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Section A Reading in the Context
Read the following passage with ten missing words. Learn to guess the meanings of them from the context and then select one word for each blank from the list of choices given in the word bank following the passage. Each word can be used only once.
Ants have the ability to 1 out cancerous cell in humans, a new study has discovered, suggesting they could be used for cancer 2 in future. Researchers from the French National Centre for Scientific Research(CNRS)discovered that ant species Formica fusca has a well-developed sense of smell thus it is able to 3 cancerous cells from healthy cells in humans. But more clinical tests must be carried out before they could be used in clinical settings like hospitals, a medical team said. They suggest that in future, ants could turn out to be better at dogs when it comes to 4 cancerous cells in humans.
To conduct their research, the scientists performed tests with 36 ants, smelling cells under a laboratory setting. First, the specialists exposed the ants to the smell of a sample of cancerous human cells. This 5 was then associated with a 6 of sugar solution. In a second step, the researchers exposed the ants to two different odors, a new smell and the other smell of the cancerous cells.
Once this test was successful, the researchers exposed the ants to different cancerous cells. With the comparison of the tests, it was found that ants could discriminate between cancerous and healthy cells and between two cancerous lines.
After training, Formica fusca ants are able to detect 7 organic compounds emitted by cancerous cells.“This first study shows that ants have high 8 and are capable of learning quickly at lower cost with high efficiency.”points out CNRS in a news release.
This isn't the first time that scientists have used the animal sense of smell for 9 cancerous cells.“Dogs’noses are well suited for medical diagnosis and used for the detection of cancer-specific cases,”the researchers explained. However, training them to do so requires several months to a year.
On the other hand,“insects can be easily reared in controlled conditions, they are inexpensive, they have a very well-developed factory system and hundreds of individuals can be 10 with a few trials,”the researchers point out.“Ants therefore represent fast, efficient, inexpensive, and highly discriminant detection tools for detection of cancer cell volatiles （挥发物） ,”the team explained.“Our approach could potentially be adapted to a range of other complex odor detection tasks including the detection of narcotics, explosives, spoiled food, or other diseases, including malaria, infections, and diabetes.”
Section B Reading and Matching
Read the following passage with ten statements attached to it. Each statement contains information given in one of the paragraphs. Identify the paragraph from which the information is derived. You may choose a paragraph more than once.
[A] The obesity epidemic （流行病） is among the most critical health issues faced by the United States. Although it has generated a lot of attention and calls for solutions, it also has served up a super-sized portion of myths and misunderstandings.
[B] The first myth is if you're obese, blame your genes. As obesity rates have soared, some researchers have focused on individuals’genetic predisposition （易患病的体质） for gaining weight. Yet, between 1980 and 2000, the number of Americans who are obese has doubled—too quickly for genetic factors to be responsible.
[C] So why do we eat more than we need? The simple answer: Because we can. At home and at restaurants, a dollar puts more calories on our plates than ever before. Before World War II, the average family spent as much as 25 percent of its total income on food—in 2011, it was 9.8 percent. And people eat out now more than in the past. In 1966, the average family spent 31 percent of its food budget dining away from home—in 2011, it was 49 percent. Restaurant meals usually have more calories than what we prepare at home.
[D] Meanwhile, the food industry has developed tens of thousands of products with more calories per bite. We should blame these business practices, which are modifiable, for obesity rather than our genes, which are not.
[E] The second myth is if you're obese, you lack self-control. According to a 2006 study,“research on restrained eating has proven that in most circumstances dieting is not a feasible strategy.”Unfortunately, this puritanical （严格的） view of personal resolve plays down how our surroundings and mental state determine what we eat.
[F] In one study, for example, people asked to choose a snack after memorizing a sevendigit number were 50 percent more likely to choose chocolate cake over fruit salad than those who had to memorize a two-digit number. When adults in another study were asked to sample a variety of foods after watching a television show with junk-food commercials, they ate more and spent a longer time eating than a similar group watching the same show without the junk-food ads. In the same study, children ate more goldfish crackers when watching junk-food commercials than those who saw other ads.Even the most vigilant （警惕的） may not be up to the task of controlling their impulses.
