Did you know that 9 out of 10 Americans check the weather more than three times a day? Weather forecasting certainly plays a major role in our daily lives. DeepMind, a Google artificial intelligence company, has developed the Nowcasting, a new AI system that can calculate the chances of rain within the next 90 minutes!
DeepMind aims to find solutions to real-life science problems. In December 2020, for example, the company successfully used AI to predict the shapes of virtually every protein in the human body, as well as in twenty of the most studied animals This will aid scientists in developing drugs to cure diseases.
Now, DeepMind has used Al technology to create a system that can accurately predict rainfall within the hour. Engineers at DeepMind worked with researchers at the University of Exeter and the Met Office, the UK’s national weather service.
The researchers “trained” their AI model to predict the time and location of rainfall by feeding it radar data that represents the formation and movement of clouds across the country. Once “trained”, the AI system can generate (生成), its own data from the patterns. To understand this better, imagine that you pause a movie halfway. Having watched enough of the movie to follow the story, you might form your own predictions of what could happen next. Similarly, the AI can make a conclusion based on the radar patterns it has analyzed thus far.
Current forecasting techniques use weather prediction systems based on equations. Even though they are extremely powerful, these systems perform better with long-term forecasts. Since the AI system draws on real-time radar data, it has proven useful in forecasting weather in the short term. It is especially accurate in forecasting location, movement, and amount of rainfall. This was confirmed by 56 professional weather forecasters who tested the system. By predicting storms quickly and efficiently, the system could help save lives, by enabling local populations to prepare for extreme weather events.
Researchers are currently seeking to improve the AI system’s accuracy. Nowcasting presents an exciting opportunity to effectively predict weather events, especially rare or intense ones caused by our changing environment.
1. What can we know about DeepMind?| A．It works on developing drugs to cure diseases. |
| B．It has developed the Nowcasting on its own. |
| C．It focuses on addressing real-life science problems. |
| D．It has predicted the shapes of almost every animal’s protein. |
| A．To explain what the radar data represents. |
| B．To show the Al in the movie has come true. |
| C．To highlight radar data is of great significance. |
| D．To illustrate how the system can predict rainfall. |
| A．The Nowcasting performs well with long-term forecasts |
| B．The Nowcasting’s real-time radar data is based on equations. |
| C．The Nowcasting’s accuracy has been confirmed by professionals. |
| D．The Nowcasting can save people trapped in extreme weather events. |
| A．To improve Nowcasting’s reliability. | B．To record the changing environment. |
| C．To expand Nowcasting’s market share. | D．To do research on rare weather events. |
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【推荐1】Whether in the home or the workplace, social robots are going to become a lot more common in the next few years. Social robots are about to bring technology to the everyday world in a more humanized way, said Cynthia Breazeal, chief scientist at the robot company Jibo.
While household robots today do the normal housework, social robots will be much mow like companions than mere tools. For example, these robots will be able to distinguish when someone is happy or sad. This allows them to respond more appropriately to the user.
The Jibo robot, arranged to ship later this year, is designed to be a personalized assistant. You can talk to the robot, ask it questions, and make requests for it to perform different tasks. The robot doesn’t just deliver general answers to questions; it responds bawd on what it learns about each individual in the household. It can do things such as reminding an elderly family member to take medicine or taking family photos.
Social robots are not just finding their way into the home. They have potential applications in everything from education to health care and are already finding their way into some of these spaces.
Fellow Robots is one company bringing social robots to the market. The company’s “Oshbot” robot is built to assist customers in a store, which can help the customers find items and help guide them to the product’s location in the store. It can also speak different languages and make recommendations for different items based on what the customer is shopping for.
The more interaction the robot has with humans, the more it learns. But Oshbot, like other social robots, is not intended to replace workers, but to work alongside other employees. “We have technologies to train social robots to do things not for us, but with us,” said Breazeal.
1. How are social robots different from household robots?| A．They can control their emotions. | B．They are more like humans. |
| C．They do the normal housework. | D．They respond to users more slowly. |
| A．A language teacher. | B．A tour guide. |
| C．A shop assistant. | D．A private nurse. |
| A．train employees | B．be our workmates |
| C．improve technologies | D．take the place of workers |
| A．A new design idea of household robots. | B．Marketing strategies for social robots. |
| C．Information on household robots. | D．An introduction to social robots. |
【推荐2】Facial recognition (面部识别) cameras are everywhere, including in your smartphone. Many people rely on this technology to unlock their phones, open doors or make quick payments, but there is a problem: Everyone is wearing masks. What a hassle!
Now, tech companies have updated their software. Facial recognition technology can now identify people even if they are wearing a mask.
