阅读下面短文，在空白处填入 1 个适当的单词或括号内单词的正确形式。
Robots have certain advantages compared to humans: They are efficient, tireless, can be repaired when 1. (damage) and they never get sick. This last trait ( 特 征 ) has made them the star during our fight against the COVID-19 pandemic ( 流 行 病 ). For example, ultraviolet-light-disinfection robots are being 2. (wide) used to clean hospital corridors and wards ( 病 房 ). This is 3. some experts say that the COVID-19 outbreak is the “tipping point” (临界点) for robots start to replace humans in certain jobs. According to futurist Martin Ford, even when the pandemic is over, people 4. (prefer) to go to a place that has fewer human 5. (employ) and more machines because they feel they can 6. (low) overall risk.
7., this doesn’t mean that robots beat humans in every aspect. The human contact between doctors and patients is still important. Doctors comfort the patients and give advice 8. guides them through hard decisions while robots are only doing routine tasks, like cleaning and giving tests. 9.might be true that robots have certain advantages 10. humans, but they are still secondary (次要的) to human interaction.
I work as a waiter at a hotel. Last night, an elderly white, seemingly _______ couple entered the restaurant. My co-worker greeted and _______ them in a friendly way. We usually take charge of our own _______, but when we are _______, we help each other out.
I was _______ the customers at another table when the elderly husband _______ to me that they were ready to order. I usually find it _______ when people go out of their way to make their order, especially when we are super busy. But once I took the couple’s _______ I understood why.
The husband began ordering, stuttering (结巴) to a degree I’d never heard before. It was very clear that he had a _______ disorder. I could tell the wife had told her husband very extensively what she wanted, as a(n) __________ for him to practice ordering. It took him quite a while to order. Meanwhile, she was just sitting there, looking proud and __________ despite her husband’s endless stuttering.
Honestly, the whole thing just did something to me. It was beautiful and made me realize that a huge part of love is ____________, patience and support. She could have made the order and made things a lot __________ for her husband and avoided the __________ from other tables, but she didn’t. __________, she supported him and was proud to see him __________ the order.
The whole thing also __________ me that life isn’t always __________ for everyone. These rich people seemed to have everything, but they also have __________ they have to face daily. But I’ve learnt that life isn’t about waiting for the storm to __________, it’s about learning to dance in the rain.
1.A.blind B.nervous C.courageous D.wealthy
2.A.searched B.surveyed C.seated D.consulted
3.A.tables B.meals C.dishes D.bookings
4.A.tired B.busy C.considerate D.anxious
5.A.appealing to B.cheering up C.waiting on D.looking after
6.A.said B.signaled C.shouted D.explained
7.A.natural B.delighted C.impressive D.impolite
8.A.menu B.order C.tip D.bill
9.A.mental B.hearing C.speech D.breath
10.A.way B.tradition C.excuse D.target
11.A.satisfied B.attractive C.absent-minded D.strict
12.A.thankfulness B.forgiveness C.acceptance D.pity
13.A.cheaper B.easier C.fairer D.funnier
14.A.smiles B.stares C.greetings D.questions
15.A.Besides B.Otherwise C.Thus D.Instead
16.A.analyze B.take C.complete D.fail
17.A.reminds B.scares C.encourages D.urges
18.A.normal B.smooth C.hopeful D.painful
19.A.danger B.choices C.criticism D.problems
20.A.pass B.strike C.direct D.change
iPads vs Textbooks
What if you could have your whole backpack at the touch of your fingertips? In the first month of the Apple iPads release, 25million were sold! People all over the world use iPads for all sorts of different things, but one of their finest qualities is the ability to be a textbook. 1.
To begin with, iPads are less expensive. Textbooks become outdated and schools have to buy new books, but with an iPad schools can update them for free. 2. Schools don’t have to spend $500 every year for iPads because they last a while and can be updated.
3. Students usually have multiple classes, which results in multiple textbooks. Heavy backpacks filled with books can cause back problem. A solution to that is an iPad, which only weighs 1.33 pounds and can hold all of a student’s textbooks.
Third, schools should get rid of their textbooks and get iPads because they have more capabilities. Some might think all of the apps are distracting, but the apps actually make iPads more efficient. 4. Textbooks cannot do those tasks, but iPads can easily do them with just a tap of the fingertip.
