【推荐1】“After 30 years of reading cardiograms (心电图), I can never tell whether it’s from a man or woman, or the age of the person,” said Eric Topol, a cardiologist from Scripps Research in La Jolla, California. “A machine can detect if a person has anaemia (贫血) or other difficult diagnoses (诊断).”

Topol is excited not only about how machines are already better than experts at spotting problems, but how they can discover patterns that experts wouldn’t even notice. “In Japan, doctors are using machine vision to pick up polyps (息肉) in real time, and detecting whether or not they could be cancerous and whether they should have a biopsy,” he said. “Machines will not replace physicians—but physicians making use of AI will soon replace those not using it.”

Still, these are early days for the application of AI in healthcare. Pearse Keane, a consultant doctor at Moorrelds Eye Hospital, has been leading a collaboration between Moor fields and Google’s Deep Mind Health. In 2018, he famously published a proof-of-concept paper in Nature showing the erst successful AI diagnosis for eye disease. “The algorithm that we’ve developed isn’t in clinical use at the minute, so we’re trying to implement this now,” Keane said.

Keane mentioned the INSIGHT study, which is looking into eye disease and its link to other conditions such as diabetes (糖尿病). “We are using the eye as a window to the rest of the body. With deep learning, we can now look at a retinal (视网膜）photograph and say: ‘This is a woman, she’s 58 years old, she’s not a smoker or a diabetic, her BMI is around 25, and her blood pressure is around 150 over 85’. Now, to me, that’s staggering.” Keane said.

The INSIGHT study is analysing more than three million OCT scans from around 300,000 patients. “We now know, for every person having had a retinal scan here, who’s gone on to develop a heart attack or diabetes,” he said. “The reason why we’re excited is that we think that if we can get the appropriate data sets and learn them deeply, we can find much more in the back of the eye about the health of the rest of the body.”

“The application of AI for healthcare and medicine is about precision and accuracy, but that’s not all,” said Topol. The most important aspect is how AI can promote a stronger human connection between doctor and patient. “We see patients in single digit numbers of minutes. And that’s not enough, you need the gift of time, which AI can give back,” he said. “Next year this will be the standard,” he believes. “Rather than doctors being data clerks, they will be making eye contact with patients. There’s no algorithm for empathy. That’s a human characteristic that we have to develop and get back in the way it used to be.”

1. According to Topol, machines in healthcare ______.

A．can pick up polyps

B．will replace doctors

C．are already better than experts

D．can discover if a patient has diseases

2. In paragraph 4, Keane mentioned a retinal photograph of a patient mainly to ______.

A．evaluate the effects of AI in healthcare

B．introduce a patient’s personal information

C．explain how deep learning detects diseases

D．show the present outcome of AI’s application

3. What can we learn from the last two paragraphs?

A．AI has been the standard of some advanced hospitals.

B．AI can improve the relationship between doctors and patients.

C．With deep learning, the researchers can find the secrets of the eye.

D．Doctors will spend more time on face-to-face communication with patients.

4. What does this passage mainly talk about?

A．The AI’s application on diagnosis.

B．Successful AI diagnosis for eye disease.

C．The great clinical progress in deep learning.

D．The impact of AI on promoting human connection.

【推荐2】If you visit Uluwatu temple in Bali, be cautious. The long-tailed temple monkeys there are well-known thieves. Since a long time ago, they have made a living by robbing visitors of their possessions and then holding those objects until a ransom in the form of food is paid. But Jean-Baptiste Leca of the University of Lethbridge, in Canada, wondered whether these monkeys are cleverer still. Sometimes, they do not accept the first offer and hold out for more. He therefore asked himself whether they are able to assess how valuable an object is to its owner, and factor that into their negotiations.

Dr. Leca and his colleagues conducted their experiment by wandering around the temple with video cameras, recording the activities of the monkeys. Every time they saw a monkey show interest in a particular tourist? they recorded the interaction. To work out what was going on, they had first to establish the relative values of food rewards to monkeys, and of stealable objects to people.

To confirm which stealable objects are most valued by people, they divided them into six classes: empty containers, such as phone cases and plastic bottles; accessories (搭配物) such as hairpins and key rings; hats and shoes; spectacles and sunglasses; and electronics and wallets. They then observed how often victims bothered to bargain with the thief for the return of property belonging to different classes, and thus classified objects into low value, medium value and high value.

