A state in Australia is fixing cameras as part of an effort to reduce the number of people using wireless devices (设备) while they drive. Road safety experts are worried about the growing number of accidents because of drivers using smartphones on the state’s roads. They say drivers who use phones while driving greatly increase their chances of causing an accident.
The units use AI to set aside drivers who are not touching their phones. Human beings then make sure if the pictures show illegal behavior before a notice is sent to the vehicle’s owner. A violation (违反) carries a fine of $232. Some cameras will be set up on roadsides forever. Others will be moved, from time to time, around the state.
Two fixed cameras took photos of 8. 5 million vehicles as part of a six-month test earlier this year. The cameras took photos of more than 100, 000 drivers with their hands on phones. One driver was using a phone and an Apple iPad at the same time. Another driver had a passenger guide the vehicle while they both held phones.
Not everyone agrees with the new program. Peter Khoury is a member of Australia’s National Rosds and Motorists’ Association. He accused (谴责) the government of using secret methods to cut down on phone that does not follow the law. The association supports stricter action against drivers who pay too much attention to their phones. However, the association wants the government to set up signs warning drivers that phone cameras are operating in an area.
Government modeling found that the phone cameras could prevent 100 deaths and serious injuries over five years.
Drivers are allowed to use phones in hands-free carriers and through wireless connections (连接). But it does not follow the law to touch a phone while driving except to pass it to a passenger. Drivers who are sitting at red lights or stopped in heavy traffic should also follow the new law.
1. Why is the Australian state setting up cameras on the roads?| A．To protect drivers. |
| B．To warn drivers of traffic jams. |
| C．To encourage the use of phones. |
| D．To reduce traffic accidents. |
| A．Drivers holding a phone. |
| B．Drivers touching their nose. |
| C．Passengers talking with the driver. |
| D．Passengers using two devices at the same time. |
| A．Uncaring. | B．Against. |
| C．Doubtful. | D．Supportive. |
| A．Use a passenger’s phone. | B．Touch the phone at red lights. |
| C．Ask passengers to answer the phone. | D．Make a phone call while trapped in traffic. |
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【推荐1】In the early times,the music industry was terrified of taping,thinking that customers would just copy music,or record from the radio.But that never really happened,at least not enough to cause any real hardship to anyone in the music business.
The same argument arose over technologies like miniDisc and recordable CDs.But the thing that terrified the music industry more than anything else was the arrival of services like Napster,which allowed people to share music over the Internet without costing them anything.The music industry was shocked: it saw people exchanging digital copies that didn’t degrade（降级）with each transfer,something that kept tapes from being a huge threat.
But it wasn't the Internet that killed the music industry.In fact,everything is still looking optimistic for many musicians.Taylor Swift has had a good year,and her latest album is likely to be making her very wealthy indeed.And that won’t change in all likelihood,not for Swift,and not for those who come after her.There is always going to be public demand for music.
However,the technology will simply destroy the record company.The reason is simple.Record companies are a man in the middle that simply doesn’t need to exist anymore.The same way we buy our flights directly did get our shopping online and have things delivered from Amazon instead of going to a local shop.We have always been willing to enjoy cost reductions at the expense of the middleman and the record companies are that kind of middleman.
What does the record industry offer?Well,surprisingly little these days.It used to be the case that record companies would go and find new talents.Of course this still happens,but more likely is that an artist will be discovered by the public through YouTube,or even from friends on Facebook or Twitter.Record companies also used to have an important role in producing the music.But countless artists are making their own way through software or any of the other amazing music development apps,without any help from the record companies.
1. Why didn’t tape copying become a serious danger to the music industry?| A．It was hard to transfer. |
| B．It was strictly controlled. |
| C．It didn’t save much money. |
| D．It was replaced by miniDisc and recordable CDs. |
| A．the demand for music is on the increase due to the Internet |
| B．the sales of albums are badly affected by the Internet |
| C．the Internet doesn’t have a destructive effect on the music industry |
| D．the musicians make a great fortune via the Internet |
| A．they are in the middle way and block the development of the music industry. |
| B．the record industry can offer nothing to us |
| C．people prefer to cut down the expenses at the cost of the record companies |
| D．the public pa more attention to Facebook or Twitter |
【推荐2】When is a media company not a media company? When it’s on the Internet. YouTube and Facebook convey what their users read and watch, and sell advertising next to it. Edited content, financed by advertising? It sounds a lot like the model that dominated media for much of the 20th century. And yet these firms have long claimed to be mere "platforms”，passively hosting content they say they are neither able nor willing to assess. It's true that they are not like traditional media companies. Much of their content is donated by their users; and algorithms (算) not editors, decide what is most worthy of attention. But they are getting more like them every day.
