【题目】 Ever wonder how this season’s celebrations affect the environment? Guest blogger Krista Fairles takes an amusing look at this very topic:

The holidays are a wonderful, cheerful time when most people wait for Santa to bring them presents. But I’m not like most people. I spend my time wondering just what the environmental impacts of Santa Claus and his reindeer are, and more importantly, how I can calculate those impacts.

Lately I’ve been particularly curious as to whether Santa’s old sled is a clean green flying machine, or if he should be replacing his 8 reindeer with an environmentally-friendly car.

I should mention that, surprisingly, I was unable to find statistics specific to Santa’s magical flying reindeer, so these calculations use numbers from various sources and may not represent actual pollution caused by Santa and his animals. In other words, don’t complain to the government about the damage Santa is causing to the environment based on this article.

Santa’s yearly trip around the globe is 44,000km long, twice the average of a North American driver. If we assume that the magic provides the altitude for this trip, then reindeer power only needs to push Santa’s sled forward. To complete the trip in 12 hours, I estimate they must travel at a speed of about 3100km/h. To travel at this speed, for this length of time, the reindeer need to eat an incredible 980 million calories each!

So the next question is: how much food is in 980 million calories? Well, if they’re eating corn, they’d need to eat 16,500 lbs each - or 1.6 acres of food. Growing 12.8 acres of corn has its own implications for the environment that we’ll leave for another calculation.

We now need to consider that during the global trip the reindeer are “letting out” some of that corn in the form of methane (甲烷,沼气). A resting cow produces 110 kg of methane per year, so flying reindeer would each let out about 4.8 tons. With methane causing 20 times the global warming damage of CO2, and the altitude increasing that damage by 1000% that another 20 times, we can put Santa’s round-trip emissions at 15,488 tons. This is much more than the 100 tons an environmentally-friendly car would release on the same trip!

Bad Santa.

1Which aspect does the writer NOT mention in her analyses about reindeer’s influence on environment?

A.Distance covered.B.Money spent on food.

C.Tons of waste let out.D.Calories consumed.

2According to the passage, how many acres of corn would Santa need to feed 12 reindeer?

A.12.8.B.16.C.19.2.D.128.

3Which of the following words best describes the tone of the passage?

A.Humorous and concerned.B.Cheerful and friendly.

C.Academic and formal.D.Serious and boring.

4Which of the following is the best title for this passage?

A.Santa, watch where you’re going!B.Let’s reduce waste on Christmas celebrations!

C.Santa Claus is coming to town!D.Is Santa driving clean and green?

【题目】

Elon Musk, perhaps the world’s most famous businessman, has a habit of making statements that stretch the bounds of believability.

On July 16th, 2019, he introduced a new type of brain-machine interface (BMI), starting from the design of a “neural lace (神经织网)”, a net of thin electrodes (电极) that capture the information from the brain. However, the electrodes must be flexible, so that they do not damage brain tissue and will last for a long time. And to make the implantation (植入) of so many electrodes safe, painless and effective, the process has to be automated.

Mr. Musk’s team does indeed seem to have made progress towards these goals. Its presentation included videos of a robot that is best described as a sewing machine. This robot grabs “threads”, and shoots them deep into the brain through a hole. The firm has also designed a chip that can handle signals from as many as 3,072 electrodes.

With all these technological breakthroughs, the firm now hopes to help people overcome such illnesses as blindness and paralysis. They designed a small device that would sit behind someone’s ear, picking up signals from the implanted chip and passing them on as appropriate. In a few years, using a brain implant to control your devices may be as prevalent as wearing wireless earphones today. Finally, Musk predicts neural lace will allow humans to be combined with AI systems, thus enabling the species to survive.

Though, as this announcement shows, Mr. Musk does have a habit of presenting himself as the hero of the human race, the idea that some machines at least will come under the direct control of human brains seems possible to be carried out. The biggest barrier to this happening will probably not be writing the software needed to interpret brainwaves, but rather persuading people that the necessary surgery, whether by sewing machine or otherwise, is actually a good idea.

1We can learn from the first two paragraphs that _____.

A.electrodes should be flexible to extend life

B.Elon Musk constantly comes up with unexpected ideas

C.a neural lace is used to store information from the brain

D.electrodes are implanted by top surgeons for safety reasons

2What does the underlined word “prevalent” in Paragraph 4 probably mean?

A.Useful.B.Common.C.Professional.D.Appropriate.

3What is the hardest part of carrying out BMI?

A.Convincing people to accept the surgery.

B.Developing devices to perform the surgery.

C.Writing the software to interpret brainwaves.

D.Informing people of the success of the surgery.

4What is the best title of this passage?

A.The Neural Lace, A New Type of BMI.

B.Elon Musk, the Hero of Human Beings.

C.Artificial Intelligence, the Way to Survive.

D.A Brain Implant, A Step to Control Machines.

【题目】Getting your children to stop lying is challenging. There are many influences (TV, movies, video games and some great books) in which lies are common. Children see parents lie to others, if only to be polite. Most parents add to that with tales about the lives and activities of Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy, or to allay fears. (“This will not hurt!”) Parents do this out of love, but for some children, lying can become a problem. The most common reactions to children who lie are explaining why it is wrong and punishment. But as ways of changing behavior, these are ineffective.

However, what counts is to praise. You could ask your child to say something that happened at school that is true. It is not critical what that is. This is about practice. When your child complies, praise him enthusiastically. Be specific: “That was great! You told me what happened just like I asked. Wow!” and give your child a hug or a high five. If your child says something true in the course of her day, praise that behavior too. Aim for one or two interactions like this a day. If you happen to “catch” your child in a lie, be matter-of-fact in your disapproval. Say something like, “That is not true and could get you in trouble outside of the hoe; it is better to say the truth.”

Besides, you should set a good example to your kids and tell the truth explicitly. This could be about something that happened when you were a child or something that happened during the day. It need not be dramatic. Another option is to play a game at dinner. Each person tells one thing that was true that day. Again, give a little praise to the child who normally lies if she plays along.

In most instances, children are unlikely to change behavior or develop the conduct you want. That does not mean ignoring, lying or letting it go. Rather, use very mild punishment (light reprimand, short loss of privilege, a brief time-out). More severe, harsh or enduring punishments (shouting, taking away something for a week, hitting) are not more effective in actually changing the frequency of lying.

Try these procedures for two to three weeks and see where you are. Usually they can be dropped by then. It is unlikely that lying will be completely removed, but with the right encouragement, it can be dramatically lessened.

1Which punishment is relatively ineffective?

A. A brief time-out.

B. Light reprimand.

C. Short loss of privilege.

D. Taking away something for a week.

2What can we conclude from the passage?

A. Parents can tell lies sometimes.

B. Lying will disappear thoroughly.

C. Punishment can change behaviors.

D. Praising your kids a lot is beneficial.

3Which of the following could serve as the best title?

A. Is Lying a Problem?

B. Can Kids Stop Lying?

C. What Can You Do When Kids Tell lies?

D. How Can You Punish Your Kids for Lying?

4Which best shows the structure of the text?

A. B.

C. D.

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