1 . Fu Cong, a Chinese-born pianist, died on Monday at a hospital in London, where he had lived for many years.
A lover of classical music from a young age, Mr. Fu began taking piano lessons when he was 7. He 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. Fu 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 hard that he hurt his fingers and was nearly cut from the first round of the competition.
Mr. Fu was one of the first Chinese pianists to achieve global fame when he took 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. Almost overnight, he became a national hero. To China, Mr. Fu's recognition in a well-known international competition was evidence that the country could stand on its own artistically in the West. Chinese reporters came to interview Mr. Fu, while many others went to his father, Fu Lei, for advice on child-raising.
In 1981, a volume of letters written by his father, 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 (引起共鸣) 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. Fu Cong 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 is paragraph 2 mainly about?| A．Fu Cong's achievements in music. | B．Fu Cong's stage performances. |
| C．Fu Cong's experiences of learning music. | D．Fu Cong’s efforts for competitions. |
| A．It earns Chinese arts a place in the West. |
| B．It promotes the spread of Chinese culture. |
| C．It proves Chinese people's love for music. |
| D．It enables Chinese art education to be recognized. |
| A．Fu Lei's Family Letters. | B．Young people of China. |
| C．Fu Cong and his family. | D．Readers of Fu Lei's Family Letters. |
| A．It's easy to be an artist. |
| B．It requires various qualities to be a pianist. |
| C．Everyone should develop an interest in art. |
| D．Talent is of greatest importance for a pianist. |
2 . A recent study suggests that vitamin D pills can help speed up the time taken for burns to heal, and prevent scarring(结疤). The vitamin, which is produced naturally in the body when the skin is exposed to sunshine, is believed to help protect against burning.
Previous studies have shown that vitamin D pills help decrease redness and swelling after sunburn, and may be one of the reasons why the body produces the chemical.
The research from Birmingham University, has found they may also help relieve other types of burn. Researchers monitored 38 patients who had suffered serious burns for a year and recorded their levels of vitamin D. They found that those with the highest levels of vitamin D had better wound healing and fewer scars.
Professor Janet Lord said: “Low vitamin D levels were associated with worse results in burn patients including life-threatening infections(感染),death and delayed wound healing. Major burn injury severely reduces vitamin D levels and adding this vitamin back may be a simple, safe and cost-effective way to improve the condition for burn patients.” Professor Lord and her team are now focusing on finding out why there is a rapid loss of vitamin D in patients immediately following burn injury and hope that they may be able to prevent this in future.
The amount of reduction in patients’ vitamin D levels was not related to the severity(严重程度) of the burn, so levels may also be decreased in minor burn injury, suggesting taking vitamin D pills could also help people with everyday burns. Public Health England now recommends that all Britons take vitamin D pills in the winter because it is impossible to make sufficient quantities in the darker months.
1. What does the new study find?| A．People with low vitamin D levels get burned easily. |
| B．Vitamin D helps with the recovery from burn injury. |
| C．Vitamin D pills aid in reducing the swelling from burns. |
| D．Vitamin D is more beneficial to serious burns than minor burns. |
| A．The severity of one's burn reflects his vitamin D levels. |
| B．Vitamin D pills are more needed in the autumn months. |
| C．Burn patients lacking vitamin D are at high risk of infection. |
| D．Minor burns have no effect on patients’ vitamin D levels. |
| A．The researchers. | B．Vitamin D pills. |
| C．Previous studies. | D．Some kinds of vitamins. |
| A．Vitamin D: A Necessity for Our Health |
| B．Vitamin D Pills: When Are They Needed? |
| C．Vitamin D: How Much Does the Body Need? |
| D．Vitamin D Pills: Heal Burns &. Prevent Scarring |
3 . The twilight zone (朦胧地带) contains the largest and least explored fish stocks (储备) of the world’s oceans. Ranging from just below 200 metres to 1,000 metres deep, it is an interface between the well-studied sea life in the sunlit zone above and the ecosystems of the darkest territory below. It has a major role in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it for centuries or longer. The twilight zone is also known to the largest migration on Earth. Huge numbers of fishes and zooplankton (浮游动物) move hundreds of metres towards the surface each night to feed, before withdrawing back down at dawn.
