Today’s Brussels sprouts (孢子甘蓝) taste better than you might remember from childhood, and that is because a new variety has replaced the original vegetable. You can thank plant breeders (植物育种家) for the change. Modern breeders, armed with new gene-editing technology, are looking to reproduce Brussels sprouts’ reinvention.
In the late 1990s, scientists discovered specific chemicals which made Brussels sprouts taste bitter. Plant breeders started growing old seeds, previously abandoned due to poor yields (产量), to look for tastier versions with lower levels of these specific chemicals. Then they crossed these delicious but low-yield plants with high-yield individuals until they found a version that made plenty of tasty sprouts, transforming the vegetable from a bitter pill into a popular dish.
But other vegetables haven’t fared as well. That’s because most breeding decisions favor plant traits that matter to vegetable growers, not vegetable eaters. For instance, disease resistance is probably the major focus these days of most breeding programs because that prevents the farmer from growing the crop. The taste of vegetables is ignored.
People, however, are now becoming interested in prioritizing the taste of vegetables thanks in part to new genetic technology such as the gene-snipping technique CRISPR and DNA sequencing which is cheap enough to use widely. “There’s never been a better time to be a fruit breeder or a vegetable breeder because we have more tools and techniques,” says Susan Brown, an apple breeder at Cornell University.
Some companies are beginning to use those tools to deal with the challenge of developing tastier vegetables. One company, Pairwise, is fighting the same compounds that troubled Brussels sprouts: glucosinolates. But this time researchers are improving the flavor of salad greens.
All vegetable growers hope that more flavorful products on store shelves will convince people to consume the recommended allowances (推荐量) of fruits and vegetables — and do so better than decades of nutritional guidance have. “Don’t waste your time talking about trying to educate people to eat better,” said Harry Klee, a professor who specializes in tomato breeding. “Just give them products that taste better and that they want to eat.”
1．Why did plant breeders grow old Brussels sprout seeds?| A．To find out why Brussels sprouts are bitter. |
| B．To find the less bitter versions of Brussels sprouts. |
| C．To study the specific chemicals of Brussels sprouts. |
| D．To select high-yielding versions of Brussels sprouts. |
| A．Profited | B．Emerged. | C．Survived. | D．Succeeded. |
| A．Fruit and vegetable breeding techniques are booming. |
| B．Fruit and vegetable breeding techniques need no further improvement. |
| C．Fruit and vegetable breeders are struggling to develop new species. |
| D．Fruit and vegetable breeders should develop new genetic technology. |
| A．Enhancing the taste of vegetables and fruits. |
| B．Making vegetables and fruits more affordable for people. |
| C．Improving the nutritional content of vegetables and fruits. |
| D．Educating people about the benefits of vegetables and fruits. |
At the age of 12, I withdrew into my bedroom with my guitar. I had neither musical talent — many
The world favors achievement while
The seeking of accomplishment always
| A．added | B．tailored | C．expected | D．failed |
| A．Besides | B．Instead | C．Therefore | D．However |
| A．fruitless | B．matchless | C．effortless | D．senseless |
| A．wished | B．allowed | C．required | D．invited |
| A．masked | B．rooted | C．set | D．stuck |
| A．waited for | B．passed by | C．departed from | D．stayed with |
| A．exchange | B．reason | C．foundation | D．priority |
| A．relationship | B．difference | C．balance | D．similarity |
| A．ignoring | B．avoiding | C．assessing | D．defending |
| A．origin | B．process | C．decision | D．reward |
| A．lack | B．need | C．rush | D．dream |
| A．amazes | B．concerns | C．frightens | D．discourages |
| A．adventurous | B．dangerous | C．memorable | D．horrible |
| A．impression | B．performance | C．scene | D．harmony |
| A．pursued | B．accepted | C．interpreted | D．analysed |
Research clearly shows that young children are able to become fluent in more than one language at the same time，if there is rich input in each language. In this context，it is
Learning in language classes at school is
What does this tell us about when we should start teaching second languages to children? In terms of the
If we are able to provide lots of exposure to rich language use, early childhood is better.
However, if language learning relies on
Much of the public debate around early childhood education comes down to which matters more： academics or play. That's a false dilemma. Play is really the way that young children learn and guided play is the key. It's a way that they experience the world, and it helps them learn more deeply.
We should be concerned that the“skill and drill”approach to teaching academics is most frequently used in classrooms serving at-risk preschoolers, in an attempt to close the gap on school readiness. Unfortunately, these teaching methods can turn young kids off to school and introduces the possibility of shame and anxiety. 46 Skill and drill” doesn't teach kids the curiosity and critical (批判的）thinking skills that they need to develop in early childhood.
