1 . Do you experience worse car sickness in electric cars than in petrol cars? You’re not alone - and when it comes to self-driving cars, it may be even worse.
Although scientists aren’t exactly sure what causes motion sickness, it has to do with passengers losing the ability to predict future movements. When you read a magazine in a car, your eyes will signal to your brain that the car is not moving. However, your brain will recognize the vibrations (振动) and turns that the car makes. This can confuse the mind and make you start to feel sick.
As for electric cars, one-pedal (单踏板) driving is often linked to feelings of car sickness, according to the US Department of Energy. The one pedal does both the accelerating (加速) and braking (刹 车) - the driver steps on the pedal to increase speed and takes their foot off the pedal to slow down. If you stop accelerating, the one-pedal will automatically slow and stop the car. The deceleration caused by this system is thus more rapid than that of petrol cars, which may lead to motion sickness.
Another technological advance that can also be related to car sickness is the larger and increasing number of screens inside vehicles. These screens overburden users with visual information, which discourages them from looking outside, according to The Conversation. Passengers thereby lose their ability to take in the “correct” visual signals, such as the moving surroundings, which can lead to sickness.
Unfortunately, even when people get used to the movements of electric cars and experience less car sickness, self-driving vehicles might be another challenge for them. According to a 2015 study, as much as 12 percent of the US population may feel carsick while riding in autonomous vehicles.
To ensure the widespread usage of new types of vehicles, car producers are working to solve such problems with better technology. For example, Japanese company Honda is working on reducing the car’s “violent (猛烈的) ”acceleration by making changes to the engine, said Car Magazine.
1. What is the possible cause of passengers experiencing motion sickness?| A．Lack of visual signals in the car. |
| B．Unpredictable movements of the car. |
| C．Inability to sense vibrations and turns. |
| D．The brain’s confusion about movements. |
| A．Their unique driving mode. |
| B．Their slow way of braking. |
| C．Their violent acceleration. |
| D．Their constant pedal adjustment. |
| A．Potential dangers of placing screens in cars. |
| B．A technology to reduce car sickness. |
| C．A design aspect in vehicles that causes car sickness. |
| D．Passengers’ different responses to car sickness. |
| A．Developing a more powerful engine. |
| B．Reducing their cars’ deceleration time. |
| C．Making the cars’ acceleration smoother. |
| D．Adding more automatic adjustment features. |
1. In which city does the dialogue most probably take place?
| A．Tokyo. | B．London. | C．Beijing. |
| A．Mapo Tofu. | B．Fish and chips. | C．Beijing Roast Duck. |
| A．Before the food. | B．Together with the food. | C．After the food. |
3 . Ben Francis didn’t become wealthy through a family inheritance (遗产). Instead, the CEO and co-founder of Gymshark used his earnings as a Pizza Hut delivery guy to buy a sewing machine and start his fitness apparel (服饰) company at 19.
Eleven years later, his effort paid off. Francis, 30, who has a reported net worth of $1.3 billion, joined Forbes’ billionaires list. He’s in rare company: the list’s average age is 65 years old.
Originally, Francis and co-founder Lewis Morgan launched Gymshark as a website selling fitness products. But after getting bored with his ill-fitting clothes, Francis suggested pivoting the company.
Francis and Morgan bought a sewing machine. The pair brought Gymshark to a bodybuilding exhibition in 2013, but didn’t have any money to spend on advertising. On a whim (一时兴起), they decided to give popular fitness YouTubers free products. “My heroes were on YouTube,” Francis said. “So it would be so cool if my heroes could come to be with Gymshark at this event. I didn’t really think that much about it.” Some of those influencers went on to wear the clothes on their channels, bringing Gymshark’s sales to $45,000 per day, up from just $450.
Francis quit the CEO role in 2017. “CEO was not the right role for me when I was in my early 20s,” Francis said. “That I’d started a business which had grown very quickly didn’t mean I have the full ability to be a good leader.” He spent the next four years supporting leadership roles within Gymshark---including chief product officer and chief marketing officer – to learn more about the ins and outs of the business, before returning as CEO in 2021.
That year, the company was valued at $1.45 billion. Still, the company’s billion-dollar valuation is a small percentage of the market value of competitors like Nike and Lululemon. “I really think Gymshark can be the UK’s answer to those brands,” Francis said. “But that’s not saying that the UK is where it starts and ends for us. We also want to be a truly global brand.”
