Robots and humans will soon be living in harmony(和睦).A singing robot is being taught to create jazz with a human in a project.
Antonio Chella from Italy is working with a Telenoid robot. To start with, the Telenoid will be trained to follow the movements and simple sounds made by a human singer, and to connect music with different emotional states. Chella then plans to see if the robot can use these connections to create music.
Intelligence is often regarded as the ability to find connections between the existing things. But Chella suggests that a conscious(有意识的) creature should be able to go a step further and introduce new connections that result in the creation of something new.
Some jazz musicians say that they should have a mental library of musical phrases so that they are able to combine them in new ways. More importantly, however, this combination happens in a state that is similar in a sense to dreaming. Chella wants to copy these states in a machine.
“This work raises interesting questions about the link between consciousness and music making,” says Philippe Pasquier, a musician and computer scientist. But he is skeptical about whether a robot musician needs a physical body.
Pasquier argues that the robots are faced with two challenges(挑战). Software that can copy Bach has already been developed. But interpretation（演绎）includes human’s different tastes and judgments. “What made the Beatles famous was not so much their works, but the fact that the interpretations of the works were wonderful,” he says.
It is not yet clear how a robot would go about interpreting music in a new way. But by copying humans and then learning to sing, Chella’s robot could provide clues.
What seems to be important is that human composers often listen to lots of music made by others. So Chella’s robot had better listen to those jazz standards first.
1.Which of the following is the robot’s first step before it tries to create jazz?
A. Living with human beings in harmony.
B. Connecting actions with human’s emotions.
C. Copying a human singer’s movements and sounds.
D. Learning to communicate with human beings freely.
2.The underlined word “skeptical” in Paragraph 5 could be replaced by .
A. doubtful. B. worried.
C. certain. D. concerned.
3.What can we know about the robots like Telenoid from the text?
A. They are household robots. B. They can talk with researchers.
C. They are faced with two challenges. D. They will become human singers.
4.What can be concluded from the text?
A. Chella’s robot needs a physical body to make music.
B. How to interpret jazz is a piece of cake for Chella’s robot.
C. A new kind of software should be developed to copy Bach.
D. Chella’s robot should listen to much jazz to create something new.
Our mother earth is going through a very tough situation and we, the entire human race,are destroying our environment consciously or unconsciously without even realizing its results.Now we have to act very smartly and plan something to sustain(保持) what we still have,getting all necessary support from nature to lead healthy lives.
Gardening is always an excellent and environmentally friendly idea. If you can go forsustainable(可持续的) gardening, then it will be even more useful for all. Gardening is afavorite hobby for many. It is time to channelize your hobby towards a more meaningfulmotivation.
When we do gardening we need to use different ingredients to grow plants. Some of themare natural resources like water, soil, sunshine, and many things like this. Using these resourcessmartly is a part of sustainable gardening. Some simple techniques include: use less water andorganic things to grow plants; try to store rainwater so that you can use them for gardening; tryusing less energy to drive devices; avoid using plastics in any form while gardening; reuse theleaves from your garden to fertilize them. These are the basic sustainable measures. To do sowe need to have proper knowledge about gardening and its requirements so that we can useproper resources without wasting any of them.
In today’s busy life we don’t get much time to spend on our environment. Gardening givesus a chance to do so. We can also have some pesticide-free and fresh food if we grow them inour garden. This is the right time to do some good to protect our own environment andgardening is one of the easiest ways. Do you want to start gardening, but you’re not sure how?Click here: http://www. gardenhowto. com.
1.What does the underlined word “channelize” in Paragraph 2 refer to?
A. Cause. B. Transform.
C. Direct. D. Associate.
2.Which of the following belongs to a sustainable measure?
A. Using advanced electrical machines.
B. Avoiding fertilizers.
C. Watering plants with collected rainwater.
D. Clearing away the leaves.
3.What is the benefit of sustainable gardening?
A. It requires little water. B. It needs no fertilizer.
C. It breaks up plastics. D. It doesn’t waste any resource.
4.Where is the passage probably taken from?
A. A newspaper. B. The Internet.
C. A guidebook. D. A science report.
A five-year-old dog named Kelsey has been praised as a hero for helping to save the life ofher owner who slipped in the snow and broke his neck.
The man, Bob, was alone when he left his Michigan farmhouse on New Year’s Eve tocollect firewood. Expecting a journey of only several meters, Bob was wearing just longjohns(衬裤), a shirt and slippers when he went outside, although the temperature was around-4°C.
After the accident, he was unable to move in the snow. Fortunately, Kelsey came to hisassistance.
“I was shouting for help, but my nearest neighbor is about 400 meters away, and it was10:30 pm,” Bob explained. “But my Kelsey came. By the next morning, my voice was goneand I couldn’t yell for help, but Kelsey didn’t stop barking.”
