1 . Imagine that one day when you frown a little bit more often than usual while working in front of your computer, it would sense your bad mood and a roll of cheering words would be seen in time right on the screen. An "emotionally aware" computer being developed by British and American scientists will be able to read an individual's thoughts by analyzing a combination of facial movements that represent feelings.
“The system we have developed allows a wide range of mental states to be identified just by pointing a video camera at someone." said Professor Peter Robinson of the University of Cambridge. He believes the mind-reading computer's applications could range from improving people's driving skills to helping companies tailor advertising to people's moods." For those proprietors, this must be a fantastic invention to help them pick target customers' right emotional moment to sell them something, a future where mobile phones, cars and web sites could read our mind and react to our moods," he added.
The researchers, who are developing the technology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the United States, also hope to get it to accept other inputs such as posture and gesture.
“Our research could enable websites to tailor advertising or products to your mood." said Robinson. For example, a Webcam linked with our software could process your image, encode the correct emotional state and send information to a website." It could also be useful in online teaching to show whether someone understands what is being explained and in improving road safety by determining if a driver is confused, bored or tired. “We are working with a car company, and they believe this will be employed in cars within five years," Robinson said, adding that a camera could be built into the dashboard(仪表板).
1. What does the computer system do?| A．Storing your thoughts in its memory for further analysis. |
| B．Identifying your mood through a video camera in your computer. |
| C．Thinking and responding to problems in exactly the same way as you do. |
| D．Improving your driving skills through the in-built camera in your dashboard. |
| A．Sellers. | B．Tailors. | C．Customers. | D．Psychologists. |
| A．Its history. | B．Its designer groups. | C．Its applications. | D．Its working process. |
| A．Mind Your Privacy in the Future |
| B．Don't Rely Too Much on Your Computer |
| C．A Bright Future for Online Shopping |
| D．A Future with Mind-reading Computers |
2 . The death of soccer legend Diego Maradona has shocked fans worldwide and drawn an outpouring of grief. Maradona, 60, died of a heart attack on Nov 25,2020.
Argentina's president, Alberto Fernandez, declared three days of national mourning upon Maradona's death. "You took us to the top of the world," he wrote on the social networking platform Twitter, "and you were the greatest of Indeed, Maradona lived a life that showed that soccer at its peak can have passions that move entire nations. He was a man who was deified (奉若神明)in Argentina and the Italian city of Naples.
Maradona reached legendary position during the 1986 World Cup in Mexico after scoring two winning goals against England in the quarterfinal. That was a redemption (救赎)for the nation, which was defeated in a war over territory (领土)conflict by the UK just four years earlier. But his magic didn't stop there. At a time when teams were largely domestic, Maradona became the first truly global soccer superstar. Before his arrival in Napoli in 1984 they never won the Serie A title. The city took him in, regarding him as the man to bring back pride and respect to Naples. The club won the championship for the first time ever in the 1986-87 season.
Magician though Maradona may have been, he was deeply human, thus deeply flawed. He appeared in newspapers more for his drug habit than for his soccer skills in the late 1990s. After he played his goodbye game in 2001, Maradona stated, "The ball does not show the dirt."
As a symbol and idol he shone brighter than any other athlete in the last century. Argentina and Barcelona star Lionel Messi wrote, "He leaves us but does not leave, because Diego is eternal (不朽的)
1. Why was Maradona regarded as "the greatest of all"?| A．Because he was an international superstar. |
| B．Because he played soccer to the death of his life. |
| C．Because he lit the passion that moved the country with his soccer life. |
| D．Because he won back the territory tor the country after the 1986 World Cup. |
| A．Imperfect. | B．Athletic. | C．Noted. | D．Influential. |
| A．He was a perfect human respected by people. |
| B．He built his legendary status in soccer in his 20s. |
| C．He was a great soccer player as well as a magician. |
| D．He was the brightest soccer star in the 19th century. |
| A．The Rise of a Superstar. | B．The Biography of a Soccer Player. |
| C．An Intense Soccer Match. | D．Passing of a Legend. |
3 . We recognize our friends’ faces. And we’re not alone. Many social animals can identify individuals of their own species by features of their faces. That's important, because they need to be able to change their behavior depending on who they meet. And a recent research has shown that some species of monkeys, birds, and domesticated (家养的) animals can even tell different faces apart by looking at photographs alone.
