1 . Age Reversal Technology
Our life spans (时间段) used to be relatively short.
As people live longer, population aging becomes a greater economic problem. It has both placed a burden on public health spending and decreased productivity of workforce. And aging is the fundamental driver behind many diseases, such as cancer, heart disease, to name just a few. One expert in population aging at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Halldór Stefánsson, explains that some serious diseases related to aging — that very few people lived long enough to experience in the past — have replaced infectious diseases as the main cause of death.
The amazing news is that age reversal technology will soon be a reality. On the bright side, the process of reversing aging is already possible for cells in scientific experiments.
| A．And science has moved on to extend life spans of some animals, though not yet of humans. |
| B．Human aging timeline is also driven by other factors. |
| C．In the 1800s, life expectancy across the world was less than 40 years of age. |
| D．So, the question on all our mind is — can science stop aging? |
| E．Initially restricted to developed countries, population aging has also become a trend in the developing world. |
| F．Age reversal technology will also increase health span — the length of time during which one is healthy. |
2 . From Smells to Soundtracks
When a young sawfly, a bee-like insect, is threatened by its attackers like ants, it emits a mixture of unpleasant smells to defend itself. These emissions can seriously annoy a potential enemy.
Scientists wanting to study these smelly compounds—to understand which aspects of them discourage attackers and why—face great challenges. Meetups between sawflies and ants in a lab are difficult to carry out. There are also a very limited quantity of the insects’ emissions. On the side, Jean-Luc Boevé, a zoologist who studies insects, from the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, is an amateur musician and composer. He decided to try a different way—the sound approach. “To be honest, I considered this project so unpractical myself that I set it aside,” he said. It was months before Boevé and his partner, Rudi Giot, finally made a resolution to get started on it.
They chose 16 sawfly species’ emissions to translate into sounds. First, they figured out which molecules (分子) were present in each smelly compound and in what amounts. Then they assigned various characteristics of those molecules matching properties of sound. For example, smaller molecules like a kind of acid found in vinegar, a sour-tasting liquid, evaporate (挥发) quickly, so Boevé and Giot assigned them sounds with higher pitch ( 音 高 ). Larger molecules were given lower-pitched sounds. In all, the scientists created individual audio descriptions for 20 molecules. Then they combined the sounds of each molecule present in a sawfly’s smell to construct the insect’s soundtrack. If a molecule was of higher proportion in an emission, they assigned it a higher volume. In such a case, the smaller a molecule is, the higher its pitch will be; and the higher the proportion of a molecule is, the higher its volume will be.
To test out the audio descriptions they created, Boevé and Giot examined people’s reactions to the soundtracks and compared them to ants’ reactions to the original smells. They played the 16 emission soundtracks and the 20 molecule sounds through speakers to about 50 study participants. Then the scientists measured how far people backed up to get to a “comfortable position” away from the noise. Most of the study volunteers told the researchers that the high pitch, as well as the high volume, was what made them withdraw. “Ants and volunteers moved away from a chemical and its matching soundtrack respectively,” the researchers wrote.
Boevé said he hoped the process would give other zoologists a new way to compare sawflies’ chemical defenses with those from other insects. It may also offer researchers clues about which molecules fight off enemies most.
1. What do we know about Boevé from paragraph 2?| A．He was devoted to the research for several months. |
| B．He started a new approach after months’ hesitation. |
| C．He came up with a creative idea thanks to a composer. |
| D．He was faced with difficulties in studying rare sawflies. |
| A．The volume of sounds is based on the proportion of molecules. |
| B．Smaller molecules and lower pitch share similar characteristics. |
| C．Audio descriptions of the molecules can be divided into 16 kinds. |
| D．Participants were required to compare the sounds with the smells. |
| A．the soundtracks are more than what humans are likely to bear |
| B．the ants dislike the sounds as much as humans hate the smells |
| C．humans’ reactions to the sounds resemble ants’ responses to the smells |
| D．other zoologists are looking for innovative ways of studying molecules |
| A．explain ways to transfer smells into soundtracks |
| B．introduce research on sawfly’s effect on humans |
| C．demonstrate a scientific study on insects’smells |
| D．test out people’s reaction to various soundtracks |
3 . Welcome to the Hunter
Take a short break from Sydney’s urban delights and escape to Hunter Valley Wine Country! Just a two-hour drive north of open spaces, fresh country air, super wines and excellent food.
