1 . Chemical engineers at UNSW Sydney have found a way to make "green" ammonia (氨) from air, water and renewable electricity. In a paper published in Energy and Environmental Science, the authors say that ammonia synthesis (合成法) was one of the critical achievements of the 20th century. When used in fusiliers that significantly increase the output of food crops, it enabled agriculture to sustain an ever-expanding global population.
But since the beginning of the 1900s when it was first employed, production of ammonia has been energy intensive- requiring temperatures higher than 400℃ and pressures greater than 200 atm-and all powered by fossil fuels. Dr. Emma Lovell, a co author on the paper from UNSW, says the traditional way to make ammonia- known as the Haber- Bosch process- is only cost-effective when it is produced on a massive scale due to the huge amounts of energy and expensive materials required and it produces more CO2 than any other chemical-making reaction.
“In addition to the big carbon footprint left by the Haber Bosch process, having to produce millions of tons of ammonia in centralised locations means even more energy is required to transport it around the world, not to mention the risks that go with storing large amounts of it in the one place,” says Dr. Lovell. “And we saw tragically in Beirut recently how potentially dangerous storing ammonium nitrate (硝酸盐) can be. ”
Dr. Lovell and her colleagues therefore looked at how to produce it cheaply, on a smaller scale and using renewable energy. Their new production method does not rely on fossil fuel resources, nor give of CO2.
“And once it becomes available commercially, the technology could be used to produce ammonia directly on site and on demand- farmers could even do this on location using our technology to make fertilisers- which means we negate the need for storage and transport There's a huge benefit to society as well as the health of the planet,”Dr. Lovell says.
1. What do we know about the Haver-Bosch process?| A．It does harm to the earth. |
| B．It requires green materials. |
| C．It uses less energy and is cheap. |
| D．It transforms fossil fuels into ammonia. |
| A．To remind people to protect the environment. |
| B．To give an example of the risk in ammonia storage. |
| C．To convince farmers to transport ammonia elsewhere. |
| D．To stress the choice of a proper centralised location. |
| A．Inspect. | B．Avoid. | C．Suit. | D．Accept. |
| A．To solve a problem. | B．To explain a process. |
| C．To advocate a theory. | D．To introduce a method. |
2 . For most people, graduation is an exciting day the celebration of years of hard work. My graduation day... was not.
I remember that weekend two years ago. Family and friends had flown in from across the country to watch our class walk across that stage. But like everyone else in my graduating class, I had watched the economy turn from bad to worse. What I thought would take a week dragged into two. and then four, and 100 job applications later, I found myself in the exact same spot as 1 was before. And the due date to begin paying back my student loans was creeping ever closer.
You know that feeling when you wake up and you are just consumed with fear? Fear about something you can't control—that sense of approaching failure that remains over you as you hope that everything that happened to you thus far was just a bad dream? That feeling became a constant in my life. And the most frustrating part was no matter how much 1 tried, 1 just couldn't seem to make any progress.
So what did I do to maintain my sanity（理智）？ I wrote. Something about putting words on a page made everything seem a little clearer—a little brighter. Something about writing gave me hope. And if you want something badly enough... sometimes a little hope is all you need! So I channeled my frustration into a children's book. And then one day, without any sort of writing degree or contacts in the writing world — just a lol of hard work and perseverance—I was offered a publishing contract for my first book! After that, things slowly began to fall into place. 1 was offered a second book deal. Then, a few months later, I got an interview with The Walt Disney Company and was hired shortly after.
The moral of this story is... don't give up. Even if things look bleak now, don't give up. Things change If you work hard, give it time, and don't give up, things will always get better Oftentimes all we need is the courage to push beyond the river.
1. From Paragraph 2, we can learn that the author probably.| A．was having an exciting graduation |
| B．was getting into financial difficulties |
| C．missed the life in the university |
| D．had just applied for the student loans |
| A．By sending applications. | B．By offering contracts. |
| C．By keeping writing. | D．By publishing books. |
| A．unattractive | B．hopeless |
| C．thrilling | D．promising |
| A．Success belongs to the persevering. |
| B．A contented mind is a perpetual（长久的）feast. |
| C．A smooth sea never makes a skillful mariner. |
| D．Misfortunes tell us what fortune is. |
3 . Fou Ts'ong, a Chinese-born pianist known for his sensitive interpretations of Chopin, Debussy and Mozart.died on Monday at a hospital in London, where he had lived for many years. He was 86.
