1 . Sweating may not be your favorite thing to do, but it is necessary.
Sweat is known to cool the skin, bringing toxins (毒素) to the surface and giving the skin a healthy glow. Research shows that sweating can increase and maintain skin hydration. However, leaving sweat on the skin for too long can cause skin diseases such as acne.
When you’re hot, your heart beats faster to cool the body, releasing endorphins that cause feelings of joy.
When sitting in a sauna (桑拿浴室), your body temperature rises, so your body works overtime to cool itself down by sweating. And you’ll be better off for it. A 20-year Finnish study found that people who sweated it out regularly in a sauna had a lower rate of sudden cardiac (心脏的) deaths.
·If you sweat heavily during exercise, that’s usually a positive sign. Athletes tend to sweat sooner and more than inactive people. Their bodies have learned to cool down more efficiently during physical activity. A PLOSONE study supports this, showing that long-distance runners not only got sweatier sooner, but also activated more sweat glands, resulting in more sweat than their non-active counterparts.
A.Sweating supports your heart |
B.Sweating a lot means that you’re fit |
C.Sweat is the stuff that floods out when our body temperature rises |
D.Your sweaty self can also make those around you feel happier too |
E.Sweating contributes to a decrease in blood pressure to some extent |
F.So, it’s essential to wash your face and body after sweating |
G.It’s a natural bodily function that helps to regulate body temperature and prevent overheating |
2 . I grew up on a dairy farm. The particular life location to which I got assigned-“stuck” is a better word if you’ve ever been there — was a small family-owned-and-operated outfit.
I remember the Christmas when our main hired hand dropped out of the work rotation. Sixteen and the oldest of the kids left at home, I was called on to fill in. Halfway through the first day, I realized I had never noticed exactly how much that worker did. For five days I either milked or slept, fed calves (牛犊) or slept. I have to admit this gave me a deep appreciation of how hard my parents worked day in and day out for 30 years, and that understanding solidified my determination to do whatever it took to not stay on that dairy farm my whole life.
Eventually, my determination paid off. I got into college. Now, I no longer have to worry about my father’s voice yelling, “Stace, come out here! We need help!” To be honest, I’m grateful. But at the same time, I also don’t have a compelling reason to be up in time to see the beauty of a sunrise. Nor do I have the opportunity to dance with my sister in the dairy barn, work side-by-side with my dad and hear the old stories.
Now, there are whole stretches of days when I don’t feel any pressing need to even go outside. And I can go months without petting an animal or watching in amazement at their keen sense of the environment around them. Instead, I have neighbors within shouting distance but who feel like they live a planet away.
Eighteen years I lived my life on that dairy, not really knowing there were people who didn’t get up and go out and work together to get the same overwhelming tasks done day after day. Sometimes I wish I had never found out there were.
1. What did the author come to understand on her first day working on the farm?A.She couldn’t manage so much work. |
B.Her parents sacrificed a lot for her family. |
C.The tasks were dull and challenging. |
D.The work was more demanding than expected. |
A.Lack of opportunities on the farm. |
B.A passion for academic study. |
C.Her dissatisfaction with farm life. |
D.Encouragement from her parents. |
A.Mixed. | B.Regretful. |
C.Content. | D.Relieved. |
A.She has become tired of her daily routine. |
B.She misses the connections she had before. |
C.She regrets leaving her family behind. |
D.She has lost interest in the beauty of nature. |
3 . Self-driving cars may sound like something from a futuristic sci-fi novel. However, with advanced trials expected from 2021, they are a lot closer to reality than you may think, and they could really help you.
Connected and automated vehicles (also known as CAVs), are vehicles that could perform many of the functions of today’s human drivers in the future. Aware of the potential benefits of the technology from improving road safety and reducing traffic congestion (拥塞), to enabling greater travel independence-the U. K. government has been encouraging the technology.
“However, we won’t get there unless those designing the technology engage properly with a wide range of transport users,” said lain Forbes, head of the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles.
FLOURISH, one initiative that received government backing, has helped to advance the successful implementation of CAVs in the U. K. by developing services and capabilities which maxi-mise the benefits of driverless vehicles for users and transport authorities.
The project was a collaboration between small and medium companies and large businesses across multiple industries, universities, local authorities and the not-for-profit sector, to investigate how these vehicles might benefit older adults and those with mobility-related conditions.
