A study expands positive evidence for a new screening tool that directly engages preschool children during clinic visits to assess their early literacy skills. The tool, called The Reading House (TRH), is the first of its kind. It has the potential to identify reading difficulties as early as possible, according to researchers at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.
TRH is an assessment developed by John Hutton and his team for kids aged from 3 to 5. Screening takes just about five minutes and assesses performance levels for kids aged from 3 to 5. It addresses a significant gap in ways to screen early literacy skills efficiently and directly. The tool, which is fun for kids, could be used in places like primary care or preschool settings. The screening measures core skills typically appearing in the preschool age range, including vocabulary, rhyming, alphabet knowledge and print concepts. All are skills predictive of reading success and often associated with reading difficulties.
The study involved 70 healthy children – 34 boys and 36 girls---between 3 and 5 years old from various socioeconomic background. The children completed standardized tests of important literacy skills: vocabulary, rhyming arid rapid automatized naming. Fifty-two of these children also successfully completed MRI (磁共振成像), including the measurement of the gray matter surface of their brains. The thicker cortex (皮质), particularly in left-sided areas supporting language and reading, has been associated with higher skills that are predictive of reading outcomes.
Many children arrive at kindergarten unprepared to learn to read, especially those from minority and economically poor backgrounds---estimated at over 50% of children from disadvantaged backgrounds in the U. S. and over 25% overall. “By screening early during clinic visits, we can target effective interventions that help these children better prepare for kindergarten and improve reading outcomes –literally, snaping thein brains to read. ” said Hutton.
1. What might be the purpose of creating TRH?| A．To identify the best reading apps for kids. |
| B．To develop preschool kids' literacy skills. |
| C．To discover kids' reading problems early. |
| D．To study key factors in kids' development. |
| A．It lacks reliability. | B．It has operational advantages. |
| C．It covers a wider target group. | D．It's modelled after conventional tools. |
| A．Older children from minority groups. |
| B．Younger children from economically advanced areas. |
| C．Children with complex cortical patterns in their brains. |
| D．Children with the thicker cortex in the left-sided areas of their brains. |
| A．Doubtful. | B．Favorable. | C．Uncertain. | D．Conservative. |
相似题推荐
【推荐1】Given how valuable intelligence and automation are, we will continue to improve our technology if we are at all able to. At a certain point, we will build machines that are smarter than we are. Once we have machines that are smarter than we are, they will begin to improve themselves. The concern is really that we will build machines that are much more competent than we are. And the slightest divergence (分歧) between their goals and our own could destroy us.
Just think about how we relate to ants. We don’t hate them. We don’t go out of our way to harm them. In fact, sometimes we take pains not to harm them. We step over them on the sidewalk. But whenever their presence seriously conflicts with one of our goals, we will kill them without hesitation. The concern is that we will one day build machines that, whether they’re conscious or not, could treat us with similar disregard.
The bare fact is that we will continue to improve our intelligent machines. We have problems that we desperately need to solve. So we will do this, if we can. The train is already out of the station, and there’s no brake to pull. If we build machines that are more intelligent than we are, they will very likely develop in ways that we can’t imagine, and transcend us in ways that we can’t imagine.
So imagine we hit upon a design of super intelligent AI that has no safety concerns. This machine would be the perfect labor-saving device. It can design the machine that can build the machine which can do any physical work, powered by sunlight, more or less for the cost of raw materials. So we’re talking bout the end of human labour. We’re also talking about the end of most intellectual work. So what would apes like ourselves do in these circumstances?
But the moment we admit that information processing is the source of intelligence, we have to admit that we are in the process of building some sort of god. Now would be a good time to make sure it’s a god we can live with.
1. Why does the author mention ants in Paragraph 2?| A．To compare intelligent machines to ants. |
| B．To show improved machines will get away from us. |
| C．To stress the presence of machines does conflict with our goals. |
| D．To explain future intelligent machines could treat us without mercy |
| A．Disable. | B．Inspire. | C．Disappoint. | D．Outpace. |
| A．By making comparisons. |
| B．By giving assumptions. |
| C．By showing valid evidence. |
| D．By analyzing statistics |
| A．Human beings will no doubt be destroyed by AI in the future |
| B．Super intelligent AI will put an end to human labour eventually. |
| C．We should keep the development of AI within humans’ control. |
| D．Human beings should stop the development of super intelligent AL. |
【推荐2】For motorcycle enthusiasts, nothing beats the excitement of riding your motorcycle on the open highway with the wind on your back. As gas prices rise, riding motorcycles is economical and a much greener way to travel. Along with the benefits comes the risk of personal injury if an accident occurs. After all, you’re not protected by steel like you are while driving your car. Besides a helmet, the latest safety innovations, new airbag jeans, are personal airbags that you can wear to better protect your life.
