It is not unusual for universities to create a range of new courses each semester. A recently-launched course at Fudan University has become a hit both on and off campus.
Just how popular is it? In the first round of course selection, more than 1,000 students chose the course, Breaking Myths (似是而非). Only 258 were lucky enough to get seats in the classroom.
The course, titled with a Chinese phrase meaning “apparently right, but actually wrong”, aims to discuss the differences between science and pseudoscience (伪科学) in different subject areas.
Pseudoscience includes beliefs, theories or practices that are considered scientific but which actually have no supporting data.
Scientists around the world worry about its influence on people. To help young people tell the two apart, Fudan University launched the new course. It brings together 12 professors from fields including literature, science and medicine, with a total of 17 subjects to be discussed.
These topics include the probable risks of vaccination; whether genes are our destiny (宿命); and whether mobile phone radiation is harmful. The aim of the course, according to the university, is to remove prejudices and provide new ways of thinking.
Speaking to China Youth Daily, Fudan University undergraduate Jiang Xinyi said, “In the era of prevalent (盛行的) fake news, both my classmates and I hope to enhance our judgment through this course.
Lou Hongwei, one of the course lecturers, said, pseudoscience attempts to claim the credibility of real sciences without the research findings to support its claims. He explained one such math fallacy (谬误): “Should people prefer community health centers to a comprehensive Grade A hospital if data shows a lower death rate at the former?” Some people do. But according to Lou, hospitals deal with more deadly conditions, so more deaths can be expected there.
Such logical fallacies are widespread, hard to resist but actually unreasonable, he concluded.
Fudan is not the first university to offer such a course. Many other universities around the world also teach skepticism of pseudoscience. As part of its philosophy (哲学) degree, the University of St Andrews, in Scotland, offers a course called “Scientific Thinking”. In the United States, the University of Nebraska Omaha offers a Science and Critical Thinking course as part of its natural science degree.
Like Fudan University, they examine popular pseudoscientific subjects including ghosts, psychics (通灵) and space aliens. They also focus on distinctions between science and non-science, errors in reasoning and critical thinking.
1. Why did Fudan University offer students the new course?| A．To get more students interested in science. |
| B．To help students develop scientific thinking. |
| C．To broaden students’ science knowledge. |
| D．To promote more teacher-student interaction. |
| A．To show the best way to identify fallacies. |
| B．To describe the features of the new course. |
| C．To show how pseudoscience can be hard to distinguish. |
| D．To explain the differences between science and pseudoscience. |
| A．Many universities offer similar courses to Fudan’s new one. |
| B．Scepticism of pseudoscience has become the recent focus of attention. |
| C．Popular pseudoscientific topics were specially chosen for philosophy majors. |
| D．The ability of reasoning is highly valued in various courses. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】An educator with a passion for getting children emotionally invested in saving the ice caps gave a lesson to students as a polar bear stayed on his shoulder. The bear seemed to say “hi” to them about climate change.
Gavin McCormack is trying to bring the “amazing natural phenomena” to the fingertips of children in an attempt to get them to help stop rising sea levels and become passionate about climate change, which is threatening the home of polar bears.
The primary school teacher decided to jump headfirst into his teachings and spent ten days on an icebreaker heading towards the North Pole. On the first day at sea, a polar bear climbed out of the water right in front of him and onto an island where it was attacked by a group of Arctic terns (北极燕鸥).
“Each day is different but so interesting,” McCormack said. “This week, my dream to teach children about the wonder of a polar bear with one right over my shoulder came true.”
The most memorable moment for him while in the Arctic was when his ship reached the pack ice. The ship crunched (嘎吱地响) through the ice as they reached 82 degrees north and the noise was deafening. Earlier this week he launched his new course “Be the Change”, which is free to all schools nationwide. “Be the Change” is designed to empower children, families and communities around the world to bring about changes and make global impacts. “It takes a course-related approach to improve the world in meaningful ways,” Mr. McCormack said.
McCormack hopes to teach the “leaders of tomorrow” to include nature and the climate in every decision they make. He is planning another course named “It Starts With You”, with the hopes of bringing purposeful education to as many children as possible.
“Working alongside teachers, schools and students, we believe that when children are empowered to make real choices about the future, the skills for life are developed not through listening to what others tell them, but through experience,” McCormack said.
