1 . When you open a map on your phone, you might think it is guided by the Global Positioning System (GPS) without giving it a second thought. However, today, most of the online maps in China uses the Beidou Navigation Satellite System (BDS，北斗卫星导航系统).
China started to build the BDS 30 years ago. Back in 1978, the US already started providing navigation services with its GPS. However, depending on a navigation system from another country is not safe.
In 2020, after over 20 years of hard work, Beidou completed its global network. The BDS became the fourth global navigation system after the GPS of the United States, Galileo of the European Union and GLONASS of Russia.
The BDS is the first navigation satellite system to provide a global short message communication service. It means you can text others in places without phone signal or internet. For example, in February 2023, a hiker got lost in heavy snow in Inner Mongolia. He sent a text message using the BDS-powered chip in his phone and got saved in time.
Besides, the Beidou system plays an important role in disaster prevention and response (灾害预防和响应). Rescuers (救援人员) can communicate through the BDS quickly and clearly.
No matter where you are in the world, the BDS can help guide your way. By 2023, it had provided service for over 120 countries. “By 2035, China will build a positioning, navigation and timing system with the BDS at its main aim to provide more smart services,” Ran Chengqi, director of the China Satellite Navigation Office, said at a news meeting in 2018.
根据短文内容，判断正 (T)、误 (F)。1. Today, all the maps on smart phones are guided by GPS.
2. The BDS of China was built later than GPS of the US.
3. The BDS is the fourth navigation satellite system to provide a global short message communication service.
4. The BDS can help people take quicker action if an earthquake happens.
5. The service of BDS had covered over 120 countries by 2023.
2 . 
It’s common that we take the subway with our subway cards or by scanning QR codes on our smartphones. In May 2023, Weixin’s Palm Scan (刷掌) Payments system was introduced in China. Palm Scan is like waving at a friend. Now people traveling on the Beijing Daxing Airport Express subway have a different way to take a ride. They can scan their palms.
To enjoy the service, people need to register (注册) their palm prints on machines in subway stations along the Daxing Airport Express subway line. Next, they need to activate (激活) the palm-scanning function (功能) on their smartphones. Then, they can scan their palms at ticket gates to pass through. After they finish their travels, the payment service on their smartphones will pay the money for their rides. Many people welcome the new technology. They think it helps them to travel faster and more easily. They don’t have to take out their subway cards or smartphones when they pass through the ticket gates. And they no longer feel worried when they forget their subway cards or when their smartphones run out of battery. What’s more, the palm-scanning technology is very friendly to old people and those who have special needs. Those people may not use smartphones well. The technology makes it possible for them to take the subway without using smartphones.
Besides Beijing, the palm-scanning technology is also in service in the subway stations of Shenzhen. And there are hopes that it can be used in more places like stores and restaurants in the future.
根据短文内容，判断句子正 (T)、误 (F)。1. In May 2022, Weixin’s Palm Scan Payments system was introduced in China.
2. The palm-scanning technology is used in Beijing Daxing Airport Express subway.
3. Passengers can scan their palms on their smartphones to pass through the ticket gates.
4. The people may not use smartphones and the old quite welcome the palm-scanning technology.
5. The palm-scanning technology will be used in more places like stores and restaurants in the future.
3 . Chinese first artificial intelligence (AI) (人工智能) textbook for high school students has recently come out in Shanghai. Forty high schools around the country have started AI lessons.
The book is mainly about the history of AI and how AI can be used in areas such as facial recognition (人脸识别), public security (公共安全) and auto driving.
Peng Yu is a teacher at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. He took part in writing the textbook. “The book has a good introduction to the area so that students can decide if they want to further study AI at college. Students can also find out what they need to learn if they are interested in studying AI. For example, they have to learn math really hard because it is the start of AI.” Peng said.
Peng said AI has improved the interest of many high school students already. He thinks everyone should learn something about AI because it will be part of our everyday lives. Although AI in China develops really fast, it is reported that China needs at least 5 million AI talents to keep up with development in the future.
根据短文内容，判断下列各句正(T)、误(F)。1. Forty high schools in Shanghai have started AI lessons recently.
2. The textbook is only about the history of AI.
3. Peng Yu is a student from Shanghai Jiao Tong University.
4. Students must study math hard if they are interested in AI.
5. China will need more AI talents in the future.
Eddie: A passage about a new tool called ChatGPT.
Tom: Yes, of course! It is said that it is very powerful.
Eddie:
Tom: Such as…?
Eddie:
Tom: That’s amazing!
Eddie: Actually China’s Baidu is also working on similar AI projects.
Tom: Really?
Eddie: AI is becoming more and more powerful.
