Face shape lets Al spot rare disorders
People with genetic syndromes （综合征）sometimes have revealing facial features, but using them to make a quick and cheap diagnosis can be _______given there are hundreds of possible conditions they may have. A new neural (神经系统）network that analyses photographs of faces can help doctors _______ the possibilities.
Yaron Gurovich at biotechnology firm FDNA in Boston and his team built a neural network to look at the overall impression of faces and _______ a list of the 10 genetic syndromes a person is most likely to have.
They _______ the neural network, called Deep Gestalt, on 17,000 images correctly labeled to match more than 200 genetic syndromes. The team then asked Al to _______potential genetic disorders from a further 502 photos of people with such conditions. It included the correct answer among its list of 10 responses 91 per cent of the time.
Gurovich and his team also _______ the neural network's ability to distinguish between the different genetic mutations （父异）that can lead to the same syndrome. They used photographs of people with Noonan syndrome, which can result from mutations in any one of five genes. Deep Gestalt correctly identified the genetic source of the physical appearance 64 per cent of the time. It's clearly not _______, but it's still much better than humans are at trying to do this.
As the system makes its assessments, the facial regions that are most helpful in the determination are _______ and made available for doctors to view. This helps them to understand the relationships between genetic make-up and physical appearance.
The fact that the diagnosis is based on a simple photograph raises questions about_______ . If faces can reveal details about genetics, then employers and insurance providers could, in principle, ________ use such techniques to have a ________ against people who have a high probability of having certain disorders. ________ , Gurovich says the tool will only be ________ for use by clinicians.
This technique could bring significant________ for those who have genetic syndromes. The real value here is that for some of these ultra-rare diseases, the process of diagnosis can be many, many years. This kind of technology can help narrow down the search space and then be confirmed through checking genetic markers. For some diseases, it will cut down the time to diagnosis dramatically. For others, it could perhaps add means of finding other people with the disease and, ________ , help find new treatments or cures.
1.A.convincing B.practical C.reliable D.tough
2.A.narrow down B.result in C.bring about D.arise from
3.A.wait B.present C.mail D.feed
4.A.focused B.touched C.based D.trained
5.A.adjust B.identify C.change D.cure
6.A.recognized B.showed C.tested D.acquired
7.A.perfect B.acceptable C.specific D.workable
8.A.covered B.highlighted C.excluded D.monitored
9.A.privacy B.accuracy C.reality D.objectivity
10.A.legally B.regularly C.secretly D.efficiently
11.A.vote B.fight C.argument D.prejudice
12.A.Furthermore B.Similarly C.Otherwise D.However
13.A.available B.impossible C.ready D.rare
14.A.challenges B.damages C.benefits D.concerns
15.A.by contrast B.on the contrary C.in addition D.in turn
Without Her Name
It is a truth universally acknowledged that Pride and Prejudice by English novelist Jane Austen is one of the most popular tales ever written. But behind the global admiration she enjoys today lies a sad fact.1.
In Pride and Prejudice, she was simply the author of Sense and Sensibility, which had carried the title “By a Lady.” The anonymity(匿名) worked so well that even friends of the Austen family had no idea that dear, sweet Jane was a novelist. A friend of Jane' s brother Henry actually told him that Pride and Prejudice was “much too clever to be the work of a woman.”
2.Tom Paine, a Founding Father of the United States, kept his identity hidden for a short time after the publication of his famous Common Sense.
For a woman, however, there was the added burden of societal expectations. Any sort of publishing or public display of talent was considered improper behavior for a woman.
It wasn't only fear about “bad manners” that discouraged women from writing under their own names.3. Charlotte Bronte, author of Jane Eyre, once sent her poetry to Robert Southey, a famous poet. Southey simply responded: “Literature cannot be the business of a woman's life.” Bronte used her pen name, Currer Bell, to publish Jane Eyre in 1847.Her sister Emily published Wuthering
Heights as Ellies Bell in the same year.
