【推荐1】Researchers have designed a hand-held device that can obtain and change water molecules (分子) from the air into drinkable water using only surrounding sunlight as its energy source.

This atmospheric water harvester (大气层水分收集器) used an ultra-porous (超多孔的) material, known as a metal-organic framework (MOF). It can obtain water repeatedly in the hottest and driest place in North America, Death Valley National Park. The tests showed the device could provide clean water anywhere, addressing an urgent problem, as climate change speeds up drought conditions.

“Almost one-third of the world’s population lives in water-stressed areas. The UN predicts that almost 5 billion people on our planet will experience some kind of water stress for a significant part of the year 2050,”said Omar Yaghi. He is the Berkeley chemistry professor who invented MOFs and is leading this study. “It is very important to take advantage of a new source for water.”

Other kinds of materials, such as salts or hydrogels (水凝胶), cannot operate in extreme weather conditions in an energy-efficient manner. The new MOF-powered harvesters can be a powerful tool to address water shortage issues related to anything from drinking water to agriculture. This technology can also be used to obtain pure water in areas where water is plentiful but not clean.

It’s also extremely efficient at harvesting water, releasing 85 to 90 percent of the water it obtains. It harvested up to 285 grams of water per kilogram of the metal-organic framework in a day, the amount of a cup of water. It’s also smaller than the earlier type but it is even more energy-efficient. It produced 200 grams of clean water per square meter of water vapor, more than three times the water productivity rate of the earlier type.

There will likely be further developments in efficiency and size for this device. Yaghi said, “He can see one day the widespread adoption of household-based MOF-powered water harvesters and community-scale (社区规模的) water harvesters with the help of data science and machine learning. Those can be in kitchens or even next to air conditioners to supply homes with clean water for cooking and cleaning. And some companies are already working on this.”

1. What can we say about the new hand-held device?

A．It helps clean the air.	B．It can handle water pollution.
C．It is only suitable in dry areas.	D．It can run without additional power sources.

2. What does the author intend to do in the third paragraph?

A．To stress the fact of water shortage.

B．To show the necessity of the harvester.

C．To show the increasing population in water-stressed areas.

D．To warn against the harm caused by climate change.

3. How much water can we get using a harvester with two kilograms of the MOF daily?

A．About 570 grams.	B．About 513 grams.
C．About 400 grams.	D．About 360 grams.

4. Which of the following statements about the MOF-powered harvester may Yaghi agree with?

A．It will be easier to use in the future.	B．It will function best in the kitchen.
C．It will have huge market potential.	D．It will help promote technologies in AI.

【推荐3】The world is definitely moving fast towards sustainability and incorporating green principles in everyday operations. It is a good thing as our planet is heading towards global warming and terrible climate changes. Amid all this, a designer has taken sustainability and green commute (通勤) to a whole new level. A bike is designed that is electric and made of wood. This is probably the most sustainable and green design in commuting so far.

The bike is called Electraply and is almost made entirely of plywood (胶合板). It is said that it can reach a speed of about 28 mph. Evie Bee is the contemporary designer who brought this to life. The main focus behind this project was to amalgamate the conventional and traditional techniques of creating objects with advanced and present-day producing styles. She wanted to step out of her comfort zone and try something unique. Moreover, the design was inspired by her wish to ride her own electric bike.

Evie’s design is based on the Yamaha SR 250 Scrambler (扰频器) because it is the most popular model when it comes to scrambler bikes. CNC machines were used to cut the plywood and the steel was cut with the help of a cutter. Altogether, the weight of the bike is 30 kg. In order to have the weight down, poplar plywood was used in the making of the central frame. The outer frame is made up of birch plywood to provide strength to the model.

In terms of powering the model, it has a 26" smart pie front-wheel motor and a 36v12.5ahYose power battery. The scrambler bikes have their gas tanks exposed and since the design is inspired by them, the battery is exposed as well. She has used V-brakes for the bike but with more budget, she intends to change them with a better option. Evie has started a Kickstarter campaign for the Electraply, and you can submit your email to be notified of the availability as well.

1. What function is expected of Electraply?

A．To solve terrible climate changes.	B．To make e-bikes more welcomed.
C．To shorten the time of commuting.	D．To enhance environmental awareness.

