1 . China will have the most 5G connections of any nation by 2025, according to a new study, while Europe will fall behind Korea, the United States and Japan in terms of 5G penetration(渗透)by that year.
5G is the fifth generation of network technology. It is expected to bring unbelievable speeds to Internet users, with some operations running 10 times faster than on 4G networks. 5G is also expected to unlock the potential in a lot of new services, including artificial intelligence, science of robots self-driving cars, and the Internet of things.
The GSMA said that China's three major mobile operators-China Unicorn, China Mobile, and China Telecom-are already moving ahead with 5G networks. While most nations will have 5G by updating existing foundations, the study noted that China plans to build part of its 5G networks.
One of the most distinguishing(显著的) factors between Chinese mobile operators and those in the rest of the world is the intention to erect the new and independent 5G networks. That is, China is determined to build a completely advanced 5G. The high cost underlines China's seriousness about paying whatever it takes.
Korea will lead the world in terms of 5G penetration in 2025, when 66 percent of the nation's total connections will be 5G, according to GSMA. This compares to 50 percent in the US, 49 percent in Japan, 36 percent in China, 30 percent in Europe, and a global average of 18 percent. Out of the five economies leading on 5G, Europe will have the lowest participation in 2025, as the area is moving more slowly in having its 5G networks.
1. What will 5G bring?| A．A completely new pattern for daily life. |
| B．Excellent networks and national safety. |
| C．Amazing speeds for public transportation. |
| D．Realizing the potential in many new services. |
| A．It will develop rapidly. | B．It may be lack of government support. |
| C．It will move forward slowly. | D．It may fall behind Europe. |
| A．bring up. | B．set up. | C．turn up. | D．pick up. |
| A．More than half Koreans use 5G in 2025. | B．Chinese cannot own 5G in 2025. |
| C．Only five countries will have 5G in 2025. | D．Europe will pay little attention to 5G in 2025. |
2 . If you have felt the skies above you seem increasingly empty of birds you are not alone. A 2018 study by Bird Life International showed that 40 percent of the world’s 11,000 bird species are in decline, and one in eight bird species is threatened with global extinction. Now, some scientists are using technology to save endangered kakapo. If successful, the technique used may help save other bird species as well.
The kakapo, a kind of parrot, is unlike any other member of its species. The bird lost its ability to fly and added on weight, giving it the double honor of being the world’s only flightless parrot and its heaviest one!
Once found in large numbers across New Zealand, the bird, which can weigh up to 5 kilograms, is now in danger of dying out. While cats are largely to blame, the kakapa’s unusual breeding habits don’t help either. For starters, the parrots, which can live up to 100 years, do not start breeding until the age of five. They also only mate (交配) when the rimu trees — their primary food source — bear large amounts of fruit, an event that happens every two to four years.
Given the impediments to increasing the population, it is not surprising that as of 2019, only 114 adult parrots remain.
To help them, the researchers tie an electronic tracker to each bird, which can pick up the information of the birds, such as where they are nesting and if they are sick. The trackers also allow researchers to control the parrots’ diet.
Once the birds lay eggs, the eggs are taken to a special room to hatch (孵化) and the newborns except one that is given to the mother kakapo will be fed by researchers until they can live by themselves.
1. What is mainly talked about in Paragraph 3?| A．The food of the kakapo. |
| B．The enemy of the kakapo. |
| C．The breeding habits of the kakapo. |
| D．The reasons for the kakapo dying out. |
| A．Importance. | B．Possibility. | C．Difficulty. | D．Experience. |
| A．All the young birds are raised by humans. |
| B．Each kakapo is moved to a special room. |
| C．The kakapo is closely observed when hatching. |
| D．Trackers are used to collect the kakapo’s information. |
3 . It's good to share, right? Growing up as kids we are told to share our toys and not be selfish. We also live in an age where discussing our feelings is encouraged. But when does it all become too much? With new fashion trending all the time, such as dance challenges and wearing a pillow as a dress, the question is: when can sharing become oversharing on social media?
What is oversharing? The term has become associated with social media, but it doesn't only belong to this platform. Imagine you head to a party and you meet someone. Within five minutes they have given away details about their personal life. While some of us may try to escape these people, according to marriage therapist Carolyn Cole, this form of oversharing could come from a strong desire to connect with someone. But how does this translate to social media?
Dr. Christopher Hand, a lecturer in internet psychology, says the more details people disclose, the less sympathy we express when things go wrong. This could be due to a belief that we attract our own negative experiences the more we share them. It seems that the idea of searching for sympathy by oversharing, is generally viewed as negative rather than the cry for help it could actually be.
