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 Unicom, 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 actors 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．Realizing the potential in many new services. |
| C．Excellent networks and national safety. |
| D．Amazing speeds for public transportation. |
| A．It may be lack of government support. |
| B．It will move forward slowly. |
| C．It will develop rapidly. |
| D．It may fall behind Europe. |
| A．set up | B．bring up | C．turn up | D．pick up |
| A．Chinese cannot own 5G in 2025. |
| B．More than half Koreans use 5G in 2025. |
| C．Only five countries will have 5G in 2025. |
| D．Europe will pay little attention to 5G in 2025. |
2 . In 2018, Pakistan promised to plant ten billion trees in an effort to slow climate change and to save a land that has been destroyed.
That program, whose name is 10 Billion Trees Tsunami, has been taking effect slowly for the past two years, but it recently has received unexpected help from the coronavirus(新冠病毒). Many Pakistanis are suddenly unemployed, so the government has given them jobs as tree-planters. Unemployed day laborers have been turned into "jungle workers", planting trees for 500 rupees a day($3). It's not much, but it can help the unemployed get by.
As the coronavirus struck Pakistan, the 10 Billion Trees campaign was halted as part of social distancing orders put in place to slow the spread of the virus. But earlier this month, the government allowed the forestry agency to restart the program and create more than 63, 600 jobs.
The program is employing three times the number of planters as it normally does, and the planting season has been extended from May(its usual end)throughout June, in order to keep workers employed. All workers are being told to wear masks and keep two meters of distance from others.
Shahid Rashid Awan, project director for Punjab province, said the project hopes to reach 50 million trees this year. “We can absorb all the unemployed laborers and workers who have fled the cities and returned to their villages in the past few weeks.”
A study declared tree planting to be an effective way to store carbon, and if planted in large quantities around the globe, a powerful solution to climate change. While it won’t fix every climate-related problem we have, it can go a long way if done widely, which is exactly what Pakistan is trying to do with such impressive determination.
And the workers will benefit greatly, too. Not only are they able to earn money and support their families at a difficult time, but they’re outside in the fresh air, away from the potential health risks from more tightly-packed urban environments. It’s a brilliant idea that all country leaders should consider copying.
1. How does the coronavirus influence Pakistan?| A．A lot of animals are starving. | B．Many people are out of work. |
| C．Much land is left unmanaged. | D．The government has lost power. |
| A．Agreed. | B．Discussed. | C．Stopped. | D．Doubted. |
| A．It has helped with employment. |
| B．It has persuaded people to plant trees in big cities. |
| C．Many laborers produce much less carbon dioxide. |
| D．It can contribute to fighting against climate change. |
| A．It serves as a good example. | B．It is not fit for other countries. |
| C．It is a waste of time and money. | D．It brings many economic benefits. |
3 . A new study has found that ride-sharing services result in much more pollution than other kinds of private and public transportation. Ride-sharing trips also draw passengers away from more environment friendly methods of travel, like public transportation, walking or biking, the study found.
Several studies in recent years have suggested that ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft can worsen traffic problems in cities. The new study represents an attempt to center on how ride-sharing services affect pollution.
Overall, the researchers reported that ride-sharing trips now "result in a 69 percent more climate pollution on average than the trips they replace." The study notes that the same passengers could have chosen to travel by bus, train, bike or on foot.
One of the big reasons they give for this result is that ride-sharing vehicles are often driven with no passengers in the car. This happens when drivers are either waiting for rider requests, are on the way to pick up passengers. This situation, known as "deadheading," takes up about 42 percent of all ride-sharing driving activity, the study found. The researchers said that deadheading results in about 50 percent more carbon dioxide than one person driving in a private vehicle.
Both Uber and Lyft have said in the past that most studies on the subject overstate (夸大）the effects of their services on pollution. Uber told Reuters news agency in a statement it had no comment on the latest report and that the study made misleading claims about ride-sharing. Meanwhile, the company said it would work directly with cities to address climate changes, promoting sharing trips and other means of transportation.
