As cities around the world try to be smart, some have become stupid instead.
So, what is a “stupid city”? It is a city that gives in to urban sprawl( 扩张), with people moving from central areas to less-crowded communities, said Mr. Nicholas You, a director of the Guangzhou Institute for Urban Innovation in China. Such communities are heavily reliant on cars.
Another problem Mr. You stressed is that public administration bodies in “stupid cities’’ tend to work alone, refusing to share data that could help develop solutions to urban problems. He made the point during a discussion on urban transformation in Asia, saying, “A real smart city is one that looks at everything as a whole—you can’t look at water issues without looking at energy.”
A South Korean member, Mr. Jong Sung Hwang, suggested that some of the biggest barriers to creating a smart city are cultural. South Korean society is less forgiving of mistakes, noted Mr. Jong. For example, some in Seoul tried to push for an intelligent traffic system but were met with resistance from the police. He said, “We have ideas, data and even money, but we could not make it happen.”
India, however, is not adopting a one-size-fits-all approach to create smart cities for its 1.3 billion people, said a member from India.
In Singapore, which launched its Smart Nation initiative( 行 动 ) in 2014, the authorities fear that technology can worsen the divide between the haves and the have-nots, said Dr. Limin Hee, director for research at the Centre for Liveable Cities here. “Thankfully, many cities are considering such issues as how to make better use of data and technology to create smart cities,” she added.
1. What can we learn about a smart city?| A．It encourages urban expansion. |
| B．It has few people in its central areas. |
| C．It solves urban problems by sharing data. |
| D．It treats every issue as a separate unit. |
| A．People are tolerant of mistakes. |
| B．The police are afraid of making mistakes. |
| C．The government is lacking enough money. |
| D．The traffic system in Seoul is very advanced. |
| A．Its population is decreasing. |
| B．It has no examples to follow. |
| C．It fails to adopt a universally right system. |
| D．It lacks advanced technologies. |
| A．The disapproval of the public. |
| B．More money spent than expected. |
| C．The development of cities being limited. |
| D．The increasing gap between the rich and the poor. |
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【推荐1】If you have gone to the cinema and watched the popular movie “The Wandering Earth II” recently, you might be impressed by the intelligent computer MOSS. It can make the reasonable decision in the shortest time based on the given conditions. In fact, such strong AI like MOSS does not exist in reality for the time being.
However, weak AI, which replaces human processing in a specific field, has already influenced our daily life. For example, OpenAI, the San Francisco-based startup opened up the language model ChatGPT for public testing in November 2022. Compared with traditional search engines, which display simple results according to searching keywords, ChatGPT can interact with people just like dialoguing, answer professional questions, and also answer follow-up questions. Thanks to its revolutionary user experience, ChatGPT obtained more than one million users just five days after its release.
More than a Chatbot, ChatGPT can also realize article creation, code generating and other functions only by requesting. ChatGPT can even write code such as Python, debug (排错) code and generate comments for code just like a professional programmer. It also presented strong capacity in content continuation, literary creation, music creation, etc. It is so powerful that New York City public schools have banned it from their networks and school devices.
However, ChatGPT is still far from perfect. Even OpenAI’s CEO once said, “It’s a mistake to be relying on it for anything important right now. It’s a preview of progress. We have lots of work to do on robustness (稳健性) and truthfulness.”
Even though AI like ChatGPT still has a long way to go, predictions about how the technology will influence our society are already there. Among the industries that may be most affected by ChatGPT, experts say, are journalism, law and translation.
1. Why is the movie “The Wandering Earth II” mentioned in the first paragraph?| A．To prove that the movie is a hit. |
| B．To introduce the topic of the text. |
| C．To show how intelligent MOSS is. |
| D．To advertise the movie. |
| A．It’s well-received for its truthfulness. |
| B．It can just display simple results content. |
| C．It should be banned from all school networks. |
| D．It makes human-machine interaction more intelligent. |
| A．It’s totally reliable. | B．It’s a product of accident. |
| C．It needs improving. | D．It should speed up its progress. |
| A．Moss Beats ChatGPT | B．OpenAI Develops Well |
| C．AI Takes Over | D．ChatGPT Works |
【推荐2】For years video games have been criticized for making people more antisocial, overweight or depressed. Bui now researchers are finding that video games can actually change us for the better and improve both our body and mind.
