1 . Each year, about 250 billion to-go cups serve coffee and tea from places like Starbucks and McDonald’s are produced to satisfy the world’s love for hot drinks on the run. These paper-based cups have the inside surface covered with plastic to prevent water from escaping, and keep water from being absorbed into the material. Despite this, that also removes any opportunity for the cups to be biodegradable (可生物降解的).
The materials that created these cups of goodness and convenience are recyclable but only if separated. In addition, the demand for such resources is low, so they are worth next to nothing.
In response to this great challenge, NextGen Consortium, multi-year partnership led by Starbucks and McDonald’s launched their first big initiative (倡议)—NextGen Cup. The first step in NextGen Cup was an open competition where participants presented ideas for sleeves, cups, lids and other parts of the hot-cold paper-based takeaway coffee cup that would make it reusable, recyclable, or biodegradable; to finally be widely used. 12 winners, announced in 2019, shared a prize of $1 million, as well as personalized growth, and support from members of NextGen Consortium.
Later, they launched two pilot programs at independent coffee shops in California. In one case, customers were given “smart” reusable cups made mostly from recyclable plastic. They then could drop their empties into collection containers at key locations, for washing and reuse. These cups were printed with RFID chips or QR codes, through which coffee shops can know where there is the greatest need for collection containers and how many are not using them.
To reduce coffee cup waste, Cup Club is already replacing millions of takeaway cups in the UK, while Recup in Germany, has performed a deposit system that simply adds a small extra fee to any coffee cup which is returned to the buyer after the cup is deposited in any registered collection point.
1. What can we say about the paper-based cups?| A．They can absorb water easily. | B．They are not popular in life. |
| C．They can’t be easily recycled. | D．They are attractive in low price. |
| A．Separating recyclable materials from the cups. |
| B．Making the cups green and easily available. |
| C．Reducing the unnecessary parts of the cups. |
| D．Gaining the support from their partners. |
| A．Knowing about customers’ preference for coffee shops. |
| B．Collecting the information on which shop is empty. |
| C．Helping choose where customer can drink coffee. |
| D．Making the recycling of cups more efficient. |
| A．A collection point. | B．A deposit system. |
| C．A small extra fee. | D．Any coffee cup. |
2 . In the past few decades, great progress has been made in the field of space exploration, which has enabled mankind to have a deeper understanding of the Solar System, our place in it and in the universe. “We sent probes(探测器) to every planet in the Solar System. This is by far the best one,” said Clayton, vice president of Blue Origin. “Let's focus right now on protecting the Earth environment, and then we'll go from there. Space science and technology should be people-centric and application-centric, and focus on improving human life. We need to have a strong footing on the Earth, learn to solve the day-to-day problems of the society.”
“Space technology can help achieve the 17 sustainable development goals to be achieved by 2030 set by the United Nations. Satellite monitoring can really help with agriculture. ” said Victoria, CEO of a company working on sustainable development, “Through Global Navigation Satellite System, animals' movement information recorded on self-recharging devices can be transmitted to the company server. Farmers can be alerted in real time if anomalies(异常现象）are detected. We can use it to ensure the traceability of the entire meat chain. As a result, it enables consumers to know that the beef they are eating does not come from protected areas or the cattle don't contribute to deforestation. ”
As early as 2007, Michael Griffin, former Administrator of NASA, put forward the concept of the “space economy” in a speech. He is very optimistic about the market prospect of commercial space and said, “According to the latest data, the global space industry could reach $1 trillion in 2040, up from $ 378 billion currently. I believe more business models and space activities will be created in the future to achieve the economic scale of $1 trillion. ”
As an entrepreneur(创业者）herself, Victoria thinks the thriving space market will bring countless opportunities for entrepreneurs. She mentioned future settlements on Mars or on the Moon. “If we are going to develop a new society outside the Earth, we will need all types of applications and all types of startups. But coming back to the Earth, there are so many problems that need to be solved, and space technology can really help with that.”
