1 . It’s easy for consumers to buy food and drinks like a bowl of hot rice and coke online or from neighbourhood shops, but for astronauts such things were impossible in the past.
Members of China’s Shenzhou manned space flight last year, however, were able to enjoy such food, thanks to Joyoung, a Chinese firm. Joyoung created a mobile space kitchen for the astronauts. A drinking water machine, an air heater and a soybean milk maker were all accessible in the kitchen through a smart app. Tang Hongbo, who was a member of the Shenzhou manned spacecraft said in the news that during his three-month trip, he could eat hot food with just half-hour efforts, a contrast to the past when similar attempts required several hours. “If we had time, we would also use equipment to eat homemade yogurt. We could also control the equipment in the space kitchen through mobile phone apps.” he said.
In the past, most foods couldn’t be directly heated in a microwave oven in the space. Conduction equipment often caused uneven (不均匀的) heating. An astronaut had to spend as long as four hours to heat some vegetables in the space kitchen. To solve the problem, Joyoung has developed equipment that gives out hot air to heat vegetables in a 360-degree way. That enables astronauts to eat steaming-hot fish-flavoured pork and Gongbao chicken, a spicy, stir-fried Chinese dish.
Besides Joyoung, a group of companies, including Xiaomi Coip and Huawei Technologies, have contributed their technologies to the development of the space station. A vacuum (真空) cleaner made haircuts on the spacecraft possible. NOLO VR, a Chinese virtual reality manufacturer, has helped astronauts develop an experimental equipment through which laboratory technicians on the ground can see and experience what astronauts are doing in space.
1. What do astronauts think of Joyoung’s mobile space kitchen?| A．Water-saving. | B．Energy-wasting. | C．Time-saving. | D．Money-wasting. |
| A．By making contrasts. | B．By analyzing results. |
| C．By providing pictures. | D．By answering questions. |
| A．Jayoung needs to further its technology. |
| B．What astronauts are doing is significant. |
| C．Astronauts on board can do as they wish. |
| D．There are more technologies for the spacecraft. |
| A．The Hot Diet on the Space Station Needs to be Addressed |
| B．Earth to Space, Firms Add Value by Creating Technology |
| C．Modern Technology Brings Convenience to Human Beings |
| D．Manufacturers Make Big Profits from Inventing Equipment |
2 . If you’re someone who has been worrying about the rise of the robots—hold on there just a second, and let them help you impress your friends with some newfound skills in a foreign language. Using artificial intelligence (AI) to help us learn and improve those skills is not new—some of the online language tools we turn to every day are powered by AI.
But as new technologies flood into the market, now is a great time to take advantage of the tech. And according to experts, these tools aren’t replacing teachers—they’re making their lives easier. One of the things that stops some of us from practicing speaking in a new language is a lack of self-confidence. AI can help—chatbots don’t judge you. Of course, teachers don’t either, but for some people, communicating with a bot may erase that fear of failure or shyness.
The latest chatbots use something called natural language processing that allows them to understand human speech or writing, providing a human-like response right away. While chatbots are extremely useful for learners working individually, teachers can also offer course material and ask an AI system to produce personalized textbooks for groups of students. The AI can also provide feedback (反馈) in seconds—gone are the days of waiting a week for work to be graded.
Past online language tools and games were able to tell you when you were wrong, but they weren’t always able to explain why. Now, not only has that changed, but the explanations are detailed and immediate. But this is not to underestimate the role of the teacher, who can use the technology to help learn more about the strengths and shortcomings of their students and personalize their teaching.
So, if you want to impress your friends with your perfect speech, don’t be afraid of AI. Just think of it as a useful tool for both teachers and language learners, which will give you more time and space to enjoy learning something new!
1. What is the main idea of the article?| A．The dangers of Al-robots. |
| B．The history of online language tools. |
| C．The benefits of AI in language learning. |
| D．The role of teachers in the modern classroom. |
| A．Because bots grade work faster. |
| B．Because bots provide textbooks. |
| C．Because bots are more knowledgeable. |
| D．Because bots may remove the fear of failure or shyness. |
| A．It saves time for teachers. | B．It reduces the cost of education. |
| C．It meets individual students’ needs. | D．It provides detailed lesson plans. |
| A．weakness. | B．awareness. | C．witness. | D．darkness. |
3 . Alpha, Beta, Delta…these Greek letters used to only appear in our math classes but are now popping up in news headlines.
Now, it’s Lambda. As the Delta variant spreads throughout communities in Asia, Europe and the United States, another variant, Lambda, is spreading rapidly throughout South America, Forbes reported on Aug 10.