2. What can probably replace the underlined word “amalgamate” in paragraph 2?

A．Promote.

B．Compare.

C．Combine.

D．Improve.

3. What can we know about the details of Electraply?

A．Its minimum speed can reach 28 mph.

B．The use of plywood lightens its weight.

C．The wheels of bicycle are designed green.

D．Its design is identical to other scrambler bikes.

4. What can we infer from the last paragraph?

A．The e-bike is powered by inside batteries.

B．Using V-brakes for the bike is the best choice.

C．The bike is available for those who send emails.

D．Evie will improve V-brakes for the future Electraply.

【推荐1】It all started when I typed a perfectly reasonable prompt (提示词) into one of several apps on the market that can create an image based on text. “Skull space laser dinosaur starship explosion,” I wrote. The app processed for a few seconds, and returned four images, one of which was strangely accurate: a dinosaur-looking skull screamed out of an empty space, trailing fire. It looked like an illustration from the art magazine, and perhaps art from the magazine influenced its creation.

Text-to-image AIs identify images by looking at the text that people have used to describe those pictures online. When the app got my prompt, it studied images that random people had described as “dinosaur” or laser and soon then used what is called a diffusion model (扩散模型) to add a bunch of random chaos to those pictures. Once they were suitably completed, it “upscaled” them, removing noise and sharpening focus. Its work is so good that an artist using it recently won first place for digital images at the Colorado State Fair.

But there are major ethical (道德的) issues raised by the success of such AIs. The biggest has to do with those training data sets. Reporters recently discovered that the data set used by Text-to-image AIs contained images of violence. Some companies are working on ways to prevent the public from seeing images based on offensive and illegal pictures in the data set. A representative of the companies also noted that the images in its data set are “already available in the public internet on publicly available websites”.

But even if this problem is fixed there is still the question of all the other pictures online that are being transformed into AI-generated masterpieces. As many artists have pointed out, their works are being used without payment. The image-generating algorithm (算法) creates illustrations and even movies by using data sets stocked with art stolen from artists who post their works online.

Some AI researchers argue that their algorithms aren’t stealing from artists so much as learning from them just as human artists learn from each other. But a more ethical approach would be for companies to acknowledge their debt to artists and create a model of voluntary collective licensing, much like what radio stations first did in radio’s early days. Back then, musicians created groups like BMI to collectively license their music to radio stations — then BMI would pay artists based on how often their songs were played. Perhaps artists and art institutions today could form a “collecting society” that would allow companies to license their artwork for data sets.

To create ethical AI systems, we need to acknowledge the people whose work makes those systems so magical. We can’t simply snarf up every image online — we need humans to manage those data sets and we need to pay them to do it.

1. What can we learn about Text-to-image AIs from the first two paragraphs?

A．They are developed to process pictures.

B．They are used to describe online pictures.

C．They use a diffusion model to combine pictures.

D．They create their works based on online pictures.

2. One of the issues raised by the success of Text-to-image AIs is ______.

A．the influence upon art creation.	B．the availability of online pictures.
C．the neglect of the artists’ copyright.	D．the prospect of artists being replaced.

3. Why did the author mention BMI in Paragraph 5?

A．To introduce the role that BMI played in AI history.

B．To present a way to regulate the use of online pictures.

C．To prove the necessity of licensing music to radio stations.

D．To demonstrate the urgency of forming a collecting society.

4. What can we infer from the passage?

A．It is not practical to improve the image-generating algorithm.

B．The function of Text-to-image AIs shouldn’t be underestimated.

C．Human efforts should be valued in the application of Text-to-image AIs.

D．Companies should be held responsible for the illegal pictures on public websites.

【推荐2】The team, led by Michael T. Tolley, a professor of mechanical engineering at the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego, details its findings in the Feb 17, 2021 issue of the journal Science Robotics.

“This work represents a fundamental yet significant step towards fully-autonomous, electronics-free walking robots,” said Dylan Drotman, a Ph. D. student in Tolley’s research group and the paper’s first author.

Applications include low-cost robots for entertainment, such as toys, and robots that can operate in environments where electronics cannot function, such as MRI machines. Soft robots are of particular interest because they easily adapt to their environment and operate safely near humans.

