1 . Cats don't avoid people who upset their owners, proving they're just as disloyal as we always suspected, a new study confirms. The study will be a blow to enthusiastic cat lovers across the country, as their kitty friends appear to have lived up to their reputation of being aloof and uncaring. But dog owners can cheer that man's best friend still has their back.
Having previously showed that dogs avoided a person who behaved negatively towards their owner, researchers tried the same experiment with cats to see how they reacted. For the study, cats watched as their owner tried unsuccessfully to open a transparent container to take out an object, and then requested help from a person sitting nearby. Some people helped the pet owner and others didn't, before they all offered food to the animals.
In the dog experiment, most dogs preferred not to take food from people who didn't help their owners. But cats weren't phased and showed no preference between helpers and passive bystanders, eating food from whoever offered it.
The study's 'lead author Hitomi Chijiiwa wrote: “One possible reason for domestic cats showing no sign of a negativity bias(偏见) might be that cooperation is not typical of this species. Whereas dogs are known to cooperate with humans and conspecifics(同类) in various real and experimental contexts， the same is not true of cats. Domestic cats originated from a less sociable ancestor than did dogs, and they have not been subjected to artificial selection for cooperation with humans. However,group hunting did not evolve in small cats, because the size of their typical prey items remained unchanged even as cat communities grew bigger."
“Thus,cats can be considered as at least potentially 'social' and 'flexible' in terms of social structure, but not 'cooperative'. The ability to evaluate others based on indirect experiences might be restricted to more cooperative species.”
1. What does the underlined word “aloof” in Paragraph 1 probably mean?| A．Distant | B．Aggressive |
| C．Sensitive | D．Greedy. |
| A．They tend to show no preference for food. |
| B．They are likely to wait for food without doing anything. |
| C．They refuse to eat food from those offending their owners. |
| D．They don't care about food givers' attitude to their owners. |
| A．They originated from a less flexible ancestor. |
| B．They lack the ability to directly evaluate others. |
| C．They haven't been trained since their domestication. |
| D．They haven't evolved through cooperation with humans. |
| A．By referring to previous findings. | B．By giving examples. |
| C．By analyzing cause and effect | D．By explaining a concept. |
2 . A New Jersey couple and a homeless man have been accused of making up a feel﹣good story that raised more than ＄400,000 through GoFundMe.
The couple, Kate McClure and Mark D'Amico, and the man, Johnny Bobbitt Jr., face a charge of second-degree theft, Burlington County Prosecutor Scott Coffina said Thursday.
The couple said they met Bobbitt when he gave his last ＄20 to McClure, who was stranded on Interstate 95 in Philadelphia, so she could put gas in her car，then started the GoFundMe campaign as a way to thank him.
The paying-it-forward story that drove this fundraiser might seem too good to be true, Coffina said at a press conference.
Unfortunately, it was. The entire campaign was based on a lie.
After fees, the money of the campaign netted about ＄367, 000, all deposited into McClure's accounts, Coffina said. Bobbitt received ＄75,000, and within months McClure and D'Amico had wasted their share on buying a car, high-end handbags and trips, Coffina said. They also used it at casinos(赌场), he said.
Coffina stressed that while Bobbitt, a veteran (老兵), deserves thanks for his service to the country and sympathy for his situation; he was fully involved in the crime, using media to help "promote the dishonest campaign".
According to Coffina, McClure and D'Amico first met Bobbitt at an off-ramp（驶出匝道）near a casino they regularly went, at least a month before the GoFundMe campaign went live.
They went back to the spot a month later, Coffina said. D'Amico took a picture of McClure and Bobbitt that became the face of the GoFundMe campaign that they started hours later, Coffina said.
1. What's the actual purpose of the GoFundMe campaign started by the couple?| A．To express their appreciation for Bobbitt's help. |
| B．To help Bobbitt pay off his heavy debt. |
| C．To raise money for their own benefit. |
| D．To make people believe in Bobbitt's generosity. |
| A．Impossible to finish. |
| B．Unable to move. |
| C．Without any choice. |
| D．Out of service. |
| A．About ＄292, 000. |
| B．About ＄367, 000. |
| C．About ＄325, 000. |
| D．About ＄400, 000. |
| A．Pretending to be a veteran. |
| B．Robbing the couple of ＄75, 000. |
| C．Failing to serve his country. |
| D．Helping invent the story. |
3 . Since time immemorial, people have been searching for the fountain of youth. Surprisingly, the dream of human immortality is, according to some scientists, not so far out of reach.
