1 . If a pancake could dream, it might long for legs so it could jump off your breakfast plate in pursuit of a better, unchewed life. But legs aren’t necessary for something as flat as a pancake to jump around. A group of scientists have designed a pancake-shaped robot that can jump several times per second and higher than seven times its body height. The new robot named Hop, which swiftly jumps without feet, is an important contribution to the soft robotics.
Many ground robots move by rolling or walking. But it’s more efficient for robots to jump over obstacles (障碍物) than to go around them. Although jumping can offer some robots a competitive edge, engineering that ability has been a challenge for robotics researchers. Some soft robots that store energy can perform a single impressive jump very infrequently. Some lightweight soft robots that don’t store energy can jump frequently but can’t jump high or far enough to successfully cross an obstacle.
For inspiration, the researchers looked to gall midge larvae (瘿蚊幼虫) that miraculously throw themselves across distances 30 times as long as their loglike bodies. A gall midge larva bends its body and squeezes the liquid in its body to one end, making it rigid (僵硬的). The accumulation of liquid builds up pressure, and releasing the pressure sends it soaring (飙升). The robot’s body doesn’t resemble (像) that of a gall midge larva, but it jumps like one. Its body is made of two small plastic bags printed with electrodes; the front bag is filled with liquid and the back one is filled with the same volume of air. The robot uses electricity to drive the flow of liquid, which causes the body to bend and generate force with the ground, resulting in a jump. And the air bag imitates the function of an animal’s tail, helping the robot keep a stable position.
While the robot is currently restricted to Earth, it might be right at home exploring another planet. If this is true, the researchers robot might jump over dusty rocks and large holes on the moon or Mars, going where no pancake has gone before.
1. What does the author want to show by mentioning a pancake?A.A pancake’s dream to have legs is unrealistic. |
B.A robot is capable of serving a good pancake. |
C.A pancake-shaped robot can jump without legs. |
D.Research on pancakes advances our understanding of robots. |
A.Hop’s avoiding an obstacle. | B.Hop’s moving around by rolling. |
C.Hop’s performing one remarkable jump. | D.Hop’s jumping high and far continuously. |
A.They are shaped like logs. |
B.They have tails to change positions. |
C.They bend their bodies and increase force. |
D.They are filled with liquid and have rigid bodies. |
A.Intolerant. | B.Positive. | C.Indifferent. | D.Ambiguous. |
2 . Native to forests of Central and South America, glass frogs in the Centrolenidae family get their name from their skin and muscles that help them be perfectly fit to live in their jungle environment. Turn the frogs over, where the effect is the most impressive, and you’ll make out their hearts, livers, and other organs through their hyaline stomachs.
And in a study published in the journal Science, researchers have discovered an amazing mechanism (机制) the animals use to become so clear.
When glass frogs go to sleep, they take in 89 percent of their brightly colored red blood cells into sacs (液囊) in their livers, which reflect incoming light and make the frogs appear nearly unseen. With their red blood cells out of view, the frogs become twice to three times more clear -a trick scientists believe helps the animals avoid being killed and eaten by their natural enemies.
“The trick is really hard to do, because their tissues are full of things that take in and spread light. And transparency (透明) is normal for many creatures in water, but hard on land,” says study co-author Jesse Delia. “Red blood cells also take in a lot of light, and we found that the frogs can actually hide themselves by packing them into the liver.”
Not only are the findings interesting, but the researchers attach great importance to them. That’s because many red blood cells in one place usually form a clot (血块), which can block and lead to a potentially life-threatening condition. But the frogs can seemingly clot and expand their red blood cells at will — without any negative effects. This may mean the animals already have what medical researchers have been seeking for decades: a biological mechanism which prevents too much bleeding while also preventing too much clotting.
1. What does the underlined word “hyaline” mean in paragraph 1?A.See-through. | B.Powerful. | C.Narrow. | D.Good-looking. |
A.The frogs fit in their environment better. |
B.Sacs filled with red blood cells make the frogs clear. |
C.Red blood cells in the frogs’ liver reflect light. |
D.The frogs are able to take in a lot of bright colors. |
A.Interesting. | B.Unusual. | C.Normal. | D.Annoying. |
A.They help cure serious diseases. |
B.They are a blessing for wild animals. |
C.They can lead to advances in medicine. |
D.They will prevent all clotting and bleeding. |
3 . Although most empty plastic bottles are thrown, there are actually many other ways you can reuse them other than drinking.
When making biscuits, did you just realize you didn’t have any tools to cut them? You just need a small or large plastic bottle depending on your needs. First cut the bottle into half.
Do you find it challenging to separate eggs?
