1 . Great Barrier Reef Choking on Pollutants

Attempts to protect the Great Barrier Reef are failing. A report released Monday by the government in Australia says water quality in the Great Barrier Reef is far below what it should be. It showed that pollution have decreased, but not enough to reach environmental targets.

Sediment (沉淀物) and chemicals can weaken coral, hurting its ability to feed and grow. Coral are live animals that take root in the ocean floor, but they are not plants. Reefs are the hard skeletons (骨架) left at the bottom of the sea by small marine creatures called polyps (珊瑚虫). The polyps then form the larger structure of a reef. Corals also are some of the most diverse ecosystems on the entire planet. They can make a home for invertebrates, crustaceans, fish, and sea snakes.

Steve Miles is Queensland’s environment minister. He says the research shows the Reef needs more protection. “Over that five-year period, we did see some progress towards our targets. Sediment is down 12 percent and pesticides (杀虫剂) loads are down 30 percent. But what is most disturbing is that these results are far from our targets. Progress towards these targets flat-lined in the period 2013-2014. If one of my kids came home with a report card like this, I would be a bit disappointed. There is more bad news here than good news. ” said Steve Miles.

The report also found that fewer than one-third of Queensland’s sugar plantations used techniques to reduce the use of pesticides. Only 28 percent of land managers managed their land properly. They had reduced harmful water run off to protect the health of the Reef. The official target is a 90 percent reduction in pesticide use within three years.

Scientists at the University of Queensland and the Australian Institute of Marine Sciences published their findings Wednesday, July 18 in the journal Science Advances. It found between 1992 and 2010, the recovery rate dropped by an average of 84 percent. But there is hope. The study also found some corals can recover quickly if “acute and chronic stressors” are lessened.

Meanwhile, the Australian government released its updated reef protection plan Friday. It clearly states global temperatures must be stopped from rising in order to save the world’s largest living structure.

1. What does the underlined word “They” in Paragraph 2 refer to?

A．Diverse ecosystems.	B．Sediment and chemicals.
C．Reefs and corals.	D．Small sea creatures.

2. What can be learned from what Steve Miles said?

A．He is satisfied with the protection of the Reef.

B．He thinks that the Reef needs more protection.

C．He feels angry with what his children did.

D．He is very happy about the Reef progress protection.

3. What does the underlined word “flat-lined” mean in Paragraph 3?

A．Not increase significantly.	B．Disappear.
C．Speed up.	D．Miss the chance.

4. The report found the majority of land managers in Queensland   ________.

A．were tough to deal with	B．failed to manage their land properly
C．reduced the amount of harmful water	D．were eager to quit pesticide soon

5. Where is the passage most likely to have been taken from?

A．A news report.	B．A science fiction.
C．A book review.	D．A guide book.

2 . Imagine a world where you move around in front of a personal computer in your own sound space. You listen to your favorite songs, play loud computer games or watch a movie — all without other people hearing the sound and without headphones.

That is the possibility presented by “sound beaming”, a new technology from Noveto Systems, an Israeli company. On Friday, the company introduced a desktop device that sends sound directly to a listener without the need for headphones or a special receiver.

Noveto Systems gave The Associated Press (AP) a chance to test its SoundBeamer 1.0 before its introduction. The AP’s Louise Dixon writes that listening to the device is like something from a science fiction movie.The sound seems so close that it feels like it is inside your ears while also in front, above and behind them.

Noveto expects the device will have many uses. Office workers could listen to music or conference calls without others hearing. People could play a game, a movie or music without waking up others in the same room. Because the device does not use headphones, it is possible to hear other sounds in the room clearly.

The device uses a 3-D sensing module that finds and follows the ear position of the listener. It sends ultrasonic waves (超声波) to create sound pockets by the user’s ears. The 3-D method creates sound on all sides of the listener, therefore the listeners feel completely transported into the scene.

By changing a setting, the sound can follow a listener around when he moves his head. It is also possible to move out of the sound beam's path and hear nothing at all.

While the idea of sound beaming is not new, Noveto was the first to launch the technology.

According to the chief executive officer Christophe Ramstein, a “smaller” version of the device will be ready for release to consumers next year.

1. What does the underlined word “possibility” in Paragraph 2 refer to?

A．The listener may put on music to block out other sounds.

B．The listener may hear sound only for him or her without using headphones.

C．The listener may enjoy songs or movies without being interrupted by others.

D．The listener may have the ability to pick up some special sounds.

2. What does Louise Dixon think of SoundBeamer 1.0?

A．Amazing.	B．Impossible.
C．Strange.	D．Meaningful.

