While the start of a new school year is always exciting, this year was even more so for some elementary school students in Auckland, New Zealand. They became the world’s first kids to be “taught” by a digital teacher. Before you start imagining a human-like robot walking around the classroom, Will is just an avatar that appears on the student’s desktop, or smartphone screen, when ordered to come.
The autonomous animation platform has been modeled after the human brain and nervous system, allowing it to show human-like behavior. The digital teacher is assigned to teach Vector’s “Be sustainable with energy”— a free program for Auckland elementary schools.
Just like the humans it replaced, Will is able to instantly react to the students’ responses to the topic. Thanks to a webcam and microphone, the avatar not only responds to questions the kids may have, but also picks up non-verbal cues. For instance, if a student smiles at Will, he responds by smiling back. This two-way interaction not only helps attract the students’ attention, but also allows the program’s developers to monitor their engagement, and make changes if needed.
Nikhil Ravishankar believes that Will-like avatars could be a novel way to catch the attention of the next generation. He says, “I have a lot of hope in this technology as a means to deliver cost-effective, rich, educational experience in the future.”
The program, in place since August 2018, has been a great success thus far. Ravishankar says, “ What was fascinating to me was the reaction of the children to Will. The way they look at the world is so creative and different, and Will really captured their attention.” However, regardless of how popular it becomes, Will is unlikely to replace human educators any time soon.
1.What was special for some elementary school students in Auckland?
A. A digital teacher taught them.
B. They first saw something digital.
C. This was the start of a new school year.
D. They could get close to smartphone screen.
2.What is the benefit of this two-way interaction?
A. It can smile back. B. It can use microphone.
C. It can talk any topic for free. D. It can change if necessary.
3.What’s Ravishankar’s attitude to Will’s replacing Human educators soon?
A. Optimistic. B. Doubtful.
C. Unclear. D. Disapproving.
4.What might be the best title for the passage?
A. New High-tech Contributes to Education
B. The World’s First Digital Teacher Appears in Classroom.
C. The World’s First Digital Teacher, a Help to Students
D. New Zealand Will Replace Teachers in Classrooms
For most of her life, Suanne Laqueur’s passion for storytelling was shown on the dance floor.
Although Laqueur began writing at a young age, dancing always took center stage. She majored in dance and theater at Alfred University and taught at her mother’s dance studio in Croton-on-Hudson, New York, for years. But when her mother was ready to retire and an opportunity opened for Laqueur to take over the studio, she realized she had no interest in taking on the business side of her art: “Owning a studio is a lot of work—financially, logistically. I love the teaching, the choreographing(编舞), the staging, but I didn’t want to own it.”
Yet Laqueur’s disinterest in running the studio changed when she became a self-published author. In the fall of 2013, she decided to pursue Self-publishing as a way of sharing her first completed novel with friends and family. During the process, she realized that following her true passion—telling stories through writing—made the business of the art worthwhile, and owning that business meant she could direct her writing career however she chose.
Starting with her second self-published novel, she began investing more time in marketing and building her audience. Her investment paid off. Since 2014, Laqueur, now 49, has self-published six novels, which collectively have hundreds of ratings and reviews on Goodreads. Her 2016 novel An Exaltation of Larks stole the show at the 25th Annual Writer’s Digest Self-Published Book Awards, topping more than 2,300 entries to win the grand prize.
“You have to write the most truthful story to you, and I think self-publishing allows that freedom,’ she says. “If you work with traditional publishing, it’s more about what’s marketable, There are trade-offs, which everyone will tell you, but by self-publishing I have control of the book, I have control of the story, and I’m cool with that.”
1.From Paragraph 2，we can learn that Laqueur _______.
A. was a part-time writer when she was young
B. didn’t like teaching dancing in fact
C. wanted to own a publishing house
D. was interested in running her mother’s studio
2.What made Laqueur change her attitude to business?
A. Her mother’s persuasion. B. The desire to make money
C. Self-publishing her novels. D. Her own passion toward art.
3.Which of the following can best replace the phrase “stole the show” in Paragraph 4?
A. became a failure. B. was shown to people.
C. got all the attention. D. was accidentally stolen.
4.What can be inferred from what Laqueur’s said?
