1 . Every day, it seems that some new algorithm (算法) enables computers to diagnose a disease with unprecedented accuracy, renewing predictions that computer's will soon replace doctors. What if computers could replace patients as well? If virtual humans could have replaced real people in some stages of a coronavirus vaccine trial, it could have sped development of a preventive tool and slowed down the pandemic. Similarly, potential vaccines that weren't likely to work could have been identified early, reducing trial costs and avoiding testing poor vaccine candidates on living volunteers. These are some of the benefits of “in silico medicine”, or the testing of drugs and treatments on virtual organs or body systems to predict how a real person will respond to the therapies.

The modeling begins by feeding anatomical data drawn from noninvasive (非侵入式) high- resolution imaging of an individual's actual organ into a complex mathematical model of the mechanisms that govern that organ's function. Algorithms running on powerful computers resolve the resulting equations and unknowns, generating a virtual organ that looks and behaves like the real thing.

In silico clinical trials are already underway to an extent. Heart Flow Analysis, for instance, enables clinicians to identify CAD (冠心病) based on CT images of a patient's heart. The Heart Flow system uses these images to construct a fluid dynamic model of the blood running through the coronary blood vessels, thereby identifying abnormal conditions and their severity. Without this technology, doctors would need to perform an invasive operation to decide whether and how to intervene. Experimenting on digital models of individual patients can also help personalize therapy for any number of conditions and is already used in diabetes care.

The philosophy behind in silico medicine is not new. The ability to create and simulate the performance of an object under hundreds of operating conditions has been a cornerstone of engineering for decades, such as for designing electronic circuits, airplanes and buildings. Various obstacles remain to its widespread implementation in medical research and development.

The predictive power and reliability of this technology must be confirmed, and that will require several advances. Those include the generation of high quality medical databases from a large, ethnically diverse patient base that has both women and men; improvement of mathematical models to account for the many interacting processes in the body; and further modification of Al methods that were developed mainly for computer-based speech and image recognition and need to be extended to provide biological insights.

In recent years American and European regulators have approved some commercial uses of computer-based diagnostics, but meeting regulatory demands requires considerable time and money. Creating demand for these computer-based diagnostic tools is challenging as well. In silico medicine must be able to deliver cost-effective value for patients, clinicians and health care organizations to accelerate their adoption of the technology.

1. According to the text, “in silico medicine” might help ________.

A．discover the cause of an illness

B．quicken the creation of new medicine

C．recognize the symptoms of a disease earlier

D．avoid including unhealthy volunteers in trials

2. We can learn from the text that Heart Flow Analysis ________.

A．works effectively in CAD treatment

B．offers personalized therapies to patients

C．reduces the chances of invasive operations

D．builds models after identifying abnormal conditions

3. According to the author, further application of “in silico medicine” requires ________.

A．money and time from the regulators

B．replacement of old mathematical models

C．more proof of its effectiveness and dependability

D．progress in speech and image recognition technology

4. Which of the following is the best title for the text?

A．Looking to Al to End Experimental Study

B．In Silico Medicine Saved Millions of Lives

C．Exploring the Future of Algorithm in Medicine

D．Virtual Patients Could Revolutionize Medicine

2 . For today’s increasingly interconnected food supply chains, “efficient” is what it’s supposed to be: Each country specializes in what it’s best, at and puts it on the global market. Producers and processors within countries specialize, too, as a way to minimize costs. As a result, at least in theory, prices stay low, the world gets fed and everyone wins.

However, the coronavirus crisis demonstrates what is wrong with this approach. When barriers prevent food from reaching its markets, or demand suddenly drops — both of which are happening now — the system falls apart.

Specialization of the food system makes it hard to shift into different markets when disruptions arise. Belgium, a leading exporter of potatoes, lost sales not only to local restaurants but also to other countries because of lockdowns（封锁）. At least the Belgians can try to eat the potatoes at home. That strategy won't work for every crop: Ghana, the world’s top cocoa exporter, lost markets when people stalled focusing on buying essential items instead of chocolate.

