1 . A fully automated process, including a brand-new artificial intelligence(Al)tool, has successfully detected, identified(确认)and categorized its first supernova(超新星). Developed by an international organization led by Northwestern University, the new system automates the entire search for new supernovae across the night sky—effectively removing humans from the process. Not only does this rapidly speed up the process of analyzing and categorizing new supernova candidates(候选), but it also bypasses human errors.
The team reported to the astronomical community the launch and success of the new tool．called the Bright Transient Survey Bot(BTSbot), this week. In the past six years, humans have spent an estimated total of 2,200 hours checking and categorizing supernova candidates. With the new tool now officially online, researchers can redirect this precious time toward other responsibilities in order to speed up the discovery.
To detect and analyze supernovae, humans currently work hand in hand with robotic systems. First, robotic telescopes repeatedly image the same sections of the night sky, searching for new sources that were not present in previous images. Then, when these telescopes detect something new, humans take over. The researchers developed the BTSbot to cut out these human middlemen.
To test the BTSbot, the researchers looked to a newly discovered supernova candidate called SN2023tyk. The ZTF, a robotic observatory that images the night sky in a search for supernovae, first detected the source on Oct. 3. Examining ZTF’s data in real time, BTSbot found SN2023tyk on Oct.5. After determining that the candidate was a Type la supernova, the automated system publicly shared the discovery with the astronomical community on Oet.7.
In the first days of running BTSbot, Northwestern’s Nabeel Rehemtulla, who co-led the technology development, felt a mix of nervousness and excitement. “The beauty of it is that, once everything is turned on and working properly, we don’t actually do anything. We go to sleep at night, and, in the morning, we see that BTSbot and these other AIs firmly do their jobs,” he said.
1. What does the underlined word “bypasses” in the first paragraph mean?| A．Causes. | B．Avoids. | C．Reduces. | D．Contains. |
| A．It is simple. | B．It is automatic. |
| C．It is meaningless. | D．It is time-consuming. |
| A．Detecting the supernova. | B．Sharing the supernova. |
| C．Identifying the supernova. | D．Categorizing the supernova. |
| A．He hasn’t had a good sleep for a long time. |
| B．Running BTSbot requires a lot of manpower. |
| C．Researchers benefit greatly from the BTSbot. |
| D．He has no confidence in the success of the test. |
Modern science and technology have helped to greatly reduce the back-breaking labour
Probably one of the most
How Simcha Blass, a scientist, discovered this new way of irrigation is rather interesting. He was visiting a friend in the Israeli desert in the 1930s
Through this discovery, farmers can now produce crops on arid land
3 . There is no way they just drove into that water, thought Evans. The 16-year-old was
It was around 2:30 a.m. by the time Evans and his friends got to the river’s edge. In the darkness, they could
Evans ripped off his shirt and shoes, threw his phone away then dived into the water. He helped the first girl he saw and, keeping her
There was still one girl who could not swim in the water. She was swallowing water, struggling to stay afloat with
The three girls and officer were taken to the hospital and
| A．holding out | B．hanging out | C．getting along | D．keeping up |
| A．hole | B．road | C．bush | D．river |
| A．directions | B．methods | C．decisions | D．strategies |
| A．simply | B．only | C．barely | D．nearly |
| A．see | B．hear | C．smell | D．notice |
| A．head | B．leg | C．arms | D．neck |
| A．drowned | B．refused | C．panicked | D．jumped |
| A．pushing | B．pulling | C．getting | D．holding |
| A．focus | B．arrive | C．awake | D．stand |
| A．caution | B．care | C．scare | D．relief |
| A．hope | B．breath | C．chance | D．mind |
| A．found | B．witnessed | C．taken | D．grabbed |
| A．rescued | B．cured | C．treated | D．released |
| A．healthy | B．alive | C．gone | D．helped |
| A．honored | B．blamed | C．charged | D．encouraged |
4 . The older you are, the less likely you are to swear (except in the car—studies say most people swear when driving). As we get older, swearing becomes part of the rich lexicon of language that we use to express ourselves, and while we might associate swear words with negative communication. Only eight percent of people actually swear to cause offence. “There are many other reasons that we swear, including positive uses like expressing excitement, emphasis.” says Dr Karyn Stapleton, a senior lecturer in Communication at Ulster University. “And there’s cathartic (宣泄的) swearing, which provides a means of releasing strong emotions, or feelings like anger, pain or frustration.”
Cathartic swearing fascinates scientists as it shows some really interesting facts about bad language. Studies at the UK’s Keele University revealed that when under stress, a person can think of considerably more swear words than someone asked to do the same task when relaxed, and it’s now suspected that rather than being controlled by the normal part of the brain that handles language (the left cortex), swear words are actually processed by the limbic (边缘的) system that normally controls emotional thoughts. Be warned though—the more you swear in general speech, the less effective the cathartic effects of swear words are when you really need them!
