备考2022年高考英语二轮复习：阅读理解（说明文）

In 1975, George Carlin appeared on a popular TV show, Saturday Night Live, with his famous words about blue food. “Why is there no blue food? I can't find blue food—I can't find the flavor of blue! I mean yellow is lemon; orange is orange and red is cherry. Where is the blue food? ”

Well, Carlin pretty much has it right—there's not no blue food, but there's certainly not a lot of it. Fresh-picked blueberries are blue, though they become purple when they are turned into jam. The blue in blueberries—like the purple in grapes and the red in tomatoes—is found in nature. But it isn't a hot color for food. People don't seem to prefer blue food. Some diet programs even suggest that those determined to lose weight should make their food blue.

Eating, in part, begins with our eyes. Charles Spence—an experimental psychologist from Oxford University—points out that color can change our taste experience. Commonly, we consider red-colored foods up to 20% sweeter than they actually are; and green foods as being more sour. Spence suggests: human expectations may be influenced by our long history of watching - green fruits can become sweet as they grow up and turn red.

But what about blue? Except blueberries, much of the blue food we see these daysis dyedblue artificially. Food producers argue that artificial color doesn't do much harm to health. A lot of research shows that some physical problems of kids are related to food dyes—while other studies show no effects at all. Blue birthday cake or even blue-dyed chicken can be served on the dinner table. So what?

Many of the sports in ancient Egypt are still practiced today. In fact, many of the basic elements of sports, like rules and uniforms, were first used by Egyptians. The sports had important functions in society. Some were played for fun and fitness. Others were played to make stronger warriors(武士) and leaders.

The first group of sports, mostly for fun was those like rowing, hunting, and the high jump. Hunting and fishing could be enjoyed by the kings and regular people. The same was for rowing. Rowing needed strength. Teams of people got into boats and followed the commands of a leader. He would give regular,sharpcalls to tell them when to row. This technique is still used for rowing teams today. Another popular game was tug-of-war. This was a game where two teams had to pull each other over a line. If team fell forward, they lost. This game is still played today in the country.

The second group of sports prepared people for the army and the temple. These included boxing, horse riding, running, and archery(箭术). They were ways to work on skills for fighting. They were also ways to work on mental and spiritual power. Running a marathon was a good example of this. The king would run to show he had the mental strength to guide his country. Hockey was another Egyptian game. Players held tree branches with a bent end, just like modern hockey sticks. They had to hit a ball made of leather that was brightly colored.

These sports were a part of Egyptian culture. They kept the people happy and fit. The basic rules were created thousands of years ago. They are still seen in some forms today.

Researchers have watched Asian honey bees hunt for animal feces（粪便）, carry it home, and then apply it around the entrance to their nests. Their findings document the behavior for the first time.

"It turns out that by applying animal feces around colony entrances, Asian honey bees are able to stop giant hornets（大黄蜂）from their nest entrances. The hornets are less likely to try to break into the colonies by landing and chewing at their entrances in a multiple-hornet attack, which is the most deadly kind of hornet attack that honey bees experience," lead researcher Heather Mattila said.

Called "fecal spotting", what the bees are doing is using a tool, researchers suggest. "Tool use is a controversial topic and the criteria to identify it have been defined and redefined many times over," Mattila says. "Across the majority of definitions, we look for an animal holding something, placing it with intentionality, and using it in a way that improves the function of the thing that the tool was applied to. This behavior of honey bees meets all of these criteria. "

Mattila and her fellows have been studying Asian honey bees in Vietnam since 2013. They've done fieldwork watching colonies in wooden hives（蜂房）managed by local beekeepers. They cleaned the front of the hives and then tracked how the bees looked for animal feces to build up defenses against their hornet enemies.

They found that giant hornets were much less likely to land on hive entrances or chew their way into the hives when there were more fecal spots around the entrances.

Attacks by groups of giant hornets can sometimes wipe out entire colonies of honey bees so protective measures like these are key to survival. Interestingly, the animal feces keeps away the hornets, but the bees don't have a problem picking it up or toting it around.

"At this point, we don't know why animal feces disgusts hornets but is attractive to bees," Matilla says. "It is definitely something that needs to be studied further."

A demonstration mission to test an idea to clean up space debris ( 碎片 ) was launched Monday morning local time from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. ELSA-d, which stands for End-of-Life Services by Astroscale, will be carried out by a "servicer satellite" and a "client satellite" ( 客户卫星) that launched together. The mission will exhibit technology that could help capture space junk, the millions of pieces of orbital debris that float above Earth. The more than 8,000 metric tons of debris threaten the loss of services we rely on for earth-bound life, including weather forecasting, telecommunications and GPS systems. The spacecraft works by attempting to attach itself to dead satellites and pushing them toward Earth to burn up in the atmosphere. The mission, which will be run from the U. K. , will carry out this catch and release process repeatedly over the course of six months.

