1 . Packaging can play a greater role in keeping produce and other foods fresh, therefore minimizing food waste — especially if consumers can better understand those packaging technologies. That’s among the takeaways of research led by Michigan State University (MSU)’s School of Packaging, detailed in a recently released white paper.
In the United States, food waste in landfills doubled from 1990 to 2020, according to data shared by the US Environmental Protection Agency this year. Researchers cited data showing 40% of the food supply is wasted each year, with 43% of that happening at the consumer or household level.
Ameripen, the only organization exclusively focused on US public policy for the entire packaging industry, and the Environmental Research & Education Foundation funded research that included a survey of more than 1,000 people in the United States. Ameripen said it wanted to know what role packaging could play in reducing household food waste as well as understand consumer awareness of food packaging’s value and functions.
The survey asked consumers about their understanding of packaging forms and willingness to pay more for packaging designed to reduce food waste, among other areas.
The study found that whole fruits and vegetables, particularly bananas and lettuce, are the foods most wasted by households, with dairy products, prepared packaged foods and leftovers also common culprits (罪魁祸首). “Half-eaten packaged food products and food without packaging that went bad before it was eaten are the two primary reasons for food waste in American households, indicating there is opportunity for improved packaging design to help consumers with extending shelf life, reuse and size,” the white paper states.
Researchers reported that while consumers’ current understanding of packaging technologies was “limited”, they indicated “they would pay more for food contained in packaging that extends freshness and shelf life.”
“There’s a need to design packaging for produce that is currently not packaged; that most of the produce in this study was wasted is because there is no packaging at all,” MSU’s Korey Fennel said during the webinar (网络研讨会), also noting the importance of “intelligent packaging” that could indicate the shelf life of food products.
1. What does the underlined word “minimizing” in the first paragraph mean?| A．Showing. | B．Continuing. | C．Recovering. | D．Reducing. |
| A．Summarize the previous paragraph. | B．Provide some advice for the readers. |
| C．Add some background information. | D．Introduce a new topic for discussion. |
| A．By making observations. | B．By asking questions. |
| C．By carrying out experiments. | D．By referring to former studies. |
| A．Cautious. | B．Unclear. | C．Critical. | D．Favorable. |
2 . Estefanía Rebellón was once a migrant (流动的) child. She was 10 when her family fled Cali, Colombia, because of death threats to her father, who had been forced into hiding. They settled in Miami. Despite the challenges she faced as a migrant child, she was lucky to have teachers who advocated for her and guided her along the way.
Rebellón moved from Miami to Los Angeles when she was 21 to pursue an acting career. In 2018, she was so moved after volunteering in migrant camps in Tijuana that she put her career on hold. “There were no schools set up to help these kids. They were walking around the camps barefoot,” she said.
Rebellón and her partner Kyle Schmidt used about $1,000 of their savings to buy tents and supplies and set up a makeshift (临时的) school at the border. They enlisted volunteer teachers to provide learning opportunities in the camps. In the months that followed, when those families living in the camps were moved to shelters, Rebellón and Schmidt wanted to continue offering educational services.
“I thought, ‘Why don’t we turn a bus into a mobile classroom, and we could take it to all the different shelters?’” Rebellón said. Over the next year, Rebellón and Schmidt bought and transformed a bus, partnered with shelters, and drove the bus over the border.
In 2019, she co-founded the Yes We Can World Foundation, a nonprofit organization that believes every child has the right to education and safe spaces regardless of their location, current legal status or economic background.
Rebellón’s organization hires professional teachers and tailors their curriculum (课程) to the specific needs of each student. “The program has been officially approved by the education secretary in Mexico and serves children aged 3 to 15 — a crucial period for education,” Rebellón said.
Today, the Yes We Can World Foundation educates 250 — 300 kids a day through its four school locations along the border and three mobile school buses. “Since 2019, the group has served more than 3,100 migrant children from 10 countries,” Rebellón said.