Want to remove flies in your garden safely? Use plastic bottles. Cut the bottle into half and place a sweet syrup (糖浆) at the bottom. Then place the top in the bottom so that the bottle mouth faces down. The fly will be attracted to the smell and fly into the bottle hole. Once in the bottle, the fly will climb through a narrow opening without thinking about how to get out and eventually dies.
Air conditionerSometimes, the fan removes hot air and does not cool the room but now we have a solution!
A.The trap |
B.The harm of flies |
C.Pour the water out from the large bottles |
D.You can solve this problem with plastic bottles |
E.Fill two large bottles with water and turn into ice |
F.And then you just take one of two parts to cut the cookies |
G.They allow you to recycle creatively for a variety of purposes |
4 . Florida is a desirable place to retire because of the suitable cost of living and location close to the beach. In addition, it has provided different kinds of services to support the retirement community. Here are some best Florida cities for retirement.
MiamiPopulation: about 605,800
Share of population age 65+: 18.2%
Median monthly rent: about $1,500
Miami has higher housing and costly health care, so seniors retiring in Miami need to face the higher cost of living. However, it offers retirees plenty of activities. It’s more expensive, but the rich cultural experience, dining, shopping, and health care services are top-tier.
Fort MyersPopulation: about 752,200
Share of population age 65+: 28.4%
Median monthly rent: about $1,300
Fort Myers scored well on the desirability and happiness metrics (指标). Many retirees are able to comfortably afford a home, which frees up retirement income for other important expenses. Seniors in Fort Myers can create a relaxing beach retirement lifestyle, even on a limited budget.
TallahasseePopulation: about 382,700
Share of population age 65+: 14.6%
Median monthly rent: about $1,000
Tallahassee has four clear seasons, and its short winters are colder than the state’s coastal areas. Housing is more affordable here than in other Florida cities. Retirees can take classes at the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at Florida, or enjoy one of Tallahassee’s many museums, historic sites and parks.
OcalaPopulation: about 370,000
Share of population age 65+: 28.5%
Median monthly rent: about $990
This equestrian (马术) town is best known for award-winning horses. Retirees can attend horse shows and equestrian events and enjoy regular horseback rides. Ocala’s inexpensive housing makes it easy to relocate to the area. The Ocala National Forest has hundreds of lakes, rivers and springs where you can swim and fish.
1. What is an advantage of Miami?A.It offers services in a wide variety. | B.It gives the suitable cost of living. |
C.It provides discount housing. | D.It organizes volunteer activities. |
A.Miami. | B.Fort Myers. | C.Tallahassee. | D.Ocala. |
A.Create a beach retirement lifestyle. | B.Explore the depth of the forest. |
C.Visit many historic sites. | D.Take part in equestrian events. |
5 . About 12% of the total global energy demand comes from heating and cooling homes and businesses. A new study suggests that using underground water to maintain comfortable temperatures could reduce consumption of natural gas and electricity in this section by 40% in the US. The approach is called ATES, short for aquifer thermal energy storage(含水层热能储存).
“We need storage to absorb energy from the sun and wind. It’s crucial to creating affordable, reliable, and deeply environmental-friendly electricity systems. Most people are interested in batteries and other kinds of electrical storage. But we were wondering whether there was any opportunity to use geothermal (地热的) energy storage,” said first author A. T. D Perera. “With ATES, energy can be stored for a long period of time, without adding an additional burden to the grid (输电网).”
ATES is a pleasantly simple concept that takes advantage of the heat-absorbing property of water and the natural geological features of the planet. You simply pull existing underground water up and heat it at the surface in the summer with environmental heat or energy. Then you send it back down. It stays fairly hot because the Earth is a good insulator (绝热体).
“Unlike above-ground tank-based water or ice storage systems, ATES will not need space. It’s also more efficient and can support larger communities in cooling or heating than traditional geothermal heat pump systems that rely on heat moving with the underground soil,” added coauthor Hong Tianzhen.
A major benefit of ATES is that it will become more efficient as weather becomes more extreme in the coming years due to climate change. The hotter summers and severer winters could increase the amount of free thermal energy that can be stored with ATES. “It’s very much a realistic thing to do and this work is really about showing its value,” said Perera. “This technology is ready to go, so to speak. We just need to do it.”