The anger over “fake news” has led Facebook to employ fact checkers, hire editorial staff to control the algorithms, crack down on the spread of junk and invest in tools to help out journalists.
So what kind of media companies are Facebook, YouTube and the rest? Not good ones. Their enormous power to inform, and the huge potential value of forming connections between people around the world, have in fair measure been wasted by prioritising attention-grabbing content 一 regardless of its quality, truthfulness or seriousness, which has made the online content cheap and its tone rude.
The tech giants are now coming under increasing pressure to clean up their acts. Perhaps more exactly, the advertisers have begun to revolt （反抗）：Google and Facebook now take nine out of every 10 new dollars spent on online advertising, although they have been accused of marking their own homework'", making unconvincing and unverifiable （无可考证的）claims about its effectiveness.
Meanwhile, the companies are avoiding responsibility for setting rules over their services. Excuses that the problem is too technically complex are not convincing: their engineers have proven skillful at cracking down on, say, copyright violation when it suits the firms. Nor does a firm position on free speech hold up: history is filled with examples of how a fair balance can be struck. Those have involved dialogue and democratic considerations that social media companies have thus iar mostly disdained （轻视）.They should do so no longer. The firms have enjoyed the privileges and profits of media for long enough: it's time they picked up the responsibilities too.
1. What does the author think of YouTube and Facebook's claim in Paragraph 1?| A．It is unexpected. | B．It is absurd. |
| C．It is practical. | D．It is influential. |
| A．their low quality content | B．their prejudice against morality |
| C．their being a time-waster | D．their lack of control of speech |
| A．may not actually satisfy advertisers' needs |
| B．has invited users^ questioning of privacy issues |
| C．will be cut down to respond to public discontent |
| D．may not gain profit as ad spending keeps rising |
| A．improve their overall technology |
| B．abandon the democratic ideal of free speech |
| C．take responsibility for regulating copyright issues |
| D．act as a medium despite their Internet background |
【推荐3】The release of GPT-4, the latest language model developed by OpenAI, has raised concerns about its potential impact on the job market. In the finance industry, fears around AI disruption are particularly bitter, as many jobs involve the processing of data that could easily be done by machines.
This has raised questions about what it means for the CFA Institute, which offers chartered financial analyst qualifications to humans who pay a considerable fee to take the exams. If an AI algorithm can pass the CFA exam, it could threaten the CFA Institute’s revenue model and potentially affect several hundred thousand bank employees.
However, recent experiments have shown that GPT-4 is not yet capable of passing the CFA exam. The simulation scored only 8 out of a possible 24 points, demonstrating that faking logical thought is very different from fake reasoning through the application of rules and definitions. Humans still keep an edge in this area.
The CFA exam relies heavily on memorization and pattern matching, rather than processing the meaning of each question. This has allowed humans to continue to take the advantage at the exam compared to machines that rely on algorithms and logical deductions.
While the development of advanced AI may pose a threat to some industries, including finance, it appears that in the case of CFA accreditation, humans still have the upper hand. For now, those working in financial regulations and those responsible for setting exams in this field can breathe a small sigh of relief knowing their jobs are safe – at least for a little while longer.
In conclusion, the release of GPT-4 has sparked concerns about its potential to disrupt the job market, especially in finance. However, experiments have demonstrated that AI still has limitations, particularly in areas requiring fake reasoning through memorized answers. While this news may reassure those in the finance industry, there is no denying that AI technology continues to transform many aspects of work and life.