The loss in export income in Africa more generally could have a huge impact if the pandemic continues, as many countries there rely heavily on imported wheat and rice. The prices of these grains have soared not only because of rising demand for these grains during the crisis, but also because a few countries — including Russia and Vietnam — imposed export restrictions out of fear that sending food abroad would lead to higher prices at home.

Concentrated markets dominated by just a handful of companies heighten food system fragility. For example, just three meatpacking plants process over 95 percent of Canada’s beef and nearly all of its beef exports. Now, those meat processing plants have had to temporarily shut down because of outbreaks of COVID-19 among workers.

Seeing the spoiled products across the world should force all of us to rethink our “efficient” food supplies. We need to rejuvenate（使恢复活力）local and regional food systems to reduce the vulnerabilities that come with being too reliant on imported and corporate-dominated foods. This doesn’t mean cutting off all trade or abolishing all packaged foods, but it does mean building diversity, and increasing opportunities for small and medium-scale enterprises to flourish in shorter, more sustainable food supply chains that are closer to home.

One place to start is for governments to shift their support from the large-scale, specialized and export-oriented food system to building infrastructure for more diverse local food systems. Around the world, small-scale and organic producers have been overwhelmed with the surge in interest from customers who want to buy directly from farmers during the crisis. But these producers often lack the infrastructure to meet that demand. As governments around the world pass stimulus packages to address the crisis, building more diverse and localized food systems should be an obvious inclusion.

1. In theory, specialization of the food system ________.

A．adapts to changes efficiently	B．balances supply and demand
C．focuses on essential items	D．reduces costs of production

2. The underlined word “fragility” in Paragraph 5 means ________.

A．weakness	B．diversity
C．unfairness	D．complexity

3. What can we learn from the passage?

A．A few countries restrict exports to stabilize local food prices.

B．Grain prices rise due to Africa’s dependence on importation.

C．Ghana might be less affected by lockdowns than Belgium was.

D．Packaged-food consumption should be encouraged to address the crisis.

4. The main purpose of this passage is to ________.

A．expose food security issues during the crisis

B．advocate establishing diverse local food systems

C．discuss the development of a sustainable economy

D．prove the importance of sound government policies

3 .
(WAIKING WATER EXPERIMENT)

Walking Water Science Experiment for Kids

Let's get set up for walking water with a few quick and easy steps the kids can definitely be a part of! We used test tubes for three sets of primary colors. You can use less as long as you have enough to go around with all the colors mixing. First, add red, yellow, and blue food coloring (one color per test tube) in order. Give each test tube a little stir (搅拌)to evenly distribute the color. Try to put the same amount of food coloring in each container. Cut thin strips of white paper towel to fit in the test tubes. Place them into the test tubes. There will be two ends in each tube. Wait and watch what happens. At this point, you can set up a stopwatch to make notes of how long it takes for the colors to meet and mix.

Before you insert the strips, you have the perfect opportunity to make some predictions about what will happen. Have your kids come up with a prediction for their experiment? Will the water walk? You can start the conversation with "What do you think will happen when we put the towels into the water?"

The whole process starts pretty quickly, but it does take a while for the colors to begin to mix with each other. Extend the science activity: pull out the watercolors and do some color mixing art while you wait. Make sure to check on your walking water science experiment every once in a while to see the changes that are constantly taking place. The kids will be amazed at how the water seems to fight against gravity! As the paper towels absorb the colored water, the water travels up the towel strip. It meets up with the other colored water that has traveled up the neighboring strip. Where the primary colors interact, they turn into the secondary colors. Both colors will continue to travel as long as the towel fibers absorb the water.

The experiment is colorful and simple to do! Plus, it is interesting for multiple ages. Older kids should be able to set it up all by themselves and can also use our science journal page to record their results.

1. What materials are needed for the experiment?

A．Test tubes, food coloring and paper towel.

B．Drinking water, test tubes and a notebook.

C．Food coloring, water cups and a paper cutter.

D．Mixed colors, towel strips and food containers.