[G] The third myth is that lack of access to fresh fruits and vegetables is responsible for the obesity epidemic. The Obama administration's Healthy Food Financing Initiative is meant to help low-income communities that lack access to fresh food. Although the US Department of Agriculture estimates that fewer than 5 percent of Americans live in these“food deserts”, about 65 percent of the nation's population is overweight or obese.Since we are buying more calories than we need, eating healthfully could be made more affordable by eliminating unnecessary cheaper low nutrient foods and substituting higher quality foods that may be slightly more expensive.
[H] Obesity is usually the consequence of eating too much junk food and consuming portions that are too large. People may head to the produce section of their grocery store with the best intentions, only to be confronted by candy at the cash register and chips and soda at the end of aisles. Food retailers’impulse-marketing strategies contribute significantly to obesity across the population, not just for those who do not live near a green grocer or can't afford sometimes pricier healthy choices.
[I] The fourth myth is the problem is not that we eat too much, but that we are too sedentary （久坐的） . First lady Michelle Obama's“Let's Move”campaign is based on the idea that if kids exercised more, childhood obesity rates would decline. But according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there was no significant decrease in physical activity levels as obesity rates climbed in the 1980s and 1990s. In fact, although a drop in workrelated physical activity may account for up to 100 fewer calories burned, leisure physical activity appears to have increased, and Americans keep tipping the scales.
[J] There is compelling evidence that the increase in calories consumed explains the rise in obesity. The National Health and Nutrition Examination found that people take in, on average, more than 500 more calories per day now than they did in the late 1970s, before obesity rates accelerated. That's like having Christmas dinner twice a week or more. It's nearly impossible for most of us to exercise enough to burn off these excess calories.
[K] The fifth myth is that we can conquer obesity through better education about diet and nutrition. According to a physicians’health study, 44 percent of male doctors are overweight. A study by the University of Maryland School of Nursing found that 55 percent of nurses surveyed were overweight or obese.
[L] Even with more information about food, extra-large portions and sophisticated marketing messages undermine our ability to limit how much we consume. Consider Americans’alcohol consumption: Only licensed establishments can sell spirits to people older than 21, and no alcohol can be sold in vending machines. Yet there are very few standards or regulations to protect Americans from overeating.
[M] In the 19th century, when there were no controls on the quality of drinking water, infectious disease was a major cause of death. Similarly, if Americans did not live in a world filled with buffets, cheap fast food, soft drinks with corn syrup （糖浆） , and too many foods with excess fat, salt and sugar, the incidence of obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes （糖尿病） probably would plummet （陡降） . Education can help, but what's really needed is regulation—for example, limits on marketing that caters to our addiction to sugar and fat.
________1. People who eat out more frequently have higher rates of obesity than those who eat out less.
________2. Most groceries tempt people to buy junk food impulsively.
________3. A misconception about obesity is that people won't lose weight by trying to eat less because they can't easily control themselves.
________4. Studies show that there is no definite connection between sitting too much and obesity.
________5. The average consumption of calories haven increased and it is hard to burn them off.
________6. Evidence shows that people who provide health care cannot control their weight.
________7. Measures should be taken to control the marketing which encourages sugar and fat consumption.
________8. For most of us, obesity is not related to access to more nutritious foods, but the choices we make in convenience stores and supermarkets where junk-food marketing dominates.
________9. It is high-calorie food instead of gene that should be blamed.
________10. Two studies reveal that even the most alert people may also be tempted to eat more junk food due to intensity of work or junk food ads.
Section C Reading in Depth
Read the following passages carefully and then finish the tasks below.
The 680-year-old Lion Grove Garden （狮子林） is a must-see site for present-day visitors to Suzhou. Suzhou gardens provide a glimpse into the past and a narrative for the future, Wang Kaihao reports.
Editor's note: China is home to 56 UNESCO World Heritage sites. To find out how these natural and cultural gems still shine and continue to inspire the nation in this new era of development, China Daily is running a series of reports covering 10 groups of selected sites from across the country. In this installment, we welcome readers to the tranquil （宁静的） classical gardens of Suzhou, Jiangsu province.
