His interest in Chinese language and characters dates from 1972, when Richard Sears, was a 22-year-old physics major at Portland State University in Oregon. To Sears, the characters were complex with many strokes（笔画）and almost no apparent logic. But when he could get an explanation of a Chinese character’s original meaning and an interpretation of its pictographs (象形文字), it would suddenly become apparent how all the strokes had come to be. “I’m a physicist, so I don’t like blind memorization. I knew that Chinese characters came from pictographs and I wanted to know the stories behind the Chinese characters.”
As he studied, Sears found that many of the explanations were conflicting and even the experts were at odds. He decided to computerize the characters, so that he could separate good opinions from bad ones. He scanned about 96,000 ancient characters and established the database of them.
In 2002 he got his website up and named it Chinese Etymology, where visitors can check for free the development of Chinese characters in various forms, from the original pictographs to the modern simplified forms. The clicks to the website went up to 600,000 in one day. Overnight he became American Uncle Hanzi, a nickname（绰号）given by Chinese netizens.
Besides, he has explained the origin of 15,000 modern characters. For example, the character jia (home) has a rooftop and a pig underneath. In southern China where it rains a lot, people put their houses on stilts（木桩）, so if it flooded, the inside of the house would not get wet. So, the pigs live underneath the house.
Last year, Sears set up his studio in Nanjing that focuses on applying AR, animation（动画）and artificial intelligence to tell stories of Chinese culture and character origins. He has made over 60 such videos in English with Chinese subtitles for Bilibili, a video website. “They have both entertainment and educational value,” he says.
In the meantime, Sears has been updating the database. “My philosophy is huo dao lao xue dao lao.”
1. According to Paragraph 1, why did Sears want to know the stories behind the Chinese characters?| A．To make his life in China much easier. |
| B．To become an expert at Chinese characters. |
| C．To solve some related problems in physics. |
| D．To memorize Chinese characters more easily. |
| A．Held different views. | B．Showed no interest. |
| C．Had no doubt at all. | D．Were under attack. |
| A．He established a database for all the ancient Chinese characters. |
| B．He built a website about the development of Chinese characters’ forms. |
| C．He illustrated the structures of 15,000 modern Chinese characters. |
| D．He set up a studio to make videos about the stories of Chinese history. |
| A．Chinese characters catching the world’s wide attention. |
| B．A Chinese character website established by an American. |
| C．American Uncle Hanzi devoted to Chinese characters. |
| D．The secret to language learning — long-lasting interest. |
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【推荐1】Muazzez Kocek, 46, is considered one of the best whistlers in Kuskoy, a village in Turkey's northern Giresun province. Her whistle can be heard over the area’s vast tea fields. When President of Turkey visited Kusköy in 2012, she greeted him and proudly whistled, “Welcome to our village!” She uses kus dili, or “bird language”. For hundreds of years, this whistled form of communication has been critical for farming in this place, allowing complex conversations over long distances and making animal herding (放牧) easier to do. However, because of the increased use of cellphones, the language is at risk of dying out.
Turkey is one of a handful of countries in the world where whistling languages exist. They attract linguistic (语言学的) experts very much. There is a long-held belief that language interpretation occurs mostly in the left hemisphere (大脑半球), and tunes and singing on the right. But a study conducted in Kuskoy suggests that whistling language is processed in both hemispheres.
Organ Civelek, 37, who can whistle in full sentences, explained that they are very proud of their linguistic custom and want to share it with visitors. Since 1997, Kuskoy village has been hosting an annual Bird Language, Culture and Art Festival, where the community gathers to practice and compete.
While technology is contributing to the language’s disappearance, it is also being used by some to preserve it. Mr. Civelek, who teaches bird language to children during the summer, uses an application called “Islik Dili Sozlugu,” or whistling language dictionary.
“You can lose or break a phone, but as long as you can breathe, you can whistle,” said Mr. Civelek. “It's a communication tool that you can bring with you anywhere.”
1. Before cellphones, what did Turkish farmers mainly use kus dili to do?| A．Talk with wild birds. |
| B．Greet respectable guests. |
| C．Speak with people far away. |
| D．Warn farm animals of risks. |
| A．The right hemisphere interprets sounds. |
| B．Whistling language isn’t unique to Turkey. |
| C．Brain structures processing language aren’t fixed. |
| D．The left hemisphere helps us understand conversations. |
| A．Misfortunes never come alone. |
| B．Every coin has two sides. |
| C．A good beginning makes a good ending. |
| D．All things are difficult before they are easy. |
| A．People in Turkey whistle more and talk less. |
| B．You may lose a phone, but never a tradition. |
| C．People in Turkey keep a language of whistles alive. |
| D．Cellphones can connect you to the world, but not a heart. |
Jonathan Harrington, a professor at Germany’s University of Munich, wanted to discover whether accent changes recorded over the past half century would take place within one person. “As far as I know, there just is nobody else for whom there is this sort of broadcast records,” he said.
