1 . Starman, the dummy(仿真人) riding a cherry-red Tesla Roadster(特斯拉敞篷车) through space, has made his closest approach ever to Mars. The electric roadster and its passenger were attached to the top of a Falcon Heavy rocket during the SpaceX rocket’s first test launch on 6 February 2018.
Two years later, the Falcon Heavy rocket and the vehicle at its tip are making their second trip around the Sun. Mr. McDowell, a Harvard astrophysicist, found that Starman passed 7.4 million kilometers from Mars at 06:25 GMT 7 October, 2020.
The closest recent approach between the Earth and Mars was 56 million kilometers in 2003, though the planets are often hundreds of millions of miles apart depending on where they are in their orbits. No one can see the Falcon Heavy rocket at its current distance, but orbits over periods of a few years are fairly straightforward to predict, and Mr. McDowell used data about how the rocket was moving when it left the Earth’s gravity behind to locate its recent movements exactly.
Last time Starman circled the Sun, McDowell said, it crossed Mars’ orbit while the Red Planet was quite far away. But this time the crossing lined up with a fairly close approach, though still not close enough to feel a strong tug from Mars.
At this point in time, if you were able to go look at the Roadster, it would probably look pretty different. The strong solar radiation environment between the planets would probably have destroyed all the exposed organic materials.
Without the Earth’s atmospheric and magnetic(磁场的) protection, even the plastics and carbon-fibre materials would start to break up. Over the course of decades or centuries, the car will end up with its aluminium(铝) frame and hard glass parts----that’s assuming that none of them get destroyed in impacts with passing space rocks.
1. What can we infer from the first two paragraphs?| A．Starman is now circling around the Earth in its orbit. |
| B．Starman has set out on its second trip around the Sun. |
| C．Starman has traveled 7.4 million kilometers after launch. |
| D．Starman still has a long way to go before getting to Mars. |
| A．By keeping Starman under visual observation. |
| B．By predicting its future orbit around the earth. |
| C．By seeking professional help from SpaceX. |
| D．By analyzing data about the rocket’s movement. |
| A．pull | B．drive | C．resistance | D．pressure |
| A．It is circling around Mars and will finally crash onto it. |
| B．It will finish its mission and return to SpaceX on earth. |
| C．Starman is likely reduced to at most its frame and glass. |
| D．SpaceX will try to recover it during its next space mission. |
2 . If you could live forever, would you want to? The challenge of keeping your body alive seems impossible, but some scientists are working on an alternative. They want to create a digital copy of your “self” and keep that copy “alive” long after your physical body has stopped functioning.
In effect, their plan is to clone a person electronically.Unlike ordinary physical clones-which have identical features as their parents, but which are independent organisms, each with a different conscious self-your electronic clone would believe itself to be you.
One plan relies on the development of nanotechnology(纳米技术). Ray Kurzweil, a leading futurist, predicts that within two or three decades we will have tiny transmitters that can be injected into the brain. Once there they would line up alongside neurons and monitor the details of the brain’s activity. They would then be able to transmit that information to receivers inside a special helmet, allowing us to map the brain.
As a further step, Kurzweil foresees using these tiny transmitters to connect you to a world of virtual reality. With the transmitters in place, you could think your way onto the Internet. Instead of seeing pictures on a screen, you would see them in your mind. Rather than send emails to your friends, you could meet them on some virtual tropical beach and exchange messages in “virtual person”.
For a futurist like Ray, this would be heaven, a virtual heaven. Once you upload the brain onto the Internet and log on to that virtual world, your body can be left to decompose(腐烂) while your virtual self can play games for as long as you wish.
However, there is still a problem. To exist on the net, your virtual self will have to live on the computer of a web-hosting company. These companies want to be paid real money, or they will delete your “self” and sell the space to someone else. With your body long gone, how will you pay?
