, plants perform photosynthesis（光合作用）. In this process, the plants change sunlight, water and carbon dioxide into stored energy in the form of long chains of sugar, called starch（淀粉）. At night, the plants burn this stored starch to fuel continued growth.

“The calculations are precise so that plants prevent starvation but also make the most efficient use of their food,” said study co-author Alison Smith. “If the starch store is used too fast, plants will starve and stop growing during the night. If the store is used too slowly, some of it will be wasted.”

The scientists studied the plant Arabidopsis, which is regarded as a model plant for experiments. To give the plants some math tests, the biologists let night arrive unexpectedly early or late for them.

During one of the exams, they shut off the lights early on them that had been grown with twelve-hour days and nights. Putting them into darkness after only an eight-hour day means they didn’t have time to store as much starch as usual. And this forced the plants to adjust their normal nightly rhythm.

Amazingly, even after this day length trick, the plants did very well in their exams and ended up with just five percent of starch left over at the end of the night. They had neither starved, nor stored starch that could have been used to fuel more growth.

The authors suggested that similar biological calculators may explain how a migratory bird, the little stint, can make a five-thousand-kilometer journey to their summer habitat in the Arctic and arrive with enough fat reserves to survive only approximately half a day more, on average.

The results of the study were published in e Life.

1. According to the passage, plants _________.

A．use little energy during the day

B．usually stop growing at night

C．waste a lot of energy at night

D．store starch during the day

2. What did the scientists do when studying Arabidopsis?

A．They changed the plant’s light conditions.

B．They provided the plant with more starch.

C．They tried to keep the plant’s natural rhythm.

D．They attached a biological calculator to the plant.

3. When morning arrived, the experimental plants ________.

A．nearly died of lack of food

B．used most of their stored energy

C．began to regulate their food store

D．stored enough starch for the next day

4. What can we learn about the little stint?

A．They may have a system to control energy consumption.

B．They often die during their long and difficult journey.

C．They leave the Arctic in summer every year.

D．They are unable to calculate the distances.

5. The passage mainly tells us _________.

A．plants feel hungrier day by day

B．plants are good at storing energy

C．plants do math to survive the night

D．plants use starch to fuel their growth

2 . A trial project by the Montreal Children's Hospital suggested that the use of medical hypnosis(催眠)can reduce pain and anxiety in patients. The project also resulted in a reduction in the amount of medicines used to perform medical-imaging imaging(医学影像) procedures.

“During the examination children don't move. It works perfectly. It's amazing,“ said Johanne   L'Ecuyer, a medical-imaging technologist at the hospital.

The project was inspired by a French team from Rouen University Hospital Centre where examinations are done under hypnosis instead of general anesthesia(麻醉）.

A French medical-imaging technologist-also a hypnotist — was invited to train a few members in the medical-imaging department of the children's hospital. In all, 80 examinations were conducted for the project between January and September, 2019, focusing on the imaging procedures that would cause anxiety.

Hypnosis is not a state of sleep: It is rather a modified(改变的)state of consciousness. The technologist will guide the patient to this modified state—an imaginary world that will disassociate itself more and more from the procedure that follows.

“The technologist must build up a story with the patient," Ms. L'Ecuyer said. "The patient is left with the power to choose what he wants to talk about. Do you play sports? Do you like going to the beach? We establish a subject that we will discuss throughout the procedure."

Everything that happens next during the procedure must be related to this story — an injection （注射）becomes the bite of an insect; the heat on the skin becomes the sensation of the sun and a machine that rings becomes a police car passing nearby.

“The important thing is that the technologist associates what is happening outside the patient's body with what the patient sees in his head," Ms. L'Ecuyer said. "It requires creativity on the part of the technologist, imagination, a lot of patience and kindness."

The procedure appealed to the staff a lot when it was introduced in January. It spread like wildfire that someone from France was here to train the technologists,"   Ms. L'Ecuyer said. She added that she had a line of staff at her door wanting to take the training.

