2 . European researchers say they have created a process that can produce oxygen from moon dust. The process could provide a major source of oxygen for humans taking part in moon exploration activities in the future.

Researchers from the European Space Agency, or ESA, carried out the experiments at a laboratory in the Netherlands. They reported their results in a study published in Planetary and Space Science.

The team says ESA’s experimental “plant” was able to successfully produce oxygen from simulated moon dust. The dust is part of a material known as regolith (月壤)，a top layer of dirt and rock pieces that sit on the surface of the moon.

Samples of regolith from the moon have confirmed that the material contains about 45 percent oxygen by weight. However, the oxygen is chemically locked in the form of minerals or glass, so it is not easily available for use. Having real samples of regolith from the moon made it possible for the researchers to create the simulated moon dust material used during testing.

The oxygen extraction (提取)process is carried out using a method called molten salt electrolysis (熔盐电解). This involves first placing the regolith in a metal container. Calcium chloride salt is added to the mixture, which is then heated to 950 degrees Celsius. At this temperature, the regolith remains solid. Next, an electrical current                                               is passed through the material. The researchers say it is this step that results in oxygen being extracted from the regolith. The study reported that up to 96 percent of oxygen in the simulated moon dust was extracted during                                               the experiments.

ESA’s long-term   goal is to design an oxygen -producing “pilot plant” to operate full-time on the moon. The first technology demonstration of the system is expected to take place in the middle of 2020s.

The researchers reported that “as a bonus”，the process also results in the production of usable metallic materials.

1. What can benefit from the process?

A．The treatment of some patients.	B．The environment of the moon.
C．Future moon exploration activities.	D．Future experiment in the laboratory.

2. Why is oxygen in the regolith hard to use?

A．It exists in the form of solid.

B．It only exists on the surface.

C．It is mixed with other materials.

D．It is locked in a metal container.

3. What step makes oxygen extracted from the regolith?

A．Adding calcium chloride salt to the mixture.

B．Placing the regolith in a metal container.

C．Passing an electrical current through the material.

D．Heating the metal container to 950 degrees Celsius.

4. What does the underlined word “simulated” in Paragraph 4 most probably mean?

A．Mixed.

B．Copied.

C．Exposed.

D．Abandoned.

3 . It can be easy to brush off certain events as small matters that don’t require attention— but when the safety of dozens of airplane passengers was on the tine, this NASA engineer decided to speak up.

Rumaasha Maasha was preparing to fly from Huntsville to Colorado back in January when he spotted a liquid leak from his window seat on the wing.

“Normally, if it’s a wet day, you’ll see vortices (旋涡) off the wing. About 1,000 feet off the ground, I started seeing something white and thought, ‘maybe we’re just hitting some humidity (湿气).’ Well, after a while it was still doing it, and that’s when I knew something was up. I looked closer and immediately realized that we were losing fuel.” Maasha also knew that as the plane increased in altitude, the situation would got worse.

“I gestured the flight attendant to come over and fortunately she was very attentive,” he said. “She called the crew and the key thing is that she did this as we were still climbing out. Within a minute or two, they reduced speed and leveled off. The fuel leak diminished immediately when they slowed down.”

Much to the anger of the passengers, the plane returned to the Huntsville airport, but upon finding out the reason for the return—and the hero behind it—some of the passengers made friends with Maasha.

Maasha’s experience with NASA wasn’t the only thing that came in handy that day, the engineer first fell in love with aviation (航空) as a teenager growing up near an airport in Monrovia, Liberia. “Looking back, I guess I had the perfect sets of circumstances to recognize the issue that day,” he said. “Since I was a kid, I’ve always tried to sit in a window seat near the wing, and as I grew up, I am determined to run after my dream during my university years. That’s not the first time I’ve noticed something. I’m sure it won’t be the last.”

1. When did Maasha realize something went wrong?

A．Before the plane started to fly.

B．When the white thing continued to leak.

C．After he settled on his window seat.

D．When he first noticed the liquid.

2. What does the underlined word “diminished” mean in paragraph 4?

A．Worsened.

B．Decreased.

C．Occurred.

D．Continued.

3. What played a major role in Maasha’s brave action?

A．His birth place and home location.

B．His university years and honesty.

C．His childhood education and seat choice.

D．His working experience and personal interest.

4. What can be a suitable title for the text?

A．A Childhood Dream Has Come True

B．Fluid Leaking Happened to a Jet

C．A NASA Engineer Saved Passengers

D．Passengers Feel Grateful to an Engineer

4 . If you visit Uluwatu temple in Bali, be cautious. The long-tailed temple monkeys there are well-known thieves. Since a long time ago, they have made a living by robbing visitors of their possessions and then holding those objects until a ransom in the form of food is paid. But Jean-Baptiste Leca of the University of Lethbridge, in Canada, wondered whether these monkeys are cleverer still. Sometimes, they do not accept the first offer and hold out for more. He therefore asked himself whether they are able to assess how valuable an object is to its owner, and factor that into their negotiations.

