It’s March, 2050. Frank and Mary Smith wake up in their comfortable house in the morning and switch on the bedroom computer to get the latest news. They used to read the Times, but changed to electronic newspapers many years ago.
There is the usual news about space: another space flight has returned from Mars and scientists have discovered a new planet. Then they turn to business news: the US dollar has risen greatly in Shanghai, one of the world’s leading business centers. Mary tells the computer to buy 5,000 dollars, and there is a quick response that it has been done.
As they watch the screen, Mary orders one of the household robots to make coffee for them. Frank disappears into the study to join a video conference with his partners around the world. He is a computer engineer, working for several companies. This is his third job: he used to be in marketing and then television.
Mary has a quick look at the shopping channels—the usual selection of electric cars, household robots and cheap travel offers—before picking up the video phone to talk to her assistant. She also has a job and she is doing medical research. Both she and Frank used to have an office desk in London, but in 2014 they decided to move to the seaside and work from home.
Frank and Mary have one daughter, Louise, who also has her own workstation at home. She goes to school only one day a week, mainly to play with other students. Classrooms disappeared in 2030 because there was no longer any need for them: communications systems have made it much easier to learn at home.
Louise, now thirteen, is studying Chinese at present, which has become a world language as important as English. Louise has many Chinese friends. They communicate by computer.
According to the family doctor, Louise will live to at least 130. Her wish is to work for a few decades (十年) and then spend her time on music and painting.
1.Why do Frank and Mary switch on the bedroom computer in the morning?
2.Who makes coffee for Mary and Frank?
3.How does Frank work with others from home?
4.What are the two world languages in 2050?
5.What do you think of Louise’s life in 2050?
Experts hope an experimental drug can be as effective against the novel coronavirus in people as it has been on cells in a controlled lab environment.
The US drug, remdesivir (瑞德西韦), began clinical trials（临床试验）on patients in Wuhan, Hubei province on Thursday. Other medications, including chloroquine, arbidol and darunavir have also recently been found capable of arresting viral growth in lab cells, but like remdesivir, they require more clinical trials to confirm their safety and potency on humans.
The Phase III trials for remdesivir have been approved by China’s National Medical Products Administration and is conducted by the China-Japan Friendship Hospital in Beijing and the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences on patients at the Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital.
“A total of 761 patients will participate in two trials-one trial to assess the drugs' potency on 308 cases with mild or moderate infection, and the other on 453 severely infected patients”, Cao Bin, head of the clinical trial and vice-president of the friendship hospital, said on Wednesday.
Cao said studies have shown remdesivir is effective in inhibiting the growth of the novel coronavirus in vitro(在生物体外), meaning the procedure was done on cells in a controlled environment outside of a living organism, typically in a petri dish or test tube.
But the drug has yet to show convincing clinical evidence that it can translate its positive in vitro results into actual human patients. So, it will require strict clinical testing, Cao said.
A 35-year-old patient from the United States infected with the virus was reported seeing noticeable improvement with no obvious side effects after taking the drug, according to the New England Journal of Medicine.
Gilead Sciences, the maker of remdesivir, said in a recent statement that it has been working with government agencies on the novel coronavirus response efforts.
However, the company stressed that remdesivir is an experimental medicine that has only been used in a handful of patients, “so we do not have an appropriately full understanding of the effect of this drug ”.
1.Why does the US drug, remdesivir, began clinical trials?
A.To replace the traditional medicine.
B.To confirm their safety and potency on humans.
C.To show whether remdesivir is effective in inhibiting the growth of the novel coronavirus in vitro.
D.To see how it takes effect.
2.What is true according to the passage?
A.After taking the drug, a 35-year-old patient was infected with the virus.
B.Doctors had seen noticeable success treating a 35-year-old patient infected with the virus.
C.Remdesivir can cure those who are infected with the novel coronavirus.
D.Chinese Hospital does The Phase III trials independently.
3.What’s the author's attitude towards the clinical trial of remdesivir?
A.Negative. B.Critical. C.Positive. D.Gloomy.
4.Where is this text most likely from?
A.A diary. B.A guidebook. C.A novel. D.A magazine.
Zhang Dingyu, the director of Wuhan Jinyintan Hospital, leads over 600 doctors and nurses fighting against the novel coronavirus pneumonia, which has caused hundreds of deaths in central Hubei Province. As Zhang led over 600 doctors and nurses fighting the disease, his strange way of walking shocked his colleagues. He finally admitted that he had fallen ill with ALS（渐冻症）since October 2018 after constant researches. ALS is a disease that gradually blocks the connection between brain and body. People with ALS become partially paralyzed（瘫痪的）leading to respiratory（呼吸系统的）failure. While working with handicapped（瘸的）legs, his wife was confirmed to get infected with the virus after working in another hospital. The bad news brought him to his knees, and he cried for the first time after the virus broke out. Zhang could only find time to visit his wife until three days after she was sent to hospital. Even then he could only stay there for 30 minutes. Fortunately, the good news came that his wife had recovered ten days after treatment.
Zhang, 57, has offered medical services along with Chinese medical teams to many areas. Three days after the earthquake hit central Sichuan Province in 2008, Zhang entered the city with his medical team members to offer help.