Yet the zone is poorly understood — physically, biogeochemically and ecologically. Even the number of organisms that live there remains a mystery, let alone their diversity and function.
It is alarming, then, that this vast ocean domain is at risk in three ways-even before any of the potential consequences are understood. First, the world’s growing population has an increasing need for food. Second, sea-floor mining for minerals and metals could release waste into the region. And third, climate change is varying temperature, acidification and oxygen levels in ways that are likely to affect life there.
The twilight zone is hard Io study. Its organisms are difficult to sample and analyse, being thinly distributed, almost invisible and often fragile. They also live at pressures of up to 100 atmospheres, which poses problems for laboratory-based investigations.
Critics might argue that walers near coasts and above shelves are more deserving of study, given the huge environmental pressures there, as well as their importance to societies. And, of course, they need attention. Sadly, however, it is too late to avoid widespread environmental damage to these inshore regions. Instead, research efforts and local policies must aim at minimizing the worst effects.
By contrast, the twilight zone is almost left in its original condition. Moreover, the majority of it lies beyond national administration. This makes it of common interest and responsibility, and means that global agreement is necessary to manage it.
1. What can we learn about the twilight zone?| A．It has the least fish stocks. |
| B．It reduces atmosphere’s carbon dioxide. |
| C．It lies at the bottom of sea. |
| D．Il is located above the sunlit zone. |
| A．Where global warming leads us. |
| B．Why high food consumption arises. |
| C．How the twilight zone is threatened. |
| D．What impacts pollution has on ocean. |
| A．The twilight zone. | B．The inshore area. |
| C．Its original condition. | D．National administration. |
| A．International cooperation is essential. |
| B．Inshore regions deserve more attention. |
| C．Global agreement has been reached. |
| D．Study on the twilight zone is out of the question. |
4 . Did you know it’s possible to swim with whales in the ocean while lying on a hospital bed? Have you imagined experiencing your 74th birthday as a 20-something? Medical virtual reality is an area with interesting an attractive possibilities. Although the field is brand new, there are already great examples of VR having a positive effect on health care. Here are some.
Have you ever lain down on a hospital bed counting the days until you leave the hospital? Brennan Spiegel and his team at the Cedarssinai hospital in Los Angeles introduced VR worlds to their patients to help them reduce stress and pain. With the special glasses, they could escape the four walls of the hospital and enjoy amazing scenery in part in the work of an art studio or swim together with whales in the ocean. So the hospital experience is improved.
As we know, the experience in a hospital is even more stressful for small children who miss their parents and friends. Now, a Dutch company made their dream possible. Through a smart and virtual glasses, VisitU makes live contact possible with a 360-degree camera at the patients’ home, school or special occasions like a birthday celebration or a football game. Though staying in hospital, young patients can relax and still enjoy their lives.
Did you wonder what it feels like to grow old? Embodied Labs created “We Are Alfred” by using VR to show young medical students what ageing means. Everyone can be the imagined Alfred for 7 minutes, and experience what it feels like to live as a 74-year-old man. Thus it's possible to solve the disconnection between young doctors and elderly patients due to their huge age difference.
Mindmotionpro, produced by the Swiss Mindmaze allows patients with a brain injury to “practice” how to lift their arms or move their fingers with the help of virtual reality. The app makes the practice of repetitive movements fun for patients. The mental effort helps their damaged nervous systems to recover much faster than lying helplessly in bed.
1. What is implied in the questions raised in paragraph 1?| A．The characters of medical VR. | B．The function of medical VR. |
| C．The popularity of medical VR. | D．The imagination about medical VR. |
| A．Being given a smart phone. | B．Having fun in the hospital. |
| C．Having access to various activities. | D．Being together with familiar people. |
| A．To make doctors trust their patients |
| B．To help young doctors know much about elderly patients . |
| C．To increase doctors’ interest in their work . |
| D．To help doctors experience the life of an elder. |
| A．Spiegel’ special glasses. | B．The application of VisitU. |
| C．The use of MindMotionPro. | D．The creation of “We Are Alfred”. |
5 . Tiny as they are, bats have the ability to "see" in the dark by using a special skill called echolocation(回声定位法）. They make noises and wait for sound waves, or an echo, to bounce back off objects. They can tell the distance of various objects by how quickly, the sound waves bounce back off them. If no sound bounces back, they can then fly forward.
