1 . If you have ever felt sick at the back of a bus or after a boat cruise, then you might have experienced motion sickness. The condition’s most common symptoms are dizziness, headaches, sweating and vomiting.
Humans haven’t always experienced this reaction. According to Fred Mast, a professor at the University of Bern, motion sickness began to affect us when we created vehicles for getting to places faster. “Our bodies were not prepared for it,” he says, explaining that human-made acceleration creates a disturbance between our vestibular system(前庭系统), which is responsible for controlling balance, and our vision. While travelling on a boat or in a car, you may not be watching the movement of the vehicle, but your vestibular system registers it. Since the human brain has not evolved enough yet to resolve that conflict, it leads to motion sickness. Motion sickness can also strike when there is simulated acceleration, such as in some video games or movie scenes in the theatre that make the viewer’s brain think it’s moving when it’s not.
While one in three people experiences motion sickness at some time, certain people are more easily affected. These include: children and young adults(according to a German survey, half of those under the age of 30 report being affected); patients; and women.
Sufferers can avoid motion sickness by making changes to how they travel. For instance, sitting facing forward at the front of a bus allows you to see the movement. Sitting in the middle of a boat or next to the wing of an airplane will reduce the amount of movement you feel. Staying away from alcohol and heavy meals ahead of car, boat or plane trips can also be helpful.
1. Which word can replace the underlined word “simulated” in Paragraph 2?| A．fake | B．sudden |
| C．frequent | D．visible |
| A．The symptoms of motion sickness. | B．The cause of motion sickness. |
| C．The function of the vestibular system. | D．The evolution of human’s brains. |
| A．The old | B．The male | C．The young | D．The adult |
| A．Closing eyes to feel the movement. | B．Sitting close to the bus driver. |
| C．Filling the stomach before a boat trip. | D．Choosing a middle seat in the airplane. |
2 . No matter where he parks his VW bus coated in chalkboard paint, Jonathan Sherman comes back to find great new art adorning the sides.
Once a week, he washes it and creates a new canvas for the amateur artists of American Fork who are inspired to fill its sides.
The story behind what has become known as the “Chalkbus” even inspired a mini documentary by college students, the Daily Herald reports.
The idea to make it a rolling chalkboard came to Sherman when the bus was due for a new paint job and he painted it black matte primer and then gazed over at his daughter drawing chalk on the sidewalk. He invited her to try and the van, and the plan was formed.
“People were like, ‘Oh, you shouldn’t do that, people are going to draw all kinds of horrible things on there,’ you know, ‘You’ re asking for trouble,’” Sherman said. “People really haven’t drawn anything bad on there, they always draw cool things.”
He started driving it several years ago, and frequently found drawings when he parked it in at the movie theater or grocery store. When he found someone drawing on the bus, he left them alone to finish before talking with them.” It’s always a positive conversation,” he said. Sherman, a licensed marriage and family therapist, said the bus seemed to provide something people were missing. He took it each year to the Out of Darkness Suicide Prevention Walk in Salt Lake City and let people draw on it there.
“A lot of people are really disconnected in society. And a lot of people suffer in silence,” he said. “Anywhere I can find a little small connection, I think it just alleviates a little bit of a burden somewhere for somebody to know that, you’ re seen and you matter.”
“I’ve just noticed how many meaningful connections have come as a result of or have come because of the existence of the Chalkbus,” McKinnon said. “Because the Chalkbus exists, I’ve made friends that I wouldn’t have made. I want people to have peace, love and happiness.”
1. How did Sherman react when seeing someone painting on his bus?| A．He watched him/ her in a cold manner. |
| B．He stayed angry but kept silent. |
| C．He fought with the person. |
| D．He watched him/ her and then talked with the person. |
| A．Relieves. | B．Bears. | C．Accepts. | D．Improves. |
| A．Immoral behaviors happening in public. |
| B．“Chalkbus” inspires drawing and connectivity. |
| C．“Chalkbus” promotes young artists born in colleges. |
| D．Newly-born style of art—Chalkbus drawing. |
| A．A guidebook. | B．A scientific fiction. | C．A fashion magazine. | D．A news report. |
3 . It was about a year ago when a positive change in a community started.
