The twentieth century saw greater changes than any century before: changes for the better, changes for the worse; changes that brought a lot of benefits to human beings, changes that put man in danger. 1.
Scientific research in physics and biology has vastly broadened our views. It has given us a deeper knowledge of the structure of matter and of the universe, 2.. Technology in the application of science has made big advances that have benefited us in nearly every part of life.
The continuation of such activities in the twenty-first century will result in even greater advantages to human beings: in pure science—a wider and deeper knowledge in all fields of learning: in applied science—a more reasonable sharing of material benefits, and better protection of the environment.
3. The creativity of science has been employed in doing damage to mankind. The application of and technology to the development and production of weapons of mass destruction has created a real danger to the continued existence of the human race on this planet. 4. Although their actual use has so far occurred only in the Second World War, the number of nuclear weapons that were produced and made ready for use was so large that if the weapons had actually been used, the result could have been the rain of the human race, as well as of many kinds of animals.
William Shakespeare said, “The web of our life is of a mingled yarn (纱线), good and ill together. “5. But does it have to be so? Must the ill always go together with the good? Are we biologically programmed for war?
A.We have seen this happen in the case of nuclear weapons.
B.Sadly, however, there is another side to the picture.
C.Fortunately, science has brought us with the greatest
D.It offers us less access to nature as well as social life.
E.The above brief review of the application of only one part of human activities—science seems to prove what Shakespeare said.
F.Many things caused the changes, but in my opinion, the most important was the progress in science.
G.It has brought us a better understanding of the nature of life and of its continuous development.
If you live in a desert, maintaining a supply of fresh water is a challenge. One answer is desalination, but that needs a source from which to get the salt away—which in turn requires that your desert be near the sea. The other is related to moisture. Even in inland deserts, though, moisture is often present in the air as water vapour (水蒸气).
The problem is how to get this vapour effectively and cheaply from the desert air. And that is what two groups of researchers have managed to do.
The ease with which water can be won from air depends on that air’s relative humidity. This is a measure of its current vapour content as a percentage of its maximum possible vapour content at its current temperature. A relative humidity of 100% means the air in question is holding as much water vapour as it possibly can. A good way to get air to give up some of its moisture is therefore to cool it to the point where its relative humidity is more than 100%. Sometimes this happens naturally at night, causing mist and dew to form. These can be collected in special traps in areas where liquid water is otherwise rarer. But, if night cooling does not bring air all the way up to 100% relative humidity, building water traps out of special materials might give nature a helping hand.
Adsorption (吸附) is a process which pulls water molecules from air that has less than 100% relative humidity by attaching them to the surface of a solid material. The molecules are held there by electrostatic (静电的) connections called Van der Waals forces that link them with the molecules of the related surface. To collect a lot of water this way therefore requires a material that has two features. One is a large surface area. The other is an appropriate Van der Waals response. Experimental traps that employ this principle have been made using substances called metal-organic frameworks. These are porous (多孔的) molecular networks through which air can circulate. Their porosity gives them a huge surface area. And by picking the right ingredients, such as zirconium, they can be given the necessary Van der Waals features. Zirconium is, however, costly. Moreover, once absorbed, the water must then be released. This means warming the absorptive material—the warmth being provided by the sun, once it has risen. Here, metal-organic frameworks present a problem. They tend to reflect sunlight rather than absorb it, and so don’t heat up well. To overcome this, engineers build a solid device made of copper into the system. This works, but adding such devices makes an already costly technology even dearer.
1.What is the meaning of the underlined word in Paragraph 1?
A.The irrigation of sea water. B.The import of sea water.
C.The removal of salt in sea water. D.The purification of sea water.
2.Which factor can mainly affect people to get water from the air easily?
A.Air quality. B.Relative humidity.
C.Current vapour content. D.Current temperature.
3.What can we learn from the article?
A.Water drops are the major existence of moisture in the air.
B.Getting vapour in the air naturally usually happens when the relative humidity is below 100%.
C.The more holes a certain material has, the huger surface area it has.
D.Zirconium is chosen because it’s cheap.
4.What’s the main idea of the passage?
A.Maintaining-fresh water in the desert.
B.Introducing a way to get water in the air of the desert.
C.Promoting an experimental trap to get water in the air.
D.Offering a way to increase adsorption in the air.
Though having seen such blunders many times before like “Redundancies (冗长)”, “Faulty capitalization (大写)” and “Lack of clarity (清晰) and specificity” in her 17 years of teaching English composition in Greenville’ public schools, Yvonne Mason wasn’t reading a student paper this time. She was reading a letter she received from President Donald Trump.