They found that monkeys do, indeed, have a complicated sense of what they are doing — at least, adults and sub-adults do. These animals have a preference for stealing high-value items, and will often hold out either for more rewards, or for better ones, if they are in possession of such items. But this is something that they have to learn how to do as they grow up. Young monkeys make no such distinctions, and sub-adults are less good at doing so than adults.

1. What is the purpose of Leca's research?

A．To prove monkeys are cleverer than men.

B．To find out what is valuable for monkeys.

C．To record the negotiations between monkeys.

D．To make sure monkeys can judge item values.

2. What does the underlined word "ransom" in Paragraph 1 mean?

A．Bilk.

B．Reward.

C．Tax.

D．Rent.

3. How are the values of objects classified in Paragraph 3?

A．By the material of objects.	B．By the preference of victims.
C．By the buying price of objects,	D．By the frequency of bargaining.

4. What can we infer from the last paragraph?

A．Young monkeys can evaluate items.	B．All monkeys prefer high-value items,
C．Monkeys have a simple sense of acts.	D．Monkeys' stealing is an acquired skill.

【推荐3】One of the most striking findings of a newly research in the UK is that of the people interviewed, one in two believes that it is becoming more difficult to meet someone to start a family with.

Why are many finding it increasingly difficult to start close relationships? Does modern life really make it harder to fall in love? Or are we making it harder for ourselves? It is certainly the case today that contemporary couples benefit in different ways from relationships. Women no longer rely upon partners for money or status. A man doesn’t expect his wife to be in sole (唯一的) charge of running his household and raising his children.

But perhaps the knowledge that we can live perfectly well without a partnership means that it takes much more to persuade people to abandon their independence.

In theory, finding a partner should be much simpler these days. Only a few generations ago, your choice of soul mate was limited by geography, social convention and family tradition. Although it was never clear, many marriages were essentially arranged. Now those barriers have been broken down. You can approach a builder or a brain surgeon in any bar in any city on any given evening. When the world is your oyster (牡蛎), you surely have a better chance of finding a pearl.

But it seems that the old conventions have been replaced by the limitation of choice. The expectations of partners are raised to an unmanageable degree: good looks, impressive salary, kind to grandmother, and right socks. There is no room for error in the first impression.

We think that a relationship can be perfect. If it isn’t, it should be ended. We work to protect ourselves against future heartache and don’t put in the hard emotional labor needed to build a strong relationship. Twelve-hour work at the office makes relaxed after-hours dating difficult. The cost of housing and child-raising creates pressure to have a stable income and career before a life partnership.

1. What is a contemporary family like in UK today?

A．Couples share the burdens.

B．Men begin to depend on women.

C．Women are responsible for housework.

D．It is difficult to take care of a family.

2. Why do people preserve their independence?

A．To live alone happily.

B．To have more choices.

C．To avoid marriages.

D．To ignore traditions.

3. What makes it hard for people to date?

A．Mental headache in dating.

B．The pressure to survive.

C．Bad luck in finding a partner.

D．The faith between life partners.

4. What is the author trying to inform us in this text?

A．Perfect marriages conflict with independence.

B．People should spend more money on marriages.

C．The expectations and reality separate the lovers.

D．Independence is much more important than love.

【推荐2】The lack of clues left behind by ancient Americans has made it difficult for researchers to determine precisely when humans first arrived on the continent. However, it has always been believed to be about 13, 000 years ago. Now, evidence from the Chiquihuite Cave in Zacatecas, Central Mexico, seems to suggest that prehistoric humans may have been living in North America as early as 30, 000 years ago.

Dr. Ciprian Ardelean, of the Autonomous University of Zacatecas who led the groundbreaking re- search, first became aware of the cave in May 2010. Getting to the cave located 2, 750 meters above sea level required a 45-minute truck ride to the base and an uphill climb over a rough terrain. However, Dr. Ardelean and his team found enough clues to make the difficult journey three additional times-in 2012, 2016, and 2017.

