1 . When Dmitry Ivanovsky was still a student in 1887 he began his work on the Tobacco mosaic disease (烟草花叶病). The disease appeared to take hold in tobacco plants early on in their growth cycle, causing green and brown mosaics on the affected leaves. Ivanovsky first repeated and confirmed experiments performed by Adolf Mayer in which he took diseased leaves, extracted their sap (the liquid in a plant that carries food to all its parts), and injected (注入) the sap into healthy plants. Up to 80% of the healthy plants then became infected in these experiments.
Ivanovsky originally thought the disease was bacterial, and so he designed an experiment in which the diseased sap of a tobacco plant was filtered (过滤) through a Chamberland filter-candle which could filter out bacteria and works much like a modern water purifier. After filtering the sap, Ivanovsky injected it into healthy tobacco leaves. When the healthy plants began to show signs of infection, Ivanovsky proved bacterial filtering of diseased sap did not prevent the disease, and thus the infective creatures had to be unlike any bacteria that they had seen before.
Additionally, Ivanovsky provided evidence that the creature that was infecting tobacco plants was more of a particle (颗粒) than a liquid. He thought that the disease was more likely caused by either a living creature or a large molecule (分子). In his 1902 research paper he concluded: The sap of diseased plants was infectious; when the infected sap is heated, it is no longer infectious (heat changes the structure and characteristics of RNA and virus proteins, essentially killing them, so this makes sense); infection through bacteria may cause the disease.
It wasn’t until advancements in technology in the early-to-mid 20th century allowed scientists to take the first images of viruses that we were able to identify the Tobacco mosaic virus, and thus separated it from other living creatures such as bacteria and fungi. But it is because of the early work of Ivanovsky and Mayer scientists are able to understand viruses and viral diseases and continue the search for life-saving vaccines for fatal diseases such as COVID-19.
1. What did Adolf Mayer’s experiments prove?| A．The sap of diseased tobacco plants is infectious. |
| B．The mosaics on infected plants are green or brown. |
| C．The disease affects tobacco plants at an early stage. |
| D．The infective creature threatens most tobacco plants. |
| A．To put much pressure on infected leaves. |
| B．To add some pure water to the infected sap. |
| C．To filter infected food in the tobacco leaves. |
| D．To remove the infective bacteria in the sap. |
| A．Filtering the diseased sap can prevent the disease. |
| B．The infected sap is no longer infectious when heated. |
| C．Some kind of large molecules might cause the disease. |
| D．The unknown creature was more of a particle than a liquid. |
| A．It showed the differences between viruses and bacteria. |
| B．It took the first images of the Tobacco mosaic virus. |
| C．It made later identification of the virus possible. |
| D．It led to an effective life-saving vaccine. |
2 . Everyone becomes a little more forgetful as they get older, but men’s minds decline more than women’s, according to the results of a worldwide survey.
Certain differences seem to be inherent in male and female brains: Men are better at maintaining and dealing with mental images (useful in mathematical reasoning and spatial skills), while women tend to excel (擅长) at recalling information from their brain’s files (helpful with language skills and remembering the locations of objects).
Many studies have looked for a connection between sex and the amount of mental decline (衰退) people experience as they age, but the results have been mixed.
Some studies found more age-related decline in men than in women, while others saw the opposite or even no relationship at all between sex and mental decline. Those results could be improper because the studies involved older people, and women live longer than men: The men tested are the survivors, “so they’re the ones that may not have shown such cognitive decline,” said study team leader Elizabeth of the University of Warwick in England.
People surveyed completed four tasks that tested sex-related cognitive skills: matching an object to its rotated form, matching lines shown from the same angle, typing as many words in a particular category (范畴) as possible in the given time, e.g. “object usually colored gray”, and recalling the location of objects in a line drawing. The first two were tasks at which men usually excel; the latter are typically dominated by women.
Within each age group studied, men and women performed better in their separate categories on average. And though performance declined with age for both genders, women showed obviously less decline than men overall.