Ethologist Léa Lansade of the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and Environment did an experiment to find out how well horses can recognize individual people in photographs.
She and her team first taught the horses how to “choose” between two side-by-side pictures by touching their noses to a computer screen. The horses were then shown photos of their present keeper alongside faces of unfamiliar humans. They had never seen photos of any of the people before. The horses correctly identified their current keeper and ignored (忽视) the stranger’s face about 75%of the time. In fact, even though the horses didn't get it right every single time, they were at least as correct in picking out their earlier keeper as they were at identifying their present one.
The results suggest that not only can horses differentiate between familiar and unfamiliar human faces, they also naturally understand that photographs are two dimensional representations (二维呈现) of real life, without any other intimations such as smell or sound. And they’re even better at this than our oldest animal parter, the domestic dog.
In addition, horses seem to have a strong long-term memory for human faces, like their long lifespan and history of domestication. In future experiments, the researchers would like to test whether looking at photos of people that they have had bad experiences with in the past might cause horses to act anxious or even avoidance. So maybe think twice before doing anything that might give a horse a long face.
1. Why did researchers show the horses both the keeper’s photos and the strangers’?| A．To find out what horses would do in the experiment. |
| B．To see why horses could recognize the keeper in the pictures. |
| C．To test whether horses could recognize the strangers in pictures. |
| D．To study to what degree horses can make out different people in pictures. |
| A．Clues. | B．Differences. |
| C．Photographs. | D．Senses. |
| A．Whether horses can live longer than other animals. |
| B．Whether horses can remember human's faces for a long time. |
| C．Whether horses can show their emotions at the sight of photos. |
| D．Whether horses are better at recognizing photos than other animals. |
| A．To talk about animals’ species. |
| B．To explain animals’ facial features. |
| C．To show animals’ behaviour for adaptation. |
| D．To introduce animals’ ability to identifying faces. |
4 . Have you ever noticed that the stars sometimes appear brighter in December, January and February? There's a link between cold air and the night lights. "Part of it is that it tends to be drier in the winter," said Diane Tumshek, an astronomer at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Even though it's invisible, moisture can change the way light moves through the air. And in the summer, moisture can make stars appear more dull.
Air temperature is also what puts the twinkle twinkle in the little stars. "Even on very clear nights, some of the atmosphere is cooler, and some of the atmosphere is warmer,” said Tumshek, who also works with the Allegheny Observatory. And when the light from a star passes through those bubbles of varying temperatures, "it bends and shifts the light, so that we are seeing stars appear to dance or twinkle,” she said.
For star lovers in the United States, there's another factor that comes into play for bright winter stars, although this is a matter of coincidence. During Earth's journey around the sun, “there are just simply more bright stars visible from the Northern Hemisphere in the winter sky," Tumshek said. If you really want to see a shiny star, just try to find a burning ball of gas called Sirius near the horizon. At 8.6 light-years away, Sirius is relatively close to Earth and the brightest star visible in the night sky. It is also large — nearly twice as big as our sun and 20 times as bright. So this winter, when the world turns cold and it seems like we should be spending more time indoors, consider asking an adult to go exploring outside. With a warm coat and a clear sky, any night can be turned into a treasure hunt. All you have to do is look up.
1. What does the underlined word "dull" in Paragraph 1 probably mean?| A．not shiny | B．not exciting | C．not severe | D．not smart |
| A．By changing the bubbles around them. | B．By putting the twinkle twinkle in them. |
| C．By varying the direction of the light from them. | D．By making the stars dance and twinkle in the sky. |
| A．It can be found at any night. | B．It is 20 times as bright as the sun. |
| C．It is a burning and shiny ball. | D．It is closer to Earth than other stars, |
| A．To advocate stargazing in winter, | B．To call on people to focus on stars. |
| C．To present new research results about stars. | D．To explain why stars are more visible in winter. |
5 . Physical education, or gym class, isnˈt required for all high school students. In some schools, it isnˈt offered for some different reasons. But should high school students have physical education? The answer is certainly "yes".