What makes a word offensive is also very interesting. “The two main categories of swear words are bodily functions and religion—and that’s not just in English, it’s observed across many languages,” says Dr Robbie Love, lecturer in English Language at Aston University in Birmingham. “It’s like the brain has encoded these words with a special meaning so that it knows they are different in some way. I think there’s almost an innate human need to have some linguistic items that can be used to process intense moments.”
Generally though, we’re swearing less than we used to. Dr Love’s research found the use of 16 common swear words has declined by 27 percent over the last 20 years. According to a survey by the British Board of Film Classification, only 12 percent of those aged 55-64 swear regularly compared to 46 percent of 20-somethings. “It’s possible that as we get older we might have fewer uses for swearing. We don’t need it to bond with coworkers. Also, older adults have often had to spend some time restraining their language around children—no matter how our own feelings about swearing change, we still don’t want to expose children to it,” says Dr Love.
1. What can we learn from the first paragraph?| A．People swear more easily as they get older. | B．People swear merely to release negative emotion. |
| C．Swearing often offends others. | D．Swearing is a way of expressing ourselves. |
| A．person can think less swear words in relaxation than in pressure. |
| B．Swear words come from the brain system that controls emotional thought. |
| C．Bodily functions and religion are two types of swear words just in English. |
| D．People swearing more in daily life may not release their emotions well on necessary occasions. |
| A．Helpful | B．Offensive | C．Special | D．Indifferent |
| A．Young people swear in order to connect with their coworkers. |
| B．Older people may swear less to create better language setting for children. |
| C．There are fewer swear words people use. |
| D．People swear less than they used to. |
5 . CLONING: WHERE IS IT LEADING US?
When it was announced in 2018 that the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Shanghai had created the world’s first cloned monkeys, Zhongzhong and Huahua, heated discussions followed online. In fact, cloning has always been with us. It is a way of making an exact copy of another animal or plant. It happens in plants when gardeners take cuttings from growing plants to make new ones. It also happens in animals when identical twins are produced from the same egg. These are both examples of natural clones.
Cloning has two major uses. First, gardeners use it to produce large quantities of plants for sale. Second, it is valuable for research on new plant species and for medical research on animals. Cloning plants is fairly straightforward, while cloning animals is much more complicated and difficult. Over the years, many scientists failed in their attempts to clone animals, but their determination and patience paid off in 1996 with a breakthrough—the cloning of Dolly the sheep.
With the advances of scientific research, cloning will have several major uses in the future. For one thing, it could be used to breed animal species which are endangered, or even bring back species which are now extinct. For another, it could be used to grow human organs or tissue in animals, which could be used for human organ transplants or medical treatments. Finally, cloning could be used to breed animals that will provide us with higher quality meat, milk, or eggs.
While there are technical issues that need to be worked through to make widespread cloning possible, the biggest concerns are moral. For example, if scientists brought an extinct animal back into existence, it would probably end up living in a zoo. That is not very good for the animal. Even worse for the animal is using it as a source of organ transplants—because it will be injured or even die. ln addition, many people worry that eating animal products that result from cloning might be harmful to our health over time. The possibility of using cloning to produce human beings is an even bigger concern. What would happen if such knowledge ended up in the wrong hands?
When it comes to cloning, we wonder, ultimately, whether cloning will help or harm the world. No doubt, we will be talking about this question for a long time to come.
1. Which of the following is not the use of natural clones today?| A．Gardeners take cuttings from the plants to make new ones. |
| B．Identical twins are produced from the same egg. |
| C．Scientists created the world’s first cloned monkeys. |
| D．Gardeners use cloning to produce large quantities of plants for sale. |
| A．Possible uses of cloning in the future. | B．Current uses of cloning. |
| C．Whether cloning is good or bad. | D．Moral and ethical concerns about cloning. |
| A．It might not be fresh. | B．It might not be nutritious. |
| C．It might not be clean. | D．It might be harmful to our health. |
| A．The cloned animals end up living in a zoo. |
| B．The cloned animal is used as a source of organ transplants. |
| C．Using cloning to produce human beings is a bigger concern. |
| D．Someone uses cloning to do immoral things. |
6 . It is 10 in the morning, and I am travelling by raft down the Li River. The sun is already burning hot even though it has not yet reached full strength, but a calm breeze cools my skin. So far the day is wonderful, but the purpose of my trip is not just to have fun: I am following in the footsteps of Xu Xiake(1587-1641), the famous Chinese travel writer and geographer. Though Xu was from Jiangsu, he spent more than 30 years travelling throughout the country, and greatly admired my destination today—ox Gorge.