A lover of classical music from a young age, Mr. Fou began taking piano lessons when he was 7. Mr. Fou made his first stage appearance in 1952. The concert caught the attention of officials in Beijing, who selected him to compete and tour in Eastern Europe. Mr. Fou soon moved to Poland, where he studied at the Warsaw Conservatory(音乐学校)on a scholarship. To prepare for the fifth Chopin Competition in Warsaw in 1955.he practiced so diligently that he hurt his fingers and was nearly cut from the first round of the competition.
Mr. Fou was one of the first Chinese pianists to achieve global prominence when he took the third place in the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw in 1955. He also won a special prize for his performance of Chopin's mazurkas(马祖卜舞曲). Almost overnight, he became a national hero. To China, Mr. Fou's recognition in a well-known international competition was proof that the country could stand on its own artistically in the West. Chinese reporters flocked to interview Mr. Fou, while many others sought out his father, Fu Lei, for advice on child-rearing.
In 1981, a volume of letters written by his father, primarily to Mr. Fou, was published in China. Full of advice, encouragement, life teachings and strict paternal love, the book Fu Lei's Family, Letters became a best-seller in China. Besides influencing a generation of Chinese, Mr. Fu's words resonated(共鸣)long after his death with the person for whom they were intended.
"My father had a saying that 'First you must be a person, then an artist, and then a musician, and only then can you be a pianist.'" Mr. Fou once recalled in an interview. "Even now, I believe in this order-that it should be this way and that I am this way."
1. What can be learned from Paragraph 2?| A．Fou Ts'ong competed and toured in Beijing. |
| B．Fou Ts'ong first performed on the stage at 7. |
| C．Fou Ts'ong made great efforts for competitions. |
| D．Fou Ts'ong started learning music in Eastern Europe. |
| A．It earns Chinese art a place in the West. |
| B．It promotes the spread of Chinese culture. |
| C．It proves Chinese people's talent for music. |
| D．It enables Chinese art education to be recognized. |
| A．Mr. Fu's words. | B．Young Chinese. |
| C．Fou Ts'ong and his family. | D．Readers of Fu Lei's Family Letters. |
| A．Pursuing art is a long and painful process. |
| B．It requires various qualities to be a pianist. |
| C．Everyone should develop an interest in art. |
| D．Talent is of the greatest importance for a pianist. |
4 . Some people must carefully pay attention to everything they put in their mouths in order to control their weight. By contrast, others can eat French fries to their hearts' content and achieve the same result. How do some people manage never to gain weight?
"Perception, one of the most important factors, has nothing to do with the body type because our personal feeling is always wrong. We often feel that some people who eat more don't put on weight. Actually? those who appear to eat whatever they like without gaining weight aren't eating more than the rest of us," said professor Kathleen Melanson. "For example, your friend who eats ice cream on a daily basis might eat less at another meal- or snack less throughout the rest of the day.”
“Physical activity can also make a difference, but it doesn't have to be a gym workout. There's little evidence to suggest that—without exercise-some people were born to burn significantly more calories than others," said Dr Ines Barroso, a researcher at the University of Cambridge. But there may be physical differences that allow some people to naturally control the number of calories they consume without exercising much self-regulation.
A lot of nervous system signals and hormones （激素）that circulate in our blood interact to tell us when we're hungry or full. This is called the appetite regulatory system, and it may be more sensitive in some people than others, Melanson said. One important hormone involved in this system is leptin （瘦素）.It helps regulate how much food we want to eat over longer periods of time, not just for our next meal. So a person with a more sensitive system might go back for seconds and thirds at a party, then feel full for the next few days and eat less.
Genetics can also play a role in a person's tendency to gain or lose weight. Researchers have identified over 250 different regions of DNA that are associated with obesity, according to a 2019 study published in PLOS Genetics.
1. What does the underlined word “Perception" in paragraph 2 probably mean?| A．Connection. | B．Sense. | C．Defense. | D．Reduction. |
| A．It makes people usually feel hungry. |
| B．It helps people have a better appetite. |
| C．It helps people regulate their food intake. |
| D．It makes people more sensitive to the flavour of food. |
| A．Weight problems can be avoided. |
| B．Losing weight is equally difficult for everyone. |
| C．Some people may be born to have weight problems. |
| D．Genes can be completely changed to avoid weight problems. |
| A．To share some ideas about how to lose weight. |
| B．To explain why some people never gain weight. |
| C．To advise people to control their daily diet strictly. |
| D．To call for people to pay attention to healthy eating. |
5 . I worked in a small drug store when I was very small. I worked long and hard because that was my father’s store. I treasured my lunch breaks, not for the food or the rest, but for reading comic books about superheroes. And I could read comic books only during my lunch breaks.