He said the noble way of pronouncing vowels (元音) had gradually lost ground as the noble upper-class accent over the past years. “Her accent sounds slightly less noble than it did 50 years ago. But these are very, very small and slow changes that we don’t notice from year to year.”
“We may be able to relate it to changes in the social classes,” he told The Daily Telegraph, a British newspaper. “In 1952 she would have been heard saying ‘thet men in the bleck het’. Now it would be ‘that man in the black hat’. Similarly, she would have spoken of ‘the citay’ and ‘dutay’, rather than ‘citee’ and ‘dutee’, and ‘hame’ rather than ‘home’. In the 1950s she would have been ‘lorst’, but by the 1970s ‘lost’.”
The Queen’s broadcast is a personal message to the Commonwealth countries. Each Christmas, the 10-minute broadcast is put on TV at 3 p.m. in Britain as many families are recovering from their traditional turkey lunch.
The results were published in the Journal of Phonetics.
1. What is the text mainly about?
| A．The relationship between accents and social classes. |
| B．The Queen’s Christmas speeches on TV. |
| C．The changes in a person’s accent. |
| D．The recent development of the English language. |
| A．she has been Queen for many years |
| B．she has a less upper-class accent now |
| C．her speeches are familiar to many people |
| D．her speeches have been recorded for 50 years |
| A．speech sounds | B．Christmas customs |
| C．TV broadcasting | D．personal messages |
| A．“dutay” | B．“citee” | C．“hame” | D．“lorst” |
【推荐3】In Cairo, formal education is very important. There are twelve years of formal education in Egypt, and public schools are free, though the government does not have enough money. Many families can afford to send their children to private schools. Toward the end of high school, children planning to go to college should take an exam required. The results of that exam determine which college each student will attend and also which fields of study are open to that student. Top students can attend the American University in Cairo, which teaches its course in English. Other universities in the Cairo area include Cairo University, with over 30,000 students, Ain Shams University and Al–Azhar University. Many Children do not complete school or go on to college but learn a trade or apprenticeship in business instead.
Education comes from the family—this is where children learn about social values. The family is very important in Egyptian society. Though modern families are adopting the idea of the “nuclear family” common in the West, the traditional Egyptian family unit consists of parents, grandparents, children, aunts, uncles, cousins, in-laws and all sorts of people. Even though the modern family unit tends to be smaller, families usually live close together and visit each other often.
Unlike in the West, children usually live with their parents until they get married, even through college. It is very rare that children move out and establish their independence before they get married. Usually, this only happens if the child goes abroad to save money before getting married. Many young Egyptian men work for a few years in the rich countries of the Persian Gulf, where wages are much higher than they are in Egypt, and this allows them to have a better start when they return to Egypt and get married.
1. If Egyptian children graduate from high school, _______.| A．some of them will decide not to attend university |
| B．all of them will take an exam for entering collage |
| C．some of them want to attend university in America |
| D．many of them can’t afford their higher education |
| A．be sent to American universities for study |
| B．be admitted to Cairo University |
| C．take class taught in English in Cairo |
| D．get a high–paid job in the future |
| A．Egyptian society. | B．The family. |
| C．The West. | D．All sorts of people. |
| A．need to gain rich experience there |
| B．want to establish their independence |
| C．intend to show respect for their parents |
| D．wish to have a better life in the future |
【推荐1】Throughout history there have been many great women who have contributed to the various fields of science. They have won huge achievements, made important discoveries and done key research that has worked to advance civilization as a whole. Below are some of the world’s most famous female scientists along with descriptions of what made their work so important.
| Marie Curie (1867-1934) Nationality: Polish Known For: Work on radioactivity Marie Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel Prize and the only woman to win this award in two categories: Physics and Chemistry. She discovered polonium and radium and her work helped with the creation of X-rays. | Lise Meitner (1878-1968) Nationality: Austrian Known For: Work on radioactivity and nuclear physics Lise Meitner was a key member of a group that discovered nuclear fission. One of her colleagues, Otto Hahn, was given the Noble Prize for this work and Meitner’s loss of the award is considered to be a huge error by the Nobel committee. |
| Chien-Shiung Wu (1912-1997) Nationality: Chinese American Known For: Work with experimental physics and radioactivity Chien-Shiung Wu is known for her work on the Manhattan Project and her help with finding the process for separating uranium into U-238 and U-235. She has several nicknames including the “Chinese Maria Curie” and the “First Lady of Physics.” | Jane Goodall (1934-present) Nationality: British Known For: Primate studies Jane Goodall is known world-wide for her groundbreaking studies on primates. She is considered the top expert on chimpanzees in the world and is perhaps best known for her 45 year study on the social lives of these smart creatures in Tanzania. |
1. Whose work has been recognized with a Noble Prize praise according to the passage?
| A．Lise Meitner. | B．Marie Curie. |
| C．Chien-Shiung Wu. | D．Jane Goodall. |
| A．Marie Curie. | B．Chien-Shiung Wu. |
| C．Jane Goodall. | D．Lise Meitner. |
| A．Great female. | B．Work on radioactivity. |
| C．Nationality. | D．The Noble Prize. |
【推荐2】Being able to take advantage of truly unlimited data is a smartphone user’s dream, but everyone I’ve talked to about 5G is more excited about the usage unlocked by next-generation wireless devices. From smart home security to self-driving cars, all the Internet-connected equipment in your life will be able to talk to each other at lightning-fast speed with reduced delay.
