Are you facing a situation that looks impossible to fix?
In 1969,the pollution was terrible along the Cuyahoga River Cleveland, Ohio. It1.(be) unimaginable that it could ever be cleaned up. The river was so polluted that it2.(actual) caught fire and burned. Now, years later, this river is one of3.most outstanding（杰出的）examples of environmental cleanup.
But the river wasn’t changed in a few days4.even a few months. It took years of work 5.(reduce) the industrial pollution and clean the water. Finally, that hard work paid off and now the water in the river is6.(clean) than ever.
Maybe you are facing an impossible situation. Maybe you leave a habit7.is driving your family crazy. Possibly you drink too much or don’t know how to control your credit card use. When you face such an impossible situation, don’t you want a quick fix and something to change immediately?
While there are8.(amaze) stories of instant transformation, for most of us the9.(change) are gradual and require a lot of effort and work, like cleaning up a polluted river. Just be 10.(patience).
Florence Nightingale was named after her birthplace, Florence, Italy. When she was almost a year old, she returned with her family to England.
Florence often helped her mother deliver(运送) food to the poor and sick.1. Her family was shocked because nursing was not a respected profession.
But Florence was determined. She studied books on medicine. Later, she visited hospitals in France, Germany and Ireland and learned everything she could.2.
In 1854, Britain was at war with Russia. Florence went to the British hospital in Scutari (now Üsküdar in Istanbul) and she was shocked. The hospital left men lying on the floor, and rats were running everywhere.3. Many soldiers died before receiving help.
The doctors wouldn’t listen to Florence because they didn’t like the idea of women in army hospitals—until one day 500 unexpected casualties(伤亡者) arrived. 4. Florence made changes, making sure the men were washed and their injuries were cared for. Every night she would check the patients with her lamp.
When she returned home after the war, a fund had been set up in her honor. Many of the soldiers she had nursed had made contributions(捐款).Now she could set up the Nightingale Training School in London.
After years of hard work, Florence Nightingale saw cleaner and more cheerful hospitals.5. All of this was because of the “lady with the lamp”.
A.Nursing became an honored profession.
B.There was no running water and no heat.
C.She knew she had much to learn about nursing.
D.Florence saw the soldiers’ health had improved.
E.As she grew older, she decided to become a nurse.
F.They soon realized that Florence knew what she was doing.
G.Upon returning home, she was an expert on hospital management.
There’s a good chance something you've bought online has been in the hands of a “ picker” first. These are the workers in warehouses(仓库)who pick, pack and ship all those things we’re ordering.
At Amazon and other companies, they’re working side by side with robots. Experts say while the robots are replacing some human workers, the machines aren't quite ready to take over completely.
When a robot finds its storage unit, it slides underneath, lifts it up and then delivers it to a worker 一 they’re called pickers. On a recent day, the computer told a picker to grab what looked like a fantasy board (棋盘)game. The picker found it, canned it and placed it on the conveyor belt.
“In a traditional fulfillment center where the associate would walk to the different items , it can take hours to fulfill a customer order. “ Robinson says.
Now, with the help of robots, that task takes minutes 一 and fewer humans.
So is this a sign we're entering a new industrial revolution?
“It’s definitely going to take over a lot of jobs. " says Karen Myers, a scientist at SRI, one of Silicon Valley's oldest research centers.
At the same time, she says, we're running against the limits of technology. Take “the picker” at the Amazon fulfillment center. Myers says those skills are proving to be uniquely human.
“Our fingers are incredibly flexible and the current generation of robotic operators, they’re getting much, much better,” she says. “But they're just not quite there yet. ”
There’s also the robot’s brain.
Remember that board game the Amazon worker was looking for? She could barely see the box filled into the storage bin — but she could tell it was a board game. Robots can’t do that.
Technologists say that, increasingly, humans will work side by side with robots — instead of robots working alone.
Amazon says robots and humans enabled the Tracy warehouse to fulfill customer orders faster. That means more customers and more human workers.
1.A picker does some tasks except .
A. picking goods B. producing goods C. spotting goods D. packing goods
2.With the help of robots, some tasks are .
A. more efficient B. less straight C. more difficult D. less profitable
3.Compared with robots, humans are more .
A. powerful B. artificial C. flexible D. energetic
4.What is the best title for the text?
