1 . Science is increasingly central to our lives — from its role in creating day-to-day objects such as the smartphones in our pockets, to the big challenges of tackling disease, addressing climate change and focusing on biodiversity loss.
Many of the changes that the discipline brings are hugely beneficial, but they often come with potential downsides that demand public debate. Will artificial intelligence take people’s jobs or destroy elections with false news? How fast can we practically achieve a net zero economy?
For the crucial public debate that is needed on all this to take place, we must have a scientifically literate population. But there is a divide between the scientifically minded and those who choose not to engage with science.
It saddens me that our culture now views science as difficult, which discourages many from taking an interest in it. A British Science Association (BSA) survey recently suggested that only around a third of 14- to 18-year-olds find scientists inspirational or consider the subject to be relevant to their lives.
In fact, science is interlinked with every aspect of our existence and people from all walks of life and of all ages should be able to access it easily. The invention of the printing press was crucial to the Enlightenment because it democratised (普及) knowledge. So, in this increasingly science-centred world, the same attention should be given to popular science writing as is given to other forms of literature.
The Royal Society Science Book Prize is the only one in the world to promote popular science writing. Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time, which was shortlisted (把……列入入围名单) for the prize in 1989, was written for readers who had no prior knowledge of physics and has since become a universally recognised text on the universe.
Democratising science has never been more important. There are so many scientific stories to be told that can help us better understand ourselves. A society equipped with a solid understanding of the issues of the day is a society more able to respond to them in a better way.
1. What does the underlined part “all this” in paragraph 3 refer to?| A．Beneficial scientific advancements. |
| B．Challenges facing human beings. |
| C．Potential downsides of science. |
| D．Disagreements between scientists and the public. |
| A．They have great respect for scientists. |
| B．They feel disconnected from science. |
| C．They know little about the Enlightenment. |
| D．They wish to land a career in the scientific field. |
| A．It won an international book prize. |
| B．It focused on important life issues. |
| C．It was written by a highly-honoured author. |
| D．It democratised knowledge about the universe. |
| A．The crisis of science in our modern life |
| B．We must rely on science to tackle our problems |
| C．Popular science books have never been more important |
| D．Public debate about science could never be more necessary |
2 . Volunteers are the lifeblood of nonprofit (非营利的) organizations, but COVID-19 makes it difficult for them to take part, especially for older people. As a result, nonprofit organizations are meeting the challenge of finding new, safe ways to engage with older volunteers.
“COVID-19 has been a real blow to most communities, seriously blocking volunteer participation, but our society needs the talent of these people,” said Marc Freedman, the founder of Encore.org, a nonprofit trying to bridge generational divides. “We know from decades of research that strong social connections and a reason to get up in the morning are key to our well-being as we age,” he added. “So we need to give up the idea of ‘stay safe and stay out of the way.’”
Like so much of life in COVID-19, volunteer work has largely moved online. But technology can be a barrier for many older adults — both those who offer and those who receive volunteer services. They are less likely to get and take advantage of the latest technology. Last year 59 percent of Americans age 65 and older had broadband (宽带) Internet connections, about 20 percentage points fewer than those in younger age groups.
None of that has stopped elderly volunteers like Paula Brynen, a 65-year-old Los Angeles resident. Before COVID-19, she volunteered for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s (LLS’s) Light The Night, an annual fund-raising walk at which participants carry glowing lanterns. Ms. Brynen would help out with setting up the event; nowadays, she focuses on another task. “They usually give volunteers a small list of calls to make,” she said, “but because I worked in fund-raising and have no problem ringing up, they gave me 50 names this year.”
Meanwhile, she is working as a mentor (导师) with Table Wisdom, a St. Louis-based nonprofit that matches older adults with students and young professionals. She connects each week via Zoom with a young environmental engineer in Colombia. “We talk about politics and movie recommendations — I’ve learned a lot about Colombia, and she’s learned about things like Los Angeles’s culture.”