Shortly after dawn, the 680-year-old Lion Grove Garden wakes up to the sound of chirping birds and its moist air is suffused with a floral scent. Mist has not evaporated. With a view of pavilions （看台） and rockeries and a sip of green tea, early visitors to this garden in downtown Suzhou, Jiangsu province, can feel a sense of Zenlike inner peace.
When a group of monks during the Yuan Dynasty(1271-1368)first constructed this garden, they may have just wanted to enjoy a quiet retreat, tucked away from urban noise.Nonetheless, in the following centuries, this enchanting garden-most notable for its waterside rockeries resembling the shape of lions—has attracted a constant stream of celebrity guests, who have left a long list of poems, paintings and historical anecdotes （逸事趣闻） .
The temple has disappeared in the mists of time, but the Lion Grove Garden is still a must-visit attraction for travelers to Suzhou. While they will be admiring the same view as their ancient predecessors, against the louder backdrop （大背景） of the modern world, they may need to work harder to attain a sense of tranquility.“In recent years, we’ve tried to restore the historical landscapes of Suzhou's classical gardens, but an exquisite garden cannot be an empty shell,”says Bai Lingzi, deputy director of the planning department of Suzhou Administrative Bureau of Garden and Landscaping.
“We need more creative ideas to usher people into the lifestyle espoused by the gardens and thus promote their aesthetic value （艺术价值） in the modern era,”she explains.Consequently, last year, a new project was launched allowing tourists in small groups to reserve places to enter the garden in the early morning before the regular opening time. Their visit ends with them completing the last step in making a traditional folding fan, adding a poem about the garden on its surface. It is a poetic way to reminisce （回忆、追忆） about the golden age of Suzhou's classical gardens.“The experience can help us understand the wisdom, refined taste and philosophical worldview of the ancient Chinese literati （文人学士） ,”Bai explains. Not every architectural landmark is grand in scale, with splendid decorations, or dazzling colors. Suzhou gardens may just be the opposite.
Questions 1-5
The passage has six paragraphs, A-F.
Which paragraph contains the following information?
Write the correct letter, A-F.
________1. A new project was launched to upgrade the aesthetic value of the Lion Grove Garden in the modern time.
________2. In order to attain the sense of tranquility and restore the historical landscapes of Suzhou's classical gardens, people need do more in the modern world.
________3. As the most notable highlight in the Garden, the lion-shaped rockeries have attracted many celebrity guests to leave historical anecdotes.
________4. A series of reports covering some World Heritage sites in China were to explore how the cultural gems can continuously shine in modern China.
________5. The Lion Grove Garden, a must-see attraction in Suzhou, displays the combination of ancient aesthetic culture and the future development.
Question 6-10
Complete the sentences below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
6. The 680-year-old Lion Grove Garden, originally constructed in Yuan Dynasty, is famous for its____classical gardens in Suzhou, Jiangsu province.
7. In the early morning, visitors to the Lion Grove Garden can have a sense of____inner peace with the serene views and a floral scent while drinking a green tea.
8. The charming garden in Suzhou is most famous for its waterside rockeries____the shape of lion.
9. More creative projects have been launched to usher people into the lifestyle____by the gardens and upgrade their aesthetic value in the modern time.
10. The experience in the new project can help participants understand the wisdom, refined taste and philosophical____of the ancient Chinese literati.
Located in the southern part of Beijing, the Temple of Heaven is a magnificent complex of fine cultural buildings set in gardens and surrounded by historic pine woods. As one of the most sacred places for the country for more than five centuries, it served as a complex of sacrificial buildings for the Ming and Qing emperors and is the largest altar in Beijing.
The Temple of Heaven is an axial arrangement of Circular Mound Altar to the south open to the sky with the conically （圆锥形的） roofed Imperial Vault of Heaven immediately to its north. This is linked by a raised sacred way to the circular, three-tiered, conically roofed Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests. Within the complex there are a total of 92 ancient buildings with 600 rooms.
The entire architecture design is symbolic. The southern part of the Inner Temple is square, while the northern part is semi-circular, representing the ancient belief that Heaven is round and Earth is square. The northern wall was built higher than the southern wall, illustrating the notion of Heaven surpassing Earth. Compared to the imposing complexity and intricacy of royal palaces, the altar area is simple, setting off the vastness of the sky and the grandeur of Heaven.