4.Mary Shelley' s Frankenstein(《科学人》) had come out without her name in 1818.Mary Anne Evans wrote Middlemarch and her other novels under the pen name George Eliot.
The 20th century saw great progress towards gender equality. In theory, it should be unnecessary for women writers to follow Austen' s path any longer, unless driven by personal reasons.5. Joanne Rowling, author of the Harry Potter novels, was advised to become J. K. Rowling. That's because boys might dislike the feeling of picking up a book by a woman. Connie Ann Kirk explained in her biography of Rowling.
A.Jane Austen has attracted a great deal of critical attention in recent years.
B.Women 's writing was seldom taken seriously.
C.Politicians, for reasons of safety, also frequently chose to be invisible.
D.In practice, however, certain prejudices just won't go away.
E.in a 2016 interview, Italian novelist Elena Ferrante claimed her use of a pen name let her concentrate on writing.
F.in her own time, Austen 's name never appeared on her books.
G.They joined a long list of women authors who felt they had to hide.
I’m Dina Asher-Smith. Growing in Orpington, southeast London, I love being the hunter. The one in pursuit. In training, I’ll latch on to the boys and chase them down. Even when I was younger, I tended to race girls who were older than me — at 17 I was racing 30-year-olds. It’s where I’m comfortable. But the hunter can go on to become the hunted. And this year at the World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar, I won gold in the 200m. At 23, I became the first British woman to win a world championship sprinting (短跑) title. The morning after the race, I was in the media tent and was told that I’d been mentioned in the Parliament.
Track and field is a mental game. You’re in your own little world, competing to be the person who can run the fastest in a straight line. My job is to take my body to a place where I think it can’t do any more and then keep going. To do that, I need to know my strengths and weaknesses. People get caught up in embarrassment or shame when they’re not good at something, but I just don’t have that in me. I do have a voice in my head that tells me if I’m not good at things, but it doesn’t make me feel negative about myself I use it to identify where I can improve and then I just keep going to training every day.
I’ve inherited personality traits from my parents that help me in my career. My mum is excitable and when I’m on the track, I have her fire-wanting to go for everything. I always know when I finish a race that I can turn around and find her in the front row, jumping up and down. My dad is more reserved. He has a cool exterior and that’s useful for me when I need calmness. I know to look for him a few rows behind my mum. They gave me opportunities to try whatever I was interested in. When I wanted to try golf my dad bought me cut-down clubs and had me attempting to putt balls (推球入洞) in the back garden. My mum used to play hockey with me outside the house. They took me to so many clubs and classes.
I started training with my coach, John Blackie, in my mid-teens. We met when I was eight as he ran the kids academy at my running club. Along with my parents, the three of them always emphasized that they just wanted me to be happy. They never pushed me too early. And, as I’ve got older, I’ve realized that’s unique. When running became serious, I knew that if it all stopped being fun for me, I could stop doing it. They put Dina the person before Dina the runner. Yes, the public might be disappointed and the newspapers might have a pop (抨击), but my parents and friends are still going to love me, and my coach is still going to be there. That knowledge allows me to stay relaxed under pressure.
Being as prepared as I can be is crucial as it keeps me calm and able to deliver in the moment. When I was studying history at university, I’d choose exams over coursework because I knew I could put the work in and perform under pressure. I was studying heavy things every day, like people facing prejudice because of their skin, or women sacrificing their lives for others to have the right to vote. It made me realize how lucky I am that the thing that gets me most frustrated is somebody beating me on the track. While, yes, I make sacrifices-some easy, such as not drinking and going out, and some harder, like restricting the food that I eat — ultimately, what I do is entertainment.
Everyone’s asking me about Tokyo Olympics, but I’m more focused on today. It’s important for me to keep my hopes and dreams separate from other people’s. I’m grateful everybody wants me to do well, but my next step has to be for me, not anyone else.
1.What does the underlined sentence in Paragraph 1 probably mean?
A.Asher-Smith is the victim of the sprinting world.