Airbags have been protecting people in car accidents for decades. Now, a Swedish company, Mo’cycle, teamed up with an airbag technology company which previously produced upper body protection for motorcycle riders, to design and produce the airbag jeans. This kind of airbag can offer protection for the motorcycle rider’s lower body, especially the tailbone, in case of an accident. According to the company, “It reformed the airbag technology to protect the first bone of the spinal column (脊柱), because spinal column injury is the leading cause of disability among motorcycle riders.”
The airbag jeans look like conventional trousers. Its component is removable and the jeans can be washed, dried, and worn again. The jeans are made of a fabric called Armalith which is stronger and weighs less than steel. Armalith helps to prevent riders from injuries caused by force of friction after a fall. The airbags fixed into the fabric help protect the rider if he or she falls off the motorcycle. If the rider is separated from the vehicle, the airbags are touched off in seconds. That’s because the mechanism is actually a chain that connects the jeans to the motorcycle.
Mo’cycle’s airbag jeans are available on the company’s crowdfunding campaign along with an airbag shirt and a complete protection package. Obviously, they can provide protection for more motorcycle riders. Making the roads safer for them is certainly a worthy effort.
1. What is the purpose of Paragraph 1?| A．To stress the necessity of airbags jeans. | B．To show the popularity of motorcycles. |
| C．To state the importance of wearing helmets. | D．To display the excitement of highway riding. |
| A．The tailbone injuries are hard to identify. |
| B．The airbag jeans offer overall protection for riders. |
| C．The airbag jeans are based on the existing technology. |
| D．Mo’ cycle is famous for airbag design and production. |
| A．They need fixing regularly. | B．They are quick in response. |
| C．They are comfortable to wear. | D．They lead a new fashion trend. |
| A．Indifferent. | B．Uncertain. |
| C．Curious. | D．Promising. |
【推荐3】A portrait created by artificial intelligence(AI)made a historic appearance on the auction(拍卖)block at Christie’s in New York City this week．It is the first artwork created by an algorithm(算法)to be offered for auction in the world of fine art．
The strange-looking painting of an imaginary man in a dark long dress left the auction block at Christie’s for $432，500 on Oct．25 in New York City．
The portrait—designed in the“Old Master”style of European fine artists from centuries ago—only partially fills the canvas(画布)，leaving empty space around the central figure．It appears to represent a man with an unclear face，dressed in clothing similar to that worn by subjects painted by the Dutch artist Rembrandt van Rijn in the 17th century．
Of course，a computer didn’t pick up a brush and become an artist．The AI that generated(生成)the image had human programmers—a Parisian art team called Obvious．To generate the portrait，titled“Portrait of Edmond De Belamy”，the Obvious team first fed the neural network a diet of 15，000 images painted between the 14th and 20th centuries，to train it to recognize visual elements in fine art，Obvious artist Hugo Caselles—Dupré told Christie’s．The algorithm that eventually created an original image had two parts that worked against each other，called the Generator and the Discriminator．
“The Generator makes a new image based on the set，and then the Discriminator tries to spot the difference between a human-made image and one created by the Generator．The aim is to fool the Discriminator into thinking that the new images are real—life portraits．Then，we have a result，”he told Christie’s．
GAN’s final image was then inkjet—printed on canvas and framed，according to Obvious．At the bottom of the portrait is a mathematical formula(公式)representing the algorithm that created it，Obvious artists wrote on the team’s website．
The goal of the painting and of Obvious，also co-founded by Hugo Caselles-Dupré and Gauthier Vernier，was to prove“artificial intelligence can do more than operate driverless cars or transform industry—it can be creative，”CNBC reported．
1. What does the author think of the portrait?| A．It might frightened away the visitors． | B．It was a breakthrough in history． |
| C．It was well received by all the artists． | D．It is a masterpiece painted by Christie． |
| A．It is painted with some empty space． |
| B．The figure wears a strange expression． |
| C．It is in the style of European fine artists of the time． |
| D．The figure is dressed in the same way as the Dutch artist． |
| A．They invested $432，500 to buy paintings． |
| B．They taught the network to learn painting． |
| C．They worked with the Generator to paint 1 5000 paintings． |
| D．They input a large number of paintings into the computer． |
| A．replace human beings | B．be applied in many fields |
| C．operate driverless cars | D．be better than human beings |
【推荐1】No one knows who made the first ice cream. Some people think that water ices and milk ices may have been made by the Chinese between three thousand and a thousand years ago. In that time, the dish reached India. The Indians, in turn, many have passed on the secret to the Arabs and Persians.
Marco Polo, an Italian who travelled widely in the thirteenth century, noted that he found the Chinese had long been making ices out of fruit juices and milk. From the fourteenth century on, ices became popular first in Venice and then throughout Italy.
