【推荐1】The Alice Ferguson Foundation is a non-profit group that works to improve the environment by building relationships between people and nature. It teaches people ways to protect the environment. At the end of the year, it designs events to help children celebrate Christmas without increasing the amount of waste they create.

Hanna Seligmann works for the foundation. VOA joined Seligmann recently during one of her talks. “So let’s figure out what is in our bag of trash.” She shows adults and children how to reduce waste during the holiday gift-giving season. “You can sort it as a cardboard item or you can sort it as a plastic item,” Seligmann works with volunteers. “We encourage using things that are already in your house like newspaper, old magazines, using a gift within a gift. You can wrap something in a reusable napkin, wrap something in a scarf, or a shawl(围巾)or even a reusable to tote bag (大手提袋)。”

Lori Arguelles is the executive director for environmental education at the Alice Ferguson Foundation. “Over time we realized that really just doing trash, cleanups was the symptom of the problem, not getting to the root cause. And it was just a little over a decade ago that we started the initiative itself.”

One activity is called the Trash Timeline Game. It teaches children that the things they throw away do not decompose at the same rate. For example paper dissolves in about four weeks. An apple core takes two months. A metal can takes up to 100 years. A plastic bag will not decompose for 450 years Glass takes 1,000 years. And, they say, Styrofoam (泡沫聚苯乙烯) never dissolves.

Young people taking part in the program learn that reducing waste is important not just during the holidays, but every day of the year.

1. Why is the Alice Ferguson Foundation created?

A．To help children celebrate Christmas.

B．To reduce the amount of waste.

C．To make the environment better,

D．To build relationships between people and mature

2. What suggestion does Seligmann give on wrapping gifts?

A．It is better to use cardboard items to wrap gifts.

B．It is better to wrap gifts in some things capable of being used again.

C．It is better not to wrap gifts in plastic items.

D．It is better not to wrap gifts at all.

3. What can we infer from Lori Arguelles’s words?

A．Doing trash cleanups means a lot to protecting the environment.

B．We still need to make great efforts on the way to protecting the environment.

C．Over a decade our efforts to protect the environment proved fruitless.

D．Over time we found the root cause of protecting the environment

4. What’s the meaning of “decompose”?

A．break down	B．break out
C．store up	D．store away

【推荐2】Have you imagined that planting trees can make a big difference? People say that one man can’t make a difference, but Abdul Samad Sheikh, a 60-year-old rickshaw (人力车) driver from Bangladesh, has proved that doing a small thing over a long period of time can mean very much. He has planted at least one tree every day since he was 12 years old, which means that he has so far planted a small forest of over 17,500 trees. Imagine if everyone followed his example.

Abdul has worked as a rickshaw driver for most of his life. He makes a little money from his job, which is only enough to put food on the table for his family, but he somehow tries to also buy at least one tree every day. He considers it his duty to the world. Mostly he plants them on government land so nobody can cut them down later. He also waters them, and if he sees anyone cutting a tree, he blames them.

Abdul, his wife Jorna, and four of their children live in two old houses, on a piece of land that is owned by the Faridpur deputy commissioner’s office. They have no land of their own.

Sometimes, she commands him not to plant trees but he doesn’t listen. Abdul’s 30-year-old son, Kutub Uddin, has never told his father not to plant trees, because he thinks his father does a good thing for society.

Abdul’s neighbors all know about his daily habit, and praise his work. Whoever can ask of him anything, he will do his best to help. Therefore, Abdul is loved by neighbors.

For his efforts, Abdul Samad Sheikh was recently honored by The Daily Star, and given $1,253 to help him build a better home for his family. The Daily Star wished everyone to follow his example, and protect the environment.

“I can’t do it alone. I need the help of you all,” Abdul said in his speech.

1. What do we know about Abdul?

A．He doesn’t support his family.	B．He plants trees with his own money.
C．He makes a living by doing different jobs.	D．He plants trees to win his neighbors’ praise.

2. Why does Abdul plant trees on government land?

A．To get money from government.

B．To set a good example to people.

C．To protect them from being cut down.

D．To get a place from government to build his own house.

3. Which of the following can best describe Abdul?

A．Poor but helpful.	B．Rich and reliable.
C．Uncaring and stupid.	D．Active but dishonest.

4. What does the underlined word “it” in the last paragraph refer to?

A．Driving a rickshaw.	B．Planting trees.
C．Making big money.	D．Building a better home.

