These days it’s cheaper to throw that broken DVD player, cell-phone or TV out and buy a new one. This “ replace-rather-than-repair” mentality is polluting the planet with electronic waste. According to the UN Environment Program, we are throwing away an estimated 50 million metric tonnes of electronics waste    (e-waste) per year. But this is not ordinary garbage. Our electronics leak harmful heavy metals — such as mercury and arsenic — along with equally poisonous chemicals that end up in our soil and eventually our water.
You’ve probably participated in a community recycling event and left feeling good about shipping off that old computer to be recycled. Chances are it was shipped overseas where it’s polluting someone else’community.
Guiyu city in Southeastern China has become known as the e-waste city where low-paid workers use whatever means available to remove electronics in hopes of recovering the copper, microchips, aluminum, gold and silver and plastic that can be resold. Any leftover waste is simply thrown into the nearby river or piled up high in the streets, poisoning the children growing up here.
So what can you do with your e-waste? Robert Houghton, President and founder of Redemtech, an asset management and recovery firm, recommends you vote with your dollar. Buy from companies who have a take-back program that guarantees your discarde electronics are handled proper.
“ Consumers want to do business with companies who are demonstrably    good with corporate responsibility and dealing with e-waste, ” said Houghton.
There are   plenty of charitable   organizations that will    take your  used electronics and donate them for charitable causes:
? Electronic Recycling  Association (Canada) (ERA) collects old    computers for donation to libraries and other organizations across Canada.
? eBay’s Rethink Initiative pairs up consumers with businesses that refurbish (再磨光)old computers for donation.
? TechSoup has a thorough   listing of resources for those who would  like   to donate or recycle hardware，buy recycled hardware or find a refurbisher.
? The Charitable    Recycling Program  accepts all cell-phones    and    has a listing of charities it helps with its program.
? Call2 Recycle has set up drop off points across Canada in a number of stores. You can drop off your cell-phone and also your rechargeable batteries from handheld electronic products.
【小題1】When there is something wrong with electronics, what is a popular trend among people nowadays?

A．To keep a DIY way.	B．To put them away themselves.
C．To purchase what they like.	D．To donate them to charities.

【小題2】Guiyu city in Southeastern China is mentioned here to show us ____.

A．there is an ideal place in the world for e-waste

B．there is a good example in the world for recycling

C．the recycling events in Canada benefit people overseas

D．people should find a scientific and thorough way to recycle

【小題3】In the     writer’s opinion, who can first shoulder the   great responsibility to guarantee e-waste is handled proper in the future?

A．The UN Environment Program.

B．Consumers who buy electronics.

C．President and founder of Redemtech.

D．Guiyu city in Southeastern China.

【小題4】In Canada, which charity organization will    most possibly take all  your unwanted electronics?

A．Call2 Recycle.	B．TechSoup.
C．eBay’s Rethink Initiative.	D．Electronic Recycling Association.

Space is where our future is — trips to the Moon, Mars and beyond. Most people would think that aside from comets(彗星) and stars, there is little else out there. But, since our space journey started we have left so much trash（垃圾） there that scientists are now concerned that if we don't clean it up, we may all be in mortal （致命的）danger.
The first piece of space junk was created in 1964, when the American satellite Vanguard I stopped operating and lost its connection with the ground center. However, since it kept orbiting around the Earth without any consequences, scientists became increasingly comfortable abandoning（拋棄） things that no longer served any useful purpose in space.
It is estimated （估計(jì)）that there are now over 500,000 pieces of man-made trash orbiting the Earth at speeds of up to 17,500 miles per hour. The junk varies from tiny pieces of paint chipped off rockets to cameras, huge fuel tanks, and even odd items like the million-dollar tool kit that astronaut Heidemarie Stefanyshyn Piper lost during a spacewalk.
The major problem with the space trash is that it may hit working satellites and damage traveling spacecraft(飛船). Moreover, pieces of junk may collide（碰撞） with each other and break into pieces which fall back to the Earth. To avoid this, scientists have invented several ways for clearing the sky. Ground stations have been built to monitor larger pieces of space trash to prevent them from crashing into working satellites or space shuttles. Future plans include a cooperative effort among many nations to stop littering in space and to clean up the trash already there.
【小題1】What was the first piece of man-made space trash­?