1. What do we know about ATES?A.It is aimed at replacing natural energy. |
B.It mainly relies on batteries to function. |
C.It is technologically demanding. |
D.It helps achieve an environmental-friendly society. |
A.By giving examples. | B.By discussing results. |
C.By making comparisons. | D.By analyzing principles. |
A.Extreme weather. | B.Insulated materials. |
C.The time of storage. | D.The type of energy. |
A.A Turning Point in Energy Usage |
B.A Transformation in the US Electricity System |
C.A Solution to Green Cooling and Heating |
D.A Discovery About Geothermal Energy Storage |
6 . 2025 Illustration Competition
Enter the competition most respected and admired in the industry for creativity in illustration, the Communication Arts Illustration Competition. Selected by distinguished professionals, the winning entries will be distributed worldwide in the Communication Arts Illustration Annual and on commarts.com, ensuring important exposure of the creations. Each winner will receive a professionalized Award of Excellence, made from solid aluminum, and an award certificate. Communication Art’s Award of Excellence is one of the most desired awards. If chosen, winning places you in the highest ranks of your profession.
What To Enter WithAny illustration first published or produced from Jan. 2024 to Jan. 2025 is qualified. Entries may originate from any country. Description sin English are necessary for the judges to read.
Entries Can Be Submitted In The Following FormatsDigital Images: RGB images in JPG format with a maximum file size of 2 MB. GIF images maybe livelier but would be turned down, and so would the PNG ones.
Motion Entries: In MOV, MP4 or MPG format, with a maximum file size of 500 MB.
Illustration Competition Categories & Entry FeesCategory | Single illustration | Series of illustrations |
Books (covers, jackets, etc.) | $40 | $80 (limit of 5) |
Motion (media for films, videos, etc.) | $90 | $180 (limit of 3) |
Student Work | $20 (Image) $45 (Video) | $40 (Images, limit of 5) $90 (Video, limit of 3) |
For more categories, please download the category PDF.
Late FeesEntries must be registered no later than Jan.13, 2025. Entries registered after that date will be charged a fee of $10 each. No entries can be registered after Jan. 27, 2025.
1. What will the winner gain?A.A personalized award certificate. | B.Wide recognition in the industry. |
C.Several world-famous paintings. | D.A bonus from Communication Arts. |
A.A student work from Argentina. | B.An illustration made in May in 2024. |
C.A series for covers of three illustrations. | D.A PNG image with a file size of 1 MB. |
A.$ 80. | B.$ 90. | C.$ 110. | D.$150. |
7 . Social media allows teenagers to create online identities, communicate with others and build social networks. These networks can provide teenagers with valuable support. Teenagers also use social media for entertainment and self-expression. And the platforms can expose teenagers to current events, allow them to communicate across geographic barriers and touch them about different kinds of subjects. However, social media use can also, negatively affect teenagers, distracting them, influencing their sleep, and exposing them to bullying (恐吓), rumour (谣言) spreading, untrue views of other people’s lives and peer pressure.
There are steps you can take to encourage responsible use of social media and limit some of its negative effects.
Set reasonable limits. Talk to your teenager about how to avoid letting social media affect his or her activities, sleep, meals or homework. Encourage a bedtime routine that avoids electronic media use, and keep cellphones and iPads out of teenagers’ bedrooms. Set an example by following these rules yourself.
Monitor your teenager’s accounts. Let your teenager know that you’ll be regularly checking his or her social media accounts. You might aim to do so once a week or more. And make sure you follow through.
Explain what’s not OK. Discourage your teenager from gossiping, spreading rumour, bullying or damaging someone’s reputation — online or otherwise. Talk to your teenager about what is appropriate and safe to share on social media.
Encourage face-to-face contact with friends. This is particularly significant for teenagers who are easily hurt by social anxiety disorder.
Talk about social media. Talk about your own social media habits. Ask your teenager how he or she is using social media and how it makes him or her feel. Remind your teenager that social media is full of unrealistic images.
If you think your teenager is under the anxiety or depression related to social media use, talk to your child’s health care provider immediately.
1. How does the author mainly develop the first paragraph?A.By providing reasons. | B.By making comparison. |
C.By listing numbers. | D.By raising questions. |
A.Powering them off. | B.Putting them in the schoolbag. |
C.Listening to them instead of watching. | D.Keeping them out of bedroom. |
A.Teenagers’ social media accounts should never be checked by other people. |
B.It is not necessary to explain what is not good in social media. |
C.Face-to-face contact is no longer important for teenagers in the Internet era. |
D.You should ask for help if your teenager is experiencing the negative effects of social media. |
A.Parents. | B.Teenagers. | C.Officials. | D.Doctors. |
8 . No matter where you go around the globe, everybody loves to celebrate. And when it comes to celebration, festivals offer something for everyone.
Burning Man
Burning Man started in 1986. When Larry Harvey made an 8-foot tall wooden figure and lit it on fire, one of the world’s craziest parties was born.
