1 . Have you ever imagined an insect-inspired robot, which weighs less than a gram, could one day help out in surgery (外科手术)?

Scientists have designed this small, “insect-bot” called mCLARI that can control and even change its body shape as it travels in different environments to fit through gaps. It’s 2 centimeters long, weighs less than 0.97 grams and can travel at a speed of 6 centimeters per second.It’s the smaller, faster replacement to CLARI, which was designed by the same team.

“Because of the robot’s small size and ability to change shape, we expect usage of this technology in four important areas,” the lead author Kaushik Jayaram said. These include disaster (灾害) response , check on high-value objects, environmental monitoring and medical treatment.

“In the long term, we hope such robots will be used more widely in moving through human bodies and performing surgeries that can’t be easily done at present,” Jayaram said. With mCLARI, Jayaram’s team is moving closer to creating robots that can fit in different environments—just like the insects they’re inspired by.

The mCLARI robot has four legs and can move in narrow spaces by changing between running forward and side-to-side and can use different speeds in human bodies. Its legs are joined to its body through joints (关节), which enables mCLARI to change its body shape based on the environment it is in. For example, its legs can be lengthened up to 50% in certain spaces.

As follow-up work, the scientists want to give mCLARI more power and sensing ability while helping the surgeries. “We are also excited about understanding the effect of shape change on improving functions of robots,” Jayaram said. “And this is sure a great one-step forward of the technology. The robot will have entered the market by 2025 and will bring greater benefits to mankind, especially in medical treatment.”

1. What is paragraph 3 mainly about?

A．Possible application fields of the robot.	B．Different types of the robot.
C．Several important features of the robot.	D．Working process of the robot.

2. Which of the following can best describe mCLARI?

A．Valuable but uncontrollable.	B．Modern but high-cost.
C．Heavy and time-consuming.	D．Advanced and effective.

3. What is Jayaram’s attitude towards the robot?

A．Worried.

B．Positive.

C．Doubtful.

D．Uninterested.

4. Which of the following is a suitable title for the text?

A．Jayaram: A Scientist Studying Robot Intelligence

B．mCLARI Is Already Widely Available in the Market

C．CLARI: A Robot Invented by Inspiration from the Insects

D．A Tiny Shape-changing Robot Will Help Perform Surgeries

2 . Music is one of the most powerful forces in our lives. It can bring us joy, sorrow, or even inspiration. It can evoke emotions and memories that we didn’t even know we had.     1    

Music can be a source of comfort. It can provide a refuge（避难所）from the troubles of the world and provide a sense of peace and solace.     2     It can also bring people together, helping to create a sense of community and shared experience.

    3     It can be an uplifting force in times of struggle, helping us to persevere and overcome obstacles. It can inspire us to take action and make positive changes in our lives.

Finally, music can be a source of joy and celebration.     4     It can be a way to express our love and gratitude for the people in our lives.

Music has the power to change our lives in ways we may never have imagined. It can provide us with strength, courage, comfort, and joy. It can help us to find our inner voice and express ourselves in unique and creative ways.     5    

A．Poor people can live a happy life with music.

B．Music can also give us strength and courage.

C．Music can associate people with each other around the world.

D．Music can change a person’s life in ways that nothing else can.

E．Listening to music can help to reduce stress, anxiety, and depression.

F．It can bring us closer together, helping us to appreciate and celebrate the beauty of life.

G．Music can truly be a life-changing force, and one that should never be underestimated.

5 . It’s no secret that sleep is important to your overall health, but a lack of sleep could have great effects on your heart, a new study shows. The researchers said people with insomnia(失眠症)are more likely to have a heart attack.

Insomnia is the most common sleep disorder in the US, the researchers wrote in their report, noting that 10% to 15% of people in the US struggle with it. The meta-analysis of previously published research suggests that the potential association between insomnia and heart attack risk is strongest in women.

Dr. Martha Gulati, director of prevention at the Cedars-Sinai Smidt Heart Institute, said that most of her patients are women and that insomnia is a noted risk factor for women who have had any form of ischemic heart disease. “We see it probably in 1 in 10 patients in the United States,” said Gulati, who was not involved in the new research. “It is my impression that almost everyone experiences insomnia at some point in their life. The estimate is that 1 in 2 adults experience it at some point in their life, maybe in the short term because of stressful moments.”

