Google has started Google Science Fair (GSF) 2014, its annual online competition for bright, creative and ambitious teenagers who want to change the world with science. While the project is led by Google, it also has the support of the Lego Group and world-famous publications National Geographic and Scientific American. The competition is open for students aged 13 to 18, who can sign-up now, form a team and begin working on a submission(提交申请).
The winner will be rewarded with a ten-day exploration to the Galapagos Islands aboard the National Geographic Endeavor, as well as a VIP tour of “Spaceport America” in New Mexico. Google is also throwing in a $50,000 scholarship and $10,000 for the winner’s school to purchase cutting-edge science lab equipment.
Google suggests that each project should be “an in-depth investigation of a science question or engineering problem” but otherwise, it’s up to students to pick and develop an idea that follows the competition rules.
Completed projects need to be submitted by May 12, 2014 at 11:59 PDT. Google will announce the regional competitors in June, ahead of global finalists in August and the competition winners in September.
Interested? Here are the rules.
If you want to enter the competition as an individual, you should register first. Complete requested information about yourself and your project in the registration section before creating your project. You may edit this later. Click the box stating that you have read, accept, and agree to be bound by these Official Rules and Terms.
Upon completion of registration you may begin working on your project. The project must follow the technical, creative, and legal entry requirements set out in these Official Rules and the Googlesciencefair.com Site. You will be required to complete all sections of the Project Site.
You may begin working on your project after completing the registration process, however, you may not submit it for judging until you have requested and received parental consent (允许). Once you have done this, your parent or guardian will receive an email from Google with instructions on how they can give their consent for you to participate. The project will not be judged unless this consent is received. From the first paragraph, we can learn that .
| A．GSF is a science competition |
| B．teenagers should form a team |
| C．every teenager can take part in it |
| D．GSF is organized by Google alone |
If you win in the competition, you will get the following except .
| A．a ten-day exploration to the Galapagos Islands |
| B．a tour of “Spaceport America” in New Mexico |
| C．a sum of scholarship of $50,000 |
| D．a school equipped with advanced science labs |
If you plan to enter GSF alone, .
| A．you should create your project as the first step |
| B．you needn’t follow the official rules at all |
| C．you should provide some personal information |
| D．you should start your project before registration |
What is mainly discussed in the last paragraph?
| A．Parental consent. | B．Submission time. |
| C．Registration process. | D．Project requirements. |
The main purpose of the passage is to .
| A．explain problems on how to enter GSF |
| B．provide information about GSF |
| C．persuade teenagers to enter GSF |
| D．tell us the importance of GSF |
Italian Lakes and Greek Islands (12 Days)
Prices starting from $1,999
Your tour begins in Milan, Italy, and moves on to the pretty Italian Lake District and the attractive resort of Stresa, your home for two nights. Collette Vacations has carefully chosen the Costa Victoria as your home away from home for your 7-night journey along the waterways of the Mediterranean. The cruise ship is filled with the warmth and culture of Italy and is richly designed with entertainment areas and very good living conditions. It will take you to the places of your dreams.
You'll spend 4 days touring Greek cities you've always heard about. In Katakolon, you will have the only unguided tour to nearby Olympia on the whole journey. Then with a local guide you will visit the Greek islands of Santorini, which is often related to the story of the lost city of Atlantis, and Mykonos, a wonderful island with beautiful beaches.
Your journey ends in Verona, home of the love story Romeo and Juliet, with a fun-filled farewell dinner--a perfect ending to a pleasant journey.
12 Days, 25Meals: 10 Breakfasts, 6 Lunches, 9 Dinners
Day 1------Overnight flight to Italy
Days 2—3------Regina Palace, Stresa, Italy
Days 4—10------Costa Victoria (Costa cruises)
Day 11------Hotel Leopardi, Verona, Italy
Day12------Leave for home
Please Note:
Leaving date Price for one person
April 7 $2,099
June 2 $2,199
October 6 $2,099
November 3 $1,999What does the underlined part "the Costa Victoria" most probably refer to?
| A．A famous hotel. | B．A beautiful resort. |
| C．A comfortable ship. | D．A long-distance bus. |
Tourists will travel on their own in ___________.
| A．Stresa | B．Olympia | C．Mykonos | D．Verona |
How is the journey planned?
| A．It starts and ends in Italy. |
| B．It starts and ends in Greece. |
| C．It starts in Italy and ends in Greece. |
| D．It starts in Greece and ends in Italy. |
What we can learn about the travel plan?
| A．The price is the highest in summer. |
| B．The prices include three meals a day. |
| C．The prices include entertainment service. |
| D．The price may get lower than those in the plan. |
How Many Lies Do the Children Tell You?