However, Dr Hand's research also seems to suggest that the more positive posts we share on a platform, the more socially attractive we become. Even back in 2015, Gwendolyn Seidman PhD, said that we should avoid complaining and being negative online. We are supposed not to show off, as it's now known—especially about our love lives. It makes sense—if your date is going 'that well', would you really have time to share a photo with text?
So, how can you know if you are oversharing? Well, why not ask your friends in real life. They would probably be more than happy to tell you if your posts about your breakfast or your complaint about your lack of money really are too much.
1. Why do some people try to overshare at parties?| A．Because they want to catch others' attention. |
| B．Because they just want to show off something. |
| C．Because they have a strong desire to pour out their emotions. |
| D．Because they may expect to make a connection with someone. |
| A．explore | B．expose | C．display | D．discuss |
| A．We will become more socially attractive if we post more on a platform. |
| B．We tend to show sympathy when things go wrong. |
| C．We may be considered negative when seeking for sympathy by oversharing. |
| D．We can show off something positive especially about our love lives. |
| A．To inform. | B．To inspire. | C．To advertise. | D．To condemn. |
4 . One of the easiest ways to stop the spread of disease is to simply wash your hands. Twenty seconds of handwashing with soap and water can reduce illnesses and save lives. But, many people, especially children, do not have good handwashing habits. One problem is that children do not wash their hands often enough or long enough. Children may think that it is a tiresome thing to do.
To help handle this problem, two businesswomen from India created a product to turn handwashing into a fun activity. Amanat Anand and Shubham Issar created a tool called SoaPen, aimed at teaching kids good handwashing habits and encouraging kids to wash their hands with soap appropriately and regularly.
“It’s such a simple habit to do, but the fact is that people aren’t doing it, and it’s resulting in actual deaths---which is shocking. So, we decided to come up with a fun method, said Issar.
As the name suggests, SoaPen is a pen made out of soap. The children draw on their hands with the soap pen and then wash the drawing off. If they don’t spend enough time washing it off, the colors remain on the children’s hands. Issar said it makes sure that children take enough time to wash their hands. This may be especially helpful in a classroom. Often a teacher does not have the time to make each child wash his hands properly.
Kids actually wash their hands for the proper amount of time because they’re drawing on their hands. To obliterate the drawing, they actually wash their hands instead of just going under water and, you know, a one-second wash and off.
Good news is that the school children in Mumbai, India, will soon most likely wash their hands after handling a pet. Issar and Anand stated that SoaPen to be created everywhere will help promote good habits through handwashing in the city across the globe.
1. Why is SoaPen invented?| A．To teach kids the importance of handwashing. |
| B．To make money from children consumers. |
| C．To help kids wash their hands correctly. |
| D．To rid kids of some kinds of diseases. |
| A．SoaPen is designed for classrooms. |
| B．Handwashing is anything but little. |
| C．Some teachers ignore kids’ health in school. |
| D．Kids don’t know the right way of handwashing. |
| A．Remove. | B．Reserve. | C．Learn. | D．Show. |
| A．SoaPen has become popular worldwide. |
| B．Kids’ health should be paid more attention to. |
| C．SoaPen has been applied in Mumbai schools. |
| D．The inventors think SoaPen has a bright future. |
Dogs wag(摇摆) their tails in different directions depending on whether they are excited and wanting to move forward or threatened and thinking of moving back, a study has found.
Researchers in Italy examined the tail wagging behavior of 30 dogs, catching their responses to a range of stimuli(刺激物) with video cameras. To conduct the study they chose 15 male dogs and 15 female ones aged between one and six years. The dogs were all family pets whose owners had allowed them to take part in the experiment at Bari University. The dogs were placed in a large wooden box with an opening at the front to allow for them to view various stimuli. They were tested one at a time.
The researchers led by Professor Giorgio Vallortigara of the University of Trieste found that when the dogs were shown their owners—a positive experience—their tails wagged energetically to the right side. When they were shown an unfamiliar human they wagged to the right, but with somewhat less enthusiasm. The appearance of a cat again caused a right-hand side wag, although with less intensity again. The appearance of a large unfamiliar dog, similar to a German shepherd, changed the direction of tail wagging to the left. Researchers supposed the dog was thinking of moving back. When the dogs were not shown any stimuli they tended to wag their tails to the left, suggesting they preferred company. While the changes in the tail wagging were not easily noticed without the aid of video, it was thought that the findings could help people judge the mood (心情) of dogs. Computer and video systems, for example, could be used by professional dog trainers to determine the mood of dogs that they were required to approach.
