1 . Honeybees can’t swim, and when their wings are wet, they can’t fly, either. But Chris Roh and other researchers at the California Institute of Technology found that when bees drop into bodies of water, they can use their wings to produce little waves and slide toward land-like surfers who create and then ride their own waves.
As with many scientific advances-Isaac Newton’s apple or Benjamin Franklin’s lightning bolt-Dr. Roh’s experiment began with a walk. Passing Caltech’s Millikan Pond in 2016, he observed a bee on the water’s surface producing waves. He wondered how an insect known for flight could push itself through water.
Dr. Roh and his co-worker, Morteza Gharib, used butterfly nets to collect local Pasadena honeybees and observed their surf-like movements. The researchers used a wire to restrict each bee’s bodily movement, allowing close examination of their wings. They found that the bee bends its wings at a 30-degree angle, pulling up water and producing a forward force. Bees get trapped on the surface because water is roughly three times heavier than air. But that weight helps to push the bee forward when its wings move quickly up and down. It’s a tough exercise for the bees, which the researchers guess could handle about 10 minutes of the activity.
The researchers said the surf-like movement hasn’t been documented in other insects and most semiaquatic insects use their legs for propulsion, which is known as water-walking. It may have evolved in bees, they-predicted.
Dr. Roh and Dr. Gharib have imagined many practical applications for bees’ surfing. One plan is to use their observations to design robots able to travel across sky and sea. “This could be useful for search and rescues, or for getting samples of the surface of the ocean, if you can’t send a boat or helicopter,” Dr. Gharib said.
1. What does the author intend to show by mentioning Newton and Franklin?| A．Roh’s admiration for them. | B．Roh’s chance discovery about bees. |
| C．Their outstanding talent for science. | D．Their similar achievements in discovery. |
| A．The air weight. | B．Its leg extension. |
| C．The water movement. | D．Its continuous wingbeat. |
| A．Fast flight | B．Driving force. | C．Pulling speed. | D．Explosive power. |
| A．Honeybees can surf to safety. | B．Bees help scientists make inventions. |
| C．Insects can adapt to the environment. | D．Nature is a helpful guide for discovery. |
2 . Diwali（Deepavali）is a festival of lights observed in October or November each year in Canada. During the festival, various community groups, businesses, schools and associations celebrate it in different ways. Some companies have Diwali dinners and some communities organize gatherings that feature firework displays, dances, street lighting, and plays.
Many women wear fine jewelry and silk outfits to celebrate Diwali. Some women and girls use Mehendi, a dye decoration which can last a limited time, on their palms, and then they will finally get colorful hand paintings. Many homes that celebrate Diwali have various types of sweets, salty and spiced food as well as Diwali herbs （香料）. Various lights, candles and sparklers are lit inside and outside homes, particularly in courtyards, on Diwali. Diwali is not a nationwide public holiday in Canada but it is a prevalent festival celebrated in many towns and cities. There may be traffic jams and parking places may be full in areas where events are held to celebrate Diwali. Some Indian businesses may close early on Diwali.
Diwali is called the "Festival of Lights" and is celebrated to honor Rama, a hero who once fought and won a battle against the demons（恶魔）. In the past, people lit their houses to celebrate his victory over demons（light over darkness）. At the same time, every household did careful and complete cleaning at home in advance. It is believed that the goddess of happiness and good fortune, Lakshmi travels around the Earth on this day and enters the house that is pure, clean, and bright.
Diwali celebrations may vary in different communities but its spiritual meaning is generally "the awareness of the inner light". As the word “Deepavali” means “a row or cluster of light”, the festival symbolizes the victory of righteousness and the lifting of spiritual darkness.
