【推荐1】A Californian company that teaches a computer to “taste” wine is using the technology to help winemakers improve their products and attract new customers. Founder Katerina Axelsson says, “Tastry uses artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze tens of thousands of wines a year, generating lots of data to help winemakers target their products more effectively.”

Axelsson formed her idea as a chemistry student working at a winery, where she noticed strange practices in how wine was evaluated. A 100,000-gallon tank of wine would be divided in two and sold to two different brands, where it would end up in different bottles, be sold at different prices and receive different scores from critics, she says.

Axelsson began analyzing wine samples, identifying thousands of compounds. Using AI, she could see how these compounds interacted with each other, creating the wine’s flavor profile. She then took that profile and used machine learning to compare its flavor, texture (口感) and color with other wines in the database.

The method allowed Axelsson to develop a wine recommendation app, which was launched in 2019. Through a quiz, consumers could input their flavor preferences, and the software would recommend a suitable wine with 80%-90% accuracy at the first attempt, she says, rising to 95% with additional input from the user.

But in an industry full of artisan (工匠) tradition, there are some critics of this algorithmic (算法的) approach. “It’s like having a computer analyze a piece of art,” says Ronan Sayburn, master sommelier (酒水师) and head of wine at 67 Pall Mall, a private members’ club for wine lovers in London. “I don’t know how keen people would be on following what a computer tells them to drink, based on what they had previously,” he says.

Axelsson agrees that Tastry is not a substitute for a sommelier. But she says the scalability (可伸缩性) of her product makes it possible to analyze more wines per year than a human could ever taste. Her company will start offering services in Europe later this year in cooperation with an online seller, and is already thinking beyond wine, having conducted tests for beers, coffees and fragrances.

1. Why does the author list the figures in paragraph 4?

A．To prove the app’s accuracy.	B．To list consumers’ flavor preferences.
C．To show the app needs no improvement.	D．To state the app is popular with winemakers.

2. What is Ronan Sayburn’s attitude to AI’s analyzing wine?

A．Favorable.

B．Neutral.

C．Unclear.

D．Critical.

3. Which of the following can Axelsson probably agree with?

A．Sommeliers will be replaced by AI in the future.

B．Strange practices in making wine should be changed.

C．Tastry can analyze more wines per year than a human does.

D．The wine recommendation app is the best app of its kind.

4. What’s the best title of the text?

A．The Wide Application of AI	B．Teaching Computers to Taste Wine
C．Is Tastry a Substitute for a Sommelier?	D．Will an App Succeed in the Near Future?

【推荐2】Here are some of the interesting inventions in 2021. Which one are you most excited about?

Purrble

It comes to the rescue for anxious kids. This toy has seven sensors that respond to touch. Purrble’s heartbeat speeds up when you play with the toy. Then you comfort it by petting it, which slows its heartbeat down. It calms you too. In a study of 20 families, 19 parents said Purrble helped their kids calm down.

Revolve Air

Andrea Mocellin is a former sports-car designer, who is using his skills to build a wheelchair called Revolve Air that has wheels with a hexagon (六边形) structure. And they fold up, which allows the chair to take up 600 less space than a standard folding wheelchair. Mocellin aims to get it out by mid-2022. He has nearly 12,000 customers on his waiting list.

OrCam Read

Reading is a challenge for millions of people who may struggle with poor eyesight or other problems. But with computer vision and artificial intelligence, OrCam Read can read any piece of text aloud.Users aim its laser frame (激光框) at a page of a book, a menu, an advertisement, or a screen. Then press a button. After that it instantly starts reading aloud, and can also read text in multiple languages.

Robin the Robot

A girl, a pneumonia patient, in a clinic had barely eaten for two days. The staff took it into her room. After chatting and playing games, Robin said goodbye, promising to return only if the girl agreed to eat. Sure enough, she dug in. With big eyes and a cheerful personality, Robin is designed to help kids in hospitals and clinics.
1. What’s the advantage of Revolve Air?

A．It’s impressive in shape.	B．It’s fit for use in a car.
C．It’s been widely used.	D．It’s convenient to carry.

2. What should the users do first before OrCam Read starts to read?

A．Test their eyesight.	B．Scan the text.
C．Use their cell phones.	D．Speak their mother tongue.