1. What is the CFA Institute?| A．An organization that develops artificial intelligence algorithms. |
| B．An organization that offers financial analyst qualifications. |
| C．An organization that is threatened by the development of AI in finance. |
| D．An organization responsible for setting exams for bank employees. |
| A．It could potentially replace humans in processing data. |
| B．It is capable of passing the CFA exam and taking over jobs. |
| C．The finance industry has been slow to adopt new technology. |
| D．Bank employees are actively protesting against AI adoption. |
| A．They are better at memorization and pattern matching. |
| B．They have greater logical reasoning abilities. |
| C．They have access to more resources during the exam. |
| D．They have a deeper understanding of financial regulations. |
| A．They demonstrate that humans’ jobs are safe for the foreseeable future. |
| B．They suggest that banks will soon be replacing humans with AI. |
| C．They prove that AI has already surpassed humans in financial analysis. |
| D．They have no impact on the job market. |
【推荐1】Many of you may have used Siri, a voice assistant of US tech company Apple. You only have to say “hey Siri” and it will answer to your command. However, we may be sacrificing our privacy to enjoy this convenience.
According to a recent report by the Guardian, Siri can be accidentally triggered and start recording private conversations, such as discussions between doctors and patients Some of these recordings are then given to workers outside the company to review. Apple claimed the data was used to help Siri improve, but users were not informed of this measure in the first place. Apple’s Siri is not the only voice assistant to come under fire. In 2018, Alexa, a voice assistant developed by US tech company Amazon, recorded a private conversation between a couple and sent it to a stranger without their permission.
These issues deepened concerns that tech companies are infringing (侵犯) users’ rights of privacy. Many people have long feared that tech companies are listening and collecting data from private conversations, reported Forbes. Using this data, third party companies could then paint an accurate picture of users’ habits and preferences in order to serve them more targeted advertisements, or even worse, sell this private data.
Despite this risk, the popularity of voice assistant seems to be unstoppable. In the near future, everything from your lighting to your air-conditioning to your refrigerator, your coffee maker, and even your toilet could be wired to a system controlled by voice, commented The Atlantic.
Colin Horgan wrote on the blog site Medium that he believed people’s daily lives will soon become a source of data. “ The sounds of our homes, the symphony of life laughing, crying, talking, shouting, sitting in silence-will no longer be considered memories, but data, ” he wrote. To deal with the issue, Blake Morgan, reporter for The Atlantic, believed that the answer is transparency. “All companies need to have messaging ready to explain to customers what they do with private data,” she wrote on The Atlantic.
1. What can be inferred from Paragraph 2?| A．There are some fire-proof voice assistants. |
| B．Many voice assistants are. being developed. |
| C．Some voice assistants are also being criticized besides Siri. |
| D．Data collected by Siri is used for better user experience. |
| A．Serving them targeted advertisements. | B．Sending their message. |
| C．Invading their privacy. | D．Making no improvements. |
| A．Stop collecting data through voice assistant. | B．Explain their use of the data to customers. |
| C．Make their data more transparent. | D．Collect data to better keep memories. |
| A．To show visions of a data world in the future. |
| B．To criticize companies’ invading customers’ privacy. |
| C．To inform people of what tech companies are really up to. |
| D．To draw attention to the privacy issue concerning voice assistants. |
【推荐2】Lifestyle creep, sometimes called lifestyle inflation, is when living expenses and non-essential expenditures grow with income. In bad cases of lifestyle creep, this unnecessary spending can cut into savings.
Lifestyle creep is most visible among high earners, but anyone can fall into this trap. Who hasn’t justified eating out more often every week after receiving a 1 or 2 percent raise? The temptation of a more costly lifestyle is difficult to resist. If you’re making enough money to afford a larger apartment, shouldn’t you move to a larger apartment?
Improving your standard of living as your income increases isn’t an objectively bad thing, but when that habit cuts into your savings efforts, it can be a major financial risk. As Katie Waters, a financial planner at Stable Waters Financial, says, “Something’s got to give.”
Then how to avoid lifestyle creep? It just takes the same moderation and planning you used when you had a smaller income. If you can, head off lifestyle creep from the beginning by giving your raise or bonus money a purpose immediately. This can be to pay down debt, save for a house, or add to retirement accounts. This way, you won’t be tempted to spend it on a non-necessity. If you fear you’ve already fallen victim to lifestyle inflation at any level, you can still turn your spending around. If you are putting all your expenses on your credit card, Waters recommends rearranging so only routine, fixed monthly expenses are on the card. “The monthly variable costs—food, clothing, personal care, purchases for the home, the list goes on—are where your money slips away easily.” Waters says, “Calculate your possible savings each pay period and put that money into a separate checking account.”
