3 . The history of microbiology begins with Dutch cloth maker named Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, a man of no formal scientific education. In the late 1600s. Leeuwenhoek, inspired by the magnifying lenses（放大镜）he used to examine cloth, built some of the first-microscopes. He developed technique to improve the quality of tiny, rounded lenses, some of which could magnify an object up to 270 times. After removing some plaque from between his teeth and examining it under a lens, Leeuwenhoek found tiny twisting creatures, which he called “animalcules”.

His observations, which he reported to the Royal Society of London, are among the first descriptions of microbes（微生物）. Leeuwenhoek discovered an entire universe invisible to the human eye. He found different microbes in samples of pond water, rain water, and human blood. He gave the first description of red blood cells, observed plant tissue, examined muscle, and investigated the life cycle of insects.

Nearly two hundred years later, Leeuwenhock’s discovery of microbes helped French chemist and biologist Louis Pasteur to develop his “theory of disease”. This concept suggested that disease originates from tiny organisms attacking and weakening the body. Pasteur’s theory later helped doctors to fight infectious diseases including anthrax, diphtheria, polio, smallpox, tetanus, and typhoid. All these breakthroughs were the result of Leeuwenhoek’s original work. Leeuwenhoek did not foresee this legacy.

In a 1716 letter, he described his contribution to science this way: “My work, which I’ve done for a long time, was not pursued in order to gain the praise I now enjoy, but chiefly from a strong desire for knowledge, which I notice resides in me more than in most other men. And therefore; whenever I found out anything remarkable, I have thought it my duty to put down my discovery on paper, so that the scientific community might be informed thereof.”

1. Which of the following best describes Leeuwenhoek?

A．trained researcher with an interest in microbiology

B．A curious amateur who made pioneer studies of microbes

C．A talented scientist interested in finding a cure for disease

D．A bored cloth maker who accidentally made a major discovery

2. The underlined phrase “this legacy” in paragraph 3 refers to ________.

A．the discovery of microbes

B．Pasteur’s theory of disease

C．Leeuwenhoek’s contribution

D．the origin of the tiny organism

3. What does the quote from Leeuwenhock’s letter suggest?

A．He admitted that many of his discoveries happened by chance.

B．He considered his work to be central to later medical breakthroughs.

C．He was greatly concerned with improving people’s living conditions.

D．He believed the sharing of knowledge was a key to scientific progress

4. What is the correct order for the following events?
a. Magnifying lenses were built.
b. The “theory of disease” was put forward
c. Microbes were discovered in samples of waters.
d. Leeuwenhoek’s first microscopes were successfully developed.
e. Leeuwenhoek explained his thoughts upon his own contribution.

A．a-d-c-e-b

B．d-a-c-e-b

C．a-c-d-b-e

D．d-a-e-b-c

4 . Modern medicine’s ability to keep us alive makes it tempting to think human evolution may have stopped. But if we look at the rate of our DNA’s evolution, we can see that human evolution hasn’t stopped – it may even be happening faster than before.

Evolution is a gradual change to the DNA of a species over many generations. It can occur by natural selection, when certain traits created by genetic changes help an organism survive or reproduce. Such genes are thus more likely to be passed on to the next generation, so they increase in frequency in a population. Gradually, these changes and their associated traits become more common among the whole group.

By looking at global studies of our DNA, we can see evidence that natural selection has recently made changes and continues to do so. Though modern healthcare disrupts a key driving force of evolution by keeping some people alive longer, in countries without access to good healthcare, populations are continuing to evolve. Survivors of infectious disease outbreaks drive natural selection by giving their genetic resistance to offspring. Our DNA shows evidence for recent selection for resistance of killer diseases like Lassa fever and malaria. Selection in response to malaria remains in regions where the disease remains common.

Humans are also adapting to their environment. Gene change allowing humans to live at high altitudes have become more common in populations in Tibet, Ethiopia, and the Andes. The spread of genetic changes in Tibet is possibly the fastest evolutionary change in humans, occurring over the past 3,000 years. This rapid increase in frequency of a mutated gene that increases blood oxygen content gives locals a survival advantage in higher altitudes, resulting in more surviving children.

Diet is another source for adaptations. Studies show that natural selection favoring a change allowing adults to produce lactase – the enzyme (酶) that breaks down milk sugars – is why some groups of people can digest milk. Over 80 per cent of northwest Europeans can, but in parts of East Asia, where milk is much less commonly drunk, an inability to digest lactose is the norm. Like high altitude adaptation, selection to digest milk has evolved more than once in humans and may be the strongest kind of recent selection.

