【推荐2】From the early morning, I sit, glued to the chair in front of my computer, even for hours sometimes. But one thing I try to do every day is take a ten-minute walk around midday.

Walking at lunchtime is a smart thing to do, a new study finds. This doesn’t seem like news. After all, we’ve known forever that doing exercise is good for us. But as The New York Times points out, those fitness studies typically looked at the effects of exercise plans in the long run. This new study looks at changes that happen more quickly, from one day to the next or even from this hour to the next hour.

A group of office workers who almost sit got involved in the research, all out of shape, but otherwise emotionally and physically healthy. Researchers asked them to take 30-minute lunchtime walks, three days a week for 10 weeks. The volunteers were also asked to install apps on their phones, so that the researchers could send the volunteers questions after they walked. Then the researchers used those answers to judge how the volunteers were feeling about life and work, and to measure their feelings about everything from stress and tension to motivation.

When the researchers compared the volunteers’ answers on the afternoons when they walked to those on the afternoons they didn’t walk, there was quite a difference. On the days when they had a lunchtime walk, the volunteers said they felt less stressed, more energetic and more relaxed versus(与……相对) on the days when they didn’t walk.

Unfortunately, many of the volunteers weren’t confident that they’d continue walking after the study, mainly because they were expected to work through their lunch breaks. Understandable, sad.

1. How does the new study differ from other fitness studies?

A．It focuses on the short-term effects of walking.

B．It calls on people to have a walk after lunch.

C．It mainly pays attention to office workers.

D．It aims at studying the relationship between exercise and health.

2. Why were the volunteers required to install apps on their phones?

A．To chart their time spent online.	B．To know how long they walked.
C．To respond to the researchers’ questions.	D．To prevent them from getting lost.

3. What is the finding of the new study?

A．Office workers usually have little time to go for a walk.

B．Walking brings more advantages to people than other exercise.

C．A long-time-to-sit lifestyle is linked to an increased risk of disease.

D．Lunchtime walks contribute to quickly boosting people’s mood.

4. What can we infer about the volunteers from the passage?

A．They will spend more time walking.

B．Some of them tend to be more outgoing.

C．Most of them will perform better at work.

D．They may stop lunchtime walks due to work pressure.

【推荐3】Oded Brenner has a great job. He makes chocolate. In the 1990s, he co-created an inter- national chocolate company called Max Brenner Chocolate. His businesses included a 650-square-meter store on Broadway in New York City. Then in 2012, Brenner left that business. A few years later, he began exploring a different side of chocolate. In 2015, during a business trip to Jamaica, he developed a love and excitement for the fruit that produces chocolate: cacao（可可）.

The Jamaican people taught him a lot about cacao—namely, it is more than just chocolate. Brenner saw Jamaican people making juice, spirits, and flour from the cacao fruit. And they used the whole fruit-not just the beans. Although Brenner had worked with chocolate for 20 years, he knew little about cacao. While the fruit might have been unknown to him, it is not unknown to the people of Jamaica and other countries like Ecuador.

The Ecuadorian people also taught Brenner how to use cacao. In Ecuador, he saw people drink cacao water and eat its dried fruit. You can eat the whole fruit, he learned. But in making traditional chocolate, he added, "All of the other parts of the fruit are wasted." The fruit is a little sweet and a little sour. The cacao water is described as uplifting. The seed inside is the cacao bean. This is the part that is processed to make chocolate.

With his new business and his new knowledge, Brenner says he wants to tell both sides of the chocolate story. So, he has created new products that celebrate the traditional side of chocolate-making and the natural taste of the cacao fruit. Brenner said cacao is high in antioxidants（抗氧化物）. And the water is full of natural chemicals. These are things needed in the body fluid to control important processes including how your body uses vitamins and minerals and removes waste. In addition to health, Brenner said that the cacao he uses for his products is farmed in a way that is not harmful to the environment. And it is also fair to the farmers.

1. When did Brenner show great interest in cacao?

A．During a trip to Jamaica.

B．After his company broke up.

C．Before his first chocolate company.

D．When travelling in Jamaica with his family.

2. What do people do with cacao in making traditional chocolate?

A．Make its fruit dry.	B．Process its water.
C．Keep only its beans.	D．Make it taste sweeter.

3. What does Brenner want to do with his new products?

A．Produce natural vitamins.	B．Replace the traditional chocolate.
C．Help more farmers make profit.	D．Make full use of cacao fruit.