1. What makes Ben Francis special on Forbes’ billionaires list?| A．His age. | B．His wealth. | C．His talent. | D．His company. |
| A．Taking control of. | B．Making the best of. |
| C．Making changes to. | D．Attaching importance to. |
| A．To win the support of popular YouTubers. |
| B．To advertise their products in a cheap way. |
| C．To build a good relationship with YouTube. |
| D．To get the chance to meet their heroes on YouTube. |
| A．Gymshark: From a website to a big company |
| B．Gymshark: Taking the lead in fitness clothing |
| C．Francis: Starting the UK’s fastest-growing company |
| D．Francis: From a Pizza Hut delivery guy to a billionaire |
1. 活动内容：
2. 活动反响。
注意：写作词数应为100词左右；
参考词汇：诗意青春poetic youth 诗歌朗诵poetry reading
A poetry reading competition
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6 . China’s space medicine experts have started planning to set up a “space hospital” to serve astronauts, according to Du Jichen, a leading scientist and president of the Aerospace Center Hospital in Beijing.
“We are carrying out extensive research, experiments and tests on the ground to advance the first work on a space hospital that can be fixed inside a manned spacecraft like our space station. The purpose of this project is that it will enable our space explorers to travel deeper and stay healthy during their journey,” said Du.
“The research, design and construction of such a space-based clinic will also help to lead the development of our country’s medical technology and hardware, thus promoting the entire medical and healthcare sectors,” Du said. Chinese space medicine experts have been discussing a sustainable approach to keep astronauts fit and treat possible health conditions in lengthy spaceflights.
“A mainstream idea is that we can place a small ‘medical complex’ inside the space station or other spacecraft that can meet the basic needs of diagnosis and treatment,” the scientist said.
Du said that with the medical facility, astronauts will be able to use self-examination instruments to make a diagnosis if they do not feel well, and then can take timely medical measures. Currently, medical support for astronauts mostly relies on doctors on the ground.
The biggest challenge in this program is that engineers must figure out how to pack medical devices into a very limited space, Du said, adding that they need to upgrade current technologies and use interdisciplinary (跨学科) teamwork to achieve this goal. Medical scientists and engineers have conducted a great deal of research to prepare Chinese astronauts for the missions, Du said.
They have focused on the impact on astronauts’ health during long-term space missions, as well as investigating how the special environment inside the space station, especially its weightlessness, will affect astronauts’ health, particularly their cerebral functions.
1. What does the “space hospital” aim to do?| A．Train astronauts in space. | B．Keep astronauts healthy in space. |
| C．Ensure the safety of space explorers. | D．Help to carry out more experiments. |
| A．The space hospital will improve astronauts’ medical conditions. |
| B．The medical & healthcare system needs to be updated. |
| C．Long flights never cause health problems for astronauts. |
| D．Astronauts can get timely medical treatments. |
| A．How to examine and treat astronauts. | B．How to advance medical technologies. |
| C．How to combine many subjects together. | D．How to fit medical equipment to a limited space. |
| A．Spacecrafts. | B．Doctors. | C．Weightlessness. | D．Spaceflights. |
7 . 
Chile (智利) is famous for its many attractions, including Torres del Paine National Park and Easter Island . If you’re planning a visit, be sure to add “Mano del Desierto” or “Hand of the Desert”to your must-see list.
Standing 11 meters tall and made of iron and cement (混凝土), this sculpture (雕像) of a hand emerges (出现) from the sand in the Atacama Desert , which is known as the driest desert in the world outside of polar regions. The sculpture was created by Mario Irarr á zabal in the early 1980s and was financed by a local nonprofit organization called Corporaci ó n Pro Antofagasta. The sculpture is not only famous for its size and design but also for the message it expresses. Many people believe that the hand represents the weakness and helplessness of human beings, as well as their strength and determination to overcome hardships.
If you’re interested in visiting the Hand of the Desert, take Route 26 or 28 from Antofagasta, a port city in northern Chile. The sculpture is located between mile markers 1309 and 1310. The desert’s flatness (平坦) makes it easy to spot the sculpture from far away. But some people mistake it for a mirage (海市蜃楼) caused by tiredness from driving a long way to the sculpture.
Visitors should take precautions (预防措施) before leaving , such as filling their gas tanks , taking plenty of water, and wearing sunscreen. They should also avoid driving too quickly, as many car accidents happen in the desert each year.
For those who are worried about driving alone, working with an agency (机构) like Plan South America is a good option. The founder of the agency, Harry Hastings, said that he always tries to join a visit to the sculpture with guests traveling to the desert.
1. What makes the Hand of the Desert a famous attraction?| A．Its material. | B．Its location. | C．Its designer. | D．Its size and design. |
| A．The sculpture attracts millions of visitors every year. |
| B．Tired travelers often see mirages in the desert. |
| C．The sculpture can be reached very easily. |
| D．The sculpture can be seen from far away. |
| A．He built the sculpture “Hand of the Desert”. |
| B．He gave the financial support to the sculpture. |
| C．His agency can help lonely travelers travel to the desert. |
| D．He can avoid driving accidents in the desert. |
| A．Travel. | B．Environment. | C．Culture. | D．Entertainment. |