I was in fifth grade, and at the time I wrote a paper about the migration of the monarch butterfly and received a perfect score. I was so happy. I called my grandmother, Nana, to tell her the exciting news. All of my talk about monarchs evoked memories from Nana’s childhood. “I remember when I was a girl out on the farm,” she said, “those black and orange butterflies were a common sight. But there do seem to be fewer monarchs fluttering (翩翩飞舞) around the neighborhood each summer. Perhaps we should try to find out where they’ve gone.”
Nana and I decided to investigate.
That weekend, Nana met me at the public library and we started our research. Our research produced plenty of information. The best information was this: it doesn’t take lots of money, equipment (设备), or government organizations to save the monarch butterflies; it takes only a little bit of land, and dedicated (专心致志的) people to create what’s called a Monarch Waystation. When I read this, an idea came to mind. “What if we set up our own Monarch Waystation?” I suggested.
“We will need several people to help us!” she replied.
The next week, Nana presented the idea to her garden club; I talked to my friends and neighbors. Nana’s garden club decided to plant a butterfly garden next to the city park. The library put together a display of gardening and butterfly books. The editor of the local newspaper wrote an informative article on how to make our community monarch-friendly. As spring turned into summer, those volunteers also worked to weed (除杂草) and care for the public gardens. We all waited and watched to see whether our plan would work—it did work! Over twenty black and orange butterflies were noticed visiting the Waystations. As summer progressed, the monarchs grew more plentiful.
It happened on a day when the sun was shining and the sky was a deep blue. As monarchs fluttered around us, people laughed and danced; Nana cried tears of happiness. It was truly a meaningful experience.
1. What does the underlined word “evoked” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?| A．Made up. | B．Took away. |
| C．Showed off. | D．Brought back. |
| A．The author’s personal wish. |
| B．The beauty of the monarch butterfly. |
| C．The author’s good performance in school. |
| D．The drop in numbers of the monarch butterfly. |
| A．It should be built in a park. |
| B．It can be created and used easily. |
| C．It needs continued support from the government. |
| D．It is the best way to protect the monarch butterfly. |
| A．It caused the community to miss the past. |
| B．It organized the community around a purpose. |
| C．It taught the community to use the public library. |
| D．It informed the community about gardening practices. |
4 . The snow in Antarctica is turning green and scientists say climate change may be to blame. According to a study at the Cambridge University, microscopic algae blooms (藻类爆发) across the surface of the snow is slowly turning Antarctica’s winter white landscape green. Although microscopic, scientists say they’re able to see the “green snow” from space when the algae blooms all together.
Researchers created a large-scale map of green snow algae along the Antarctic coast using a combination of satellite data and on-the-ground observations over the course of two summers. The study found that the green snow algae bloomed in warmer areas where the average temperatures are just above 0℃ during the southern hemisphere’s (半球的) summer months from November to February.
“As Antarctica warms, we predict the overall mass of snow algae will increase,” said Dr Andrew Gray, lead author of the paper, and a researcher. Researchers say larger blooms of algae can be found north of the Antarctic and South Shetland Islands, where it can spread to higher ground as the snow melts.
The team also discovered some sea birds and mammals influenced the distribution of algae. Over 60% of algae blooms were found within three miles of a penguin settlement. Scientists hypothesize this may be due to their droppings, which act as a “highly nutritious fertilizer.”
“This is a significant advance in our understanding of land-based life on Antarctica, and how it might change in the coming years as the climate warms,” said Dr. Matt Davey in the University of Cambridge’s Department of Plant Sciences, who led the study.
1. What is turning the Antarctic snow green?| A．The melting of snow. |
| B．The blooming algae. |
| C．The beautiful landscape. |
| D．The balanced temperature. |
| A．North of the Antarctic. |
| B．West of the South Pole. |
| C．South of the Antarctic. |
| D．Around the southern hemisphere. |
| A．Confirm. | B．Support. | C．Assume. | D．Warn. |
| A．Penguins feed on microscopic algae. |
| B．Antarctic algae grow under the snow. |
| C．Ground observation lasted for four months. |
| D．Animal droppings contribute to the algae blooms. |
5 . On Scotland’s Isle of Skye, scientists have identified two areas with evidence of ancient life forms. They believe the markings are, in fact, footprints from dinosaurs that lived 170 million years ago. Those prints date to the middle of the Jurassic Period, a time from which few dinosaur fossils have been recovered. Researchers reported this month on their study of about 50 fossilized footprints at the two sites. The markings are just a few hundred meters apart from each other. They are said to show dinosaurs walking in different directions.
