Last summer over 12,000 fans were at Wembley Arena in London, shouting and cheering. Thousands more were watching online. 1. It was e-sports, or competitive computer gaming.
Millions of people in the UK play computer games for fun. Some of them have become professional gamers, playing games as their full-time job. 2. They practice for ten or more hours a day, five or six days a week. They do exercises like typing something and trying to type it faster and faster. They also study videos of other players and plan ways to beat them.
3. Are players athletes? Some say no. E-sports players don’t need to run, jump, throw or do big physical actions. At the moment, the UK government classifies e-sports as kinds of games, not as sports.
But others say yes: e-sports are sports. Players do need some physical skills, especially hand-eye coordination, reflexes, accuracy and timing. If darts, snooker and shooting are classified as sports, then perhaps e-sports should be too.
4. And they will be an official medal sport in the Asian Games starting from 2022. Next step: the Olympics?
For many e-sports fans and players, though, the most important thing is that e-sports are growing in popularity and importance. 5.
A.But are e-sports really sports?
B.All like playing computer games.
C.It’s not easy being a professional gamer, though.
D.But this wasn’t a football, basketball or tennis match.
E.It is certain that e-sports will come into the 2024 Olympics.
F.In fact, China and South Korea do classify e-sports as sports.
G.If e-sports are not as important as sports now, they definitely will be in the near future.
If you could have a superpower, what would it be? Other than flying and communicating with someone from his mind (which, let’s be honest, would probably actually be awful), breathing underwater is one of the favorites. You can hang out with Aquaman and Ursula, and when the end of the world comes and we’re all living under water, you’ll be fine.
With this in mind, a student at the Royal College of Art, London has designed a 3D-printed amphibious garment called AMPHIBIO — essentially a set of gills(鳃) — for this very purpose.
According to Jun Kamei, a biomimicry designer and materials scientist, it is "for a future where humankind lives in the water".
With the world set for a global temperature increase of 3.2°C (5.7°F) by 2100, rising sea levels are a very real threat to large coastal cities, potentially affecting up to 2 billion people — or 26 percent of the current global population.
Kamei’s little device uses a specially designed porous(多孔的) material that fills oxygen again in the water and releases carbon dioxide. It is inspired by water-diving insects that create their own little scuba diving set by creating a protective bubble of air around their body thanks to their water repellent(防水的) skin.
The technology is easily 3D-printable too, which will be great when we need them together. These "gills" could replace heavy and clumsy scuba equipment, making it more similar to free diving but for longer. This could have immediate applications for underwater rescue plans — the 12 boys rescued by divers from a flooded cave in Thailand, for example, where it took weeks to work out how to get the boys and the vital breathing equipment through those narrow tunnels.
So far, the tech has only been tested as a working prototype, not actually on humans, so the dream may have to be on hold for now. And scaling up and testing on humans is Kamei’s next plan. This may sound unbelievable, but Kamei insists he has a much more optimistic vision of the future.
1.What can be inferred about Aquaman and Ursula?
A. They can read minds.
B. They can breathe underwater.
C. They often cause huge disasters.
D. They can’t live underwater.
2.What can we learn about AMPHIBIO?
A. It can produce oxygen in the water.
B. Its user can communicate with others from their mind.
C. It is the unique useful tool against the threat of rising sea levels.
D. The designer drew his inspiration from a certain natural species.
3.Why did the author mentioned the rescue of the boys in Thailand?
A. To present the success of the new device.
B. To compare the new device with the old one.
C. To prove the advantage of the new device.
D. To show the new device is easily 3D-printable.
4.What is the author’s attitude to the future of the new design?
A. Objective. B. indifferent. C. Doubtful. D. Critical.
Who cares if people think wrongly that the internet has had more important influences than the washing machine? Why does it matter that people are more impressed by the most recent changes?
It would not matter if these misjudgments were just a matter of people’s opinions. However, they have real impacts, as they result in misguided use of scarce resources.
The fascination with the ICT(Information and Communication Technology) revolution, represented by the internet, has made some rich countries wrongly conclude that making things is so “yesterday” that they should try to live on ideas. This belief in “post-industrial society” has led those countries to neglect their manufacturing sector(制造业), with negative consequences for their economies.
Even more worryingly, the fascination with the internet by people in rich countries has moved the international community to worry about the “digital divide” between the rich countries and the poor countries. This has led companies and individuals to donate money to developing countries to buy computer equipment and internet facilities. The question, however, is whether this is what the developing countries need the most. Perhaps giving money for those less fashionable things such as digging wells, extending electricity networks and making more affordable washing machines would have improved people’s lives more than giving every child a laptop computer or setting up internet centres in rural villages, I am not saying that those things are necessarily more important, but many donators have rushed into fancy programmes without carefully assessing the relative long-term costs and benefits of alternative uses of their money.
In yet another example, a fascination with the new has led people to believe that the recent changes in the technologies of communications and transportation are so revolutionary that now we live in a “borderless world”. As a result, in the last twenty years or so, many people have come to believe that whatever change is happening today is the result of great technological progress, going against which will be like trying to turn the clock back. Believing in such a world, many governments have put an end to some of the very necessary regulations on cross-border flows of capital, labour and goods, with poor results.
Understanding technological trends is very important for correctly designing economic policies, both at the national and the international levels, and for making the right career choices at the individual level. However, our fascination with the latest, and our under valuation of what has already become common, can, and has, led us in all sorts of wrong directions.
