1 . The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is mostly a desert. However, this has not stopped the country from creating great building projects. On September 26, UAE officials announced another ambitious project — Mars Science City. Expansive deserts and miles of coastline provide plenty of options for safe rocket launches (发射). And its position on the Earth makes it especially appealing as the spin of the Earth provides an extra push, meaning less fuel is needed to get payloads into orbit. All these seem to make it possible.
The Mars City Project, designed by Bjarke Ingels Group, or BIG, will provide a realistic model to simulate (模仿) living on the surface of Mars, the red planet. It is part of the UAE’s Mars 2117 Project to lead the global race to land humans on Mars and be the first to build a settlement there. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Prime Minister and ruler of Dubai, says, “The UAE seeks international support to develop technologies that benefit humans, and lay the foundation of a better future for more generations to come.”
Built outside Dubai, the 1.9 million square feet city is expected to cost $135 million. It will consist of several dome-shaped laboratories, similar to the ones imagined for the first Mars settlers. Scientists from around the word will be invited to conduct research to come up with methods to create food, water and energy, using techniques which can be copied onto the red planet. The living spaces, where the researchers can live for up to a year, will simulate the planet’s conditions as much as possible.
The research city will also include a museum featuring famous space achievements to help educate and inspire children to undertake space exploration and discovery. To discover whether the construction method works on Mars, the museum’s walls will be 3D printed using the sand from the nearby desert. Now, if they would only add some living quarters for the general public to experience life on Mars without leaving Earth, life would be perfect.
1. What can we conclude about the United Arab Emirates?| A．It is short of fine weather. |
| B．It is a nice place for launching. |
| C．It can provide adequate fuel supply. |
| D．It has the greatest architects in the world. |
| A．Educate visitors on trips to Mars. |
| B．Develop the Mars settlers’ imagination. |
| C．Find ways to produce food, water and energy on Mars. |
| D．Create a climate-controlled environment for future use. |
| A．To show famous space techniques. |
| B．To make full use of the nearby desert. |
| C．To inspire children to love exploration. |
| D．To test building skills used by Mars settlers. |
| A．UAE to Build Mars Science City |
| B．UAE’s Great Exploration of Mars |
| C．UAE to Build First Mars Settlement |
| D．UAE’s Scientistific Contribution to Humans |
2 . Researchers in Australia have discovered an effective new method to capture the atmospheric carbon dioxide that is damaging our planet and transform it into something solid, making it much easier to store.
Carbon capture isn’t new, but previous methods call for the gas to be compressed into liquid and then injected underground. Widespread usage of that technology has been locked by economic and environmental concerns due to possible leaks. Instead, in a study published in Nature Communications, the group details their sustainable and cost-effective plan for transforming CO2 into coal.
This new process involves a liquid metal catalyst( 催化剂 )that is efficient in conducting electricity. CO2 gas is dissolved in a container with some liquid. Once electricity charge is introduced, the CO2 begins to turn into solid pieces of carbon, which can be collected and stored.
What makes this particularly unique is that the entire process can occur at room temperature. Previous experiments have only shown a gas to solid conversion at extremely high temperature, which made it impossible on a large scale. Now, the researchers are hoping that their work will be used to create even further when it comes to carbon storage.
In an interesting side benefit, the solid carbon also works as an electrode( 焊 条 ), which opens up a world of possibilities. “A side benefit of the process is that the carbon can hold electrical charge, becoming a super battery, so it could potentially be used as a part in future vehicles,” explains Dr. Dorna Estrafilzadeh, a researcher. “The process also produces fuel as a by-product, which could also have industrial applications.”
1. What can we know about the previous carbon capture methods?| A．People have to inject liquid to the gas. |
| B．The previous methods can be done easily. |
| C．The previous methods are not very popular. |
| D．People have widely accepted previous methods. |
| A．It needs electricity to make the process efficient. |
| B．It can be done in any kind of container. |
| C．It doesn’t need extreme temperature. |
| D．It can produce much solid carbon. |
| A．The method will make fossil oil disappear. |
| B．The method will influence the future industry. |
| C．The method will make developed countries more powerful. |
| D．The method will be used to make new vehicles. |
| A．How to change carbon into CO2. |
| B．A new carbon capture technology. |
| C．A new technology to get useful carbon. |
| D．Australia makes the world cleaner than before. |
增加:在缺词处加一个漏词符号(∧)，并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除:把多余的词用斜线(\)划掉。
修改:在错的词下画一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意:1.每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2.只允许修改10处，多者(从第11处起)不计分。
Every time we get on a plane, we’re asked to neither turn off our phones or change it to flight mode - it’s for “security reasons”. But actually, have to turn our phones off on a plane is a service issue, not a safe one. When we speak on our phones in air, the aircraft’s radios can be disturb. Pilots can hear this interference in their headphone. Though speaking on a phone during a flight isn’t dangerous, but it isn’t a good idea. Now things are beginning to change. The breakthrough could be “pico cells”, that are small cell towers on the plane. One day, perhaps, we will be chatting in the air as many as we chat on the ground.
