A.Europe’s most beautiful places
Europe is an amazingly varied place. The old continent's historic cities and its Mediterranean beaches draw many of its visitors, but the best destinations are sometimes its more remote corners, known mainly to locals and a few brave travelers.
Lake Inari, Finland
High above the Arctic Circle and close to Finland's border with Russia, Lake Inari is a year round paradise. Dark, snowy winters make it ideal for catching a glimpse of the aurora borealis. Its tree-lined banks glow a burnt orange during autumn and in summer, you can swim in its chilly shallows. The center of local Sami culture, it’s as remote and traditional as Finland gets.
Unst, Shetland Isles, Scotland
The most northerly occupied island of the British Iles, Unst is a wild, rugged place where seas crash into the dramatic Muckle Flugga sea stacks. The later are a harbor for gannets (塘鵒) during breeding season, with birdwatchers also treated to the sight of searching skuas (賊鷗).
Yorkshire Dales, England
Its narrow lanes lined with dry stone walls cry out to cyclists seeking marvelous adventures while its moody hill continually attract walkers. No matter the weather Geological wonders such as the limestone spectacles of Malham Cove and Gordale Scar make it perhaps the most beautiful part of the British Isles
Loire Valley, France
Chateau de Chambord and Chateau de Chenonceau are the most famous, filled with classic viewing towers, formal gardens and boating lakes. Throw in a tour of its graperies, where some of the world's finest wines are produced, and its glamour is impossible to ignore.
56. According to the passage, the best destinations in Europe are _____.
A. historic cities and Mediterranean beaches
B. known to people around the world
C. familiar to only a handful of people
D. similar to each other with no obvious differences
57. If you are a cyclist interested in adventures, you'd better choose ______.
A. Unst, Shetland Isles, Scotland B. Yorkshire Dales, England
C. Loire Valley. France D. Lake Inari, Finland
B
Our cities have never been denser, taller, or busier than they are now, and with that, comes the constant battle for land. But if we look at aerial images of any city center, we can quickly spot plenty of unused space — the rooftops.
So what can we use this precious resource for? In a growing number of high-density cities, some of it is dedicated to recreation—everything from bars and pools, to soccer pitches and running tracks can now be found atop skyscrapers. But when a rooftop offers access to sunlight, there are two more obvious candidates for its use—agriculture and solar power.
Green roofs have been growing in popularity for more than a decade, and in some cases, growing in scale too. Green roofs can provide a habitat for birds and insects in an otherwise hostile environment.
Cities can be several degrees warmer than the surrounding countryside. Green roofs come with the added benefit of mitigating the dreaded urban heat island effect. Trees and green spaces can absorb shortwave radiation, and use it to evaporate water from their leaves — a kind of ‘double cooling’ effect.
With food security and urban nutrition ever-higher on the agenda for the United Nations, there’s also a worldwide movement of using green roofs for hyper-local food production. In regions with suitable climates, hundreds of different vegetables, fruits, and salad leaves can be grown on rooftops.
But what about solar power? With so many cities now stopping using fossil fuels, and the costs of solar panels dropping dramatically, PV systems have become the ‘go to’ option for generating distributed power in built-up areas. And, even with standard commercial panels, the energy gains are dramatic. It is estimated that rooftop PV systems could generate almost 40% of electricity demands nationwide.
There’s no doubt that in both cases, a network of ‘productive rooftops’ could benefit the local community by supplying a portion of a necessary resource — either food or electricity — while also reducing their environmental burden. But is one better than the other?
This was the question posed by researchers from MIT and the University of Lisbon in a recent paper in the journal Cities. Focusing on the rooftops of a mixed-use neighborhood in Lisbon, they carried out a Cost-Benefit Analysis. Starting with existing data on everything from installation costs and resources used, to carbon footprint and yield, they modelled the impact that each installation would have on the local community over a period of 50 years.
And by looking at it that way, they concluded that for Lisbon, the use of rooftops for food production could yield significantly higher local value than solar PV energy generation. Of course, this is very site-specific. There is no one-size-fits-all solution to make cities more sustainable, and anyone who tells you otherwise is massively over-simplifying a complex issue. Now, all I hope is that some of those decision makers start using it.
58. According to the passage, green roofs don’t make a difference to ______.
A. medicine B. agriculture
C. electricity D. ecology
59. What does the underlined sentence mean in the last paragraph ?
A. Lisbon is the perfect targeted city for researchers.
B. In another city, the opposite conclusion can be drawn.
C. The conclusion about Lisbon can apply to all other cities.
D. It doesn’t make sense to install rooftop PV systems in Lisbon.
60. The author writes this article in order to ___________.
A. instruct decision makers what to do
B. inform us of the rise of urban rooftops
C. predict two fields where we can use rooftops
D. persuade us to make cities more sustainable
C
We like to think that the human mind is special. One sign of our superiority is self-awareness, which is generally seen as the peak of consciousness. Only a select group of species has passed the test of being able to recognise themselves in a mirror. Most, including elephants, apes and dolphins, are smart. But now a little fish, the cleaner wrasse has become the first fish ever to pass the mirror test——a classic experiment used to judge self-awareness in animals. What are we to make of this?
Admittedly the mirror test is a questionable way of probing （探究）the minds of other animals. But the finding does fit with a new idea that the ability to recognise oneself is more related to an animal’s lifestyle than to its brain size. Self-awareness is likely to occur in creatures whose survival is dependent on reading the minds of others. In fact, by this way of thinking, it is nothing more than an accidental by-product of evolution, a simulation （模擬）created by the brain, or even just a hall of mirrors giving the illusion of complexity.
