1 . With around 100 students scheduled to be in that 9:00 am Monday morning lecture, it is no surprise that almost 20 people actually make it to the class and only 10 of them are still awake after the first 15 minutes; it is not even a surprise that most of them are still in their pajama’s(睡衣). Obviously, students are terrible at adjusting their sleep cycles to their daily schedule.
All human beings possess a body clock. Along with other alerting systems, this governs the sleep/wake cycle and is therefore one of the main processes which govern sleep behaviour. Typically, the preferred sleep/wake cycle is delayed in adolescents, which leads to many students not feeling sleepy until much later in the evenings. This typical sleep pattern is usually referred to as the “night owl” schedule of sleep.
This is opposed to the “early bird” schedule, and is a kind of disorder where the individual tends to stay up much past midnight. Such a person has great difficulty in waking up in the mornings. Research suggests that night owls feel most alert and function best in the evenings and at night. Research findings have shown that about 20 percent of people can be classified as “night owls” and only 10 percent can be classified as “early birds” ------ the other 70 percent are in the middle. Although this is clearly not true for all students, for the ones who are true night owls, this gives them an excellent excuse for missing their lectures which unfortunately fall before midday.
1. What does the author stress in Paragraph 1?| A．Many students are absent from class. |
| B．Students are very tired on Monday mornings. |
| C．Students do not adjust their sleep patterns well. |
| D．Students are not well prepared for class on Mondays. |
| A．Most students prefer to get up late in the morning. |
| B．Students don’t sleep well because of alerting systems. |
| C．One’s body clock governs the sleep/wake cycle independently. |
| D．Adolescents’ delayed sleep/wake cycle isn’t the preferred pattern. |
| A．Criticized | B．Grouped | C．Organized | D．Named |
| A．Functions of the body clock. |
| B．The “night owl” phenomenon. |
| C．Human beings’ sleep behaviour. |
| D．The school schedule of “early birds”. |
2 . Do you think alien beings exist somewhere in the universe? It seems like Mars, our closest neighbor, has inspired the most science fiction as the place where aliens are most likely to come from. Recent Mars probes (探测) have shown us that there is no life on that planet—at least not now. But that does not mean that life does not exist elsewhere—after all, the universe is really big. A lot of scientific research is going on in the search for “extraterrestrial life”.
Think about it—why should the seven billion people on this little planet be the only living beings in the universe? It would, in fact, seem logical that this is not the case. So scientific research in this matter is based around the idea of finding other planets that have environments that can support life —environments similar to the Earth. The search is on for the evidence of the existence, or earlier existence of life: from very wise beings to simple organisms (有机物).
So far, there have been a number of theories as to which planetary bodies may have an atmosphere that can support such life and therefore deserve closer attention. As for places within our own Milky Way Galaxy, it has been assumed over the decades that Mars and Venus, as well as some of the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, may have been hosts for life. Now, as technologies have improved and we can obtain measurements of the composition of the atmosphere on extra-solar planets, the chances of finding “alien” life forms are increasing.
There has been a theory that some of the planets in the habitable zone of the red dwarf star Gliese 581 may be able to support life. In 2007, scientists discovered exoplanet Gliese 581c—and felt that its atmosphere was most suitable for supporting life. But further research revealed that it would not. Now, attention has been turned to Gliese 581d, at the outer edge of the star’s habitable zone. The main standards for deciding whether a planetary body can be life-supporting are atmospheric conditions which allow the existence of water. Gliese 581 is about 20. 4 light years away from the Earth, so even if life does exist there, the distance would mean that communication would be unlikely.
Having said this—who says alien life forms (if they exist) need water?
1. What does the underlined part in Paragraph 1 mean?| A．Life existing outside of the Earth. |
| B．The evidence of the existence of life. |
| C．Other faraway planets in the universe. |
| D．Creatures known from science fictions. |
| A．Modern scientific theories. | B．Atmospheric conditions. |
| C．Environments similar to the Earth. | D．Advanced technologies. |
| A．the atmosphere of Gliese 581c was most suitable for life |
| B．it is not certain whether alien life forms need water or not |
| C．the 7 billion people on the Earth are the only beings in the universe |
| D．the distance of 20. 4 light years makes it impossible to find life on Gliese 581d |
| A．Do Aliens Exist? | B．Is Mars Suitable for Life? |
| C．Are Alien Life Forms Various? | D．Can We Communicate with Aliens? |
3 . A sleepover (过夜) program, which is designed to make kids believe that their favorite toys enjoy reading, can help encourage children to pick up more books, a new study suggests.
