人教版（2019）新高考英语阅读理解说明文专题训练15篇（含答案）
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| 名称 | 人教版（2019）新高考英语阅读理解说明文专题训练15篇（含答案） |  | |
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| 更新时间 | 2022-09-21 07:55:33 | ||
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2023届新高考英语阅读理解 说明文专题训练
※Passage 1
While facial recognition technology continues to promote many aspects of human life, it's now being applied to aid the protection of giant pandas, Xinhua News Agency reported on 6 January 2022.
A nature reserve has built an AI-enabled video monitoring system to better protect giant pandas. Installed with 300 infrared (红外线) cameras, the monitoring system helps ensure the health and safety of 110 wild giant pandas there. It was put into operation two years ago, and has captured numerous photos and videos of pandas engaged in activities such as eating, resting and fighting for mates. It provides scientific data to help us grasp pandas’ living conditions and establish conservation strategies. More importantly, it achieves real-time monitoring of the reserve so that we can discern the threats to the wildlife as early as possible.
A recent study found the facial recognition system can automatically recognize various wild animals caught in infrared cameras, allowing researchers to collect data on giant pandas while staying indoors. It's shown that by equipping the AI-aided system to retain the filed photos of giant pandas, we obtain a 98% success rate for species recognition. Its success rate of recognizing other wild animals can top 80%. In 2021 alone, this monitoring system captured 2, 896 photos of giant pandas and other rare animals and filmed 3,218 seconds of footage, showcasing the reserve's sound ecological environment as well as a gradual rise in panda population there.
Head of the reserve's administration, Liu Xingming, said researchers used the system not only to observe the dynamics and health of the giant panda population but also to learn about changes in the natural surroundings of their habitat. “The monitoring system has enabled systematic, scientific, and intelligent conservation of wildlife,” he added. “However, it is expected to be further improved and optimized in the near future.”
1. What does the underlined word “discern” mean in paragraph 2
A. Solve. B. Pose. C. Attach. D. Detect.
2. What can be inferred about the new technology from the study
A. It precisely recognizes any species. B. It makes panda population rise rapidly.
C. It contributes to species data collection. D. It understands pandas' facial appearance.
3. What is Liu Xingming's attitude to the facial recognition monitoring system
A. Critical. B. Objective.
C. Ambiguous. D. Conservative.
4. Which of the following can be the best title for the text
A. Panda Facial Recognition Using Database B. Functions of Facial Recognition Technology
C. AI Technology for Better Panda Protection D. A Breakthrough in Video Monitoring System
※ Passage 2
On Monday, December 5, online retailing (零售) giant Amazon announced the opening of its first physical store. Called Amazon Go, the Seattle-based store that is currently being tested by company employees, learns from regular grocery stores except for one thing — “Just Walk Out” technology. All purchases are handled electronically, which means there are no cashiers, checkouts or lines. Shoppers simply take what they need and leave.
To shop at Amazon Go, customers need to open an Amazon account and download the store’s App onto their smartphones. Upon entering the store, they scan a QR code (二维码) with their phones and begin shopping. Every item picked up gets added to the bill automatically. If the customer changes his/her mind, all he/she has to do is return the purchase back on the shelf, and it will be removed from the final bill. Once the customer leaves the store, the amount spent is automatically taken out from the Amazon account and a digital receipt is generated to remind the shopper of the trade.
To provide busy customers a pleasant shopping experience, Amazon, which has been working on this concept for four years, plans to keep the store size at a “comfortable” 1,800 square feet. In addition to typical grocery products like bread and milk, the store will stock ready-to-eat breakfast, lunch and dinner options, made by on-site chefs. There will also be chef-designed Amazon Meal boxes for those who prefer to cook the food at home.
After years of joint efforts by Amazon staff, Amazon Go finally opened in 2021. Amazon will not provide any insight into the cutting-edge “Just Walk Out” technology. The company website states, “The checkout-free shopping experience is enabled by the same types of technologies used in self-driving cars: computer vision, sensor fusion and deep learning.”
5. What is the advantage of Amazon Go over regular grocery stores
A. Store size. B. Shopping speed.
C. Product price. D. Parking convenience.
6. What is paragraph 2 mainly about
A. Why to download the store’s App. B. How to open an Amazon account.
C. How to shop at Amazon Go. D. What to buy at Amazon Go.
7. What can we infer from paragraph 3
A. People can shop and eat at Amazon Go. B. Chefs will offer on-site cooking lessons.
C. 1,800 square feet is the best size of grocery stores. D. Amazon spent years improving its service.
8. What makes possible the checkout-free shopping experience
A. High-technology products. B. The help of the car industry.
C. The deep learning method. D. Teamwork by Amazon staff.
※Passage 3
Leaf peeping the practice of traveling to watch nature display the fall colors, is a beloved annual activity, especially in New England. Typically, by the end of September, leaves take on warmer colors throughout the U.S. But this year, many areas haven’t even shaken off the green shades of summer. In Maine, forest rangers reported less than 70% color change and modest leaf drop.
It’s commonly believed that trees, like people, must prepare for winter. When fall arrives, and day length and temperature drop, trees respond by ending green substance production and absorbing remaining nutrients, causing leaves to lose the original color. Greens give way to yellows, reds and oranges that make for dramatic autumn displays.
Warm fall temperatures can make the fall colors appear later. Worse, dry summers can cause leaves to miss the fall color turn altogether. Delay of the start of the fall colors, which has been moving later into the fall, could continue. “My observations in the last decade have had more years that were later than what we consider historical averages. It can be a trend as the planet warms,” said the expert Jim Salge.
It’s not just the plants that suffer. “Turning leaves offer an irresistible mass of color — which, by estimate, brings in as much as billions of dollars a year in tourism in New England,” said Andy Finton, a forest ecologist. That’s another good reason to focus on preserving forests. Leaf peeping can stay part of the area’s feature if forests are given enough protection. “If we can keep them unharmed, they’ll provide things we’ve depended on, as well as fall inspiration,” said Finton.
9. What is special about the leaves in Maine this year
A. They take on warm colors. B. They drop earlier than normal.
C. They stay green longer. D. They totally miss the fall color turn.
10. What is paragraph 2 mainly about
A. Ways of trees surviving winter. B. Explanation of leaves changing color.
C. Functions of the green substance. D. Effect of climate change on fall leaves.
11. What is the “trend” according to Jim Salge in paragraph 3
A. The earth gets drier. B. The temperature gets higher.
C. The earth gets warmer. D. The leaves delay color change.
12. What’s the purpose of this text
A. To introduce leaf peeping. B. To report the right time for leaf peeping.
C. To call on people to admire fall leaves. D. To warn people to take care of forests.
※Passage 4
Contrary to “popular opinion”, the scientific pursuit for knowledge is not a predictable process. To make new discoveries, researchers need the freedom to be creative, fail, and learn by chance. This aspect is similar to art. This is why Wageningen scientists look to artists for inspiration and exchange ideas about how to increase creative freedom.
“Science and art are two different ways to make something understandable. They both provide a perspective on reality,” says Biochemistry Professor Dolf Weijers. “From the outside, the research process looks very formal and the artistic process looks somewhat messy. But the scientific process can also unfold in an unpredictable way.”
“Scientists can learn a lot from artists,” says Weijers. “Association and creativity are central to art. Those aspects require more attention in science as the creative process is the key of science.”
“As a scientist, you use different methods, but it is equally about how you visualize(可视化) your understanding of reality and the connections that there are. This is sometimes just as visual as art,” says Weijers. One example is a recent special project in which Weijers and his colleague Joris Sprakel, professor of Physical Chemistry and Soft Matter, measured the forces that act on plant cells. A molecular(分子的)sensor was used to visualize the different forces. They showed the results in colorful images, each representing a different force.
What science and art also have in common is that they are topics of discussion in society. There are people who say that they do not value art and people who mistrust science. Weijers says, “It often creates the wrong impression because only the results of scientific studies are presented, and people do not have any insight into the process leading to discovery. As a scientist, you are doubted if you say that something is different a few years later. Then you are viewed as unreliable. But what is often poorly understood is that there are no final results in science. What we scientists can achieve in the coming period is to provide more chances for people to focus on the process. Personally, I think that the connection with art can help to lead the focus on the process than the result.”
13. What might be the “popular opinion” about the scientific discovery
It is creative. B. It can be accidental.