1. What does the underlined word “This” in Paragraph 1 refer to ?| A．A successful space exploration. |
| B．A probe sent to other planets. |
| C．The planet people are living on now. |
| D．The solar system people are exploring. |
| A．Providing more financial support. |
| B．Improving people's life on earth. |
| C．Sending more probes in the universe. |
| D．The development of related technology. |
| A．By making reasoning. |
| B．By providing accurate figures. |
| C．By making comparison. |
| D．By illustrating from different aspects. |
| A．Necessities of space exploration. |
| B．Breakthroughs in space exploration. |
| C．Possible application of space technology. |
| D．Controversial issues about space technology. |
3 . Many cars in advertisements, exhibits and at car sales in the United States are red, blue or green —but almost 75 percent of new cars sold in the United States are black, white, silver or gray.
Jackson is a reporter who writes about cars. He says the car colors Americans choose do not show dirt as much as the colors of other cars. He says that means the owners wash their cars less, saving money. And he notes some areas that are suffering from water shortages do not permit people to wash their cars often, if at all.
Dan Benton works for a company called Axalta, which makes supplies for international car makers. He says when white cars are sold by their owners, they often sell for higher amounts than cars of other colors. And he notes that white cars “absorb less energy" than cars of other colors. This means temperatures inside them are lower in warmer areas.
Dan Benton also says research at Monash University in Australia suggests that there is a lower risk of crashes during the day for white cars compared with darker ones.
Axalta says about 11 percent of cars sold in North America are red and 8 percent are blue. In South America, 10 percent of new cars sold are red.
Car buyers in other countries also like white. Jane Harrington works for PPG Industries, a company that makes paint for cars. She said in China, buyers say white makes a small car look bigger.
Green has become less popular. Dan Benton notes that in the mid 1990s, “green was the most popular color in North America. Today, green is hard to find."
Sometime in the future, people may not have to choose the color of their car - technology may let owners change their car's paint color anytime.
1. According to Jackson, Americans favor cars of black mostly because they________.| A．stand washing | B．don't look dirty |
| C．are environmentally friendly | D．aren't in need of cleaning often |
| A．White cars. | B．Black cars. | C．Car sellers. | D．Car makers. |
| A．Dan Benton. | B．Jane Harrington. | C．Australians. | D．Chinese. |
| A．Cares Are Different in Style |
| B．Colors Increase a Car's Popularity |
| C．What Are the Colors of Choice for Cars? |
| D．What Type of Car Sells Well in the Market? |
4 . A study by Harvard researchers found that mind wandering, or daydreaming, consumes an average of 47% of peoples’ waking hours. This brings about the question：If mind wandering is so costly to our well-being, then why in the world are we so willing to spend nearly half of our lives in this mental state?
Creative thinkers know, despite what their parents, teachers and school leaders might have told them, that daydreaming is hardly a waste of time. But unfortunately, many students learn to suppress their natural instincts to dream and imagine-instead, they’re taught to fit into a standardized model and to learn by the book, in a way that may not feel natural and that very well may suppress their natural desire to create. But as two famous psychologists recently noted, “Not all minds who wander are lost”-in fact, the mind’s wandering is vital to imagination and creative thought.
Nearly 50 years ago, psychologist Jerome L. Singer established that daydreaming is a normal and indeed widespread aspect of human experience. He found that many people are “happy daydreamers” who enjoy their inner imagery and fantasy. According to Singer, these daydreamers “simply value and enjoy their private experiences, are willing to risk wasting a certain amount of time on them, but also can apparently use them for effective planning and for self-amusement during periods of routine task activity or boredom.”
Singer coined the term positive-constructive daydreaming to describe this type of mind wandering, which he distinguished from poor attention and anxious, obsessive fantasies. By making these important distinctions, Singer was able to highlight the positive, adaptive role that daydreaming can play in our daily lives, under the right circumstances.
1. Who are aware that daydreaming is not a waste of time?| A．Teachers. | B．Parents. | C．School leaders. | D．Creative thinkers. |
| A．learning by the book | B．imagination and creation |
| C．suppression of inner desires | D．instincts and amusements |
| A．Private experience. | B．Circumstances. | C．Fantasies. | D．Happy dreamers. |
| A．It is a useful mental state. | B．It is similar to poor attention. |
| C．It is an anxious. obsessive fantasy. | D．It is a standardized model. |
5 . A study confirmed that the cracks (裂缝) found on the surface of Mars last year by the Curiosity Rover are evidence of ancient lakes that likely dried up about 3.5 billion years ago. The new study provides further evidence of what the climate on the Red Planet may have been like in its ancient past.