In ancient China, odd numbers were regarded as heavenly or as related to the sun. Since nine was considered the most powerful of all numbers, the altar, a three-tiered terrace, was constructed with rings of stone slabs （石板） in nine, and the steps and balustrades （栏杆） are also in nine. At the centre of the top terrace lies a round stone known as the Centre-ofHeaven Stone, which has an amplifying impact for speeches.
The Circular Mound Altar is the place where the emperor worshiped Heaven at the winter solstice. The Imperial Vault of Heaven is the place where the tablets of the gods were kept, surrounded by a circular wall of polished bricks, known as Echo Wall where a person whispering close to the wall at any point can be heard distinctly at any other point along the wall.
The ceiling of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests is painted with an exquisite design of nine dragons and is supported by 28 wooden columns. The four central columns, called the Dragon-Well Columns, represent the four seasons. They are surrounded by two rings, one inside the other, of 12 columns each. The inner ring symbolizes 12 months of the year, and the outer, the 12 divisions of day and night according to the old Chinese way of reckoning time. Every year, the emperor led civil and military officials to the hall and prayed for good harvests.
Designed with distinctive compactness and exquisiteness, the Temple of Heaven is a building complex of a beauty rare even among the sacrificial buildings in China and a valuable part of the architectural heritage of the world.
Questions 1-5
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the passage?
TRUE if the statement agrees with the information
FALSE if the statement contradicts with the information
NOT GIVEN if there is no information on this
1. As the largest altar in Beijing, the Temple of Heaven served as a magnificent complex of sacrificial buildings for Ming and Qing emperors with the purpose of praying for rain.___
2. The construction of the steps of stone slabs in a three-tiered terrace and the decoration of the ceiling of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests is both symbolic.___
3. In every Spring Festival, the emperors of Ming and Qing Dynasties worshiped Heaven in the Circular Mound Altar of the Temple of Heaven.___
4. The overall layout of the Temple of Heaven symbolizes the relationship between earth and heaven—the human world the God's world—which stands at the heart of Chinese cosmogony.___
5. Surrounding the Imperial Vault of Heaven by a circular wall of polished bricks, Echo Wall has been the most famous site inside, where a person whispering close to the wall at any point can be heard distinctly at any other point along the wall.___
Questions 6-10
Complete the summary below. Choose NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS from the passage for each answer.
Located in the southern part of Beijing, the Temple of Heaven is a spectacular complex of fine cultural building set in gardens. Both the overall layout and the architecture design of its individual buildings have typical 6 . For example, the square inner temple in the southern part and the semi-circular northern part 7 the square earth and round heaven according to the ancient belief. The northern wall was built higher than the southern wall, illustrating the notion of Heaven surpassing Earth. Odd number nine means the most powerful symbol for the emperor's authority; thus, the altar was 8 with nine stone slabs and the steps and balustrades were also in nine. Besides, the ceiling of the Hall of Prayer for Good Harvests is painted with nine dragons and is supported by 28 wooden columns. The Circular Mound Altar is the place where the emperor 9 Heaven for good harvest at the winter solstice. Because of the outstanding compactness and exquisite design, the Temple of Heaven is one of the most sacrificial buildings in China and one of the architectural 10 of the world.
[A] A private company betting on an innovative fusion technology announced today that its latest device can sustain high temperatures for long reaction times—a major step toward a reactor capable of producing more fusion energy than is consumed by the device. The company, TAE Technologies, is still far from that goal, which huge government efforts are also pushing toward. But its achievements so far have drawn ＄880 million in investment—more than any other private fusion company. The company also announced plans to scale up to a larger machine, which it hopes will reach fusion conditions by 2025.
[B] Fusion holds the promise of carbon-free energy, generated from abundant fuels and producing limited radioactive waste. But for more than 7 decades, the goal has been elusive: It requires extreme temperatures to coax （阀门） nuclei to overcome their natural repulsion （斥力） and fuse. Most publicly funded efforts have focused on tokamaks （托卡马克装置） , which use powerful magnetic fields to imprison ionized gas （离子化气） in a doughnut-shaped vessel, where the plasma （等离子体） can be heated with microwaves and particle beams. The giant ITER reactor under construction in France is the pinnacle of that approach. At other labs, such as the U. S. National Ignition Facility, researchers crush tiny pellets （小弹丸） of fuel with powerful laser pulses to spark a burst of fusion.
