| A．and | B．but | C．so | D．or |
—You mean the man ________ blue?
| A．on | B．with | C．in | D．at |
—________.
| A．Well, pretty good | B．How do you do |
| C．No, I don’t think so | D．And you |
4 . With a brain the size of a pinhead, insects possess a great sense of direction. They manage to locate themselves and move through small openings. How do they do this with their limited brain power? Understanding the inner workings of an insect’s brain can help us in our search towards energy-efficient computing, physicist Elisabetta Chicca of the University of Groningen shows with her most recent result: a robot that acts like an insect.
It’s not easy to make use of the images that come in through your eyes when deciding what your feet or wings should do. A key aspect here is the apparent motion of things as you move. “Like when you're on a train,” Chicca explains. “The trees nearby appear to move faster than the houses far away.” Insects use this information to infer how far away things are. This works well when moving in a straight line, but reality is not that simple. To keep things manageable for their limited brain power, they adjust their behaviour: they fly in a straight line, make a turn, then make another straight line.
In search of the neural mechanism (神经机制) that drives insect behaviour, PhD student Thorben Schoepe developed a model of its neuronal activity and a small robot that uses this model to find the position. His model is based on one main principle: always head towards the area with the least apparent motion. He had his robot drive through a long passage consisting of two walls and the robot centred in the middle of the passage, as insects tend to do. In other virtual environments, such as a space with small openings, his model also showed similar behaviour to insects.
The fact that a robot can find its position in a realistic environment is not new. Rather, the model gives insight into how insects do the job, and how they manage to do things so efficiently. In a similar way, you could make computers more efficient.
In the future, Chicca hopes to apply this specific insect behaviour to a chip as well. “Instead of using a general-purpose computer with all its possibilities, you can build specific hardware; a tiny chip that does the job, keeping things much smaller and energy-efficient.” She comments.
1. Why is “a train” mentioned in Paragraph 2?| A．To illustrate the principle of train motion. | B．To highlight why human vision is limited. |
| C．To explain how insects perceive distances. | D．To compare the movement of trees and houses. |
| A．Its novel design. | B．Its theoretical basis. |
| C．Its possible application. | D．Its working mechanism. |
| A．Amusing. | B．Discouraging. | C．Promising. | D．Contradictory. |
| A．Inventing insect-like chips. | B．Studying general-purpose robots. |
| C．Creating insect-inspired computers. | D．Developing energy-efficient hardware. |
5 . I was chatting with Henry, a colleague of mine, about how I was struggling with my shrinking social circle. At that moment, I realized just how lonely and
When I finally got to my first training session, it was overwhelming. I was miles outside my
Bit by bit, I found it easier to
I currently have a network of
Through the club, I’ve fitted into a crew of people who support me, on and off the
| A．innocent | B．anxious | C．forgetful | D．dangerous |
| A．recommended | B．stopped | C．allowed | D．admitted |
| A．suspected | B．regretted | C．confirmed | D．joked |
| A．revealed | B．rejected | C．remembered | D．resolved |
| A．time | B．trade | C．comfort | D．security |
| A．patient | B．popular | C．disappointed | D．disciplined |
| A．refer to | B．put aside | C．miss out | D．pick up |
| A．awesome | B．awkward | C．unfortunate | D．unwelcome |
| A．assessed | B．overlooked | C．selected | D．claimed |
| A．volunteers | B．friends | C．stations | D．branches |
| A．joy | B．excitement | C．worry | D．abuse |
| A．purely | B．temporarily | C．unwillingly | D．scarcely |
| A．cheat | B．count | C．feed | D．pass |
| A．subject | B．island | C．board | D．court |
| A．unemployment | B．opponent | C．trouble | D．punishment |
6 . Until recently, gravitational waves could have been the stuff of Einstein’s imagination. Before they were detected, these waves in space time existed only in the physicist’s general theory of relativity, as far as scientists knew. Now, researchers are on the hunt for more ways to detect the waves. “The study of gravitational waves is booming,” says astrophysicist Karan Jani of Vanderbilt University in Nashville. “This is just remarkable. No field I can think of in fundamental physics has seen progress this fast.”
