1 . There was a point in time when the solar industry was considered dead money. It was too expensive, too inefficient, and too inconsistent to be a viable (切实可行的) alternative energy source for really anything, let alone your home or office.
But those days are long gone.
Solar energy costs have dropped more than 70% over the past 10 years, and are now cheaper than fossil fuels in most parts of the United States. Better yet, the drivers of these cost declines — economies of scale (规模经济) and technological improvements — are durable (耐久的) , and therefore, solar is only going to get even cheaper. Indeed, these forces are so powerful in the solar industry that they have their own law — Swanson’s Law — which states that the price of solar modules (模块) decreases by about 20% for every doubling in global solar capacity.
Meanwhile, solar panels have become very efficient at transforming light from the sun into usable energy. Back in 1992, researchers at the University of South Florida made a thin-film solar cell with 15.9% efficiency — and that was considered a breakthrough at the time.
These days, though, your average silicon solar cells’ efficiency rate is around 20%. That’s standard. And some research efforts have even managed to achieve near 50% efficiency in certain lab tests.
At the same time, these solar systems have become dramatically more consistent. One of the biggest hurdles for solar in the early 2000s was its intermittency — the sun doesn’t shine every day, so what do you do when its cloudy?
Well, that’s why the clean energy industry has developed energy storage solutions, which are basically just big batteries that homeowners and office building managers can install on-site and link to their solar panels to store excess (过度的) solar power on super sunny days, and use that power on cloudy days.
Cheapest. Most efficient. Most consistent. That’s a powerful combination. No wonder solar industry has accounted for 58% of all new energy capacity additions so far in 2021 and is only going to get stronger and more active over the next 10 years — to a point where, by 2030, I wouldn’t be surprised to see solar industry accounting for 90%+ of all new energy capacity additions.
1. Which of the following is closely related to solar energy costs according to the Swanson’s Law?| A．Technological improvements. | B．The efficiency. |
| C．Economic growth. | D．The capacity. |
| A．To lower the solar panel costs. |
| B．To ensure consistent power supply. |
| C．To reduce solar energy waste. |
| D．To generate electricity on cloudy days. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Confident. |
| C．Uncaring. | D．Disapproving. |
| A．What Advantages the Solar Energy Has? |
| B．How We Humans Can Fully Use the Solar energy? |
| C．Why the Solar Industry Is the Future of Earth’s Energy? |
| D．When the Solar Industry Will Become Our New Energy Capacity Additions? |
2 . Very few people can say that they have achieved all that they are capable of. But what is it that is preventing you from fulfilling your potential (潜能)?
It is easy and natural to settle into a rut (墨守成规). Why try something new when you are already doing that you are good at?
Let’s face it — your friends and family are really nice people but they are not challenging you to achieve more. Spend more time with high flyers and positive thinkers who understand ambition and achievement. Share some of your thoughts, dreams and challenges with them.
| A．High achievers go further. |
| B．This means that they run the risk of failure. |
| C．All successful people have strong self-belief. |
| D．They can take comfort in modest achievements. |
| E．You waste a lot of time every day on low value activities. |
| F．They will encourage you and give you the direct advice you need. |
| G．It is really very hard to make progress if you have no ambition for your life. |
3 . Here are some highly recommended books for readers to choose.
Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband? by Lizzie Damilola Blackburn $23.92
Lizzie Damilola Blackburn’s first published novel is incredibly relatable for anybody whose family members frequently question their relationship status. In Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband? a thirty-something Nigerian woman attempts to find herself a wedding date and learns some valuable lessons about life and love.
Violeta by Isabel Allende $ 25.76
Isabel Allende’s expansive collection of works continues with Violeta — the story of a woman named Violeta Del Valle who gives readers a front-row seat to historic moments of the 20th century, from the Spanish flu to the Great Depression to the women’s rights movement, as she recounts the highs and lows of her 100-year life in a series of letters to her grandson.
The Perfect Escape by Leah Konen $15.64
Loved Leah Konen’s All the Broken People? Prepare yourself for her newest thriller (惊悚小说), The Perfect Escape, which is about a group of friends whose girls’ weekend goes wrong when they land themselves in deep trouble in the Catskills and one of them goes missing.
Greenwich Park by Katherine Faulkner $24.84
Talk about suspense! Katherine Faulkner’s Greenwich Park, told from three angles, centers on a pregnant woman who meets another mom-to-be who couldn’t be more different from her. As their friendship develops, they realize they may be more connected than they think.