2. In the experiment, you're expected to ________.

A．add three colors into each container

B．set up a stopwatch from the beginning

C．put colorful towel strips in the test tubes

D．stir each test tube to make the color even

3. Water in the test tubes can walk because ________.

A．food coloring has the power to take in water

B．towel fibers absorb water and allow it to travel

C．water flows naturally under the influence of gravity

D．colors interact with each other and thus travel easily

4 . Iceland has long been identified as having unique environments. Here you can walk and swim between tectonic (地壳构造的) plates, bath in geothermal waters, and experience the wild landscapes. Furthermore, these unique environments have attracted the space-science community to use Iceland as one of its test sites for missions travelling to Mars (火星).

DAY 1

Arrive in Reykjavik.

After check-in, you will visit the geothermal pools of the Blue Lagoon to relax after your flight, before returning to your hotel to freshen up. You will then head to the Aurora Basecamp Observatory, where you will be able to see the northern lights recreated indoors. In the evening, space expert Niamh Shaw will give the first of two talks on our attempt to establish bases on other planets.

DAY 2

After breakfast, you will set out on special vehicles towards Þingvellir National Park, a registered UNESCO world heritage (遗产) site accompanied by Niamh. Here, you will have the opportunity to do something that you can’t do anywhere else, the opportunity to swim between the tectonic plates. In the evening, you will enjoy a second talk from Niamh.

DAY 3

Today you begin your journey towards the 2020 NASA test site, where the NASA SAND_E Mars Rover is being tested. NASA scientists will be on hand to explain the project, along with updates of the current Mars missions and the most recent findings.

DAY 4

In 2019, Iceland Space Agency hosted the ISAGEVR1 Expedition to Grimsvötn Volcano on top of the Vatnajökull Glacier (冰川) to field test the MS1 Mars Analog Spacesuit designed by the NASA/Johnson space centre. We will be working together with the agency to create a unique experience for you today on the glacier.

DAY 5

In the afternoon, you will reach the bridge between the continents, spanning a gap in between the two tectonic plates, on your way to Keflavik Airport and your evening flight home.

1. Who would be most interested in this travel arrangement to Iceland?

A．Fiction writers.

B．Space enthusiasts.

C．Wildlife protectors.

D．Professional swimmers.

2. Which days include chances to experience something about Mars?

A．Day 1 and Day 2.

B．Day 2 and Day 3.

C．Day 3 and Day 4.

D．Day 4 and Day 5.

3. Which of the following can best promote this tour?

A．“We hope to offer you a great opportunity to enjoy hiking.”

B．“We will let you explore how NASA is a part of everyday life.”

C．“We want to help you discover space science through the joy of travel.”

D．“We will provide you a chance to experience the culture near the Arctic Circle.”

5 . 阅读下面短文，根据题目要求回答问题。

The signs appeared practically overnight. They'd been planted anywhere and everywhere—in front of homes, along sidewalks, around the neighborhood. Each featured just a few uplifting words in simple black type: "Don't Give Up", "You Are Not Alone", "We Will Get Through". The residents in Newberg, Oregon, had suffered huge loss from a major tornado this year, so the town of 25,000 instantly understood the messages. For days, what no one could figure out was who had planted them.

Amy Wolff had. At first, she didn't want anyone to connect her to them. For one thing, the 36-year-old mother of two didn't really feel it was her place to weigh in. However, losing her brother in an accident several years earlier had led her to do so. She planted the signs anonymously because she wanted them to be about their message, not any one person. It was compassion(同情) for compassion's sake. "I couldn't just do nothing," says Wolff.

Yet as Wolff saw the deep chord her signs struck with her neighbors, she decided to step forward to share her message publicly. Instantly, her inbox was flooded with requests for more signs.

That was in May 2017.Since then, the Don't Give Up Movement has spread from Newberg to the hearts and yards of people in every state and several countries. The signs have morphed(变化) into wristbands, bumper stickers, pins, stamps, etc. One of the most heartening elements of the movement is that it has gone viral in a remarkably human way. More and more people have taken action, planting the signs in their lawns, taking selfies, and then posting them to share.

Aware of the added emotional challenges isolation brings under the cloud of COVID-19, the Don't Give Up Movement has since offered to send letters of support to anyone in quarantine who needs it. The group received about 400 requests in just 24 hours. A young woman wrote that she struggled with mental illness and that shelter-in-place rules were especially hard on her and her family; she asked whether the Don't Give Up group could send her relatives a cheerful note. Wolff's message is about to grow yet again.

