文档文本内容
话题 4 科技发展与科学家精神
Ⅰ.阅读理解
A
The Big Thinkers Series from New Scientist events features four online talks，
covering a wide range of topics by world－class scientist speakers and experts.If you
are curious about your planet or your universe，then this series is your place to hear
the latest research.
Save ￡20 off the standard ticket price by purchasing a series ticket to all four
talks in the Big Thinkers Series (available on demand) or purchase single tickets for
just ￡13 per lecture (available by early booking).
Reality＋：From the Matrix to the Metaverse with David Chalmers
In this talk，philosopher David Chalmers argues that Metaverse－style virtual
worlds experienced through headsets are also genuine and meaningful realities and we
can live a meaningful life in VR.
What We don’t Know About Gravity with Claudia de Rham
We are all familiar with the concept of gravity.In this talk，Professor Claudia de
Rham will explore how much we actually know about gravity and how much more
there is left to uncover.
A Brief History of Timekeeping with Chad Orzel
From Stonehenge to atomic clocks，here is the 5，000－year history of how
science is used to mark time.Chad Orzel，the internationally bestselling author of
How to Teach Quantum Physics to Your Dog，offers us a witty journey through
scientific theory and quirky (离奇的) historical detail.
Physics at the End of the Universe with Katie Mack
The Big Bang theory tells the story of the beginning of the universe for the last
13.8 billion years.But how does the story end? Join astronomer Katie Mack as she
shares what modern astrophysics(天体物理学) tells us about the final fate of the
universe.1.How much does a series ticket cost?
A.￡13. B.￡20.
C.￡30. D.￡32.
2.What will Chad Orzel lecture in?
A.The genuine reality.
B.The secrets of gravity.
C.The history of time marking.
D.The final fate of the universe.
3.What do the four talks have in common?
A.They are all aimed at science lovers.
B.They are all concerned with gravity.
C.They will all be given by bestselling authors.
D.They will all be given by excellent physicians.
B
(2024·湖北沙市中学模拟预测)
Most of us spend our lives surrounded by screens，which offer us convenience
as well as connection and an ocean of information.But since it’s easy to feel pressured
to keep up with every notification，technology may feel more like a burden than a
blessing.Thus，the idea of “digital detox” is becoming increasingly inviting.
The phrase “digital detox” describes getting rid of TV，phones，computers and
other forms of technology that control our lives for a period of time.Some experts
advocate completely avoiding unnecessary screen time for 30 years.Others suggest
using an app that will limit the amount of time one can spend on certain websites.A
third option is logging out in evenings or on weekends.Others simply turn their
phones off at scheduled times.Some even pay high prices to take vacations in places
where they can unplug from their digital routine.
Why might you want to take a digital detox? Perhaps you find that you are
spending longer than you intend on certain apps or that they distract you from more
important things.Perhaps social media is depressing because you compare yourself to
others or you fear missing out on things that other people are enjoying.Constantnegative news can also give rise to a lot of stress.
Technology can also have physical effects.Many people experience back or neck
pain as a result of bending over screens.The blue light coming from most screens can
also affect people’s sleep by preventing production of melatonin (褪黑激素).
Giving up all screens may not be realistic，but strategic breaks from technology
may be good for your body，mind，emotions and relationships.It is high time that
you picked a time to turn off your devices and focus on really important things.
4.Why does the author say “technology may feel more like a burden than a blessing”
in paragraph 1?
A.To confirm a concept. B.To present a problem.
C.To explain a rule. D.To make a prediction.
5.What does the underlined word “unplug” in paragraph 2 mean?
A.Recover. B.Benefit.
C.Escape. D.Suffer.
6.Which could be the reason for one to start “digital detox”？
A.Apps selection difficulty.
B.Fear of missing important things.
C.Exposure to false news.
D.Pressure from social comparison.
7.What is the purpose of the text?
A.To recommend healthy lifestyles.
B.To call for reducing the use of digital devices.
C.To give instructions on starting digital detox.
D.To present different attitudes to digital products.
C
For the past three decades，Richard Sears，71，has been focused on one
thing：telling the stories behind Chinese characters.
His interest in Chinese language and characters goes back to 1972，when he was
a 22－year－old physics major at Portland State University in Oregon.“I realized only
7 percent of the world speak English as a mother tongue.So，I wanted to know whatit was like to speak another language.” By 1990，Sears was already pretty fluent in
Chinese，but he did not know how to read.To Sears，the characters were complex
with many strokes and almost no apparent logic.
