Writing one or two articles a day is a fair goal for a human writer. By contrast, the Wordsmith platform can produce up to 2,000 articles a second! Wordsmith is one example of natural language-generation software, often referred to as a robot journalist. To be fair, the software doesn’t start from the beginning, like a human writer might. Instead, the software takes a set of structured data and transforms it into readable text.
Natural language-generation software, such as Wordsmith and Quill, does its work by identifying trends and highlights in sets of data. The software then searches its own dictionary for the words to express its findings.
Why keep human writers around
Although this type of software writes faster than any human, it requires sets of structured data to work. That’s why it’s especially useful for writing earnings reports and other types of “dry” writing. Humans, on the other hand, are good at turning their unstructured thoughts directly into prose. The reports produced by Wordsmith and Quill read naturally, and they can match the tone of human writers. But for now, the robot journalists probably won’t steal many jobs or win any Pulitzer Prizes!（普利策奖）
Current applications of natural language-generation software
Financial reports: The software is commonly used by banks or traders to analyze large amounts of financial data and then produce reports in plain English.
Health and fitness: The software can turn data gathered from wearable devices or fitness trackers into personalized reports. The writing tone can even be adjusted to sound more encouraging!
Sports reporting: The software is often used to turn real baseball, basketball and football statistics into exciting stories.
1.What does natural Language-generation software refer to?
A. The Wordsmith platform.
B. A robot journalist.
C. A special dictionary.
D. Articles written by computer.
2.Natural language-generation software can_________.
A. discover the world’s focuses through the Internet
B. write well enough to win Pulitzer Prizes
C. produce articles in a tone similar to human’s
D. write such beautiful prose as human writers
3.We can learn from the passage that natural Language-generation software ________.
A. has taken the place of human writers currently
B. is only able to turn structured data into dry reports
C. is widely used in all the fields
D. works properly only with the help of sets of structured data
4.Nowadays Natural language-generation software is seldom used by_________.
A. schools B. banks
C. hospitals D. newspapers
In New York City public schools, 176 different languages are spoken among the more than 1 million students. For 160,000 children, English is not their first language. New York's Department of Education makes learning better for these students by providing dual-language programs, in which students are taught in two languages, English and another one, like Russian or Chinese. Math, social studies, science and all other regular courses are taught in both languages. And they learn about the culture of the other country.
Milady Baez, Deputy Chancellor of English Language Learners and Student Support, says these dual-language programs will help children succeed in the future. "The jobs of the future require that our students know more than one language. They are going to be traveling abroad; they are going to be communicating with people from all over the world. This will open doors for them."
Middle-schoolers might not have jobs on their minds yet. For Kequing Jaing, she likes keeping up her first language, Mandarin."It makes me feel that I am home because I can speak in Chinese, learn in Chinese, while learning in English. So it makes me feel better and makes me understand more about the task I'm learning."
Anastasia Hudikova came to the United States when she was 2 years old. She says the Russian-English program keeps her connected to her heritage and her parents happy."They're really happy about the program. They are really happy that I can preserve my culture and my language, and that I can speak it fluently in school."
The New York schools also offer dual-language programs in seven other languages: Arabic, French, Haitian Creole, Hebrew, Korean, Polish and Spanish. There are plans to add even more languages in the future.
While these dual-language programs are popular, some organizations in the U.S. say teaching English comes first. U.S. Studies show that children who learn English early will be more successful later.
1.Dual-language programs in New York aim to __________.
A. help the students learn better
B. rid the students of homesickness
C. attract more international students
D.prevent the students forgetting their culture
2.Who may not quite agree with dual-language programs?
A. Milady Baez
B. Kequing Jaing
C. Anastasia Hudikova’s parents
D. some organizations in the U.S
3.The author writes the passage in order to_________.
A. encourage us to learn more languages
B. introduce dual-language programs in New York schools
C. advertise the dual-language programs
D. inspire more students to study in New York
书面表达
假设你是李华，在Twitter 网上看到一名叫Kobe的美国中学生发帖求助学汉语，并且声明他可以教对方英语作为回报。请根据以下提示用英语给他写一封电子邮件。
1．愿意提供帮助；2．说明理由；3．学好汉语的几点建议。
注意：
1．词数100左右； 2．可以适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；3．文中不得透漏个人姓名和学校名称。
Hi Kobe,
This is Li Hua. I’ve learned from your post that you want to learn Chinese. __________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________
Yours truly,
Li Hua
短文改错
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。错误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：在错的词下划一横线，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。
After a couple of year away from my hometown, I find it has changed a lot. The old fish shop across the street has gone. There exist now a park that has a small river run through. The factory on Friendship Street has been moved out the city and a sports center is now in their place. The market at corner of Xinhua Road has been given way to a supermarket. Besides the bookstore next to my middle school was still there.
