1 . Indoor food growing operations are seeing both successes and failures in the United States. Some companies in the food industry are investing (投资) even as competitors fail.

California-based Plenty Unlimited this summer began working on $300 million indoor plants, while Kroger announced that it would be increasing its availability of vertically (垂直地) farmed produce. Meanwhile, two indoor farming companies that got strong backing—New Jersey’s AeroFarms and Kentucky’s AppHarvest—filed for financial failure and reorganization. And a five-year-old company in Detroit, Planted Detroit, shut its doors this summer.

The industry changes do not worry Jacob Portillo, a grower with Eden Green Technology, an indoor farming company. “The fact that other people are failing and other people are succeeding is going to happen in any industry you go to,” he said.

Indoor farming refers to growing crops indoors, which experts sometimes call “controlled environment agriculture”. There are different methods. One method called vertical farming involves putting produce from floor to ceiling, often under artificial lights and with the plants growing in nutrient-enriched water. Other growers are trying very large greenhouses, indoor beds of soil in big buildings and using special robots for parts of the farming process.

Supporters say growing indoors uses less water and land and permits food to be grown closer to consumers, saving on transport. Indoor growing is also a way to protect crops from increasingly extreme weather caused by climate change.

But critics question the sustainability (可持续性) of operations that can require a lot of energy for artificial lights. And they say paying for that light can make profitability impossible. Curt Covington of AgAmerica Lending, a private investment company centered on agriculture, is not convinced that indoor farming operations can work—except in special cases. Given the high cost of indoor operations, Covington said, “It’s just hard to be very profitable.”

1. What is Jacob Portillo’s attitude to the indoor food growing industry?

A．Positive.

B．Worried.

C．Unclear.

D．Doubtful.

2. What can we learn about indoor farming?

A．It takes a lot of manpower to take care of plants.

B．It means growing plants in water instead of soil.

C．It protects crops from increasingly extreme weather.

D．It is different from controlled environment agriculture.

3. Why did Curt Covington question indoor farming operations?

A．They produce little food.	B．They carry great cost.
C．They need sunlight.	D．They lack investors.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．What Types of Food Can Be Grown Indoors?

B．How Can You Grow Food Indoors Without Soil?

C．Indoor Farming Companies Take Agriculture Indoors

D．Indoor Food Growing Operations Face an Uncertain Future

2 . Cannes(戛纳)is a place that offers lots of different ways to spoil yourself. During the Cannes Film Festival in May, nothing changes, except that there are more people doing this, and that they talk about film. Here’s a guide to what you should do during the festival, both film-related and not.

Hotel Intercontinental Carlton

The film festival is a busy time for Cannes. The best way to appreciate the crowds might be having a dinner on a terrace(露天平台). Head to the Hotel Intercontinental Carlton and wander the lobby to take it all in. If you’re lucky you might be able to secure a table in the restaurant. Dress to impress or you won’t stand a chance of getting in.

Cinema de la Plage

Throughout the Cannes Film Festival, one of the best places to soak up some of the wonderful atmosphere is the open-air Cinema de la Plage at Mace beach. If you haven’t secured a ticket in advance for a seat, there’s no need to worry. You can spread a blanket out on the ground, open up your pre-prepared picnic, and enjoy the movie.

Marché Forville

The Marché Forville is a must-see for any visitor to Cannes and a foodie’s delight. On most days, vendors sell home-made fruits and vegetables as well as local specialties to eat for lunch. But don’t go on Mondays, unless you want to browse for bargains, as that’s when the flea market is on instead.

La Croisette

La Croisette is the most famous walk in Cannes and is listed under the cultural inventory of France itself. Stroll the whole length, stop for a coffee, and end your walk by sitting on one of the free blue chairs along the way while taking in the view. It is also a great place to admire Cannes’ sculptures.

1. What is probably the intention of the text?

A．To introduce French culture.	B．To present dining locations.
C．To publicize a film festival.	D．To suggest tourism activities.

2. Which place best suits people who enjoy shopping?

A．Hotel Intercontinental Carlton.	B．Cinema de la Plage.
C．Marché Forville.	D．La Croisette.

3. What can be expected in Cannes during the festival?

A．Attending fashion shows.	B．Watching movies outdoors.
C．Tasting imported farm produce.	D．Experiencing sculpture production.