Kelsey’s companion kept him warm by lying on top of him. She licked his face and handsto keep him awake. “Kelsey kept barking but never left my side,” Bob recalled. “She keptme warm. I knew I couldn’t give up and that it was my choice to stay alive.”
Bob spent 20 hours in the freezing cold. When he finally lost consciousness, his dog keptbarking. Finally, hearing the barking, Bob’s neighbor discovered him at 6:30 pm on NewYear’s Day and called the emergency services at once. When Bob arrived in hospital, his bodytemperature was below 21°C. However, doctors were surprised to find that he didn’t have anyfrostbite(冻疮). They believed it was because of Kelsey’s determination to keep him warm. Dr.Chaim Colen, the doctor who treated Bob, said, “Animals can help and his dog really savedhim... He was very fortunate.
Bob said he was “enormously” grateful to both Dr. Colen and his Kelsey. “They savedmy life. They are truly heroes!”
1.What happened to Bob on New Year’s Eve?
A. He left his dog alone in his farmhouse.
B. He was praised for saving a dog owner.
C. He broke his neck and couldn’t move.
D. He heard his neighbor’s shouting for help.
2.Why did Kelsey keep barking?
A. To keep warm.
B. To stay alive.
C. To keep Bob awake.
D. To seek help from others.
3.How does Dr. Colen feel about Kelsey?
A. Helpful. B. Fortunate.
C. Grateful. D. Friendly.
4.What can be a suitable title for the text?
A. A Neck-breaking Accident B. The Magic Night
C. Warmth on a Winter’s Night D. Determination to Keep Alive
About aspirin(阿司匹林)
Aspirin is a commonly used drug which can be taken to relieve discomfort caused by numerous medical problems including headaches, toothache, inflammation and infections. It is also suitable to treat colds and flu-like symptoms, and to reduce a high temperature.
Who can take aspirin?
Adults and children over 16 years of age.
Who should not take aspirin?
﹡Women who are pregnant, or plan to become pregnant. Aspirin may harm your unborn baby.
﹡Women who are breast-feeding. Aspirin can pass into your breast milk and may harm your baby.
﹡People who have any problems with the way the liver works or with the way the kidneys work.
How to take aspirin:
Take aspirin after meals, with a full glass of water or milk.
﹡The recommended dose(剂量) ranges from two to three tablets at a time. Never take more than 4g (12 tablets) in any 24-hour period.
﹡You must not take these tablets with any other medicine which contains any aspirin or painkiller.
How to store aspirin:
﹡Keep all medicines out of the reach and sight of children.
﹡Store aspirin in a cool, dry place, away from direct heat and light.
﹡Do not put aspirin in the bathroom because the dampness there can cause it to lose its effectiveness.
﹡Throw away aspirin that smells strongly of vinegar.
Possible side effects:
﹡Feeling sick, increased risk of bleeding, stomach pain, indigestion and heartburn are common. If these effects continue, contact your doctor.
﹡Ringing in the ears, difficulty breathing, dizziness, and mental confusion are rare. If these occur, stop taking the drug and contact your doctor for further advice.
1.In which case will you take aspirin according to the text?
A. Stomachache. B. Fever.
C. Breathlessness. D. Nosebleed.
2.How many times can you take aspirin at most in a day?
A. 6. B. 4.
C. 5. D. 3.
3.What type of writing is this text?
A. An announcement. B. A medical report.
C. An official guide. D. Medical instructions.
If a girl in a poor country goes to school, she will probably have a more comfortable life than if she stays at home. She will be less likely to marry while still a child, and therefore less likely to die in childbirth. So, not surprisingly, there is an Indian charity that tries to get girls into school and ensure they learn something, and there are Western philanthropists willing to pay for its work. What is noteworthy is how they have gone about this transaction.
On July 13th the Brookings Institution, a think-tank, presents the results of the world's first large development-impact bond, which paid for girls' education in the northern Indian state of Rajasthan.
In this novel way of funding charitable work, a financial institution gives money to a charity, which tries to achieve various specified outcomes.
If a neutral arbiter rules that it has succeeded, a donor or philanthropist repays the investor, plus a bonus. If it fails, the investor loses some or all of its money. This is more convoluted than the usual way of funding charitable projects, in which a donor gives money to a charity, which spends it according to a pre-agreed plan. The donor tries to ensure the money is not wasted by keeping track of inputs-the number of solar panels installed or vaccinations given, say. Often, no one knows whether the intervention did much good.
In this case, the more complicated approach did achieve something. Educate Girls, the charity, identified 837 out-of-school girls aged 7-14 in the villages where it was active, and enrolled 768 of them. By using volunteers to teach both boys and girls in village schools for a few hours a week, it managed to raise test scores substantially relative to a control group.
