Contestants from around the world met in Pomona, California, this month to test their skills at things like driving a car, walking down stairs, and opening doors. Sounds easy, right? But the competitors weren’t people—they were robots!
The bots were participating in(参加) the final round of the US’s DARPA(Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) Robotics Challenge. This event, which took place on June 5-6, tested robots on how well they could respond during a disaster and the winning team finally took home a $2 million grand prize.
The DARPA challenge was created after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan. An earthquake caused a tsunami, which damaged a nuclear power plant. Workers at the plant needed to shut off an important valve(阀门), but it was too dangerous for humans to reach it. The US scientists at DARPA wondered whether the disaster could have been avoided if a robot had been sent to do the job. So they set up the robotics competition.
Turning a valve was just one task a robot might have to perform when entering a disaster zone. In addition to doing this, robots participating in the challenge had to navigate a course containing several other tasks: driving and exiting a vehicle, opening a door, walking over or clearing objects, cutting a hole in a wall, plus climbing a flight of stairs.
Teams had to complete the challenge in one hour, and points were awarded based on how quickly the robots completed a task. They didn’t have to attempt all the tasks. To make things even more realistic, challenge organizers caused short computer-system blackouts(断电) that prevented robots and the human operators controlling them from communicating. That means teams had to program their robots to be partially autonomous(独立的). Robots also couldn’t be attached to anything that could keep them from falling down, which happened a lot.
1.What do we know about this year’s DARPA challenge?
A. It lasted five days.
B. It was held in Japan.
C. Its winner got a cash prize.
D. Its winner will work in Fukushima.
2.What does the underlined part “the job” in Paragraph 3 refer to?
A. To open a door. B. To close a valve.
C. To predict a tsunami. D. To rebuild a nuclear power plant.
3.The robots that participated in the US’s DARPA challenge were required to _____.
A. challenge all the tasks
B. have a good sense of smell
C. complete their tasks in an hour
D. act in the dark in the whole process
4.What is the text mainly about?
A. A nuclear disaster. B. A research program.
C. A robotics competition. D. A scientific organization.
More and more people are aware that an afternoon nap(小睡) can do a body good. But there are still doubters out there. To help spread the power of the afternoon nap, we list some common misunderstandings about napping we still hear.
Misunderstanding # 1 : Napping is only for the lazy.
Fact: Around a third of American adults nap on the average day, and for good reason: A short nap can improve everything from alertness(警觉) and memory to creativity and productivity(生产效率). And none of these sounds like laziness to us!
Misunderstanding # 2 : If I take a nap, I’ll only wake up feeling worse.
Fact: That weak feeling after you wake up from a nap is real (it even has a name: sleep inertia), but it’s not a guarantee(保证). How you feel after your nap is a factor of how long you sleep. Experts generally agree that a nap should last no longer than 30 minutes. “If it takes longer than 30 minutes, you end up in deep sleep. You’re going into a stage of sleep where you find it very difficult to wake up.” said sleep expert Michael J. Breus, Ph. D. Next time you’re in the mood for a nap, set your alarm for 20 to 30 minutes, tops.
Misunderstanding # 3 : You mustn’t nap at work.
Fact: In fact, in the office environment, we’re all for catching a few winks (眨眼) during the workday. Some companies have even created special rooms for afternoon naps as more and more employers come around to the idea that a well-rested workforce is a more productive workforce. If your employer doesn’t offer a place to lay your head, try to find an empty conference room where you can close the door and turn off the lights. Really want. You can also take a nap during your lunch break on a park bench or in your car.
Misunderstanding # 4 : I’ll be more productive if I just finish this task, rather than waste time sleeping.
Fact: Yes, you’ll be away from your desk if you spend 10 to 30 minutes sleeping. But you’ll likely make up for that “wasted” time afterward. “My research shows that people feel tired after a long time of work during the day,” Sara Mednick told Bloomberg Businessweek. “It’s difficult to keep energetic and productive all day.” However, a nap can leave you feeling refreshed and more ready to deal with the task at hand.
1.According to the passage, a short nap has the following benefits EXCEPT .
A. making people think more quickly
B. improving people’s memory
C. allowing old people to live longer
D. raising people’s work efficiency
2.How you feel after your nap is connected with ________.
A. the way of sleep B. the place of sleep
C. the environment of sleep D. the length of sleep
3.Sara Mednick indicates that _________.
