Contemporary worries about the impact of technology are part of a historical pattern. The new technologies that dominated the past decade seem to be making things worse. Parents worry that smartphones have turned their children into screen-addicted zombies. The technologies expected to dominate the new decade also seem to cast a dark shadow. Artificial intelligence (AI) may well deepen bias and prejudice, threaten your job and shore up authoritarian rulers.
Today’s gloomy mood is centred on smartphones and social media, which took off a decade ago. Yet concerns that humanity has taken a technological wrong turn, or that particular technologies might be doing more harm than good, have arisen before. Stand back, and in these historical cases disappointment arose from a mix of unrealised hopes and unforeseen consequences. Technology frees the forces of creative destruction, so it is only natural that it leads to anxiety: for any given technology its drawbacks sometimes seem to outweigh its benefits. When this happens with several technologies at once, as today, the result is a wider sense of techno-pessimism.
However, that pessimism can be overdone. Too often people focus on the drawbacks of a new technology while taking its benefits for granted. Worries about screen time should be weighed against the much more substantial benefits of instant communication and access to information and entertainment that smartphones make possible. A further danger is that efforts to avoid the short-term costs associated with a new technology will end up denying access to its long-term benefits—something called a “technology trap”. Fears that robots will steal people’s jobs may prompt politicians to tax them, for example, to discourage their use. Yet in the long run countries that wish to maintain their standard of living as their workforce ages and shrinks will need more robots, not fewer.
That points to another lesson, which is that the remedy to technology-related problems very often involves more technology. And the most important lesson is about technology itself. Any powerful technology can be used for good or ill. Biotechnology can raise crop yields and cure diseases, but it could equally lead to deadly weapons. Technology itself has no agency: it is the choices people make about it that shape the world. Thus the techlash (技术鞭策) is a necessary step in the adoption of important new technologies. At its best, it helps frame how society comes to terms with innovations and imposes rules and policies that limit their destructive potential, accommodate change or strike a trade-off. Healthy skepticism means that these questions are settled by a broad debate, not by a group of technologists.
Perhaps the real source of anxiety is not technology itself, but growing doubts about the ability of societies to hold this debate and come up with good answers. In that sense, techno-pessimism is a symptom of political pessimism. Yet there is something comforting about this: a gloomy debate is much better than no debate at all. And history still argues, on the whole, for optimism.
1.What is Paragraph 2 mainly about?
A.Reasons for techno-pessimism. B.History of technology development.
C.Consequences of technological turns. D.Attitude towards particular technologies.
2.What can we learn from the passage?
A.Worries about technology started a decade ago.
B.The drawbacks of technology are always neglected.
C.Skepticism is helpful for technology development if properly applied.
D.There isn’t much we can do to limit the destructive potential of technology.
3.Which of the following would be the best title for the passage?
A.History vs. Today. B.Technology vs. Debate.
C.Technology vs. Society. D.Pessimism vs. progress.
4.Which of the following shows the development of ideas in this passage?
I: Introduction P: Point Sp: Sub-point (次要点) C: Conclusion
A.
B.
C.
D.
Loneliness hurts. It is psychologically distressing and so physically unhealthy that being lonely increases the likelihood of an earlier death by 26 percent. But psychologists think it hurts so much because, like hunger and thirst, loneliness acts as a biological alarm bell.
On March 26, just as the COVID-19 pandemic gripped the world, researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology posted a report on bioRxiv. It is the first study in humans to show that both loneliness and hunger share signals deep in a part of the brain that governs very basic impulses for reward and motivation. So, our need to connect is apparently as fundamental as our need to eat.
The researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to compare brain responses to loneliness and hunger. 40 adult participants underwent a 10-hour session depriving (剥夺) them of food and another 10-hour session denying them social contact. Both sessions served as a control (对照) condition for each other.
The social-isolation condition was challenging to arrange. Some people are lonely in a crowd, while others enjoy solitude To induce(l t)not just objective isolation but subjective feelings of loneliness, the researchers had the participants spend their time from 9 A.M. to 7 P.M. in a room at the laboratory without phones, laptops or even novels in case fictional characters provided some social support. Puzzles were allowed, as was preapproved nonfiction reading or writing.
Researchers then focused on a midbrain region called “the substantia nigra”, a center of dopamine (多巴胺) release involved with motivation and desire. The dopaminergic response shows a strong wanting. In the scanner, participants saw images of their preferred forms of social interaction and of their favorite foods, as well as a control image of flowers. It was then found that the substantia nigra responded only to cues of what they had been deprived of. The magnitude of the response correlated with the subjects’ self-reports of how hungry or lonely they were, though the feelings of hunger were consistently stronger.
Finally, the researchers used machine learning to confirm their findings. A software classifier trained to recognize neural patterns during fasting (斋戒) proved able to recognize similar neural patterns from the social-isolation condition even though it had never “seen” them. So there seems to be an underlying shared neural signature between the two states.
Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, an obvious next question for the work was whether different forms of social media could satisfy the need for social connection. Those researchers were never able to get funding for such a study. But now it seems they will.
1.The report posted on March 26 ________.
A.is based on the social-isolation condition during the pandemic
B.is the first study on the effect of loneliness on human beings
C.reflects the similarity between loneliness and hunger
D.shows human need for reward and motivation
2.What is Paragraph 4 mainly about?
A.Why inducing feelings of loneliness was challenging
B.How loneliness was created among participants
C.Why participants were denied access to phones
D.How researchers compared brain responses
3.We can infer that participants’ substantia nigra showed ________ response(s) to the image of flowers.
A.little B.various
C.strong D.consistent
4.What does the underlined “it” in Paragraph 6 refer to?