However, pure free play—an approach advocated more frequently by wealthier groups—also misses the mark. “I hear a lot about just ‘free play classrooms’. ” But Suzanne Bouffard, an education researcher, said if it only involves setting out materials and not thinking about learning goals, there’s a real missed opportunity. For example, she said, researchers have found that children used more complex language about building activities when they had a goal in mind.
What effective preschools aim for is “guided play”，in which adults create a purposeful play environment that encourages students to explore，For example, in setting up blocks, a teacher might put up pictures of buildings to inspire kids. They may ask students, “What are you doing?” and gently push kids’ thinking by offering new information.
Of course, the ability to find this balance rests with teachers. Good teachers make it look really easy，That's why it's really important that we invest(投入）in teachers and give them the training to guide play without overly controlling it and to encourage kids to develop an understanding of letters and numbers without “skill and drill”.
1．Which of the following matters most in early childhood education?| A．Having guided play. | B．Learning after play. |
| C．Seeing the world. | D．Studying academic courses. |
| A．It works best for preschoolers. |
| B．It helps develop kids’ curiosity. |
| C．It limits kids’ development. |
| D．It bridges the gap on school readiness. |
| A．Meets learning goals. | B．Loses points in exams. |
| C．Troubles the classroom. | D．Fails to achieve the goal. |
| A．To encourage the kids to copy. |
| B．To offer extra information. |
| C．To share the teaching purpose with the kids. |
| D．To inspire the kids to explore. |
A build-it-yourself solar still(蒸馏器) is one of the best ways to obtain drinking water in areas where the liquid is not readily available. Developed by two doctors in the U.S. Department of Agriculture, it’s an excellent water collector. Unfortunately, you must carry the necessary equipment with you, since it’s all but impossible to find natural substitutes. The only components required, though, are a 5＇×5＇ sheet of clear or slightly milky plastic, six feet of plastic tube, and a container— perhaps just a drinking cup — to catch the water. These pieces can be folded into a neat little pack and fastened on your belt.
To construct a working still, use a sharp stick or rock to dig a hole four feet across and three feet deep. Try to make the hole in a damp area to increase the water catcher’s productivity. Place your cup in the deepest part of the hole. Then lay the tube in place so that one end rests all the way in the cup and the rest of the line runs up — and out — the side of the hole.
Next, cover the hole with the plastic sheet, securing the edges of the plastic with dirt and weighting the sheet’s center down with a rock. The plastic should now form a cone(圆锥体) with 45-degree-angled sides. The low point of the sheet must be centered directly over, and no more than three inches above, the cup.
The solar still works by creating a greenhouse under the plastic. Ground water evaporates (蒸发) and collects on the sheet until small drops of water form, run down the material and fall off into the cup. When the container is full, you can suck the refreshment out through the tube, and won’t have to break down the still every time you need a drink.
1．What do we know about the solar still equipment from the first paragraph?| A．It’s delicate. | B．It’s expensive. |
| C．It’s complex. | D．It’s portable. |
| A．The tube. | B．The still. |
| C．The hole. | D．The cup. |
| A．Dig a hole of a certain size. | B．Put the cup in place. |
| C．Weight the sheet’s center down. | D．Cover the hole with the plastic sheet. |
| A．the plastic tube | B．outside the hole |
| C．the open air | D．beneath the sheet |
I work with Volunteers for Wildlife, a rescue and education organization at Bailey Arboretum in Locust Valley. Trying to help injured, displaced or sick creatures can be heartbreaking; survival is never certain. However, when it works, it is simply beautiful.
I got a rescue call from a woman in Muttontown. She had found a young owl(猫头鹰) on the ground. When I arrived, I saw a 2-to 3-week-old owl. It had already been placed in a carrier for safety.
I examined the chick(雏鸟) and it seemed fine. If I could locate the nest, I might have been able to put it back, but no luck. My next work was to construct a nest and anchor it in a tree.
The homeowner was very helpful. A wire basket was found. I put some pine branches into the basket to make this nest safe and comfortable. I placed the chick in the nest, and it quickly calmed down.
Now all that was needed were the parents, but they were absent. I gave the homeowner a recording of the hunger screams of owl chicks. These advertise the presence of chicks to adults; they might also encourage our chick to start calling as well. I gave the owner as much information as possible and headed home to see what news the night might bring.
