Google has kicked off Google Science Fair (GSF) 2014, its annual online competition for

bright, creative and ambitious teenagers who want to change the world with science. While the project is led by Google, it also has the backing of the Lego Group and world-famous publications National Geographic and Scientific American. The competition is open for students aged 13 to 18, who can sign-up now, form a team and begin working on a submission.

The winner will be rewarded with a ten-day exploration to the Galapagos Islands aboard the National Geographic Endeavor, as well as a VIP tour of ‘Spaceport America’ in New Mexico. Google is also throwing in a $50,000 scholarship and $10,000 for the winner’s school to purchase cutting-edge science lab equipment.

Google suggests that each project should be “an in-depth investigation of a science question or engineering problem” but otherwise, it’s up to students to pick and develop an idea that follows the competition rules.

Completed projects need to be submitted by May 12, 2014 at 11:59 PDT. Google will announce the regional competitors in June, ahead of global finalists in August and the competition winners in September.

Interested? Here are the rules.

If you want to enter the competition as an individual (个人), you should register first. Complete requested information about yourself and your project in the registration section before creating your project. You may edit this later. Click the box stating that you have read, accept, and agree to be bound by these Official Rules and Terms.

Upon completion of registration you may begin working on your project. The project must follow the technical, creative, and legal entry requirements set out in these Official Rules and the Googlesciencefair.com Site. You will be required to complete all sections of the Project Site.

You may begin working on your project after completing the registration process, however, you may not submit it for judging until you have requested and received parental consent (允许). Once you have done this, your parent or guardian will receive an email from Google with instructions on how they can give their consent for you to participate. The project will not be judged unless this consent is received.

1.From the first paragraph, we can learn that ________.

A. GSF is a science competition

B. teenagers should form a team

C. every teenager can take part in it

D. GSF is organized by Google alone

2.What is mainly discussed in the last paragraph?

A. Parental consent.

B. Submission time.

C. Registration process.

D. Project requirements.

3.If you plan to enter GSF alone, you ________.

A. should create your project first

B. you needn’t follow the official rules

C. you should provide some personal information

D. your should start your project before registration

4.The main purpose of the passage is to ________.

A. offer tips on how to enter GSF

B. provide information about GSF

C. persuade teenagers to enter GSF

D. show teenagers the importance of GSF

E

People talk about energy everywhere.Green energy, for example.Then, energy independence.It has a nice ring to it.Doesn' t it? If you think so, you' re not alone, because energy independence has been the dream of American president for decades, and never more so than in the past few years, when the most recent oil price shock has been partly responsible for kicking off the great recession(经济衰退).

"Energy independence" and its rhetorical (修辞的) companion "energy security" are, however, unreliable concepts that are rarely thought through.What is it that we want independence from, exactly?

Most people would probably say that they want to be independent from imported oil.But there are reasons that we buy all that oil from elsewhere.

The first reason is that we need it to keep our economy running.Yes, there is a trickle ( 涓涓细流) )of biofuel ( 生物燃料 )available, and more may become available, but most biofuels cause economic waste and environmental destruction.

Second, Americans have basically decided that they don't really want to produce all their own oil.They value the environmental quality they preserve over their oil imports from abroad.Vast areas of the United States are off-limits to oil exploration and production in the name of environmental protection.To what extent are Americans really willing to tolerate the environmental influence of domestic(国内的) energy production in order to cut back imports?

Third, there are benefits to trade.It allows for eoonomic efficiency, and when we buy things from places that have lower production costs t1i;m we do, we benefit.And although you don't read about this much, the United States is also a large exporter of oil products, selling about 2 million barrels of petroleum products per day to about 90 countries.

There is no question that the United States imports a great deal of energy and, in fact, relies on that steady flow to keep its economy stable.When that flow is interrupted, we feel the pain in short supplies and higher prices.At the same time, we get massive economic benefits when we buy the most affordable energy on the world market and when we engage in energy trade around the world.

1.What does the author say about energy independence for America?

A.It sounds very attractive.

B.It ensures national security.

C.It will bring oil prices down.

D.It will protect the environment.

2.Why does America rely heavily on oil imports?

A.It wants to expand its storage of raw oil.

B.Its own oil reserves are quickly running out.

C.Its own oil production falls short of demand.

D.It wants to keep its own environment untouched.

3.What does the author say about oil trade?

A.It improves economic efficiency.

B.It makes for economic recession.

C.It brings benefit only to the sellers.

D.It saves the cost of oil exploration.

4.What is the author' s purpose in writing the passage?

A.To explain the increase of international oil trade.

B.To raise Americans' awareness of the energy crisis.

C.To argue for America' s dependence on oil imports.

D.To stress the importance of energy protection.

For the first time, researchers have discovered that some plants can kill insects in order to get additional nutrients. New research shows that they catch and kill small insects with their own sticky hairs near the roots and then absorb nutrients through their roots when the insects are killed and fall to the ground.

Professor Mark Chase, of Kew and Queen Mary, University of London, said: “The cultivated (改良的) tomatoes and potatoes still have the hairs. Tomatoes in particular are covered with these sticky hairs. They do trap small insects on a regular basis. They do kill insects.”

The number of these carnivorous plants is thought to have came up to 50 percent and many of them have until now been wrongly regarded as among the most harmless plants. Among them are species of petunia(矮牵牛), some special tobacco plants and cabbages, some varieties of potatoes and tomatoes, etc. Researchers at Royal Botanical Gardens Kew, which carried out the study, now believe there are hundreds more killer plants than previously realized.

It is thought that the technique was developed in the wild to get necessary nutrients in poor quality soil – and even various plants grown in your vegetable garden still have the ability.

The researchers, publishing their finding in the Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, said: “We may be surrounded by many more murderous plants than we think.” “We are accustomed to thinking of plants as being immobile and harmless, and there is something deeply frightening about the thought of meat-eating plants," they added.

1.Tomatoes and potatoes kill insects to _____.

A. get more sticky hairs

B. make themselves grow better

C. make their roots stronger

D. avoid falling down to the ground

2.The word “carnivorous” in Paragraph 3 most probably means _____.

A. fast-growing

B. harmless

C. insect-killing

D. nutritious

3.The insect-killing technique of vegetables is developed most probably through _____.

A. evolution of species

B. helps from other garden plants

C. artificial cultivation

D. nutrients preserved in rich soil

4.The text is probably taken from _____.

A. a student book

B. a science fiction

C. a scientific repot

D. a bulletin board

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