It has been more than 40 years since anyone spotted a Japanese river otter (水獭). And the once common Tangtze River dolphins have either disappeared or are very rarely seen.
A huge challenge scientists and conservationists encounter is tracking species facing extinction in order to help them.
In Brazil, AI quickly analyzed over 150, 000 satellite images, revealing that the world’s largest tropical wetlands lost 74 percent of its surface water.
The use of AI has helped to accelerate action and increase conservationists’ ability to protect the natural world for generations to come.
| A．Give animals on the edge of extinction a fighting chance to survive |
| B．In Zambia’s Kafue National Park, home to more than 6, 000 elephants |
| C．Not until that revelation (揭露) were authorities aware of how desperate the situation was |
| D．Saving them was challenging because their whereabouts (行踪) were relatively unknown |
| E．These are just a few of the species that have been listed as extinct or locally extinct in recent years |
| F．However, because of weather conditions, researchers knew next to nothing about their winter behavior |
| G．This is where AI has brought about a revolution in the way data on these species is collected and analyzed |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】When I landed a feature assignment for National Geographic about urban wildlife in the United States, I was excited. There was just one problem: I had to figure out how to photograph wild animals on the move at night.
I had dreamed of doing a long-term photography project about these city animals ever since my college days in San Francisco, when I was “robbed” by a raccoon. I used to wander around the streets after dark, shooting the emotive, dimly-lit landscapes, and one night I suddenly saw a raccoon stand up like a human before running towards me and persuading me to quit my bag of Cheetos.
While I did manage to seize the tense moment right before the charge, almost every subsequent attempt to record raccoon behavior and add to the series was a failure. But I was determined to one day figure out how to overcome the obstacles.
Twenty years later, I had the perfect excuse to do exactly that. I would be spending months in the field documenting urban wildlife. My task for this assignment was to capture the hidden lives of raccoon, black bears, and coyotes experts at hiding—in several US cities. The images could help answer questions about adaptation: Do city animals become more daring and more experienced in human -made landscapes，through the daily challenges of finding food and shelter?
With the help from National Geographic photo engineer Tom O’Brien, I was equipped with several custom-built camera-trap setups. Each included three strobes (闪光灯) in waterproof housings, an armored camera box, a pile of cables, and an infrared (红外线) motion sensor -equipment I found unfamiliar and complicated, with countless variables that could go wrong in all sorts of ways.
During the many months I worked on this project, I came to see that these four-legged city animals are indeed learning ways to adapt to living among people. And I learned a thing or two from them.
1. How did the author feel when he first landed the job?| A．Disappointed. | B．Heartbroken. | C．Stressed. | D．Overjoyed. |
| A．His walking on a dimly-lit street. | B．His Cheetos being stolen in the street. |
| C．His coming across a human-like raccoon. | D．His Cheetos being grabbed by a raccoon. |
| A．How to capture a raccoon. | B．How to overcome his tension. |
| C．How to add raccoon to the series. | D．How to get a clear image of raccoon behavior. |
| A．Skilled and caring. | B．Helpful and generous. |
| C．Daring and modest. | D．Determined and adventurous. |
【推荐2】What exactly are white lions? “They are a color variation of regular lions,” says William Swanson, director of animal research at the Cincinnati Zoo, in Ohio.
White lions are the result of a rare color gene mutation(变异). When both a male and a female lion carry the same white genes, there is a good chance that one or more of their cubs(幼兽) will be born with white fur.
Not many lions carry the white mutation. In nature, it’s rare. A mutation can make an animal’s survival more difficult. For example, being white makes it harder for the animal to mix with its surroundings. Mutations also can cause physical problems, so those animals generally do not survive long enough to reproduce.
But sometimes white lion cubs are born among wild lions, especially in two areas of South Africa.
In 1975 two white cubs were spotted in the wild in South African reserve. They were seized and sent to a zoo. Today about 500 cubs of those two white lions and a few others known to have the white color gene live around the world in zoos, circuses, farms and private preserves.
White lions may be extremely rare in the wild, but breeders (饲养动物的人) know how to create more of them. This has created serious concern and debate.
White lions continue to exist only because they are inbred by people—fathers and daughters, sisters and brothers. Scientists worry that it also will cause health issues for white lions.
Inbreeding to create white lions as moneymaking attractions is only one concern. Another concern is that some people want to release captive－bred(人工繁殖的) white lions into the wild in South Africa to restore balance to the ecosystem. However, not everyone agrees that releasing these white lions into the wild is a good idea. Dan York of Hillsdale College has been studying white lion genetics and is worried. He says that because so many of today’s white lions are inbred, it could spread health problems. If they breed with wild lions, they’ll pass on the genetic problems to the wild population.
Instead of releasing captive－bred white lions, York suggests that South Africa concentrate on protecting all of its wild lions. That would ensure the safety of the wild population of lions, which may produce healthy white cubs in the future.
