1 . A new study led by researchers at the Yale School of Public Health finds air pollution may negatively impact standardized test scores. Using data from the North Carolina Education Research Data Center, the researchers tracked 2.8 million public school students in North Carolina from 2001 to 2018 and measured their exposure to PM2.5 found in polluted air. While previous research has shown negative effects on academic performance, it has relied on relatively small or less representative samples. “The biggest strength of this study is that we tracked every student in North Carolina in those years, for the whole time period that they were in the public schools,” said Emma Zang, coauthor of the study.
The study also finds that test scores of ethnic minorities and girls are disproportionately (不成比例地) impacted by PM2.5 levels. “Females and ethnic minorities face sexism and racism,” said Zang. “There are a lot of policies that are not friendly towards them. So, when they’re exposed to the same level of air pollution, they don’t have the resources to lessen the negative influences.” More privileged populations, however, might have more resources that allow them to live in a better environment, such as in houses with air purifiers.
“The level of PM2.5 pollution in the US is relatively low, but students living in areas below the current air quality standard of annual PM2.5 concentration are still negatively impacted by air pollution when it comes to their test scores,” said Zang. “We should aim to strengthen the annual PM2.5 standard to better protect our children.”
Air pollution is known to contribute to disease and death, and it also negatively affects students’ academic performance even at low levels of pollution. The subsequent studies, the researchers said, would involve looking at whether the findings hold true in different areas, and also the reasons behind the ethnic and sexual differences.
1. What’s the greatest advantage of the study?| A．Tracking each student for 18 years. | B．Collecting more comprehensive data. |
| C．Measuring students’ PM2.5 exposure precisely. | D．Building links between air pollution and test scores. |
| A．benefit from current policies on PM2.5 pollution |
| B．have the lowest test scores due to their identities |
| C．lack resources to reduce the impact of air pollution |
| D．suffer from educational inequalities owing to their background |
| A．Offering a suggestion. | B．Raising a doubt. |
| C．Making a comparison. | D．Giving a prediction. |
| A．Applicability of the findings to other regions. | B．Ways to address racial and sexual differences. |
| C．Long-term impacts of air pollution on children. | D．Establishment of PM2.5 standard fit for children. |
2 . Whether you’re hiking through Yellowstone or camping in the Ozarks, choosing the best backpacking stove (炉子) to take with you can make a big difference. Read on for some of our top picks.
Soto Windmaster 4FlexBackpackers love its convenient built-in igniter (点火器), powerful heat output, and four-pronged (四管的) pot stabilizer, which provides a more stable platform for cooking than three-pronged stoves.
Buy it now at REISolo Stove Titan
The Solo Titan burns twigs, pine cones, leaves, and any other biofuels you may find out in nature, offering a safe and natural alternative to burning gas. The Titan is considered mid-size, ideal for cooking for several people.
Buy it now at SoloStoveFire Maple Star X2 Cooking System
Based on hundreds of reviews, hikers say they’re impressed by this gas-powered stove’s easy setup. The Star X2 also features Heat Exchange Technology, which the company says provides superior wind-resistance in different weather environments, helping to reduce overall boil time.
Buy it now on AmazonSoto Amicus
Weighing just 2.9 ounces, the Soto Amicus is well known for its light weight and attractive appearance. Multiple Amazon reviewers praise this backpacking stove’s easy setup and four integrated pot stabilizers, which create a stable base for cooking in the wilderness.
Buy it now on Amazon or REI1. Which stove suits you best if you want a quick meal?
| A．Soto Amicus. | B．Solo Stove Titan. |
| C．Soto Windmaster 4Flex. | D．Fire Maple Star X2 Cooking System. |
| A．Easy setup. | B．Wind resistance. |
| C．Relative stability. | D．Attractive appearance. |
| A．An adventure travel report. | B．An outdoor travel guide. |
| C．An advertisement for facilities. | D．A cookbook for easy meals. |
3 . Jobs for Organic Chemists
Welcome to the Organic Chemistry Portal Job Market! Here you can browse recent job openings worldwide, and find jobs in research and development both in industry and academia. Some tips for your career as an organic chemist and the application process in particular can be found further down on this page.
