Reshaping the world for a fossil fuel-free future means working quickly. Climate scientists say carbon emissions must stop by 2025 to minimize environmental damage. And by designing computational materials together with makers who can build and test them quickly, scientists can rapidly develop technologies like more powerful solar cells and car batteries.
Michael is the name of a supercomputer devoted to just one task―discovering the ultimate battery system. Researchers at University College London will use Michael to digitally build and test prototypes (原型) in every new material and type of cell possible to improve battery life, performance and price.
Finding a resilient (弹性的) design for solid-state batteries would be a huge breakthrough for electric vehicles and energy storage. Lighter, longer-lasting and cheaper solid-state technology could vastly improve vehicle range and charging time. And the energy from solar and wind power could be more efficiently stored until ready for use.
Scientists working in the US and the UK led the way in the 1970s in developing the lithium-ion (锂离子) battery used in today’s electric cars, laptops and cameras, But commercial units were only developed once the Japanese electronics giant pushed the technology forward for mass production. Partnerships between companies and universities could ultimately crack solid-state battery design. Oxford University and some companies are looking to win the international race to create a durable product. But they are only one among many.
Replacing liquid used in lithium-ion batteries with a solid conductor may take large digital processing. Electric vehicle makers are working with a computer giant to find successful designs that may include cheap and plentiful materials found in seawater. An electric vehicle maker is partnering with NASA to open a solid-state battery plant that uses no rare or expensive metals. The plan is to create a large database of materials that can be mixed and matched for the best combinations.
But computational materials may be needed in virtually every industry. And by rapidly classifying millions of substances on their ability to conduct electricity, their toughness, or the way they reflect light, AI and supercomputers can speed up the process of creating materials for just about anything.
1. What message does paragraph 1 convey?A.It’s too fast to design computational materials. |
B.It’s too late to reshape the fossil fuel-free world. |
C.Developing green energy can reduce carbon emissions. |
D.Developing technology can speed up carbon emissions. |
A.Heavy and solid. | B.Light but breakable. |
C.Less-costly and workable. | D.Expensive but efficient. |
A.To show the weakness of mass production. |
B.To show the good trend of the cooperation. |
C.To show the difficulty of the battery design. |
D.To show the development of British technology. |
A.Michael Is Devoted to Storing Solar Energy |
B.Companies and NASA Will Push Technology Forward |
C.Electric Vehicle Makers Are Struggling to Solve Air Pollution |
D.Supercomputers and AI Can Create Future Low-carbon Industries |
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【推荐1】Nowadays, countries are eager to get more electric cars on the road because moving away from gas-powered vehicles is vital to fighting climate change. China says that most new vehicles sold by 2035 will be electric. The United Kingdom will ban new gas-powered cars in 2030. One of the world’s major automakers, General Motors (GM), announced that it would stop selling gas-powered cars by 2035.
The key to an electric future is batteries. Automakers are racing to pack the most energy into the smallest one. The lithium-ion battery is what powers our mobile devices, which can be recharged again and again. Making these batteries has an environmental cost. Lithium is taken from the earth, like the oil used to make gasoline. But the long-term cost is much smaller. “Once you burn gasoline, you can’t recycle it,” says Jessika Trancik, a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “But when you use up a battery, you can still recycle the material.”
It’s up to governments to make electric cars accessible to everyone. National policies can help. In the United States, an electric Chevy Volt costs about $35, 000. Trancik says charging stations must also be made widely available. As part of an effort to fight climate change, America plans to build half a million of them in the US by 2030. She hopes enough charging stations will be built soon. “It’s important to put chargers where many different people can have access to them,” she says, “not just wealthier people.”
Last year, almost 5% of approximately 67 million new cars sold world widewere electric. For Venkat Viswanathan, a professor of Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University, green electricity is part of the solution to climate change, and electric cars are just the beginning. He sees a future of solar powered homes and electric flying cars. “Soon, a plug in vehicle might be as cheap as a gas-powered car. It is now abundantly clear that electric is the future,” he says. “It will be a totally new world.”
1. Why are countries eager to promote electric cars?A.To reduce the cost of vehicles. |
B.To increase the availability of charging stations. |
C.To promote solar-powered homes. |
D.To deal with climate change. |
A.They should come down in price. |
B.They may be unfairly laid out. |
C.Enough of them have been built. |
D.They favor more ordinary people. |
A.Gas-powered cars will be cheaper. |
B.The price of batteries will drop sharply. |
C.Electric vehicles will beat climate change. |
D.Green electricity will be widely used. |
A.Positive. | B.Skeptical. |
C.Conservative. | D.Disapproving. |
【推荐2】The AlphaGo program’s victory is an example of how smart computers have become. But can artificial intelligence (AI) machines act ethically(合乎道德地), meaning can they be honest and fair?
One example of AI is driverless cars. They are already on California roads, so it is not too soon to ask whether we can program a machine to act ethically. As driverless cars improve, they will save lives. They will make fewer mistakes than human drivers do. Sometimes, however, they will face a choice between lives. Should the cars be programmed to make a sudden turn to avoid hitting a child? What if the only risk is damage to the car itself not to the passengers?
