Paying with your palm
Your palm（手掌）could soon be your ticket to a concert, thanks to Amazon One. On Sept 14, Amazon, a tech giant from the United States, announced that it is bringing Amazon One, a palm recognition technology, to music places as a replacement for physical tickets and apps. People just need to wave their hands over a piece of equipment outside the place to connect their palm to a ticketing account. Then they can use their palm to get into other shows and events at the place.
Catching CO2 from air
Carbon dioxide（CO2）is the main kind of greenhouse gas. It is usually the result of human activities, like driving cars and flying airplanes. Now, Swiss company Climeworks has created a machine called Orca to help catch CO2. From its base in Iceland, Orca catches CO2 from the air and keeps it 1, 000 meters underground. Orca can catch 4, 000 tons of CO2 each year-around the same amount of CO2 emissions that 870 cars give off per year.
Creating starch in a lab
Starch（淀粉）is the most important part of human food. Scientists at the Tianjin Institute of Industrial Biotechnology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have created starch using CO2, hydrogen（氢）and electricity, according to a study published in the journal Science on Sept 24. Lab tests show that synthetic（合成的）starch is about 8.5 times more efficient than starch produced by traditional agriculture. “There are many industries that can benefit from this technology.” Ma Yanhe, the author of the study, told China Daily.
1. What do you know about Amazon One？| A．It can be a replacement for music places. |
| B．It can help people attend a concert without payment. |
| C．It can connect the palm with the recognition system. |
| D．It is a piece of palm-sized equipment. |
| A．Better quality. | B．Higher efficiency. | C．Lower cost. | D．Higher safety |
| A．Science and Technology. | B．Nature and Health. |
| C．Society and Environment. | D．Life and Business. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Several Jobs That Will Be Automated By Artificial Intelligence(AI) And Robots
Translator
Image recognition software and voice recognition software are bringing some major advances to language translation．Applications like Google’s Word Lens can translate words from signs and documents in real time and there are a lot of translation apps that allow you to type in a word or phrase and will translate it for you．
Some will even speak the phrase for you and raw word-to-word translation will be fully automated soon．
Fast food workers
Automated ordering booths have already made their way into a few McDonald’s restaurants around the world，and cooking positions could be removed next．The booths probably can’t handle customer service problems well，so televideo systems could bring in an office employee to deal with complaints．
Field technician
New advances in the Internet of Things could make this work obsolete.
Low-cost sensors combined with high availability cellular／satellite communications and cloud technology are being started to automate and alarm these sites, and can be checked and maintained from a desktop or mobile device.
Sales representative
But, e-commerce is changing how we make purchasing decisions, especially those where there isn’t much differentiation among the major competitors.
If you’re selling a high-differentiation product and／or a high-price, low-volume product you have some job security, but if you’re selling a high-volume, low-differentiation product, you better start polishing your resume, said Doug Camplejohn, CEO of Fliptop. “These kind of product sales are all moving online.”
1. What can Google’s Word Lens do?| A．Translate by image and voice recognition software. |
| B．Speak the phrase or word for you. |
| C．Make real-time translation. |
| D．Allow you to type in a word or phrase. |
| A．All the restaurants own automated ordering booths. |
| B．Service problems can’t be handled automatically. |
| C．Cooks will not be automated by AI and robots. |
| D．Customers will have no complaints because of AI． |
| A．Abandoned. | B．Welcome. |
| C．Forbidden. | D．Efficient. |
| A．You must value your present work. |
| B．You have some job security. |
| C．Your resume needs correcting further. |
| D．You should consider changing the job. |
【推荐2】Computer technology has changed the way we deal with the world, from allowing us to communicate with others more easily to entertaining us with video chatting. Newer generations are growing up with this technology, but we should know that the computer is a double-edged sword. It does have its benefits, primarily in education and gaining information, but it can also be harmful to children during a very important time of growth. Too much computer use can affect children's physical and mental health as well as social skills.
Using the computer is an activity much like watching television. You don't get very much exercise, simply sitting down. Computers cause other health problems as well. Too much use of a keyboard and a mouse can cause hand injuries, back problems and so on. At a time when children are growing physically, it's especially important to note the benefits of physical activity.
Too much computer use can affect a child's attention and focus（专注度）. Though some computer games have been shown to help a child develop certain cognitive（认知的）skills, there are still many games and other forms of computer entertainment doing nothing to develop a child's mind. Addiction（上瘾）to programs, games and videos makes it more difficult for children to focus on tasks for a long period of time, and this can affect a student's studies and grades. In more extreme cases, children with computer addiction will fail their classes completely. Computer addiction is a very troublesome thing, and once it starts, it's very difficult to stop.
Computer use is also an activity which most children enjoying doing alone, and it can go hand in hand with addiction. Children who spend more time on the computer than other people in general, may fail to develop necessary social skills. Social skills are important not only for communicating with others, but for developing self-respect and working in social environments, both of which are very important for children's growth.