Today many people donˈt do sports. But as is known to all, doing sports is very important for an adult. Teaching teens the importance of a healthy lifestyle and making fitness plans now can help teens put exercise in the first place as an adult.
High school isnˈt that easy. Many students are under a lot of stress. Stress can be harmful to a studentˈs studies and life. Doing sports can help them deal with stress better, helping them live a happier life at school.
Inactivity increases teensˈ risk of developing many diseases. An active lifestyle offers a good way of protection from these health problems. As much as 75 per cent of health care spending goes towards treating medical conditions that can be hindered by lifestyle changes, according to the American College of Sports Medicine.
According to the Presidentˈs Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition (PCFSN), students who performed five hours of physical activity each week improved their academic (学业的) performance. Students from programmes with no physical activity, who used the extra time for classroom study, did not perform better on tests than those who gave up some study time in support of physical education.
1. According to Paragraph 2, what does physical education in high school mean?| A．Helping teens learn to make good plans. |
| B．Removing the stress faced by teens at school. |
| C．Making teens pay attention to exercise later. |
| D．Getting teens to encourage adults to exercise. |
| A．Measured. | B．Prevented. |
| C．Shown. | D．Caused. |
| A．means making students choose between sports and studies |
| B．helps students make good use of all their time |
| C．means students adjust to their studies better |
| D．helps students do better in their studies |
| A．How high school students can live a better life. |
| B．How schools can help students love doing sports. |
| C．Why some schools consider physical education important. |
| D．Why high school students should receive physical education. |
6 . Everybody hates rats. But in the earthquake capitals of the world—Japan, Los Angeles, Turkey—rats will soon be the new best friends of humans.
What happens after an earthquake? We send in rescue dogs. Why? Because they can smell people. Dogs save lives. They help rescuers to find living people. But dogs are big and they can’t get into small spaces. So now a new research project is using a smaller animal to save lives: the rat.
How does it work? First the rat is trained to smell people. When this happens, the rat’s brain gives a signal. This is sent to a small radio on its back and then the rescuers follow the radio signals. When the rat’s brain activity jumps, the rescuers know that someone is alive. The rat has smelled that person.
Although there are already robots which can do this job, rats are better. Christian Linster at Cornell University, New York, says, “Robots’ noses don’t work well when there are other smells around. Rats are good at that.” Rats can also see in the dark. They are cheaper and quicker to train than dogs and unlike robots, they don’t need electricity!
The “rat project” is not finished, but Julie Ryan of International Rescue Corps in Scotland says, “It would be fantastic. A rat could get into spaces we couldn’t get to and a rat would get out if it wasn’t safe.” Perhaps for the first time in history people will be happy to see a rat in a building.
1. In the world earthquake capitals, rats will become man’s best friends because________．| A．they can fully take the place of man’s rescue jobs to save more people |
| B．they can find the position of people alive who are trapped in buildings |
| C．they can serve as food for people alive who are trapped in buildings |
| D．they can get into small spaces that the dogs may fail to get into |
| A．they left the room at an agreed signal |
| B．the policeman raised his hand to signal the driver to stop |
| C．he seemed to signal important changes in the US government policy |
| D．a signal failure resulted in the car accident |
| A．they are more fantastic than other animals |
| B．they are less expensive to train than dogs |
| C．they don’t need electricity |
| D．they are small and can get into small spaces |
| A．rats have already taken the place of dogs in searching for people |
| B．the “rat project” has already been completed |
| C．people are very happy to see a rat in a building |
| D．people now still use dogs and robots in performing rescues |
7 . Johnny Cash was born in 1932 in the southern state of Arkansas. His parents were poor cotton farmers. As a school boy, he began writing songs and he performed on radio programs. After high school, he joined the United States Air Force and served as a radio operator in Germany.
