What will power your house in the future？Nuclear, wind or solar power？According to scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US, it might be leaves — but artificial (人造的) ones.
Natural leaves are able to change sunlight and water into energy. It is known as photosynthesis (光合作用). Now researchers have found a way to imitate this seemingly simple process.
The artificial leaf developed by Daniel Nocera and his colleagues at MIT can be seen as a special silicon chip with catalysts (催化剂). Similar to natural leaves, it can split water into hydrogen and oxygen when put into a bucket of water. The hydrogen and oxygen gases are then stored in a fuel cell，which uses those two materials to produce electricity，located either on top of a house or beside the house.
Though the leaf is only about the shape of a poker card, scientists claimed that it is promising to be an inexpensive source of electricity in developing countries. “One can imagine villages in India and Africa not long from now purchasing an affordable basic power system based on this technology,” said Nocera at a conference of the American Chemical Society.
The artificial leaf is not a new idea. The first artificial leaf was invented in 1997 but was too expensive and unstable for practical use. The new leaf, by contrast, is made of cheap materials, easy to use and highly stable. In laboratory studies, Nocera showed that an artificial leaf prototype (原型) could operate continuously for at least 45 hours without a drop in activity.
The wonderful improvements come from Nocera’s recent discovery of several powerful, new and inexpensive catalysts. These catalysts make the energy transformation inside the leaf more efficient with water and sunlight. Right now, the new leaf is about 10 times more efficient at carrying out photosynthesis than a natural one. Besides, the device can run in whatever water is available; that is, it doesn’t need pure water. This is important for some countries that don’t have access to pure water.
With the goal to “make each home its own power station” and “give energy to the poor”，scientists believe that the new technology could be widely used in developing countries，especially in India and rural China.
1.Which of the following orders correctly shows how the artificial leaf is used to produce electricity?
a. artificial leaves split water into hydrogen and oxygen
b. the hydrogen and oxygen gases are stored in a fuel cell
c. the artificial leaves are put in water
d. the fuel cell uses hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity
A. c, a, b, d B. c, b, a, d
C. b, c, a, d D. c, a, d, b
2.The purpose of the scientists at MIT in developing the new artificial leaf is to ________.
A. build up more power stations in the world
B. provide cheaper energy for developing countries
C. offer people in developing countries access to pure water
D. gain a deeper understanding of the photosynthesis process
3.The main idea of this passage is ________.
A. an introduction to the history of artificial leaves
B. a mixture of water power and solar energy
C. giving energy to the poor
D. an invention copying photosynthesis
On countless mornings over the past year, I stood with my son, James, in our driveway, watching our neighbor hurry off to kindergarten. My wife and I wanted to give James the best education, but that meant we’d have to change our jobs and spend less time with our kid. I asked myself, “Would this trade-off be worth it?” When I look at the research on child development, I think it might not. Where our kids go to school might matter less than most American parents think.
Social scientists have long tried to determine why some children grow up to be successful. In a 2001 study, Greg Duncan, a professor of education at the University of California, measured the influence that the people in a child’s life have on how well the child does in school. Duncan and his team found almost no relationship between how students did on the test and whom they sat beside in class, whom they hung out with after school and who lived in their block. The only meaningful link they found was between siblings（兄弟姐妹）and twins in particular.
For a long time, scholars thought that a family’s income heavily affected how well kids did in life. But that might not be the case. When Susan Mayer at the University of Chicago looked at the relationship between family income and lifetime achievement, she ran a series of experiments to measure it, finding such outcomes weren’t caused by income. She argued that the things that make a difference are relatively inexpensive: the number of books a kid has or how often his family goes to museums.
Lareau, another scholar began one of the most in-depth observations of American parenting. He concluded that success is much more related to the amount of time parents spend with their children. He said “Many parents I interviewed are anxious about their children’s futures．But they have exaggerated（夸大）the sense of the risks involved if they don't give their children the best of everything..”
So at last, we decided to leave things as it were. More time with our kid is the best we can provide.
1.The first paragraph is intended to __________.
A. introduce the topic of the passage
B. confirm the result of a research
C. stress the importance of good education
D. support a research on child development
2.From the passage we know that most American parents _________.
A. spend a lot of time with their children
B. like to buy a variety of books for their children
C. think children's achievement largely depends on schools
D. believe their income cannot afford children's education
3.Who believes children's brothers and sisters may influence their academic performance?
