We Are Cyborgs
RoboCop, the Bionic Woman, Darth Vader—what do these characters have in common? They are all cyborgs—humans who are made more powerful by advanced technology. You might think that cyborgs exist only in fiction, or are a possibility only in the distant future. But cyborg technology already exists.
The word “cyborg” was first used in 1960 and defined as an organism(有机体) “to which external parts have been added for the purpose of adapting to new environments”. According to this definition, an astronaut in a spacesuit is an example of cyborg, as the spacesuit helps the astronaut adapt to a new environment—space. More recently, the word has evolved(进化)to refer to human beings who have mechanical body parts that make them more than human.
Although super-humans like RoboCop are not yet a reality, advances in real-life cyborg technology allow some people to compensate(弥补)for abilities they have lost, and give other people new and unusual abilities. An example is filmmaker Rob Spence and his bionic eye. Spence injured one of his eyes in an accident. A camera was implanted(移植)in his prosthetic eye. The eye is not connected to his brain or optic nerve(视神经), but it can record what he sees. Spence has used his camera eye to record interviews for a documentary about people with bionic body parts.
Some types of cyborg technology replace a lost ability by connecting directly to a person’s nerves. Michael Chorost completely and suddenly lost his ability to hear in July of 2001. Two months later, doctors placed a cochlear(耳蜗)implant, a kind of computer, inside his skull. This type of implant connects to auditory nerves and allows a deaf person to hear again. Around the world, over 300,000 people have now been fitted with cochlear implants.
These examples of cyborg technology have enabled people to enhance or change their abilities and improve their lives. But does everyone want to use cyborg technology? It might be too late to decide. Cyborg scientist Amber Case argues that most of us are already cyborgs. Anyone who uses a computer or a smartphone, Case claims, is a cyborg. Consider the data that you have in your smartphone. It keeps information for you so you don’t have to remember it: notes, phone numbers, email addresses, messages. It also allows you to communicate with friends and family via telephone, text messages, email, and social networks.
The potential benefits of cyborg technology are evident, but can this new technology be harmful, too? Could we become too dependent on cyborg technology—and become less than human? These still remain questions.
1. According to the passage, the cyborg ________.A.is similar to human beings | B.took root in fiction characters |
C.first appeared in space industry | D.has some device attached to the body |
A.a cyclist in a helmet | B.an astronaut in a spacesuit |
C.a man with a heart pacemaker | D.a secretary using a typewriter |
A.technology makes cyborgs become common |
B.cyborg technology is crucial to modern society |
C.the use of mobiles improves cyborg technology |
D.cyborg technology helps improve human memory |
A.Critical. | B.Objective. | C.Skeptical. | D.Optimistic. |
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【推荐1】“Tie an Italian’s hands behind his back, and he’ll be speechless.” This old joke conveys a rigid image of Italians: they are talkative and emotional, and all their arm movements supposedly go to prove it.
Susan Goldin-Meadow of the University of Chicago has a rather different view. Emotions come out in lots of ways: facial expressions, posture, tone of voice and so on. But people are doing something different when they use gestures with speech, which she sums up in the title of her new book, “Thinking With Your Hands”.
In effect, everyone gestures, not just Italians. Conference interpreters gesture in their little booths (隔间), though no one is looking. People born blind gesture when they speak, including to each other. All this suggests that cognition (认知) is,to some extent, “embodied”; thinking is not all done in your head. Gestures that accompany speech are a second channel of information. People who say they believe in sexual equality but gesture with their hands lower are not indicating women’s shorter stature (身高); they can be shown to have prejudices of which they may be unaware.
Child development is the focus of Goldin-Meadow’s book. Some students who fail at a tricky mathematics problem may gesture in a way that indicates they are on the point of getting it. They should be taught differently from the ones whose gestures suggest that they are entirely at sea. Goldin-Meadow believes that gesturing could play a larger role in education by addressing the student’s needs better.
This is well explained in the book’s last section. Teachers are encouraged both to use gestures themselves and to observe those their students make. Parents are taught to fill in the word a child is most likely to be missing when they gesture rather than adding information. Children with language delays caused by brain injuries at birth, but who gesture as much as their peers, are likely to catch up verbally (口头上) by the age of about 30 months. Those who gesture less are more likely to need early intervention.
