Young sunflowers turn and swing every day. New findings add to evidence that the plants are animal-like.

Harmer, a professor in the University of California at Davis, Department of Plant Biology, carried out a series of experiments on sunflowers in the field, in pots outdoors and in indoor growth chambers.

By staking plants so that they could not move, Harmer showed that he could destroy their ability to track the sun. He also noticed that sunflowers prevented from moving were not as tough and leafy as those that were free to move. When plants were moved indoor with a settled overhead light, they continued to swing back and forth for a few days.

The indoor plants did start tracking the “sun” again when the apparent source of lighting was moved across the room. The plants could reliably tack the movement and return at night when the artificial day was close to a 24-hour cycle, but not when it was closer to 30 hours.

When sunflowers track the sun, the east sides of their stems grew more rapidly than the west sides. At night, the west sides grew faster as the stem swung the other way. The team identified a number of genes that were expressed at higher levels on the sunward side of the plant during the day or on the other side at night. A plant growth-regulating hormone (激素), called auxin, appears to be a key driver.

The “dance” to the sun cycle obviously slows when the sunflower matures (成熟) and its flowers open up. At that point, the plants stop moving during the day and settle down facing the sun in the east.

“Bees like warm flowers.” Harmer said, adding that the bees are cold-blooded, so landing on a warm flower saves them energy and perhaps feels really good.

“The morning warmth changes the flowers in a way to make them more appealing to insects, perhaps causing them to release more attractive scents earlier in the day.” he said “We’re currently testing this idea.”

1.Why did Harmer do the experiment on sunflowers?

A.To see how sunflowers grow up B.To show what sunflowers’ genes are.

C.To study why sunflowers track the sun. D.To check if sunflowers swing in cloudy days.

2.What does the underlined word “staking” probably mean in Paragraph 3?

A.breaking B.controlling C.growing D.searching

3.What is the result of sunflowers being stopped from moving?

A.They will produce a number of new genes. B.They will grow faster than usual.

C.They won’t swing back though set free. D.They won’t grow well.

IG, a Chinese esports club, won the world championship title in LOL (League of Legends) in 2018. It beat European team 3:0 in South Korea. It was the first time that a club from China’s LPL (League of Legends Pro League) won the title in the world championship’s eight-year history. So what is esports?

Esports (Electronic Sports) is a form of competition using video games between professional players. It is not only a simple game in a sense, but a sport in which players use electronic equipment to play against each other in intelligence. It can improve the players’ thinking ability, heart-to-eye coordination (协调), willpower and develop team spirit.

In 2003, esports became the 99th sport in China. However, esports is different from traditional sports and online games. Traditional sports athletes mainly train their physical ability and skills, such as muscle memory, exercising and dieting; while esports athletes’ training is mostly about the mind, such as studying strategies (策略) and new updates for the game.

The industry has been developed for more than 10 years, but the public usually hold the opinion that playing online games has no benefit but taking one’s attention away from their duties. In fact, there are several differences between esports and online games:

First, the basic features. Online games are entertainment games while esports is a sport. Esports is an intellectual competition between people in an organized environment created by information technology.

Second, the game rules. Esports has clear game rules. Its biggest feature is strict time and round limitations. However, online games are lack of clear rules of the game. Without time limit, it’s easy for people especially teenagers to be addicted to (沉迷于) it.

Third, the sports spirit. Esports competitions between athletes pay great attention to fair sports spirit. Some online games only need to recharge (充钱) to gain advantages, which is the main difference between esports and online games.

In the upcoming 2022 Asian Games to be held in Hangzhou, esports will officially become a medal event. Esports is a new sporting activity. It will take a long time to grow into a mature industry like NBA (the National Basketball Association of the US). Let’s have a better understanding of esports and expect its bright future.

1.Which club won the world championship title in LOL in 2018?

2.What is esports?

3.When did esports become the 99th sport in China?

4.What is esports athletes’ training about?

5.What is the passage mainly about?

Welcome to Nanchong, a beautiful city with a long history. You will have a wonderful time here. There are many places of interest. Now let’s look through some of them.