This special ability has been copied in the human world for a long time，such as in submarines and planes. But apart from helping vehicles “see” where they are, what if blind people could use echolocation for themselves? American Daniel Kish. who is blind, 1s known as "batman. " This isn't because he walks around in a cape(披风) and a mask, but because he has a bat-like ability to locate where he is through sharp clicks he makes by moving his tongue against the roof of his mouth. Kish is so skilled at echolocating that he can ride a bike and hike on his own.
Recently, a research carried out at the University of Durham in England shed some light on the power of human echolocation. Kish, as well as other volunteers, worked with a group of scientists who studied the way blind people listen to the echoes that they produce from clicks. The team found that people were capable of hearing even very faint echoes, ones far fainter than had been previously thought.
Lore Thaler, lead scientist of the group, said, "We found that in some conditions, they were really faint-about 95 percent softer than the actual clicks, but the echolocators were still able to sense this."
Andrew Kolarik, another expert in echolocation, told BBC News that echolocation “can be very useful at providing information at face or chest height” and could help people “avoid objects like low hanging branches that might not get detected by the cane or a guide dog".
According to BBC News, echolocation is a skill blind people can acquire and develop, just like learning a language. As Kolarik said, "Teaching echolocation skills could provide blind people with the means of exploring new places. "
1. What does "this special ability" in Paragraph 2 refer to?| A．The ability to make noises in the dark. |
| B．The ability to bounce back off objects. |
| C．The ability to measure the distance quickly. |
| D．The ability to use sound waves to echolocate. |
| A．He is fond of riding a bike and hiking alone. |
| B．He is able to hear echoes he produces from clicks. |
| C．He is called "Batman” because he looks like a bat. |
| D．He conducted the experiment to circulate echolocation. |
| A．Ambiguous. | B．Hopeful. | C．Tolerant. | D．Doubtful. |
| A．Echolocation in Human World. | B．A Very Special Batman. |
| C．Finding New Way to “See”. | D．A Breakthrough in echoing. |
6 . My challenge for you is this: to read a book for 15 minutes every single day for a month.
Let me explain a bit, by telling you where the challenge came from. I have many things in common with my dad, like music taste and sense of humor, but sadly reading isn’t one of them. I can happily spend a whole day with a book, but my dad can’t read a book for longer than about 5 minutes. He reads emails, websites and papers for work, but not books. He’s busy, so I think sitting down to read for just 15 minutes a day is a good way to relax and to introduce him to reading.
My dad is not the only person who avoids books. I know lots of people would rather relax on their computers or in front of the TV. Everyone is different and has their own interests, but I think there are lots of benefits to reading, which screen-based activities don’t have.
Firstly, it’s better for your eyes. Looking at screens can be very stressful for your eye muscles, and clearly you should avoid looking at screens for an hour before bed, to get a good night’s sleep.
One thing I personally love reading, is being transported to another world—I often forget the time or things around me! Reading is a great way to switch off before you go to bed, because you think more about the world of the book, rather than the real world, so you can truly relax. I know you can be transported to a different world in a film or a TV show, but I think books do it better.
I also enjoy hearing what people are doing and finding out what they think. Reading gives me the chance to get to know hundreds of new people! It also teaches you to see things from other people’s point of view, and understand other people’s decisions or opinions. With a book, you can hear everything a character is thinking or feeling—you really can be inside someone else’s head!
So give it a go! Take 15 minutes when you are waking up, going to bed, eating lunch, or having a coffee. If you read a lot, why not try 15 minutes of an English book, or pass the challenge on to someone else? Good luck, and happy reading!