【推荐3】Mike frowned at his calendar and then picked up his guitar. His band had been together for five months. Everyone said they were fantastic but they still had not been blessed with a paying job.

The three guys had become acquainted in band class, and organizing a group had been Mike’s idea. Mike played the guitar and acted as leader. John was on drums and James was on the saxophone. The three got together just for fun and named their group Playday.

But when some fans praised their talent, they decided to turn fun into profit. To make themselves known, Playday volunteered to entertain at parties. They played for free at school get-togethers. Mike loved the applause! He felt like a superstar. They practiced hard and discussed young musicians who had vaulted into prominence.

“The Jackson Five were kids,” John said. “Michael shot to fame like a rocket!” He exclaimed. “We can do it!” Mike encouraged the group.

After months of keeping Spirits high, Mike was tired. They haven’t seen even a cent. Let alone making a killing. Everyone was in low spirits. They decided to break up after one final volunteer job. The next day, they were to perform for patients at the Children’s Hospital where Mike’s mother worked as a nurse.

The next day the three young guys set up in the hospital lobby, and the nurses brought in the audience. As Playday began its number, Mike could feel their lack of spirit. Then Mike spotted one patient sitting limply in her wheelchair. Her expression was vacant, but when music filled the room, this rag doll came to life. She sat up straight, and the light that shone in her eyes lighted up something in Mike. He felt the thrill he’d been missing. As Mike’s playing caught fire, James and John gained energy. Soon, Playday was rocking as never before.

After the performance, the three guys spent time with the patients. Mike spoke to the girl who had encouraged him to play so well. “Wouldn’t it feel great to be rich and famous?” she asked, eyes still bright. “Will you be a rock star?” “Probably not,” Mike answered. “But I’ll never give up my music. I felt like the big time playing for you!”

1. The underlined phrase “had vaulted into prominence” most likely means         .

A．had grown into adults	B．had made a promise
C．had played The Jackson Five	D．had become successful

2. The members of Playboy were tired and depressed because they _______.

A．had no offer of a paying performance	B．competed cruelly with other bands
C．called an end to the band	D．performed at the Children's Hospital

3. While performing at the Children's Hospital, Mike became inspired because _______.

A．his guitar caught fire	B．a girl took him as a rock star
C．a patient was much cheered up	D．a toy doll suddenly became alive

4. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the passage?

A．Mike, John and James got to know each other as they were relatives.

B．They planned to make money when they had a big fan base.

C．Their wonderful performance at Children’s Hospital cured the girl of her disease.

D．Mike found out the enjoyment of volunteer performance after playing at the hospital.

【推荐1】The University of Miami’s newest hospital has a six-bed emergency room (急诊室), operating room, a birthing room and outpatient clinics.

The only thing missing is patients. Instead, nursing students get a realistic clinical experience using computerized patients and staff actors.

“Practicing on real people can be a frightening environment, and as our patients may be unwilling to accept treatment when a student walks in,” said Susana Barroso-Fernandez, who oversees UM’s simulation (模拟) program. “We created this environment to allow students to practice and make mistakes and never put a patient or student at risk.”

UM’s Simulation Hospital is part of a growing trend of colleges building simulation centers to provide real-life experiences to students. Community colleges and schools also use simulators for emergency medical technician (技师) and medical assistant programs.

A 2020 study by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing found that colleges could use simulation to replace up to half of all clinical experience without any bad results. The students scored as well on nursing license exams as those getting most of their experience in hospitals and health care centers. Officials say they think simulation has helped their students achieve nearly perfect passing rates on the exams.

There are major advantages of simulation. In addition to giving students a safe environment to practice in, it also gives students experience with conditions that are rare, but still important for them to know how to deal with.

The Simulation Hospital will also be used as a training place for people outside of UM, officials said. “You can bring companies in that want to test new products before they go to market,” Barroso-Fernandez said. “You can work with community partners like police and fire departments. You can take this hospital and turn it into a casualty (伤亡) event and have the community practice disaster preparedness and response. It’s not just about nursing education.”

1. What is special about the new hospital?

A．There are no real patients.

B．It is comfortable and patient-friendly.

C．There are plenty of clinics.

D．It has modern services and expert doctors.

2. What did the 2020 study show?

A．Simulation was used in most colleges.

B．Simulation could help students get job chances.

C．Simulation could avoid some unfavorable results.

D．Simulation increased the risks of patients and students.

3. What do we know about UM’s simulation program?

A．Only unusual conditions can be provided for students.

B．Students have chances to act as patients.

C．Students can be trained in a safe environment.

