1 . How important is fish farming? Very. Although it’s an ancient business, the rise of aquaculture (水产养殖) has been one of the biggest revolutions in food supply over the past half century.
Aquaculture has made fish more affordable for consumers around the world, popularizing the consumption of what used to be expensive, and easing the pressure on hard- pressed wild stocks (库存). Aquaculture also has many clear environmental benefits: compared with other ways of growing animal protein, it uses little or no land, and has low greenhouse emissions. And while the world has traditionally had a bad record of regulating wild fishing, fish farming generally occurs within the boundaries of governments, meaning it should, in theory, be much easier to ensure that good practices are upheld.
Crowding large numbers of fish into limited spaces means that waste products, including waste, uneaten food and dead fish, are poured into the surrounding waters, polluting them. Besides, the pesticides and drugs used to treat conditions that upset fish in concentrated numbers can also affect local wildlife. Many farmed fish are fed on other fish, so the industry also puts pressure on wild stocks: about a fifth of all caught fish, some 18 million tonnes, is used for fish oil and fish meal production. There is also the problem of fish escaping, with potentially dangerous effects on surrounding ecosystems.
In 2018 the Scottish Parliament’s environment committee published a report into the fish farming industry’s environmental effects, stating that key problems simply hadn’t been tackled, and that the Scottish government’s plan to double salmon output by 2030could cause “irrecoverable damage” to ecosystems. Since then, protections have been toughened. There is now more pressure from regulators to situate farms in remote, deep-water locations. Meanwhile, though, catches of Scottish wild salmon have fallen to their lowest level since records began in 1952. “There are good reasons for fish farming and real dangers to it as well.” concludes an official. “The question is how to make it work.”
1. What does the underlined word “upheld” in paragraph 2 mean?| A．Supported. | B．Allowed. | C．Prohibited. | D．Admitted. |
| A．The reasons for fish farming. |
| B．The downsides of aquaculture. |
| C．The development of sea exploring. |
| D．The effects of aquaculture on surrounding farming. |
| A．The Scottish government plans to double fish output now. |
| B．The problems of fish farming are likely to be solved. |
| C．The fish farming industry has no effect on environment. |
| D．The massive fish farming may damage ecosystems. |
| A．Objective. | B．Doubtful. | C．Critical. | D．Disapproving. |
1. How do scientists at University College London measure memory loss?
| A．By recording the time people spend on TV. |
| B．By tracking people’s living habits. |
| C．By using memory and fluency tests. |
| A．Watching television for hours. |
| B．Playing video games for hours. |
| C．Surfing the Internet for hours. |
| A．It can maintain their mental function. |
| B．It can educate them on using the Internet. |
| C．It can help them relax. |
| A．Make more friends. |
| B．Sleep eight to ten hours per night. |
| C．Balance TV viewing with other activities. |
Midwives bring new life into the world, and these midwifery students at London’s Middlesex University
The training helps prepare students for all the potential risks they might face during childbirth, including
4 . Time and time again, I hear someone ask why anyone would want to keep an “ugly” building or a building that is dirty and clearly in need of work. I think you could say we preservationists look at buildings through a different angle — an angle that can see the swan (天鹅) in the ugly duck, the story in the simple lines, the book behind the cover.
Take the Queen Emma Building for example. While people may remember that building being named as one of the ugliest buildings in town, the angle from which a preservationist will view the building is that it is uniquely constructed with an artistical brise-soleil to block the sun. The designer used standard concrete bricks to form a decorative wall. Unfortunately, the brise-soleil was removed in 2011, making the building look like many of the contemporary buildings in town.
Sometimes people remember a beautiful site that was replaced by a “horrid” piece of architecture and can’t get over their anger, even when that building becomes an important part of our story. This is particularly true in San Francisco where many preservationists themselves dislike anything newer than the Victorian era. Yes, it was a tragedy that many failed to appreciate the Victorian buildings and let many get torn down several decades ago, but those losses also tell another important story. It tells the story of the 1950s and 1960s when there was hope for a more equal society with inexpensive housing for the working class. Should that history be wiped from our memories?
Preservation is not just about keeping pretty, well-kept buildings, but about conveying parts of our history-not just the history of huge events, but the story of how everyone used to go to a certain corner market. Our history cannot be told only in buildings that meet someone’s criteria of beauty; sometimes our history is painful, but no less important.