Space junk has been a growing problem for years as human-made objects such as old satellites and spacecraft parts build up in low Earth orbit until they decay, deorbit, explode or crash with other objects, breaking into smaller pieces of waste. According to a recent report by NASA, at least 26,000 of the millions of pieces of space junk are orbiting along at 17,500 mph, and they could "destroy a satellite on impact". More than 500,000 pieces are a "mission-ending threat" because of their ability to impact protective systems, fuel tanks and spacecraft cabins.

The development of other cleanup technologies has been in progress for years. In 2016, Japan's space agency sent a 700-meter chain into space to try to slow down and redirect space junk. In 2018, a device called Remove Debris successfully cast a net around a copy satellite. The European Space Agency also plans to send a self-destructing robot into orbit in 2025, which the organization's former director general has referred to as a space "vacuum cleaner".

These efforts could prove increasingly important as private space ventures like Space X continue to fill low Earth orbit with a huge number of satellites in a mess.

The Chinese philosopher Confucius said long ago that "Music produces a kind of pleasure which human nature cannot do without." Playing a musical instrument has many benefits and can bring joy to you and everyone around you.

A good musician knows that the quality of practice time is more valuable than the quantity. In order for a musician to progress quicker, he or she will learn how to organize his or her practice time and plan different challenges to work on, making efficient use of time. Thus, learning how to play an instrument helps you to learn how to be organized and to manage your time wisely.

Team skills are a very important aspect of being successful in life. Playing an instrument boosts your teamwork skills as it requires you to work with others to make music. In band and orchestra settings, you must learn how to cooperate with the people around you. Furthermore, in order for a group to make beautiful music, each player and section must learn how to listen to each other and play together.

Playing an instrument comes with its responsibilities. Maintenance and care are very important in keeping an instrument in good working condition. Each instrument has different procedures to keep it functioning properly. In addition to being responsible for maintaining one's instrument, there are other aspects such as remembering music events like rehearsals and performances, and making time for practice. Thus, learning an instrument increases your sense of responsibility.

Playing music by yourself requires you to concentrate on things like pitch, rhythm, tempo and quality of sound. Playing in a group involves even more concentration because you must learn to not only hear yourself, but you must listen to all the other sections and play in harmony with the rest of the group. Therefore, learning a musical instrument sharpens your concentration skills.

People believe that climbing can do good to health. Where can you learn the skill of climbing then? If you think that you have to go to the mountains to learn how to climb, you're wrong. Many Americans are learning to climb in city gyms（体育馆）. Here, people are learning on special climbing walls. The climbing wall goes straight up and has small holding places for hands and feet.

How do people climb the wall? To climb, you need special shoes and a harness（保护带）around your chest to hold you. There are ropes（绳索）tied to your harness. The ropes hold you in place so that you don't fall. A beginner's wall is usually about 15 feet high, and you climb straight up. There are small pieces of metal that stick out for you to stand on and hold on to. Sometimes it's easy to see the next piece of metal. Sometimes, it's not. The most difficult part is to control your fear. It's normal for humans to be afraid of falling, so it's difficult not to feel fear. But when you move away from the wall, the harness and the ropes hold you, and you begin to feel safe. You move slowly until you reach the top.

Climbing attracts people because it's good exercise for almost everyone. You use your whole body, especially your arms and legs. This sport gives your body a completetraining. When you climb, both your mind and your body can become stronger.

You're stuck in a sea of standstill traffic when it begins: hunger pangs, the kind that release a steady stream of fast food fantasizing. With your grumbling stomach growing louder, your options are limited: You can wait a few hours for the roadways to clear or leave your car idling (挂空挡) on the highway while you set off on foot (please don't do this).

Now Burger King, is betting that hungry drivers will welcome a third option: a direct-to-driver delivery concept the company has labeled the "Traffic Jam Whooper." Reached by email, Gustavo Lauria, co-founder of the advertising agency We Believers, which developed the vehicle delivery concept, said the new approach allows the burger chain to gain advantage on a time of day in which the city's terrible traffic typically slows business. "This was an opportunity for Burger King to generate new profits out of those hungry drivers", Lauria added.

Lauria claims Burger King is the first fast food brand to deliver food to people in the middle of a traffic jam. In Mexico City, the company said, delivery drivers are already receiving an average of 7, 000 orders per day, mostly to homes and offices. To make the traffic jam delivery process possible, Burger Kings Mexico app activates the service after identifying crowded areas in Mexico City during periods of high traffic. Customers can only place an order if the app determines that the driver will be locked in traffic for at least 30 minutes and they are within a 1. 8-mile distance of a Burger King restaurant, the company said.

