Alexa is a form of artificial intelligence, or AI for short. Many people start their mornings by asking Alexa for the weather forecast or the latest news. A device(设备) that houses Alexa can also play music from your favorite playlists, keep a shopping list, order takeout food, answer questions, send messages and even run “smart” home controls.
Training AI systems to respond to problems with human-like intelligence and learn from their mistakes can take months, or even years. Consider Alexa and similar software, such as Apple’s Siri. To do the tasks its human owners ask, these systems must make sense of and then respond to sentences such as, “Alexa, play my Ed Sheeran playlist” or “Siri, what is the capital of India?”
Computers can’ t understand language as it is spoken by people. So AI researchers must find a way to help humans communicate with computers. The technology used to get computers to “understand” human speech or text is known as natural language processing. By natural language, computer scientists refer to the way people naturally talk or write. To teach an AI system a task like comprehending(理解) a sentence or responding to a person ’s last move in a board game, scientists need to feed it lots of examples.
AlphaGo is an AI system designed by Google that has beaten a human champion, Lee Sedol, at the strategy(策略) board game Go. To train AlphaGo, Google had to show it 30 million Go moves that people had made while playing the game. Then AlphaGo used what it learned to analyze those plays as it played against different versions (版本) of itself. During this practice, the program came up with new moves---ones never seen in games between people.
1.What does the example of Alexa show?
A. AI may replace humans one day. B. AI is playing a role in our modern life.
C. AI has been widely used around the world. D. AI has totally changed people’s bad habits.
2.How do scientists train AI systems?
A. By testing them thousands of times. B. By teaching them almost everything.
C. By giving them quite a lot of tasks to do. D. By providing them with large amounts of data.
3.What can we learn about AlphaGo?
A. It has become very skillful and intelligent B. It is the most convenient AI system.
C. It avoids making any mistakes D. It just follows human orders
Nola (August 21, 1974 -November 22, 2015) was a northern white rhino who lived at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park near Escondido, California. At her death, she was one of only four remaining northern white rhinos in the world. The other three lived in Kenya. World Rhino Day, held on September 2, is to raise awareness(意识) of the less than 30,000 other rhinos left on Earth.
“Rhinos need our help today, not tomorrow,”Nola’s lead keeper Jane Kennedy said. “Last year we lost over 1,200 rhinos just in South Africa. If we continue to lose more than 1,000 rhinos a year, in 10 to 20 years all the rhinos on the planet will be gone.”
“Unfortunately, most animals are in danger of dying out because of humans,” Kennedy says.“ Humans have either poached animals, or because there are over seven billion of us, we’ ve taken up too much of the world’s resources ”. Poachers illegally hunt rhinos for their horns. They sell the horns for thousands of dollars per pound, to be used for art, jewelry, and decorations.Experts believe that one rhino is poached every eight hours.
In 1975, the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research started the Frozen Zoo, a program through which researchers have collected cell (细胞) samples from more than 8,000 different types of animals, including the northern white rhino. Scientists hope that by studying the rhino cells, they will get greater understanding of it, and will find ways to increase its numbers.
Jane Kennedy describes World Rhino Day as “a celebration of rhinos along with an awareness campaign for everybody across the world to know that rhinos need our help.”At the San Diego Zoo, children and adults are welcome to visit and speak with zookeepers to learn about rhinos. But you don’ t have to live in San Diego to celebrate World Rhino Day. It is observed around the world, with zoos and wildlife parks holding special events and programs to teach people about rhinos, and enable them to see the animals up close. For more information, go to www.worldrhinoday.org.
1.What do we know about Nola?
A. It was a baby white rhino.
B. It was one of the last of its kind.
C. It lived with other northern white rhinos in Kenya.
D. It died on September 22 at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.
2.What troubled Jane Kennedy according to Paragraph 2?
A. The rhinos’ uncertain future. B. The rhinos’ strange activities.
C. The limited natural resources. D. The rare animals in South Africa.
3.What does the Frozen Zoo aim to do?
A. Invent new kinds of animals. B. Keep animals from dying out.
C. Prevent rhinos from being hunted. D. Raise public awareness of rhinos.
4.What is the main purpose of the last paragraph?
A. To help people know more about animals. B. To encourage people to protect rhinos.
C. To report special events in San Diego. D. To introduce World Rhino Day.
One Sunday, Nicholas, a teenager, went skiing at Sugarloaf Mountain in Maine. In the early afternoon, when he was planning to go home, a fierce snowstorm swept into the area.Unable to see far, he accidentally turned off the path. Before he knew it, Nicholas was lost, all alone! He didn’t have food, water, a phone, or other supplies. He was getting colder by the minute.
Nicholas had no idea where he was. He tried not to panic(惊慌). He thought about all the survival shows he had watched on TV. It was time to put the tips he had learned to use.
He decided to stop skiing. There was a better chance of someone finding him if he stayed put. The first thing he did was to find shelter from the freezing wind and snow. If he didn’t, his body temperature would get very low, which could quickly kill him.
