1 . The world’s elderly population is increasing. The number of older people ---those age 60 years or older ---is expected to double by 2050 and is growing faster than all younger age groups across the globe. That comes with an increasing need for caregivers which can provide 24-hour care, not only at hospitals or nursing homes, but also at private homes.
Already, caregiving robots are programmed to ask questions a nurse would ask and can keep an eye on patients for falls. These robotic assistants are expected to become increasingly marketable and reach 450,000 by 2045 because of the expected caregiver shortage in the USA.
“Unluckily, the hard structure of present caregiving robots prevents them from a safe human-robot interaction(互动), limiting their assistance to only social interaction and not physical interaction,” said Ramses Martinez, an assistant professor in Purdue’s College of Engineering . “After all, would you leave babies or old people in the hands of a robot?”
Recent advances in material science have enabled the production of soft robots with deformable (可变形的) bodies or the ability to reshape when touched , but today the complex design prevents the use of this technology at home .
However, Martinez and other researchers have developed a new design method which shows promise in enabling the production of soft robots using a 3D printer.
“The soft machines move like humans. Their ability to change their body structure and movement to adapt ( 适应 ) to a wide variety of environments will improve caregiving greatly,” says Martinez .
The researchers are looking for partners to test and bring their technology to market.
1. What does the underlined word “That” in Paragraph 1 refer to?| A．The younger age group |
| B．The group of older people |
| C．The population across the globe |
| D．The growth of the elderly population |
| A．They can’t provide safe physical interaction |
| B．They can’t communicate with patients |
| C．They can’t watch patients for falls |
| D．They can’t provide 24-hour care. |
| A．It requires a special kind of 3D printer. |
| B．It makes the production of soft robots simpler. |
| C．It has been put onto the market. |
| D．It is hard for users to master. |
| A．The robot industry in the future |
| B．Effects of population ageing |
| C．Robots for the elderly created with 3D printers |
| D．The development of caregiving robots |
2 . No one is sure how the ancient Egyptians built the pyramids near Cairo. But a new study suggests they used a little rock ‘n’ roll. Long- ago builders could have attached wooden poles to the stones and rolled them across the sand, the scientists say.
"Technically, I think what they’re proposing is possible," physicist Daniel Bonn said.
People have long puzzled over how the Egyptians moved such huge rocks. And there’s no obvious answer. On average, each of the two million big stones weighed about as much as a large pickup truck. The Egyptians somehow moved the stone blocks to the pyramid site from about one kilometer away.
The most popular view is that Egyptian workers slid the blocks along smooth paths. Many scientists suspect workers first would have put the blocks on sleds (滑板). Then they would have dragged them along paths. To make the work easier, workers may have lubricated the paths either with wet day or with the fat from cattle. Bonn has now tested this idea by building small sleds and dragging heavy objects over sand.
Evidence from the sand supports this idea. Researchers found small amounts of fat, as well as a large amount of stone and the remains of paths.
However, physicist Joseph West thinks there might have been a simpler way, who led the new study. West said, "I was inspired while watching a television program showing how sleds might have helped with pyramid construction. I thought, ‘Why don’t they just try rolling the things?’" A square could be turned into a rough sort of wheel by attaching wooden poles to its sides, he realized. That, he notes, should make a block of stone "a lot easier to roll than a square".
So he tried it.
He and his students tied some poles to each of four sides of a 30-kilogram stone block. That action turned the block into somewhat a wheel. Then they placed the block on the ground.
They wrapped one end of a rope around the block and pulled. The researchers found they could easily roll the block along different kinds of paths. They calculated that rolling the block required about as much force as moving it along a slippery (滑的) path.
West hasn’t tested his idea on larger blocks, but he thinks rolling has clear advantages over sliding. At least, workers wouldn’t have needed to carry cattle fat or water to smooth the paths.
1. It’s widely believed that the stone blocks were moved to the pyramid site by .| A．rolling them on roads | B．pushing them over the sand |
| C．sliding them on smooth paths | D．dragging them on some poles |
| A．made the paths wet | B．made the paths hard |
| C．made the paths wide | D．made the paths slippery |
| A．Rolling the blocks with poles attached. |
| B．Rolling the blocks on wooden wheels. |
| C．Rolling poles to move the blocks. |
| D．Rolling the blocks with fat. |
| A．Because more force is needed for sliding. |
| B．Because rolling work can be done by fewer cattle. |
| C．Because sliding on smooth roads is more dangerous. |
| D．Because less preparation on paths is needed for rolling. |
3 . Once March 29 was impressed firmly in the minds of British people, as this was the date when the UK was supposed to leave the European Union (EU).
