1 . Motion sickness is an uncomfortable feeling. The sickness it causes can strike people on an airplane, playing video games, or, commonly, when riding in a car. In a future where people may find themselves running around streets in self-driving vehicles, the problems could get worse.
We typically sense our physical position and movement in the world by relying on our eyes, the feeling we get in our body, and our inner ear. Motion sickness may develop when there's disagreement between what your eyes see and what your inner ear senses. If you're looking at your phone in a moving vehicle, your eyes see a stationary screen but your inner ear feels that you're moving. The result of that dissonance can cause sickness. The common-sense solution is to just stop looking at your phone, but some of the appeal of self-driving cars is that you could use the time to be productive or entertained by what's on a screen.
Researchers of a car-making company and a video game company have been studying ways to address these issues. And their solution uses an interesting medium: sound. The research had two goals: to explore if sound could help relieve motion sickness, and to help people trust self-driving cars more. They experimented with two different categories of sound: tips that tell passengers what's about to happen, and noises that alert passengers when the device has noticed something, like a pedestrian.
The most convincing experiment took place on a closed airport runway in Sweden, near Gothenburg, in August of last year. On that track, brave participants had to ride in the backseat of a car driven by a human and read from a tablet while the car navigated the course. With just 20 people, the study was small, but according to researchers, the presence of sound tips made people report that they felt less ill. Participants said the sounds helped prepare them physically, or adjust their bodies for what was about to happen.
1. When does motion sickness usually happen?| A．Sleeping during travels. | B．Closing eyes on vehicles. |
| C．Driving vehicles speedily. | D．Riding in moving vehicles. |
| A．Confusion. | B．Potentiality. | C．Randomness. | D．Disagreement. |
| A．Uncertain. | B．Optimistic. | C．Concerned. | D．Dissatisfaction. |
| A．A study of motion sickness. | B．Self-driving vehicles. |
| C．A convincing experiment. | D．The cause and handling of motion sickness. |
2 . Members of a native community in the arctic (北极的)areas of Sweden say their reindeer (驯鹿)are facing possible hunger from unusual weather related to climate change. The local Sami community takes care of about 8,000 reindeer throughout the year. The animals are moved between traditional feeding areas in high mountains close to Norway in the summer and forests farther east in the winter.
A community member, Inga, is worried about his reindeer. He said climate change has affected the area's weather activity and created food shortages. "If we don't find better areas for them where they can feed themselves and find food, the reindeer will die from hunger,” Inga said. He verified the problem by reaching down into the snow and pulling up a hard piece of ice close to the soil.
The area received unusual snowfall early in the fall, followed by rain that froze. Inga said this traps the plants that reindeer eat under a thick cover of ice. Some of the hungry reindeer have now moved away from their traditional feeding areas in search of food.
Community members say half the reindeer moved towards the east as planned. But the rest headed back to the mountains, where they face the risk of attacks by other animals or being caught in an avalanche (雪崩). Older members of the Sami community say that in the past, they only remember bad winters about once every ten years. But now, Inga says “extreme and strange weather are appearing more and more often,“ happening several times a year.
Snowfall is common for the area. But as temperatures increase, rain can also fall, creating a “rain-on-snow” effect. When this happens, food remains trapped under the ice where the reindeer cannot reach it. This causes the animals to grow weaker and struggle to make it through the winter. Weather changes have hit the Sami community hard.
“We don't want money because we can’t buy better weather with money. We need the EU to take action and they need to do it now,“ said Inga.
1. What problem do reindeer meet with at present?| A．Cold weather. | B．Risk of hunger. |
| C．Long march for food. | D．Polluted environment. |
| A．Proved. | B．Solved. | C．Ignored. | D．Answered. |
| A．Traps under the snow. | B．Hunt from human beings. |
| C．Rocks falling down the mountain. | D．Threat from other animals. |
| A．Flood. | B．Drought. |
| C．Rain-on-snow effect. | D．Snowfall. |
3 . On April 30. 2020, the world's most famous musicians met online to celebrate the tenth International Jazz Day. with the hope to revive jazz music and explore its possibility as a unifying voice across cultures.
Despite the celebrations, though, the jazz audience continues to grow older because the music has failed to attract the younger generations. It's their job to help change that.
Jason Moran, the Kennedy Center's artistic adviser for jazz, was one of the musicians. He hopes to widen the audience for jazz and make the music more accessible and enjoyable.
“Jazz seems like it's not really a part of the American appetite （胃 口）. " Moran tells National Public Radio's reporter Neal Conan. "I hope that the younger generations understand that jazz is not black anymore. It's actually colorful, and it's actually digital.
Moran says one of the problems with jazz today is that the fun side of the music has been lost. “Today, the music can't be presented the way it was in 1908 or 1958. It has to continue to move, because the way the world works is not the same. " says Moran.
