There’s a new frontier (新领域) in 3D printing that’s beginning to come into focus: food. Recent development has made possible machines that print, cook, and serve foods on a mass scale. And the industry isn’t stopping there.
Food production
With a 3D printer, a cook can print complicated (复杂的) chocolate sculptures and beautiful pieces for decoration on a wedding cake. Not everybody can do that—it takes years of experience, but a printer makes it easy. A restaurant in Spain uses a Foodini to “re-create forms and pieces” of food that are “exactly the same,” freeing cooks to complete other tasks. In another restaurant, all of the dishes and desserts it serves are 3D-printed, rather than farm to table.
Nutrition
Future 3D food printers could make processed food healthier. Hod Lipson, a professor at Columbia University, said, “Food printing could allow consumers to print food to meet their own nutritional needs, like vitamins. So instead of eating a piece of yesterday’s bread from the supermarket, you’d eat something baked just for you on demand.”
Challenges
Despite recent advancements in 3D food printing, the industry has many challenges to overcome. Currently, most ingredients must be changed to a paste (糊状物) before a printer can use them, and the printing process is quite time-consuming, because ingredients interact with each other in very complex ways. On top of that, most of the 3D food printers now are restricted to dry ingredients, because meat and milk products may easily go bad. Some experts are skeptical about 3D food printers, believing they are better suited for fast food restaurants than homes and high-end restaurants.
1.What benefit does 3D printing bring to food production?
A. It helps cooks to create new dishes.
B. It makes the dishes more delicious.
C. It saves time and effort in cooking.
D. It contributes to restaurant decorations.
2.According to Paragraph 3, 3D-printed food____________.
A. is more available to customers.
B. can keep all the nutrition in raw materials.
C. is more tasty than food in supermarkets.
D. can meet individual nutritional needs.
3.What could be the best title of the passage?
A. 3D Food Printing: From Farm to Table
B. 3D Food Printing: Delicious New Technology
C. The Challenges for 3D Food Production
D. A New Way to Improve 3D Food Printing
There was great excitement on the planet of Venus (金星) this week. For the first time Venusian scientists managed to land a satellite on the planet Earth, and it has been sending back signals as well as photographs.
The satellite was directed into an area known as Manhattan (曼哈顿). Because of excellent weather conditions and extremely strong signals, Venusian scientists were able to get valuable information about the feasibility of a manned flying saucer (飞碟) landing on Earth. A press conference was held at the Venus Institute of Technology.
“We have come to the conclusion, based on last week's satellite landing,” Professor Zog said, “that there is no life on Earth."
“How do you know this?” the science reporter of the Venus Evening News asked.
"For one thing, Earth's surface in the area of Manhattan consists of solid concrete (混泥土) and nothing can grow there. For another, the atmosphere is filled with carbon monoxide (一氧化碳) and other deadly gases and nobody could possibly breathe this air and survive.”
“Are there any other sources of danger that you have discovered in your studies?”
“Take a look at this photo. You see this dark black cloud staying over the surface of Earth? We don't know what it is made of, but it could give us a lot of trouble and we shall have to make further tests before we send a Venus Being there. Over here you will notice what seems to be a river, but the satellite findings indicates it is polluted and the water is unfit to drink.”
“Sir, what are all those tiny black spots on the photographs?”
“We’re not certain. They seem to be metal objects that moves along certain roads. They give out gases, make noise and keep crashing into each other.”
“Professor Zog, why are we spending billions and billions of Zilches to land a flying saucer on Earth when there is no life there?”
“Because if we Venusians can learn to breathe in the Earth atmosphere, then we can live anywhere.”
1.What does the underlined word “feasibility” in Paragraph 2 mean?
A. possibility B. ability C. simplicity D. responsibility
2.What problems on the earth was not mentioned by the author?
A. Air pollution.
B. Water pollution.
C. Heavy traffic.
D. Over population.
3.Why did the author write the passage?
A. To tell us a dream of Venusian scientists.
B. To show the secret of life on other planets.
C. To persuade people to try living on the earth.
D. To remind people on the earth of some problems.
After the operation, Peter suffered severe pain, but insisted that he didn’t need any treatment. One evening, he found Susan, his wife, crying in the kitchen of their apartment in a rare outburst of frustration. “If you won’t help yourself, no one else can,” she said.
Peter started a list “How to Help Myself”, and on it he wrote, “Keep communicating with the doctors, even if they are dark thoughts.” On October 20th, a few days before his 33 birthday, Peter wrote in a Facebook post, “It’s been hard to get along with having an incurable Grade 4 brain cancer; it’s been hard not to get angry and sad about it; and it’s been hard to accept that modern medicine isn’t able to fix me.” But at the same time, he wrote, “Every day I wake up not-dead is a gift.”
Peter and Susan had other lists, detailing the things that they hoped to accomplish in life, which included a trip to Wimbledon; climbing Mt. Snowdon in Wales; and a list of musical wishes—from learning the Bach sonatas (奏鸣曲) and partitas (变奏曲) to performing the first violin part in a concert.
Peter started working on Bach’s six sonatas and partitas, the most difficult parts, which George Enescu, a world-famous violinist, once described as the Himalayas (喜马拉雅山) for violinists. Peter practiced every day, even if he could manage only fifteen minutes between medical treatments. As he mastered each piece, he posted his performances on Facebook. He finished on November 12th, then turned to the even more difficult Paganini caprices (随想曲), which he had often listened to in a recording by Itzhak Perlman. “It’s something I always wanted to play when I grew up, like wanting to be a great baseball player,” he said.
1.Susan cried in the kitchen because_______________.
A. she suffered great pain from the Grade 4 brain cancer
B. Peter refused to get medical treatment after the operation
C. nobody else wanted to help them out of the situation
D. no money was left to pay for Peter’s medical treatment
2.Which of the following can best describe Peter’s feeling when he wrote “Every day I wake up not-dead is a gift.”?
A. Grateful. B. Sad. C. Frustrated. D. Determined.
3.The couple’s list of things they hoped to accomplish in life included_______________.
A. playing tennis in Wimbledon
B. cycling in Mt. Snowdon in Wales
C. learning Mozart’s sonatas and partitas
D. playing the first violin part in a concert
4.In the last paragraph, Bach’s six sonatas and partitas is compared to the Himalayas for violinists to stress ____________.
A. its popularity among people
B. its value for learners
C. its difficulty when being learned
D. its importance in violinists’ eyes
听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1.Which situation will the speaker remain?
A. Vice-president.
B. CEO of the company.
C. Chairman of the board.
2.When did Quinn Constantine come aboard?
A. 20 years ago. B. 15 years ago. C. 5 years ago.
3.What does Quinn do well in?
A. Growing the brand internationally.
B. Developing some successful products.
C. Hiring some engineers of high ability.
4.What is the speaker’s attitude toward Quinn?
A. Satisfied. B. Grateful. C. Indifferent.
听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1.What’s wrong with the woman’s computer?
A. The keyboard was broken.
B. The mouse didn’t work.
C. The screen went black.
2.Who might the man be?
A. A repairman.
B. The woman’s husband.
C. The woman’s colleague.
3.What will the man do at once?
A. Fix the computer.
B. Take the computer away.
C. Save the files for the woman.
听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1.What information is needed by the woman?
A. The man’s phone number.
B. The shipping date.
C. The man’s email address.
2.When were the gifts supposed to arrive?
A. Two days ago. B. Seven days ago. C. Ten days ago.
3.How does the man probably feel in the end?
A. Excited. B. Confused. C. Frustrated.
