1 . Men hunted. Women gathered. That has long been the common view of our prehistoric ancestors. But the discovery of a woman buried 9000 years ago in the Andes Mountains with weapons and hunting tools, and an analysis of other burial sites in the Americas challenges this widely accepted division of labor in hunter-gatherer society.
“Labor practices among recent hunter-gatherer societies are highly gendered, which might lead some to believe that sexist inequalities in things like pay or rank are somehow 'natural' , ”said lead study author Randy Haas, an assistant professor of anthropology (人类学) at University of California, Davis, in a news release. "But it's now clear that sexual division of labor was fundamentally different-likely more equal and reasonable-in our species deep hunter-gatherer past."
The burial site was discovered in 2018 during excavations (发掘) at a high-altitude site called Wilamaya Patjxa in what is now Peru. The woman, thought to be between 17 and 19 years old when she died, was buried with items that suggested she hunted big-game animals.
Although some scholars have suggested a role for women in ancient hunting, others have dismissed this idea even when hunting tools were uncovered in female burials. To examine whether this woman found at this site was an outlier, the researchers examined 429 skeletons (骷髅) at 107 burials sites in North and South America around 8000 to 14000 years ago. Of those, 27 individuals were buried with hunting tools—11 were female and 15 were male. The sample was sufficient to "support the conclusion that female participation in early big-game hunting was likely not unusual".
The findings add to doubts about man — the hunter assumption that informed much thinking about early humans since the mid-20th century. “They suggest hunting was very much a community-based activity, needing the participation of all able-bodied individuals to drive large animals”, the paper said. The weapon of choice at that time had low accuracy, encouraging broad participation, and using it was a skill learned from childhood.
1. What does the recent burial site at Andes Mountains show?| A．The origin of sexual inequality. |
| B．Hunting skills of ancient times. |
| C．The social system of prehistoric hunters. |
| D．Job division of hunter-gatherer society. |
| A．Gender plays no part in recent hunter-gatherer society. |
| B．Sexist inequality is a natural result of prehistoric society. |
| C．Ancient division of labor might be fairer than we'd thought. |
| D．Public ideas of women's role will be changed abruptly. |
| A．Exception. | B．Failure. |
| C．Role model. | D．Easy target. |
| A．Lack of able-bodied individuals. |
| B．Imperfection in hunting weapons. |
| C．Better accuracy of females in hunting. |
| D．Need for large animals as food source. |
2 . When Ma Hu was chosen for a baseball training camp in Beijing, the 12-year-old didn't have the slightest idea how baseball was played or even what a baseball field looked like.
The son of a migrant worker in Ningxia, northwest China didn't have enough warmth of family. In the past, he was a headache for the teachers at school, acting up in the class and fighting with classmates during break time.
"I was lost at the street crossing and got picked up by the camp people" is how Ma describes how he came to join the training camp run by the Power Baseball Angel project. It was launched by Sun Lingfeng, former captain of the men's national baseball team, in 2015 to provide professional training to children from poor households and remote areas.
When Ma joined the camp, it had only 16 boys. They were told those who could get into the national top three would qualify for college admission. Other good players could join professional baseball teams. Still others could work at the base, leaching the newcomers.
Ma, now 15, has become a professional baseball player with a bright future. His story, including his early days when he fought with his teammates and ignored the coaches instructions, is part of an award-winning documentary Tough Out on the young baseball players at the camp, which was released in December 2020.
The documentary focuses on the team of underprivileged and abandoned children who struggled to learn a new sport and build a new life for themselves while fighting low self-esteem（自尊）and pursuing their dreams. It is dedicated to people who work hard silently, seize every opportunity and refuse to admit defeat.
1. Why did Sun Lingfeng start the Power Baseball Angel project?| A．To promote baseball in big cities of China |
| B．To train children who are fond of baseball. |
| C．To select players for the national baseball team |
| D．To offer poor kids professional baseball training |
| A．Promising. | B．Independent | C．Caring. | D．Honest. |
| A．Naughty. | B．Disadvantaged | C．Outgoing. | D．Ambitious |
| A．A Moving Story of a Baseball Camp Founder |
| B．An Award-winning Documentary on Baseball |
| C．Potential Boys Fighting Hard for College Dreams |
| D．Poor Youngsters Staying Ahead through Baseball |
3 . A sleepover (过夜) program, which is designed to make kids believe that their favorite toys enjoy reading, can help encourage children to pick up more books, a new study suggests.