As we flow down the river, we are surrounded by steep hills sticking up into the sky-karsts. Karsts are rock formations made of limestone. They have been sculpted by water and millions of years of erosion into these beautiful natural sculptures. Guangxi is full of karsts, giving it some of the most interesting—and beautiful—scenery in the world. Xu was one of the first people to make a careful study of Guiln’s karsts and their related cave systems. He, like many people today, found them fascinating.
Suddenly, our raft hits some rapids, and I find myself covered in water. I turn to my raftsman and we share a laugh. The water not only keeps us cool, but it is all part of the adventure.
What made someone like Xu spend years traveling thousands of kilometres away from home? Perhaps it’s the same reason as mine: to explore the world and to discover new things. As Xu wrote, “A great man should in the morning be at the blue sea, and in the evening at Mount Cangwu. Why should I restrict myself to one corner of the world?
Xu was not alone. Much like today, the late Ming Dynasty was a golden age of tourism within China. People travelled hundreds of kilometres to visit temples, go mountain climbing, or explore scenery.
Yet, perhaps no one in China travelled farther or longer than Xu Xiake. At least, if anyone did they did not write about it.
1. Why did the author decide to go to the Guilin?| A．Just to have fun and relax himself. |
| B．To explore the world and discover the new things. |
| C．To enjoy the scenery and recall a Chinese famous travel writer |
| D．To travel by raft down the Li River. |
| A．Xu Xiake admired the scenery of ox-Gorge but he had not been here. |
| B．Guilin’s karsts are formed by water’s erosion over the years. |
| C．The author felt frustrated while he fell into the water from the raft. |
| D．People in the Ming Dynasty enjoyed travelling around the country. |
| A．Limit. | B．Control. | C．Improve. | D．Behave. |
| A．Hardworking | B．Adventurous | C．Courageous | D．Ambitious. |
7 . Electrically powered vertical-take-off-and-landing (eVTOL) aircraft—flying cars are an idea whose time has not quite yet come, but is fast approaching. Many firms are offering various designs. None of these, however, will be Jetson-like family flying cars. Pivotal, based in Silicon Valley, by contrast has crafted something that people can purchase and pilot themselves. Helix is a single-seat vehicle, so “flying motorbike” might be more accurate. From next year, many people will be able to order one for personal use, though they will not be able to take delivery until June.
Marcus Leng founded Pivotal in 2011, and some back-of-the-envelope calculations he made suggested that electric lift-off of a human-carrying craft, using motors powered by the lithium-ion batteries ought to work. He thus built a model and flew it in the garden of his house in Warkworth, Ontario.
Now, after ameliorating it, the firm thinks it has something marketable. The aircraft has, nevertheless, changed little in its fundamentals over the years. It has two pairs of wings and eight propellers (螺旋桨), making it slightly resemble a squashed “H” when seen in the sky from below. And there is no undercarriage. Instead, its belly is curved in a way similar to a humpback whale’s, so it rocks to stability after landing.
Pilot’s licence or not, buyers will still need some training to fly a Helix. Pivotal insists on this. For the same reason, the craft’s software will stop the pilot doing anything that does not fit its safety rules. And if, despite this, something does go wrong, it is fitted with a parachute（降落伞）.
The Helix’s top speed is a respectable 100 kph, but its range is only 30 km. And refueling it is a bit of a pain. Filling up from the mains takes four and a half hours, though a special high-power system similar to those employed for electric cars can bring that down to 75 minutes. While Helix still doesn’t compare to the flying car from the Jetsons, it could be a step forward.
1. What can we learn from the first two paragraphs?| A．Helix has been used in Warkworth widely. |
| B．Flying cars won’t be allowed for personal use. |
| C．Leng was the first person to design flying cars. |
| D．Helix is only suitable for one person to drive. |
| A．Testing. | B．Driving. | C．Improving. | D．Repairing. |
| A．Helix’s relative devices. | B．Helix’s training process. |
| C．Helix’s safety measures. | D．Helix’s working principle. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Objective. | C．Indifferent. | D．Cautious. |
8 . For years, doctors have given blood to patients who need it to survive. These transfusions usually include giving red blood cells to patients.
Blood transfusions aren’t as simple as taking blood from one person and giving it to someone else. There’re several different blood types that don’t all mix well. If someone gets a transfusion of the wrong kind of blood, their body will reject the blood cells, causing problems. For the first time ever, scientists from the University of Bristol, Britain, are carrying out a new trail: testing red blood cells grown in a laboratory on human volunteers. The scientists have used stem cells (干细胞) from a blood sample to grow billions of brand new red blood cells.
This could be even better than a regular blood transfusion. For one thing, they can be adjusted for people with different blood types. That’ll be extremely helpful for people with rare blood types. Also, a normal transfusion has red blood cells of all different ages, which means only a small part of them are brand new. The red blood cells grown in the lab are brand new, and this means they last longer and that patients will need fewer transfusions.