1. What do the scientists intend to do?| A．To clone an ordinary person. | B．To create a digital copy of a person. |
| C．To making a man live longer. | D．To produce independent organisms. |
| A．You can map the brain. | B．You can play computer games. |
| C．You can keep your virtual self alive. | D．You can become conscious. |
| A．The deepest part of their imagination. | B．Somewhere high above the atmosphere. |
| C．The place of God and external happiness. | D．The virtual world on the Internet. |
| A．Extending your “existence”. | B．Eventually replacing physical human beings. |
| C．Enriching your lives with more spare time. | D．Lengthening your physical body. |
3 . Mr. Utterson was a lawyer who was good-natured to his friends. His companions were usually distant relations from his own family, or friends that he had known for a long time.
One friend in particular was Mr. Richard Enfield, a distant relative, and a well-known man in London. The two men were very different, but they always went for a long Sunday walk together. People who saw them out on their walk reported that they rarely spoke. However, they would even cancel other appointments in order to go and enjoy their walks without interruption.
One day, while they were out on their walk together, they were strolling (漫步) along a small quiet street. It was all clean and attractive except for one building two storeys high.
As they passed, Mr. Enfield asked Mr. Utterson if he had ever noticed the dirty door, because it reminded him of a very strange story.
“No,” said Mr. Utterson. “What story was that?”
“Well,” replied Mr. Enfield. “Once, I was coming home this way at about 3 am on a dark winter’s night, and the whole area was very quiet and deserted. But then suddenly I saw two people. One was a small unpleasant-looking man walking along this street at a good speed. The second was a small girl, about eight or nine years old, running as fast as she could. Well, the two met at the corner and ran into each other. The unusual thing was that instead of stopping and apologizing, the little man, quite on purpose, stamped (踩) hard on the girl as she lay on the ground, screaming with pain.”
“It was a terrible thing to see. I shouted out and chased the man, caught him and brought him back to where he had knocked down the girl. The noise had attracted a small crowd of people, including some of the girl’s family, who were very angry with the man. He did not apologize, nor was he sorry for what had happened. We all told him that we would make a lot of trouble for him if he did not pay for his actions.”
“The man agreed to pay one hundred pounds to the family. As he did not have that amount of money with him, he said he had to go and get a cheque. He went to the house with the door we are looking at now, and came out with another man’s cheque for almost one hundred pounds at four o'clock in the morning. Therefore w made him stay at my house until the banks opened. Then we went to cash the cheque. I handed it over myself and was sure that it would be a forgery, but to my surprise, it was real”
1. What can learn about Mr. Utterson and Mr. Enfield?| A．They often canceled their appointments. | B．They attached importance to their walks. |
| C．They became friends a long time ago. | D．They were often followed by reporters. |
| A．He knocked into the girl on purpose. | B．He chased the girl and shouted at her. |
| C．He attacked the small girl violently. | D．He stopped and apologized to the girl. |
| A．Because he had a feeling of guilt. | B．Because he was afraid to lose face. |
| C．Because he made a lot of trouble. | D．Because he was under great pressure. |
| A．Something mistaken. | B．Something unbelievable. |
| C．Something illegally copied. | D．Something poorly organized. |
4 . Salad plants have already been grown in old shelters and tunnels. Urban farming is a regular topic of interest at places like the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, where leaders consider whether the world's food system, blamed for causing both obesity and malnutrition, can be fixed. There are already plenty of urban farming projects around the world, particularly in the US, Japan and the Netherlands, from urban fish and plant farms to vertical farming.
“It's becoming an expanding industry,” said Richard Ballard, one of the founders of the farm Growing Underground. “There're several other businesses starting up in London in containers, and there are other vertical farms around the country now.”
Growing Underground is not a standard farm. The rows of crops could be in almost any tunnel, but these plants are 100 feet below Clapham High Street and show that urban agriculture is, in some cases at least, not a fad. The underground farm has occupied a part of the Second World War air-raid shelters for nearly five years, and Ballard is planning to expand into the rest of the space later this year.
Growing Underground supplies herb and salad mixes to grocery shops, supermarkets and restaurants. Being in London creates an advantage, Ballard says, as they can harvest and deliver in an hour.
He adds other advantages. Being underground means temperatures never go below 15℃ surface greenhouses need to be heated. They can do more harvests: 60 crops a year, compared with about seven in a traditional farm. Electricity to power the lights is a major cost, but the company believes renewable energy will become cheaper.