The archeologists’ efforts revealed many artifacts including over 1, 900 stone tools from multiple layers of the cave. The scientists found that most of the tools were between 16, 000 and 13, 000 years old. However, 239 artifacts unearthed from the deepest layer of the cave dated back an astonishing 30, 000 years!

While the genetic material gained in the cave was only plant and animal DNA, the team did find evidence of sulfur, potassium and zinc elements that could indicate human activities such as killing animals. Dr. Ardelean says the absence of human DNA confirms that the early people visited the cave for short periods of time.

The researchers are unsure of the ancient humans’ origins or the path they took to get to America. They guess the groups were tribes (部落) who moved from place to place and went extinct at some point during their migrations. Dr. Ardelean says, “We don’t know who they were, where they came from or where they went. They’re a complete enigma. We falsely assume that the native populations in the Americas to- day are direct descendants from the earliest Americans, but now we don’t think that is the case. ” Archeologist Loren Davis, from Oregon State University, is unsure that the artifacts recovered are tools. The researcher says, “If it’s true that people were in Zacatecas 32, 000 years ago, that changes everything-it more than doubles the time people have been in the Americas. I’m not going to say it’s impossible, but if all they found are broken rocks without any hard evidence, it’s natural for people to challenge the conclusion. ”

1. What did Dr. Ciprian Ardelean do?

A．He sold hundreds of artifacts.

B．He explored the cave four times.

C．He made the cave world-known.

D．He collected artifacts from the cave.

2. What shakes the traditional belief concerning North America?

A．Metal elements unearthed from the cave.

B．Plant and animal DNA discovered in the cave.

C．The stone tools from the cave’s deepest layer.

D．The artifacts from the upper layers of the cave.

3. What does the underlined word “enigma” in Paragraph 5 mean?

A．Problem.

B．Breakthrough.

C．Appeal.

D．Mystery.

4. In which column of a newspaper can we read this passage?

A．Archaeology.

B．Anecdote.

C．Economy.

D．Literature.

【推荐3】Words have great power. Death and life are in the power of the tongue. Many of us have been offended by words and know how badly words hurt.     1    . Trust me if you are not careful in this area, your emotions will soon be controlled by the words of the people around you.

●     2    .

If someone tells you “You are a fool.”, don’t believe it in your mind. People who hurt you can never really harm you unless you allow yourself to be defined by these words. You are a child of God. You are very valuable in the sight of God, so never allow yourself to feel inferior just by the words of other people.

●   Turn those words into positive thoughts within you.

If there is something wrong with your actions, and others are trying to correct you, it can sometimes hurt your feelings if their words are hurtful.     3    . Think like this in your mind, “Yes, I’m wrong, but I’ll find out ways to improve. Now I have hope because I know I can change.”

●   Respond softly.

If someone speaks in a hurtful way, take a deep breath first and try to speak softly and kindly in response.     4    . On the contrary, an angry answer is like a sword, which will bring harm instead of healing.

●   Be silent.

    5    . It’s none of your business. We need not respond to every personal comment from people. It’s not your problem that they keep on hurting you on purpose. So simply leave it.

A．A soft answer turns away anger

B．Don’t worry about what others say

C．It is wise to correct others’ mistake by soft words

D．Never let negative words of others define who you are

E．In that case change those words into positive thoughts

F．If someone is purposefully hurting you for no reason, simply be silent and ignore it

G．Today I will share a few tips on how to handle the effect of negative words spoken to you

【推荐1】Garbage sorting has become a hot issue around China, especially after Shanghai began carrying out a regulation on July 1.

Beijing, as a forerunner in environmental protection, has thus been expected to follow suit. The capital of the country has long been campaigning for sorting and recycling household waste, as part of its environmental drive for sustainable growth, local media reported.

The current regulation gives garbage sorting responsibilities to government departments, property management groups and other organizations. It also gives rules for companies, outlining how they’re responsible for waste collection, transportation and treatment. Only individuals are not subject to responsibilities.

The long-awaited revision will soon change the situation, “Taking out the trash without sorting it properly will be illegal,” said Sun Xinjun, director of the Beijing Commission of Urban Management. In Shanghai, violators are now fined up to 200 yuan ($30)for trash-sorting violations. The maximum fine in Beijing will not be less than that, he said.

