The person who set the course of my life was a school teacher named Marjorie Hurd. When 1 stepped off a ship in New York Harbor in 1949, I was a nine-year-old war refugee, who had lost his mother and was coming to live with the father he did not know. My mother, Eleni Gatzoyiannis, had been imprisoned and shot for sending my sisters and me to freedom.
I was thirteen years old when I entered Chandler Junior High. Shortly after I arrived, I was told to select a hobby to pursue during“club hours.” The idea of hobbies and clubs made no sense to my immigrant ears, but I decided to follow the prettiest girl in my class. She led me into the presence of Miss Hurd, the school newspaper adviser and English teacher.
A tough woman with salt-and pepper hair and determined eyes, Miss Hurd had no patience with lazy bones. She drilled us in grammar, assigned stories for us to read and discuss, and eventually taught us how to put out a newspaper. Her introduction to the literary wealth of Greece gave me a new perspective on my war-torn homeland, making me proud of my origins. Her efforts inspired me to understand the logic and structure of the English language. Owing to her inspiration, during my next twenty-five years, I became a, journalist by profession.
Miss Hurd retired at the age of 62. By then, she had taught for a total of 41 years. Even after her retirement, she continually made a project of unwilling students in whom she spied a spark of potential. The students were mainly from the most troubled homes, yet she alternately bullied and charmed them with her own special brand of tough love, until the spark caught fire.
Miss Hurd was the one who directed my grief and pain into writing. But for Miss Hurd, I wouldn't have become & reporter. She was the one who sent me into journalism and indirectly caused all the good things that came after.
1.What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 2 most probably mean?
A.Hobbies and clubs did not interest the author.
B.The author turned a deaf ear to joining clubs.
C.Hobbies and clubs were inaccessible to immigrants like the author.
D.The author had no idea what hobbies and clubs were all about.
2.Which of the following caused the author to think of his homeland differently?
A.Stepping on the American soil for the first time.
B.Being exposed to Greek literary works.
C.Her mother's miserable death.
D.Following the prettiest girl in his class.
3.It can be inferred from Paragraph 4 that
A.Miss Hurd employed a unique way to handle these students.
B.Miss Hurd's contribution was recognized across the nation.
C.Students from troubled homes preferred Miss Hurd's teaching style.
D.The students Miss Hurd taught were all finally fired.
4.What is the text mainly about?
A.How the author became a journalist.
B.The importance of inspiration in one's life.
C.The teacher who shaped the author's life.
D.Factors contributing to a successful career.
With the lure (诱惑) of high salaries and strong job prospects, a lot of students enter college thinking they will major in engineering. If you think engineering might be a good choice for you, a summer engineering program is a great way to learn more about the field and expand your experiences. Below are some excellent summer engineering programs.
Johns Hopkins Engineering Innovation
This introductory engineering course for rising juniors and seniors is offered by Johns Hopkins University at several locations across the country. Engineering Innovation teaches critical thinking and applied problem-solving skills for future engineers through lectures, research and projects. If the student achieves an A or B in the program, they will also receive three transferable credits from Johns Hopkins University. The program runs for four or five days a week over four to five weeks, depending on the location. Most locations offer commuter programs only, but the Johns Hopkins Homewood campus in Baltimore also offers a residential option.
Minority Introduction to Engineering and Science (MITES)
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology offers this enrichment program for high school juniors interested in engineering, science and entrepreneurship. Students select five of 14 rigorous (严格的) academic courses to study over the six weeks of the program, during which time they have several opportunities to network with a diverse group of individuals within the fields of science and engineering. Students also share and celebrate their own cultures. MITES is scholarship-based; those students selected for the program need only provide their own transportation to and from the MIT campus.
Summer Engineering Exploration Camp
Hosted by the University of Michigan, this program is a one-week residential camp for rising high school sophomores, juniors and seniors interested in engineering. Participants have the opportunity to explore several different areas of engineering during engineering workplace tours, group projects, and presentations by students, faculty and professional engineers. Campers also enjoy recreational events and experience a university residential atmosphere in the University of Michigan dorms.
