Directions: After trading the passage below, fill in the blanks to make the passage coherent and grammatically correct. For the blanks with a given word, fill in each blank with the proper form of the given word: for the other blanks, use one word that best Jits each blank.
Marian Bechtel sits at West Palm Beach's Bar Louie counter by herself, quietly reading her e-book as she waits for her salad. What is she reading? None of your business! Lunch is Bechtel's "me" time. And 1. more Americans, she's not alone.
A new report found 46 percent of meals are eaten alone in America. More than half (53%) have breakfast alone and nearly half (46%) have lunch by themselves. Only at dinnertime 2. we eating together, 74%, according to statistics from the report.
"I prefer to go out and be out. Alone, but together, you know?” Bechtel said, 3. (look) up from her book. Bechtel, who works in downtown West Palm Beach, has lunch with coworkers sometimes, but like many of us, too often 4. (work) through lunch at her desk. A lunchtime escape allows her to keep a boss from tapping her on 5. shoulder. She returns to work feeling energized. "Today, I just wanted some time to myself,” she said.
Just two seats over, Andrew Mazoleny, a local videographer, is finishing his lunch at the bar. He likes that he can sit and check his phone in peace or chat up the barkeeper with whom he's on a first-name basis 6. he wants to have a little interaction. “I reflect on 7. my day's gone and think about the rest of the week," he said. "It's a chance for self-reflection. You return to work 8. (refresh) and with a plan.''
That freedom 9. (choose) is one reason more people like to eat alone. There was a time when people may have felt awkward about asking for a table for one, but those days are over. Now, we have our smartphones to keep us company at the table. "It doesn't feel as alone as it may have before all the advances in technology," said Laurie Demeritt, 10. company provided the statistics for the report.
The snow was falling and the roads had become dangerous. The schools were dismissed early, but much to my surprise, my ____ wasn’t canceled. So I went, feeling especially heroic. As far as I could see, I was risking my life to keep my ____. Snow or no snow, I would be on time for my scheduled donation at the local ____ center.
When I got there, I discovered I wasn’t _____. Four more “hero-types” were already lying back in donor chairs with lines ____ to their veins, and machines quietly pumping away to ______ their lifesaving gifts.
Seeing my fellow donors honoring their own commitments, I realized why I was there. I lay back in my donor chair, ready to make a difference in the life of someone I would never _____.
To be honest, I’d never really thought about why I donate. I just do it. But a few months ago, during one of my ____ donations I learned that my blood was specifically for a cancer patient and for a newborn baby—both patients needed what I would give in order to live. I’ve viewed my visits to the blood center _____ ever since.
My wife Karen is a _____, too. And more importantly, she has been on the bone marrow (骨髄) list for fifteen years, ever since she signed up to provide bone marrow to a kindergartner with leukemia (白血病). That little girl died before Karen’s bone marrow could help her, ____ Karen was called again recently. Her test results were still on file, and it turned out she was a potential ____ for someone else. The caller asked Karen if she would still be willing to become a bone marrow donor. “Yes,” she said and then immediately began answering questions on the pages of paperwork for further testing. It was a race ____ time.
I wish I could say that this ____ was won. It wasn’t. The caller later thanked Karen for her participation and asked a few more questions—including whether or not she’d ____ on the donor list. “Of course,” Karen answered.
Last week Karen gave blood and next week I’ll make my usual donation. I’ll ____ an afternoon from my schedule and make an appointment. I don’t know whose life my donation may ____. Most likely it will be a ____, but on any day the person needing a blood product could be you or me or maybe a loved one. It is worthwhile to ___ our time to donate.
I really do feel _____ every time I donate. And I like the feeling.
1.A.appointment B.class C.meeting D.flight
2.A.secret B.balance C.shape D.word
3.A.service B.shopping C.blood D.care
4.A.alone B.welcome C.late D.lucky
5.A.exposed B.attached C.applied D.added
6.A.examine B.produce C.collect D.clean
7.A.meet B.forget C.miss D.recognize
8.A.regular B.unexpected C.special D.pleasant
9.A.wisely B.differently C.hesitantly D.carefully
10.A.receiver B.doctor C.patient D.donor
11.A.or B.but C.and D.for
12.A.risk B.customer C.match D.partner
13.A.beyond B.with C.against D.of
14.A.honor B.test C.prize D.race
15.A.rank B.sign C.appear D.remain
16.A.clear B.separate C.lose D.remove
17.A.touch B.affect C.create D.enrich
18.A.child B.stranger C.hero D.friend
19.A.spend B.save C.kill D.take
20.A.empty B.grateful C.proud D.nervous
News anchors(主播) must have been reluctant to read out the following news: Xin Xiaomeng began working as the world’s first female artificial(人工的) intelligence news anchor at Xinhua News Agency on Sunday, three months after a male robot joined the profession.
