We often share images or thoughts on social networks. Now, researchers at the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC) have developed an algorithm (算法) that can analyse the content people post online.
According to William Glasser’s Choice Theory, there are five basic needs: Survival, Power, Freedom, Belonging and Fun. “These needs even have an influence on the images we choose to upload to our Instagram page,” explained Mohammad Mahdi Dehshibi, a researcher at the UOC.
The research team has spent two years working on a deep-learning model that identifies the five needs described by Glasser. For the study, which has been published in the journal IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing, the researchers analyzed 86 Instagram profiles, in both Spanish and Persian (波斯语), and developed an algorithm to identify the content of the images and categorize textual content by assigning different labels.
Glasser’s theory argues that each choice users make on social media does not respond to just one basic need — the multi-label approach of this study helps to clear it up. Dehshibi uses an example to explain this: “Imagine that a cyclist is riding up a mountain, and at the top, he can choose between sharing a selfie (自拍照) and a group photo. If he chooses the selfie, we perceive a need for Power, but if he chooses the other option, we can conclude that the person is not only looking for Fun but also a way to satisfy his need for Belonging.”
“Studying data from social networks that belong to non-English-speaking users could help build inclusive and diverse tools and models for addressing mental health problems in people with diverse cultural backgrounds,” Dehshibi adds.
The research team believe that their study can help improve preventive measures, ranging from identification to improved treatment when a person has been diagnosed (诊断) with a mental health disorder.
Back in 2019, University of Vermont researchers developed an artificial-intelligence-based system that can detect signs of anxiety in the speech patterns of young children. Meanwhile, computer scientists from the University of Alberta, Canada, have developed algorithms that can detect and identify depression through people’s voices.
1. What can the algorithm be used to do?| A．Introducing William Glasser’s Choice Theory. |
| B．Creating different databases for the research team. |
| C．Identifying users’ basic needs from the content they share online. |
| D．Giving people a tool to post images or thoughts on social networks. |
| A．By providing data. | B．By making comparisons. |
| C．By quoting sayings. | D．By giving examples. |
| A．It can suggest ways to improve social networks. |
| B．It is useful in handling mental health problems. |
| C．It is helpful in changing online users’ bad habits. |
| D．It can link people with diverse cultural backgrounds together. |
| A．Summarize the previous paragraphs. | B．Provide some advice for the readers. |
| C．Add some background information. | D．Introduce a new topic for discussion. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Technological change is everywhere and affects every aspect of life, mostly for the better. However, social changes brought about by new technology are often mistaken for a change in attitudes.
An example at hand is the involvement of parents in the lives of their children who are attending college. Surveys on this topic suggests that parents today continue to be “very” or “somewhat” overly-protective even after their children move into college dormitories. The same surveys also indicate that the rate of parental involvement is greater today than it was a generation ago. This is usually interpreted as a sign that today’s parents are trying to manage their children’s lives past the point where this behavior is appropriate.
However, greater parental involvement does not necessarily indicate that parents are failing to let go of their “adult” children.
In the context (背景) of this discussion, it seems valuable to first find out the cause of change in the case of parents’ involvement with their grown children. If parents of earlier generations had wanted to be in touch with their college-age children frequently, would this have been possible? Probably not. On the other hand, does the possibility of frequent communication today mean that the urge to do so wasn’t present a generation ago? Many studies show that older parents—today’s grandparents—would have called their children more often if the means and cost of doing so had not been a barrier.
Furthermore, studies show that finances are the most frequent subject of communication between parents and their college children. The fact that college students are financially dependent on their parents is nothing new; nor are requests for more money to be sent from home. This phenomenon is neither good nor bad; it is a fact of college life, today and in the past.
Thanks to the advanced technology, we live in an age of bettered communication. This has many implications well beyond the role that parents seem to play in the lives of their children who have left for college. But it is useful to bear in mind that all such changes come from the technology and not some imagined desire by parents to keep their children under their wings.