A．A camera.	B．A tool kit.
C．A fuel tank.	D．A broken satellite.

【小題2】Why were scientists NOT concerned about space trash in the beginning?

A．It no longer served any useful purpose.

B．It was millions of miles away from the Earth.

C．It did not cause any problems.

D．It was regarded as similar to comets and stars.

【小題3】Which of the following statements is true about space junk?­

A．It is huge, heavy machines.

B．It never changes position.

C．It floats slowly around the Earth.

D．It may cause problems for space shuttles.

【小題4】What has been done about the space trash problem­?
A, Scientists have cleaned up most of the trash.
B. Large pieces of space trash are being closely watched.
C. Many nations have worked together to stop polluting space.
D. Ground stations are built to help store the trash properly in space.

After record increase in over 40 countries, Universal Robots’ lightweight robotic arms are now making their US debut (首次露面) at this year’s International Manufacturing Trade Show (IMTS) in Chicago.
The UR5 robotic arm made by Universal Robots has been announced officially “The world’s most innovative (創(chuàng)新的) robot” by The International Federation of Robotics and IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Robotics and Automation Society. The US audience will now see the award-winning robot — along with its big brother UR10 — for the first time.
The UR5 and UR10 robotic arms are aimed at small-sized companies that thought robots were too expensive and hard to operate in existing production. The robotic arms are easily moved around the production area and present a simple user interface (界面) which lets workers quickly operate them.
Esben Ostergaard, founder and CTO (Chief Technical Officer) at Universal Robots, explains how the robots were designed to be as user?friendly as possible:
“We decided to make programming easy by developing a user interface worked together with a “teaching function” allowing the user to simply took hold of the robot arm and show it how a movement should be done. The robot can work in any production process very quickly. Our experience shows this is generally done in a few hours.”
The robots weigh as little as 40 pounds, making it possible for them to be moved around the production area to do different tasks. The UR5 can handle a load of up to 5 kilos (11 pounds), the UR10, 10 kilos (22 pounds). As soon as a worker touches the robot arm and uses a force of at least 150 Newton, the robot arm will automatically stop operating.
【小題1】According to the text, the UR5 robotic arm _____.

A．was designed by IEEE

B．is aimed at small companies

C．has won a number of awards

D．made its appearance in 40 countries

【小題2】The underlined word “it” in Paragraph 4 refers to _____.

A．the programme	B．the user interface
C．the robot arm	D．the “teaching function”

【小題3】What’s the text mainly about?

A．An introduction to Universal Robots’ new robots.

B．The difference between the UR5 and the UR10.

C．Why the UR5 and the UR10 were invented.

D．How to operate the UR5 and the UR10.