Tom:
Eddie: Well, I am not sure. Let’s wait and see.
| A．Exactly! |
| B．What about you? |
| C．That’s good news! |
| D．Have you ever heard of it? |
| E．Such as writing passages and creating poetry. |
| F．Do you think AI will take place of humans in the future? |
5 . The computers changed our lives in the 1980s. The Internet changed our lives in the 1990s. Now, it is the robots’ turn.
NSK, Japanese robotics company, is working hard on a robot guide dog. The robot makes good use of wheels on its four legs to roll around on the floor. It can also lift its legs to climb up and down stairs.
Blind people can give orders to the robot by pressing the handgrips (手柄). It can also tell its human owner what’s going on.
Such robots will probably never take the place of real dogs, but they have their own advantages. They can use GPS and street maps to lead their owners to the places they want to go.
Another example is a new cooking robot being used in a restaurant in Beijing. It can cook all the dishes on the menu, and you only need to wait several minutes. The dishes are as tasty as those cooked by real cooks. The robots never get tired and are always careful enough to avoid mistakes.
There will be more and more robots like these in our everyday life in the future. It’s not a dream that every home will have a robot. Robots are not only able to help people do housework, they can also help doctors do the difficult operations, play chess with people, play the piano and so on.
Experts believe robots will be used everywhere. In the future, robots will become part of the family and provide service to people. We all look forward to the robot age.
根据短文内容，判断句子正（T）、误（F）。1. NSK, a company in China invented a robot guide dog.
2. The robot guide dog can’t lift its legs to climb up and down stairs.
3. The robot guide dog receives orders from blind people when they press the handgrips.
4. The cooking robot can cook a dish within several minutes.
5. Robots will enter our daily life, being part of our family and offering service to people.
6 . Driving coaches might soon be replaced (代替) by AI in the near future. A company in China has developed an AI-powered driving coach called Robo Coach, and it’s already being used in some driving schools.
Robo Coach is not a human-like robot that sits next to you and complains (抱怨) about your driving skills. The AI driving coach developed by Beijing Yi Jia Jia Technology is actually a teaching and safety control system. The other ways in which Robo Coach are different from human driving coaches are even funnier, though. Robo Coach will call you “mommy” or “daddy”.
Robo Coach has more than 40 different sensors (传感器) on the car to notice people, other cars and roads. Robo Coach uses sensors to stop if the car runs into something or increases speed suddenly for no reason, similar to how self-driving cars work.
It communicates with learners and helps decision making and instructions. And to make faster decisions, the car is also provided with radar (雷达) systems. The system isn’t just keeping new drivers from meeting accidents. It also collects information on their driving behaviors and even body positions. It studies these driving habits in real time to see if the learner is too traditional or easy to be angry during practice and then changes its teaching style. By recording all the problems a learner runs into during lessons, the system tries to help the new driver correct past mistakes and prevent new ones.
Robo Coach is now being used in 5 driving schools owned by Yi Jia Jia Technology as well as 22 other driving schools across China.
根据短文内容，判断句子正(T)、误(F)。1. The driving coaches must be replaced by AI in the future.
2. Robo Coach sits next to you and complains about your driving skills.
3. If the car increases speed suddenly for no reason, Robo Coach will stop it with the sensors.
4. The system not only keeps new drivers from meeting accidents but also collects information.
5. Robo Coach is being used in 27 driving schools of Yi Jia Jia Technology.
7 . A team of Chinese scientists and climbers reached the top of Qomolangma at about 12:30 p. m.on Tuesday, May 23. It’s the second time since last year for the science expedition (考察) team to reach the top.
The team was made up of 13 Chinese scientists and climbers. They set off at a height of 8,300 meters for the top at about 3 a. m. After more than 8 hours of hard climbing, they arrived at the 8,830-metre weather station.
After fixing steel ropes, changing batteries and putting in wind speed and direction sensors (传感器), they finished improving the world’s highest automated (自动化的) weather station, which was set up by Chinese scientists last year. Besides, they collected ice-snow samples on the top for further research.
The weather station records temperatures, wind speeds and other key data for studying climate change. Climate scientists have found that global warming has had a large influence on the glacier number on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (青藏高原).
Over the last fifty years, the temperature on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau has risen about 0.5℃every ten years. Studying the ecosystem (生态系统) of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau will help scientists have a better understanding of the influence of climate change, and help scientists and the government make proper decisions.
Since the mid-20th century, China has sent different research expedition teams to Qomolangma. But because of limited resources and technologies, many key scientific questions are still unanswered, such as whether global warming can melt the ice at the top of Qomolangma, and how ecosystem can change as height increases to extremity.
根据短文内容，判断下列各句正 (T)、误 (F)。1. The Chinese science expedition team has reached the top twice since last year.