1. One of the results produced by the trial project is ________ .

A．a better understanding of children

B．less use of certain medicines

C．new medical-imaging technology

D．an improved reputation of the hospital

2. The French technologist came to the children's hospital to ________.

A．assist in treating a patient

B．carry out hypnosis training

C．start up a new department

D．learn about the procedure

3. According to Paragraph 5, hypnosis works by ________.

A．creating a perfect world for patients

B．forcing patients into a state of deep sleep

C．putting patients into an unconscious state

D．leading patients' consciousness away from reality

4. What can we learn about the story used in the procedure?

A．It should keep pace with the procedure.

B．It reflects the patient's creativity.

C．It is selected by the technologist.

D．It tells what doctors are doing to the patient.

5. The procedure was received among the staff with ________.

A．uncertainty

B．enthusiasm

C．worry

D．criticism

6. What is the passage mainly about?

A．An easy way to communicate with patients.

B．The standard method of conducting hypnosis.

C．An introduction of medical-imaging technology.

D．The use of hypnosis in medical-imaging procedures.

3 . High school in the United States starts too early．Given teenagers' sleep patterns, the ideal school start time could be as late as 11:30 a.m.-when many high school students have already finished half a school day and are eating lunch．

Researchers from Harvard and Oxford wrote about this new finding in a recent article in the journal Learning．Media, and Technology．In the article, Paul Kelley supposed that, given when kids and teenagers are biologically conditioned to wake up,10-year-olds should start school at 8 a.m.．16-year-olds should start between 10 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., and 18-year-olds should start between 11 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.

There's been lots of research done on sleep and performance in school-but this article thinks that school should start even later than most proposals for a later start time call for．Teens aren't lazy-adults need to adjust．This isn't laziness-sleep patterns are a biological necessity．Reviewing evidence from studies around the world, the researchers think that starting school later would help students learn more, perform better on tests, and even make teenagers less annoyed．When the Minneapolis Public Schools moved their start time from 7:15 a.m. to 8:40 a.m., students liked the change and reported that "attendance, achievement, behavior, and mood improved．"

Parents were positive, too．92 percent said they liked the change, and parents reported that their kids were easier to live with when they weren't getting up so early．At the US Air Force Academy, where students were randomly assigned to classes with earlier and later start times, students who started earlier performed worse all day long on those days．

The researchers consider that this is partly cultural, and that getting up early is still seen as a virtue．That's wrong, they write: "A common belief is that adolescents are tired because they choose to stay up too late, or are difficult to wake in the morning because they are lazy．Educators tend to think that adolescents learn best in the morning and if they simply went to sleep earlier, it would improve their concentration．．．The truth is that adults need to be educated．"

1. What does the passage mainly argue about?

A．The time to start high school．	B．The performance of teenagers．
C．The sleep patterns of the teenagers．	D．The common belief of adolescents．

2. From Paul Kelley's research, people can conclude _______________．

A．the earlier the children get up, the cleverer they will become

B．the elder the children are, the later they should start learning

C．the more time children spend learning, the better they will be

D．the later children wake up, the less knowledge they can get

3. Which is NOT the benefit of starting school later in Paragraph 3?

A．Gaining more knowledge．	B．Getting higher marks．
C．Making mood better．	D．Doing less homework．

4. How did the parents think of starting late?

A．The students are losing a virtue．	B．The adults need to be taught．
C．The students benefit from that．	D．The adults become lazier．

5. What should the students do to perform well in school, according to the educators?

A．They should have the wonderful virtue．	B．They should develop the common belief．
C．They should become lazier and lazier．	D．They should get habits of sleeping early．

4 . For people, who are interested in sound, the field of sound technology is definitely making noise. In the past, sound engineers worked in the back rooms of recording studios, but many of today’s sound professionals are sharing their knowledge and experience with professionals in other fields to create new products based on the phenomenon we call sound.

Sound can be used as a weapon. Imagine that a police officer is chasing a thief. The thief tries to escape. And the officer can’t let him get away. He pulls out a special device, points it at the suspect, and switches it on. The thief drops to the ground. This new weapon is called a Long Range Acoustic Device(LRAD, 远程定向声波发射器). It produces a deafening sound so painful that it temporarily disables a person. The noise from the LRAD is directed like a ray of light and travels only into the ears of that person, but it is not deadly.

