1 . Research from Harvard University’s Wyss Institute have made “robotic shorts” that can help people use less energy when they walk or run.
In the past, such devices have focused only on helping people walk or run, but not both, since walking and running use different hip (臀部) movements. But a computer on the shorts can tell which way the user is moving,
The researchers found that the main benefit of the shorts was reducing the energy people needed to walk or run. In tests, the energy needed for walking was reduced by 9.3 percent.
The researchers said that while the shorts weigh about 5 kilograms, moving with them makes users feel lighter. The tests showed that a person walking with the device would feel 4 kilograms lighter,
The team now also wants to make the device itself 40 percent lighter. They hope the shorts can help people in danger of injury at work and those who want to improve their physical performance,
| A．as well as those with disabilities. |
| B．Are you eager to possess such kind of shorts? |
| C．and someone running would feel 5.7 kilograms lighter. |
| D．For running, people needed about 4 percent less energy. |
| E．but those excellent athletes are also able to benefit from running. |
| F．The shorts are made of soft material and are designed to be easy to move in. |
| G．allowing the device to provide the right kind of assistance for both movements. |
As she turned around, there
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7 . Alicia Quarles has her hands full these days — both of them, at all hours of the day and night.
“Having a baby unexpectedly at 41 is one thing; having twins is a whole other beast, ” says the global entertainment editor.
Actually, until her pregnancy Quarles had been living at breakneck speed. It went so until last year. “I was exhausted,” she says. “I’d been working three jobs, doing my charity and going nonstop. I was afraid my mental health was getting worse.” In early August she took herself to the hospital, to see if she was OK. Doctors ran multiple tests and told her that she had had an anxiety attack, and she was 11 weeks pregnant.
“She was stressed and decompensated (代谢失调的), so everything just came to more than she could handle at the time,” explains doctor Miriam Barnes, who began treating her. “Fortunately, she tried to be positive and seek help from me immediately. I told her not to have any medication at that stage and advised her to take natural therapy (疗法).”
A week later Quarles learned that she was having twins. But instead of that news adding to her anxiety, “a total peace came over me, and it felt like it all made sense,” she says. Quarles, who did not take any medication, returned home to her loved ones in North Carolina, where she gave birth to Hudson and Harlow on Feb. 16. “There’s nothing like family,” she says. “I found out through working on myself in natural therapy that there were a lot of things I hadn’t dealt with. I just kept going.”
These days Quarles uses social media to document her joyful motherhood journey. Quarles has put her anxiety behind but remains in therapy — and wants to encourage others who feel stressed to get help. “At first I felt guilty and embarrassed,” she admits. “I don’t anymore. My message is you can fall down. But you can stand up, by yourself or with the help of others. It’s not a shame, and it’s a blessing.”
1. Which of the following best explains “breakneck” underlined in paragraph 2?| A．Safe and slow. | B．Fast and dangerous. |
| C．Exciting and terrifying. | D．Gentle and comfortable. |
| A．To give birth and make some friends. |
| B．To have a break and treat her anxiety. |
| C．To take natural therapy and stay alone. |
| D．To look after her family and visit a doctor. |
| A．Keep standing up. | B．Fall down if needed. |
| C．Face whatever comes. | D．Obtain assistance when necessary. |
| A．An Anxious 41-year-old Mother |
| B．A Mother’s Astonishing Experience |
| C．An Interesting Taste of Motherhood |
| D．A Mother Fighting Her Mental Breakdown |
8 . Science is a process that builds upon existing theories and knowledge by continuously revising them. Every aspect of scientific knowledge can be questioned, including the general rules of thinking that appear to be most certain. So why is science trustworthy if it is always changing? If tomorrow we will no longer see the world as Newton or Einstein found it to be, why should we take seriously today’s scientific description of the world?
The answer is simple: Because at any given moment of our history, this description of the world is the best we have. The fact that it can be made better can’t diminish (降低) the fact that it is a useful instrument for understanding the world.
Consider a folk healer’s herbal medicine. Can we say this treatment is “scientific”? Yes, if it is proven to be effective, even if we have no idea why it works. In fact, quite a few common medications used today have their origin in folk treatments, and we are still not sure how they work. This does not imply that folk treatments are generally effective. To the contrary, many of them are not. What distinguishes scientific medicine is the readiness to seriously test a treatment and to be ready to change our minds if something is shown not to work. A research doctor in a modern hospital must be ready to change his theory if a more effective way of understanding illness, or treating it, becomes available.
What makes modern science uniquely powerful is its refusal to believe that it already possesses ultimate truth. The reliability of science is based not on certainty but on a complete absence of certainty. As John Stuart Mill wrote in “On Liberty” in 1859, “The beliefs which we have most warrant (依据) for, have no safeguard to rest on, but a standing invitation to the whole world to prove them unfounded.”