3. How does SoundBeamer put sound in the listener's head?

A．It places the listener on the scene to hear the sound.

B．It fixes a sound beam’s path which can not be changed.

C．It follows the listeners around to send and receive sounds.

D．With 3-D tracking technology, it sends ultrasonic waves to the target listener.

4. What is the purpose of the passage?

A．To promote the SoundBeamer.	B．To introduce a new sound device.
C．To recommend new headphones.	D．To explain a technical phenomenon.

3 . The world can be a scary place when you' re young. It can be even scarier when you' re a young little blue penguin(企鹅) , the tiniest of the penguin species. Luckily, there are some humans willing to help. They stepped in to protect Billy, a blue penguin that appeared on a beach in Christchurch, New Zealand.

Spotted on November 29 at the slipway at Moncks Bay, near Sumner，in Christchurch，the little penguin immediately attracted a small crowd. Jeff Mein Smith saw the crowd while he was bicycling that afternoon, and he biked home to get his camera. When he returned to the scene，he found that the penguin had received a little sign, one that read “Hi, I'm waiting for my mum to come back. DOC(Department of Conservation) knows I'm here. Please leave me alone. Keep your dog away. Thanks, Billy the baby blue penguin.”

Billy didn't move away from the sign. The DOC arrived later that afternoon to pick up Billy, though they were surprised to see it on the beach. “It's unusual for a blue penguin to be out in the open on the beach during the day, ”Anita Spencer, a DOC senior ranger, told Stuff.

Billy was taken to the Christchurch Penguin Rehabilitation Center after being retrieved from the beach. Volunteers believe the bird may actually be a female penguin, and is around 2 months old. The chick weighs a mere 550 grams, less than a standard basketball. A blue penguin should weigh around 900 grams at this age. Most little penguins grow up to weigh 1 kilogram.

The center will help the little penguin gain some weight by feeding it fish juice, before it's set free into the ocean.

1. Why can the world be frightening to a young penguin?

A．It is a rare species.

B．It faces potential danger.

C．It is surrounded by the crowd.

D．It is threatened by dogs.

2. It can be inferred from the text that Billy         ．

A．is a male penguin

B．has expressed its thanks

C．weighs less for its age

D．prefers living on the beach

3. Which of the following can replace the underlined word “retrieved” in Paragraph 4?

A．Ignored.	B．Cured.
C．Given away.	D．Brought back.

4. What will happen to Billy in the center?

A．It will be reported to Stuff.

B．It will be visited by the locals.

C．It will be taken good care of.

D．It will be fed with fruit juice.

4 . This is the moment a cleaner at a British university burst into tears after students raised $ 2,063 to send him to Jamaica on vacation to see family.

Herman Gordon, who has worked at Bristol University for more than a decade, is described as “one of the most loved” members of its cleaning staff. He is so well liked that a group of students raised money to give him a holiday. A video shows a student hands an envelope of cash to the surprised Gordan with tears rolling down his cheeks. He wipes away tears with a cleaning cloth and hugs the student who gave it to him. Gordan said: “I want to thank every one of you and God bless every one of you.”

The group of students started the fundraising because they liked Gordon so much. A post said: “The Jamaican cleaner in the biomedical library is the jolliest man I have ever met; he makes me smile even when I’m in the deepest depths of sorrow, if you want a reason to smile, go talk to him for a minute or two.”

Anyone who has been to the biomedical library knows who Herman the cleaner is. Simply put, Herman is the epitome（典范）of happiness, “All year round, this man works hours on end to provide us with a clean working space in which to study. But most importantly, his everlasting positive attitude has managed to turn many students’ dark days into positive ones filled with joy,” said a student. Whether you’re just feeling generally down or stressed out due to exams, Herman is always there to encourage you.

This legend proves that happiness is not about what you own, what job you have or how much money you’ve got, but about appreciating what you currently have in life even if it’s small.

1. What was Herman Gordon’ reaction when receiving the fundraising?

A．grateful.

B．stressed.

C．delighted.

D．astonished.

2. What does the underlined word “jolliest” in paragraph 3 refer to?

A．most miserable.

B．most cheerful.

C．most generous.

D．most glorious.

3. In which aspect do students benefit most from Herman?

A．Building confidence.	B．Developing exam skills.
C．Learning self-control.	D．Gaining biomedical knowledge.

4. What is the text mainly about?

A．A biomedical library cleaner. .	B．A group of warm-hearted students.
C．Money-raising to send a cleaner on vacation.	D．The most loved cleaning staff.