Lastly, iPads are a better choice for schools instead of textbooks because these devices allow students to access their learning anywhere at any time. 5. With iPads, they find it easier to get their homework done.
In conclusion, schools should get rid of their clumsy textbooks and switch to iPads. iPads have allowed this generation to have their entire backpack in the palm of their hands.
A.Second, iPads cost less and are more popular.
B.These tablets are perfect for busy students.
C.Therefore, they can use the saved money for other programs.
D.Moreover, in high school, textbooks have an average of 4.8 pounds each.
E.iPads have already replaced textbooks in over 600 American counties.
F.Schools have every reason to do away with their school books and switch to iPads.
G.iPads absorb the need to buy calculators, dictionaries, and other items that are found within the device.
The different parts of a health-care system have different focuses. A hospital’s stroke unit monitors blood flow in the brain. The cardiac (心脏的) unit is interested in that same flow, but through and from the heart. The data is effective in its own field, but for the most part has little relevance to other bits of the body and conditions.
Apart from all this, the instruments that doctors use to monitor health are often expensive, as is the training required to operate them. That combined cost is too high for the medical system to scan regularly, for early signs of illness.
A research project called AlzEye, run from Moorfields Eye Hospital in London, may change this. It is attempting to use the eye as a window through which to detect signals about the health of other organs. The doctors in charge of it, Siegfried Wagner and Pearse Keane, are linking Moorfields’ database of eye scans, which offer a detailed picture of the health of the retina (视网膜), with information about other aspects of its patients’ health collected from other hospitals around England.
The data set includes every one of the 300,000 patients who visited Moorfields between 2008 and 2018 and was over the age of 40. The idea is to examine changes to people’s eyes within that ten-year period, and link these with, say, the appearance of Alzheimer’s disease in the same patient.
Drs Wagner and Keane are searching for patterns in the eye that betray the appearance of disease elsewhere in the body, and are focusing first on Alzheimer’s disease. They will seek such patterns with the help of algorithms (程序) that can spot far tinier variations. They may, it should be remembered, never find such patterns. Although there is evidence that the back of the eye does change as its owner develops Alzheimer’s, it may be that the changes are too small to be detected reliably enough for diagnosis (诊断). If such patterns could be recognized reliably, though, the potential impact would be huge. Even in rich countries, between 50% and 80% of Alzheimer’s cases go undiagnosed. Moreover, even if the technique does not work for Alzheimer’s, it might work for something else. Dr Wagner and Dr Keane therefore plan further searches for patterns related to strokes and heart disease. Even one relevant pattern would contain a remarkable diagnostic leap forward.
If it does work, the technique the two researchers are recommending will be cheap to carry out. An indication of how cheap is the project’s total budget of just £15,000. Also, the equipment and algorithms to perform an eye scan are available to anyone, through cloud-computing services like Google and Amazon.
1.What is the disadvantage of the traditional way to monitor health?
A.Doctors are only interested in their own fields.
B.It can’t find early signs of illness effectively.
C.It can’t offer all-around health information.
D.Hospitals can’t afford the equipment and training.
2.Drs Wagner and Keane use eye scans to _______.
A.decide whether the patients’ retinas are healthy
B.compare Moorfields’ database with other hospitals’
C.find the connections between eye changes and disease
D.explore the use of algorithms in detecting Alzheimer’s
3.The underlined word “betray” in Paragraph 5 is closest in meaning to _______.
A.change B.show
C.cause D.prevent
4.What do we learn about the AlzEye project?
A.It examines the lifelong changes to 300,000 patients’ eyes.
B.It can correctly diagnose Alzheimer’s cases by scanning eyes.
C.It may be applied in finding other diseases besides Alzheimer’s.
D.It provides cloud-computing services with Google and Amazon.
Small talk—the likes of “What do you have there? Popcorn?” or “The weather today is beautiful, isn’t it?”—is meaningless and a waste of time, according to some people. But scientists believe that it is actually more useful than it may appear to be.
One example comes when you are on a train or a plane. The thought of talking to the stranger sitting beside you can be scary, because you know the conversation is sure to be awkward. But a study by the University of Chicago in the US found that people who chat to strangers enjoy a better ride than those who sit in silence or occupy themselves with their phones.