The UK public voted to leave the EU almost three years ago. Since then, the UK Parliament has voted many times to determine the terms of the UK’s exit from the EU. But British lawmakers haven’t reached an agreement on any particular path. So the UK and EU member states agreed to push the Brexit (脱欧) deadline to April 12, hoping this would allow UK lawmakers to get a Brexit deal through the UK Parliament.
On March 29, British lawmakers rejected UK Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal once again. According to USA Today, the failure to reach an agreement was largely because hard-line (强硬的) lawmakers from Conservative Party didn’t feel the deal done with the EU adequately separates the UK from the EU. Meanwhile, many Labor Party lawmakers were in favor of closer ties with the EU. As result, the UK has to announce a new plan before April 12, or leave the EU without a deal, and the latter one will bring the UK and the EU countries many influences. For example, the UK would have to face the fact that the price of imported goods for British people could go up as a result. Meanwhile, there could be long delays at borders between the UK and the EU countries if passport checks are strengthened.
In the event of a no-deal Brexit, the German government would give British citizens living in Germany an initial period of three months during which their rights to live and work there would not change. However, they would have to apply for the permits of living in Germany during that period. The French Parliament has passed a law to give the government the power to introduce new measures to deal with a no-deal Brexit. The law covers, among other things, the rights of UK national a living and working in France.
More efforts to prevent a disorderly Brexit are still needed, but time is limited!
1. Why did the UK and EU member states push the Brexit deadline to April 12?| A．To wait for a new Brexit deal. | B．To make a no-deal Brexit plan. |
| C．To meet Theresa May’s request. | D．To have a better ties with the EU. |
| A．Conservative Party. | B．Labor Party. |
| C．Theresa May’s Brexit deal. | D．The no-deal Brexit. |
| A．Leave Germany within three months. |
| B．Continue to live and work in Germany. |
| C．Obtain living permits in the specific time. |
| D．Hand in the their passports as soon as possible. |
| A．Concerned. | B．Doubtful. |
| C．Ambiguous. | D．Surprised. |
4 . The number of snow geese arriving in the Arctic each spring to breed has risen over the past few decades. At first, wildlife biologists saw this as an environmental crisis, pointing to marshes（沼泽地）where plants were eaten by the hungry birds, and the federal government responded by loosening restrictions on snow goose hunting across the country. But how do the Inuit（因纽特人），in whose backyard this is taking place, and for whom fresh goose eggs and meat are among the pleasure of an Arctic spring, view the situation? A recent study is bringing Inuit wildlife experts and scientists together to look for common ground on managing the species.
The snow goose study asked experts in Coral Harbour and Arviat, on the north and west coast of Hudson Bay, to share their generations of knowledge about snow geese and their views on what should be done. “ The community had concerns about controlling the population," says Ron Ningeongan, a community officer for the Kivalliq Inuit Association in Coral Harbour, "and Inuit snow goose knowledge had never been recorded. People wanted to pass on what they knew. "
The Inuit experts rejected the idea of a cull(选择性宰杀），considering it wasteful of the geese and unnecessary for the environment in general, but felt that hunting more geese in an organized way—for instance, paying local hunters a minimum amount of money and distributing the birds to disadvantaged families or operating a limited commercial hunt that would employ local people—would be appropriate.
The Inuit say that while there may be too many snow geese in some areas, it's not a crisis. Biologists now generally agree that there seem to be plenty of undamaged marshes available and newer research shows that some damaged areas can recover.
Conservation planners for the three migratory bird reserves in the area will use the study's recommendations, which is an excellent example of how indigenous （土著的） knowledge can strengthen wildlife management Johnson says.