4. What can be the best title for the text?

A．Cacao Is the Symbol of Jamaica

B．Cacao Is More than Just Chocolate

C．Chocolate Makes Life Much Healthier

D．A Businessman Created the Best Chocolate

【推荐1】A ＂match of the century＂ between human champion of the Chinese board game Go (围棋) and Google’s computer program _____ in Seoul on Wednesday, which drew great attention.
The first game of the five-game match started at about 1 p.m. local time (0400 GMT) at Four Seasons Hotel in central Seoul. It will run through next Tuesday to determine the winner between South Korean Lee Sedol, the world Go champion in the past 10 years, and AlphaGo, developed by Google’s London-based subsidiary DeepMind.
The match of the century drew great attention from news organizations, Go fans and the general public across the world as well as in South Korea as it is seen as a representative match between humans and artificial intelligence (AI).
The Korea Baduk Association, a body for South Korean Go professionals, had received advance applications for an explanatory event of the match, but the limit of 60 seats had already surpassed.
South Korea’s public broadcaster KBS plans to broadcast live the match from 12:40 to 5 p.m., extending its initial plan to air it for two hours from 3 p.m. due to great interests from the general public. It is unusual for the public broadcaster to broadcast live the Go game for more than four hours.
Cable channel TV Chosun will broadcast the match’s development every 10 minutes on Wednesday and Thursday, while planning to air live the whole matches on Saturday and Sunday.
The match is being aired live through YouTube around the world, while various Internet websites and TVs are broadcasting the landmark match.
Hundreds of journalists from around the world gathered at the venue (体育比赛场所) to report on the match between Lee and AlphaGo.
AlphaGo took the world by surprise as it defeated European Go champion Fan Hui in October last year. Some experts had predicted it would take decades of years for AI to defeat humans at the ancient Chinese board game.
Go, which originated in China more than 2,500 years ago, has been viewed as a grand challenge for AI due to its complexity and intuitive nature. It involves two players, who take turns putting markers (围棋子) on a grid-shaped board to gain more areas on it. One can occupy the markers of the opponent by surrounding the pieces of the other.
1. What does the underlined phrase ＂kicked off＂ mean?

A．Started.

B．Stayed.

C．Closed.

D．Finished.

2. Why did the match draw so much attention in the world?

A．Because the match was the first one between humans and AlphaGo.

B．Because it is seen as a representative match between humans and AI.

C．Because it would take decades of years for AI to defeat humans at the ancient Chinese board game.

D．Because many TVs broadcast live the game.

3. The following statements are true except _______.

A．there are five matches between South Korean Lee Sedol and AlphaGo

B．AlphaGo gave the world a surprise by defeating European Go champion Fan Hui in October last year

C．Go originated in China more than 2,500 years ago

D．cable channel TV Chosun will broadcast all the five games

4. What’s the best title of the passage?

A．Go match between human champion and Google’s AI draws wide attention

B．Humans challenge artificial intelligence

C．Human Go champion will defeat Google’s AI AlphaGo in Go games

D．Report competition from all over the world become fierce in Go games

【推荐3】Have you ever shouted at your computer because it wasn’t working? Your computer couldn’t “yell” back – until now. AI researchers are now working on computers that can argue and perhaps even win debates with humans.

IBM scientists published a paper in Nature on March 17 about their new AI system – Project Debater. After listening to arguments from its opponent (对手), the system can search around 400 million online articles in less than five minutes. It looks for ideas that can support its own argument.

Testing on the system began in 2019 when it debated with Harish Natarajan, a professional debater who holds the world record for most debate competition victories. The debate topic was whether or not preschool should be funded, and the AI system argued in favor of this idea. Although the AI lost the debate in the end based on the audience vote, the audience said it did very well. Interestingly, 58 percent of the audience said that Project Debater increased their knowledge about the topic, while only 20 percent said the same about Natarajan. Also, Project Debater has shown strength at making impressive and logical opening statements in the debate, according to Scientific American.

Humans and technology have been battling for decades. In 1997, IBM’s Deep Blue became the first computer to defeat a reigning (卫冕的) chess champion, Garry Kasparov in a six-game match. So after two decades, have IBM’s researchers just reproduced a “Deep Blue” to debate? It’s much more than that, the researchers noted. Argument and debate are fundamental abilities of human intelligence, and it’s a step outside of AI’s comfort zone to enter this field, according to the article in Nature.

1. What is the purpose of Paragraph 1?

A．Make a comparison.	B．Introduce the topic.
C．Ask a question about computer.	D．Give background information.

2. How can Project Debater debate with humans?

A．By learning from humans.

B．By making use of its internal data.

C．By listening to researchers’ instructions.

D．By collecting a lot of data in a short time.

3. What did the majority of the audience think about the performance of Project Debater in the testing?

A．Its opening statements were boring.

B．Its statements were not logical enough.

C．Its overall performance was better than Natarajan’s.

D．It made them more aware of the topic.

4. What can be learn from the last paragraph?

A．Humans have an advantage over AI in debating.

