The most destructive(破坏性的)wildfire in California’s history started on Nov 8, 2018, ______ by bad electrical cables(电缆)in the town of Paradise. It burned for 17 days and caused $16.5 billion in ______, destroying nearly 19,000 buildings, killing 85 people and leaving 50,000 others homeless. Paradise was ______ a paradise(乐土).
Shane Grammer grew up 15 miles away in Chico, and he ______ the news of the fire’s deadly path from his home in Los Angeles. The 47-year-old father of three works as a creative director for Disney’s theme parks. Grammer still has ______ in the Paradise area. When his childhood buddy, Shane Edwards, posted pictures of his white chimney ― the only part of his house to ______ ― Grammer felt helpless. And then he had a(n)______.
“I’ve got to paint that ______,” he told Inside Edition. “It was an opportunity for me to express myself and be a(n)______.
On Dec 31, Grammer ______ three hours painting a beautifully sad black-and-white image(画像)of a woman on the chimney — a reminder, perhaps, of the ______ of life, or even just of life itself.
Grammer ______ the image on Instagram. The victims(受害者)）of the fire, especially, had ______ feelings. “You bring beauty and hope,” one said.
____, Grammer realized that his artistic expression had ______ into something deeper, the hallmark(特征)of true art. Over a period of three months he returned eight times, ______ 17 pictures of victims and mythical(神话里的)heroes on walls, pickup trucks, and ruined buildings. “There is______,” he explains. “There is beauty in the ashes.”
Grammer’s work in Paradise has become a bigger ______. He has traveled the world painting big pictures in ______ places that needed some light: a home for orphans(孤儿)in Tijuana, Mexico; a youth center in San Francisco. “I want to do something powerful and create art that ______ people,” he says.
1.A.turned down B.put forward C.brought about D.broke out
2.A.damage B.use C.waste D.question
3.A.as usual B.at last C.once again D.no longer
4.A.made B.followed C.ignored D.missed
5.A.students B.co-workers C.friends D.children
6.A.survive B.disappear C.continue D.exist
7.A.dream B.idea C.excuse D.chance
8.A.fire B.wall C.house D.chimney
9.A.artist B.director C.reporter D.tourist
10.A.wasted B.saved C.took D.spent
11.A.purpose B.truth C.beauty D.choice
12.A.sold B.noticed C.discovered D.posted
13.A.angry B.upset C.strong D.strange
14.A.Generally B.Suddenly C.Luckily D.Hopefully
15.A.changed B.divided C.cut D.formed
16.A.printing B.painting C.buying D.collecting
17.A.luck B.doubt C.hope D.happiness
18.A.task B.game C.experiment D.project
19.A.busy B.dark C.lonely D.quiet
20.A.moves B.excites C.warns D.surprises
Many of you may know that Jakarta is the capital city of Indonesia. 1. In September, Indonesia announced that the country will move its capital from Jakarta, on the island of Java, to Kalimantan, on the island of Borneo. This is big news for Indonesia. Indeed, it would be for any country.
The word ''capital'' comes from the Latin word ''caput'', meaning ''head''. Government institutions (机构), such as legislative (立法) and judicial (司法) bodies, are located in capital cities. 2.
In English-language news reports, when you read ''relations between Beijing and Moscow'', it actually means ''relations between the Chinese and Russian governments''. 3. In many countries, the capital is the richest city. This is because when a city becomes a major business center, it takes a more important place on the world stage. London, for example, has been the economic center of Britain for nearly 2,000 years, so it's naturally been the capital for much of that time.
4. Brazil's capital used to be Rio de Janeiro, a coastal city. Later the capital moved to the inland city of Brasilia. Part of the reason is that coastal cities can be attacked (攻击) more easily. In the case of Indonesia, the new capital was chosen in order to achieve balanced development in different areas. Kalimantan is an underdeveloped area. 5.
A.This will soon change.
B.Sometimes, capitals are chosen for safety reasons.
C.Some new capitals are planned and built in undeveloped areas.
D.Countries sometimes move their capitals from one city to another.
E.Therefore, it is important to choose a good spot for one's capital.
F.By becoming the new capital, it can expect faster economic growth.
G.The leaders of a country usually work and live in the capital as well.
Artificial intelligence products are not new. However, researchers have been working to improve the technology. Now virtual assistants, like Siri and Alexa, can have short conversations with us. AlphaGo taught itself to play Go and became better than the top human players.