A.The neural signature. B.Fasting.
C.Machine learning. D.The classifier.
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1.The text is most probably taken from ________.
A.a research paper B.a text book
C.a travel brochure D.a user guide
2.What can we learn from the first paragraph?
A.You can hop on a bus or boat for limited times.
B.The Colorful Copenhagen tour is a non-stop tour.
C.Sightseeing tours are equipped with video guide in 11 languages.
D.All the main scenic spots are covered in the Copenhagen Panorama tour.
3.If you want to fully explore Copenhagen at your own pace, which might be the best choice?
A.Choose the classic I hour live guided Grand Tour.
B.Get a combination ticket that combines bus and boat tours.
C.First buy a bus ticket and then buy a boat ticket for all the attractions.
D.Explore the idyllic harbor and canals of Copenhagen with a canal tour.
A lifesaving traffic stop
Kemira had just jumped in the shower when her mother Tammy banged on the door. Kemira’s 12-day-old daughter was _______. Having fed baby Ryleigh just 30 minutes earlier, the new mother burst out of the bathroom and began patting her daughter _______ the back. Ryleigh was usually quick to cry. Now she didn’t make a _______, “I’d been told to raise their arms when babies are choking, so I tried that, but she still was _______ to breathe,” Kemira said later. She knew Ryleigh needed to get to the hospital fast.
The three had barely _______ it out of their neighborhood when the flashing lights of a police cruiser appeared behind them. Deputy Will Kimbro figured that the _______ driver was either too distracted to notice him or simply unconcerned. Kimbro soon found out it was a frightening _______ of the two.
Once she’d _______ to the curb (路边), a frantic Tammy jumped out of the car, exclaiming that her granddaughter had stopped breathing.
Desperate for help, Kemira handed the baby to Kimbro. He put a hand on her little _______. Ryleigh’s heart was barely beating.
Kimbro radioed for a(an) ________—it was seven minutes out, and the hospital was even further away. That was seven minutes Ryleigh didn’t have, her lips already an ominous shade of blue.
Luckily, Kimbro had recently completed a CPR class and knew ________ how to treat a baby. “Although I was ________, my training kicked in, and I went to work to keep that baby ________,” says Kimbro. He gave Ryleigh to Kemira to hold, his hands busy as he checked for a pulse. Then he began tapping and kneading (揉) Ryleigh’s chest, hoping to massage her heart back into action. Thanks to the CPR class, Kimbro knew the choking baby didn’t have a ________ if there was a blockage, and he used one finger to clear her airway (气道). That was the magic touch; 20 seconds later, Ryleigh began to fuss. Then came a whimper.
“If she’s crying like that, she’s breathing,” said Kimbro. The ________ was obvious in his trembling voice. “________ she’s crying, she’s breathing.”
But they still had five more minutes until medical service would arrive, and Kimbro worried that Ryleigh would choke again. He continued with delicate chest compressions and periodically clearing her airway.
In the body camera footage, Kimbro can be heard ________ Kemira, the approaching sirens wailing in the background: “I didn’t feel a heartbeat earlier, so I started massaging her heart and now I feel it. It’s real strong now.”
At the hospital, Ryleigh ________ quickly, and she was back to her ________ lively self in no time—thanks to a ________ police officer who was in the right place at the right time.
1.A.laughing B.crying C.murmuring D.choking
2.A.on B.at C.in D.against
3.A.wish B.face C.sound D.decision
4.A.unwilling B.hesitating C.expected D.forced
5.A.made B.sought C.got D.took
6.A.drunk B.speeding C.skillful D.relaxed
7.A.alternative B.former C.combination D.latter
8.A.pulled away B.pulled into C.pulled through D.pulled over
9.A.stomach B.chest C.throat D.back
10.A.ambulance B.nurse C.assistant D.mask
11.A.only B.hardly C.instantly D.exactly
12.A.thrilled B.shocked C.worn D.skeptical
13.A.alive B.asleep C.warm D.quiet
14.A.breath B.cure C.symptom D.chance
15.A.faith B.numbness C.concern D.relief
16.A.Even though B.As if C.As long as D.If only
17.A.Inquiring B.comforting C.catering D.interrupting
18.A.suffered B.developed C.recovered D.faded
19.A.usual B.unique C.true D.inner
20.A.sacred B.lucky C.determined D.cheerful
4 月 22 日是世界地球日，请根据下面的内容提示，结合实际，以 Making Every Day Earth Day 为题写一篇短文寄给21st Century杂志社。词数 100 左右。
提示：1. 地球的现状和存在的问题；
2. 人们在“地球日”这天用什么行动关爱地球；
3. 号召人们把每一天都当作地球日，天天关爱地球。
Making Every Day Earth Day
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假定英语课上老师要求同桌之间交换修改作文，请你修改你同桌写的以下作文。文中共有10处语言错误，每句中最多有两处。每处错误仅涉及一个单词的增加、删除或修改。
增加：在缺词处加一个漏字符号（∧），并在其下面写出该加的词
删除：把多余的词用斜线（\）划掉
修改：在错词下划一横线，并在该词下面写出修改后的词
注意：1．每处错误及其修改均仅限一词2．只允许修改10处，多者（从第11处起）不计分。
Yesterday, I made a visit to“Sea World”, which I could swim with fishes. It was a first time that I had come to Sydney, Australia. I enjoyed I very much. I felt exciting to see so many fishes swimming around me. At first, I am a little frightened but soon I calmed down enough enjoy the trip. I could swim around as freely to fishes. The food there was deliciously too. I must have put up on weight, I was tired but I looked forward to have another fun-filled day before I returned home.