5 . The human face is a remarkable piece of work. The astonishing variety of facial features helps people recognize each other and is important to the formation of complex societies. So is the face’s ability to send emotional signals, whether through an unconscious reddening of face or a false smile. People spend much of their waking lives, in the office and the courtroom as well as the bar and the bedroom, reading faces, for signs of attraction, trust and cheat. They also spend plenty of time trying to dissimulate.

Technology is rapidly catching up with the human ability to read faces. In America, facial recognition is used by churches to track prayers’ attendance; in Britain, by shopkeepers to spot past thieves. This year Welsh police used it to arrest a suspect outside a football game. In China, it verifies the identities of ride-hailing (网约车) drivers, permits tourists to enter attractions and lets people pay for things with a smile. Apple’s new iPhone is expected to use it to unlock the home screen.

Compared with human skills, such applications might expand steadily in scale. Some breakthroughs, such as flight or the Internet, obviously transform human abilities; facial recognition seems merely to encode them. Although faces are peculiar to individuals, they are also public, so technology does not, at first sight, intrude on something that is private. And yet the ability to record, store and analyse images of faces cheaply, quickly and on a vast scale promises one day to bring about major changes to our understanding of privacy, fairness and trust.

Start with privacy. One big difference between faces and other biometric (计量生物学的) data, such as fingerprints, is that they work at a distance. Anyone with a phone can take a picture for facial-recognition programs to use. FindFace, an app in Russia, compares snaps of strangers with pictures on VKontakte, a social network, and can identify people with a 70% accuracy rate. Even if private firms are unable to join the dots between images and identity, the state often can. Photographs of half of America’s adult population are stored in databases that can be used by the FBI. Law-enforcement agencies now have a powerful weapon in their ability to track criminals, but at enormous potential cost to citizens’ privacy.

1. What does the underlined word “dissimulate” in Paragraph 1 mean?

A．Hide emotions from others.

B．Make known to the public.

C．Act in disregard of laws.

D．Become friends with others.

2. What does the underlined word “them” in Paragraph 3 refer to?

A．Applications.

B．Breakthroughs.

C．Human abilities.

D．Human skills.

3. What kind of changes might be discussed in the following paragraphs?

A．Safety and first aid.

B．Social services.

C．Finance and trade.

D．Fairness and trust.

4. What’s the best title for the passage?

A．Benefits resulting from facial breakthrough

B．Facial Recognition: nowhere to hide

C．The power of human faces

D．Technologies concerning facial recognition

6 . British anthropologists Russell Hill and Robert Barton of the University of Durham, after studying the results of one-on-one boxing, tae kwon do, Greco-Roman wrestling and freestyle wrestling matches at the Olympic Games, conclude that when two competitors are equally matched in fitness and skill, the athlete wearing red is more likely to win.

Hill and Barton report that when one competitor is much better than the other, colour has no effect on the result. However, when there is only a small difference between them, the effect of colour is enough to tip the balance. The anthropologists say that the number of times red wins is not simply by chance, but that these results are statistically significant.

Joanna Setchell, a primate (灵长目动物) researcher at the University of Cambridge, has found similar results in nature. She studies the large African monkeys known as mandrills. Mandrills have bright red noses that stand out against their white faces. Setchell’s work shows that the powerful males—the ones who are more successful with females—have a brighter red nose than other males.

As well as the studies on primates by Setchell, another study shows the effect of red among birds. In an experiment, scientists put red plastic rings on the legs of male zebra finches and this increased the birds’ success with female zebra finches. Zebra finches already have bright red beaks (鸟喙), so this study suggests that, as with Olympic athletes, an extra flash of red is significant. In fact, researchers from the University of Glasgow say that the birds’ brightly coloured beaks are an indicator of health. Jonathan Blount, a biologist, and his colleagues think they have found proof that bright red or orange beaks attract females because they mean that the males are healthier. Nothing in nature is simple, however, because in species such as the blue footed booby, a completely different colour seems to give the male birds the same advantage with females.

Meanwhile, what about those athletes who win in their events while wearing red? Do their clothes give them an unintentional advantage? Robert Barton accepts that “that is the implication” of their findings. Is it time for sports authorities to consider new regulations on sports clothing?

1. According to their research, Hill and Barton conclude that _____.

A．the colour of clothing has an effect on most sport events

B．red should be the choice of colour for clothing in sports

C．red plays a role when competitors are equally capable

D．athletes perform better when surrounded by bright red

2. The underlined word “tip” in Paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to _____.

A．achieve

B．seek

C．keep

D．change

3. The example of the blue footed booby proves that _____.

A．male birds use different body parts to draw attention

B．red is not the only colour to attract female birds

C．blue gives female birds the same advantage

D．blue can indicate how healthy a bird is

4. What is the best title for the passage?

A．What Colour Implies More Power?	B．A Tip on Clothing.
C．Need to Change the Rules in Sports?	D．Red Is for Winners.