Now I close my eyes and think back, I know what I wanted to be when I was a small kid—a superhero! Superman, Batman, Spider-Man and Iron Man were some of my heroes. In all of the comic books that I read, there were two patterns.
First, there was always a battle between good and evil. The battle was always tough. No matter how strong or how many powers the superhero had, evil could almost defeat him. Second, the superhero was never paid for his contribution to society. Superman made money as Clark Kent, a newspaper reporter. Batman made money as Bruce Wayne, a rich businessman. Spider-Man made money as Peter Parker, a photographer. Iron Man made money as Tony Stark, a rich scientist. None of them was paid for keeping peace or helping others.
The real superheroes don’t get paid for what they do for society!
I clean the local park with my friends every weekend. I help cheer up kids in the hospital. I send food to disabled people. I don’t get paid for doing these in my free time. It’s correct to be fairly compensated but I simply choose not to. I feel my dream has come true!
Volunteering and helping people without getting paid is what superheroes do. You can be a superhero, too.
1. Why did the writer value the lunch breaks?| A．He could take delicious food. | B．He could free from the hard work. |
| C．He could do what he liked to do. | D．He could act as a superhero. |
| A．rewarded | B．refused | C．admitted | D．bargained |
| A．By working hard in the store. | B．By performing voluntary work. |
| C．By doing a lot of reading. | D．By choosing the right job. |
| A．Volunteering is fun. | B．Comic books and my childhood. |
| C．Be a superhero. | D．Do superheroes get paid? |
6 . Hard work really does pay off. Scientists find that perseverance (毅力) leads to better grades and higher achievements in school.
“Being passionate (热诚的) is not enough to ensure academic success,” said researchers, who thought of “courage” as a key to success. This is also regarded as effort in reaching long-term goals, and determination to continue one’s efforts in spite of hardships.
Researchers thought that the finding could help create new training to help children develop the skill and help ensure their future success.
Researchers from the Academy of Finland studied more than 2,000 students from Helsinki. They were followed through their academic career from 12 to 16, from the sixth grade until the ninth grade in local school years. Researchers found that the factor that best predicted courage was related to goals, with previous academic achievements playing no role in developing the skill.
Professor Katariina Salmela-Aro, who led the study, said, “Courage means a young person is really interested in his or her studies and does not give up easily. A key element of courage is high perseverance when facing difficulties and hardships. The important finding is that these factors are the key to success and well-being. Our study shows the power of courage.”
Professor Salmela-Aro also thought it was important to develop new practices and qualities to improve courage in teenagers. She added, “Young people should see everyday school work as part of their life in a broader context and establish achievable goals for themselves. Schools must also serve as a place where it is safe to fail and learn to deal with setbacks. One must not be discouraged by setbacks, but gain(得到) strength and new energy from them!”
1. What can we learn about the research?| A．It takes at least three years. |
| B．It helps students make progress. |
| C．It makes many discoveries. |
| D．It follows 2,000 students abroad. |
| A．Focus on former grades. |
| B．Achieve their goals. |
| C．Try all their best. |
| D．Forget sadness. |
| A．Strengths. | B．Difficulties. |
| C．Weaknesses. | D．Efforts. |
| A．Hard work will lead to success |
| B．Failure is the mother of success |
| C．Schools should train students’ courage |
| D．Perseverance is the key to success |
7 . Fire Capt. Kevin Lloyd arrived at the scene of a car accident in West Point, Utah, north of Salt Lake City. A pregnant woman and her screaming 2-year-old daughter were trapped in the car.
While his partner, Allen Hadley, was tending to the driver, Lloyd couldn't get the frightened girl to calm down. He saw she was holding several bottles of nail polish(指甲油), and then he had a better idea. He asked her if she wanted to paint his nails. Soon she entirely lit up. At the same time, Hadley showed up to check on the scene.
Lloyd had calmed her down and was in the process of getting his fingers painted. Then Hadley just put his hand in there. The girl began to color his nails pink. By this time, she was not only calm, but she was also happy.