In 1535, when Catherine de Medeicis left Italy to marry the future King Herry II of France, she took her cooks with her. They made desserts the French had never tasted before, which was ice cream.
At first ice cream was a luxury in France. Only rich people had the money to buy it. Then, in 1660, a young man from Sicily, Francisco Procopio, arrived in Paris. He opened a shop that sold ice cream at prices people could afford. Then his ice cream became more popular that other shops were opened.
About 1640, King Charles introduced ice cream to England and soon ice cream quickly became popular in England too.
1. Ice cream was unknown in France until .| A．1535 | B．1660 | C．1640 | D．1774 |
| A．Catherine de Medeicis | B．King Charles |
| C．Francisco Procopio | D．Marco Polo |
| A．Marco Polo’s travel in the world | B．Development of ice cream in France |
| C．Development of ice cream in England | D．Development of ice cream in other countries |
| A．Marco Polo’s travel | B．the history of ice cream |
| C．Catherine’s marriage | D．one of Chinese inventions |
【推荐2】Emerging economies (新兴经济) struggled to grow through the 2010s. People wonder how they will pay debts rung up during the pandemic and how they can grow rapidly as they did in the past — by exporting their way to wealth — in a new period.
The freshest of many answers to this puzzle is the fast spreading digital revolution. Emerging nations are adopting advanced technology at a lower cost, which is allowing them to fuel domestic demand and overcome traditional barriers to growth. Over the past decade, the number of smartphone owners has increased from 150 million to 4 billion worldwide. More than half the world’s population now carry the power of a supercomputer in their pockets.
Now, often by adopting rather than innovating, China’s emerging market peers are getting a push from the same digital engines. Since 2014, more than 10,000 tech firms have been launched in emerging markets — nearly half of them outside China. From Bangladesh to Egypt, it is easy to find companies who worked for Google, Facebook or other US giants before coming home to start their own companies.
In societies featured by bricks and-mortar stores (实体店) and services, customers are often comfortable with and slow to abandon the providers they have.
In countries where people have difficulty even finding a bank or a doctor, they will jump at the first digital option that comes along.
The “digital divide” is narrowing in many places. Last decade, the number of Internet users doubled in the G20 nations, but the biggest gains came in emerging nations such as Brazil and India.
The digital impact on productivity, the key to sustained economic growth, is visible on the ground. Many governments are moving services online to make them more accessible and less immune from corruption (腐败), perhaps the most feared barrier to doing business in the emerging world.
1. What is the main idea of the first paragraph?| A．To introduce the topic of emerging economies. |
| B．To inform readers of a world wide phenomenon. |
| C．To show the development of emerging economies. |
| D．To present the current economic dilemma during the pandemic. |
| A．By innovating digital engines. | B．By adopting advanced technology. |
| C．By investing new technology. | D．By decreasing domestic demands. |
| A．Be sad to refuse. | B．Be blind to follow. |
| C．Be excited to learn. | D．Be happy to accept. |
| A．Emerging Economies Struggled to Grow | B．Adopting Advanced Technology Does Matter |
| C．Technology Will Save Emerging Markets | D．The “Digital Divide” Is Narrowing in Many Paces |
The basic motive of public speaking courses should be to train you to become a public speaker and improve your skills of delivering a public speech. The course should first educate you with the principles of public speaking and tell you how to overcome stress and anxiety. By overcoming fear, you will be able to deliver your presentation clearly to your audience.
A speaker can have a great influence on the audience with his body language and your public speaking course should tell you the gestures on stage that can attract the audience. Non-verbal communication also has a major role to play in delivering a speech effectively to a group. Though body language is important, the content and the natural use of words are what the audience are closely caring about. Public speaking courses should give tips in using the right words at the right time.
Even though you have prepared well, the real success of public speaking lies in the way your speech is delivered. Public speaking courses will train you to present the contents in a lively manner impressing the audience. Your presentation should be professional and stylish. You can add humor or interactive sessions (互动环节) to your presentation to gain the audience attraction.
1. If you want to become a good speaker you should______.
| A．be born an excellent one |
| B．practise speaking in public |
| C．attend all kinds of courses |
| D．make a search on the Internet |
| A．the skills of listening to a public speech |
| B．the rules of attending a public speech |
| C．the importance of your presentation |
| D．how to keep calm while giving a speech |
| A．using non-verbal communication |
| B．getting rid of your fear and nervousness |
| C．following the public course |
| D．speaking in a loud voice |
| A．make. | B．have. | C．making. | D．having. |
| A．What to look for in the public speaking courses. |
| B．Some golden rules of giving a good speech. |
| C．It is easy to find the speaking courses online. |
| D．Some useful tips of delivering a public speech. |
