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Doctors fighting malaria---one of the deadliest diseases on the planet--- may soon have a new affordable weapon in their smart phones. Researchers have found a way to use the phone's camera to detect the microorganism in the patient's blood that causes the disease.
According to the World Health Organization, almost 600,000 people died of malaria in 2013, making this mosquito-borne disease one of the deadliest in the world.
The saddest aspect of this calamity(灾难) is that it affects mostly young children.
Early detection of the infection is important for successful treatment. But since the first symptoms resemble ordinary flu, a microbiologist must look at a drop of a patient's blood under a microscope for a proper diagnosis.
Scientists in Britain have now developed a smart phone attachment called Xrapid, that turns the phone into a 200-power microscope, while the attached app---based on facial recognition software - quickly detects the parasitic protozoa（寄生原生物）in the blood smear（抹片）.
Jean Viry-Babel is the CEO of IanXen, the company that developed the app. He says it is cheap and works on the spot. "So we take a high-definition picture of a sample of blood. We separate the red blood cells from the rest---the white blood cells, the platelets(血小板)---and we start looking at each of the red blood cells individually," said Viry-Babel.
Viry-Babel says the app is affordable, easy to use and provides reliability of up to 98 percent. The only additional equipment required is an ordinary glass lab slide - called a "slate."
"There's only one button, which is called "Diagnose". So you put it on the slate and you put it on the dried blood, and you press diagnose and it tells you yes or no," he said.
Researchers say the field-testing of the device will begin in January and February in Tanzania, Benin and Indonesia --- while commercial use is scheduled to start by the end of March.
They also plan to expand the versatility（多功能性）of the new device---teaching it to recognize other diseases, such as tuberculosis and Lyme Disease.The text is meant to__________.
| A．find a new way to treat malaria. |
| B．recommend a new smart phone. |
| C．promote a new program. |
| D．introduce a new device to detect disease. |
What makes malaria special in the world according to the passage?
| A．There’s no way to detect it. |
| B．It mainly infects young kids. |
| C．It kills many people every year. |
| D．It is one of the deadliest disease. |
Which of the following is Wrong according to paragraph 4?
| A．The earlier the infection is detected, the more possible the patient is cured. |
| B．The first symptoms of malaria is like common flu. |
| C．A microbiologist can detect the infection without any equipment. |
| D．A patient’s blood should be provided if wanting a proper diagnosis |
What can we learn from Viry-Babel?
| A．The app is cheap but must work in the lab. |
| B．The white cells and the platelets must be studied carefully. |
| C．The accuracy of the app is nearly a hundred percent. |
| D．The “Diagnose” button should function well with others. |
_____Susan is a big eater. She usually has a lot at every meal. So she wonders whether she could only eat less for the first meal of a day to lose weight.
_____Tina is a fat girl who doesn’t like exercise much. She just wants to lose weight by eating less but not doing exercise.
_____Maggie is a busy office lady. She usually has to work overtime every day. So she could only have her dinner late at night. She wants to be slimmer so that she could be much more attractive.
_____ Judy is a fashionable designer. She hopes to have a slim shape as models. She usually doesn’t have any regular meal, but has some snacks when she is hungry.
| A．If you eat less for breakfast, you have a lower chance of losing weight. Breakfast is important. It gives the body sufficient energy to sustain itself through the morning, and it also stimulates metabolic (新陈代谢) activity in the body. Metabolism is what consumes fat and what makes us slimmer. So, don’t forget to eat something for the breakfast. |
| B．If you ate your last meal right before going to bed, the calories accumulated from this meal could be twice the amount accumulated from a same meal if you ate it another time during the day. |
| C．Many people stop doing exercise when they eat less. When you do this, your body will burn less fat. So even if people take in less calories, they get rid of less too. The balance is then unchanged. |
| D．People gain fat not from the food they eat, but from the number of calories in the food. For example, a bunch of vegetables has just one tenth the calories contained in a small bit of chocolate cake. So make sure you have adequate regular meals, but firmly say no to various snacks, milk tea or even instant noodles. |
When Frida Kahlo's paintings were on show in London, a poet described her paintings as “ a ribbon （丝带）around a bomb”. Such comments seem to suggest Kahlo had a big influence on the art world of her time. Sadly, she is actually a much bigger name today than she was during her time.
Born in 1907 in a village near Mexico City , Kahlo suffered from polio（小儿麻痹症）at the age of seven. Her spine （脊柱）became bent as she grew older. Then, in 1925, her back was broken in several places in a school-bus accident. Throughout the rest of her life, the artist had many operations, but noting was able to cure the terrible pain in her back. However, the accident had an unexpected side effect. While lying in her bed recovering, Kahlo taught herself to paint.
In 1929, she got married to Diego Rivera, another famous Mexican artist. Rivera’s strong influences on Kahlo’s style can be seen in her early works, but her later works from the 1940s, known today as her best works, show less influence from her husband.
Unfortunately, her works did not attract much attention in the 1930s and1940s, even in her home country. Her first one-woman show in Mexico was not held until 1953. For more than a decade after her death in 1954, Kahlo’s works remained largely unnoticed by the world, but in the 1970s her works began to gain international fame at last. What does the phrase “a much bigger name” in paragraph 1 most nearly mean?
| A．a far better artist | B．a much more famous person |
| C．a much stronger person | D．a far more gifted artist |
The terrible pain Kahlo suffered was caused by.
| A．back injuries | B．her bent spine | C．polio | D．the operations she had |
Kahlo’s style had become increasingly independent since the.
| A．1930s | B．1970s | C．1950s | D．1940s |
What is author’s attitude toward Kahlo?
| A．Devotion | B．Encouragement | C．Worry | D．Sympathy（同情） |
I moved to the small, busy town of Edison in New Jersey six years ago. It was during the second term of my fifth grade. My parents got new jobs and higher income, so they decided it was time to move from Woodbridge to a better, more educational town.