B.Asher-Smith becomes the focus of media coverage.
C.Asher-Smith now runs faster than those she chased.
D.Asher-Smith is no match for older racers in competitions.
2.Paragraph 4 indicates that Asher-Smith’s parents and coach .
A.prioritize her personal well-being
B.justify her failure to continue running
C.put her interests above the other runners
D.shelter her from the criticism of the media
3.What impact does her university life have on her?
A.It makes her lead a cosy life today.
B.It allows her to face prejudice bravely
C.It enables her to be better prepared as an athlete.
D.It inspires her to fight for women’s human rights.
4.What does the passage mainly talk about?
A.What it takes to be a gold medal sprinter.
B.Why it is hard to rise to fame in sprinting.
C.Who one can turn to in pursuit of the dream.
D.How parents discipline a sprinting champion.
Bill Gates on how to fight future pandemics
WHEN HISTORIANS write the book on the covid-19 pandemic, what we've lived through so far will probably take up only the first third or so.The bulk of the story will be what happens next.
I believe that humanity will beat this pandemic, but only when most of the population is vaccinated(接种疫苗）.Until then, life will not return to normal.
As the pandemic slows in developed nations,it will accelerate in developing ones.Their experience,however,will be worse.In poorer countries,where fewer jobs can be done remotely,distancing measures won't work as well.The virus will spread quickly,and health systems won't be able to care for the infected.
Wealthy nations can help.But people in rich and poor places alike will be safe only once we have an effective medical solution for this virus,which means a vaccine.
My hope is that,by the second half of 2021,facilities around the world will be manufacturing a vaccine.If that's the case,it will be a history-making achievement: the fastest humankind has ever gone from recognizing a new disease to immunizing （免疫）against it.
Apart from this progress in vaccines,two other big medical breakthroughs will emerge from the pandemic.One will be in the field of diagnostics.The next time a novel virus crops up,people will probably be able to test for it at home.Researchers could have such a test ready within a few months of identifying a new disease.
The third breakthrough will be in antiviral drugs.We haven't been as effective at developing drugs to fight viruses as we have those to fight bacteria.But that will Researchers will develop large diverse libraries of antivirals,which they'll be able to scan trough and quickly find effective treatments for novel viruses.
All three technologies will prepare us for the next pandemic by allowing us to intervene(干预）early when the number of cases is still very low.
Our progress won't be in science alone.It will also be in our ability to make sure everyone benefits from that science.In the years after 2021,I think we'll learn from the years after 1945. With the end of the Second World War, leaders built international institutions like the UN to prevent more conflicts.After covid-19, leaders will prepare institutions to prevent the next pandemic.
These will be a mix of national,regional and global organizations.I expect they will participate in regular"germ games”in the same way as armed forces take part in War games.These will keep us ready for the next time a novel virus jumps from bats or birds to humans.
I hope wealthy nations include poorer ones in these preparations,especially by devoting more foreign aid to building up their primary health-care systems.This pandemic has shown us that viruses don't obey border laws and that we are all connected biologically by a network of microscopic germs,whether we like it or not.
The best analogy(类比）for today might be November 10th 1942.Britain had just won its first land victory of the war,and Winston Churchill declared in a speech: “This is not the end.It is not even the beginning of the end.But it is,perhaps,the end of the beginning.”
1.What are the three technologies that will prepare us for the next pandemic?
①manufacturing a vaccine fast
②diagnosing a virus at home
③developing antiviral drugs
④allowing us to intervene early
A.①②③ B.①②④ C.①③④ D.②③④
2.As far as poorer countries are concerned,which of the following is TRUE according to this passage?
A.pandemic disease is more likely to begin in poorer countries
B.Working from home can work well in poorer countries.
C.Health systems are sufficient to care for the infected in poorer countries.
D.Virus will cross borders if poorer countries fail to contain it.
3.Why is the Second World War mentioned in Para.8?
A.The fight against the COVID-19 is similar to the Second World War.
B.People are suffering just as they were in the Second World War.