The cleaner wrasse lives on coral reefs and provides a service by biting parasites （寄 生蟲）off the scales of bigger fish gently, a delicate relationship that may require insight into the minds of its clients. Such “theory of mind” has long been seen as another cornerstone of human mental superiority. The possibility that fish possess it is not, however, the only threat to our human exceptionalism （例外）.It may not be long before computers give us a run for our money, too.
Researchers have created a set of tests to look for theory of mind in artificial intelligence— and some systems are on the point of passing. No AIs have passed the tests yet, but one got extremely close. We probably don’t need to worry about robots that can recognise themselves in mirrors. But we might want to be more open to the idea that human intelligence isn’t quite as special as we like to think.
- What can we learn from the mirror test?
A.Mammals have a more adaptive body system.
B. Aspecies of fish is capable of self-recognition.
C. The human mind is just as special as expected.
D.Humans have reached the peak of consciousness.
- According to the passage, self-awareness .
A.is formed during evolution by chance B.corresponds with the size of the brain
C.isn’t a hall of mirrors but a simulation D.reflects the typical mental complexity
- The underlined part in Paragraph 3 probably means
A.bring us huge profits
B.cost us a lot of money
C.have great control over us
D.challenge our exceptionalism
- What' s the main idea of the passage?
A.Fish possess no level of intelligence.
B.Humans are not unique in intelligence.
C.AIs will be able to understand our thoughts.
D.Self-awareness is a big mystery of the mind.
D
I’d done it before, and so I had no reason to believe that this time would be any different. I was sure that when I returned home from my mission trip. As always, I’d bring back nothing more some mud on my boots. A hole or two in my jeans and, of course, a lot of great memories.
The summer before my high school graduation, I went to West Virginia with others as volunteers to repair the homes of those in need. Arriving at our destination, my group was assigned the task of rebuilding sections of a home that had been damaged by fire. No sooner had we parked on the home's dirt driveway than we saw an excited little girl, no more than six years old, standing in the doorway of the family's temporary home. Shoeless and wearing dirty clothes and the biggest smile I'd ever seen, she yelled, "Ma, Ma, they really came!" I didn't know it then, but her name was Dakota, and four more days would pass before she'd say another word near me.
Behind Dakota was a woman in a wheelchair — her grandmother, we'd soon learn. I also discovered that my job that week would be to help change a fire-damaged dining room into a bedroom for this little girl. Grabbing our tools, we went to work. Over the following days, I noticed Dakota peeking at us every now and then as we worked. A few times, I tried talking with her, but she remained shy and distant, always flying around us like a tiny butterfly but keeping to herself.
By our fifth and final day, however, this was about to change.
Before I went to work on her home on that last morning, I spoke for a moment or two with the grandmother. I was especially pleased when she told me how much Dakota loved her new room — so much, in fact, that she’d begged to sleep in it the previous night, even though it wasn’t quite ready. As we talked, I noticed something I hadn't seen before — Dakota was hiding behind her grandmother.
Cautiously, she stepped into view, and I could see that just like her clothes, her face was still dirty. But no amount of soil could hide those bright blue eyes and big smile. She was simply adorable. I wanted so much to hug her, but respecting her shyness, I kept my distance.
Slowly, she began walking toward me. It wasn’t until she was just inches away that I noticed the folded piece of paper in her tiny hand. Silently, she reached up and handed it to me. Once unfolded, I looked at the drawing she’d made with her broken crayons on the back of an old coloring book cover. It was of two girls — one much taller than the other — and they were holding hands. She told me it was supposed to be me and her, and on the bottom of the paper were three little words that instantly broke my heart. Now almost in tears, I couldn’t control myself anymore — I bent down and hugged her. She hugged me, too. And for the longest time, neither of us could let go.
By early afternoon, we finished Dakota's bedroom, and so I gladly used the rare free time to get to know my newest friend. Sitting under a tree away from the others, we shared a few apples while she told me about her life. As I listened to her stories about the struggles she and her family went through daily, I began to realize how boring various aspects of my own life were.
I left for home early the next morning. I was returning with muddy boots and holes in my Jeans. But because of Dakota, I brought back something else, too-a greater appreciation for all or the blessings of my life. I'll never forget that barefoot little butterfly with the big smile and dirty face. I pray that she'll never forget me either.
65. What did the author expect before taking this mission trip?
A. A routine result.
B. An exciting experience.
C. A special memory.
D. A surprising change.
66. The underlined part means that the little girl______.
A. desired to approach me
B. feared to talk with me
C. resisted accepting me
D. enjoyed meeting me
67. From the appearance description of the little girl, we know______.
A. she formed a bad living habit
B. she hoped for a better education
C. she was an innocent and lovely child
D. she was strong and calm in the inner world
68. What were probably written on the bottom of the paper?
A. Enjoy your help.
B. Please don't leave.
C. Help me, please.
D. Hug me close.
69. How did the author feel after unfolding the piece of paper?
A.She worried about the little girl's future.
B. She decided to keep helping the little girl.
C. She felt a greater affection for the little girl.
D. She got surprised at the little girl's worthless gift.
70. What does the passage mainly tell us?
A. One must learn to share life experiences.
B. One often wants to lead a meaningful life.
C. One occasionally benefits from the poverty.
D.One should be more grateful for the gift of life.
答案：
56. C 57. B 58. A 59. B 60. B 61.B 62.A 63.D 64.B
65. A 66. B 67. C 68. B 69. C 70. D
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