1. The video cameras were used to catch the dogs’ responses because .| A．it was easier to catch the dogs’ response changes in the tail wagging |
| B．the dogs were put in the wooden boxes and tested one at a time. |
| C．they enabled the dogs’ owners to know about their dogs’ habit |
| D．the dogs wagged their tails in different directions when they were in different moods |
| A．surprise | B．worry | C．excitement | D．interest |
| A．the dogs | B．the trainers | C．the systems | D．the researchers |
| A．to train dogs for their owners |
| B．to help people judge the mood of dogs |
| C．to help dogs find company |
| D．to help people choose their pet dogs |
6 . Declining mental function is widely regarded as a problem of old age, but certain aspects of brain function actually begin their decline in young adulthood, a new study suggests.
The study, which followed more than 2,000 healthy adults between the ages of 18 and 60, found that certain mental functions—including measures of abstract reasoning, mental speed and puzzle-solving—started to dull as early as age 27. The dip in memory, meanwhile, generally became apparent around age 37.
On the other hand, indicators of a person’s accumulated knowledge—like performance on tests of vocabulary—kept improving with age, according to the findings.
The results do not mean that young adults need to start worrying about their memories. Most people’s minds function at a high level even in their later years, according to researcher Timothy Salthouse.
“These patterns suggest that some types of mental flexibility decrease relatively early in adulthood, but that the knowledge one has, and the effectiveness of integrating (整合) it with one’s abilities, may increase throughout all of adulthood if there are no diseases,” Salthouse said.
The study included healthy, educated adults who took standard tests of memory and reasoning over a period of seven years. In general, Salthouse and his colleagues found, certain aspects of cognition (认知能力) generally started to decline in the late 20s to 30s.
The findings threw light on normal age-related changes in mental function, which could aid in understanding the process of dementia (痴呆). “By following individuals over time,” Salthouse said, “we gain insight in cognition changes, and may possibly discover ways to slow the rate of decline.”
The researchers are currently analyzing the study participants’ health and lifestyle to see which factors might influence age-related cognitive changes.
1. What is the common view of mental function?| A．It varies from person to person. | B．It gradually expands with age. |
| C．It weakens in one’s later years. | D．It indicates one’s health condition. |
| A．Improvement. | B．Decline. |
| C．Difference. | D．Breakthrough |
| A．Their decision-making abilities. | B．Their abstract reasoning abilities. |
| C．The sympathy they show people around. | D．The amount of knowledge they have. |
| A．find ways to improve our memories |
| B．find ways to slow down our mental decline |
| C．understand the complex process of mental functioning |
| D．understand the relation between physical and mental health |
7 . Modern medicine’s ability to keep us alive makes it tempting to think human evolution may have stopped. But if we look at the rate of our DNA’s evolution, we can see that human evolution hasn’t stopped – it may even be happening faster than before.
Evolution is a gradual change to the DNA of a species over many generations. It can occur by natural selection, when certain traits created by genetic changes help an organism survive or reproduce. Such genes are thus more likely to be passed on to the next generation, so they increase in frequency in a population. Gradually, these changes and their associated traits become more common among the whole group.
By looking at global studies of our DNA, we can see evidence that natural selection has recently made changes and continues to do so. Though modern healthcare disrupts a key driving force of evolution by keeping some people alive longer, in countries without access to good healthcare, populations are continuing to evolve. Survivors of infectious disease outbreaks drive natural selection by giving their genetic resistance to offspring. Our DNA shows evidence for recent selection for resistance of killer diseases like Lassa fever and malaria. Selection in response to malaria remains in regions where the disease remains common.
Humans are also adapting to their environment. Gene change allowing humans to live at high altitudes have become more common in populations in Tibet, Ethiopia, and the Andes. The spread of genetic changes in Tibet is possibly the fastest evolutionary change in humans, occurring over the past 3,000 years. This rapid increase in frequency of a mutated gene that increases blood oxygen content gives locals a survival advantage in higher altitudes, resulting in more surviving children.
Diet is another source for adaptations. Studies show that natural selection favoring a change allowing adults to produce lactase – the enzyme (酶) that breaks down milk sugars – is why some groups of people can digest milk. Over 80 per cent of northwest Europeans can, but in parts of East Asia, where milk is much less commonly drunk, an inability to digest lactose is the norm. Like high altitude adaptation, selection to digest milk has evolved more than once in humans and may be the strongest kind of recent selection.