Imagine you’re in a dark room, running your fingers over a smooth surface in search of a single dot the size of this period, How high do you think the dot must be for your finger to feel it?
Scientists have determined that the human finger is so sensitive it can detect a surface bump just one micron（l0^－6m）"high． The human eye, by contrast, can't tell anything much smaller than100 microns．No wonder we rely on touch rather than eyesight when faced with a new roll of toilet paper．
Biologically, touch is the mother of all sensory（感覺的） systems．It is an ancient sense in evolution: even the simplest single-celled living things can feel when something brushes up against them and will respond by moving closer or pulling away． It is the first sense aroused during a baby’s development and the last to weaken at life's peak． Patients in a deep coma （昏迷）who seem otherwise lost to the world will show skin reaction when touched by a nurse．
“Touch ,is so central to what we are that we almost cannot imagine ourselves without it,” said Chris Dijkerman．“It's 'not like eyesight, where you close your eyes and you don't see anything． You can't do that with touch．It's always there．"
Long ignored in favor of the sensory heavyweights of eyesight and hearing, the study of touch lately:: has been gaining new concern among scientists．They're exploring the effects of recently reported false touch impressions, of people being made to feel as though they had three arms, for example, with the hope of gaining the true understanding of how the mind works．
Others are turning to touch for more practical purposes: to build better touch screen instruments and robot hands, a more well-rounded virtual life．�！癟here's a fair amount of research into new ways of offloading information onto our sense of touch," said Lynette Jones． "To have your cell phone buzzing （making a low sound） as opposed to ringing turned out to have a lot of advantages in．some situations．"
Touch is our most active sense, our means of seizing the world and experiencing it 'first hand． Dr．Susan Lederman pointed out that while we can become aware of something by seeing or hear,ing7;-．from a distance and without really trying, if we want to learn about something by means of touch, we must make a move．We must rub the cloth, or pet the cat． Touching is a two-way street, and that's not true for seeing or hearing． If you have a soft object and you squeeze it, you change its shape． The physical world reacts back．"
Our hands are smart and can do many tasks automatically - button a shirt, fit a key in a lock, play the; piano for others．Dr．Lederman and her colleagues have shown that blindfolded subjects can easily recognize a wide range of common -objects placed．in their hands．But on some feeling tasks, touch is all thumbs （very clumsy）． When people are given a raised line drawing of a common object, they're puzzled．“If all we've got is outline information;" Dr．Lederman said,．“no weight, no texture, no temperature information, well, we're very, very bad with that．"
Touch also turns out to be easy to fool, Among the sensory tricks now being investigated is something called the Pinocchio illusion． Researchers have found that if they shake the band of the biceps（二頭�。�, many people report feeling that their forearm is getting 'longer, their hand floating ever further from their elbow（肘）． And if they are told to touch the forefinger of the shaken arm to the tip of their nose, they feel as though their nose was lengthening, too． 
【小題1】Which of the following statements is true according to the passage?   

A．Our eyes are more sensitive than our fingers．

B．Our fingers are more sensitive than our eyes．

C．Our eyes are more sensitive than our ears．

D．Our noses are less sensitive than our ears．

【小題2】The sense that is firstly awaked during a child's development is the sense of        ．

A．sight

B．taste

C．hearing

D．touch

【小題3】The underlined sentence “You can't do that with touch” here means “You can't        ”．

A．close your skin

B．close your eyes '

C．touch anything

D．see anything

【小題4】Scientists are lately getting interested in the following except      ．

A．living a well-rounded virtual life

B．understanding how the mind works

C．favoring eyesight and hearing

D．building better 'touch screen objects

【小題5】In the view of       , movement is needed when we want to know something by touching．

A．the author	B．Chris Dijkerman
C．Lynette Jones	D．Susan Lederman

Why do human beings still risk their lives under ground and doing one of the dirtiest and most dangerous jobs in the world? It is an increasingly urgent question, given the recent mining accidents in Sago, W. Va and Huntington, Utah. A small group of engineers and robotics experts look forward to a day in the not-too-distant future when robots and other technology do most of the dangerous mining work. 
Robotic technology, in particular, holds much promise, McAteer says, especially when it comes to mapping mines and rescuing trapped miners --- the special operations of the mining industry.
One of the first mining robots was developed five years ago at Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute. It was called Groundhog. It used lasers(激光器) to “see” in dark tunnels and map abandoned mines—some of the most dangerous work in the business. 
The latest design is called Cave Crawler. It’s a bit smaller than Groundhog，and even more advanced. It can take photos and videos and has more sensors that can detect the presence of dangerous gases. Incredibly，the robot has a real sense of logic. If it comes across an obstacle it gets momentarily confused. It has to think about what to do and where to go next. Sometimes it throws a fit just like a real person. 
The greatest problem, though, is cost. The money of the earliest research project was provided by the government, but that money had dried up, and it’s not clear where future money will come from. Partly for that reason, and partly because of advances in safety, mining is not nearly as dangerous as it was in the past. Since 1990, fatalities(致命性) have declined by 67% and injuries by 51% , according to the National Mining Association.
Some experts predict that robots in mines will serve much of the same function that they do in the automotive industry. The robots do the most boring and dangerous jobs，but won’t get rid of the need for human workers.
【小題1】The latest robot is more advanced than Groundhog, mainly because ____.