The girl's mother was not injured. She thanked them for helping her daughter feel better, and they all chuckled, looking at the firefighters' nails, and took some photos.
The firefighters brought the photos back to headquarters and showed them around. The department put them up on Facebook, and thousands of people responded, with many thanking the firefighters for going out of their way to calm down a frightened girl.
Fire Chief Mark Becraft said he had been surprised at all the attention. He said he was proud of his firefighters, and added that he had known members of the department who had done many things that weren't part of the job.
After the fact, Lloyd and Hadley had a small matter to tend to： the layers of polish on their nails. They bought a bottle of nail polish remover, and used almost all of it.
1. Why was the 2-year-old girl frightened?| A．Her mother was badly injured. | B．She was caught in an accident. |
| C．Her nails were hurt by the bottles. | D．She was afraid of seeing firefighters. |
| A．Sighed. | B．Shouted. | C．Laughed. | D．Hugged. |
| A．Caring. | B．Knowledgeable. | C．Humorous. | D．Courageous. |
| A．To ask us to learn to calm down in time of danger. |
| B．To speak highly of the warm-hearted firefighters. |
| C．To introduce the little girl who likes polishing nails. |
| D．To praise the two firefighters who learn to decorate nails. |
8 . As consumers, especially young ones, become more eco﹣conscious, services are popping up to reduce wastefulness in the flower industry, extending the life of old bouquets（花束） that were previously thrown away the day after a big event.
Considering that the floral（花的）gifting market is expected to reach ﹩16 billion in revenue by 2023, buying from eco﹣friendly businesses can have a huge impact. According to one estimate, the roughly 100 million roses grown for a typical Valentine's Day in the U. S. produce about 9,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions.
“When you realize what the supply chain looks like and the number of hands that touch these flowers. and then they're only appreciated for a couple of hours, it's kind of disgusting when you think about the amount of resources that go into it,” says Jennifer Grove, founder of New York City﹣based flower service Repeat Roses.
While working as a wedding designer and corporate planner, Grove often oversaw the design of floral arrangements, only to see those creations thrown away within a few hours. In 2014 she founded Repeat Roses to make it easier for luxury clients to donate used bouquets. Like a traditional floral service, the company sells high﹣end floral decorations for weddings or social events, but it then recycles or composts（堆肥） them.
If a customer chooses the unique repurposing（改变用途） service, a Repeat Roses team can remove the arrangements from the event and then restyle the flowers into smaller bouquets to donate to hospitals, nursing homes and family shelters. If there's a charity that holds a special place in a customer's heart, the team will ensure the blooms are sent there. “It's a logistics business, and we're trying to make sure we are strategic in where we play matchmaker,” Grove says. When the charities are finished with the flowers, Repeat Roses also picks them back up and composts them. The altruism isn't free﹣prices start at ﹩1,750 for the removal and repurposing service to account for the transportation and labor costs. If you're not willing to spend that much, the company will still compost the flowers from your event instead of sending them to a landfill.
Through these two methods, Repeat Roses estimates it has diverted more than 98 tons of waste from landfills and delivered almost 53,000 floral arrangements to people in need. Although Repeat Roses is a for﹣profit business, the flower repurposing itself is a tax write﹣off for the client. As the fair market value of a client's donated flowers is what's used for the charitable tax credit and is eligible for deduction, Repeat Roses ensures that the beneficiary sends you an acknowledgement letter including details of your donation.
1. Jennifer Grove founded Repeat Roses in order to do the following except .| A．avoid the waste of flowers |
| B．reduce the pollution to the environment |
| C．earn money by selling used flowers |
| D．help some customers do charity work |
| A．the company’s composting the flowers |
| B．the customers’ donating flowers to people in need |
| C．the reception of the donation by the people in need |
| D．the transportation of the flowers to a landfill |
| A．To get a discount when buying flowers. |
| B．To feel fulfilled because of donation. |
| C．To get a tax reduction. |
| D．To receive a letter of compliment. |
| A．a creative way of making money |
| B．a green trend of waste utilization |
| C．a way to cut the emission of carbon dioxide |
| D．a company devoted to charity |
9 . Do you think alien beings exist somewhere in the universe? It seems like Mars, our closest neighbor, has inspired the most science fiction as the place where aliens are most likely to come from. Recent Mars probes (探测) have shown us that there is no life on that planet—at least not now. But that does not mean that life does not exist elsewhere—after all, the universe is really big. A lot of scientific research is going on in the search for “extraterrestrial life”.