“I’m a physicist，so I don’t like blind memorization in learning languages.I
knew that Chinese characters came from pictographs(象形文字) and I wanted to
know the stories behind the Chinese characters.” As he studied ，Sears realized
quickly that many of the explanations could not possibly be true.In order to pick out
the good ones，he decided to computerize the characters.He scanned about 96，
000 ancient characters.
The database of ancient characters came into being，but he wanted to explain the
step－by－step evolvement of these characters from the original pictographs to the
modern simplified forms.He finally got his website up in 2002 and named it Chinese
Etymology(词源)，where visitors can check for free the evolvement of Chinese
characters in various forms.Between 2002 and 2011，the website would get 11，000
or 15，000 hits a day.Suddenly，in January 2011，clicks to the website went up to
600，000 in one day.Overnight he became Uncle Hanzi，a nickname given by
Chinese netizens，after one of them shared his website on Chinese social media.
In addition to the website，in September last year，Sears set up his studio，
focusing on applying AR，animation and artificial intelligence to telling stories of
Chinese culture and character origins，in Nanjing as part of the local authority’s plan
to cultivate talent in the culture sector.“They have both entertainment value for young
Chinese and educational value and can teach the origins of Chinese characters，”
he says.“We also want to make videos with a high educational value for other
platforms both for Chinese and foreign learners of Chinese characters.”
8.What do we know about Richard Sears?
A.He learned Chinese to improve his physics.
B.He has made an exploration into Chinese characters.
C.He was fluent in reading Chinese from the beginning.
D.He was concerned about the spread of his mother tongue.
9.What does the underlined word “ones” in Paragraph 3 refer to?A.Explanations. B.Characters.
C.Pictographs. D.Languages.
10.What can be inferred about Sears’ website?
A.It has made a big profit from netizens visiting it.
B.It gained popularity shortly after being established.
C.It focuses on the simplification of Chinese characters.
D.It brings the evolvement of Chinese characters to the public.
11.Which of the following can best describe Richard Sears?
A.Enthusiastic and devoted. B.Wise but careless.
C.Ambitious and humorous. D.Generous but stubborn.
D
In the past ， video conference technology was mainly used for just a few
elements of business meetings or hangouts with friends and family.Now ，video
conference tools are essential for our productivity，learning and social interaction.We
use them not only for fun，but mainly as a meaningful part of our work.
However，once we start to join endless video calls for a few hours each day，we
become very tired.This term is called “zoom fatigue”，and it’s related to overusing
virtual communication platforms.
There are some advantages of using video conferencing tools.Without them，it
might be impossible for us to work from home.But what we haven’t expected is a
price that we need to pay for that sort of convenience.
When we are having a face－to－face conversation with others，everything
seems pretty natural.While speaking，you look into the eyes，sometimes slightly
moving your stare onto something else.You know when to stop talking and when to
speak up.Even if you’re in a conference room with 10 people，you don’t have a
terrible feeling of being observed all the time.You notice that people mostly look at
the person who is speaking ，and then they move their attention onto someone
else.But when you use a teleconferencing tool，things are different.Being physically
on camera makes you very aware of being watched all the time，because you don’t
know who is looking at you.You just see many faces on your screen.Marissa Shuffler from Clemson University once said，“When you’re on a video
conference，you know everybody’s looking at you；you are on stage，so there
comes the social pressure—a feeling like you need to perform.Being performative is
stressful.”
Moreover ， there is another interesting tendency as far as video calls are
concerned.Who are you looking at most of the time？The answer is yourself.For most
people，it’s hard not to look at their own face if they can see it on the screen.We are
likely to make sure that our head is at the right angle and that our shirt isn’t creased.
12.What is the so－called “zoom fatigue”？
A.The fast pace of our modern life.
B.Boredom caused by too many video calls.
C.The wide spread of video technology.
D.Burnout associated with overusing online platforms.
13.What can video calls bring us when compared with face－to－face conversations?
A.Higher cost. B.More stress.
C.More free time. D.Better performance.
14.Why do we look at ourselves most of the time on the screen?
A.To be well－behaved. B.To get some comfort.
C.To grow self－confidence. D.To attract others’ attention.
15.What is the text mainly about?
A.The popularity of video calls.
B.People’s attitude towards video calls.
C.Some unforeseen effects of video calls.
D.Changes in people’s way of communication.
