阅读下面材料，在空白处填入适当的内容(1个单词）或括号内单词的正确形式。
The idea that animals can sense earthquakes is a popular one, and stories about animals 1. (behave) strangely before earthquakes 2. (tell) for centuries.
Researchers 3. believe that animals can sense earthquakes suggest that ｛animals may be able to feel the Earth 4. (shake) before humans. It has been proved that animals are 5. (easy) to be influenced by small environmental changes than humans are. Other researchers have suggested animals may sense chemical or electrical changes in the field of the Earth which could be signs of 6. earthquake.
However, other scientists think the animals’ ability to sense earthquakes is very 7. (doubt), saying that animals react to various things, like being hungry, protecting their land, mating, enemies.... Animal behaviorists also point out that human psychology may have an effect on pet 8. (own), as they prefer to believe that their animals have the power of giving warnings before earthquakes.
Can animals sense earthquakes? The answer 9. this question is not clear. So far, debate over 10. animals can truly sense earthquakes has not solved the question.
I made a promise to myself on the way to the vacation beach cottage. For two weeks I would try to be a _______ husband and father. ________ loving. No ifs, ands or buts.
I ________ the idea as I listened to a talk on my car radio. The speaker was reading a passage about husbands being ________ of their wives. Then he went on to say, “Love is an act of will. A person can choose to love.” To myself; I had to admit (承认) that I had been a(n) ________ husband .Well, for two weeks that would ________. And it did. Right from the moment I kissed Evelyn at the door and said, “That new yellow sweater looks great on you.”
“Oh, Tom, you noticed,” she said, surprised but ________ . Maybe a little confused
After the long ________, I wanted to sit and read. Evelyn suggested a walk on the beach I started to ________ , but then I thought, “Evelyn’s been alone here with the kids all week and now she wants to ________ with me.” We walked on the beach while the children flew their kites.
So it went. Two weeks of not ________ the Wall Street firm where I am a manager; a visit to the shell museum ________ I usually hate museums. Relaxed and happy, that’s how the whole vacation passed. I made a new promise to keep on remembering to ________ love.
There was one thing that went wrong with my ________, however. Evelyn and I still ________ about it today. On the last night at our cottage, preparing for bed, Evelyn stared at me sadly.
“What’s the matter?” I asked her.
“Tom,” she said in a voice filled with ________. “do you know something I don’t?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well... that ________ I had several weeks ago... our doctor... did he tell you something about me? Tom, you’ve been so good to me... am dying?”
It took a moment for it all to ________. Then I laughed aloud.
“No, honey,” I said, ________ her in my arms, “You’re not dying; I’m just starting to ________.”
1.A.responsible B.caring C.generous D.loving
2.A.Totally B.Even C.Still D.Somehow
3.A.got along with B.made up with C.came up with D.put up with
4.A.ashamed B.independent C.proud D.thoughtful
5.A.selfish B.enthusiastic C.fortunate D.useless
6.A.change B.last C.recover D.disappear
7.A.embarrassed B.pleased C.scared D.curious
8.A.walk B.flight C.day D.drive
9.A.accept B.refuse C.suffer D.challenge
10.A.read B.chat C.stay D.live
11.A.calling B.joining C.visiting D.leaving
12.A.as B.since C.though D.yet
13.A.value B.save C.choose D.respect
14.A.vacation B.life C.family D.experiment
15.A.talk B.laugh C.think D.worry
16.A.sadness B.hope C.pity D.confusion
17.A.deal B.argument C.incident D.checkup
18.A.get about B.get across C.get in D.get through
19.A.pushing B.taking C.holding D.catching
20.A.love B.die C.live D.understand
It should be easy for you to recognize faces of your family and friends. But can you remember faces that you’ve only seen once? You might think it is very difficult.
1. They are the so-called “super recognizers”, who can remember at least 80 percent of the faces they’ve seen. 2. But studies show that at least one person in every recognizer, reported the Daily Mail.
Bournemouth University in the UK recently carried out research trying to find out recognizers have a different way to process feces. They have found that when these people look a faces, they spend more time looking at the person’s nose. 3. Their super ability is limited only to face recognition.
4. Some super recognizers never forget faces. But for some, if you present pairs of feces to them at the same time, they can quickly decide whether the faces are of the same person or two different people.