1. The surveys inform us of ________.| A．the development of technology |
| B．the changes of adult children’s behavior |
| C．the parents’ over-protection of their college children |
| D．the means and expenses of students’ communication |
| A．parents today are more protective than those in the past |
| B．the disadvantages of new technology outweigh its advantages |
| C．technology explains greater involvement with their children |
| D．parents’ changed attitudes lead to college children’s delayed independence |
| A．Technology or Attitude? |
| B．Dependence or Independence? |
| C．Family Influences or Social Changes? |
| D．College Management or Communication Advancement? |
【推荐2】Hadi Partovi，founder of Code.org believes every student should learn the basics of computer science just like they do math，physics，or biology，regardless of what they want to do in the future.The expert says knowledge about the subject is important to understand how the world around us works and compares it to learning about photosynthesis(光合作用)，even though not every student is going to be a botanist.To spark students’interest，he created the“Hour of Code，”which introduces the world of computing to anyone，from ages 14 to 104，in a fun，interactive manner.Observed annually during Computer Science Week，the event now draws tens of millions of kids from over 180 countries.
The“Hour of Code”，which can be scheduled anytime during Computer Science Week，begins with an introductory video on computer science.Participants can then select from hundreds of fun assignments that are sorted by both grade level and coding experience.Though each project is designed to last just sixty minutes，beginners can deal with as many challenges as they desire.
To help introduce computer science in classrooms on a more regular basis，Code.org has also developed a catalog of online courses that can be incorporated(纳入)in a school’s regular curriculum.Since the nonprofit began offering the courses in 2013，over 704，000 teachers have signed up to teach introductory computer science to over 22 million students worldwide.
Thanks to the efforts of the pioneer，about 40 percent of US schools now offer computer science as a subject.The numbers are even higher—an impressive 70 percent—if after-school offerings such as robotics clubs are included.Even more encouraging，eight years ago，just 19，390 students took an Advanced Placement Computer Science exam.By the spring of 2017，the number had jumped 415 percent to 99，868.
1. Why did Hardi Partovi create the“Hour of Code”?| A．To train computer scientists for the future. |
| B．To introduce the world of computing to teachers. |
| C．To add a programme to Computer Science Week. |
| D．To help people learn computer science in a fun way. |
| A．it is observed annually |
| B．it can be scheduled anytime |
| C．its projects last sixty minutes each |
| D．its tasks can be sorted by coding experience |
| A．Schools can use them regularly in their classrooms. |
| B．They help the developer make lots of money. |
| C．Over 704，000 teachers have been learning them. |
| D．They have existed for over 10 years up to now. |
| A．The efforts of Hadi Partovi. |
| B．The influence of robotics clubs. |
| C．The effect of Hadi Partovi’s efforts. |
| D．The development of many US schools. |
【推荐3】The world is full of screens. They are on TVs, computers and smartphones. Screens are at school, at home, and just about everywhere in between. The time people spend every day looking at screens is known as “screen time.” Most families have rules about how much time children can spend with screens. Why do they have rules? Are there good reasons to limit screen time?
In many ways, screens are helpful for communication and connecting with other people. Social media and video calls allow people to be always in touch with one another. ________By sharing and commenting on videos, photos, games or music, people can meet others who have similar interests.
However, some adults are worried that young people spend too much time on screens and not enough time meeting people in real life. As a result, they may not properly understand feelings or develop strong relationships.
Many kinds of screen time may be good for students. Students may use screen time to develop their skills in creating music or videos. They may even learn skills such as coding (编程) computer programs. When students use their screen time to do research online, they may meet people who are different from them or ideas they have never thought about before.
However, some researchers think that screens change how the brain processes information. Some have linked (连接) screen time to lower test scores or less attention time.
In the future, scientists will continue studying the effects of screen time. Parents will likely continue to make rules limiting screen time. Plenty of good things can come from all this screen time, but it’s a good idea for people to pay attention to how much time in a day they spend looking at a screen. They should know how screen time influences their health, relationships, and learning.
1. Choose the best sentence to fill in the blank “ ________” in Paragraph 2.| A．People create videos and photos with their screen time. |
| B．People spend too much time sharing photos and videos. |
| C．Screen time can also help people build new relationships. |
| D．Screen time encourages people to meet friends in real life. |
| A．Social media. | B．Learning Skills. |
| C．Playing Games. | D．Researching online. |
| A．It should be increased. | B．It should not be limited |
| C．It should be made good use of. | D．It should not be allowed at school. |
A． | B． | C． | D． |
| A．What Is Screen Time? | B．Screen Time and Learning. |
| C．Screen Time: Good or Bad? | D．Screen Time and Social Life. |
【推荐1】If you cannot afford to travel in any class above economy, flying generally sucks (恶心), either a little or a lot, depending on your tolerance level. But it especially sucks if you are too wide for the airlines design.