E
You improve your robot’s software by improving its software.Agrim Gupta of
Stanford University，however，begs to differ.He thinks you can also improve a
robot’s software by improving its hardware.He and his colleagues have invented a
way of testing this idea.
They brought to their robots，unimals，the principles of evolution (进化) bynatural selection.Unimals，with globes for heads and sticks for arms and legs，are
software beings interacting with a virtual environment.The environments where they
wandered were in three varieties：flat grounds，grounds with hills and steps，and
ones that had the complexities of the second sort，but with added objects.
To begin with，the unimals were randomly assigned various shapes，but with
identical software—derl.Newly created unimals learned to face the challenges in a
virtual bootcamp.They were then entered into tournaments in groups.Each group
winner was awarded one mutation (变异)—one extra arm or leg，or one extra turning
in a joint.The new replaced the oldest unimal and then was assigned to a new group，
and the process repeated.About 4，000 varieties of them underwent training.
The team were surprised by the diversity of shapes that evolved.Crucially ，
though，the researchers found the most successful unimals learned tasks in half the
time their oldest ancestors had taken，and that those evolving in the toughest grounds
were the most successful.
In this evolution of unimals’ morphology (形态) to promote the ability to learn，
Dr Gupta sees a version of something called the Baldwin effect.In 1896 James
Baldwin，a psychologist，argued that minds evolve to make the best use of the
morphologies of the bodies.What Dr Gupta has shown，though in software，is that
the opposite can also be true—changes in body morphology can improve the way
minds work.Even though he held the software constant，it became more efficient at
learning as the unimals’ bodies evolved.
Whether that discovery can be turned to account in the way robots are developed
remains to be seen.But the way of testing is certainly an out－of－the－box idea.
16.How was the test conducted?
A.By promoting unimals’ learning. B.By adjusting the environments.
C.By proving the evolution theory. D.By stimulating unimals’ mutation.
17.What turned out to be surprising in the test?
A.The number of trained unimals.
B.The decline in time for learning tasks.
C.The variety of evolved shapes.D.The replacement of old unimals.
18.What can be concluded from the test?
A.Mind evolution affects body shaping.
B.Body changes better mind work.
C.Hardware changes do not impact software.
D.The discovery is useful in robot development.
19.What’s the author’s attitude to the finding?
A.Negative. B.Objective.
C.Indifferent. D.Approving.
Ⅱ.七选五1
(2024·浙江四校5月联考)
As much as 80 percent of premature heart disease is preventable by making
specific lifestyle choices. 1 But others may not have crossed your mind.“A small
change in your everyday routine can potentially have a big impact in the long run，”
says preventive cardiologist Dr.Beth Abramson.
·Get eight hours of sleep.
“When you’re not rested, everything that happens in your life is a lot more
stressful，” says Dr.Arya Sharma, a professor of medicine at the University of
Alberta.If we’re sleep deprived, our bodies also have more difficulty controlling
blood pressure, inflammation and glucose levels. 2
· 3
Doing good for others helps your self －esteem and relieves stress.Research
published in Psychosomatic Medicine in 2016 showed that a feeling of purpose in
life is linked to a lower likelihood of heart attack and stroke.“We know that loneliness
is a risk factor for heart health，” adds Sharma.“Volunteering gets you out of the
house and creates a social network.”
·Avoid polluted air.
Exposure to this kind of pollution over time raises your risk of heart
disease.Inhaling contaminants formed from chemicals like Sulphur( 硫 ) dioxide,
carbon and nitrogen oxides may irritate arteries(动脉) and increase inflammation. 4Try to get your outdoor exercise far away from highways and industrial districts, and
spend more time indoors when the air quality index is poor.
·Eat breakfast.
A recent study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology found
that healthy people who skipped breakfast were almost three times more likely to
have heart disease six years later than those who partook in a substantial morning
meal.According to Abramson, you need to eat a balanced diet as part of a healthy
lifestyle. 5 If you’re eating a proper breakfast, you’re less likely to be hungry
later and make poor food choices.
A.Be social and outgoing.
B.Engage in voluntary work.
C.There are physiological effects of this condition on the body.
D.These factors can all have an impact on cardiovascular(心血管的) health.
E.Choose whole－grain, low－fat breakfast foods and include fruit.
F.Some strategies, such as exercising and managing weight, are well known.
G.Even short periods of exposure are unhealthy for people with other health risks.