Just as light comes in a variety of wavelengths, so do gravitational waves. Different wave lengths point to different types of origins of the universe and require different kinds of detectors. Gravitational waves with wavelengths of a few thousand kilometers—like those detected by the United States, Italy and Japan—come mostly from pairs of black holes 10 or so times the mass of the sun, or from collisions of dense cosmic blocks called neutron stars (中子星). These detectors could also spot waves from certain types of exploding stars and rapidly moving neutron stars.
In contrast, huge waves that span light-years are thought to be created by orbiting pairs of bigger black holes with masses billions of times that of the sun. In June, scientists reported the first strong evidence of these types of waves by turning the entire galaxy (星系) into a detector, watching how the waves make slight changes to the timing of regular blinks from neutron stars throughout the Milky Way.
Physicists now hope to dive into a vast, cosmic ocean of gravitational waves of all sorts of sizes. These waves could reveal new details about the secret lives of exotic objects such as black holes and unknown parts of the universe.
Physicist Jason Hogan of Stanford University thinks there are still a lot of gaps in the coverage of wavelengths. “But it makes sense to cover all the bases. Who knows what else we may find?” he says. The search for capturing the full complement of the universe’s gravitational waves exactly could take observatories out into the moon, to the atomic area and elsewhere.
1. What does Karan Jani think of the current study on gravitational waves?| A．It is rapid and pioneering. |
| B．It is slow but steadily increasing. |
| C．It is interrupted due to limited detectors. |
| D．It is progressing as fast as any other field. |
| A．The creation of different kinds of detectors. |
| B．Collisions of planets outside the solar system. |
| C．The presence of light in different wavelengths. |
| D．Activities involving black holes and neutron stars. |
| A．By analyzing sunlight. |
| B．By locating the new galaxy. |
| C．By using the whole galaxy as a tool. |
| D．By observing the sun’s regular movement. |
| A．It’ll exclude the atomic field. |
| B．It’ll focus exactly on the mapping of the galaxy. |
| C．It’ll require prioritizing certain wavelengths on the moon. |
| D．It’ll explore potential places to detect gravitational waves. |
7 . Historical accounts often described the now-extinct California grizzly bears as huge beasts ready to attack humans and livestock at any time. But according to a new paper, scientists say the truth might have been less dramatic: The bears ate a mostly vegetarian diet and were smaller than previously described. California grizzly bears once roamed in the Golden State. But European settlers often hunted, poisoned and trapped the creatures. Over time, because of these human activities, the California grizzly population declined. The last reliable sighting of a California grizzly bear occurred 100 years ago in 1924, and the animals disappeared completely sometime after that.
Researchers wanted to get a better understanding of the factors that accelerated the bears’ extinction. They also hoped to gain more insight into the creatures’ behavior, size and diet. To do so, they turned to documents and California grizzly specimens in natural history collections. They measured the animals’ skulls and teeth and analyzed their bones and pelts. The researchers found that California grizzly bears were much smaller than the 2,000 pounds often reported at the time. Historical accounts might not necessarily have been wrong, but they might have only included the largest bears. In addition, analyses of the animals’ bones and skins suggest the bears were primarily eating plants, which stands in contrast to their fear some hyper carnivorous (超级食肉的) reputation. “The bears likely increased meat consumption due to landscape changes coupled with the arrival of livestock,” says study co-author Alexis Mychajliw. However, researchers found the animals still ate a majority vegetarian diet and killed far less livestock than historical accounts suggested.
By digging beyond the bears’ reputation, the researchers gained a more accurate understanding of the California grizzly’s biology and natural history. And since scientists and land managers often rely on historical accounts when reintroducing animals to their former habitats, the study serves as a reminder that those old newspapers and journals do not tell the whole story.