1. The underlined word in the second paragraph means_________.| A．natural | B．great | C．obvious | D．absolute |
| A．Cloud. | B．Sheep. | C．Trees. | D．Goose. |
| A．Men do better than women when it comes to learning English. |
| B．Women stand out at remembering people’s names. |
| C．Men excel at typing as many words in a particular category as possible in the given time. |
| D．Women excel at dealing mathematic problems. |
| A．the old men tested may not have shown such cognitive decline |
| B．people surveyed are all old |
| C．people taking part in this test came from all over the world |
| D．women live longer than men |
3 . Whether we’re sad about the loss of a loved one or angry at friends or family, it often feels good to let the emotions all out because sharing our emotions reduces our stress and helps us feel good.
Being selective when you express your emotions is a good way. There’re many ways to deal with difficult emotions and not all of them involve other people.
When you share your emotions with others, remind them to offer suggestions. Ask them questions like “
| A．Does expressing my feelings actually help |
| B．How should I think about this differently |
| C．Actually sometimes you can find solutions on your own |
| D．But sharing covers many different modes of communication |
| E．So it’s important to choose a healthier way to express emotions |
| F．However, we should try hard to seek support from those around us |
| G．Experts used to believe negative emotions needed to be released physically |
4 . Hidden in the trees, behind the leaves, look closely and you’ll see eyes staring back at you. This is SlothBot, a robot inspired by the famously slow animal-sloth (树獭).
For the next several months, visitors to the Atlanta Botanical Garden will be able to observe the testing of the new high-tech tool in the battle to save some of the world’s most endangered species. Researchers are testing the SlothBot near the Garden’s popular Canopy Walk.
Built to take advantage of the low-energy lifestyle of real sloths, SlothBot demonstrates how being slow can be ideal for certain applications. Powered by solar panels and using innovative power management technology, SlothBot moves along a cable strung between two large trees as it monitors temperature, weather, carbon dioxide levels, and other information in the Garden’s 30-acre midtown Atlanta forest.
“Slowness is a design principle of SlothBot,” says Magnus Egerstedt, professor and chair in the Georgia Institute of Technology’s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering. “That is not how robots are typically designed today, but being slow and energy-efficient will allow SlothBot to stay in the environment to observe things we can only see by being present continuously for months, or even years.”
About three feet long, SlothBot’s imaginative 3D-printed shell helps protect its motors, gearing, batteries and sensing equipment from the weather. The robot is programmed to move only when necessary, and will locate sunlight when its batteries need recharging.
“The most exciting goal we’ll demonstrate with SlothBot is the union of robotics and technology with conservation,” says Emily Coffey, vice president for conservation and research at the Garden. “We do conservation research on endangered plants and ecosystems around the world, and SlothBot will help us find new and exciting ways to advance our research and conservation goals.”
“SlothBot could do some of our research remotely and help us understand what’s happening with pollinators(传粉者), interactions between plants and animals, and other phenomena that are difficult to observe otherwise," Coffey adds.
1. What do the researchers expect SlothBot to do?| A．Guard the garden. | B．Attract visitors. |
| C．Protect real sloths. | D．Help endangered species. |
| A．SlothBot. | B．Slowness |
| C．A design principle. | D．A low-energy style. |
| A．It always stays still. | B．It can pollinate the plants. |
| C．Its shell provides protection for itself. | D．Its design will be used to study the ocean. |
| A．A Slow-moving Sloth Begins Life in a Garden |
| B．A New Robot Helps Raise Endangered Animals |
| C．A New Study Aids Conservation Efforts in Atlanta |
| D．A Conservation Robot Slowly Monitors Endangered Species |
5 . How many different emotions do you think you can communicate to people with your face? Do you have the same facial expressions as the people from different cultures? Read this passage to find out what scientists have just discovered about this topic.