1. Why does the author raise the two questions in paragraph 1?| A．To add some fun. | B．To express doubts. |
| C．To introduce the topic. | D．To provide background. |
| A．It can be timeless. | B．It can be improved. |
| C．It is of little value. | D．It is the best at any moment. |
| A．Dismissive. | B．Objective. | C．Pessimistic. | D．Sympathetic. |
| A．It is unwise to believe in science. |
| B．Too much uncertainty lies in science. |
| C．The foundation of science is unfounded. |
| D．The lack of certainty makes science credible. |
9 . A charming three-story home sits at the corner of 10th and Center streets on the Georgia Instiute of Technology (Georgin Tech) campus in Atlanta. From the outside, it appears just like any other home, but inside, Georgia Tech researchers are testing and developing advanced devices to determine which can make the home safer and smarter — for older adults.
The house is actually a living lab, called the Aware Home, and research conducted there has revealed (显示) many top homerelated concerns among older adults — unattended cooking, water left running, TVs left on... and doors left unlocked.
Now, some in home technologies are in development — or on the market — to address those concerns.
One new device called Inirv React connects your stove (炉具) to a sensor in your home and a smartphone app. The sensor will automatically turn the stove off if it no longer detects movement around the appliance after a certain period of time. You can also turn the stove off using your smartphone.
Devices of the future are expected to collect and use date to become smarter, according to Elizabeth Mynatt, a professor at Georgia Tech. “They will learn more about your habits, your likes, your dislikes, your routines, when you’re most likely to forget to take your medicine, what are the aspects (方面) of your health that need the most attention,” she said.
With any technology, “most people ask that question ‘How invasive (侵扰的) is it?’. But what we hear from older adults is that they value the security and the safety that the technology provides for them,” Mynatt said.
75-year-old Albert Bolet of Atlanta thinks most older adults are typically ready to bring technology into their homes. “People have the misguided impression that seniors are opposed to technology.” said Bolet. “We do understand wireless technology, and we understand how these things will make things easier. Being independent is most important in the mind of anybody that gets to be our age or older.”
1. What is the Aware Home?| A．A smart house. | B．A research lab. |
| C．A nursing home. | D．A science museum. |
| A．Turn the stove off directly. |
| B．Give out a warning sound. |
| C．Activate a sensor in the house. |
| D．Send a message to a connected phone. |
| A．They will provide medical advice. |
| B．They will be more like caregivers. |
| C．They will become more personalized. |
| D．They will replace caregivers in most case. |
| A．They are willing to use smart home devices. |
| B．They find it hard to keep up with new technology. |
| C．They prefer a simple life without technology. |
| D．They are becoming more dependent on the Internet. |
10 . As we all know, insects can be remarkably agile (灵活的) in flight. This is really hard to build into flying robots, but MIT Assistant Professor Kevin Yufeng Chen has developed an insect-sized drone (无人机) that approaches insects’ agility.
Typically, drones require wide open spaces. “If we look at most drones today, they’re usually quite big,” says Chen. “Most of their applications involve flying outdoors. The question is: Can you create an insect-sized drone that can move around in very crowded and complex spaces?”
According to Chen, he overcame many problems when building the drone. The insect-sized drone requires a fundamentally different construction from a larger one. The large drone is usually powered by a motor, but the motor loses efficiency as you shrink it. So, Chen says, “For an insect-sized drone, you need to look for alternatives.” The principal alternative until now has been employing a small, rigid actuator (执行器) built from new materials. Chen designed a more agile tiny drone using soft actuators instead of hard ones.
Each actuator can beat nearly 500 times per second and weighs just 0.6 gram, approximately the mass of a large bee. It gives the drone insect-like agility. “You can hit it when it’s flying, and it can recover,” says Chen. “It can also turn over in the air.” The drone looks a bit like a tiny cassette tape with wings, though Chen is also working on a new one shaped like a dragonfly.
Chen says his drone can be useful in industry and agriculture. It can perform machinery inspections to ensure safety and function. Its potential applications include completing search-and-rescue missions following a disaster. “All those things can be very difficult for existing large-scale drones,” Chen explains.
1. What can we know about the actuator designed by Chen?| A．It weighs about six grams. |
| B．It drives the insect-sized drone. |
| C．It loses efficiency too much. |
| D．It employs conventional materials. |
| A．Easy. | B．Costly. | C．Fruitless. | D．Challenging. |
| A．Its safety standards. | B．Its flying range. |
| C．Its possible applications. | D．Its design principle. |
| A．An Insect-like Small Drone |
| B．The Future of Insect-sized Drones |
| C．How Drones Will Change the Agriculture |
| D．What Challenge Drone Development Faces |