1. What can we learn about Diwali from the first two paragraphs?| A．It is celebrated on a fixed day. |
| B．It centers on various local food. |
| C．People stay up late to prepare for It. |
| D．People from all walks of life enjoy celebrating it. |
| A．Popular. | B．Free. |
| C．Serious. | D．Funny. |
| A．To pray for good journey. |
| B．To expect joy and good luck. |
| C．To create a romantic atmosphere. |
| D．To welcome their friends to visit. |
| A．Showing respect for others. |
| B．Staying straight and positive. |
| C．Valuing your family members. |
| D．Improving your living environment. |
| A．To stress the importance of a public holiday. |
| B．To tell an interesting story about a Canadian festival. |
| C．To briefly introduce a traditional festival in Canada. |
| D．To show different holiday celebrations in Western cultures. |
3 . As the effects of climate change become more disastrous, well-known research institutions and government agencies are focusing new money and attention on an idea: artificially cooling the planet, in the hopes of buying humanity more time to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
That strategy, called solar climate intervention (干预) or solar geoengineering, involves reflecting more of the sun’s energy back into space — abruptly reducing global temperatures in a way that imitates the effects of ash clouds flowing out from the volcanic eruptions. The idea has been considered as a dangerous and fancied solution, one that would encourage people to keep burning fossil fuels while exposing the planet to unexpected and potentially threatening side effects, producing more destructive hurricanes, wildfires floods and other disasters.
But. as global warming continues, producing more destructive hurricanes, wildfires floods and other disasters, some researchers and policy experts say that concerns about geoengineering should be outweighed by the imperative to better understand it, in case the consequence of climate change become so terrible that the world can’t wait for better solutions.
One way to cool the earth is by injecting aerosols (气溶胶) into the upper layer of the atmosphere. where those particles reflect sunlight away from the earth. That process works, according to Douglas MacMartin, a researcher at Cornell University.
“We know with 100% certainty that we can cool the planet,” he said in an interview. What’s still unclear, he added, is what happens next. Temperature, MacMartin said, is an indicator for a lot of climate effects. “What does it do to the strength of hurricanes?” he asked, “What does it do to agriculture production? What does it do to the risk of forest fires?”
Another institution funded by the National Science Foundation will analyze hundreds of simulations of aerosol injection, testing the effects on weather extremes around the world. One goal of the research is to look for a sweet spot: the amount of artificial cooling that can reduce extreme weather events without causing broader changes in regional rainfall patterns or similar impacts.
1. Why do researchers and government agencies work on cooling the earth?| A．To prevent natural disasters. | B．To win more time to reduce gas emissions. |
| C．To imitate volcanic eruptions. | D．To encourage more people to bur fossil fuels. |
| A．More volcanoes will throw out. |
| B．More solar energy will go into space. |
| C．More disasters will endanger the future of the world. |
| D．People will keep burning fossil fuels to keep warm. |
| A．He thinks more research remains to be done. |
| B．He is optimistic about the effect of cooling the earth. |
| C．He is concerned about the reduction in agriculture production. |
| D．He disapproves of the practice of solar climate intervention. |
| A．The rainfall pattern of a region. |
| B．The modest drop in temperature. |
| C．The number of extreme weather events. |
| D．The injection amount of aerosol. |
4 . “Serena, don’t forget your promise to me that you will mow (割) Mrs Matin’s yard this weekend,” said Dad, “Don’t let me down.” Serena was the oldest child in the family, and one of her chores was to mow their yard. Mrs Martin, their elderly neighbor, was unable to take care of her yard, so Serena’s dad had volunteered Serena for this job. Since Mrs Martin’s yard was not very big, Serena knew the job would go quickly.
However, she still resented her dad’s promise.
“Why didn’t you ask me first?” Serena had complained.
“Did you ask me first when you volunteered me to be in the school festival last fall?” asked Serena’s father.
“Well, no, I didn’t ask you first, but you would have done those things anyway. You’re always willing to help.”
“I try when I can,” Dad answered.
“Serena, we have known Mrs Martin for a very long time. She has often helped our family. Now we can do something for her. Besides, the feeling you get from helping someone makes you wonder who is really helping whom.”
“I don’t know, Dad,” said Serena. “The only feeling I get from mowing our yard is tired.”
“Just you wait and see,” said Dad.
After breakfast, Serena made her way to Mrs Martin’s yard. She was good at her job and soon had Mrs Martin’s yard looking tidy. Mrs Martin came outside with a big glass of orange juice and offered it to her. Serena stopped her work and gratefully enjoyed the drink, while Mrs.Martin talked to her about all of the flowers in her yard. Seeing the joy in Mrs Martin’s eyes, Serena began to understand how much the yard meant to Mrs. Martin.
After finishing her drink, Serena returned to work with a new attitude. A warm feeling began to spread through her body. Her dad was right. It was hard to tell who was helping whom!