Just getting to your seat can be a challenge, as your hips (臀部) bounce from seat to seat on each side of the aisle(过道). If someone is standing up to put things in the overhead locker, there is a decision to be made about whether it’s worth trying to squeeze past. Everything is just slightly too small: the seats, the overhead lockers, even the bathrooms—and those, it seems, are getting even smaller.
The Washington Post recently reported that, on some newer planes flown by American, Delta and United airlines, the bathrooms in economy class are just 61 cm wide: about 25 cm narrower than the average portable toilet, and roughly the width of the average dishwasher. Your face might be the only thing you can poke in there comfortably—which makes it a poor design, considering what a passenger is likely to need the bathroom for.
According to the manufacturer, these “Advanced Spacewell” bathrooms make space for six additional passengers, which is great for the airlines’ financial bottom line. But what about the other bottom line? Concerning, well, bottoms(臀部) that can’t fit into their planes’ bathrooms?
As bodies get bigger and aeroplane spaces get smaller, fat people among us have come up with solutions. Armrests that turn us into sausages (香肠) can be pulled up, or slowly encased (围住; 包起) into the soft flesh of our sides until we go numb(麻木的). We can ask the flight attendant to get us a seat-belt extender, if security has confiscated the one we brought with us, as can sometimes happen. But squeezing into a tiny toilet and closing the door behind us? Not workable.
Unlike the impossible task of squeezing down the aisle to your seat, or the side-to-side dance necessary to get big hips past the armrests, fitting into a space just 61 cm wide is not just a challenge—it is almost impossible. It is not like missing out on an option for the in-flight meal—a bathroom is as essential as a safety-compliant seat belt, or the air that is pumped into the cabin(飞机舱). If airlines are not willing to make space for us，bigger passengers may have no option but to reconsider booking a flight at all.
1. What is the advantage of the new toilets?| A．All passengers can use them at the same time. |
| B．They are more comfortable. |
| C．The airlines can increase their profits. |
| D．They are practical and convenient. |
| A．Taken. | B．Questioned. |
| C．Checked. | D．Provided. |
| A．Fat people can deal with many problems they face on planes. |
| B．Flight attendants are likely to be helpful when asked for assistance. |
| C．Flying is pleasant for overweight people at present. |
| D．People’s bodies are getting bigger year by year. |
| A．will have to find more creative solutions in the future |
| B．might be unable to travel by air in the future |
| C．should miss out on the option for the in-flight meal |
| D．should grasp the chance to lose weight before flying |
【推荐2】Refill shops have been around for a decade. The first stores were small but appealed to many people who wanted to ditch plastic packaging and be more environmentally friendly. These zero-waste grocery stores allowed people to bring in their own refillable containers to buy food stored in large bins.
While these small shops are common in Europe and the US, they have recently gone from being trendy to being very mainstream. That’s because the UK supermarket giant ASDA rolled out its own chain of sustainable refill shops, according to The Grocer.
These refill stores offer the usual bins and have many household brands without the excessive(过度的)packaging including Kellogg, Yorkshire Tea, and Nestlé. Even Unilever and P&G shampoos and soaps are represented.
“We hope the varieties offered across our range of 100 branded and own-label loose(裸包装的)products can bring together several simple ways for customers to reduce, reuse or recycle at home,” ASDA director of commercial sustainability Susan Thomas told The Grocer.
Cutting back on single-use plastics is a big win for the planet while many people make an effort to recycle. But according to Greenpeace, while the government of the UK claims that 50 percent of household plastics is being recycled, over half of that is being sent to other countries. There is no way to know how much is actually being recycled. The best way to ensure that plastic doesn’t end up incinerated(焚烧), in landfills, or in the oceans, is not to use it in the first place. That’s where refill shops can help.
Many of these shops stock products from brands that are also being enthusiastic about selling sustainably sourced and local products, which helps reduce your carbon footprint. Only buying the amount of food that you actually need will also help cut down on food waste and the environmental cost of food production.
1. What does the underlined word “ditch” in paragraph 1 probably mean?| A．Abandon. | B．Improve. | C．Consider. | D．Recycle. |
| A．By selling cheaper refillable containers. |
| B．By prohibiting plastic packaging widely. |
| C．By funding these first small refill shops. |
| D．By building its own chain ofrefill shops. |
| A．Warning grocers of plastic problems. |
| B．Showing the necessity of refill shops. |
| C．Telling the harm of single-use plastics. |
| D．Giving the examples of going zero-waste. |
| A．Purchase more products from brands. |
| B．Send plastic products to other countries. |
| C．Ensure wasted food ends up in landfills. |
| D．Avoid buying more food than we need. |
Get a high school diploma, at least. Without that, you will be occupationally dead unless your name happens to be George Bernard Shaw or Thomas Alva Edison, and you can successfully dropout in grade school.