Yet, despite these changes, natural selection only affects about 8 per cent of our genome. But scientists can’t explain why some genes are evolving much faster than others. We measure the speed of gene evolution by comparing human DNA with that of other species. One fast-evolving gene is human accelerated region 1 (HAR1), which is needed during brain development. A random section of human DNA is on average more than 98 per cent identical to the chimp comparator, but HAR1 is so fast evolving that it’s only around 85 per cent similar. Though scientists can see these changes are happening – and how quickly – we still don’t fully understand why fast evolution happens to some genes but not others.

1. Which of the following statements may the author agree with?

A．Evolution occurs among several people overnight.

B．Genes may change and some are beneficial to people’s lives.

C．Evolution is done when the whole population possesses a certain gene.

D．The changed genes leading to higher survival rates are chosen deliberately.

2. The underlined word “disrupts” in paragraph 3 can be best replaced by________.

A．explains

B．causes

C．upsets

D．heals

3. The author illustrates humans’ ongoing evolution with the following examples EXCEPT that__________.

A．some people can resist infectious diseases like malaria

B．children in Tibet tolerate living environments with thin air

C．northwestern Europeans digest lactose better than East Asians

D．the human gene HAR1 resembles that of a chimp to a lesser extent

4. Which of the following may serve as the title?

A．What Is Natural Selection?

B．Are Humans Still Evolving?

C．Why Will Certain Genes Evolve?

D．How Do Mutated Genes Function?

5 . It’s late in the evening, time to close the book and turn off the computer. You’re done for the day. What you may not realize, however, is that the learning process actually continues in your dreams.

It might sound like science fiction, but researchers are increasingly focusing on the relationship between the knowledge and skills our brains absorb during the day and the often strange imaginings they generate at night. Scientists have found that dreaming about a task we’ve learned improves performance in that activity (suggesting that there’s some truth to the popular idea that we’re “getting” a foreign language once we begin dreaming in it). What’s more, dreaming may be an essential part of understanding, organizing and retaining what we learn.

While we sleep, research indicates, the brain replays the patterns of activity it experienced during waking hours, allowing us to enter what one psychologist calls a neural (神经的) virtual reality. A vivid example of such replay can be seen in a video researchers made recently about sleep disorders. They taught a series of dance moves to patients suffering from sleepwalking and related conditions. They then videotaped the subjects as they slept. Lying in bed, eyes closed, one female patient on the tape performs the dance moves she learned earlier.

This shows that while our bodies are at rest, our brains are drawing what’s important from the information and events we’ve recently encountered, then integrating that material into the vast store of what we already know. In a 2010 study, researchers reported that college students who dreamed about a computer maze (迷宫) task they had learned showed a 10-fold improvement in their ability to find their way through the maze compared with participants who did not dream about the task.

That study’s chief researcher Herbert Smith suggested that studying right before bedtime or taking a nap following a study session in the afternoon might increase the probability of dreaming about the material. Think about that as you go to sleep tonight.

1. What happens when one enters a dream state?

A．The body continues to act as if the sleeper were awake.

B．The neural activity of the brain will become intensified.

C．The brain once again experiences the learning activities of the day.

D．The brain behaves as if it were playing a virtual reality video game.

2. What does the brain do while we are sleeping?

A．It replaces old information with new material.

B．It processes and absorbs newly acquired information.

C．It regroups information and places it in different files.

D．It systematizes all the information collected during the day.

3. How can learning be enhanced according to Herbert Smith?

A．Staying up late before finally going to bed.

B．Having a period of sleep right after studying.

C．Having a dream about anything you are interested in.

D．Thinking about the chances of dreaming about the material.

4. What is the research discussed in the passage mainly about?

A．How study affects people’s dreams.

B．Why people learn more after sleeping.

C．What time students should study and sleep.

D．How dreaming may lead to improved learning outcomes.

6 . If you live in Washington, D. C., or Redwood, Calif., you may have glimpsed a small, boxy robot rolling along a local sidewalk, minding it’s own business, but attracting the attention of many a curious onlooker. The autonomous machines were part of a pilot program last year by Starship Technologies focused on delivering meals from local restaurants in dozens of cities around the world.

“Today, more than ever, people lead a busy and diverse life,” Lex Bayer, Starship’s CEO, said in a statement online. “The hassle of needing to rearrange your life for a delivery will become a thing of the past. You don’t have to switch your working from home day, reschedule meetings, visit a locker, drive to a post office or contact a deliveryman all because of a missed delivery.”

The package delivery service is not available to everyone just yet. The company said it’s rolling out the service in Milton Keynes, England. The wheeled robots have a top speed of 4 mph and can detect obstacles from as far as 30 feet away. “The robot can operate through just about anything,” Nick Handrick, head of operations for Starship’s D. C. office, told The Washington Post's Maura Judkis last year. “If you had something in the way—a stick—it’s able to climb the edges of a road.”