In the US, it is unnecessary to take a test to get into a “good” middle or high school. You just attend the school close to where you live. So, many parents will think about the quality of the local school when they decide to buy a new house. My parents did the same. We finally chose Edison mainly because of the high quality of its school.
In New Jersey, an area with a good school usually means a concentration of Asian people. There are about 300 students in our school. 55% are Asians and just under half of that are Chinese. There are so many Chinese people nearby that we even have our own Chinese school.
Edison is an old town, just like thousands of others in the United States. However, I have treated it as my hometown. That’s where I spend much of my youth, and the memories there can’t be moved anywhere else.Why did the writer’s parents move to Edison?
| A．Because they were born there. | B．Because it was a better educational town. |
| C．Because the writer began his fifth grade. | D．Because the writer didn’t need to take a test. |
How many students are from Asia in the writer’s school?
| A．About 80. | B．About 160. | C．About 220. | D．About 300. |
What does the underlined expression “a concentration of” mean in Paragraph 3?
| A．None of. | B．The whole of | C．A large number of | D．A small number of |
Why can’t the writer forget Edison?
| A．Because he regards it as his hometown. | B．Because his parents got new jobs there. |
| C．Because there are many Asians there. | D．Because it is in the state of New Jersey. |
The following diaries were written by an Australian boy named Tony. He was on holiday with his family in South Asia.
| 27 December, 2007 This morning I read an email about a boy in hospital looking for his father and I finally thought of a way to help. I took my camera to the hospital and took photos of the boy. Now I’m going to set up a website on my dad’s computer, upload the photos and add his name and information of the hospital. Hopefully it will help! |
2 January, 2008 At the end of the trip, I learned that the boy found his father! His Swedish uncle saw the email on my webpage and arranged the meeting. Is it my website that has made such a success? But at least I’ve done something. We’re returning home tomorrow but I will remember the experience and tell my friends: No matter what we are. We can think of a way to help others. |
Tony thought of the way to ______.
| A．forget the experience | B．take photos of the travelers |
| C．set up a website for the hospital | D．help the boy find his father |
______ saw the email and photos on the webpage and arranged the meeting.
| A．The boy’s uncle | B．Tony | C．Tony’s father | D．The doctor |
Tony was more likely to be ______ in South Asia.
| A．living | B．studying | C．shopping | D．traveling |
It can be learned from the diaries that ______.
| A．people are willing to set up websites |
| B．Tony’s father worked in the hospital there |
| C．people can do something to help each other |
| D．Tony went there to look for his family members |
What do butterfly wings have to do with computer screens? What do birds have to do with high speed trains?
These may sound like strange things to put together. But scientists, inventors, and designers are doing just that. They are learning from nature to create new technology.
The word biomimicry (仿生学) combines two words: biology and mimicry. So people using biomimicry try to use examples in nature to design new technology.
Biomimicry is not a new idea. People have been studying nature for hundreds of years. Leonardo DaVinci used birds as models to invent his flying machine. And when the Wright Brothers made the first successful airplane, they also studied birds. In 998, Janine Benyus, a natural science writer and teacher, wrote a book about biomimicry. To develop her interest in the subject, Janine Benyus started the Biomimicry Institute.
The Biomimicry Institute is a non-profit organization. It brings together scientists, designers, inventors and many other people. It offers classes to teach people biomimicry. It provides money for people to research and test new technologies. And it wants all people, from children to adults, to think about new ways to learn from nature.
People involved with the Biomimicry Institute believe that biomimicry can help solve many of the world’s problems. Often, new technologies can harm nature, but this is not true for biomimicry. Let’s look at some examples.
Butterflies have colorful wings because light shines off them in a special way. Scientists want to copy these same ways to make light shine off computers. They hope this will make for more colorful screens.
Another example of biomimicry is the bullet train. It travels at speeds of over 250 kilometers per hour! But it had a problem: it made too much noise!
Through the observation of birds, scientists thought about a kind of bird, the kingfisher(翠鸟). The kingfisher can dive into water without making any noise because of the shape of its beak(喙). Researchers thought that if they could design the front of the train like this beak, the train would be quieter. Well, it worked!The first paragraph is written to_____.
| A．start a discussion | B．make a brief summary |
| C．introduce the topic of the text | D．test readers' knowledge on science |
Why did Janine Benyus set up the Biomimicry Institute?
| A．To honor the Wright Brothers. |
| B．To show her recent inventions. |
| C．To gather talented people for her research. |
| D．To explore the link between nature and technologies. |
We know from the text that the Biomimicry Institute _____.
| A．earns a lot by giving classes on biomimicry | B．tells people about their technologies |
| C．gives free support to scientists | D．teaches children about birds |
The author gives the two examples at the end of the text to show _______.
| A．biomimcry works harmoniously with nature | B．the fast development of modern technology |
| C．how biomimcry changes our life | D．how nature inspires scientists |
What’s the main idea of the text?
| A．Biomimicry is widely used in the world. |
| B．People copy nature to create new technologies. |
| C．The Biomimicry Institute was set up for science. |
| D．Birds play an important part in new technologies. |