3 . On the morning of March 27th,my father took my younger cousin and me to the water park. We had fun. Three hours later, my father had to leave for work, and we were ________ to go home by ourselves. When we arrived at front of our garden, a tall man _______ us, and asked us to show ________ the way to the hospital. I looked at the man ________, and refused. I went in with my cousin quickly.

I began my homework after locking the front door. ________I was doing my homework, my cousin was watching TV in the living room. Suddenly, the ________ rang. My cousin thought it was my father, _______ he opened the door. I went out of my room and saw the ________ man who had asked the way standing outside. I tried to close the door, but he pushed the door very hard and came into our house with a ________. He ordered me to take out all the money. I was too ________ to shout out. My cousin ________ all the time. The man tied us up with a rope, then locked ________ of us in the kitchen. Quickly, he ________ the things he wanted, took what he could, and left immediately. I helped my cousin to ________ the rope. Then he untied me. I wanted to rush out to call the ________, but the door was locked from outside. Luckily, the kitchen window which faces the garden was open. We got out of the house ________ the window, and went to the _______ shop to ask for help. The owner helped us to call my father and the police.

The police came and ________for the man everywhere. Soon, my father came home from ________. We told him the whole story. My father was glad that we were not hurt. He told me that I had done well, but I should have stopped my cousin from opening the door to let the stranger in.

From this dangerous experience, we learned a lesson on ________.

1.

A．promised

B．taken

C．told

D．invited

2.

A．stopped

B．showed

C．left

D．told

3.

A．her

B．him

C．me

D．them

4.

A．easily

B．angrily

C．happily

D．carefully

5.

A．While

B．Before

C．If

D．Until

6.

A．mobile phone

B．clock

C．doorbell

D．fire alarm

7.

A．but

B．so

C．because

D．although

8.

A．tall

B．short

C．thin

D．heavy

9.

A．gift

B．book

C．card

D．knife

10.

A．happy

B．excited

C．relaxed

D．nervous

11.

A．laughed

B．slept

C．cried

D．ran

12.

A．all

B．both

C．any

D．some

13.

A．looked after

B．looked out

C．looked up

D．looked for

14.

A．tie

B．untie

C．cut

D．pass

15.

A．police

B．neighbor

C．man

D．doctor

16.

A．across

B．through

C．into

D．around

17.

A．biggest

B．smallest

C．nearest

D．farthest

18.

A．reached

B．called

C．hit

D．searched

19.

A．school

B．park

C．work

D．hospital

20.

A．safety

B．traffic

C．study

D．love

4 . If you are shopping in any toy store, you can easily find the different games and toys for boys and girls: There are a lot of pink toys on one side of the store for girls and dark-colored toy cars, toy guns, and toy soldiers for boys. Some big stores with toys may even have a pink floor for girls and a blue floor for boys.    1      

Some people think that too much pink is bad for girls. Sue Palmer, the writer of Toxic Childhood, is very worried that most girls over the age of three are crazy about the color. This may happen for two reasons. Firstly, most companies offer too many products in pink.    2     Sue Palmer says that girls at this age cannot make proper decisions by themselves, but the pink can influence the choices and the decisions they will make in the future. 

    3     Vanessa Holburn, thirty-two, has two girls under the age of four. Their bedrooms are a sea of pink and Vanessa is not happy with that. “Pink says that you are soft and gentle.    4     I want my daughters to be strong and powerful. I’m worried that pink will not help them with that,” she says. 

    5     Grayson Turner is a father of three girls and he isn’t worried at all. “People forget that things change all the time,” he says. “My girls used to love pink when they were little, but as they get older, they change. This love of pink is just a fashion and all fashions change.”

A．Some parents are worried, too.

B．Blue says that you are strong and powerful.

C．Why do parents prefer to choose pink for their girls?

D．Different colors may have different influence on children.

E．In fact, it is difficult to buy a toy for a girl that is not pink.

F．But not everyone thinks there’s something wrong with pink.

G．Besides, many parents think their little daughter looks cute in pink.

5 . A big fair ended in Beijing. The China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS,中国国际服务贸易交易会) took place from Sept. 4 to 9, 2020. It is a major service trade event. Visitors saw how new technologies are used in different areas. One highlight (亮点) this year was service robots. Let’s look at three of them.

Garbage sorting (垃圾分类) is new to many people. Swiss company ABB has designed (设计) a robot to help us do it. It uses two arms to pick garbage that comes down a conveyor belt (传送带). It then throws the garbage into the right bin. A screen can show how many pieces of garbage it has sorted.