C. It allows failures. D. It is predictable.
14. In Dolf Weijers’s view, the artistic process_________.
A. totally differs from the scientific one
B. normally looks formal and controlled
C. offers inspiration for scientific research
D. focuses on putting the messy in order
15. Why does the author mention Dolf Weijers’s research on plant cells
A. To prove that science can be visualized like art.
B. To stress that understanding science is difficult.
C. To show the value of his scientific achievements.
D. To tell obvious differences between science and art.
16. What does Dolf Weijers say about scientific studies
A. They have little to do with the discoveries.
B. Their process should be more open to people.
C. They always present unchanged final results.
D. Their focus is not the process but the result.
※Passage5
An infectious disease is a disease that is caused by the invasion of a host by pathogens (病原体) whose activities harm the host's tissues and can be spread to other individuals.
Microorganisms (微生物) capable of causing disease are called pathogens. A true pathogen is an infectious agent that causes disease in any possible host. The terms “infection” and “disease” are quite different. In order to cause disease, pathogens must be able to enter the host's body, stick to specific host cells, invade and multiply and do damage to the host's tissues.
Pathogens may be spread through either direct or indirect contact. Direct contact occurs when an individual is infected by contact with the infection source. It also includes taking in the infectious droplets released by sneezing or coughing. Indirect contact occurs when a pathogen can survive the environment outside its host for a long period of time. So lifeless objects that are polluted by direct contact with the infection source may cause the indirect contact for the easily infected group.
Public health measures typically involve killing the pathogen from its source or from its route to spread. Those measures include ensuring a safe water supply, effectively treating waste water, and initiating animal control and vaccination (疫苗) programs, etc. Personally, the first line of defense is to keep pathogens at bay by following good personal hygiene habits. Prevent infection before it begins and avoid spreading it to others with some easy measures, such as washing hands and getting vaccinated.
Man never stops fighting against all kinds of infectious diseases. But in the past two decades at least a dozen “new” diseases have been identified, and traditional diseases that appeared to be “on their way out” are re-emerging. Globally, infectious diseases remain the leading cause of death. Clearly, the battle has not been won. Nevertheless, it is increasingly difficult for most of us to deny the claims of science. We are continually presented with great amounts of relevant scientific and medical knowledge, which encourages us to take more responsibility for our own health.
17.What does paragraph 2 focus on？
A．Origin of true pathogens.
B．Nature of infectious diseases.
C．Strategies for avoiding tissue damage.
D．Differences between infection and disease.
18.．What is likely to cause disease to spread through indirect contact？
A．Getting bitten by an infected dog.
B．Playing with toys a sick child played with.
C．Taking in tiny drops from sneezing.
D．Shaking hands with an infected person.
19.Which of the following can best explain the underlined phrase “at bay” in paragraph 4？
A．At risk. B．Off course.
C．Under control. D．Within reach.
20．What does the last paragraph imply？
A．Man is at a loss about infectious diseases.
B．Traditional infectious diseases are dying out.
C．Science counts in fighting infectious diseases.
D．The battle against infectious diseases is in vain.
※ Passage 6
Depending on what language you speak, your eyes see colours—and the world—differently from someone else.
The human eyes can physically perceive millions of colours. But we don't all recognise these colours in the same way. Some people can't see differences in colours—so-called colour-blindness—due to a defect or absence of certain cells in their eyes. But the distribution of these cells also varies across people with “normal vision”， causing us all to experience the same colour in slightly different ways.
Language affects our colour perception too. Different languages and cultural groups also categorize colours differently. Some languages like Dani, spoken in Papua New Guinea, and Bassa, spoken in Liberia, only have two terms, dark and light. Dark roughly translates as cool colours in those languages, and light as warm colours. So colours like black, blue, and green are glossed as cool colours, while lighter colours like white, red, orange and yellow are glossed as warm colours. Other cultural groups have no word for “colours” at all.
Remarkably, most of the world's languages have five basic colour terms. As well as dark, light, and red, these languages typically have a term for yellow, and a term that refers to both blue and green. That is, these languages do not have separate terms for “green” and “blue” but use one term to describe both colours. Also, Russian, Greek, Turkish and many other languages have two separate terms for blue—one referring exclusively to darker shades, and one referring to lighter shades.
The way we perceive colours can also change during our lifetime. Greek speakers, who have two different terms to describe light and dark blue, are more likely to see these two colours as the same after living for long periods of time in the UK. There, these two colours are described in English by the same fundamental colour term—blue.
Different languages can influence our perceptions in all areas of life, not only in colour. Scientists are now investigating how different languages change the way we perceive everyday objects. Ultimately, this happens because learning a new language is like giving our brain the ability to interpret the world differently.
21.What is mainly discussed in paragraph 2？
A. The medical causes of people's colour-blindness.
B．The different types of colours that people can see.
C．The physical causes of variation in people's vision.
D．The cultural reasons for differences in colour perception.
22.Many language groups commonly use the same word to refer to ___________.
A．yellow and red
B．warm colours and cold colours
C．dark and light
D．blue and green
23.What do we know about the Russian language？
A. It classifies colours as either warm colours or cold colours.
B．It has more than one word for the colour blue.
C．It mainly describes objects in terms of their colours.
D．It has only five basic terms to describe colours.
24.Why does the author mention Greek speakers living in the UK？
A． To illustrate how social context can affect our senses.
B．To provide an example of cultural miscommunication.
C．To highlight the variation in the words used to describe colour.
D．To demonstrate how languages can combine to produce new words.
※Passage7
Mathew White, an environmental psychologist, is on a mission to give Mother Nature the respect he thinks she deserves when it comes to human health. For decades, scientists and health care professionals have recognized that exposure to green spaces, such as public parks or forests, is linked with lower risks of all sorts of illnesses common in the world. Experimental work has demonstrated various physiological responses that occur when people spend time in natural environments: blood pressure drops，the heart rate decreases, immune function improves, and the nervous system directs the body to rest and digest.
As humans increasingly populate urbanized areas, they are spending less and less time in natural environments. But before doctors can start advising their patients to head to the nearest park, there is an important outstanding question, says White: How much time in nature do you need to generate these apparent benefits Most of the research that has linked health outcomes with exposure to the natural world didn't use frequency or duration of park visits, but rather the amount or green space within a certain distance of a person's home, White says. But “it's not so much where you live; it's whether you use it or not.”
So he collected data to estimate what dose (剂量) of nature was needed to show benefits to a person's health. White's group found the answer he was after: Spending at least two hours in nature per week was strongly correlated with self-reports of being in good health or having a high level of well-being. “I was very surprised, to be honest，” said White, who had been expecting a much longer time. “We had no idea that such a clear threshold of time per week would emerge from the data.”
He was further surprised to learn that it didn't seem to matter how many trips to a park people took, so long as they got in their two hours per week. It could be a long visit one day, a couple of hour-long trips, three visits of 40 minutes, or four halfhour excursions. He and his colleagues speculate that, if nature's apparent health benefits are a result of being able to de-stress, then whatever pattern of green space exposure fits one's schedule is probably the best way to achieve that goal.
Health care recommendations for people to spend time in nature are probably years away, but the movement has begun. Several organizations around the world are working to promote awareness of nature's contribution to health. Some researchers have used the term “a dose of nature” to evaluate the amount of exposure needed to gain benefits. “That was kind of the deliberate medicalization of the language around nature and health，” said White.
25．White's research focused on .
A．required amount of green space
B．benefits from the exposure to nature
C．necessary time length of nature visits
D．physical responses to outdoor activities
26．What does the underlined phrase “threshold of time” in Paragraph 3 probably mean？
A．Maximum time. B．Minimum time.
C．Adequate time. D．Average time.
From the last paragraph, we can infer that White
A．is confident of finishing his mission
B．is willing to cooperate with others
C．has persuaded others to accept his idea
D．has adopted the term for his research result
28．What's the best title for the passage？
A．Respect for Nature
B．Nature as Medicine
C．A Present from Nature
D．A Mission in Nature
※Passage 8
Fires sweeping across the Amazon rainforest are a hot topic as scientists and environmental groups are worried that they will worsen climate change crisis and endanger biodiversity (生物多样性)．
As the largest rainforest in the world, the Amazon rainforest is often called“the lungs of the world”. It is also home to about three million species of plants and animals, and one million local people. The vast area of the rainforest plays an important role in the world's ecosystem because it absorbs heat instead of reflecting heat back into the atmosphere. It also stores carbon dioxide and produces oxygen, ensuring that less carbon dioxide is released, reducing the effects of climate change.
“Any forest destroyed is a danger to biodiversity and the people who use that biodiversity，” Thomas Lovejoy, an ecologist at George Mason University told National Geographic. “The great danger is that a lot of carbon dioxide goes into the atmosphere，” he stressed. “In the midst of the global climate crisis, we cannot afford more damage to a major source of oxygen and biodiversity. The Amazon rainforest must be protected，” UN Secretary General António Guterres said.
