An epidemic is the occurrence of a disease which affects a very large number of people living in an area and which spreads quickly to other people. Like infectious diseases, ideas in the academic world are spreadable. But why some travel far and wide while equally good ones remain in relative insignificance has been a mystery. Now a team of computer scientists has used an epidemiological model to imitate how ideas move from one academic institution to another. The model showed that ideas originating at famous institutions caused bigger “epidemics” than equally good ideas from less well-known places, explains Allison Morgan, a computer scientist at the University of Colorado Boulder and lead author of the new study. “This implies that where an idea is born shapes how far it spreads, holding the quality of the idea constant.” says senior author Aaron Clauset, also at Boulder.
Not only is this unfair --- “it reveals a big weakness in how we’re doing science,” says Simon DeDeo, a professor of social and decision sciences at Carnegie Mellon University, who was not involved in the study. There are many highly trained people with good ideas who do not end up at top institutions. “They are producing good ideas, and we know those ideas are getting lost,” DeDeo says. “Our science, our scholarship, is not as good because of this.”
The Colorado researchers analyzed an existing data set of computer science department hires in North America, as well as a database of publications by these hires. First they looked at how five big ideas in computer science spread to new institutions. They found that hiring a new member accounted for a little more than a third of the time --- and in 81 percent of those cases, transfers took place from higher- to lower-status universities. Then the team imitated the broadcasting of ideas using an infectious disease model and found that the size of an idea “epidemic” (as measured by the number of institutions that published studies on an idea after it originated) depended on the status of the originating institution. The findings were published online last October in EPJ Data Science.
The researchers’ model suggests that there “may be a number of quite good ideas that originate in the middle of the pack, in terms of universities,” Clauset says. DeDeo agrees. There is a lot of good work coming out of less famous places, he says: “You can learn a huge amount from it, and you can learn things that other people don’t know because they’re not even paying attention.”
1.The underlined word “this” in paragraph 2 refers to the fact that _________.
A.good ideas from less important institutions lack influence.
B.the quality of the original ideas tends to be not easy to maintain.
C.scholars in insignificant institutions consider their ideas valueless.
D.the time when good ideas were born decides how far they may spread.
2.The case of some hires in paragraph 3 is used to indicate _________.
A.why the originating institutions transfer their new findings.
B.the way the movements of some new ideas happen and their effects.
C.how they carry the ideas from lower - to higher - status institutions.
D.the statistics the epidemological model provides for the researchers.
3.Researchers such as Clauset are very much concerned about _________.
A.losing quite a number of great and creative thoughts.
B.missing the opportunities of getting more well-known.
C.misusing the epidemiological model in scientific research areas.
D.having difficulty in finding more proper science department hires.
4.Which of the following might be the best title of the passage?
A.Infectious Diseases. B.Original Ideas.
C.Epidemiological Model. D.Idea Epidemic.
The Notre Dame fire has been put out, but its spire and a large portion of its wooden roof have been damaged. The terrible destruction causes a sudden sharp pain to people around the world. On Chinese social media network Wechat a common comment on the disaster is: “What a pity that we cannot see the damaged parts of the wonder anymore.”
But the good news is that there is at least one way of seeing them, namely via a video game called Assassin’s Creed: Unity. In this game, the player can travel to one city after another and enter the buildings exactly like what they are in reality, and see Notre Dame as it was before the fire. Further, with virtual reality technology, which is already quite mature, one can even look around the undamaged Notre Dame as if it is still there. Maybe digital technology could help to better protect architectural cultural heritage.
The idea of digitizing ancient buildings, making digital models of them so their data can be saved, dates back to the 1990s and the necessary technology has continued to advance since then. By scanning the ancient buildings with lasers, building 3D models with multiple images, as well as measuring everything precisely, engineers can make a copy as accurate as the real one.
