Doctors at the University of California, San Francisco, in the US, have developed a piece of software that can read minds. The project, supported by Facebook, hopes to help people who, because of medical conditions, are unable to communicate with others.
Until now, technologies that have helped speech-impaired (语言障碍) people communicate have been too slow to allow a natural conversation. People find these things upsetting to use. This new way uses brain signals to change a person’s thoughts into text. When we want to speak, the brain sends signals to make the lips, jaw and tongue move in the right way to make an understandable sound. By discovering these brain signals, the new software is able to predict what a person want to say quickly enough to hold a conversation.
The brain-reading software was tested on three volunteers who could all speak like healthy people. They were being treated for epilepsy (癫痫). As part of their treatment for epilepsy, each patient had electrodes(电极) placed on to their brain. Edward Chang, whole d the study, used these electrodes to record the signals in the patients’ brains while they listened to a list of questions and answered them.
Chang and his team then built a computer program that learned to match the patients’ brain signals to the words the patients heard and the words the patients spoke. For the questions, the software matched the correct words 76%of the time. For the answers, it matched the correct words 61%of the time.
Now, the mind-reading software works only for the limited set of sentences on which it was trained. Scientists hope that this early system will help them develop a more powerful one that could understand thoughts in real time to give people their voices back. Chang said, “We as scientists should try our best to help people to bring that most important and basic human ability back.”
1. What is the disadvantage of previous technologies?| A．They couldn’t read people’s minds correctly. |
| B．They couldn’t make communication understandable. |
| C．They couldn’t serve the purpose of natural conversation. |
| D．They couldn’t let medical conditions change for the better. |
| A．By changing people’s mind into text. | B．By sending signals to their lips. |
| C．By organizing conversations for them. | D．By training them how to speak. |
| A．It has been used on a wide scale. |
| B．It has restored the basic human ability. |
| C．It still has plenty of room for improvement. |
| D．It has enhanced human real-time conversation. |
| A．Favorable. | B．Objective. |
| C．Intolerant. | D．Doubtful. |
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【推荐1】Bryan started snapping pictures of his son, Noah, from the moment he was born. When Noah was about three months old, Bryan noticed something odd. The flash on the digital camera created the typical red dot in the center of Noah's left eye, but the right eye had a white spot at the center, almost as if the flash was being reflected back at the camera by something.
A white reflection instead of a red one is a telltale sign of retinal cancer, and that is exactly what Noah had. He endured months of chemotherapy and radiation, but doctors ultimately could not save his eyes. Retinoblastoma, the scientific name of Noah's tumor, is treatable if caught early.
Bryan couldn't help but wonder whether there were signs he'd missed. He went back over every baby picture of Noah he could find and discovered the first white spot in a photo taken when Noah was 12 days old. As time went on, it appeared more frequently. By the time he was four months old, it was showing up in 25 percent of the pictures taken of him per month.
It was too late for Noah's eyes, but Bryan was determined to put his hard-won insights to good use. He created a database that charted the cancer's appearance in every photo. He also collected photos and compiled the data from eight other children with retinoblastoma. Armed with that data, he began to work with his colleagues to develop a smartphone app that can scan the photos in the user's camera roll to search for white eye and can be used as a kind of ophthalmoscope.
Called White Eye Detector, it is now available for free on Google Play and in Apple's App Store, “I just kept telling myself, I really need to do this,” Bryan told People. “This disease is tough to detect. Not only could this software save vision, but it can save lives.”
1. Why did the flash on the digital camera create a white spot in the center of Noah's right eye?| A．He had a red dot in his left eye. | B．He was suffering from retinoblastoma. |
| C．He experienced chemotherapy and radiation. | D．He had his eyes shone into by white light. |
| A．When he was born. | B．When he was 3 months old. |
| C．When he was 12 days old. | D．When he was 4 months old. |
| A．He delivered them to hospitals. | B．He looked back at them to discover the first spot. |
| C．He took advantage of them to invent a software. | D．He put them away for commercial use. |
| A．The symptoms of retinoblastoma | B．The misfortune of a boy |
| C．The treatment of a tumor | D．The birth of an app |
【推荐2】A new “smart bin” could mean the end of environment-conscious families spending hours sorting tins, cartons, bottles, and cardboard for recycling.
The invention, which can help sort rubbish into recycling categories without needing people to operate. It is being experimented in Poland and is set to go on sale in UK within a few years.
The bin, designed by start-up company Bin. E, recognizes different types of waste via a system put inside the bin which uses sensors, image recognition and artificial intelligence. Once waste is placed inside, the camera and sensor recognize its type and place it in one of the smaller bins. Then it compresses (压缩) the waste so it occupies less space.
It is thought that the bin could be stocked by department stores such as John Lewis, which said it is introducing more new hi-tech recycling bins. Matt Thomas, a buyer at John Lewis, gave us the reason, “We’ve recently seen a jump in specialist bins sales, with a 25 percent increase in the last few months alone. We have noticed our customers are becoming more and more focused on sustainability. In response to this demand, we are really excited to introduce a smart bin this autumn or winter season designed to make recycling more efficient and functional for the everyday home.”