Educational Requirements
Studying is an essential component of becoming a chemist. To become a chemist, you will need to complete a formal education program that provides you with a strong foundation in chemistry, mathematics, physics, or other related sciences.
Networking Opportunities
To find an interesting job, you should occasionally interact with industrial chemists and make personal contacts. This is best done at scientific conferences or via the social medium Linked In, where the Organic Chemistry Portal is also represented. This gives you interesting insights and allows you to focus your job search on suitable topics and companies. On the other hand, some people already know you and under some circumstances you already have references that could be listed in the application.
Acquire More Knowledge
For special fields, you can deepen your knowledge beforehand in order to show off some details in job interviews. Studying a specific textbook or reading journals in the field is suitable for this purpose. In some companies, you also have to talk to chemists during the application process, who ask for some basic or detailed knowledge. Name reactions in particular can be queried.
The Application Process
The application process for a job vacancy can vary depending on the company and the role you are applying for, but in general, it usually involves some common steps. Click here for more details.
→Application Materials：Cover Letter, Resume
1. What education background is needed for a student to become a chemist?| A．Evening school of Sciences. | B．Self study of chemistry. |
| C．College education of Maths. | D．High school optional course of Physics. |
| A．Attend some job hunting fairs. |
| B．Give detailed personal information. |
| C．Chat with chemists via social media. |
| D．Pursue further education in related sciences. |
| A．A website. | B．A magazine. |
| C．A newspaper. | D．A brochure. |
4 . Animal products could produce electricity, one British power company warns — and to give consumers a choice, it's offering what it calls the world’s first vegan electricity.
Ecotricity, a renewable energy provider in the U.K., announced its electricity and gas would be certified vegan after it claimed half of British homes are powered by electricity made from animal byproducts. Company founder Dale Vince accused companies that consider themselves “ethical” or “green” of keeping consumers in the dark about their “secret ingredient.” “We need clear labeling of energy sourcing so that people can make informed choices,” he said in a statement.
The company offers “vegan energy” in wind and solar power, and it’s developing “sea power” produced by wave oscillation and marine currents. None of Ecotricity’s electrical sources contains animal byproducts that the company knew of before it made the announcement, but it registered with the Vegan Society to certify its green status.
Though not widely disclosed, it’s fairly common for power companies to derive electricity from animals through anaerobic digestion (厌氧消化). Animal waste is generally considered a clean, renewable energy source. Turning manure into fuel eliminates a sizeable chunk of carbon pollution and lessens power companies’ reliance on “dirtier” fossil fuels like coal and oil. Plus, animals provide a limitless supply of waste, while Earth’s natural gas stores are finite, so crackers wouldn’t need to drill into rock to extract it.
Cows are pictured at a Wagyu cattle breeding center in June in Petit-Mars, France. A U.K. energy company announced the first “vegan electricity” after warning consumers about animal byproducts in energy production.
After anaerobic digestion, farmers can use the liquid remains of the manure as fertilizer and make chips for animal bedding from the solid leftovers, chemical engineer David Simakov told Popular Science.
“We are talking about producing the amount of renewable natural gas enough to heat thousands of homes from just a single large landfill site,” he said. “We need to stop pumping carbon from underground into the atmosphere and start caring about introducing more and more renewable energy to make our lives more sustainable.”
Renewable energy only accounts for 11 percent of energy consumption in the U.S., according to the Energy Information Administration. Fossil fuels and nuclear energy generate more than 80 percent of the country’s electricity, and that’s unlikely to change: like other clean energy sources, anaerobic digestion is still more expensive than traditional sources of energy.