“Life is always short. I need to do more to finish the things that I might leave behind, then I would leave without too many regrets.” Zhang said. “We are at the center of a storm, so we need to give all we have to protect our city, and our Wuhan people.” Zhang said.
1.What is TRUE about Zhang Dingyu?
A.His colleagues knew his health condition in October 2018.
B.His wife worked in the same hospital as him.
C.He treated people injured in earthquakes in Sichuan.
D.He retired from the hospital before the outbreak of the virus.
2.What does Zhang Dingyu mean in the last paragraph?
A.He wants to realize his dream. B.He decides to fight the disease.
C.He regrets not being able to do more for his patients. D.He will soon leave the hospital.
3.This passage mainly talks about
A.Zhang Dingyu’s story of fighting against the novel coronavirus pneumonia.
B.Zhang Dingyu’s story with his wife.
C.How to prevent the novel coronavirus pneumonia.
D.Zhang Dingyu’s story with his colleagues.
A photo of a boy who arrived at school with a head full of icicles (冰柱) has drawn widespread attention to children from poor rural families.
Wearing only a thin jacket, Wang Fuman, 10, had braved -9℃ weather to travel over an hour from his village home to reach Zhuanshanbao Primary School in Zhaotong, Yunnan province. “After walking more than 4 kilometers through the freezing snow, he arrived with his hair and eyebrows completely frozen, causing laughter among his 16 classmates,” said Fu heng, the school’s principal, who uploaded Wang’s photos on Monday morning. Fu added that his classrooms do not have heating because of a lack of money.
After hearing Wang’s story, the Yunnan China Youth Development Foundation offered a public donation for children from poor families on Tuesday. It has promised to give each needy child 500 yuan (＄75) to help them stay warm in winter. By 1:00 p.m. on Wednesday, the provincial foundation had collected over 300,000 yuan in public donations according to their websites.
Wang, who has been nicknamed “Snowflake Boy” by netizens (网友), became well-known online. By Wednesday morning, his picture had been “liked” more than 260,000 times on Sina Weibo. “Many children in cities don’t have the strong willpower of this boy. I hope all his efforts will be rewarded,” a netizen wrote on SinaWeibo.
The name Fuman translates as “full of happiness”, but Wang does not come from a rich family. He lives in a mud hut (土坯房) with his grandmother and an elder sister, and seldom sees his parents because they are migrant workers in other cities.
“I love school. We can have bread and milk for lunch, and we learn lots of things in class,” Wang said. His village now has electricity and tap water, and my family is getting help to build a new house close to the school, he said. “I think our life will get better.”
1.Why did Wang’s classmates laugh when he came in?
A.Because they thought Wang was poor. B.Because they wanted to laugh at him.
C.Because he appeared with a head full of icicles. D.Because Wang was late for class again.
2.What did the netizens do according to the passage?
A.They took photos of Wang Fuman and uploaded them in time. B.They expressed their support and admiration.
C.They promised to give each needy child 500 yuan. D.They helped Wang return to school.
3.The underlined phrase “a lack of money” can be replaced by “ ________”.
A.being short of money B.losing money
C.plenty of money D.saving money
2020 is an unusual year for the Chinese people. We are suffering a lot because of the Novel coronavirus pneumonia. But luckily, many heroes appeared to help us. As the saying goes, “A hero is known in the time of misfortune”. Zhong Nanshan is a hero like this. He is a doctor in Guangdong who_______ many people’s lives in 2003.
In 2003, SARS_______ in Guangdong. Later, it spread across China and other parts of the world. Patients coughed a lot and got fevers. Hundreds of_______even died from the disease. Many doctors and nurses also got SARS when they treated patients. So, everyone was afraid of it. But Zhong was_______ enough to fight the disease. Zhong spent days and nights trying to find the cause _______ the disease. And with his way of treating, many patients began to get better. Zhong finally won people’s trust.
In early 2020, a disease called Novel coronavirus pneumonia hit Wuhan. It spread _______. Thousands of Chinese people were infected. Zhong, 84, led _______ team to Wuhan to fight the illness. Zhong’s team took many measures to cure the patients with Novel coronavirus pneumonia. He advises people to wear masks, _______ hands frequently, stay at home and not to go to crowded places.
Although Zhong is 84 years old now, he looks really young at his age because of his love for sports .
_______ he was 67, he could still play basketball. As one of the oldest doctors , Zhong still treats patients in the hospital and ______________ young doctors. “I am just a doctor.” Zhong says. But we think he is a hero and a fighter.
1.A.helped B.saved C.liked D.influenced
2.A.took out B.found out C.gave out D.broke out
3.A.patients B.adults C.animals D.birds
4.A.kind B.poor C.brave D.silent
5.A.with B.to C.of D.in
6.A.quickly B.slowly C.safely D.luckily
7.A.my B.his C.her D.their
8.A.weigh B.pollute C.shake D.wash
9.A.When B.Although C.Unless D.Because
10.A.thinks B.trusts C.teaches D.asks
—Do you know________yesterday?
—Yes. He went for the boat race.
A.why didn’t Peter go to school B.why doesn’t Peter go to school
C.why Peter didn’t go to school D.why Peter doesn’t go to school