3. Which can communicate with their users?

A．Purrble and OrCam Read.	B．Revolve Air and Purrble.
C．Purrble and Robin the Robot.	D．OrCam Read and Revolve Air.

【推荐1】Diners in Japan may soon be able to cut their salt intake without needing to sacrifice(牺牲)flavor. Researchers recently announced they developed electric chopsticks that increase saltiness of foods.

Co-developed by Meiji University professor Homei Miyashita and drink producer Kirin Holdings Company, Limited, the chopsticks improve tastes using electrical stimulation and a mini-computer attached to a wrist.“The device uses a weak electrical current to send sodium ions (钠离子) from food, through the chopsticks, to the mouth where they create a sense of saltiness,” said Miyashita.“As a result, the salty taste increases by 1.5 times.”

The taste-improving chopsticks may have particular relevance to the traditional diet in Japan, which tends to be high in salt. The average Japanese adult eats about 10 grams of salt each day. That is almost two times the amount suggested by the World Health Organization. High sodium intake is linked to increased cases of high blood pressure, strokes and other conditions. “To prevent these diseases, we need to reduce the amount of salt we take,” said Kirin researcher Ai Sato. Sato added that if Japanese people try to reduce salt intake in the usual ways, they will need to cut many of their favorite foods from their diet. Otherwise, they would have to eat flavorless food.

“I want to overturn the idea that low salt means no flavor,” Miyashita declared.“The chopsticks make it possible to keep enjoying the foods we love, and in a healthier way.”He was confident that the chopsticks can help people make better decisions about their diet and hoped to have them ready to sell as early as next year.

Miyashita and his research team have explored different ways that technology can interact with human senses. He has also developed a television screen that a person can lick (舔) to taste different food flavors. Meanwhile, research is also underway to develop other eating tools with special functions like electric spoons and forks using technology.

1. Who would probably be interested in the electric chopsticks?

A．Those sticking to a balanced diet.

B．Those having eating disorders.

C．Those preferring homemade food.

D．Those wanting to take in less salt.

2. Why is traditional Japanese diet mentioned?

A．To introduce what Japanese diet is like.

B．To stress how important chopsticks are for it.

C．To show what influence it has on the Japanese.

D．To explain why electric chopsticks are invented.

3. What does Miyashita expect of the electric chopsticks?

A．They’ll reach consumers in the near future.

B．They’ll help change people’s eating habits.

C．They’ll be developed into various versions.

D．They’ll inspire a whole new line of research.

4. What is the text mainly about?

A．Benefits of low-sodium diets.

B．Improvements to the Japanese diet.

C．Electric chopsticks increasing salty taste.

D．An invention making food more delicious.

【推荐1】Why should we explore space? Perhaps the best answer lies in our history. What made our ancestors move from the trees onto the plains?     1     In exploring, the surrounding areas may be identified and prepared for. Without knowledge, these dangers have the ability to harm us.

While many resources are spent on what seems a small return, the exploration of space allows new resources to be created.     2     Knowledge or techniques acquired in exploring or preparing to explore always filter (慢慢传开) from the developers to the general population. Techniques may be medical applications, such as new drugs or ways of living to increase the quantity or the quality of time lived.

By studying alien worlds, we can place our own world in content. While space may hold many wonders and explanations of how the universe was formed or how it works, it also holds dangers. The chance of a large asteroid (小行星) hitting the Earth is small.     3    

Some explanations for extinctions and evolution include strikes by asteroids. Our technology is reaching the point where we can detect such a threat and might be able to do something about it.

    4     Without the ability to reach out across space, the chance to save ourselves might not exist. Earth is the only planet known to maintain life, but our ability to adapt could eventually allow us to inhabit other planets and moons.

Our lifestyles would be different, but human life and cultures have adapted in the past and surely could in the future.    5    

A．But given time, it will happen.

B．Space allows us to expand and succeed.

C．Resources translate into success at survival.

D．With knowledge, their consequences may be reduced.

E．Nearly all successful civilizations have been willing to explore.

F．Scientists can function at world-class level in their specialist fields.

G．The dangers exist and knowledge can allow us as a species to survive.

【推荐2】On Nov. 30, 2020, NASA flight engineer Kate Rubins pulled out 20 radish (萝卜) plants grown in the space station’s Advanced Plant Habitat, wrapping them in foil for cold storage until they can make the voyage back to Earth next year.