1. According to Dale Vince, ____________________.| A．it’s necessary for consumers to know how electricity is produced |
| B．people don’t need to make choices of whether to use vegan electricity |
| C．vegan electricity and gas shouldn’t use animal byproducts |
| D．it’s not certain whether Ecotricity has used animal byproducts |
| A．an energy provider |
| B．vegan energy |
| C．animal waste |
| D．energy labelling |
| A．It’s forbidden to get exploited natural gas since it is limited. |
| B．Clean energy may not replace fossil fuels to be used by families. |
| C．Power companies can rely on animal waste to produce clean energy. |
| D．The waste of cows is first used to produce clean energy in the world. |
| A．It has been a mainstream. |
| B．It has a promising future. |
| C．Consumers tend to use more clean energy now. |
| D．Its producing cost has decreased its popularity. |
5 . A new drug-delivery system could replace needles with puffs (股) of air. Gassensmith studies bioengineering at the University of Texas. His team’s new tech goes beyond patient comfort, though. The device quickly delivers drugs without touching the bloodstream. And that could reduce the risk of spreading disease. He tested it out on his own arm. “I could feel it, but it wasn’t painful,” he reports.
The technology works by blowing in a puff of air through the skin. That gas carries a powder made of tiny bits of vaccine (疫苗) wrapped in metallic crystals (晶体). The crystal coating is really strong, Gassensmith says. As a result, the vaccine powder does not have to be refrigerated while stored. The air contains carbon dioxide, or CO2. Once in the body, the CO2 that carries the powder will mix with water. It creates a weak acid that breaks down the crystal cover. Released, the vaccine bits are then able to enter the bloodstream.
This gas-based drug-delivery system is an upgrade over previous ones. For instance, adjusting the gas that carries the vaccine powder can customize how fast the tiny crystal capsules release the drug. Testing showed that the drug released fastest when delivered with carbon dioxide. Plain air led to a slower, gentler release. Vaccines work best when released slowly. That allows them longer contact with the immune(免疫) system. But the team hopes the device could work for other medicines too. And some medicines must be released quickly. One such example is insulin, a crucial drug for many people with diabetes.
Fear of needles keeps many people from getting vaccinations. Gassensmith is optimistic that this new system might get around that. Future research must ensure that gas-delivered vaccines build immunity to disease as expected, said Weniger, a doctor, who studied vaccine technology for 30 years for the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
1. What can we learn about the new drug-delivery system from paragraph 1?| A．It causes the loss of feeling. | B．It improves the use of needle. |
| C．It cares about patient comfort. | D．It blocks the spread of disease. |
| A．To create a weak acid. | B．To absorb carbon dioxide. |
| C．To clean the bloodstream. | D．To contain the vaccine. |
| A．Flexibility. | B．Durability. | C．High speed. | D．Gentle release. |
| A．The effectiveness of gas-based vaccines. | B．The acceptance of getting vaccinations. |
| C．The influence of vaccine on disease control. | D．The operation of the new drug-delivery system. |
6 . The Surprising Strength of “Weak” Social Ties
It’s long been known that a community of supportive relationships improves our quality of life and can even help us recover from illness.
Claire gets cheered up by going to the library and chatting with her favorite librarian every week. Sherry gets great joy from her Sunday breakfasts at a local diner because the manager and her favorite waitress are nice to her.
When we feel blue or lonely, we tend to turn down social engagements, either to avoid the imagined embarrassment of being the only sad person in a group or because socializing with people we don’t know well can be awkward at first.
| A．All of those connections matter — and so do you |
| B．Harvard researcher Hanne Collins discovered something new |
| C．Even those we meet only once can leave a lasting impression |
| D．Our shared kindness and familiarity offer me a sense of community |
| E．Interacting with the weak ties encourages us to behave more professionally |
| F．But saying yes, despite the hesitation, offers an opportunity to feel less lonely |
| G．So notice, pay attention to, and be grateful for your big, wide world of loose social ties |
7 . When you try a new restaurant or book a hotel, do you consider the online reviews? Do you submit online reviews yourself? Do you pay attention if they are filtered (过滤)? Does that impact your own online review submissions?
In 2010, Yelp shared a video to help users understand how its review filter works and why it was necessary. In recently published research, T. Ravichandran, Ph. D. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and his team compared reviews of over 1,000 restaurants on Yelp to those same restaurants on TripAdvisor, which did not openly share its review filter policies. They found that the number of reviews submitted to Yelp decreased. Those submissions were increasingly negative and shorter in length compared to TripAdvisor. Also, the more positive a review, the shorter it was.