On May 31, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced a naming system for variants of the coronavirus that uses letters of the Greek alphabet. Before that, the public had to call a variant its scientific name or refer to it based on where it was identified.
For example, a strain (菌株) of COVID-19 identified in South Africa in late 2020 was called variant 501Y. V2 or B. 1.351. Media also called the same virus. “the South African variant”. Now, everyone calls it “Beta”.
Compared to complicated scientific names, the Greek letters are much easier to remember. “It is a lot easier for a radio newsreader to say ‘Delta’ than bee-one-six-one-seven-two,” Jeffrey Barrett, a UK statistical geneticist told Nature.
WHO hopes this change will help combat the stigma (污名) associated with geography-based names. “I can understand why people just call it the South African variant-they don’t mean anything by it,” Salim Abdool Karim, an epidemiologist in South Africa, told Nature. “The problem is, if we allow it to continue, there are people who have an a goal and will use it.”
“No country should be stigmatized for detecting and reporting variants,” Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO’s COVID-19 technical lead, wrote on Twitter.
As the virus is still evolving, 11 mutations (变种) have been named as recently as Sept 1. What if the 24 Greek letters are not enough? “We will possibly run out of the Greek alphabet, but we’re already looking at the next series of names,” Van Kerkhove told The Telegraph. “We’re actually considering star constellations (星座).”
Currently, the Virus Evolution Working Group and WHO’s legal team are double checking proposals to “make sure we don’t upset anyone with these names”, Van Kerkhove told The Telegraph.
In the future, will there be a “Virgo variant” or an “Orion variant”? Let’s hope not, but only time will tell.
1. How did the Lambda variant get its name?| A．It was named after the place where it’s widespread. |
| B．It was named after a letter of the Greek alphabet. |
| C．It was named for a scientific term. |
| D．It was named after the place where it was identified. |
| A．Problems scientific variant names can cause. |
| B．The importance of reporting variants immediately. |
| C．Reasons for no longer naming variants after places. |
| D．Advantages of naming the variants after Greek letters. |
| A．The current naming system can cause legal problems. |
| B．There might be more variants than Greek letters. |
| C．People prefer to name variants after stars. |
| D．The current naming system caused confusion. |
| A．Renaming of COVID-19 variants |
| B．Greek letters that appear in the math classes |
| C．A strain of COVID-19 identified in South Africa |
| D．A battle of fighting against the stigma associated with geography-based names |
1. 门票可用手机移动支付；
2. 人脸识别进入景区；
3. 邀请他来体验。
注意: 1. 写作词数应为 80 左右；
2. 可适当增加细节, 以使行文连贯。
参考词汇：人脸识别 face recognition；移动支付 mobile payment；景区 tourist attractions
Dear Peter,
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours`
Li Hua
5 . On December 14, 1972, three NASA astronauts (宇航员) left the moon. Two had just completed their stay there for NASA’s Apollo 17 mission (任务）. During that time, astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt walked across the lunar (月球的) surface. Meanwhile, astronaut Ronald Evans kept control of the command module. When the astronauts returned to Earth, they became the last humans to visit the moon.
Now, about 50 years later, astronauts are getting ready to go back. But this time will be different. On November 16, 2022, NASA launched (发射) its Artemis 1. The agency’s new Space Launch System rocket lifted off in Florida and began its first voyage toward the moon. No one was on board. But the mission tested new technologies that eventually will bring astronauts back to the moon, including the first woman.
Jose Hurtado, an expert at the University of Texas at El Paso, said, “It was a great launch. What I love is about space exploration, so it was really stirring.” He found it an inspirational view, hoping everybody watching it got that inspiration.
NASA’s Apollo program took place in the 1960s and 1970s.Its crewed missions to the moon ran from 1968 to 1972. In July 1969, the Apollo 11 mission landed the first astronaut on the moon. Over the next few years, five more flights brought 10 more American men to the sky.
Once Apollo ended, NASA shifted its focus to space stations as preparation for longer human spaceflights. America’s first space station, Skylab, launched in May 1973, hosted four crews of astronauts that year and the next. But Skylab was meant to be only a temporary station. Within several years, it broke apart in the atmosphere.
NASA astronauts won’t be the only people exploring the lunar surface. China aims to land its own astronauts at the moon’s south pole within the next decade.
