1 . A new picture book called When Dinosaurs Conquered the Skies: The Incredible Story of Bird Evolution explains the scientific idea that birds are dinosaurs. The writer Jingmai O’Connor describes herself on Instagram as a “dead bird fan”. With her PhD, she works at the Chicago Field Museum as an expert on the evolution of birds and flying dinosaurs.
O’Connor says people may know that birds are little dinosaurs. But they might not connect that fact to the birds they see. One purpose of her book, she said, is to achieve it. O’Connor also wants people to see birds as she does — as fascinating flying dinosaurs.
In her book, O’Connor also talks about the larger idea of science — namely the importance of making mistakes. Each mistake, she said, leads us closer to the truth. “Science is essentially a series of mistakes. And every mistake, you know, informs us a little bit more and gives us a little bit more information. But pretty much everything that we think is ‘truth’ right now is probably at least partly wrong. You know, there is so much we don’t know. But mistakes are part of the process.”
O’Connor is a Chinese-Irish American who grew up in Pasadena, California. She did not always want to study the remains of ancient living things. She began studying geology, like her mother. “But in my case, my mother went back to school to do her PhD when I was around 10 years old. And so, she had four kids…So, she would take us with her to not only the laboratory, but also into the field, which means going out to collect samples. So, I fell in love with geology.”
However, O’Connor had a larger goal in mind when she wrote her book. She said, “Through having greater respect for the living animals around us, I hope that people start to think more about how they impact the environment through their actions, so that we can all move towards a more sustainable future.”
1. Which is one of the goals of O’Connor’s book according to Paragraph 2?| A．To make connections. | B．To write a review. |
| C．To give instructions. | D．To make a profit. |
| A．Unavoidable. | B．Meaningless. |
| C．Invaluable. | D．Uncontrollable. |
| A．She had complex social relationships. |
| B．She wanted to be a geology teacher. |
| C．Her mother was her geology teacher. |
| D．Her mother had early effects on her. |
| A．Being mindful of what they will say. |
| B．Creating a more sustainable lifestyle. |
| C．Organizing more outdoor activities. |
| D．Trying to make use of the findings. |
2 . Humans have a way of understanding others’ goals, desires and beliefs, a crucial skill that allows us to anticipate people’s actions. Taking bread out of the toaster? You’ll need a plate. Sweeping up leaves? You’ll grab the green trash can. This skill, often referred to as “theory of mind”, comes easily to us as humans, but for robots it still has a high mountain to conquer.
In a recent study, computer science researchers made the robot “watch” the human complete the task using a camera placed directly above the assembly(组装)area, looking down. To detect the parts operated by the human, the system used AprilTags, similar to QR codes, attached to the parts. Then, the system used machine learning to learn a person’s preference based on their orders of actions in the task. “Based on how a person performs the small assembly, the robot predicts what that person will do in the larger assembly,” said Nemlekar. “For example, if the robot sees that a person likes to start the small assembly with the easiest part, it will predict that they will start with the easiest part in the large assembly as well.”
In the researchers’ user study, their system was able to predict the actions that humans will take with around 82% accuracy. “We hope that our research can make it easier for people to show robots what they prefer,” said Nemlekar. “By helping each person in their preferred way, robots can reduce their work, save time and even build trust with them.”This technology could also be useful in industrial settings where workers are tasked with assembling products in large numbers, saving time and reducing the risk of injury or accidents. Additionally, it could help persons with disabilities to more easily assemble products and maintain independence.
“Our goal is not to replace humans on the factory floor. I expect similar findings in other applications as well,” said Nikolaidis. “A robot that can quickly learn our preferences can help us prepare a meal, rearrange furniture or do house repairs, having a significant impact on our daily lives.”
1. What does the underlined part mean in Paragraph 1?| A．It’s refreshing. | B．It’s challenging. |
| C．It’s unachievable. | D．It’s ridiculous. |
| A．To predict human preferences. | B．To get the tasks finished easily. |
| C．To think on their own. | D．To avoid human errors. |
| A．They can replace humans. | B．They’ve been widely used. |
| C．They’ve improved their accuracy. | D．They can do good to the disabled. |
| A．In a lab guidebook. | B．In a computer textbook. |
| C．In a science newspaper. | D．In an academic paper. |
3 . When Philip Santini noticed an infection, he contacted his primary care physician, Jane Chargot, M. D., and she gave him some medicine.
