On 7, August, 2015, astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) got to eat a special treat. No, it wasn’t a cookie or cake. It was red lettuce they had grown themselves in space.
“It was one small bite for man, one giant leap for NASAVEGGIE,” astronaut Scott Kelly wrote on Twitter. (Kelly based his tweet on the words astronaut Neil Armstrong famously used in 1969, after becoming the first person to ever walk on the moon. “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” he said at the time.)
“NASAVEGGIE” refers to the ISS’s Veggie plant-growth system. It uses special red, blue, and green LED lights to grow plants. The system is a big step toward NASA’s goal of developing a way to grow food in space during future long space missions deep into the solar system.
Kelly and fellow NASA astronaut Kjell Lindgren prepared the red romaine lettuce like many people do on Earth. They cleaned it, and then mixed it with olive oil and vinegar. Then they gobbled up the leafy red greens. “That’s awesome!” Lindgren said after taking a bite.
It was the first taste of fresh food the astronauts had had in a long time, since there is no refrigeration on the ISS. They ate half the lettuce. The rest was packaged and frozen so that it could be returned to Earth for testing.
Lindgren and Kelly are the only two NASA astronauts currently on the space station. The other crew members are Russian astronauts Gennady Padalka, Mikhail Komienko, and Lleg Kononenko, and Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui.
Kelly and Kornienko have been on the ISS since March. They plan to spend 342 days in space, in part to help determine the effects of long-term space travel on astronauts’ bodies. They traveled to the ISS with Padalka, who will return to Earth in September.
Kelly and Komiendo’s job — which will be one of the longest-ever stay in space by astronauts — will help pave the way for future long-term space tasks. NASA plans to send humans to an asteroid by 2025 and to Mars by the 2030s.
1.Why is growing food in space very important?
A.It is a symbol of scientific development.
B.It will help solve the hunger problem
C.Astronauts can get enough nutritious food.
D.People plan to go into the deep space.
2.What Kelly said in Para. 2 suggests that _____.
A.it is a great success to grow fresh food in space
B.he respected Neil Armstrong very much
C.mankind makes great progress in exploring space
D.humans should speed up to land on Mars
3.Who will remain in the ISS until March, 2016?
A.Padalka and Kononenko. B.Yui and Lindgren.
C.Kelly and Kormienko. D.Kelly and Lindgren.
4.What is the main idea of the passage?
A.Astronauts grow their favorite food in space.
B.Astronauts get more fresh food from space.
C.Astronauts plant vegetables for a journey to Mars.
D.Astronauts eat fresh food grown on the ISS.
California has lost half its big trees since the 1930s, according to a study to be published Tuesday and climate change seems to be a major factor（因素）.
The number of trees larger than two feet across has declined by 50 percent on more than 46, 000 square miles of California forests, the new study finds. No area was spared or unaffected, from the foggy northern coast to the Sierra Nevada Mountains to the San Gabriels above Los Angeles. In the Sierra high country, the number of big trees has fallen by more than 55 percent; in parts of southern California the decline was nearly 75 percent.
Many factors contributed to the decline, said Patrick Mclntyre, an ecologist who was the lead author of the study. Woodcutters targeted big trees. Housing development pushed into the woods. Aggressive wildfire control has left California forests crowded with small trees that compete with big trees for resources（资源）.
But in comparing a study of California forests done in the 1920s and 1930s with another one between 2001 and 2010, Mclntyre and his colleagues documented a widespread death of big trees that was evident even in wildlands protected from woodcutting or development.
The loss of big trees was greatest in areas where trees had suffered the greatest water shortage. The researchers figured out water stress with a computer model that calculated how much water trees were getting in comparison with how much they needed, taking into account such things as rainfall, air temperature, dampness of soil, and the timing of snowmelt（融雪）.
Since the 1930s, Mclntyre said, the biggest factors driving up water stress in the state have been rising temperatures, which cause trees to lose more water to the air, and earlier snowmelt, which reduces the water supply available to trees during the dry season.
1.What is the second paragraph mainly about?
A.The seriousness of big-tree loss in California.
B.The increasing variety of California big trees.
C.The distribution of big trees in California forests.
D.The influence of farming on big trees in California.
2.Which of the following is well-intentioned（出于好心的） but may be bad for big trees?
A.Ecological studies of forests. B.Banning woodcutting.
C.Limiting housing development. D.Fire control measures.
3.What is a major cause of the water shortage according to Mclntyre?
A.Not enough snowmelt. B.A longer dry season.
C.A warmer climate. D.Dampness of the air.