Similar British companies include the Jones Food Company in Lincolnshire, while in the US AeroFarms has several projects in New Jersey, and Edenworks in Brooklyn.
1. What do we know about urban farming?| A．It leads to a healthier lifestyle. | B．It is rarely discussed at the WEF. |
| C．Different farming methods are used. | D．Local governments pay efforts to develop it. |
| A．A dream that's easy to realize. | B．A field controlled for a long time. |
| C．An approach to a serious problem. | D．A fashion that’s popular for a short time. |
| A．It is more productive than a traditional farm. | B．It provides food directly to the customers. |
| C．Its major products are herbs and salads. | D．It uses less energy than a greenhouse. |
| A．Current food system causes health problems |
| B．Growing Underground attracts more people |
| C．Traditional farming will be replaced soon |
| D．Urban farming is still thought costly and time-consuming |
5 . A teenager of 17 walks into a corner store and grabs a Coca-Cola, but the cashier refuses to sell it to him because he is underage. That rule is expected to soon become reality in parts of Mexico, as lawmakers in several states push legislation (立法)to keep junk food away from children. know it can sound a bit difficult but we have to take action now," says Lopez, a lawmaker in Oaxaca's Congress.
More than 70,000 Mexicans have died from COVID-19, the world's fourth-highest recorded death toll, tracked by Johns Hopkins University. 89% of those who died in Mexico had an underlying medical condition such as obesity, diabetes (糖尿病)，high blood pressure and heart problems. That has led to a new urgency to change diets so that the younger generation doesn't suffer those illnesses.
The critics, however, say the leaders are using preexisting health conditions in COVID-19 patients to distract from a weak government response to the virus outbreak. Yet few people would deny that the country consumes large amounts of sugar-sweetened drinks and processed snacks with little nutrition --- or that Mexico has a major weight problem.
Oaxaca's governor approved the state's junk food prohibition last week. Legislators still have to complete the legal systems, and punishment could include fines and even jail. Lopez says legislators from all over the country have called her for advice. Many other states are debating a junk food ban. However, a nationwide law would not be easy. "There are powerful commercial interests that least want it to happen, but we must prioritize the well-being of our children," Lopez says.
1. What is Lopez 's attitude towards the junk food?| A．Negative. | B．Neutral. |
| C．Positive. | D．Indifferent. |
| A．Keep distance. | B．Avoid illnesses. |
| C．Break away. | D．Shift attention. |
| A．Selling children junk food has been banned nationwide in Mexico. |
| B．Most Mexicans who died of COVID-19 had other health problems. |
| C．The younger generation doesn't suffer any weight problems. |
| D．People who break the prohibition in Oaxaca will only be warned. |
| A．Teenagers. | B．Legislators. |
| C．Soft drink companies. | D．State governors. |
6 . La Belle Personne is boring, but I love it. The 2008 French film features extremely softened and washed-out colors, a relatively uneventful plotline, and lifeless performances from the main characters, all of which give the film its unique charm.
The plain beauty of La Belle Personne comes not from its extremely unique plot, but rather its literary elements. Of course, the film is visually pretty lacking in liveliness. An editor must have purposely and smartly dealt with every single shot. The dominating colors in each of these shots are a vivid black, grey and white, making for a melancholic(忧郁的）atmosphere. While one could easily view this lack of vividness as exhausting,I would argue that it makes for a beautifully unconventional cinematic experience.
There are no artificial mental spark stimulated by the visuals, and the viewers must therefore sit with themselves for an hour and a half, reflecting on what the piece personally means to them and how it genuinely makes them feel. Aside from a few major plot points, nothing terribly remarkable happens in La Belle Personne. It's more like a lazy river under grey skies where the water is slightly too cold. But if you relax, your body temperature adjusts and you can sit back and just enjoy the ride.
Although our current world may be both literally and symbolically on fire, it's no secret that campus life in and of itself is considerably more boring than usual. With no parties to attend, most classes online, and the majority of clubs limited to Zoom Meetings, waking up every day might feel a bit more tedious. However, just like La Belle Personne has shown us, it's important to appreciate your environment for what it is. In terms of campus life, sometimes it's not so horrible for things to be slow-paced, as it allows space for reflection and being present.