1. What is the purpose of the joke in the first paragraph?A.To show that Italians are talkative and emotional. |
B.To set a humorous tone for this article. |
C.To illustrate the relationship between gestures and speech. |
D.To correct people’s wrong impression of Italians. |
A.People’s gestures are not consistent with their speech. |
B.Gestures help the speaker tell lies more easily. |
C.People use gestures to hide their real intentions. |
D.Gestures can express what the speaker really thinks. |
A.Desperate. | B.Confused. | C.Incapable. | D.Frightened. |
A.Practical advice. | B.Educational theory. |
C.Typical examples. | D.Research conclusions. |
【推荐2】Researchers have recorded penguins making sounds underwater for the first time — the first time such behavior has been identified in seabirds. These animals, like other seabirds, are highly vocal on land. They are known to communicate when their heads are above the water in the ocean, possibly for the purposes of group formation.
However, until the latest study — published in the journal Zoological Science — it was not known whether penguins made sounds underwater, like some other air-breathing marine predators, such as whales and dolphins. For their research, a team of scientists led by Andréa from Nelson Mandela University in South Africa, wanted to investigate this issue. To do so, they fitted adult penguins from three species with video cameras featuring built-in microphones.
To the surprise of Andréa and her colleagues, the team recorded a total of 203 underwater vocalizations from the penguins in the underwater footage they captured over a month-long period in 2019. These are the first recordings of seabirds producing vocalizations underwater. “I couldn’t believe it. I had to replay it many times,” Andréa said.
The vocalizations that the team recorded — which sound like rapid whoops — were very short in duration, lasting about 0.06 seconds on average. And all of these sounds were emitted(发出)during dives in which the animals were searching for food. Currently, it is not clear why the penguins are making these sounds; however, they only produce them while hunting. In fact, more than 50 percent of the vocalizations were immediately preceded by an acceleration movement or followed by an attempt to hunt.
According to the researchers, this suggests that the sounds are related to hunting behavior — especially because the penguins tend to be alone when they make them, indicating that communication was not the purpose. The researchers guess that the penguins may be using the vocalizations to stun(使昏迷) their prey. However, much more research is required to determine why the penguins make these sounds, the scientists note.
1. How does Andréa’s team conduct the study about penguins?A.By recording penguins’ sounds on land. |
B.By fixing electronic devices on the penguins. |
C.By observing penguins’ activities underwater. |
D.By catching different kinds of adult penguins. |
A.Penguins’ sounds are too low to hear. |
B.She doubts if penguins could make sounds. |
C.Penguins seldom make sounds underwater. |
D.It’s not easy to obtain penguins’ sounds underwater. |
A.When they take a deep breath. |
B.When they dive to hunt for food. |
C.When they teach their babies diving. |
D.When they communicate with their partners. |
A.Cautious. | B.Negative. |
C.Supportive. | D.Indifferent. |
【推荐3】A hungry fly speeds through a forest. It smells nectar (a liquid that insects feed on) and lands on a green leaf. It starts to drink the sweet liquid. Suddenly, the fly's world turns green. The two sides of the leaf close against each other. Long green teeth lock together around it. The fly has been caught by a Venus flytrap. There is no escape.
The Venus flytrap is perhaps the most famous killer plant. However, scientists have only recently started to understand how it hunts and eats. After years of study, plant scientist Alexander Volkov believes he now knows the Venus flytrap's secret. “This,” says Volkov," is an electrical plant."
There are three small hairs along each of the Venus flytrap's two leaves. When an insect touches a hair, it creates an electrical signal in the leaf. The insect can continue feeding—for now. But if it touches another hair within 20 seconds, the trap snaps shut. This system allows the plant to tell the difference between a drop of water, for example, and a moving creature.
Once trapped, an insect has little chance of survival. Instead of nectar, the Venus flytrap now releases a different liquid —one that slowly eats away at the insect. Ten days later, almost nothing is left. The plant's leaves open again, and the Venus flytrap is ready for its next meal.
Besides the Venus flytrap, there are around 700 species of killer plants around the world. Some are deadly. Sundews catch insects using a sticky liquid on the end of long hairs. A butterwort's leaves are covered with tiny, gluey hairs that trap small insects. Pitcher plants have long tubelike leaves into which insects fall and die. Some pitcher plants are large enough to catch and eat small animals like frogs and mice.
