2 . Are you interested in robot-science? What do you think robots are capable of? Let’s have a review of world-leading technology gathered at the World Robot Conference (WRC) 2022.

Technology in agriculture

A fruit-picking robot attracted visitors’ attention. With the help of various sensors and an AI system, the robot can collect fruit according to its ripeness, quality and size. The robot first locates the fruit and then uses sensors to decide whether it is ripe, with a robotic arm picking the fruit gently. The fruit is then categorized, ending up in a basket according to its size. It is said that more robotic technology will be used in agriculture in the future, including robots for daily inspection and weeding.

Robots fighting Covid-19

Medical staff conducting nucleic acid tests often find their work toilsome, especially under the summer heat. A nucleic acid test robot developed by Tsinghua University and a Chinese biotech company was presented at the WRC. It looks like a vending machine, but the robot can collect throat swabs (拭子), process samples, as well as produce and upload the results within 45 minutes. The whole process will not require the involvement of humans or laboratories.

Inventions of the youth

Those visiting the exhibit also witnessed the intelligence of a new generation. Wang Zirun, a junior student at the school, designed a three-dimensional parking facility model. Since there are usually too few parking spaces in older residential areas, Wang’s work aims to fit more cars into current parking spots. The facility works like a sky wheel with six parking spots. When cars need to be picked up, the facility rotates steadily, placing the car on the ground.

1. Where is the text probably taken from?

A．A travel brochure.

B．A technology textbook.

C．A science magazine.

D．A product advertisement.

2. Why is the parking facility designed like a sky wheel?

A．To save building materials.

B．To prevent cars from being stolen.

C．To increase ground parking spaces.

D．To make the most of limited space.

3. What can we infer from the text?

A．Both the fruit-picking robot and the nucleic acid test robot can save manpower.

B．The WRC is intended to inspire the intelligence of a young generation.

C．All the inventions mentioned have been put into practical use.

D．Human can be replaced by the robot in the future.

3 . It takes a lot of hard work and determination to achieve big goals. Many times, people must persevere in spite of obstacles to realize their dreams. Collette Divitto is a talented baker who managed to do just that. She used her bright personality, determination, and talent to become an entrepreneur.

Collette Divitto was born in Boston. Like many others, after graduating from college, she wanted to get a job. She went to many job interviews, but she kept getting rejected. Many employers said she was “not the right fit”. Divitto believed she was being rejected so often in that she was born with Down syndrome, which is a genetic disorder related to a person’s chromosomes. People with Down syndrome often have intellectual or physical disabilities.

Facing many job rejections, Divitto felt discouraged and hurt. She felt she wanted to open her own business and be her own boss. She thought about her hobbies and passions. Divitto knew she loved baking. She would always create delicious recipes to share with her family and friends. One of these recipes was for a chocolate chip cookie rolled in cinnamon sugar. Her mom tasted the cookies and urged her to write down the recipe to make them again. Divitto began baking and selling her chocolate cookies locally, calling her business “Collettey’s Cookies”. She took her cookies to a local grocery store named Golden Goose Market. Immediately after tasting the cookies, the market decided to sell Devitto’s cookies. Golden Goose Market became Divitto’s first client. Eventually, a television station shared the story of Divitto’s ccokie business. Her story went viral!

Divitto didn’t just create Collectey’s Cookies to sell delicious baked goods. She has a great ambition to expand her business so that she can hire as many people as possible. Currently, many of her employees have disabilities. Divitto also wants non-disabled business owners to see the strengths and talents of people with disabilities. The majority of disabled people who can work cannot find paying jobs. Even when they do get jobs, they are often paid less than the minimum wage. Divitto wants to change these statistics. She wants to make sure people with disabilities get jobs that pay fairly.

1. What did Collette think was the probable reason for her job rejections?

A．She wanted to run her own business.

B．She was not equal to these jobs.

C．She was not perseverant enough to face obstacles.

D．She was prejudiced for her disability.

2. Which of the following best describe how she made “Collettey’s Cookies” a success?

A．She fully took advantage of social connections.