New research suggests that there are only four basic facial expressions of emotion. However, how these expressions are interpreted (解释) might depend on where you are from. Research by scientists from the Institute of Neuroscience and Psychology at the University of Glasgow has challenged the traditional view of how the face expresses emotions. It was widely believed that six basic emotions (happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise and disgust) were expressed and recognized across different cultures. However, the University of Glasgow’s work now suggests that the human face only has four basic expressions of emotion. This is because some pairs of emotions are impossible to distinguish(辨别). Fear and surprise, for example, both share wide open eyes. The facial expressions for anger and disgust also look the same.
So if our faces are only able to express four basic emotions, how do we communicate a much more complex kind of feeling? The study found that the way expressions are interpreted is different in different cultures. However, while looking at how people from the East and West look at different parts of the face during facial expression recognition, scientists found that although there are some common features across cultures, the six basic facial expressions of emotion are not recognized universally.
What interests people about the cross-cultural aspect of the research? This work leads to understanding which emotions we share and appreciating our differences.
1. What did the University of Glasgow find?| A．Six basic emotions greatly influence our character. |
| B．Six basic emotions can be recognized. |
| C．It is easy to tell from the basic facial expressions. |
| D．Some of the six facial expressions are similar. |
| A．Sadness, fear, anger and surprise. | B．Anger, sadness, fear and happiness. |
| C．Happiness, surprise, sadness and fear. | D．Disgust, happiness, anger and sadness. |
| A．Basic facial expressions are not universal. |
| B．Facial expressions can’t show complex feelings. |
| C．Western people have more kinds of facial expressions. |
| D．The way to express emotions changes with time. |
| A．What Does Your Face Say? | B．How Do We Communicate? |
| C．What Are the Six Basic Emotions? | D．Do We Have the Same Expressions? |
6 . Sir Ronald Ross was born in Almora, India in 1857. During his early years, he developed interests in poetry, literature, music, and mathematics, all of which he continued to engage in (从事) for the rest of his life.
Although he had no tendency to study medicine, at the age of 17 he agreed to obey his father’s wish to see him enter the Indian Medical Service. He began his medical studies at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital Medical College, London in 1874. Later, he developed his scientific interests and took a course in bacteriology.
In 1892 he became interested in malaria and, having originally doubted the parasites’ (寄生虫的) existence, became an enthusiastic supporter of the belief that malaria parasites were in the blood stream when this was demonstrated to him by Patrick Manson in 1894.
In 1895, Ross began to prove the hypothesis (假说) of Alphonse Laveran and Manson that mosquitoes (蚊子) were connected with the spread of malaria. However, his progress was hampered by the Indian Medical Service.
On 20 August 1897, Ross made his landmark discovery. While dissecting (解剖) the stomach tissue of a mosquito fed four days previously on a malarious patient, he found the malaria parasite and went on to prove the role of mosquitoes in the transmission of malaria parasites in humans.
He continued his research into malaria in India, using a more convenient experimental model, malaria in birds. By July 1898, he had demonstrated that mosquitoes could serve as intermediate (中间的) hosts for bird malaria. After feeding mosquitoes on infected (被感染的) birds, he found that the malaria parasites could develop in the mosquitoes, allowing the mosquitoes to infect other birds during following blood meals.
In 1902 Ross was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine “for his work on malaria, by which he has shown how it enters the organism and thereby has laid the foundation for successful research on this disease and methods of fighting it.” Ross wrote extensively on malaria including his book The Prevention of Malaria in 1911. While Ross is remembered for his malaria work, this remarkable man was also a mathematician, epidemiologist, sanitarian, editor, novelist, dramatist, poet, amateur musician, composer, and artist.