As computers and smartphones are hugely popular, the digital replica has great use value. First, it allows tourists to feel the cultural relics without touching them, which helps protect them. The virtual tour of Dunhuang Grottoes in Gansu Province is a good example of this as tourists can view the paintings without standing near them. Furthermore, it can make the digitized cultural relics more famous by spreading awareness about them via the Internet. In 2000, a virtual tour of the Great Wall became very popular at the Hannover World Expo, which increased the number of foreign tourists visiting the site in the following years. Above all, it preserves all the information of the cultural relics. Even if the original ones are damaged one day, people can still know what they were like and can build a replica if desired.
Of course, however precise a model is, it is not the original. Time is the biggest threat to a country’s architectural heritage, which will always become ruins with the passing of time. Maybe we will have better technologies in the future, but the digital technology offers a practical way to preserve architectural cultural heritage at the moment.
1.What will engineers do to create a digital replica of the ancient buildings?
A.Improve the technology needed. B.Scan the photos of the buildings.
C.Build 3D models of full size. D.Measure all the parts exactly.
2.What value does a digital replica have?
A.It keeps the relics safe. B.It helps to guard the relics.
C.It gathers data of the relics. D.It advertises the history of the relics.
3.How does the author prove the digital copy has vital practical importance?
A.By comparison. B.By giving examples.
C.By classification. D.By listing data.
4.What is the author’s attitude towards the application of digital technology?
A.Doubtful. B.Ambiguous.
C.Supportive. D.Conservative.
A Wisconsin mom makes mini-me toys as unique as the children who embrace them.
As a social worker using play therapy in the 1990s to help children through their cancer treatment, Amy Jandrisevits wished she could comfort her patients with dolls that bore their all-too-familiar hair loss and surgery scars. “I would clear up Goodwill for bald Cabbage Patch Kids because that was the closest thing I could find. ”she says. “I thought these kids need something that looks like they do. ”The idea stuck with Jandrisevits after she left social work in 2001 to start a family. Then in 2015, a mom whose daughter lost a leg to amputation(截肢) asked Jandrisevits, handy with a sewing machine, if she could craft a mini-me doll for the girl.
After Jandrisevits posted a photo of the legless doll on Facebook, orders poured in for likeness with everything from albinism(白化病) to birthmarks. “Differences make kids feel isolated and judged, ”she says, “with a doll, a child sees I am not the only one who looks this way. . . and beautiful enough to be a doll.” Jandrisevits, 46, has since crafted nearly 400 custom dolls with her New Berlin, Wis, dining room table, with donors often covering the $ 100 cost through Jandrisevits’s nonprofit A Doll Like Me. The mom of three insisted on making each doll herself with help from her mother and a friend.
For Keagan Cameron, 2, whose rare skin condition has him covered in birthmarks, Jandrisevits matched the doll’s spot exactly. “That was the most amazing thing,” says Keagan’s mom, Joy.
Brian Grassi of Coventry, R. I. , says she wept like a baby when a doll came in the mail for his daughter Emma, born three months later in October without her lower left arm. “Seeing my daughter with her doll, it makes me think about her future, not her limitations.”
1.What inspired Jandrisevits to make Mini-me toys?
A.Her own family condition. B.Her hair loss and surgery scars.
C.Her daughter's losing a leg to amputation. D.Her working experience as a social worker.
2.According to the passage, we can infer that .
A.making Mini-me toys cost a lot.
B.mini-me toys have won great popularity.
C.Jandrisevits made the Mini-me toys all by herself.
D.A Doll Like Me is an organization to raise fund for children in need.
3.What is the passage mainly about?
A.Mini-me toys comfort kids. B.Dolls make kids happy.
C.Children enjoy dolls’ company. D.A mom likes making mini-me toys.
4. How would you describe Jandrisevits?
A.Helpful and cautious. B.Responsible and grateful.
C.Warmhearted and determined. D.Ambitious and tough.
Some best music and opera holidays for 2019.
