I start every summer with the best of intentions: to attack one big book from the past, a classic that I was supposed to have read when young and ambitious. Often the pairings of books and settings have been purely accidental: Moby Dick on a three-day cross-country train trip; The Magic Mountain in a New England beachside cottage with no locks on the doors, no telephones or televisions in the rooms, and little to do beyond row on the salt pond. Attempting The Man Without Qualities on a return to Hawaii, my native state, however, was less fruitful: I made it through one and a quarter volumes (册), then decided that I'd got the point and went swimming instead.

    But this summer I find myself at a loss. I'm not quite interested in Balzac, say, or Tristram Shandy. There's always War and Peace, which I've covered some distance several times, only to get bogged down in the "War" part, set it aside for a while, and realise that I have to start over from the beginning again, having forgotten everyone's name and social rank. How appealing to simply fall back on a favourite—once more into The Waves or Justine, which feels almost like cheating, too exciting and too much fun to properly belong in serious literature.

And then there's Stendhal's The Red and the Black, which happens to be the name of my favourite cocktail (鸡尾酒) of the summer, created by Michael Cecconi at Savoy and Back Forty. It is easy to drink, and knocking back three or four seems like such a delightful idea. Cecconi's theory: "I take whatever's fresh at the green market and turn it into liquid." The result is a pure shot of afternoon in the park, making one feel cheerful and peaceful all at once, lying on uncut grass with eyes shut, sun beating through the lids...

1. What can we infer about the author from the first paragraph?

A.He enjoys reading when travelling.

B.He shows talents for literature.

C.He has a cottage in New England.

D.He admires a lot of great writers.

2.What do the underlined words "get bogged down" in Paragraph 2 mean?

A.Get confused.

B.Make no progress .

C.Be interrupted.

D.Be carried away.

3.Why does the author say reading his favourite books feels like cheating?

A.He finishes them quickly.

B.He has read them many times before.

C.He barely understands them.

D.He should read something serious.

4.What can be a suitable title for the text?

A.To Read or Not to Read

B.My Summer Holidays

C.The Books of Summer

D.It's Never Too Late to Read

I have completely forgotten the name of an old lady who was a customer on my paper route when I was a twelve-year-old boy in Marinette, Wisconsin back in 1954.

On a mindless Saturday afternoon, a friend and I were throwing rocks onto the roof of the old lady’s house in her backyard. The object of our play was to observe how the rocks changed to missiles as they rolled to the roofs’ edge and shot out into the yard like comets falling from the sky.

I found myself a perfectly smooth rock. The stone was too smooth, however, so it slipped from my hand as I let it go and headed straight for a small window on the old lady’s back porch. At the sound of fractured glass,we ran away very fast.

I was scared about getting caught that first night. However, a few days later, when I was sure that I  hadn’t been discovered, I started to feel guilty for her misfortune.

I made up my mind that I would save my paper delivery money, and in three weeks I had the seven dollars that I calculated would cover the cost of her window. I put the money in an envelope with a note explaining that I was sorry for breaking her window.

I waited  until it was dark, snuck up to the old lady’s house,and  put the envelope through the letter slot in her door.

The next day,I handed the old lady  her paper and was able to return the warm smile that I was receiving from her. She thanked me for the paper and said,“Here,I have something for you.” It was a  bag of cookies. I thanked her and began to eat the cookies as I continued my route.

After several cookies, I felt an envelope and pulled it out of the bag. When I opened the envelope, I was astonished. Inside was the seven dollars and a short note that said, “I’m proud of you.”

1.The author and his friend threw stones onto the roof of the old lady’s house in order to _______.

A.amuse themselves                                         B.help her repair it

C.ask her for some help                                    D.wake her up

2.What part-time job did the author do at the age of 12?

A.Making cookies.                                           B.Collecting stones.

C.Delivering newspaper                                   D.Repairing windows.

3.When the author felt guilty about what he had done, he ______.

A.went to see the old lady and admitted his mistake bravely

B.just wrote a letter to apologize to the old lady

C.turned to his friend for some advice

D.decided to rely on his own efforts to make up for his mistake

4.Which of the following can best replace the phrase “snuck up to” in Paragraph 6?

A.ran into                    B.slipped into               C.broke into                 D.rushed into

Many of us love July because it’s the month when nature’s berries and stone fruits are in Many of us love July because it’s the month when nature’s berries and stone fruits are in abundance. These colourful and sweet jewels form. British Columbia’s fields are little powerhouses of nutritional protection.

Of the common berries, strawberries are highest in vitamin C, although, because of their seeds, raspberries contain a little more protein (蛋白质), iron and zinc (not that fruits have much protein). Blueberries are particularly high in antioxidants (抗氧化物质). The yellow and orange stone fruits such as peaches are high in the carotenoids we turn into vitamin A and which are antioxidants. As for cherries (樱桃), they are so delicious who cares? However, they are rich in vitamin C.

When combined with berries of slices of other fruits, frozen bananas make an excellent base for thick, cooling fruit shakes and low fat “ice cream”. For this purpose, select ripe bananas for freezing as they are much sweeter. Remove the skin and place them in plastic bags or containers and freeze. If you like, a squeeze of fresh lemon juice on the bananas will prevent them turning brown. Frozen bananas will last several weeks, depending on their ripeness and the temperature of the freezer.

If you have a juicer, you can simply feed in frozen bananas and some berries or sliced fruit. Out comes a “soft-serve” creamy dessert, to be eaten right away. This makes a fun activity for a children’s party; they love feeding the fruit and frozen bananas into the top of the machine and watching the ice cream come out below.