1. The underlined word “resented” (Paragraph 2) means___________.| A．understood | B．welcomed |
| C．broke | D．disliked |
| A．Through Dad’s words. | B．Through Serena’s actions. |
| C．Through Mrs Martin’s behaviour. | D．Through the author’s statement. |
| A．Annoyed. | B．Surprised. |
| C．Guilty. | D．Pleased. |
| A．Serena likes the job of mowing her family’s yard. |
| B．Mrs. Martin and Serena did the work together. |
| C．Mrs Martin shared her love for the yard with Serena. |
| D．Dad volunteered himself to take part in the school festival. |
5 . Imagine a world where you move around in front of a personal computer in your own sound space. You listen to your favorite songs, play loud computer games or watch a movie — all without other people hearing the sound and without headphones.
That is the possibility presented by “sound beaming”, a new technology from Noveto Systems, an Israeli company. On Friday, the company introduced a desktop device that sends sound directly to a listener without the need for headphones or a special receiver.
Noveto Systems gave The Associated Press (AP) a chance to test its SoundBeamer 1.0 before its introduction. The AP’s Louise Dixon writes that listening to the device is like something from a science fiction movie.The sound seems so close that it feels like it is inside your ears while also in front, above and behind them.
Noveto expects the device will have many uses. Office workers could listen to music or conference calls without others hearing. People could play a game, a movie or music without waking up others in the same room. Because the device does not use headphones, it is possible to hear other sounds in the room clearly.
The device uses a 3-D sensing module that finds and follows the ear position of the listener. It sends ultrasonic waves (超声波) to create sound pockets by the user’s ears. The 3-D method creates sound on all sides of the listener, therefore the listeners feel completely transported into the scene.
By changing a setting, the sound can follow a listener around when he moves his head. It is also possible to move out of the sound beam's path and hear nothing at all.
While the idea of sound beaming is not new, Noveto was the first to launch the technology.
According to the chief executive officer Christophe Ramstein, a “smaller” version of the device will be ready for release to consumers next year.
1. What does the underlined word “possibility” in Paragraph 2 refer to?| A．The listener may put on music to block out other sounds. |
| B．The listener may hear sound only for him or her without using headphones. |
| C．The listener may enjoy songs or movies without being interrupted by others. |
| D．The listener may have the ability to pick up some special sounds. |
| A．Amazing. | B．Impossible. |
| C．Strange. | D．Meaningful. |
| A．It places the listener on the scene to hear the sound. |
| B．It fixes a sound beam’s path which can not be changed. |
| C．It follows the listeners around to send and receive sounds. |
| D．With 3-D tracking technology, it sends ultrasonic waves to the target listener. |
| A．To promote the SoundBeamer. | B．To introduce a new sound device. |
| C．To recommend new headphones. | D．To explain a technical phenomenon. |
6 . When our professor Dr. Dressel outlined the requirements of the term paper, he sounded especially terrible, so I recalled another classroom nightmare, Mrs. Grace from Forsyth High. I could still picture her neat script in the margins of my papers, carefully listing each of my grammatical shortcoming in bright blue ink.
“One of these days,” she was fond of saying, “you’ll find that what you’re learning here will be useful.” Few of us believed her, but that didn’t discourage her from relentless training in composition repeatedly. At the slightest protest, her dark eyes would flash, “You’ll find that the real world is far more demanding than my term papers, but meanwhile they can help prepare you for it!”
When Dr. Dressel handed back my papers, an A+ stood out on the page. I disbelieved. I even bent over for a closer look. Professor Dessel, standing next to my table, said, “your term paper is among the finest by a junior student. It tells me that somewhere along the line you had a remarkable English teacher. You should go to that teacher and express your gratitude.”
On the evening, I forced myself up to the Mrs. Grace’s house. The woman who answered the door was far different from the Mrs. Grace I remembered. She was pale and frowning. I gave my term paper into her hands. She glanced at it, then looked back at me wondering.
“My professor knew someone like you was responsible for my paper and”, I stammered, “I just wanted to thank you. I really appreciate all you did for me.”
Mrs. Grace began to cry. “You’re the first person ever to thank me,” she sobbed. “This has been such a hard year. I’ve been sick all fall, but your visit has done me more good than all the medicine I’ve taken. God bless you!” She threw her arms around me and hugged me hard. Then we both shed some tears.
“I’m so glad you stopped by,” she said.
“So am I!” I replied.