Data from the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) show that the number of forest fires in Brazil quickly increased by 82 percent from January to August a year ago. A total of 71,497 forest fires were registered in the country in the first eight months of 2019, up from 39,194 in the same period in 2018, INPE said. “We estimate that the forest areas in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest have decreased by between 20 and 30 percent compared to the last 12 months，” Carlos Nobre, a researcher at the University of Sao Paulo, told German broadcaster Deutsche Welle.
Brazil owns about 60 percent of the Amazon rainforest, whose degradation (恶化)could have severe consequences for global climate and rainfall. The extent of the area ruined by fires has yet to be determined, but the emergency has gone beyond Brazil's borders.
29．What is the second paragraph mainly about？
A．The great role of the Amazon rainforest.
B．The effects of consistent climate change.
C．The causes of the decreasing biodiversity.
D．The results of the Amazon rainforest fires.
30．Why does the author mention the figures in the fourth paragraph？
A. To explain the process of the research.
B．To present the bad influence of forest fires.
C．To prove the great importance of the rainforest.
D．To show the urgency of protecting the rainforest.
31.What does the author want to tell us in the passage？
A．The dry weather leads to the rainforest fires.
B．The biodiversity makes the rainforest unique.
C．The rainforest fires result in serious consequences.
D．The global climate crisis brings more rainforest fires.
32．Which section of a magazine might this passage probably be taken from？
A．Climate and life.
B．Nature and geography.
C．Humankind and society.
D．Science and technology.
※ Passage 9
Jason, a straight-A student from the University of Pennsylvania, uses the term “pseudo-working” to describe how many of us study. The pseudo-worker looks and feels like someone who is working hard － he or she spends a long time in the 1ibrary and is not afraid to push on late into the night － but, because of a lack of focus and concentration, he or she's doesn't actually accomplish much.
This phenomenon can be seen on must college campuses . For example , at Dartmouth there was a
section of the main library that was open twenty-four hours a day, and the students I used to see there late at night crowded in groups, drinking coffee, were definitely pseudo-working. The roommate who flips through her chemistry notes on the couch while watching TV is pseudo-working.
By placing themselves in distracting environments and insisting on working long hours, these students are damaging their brain's ability to think clearly and efficiently accomplish the task at hand. In the end they get half the results with twice the effort.
The bigger problem here is that most students don't even realize that they’re pseudo-working. To them pseudo-working is work － it’s how they've always done it, and it's how all of their friends do it. It never crosses their mind that there might be a better way. Straight-A students, on the other hand, know all about pseudo-working. They fear it. It not only wastes time, but it's also mentally tiring.
In fact, the most important skill in becoming a straight-A student is the ability to get work done quickly and with a minimum of wasted effort. Some cognitive science research concludes that about fifty minutes is the optimal learning period to maximize the material integrated per time unit. So how do these students achieve this goal To understand their secret to success, consider the following simple formula (公式): work accomplished = time spent × intensity of focus.
Pseudo-working features a very low intensity of focus. Therefore, to accomplish something by pseudo-working, you need to spend a lot of time. The straight-A approach on the other hand, increases intensity in order to use less time.
32．Which of the following phenomenon is pseudo-working
A．Tom is busy taking notes while attending a lecture.
B．Mike is sitting at a study lounge in preparation for a final exam quietly.
C．Jack spends a long time in the library on his essay while listening to music.
D．Alice and Sara are sitting on the couch reading their favorite books.
33．Compared with straight-A students, the major problem of most students is that .
A．they want to spend more time on study
B．they are eager to follow their friends' way
C．they have got used to their study approach
D．they are unaware of their pseudo-working
34．What does the underlined word “optimal” mean in paragraph 5
A．Possible B．Best C．Least D．Accurate
35．What does the author want to stress by mentioning the formula
A．The length of time on study counts.
B．Concentration plays a key role in study.
C．Getting work done quickly means everything.
D．Effective study approach is very important.
※ Passage10
Over 2.5 quintillion (1018) bytes of data are created each day. Many of them consist of information that would allow people to be personally identified.
At the same time that we share our personal information, there is a growing concern with how that information is being gathered, stored, used and shared. While many economies like Canada and the EU have privacy laws dating back to the mid-1990s, changes to data practices in the past five years have motivated governments to review or update existing laws.
Changes to privacy laws are being fuelled by growing public concerns with the idea of unrestricted data accumulation and use. For instance, earlier this year, the World Economic Forum found that 1/3 of global citizens have no idea about how their personal information is used and that trust is lacking.
Privacy laws are changing to deal with the real and noticed risks of harm which result from the under-regulated or unregulated data economy. The EU has introduced big reform to laws which are aimed at protecting privacy. The EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) introduced strict requirements for those that control or process the personal data of the people who live in the EU. The GDPR's stated goals focus on the protection and basic rights of personal information. Certain US states are also entering the group in the fight for control over personal data. They have passed or are actively considering privacy laws. California is out front. The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) provides greater control to individuals over their personal information. There is a sense that privacy laws are on the horizon in the US.
These are two examples that are actively pursuing more progressive privacy laws. One important consideration is to harmonize global standards for best law practices. This will ease compliance (遵从) across the border and provide a valuable signal to the public that governments are keeping pace with rapid change.
37.What's the cause of the change of privacy laws？
A． A growing need for information.
B．Public concerns over data security.
C．General awareness of data control.
D．Collection of personal information.
38．How does Paragraph 4 develop？
A．By giving examples.
B．By listing statistics.
C．By analyzing reasons.
D．By making comparisons.
39．What is an important consideration for global law makers？
A. The practice of laws in different fields.
B．The reflection of reality in different eras.
C．The consistency of laws in different regions.
D．The adaptation to changes in different societies.
40．What is the passage mainly about？
A．EU passes new laws for privacy protection.
B．Governments ignore the violation of personal privacy.
C．Privacy laws are changing to protect personal information.
D．People lack the awareness of personal information protection.
※Passage 11
Some scientists have traced the increase in earthquakes, especially in areas not known for the presence of fault lines or past seismic (地震的) activity, to human actions. The idea of humans causing earthquakes may seem strange at first. After all, you can run around your backyard and jump up and down as you want, and the ground isn't going to start shaking. However, scientists have identified a variety of large scale human activities that can result in earthquakes.
Scientists have confirmed over 700 places where human activities have caused earthquakes over the last century. While many human-related earthquakes are mild and don't cause much damage, some of them can be serious and dangerous. In fact, scientists believe human activity has caused earthquakes with magnitudes as high as 7. 9 on the Richter scale.
Scientists believe most human-related earthquakes are the result of mining. As companies drill deeper and deeper below Earth's surface to get natural resources, holes left behind can cause instability that leads to collapses that cause earthquakes. Another human activity leading to earthquakes is fracking (水力压裂) for oil and gas, including the high pressure waste water processing that usually goes with fracking. In this process, water, sand and chemicals are pressed underground under high pressure to break rocks to release natural resources.
Building large dams can also cause earthquakes. For example, about 80, 000 people died in China in 2008 as a result of a 7. 9-magnitude earthquake caused by 320 million tons of water that had been collected in the Zipingpu Reservoir after a large dam was built over a known fault line.
These aren't the only human activities that can result in earthquakes, though. Scientists point out that earthquakes can also be caused by other human activities, such as construction of skyscrapers and nuclear explosions.
41. What does the underlined part "fault lines" in Paragraph 1 refer to
A. Regions with active human actions. B. Places associated with natural balance.
C. Zones where natural resources are rich. D. Areas where earthquakes tend to happen.
42. What do mining and oil producing have in common
A. They break the balance of nature. B. They destroy the stability of rocks.
C. They use high pressure to get resources. D. They do much damage to Earth's surface.
43. What can be inferred from Paragraph 4
A. The 2008 earthquake is the worst in history. B. Construction of dams should be stopped.
C. Tons of water must cause earthquakes. D. The location of a dam matters much.
44. What does the text mainly tell us
A. Nature punishes humans by means of earthquakes. B. Progress has been made on earthquake research.
C. Humans are to blame for some earthquakes. D. Earthquakes are no longer nature-made.
※Passage 12
Inspired by how dandelions (蒲公英) use the wind to distribute their seeds, a University of Washington team has developed a tiny sensor-carrying device that can be blown by the wind. It could provide unique insights for a variety of applications, including digital agriculture and monitoring climate change.
This system is about 30 times as heavy as a I milligram dandelion seed but can still travel up to 100 meters in a gentle wind, about the length of a football field, from where it is released. Once on the ground, the device, with at least four sensors, uses solar panels to power its onboard electronics and can share sensor data up to 60 meters away.