To test its safety, researchers have given a couple of teaspoons of the blood to two healthy people, both of whom seem to be doing just fine after the transfusions. In all, they’ll be tested on 10 people, and compared to normal transfusions. The new process doesn’t indicate that normal blood transfusions will disappear. Meanwhile, growing red blood cells in a lab is extremely expensive. And a lot of work and testing still need to be done. But if it’s successful, the process could make life much easier for patients who often need transfusions—even those with rare blood types.
1. Why are the scientists carrying out the research?| A．The blood reserve is not adequate. |
| B．Normal blood transfusions are out of date. |
| C．More and more people need blood transfusions. |
| D．They want to find a new trail of blood transfusions. |
| A．They suit the patients of all different ages. |
| B．They have red blood cells from different races. |
| C．They are effective to the patients for a longer term. |
| D．It is extremely economical and makes life much easier. |
| A．The research still has a long way to go. |
| B．Normal blood transfusions will disappear soon. |
| C．Ten people have received the lab-grown brand new blood. |
| D．The brand new blood isn’t fit for those with rare blood types. |
| A．Blood Transfusions Get Easier | B．Rare Blood Types Are Not Rare |
| C．Scientists Test Lab-created Blood | D．Rare Blood Cells NeedDonating |
9 . In a world where technology is king, hardly does a day go by without the launch of some “world-changing” product in the field of alternate reality.
Many people confuse augmented reality (AR) with virtual reality (VR) and understandably so. Both AR and VR offer alternate or altered reality experiences and as a result, it is easy for users to be attracted and wonder what is real and what is not.
However, AR and VR can be quite different in many ways. The main difference lies in the mode of delivery. Simply put, VR “transports” the user to another world, by “replacing” the real world with a virtual substitute most commonly done through helmets or goggles to completely immerse the gamer in a different reality.
AR, however, does not change the entire landscape of what users see.
VR and AR are both powerful technologies which are still relatively new to many consumers.
| A．VR can be interactive or non-interactive. |
| B．In fact, it adds to reality with digital images. |
| C．In short, at the heart of VR and AR are two very similar technologies. |
| D．However, they have already begun to shake things up in the gaming world. |
| E．It is also getting increasingly difficult to keep up with the “R”s that have come into existence. |
| F．For example, it can make users feel as if they are falling, thereby igniting fear. |
| G．They would see computer made images as an overlay to what they see in real life. |
10 . It is a practice favored by Lena Dunham, Tom Hanks and Lady Gaga to improve their focus and bring about calmness in an often busy, distracted world. Now researchers have found evidence that frequent meditation (冥想) over several years, may help change human gut (肠道), boost the body’s immune (免疫的) system and reduce the risk of anxiety, depression and heart disease. The findings are published by the British Medical Journal.
Meditation is increasingly used to help treat drug abuse, overwhelming stress, eating disorders and long-lasting pain. But until now it has not been clear whether it could also be able to change the composition of the gut microbiome (微生物组). In an effort to find out, researchers led by the Shanghai Mental Health Centre at the Shanghai Jiao Tong University analyzed the stool (粪便) and blood samples of 37 Tibetan Buddhist monks from three temples and 19 residents in the neighboring areas. The Tibetan meditation from the ancient Indian medical system, is a form of psychological training. The monks in the study had practiced it for at least 2 hours a day for 3-30 years. Both groups were matched for age, blood pressure, heart rate and diet. Stool sample analysis revealed significant differences in the diversity and volume of microbes between the monks and their neighbors. “Bacteria enriched in the meditation group had a positive effect on human physical and mental health,” the researchers wrote. “This changed gut microbiome composition could improve immune function in the body.” Blood sample analysis also revealed the levels of markers associated with risk of heart disease were significantly lower in the monks.
The researchers emphasized that the study was observational and the number joining was small, all male and living at high altitude, making it difficult to draw any firm or general conclusions. However, based on their findings, the researchers said the role of meditation in helping to prevent or treat mental and physical illness deserved further research.
1. Why do many people do meditation according to the passage?| A．To bring about inner peace. |
| B．To cure some certain illnesses. |
| C．To reduce some extra movement. |
| D．To change the gut microbiome composition. |
| A．Stool and blood sample. | B．Immune system. |
| C．Human gut. | D．Tibetan Meditation. |
| A．The Drugs taken before. |
| B．The religion people belong to. |
| C．The eating habit formed already. |
| D．The bacteria produced in the meditation. |
| A．It tracked the joiners over a long period. |
| B．It explored the way how the bacteria influences the gut microbiome. |
| C．It involved a large sample size of different genders, age groups, and areas. |
| D．It provides evidence that meditation changes gut microbiome composition. |