Using his skis, Nicholas built a snow cave. He gathered a huge mass of snow and dug out a hole in the middle. Then he piled branches on top of himself, like a blanket, to stay as warm as he could.
By that evening, Nicholas was really hungry. He ate snow and drank water from a nearby stream so that his body wouldn’t lose too much water.Not knowing how much longer he could last, Nicholas did the only thing he could--- he huddled in his cave and slept.
The next day, Nicholas went out to look for help, but he couldn’t find anyone. He followed his tracks and returned to the snow cave, because without shelter, he could die that night. On Tuesday, Nicholas went out to find help. He had walked for about a mile when a volunteer searcher found him. After two days stuck in the snow, Nicholas was saved.
Nicholas might not have survived this snowstorm had it not been for TV. He had often watched Grylls’ survival show Man Vs. Wild. That’s where he learned the tips that saved his life. In each episode of Man Vs. Wild, Grylls is abandoned in a wild area and has to find his way out.
When Grylls heard about Nicholas’ amazing deeds, he was super impressed that Nicholas had made it since he knew better than anyone how hard Nicholas had to work to stay alive.
1.What happened to Nicholas one Sunday afternoon?
A. He got lost. B. He broke his skis.
C. He hurt his eyes. D. He caught a cold.
2.How did Nicholas keep himself warm?
A. He found a shelter. B. He kept on skiing.
C. He built a snow cave. D. He lighted some branches.
3.On Tuesday, Nicholas_________.
A. returned to his shelter safely B. was saved by a searcher
C. got stuck in the snow D. stayed where he was
4.Nicholas left Grylls a very deep impression because he___________.
A. did the right things in the dangerous situation B. watched Grylls' TV program regularly
C. created some tips for survival D. was very hard-working
Since 1904, Ravinia Festival has been Chicago’s “sound of summer”, a place where you can meet up with your friends, have a wonderful time and hear some of the greatest music in the world. We’ ve got stars on the stage and stars in the sky, and it’s all within your reach. But there’s more to Ravinia than merely the world’s greatest music. For as many people who walk through Ravinia’s gate each summer, there are just as many ways to enjoy what we call “The Ravinia Experience”. For some, it all starts with a picnic picked up along the way, greeting your friends at your favorite spot on the lawn.
Ravinia Dining
Whether you want to add a bottle of wine and some cheese to your picnic on the lawn or sit down to a meal, Ravinia has a wide variety of choices and we welcome you to explore them all.
Ravinia gifts
There are two locations for your shopping convenience! Visit our Main Store in the Dining Pavilion. There you will find different CDs, jewelry, games and more. Or fill your more immediate needs at the shop located behind the Martin Theatre.
How to Buy Tickets
Online
Tickets for the 2018 season begin to go on sale online on Tuesday April 25. Ravinia Festival’s online ticketing makes ordering tickets for your favorite performances easier than ever before.It is available 24 hours a day at www.ravinia.org.
Click on the date of your choice to select an event, select your seats and add it to your ticket order. Once you have selected all the events you wish to attend, simply enter your payment information and submit your order.
By Phone
Phone sales for the 2018 season start on Monday May 22.
Order tickets by phone by calling 847-266-5100.
Monday- Friday: 10: 00 am-5: 00 pm
Saturday/Sunday: Closed
1.It can be inferred that Ravinia Festival is ____________.
A. an annual music festival B. a celebration of old folk music
C. a big food party with music performances D. a traditional holiday with music and food
2.What does the underlined word “stars”in the first paragraph refer to?
A. Big movie stars B. Famous cooks or bands
C. Guests at an evening party. D. Famous musicians or singers
3.If you buy tickets online for the festival, you can _________.
A. choose where to sit B. get some discount
C. decide the time of any performance D. change the date of an event after payment
4.If you want to experience Ravinia Festival, you can_________.
A. go to Chicago in April B. make a call at weekends
C. go to Chicago in the summer D. visit www.ravinia.org before April
听下面一段独白，回答以下小题。
1.What happened to the Cuyahoga River in 1969?
A. It was cleaned up.
B. It was seriously polluted.
C. It became the most outstanding river.
2.How long did it take for the river to become clean?
A. A few months. B. Several years. C. A few days.
3.What can make the river clean according to the speaker?
A. Hard work.
B. Something imaginable.
C. The control of using your credit card.
4.What shall we do when facing an impossible situation?
A. Wait for something to change.
B. Imagine something outstanding.
C. Just be patient and do something.
听下面一段较长对话，回答以下小题。
1.What does the man want to do?
A. To reserve a car. B. To book a room. C. To rent a car.
2.What size of the car does the man intend to hire?
A. Large. B. Middle. C. Small.
3.How much need the man pay for the rented car for the weekend?
A. $80. B. $89. C. $120.
4.Where can the man find his rented car?
A. In the Hotel. B. On Peter Street. C. In the parking lot.