The Beijing city government first set out to promote garbage sorting in 2009. Authorities have since called on citizens to sort their household waste into four types-recyclable waste, kitchen trash, dangerous waste and others-and leave it in a corresponding dustbin or trash can. Blue-colored dustbins signify items within are recyclable, green represents kitchen trash, red corresponds to dangerous materials and grey to other waste.

To promote the awareness of garbage sorting and expand the base of participants, authorities have employed workers to help residents on the spot. With intelligent devices, those who throw in recyclable waste at given sites will be rewarded with bonus points, which can be used to buy daily goods. At some communities, there are no color-coded dustbins. Instead, a scheduled garbage collection service is offered to help improve the environment. In other communities, workers offer a door-to-door service to collect recyclables or kitchen waste.

Beijing Environmental Sanitation Engineering Group has been promoting new garbage sorting facilities such as recycling cabinets and smart kitchen waste trash cans since 2016, Xinhua News Agency reported. Nearly 26,000 metric tons of household waste is generated across Beijing on a daily basis and 29 terminal garbage disposal facilities are working at full capacity. Nearly 9.3 million tons of household waste was processed in the city last year.

1. According to the passage, which dustbins should some used coke cans be thrown into?

A．Grey-colored dustbins.	B．Red-colored dustbins.
C．Green-colored dustbins.	D．Blue-colored dustbins.

2. We can learn from the passage that ________.

A．new technology has been applied to help deal with garbage

B．Beijing carried out a more severe rule on garbage sorting than Shanghai

C．the change of the current regulation has aroused objection among citizens

D．the amount of household waste in Beijing is far from something disturbing

3. What is the best title for the text?

A．How to Sort Garbage in China	B．The Current Regulation in Beijing
C．Garbage Collection in Beijing	D．Waste Recycling Project Counts

4. The passage can be sorted as ________.

A．a book review	B．a travel brochure
C．an environment report	D．a geography essay

【推荐2】I’ve recently found myself wondering if I could do without Google Maps. It is, I think, the only app on my phone I’d really miss were I to swap my smartphone for a “dumb” one that handles only calls and text messages.

Why am I thinking about this? It’s because every time I try to read a book, I end up picking up my phone instead. I keep interrupting my own train of thought in order to do something that I don’t consciously want to do.

This is not accidental. Developers have become even more unashamed in their attempts to keep us hooked on our smartphones. Some of them speak in the language of addiction and behavioural psychology, though most prefer the term “persuasive tech”. In itself, persuasive tech is not a new idea — an academic named BJ Fogg has been running classes from a “persuasive tech lab” at Stanford since the late 1990s. But as smartphone ownership has rocketed and social-media sites have been born, persuasive tech has vastly expanded its reach.

One company, Dopamine Labs — named for the chemical released in the reward center of the brain — offers a service to tech businesses wanting to “keep users engaged”. Founder Ramsay Brown tells me he wants people to understand that “their thoughts and feelings are on the table as things that can be controlled and designed”. He thinks there should be more conversation around the persuasive power of the technologies being used. “We believe everyone has a right to cognitive liberty, and to build the kind of mind they want to live in,” he says.

The poster child of the resistance movement against addictive apps is former Google “design ethicist” Tristan Harris. He thinks the power to change the system lies not with app developers but with the hardware providers. In 2014, Harris founded “Time Well Spent”, a group that campaigns for more moral design practices among developers.

Any tech business that relies on advertising profits is motivated to hold its users online for as long as possible, Harris says. This means apps are specifically designed to keep us in them. Apple, on the other hand, wants to sell phones but doesn’t have a profit stream so tightly connected to the amount of time its customers spend online. Harris hopes that companies like Apple could use their influence to encourage more morally designed apps.

While I wait for Apple to sort this out, I find myself longing for something called a “Light Phone”, a credit-card-sized handset that does absolutely nothing but make and receive calls. Price tag? $150. Seems expensive. But the company’s website is very persuasive.

1. According to the author, what makes us so glued to our smartphones？

A．People's inborn behaviours.	B．App developers’ intention
C．User-friendly apps	D．Hardware providers

2. Dopamine Labs's founder believes that ____.

A．Tech businesses have gone too far in controlling users’ minds

B．Persuasive technologies are dangerous to users’ cognitive liberty.