Games can help to develop physical skills. Pre-school children who played interactive games have been shown to have improved motor skills, for example they can kick, catch and throw a ball better than children who don’t play video games. A study found that those who played video games were 27 percent faster and made 37 percent fewer errors than those who didn’t.
Games also benefit a variety of brain functions, including decision-making. People who play action-based games make decisions 25 percent faster than others, according to one study. It was also found that the best gamers can make choices and act on them up to six times a second, four times faster than most people. In another study by researchers from the University of Rochester in New York, experienced gamers were shown to be able to pay attention to more than six things at once without getting confused, compared with the four that most people can normally keep in mind.
There is also evidence that gaming can help with psychological problems. At the University of Auckland in New Zealand, researchers asked 94 young people diagnosed with depression to play a 3D fantasy game called SPARX and in many cases, the game reduced symptoms of depression more than conventional treatment.
The effects are not always so positive, however. Indiana University researchers carried out brain scans on young men and found evidence that violent games can adjust brain function after as little as a week of play, affecting regions in the brain associated with emotional control and causing more aggressive behavior in the player. But Danhne Bavelier, one of the most experienced researchers in the field, says that the violent action games that often worry p parents most may actually have the strongest beneficial effect on the brain. In the future, we may see many treatments for physical and neurological (神经的) problems, which include the playing of video games.
1. In what way playing video games benefits very young children?| A．Muscle control. | B．Social interaction. |
| C．Decision-making. | D．The ability to focus. |
| A．Interactive games. | B．Action-based games. |
| C．3D fantasy games. | D．Violent games. |
| A．Indifferent. | B．Objective. | C．Worried. | D．Critical. |
| A．The effects of different types of video games. |
| B．The negative effects of playing video games. |
| C．The beneficial effects of playing video games. |
| D．The effects of games on people’s behavior. |
【推荐3】Artificial Intelligence(AI) models are everywhere. The vast majority of these models work using artificial neural networks, or ANNs, which are a popular form of machine learning.
Most ANNs can learn to perform one task just fine. But when it comes to learning a new task, they have a problem that human brains don’t. They either fail to learn the new task, or they learn the new thing but erase most of what they knew about their original task. But this problem doesn’t tend to affect the human brains.
“How do our new memories get into the pool of old memories without erasing them?“ Pavel Sanda wondered. Sanda is a computer scientist who is also part of a research team that used a computer model to explore how sleep helps a brain learn. As our brains sort through new experiences during sleep, he knew, they replay those events many times, so he decided to experiment with this aspect of human sleep in an AI model.
First, he and his teammates trained this AI on a simple task. It controlled a blue dot wandering through a grid(网格) which was seeded with three types of paired green blocks. For the first task, the AI learned to seek out side-by-side pairs. Next, the team tried teaching it to find out pairs sat diagonal(对角线)from each other. However, they didn’t try to teach it the new rules all at once. Instead, they let the Al system explore the grid fora brief time, then take a sleep-like break.
During the break, there was no grid and no shapes to encounter. So there was nothing to see and no actions to take. It randomly replayed the way it had travelled. Thanks to these sleep-like breaks, the network managed to learn both tasks well.
Sleep may not be the best way for all AI models to learn multiple tasks. However, this new research is a very important first step towards understanding the importance of sleep.
1. Which aspect do most ANNs need improving?| A．They can’t learn multiple tasks. | B．They are easy to break down. |
| C．They don’t have the ability to learn. | D．They can’t perform single tasks well. |
| A．It picked out a blue dot on a grid. |
| B．It controlled three paired green blocks. |
| C．It compared dots of different shapes. |
| D．It sought out pairs in different places. |
| A．Disappointed. | B．Puzzled. | C．Satisfied. | D．Shocked. |
| A．Repetition Makes Better ANNs |
| B．New Als Are Being Tested out |
| C．“Sleep” Can Help Als Perform Better |
| D．Human Brains Differ From ANNs in “Sleep” |
【推荐1】Many people hate wet, sticky August, but to some, it's an especially bitter time. A new working paper finds that, March and August are the months in which divorce filings peak.