1. What personal experience led Amy Wolff to plant the signs of hope?
2. How did the Don’t Give Up Movement help people during COVID-19?
3. What does the underlined part it has gone viral mean?
4. Please write one of your experiences of encouraging other people or being encouraged. (about 40 words)

6 . What is a Food Critic

A food critic is a writer who specializes in writing criticisms of food. Like theater and movie critics, food critics are supposed to provide thoughtful, well-informed, and objective information to the public so that members of the public can make decisions about where to spend their money.     1    However some may also engage in more general food writing.

Becoming a food critic takes time. Many food critics pursue professional experiences in the world of food, attending culinary schools, working in restaurants, participating in farming, and so forth.     2    A good food critic is extremely knowledgeable about food, from how certain foods are harvested to the history of various dishes. Food critics also have very well-developed palates, and they may specialize in a particular area.

    3    Food critics may move between publishers over the course of their careers, or start working for the food section of a paper and working up to a position as a food critic. A handful of critics become well known and well respected, with most primarily being known only in the area they serve.

Professional integrity is very important for food critics. Many make reservations and visit restaurants anonymously, so that they get an idea of how a restaurant serves ordinary customers. They also make repeat visits so that they can make fair and balanced assessments of a restaurant and its offerings.     4     Implications of favoritism or bribery can ruin the reputation of a food critic.

This is what food critics are like. They describe and evaluate the food, providing opinions on its quality.     5    These can be used as a reference for readers to make decisions.

A．Food critics have the right to score the restaurant.

B．It's important for them to be familiar with varieties of food.

C．Avoidance of gifts from restaurateurs is also very important.

D．Therefore, they can learn about every aspect of the food industry.

E．After considering all aspects of the dining experience, they generate ratings.

F．Food critics primarily write about restaurants from fast food establishments to fancy restaurants.

G．Once a food critic has gained experience, he or she can start writing articles for magazines and newspapers.

7 .

A group of researchers led by Patrick Yu-Wai-Man. an ophthalmologist (眼科医师) at Cambridge University, investigated a new genetic therapy for a form of blindness. Officially, their study was a failure. But it was also a great success, for 29 of the 37 participants reported big improvements in their vision.

The disease in question is Leber Hereditary Optic Neuropathy (LHON)(遗传性视神经病变) .A defective gene leads to sudden and rapid loss of sight, with many sufferers becoming legally blind within a year. It affects between one in 30,000 and one in 50,000 people. Men in their 20s and 30s are particularly at high risk. Since most cases are caused by a mutation (突变) in a single gene, LHON is a good candidate for gene therapy, a form of genetic engineering which aims to replace the defective gene with a working one.

With that in mind. Dr Yu-Wai-Man and his colleagues loaded up a changed virus with a corrected copy of the gene and injected it into their patients' eyes. The researchers controlled the experiment by injecting only one of each patient's eyes--chosen at random--with the virus. The other eye was given a fake injection. Using two eyes in the same patient makes for a perfect control.

The surprise came several months later. The researchers had hoped to see a big improvement in the treated eyes, compared with the untreated ones. They did not, for which the study failed in its primary objective. Instead, in more than three quarters of their patients, they saw significant improvements in both eyes.

On the face of it, that was odd. Only one eye had received the treatment, after all. Follow-up studies in monkeys confirmed what the researchers had suspected. The virus, it seemed, had found a way to travel from one eye to the other, probably via the optic nerve. Tissues and fluids samples from monkeys given the same treatment as the human patients showed viral DNA in both eyes, not just one.

Although it had a happy outcome in this case, the prospect of a gene-therapy virus travelling to places it is not intended to go to might worry regulators. Fortunately, the researchers found no trace of the virus elsewhere in the monkeys’ bodies. And. though the study was technically a failure, its practical success means that an effective treatment for LHON may at last be in reach.