Perhaps there will be lessons to learn from driverless cars, but they are not super-intelligent beings. Teaching ethics to a machine even more intelligent than we are will be the bigger challenge.
About the same time as AlphaGo’s victory, Microsoft’s ‘chatbot’ took a bad turn. The software, named Taylor, was designed to answer messages from people aged 18-24. Taylor was supposed to be able to learn from the messages she received. She was designed to slowly improve her ability to handle conversations, but some people were teaching Taylor racist ideas. When she started saying nice things about Hitler, Microsoft turned her off and deleted her ugliest messages.
AlphaGo’s victory and Taylor’s defeat happened at about the same time. This should be a warning to us. It is one thing to use AI within a game with clear rules and clear goals. It is something very different to use AI in the real world.
Eric Schmidt is one of the bosses of Google, which owns AlphoGo. He thinks AI will be positive for humans. He said people will be the winner, whatever the outcome. Advances in AI will make human beings smarter, more able and “just better human beings.”
1. What’s the second paragraph mainly about?A.Whether AI machines are capable to predict possible risks. |
B.What AI machines will do to save human lives. |
C.Whether AI machines can make ethical decisions. |
D.What AI machines will do to avoid damages to themselves. |
A.How to prevent AI machines doing harm to humans. |
B.How to avoid being over-dependent on AI machines. |
C.How to ensure that super-intelligent AI machines act ethically. |
D.How to make super-intelligent AI machines share human feelings. |
A.She could not tell good from bad. |
B.She could turn herself off when necessary. |
C.She was not made to handle new situations. |
D.She was good at performing routine tasks. |
A.negative | B.unconcerned |
C.positive | D.doubtful |
【推荐3】The study on facial recognition technology (FRT) began in the late 1960s. In the late 1990s, FRT began to enter the market gradually but its accuracy had a long way to go though it cost governments a lot, which made it unpopular at that time. FRT attracted wide attention after September,11, 2001 and it has been widely used now.
Recognizing the potential abuse in the use of FRT, Microsoft is asking the U. S. government to study facial recognition (FR) and keep a dose watch over its use. Personally, I hold this is a positive job that Microsoft is doing. FRT has grown to be so powerful. It can be used to identify people in photos, video feeds,and of course in person, without their permission.
Mr. Bradford Smith, Microsoft’s president, suggests that “governments around the world should examine commercial uses of FR.” The European Union (EU) is ahead of others in this aspect, thanks to its tough new data protection law, which forbids companies to gather the biometric (生物特征) data needed for facial recognition without first obtaining users, permission.
San Francisco has become the first city in the USA to forbid using facial recognition software. And Oakland discussed a similar rule last month. San Francisco has said that police and other public departments cannot use FRT. San Francisco already uses surveillance (监视) cameras for reading car number plates and police officers wear body cameras. San Francisco official Aaron Peskin said FRT was like “Big Brother” from the book 1984 by George Orwell. The phrase Big Brother is now used to describe attempts to increase surveillance and “spy” on citizens. Mr. Peskin said, “We can have good policing without being a police state.”
1. Why was FRT unpopular in the 1990s?A.It was inconvenient to use. | B.It was expensive to produce. |
C.Its accuracy needed improving. | D.Its roles weren’t fully found out. |
A.He says yes to it. | B.He is doubtful of it. |
C.He feels worried about it. | D.He can’t understand it. |
A.San Francisco. | B.Microsoft. |
C.Oakland. | D.The EU. |
A.Big Brother Technology | B.Different Uses of FRT |
C.Strong Protection of FRT | D.FR Data’s Disadvantages |
【推荐1】Every email, post, photo and click you make online leaves a track. Even by reading this article, you’re adding to your ever-growing online image, which will be seen and judged, fairly or not, by others. Whether or not your information is shared intentionally, it’s being gathered by advertisers, employers and companies from which you shop.
It's permanent, it follows you for life and it's not going anywhere——it's your digital footprint.
It is becoming more important than ever in today’s digital economy. One's digital footprint can affect somebody’s life in a positive or negative way depending on what kind of digital citizen you are. Everybody can see what you post, react to, or comment on. This includes employers, parents, teachers and even people you don't know. From seeing the types of things you post and like, people get an understanding of who you are and take a glance at your life. This can lead to loss of opportunity like jobs and schooling. Your digital footprint can also help one to be exposed to more opportunities and bring more attention to one’s brand and business.
“A strong online presence, or digital footprint, can be a career wealth in today’s competitive job market. Many employers are performing online searches——in addition to reviewing resumes and cover letters——in an attempt to learn about potential hires, including their interests, industry involvement and, more importantly, their ability to market themselves effectively,” says Diane Domeyer, career expert and director of The Creative Group.
Now that you know what a digital footprint is, take the proper steps to cultivate it. Think of it as a lifelong development. Take advantage of the platform to present yourself in a good light and show off your best qualities. After all, you never know who will be looking in our newfound digital economy.