“Platforms are pressured to have content guidelines and take measures to prevent fraud (欺诈) and ensure that reviews are reliable and helpful,” said Ravichandran. Platforms use advanced software to flag and filter reviews. Once a review is flagged, it is filtered out and not displayed, and it is not factored into the overall rating for a business. “However, most platforms do not openly disclose their policies, leading consumers to suspect that reviews are controlled to increase profit by filtering so-called dishonest content,” Ravichandran added.
Whether or not to disclose review filters is a critical decision for platforms with many considerations. Users may put less time and effort into their reviews if they suspect that they have a significant chance of being filtered, or they may do the opposite to make their reviews less likely to be filtered. Since most false reviews are overly positive, users may assume that positive reviews are most likely to be filtered and act accordingly.
“Review moderation(审核) openness comes at a cost,”said Ravichandran. “Although openness helps to position a platform as fair toward advertisers, the resultant decrease in the number of reviews submitted impacts the platform’s usefulness to consumers.” Online reviews pose great opportunity for firms, but also raise complex questions. Platforms must earn the trust of users without sacrificing engagement.
1. What did Ravichandran’s research find?| A．Positive submissions to Yelp went up. |
| B．TripAdvisor adopted better filter policies. |
| C．Reviews on TripAdvisor dropped in number. |
| D．Yelp’s practice discouraged longer reviews. |
| A．To increase net profit. | B．To protect user privacy. |
| C．To guarantee review reliability. | D．To improve business reputation. |
| A．Users. | B．Reviews. | C．Considerations. | D．Platforms. |
| A．Enhance User Trust Through Review Moderation |
| B．To Filter Online Reviews? Think Before You Start |
| C．How Review Moderation Openness Shapes User Conduct |
| D．Online Reviews: Filter the Fraud, But Don’t Tell Us How |
8 . The best way to really see a city is to explore it slowly by walking around. It’s easy, healthy, and also benefits the environment. When on foot, you can do as the locals do. Here’s what you can find under your own steam.
Best for families: Planetenweg, Zurich
The 2,854 ft-tall, forest-covered peak that towers from Zurich’s doorstep is the envy of every European city. To get there, try the four-mile, two-hour-long route on Planetenweg. This family-friendly wander cuts in and out of spruce forests and gives you a proper flavour of being up in the mountains without ever actually leaving the city.
Best for arty vistas: Ekebergparken, Oslo
Come at sunrise or sunset, when the sky blazes above shining fjords (峡湾) and transforms the dark, rocky islands into shadows, and you can see why Oslo’s Ekebergparken inspired Munch to paint The Scream. Starting at the Ekebergparken Museum, the two-mile sculpture trail (小道) winds through pine, fir and ash forest, where plenty of phenomenal works of art await—Dalí’s surrealist Venus de Milo with Drawers and Damien Hirst’s Anatomy of an Angel among them.
Best for getting off the beaten track: Vienna Ugly, Vienna
The guided walks led by locals across Vienna dive into neighbourhoods that are off the usual tourist trail. Among them is Vienna Ugly, a 2.5-hour wander through Leopoldstadt and Innere Stadt. At the end of the tour, you’ll vote on which of the city’s buildings are the ugliest. Tours from £9.
Best for architecture: Ørestad, Copenhagen
Copenhagen rode high as World Capital of Architecture 2023. A guided walk with the Danish Architecture Center throw you in at the architectural deep end for 2.5 hours, taking you to Copenhagen’s Ørestad neighbourhood on the island of Amager. From £18.
1. What attracts travelers to Planetenweg?| A．Mountains. | B．Local flavour. | C．Art works. | D．Architecture. |
| A．Planetenweg, Zurich, | B．Ekebergparken, Oslo. |
| C．Vienna Ugly, Vienna. | D．Ørestad, Copenhagen. |
| A．They are free of charge. | B．They feature a voting activity. |
| C．They are guided tours. | D．They go deep into the forests. |
9 . Random acts of kindness can affect people’s well-being significantly more than expected, according to an August study co-authored by a University of Texas researcher. Based on experiments ranging from giving someone a cup of hot chocolate to delivering cupcakes in the park, the recently published study found that random acts of kindness affected both the giver and receiver significantly more than anticipated. The researchers conducted a total of eight experiments involving students to assess the effects of the acts.