C．The persuasive power of the technologies deserves more attention

D．Everyone can live the life they desire by using persuasive technologies.

3. Which of the following best explains the underlined words “The poster child” in paragraph 5?

A．The advertiser	B．The advocate
C．The opponent	D．The founder

4. What can be a suitable title for the text?

A．Do we have a right to cognitive liberty?

B．What have persuasive tech done to us?

C．Why a dumb phone is a smart move?

D．How smartphones shape our minds?

【推荐3】The animal kingdom is full of beautiful and attractive creatures, and it is inviting to purchase exotic animals and call them pets. But undomesticated(未驯化的) pets may affect the health and safety of both the animals and the people who keep them.

The umbrella cockatoo, for instance, is a type of parrot, which can live up to seventy years. It is often purchased as an exotic pet. It requires a very large living place and a great deal of attention. When its specific needs are unmet, the bird commonly bites itself or becomes aggressive. Similarly, the ball python one of the most popular pet snakes, requires special conditions to survive. Like the umbrella cockatoo, the snake's long lifespan—up to forty years—presents serious practical challenges to any owner, no matter how devoted.

Exotic pet owners are most likely identified as animal lovers who purchased their animals in order to feel a deep connection to the natural world. However, the mere ownership of such an animal means it's probable that the person participated in the illegal trade. This trade—the capture and sale of wild animals——is often cruel to species. Countless animals suffer and die each year.

The problems continue when exotic pets are sold to non-professional owners. When they find they cannot care for them, owners take their exotic pets into the wild and abandon them, as proved by the case of Burmese pythons in Florida. This non-native species multiplied quickly seriously threatening the Florida ecosystem. Also , exotic pets pose a danger to their owners: some emerging infectious diseases, which thousands of people per year are stricken with, and especially occurred in children.

Wild animals are undoubtedly attracting, but they should be admired in their own natural environments. Penning animals as exotic pets harms their quality of life. Pet ownership of any kind is a serious responsibility, and that's why animal lovers should choose domesticated animals that will Boom under the care of humans.

1. What can we infer about exotic pets in paragraph 2?

A．They can live longest in the animal kingdom.

B．They need professional care from the owner.

C．They require special training from their owner.

D．They can’t have a satisfying life under human care.

2. Why are people absorbed in keeping exotic animals?

A．To get high income.

B．To build a bond with nature,

C．To help prevent illegal pet trades.

D．To make exotic pets' life comfortable.

3. What can raising exotic pets at will result in?

A．Improving the native ecosystem.

B．Increasing the number of rare species.

C．Losing control of illegal wildlife trading.

D．Putting humans and exotic wildlife at risk.

4. What's the main argument of the passage?

A．Wild animals are more dangerous than ordinary pets.

B．It's inappropriate to keep undomesticated exotic pets.

C．Exotic pets should be kept in better conditions.

D．Rules of the exotic pet trade should be updated.

【推荐1】During those barren winter months, with windows overlooking long-dead gardens, leafless trees, and lawns that seem to have an ashy look about them, nothing calms the uneasy nerves more than the vibrant green of plants surrounding the living spaces of one’s home. People browse through garden stores just to get a smell of chlorophyll (叶绿素) and to choose a plant or two to bring spring back into their winter-gray lives.

Now there is even more of a need for “the green,” in light of recent articles warning us of the dangers of chemicals that we, ourselves, introduce into our homes. Each time we bring clothes home from the cleaners, we release those chemicals into the closed-in air of our homes. Every cleanser releases its own kind of fumes.

Some of the chemicals are formaldehyde (甲醛), chlorine, benzene, styrene, etc. Read the labels on many home products, the ingredients aren’t even listed! During the winter, when those same windows are shut tight, we breathe in these chemicals—causing symptoms much like allergies (过敏). In fact, most people probably dismiss the effects of these chemicals simply as some allergy or other. The truth is that we are experiencing a syndrome that is called Multiple Chemical Sensitivity. Now, what has this got to do with green plants? Everything healthy! Research has been conducted with two types of plants that have actually removed much of these harmful chemicals from the air.