1. The author writes the text mainly basing on .| A．his personal experience | B．some scientific experiments |
| C．his father’s personal advice | D．knowledge from books |
| A．helping readers sleep well | B．making readers feel relaxed |
| C．transporting readers to a different world | D．reminding readers of the real world |
| A．Negative. | B．Uncertain. | C．Supportive. | D．Doubtful. |
7 . Call it a mobility system or a wheelchair—it can be seen at the Tokyo airport moving on its own.It is helping with social distancing while fighting the spread of the coronavirus. It also helps older passengers and those who otherwise need assistance walking the last few steps to the boarding gate.
The mobility system seats one person and runs on its own without hitting anything. It has a pre-programmed path of about 600 meters at Tokyo's Haneda International Airport. It was shown on Monday by WHILL, the company behind the technology.
WHILL Chief Executive Satoshi Sugie said robotics and self-driving technology reduce the need for a human at the wheel. They are good for these times of "living with" coronavirus. The ride lasts several minutes. It travels from the security area to the boarding gate at a speed of 3.5 kilometers per hour. But many people hope the technology can help in other places, such as hospitals or parks. The technology uses sensors and cameras to see a clear path and avoid hitting those walking toward it. It could also help Japan free up laborers. Japan, like many other nations, suffers from a labor shortage. The technology could free a worker to do another job.
Tests have been carried out at several airports since last year, including John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York. The company hopes to put it in airports around the world.
The person on the machine can start or stop it through a simple controller .It runs on batteries and is programmed to return to where it started when its passenger gets off Anyone needing help walking long distances can use it at Terminal One at Haneda airport. It is called the "last-mile mobility, says WHILL.
1. What do we know about the mobility system?| A．It can seat more than one person. | B．It runs with the assistance of a controller. |
| C．It helps older passengers to the boarding gate. | D．It has a flexible path of about 600 meters. |
| A．Humans at the wheel. | B．The needs for human beings. |
| C．These times of "living with" coronavirus. | D．Robotics and self-driving technology. |
| A．Sensors and cameras. | B．The speed of the machine. |
| C．The path of the ride. | D．The distance of the ride. |
| A．The system runs completely on its own. |
| B．The system has been put into use in the US. |
| C．WHILL will continue to test the system in airports worldwide. |
| D．The system is controlled by a passenger to return to the start. |
8 . There are many places to go on safari in Africa, but riding a horse through the flooded waters of Botswana’s Okavango Delta must be one of the world’ most exciting wildlife journeys.
Several safari camps operate as the base for this adventure(冒险经历), providing rides twice a day to go deep into the delta. The camps have excellent horses, guides and lots of support workers. They are famous for providing a great riding experience.
The morning ride, when the guides take you to beautiful, shallow lakes, is more active. It is unlike any other riding experience. With rainbows forming in the splashing water around you and the sound of huge drops of water bouncing off your body and face, it is truly exciting. You are very likely to come across large wild animals, too. On horseback it is possible to get quite close to elephants, giraffes and many other animals. The sense of excitement and nervousness rise suddenly though, as does your heartbeat, as you move closer to them.
In the evening, rides are usually at a less exciting and unhurried pace, with golden light streaming across the grassy delta and the animals coming out to eat and drink. Though they are peaceful and slow, rides at this time of day are still unforgettable. As the sun’s rays pass through the dust kicked up by the horses, the romance of Africa comes to life.
Back at the camp you can kick off your boots and enjoy excellent food and wine. Looking back on your day, you will find that a horseback Safari is as close as you will ever come to answering the call of the wild.
1. What does the underlined word “They” refer to?| A．Flooded waters | B．Safari camps |
| C．Wildlife journey | D．Special rides |
| A．Seeing and feeling the real African life. |
| B．Enjoying good food and wine at the camp. |
| C．Hunting large animals just as our ancestors did. |
| D．Being part of the scene and getting close to animals. |
| A．wild | B．relaxed |
| C．fast | D．active |
| A．Following time order | B．Following space order |
| C．Giving answering questions | D．Giving examples |
9 . Hearing loss is unavoidable,but listening to loud music when you’ re younger can make it worse. To reduce your risk of hearing loss via loud music,learn why and how it can cause hearing loss,and just how loud is too loud.