In fact, many super recognizers say they are very good at “spotting” (发现) faces in a crowd. These subtypes of super recognition could be applied to many areas. 5. Super recognizers could help match faces in CCTV footage (闭路电视镜头). They could also help police spot known troublemakers, bad people or even missing people in crowds.
A. However, studies have found a small number of people have amazing face recognition skills.
B. Researchers have tried to find how certain people are so good at recognizing faces.
C. It is also found that these people are not particularly smarter than others.
D. It is unknown how many people truly have these skills.
E. For example, the skills could be very useful at a passport control checkpoint.
F. The research also found that in general these super recognizers have a good memory.
G. Another important finding is that there are subtypes of super recognition.
You may think that creativity and artistic judgment are what sets humans apart from artificial intelligence (AI). Robots will be washing our windows long before they start creating masterpieces Right?
Not necessarily. At Amper Music (www.ampermusic.com), you can make the music you want based on mood, instrument, speed and length. You click “Render,” and boom! There’s your original piece, not only composed (作曲) but also “performed” and “mixed” by AI software.
But something has kept bothering me: What happens in a world where effort and scarcity (稀缺) are no longer part of the definition of art? A mass-produced print of the Mona Lisa is worth less than the actual Leonardo painting. Why? Scarcity—there’s only one of the original. But Amper turns. professional-quality original piece of music every time you click “Render.” It puts us in a strange world where works of art are unique but require almost zero human effort to produce. Should anyone pay for these things? And if an artist puts AI masterpieces up for sale, what should the price be?
That’s not just a thought experiment either. Soon the question “What’s the value of AI artwork and music?” will start impacting flesh—and—blood consumers. It has already, in fact.
Earlier, reporters discovered something suspicious (可疑的) about many playlists of Spotify—another online music service. According to the report, the composers and bands who wrote the songs appeared to be nonexistent. These playlists have names like Peaceful Piano and Ambient Chill—exactly the kind of music AI software is good at.
Is Spotify using software to compose music to avoid paying fees to human musicians? The New York Times reported that the tracks with false names have been played 500 million times, which would ordinarily have cost Spotify $3 million in payments.
But Spotify has firmly denied that the tracks in question were created by “fake” artists to avoid payments: while posted under pennames, they were written by actual people receiving actual money for work that they own. But the broader issue remains. Why couldn’t Spotify, or any music service, start using AI to produce free music to save itself money? Automation (自动化) is beginning to replace millions of human taxi drivers, truck drivers and fast-food workers. Why should artists and musicians be an exception to the same economics?
Should there be anything in place—a union, a law---to stop that from happening? Or will we always value human-produced art and music more than machine-made stuff? Once we’ve answered those questions, we can settle the really big one: When an AI—composed song wins the Grammy, who will be awarded?
1.What do we know from the example of Amper Music?
A.It doesn’t need any human effort to compose music.
B.It allows ordinary people to perform their own music.
C.It makes a challenge to the traditional definition of art.
D.It produces music works that are similar in styles.
2.The underlined part in Paragraph 4 implies that ________.
A.it is hard to tell AI artworks apart from human artworks
B.people will be charged for AI art in the near future
C.people don’t know what price of AI art is reasonable
D.the scarcity of AI artworks means it is one of a copy
3.Spotify was covered in the media because ________.
A.AI music can be performed free of charge
B.its musicians might not be paid fairly
C.playlists of its music did not actually exist
D.AI software has replaced human musicians
4.The writing purpose of this passage is to ________.
A.draw deserved attention to AI-made artworks
B.warn against the immediate threat from Al art
C.support the use of Al software in art creation
D.solve misunderstandings about AI’s role in art
Social media promotion (促销) has become so important nowadays that businesses are offering freebies to anyone with a certain following on popular social networks. Case in point, this Milan-based restaurant that offers free sushi to people with a bit of influence on Instagram.
Matteo and Tomaso Pittarello, the owners of the “This Is Not a Sushibar” restaurant in Milan, are well aware of the potential (潜力) of social networks like Instagram, and they’re more than willing to give away some sushi, if it means getting some exposure (曝光). At their restaurant, people have the classic payment choices-cash or card-plus a novel one, paying in Instagram followers. ① The idea is pretty simple: the more followers you have, the more you can eat without having to spend a cent.