Amit Kumar, the study’s co-author and an assistant marketing and psychology professor at UT, said that although researchers know kindness significantly improves a person’s well-being, people underestimate the effect it will have on the receiver. “One of the interesting questions becomes why people often don’t act in ways that are likely to make them feel better,” said Kumar. “What we were interested in studying here was this belief that these seemingly small pro-social acts can actually make a significant difference in people’s lives.”
Kumar said because people underestimate the positive effects of these acts, more often than not, people don’t perform them.
One of the experiments included UT students engaging in an exercise in which they performed different acts of kindness for others, such as baking cookies or offering a peer a ride home, and then filled out a questionnaire afterward. At the same time, the recipients were contacted and asked how they felt. The researchers found that in all of the experiments, both the recipients and performers ended up in better moods than normal after the act.
Co-author Nicholas Epley said the research is part of a broader research program of people avoiding human connection and not reaching out to others despite its positive impact.
“People do act in line with their expectations, but those expectations can be off,” Kumar said. “If you’re underestimating the positive impact that you’re having on other people, that can prevent you from being kinder more often in daily life,” Kumar remarked. He hopes this research helps people become more aware of their impact on others and be kind when they have the opportunity.
1. What did the recently published study find about random acts of kindness?| A．They affect the giver more than the receiver. |
| B．They affect the receiver more than the giver. |
| C．They are good for interpersonal relationships. |
| D．They can greatly affect people’s happiness. |
| A．Negative. | B．Kind. | C．Dangerous. | D．Active. |
| A．People escaping human contact. | B．People showing random kindness. |
| C．The positive impact of kindness. | D．The importance of human connection. |
| A．Realizing the power of your kindness. |
| B．Acting in line with expectations. |
| C．Having a good opportunity. |
| D．Reaching out to others. |
10 . What if our bodies had a new way — other than our eardrums — to hear the world around us? That’s what neuroscientist David Eagleman wondered five years ago. Then he looked at the body for answers and saw a huge sound jack (插孔). “We have this huge input channel called our skin,” he says, “and we aren’t using it.”
So Eagleman, along with Scott Novich, his student at Baylor College of Medicine, created the Versatile Extra-Sensory Transducer, or VEST. The VEST is worn like it sounds. Through 32 tiny motors, it translates sound waves into vibrations (振动) on your back.
First, a computer or smartphone picks up sounds from your surroundings and breaks down the sound sample into a set of specific frequencies. Each frequency band in the set sets off one of 32 motors in the VEST. With time and practice, your brain learns to unconsciously interpret the series of vibrations as sound — and individual sounds as words in a language.
“There is no theoretical reason why this can’t be almost as good as the ears,” says Eagleman. So far, he has trained deaf people to recognize single words through the VEST. He hopes to eventually help them understand sentences, and then full conversations. Just like with language, Eagleman discovered, children — whose brains are more shapable — learned to interpret the VEST more easily than adults did.
Eagleman says his device could one day be deployed in dozens of professions to better understand complex environments. A pilot could interpret a plane’s condition through the VEST’s vibrations. An astronaut could literally feel the health of the International Space Station. Eagleman and Novich’s startup, Neo Sensory, plans to develop the VEST for all kinds of uses, so someday we all can experience this sixth sense. “The possibilities are endless for the kind of information we could be streaming in,” says Eagleman.
1. What is the VEST?| A．A huge input channel on the body. | B．A computer-smartphone connector. |
| C．A processing program with tiny motors. | D．A wearable sound-vibration transformer. |
①motors to be activated ②sounds to be decomposed ③words to be interpreted
| A．①②③ | B．②③① | C．①③② | D．②①③ |
| A．Assessed. | B．Employed. | C．Detected. | D．Invented. |
| A．Listen with Your Skin | B．Hear Your Sixth Sense |
| C．To Listen or Not | D．Here to Hear. |