1. When did the last Apollo moon landing happen?| A．In 1968. | B．In 1969. | C．In 1972. | D．In 1973. |
| A．To test an American new rocket. |
| B．To land at the moon’s south pole. |
| C．To build America’s first space station. |
| D．To prepare for man’s return to the moon. |
| A．Tiring. | B．Simple. | C．Similar. | D．Exciting. |
| A．China’s inspiration of getting to the moon. |
| B．NASA started to focus on the space station. |
| C．China’s efforts to send astronauts to the moon. |
| D．NASA astronauts explored the lunar surface. |
6 . India’s robotic spacecraft landed on the moon undamagedly on August 23, 2023, a historic achievement for the country’s growing space program.
The Chandrayaan-3 mission is the first ever to touch down at the lunar south pole. Many nations and private companies have set their sights on the region because of its ice, thought to be buried in the polar craters. The natural resources are coveted because they could supply drinking water, air, and rocket fuel for future missions, ushering a new era in spaceflight.
The success also means India has been one of countries who have landed a spacecraft on the moon. The victory comes four years after India’s previous mission, Chandrayaan-2, crashed.
An Indian official, who watched the live stream from Johannesburg, South Africa, said, “On this joyous occasion, I would like to address all the people of the world: India’s successful moon mission is not just India’s alone. This success belongs to all humanity.”
About 60 years have passed since the first unpiloted (无人驾驶的) moon landings, but touching down is still demanding. The moon’s atmosphere is very thin, providing virtually no drag to slow a spacecraft down as it approaches the ground. Furthermore, there are no GPS systems on the moon to help guide a craft to its landing spot. Engineers have to make up for these shortcomings from about 239,000 miles away.
Over the past four years, private companies and other nations have tried and failed. But perhaps now there’s more hope.
The Indian official said, “I’m confident that all countries in the world including those from the global south are capable of achieving such a success. We can all aspire (渴望) to the moon and beyond.”
1. What does the underlined word “coveted” in paragraph 2 mean?| A．Desired. | B．Legal. | C．Tough. | D．Balanced. |
| A．It was connected by Chandrayaan-3. |
| B．It landed on the south surface of the moon. |
| C．It was the first to touch down at the south pole. |
| D．It fell and broke when carrying out space mission. |
| A．The unfamiliar preens for scientists. |
| B．The materials used to make the spaceship. |
| C．The shortage of previous successful cases. |
| D．The limitation of the moon’s atmosphere and technology. |
| A．Indifferent. | B．Positive. | C．Objective. | D．Doubtful. |
7 . China’s Chang’e 5 spacecraft, tasked with bringing lunar rock samples to Earth, successfully landed on the Moon on December 1st, 2020. The 8,200 kg spacecraft, launched from China’s Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site on November 23, 2020, entered the satellite’s orbit on November 28th, 2020.
Within 19 hours of landing, the probe (空间探测器) gathered about 2k g of rocks and soil by drilling almost 2 meters deep into the lunar surface using its robotic arm. The sample-filled jar was placed in the ascender vehicle (上升器), which left the Moon’s surface and entered the lunar orbit on December 3rd, 2020. Then, in a historic first, the ascender and Chang’e 5 orbiter spacecraft successfully came together on December 6, 2020, to complete the first-ever robotic rendezvous and docking (交会和对接) in lunar orbit.
“In terms of the space tasks that humans have performed so far, only the Apollo program missions have completed the rendezvous and docking in lunar orbit. However, uncrewed rendezvous and docking have never been done before us,” Peng Jing told Chinese media ahead of the attempt.
With the rock samples safely transferred to the return capsule, the Chang’ e 5 spacecraft continued to circle the Moon for a few days before beginning its 112-hour journey back to Earth. The spacecraft landed in the Ulanqab region of Inner Mongolia, China, on the early morning of December 17th, 2020. Up to now, China has become the third country, after the US and Russia, to successfully get back lunar rocks. More importantly, the 1.2 billion-year-old samples are the youngest-ever obtained from the satellite. The novel space souvenirs, the first collected in 44 years, can give scientists a better understanding of the Moon’s formation and provide important insights into how Earth and the solar system evolved.
1. What did Chang’ e 5 do after landing on the Moon?| A．It drilled for rocks and soil. | B．It took photos of the surface. |
| C．It sent data back to the earth. | D．It analyzed rock samples soon. |
| A．To show that he takes great pride. | B．To introduce the Apollo program. |
| C．To inform us of rendezvous and docking. | D．To compare the differences of two tasks. |
| A．Explore more into the earth. | B．Store them as good souvenirs. |
| C．Know the evolution of the moon. | D．Compete with the US and Russia. |
| A．Entertainment. | B．Health. | C．Education. | D．Science. |
8 . Researchers at the University of Sussex, Imperial College London and Nanyang Technological University in Singapore have for the first time used game theory (博弈论) to allow robots to assist humans safely and variously.