1. Which of the following is the best title of the passage?| A．Ride-sharing becomes a new trend that can’t be avoided. |
| B．Ride-sharing industry is met with criticism. |
| C．Ride-sharing services increase pollution. |
| D．Ride-sharing services need improvement. |
| A．a driving process where the driver is not carrying passengers |
| B．a potential risk that the driver may lose control of the vehicle |
| C．a period of driving hours when vehicles produce more carbon dioxide |
| D．a situation in which a driver has too many passengers to pick up |
| A．barking up the wrong tree | B．not seeking the truth from facts |
| C．killing two birds with one stone | D．beating around the bush |
| A．Ride-sharing attracts exactly the same number of people as traditional means of transport. |
| B．the study was conducted to prove the influence of ride-sharing services on modern cities |
| C．ride-sharing service is not an environmentally friendly way to travel |
| D．the new report has forced Uber to make big changes to achieve its goal |
GETTING A GRANT Who pays? The local education authority (LEA) for the area in which the student is living. Who can get this money? Anyone who gets a place on a first degree course, although a student who has already attended a course of advanced further education may not. Students must also have been resident in the UK for at least three years, which can exclude some students from overseas. |
| SPECIAL CASES |
| If a student has worked before going to college? A student who is 26 or more before the course starts and who has worked for at least three of the previous six years will get extra money – £155 a year if 26, increasing to a maximum of £615 at 29 or more. If a student is handicapped? LEAs will give up to £500 to help meet extra expenses – such as buying a tape recorder for a blind student, extra heating or special food. Banking? Most of the big banks offer special services to students who open accounts (in the hope that they will stay with the bank when they become rich officials). A student won’t usually have to pay bank charges as long as the account stays in credit. Some banks allow students to overdraw by £100 or so, and still don’t make charges (though they do charge interest). |
1. The phrase “a grant” in the first line most probably means _____.
| A．bank interest | B．a credit card |
| C．an education fee | D．financial aid |
| A．be unable to get money from any LEA |
| B．get money if taking a first degree course |
| C．get money from LEA when finishing his course |
| D．have to open a bank account before getting money |
| A．None. | B．£155. | C．£615. | D．£515. |
5 . I became a magician by accident. When I was nine years old, I learned how to make a coin disappear. I’d read The Lord of the Rings and ventured into the adult section of the library to search for a book of spells—nine being that curious age at which you’re old enough to work through more than 1,200 pages of fantasy literature but young enough to still hold out hope that you might find a book of real, actual magic in the library. The book I found instead taught basic sleight-of-hand technique, and I dedicated the next months to practice.
At first the magic wasn’t any good. At first it wasn’t even magic; it was just a trick—a bad trick. I spent hours each day in the bathroom running through the secret moves in front of the mirror. I dropped the coin over and over, a thousand times in a day, and after two weeks of this my mom got a carpet from the hardware store and placed it under the mirror to muffle the sound of the coin falling again and again.
I had heard my dad work through passages of new music on the piano, so I knew how to practice—slowly, deliberately, going for precision rather than speed. One day I tried the illusion in the mirror and the coin vanished. It did not look like a magic trick. It looked like a miracle.
One of the lessons you learn very early on as a magician is that the most amazing part of a trick has nothing to do with the secret. The secret is simple and often dull: a hidden piece of tape, a small mirror, a duplicate playing card, diversion of the audience’s attention. In this case, the secret was a series of covert ( 暗 中 的 ) technique to hide the coin behind my hand in the act of opening it, a dance of the fingers that I learned so completely I didn’t even have to think. I would close my hand, then open it, and the coin would vanish not by skill but by real magic.
1. What book did the author intend to find in the library when he was nine years old?| A．A book teaching people how to make a coin disappear. |
| B．The second book of The Lord of the Rings. |
| C．A book on how to become a magician. |
| D．A book of real magic. |
| A．clean | B．punish |
| C．lower | D．kill |
| A．Without music, life is of no value. | B．Practice makes perfect. |
| C．Great liars are also great magicians. | D．No pains, no gains. |
| A．Carrying out skillful hand moves. |
| B．Using real magic to create miracles. |
| C．Hiding some stage tools inside the coat. |
| D．Guiding the audience to focus on something unimportant. |
6 . Ultrasound（超声）is used widely in medical imaging, but in recent years scientists have started developing it for another use: stimulating nerves to treat disease. In two new studies in mice, researchers focused the sound waves on nerves in the spleen（脾）that communicate with the immune system, reducing symptoms. If the approach proves safe and effective in people, it could serve as a treatment for diseases such as arthritis（关节炎）.
In one study, led by scientists at the Feistein Institute and GE Research, mice receiving a few minutes of ultrasound treatment to the spleen nerve had a diminished symptoms to an injected（注射）poison. In another study, researchers at the University of Minnesota and their colleagues reduces symptoms of arthritis in mice by stimulating their spleen nerves for 20 minutes every day for a week. “Zeroing in on the spleen may provide a more precise approach than focusing on the vagus nerve（交感神经）, which connects with the immune system via a second nerve that stimulates the spleen.” says Hubert Lin, lead author of the latter study. “When we’re targeting the spleen we have less of an effect all over the body.”
“Little is known about how repeated ultrasound affects the spleen or whether it has other harmful effects,” says neuroscientist Denise Bellinger of Loma Linda University, who was not involved in either study. An ongoing clinical trial aims to assess the treatment’s safety in humans with arthritis. A bigger unknown is how ultrasound activates in general. Scientists are now exploring the use of ultrasound on other parts of the nervous system, including the brain. “We know how to control nerves with electricity, and we’ve been doing it for more than 100 years,” neuroscientist Kevin Tracey says, “But the idea of controlling nerve signals with ultrasound is a brand-new field.”