1. Why did McCormack head to the North Pole?| A．To observe an amazing natural sight. |
| B．To measure the rate of sea level rise. |
| C．To save polar bears from extinction. |
| D．To educate children in a real situation. |
| A．They are friendly towards human beings. |
| B．Climate change causes the loss of their habitats. |
| C．Arctic terns are their natural enemies. |
| D．Hunger drives them out of water for food. |
| A．To make a difference in improving the world. |
| B．To change people’s decision-making methods. |
| C．To teach students to think twice before making choices. |
| D．To develop students’ life skills through experience. |
| A．Climate Change — A Worldwide Concern |
| B．New Ways of Teaching About Climate Change |
| C．Join Hands and Say No to Global Warming |
| D．An Interesting Trip to the North Pole |
【推荐2】Beloit Summer Language
If you’re serious about learning a language, come to one of the nation’s finest language summer camp programs, the Center for Language Studies (CLS) at beautiful Beloit College in Wisconsin. CLS is a four-or eight-week language program in Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, or Russian that is open to high school students and people who are studying or working at college.
Phone: 608-363-2500
Email: admiss@beloit.edu
Website: https://www.beloit.edu
Georgetown University: Summer Medical Program
If you’re a teen thinking about learning medicine in college, explore the medical summer camp program offered at Georgetown University. In this 20-day course, you will get a brief idea of the first-year medical school curriculum. The course includes lectures, laboratory work and fieldwork.
Phone: 202-687-7087
Email: highschool@georgetown.edu
Website: http://scs.georgetown.edu
Bard College at Simon’s Rock Young Writers Workshop
In the summer of 1983, Bard College at Simon’s Rock began offering a three-week writing workshop for high school students. Each year 84 academically motivated students are chosen to participate in the Simon’s Rock program. Former participants have gone on to such colleges as Bard, Harvard, Princeton, Yale and so on.
Phone: 413-528-7231
Email: jamieh@simons-rock.edu
Website: https://simons-rock.edu
Art: Summer at Penn
Each summer, the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Design offers an unparalleled four-week summer art program for artistically gifted high school students. This pre-college art program in Philadelphia prepares you for the college admissions process as you experience university life. Courses are held within the School of Design’s fine art studios and you can develop your technical skills and expand your styles of creative expression.
Phone: 610-265-9401
Email: imagine@jkcp.com
Website: http://www.jkcp.com
1. Which program accepts college students?| A．Bard College at Simon’s Rock Young Writers Workshop |
| B．Georgetown University: Summer Medical Program |
| C．Beloit Summer Language |
| D．Art: Summer at Penn |
| A．admiss@beloit.edu | B．imagine@jkcp.com |
| C．jamieh@simons-rock.edu | D．highschool@georgetown.edu |
| A．By visiting http://scs.georgetown.edu | B．By visiting https://simons-rock.edu |
| C．By visiting https://www.beloit.edu | D．By visiting http://www.jkcp.com |
【推荐3】根据短文内容，从短文后的选项中选出能填入空白处的最佳选项。选项中有两项为多余选项。
We know that choosing a college major can be extremely hard.
Dream job
Great ambition
According to PayScale.com,the majors that lead to the highest salaries include just about any type of engineering,actuarial mathematics,computer science,physics,statistics,government and economics.Keep your quality of life in mind,too.
Some students choose a major simply because they love the subject matter.If you love what you’re studying, you’re more likely to fully engage with your classes and college experience.
| A．Love project |
| B．The academy of the School |
| C．Many schools offer hundreds of choices |
| D．Science is a specific subject that college students specialize in |
| E．That can mean better grades and great relationships with others in your field |
| F．That seven figure salary may not be worth it if you’re not happy at the office |
| G．Some students choose a major because it will prepare them for a specific career path or advanced study |
【推荐1】Algorithms (计算程序) are able to do a huge number of tasks, and the number of tasks that they are able to do is expanding practically every day. According to a new study, despite increasing concern over the effect of algorithms in daily life, more and more people nowadays are willing to trust a computer program, especially if a task becomes too challenging. From choosing the next song on your playlist to choosing the right size of pants, people are relying more on the advice of algorithms to help make everyday decisions.