At least three kinds of dinosaurs left the footprints. Steve Brusatte, the leader of the research team, is a paleontologist with the University of Edinburgh. “The tracks are located on flat rocky surfaces near the beach, so they are only exposed at low tide," he said. “The tide laps across them, back and forth, every day. ”
One set of markings came from a two-legged, meat-eating dinosaur that researchers say was about the size of a car. They say its footprints have three toes. The creature, with sharp claws, appears to be from a group of dinosaurs called theropods. Bigger, three-toed footprints came from large-bodied, two-legged plant-eaters called ornithopods. The researchers are especially interested in markings left by another creature: an early member of a group of heavily built, four-legged plant-eaters called stegosaurs.
“I suspect this stegosaur was about the size of a cow, which is fairly small for a stegosaur. Whether that's because it's a primitive, smaller species or a juvenile of a bigger species, we're not sure," Brusatte said. The researchers noted that the findings were an important window into the many kinds of dinosaurs on the Isle of Skye. “Skye has emerged as one of the most important windows into Jurassic dinosaur evolution. We know that dinosaurs were diversifying with a frenzy in the Middle Jurassic, but there are few fossil sites of this age anywhere in the world," Brusatte added.
1. What do the "ancient life forms" refer to in the first paragraph?| A．Dinosaurs dating to the middle of the Jurassic Period. |
| B．Dinosaurs living far away from each other. |
| C．The fossilized footprints discovered this month. |
| D．The fossilized footprints discovered in the middle of the Jurassic Period. |
| A．leaves | B．swallows | C．touches | D．surpasses |
| A．The influence of the markings discovered in Skye. |
| B．The dinosaurs related to the footprints discovered in Skye. |
| C．The dinosaurs with different appearances. |
| D．The dinosaurs with different habitats. |
| A．The findings contribute to learning more about dinosaurs in Skye. |
| B．There are a few fossil sites in other places in the world. |
| C．There were a wide range of dinosaurs living in the area. |
| D．Skye plays an important part in Scotland. |
6 . Learning a second language is tricky at any age. Now, in a new study, scientists have worked out the exact age at which your chances of reaching fluency in a second language seem to drop: 10.
The study, published in the journal Cognition, found that it's nearly impossible for language learners to reach native-level fluency if they start learning a second tongue after age 10. But that's not because language skills start to go downhill. "It turns out you're still learning fast, "says study co-author Joshua Hartshorne, an assistant professor of psychology at Boston College. "It's just that you run out of time, because your ability to learn starts dropping at around 17 or 18 years old. People who start a few years after age 10 may still become quite good at a language," the authors say, "but they are unlikely to become fluent." Kids may be better than adults at learning new languages for many reasons. Children's brains are more plastic than those of adults, meaning they're better able to adapt and respond to new information. "All learning involves the brain changing," Hartshorne says, "and children's brains seem to be a lot more skillful at changing. " Kids may also be more willing to try new things and to potentially look foolish in the process than adults are. Their comparatively new grasp on their native tongue may also be advantageous. Unlike adults, who tend to obey the rules and patterns of their first language, kids may be able to approach a new one with a blank page.
These findings might seem discouraging, but it was heartening for scientists to learn that the critical(关键的) period for fluent language acquisition might be longer than previously thought. Some scientists believed that the window began to close shortly after birth, while others extended it to early adolescence. Compared with those estimates (评估), age 17 or 18 — when language-learning ability starts to drop off—may seem relatively old.