Mothers who feel their children don’t appreciate them can add another grievance to the list: half the time, their children are lying to them. A study designed to expose the truth about lying shows that undergraduates lie to their mothers in 46% of their conversations. Still, mums should feel better than total strangers, who are told lies an astonishing 77 % of the time.
Bella Depaulo and a team of psychologists from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, asked 77 undergraduates to keep a record of all their conversations for a week, and write down whether they lied at any time. DePaulo named lying broadly, as "when you intentionally try to mislead someone", so she would catch the smallest of lies.
The students told an average of two lies a day. They said they had been studying when they had been out drinking. One told his parents that a textbook cost $50 rather than $20 so that they would send him extra money. Female students constantly told their plain-looking roommates that they were pretty. "They are everyday lies," says DePaulo.
DePaulo and her colleagues conclude that people tend to tell fewer lies to those they feel closest to. College students lied to their best friends 28% of the time but lied to acquaintances 48% of the time. In close relationships, people were more likely to tell "kind-hearted" lies, designed to protect feelings, rather than self-serving lies.
Romantic（浪漫的）partners lie somewhere between close friends and acquaintances. Students lied to romantic partners about a third of the time. DePaulo thinks that unmarried lovers can expect less honesty than best friends because of the insecurity that comes with romance.
Mothers can take heart from one other finding. They may have been lied to, but at least their children talked to them. The students were recorded telling few lies to their fathers because they had little interaction with them.What is the meaning of the underlined word "grievance" in Paragraph 1?
| A．Belief. | B．Opinion. |
| C．Complaint. | D．Difficulty. |
According to the passage, college students felt closest to .
| A．mothers. | B．best friends |
| C．acquaintances | D．romantic partners |
Female students lied to their roommates to .
| A．get money from them | B．offer them the services |
| C．gain more security | D．make them happy |
What is the purpose of this article?
| A．To present a fact. | B．To argue an idea. |
| C．To tell a story. | D．To explain a theory. |
Last night I was driving from Harrisburg to Lewisburg, a distance of about eighty miles. It was late. Several times I got stuck behind a slow-moving truck on a narrow road with a solid white line on my left, and I became increasingly impatient.
At one point along an open road, I came to a crossing with a traffic light. I was alone on the road by now, but as I drove near the light, it turned red and I made a stop. I looked left, right and behind me. Nothing. Not a car, no suggestion of car lamps, but there I sat, waiting for the light to change, the only human being for at least a mile in any direction.
I started wondering why I refused to run the light. I was not afraid of being caught, because there was clearly no policeman around, and there certainly would have been no danger in going through it.
Much later that night, the question of why I'd stopped for that light came back to me. I think I stopped because it's part of a contract(契约) we all have with each other. It's not only the law, but it's an agreement we have, and we trust each other to honor it: we don't go through red lights.
Trust is our first inclination(倾向). Doubting others does not seem to be natural to us. The whole construction of our society depends on mutual(相互)trust, not distrust. We do what we say we'll do；we show up when we say we'll show up; and we pay when we say we'll pay. We trust each other in these matters, and we're angry or disappointed with the person or organization that breaks the trust we have in them.
I was so proud of myself for stopping for the red light that night.Why did the author get impatient while driving?
| A．He was lonely on the road. |
| B．He was slowed down by a truck. |
| C．He got tired of driving too long. |
| D．He came across too many traffic lights. |
What was the author's immediate action when the traffic light turned red?
| A．Stopping still. |
| B．Driving through it. |
| C．Looking around for other cars. |
| D．Checking out for traffic police. |
The event made the author strongly believe that ________.
| A．traffic rules may be unnecessary |
| B．doubting others is human nature |
| C．patience is important to drivers |
| D．a society needs mutual trust |
Why was the author proud of himself?
| A．He kept his promise. |
| B．He held back his anger. |
| C．He made a right decision. |
| D．He followed his inclination |
Today we'll talk about reading. When we read a text, our eyes move across a page in short, quick movements. We recognize words usually when our eyes still fixate(停留, 凝视). Each time they fixate, we see a group of words. This is known as the recognition span or the visual span. The length of time for which the eyes stop varies from person to person. It also varies within any person according to his purpose in reading and his familiarity with the text. In addition, it can be affected by such factors as lighting and tiredness.
