阅读下面短文，在空白处填入1个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。
Car registration plates (牌照) are just a series of numbers and letters, right? Well, yes…but not for everyone.
France was the first country 1. (introduce) plates in 1893. Early number plates differed 2. shape and size, and were made of lots of different materials, including iron, cardboard and even pressed soybeans. In fact, it was not until 1957 3. car manufacturers and the governments agreed on standardized plates. 4. was first registered in the UK was A1. The letter “A” showed the number was from London, while the number “1” showed it was the first number issued. At the moment, number plates 5. (consist) of a sequence of letters and numbers are applied in the UK.
Different EU countries also use different arrangements of numbers and letters, and 6. (they) systems have changed many times because these letter-number 7. (combine) keep running out. In the past decades, some number plates 8. (become) extremely valuable, particularly those that spell out words. 9. (basic), numbers on the plates can be used to represent words or parts of words. For example, “NVERLA8” means “Never Late”. And the most 10. (expense) number ever was “M1” which an anonymous buyer has acquired for ￡331,000.
Since the age of three, Chelsie Hill had dreamed of becoming a dancer. However, her _______ nearly ended one night in 2010. A car accident put the 17-year-old high school senior in the hospital for 51 days and left her paralyzed (瘫痪) from the _______ down.
For most people, that would have _______ any hope of a dancing career. For Hill, it was the beginning. Far from being a _______, her wheelchair brought out her bravery. She wanted to prove she was still “normal” by dancing. _______ Hill did it, rolling her wheelchair right alongside her nondisabled high school dance team. “It feels as if half of my body was _______ from me, and I have to move it with my hands,” Hill said. “It definitely took a lot of _______ and patience.”
After graduation, Hill wanted to _______ her dance network to include women like her. She began to meet people online who had suffered similar injuries but _______ her determination. Then in 2014, Hill moved to Los Angeles and formed a team of dancers with disabilities she calls the Rollettes. “I want to __________ the stereotype (刻板形象) of wheelchair users and show dance is dance, whether you’re walking or you’re __________.”
Dancing on wheels can be just as fast-paced, artful, and __________ as the foot-based variety. In disabled dance competitions around the country, her team danced to the popular tunes, __________ their upper bodies, shaking their heads to the special __________, striking poses, and __________ their wheelchairs in well-timed, dynamic, highly designed routines. They’re having fun, and as the audiences’ exuberant (热情洋溢的) reactions indicate, the fun is __________.
Hill has attained what many of us never will: her childhood __________. She’s a dancer. But the Rollettes have helped her find something else just as __________. Every year she holds a dance camp for other wheelchair users with an eye to helping them find their inner __________. In 2019, 173 participants from ten countries attended. For many, it was the first time they’d felt they __________.
1.A.effect B.reputation C.ambition D.performance
2.A.waist B.neck C.joint D.lap
3.A.aroused B.exposed C.destroyed D.seized
4.A.stage B.clue C.path D.barrier
5.A.Similarly B.Actually C.Necessarily D.Previously
6.A.torn down B.taken away C.picked up D.cut down
7.A.wisdom B.praying C.intelligence D.learning
8.A.dismiss B.expand C.narrow D.simplify
9.A.shared B.opposed C.shook D.ensured
10.A.call off B.bring in C.break down D.carry on
11.A.rolling B.driving C.lying D.playing
12.A.conventional B.artificial C.profitable D.fruitful
13.A.bearing B.freezing C.rocking D.fueling
14.A.voices B.notes C.lines D.beats
15.A.lifting B.operating C.stretching D.guiding
16.A.vain B.plain C.temporary D.infectious
17.A.career B.dream C.memory D.education
18.A.demanding B.tough C.meaningful D.flexible
19.A.strength B.beast C.label D.weakness
20.A.adventured B.suffered C.belonged D.volunteered
Our society is becoming increasingly overweight. 1. Similar to humans, overweight pets have a much higher risk of health problems. Dr. Katrina Warren shares her expert advice on the issues, causes and treatments for overweight pets.