Dr. Leca and his colleagues conducted their experiment by wandering around the temple with video cameras, recording the activities of the monkeys. Every time they saw a monkey show interest in a particular tourist? they recorded the interaction. To work out what was going on, they had first to establish the relative values of food rewards to monkeys, and of stealable objects to people.

To confirm which stealable objects are most valued by people, they divided them into six classes: empty containers, such as phone cases and plastic bottles; accessories (搭配物) such as hairpins and key rings; hats and shoes; spectacles and sunglasses; and electronics and wallets. They then observed how often victims bothered to bargain with the thief for the return of property belonging to different classes, and thus classified objects into low value, medium value and high value.

They found that monkeys do, indeed, have a complicated sense of what they are doing — at least, adults and sub-adults do. These animals have a preference for stealing high-value items, and will often hold out either for more rewards, or for better ones, if they are in possession of such items. But this is something that they have to learn how to do as they grow up. Young monkeys make no such distinctions, and sub-adults are less good at doing so than adults.

1. What is the purpose of Leca's research?

A．To prove monkeys are cleverer than men.

B．To find out what is valuable for monkeys.

C．To record the negotiations between monkeys.

D．To make sure monkeys can judge item values.

2. What does the underlined word "ransom" in Paragraph 1 mean?

A．Bilk.

B．Reward.

C．Tax.

D．Rent.

3. How are the values of objects classified in Paragraph 3?

A．By the material of objects.	B．By the preference of victims.
C．By the buying price of objects,	D．By the frequency of bargaining.

4. What can we infer from the last paragraph?

A．Young monkeys can evaluate items.	B．All monkeys prefer high-value items,
C．Monkeys have a simple sense of acts.	D．Monkeys' stealing is an acquired skill.

5 . As people get older, the types of friends they have tend to change. As young adults, humans have a lot of friends. With age, they often prefer to spend their time with just a few close, positive individuals. Researchers long believed that this change was unique to humans, but a new study finds that chimps also have similar tendencies.

One explanation for the humans to get picky about social connections has to do with awareness of our limited life span. “People monitor how much time we have left in our life and choose emotionally-fulfilling relationships in old age,” says one of the study's lead authors Alexandra G. Rosati, a psychologist at the University of Michigan. As people age, they don’t want to be surrounded by a large group of negative friends, but would prefer to be near a handful of optimistic individuals.

Rosati and her colleagues were curious whether chimps would show similar features even though they don’t seem to be aware of their upcoming death. Researchers used 78, 000 hours of observations made over 20 years from the Kibale Chimpanzee Project in Uganda. The data looked at the social interactions of 21 male chimps between 15 and 58 years old. The researchers only studied male chimps because they show stronger social bonds and have more social interactions than female chimps.

Researchers found that wild chimpanzees share a similar pattern. “They interact with others in more positive ways as they get older. Younger adults, in contrast, show more aggression and were more likely to form one-sided relationships where their partner did not reciprocate. ”says Rosati. For example, the older chimpanzees would sit close to their long-time companions and groom (给……梳毛) each other, while younger chimps had more one-sided relationships where they would groom a friend, but the action wasn't returned. The study was published in the journal Science.

“This aging pattern may be the result of shared changes in our abilities to manage our emotions with age,” Rosati says. “This shared pattern between chimpanzees and humans could represent an adaptive response where older adults focus on important social relationships that provide benefits and avoid interactions that have negative consequences as they lose competitive fighting ability.”

1. Why do humans change their preference for friends in old age?

A．They don’t like making new friends.

B．Their friends pass away one by one.

C．They adapt to the changes in nature.

D．They know their life is running out.

2. What is the purpose of Paragraph 3?

A．To show the study was done scientifically.

B．To show how scientists tried to prove their assumption.

C．To show how hard it was to observe the chimps.

D．To show male chimps are unaware of upcoming death.

3. What does the underlined word “reciprocate” in Paragraph 4 mean?

A．Repay their kindness.	B．Take care of them.
C．Get along well with them.	D．Sit close to them.

4. Which can be a suitable title for the text?

A．People Prefer Positive Partners in Old Age

B．Positive Bonds Benefit Chimps in Many Ways

C．Aging Chimps like Us Get Picky About Friends

D．Chimps Share Similar Tendencies with Humans

6 . When homework and tests keep you up late at night, you may plan to make up for your lost sleep during the weekends. But is it useful?

A study published in the journal Current Biology shows that the habit of sleeping in on weekends doesn’t fix the damage that has been done by a lack of sleep during the week. Even worse, it may damage your health.

