This may sound like a joke about a lazy person's dream job. Earn big money by staying in bed and watching TV. But this is really happening, and it's a project of NASA and two European space agencies the Institute of Aerospace Medicine at the Cologne-based German Aerospace Center and the European Space Agency. It's called Artificial Gravity Bed Rest Study, aimed at studying how the body adapts to weightlessness in space.
Scientists are seeking 12 women to spend two full months in bed in the fall at a German lab, plus an additional month there for preparation and recovery. The first 12 test subjects, all men, already have started the study.
Participants spend two entire months in bed and remain lying down even to do everyday things like eating, drinking and exercising. They also answer nature's call and shower, but it's unclear from the NASA website how those tasks are accomplished in bed.
"Daily routine showering, getting dressed, eating, exercising takes much time when you cannot stand up to do them," says the website, adding that there is "continuous data collection", including blood pressure, heart rate, nutrient absorption and also the participants' feelings. Study subjects will spend the 60 days with their heads tilted(倾斜)down six degrees, which imitates(模仿)conditions in space.
Participants are encouraged to pass the time by watching TV, taking online courses, reading and any other activities they can perform while lying down alone in bed to relieve what could be boredom. Family and friends are allowed to visit.
The high $ 18,500 payment for two months of lazing about is probably a major motivation for people willing to go through something this extreme. However, if you're an American who really needs the money, you probably can't afford it. Candidates need to travel to Cologne four times at their own expense for the employment process between April and July. Plus, they need strong German-speaking skills. Also participants need to be nonsmokers between ages 24 and 55, in good health, with normal body weight.
1.What are participants expected to do during the study?
A.Report their feelings regularly. B.Complete their daily routines in bed.
C.Keep their bodies tilted down six degrees. D.Record their physical responses every day.
2.What data about the participants will the researchers collect?
A.The changes in their weight. B.Their behaviors to weightlessness.
C.The ways they do their daily things. D.Their physical and mental reactions
3.What will be a challenge for the participants?
A.The language skills they need. B.The difficulty meeting family.
C.The possibility that they feel dull. D.The slow discovery of their health.
4.The requirements for potential participants are .
A.challenging for Americans B.tailored to thin persons
C.easy for the youth to satisfy D.suitable for most people
Has the volume(音量)in a restaurant ever nude you finish your meal early? If so, you're not alone. Restaurants handle diners in various ways to influence food choices and consumption, from lighting to menu to server presentation. Unfortunately for those headache-prone restaurant goers, some places also choose to turn up the tunes and the background noise.
Chef Mario Batali is often blamed for the phenomenon of ultra-loud or noisy restaurants in the 1990s, when he decided to flood the dining room with the same loud tunes he was playing in his kitchen. And other chefs followed suit. Some restaurateurs felt a "livelier" atmosphere encouraged more customers, but a side "benefit" was quicker table turnover, thus increasing the number of people who could dine in a specific evening.
A 1985 study out of Fairfield University looked at how chewing speed varied according to the type of music being played. Although the volume level was kept the same for both musical situations, it's important to note that fast-tempo(节奏)music often gives the impression of being louder than slower music.
"A significant increase in the number of bites per minute was found, and the effect was largest for fast music," the researchers wrote in the study. So, the faster, louder music gets people to down their food more quickly, relieving the table for future customers.
There're opinions about whether or not this is a sound practice. "A restaurant that places profit above dining experience often plays loud music with a fast tempo that puts diners under pressure to eat more quickly, even if that means they're less able to enjoy their meal," writes Dr. Neel Burton in Psychology Today, adding that loud, fast music reduces appetite.
What's more, some would-be repeat diners will shy away for fear of another ultra-loud meal. The non-profit group Action on Hearing Loss found in a 2016 survey of nearly 1,500 people that 91% of those who view a restaurant as too noisy would choose not to return.
1.Why did some bosses of the restaurants favour loud music?
A.It might help attract more customers.
B.It was the favorite kind of music of them.
C.It made the restaurants softer and sweeter.
D.It could increase the popularity of their restaurants
2.What plays the most important role in the effect of music on diners?
A.Its content. B.Its length.
C.Its speed. D.Its quality.
3.What is Dr. Neel Burton's attitude towards flooding restaurants with noisy music?
A.Doubtful. B.Disapproving.
C.Positive. D.Uncaring
4.What could be a suitable title for the text?
A.What People Think of Loud Restaurants
B.Are Customers Made to Eat Quickly?
C.Why Loud Restaurants Are Popular Today
D.Does Loud Music Really Benefit Restaurants?
I remember the day when I first learned to ride a bike. It was a frightening, yet fun experience. My granddad was the one who taught me and he helped me when I got hurt. The first time I got on a bike, I had no idea what I was doing, and just about everything went wrong. My granddad told me to just put my feet on the pedals and start pedaling (骑自行车). He also told me he would hold onto the back of the bike the whole time, yet he didn’t.
As soon as I started trying to balance myself, he let go. I happened to look back just then. I was scared, to death that I was going to fall and hurt myself. When I was scared, my mind went blank from pedaling, and I just wanted off. I forgot how to use the brakes (车闸) and fell right off the bike. My granddad kept encouraging me to get up and try again, and after about 15 minutes, 1 finally stopped crying, got up and tried again.