2. The team set off at a height of 8,830 meters for the top at about 3 a. m.
3. China has set up the world’s highest automated weather station so far.
4. The team collected rock samples on the top for further research.
5. All the key scientific questions have been answered up to now.
8 . Last week we went on a school trip to a science museum. Ms. Liu, the guide, showed us around a smart home.
We started with the front door. Ms. Liu asked me to ring the doorbell. I didn’t notice the tiny camera that was fixed just above it. After I pressed (按) the doorbell, the camera sent a live video (视频直播) to the home-owners. “They can electronically open the door when they are not at home,” said Ms. Liu.
The other thing I couldn’t see on the door was a lock. “There must be one.” I thought. At this time, Ms. Liu took out a smart phone and put it against the door. And it opened. “Oh, the key is on the smart phone.”
After entering the living room, I saw a computer on a table. By using the computer, the owners can control how much energy is used. In this way, they can manage their living cost.
One of the rooms I wanted to see most was the bedroom. To my great surprise, the bed disappeared into the floor at the touch of the smart phone. The window has a smart blind (百叶窗). It can be raised and lowered with a voice.
As I left the smart home, I looked back on what I had just seen. Scientists often say that these products are improving our life. I think the technology in the smart home may make us lazier. However, there is no doubt that it will become more popular in the homes of tomorrow.
根据短文内容，回答下列问题。1. Where did Ms. Liu show the students around?
2. How can they open the door when the home-owners are not at home?
3. Where is the key to the door?
4. What did the writer see on the table after entering the living room?
5. How did the smart blind work?
9 . Today, AI robots play an important role in people’s daily lives. These robots work in many areas to help people.
| I’m a teaching robot. My job is to spend time with children and teach them. I look like a human being because I want to get close to children. Turning around and avoiding obstacles (避障) are both easy for me. I can sing and dance. I can also know the needs of children by hearing their words and teach them knowledge on different subjects. |
| I’m a medical robot. People often use me in the operating room (手术室). I can show some angles of view (视角) and can also move to some hard-to-get-to places in the human body. I can help doctors work better during operations. |
| I’m a security (安全) robot. I can recognize (识别) strangers and then call the police when strangers break into a house, I always keep my eyes on smoke in the house and can let people know if there is a fire. If the house catches fire, I can also help people put it out. |
| I’m a delivery (运送) robot. My job is to help stores and restaurants do delivery jobs. I’m very smart, so I can avoid obstacles and people on the road with 12 cameras as my eyes. And I can also protect the goods inside me from getting lost because only when I arrive can people open me up. |
1. How many kinds of robots are mentioned in the text?
| A．Three. | B．Four. | C．Five. | D．Six. |
| A．Doctors. | B．Children. | C．Teachers. | D．Strangers. |
| A．It can do delivery jobs. | B．It can recognize strangers. |
| C．It can help doctors work better. | D．It can teach children knowledge. |
| A．The teaching robot and the delivery robot. |
| B．The medical robot and the security robot. |
| C．The security robot and the delivery robot. |
| D．The teaching robot and the medical robot. |
| A．The teaching robot can only dance and sing. |
| B．The medical robot has 12 cameras as its eyes. |
| C．The security robot has more than one function. |
| D．Everyone can open up the delivery robot at any time. |
10 . My neighbor, Mr. Black, is seventy years old. He always complains about how fast things have changed, and often says that life used to be better than nowadays.
Now cities are full of cars. Some families even have two or more cars, so parking is a big problem. The traffic in some cities is getting worse and worse, too. Car drivers drive so fast that there are more traffic accidents. Yesterday Mr. Black’s old friend was hit by a car and died. He is very sad now.
Most families own computers now. A study found that children use the Internet more and more. The number of children using the Internet has grown by three times in the past three years. Mr. Black’s grandson is a high school student. He often stays up late playing computer games on the Internet. He falls asleep in the early hours of the morning and spend less time doing homework. His English teacher told Mr. Black his grandson failed another test. Mr. Black got very angry with him.
根据短文内容，选择最佳答案。
1. _______ was hit by a car.| A．The English teacher | B．Mr. Black’s friend | C．Mr. Black’s grandson | D．Mr. Black |
| A．more comfortable | B．worse than it used to be |
| C．the same as it used to be | D．better than it used to be |
| A．抱怨 | B．期盼 | C．考虑 | D．猜测 |
(1) There are lights at home. (2) Lots of families own computers.
(3) Some families have two or more cars. (4) There is less room for parking.
| A．(1)(2)(4) | B．(2)(3)(4) | C．(1)(4) | D．(1)(2)(3) |
| A．Mr. Black’s grandson is not interested in the Internet |
| B．Mr. Black is an English teacher |
| C．Mr. Black is worried about his grandson |
| D．Mr. Black likes today’s life more than that of the old days |