B．She turned her passion for baking into a thriving business.

C．She had her cookies promoted on television.

D．She employed a team of disabled people.

3. What is Paragraph 4 mainly about?

A．Divitto’s attitude to the disabled.

B．Divitto’s strategy of expanding the business.

C．Divitto’s quality of being an entrepreneur.

D．Divitto’s mission to empower the disabled with job opportunities.

4. What does the author want to show by telling the story?

A．Nothing seeks, nothing finds.

B．Success and rest don’t sleep together.

C．Sharp tools make good work.

D．Birth is much, but breeding (养育) is more.

6 . Forty-five minutes was considered an appropriate amount of time to supply 12-year-old me — and 20 other teenagers — with enough information about eating disorders to last us through high school. A documentary shown on a dusty VHS tape that had obviously been in use since the early 2000s, about two girls suffering from anorexia and bulimia, had been my only source for eating disorder awareness for five years. No reflection time followed, no discussion was started, and no questions were asked.

Flash forward five years I still know nothing. It wasn’t until I was 16 that I learned, via TikTok, that my daily diet of 1,000 calories is barely enough for a two-year-old, let alone a developing teenager. Despite being educated in America’s sixth best county in education, I only had a single image of what an eating disorder looked like: a skin-and-bones teenage girl with sunken eyes. Schools are clearly ill-equipped to educate students on eating disorders and how they can prevent them.

Teenagers have failed to learn about the most common eating disorder in the country because it isn’t taught in many school curriculum: binge eating disorder (暴食症). It is more common than anorexia, affecting 2.8 million Americans, including 1.2 percent of all adolescents. Additionally, it’s reported that males make up 40 percent of those with binge eating disorder, which contradicts the existing opinion that only women are affected by eating disorders.

Instead of learning about eating disorders, my junior health class taught me how to count my calories. According to registered dietitian Christy Harrison, “disordered eating patterns began with calorie counting.” Despite this, health classes across the country continue to require students to track their daily calorie intake.

We need a developed and well-informed eating disorder curriculum. After all, the damage of a seemingly harmless 45-minute video may last someone a lifetime.

1. Why is TikTok mentioned in paragraph 2?

A．To prove the author’s limited calorie intake.

B．To imply the author’s rich supply of information.

C．To stress the lack of education on eating disorders.

D．To highlight the influence of social media on kids.

2. According to the text, which is the most common eating disorder in the US?

A．Anorexia.

B．Bulimia.

C．Dieting.

D．Binge eating disorder.

3. What is Christy Harrison’s attitude towards calorie-counting?

A．Negative.

B．Positive.

C．Neutral.

D．Ambiguous.

4. What is the text?

A．A science report.	B．A documentary review.
C．An argumentative essay.	D．An autobiography excerpt.

7 . It is that time of the year, when a handful of world’s leading scholars, social activists and researchers are rewarded with what is often cited as the most prestigious acknowledgement of human effort-the Nobel Prize. Here’s a look at who has won the prize and for what.

Physiology or Medicine

Swedish geneticist Svante Peabo won the first Nobel of the year, for starting the field of ancient DNA studies. He is well-known for extracting, sequencing, and analyzing ancient DNA from Neanderthal bones.

Physics

Alain Aspect, John F. Clauser and Anton Zeilinger’s work in quantum (量子) technology landed them the second Nobel Prize announced in 2022. Although Aspect is from France, Clauser from the U.S, and Zeilinger from Austria, the three separately performed “groundbreaking experiments” as one team. “Their results have cleared the way for new technology,” the committee stated.

Chemistry

The Nobel Prize for chemistry went to another trio, Carolyn R. Bertozzi from the U.S., Morten Meldal from Denmark and K. Barry Sharpless from the U.S. “for the development of click chemistry and biorthogonal chemistry,” the committee stated. Dr. Bertozzi is the eighth woman chemist to be awarded the prize, while Dr. Sharpless is the fifth scientist to be awarded two Nobel Prizes.