Toys sleepover programs are designed to get children interested in books. Children take their toys to a library for the night. At this point, workers and volunteers take photos of the toys which explore the library and read books. The next day, the children collect their toys and the photos of what the toys did during the night. They are given the books their toys chose to read.
It was found that before the sleepover the children did not spend time looking at the books in their play area at preschool. Immediately after the sleepover, the number of children who read to the toys was higher than the number who did not, but after three days the effect decreased gradually.
The researchers also tested a method for sustaining the effect. They reminded the children of the sleepover a month later, by hiding the toys and showing them the photos again the next day. This simple method brought an increase in the number of children reading to their toys.
The study proves for the first time that children who take part in sleepover programs read picture books to their toys more. “We wanted to know if there really was an effect, and if so, how long it lasts. Surprisingly, not only did the children show interest in the books, but they also began to read to their toys. This means that a new behavior pattern appeared that the children hadn’t had before. We did not expect anything like this,” said one of the researchers.
Reading is important for the development of children’s language skills and imagination. When parents read to their children, it is a passive way of reading for the child. However, when children read to their toys, it is a more active, self-directed way of reading, helping them develop into more active readers, researchers said.
1. What is the purpose of the sleepover program?| A．To develop children’s language skills. |
| B．To help children to sleep well. |
| C．To encourage children to read more. |
| D．To guide children to form a good sleeping habit. |
| A．Go around the library with their toys. |
| B．Sleep with their toys. |
| C．Read together with their toys. |
| D．Take their toys to the library. |
| A．keeping | B．testing | C．surveying | D．showing |
| A．Children showed no interest in the books. |
| B．The effect of the sleepover program could last long. |
| C．Children began to read to their toys on their own. |
| D．Whether the sleepover program had an effect remained unknown. |
4 . As the effects of climate change become more disastrous, well-known research institutions and government agencies are focusing new money and attention on an idea: artificially cooling the planet, in the hopes of buying humanity more time to cut greenhouse gas emissions.
That strategy, called solar climate intervention (干预) or solar geoengineering, involves reflecting more of the sun’s energy back into space — abruptly reducing global temperatures in a way that imitates the effects of ash clouds flowing out from the volcanic eruptions. The idea has been considered as a dangerous and fancied solution, one that would encourage people to keep burning fossil fuels while exposing the planet to unexpected and potentially threatening side effects, producing more destructive hurricanes, wildfires floods and other disasters.
But. as global warming continues, producing more destructive hurricanes, wildfires floods and other disasters, some researchers and policy experts say that concerns about geoengineering should be outweighed by the imperative to better understand it, in case the consequence of climate change become so terrible that the world can’t wait for better solutions.
One way to cool the earth is by injecting aerosols (气溶胶) into the upper layer of the atmosphere. where those particles reflect sunlight away from the earth. That process works, according to Douglas MacMartin, a researcher at Cornell University.
“We know with 100% certainty that we can cool the planet,” he said in an interview. What’s still unclear, he added, is what happens next. Temperature, MacMartin said, is an indicator for a lot of climate effects. “What does it do to the strength of hurricanes?” he asked, “What does it do to agriculture production? What does it do to the risk of forest fires?”
Another institution funded by the National Science Foundation will analyze hundreds of simulations of aerosol injection, testing the effects on weather extremes around the world. One goal of the research is to look for a sweet spot: the amount of artificial cooling that can reduce extreme weather events without causing broader changes in regional rainfall patterns or similar impacts.
1. Why do researchers and government agencies work on cooling the earth?| A．To prevent natural disasters. | B．To win more time to reduce gas emissions. |
| C．To imitate volcanic eruptions. | D．To encourage more people to bur fossil fuels. |
| A．More volcanoes will throw out. |
| B．More solar energy will go into space. |
| C．More disasters will endanger the future of the world. |
| D．People will keep burning fossil fuels to keep warm. |
| A．He thinks more research remains to be done. |
| B．He is optimistic about the effect of cooling the earth. |
| C．He is concerned about the reduction in agriculture production. |
| D．He disapproves of the practice of solar climate intervention. |
| A．The rainfall pattern of a region. |
| B．The modest drop in temperature. |
| C．The number of extreme weather events. |
| D．The injection amount of aerosol. |
5 . Sometimes buying groceries can be an expensive thing. We go in, thinking that we won't be buying any big-expense item, and start picking up small items here and there, in fact, getting practically anything that comes to mind. As we reach the check-out counter, we can't believe the check, But it's too late to do anything by then. Here are a few money-saving tips to remember for the next time you go shopping for groceries.