Professor Brian Cox, Google's Ray Kurzweil, and Tesla head Elon Musk all agree on not only the possibility of human immortality but also that it is not too far away. The solution, they say, is something called the “technological singularity”.
The singularity is a combination of humankind with computers, namely uploading the contents of one's brain onto a hard drive. In that way, a person's consciousness can stay alive after a physical body gets worse. This is based on the idea that a human brain is simply a machine, and there is, according to Professor Cox, “no reason at all why we cannot simulate (模拟) human intelligence,” using a computer.
Although Professor Cox did not say when the singularity would occur, Google's Ray Kurzweil predicts that the singularity will happen as early as 2045. By 2100, he says, human body parts will be replaceable by machine parts. Further, by uploading our brains onto a computer, we will be able to toy with it, and become “able to expand the scope of our intelligence a billion fold. ”
Elon Musk agreed with the asessments of the other scientists, even going so far as saying that the chances that we are not in a computer simulation right now are “one in billions” .
Google is preparing for a future where you can download personalities onto robots. For example, you might be able to download onto your robot a celebrity personality, or of the personality of your deceased grandmother.
The search engine giant filed a patent for this download process recently. So they definitely believe that the singularity is just around the corner. All you have to do is hold on until 2045, and soon you can effectively live in the cloud.
1. What does the underlined word “immortality” in paragraph 1 probably mean?| A．Living forever. | B．Rebirth after death. |
| C．Being perfect. | D．Continuous improvement. |
| A．By giving examples. | B．By presenting quotations. |
| C．By logically reasoning. | D．By making a description. |
| A．Computers are much smarter than humankind. |
| B．Computers can never surpass humankind at all. |
| C．Computers and humankind are quite different. |
| D．Computers can be another version of humankind. |
| A．Physically and intelligently. | B．Individually and corporately. |
| C．Psychologically and spiritually. | D．Emotionally and materially. |
4 . This year's hottest destination is Mars. On 23 July, China launched the Tianwen-1 mission to the Red Planet — one of three spacecrafts' planning to head there in 2020. This is China's second interplanetary mission, but the first that the nation has launched on its own. The other, Phobos-Grunt, was a cooperation with Russia that didn't make it out of Earth's orbit after blasting off in 2011.
The new mission, called Tianwen, translated as "questions to heaven" — consists of an orbiter, a lander and a rover, the last of which will be named via a public competition. "It's very ambitious because it's a four-part mission: there's the launch, getting into orbit, the landing and the rover, and every single step has to go right, says space consultant Laura Forczyk. All those steps must work on the first try, an achievement no other space program me has accomplished on a Mars mission because of the difficulty of landing there.
If all goes well, Tianwen-1 will arrive at Mars in February 2021 and the lander and rover will touch down two or three months later. They will take pictures from the surface, measure the soil composition, make radar observations of the planet's underground structure and observe Mars's magnetic field. Due to the harsh environment on Mars, the rover is expected to last about 90 Martian days. It weighs around 240 kilograms, about the same as China's Yutu-2 rover, which is currently roaming the moon. "The Chinese mission to the far side of the moon has been hugely successful, so they are building on that success now," says Forczyk.
The orbiter, which will relay data from the lander and rover back to scientists on Earth, also carries a suite of scientific instruments. It has two cameras and a spectrometer (光谱仪), which it will use to create a map of the mineral composition of Mars's surface, as well as radar and detectors to examine particles in the Martian atmosphere. It will also look for deposits of water ice that could be helpful for future explorers.
Tianwen-1 won't be alone in Mars orbit. The United Arab Emirates has just launched its first mission to Mars, and NASA's Perseverance rover is set to launch on 30 July. These missions are all leaving now because Mars is at its closest point to Earth, which happens once every two years.