Most soft robots are powered by air and are controlled by electronic circuits. But this approach requires complex components like circuit boards, valves (阀门) and pumps -often outside the robot’s body. These components, which make up the robot’s brains and nervous system, are typically large and expensive. By contrast, the UC San Diego robot is controlled by a light-weight, low-cost system of air-powered circuits, made up of tubes and soft valves, onboard the robot itself. The robot can walk on command or in response to signals it senses from the environment.

“With our approach, you could make a very complex robotic brain,” said Tolley, the study’s senior author. “Our focus here was to make the simplest air-powered nervous system needed to control walking.”

In the future, researchers want to improve the robot’s ways to walk so it can walk on natural field and uneven surfaces. This would allow the robot to navigate over a variety of obstacles (障碍). This would require a more complicated network of sensors and as a result a more complex air-powered system. The team will also look at how the technology could be used to create robots, which are in part controlled by air-powered circuits for some functions, such as walking.

1. What is the achievement of the team’s study?

A．Their robots can walk a huge step.

B．Their robots work following commands.

C．Their study gets their electronics for free.

D．They find a new technique in walking robots.

2. What can the team’s robots be applied to from the passage?

A．Toy companies’ products.	B．Environmental protection.
C．Human safety.	D．Factories without workers.

3. What will the researchers probably do?

A．Change the way of power.	B．Help robots walk as human.
C．Improve robots to avoid obstacles.	D．Build a network to control robots.

4. What is the passage mainly talking about?

A．The introduction to electronics-free walking robots.

B．The functions of newly-developed robots.

C．The applications of soft walking robots.

D．The ways to improve traditional robots.

【推荐3】Mars exploration is a significant scientific expedition and it’s like the Apollo missions on the Moon 50 years ago. While human-led missions to Mars seem likely in the coming decades, what are our prospects of long-term habitation on Mars? Scientists have found a way to grow cyanbacteria, also known as blue-green algae (水藻), on Mars. It’s a discovery that could lead to human habitation of the Red Planet.

Cyanobacteria are tiny living things found in water. They release oxygen during photosynthesis (the process by which organisms use sunlight to make their own food). The algae can also transform other gases, such as carbon dioxide and nitrogen, into nutrients, substances that help living things grow. Scientists think that a huge rise in the numbers of cyanobacteria 2.4 billion years ago is what made Earth’s atmosphere breathable.

Mars’ atmosphere is mostly made up of carbon dioxide and nitrogen and there is little oxygen in Mars’s atmosphere. So researchers are hoping the blue-green algae could be used to allow plants to grow there too, for food and medicines. However, it is impossible to grow blue-green algae on Mars naturally. To solve this problem, a team of scientists from the University of Bremen, in Germany, have developed a special bioreactor (生物反应器) called Atmos. A bioreactor is a machine for growing microbes. Using this, the team, led by Dr Cyprien Verseux, showed how cyanobacteria could be grown using resources found on Mars.

Not only did the algae grow as hoped, but they also helped other organisms, such as bacteria, to grow. The bioreactor is still just a test version. It just starts and there is still a long way to go. However, Verseux hopes that the results can inspire a system that could one day support life on Mars.

1. Cyanbacteria could play a significant role in human habitation on Mars because ________.

A．they make their own food

B．they improve photosynthesis

C．they release oxygen and nutrients

D．they absorb carbon dioxide and nitrogen

2. What makes it possible to grow blue-green algae on Mars?

A．Improving the bioreactor.

B．Inventing a special machine.

C．Using resources found on Mars.

D．Experimenting growing microbes.

3. Which word best describes Verseux’s attitude to the current studies?

A．Positive.	B．Objective.
C．Skeptical.	D．Conservative.

4. What is the best title of the text?

A．Mars Exploration Is Becoming a Hot Issue

B．Scientists Are Testing Bioreactor to Grow Algae

C．Human Habitation on Mars May Not Be a Dream

D．Cyanobacteria Could Be Key to Living on Mars

【推荐2】What can bring people from around the world together? Skin colour? Language? A favourite football team? According to a recent study conducted by OnePoll, a London-based marketing research company, food is the answer. OnePoll surveyed 2,000 people around the world. 84% of participants said that food had the power to connect people of different cultures and backgrounds.

“Food has to do with how we live——it’s not just an object that we ingest. Food is a part of our lives, and it helps bring people closer together,” one participant in the survey said.