Being prepared matters a lot when it comes to buying groceries. This means taking the trouble to come up with a list of things you need. Look around the house first and list down things as you go along. After you have your list, add up all the amounts and see if that's what you want to spend. If not, then cross out some items on the list.
Importantly: preparing a List is one thing, but following it to the letter is another. Make sure that once you're in the supermarket, you don't pick up things that aren't on your list. Remember, that's accurately why you came up with the list in the first place.
Choosing the best and most cost-effective store around is also important. Compare prices at different places. Compare quality. Check out the discounts that they are offering. At first glance, the prices of goods may differ by an insignificant value, but adding them all up can burn a hole in your pocket.
Here's another tip from my brother, Leonard. He often eats at home before heading to the grocery. Of course, you know why. Once you get there, there are just so many delicious-looking and fine-smelling treats all over the place that we can hardly resist.
Remember to use these tips to save money when you go to buy groceries.
1. Why do we feel shocked at the check-out counter?| A．We have to wait for long to check out. | B．We find we've spent too much money. |
| C．The goods we buy are more expensive. | D．It is too late for us to select more goods. |
| A．Refer to others' shopping lists. | B．List some unnecessary things. |
| C．Make a list based on your budget. | D．Cross out listed expensive goods. |
| A．Freely. | B．Secretly. | C．Strictly. | D．Traditionally. |
| A．To stress the importance of resisting spending. |
| B．To explain a theory related to commercial ads, |
| C．To show the effectiveness of money-saving tips. |
| D．To introduce a way to avoid blind consumption. |
6 . It was about a year ago when a positive change in a community started.
I was in fifth grade, and at the time I wrote a paper about the migration of the monarch butterfly and received a perfect score. I was so happy. I called my grandmother, Nana, to tell her the exciting news. All of my talk about monarchs evoked memories from Nana’s childhood. “I remember when I was a girl out on the farm,” she said, “those black and orange butterflies were a common sight. But there do seem to be fewer monarchs fluttering (翩翩飞舞) around the neighborhood each summer. Perhaps we should try to find out where they’ve gone.”
Nana and I decided to investigate.
That weekend, Nana met me at the public library and we started our research. Our research produced plenty of information. The best information was this: it doesn’t take lots of money, equipment (设备), or government organizations to save the monarch butterflies; it takes only a little bit of land, and dedicated (专心致志的) people to create what’s called a Monarch Waystation. When I read this, an idea came to mind. “What if we set up our own Monarch Waystation?” I suggested.
“We will need several people to help us!” she replied.
The next week, Nana presented the idea to her garden club; I talked to my friends and neighbors. Nana’s garden club decided to plant a butterfly garden next to the city park. The library put together a display of gardening and butterfly books. The editor of the local newspaper wrote an informative article on how to make our community monarch-friendly. As spring turned into summer, those volunteers also worked to weed (除杂草) and care for the public gardens. We all waited and watched to see whether our plan would work—it did work! Over twenty black and orange butterflies were noticed visiting the Waystations. As summer progressed, the monarchs grew more plentiful.
It happened on a day when the sun was shining and the sky was a deep blue. As monarchs fluttered around us, people laughed and danced; Nana cried tears of happiness. It was truly a meaningful experience.
1. What does the underlined word “evoked” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?| A．Made up. | B．Took away. |
| C．Showed off. | D．Brought back. |
| A．The author’s personal wish. |
| B．The beauty of the monarch butterfly. |
| C．The author’s good performance in school. |
| D．The drop in numbers of the monarch butterfly. |
| A．It should be built in a park. |
| B．It can be created and used easily. |
| C．It needs continued support from the government. |
| D．It is the best way to protect the monarch butterfly. |
| A．It caused the community to miss the past. |
| B．It organized the community around a purpose. |
| C．It taught the community to use the public library. |
| D．It informed the community about gardening practices. |
7 . Have you ever wondered what wild animals do when no one is watching?
