A parent’s nightmare turned to relief in Florida as policemen swiftly rescued a missing five-year-old girl with autism. The local police launched a desperate search,
The Government’s sugar tax on soft drinks
3 . It was hard not to notice an 8-year-old kid storming in and out of his own house. “He doesn’t have a father,” said his neighbor, William Dunn. “I can probably do something for him.”
That something was fishing, a
Just as important as the fishing are the
Dunn’s father passed away this year, so fishing has
A.case | B.passion | C.duty | D.goal |
A.difficult | B.dramatic | C.adventurous | D.boring |
A.remembered | B.regretted | C.recorded | D.appreciated |
A.Entertained | B.Shocked | C.Inspired | D.Confused |
A.nearby | B.around | C.ahead | D.throughout |
A.identities | B.agreements | C.relationships | D.opinions |
A.toughness | B.dependence | C.sharpness | D.defense |
A.require | B.deserve | C.lead | D.secure |
A.left behind | B.turned into | C.carried out | D.taken on |
A.curious | B.nervous | C.lucky | D.hesitant |
4 . It was 4:30 pm. As I was packing up, I noticed my colleague had left his laptop bag in the office. So I decided to bring it to him. It took me about 15 minutes to get to his house, where I
Suddenly a snowstorm came and within minutes I was in a whiteout. I stopped because I was afraid of driving into a farmer’s field, or worse. I kept the car
Those seconds after the call were
I texted my colleague, joking about my good deed ending in
Waiting in the car, I doubted whether
At 8 pm, I saw a tall figure in a yellow raincoat striding toward me in the dark, carrying a flashlight. I’d never been more
He turned around and started to trudge through the snow, sure of the direction. I drove behind him, feeling my heart begin to beat more
The experience has been a game changer for me. I now
A.dropped off | B.filled up | C.set aside | D.put away |
A.locked | B.parked | C.signaling | D.running |
A.painful | B.critical | C.disappointing | D.impressive |
A.failure | B.smoke | C.disaster | D.mystery |
A.route | B.location | C.direction | D.destination |
A.news | B.help | C.hope | D.faith |
A.satisfied | B.surprised | C.relieved | D.worried |
A.slowly | B.excitedly | C.nervously | D.strongly |
A.recognition | B.admiration | C.satisfaction | D.appreciation |
A.identify | B.present | C.approach | D.anticipate |
5 . When you get in a car, you expect it will have functioning brakes. When you pick up medicine at the drugstore, you expect it won’t be polluted. But it wasn’t always like this. The safety of these products was terrible when they first came to market. It took much research and regulation to figure out how users can enjoy the benefits of these products without getting harmed.
Social media risks are everywhere. The dangers that algorithms designed to maximize attention represent to teens have become impossible to ignore. Other product design elements, often called “dark patterns,” designed to keep people using for longer, also appear to tip young users into social media overuse.
Despite these efforts, two things are clear. First, online safety problems are leading to real, offline suffering. Second, social media companies can’t, or won’t, solve these safety problems on their own.
A.And those problems aren’t going away. |
B.The current issues aren’t really about offline suffering. |
C.Platforms already have systems to remove violent or harmful content. |
D.Similarly, social media needs product safety standards to keep users safe. |
E.It’s time we should require social media to take safety seriously, for everyone’s sake. |
F.Internet platforms, however, have shifted blame on the consumers whenever criticized. |
G.Some authorities are taking steps to hold social media platforms accountable for the content. |
6 . As biologist Nicola Foster and her colleagues guided a remote-controlled monitor through the coral reefs (珊瑚礁) of the Indian Ocean’s Chagos Archipelago, they saw corals full of color near the surface. But nearly 300 feet below, in the darker and colder waters of what oceanographers call the “twilight zone,” some corals had turned terrible white, leaving them vulnerable (脆弱的) to disease and death.
“It wasn’t something we were expecting to see,” says Foster, who studies deeperwater coral ecosystems called mesophotic reefs. Mesophotic reefs would seem to be protected from rising sea-surface temperatures that white n higher-up corals. But this team’s 2019 observations show the deepest instance of bleaching (变白) ever recorded — suggesting similar reefs are more vulnerable than previously believed.
Bleaching often happens when warming water boosts corals to remove the colorful algae (水藻) that live in their tissues and help to sustain them. Although surface waters weren’t typically warm when Foster and her team took their measurements, the twilight zone waters neared 84 degrees Fahrenheit (华氏度) — far above the 68-to 75-degree range in which mesophotic corals are used to.
The researchers realized that bleaching is related to the timing of the Indian Ocean Dipole. This phenomenon shifts the region’s surface winds and ocean currents, says study co-author Phil Hosegood. Wind and waves shake the upper ocean, keeping it relatively warm and uniform in temperature. But the 2019 dipole deepened this well-mixed upper layer; the thermocline (the slice of ocean that separates warm upper waters from the cold depths) had become deeper than normal. Then, those corals were exposed to temperatures that are normally found at the surface.
This observation suggests mesophotic reefs elsewhere could also be bleaching. Fortunately, the corals in this study had largely recovered their color by 2022, Foster notes. But each bleaching stresses the corals and, if extended, can starve them. Future Indian Ocean Dipole patterns are likely to be more severe, Hosegood says, noting that data suggest “that these natural cycles are becoming increased with climate change.”
