1 . A few years after Mom died, Dad showed up for lunch wearing the soft smile that took over his face whenever he was thinking about her. “I’ve found these,” he said, handing me a bag. “She would have wanted you to have them.”
I opened the bag to find dozens of shells, each one bearing Mom’s handwritten words: Stone Harbor, N. J. — 8-98. They were pretty common, but to Mom, they were evidence of her endlessly magical life.
She was 61 when she collected these shells, already showing signs of the lung disease that would kill her the next year. Mom needed an adventure. She loved seashore. So we decided to take her to Jersey Shore.
As soon as I said “Jersey Shore”, she started to shout over and over again— “I can’t believe I’m going to New Jersey!”
Once we got to Stone Harbor, Mom acted like the town mayor, greeting everyone as if they were loyal constituents. And she spent hours collecting shells on the beach. The morning we left, I found her photographing every corner of her bedroom. “I don’t even want to forget this,” she said.
For a long time, Mom’s shells stayed buried in a drawer. Last month, I rediscovered them. I put them where I can easily to see them. One by one, the shells are finding a new place in my home. They remind me to live a life like my mother — who never lost her sense of passion.
1. The underlined word “them” in Paragraph 1 refers to .| A．the bag the author’s dad found | B．the photos the author’s mom took |
| C．the shells the author’s mom collected | D．the words the author’s mom wrote |
| A．She knew them very well. | B．She was very excited. |
| C．She wanted to make friends with them. | D．She was popular among the people there. |
| A．She had a sense of adventure. | B．She passed away at the age of 61. |
| C．She was brought up in New Jersey. | D．She showed great enthusiasm for life. |
| A．remind the author of her mom’s attitude towards life |
| B．make the author think of her mom’s death |
| C．were taken out of the drawer for the purpose of decorating the house |
| D．were hidden in a drawer because they are very precious |
2 . Nurses have saved almost 800 lives in just one year by using iPads, iPods and mobile phones to record patients' vital (至关重要的) signs instead of paper charts.
Death rates at two major hospitals dropped by more than 15% after the nursing stall started using hand-held devices instead of paper notes to monitor (监督) the condition of patients, according to the research published recently.
Nurses recorded patients' blood pressure, pulse, oxygen levels and other indicators on tablets and mobiles. Specialist software, called VitalPAC, automatically told them if the patient was deteriorating. If this is happened the nurse was warned to increase the frequency of their monitoring of the patient and, in some cases, to warn a doctor or a response team.
The introduction of the new system led to a fall of almost 400 patient deaths in just 12 months at Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth, and a drop of more than 370 in the same period at University Hospital, Coventry, according to the study in BMJ Quality & Safety. An editorial in the journal described the research as "an important milestone" in improving patient safety and said the lowering of mortality (死亡率) at these two hospitals "represents a truly dramatic improvement".
Data recorded on the hand-held devices is automatically uploaded to a hospital-wide system allowing nurses, doctors and managers to monitor the health of patients across all wards. Staff on ward rounds have instant access to information from any device connected to the hospital network.
The system is now installed in 40 hospitals across England and could eventually be rolled out across the whole of the NHS. The system was developed by doctors and nurses at Portsmouth working together with health improvement company The Learning Clinic.
Dr. Paul Schmidt, of Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust, one of the leaders of the project, said: "Observing patients and making accurate records provides a safety net to guard against their deterioration. We believed traditional paper charts were not doing the job well enough so we designed an electronic system to support staff. This study shows its introduction was followed by a significant drop in deaths."
1. What can be learned about VitalPAC?| A．It was designed by The Learning Clinic independently. |
| B．It works with the hand-held devices. |
| C．It can replace the nurses to take care of patients. |
| D．It was applied by all the members of the NHS. |
| A．the specialist software is out of order. |
| B．the patient's condition is getting worse. |
| C．the patient's vital signs are uploaded. |
| D．the patient's indicators are difficult to record. |
| A．The significance of VitalPAC. | B．The improvement of Vita1PAC. |
| C．The rules of operating VitalPAC. | D．The brief introduction of VitalPAC. |
| A．A fashion magazine. | B．A story book. |
| C．A news report. | D．A science fiction. |
3 . 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 |
4 . We can achieve knowledge either actively or passively（被动地）. We achieve it actively by direct experience, by testing and proving an idea, or by reasoning．
We achieve knowledge passively by being told by someone else．Most of the learning that takes place in the classroom and the kind that happens when we watch TV or read newspapers or magazines is passive. Conditioned as we are to passive learning, it’s not surprising that we depend on it in our everyday communication with friends and co-workers．
Unfortunately, passive learning has a serious problem．It makes us tend to accept what we are told even when it is little more than hearsay and rumor（谣言）．
Did you ever play the game Rumor? It begins when one person writes down a message but doesn’t show it to anyone．Then the person whispers it, word for word, to another person．That person, in turn, whispers it to still another, and so on, through all the people playing the game．The last person writes down the message word for word as he or she hears it．Then the two written statements are compared．Typically, the original message has changed．
That’s what happens in daily life．The simple fact that people repeat a story in their own words changes the story．Then, too, most people listen imperfectly．And many enjoy adding their own creative touch to a story, trying to improve on it, stamping（打上标记）it with their own personal style．Yet those who hear it think they know．
This process is also found among scholars and authors: A statement of opinion by one writer may be restated as a fact by another, who may in turn be quoted by yet another; and this process may continue, unless it occurs to someone to question the facts on which the original writer based his opinion or to challenge the interpretation he placed upon those facts．
1. According to the passage, passive learning may occur in _______．| A．doing a medical experiment | B．solving a math problem |
| C．visiting an exhibition | D．doing scientific reasoning |
| A．active learning | B．knowledge |
| C．communication | D．passive learning |
| A．a message may be changed when being passed on |
| B．a message should be delivered in different ways |
| C．people may have problems with their sense of hearing |
| D．people tend not to believe in what they know as rumor |
| A．Active learning is less important． |
| B．Passive learning may not be reliable． |
| C．Active learning occurs more frequently． |
| D．Passive learning is not found among scholars． |