Unlike previous news robots though, Xin does not read news like a cold machine; she reads it almost like a human being. The muscles on her face stretch and relax — and her reactions change as she continues reading. That’s why many news anchors were worried: Will AI replace us in the near future?
To find the answer, we have to analyze the technologies that support Xin at her job. Three key technologies are used to support Xin. First, samples of human voices are collected and synthesized (合成). This is followed by the collection and synthesis of human muscle movement samples. And third the voices and movements are married in a way that when the AI news anchor reads, the micro- electric motors behind her face move to make her expressions seem more human.
Yet we need a thorough knowledge of deep learning technology to make a robot imitate a person’s voice. The developer needs to collect tens of thousands of pieces of pronunciations, input them into the machine and match them with the text for the AI to learn and read. The process for imitating facial movements is similar. The developer has to analyze the movements of the 53 muscles in the human face, make a model set from the collected data for the AI news anchor to learn, and imitate the movements of facial muscles via programs
Both the technologies used to make Xin’s performance impressive are mature. The real difficulty lies in the third — the technology to match the pronunciations with facial movements so that Xin’s expressions vary according to the content of the news report. In fact, Xin’s expressions don’t always change according to the content. As a result, her expressions look anything but human. Actually, AI is still no match for human qualities.
1.What does the underlined word “reluctant” in the first paragraph mean?
A.Delighted B.Unwilling
C.Confused D.Optimistic
2.What can we infer about previous news robots?
A.They read news without expressions. B.They looked like a human being.
C.They could interview sports stars. D.They could interact with audience.
3.From the last paragraph, we can draw a conclusion that .
A.human news anchors should learn from AI anchors to save their jobs
B.Al anchors perform much better than human news anchors at present
C.Al news anchors won’t replace human news anchors in the near future
D.Xin Xiaomeng’s expressions vary so naturally that they are true to life
Most heroes are not super. They don't appear in comic books, on television, or in movies. They just do what they believe needs to be done to make their world a better place. Bike Batman is one of them.
Bike Batman is a 30-year-old married engineer who lives in Seattle, Washington. He's a cyclist who also buys and sells bikes as a hobby.
About three years ago, he was looking for a bike for his wife. He found one on Craigslist, a website where people list things they want to sell. As he often does, he also looked at Bike Index, a popular website that allows users to register their bikes and post reports when they're taken. The bike, which he was considering purchasing, clearly matched one reported stolen on Bike Index. Then he called the person who claimed to be the bike's owner and arranged to meet him-- supposedly to complete the sale. When the two men met, Bike Batman told the thief, "You've got two options. You can wait until a police officer gets here, or you can just get out of here." You can imagine what the thief did.
After that first success, Bike Batman developed a safer routine. When he sees questionable bike ads on Craigslist, he cross-references the image with bikes reported on Bike Index. Once he has confirmed it with the owner, he arranges a meet-up with the thief and will call the Seattle police department so that officers can participate in the action. In more than half of the 22 cases in which he has got back and returned bikes, the thieves have been arrested. In one case, Bike Batman even helped a family recover a wide range of prized possessions that suspects had stolen during a home burglary.
His nickname came from a discussion with a police officer who suggested he be called "Robin Hood". Since he wasn't exactly stealing from the rich and giving to the poor, "Batman" seemed a better fit. The idea of a superhero punishing criminals feels pretty silly to him, but the main reason he continues his work is to keep up Seattle's reputation as a friendly city.
1.When Bike Batman discovers a questionable bike, he will first ________.
A.contact the owner of the stolen bike B.look up the bike's information
C.call the police department D.arrange to meet the thief
2.Bike Batman helps find the lost bikes to ________.
A.become famous B.help poor people
C.punish bike thieves D.build a friendly city
3.From the passage, we can learn that ________.
