1 . As the COVID-19 pandemic hit hard, fishermen watched their markets dry up. Restaurants-normally major fish buyers-closed or cut back orders significantly. Fishermen weren’t sure if they were going to get paid for what they fished.
Meanwhile as people lost jobs, food banks started to see a great demand for services. Things were getting desperate, with long lines for food assistance in many states.
Out of these dual crises, a new idea was born. Food assistance programs across the country have started connecting with local fishermen to stock up on local seafood, many for the first time. And the arrangement seems to be helping the fishermen, the economy and those in need of healthy food.
According to Catherine D’ Amato, CEO of the Greater Boston Food Bank, the network usually keeps four or five weeks of food on hand in case of emergencies. The pandemic hit, and “we found ourselves below one week of stock and going down rapidly,” she says. That’s because the food bank normally distributes about 1 million pounds of food a week, and that became 2.5 million pounds of food a week, D’ Amato says. While Congress and the states have increased funding and donations for food banks during the pandemic, it hasn’t been enough.
“For many years, we have been wanting to be able to work with organizations in the fishing industry,” D’ Amato says. But it’s complicated. Fishermen catch a lot of big fish, and food banks who might take it need the products to be cut small and easy to use for customers. It also has to be fish they know and recognize. The barriers have been too high in many places to make it work. But this spring, the state department of agriculture connected the food bank with some grant makers. They talked to some local fishermen about developing a traditional New England fish soup.
The grants paid fishermen for their catch and provided money for a local manufacturer to process, freeze and deliver the soup to food banks in family-size servings. The soup is helping to feed families and keep fishermen fishing. The fishermen hope to sell it in stores soon, and Damato hopes to purchase more soup and expand into new seafood products for her customers.
1. The passage is mainly about ________.| A．the food shortage during the COVID-19 pandemic |
| B．the cooperation between fishermen and food banks |
| C．the dramatic impact the pandemic had on fishermen |
| D．the new seafood product manufactured for food banks |
| A．Fishermen’s difficulty in storing seafood and the decline of the economy. |
| B．Fishermen’s difficulty in selling fish and food banks’ need for more food. |
| C．The closure of restaurants and food banks’ great demand for food assistance. |
| D．Many people’s unemployment and many states’ bad services in food industry. |
| A．fishermen should start to process fish | B．many fishes are unknown to customers |
| C．there’s a gap between supply and need | D．the fishing organizations are too independent |
| A．increases fishermen’s productivity | B．is commonly consumed by local fishermen |
| C．makes food banks rethink their products | D．is produced by food banks in a traditional way |
2 . The urgency and importance of Covid-19 over (he past year have driven almost everything else from most leaders5 minds. But since the vaccine is kicking in, Britain's government is once again beginning to think about the things that will matter later. Next week, it is expected to publish a 'plan for growth“ to boost productivity, with innovation at its centre.
The world may be on the point of a technological boom with life sciences, at which Britain excels. Innovation is crucial to productivity, but on this front Britain's performance has lagged behind its competitors' in recent years. Its low spending on Research and Development (R&D) argues for a boost. Those who attributed the financial failure in the 1970s to the insufficiency of research funds may regard this as a threat to economic growth. Promoting innovation can quickly (um into an exercise in picking winners - or, as is more often the case, losers.
A second danger is that policy agendas get mixed up. The government has promised to "level up” poorer areas of the country, so deprived towns are campaigning for more money for their universities. But trying to boost innovation by sending money to weak institutions is likely to make our leading universities lose their advantages, thus producing average ideas that could have been remarkable. Britain's research-funding system has always been elitist(精英主义的). It should stay that way.
The government's first move in boosting innovation was the announcement of a plan for an Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA). ARlA's purpose is to fund high-risk, high-reward research. But money is not all that mailers. The successful translation of life science research into treatments during the pandemic suggests some inexpensive measures that can also make a difference.
One is to speed up governmental processes. The rapidity with which Britain's medical regulator moved during the pandemic is one reason why the vaccine rollout is racing through the population. Urgency is not unique lo pandemics. Getting things done quickly can make an investment worthwhile and determine where a businessman chooses as a base.