People can get a better understanding of another culture through trying its cuisine. For example, Chinese culture is based on the idea of harmony, which can be seen in almost every aspect of life in China, most noticeably its cuisine. In Chinese cuisine, every ingredient is used in a balanced way to create delicious dishes that go well together. Another example is the rich diversity of American cuisine, which directly reflects the rich diversity of its multicultural influence.

Food can help strengthen cultural ties. Every country has its own way of doing things, which means that sometimes there can be very little common ground between countries. However, every country has food in common——after all, we all need to eat. So something as simple as a dinner gathering has the power to bring together people from different countries or cultures. In fact, food is often the catalyst (催化剂) in forming many important decisions and friendships.

“We believe food has a transcending (超越的) ability to connect us, and that delicious things can happen when we share heritage, culture, and uniqueness through food,” said Jason Levine, one of the survey’s conductors.

1. What does the underlined word “ingest” most probably mean?

A．Swallow.

B．Appreciate.

C．Digest.

D．Prefer.

2. According to the passage, why can food improve the understanding of different cultures?

A．Food is connected with the idea of harmony.

B．Food is based on a mix of cultures.

C．Food has a rich diversity.

D．Food reflects a country’s culture.

3. According to the passage, which best describes Chinese culture and cuisine?

A．Deep and vital.	B．Diverse and balanced.
C．Balanced and harmonious.	D．Harmonious and delicious.

4. How can food help strengthen cultural ties?

A．By experiencing different cultures.

B．By accepting foreign ideas.

C．By bringing people together.

D．By sharing heritage with others.

【推荐3】One in four children who are feeling sad or anxious hide mental health difficulties from their parents, research shows.

BBC Children in Ned surveyed 2,502 young people aged 11 to 18, whose replies suggested that one in three regularly felt anxious or worried about their future. One in four said that they regularly felt the need to hide negative feelings, while one in three said they did not feel comfortable asking for help about feelings and emotions. One in four said they had not talked to someone they trusted about their mental health in the past six months.

Researchers also surveyed 2,500 parents, with half saying that there was insufficient support available for children struggling with’ mental health. One in six said they were not confident in recognizing signs of poor mental health in their child. Simon Antrobus, president of BBC Children in Need, said, “Some feelings of anxiety can be hidden, so empathizing (共情) with them and letting them know that you understand why they feel the way they do can make a real difference to a child’s health and can help prevent mental health problems from becoming serious.”

Meanwhile a survey of 3,014 adults by the mental health charity, Mind, suggested that the rising expenses of living is making people stressed. Half of participants said that their mental health was being negatively affected by the financial impact of the expenses of living- Sarah Hughes, Mind chief executive, said, “The uncertainty of watching as our costs rise can be difficult to bear and having so much to deal with can affect our mental health. Despite this, looking after our mental health is often last on our list.”

1. What can be learned from the survey on young people in paragraph 2?

A．Most of them have anxiety about their future.

B．One in four found it difficult to trust their parents.

C．One third felt the need to ask for help with their problems.

D．A quarter of them regularly felt it necessary to hide negative feelings.

2. What does Antrobus suggest parents do?

A．Place children’s needs first.	B．Recognize their own struggles.
C．Show understanding to children.	D．Study the reasons for children’s problems.

3. What can be inferred from the last paragraph?

A．We are supposed to cut down our living expenses.

B．Mental health has been attached much attention to.

C．Almost every adult has experienced financial difficulties.

D．There is a link between high living costs and mental health.

4. What’s the author’s purpose in writing the passage?

A．To introduce a mental health charity.

B．To discuss the causes of negative feelings.

C．To encourage studies on children’s mental health.

D．To present research findings of mental health issues.

【推荐2】Artificial intelligence is being introduced to match NHS hospital patients with home carers, meaning they can be discharged (出院)five times faster than before.

The software, developed by the care provider Cera, contains a database of thousands of social care staff including their availability, location, specific qualifications and language. NHS staff uploads details of patients needing social care and within minutes, the software finds and notifies the most suitable people available via an app. Cera launched the AI tool last month in five NHS regions, covering a population of a million. Dr Ben Maruthappu, a former A&E doctor who is founder and CEO of Cera, said that the technology was a big leap forward in releasing and reducing NHS pressure by freeing beds.