By giving customers control of when deliveries occur, Starship Technologies is offering its service as a way to battle package theft. In its announcement, the company cited statistics from a Wakefield Research Poll for Comcast last year that found that 3 in 10 Americans who live in houses or townhouses have had packages stolen.

To sign up for the service, which costs a little more than $10 per month, customers need to download the company's app. Customers then create a “Starship Delivery Address,” a unique address inside a Starship facility, instead of a residence, where they can have packages sent from places such as Amazon, com. Once a package is delivered to the Starship address, customers receive a text that allows them to schedule a home delivery via robot.

1. Which can best replace the underlined word “hassle” in paragraph 2?

A．failure

B．expectation

C．safety

D．trouble

2. What problem is the delivery robot facing?

A．There is a limit to its service area.

B．It takes longer to deliver packages.

C．It covers a short distance each time.

D．It can’t sense the barriers 20 feet away.

3. How does the package by a robot avoid being stolen?

A．The company shortens the delivery hour.

B．The package is delivered to the house directly.

C．Its delivery time is in the control of customers.

D．The customers are informed of its delivery time in advance.

4. What can be inferred about Starship Delivery Address in the last paragraph?

A．It is a real home address of the customers.

B．It can arrange delivery robots for the customers.

C．It is a cheaper solution to the delivery of packages.

D．It sends the packages mainly to some shopping platforms.

7 . Have you ever wondered how the trainers at Sea World get the 19,000-pound whale to jump 22 feet out of water and perform tricks? They get that whale to go over a rope farther out of the water than most of us can imagine.     1    .

So how do the trainers at Sea World do it? The first thing they do is reinforce(强化) the behavior that they want repeated --- in this case, to get the whale to go over the rope.    2    , in a position where the whale can’t help but do what’s expected of it. Every time the whale goes over the rope, it’s given positive reinforcement and gets fed with fish. But what happened when the whale goes under the rope? Nothing — no criticism, no warning and no feedback.     3    .

Positive reinforcement is the key of that simple principle that produces such splendid results. And as the whale begins to go over the rope more often than under, the trainers begin to raise the rope. It must be raised slowly enough so that the whale doesn’t starve.

    4    . Make a big deal out of the good and little stuff that we want consistently. Secondly, under-criticize. People know they need help when they mess up.     5    , people will not forget the event and usually will not repeat it.

So we need to set up the circumstances so that people can’t fail. Over-celebrate, under-criticize…and know how far to raise the rope.

A．This is a great challenge

B．And the whale stays right where it is

C．If we figure out a way to motivate the whale

D．They start with the rope below the surface of the water

E．If we under-criticize, punish and discipline less than expected

F．Whales are taught that their negative behavior won’t be acknowledged

G．The simple lesson to be learned from the whale trainers is to over-celebrate

8 . With only about 1，000 pandas left in the world，China is desperately trying to clone the animal and save the endangered species.That's a move similar to what a Texas A & M University researchers have been undertaking for the past five years in a project called “Noah's Ark”．

Noah's Ark is aimed at collecting eggs，embryos(胚胎)，semen and DNA of endangered animals and storing them in liquid nitrogen.If certain species should become extinct，Dr.Duane Kraemer，a professor in Texas A & M's College of Veterinary Medicine，says there would be enough of the basic building blocks to reintroduce the species in the future.It is estimated that as many as 2，000 species of mammals，birds' reptiles will become extinct in over 100 years.The panda，native only to China，is in danger of becoming extinct in the next 25 years.

This week，Chinese scientists said they grew an embryo by introducing cells from a dead female panda into the egg cells of a Japanese white rabbit.They are now trying to implant the embryo into a host animal.The entire procedure could take from three to five years to complete.

“The nuclear transfer(核子移植) of one species to another is not easy，and the lack of available panda eggs could be a major problem，” Kraemer believes.“They will probably have to do several hundred transfers to result in one pregnancy (having a baby)．It takes a long time and it's difficult，but this could be groundbreaking science if it works.They are certainly not putting any live pandas at risk，so it is worth the effort，” adds Kraemer，who is one of the leaders of the Project at Texas A & M，the first－ever attempt at cloning a dog.

“They are trying to do something that's never been done，and this is very similar to our work in Noah's Ark.We're both trying to save animals that face extinction.I certainly appreciate their effort and there's a lot we can learn from what they are attempting to do.It's a research that is very much needed.”