To keep things light, the team used solar panels instead of conventional batteries. The challenge is that without a battery the system can't store a charge, which means after the sun goes down, the sensors stop working. In some cases, this might result in data losses. So the team included a capacitor, a device that can store some charge overnight.
To measure how far the devices would travel in the wind, the researchers dropped them from different heights, either by hand or by drone. One trick to spread out the device from a single drop point is to vary their shapes slightly so they are carried by the wind differently. "This is mimicking biology (仿生学), where variation is actually a feature, rather than a bug," said co author Thomas Daniel, a UW professor of biology.“Plants can't guarantee that where they grow up this year is going to be good next year, so they have some seeds that can travel farther away. It's like putting eggs in different baskets."
With further improvements, the technology definitely has good prospects. “We can create
devices that change shape as they fall, or facilitate some more mobility once they are on the ground to get closer to an area we're curious about," said the lead author Shyam Gollakota, another UW professor.
45. How does the author introduce the device in Paragraph 2
A. By offering examples. B. By listing reasons.
C. By making comparisons. D. By giving figures.
46. What does Paragraph 4 mainly talk about
A. The superior flying capacity. B. The reason for shape adjustment.
C. The complex building procedure. D. The increasingly wide application.
47. What's the author's attitude to solar-powered sensors
A. Critical. B. Unconcerned. C. Favorable. D. Doubtful.
48. What's the purpose of the text
A. To introduce a device. B. To clarify a concept.
C. To explain a phenomenon. D. To advertise a product.
※ Passage 13
Notpla is a London-based firm that makes a seaweed- based substitute for single use plastic packaging. Although some of Notpla's products are suitable to be eaten, they are designed to be dissolved (溶解) after usage. The company s film wrap is made of seaweed lining instead of a conventional plastic based coating. This makes the film fully biodegradable and ideal for use as packaging for cupboard and bathroom supplies like coffee and toilet paper.
According to the United Nations, 331 million kilograms of plastic garbage is produced annually around the world. Roughly 60% of the estimated 9.15 billion tons of plastic produced since the early 1950s has been taken to landfills or abandoned outdoors.
Plastics harm the water, the air, and our bodies. Many experts agree that single-use plastics are unnecessary and dangerous. Some governments and towns in the Unite States have taken action. New York has banned most plastic shopping bags, while plastic straws (吸管) have been banned in Miami Beach. Overseas, India stated in August that it plans to put a wide ban on single-use plastics this upcoming summer, with the European Union already implementing this ban.
Seaweed comes in a variety of species and can be harvested or farmed. Notpla uses plants that have been farmed. Rodrigo Garcia Gonzalez and Pierre Paslie, the inventors of Notpla, initially considered seaweed as a solution to the world's plastic problem for several reasons. Seaweed is abundant and grows quickly. Additionally it doesn't compete with land crops and is highly favored for its ability to remove some waste products like carbon from the atmosphere.
In cooperation with the online food ordering service Just Eat, the startup recently tested its product. Last year, the two companies handed out 30,000 takeaway boxes at various UK restaurants. Plans are in the works to offer the boxes across Europe in 2022. Notpla's team intends to replace single use plastic in the supply chain more generally as they scale The company recognizes the difficulty of such a job given the volume of plastics consumed around the world.
49. How does the author mainly develop paragraph 2
A. By comparing facts. B. By presenting figures.
C. By raising questions. D. By giving examples.
50. What can best replace the underlined word "implementing" in paragraph 3
A. Lifting. B. Protecting.
C. Opposing. D. Performing.
51. What does paragraph 4 mainly talk about
A. The wide use of seaweed. B. The next goal of the new study.
C. The huge market of the plastic bags. D. The advantages of choosing seaweed.
52. What does the company think of its plan to replace the whole single use plastic
A. It will be unpractical.
B. It will be richly rewarded.
C. It will be a little tough.
D. It will be rather successful.
※Passage 14
Honeybees can’t swim, and when their wings are wet, they can’t fly, either. But Chris Roh and other researchers at the California Institute of Technology found that when bees drop into bodies of water, they can use their wings to produce little waves and slide toward land—like surfers who create and then ride their own waves.
As with many scientific advances－Isaac Newton’s apple or Benjamin Franklin’s lightning bolt—Dr. Roh’s experiment began with a walk. Passing Caltech’s Millikan Pond in 2016, he observed a bee on the water’s surface producing waves. He wondered how an insect known for flight could push itself through water.
Dr. Roh and his co-worker, Morteza Gharib, used butterfly nets to collect local Pasadena honeybees and observed their surf-like movements. The researchers used a wire to restrict each bee’s bodily movement, allowing close examination of their wings. They found that the bee bends its wings at a 30-degree angle, pulling up water and producing a forward force. Bees get trapped on the surface because water is roughly three times heavier than air. But that weight helps to push the bee forward when its wings move quickly up and down. It’s a tough exercise for the bees, which the researchers guess could handle about 10 minutes of the activity.
The researchers said the surf-like movement hasn’t been documented in other insects and most semiaquatic insects use their legs for propulsion, which is known as water-walking. It may have evolved in bees, they predicted.
Dr. Roh and Dr. Gharib have imagined many practical applications for bees’ surfing. One plan is to use their observations to design robots able to travel across sky and sea. “This could be useful for search and rescues, or for getting samples of the surface of the ocean, if you can’t send a boat or helicopter,” Dr. Gharib said.
53．What does the author intend to show by mentioning Newton and Franklin
A．Roh’s admiration for them. B．Roh’s chance discovery about bees.
C．Their outstanding talent for science. D．Their similar achievements in discovery.
54．What plays the most vital role in a bee’s moving forward on water
A．The air weight. B．Its leg extension.
C．The water movement. D．Its continuous wingbeat.
55．What does the underlined word “propulsion” in Paragraph 4 mean
A．Fast flight. B．Driving force. C．Pulling speed. D．Explosive power.
56．What does the text mainly tell us
A．Honeybees can surf to safety. B．Bees help scientists make inventions.
C．Insects can adapt to the environment. D．Nature is a helpful guide for discovery.
※ Passage 15
To figure out if we can die of boredom, we first have to understand what boredom is. For help, I called James Danckert, a psychologist who studies boredom at the University of Waterloo in Canada. “A lot of people think about being bored as being lazy. And it’s absolutely not that,” he says. “Bored people want to be engaged with their world, eager to do something satisfying and exciting. But any attempt to do so is failing.”
That means boredom is usually very upsetting. And it can have physical consequences. In one of his experiments, Danckert made people extremely bored by showing them a video of two people hanging clothes to dry. He found that when people got bored, their hearts beat faster and their levels of a hormone called cortisol (皮质醇) went up, compared to when they watched another video that made them sad. These physical changes were signs that boredom was stressing them out. “It’s not like having a full-on panic attack,” Danckert says. But it’s certainly enough to make boredom unpleasant.
Let’s come back to if boredom can kill you. Back in the 1980s, scientists asked people who worked for the British government a whole bunch of questions, including how bored they felt in their daily lives. The study tracked the participants over time. When any one of them died, the survey recorded the cause of death. In 2010, two researchers matched up these causes of death with the participants’ level of boredom. It turned out that people who said they were more bored were also more likely to have died of heart disease. “We know that prolonged exposure to stress is bad for your health,” Danckert says. A single boring day can’t kill you. But if you’re always bored, the stress could add up into something dangerous.
“Oh no,” you might be thinking. “School is boring, my friends are boring, everything is boring! What’s going to happen to me ” Don’t worry, Danckert says: “As you get older, you get less bored,” mainly because you gain more independence and have to get busy to achieve your long-term goals. And trust me: that’s anything but boring.
57. According to James Danckert, people feel bored because ________.
A. they are too lazy to do anything B. they can’t gain excitement in life
C. they are too frightened to have a try D. they can’t fully understand boredom
58. What can we learn from paragraph 2
A. Doing housework will make people bored. B. People’s heart rate increases with boredom.
C. Physical changes can lead to extreme boredom. D. Watching something sad is a boring experience.
59 What does the underlined word “prolonged” in paragraph 3 mean
A. Continued. B. Repeated. C. Sudden. D. Active.
60. What does Danckert recommend to save people from boredom
A. Depending on friends. B. Setting long-term goals.
C. Keeping yourself occupied. D. Trusting people around you.
参考答案
Passage 1: 1-4. DCBC
Passage 2: 5-8 BCDA
Passage 3： 9-12 CBDD
Passage 4： 13-16 DCAB
Passage 5: 17-20 BBCC
Passage 6: 21-24 CDBA
Passage 7: 25-28 CBAB
Passage 8: 29-32 ADCB
Passage 9: 33-36 C D B B
Passage 10: 37-40 BACC
Passage 11: 41-44 DBDC
Passage 12: 45-48 DBCA
Passage 13. 49-52 B DDC
Passage 14 53-56 BDBA
Passage 15 57-60 BBAC
※Passage 1
While facial recognition technology continues to promote many aspects of human life, it's now being applied to aid the protection of giant pandas, Xinhua News Agency reported on 6 January 2022.