For those who hunger for some peace and quiet, sound can now create silence. Let’s say you are at the airport, and the little boy on the seat next to you is humming(哼唱) a short commercial song. He hums it over and over again, and you are about to go crazy. Thanks to the Silence Machine, a British invention, you can get rid of the sound without upsetting the boy or his parents. One may wonder how the Silence Machine works. Well, it functions by analyzing the waves of the incoming sound and creating a second set of outgoing waves. The two sets of waves cancel each other out. Simply turn the machine or point it at the target, and your peace and quiet comes back.

Directed sound is a new technology that allows companies to use sound in much the same way spotlights(聚光灯) are used in the theater. A spotlight lights up only one section of a stage; similarly, “spotsound” creates a circle of sound in on targeted area. This can be useful for businesses such as restaurants and stores because it offers a new way to attract customers. Restaurants can offer a choice of music along with the various food choices on the menu, allowing customers more control over the atmosphere in which they are dining. Directed sound is also beginning to appear in shopping centers and even at homes.

1. What could be inferred from Paragraph 2 about the effect of the LRAD?

A．It causes temporary hearing loss.

B．It slows down a running man.

C．It makes it easy to identify a suspect.

D．It keeps the suspect from hurting others.

2. The Silence Machine is a device specially designed to ________.

A．silence the people around you

B．remove the sound of commercials

C．block the incoming sound waves

D．stop unwanted sound from affecting you

3. What feature do spotsounds and spotlights share?

A．They travel in circles.

B．They clear the atmosphere.

C．They can be transformed into energy.

D．They can be directed onto a specific area.

4. Directed sound can be used for ________.

A．creative designs of restaurant menus

B．ideal sound effects on the theater stage

C．different choices of music for businesses

D．strict control over any suspicious customer

5. What does the passage focus on?

A．How professionals invented sound products.

B．Inventions in the field of sound technology.

C．The growing interest in the study of sound.

D．How sound engineers work in their studios.

5 . One of the greatest sources of unhappiness，in my experience，is the difficulty we have in accepting things as they are．
When we see something we don’t like，we wish it could be different．We cry out for something better．That may be human nature，or perhaps it’s something ingrained(根深蒂固的) in our culture．The root of the unhappiness isn’t necessarily that we want things to be different．However, it’s that we decided we didn’t like it in the first place．We’ve judged it as bad，rather than saying, “It's not bad or good，and it just is it．”
In one of my books，I said“You should expect people to mess up and expect things to go differently than you planned”．Some readers said it's too sorrowful to expect things to go wrong．However, it’s only negative if you see it as negative and judge it as bad．Instead，you could accept it as the way the world works and try to understand why that is．
This can be applied to whatever you do：how other people act at work，how politics works and how depressing the news media can be．Accept these things as they are，and try to understand why they’re that way．It will save you a lot of sadness，because you’ll no longer say,“Oh．I wish bad things didn’t happen!’’
Does it mean you can never change things? Not at a11．But change things not because you can’t accept things as they are，but because you enjoy the process of changing，learning and growing．
Can we make this world a better place? You can say that you’11 continue to try to do things to help others，to grow as a person，to make a difference in this world．That’s the correct path you choose to take，because you enjoy that path．Therefore，when you find yourself judging and wishing for difference，try a different approach：accept，and understand．It might lead to some interesting results．
1. The author believes that we feel unhappy maybe because ___________.

A．it is our natural emotion in the life

B．culture asks us to be different from others

C．everyone has their own opinions on things

D．we dislike something in the beginning

2. Some readers think the words in the author’s book is too ______________.

A．depressing

B．frightening

C．delighting

D．idealistic

3. In Paragraph 4，the underlined word "it" refers to ____________．

A．acting well at work and in politics

B．feeling depressed for the news media

C．accepting and understanding what has happened

D．saying something negative when bad things come

4. In the last paragraph，you are advised _____________．

A．to help others and make a difference

B．to enjoy what you have to do in the work

C．to judge yourself and make a wish for you

D．to try a new way when making the world better

5. What is the main theme of the passage?

A．Expecting things to be different gives us hope．

B．Accepting can make our life happier and better．

C．Traditional culture becomes root of unhappiness．

D．Judging good or bad is important for our world．