Yet, despite these changes, natural selection only affects about 8 per cent of our genome. But scientists can’t explain why some genes are evolving much faster than others. We measure the speed of gene evolution by comparing human DNA with that of other species. One fast-evolving gene is human accelerated region 1 (HAR1), which is needed during brain development. A random section of human DNA is on average more than 98 per cent identical to the chimp comparator, but HAR1 is so fast evolving that it’s only around 85 per cent similar. Though scientists can see these changes are happening – and how quickly – we still don’t fully understand why fast evolution happens to some genes but not others.
1. Which of the following statements may the author agree with?| A．Evolution occurs among several people overnight. |
| B．Genes may change and some are beneficial to people’s lives. |
| C．Evolution is done when the whole population possesses a certain gene. |
| D．The changed genes leading to higher survival rates are chosen deliberately. |
| A．explains | B．causes | C．upsets | D．heals |
| A．some people can resist infectious diseases like malaria |
| B．children in Tibet tolerate living environments with thin air |
| C．northwestern Europeans digest lactose better than East Asians |
| D．the human gene HAR1 resembles that of a chimp to a lesser extent |
| A．What Is Natural Selection? |
| B．Are Humans Still Evolving? |
| C．Why Will Certain Genes Evolve? |
| D．How Do Mutated Genes Function? |
8 . As reported in JAMA Surgery, the researchers discovered that e-scooter(电动摩托车) injury rates had increased dramatically in just four years, rising from 6 per 100,000 in the population to 19 per 100,000. Of the estimated 14,651 e-scooter-related injuries in 2018, 4,658, or 32%, involved the head. “While most people recover from head injuries, there is going to be a subset with long-term disability and life changes,” said Dr. Benjamin Breyer.
Dr. Benjamin Breyer of the University of California, Los Angeles, pointed to a 2019 analysis of the data from two hospitals in Southern California, which found just 4.8% of injured e-scooter riders were wearing helmets.
Dr. Joann Elmore, a professor of medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, believed that most e-scooter users are probably unaware of the risks. To make the point, she described a photo taken by a colleague. “There were two riders on an e-scooter,” she said. “No one had shoes on. There were no helmets. And the woman in front had a baby in a baby carrier.”
The new report highlights the need for more research on new technologies, said Dr. Guohua Li, a professor of epidemiology(流行病学).
“Just as there is a global network of experts working on infectious diseases, there needs to be a similar program devoted to the surveillance(监视，监察) and prevention of injuries caused by merging technologies products and lifestyles, such as e-scooters, e-sports, etc.,” Li said in an email.
“The challenge for researchers and policymakers is to keep up with the ever-changing society and protect the public from unnecessary harm caused by new technologies and products without hindering innovation,” he added.
1. What can we know from the passage?| A．E-scooter injury rates had increased due to speeding. |
| B．32% of injured e-scooter riders weren’t wearing helmets. |
| C．There is a program devoted to the prevention of injuries caused by advanced technologies. |
| D．Protection and innovation are of equal importance. |
| A．She is an anti-scooter. |
| B．The woman in front was pregnant. |
| C．She is concerned about the e-scooter users. |
| D．Most e-scooter riders often drive at high speed. |
| A．Preventing. | B．Limiting. |
| C．Developing. | D．Making progress. |
| A．To arouse people’s awareness of the risks and self-protection. |
| B．To introduce a new way of transport — e-scooters. |
| C．To ask people not to ride e-scooters any more. |
| D．To urge policymakers to make laws as soon as possible. |
9 . The outstanding biography — from the same author who brought us Steve Jobs and Einstein — portrays the life of the complicated Renaissance (文艺复兴时期的) artist with details. We come to see da Vinci as not only an inventor of musical instruments and early flying machines, but also a notebook keeper and vegetarian (素食者), who had trouble finishing many of the projects and paintings he started.
Yet what is most thrilling is getting to know da Vinci the scientist. Isaacson explains how loving science and applying the scientific method to observing the world was really what made da Vinci a great artist and, Isaacson argues, a genius.
Da Vinci was fascinated with observing and understanding phenomena in nature, from the proportions of the human body to how the muscles of the lips moved. He wanted to know about everything around him, in minute detail, Isaacson writes. He wondered about questions “most people over the age of ten no longer puzzle about”— for instance, how the tongue of a woodpecker works.
To learn about the world, da Vinci combined his own observations with experimentation. Never formally schooled, “he preferred to induce from experiments rather than deduce from theoretical principles,” Isaacson explains. He recorded his observations, looked for patterns among them, and then tested those patterns through additional observation and experimentation.