1. What can we know about Lizzie Damilola Blackburn?| A．She is a new rising novelist. |
| B．She has never written a book before. |
| C．She is good at creating romance novels. |
| D．She aims at sharing valuable lessons through writing. |
| A．Violeta. | B．Greenwich Park. |
| C．The Perfect Escape. | D．Yinka, Where Is Your Huzband? |
| A．A news report. | B．An advertisement. |
| C．A book review. | D．A reading guidance. |
4 . Despite an ever-higher bar to grab the attention of students in large lecture hall, Tatiana Erukhimova, who teaches physics at Texas A&M University, has managed to get her students, as well as future generations, excited about the science.
Known as “Dr. Tatiana”, the professor performs physics tricks with boundless energy and enthusiasm in her videos. A range of everyday objects are used in her experiments, from pingpong balls and toilet paper to marshmallows, bicycle wheels and hair dryers. Videos of her dramatic demonstrations have received hundreds of millions of views across social media platforms.
However, things aren’t always easy. When she first started teaching college freshman classes two decades ago, she also struggled to grab the attention of her students. “I did not grab their attention on the first day-that was my mistake.” she says. “I missed this opportunity to bond with them from the very beginning, and then it took me a while to find my voice.”
By the second semester, she found her footing, adjusting her approach to get her students engaged. The key, she says, has been to make herself approachable and her instruction personal. And, of course, add showy demonstrations. “These demonstrations often help students to connect these abstract concepts with real life.” she says.
Physics department head Grigory Rogachev says Erukhimova’s work has helped bring visibility to the department, with about 2. 5 million subscribers on its department’s YouTube page, which has translated to a boost in research funds and physics major applicants.
As a leader in a STEM field in which women are underrepresented, she’s become a role model for some. Afiya Dhanani attended Texas A&M University after seeing Erukhimova’s videos online. “Watching Dr. Tatiana do the experiments online, especially since she was a female leader. Was more inspiring for me to even go into physics.” Dhanani said in an interview with CBS Mornings. That’s all Erakhimova says she can hope for -making physics less forbidding and more exciting.
1. What does Erukhimova’s online videos feature?| A．Rare materials. | B．Energetic presentation. |
| C．Plain demonstration. | D．Professional explanation. |
| A．All that glitters is not gold. |
| B．Sharp tools make good work. |
| C．First impressions are make or break. |
| D．A fall into the pit, a gain in your wit. |
| A．It leads more students to change their majors. |
| B．It makes more people to know about the department. |
| C．It helps the department translate more research papers. |
| D．It attracts more physics professors to join the department. |
| A．Inspirational. | B．Underestimated. | C．Cooperative. | D．Ambitious. |
In this day and age, we need a password for everything — to access our computer, our phone, our bank account, all of our favorite websites and email... the list goes on. Sometimes, it can be troublesome just to remember them all or keep track of them securely.
Luckily, there’s LastPass! As the name implies, LastPass is the last password manager app you will ever need. Through the app, all you need is one password to have secure access to all of your passwords and private information. By using the LastPass Authenticator, you can use biometrics (生物识别技术) to log on with your face or fingerprint. It’s that easy!
CalmCalm is packed with dozens of features and hundreds of recordings designed to improve your mindfulness, reduce stress and improve sleep. The free version includes select features such as daily meditations (冥想), breathing exercises, a mood tracker, as well as demo sleep stories, relaxation music tracks and guided meditations. Through a paid subscription, the app tailors itself to your needs.
PocketWhen browsing the web, we often come across interesting articles that we’d love to read through more, but just don’t have the time right there and then. But later when we have free time, we completely forget about the articles we wanted to read!
This is where Pocket can help. The main appeal of Pocket is to add a handy save function to your favorite browser ready to click whenever you want to save something for later.
MintWith digital payment methods, it is easy to get overwhelmed (不堪重负的) when one keeps financial records due to how fast and convenient it is to make purchases on a variety of platforms.
Thankfully, Mint is here to help! This free app can automatically track and organize all of the purchases you make, whether it is through digital payment, cash, credit or debit cards. You can also link and keep track of your debit and savings accounts, investments and properties, and even your digital subscriptions so you’ll know if there’s been a cost increase.
1. If people want to better manage their budgets, they can turn to ________.| A．LastPass | B．Calm |
| C．Pocket | D．Mint |
| A．LastPass is the newest password manager app in the market. |
| B．Calm meets all kind of requirements from every user. |
| C．Most users can choose Pocket to save something they want to read later. |
| D．Mint doesn’t charge but it only keeps financial records through digital payment. |
| A．Energy-saving. | B．Money-consuming. |
| C．Mind-blowing. | D．Peace-keeping. |
Actress Jia Ling topped the social media topics on the second consecutive day of the Chinese Lunar New Year as her great weight
The
Topics related
“Her achievement is quite
1. 分析利弊；
2. 你的看法。
注意：
1. 写作词数应为80左右；
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
The impact of technology on our lives
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For as long as I can remember. I have spent every Sunday afternoon until I was a teen, around the table at Grandma’s house. As soon as Grandma and I would return from Sunday Morning Mass at St Joseph’s Parish. Grandma got started on the meatball.