Bin. E’s official release on the market will take place next year. However, at first only a larger version designed for offices will be available. The office bin will sell at ￡430 while customers will need to pay a ￡107 subscription fee for an accompanying smartphone app, which hooks them up with collection services. A spokesman at Bin. E said that home version of the bin will be cheaper and will not include a monthly payment.
They added, “After the office version, we plan to create an outdoor version and later the home version. We decided to go for the outdoor version for public areas first because it is more difficult to organize an efficient waste segregating system than in our homes.”
1. What do we know about a new “smart bin” from the first paragraph?| A．It is easy to operate. | B．It works automatically. |
| C．It is very expensive. | D．It has been used widely. |
| A．The company. | B．The sensor. |
| C．The camera. | D．The bin. |
| A．To change people’s behavior. | B．To make them more famous. |
| C．To popularize new technology. | D．To satisfy increasing demands. |
| A．At home. | B．In the supermarket. |
| C．In the office. | D．In the open air. |
【推荐3】Redefined Meat, an Israeli company, recently created the world’s first 3D－printed steak called Alt－Steak.
Using its own 3D－printing technology,Redefined Meat has been able to create a meatless steak that features the appearance and taste of the real thing. The company was apparently able to achieve all this by working with chefs, food technologists and Swiss flavor company Givaudan. The Alt－Steak is created by mixing Redefined Meat’s Alt－Muscle, Alt－Fat, and Alt－Blood plant－based formulations (配方)in several layers. The end result is a high－protein，cholesterol－free (零胆固醇的) steak that looks, cooks and tastes like real meat.
“The importance of using 3D－printing technology to achieve texture (质地), color and flavor—and the combinations between them—cannot be overstated.By using separate formulations for muscle, fat and blood, we can focus on each individual aspect of creating the perfect Alt－Steak product,” Eshchar Ben－Shitrit，CEO of Redefined Meat, said.
“Since day one of the company, we have been working on creating a tasty and affordable plant－based alternative to steaks,” Eshchar Ben－Shitrit added. “In order to ensure that a lot of people accepted and welcomed it, we knew that creating an alternative meat product that was both high in quality and nutritional composition would require new technologies and production processes never seen before in the food industry.”
Alt－Steak is described as an “extremely complicated food” where protein, fats, natural colors and flavors and more are arranged in a precise manner to make them perform like the equivalent (相同的) elements in a cow’s muscle.However, this alternative meat product comes with the advantage that it can be produced much faster than the real thing.
To promote its alternative steak, Redefined Meat recently invited Israeli chef Assaf Granit for a tasting. Granit said that the taste of Alt－Steak was “almost identical” to the original, adding that, in his opinion, eight out of ten people wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between a real steak and an Alt－Steak.
1. What is the main feature of Alt－Steak?| A．It is full of protein and cholesterol. | B．It has high quality and nutrition. |
| C．It is cheaper than a real steak. | D．It can be made into different colors. |
| A．It published an article about the Alt－Steak in a newspaper. |
| B．It gave free samples to some restaurants. |
| C．It held an eating competition in the city. |
| D．It invited a chef to taste and comment on its Alt－Steak. |
| A．It created the alternative steak on its own. |
| B．It is the only company that has created the 3D－printed steak. |
| C．It worked on an alternative steak from the first day. |
| D．It produces the 3D printers at the same time. |
| A．The Difference Between a Real Steak and a Fake One |
| B．How to Fulfill the Demand of Vegetarians |
| C．The World’s First 3D－Printed Meatless Steak |
| D．The Importance of 3D－Printing Technology |
【推荐1】Most people automatically take a high-pitched (声调高的), sing-song tone (语气) when speaking to animals and human babies. Although previous research has suggested that such” baby talk” is more likely to grab dogs’ attention, less was known about how cats react to being spoken to in this way.
To investigate, Charlotte de Mouzon and her team members observed how16 cats responded to hearing pre-recorded sentences spoken by their owner or a stranger, by recording changes in their behaviour, such as moving their ears or tails, suddenly stopping what they were doing, or their pupils getting bigger any of which could indicate that a sound had caught their attention.
They found that the cats were largely unresponsive to hearing a stranger’s voice calling their name, but when their owner did it, 10 of the 16 cats displayed a series of behaviours suggesting increased attentiveness. Cats also showed more signs of interest when they heard their owner speaking sentences in a tone usually used to address their cat - but not when a stranger used this tone, or when their owner spoke the same sentence as if addressing a fellow adult human
“For a long time it has been thought that cats are very independent animals, only interested in humans for food and shelter (庇护).” de Mouzon said. “But our research supports the idea that they are attached. It brings further evidence to encourage humans to consider cats as sensitive and communicative individuals,” she added. “The fact that, in return, cats show a greater reaction when their humans specifically address them brings a new dimension to previous considerations of this reciprocal (相互的) relationship.”