In the study, researchers asked people at Chicago train stations to start conversations with fellow travelers. Most of them refused to do so at first because they expected not to get a friendly answer. But the result turned out to be just the opposite—most strangers were not only willing to be talked to, but also pleasant to talk to.
“Human beings are social animals,” Nicholas Epley, one of the lead researchers, told Live Science. “Other people are people, too. And it turns out that they’d like to get to know you.”
Apart from making you happier, small talk with strangers can also help you feel connected to your surroundings. Previous studies found that when people are frequently smiled at, made eye contact with and spoken to at coffee shops, they tend to have a stronger sense of belonging instead of feeling like they are being ignored and left out.
And if you are already comfortable enough to make small talk with strangers, you should try to develop it into something “bigger”.
A 2010 study proved that having a deep and meaningful conversation gives you even more happiness than small talk. Participants in the study—79 college students—reported after the four-day experiment that they were much happier when they had a third as much small talk and twice as many in-depth conversations.
But deep conversations can start with small talk, can’t they? So the first step is to start talking, no matter how casual the topic is. And who knows, maybe an opening line as simple as “I like your hat” could lead to a serious conversation in which you learn something new from a stranger.
1.Why are most people willing to have a talk during a trip, according to Nicholas Epley?
A.Most people are nice to strangers.
B.People are naturally curious about others.
C.People are afraid of loneliness or boredom.
D.People try to show their good side to strangers.
2.Which of the following is a benefit of small talk?
A.Wasting less time.
B.Developing useful contacts.
C.Disconnecting from phones for a while.
D.Feeling like being a part of your surroundings.
3.According to the 2010 study, in what way can people get more happiness from talking with strangers?
A.Starting with serious topics. B.Starting with casual topics.
C.Making it important and deep. D.Choosing pleasant surroundings.
4.What is the author’s attitude toward small talk?
A.Supportive. B.Negative.
C.Doubtful. D.Objective.
Open water swimming
I had only swum in open water a few times, and always in gentle lakes, so I wasn’t prepared for how rough Lake Windermere appeared on a cold day. A swimmer told me the water felt colder than it had been measured, and that the water was a bit rough. But I, along with 10,000 others, was about to complete the challenge.
Most of the people taking part were doing a one-mile race, and 10 races were planned over the weekend. There seemed to be a mix of open-water enthusiasts alongside complete beginners—which is precisely the aim of the swims, to get as many people as possible completing their own challenge. The oldest woman competing was 77, taking part in the two-mile race, alongside a man who last year had swum in every one-mile race.
I had chosen the third one-mile race of the day. There were over 600 people in my race. We were taken through an acclimatization area, a children’s paddling pool-sized part of the lake where we moved in to feel how cold the water was. “Not too bad” was everyone’s thought! Then we headed out towards the middle of the lake.
We’d been warned that the first 100 metres would be really rough. However, somewhere near the 750m mark I was still waiting for the calm; it felt more like swimming in the sea than a lake. I tried to focus on my breathing and technique, and just keep going. As I approached the 400m-to-go mark my lower right leg became painful. I recalled overhearing people talking about how they kept swimming through the pain, so I tried. But it didn’t work. I began to feel the entire leg tight and painful. I didn’t want to stop, so I bent my right knee and just kicked with the left leg.
Finally I saw the finishing post, and I just concentrated on getting there—still one-legged. My finishing time was 38 minutes 25 seconds but that didn’t matter—the atmosphere was fantastic and everyone felt a sense of achievement, whatever their time. I’m hooked, and want to give it another go. I’ve already signed up for my next open-water swim.
1.How did the author feel before the race?
A.Scared of the most challenging race.
B.Disappointed by the difficult conditions.
C.Concerned about the other swimmers in the race.
D.Determined to be as tough as the people around her.
2.Why does the author mention the two people in Paragraph 2?
A.To stress the importance of the race.
B.To praise the experienced swimmers.
C.To show the wide range of the participants.
D.To introduce the various events of the race.
3.The author suggests in Paragraph 4 that ______.
A.the race would cause breathing problems
B.the race became harder than she had expected
C.it was really necessary to prepare for tough swims
D.it would have been easier if she had taken others’ advice
4.What does the author talk about in the last paragraph?
A.Her confidence in her own ability.
B.Her pride in having swum so quickly.
C.Her eagerness to repeat the experience.
D.Her surprise at having managed to finish.