“As with all things, the secret to managing your finances like an adult is a constant strive for balance,” Waters says. “Have fun along the way, but don’t let the tail wag the dog.”
1. What can we learn about lifestyle creep?| A．It contributes to a pay raise. | B．It refers to a high living standard, |
| C．It sometimes affects a person’s savings. | D．It only traps people with a high income. |
| A．To list the bad consequences of lifestyle creep. |
| B．To stress the importance of giving in one’s life. |
| C．To show that lifestyle creep is quite understandable. |
| D．To support that lifestyle creep can cause financial problems. |
| A．Put all the expenses on a credit card. | B．Save the bonus money for a non-necessity. |
| C．Increase the monthly costs on food and clothing. | D．Set different checking accounts for specific purposes. |
| A．Don’t bite the hand that feeds you. | B．Don’t put the cart before the horse. |
| C．Don’t do one thing under the cover of another | D．Don’t count the chicken before they are hatched. |
| A．You never know if you'll hit it lucky. |
| B．Why is the value of the dollar lower today? |
| C．You can also think about giving it away to charity. |
| D．Many things are often on sale for a dollar or less a piece. |
| E．There are endless possibilities to put that dollar to good use. |
| F．Sometimes it gets carelessly spent on some unimportant things. |
| G．The dollar's value can be compared with what it bought in the past. |
【推荐1】Mickey Mouse and Shrek are just a couple of the American animated (动画的) characters loved by people all over the world. And they are examples of the evolution of animation, which has brought unique new life to the film industry.
Among the first American animated films was By the Light of the Moon, a silent movie produced in 1911 using silhouette (剪影) animation, where the characters are represented only as black silhouettes.
The real breakthrough for American animation came with Steamboat Willie, created by Walt Disney and released in 1928. It was the first animated film to be accompanied by sound, and its main star, Mickey Mouse, became one of the most loveable and enduring animated characters ever created. Disney also created the first American full-length animated film, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. Released in 1937, it enjoyed worldwide box-office success.
Disney’s extremely careful attention to high-quality details in the thousands of hand-painted drawings required at that time to make an animated film elevated this film technique to the level of a serious art form.
Clay animation is a type of stop-motion animation using forms made of clay. Clay animation films have been produced in the United States since 1908. But this form of animation only won wide popular appeal in 1955 with a short film called Gumbasia, created by Art Clokey.
Computer-generated imagery, or CGI, brought animation to a new level of artistry and realism. CGI animation had been used in films since the 1960s. It began to develop rapidly in the mid-1990s. Toy Story, released in 1995 and created by Pixar Animation Studios and Walt Disney Pictures, was the first completely computer-generated animated feature film.
In 2001, DreamWorks and Pacific Data Images released Shrek, the first computer-animated feature film to win an Oscar. Shrek returned in 2004 with his talking donkey, his princess bride Fiona and an army of fairy-tale characters in Shrek 2. Hugely popular, that film became the highest-grossing(票房最高的) animated film of all time.
In addition to strictly animated movies, animation has been mixed into films showing live actors as well. Who can forget the terrifyingly real dinosaurs thundering through Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park movies and the actors they chase? Thanks to the powerful capabilities of today’s computers and the unlimited imagination of American filmmakers, animation will be entertaining audiences worldwide for a long time to come.
1. The passage is mainly about the ________ of animation.| A．influence | B．popularity | C．characters | D．development |
| A．By the Light of the Moon. | B．Steamboat Willie. |
| C．Toy Story. | D．Shrek. |
| A．Jurassic Park movies involve only live actors |
| B．clay animation enjoys long-lasting popularity |
| C．computers make animated characters more lovely |
| D．Disney played a very important role in promoting the development of animation |
| A．Animation will forever remain an essential form of entertainment. |
| B．Animation will be replaced by new forms of films in the near future. |
| C．Animation will continuously gain new life due to computers and imagination. |
| D．Animation will get more popular in the future for the developing film technology. |
【推荐2】It’s never easy to explain exactly when a specific language began, but in the case of English we can at least say that there is little sense in speaking of the English as a separate language before the Anglo-Saxons came to Britain. Little is known of this period with any certainty, but we do know that Germanic invaders came and settled in Britain from the north-western coastline of continental Europe in the fifth and sixth centuries. The invaders all spoke a language that was Germanic (related to Dutch, Frisian, German and the Scandinavian languages, and to Gothic), but we’ll probably never know how different their speech was from that of their continental neighbours.