Mervyn Kohler, an Age U. K. spokesman, believes FLOURISH’s approach will be key to the positive impact self-driving cars have on older adults. “The project’s connectivity findings will also help the users of the future to make real-time journey decisions, responding to live information,” Tracey Poole, FLOURISH’s project manager and transport planning specialist says: “Not only will these vehicles be more inclusive; they will also be safer, more efficient and more environmentally friendly.”
Although safety is one of the big prizes associated with the introduction of self-driving cars, with the vast majority of collisions caused by human error, concerns about their safety are common.
The government is keen to understand the public’s view on CAVs and continues to survey public attitudes. It is also taking big steps towards establishing how our laws and regulations might need to change to support the safe use of self-driving cars.
1. What is the advantage of self-driving cars?A.They guarantee road safety. |
B.They remove traffic jams. |
C.They provide more freedom of traveling. |
D.They get over the elder’s dependence on drivers. |
A.Awards. | B.Achievements. |
C.Realization. | D.Characteristics. |
A.Collisions between self-driving cars can’t be avoided. |
B.Self-driving cars are more eco-friendly than today's cars. |
C.There is still a way to go before self-driving cars hit the road. |
D.People are not worried about the safety problems of self-driving cars. |
A.CAVs: a substitute for today’s human driver. |
B.How do CAVs help people less able to travel? |
C.FLOURISH: a new project on self-driving cars. |
D.Could self-driving cars soon be a reality? |
4 . One day, a poor boy was begging for a meal at a house. However, he lost his
“You don’t owe me anything,” she replied. “Mother has taught me never to accept
Many years later the young girl was
After a long struggle, the battle against the illness was
A.hope | B.temper | C.patience | D.courage |
A.water | B.milk | C.coffee | D.juice |
A.teach | B.owe | C.lend | D.give |
A.payment | B.energy | C.advice | D.pressure |
A.worse | B.cleverer | C.easier | D.warmer |
A.hardly | B.slightly | C.seriously | D.mentally |
A.travel | B.business | C.retirement | D.treatment |
A.gave away | B.made up | C.called in | D.referred to |
A.selected | B.recognized | C.rewarded | D.replaced |
A.decided | B.failed | C.pretended | D.attempted |
A.attention | B.information | C.luck | D.creation |
A.lost | B.found | C.won | D.begun |
A.wrote | B.cut | C.hid | D.copied |
A.eager | B.confused | C.curious | D.afraid |
A.picture | B.note | C.dirt | D.number |
5 . Tokyo restaurant Sushiya no Nohachi reportedly serves great sushi, but it is most famous for its gimmick—making the world’s smallest sushi with a single grain of rice.
Located in Asakusa, a slightly quieter part of Tokyo, Sushiya no Nohachi is the place to go if you want to enjoy the tiniest, most adorable sushi in the world. Each piece is made with only a grain of rice and a tiny slice of topping wrapped in the thinnest piece of nori(海苔). Every served piece is actually perfect, which hints at the amount of work and patience that Bes into making them. They are the work of Hironori Ikeno, the chef of Sushiya no Nohachi, who came up with the idea in 2002 when a client asked him how small he could make his sushi. He answered, “as small as a grain of rice”, and proceeded to demonstrate that he wasn’t kidding. Over the years, the restaurant has become internationally famous for making the world’s smallest sushi.
Despite its size, miniature sushi actually takes a bit longer to make than regular-sized me, because of the precision and concentration required to put the tiny ingredients together. That is part of the reason why the restaurant only prepares tiny sushi for customers a few times a week and no more than five times a day, although they do sometimes make exceptions for foreign visitors who travel to the restaurant just to experience the world’s smallest sushi.
“I had a client from Sweden who came just to see my tiny sushi and the moment she saw it, she literally cried with joy.” Hironori Ikeno said.
Interestingly, one cannot simply order the tiny sushi at the restaurant. It is served for f re upon request with a regular-sized sushi course. Considering the sushi served at this place is reportedly delicious, you should probably be more excited about that. Plus, it also justifies the gimmick that the restaurant is so famous for.