The study, published online in Geology, proved that cracks on Mars’s surface previously photographed by Curiosity are dry mud cracks which could have only been formed when wet ground was exposed to the air. This conclusion was based on an analysis of a single area of rock known as “Old Soaker.”
Researchers used the Curiosity Rover and information from its many tools including the Mars Hand Lens Imager, ChemCam Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectrometer (LIBS) and the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) to study both the physical appearance and the chemistry of the rock, which is described as no bigger than a coffee table.
The analysis showed that cracks on the rock were formed by exposure to air, rather than heat or the flow of water. In addition, the shape of the cracks suggests it experienced a single drying event on the planet, rather than getting wet and drying over repeatedly. The position of the cracks, closer to the center of the ancient lake rather than alongside it, also suggests that the lake levels changed often, rising and falling over time.
“The mud cracks are exciting because they help us to understand this ancient lake system,” lead study author Nathaniel Stein, a geologist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, said, referring to the ancient lake system on the planet.
Scientists have known of the existence of ancient water on Mars for years. A 2015 NASA study that measured water in Mars’s atmosphere suggested that ancient oceans may once have had more water than our own Arctic Ocean. However, because the planet has less gravity and a thinner atmosphere than Earth, this water evaporated into space over the course of several billion years.
1. What is the Curiosity Rover underlined in Paragraph 1?| A．A research organization. | B．An automatic machine. |
| C．An ancient remain on the planet. | D．A space telescope on earth. |
| A．The cracks are near the center of an ancient lake. |
| B．Mars was getting wet and drying more than once. |
| C．The lake level on Mars seldom changes over time. |
| D．The cracks on the rocks were formed by water flow. |
| A．Ancient water still exists on Mars now. |
| B．The gravity on Mars is stronger than that on Earth. |
| C．The atmosphere on Earth is thicker than that on Mars. |
| D．The ancient Arctic Ocean had more water than it has now. |
| A．Water on Mars. | B．A trip to Mars. |
| C．A study on Mars. | D．Cracks on Mars. |
6 . On a scale of 0 to 10, I’d say my happiness ranks at about 6. I’m glad to know I’m a 6, because, as a famous management saying puts it, “You can't manage what you don’t measure.” If you want to improve an aspect of your life, you need to be able to assess progress toward your goal-and that means measuring it.
The goal of this column is to help you manage and improve your happiness. A number of people have asked me whether quantitative happiness measures are really accurate and reliable-and it’s a reasonable question. So let’s take a look behind the curtain. But not just for intellectual curiosity; as you will see, understanding the measurement of happiness can itself make you better at improving your own well-being-and avoid some critical errors.
The best method scientists have to understand with confidence how something affects something else is a randomized, controlled trial. Think of the tests currently under way to find a vaccine for COvID-19. They take a long time because the drug companies with trial vaccines are conducting experiments that randomly assign people to a treatment group they get the vaccine and a control group (they get a placebo), and then waiting to seif the drug is effective and safe by comparing the two groups after enough time has passed.
In the research on happiness, this usually isn’t possible. Want to know if people are truly happiest in Denmark, as some studies suggest, and test it with a randomized experiment? You would need to randomly take two groups out of their homes, move one group to Copenhagen, and the other to, say, Dayton, Ohio- but make sure they think it might be Copenhagen and never get the truth. Follow up a few years later to see who is happiest. Obviously, that’s ridiculous. So with randomized controlled trials largely not available to them, happiness researchers instead rely on self-reported happiness surveys, where large groups of people anonymously report their levels of life satisfaction. Then, the researchers use fairly complex statistical techniques to mimic（模拟）a controlled experiment in order to show how different aspects of people’s lives affect-or at least are associated with-their happiness.