In the study, which was conducted over 10 days, 36 healthy young men and women with different sleep requirements were divided into three groups. The first group were asked to sleep nine hours a night and the second group five hours a night. The members of the third group slept for five hours on weekdays but rested as long as they wanted on the weekend.

The researchers found that people who lacked sleep ate more snacks and gained weight quickly. However, this wasn’t the case for the first group.

That could be partially due to the shifting of the biological clock and changes to certain body hormones, especially hunger hormones. In order to catch up on their sleep during weekends, people in the third group would eat later as a habit. So their biological clocks shifted, which also changed the production of hunger hormones.

“The hormone leptin(瘦素) decreases appetite(胃口), while the hormone ghrelin(饿素) increases appetite,” explained US researcher Vsevolod Polotsky. “Sleep shortage causes leptin to drop and ghrelin to rise, so you’re hungry and eat more.”

And even if they tried to sleep for as long as they wanted to during weekends, according to researchers, it was still not enough because they found it difficult to fall asleep.

Moreover, short and insufficient sleep schedules will lead to an inability to change blood sugar and increase the risk of metabolic(新陈代谢) disease in the long term.

1. Which of the following is true about the study?

A．Participants were divided into two groups.

B．Researchers studied 36 children and adults.

C．It lasted for more than two weeks.

D．Each group follow different sleep requirements.

2. What does the underlined word “shifting” in Paragraph 5 probably mean?

A．increasing

B．lacking

C．changing

D．shortening

3. Why may people without enough sleep eat more?

A．They need to create more energy.

B．There is less leptin in their bodies.

C．They have a lower blood sugar.

D．Their bodies produce less hormones.

4. What can be a suitable title for this passage?

A．Appetite Affects our Sleep Quality

B．Sleeping in Causes Weight Loss

C．Catching up on Sleep Harms Our Body

D．Men and Women Sleep Differently

7 . A 15-year-old Indian girl, Kumari, who pedalled her injured father more than a thousand kilometres across India, has been invited to try out for the national cycling team.

In January, a motor-bike driver, Mohan Paswan, who made a living by carrying passengers in New Delhi, was injured in a traffic accident. After the accident, Paswan couldn't drive. So his daughter, Kumari took a train across the country to take care of him. But without income, Paswan could no longer afford the rent and they were running out of food. They decided to go home. With the last $20, the 15-year-old girl bought an old bicycle, and planned to take her father to their home village across India --- in a heroic, life-saving ride.

Kumari rode a bicycle with her father, sitting on the pillion(后座)and holding their belongings from Gurugram city, near New Delhi, to their village in the northeastern state of Bihar. They arrived home on May 16 after covering 1,200 kilometres (745 miles) in seven days.

The father and daughter's arduous journey on a second-hand bike bought with their remaining funds made headlines. It also caught the attention of the Cycling Federation of India, which offered Kumari the chance to try out for the country's team. "She covered this long and difficult distance in seven days with her father and some luggage too. I thought she has something in her endurance level. We can try her," chairman Onkar Singh told the journalist.

“She said she only wants to pursue her studies. We told her that we also take care of studies at our academies. Singh said the federation would test Kumari to see if she is suitable for competitive cycling.

There were also other people who praised Kumari's efforts, describing it as a "'beautiful model of endurance and love."

1. What made Kumari have to ride a bike back home?

A．That her father was injured.

B．That she could only afford a bike.

C．That her home village was far away.

D．That she wanted to join in the cycling race.

2. Which can best explain the underlined word "arduous " in paragraph 4?

A．dangerous

B．lovely

C．pleasant

D．tough

3. Why did Onkar Singh invite Kumari to try out for the national cycling team?

A．Because she has extraordinary physical ability.

B．Because he didn't have anyone better than her.

C．Because she only wants to pursue her studies.

D．Because she is suitable for competitive cycling.

4. What can best describe Kumari according to the passage?

A．strong and caring	B．positive and confident
C．warm-hearted and brave	D．hard-working and beautiful

8 . While orcas are known for their well-designed joint attacks on unsuspecting oceanic animals, they have never posed a threat to humans. However, since July 2020, the normally social animals have been intentionally attacking sailboats off the coasts of Spain. The unusual hostility is puzzling scientists worldwide.

The strange behavior first surfaced on July 29, when Victoria Morris, a biology graduate, noticed nine orcas circling the 46 foot boat she was crewing near the shores of the Strait of Gibraltar. She was initially cheerful to see the friendly animals, with which she had numerous encounters while teaching sailing in New Zealand. However, that changed when the orcas started striking the boat repeatedly for almost an hour. “They almost turned the boat over and the deafening noise was terrifying,” she said.