“I have never, ever, received a letter with this many silly mistakes,” Mason said. The former Mauldin High School teacher immediately did what she had done thousands of times before. She corrected the writing, and returned it—this one going back to the White Mouse.
A photo of Mason’s corrections has been widely shared on her Facebook. “When you get letters from the highest level of government, you expect them to be at least mechanically correct,” Mason said. She particularly repeated capitalizing “nation”, “federal”, “president” and “state”, turning these common nouns into proper nouns. Mason identified 11 instances of faulty capitalization in Trump’s letter, finally resisting the idea of attaching a grade to the letter. “If it had been written in middle school, I’d give it a C or C-plus,” she said. “If it had been written in high school, I’d give it a D.” Mason’s comments drew attention to redundant (多余) expressions and overuse of the pronoun “I” in Trump’s letter.
Mason recognized, of course, that the form letter she received from the President was very likely written by a staff member, not Trump himself, though the letter did, include Trump’s signature. It came in reply to a letter she’d written about the school shooting on Feb. 14 in Florida.
Trump’s letter doesn’t respond specifically to Mason’s earlier letter to the President. In her letter, Mason asked Trump to meet individually with the family members of the victims of the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Trump’s return letter talks in general terms about school safety. “It didn’t address the letter I wrote,” Mason said.
Mason, who taught English at Hughes Middle School and Mauldin High School for 17 years before retiring last year, is a devoted rhetorical (修辞) activist, writing letters, emails and faxes to state, local and federal officials often.
1.The underlined word “blunders” can be replaced by ________.
A.conditions B.comments
C.compositions D.mistakes
2.What was Mason’s attitude towards the letter she received?
A.Curious and content.
B.Serious and dissatisfied.
C.Impressed and respectful.
D.Surprised and understanding.
3.Mason mentioned the grades she would have given the letter to show that ________.
A.she had recognized the letter was written by a student
B.Trump’s staff members’ grammar needed improving
C.middle school education should be paid more attention
D.it was really difficult to bear so many silly mistakes
4.________ gave Mason the intention to write to the President earlier.
A.A photo of Mason’s corrections to the letter
B.Trump’s meeting with the family members of the victims
C.The school shooting in Florida
D.Trump’s talking about school safety
Cal Fire captain Shawn Raley barked evacuation (疏散) orders over the radio for the neighbourhood of Sunset Terrace. The sky was red and the wind screamed, shaking the leaves off the trees. New fires lit in bushes and on roofs. A 24-year veteran of wildland fires, Raley had seen nearly everything, including swirling eddies (旋涡) of air called fire whirls. But he hadn’t seen anything like this.
At around 7:15 p. m., he drove toward areas in the wooded hills. He figured that residents would need help escaping. His headlights barely pierced the smoke, but he could see three bulldozers (推土机) inch past him on two-lane Buenaventura Boulevard. Don Andrews, who was unaware of the dangers he was about to face, drove one; contractors Terry Cummings and Jimmie Jones drove the other two. They were under electrical line, which were swaying in the wind, and Raley shouted at the men to move away.
In the driveway of a house, Raley spotted a Tesla with someone in the driver’s seat. Dr. Thiruvoipati Nanda Kumar, 62, had raced eight kilometres home from Vibra Hospital of Northern California. His wife, Yasoda, 58, and daughter, Sushma, 29, hadn’t received an evacuation alert, and when the power cut out, their garage door wouldn’t open, locking their car inside.
“Go back!” Raley shouted at Kumar, sounding his siren.
“My wife and daughter are there. Can they come in?” Kumar said, pointing to Raley’s vehicle. He figured they’d be safest with the captain.
“Come in my truck?” Raley asked. “Yes.”
The women jumped into the back seat, coughing. Nearby, flames that climbed 30 metres burned their neighbours’ homes. Soon theirs would fall, as well.
“I’ll lead you out,” Raley yelled to Kumar. “Take your car.”
Debris (碎片) attacked the truck, cracking Raley’s windshield and breaking the other windows as the wind blew the vehicle off the road. The captain threw himself across the passenger seat, protecting his face as the fire passed over them. Yasoda and Sushma screamed.
“Are you okay?” Raley shouted, though he knew the answer. He was embarrassed. He’d told this trapped family that he would get them out safely. Now they were covered in glass and bleeding. Behind them, the trunk of Kumar’s Tesla was a flame.
1.What can we learn about Raley?
A.He has never seen fire whirls before.
B.He is quite experienced in dealing with wildland fires.
C.He was so angry that he shouted at Don to move away from the road.