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧）并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（＼）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：1. 每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2. 只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
Recently we had a class meeting on the topic of My Chinese Dream. Some mentioned the inspired Chinese Dream put forward by President Xi. And the others talked enthusiastically about his understanding of the Chinese Dream. I also talked about my own dream. I had always wanted to be a doctor. Not only can doctors save people’s life but also they are doing a respectable job. Doctors can also help people to live a better life without their professional knowledge. To realize my dream, I must learn as much as I can get into a good medical college，which I can make fully preparations for the job of a doctor.
I believe hard work is that it takes to accomplish my goal.
5 . The year 3700, Earth is far too hot for any human to call it home. On this planet at least, man is nothing more than a memory--if there is anything left to remember the "wise man". But what about our wisdom--will any of it survive us?
The conventional answer is no. Knowledge requires a knower, and there will be no knowing minds around then. But if information survives, perhaps in books or hard drives, maybe the knowledge isn't quite dead but dormant(休眠), ready to become alive with the help of other minds that develop over time or come to visit Earth in the distant future.
At first sight, that seems to be reasonable: after all, we have done similar things with past knowledge. For example, we saved an ancient computer from a ship destroyed at sea off the southern coast of Greece, and succeeded in finding the meaning of Egyptian hieroglyphics(象形文字). Careful work can bring previously lost wisdom back to life.
However, the key point is that there is a certain cultural continuity with those ancient times that allows us to reason and make progress in the dark: we know we are dealing with the legacy(遗产)of other humans. Without that link, the survival of objects and raw data doesn't guarantee the survival of knowledge. And a lack of continuity in language with any future intelligence would be a barrier. Knowledge is closely connected with language. When a language dies out, we can lose systems of reasoning that they contain. If that's lost, then it can't be recovered.
All this means that other minds might not be able to fully make human knowledge alive when we are gone. It is better to concentrate on not dying out in the first place.
1. How many opinions are mentioned in Para.2?| A．One. |
| B．Two. |
| C．Three. |
| D．Four. |
| A．Making lost wisdom alive again. |
| B．Rescuing disappearing knowledge. |
| C．Preserving future knowledge. |
| D．Gaining new knowledge. |
| A．We know a lot about human beings. |
| B．We learn ways to draw conclusions. |
| C．We have a certain cultural continuity. |
| D．We protect the legacy of other humans. |
| A．Can human beings live on? |
| B．Will our knowledge survive us? |
| C．What will the earth be like in the future? |
| D．How can we protect our culture? |
You might find it hard to believe that you could actually "print" an object like you would a picture. But it is not that hard to understand how it would work. Just as a traditional printer sprays (喷) ink onto paper line by line, modern 3-D printers spread material onto a surface layer by layer, from the bottom to the top, gradually building up a shape.
Instead of ink, the materials the 3-D printer uses are mainly plastic, resin (树脂)and certain metals. The thinner each layer is --- from a millimeter to less than the width of a hair --- the smoother and finer the object will be.
This may sound like a completely new technology, but the truth is that 3-D printing has been around since the late 1980s. Back then, it was barely affordable for most people, so few knew about it.
Last year, though, saw a big change in the 3-D printing industry--- printers became much cheaper. For example, 10 years ago a desktop 3-D printer might have cost £20,000 (200,000 yuan), while now they cost only about £ 1,000, according to the BBC.
Taken out of the factory and introduced to more diverse and common uses, 3-D printing can create just about anything you can think of ---flutes (笛子), bikinis, jewelry, aircraft parts and even human organs. In fact, scientists from Cornell University in New York have just made an artificial ear using a 3-D printer, according to Science Daily. The fake ear looks and acts exactly like a natural one.
However, as 3-D printing becomes more commonplace, it may bring about certain problems --- such as piracy. "Once you can download a coffee maker, or print out a new set of kitchen utensils (餐具) on your personal 3-D printer, who will visit a retail (零售的) store again?" an expert in 3-D printing told Forbes News. Even more frightening, what if anyone in the world could use a 3-D printer to print out a fully functioning gun?
1. According to the article, in the future, the 3-D printing technology will ___.
| A．enable people to make better purchases online |
| B．be applied as widely in our daily lives as computers |
| C．change the way we make many products |
| D．shorten the time it takes for people to get what they buy online |
| A．The 3-D printing technology was taken out ofthe factory. |
| B．The 3-D printer became more affordable forconsumers. |
| C．The 3-D printer was used for medical treatmentfor the first time. |
| D．3-D printing technology began to be used invarious fields. |
| A．By analyzing a cause and an effect. | B．By making comparisons. |
| C．By giving examples. | D．By presenting research findings. |
| A．Printing out everything | B．Technology in the future |
| C．Online shopping disappearing | D．Great demand for 3-D printers |
