Brilliant though it is, Project Debater has some weaknesses. It takes sentences from its library of documents and prebuilt arguments and strings them together. This can lead to the kinds of errors no human would make. Such wrinkles will no doubt be ironed out, yet they also point to a fundamental problem. As Kristian Hammond, professor of electrical engineering and computer science at Northwestern University, put it: “There’s never a stage at which the system knows what it’s talking about.”
What does the underlined word “wrinkles” in paragraph refer to?
| A．Arguments. | B．Doubts. | C．Errors. | D．Differences. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Unfortunately, there isn’t a single gadget or app that can take care of backing up for you. But what I recommend is that you should aim to have two different sorts of back-up: one online, and one offline.
Which statement is the author most likely to agree with?
| A．It is advisable to keep two copies of data online. |
| B．There is no once-and-for-all data back-up strategy. |
| C．Storing data online is not as trustworthy as storing offline. |
| D．Online data storage runs a risk of a breakdown in digital devices. |
CLICK FOR A FRIEND?
How would you feel if moving to a new town meant losing track of your friends? What if the only way of getting news from faraway friends was writing letters that took ages to be delivered? This was how things worked not very long ago. Thanks to advances in technology, how we make friends and communicate with them has changed significantly.
Nowadays, we can move around the world and still stay in touch with the people that we want to remain friends with. Social media tools let us see what our friends are up to and maintain friendships. All you need is a wi-fi connection.
The digital age also enables us to find people who share our interests, such as collecting model cars or playing an unusual instrument. Whatever our hobbies, the Internet can connect us with others who also enjoy doing them, even if they live on the other side of the world.
But when you “friend” people online, does this mean that they really are your friends?
It depends.
If people always exchange true personal information online, then yes, these friendships can be real and meaningful. But we need to keep in mind that what we see on social media is often not the whole truth about a person.
On social media sites, people tend to post only positive updates that make them appear happy and friendly. But smiling photos can hide real problems. Remember the saying: on the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog. A young person could be old; a woman could be a man; we could even be sharing our information with criminals.
But this doesn’t mean that we should throw the baby out with the bathwater. Although technology has changed the way we acquire friends, the meaning of friendship and our longing for friends remain the same. As Aristotle said, no one would choose to live without friends, even if he had all other goods.
1. What does the text mainly talk about?| A．Disadvantages of making friends online. |
| B．Making friends on the Internet. |
| C．How to make friends on the Internet. |
| D．How to maintain friendships. |
| A．By writing letters. |
| B．By making calls. |
| C．By sending emails. |
| D．By using social media tools. |
| A．You don't exactly know who the person on the Internet is. |
| B．You may communicate with a dog on the Internet. |
| C．You can pretend to be a dog on the Internet. |
| D．You may have a chance to be a lucky dog on the Internet. |
| A．The author is in favour of making friends online. |
| B．The author thinks technology makes it hard for us to make friends. |
| C．The author thinks technology helps us maintain friendship more easily. |
| D．The author thinks the meaning of friendship has changed. |
6. 细读短文并找出文中的比喻句
【推荐3】The goal of this book is to make the case for digital minimalism, including a detailed exploration of what it asks and why it works, and then to teach you how to adopt this philosophy if you decide it’s right for you.
To do so, I divided the book into two parts. In part one, I describe the philosophical foundations of digital minimalism, starting with an examination of the forces that are making so many people’s digital lives increasingly intolerable, before moving on to a detailed discussion of the digital minimalism philosophy.
What is the book aimed at?| A．Teaching critical thinking skills. | B．Advocating a simple digital lifestyle. |
| C．Solving philosophical problems. | D．Promoting the use of a digital device. |
【推荐1】Search engines have changed the way we use the Internet, putting vast sources of information just a few clicks away. But Harvard professor of psychology Line Daniel Wegner’s recent research proves that websites and the Internet are changing much more than technology itself. They are changing the way our memories function.
Wegner’s latest study shows that when people have access to search engines, they remember fewer facts and less information because they know they can rely on “search” as a readily available shortcut.
Which of the following statements can be the best idea of the passage?
| A．Relying on technology has weakened our critical thinking. |
| B．People heavily depend on computer for storing information. |
| C．Human’s capacity for memory is much weaker than it was before. |
| D．Computers and technology are reshaping the functions of our brain. |
【推荐2】In an effort to stop poaching (偷猎) and protect endangered species, people are using technology previously created to discover stars. Claire Burke, who led the project, says the application of the starhunting tech has so far paid off big for conservation. “Since animals and humans in thermal imagery (热成像) ‘glow’ in the same way as stars in space, we have been able to combine the technical expertise of astronomers with the conservation knowledge of ecologists to develop a system to find the animals or poachers automatically,” she said in a statement.
In addition to species identification, the software can also provide an overview of health. Burke said that diseased or injured animals give off a different thermal imagery than the healthy ones. “The real advantage this gives you is that if you know how many animals you have and where they are and what kind of health they are in, then you can work out a good conservation strategy for looking after them,” she said.
The following is a post written by Burke on Twitter: More animals for the thermal imagery library. Thanks to Chester Zoo Science @ScienceatCZ for letting us observe their fantastic creatures. Images are giraffes, Indian elephants, and fruit bats.— Claire Burke (@CBurkeSci) October 27, 2017.