Toys sleepover programs are designed to get children interested in books. Children take their toys to a library for the night. At this point, workers and volunteers take photos of the toys which explore the library and read books. The next day, the children collect their toys and the photos of what the toys did during the night. They are given the books their toys chose to read.
It was found that before the sleepover the children did not spend time looking at the books in their play area at preschool. Immediately after the sleepover, the number of children who read to the toys was higher than the number who did not, but after three days the effect decreased gradually.
The researchers also tested a method for sustaining the effect. They reminded the children of the sleepover a month later, by hiding the toys and showing them the photos again the next day. This simple method brought an increase in the number of children reading to their toys.
The study proves for the first time that children who take part in sleepover programs read picture books to their toys more. “We wanted to know if there really was an effect, and if so, how long it lasts. Surprisingly, not only did the children show interest in the books, but they also began to read to their toys. This means that a new behavior pattern appeared that the children hadn’t had before. We did not expect anything like this,” said one of the researchers.
Reading is important for the development of children’s language skills and imagination. When parents read to their children, it is a passive way of reading for the child. However, when children read to their toys, it is a more active, self-directed way of reading, helping them develop into more active readers, researchers said.
1. What is the purpose of the sleepover program?| A．To develop children’s language skills. |
| B．To help children to sleep well. |
| C．To encourage children to read more. |
| D．To guide children to form a good sleeping habit. |
| A．Go around the library with their toys. |
| B．Sleep with their toys. |
| C．Read together with their toys. |
| D．Take their toys to the library. |
| A．keeping | B．testing | C．surveying | D．showing |
| A．Children showed no interest in the books. |
| B．The effect of the sleepover program could last long. |
| C．Children began to read to their toys on their own. |
| D．Whether the sleepover program had an effect remained unknown. |
4 . Chemical engineers at UNSW Sydney have found a way to make "green" ammonia (氨) from air, water and renewable electricity. In a paper published in Energy and Environmental Science, the authors say that ammonia synthesis (合成法) was one of the critical achievements of the 20th century. When used in fusiliers that significantly increase the output of food crops, it enabled agriculture to sustain an ever-expanding global population.
But since the beginning of the 1900s when it was first employed, production of ammonia has been energy intensive- requiring temperatures higher than 400℃ and pressures greater than 200 atm-and all powered by fossil fuels. Dr. Emma Lovell, a co author on the paper from UNSW, says the traditional way to make ammonia- known as the Haber- Bosch process- is only cost-effective when it is produced on a massive scale due to the huge amounts of energy and expensive materials required and it produces more CO2 than any other chemical-making reaction.
“In addition to the big carbon footprint left by the Haber Bosch process, having to produce millions of tons of ammonia in centralised locations means even more energy is required to transport it around the world, not to mention the risks that go with storing large amounts of it in the one place,” says Dr. Lovell. “And we saw tragically in Beirut recently how potentially dangerous storing ammonium nitrate (硝酸盐) can be. ”
Dr. Lovell and her colleagues therefore looked at how to produce it cheaply, on a smaller scale and using renewable energy. Their new production method does not rely on fossil fuel resources, nor give of CO2.
“And once it becomes available commercially, the technology could be used to produce ammonia directly on site and on demand- farmers could even do this on location using our technology to make fertilisers- which means we negate the need for storage and transport There's a huge benefit to society as well as the health of the planet,”Dr. Lovell says.
1. What do we know about the Haver-Bosch process?| A．It does harm to the earth. |
| B．It requires green materials. |
| C．It uses less energy and is cheap. |
| D．It transforms fossil fuels into ammonia. |
| A．To remind people to protect the environment. |
| B．To give an example of the risk in ammonia storage. |
| C．To convince farmers to transport ammonia elsewhere. |
| D．To stress the choice of a proper centralised location. |
| A．Inspect. | B．Avoid. | C．Suit. | D．Accept. |
| A．To solve a problem. | B．To explain a process. |
| C．To advocate a theory. | D．To introduce a method. |
5 . China plans to launch 156 small satellites by 2025 toprovide Internet services in low signal areas and placeswith adverse natural environment, according toChinaAerospace Science and Industry Corporation(CASIC).