1. Which statement is true according to the first two paragraphs?| A．On 23 July, three countries launched space crafts to Mars. |
| B．Every step of Tianwen mission can be completed at several attempts. |
| C．The mission, Phobos-Grunt, cooperated with Russia was a great success. |
| D．Tianwen mission shows the pioneering efforts of China's space exploration. |
| A．Travelling around. | B．Floating past. | C．Wandering aimlessly. | D．Moving swiftly. |
| A．act as a detector to examine particles on the earth |
| B．search for a substance useful for future exploration |
| C．send information back to the earth collected from Mars |
| D．identify the position of minerals possibly lying on Mars |
| A．China's Successful Space Explorations |
| B．China Launching Missions to Mars |
| C．Tianwen, the First Interplanetary Mission |
| D．Mars, the Hottest Destination to Explore |
5 . A thief who dropped a winning lottery ticket at the scene of his crime has been given a lesson in honesty. His victim, who picked up the ticket and then claimed the $25,000 prize, managed to trace him, and handed over the cash. The robbery happened when maths professor Vinicio Sabbatucci, 58, was changing a tire on an Italian motorway. Another motorist, who stopped “to help”, stole a suitcase from his car and drove off. The professor found the dropped ticket and put it in his pocket before driving home to Ascoli in eastern Italy.
Next day, he saw the lottery results on TV and, taking out the ticket, realized it was a winner. He claimed the 60 million lire(里拉) prize. Then he began a battle with his conscience. Finally, he decided he could not keep the money despite having been robbed. He advertised in newspapers and on the radio, saying, “I’m trying to find the man who robbed me. I have 60 million lire for him—a lottery win. Please meet me.Anonymity(匿名) guaranteed.”
Professor Sabbatucci received hundreds of calls from people hoping to trick him into handing them the cash. But there was one voice he recognized and he arranged to meet the man in a park. The robber, a 35-year-old unemployed father of two, gave back the suitcase and burst into tears. He could not believe what was happening. “Why didn’t you keep the money?” he asked. The professor replied, “I couldn’t because it’s not mine.” Then he walked off, spurning the thief’s offer of a reward.
1. The underlined sentence “Then he began a battle with his conscience.” in Paragraph 2 implies all of the following except that ________.| A．he knew what he should do as soon as he saw the lottery results |
| B．he hesitated about keeping the money for sometime |
| C．he thought for a moment of avenging himself on the robber |
| D．he came to realize that honesty is more important than money |
| A．wanted to make fun of him | B．hoped to get the money |
| C．knew who the robber was | D．lost the lottery ticket |
| A．Excited. | B．Frightened. |
| C．Ashamed. | D．Incredible. |
| A．accepting | B．claiming |
| C．rejecting | D．cancelling |
6 . No one knows who invented the button. It has existed as early as 2000 BC. When it first started, it was just something pretty yet replaceable sewn onto your clothes. About 3，000 years later, someone finally invented the buttonhole, and buttons were suddenly useful and applied to clothes universally.
Before buttons, clothes were bigger — they had no fixed shapes. People felt as if they wrapped themselves in things. Because of the buttonhole, the fashion moved closer to the body as we discovered uses for the button. At one time, ifs the very way to make clothes fit well for the body. People are completely secure.
The pattern of a button hasn’t changed much since the Middle Ages. It’s one of the most lasting designs in history, because it actually works to keep our clothes shut. Zippers easily break and are hard to fix. Velcro is rackety，and it wears out after a while. However, if a button breaks, you just exactly sew another on. And you can do up your buttons without disturbing others.
A button is there for the long run. It’s not just the most important design ever, but it’s thought to be a decisive factor in the development and innovation of clothes. Present design of clothes shows its influence obviously. If you’re wearing a take a look at the position of buttons on it. If you’re a male, the buttons would likely be on the right side, but for a female, the buttons are usually found on the left.
Once the buttons were all on the right, and the trend of buttons-on-the-left was set by wealthy women of the Victorian era. Their clothes were complex, consisting of corsets, petticoats, buttons and a wide range of beautiful accessories(配饰). Therefore, they needed assistance while getting dressed. Keep this in mind, clothing makers made innovation and designed articles of clothing that were simple for servants to button up. Such designs of clothing became more and more popular over time, and eventually became the standard still being followed to this day.