Given these findings, de Mouzon said cat owners shouldn’t feel embarrassed (不好意思的) about the way they speak to their pets. “I also talk to my two cats as if they were children - and they do respond, she said.” People may be shy about admitting this, but I think it can help to strengthen the bond between cats and their owners. They get that we are giving them attention.”
1. How did de Mouzon’s team carry out their study?| A．By recording the sounds that caught cats’ attention. |
| B．By analyzing the causes of cats’ behavioural change. |
| C．By watching the reaction of cats to different recordings. |
| D．By studying the interaction between cats and their owners. |
| A．They liked hearing people calling their name |
| B．They were able to tell their owner’s voice from a stranger’s. |
| C．They had a greater reaction when their owner talked to other cats. |
| D．They showed more interest when a stranger imitated their owner’s tone. |
| A．Cats aren’t as independent as believed. | B．Cats aren’t eager to please their owners. |
| C．Cats see their owners as a food provider. | D．Cats are sensitive to changes of environment. |
| A．Treat their cats like their children. | B．Give more attention to their cats |
| C．Admit that they are a cat person. | D．Talk to their cats using baby talk. |
【推荐2】The Tokyo Summer Olympics is going green. The 5,000 medals Japan has made are more special than most.
One novel focus of the Tokyo Olympics is to be “sustainable”— to avoid using too many natural resources, so that the games are easy on the environment. As part of this goal, the organizers decided to make all of the Olympic medals out of metal recycled from old electronics.
Almost all electronics are made with small amounts of “precious metals”, like gold and silver. But collecting enough of these metals to make 5,000 medals was a huge challenge. That’s because the amount of metal in each device is tiny. It would take about 20,000 cell phones to get just 1 kilogram of gold.
Beginning in April 2017, the organizers placed collection boxes around the country, and asked people to turn in their old electronic devices. Soon people began to respond to the initiative, turning in smartphones, digital cameras, hand-held games, and laptops. At first, collection went slowly, but soon more and more areas began to take part. By the end, 1,621 local governments had helped out with the collection process.
Then came the job of breaking those devices down into smaller pieces. After being taken apart and sorted, the small electronics were smelted (熔炼) to get all the gold, silver, and bronze elements. This is a tricky job, which calls for careful attention and good skill. It’s also dangerous, because some of the metals and other things aren’t safe for people to touch or breathe.
By the end of March, 2019, the organizers had hit their targets of getting enough metal for the medals. They had collected around 32 kilograms of gold, 4,100 kilograms of silver and 2,200 kilograms of bronze. And now all the 5,000 medals are available for the would-be winners.
1. Compared with other Olympic games, which word best describes the Tokyo Olympics medals?| A．valuable. | B．quality. | C．unique. | D．green. |
| A．The difficulty of making the medals. |
| B．The process of collecting old electronics. |
| C．The purpose to recycle used smartphones. |
| D．The classification of the collected devices. |
| A．creative | B．well-paid |
| C．demanding | D．unique |
| A．To advocate (提倡) sustainable use of resources. |
| B．To promote the spirit of Olympic Games. |
| C．To introduce a new technique to make medals. |
| D．To call people’s attention to environmental damage. |
【推荐3】Self-Watering Planter
This project aims to provide a household decoration that can be used to automatically (自动) water plants when their owners forget to do so.
Step 1: You will need: · A cotton shirt · Two pots · Wires · Safety glasses · Scissors(剪子) · Pliers (剪子) · A plant!
We should buy a pot for $4, and a plant for $5.
Step 2: Cut a fire and form a circle in the center of each straightened wire. The diameter (直径) of the circle needs to match the diameter of the small pot at 1 inches from the base. Twist the circle to fix firmly its position. If needed, use a pair of pliers to form a tighter twist.
Step 3: Take the ends of the first wire circle structure and feed them through the second circle. Then, feed the ends of the second circle structure through the first circle. Finally, pull the structures so that the circles overlap.
Step 4: Center the wire frame on the large pot, and insert the base of the small pot into the loop. Adjust (调整) the wire frame so that the wire frame and base of the small pot sit slightly below the lip of the large pot.
Step 5: For each end on the wire structure, cut the wire to a length that will securely hook (勾住) the lip of the large pot. Using pliers, bend the wire to form this circle. Then form and cut as necessary. Both the length and angle of each hook will have to be taken into account.
Step 6: Use the scissors to cut a strip of cloth from the T-shirt. Make sure to cut enough cloth so that the wick (灯芯) closely fits the diameter of the hole in bottom of the small pot. Divide the top part of the wick into three strips.
Step 7: Feed the wick through the hole in the bottom of the small pot, so that the divided part of the wick is in the pot. Evenly place the strips around the inside of the small pot.
Step 8: Place the potted plant into the wire frame. Pour water in the large pot. Enjoy your self-watering plant!
1. What is the purpose of this project?| A．To clean the house. | B．To water plants. | C．To grow plants. | D．To feed food. |
| A．$13 | B．$9 | C．$5 | D．$4 |
| A．Put inside wick and pot the plant. | B．Collect the final product. |
| C．Acquire materials, like cloth. | D．Create the wick. |