Another useful measure the government should use is its unique ability to overcome barriers. At the beginning of the pandemic. Covid-19 researchers were unable to gain access to different strands of health service data. The government eased restrictions on existing data and allowed researchers to ask people who had tested positive tor Covid-19 to join trials. Both were crucial to the effort.
A last principle is the value of connections between the government and the private sector. Kate Bingham, a venture capitalist who led the vaccine-purchase effort, understood how to deal with drug companies. Many of the civil servants working with her had commercial experience. The governments closeness to business during the pandemic has been criticized. But without it, the vaccine effort would not have succeeded.
Innovation took human beings from caves to computers. Good education, a welcoming immigration policy and a friendly business environment will do most to tend it. But a new sensible principles can help keep the flame burning.
1. What does the underlined word "this" in Paragraph 2 refer to?| A．Investing insufficient money in innovation. | B．Promoting innovation in technology. |
| C．Applying science results to practical uses. | D．Distributing funds to weak institutions. |
| A．Britain's research-funding system will remain elitist. |
| B．Weak institutions are more likely to produce remarkable results. |
| C．The outstanding universities will be unable to exhibit remarkable ideas. |
| D．Both poor and rich areas in the country will develop in a balanced way. |
| A．A businessman is more willing to set up business where governments show high efficiency. |
| B．The administrative abilities are so unique to the government that they actually yield little fruit. |
| C．The government ceased the cooperation with private sectors for the criticism they had received. |
| D．The rollout of the vaccine was made possible mainly because the public responded quickly. |
| A．How Governments Fuel the Sparks of Innovation |
| B．Why the Brits Struggle in the Tech Race |
| C．How Governments Benefit from Innovation |
| D．What People Gain with the Light of Technology |
3 . Becoming a real runner
I would never use the word “athletic” to describe myself. To me, athletes are people who really enjoy working out. I remember crying in middle school when I had to run a mile during gym class. I huffed and puffed as I jogged. As I grew up, I would go to the gym, but I never enjoyed working out. That, I thought, was for real runners.
In June 2017, my friend sent me an email that would forever change my attitude towards running. He was training for a 200-mile relay (接力赛) and wanted me to be on his team. I would run three legs between four and six miles each over the course of two days. Figuring that I would never again have the chance to work with some top runners, I immediately agreed, and started running outside to prepare.
That first run was hard. I purposefully avoided Central Park in order to stay away from real runners. After a few blocks, I was already winded, and ran the rest of the way home. I called my mom, choked up, to say I had no hope at all of running this relay. But she encouraged me to keep at it, so I didn't quit. I went from running four miles a week to eight within one month before my advanced training began.
I was frightened going into the first training session with the team as everyone else was super “athletic”. We ran for five miles, and I was significantly slower. However, my teammates were so supportive that I felt the runner’s high, which I had never believed existed.
One day, about two weeks into training, my ankle gave out while I was running in Central Park. I was diagnosed with a stress fracture (应力性骨折). The doctor told me to stop running for two months. It took me a while to face the fact that I was out of the race. My doctor told me that he too had once been struck down with a stress fracture, and the following year, he beat his best running time in a half-marathon. That brought me hope.
I made it through the next two months by picturing myself running again. Just yesterday, for the first time since that fateful day, I took my outdoor run with my physical therapist. I mentioned that I might run a half-marathon the next year. Now I wake up excited for the days I get to run. Maybe I am a “real runner” after all.
1. According to the article, when did the author start to feel passion for running?| A．After she got into the habit of working out. |
| B．After she got the courage to run outdoors on her own. |
| C．After she ran with some top runners and got their encouragement. |
| D．After she broke her ankle in training and stayed in bed for two months. |
| A．helpful advice. |
| B．immediate treatment. |
| C．experience in the marathon. |
| D．personal experience with an injury. |
| A．She didn’t take the relay seriously. |
| B．She had a strict and overprotective mother. |
| C．She felt disappointed about withdrawing from the race. |
| D．She would have expected to run a half-marathon if she had won the race. |
| A．urge readers to exercise regularly. |
| B．share with readers the fun of running. |
| C．warn readers to be careful about running. |
| D．encourage readers to pursue their hobbies. |
4 . At the age of twelve years, the human body is at its most vigorous. It has yet to reach its full size and strength, and its owner his or her full intelligence; but at this age the likelihood of death is least. Earlier, we were infants and young children, and consequently more vulnerable (易受伤害的), later, we shall undergo a progressive loss of our vigor and resistance which, though unnoticeable at first, will finally become so steep that we can live no longer, however well we look after ourselves, and however well society, and our doctors, look after us.