He said, “Every day someone is in hospital when they could be home, which costs the NHS about £1,500. Patients want to be at home, not in a hospital bed. One of the reasons why they aren’t discharged in a timely way is that care providers aren’t able to organise the care quickly enough. Every day tens of thousands of patients need to be matched up with tens of thousands of carers.”

“Organising this carer-patient match just depending on people’s effort is a very complicated process, which is time-consuming and not efficient. Nonetheless, by using AI to tackle this issue, we can rapidly match carers to patients on the same day.”

The platform is being introduced at seven new “digital areas” run by Cera. It operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week, unlike the current discharge system which often stops over weekends. Cera employs more than 10,000 staff, delivering 50,000 appointments a day.

The AI takes into account a patient’s specific needs. For example, if they have dementia or do not speak English, it matches them with the most suitable carer. It also schedules visits, aiming to ensure continuity of care, with patients seeing the same carer over and over.

1. What can we learn about the software from paragraph 2?

A．It reduces patients’ pressure.

B．It includes a million staff’s information.

C．It requires patients to upload their private information.

D．It possesses the capacity of matching patients and carers.

2. What prevents patients from discharging quickly according to the passage?

A．The special requirements of patients.	B．The shortage of experienced carers.
C．The insufficiency of care organization.	D．The lack of the advanced medical facilities.

3. How is paragraph 4 developed?

A．By giving definitions.	B．By presenting examples.
C．By stating statistics.	D．By making comparisons.

4. Which can be a suitable title for the text?

A．Patients Enjoy a Better Hospital Atmosphere

B．Patients Go Home Sooner with Program to Find Care

C．Patients Need More and More Suitable Care Staff Now

D．Patients Receive Thoughtful Care by Artificial Intelligence

【推荐3】Identifying common bird species through their song has never been easier, with numerous phone apps and software available to both ecologists and the public. But what if the identification software has never heard a particular bird before, or only has a small sample of recordings to reference? This is a problem facing ecologists and conservationists monitoring some of the world’s rarest birds.

To overcome this problem, researchers at the University of Moncton, Canada, have developed ECOGEN, a first-of-its-kind deep learning tool that can generate life-like bird sounds to enhance the samples of under-represented species. These can then be used to train audio identification tools used in ecological monitoring.

The researchers found that adding artificial bird song samples generated by ECOGEN to a bird song identifier improved the bird song classification accuracy by 12% on average.

Dr. Nicolas Lecomte, one of the lead researchers, said: “Due to significant global changes in animal populations, there is an urgent need for autonomous tools, such as acoustic monitoring, to track shifts in biodiversity. However, the Al models used to identify species in acoustic monitoring lack comprehensive reference libraries.” With ECOGEN, you can address this gap by creating new instances of bird sounds to support AI models.

The researchers say that creating bird songs in this way can contribute to the conservation of endangered bird species and also provide valuable insight into their vocalisations, behaviours and habitat preferences. The ECOGEN tool can also be used to help conserve extremely rare species. For instance, it could be used to help conserve the critically endangered regent honeyeaters (摄政蜜鸟), from which young individuals are unable to learn their species’ songs because there aren’t enough adult birds to learn from.

The tool could benefit other types of animal as well. Dr. Lecomte added, “While ECOGEN was developed for birds, we’re confident that it could be applied to mammals, fish, insects and amphibians.”

As well as its versatility, a key advantage of the ECOGEN tool is its accessibility, due to it being open source and able to be used on even basic computers.

1. What is the newly developed ECOGEN tool used to do?

A．Identify bird species through songs.

B．Record sounds of bird species in nature.

C．Compare common bird species with rare ones.

D．Produce bird songs to train bird identification tools.

2. What does the author intend to tell us in paragraph 4?

A．The lack of sound libraries.	B．The classification of bird songs.
C．The necessity of creating ECOGEN.	D．The dramatic changes in biodiversity.

3. Why were regent honeyeaters mentioned?

A．To show the dangerous situation of these birds.

B．To give a successful example of conservation.

C．To raise people’s awareness of rare bird species.

D．To point out the application of the ECOGEN tool.

4. What does the underlined word “versatility” in the last paragraph mean?

A．Disadvantage.	B．Multifunctionality.
C．Flexibility.	D．Stability.