Last year, Moran worked on a project that arranged Fats Waller's music for a dance party, “I just wanted to put it back in the mind that Waller is dance music as much as it is concert music. says Moran. “For me, it's just to re — contextualize. Sometimes we lose sight that the music has a wider context. It can be adapted to（适应）different situations.
During the interview, he asked- "In music, where does the feeling lie? Are we, as humans, gaining any insight（感悟）on how to talk about ourselves and how a Fats Waller record gets us into a dialogue about our emotions and our thoughts?”
He added that most of the musicians have recognized the need and agreed to continue those dialogues for the year.
1. Why did the musicians meet online on April 30?| A．To celebrate the Jazz Day. | B．To show the value of jazz. |
| C．To remember the birth of jazz. | D．To protect different jazz cultures. |
| A．To mix jazz with other music. |
| B．To adapt to different situations. |
| C．To be performed by different bands. |
| D．To play with more advanced instruments. |
| A．It will disappear gradually. | B．It should be black and white. |
| C．It has to keep up with the times. | D．It has become more popular. |
| A．The Rise and Fall of Jazz | B．Goals Set for Jazz Day 2020 |
| C．The Story of a Jazz Musician | D．The New Problems With Jazz |
4 . Have you ever wondered why certain pop songs just make you feel so good? Researchers studying the question found that uncertainty and surprise give listeners the most pleasure. The study included 80,000 chords（和弦）in 745 pop songs between 1958 and 1991.
Each song was stripped of its melody（旋律）and lyrics（歌词）so that only chords were left and the results couldn’t be misunderstood by other imaginations of the songs that listeners might have had.
They found two things. Listeners got great pleasure from unexpected chords when they knew what would happen. However, they still found it pleasant to hear familiar chords when they did not know what would follow.
Vincent Cheung, the lead researcher, said, "Pleasant songs are likely those which keep a good balance（平衡）between knowing what is going to happen next and surprising us with something we did not expect. Understanding how music starts our pleasure system in the brain could explain why listening to music might help us feel better when we are feeling blue.”
Cheung told CNN that pleasure in music is connected to expectation. The study before had looked into the effects of surprise on pleasure, but his team's study also paid attention to the uncertainty of listeners' expectations.
1. What does the underlined word in Paragraph 2 mean?| A．Removed. | B．Added. |
| C．Played. | D．Recorded. |
| A．They listened to lots of pop songs. |
| B．They focus on the chords in popular songs. |
| C．They imagined the songs that can make people pleased. |
| D．They found lots of songs and then compared each other. |
| A．Pleasant music can explain human nature. |
| B．Listening to music might make people feel blue. |
| C．Music can improve the pleasure system of people. |
| D．Pleasant music comes from the balance of expectation and surprise. |
| A．His study only paid attention to chords in songs. |
| B．His study focused on the effects of surprise on pleasure. |
| C．His study took time to how music starts the pleasure system. |
| D．His study paid attention to the uncertainty of listeners' expectations. |
5 . Mohanan, a tractor driver from Ambalavayal, a town in India's Kerala state, has been carrying a stick and an umbrella to work every day, for over a year. It's not that he fears getting attacked by dogs or that he hates rain, but that he needs to defend himself against the crows that always attack him whenever he approaches a bus station where he once picked up two crow hatchlings (刚出壳的雏鸟) from under his tractor and placed them on the side of the road.
The tractor driver recently said that crows nesting in the trees around the bus station always attack him when he drives by. He said he even tried staying away from that place for over a week, but it didn't matter. The crows were waiting for him when he came back. Now he just uses his umbrella and stick for protection, and throws the crows some food to distract them. "I give a share from my lunch to the crows. Once they finish eating it, they will start attacking me again," Mohanan laughingly said, adding that changing his clothes and trying to disguise (伪装) himself didn't work either.
The crows' animosity toward Mohanan had become well known among the local people, and while most find it funny, the tractor driver says the birds can be pretty unkind, so much so in fact that a few months ago they caused severe damage to his new umbrella during an attack.
Interestingly, we featured a similar story just last month. One day, Shiva Kewat, a worker from Madhya Pradesh, claims that he has been attacked by a group of crows for the last three years, ever since he picked up a crow chick on the street.
1. Why does Mohanan always cany an umbrella with him?| A．Because he fears to get attacked by dogs. |
| B．Because he doesn't want to get caught in the rain. |
| C．Because he would like to protect himself from the sun. |
| D．Because he wants to defend himself against crows. |
| A．Crows have great memory. |
| B．The tractor driver is an unkind man. |
| C．The crows finally forgive the tractor driver. |
| D．The tractor driver has to give up his job. |
| A．Fear. | B．Unkindness. |
| C．Curiosity. | D．Understanding, |
| A．To warn people to be careful next time they see crows. |
| B．To show Mohanan is not alone in being remembered by crows. |
| C．To remind people to live in harmony with animals. |
| D．To suggest Mohanan draw a lesson from Shiva Kewat's experience. |
6 . There were smiling children all the way. Clearly they knew at what time the train passed their homes and they made it their business to stand along the railway, wave to complete strangers and cheer them up as they rushed towards Penang. Often whole families stood outside their homes and waved and smiled as if those on the trains were their favorite relatives. This is the simple village people of Malaysia. I was moved.