Never again have I been reluctant to express gratitude.
1. Which of the following is TRUE about the term paper the author had?| A．The author’s professor had strict requirements of it. |
| B．The author’s term paper was not well written. |
| C．The author was not to blame for his academic performance. |
| D．The author didn’t get any help from the professor. |
| A．重复的 | B．严苛的 | C．大量的 | D．无效的 |
| A．He regretted not listening to her class carefully. |
| B．He was unwilling to do so at first. |
| C．He was proud that he had finished the term paper. |
| D．He hardly appreciated what Mrs. Grace had done. |
| A．Always prepare for the demanding real world. |
| B．We should express gratitude to those who help us. |
| C．It is important to be willing to communicate. |
| D．People should insist on doing what they think is right. |
7 . It’s nothing new that you can find many files or services you can download or use from the Internet. The question is: Is downloading legal or not? In most cases the answer is negative, because sharing and downloading are illegal. Of course, you can find files for legal downloading, but you have to pay for them.
It seems innocent if you click on the download mark, but it isn’t. It should be compared with stealing in a store. Would you steal a magazine, an MP3player or a car? Downloading from the Internet is a theft, and sharing files, once you have stolen them, only makes it wore. For example, if everybody only downloaded, movies wouldn’t make money and the studios wouldn’t invest millions of dollars to make new ones.
Many people may think it better, easier and cheaper to do downloading. I think, that is the main reason why Internet users prefer sharing something to buying them. In the modern world we love convenience and what could be more convenient than getting music, films and games without having to leave your house? You don’t need to pay for what you get, there is no registration, and you don’t have to wait until shops open or the CD/DVD you want is posted to you. However, you could be in big trouble if you are caught. You could go to prison as a result of acting unlawfully, but so far only a tiny amount of people have been charged for downloading illegally. The majority of people who download illegally, and use the files for their personal use, will not get in trouble. And that's why it’s important for people to understand what the long-term consequences are if they don’t want to pay for their music, films and TV. Will film and music companies still spend millions of pounds every year if they have no chance of making a profit? The answer is plainly “no”.
Finally I would like to say that the Internet offers a lot of services for money, but people will always try to get them for free. To summarize my thoughts, I’d like to highlight that illegal downloading is both unfair towards producers and dangerous for those who practice this kind of activity. You have to decide whether to buy or download.
1. Many people download files free from the Internet because ________.| A．they follow others’ examples to do such things |
| B．they don’t think they may be charged by the producer |
| C．they think everything on the Net can be shared by others |
| D．they think it is legal, convenient and easy |
| A．Downloading helps movies become more popular. |
| B．Downloading free files is as illegal as stealing. |
| C．Sharing files on the Internet is dangerous. |
| D．Sharing files on the Internet can make a profit. |
| A．Stress. | B．Explain. | C．Admit. | D．Deny. |
| A．He advises readers to download legal files. |
| B．He asks readers to limit the amount of free downloading. |
| C．He wants to make it clear that downloading for free is against the law. |
| D．He tells readers how to avoid being charged for downloading. |
8 . New research suggests that dogs might be able to help save diseased citrus trees.
A group of scientists trained dogs to use their sense of smell to detect a crop disease called citrus-greening. The disease has affected orange, lemon and grapefruit trees in the American states of Florida, California and Texas.
The dogs can detect the disease weeks to years before it appears on tree leaves and roots, the researchers report. A study on their findings was published recently in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The report says using dogs is also faster, less costly and more exact than having people collect hundreds of leaves for lab analysis.
Timothy Gottwald is a researcher with the U. S. Department of Agriculture and a co-writer of the study. He told The Associated Press, “This technology is thousands of years old-the dog’s nose. We’ve just trained dogs to hunt new prey.”
Citrus-greening is caused by a bacteria (细菌) that is spread by a tiny insect that feeds on the leaves and stems of citrus trees. Once a tree is infected (感染), there is no cure. The disease has also hurt citrus crops in Central and South America and Asia. In one experiment involving grapefruit trees in Texas, trained dogs were correct 95 percent of the time in telling the difference between newly infected trees and healthy ones. “The earlier you detect a disease, the better chance you have at stopping an epidemic (流行病) by removing infected trees,” Gottwald said.
Matteo Garbelotto studies plants at the University of California, Berkeley. He says the new research shows that dogs can detect an infection well before current methods. Garbelotto has been involved in similar research but had no part in the new study.