7 . Grandma was going to turn eighty-two on Friday. I heard Mom ordering a cake from the bakery over the phone. “Don’t put any icing on it,” she said, “Just a plain angel cake.” Angel cake with fresh strawberries was her favorite. So Mum was ready.

That afternoon when Dad came home, he showed me the phone he had bought for Grandma. “It has speed-dialing,” he said. “She won’t have to push so many buttons when she calls the doctor’s office or her sister.” Dad looked pleased. “Her fingers are so stiff with arthritis (关节炎) that the phone seems a good idea.”

But what about me? Here I was with only one dollar in my pocket and one night to think of a gift. Even though Mom always insisted that “it’s the thought that counts,” I had a big problem. My mind was even more empty of ideas than my wallet was empty of money.

When I have a problem, it sometimes helps to shoot a few baskets in the driveway. Dribble, shoot, rebound.

For a while I just played without even trying to think. I began to remember back before Granddad died, when we used to visit them in Kentucky, Granddad showed me how to do a   jump shot. Thinking about Granddad made me sigh. Grandma’s life was a lot happier when he was alive.

Swish! I’d made two in a row.

Suddenly, I remembered a green glass dish in the shape of a leaf that Grandma used to keep on a table back in Kentucky. It was always full of those red-and-white-striped peppermint candies. I hadn’t thought of that dish for a long time. Maybe it was lost or broken when Dad rented the truck and brought Grandma and the belongings to Ohio.

Just thinking about that candy dish made me taste the peppermint slowly dissolving on my tongue. I could almost hear Grandma saying，“Help yourself to a piece of peppermint, Burt.” That voice had a smile behind it. It was a voice I hadn’t heard for a long time.

Aha! I took one last shot, then dribbled to the back door, ran up the steps two at a time, and grabbed my wallet.

1. What do you know about the author’s grandma?

A．She has difficulty moving fingers.	B．She loves high-tech products.
C．She doesn’t like a plain cake.	D．She has a sweet tooth.

2. What does the underlined word “dissolving” mean in the last paragraph but one?

A．Melting.

B．Chewing.

C．Swallowing.

D．Fading.

3. What would the writer probably buy in the end?

A．Something decorative for candies.	B．Something bringing good memories.
C．Something convenient to use.	D．Something to Grandma’s taste.

4. What is the best title of the text?

A．The Good Old Days	B．The Gift of Gratitude
C．The Thought That Counts	D．The Inspiration from Basketball

8 . I looked at my beautiful Christmas tree and sighed.It was time.The New Year was a week old and my tree still stood in the corner of our room with its collection of memories proudly displayed in a shower of colorful lights.I’d procrastinated long enough.

I got up, went to the garage and dragged all the boxes into the room.The garland (花环) was the first to come down.The tree looked naked (光秃秃的) already.I took the large ornaments off next.They made a large pile on our bed.An hour later, our bed was covered with Christmas memories.Each pile contained an ornament along with its matching brothers and sisters from sets purchased many years ago.

I prepared the boxes and carefully placed ornaments in their protective packaging, pausing every few minutes to admire a favorite.“Hey, little Santa!” I held the Santa from my childhood.“Thanks for being my friend for almost 50 years.” He was a little ragged (衣着破烂的) but still gives me a flood of wonderful memories.“Until next year, my dear friend.”

There was a collection of handmade ones.My children made in their first years of school, more than 20 years ago.Made by tiny hands, they are far from perfect in design, but every year they go on my memory tree – memories of young giggles on Christmas morning and a smiling face when they handed them to me when I came home from work.“Look what we made, Daddy!”

“Oh! It is beautiful.Let’s find a special spot on the tree for it.” Every year since, they are displayed.

A few hours after I started, the filled boxes were back in the garage, the room was vacuumed (用吸尘器清扫) and I sat staring at a barren (空荡荡的) corner.The room seemed so empty.It took me two days of work to assemble (收集) and decorate my tree, but only a few hours to take it apart.

My tree is a good marriage or a great friendship.Like the tree, they take a long time to assemble and decorate with memories, but can be torn down quickly.

Every year I have to put my tree away, but not my marriage or friendships.I take great care of those.They get to glow in the corner of my life for as long as I live.I get to analyze my tree and find memories for a few weeks every year.I can do the same with the loves in my life every day.Take great care of your friendships and your marriage.Once they come down, they aren’t as easy to put back together as a Christmas tree.Stand them in that special spot in the corner of your heart and admire their glow.