I had always traveled to Malaysia by plane or car, so this was the first time I was on a train. I did not particularly relish the long train journey and had brought along a dozen magazines to read and reread. I looked about the train. There was not one familiar face. I sighed and sat down to read my Economics.
It was not long before the train was across the Causeway and in Malaysia. Johore Baru was just another city like Singapore, so I was tired of looking at the crowds of people as they hurried past. As we went beyond the city, I watched the straight rows of rubber trees and miles and miles of green. Then the first village came into sight, immediately I came alive; I decided to wave back.
From then on my journey became interesting. I threw my magazines into the waste basket and decided to join in Malaysian life. Then everything came alive. The mountains seemed to speak to me. Even the trees were smiling. I stared at everything as if I was looking at it for the first time.
The day passed fast and I even forgot to have my lunch until I felt hungry. I looked at my watch and was surprised that it was 3:00 pm. Soon the train pulled up at Butterworth. I looked at the people all around me. They all looked beautiful. When my uncle arrived with a smile, I threw my arms around him to give him a warm hug (拥抱). I had never done this before. He seemed surprised and then his weather-beaten face warmed up with a huge smile. We walked arm in arm to his car.
I looked forward to the return journey.
1. The author expected the train trip to be________.| A．adventurous | B．pleasant | C．exciting | D．dull |
| A．The friendly country people. | B．The mountains along the way. |
| C．The crowds of people in the streets. | D．The simple lunch served on the train. |
| A．choose | B．enjoy | C．prepare for | D．carry on |
| A．Johore Baru. | B．The Causeway. | C．Butterworth. | D．Singapore. |
7 . Using technology in the classroom can produce unbelievable results．But for note-taking．it may pay to keep it old-school and stick with pen and paper．Students who take notes by hand appear to process information more deeply than those who take notes on a laptop or an iPad and other technologieal appliances，according to a study published this year in Psychological Science．Using the new fashionable method generally produces more raw notes．But students using laptops tend to do worse than note-takers by hand when answering conceptual questions about the material．
Researchers from Princeton and UCLA conducted several experiments with college students watching some video lectures．In one experiment．Note-takers by hand wrote down fewer words than those typing on laptops．But the two groups performed about the same when answering factual questions about the lecture material，and students who wrote longhand（普通书写）did much better than laptop note-takers on conceptual questions．
What gives？Students using laptops tended to write what they heard word by word rather than processing the information；that resulted in a sort of"shallower"learning，the researchers say．
In a second experiment，students taking notes on laptops were told not to write down what they heard word for word．It didn't help；in spite of the instructions．They still took notes word by word and they still did worse on conceptual questions than those taking notes by hand．
In a third experiment，students were able to briefly study their notes before answering questions asked a week after the lecture．Those reviewing their longhand notes did far better than students reviewing their typed notes．A student named Jerry from the experiment said．"The study is right，and we have to think about what was said to take the notes because I could not write down every word．I even developed complex letter symbols to help．To study for tests，I went over and underlined key points to reinforce them．The process helped me understand the lectures better．"
1. What does the underlined part in Paragraph I probably mean？______| A．It is necessary to take notes on a laptop or an iPad． |
| B．It is not worthwhile to take notes with pen and paper． |
| C．It needs much money to go to schools with a long history． |
| D．It may bring good results to use the traditional note-taking style． |
| A．write down fewer words |
| B．remember information word by word |
| C．don't process and sort out information |
| D．don't review their notes after class at all |
| A．against the study and its result |
| B．good at processing information |
| C．weak at remembering knowledge |
| D．excellent at inventing letter symbols |
| A．Take notes word by word from now on |
| B．keep on using our pens and paper now |
| C．The pen is losing to the keyboard |
| D．The laptop is helping to learn well． |
8 . While many young people were enjoying the summer vacation, Zach Bonner was working his hardest. Zach started walking from Valrico, Florida, his hometown, on Christmas, 2009. He reached Los Angeles nine months later in September, 2010. He covered a total of 2,478 miles and raised $120,000 for kids in need. Along the way, Zach attended school online. His mother brother and sister took turns to walk or drive together with him.
Although he is very young, Zach has a long history of helping others. When a terrible storm hit town in 2004, Zach, when six, pulled a wagon (小推车) through his community and collected food for people in need.