For the paper, the University of Washington's Brian Serafini and Julie Brines analyzed the most recent years of divorce filings in Washington and drew their conclusion: divorce rises sharply in March and August. The result is supported by some nation-wide, anecdotal evidence. Online searches for “divorce” and “child custody” (抚养权) dramatically grow early in the year, peaking in March, they point out.
The authors guess that unhappily married couples schedule their divorce filings around both the winter holidays and Valentine's Day, as well as summer vacations. (More Americans vacation more in July than any other month.)
There are a few explanations why people might time their marital dissolutions this way. It might just be too difficult to announce a divorce around family-oriented Christmas time, especially if there are kids involved, so many couples weigh the decision to divorce around the new year and progress from there. February is a period in which couples tend to look around for representation on legal sites. And by March, they're prepared to file for divorce.
But the authors think the more likely reason is that people decide their differences are irreconcilable right after a big trip. It could be that people don't want to ruin a family getaway, or that vacations are so stressful that they drive the already-dissatisfied to divorce. (“I told you to pack your suitcase last night; now we've missed the train!”)
Then there's the “broken promise” theory. “People are discontent with their marriages, they look at vacation as an opportunity to give it one last shot, and what they were hoping would happen didn't occur,” explained Brines, an associate professor of sociology.
It's not you; in other words, it's your failure to print the boarding passes.
1. Which of the following can support Brian and Julie's conclusion?| A．The divorce rate rises sharply in March and August. |
| B．They carried out online surveys and analyzed the results. |
| C．More people search for key words about divorce early in the year. |
| D．Conflicts in marriage tend to get more serious during Christmas. |
| A．People need time to decide and prepare before they divorce. |
| B．Many couples want to have a new beginning in a new year. |
| C．Kids are less involved in winter and summer vacations. |
| D．Couples see more marital problems in their vacation trips. |
| A．Unlikely to be settled. | B．Unable to be mentioned. |
| C．Put aside for a while. | D．Stressed too much. |
| A．It may lead to divorce if one doesn't print boarding passes. |
| B．Unimportant things like boarding passes cannot cause divorce. |
| C．Considering a trip as the solution to marital problems is not wise. |
| D．Couples should talk about their marriage sincerely before a trip. |
When the results were read, Rachel broke down, sobbing and screaming for her mom, who had to rush onstage to comfort her.
It was a humiliating moment for Rachel, but a great moment for The X Factor — just the kind of drama TV audiences love.
Some fans said Rachel’s breakdown proved she was too young to be on the show. And though there was nothing exceptional about someone Rachel’s age being on reality TV — children and teens appear in everything from Dance Moms to The Biggest Loser — Rachel’s meltdown did raise an important question: Should kids be on reality TV at all? Many psychologists are saying “No”.
It’s well known that early fame can be harmful and that many former child stars struggle as adults. Being followed by photographers 24/7 and having everything they do reported in newspapers and blogs can be hard for young people to deal with. It can make them feel as though their worth depends on what others say. Reality TV takes the pressure of early fame to a whole new level. Kids on reality TV don’t play characters. They play themselves. Cameras expose their most private moments for our entertainment.
Laws exist that protect child actors, making sure they go to school and limiting the hours they can work. In many states, though, these laws do not apply to kids on reality TV, because they are not considered actors.
Dangers aside, there’s no doubt that reality shows do offer exciting opportunities and the potential to make money. A 7-year-old girl who attends a TV show earns about $36,000 per season. After competing on The X Factor, One Direction went on to become international stars. Even Rachel made out OK. She released an album and voices a character in the movie Rio 2. And she showed resilience (适应力). “I’m not feeling great, but I’ll be fine,” she told reporters after breakdown. “I’m Rachel still.”