A．it can map abandoned mines

B．it can see in the dark tunnels

C．it’s smaller than Groundhog

D．it has a real sense of logic

【小題2】The underlined phrase “throws a fit” in paragraph 4 probably means“______”

A．gets angry	B．gets sick
C．becomes hungry	D．becomes cheerful

【小題3】We can infer from the last paragraph that _____ .

A．robots in mines will serve much in the automotive industry

B．there will be no need for human workers in mines

C．the mine robots will have a very bright future

D．robots in mines only do some simple jobs now

【小題4】We can infer from the text that ______.

A．the mining robots do most of the mining work at present

B．groundhog can discover the presence of dangerous gases

C．experts are trying to make robots help miners with dangerous work

D．robots cannot do dangerous work in dark areas

【小題5】What can be the best title for the text?

A．Mining Accidents in America

B．Robots in Mines

C．Cave crawler, the Latest Robot

D．The Future of Robots

Inside their one-store, metal-roofed house on Vancouver Island’s west coast，Janet Schwartz and her domesticated(馴養(yǎng)的) deer, Bimbo, are returning to their normal lives. The law-represented by men and women dressed in black uniforms and carrying guns — is no longer threatening to forcibly separate Schwartz and Bimbo，freeing the l0-year-old deer to the fates (命運(yùn)) of the surrounding rainforest and its hungry wolves and black bears．
“We love each other，”said Schwartz who turned 70 on Saturday. “she’ll come up to me and she’ll kiss me right on the lips，like a man kisses a woman’’
For four days last week，Schwartz’ life turned as rocky as the rough logging road that connected her life to the outside world. Conservation officers had arrived with orders to loose Bimbo. Schwartz was told she wasn’t allowed to touch Bimbo any more. It seemed somebody had complained，said Environment Minister Terry Lake earlier in the week, noting it’s illegal to keep wild animals as pets.
During those tense days，sleepless nights were made even more restless by nightmares，said Schwartz. There were news stories and Facebook pages which supported Schwartz and by Friday，the government had changed its mind. Schwartz could keep her pet with the help of a veterinarian and conservation officers.
“It makes me feel good，”said Schwartz of the announcement．“She is my life．a(chǎn)nd I’ve had her since the day she’s been born.”
The relationship began when a friend found the orphaned fawn (幼鹿) along a nearby logging road，more than a kilometer away from her current home，said Schwartz. The friend brought the fawn over because she knew Schwartz had raised a deer before.
Schwartz named the fawn(小鹿) Bimbo，based on a Gene Autry song that was playing inside her home at the time，and began feeding the animal goat’s milk. Days turned into months and years, and now Bimbo is a part of the family.
【小題1】According to Paragraph 1 , Janet Schwartz’s life is returning to normal because           

A．no one disturbs her life again	B．she can continue to keep the deer
C．she has married again	D．Bimbo has returned to the forest

【小題2】Why didn’t Schwartz want to loose the deer?

A．It was the only companion in her house

B．She wanted to study the lifestyle of the deer．

C．The deer had become part of her life．

D．She had a veterinarian to help her．

【小題3】Conservation officers ordered Janet to loose Bimbo because            

A．the deer was not properly taken care of

B．the deer brought harm to the neighborhood

C．it was against the law to keep the deer as a pet

D．the deer made too much noise

【小題4】What made the government change its mind?

A．Schwartz’s love for the deer.

B．The threat to the deer in the wild.

C．The change of the law.

D．The influence from the press and the Web.