Now an AI system has been tasked with passing a multiple-choice exam. The goal is to improve machines’ language understanding and logic with so-called computer vision.
A system named Aristo was developed by the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence, a lab in the United States city of Seattle. It recently passed an eighth-grade science exam taken by many US students, The New York Times reported. It correctly answered more than 90 percent of the questions. Then it was given a twelfth-grade exam. It scored more than 80 percent.
It’s an example of the progress in AI development. Four years ago, 700 computer scientists tried to develop AI systems that could pass these kinds of exams. None scored higher than 60 percent.
Aristo was able to pass the exams because it can not only understand language but also use logical thinking to solve difficult problems. For example, it can understand what a forest fire is and how it could endanger animals like squirrels or decrease the food supply they need.
The system used BERT, a kind of neural （神经的）network technology developed by Google, to answer the questions. BERT has “read” thousands of English articles If it looks at a sentence with a missing word, it can correctly guess what the word is With BERT’s help, Aristo “read” many multiple-choice questions and answers. Over time, it was able to find logical patterns on its own.
It may still be in the earliest stages, said Jingjing Liu, a Microsoft researcher who has been working on similar technologies “We can’t compare this technology to real human students and their ability to reason.”
However, Aristo’s success means that AI systems are getting better at understanding users, and we might see improved search engines and hospital databases （数据库）in the near future.
1.Why did scientists develop Aristo?
A.To make better multiple-choice exams.
B.To improve AI’s ability to teach itself.
C.To shorten the time AI needs to “read” information.
D.To improve the language understanding and logic of AI.
2.What can we know about Aristo from its exam results?
A.It was smarter than most US students.
B.It could only deal with science questions.
C.It was best at understanding English.
D.It did better than other AI systems in similar tasks.
3.What does the sixth paragraph talk about?
A.How Aristo teaches itself. B.How Aristo reads English articles.
C.How Google developed BERT. D.How Google designed Aristo.
4.What can we learn from Jingjing Liu’s words?
A.AI will soon replace humans in many tasks.
B.Aristo still cannot compare to human reasoning skills.
C.Humans can’t live without AI in the future.
D.Aristo performs better with a larger database.
Reading books and looking at pictures is great, but nothing assists learning like travel, especially for teenagers. Not only do they get to see a world beyond their neighborhood, they also gel to experience it — feel it, taste it, hear it and better understand the world around them. After nearly four decades in the classroom and traveling the world, Phyllis Duvall Bailey knew this perhaps better than anyone else.
Becoming involved with the work in AKA Sorority Inc in US, she worked to educate children about the United Nations. There was no doubt in Bailey’s mind that the lessons would mean so much more if the students could see things for themselves. Starting in 2015, Bailey, 82, set out to take her students to the UN Headquarters in New York City to give them a “Window Seat to the World”, and thus transform them into global citizens. Indeed, it is a great opportunity to give students national and international exposure. Since Bailey saw the students as future leaders, she was desperate to expose them to the UN, its mission, its agendas (议程) and its supporting organizations. She decided to give ＄10,000 (70,720 yuan) of her own money to pay for the late June trip, enough to take 10 student ages 14-17 on a four-night stay in New York. There, they had guided tours of the UN Headquarters and the New York City harbor.
It was Quenyaun Payne’s first trip to the city and Taylor Sappington’s second. Payne, 17, is a senior at McEachern High School in the state of Georgia, US. Sappington, 15, is a junior at Therrell High School in Atlanta, Georgia, US. Both said their visit to the UN was inspiring, “I liked how countries are not only working together, they’re focused on common goals like global warming and keeping the peace,” Sappington said. Payne commented, “The trip was amazing. I’m so thankful Mrs. Bailey made it possible.”
Actually, there are a lot of people grateful for the retired teacher’s effort. The United Nations Association of Atlanta recently gave Bailey its Humanitarian Award, and the United Nations Association of the US awarded her with the National Education Award. But Bailey wasn’t looking for recognition or even gratitude. Over those four days in New York, she’d already felt it, seen it in the eyes of those 10 teenagers, Payne and Sappington included, who made the trip. “It has been a real joy to get to see and watch their reaction to new experiences,” she said.
1.How did Bailey help students?
A.She offered students volunteer opportunities at the UN.