However, test results showed that he wasn’t recovering. Over the phone, Santini was told he would need to go to the hospital to get infusions (输液) three times a day for a week. He was packed and ready to head out to the hospital when he received another phone call. An alternative plan was suggested instead — Hospital Care at Home.
Care at Home, a Michigan Medicine program which improves the patient experience while freeing up hospital beds, has already admitted and transferred more than 50 patients from the emergency department and inpatient hospital to receive hospital level care from the comfort of their own homes.
Santini was the first direct registration patient for this program, meaning he never presented to the hospital initially. It was no surprise that there was a celebration for this milestone.
“I was ready to head out to the emergency department,” said Santini, who even had a list of things to take when he got a call from Stephanie Paran, R. N., a nurse at U-M Briarwood Family Medicine. “Hearing Paran’s words, I sprang to my feet and didn’t hesitate to accept the advice.”
Although he initially didn’t know what to expect, he later said what the care team did was far beyond his expectations, especially the caregivers. The staff gave him infusions three times a day for six days. They took his regular medications away, just like how they would in a hospital. They checked the infection, drew blood and even brought in an ultrasound machine. “I didn’t know that was possible,” Santini said. After discharge, a Michigan Visiting Nurse visited once a week until he completely recovered.
Santini believed treatment at home has helped the healing process. “I’ve never felt really comfortable in the hospital,” he said. “It’s hard to get good sleep there. At home I had my own food, my own bed, plus my wife is here. No one has to go out of their way to visit me. It’s a healthier experience. I would encourage anyone to consider it.”
1. What is the advantage of Care at Home?| A．It can reduce the patients’ expenses. |
| B．It can lessen the pressure on hospitals. |
| C．It can avoid the waste of medical resources. |
| D．It can improve the doctor-patient relationship. |
| A．Hesitant. | B．Upset. | C．Excited. | D．Curious. |
| A．It offers professional service. | B．It is much better than hospital. |
| C．It can make impossible possible. | D．It only provides one-week treatment. |
| A．A Cure for Common Infection | B．A Tendency in Family Health |
| C．The Popularity of Medical Care | D．Hospital Level Care at Home |
4 . For those in the Midwest, the holidays aren’t the holidays without a little snow. Luckily, Michigan almost always delivers. But snow or not, these destinations really bring out the holiday spirit.
Frankenmuth
Residents of Frankenmuth never have to say goodbye to Christmas from the beginning to the end of the year. That’s thanks in part to Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland, who thinks of itself as the world’s largest Christmas store at 320,000 square feet. In addition to offering every kind of Christmas décor imaginable, Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland holds holiday events like Santa visits (daily from Nov. 25-Dec. 24) and holiday sing-alongs (Dec. 22 and 23).
Dearborn
This city is well-known as the home of the Ford Motor Company, and the Henry Ford Museum brings history to life during the holidays. Holiday Nights in Greenfield Village (Dec. 2-4, 9-11, 16-18, 20-23 and 26-30) offers the smell of chestnuts roasted on an open fire and the sound of sleigh (雪橇) bells. Santa is on hand for visits, of course, and he even brings his reindeer along. Holiday treats are for sale, ice skating is available and kids of all ages will enjoy a ride in a horse-drawn wagon or a Model T car.
Christmas
Visiting Christmas isn’t for the weak heart―it’s in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, all but guaranteed to be snowy in December. Those who desire to have a try are rewarded with a “Welcome to Christmas” sign complete with Santa’s smiling face and the Christmas Mall, which has a post office for postmarking holiday cards.
Dexter
It might be difficult to believe there are multiple Michigan cities with a marathon race―in December, but it’s true. Dexter hosts the Holiday Hustle 5k and 1 mile (Dec. 10) for both runners and walkers. Participants receive free hats and all 5k or one mile finishers receive holiday-themed medals.