Economics

The Prize in Economic Sciences was awarded to three American economists, Ben S. Bernanke, Douglas W. Diamond and Philip H. Dybvig “for research on banks and financial crises,” the Nobel Prize committee announced on Monday. By studying the history of American economics, particularly the Great Depression of the 1930s,they improved how we understand the role of banks during times of hardship and the bank’s impact on societal functions.

1. What prize is related to the research with bones?

A．Physiology.

B．Chemistry.

C．Physics.

D．Economics.

2. For what study did Ben S. Bernanke, Douglas W. Diamond and Philip H. Dybvig win the prize?

A．About societal functions.	B．About the history of America.
C．About banks and financial crises.	D．About the Great Depression of the 1930s.

3. What do the prizes for physics, chemistry and economics have in common?

A．Their winners are from different countries.	B．They have three winners.
C．They improve new technology.	D．They help people understand hardship.

8 . Living in a city is a well-known risk factor for developing a mental disorder, while living close to nature is largely beneficial for mental health and the brain. A central brain region, the amygdala (大脑杏仁核) involved in stress processing, has been shown to be less activated during stress in people living in rural areas, compared to those who live in cities, hinting at the potential benefits of nature. “But so far the hen-and-egg problem could not be resolved, namely whether nature actually caused the effects in the brain or whether the particular individuals chose to live in rural or urban regions,” says Sonja Sudimac.

To achieve causal evidence, the researchers from the group examined brain activity in regions involved in stress processing in 63 healthy volunteers before and after a one-hour walk in Grunewald forest or a shopping street with traffic in Berlin. The results revealed that activity in the amygdala decreased after the walk in nature, suggesting that nature elicits beneficial effects on brain regions related to stress.

“The results support the previously assumed positive relationship between nature and brain health, but this is the first study to prove the causal link. Interestingly, the brain activity after the urban walk in these regions remained stable and showed no increases, which argues against a commonly held view that urban exposure causes additional stress,” explains Simone Kühn, head of the group.

The authors show that nature has a positive impact on brain regions involved in stress processing and that it can already be observed after a one-hour walk. This contributes to the understanding of how our physical living environment affects brain and mental health. Even a short exposure to nature decreases amygdala activity, suggesting that a walk in nature could serve as a preventive measure against developing mental health problems and reducing the potentially disadvantageous impact of the city on the brain.

In order to investigate beneficial effects of nature in different populations and age groups, the researchers are currently working on a study examining how a one-hour walk in natural versus urban environments impacts stress in mothers and their babies.

1. What does the hen-and-egg problem mean by Sonja Sudimac?

A．Living in rural areas actually affects brain activity.

B．People in cities tend to have a higher risk of mental problems.

C．It’s unnecessary to work out the complex issue of stress and health.

D．It’s hard to clarify the impact of living environment on mental health.

2. How did researchers collect evidence for the study?

A．By quoting authoritative experts.

B．By interviewing healthy volunteers.

C．By researching on a previous theory.

D．By comparing volunteers’ amygdala activities.

3. What contribution did Simone Kühn and his team mainly make?

A．Confirming the assumption of nature’s benefits to brain health.

B．Supporting a commonly held view of urban exposure.

C．Revealing the link between age and mental health.

D．Identifying the causes of mental health problems.

4. What does the last paragraph mainly talk about?

A．Benefits of a regular walk in nature.

B．The focus of the follow-up research.

C．An appeal for living in urban regions.

D．Nature’s positive effects on women and children.

9 . Brazilian artist Néle Azevedo is best known for big public art pieces. The artist carves hundreds of 20 -centimeter-tall ice figures seated with their ankles crossed and places them atop outdoor steps and puts them in city squares all over the world, where they quickly melt. The faceless sculptures drip and pool into small puddles as time passes. Her works have been adopted by environmentalists as a kind of activist art against climate change.

But is it? Yes and (mostly) no.