D.He decided to save the Kumar’s family out of the fire in his truck immediately he saw them.
2.Which of the following statements is RIGHT?
A.The smoke was so heavy that Raley could hardly see the road.
B.There were three persons driving bulldozers quickly on the two-lane road.
C.Dr. Kumar with his wife and daughter was trapped in the car when the power cut off.
D.The doctor’s house was burnt down to the group when Raley arrived.
3.Why was Raley embarrassed in the last paragraph?
A.Because he was injured by the fire.
B.Because his truck was blown off the road.
C.Because he felt he would fail to keep his word to save the family out.
D.Because he couldn’t protect the Kumar’s Tesla well.
4.Which is the best title of the article?
A.A Big Wildland Blaze B.A Lucky Family
C.Come in My Truck D.I’ll Lead You Out
What is Queen Elizabeth II like in person?
Answer from @ Jackie Pearcey:
I once had lunch with the Queen (OK, along with about 100 other people in a large room). There’s a rule that people should stop eating when the Queen stops. She eats carefully, making sure everyone has a proper opportunity to eat. After lunch, she made a point to meet up with and thank all of the waiting staff and those who had cooked the lunch.
Answer from @ Janie Keddie:
I live not far from Balmoral Castle, which is the Queen’s private mansion in the Scottish Highlands. What we find is that the Queen is a polite woman who is a good neighbor and treats people kindly. She uses local suppliers; she always supports the Braemar Highland Gathering and attends the local “Kirk” (Church of Scotland). That makes her part of the local community, which is quite protective of her and respects her privacy. However, my favourite tale is this. The Royals sometimes travel about the local area with minimal fuss (最小的麻烦). She stopped her car for a picnic on a track some distance from the road. There isn’t a lot of passing traffic, but on this occasion a family of walkers came upon but didn’t recognize her. On a “day off”, she looks much the same as the other local elderly ladies in her jacket. “Goodness!” said the mother, “You look just like that lady on the stamps.” “So I’ve been told;” said the Queen with a kindly smile as she continued to sip (小口抿) tea.
Answer from @ Gill Bullen:
Some years ago, when Prince William was a very little boy, he had apparently been playing in Buckingham Palace, had fallen down and hurt himself, and was crying inconsolably (无法安慰地). He was immediately surrounded by concerned maids and other household staff trying to comfort him, but he didn’t want any of them, only Gary. Nobody was sure who Gary was—possibly one of the housemen?
But then a voice was heard, saying, “Let me through, please. I’m Gary.” And they made way for the Queen, because “Granny” can be quite hard for a little boy to say!
1.What do we know from Jackie Pearcey’s words?
A.The Queen usually eats with the cook.
B.No one else is allowed to eat while the Queen is eating.
C.The Queen constantly has lunch with about 100 people.
D.The Queen seems mindful of others and appreciative of those who work for her.
2.According to Janie Keddie, Queen Elizabeth II ________.
A.lives in harmony with neighbors
B.is always recognized when she goes out
C.buys all her daily supplies by special suppliers
D.seldom takes part in the local community’ activities
3.It can be inferred that the Queen ________.
A.once had a secret nickname Gary
B.looked after Prince William daily
C.often played a role of the houseman
D.had a good relationship with her little grandson
阅读下面短文，根据其内容写一篇60词左右的内容概要。
School uniforms are becoming more and more popular across the U.S.A. That’s no surprise, because they offer many benefits. They immediately end the powerful social sorting and labeling (标记) that come from clothing. If all students are dressed in the same way, they will not pay too much attention to their clothing, and some of them will not be laughed at for wearing the “wrong” clothes.
Some people are against the strict rule of school uniforms, but they do not realize that students already accept a kind of rule - wanting to look just like their friends. The difference is that the clothing students choose for themselves creates social barriers (障碍); school uniforms tear those barriers down.
As in other places, uniforms remind the wearers of their purposes and duties. For example, when a man or woman puts on a police uniform, he or she becomes, for a time, the symbol (象征) of law and order. The uniform means to the wearer his or her special duties and sends the same message to everyone the wearer meets. People with different jobs wear uniforms of one kind or another. For students, the school uniform reminds them that their task for the six or seven hours they are in school is to get an education.
Some parents are unhappy about uniforms, saying that school uniforms will affect their children’s “creativity”. Actually, as noted above, the clothes students choose to wear do not necessarily express their individuality. They just copy their classmates. Students have the rest of the day to be as creative as they like. While they’re in school, their job is to master reading, writing, and mathematics; this should take up all the creativity they have. Mastery of those skills will be good for the students to build up their creativity in every way.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