1. The underlined word “humiliating” in Paragraph 3 is closest in meaning to “ _______”.
| A．exciting | B．precious |
| C．important | D．embarrassing |
| A．was not good enough |
| B．deserved better results |
| C．should have been much stronger |
| D．shouldn’t have been on the show |
| A．how kids should deal with pressure |
| B．why early fame can be harmful to kids |
| C．the importance of kids being themselves |
| D．what some former child stars have achieved |
| A．Kids should look for more challenges. |
| B．Reality shows may change a kid forever. |
| C．Reality shows can benefit kids in some ways. |
| D．Kids can earn little money from reality shows. |
【推荐3】That artificial food dyes (染料) are unhealthy is not news. Some are known to cause hyperactivity (多动症) in some children, affecting their ability to learn. But regulatory agencies (监管机构) around the world don’t necessarily agree on which food dyes are a problem, or why. That may soon change. A 2021 peer-reviewed report by California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment concluded that artificial food dyes “cause or worsen neurobehavioral (神经行为的) problems in some children” and that the current levels that are regarded safe for consumption by the federal government are too high.
California is now considering requiring warning labels on food products and dietary supplements containing the seven most commonly used artificial dyes. The warning label requirement would put California on par with the European Union, which since 2010 has required food products containing certain artificial food dyes to carry warning labels about their negative effect on activity and attention in children.
Artificial dyes are used in foods for one reason: to make products look prettier. Bright colors make candies appealing, especially to kids. But dyes are also in chocolate cake mixes, salad dressings and other products that don’t seem to cry out for a color boost.
In Europe, it was the 2010 label lawmaking that triggered (引发) companies’ decisions to reformulate. “If you’re a company, you do not want to put a warning label on your product.” says Lefferts, an environmental health consultant. Warning labels are why European Starburst Fruit Chews are now colored with natural products, not the artificial dyes that brighten their North American counterparts (同类商品).
Given that artificial food dyes are used far more than needed, we need to be more cautious. After all, we don’t dye fresh fruits and vegetables, but we do dye candy and sprinkles, points out Joe Schwarcz, a chemistry professor at McGill University in Montreal. “The foods in which you find food dyes are foods that are poor in nutrition,” he says. “If you limit foods that contain food dyes, you automatically make your diet better.”
1. What can we learn about artificial food dyes from paragraph 1?| A．A 2021 report confirmed their negative effects. |
| B．The fact that they are harmful is newly revealed. |
| C．Regulatory agencies consider them a serious problem. |
| D．The Federal government thinks their current standard too high. |
| A．In opposition to. | B．In line with. | C．Ahead of. | D．Behind. |
| A．Food companies will stop coloring their products. |
| B．More fresh fruits and vegetables will appear in the market. |
| C．Food companies may replace artificial dyes with natural products. |
| D．It will be hard to find packaged foods without warning labels of dyes. |
| A．Approving. | B．Neutral. | C．Tolerant. | D．Concerned. |
【推荐1】A new study warns that about thirty percent of the world’s people may not have enough water by the year 2025.
A private American organization called Population Action International did the new study. It says more than 335 million people lack enough water now. The people live in 28 countries. Most of the countries are in Africa or the Middle East.
P-A-I researcher Robert Engelman says by the year 2025, about 3,000 million people may lack water. At least 18 more countries are expected to have severe water problems. The demand for water keeps increasing. Yet the amount of water on the earth stays the same.
Mr. Engelman says the population in countries that lack water is growing faster than in other parts of the world. He says population growth in these countries will continue to increase.
The report says lack of water in the future may result in several problems. It may increase health problems. Lack of water often means drinking water is not safe. Mr Engelman says there are problems all over the world because of diseases, such as cholera, which are carried in water. Lack of water may also result in more international conflict. Countries may have to compete for water in the future. Some countries now get sixty percent of their fresh water from other countries. This is true of Egypt, the Netherlands, Cambodia, Syria, Sudan, and Iraq. And the report says lack of water would affect the ability of developing to improve their economies. This is because new industries often need a large amount of water when they are beginning.
The Population Action International study gives several solutions to the water problem. One way, it says, is to find ways to use water for more than one purpose. Another way is to teach people to be careful not to waste water. A third way is to use less water of agriculture.
The report also says long-term solutions to the water problem must include controls on population growth. It says countries cannot provide clean water unless they slow population growth by limiting the number of children people have.