1. The aim of “Noah's Ark” project is to ________．

A．make efforts to clone the endangered pandas

B．save endangered animals from dying out

C．collect DNA of endangered animals to study

D．transfer the nuclear of one animal to another

2. According to Professor Kraemer，the major problem in cloning pandas would be the lack of ________．

A．available panda eggs	B．host animals
C．qualified researchers	D．enough money

3. Which of the following should be the best title for the passage?

A．China's Success in Pandas Cloning

B．The First Cloned Panda in the World

C．Exploring the Possibility to Clone Pandas

D．China—the Native Place of Pandas Forever

4. From the passage we know that ________．

A．Kraemer and his team have succeeded in cloning a dog

B．scientists try to implant a panda's egg into a rabbit

C．Kraemer will work with Chinese scientists in clone researches

D．about two thousand species will probably die out in a century

9 . We may think we're a culture that gets rid of our worn technology at the first sight of something shiny and new, but a new study shows that we keep using our old devices(装置) well after they go out of style. That’s bad news for the environment — and our wallets — as these outdated devices consume much more energy than the newer ones that do the same things.

To figure out how much power these devices are using, Callie Babbitt and her colleagues at the Rochester Institute of Technology in New York tracked the environmental costs for each product throughout its life — from when its minerals are mined to when we stop using the device. This method provided a readout for how home energy use has evolved since the early 1990s. Devices were grouped by generation — Desktop computers, basic mobile phones, and box-set TVs defined 1992. Digital cameras arrived on the scene in 1997. And MP3 players, smart phones, and LCD TVs entered homes in 2002, before tablets and e-readers showed up in 2007.

As we accumulated more devices, however, we didn't throw out our old ones. "The living-room television is replaced and gets planted in the kids' room, and suddenly one day, you have a TV in every room of the house," said one researcher. The average number of electronic devices rose from four per household in 1992 to 13 in 2007. We're not just keeping these old devices — we continue to use them. According to the analysis of Babbitt's team, old desktop monitors and box TVs with cathode ray tubes are the worst devices with their energy consumption and contribution to greenhouse gas emissions（排放）more than doubling during the 1992 to 2007 window.

So what's the solution（解决方案）? The team's data only went up to 2007, but the researchers also explored what would happen if consumers replaced old products with new electronics that serve more than one function, such as a tablet for word processing and TV viewing. They found that more on-demand entertainment viewing on tablets instead of TVs and desktop computers could cut energy consumption by 44%.

1. What does the author think of new devices?

A．They are environment-friendly.	B．They are no better than the old.
C．They cost more to use at home.	D．They go out of style quickly.

2. Why did Babbitt's team conduct the research?

A．To reduce the cost of minerals.

B．To test the life cycle of a product.

C．To update consumers on new technology.

D．To find out electricity consumption of the devices.

3. Which of the following uses the least energy?

A．The box-set TV.	B．The tablet.
C．The LCD TV.	D．The desktop computer.

4. What does the text suggest people do about old electronic devices?

A．Stop using them.	B．Take them apart.
C．Upgrade them.	D．Recycle them.

10 . We’ve all been there: in a lift, in line at the bank or on an airplane, surrounded by people who are, like us, deeply focused on their smartphones or, worse, struggling with the uncomfortable silence.

What’s the problem? It’s possible that we all have compromised conversational intelligence. It’s more likely that none of us start a conversation because it’s awkward and challenging, or we think it’s annoying and unnecessary. But the next time you find yourself among strangers, consider that small talk is worth the trouble. Experts say it’s an invaluable social practice that results in big benefits.

Dismissing small talk as unimportant is easy, but we can’t forget that deep relationships wouldn’t

even exist if it weren’t for casual conversation. Small talk is the grease(润滑剂) for social communication, says Bernardo Carducci, director of the Shyness Research Institute at Indiana University Southeast. ＂Almost every great love story and each big business deal begins with small talk,＂ he explains. ＂The key to successful small talk is learning how to connect with others, not just communicate with them.＂

In a 2014 study, Elizabeth Dunn, associate professor of psychology at UBC, invited people on their way into a coffee shop. One group was asked to seek out an interaction(互动) with its waiter; the other, to speak only when necessary. The results showed that those who chatted with their server reported significantly higher positive feelings and a better coffee shop experience. ＂It’s not that talking to the waiter is better than talking to your husband,＂ says Dunn. ＂But interactions with peripheral(边缘的) members of our social network matter for our well-being also.＂

Dunn believes that people who reach out to strangers feel a significantly greater sense of belonging, a bond with others. Carducci believes developing such a sense of belonging starts with small talk. ＂Small talk is the basis of good manners,＂ he says.

1. What phenomenon is described in the first paragraph?

A．Addiction to smartphones.

B．Inappropriate behaviours in public places.

C．Absence of communication between strangers.

D．Impatience with slow service.

2. What is important for successful small talk according to Carducci?

A．Showing good manners.	B．Relating to other people.
C．Focusing on a topic.	D．Making business deals.

3. What does the coffee-shop study suggest about small talk?

A．It improves family relationships.	B．It raises people’s confidence.
C．It matters as much as a formal talk.	D．It makes people feel good.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．Conversation Counts	B．Ways of Making Small Talk
C．Benefits of Small Talk	D．Uncomfortable Silence