For their analysis, the researchers defined insomnia as a sleep disorder with three main symptoms(症状): Difficulty falling asleep, difficulty staying asleep and waking early and being unable to fall back asleep.

The study also found an association between increased heart attack risk and how long a participant slept each night. Those who slept five hours or less had the highest association with heart attack risk and were 1.56 times more likely to have a heart attack than people who slept seven or eight hours. Longer sleep duration wasn’t always more protective. The study found that people who slept six hours a night had a lower risk of a heart attack than those who slept nine hours or more. “A lot of studies have pointed somewhere between seven and eight hours of sleep being the magic number for us,” another researcher said. “There is obviously variability for everyone, but too much sleep is rarely the issue.”

1. What’s the function of the first paragraph?

A．To list a fact.	B．To warn the readers.
C．To introduce the topic.	D．To draw the readers’ interest.

2. What can we infer from Gulati words?

A．Insomnia is unavoidable in the short term.

B．Insomnia is a common phenomenon in life.

C．Heart attack often happens during insomnia.

D．Women are less experienced in dealing with insomnia.

3. What inspiration can we get according to the sleeping time?

A．Put quality before quantity.	B．Too much is as bad as too little.
C．Bite off more than one can chew.	D．Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.

4. What’s the author’s attitude to the relationship between insomnia and heart attack?

A．Pessimistic.

B．Indifferent.

C．Objective.

D．Positive.

6 . A solar tree is a structure like a tree that generates solar energy using photovoltaic panels (太阳能光伏板). It helps solve an urgent global challenge: Replacing greenhouse gas-emitting energy sources like oil and gas with renewable energy. But the power generation potential of solar trees is relatively limited, and their primary purpose is to raise public awareness about renewable energy by getting people to notice and interact with solar energy in new ways.

Solar trees generally have a firm metal, plastic, or stone base that extends up and out into “branches” on which solar panels are mounted. Beyond this basic structure, there is great diversity in the design of solar tree units. The solar tree’s photovoltaic “leaves” absorb sunlight, converting it into electricity that is conducted down through the trunk-like central pillar of the structure to an inside battery. Many designs feature rotating (旋转的) panels that can move throughout the day in order to obtain the greatest amount of sunlight.

Solar trees help power homes, businesses, and public services. They can create shade to help reduce the urban heat island effect and provide shelter in severe weather such as rainstorms and heatwaves, creating greater urban adapting ability in the face of climate change. They also enhance public spaces, providing charging stations, and powering streetlights.

In comparison to other kinds of ground-mounted solar panel devices, solar trees don’t require much land. They make solar energy generation possible in areas with little land that can’t support vast solar arrays, as well as places that lack sufficient rooftop space for panels. However, solar panels are much cheaper than solar trees at present and have far greater energy generation capacity. Therefore, present solar tree designs often serve as a extra source rather than as a primary energy source.

At present, solar trees aren’t designed as large-scale solar projects, which limits their ability to contribute to the low-carbon energy transition. Still, their varied designs are appealing. This makes solar trees effective at displaying and thereby educating people about solar energy, and promoting a business or organization’s commitment to renewable energy.

1. What is the main purpose of building solar trees?

A．To beautify the urban environment.	B．To draw public attention to solar energy.
C．To replace non-renewable energy resources.	D．To provide charging services in emergencies.

2. What do we know about a solar tree?

A．It stores energy in its own battery.

B．It can adjust its height automatically.

C．It is made of environmentally friendly materials.

D．It transforms sunlight into electricity by its metal base.

3. What does the third paragraph mainly talk about?

A．The design features of solar trees.	B．The ways of saving energy in cities.
C．The benefits of solar trees to humans.	D．The difficulties of promoting solar trees.

4. What is the advantage of solar trees over other ground-mounted solar panel devices?

A．They occupy much less land.	B．They are cheaper to manufacture.
C．They are more effective in generating energy.	D．They can work in various weather conditions.

8 . To American ears, hearing the words “Black Grace” used together makes them feel a kind of quiet strength in times of hardship or perhaps a positive cultural stereotype (刻板印象). To choreographer Neil Ieremia, the words represent the joining of two ideas born from personal and cultural conflict.