Ever since I was just two years old, Grandma would always allow me, her only granddaughter at the time, to sneak a meatball before dinner was served. There was something about that snuck meatball. For some reason, it tasted so much better than the one she placed beside my macaroni, once we all sat down. My Italian Gamma had a way of keeping an eye on all of her meatballs, to make sure no one snuck a meatball but me, who she gave that special VIP sneak. How did she do it? Well, she would make my “before dinner meatball” slightly bigger than the rest.
The meatball stealing games was all fun until Jeanine came along. Allow me to introduce you to my sister Jeanine, my Gramma’s second granddaughter born five years after me, just three years after I fell in love with Gramma’s yummy meatballs.
My younger sister Jeanine was quite the fussy eater. She did not care that her gramma made the world’s best meatballs, or that our mama made almost as yummy meatballs as her mother did. All Jeanine cared about was being done with dinner as fast as possible so she can go back to playing, and so she can get her evening snack, cocoa and popcorn. Jeanine knew the rules. She knew no snack unless you finish your dinner at least 90 percent. Jeanine was not giving up her favourite snack. She knew she had to develop a plan! She did indeed!
注意：
1.续写词数应为150左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
So, one day when she was given a meatball on her plate, she stole that meatball.
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One day my mother noticed that something smelt funny in our closet.
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9 . My long-distance cycling career of 13 years and 35, 000 kilometres ended as I approached 75. Although I am now no longer strong enough to
The road behind is just memories, some soon to be forgotten, others to be
Real
Long distance cycling brings unbearable exhaustion, long hours of anxiety, even fear and desperation, but these
Most importantly, cycling taught me to know myself better. It eventually dawned on me that I had more
| A．appreciate | B．choose | C．expect | D．stand |
| A．treasured | B．explored | C．created | D．discussed |
| A．boring | B．annoying | C．confusing | D．discouraging |
| A．overcomes | B．greets | C．throws | D．ignores |
| A．loneliness | B．joy | C．convenience | D．panic |
| A．making | B．changing | C．beating | D．finalizing |
| A．reasonably | B．admittedly | C．fortunately | D．hopefully |
| A．battling | B．slipping | C．falling | D．wandering |
| A．owned | B．offered | C．mentioned | D．promised |
| A．fit | B．pale | C．run | D．back |
| A．reflection | B．anticipation | C．satisfaction | D．motivation |
| A．secrets | B．rules | C．decisions | D．dimensions |
| A．reliable | B．flexible | C．inaccessible | D．unforgettable |
| A．toughness | B．curiosity | C．imagination | D．wisdom |
| A．insight | B．knowledge | C．power | D．admiration |
In our weekly staff meeting, our editor Ashley was not pleased with the quality of our reporting. “Our readership is way down. We need better stories for this Thursday’s school newspaper. Does anybody have any ideas?” she said.
I handed her my article about our basketball team beating Deerfield High School the previous night by one point. “Sports stories are fun,” she said, “but not good enough for the front page. We need something to really get people ‘s attention.”
After our meeting, we left the newsroom together and heard someone screaming, “Perry is missing!” Perry was a big red parrot and had been our school mascot (吉祥物) for ten years. He played an important role in students’ lives, both in and out of class. He had also been a constant presence at school events, inspiring a sense of unity among students.
Everyone gathered around Perry’s empty cage, heartbroken. Suddenly, a student from the crowd came over and showed me a photo. “You’re a reporter for the school paper, right? I happened to take this yesterday,” he said. In the photo was a Deerfield High School basketball player with something large hidden under his shirt around the size of a parrot.
“He must have stolen Perry to get back at us for winning the game!” Ashley cried. We hurried back to the newsroom, agreeing to run the photo on the front page with the headline “Deerfeld Stole Perry.” “This is just the story we need. Everyone will read it,” Ashley said confidently.
After she left, I took a closer look at the photo. The clock in the background read 4:15 pm, but our game against Deerfield hadn’t started until 4:30 pm. Why would the boy have taken Perry before we even played? An uneasy feeling came over me that we might have falsely accused someone.
I went to Perry’s usual caretaker to ask if he knew Perry was missing. ”He’s not missing. He’s retired. He’s ready for some quieter days,“ he said. Learning the truth, I immediately told Ashley and suggested writing a story to say goodbye to Perry.
注意:1.续写词数应为150左右:
2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
To my surprise, Ashley insisted on reporting the “Deerfield Stole Perry” story.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________On Thursday, the paper came out with the headline “Bye-Bye, Perry” on the front page.
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