The research team used adaptive control (自适应控制) and Nash equilibrium (纳什均衡) to program a robot that can understand its human users’ behavior in order to better foresee their movements and respond to them. The researchers believe the breakthrough could make robots help humans do things better in many areas, such as sport training, body recovery or shared driving.
Lead author Dr Yanan Li, Lecturer in Control Engineering at the University of Sussex, said, “It is still very early days in the development of robots and at present, those robots for work are not intuitive enough to work closely and safely with human users. By allowing the robot to identify human users’ behavior and make use of game theory to let the robot react to them in the best way, we have developed a system where robots can work along with humans as humans do.”
To successfully apply game theory to the interaction of a robot and its human users, the researchers had to overcome the problem that the robot cannot know the humans’ intentions. The researchers thus had to develop a method allowing the robot to identify the human partner while safely and efficiently interacting with their motion.
The reactive robotic programming system allows a robot to continuously learn the human users’ control and adapt its own control accordingly. The robot is able to understand the human users’ action and then respond to it and help them to perform tasks successfully with minimal effort.
Professor Etienne Burdet, senior author of the paper, added: “Game theory has had important influences on economics during the last century and lead to several Nobel prizes.”
1. What can be known about the programmed robot according to paragraph 2?| A．It goes out of style quickly. |
| B．It is no better than other robots. |
| C．It can help humans in many ways. |
| D．It never knows its human users’ control goals. |
| A．know the human’s intentions | B．respond to the human users’ action |
| C．work along with humans closely and safely | D．complete tasks perfectly with the least effort |
| A．The human users’ hand gestures. | B．The human users’ facial expressions. |
| C．The method of using the game theory. | D．The reactive robotic programming system. |
| A．How did game theory come into being? |
| B．Game theory has important influences on sport training |
| C．How can game theory bring humans and robots closer? |
| D．Game theory can make a big difference to body recovery |
Liu Genghong, a Taiwan-born singer, has
Chinese musician Jay Chou’s songs often serve
Many netizens even joked that
10 . For most people, getting to the stars is nothing more than a dream. On 28 April 2001, Dennis Tito achieved that lifelong goal-but he wasn’t a typical astronaut. Tito, a wealthy businessman, paid $20 million for a seat on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to be the first tourist to visit the International Space Station. Only seven people have followed suit in the 20 years since, but that number is about to double in the next 12 months alone.
NASA has long been hesitant to play host to space tourists, so Russia has been the only choice available for those who look for this kind of extreme adventure. However, it seems the rise of private space companies is going to make it easier for regular people to experience space.
Personally, I see the beginning of an age when more people can experience space. With companies like Space X and Blue Origin hoping to build a future for humanity in space, space tourism is a way to prove both the safety and reliability of space travel to the general public.
Flights to space like Dennis Tito’s are expensive for a reason. A rocket must burn a lot of expensive fuel to travel high and fast enough to enter Earth’s orbit.
Another cheaper possibility is a suborbital (亚轨道) launch, with the rocket going high enough to reach the edge of space and coming right back down. While passengers on a suborbital trip experience weightlessness and incredible views, these launches are more accessible.
To our joy, three companies led by billionaire CEOs have emerged as the major players: Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin, and Space X.
Now, Space X has two tourist launches planned. These trips will be costly, at $55 million for the flight. Blue Origin’s and Virgin Galactic’s suborbital trips are far more reasonable in cost, with both priced between $200, 000 and $250. 000. Though these prices are high, it is worth considering that Dennis Tito’s $20 million ticket in 2001 could pay for 100 flights on Blue Ongin soon. The experience of viewing the Earth from space, though, may prove to be priceless for a whole new generation of space explorers.
1. What makes’ space travel easier for common people?| A．Russia’s exploration in space. |
| B．NASA’s accepting space tourists. |
| C．The first space tour made by Dennis Tito. |
| D．The appearance of private space companies. |
| A．Positive. | B．Curious. |
| C．Worried. | D．Doubtful. |
| A．It’s not a real launch. | B．It offers a better view. |
| C．It makes people travel further. | D．It provides the same experience. |
| A．They are relatively cheaper. | B．They are planned by Space X. |
| C．They are not worth the money. | D．They are affordable to the public. |