1. What do we know about La Belle Personne from the first paragraph?| A．It enjoys high popularity. |
| B．It owns special artistic charm. |
| C．It applies modern techniques. |
| D．It features lively performances. |
| A．All its viewers feel positive on it. |
| B．It gives viewers a sense of ridiculousness. |
| C．It suits those preferring sensory stimulation. |
| D．It is worth tasting slowly and heart-wholly. |
| A．Boring. | B．Painstaking. | C．Impractical. | D．Unnecessary. |
| A．To show the importance of going to the movies. |
| B．To recommend people to enjoy an unique movie. |
| C．To introduce a way to appreciate a certain movie. |
| D．To call for a slow-paced and positive school life. |
7 . Kamikatsu, a small town in Japan, has shown the world that our garbage has far-reaching effects, and not just on our environment.
The experiment in going zero waste started when the town built a new incinerator 20 years ago. But almost immediately, the incinerator was determined to be a health risk due to the poisonous gases when garbage was burned in it. It was too expensive to send waste to other towns, so locals had to come up with a new plan. Then the Zero Waste Academy was born, which helped perform this plan.
Now Kamikatsu people separate their waste into 45 different categories. But in the beginning, it wasn't easy to convince local people to do all this work, and there was some pushback. Only after that initial education period did most residents come on board.
This is all great news for waste reduction of course, but it has also had some unexpected social benefits as well. Like much of Japan, Kamikatsu's population is aging, and about 50 percent of the locals are elderly. The fact that the whole community takes their trash in to be recycled has created a local action and interaction between generations.
That idea has been purposefully expanded to include a circular shop where household goods are dropped off and others can take them, and a tableware "library" where people can borrow extra cups, glasses, silverware and plates for celebrations.
"The elderly see this not as a waste-collection service, but an opportunity to socialize with the younger generation and to chat. When we visit them, they prepare lots of food and we stay with them for a while, we ask how they are," Sakano, the founder of the Zero Waste Academy, said.
Sakano's ideas are truly revolutionary if you think about it. She's proving that community can be found through handling the stuff we no longer want and need.
1. What is mainly talked about in paragraph 2?| A．What harmful effects garbage burning has. |
| B．Why garbage sorting is necessary in Japan. |
| C．How the idea of zero waste was put forward. |
| D．What the Zero Waste Academy functions as. |
| A．Inactive response. | B．Generous reward. |
| C．Bitter suffering. | D．Beneficial guidance. |
| A．Reducing waste. | B．Creating community. |
| C．Increasing people's income. | D．Developing a new technology. |
| A．Technology. | B．Health. | C．Workplace. | D．Lifestyle. |
Hot Science
The Benefits
Experts have found that there are clear health benefits of drinking tea. Research has led to the discovery that chemicals found in tea can help prevent cell damage. And there is clear evidence that drinking three to four cups of tea a day will reduce the chances of heart attacks and certain cancers. Other health benefits include bone strengthening and protection against bad teeth. “Drinking tea is actually better for you than drinking water,” said one doctor.
Re-hydration
There was also some interesting information on the qualities of tea. The research dispels the fear that tea is dehydrating (脱水). “Everyone assumes that caffeine-containing drinks such as tea dehydrate,” a leading expert explained. “But even if you had a really strong cup of tea, you would still have a gain of fluid (液体). In terms of fluid intake, we recommend 1.5 to 2 liters per day, and that can include tea. Tea is not dehydrating. It’s a healthy drink.”
The Negative Side
There was only one bit of bad news about tea. Research suggests that tea can affect the body’s ability to absorb iron from food. This means that people at risk of anaemia (贫血) should avoid drinking tea around mealtimes.
1. Tea is unable to help prevent _______.| A．heart attacks | B．iron shortage | C．weak bones | D．bad teeth |
| A．remove | B．confirm | C．convey | D．raise |
| A．Tea is used to cure different diseases. |
| B．Tea jokes only work for the tea lovers. |
| C．Strong tea cannot relieve human thirst. |
| D．Tea bushes are cut short for easy harvest. |
9 . On an autumn afternoon, a remote sheep farm in southern Greenland is quiet. The silence is abruptly broken when dozens of sheep come thundering across the hills overlooking the farm. Walking after them are Lars Nielsen and his 37-year-old son Kunuk Nielsen.