Due to environmental conditionsof deserts,mountains and seas, half of the world's population has noaccess to the Internet, and the information deficiencyhamperslocal development.
It will be China's first broadband Internet accesssystem with small satellites hovering in low orbit, whichwill also help meet the needs of commercial space development.
The project, named Hongyun, plans to send the firstsatellite by 2019, and launch four more by 2020. By theend of 2025, CASIC plans to have all of the 156 satellites in operation.
The Hongyun Proiect, which focuses on communication,remote sensing and navigation, can offer communicationand Internet services for China and less-developed 3countries with reduced latency. Meanwhile, the projectcan also benefit emergency communication, sensor data collection and remote control of unmanned equipment.
Currently, international maritime satellites are widely used in communications in mountainous areas and airplanes, but those satellites, 36, 000 kilometers abovethe Earth, have time and signal delay as well as high cost for providing services.
The small satellites sent by the Hongyun Project will hover in low orbits only hundreds of kilometers to 1, 000 kilometers above the Earth, and thus could improve the Internet access. However, the low orbit satellites may face challenges in power supply, as they need more energyto reduce the influence of air-resistance compared to highorbit satellites. Experiments are needed to determinewhether solar energy alone is enough.
1. According to the passage, ________________.| A．156satellites will be launched by the Hongyun Project by 2020 |
| B．international maritime satellites can cause signaldelay |
| C．The Hongyun Project may not encourage commercialspace development |
| D．low orbit satellites are currently used widely incommunications in mountainous areas |
| A．accelerates | B．determines |
| C．prevents | D．promotes |
| A．Communication and Navigation. | B．Remote sensing. |
| C．Data collection. | D．Solar energy. |
| A．provide more accurate data | B．improve the Internet access |
| C．reduce the effect of air-resistance | D．face more challenges |
6 . Fairy tales focus on creating a fantasy world to the reader encouraging imagination and teaching problem-solving skills. It is equally important that they provide influential moral lessons, highlighting the dangers of failing to follow the social codes that let human beings coexist in harmony. Such moral lessons may not mean much to a robot, but a team of researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology believes it has found a way to use the fairy tales as moral lessons that AI (artificial intelligence) can take to its cold and mechanical heart.
The collected stories of different cultures teach children how to behave in socially acceptable ways with examples of proper and improper behavior in fairy tales, novels and other literature. We believe story comprehension in robots can eliminate the immoral behavior of the the intelligent robots, which was predicted and feared by some of the biggest names in technology including Stephen Hawking and Bill Gates. This system is called “Quixote” (堂吉诃德). It collects story plots from the Internet and then uses those stories to teach robots how to behave.
The experiment done by the designers involves going to a drugstore to purchase some medicine for a human who needs to get it as soon as possible. The robot has three options. It can wait in line; it can interact with the store keeper politely and purchase the medicine with priority; or it can steal the medicine and escape. Without any further directives (指令), the robot will come to the conclusion that the most efficient means of obtaining the medicine is to steal it. But Quixote offers a reward for waiting in line and politely purchasing the medicine and a punishment for stealing it. In this way, the robot will learn the moral way to behave on that occasion.
Quixote would run best on a robot that has a very limited function. It’s a baby step in the direction of teaching more moral lessons into robots. We believe that AI has to be trained to adopt the values of a particular society, and in doing so, it will strive to avoid unacceptable behavior. Giving robots the ability to read and understand our stories may be the most efficient means.
1. What is the robot really expected to do in the experiment?| A．To purchase some medicine for a human. |
| B．To finish the task as efficiently as possible. |
| C．To perform in a socially acceptable way. |
| D．To perform under the designer’s instructions. |
| A．Praise. | B．Promote. | C．Rid. | D．Strengthen. |
| A．Quixote has already been widely used in robots. |
| B．Robots will be definitely designed with limited function. |
| C．The development of robots is still in a baby step. |
| D．Robots are necessarily to be trained to follow social codes. |
| A．Using stories to teach moral to robots. | B．Speeding up the development of robots. |
| C．Preventing robots from behaving badly. | D．Training robots to read fairy tales. |
7 . Do you know how children in other countries spend their schooldays and what kind of games they always play?