1. What is special about the Venus flytrap?A.Its trap closes very slowly. | B.It has to feed on flies. |
C.It produces electrical signals. | D.It just makes one kind of liquid. |
A.To explore how the insect survives. |
B.To explain how the Venus flytrap works. |
C.To describe different types of killer plants. |
D.To introduce an experiment carried out on a plant. |
A.The sundew. | B.The butterwort. |
C.The pitcher plant. | D.The Venus flytrap. |
A.What meals a Venus flytrap prefers. |
B.What the features of deadly plants are. |
C.Where the deadly plants are found. |
D.How other killer plants catch insects. |
【推荐1】The science of physics today is as current as the morning newspaper. Indeed, as a result of new advances in physics and their rapid application to inventions designed to satisfy man's wants,the world itself has been changing rapidly. Space technology, industrial technology, and the technology of the home, the farm, the office, the bank, and the department store have all been revolutionized.
Clearly, every grown-up today would understand the world he lives in much better if he knew something about physics. Whether it be Congress(美国国会)voting huge sums of money for warships, space exploration, or atomic energy; the office staff learning to use a new computers; Son Bobby wanting to know about going to the moon; or the housewife learning to operate a electric stove, physics seems to be everywhere.
Teachers in thousands of schoolrooms in America are trying to communicate some of the excitement and importance of these new developments to their students. They know that some of their eager student will someday be scientists and will themselves then contribute to the development of new knowledge or its application to new things.
But in any case, they can be sure that if they bring a knowledge of science (any science) to their students in meaningful and stimulating ways, they have contributed much to helping each one live a more meaningful life.
1. The application of new advances in physics to inventions .A.may solve all the problems in teaching |
B.is intended to meet people's needs |
C.can help people understand the meaning of life |
D.makes people understand the voting rules of the Congress |
A.the teachers giving lessons | B.the students in the classroom |
C.some of the eager students | D.all the scientists in physics |
A.New advances in physics. | B.The science of physics. |
C.The use of physics in our life. | D.Modern developments in science. |
【推荐2】The information age has reached a critical point, with AI’s superior computation ability surpassing that of humans. A report released by Goldman Sachs in March 2023 estimated that AI is capable of doing a quarter of all the work currently done by humans.
The second category is jobs that require sophisticated interpersonal relationships like nurses, business consultants and investigative journalists. These are jobs where you need a very deep understanding of people.
The third safe zone includes jobs that really require lots of mobility and problem-solving ability in unpredictable environments. Electricians, plumbers, welders (焊工) and the like all fall under this umbrella, where you’re dealing with different situations all the time.
In short, seeking roles in dynamic, shifting environments that include unpredictable tasks is good way to avoid job loss to AI, at least, for a while. It’s important to note that an advanced education is not a defense against AI takeover. In many cases, more educated workers are going to be more threatened than even the least educated workers.
A.That could be terrible. |
B.However, they are not coming for all jobs. |
C.Thankfully, there are still things AI isn’t capable of. |
D.The first would be jobs that are genuinely creative. |
E.Think of the person that cleans hotel rooms. |
F.That doesn’t necessarily mean all jobs that are considered “creative” are safe. |
G.It’ll be a long time before AI has the ability to really build relationships and interact. |
【推荐3】In a study published in the U. S. journal Science, researchers from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences(CAAS) and the University of Florida identified the chemical combinations and genetic recipe for better tomato flavor(味道).
“In recent years, consumers often complain that the modern tomato is less flavorful than it once was” said co-principal researcher Sanwen Huang. “Our results provide a practical road map for breeding tomato varieties with better flavor.”
For the study, a 170-person consumer group was created to evaluate 160 tomatoes representing 101 varieties, based on qualities such as “overall liking” and “flavor degree”. The results pointed to dozens of chemical compounds of interest, and further research using a statistical model discovered 33 flavor compounds connected with consumer liking, such as glucose(葡萄糖). The reason why modern tomatoes don’t taste good anymore is that a total of 13 of these flavor-associated compounds “were significantly reduced in modern varieties,” their paper wrote. Moreover, the researchers found that smaller fruit tended to have greater sugar content, suggesting that “selection for more sizable tomatoes has cost sweetness and flavor”.
Based on this knowledge, Huang and Professor Harry Klee of the University of Florida studied the whole genomes of 398 varieties of tomato, identifying about 250 positions of genes on a chromosome(染色体), which controlled tomato flavor.
“We’re just fixing what has been damaged over the last half century to push them back to where they were a century ago,” said Klee in a statement. “We can make the supermarket tomato taste noticeably better.” Klee said new tomato varieties with better flavor could be ready in three to four years. In addition, “the genes and pathways identified here in the tomato almost certainly point to pathways worth researching for improvement of flavor quality in other fruit crops,” they wrote.