“5G is one of those forerunners, along with artificial intelligence, of this coming data age.” said Steve Koenig, senior director of market research for the Consumer Technology Association. “Self-driving vehicles are emblematic in this data age — they show application of data completely. With one single task, driving, you have large amounts of data coming from the vehicle itself, and a variety of sensors (传感器) are collecting a lot of information to model its environment as it moves. It’s pulling in data from other vehicles about conditions down the road. There’s lots of data behind that task, which is why we need the speed and lower delay (延迟).
AR glasses and virtual (虚拟的) reality headphones haven’t yet been inside the mainstream, but tech companies are joyfully saying that such equipment will eventually replace our smartphones. With 5G, that could actually happen. This is notable because companies such as Apple are reportedly developing AR glasses to improve — or even replace — smartphones.
Ericsson showed at February’s Mobile World Congress in 2019 how smart glasses could become faster and lighter with a 5G connection, because instead of being weighed down with components, the glasses could rely on outside equipment for processing power.
But don’t get too excited. There’s still a lot of work to be done in the meantime, including some necessary testing to make sure the radio plays nicely with basic systems and service construction so that 5G isn’t only concentrated in big cities, but universally.
1. What does the first paragraph focus on?| A．The potential of 5G. | B．The super speed of 5G. |
| C．Usage of smart equipment. | D．The future of smart equipment. |
| A．available. | B．productive. | C．representative. | D．popular. |
| A．indifferent. | B．Optimistic. | C．Cautious. | D．Disapproving. |
| A．To make radio play nicely. | B．To construct big 5G cities. |
| C．To do 5G trials effectively. | D．To expand 5G coverage fully. |
【推荐3】My generation--people born after 1990 --are accustomed to “all-in-platform” life, where we use mobile apps of different platforms to do almost everything in life.
For instance, I ordered a cup of coffee on Monday using an online delivery app. Then, I called a taxi by tapping on the app of a ride-booking service. Next, I bought some necessities on shopping platform Taobao. That done, I moved on to various other online destinations to get my daily fix of music, reading, social networking and so forth.
Platforms now play an increasingly important role in almost all aspects of day-to-day life, not just in economic and political processes. Consumption and social interaction are closely linked to platforms now.
But, I began to get confused recently. I thought I was being treated differently. My friend and I called a taxi at the same time on a ride-hailing platform (打车平台) and found that for the same destination, the prices were different. The price indicated on my phone was higher. One of the potential reasons could have been that I regularly use the ride-hailing platform and have a higher ranking while my friend doesn’t use it that often. So, the ride-hailing platform offers discounts to newbies like her, to attract and have such customers.
China’s latest efforts in regulating monopolistic (垄断的) or improper market behavior are of great significance in protecting consumers’ lawful rights.
“The essence of platform-based monopoly (垄断) is that a large number of users are gathered on only a select few platform companies, leading to uneven data gathering different platforms. But in China some platforms use their own data and traffic (流量) to expand capital in a disorderly way,” said Wang Yong, deputy director of the Institute of Economics at Tinghua University.
Data monopoly also brought another inconvenience for consumers--platforms block links to each other. For instance, link to We Chat Pay of Tencent is not available on Alibuba’s Taobao while there is no Alipay link on JD app’s payment options.
“More efforts should also be made to strike a good balance between personal information protection and interconnection between platforms. Companies are being encouraged to further develop data safety technology so that the data are available but not visible.”
1. What is the author’s purpose in writing Para. 2?| A．To offer some tips on using apps on mobile phone. |
| B．To share his experience with mobile apps. |
| C．To further explain what is “all-in-platform” life. |
| D．To help readers familiarize themselves with mobile apps. |
| A．The author encountered so called “big data price discrimination”. |
| B．The author and his friend were treated differently by taxi drivers. |
| C．Due to the author’s higher ranking, the platform offered him a cheaper price. |
| D．The ride-hailing platform offers discounts to regular customers. |
| A．Sympathetic. | B．Approving. | C．Critical. | D．Grateful. |
| A．Data monopolies and the inconvenience they bring to mobile app life. |
| B．Mobile apps have greatly changed our lives. |
| C．How to protect personal information on mobile apps. |
| D．Platforms have impacted every aspect of our daily lives. |