He returned to the United States in 1954 and formed a band with two friends and performed at local events. They began recording for Sun Records in Memphis. One of the songs Cash wrote became the first country music hit record for the company. It was “Cry, Cry, Cry.”
Johnny Cash performed all across the United States and Canada. By 1958, Johnny Cash was a successful recording artist, songwriter and singer. He was invited to perform at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee.
Johnny Cash won many awards, including eleven Grammy Awards and the Kennedy Center Honors. He was elected to both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He also received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
He died on September 12, 2003, in Nashville at the age of seventy-one.
Fans say that Johnny Cash's music was important because it told simple stories about life and death. They say he cared about social issues and continued to express support for those who are poor and without political power. One of the last songs he recorded was one made popular by the rock and roll group Nine Inch Nails. It is called “Hurt.”
1. Johnny Cash returned to the United States after ________.| A．he finished high school | B．he formed a band |
| C．he served in US Air Force in Germany | D．his song Cry, Cry, Cry became famous |
| A．Johnny Cash performed his famous song Cry, Cry, Cry at the Grand Ole Opry |
| B．Johnny Cash didn't care about social problems |
| C．Johnny Cash's music was only loved by his fans |
| D．the Grand Ole Opry is a place where famous singers hold their concerts. |
| A．Beat | B．Failure | C．Strike | D．Success |
| A．he won many awards in his lifetime |
| B．he often performed in the Grand Ole Opry |
| C．his songs expressed support for the poor people with no political power |
| D．his songs were sung by the rock and roll group Nine Inch Nails |
8 . The new year is the moment when people vow to improve their fitness. They join gyms, swear off alcohol and adopt healthier diets. These resolutions usually do not last beyond January.
But some employers try to help their workers stick to their goals by offering “wellness” programmes. One of the longest- running examples began in 1979 at Johnson & Johnson (j&j), an American health-care company.The plan promotes weight loss, smoking quitting and efforts to reduce blood pressure.
The firm claims it reduced medical costs by $400 an employee per year, and resulted in fewer workers suffering from heart disease or high blood pressure. Yet an examination of the data by Martin Cherniack of the University of Connecticut found that in 2005-08, a sharp jump in alcohol use, depression and stress among j&j employees occurred .This coincided with a period when the firm had a target of lifting productivity by 9% a year. So the employees may have been fitter, but it is possible that workplace pressure to produce more meant greater stress.
All this suggests that employee well-being is a rather more complex topic than can be tackled(应对) by a programme devoted to exercise and healthy living. A study by Rand Europe, a research institute, found that obvious bad habits such as smoking and high alcohol use were in fact not associated with lower productivity, while obese workers were no more likely to take time off than anyone else. The biggest productivity problems were associated with lack of sleep, financial concerns and mental-health issues-factors that may well be directly linked to work-related stress.
It seems reasonable for companies to expect some level of economies return on any wellness programme that they provide. But the trade-off should not be too blatant. Making employees fitter so you can work them a lot harder seems rather like drilling your infantry(野战军) on a course before sending them to face the machine guns. A better impact on morale (and thus productivity) might occur if workers felt that their managers had a genuine interest in their welfare.
1. What can we learn from the example of Johnson & Johnson?| A．A healthy lifestyle contributes to higher productivity. |
| B．A wellness program alone can’t achieve the desired effect. |
| C．Caring for employees’ physical health is of great importance. |
| D．A health program benefits both the company and the employees. |
| A．Certain living habits help improve motivation. |
| B．Work-related pressure is to blame for low productivity. |
| C．Financial concerns have nothing to do with productivity. |
| D．Obesity is associated with lower attendance in the workplace. |
| A．Obvious. | B．Effective. | C．Challenging. | D．Flexible. |
| A．To compare various factors affecting productivity. |
| B．To introduce a new way of increasing productivity. |
| C．To appeal to employers to improve their health care program. |
| D．To question some seemingly effective practice in business management. |
9 . Microplastics, as the name implies, are tiny plastics that result from both commercial product development and the breakdown of larger plastics. Officially, they are defined as plastics less than five millimeters in diameter(直径). .