A. Self-publishing will replace traditional publishing.
B. She will never use traditional publishing.
C. Traditional publishing only focuses on the market.
D. She enjoys the way of self-publishing.
Resorts of every kind have sprung up to cater to the Englishman need to spend a part of the year, however briefly, by the seaside. No town in Britain is more than eighty miles from the sea and there are seaside resorts all round the coast. On a summer Sunday most of the roads that lead to the sea axe congested (拥挤) with cars full of people eager to get a breath of sea air. In the evening when everyone is full of food, ice-cream and lollypops, there is the long slow drive home on roads crowded with returning cars.
Brighton
Brighton is one of the best-known south coast resorts and is very popular for day trip excursions. It is only fifty miles from London and can be reached by fast train in an hour. At the weekend the pebbled beaches are thronged with people sunbathing or picking their way to the water’s edge for a dip.
Bournemouth
Located a hundred miles from London, the beaches are wide and sandy. White houses line the cliff tops and narrow valleys, densely wooded with pine trees, reach down to the shore. The area near to the town of Torquay on the Devon coast is sometimes called Britains Riviera and the climate is so mild that palm trees grow along the sea front.
Blackpool
On the north-west coast, a popular resort for the people in the industrial north, Blackpool is a gay, noisy town, famous for its amusement facilities and the magical lights. At night people travel from miles around to see the extravaganza of lights decorating the sea front.
Southend
On the east coast at the mouth of the Thames, Southend is, like Brighton, one of the favorite resorts of Londoners. The pier here is the longest in Britain and offers a great variety of differing entertainments.
1.Why do people often have a long slow drive home on roads in summer?
A. Because it is extremely far from the sea.
B. Because too many returning cars often make a traffic jam.
C. Because people are full of food, ice-cream and lollypops.
D. Because people are attracted in the resorts so they leave slowly.
2.Which resort is famous for its entertainments and grand lights?
A. Bournemouth. B. Blackpool.
C. Brighton. D. Southend.
3.Which of the following statements is NOT true?
A. There are palm trees growing near Bournemouth.
B. Southend has the longest pier in Britain.
C. Southend is a better preferred resort than Brighton by London locals.
D. People crowded into the water’s edge at Brighton for a quick swim.
Directions: Write an English composition in 120—150 words according to the instructions given below in Chinese.
日前，一社会机构对“高中生认为最有用的手机app类型”进行调查，结果如下:
最有用的app类型 | 参与调查的高中生人数占比 |
社交类app | 45% |
游戏类app | 32% |
学习类app | 12% |
其他 | 11% |
请简单描述以上数据，并结合自身实际，谈谈你对这一调查结果的看法。
(文中不得出现考生姓名，学校等真实信息)
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Directions: Translate the following sentences into English, using the words given in the brackets.
1.暴饮暴食被一些人认为是缓解工作压力的手段。( regard)
_____________________
2.让我印象最深的是，单身女性已成购房新军。( impress)
_____________________
3.他对大家的警告充耳不闻，执意在如此恶劣的天气驾车上山。( insist)
_____________________
4.在春节期间，许多服务行业的企业都面临着用工荒的问题，大大阻碍了行业的发展。(face)
_____________________
Directions: Read the following passage. Summarize the main idea and the main point(s)of the passage in no more than 60 words, Use your own words as far as possible.
Peter woke up one morning with all the usual signs of a nasty cold: severe headache and blocked nose. Then he did what almost everyone does on a day like this. He got up and went to work. Such is the state of what the human resources industry has come to call presenteeism.
Many experts claim that presenteeism is now a bigger problem in the UK than absenteeism and could even help explain the country’s weak productivity growth. A growing number of companies are realizing presenteeism and doing something about it. This generally takes the form of programmes full of once unimaginable sweets: cheap gym membership, veggie salads in the canteen, stand-up desks and the odd massage. of course, there’s nothing against lunchtime dentistry or free workout. They do more good than harm. But such welfares alone won't do much to stop people from presenteeism.
The chief reasons why people soldier on have nothing to do with how fit they are. They work for leaner, more stressed companies where dismissals are common. This makes some people worried that they will be targeted in the next round of job cut if they have taken a lot of time off. Others worry about troubling stretched colleagues with more work in their absence. How annoying it is to be faced with cold faces when you return to office after two days' rest at home.
There is not much to be said for "silly things" like ping-pong tables and office bean bags. The key to dealing with presenteeism lies in training managers to be better at spotting swifly when employees are under too much stress or ill, and dealing with the situation sensibly---putting the sick employee to sick leave although he is reluctant. Of course, work has to be done to eliminate employee's concern about his job prospect thereof.
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