Set around the quiet villages of Pokolbin and Broke, this region is of fertile volcanic soils, backed by the rolling wooded hills of the Brokeback Ranges. It’s a place where the natural Australian landscape has been accompanied by a tradition of cultivating grapes dating back over 190 years. Grapes were first grown in this valley in the 1830s, making the Hunter Australia’s oldest wine-producing area, where you can find varieties of admired wines. The region is also popular for its fine dining and various activities.
Fine Wines
Begin your tour by visiting some wine factories dotted around the village of Pokolbin. Most wine factories are open daily for tastings. You could start at Tyrrell’s Wines, one of the area’s most popular and still family-owned after over 160 years. Taste award-winning wines in its atmospheric underground rooms, among the oldest in Australia.
Eating Well
When it’s time for a change of pace, turn to the Hunter Valley’s fantastic food, including cheeses, bread and vegetables. Dine on praised Modern Australian meals at excellent restaurants such as Roberts at Pepper Tree. If you’re after a light lunch, or just coffee and a snack, try the more casual Café Enzo or The Grill at Rothbury Estate.
Activities & Touring
When it’s time to work off all that food and wine, there are a host of options. Play tennis, or enjoy a round of golf. Hire a bike, or go horse-riding in the hills.
Enjoy a bird’s eye view of this beautiful rural landscape by taking an early morning hot-air balloon trip—or be really adventurous and sample the unforgettable thrill of double skydiving.
1. This passage is mainly intended for ________.| A．hunters all over Australia |
| B．villagers in Pokolbin and Broke |
| C．those interested in growing grapes |
| D．those living in urban areas in Sydney |
| A．Pokolbin and Broke are located within the Brokeback Ranges |
| B．traditional ways of growing grapes are adopted in Hunter Valley |
| C．the locals produce wines in admiration of the region’s popularity |
| D．the Hunter enjoys the longest history of making wine in Australia |
| A．Having a light lunch at Roberts at Pepper Tree. |
| B．Riding a horse in the hills to help with digestion. |
| C．Purchasing wines in old family-owned wine factories. |
| D．Taking hot-air balloon trips whenever you feel the need. |
4 . We owe our knowledge about the Earth’s geography largely to such explorers as Christopher Columbus and James Cook, who ventured into the seas in search of new lands. Portuguese ship captain Ferdinand Magellan was also such a man, who was the first explorer to sail around the world.
Magellan was interested in the paths Christopher Columbus had taken on his voyages, and after studying the maps of those routes for years, he requested King Manuel in 1513 to allow him to sail to the Spice Islands, but this time he would travel the waters south of South America. He was convinced that the trip would be shorter than if he headed to the southern tip of Africa and then across the Pacific Ocean. Nevertheless, Manuel refused his request. Later on, Magellan applied himself to astronomy ( 天 文 学 ) and navigation for almost two years. In 1517, he took the information gathered from his studies to Charles I of Spain, who agreed to fund his voyage.
In 1519, with 5 ships and 241 men under his command, Magellan sailed across the Atlantic to what is now Rio de Janeiro; he then headed south to find the passage to the Pacific. Luck was not with him, however—he was unable to find that passage before the end of summer, and he adjourned in Puerto San Julian, Argentina, a country in southern South America, where one ship was destroyed, and some of his crew rebelled.
Determined to continue, Magellan managed to restart his voyage in the spring of 1520, but difficulties once again nearly defeated him. The crew went for 98 days without seeing any land, ran out of food, and used up almost all their water. 19 men died before the ships reached Guam, and conflicts with people there prevented them from getting resupplied fully. When they finally reached the Philippines in 1521, Magellan himself was killed in a battle.
Only one ship, with 18 survivors, made it back to Spain in 1522. But the exploration must in one very important respect be considered a success—it paved the way for explorers, merchants, and settlers to sail the Pacific, travelling relatively quickly to new and far-off lands.