1. What can be learnt about early buttons in the first paragraph?| A．They appeared a bit later than buttonholes. |
| B．They served as an essential part of the clothes. |
| C．Their popularity was driven by buttonholes greatly. |
| D．They were invented by someone unknown accidently. |
| A．Decorative. | B．Practical. | C．Expensive. | D．Noisy. |
| A．To innovate old designs of clothes. |
| B．To make it easier to button up. |
| C．To beautify the clothes of women. |
| D．To keep the standard widely followed. |
| A．How buttons changed fashion |
| B．What the real role of buttons is |
| C．Why buttons were invented |
| D．When buttons came into sight |
7 . The TV series, The Longest Day in Chang'an, which was shown on Chinese online platforms last summer became a hit soon. Since then, it has been shown on partnering streaming platforms and TV networks abroad. Some websites overseas also offered the program to their users paying for it—the first time a Chinese series was broadcast as paid content abroad.
“I was amazed by the overseas audience's love for this show，” Cao Dun, director of The Longest Day in Chang'an, told Beijing Review. “I was worried that they wouldn't understand the complex political structure of the Tang Dynasty. But in reality, the show is prompting foreign audiences to research Tang Dynasty's history to better understand the plot.”
The unique culture in ancient China is not a barrier but a bridge to connect with foreign audiences. In the TV series, every figure is given enough space to flesh out his or her character. Telling stories of ordinary Chinese people that resonate (引起共鸣) with the audience might be the way to communicate with the world. “The success of the TV series shows that beauty is a universal language crossing borders，” he told Beijing Review.
His ambition is to distinguish Chinese dramas from the TV shows in the rest of the world. “The TV series is a step in my plan to tell Chinese stories to the world，” Cao said. “After describing the impressive beauty of the Tang Dynasty, I am looking for several plays that tell stories of today's China. I don't want to copy any country's production. Chinese dramas have to be built on our rich culture and Chinese people's everyday life，” Cao added.
1. What do we know about the TV series?| A．It was first put on overseas. |
| B．It can be appreciated for free. |
| C．It was very popular once it was shown. |
| D．It is about the development of the Tang Dynasty. |
| A．Requiring. | B．Reminding. |
| C．Informing. | D．Encouraging. |
| A．Recognition of beauty. |
| B．Stories of ordinary people. |
| C．Diversity of Chinese culture. |
| D．Personalities of every figure. |
| A．To make a successful TV series. |
| B．To tell Chinese stories to the world. |
| C．To show China's different nationalities. |
| D．To learn the ancient political structure. |
8 . Earl Forlales, a graduate in Materials Science and Engineering, took inspiration from the bamboo hut his grandparents lived in outside Manila and created a house made of bamboo that can be put together in four hours to solve the chronic(长期的) shortage of affordable accommodation in the Philippines. His design won a £50.000 top prize from the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) in its Cities for our Future competition.
His house, known as Cubo, could be produced in a week, constructed in four hours and costs £60 per square meter. Its use of bamboo—which releases 35％ more oxygen into the environment than trees—was praised by the judges. The ability of the houses to be constructed in any bamboo-producing area was one of the key attractions.
“The world’s cities are growing all the time and there is a real need to make sure they are safe, clean and comfortable places to live in,”John Hughes, the competition’s head judge and then president at RICS, said. “As we look at our competitors, who are our next generation of leaders， I believe that real progress will be made in tackling the world’s biggest issues.
Forlales has already identified a suitable area of land to start building his Cubo houses. He plans to begin the work next year with experts from the RICS in an attempt to help relieve the huge pressure on housing in Manila, where a third of the 12 million population live in poor districts. He said, “I would like to thank RICS for the opportunity, and look forward to working with them to put this money to good use in Manila and then hopefully elsewhere around the world.”
1. What contributes most to Forlales’ winning the prize？| A．The material of his house. | B．The shape of his house. |
| C．The design of his house. | D．The expense of his house. |
| A．Facing. | B．Treating |
| C．Covering. | D．Handling. |
| A．It is created by Forlales and his parents |
| B．It is environmentally friendly and economical. |
| C．It has already been built in Forlales’ hometown. |
| D．It can be constructed in a week. |
| A．A Competition in House Building | B．A Man Devoted to City Development |
| C．The Bamboo House Winning a top Prize | D．The Way to Solve Housing Shortage |
9 . Hardware in general, and smartphones in particular, have become a huge environmental and health problem in the Global South's landfill sites （垃圾填埋场）.