Tangle wood Festival
The villages of Lenox and Stockbridge in western Massachusetts have been the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra for more than 80 years, and its annual Tanglewood festival is East Coast America’s most distinguished music event. Andris Nelsons, BSO music director, conducts 14 of the concerts and star performers include Emanuel Ax, Paul Lewis and Anne-Sophie Mutter. Tickets on sale Feb 10.
June 15—Aug 25 (tanglewood.org)
Aspen Festival
This year is the 70th anniversary of the Aspen Music Festival, one of the longest-running and most prestigious festivals in the United States. The 2019 program has yet to be announced, but a typical eight- week summer season includes more than 400 classical music events—including concerts by five orchestras, solo (独奏) and classical music performances, fully staged opera productions, music lessons, lectures, and children’s programming. Tickets and details available in February.
June 27—Aug 18 (aspenmusicfestival. com)
Grand Teton Music Festival
Aspen’s great classical music competitor in the Rocky Mountains is the Grand Teton, which has been held in Jackson Hole since 1962 and at its heart is a timber concert hall, the Walk Festival Hall, famous for its friendly atmosphere and excellent natural sound. Despite its relatively modest size, the hall attracts the greats—current music director is the Scottish conductor Donald Runnicles. The program for 2019 is yet to be announced but subscriptions are on sale from Feb 1, single tickets from March 1.
July 2—Aug 17 ( gtmf. org)
Salzburg Festival
The excitement is building in Salzburg both for this summer and for its 100th anniversary year in 2020. Bar the Proms, it is the world’s oldest music festival and this year it will pack in an unbelievable 199 performances in 43 days at 16 venues. This year’s theme is ‘Myths’ and includes first public performances of Mozart’s Idomeneo and George Enescu’s opera dipe.
July 20—Aug 31 (salzburgfestival. at)
1.Which of the festivals has the shortest history?
A.Tangle wood Festival. B.Aspen Festival.
C.Salzburg Festival. D.Grand Teton Music Festival.
2.What can we learn about Tanglewood Festival?
A.It is held from June 27 to Aug. 18.
B.Its tickets can be available from March 1.
C.It is best known in the east coast of America.
D.Its more information can be got from gtmf. org.
3.What is the similarity of Aspen Festival and Salzburg Festival?
A.Their tickets can be got in February.
B.They will be held in the same months.
C.They both have music and opera performances.
D.Their audience can be both adults and children.
假定你是李华，你班的英国交换生Jenkins已经回国，请你用英文给他写一封电子邮件， 感谢他在中国做交换生期间对你英语学习的帮助。
内容包括：
1. 表达谢意；
2. 接受帮助的过程；
3. 帮助后的情况。
注意：1.词数100左右； 2.可以适当增加细节,以使行文连贯。
Dear Jenkins,
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Yours,
Li Hua
单句语法填空
1.He lives in a house, in front of _____stands a tall tree.
2.It is no longer the place ______it used to be.
3.There is no simple answer, _____is often the case in science.
4.Here is such a heavy stone _____I can’t move it.
5.It was five o’clock ______my father got home.
6.__________struck me most in the movie was the father’s deep love for his son.
7.__________ difficult the problem may be, we will try our best to fight back.
8.He arrived earlier than ________ (expect).
9.With her energy ____________ (fix) on the research on AIDS, Mrs. Mason can not spare much time with her family.
10.She walked along the path, her daughter __________(follow) close behind.
11.My father was a lawyer, and he discouraged me _________ entering the field of scientific exploration.
12.The newly-elected president promises that he will spare no effort _________(promote) public welfare.
13.Leave him _________－ he obviously doesn’t want to be disturbed.
14.Once dressed in the fashion of our shop, you will stand __________ among the crowd.
15.You may depend on _________that they will look after your daughter when you are away for the meeting.
16.Having received the goods, the customer decided to make a __________(compain).
17.____________(defeat) is often a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent.
18.Accustomed to ___________(rise) at six in the morning, I can take an hour to read English every day.
19.I failed to hold __________ my tears when I heard the sad news.
20.He sat there, his arms __________(cross) in front of his chest.