1. How do preservationists see buildings?| A．They are devoted to repairing famous buildings. |
| B．They focus on their value rather than appearance. |
| C．They prefer ugly buildings to beautiful ones. |
| D．They pay great attention to ancient buildings. |
| A．It’s regrettable. | B．It’s confusing. |
| C．It’s pleasing. | D．It’s unbelievable. |
| A．To wipe the history of the Victorian era. |
| B．To restore the architecture before the Victorian era. |
| C．To work off the deep anger of the working class. |
| D．To make land available for cheap housing. |
| A．What kind of buildings are of historical value? |
| B．Why do architects make ugly buildings? |
| C．Are ugly buildings worth preserving? |
| D．Are preservationists’ work meaningless? |
1.电影放映的时间和地点；
2.简单介绍郑和及郑和下西洋的意义；
3.建议他看电影前先了解相关的历史。
注意：1. 可以增加适当的细节，以使行文连贯；
2. 词数 80 左右，信的开头和结尾已经给出，不计入总数。
Dear Peter,
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua
The audience
When Yeh concluded her speech, the audience stood up, applauding her for her tireless efforts
During the last three years, Yeh has taught Chinese poetry on social media platforms,
For 80 years, Yeh has been engaged
7 . Imagine a flying dragon using water to put out a fire. Thanks to a team of researchers, this new kind of “beast” may soon join firefighter teams around the world.
The blueprint of this new and different firefighter robot, called the Dragon Firefighter, has been published in Frontiers in Robotics and AI. And as it has been published as Open Science, roboticists around the world may freely use the plans to build their own Dragon Firefighters, for the benefit of all. “We here present the first type of a four-meter-long, remotely controllable flying fire hose (消防水管) robot, engineered to safely and efficiently put out fires in buildings by directly approaching the fire sources,” says Yuichi Ambe, an assistant professor at Osaka University.
The Dragon Firefighter’s fire hose is driven upward by eight controllable jets of water from its center and head. The fire hose can change shape and move towards flames, operated by a control unit in a wheeled cart (手推车) behind. The cart is connected through a supply tube to a fire truck with a water reservoir of 14,000 liters. The fire hose’s tip contains an imaging camera, which helps to find the location of the fire.
The Dragon Firefighter successfully put out the ceremonial flame at the opening ceremony of the World Robot Summit 2020 (WRS2020), consisting of fireballs lit by another robot, at a distance of four meters. Besides detailing its design, the present study also discusses lessons learned during this first demonstration of the Dragon Firefighter’s abilities, as well as explaining further improvements made since.
Other improvements detailed in the study include better waterproofing, a nozzle (喷嘴) unit capable of handling a wider range of net forces and an improved mechanism for channeling water flow. But further developments are in the pipeline.
“We estimate that it’ll take about 10 more years to use our robot in real-world firefighting scenes,” says Ambe. “It’s worth the effort. Despite some advancements, we’re not satisfied. The primary challenge will be to extend its reach to beyond 10 meters. Developing effective firefighting strategies tailored to this robot’s unique capabilities will also be a critical aspect of further development. But we’ll surely make it.”
1. Which feature is expected of the Dragon Firefighter?| A．To be blue-colored. | B．To be free of charge. |
| C．To be novel and efficient. | D．To be traditional and safe. |
| A．Its shape and size. | B．Its working locations. |
| C．Its operating principle. | D．Its strengths and weaknesses. |
| A．It lit fireballs. | B．It showed its capabilities. |
| C．It fought with another robot. | D．It put out a four-meter-high fire. |
| A．Critical. | B．Doubtful. | C．Proud. | D．Ambitious. |
8 . My son had just gotten his driving license. On the way home, I
Sitting behind the steering wheel, his body looked tense and
“It’s okay!” I said, “You’re
“No,” he took a deep breath and
Instantly, I understood exactly how my son felt. Knowing the limits isn’t an
| A．pulled out | B．pulled over | C．pulled away | D．pulled back |
| A．traded | B．provided | C．shared | D．took |
| A．impatient | B．indifferent | C．uncomfortable | D．irrelevant |
| A．always | B．surely | C．forever | D．never |
| A．expected | B．wondered | C．recalled | D．imagined |
| A．passed | B．faded | C．froze | D．flew |
| A．pressed | B．struck | C．reflected | D．printed |
| A．looking | B．applying | C．smiling | D．accounting |
| A．hardly | B．secretly | C．similarly | D．obviously |
| A．inched | B．found | C．picked | D．felt |
| A．anger | B．fear | C．sadness | D．joy |
| A．embarrassed | B．disappointed | C．discouraged | D．desperate |
| A．consistently | B．completely | C．normally | D．constantly |
| A．complaint | B．reply | C．expression | D．opposite |
| A．assumption | B．introduction | C．inspiration | D．indication |
9 . “Please, no flash photography.”
Polite requests like this can be found in museums all over the world, but they generally fail to persuade people out of taking photos of whatever they feel like. The same goes for concerts, movie theaters and other places where people routinely ignore filming restrictions. A new patent from Apple may help discourage that rebellious behavior-on phones at least.