Exploring Your Options at the University of Illinois
This residential summer engineering camp for rising high school juniors and seniors is offered by the Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering program, headquartered at the University of Illinois. Campers have the chance to interact with engineering students and faculty, visit engineering facilities and research labs at the university, and work together on hands-on engineering projects. Students also participate in traditional camp recreational and social activities. The camp runs for two one-week sessions during June and July.
1.Which of the following programs lasts longest?
A. Johns Hopkins Engineering Innovation
B. Minority Introduction to Engineering and Science
C. Summer Engineering Exploration Camp
D. Exploring Your Options at the University of Illinois
2.If you choose the program of MIT, you will ________.
A. pay a visit to fabulous research labs
B. have the chance to win a scholarship
C. enjoy recreational activities with faculty
D. experience a university residential atmosphere
3.This passage may be intended for ________.
A. engineering majors B. professional engineers
C. high school students D. scientifically gifted children
请看下面漫画以及李明的两篇日记，用英语写一篇短文。
（写作内容）
1.用约30个单词概述上述两篇日记的内容
2,用约120个单词发表你的观点，
内容包括：(1)陈述上述两篇日记及漫画所反映的何题；
(2)结合自身实际，谈谈日记及漫画给你的启示 .
（写作要求）
A.词数150左右。
B.作文中不得提及考生所在班级和本人姓名。
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
请认真阅读下列短文，并根据所读内容在文章后表格中的空格里填入—个最恰当的单词。
注意：每个空格只填1个单词，请将答案写在答题纸上相应题号的横线上。
What lies behind the “pay-for-knowledge" boom?
Have you ever paid for educational live videos? Ask a woman on the street and the chances are that she will say yes. These years has seen China's ride on the peak of a trend—"pay-for-knowledge", a new economy that is popular in its prosperity. The content of its products ranges from economics, psychology, and finance to skills of talking, body-building, and baby-caring.
Then what accounts for this craze on “knowledge”？ First of all, the Internet serves as a precondition. Compared with traditional business models, online business has removed the barriers. With a fast network and a smartphone, anyone having passed the identity check upon online platforms can apply to be an online teacher, and anyone with an online account can pay for “knowledge products,, he/she wants at an affordable price. Meanwhile, in this age of information, a fear of missing out is generated by information explosion. On one hand, there is ever more desire for focused information that is useful and relevant. On the other hand, such information is usually at the hands of professionals and experts serving well-known companies and schools with high walls.
Admittedly, this “knowledge-based" payment fashion has proved to be profitable. With regard to the whole society, information is motivated to flow relatively free and, to some extent, complete control of information is broken. Besides, as a new industry, this economy insert vigor （活力）into the development of our country. Sellers can reap rich profits from it; buyers can enjoy self-growth and a broader horizon. Plus, this is also a reflection of respect for knowledge and talents. It promises possibilities of turning information into income.
As with all the new industry, however, the "pay-for-knowledge" boom betrays a few problems. For one thing, the market is full of exaggerated slogans, which sound like once you pay for it, you are sure to succeed immediately. Also, most “knowledge" products cannot be counted as knowledge at all. For another, a number of consumers believe such nonsense and buy them just for showing off. It is a pity for them not to understand that in essence, to digest knowledge-based commodities requires a long-term investment of time and energy, as well as the ability to learn by oneself.
On balance, the best is the one that suits you best. Knowledge-based payment should be used as a good start for individual exploration rather than a clutch at straws to save your life. Be careful. Otherwise, great expectation may turn out to be daydreams.