1. What does the underlined part “these people” in paragraph 2 refer to?| A．Elderly patients. | B．Older volunteers. |
| C．Young professionals. | D．Nonprofit organizers. |
| A．Having something to do daily benefits older adults. |
| B．Knowing how to stay connected helps you succeed. |
| C．It is good for the elderly to get up early in the morning. |
| D．More efforts should be taken to improve seniors’ safety. |
| A．To express approval for developing technology. |
| B．To discuss how COVID-19 influenced volunteer work. |
| C．To show many older people are falling behind technologically. |
| D．To explain the development of broadband Internet connections. |
| A．By taking fund-raising walks. | B．By making a lot of phone calls. |
| C．By giving free speeches via Zoom. | D．By instructing students and young adults. |
3 . When is a kid not a kid anymore? If you asked my 12-year-old daughter, the magical age would be 13, when you can no longer be considered a “child”. If you asked my 15-year-old niece, the age would be 16, when she will be able to drive a car and get an after-school job. According to the U. S. government, a child officially becomes an adult when they turn 18. That’s when they can vote. But even though an 18-year-old starts paying taxes, the government does not consider that person mature enough to buy a beer. Still, even a kid who can buy a beer is not old enough to rent a car.
Scientists have learned from a new study that when kids are around 18, their prefrontal cortex, which helps control impulses, solve problems, and organize behavior, is only halfway developed. That’s not to say that kids in their late teens and early 20s can’t take on these tasks, but it means that it’s harder for them to do so - at least until around age 25 or so when this area of the brain fully develops.
“What we’re really saying is that to have a definition of when you move from childhood to adulthood looks absurd,” Peter Jones from the University of Cambridge said. “It’s a much more nuanced (微妙的) change that takes place over thirty years.”
This isn’t a news flash for parents who have watched their teens take crazy risks while seeming unable to get their lives together until they’re older. But this information throws new light on the way kids without as much support are treated. In the foster (寄养的) care system, once a child turns 18, he can no longer receive state-backed support. And many people think this is too early for a teen to be on his own, especially a teen who has experienced a painful childhood. Because of this, some foster care advocates think it makes more sense for 25 to be the new legal age of adulthood.
1. What does the author want to show us in Paragraph 1?| A．Different age groups have different needs. |
| B．Becoming an adult means you can do a lot of things. |
| C．People have different opinions on becoming an adult. |
| D．Children need to learn basic life skills to become an adult. |
| A．To explain why teenagers are at risk. |
| B．To suggest a way of helping teenagers develop. |
| C．To explore the characteristics of different age groups. |
| D．To discover when the human brain is fully developed. |
| A．Impossible. | B．Invaluable. |
| C．Unreasonable. | D．Uninteresting. |
| A．It may inspire teens to be independent. |
| B．It may allow a 20-year-old to get government support. |
| C．It may drive the government to protect the foster care system. |
| D．It may encourage parents to stop supporting their children at college. |
4 . Sending a child to a selective school (精英学校) offers no benefit if they are high-achieving at age 11 and may even put them at a disadvantage, according to a research that analyzed almost half a million pupils from different types of schools — selectives, non-selectives, comprehensive schools and grammar schools, including areas where parents could choose their desired schools.
The research found that the highest achievers at age 11 were less likely to achieve five high GCSE grades if they went to a grammar school than if they went to a comprehensive school once other factors were taken into account.
The researchers looked at data on almost 500,000 pupils who attended state schools in England and took GCSEs in 2016, before the grading system was changed to use numbers. It analyzed their test scores at age 11, as well as their social backgrounds, ethnicities, special educational needs, genders (性别) and their birth months. Besides, they used analysis models that looked at results in the 36 local authorities with grammar schools and the 116 with only comprehensive schools, as well as areas that had both kinds.
The researchers concluded that, opposite to popular belief, selection is damaging to high performers. They suggested that this could be because of the “big fish little pond effect” and that pupils in selective schools may be demotivated (失去动力) by seeing themselves as less able in comparison to their classmates. The paper also warned that pupils who do not get into grammar schools may suffer from a lack of role models, a sense of failure and a higher concentration of disadvantaged pupils in their schools.
The stress of a competitive system may also have a negative effect on performance, the researchers added, or there may be wider issues that the research could not identify. Expansion of grammar schools and the selective system was unlikely to raise national academic standards, the researchers said, but recommended further studies to assess regional impact.
1. What is the purpose of writing paragraph 1?| A．To indicate possible views. | B．To show differences between schools. |
| C．To give background information. | D．To introduce the research conclusion. |
| A．By giving data. | B．By summarizing results. | C．By listing examples. | D．By explaining reasons. |
| A．It benefits high performers. | B．It is unfair for most students. |
| C．It discourages average students. | D．It promotes disadvantaged pupils. |
| A．Supportive. | B．Uncaring. | C．Doubtful. | D．Objective. |