The reason that we know so little about the language in this period is because we do not have much in the way of written records from any of the Germanic languages of north-western Europe until several centuries later. When Old English writings began to appear in the seventh, eighth, and ninth centuries there was a good deal of regional variation (变化), but not more than that found in later periods. This was the language that Alfred the Great referred to as ‘English’ in the ninth century.
The Celts were already resident (定居) in Britain when the Anglo-Saxons arrived, but there are few obvious traces of their language in English today. Some scholars have suggested that the Celtic tongue might have had an underlying influence on the grammatical development of English, particularly in some parts of the country, but this is highly speculative (猜测). The number of borrowed words known for certain to have entered Old English from this source is very small. Those that survive in modern English include “brock” (badger), and “comb” (a type of valley), alongside many place names.
1. When did the English language begin ?| A．After the Anglo-Saxons came to Britain. |
| B．Before the Germanic invaders settled in Britain. |
| C．At a time that no one will know for certain. |
| D．At the same time as Germanic languages began. |
| A．Great Britain | B．Africa |
| C．Europe | D．Ireland |
| A．There are no written records from the Germanic languages. |
| B．Old English didn’t have any written system. |
| C．Much of the written records have been lost. |
| D．There was a good deal of variation in the records. |
| A．It influenced the grammatical development of English. |
| B．It had little influence on modern English. |
| C．It borrowed a few words from Old English. |
| D．It greatly enriched modern English vocabulary. |
【推荐3】Freeganism is an alternative philosophy for living, based on minimum participation in conventional economic practices by purchasing little or no goods, whether that is housing, clothing or even food. This philosophy comes from a very challenging idea for a consumer-oriented(以消费为导向的) society. That idea is: we already have enough.
Economists can often be heard to complain on TV that “the economy grew at a slower than expected rate last year”. But why do we care about growth so much? The economy grows when we produce and sell more things. In a society already rich in things, how can we possibly justify making and buying more and more? According to the freegans, our society’s simple answer to that question is to waste what we already have by throwing it into the dustbins.
This should not be controversial to anyone familiar with marketing. Last year’s hottest mobile phone looks old and outdated compared to this year’s model, doesn’t it? And who would wear baggy jeans anymore when skinny jeans are so clearly in? This market phenomenon is called “perceived obsolescence”. It relies on the idea that what is old feels inadequate or unusable, in order to encourage people to purchase replacements for perfectly good things that they already have.
As a solution, freegan communities consciously practice habits of non-consumption. Freegan behavior includes sharing tools, clothes or equipment between neighbors and friends, and the radical(过激的) practice of “dumpster diving”, which refers to seeking out waste food thrown away by groceries and supermarkets because of outward imperfections like a spot on the skin of an otherwise good apple.
Although making their next meal from “rescued” food may not suit everyone, the essence of the freegan message－to waste less, and to want less－is one worth holding on to.
1. What can be inferred from paragraph 2?| A．Our society practises strict economy. |
| B．Growth and waste tend to go hand in hand. |
| C．The freegans love finding faults with economists. |
| D．Producer-orientation promotes economic growth. |
| A．The change of marketing strategies(策略). |
| B．A waste of well-functioning products. |
| C．The decline of the fashion industry. |
| D．Great advances in mobile phone technology. |
| A．It requires communities to distribute goods equally. |
| B．It urges groceries and supermarkets to recycle food. |
| C．It is based on community group buying. |
| D．It ranges from the simple to extreme. |
| A．There is no such thing as a free lunch. |
| B．Giving sometimes produces nice results. |
| C．One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. |
| D．One’s disadvantages may prove to be advantages. |