Beijing-based tech company Hanwang has announced a software which can correctly recognize 95 percent of people wearing masks, Engineering & Technology ( E&T ) reported. What’s the secret? It’s all about your eyes. Marios Savvides, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, US, studies facial recognition technology. As we get older, he said, our faces change shape, but not the area around our eyes. It stays the same — even if we put on weight. Another company, Geneva-based Tech5, has also been working on this kind of software. Another Japan based NEC Corp claims an surprising 99.9 percent accuracy rate when identifying people with masks.
Facial recognition software is about more than just unlocking your phone. It’s about public safety. For example, you don’t need to present an ID card, which can be lost or stolen. It also means that virus aren’t spread by touching things, said NEC’s Shinya Takeshima. “Touchless verification (验证) has become extremely important due to the coronavirus,” he said to Reuters. “We hope to contribute to safety and peace of mind.” More than that, facial recognition can be used to fight crime. “It can detect crime suspects (嫌疑犯) or terrorists,” said Huang Lei, Hanwang’s vice president. Similar technology is used by the United States Air Force and other governments.
Huang admits one big weakness of this technology: It fails when people wear both a mask and sunglasses. “In this situation, all of the key facial information is lost,” Huang said to E&T.
1. What does the underlined word “hassle” in paragraph 1 probably mean ?| A．A habit. | B．A mistake. |
| C．A rule. | D．A trouble. |
| A．The forehead. | B．The shape of faces. |
| C．The eye region. | D．The facial expressions. |
| A．The future of facial recognition technology. |
| B．The advantages of facial recognition technology. |
| C．Different types of facial recognition software. |
| D．The problems with current facial recognition technology. |
| A．The new technology cannot keep key facial information. |
| B．It is necessary to make improvements in the new technology. |
| C．Huang has a negative attitude toward the new technology. |
| D．The new technology doesn’t work when people wear sunglasses. |
【推荐3】China’s lunar mission (任务) that took off from Earth in December has successfully returned from the moon with rock and soil samples, marking the country's first-ever extraterrestrial (地球外的) launch.
The Chang’e 5 ascender (上升器) must reach lunar orbit and stay with an awaiting spacecraft, consisting of an orbiter and return capsule, before transferring the soil container to the return capsule. The spacecraft will then fly toward Earth before releasing the return capsule once it reaches Earth's atmosphere.
According to the National Space Administration, extraterrestrial takeoff is difficult to pull off for several reasons, including the lack of launch infrastructure (基础设施) available on Earth and different, less familiar environmental conditions.
In addition, without benefiting from a satellite navigation system, the ascender must rely on its onboard sensors, with only limited assistance from ground control.
As New York Times reported, “In this century, so far only China has successfully put robotic spacecraft on the surface of the moon: Chang’e 3 in December 2013, and Chang’e 4, which in January 2019 became the first spacecraft to land on the far side of the moon. Chang’e 4’s rover, called Yutu 2, is still operating, studying lunar geology nearly two years later. Although China explored space much later than the United States and the former Soviet Union, the country has made huge progress over the past decade, and is now among the top ranks of space-faring nations.”
Actually, apart from the lunar missions, China’s astronauts have stayed in orbit with space stations of the country’s own construction three times. In July, the Tianwen 1 mission set course for Mars, and will try to land on the red planet’s surface next year.
1. What does the underlined phrase “pull off” in Paragraph 3 probably mean?| A．Carry on. | B．Put off. |
| C．Succeed. | D．Imagine. |
| A．China has made great advances in moon exploration. |
| B．China’s moon exploration is much later than the US’s. |
| C．China’s moon exploration is developed to compete with the US’s. |
| D．China has successfully sent several robotic spacecrafts on the moon. |
| A．Chang’e 5 will land on Mars next year. |
| B．China’s astronauts will stay in space station. |
| C．Tianwen 1 mission will also land on the moon’s surface. |
| D．China will make future attempts to explore another planet. |
| A．A newspaper. | B．A textbook. |
| C．A science journal. | D．A science paper. |
【推荐1】From growing cereals (谷物) thousands of years ago to the attractive and decorative gardens of today, the nature of gardens has changed with numerous cultural and historic events over time.
Recently, a group of 32 Michigan Master Gardeners and Michigan State University employees toured some of the most famous gardens in the countries of France and Malta on a study trip, observing the progress of gardening and how culture and historical events shaped garden design.
For example, the purpose of the garden at the Chateau of Versailles in Paris, France, was primarily to demonstrate the wealth of the royalty at the time as well as technological innovation. The Chateau was first built just as a hunting house by Louis XIII in 1623. However, Louis XIV expanded Versailles to create a royal residence where the royal court could gather during the mid-1600s. The garden was designed by the famous landscape architect, Andre Le Notre during 1660 to 1680.