假定你是李华，你的英国笔友 David 给你发了一封邮件，倾诉他因疫情居家进行线上学习所遇到的烦恼，请你针对David 的问题回复邮件。
Dear Li Hua,
I have some problems. Due to the COVID-19, all of us now have to keep social distance and take online courses at home. I find it hard to constantly focus on studying. I feel tired easily. Worse still, I have become so anxious and short-tempered. I do want to change the situation, but I don’t know how. What should I do?
Yours,
David
注意：1. 词数 100 左右；
2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
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假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（＼）划掉。
修改：在错的词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词。
注意：
1. 每处错误及其修改均仅限一词；
2. 只允许修改 10 处，多者（从第 11 处起）不计分。
I, together with my parents and cousins, were planning to have a fantastic beach day. We’d been looking forward to the beach all week, so you can imagine how disappointing we were when Dad announced, “Today will be a inside day because of the bad weather.” To cheer us, Mom brought out our favorite snacks and all kinds of fruit that he had prepared for the outing. “Why not to arrange a fruit platter?” Mom suggested. We cut the fruit into different shape. Though we didn’t have a clear picture of how it would look like, we simple enjoyed ourselves. We made necessary adjustments, carefully adding or replaced each piece, and finally made it a piece of art.
阅读下面短文，在空白处填1 个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。
English playwright Arthur Wing Pinero said, “Where there’s tea, there’s hope.” Similarly in China, it is said 1.firewood, rice, cooking oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea are the seven necessary2.(item) to begin a day. Tea is, without doubt, welcomed all over the world. Tea is much more than just a hot drink. It’s a big part of many cultures around the world. People in China use top-grade tea3.(show) respect when receiving important guests. Meanwhile,4.British tradition of afternoon tea is an important part of that country’s identity. As an5.(express) of Moroccan hospitality and tradition, mint tea – a mix of green tea, spearmint (绿薄荷) leaves and sugar –6.(serve) during gatherings and negotiations. Apart from its7. (culture) significance, tea is also a medicine, 8. (use) from ancient times to modern day. “Tea is cold and lowers the fire,” Chinese herbalist Li Shizhen once9.(say). The health benefits of tea are still being discovered today: preventing heart disease, obesity and cancer have all been linked 10.drinking green tea.
I was 11 years old when I asked my mom for piano lessons in 2010. We were badly off in the recession (经济衰退). She said a_______“no”.
That didn’t stop me. I Googled the_______for a keyboard, drew the keys on a piece of paper and ________it on my desk. I would click _______on an online keyboard and “play” them back on my paper one – keeping the_______we they made on the computer in my _______. I spend six months playing without______a real piano. Once my mom saw that I was_______, she got into debt to buy me ten lessons.
In the first lesson I was_______by how real the sound of the piano was. I sat my grade one after eight lessons.________we couldn’t afford lessons again. I________grade three, then grade five,_______only on my piece of paper. When I was about 13, my mom said she had a_______for me: it was an electronic keyboard, bought with more______money.
My school didn’t offer music A-level. I found the Purcell School for young_______. The tryouts (选拔) were________. Some of the questions involved a judgment on the composer (作曲家) or when it was written. I felt stuck. To my amazement I was offered a_____. There, I worked as hard as I could to improve my performance and save enough money to buy my _______piano.
I feel proud: it’s been 10 years since I drew my paper piano, and now I’m at one of the world’s leading music schools. However, the irony is that I________doing a lot of my practice away from the piano: what we call________practice. The paper piano helped spark my curiosity about how music works, the building blocks that form the pieces.
1.A.determined B.polite C.flat D.strong
2.A.measurements B.colors C.design D.principle
3.A.laid B.stuck C.threw D.folded
4.A.links B.tunes C.notes D.buttons
5.A.noise B.video C.image D.sound
6.A.voice B.hand C.head D.ear
7.A.touching B.seeing C.buying D.hearing
8.A.patient B.serious C.interested D.optimistic
9.A.terrified B.confused C.annoyed D.struck
10.A.Lately B.Meanwhile C.Sometimes D.Afterwards
11.A.passed B.missed C.organized D.quit
12.A.operating B.focusing C.practicing D.experimenting
13.A.prize B.surprise C.secret D.chance
14.A.borrowed B.hidden C.earned D.pocketed
15.A.students B.programmers C.musicians D.performers
16.A.difficult B.various C.common D.formal
17.A.job B.mark C.class D.place
18.A.best B.favorite C.first D.new
19.A.set about B.keep on C.turn to D.jump at
20.A.junior B.casual C.regular D.mental