1. What do scientists expect of the new application of ultrasound?| A．It'll be applied in medical imaging |
| B．It'll be used to activate nerves to treat disease. |
| C．It’ll be applied in spleen transplantation. |
| D．It'll be employed to rebuild immune system. |
| A．Complicated. | B．Worsened. |
| C．Decreased. | D．Associated. |
| A．Side effect. | B．Time length. |
| C．The procedure. | D．The cost. |
| A．Assessing the treatment' s safety on humans. |
| B．Activating nerves in general with ultrasound. |
| C．Exploring the use of ultrasound on the brain. |
| D．Controlling nerve signals with ultrasound. |
7 . The Giraffe Center in Nairobi is one of the oldest giraffe conservation organizations in the world. When it was founded in 1979, there were only 150 Rothschild's giraffes left in Kenya.
Stanley Kosgey, in charge of conservation education at the center, says the tallest animals in the world have never really gotten the same attention from conservationists and governments that other African mammals have. In some ways, he thinks, it's because they're hard to miss. In Kenya, it's not rare to see half a dozen of them as you drive past some fields on the highway. It can take you several safaris （旅行队）before you catch sight of a lion.
“Giraffes are in what I would call a silent extinction," Kosgey says.
In a lot of ways, he says, a perfect storm has fallen on the species. Climate change means longer droughts and new diseases; civil unrest means giraffes become easy food; and as African countries grow, humans have encroached （入侵）on wildlife areas and the removal of trees becomes a huge problem. Giraffes are huge creatures, and they require a lot of space and plants.
Kosgey says the good news is that the world has begun to pay attention. In Kenya, which has some of the best conservation policies on the continent, there is a plan underway to treat giraffes in the same way that lions, rhinos and elephants are treated. That's to put in place detailed action plans and programs to make sure those animals thrive. The first step for giraffes is to get a deeper understanding of their population by conducting a survey.
Kosgey says their conservation effort alone has saved the Rothschild's giraffe. There are now about 650 of them in Kenya. Worldwide, there are 1,671 Rothschild's, about 26 percent more than there were in the 1960s, according to the IUCN （International Union for Conservation of Nature）.
“They are tall, graceful animals and they should be heard/5 Kosgey says.
1. What can we learn about the giraffes from the first two paragraphs?| A．They run the fastest in the world. |
| B．They are in danger of extinction. |
| C．They are harder to see than lions in Kenya. |
| D．They draw conservationists' more attention. |
| A．It is hard for them to survive. | B．A terrible storm attacks them. |
| C．They live where humans live. | D．Removing trees leaves them space. |
| A．become healthy | B．hang out |
| C．move away | D．grow strong |
| A．Protecting the Earth. | B．Living with Animals. |
| C．Saving the Giraffes. | D．Loving Peaceful Nature. |
8 . The cultures of the East and the West are really different from each other a lot. This is because the culture systems are two separate ones on the whole.
The origin (起源) of the Eastern culture is mainly from two countries: China and India. Both of the two cultures are developed by rivers — the Yellow River in China and the Hindu River in India. They helped the two cultures develop for centuries and form their own styles.
When the two mother rivers gave birth to the Eastern culture, another famous culture was up on the Mesopotamian Plain — the Mesopotamian Civilization. This civilization later on developed into the cultures of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. And these two are well-known as the base of the European culture. Like the Chinese culture, the European culture also crossed waters. When the British settled down in America, their culture went with them over the Atlantic Ocean. So the American culture doesn’t have much difference from the European culture.
At the same time, some other differences add to the cultural differences. Take the language system for example. In the East, most languages belong to the pictographic (象形) language while the western languages are mostly based on the Latin system. Other causes like human race differences count as well. But what’s more, due to the far distance and the steep areas between the East and the west, the two cultures seldom communicate until recent centuries. So they grew up totally in their own ways with almost no interference from the other.
The differences are everywhere. They are obvious and make people’s ways of thinking and their views of the world different. But different cultures make the world of 21st century more colorful. The cultural difference should not be the obstacle (障碍) to the civilization of human being. It ought to be the driving force of our going farther.
1. What is the text mainly about?| A．The origin of cultures. | B．Culture differences. |
| C．Language systems. | D．Colorful world. |
| A．Both of the two cultures have a very long history. |
| B．They have the same mother rivers as the Chinese culture. |
| C．The early settlers from Britain brought their culture to America. |
| D．Both the British and the American live along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. |
| A．difference | B．influence |
| C．confidence | D．environment |
| A．A diary. | B．A magazine. |
| C．A novel. | D．A guidebook. |
9 . Working out can help teenagers boost their grades, a new study suggests. Adolescents who routinely engaged in moderate to vigorous (剧烈的) exercise showed long-term improvements in their academic performance, the British Journal of Sports Medicine study reported.