A. taking a short nap at work is a waste of time
B. people become less productive without a nap
C. people become less productive after a nap
D. napping is only for the lazy and young children
4.Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
A. The advantages of taking a nap.
B. The more naps you take, the more productive you become.
C. 4 things people get wrong about napping.
D. How to take an afternoon nap correctly.
Mark Twain was a great writer. He was from the USA. He was born in 1835. He was also a famous speaker. He was famous for his sense of humour. Many people liked to listen to him , because he liked to tell some interesting stories to make people laugh all the time.
One day Mark Twain was going to a small town because of his writing. Before he was going to leave, one of his friends said to him that there were always a lot of mosquitoes(蚊子) in the town and told him that he’d better not go there. Mark Twain waved his hand and said, “It doesn’t matter. The mosquitoes are no relatives of mine. I don’t think they will come to visit me.”
After he arrived at the town, Mark Twain stayed in a small hotel near the station. He went into his room, but when he was just about to have a rest, quite a few mosquitoes flew about him. The waiters felt very sorry about that. “I’m very sorry, Mr. Mark Twain. There are too many mosquitoes in our town.” One of them said to him.
Mark Twain, however, made a joke, saying to the waiter, “The mosquitoes are very clever. They know my room number. They didn’t come into the wrong room.” What he said made all the people present laugh heartily.
But that night Mark Twain slept well. Do you know why? That was because all the waiters in the hotel were driving the mosquitoes away for him during the whole night.
1.That day Mark Twain went to the town _____.
A. to see one of his friends
B. because he wanted to do something there for his writing
C. because he was told there were a lot of mosquitoes there
D. to see one of his relatives
2.The waiters felt sorry because _____.
A. they did something wrong to Mark Twain
B. their hotel was too small
C. the room was not very clean
D. there were quite a few mosquitoes in Mark Twain’s room
3.All the people present laughed heartily because _____.
A. the mosquitoes were very clever and they didn’t come into the wrong room
B. the mosquitoes knew Mark Twain’s room number
C. Mark Twain gave the waiters some nice presents
D. Mark Twain made a joke
4.From the story we know _____.
A. no mosquitoes troubled Mark Twain in the night
B. the owner of the hotel told the waiters to look after Mark Twain well at night
C. Mark Twain didn’t have a good rest that night
D. there were not mosquitoes in the hotel any longer
书面表达
某中学生英文报近期开辟专栏，讨论学习习惯问题，习惯成就未来,请你结合自身学习实际，按以下提示，用英文为该专栏写一篇稿件。
1．说明学习习惯与学习效果之间的关系；
2．介绍一种好的学习习惯并提出养成该习惯的建议；
3．描述自己在学习习惯方面存在的某个问题并给出改进措施
参考词汇：学习习惯：learning habit 学习效果：learning effect
注意： 1. 词数100词左右； 2. 可适当增加细节。
短文改错
假定英语课上老师要求同桌中间交换修改作文，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。
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。
It was raining. In his way home from school, Peter saw an old man which was walking with difficulty in the rain without an umbrella. Peter goes up to him and offered to share the umbrellas with him. The old man in poor health, so Peter tried to hold the umbrella. And he was so short to hold it high enough. While wondering what to do, he saw the old man’s stick and had an idea. He tied the stick to the handle of the umbrella and made it the longer. Then we shared the umbrella. Peter was happily.
阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的词（1个单词）或用括号内单词的正确形式填空（不超过3个单词）。
If you go out to the fields at night in spring or summer, you can hear frogs singing 1.____ (happy) here and there. It seems as if they were performing a field group singing.
The frog is a good and useful creature that benefits human beings. They can catch fast-moving 2.__ (insect). Each frog eats a large number of pests that are harmful to crops. This little creature is regarded 3.____ “the natural enemy of pests”.
But now frogs 4.___ (get) fewer and fewer. This is because they are killed and put 5.___ the table as a delicious dish by their chief enemy, human beings. It is a shameless and cruel act, isn’t it?
The cause responsible for the rapid 6.__ (reduce) of frogs is that farmers use insect killer to kill pests and frogs get killed as a result of drinking poisoned water while 7. __ (eat) poison-killed insects.
Something must be done without delay 8.__ (save) frogs. If we don’t punish those 9.____sell and kill frogs to make money, then one day all of us 10.__ (punish) by nature for failing to keep them.