B.She paid for them to go to school.
C.She paid for trips that helped students see the world
D.She taught students life-long learning skills.
2.What can we know from Sappington’s words?
A.He is determined to work for the UN in the future.
B.He would like to contribute to global affaire.
C.He found the trip to the UN meaningful.
D.He wants to visit New York City again
3.What would Bailey probably agree with?
A.Students today are more willing to seek new experiences.
B.Winning an award motivated her to work hard.
C.Classroom teaching limits students’ development.
D.Students’ gains are more important than the recognition of her efforts.
When Maleficent first appeared in cinemas five years ago, with her sculpted cheekbones and twisted devil horns, she became an instant hit with audiences around the world. Now, she’s back with a new movie.
The sequel to Disney’s 2014 film, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, hit Chinese mainland cinemas on Oct 18. It was expected to be one of the hottest film releases of the month.
What makes this film popular with audiences?
“Maleficent （2019） is a fierce fairy tale about the joy of being uniquely individual,” Carla Renata, a US film critic, wrote on Twitter.
The sequel features new and distinctive characters, Maleficent, played by US actress Angelina Jolie, is an evil fairy witch who hates human beings for the betrayal of her human lover. Then we have Princess Aurora, played by US actress Elle Fanning, who is kind and strong. Even though Maleficent cursed her and took her captive, Aurora refuses to hate fairies. A new character, Queen Ingrith, is Aurora’s mother-in-law. She’s a typical villain who will spare no effort to divide Maleficent and Aurora. She hopes lo divide humans and fairies forever.
“These characters are so unique that you would remember even many years after you finished watching the movie,” said Renata.
Apart from the strong cast of characters, the movie’s theme of inclusiveness and cooperation between two distinct groups is meant to enlighten audiences. Both fairies and humans must find a way to understand each other if they want to protect the peaceful land where magical creatures live together.
“The film is about kindness and acceptance and tolerance,” Fanning told Metro, “We want people to be kind to one another... to understand that it is wrong to out people that are different.”
With such a powerful theme, there’s no wonder that USA Today says it’s among Disney’s best live-action sequels.
1.What do we know about the character Maleficent?
A.She fights for human beings. B.She betrays her human lover.
C.She sees humans as her enemies. D.She makes friends with Aurora.
2.What did Renata think makes the 2019 Maleficent film special?
A.A fairy tale. B.Unique characters.
C.A powerful theme. D.Many film stars playing roles.
3.What does the 2019 Maleficent film want to tell viewers?
A.Peace is the key to happiness.
B.It takes effort to make the world a better place.
C.Humans should care about other creatures.
D.We should be kind to and tolerant of others.
阅读下面短文，根据所给情节进行续写，使之构成一个完整的故事。
Forty-three years seems like a long time to remember the name of a mere acquaintance. I have forgotten the name of the old lady, who was a customer on the paper route in my hometown when I was a twelve-year-old boy. Yet it seems like just yesterday that she taught me a lesson in forgiveness which I shall never forget.
On a Saturday afternoon, a friend and I were throwing stones onto the roof of the old lady’s house. The object of our play was to observe how the stones changed to missiles (导弹) as they rolled to the edge of the roof and shot out into the yard like comets (彗星) falling from the sky.
I found myself a perfectly smooth stone and sent it for a ride. The stone was too smooth, however, so it slipped from my hand as I let it go and headed straight not for the roof but for a small window on the old lady's back porch (走廊). At the sound of broken glass, we knew we were in trouble and ran away.
I was too scared about getting caught that I was concerned about the old lady with the broken window all the time that night. However, a few days later, when I was sure that I hadn’t been discovered, I started to feel guilty for her misfortune. She still greeted me with a smile each day when I gave her the paper, but I was no longer able to look into her eyes.
I made up my mind that I would save my paper delivery money, and in three weeks I had the seven dollars that I thought would cover the cost of her window. I put the money in an envelope with a note explaining that I was sorry for breaking her window and hoped that the seven dollars would cover the cost for repairing it.
注意：
1.所续写短文的词数应为150左右；
2.应使用5个以上短文中标有下划线的关键词语；
3.续写部分分为两段，每段的开头语已为你写好；
4.续写完成后，请用下划线标出你所使用的关键词语。
Paragraph 1:
I waited until it was dark.
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Paragraph 2:
The next day, I handed the old lady her paper.
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