“Our study suggests that the effect of physical activity may be quite large,” John Reilly, a professor at the University of Strathclyde said. The researchers looked at a sample of about 5000 children who were involved in a long-term study that tracks children born in the U.K. between 1991 and 1992. When children reached 11 years old, their daily physical activity levels were measured using an accelerometer (加速器) for three to seven days. The device, similar to a pedometer (计步器) tracking the number of steps taken, recorded the average time children exercised, which was 29 minutes a day for boys and 18 for girls.
“The actual levels of daily physical activity at age 11 were quite low,” Mr. Reilly noted. The children had their academic performance tested at ages 11 and 13 with compulsory national tests for students, and also at 15 or 16 with the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) exam. The tests assessed the children’s abilities in English, math and science subjects. The results showed that the more children participated in moderate to vigorous physical activity, the higher their test scores were at age 11 in all three subjects. For girls, science scores were most strongly linked to exercise.
When children were tested again at age 13, their academic scores were still linked to how much they had exercised when they were 11 years old. By the time the youngsters took the GCSE exam, each 17-minute-per-day increase in physical activity for the boys was linked to an improvement in their scores. Every additional 12-minute increase a day in exercise for the girls was also linked to an increased score, especially in the science category.
The researchers have called for more studies to look at the possible academic benefits that could be derived if students exercised the recommended 60 minutes or more a day.
1. What’s the study about?| A．The influence of exercise on students’ scores. |
| B．The secrets of students’ ranking high in class. |
| C．The causes of students’ participating in sports. |
| D．The ways of improving students’ physical conditions. |
| A．To record how long students exercise. |
| B．To record the walking speed of students. |
| C．To record how many steps students walk. |
| D．To record the number of calories students consume. |
| A．Students at age 11 do more exercise than at other ages. |
| B．Boys at age 13 get more benefits by doing more exercise. |
| C．Girls’ science scores are more closely related to exercise. |
| D．More and more students do exercise to improve their scores. |
| A．Maintained. | B．Obtained. |
| C．Concluded. | D．Reduced. |
| A．In a storybook. | B．In a fashion magazine. |
| C．In an exercise guide. | D．In a research report. |
10 . Computer scientists have hoped to give robots technical skills to help them recognize, process and react to humor. But these attempts have mostly failed. AI (人工智能) experts say that in many cases, attempts to make robots understand humor end up producing funny results, but not in the way they were supposed to.
Tristan Miller studied more than 10,000 puns (双关语) in one research project. The pun is a kind of joke that uses a word with two meanings. For example, you could say, “Balloons do not like pop music.” The word “pop” can be a way of saying popular music; or can mean the sound a balloon makes when it explodes. But a robot might not get the joke. Tristan Miller says that is because humor is a kind of creative language that is extremely difficult for computer intelligence to understand.
Allison Bishop is a computer scientist and she also performs stand-up comedy. She explained that machines are trained to look for patterns. Comedy, on the other hand, relies on things that stay dose to a pattern, kit not completely within it. To be funny, humor should also not be predictable, Bishop said. This sets a great obstacle for a machine to recognize and understand what is funny.
Bishop says since robots have great difficulty understanding humor, she feels like it gives her better job security as a comedy performer. It even made her parents happy when her brother decided to become a full-time comedy writer because it meant he wouldn’t be replaced by a machine, she added.
Despite the difficulties, Darmstadt University’s Miller says there are good reasons to keep trying to teach humor to robots. It could make machines more relatable, especially if they can learn to understand sarcasm (讽刺), he noted. Humans use sarcasm to say one thing but mean another. But Kiki Hempelmann thinks differently. “Teaching AI systems humor may make them find it where it isn’t, and they may use it where it’s inappropriate,” he said. “Maybe bad AI will start killing people because it thinks something is funny,” he added.
1. What does the author most probably want to show in Paragraph 1?| A．Robots’ influence on the scientific development. |
| B．Robots’ challenges of making sense of humor. |
| C．Computer scientists’ devotion to technical skills. |
| D．Computer scientists’ concern about AI’s development. |
| A．prove robots do poorly in funny work |
| B．explain robots aren’t as intelligent as humans |
| C．describe language is complex and changeable |
| D．show language can’t be taught in a set pattern |
| A．Barrier. | B．Record. |
| C．Message. | D．Possibility. |
| A．It will end up in vain. |
| B．It may be a double-edged sword. |
| C．It may help improve humans’ humor. |
| D．It will attract more computer scientists. |
