A global group of scientists have reduced the time it takes to find and introduce disease-resistance genes from wild plants into domestic crops such as rice, wheat and potato, a research revealed on Tuesday.
Scientists from the John Innes Center in Britain, along with colleagues from Australia and the United States, have created a database known as AgRenSeq, where researchers can easily search for resistance genes already discovered in wild relatives of modern crops.
The study was co-authored by a global expert Professor HarbansBariana from the University of Sydney, who said that this technology will support the discovery and characterization of new sources of disease resistance in plants. Once researchers have identified resistance genes using AgRenSeq, they can clone them and introduce them to domestic crops to protect against diseases and pests,
“We have found a way to scan the genome(基因组)of a wild relative of a crop plant and pick out the resistance genes we need and we can do it in record time,” Dr. Brande Wulff, a project leader from the John Innes Centre, said.
“This used to be a process that took l0 Or 15 years and was like searching for a needle in a haystack(干草堆),” Wulff said. “We have perfected the method so that we can clone these genes in a matter of months and for just thousands of dollars instead of millions.”
The team are highly optimistic about their work, predicting it to be utilized in protecting many crops with wild relatives including soybeans, pea, cotton, potato, wheat, rice, banana and cocoa. “Using speed cloning and speed breeding we could deliver resistance genes into the best varieties within a couple of years, like a phoenix(凤凰) rising from the ashes,” Wulff added.
1.How have the researchers developed the resistance genes?
A.By reducing the research time.
B.By introducing them to wild plants.
C.By cloning them from domestic crops.
D.By getting resistance genes from wild plants.
2.What will be the use of the study in the future?
A.It will protect crops from being damaged by pests.
B.It will create a database for researchers to search.
C.It will protect domestic crops for 10 to 15 years.
D.It will contribute to reducing the wild plants.
3.Which of the following best explains “utilized” underlined in Paragraph 6?
A.Produced. B.Made.
C.Used. D.Studied.
4.What can we infer from what Brande Wulff said?
A.The resistance genes cost millions of dollars.
B.The resistance genes were found in a haystack.
C.It took the researchers ten years to find the resistance genes.
D.Disease-resistance genes will be put into practice soon.
Clothing rental is a hot new industry and retailers (零售商) are demanding to get on board in hopes of attracting green shopper.
But is renting fashion actually more environmentally-friendly than buying it, and if so, how much more? Journalist and author Elizabeth Cline investigated (调查) this question and concluded that it's not as sustainable as it seems.
Take shipping, for example, which has to go two ways if an item is rented — receiving and returning. Cline writes that consumer transportation has the second largest carbon footprint of our collective fashion habit after manufacturing.
She writes, ''An item ordered online and then returned can send out 20 kilograms of carbon each way, and increases up to 50 kilograms for rush shipping. By comparison, the carbon impact of a pair of jeans purchased from a physical store and washed and worn at home is 33.4 kilograms, according to a 2015 study by Levi's.''
Then there's the burden of washing, which has to happen for every item when it's returned, regardless of whether or not it was worn. For most rental services, this usually means dry cleaning, a high impact and polluting process. All the rental services that Cline looked into have replaced perchloroethylene (氯乙烯), a carcinogenic (致癌的) air pollutant, still used by 70 percent of US dry cleaners, with alternatives, although these aren't great either.
Lastly, Cline fears that rental services will increase our appetite for fast fashion, simply because it's so easily accessible. There's something called ''share washing'' that makes people waste more precisely because a product or service is shared and thus is regarded as more eco-friendly. Uber is one example of this, advertised as ''a way to share rides and limit ear ownership.'' and yet ''it has been proven to discourage walking,bicycling, and public transportation use.''
Renting clothes is still preferable to buying them cheap and throwing them in the dustbin after a few wears, but we shouldn't let the availability of these services make us too satisfied. There's an even better step — that's wearing what is already in the closet.
1.What is Elizabeth Cline's attitude toward clothing rental?
A.Approving. B.Unfavorable.
C.Objective. D.Enthusiastic.
2.The Uber example in Paragraph 6 indicates that .
A.rental services are on the rise
B.clothing rental will be as successful as Uber
C.renting clothes might waste more than expected
D.renting clothes might make people lose interest in fast fashion
3.The author suggests that we should .
A.give up renting any clothing
B.purchase inexpensive clothes
C.rent clothes rather than buy them
D.make full use of clothes we've possessed
4.What is the passage mainly about?
A.Clothing rental is a new fashion.
B.Clothing rental is retailers' preference.
C.Renting clothes is not that eco-friendly.
D.Renting-clothes business is in a dilemma.
Living life to its fullest
On the night of August 24, 2001, everything changed when my friend's car hit a wall with me inside. I lost most of my right leg, and I was left bleeding with several broken bones. At the hospital, although my body was weak, my mind was still very clear. I just kept telling myself to hold on. A week later, I made a deal with the doctors that once I could roll onto my side, I could leave. Two weeks later, I was allowed to go home.