A．Lareau． B．Greg Duncan．
C．Susan Mayer． D．James．
4.Which of the following can be the best title of the passage?
A. Parents' time matters to children's future．
B. School education determines children's future．
C. Family income counts to children's achievements．
D. Less education means more risks for children's success．
Nowadays women appear to have a positive image of themselves as safer drivers than men.
In a survey done for insurer MetLife, 51% of women said they drive more safely. The evidence is on their side: Men are 3.4 times more likely than women to get a ticket for careless driving and 3.1 times as likely to be punished for drunk driving. “Women are on average less aggressive and more law abiding (守法的) drivers, which leads to fewer accidents,” the report says. However, not all male drivers share the same opinion. Of the men surveyed by MetLife, 39% claimed male drivers were safer. The findings did back them upon one point: automotive knowledge. The report showed that more men are familiar with current safety equipment such as electronic stability control，which helps prevent rollover accidents.
Auto safety unavoidably matters to Money. Insurance companies focus on what classes of drivers have the lowest dollar amounts of claims, and for now, that mainly includes women. In general, women pay about 9% less for auto insurance than men. A study by the website Insweb also showed that auto insurance rates are lower for women in most states. Among individual states, women get the greatest, advantage in Wyoming (where they pay 20% less), South Dakota and Washington, D.C, where their insurance costs are 16% lower.
“More than 11,900 male drivers died in US traffic accidents in 2009，compared with just under 4,900 women drivers” according to the study. “Based on miles traveled, men died at a rate of 2.5 deaths per 100 million miles traveled, vs.1.7 deaths for women.”
1.According to the study，female drivers ________.
A. are more aggressive while driving
B. are more interested in auto knowledge
C. are more likely to stick to driving laws
D. are more familiar with safety equipment
2.Insurance companies focus on female driver clients probably because they________.
A. cause more accidents on the road
B. pay more money to the insurance companies
C. take the most part of the insurance clients
D. have the lowest amount of money on insurance claims
3.We can infer from the passage that________.
A. men are 3.1 times more likely to get tickets than women
B. all women in the USA pay the same for their auto insurance
C. more female drivers die every year than male drivers
D. women are generally safer drivers than the opposite gender
4.The writer mainly develops paragraphs by________.
A. giving examples
B. making comparisons
C. drawing a conclusion
D. presenting an argument
假定你是李明，你看到周围很多同学都是近视眼，请根据下面所给出的要点提示，给我校英语报写一篇短文。 要点提示： 1．导致近视的原因：长时间看书、看电视和玩电脑游戏等；一些不良的习惯如走路看书、躺着看书等。 2．如何保护视力：坚持做眼保健操；培养良好的读书习惯等。 注意： 1．词数100左右。 2．可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯。
参考词汇：近视的 short-sighted; 坚持 stick to
假段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。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(＼)划掉。 修改：在错的词下画一横线，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。
Today is Sunday. The sky is full with sunshine, so is my life. At about 9:00 am, I went to the bookstore with my friends.There was a lot of new books, but I didn't know which one to buy,
because these books were all useful to me. At last, I chose two. At 10:00 am, we went to cinema. The film was called Titanic .It was very popular. It took to us about 3 hours to see it . Having seen the film, everyone was deeply moving。My friends even burst out tears. That's a real wonderful film. It is very worth seeing again. How a happy day! I hope tomorrow I will be much happy!
阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容（不多于3个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式。
Once there lived a rich man1.____ wanted to do something for the people of his town. But first he wanted to find 2._____whether they deserved his help.
In the centre of the main road into the town, he placed3._____ very large stone. Then he4._____ (hide ) behind a tree and waited. Soon an old man came along with his cow.
“Who put this stone in the centre of the road?” said the old man, but he did not try to remove the stone. Instead, with some difficulty he passed around the stone and continued on his way. Another man came along and did5. ____ same thing; then another came ,and another. All of them complained 6._____ the stone but not tried to remove 7.___. Late in the afternoon a young man came along. He saw the stone, saying to himself: “The night 8. ____ (be) very dark. Some neighbors will come along later in the dark and will fall against the stone.”
Then he began to move the stone. He pushed and pulled with all his 9.____ (strong) to move it. How great was his surprise at last! 10.______ the stone, he found a bag of money.