1. What are the first two paragraphs mainly about?A.Corals in twilight zone become vulnerable because of bleaching. |
B.Corals normally found at the surface were found in twilight zone. |
C.Mesophotic reefs are much more vulnerable than higher-up reefs. |
D.Mesophotic reefs and higher-up reefs need different temperature. |
A. | B. |
C. | D. |
A.excited | B.worried | C.curious | D.hopeful |
7 . At the end of the day, most of us find ourselves on the couch, eyes glued to the television or to our smartphones, doing everything we can to conserve energy.
According to Michael Inzlicht, a social psychologist at the University of Toronto, we’re lazy and also, we’re not.
All humans, given equal options, will take the easy way out. Does it mean we’re lazy? Maybe.
But there are the times when humans are the opposite of lazy and do very difficult things for no apparent reason. Some rewards only come from extensive effort.
So, in that sense, effort is worth the effort. While humans are economically aware of effort most of the time, “in some cases, the effort itself is rewarding,” says Inzlicht.
A.Think about things like running a marathon. |
B.It’s not completely clear why humans behave this way. |
C.It seems that we humans are gifted in the way of laziness. |
D.We similarly love to space out, our brain tired of focusing. |
E.But it certainly means that we’re economic with our effort. |
F.Some people who appear to be lazy are suffering from much more serious problems. |
G.Likewise, we might get a sense of pleasure or mastery from doing a crossword puzzle. |
8 . When fighting sugar dependence, avoiding added sugar in the diet is key, which sounds simple — right? It certainly does, but things become a bit more complicated once we introduce alternative sweeteners into the mix.
Alternative sweeteners are everywhere.
Now that we know some of the common types of alternative sweeteners, let’s take a deeper dive into the problem with them. Research in animals has shown that removing calories from foods that taste sweet can interrupt the ability to control energy intake.
The other interesting thing about alternative sweeteners is that our brains don’t recognize them as “fake (假的)” sugar.
So what do I recommend? In order to fully put a definite end to sugar dependence, reducing your intake of alternative sweeteners should be the goal.
A.The taste profile of alternative sweeteners varies. |
B.We can’t forget about the ever-so-popular sugar alcohols. |
C.There are countless alternative sweeteners on the market. |
D.Our brain senses something sweet and thinks it is real sugar. |
E.They may help reduce the calorie content of good-tasting foods and drinks. |
F.Artificial sweeteners may also cause one’s body to prefer sweeter-tasting foods. |
G.Alternative sweeteners are referred to as “low-calorie” or “no-calorie” sweeteners. |
9 . A shopkeeper’s son breaks a window, causing a crowd to gather. They tell the shopkeeper not to be angry: actually, the broken window is a reason to celebrate, since it will create work for the glazier (装玻璃的工人). In the story, written by a 19th-century economist, the crowd envisions the work involved in repairing the window, but not that involved in everything else on which the shopkeeper could have spent his money — unseen possibilities that would have brought him greater happiness.
If that window were to be broken these days, people might have a different reaction, especially if they were NIMBYs (Not In My Back Yard) who oppose any local construction that affects their quality of life. Their concern might be with the “embodied carbon”. The production of a piece of glass would carry a sizeable carbon cost. Similarly, the bricks and concrete in a building are relics of past emissions. They are, the logic goes, embodied carbon.
Conserving what already exists, rather than adding to the building stock, will avoid increasing these embodied emissions — or so NIMBYs often suggest. At its worst, this idea is based on a warped logic. Greenhouse gases released by the construction of an existing building will heat the planet whether the building is repaired or knocked down. The emissions have been taken out of the world’s “carbon budget”, so treating them as anew debit means double counting. The right question to ask is whether it is worth using the remaining carbon budget to repair a building or it is better to knock it down.
Choosing between these possibilities requires thinking about the unseen. It used to be said that construction emitted two types of emissions. Besides the embodied sort, there were operational ones from cooling, heating and providing electricity to residents. Around the world, buildings account for 39% of annual emissions, according to the World Green Building Council, of which 28% come from operational carbon.
These two types of emissions might be enough for the architects designing an individual building. But when it comes to broader questions, economists ought also to consider how the placement of buildings affects the manner in which people work, shop and travel. Density (密度) lowers the per-person cost of public transport, and this reduces car use. Research by Green Alliance, a pressure group, suggests that in Britain a policy of “demolish (拆除) and densify” — replacing semi-detached housing near public transport with blocks of flats — would save substantial emissions. Without such demolition, potential residents would typically have to move to the suburbs instead, saving money on rent but consuming more energy.
Targeted subsidies (补贴), especially for research and development into construction materials, could speed up the pace at which the built environment decarbonises. What will never work, however, is allowing the loudest voices to decide how to use land and ignoring the carbon emissions of their would-be neighbours once they are out of sight.
1. The first two paragraphs are written to ________.A.exemplify an outlook on energy conservation |
B.present a new way of relieving energy crisis |
C.explain people’s reaction to a broken window |
D.introduce an argument on carbon emission |
A.Unsound. | B.Complicated. | C.Distinctive. | D.Underlying. |
A.Operational carbon accounts for a larger share of carbon emission. |
B.Repairing old buildings outweighs demolition in energy conservation. |
C.Higher residential density near public transport may help reduce emission. |
D.Stopping residents from living in new buildings is sensible to energy saving. |
A.Interests of NIMBYs are worthy of consideration. |
B.A comprehensive insight into emission is essential. |
C.Upgrading construction materials should be prioritized. |
D.Every resident should do their bit in reducing carbon emission. |
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Dear Jim,
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Yours,
Li Hua