1. What is the best period to learn a second language?| A．Before ten. | B．Early adolescence. | C．Age fifteen. | D．Age seventeen or eighteen. |
| A．They're less skillful. | B．They're less interested. |
| C．They're more flexible. | D．They're more stubborn. |
| A．Interest. | B．Chance. | C．Confidence. | D．Motivation. |
| A．It's Never Too late to Learn a Second Language. |
| B．It Takes Time to Be Good at a Second Language. |
| C．Do We Really Need to Learn Foreign Languages? |
| D．Why Kids Learn Languages More Easily than Adults. |
7 . If you're out for a run, what difference does it make if you're able to tough it out for another 50 seconds? If you're less than a minute from the top of the hill, that extra time can make the difference between having reached your goal and snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
How do you get those extra seconds of energy? A research team at the Texes Tech University developed a study to measure what effect listening to music would have on exercise tolerance. The researchers based the study on a stress testing. As part of the testing, they noted any changes in heart rate and blood pressure as participants underwent physically stressful exercise.
The tests were done on treadmills (跑步机), which increased in both speed and incline (坡度) through three stages. In the final stage, the treadmills moved at 10 miles per hour at a 14-percent grade. Most of these tests were designed to last up to 40 minutes. The average gym-goers lasted 30 minutes. For this study, they divided 127 participants into two groups. One listened to upbeat(快节奏) music, while the other group had earbuds in but did not listen to music.
The group that listened to music was able to outlast the non-music group by an average of 50.6 seconds. Again, being able to go an extra minute may seem like a no-brainer ,but “after 30 minutes, you feel like you are running up a mountain, so even being able to go 50 seconds longer means a lot," said the study's lead author, Waseem Shami, MD.
The study has confirmed something runners and gym-goers have suspected for years: Listening to music during workout can be beneficial to your endurance. "Our findings reinforce the idea that upbeat music can help you exercise longer and stick with a daily exercise routine," said Shami. When doctors are recommending exercise, they might suggest listening to music, too."
1. Why did Shami’s team conduct the research?| A．To test the effect of music on health. | B．To know the cause of failure in sports. |
| C．To improve runners' exercise tolerance. | D．To record the body change of participants |
| A．They ran much faster than average runners. | B．They created a new record of indoor sports. |
| C．They could run a little longer with music on. | D．They all enjoyed extreme physical challenge |
| A．A dull activity. | B．A foolish action. |
| C．A demanding task. | D．An easy practice |
| A．Developing a daily exercise routine. | B．Listening to music while working out |
| C．Participating in physical stress testing. | D．Taking exercise as doctors recommend. |
8 . Confucius, a famous teacher , was a politician and philosopher who lived in “Spring and Autumn Period”. During his lifetime, he planted the seeds for China’s transformation by teaching thousands of people. Today, he is thought to be one of the world’s greatest teachers.
Confucius grew up in a poor family. As he grew up, Confucius worked to help his mother earn money. When he wasn’t working, he would read. His favorite thing to do was to learn. His mother saw this and did her best to help him learn. One day, rich families noticed how smart he was and offered him jobs counting their money and keeping track of their crops.
Confucius did this until he was 30 years old, but he always wanted to do more. He didn’t like the way rulers treated their subjects. He wanted to find a way to help people who were less fortunate than he was. Later, he founded the philosophy “Confucianism”. Confucianism states that by educating yourself, loving your family, and respecting tradition you could become a better person. Confucius believed a person could achieve these things by practicing self-discipline. For the rest of his life, Confucius traveled and taught the people of China about self-discipline and the importance of education. He even opened China’s first school that taught both the poor and the wealthy as equals. Although he became very famous among China’s lower classes, the rulers of China never accepted his teachings. Eventually, his philosophy of self-discipline helped China unite under one ruler and finally find peace. Today, Confucius is celebrated all over the world for his philosophy of education, equality, and peace over war, money, and injustice.
1. What can we know about Confucius from the passage?| A．He was once a farmer guiding people farming. | B．He was born in a politician family. |
| C．He once acted as a math teacher. | D．He devoted himself to social change. |
| A．themes. | B．courses. | C．people. | D．tests. |
| A．Self-discipline. | B．Self-confidence. | C．Respect. | D．Equality. |
| A．Doubtful | B．Supportive | C．Disappointed | D．Hopeful |
9 . Time spent in a bookshop can be most enjoyable, whether you are a book-lover or merely go there to buy a book as a present. You may even have entered the shop just to find shelter from a sudden shower. Whatever the reason, you can soon become totally unaware of your surroundings.