七选五2
(2024·潍坊高三测试)
To put into words my time in Antarctica and South Georgia is nearly impossible.I
had always described it as a once－in－a－lifetime experience, but as soon as I
stepped foot on the continent, I immediately knew I needed to return.
1 About 50% of the passengers of our expedition (远征) had been to
Antarctica at least once before.This goes to show just how magical of a destination it
is.
That all your senses will be stimulated is the best way I can describe the time on
the white continent.How tiny you feel next to towering glaciers and icebergs.The icy
water moving through your body as you take the infamous Polar Plunge.The learning
of heart－touching stories of survival from explorers of the past. 2
Antarctica makes you feel so small and insignificant, in the best way. 3 You
get front row seats to witness the most incredible show：nature.It is as much beautifulas cruel.For example, when you see a brown skua (贼鸥) attacking a penguin chick,
your heart aches.Then your expedition guide regretfully tells you that a chick that is
small in March would have very slim chances of surviving the upcoming winter.The
cycle continues, and you’re left wondering who to root for.
Things move fast in Antarctica, and every month offers something really unique
and special to see.In March, the weather is a bit more unpredictable, and the sea ice is
beginning to form again. 4 In two more weeks, expedition ships would not be
able to break through the ice.
The penguins are completing their yearly feather－changing process. 5 The
expedition team made sure we kept our distance and did not scare them into hiding
under freezing water.
These animals, arguably the cutest you will ever see, survive such unfavorable
environments.It’s absolutely incredible to witness the challenges, the skill, the efforts,
all of it.I am forever grateful to have been a visitor.
A.The list goes on.
B.But this is not always the case.
C.Our voyage was the last of the season.
D.I was not the only one who felt this way.
E.I, years later, did return to this fascinating place.
F.They are really weak during this time, and cannot dive.
G.Everything has a purpose, and the cycle of life is evident.
Ⅲ.语法填空1
(2024·山东省潍坊市高三二模)
Doctors in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have followed the
meal－time habits of more than 500 people for six years，1. (find)
weight change is most affected by the size and 2. (frequent) of meals
rather than the interval (间隔) from first to last meal.It challenges the popular trend of
intermittent fasting (禁食) 3. a useful weight loss strategy.
Intermittent fasting，also referred to as time－restricted feeding，is a dietary
strategy where all meals 4. (consume) during a short window of timeeach day.These windows can extend from 6 to 10 hours ，resulting in a person
essentially fasting for up to 18 hours each day.
The idea reveals 5. is no link between the time of a person’s eating
window each day and weight changes.“Based on other studies that have come out，
including 6. (we)，we are starting to think timing of meals most likely
doesn’t produce 7. instant impact on weight loss，” said doctor
Bennett.“What does matter，however，is the total number of medium and large
meals a person eats over the day.” It suggests simply eating smaller meals ，less
frequently，is 8. ultimately leads to weight loss.
All of this doesn’t mean intermittent fasting strategies won’t help.But what does
seem increasingly clear is that the weight loss benefits occasionally 9.
(see) with these eating strategies may be primarily driven by a reduced caloric
intake.It doesn’t mean you can simply eat all you want in a short window each day
and still expect 10. (lose) weight.
语法填空2
(2024·江西省南昌市高三一模)
A small device，Moxie，has produced oxygen on the surface of Mars，1.
(bring) the chances of surviving on the red planet a step closer.Research published in
2. journal Science Advances reported that Moxie produced breathable
oxygen in seven－hour－long tests conducted in various weather and atmospheric(大
气 的 ) conditions last year.The research also found that even in extreme 3.
(temperature) and after a Martian dust storm，Moxie 4. (continue) to
produce high－purity oxygen.
“This is the first demonstration of actually using resources on the surface of Mars
and transforming 5. (they) chemically into something useful for a
human mission，” Jeffrey Hoffman，a 6. (retire) astronaut，said.
“The thin atmosphere on Mars is 96 percent carbon dioxide and much more 7.
(change) than on Earth and the temperature can vary by 100 degrees，” Hoffman
said.“One aim is to show we can run Moxie in all seasons.”
The device，Moxie，uses some special pumps，8. suck in carbondioxide.The gas 9. (heat) to 800 ℃ and pressed to separate the carbon
and oxygen.Carbon monoxide is sent out as waste while the pure oxygen is left
behind.
Despite the challenges，Moxie has proved durable in the extreme conditions on
Mars and scientists regard the test results 10. a great achievement.