The patent, awarded to Apple today, outlines a system which would allow venues to use an infrared emitter (红外线发射器) to remotely disable the camera function on smartphones. According to the patent, infrared rays could be picked up by the camera, and interpreted by the smartphone as a command to block the user from taking any photos or videos of whatever they’re seeing.
Many musicians and performers have banned cellphones from their shows, either because they want their audiences to actually pay attention to them, or because they don’t want the free footage (片段镜头) going viral around the web. Despite this, unauthorized (未授权的) images still manage to make their way into the public eye. The last concert of American singer Prince before he passed away was supposed to be cellphone-free —it apparently wasn’t. If Apple’s patent is introduced into iPhone software, and venues put infrared emitters around their stage, leaks like this could potentially stop happening.
But the patent also raises questions about the sort of power that this technology would be handing over to people with more immoral intentions.
Right now, there’s no guarantee that Apple intends to put this technology into any of its software —Apple doesn’t act on many of the thousands of patents it files each year —and the company wasn’t immediately available to comment on its plans for the patent.
Given the company’s rigid support of personal privacy when it comes to police requests to break into users’ devices, it’s possible that Apple just patented the technology so that no one else will use it. But who knows, if it does intend to introduce this feature to future operating systems, sales of alternative shooting devices like camcorders, or even GoPros, could get a much-needed boost, as people try to avoid having to use the prohibitive software.
1. How can Apple’s patented system prevent smartphone users from taking photos or videos at specific venues?| A．By giving out a sound wave that disables smartphone cameras. |
| B．By picking up infrared rays emitted by the cameras when they are filming. |
| C．By using infrared rays that can remotely block camera usage on smartphones. |
| D．By automatically deleting photos or videos if they are taken without permission. |
| A．To make the performers more focused on the show. |
| B．To avoid the unauthorized footage being freely shared and spread online. |
| C．To prevent the performers’ images from coming to widespread public attention. |
| D．To protect the audience from people with immoral intentions. |
| A．Unintended damage. | B．Unauthorized release. |
| C．Unexpected death. | D．Undesired freedom. |
| A．Apple has planned to apply this patent to future operating systems. |
| B．All the patents Apple files each year are meant to be put into its software. |
| C．Apple may agree to put this technology into its software due to police requests. |
| D．People may turn to other shooting devices if Apple introduces the prohibitive software. |
10 . Recently, as I watched my son Nathan play basketball for his high school team, I was starting to feel sorry for myself and for him. His team was facing adversity (逆境) on the court and he was playing in a hostile environment —it was the opponent’s home gym filled with their supporters, and Nathan’s team was trailing (落后) for three quarters of the game. As for me, I had been fired from my job earlier in the day.
During my drive to where the game was held, I kept telling myself “I will find work again in a short time”—I am confident in my experience and abilities. This was the same belief that I tried to instill in my son.
The basketball game entered the fourth quarter with Nathan’s team still trailing. I saw the determination on his, as well as his teammates’ faces as they fought back to not only tie the game, but then go ahead by three points. Then, a player from the other team made an unbelievable shot to tie the game up again. With a tie game (平局) and seconds on the clock, Nathan found himself with the ball and with skill and confidence, he proceeded to make the basket with a defender hanging all over him. The other player was called for a foul (犯规).
As Nathan stood at the foul line preparing for a shot that would put his team up by three points, I saw the focus and determination on his face, there was no room for self-doubt. Nathan was able to tune out all the distractions and nail the free throw with such skill, it was as if he had done it a thousand times.
As I sat there, my heart bursting with pride, it dawned on me that I had taught him perseverance in the face of adversity, and he had just taught me the same lesson. That brief moment of self-doubt and feeling sorry for myself was blown away by the actions of my son on the basketball court. He will play in the finals, but it doesn’t matter if he wins or loses, at this moment, we both won.
1. Why did I feel sorry when watching my son’s basketball game?| A．I quit my job earlier in the day. |
| B．There were no supporters for my son’s team. |
| C．My son’s team was facing adversity at home court. |
| D．My son’s team was trailing for three quarters of the game. |
| A．Self-doubting and pessimistic. | B．Self-confident and optimistic. |
| C．Hardworking and intelligent. | D．Easy-going and warmhearted. |
| A．My son’s team spared no effort to fight back and finally tied the game. |
| B．A player from my son’s team fouled during the defending process. |
| C．My son successfully scored the free throw and put his team up by three points in the end. |
| D．The opponent team made an unbelievable winning shot in the last seconds of the game. |
| A．Winning Matters at the Moment. |
| B．Life Goes Just Like Playing Basketball |
| C．From Adversity to Victory: A Lesson Learned on the Basketball Court |
| D．From Self-doubt to Confidence: Unforgettable Basketball Moments |