[C] Founded in 1998, TAE has an alternative approach. Its machines whisk （搅动） up a hydrogen plasma （等离子体） into a spinning smoke ring called a field-reversed configuration(FRC). The whirling motion of the charged particles in an FRC generates a magnetic field that helps confine the plasma inside it. Left alone, the vortex （低涡） disintegrates in a fraction of a millisecond but TAE helps FRCs survive by firing a beam of particles tangentially （切线） into the edge of the ring, stiffening it and making it spin faster.
[D] In TAE's latest machine, operating since 2017 and dubbed Norman after company co-founder Norman Rostoker, FRCs take shape in a 30-meter-long tube that bristles with controlling magnets, sensors, and particle injectors. TAE now says Norman can sustain FRCs for 30 milliseconds and heat them with particle beams to temperatures of about 60 million degrees Celsius—better by factors of 10 and eight, respectively, than the company's previous devices. And, CEO Michl Binderbauer says,“We can hold it as long as you want.”He says the FRC lifetime is limited only by the amount of power they can store on-site to run Norman's magnets and particle beams and keep the rings spinning.
[E] TAE has not published its results, announced in a press release today. But others are impressed by the progress.“They have focused goals and deliver on time, and that has been lacking in fusion for a while,”says fusion scientist Dennis Whyte of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.“They’re getting closer to the conditions necessary for ［energy］ gain,”he says. But he points out a few challenges. The electrons in Norman's FRCs are cooler than the rest of the plasma, at just 10 million degrees Celsius （摄氏度） . Cool electrons cause drag on the incoming particle beams, reducing their effectiveness. The FRCs are also leaking heat too fast. Whyte says TAE will have to improve heat retention 1,000-fold if it is to reach its goals.“It's good progress but there's still a way to go,”he says. Whyte adds that plasma physics also has a habit of springing surprises.“Up to now, TAE hasn't seen a showstopper,”he says,“but you don't know until you see it.”In the 1980s, for example, researchers built large tokamaks they thought would be big enough to produce excess energy. But an unforeseen phenomenon called microturbulence （微湍流） appeared in the plasmas, causing them to shed heat faster than expected.
[F] Binderbauer says TAE is confident its next machine, dubbed Copernicus （哥白尼） , will get it to the next milestone: 100 million degrees Celsius, the temperature at which traditional fusion fuel—a mixture of the hydrogen isotopes （同位素） deuterium （氘） and tritium （氚） —starts to fuse. Copernicus will be up to 50％ larger than Norman, and will come with a power supply able to sustain FRCs for several seconds. TAE plans to start building the＄250 million device later this year at a new site near its current facility in Foothill Ranch, California.
[G] But the company doesn't plan to stop there. Tritium fuel has drawbacks: It is radioactive and hard to acquire; and the deuterium-tritium reaction produces high energy neutrons, requiring thick shielding to protect the machine and its operators. TAE wants to use an alternative fuel of hydrogen and boron （硼） , plentiful elements that produce many fewer neutrons when they fuse. But that reaction requires temperatures of billions of degrees Celsius—and a future device larger than Copernicus, which TAE hopes to build by the end of the decade.“We’re pretty confident we have the theoretical basis,”Binderbauer says.
Questions 1-6
Passage 3 has seven paragraphs, A-G. A list of headings for several paragraphs is given below. Match each heading with its corresponding paragraph.
Questions 7-11
Complete the sentences below. Choose NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS from the passage for each answer.
7. Carbon-free energy would be achieved by reducing___.
8. Abundant of efforts were put forward in the realization of the fusion technology that was proposed with the ability of___.
9. The effectiveness of particle beams would be limited because of____in Norman's FRCs.
10. Traditional fusion fuel would be replaced for producing____when they fuse.
11.____would be useful in confining the plasma, which is generated by the rotation of FRC particles.