Passage outline | Supporting details |
General introduction | ♦“Pay-for-knowledge" refers to a new economy which is now enjoying 1. and prosperity in China. ♦ The content of its products 2. many areas of our life. |
3. for the craze | ♦The fast network and smartphone make it possible for people to get 4. in online business. ♦ People are afraid to miss the information that is useful and relevant. |
5. | ♦People are relatively free to 6. information with others. ♦This economy can 7. the development of our country. ♦It reflects people's respect for knowledge and talents. |
problems | ♦ The market doesn't always provide 8. information, which may mislead consumers. ♦A number of consumers buy the products blindly. Actually, they can hardly invest so much time and energy to digest, and they 9. the ability to learn by themselves. |
conclusion | People shouldn't 10. too much from knowledge-based payment and the best is the one that suits you best. |
Microsoft announced this week that its facial-recognition system is now more accurate in identifying people of color, touting （吹嘘）its progress at tacking one of the technology’s biggest biases （偏见）.But critics, citing Microsoft's work with immigration and Customs Enforcement ,quickly seized on how that improved technology might be used. The agency contracts with Microsoft for cloud-computing tools that the tech giant says is largely limited to office work but can also face recognition.
Columbia University professor Alondra Nelson tweeted. “We must stop confusing 'inclusion5 in more 'diverse' surveillance （监管）systems with justice and equality.”
Facial-recognition systems more often misidentify people of color because of a long-running data problem: The massive sets of facial images they train on skew heavily toward white men. A Massachusetts Institute of Technology study this year of the face-recognition systems designed by Microsoft, IBM and the China-based Face found facial-recognition systems consistently giving the wrong gender for famous women of color including Oprah Winfrey, Serena Williams, Michelle Obama and Shirley Chisholm, the first black female member of Congress.
The companies have responded in recent months by pouring many more photos into the mix, hoping to train the systems to better tell the differences among more than just white faces. IBM said Wednesday it used 1 million facial images, taken from the photo-sharing site Flickr, to build the "world's largest facial data-set" which it will release publicly for other companies to use.
IBM and Microsoft say that allowed its systems to recognize gender and skin tone with much more precision. Microsoft said its improved system reduced the error rates for darker-skinned men and women by "up to 20 times,n and reduced error rates for all women by nine times.
Those- improvements were heralded （宣布）by some for taking aim at the prejudices in a rapidly spreading technology, including potentially reducing the kinds of false positives that could lead police officers misidentify a criminal suspect.
But others suggested that the technology's increasing accuracy could also make it more marketable. The system should be accurate, "but that’s just the beginning, not the end, of their ethical obligation,” said David Robinson, managing director of the think tank Upturn.
At the center of that debate is Microsoft, whose multimillion-dollar contracts with ICE came under fire amid the agency's separation of migrant parents and children at the Mexican border.
In an open letter to Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella urging the company to cancel that contract, Microsoft workers pointed to a company blog post in January that said Azure Government would help ICE “accelerate recognition and identification.” “We believe that Microsoft must take an ethical stand, and put children and families above profits,”the letter said.
A Microsoft spokesman, pointing to a statement last week from Nadella, said the company's "current cloud engagement” with ICE supports relatively anodyne （温和的）office work such as calendar, massaging and document management workloads.” The company said in a statement that its facial-recognition improvements are “part of our going work to address the industry-wide issues on bias.”
Criticism of face recognition will probably expand as the technology finds its way into more arenas, including airport. stores and schools. The Orlando police department said this week that it Would not renew its use of Amazon. Com's Rekognition system.
“Companies have to acknowledge their moral involvement in the downstream use of their technology,” Robinson said : “The impulse is that they're going to put a product out there and wash their hands of the consequences. That’s unacceptable”.
1.What is “one of the technology's biggest biases ”in Paragraph 1?
A.Class bias. B.Racial discrimination.
C.Professional prejudice. D.Regional difference.
2.What can we know about the improvement of facial-recognition technology?
A.It is due to the expansion of the photo database.
B.Justice and equality have been truly achieved.
C.It has already solved all the social issues on biases.
D.Migrant parents and their children can be reunited.