Back on the ground, scientists at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida are growing radishes in a control group. The researchers will compare the space-grown radishes to the vegetables grown on Earth, checking on how space produce measures up on providing the minerals and nutrients astronauts (宇航员) need as they prepare for longer trips.

With their short growing time, radishes present potential advantages as a food source for future astronauts carrying out deep space missions in years to come. The radishes grow quickly, and they can be harvested in 27 days. The root vegetables also don’t require much care from people.

Astronauts have grown 15 different types of plants on the station, which include eight different types of leafy greens. And NASA has already tested more than 100 crops on Earth, identifying which plants to try out next in space. “Growing a range of crops helps us determine which plants grow better in microgravity and offer the best variety and nutritional balance for astronauts on long-time missions,” Dufour said.

Getting space agriculture right matters because the nutrients in the prepackaged food that astronauts currently eat in space degrade (降级) over a period of time, NASA said. Getting humans to Mars and back safely over a two-or-three-year mission requires growing food along the way. That not only gives astronauts more of a supply of fresh nutrients on the voyage, it also serves an emotional need as they tend to crops that are both a figurative (比喻的) and literal taste of home.

1. Why do astronauts choose to plant radishes in the space station?

A．Radishes don’t need too much attention.

B．Radishes can be stored in cold conditions.

C．Radishes can supply enough nutrients alone.

D．Radishes’ growing time can be shortened in space.

2. What’s the purpose of testing various crops on Earth?

A．To help researchers carry out experiments more correctly.

B．To provide astronauts in space with more choices of food.

C．To serve emotional support for astronauts on the voyage.

D．To make sure the plants grow well and avoid nutrition loss.

3. What does the underlined word “they” refer to in the last paragraph?

A．Astronauts.

B．Nutrients.

C．Researchers.

D．Radishes.

4. Which of the following is a suitable title for the text?

A．Agriculture in the future	B．The food for astronauts
C．Planting radishes in space	D．Preparations for space mission

【推荐3】The three astronauts of Shenzhou XIV mission, who played a key role in completing the Tiangong space station, shared their experiences and feelings with the public on Friday in the first news conference after their six-month orbital journey.

Speaking at the meeting with domestic reporters at the Astronaut Centre of China in Beijing, mission commander Senior Colonel Chen Dong said that every day during their mission was full of work. For example, they were tasked with preparing for and monitoring the arrival of the Wentian and Mengtian lab modules, and making three spacewalks.

Chen recalled the moment he and his teammates-Senior Colonel Liu Yang and Senior Colonel Cai Xuzhe-met their fellow astronauts in the Shenzhou XV flight inside the Tiangong station. “We had paid a lot of attention to news about the Shenzhou XV mission and the crew several days before they set out. When their spacecraft actually launched, we were watching the live broadcast and we were so happy that we kept clapping our hands for a long time. In the hours before their spacecraft arrived at the station, we were supposed to have a sleep but none of us really went to bed. The moment I was about to open the hatch after their spacecraft connected with the space station, I saw them through the window and I waved my hand to welcome them to our home, and theirs,” he said.

Liu Yang, the first Chinese woman in space, said the Shenzhou XIV was her second spaceflight and she made a paper “lucky star” each day in the mission. She said she often stared at China when the station flew over the country. “I know that there are numerous females in our nation working hard to pursue their dreams with courage and determination,” she said. “I wish that each of us could realize our aspirations (抱负).” Cai Xuzhe, who made his first spaceflight, recalled that eating the vegetables they grew in the space station brought a lot of happiness to the crew, though taking care of the plants was never easy.

1. What is the author’s purpose of giving examples in Paragraph 2?

A．To prove the mission is difficult.	B．To confirm the astronauts are busy.
C．To demonstrate the experience is unusual.	D．To show the crew are strong-willed.

2. How does Chen Dong feel when seeing the launch of Shenzhou XV flight?

A．Curious.

B．Nervous.

C．Tired.

D．Cheerful.

3. What does the underlined word “hatch” in Paragraph 3 probably mean?

A．Door.

B．Window.

C．Arm.

D．Wing.

4. What is the meaning of Liu Yang’s space journey?

A．It makes her feel lucky each day.	B．It is the first space journey for Liu Yang.
C．It encourages women to realize their dreams.	D．It helps grow vegetables well in space.