Get a college degree, if possible. With a B. A., you are on the launching pad. But now you have to start to put on the brakes. If you go for a master’s degree, make sure it is an M.B.A., and the famous law of diminishing(逐渐减少的) returns begins to take effect.
Do you know, for instance, that long-haul truck drivers earn more per year than full professors? Yes, the average salary for those truckers was $24000 while the full professors managed to earn just $23030.
A doctorate is the highest degree you can get. Except for a few specialized fields such as physics or chemistry where the degree can quickly be turned to industrial or commercial purposes, if you pursue such a degree in any other field, you will face a future which is not bright. There are more doctors unemployed or underemployed in this country than any other part of the world.
If you become a doctor in English or history or anthropology or political science or languages or—worst of all—in philosophy, you run the risk of becoming overeducated for our national demands. Not for our needs, mind you, but for our demands.
Thousands of doctors are selling shoes, driving cars, waiting on table, and endlessly filling out applications month after month. They may also take a job in some high school or backwater(闭塞) college that pays much less than the doorkeeper earns.
You can equate the level of income with the level of education only so far. Far enough, that is, to make you useful to the gross national product, but not so far that nobody can turn much of a profit on you.
1. According to the writer, what the society expects of education is to turn out people who ______.
| A．will not be a disgrace to society |
| B．will become loyal citizens |
| C．can take care of themselves |
| D．can meet the nation’s demand as a source of manpower |
| A．they are improperly educated |
| B．they are of little commercial value to their society |
| C．there are fewer jobs in high schools |
| D．they prefer easier jobs that make more money |
| A．with diplomas |
| B．who specialize in physics and chemistry |
| C．who are valuable to the gross national product |
| D．who receive little education |
| A．Bernard Shaw didn’t finish high school, nor did Edison. |
| B．One must think carefully before pursuing a master’s degree. |
| C．The higher your education level, the more money you will earn. |
| D．If you are too well-educated, you’ll be overeducated for society’s demands. |
| A．a means of providing job security and financial security and a means of meeting a country’s demands for technical workers |
| B．a way to broaden one’s horizons |
| C．more important than finding a job |
| D．an opportunity that everyone should have |
【推荐1】Whitman was one of the most original and inspiring American poets, well known for his art and his role as a poet. He devoted himself to poetry praising the native American’s experience. As America’s first epic poem, Leaves of Grass ran nine editions with more than 400 poems all written in free forms, that is, poetry without a fixed beat or regular rhyme scheme. The tide implies rebirth, renewal, or green life. As Whitman once said, “Leaves of Grass was the outcropping of my own emotional and other personal nature — an attempt, from first to last, to put a person, a human being freely, fully and truly on record.”
For Whitman, science, democracy (民主) and spirituality (灵性) were the three things that underlay the structure of modern poetry. Whitman tried to combine the world of science, the democracy and the spiritual feeling of life into his poetry. For Whitman, the poetic form should be free. Therefore, he threw aside the traditional form and had his own form. Both the form and content of his poems are revolutionary. With its frequent use of oral language and everyday events, his poem represented a turning point in the history of American poetry — poetry fashioned out of specially American experience in a clear American idiom. Whitman’s unique poetic creation has developed a very significant tradition in American poetry.
In his poems, he celebrated new America rather than regretted it. He was against slavery, idolized (崇拜) Lincoln, supported strikes, and combined the ideal of the common people and that of the ragged individual.
1. Which of the following is RIGHT?| A．Whitman called on others to write poems like him. |
| B．Whitman praised the native rich Americans. |
| C．Whitman wrote poems to tell about the native American’s experience. |
| D．He wanted to become a great poet. |
| A．There are fixed beats and regular rhyme schemes |
| B．We could see rebirth, renewal or green life |
| C．We could only see science, wars and damage |
| D．There is no emotional nature |
| A．by giving up the traditional form |
| B．without colloquial (通俗的) language |
| C．by telling English history |
| D．against poetic creation |
| A．The rich people. |
| B．The poor people. |
| C．The poem writers. |
| D．The American lawyers. |
【推荐2】Almost everyone has heard the expression, “the clam before the storm”. It is usually used to describe a peaceful period just before a very stressful situation or a tense argument.