A nature reserve has built an AI-enabled video monitoring system to better protect giant pandas. Installed with 300 infrared (红外线) cameras, the monitoring system helps ensure the health and safety of 110 wild giant pandas there. It was put into operation two years ago, and has captured numerous photos and videos of pandas engaged in activities such as eating, resting and fighting for mates. It provides scientific data to help us grasp pandas’ living conditions and establish conservation strategies. More importantly, it achieves real-time monitoring of the reserve so that we can discern the threats to the wildlife as early as possible.
A recent study found the facial recognition system can automatically recognize various wild animals caught in infrared cameras, allowing researchers to collect data on giant pandas while staying indoors. It's shown that by equipping the AI-aided system to retain the filed photos of giant pandas, we obtain a 98% success rate for species recognition. Its success rate of recognizing other wild animals can top 80%. In 2021 alone, this monitoring system captured 2, 896 photos of giant pandas and other rare animals and filmed 3,218 seconds of footage, showcasing the reserve's sound ecological environment as well as a gradual rise in panda population there.
Head of the reserve's administration, Liu Xingming, said researchers used the system not only to observe the dynamics and health of the giant panda population but also to learn about changes in the natural surroundings of their habitat. “The monitoring system has enabled systematic, scientific, and intelligent conservation of wildlife,” he added. “However, it is expected to be further improved and optimized in the near future.”
1. What does the underlined word “discern” mean in paragraph 2
A. Solve. B. Pose. C. Attach. D. Detect.
2. What can be inferred about the new technology from the study
A. It precisely recognizes any species. B. It makes panda population rise rapidly.
C. It contributes to species data collection. D. It understands pandas' facial appearance.
3. What is Liu Xingming's attitude to the facial recognition monitoring system
A. Critical. B. Objective.
C. Ambiguous. D. Conservative.
4. Which of the following can be the best title for the text
A. Panda Facial Recognition Using Database B. Functions of Facial Recognition Technology
C. AI Technology for Better Panda Protection D. A Breakthrough in Video Monitoring System
※ Passage 2
On Monday, December 5, online retailing (零售) giant Amazon announced the opening of its first physical store. Called Amazon Go, the Seattle-based store that is currently being tested by company employees, learns from regular grocery stores except for one thing — “Just Walk Out” technology. All purchases are handled electronically, which means there are no cashiers, checkouts or lines. Shoppers simply take what they need and leave.
To shop at Amazon Go, customers need to open an Amazon account and download the store’s App onto their smartphones. Upon entering the store, they scan a QR code (二维码) with their phones and begin shopping. Every item picked up gets added to the bill automatically. If the customer changes his/her mind, all he/she has to do is return the purchase back on the shelf, and it will be removed from the final bill. Once the customer leaves the store, the amount spent is automatically taken out from the Amazon account and a digital receipt is generated to remind the shopper of the trade.
To provide busy customers a pleasant shopping experience, Amazon, which has been working on this concept for four years, plans to keep the store size at a “comfortable” 1,800 square feet. In addition to typical grocery products like bread and milk, the store will stock ready-to-eat breakfast, lunch and dinner options, made by on-site chefs. There will also be chef-designed Amazon Meal boxes for those who prefer to cook the food at home.
After years of joint efforts by Amazon staff, Amazon Go finally opened in 2021. Amazon will not provide any insight into the cutting-edge “Just Walk Out” technology. The company website states, “The checkout-free shopping experience is enabled by the same types of technologies used in self-driving cars: computer vision, sensor fusion and deep learning.”
5. What is the advantage of Amazon Go over regular grocery stores
A. Store size. B. Shopping speed.
C. Product price. D. Parking convenience.
6. What is paragraph 2 mainly about
A. Why to download the store’s App. B. How to open an Amazon account.
C. How to shop at Amazon Go. D. What to buy at Amazon Go.
7. What can we infer from paragraph 3
A. People can shop and eat at Amazon Go. B. Chefs will offer on-site cooking lessons.
C. 1,800 square feet is the best size of grocery stores. D. Amazon spent years improving its service.
8. What makes possible the checkout-free shopping experience
A. High-technology products. B. The help of the car industry.
C. The deep learning method. D. Teamwork by Amazon staff.
※Passage 3
Leaf peeping the practice of traveling to watch nature display the fall colors, is a beloved annual activity, especially in New England. Typically, by the end of September, leaves take on warmer colors throughout the U.S. But this year, many areas haven’t even shaken off the green shades of summer. In Maine, forest rangers reported less than 70% color change and modest leaf drop.
It’s commonly believed that trees, like people, must prepare for winter. When fall arrives, and day length and temperature drop, trees respond by ending green substance production and absorbing remaining nutrients, causing leaves to lose the original color. Greens give way to yellows, reds and oranges that make for dramatic autumn displays.
Warm fall temperatures can make the fall colors appear later. Worse, dry summers can cause leaves to miss the fall color turn altogether. Delay of the start of the fall colors, which has been moving later into the fall, could continue. “My observations in the last decade have had more years that were later than what we consider historical averages. It can be a trend as the planet warms,” said the expert Jim Salge.
It’s not just the plants that suffer. “Turning leaves offer an irresistible mass of color — which, by estimate, brings in as much as billions of dollars a year in tourism in New England,” said Andy Finton, a forest ecologist. That’s another good reason to focus on preserving forests. Leaf peeping can stay part of the area’s feature if forests are given enough protection. “If we can keep them unharmed, they’ll provide things we’ve depended on, as well as fall inspiration,” said Finton.
9. What is special about the leaves in Maine this year
A. They take on warm colors. B. They drop earlier than normal.
C. They stay green longer. D. They totally miss the fall color turn.
10. What is paragraph 2 mainly about
A. Ways of trees surviving winter. B. Explanation of leaves changing color.
C. Functions of the green substance. D. Effect of climate change on fall leaves.
11. What is the “trend” according to Jim Salge in paragraph 3
A. The earth gets drier. B. The temperature gets higher.
C. The earth gets warmer. D. The leaves delay color change.
12. What’s the purpose of this text
A. To introduce leaf peeping. B. To report the right time for leaf peeping.
C. To call on people to admire fall leaves. D. To warn people to take care of forests.
※Passage 4
Contrary to “popular opinion”, the scientific pursuit for knowledge is not a predictable process. To make new discoveries, researchers need the freedom to be creative, fail, and learn by chance. This aspect is similar to art. This is why Wageningen scientists look to artists for inspiration and exchange ideas about how to increase creative freedom.
“Science and art are two different ways to make something understandable. They both provide a perspective on reality,” says Biochemistry Professor Dolf Weijers. “From the outside, the research process looks very formal and the artistic process looks somewhat messy. But the scientific process can also unfold in an unpredictable way.”
“Scientists can learn a lot from artists,” says Weijers. “Association and creativity are central to art. Those aspects require more attention in science as the creative process is the key of science.”
“As a scientist, you use different methods, but it is equally about how you visualize(可视化) your understanding of reality and the connections that there are. This is sometimes just as visual as art,” says Weijers. One example is a recent special project in which Weijers and his colleague Joris Sprakel, professor of Physical Chemistry and Soft Matter, measured the forces that act on plant cells. A molecular(分子的)sensor was used to visualize the different forces. They showed the results in colorful images, each representing a different force.
What science and art also have in common is that they are topics of discussion in society. There are people who say that they do not value art and people who mistrust science. Weijers says, “It often creates the wrong impression because only the results of scientific studies are presented, and people do not have any insight into the process leading to discovery. As a scientist, you are doubted if you say that something is different a few years later. Then you are viewed as unreliable. But what is often poorly understood is that there are no final results in science. What we scientists can achieve in the coming period is to provide more chances for people to focus on the process. Personally, I think that the connection with art can help to lead the focus on the process than the result.”
13. What might be the “popular opinion” about the scientific discovery
It is creative. B. It can be accidental.
C. It allows failures. D. It is predictable.
14. In Dolf Weijers’s view, the artistic process_________.
A. totally differs from the scientific one
B. normally looks formal and controlled
C. offers inspiration for scientific research
D. focuses on putting the messy in order
15. Why does the author mention Dolf Weijers’s research on plant cells
A. To prove that science can be visualized like art.
B. To stress that understanding science is difficult.
C. To show the value of his scientific achievements.
D. To tell obvious differences between science and art.
16. What does Dolf Weijers say about scientific studies
A. They have little to do with the discoveries.
B. Their process should be more open to people.
C. They always present unchanged final results.
D. Their focus is not the process but the result.
※Passage5
An infectious disease is a disease that is caused by the invasion of a host by pathogens (病原体) whose activities harm the host's tissues and can be spread to other individuals.