1. What does the underlined word “roamed” in paragraph 1 mean?| A．Disappeared. | B．Declined. | C．Fought. | D．Wandered. |
| A．They mainly fed on livestock. |
| B．Their diet consisted mostly of plants. |
| C．They ate a balanced diet of plants and meat. |
| D．The absence of livestock changed their dietary habit. |
| A．They are unique. | B．They are one-sided. |
| C．They are accurate. | D．They are comprehensive. |
| A．The natural habitats of California grizzly bears. |
| B．The extinction process of California grizzly bears. |
| C．The reveal of the truth of California grizzly bears. |
| D．The significance of the arrival of California grizzly bears. |
“I’ll bet Anjali knows. Right, Anjali? Why don’t you show us since you’re the star student,” Deepak taunted (奚落).
Anjali was confused. She wasn’t trying to show off. She was just playing tabla (印度塔不拉鼓), like everyone else. And why was Deepak being so mean lately? Is it because tabla is a boy’s thing? She didn’t care that people thought it was a boys’ instrument. Anjali knew there was no such thing. She danced her fingers across the tabla to perform the composition in confusion. “Ugh!” Anjali heard someone groan, and she stopped playing.
“I guess I don’t know it that well after all,” Anjali said sheepishly to the teacher, Mr. Zakir. Her stomach was doing flip-flops. That wasn’t true. Not even a little. Mr. Zakir’s eyes narrowed. He looked like he was about to say something, but changed his mind. “The recital (演奏会) is next week, everyone. Keep practicing. I will be announcing who will get to perform onstage with me at my next concert!” Anjali had dreamed of a moment like that. She wanted to win the opportunity, but she needed to sort things straight with Deepak first.
As the class was dismissed, Anjali hurried over to Deepak. When she finally made eye contact with him, he purposely looked away and walked off. The next day at school, Anjali overheard Deepak whispering to Mary. “People are only interested because she’s the only girl in tabla class and they want her to feel special. She’s not that good—” Anjali was furious. She excused herself and went to the bathroom. She took some deep breaths but couldn’t relax. Her heart was pounding:
“It’s not my fault that people make a big deal about a girl playing tabla. I make mistakes too, but I work really hard. Maybe he should too. He should be less mean and practice more.”
“If I play in this concert, no one will talk to me again. He will turn everyone against me.”
“I don’t want to see a tabla or hear a tabla or play a tabla EVER AGAIN!!” Anjali yelled at the mirror. It was quiet for a moment. She believed it was one of her darkest days ever.
注意：1.续写词数应为150个左右；
2.请按如下格式在答题纸的相应位置作答。
Stepping out of the bathroom, Anjali saw some inspiring posters on the wall.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________After the recital, Deepak walked up to Anjali.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________The market for wearable technology in the past few years has been on a rapid rise. We seem to have too much attachment to data accessible on those devices.
The challenge for athletes
Earlier this month, Sara Hall, a professional marathon runner competing in the U.S. Olympic marathon trials, actually
10 . For the past 18 years, my daughter has been around me all the time. Now that she is in college, the
A week ago, my daughter wanted to
Research shows that parents are
We may have to
| A．problem | B．progress | C．goal | D．context |
| A．cold | B．special | C．different | D．casual |
| A．normal | B．idea | C．approach | D．solution |
| A．catch up | B．take over | C．check out | D．break away |
| A．visited | B．touched | C．tried | D．emailed |
| A．by taxi | B．by text | C．in private | D．in person |
| A．stupid | B．angry | C．excited | D．asleep |
| A．available | B．interested | C．ready | D．guilty |
| A．saddest | B．busiest | C．happiest | D．best |
| A．decide | B．wonder | C．investigate | D．distinguish |
| A．kind | B．appreciative | C．sensitive | D．relevant |
| A．voice | B．ignore | C．shift | D．continue |
| A．human | B．virtual | C．physical | D．permanent |
| A．widened | B．formed | C．broken | D．bridged |
| A．college | B．relationship | C．change | D．communication |