Early on, Lauria wrote, the act was met with disbelief. The challenges were complex: making sure real-time data of geographic location was accurate enough, and the creation of a hands-free way to take orders on cellphones in a country that has adopted serious punishment for drivers who use cellphones behind the wheel.

Though the company did not offer a timeline, Burger King says it expects to roll out the Traffic Jam Whopper in other overcrowded cities, such as Los Angeles, Sao Paulo and Shanghai.

Physical education, or gym class, isn't required for all high school students. In some schools, it isn't offered for some different reasons. But should high school students have physical education? The answer is certainly "yes".

Today many people don't do sports. But as is known to all, doing sports is extremely important for an adult. Teaching teens the importance of a healthy lifestyle and making fitness plans now can help teens put exercise in the first place as an adult.

High school isn't that easy. Many students are under a lot of stress. Stress can be harmful to a student's studies and life. Doing sports can help them deal with stress better, helping them live a happier life at school.

The American Heart Association says that 10 million kids and teens suffer from obesity. Teens should get 60 minutes of physical activity per day to control their weight and to help their bones get stronger. The increase in activities that don't get teens to move around, such as video games and computer activities, means many teens don't get their required exercise. Physical education classes act as a public health measure to encourage activities and help teens have healthy weights.

Inactivity increases teens' risk of developing many diseases. An active lifestyle offers a good way of protection from these health problems. As much as 75 percent of health-care spending goes toward treating medical conditions that can be hindered by lifestyle changes, according to the American College of Sports Medicine.

According to the President's Council on Fitness, Sports and Nutrition (PCFSN), students who performed five hours of physical activity each week improved their academic (学业的) performance. Students from programs with no physical activity, who used the extra time for classroom study, did not perform better on tests than those who gave up some study time in support of physical education.

Carmakers. including BMW, Fiat. Chrysler and Peugeot, warmed that the worldwide semiconductor processor(半导体处理器) shortage will continue in 2021 and beyond. The shortage has affected both production and sales of automobiles.

Automobiles have become increasingly dependent on processors. also known as chips. They are needed for computers to help engines with better fuel economy and assist drivers in emergency braking(刹车). Without a good supply of chips, carmakers have centered production on higher-profit models. The higher prices keep their businesses going even though they are selling fewer cars.

Richard Palmer is the chief financial officer of Stellantis. The company sells cars under 14 brands including Fiat, Chrysler and Peugeot, He said the company did not expect chip supply to improve before the last three months of the year. That would mean a production loss of around 1.4 million vehicles for 2021.

The German carmaker warned that there will be more problems during the second half of this year. “The longer the supply bottlenecks last, the more tense the situation is likely to become,” BMW chief financial officer Nicolas Peter said in a statement. “We expect production restrictions(限制) to continue in the second half of the year. Those restrictions will cause a lower number of sales,” he added.

German chipmaker Infineon Technologies confirmed the shortage. The company said the latest wave of COVID-19 cases slows the production of materials in Asia. And the amounts of goods available have now hit all-time lows. Reinhard Ploss is the Chief Executive Officer of Infineon. He told economists that a sharp limit of supplies is hurting the recovery of worldwide car markets. He observed that “it will take time to get back” to a balance between supply and demand. “In our view, this will take until well into 2022,” he added.

Being physically fit at age 18 is linked to a higher IQ, a new study finds. The researchers also show that fitness predicts greater educational and professional achievements later in life. Earlier studies have found links between physical fitness and intelligence(智力)in animals, children and older adults. But the relationship in young adults hasn't been clear.

In the new study, researchers used data(数据)to examine over 1.2 million young men born in Sweden between 1950 and 1976. All the men had their physical fitness and intelligence assessed(评估) at age 18. The researchers compared this information to details of later achievements in academic(学术), social and economic aspects from other national databases and made some findings.

Fitness in the 18-year-olds was strongly linked to scores on intelligence tests. "Being fit means that you have good heart and lung capacity and that your brain gets plenty of oxygen, '' says Dr. Michael Nilsson of the University of Gothenburg. "This may be one of the reasons why we can see a clear link with fitness." The researchers also found that fit teens were more likely to get a university degree later in life. Fitness at age 18 was also linked to landing better jobs, with higher pay or management responsibilities.

The findings point to the importance of encouraging physical fitness in teens. "If so, physical education is a subject that has an important place in schools," says Dr. Maria Aberg of the University of Gothernburg.