1. Which of the following is closest in meaning to the underlined word in Paragraph 2?| A．Know about. | B．Set down. |
| C．Pick out. | D．Depend on. |
| A．physical violence | B．cognitive disorder |
| C．shortage of entertainment | D．poor performance in study |
| A．they ignore social environments |
| B．they seldom communicate with others |
| C．they think social skills unnecessary |
| D．they find it hard to develop self-respect |
| A．Children's physical growth. |
| B．Children’s learning situation. |
| C．The influence of the computer on children. |
| D．The importance of computer technology to children. |
【推荐3】The possibility of self-driving robot cars has often seemed like a futurist’s dream. Well, the future is apparently now. The California Department of Motor Vehicles began giving permits in April for companies to test truly self-driving cars on public roads. The state also cleared the way for companies to sell or rent out self-driving cars. It’s hard to predict when driverless cars will be everywhere on our roads. But however long it takes, the technology has the potential to change our transportation systems for better or for worse, depending on how the transformation is regulated.
While much of the debate so far has been focused on the safety of driverless cars, policymakers also should be talking about how self-driving vehicles can help reduce traffic jams, cut emissions and offer more convenient, affordable mobility options. The arrival of driverless vehicles is a chance to make sure that those vehicles are environmentally friendly and more shared.
Do we want to copy — or even worsen — the traffic of today with driverless cars? Imagine a future where most adults own individual self-driving vehicles. Instead of walking a few blocks to pick up a child or the dry cleaning, they send the self-driving minibus. The convenience even leads fewer people to take public transport — an unwelcome side effect researchers have already found in ride-hailing (叫车) services.
A study from the University of California suggested that replacing petrol-powered private cars worldwide with electric, self-driving and shared systems could significantly reduce carbon emissions and cut the cost of transportation by 2050, which sound pretty appealing. The first commercially available driverless cars will almost certainly be fielded by ride-hailing services, considering the cost of self-driving technology as well as responsibility and maintenance issues. But driverless car ownership could increase as more people become comfortable with the technology.
Policymakers should start thinking now about how to make sure the appearance of driverless vehicles doesn’t extend the worst aspects of the car-controlled transportation system we have today. The coming technological advancement presents a chance for cities and states to develop transportation systems designed to move more people, and more affordably. The car of the future is coming. We just have to plan for it.
1. As for driverless cars, what is the author’s major concern?| A．Safety. | B．Side effects. | C．Affordability. | D．Management. |
| A．help deal with transportation-related problems | B．provide better services to customers |
| C．cause damage to our environment | D．make some people lose jobs |
| A．Shared. | B．Replaced. | C．Employed. | D．Reduced. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Positive. | C．Disapproving. | D．Sympathetic. |
Why do we go wrong about our friends - or our enemies? Sometimes what people say hides their real meaning. And if we don’t really listen, we miss the feeling behind the words. Suppose someone tells you, “You’re a lucky dog.” That’s being friendly. But lucky dog? There’s a bit of envy in those words. Maybe he doesn’t see it himself. But bringing in the dog bit puts you down a little. What he may be saying is that he doesn’t think you deserve your luck.
Just think of all the things you have to be thankful for is another noise that says one thing and means another. It could mean that the speaker is trying to get you to see your problem as part of your life as a whole. But is he? Wrapped up in this phrase is the thought that your problem isn’t important. It’s telling you to think of all the starving people in the world when you haven’t got a date for Saturday night.
How can you tell the real meaning behind someone’s words? One way is to take a good look at the person talking. Do his words fit the way he looks? Does what he says agree with the tone of voice? His posture? The look in his eyes? Stop and think. The minute you spend thinking about the real meaning of what people to you may save another mistake.
1. This passage is mainly about ____________.
| A．how to interpret what people say |
| B．what to do when you listen to others talking |
| C．how to avoid mistakes when you communicate with people |
| D．why we go wrong with people sometimes |
| A．we fail to listen carefully when they talk |
| B．people tend to be annoyed when we check what they say |
| C．people usually state one thing but mean another |
| D．we tend to doubt what our friends say |
| A．being friendly | B．a bit of envy |
| C．lucky dog | D．your luck |
【推荐2】The scientists behind a new database of more than 400 extreme weather attribution (归因) studies have performed an essential service. This piece of work, drawing together every study of this type, ought to create a greater sense of urgency around policymaking and campaigning. It shows that intense heatwaves, hurricanes, and floods have all been made far more likely by greenhouse gas emissions. And it spells out the alarming unpredictability as well as the extent of global heating’s consequences.
Until the early 2000s, when the first attribution studies were published, it was harder to link CO2 in the atmosphere with global heating’s sensible effects. Thanks to a growing body of research, now we know. The last summer’s record-breaking “heat dome”(热穹顶) across the globe would have been almost impossible without human-caused climate change.