1. LHON is chosen in this study because it________

A．can be easily cured

B．affects young males mostly

C．is a common disease among people

D．results from a mutation in a single gene

2. Why was the study a great success despite a failure officially?

A．Some participants suffered loss of sight

B．The vision of both eyes improved greatly

C．All the participants gave positive feedback

D．The virus didn’t replace the damaged gene

3. The experiment on monkeys is mentioned in order to________

A．confirm the virus travels across eyes

B．prove the virus can affect other body parts

C．show the effect of the treatment on animals

D．highlight regulators' worry about gene-therapy

4. Which is the best title for the passage?

A．The Future of Gene Therapy

B．The Blessing for Eye Patients

C．Gene Therapy: Eyeball to Eyeball

D．Virus Treatment: From Humans to Monkeys

8 . 阅读下面的短文，根据短文内容回答问题。

Your Food Choices Affect the Earth’s Climate

Every action has a cost, even for growing food and delivering it to your dinner plate. A team of researchers has found that meat production releases more climate-warming pollution than it does when producing fruits, vegetables, nuts and grains. Their calculations suggest that people could do a lot to slow global warming if they limited how much meat they eat.

There are plenty of “costs” of food. As to the visible costs, people pay money for the food as well as the fuel needed to get groceries to the store or restaurant. However, producing foods also takes resources，for example，the water used to irritate (灌溉）crop fields or the fertilizer and chemicals used to promote plant growth and fight pests.

Peter Scarborough at the University of Oxford in England decided to calculate some of the less-visible pollution created by food production. His team focused on greenhouse gases emitted through the production of our food, including carbon dioxide(CO2)，methane(甲烷） and the nitrous oxide. All three gases are important. While CO2 is the greenhouse gas released in the highest volume, methane and nitrous oxide stay in the atmosphere far longer than CO2 does. As such, they are more powerful in warm the earth’s atmosphere.

They used a computer to change the methane and nitrous-oxide emissions for each person’s diet into its carbon dioxide “equivalent.”That’s the amount of CO2 needed to warm Earth’s atmosphere by the same amount as the methane or nitrous oxide would.

As for the calculations of the carbon dioxide “equivalent(等量)”, in the 1990s, a survey asked65,000 adults what they typically had eaten throughout the past year. Scarborough’s team fed those data into a computer and then included the amount of green house gases linked with producing nearly100 common foods. Then the computer matched those green house-gas amounts to the mix of foods each person had reported eating.

It shows that the diet of someone whose meals included an average of 50 to 99 grams of meat each day would be responsible for the daily release of 5.6 kilograms of CO2 equivalent while those vegans had the lowest diet-linked greenhouse-gas emissions (2.9 kg of CO2 equivalent).

Its authors conclude that reducing the intake of meat and other animal-based products can make a valuable contribution to climate change reduction. And compared to meat, more plant-based food calories can be grown on more lands with less water and other resources. In places where many people are going hungry, raising meat may make it harder to ensure that everyone gets enough to eat.

1. What are the visible costs of food mentioned in the article?
2. According to the author, why can our food choices affect the earth’s climate?
3. Please underline the inappropriate part in the following statement and explain why.
Plant-based food can adapt to more types of lands than meat, but they may have a higher requirement of water and other resources, which can be a disadvantage of such food.
4. Apart from food choices, are there any other ways for you to protect the environment? List two or more.

9 . What role might arts play in response to climate change and related economic and ecological crises?

It’s often said that a novel, a painting, a song or a motion picture changed how a lot of people thought or felt about the world. Anthropologists (人类学家) and historians rightly argue that major changes in society have sprung up not from the arts, but from-our relationship to our environment. Nevertheless, artists’ efforts help shape the terms by which society adapts to such changes and their consequences. Think of how Beethoven marked the beginnings of modern democracy and the nascent (初期的) Industrial Revolution. Or how Hollywood writers and directors inspired massive support for the U.S. war effort during the early 1940s.

We have stepped into a century in which the societal systems have been built since the start of the Industrial Revolution. Our food system，transport system，energy system，financial system，and possibly our political and governance systems were designed during an era in which fossil fuels met the great quantity of our fast-growing energy demand. But fossil fuels are exhaustible resources, and their reduction will drive evermore desperate methods of extraction (提炼), create evermore environmental risk and require evermore capital-even as alternative energy sources they are also costly. Further, burning fossil fuels changes our planet’s climate. So, at the same time our economy will need to be redesigned to run on entirely different energy sources, and the natural world will be shifting around us in unprecedented (空前的) ways, with more frequent disastrous storms，floods，droughts etc.