British sailors created the phrase in the late 1600s; they noted that before certain storms the seas would seem to become static and the winds would drop.
But why is it often so calm before a storm? Science has given us the answer. According to US infotainment (资讯娱乐) website HowStuffWorks, a clam period occurs because many storms, such as tornadoes and hurricanes, draw in all the warm and humid (湿的) air from the surrounding area. As this air rises into the storm clouds, it cools and acts as “fuel for the storm, like petrol in a car”.
Once the storm has taken all the energy it can from the air, it is pushed out from the top of the storm clouds and falls back down to ground level. As the air descends (下降), it becomes warm and dry. Warm, dry air is stable, so once it covers an area, it causes a calm period before the storm.
This same process also causes the “eye of the storm” in hurricanes and tornadoes. In these conditions, the calm occurs in the center of the storm because of the strong rotating (旋转的) winds.
The weather Network has a tip for working out how far away a storm is. First, count how many seconds there are between a flash of lightning and a clap of thunder. Roughly three seconds equal one kilometer. So, for example, if you count nine seconds, the storm is about 3 kilometers away. A good gauge (评估) is that if your count is below 30 seconds, you should seek shelter straight away.
However, due to the complexity of storm system, not all storms are preceded by calm. Given the right conditions, some storms announce themselves with heavy rain and chilling (寒冷的) winds.
So, your best bet is to keep yourself updated with weather reports for any predictions regarding a coming storm in your area. That’s the most reliable and sensible (合理的) away to predict the next display of nature’s temper (脾气).
1. The underlined word “static” in Paragraph 2 is closest in meaning to ______.| A．violent | B．quiet | C．fast-changing | D．warm |
| A．To explain how a storm come into being. |
| B．To support previous research on storm clouds. |
| C．To explain why a peaceful period occurs before a storm. |
| D．To show how dangerous a storm can be in certain situations. |
| A．Three kilometers. | B．Four kilometers. |
| C．Five kilometers. | D．Six kilometers. |
| A．It is not always quiet before a storm. |
| B．Storms have a big influence on life. |
| C．Heavy storms don’t usually last for a long time. |
| D．Weather reports may fail to predict a storm. |
【推荐3】Starting in the late 1980s, the plastics industry spent tens of millions of dollars encouraging recycling through ads and recycling projects, telling people plastics could be recycled, but their own internal records showed that industry officials long knew that plastic recycling on a large scale comes with high costs but poor results.
A report sent to top industry directors in 1973 said that plastic recycling was not as easy as people thought and sorting plastic was impractical. Another document a year later showed that there was serious doubt that plastic recycling can get profits on an economic basis.
Despite this, three former top officials said the industry supports recycling as a way to beat back a growing trend of stopping using plastics in the 1980s. “The plastics industry is under fire, but we want to continue to make plastic products,” Thomas, an official from a company making plastics says.“ If the public think the recycling is working, then they’re not going to be so worried about the environment.”
“The public gradually doubt the idea that the plastics industry could do a satisfying job in dealing with plastics and protecting the environment. But now we have already funded new technologies to change this situation. We don’t want to see the pollution of the environment either and are willing to solve the problem,” says Jim Becker, vice president of Chevron Phillips Plastics Company.
However, the more plastics are recycled, the less money the industry will make. And the industry now produces many more different kinds of plastics that are more costly to sort and in many cases can’t be recycled at all. Efforts to reduce the use of plastics are increasing worldwide, but any plan to slow the growth of plastics will cause the whole industry to lose billions of dollars in the future.
1. What problem is mentioned in the first paragraph?| A．Too expensive plastics recycling. |
| B．Failure in recycling plastics in right ways. |
| C．Lack of advanced technologies in plastic recycling. |
| D．Environmental problems from increasing recycling needs. |
| A．don’t make new plastics products |
| B．try to teach people to sort plastic products |
| C．encourage people to recycle plastics for more sales |
| D．think environmental problems are hard to deal with |
| A．He devotes himself to selling more high-tech products. |
| B．He wants to change the public’s understanding of plastics. |
| C．The plastics industry is praised by the public for its efforts. |
| D．The plastics industry starts taking on more social responsibilities. |
| A．Reducing plastics production has become a new trend. |
| B．Changes in prices of plastics increase the difficulty of recycling. |
| C．Plastics recycling puts the plastics industry in a difficult situation. |
| D．The plastics industry spends more improving the plastics quality. |