1. What does the underlined word “gimmick” in paragraph 1 probably refer to?A.A class to teach cooking skills. |
B.A trick to attract customers. |
C.A plan to promote the sushi. |
D.A dish to win over opponents. |
A.His pursuit for perfection. |
B.The curiosity of a customer. |
C.The requirement from his boss. |
D.A bet he made with others. |
A.Take more time to make one |
B.Unpopular among customers |
C.costs more money to buy one |
D.needs more expensive materials |
A.Diversity of the customers. |
B.His lack of experience. |
C.Special treatment to foreigners. |
D.His sense of achievement. |
6 . I’m proud to say that I finished my dissertation (学位论文) successfully. But as I reflected on the
When Dad
I stayed late, avoided gossiping, and focused on being respectful and curious. The work was
Years later, my dad retired and sent the business to my elder brother, who has skillfully
A.request | B.suggestion | C.praise | D.warning |
A.formed | B.assessed | C.proved | D.named |
A.sold | B.purchased | C.discovered | D.investigated |
A.longing | B.paying | C.calling | D.working |
A.problem | B.luck | C.experience | D.truck |
A.accustomed | B.shocked | C.supposed | D.determined |
A.curiosity | B.desire | C.permission | D.obligation |
A.comfortable | B.disappointed | C.patient | D.bored |
A.tough | B.normal | C.interesting | D.temporary |
A.challenge | B.satisfaction | C.cost | D.necessity |
A.difficult | B.worthwhile | C.suitable | D.available |
A.urgently | B.secretly | C.immediately | D.ultimately |
A.expanded | B.rented | C.decorated | D.repaired |
A.achievement | B.identity | C.belonging | D.duty |
A.anxious | B.ready | C.responsible | D.grateful |
Every Saturday, Arizona hung out at her grandma’s laundry and dry-cleaning store while her mom worked. Arizona loved being with her grandma, but she wanted to do more than just draw and read.
“How about I write down what people bring in and pin a number to it?” Arizona offered.
With Grandma nearby, she did fine. But the next order was an enormous bedspread (床单). Arizona checked it in, but when she went to lift it off the counter, it wouldn’t move a bit. She tried sliding it, but it fell over on her. “I’m OK!” She giggled from under the soft mounds of material. Grandma lifted the bedspread off her and smiled.
“Why don’t you draw for a little while,” she suggested. “You’re such a good artist.”
Arizona sighed. “But I wanted to help you.” Arizona was too short to reach the tall rod (竿) that held the fresh clothes in neat alphabetical order. Grandma didn’t want her handling the iron. She could slide cardboard into the ironed shirts, but that was about it.
“Why don’t you draw a picture of more customers coming in?” Grandma joked. “Maybe that would help!”
Arizona went outside. It was a crisp fall day. The last leaves were starting their lazy drift to the ground. She spotted her babysitter, Stephanie, across the street. Stephanie was painting big letters on the window of the hardware store.
“Stephanie!” Arizona called. “You’re going to get in trouble.”
Stephanic laughed. “The high-school cheer leading team is painting windows for our home coming football game next weekend. Some of the shop owners said we could.”
“Does that paint wash off?” Arizona asked.
“Yep. It’s just cornstarch, soap, and food coloring,” said Stephanie.
Arizona saw other kids from the high school painting designs on windows up and down the street.“GO, TIGERS!” said the window of the nail salon in huge letters. “HEAR US ROAR!” said the window of the smoothie shop.
“I can help you!” Arizona called to Stephanie, her heart pounding. “I can draw!”
“Sorry,” Stephanie said. “I’m out of paint, and I have to get home. Thank you, though!”
Arizona was so disappointed she could taste it. She stared at Grandma’s windows. They have nothing on.
注意:1.续写字数应为150个左右 ;2.请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
Suddenly an idea burst into Arizona’s head.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________When she finished, Arizona went inside to get Grandma.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________注意:1.字数120左右;2.可适当增减细节,以便行文连贯。
Dear Mark,
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua
9 . After a heavy snowstorm, I ran outside excitedly to build a snowman. No matter how I rolled my snowball, it refused to grow. After resting for a while, I restarted the job. Then I noticed I had an audience — a prim (古板的) — looking couple with obvious disapproval. My face turned red as I tried to answer their unspoken question: Don’t you have anything better to do?
An adult playing by herself seems strange, but maybe it shouldn’t. New research suggests that modern adults have ignored their play instinct (本能). Most animals stop playing as adults. However, there are a handful of animals that never stop.