D．It mainly involves outdoor training.

4. What can be learned from Barroso-Fernandez’s words in the last paragraph?

A．This hospital can be widely used.

B．She was not satisfied with the nursing education.

C．This hospital is good at dealing with casualty events.

D．She advised companies to put more money into this hospital.

【推荐2】Today we can do everything with apps: pay bills, order food and shop for anything. Mobile technology means we can hold the world in our hands. However, when it comes to technology and health care, chances and challenges come together.

Let's start with the ways to get health care. Telemedicine can allow a patient to use technology to see the doctor online and get a diagnosis and instructions without leaving home.

In addition, there are many patient websites. These allow for different kinds of interactions about our health needs without involving the medical team. Setting a date with doctors and reading lab results are readily achieved by technology.

A whole new age of medical care seems likely to come in the future. But every coin has two sides. What might be on the other side of techno-health care?

Firstly, we should think about the health care experience as a whole. A usual visit to a doctor begins with a receptionist, who can see and tell how a patient is doing. This may influence the treatment effect. It's unlikely that a patient website will have such intuition.

Next, sharing the details of one's life requires trust, which takes time to build. This is certainly true in health care, where some of life's best and worst moments involve doctors. The human touch should not be undervalued and is unlikely to be there over the smartphone.

Lastly, test results can be difficult to understand. When someone without a medical degree sees a flagged result with no explanation on the website, there's room for all kinds of stories to form in their minds—and also great worry .

So how does medicine adapt to the new technology age? Very talented companies are working on it. There is medical equipment that can be used at home to send necessary signs and heart sounds through telemedicine. It seems likely that some companies will find a way to explain test results.

But what it will not achieve is the warmth of human interaction and touch. Patients often need someone to listen to-and care about — their journey story, which will never be realized through a human-less technology. Technology should be a tool, but depending on it totally will most certainly have unexpected effects. Let's not allow our humanity to be one of them.

1. How does technology help health care?

A．It encourages doctors to voice their needs on the websites.

B．It offers the patient a convenient way to get a diagnosis.

C．It improves relations between doctors and patients.

D．It provides a chance to build a medical team.

2. What does the word “intuition" in paragraph 5 mean?

A．An interesting experience.	B．An ability to understand.
C．A chance to win.	D．A fair decision.

3. What do you know about techno-health care from the text?

A．Patient websites require trust from doctors.	B．Talented companies can give medical advice.
C．Flagged results may cause worry for patients.	D．Medical equipment collects patients' stories.

4. What is the writer's opinion?

A．Technology can deal with unexpected effects.

B．Telemedicine can take the place of usual health care.

C．Techno-health care should take humanity into consideration.

D．It is difficult for patients to adapt to the new technology age.

【推荐1】Just last month，AI-generated art arrived on the auction (拍卖) stage of Christie’s, proving that artificial intelligence can not only be creative but also produce world-class works of art — another significant AI milestone blurring the line between human and machine.

Naturally, the news sparked off debates about whether the work produced by Paris-based art collective Obvious could really be called art at all. Popular opinion among creatives is that art is a process by which human beings express some ideas or emotions, filter them through personal experience and set them against a broader cultural context. The story raised additional questions about ownership. In this circumstance，who can really be named as the author? The algorithm (算法) itself or the team behind it?

At GumGum, an AI company that focuses on computer vision, we wanted to explore the intersection of AI and art by devising a Turing Test of our own in association with Rutgers University’s Art and Artificial Intelligence Lab and Cloudpainter, an artificially intelligent painting robot. We were keen to see whether AI can，in fact, replicate (复制) the intent and imagination of traditional artists, and we wanted to explore the potential impact of AI on the creative sector.

To do this，we enlisted a broad collection of diverse artists from traditional pain-on-canvas artists to 3-D rendering and modeling artists alongside Pindar Van Arman — a classically trained artist who has been coding art robots for 15 years. Van Arman was tasked with using his Cloudpainter machine to create pieces of art based on the same data set as the more traditional artists. This data set was a collection of art by 20th century American Abstract Expressionists. Then, we asked them to document the process, showing us their preferred tools and telling us how they came to their final work.

Amazingly, while at face value the AI artwork was indistinguishable from that of the more traditional artists, the test revealed that the creative spark and ultimate agency behind creating a work of art is still very much human. Even though the Cloudpainter machine has evolved over time to become a highly intelligent system capable of making creative decisions of its own, the final piece of work could only be described as a collaboration (合作) between human and machine. Van Arman served as more of an “art director for the painting”.