1. It’s difficult for a white lion to survive because ______.a．its fur contrasts sharply with the surroundings
b．the mutation may cause physical problems
c．it is likely to be attacked by wild lions
d．it is hunted by human beings
| A．a, d | B．a, b | C．a, c | D．b, d |
| A．kept in enclosed space and unable to run away |
| B．bred in human－controlled environments with restricted settings |
| C．born among wild lions and kept in the zoo |
| D．produced by breeding among closely related members |
| A．their fur can be of great use |
| B．they can bring people a profit |
| C．people want to keep white lions as pets |
| D．people want to study the genes of white lions |
| A．It’s useless studying white lion genetics. |
| B．White lions shouldn’t be kept in zoos or circuses. |
| C．White lion cubs born among wild lions are more healthy than captive－bred ones. |
| D．The ecosystem in South Africa is being seriously damaged. |
| A．color gene mutation is common among lions |
| B．white lions are seldom seen in the wild |
| C．South Africa is taking strict measures to protect its wild lions |
| D．white lions will disappear from the earth soon |
【推荐3】Terrie Mitchell, 34, from Sheffield, received an unexpected present when she was finally reunited with her beloved cat — 11 years after she first went missing. Chloe, who only has one eye, was discovered living in an overturned wheelie bin just a few streets away from where she was last seen.
Chloe was first brought into her family home as a kitten, when Ms. Mitchell was aged 21 and still living at home with her mum, Jean. When she moved out with her partner, she let the longhaired black cat stay in the house she was used to. But when Ms. Mitchell’s mother died unexpectedly at the age of 60, Chloe disappeared and could not be found anywhere.
Despite searching for her, she all but gave up hope of ever seeing her cat again until she spotted a Facebook post featuring the longhaired cat. Postwoman Andrea Hurst had been delivering a parcel to an elderly lady, when she spotted the cat living in the wheelie bin. On her next round, she asked about the cat and was told she had been staying there for more than six years as the woman had been feeding her. The kindly woman asked a local cat shelter to collect Chloe, before using the social media site to locate the original owners. She wrote, “This is probably a long shot,but does anyone recognize this beautiful cat?”
Ms. Mitchell noticed the post by chance and commented, “Omg, this is my cat!!!!! I can’t stop shaking!!!!! Her name is Chloe!!! Please whoever knows contact me...”
The vet, who confirmed Chloe was more than 10 years old, told her owner it was nothing short of a miracle. Today Chloe is settling in well at her new home and even responds to her original name. Her delighted owner added, “Now I feel guilty that I didn’t search for her better, because she was obviously around. It could give hope to people who haven’t seen their pets for years.”
1. What do we know about Chloe from the first two paragraphs?| A．She is a shorthaired cat with only one eye. |
| B．She disappeared before Mitchell’s mother died. |
| C．She stayed in Jean’s house before she disappeared. |
| D．She was discovered in a wheelie bin far from Mitchell's house. |
| A．Jean. | B．An unknown person. | C．The vet. | D．Andrea Hurst. |
| A．Amazed. | B．Worried. | C．Hopeless. | D．Guilty. |
| A．The Best Gift | B．A Kind Woman |
| C．An Unexpected Reunion | D．A Missing Cat |
【推荐1】Geoffrey Everest Hinton is a British-Canadian cognitive (认知的) psychologist and computer scientist. In May 2023, Hinton announced his leaving from Google to be able to “freely speak out about the risks of AI”. Hinton’s work on neural networks—the method that teaches AI to process data in a way similar to the human brain—supports how modern chatbots like ChatGPT and Google Bard function. But now, he partly regrets making this advancement.
Hinton has been working on neural networks since he was a graduate student at the University of Edinburgh in the 1970s. Then few researchers believed in the idea. Even Hinton’s PhD advisor had his doubts. “We met once a week,” Hinton said. “Sometimes it ended in a shouting match.”
But Hinton persisted with his work. In the 1980s, he and his colleagues put forward a technique called backpropagation—an algorithm (算法) for training machines. In 2012, he had a big breakthrough: Hinton and two of his students created a neural network that could analyze photos and teach itself to identify objects. The next year, the team’s neural network startup was bought by Google, where Hinton continued to work.
For years, Hinton believed neural networks were not as good as the way human brains function, but he’s recently started thinking differently. He once thought it would take up to 50 years for the technology to outsmart humans, but he now predicts it’ll be just 5 to 20. Hinton’s immediate concerns are that fake text, pictures and videos produced by AI will make regular people unable to distinguish them from reality. Eventually, this technology could be used by humans to influence public opinion. He believes that AI could avoid its limits and begin making people do what it wants by learning how humans control or influence others.
However, Yann LeCun, Meta’s chief AI scientist who won the 2018 Turing Award with Hinton, has a different opinion. “I believe that intelligent machines will lead to a new renaissance (复兴) for humanity, a new era of enlightenment,” LeCun said.