Low cost, dependable and small modern cameras offered a big help. Cameras placed in hard-to-reach places have shot everything from small desert cats to larger snow-lowing cats in the northern Rocky Mountains. Scientists have been able to document the “private” moments of wildlife with leading technology.
Grant Harris is a government biologist with the United States Fish and Wildlife Service in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In his words, “there’s no doubt that these wild cameras are important tools to learn new information on wildlife.” Harris said some images help scientists see the influences of climate (气候) change.
Researchers with the Wyoming Migration Initiative, or WMI, are among those using wild cameras along with global positioning systems, or GPS. But WMI director Matthew Kauffman says as those devices (设备) are limited (有限的), so is the amount of information they can gather. However, cameras can be left in very wild areas for days, weeks or even months. They can provide information on how many animals are moving over a given period of time.
Putting those cameras in place requires careful planning. Wild video can show details about animal behavior. However, wild cameras have their problems too. Animals such as wolverines and bears sometimes attack (袭击) them. Scientists do not know if the attacks are the result of anger or interest. Also, the devices have become popular tools to help hunters look for animals. Some people argue that it is unfair to use the cameras that way.
Even with such problems, wild cameras are clearly an important scientific tool in researching wild animals.
1. What does the underlined word “document” in paragraph 2 mean?| A．Remind. | B．Enrich. | C．Produce. | D．Record. |
| A．They cannot be left in the wild over a long period. |
| B．They cannot be placed in hard-to-reach areas. |
| C．They provide limited information. |
| D．They might be stolen by people. |
| A．It is difficult to fix the cameras. |
| B．It helps hunters find animals easily. |
| C．It is hard to achieve careful planning. |
| D．It makes animals interested in the cameras. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Supporting. | C．Uncertain. | D．Uninterested. |
8 . On Scotland’s Isle of Skye, scientists have identified two areas with evidence of ancient life forms. They believe the markings are, in fact, footprints from dinosaurs that lived 170 million years ago. Those prints date to the middle of the Jurassic Period, a time from which few dinosaur fossils have been recovered. Researchers reported this month on their study of about 50 fossilized footprints at the two sites. The markings are just a few hundred meters apart from each other. They are said to show dinosaurs walking in different directions.
At least three kinds of dinosaurs left the footprints. Steve Brusatte, the leader of the research team, is a paleontologist with the University of Edinburgh. “The tracks are located on flat rocky surfaces near the beach, so they are only exposed at low tide," he said. “The tide laps across them, back and forth, every day. ”
One set of markings came from a two-legged, meat-eating dinosaur that researchers say was about the size of a car. They say its footprints have three toes. The creature, with sharp claws, appears to be from a group of dinosaurs called theropods. Bigger, three-toed footprints came from large-bodied, two-legged plant-eaters called ornithopods. The researchers are especially interested in markings left by another creature: an early member of a group of heavily built, four-legged plant-eaters called stegosaurs.
“I suspect this stegosaur was about the size of a cow, which is fairly small for a stegosaur. Whether that's because it's a primitive, smaller species or a juvenile of a bigger species, we're not sure," Brusatte said. The researchers noted that the findings were an important window into the many kinds of dinosaurs on the Isle of Skye. “Skye has emerged as one of the most important windows into Jurassic dinosaur evolution. We know that dinosaurs were diversifying with a frenzy in the Middle Jurassic, but there are few fossil sites of this age anywhere in the world," Brusatte added.
1. What do the "ancient life forms" refer to in the first paragraph?| A．Dinosaurs dating to the middle of the Jurassic Period. |
| B．Dinosaurs living far away from each other. |
| C．The fossilized footprints discovered this month. |
| D．The fossilized footprints discovered in the middle of the Jurassic Period. |
| A．leaves | B．swallows | C．touches | D．surpasses |
| A．The influence of the markings discovered in Skye. |
| B．The dinosaurs related to the footprints discovered in Skye. |
| C．The dinosaurs with different appearances. |
| D．The dinosaurs with different habitats. |
| A．The findings contribute to learning more about dinosaurs in Skye. |
| B．There are a few fossil sites in other places in the world. |
| C．There were a wide range of dinosaurs living in the area. |
| D．Skye plays an important part in Scotland. |
9 . Time spent in a bookshop can be most enjoyable, whether you are a book-lover or merely go there to buy a book as a present. You may even have entered the shop just to find shelter from a sudden shower. Whatever the reason, you can soon become totally unaware of your surroundings.