1.What does the author seem to like about cherries?

A.They contain protein.                                    B.They are high in vitamin A.

C.They have a pleasant taste.                             D.They are rich in antioxidants.

2.Why is fresh lemon juice used in freezing bananas?

A.To make them smell better.                           B.To keep their colour.

C.To speed up their ripening.                            D.To improve their nutrition.

3.What is “a juicer” in the last paragraph?

A.A dessert.                 B.A drink.                    C.A container.              D.A machine.

4.From which is the text probably taken?

A.A biology textbook.                                      B.A health magazine.

C.A research paper.                                          D.A travel brochure

AIDS may be one of the most undesirable diseases in the world. Luckily, there is now hope for AIDS patients.

According to a recent paper published in the New England Journal of Medicine, Chinese scientists have successfully used CRISPR technology - a method of gene editing - to treat a patient with HIV. While it may not have cured the patient fully, it still represents a huge step forward in fighting the disease.

The patient was a 27-year-old Chinese man who was diagnosed with both AIDS and acute lymphoblastic leukemia (淋巴母细胞白血病), a type of blood cancer. Despite his bleak situation, doctors offered him a little hope: a bone marrow(骨髓)transplant to treat his cancer and an experimental treatment for his HIV. They used this chance to edit the DNA in bone marrow stem cells(干细胞)from a donor before transplanting the cells into the patient.

Specifically, the treatment involved using the gene-editing tool CRISPR-Cas9 to delete a gene known as CCRS, which encodes(给……编码)a protein that HIV uses to get inside human cells. Without the gene, HIV is unable to enter cells. Talking about the gene, lead scientist Deng Hongkui told CNN, “After being edited, the cells - and the blood cells they produce - have the ability to resist HIV infection.” Nineteen months after the treatment, the patient’s leukemia was in complete remission(缓解)and donor cells without CCR5 remained, according to the research paper.

Though the transplant didn’t cure the man’s HIV, it still showed the effectiveness of gene-editing technology, as there was no indication of any unintended genetic changes - a major concern with past gene-editing treatment experiments.

Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security in the United States, who was not involved in the study, praised the treatment. “They did a very creative experiment, and it was safe,” he told Live Science. “It should be viewed as a success.”

Deng believes gene-editing technology could “bring a new dawn” to blood - related diseases such as AIDS and sickle-cell anaemia(镰状细胞贫血). “Thanks to this new technology, the goal of a functional cure for AIDS is getting closer and closer,” he said.

1.The underlined word “bleak” in Paragraph 3 probably means “__________”.

A.hopeless                   B.unstable                    C.embarrassing             D.unique

2.How did the treatment fight against HIV?

A.By identifying and killing HIV.                     B.By changing the structure of HIV.

C.By preventing HIV entering cells.                  D.By removing a protein HIV feeds on.

3.What is the result of the treatment?

A.Gene-edited cells are able to resist HIV infection.

B.The number of cells infected by HIV has decreased.

C.CCR5 and other genes in the patient’s cells are changed.

D.Unintended genetic changes have taken place in the patient’s cells.

4.What can we know about the experiment?

A.It pointed out the problems of gene treatment.

B.It provided a new way to cure AIDS patients fully.

C.It could offer a safe treatment for blood-related diseases.

D.It was the first example to use gene-editing tool to treat AIDS.

With self-driving vehicle technology rapidly advancing, many companies are turning to autonomous robots for the final leg of the delivery process, from the store or local distribution center to the customer. The latest to join the trend is e-commerce giant Amazon. Following a successful eight-month test run in Snohomish County, Washington, the company’s Scout robots have been making the rounds of Irvine, California, since August 6, 2019.

The six-wheeled Scout is about the size of a large cooler with the capacity to carry small or medium-sized packages. The battery-powered vehicle, which moves at a regular walking pace, has been programmed to avoid pedestrians, animals, and unexpected obstacles, such as garbage cans. Its powerful sensors can also detect the movement of a car backing out of a driveway.

To accelerate Scout’s development and bring it nationwide sooner, the company has created several detailed virtual maps of American suburbs and conducted trial deliveries to homes there.

Though Amazon has not shown how Scout ensures the delivery is picked up by the right person, it most likely requires the customer to apply a unique code, texted to them prior to the delivery, to unlock the store box. Also unclear is the number of deliveries Scout can complete before its battery needs to be recharged. Though the initial tests are being conducted with a human for company, the robot will be autonomous in the future. Its location, however, will be tracked at all times-if someone attempts to steal Scout, Amazon employees will be instantly sensed.

However, the eco-friendly robots are unable to climb stairs or open gates, which means that they can only reach consumers who live on the ground level. Additionally, the robots are unable to leave packages at the front door if the customers are not home. Whether these problems get resolved remains to be seen. For now, it appears that humans will still be needed to achieve the ever-growing demand for home and office deliveries.

1.What are many companies developing autonomous robots for?

A.Final tests.                                                   B.The so-called last mile.

C.Robots’ safety.                                             D.Delivery speed.

2.What can we infer about Scout from paragraph 2?

A.It looks like a cooler.                                    B.It adjusts its speed accordingly.

C.Its sensors play a key role.                             D.It will be widely used soon.

3.What does the underlined phrase "prior to" in paragraph 4 mean?

A.before                      B.after                         C.in front of                 D.due to

4.From which is the text probably taken ?

A.A biology textbook.                                      B.A health magazine.

C.A newspaper.                                               D.A travel brochure.