Microorganisms (微生物) capable of causing disease are called pathogens. A true pathogen is an infectious agent that causes disease in any possible host. The terms “infection” and “disease” are quite different. In order to cause disease, pathogens must be able to enter the host's body, stick to specific host cells, invade and multiply and do damage to the host's tissues.
Pathogens may be spread through either direct or indirect contact. Direct contact occurs when an individual is infected by contact with the infection source. It also includes taking in the infectious droplets released by sneezing or coughing. Indirect contact occurs when a pathogen can survive the environment outside its host for a long period of time. So lifeless objects that are polluted by direct contact with the infection source may cause the indirect contact for the easily infected group.
Public health measures typically involve killing the pathogen from its source or from its route to spread. Those measures include ensuring a safe water supply, effectively treating waste water, and initiating animal control and vaccination (疫苗) programs, etc. Personally, the first line of defense is to keep pathogens at bay by following good personal hygiene habits. Prevent infection before it begins and avoid spreading it to others with some easy measures, such as washing hands and getting vaccinated.
Man never stops fighting against all kinds of infectious diseases. But in the past two decades at least a dozen “new” diseases have been identified, and traditional diseases that appeared to be “on their way out” are re-emerging. Globally, infectious diseases remain the leading cause of death. Clearly, the battle has not been won. Nevertheless, it is increasingly difficult for most of us to deny the claims of science. We are continually presented with great amounts of relevant scientific and medical knowledge, which encourages us to take more responsibility for our own health.
17.What does paragraph 2 focus on？
A．Origin of true pathogens.
B．Nature of infectious diseases.
C．Strategies for avoiding tissue damage.
D．Differences between infection and disease.
18.．What is likely to cause disease to spread through indirect contact？
A．Getting bitten by an infected dog.
B．Playing with toys a sick child played with.
C．Taking in tiny drops from sneezing.
D．Shaking hands with an infected person.
19.Which of the following can best explain the underlined phrase “at bay” in paragraph 4？
A．At risk. B．Off course.
C．Under control. D．Within reach.
20．What does the last paragraph imply？
A．Man is at a loss about infectious diseases.
B．Traditional infectious diseases are dying out.
C．Science counts in fighting infectious diseases.
D．The battle against infectious diseases is in vain.
※ Passage 6
Depending on what language you speak, your eyes see colours—and the world—differently from someone else.
The human eyes can physically perceive millions of colours. But we don't all recognise these colours in the same way. Some people can't see differences in colours—so-called colour-blindness—due to a defect or absence of certain cells in their eyes. But the distribution of these cells also varies across people with “normal vision”， causing us all to experience the same colour in slightly different ways.
Language affects our colour perception too. Different languages and cultural groups also categorize colours differently. Some languages like Dani, spoken in Papua New Guinea, and Bassa, spoken in Liberia, only have two terms, dark and light. Dark roughly translates as cool colours in those languages, and light as warm colours. So colours like black, blue, and green are glossed as cool colours, while lighter colours like white, red, orange and yellow are glossed as warm colours. Other cultural groups have no word for “colours” at all.
Remarkably, most of the world's languages have five basic colour terms. As well as dark, light, and red, these languages typically have a term for yellow, and a term that refers to both blue and green. That is, these languages do not have separate terms for “green” and “blue” but use one term to describe both colours. Also, Russian, Greek, Turkish and many other languages have two separate terms for blue—one referring exclusively to darker shades, and one referring to lighter shades.
The way we perceive colours can also change during our lifetime. Greek speakers, who have two different terms to describe light and dark blue, are more likely to see these two colours as the same after living for long periods of time in the UK. There, these two colours are described in English by the same fundamental colour term—blue.
Different languages can influence our perceptions in all areas of life, not only in colour. Scientists are now investigating how different languages change the way we perceive everyday objects. Ultimately, this happens because learning a new language is like giving our brain the ability to interpret the world differently.
21.What is mainly discussed in paragraph 2？
A. The medical causes of people's colour-blindness.
B．The different types of colours that people can see.
C．The physical causes of variation in people's vision.
D．The cultural reasons for differences in colour perception.
22.Many language groups commonly use the same word to refer to ___________.
A．yellow and red
B．warm colours and cold colours
C．dark and light
D．blue and green
23.What do we know about the Russian language？
A. It classifies colours as either warm colours or cold colours.
B．It has more than one word for the colour blue.
C．It mainly describes objects in terms of their colours.
D．It has only five basic terms to describe colours.
24.Why does the author mention Greek speakers living in the UK？
A． To illustrate how social context can affect our senses.
B．To provide an example of cultural miscommunication.
C．To highlight the variation in the words used to describe colour.
D．To demonstrate how languages can combine to produce new words.
※Passage7
Mathew White, an environmental psychologist, is on a mission to give Mother Nature the respect he thinks she deserves when it comes to human health. For decades, scientists and health care professionals have recognized that exposure to green spaces, such as public parks or forests, is linked with lower risks of all sorts of illnesses common in the world. Experimental work has demonstrated various physiological responses that occur when people spend time in natural environments: blood pressure drops，the heart rate decreases, immune function improves, and the nervous system directs the body to rest and digest.
As humans increasingly populate urbanized areas, they are spending less and less time in natural environments. But before doctors can start advising their patients to head to the nearest park, there is an important outstanding question, says White: How much time in nature do you need to generate these apparent benefits Most of the research that has linked health outcomes with exposure to the natural world didn't use frequency or duration of park visits, but rather the amount or green space within a certain distance of a person's home, White says. But “it's not so much where you live; it's whether you use it or not.”
So he collected data to estimate what dose (剂量) of nature was needed to show benefits to a person's health. White's group found the answer he was after: Spending at least two hours in nature per week was strongly correlated with self-reports of being in good health or having a high level of well-being. “I was very surprised, to be honest，” said White, who had been expecting a much longer time. “We had no idea that such a clear threshold of time per week would emerge from the data.”
He was further surprised to learn that it didn't seem to matter how many trips to a park people took, so long as they got in their two hours per week. It could be a long visit one day, a couple of hour-long trips, three visits of 40 minutes, or four halfhour excursions. He and his colleagues speculate that, if nature's apparent health benefits are a result of being able to de-stress, then whatever pattern of green space exposure fits one's schedule is probably the best way to achieve that goal.
Health care recommendations for people to spend time in nature are probably years away, but the movement has begun. Several organizations around the world are working to promote awareness of nature's contribution to health. Some researchers have used the term “a dose of nature” to evaluate the amount of exposure needed to gain benefits. “That was kind of the deliberate medicalization of the language around nature and health，” said White.
25．White's research focused on .
A．required amount of green space
B．benefits from the exposure to nature
C．necessary time length of nature visits
D．physical responses to outdoor activities
26．What does the underlined phrase “threshold of time” in Paragraph 3 probably mean？
A．Maximum time. B．Minimum time.
C．Adequate time. D．Average time.
From the last paragraph, we can infer that White
A．is confident of finishing his mission
B．is willing to cooperate with others
C．has persuaded others to accept his idea
D．has adopted the term for his research result
28．What's the best title for the passage？
A．Respect for Nature
B．Nature as Medicine
C．A Present from Nature
D．A Mission in Nature
※Passage 8
Fires sweeping across the Amazon rainforest are a hot topic as scientists and environmental groups are worried that they will worsen climate change crisis and endanger biodiversity (生物多样性)．
As the largest rainforest in the world, the Amazon rainforest is often called“the lungs of the world”. It is also home to about three million species of plants and animals, and one million local people. The vast area of the rainforest plays an important role in the world's ecosystem because it absorbs heat instead of reflecting heat back into the atmosphere. It also stores carbon dioxide and produces oxygen, ensuring that less carbon dioxide is released, reducing the effects of climate change.
“Any forest destroyed is a danger to biodiversity and the people who use that biodiversity，” Thomas Lovejoy, an ecologist at George Mason University told National Geographic. “The great danger is that a lot of carbon dioxide goes into the atmosphere，” he stressed. “In the midst of the global climate crisis, we cannot afford more damage to a major source of oxygen and biodiversity. The Amazon rainforest must be protected，” UN Secretary General António Guterres said.