This decline in vigor with the passing of time is called ageing. It is one of the most unpleasant discoveries which we all make that we must decline in this way, that if we escape wars, accidents and disease we shall eventually “die of old age”, and that this happens at a rate which differs little from person to person, so that there are heavy odds in favor of our dying between the ages of sixty-five and eighty. Some of us will die sooner, a few will live longer—on into a ninth or tenth decade. But the chances are against it, and there is a virtual limit on how long we can hope to remain alive, however lucky and robust we are.
Normal people tend to forget this process unless and until they are reminded of it. We are so familiar with the fact that ma ages, that people have for years assumed that the process of losing vigor with time, of becoming more likely to die the older we get, was something self-evident, like the cooling of a hot kettle or the wearing-out of a pair of shoes. They have also assumed that all animals, and probably other organisms such as trees, or even the universe itself, must in the nature of things “wear out”.
Most animals we commonly observe do in fact age as we do, if given the chance to live long enough; and mechanical systems like a wound watch, or the sun, do in fact run out of energy in accordance with the second law of thermodynamics (whether the whole universe does so is a moot point at present). But these are not analogous (类似的)to what happens when man ages. A run-down watch is still a watch and can be rewound. An old watch, by contrast, becomes so worn and unreliable that it eventually is not worth mending. But a watch could never repair itself —it does not consist of living parts, only of metal, which wears away by friction. We could, at one time, repair ourselves—well enough, at least, to overcome all but the most instantly fatal illnesses and accidents. Between twelve and eighty years we gradually lose this power, an illness which at twelve would knock us over, at eighty can knock us out, and into our grave. If we could stay as vigorous as we are at twelve, it would take about 700 years for half of us to die, and another 700 for the survivors to be reduced by half again.
1. Which of the following statements is INCORRECT?| A．Our first twelve years represent the peak of human development. |
| B．People usually are unhappy when reminded of ageing. |
| C．Normally only a few of us can live to the eighties and nineties. |
| D．People are usually less likely to die at twelve years old. |
| A．remaining alive until 65 | B．remaining alive after 80 |
| C．dying before 65 or after 80 | D．dying between 65 and 80 |
| A．It is usually a phenomenon of dying at an old age. |
| B．It is a fact that people cannot live any longer. |
| C．It is a gradual loss of vigor and resistance. |
| D．It is a phase when people are easily attacked by illness. |
| A．Normally people are quite familiar with the ageing process. |
| B．All animals and other organisms undergo the ageing process. |
| C．The law of thermodynamics functions in the ageing process. |
| D．Human’s ageing process is different from that of mechanisms. |
5 . The State-Of-The-Art-Tech Behind Fighting Fires
How are today’s firefighters dealing with massive wildfires? They’re doing it by using the most advanced technology. Whether it’s with a modified jumbo jet or innovative thermal(热的) imaging cameras, we take a look at the tech behind fighting some of the world’s most overwhelming fires.
Teams fighting against the California wildfires used the Global SuperTanker – a modified jumbo jet that carries almost 73,000 liters (19,200 gallons) of fire retardant(阻燃剂) – alongside the S-64 Aircrane heavy-lifting helicopter, which carries 10,000 liters (2,200 gallons) of water.
These air tankers are used to put out flames and monitor fire spread through sensors and video feeds coupled to GPS data. Fed into hi-tech computer modelling software, they can help predict the fire’s behavior and possible spread patterns. Computer models are able to provide small area coverage only meters wide, mapping territory and airflow. Fires are especially responsive to wind conditions and these tools allow firefighters to determine the passage of flames at ground level.