Unitree, a company in Hangzhou, Zhejiang, has made a robot dog. With an AI-powered smart camera, it can record everything it sees in real time. It can move up to 3.3 meters per second. It can also carry objects weighing up to 5 kg, about as heavy as 10 bottles of water. The robot dog can give people a hand in many ways. For example, it can move goods or search for people who go missing during disasters.

Can you hit back a ball that is served by a robot? Find out by playing against a ping-pong serving robot made by Chinese company Siasun. The robot can serve balls one by one automatically (自动地). It can change the speed, angle, and landing area of the balls as well. It can record your performance with a camera so you can review it later. It will help ping-pong players train and improve.

1. What does the underlined word “it” in Paragraph 2 refer to?

A．Garbage sorting.

B．The robot.

C．The belt.

D．The bin.

2. Match the robots with the information and choose the right answer.
①The robot dog       a. It can pick garbage from a conveyor belt and throw it into the right bin.
②The ping-pong serving robot       b. It can run fast and carry heavy things.
③The garbage-sorting robot       c. It can record players’ performance and help to train players.

A．①—c②—b③—a	B．①—b②—c③—a
C．①—b②—a③—c	D．①—c②—a③—b

3. What is the main idea of the passage?

A．How smart the service robots are.

B．How fast the new technologies are improved.

C．How hard the scientists work on the new technologies.

D．How wide the new technologies are used.

6 . 根据下面的对话情景，在每个空白处填上一个适当的句子，使对话的意思连贯、完整。
A : I am so sad. I am afraid that Jason won’t be my friend any more.
B : Sorry to hear that.    1    ?
A : I promised to go to the library with him , but I had other things to do and forgot to tell him. He waited for me in the cold for two hours.
B : Then did you explain it to him?
A :    2    . However, he didn’t listen to what I said at all. I don’t know what to do now.
B :    3    .
A : What a good idea ! I will have a try.
B : Hope it can help you two become good friends again.   
A : I hope so .    4    ?
B : I think keeping promise is the most important thing to keep friendship.
A : You are right. I won’t break the promise again.
B : Yeah .    5    .
A : Yeah . I can’t agree with you more. They are also important.

8 . A new study shows that when heavy cognitive (认知的) work is lasted for several hours, it causes potentially poisonous materials to build up in the part of the brain known as the prefrontal cortex (前额叶). This in turn changes your control over decisions, so you shift toward low-cost actions requiring no effort or waiting as cognitive tiredness sets in.

Influential theories suggested that tiredness is a sort of illusion (错觉) cooked up by the brain to make us stop whatever we are doing and turn to a more pleasing activity but new findings show that cognitive work results in a true functional change — accumulation of poisonous materials — so tiredness would indeed be a signal that makes us stop working but for a different aim: to preserve the perfection of brain functioning.

To look for evidence of this, researchers monitored brain chemistry over the course of a workday. They looked at two groups of people: those who needed to think hard and those who had relatively easier cognitive tasks.

They saw signs of tiredness only in the group doing hard work. Those in that group also showed in their choices a shift toward options with rewards at short delay with little effort. Critically, they also had higher levels of poisonous materials in the brain. Together with earlier evidence, the researchers say it supports the concept that poisonous materials accumulation makes further activation of the prefrontal cortex more costly, such that cognitive control is more difficult after a mentally tough workday.

So, is there some way around this limitation of our brain’s ability to think hard? The answer is negative. But there is good evidence that poisonous materials disappear in the brain during rest and sleep. The study result may have other practical uses. For example, the researchers say, monitoring of prefrontal metabolites (前额代谢物) could help to detect severe mental tiredness. Such an ability may help adjust work plans to avoid burnout. They also advise people to avoid making important decisions when they’re tired.

1. What is the purpose of our tiredness according to the new study?

A．To keep our brains in a good condition.	B．To make us stop whatever we are doing.
C．To force us to improve our abilities to work.	D．To change brain chemistry over the workday.

2. What negative influence can tiredness mainly have on us?

A．The loss of our abilities to work.	B．The poisoning of our brain tissue.
C．The attitude to our responsibilities.	D．The difficulty in cognitive control.

3. How did the researchers conduct their study?

A．By summing up the old data.	B．By comparing experiment data.
C．By referring to historical reports.	D．By interviewing many scientists.

4. What do researchers suggest to people who are very tired of work?

A．They get round the brain’s limitations.	B．They shouldn’t work out key decisions.
C．They try to avoid sleeping and resting.	D．They have to leave work for a holiday.