The desire to pick up a book with an attractive dust jacket is irresistible, although this method of selection ought not to be followed, as you might end up with a rather dull book.
You soon become interested in some book or other, and usually it is only much later that you realize you have spent far too much time there and must dash off to keep some forgotten appointment—without buying a book, of course.
This opportunity to escape the realities of everyday life is, I think, the main attraction of a bookshop. There are not many places where it is possible to do this. A music shop is very much like a bookshop. You can wander round such places to your heart’s content. If it is a good shop, no assistant will approach you with the inevitable greeting: “Can I help you, sir?” You needn’t buy anything you don’t want. In a bookshop an assistant should remain in the background until you have finished browsing. Then and only then, are his services necessary. Of course, you may want to find out where a particular section is, but when he has led you there, the assistant should retire discreetly and look as if he is not interested in selling a single book.
You have to be careful not to be attracted by the variety of books in a bookshop. It is very easy to enter the shop looking for a book on, say ancient coins and come out carrying a copy of the latest best-selling novel and perhaps a book about brass-rubbing-something which had only slightly interested you up till then. This volume of the subject, however, happened to be so well illustrated and the part of the text you read proved so interesting that you just had to buy it. This sort of thing can be very dangerous. Apart from running up a huge account, you can waste a great deal of time wandering from section to section.
1. The underlined phrase “dust jacket” means_______.| A．a kind of clothes | B．a paper cover of book |
| C．a dusty book | D．a title of a book |
| A．the dust jackets are very attractive |
| B．you start reading one of the books |
| C．it is raining outside |
| D．you have to make sure you won’t buy a dull book as a present |
| A．all the books there are interesting | B．the assistant greets you in a warm way |
| C．your heart is satisfied | D．you feel that you are in a music shop |
| A．The Attraction of Bookshops | B．How to Spend Your Time |
| C．Bookshops and Their Assistants | D．How to select Books? |
10 . As the novel coronavirus outbreak interrupts businesses and everyday life for billions around the globe, massive conferences have moved online. The new form creates numerous technical and organizational challenges, but it also offers opportunities-for reaching wider audiences, reducing the carbon footprint of meeting travel and improving diversity. For some meetings, the switch may be lasting.
The scientific community is “ making lemonade out of lemons,” an expert says. “ Scientists are making use of a situation that’s really quite horrible and providing people a way to connect.”
In many ways, virtual conferences offer a better experience, says Altman, associate director of the Stanford Institute for AI. Altman’s institute had planned an inperson conference in April, but COVID-19 forced organizers to change it. They threw together a virtual conference to discuss how AI can help scientists fight the ongoing pandemic (流行病).The event was a great success. The original conference would have drawn a few hundred attendees, but 30,000 people watched the online version.
Altman says the virtual environment allowed hosts to better control the flow of discussion and questions from the audience. By privately messaging one another behind the scenes, they were able to make adjustments (调整).During the audience question period, the hosts didn’t open up the virtual floor for anyone to speak. Instead, they asked the audience to type their questions and screen the most insightful (有深刻见解的)ones.
Scientists acknowledge that virtual conferences can’t completely replace the conference experience. Virtual meetings might lose some of their appeal once stay-at-home requirements loosen. Even so, the success of some scientists further strengthens the society’s march toward virtual meetings.
1. What does the underlined phrase “ making lemonade out of lemons” refer to?| A．Working tirelessly to fight the pandemic. |
| B．Taking advantage of the difficult situation. |
| C．Doing research on how to make lemonade. |
| D．Committing themselves to their conferences. |
| A．A larger audience. |
| B．Better arrangement. |
| C．Environmental friendliness. |
| D．Beating the ongoing pandemic. |
| A．Provide some advice for the hosts. |
| B．Summarize the previous paragraphs. |
| C．Introduce a new topic for the audience. |
| D．List some advantages of virtual conferences. |
| A．Business. | B．Opinion. | C．Culture. | D．Travel. |