But manned aircrafts need a large investment in maintenance and crew training. Command and control centers are turning to unmanned aircraft to keep costs down and provide additional capabilities. Small quadcopters(四旋翼机) and larger fixed-wing aircraft can fly over fires for much longer periods.
Smoke can cover the ground for days at a time or pose a severe breathing risk to air crews – However, this is not a problem for drones. Onboard high definition, infrared(红外辐射的) and thermal imaging cameras can provide direction to ground teams, spot vital infrastructure (including power or water lines), and identify dangerous or flammable objects.
Infrared and thermal cameras can see through smoke to monitor ground teams and let them know when conditions change. Unmanned aircraft can provide aerial images, heat maps, and temperature scales of fire zones. Specialist drones can even carry hoses to less accessible areas. In the future, swarms of autonomous drones could be used to track wildfires and spot fire spread.
Thermal imaging technology has become widespread and less expensive to use. Handheld cameras and devices that attach to smartphones allow firefighters to see through smoke and find active fire hotspots, or undergrowth that is burning without producing smoke.
Identifying these hotspots allows crews to target the most active and dangerous parts of a wildfire and divert manpower to tackle it more effectively.
Augmented reality helmets that include breathing appliance alongside computer vision-aided displays are adding to the ground team’s capabilities. Thermal cameras inside the helmets mean that firefighters can operate in environments completely obscured by smoke. At the same time, they can wirelessly transmit information on what is happening at the frontline to command and control points.
Robots are also making a difference. The Smokebot was developed by a Swedish university to assist fire and rescue services. It collects data in environments with reduced visibility using radar, a laser scanner, a thermal camera and gas sensors. Smokebot can help in forest fire situations mapping large areas filled with dust or smoke, where it is too risky to send in rescue personnel.
Earth-observing satellites commonly detect wildfires in wilderness areas. Their cameras and remote sensors are used to estimate the fire’s evolution and provide situational awareness that saves lives.
The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) onboard the Suomi NPP satellite gives near real-time data to NASA’s Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS) on active fires across the world.
Finally, to get the bigger picture on fire tracking and monitoring, the US Forest Service and US Geological Survey uses data from the Landsat Earth-observing satellites. Data gathered from every major fire in the country since 1984 has been fed into computer models to help predict and prevent wildfires.
1. What does the underlined “they”, in the third paragraph, refer to?| A．Current firefighters tackling massive wildfires. |
| B．The modified jumbo jets and art thermal imaging cameras. |
| C．The data gained from sensors and video feeds, plus GPS information. |
| D．The air tankers used to put out flames and monitor fire spread. |
| A．Drones don’t need much fuel when putting out wildfires and identifying the causes of fires. |
| B．Less money is needed in training crews when drones are available. |
| C．Drones won’t come across any breathing problems when in work. |
| D．Drones needs much less investment in maintenance. |
| A．Swarms of autonomous drones used to extinguish wildfires from air. |
| B．AR helmets with breathing appliance alongside computer vision-aided. |
| C．Drones with high definition, infrared and thermal imaging cameras onboard. |
| D．Earth-observing satellites equipped with cameras and remote sensors. |
| A．It was created by a Swiss university to assist fire and rescue services. |
| B．It can help to send rescue personnel to a fire spot. |
| C．It can help draw a map of large areas and fill the regions with dust or smoke. |
| D．It collects data using advanced technology where visibility is reduced due to fires. |
6 . The first two years of Stuart Singer’s retirement were pure play, killing time in the New York City by bike and visiting museums and art galleries.
“At some point, I realised I should do more than this,” said Mr Singer, a former high school teacher.
Now Mr Singer, 74, and his wife Madine, 69, are involved in the Retired and Senior Volunteer Programme. Mr Singer volunteers with the Community Health Advocates Programme, which started in 2010. The programme helps consumers to know better about the health insurance coverage(医疗保险). And it helps them to find access to low-cost or free care. Mr Singer’s main task is to answer phones for the Community Health Advocates’ helpline.
“There are lots of calls from different people who need medical care, but they can’t get it because their insurance company won’t pay for it,” he said. “And you got to go through doctors, and get the papers filled out. But when you get it done, yeah, it feels good.”
