Technology is making life easier for some dairy farmers.They use robotic systems to milk their cows.These systems are designed to reduce labor and increase milk production.

  Cows are trained to follow a series of paths that lead to the milking stations.Only one cow at a time can enter the station.Once inside，the cow is rewarded with food.As the cow eats，a robotic arm cleans and connects the animal to the milking machine.A few minutes later，the milking is completed.The gate is lifted.The cow leaves and the next cow enters.The robotic systems are designed to operate twenty­four hours a day.Cows are milked on average about three times a day.Some are milked four to six times a day.The cows wear collars(颈圈) around their necks that identify them to the system.A computer keeps records on their eating and milking.A cow is released from the station if the computer decides it should not be milked.The system also measures the temperature and color of the freshly produced milk.Milk is thrown away if it does not pass the tests.Cows need two to four weeks to learn to use the robotic milking systems.Once trained，the cows no longer require human assistance，unless something goes wrong.

  Professor Plaut heads the Department of Animal Science at Michigan State University.She believes the systems will attract especially the next generation of farmers who are more interested in technology and less interested in working all the time on the farm.Still，she says the price of robotic milking systems will continue to limit their use.Doug Suhr has more than one hundred milking cows on his farm.Last year it became the fourth farm in southeast Minnesota to get a robotic milking system.A recent story in a local agricultural newspaper said the first robot cost $175，000 and the second cost $150，000.Doug says the increase in milk production reaches a high of more than 6kg per cow per day.

21．Under robotic milking systems，______ decide(s) whether a cow is suitable to be milked.

A．the robotic arms   B．the dairy farmers             C．the cows themselves        D．a computer

22．When is human assistance needed during the milking?

A．When the cows enter the milking station every morning.

B．When a robotic arm connects a cow to the milking machine.

C．When the cows are trained to use the robotic milking system in the first two to four weeks.

D．When the temperature and color of the freshly produced milk are measured.

23．Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the last paragraph?

A．Since Doug got the robotic milking system，milk production on his farm has increased.

B．The price of milking machines decreases $25，000 every year.

C．Doug has the largest farm in southeast Minnesota.

D．There are four farms in southeast Minnesota that have robotic milking systems so far.

24．It can be inferred from the passage that ________.

A．the price of robotic milking systems will greatly decrease

B．robotic milking systems are still too expensive to be popular

C．most farmers are too old to use robotic milking systems

D．robotic milking systems don't need to work at night

      Should parents ever hit their children?

   Research suggests many of us are likely to respond “no”, and public support for spanking（打屁股） has been falling over the years．But surveys also show that 75 percent to nearly 90 percent of parents admit to spanking their child at least once．

   I was raised in a zero-tolerance home for disrespect, and my parents often turned to physical punishment．And, no, I don' t feel I was damaged by it．

  Nothing is more annoying than watching ill-mannered behavior from children．

  But there is data to suggest that a return to old-school spanking isn't the answer．

  Two years ago, Newsweek reported that it had found data suggesting that teens whose parents used physical punishment were more likely to become aggressive．

  Murray Straus, professor at the University of New Hampshire in America, has studied the topic of children and spanking for decades．He said that children who were physically punished have lower IQs than their peers．It may be that children with lower IQs were more likely to get spanked, but the punishment may have been counterproductive （反作用的） to their mental development, as well．

  Some researchers make the argument that occasional open-handed smacks （用巴掌打） on the bottom are not only harmless but can have some benefit．

  Last year, Marjorie Gunnoe, a psychologist at Calvin College, studied teens who have never spanked．There are a greater number of children growing up without ever having been physically punished．Gunnoe’s research suggests they don' t turn out any better than those who were sometimes spanked．

  There are some parents who simply cannot control their tempers （脾气）．But I still believe that the best parents are the ones who are able to offer fair and firm discipline without ever turning to physical punishment．

25．According to the first three paragraphs, the author was probably hit by her parents when____________.         

   A．they were dissatisfied with her grade

   B．she showed no respect for the elder

   C．they cannot control their temper

   D．their discipline turns out to be not strict enough

26．According to Murray Straus, children who are physically punished ____     __．

   A．are less aggressive toward others when they get older

   B．have slower physical development

   C．benefit from occasional spanking

   D．may develop lower IQs than their peer

27．Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the article?

   A．40 percent of children grow up without ever being spanked

   B．Children who suffer less physical punishment are better students

   C．Occasional open-handed spanking on the bottom are mentally harmful

   D．Researchers disagree over whether smacking is mentally harmful to children

    Ladies and gentlemen, say hello to PIBOT. Developed in South Korea, this little machine is about the size of a child’s toy, and has a head that kind of looks like a toaster (烤箱). It’s also able to fly a plane.

   The researchers responsible for the robot’s development have actually managed to program it with all the knowledge and skills necessary to operate a standard airplane. Through a built-in webcam (网络摄像机), PIBOT is able to gather information about its surroundings — such as location, airspeed, and weather conditions.

    With all of this information, it’s able to make decisions in much the same way as a human pilot would. It’s already completed one successful test flight — sort of. In the video presented at IROS 2014 in Chicago, PIBOT was seen guiding the airplane through a short test flight in a flight simulator (模拟器) — a process which included both takeoff and landing.

