One day, “supercharged plants” may help feed people around the world. Supercharged plants are ones that grow faster than normal plant life. Scientists can speed up the growth by modifying, or changing, the structure of plants’ genes. The modifications make them react quickly to changes in light. This all has to do with photosynthesis（光合作用）, the process in which plants turn sunlight, carbon dioxide and water into food.
Plants grow fastest in the sun. That is when they make the most food for themselves. But their rate of growth can slow when things like clouds or trees block sunlight. But when the sun returns, it can take many minutes for growth to speed up again. This can be a problem because it means some of our most important crop plants are not as productive as they could be.
Steve Long, a plant biologist with the University of Illinois, wanted to find a way to help plants get back up to speed quickly after a period of darkness. So he and his team added genes that shortened the recovery time. It also increased the speed at which the plants grew. His modified plants grew up to 20 percent more than untreated ones.
"This finding, where we've just made one modification that has boosted crop yield, is really a boost to the whole area, because everyone else working on photosynthesis can now see that if we can improve photosynthetic efficiency in crops, we will get more yield.” Long wrote in a magazine article.
In Long's study, his group used a form of genetic engineering called transgenics. It means taking genes from one plant, then putting them into another. There is a scientific debate about whether transgenics is a good idea or not.
Matthew Reynolds from the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center spoke to VOA on Skype. “The increased rates of production noted by Long's team are impressive.” He has some hope about the process. But he also has questions. "What is the downside? Why have the plants not done that before? And we always ask those questions when we see something that looks a bit too good to be true..."
Long's group worked with tobacco plants because they are easy to study. Now they are experimenting with rice, soybeans, cowpeas, and cassava – four important food crops. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation provided money for the study. The organization says any new technology approved from this research will be made freely available to farmers in Africa and South Asia.
1.What’s the purpose of Steve Long’s experiment with tobacco?
A.To make plants healthier and more productive than before.
B.To help plants grow quickly after the sun returns.
C.To shorten the time that plants adapt themselves to light.
D.To increase crop yield through modifying plants’ genes.
2.Which of the following is not included in the process of Long’s experiment?
A.genes are added to some tobacco plants.
B.Experiments are being conducted with rice and soybeans.
C.Some crop plants are not as productive as they could be.
D.Improved photosynthetic efficiency means more yield.
3.What can we learn about Long’s group and his study from the passage?
A.The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has financed Longs group.
B.VOA interviewed Steve Long on Skype about his group and his study.
C.The International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center approved of his study.
D.Matthew Reynolds didn’t believe the production rates noted by Long’s group.
4.Which of the following can be the best title for the passage?
A.Transgenics May Cause a Scientific Debate
B.Photosynthesis May Improve Crop Production
C.Supercharged Plants May Mean More Crop Yield
D.Genetic Modifications May Help Plants Grow Better
Millions of people nowadays use Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat to converse with their friends. They use Skype to bridge long distances and Twitter to interact with public figure. But as more of our lives move online, are Internet-based interactions sufficient for a fulfilling life?
There have been considerable warnings about the drawbacks of online interactions. Some scholars have realized that our devotion to the screens is detracting from face-to-face conversations. For instance, a study showed that children who had been spending time with television and computers for a long period of time were significantly worse at recognizing nonverbal（非语言的）psychological suggestions in a conversation than those who had just five days without screens.
But there is another side to the argument: A 2015 Pew Foundation report found that teenagers use online interactions to strengthen their friendships. Plus, 57% of teenagers reported that they’d made friends online. Amori Milkami, a psychology professor at the University of British Columbia, has conducted several studies on online interactions and tells that the nature of online communication is changing as young people treat social networks in an entirely different ways.
Too much research tends to mix all online interactions together, she says, instead of distinguishing between positive, meaning conversations and more superficial, negative exchanges. According to her, online communities can be especially useful for people who have an unusual concern and live in isolated areas, and so are unlikely to meet people with similar concerns in person.
“The major good aspect of online interactions compared to in-person ones is that social network allow users to interact with so many people at once. Whether or not that’s positive or negative depends on the type of friends you have. It’s possible to get the same level of achievement from online interactions as it is from in=person friends,” says Mikami. “This might be hard for older adults to believe and it might not be possible for them, because they might not feel comfortable having those kinds of deep online interactions. To them, the online world will always be more superficial. But young people really see it differently.”
As the nature of online interactions continually evolve, it’s difficult to definitely establish whether or not social media friendships alone are sufficient. But for those who don’t have strong in-person support groups, the value of online communities shouldn’t be dismissed.
1.The underlined part in Paragraph 2 probably means that the screens are ______.
A.becoming more and more appealing
B.controlling what people talk about with each other
C.making face-to-face conversations less efficient
D.changing the way people communicate with each other
2.What is the advantage of online interactions according to Milkami?