A nervous night to be sure, but sometimes the spirits of nature smile on us all! The homeowner called to say that the parents had responded to the recordings. I drove over and saw the chick in the nest looking healthy and active. And it was accompanied in the nest by the greatest sight of all — LUNCH! The parents had done their duty and would probably continue to do so.
1．What is unavoidable in the author’s rescue work according to paragraph 1?| A．Efforts made in vain. |
| B．Getting injured in his work. |
| C．Feeling uncertain about his future. |
| D．Creatures forced out of their homes. |
| A．To rescue a woman. |
| B．To take care of a woman. |
| C．To look at a baby owl. |
| D．To cure a young owl. |
| A．A new nest. |
| B．Some food. |
| C．A recording. |
| D．Its parents. |
| A．It’s unexpected. |
| B．It’s beautiful. |
| C．It’s humorous. |
| D．It’s discouraging. |
On June 6th Columbia University announced that it will no longer co-operate with US News & World Report’s undergraduate rankings. It is the first top-notch institution to do so. Might its departure be the start of a mass departure?
Columbia’s decision follows a rankings scandal last year. In February 2022 one of Columbia’s own maths professors accused the college of fudging its data in several areas. The university later admitted to having used “outdated and/or incorrect methodologies”.
In the 1980s prospective students started to expand their college search beyond their local area, and it was hard to learn about universities and compare them. Hence, US News began ranking America’s top universities in 1983, and has released its findings annually since 1988.
Colleges have gone to great lengths to move up in the ratings. Richard Freeland, Northeastern University’s former president, capped class sizes and hired faculty to improve its spot; it moved from 127th in 2003 to 44th this year. Others went too far. A dean at Temple University’s business school was sentenced to prison and was ordered to pay a $250,000 fine after being found guilty of fraud in relation to artificially inflating his programme’s rankings.
The ranking system used to seem unstoppable. Universities have tried to ditch it before, only to find that doing so can backfire badly. US News still ranks non-participating universities, using publicly available information, and the data often do not go in their favour. Reed College, a liberal-arts college, stopped taking part in 1995. It tumbled from the top quartile to the bottom. Columbia did not submit data for this year’s analysis, citing concerns about Dr Thaddeus’s claims, and its ranking fell from second in 2021-22 (tied with Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology) to 18th in 2022-23 (tied with the University of Notre Dame).
Recently the mood has begun to change, however, especially among graduate schools. In 2022, of the 15 highest-ranked law schools, only the University of Chicago submitted data. Some undergraduate schools have already opted out this year (Rhode Island School of Design, Colorado College, Stillman College), but none are as prestigious as Columbia.
In May US News announced changes to its ranking methodology. It is moving away from metrics that rely on reputation and towards student outcomes. One way or another, the rankings—and universities more broadly—are in a state of constant change.
1．What is true about the US News undergraduate rankings?| A．It faked the information for the ratings. | B．It filled an information gap at one time. |
| C．It promoted the quality of higher education. | D．It has been released every year for 40 years. |
| A．it will be ordered to pay a fine | B．it will be excluded from the list |
| C．its ranking will suffer consequently | D．its spot in the ranking won’t be affected |
| A．limited | B．increased | C．inflated | D．maintained |
| A．scores given by former students | B．donations from all walks of life |
| C．evaluations from other colleges | D．earnings for college graduates |
Dorothy Casterline was an American researcher, writer and poet. It took decades for her contributions to deaf culture to be
Born in Honolulu to Japanese-American parents, Casterline lost her hearing in her teens
After the book was done, Casterline left academia to raise her children. Last year, Gallaudet awarded her an honorary doctorate in recognition of work that
| A．restored | B．remembered | C．received | D．recognized |
| A．translate | B．purchase | C．develop | D．consult |
| A．presented | B．labelled | C．transformed | D．defined |
| A．direct | B．spatial | C．random | D．alphabetical |
| A．approval | B．skepticism | C．laughter | D．success |
| A．absolutely | B．completely | C．merely | D．barely |
| A．credited | B．burdened | C．rewarded | D．charged |
| A．led to | B．conditioned to | C．bound to | D．appointed to |
| A．interesting | B．unique | C．impressive | D．strange |
| A．in | B．with | C．from | D．of |
| A．duty | B．staff | C．board | D．business |
| A．passion | B．torture | C．dream | D．routine |
| A．passed | B．shot | C．halted | D．sparked |
| A．sure | B．optimistic | C．conscious | D．proud |
| A．examples | B．victims | C．wastes | D．members |
Chinese restaurants began to open in America in the mid-19th century, mainly on the west coast where the first immigrants landed. They mostly served an Americanized version of Cantonese cuisine, chop suey, egg fu yung and the like. In that century and much of the 20th,the immigrants largely came from China's south-east, mainly Guangdong province.