Although I left the hospital, the fight was far from over. My left knee was badly injured, which resulted in different operations over the next few years.
And soon, more of my right leg had to be removed. This made it harder to wear my false leg, so I donated it to a nurse who couldn't afford one for herself. The joy of being able to provide this gift for someone else was greater than the happiness I felt on any day I was able to wear it myself.
People often tell me they're proud of me for staying strong. But in my mind, staying strong has always been my only choice. So, on the day I left the hospital, I made a promise to myself to always live life to the fullest. Now, I may not be able to do things the way everybody else does them, but still, I always find a way to do them. I soon settled into everyday life again, until one day I realized I wasn't living my life as fully as I wanted to.
After 13 years of thinking that I was confident, I had an unfamiliar feeling sweep over me. For the first time in my life, I was not only confident but I wanted to help those around me.
In 2014, I even started modeling. My dream is that one day a little girl will see me in a magazine and say, “Wow, she's beautiful, and she only has one leg. I could do that too someday, even though I have a disability.” My dream is simple: to inspire every man, woman, and child into knowing and believing that they are beautiful just the way they are.
1.How did the author feel after the car accident?
A.She complained that life was unfair to her.
B.She was unable to accept the loss of her leg.
C.She kept a positive attitude toward life.
D.She felt lucky that she was still alive.
2.Why did the author feel happy in Paragraph 3?
A.She was able to offer help to others.
B.She could wear her false leg again.
C.She had lived her life to the fullest.
D.She could do everyday things the same as everybody else.
3.Why did the author begin modeling in 2014?
A.She wanted to be a famous magazine star.
B.She wanted to encourage others to be confident about themselves.
C.She wanted to challenge herself to be a speaker.
D.She wanted to prove that disabled people could also succeed.
4.What was the author's main purpose in writing the article?
A.To stress the importance of having a dream.
B.To show how difficult the life is for disabled people.
C.To inspire others by sharing her past experiences.
D.To give advice to disabled people on how to make a living.
The recent development in technology has led to better learning opportunities for students. Learning is an ongoing process, and students can have fun and learn many things on the go with these apps.
Exam Vocabulary Builder
Learning new English words is not difficult anymore when you have Exam Vocabulary Builder on your smartphone. Apart from learning new words with meaning, you can also find an example of using the word in a sentence. Moreover, you can test yourself in quiz mode comprised of challenging levels.
Quizlet
Quizlet is a simple app that allows you to learn anything, create your own study sets, and improve your class grades by studying with flashcards. It’ll give you a whole new experience on how you learn things in a fun way. Next time you have a problem with learning a new chapter or topic, try Quizlet and see how things work out.
Exam Countdown
If you’re feeling distracted (分心的) when the exams draw near, you might need Exam Countdown app. There might be a possibility that you forgot to submit your last assignment before the finals. The app acts like a scheduler where you can keep track of your assignments, exams, quizzes, and presentations.
MyScript Smart Note
Aren’t you quick enough to write notes in the classroom on your tablet’s QWERTY keyboard? No problem, because MyScript Smart Note is the perfect solution for you to easily take notes on your tablet. It allows you to edit your handwriting with special gestures. Moreover, you can also add pictures to the text, math equations, PDF files, or sound. It also comes with downloadable language packs.
1.What do Exam Vocabulary Builder and MyScript Smart Note have in common?
A.They both can be used for note taking.
B.They both can be used with hand gestures.
C.They both can be used to test language skills.
D.They both can he used for language learning.
2.Which is a good choice for better managing and organizing your routine study?
A.Quizlet. B.Exam Countdown.
C.MyScript Smart Note. D.Exam Vocabulary Builder.
3.What’s the text mainly intended to do?
A.Introduce some wonderful learning methods for students.
B.Provide some good learning opportunities for students.
C.Introduce some useful learning apps for students.
D.Promote some practical teaching apps for teachers.
Directions: Write an English composition in about 120-150 words according to the instructions given below in Chinese.
假如你是明启中学高三学生王磊，由于新冠病毒疫情，学校推迟开学，所有的教学只能在网上进行。你的邻居家正好在装修房屋，噪音影响到你正常的网课学习，但你面临升学考试。请你写一封信给学校咨询老师，告诉他（她）你准备如何解决这一矛盾。
1.信的格式已给。
2.不得出现真实姓名。
Dear Sir or Madam,
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Sincerely yours,
Wang Lei
Directions：Translate the following sentences into English, using the words given in the brackets.
1.一人有难，大家帮忙在中国很常见。(common)
2.是“有志者事竟成的”信念帮助他实现了梦想。（It was…）
3.遇到生词时不要马上查字典，你可以从上下文猜出意思。(consult)
4.在古代，中国先哲们就提出 “读万卷书不如行万里路”，彰显了游历名山大川，可承天地之灵气，接山水之精华。 (raise)