1. What does the underlined word “it” in Paragraph 1 probably refer to?| A．An aspect of life. | B．One's goal. | C．Happiness. | D．Progress. |
| A．To introduce a latest medical breakthrough. |
| B．To show the difficulty in finding the vaccine. |
| C．To illustrate the process of randomized experiments. |
| D．To prove the impossibility of randomized researches on happiness. |
| A．The experiment takes a long time. |
| B．It is difficult to analyze the data collected. |
| C．It is impossible to carry out the process strictly. |
| D．The subjects are unwilling to share their feelings. |
| A．A magazine. | B．A diary. | C．A science report. | D．A textbook. |
7 . While children are dogs—loyal and affectionate (情深的)—teenagers are cats. It′s so easy to be a dog owner. You feed it, train it, and boss it around. It puts its head on your knee and gazes at you as if you were a Rembrandt painting. It bounds indoors with enthusiasm when you call it.
Then around age 13, your adoring little puppy turns into a big old cat. When you tell it to come inside, it looks amazed, as if wondering who died and made you emperor. Instead of dogging your doorsteps, it disappears. You won′t see it again until it gets hungry―then it pauses on its sprint through the kitchen long enough to turn its nose up at whatever you′re serving. When you reach out to ruffle its head, in that old affectionate gesture, it turns away from you, then gives you a blank stare, as if trying to remember where it has seen you before.
You, not realizing that the dog is now a cat, think something must be desperately wrong with it. It seems so antisocial, so distant, sort of depressed. It won′t go on family outings.
Since you are the one who raised it, taught it to fetch and stay and sit on command, you assume that you did something wrong. Flooded with guilt and fear, you redouble your efforts to make your pet behave.
Only now you′re dealing with a cat, so everything that worked before now produces the opposite of the desired result. Call it, and it runs away. Tell it to sit, and it jumps on the counter. The more you go toward it, wringing your hands, the more it moves away.
Put a dish of food near the door, and let it come to you. But remember that a cat needs your help and your affection too. Sit still, and it will come, seeking that warm, comforting lap it has not entirely forgotten. Be there to open the door for it.
One day your grown-up child will walk into the kitchen, give you a big kiss and say, “You′ve been on your feet all day. Let me get those dishes for you.”
Then you′ll realize your cat is a dog again.
1. What does the word “It” refer to in the third paragraph?| A．A dog |
| B．A parent |
| C．A teenager |
| D．A situation |
| A．Excitedly |
| B．Indifferently |
| C．Angrily |
| D．Calmly |
| A．Children like cats can not easily follow parents′ directions. |
| B．Parents should try their best to leave their children alone. |
| C．You can′t expect children to be considerate toward their parents. |
| D．Parents should consider what they do wrong to educate their kids. |
| A．To tell us how a dog changes into a cat. |
| B．To tell us how to raise pets like cats and dogs. |
| C．To tell us the similarities between pets and children. |
| D．To tell us how to deal with teenagers aged 13 or so. |
8 . It’s hard to turn down a tasty banana. They taste good and you don’t have to wash them before eating them. However, British scientists say that the fruit may disappear by 2050.
One reason for this is climate change. Scientists at the University of Exeter collected data from 27 countries and regions that produce 86 percent of the world’s bananas. They found that climate change has improved growing conditions in 21 of these countries. In the past 60 years the average yield has reached 1.37 tons of bananas per hectare.
However, if temperatures keep rising, this advantage will disappear. Ten of the countries, including India, the world’s biggest producer of bananas, will produce fewer bananas. By 2050, the fruit may die out.
Shouldn’t bananas grow more easily if it’s hotter outside? In fact, the perfect temperature range for growing bananas is between 24℃ and 32℃. If temperatures get too high, they will stop growing.
Another reason for this phenomenon is diseases. Unlike other crops, the bananas we grow come from shoot cuttings rather than seeds. This means that all banana plants have the same genotype. In other words, if a disease is able to kill one plants it could kill them all.
One serious disease is called Panama. Caused by fungus（真菌）in the soil, it spreads easily. It has spread across South Asia, Africa, the Middle East, and Australia. If one banana plantation suffers from the disease, it will take 30 years until it is able to grow bananas again. Scientists have not found a cure for this disease.
1. What does the underlined word “this” in Paragraph 2 refer to?| A．People’s love for bananas. | B．The taste of bananas. |
| C．The future disappearance of bananas. | D．The convenience of eating bananas |
| A．More countries will start to grow bananas. |
| B．Bananas will not be able to grow any more. |
| C．Bananas will grow better in most countries. |
| D．Bananas won’t be as tasty as before. |
| A．Two. | B．Three. | C．Four. | D．Five. |
| A．What diseases bananas may suffer from. | B．How bananas are grown. |
| C．How diseases can easily kill bananas. | D．Which diseases can kill bananas. |
9 . The moment you open your eyes in the morning, you can feel sweat running down your body, even if you’re barely moving at all. That’s what most people in China felt like this summer. In fact, the entire northern hemisphere (半球) saw high temperatures in July.