1. Which of the following will become your digital footprint?A.Riding the latest bikes for outdoor activities. |
B.Purchasing electric cars in physical shops. |
C.Taking pictures during your visit to Beijing. |
D.Paying the annual bill through face recognition. |
A.By reflecting your online personal image. |
B.By keeping an eye on your personal brand. |
C.By recording the number of your comments. |
D.By knowing people from different walks of life. |
A.It might replace cover letters. | B.It might involve home market. |
C.It might decide your next job. | D.It might develop your interest. |
A.Can You Manage Your Digital Footprint? |
B.Do You Have a Positive Digital Footprint? |
C.Why Is the Digital Footprint Important Now? |
D.What Does Your Digital Footprint Say About You? |
【推荐2】Laughter is a kind of universal body language that’s shared by people of all nationalities, skin colors, cultures and traditions. But did you know that the ability to tell genuine laughter apart from fake laughter also transcends (超越) cultures?
Greg Bryant, a professor of communication at the University of California, Los Angeles, US, published a study in Psychological Science in late July in which be found that people are able to identify real laughter through slight variations in sound.
In the study, 884 people from 21 countries were asked to listen to random recordings of laughter. Some of the recordings were made up of spontaneous (自然的) laughs, while others were made by people who were asked to laugh on command.
The study showed that people around the world have the ability to pick out real laughter, although their abilities vary from country to country. Residents of the Samoan Islands, an island chain in the central South Pacific, were particularly good at it, correctly identifying real laughter 56 percent of the time. According to Bryant, people from smaller, less industrialized nations “are more accurate in identifying a natural smile” because they rely heavily on emotional engagement (联系) in order to predict others’ behavior and create stronger social relationships.
But how do people from different cultures detect natural laughter so easily? And what traits does real laughter have? As Professor Jessica Wolf of the University of California, Los Angeles, told the Association for Psychological Science, in real laughter, our vocal chords (声带) “produce qualities such as higher pitch (音调) and volume (音量), as well as faster bursts of non-articulate (不清晰的) sounds and more non-tonal (无语调的) noise”
By contrast, fake laughter will “sound like speech”. According to Science Daily, fake laughter is controlled by the same brain system that controls the lips and tongue.
Bryant further explained that this system has an imitative (模仿的) capacity (能力), saying “with this speech system, you can make a lot of different noises, including crying, laughter or a shriek (尖叫) of pain. That’s where fake laughter comes from.”
So that’s something to think about the next time one of your friends laughs at something you said. Will you be able to tell if it’s real or fake?
1. What did Bryant discover about people’s ability to distinguish between real and fake laughter?A.People from different backgrounds laugh in different ways. |
B.It has greatly improved in recent years. |
C.People can identify natural laughter by small differences in the voice. |
D.Not all people are born with this ability. |
A.Samoans did best in picking out real laughter in the steady. |
B.People from developing countries are usually not good at detecting natural laughter. |
C.People across cultures have different abilities to identify real laughter. |
D.The better one’s social relationships, the more accurate one can identify real laughter. |
A.a lower pitch |
B.a higher volume |
C.clear, loud sounds |
D.slow bursts of toneless noise |
A.It is difficult to imitate. |
B.It sounds like high-pitched speech. |
C.It is produced by a speech system in the brain. |
D.It is often accompanied with different noises. |
【推荐3】Chiang Mai has just been named the top city in Asia as well as ranked (排名)second for the World's Best Cities in the readers' survey of Travel + Leisure World's Best Awards 2016. The influential magazine also ranked Bangkok at No. 5 in Asia and No. 14 in the world.
Readers were asked to judge Asian destinations on various factors (因素)including the local culture, food. shopping and landmarks as well as the friendliness of the people and overall value for money. The cities were then ranked out of 100 will) Chiang Mai scoring 91.25 . The city was praised by the Thavel + Leisure readers for its " peace and quiet" and "popular restaurants, historic temples and large markets” as well as for all the conveniences of a major city. Bangkok had a score of 88.96 and was praised for its arts scene and fashionable hangouts.
Yuthasak Supasorn, Governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) said, "Chiang Mai has always been popular with local and international tourists, so it's good to see that the city is receiving more international favorable receptions. The lovely weather and attractive culture make Chiang Mai a wonderful retreat the whole year round, and as it's a food and arts centre, there's always something to enjoy in the city as well as adventures in the surrounding hills."
Chiang Mai has also been ranked highly on a recent list of best cities (or digital nomads (数字游民)—people who work online and do not need to be tied to an office. The Nomad List ranks the best cities based on living costs, Internet speed t weather, safely and more than 50,000 other data (数据)points.
1. According to Travel + Leisure, Chiang Mai ranked___ in Asia.A.No.1. | B.No. 5. | C.No. L4. | D.No. 100. |
A.The variety of cultures. | B.The beliefs in money. |
C.The way of making friends. | D.The number of destinations. |
A.The local people are friendly. | B.Il's Asians most popular city. |
C.It's a world tourist attraction. | D.There're adventures downtown. |
A.A speech. | B.An advertisement. |
C.A scientific journal. | D.A news report. |