1. What made Ross take up medical studies?| A．His father’s expectation. |
| B．His keen interest in bacteriology. |
| C．The rapid spread of malaria in India. |
| D．The invitation from a medical college. |
| A．Assisted. | B．Evaluated. | C．Blocked. | D．Monitored. |
| A．By closely observing malarious birds. |
| B．By dissecting dead malarious patients. |
| C．By finding malaria parasites in mosquitoes. |
| D．By studying the human blood stream in depth. |
| A．Ross’ career. | B．Ross’ hobbies. |
| C．Ross’ personal life. | D．Ross’ achievements. |
7 . Albert Einstein was born in Germany in 1879. He was a quiet child who spent much of his time alone. He was slow to talk and had difficulty learning to read. When Albert was five years old, his father gave him a compass. The child was filled with wonder when he discovered that the compass needle always pointed in the same direction — to the north. He asked his father and his uncle what caused the needle to move.
Albert did not like school. The German schools of that time were not pleasant. Students could not ask questions. Albert said he felt as if he were in prison.
In 1905, Albert Einstein published some important papers in a German scientific magazine. They included one of the most important scientific documents in history. It explained what came to be called his “Special Theory of Relativity (相对论)”. Ten years later he expanded it to a “General Theory of Relativity”.
In 1921, he won the Nobel Prize in Physics. It was given to him not for his theories of relativity, but for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect(光电效应).
Albert Einstein left Germany in 1933. He moved to the United States to continue his research. Einstein became a citizen of the United States in 1940.
Einstein was a famous man, but you would not have known that by looking at him. His white hair was long and wild. He wore old clothes. He showed an inner joy when he was playing his violin or talking about his work. Students and friends said he had a way of explaining difficult ideas using images that were easy to understand.
Einstein spent the last twentyfive years of his life working on what he called a “unified field theory”. He hoped to find a common mathematical statement that could tie together all the different parts of physics. However, he did not succeed.
Albert Einstein died in 1955 at the age of seventysix.
1. What do we know about Albert Einstein in his childhood?| A．He was very clever. |
| B．He liked talking with people. |
| C．He was curious about new things. |
| D．He was good at inventing new things. |
a. He became a citizen of the United States.
b. He won the Nobel Prize in Physics.
c. He put forward his “General Theory of Relativity”.
d. He left Germany for the United States.
| A．d, b, c, a | B．d, a, c, b |
| C．b, c, d, a | D．c, b, d, a |
| A．Albert Einstein didn’t like asking questions at school. |
| B．Albert Einstein hated school for its strict rules. |
| C．Albert Einstein cared little about how he looked. |
| D．Albert Einstein’s lessons were too difficult to understand. |
| A．The life story of Albert Einstein. |
| B．The scientific discoveries of Albert Einstein. |
| C．Albert Einstein and his theories of relativity. |
| D．How Albert Einstein won great success in his life. |
8 . I am from Athens, Greece, and am currently a PhD law student at the University of Geneva (UNIGE). I once applied for an exchange semester in UNIGE in 2010. Completely satisfied with my short-term exchange experience, I decided to return and further advance my legal studies here.
Geneva offers an ideal (理想的) multicultural environment. Socialising with my international classmates was quite easy at the start, and I soon expanded my social network by joining several student groups that often organise activities! However, socialising with the local students seemed to be more difficult, perhaps because of the “temporary” status of the international students. As for my compatriots (同胞), Greeks, I met only a few, so there were not many chances to communicate in Greek. As a matter of fact, this turned out to be a plus, because I managed to significantly improve my skills in French and English.
UNIGE has a very efficient administration structure that goes beyond the enrolment (登记入学) procedure. The capable staff were very helpful with official documents, the residence permit and other procedural issues. In advance of my arrival, they had provided me with practical information and guidance, including lists of student residences and particular rooms I could rent. Upon arrival, we were properly guided through well-organised orientation days (迎新日), informative meetings, and advanced language courses.
As I progressed with my studies, I greatly appreciated courses and classes being interactive and not purely theoretical, with opportunities for written essay assignments, educational trips and conferences. The majority of courses were taught in French while only a few were offered in English. The professors were highly respected in their field.