The Arctic Circle was no exception. Temperatures in the city of Norilsk, which is in the Arctic Circle, reached a record high of 32℃, the Atlantic reported. Temperatures there are usually just 10℃ at this time of the year.
The heat wave in the Arctic is mainly a long-term result of global warming, according to the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences. Actually, while the whole world is getting warmer, the Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet. This is called the polar amplification effect (极地放大效应）.
The most direct impact of Arctic warming is the melting of Arctic ice. According to NASA, Arctic sea ice is now disappearing at a rate of 13.2 percent every 10 years. NASA said that if this continues, the Arctic will have no ice by the year 2040. This has put some Arctic animals, like polar bears, in danger. The ice that the bears live on has shrunk, the Toronto Star reported. Melting ice can also cause sea levels to rise in the long term. Since 1993, sea levels have risen at a rate of 3.2 cm every 10 years, the Guardian reported. Some countries, such as Tuvalu(图瓦卢)in the South Pacific Ocean and Maldives(马尔代夫)in the Indian Ocean, are at risk of disappearing into the sea.
1. What does the underlined word “This” in the third paragraph refer to?| A．The heat wave in the Arctic. | B．The result of global warming. |
| C．Getting warmer in the world. | D．The Arctic getting warm faster. |
| A．Sea levels rise in the long term. |
| B．The polar will become dangerous. |
| C．There will be an end of water shortage. |
| D．There will be no ice in the world by 2040. |
| A．They’ll not disappear in the future. | B．They’ll live on the land. |
| C．They’ll gradually have no habitat. | D．They’ll shrink. |
| A．Arctic animals are in danger. |
| B．Heat is hitting the Arctic. |
| C．The world is getting warmer than before. |
| D．Some countries may disappear into the sea. |
10 . Be a good tourist
Tourism can be both good or bad. Yes, it brings in money for the local economy and creates lots of jobs for locals, but it may also bring some problems.
One growing problem is tourists who want to prove that they have visited someplace. Tourists have used paint, rocks or even keys to write on the Luxor Temple in Egypt, the Colosseum in Rome, Stonehenge in the UK, memorial stones at the bottom of Qomolangma, and many, many other places. Thousands of tourists sites are being destroyed by tourists who “love them to death”. I have three words for people like this: please stop it. If you want to leave a mark on the world, do it by changing someone’s life with kindness and love. Pass kindness along to future generations, not destruction.
Another big problem in some places has been tourists disturbing (打扰) the local people and life. Some tourists wander around and take pictures of local people without asking for their permission. For example, Chiang Mai University in Thailand and Yonsei University in South Korea have great numbers of tourists visiting their campuses and walking through their libraries and other public areas, taking pictures of students and disturbing their studies. I have three words for tourists like this: please be considerate. Have fun in a way that does not disturb others.
The number of problems from tourists is endless: walking in large groups without considering others who need to walk by, crossing roads without observing local traffic laws, and many more. The only way to solve the issue of the terrible tourist is to make sure that you are not one! Be the best, kindest, most polite tourist possible. Remember, whenever you step outside your country’s borders, you are representing (代表) your country to the rest of the world.
1. What does “them” in the second paragraph refer to?| A．Memorial stones. | B．Jobs for locals. |
| C．Tourist spots. | D．Marks left by tourists. |
| A．Kind behaviour that can change someone’s life. |
| B．Love and destruction that will have an effect on future generations. |
| C．A lot of money brought by tourism. |
| D．Only beautiful pictures taken by tourists. |
| A．Tourists can wander around and take pictures anywhere. |
| B．Tourists should try not to cause trouble for local people and life. |
| C．For all universities, admission should be free and everybody is welcome. |
| D．More university campuses should be open to the public. |
| A．Providing better service. | B．Developing local economy. |
| C．Being a polite tourist. | D．Making friends during traveling. |