Hearing loss occurs in four ways:conductive hearing loss,sensorineural hearing loss,mixed hearing loss and auditory neuropathy spectrum disorder. Noise-induced(噪音诱发的)hearing loss is a type of sensorineural hearing loss.
Sensorineural hearing loss occurs when your inner ear becomes damaged. In the case of noise induced hearing loss,most of the damage affects the cells of tiny sensory hairs in your inner ear.
When those cells get damaged or die,the electrical signal that your auditory nerve sends to your brain changes.
Noise-induced hearing loss can be acute or severe,and it can be temporary or permanent. You might be familiar with acute temporary noise-induced hearing loss,even if you didn’t realize what was happening at the time.
Acute temporary noise-induced hearing loss can occur from attending a loud concert or sporting event,going to a gun range without earmuffs or being near an explosion. It can make noises sound “stuffy”or far away,especially when talking on the phone or in a crowded room. Repeated exposure to those loud situations can eventually lead to permanent hearing loss.
Noise levels from earbuds and headphones can get as loud as 139 decibels,according to the journal Noise &Health,far greater than the recommended range of everyday sound exposure,which is 60 to 85 decibels. And the average level of noise from headphones,with the volume turned all the way up,is 94 to 110 decibels. For context, 60 decibels is about the volume of an average conversation,and 130 decibels is about the noise level of a rock concert. 85 decibels is considered the maxi- mum volume at which you can listen to sound for eight hours without damaging your hearing. So if you were to listen to music from your headphones for eight hours a day,listening at a volume louder than 85 decibels can cause permanent damage to your ears.
Unfortunately,the relationship between decibels and time isn’t linear. For every three decibels,safe exposure time gets cut in half,according to the CDC. At 88 decibels,you can only safely listen for four hours;at 91 decibels,just two hours.
1. What does the underlined word”it”in Paragraph One refer to?| A．Hearing loss. | B．Listening to loud music. | C．Risk. | D．Loud music. |
| A．Attending a rock concert. | B．Participating in a heated debate. |
| C．Going to a gun range with earmuffs. | D．Watching an explosion at a distance. |
| A．A quarter. | B．Half an hour. | C．One hour. | D．One and a half hours. |
| A．Loud Music Damages Hearing | B．How to Prevent Hearing Loss |
| C．How Loud Is Too Loud | D．Music and Hearing |
10 . Earthquake rescue robots have experienced their final tests in Beijing. Their designers say that with these robots, rescue workers will be able to have more time to save more lives during an earthquake.
This robot looking like a helicopter(直升机) is called the flying robot . It's about 3 meters long, and it took about 4 years to develop the model. Its main functions(作用)are to collect information from the air, and send goods of up to 30 kilos to people trapped by an earthquake. It has a high-definition 360-degree panoramic(全景的) camera. It can work day and night and is also able to send the latest pictures from the quake area.
Dr. Qi Juntong, a researcher at Chinese Academy of Science, said, ''Unlike other automatic machines, the most important feature of this flying robot is that it doesn't need a distant control. We just set the destination information on it, and then it takes off, and lands by itself. It flies as high as 3,000 meters, and as fast as 100 kilometers per hour. ''
This robot has another different function --- it can change as the environment changes. Its main job is to search for any signs of life in places where human rescuers are unable to go. As well as a detector(探测器)that finds victims and detects poisonous gas, a camera is placed in the 3-meter-long robot, which can work in the dark. Another use for the rescuers is the supply bot, with its 10-meter-long pipe, people who are trapped in the ruins will be able to get supplies including oxygen and liquids.
Experts have said that the robots will enter production and serve as part of the national earthquake rescue team as soon as next year.
1. What can we learn about from the passage?| A．It hasn't been put into production so far. |
| B．It is a machine with a length of 10 meters. |
| C．It is a machine carried by a helicopter. |
| D．It weighs about 30 kilos. |
| A．it has more functions |
| B．it has a more advanced camera |
| C．it can change as the environment changes |
| D．it can work by itself once given the information |
| A．a camera | B．a detector | C．a rescuer | D．a doctor |
| A．The appearance of the robot. | B．An introduction to the robot. |
| C．The reason for making the robot. | D．Some information about earthquakes. |
