Paying with your palm

Your palm（手掌）could soon be your ticket to a concert, thanks to Amazon One. On Sept 14, Amazon, a tech giant from the United States, announced that it is bringing Amazon One, a palm recognition technology, to music places as a replacement for physical tickets and apps. People just need to wave their hands over a piece of equipment outside the place to connect their palm to a ticketing account. Then they can use their palm to get into other shows and events at the place.

Catching CO₂ from air

Carbon dioxide（CO₂）is the main kind of greenhouse gas. It is usually the result of human activities, like driving cars and flying airplanes. Now, Swiss company Climeworks has created a machine called Orca to help catch CO₂. From its base in Iceland, Orca catches CO₂ from the air and keeps it 1, 000 meters underground. Orca can catch 4, 000 tons of CO₂ each year-around the same amount of CO₂ emissions that 870 cars give off per year.

Creating starch in a lab

Starch（淀粉）is the most important part of human food. Scientists at the Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have created starch using CO₂, hydrogen（氢）and electricity, according to a study published in the journal Science on Sept 24. Lab tests show that synthetic（合成的）starch is about 8.5 times more efficient than starch produced by traditional agriculture. “There are many industries that can benefit from this technology.” Ma Yanhe, the author of the study, told China Daily.

【小题1】What do you know about Amazon One？

A．It can be a replacement for music places.

B．It can help people attend a concert without payment.

C．It can connect the palm with the recognition system.

D．It is a piece of palm-sized equipment.

【小题2】What benefit can the technology of synthetic starch bring us？

A．Better quality.

B．Higher efficiency.

C．Lower cost.

D．Higher safety

【小题3】In what part of a newspaper will this passage appear？

A．Science and Technology.	B．Nature and Health.
C．Society and Environment.	D．Life and Business.