1 . Every year, companies like GoPro manage to pack more and more functions into smaller and smaller action cameras that are less noticeable to wear. But a team of researchers from the University of Washington have managed to build a live-streaming wireless camera that’s so small that even an insect can wear it. It’s not quite small and light enough to be held to a fly, but at around 250 milligrams, the camera was successfully carried by a beetle.
Although the camera inside a modern smartphone is certainly tiny, it’s too large and heavy for an insect to carry once the batteries are added. Capturing millions of pixels（像素）with every shot requires a lot of image processing, which in turn requires a lot of power. Taking an alternate route, the researchers copied nature’s approach to how flies see the world. Their large compound eyes can not only detect motion across a wide field of view（it’s why they’re so difficult to hit）but also feature a small, high-resolution（分辨率）region that can focus on their targets, which helps reduce the load on their tiny brains.
Given its size and low-power approach, the camera’s streaming abilities are similarly limited, with a Bluetooth connection that maxes out at a distance of roughly 120 meters, requiring a remote operator to be fairly close to the camera at all times. However, battery life is surprisingly decent. The camera can run for up to two hours, but to extend that, the researchers included an accelerometer so that it’s only capturing and broadcasting images whenever the beetle is moving That can increase the camera’s battery life to over six hours.
The researchers acknowledge that their design certainly raises some privacy concerns, given how easy it is for insects to find their way into your home. But the camera could provide entomologists（昆虫学者）with new insights into how insects cross their environment, respond to threats in the wild, and even provide a closer look at their social structures.
1. What is the feature of the new camera?| A．It’s small-size and low-weight. | B．It takes much clearer pictures. |
| C．It can perform tasks in the open air. | D．It protects beetles from their enemies. |
| A．How to enlarge its vision. |
| B．How to capture the target. |
| C．How to save power of its battery. |
| D．How to make sharp turns during flying. |
| A．casual | B．adequate | C．beneficial | D．unsatisfactory |
| A．Critical. | B．Doubtful. | C．Favorable. | D．Objective. |
2 . Almost everyone has heard the expression “the calm before the storm”. It is usually used to describe a peaceful period just before a very stressful situation or a tense argument.
British sailors created the phrase in the late 1600s. They noted that before certain storms the seas would seem to become static and the winds would drop. But why is it often so calm before a storm?
Science has given us the answer. According to US website How Stuff Works, a calm period occurs because many storms, such as hurricanes and tornadoes (龙卷风), draw in all the warm and damp air from the surrounding area. As this air rises into the storm clouds, it cools and acts as “fuel for the storm, like petrol in a car”.
Once the storm has taken all the energy it can from the air, it is pushed out from the top of the storm clouds and falls back down to ground level. As the air goes down, it becomes warm and dry. Warm, dry air is stable, so once it covers an area, it causes a calm period before the storm. This same process also causes “the eye of the storm” in hurricanes and tornadoes. In these conditions, the calm occurs in the center of the storm because of the strong winds moving in a circle.
The Weather Network has a tip for working out how far away a storm is. First, count how many seconds there are between a flash of lightning and a clap of thunder. Roughly 3 seconds equal 1 kilometer. So, for example, if you count 9 seconds, the storm is about 3 kilometers away. A good judgement is that if your count is below 30 seconds, you should seek shelter straight away.
However, due to the complexity of storm system, not all storms break after calm. Given the right conditions, some storms announce themselves with heavy rain and cold winds.
So, your best bet is to keep yourself updated with weather reports for any predictions regarding a coming storm in your area. That’s the most reliable and sensible way to predict the next display of nature’s temper.
1. The underlined word “static” in Paragraph 2 probably means “________”.| A．violent |
| B．warm |
| C．still |
| D．changeable |
| A．To find out how a storm comes into being. |
| B．To explain why a peaceful period occurs before a storm. |
| C．To prove whether the research on storm clouds is correct. |
| D．To show how dangerous a storm can be in certain situations. |
| A．About 3 kilometers. |
| B．About 5 kilometers. |
| C．About 9 kilometers. |
| D．About 15 kilometers. |
| A．Storms don’t always blow up after calm. |
| B．Storms have a bad influence on our life. |
| C．Weather reports may fail to predict a storm. |
| D．Heavy storms don’t usually last a long time. |
3 . "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. |
4 . “Smombies”— people walking while staring at their smartphones are very real and a growing cause for concern. To let people pay more attention to their surroundings to avoid serious accidents, government in a small German town has come up with a more positive solution — embedding (嵌入) traffic lights in the pavement to make them noticed by people always looking down at their phones.
