Some of the most famous scientific discoveries happened by accident. From the microwave oven to penicillin, scientists trying to solve a problem have sometimes found unexpected things. This is exactly how we created phosphorene nanoribbons (磷烯纳米带) — a material made from one of the universe’s basic building blocks, which has the potential to revolutionize a wide range of technologies.
We'd been trying to separate layers of phosphorus crystals (晶体) into two-dimensional sheets. Instead, our technique created tiny ribbons one single atom thick and only 100 or so atoms across, but up to 100,000 atoms long. We spent three years improving the production process, before announcing our findings. The two-dimensional ribbons have a number of remarkable properties (属性). Their unbelievable width allows their properties, such as whether and how they conduct electricity, to be controllable. They are also very flexible, which means that they can follow any surfaces they’re put on perfectly, and can even be twisted.
More than 100 scientific papers predicted the transformative potential of these ribbons, should it be possible to create them, across a range of technologies — some as many as five years before the publishing of our discovery in Nature. Perhaps the most important of these is in the area of battery technology. The structure of phosphorene nanoribbons means that the charged ions (带电离子) that power batteries could soon move up to 1000 times faster than they currently possible do. This would mean a significant decrease in charging time, alongside an increase in capacity of approximately 50%. Such performance gains would provide massive boosts to the electric car and aircraft industries, and allow us to use renewable energy more readily, even on grey, calm days.
1.What does “we” in the text refer to?
A.Scientists. B.Doctors.
C.Publishers. D.Technicians.
2.What can we know about phosphorene nanoribbons in Paragraph 2?
A.Its shape. B.Its origin.
C.Its structure. D.Its characteristic.
3.What would reduce charging time according to the scientific papers?
A.The cleaner source of energy.
B.The bigger batteries of tiny ribbons.
C.The increasing capacity of batteries.
D.The faster moving speed of charged ions.
4.What does the text mainly introduce to us?
A.The amazing development of battery technology.
B.Significant changes brought by wonderful discoveries.
C.A “Wonder material” created accidentally by scientists.
D.Unexpected inventions made in human’s history.
Burning coal to provide energy adds planet-warming carbon dioxide, or CO2, to Earth’s atmosphere. As the planet heats up, experts warn that simply cutting greenhouse gas emissions (排放) will not be enough to avoid possibly disastrous levels of global warming. CO2 must also be obliterated from the atmosphere, they say.
Existing experimental machines that remove CO2 directly from the air are too costly to be widely used. But a new report from the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine says effective carbon-removal technology already exists. It is not costly, or even complex science. It’s forests.
The report explains that planting trees and overseeing forests are cost-effective ways to clean the air. They also work well across large areas. Forests used to cover much of the Appalachian Mountains in the eastern United States. In the state of West Virginia, a kind of mining known as strip mining (露天开采) left the land there bare, without trees. Now experts are working to bring back the forests that once covered much of the state.
West Virginia’s Monongahela National Forest is home to a rare group of trees. They are called virgin (原始的) woods; they have never been touched by humans. Shane Jones, a biologist with the U.S. Forest Service, says the trees there were missed by mistake when the surrounding forest was cut down for wood many years ago. That mistake turned out to be a good thing; red spruce (云杉) forests such as those in the Monongahela are extremely effective at taking CO2 out of the atmosphere and locking it into the soil.
Experts say, nature offers powerful tools to fight climate change.
1.What does the underlined word “obliterated” mean in Paragraph 1?
A.Prevented. B.Cleared.
C.Produced. D.Stored.
2.What’s the advantage of forests compared with the existing experimental machines?
A.They release more oxygen.
B.They clear more CO2.
C.They save more money.
D.They absorb CO2 faster.
3.Why does the author mention West Virginia in Paragraph 3?
A.To prove the place is unsuitable for human survival.
B.To stress planting trees is practical for clean air.
C.To indicate trees are difficult to live on such poor soil.
D.To show people in the state are now living a hard life.
4.What can we know about the red spruce trees?
A.They can only be found in Monongahela National Forest.
B.They were given the name virgin woods for beauty.
C.They were cut down for wood by farmers.
D.They could store carbon dioxide in the soil.
It was about 10:15 p.m., when Janice Esposito arrived at the Bellport train station, New York, jumped into her Honda Odyssey, and began the 20-minute drive home. She’d just returned from visiting her mother. When she turned left on Montauk Highway, out of nowhere a car T-boned her minivan, forcing her backward some 100 feet onto the railroad tracks. She sat in the minivan, bruised (挫伤) but mostly shocked.
As it happened, Pete DiPinto, a volunteer firefighter and retired teacher, 64, was getting ready for bed. When he heard the noise of metal on metal and broken glass coming from not far outside his bedroom window, he grabbed a flashlight and, still dressed in his pajamas (睡衣), ran out of the door. “Any firefighter would have done that,” he later said. “We’re always on duty.”
The first car he came upon was the one that had hit Esposito. Once concluding the driver was OK, DiPinto looked around and spotted Esposito’s minivan straddling (横跨) the railroad tracks. And then he heard the bells signaling an oncoming train.