“Beauty is truth, truth beauty,” wrote the poet John Keats just over 200 years ago. When it comes to climate, truth can feel closer to terror these days. But scientists are right to insist that the reality must be faced. Indeed, this is the only way to avoid the most disastrous outcomes. In a new book, Hothouse Earth, Prof Bill McGuire argues that we have reached a stage when minimising dangers should be regarded as “climate appeasement”.
Like the historical responsibility for carbon emissions, attitudes and experiences in the present crisis are unevenly and unjustly shared out. Billions of people around the world, and above all in the global south, are caught up day-to-day in a struggle for survival. This doesn’t mean they don’t recognise global heating; subsistence (勉强维持生活) farmers and fishers are more directly exposed to environmental damage than anyone else. But western governments, businesses and people who are relatively sheltered from global heating’s worst effects should recognise this as the privilege that it is. With this year’s Climate Change Conference fast approaching, western governments must follow through on their promises of climate finance to enable a green transition in the developing world.
The purpose of attribution science is not simply to warn the world about what is happening, but to aid preparations for what has not happened yet. The most alarming global trend, apart from still-rising emissions that mean we are on course for 2. 5°C of heating, is the unexpected speed with which it is already causing chaos. Given what we now know about the impact of 1°C of warming, it is no exaggeration to say that this trend is disastrous.
But alternatives exist, and insisting on this point has never been more important. The alarming findings of attribution scientists can give rise to desperation-but must not be allowed to end determination and hope.
1. The attribution studies imply that ____.| A．policies addressing climate issues are ineffective |
| B．it is hard to link CO2 with the effects of global heating |
| C．the extent of global heating’s consequences is unpredictable |
| D．humans are to blame for the increased occurrence of disasters |
| A．Worried. | B．Doubtful. |
| C．Optimistic. | D．Puzzled. |
| A．The global south is in urgent need of financial support. |
| B．The speeding up of global warming has spelled trouble. |
| C．Global heating affects western countries to a larger extent. |
| D．The effort to reduce greenhouse gas emission has worked. |
| A．To urge the public to follow the science. |
| B．To persuade the scientists to further their study. |
| C．To assess the current policy on the climate crisis. |
| D．To confirm the public’s concern for global heating. |
【推荐3】When Jennifer first heard that her friend George passed an exam, her heart sank. She’d failed the same test weeks earlier. But then, instead of feeling upset and envious, she congratulated him. Jennifer was surprised when she could share her friend’s happiness, she experienced her own, in turn.
Finding pleasure in another person’s good fortune is what social scientists call freudenfreude, a term which describes the happiness we feel when someone else succeeds, even if it doesn’t directly involve us.
Freudenfreude is like social glue, making relationships closer and more enjoyable. A study in 2021 found that in daily life freudenfreude boosted kind acts, such as helping others. Sharing in someone else’s joy can also improve life satisfaction and help people cooperate during a conflict.
While the benefits of freudenfreude are plentiful, it doesn’t always come easily. In some cases, it might really hurt you when you see another person’s winning as your loss, making freudenfreude feel out of reach. If you were raised in a family that paired winning with self-worth, you might misread someone else’s victory as your own weak point. Factors such as mental health and overall well-being can also affect your ability to share someone else’s joy.
To better understand freudenfreude, it can be helpful to illustrate its better-known counterpart, schadenfreude: the pleasure we feel when witnessing someone’s misfortune. In a 2022 study, experts examined instances of freudenfreude and schadenfreude among college students, some of whom were experiencing mild depression. Freudenfreude scores were higher, and schadenfreude scores were lower among those who were not depressed. The mildly depressed students, however, had a harder time developing a joy-sharing mindset. When you’re feeling down, it’s natural to view positive news with negativity.
However, no one gets to the top alone, and when we raise others up, we’re often carried up with them. When we feel happy for others, their joy becomes our joy. Celebrating our friends’ successes — big and small — helps us all win.
1. Why is the story of Jennifer mentioned in paragraph 1?| A．To introduce a topic. | B．To report an issue. |
| C．To present a definition. | D．To provide a background. |
| A．Freudenfreude comes naturally as an inborn ability. |
| B．People experiencing freudenfreude are more likely to help others. |
| C．Freudenfreude is accessible if we view others’ success as our loss. |
| D．People whose family highlights winning tend to enjoy freudenfreude. |
| A．To figure out the benefits of freudenfreude. |
| B．To compare freudenfreude with schadenfreude. |
| C．To explore the cause of college students’ depression. |
| D．To reveal the effect of mental health on freudenfreude. |
| A．Others’ victories may result in our envy. |
| B．Celebrating others’ victories can bring a win-win. |
| C．Delight in others’ misfortune boosts our happiness. |
| D．Freudenfreude is closely linked to our physical health. |