Across the United States, universities and colleges have been looking to become more sustainable (可持續(xù)發(fā)展的) and more than 600 schools have already planned to become eco-friendly. The EcoDorm, home to 36 students at Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, was designed to be sustainable from top to bottom, or in this case, from its rainwater-collection system to its garden. The dormitory is bringing new meaning to the concept of living “green” at college.
At Warren Wilson College, a biological science school with fewer than 1,000 students, the sustainability drive came from the student body. The EcoDorm concept was presented ten years ago by two students; a planning committee firstly suggested using building materials like corncob. Although the architects disagreed with the idea, they came up with other creative solutions: Wood siding was taken from the trees grown in the school yard that were suffering from a disease, and rainwater was collected in an old railway car and pumped back into the house to clean the toilets.
All in all, the dorm uses nearly two-thirds less electricity than a similar-sized traditional building would. But even the most sustainable homes need continued efforts from its livers. And in the case of EcoDorm, students live by their words. Most also take advantage of the dorm’s bio-garden, planting and harvesting fruits and vegetables. “I didn’t have to worry about paper towels being wasted or feel bad about drying my clothes outside,” Jeremy Lekich, the dorm’s gardener, said. “Basically, it has made my life easier.”
【小題1】We can learn from the text that the EcoDorm in the US     .

A．offers students the chances to have a natural living at college

B．was firstly built by two college students

C．was designed for saving building materials

D．is only applicable in few schools

【小題2】The second paragraph is mainly about     .

A．where the EcoDorm was built

B．when the EcoDorm got its name

C．what the EcoDorm is made of

D．how the concept of EcoDorm started

【小題3】What is the advantage of the EcoDorm?

A．It helps students to enjoy life at college.

B．It saves a lot of money and energy for the college.

C．It makes students study harder.

D．It brings new energy to the college.

【小題4】What can be inferred from the text?

A．A long-term development calls for students’ efforts.

B．Students’ ideas should be encouraged at college.

C．Green living is a new trend at American colleges.

D．Students can learn to protect the environment through practice.

When we talk about intelligence, we do not mean the ability to get good scores in certain kinds of tests or even the ability to do well in school. By intelligence we mean a way of living and behaving, especially in a new or anxious situation. If we want to test intelligence, we need to find out how a person acts instead of how much he knows what to do.
　　 For example, when in a new situation, an intelligent person thinks about the situation, not about himself or what might happen to him. He tries to find out all he can, and then he acts immediately and tries to do something about it. He probably isn’t sure how it will all work out, but at least he tries. And, if he can’t make things work out right, he doesn’t feel ashamed that he fails; he just tries to learn from his mistakes. An intelligent person, even if he is very young, has a special outlook(人生觀) on life, special feeling about life, and knows how he fits into it.
　   If you look at children, you’ll see great difference between what we call “bright” children and “not bright” children. They are actually two different kinds of people, not just the same kind with different amounts of intelligence. For example, the bright child really wants to find out more about life --- he tries to get in touch with everything around him. But the unintelligent child keeps more to himself and his own dream-world; he seems to have a wall between him and life in general.
【小題1】What’s the main idea of the passage?

A．What’s real meaning of intelligence

B．What’s the “bright” children’s behavior

C．What’s a special outlook on life

D．How to live and behave in a new situation

【小題2】In the author’s opinion the biggest difference between “bright” children and “not bright” children lies in ____________.

A．the amount of intelligence

B．the different situations they face

C．the different attitudes to life

D．the background of life

【小題3】What might the author continue to talk about in the passage that follows?