1. Magellan believed that the trip would be shorter if he ________.| A．cut through the Spice Islands |
| B．went across the Pacific Ocean |
| C．headed directly to the southern tip of Africa |
| D．traveled the waters south of South America |
| A．was held up | B．was cheered up | C．gave up | D．sped up |
| A．Not taking along fresh water. |
| B．Not choosing the right time. |
| C．Magellan’s unexpected death. |
| D．Failure to get a full resupply. |
| A．Magellan’s lasting and fruitful persuasion of the kings. |
| B．Magellan’s tough exploration of sailing round the world. |
| C．Magellan’s significant influences on Earth’s living space. |
| D．Magellan’s contribution to people’s knowledge of sailing. |
5 . It was this very morning that Garrone let us know what he is like.
The master had not yet arrived, and three or four boys were bullying Crossi, the one with the red hair who has a dead arm and whose mother sells vegetables. They were hitting him in the face with chestnut shells. And he, alone on the end of the bench, became quite pale, begging that they leave him in peace.
All at once, Franti sprang upon a bench. Pretending that he was carrying a basket on each arm, he aped the mother of Crossi when she used to come to wait for her son at door. Many began to laugh loudly and Crossi was trembling and turning red with anger.
Suddenly Crossi seized an inkstand and threw it at the other’s head with all his strength, but Franti moved aside, and the inkstand struck the master who entered at the moment, full in the breast. All flew to their places and became silent with terror. The master, quite pale, went to his table, and said in a controlled voice:
“Who did it?”
No one replied.
The master cried out once more, raising his voice still louder, “Who is it?”
Then Garrone, moved to pity for poor Crossi, rose sharply and said resolutely, “ It was I.”
The master looked at him, looked at the confused scholars, then said in a calm voice, “It was not you.”
And after a moment. “The culprit shall not be punished. Let him rise!”
Crossi rose and said, weeping “They were striking me and insulting me, and I lost my head and threw it.”
“Sit down,” said the master. “Let those who provoked him rise.”
Four rose and hung their heads. “You,” said the master, “have insulted an unfortunate companion; you have struck a weak person who could not defend himself. You have committed one of the most shameful acts!”
Then he went over to Garrone and looked him straight in the eye, and said to him, “You are a noble soul.”
Garrone profited by the occasion to murmur some words, I know not what, in the ear of the master; and he, turning towards the four boys, said abruptly, “I forgive you.”
1. What finally provoked Crossi to throw an inkstand?| A．Franti made fun of Crossi’s mother walking with a dead arm. |
| B．Franti imitated the way Crossi’s mother carried her basket. |
| C．The boys hit Crossi in the face hard with chestnut shells. |
| D．The boys pulled Crossi upon a bench and laughed at him loudly. |
| A．advocate | B．leader | C．captain | D．offender |
| A．he dared to speak his mind | B．he forgave the four bullies |
| C．he took the blame for Crossi | D．he brought bad guys to justice |
| A．A Generous Deed | B．A Domestic Incident |
| C．Making the Right Choice | D．To Believe or Not to Believe |
6 . It seems to me that all writers, including those brilliant ones, need encouragement particularly in their early years. I always knew I could write,but that just meant I wrote a little better than my peers. I hope that I might one day write well enough to derive income from my efforts. Oddly enough,this never occurred to me until I met a special teacher in life.
There was a kind teacher at Hyde Park High School in Chicago,who simply by concentrating her attention on me, made me believe that I might be able to master the knack of writing well enough to consider the craft as a profession. Miss Marguerite Byme taught English,which of course, involved writing skills.Whatever instruction she shared with me was exactly the same as all her other students enjoyed, but the only difference was that she encouraged me to begin the process of submitting things I was writing, in those days, chiefly poems.
To my surprise, the Chicago Tribune not only thought enough of several of my verses to publish them, but also paid me, inadvertently, the highest compliment a fledgling author can receive. The editor wrote a confidential letter to Miss Byme, asking her to see, if by any chance, one of her students, a certain Stephen Allen, might be guilty of copying. The editor's suspicions had been aroused, because he was kind enough to say, he found it hard to believe that a seventeen-year-old student could create material on such a professional level.When Miss Byme shared the letter with me, I was overjoyed! It was wonderfully heartening.
Miss Byme made me realize that I should not hide my light. This made me collect my courage to enter a writing contest. The assignment was to write an essay titled "Rediscovering America". I was literally astonished when I received a letter saying that I was the winner of the contest.The prize was a thousand dollars. My mother, at the time, was not even aware that I was interested in writing, or if she had somehow found out about it, she took little notice.When I arrived home that evening with the letter, she was indifferent and did not ask how the evening had gone.