A.Bike Batman felt relieved to see the thieves arrested
B.Bike Batman began his good deeds by accident
C.the police failed to perform their duties
D.the thieves refused to return the bikes
In the shadow of Kenya’s Mount Kilimanjaro, nine Rothschild giraffes, the rarest giraffes on the planet, are free to wander at the English-style manor (庄园). Every day shortly before 9am, they come up to the house and stick their heads through the windows and doors in search of morning treats. The manor’s owners, Tanya and Mikey Carr-Hartley, share their dining table with them. And now the couple are sharing the fantastic experience with the public by opening the manor gates to guests at the giraffe hotel, the only hotel of its kind in the world. Now, guests can feed the giraffes at breakfast but can also get up close to them from their second-floor bedrooms.
Mr and Mrs Carr-Hartley，both 38, spent their childhood living close to the house in Nairobi and have always been enthusiastic about the animals. Tanya said, “Mikey and I grew up near this manor house when we were children. We are both third generation Kenyans and have always wanted to work in conservation. Mikey’s family have been related to the protection of animals for many generations. His granddad helped the removal of giraffes as far back as the 1930s because the Rothschild giraffes lost much of their natural living space. When the house came up for sale, we jumped at the chance to buy it as we had always dreamed of owning it. Now, we were absolutely overjoyed to do something for the giraffe protection. Having the giraffes so close is very special and something which people can now experience by staying in one of the ten rooms at the hotel.”
A conservation project to save them was started at the manor in 1974 by the previous owners. “The previous owners ran a very successful breeding (繁殖) programme, where many giraffes were set free into the wild and we hope to continue,” said Tanya.
1.Why are the Carr-Hartley family unusual?
A.They’re living on the rarest giraffes. B.They share their home with giraffes.
C.They’re good at making giraffes’ food. D.They train giraffes to manage the hotel.
2.What can we know about Mikey’s family?
A.It has had a long connection with giraffes. B.It used to raise giraffes around the manor.
C.It built a new manor for the wild giraffes. D.It removed giraffes to Mount Kilimanjaro.
3.Which can best describe the manor’s previous owners’ conservation project?
A.Visitor-friendly. B.Energy-saving. C.Costly. D.Fruitful.
4.What is the suitable title for the text?
A.Giraffes’ breakfast by guests B.Reasons for giraffe protection
C.The world’s only giraffe hotel D.History of the giraffe manor
Britain’s first zero-carbon homes are being built—and they look like something from a science-fiction movie.
There are 25 eco-friendly homes currently being built in Southmoor, near Abingdon, Oxon. Buyers are able to have the final say on floor layouts，kitchens and bathrooms. One three-bedroom home is on the market for￡801 ,000,with a custom build available to suit your own specification. These eco-friendly houses are powered entirely by electricity from solar panels around the houses. They also have advanced ventilation (通风) systems, making sure that temperatures inside the building don’t go beyond 25℃ for more than 10% of hours annually, as well as mini heat pumps to generate (产生) the heating and hot water on-site. Part of the cooling design includes avoiding east-or west-facing windows, and window shading.
And they’re in high demand. Ian Pritchett, of Ssassy Property, thinks the Government should do more to promote the construction of this type of housing. “Unfortunately, the Government relaxed the proposed 2016 zero-carbon targets after being lobbied(游说)by house builders,” Ian explained. “At present, the main house-building corporations control the land and only build at the rate they are sure will sell, keeping the UK’s housing shortage so that the normal rules of ‘supply and demand’ don’t apply. When there is a shortage of housing, buyers have to purchase what is available rather than what they might want.”
In any sensible society, we would expect the planning system to actively encourage zero-carbon houses，and he tough on anyone failing to deliver the necessary standard. Instead, we have a planning system that focuses on other aspects such as numbers of bedrooms, garden sizes, and parking places. These are important aspects, but they pale into insignificance compared to the catastrophic consequences of climate change.
1.What can a purchaser do before buying the type of housing?
A.Negotiate its price. B.Choose where to build it.
C.Decide how the inside of it looks. D.Design its ventilation.
2.How do people react to the zero-carbon homes?
A.Welcome. B.Uncaring.
C.Skeptical. D.Demanding.
3.What do house-building companies intend to do?
A.Balance the “supply and demand” of houses.
B.Purchase more land to stop climate change.
C.Build more houses powered by the sun.
D.Make it more difficult to buy houses.
4.What’s the author’s attitude to the Government’s planning system?
A.Satisfied. B.Disapproving.
C.Worried. D.Ambiguous.