The helpline helps about 250 callers each week and has saved consumers $12.1 million since it began. Mr Singer comes in once a week, helping 10 callers every shift. In total, he estimates he has saved New Yorkers $443,000.
Despite the challenges, the work is a joy, not drudgery for Mr Singer, which inspired his wife to sign up for volunteer training after she retired in late 2014 as vice president of the Insurance Information Institute. It put her fear of retirement at ease.
Mrs Singer trained with the Advocacy, Counseling and Entitlement Services Project before being placed with the Actor’s Fund, a national human services organization for performing arts and entertainment professionals founded in 1882. “It just seems so unfair that these people have trouble finding housing,” said Mrs Singer. Since she started in early 2015, Mrs Singer has had more than 270 appointments with clients, from ticket takers to screenwriters to dancers. “Having someone help them really means a lot to them,” Mrs Singer said.
Much of her work is helping clients who are applying for affordable housing sort through a variety of income sources they receive. “It keeps the mind going,” Mrs Singer said. “It keeps the social life going, and I’m doing something.”
1. In paragraph 2, this refers to_________.| A．riding bikes in New York City | B．visiting museums and art galleries |
| C．spending Mr Singer’s life purely for fun | D．teaching in a high school |
| A．tiring training | B．boring work |
| C．inspiring training | D．exciting work |
| A．Meaningful. | B．Easy. | C．Affordable. | D．Relaxing. |
| A．Live a Simple Life after Retirement |
| B．Adapt to Social Life after Retirement |
| C．Find Rewards in Volunteering after Retirement |
| D．Overcome Difficulties in Volunteering after Retirement |
7 . Math, Taught like Football
Growing up, I thought math class was something to be endured, not enjoyed. I disliked memorizing formulas and taking tests, all for the dull goal of getting a good grade. But my problem wasn’t with math itself. In fact, I spent countless hours as a child doing logic and math puzzles on my own, and as a teenager, when a topic seemed particularly interesting, I would go to the library and read more about it.
By high school, none of my teachers questioned my mathematical talent, but none of them really encouraged it, either. No one told me that I could become a professional mathematician. What I wanted to do then was to play college football. My ambition was to get an athletic scholarship to attend a Big Ten school.
The chances of that happening were very low. In high school, I was just an above-average athlete and my high school was not a “feeder” school for college sports programs.
That didn’t stop me from dreaming, though. And it didn’t stop my coaches from encouraging me to believe I could reach my goal, and preparing and pushing me to work for it. They made video tapes of my performances and sent them to college coaches around the country. It didn’t matter that I didn’t initially attract much interest from the big schools. My coaches kept picking up the phone, and kept convincing me to try to prove myself. In the end, a Big Ten school, Pennstate, did offer me a scholarship.
A growing body of research shows that students are affected by more than just the quality of a lesson plan. They also respond to the passion of their teachers and the engagement of their peers, and they seek a sense of purpose. They benefit from specific instructions, constant feedback and a culture of earning that encourages resilience in the face of failure.
Until I got to college, I didn’t really know what mathematics was. I still thought of it as problem sets and laborious computations. Then one day, one of my professors handed me a book and suggested that I think about a particular problem. It wasn’t easy, but it was fascinating.
My professor kept giving me problems, and I kept pursuing them. Before long, he was introducing me to problems that had never been solved before and urging me to find new techniques to help crack them.
I am now a Ph. D. candidate in mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and I have published several papers in mathematical journals. I still feel that childlike excitement every time I complete a proof. I wish I’d known this was possible when I was a kid.
1. Why did the writer think math class in school was “something to be endured” before entering college?| A．Because he wasn’t interested in math. |
| B．Because his math teachers didn’t care to push him. |
| C．Because he was too smart and talented for math class. |
| D．Because he was training hard for an athletic scholarship. |
| A．passion | B．constant feedback |
| C．a sense of purpose | D．specific instructions |
| A．was busy looking for problem sets to crack |
| B．began to realize what mathematics really is |
| C．met with laborious computations in his studies |
| D．studied on his own just as he was in high school |
| A．Feeling the children excitement. |
| B．Different mathematical research. |
| C．Generating curiosity and creativity. |
| D．Being a professional mathematician. |
8 . There are several ways of retelling “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”. In 2005 Hollywood focused on Willy Wonka, the factory’s owner, portraying him as a purple-gloved man-child. A new musical production of Roald Dahl’s children’s story at the Theatre Royal in London concentrates on the up-from-poverty fortune of Charlie Bucket, the boy who finds the golden ticket.