During the study, researchers asked volunteers to count the number of people of a crowd in a photograph and supplied suggestions that were offered by a group of other people and suggestions offered by an algorithm. As the number of people in the photograph expanded, counting became more difficult and people were more likely to follow the suggestions offered by an algorithm rather than count themselves or follow the “wisdom of the crowd”.
One of the common problems with AI is when it is used for awarding credit. While that is a subjective decision, there are lots of numbers there, like income and credit scores. Therefore, people feel like this is a good job for an algorithm. But we know that dependence leads to unfair and incomplete practices in many cases because of social factors that aren’t considered.
Facial recognition and hiring algorithms have come under inspection in recent years because their use has shown cultural prejudice in the way they were built, which can cause inaccuracies when matching faces to identities or screening for qualified job candidates. The prejudice may not be present in a simple task like counting, but their presence in other trusted algorithms is a reason why it is important to understand how people rely on algorithms when making decisions.
“The eventual goal is to look at groups of humans and computers making decisions and find how we can get them to trust each other and how that changes their behaviors,” one of the researchers said. “Because there is very little research in that setting, we’re starting with the fundamentals.”
1. What can we learn about the present people from paragraph 1?| A．They become more dependent on algorithms. |
| B．They show little concern about algorithms in life. |
| C．They are addicted to numbers of challenging tasks online. |
| D．They never rely on computers to make everyday decisions. |
| A．They cannot be used to award credit. |
| B．They can lead to one-sided decisions. |
| C．They can give away candidates’ identities. |
| D．They cannot be applied to difficult calculations. |
| A．It leads to cultural differences. |
| B．It may produce some false results. |
| C．It takes lots of money and manpower. |
| D．It rules out most qualified job candidates. |
| A．It is really necessary to stay away from AI. |
| B．It is very easy to make choices with the help of AI. |
| C．People need to adapt to the development of computers. |
| D．People tend to trust computer programs more than themselves. |
【推荐2】Teenagers who talk on the cell phone a lot, and hold their phones up to their right ears, score worse on one type of memory test. That’s the finding of a new study. That memory impairment（损伤） might be one side effect of the radiation (放射线) that phones use to keep us connected while we’re on the go.
Nearly 700 Swiss teens took part in a test of figural memory. This type helps us remember abstract symbols and shapes, explains Milena Foerster. The teens took memory tests twice, one year apart. Each time, they had one minute to remember 13 pairs of abstract shapes. Then they were shown one item from each pair and asked to match it with one of the five choices. The study volunteers also took a test of verbal memory. That’s the ability to remember words. The two memory tests are part of an intelligence test. The researchers also surveyed the teens on how they use cell phones. And they got call records from phone companies. The researchers used those records to figure out how long the teens were using their phones. This allowed the researchers to work out how big a radiation exposure (接触) each person could have got while talking.
A phone user’s exposure to the radiation can differ widely. Some teens talk on their phones more than others. People also hold their phones differently. If the phone is close to the ear, more radiation may enter the body, Foerster notes. Even the type of network signal that a phone uses can matter. Much of Switzerland was using an older “second-generation” type of cell phone networks, the study reports. Many phone carriers (通讯公司) have moved away from such networks. And more companies plan to update their networks within the next few years.
The teens’ scores in the figural memory tests were roughly the same from one year to the next. But those who normally held their phones near the right ears, and who were also exposed to higher levels of radiation, scored a little bit worse after a year. No group of teens showed big changes on the verbal memory test. Why might one type of memory be linked to cell phone use, but not another? Foerster thinks it could have to do with where different memory centers sit in the brain. The site that deals with the ability to remember shapes is near the right ear.
1. What can we infer from Paragraph 3?| A．Phone users can make more money with new networks. |
| B．Radiation levels are affected by the cell phone network types. |
| C．The cell phone network type has little to do the cell phone use. |
| D．How people hold their phones has no effect on their bodies. |
| A．matching numbers | B．reading signals |
| C．remembering shapes | D．learning words |
| A．Cell phone use and safety warnings |
| B．Facts about cell phone use at school |
| C．Dangerous levels of cell phone use among teens |
| D．Teen’s cell phone use linked to memory problems |
【推荐3】Smartphone technology can be a double-edged sword. On one hand, it sends us unlimited amounts of information. On the other hand, this immediate access to information may become an addiction. And it may make some people feel lonely and anxious.