Langzhong Ancient City

There are many old houses like Lee’s Courtyard. You can also enjoy Zhang Fei Temple, Huaguang Tower and so on.Location:Langzhong City

Opening time: 9:00 a. m. -4:30 p. m. on weekdays

8:30 a. m. -5:30 p. m. on weekends

Price: ¥ 120

Telephone number:0817 -6587391

Zhu De Memorial Hall

Zhu De is a great person. Here you can learn about his whole life. You can also visit his old house about 2 kilometers away from the Hall.

Location:Ma’an Town, Yilong

Opening time:9:00 a. m. -4:30 p. m.

Price:Free

Telephone number:0817 -8162563

Yuping Park

Here you can know the famous historical person named Chen Shou and his book Records of the Three Kingdoms. You can also enjoy beautiful scenery here. Location:Jialing District

Opening time: 9:00 a. m. -5:30 p. m.

Price: Adults: ¥ 10

Old people over 60: ¥ 5

Children: ¥ 7

( Children under 6:Free)

Telephone number:0817 -3650928

Zhang Lan Old House

Zhang Lan is a great educator. You can learn about his achievements in Chinese education in this memorial hall. Also, you can visit his old house.

Location:Lianchi Town, Xichong Opening time:9:00 a. m. -5:00 p. m. Price:Free

Telephone number:0817 -4224981

1.The proper time to visit Langzhong Ancient City is on Monday.

A.7:00 a. m. B.2:00 p. m. C.8:30 a. m. D.6:30 p. m.

2.If you want to visit Zhu De Memorial Hall, you can call .

A.0817 -4224981 B.0817 -8162563

C.0817 -3650928 D.0817 -6587391

3.Who is a great educator according to the passage?

A.Zhang Fei. B.Zhu De.

C.Chen Shou. D.Zhang Lan.

Choose the best answer(根据短文内容,选择最恰当的答案)

Can you understand the following sentence?

"My smmr hols wr CWOT. B4, we used 2 go 2 NY 2C my bro, his GF & 3 kds FTF. "

The Scottish teacher who received it in class had no idea what the girt who wrote it meant. The essay was written in a form of English used in cell phone text messages. Text messages(also called SMS)through cell phones became very popular in the late 1990s. At first, mobile phone companies thought that text messaging would be a good way to send messages to customers, but customers quickly began to use the text messaging service to send messages to each other. Teenagers in particular enjoyed using text messaging, and they began to create a new language for messages called "texting".

A text message is limited to 160 characters, including letters, spaces, and numbers, so messages must be kept short. In addition, typing on the small key pad of a cell phone is difficult, so it's common to make words shorter. In texting, a single letter or number can represent a word, like "r" for "are", "u" for "you", and "2" for "two". Several letters can also represent a phrase, like "lol" for "laughing out loud". Another characteristic of texting is the leaving out of letters in a word, like spelling "please" as "pls".

Some parents and teachers worry that texting will make children bad spellers and bad writers. The student who wrote the essay at the top of this page said writing in that way was more comfortable for her.(The essay said, "My summer holidays were a complete waste of time. Before, we used to go to New York to see my brother, his girlfriend, and their three kids face to face.")

Not everyone agreed that texting is a bad thing. Some experts say languages always develop, and this is just another way in which English is changing. Other people believe texting will disappear soon. New technology for voice messages may soon make text messages a thing of the past.

1.What is the writer's opinion of text messaging?

A.The writer does not give his opinions. B.It is not bad for children.

C.It will make children bad writers. D.It is fun and easy to do.

2.Which characteristic of texting is NOT described in the passage?

A.Using letters to represent words. B.Using phrases to represent essays.

C.Using letters to represent phrases. D.Using numbers to represent words.

3.Why do some people think that texting is bad?

A.It costs too much. B.It's too difficult to type.

C.Teenagers won't learn to write correctly. D.It's not comfortable.

4.Why aren't some people worried about the effect of texting?

A.Not many people use texting. B.Spelling in English is too difficult.

C.Teenagers quickly become bored with texting. D.Texting will disappear because of new technology.

5.Which is the best title for the passage?

A.Texting. B.A text message.

C.A bad thing. D.The text messaging service.

6.Not everyone agree that texting is a ________.

A.bad thing B.good thing C.badly thing D.worst thing

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