Unfortunately, in the past, many reading improvement courses have concentrated too much on how our eyes move across the page. As a result of this misleading emphasis on the purely visual aspects of reading, many exercises have been designed to train the eyes to see more words at one fixation. For example, in some exercises, words are flashed on to a screen for a tenth of a second. One of the exercises has required students to fix their eyes on some central point, taking in the words on either side. Such word patterns are often formed in the shape of pyramids, so the reader takes in more and more words at each successive（连续的）fixation. All these exercises are very clever, but it's one thing to improve a person's ability to see words and quite another thing to improve his ability to read a text efficiently. Reading requires the ability to understand the relationship between words. Consequently, for these reasons, many experts have now begun to question the usefulness of eye training, especially since any approach which trains a person to read isolated(孤立的) words and phrases would seem unlikely to help him in reading a continuous text.The time of the recognition span can be affected by the following factors except _______.
| A．1ighting and tiredness |
| B．one's purpose in reading |
| C．the length of a group of words |
| D．one's familiarity with the text |
What does the author mean by the underlined sentence in the second paragraph?
| A．The ability to see words is not needed for an efficient reading. |
| B．The reading exercises mentioned are of little help to an efficient reading. |
| C．The reading exercises mentioned can help improve reading. |
| D．The reading exercises mentioned have done a great job so far. |
The author may believe that reading ______________.
| A．demands a deeply-participating mind |
| B．requires a reader to see words more quickly |
| C．requires a reader to take in more words at each fixation |
| D．demands more eyes than mind |
The tune of the author in writing this text is ___________.
| A．supportive | B．neutral |
| C．critical | D．optimistic |
Over 500 dogs being delivered to a butcher house were saved by a Chinese animal protection organization.
The incident then triggered debate among Chinese netizens about the necessity of pouring so much money and efforts into saving dogs.
On Friday, a truck loaded with over 500 dogs were stopped by volunteers from animal protection organization on Jingha Expressway Beijing section.
Beijing Times reported these dogs were being delivered to slaughter houses in the city of Changchun, northeast Jilin Province and would be eventually served on dinner tables.
After negotiations with the truck driver, pet service provider Leepet Holding Corp. and a philanthropic foundation, Shang shan Foundation purchased these dogs, each paying 50,000 yuan. Dogs were then delivered to the eadquarter of China Small Animal Protection Association (CSAPA), being taken care of and waiting for adoption.
After the “dog saving mission” was reported, Chinese net users debate over whether saving dogs worth so much efforts and money while there are still many poor and needy people in China lacking assistance.
Some net users argue the “dog saving mission” is placing overt attention to animals while lots of needy people are still left unattended.
A microblogger “Xiaowulaitajie” said on China's twitter like website, weibo.com, “Dogs are saved, adopted and they attracted media spotlight. We'd better spend such money and take such efforts in helping the needy people.”
Another microblogger, Liluping, said “We poured such huge sum of money into saving dogs. I would rather the money be spent on disaster relief.”
Some applaud volunteers' actions and show eagerness of offering their helping hands to those saved dogs.
Still many disapprove those “saving dogs” critics, but they argue that such act nonetheless promotes social progress.
A microblogger named “broken bridge” said, saving dogs does not run counter to taking care of people. Such enthusiasm in public affairs will help raise social awareness in helping the needy.
I think people and animals are created equal. Attention should be paid to people as well as animals.Where did the article come from?
| A．A storybook. | B．A novel. |
| C．Internet. | D．A magazine. |
Which one has the similar meaning to the underlined phrase “run counter to” in the last but one paragraph?
| A．meet with | B．go against |
| C．agree with | D．come across |
Whose opinion is closest to the writer's?
| A．Some net users'. | B．Broken bridge's. |
| C．Liluping's. | D．Xiaowulaitajie's. |
The following statements are TRUE except _______.
| A．All the people don't think it right to save these dogs with so much money. |
| B．More than 25,000,000 yuan was given to the truck driver to purchase these dogs. |
| C．These dogs were finally saved and sent back to their owners. |
| D．Some people think it better to spend the money in helping the needy people. |
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