Without encouragement, even talented students will continue to perform below expectations. For example, at the same high school, there was a teacher whose Spanish language classes I attended but from whom I unfortunately learned very little simply because of the woman's cold sarcastically critical attitude. She seemed to know nothing about nurturing students. Soon, I withdrew from her classroom literacy instruction.
Years later, I was able to repay my debt to Marguerite Byme by dedicating one of my books, Wry on the Rocks------A collection of Poems.to her. I have enjoyed a lifetime writing books and television scripts because of her urge.
1. Miss Byme treated me differently from other students in that ________.| A．she encouraged the author to try to earn money from writing |
| B．she gave the author private instructions on writing skills |
| C．she advised the author to contribute his writing works |
| D．she taught the author the knack of writing as a profession |
| A．he regretted overpaying the author |
| B．he had doubts about the author's writing abilities |
| C．he wanted to inform her of the author's talent |
| D．he wanted to befriend a future star writer |
| A．The author had set the goal of writing professionally since childhood. |
| B．The share of the editor's letter made the author ashamed of his behavior. |
| C．The author won the writing contest which made his mother proud of him. |
| D．The author quitted Spanish course because of the teacher's negative attitude. |
| A．writing skills should be cultivated since high school years |
| B．it's easy for a writer like him to make a living by writing |
| C．parents should take kid's interests and talents seriously |
| D．development of skills and abilities require adequate encouragement |
7 . Deep below the ground, radioactive elements break up water molecules（分子）, producing ingredients that can fuel subsurface life. This process, known as radio-lysis（辐射分解）, has sustained bacteria in isolated, water-filled cracks on Earth for millions to billions of years. Now a study published in Astro-biology shows that radiolysis may have supported life in the Martian subsurface.
Dust storms, rays in the universe and solar winds ruin the Red Planet's surface. But below-ground, some life might find refuge. "The environment with the best chance of habitability on Mars is the subsurface," says Jesse Tarnas, a planetary scientist at NASA. Examining the Martin underground could help scientists learn whether life could have survived there. And the best subsurface samples available today are Martin meteorites（陨石）that have crash-landed on Earth.
Tarnas and his colleague evaluated the mineral makeup and radio-active element abundance in the Martin surface using satellite and rover data. They input these data into a computer model that simulated（模拟）radiolysis to see how efficiently the process would have generated hydrogen gas and other chemical ingredients that can sustain the underground bacteria. The researchers report that if water was present, radiolysis in the Martin subsurface could have sustained life for billions of years and perhaps still could today.
Scientists previously studied Mars radiolysis, but this marks the first estimate using Martin rocks to quantify the planet's subsurface habitability. Tarnas and his colleagues also evaluated the potential richness of life in the Martin underground and found that as many as a million bacteria could exist in a kilogram of rock.
The most habitable meteorite samples analysed appeared to be made of a rock type called regolith breccia. "These are thought to come from the southern highlands of Mars, which is the most ancient area on Mars," Tarnas says.
Underground life, as described by this research, would require water and it remains unknown if groundwater exists on the planet, says Lujendra Ojha, a planetary scientist at Rutgers University. Determining whether the Martin subsurface contains water will be an important next step, but this investigation helps to motivate that search. Ojha says, "Where there is groundwater, there could be life."
1. Scientists believe the Martian subsurface might be habitable probably because _________.| A．the Martin surface absorbs rays in the universe |
| B．radio-lysis may exist in the Martian underground |
| C．radiation combines ingredients for subsurface life to survive |
| D．cracks in Martian meteorites overflow with bacteria |
| A．To measure the Martian habitability below-ground |
| B．To simulate the process of producing hydrogen. |
| C．To help life find shelter from solar winds |
| D．To explore the source of hydrogen gas. |
| A．Tarnas was the first to study Mars radiolysis. |
| B．The Martian underground proved to be rich in bacteria. |
| C．The southern highlands of Mars are the most habitable. |
| D．The existence of groundwater is key to the investigation findings. |
| A．the reason for no life on the Martian surface |
| B．the source of data for the study of Martian habitability |
| C．the possibility of Mars sustaining life through radiation |
| D．the richness of radioactive elements below the Martian surface |
8 . Is It Smarter Than a Seven-month-old?
By the age of seven months, most children have learned that objects still exist even when they are out of sight. Put a toy under a blanket and a child that old will know it is still there, and that he can reach underneath the blanket to get it back.