1.Misjudgments on the influences of new technology can lead to ________.
A.a lack of confidence in technology
B.a slow progress in technology
C.a conflict of public opinions
D.a waste of limited resources
2.The example in Paragraph 4 suggests that donators should ________.
A.take people’s essential needs into account
B.make their programmes attractive to people
C.ensure that each child gets financial support
D.provide more affordable internet facilities
3.What has led many governments to remove necessary regulations?
A.Neglecting the impacts of technological advances.
B.Believing that the world has become borderless.
C.Ignoring the power of economic development.
D.Over-emphasizing the role of international communication.
4.What can we learn from the passage?
A.People should be encouraged to make more donations.
B.Traditional technology still has a place nowadays.
C.Making right career choices is crucial to personal success.
D.Economic policies should follow technological trends.
We’ve all had cases where we’ve waited just a bit too long to pay an electric bill or speeding ticket. But one man, from California by reasonable assumption，who goes by “Dave”，recently took procrastination (拖延) one step further, by paying a parking ticket almost a half-century after it was given.
In December 2018, the Minersville Police Department in Pennsylvania received a letter in the mail. Whoever wrote the letter decided it was best to keep his name somewhat unknown，so he put the return address as “Wayward Road，Anytown California” under the name “Feeling guilty”.
When the officers opened the envelope，they found a brief letter, along with a $5 bill, and a parking ticket dating all the way back to 1974. The note read，“Dear PD，I've been carrying this ticket around for 40 plus years always intending to pay. Forgive me if I don't give you my info. With respect，Dave.”
Even though the initial parking ticket was only for $2, “Dave” must have felt awfully guilty because he left 150 percent，or $3, in interest.
Michael Combs, the Police Chief of the Minersville Police Department, stated in an interview that the same ticket would cost about $20 if it were given today. Combs went on to share that the original ticket from 1974 was given to a vehicle that had an Ohio license plate.
Because there was no system for tracking tickets given to out-of-state cars back then，“Dave” could have gotten away with never paying the $2 fine. But apparently，guilt got the best of him，and he decided to finally cough up the money more than 40 years past its due date.
1.How much do we know about “Dave”？
A. He lives in Wayward Road，Anytown California.
B. His car probably came from Ohio at that time.
C. The police are trying to find out more about him.
D. “Dave” is of course the man’s real name indeed.
2.Why didn’t “Dave” pay for the parking ticket until recently?
A. He completely forgot about it in the past 44 years.
B. He didn’t find it until almost half a century later.
C. He didn’t pay for it just because of procrastination.
D. He failed to find out who he should pay the money to.
3.What drove “Dave” to pay for the parking ticket at last?
A. A strong sense of guilt.
B. Fear of being tracked by the police.
C. Worry about being fined more.
D. Sudden change of his financial situation.
4.Which of the following can be the best title?
A. Police Chief of the Minersville Police Department Shares a Story
B. Parking Ticket Carried Around for Almost Half a Century from Ohio
C. Unusual Letter Comes from Wayward Road, Anytown California
D. Mysterious Procrastinator Finally Pays 44-Year-Old Parking Ticket
Choose Your One-Day-Tours!
Tour A - Bath &Stonehenge including entrance fees to the ancient Roman bathrooms and Stonehenge -￡37 until 26 March and ￡39 thereafter. Visit the city with over 2,000 years of history and Bath Abbey, the Royal Crescent and the Costume Museum, Stonehenge is one of the world’s most famous prehistoric monuments dating back over 5,000 years.
Tour B - Oxford & Stratford including entrance fees to the University St Mary’s Church Tower and Anne Hathaway’s -￡32 until 12 March and ￡36 thereafter. Oxford: Includes a guided tour of England’s oldest university city and colleges. Look over the “city of dreaming spires(尖顶）” from St Mary‘s Church Tower. Stratford: Includes a guided tour exploring much of the Shakespeare wonder.
Tour C - Windsor Castle &Hampton Court: including entrance fees to Hampton Court Palace -￡34 until 11 March and ￡37 thereafter. Includes a guided tour of Windsor and Hampton Court, Henry VILL’s favorite palace. Free time to visit Windsor Castle(entrance fees not included).With 500 years of history, Hampton Court was once the home of four Kings and one Queen. Now this former royal palace is open to the public as a major tourist attraction. Visit the palace and its various historic gardens, which include the famous maze(迷宫) where it is easy to get lost!
Tour D –Cambridge including entrance fees to the Tower of Saint Mary the Great -￡33 until 18 March and ￡37 thereafter. Includes a guided tour of Cambridge, the famous university town, and the gardens of the 18th century.
1.Which tour will you choose if you want to see England’s oldest university city?
A.Tour A B.Tour B
C.Tour C D.Tour D
2.Which of the following tours charges the lowest fee on 17 March?
A.Windsor Castle & Hampton Court B.Oxford & Stratford
C.Bath & Stonehenge D.Cambridge
3.Why is Hampton Court a major tourist attraction?
A.It used to be the home of royal families B.It used to be a well-known maze
C.It is the oldest palace in Britain D.It is a world-famous castle
假定你是李华，你的澳大利亚朋友Steve对冰雪运动非常感兴趣。请你给他写一封信邀请他今年寒假来参加哈尔滨冰雪节（Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival）。内容包括：
1.写信目的；
2.活动安排；
3.注意事项
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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