It makes sense that Instagram stars with hundreds of thousands or even millions of followers get the most free food, but even a few 1,000 followers on the photo-sharing platform will get you a free bit to it Customers who have between 1,000 and 5,000 followers will get a free sushi plate. 5,000 to 10,000 followers get you two free plates, 10,000 to 50,000, four free dishes, 50,000 to 100,000 followers, eight dishes, and people with 100,000 Instagram followers get a free full lunch or dinner.
② Just having a lot of followers isn’t enough, customers also have to publish a post on their Instagram account and tag @thisisnotasishibar and include the hashtag #thisisnotasushibar. will only receive their free sushi after showing the publish post at the counter.
③ “Today, advertising (广告) on social networks and, in particular, Instagram, is what works best,” the Pittarello brothers said, adding that the aim of their Instagram payment method is twofold--by involving Instagrammers both big and small, the business will get bigger exposure, and it will also make customers feel engaged in the project.
“This Is Not a Sushibar” introduced the payment alternative (选择), but we’ll have to wait and see how long it will exist for. ④ . Without a set limit of daily Instagram payments, I think the restaurant may start recording losses pretty soon. After all, 1,000 followers on Instagram are not that hard to get, and people will rarely say no to a free lunch.
1.The underlined word “novel” in paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to ________.
A.free B.new
C.fun D.easy
2.What can we infer from the passage?
A.Customers prefer to pay by Instagram rather than in cash or by bank card.
B.Thousands of Instagram users have enjoyed the restaurant’s free sushi.
C.The Pittarello brothers don’t want to advertise through traditional media.
D.Asking customers to publish a post benefits both businesses and customers.
3.The sentence “There is one catch though” can be put in ________.
A.① B.②
C.③ D.④
4.What is the author’s attitude towards the Instagram payment choice?
A.Concerned. B.Optimistic.
C.Supportive. D.Objective.
Children learn to construct language from those around them. Until about the age of three, children tend to learn to develop their language by modeling the speech of their parents, but from that time on, peers have a growing influence as models for language development in children. It is easy to observe that, when adults and old children interact with younger children, they tend to change their language to improve communication with younger children, and this changed language is called caretaker speech
When speaking to young children most people will, without thinking, find ways to simplify their language. A caretaker will speak in one way with adults and in a very different way with young children. Caretaker speech tends to be slower speech with short simple words which are said in a high-pitched (高嗓音)voice with strong inflections (音调变化) and many repetitions of essential information.
Caretaker speech serves the very important function of allowing young children to acquire (学得) language more easily. The simplified words and sentences make it easier for the small child to begin to comprehend, and the repetitions strengthen the child’s developing understanding. Then, as a child’s speech develops, caretakers tend to adjust their language to a level that is slightly above that of a younger child. Without recognition of what they are doing, these caretakers will speak in one way to a one-year-old and in a more complex (复杂的) way as the child reaches the age of two or three.
There are debates among experts about whether caretaker speech is a natural function or a learned one. Those who believe that caretaker speech is a natural function in humans believe that it is human nature for children to acquire language and for those around them to encourage children to learn language naturally; the presence of a child is itself a natural stimulus (刺激) that increases the rate of caretaker speech among those present.
However, other experts believe that caretaker speech develops through nurturing (教育) rather than nature. They argue that people will try out different ways to communicate with a child and according to the child’s responses, choose the most effective speech; a parent might, for example, learn to use speech with strong inflections with a small child because the strong inflections do a better job attracting the child’s attention than do more small inflections.
1.According to the text, children over the age of three ________.
A.learn little language from those around them
B.are no longer influenced by the language of their parents
C.are influenced more by those closer to their own age
D.stop using caretaker speech in communication
2.Which of the following is TRUE about caretaker speech?
A.Most people are not familiar with the use of caretaker speech.
B.People generally speak louder to young children without realizing it.
C.Young children use caretaker speech to express themselves.
D.Caretaker speech cannot be understood if it is said only once.
3.It can be learned that parents tend to ________.
A.speak in the same way to a one-year-old and a three-year-old
B.use language that is far above the language level of a child
C.speak in a progressively less complex way as a child grows up
D.change their speech according to the language development of a child
4.It can be inferred that someone who believes in nurture over nature _________.
A.doesn’t believe children have a born ability to learn language
B.prefers to communicate with children in adults’ language
C.encourages parents to adjust their speech to children’s needs
D.has a better understanding of children’s language learning