To train the software on a wide variety of heat signatures from different species, the team of researchers spent time collecting thermal imagery of animals. Their first field trial to detect Riverine rabbits, one of the most endangered mammals in the world (with only 500 living adults left in the wild), was a complete success. “The rabbits are very small, so we flew the drone (无人机) quite low to the ground at a height of 20 meters (65 feet). Although this limited the area we could cover with the drone, we managed to see the rabbit five times,” said Burke. “Given that there have only been about 1,000 times people have seen Riverine rabbits, it was a real success.”
What is the text mainly about?
| A．Technology has helped a lot in helping the endangered animals. |
| B．Scientists use stargazing tools to protect endangered species. |
| C．What we should do to protect the endangered animals. |
| D．Scientists are working hard to protect the environment. |
【推荐3】The elderly residents (居民) in care homes in London are being given hens to look after to stop them feeling lonely.
The project was dreamed up by a local charity (慈善组织) to reduce loneliness and improve elderly people’s wellbeing. It is also being used to help patients suffering dementia, a serious illness of the mind. Staff in care homes have reported a reduction in the use of medicine where hens are in use.
Among those taking part in the project is 80-year-old Ruth Xavier. She said: “I used to keep hens when I was younger and had to prepare their breakfast each morning before I went to school. ”
“I like the project a lot. I am down there in my wheelchair in the morning letting the hens out and down there again at night to see they’ve gone to bed.”
“It’s good to have a different focus. People have been bringing their children in to see the hens and residents come and sit outside to watch them. I’m enjoying the creative activities, and it feels great to have done something useful.”
There are now 700 elderly people looking after hens in 20 care homes in the North East, and the charity has been given financial support to roll it out countrywide.
Wendy Wilson, extra care manager at 60 Penfold Street, one of the first to embark on the project, said: “Residents really welcome the idea of the project and the creative sessions. We are looking forward to the benefits and fun the project can bring to people here.”
Lynn Lewis, director of Notting Hill Pathways, said: “We are happy to be taking part in the project. It will really help connect our residents through a shared interest and creative activities.”
1. How has the project affected Ruth Xavier?| A．She has learned new life skills. |
| B．She has gained a sense of achievement. |
| C．She has recovered her memory. |
| D．She has developed a strong personality. |
| A．It is well received. |
| B．It needs to be more creative. |
| C．It is highly profitable. |
| D．It takes ages to see the results. |
【推荐1】Since there was usually not enough time for a bystander pig to become involved in the heat of a conflict, though this did occur, Dr Norscia looked at what happened in the three minutes immediately following a fight. Sometimes, he found, the fighters reconciled with each other on their own. The more distantly related the fighters were, the more frequently this happened. Dr Norscia guessed that relations between close relatives are more secure to start with, so rebuilding friendly relations rapidly is less necessary for them.
......
What does the underlined word “reconciled” probably mean in paragraph 4?| A．Caught up. | B．Kept in touch. | C．Made up. | D．Changed in tune. |
【推荐2】People’s sensitivity to blood sugar is also dampened when they’re tired, the study found, which suggests those who don’t sleep well are at higher risk of type 2 diabetes. “We saw that the fatty tissue is attempting to increase its capacity to store fat following sleep loss.” said Dr Cedernaes, “And we observed signs of breakdown of skeletal muscle. We also noted changes in levels of proteins involved handling blood glucose. This could help explain why the participants’ glucose sensitivity was impaired following sleep loss.”
What does the underlined word “dampened” in paragraph 4 mean?
| A．Decreased. | B．Transformed. |
| C．Transmitted. | D．Promoted. |
【推荐3】The goal of this book is to make the case for digital minimalism, including a detailed exploration of what it asks and why it works, and then to teach you how to adopt this philosophy if you decide it’s right for you.
To do so, I divided the book into two parts. In part one, I describe the philosophical foundations of digital minimalism, starting with an examination of the forces that are making so many people’s digital lives increasingly intolerable, before moving on to a detailed discussion of the digital minimalism philosophy.
Part one concludes by introducing my suggested method for adopting this philosophy: the digital declutter. This process requires you to step away from optional online activities for thirty days. At the end of the thirty days, you will then add back a small number of carefully chosen online activities that you believe will provide massive benefits to the things you value.
In the final chapter of part one, I’ll guide you through carrying out your own digital declutter. In doing so, I’ll draw on an experiment I ran in 20I8 in which over I,600 people agreed to perform a digital declutter. You’ll hear these participants’ stories and learn what strategies worked well for them, and what traps they encountered that you should avoid.
The second part of this book takes a closer look at some ideas that will help you cultivate (培养) a sustainable digital minimalism lifestyle. In these chapters, I examine issues such as the importance of solitude (独处) and the necessity of cultivating high-quality leisure to replace the time most now spent on mindless device use. Each chapter concludes with a collection of practices, which are designed to help you act on the big ideas of the chapter. You can view these practices as a toolbox meant to aid your efforts to build a minimalist lifestyle that works for your particular circumstances.
What does the underlined word “declutter” in paragraph 3 mean?
| A．Clear-up. | B．Add-on. | C．Check-in. | D．Take-over. |