DiPinto dashed to the minivan and struck on the driver’s side window. She just looked at him, her eyes unfocused. “I don’t know where I am,” she said. “Honey, you’re on the railroad tracks,” DiPinto shouted. “We have to get you off right now!” He pulled on the handle, but the door was jammed shut. The heavy train, traveling at 65 miles per hour, was whistling toward them. DiPinto ran to the passenger side and threw open the door. He pushed aside the deflating (放气) airbags, grabbed Esposito’s arms, and pulled her across the seat and helped her out to safety behind a signal box a few feet away. Within six seconds, the train crashed into the minivan. “It was like a Hollywood movie,” DiPinto told reporters the next day.
The Ambulance chief told CBS New York, “The hero arrived in pajamas, not in a fire truck.”
1.What can we learn from the text?
A.Esposito was driving to her mother’s.
B.The car hitting Esposito had left the scene.
C.Dipinto was called to help Esposito.
D.Esposito was rescued by a retired teacher.
2.What does the writer intend to tell us?
A.Dipinto’s behaviour deserves respect.
B.Speeding and driving at night are not safe.
C.Carefulness is very significant while driving.
D.Every second counts in time of emergency.
3.Why did the hero arrive in pajamas instead of in a fire truck?
A.He’d just got out of bed. B.He was careless.
C.It was urgent. D.No fire truck was available.
4.What can be the best title for the text?
A.A Narrow Escape B.A Brave Firefighter
C.A Terrible Accident D.A Broken Minivan
Need a job in your spare time?
Do you want to make some extra money in your spare time? Here are some choices.
Technical support
It seems almost everyone has a friend who is a technical genius. Such people earn money using their talent. If you are one of them, you could be responsible for technical support in your college or university and get your part-time job for a college student. You can help your friends with programs install and market services on different sites and social media. Set your hours free and enjoy the process of earning money by doing your favorite.
Tutor
A lot of students hire a tutor to help them in high school or college. If you are good at some subjects, why not work as a peer tutor? You help your friends and earn money at the same time. If you know foreign languages, you can earn more. All you need to do is make an appropriate advertisement of your services using college newspapers. One of the best things about being a tutor is that you can set your hours.
Fitness instructor
If your college or university has a fitness center and you are a sporty person, go and sign up for this job. You will have an absolute free opportunity to engage yourself in sports. You need to be a good psychologist, because you’re going to work with people and it’ll be your job to persuade and motivate them to become sporty, healthy and strong. Being a fitness instructor is a perfect position for those who love to help others and want to make more friends.
Babysitter
Babysitting is quite a widespread and nice opportunity for students to make extra money while having a lot of fun. You can apply for a job at college day-care centers or consider babysitting for families you know.
1.Who are the part-time jobs intended for?
A.College students. B.Language teachers.
C.Newspaper reporters. D.Community volunteers.
2.How can one get a job as a tutor?
A.Through different websites.
B.By advertising on newspapers.
C.By submitting the application form.
D.Through in-person interviews.
3.Which of the following suits you most if you are sporty and sociable?
A.Technical support. B.Tutor.
C.Fitness instructor. D.Babysitter.
你的英国朋友Jim在给你的邮件中提到他对中国四大名著中的《红楼梦》和《三国演义》很感兴趣，请你给他回信，向他推荐其中一部作品。信中内容包括：
1. 你的推荐理由;
2. 介绍书中你喜欢的一个人物。
注意：1. 词数不少于60。
2. 开头和结尾已给出，不计入总词数。
参考词汇：《红楼梦》：A Dream in Red Mansions
《三国演义》：Romance of the Three Kingdoms
Dear Jim,
Knowing that you are interested in Chinese Four Great Classical Novels,
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
I am looking forward to your view of this book.
Yours,
Li Hua
Time Management
What time is it? Most people are pretty accurate in their answer. And if you don’t know for sure, it’s very likely that you can find out. 1.; there may be clock on the wall, desk, or computer screen; or maybe you’re riding in a car that has a clock in the dashboard (仪表板).
2. even if you don’t have a timepiece of some sort nearby. Humans have an internal clock that regulates the beating of our heart, the pace of our breathing, the discharge of chemicals within our bloodstream, and many other bodily functions.
3.. Even if we ignore it, it’s still going by ticking away, second by second, minute by minute, hour by hour. So the main issue in using your time well is, “Who’s in charge?” 4.. Or we can take control of it and make it our partner.
By taking control of how you spend your time, you’ll increase your chances of becoming a more successful student. Perhaps more importantly, the better you are at managing the time you devote to your studies, the more time you will have to spend on your outside interests.
The aim of time management is not to schedule every moment so we become slaves of timetable that governs every waking moment of the day. 5.. Rather than letting the day go by, largely without our awareness, what we are going to discuss next can make us better able to control time for our own purposes.
A.We are the master of time
B.Your body keeps its own beat
C.You can find timepiece everywhere
D.There may be a watch on your wrist
E.Time is something from which we can’t escape
F.Instead, the aim is to inform us how we use time
G.We can allow time to slip by and let it be our enemy