The continuous attacks broke the boat's automatic rudder, leaving the boat disabled. Spanish biologist Rocio Espada says, “It is crazy. I've seen these whales grow from babies. I know their life stories. I've never seen or heard of attacks.”

Since then, over 30 more similar incidents have been reported. Some researchers believe the orcas' unusual behavior could be a result of the overfishing of tuna—orcas' primary food source—which has left the area's orcas starving and unable to feed their babies. “I saw orcas look at boats carrying fish. The intelligent animals may know humans are somehow related to food shortages,” says Ken Balcomb, an American scientist.

However, Alfredo Lopez a Spanish biology professor, thinks the attacks were preventative measures the orcas adopted to protect themselves against boat injuries. The researcher came to this conclusion after looking at the footage of a few incidents filmed on the scene and noticing that two of the young orcas involved had serious injuries. The scientist wasn't sure if the orcas were hurt during or before the recent boat encounters. Lopez said, “Our interpretation is that they don't have the slightest intention of attacking people.” Hopefully, the experts will find a way to restore the harmony between the animals and humans soon.

1. What does the underlined word “hostility” in paragraph 1 mean?

A．Unfriendliness.

B．Defence.

C．Cooperation.

D．Impatience.

2. What do we know about Victoria Morris?

A．Her major led her to anticipate orcas' intense attacks.

B．She rarely spotted orcas when working as a sailing coach.

C．Her joy gave way to fear after the orcas began attacking the boat.

D．She was doing research on the shore when she caught sight of nine orcas.

3. What did Rocio Espada think of the orcas' behavior of attacking humans?

A．Predictable.

B．Abnormal.

C．Unavoidable.

D．Natural.

4. Which of the following may Alfredo Lopez agree with?

A．Orcas frequently get hurt by boats.	B．Orcas enjoy playing tricks on humans.
C．Orcas are punishing humans for overfishing.	D．Orcas attack boats to safeguard against dangers.

9 . 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

2. Hundreds of people phoned Professor Sabbatucci because they 　　　.

A．wanted to make fun of him	B．hoped to get the money
C．knew who the robber was	D．lost the lottery ticket

3. How did the robber feel when the victim wanted to find him?

A．Excited.	B．Frightened.
C．Ashamed.	D．Incredible.

4. The underlined word “spurning” in the last sentence can be replaced by 　　　.

A．accepting	B．claiming
C．rejecting	D．cancelling

5. If the story appears in a newspaper,the best title might be 　　　.

A．A Thief’s Lucky Day	B．A Popular Maths Professor
C．A Magic Lottery	D．A Reward of Honesty

10 . The first thing we notice about new people are their faces. The next time we see these people, we remember them because we remember their faces. This seems like a simple process. However, scientists found that it is not such a simple process. The section of the brain that is responsible for face recognition seems to work differently for different people. Some people have great difficulty remembering and recognizing faces, while others almost never forget a face.

Normal babies are born with a natural ability to recognize faces. In fact, their face recognition abilities are much better than their parents. Babies are highly skilled at face recognition at six months. But by nine months, they lose this skill, By nine months, a baby’s face-recognition skills are about the same as an adult’s.

Unfortunately, some people are not born with this ability to recognize faces. The part of the brain that is responsible for face recognition doesn’t work for them. This condition is called face blindness. People with very severe face blindness cannot even recognize their own faces. In fact, people with this condition can sometimes be frightened when they look in the mirror. They don’t recognize their own face, so for a second they are startled when they see this unfamiliar face.

Face blindness is not always severe. Scientists believe up to 10 percent of the population may be affected by face blindness to some degree, yet many people with mild face blindness might not even know they have it. They have no reason to know they are different from anyone else until someone points it out. This is similar to people with color blindness.

Colorblind people can’t see the difference between certain colors such as red and green, until someone tells them that green and red are two different colors.

There is no cure for face blindness. So for the time being. people with face blindness need to find simple techniques to compensate for their problem. They can try to recognize people by their hairstyle, their voice, or their glasses. Hopefully, in the future as scientists learn more about this condition, they will find a cure.

1. The first paragraph is mainly about ____________.

A．the way to improve one’s face-recognition skills

B．the fact that some people have face-recognition problems

C．the simple process of the brain to recognize others’ faces

D．the importance of face recognition in human communication

2. When do people have the keen skills of face-recognition?

A．At birth.	B．In adolescence.
C．Half a year old.	D．Nine months old.

3. The bold word “startled” in the 3rd paragraph is closes in meaning to _______________.

A．confused	B．surprised
C．excited	D．depressed

4. What does the author think of the problem of face blindness?

A．People need to take it seriously.	B．It affects a great number of people.
C．It can be cured in the near future.	D．Certain techniques can make up for it.