Tales of upward social mobility attempted or achieved are crowding the London stage. “Billy Elliott”, the story of a miner’s son who strives with the death of family strikes to make it as a ballet dancer, recently celebrated its four-millionth visitor. “Port”, an account of a Stockport girl’s attempts to escape her depressing origins, was a success at the National Theatre this spring. Last year “In Basildon” described strivers in the typical upwardly-mobile Essex town.
It is a respectable theatrical (and literary) theme, but it is being handled in a different way. John Osborne’s 1956 play “Look Back in Anger” showed a working-class man’s anger at the middle class he had married into. By the 1970s and 1980s writers were looking down their noses at social climbers, in plays like “Top Girls” and “Abigail’s Party”, in which a middle-class arriviste (暴发户) serves inferior snacks and the wrong kind of wine.
Social mobility moved away as a topic for a while, as playwrights like David Hare turned to examine carefully the state of the nation. Now it has returned—and is described much more sympathetically. Dominic Cooke, who directed “In Basildon” at the Royal Court Theatre, says this may be a delayed reaction to the collapse of state socialism in Europe.
A possible reason for the sympathetic tone is that upward mobility can no longer be taken for granted. In 2011 researchers at the London School of Economics concluded that intergenerational social mobility, assessed by income for children born between 1970 and 2000, had suspended. Another study, by Essex University academics, found matters had not improved during the crisis.
So it is fantastic fun to see people make it. Charlie Bucket does so spectacularly(壮观地). At the end of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” he is a pint-size entrepreneur(企业家), with an immigrant workforce of Oompa-Loompas to ensure he does not fall back down the social ladder.
1. What are the versions of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” mentioned in the passage?| A．Magic and ballet. | B．Movie and musical. |
| C．Drama and painting. | D．Novel and documentary. |
| A．The story of a miner's son. |
| B．The topic of upward social mobility. |
| C．An account of a Stockport girl's attempts. |
| D．A striver in the upwardly-mobile Essex town. |
| A．gaining by dishonest means |
| B．serving others what they like |
| C．being involved in social climbing |
| D．marrying the one sharing your background |
| A．Curious. | B．Optimistic. |
| C．Pessimistic. | D．Concerned. |
In the past hundred years，humans have begun destroying rainforests in search of three major resources（资源）：land for crops，wood for paper and other products，land for raising farm animals. This action affects the environment as a whole. For example，a lot of carbon dioxide（二氧化碳）in the air comes from burning the rainforests. People obviously have a need for the resources we gain from cutting trees but we will suffer much more than we will benefit.There are two main reasons for this. Firstly，when people cut down trees，generally they can only use the land for a year or two. Secondly，cutting large sections of rainforests may provide a good supply of wood right now，but in the long run it actually reduces the world’s wood supply.
Rainforests are often called the world’s drug store. More than 25％ of the medicines we use today come from plants in rainforests. However，fewer than l％of rainforest plants have been examined for their medical value. It is extremely likely that our best chance to cure diseases lies somewhere in the world’s shrinking rainforests.
1. Rainforests can help to adjust the climate because they
| A．reflect more heat into the atmosphere |
| B．bring about high rainfall throughout the world |
| C．rarely cause the temperature to drop lower than l6℃ |
| D．reduce the effect of heat from the sun on the earth |
| A．We will lose much more than we can gain. |
| B．Humans have begun destroying rainforests. |
| C．People have a strong desire for resources. |
| D．Much carbon dioxide comes from burning rainforests. |
| A．we can get enough resources without rainforests |
| B．there is great medicine potential in rainforests |
| C．we will grow fewer kinds of crops in the gained land |
| D．the level of annual rainfall affects wind patterns |
| A．How to Save Rainforests |
| B．How to Protect Nature |
| C．Rainforests and the Environment |
| D．Rainforests and Medical Development |