These findings, published in NeuroRegulation, are from a 2018 study led by health education professors Erik Peper and Richard Harvey for San Francisco State University. Peper explains the smartphone addiction forms connections in the brain that are similar to drug addiction. And these connections form slowly over time. Also, addiction to social media may affect our emotional (情感的) state.
Peper and Harvey do not blame (指责) users for their technology addiction. They blame the “technology industry’s desire to increase company income”. As Peper writes, “More eyeballs, more clicks, more money.” The researchers warn that workers in the technology industry know how to manipulate our brains and turn us into addicts.
But the researchers also suggest ways to fight back. They say that we can train our brains to be less addicted to our phones and computers. Erik Peper suggests turning off push notifications (通知) on our phones. Our devices often share unimportant information as if our lives depended on it. Our brains see the notices the same way, And that is a problem. So, just turn them off.
The researchers also suggest taking control of when and where you answer a text or email. You do not need to answer them all. And you certainly don’t need to answer them as soon as you get them. They also suggest not spending too much time on social media. Schedule periods of the day to focus on important tasks.
1. What do we know about smartphone addiction?| A．It results from too much information. | B．It has connections to drug addiction. |
| C．It develops sharply over a short time | D．It has an impact on our spiritual states. |
| A．Powerful and informative. | B．Money-focused and irresponsible |
| C．Skillful and creative. | D．Short-sighted and inactive. |
| A．Control | B．Limit. | C．Connect. | D．Digitise. |
| A．To turn off your smartphones to avoid being disturbed. |
| B．To answer an email at your earliest convenience. |
| C．To set a limit on your social media time. |
| D．To say no to unimportant tasks. |
【推荐1】It’s “Baby Day” at the Riverpark seniors home in Ottawa—a twice monthly event Eulah Johnson, 90, never misses.“I really enjoy it. It's a shift from the regular routine,” says the retired nurse.
Today, Johnson sits on a sofa and looks at a laughing child on the seat of her walker. A few moments later, the girl skips off to play with the dozen or so other small children and babies mixed with 20 of Johnson’s fellow residents.
Some, like 12-month-old Owen, are regular visitors to Ottawa seniors’ homes.“We’ve been doing this since he was three months old,” says his mother, Allison Rodgers, 33.
She loves the social calls, too.“I didn't have grandparents while growing up. It’s nice to spend time with older people, and it feels good to know they re betting so much out of it.”
Babies Who Volunteer, the initiative (倡议) bringing these generations together, is the inspired idea of Jessica Turner, a former educational assistant. The idea came about during a March 2018 visit with her 22-month-old daughter Amelia to a friend’s mother, who was living in a long-term-care unit. She was most surprised by the response of her friend's mother; she hadn’ t spoken in two years, but with Amelia in her lap, she began singing. Turner went home and immediately put out a call on a mums’ Facebook group: Would anyone be interested in dropping by seniors’ residences with their babies?
A year later, there are now 1,500 volunteers, and the organization visits 39 homes in Ottawa. Everyone benefits from intergenerational programmes, she says.“This playgroup is good for the mothers, too. They’re giving something to the community, which provides a sense of purpose and belonging. It can really help someone who is feeling lonely.”
1. What’s the event Eulah never misses at the seniors home?| A．A visit with his children. | B．Baby Day performances. |
| C．Children's regular visit. | D．His shift from routine work. |
| A．Children can grow up with their grandparents. |
| B．Everyone can meet their need for communication. |
| C．Online attention can be drawn to the life of seniors. |
| D．Mothers can have a life goal by reaching out to the old. |
| A．Regular visits to the old. | B．The baby effect on seniors. |
| C．Connection with the seniors. | D．Mothers’ sense of belonging. |
【推荐2】Robert Irwin is a typical teenage boy, who enjoys mountain biking and photography. He also lives in a large zoo.
Robert, the son of the late “Crocodile Hunter” star Steve Irwin, is now taking center stage in “Crikey! It’s the Irwins, ” a new series on Animal Planet.
“We’ve worked on quite a few different TV projects, but this is actually the first time my whole family has come back to Animal Planet together, so it’s pretty unusual, ”says Robert.