Rio Carnival
Harbin International Ice & Snow Festival
Located in Northeast China, Harbin receives some seriously cold winter winds. This kind of weather makes it home to the largest ice statues in the world.
Dia de Los Muertos
Known in English as the Day of the Dead, the holiday begins on October 31.
A.In a word, this is an Asian celebration. |
B.There are different themes for the celebration. |
C.It takes place on the last Sunday in August. |
D.Rio Carnival takes place in February or March. |
E.It is all about getting together to remember friends and family who have died. |
F.Many celebration activities take over the entire city. |
G.Here’s a list for some amazing festivals in the world. |
9 . Pu’er is the home of the world-known tea of the same name. Since other tea-growing centers in Pu’er may have a larger output, more famous brands and heritage surrounding the history of the Tea-horse Ancient Road, Jingmai, also in Pu’er, nay not be people’s first choice to look for the best Pu’er Tea.
However, being cut off from the outside by rivers, this mountainous area has become a perfect place for an ancient planting technique, growing too trees under forest, known as the “under-story” method, which filters (过滤) sunshine while ensuring water.
Nan Kang, former head of Mangjing village, said, “Compared to modern plantations, we’ll surely produce less tea in the ancient forest. But we have to respect our tradition and belief. Birds eat insects to protect the tea and the fallen leaves from trees provide fertilizer. Everything improves the other, but also limits each other. It is the way of nature.”
Nan is an old-time Blang leader’s grandson. Following an old leader named Pa Aileng, his ancestors came to settle near the Jingmai Mountain centuries ago. It is believed that Pa Aileng found that tea leaves made his people recover from diseases they suffered from during their moving to other places, so the hero is also considered as a “tea ancestor”. Blang people chose a mountain to remember him. They call it Peak Aileng.
“We Blang people believe tea has its own spirit,” Nan says, “The first planted tea tree in every field is called the Tea Spirit Tree. That means the field has an owner. And the symbol also makes everyone follow moral codes and protect the plants.”
Now, this mountain of tea, also a storehouse of the time-tested traditions of local ethnic groups, attracts global attention. The Cultural Landscape of Old Tea Forests of the Jingmai Mountain in Pu’er was named as a World Heritage Site, becoming China’s 57th entry on the list.
1. What is Jingmai famous for in planting Pu’er Tea?A.A larger production. | B.The advanced technology. |
C.Its transport system. | D.Its unique planting method. |
A.It is widely used in China. | B.It was invented by Nan Kang. |
C.It follows the laws of nature. | D.It makes sure to produce more tea. |
A.Medical treatment. | B.Gifts for friends. |
C.Main food. | D.A kind of nice drink. |
A.The Export of Pu’er Tea | B.A Tea Planting Tradition to Treasure |
C.The Modern Plantations of Pu’er Tea | D.The Tea-drinking Habit of Blang People |
10 . An important lesson in the moral education of children could be as close as the book in their hands. Among all kinds of books, stories matter. They can play a role in building moral values in young audiences, according to the results of a new study.
Lindsay Hahn is the first author of the new study, which mainly explores how media content influences children. Many studies done before have focused on broad conceptualizations (概念化), like positive or negative effects of specific content, but Hahn’s study looks at how reading of content featuring specific moral values might influence the kids’ values. Do children reading particular moral, characteristics take in those qualities and build their own morality? The findings suggest so.
“Parents, caregivers, and teachers are often wondering how media can be used for good,” says Hahn. “How can it be used for good things? How can it discourage bad habits? How can it educate?” Answering those questions begins with a better understanding of how to use media. “When parents are considering what media they might want to select for their children, they can further deliberate what particular moral value is being stressed by the main character, and how the main character is treated because of those actions,” she says.
For the study, Hahn and her workmates took the main character from a young adult novel. They wrote the content to reflect the study’s focus on moral values. Those stories were shared with about 200 participants between the ages of 10 and 14. This is a favorable range for media research because it’s more difficult to introduce the understanding of stories to younger kids, while challenging to hold the attention of older teenagers, who become bored with basic storylines, according to Hahn.
1. What kind of book helps children develop their own moral values according to the new study?A.A poetry collection. | B.A travel guide. |
C.A storybook. | D.A reference book. |
A.The response of the public to Hahn’s study. |
B.The difference between Hahn’s study and previous studies. |
C.The big contribution of Hahn’s study to children’s literature. |
D.The negative effects of broad conceptualizations. |
A.Describe. | B.Improve. | C.Title. | D.Consider. |
A.A fashion magazine. | B.A sports report. |
C.An education magazine. | D.A medical report. |