So the investor, UBS Optimus Foundation, will be repaid by the Children's Investment Fund Foundation. For Safeena Husain, who runs Educate Girls, the process was satisfying as the results.
Instead of having to send tedious reports to a donor about how she was spending money, she concentrated on solving problems. Educate Girls found, for example, that many pupils could not do long division because they did not understand the concept of place value. So its workers gave additional classes. ID insight，the independent assessor, found that the main boost to children test stones came in the third year of the programmer, when Educate Girls hit its stride. It would be good if development -impact bonds teach donors to focus on outcomes.
Creating the development-impact bond was also complicated and time-consuming. Staff from several organisations spent months pinning down what Educate Girls would aim to achieve, how progress would be measured and what would be repaid. Outside experts were drafted in. The randomised controlled trial that IDinsight used to assess the teaching was, like many such trials, neither simple nor cheap. More development-impact bonds are now under way or under discussion, some involving big donors like the World Bank, USAID and DfID (America's and Britain's aid agencies). But they will probably remain infrequent oddities in the aid landscape.
1.The author writes this passage in order to __________.
A. urge the public to be aware of the need to help
B. attract more investors to newly-started researchers
C. Introduce a different approach to helping the poor
D. explain the reason for the popularity of a new project.
2.Which of the following statements about the new practice of charity is TRUE?
A. It favors results over process
B. The donor keep tracks of inputs
C. A neutral assessor will be paid
D. The money is spent based on a pre-agreed plan.
3.Concerning the development-impact bond, what can be inferred from the passage?
A. It will be popular in the near future
B. It has achieved great success in India
C. It is very effective since it saves time and trouble
D. It is very costly to carry out the development -impact bond
4.What is the attitude of the author towards the development -impact bond？
A. Doubtful B. Neutral
C. Positive D. Negative
People are looking for ways to reduce their carbon footprint. Purchasing property that is environmentally responsible is a good investment for those who are concerned about their own health and the well-being of the earth. Based on this trend, entire districts, known as eco-communities, are being designed with a green focus in mind. Dockside Green in Victoria, British Columbia is one of them.
If everything goes according to plan, Dockside Green will be a self-sufficient community along the harbour front of British Columbia's capital city. The community will be home to 2500 people will consist of residential, office, and retail space. Builders of Dockside Green have the environment in mind with every choice they make. They ensure proper ventilation(通风), and guarantee residents 100% fresh indoor air. Building materials, such as paints and wood, are natural and non-poisonous. Eco-conscious builders use bamboo wherever possible because it grows fast and does not require pesticides(杀虫剂) to grow.
Energy efficiency is one of the top concerns in eco-communities, such as Dockside Green. Not only do energy efficient appliances and light fixtures(照明设备) reduce the environmental impact of heating and hot water, they also save residents and business owners money. Dockside Green claims that home owners will use 55% less energy than average residents in Canada. Residents will have individual water metres as studies show that people use around 20% less energy when they are billed for exactly what they use. In addition, water is treated at Dockside Green and reused on site for flushing(冲洗) toilets.
Planners of eco-communities such as Dockside Green must take the future into account. Dockside Green plans on reusing 90% of its construction waste. They also plan to continue using local suppliers for all of their transport and maintenance needs. This is a great way to reduce emissions(排放).
Dockside residents will be encouraged to make use of a mini transportation system and buy into the community's car share program. Finally, plans are in the works for a high-tech heating system that will use renewable energy instead of fossil fuels (化石燃料).
Dockside residents will benefit from excellent local services with high quality healthcare, shopping and education at the heart of the community, along with excellent recreation facilities and plentiful green open spaces. The Eco-Community will favour the use of locally-sourced goods and services; they will be desirable places to live, promoting a tangible(看得见的) sense of civic pride, responsibility and, as the name suggests, community.
1.Which of the following is TRUE about Dockside Green according to the passage?
A. It is an environmental charity aiming at reducing carbon footprint.
B. It is a self sufficient community with a population of 2500 people.
C. It is being built along the harbor front that is threatened by pollution.
D. It emphasizes the importance of green energy and energy efficiency.
2.Bamboo is a favorable choice for builders because it _________.
A. provides good air circulation B. keeps pets outside the house
C. grows quickly and easily D. does not produce any waste
3.Which is NOT one of the issues Dockside Green hope to address in the future?
A. Convincing local factories not to pollute the air.
B. Creating an alternative to fossil fuels heating.
C. Having people pay for individual household usage.
D. Promoting the car share program to the residents.
4.Which of the following is the best title for the passage?
A. Ways to Reduce Carbon Footprint B. Green Energy: New Trends in Canada
C. Eco-Communities: Dockside Green D. Wise Investment in Eco-Communities