Children in Brazil
| School | The school year runs from February to December. Children attend (上学) school for about four hours in the morning or the afternoon. About a quarter of children in Brazil do not attend school at all. |
| Play | Football is the most popular sport. Brazil’s beautiful beaches also make swimming and volleyball popular. |
| Family | Brazilian families are often large. Nearly a third of the population is under eighteen! |
| School | The school day begins from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm, with a two-hour lunch break. Schools close on Wednesday and Sunday, and are closed for a half day on Saturday. |
| Play | Football, bicycling and tennis are favorite sports in France. In some areas, pelote, a traditional ball game, is also very popular. |
| Family | Most French mothers work. The majority of preschool (幼儿园) children attend day care centres known as crèches. France has laws about naming children and all names have to be chosen from an official list. |
| School | Schools in Japan are very competitive (竞争的). Even pre-schoolers may attend “cramming (填鸭式教学的) schools” to prepare for exams. There is a summer break about six weeks, but the children have homework during this time. |
| Play | Comic books have been popular in Japan since the 1700s. Comics now account for about 40% of all published materials in Japan. Kite flying is enjoyed by people of every age. |
| Family | Homes in Japan are small on average. The typical family of four lives in five small rooms. Most fathers in Japan work long hours. As a result, some children only see their fathers on weekends or holidays. |
① Kite flying. ② Bicycling. ③ Football. ④ Pelote.
| A．②③④ | B．①②③ |
| C．①④ | D．①②③④ |
| A．Places with beautiful beaches. |
| B．The name of the place where French mothers work. |
| C．A day care centre for preschool children. |
| D．Cramming schools to improve children’s exam results. |
| A．like to read comic books | B．write their names on an official list |
| C．only see their fathers on weekdays | D．do not attend school |
8 . Like you and your pet dog, plants are living things: they eat, drink, and grow. Unlike you and your dog, they can't run away, use fists or teeth, or hide under the covers when they're threatened. But they can fight back.
Why would a plant need to fight back? To avoid being eaten, of course! Plants have several ways of protecting themselves. A plant can grow in a hidden or hard-to-get-to place. Think of plants you've seen growing on steep, rocky cliff (悬崖). Or, a plant could make only some parts of itself attractive to hungry insects and animals. For instance, if a plant produced really tasty leaves, herbivores (creatures that eat only plants) might eat the leaves instead of the seeds, which the plant needs for making more plants. Some plants have sharp or slippery (滑的) parts that discourage insects and other animals from getting too close, like the thorns(刺) on a rosebush.
But the most interesting way that plants fight back is by using chemicals. Plants take minerals from the soil and combine them into chemicals that do a lot of work. For example, plants produce chlorophyll(叶绿素), which helps convert sunshine and water into the sugars that plants eat.
They also produce chemicals to help protect themselves. One kind of tobacco plant releases a chemical into the air whenever small bugs begin to eat it. The chemical signals large bugs, saying "Dinner's ready!" The big bugs come to eat the little ones and save the plant.
Most plants use chemicals in a more direct way against their enemies. In other words, plants make poison.
1. What does the underlined word "convert" mean?| A．Change | B．Separate |
| C．Form | D．Produce |
| A．Some plants hide under the covers when faced with threat. |
| B．A plant grows in a hard-to-get-to place to draw people's attention. |
| C．Some plants produce tasty leaves to protect their seeds. |
| D．Plants produce chemicals to meet the needs of big bugs. |
| A．Different effects that different plant poisons cause on plant eaters. |
| B．Different kinds of plants in the world. |
| C．Why plants make poison? |
| D．How to protect plants? |
| A．Plant information. | B．Plant enemies. |
| C．Plant poisons. | D．Plant protection. |
9 . "When I was 16 years old, I was diving in Greece, but I was disappointed because I saw more plastic bags than fish.” These are the words of Boyan Slat, an engineer who designed the world's first ocean plastic cleanup system.