Data from the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) show that the number of forest fires in Brazil quickly increased by 82 percent from January to August a year ago. A total of 71,497 forest fires were registered in the country in the first eight months of 2019, up from 39,194 in the same period in 2018, INPE said. “We estimate that the forest areas in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest have decreased by between 20 and 30 percent compared to the last 12 months，” Carlos Nobre, a researcher at the University of Sao Paulo, told German broadcaster Deutsche Welle.
Brazil owns about 60 percent of the Amazon rainforest, whose degradation (恶化)could have severe consequences for global climate and rainfall. The extent of the area ruined by fires has yet to be determined, but the emergency has gone beyond Brazil's borders.
29．What is the second paragraph mainly about？
A．The great role of the Amazon rainforest.
B．The effects of consistent climate change.
C．The causes of the decreasing biodiversity.
D．The results of the Amazon rainforest fires.
30．Why does the author mention the figures in the fourth paragraph？
A. To explain the process of the research.
B．To present the bad influence of forest fires.
C．To prove the great importance of the rainforest.
D．To show the urgency of protecting the rainforest.
31.What does the author want to tell us in the passage？
A．The dry weather leads to the rainforest fires.
B．The biodiversity makes the rainforest unique.
C．The rainforest fires result in serious consequences.
D．The global climate crisis brings more rainforest fires.
32．Which section of a magazine might this passage probably be taken from？
A．Climate and life.
B．Nature and geography.
C．Humankind and society.
D．Science and technology.
※ Passage 9
Jason, a straight-A student from the University of Pennsylvania, uses the term “pseudo-working” to describe how many of us study. The pseudo-worker looks and feels like someone who is working hard － he or she spends a long time in the 1ibrary and is not afraid to push on late into the night － but, because of a lack of focus and concentration, he or she's doesn't actually accomplish much.
This phenomenon can be seen on must college campuses . For example , at Dartmouth there was a
section of the main library that was open twenty-four hours a day, and the students I used to see there late at night crowded in groups, drinking coffee, were definitely pseudo-working. The roommate who flips through her chemistry notes on the couch while watching TV is pseudo-working.
By placing themselves in distracting environments and insisting on working long hours, these students are damaging their brain's ability to think clearly and efficiently accomplish the task at hand. In the end they get half the results with twice the effort.
The bigger problem here is that most students don't even realize that they’re pseudo-working. To them pseudo-working is work － it’s how they've always done it, and it's how all of their friends do it. It never crosses their mind that there might be a better way. Straight-A students, on the other hand, know all about pseudo-working. They fear it. It not only wastes time, but it's also mentally tiring.
In fact, the most important skill in becoming a straight-A student is the ability to get work done quickly and with a minimum of wasted effort. Some cognitive science research concludes that about fifty minutes is the optimal learning period to maximize the material integrated per time unit. So how do these students achieve this goal To understand their secret to success, consider the following simple formula (公式): work accomplished = time spent × intensity of focus.
Pseudo-working features a very low intensity of focus. Therefore, to accomplish something by pseudo-working, you need to spend a lot of time. The straight-A approach on the other hand, increases intensity in order to use less time.
32．Which of the following phenomenon is pseudo-working
A．Tom is busy taking notes while attending a lecture.
B．Mike is sitting at a study lounge in preparation for a final exam quietly.
C．Jack spends a long time in the library on his essay while listening to music.
D．Alice and Sara are sitting on the couch reading their favorite books.
33．Compared with straight-A students, the major problem of most students is that .
A．they want to spend more time on study
B．they are eager to follow their friends' way
C．they have got used to their study approach
D．they are unaware of their pseudo-working
34．What does the underlined word “optimal” mean in paragraph 5
A．Possible B．Best C．Least D．Accurate
35．What does the author want to stress by mentioning the formula
A．The length of time on study counts.
B．Concentration plays a key role in study.
C．Getting work done quickly means everything.
D．Effective study approach is very important.
※ Passage10
Over 2.5 quintillion (1018) bytes of data are created each day. Many of them consist of information that would allow people to be personally identified.
At the same time that we share our personal information, there is a growing concern with how that information is being gathered, stored, used and shared. While many economies like Canada and the EU have privacy laws dating back to the mid-1990s, changes to data practices in the past five years have motivated governments to review or update existing laws.
Changes to privacy laws are being fuelled by growing public concerns with the idea of unrestricted data accumulation and use. For instance, earlier this year, the World Economic Forum found that 1/3 of global citizens have no idea about how their personal information is used and that trust is lacking.
Privacy laws are changing to deal with the real and noticed risks of harm which result from the under-regulated or unregulated data economy. The EU has introduced big reform to laws which are aimed at protecting privacy. The EU's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) introduced strict requirements for those that control or process the personal data of the people who live in the EU. The GDPR's stated goals focus on the protection and basic rights of personal information. Certain US states are also entering the group in the fight for control over personal data. They have passed or are actively considering privacy laws. California is out front. The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) provides greater control to individuals over their personal information. There is a sense that privacy laws are on the horizon in the US.
These are two examples that are actively pursuing more progressive privacy laws. One important consideration is to harmonize global standards for best law practices. This will ease compliance (遵从) across the border and provide a valuable signal to the public that governments are keeping pace with rapid change.
37.What's the cause of the change of privacy laws？
A． A growing need for information.
B．Public concerns over data security.
C．General awareness of data control.
D．Collection of personal information.
38．How does Paragraph 4 develop？
A．By giving examples.
B．By listing statistics.
C．By analyzing reasons.
D．By making comparisons.
39．What is an important consideration for global law makers？
A. The practice of laws in different fields.
B．The reflection of reality in different eras.
C．The consistency of laws in different regions.
D．The adaptation to changes in different societies.
40．What is the passage mainly about？
A．EU passes new laws for privacy protection.
B．Governments ignore the violation of personal privacy.
C．Privacy laws are changing to protect personal information.
D．People lack the awareness of personal information protection.
※Passage 11
Some scientists have traced the increase in earthquakes, especially in areas not known for the presence of fault lines or past seismic (地震的) activity, to human actions. The idea of humans causing earthquakes may seem strange at first. After all, you can run around your backyard and jump up and down as you want, and the ground isn't going to start shaking. However, scientists have identified a variety of large scale human activities that can result in earthquakes.
Scientists have confirmed over 700 places where human activities have caused earthquakes over the last century. While many human-related earthquakes are mild and don't cause much damage, some of them can be serious and dangerous. In fact, scientists believe human activity has caused earthquakes with magnitudes as high as 7. 9 on the Richter scale.
Scientists believe most human-related earthquakes are the result of mining. As companies drill deeper and deeper below Earth's surface to get natural resources, holes left behind can cause instability that leads to collapses that cause earthquakes. Another human activity leading to earthquakes is fracking (水力压裂) for oil and gas, including the high pressure waste water processing that usually goes with fracking. In this process, water, sand and chemicals are pressed underground under high pressure to break rocks to release natural resources.
Building large dams can also cause earthquakes. For example, about 80, 000 people died in China in 2008 as a result of a 7. 9-magnitude earthquake caused by 320 million tons of water that had been collected in the Zipingpu Reservoir after a large dam was built over a known fault line.
These aren't the only human activities that can result in earthquakes, though. Scientists point out that earthquakes can also be caused by other human activities, such as construction of skyscrapers and nuclear explosions.
41. What does the underlined part "fault lines" in Paragraph 1 refer to
A. Regions with active human actions. B. Places associated with natural balance.
C. Zones where natural resources are rich. D. Areas where earthquakes tend to happen.
42. What do mining and oil producing have in common
A. They break the balance of nature. B. They destroy the stability of rocks.
C. They use high pressure to get resources. D. They do much damage to Earth's surface.
43. What can be inferred from Paragraph 4
A. The 2008 earthquake is the worst in history. B. Construction of dams should be stopped.
C. Tons of water must cause earthquakes. D. The location of a dam matters much.
44. What does the text mainly tell us
A. Nature punishes humans by means of earthquakes. B. Progress has been made on earthquake research.
C. Humans are to blame for some earthquakes. D. Earthquakes are no longer nature-made.
※Passage 12
Inspired by how dandelions (蒲公英) use the wind to distribute their seeds, a University of Washington team has developed a tiny sensor-carrying device that can be blown by the wind. It could provide unique insights for a variety of applications, including digital agriculture and monitoring climate change.
This system is about 30 times as heavy as a I milligram dandelion seed but can still travel up to 100 meters in a gentle wind, about the length of a football field, from where it is released. Once on the ground, the device, with at least four sensors, uses solar panels to power its onboard electronics and can share sensor data up to 60 meters away.
To keep things light, the team used solar panels instead of conventional batteries. The challenge is that without a battery the system can't store a charge, which means after the sun goes down, the sensors stop working. In some cases, this might result in data losses. So the team included a capacitor, a device that can store some charge overnight.