1. The first four paragraphs mainly tell us.| A．the study of the global water condition |
| B．the importance of water resources |
| C．the seriousness of water shortage |
| D．the fact of the global lack of water |
| A．It may bring about a lot of health problems. |
| B．It may result in more international conflict. |
| C．It may lead to the improvement of new industries. |
| D．It may influence the development of the economics. |
| A．To use water in a variety of ways. |
| B．To limit the rising birthrate of the earth. |
| C．To reduce the use of agricultural water. |
| D．To become aware of the water problem. |
A． | B． | C． | D． |
【推荐2】Have you ever lost your direction? Then you might find satellite navigation(satnav) systems(卫星定位系统) helpful.
A satnav system uses groups of satellites. They send information to a receiver(接收器), such as your smartphone. Then they can find where you are.
The earliest satnav system is the Global Positioning System(GPS) of the United States. The US has put 24 satellites into space to make sure GPS can locate(定位) a person correctly and globally. Likewise, Russia’s GLONASS and European Union’s Galileo can also work globally.
But China is catching up, building its own BeiDou Navigation Satellite System. BeiDou is China’s homegrown satnav system, reported Xinhua. It was set up in 2000, when China sent BeiDou’s first navigation experiment satellite into space. With it, China became the third country to build a satnav system after the US and Russia.
BeiDou can find you wherever you are. It helps you go faster by finding shortcuts(捷径) and using correct directions. When you are in trouble and call the police, they will know exactly where you are if you have a cellphone that uses BeiDou.
Today, there are more than 20 BeiDou satellites above our heads. And the system is able to offer open services to the Asia-Pacific region(亚太地区).
In November, China plans to send more BeiDou-3 satellites into space. BeiDou-3’s position accuracy(准确度) is less than five meters, Ran Chengqi, a senior designer of the satellite navigation system, told China Daily.
By 2020, BeiDou is planned to have 35 satellites and begin serving globally, reported Xinhua.
1. A satnav system works correctly and globally by using .| A．a satellite | B．a group of satellites |
| C．a receiver like a smartphone | D．a group of receivers |
| A．7 | B．24 |
| C．20 | D．35 |
| A．The United States | B．South Korea |
| C．Russia | D．China |
| A．There are 35 BeiDou satellites above our heads |
| B．BeiDou now is able to Serve globally |
| C．BeiDou satellites are made in China |
| D．Everyone needs to have a cellphone that can use BeiDou |
【推荐3】After the season for giving. it is the one for throwing away. Each year in late December a massive amount of plastic packaging is thrown worldwide, most of which goes to landfill. Lithuania will do less damage than many countries. though. The county now recycles at a record level. Almost three -quarters of plastic packaging waste was recycled in 2017. the highest in Europe The EU average was 42%. and the worst performers. including Finland and France, under 30%.
Much of Lithuania's success is due to a deposit refund scheme(押金制)，introduced in 2016. Customers pay €0.10 extra when buying drinks containers. After use, these can be fed into vending machines in shops. from whose mouth the deposit comes out. The machines’ contents are sent directly to recycling centers. By the end of 2017. 92% of all bottles and cans sold were being returned. close to 3 times the amount as before.
The Lithuanian government says the scheme has started a potential love for recycling in its citizens. Nearly 90% of Lithuanians have used the machines at least once. The eagerness of Lithuanian recyclers may come no from a love of the earth but from a low net worth. Lithuania has the second-most unequal income in Europe. A tenth of the population live on less than €245 (S272)a month. In big cities it is common to see people picking recyclable items out of bins to take to the machines.
Less litter and money for people who need it seems like a win-win. But it might not be best for the environment in the long run. In Germany -where a similar deposit refund scheme has been in place since 2003- the earnings from keeping the deposits from unreturned bottles seem to have discouraged producers form switching to more sustainable packaging.
1. How much packaging waste did Lithuania recycle in 2017?| A．Under 30%. | B．Above 42%. |
| C．About 74%. | D．Nearly 90% |
| A．The recycled bottles are sold to producers. |
| B．The amount of bottles increased 3 times. |
| C．Customers spend much more money on drinks. |
| D．Recyclers get a refund from the vending machine. |
| A．They love the earth. | B．Some of them are short of money. |
| C．They are environmental protectors. | D．The government promotes recycling. |
| A．Objective. | B．Tolerant. |
| C．Positive. | D．Conservative, |