Every year, more than 8 million tons of plastics end up in our oceans, according to the UN Environment Programme. It is predicted that the weight of ocean plastics will match the weight of all the fish in our oceans by 2050. To prevent this from happening, in 2013 Slat created the Ocean Cleanup, an environmental non¬governmental organization, and put his plan for an ocean cleanup device into action.
After years of research and develop¬ment in the Netherlands, a device called System 001/B successfully started gathering plastics on October 2, 2019. The device uses a 600-meter-long C-shaped tube to gather all the floating rubbish. Unlike other cleanup methods, the system floats freely according to the direction of the waves, which allows waste to flow into and stay within the device. A sea anchor is attached to either end. This slows down the system as it floats through the water and allows the faster-moving rubbish, carried by the waves, to flow into its mouth. System 001/B can also collect waste below the surface using a 3-meter-deep skirt（挡板）attached to the end. After being gathered, the trash will be dragged back to shore by boat and recycled.
Right now, the system operates in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, an area that is 3 times the size of France. Once operational, the Ocean Cleanup expects a full fleet to be able to clear 50% of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in 5 years.
"It remains to be seen whether this dream will become a reality, but it is undeniable that humanity must work together to reduce our plastic use and repair the damage our waste has caused," Slat said. "We are starting to see a young generation that gets it and is excited about a sustainable （可持续的）future, but the question still comes down to: Are we going fast enough, and how much damage will have been done before we get there?"
1. The underlined word “match” in Paragraph 2 probably means “_________”.| A．compare | B．equal |
| C．measure | D．cover |
| A．To collect ocean plastic waste. |
| B．To help to invent System 001/B. |
| C．To protect the living environment of fish. |
| D．To do research on the ocean environment. |
| A．It can collect and recycle garbage at the same time. |
| B．It can only gather ocean waste which floats on the water. |
| C．It aims to clear up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch in five years. |
| D．It is an ocean-cleaning device which has already been put to use. |
| A．Young generations care less about the environment. |
| B．The future ecology of the oceans is deeply worrying. |
| C．People should work hard to decrease plastic pollution. |
| D．It's quite difficult to repair the damage to the environment. |
10 . Stories are a powerful way to communicate. We all learn through stories. I’ve raised a three-step formula anyone can use to create powerful stories that will help you make your point. First, identify your truth. Second, think of the decisive experiences that have led you to this "truth". Third, shape those experiences into a story that you can tell at the drop of a hat. Here’s an example of how I have used this formula.
Years ago, I had an assignment to conduct a team-building session. The client was my friend. I arrived at his office 5: 00 p. m. the day before our session. He asked me if I had an agenda for tomorrow’s meeting. I told him that, first we'll do A, then B, followed by C. We’ll finish up with D. Still he asked if I had an agenda.
At first, I thought he hadn’t been listening to what I just said, so I repeated myself, "First we'll do A, then B, followed by C. We’ll finish up with D. "He said," Yes, I know. That's what you just said. Do you have an agenda?
At that point, it dawned on me that he was looking for a printed agenda. I said, "No, but we really don't need one. I’ve done many meetings like this. It will go fine.” He said, “I’m not comfortable winging it.” So we created an agenda using Powerpoint. The next day, the meeting went off smoothly. We followed the agenda I had in my head and he had on the PowerPoint slide. Everyone agreed it was one of the best meetings of this type they had ever attended.
It became clear to me that if I want to influence not just this client, but anyone, I need to adapt my communication style to theirs. From that day on, I modify my communication style to meet the needs of the other person.
1. What does Paragraph 1 mainly talk about?| A．How to form powerful stories | B．Stories come from experiences. |
| C．How to communicate with powerful stories. | D．Stories play an important part in communication. |
| A．By listing figures. | B．By giving examples. |
| C．By making remarks. | D．By presenting research findings. |
| A．The author winged it. |
| B．The author's friend used Powerpoint. |
| C．The author and his friend created an agenda separately. |
| D．The author and his friend made an agenda using Powerpoint. |
| A．Adopt | B．Follow | C．Change | D．Create |