Everything will be up for negotiation, redesign and change. And artists have the opportunity and duty to translate the resulting tumultuous (动荡的) human experience into words, images，and music that help people not just to understand these events mentally, but also to come to grips with them willingly. The economic and environmental shifts described above are currently being detailed in ever-greater specificity in hundreds of reports released yearly by climate and energy experts. What’s missing in their carefully worded journal articles is the human dimensions of imagination, joy or sorrow, inspiration, and passion. Art can help us cope with the possible effects of our collective challenges. It can help prepare society for a possibly painful future. It can give voice to suffering and loss, helping people deal with life’s unavoidable stress. And it can also offer beauty, which can be especially important in hard times.

Meaningful art can and must express the chaos we encounter and help us process it mentally and emotionally. To achieve this, artists need to dig deeper, observe more closely and help their audiences connect abstract explanations and forecasts with actual experiences.

1. The author mentions Beethoven to suggest that__________.

A．musicians can easily adapt to changes in society

B．music can control the social change of the world

C．anthropologists are right about major changes in society

D．art serves as a bridge for people to understand the world

2. What do the underlined words “come to grips with” in Paragraph 4 probably mean?

A．start to create	B．begin to deal with
C．try to record	D．take an interest in

3. According to the author, the artists __________ .

A．are expected to show human experience in works

B．deal with the unpleasant events willingly

C．help people forecast painful future

D．are the voice of suffering and loss

4. Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?

A．Art in Greater Need during Climate Change

B．The Relationship Between Society and Art

C．The Climate Clues Hidden in At History

D．The Best Ways to Change the World

10 . Women Who Changed Science Forever

This International Women’s Day, we’re celebrating three women who changed the face of science forever.

Ellen Ochoa

Ellen Ochoa is an American engineer and retired astronaut. She was the first Latina woman to fly in space as part of the crew of the shuttle Discovery in 1993. Ochoa attended San Diego State University and then continued her education at Stanford. Ochoa regards her mother, whose passion for learning kept her in part-time college courses all through Ochoa’s childhood, as an important influence on her career.

At the end of her flying career, Ochoa had traveled nearly 1,000 hours in space. From 2012 to 2018, Ochoa served as the director of Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, only the second woman to head up NASA’s human spaceflight headquarters.

Mamie Phipps Clark

Mamie Phipps Clark was an American social psychologist (心理学家), who specialized in child development in black children. Born in Arkansas, Clark drew on her early experiences as a black child in the segregated (种族隔离的) American South to help children growing up with the same iniquities.

Clark stated at Howard University in 1934, and went on to complete a PhD in psychology. She and Kenneth, now her husband, were the first two black people to earn PhDs at Columbia. With their funding, she started the famous Doll Test, which showed the negative effects of school segregation on black children.

Anandibai Gopalrao Joshee

Anandibai Jpshee was to become India’s first woman physician with a medical degree. When she was young, her father strayed (偏离) from the traditional Hindu belief that women should not receive education and encouraged her to go to school. When she was fifteen, she was determined to study medicine, a choice likely influenced by the loss of an infant son and surviving a serious illness herself. At the Woman’s Medical College, Joshee studied devotedly, hoping to return to India to serve other Indian women.

She died in February 1887 at the young age of twenty-one. Despite her short life, Joshee’s accomplishments were remarkable for an Indian woman, and her achievements were enough to open the door for other Indian women to quickly follow.

1. In Ochoa’s idea, what influences her most in her career?

A．Her part-time job in a college.

B．Her first flight in space in 1993.

C．Her mother’s desire for knowledge.

D．Her experience in NASA headquarters.

2. What is Phipps Clark famous for?

A．Having a PhD in psychology.

B．Fighting against racial discrimination.

C．Starting the test on the growth of children.

D．Devoting herself to the founding of equalities.

3. What do the three great women have in common?

A．They specialized in similar research fields.

B．They all experienced inequality in education.

C．They were pioneers changing our belief in women.

D．They were scientists influencing our way of learning

4. Which of the following word best describes the three women?

A．Dedicated.

B．Modest.

C．Creative.

D．Caring.