1. What can we know about Geoffrey Everest Hinton?| A．He struggled a lot at Google before leaving. | B．He showed little interest in AI at college. |
| C．He prides himself on his achievements in AI. | D．He contributes a lot to the development of AI. |
| A．Put aside. | B．Showed off. | C．Stuck to. | D．Jumped at. |
| A．It might control humans. | B．It might make humans quick thinkers. |
| C．It will better protect people’s privacy. | D．It will need technological breakthroughs. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Negative. | C．Optimistic. | D．Contradictory. |
【推荐2】With artificial intelligence (AI) and robotic technology improving at impressive rates, there are some who worry that there’s a risk of artistic and creative people being replaced. A new study by the Korean Institute of Industrial Technology, however, is showing exactly why that can’t and shouldn’t happen. It all started when the South Korean company posed this question: Can robots replace conductors?
Over a year ago, work to develop automaton (自动化) began. At first, it was designed like a machine, and didn’t live up to expectations. Then the company sought ways to improve it. In the end, it was given two arms with joints to copy wrists and elbows, allowing it to move a stick similarly to how a human conductor would move it. It was named the EverR 6 robot, and stands at 1.8 meters. It was finally time to figure out how it could follow through on its musical role.
“We got involved in this project to see how far robots can go in more creative fields like the arts, and what the challenges are,” Dong-wook Lee, a senior researcher at the Korean Institute of Industrial Technology said.
In order to pull this off, Dong-wook Lee cooperated with the Busan Philharmonic Orchestra. The 12-minute piece they planned to perform — “Feel” by Il-hoon Son, was created specifically for this event. It was created with the strengths of both EverR 6 and the human conductor, Soo-yeol Choi, in mind.
To pull off this impressive performance, the robot was preprogrammed to conduct through 30 cycles of beat patterns. Meanwhile, it was up to the human conductor to lead the orchestra in creating an improvisational (即兴的) score, adding depth to the otherwise planned piece. Together, they pulled off a masterful performance that the audience seemed more than happy to have had the opportunity to witness it firsthand!
With the concert having gone so well, this is only the start of EverR 6. Still, no matter the improvements they’re able to make to this robot, the human conductor isn’t concerned about being replaced. “Let’s leave the accuracy to the robots,” Soo-yeol Choi said, “but the musical and artistic aspects to a human conductor.”
1. What is paragraph 2 mainly about?| A．The function of the EverR 6 robot. |
| B．The development of the EverR 6 robot. |
| C．The EverR 6 robot’s role as a conductor. |
| D．The difficulty in designing the EverR 6 robot. |
| A．It is a piece familiar to the audience. |
| B．It is a piece showing the human-robot cooperation. |
| C．It is the only piece that EverR 6 will perform. |
| D．It is a piece requiring great ability to conduct. |
| A．Unclear. | B．Indifferent. | C．Supportive. | D．Doubtful. |
【推荐3】One day, you might be ordering your favorite pizza from a robot.Researchers at a university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, are working on creating a pizza-making robot.
“Robots are basically preprogrammed to repeat the same actions over and over,” says David Held, a robot expert from Carnegie Mellon University, and one of the members of a pizza-making team．But making pizza has challenges.For instance, the flour (面粉) will become squishy when meeting water, with a shape that can change in many ways.Also, pizza-making requires many steps—such as rolling and cutting—and several tools, including a rolling, a knife and so on.In what order should the steps be done? Which tools should be picked, and when? “If you need to do a cooking task, there are several levels that you have to reason about,” Held says.Once people get the hang of it, “We don’t even need to think about exactly how we’re doing it- it sort of just happens.But robots can’t really “understand what to do on their own”.
To start, the team used a computer to consider how a robot could lift, fatten, gather, move and cut dough (生面团).The method has two levels of robotic reasoning: one that thinks how it should approach the overall task, and the other that thinks how it should move its “hands” to perform each action．The result was better than with the usual programming techniques.“We got a little bit closer to the right shape than the former methods,” Held says．“‘But there’s still a lot of room for improvement.”
For now, people will continue to make pizza the old-fashioned way: with their own hands.Sill, a pizza-making robot is a good goal.And if a robot could deal with dough, it could also work with other objects that can change shapes.“You can imagine robots helping in hospitals, or robots that clean up toys in day cares,” Held says.“The general goal is to eventually have robots that can help with whatever the task may be.”
1. What does the underlined word “squishy” in paragraph 2 mean?| A．Soft. | B．Dirty. | C．Plain. | D．Precious. |
| A．Separating flour from water. |
| B．Doing all the steps in order. |
| C．Using several tools at once. |
| D．Repeating the same actions. |
| A．Methods of moving a pizza. |
| B．Problems with pizza making. |
| C．Improvements to the pizza robot. |
| D．Suggestions on how to make pizza. |
| A．They will help humans in different fields. |
| B．They will replace humans to do all the work. |
| C．They will do better than humans in day cares. |
| D．They will do whatever task as well as humans. |