“When he became fascinated with the idea that he could invent flying machines, three and a half centuries before the Wright brothers flew the first airplane, he observed various birds and filled notebooks with the function and speed at which their wings flapped. That’s why lsaacson calls da Vinci an exemplar of this scientific method.” He goes on: “Galileo, born 112 years after Leonardo, is usually credited with being the first to develop this kind of approach and is often regarded as the father of modern science,” the historian Fritjof Capra wrote. “There can be no doubt that this honor would have been bestowed (赐予) on Leonardo da Vinci had he published his scientific writings during his lifetime, or had his notebooks been widely studied soon after his death.”
Da Vinci’s emphasis on empirical observation also helped him improve his art. First, he was able to use what he learned from looking at nature to paint and draw. His studies of the body, animals, motion, shadow and light, perspective and proportion helped him better understand what he was seeing in front of him, and render it in art more accurately and finely than anyone else of his time. He also used his observations of nature to make connections among phenomena. A recorder (竖笛) was like a larynx (喉管) in the throat. Here’s Isaacson again: What Leonardo probably began as four distinct elements ended up woven together in a way that illustrates a fundamental theme in his art and science: the interconnectedness of nature, the unity of its patterns, and the similarity between the workings of the human body and those of the earth.
Most importantly, his curiosity-driven explorations, and ability to connect art and science, helped him innovate in his work. They helped him think differently, Isaacson argues. Da Vinci made surprisingly diverse series of discoveries, including conceptualizing the helicopter and solar power and advancing knowledge about everything from the reproductive organs to botany. This genius is also what drew lsaacson to Albert Einstein and Steve Jobs as subjects: They’re all innovators who were inspired by and drew connections between art and science.
“Leonardo da Vinci is the ultimate example of the main theme of my previous biographies: how the ability to make connections across disciplines — arts and sciences, humanities and technology — is a key to innovation, imagination, and genius,” Isaacson writes. And this wonderful book is a reminder, in a time of increasingly narrow specialization and focus, that the methods of Renaissance men like da Vinci are as relevant as ever.
1. What made da Vinci’s thinking different from others?| A．He was used to skipping school. |
| B．He kept his childhood’s sense of curiosity. |
| C．He was filled with ambition to become an artist and inventor. |
| D．He developed a fascination with historical novels. |
| A．To introduce his important findings. |
| B．To memorize the father of modern science. |
| C．To show the prejudice faced by da Vinci during his lifetime. |
| D．To illustrate the significance of da Vinci' s research method. |
| A．express | B．mix | C．confirm | D．associate |
| A．They are too complicated to understand. |
| B．They focus on the workings of the human body. |
| C．They are more accurate than modern methods. |
| D．They still apply to contemporary scientific research. |
| A．How a Genius Changed the World |
| B．The Features of Renaissance Art |
| C．How Science Shaped His Art |
| D．The Comparison between Induction and Deduction |
10 . I grew up in a house where the TV was seldom turned on and with one wall in my bedroom entirely lined with bookshelves, most of my childhood was spent on books I could get hold of. In fact, I grew up thinking of reading as natural as breathing and books unbelievably powerful in shaping perspectives (观点) by creating worlds we could step into, take part in and live in.
With this unshakable belief, I, am fourteen, decided to become a writer. Here too, reading became useful. Every writer starts off knowing that he has something to say, but being unable to find the right ways to say it. He has to find his own voice by reading widely and discovering which parts of the writers he agrees or disagrees with, or agrees with so strongly that it reshapes his own world. He cannot write without loving to read, because only through reading other people’s writing can one discover what works, what doesn't and, in the end, together with lots of practice, what voice he has.
Now I am in college, and have come to realize how important it is to read fiction (文学作品). As a law student, my reading is in fact limited to subject matter — the volume (量) of what I have to read for classes every week means there is little time to read anything else. Such reading made it all the clearer to me that I live in a very small part in this great place called life. Reading fiction reminds me that there is life beyond my own. It allows me to travel across the high seas and along the Silk Road, all from the comfort of my own armchair, to experience, though secondhand, exciting experiences that I wouldn’t necessary be able to have in my lifetime.
1. What can be inferred about the author as a child?| A．He never watched TV. |
| B．He was made to read. |
| C．He found reading unbelievable. |
| D．He considered reading part of his life. |
| A．Because he believed in the power of books. |
| B．Because he grew up with his bed room full of books. |
| C．Because he wanted to reshape his own world. |
| D．Because he majored in writing in college. |
| A．the writing skill of an outstanding writer |
| B．a sound produced through mouth when one speaks |
| C．a particular attitude, opinion or feeling |
| D．an ideal world described in a book |
| A．It helps him to realize his dream. |
| B．It opens up a wider world for him. |
| C．It makes his college life more interesting. |
| D．It increases his interest in worldwide travel. |
| A．Why do I read? | B．How do I read? |
| C．What do I read? | D．When do I read? |