1. What is special about Frankenmuth according to the text?| A．Santa will surely be on hand for visits. |
| B．Visitors can enjoy an outdoor barbecue. |
| C．Christmas is alive all year round. |
| D．It has the world’s largest gift store. |
| A．Frankenmuth. | B．Dearborn. | C．Christmas. | D．Dexter. |
| A．To promote multiple Christmas decorations. |
| B．To recommend some holiday-friendly cities. |
| C．To introduce colorful Christmas parades. |
| D．To have a good taste of the beauty of snow. |
5 . I believe that we can use social media for a lot of great things and it’s important especially for business owners like me. Ever since I started my calligraphy business two years ago, I’ve never spent a day without going on social media, especially a kind of social app on my phone, on which I promoted my products and services and got in contact with possible customers.
Later I found it got in the way of more important things. I hate to say I was hooked by it, but I was. Every time I turned on my phone, I would dive into it. For a long time, I had been I ignoring other parts of my life, like my family, my friends and my happiness. One day, I was thinking that a break should have happened long before to me.
Then I decided to remove the app off my phone for a month and only use that on my computer to keep track of my business. I wanted a clean break to reflect and plan for the future.
I had believed that if I spent less time on the platform, I would miss out much. Actually, I was so wrong. During this month off, I realized there was much to enjoy in life. I found more time to enjoy my hobbies and contacted my good friends that I had lost touch with, I was refilled with energy in all aspects of my life.
This one month off the app on the phone was healthy for me. If it were not for my business, I would like not to have it on my phone. I downloaded the app again on my phone, but only used it to post my own content. I didn’t intend to paint social media in a negative light, but now I just don’t think the way I was using it was healthy. It’s difficult to find balance, but I’m going to try to do it anyway. I’m going back, but it’s going to be different.
1. What did the author mainly do on social media?| A．He connected with his friends. | B．He worked on business activities. |
| C．He learned calligraphy on his own. | D．He shared advice about keeping fit. |
| A．Opposed to. | B．Injured by. | C．Addicted to. | D．Frightened by. |
| A．It was meaningless to share on social media. |
| B．There was lots of fun away from social media. |
| C．The social app contributed little to his business. |
| D．The social app in the computer was more practical. |
| A．One month away from social media upsets him. |
| B．He wants to seek more hobbies on social media. |
| C．He has confidence in balancing social media and life. |
| D．His friends ask him to communicate on social media. |
6 . Planning the perfect memory-worthy camping trip can be overwhelming and often quite frustrating. Everyone wants to have a great time but everyone also knows there’s a lot of planning to be done to make a successful trip.
Plan the time frame
Most people decide to go camping in summer as that’s when they can usually get time off work.
Have a meal plan
Once you’ve planned out when and where, you can move on to planning your camp meal as well as all the camp equipment you might need.
Making a good camping plan means reserving your campsite in advance. This is particularly important during the peak season when campgrounds are full. Also, some campsites have restrictions regarding the number of guests in an attempt to preserve the delicate balance of the natural environment. This means you might need to get a permit even months in advance.
Plan your activities
Going camping is a perfect opportunity to experience the outdoors. Hopefully, the tips listed here will help you cover all spots, from finding a perfect campground to bringing the right gear.
| A．Pick the location |
| B．Reserve your campsite |
| C．When it comes to cooking, it’s all up to you |
| D．There are lots of things you can do while camping |
| E．If you’re a first-time camper, the best way to go is to keep it simple |
| F．Here’s what you should do to have a memorable camping adventure |
| G．The weather is favourable then but crowds are also bigger, especially at popular locations |
7 . A team of Chinese researchers have recently developed a new type of self-powered flexible and transparent(透明的) electronic skin to monitor human activities, shedding light on the future of wearable electronics. This new e-skin integrates a flexible transparent supercapacitor(超级电容器)as an energy storage device with a stretchable transparent strain sensor(应变传感器). Thanks to its mechanical softness, the integrated e-skin can be directly attached to various parts on the body.