1. In the author’s eyes, the Christmas tree _____.

A．is a collection of childhood memories	B．is a symbol of long-lasting relations
C．takes too much time to decorate	D．is full of out-of-date ornaments

2. The underlined word “procrastinated” in Paragraph 1 probably means ______.

A．reflected	B．celebrated
C．decorated	D．delayed

3. To the author, a Christmas tree is similar to a good marriage in that ______.

A．both take time to build but fall apart easily

B．both remind him of bittersweet memories

C．both need to be admired for some time

D．both get less attractive over the years

4. What is the main theme of the article?

A．We’d better put away Christmas decorations and recycle them each year.

B．Friendships and marriages should be valued and managed carefully.

C．Memories with friends and family should be cherished and relived.

D．We should decorate Christmas trees with personal stuff and recycle.

9 . GPS has completely transformed how we get around. But other animals have long had their navigation (领航) systems built right in.

“We know their eyes are quite sensitive to polarized (偏振的) light and the sky has a particular pattern of polarized light relative to the position of the sun,” Barbara Webb, a researcher at the University of Edinburgh, says.

You can see polarized light firsthand if you take a pair of polarized sunglasses and spin them against the sky-the light passing through the glasses changes. Webb says the insects have polarization like that built into their many eyes. “You can think of it as having lots of sunglasses pointing in different directions.”

But Webb was curious whether there’s really enough information in the sky to give insects an accurate sense of direction. So her team built a sensor (传感器) modeled after a desert ant eye and put it under artificial light meant to simulate the sky. They then put that sensor into a model meant to model the brains of desert ants and other insects. And they found that with the insects’ sensing and processing equipment, they can likely sense direction down to just a couple degrees of error.

A system based on that of insects could someday be a cheap, low-energy choice to GPS. Insects have very tiny brains. A brain the size of a pinhead that’s using hardly any energy. And yet they’re still able to navigate better than we can with GPS, which is surprising. Webb is now working on building a robot that can use light to get its directions.

1. What can we learn from the text?

A．GPS is not accurate enough.

B．Insects have better eyes than humans.

C．Light changes passing through polarized sunglasses.

D．Insects have tiny brains that use no energy.

2. What does the underlined word “simulate” in paragraph 4 probably mean?

A．Pretend.	B．Cover.
C．Block.	D．See.

3. What did Webb’s research find?

A．Insects can’t find their ways during nights.

B．Insects can find directions with little mistakes.

C．Insects always make mistakes finding directions.

D．Insects have sensing and processing equipment in their eyes.

4. Which of the following can best describe insects’ navigation ability?

A．Disappointing.	B．Interesting.
C．Amazing.	D．Confusing.

10 . According to a recent study in the Journal of Consumer Research, both the size and consumption habits of our eating companions can influence our food intake. And contrary to existing research that says you should avoid eating with heavier people who order large portions(份), it's the beanpoles with big appetites you really need to avoid.

To test the effect of social influence on eating habits, the researchers conducted two experiments. In the first, 95 undergraduate women were individually invited into a lab to ostensibly(表面上)participate in a study about movie viewership. Before the film began, each woman was asked to help herself to a snack. An actor hired by the researchers grabbed her food first. In her natural state, the actor weighed 105 pounds. But in half the cases she wore a specially designed fat suit which increased her weight to 180 pounds.

Both the fat and thin versions of the actor took a large amount of food. The participants followed suit, taking more food than they normally would have. However, they took significantly more when the actor was thin.

For the second test, in one case the thin actor took two pieces of candy from the snack bowls. In the other case, she took 30 pieces. The results were similar to the first test: the participants followed suit but took significantly more candy when the thin actor took 30 pieces.

The tests show that the social environment is extremely influential when we're making decisions. If this fellow participant is going to eat more, so will I. Call it the “I’ll have what she's having” effect. However, we'll adjust the influence. If an overweight person is having a large portion, I'll hold back a bit because I see the results of his eating habits. But if a thin person eats a lot, I'll follow suit. If he can eat much and keep slim, why can't I?

1. What is the recent study mainly about?

A．Food safety.	B．Movie viewership.
C．Consumer demand.	D．Eating behavior.

2. What does the underlined word “beanpoles” in paragraph 1 refer to?

A．Big eaters.	B．Overweight persons.
C．Picky eaters.	D．Tall thin persons.

3. Why did the researchers hire the actor?

A．To see how she would affect the participants.

B．To test if the participants could recognize her.

C．To find out what she would do in the two tests.

D．To study why she could keep her weight down.

4. On what basis do we “adjust the influence” according to the last paragraph?

A．How hungry we are.	B．How slim we want to be.
C．How we perceive others.	D．How we feel about the food.