The desire to pick up a book with an attractive dust jacket is irresistible, although this method of selection ought not to be followed, as you might end up with a rather dull book.
You soon become interested in some book or other, and usually it is only much later that you realize you have spent far too much time there and must dash off to keep some forgotten appointment—without buying a book, of course.
This opportunity to escape the realities of everyday life is, I think, the main attraction of a bookshop. There are not many places where it is possible to do this. A music shop is very much like a bookshop. You can wander round such places to your heart’s content. If it is a good shop, no assistant will approach you with the inevitable greeting: “Can I help you, sir?” You needn’t buy anything you don’t want. In a bookshop an assistant should remain in the background until you have finished browsing. Then and only then, are his services necessary. Of course, you may want to find out where a particular section is, but when he has led you there, the assistant should retire discreetly and look as if he is not interested in selling a single book.
You have to be careful not to be attracted by the variety of books in a bookshop. It is very easy to enter the shop looking for a book on, say ancient coins and come out carrying a copy of the latest best-selling novel and perhaps a book about brass-rubbing-something which had only slightly interested you up till then. This volume of the subject, however, happened to be so well illustrated and the part of the text you read proved so interesting that you just had to buy it. This sort of thing can be very dangerous. Apart from running up a huge account, you can waste a great deal of time wandering from section to section.
1. The underlined phrase “dust jacket” means_______.| A．a kind of clothes | B．a paper cover of book |
| C．a dusty book | D．a title of a book |
| A．the dust jackets are very attractive |
| B．you start reading one of the books |
| C．it is raining outside |
| D．you have to make sure you won’t buy a dull book as a present |
| A．all the books there are interesting | B．the assistant greets you in a warm way |
| C．your heart is satisfied | D．you feel that you are in a music shop |
| A．The Attraction of Bookshops | B．How to Spend Your Time |
| C．Bookshops and Their Assistants | D．How to select Books? |
10 . As the novel coronavirus outbreak interrupts businesses and everyday life for billions around the globe, massive conferences have moved online. The new form creates numerous technical and organizational challenges, but it also offers opportunities-for reaching wider audiences, reducing the carbon footprint of meeting travel and improving diversity. For some meetings, the switch may be lasting.
The scientific community is “ making lemonade out of lemons,” an expert says. “ Scientists are making use of a situation that’s really quite horrible and providing people a way to connect.”
In many ways, virtual conferences offer a better experience, says Altman, associate director of the Stanford Institute for AI. Altman’s institute had planned an inperson conference in April, but COVID-19 forced organizers to change it. They threw together a virtual conference to discuss how AI can help scientists fight the ongoing pandemic (流行病).The event was a great success. The original conference would have drawn a few hundred attendees, but 30,000 people watched the online version.
Altman says the virtual environment allowed hosts to better control the flow of discussion and questions from the audience. By privately messaging one another behind the scenes, they were able to make adjustments (调整).During the audience question period, the hosts didn’t open up the virtual floor for anyone to speak. Instead, they asked the audience to type their questions and screen the most insightful (有深刻见解的)ones.
Scientists acknowledge that virtual conferences can’t completely replace the conference experience. Virtual meetings might lose some of their appeal once stay-at-home requirements loosen. Even so, the success of some scientists further strengthens the society’s march toward virtual meetings.
1. What does the underlined phrase “ making lemonade out of lemons” refer to?| A．Working tirelessly to fight the pandemic. |
| B．Taking advantage of the difficult situation. |
| C．Doing research on how to make lemonade. |
| D．Committing themselves to their conferences. |
| A．A larger audience. |
| B．Better arrangement. |
| C．Environmental friendliness. |
| D．Beating the ongoing pandemic. |
| A．Provide some advice for the hosts. |
| B．Summarize the previous paragraphs. |
| C．Introduce a new topic for the audience. |
| D．List some advantages of virtual conferences. |
| A．Business. | B．Opinion. | C．Culture. | D．Travel. |