A. Robots replacing humans completely.
B. The advantages of shopping online.
C. The future of robots.
D. Robots and humans working side by side.
In the waters off Brisbane, Australia, a sevenfootlong sand tiger shark swims in pain. A twofootlong spike sticks out of her side. It’s a piece of fishing equipment that the shark ate carelessly. After traveling into her body, the spike punctured(刺) through the shark’s stomach.
A man swimming in the water notices the shark. Then, he warns Sea World Marine Park in the nearby town of Gold Coast. Sea World sends a 12person team from its rescue center to where the shark was discovered in Moreton Bay Marine Park. Soon, they find her lying on the seafloor. “She’ll die without help，”says Trevor Long, leader of the rescue center.
Using an onboard crane(吊车), the rescuers move the shark into their boat’s 13footlong tank(缸). Then Dr. David Blyde gives the shark pain medicine and performs an operation to remove the spike. After that, the team sails with the shark to Sea World 33 miles away. They place the fish in a 49footlong tank and wait to see if she gets better.
To give the shark's stomach time to get better, she isn’t fed for the first few days. A week after her operation, Long offers the shark a small, dead fish. The animal refuses to eat. But days later when he drops another fish into her tank, the shark enjoys her meal. By now the shark’s wounds are getting better.
Two weeks after her rescue, they take the shark back to the boat and return her to Moreton Bay Marine Park. As the fish is lowered by the crane to the water’s surface, two rescuers jump into the ocean and guide her into the sea. From the boat, Long watches her swim away.“The shark has another chance，” Long says.
1.What happens to the sand tiger shark?
A. She is unlucky and gets hurt badly.
B. She has nothing to eat for a few days.
C. She swims in Sea World and loses her way.
D. She is seriously ill because of sea water.
2.According to the text, Sea World________.
A. helps protect and save animals
B. is 33 miles away from Gold Coast
C. hasn’t enough space for another shark
D. has never performed operations on sharks
3.How does Long feel when feeding the shark for the first time after the operation?
A. Very proud. B. Quite worried.
C. Really relaxed. D. Extremely afraid.
4.What would be the best title for the text?
A. Dangers from sharks B. Sand tiger shark rescue
C. Moreton Bay Marine Park D. A rescue team from Sea World
In the four months since I last posted articles on my blog，I’ve been spending a lot of time studying Chinese.I wanted to pass the HSK.From the beginning of my program，the HSK was the end goal of my Chinese learning this year.Luckily，I passed it and now I have one and a half months to go home and stay with my family.
It’s really exciting to learn Chinese in an environment where I can study very fast.What’s more，I can see my own progress in different ways.When I got here eight and a half months ago，I only knew a few of the 150 words tested in the HSK 1.However,until now,I’ve taken and passed the 2500word HSK 5.
I remember a time around January.I thought my Chinese had reached the point where I was comfortable in my daytoday conversations.So my progress would slow down greatly.However，it turned out that I was totally wrong.The conversations I can have now far surpass(超过) the ones I was having in January.
Today I hit a languagelearning landmark(里程碑) that was particularly exciting for me:I finished reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in Chinese.It might not seem that exciting，but it was for me because it’s the first full book I’ve read in Chinese.And it’s the third language I’ve read Harry Potter in.I’m especially proud because I spent about seven months reading the first 35 pages,but in the last month and a half,I managed to read about 150 pages.My next challenge is to read a novel written by a Chinese author，rather than one that I’ve already read many times in English!
Hopefully，I’ll be able to keep up my languagelearning progress over the next month and a half，because I know I’ll probably never have another opportunity to learn a language like this.
Do you want to learn a new language？If you do，go to the country where people speak it and learn it from the locals.
1.What do we know about the author when she first came to China?
A. She didn’t want to learn Chinese.
B. She took the HSK 1 immediately.
C. She was extremely poor at Chinese.
D. She just knew 150 words tested in the HSK 1.
2.Why does the author say she was totally wrong in Paragraph 3?
A. Because she didn’t really know how to learn Chinese.
B. Because she could learn better in a Chinese environment.
C. Because she was uncomfortable in her day to day conversations.
D. Because she made rapid progress in her day to day conversations.
3.What does the author want to show by mentioning reading Harry Potter?
A. She could read books really fast.
B. It’s good to learn through reading.
C. She learned the Chinese language quickly.
D. The Harry Potter books are worth reading.
4.What does the author’s Chinese learning experience mainly tell us?
A. We should learn a language through travelling.
B. Learning a second language is really important.
C. The Chinese language is not so difficult to learn.
D. The language learning environment is important.