1. According to the text, the study ________.A.was carried out just through a survey |
B.was conducted by Chinese researchers themselves |
C.was completely focused on the genes of different tomatoes |
D.was done with the background of declining flavor of tomatoes |
A.bigger tomatoes are much sweeter |
B.some genetic positions affect the taste of tomatoes |
C.some chemical compounds make tomatoes less tasty |
D.a total of 13 flavor-associated compounds make tomatoes appealing in taste |
A.The study lays the foundation for further researches to improve other fruit crops’ flavor. |
B.The study makes it possible for us to have noticeably more tasty tomatoes next year. |
C.The study provides a road for where to plant tomatoes with better flavor. |
D.The study has fixed all the genes of existing tomatoes. |
【推荐1】Even when communing with nature we depend on technology for help-but then, so did Thoreau at Walden Pond.
Walking in the same woods yesterday, I let myself wander at random, communing with nature.
I took in beautiful scenery near and far thanks to my progressive-lens eyeglasses. Occasionally I’d pull out my smartphone to take pictures on anything interesting. I recorded an inner monologue (独白) with a background of all sounds of the forest. At times, I consulted my smart watch to check on my heartbeat, mileage and calorie burn. Eventually I realized I was quite lost. Not a problem of course. Online maps came to my rescue.
But something bothered me. In what I’d intended as a nature experience, here I was using very high technology to help myself out. This insight set off a reconsideration of everything that happened during my “nature walk”, which had been technologically enhanced every step of the way. I’d been functioning as a man-machine combination: a cyborg.
What would the true naturalist Thoreau think of that? My first thought was that he’d be shocked. But later I did some research. Thoreau enjoyed what his spyglass discovered, like this eagle from his journal:
Lying on the ground with my glass, I could watch him very easily…till I almost lost him in the clouds… I think I have got the worth of my glass now that it has revealed to me the white- headed eagle.
Famously, Thoreau always set out equipped with a walking stick, which he used not only for support but also to take measurements of water and snow levels. His hat was also a tool, which he called his “botany-box”. And he was prepared even with needles and thread, so when coming out of the woods, he was “the best dressed”. Clearly, Thoreau was a bit of a cyborg himself.
Thinking more deeply, I realized we’ve come a long way from our hunter-gatherer ancestors, who walked from necessity and relied on nature’s gift. Cyborgs are us.
1. What does the underlined part “communing with nature” probably mean in paragraph 1?A.Enjoying the nature in a quiet peaceful way. |
B.Searching for wild animals and birds. |
C.Wandering in nature with high-tech equipment. |
D.Singing and dancing happily in nature. |
A.To recommend Thoreau’s book Walden Pond. |
B.To argue that humans have developed into cyborgs. |
C.To share the reflections on man’s reliance on nature. |
D.To question whether people are technology-dependent. |
A. | B. |
C. | D. |
A.To prove that even naturalists use technology. |
B.To introduce a literary work on nature. |
C.To describe the natural beauty Thoreau enjoyed. |
D.To explain how to prepare for a nature walk. |
【推荐2】Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua have made medical history as the first cloned primates (灵长目动物),with the efforts of a team of Chinese scientists.
According to the journal Cell , it is a milestone for biomedical research. It could potentially lead to the development of new treatments for human disease. But it also makes ethicists (伦理学者) about where this all might lead. Do Zhong Zhong and Hua Hua suggest the coming of human cloning?
Born in 1996, Dolly the sheep was the first cloned mammal, and was followed by many more, including dogs, rabbits and pigs. But researchers were unable to clone primates because the genes involved didn’t react well to the procedure. Over the years, a handful of research institutions have tried and failed to birth a live monkey clone.
The successful team, at Shanghai’s Chinese Academy of Sciences, used the same basic method that created Dolly but had failed in subsequent(随后的) primate cloning attempts. It’s called somatic(躯体)cell nuclear transfer and involves transferring DNA from adult cells into eggs that have had their own DNA removed. Without the addition of sperm(精子), the eggs are stimulated (刺激)chemically to develop into an embryo that’s a clone of the DNA donor(提供者). The embryo is then placed into a substitue(替代) for gestation(妊娠).