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。
Polar bears live in such environment that is too cold for most animals. For much of the year, they live and hunt on the 1. ________ (freeze) Arctic sea ice. Nature has prepared them for the cold conditions but nothing has prepared them for the danger 2. ________ threatens(威胁) their only home.
The polar bears’ world is melting. Polar bears3. ________ (suffer) in a warmer world are in danger. Studies show that the polar ice 4. ________ (reduce) by 9.8% every 10 years since 1978.At present , about 20,000 to 25,000 polar bears live in the Arctic. Polar bears depend on the sea ice for their 5. ________ (survive). “The sea ice is more than just the platform that the bears walk 6. ________ ,” says Andrew Derocher, who studies North American polar bear populations. “Without 7. ________ , they can’t exist.”
Some melting and refreezing of the polar ice is natural. But in a 8. ________ (warm) world, these cycles speed up, and bears have less time to hunt. 9. ________ (normal), they have three months in the spring when they gain more weight and the extra fat is used later, 10. ________ the bears are not actively hunting. Therefore, it is urgent to protect the environment and maintain the ecological balance.
完形填空
阅读下面短文，从短文后各题所给的四个选项（A、B、C、D）中，选出可以填入空白处的最佳选项，并在答题卡上将该项涂黑。
Paul, a colleague of mine, received a car from his brother as a Christmas gift. On Christmas Eve when Paul came out of his office, a boy was walking around the shiny new car, ________ it.
“Is this your car, Mister?” he said.
Paul nodded and said “my brother gave it to me for Christmas.” The boy was ________. “You mean your brother bought it for you and it didn’t cost you anything? Boy, I wish” He ________.
Of course Paul knew what he was going to wish for. But what the boy said ________ Paul all the way down to his heels.
“I wish,” the boy went on, “that I could be a ________ like that.”
Paul looked at the boy , and then impulsively(冲动地) he added. “Would you like to take a ________ in my car?”
“Oh yes, I’d love that.”
After a moment, the boy turned with his ________ shining, saying, “Mister, would you mind driving me to the front of my house?”
Paul ________ a little. He thought he knew what the boy wanted. He wanted to show his________ that he could ride home in a big automobile. But Paul was ________ again. “Will you stop where those two steps are?” the boy asked.
He ran up the steps. After a while Paul saw him coming back. He was ________ his little lame brother. He ________ sat him down on the bottom step, then sort of ________up against him and pointed to the car.
“There he is, Tony, just like I ________ you upstairs. His brother bought it for him for Christmas. And some day I’ll give you one just like it and then you can see ________ yourself all the pretty things in the ________ windows that I’ve been trying to tell you about.”
Paul got out and ________the boy to the front seat of his car. The shining eyed older brother ________ in beside him and the three of them began a memorable holiday ride.
That Christmas Eve, Paul learned what________ meant when he said: “It is more ________to give.”
1.A. admiring B. cleaning C. glancing D. touching
2.A. happy B. sad C. disappointed D. astonished
3.A. agreed B. promised C. hesitated D. sighed
4.A. made B. comforted C. pushed D. shocked
5.A. boy B. brother C. boss D. star
6.A. look B. walk C. ride D. rest
7.A. eyes B. forehead C. face D. hands
8.A. smiled B. cared C. choked D. feared
9.A. classmates B. neighbors C. colleagues D. parents
10.A. afraid B. confused C. wrong D. hopeless
11.A. carrying B. raising C. dragging D. pulling
12.A. abruptly B. firmly C. hurriedly D. carefully
13.A. got B. squeezed C. put D. tried
14.A. asked B. answered C. told D. showed
15.A. by B. for C. of D. to
16.A. shop B. home C. car D. Christmas
17.A. guided B. lifted C. sent D. threw
18.A. walked B. ran C. climbed D. broke
19.A. Jesus B. Father C. Brother D. Tony
20.A. pleased B. blessed C. important D. valuable