Premiering(首映)at 8 p.m. on Sunday, “Crikey! ” follows the Irwins as they run the 100-acre Australia Zoo, founded by Steve Irwin’s parents. Steve owned and ran the zoo before he died in 2006.
“We’ve always grown up in front of a camera. Bindi, my sister, and I were both filmed for some of the original ‘Crocodile Hunter’ documentaries, ”says Robert.
“I’m very lucky in the way that I’ve had so much of my life captured on camera, so as the memories you have of Dad start to fade, you can always look back at the old footage and relive those special moments, ” he says.
“Crikey! It’s the Irwins” has some footage of Steve. The most exciting part of the premiere involves Robert leading the “ Croc Show" at the zoo’s “ Crocoseum, ”a 5,500-seat stadium Steve built to give crocodile performances and educate visitors about crocodile behavior.
Of course, running a zoo doesn’t leave much time for school, so Robert participates in Distance Education, a program similar to homeschooling. “School can be difficult for me to fit in, ” he says. “But I've actually got a classroom that’s set up at Australia Zoo and a teacher that travels with us wherever we go, so I can fit in all of my studies. ”
Robert continues, “I’m learning as much as I can about all of the animals and all of the work at Australia Zoo. I feel really honored to be following in Dad’s footsteps. I love continuing that work. ”
1. Why is the new series special to Robert?| A．It is being filmed in a large zoo. | B．It includes his whole family. |
| C．It is the first documentary he has made. | D．It allows him to work with his dad. |
| A．It encourages him to work hard. | B．It helps increase his popularity. |
| C．It encourages him to care about animals. | D．It helps strengthen his ties to his dad. |
| A．He is taking some online courses. | B．He is homeschooled by his mom. |
| C．He goes to school whenever he has time. | D．He asks some teachers to teach him at home. |
| A．Feeding animals. | B．Becoming a crocodile expert. |
| C．Running Australia Zoo. | D．Becoming a wildlife photographer. |
【推荐3】A “gap year” is a period of time when a student takes a break before going to university, or before a postgraduate course.
Many choose to do voluntary work. This could include teaching in the mountains in Nepal, a conservation project in Madagascar.
Julie Taylor graduated from Hull University and now works as a manager in an international company. She says: “During my gap year, I spent four months in Kenya teaching English, art and physical education to children aged 8-18.
| A．How do the students like it? |
| B．It is often spent in traveling or working. |
| C．Not everyone can put that on their resumes (简历)! |
| D．I am very proud that I worked and travelled a lot there. |
| E．Lots of gap year students just want to see more of the world. |
| F．Then I travelled the country and even climbed Mount Kenya. |
| G．Most students for a gap year take on a part-time job to save up for the trip. |
【推荐1】A Chicago six-year-old girl’s decision to feed the homeless instead of receiving presents on her birthday is touching the hearts of many not only in the area, but also across the country.
Armani Crews had been begging her parents for a few months to feed homeless people in her community.
“I said, ‘OK, we’ll make some sandwiches,’ to which Armani said, ‘No. I want the same thing we’d have at my birthday party,’” her mother recalled.
Even when her father, Antoine, told her that if she wanted to go through with this, she wouldn’t get a birthday gift, the girl, whose birthday was March 5, wouldn’t give in.
So the Chicago family spent about $300 buying food to send to homeless people in the city’s East Garfield Park neighborhood. They bought chicken, fish, corn, green beans, mashed potatoes, rolls, cake, cookies, fruit and water.
After Armani mentioned her plan at the family’s local church, the church members donated (捐赠) other items to create care packages for the homeless.
Armani’s birthday party was a success, with the family feeding more than 125 people who gathered.
In a statement, the six-year-old girl told ABC News, “It was nice to be nice.” Her mother added, “She was excited and happy. Everybody was being fed. One gentleman said he hadn’t had a hot meal in a long time.”