In New Zealand, where Ieremia grew up in what he describes as “a fairly tough town” northeast of Wellington, black was used to describe brave, daring behavior. In Ieremia’s youth, brave people were called “black”, linking them to the neighborhood’ s heroes, New Zealand’ s great All Blacks, the national rugby (橄榄球) team.

Ieremia was born in New Zealand to Samoan immigrants who arrived in the country during the 1960s. Illnesses kept him from actively participating in the country’s widespread sports culture. This was difficult for a Pacific Island boy living in a neighborhood where boys were expected to be sporty and tough. In this world, he developed a passion for music.

At the age of 19, Ieremia decided to attend dance school. At his first ballet class, the instructor told him he lacked grace. Ieremia wasn’t discouraged. When he started his own dance company in 1995, he looked to his own experiences for a name that would also reflect his ambitions for dance grace and storytelling. Thus Black Grace was born. Since then, he has changed the face of modern dance in New Zealand and turned Black Grace into one of the most recognizable and successful cultural brands.

In the early years of Black Grace, Ieremia struggled with the conflict between Samoan and New Zealand cultures. Questions of how and where one belongs were at the forefront of his work. Ieremia draws inspiration from his Samoan and New Zealand roots to create innovative dance works that reach across social, cultural and generational barriers. The work itself is highly physical, rich in the storytelling traditions of the South Pacific, and expressed with unique beauty and power.

1. What is Neil Ieremia’s occupation?

A．a sports figure

B．a dancer

C．a psychologist

D．a great writer

2. What does “Black Grace” mean to Neil Ieremia?

A．Stay calm and positive when facing difficulties

B．The quality of being courageous and elegant

C．A kind of stereotype from cultural conflict

D．The expectation of being sporty and tough

3. According to the passage, what can we learn about Ieremia?

A．Ieremia immigrated from New Zealand to Samoan.

B．Ieremia played a key role in mainstream sports culture.

C．Ieremia had a talent for dance at an early age.

D．Ieremia made Black Grace become a successful cultural brand.

4. The best title for the message might be________.

A．Bridging cultures through dance	B．A conflict between two cultures
C．Breaking cultural stereotype	D．Neil Iremia—a successful choreographer

10 . Njobati, a young woman from Cameroon, faced a challenging journey when she moved from her English-speaking area to a French-speaking area of the country to attend university. The sharp differences between these areas, once part of the British and French empires, made it difficult for her to fit in, which led her to examine her own identity—who she truly was.

Seeking guidance, she turned to her grandfather who also felt disconnected from his own culture. He expressed sadness about what the Nso had lost both culturally and materially, including Ngonnso statue. Ngonnso was the founder of Nso dating back to the 14th Century, whose statue was an important cultural symbol for the Nso. However, it was taken by the Germans in 1902 and has been housed in Berlin’s Ethnological Museum ever since.

Inspired by her grandfather’s desire and saddened by the loss of culture, Njobati made a promise to bring back the statue. She believed it would not only achieve her grandfather’s wish but connect her with her Nso heritage again.

Njobati did many researches about the statue and former unsuccessful attempts. She realized that restitution (归还) was actually about facing the colonial ( 殖民主义的) past. Njobati decided to try differently. To gather support online and offline, Njobati began a grassroots campaign. She organized meetings in community halls and churches, met people one-on-one, and used the power of social media.Through Twitter, she established contact with the Ethnological Museum.

Njobati’s tireless efforts paid off. She was told that a decision about Ngonnso statue was coming, which was an important moment for her.

“Finally, this is happening. Not just for me, but for the Nso people, and for Cameroon,” She cried. “This also lends a hand to other communities that are seeking justice for stolen culture relics.”

1. What made Njobati decide to bring back the Ngonnso statue?

A．Her interest in colonial history.

B．Her grandfather’s identity problem.

C．Her desire to reconnect with Nso culture.

D．Her experience in attending university.

2. What did Njobati do to gain support for her campaign?

A．She did wide and complete researches.

B．She turned to her grandfather for guidance.

C．She contacted the Ethnological Museum directly.

D．She organized meetings and using social media.

3. What does “this” refer to in the last paragraph?

A．The fight for the statue.	B．The promise she made.
C．The grassroots campaign.	D．The return of the statue.

4. What can be a suitable title for the passage?

A．A fight against colonialism.	B．A cultural fighter.
C．A promise for grandpa.	D．A stolen cultural symbol.