“Now that we have recorded and documented Inuit knowledge of snow geese," says Ningeongan. "when facing the crisis again, other people will be able to use the information to help manage the species, which is fundamental to dealing with it effectively. ”
1. Why did the federal government looben restrictions on snow goose hunting?| A．To create more marshes. | B．To protect ecosystem. |
| C．To make more profits. | D．To wipe out the hungry birds. |
| A．Regarding too many snow geese as a crisis. |
| B．Never organizing large-scale commercial hunts. |
| C．Employing poor families to hunt more snow geese. |
| D．Using snow goose hunting to man's best advantage. |
| A．It's unpredictable. | B．It’s hard to get better. |
| C．It's too discouraging. | D．lt's a bit promising. |
| A．The crisis. | B．The species. |
| C．Inuit knowledge. | D．Inuit research. |
5 . In his widely-read book, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, sociologist Robert Putnam told us a troubling truth: Americans were becoming more disconnected from each other-and in that isolation(孤独 )was deep personal dissatisfaction.
That book came out in 2000, before the age of mobile technology truly took hold Last year, a new book built on the conversation -Ruth Whippman’s America the Anxious: How Our Pursuit of Happiness Is Creating a Nation of Nervous Wrecks Wwhippman looked around at the culture of self-help, self-care and happiness-seeking in today’s America, saying, "Too often, we are told, Happiness comes from within. But what we should understand is, Happiness is other people. Study after study shows that good social relationship is a ‘necessary condition for happiness, ‘meaning that humans can’t actually be happy without it.
Social engagement doesn’t have to mean parties or huge circles of friends. As Whippman writes, "When asked, almost all people consistently report themselves as happier when they are around other people than when they are alone. This can mean a quiet cup of tea shared with a trusted friend, or a small book club, walking group or a movie night with a neighbor.
Christmas Day is a wonderful time to reflect on the power of community, the real joy that comes from accepting the fact that human beings-whether introverts(性格内向的人) or extroverts- are born social creatures who thrive(茁＃成长) when we develop relationships in ways that work for us.
As Helen Keller once said, "Alone we can do so. little; together we can, do so much. Together, we can make happiness a daily reality for ourselves and others
1. What is the attitude de of Robert Putnam and Whippman towards today’s American society?| A．Confident. | B．Disapproving. |
| C．Unconcerned. | D．Cautious. |
| A．Good social relationship. | B．Whippman’s new book. |
| C．Study after study. | D．The age of mobile technology. |
| A．By attending more parties. |
| B．By making more friends. |
| C．By standing in someone else’s shoes. |
| D．By surrounding ourselves with like-minded people. |
| A．To show the popularity of it. |
| B．To demand more similar festivals. |
| C．To stress the importance of social connection. |
| D．To call on more people to join in the celebration. |
6 . Have you ever noticed that your fingertips are wrinkled (起皱的) when you’ve just finished swimming or washing dishes? It seems as if your hands have aged 30 years in a second. But is this an accident? Or is it something that nature has built into our bodies?
“If your finger’s wrinkling up had no use at all, it wouldn’t need to.” Professor Tom Smulders from Newcastle University UK told BBC News. By studying wet fingers closely, Smulders and his partners found that the wrinkles looked a bit like the patterns on the car tire or the bottom of the running shoes. So they made a guess that wrinkles on fingers might be able to help the hand hold things more tightly.
To test this, researchers asked 20 people to pick up marbles (大理石) from water with their hands. But before they started, some of the people had to keep their hands in water for half an hour. The researchers found that the people with wrinkled fingers completed the task faster than those with dry hands. But when they were asked to move dry marbles, all the people performed equally well no matter they had the wrinkled fingers or not. Researchers said our ancestors might not have played with marbles but wrinkled fingers could have made it easier for them to climb around in the wet forests and catch fish from rivers. Similarly, our toes also get wrinkled in water. This may have developed from our ancestors need to run on wet ground.
But the question is if wrinkled fingers are so helpful, why don’t our hands just stay that way all the time? Researchers explained that wrinkling had its disadvantage: wet fingertips are far less sensitive than smooth ones, reducing our sense of touch.