Laura Sims is a plant scientist with Louisiana Tech University. She praised the steps taken to find out if the dogs were detecting the bacteria itself or a plant’s reaction to an infection. To do that, the researchers infected different kinds of unrelated plants with the bacteria in a laboratory. The dogs were still able to pick out the infected plants.
Gottwald said, “You’ve seen dogs working in airports, detecting drugs and explosives. Maybe soon you will see them working on more farms. ”
1. According to the research, trained dogs can ________.| A．help infected trees recover from diseases | B．recognize a crop disease in its early stage |
| C．cause fruit trees to grow faster than usual | D．reduce the cost of planting some fruit trees |
| A．Infected plants. | B．Fruit trees. | C．Tiny insects. | D．Favourite foods. |
| A．To further prove the findings. | B．To explore the plant diseases. |
| C．To present different opinions. | D．To discover a plant’s reactions. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Positive. | C．Indifferent. | D．Curious. |
9 . I’ve always loved to run. Ever since I was a boy, running has made me feel free. But when I was a young adult, I became blind. I had to give up running for years. Then I heard about running with human guides, and I decided to give it a try. I was even able to enter the New York City and Boston Marathons five years in a row. In 2019, I ran the first half-marathon with the help of guide dogs.
But I know it’s not possible for everyone to have a clever, fast guide dog like my Blaze. I run an organization called Guiding Eyes for the Blind, to help the blind receive running guide dogs that can help them live more active and independent lives.
In the fall of 2019, I asked that question to a group of designers and technologists at Google. I wasn’t anticipating much more than an interesting conversation, but by the end of the day they had built a rough application that allowed a phone to recognize a line taped to the ground, and give audio cues (语音信号) to me while I walked with Blaze. Within a few months, we tested it on an indoor track on my own. I was able to run eight laps. It was the first unguided mile I had run in decades.
After months of efforts, the team was finally ready to test the tech outside for the first time. I’d been waiting 25 years to run outdoors on my own. When I arrived at the finish line, I was completely overcome with emotion. For the first time, I didn’t feel like a blind man. I felt free.
1. Which of the following can best describe the writer?| A．Calm and quiet. | B．Humorous and honest. |
| C．Kind and easygoing. | D．Determined and positive. |
| A．Preparing. | B．Expecting. | C．Explaining. | D．Continuing. |
| A．He was happy to be set free. |
| B．He was able to run outdoors with the App. |
| C．He was satisfied to win the running race. |
| D．He was pleased to run without any help. |
10 . How can you apply to be a firefighter at Clayton County Fire & Emergency Services? First, you need to know more about your work choice and what it takes to get there. Each and every emergency places physical demands on our firefighters, from medical emergencies to apartment fires and everything in between. Do not wait to get in shape; start right now. Our physical agility (敏捷性) test is designed to simulate (模拟) not only actions you would take at a fire but also the tiredness you will go through. Our “Firefighters Combat Challenge” course serves as the physical agility test that applicants are expected to complete and our firefighters complete it every year.
Selection Process and Requirements:
◇ Applicants must be at least 18 years old
◇ Must have got a High School Diploma
◇ Have a Driver's License
◇ Written Exam
◇ Physical Agility Test / Firefighter's Combat Challenge Course
Once these steps are completed, all application information will be turned over to the Fire Chietand you'll be notified whether you are chosen for an interview.
To see if we are hiring, click https: / selsenice. claytoncountyga. gov / MSS. aspz and Lock under “Fire & Emergency Science”. (This page is renewed weekly, so check back regularly.) If we are not hiring at present, click to be placed on a notification list. You will be contacted by mail when the application process opens. To learn about our courses and how to sign up, visit the “Train Here” pages under the Join / Train menu at the top.
1. What do we know about the physical agility test?| A．Those who fail it can still apply for the job. | B．It better prepares firefighters for the job. |
| C．It works in the form of a written exam. | D．Applicants under 18 needn't take it |
| A．Trained. | B．Accepted. | C．Told. | D．Examined |
| A．To stress firefighters’ physical agility. | B．To show the requirements for firefighters. |
| C．To explain the process of job application. | D．To tell how to join the Services as a firefighter. |
| A．A textbook. | B．A magazine. | C．A note. | D．A website. |