After the immigration reforms of 1965, Chinese migrants from other regions started to arrive. Restaurants began calling their food "Hunan” and “Sichuan". Though their food rarely resembled what was actually eaten in those regions, it was more diverse and boldly spiced than the sweet, fried stuff that defined the earliest Chinese menus. By the 1990s adventurous diners in cities with sizeable Chinese populations could choose from a variety of regional cuisines. A particular favorite was Sichuan food, with its addictively numbing fire due to peppercorn.
Yet over the decades, as Chinese food became universal, it also came to be standardized. There are almost three times as many Chinese restaurants in America (41,000)as McDonald's. Virtually every small town has one. And generally the menus are consistent: pork dumplings （steamed or fried);the same two soups(hot and sour, wonton);stir-fries listed by main ingredient, with a pepper icon or star indicating a slight trace of chilli-flakes. Dishes over$10 are grouped under "chef's specials".
Until recently, the prices varied as little as the menus and they were low. Eddie Huang, a Taiwanese-American restaurateur, recalls how his newly-arrived father kept his prices down because" immigrants can't sell anything full-price in America."
Americans have traditionally been willing to pay through the nose at French or Italian joints （where, in fact, Latinos often do most of the cooking).And every city has its pricey sushi bars and expensive tapas restaurants(tapas, as one joke goes, is Spanish for"$96 and still hungry").
Mr. Huang is right that Americans have long expected Chinese food to be cheap and filling. One step up from the urban takeaway, with its fluorescent lighting, is the Chinese restaurant with its red doors and fake lions standing guard, exotic enough to be special, but still affordable enough for a family to visit once a week when nobody feels like cooking. Even the superior outlets were cheap for what they served.
But now things are changing. Mr. Huang sells delicious stuffed buns in New York and Los Angeles for$5.50 each and encourages other immigrants not to undervalue their work.
Meanwhile, although racism persists, the previous discrimination of earlier ages has been fading. Since the Chinese-American population is six times what was 40 years ago, Americans overall are much more familiar with Chinese people and their cooking, all of which means that the new fancy breed of Chinese restaurants draws a heartening mix of Chinese and non-Chinese diners.
1．We can learn from the first three paragraphs that_| A．Cantonese cuisine was well received by Americans in the 19th century |
| B．Those so-called Hunan or Sichuan food in America tasted just as what was actually eaten in those regions |
| C．Nowadays Chinese restaurants are almost twice more than McDonald's in America |
| D．Americans prefer Hunan food because they have been addicted to peppercorn |
| A．Americans have long expected Chinese food to be cheap and filling. |
| B．Earlier immigrants couldn't sell anything full-price in America. |
| C．Americans prefer French and Italian food. |
| D．Chinese restaurants face fierce price competition from other restaurants. |
| A．In order of importance. |
| B．In order of place. |
| C．In order of time. |
| D．In order of position. |
| A．Immigration on a plate. |
| B．Americans' favourite cuisine. |
| C．Prejudice against Chinese immigrants. |
| D．Route to success. |
Keeping a busy social life among lots of friends may keep people thinner than spending hours doing some exercises, according to scientists. They say that socialising and meeting with friends help increase levels of brown fat in the body which burns calories(卡路里)to produce heat.
However, scientists from Ohio State University now think that having a busy social life is an even more effective way of changing white fat into brown. The team came up with their theory by studying the effects of various living environments on mice. Those, who lived alongside a greater number of mice, had more space and toys to excite themselves and then lost far more weight over the course of the study than their “couch potato" fellows.
| A．Brown fat stores calories and makes us fatter. |
| B．It doesn't take long to turn white fat into brown. |
| C．Social excitement helps gain more weight. |
| D．Brown fat can burn energy to produce heat. |
| A．Levels of brown fat can be increased by socialising. |
| B．The mice lacking social life lose more weight. |
| C．The research findings haven't been published so far. |
| D．Dr Matthew During wasn't convinced of the result. |
| A．the fat in mice's belly was reduced because of the relaxing environment |
| B．a sedentary lifestyle and high calories foods influence people's social life |
| C．surfing the Internet may influence people's face-to-face communication |
| D．cancer and death are mainly caused for lack of social life |
| A．Brown fat is beneficial to people's health. |
| B．Socialising is unnecessarily important in people's daily life. |
| C．White fat can be changed into brown fat. |
| D．Socialising contributes to people's losing weight. |
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