The researchers modified the approach in two important ways, however. Rather than use adult cells in the DNA transfer, they used fetal (胎儿)cells, which react better to chemical stimuli(刺激)for embryo development, says Mu-ming Poo, director of the academy’s Institute of Neuroscience and a co-autho of the paper. They also fine-tuned the cell transfer process to minimize damage to the eggs
As for creating human clones, Poo says the research shows it can be done, but he and his team have no interest. “Besides many technical dificulties that remain to be overcome, we see no justifiable reason to do human cloning,” says Poo, “nor would the societies around the world permit such an attempt.”
While human cells may be cloned experimentally, for example to research tissue regeneration, the cloning of an entire human is illegal in more than 70 countries, according to the Center for Genetics and Society. U.S. law does not ban it, but over a dozen states do. (Discover 2019J&F,P60.)
1. About somatic cell nuclear transfer, which of the following statements is true?A.It needs the combination of sperm and eggs. |
B.The eggs keep their own DNA in the process. |
C.The embryo has the DNA of the adult donor. |
D.The embryo gestates in the eggs donor’s body. |
A.acceptable. | B.incredible. | C.valuable. | D.reliable. |
A.The right donor cells. | B.The fine-tuned transfer process. |
C.The united team. | D.The reduced damage to the eggs. |
A.Nature Exploration | B.Science Magazine |
C.Medicine World | D.World Wonders |
【推荐3】Imagine an albatross (信天翁) with a hacksaw for a mouth. Set that strange creature about 50 million years in the past and you’ve got the image of a pelagornithid, a group of ancient birds that included some of the largest flying birds of all time.
Now paleontologists (古生物学家) have uncovered in that group what may be the largest known flying birds ever, with wingspans of roughly six meters. By comparing a pair of polar fossils ( 化 石 ) to the remains of related birds, paleontologists have been able to identify the early history of huge fliers that were some of the first birds capable of flying across seas.
During the 1980s, University of California Berkeley paleontologist Peter Kloess says, scientists searching for Antarctic fossils found some delicate bird bones — a jaw and part of a foot from an ancient bird. Those bones made a long journey to California, and Kloess and his colleagues have researched them recently
The bird jaw, which came from a rock formation laid down over 37 million years ago, looks almost like a woodcutting tool rather than a bone. The jaw has a series of large and small spikes (尖刺), outgrowths of the beak (鸟喙) that are similar to teeth. Because of that feature, the paleontologists immediately identified the jaw as belonging to a pelagornithid, also known as bony-toothed birds that have a very long fossil record. The oldest pelagornithids evolved about 56 million years ago, and the most recent flew through the skies about two million years ago.
The foot bone came from another large Antarctic pelagornithid, but its real importance was in its age. The fossil was found in a rock layer in the La Meseta Formation, about 50 million years old. This falls within a time called the Eocene, when life had recovered from the asteroid-induced mass extinction and was thriving again. Together, the foot bone and the jaw indicate that large bony-toothed birds thrived in the Antarctic for millions of years.
Paleontologists have found bony-toothed birds from places all over the world, from New Zealand to South Carolina. The newly-described Antarctic fossils, though, are the oldest known and hint that these birds quickly diversified into a range of sizes within six million years of their origin. Previous studies have calculated that the largest of the bony-toothed birds could be near the limit of how big a bird could get and still fly, meaning these birds are the strongest competitors for the largest flying birds to ever fly.
Matched with the new data on the age of the fossils, Kloess says, “we can say that giant pelagornithids appeared earlier than previously known and that Antarctica saw a range of pelagornithid sizes from the early to late Eocene.” Small to large, bony-toothed birds were an important part of ancient Antarctic ecosystems.
Those impressive wings would have allowed the pelagornithids to range far and wide, flying long distances on outstretched wings. That helps explain why fossils from various species of pelagornithids have been found all over the world during their extended evolutionary period.
1. Why does the author mention the albatross in Paragraph 1?A.To show its long evolutionary process. |
B.To help readers imagine an ancient bird. |
C.To compare it with a strange ancient bird. |
D.To show its relationship with an ancient bird. |
A.Its special location. | B.Its unique appearance. |
C.Its living environment. | D.Its extremely large size. |
A.They all had a very short lifespan. |
B.They all faced considerable threats. |
C.They developed many survival skills. |
D.They evolved into various bird species. |
A.A recent research into Antarctic fossils. |
B.A brief introduction to rare bird species. |
C.The discovery of the largest flying birds. |
D.The origin of ancient bony-toothed birds. |