He has raised $400,000 for his Little Red Wagon Foundation since then. It gives money to projects which help homeless children. In 2007, Zach began walking to support children’s charity (慈善组织) in Tampa, Florida. He finished his journey 23 days later, 280 miles away in Tallahassee. Then in the summer of 2009, he trekked about 670 miles from Atlanta to Washington D. C., in just two months.
“As long as there are homeless kids, I will never stop walking for them.” Zach says.
1. What did Zach do during the summer vacation in 2010?| A．He stayed at home to look after his family. |
| B．He travelled to his hometown with his family. |
| C．He joined in school activity with other kids. |
| D．He walked to collect money for kids in need. |
| A．began to help people at a very early age | B．made money to pay for his education |
| C．enjoyed playing around in his community | D．worked very hard for his family |
| A．At six. | B．At nine. | C．At eleven. | D．At twelve. |
| A．延伸 | B．挖掘 | C．跋涉 | D．飞行 |
| A．Friendly and shy. | B．Silly but lovely. |
| C．Kind and helpful. | D．Clever but lazy. |
9 . Some people think only school children do not agree with their parents, however, it is not true. Communication is a problem for parents and children of all ages. If it’s hard for you to communicate with your parents, don’t worry about it. Here are some advice for you to bridge the generation gap (代沟).
Don’t argue with your parents. Don’t get to parents when you are angry. Your parents probably won’t consider your ideas if you are shouting at them. And you can’t express yourself well if you are angry. Go someplace to cool off. Make sure you understand why you are unhappy. Then think about what you want to say to your parents. If you don’t think you can speak to them at the moment, try writing a letter.
Try to reach a compromise (和解). Perhaps you and your parents disagree on something. You can keep your disagreement and try your best to accept each other. Michael’s mother didn’t agree with him about buying a motorcycle. They argued over it. But they finally cane to a compromise. Michael bought the motorcycle, but only drove it on certain days.
Of course, your parents might refuse to compromise on something. In these situations, it is especially important to show love and respect to them. Showing respect will keep your relationship strong.
Talk about your values. The values of your parents are probably different from those of your own. Tell your parents what you care about, and why. Understanding your values night help then see your purposes in life.
A good relationship with your parents can make you a better and happier person. It is worth having a try!
1. According to the passage who have a communication problem?| A．parents and other people | B．only school kids and their parents |
| C．teachers and their students | D．parents and children of all ages |
| A．5. | B．4 | C．3 | D．2. |
| A．建立 | B．消除 | C．通过 | D．到达 |
| A．argue with them | B．keep away from them |
| C．agree with them all the time | D．tell your parents what you care about |
| A．How to bridge the generation gap | B．How to deal with family problems |
| C．How to be good parents | D．How to be a good child |
10 . Researchers have solved a long-standing mystery: why rocks on a flat lakebed in Death Valley National Park in California sometimes move. Racetrack Playa, the waterless lakebed, is named for the long trails (痕迹) that the rocks, some of which weigh hundreds of pounds, leave in the earth.
What was one of the world’s natural wonders now appears to be the perfect combination of rain, wind, ice and sun, scientists have found. Dr. Norris and James M. Norris, a cousin and co-author, actually saw the rocks moving in December when they went to check on the project.
For their study, they used special global positioning system tools, designed by James Norris, in rocks of various sizes brought from outside the park. They were not allowed to move or change anything of the existing playa (盐湖) stones.
No river flows into the playa, though rainwater sometimes fills part of it to a depth of a few inches. It’s when this happens, and the nights are below freezing and the days are fine, that the rocks may “sail”, the researchers said. On those occasions, the cold night air leaves a sheet (薄片) of ice only an eighth of an inch thick. Then the warmth of the sun causes the sheet to break up. As more ice melts (融化), some of these lesser sheets have room to move. Driven by light winds, the sheets push up against rocks. The wind drives the water, too, which also helps push the ice to some degree. The movement is slow, no more than about 15 feet a minute.
The movements are episodic — the conditions may be just right for a few minutes, and then the sun causes more ice to break and the movement stops. And once the water disappears, it may be years before the rocks move again, even if the playa floods again, because the right temperature and wind conditions may not occur.
1. What do we know about Racetrack Playa?| A．It has flat rocks in the earth. | B．It is covered by rocks. |
| C．It has some valleys. | D．It is usually dry. |
| A．It doubted the method. | B．It was against doing so. |
| C．It felt it was worth a try. | D．It thought it was useless. |
| A．They are moved by big floods. |
| B．They move just because of strong winds. |
| C．They are mainly pushed by wind-driven ice. |
| D．They move very slowly on smooth ice sheets. |
| A．Amazingly big. | B．Extremely slow. |
| C．Happening sometimes. | D．Going on without stopping. |