The problem with microplastics is that — like plastic items of any size — they do not readily break down into harmless molecules (分子). Plastics can take hundreds or thousands of years to decompose, and in the meantime, cause damage to the environment. On beaches, microplastics are visible as tiny colored plastic bits in sand. In the oceans, microplastics pollution is often consumed by sea animals.
Some of this environmental pollution is from littering, but much is the result of storms and winds that carry plastics into our oceans. Single-use plastics, plastic items meant to be used just once and then thrown away, are the primary source of microplastics in the environment.
Microplastics have been detected in sea animals, in commercial seafood, and even in drinking water. Alarmingly, standard water treatment facilities cannot remove all the traces( 痕迹) of microplastics. To further complicate matters, microplastics in the ocean can combine with other harmful chemicals before being swallowed by animals.
Scientists are still unsure whether consumed microplastics do damage to human or animal health - and if so, what specific dangers they may cause. Even so, many countries are taking action to reduce microplastics. A United Nations resolution has discussed the need for rules to reduce microplastics to oceans, wildlife, and human health.
1. What does the underlined word “decompose” mean in Paragraph 2?| A．Break down. | B．Fade away. . |
| C．Dry up. | D．Give out. |
| A．Water treatment facilities fail to remove their traces. |
| B．People might consume them through drinking water. |
| C．They can combine with other chemicals inside animals. |
| D．They have been a blow to commercial seafood industry. |
| A．Many governments turn a blind eye to microplastics. |
| B．It has been confirmed that consumed microplastics are harmful. |
| C．Measures will be taken to reduce microplastics in the environment. |
| D．Scientists have known what specific dangers microplastics may cause. |
| A．inform the public of an environmental issue |
| B．arouse the awareness of protecting seawater |
| C．persuade scientists to look into microplastics |
| D．introduce the microplastics treatment methods |
10 . Did you know roughly one third of food for human consumption goes to waste? Most of it is fresh fruit and vegetables that go bad. The produce dries out or goes bad, which has led scientists to develop ways of coating or sealing the food to keep it fresher for longer. Now research at Rice University reveals there might be a better way.
Scientists discovered that dipping produce like strawberries and bananas into an egg-based wash is remarkably good for preserving it. The coating is extremely thick, and made from a mixture of powdered egg whites and yolks(70%), and some wood-sourced cellulose to act as a barrier preventing water loss.
What the scientists found was that the egg wash made a significant difference in helping produce stay fresh over a two-week observation period. The appearance of the coated fruits and vegetables didn’t change much, while the uncoated produce ripened and. even rotted within the same time frame. The egg-based coating, as it turned out, reduced each fruit’s chance to get exposed to oxygen.
The non-poisonous coating was found to be flexible and tests showed that it was just as tough as other products, including synthetic films, used in produce packaging. For anyone with an egg allergy, the coating can be removed by thorough washing in water and is tasteless.
The scientists hope this could be a breakthrough in the fight against food waste. "Reducing food shortages in ways that are not related to genetic modification, uneatable coatings or chemical additives is important for better sustainable living ,”said materials scientist and study author Pulickel Ajayan.
What’s great about this discovery is that it fights food waste in more than one way: even the coating was made from eggs that would otherwise have been discarded because they weren’t fit for consumption. The researchers said roughly 200 million of US produced eggs go to waste annually. So if this were scaled up, it could be a win-win situation all around.
1. How does the egg-based wash help keep food fresh?| A．By limiting its oxygen exposure | B．By making its coating less thick. |
| C．By removing its cellulose slowly. | D．By improving its absorbent ability |
| A．To stress the seriousness of food shortage. | B．To offer the method of cutting food waste. |
| C．To show the significance of the discovery. | D．To give brief description of the research. |
| A．Eaten up. | B．Taken in. | C．Picked out. | D．Thrown away. |
| A．How to use eggs creatively. | B．A new way to preserve food. |
| C．How to recycle food waste. | D．A breakthrough in technology. |