Recent estimates suggest over a third of overweight pets are suffering from health problems. Diabetes (糖尿病) and diseases related to heart top the list of weight-related disease. To put it simply, weight issues occur when pets consume more kilojoules (千焦) than they use. Owners are a key part of the problem. 2.
3. Working out regularly helps keep pets in shape. As pets no longer need to hunt for their food, they typically enjoy a comfortable lifestyle, lazing around indoors, thus gaining weight easily. What’s more, food should always be adjusted to a pet’s energy requirements. 4. They assume the pet will control its own intake. So it’s easy to fall into the trap of feeding your pet whenever it begs for food.
Fortunately, there are plenty of diet and lifestyle changes to help your pets maintain a healthy weight. For example, pets will benefit from more exercise in their daily life, like eating food. Don’t put food in their bowls. 5. Meanwhile, you can also consult experts about guidance for a healthy diet.
Anyway, provide them with an appropriate diet and proper amounts of exercise, and you may have healthy pets.
A. They’re related to the diet.
B. So are our lovely friends — pets.
C. Another contributing factor is lack of exercise.
D. Try encouraging the pets to exercise step by step.
E. Yet many owners provide constant access to food.
F. They ultimately decide what and how much the pets eat.
G. Rather, spread some food around your house so your pets must find it.
Some cities and lawmakers are resisting crime-fighting tech owing to bias (偏见) and accuracy concerns. Police departments around the U.S. are asking citizens to trust them to use facial recognition software as a handy tool in their crime-fighting toolbox. But some lawmakers — and even some technology giants — are against it.
Take the western Massachusetts city of Springfield, where many residents are Latino or black. Springfield police say they have no plans to use facial recognition systems, but some City Council members are moving to block any future government use of the technology anyway.
At an October hearing on the subject, Springfield City Councilman, Orlando Ramos, defended the technology. “The facial recognition technology does not drop a net from the sky and put you to prison,” he said, noting that it could serve as a useful investigative tool. However, he doesn’t want to take any risks. “It would only lead to more racial discrimination.” he said, citing studies that found higher error rates for facial recognition software used to identify women and people with darker skins.
Similar debates across the country are highlighting racial issues and concerns about the technology’s accuracy. Axon, which supplies body-worn cameras nationwide, had already formed an artificial intelligence ethics board (伦理委员会)that concluded facial recognition technology isn’t yet dependable enough to justify its use on police cameras. Axon Chief Executive Rick Smith said, “Even if facial recognition software was perfectly accurate, the ability to track people raises privacy concerns. “Do we want everybody who walks near a police officer to get their face identified and logged in a database?” he said.
Nevertheless, Todd Pastorini, general manager at biometric forensics (生物取证) company DataWorks Plus, said it’s the “extremely effective” method of running images through photos to help identify a suspect. “Society and the public are going to get frustrated, if governments refuse to adopt a technology that keeps improving”, he said. In his eyes, facial recognition hits are just one part of an investigation.
1.What is Orlando Ramos’ attitude towards facial recognition?
A.Hopeful. B.Cautious. C.Ambiguous. D.Tolerant.
2.What is one focus of the debates about facial recognition?
A.Gender discrimination. B.Speed limit.
C.Accuracy rate. D.Steadiness control.
3.What does Rick Smith think of facial recognition?
A.It appears to cause prejudice. B.It brings about privacy concerns.
C.Its technology is reliable. D.Its accuracy needs improving.
4.What can we learn from the passage?
A.Facial recognition tool meets with resistance.
B.All the people disapprove of facial recognition.
C.Facial recognition is the only tool of investigation.
D.Governments should ban facial recognition.
A star athlete at the college where I work recently stopped by my office. After committing a few unforced errors during a weekend match, she suffered severely by self-criticism.