C.We should cooperate globally just as we did after the Second World War.
D.Countries are fighting each other like in the Second World War.
4.What is the tone of this passage?
A.pessimistic B.optimistic
C.neutral D.indifferent
The new garbage sorting regulation has taken effect in Shanghai starting July 1. Many citizens are still confused about the classification of the four different types of trash. Thankfully, authorities have released an official guideline to clarify the new rules.
The guideline, published by the Shanghai Greenery and Public Sanitation Bureau, provides a rather clear definition on the four kinds of waste: recyclable waste, hazardous (有害的) waste, household food waste and residual (剩余的) waste.
Hazardous waste, as the name suggests, includes assorted poisonous materials like used batteries, light bulbs, out-of-date medicines, paint and pesticides.
Household food waste, which is translated to “wet trash” in Chinese，refers to food leftovers, rotten food, pet food, fruit peels, remains of TCM herbs (中药) and flowers.
Paper, plastic, glass, metal and textiles (纺织品) are counted as recyclable waste.
The definition of residual waste is a little confusing. Anything that is not listed above belongs in this category.
As specific as the new guideline is, residents still have a hard time sorting trash correctly and are finding it challenging to memorize them all. For instance, both plastic bottles and bubble tea or coffee cups are plastic materials. However, the former falls to the category of recyclable waste and the latter belongs to residual waste. To save the hassle, some netizens have come up with their own ways to sort trash.
“We should do this from a pig’s angle,” commented one netizen. “Those edible (可食用的) for pigs are household food waste. Those even pigs don’t want to eat are residual waste. If a pig consumes something and dies of it, then something must be hazardous waste. Those which can be sold and the money we gain can be used to purchase pigs are recyclable waste.” The new regulation has gone into effect on July 1. Those who do not sort their trash properly will be fined RMB200.
1.What do the old thrown-away sweaters belong to?
A.Residual waste. B.Hazardous waste.
C.Recyclable waste. D.Household food waste.
2.What does “wet trash” have in common?
A.They are completely wet. B.They all come from plants.
C.They can give off bad smell. D.They can break up easily.
3.What is the tone of the netizen?
A.Humorous. B.Serious.
C.Delightful. D.Uncertain.
4.What is the main idea of the text?
A.Shanghai bans four sorts of garbage.
B.Shanghai launches garbage sorting enforcement.
C.Citizens in Shanghai still question garbage sorting.
D.Citizens in Shanghai welcome the garbage sorting policy.
阅读下面材料，根据其内容和所给段落开头语续写两段，使之构成一篇完整的短文。续写的词数应为 150 左右。
I was lacking in everything needed to start a new friendship.
My parents moved to the town when they decided to look for new jobs but they didn’t realize I was really hurt when I said goodbye to my old friends. It felt awful to be a new student in the school and when my classmates were chatting, what I could do was to be caught up in my thoughts watching the clouds outside the window. I was not good at math or history; nor was I good at drawing or dancing. I was shy and timid. I had a few friends back at my hometown and it seemed that they were the only ones who I could be friends with for my whole life. I felt I had achieved a point of saturation with regard to having friends and I could make no further addition to my friend list. I was ashamed of myself, so I believed I deserved no notice from others until Emily came to my world.
Emily was fearless, outspoken and easy to go. She was everything I was not and I was too shy to come out of my shell. I met Emily in school almost every day and yet I never talked to her. We were in the same class but we were like poles apart. How I wished I could be like her or at least be a friend of hers!
It was another ordinary day.
I wandered to the bus stop in the morning and waited for the school bus. Birds were singing songs with their friends but who could I sing songs with? I got on the bus and went straight to my usual seat, complaining in a low voice about getting up early and going to school like every other day, and about how things were going to be the same all over again. Little did I realize something different would happen that day.
Para. 1:
When I got up to get down the bus, my schoolbag was stuck in the armrest. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Para. 2:
I got noticed by Emily, who brought me courage to start a new friendship!
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