A.More positive topics will be focused on.
B.Communication efficiency will be improved.
C.People will feel more comfortable with communicating.
D.People will have more in-depth communication with others.
3.Which of the following will the author agree with?
A.Compared with the real world, the online communities are superficial.
B.It is impossible to know whether social media friendships are sufficient.
C.Teenagers can depend on online interactions to strengthen their friendships.
D.The importance of online communities should be considered for some people.
假定你是李华，作为一名交换生（an exchange student）刚结束在英国为期一个月的学习。学习期间，你和房东Mr. Wilson 结下了深厚的友谊。请按下列要点给Mr. Wilson发一封邮件表示感谢：
1. 生活上的照顾；2. 学习上的帮助；3. 希望保持联系。
注意：1. 词数100左右；2. 可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；3. 开头语已为你写好。
Mr. Wilson,
Time flies! I’ve been back home.
Best wishes, Li Hua
假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同学写的以下作文。文 中共有10处错误，每句中最多有两处。错误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（∧），并在其下面写岀该加的词。
删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉。
修改：在错词的下面划一横线，并在该词下面写出改后的词。
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 still well remember my middle school life in Zhengzhou. I was then in a school for student from Tibet. As we all left home of an early age, we met lots of problems in our daily life. We have to do the washing, cleaning and shopping by us. However, we seldom felt alone or helpless. We enjoyed our happy life. At weekends, we will play basketball on the playground, swimming in the pool or go for picnic in the park. We were living in a big family. We treated each other as brothers and sisters. Although it has been three years when we graduated, but those memories are as sweet as ever before.
阅读下面材料，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。
1.Wednesday morning, a group of protesters broke into the Legislative Council (LegCo) in Hong Kong .This incident 2. (shock) Hong Kong society. Even the three 3.（found） of the Occupy Central movement , Tai Yiu-ting, Chan Kin-man and Chu Yiu-ming condemned such 4.(violence) actions, along with pro-democracy lawmakers. This action will make the Hong Kong public become even more5. （exhaust） with the Occupy Central movement.
Those 6.broke into LegCo were youngsters wearing masks. It's worth 7.（consider） how such a riot could have occurred in Hong Kong, a place known 8. following the rule of law. 9. is naive to believe that the incident has nothing 10. （do） with Occupy Central.
A lady and her husband stepped off the train in Boston. They walked without an appointment into the outer __ of Harvard's president. But they were ____ by his secretary and kept waiting. For hours, the secretary took no notice of them, ____ that the couple would finally become __ and go away. But they didn't. The secretary finally decided to disturb the president, though ________.
A few minutes later, the president walked towards the couple with a _____ face. The lady told him, "We had a son that ____Harvard for one year. He loved Harvard. He was ____here. But about a year ago, he was accidentally killed. My husband and I would like to _____ a memorial (纪念物)to him, somewhere on campus."
The president wasn't ____. Instead, he was shocked. “Madam," he said, “we can't put up a statue for every person who studied at Harvard and died. If we did, this __ would look like a cemetery (墓地)“Oh, no," the lady _____ quickly. “We don't want to put up a statue. We would like to give a _____ to Harvard." The president rolled his eyes and _______ at the couple and then exclaimed, “A building! Do you have any ______ how much a building costs? We have spent over $ 7,500,000 on the campus building at Harvard." For a moment the lady was silent. The president was _____ , because he could get rid of them now. Then the lady turned to her husband and said quietly, “Is that all it costs to start a _____? Why don't we just start our own?" Her husband nodded. _____ their offer was turned down, Mr. and Mrs. Stanford traveled to California where they founded the University that ____ their name, a memorial to a son that Harvard no longer _______ about.
1.A.lab B.library C.office D.hall
2.A.stopped B.watched C.followed D.interviewed
3.A.finding B.hoping C.realizing D.imagining
4.A.surprised B.disappointed C.worried D.troubled
5.A.hopelessly B.carefully C.reluctantly D.unexpectedly
6.A.pleasant B.funny C.cold D.sad
7.A.attended B.visited C.studied D.served
8.A.clever B.brave C.happy D.proud
9.A.set about B.take over C.take down D.set up
10.A.satisfied B.moved C.excited D.ashamed
11.A.house B.part C.garden D.place
12.A.expressed B.explained C.refused D.admitted
13.A.building B.yard C.playground D.square
14.A.laughed B.shouted C.glanced D.called
15.A.suggestion B.opinion C.thought D.idea
16.A.pleased B.astonished C.interested D.bored
17.A.department B.university C.business D.club
18.A.Since B.While C.Once D.Though
19.A.boasts B.writes C.lists D.bears
20.A.talked B.knew C.heard D.cared