     It’s super cool.

    Now, it’s worth mentioning that — even as impressive as PIBOT is — we aren’t going to be seeing it in any real airplanes at any point in the near future. Although the little robot is certainly able to operate a plane, it doesn’t quite have the skills necessary to address some of the real world situations met by pilots — such as bad weather or mix-ups on the runway. It doesn’t meet the government’s rules, either.

  The inventors aren’t terribly discouraged, however. They expect that it’s only a matter of time before they manage to get PIBOT up to the necessary standards. When the day comes, we might see airlines put to work a whole new type of pilot; one who never tires, never gets hungry, and never makes mistakes.

    So ... if you’ve a career in aviation (航空), it might soon be time to start planning for retirement (退休).

28. We know from the text that PIBOT _____.

A. is very large                                B. can serve as a toaster

C. was developed in Chicago           D. is designed to operate a plane

29. In the presented video, PIBOT _____.

A. competed with a human pilot

B. completed several test flights

C. made decisions totally like humans

D. successfully guided a plane to take off and land

30. Why won’t PIBOT be put into use?

A. It can’t predict weather conditions.

B. It can’t deal with real world situations.

C. It doesn’t have the skills to operate a plane.

D. It can’t gather information about its surroundings.

31. It can be learned from the text that _____.

A. PIBOT won’t make any mistake in a flight

B. the researchers will have to abandon the plan

C. PIBOT will surely replace human pilots one day

D. the inventors are confident about the future of PIBOT

  The government of Norway is planning to build an unusual storage center on an island in the Arctic Ocean. The place would be large enough to hold about two million seeds. The goal is to present all crops known to scientists. The British magazine New Scientist published details of the plan last month. The structure will be designed to protect the world’s food supply against nuclear war, climate change and other possible threats. It will be built in a mountain on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen. The mountain is less than one thousand kilometers from the North Pole, the northernmost position on earth.
      An international group called the Global Crop Diversity Trust is working on the project. The director of the group, Cary Fowler, spoke to New Scientist. He said the project would let the world rebuild agriculture if, in his word, “the worst came to the worst”. Norway is expected to start work next year. The project is expected to cost three million dollars. Workers will drill（钻孔） deep in the side of a sandstone mountain. Temperatures in the area never rise above 0ºC. The seeds will be protected behind walls a meter thick and high-security door.
     The magazine report says the collection will represent the products of ten thousand years of farming. Most of the seeds at first will come from collections at seed banks in Africa, Asia and Latin America. To last a long time, seeds need to be kept in very low temperatures. Workers will not be present all the time. But they plan to replace the air inside the storage space each winter. Winter temperatures on the island are about eighteen degrees below 0ºC. The cold weather would protect the seeds even if the air could not be replaced.

  Mr. Fowler says the proposed structure will be the world’s safest gene bank. He says the plant seeds would only be used when all other seeds are gone for some reason. Norway first put forward the idea in the 1980s. But safety concerns delayed the plan. At that time, the Soviet Union was meeting in Rome of the Food and Agriculture Organization.
32．The project is meant to ______.
    A．increase the world’s food output in the future
    B．carry out some scientific experiments on plant genes
    C．build an exhibition centre of the world’s plant seeds
    D．protect crop seeds from dying out in case of possible disasters
33．Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the above passage?
    A．The government of Norway will perform the project alone.
    B．Seeds to be collected there were produced ten thousand years ago.
    C．Spitsbergen is chosen because it is free of the nuclear war forever.
    D．Temperature is a major consideration when choosing the storage place.
34．We can infer from the text that _______.
    A．Norway had meant to build the storage centre about 20 years before.   

B．The storage center will greatly promote world agriculture
    C．People will get newly-developed seeds from the center every year.
    D．There haven’t been any seed storage centers in the world before.

35．What is probably the best title of the passage?
    A．The Best Place to Store Seeds    
    B．Noah’s Ark（诺亚方舟）of Plant Seeds in Plan
    C．Concerns of World Food Supply  
    D．A New Way to Feed the World

__36___ .Being angry doesn’t really solve much, but what people do when they feel angry is important. The goal is to calm down and try to solve what is bothering you. This is hard for some kids and adults, too. Instead of calming down, some kids might keep getting more and more upset until they explode like a volcano!

__37___ .Their anger might be so strong that they lose control of their temper. They may act in ways unacceptable and hurtful. People may say that someone has trouble controlling their temper.__38___

Some kids might get so angry that they scream at their parents, break something , or even worse , hit their brothers or sisters._39____ .However, it’s not OK for a kid to do any of those things .Kids don’t want to act in this way , but sometimes angry feelings can be hard to manage. So what to do?

Well, the good news is that kids don’t just have to keep making the same mistakes over and over again.__40___ .Imagine your temper as a puppy inside you that needs some training. The puppy is not bad ---- it will probably turn out a great dog. It just needs to learn some rules because, right now, that puppy is causing some problems to you.

A. In fact, they usually mean that a kid behaves badly when feeling angry.

B. You don’t want to cause trouble.

C. Kids should be allowed to express their feelings, even angry ones.

D. Some kids get angry more often or more easily than some other kids.

E. You can train you temper.

F. Instead of thinking of the person you’re angry with, think of something else.

G. Everybody gets angry sometimes.