B．Project Debater is considered an updated version of Deep Blue.

C．AI has a long way to go before it can win against humans.

D．AI technology hasn’t progressed much in the last decades.

【推荐2】New York City public schools will ban students and teachers from using ChatGPT, a powerful new AI chatbot (聊天机器人) tool, on the district’s networks and devices, an official confirmed to CNN on Thursday.

The move comes amid educators’ growing concerns that the tool, which generates frighteningly convincing responses and even essays in response to user prompts (提示), could make it easier for students to cheat on assignments. Some also worry that ChatGPT could be used to spread incorrect information.

“Due to concerns about negative impacts on student learning, and concerns regarding the safety and accuracy of content, access to ChatGPT is restricted on New York City Public Schools’ networks and devices,” Jenna Lyle, the deputy press secretary for the New York public schools, said in a statement.

“While the tool may be able to provide quick and easy answers to questions, it does not build critical-thinking and problem-solving skills, which are essential for academic and lifelong success.”

OpenAI opened up access to ChatGPT in late November. It is able to provide lengthy, thoughtful and thorough responses to questions and prompts, ranging from factual questions like “Who was the president of the United States in 1955” to more open-ended questions such as “What’s the meaning of life?”

ChatGPT went viral just days after its launch. But many educators fear students will use the tool to cheat on assignments. One user, for example, fed ChatGPT an AP English exam question; it responded with a 5-paragraph essay about Wuthering Heights. Another user asked the chatbot to write an essay about the life of William Shakespeare four times; he received a unique version with the same prompt each time.

Darren Hicks, assistant professor of philosophy at Furman University, told CNN it will be harder to prove when a student misuses ChatGPT than with other forms of cheating.

1. What did Jenna Lyle think of ChatGPT?

A．It provides incorrect answers.	B．It serves no practical purpose.
C．It offers inaccurate information.	D．It fails to improve students’ skills.

2. What do educators fear about ChatGPT?

A．It will affect students’ studies.	B．It will lead to students cheating.
C．It will result in students’ long screen time.	D．It will offer unhealthy contents to students.

3. What do we learn about ChatGPT?

A．It can’t write Chinese essays.	B．It can’t answer open-ended questions.
C．It makes no mistakes when answering questions.	D．It can offer different essays for the same prompt.

4. What would be the most suitable title for the text?

A．ChatGPT Makes Cheating More Difficult to Find

B．ChatGPT Surprises the Public with Its Intelligence

C．ChatGPT Has Negative Effects on Students' Learning

D．ChatGPT will be banned in New York City Public Schools

【推荐3】The introduction of the iPad, with its touch screen technology, has allowed even very young children to take advantage of a computer. So what if all children in the school were given an iPad to use in class and take home with them?

Anne Laure Bazin works in a school where every child, teacher and teaching assistant is given a free iPad to use in and out of lessons. The main advantage of everyone having an iPad has been the improvement in communication. Documents can be emailed straight over to workmates during a meeting. Children hand in their homework by e-mail or through the school’s learning environment. Teachers now take the register using the iPad, which means that there is a centralized record of which children are in school, and which classroom they are in.

The use of iPads has encouraged greater sharing of resources among teachers. All communication with parents is now down by e-mail. Working as a group in class is much easier as children can share documents. The whole class can look at one child’s book by attaching the iPad to the whiteboard. Has forgotten the textbook. The teacher can take a photograph of the relevant and send it to the student in class.

While the use of the iPad in schools has revolutionized the way children are taught, it hasn’t completely replaced more traditional methods of teaching. Worksheets are still used in cross as some children prefer the contact. The children all have a textbook and exercise books. In Anne Laure’s school, Parents feared that the iPads would replace and the children would lose handwriting skills. Anne Laure says, “The teachers are not ready to let go of the traditional style of teaching. We have welcomed the iPads in so much as they help communication and widen the resources that can be used. But we are not ready to let go of paper yet. The children themselves still value their exercise books and depend on them for revision.”

1. What can teachers do when everyone uses an iPad in school?

A．They can have deep conversations with students.

B．They can have more time to prepare the lessons.

C．They can learn more about students’ activities at home.

D．They can communicate with their workmates more conveniently.

2. What is an advantage of using iPads in the classroom?

A．It saves students bringing the textbooks.

B．It reduces parents’ worry about teaching.

C．It improves the relationship between teachers.

D．It makes sharing information easier.

3. What is parents’ attitude towards the use of iPads in the classroom?

A．Worried.

B．Uncaring.

C．Annoyed.

D．Positive.

4. What is the main idea of the last paragraph?

A．Teachers prefer traditional methods of teaching.

B．The iPads won’t take the place of printed materials.

C．More and more schools are using iPads.

D．Exercise books are more valuable now.