A．how to determine what intelligence is

B．How an unintelligent person should be taught

C．how to judge whether a person is intelligent

D．how education should be changed

Scientists discovered 163 new species in Southeast Asia’s Greater Mekong region last year，but all are at risk of extinction due to climate change，the WWF said in a report released Friday.
The newly discovered creatures include a bird­eating frog with fangs (毒牙)，a bird that would rather walk than fly and a gecko (壁虎) whose alien appearance inspired the report’s title of “Close Encounters”，the conservation group said.
The report was released ahead of major UN talks on climate change in Bangkok next week，which are being held before a make­or­break summit in Copenhagen this December.
“Some species will be able to adapt to climate change，and many will not，potentially resulting in massive extinction，” Stuart Chapman，director of the WWF Greater Mekong program，said in the report.“Rare and endangered species like those newly discovered are especially vulnerable (易受傷害的) because climate change will further shrink their already restricted habitats，” he said.
“The new discoveries in 2010 include 100 plants,28 fish,18 reptiles,14 amphibians,2 mammals and a bird，”the WWF report said.The area spans Cambodia，Laos，Myanmar，Thailand，Vietnam and China’s Yunnan Province.
“Among the new species is the bird­eating fanged frog，which remains hidden in a protected area of Thailand despite the fact that scientists are studying there for 40 years，” the report said.
The tiger­striped pit viper was discovered accidentally on an island off the coast of Vietnam when a scientist was looking  for a lizard and his son pointed out that his hand was on a rock right next to  the snake’s fangs.“We caught the snake and the gecko and they both proved to be new species，” researcher Lee Grismer of La Sierra University in California was quoted as saying in the report.The leopard gecko，found on another Vietnamese island，has the coloring of a leopard and bizarre orange，cat­like eyes and thin legs.
The Greater Mekong region has proved a rich area  for scientists.The WWF said in December 2010 that it had found 1,068 new species there between 1997 and 2009.
【小題1】What is special about the newly discovered bird?

A．It usually walks.

B．It likes walking and flying.

C．It can eat other birds.

D．It can eat frogs.

【小題2】Stuart Chapman believes that________.

A．most of the newly discovered species can adapt to climate change

B．climate change can cause massive extinction of the newly discovered species

C．the newly discovered species are not so vulnerable to climate change

D．many species have already died out because of climate change

【小題3】When Lee Grismer discovered the tiger­striped pit viper，he probably felt________.

A．frightened	B．disappointed
C．excited	D．puzzled

【小題4】What does the passage mainly tell us?

A．The Greater Mekong region is a rich area for scientists.

B．Many rare species remain to be discovered in the Mekong region.

C．Scientists have discovered many new species in the Mekong region.

D．Climate change threatens Mekong new species.

How far would you be willing to go to satisfy your need to know？Far enough to find out your possibility of dying from a terrible disease？These days that’s more than an academic question，as Tracy Smith reports in our Cover Story.
There are now more than a thousand genetic(基因的) tests，for everything from baldness to breast cancer，and the list is growing.Question is，do you really want to know what might eventually kill you？For instance，Nobel Prize­winning scientist James Watson，one of the first people to map their entire genetic makeup，is said to have asked not to be told if he were at a higher risk for Alzheimer’s(老年癡呆癥)．
“If I tell you that you have an increased risk of getting a terrible disease，that could weigh on your mind and make you anxious，through which you see the rest of your life as you wait for that disease to hit you.It could really mess you up.” said Dr.Robert Green，a Harvard geneticist.
“Every ache and pain，” Smith suggested，could be understood as “the beginning of the end.”“That’s right.If you ever worried you were at risk for Alzheimer’s disease，then every time you can’t find your car in the parking lot，you think the disease has started.”
Dr.Green has been thinking about this issue for years.He led a study of people who wanted to know if they were at a higher genetic risk for Alzheimer’s.It was thought that people who got bad news would，for lack of a better medical term，freak_out.But Green and his team found that there was “no significant difference” between how people handled good news and possibly the worst news of their lives.In fact，most people think they can handle it.People who ask for the information usually can handle the information，good or bad，said Green.
【小題1】The first paragraph is meant to________.

A．a(chǎn)sk some questions

B．introduce the topic

C．satisfy readers’ curiosity

D．describe an academic fact

【小題2】Which of the following is TRUE of James Watson?

A．He is strongly in favor of the present genetic tests.

B．He is more likely to suffer from Alzheimer’s disease.

C．He believes genetic mapping can help cure any disease.

D．He doesn’t want to know his chance of getting a disease.

【小題3】According to Paragraphs 3 and 4，if a person is at a higher genetic risk，it is________.

A．a(chǎn)dvisable not to let him know

B．impossible to hide his disease

C．better to inform him immediately

D．necessary to remove his anxiety

【小題4】The underlined part “freak out” in Paragraph 5 is closest in meaning to “________”．

A．break down	B．drop out
C．leave off	D．turn away