1. What do we know about Armani Crews?| A．She was a six-year-old girl disliking birthday gifts. |
| B．She gave up her birthday party to feed the homeless. |
| C．She begged her parents to feed the homeless regularly. |
| D．She was willing to protect the pride of the homeless. |
| A．Concerned. | B．Relaxed. | C．Grateful. | D．Humorous. |
| A．little love can make the world better |
| B．east and west, home is the best |
| C．eat to live, but not live to eat |
| D．a good beginning makes a good ending |
| A．Lifestyle. | B．Sports & Games. |
| C．Health & Fitness. | D．Entertainment. |
【推荐2】New York’s best classes for kids include sports classes, performing arts classes, art classes, language programs and baby classes. Make sure your kids are ready for new adventures with these super-cool offerings!
92nd Street Y Classes
At this institution your musician can learn how to play an instrument. After-school classes examine different musical pieces and encourage work in a group setting. At the end of the program, mini Mozarts can impress their family and friends at open-house performances. Plus, when they're not jamming, kids can take advantage of homework help in the Clubhouse, where they are divided up by grade level. Ages 5 - 15.
The Cliffs at LIC
After a day of fighting the academic obstacle course at school, your favorite achievers can reach new heights on a rock-climbing wall. The Cliffs， offerings allow developing bodies to build muscle strength. For example, introductory sessions teach climbers how to tie safety knots （结） as well as other basics, mastering them with hands-on games and activities. The Cliffs at LIC, Long Island City. Ages 6-18.
Staten Island Skating Pavilion
This large area maintains its year-round frosty temperatures for ice-skating fun. Courses are offered every day for a variety of interests and skill levels, and public and freestyle sessions are available for children who want to spend some afternoons there without instruction. Ages 4 and up.
West Side YMCA
If your child wants to learn how to swim, you'd be pressed to find more options than those offered at the Y. Kids are grouped by age and capability. The courses cover personal safety and stroke techniques. If your offspring prefer dry land, the Y also offers dance, basketball and football. Visit website for class descriptions and detailed price information. Ages 5-18.
1. Which event will you attend for occasional academic help?| A．The Cliffs at LIC. | B．West Side YMCA. |
| C．92nd Street Y Classes. | D．Staten Island Skating Pavilion. |
| A．A mini open-house performance at the end of the program. |
| B．Cold temperatures all the year round for ice-skating. |
| C．Teaching of skating in divided groups according to their age. |
| D．Introductory lessons on how to overcome the learning obstacles. |
【推荐3】It was once thought that air pollution affected only the areas immediately around large cities with factories and heavy automobile traffic. Today, we know that although these are the areas with the worst air pollution, the problem is actually worldwide. On several occasions over the past decade, a heavy cloud of air pollution has covered the entire eastern half of the United States and led to health warnings even in rural areas away from any major concentration of manufacturing and automobile traffic. In fact, the very climate of the entire earth may be affected by air pollution. Some scientists feel that the increasing concentration of carbon dioxide in the air resulting from the burning of fossil fuels (coal and oil) is creating “a greenhouse effect”, holding in heat reflected from the earth and raising the world’s average temperature. If this view is correct and the world’s temperature is raised only a few degrees, much of the polar ice cap will melt and cities such as New York, Boston, Miami, and New Orleans will be under water.
Another view, less widely held, is that increasing particulate (废气排到空中而形成的微粒、颗粒) matter in the atmosphere is blocking sunlight and lowering the earth’s temperature—a result that would be equally disastrous. A drop of just a few degrees could create something close to a new ice age and would make agriculture difficult or impossible in many of our top farming areas. At present we do not know for sure that either of these conditions will happen (though one recent government report prepared by experts in the field concluded that the greenhouse effect is very likely). Perhaps, if we are very lucky, the two tendencies will offset each other and the world’s temperature will stay about the same as it is now.
1. As pointed out at the beginning of the passage, people used to think that air pollution ________.| A．caused widespread damage in the countryside |
| B．affected the entire eastern half of the United States |
| C．had damaging effects on health |
| D．existed merely in urban and industrial areas |
| A．shares the same view with the scientists |
| B．is uncertain of its occurrence |
| C．rejects it as being ungrounded |
| D．thinks that it will destroy the world soon |
| A．slip into | B．make up for |
| C．set up | D．catch up with |
| A．lowering the world’s temperature merely a few degrees would lead many major farming areas to disaster |
| B．raising the world’s temperature only a few degrees would not do much harm to life on earth |
| C．almost no temperature variations have occurred over the past decade |
| D．the world’s temperature will remain constant in the years to come |