Electronic waste（ e-waste ） currently takes up 5 percent of all global waste, and it is set to increase rapidly as more of us own more than one smartphone, laptop and power bank. They end up in places like Agbogbloshie on the outskirts of Ghana's capital, Accra. It is the biggest e-waste dump in the world, where 10, 000 informal workers walk through tons of abandoned goods as part of an informal recycling process. They risk their health searching for the precious metals that are found in abandoned smartphones.
But Agbogbloshie should not exist. The Basel Convention, a 1989 treaty, aims to prevent developed nations from unauthorized dumping of e-waste in less developed countries. The e-waste industry, however, circumvents the regulations by exporting e-waste labelled as "secondhand goods" to poor countries like Ghana, knowing full well that it is heading for a landfill site.
A recent report found Agbogbloshie contained some of the most dangerous chemicals. This is not surprising: smartphones contain chemicals like mercury （水银），lead and even arsenic（砷）. Reportedly, one egg from a free-range chicken in Agbogbloshie contained a certain chemical which can cause cancer and damage the immune system at a level that's about 220 times greater than a limit set by the European Food Safety Authority（EFSA） . Most worryingly, these poisonous chemicals are free to pollute the broader soil and water system. This should concern us all, since some of Ghana's top exports are cocoa and nuts.
Some governments have started to take responsibility for their consumers' waste. For example, Germany has started a project that includes a sustainable （可持续的）recycling system at Agbogbloshie, along with a health clinic for workers. However, governments cannot solve the problem alone, as there is an almost limitless consumer demand for hardware, especially when governments green policies are focused on issues like climate change.
Only the manufacturers can fix this. A more economically sustainable and politically possible solution is through encouraging hardware manufacturers to make the repair, reuse and recycling of hardware profitable, or at least cost-neutral.
1. What can we infer from Paragraph 2？| A．Electronic products need improving urgently. |
| B．Electronic waste is too complex to get fully recycled. |
| C．Electronic waste requires more landfill sites across Ghana. |
| D．Electronic pollution is a burning question in Agbogbloshie. |
| A．Tightens. | B．Abolishes. |
| C．Gets around. | D．Brings in. |
| A．The violation of EFSA's standards. |
| B．The lack of diversity in Ghana's exports. |
| C．The damage to chicken's immune system. |
| D．The threat of polluted food around the world. |
| A．Manufacturers' developing a sustainable hardware economy. |
| B．Governments' adjusting their green policies about e-waste. |
| C．Reducing customers 'demands for electronic products. |
| D．Letting governments take on the main responsibility. |
10 . Last night one of our 3 family dogs was hit and killed by a car in front of my mother’s house. The dogs became more or less, my mother’s children after her human children grew up and moved out and my father ran with a midlife crisis and left her. The one that was killed had bonded with my mom far more than the others. She is shocked and upset. I loved the dog, but my true sadness currently results from having to watch my mother experience another tragedy after everything she has been through in her life.
In the midst of all of this I have to sincerely applaud the driver of the vehicle, which feels wrong, but it's not.
I’ll start by stating it was not his fault. The dog chased(追赶) a deer into the road at night. In an effort to not hit the deer with his car he changed direction suddenly, not seeing the dog, leading to her deaths. He could have very easily continued on his way, but he did something that I hope I never forget. He did the right thing (in my eyes). The driver pulled over, carefully wrapped our dog in a blanket he got from his car, and carried her up to my mother's front door.
He was visibly shaking and very upset. He informed my mother of what happened and she broke down immediately. He consoled her the best a stranger could and waited with her while my sister rushed to her house. He left his information and offered assistance in anyway he could.
Yes, he is the man who hit and killed our dog-accidentally. What he really did was sparing my mother from discovering unexpectedly a horrible scene herself while searching for the dog. He had so many choices. Choices that were far easier than what he chose. He did the right thing and for that, thank you, stranger. You recovered my faith in humanity.
1. What can we learn about the author's mother?| A．She has suffered a lot in her life. | B．She has grown up with her dogs. |
| C．She misses her husband very much. | D．She has three dogs killed in an accident. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Indifferent. | C．Critical. | D．Praising. |
| A．Encouraged. | B．Followed. | C．Comforted. | D．Helped. |
| A．An Unfortunate Accident | B．Sadness over a Dog’s Death |
| C．An Easy-to-Make Choice | D．Faith in Humanity Recovered |