1. What does the underlined word “this” in the third paragraph refer to?| A．Whether fingers have wrinkles after they are put in water. |
| B．Whether wrinkled fingers can hold things more tightly. |
| C．Why keeping things in water makes them wrinkled. |
| D．Why wrinkles help hands hold things more tightly. |
| A．wrinkled hands hold dry things more tightly than dry hands do |
| B．dry hands hold dry things more tightly than wrinkled hands do |
| C．wrinkled hands hold wet things more tightly than dry hands do |
| D．dry hands hold wet things more tightly than wrinkled hands do |
| A．They are too sensitive to be touched. |
| B．They might be more likely to get hurt. |
| C．They cannot hold things tightly enough. |
| D．They are not so sensitive as dry fingers. |
7 . The U. S. Thanksgiving holiday is symbolized (象征) by its traditional food-roast turkey. But turkey is certainly not from Turkey. In fact, its English name is based on one big mistake. We could say it is a case of mistaken identity. The word "Turkey" has meant "the land of the Turks" since ancient times. In the mid-1500s, the word "turkey" was first used to refer to the bird in the English language.
The misunderstanding over the word happened because of two similar-looking kinds of birds.
There is an African bird called the guinea fowl(珍珠鸡). It has dark feathers with white spots and a patch of brown on the back of its neck. Traders brought the guinea fowl to Europe through North Africa. This foreign bird came to Europe through Turkish lands. So, the English thought the bird as a "Turkish chicken".
When Europeans came to North America, they saw a bird that looked like the guinea fowl. This bird was native to the North American continent. But they thought that it was the guinea fowl，which. at that time, was called the “turkey cock"，so they gave it the same name.
Hundreds of years later, we continue to call this North American bird ‘turkey", even though it has no connection at all with the country Turkey, or even with Europe.
But English is not the only language with interesting names for this North American bird.
The Turkish call turkey “hindi”, the Turkish name for India. The reference(涉及)to India probably conies from the old. wrong idea that the New World was in Eastern Asia.
The French call it "dinde", a name that also connects the bird to India. "Dinde" means "from India" in the French language. "Turkey" has similar names in several other languages.
1. What can we know from paragraph 1?| A．The word "turkey" appeared in modern times. |
| B．Turkey's English name is based on correct identity. |
| C．Americans like eating turkey in Thanksgiving holiday. |
| D．Both Turkey and turkey have similar meanings in English. |
| A．Europe. | B．Africa. |
| C．America. | D．Asia. |
| A．Eastern Asia. | B．The French language. |
| C．The New World. | D．The bird turkey. |
| A．How did Thanksgiving "turkey" get its name? |
| B．How did Americans spend their Thanksgiving holiday? |
| C．Why was the guinea fowl so popular with Americans? |
| D．Why was the guinea fowl different from American turkeys? |
8 . It might sound funny， but having a certain routine in the morning or evening will help you to grow personally，with your workouts and also with your job and life. Why is that？ The humans adapt pretty well to routines and that makes us more efficient， meaning that you can save a lot of time and that your body also can relax better and faster. This is what I've learnt from my own morning routines.
I for myself always prepare my first meal for the following day every evening. I take 300ml of water，30 grams of chia seeds， and a couple of oats（燕麦）and leave them in a plastic container in my fridge overnight. All I have to do in the morning is to add some fresh berries.
I also have my cup and my coffee capsule ready，and the first thing when I come out off the bathroom is to turn on the coffee machine while I'm getting dressed. Getting dressed is a good point. I have already prepared my clothes for work. So I don't get stuck in my decision whether I want to wear the white，black，purple or blue blouse.
After I'm dressed， my coffee is ready and while I'm quickly getting my hair and make﹣up done，I'll drink my coffee. I don't need usually longer than 30﹣40 minutes in the morning to get ready and leave the house. This helps me firstly to sleep a little bit longer and secondly not to be in a rush and be calm for the day.
So，my friends，try to apply some certain routines to your day and you'll see how your mind and your body will adapt to them and you have more energy to focus on important things.
1. What does the underlined word "that" in the first paragraph refer to？| A．A problem with a certain routine. |
| B．The link between routines and life. |
| C．A way of having a certain routine. |
| D．The benefit of having routines. |
| A．She makes her coffee. |
| B．She does shopping for breakfast. |
| C．She gets her clothes ready. |
| D．She adds some berries to the container. |
| A．They keep her in high spirits. |
| B．They give her more time to rest. |
| C．They help her figure out problems faster. |
| D．They improve her ability to handle situations better. |
| A．To help people to focus on important things. |
| B．To introduce how to adapt to routines in life. |
| C．To encourage people to have routines in life. |
| D．To teach people how to relax themselves in life. |
9 . It is becoming a growing trend that more and more consumers across the country are using cashless payment methods. The rapid development of third-party mobile payment tools is helping to boost cashless payments across the country, said Dong Ximiao, a researcher at the Renmin University of China.