This student, like many I teach, strongly believes she should be able to control the outcomes of her life by virtue of her hard work. In her mind, “Nothing can stop me but myself”. So when these students fall short of what they imagine they should accomplish, they are filled with self-blame, reasoning, “If my accomplishments are mine to control, my failures must be entirely my faults, too”, which makes it extremely difficult for them to move on.
We often owe young adults struggling with failure to their parents’ overprotection of them from discomfort. But there is another factor at play: a message transmitted by indulging (纵容的) parents who have falsely promised them that they can achieve anything if they are willing to work for it. However, the cruel reality of life is that you can do everything in your power — and still fail. Then what should be done to help?
Psychologists Luthar and Kumar urge parents and teachers to spend time helping students find purpose, or goals they genuinely love to pursue and that make an impact on the world, which may help them gain greater life satisfaction and become more psychologically mature. Besides, instead of allowing our kids to beat themselves up when things don’t go their way, we might all question a culture where one is considered lazy without full devotion. The point is to remind them that life has a way of sucker-punching (出其不意) us when we least expect it. It’s often the people who learn to say “stuff happens” who get up the fastest.
1.What does the underlined phrase “by virtue of” in paragraph 2 mean?
A.in addition to B.in spite of C.by means of D.for fear of
2.The author believes that young adults find it hard to struggle with failure because __________.
A.they are not taught how to deal with difficulties
B.they are short of the ability to handle failure
C.they are under the protection of their parents
D.they are misled by their parents’ false message
3.What did psychologists Luthar and Kumar urge parents and teachers to do?
A.To teach students how to avoid faults.
B.To lead students to set their truly loved goals.
C.To help students to discover a path to success.
D.To allow kids to blame themselves.
4.What can be inferred from the passage?
A.Students don’t care about failure at all.
B.Students are sure to succeed if they try their best.
C.Students should bear all the failures on their own.
D.Students with positive attitudes can move on more easily.
Following Christmas dinner, my family was relaxing around the table. We had all enjoyed traditional turkey and sweet potatoes lightly shining with brown sugar. The good cooking smells still filled the air; and the oven remained warm. My sister, our chef, was enjoying the admiration.
My nephew, never one to sit still for long, began dribbling (运球) his basketball around the table. Upon nearing Dad, he stopped — almost uncertainly. With shaking wrinkled hands, Dad had reached out for the ball. The boy, confused, looked up and over at us.
I watched my father closely to see what he would do. The twinkle in his eyes shone brighter than any Christmas lights. Holding the ball and reaching forward with a playful smile, Dad bounced it and then caught it.
This action was repeated. Gently throwing the ball away, Dad began a game of catch. The ball continued to be passed through eager pairs of outstretched hands. Cries of “Over here!” rang through the warm kitchen. Dad’s active participation was remarkable to me, for he had advanced Alzheimer’s disease, which had robbed him of many memories and the recognition ability. Despite this, Dad clearly recognized the ball and what you could do with it.
In my younger years, playing with Dad was rare. To his credit, Dad worked hard and provided for us. He was very private and never showed nor shared much emotion; his game of choice was chess, which he did eventually teach me how to play. As an adult, I had become a caregiver as Dad declined. Connecting moments between father and son had been few and far between before he took the basketball.
I’m not sure how long we played catch. What I do know is that our game ended all too soon, and it was time to face the reality of dirty dishes piled high on countertops. The moment, though, will certainly last forever.
1.What can we know about the family’s Christmas dinner?
A.Dishes were cleaned up. B.All food was sugar-free.
C.It was a sweet moment. D.It was disturbed by the game.
2.Why was Dad’s active participation in the game remarkable to me?
A.He rarely played basketball. B.He had severe Alzheimer’s disease.
C.He had astonishing skills. D.He played with family members.
3.How was Dad getting along with kids in earlier years?
A.He often accompanied kids. B.He was willing to share feelings.
C.He forced kids to learn chess. D.He seldom interacted with kids.
4.What can be the best title for the passage?
A.A game of catch B.A devoted father
C.A dinner of reunion D.A bond between father and son