One possibility is that adult play is important and beneficial, a theory supported by a study. Researcher Camilla Cenni from the University of Lethbridge left some puzzle boxes for some monkeys to solve. To get the food inside, they had to drop a rock into the container. The monkeys that previously had dropped rocks for fun were more likely to solve the puzzle. This finding also suggests somewhere in our evolutionary history, a playful human invented stone tools. Even today, the urge to play accounts for some of humanity’s greatest inventions. Adult play is also about preparing for the unexpected. And biologists found its most important function is improving relationships and helping individuals get along.
Adult play promotes inclusivity, cooperation and creativity — all qualities that we humans could use. Unfortunately, social norms hold back our urge to let loose. When studying the last remaining hunter-gatherer communities, Peter Gray, a play researcher at Boston University, noticed they were often described as “joyful”. “This makes evolutionary sense,” Graysays. “Generally speaking, we like to do the things that are necessary for our survival.” Humans took one giant step away from fun when started planting crops. Plowing fields is hard and boring. Then we invented factories and lost sight of play.
With threats like climate change, it’s easy to get into seriousness. But we should understand the value of encouraging adult play. The next time I’m caught playing, I know what to say, “I’m playing for the benefit of all humanity. You’re welcome.”
1. Why did the author feel embarrassed?A.She was laughed at while playing as an adult. |
B.She had a hard job making a snowman. |
C.She considered herself too old to play. |
D.She was judged to behave improperly. |
A.It can contribute to useful discoveries. |
B.It is particularly noticeable in animals. |
C.It is the natural need of humans. |
D.It promotes human evolution. |
A.Climate change. | B.The arrival of agriculture. |
C.Modern science. | D.The need to look for food. |
A.Let’s play to save our world |
B.Play is enjoyed not just by animals |
C.Why adults need to make time for play |
D.How adult play changed its role for humans |
10 . Anyone who’s used noise-canceling headphones knows that hearing the right noise at the right time can be vital. Someone might want to remove sirens (汽笛) when working indoors, but not when walking along busy streets. Yet people can’t choose what sounds their headphones cancel.
Now, a team led by researchers at the University of Washington (UW) has developed deep-learning algorithms (算法) that let users pick which sounds pass through their headphones in real time. The system, called “semantic hearing”, works with headphones that stream the captured sounds to a connected smartphone which cancels all environmental sounds. Either through voice commands or a smartphone app, headphone wearers can select which sounds they want to include from 20 classes, such as sirens, baby cries, speech and bird chirps. Only the selected sounds will be played through the headphones.
“The challenge posed to today’s noise-canceling headphones is that the sounds headphone wearers hear need to sync (同步) with their visual senses. You can’t hear someone’s voice two seconds after they talk to you,” said senior author Shyam Gollakota, a UW professor. “This means the algorithms must process sounds in under a hundredth of a second.”
That need for speed is why the system must process sounds on a device such as a connected smartphone, instead of on cloud servers. Additionally, because sounds from different directions arrive in people’s ears at different times, the system must preserve these delays and other clues so people can still meaningfully perceive sounds in their environment.
Tested in environments such as offices, streets and parks, the system was able to capture sirens, bird chirps, alarms and other target sounds, while removing all other real-world noise. When 22 participants rated the system’s voice output for the target sound, they said that the quality improved compared to the original recording. In some cases, the system struggled to distinguish between sounds that share many properties, such as vocal music and human speech. The researchers note that training the models on more real-world data can improve these outcomes. In the near future, the researchers plan to release a commercial version of the system.
1. What’s the innovative feature of the UW’s new hearing system?A.It can capture noise more precisely. |
B.It is connected with efficient cloud servers. |
C.It can customize sounds for users’ preferences. |
D.It lets wearers perceive the surroundings better. |
A.They can’t feel the directions of sounds. |
B.They can’t recognize the target sounds. |
C.They lack relevant technical support. |
D.They lack real-time intelligence. |
A.It’ll come onto the market soon. |
B.It’ll improve the sound quality. |
C.It’ll capture sounds from nature. |
D.It’ll be tested in noisier environments. |
A.An effective way to avoid noise around us. |
B.The development of deep-learning algorithms |
C.A new noise-canceling headphone technology. |
D.The application of noise-canceling headphones. |