1. What can be learned about Rebellón from the first paragraph?| A．She received death threats. | B．Her teachers helped her a lot. |
| C．She was forced into hiding. | D．Her acting career began early. |
| A．She should value her hard-won life. |
| B．Children could be happy in any environment. |
| C．Migrant kids lacked opportunities for schooling. |
| D．She was lucky to have the ability to help others. |
| A．To set the scene for her show. |
| B．To realize her childhood dream. |
| C．To give full play to the value of a bus. |
| D．To offer children convenient access to education. |
| A．It’s far-reaching. | B．It’s predictable. |
| C．It’s short-lived. | D．It’s unidentifiable. |
1. What can the students read in the No.1 Reading Room?
| A．Books in Chinese. |
| B．Books in foreign languages. |
| C．Newspapers and magazines. |
| A．On the first floor. | B．On the second floor. | C．On the third floor. |
| A．The No.2 Reading Room. | B．The No.4 Reading Room. | C．The Reference Materials Center. |
| A．For two weeks. | B．For a month. | C．For five weeks. |
1. Why does the woman say thanks to the man?
| A．He is driving her around. |
| B．He introduced a friend to her. |
| C．He recommended a job to her. |
| A．It is far from the supermarket. |
| B．It has an old-fashioned kitchen. |
| C．It is unaffordable for the woman. |
| A．Sell their apartment. | B．Look for a roommate. | C．Share a room with the woman. |
1. Why does Sarah feel sad?
| A．She has lost her cat. |
| B．She has quarreled with her friend. |
| C．The schoolwork is so hard for her. |
| A．Get a new cat. | B．Look for Tony. | C．Read a book. |
| A．Get home early. | B．Focus on her lessons. | C．Talk to Miss Lennon. |
6 . Not unlike the wings of airplanes, the blades (叶片) of wind turbines (涡轮机) need to be kept ice-free in order to function properly. Scientists have now developed an inexpensive method of using drones (无人机) to apply an eco-friendly anti-icing coating (涂层) to those blades.
If too much ice builds up on wind turbine blades, they will turn more slowly, producing less energy. What’s more, if an equal amount of ice isn’t present on all three blades, the turbine’s balance may be thrown off, leading to increased wear and possibly even disastrous failure.
There are anti-icing heating systems that can be built into the blades, but these may be beyond the financial means of many wind farm (风电场) operators. The same can be said for using helicopters to apply ice-prevention chemicals.
Seeking a more economical but still effective alternative, scientists from two branches of Germany’s Fraunhofer research group recently started looking to drones. The research project is known as “TURBO: Temporary coating by means of drones — Icing protection of wind turbines as a case study”.
In the current version of the resulting system, a hexacopter drone is equipped with a small pump that delivers anti-icing liquid. The liquid is sprayed (喷洒) at high pressure — which is just 0. 3 mm wide — producing tiny droplets with a diameter of 100 micrometers.
Using this setup, the drone has successfully been used to apply coatings of the droplets onto the edges of wind turbine blades, even at wind speeds of up to 35 km/h (22 mph). Once solidified (固化/凝固), those coatings prevent ice formation for several weeks before a fresh coating is applied.
The scientists are now seeking industry partners to help commercialize (商业化) the TURBO technology. It could also find use in the maintenance (维护) of power lines, the upper levels of tall buildings, or other things that are difficult to reach by conventional means.
1. What is paragraph 2 mainly about?| A．Problems caused by icing. | B．The process of ice formation. |
| C．Disasters brought about by drones. | D．The function of wind turbines. |
| A．Ineffective. | B．Unnecessary. | C．Expensive. | D．Dangerous. |
| A．It has a wider range of applications. |
| B．It is a relatively traditional approach. |
| C．It can solve the problem once and for all (一劳永逸). |
| D．It is more costly than using ice-prevention chemicals. |
| A．The Advantages of Using Wind Energy |
| B．Drones Protect Wind Turbines From Icing |
| C．Wind Turbines Remove Ice on Their Own |
| D．A Major Breakthrough in Drone Technology |
7 . In Paris, you only need to see the Louvre, right? Wrong! There’s so much more to see in one of the world’s greatest cities for arts and culture! In this article, discover the best museums to visit in Paris.