Giverny, a small village only 75 miles from the northwest coast of France on the English Channel ,was a haven (乐土) for impressionist artists during the late 1800s. It was removed from the city of Paris and was most notably home to Claude Monet and his garden. Monet developed the gardens over the course of his career to be his outdoor studio. For him, his garden was a passion and the romantic landscape was one to be painted over and over from a new angle or with different lighting.
During World War I and World War II, people in the United States and around the world planted “Victory Gardens”. These vegetable, fruit and herb gardens provided private citizens with nutrition during times of war and helped free up additional resources for the soldiers. These gardens demonstrated their love for the country and provided the owners with a sense of ach1evement in uncertain times.
Throughout time, gardens not only reflect the individual owner or creator, but are also a photograph of the historical events and culture of the time. What will your garden say about you?
1. What was the goal of constructing the Chateau of Versailles?| A．To show royal power. | B．To serve as a court. |
| C．To shelter local hunters. | D．To honor an architect. |
| A．It is far away from big cities. | B．It is a source of inspiration. |
| C．It has fully-equipped studios. | D．It has good lighting facilities. |
| A．An appeal for a balanced diet. | B．A demonstration of love for peace. |
| C．An exhibition of food variety. | D．A symbol of individual contributions. |
| A．Most Memorable Garden Architects in History |
| B．Latest Research on Hidden Benefits of Gardens |
| C．Gardens as a Reflection of History and Culture |
| D．Invaluable Wisdom in Construction of Gardens |
【推荐2】Cheating can happen in a lot of different ways. When people cheat, it’s not fair to other people, like the kids who studied for the test or who were the true winners of a game.
Many people like the action of cheating. It makes difficult things seem easy, like getting all the right answers on the test. But it doesn’t solve the problem of not knowing the material and it won’t help on the next test --- unless the person cheats again.
Some people lose respect for cheaters and think less of them. The cheaters themselves may feel bad because they know they are not really earning that good grade. And, if they get caught cheating, they will be in trouble at school, and maybe at home, too.
Some kids cheat because they’re busy or lazy and they want to get good grades without spending the time studying. Other kids might feel like they can’t pass the test without cheating. Even when there seems to be a “good reason” for cheating, cheating isn’t a good idea.
If you were sick or upset about something the night before and couldn’t study, it would be better to talk with the teacher about this. And if you don’t have enough time to study for a test because of swimming practice, you need to talk with your parents about how to balance swimming and school.
A kid who thinks cheating is the only way to pass a test needs to talk with the teacher and his or her parents so they can find some solutions (解决办法) together. Talking about these problems and working them out will feel better than cheating.
1. The author thinks that when kids cheat in class, _______.| A．it is unfair to other people | B．it does harm to their heath |
| C．teachers should punish them | D．teachers shouldn’t stop them at once |
| A．the material in the test is very difficult |
| B．they want to do better than the others |
| C．cheating can make hard things seem very easy |
| D．they have little time to study their lessons |
| A．cheating isn’t a good idea | B．why kids cheat in the test |
| C．some kids can’t pass the test without cheating | D．some kids don’t spend the time studying |
【推荐3】People who grew up in the country have a better sense of direction and navigational (导航) skills than those raised in cities, a study said Wednesday.
To find out how childhood environment influences navigation ability, scientists looked at how almost 400, 000 people from 38 countries played a mobile videogame designed for neuroscience research.
Players of the Sea Hero Quest game had to navigate a boat to find checkpoints (边防关卡) on a map, according to the study published in the Nature journal.
Co-lead author Antoine Coutrot of the University of Lyon said research had previously shown that when mice grew up in cages with complex paths, “certain abilities in their brains, including sense of space, were also improved.”
However, humans were a little trickier to study because “we cannot lock them up in cages,” he told AFP. So the researchers used Sea Hero Quest which was created in 2016 to study Alzheimer’s disease and has since been played by nearly 4 million people.
Coutrot said people who grew up in the countryside scored better because “the countryside is a rather complex environment since it is very unorganized, with greater distances, meaning you have to memorize your route (路线).”
However, people raised in more complex cities such as Paris, Chongqing and Prague did much better than those from cities with orderly planned streets like Chicago, he added.
And adults can still improve their sense of direction later in life if they work at it. “It’s a bit like learning another language, which will be much easier if you learned it when you were young,” Coutrot said.
1. How did the scientists carry out the study?| A．By asking people about their childhood environment. |
| B．By observing how participants played a videogame. |
| C．By comparing mice with humans. |
| D．By studying the data collected |
| A．The complex environment. | B．The shorter distances. |
| C．The organized paths. | D．Their better memory. |
| A．Paris. | B．Prague. | C．Chicago. | D．Chongqing. |
| A．Adults Should Improve Their Sense of Direction Earlier |
| B．Childhood Environment Influences Navigation Ability |
| C．Mice Have Better Navigation Ability than Humans |
| D．People Raised in Cities are not Good at Navigation |