The safety measure was taken. Authorities in Augsburg decided to act, installing ground level traffic lights at two tram (电车) stops last Tuesday. The lights flash red when a tram is coming, or when the regular traffic light turns red. “We realized that the normal traffic light isn't in the line of sight of many pedestrians these days,” said Tobias Hermes, a city official. “So we decided to have an extra set of lights — the more lights we have, the more people are likely to notice them.”
Some Augsburg people appear to be quite happy with the idea. “I think it makes sense,” Jack Smith said, speaking to The Augsburg Alleghenies. “One always sees young people these days running over red lights. This makes it more obvious that you need to stop.”
Others, however, found the need for ground traffic lights unnecessary and even frightening. “I find it scary that smartphone users are so engrossed that they need to install lights in the ground so that they notice the tram coming,” one person told the local paper.
But do this kind of pavement-embedded lights actually work? One interviewed teenager believes not really. “To be honest, I didn't even notice it,” he told The Augsburg Alleghenies. "Maybe it’d be useful at night, but I didn’t realize it was there until just now.”
1. From the text we can know that smombies refer to people| A．who are fond of walking. |
| B．who look at phones while walking. |
| C．whose smartphones are embedded traffic lights. |
| D．who pay more attention to their surroundings. |
| A．The tram is the main cause of traffic accidents. |
| B．The tram's lights should flash while running. |
| C．Many people can't see normal traffic lights clearly. |
| D．The pavement-embedded lights are easier to be seen. |
| A．Disturbed. | B．Scared. |
| C．Engaged. | D．Inspired. |
| A．The Serious Smartphones Problems. |
| B．Advocate People to Celebrate Traffic Rules. |
| C．The Importance of Ground Traffic Lights. |
| D．Ground Traffic Lights for People Staring at Their Smartphones. |
5 . Research published in the journal High Temperature found that an hour-long soak in hot water produced similar blood sugar responses to 60 minutes of moderate physical activity.
Sound too good to be true? While the research on these effects is still initial (初步)，there is a plausible explanation for this.
"It seems that activities that increase heat shock proteins (热体克蛋) may help to improve blood sugar control and offer an alternative to exercise," the lead study author Steve Faulkner wrote. “These activities—such as soaking in a hot tub or taking a sauna (桑拿) — may have health benefits to people who are unable to exercise regularly. to an hour- long session of cycling or an hour-long session in a 40℃bath.
The scientists discovered that both groups were better able to control their blood sugar levels in the 24 hours following their soak were approximately 10 percent lower than those of the participants who exercised.
Researchers say this implies that “passive heating" (a means of rising your body temperature) could assist in lowering blood sugar levels. Passive heating can affect proteins in the body called heat shock proteins, which helps regulate blood sugar. People with diabetes (糖尿病) tend to have lower levels of heat shock proteins. Passive heating can raise these levels.
It's critical to point out a few limitations of the study. For starters, the experiment only monitored men, so it's difficult to say if the same effect would happen in women. It also only included 14 volunteers, which was an extremely small sample size. More research needs to be conducted before scientists can come to any official conclusion. And, of course, you should still continue exercising regularly.
That being said, the study does offer some more promising insights (见解) into the healing effects of hot water.
1. What does the underlined word “plausible” in Paragraph 2 refer to?| A．Strange. | B．Ridiculous. |
| C．Reasonable. | D．Confusing. |
| A．Cycling made no difference to blood sugar levels. |
| B．People with diabetes usually have higher levels of heat shock proteins. |
| C．14 lean and 14 overweight men were involved in the research. |
| D．A 24-hour tracking and monitoring was carried out after the one-hour activities. |
| A．By extending the study period. |
| B．By changing the research method. |
| C．By including women in the research. |
| D．By adding more scientists involved in the investigation. |
| A．When you run a fever you get passive heating. |
| B．Passive heating can raise levels of heat shock proteins. |
| C．The research is of significance in spite of some imperfection. |
| D．You need either a hot bath or regular exercise to keep healthy. |