As the largest organ of human body, skin is responsible for multiple major functions such as protection, perspiration (出汗) , regulation of body temperature, and sensory stimulation(感觉刺激) . It forms the basis of people’s physical interactions with the outside world.
The ideal e-skin should be highly sensitive, self-powered, and suitable for the human skin. “Inspired by sensory functions and performance of real human skin, we have made the new e-skin both flexible and transparent to serve multiple functions. After charging, it is capable of monitoring of people’s subtle physical signals and multi-scaled activities in real- time. It can measure a person’s pulse, tell when they are swallowing, and detect other body movements,” said Lan Wei, a professor at the School of Physical Science and Technology of Lanzhou University and the leader of the research team.
E-skin is the core of future wearable electronic devices. The new invention can be applied in smart health care, human-machine interaction, virtual reality and artificial intelligence. For example, it could help surgeons control surgical robots more precisely(精确地), enable people to “touch” over long distances, and create more immersive(沉浸式的) gaming experiences.
Going ahead, the research team will focus on strengthening the sensory capacity and power supply of the e-skin, making it even more like human skin, which will in turn make it more adaptive to various future applications.
1. What is the purpose of the new wearable e-skin?| A．To monitor human activities. |
| B．To regulate body temperature. |
| C．To slow down the aging of human skin. |
| D．To improve the flexibility of human skin. |
| A．It has large battery storage. |
| B．It can be attached to human skin directly. |
| C．It can meet diverse functional requirements. |
| D．It is highly sensitive to environmental change. |
| A．Its target users. | B．Its medical value. |
| C．Its working theory. | D．Its application potential. |
| A．Electronic Skin: A New Breakthrough |
| B．Electronic Skin: A Technology Reform |
| C．Electronic Skin: The Welfare to Human Health |
| D．Electronic Skin: The Model of Wearable Devices |
注意：1. 词数80左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文流畅；
3. 开头已写好，不计入总词数。
Music is playing an important part in our study and daily life.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
In a word, music should make life better and help people become happier.
1. Who is the speaker probably talking to?
| A．Chinese teachers. | B．School students. | C．Newspaper reporters. |
| A．Two. | B．Three. | C．Four. |
| A．Rich cultural knowledge. | B．Academic performance. | C．Exciting and brilliant culture. |
| A．Who enjoys learning Chinese well. |
| B．Why learning Chinese well matters. |
| C．How you can learn Chinese well. |
Elephants are known to have an excellent memory. According to studies, they could still recognize and remember a face, whether it is a human or another elephant. An elephant’s memory is important to its survival. Elephants living in a rainforest need to remember the place where they search for food.
It’s always joyous to watch elephants getting reunited (重聚) with fellow elephants or people they came across in their lives. And just like humans, elephants take note of the faces they see and recognize them like we remember our family, friends, and hundreds more of people. And when they see a familiar (熟悉的) face, you’d know how happy they are.
A veterinarian (兽医) recently had a heartwarming reunion with an elephant he saved. Pattarapol Maneeon saved a wild elephant named Plai Thang in Rayong, Eastern Thailand 12 years ago. Plai Thang was then suffering from a disease called Trypanosomiasis. Without proper treatment, the disease could cause an elephant’s sudden death. It can also be contagious (传染) to other animals. Elephants that suffer from Trypanosomiasis tend to go farther out of the area since they are weak and can’t fight.
Dr. Maneeon noticed that Plai Thang was very ill and it had very little chance to survive. The poor creature was struggling to eat or drink water, and it could hardly stand on its feet.
It took a while before the elephant allowed Dr. Maneeon to approach it. He shared that it was also challenging to find and reach for treatment. Plai Thang was so clever to be hiding farther from usual to avoid possible predators (捕食者), so it was no easy task to take it to treatment. Anyway, with the help of a team of volunteers, the veterinarian eventually managed to take Plai Thang to a nearby zoo.
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。
Then, its treatments began.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
They reunited last month when Pattarapol visited the area during Thailand’s National Elephant Day.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