Transactions (交易) involving third-party mobile payments rose by 46.8 percent in the first quarter of 2017 compared with the previous quarter to 18.8 trillion yuan, according to a report released in May.
Although there were 3.4 billion third-party payment accounts in total in China in 2016, China is not the first country to seek a cashless society. Developed states like Sweden, Denmark and Singapore are also witnessing that increase.
However, the rapid development of cashless payments does not mean there are no challenges and criticisms. Alibaba’s Hema store, where customers can shop, dine and order commodities for delivery from their mobile phones via Alipay, have come into the spotlight recently. Media reports said that consumers can’t purchase goods with cash there, which would be considered illegal.
Alipay and WeChat Pay, the nation’s two major third-party mobile payment tools, also launched campaigns this month to encourage more merchants and customers to use cashless payment methods, which caused concerns over whether cash will soon disappear.
“Some offline sellers refuse to accept cash, which impacts the natural circulation of yuan,” said Dong. He emphasized that a cashless society would not mean that cash would completely disappear. As the economy grows, the circulation of cash is still very huge, noted Dong. Also, it’s important to remember that nearly half of China’s population live in rural areas, especially in undeveloped western regions, unable to enjoy innovation (革新) brought by the Internet, Dong said. And when it comes to China’s senior citizens, most of them prefer to use cash in their daily lives, he added.
“It’s ridiculous to question digital payment tools’ contribution toward financial development. In the long term, various payment methods will be used by consumers, and merchants should respect consumers’ payment habits,” Dong noted.
1. What does the underlined word “that” in paragraph 3 probably refer to?| A．Economic activity. | B．Cashless payment. |
| C．Development of economy. | D．Large amount of payment. |
| A．It fights against illegal activities. |
| B．It provides comprehensive services. |
| C．Customers are not permitted to use cash there. |
| D．It starts campaigns to encourage mobile payment. |
| A．Various payment methods ought to be respected. |
| B．People should be encouraged to use mobile payment. |
| C．Most elderly people have no access to mobile payment. |
| D．Mobile payment isn’t beneficial to a cost-effective society. |
| A．China’s cashless trend. | B．The research on mobile payment. |
| C．The reasons to use mobile payment. | D．China’s cashless future. |
10 . As much as we may want to protect children from all the terrible, horrible and very had things in life, too often we don’t get a choice. These four new kids’ books serve as guides for a variety of difficulties and as important reminders that we have a choice in how we react to such trails
| The Secret Horses Of Briar Hill By Megan Shepherd Twelve-year-old Emmaline has a secret: she can see winged horses in the mirrors at Briar Hili hospital, a British hospital for children during World War Ⅱ. The magical adventures of the horses come to life as Emmaline recovers from her illness and must face the sickness of those she loves. | Goodbye Days By JeffZentner Carver Briggs blames himself for the deaths of his three best friends(he sent the text message that likely caused the car accident resulting in their deaths). What’s more, he could face a criminal investigation into his role. The novel follows his journey as he tries his best to make peace with his loss and guilt. |
| StefSoto, Taco Queen | Why Can’t Grangma Remember My Name? |
| By Jennifer Torres Now in middle school, Estefania Stef Soto has become embarrassed by her Mexican-American family’s food truck and is tired of being joked at school as the “taco（墨西哥煎玉米卷）queen.” But when the family business is threatened, she becomes one of its biggest protectors and learns to accept her identity. | By Kent L Karosen, Illustrated by Chana Sticfel Driven by questions from Ashley, a child whose grandmother has Alzhelmer’s （早老性痴呆病）, this book offers an outline for families dealing with the illness. Drawings in this book are done by children and by Alzheimer’s patients |
1. “Such trials” in paragraph 1 most probably refers to ______.
| A．creative processes | B．lovable characters |
| C．painful reminders | D．difficult experiences |
| A．The Secret Horses Of Briar Hill |
| B．Goodbye Days |
| C．Stef Soto, Taco Queen |
| D．Why Can’t Grandma Remember My Name? |
| A．share some new parental skills with parents |
| B．teach kids how to write some dramatic stories |
| C．start a discussion on the topics of the new books |
| D．introduce some newly published books for kids |