I would describe Geneva as a relatively small “metropolis” — an international business centre, where so many global organisations operate. Yet, despite all this business activity, Geneva remains human‑scaled and friendly to its inhabitants (居民) who, any time and only by travelling a short distance, may easily benefit from calm open areas and the incomparable lakefront. The quality of life and the vast professional and academic activities attract a great number of foreigners who come for work or studies. Personally, I had the opportunity to gain a lot of professional experience in my area of interest.
1. How did the author feel about socialising less with her compatriots?| A．It annoyed her intensely. |
| B．It saved much of her precious time. |
| C．It contributed to her foreign language learning. |
| D．It prevented her developing interpersonal skills. |
| A．They carried out work with an inflexible attitude. |
| B．They focused entirely on student residence permits. |
| C．They helped and supported students wholeheartedly. |
| D．They taught international students language courses. |
| A．It is a thickly populated city. |
| B．It has a highly varied geography. |
| C．It has a fiercely competitive business atmosphere. |
| D．It is resident-friendly with an international character. |
9 . If given the choice of traveling by train or plane, which would you choose? If you choose the train, chances are you’re a railfan.
Railfans can see Japan’s famous bullet trains(高速火车)in the Kyoto Railway Museum in Kyoto, Japan. These trains were the first in Japan’s high- speed train revolution(变革). America’s trains are shown in the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, Wisconsin.
A great train ride or visit to a railway museum may be enough to turn anyone into a railfan!
| A．They have trains on the brain! |
| B．Railfans don’t just like to ride trains. |
| C．Arailfan is someone who loves trains. |
| D．Most city train stations are in the center of town. |
| E．For most railfans, a journey by train is a reason to get excited. |
| F．Another journey goes through the heart of Australia from Adelaide to Darwin. |
| G．Fans can walk among trains that sent goods and people across the United States. |
10 . Hello everyone! Meet my new friend Marco.He says Ciao! This means hello in his language. Marco traveled with me this month. When he showed me his country on the map, I was attracted by its shape. It looks like a high-heeled boot(高跟靴) in the Mediterranean Sea that’s kicking a strange-shaped ball. Can you find the name of this ball on the world map?
Marco told me that he loves cars and that his country is well-known for super-fast cars like Ferrari,Lamborghini, Alfa Romeo, and Maserati. Isn’t it cool? The people also love soccer here.They call it “Calcio.” He told me that they have won four World Cups. The most recent win was in 2006! When he shared this with me, he was very excited and full of pride.
We visited the country’s capital and I was amazed to find that it was more than 2500 years old! We walked around and soon it was time for dinner. Marco told me that people there eat pasta (意大利面食) at least once a day. The different sauces and toppings(酱汁和佐料)mean they never get bored of it. Also, they love including seasonal vegetables in their dinners. I couldn’t wait to enjoy the pizza and pasta with different toppings and sauces. The cappuccino and focaccia bread also made me happy. It’s no wonder that the world has adopted (采用) so much of their food! The people in this country celebrate many holidays and enjoy eating big meals with their family. The festive atmosphere (节日氛围) makes everyone happy.
I was lucky to travel to this country in March and enjoy the Bologna Children’s Book Fair, or La fiera del Libro per Ragazzi. It is held for four days every year. We also visited the Colosseum, Panthon, and the Leaning Tower of Pisa, which was really wonderful!Before I said goodbye to Marco, I made a promise to visit again. Can you guess the name of this country?
1. What did the author mention to describe Marco’s country in the first paragraph?| A．Its shape. | B．Its population. | C．Its industries. | D．Its national sport. |
| A．Sad. | B．Proud. | C．Worried. | D．Thankful. |
| A．It is mixed with a lot of foreign food. | B．It has spread around the world. |
| C．It makes Marco feel bored. | D．It is very simple. |
| A．To show a friendship. | B．To celebrate a festival. |
| C．To introduce a country. | D．To explain a cultural difference. |