As soon as I started pedaling again, my pants got caught in the chain, and I fell flat on my face and hit my nose. Since that happened t my granddad decided to call it a day and try again the next morning. The next morning I woke up bright and early, and was very eager to try to ride my bike. My nose felt better, so I wasn’t that afraid of falling anymore.
Though I knew there were a lot of difficulties on the way to mastering the skills in riding a bike, I believed I could do well with my granddad’s help. After all, riding a bike was what I wanted to do eagerly.
1.How was the author when he was on the bike first?
A.He didn’t know where he would be going.
B.He thought balancing himself was easy.
C.He was nervous and didn’t know what to do next.
D.He put his feet on the pedals and started pedaling.
2.What does the underlined part in the passage mean?
A.Remember what happened this day.
B.Make the author feel happy.
C.Stop practicing bicycling.
D.Go on to ride a bike.
3.What is the author’s attitude towards his granddad?
A.Supportive. B.Grateful.
C.Indifferent. D.Negative.
4.Which of the following could be the title for the passage?
A.The Experience of My First Riding a Bike
B.The Difficulty I Met with My Granddad
C.The First Time I Got My Own Bike
D.The Great Moment When I Stayed with My Granddad
Golden Gate Bridge
Located in San Francisco, the Golden Gate Bridge started in the year 1933 to connect the San Francisco Peninsula with Marin County. It was finally thrown open to public traffic in 1937. It cost $25.7 million in the construction. Till the year 1957, the Golden Gate Bridge, at a length of 2,737 meters, was the longest suspension bridge in the world.
Brooklyn Bridge
The Brooklyn Bridge is located in Brooklyn. It is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States, having been opened in the year 1883. The length of the bridge is 1,843 meters. The bridge has been featured in several Hollywood movies.
George Washington Bridge
Also known as the Hudson River Bridge and the Columbus Bridge, the George Washington Bridge which connects Fort Lee to Manhattan came into use in 1931 after a construction period of almost 4 years. It is a two level suspension bridge that cost about $52 million to build.
Mackinac Bridge
This is the third biggest suspension bridge in the world at a length of 8,038 meters. The architect of this bridge was Dr. David B. Steinman, who directed the construction of the bridge which started in the year 1954 and opened to the public in 1958. People using this bridge are charged a certain amount of money.
Navajo Bridge
Located in Arizona, this bridge crosses the Colorado River and is almost 250 meters long. The construction of this bridge started in the year 1927, ending two years later, costing $390,000. In the 1990s, a second bridge was built which was opened to the public in 1994. The first bridge is now used only by pedestrians.
1.What do we know about the Golden Gate Bridge?
A.It consists of two bridges.
B.It costs the least of the five bridges.
C.It is the longest suspension bridge in the world.
D.It takes about 4 years to complete the construction.
2.Which of the following bridges was built the earliest?
A.Golden Gate Bridge.
B.Brooklyn Bridge.
C.George Washington Bridge.
D.Navajo Bridge.
3.What will you do if you drive across Mackinac Bridge?
A.Have to pay some money.
B.Use the second bridge.
C.Cover nearly 250 meters.
D.See the statue of Dr. David B. Steinman.
阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。
续写的词数为100左右。
Kusa, a 10-year-old boy, has looked out for his big sister, 12-year-old Pahnuly, for as long as he can remember. At school, he helps her unpack her things at her locker. At home, they read together, play games and practice counting.
Pahnuly has autism (自闭症). People with autism often have trouble talking with others. They might repeat things over and over, or be interested in only one subject. But it was Pahnuly that inspired Kusa to think differently. One day, they played ping-pong with their parents at home in Brooklyn Park. But Pahnuly struggled with it. So Kusa wanted to find a way to make it more suited to his sister’s needs. He came up with a new game based on ping-pong. It is called Aeropong because the ball seems to float in the air. In Aeropong, a ping-pong ball hangs from a frame. The players hit the ball back and forth. It’s kind of like tennis, but no one has to chase the ball.
At first, Pahnuly didn’t show much interest. But soon, Kusa heard a sound coming from the front room. Clack(吧嗒声). Clack. Clack. Pahnuly had picked up a paddle (乒乓球拍) and was tapping the ball. Then, she started hitting it back and forth with Kusa and their dad. Eventually, the family took a trip to Menards to buy some PVC pipes and fashioned a portable frame for the ball to hang from. They also designed rules and ways to score points.
Word spread at school about Kusa’s game. His teacher, Stasica, asked him to tell his class about Aeropong. Kusa was usually shy, but when he talked about his game, his face lit up with excitement, Stasica said. Kusa told his classmates the game was meant to make people smile, especially his big sister. "When she scores," he said, "she dances."
Paragraph 1:
Aeropong has become an essential family activity in Kusa’s home.
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Paragraph 2:
Widely spreading on the Internet, Kusa’s game got attention across the country.
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
根据所给汉语或首字母提示，写出下列单词的正确形式。
1.Many people have been ______(感染) because of the new type coronavirus.
2.Kate Green was a lively young woman with ________ (耐心) and imagination.
3.Students in our school study very hard, ___________(尤其) those in our class.
4.His father is a famous ________(音乐家), and he teaches music in Central Music College.
5.They walked to work because they couldn’t ________(付得起) a taxi.
6.At the sound of the gun, all the birds in the tree flew away in all d___________.
7.Each office will be e__________ with a computer soon.
8.I’m d__________ to go and nothing will stop me.
9.Nobody can go in without the teacher’s p_________.
10.You’d better speak h__________, not tell lies.