The Nielsen family has owned and run the farm since 1972. Kunuk says the summers now are longer than when he was a child and that drought has become a problem. The fields are not so green as those in the old days. He has to buy hay (草料) from European countries.
The effects of a warming climate are obvious on the land. While he intends to struggle on, his older brother Pilu has chosen a different path.
Pilu, 40, lives in Qaqortoq in the south of Greenland -- a town of about 3,000 people. Ten years ago, he got his helicopter pilot's license and is now part owner of a small company called Sermeq Helicopters. It caters to construction and telecommunication workers and an increasing number of foreign tourists.
Pilu says he loves his family's sheep farm. But he saw that warming temperatures were making remote areas of Greenland more accessible and wanted to look for other opportunities. His company's most popular tours include a visit to Greenland's glaciers.
The warming temperatures are also affecting traditional ways of life, particularly hunting. The sea ice is changing; it's becoming less so that hunting on ice becomes more difficult. When there's no sea ice, it's difficult to use dog sledges (雪橇)，and the whole culture around having dogs and dog sledges and doing traditional hunting on the ice is sort of diminishing.
Besides, many Greenlanders, like Pilu, are leaving the countryside for towns and the capital city Nuuk, where opportunities are greater. A report found that Nuuk's share of Greenland's population grew from 17.2% in 1977 to 29.2% in 2014. If there were enough houses in Nuuk, the share would even be bigger.
1. What problem does Kunuk Nielsen's farm face?| A．Lack of workers. | B．Less food for his sheep. |
| C．Less space forhissheep. | D．Lack of foreign markets. |
| A．By casting a shadow on its business. |
| B．By making it hard for locals to earn a living. |
| C．By promoting the development of its tourism. |
| D．By making more remote areas suitable for living. |
| A．Occurring. | B．Operating. |
| C．Adapting. | D．Decreasing |
| A．Housing pressure. | B．Climate change. |
| C．Weakeconomy. | D．Poor living conditions. |
10 . Chinese consumers’ crazy appetite for luxury goods and services appears unstoppable，with just 2 percent of the Chinese population responsible for onethird of the world’s luxury items.
As China’s economic miracle develops，the market opportunities for all sorts of luxury goods and services are increasing.Luxury consumption(奢侈品消费) in China now extends ways beyond wellknown car，clothing and jewelry brands.For example，the luxury jet market in China is the fastestgrowing in the world，even outstripping that of the United States，with a market share of 25 percent.This trend appears to continue，with 20 to 30 percent growth expected in China，compared with only 2 to 3 percent in the US.But more importantly，China’s luxury jet market growth represents a major development in the private consumption of luxury items.
China’s highquality red wine market also provides evidence of the growth in private consumption of luxury goods.In 2013，China became the largest market for red wine in the world，even overtaking France，with 1.86 billion bottles consumed in China last year.Over the past five years，China’s red wine consumption has grown 136 percent.
According to my ongoing consumer research in this area while working at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing，public consumption of such expensive global luxury brands such as Prada and Armani is easily explained by the desire to “gain face” and publicly display social climbing through material possessions.On the other hand，it is “selfreward” that lies behind consumer motivation in this area.Chinese consumers who have experienced rapid financial and economic gains appear to be particularly prone to the need to reward themselves for their success.But this has little to do with “gaining face” and impressing others and much more to do with the need for personal contentment.
Finally，the growth in private luxury consumption in China is set to continue in part due to the maturity of the Chinese consumer and advancement of Chinese consumer culture generally.
1. What do you think the author would most probably be?| A．A news reporter. | B．An accountant. |
| C．A professor. | D．A conductor. |
| A．falling far behind of |
| B．going out of |
| C．going far ahead of |
| D．keeping pace with |
| A．Future Private Luxury Consumption in China |
| B．Chinese Appetite for Luxury Goods and Services |
| C．The Potential Luxury Jet Market in China |
| D．The Maturity of the Chinese Consumers |