Think about it—why should the seven billion people on this little planet be the only living beings in the universe? It would, in fact, seem logical that this is not the case. So scientific research in this matter is based around the idea of finding other planets that have environments that can support life —environments similar to the Earth. The search is on for the evidence of the existence, or earlier existence of life: from very wise beings to simple organisms (有机物).
So far, there have been a number of theories as to which planetary bodies may have an atmosphere that can support such life and therefore deserve closer attention. As for places within our own Milky Way Galaxy, it has been assumed over the decades that Mars and Venus, as well as some of the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, may have been hosts for life. Now, as technologies have improved and we can obtain measurements of the composition of the atmosphere on extra-solar planets, the chances of finding “alien” life forms are increasing.
There has been a theory that some of the planets in the habitable zone of the red dwarf star Gliese 581 may be able to support life. In 2007, scientists discovered exoplanet Gliese 581c—and felt that its atmosphere was most suitable for supporting life. But further research revealed that it would not. Now, attention has been turned to Gliese 581d, at the outer edge of the star’s habitable zone. The main standards for deciding whether a planetary body can be life-supporting are atmospheric conditions which allow the existence of water. Gliese 581 is about 20. 4 light years away from the Earth, so even if life does exist there, the distance would mean that communication would be unlikely.
Having said this—who says alien life forms (if they exist) need water?
1. What does the underlined part in Paragraph 1 mean?| A．Life existing outside of the Earth. |
| B．The evidence of the existence of life. |
| C．Other faraway planets in the universe. |
| D．Creatures known from science fictions. |
| A．Modern scientific theories. | B．Atmospheric conditions. |
| C．Environments similar to the Earth. | D．Advanced technologies. |
| A．the atmosphere of Gliese 581c was most suitable for life |
| B．it is not certain whether alien life forms need water or not |
| C．the 7 billion people on the Earth are the only beings in the universe |
| D．the distance of 20. 4 light years makes it impossible to find life on Gliese 581d |
| A．Do Aliens Exist? | B．Is Mars Suitable for Life? |
| C．Are Alien Life Forms Various? | D．Can We Communicate with Aliens? |
10 . Exciting concertos（协奏曲）from Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons can boost mental alertness, according to research from North-umbria University. The findings, which are published in Experimental Psychology, show that the exciting first movement（乐章）, in particular, is capable of enhancing attention and memory.
In the experiment a group of 14 young adults were given a mental concentration task to perform. They were asked to press the space bar on a keyboard when a green square appeared on screen and ignore different colored circles and squares that appeared at intervals. The participants carried out this task both in silence and while listening to each of the four concertos while their brain activity was measured using EEG（脑电图扫描）brain imaging.
Results showed that participants responded correctly faster when listening to the exciting Spring concerto. When listening to the concerto, the average response time in performing the task was 393.8 milliseconds（毫秒）as opposed to 408.1 milliseconds when the task was carried out in silence. This response time rose to 413.3 milliseconds when they listened to the slower and sadder Autumn music, therefore showing a decrease in mental capacity.
Psychologist Dr. Leigh Riby said, “The Spring movement enhanced overall activity within the brain but had an exaggerated effect on the area of the brain that’s important for emotional processing. It seemed to give rise to particular imagery in the brain and evoke positive, contented feelings which translated into higher levels of cognitive functioning.”
Dr. Riby suggests that the Spring movement is particularly special and be used in therapy and is, in fact, quite a familiar piece to most people as it has been used successfully in marketing to induce mood and influence behavior. He also found that the key in which the music was written had no impact on brain performance. While the Spring concerto, which is written in a major key, did not. He added, “This experiment shows that cognitive capacity is enhanced when pleasant and arousing stimuli are introduced.”
1. What do we know about the research from Northumbria University?| A．It was conducted in four different seasons of a year. |
| B．It showed sad and slow music can boost mental alertness. |
| C．The results of the research have been published. |
| D．It was done by a group of 14 young adults. |
| A．When they were in complete silence. |
| B．When they were listening to slow and sad music. |
| C．When they were listening to the Autumn concerto. |
| D．When they were listening to the Spring concerto. |
| A．arouse | B．command |
| C．require | D．deserve |
| A．an official document | B．a science journal |
| C．a society section of a newspaper | D．a guidebook |