The mass of melting bodies makes a natural connection to the threat humankind faces due to rising global temperatures. “Its close link with that subject is evident,” said the artist. In addition to the threat of global warming itself, the sheer number of sculptures sitting together also calls attention to the fact that we humans are all in it together. “Such kind of threats also finally put man in his place, his fate is along with the destiny of the planet, and he is not the ‘king’ of nature, but an essential element of it,” continues Azevedo on her website.

“I took every characteristic of traditional monuments and made the opposite,” she says. “I made small figures that sit on the floor. It doesn’t honor anybody. It does honor the unknown.”

Azevedo explains, “In a few-minute action, the rules of the monument are inverted: in the place of the hero, the unknown; in the place of the solidity of the stone, the momentary process of the ice; in the place of the monument size, the minimum size of the perishable (易毁坏的) bodies.” Originally Azevedo wanted her art to get people thinking about impermanence, and the sight of ice transforming into a puddle of water certainly does that brilliantly.

1. What can we learn about Néle Azevedo’s artworks?

A．They are put in public places for artists to appreciate.

B．They are adopted as a way of showing artistic talents.

C．They are linked with the threat of climate change.

D．They are considered as a symbol of unity.

2. Which of the following can best replace the word “inverted” in paragraph 5 ?

A．kept track of	B．turned upside down
C．laid emphasis on	D．taken into account

3. What can be inferred about the square show from the last paragraph?

A．It is permanent by nature.

B．It lacks practical influence.

C．It takes long to see the results.

D．It conveys the artist’s exact intention.

4. Which of the following can be the best title for the text?

A．Public Interest in Contemporary Art

B．Ice Figures Transforming into Water

C．Responsibility Demanded of Activist Artists

D．Mini Sculptures Echoing the Climate Crisis

10 . Though researchers have long known that adults build unconscious (无意识的) preferences over a lifetime of making choices between things that are essentially the same, the new finding that even babies engage in this phenomenon demonstrates that this way of justifying choice is intuitive (凭直觉的) and somehow fundamental to the human experience.

“The act of making a choice changes how we feel about our options,” said Alex Silver, a Johns Hopkins researcher. “Even infants who are really just at the start of making choices for themselves have this preference.”

The findings are published today in the journal Psychological Science. People assume they choose things that they like. But research suggests that’s sometimes backwards: we like things because we choose them. And, we dislike things that we don’t choose. “Adults make these inferences unconsciously,” said co-author Lisa Feigenson, a Johns Hopkins scientist in child development. “We justify our choice after the fact.”

This makes sense for adults in a consumer culture who must make random choices every day, between everything from toothpaste brands to styles of jeans. The question was when exactly people start doing this. So they turned to babies, who don’t get many choices so, as Feigenson puts it, are “a perfect window into the origin of this tendency.”

The team brought 10-to 20-month-old babies into the lab and gave them a choice of objects to play with; two equally bright and colorful soft blocks. They set them far apart, so the babies had to crawl to one or the other — a random choice. After the baby chose one of the toys, the researchers took it away and came back with a new option. The babies could then pick from the toy they didn’t play with the first time, or a brand new toy. Their choices showed they “dis-prefer the unchosen object.”

To continue studying the evolution of choice in babies, the lab will next look at the idea of “choice overload.” For adults, choice is good, but too many choices can be a problem, so the lab will try to determine if that is also true for babies.

1. What is people’s assumption about the act of making choices?

A．They like what they choose.

B．They choose what they like.

C．They base choices on the fact.

D．They make choices thoughtfully.

2. Why were babies selected as subjects for the study?

A．To help them make better choices.

B．To guide them to perceive the world.

C．To track the root of making random choices.

D．To deepen the understanding of a consumer culture.

3. What does the study on the babies show?

A．They like novel objects.

B．Their choices are mostly based on colors.

C．Their random choices become preferences.

D．They are unable to make choices for themselves.

4. What will the following study focus on?

A．The law of “choice overload”.

B．The problem of adults’ many choices.

C．Why too many choices can influence adults.

D．Whether babies are troubled with many choices.