Louis Vuitton Foundation
The architecture of this building alone makes a visit worth it. The building was designed by famous architect Frenk Gehry. There are works of art by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Ellsworth Kelly, Olafur Eliasson, Gilbert & George, Jeff Koons, and many others. The admission ticket costs€16.
Hours: Mon-Sat, 10:00 am-6:00 pm (closed Sundays)
Paris Museum of Modern Art
The museum has a few huge works of art and a ton of other eye-catchers. It is technically free to visit, but they ask for a non-mandatory (非强制性的) donation of €5 to see the permanent artworks.
Hours: Tues—Sun, 10:00 am—6:00 pm (closed Mondays)
Musée National Picasso-Paris
The museum is home to thousands of Picasso works. Unlike the Rodin Museum, which contains works from many artists, the Picasso Museum keeps its collection closely tied to the master. The admission ticket costs€14.
Hours: Tues—Fri,10:00 am—6:30 pm; Sat and Sun, 9:30 am—6:00 pm (closed Mondays)
Musée Marmottan Monet
Similar to the Picasso Museum, the Monet Museum is mostly about Monet. The museum is only what it is today thanks to Michel Monet’s famous donation of his father’s remaining works of art. Admissions will run you from€9 to€14.
Hours: Tues—Sun,10:00 am—6:00 pm, late nights on Thursdays until 9:00 pm (closed Mondays).
1. Who was the designer of Louis Vuitton Foundation?| A．Frenk Gehry. | B．Ellsworth Kelly. | C．Olafur Eliasson. | D．Jeff Koons. |
| A．€10. | B．€18. | C．€28. | D．€32. |
| A．At 6:00 pm on Monday. | B．At 9:30 am on Thursday. |
| C．At 10:00 pm on Saturday. | D．At 10:00 am on Sunday. |
Xu Xiake was born in 1587.
China has more famous explorers. There was: Zhang Qian, who traveled into Central Asia during the second century BC, opening a trade road that became
“On the surface, Xu’s travels can neither be classified as great affairs of state
Scholar Julian Ward agrees, describing the lonely Chinese wanderer like the Middle Kingdom’s version of John Muir: “Deep in love with nature and eager to find freedom
“The few coins
My friend invited me to a trapeze (高空秋千) class. I was doubtful because of a lack of courage and a short of self-confidence, but her enthusiasm and assurances of strict safety rules won me over.
I had been fearful of heights since elementary school and avoiding my fear of heights became second nature. But here I was, at age twenty-six, facing my fear of heights in a rather extreme way. I had come around to the idea of trying trapeze. I figured it wasn’t much different from swinging (舞动) on the monkey bars as a kid. One difficulty I didn’t expect was the ladder (梯子). In order to reach the trapeze, I had to climb up a twenty-two-foot ladder.
I could hear one of my classmates expressing her impatience with my slow climb up the ladder. “If she’s afraid of heights, why did she sign up for a trapeze class?” However, my friend was at the top of the ladder, trying to encourage me. Besides, his distraction techniques helped to take my mind off my dangerous task. I found a rhythm(节奏) and kept going. With a slow and steady pace, I made it to the top. The cheers from my classmates rang out below.
An instructor told me to step to the edge of the platform. He reminded me of the safety rules, including the net below that would catch me at the bottom. He also asked me to listen to the directions while in the air, so I could perform a trick.
As the instructor counted down, I took a deep breath and pushed off the platform, swinging back and forth. At that moment, I lost awareness of time and space. Fortunately, the instructor’s voice came over the loudspeaker, giving me step-by-step instructions for performing a trick. Instead of doubting my inability to perform the trick, I took his directions one step at a time.
注意：1. 续写词数应为150个左右;2. 请按如下格式在答题卡的相应位置作答。
During my flight on the trapeze, my fear didn’t completely leave me.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________This experience opened up a new way of seeing myself and approaching other challenges.
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