As AI becomes an unstoppable force, it raises some difficult questions about the future role of humans in an increasingly automated world. Instead of worrying about AI’s threat to human creative supremacy, the future will be about accepting new technologies and the possibilities it brings for speeding up the process. It’s better to think of AI as your next creative assistant; beautiful pieces of work can be produced in collaboration with it.

1. According to popular opinion, the AI-generated work_______.

A．should have been based on personal experience

B．was set against a broader cultural context

C．couldn’t be considered art at all

D．expresses no idea or emotion

2. What did the experiment at GumGum show?

A．AI artworks could be easily identified

B．AI artworks could show human emotions.

C．AI had trouble making sensible decisions.

D．AI couldn’t complete a work independently.

3. Which of the following statements would the author agree with?

A．Beautiful pieces cannot be works of AI.

B．AI could be an advanced tool for artists.

C．AI could challenge the supremacy of humans.

D．New technologies can pose a danger to humans.

4. What is the best title for the passage?

A．Can AI Create True Art?	B．Can AI Threaten Humans?
C．Will Human Art Disappear?	D．Are AI Artworks Distinguishable?

【推荐2】Every year, millions of Americans see their personal information leak into the wrong hands. Maybe there’s spyware on their computer, or a service they use suffered a security reach, leaving customers at risk of exposure. Or perhaps their password is easy to guess: Security company Splash-Data reports that the most popular passwords in 2015 were 123456 and password.

Fear not: It is a lot easier than you might think to set up proper defenses. In fact, you can easily do it all a weekend. Here’s how.

Clean Your Computer And Smart-phone

Before you put new security measures into place, make sure your devices are as spotless as possible. This means installing a good antivirus program and taking the time to clear out any spy-or malware that may have already infected your system. Go with AVG Free Antivirus (free. AVg.com) or Avast! (avast.com) - each is free. Run a full system scan. This can take over an hour, so start it before settling into other plans. When you return to your computer, clear out anything that shouldn’t be there with a few simple steps (the program will guide you). These days, it’s also worth it to make sure your phone is safe from viruses. iPhones are less likely to be targeted by spy-ware, but Android users should download the Lookout app (lookout.com) to scan their devices and ensure everything is as it should be.

Security Your Wi-Fi

Now that your computer is clean, you should plug any holes in your home network. It’s fairly easy for potential criminals to gain access to your information if they’re able to share your connection - that’s why you want to be careful when using public Wi-Fi. For your home, the Federal Communications Commission recommends a few steps. Even though you put security measures into place a couple of years ago, it’s a good idea to refresh your setting. You may have to refer to the instructions for your wireless router or call tech support for help. Different routers will have different setup pages, so the actual step-by-step will vary, but the end result will be the same.

Dig Deep with Your Passwords

Everything you just accomplished could be for nothing if a thief has your existing passwords, so you need to change them for every service you use. Try it when you find yourself on those sites anyway.

What you’ve heard is true: Passwords should use a variety of special characters, numerals, letters, and case when possible. They should be close to random, and there should be a different one for each website you use. Doing this, and keeping track of it all, is a pain - which is why people don’t do it and wind up with stolen identities. Try Dashlane (dashlane.com), a password manager with powerful encryption（加密）that can securely keep track of the most ridiculous codes you can come up with. Best of all, it logs you into sites automatically, so there’s no need to worry about all those obscure keystrokes. Whew!

Never Answer Unwanted Email

Always check the security symbols when using an online site for shopping. If the lock icon encryption is not there, do not give out credit details. Also, check that the site is legal - never go to a site from a random email and start shopping online. Go to the site through a known URL or by searching for it on a search engine first.

Keep a separate credit card just for online shopping. This will make it easier to cancel if something bad does happen and your other credit card for “in real life” can still be used uninfluenced.

Don’t store information on any store’s website. It may be conventional but it’s also a possible loss to you if the site is hacked.

1. The passage is mainly about ______.

A．ways of avoiding online identity theft

B．tips of freeing computers from viruses

C．measures to ensure network security

D．steps to keep track of passwords

2. According to the passage, the risk of exposing personal information may possibly be caused by ______.

A．the applications of antivirus programs

B．the practice of using public Wi-Fi

C．the difficult access to the passwords

D．the separate credit card for online shopping

3. To put new security measures into place, we need to ______.

A．clear out of everything in the system

B．make a random selection of network

C．get rid of potential spy-ware

D．refresh the infected system