It is also something that self-driving cars do not have. And that is a problem. Autonomous vehicles are getting better, but they still don't understand the world in the way that a human being does. For a self-driving car, a bicycle that is momentarily hidden by a passing van is a bicycle that has ceased to exist.
This failing is basic to the now-widespread computing discipline that has claimed to be the slightly misleading name of artificial intelligence（AI）. Current Al works by building up complex statistical models of the world, but it lacks a deeper understanding of reality.
Modern AI is based on the idea of machine learning. If an engineer wants a computer to recognize a stop sign, he does not try to write thousands of lines of code that describe every pattern of pixels（像素）which could possibly indicate such a sign.
| A．Instead, he writes a program that can learn for itself, and then shows that program thousands of pictures of stop signs. |
| B．The high-tech vision system has the potential to be more successful than humans in detecting dangerous situations |
| C．How to give AI at least some appearance of that understanding—the reasoning ability of a seven-month-old child, perhaps—is now a matter of active research |
| D．Programmers have developed procedures that behave like the neurons（神经元） in a brain. They can "learn" from the actions taken in previous situations and infer what to do in a new, similar situation. |
| E．This understanding of "object permanence", is a normal developmental milestone, as well as a basic principle of reality. |
| F．Similar techniques are used to train self-driving cars to operate in traffic. |
9 . On a September afternoon in 1940, four teenage boys made their way through the woods on a hill overlooking Montignac in southwestern France. They had come to explore a dark, deep hole said to be an underground passage to the nearby manor（庄园）of Lascaux. Squeezing through the entrance one by one, they soon saw wonderfully lifelike paintings of running horses, swimming deer, wounded wild oxen, and other beings—works of art that may be up to 20,000 years old.
The collection of paintings in Lascaux is among some 150 prehistoric sites dating from the Paleolithic period（旧石器时代）that have been documented in France's Vezere Valley. This corner of southwestern Europe seems to have been a hot spot for figurative art. The biggest discovery since Lascaux occurred in December 1994, when three cave explorers laid eyes on artworks that had not been seen since a rockslide 22,000 years ago closed off a large deep cave in southern France. Here, by unsteadily shining firelight, prehistoric artists drew outlines of cave lions, herds of rhinos（犀牛）and magnificent wild oxen, horses, cave bears. In all, the artists drew 442 animals over perhaps thousands of years, using nearly 400,000 square feet of cave surface as their canvas（画布）. The site, now known as Chauvet-Pont-1'Arc Cave, is sometimes considered the Sistine Chapel of prehistory.
For decades scholars had theorized that art had advanced in slow stages from ancient scratchings to lively, naturalistic interpretation. Surely the delicate shading and elegant lines of Chauvet's masterworks placed them at the top of that progression. Then carbon dates came in, and prehistorians felt shocked. At some 36,000 years old—nearly twice as old as those in Lascaux—Chauvet's images represented not the peak of prehistoric art but its earliest known beginnings.
The search for the world's oldest cave paintings continues. On the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, for example, scientists found a large room of paintings of part-human, part-animal beings that are estimated to be 44,000 years old, older than any figurative art seen in Europe.
Scholars don't know if art was invented many times over or if it was a skill developed early in our evolution. What we do know is that artistic expression runs deep in our ancestry.
1. According to the passage, where did the boys find the paintings?| A．In the woods on a hill | B．In a deep cave in France. |
| C．In a manor of Lascaux. | D．On an Indonesian island |
| A．conveys concepts by using accurate numbers and forms |
| B．makes stories in contrast to scientific subjects |
| C．represents persons or things in a realistic way |
| D．expresses ideas or feelings by using shapes and patterns |
| A．the Chauvet's paintings had been sealed by a rockslide until 1994 |
| B．the style of Chauvet's paintings is similar to that of the Sistine Chapel |
| C．Chauvet's images are the earliest figurative paintings that have been found |
| D．the main objects of Chauvet's images are part-human, part-animal beings |
| A．Value of Paleolithic Artwork | B．Preservation of Figurative Art |
| C．Artistic Expressions of Nature | D．Searches for Cave Paintings |
10 .
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| C．an inquiry department that solves customers' problems | D．a company that sells various products and services |
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| A．promote the shipping services | B．describe the product features |
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