3.What is the focus of the face-recognition debate?
A.Data problems. B.The market value.
C.The application field. D.A moral issue
4.What is David Robinson's attitude towards facial-recognition technology?
A.optimistic. B.Approval.
C.Skeptical. D.Neutral.
5.We can infer from the last paragraph that ______.
A.companies had better hide from responsibilities
B.companies should not launch new products on impulse
C.companies deny problems with the technical process of facial-recognition system
D.companies should be responsible for the new product and the consequences
6.Which can be the suitable title for the passage?
A.Fears of facial-recognition technology B.The wide use of Microsoft system
C.The improvement of Microsoft system D.Failure of recognizing black women
Every weekday, shortly after 11 a.m., a line forms at the Broadway and 38th Street location of Sweetgreen, the eco-conscious salad chain. By noon, the line has usually tripled （三倍）in size.
The scene is similar at the Chop't, or the Dig Inn, or the Just Salad one block south. Greens, once so unattractive that parents all over the country had to beg their children to eat them, have never been hotter.
At Sweetgreen , the appeal is partly ethical . The ingredients are sustainably farmed, sourced from trusted partner and served with transparency. There are vegetarian, gluten-free and “warm bowl” options. There are raw beets and organic carrots. It's enough to make the most wasteful among us feel satisfied . It is any wonder that Sweetgreen is the fastest growing salad chain in the United States?
The moral overtones extend even to the trash. As customers pay and head back toward their various workplaces , they pass an often Overflowing garbage bin with a proud sign above it that says that all of the company’s utensils, napkins, bowls and cups are plant-based, "which means they go in the compost bin（堆肥箱），along with any leftover food." "Nothing from inside Sweetgreen goes to the landfill（垃圾填埋）,” the sign declares further, virtuously.
But that's far from the truth, although it,s not the chain's fault.
Zara Watson, a lawyer who eats at Sweetgreen three times a week, throws the waste from her healthful lunch directly in the trash because she does not have to compost at her office. So does Sam Hockley, the managing director at the software company Meltwater, who is willing to eat a Sweetgreen bowl for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
Salad is appealing not only because the food is healthy for us but because it's healthy for the world. But even as Sweetgreen and its marvelous effort, the compostable（可降解的） containers the chain puts such care into providing are, more often than not, going to a landfill.
Eric Goldstein, the New York City environment director, said that it typically takes a city about a decade to transition to successful composting. Now New York faces several challenges, one " which is educating people on how to compost in the first place. u!f you were to stop a person in the street, 1 don't know how many people could even tell you what composting really is," he said. "We need a large-scale program to let New Yorkers know why this is important and how to participate in the program .”
And of course, composting itself is not the gold standard of eco-conscious lunch disposal, “it's still best to use reusable things, even before composting and recycling,” Mr. Goldstein said. "But composting is an extremely valuable thing to do."
1.The reasons why Sweetgreen is so popular include all the followings EXCEPT _________.
A.the ingredients it uses are safe and reliable
B.The products it offers are attractive to children
C.The products it offers meet the needs of different customers
D.there is a growing trend toward eating green
2.Which of the following statements is true according to the sign above the garbage bin at Sweetgreen?
A.The shop encourages customers not to waste food.
B.The containers that Sweetgreen uses are reusable.
C.The leftover food from the shop will be sent to landfill.
D.The tableware that Sweetgreen uses is environment-friendly.
3.why does Zara throw the waste in the trash after eating Sweetgreen's salads?
A.Because composting is unnecessary where she works.
B.Because she thinks it is wrong to compost waste.
C.Because the material Sweetgreen uses isn't compostable.
D.Because she is unwilling to walk to the compost bin.
4.What can we learn from Eric Goldstein's words?
A.The biggest challenge in composting is the objection from customers.
B.Most Americans have realized the necessity of garbage classification.
C.The transition to successful composting in New York is a tough task.
D.The best way to deal with leftover food is to turn it into compost.