The two plants that seem to be the best bet for ridding one’s home of such chemicals are ferns (蕨类植物) and palms. These plants release moisture as part of photosynthesis and, as they do, pull chemicals from the air into their leaves. Even NASA has conducted some greenhouse experiments for long-term space exploration. Within hours, their plants [palms] had removed almost all traces of formaldehyde in the room. Both species of plants are ancient, dating back more than a hundred million years. Another trait they share is that they both live long lives, 100 years or more. This we expect from trees, but ferns and palms are plants; plants that can grow to 65 feet in the proper setting! Even their individual leaves live for one to two years [ferns] and one to nine years [palms]. Perhaps it is their primary qualities that have contributed to their ability to purify their environment.

1. Why does the author think we are in greater need of “the green” in our homes?

A．To bring our long-dead gardens back to life.

B．To get rid of harmful chemicals trapped there.

C．To make us feel calmer and less worried.

D．To serve as decorations as well as refresh us.

2. According to the passage, which of the following statement is TRUE?

A．The source of these chemicals released in our homes hasn’t been identified.

B．The chemicals can be removed immediately the two plants are put into use.

C．People tend to underestimate the effects of the chemical in the closed-in places.

D．People usually buy household products without referring to the ingredients on them.

3. As for the two plants, their primary qualities friendly to indoor environment include _____________.

A．the ability to absorb chemicals and live long

B．their adaptability to indoor environment

C．the fast growth and attractiveness of their leaves

D．the release of their moisture and fumes

4. Which of the following may serve as the best title of the passage?

A．Research in the New Millennium

B．Common Houseplants May Purify Your Home

C．Hidden Dangers in Your Home

D．NASA Experiment Finds the Cure

【推荐3】When you’re on a fishing boat, you may see flocks of birds following in your track, hoping to catch a snack. Now scientists say they can use those birds’ behavior to track illegal fishing boats.

Here’s how it works: Researchers attached data recorders to the backs of 169 albatrosses (信天翁) in the Southern and Indian oceans. The devices weighed only an ounce and a half, but they included a GPS and were able to detect the presence and intensity of radar signals coming from boats. That information was then transmitted by satellite, so the researchers could track the location of the birds-and thus the radar-emitting boats-in real time.

The scientists then cross-checked that data against the known locations of boats, gathered from a system that boats use to declare themselves, called the Automatic Identification System (AIS). And differences appeared frequently.

More than a third of the times the birds’ recorders detected radar signals, and therefore a boat, no such boat appeared in the official log (航海记录)—meaning that the vehicles had likely switched off their Automatic Identification Systems—something the researchers say probably happens in illegal fishing operations.

The work suggests birds could be an effective boat-monitoring tool—as long as illegal fishing operations don’t target the birds. Fortunately, such a task would be difficult.

“Around fishing vessels, you can get hundreds of birds at any one time that are all flying around. So it’s not really possible to target a specific bird. And the birds with recorders on are not marked in any way. So it’s difficult for fishermen to pick out a specific bird," said study author Samantha Patrick, a marine biologist at the University of Liverpool.

Patrick’s bigger concern is that albatrosses often get hooked on fishing lines. And though regulations have been established to protect against that happening—with success—illegal boats don’t necessarily obey. So scientists might be underestimating the risk posed to albatross populations. But this system could mean that those illegal boats may have a tougher time flying under the radar.

1. What behavior of albatrosses can be used to track illegal fishing boats according to scientists?

A．Seeking snacks on a boat.

B．Following a boat to catch food.

C．Monitoring the location of the boats.

D．Keeping an eye open for illegal activities.

2. What’s the purpose of data recorders attached to the backs of albatrosses?

A．To carry a GPS.

B．To record the birds’ behavior.

C．To help satellite transmit information.

D．To detect radar signals from boats.

3. Why do the fishing boats turn off their Automatic Identification Systems?

A．They are probably fishing illegally.

B．They needn’t declare themselves.

C．They don’t want to emit radar signals.

D．They want to avoid being followed by albatrosses.

4. What is the best title for the text?

A．Birds—Humans’ Friends

B．Data Recorders—A Helper to Albatrosses

C．AIS—A System to Declare Locations of Boats

D．Albatrosses—A Tool to Monitor Illegal Fishing Boats