To measure how far the devices would travel in the wind, the researchers dropped them from different heights, either by hand or by drone. One trick to spread out the device from a single drop point is to vary their shapes slightly so they are carried by the wind differently. "This is mimicking biology (仿生学), where variation is actually a feature, rather than a bug," said co author Thomas Daniel, a UW professor of biology.“Plants can't guarantee that where they grow up this year is going to be good next year, so they have some seeds that can travel farther away. It's like putting eggs in different baskets."
With further improvements, the technology definitely has good prospects. “We can create
devices that change shape as they fall, or facilitate some more mobility once they are on the ground to get closer to an area we're curious about," said the lead author Shyam Gollakota, another UW professor.
45. How does the author introduce the device in Paragraph 2
A. By offering examples. B. By listing reasons.
C. By making comparisons. D. By giving figures.
46. What does Paragraph 4 mainly talk about
A. The superior flying capacity. B. The reason for shape adjustment.
C. The complex building procedure. D. The increasingly wide application.
47. What's the author's attitude to solar-powered sensors
A. Critical. B. Unconcerned. C. Favorable. D. Doubtful.
48. What's the purpose of the text
A. To introduce a device. B. To clarify a concept.
C. To explain a phenomenon. D. To advertise a product.
※ Passage 13
Notpla is a London-based firm that makes a seaweed- based substitute for single use plastic packaging. Although some of Notpla's products are suitable to be eaten, they are designed to be dissolved (溶解) after usage. The company s film wrap is made of seaweed lining instead of a conventional plastic based coating. This makes the film fully biodegradable and ideal for use as packaging for cupboard and bathroom supplies like coffee and toilet paper.
According to the United Nations, 331 million kilograms of plastic garbage is produced annually around the world. Roughly 60% of the estimated 9.15 billion tons of plastic produced since the early 1950s has been taken to landfills or abandoned outdoors.
Plastics harm the water, the air, and our bodies. Many experts agree that single-use plastics are unnecessary and dangerous. Some governments and towns in the Unite States have taken action. New York has banned most plastic shopping bags, while plastic straws (吸管) have been banned in Miami Beach. Overseas, India stated in August that it plans to put a wide ban on single-use plastics this upcoming summer, with the European Union already implementing this ban.
Seaweed comes in a variety of species and can be harvested or farmed. Notpla uses plants that have been farmed. Rodrigo Garcia Gonzalez and Pierre Paslie, the inventors of Notpla, initially considered seaweed as a solution to the world's plastic problem for several reasons. Seaweed is abundant and grows quickly. Additionally it doesn't compete with land crops and is highly favored for its ability to remove some waste products like carbon from the atmosphere.
In cooperation with the online food ordering service Just Eat, the startup recently tested its product. Last year, the two companies handed out 30,000 takeaway boxes at various UK restaurants. Plans are in the works to offer the boxes across Europe in 2022. Notpla's team intends to replace single use plastic in the supply chain more generally as they scale The company recognizes the difficulty of such a job given the volume of plastics consumed around the world.
49. How does the author mainly develop paragraph 2
A. By comparing facts. B. By presenting figures.
C. By raising questions. D. By giving examples.
50. What can best replace the underlined word "implementing" in paragraph 3
A. Lifting. B. Protecting.
C. Opposing. D. Performing.
51. What does paragraph 4 mainly talk about
A. The wide use of seaweed. B. The next goal of the new study.
C. The huge market of the plastic bags. D. The advantages of choosing seaweed.
52. What does the company think of its plan to replace the whole single use plastic
A. It will be unpractical.
B. It will be richly rewarded.
C. It will be a little tough.
D. It will be rather successful.
※Passage 14
Honeybees can’t swim, and when their wings are wet, they can’t fly, either. But Chris Roh and other researchers at the California Institute of Technology found that when bees drop into bodies of water, they can use their wings to produce little waves and slide toward land—like surfers who create and then ride their own waves.
As with many scientific advances－Isaac Newton’s apple or Benjamin Franklin’s lightning bolt—Dr. Roh’s experiment began with a walk. Passing Caltech’s Millikan Pond in 2016, he observed a bee on the water’s surface producing waves. He wondered how an insect known for flight could push itself through water.
Dr. Roh and his co-worker, Morteza Gharib, used butterfly nets to collect local Pasadena honeybees and observed their surf-like movements. The researchers used a wire to restrict each bee’s bodily movement, allowing close examination of their wings. They found that the bee bends its wings at a 30-degree angle, pulling up water and producing a forward force. Bees get trapped on the surface because water is roughly three times heavier than air. But that weight helps to push the bee forward when its wings move quickly up and down. It’s a tough exercise for the bees, which the researchers guess could handle about 10 minutes of the activity.
The researchers said the surf-like movement hasn’t been documented in other insects and most semiaquatic insects use their legs for propulsion, which is known as water-walking. It may have evolved in bees, they predicted.
Dr. Roh and Dr. Gharib have imagined many practical applications for bees’ surfing. One plan is to use their observations to design robots able to travel across sky and sea. “This could be useful for search and rescues, or for getting samples of the surface of the ocean, if you can’t send a boat or helicopter,” Dr. Gharib said.
53．What does the author intend to show by mentioning Newton and Franklin
A．Roh’s admiration for them. B．Roh’s chance discovery about bees.
C．Their outstanding talent for science. D．Their similar achievements in discovery.
54．What plays the most vital role in a bee’s moving forward on water
A．The air weight. B．Its leg extension.
C．The water movement. D．Its continuous wingbeat.
55．What does the underlined word “propulsion” in Paragraph 4 mean
A．Fast flight. B．Driving force. C．Pulling speed. D．Explosive power.
56．What does the text mainly tell us
A．Honeybees can surf to safety. B．Bees help scientists make inventions.
C．Insects can adapt to the environment. D．Nature is a helpful guide for discovery.
※ Passage 15
To figure out if we can die of boredom, we first have to understand what boredom is. For help, I called James Danckert, a psychologist who studies boredom at the University of Waterloo in Canada. “A lot of people think about being bored as being lazy. And it’s absolutely not that,” he says. “Bored people want to be engaged with their world, eager to do something satisfying and exciting. But any attempt to do so is failing.”
That means boredom is usually very upsetting. And it can have physical consequences. In one of his experiments, Danckert made people extremely bored by showing them a video of two people hanging clothes to dry. He found that when people got bored, their hearts beat faster and their levels of a hormone called cortisol (皮质醇) went up, compared to when they watched another video that made them sad. These physical changes were signs that boredom was stressing them out. “It’s not like having a full-on panic attack,” Danckert says. But it’s certainly enough to make boredom unpleasant.
Let’s come back to if boredom can kill you. Back in the 1980s, scientists asked people who worked for the British government a whole bunch of questions, including how bored they felt in their daily lives. The study tracked the participants over time. When any one of them died, the survey recorded the cause of death. In 2010, two researchers matched up these causes of death with the participants’ level of boredom. It turned out that people who said they were more bored were also more likely to have died of heart disease. “We know that prolonged exposure to stress is bad for your health,” Danckert says. A single boring day can’t kill you. But if you’re always bored, the stress could add up into something dangerous.
“Oh no,” you might be thinking. “School is boring, my friends are boring, everything is boring! What’s going to happen to me ” Don’t worry, Danckert says: “As you get older, you get less bored,” mainly because you gain more independence and have to get busy to achieve your long-term goals. And trust me: that’s anything but boring.
57. According to James Danckert, people feel bored because ________.
A. they are too lazy to do anything B. they can’t gain excitement in life
C. they are too frightened to have a try D. they can’t fully understand boredom
58. What can we learn from paragraph 2
A. Doing housework will make people bored. B. People’s heart rate increases with boredom.
C. Physical changes can lead to extreme boredom. D. Watching something sad is a boring experience.
59 What does the underlined word “prolonged” in paragraph 3 mean
A. Continued. B. Repeated. C. Sudden. D. Active.
60. What does Danckert recommend to save people from boredom
A. Depending on friends. B. Setting long-term goals.
C. Keeping yourself occupied. D. Trusting people around you.
参考答案
Passage 1: 1-4. DCBC
Passage 2: 5-8 BCDA
Passage 3： 9-12 CBDD
Passage 4： 13-16 DCAB
Passage 5: 17-20 BBCC
Passage 6: 21-24 CDBA
Passage 7: 25-28 CBAB
Passage 8: 29-32 ADCB
Passage 9: 33-36 C D B B
Passage 10: 37-40 BACC
Passage 11: 41-44 DBDC
Passage 12: 45-48 DBCA
Passage 13. 49-52 B DDC
Passage 14 53-56 BDBA
Passage 15 57-60 BBAC