It’s common knowledge that the woman in Leonardo da Vinci’s most famous painting seems to look back at observers, following them with her eyes no matter where they stand in the room. But this common knowledge turns out wrong.
A new study finds that the woman in the painting is actually looking out at an angle that’s 15. 4 degrees off to the observer’s right-well outside of the range that people normally believe when they think someone is looking right at them. In other words, said the study author, Horstmann, “She’s not looking at you. “ This is somewhat ironic, because the entire phenomenon of a person’s gaze (凝视) in a photograph or painting seeming to follow the viewer is called the “Mona Lisa effect” . That effect is absolutely real, Horstmann said. If a person is illustrated or photographed looking straight ahead, even people viewing the portrait from an angle will feel they are being looked at. As long as the angle of the person’s gaze is no more than about 5 degrees off to either side, the Mona Lisa effect occurs.
This is important for human interaction with on-screen characters. If you want someone off to the right side of a room to feel that a person on-screen is looking at him or her, you don’t cut the gaze of the character to that side-surprisingly, doing so would make an observer feel like the character isn’t looking at anyone in the room at all. Instead, you keep the gaze straight ahead.
Horstmann and his co-author were studying this effect for its application in the creation of artificial-intelligence avatars(虚拟头像) when Horstmann took a long look at the “Mona Lisa” and realized she wasn’t looking at him.
To make sure it wasn’t just him, the researchers asked 24 people to view images of the “Mona Lisa” on a computer screen. They set a ruler between the viewer and the screen and asked the participants to note which number on the ruler intersected(和……相交) Mona Lisa’s gaze. To calculate the angle of Mona Lisa’s gaze as she looked at the viewer, they moved the ruler farther from or closer to the screen during the study. Consistently, the researchers found, participants judged that the woman in the “Mona Lisa” portrait was not looking straight at them, but slightly off to their right.
So why do people repeat the belief that her eyes seem to follow the viewer? Horstmann isn’t sure. It’s possible, he said, that people have the desire to be looked at, so they think the woman is looking straight at them. Or maybe the people who first coined the term “Mona Lisa effect” just thought it was a cool name.
1. It is generally believed that the woman in the painting “Mona Lisa”___________.| A．attracts the viewers to look back |
| B．seems mysterious because of her eyes |
| C．fixes her eyes on the back of the viewers |
| D．looks at the viewers wherever they stand |
A． | B． | C． | D． |
| A．confirm Horstmann’s belief |
| B．create artificial-intelligence avatars |
| C．calculate the angle of Mona Lisa’s gaze |
| D．explain how the Mona Lisa effect can be applied |
| A．Horstmann thinks it’s cool to coin the term “Mona Lisa effect”. |
| B．The Mona Lisa effect contributes to the creation of artificial intelligence. |
| C．Feeling being gazed at by Mona Lisa may be caused by the desire for attention. |
| D．The position of the ruler in the experiment will influence the viewers’ judgement. |
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【推荐1】In spring, chickens start laying again, bringing a welcome source of protein at winter’s end. So it’s no surprise that cultures around the world celebrate spring by honoring the egg.
Some traditions are simple, like the red eggs that get baked into Greek Easter breads. Others elevate the egg into a fancy art, like the heavily jewel-covered “eggs” that were favored by the Russians starting in the 19th century.
One ancient form of egg art comes to us from Ukraine. For centuries, Ukrainians have been drawing complicated patterns on eggs. Contemporary artists have followed this tradition to create eggs that speak to the anxieties of our age: Life is precious, and delicate. Eggs are, too.
“There’s something about their delicate nature that appeals to me,” says New Yorker cartoonist Roz Chast. Several years ago, she became interested in eggs and learned the traditional Ukrainian technique to draw her very modern characters. “I’ve broken eggs at every stage of the process — from the very beginning to the very, very end.”
But there’s an appeal in that vulnerability(易损性). “There’s part of this sickening horror of knowing you’re walking on the edge with this, that I kind of like, knowing that it could all fall apart at any second.” Chast’s designs, such as a worried man alone in a tiny rowboat, reflect that delicateness.
Traditional Ukrainian decorated eggs also spoke to those fears. The elaborate patterns were believed to offer protection against evil.
“There’s an ancient legend that as long as these eggs are made, evil will not exist in the world.” says Joan Brander, a Canadian egg-painter who has been painting eggs for over 60 years, having learned the art from her Ukrainian relatives.
1. People in many cultures honor the egg because _______________.| A．it is their major source of protein in winter |
| B．it is a welcome sign of the approach of spring |
| C．it can bring wealth and honor to them |
| D．it can easily be made into a work of art |
| A．carve | B．promote | C．place | D．lower |
| A．She is never sure what the final design will look like until the end. |
| B．She always achieves great pleasure from designing something new. |
| C．She never knows if the egg will break before the design is completed. |
| D．She believes there won’t be evil in the world once the egg is made. |
| A．the decorated “eggs” are favored as a form of fancy art in Russia |
| B．contemporary artists draw on eggs to reflect anxieties of people today |
| C．the delicate nature of eggs appeals to Roz Chast |
| D．eggs provide a hard and unique surface to paint on |
【推荐2】Craft (手工艺）is becoming a heritage industry — but a record of disappearing skills might just come in handy in the future.
Mr. Lobb (of John Lobb the bootmaker) mentioned that custom clothing and shoe-making were once the norm for everyone. How come，then，today a pair of normal Lobbs would set you back over £2,000? The price has obviously gone up because of lack of competition and higher wages，but would custom clothing once again be affordable to all if the demand was there? Do we just wave goodbye to these skills，or should we fight to maintain them?
The disposable (一次性的）culture we “enjoy” today has existed in our life for almost two generations now. We like our products to be made by either a robot or invisible，cheap hands so that we can accumulate them cheaply and frequently. The concept of “craft” is something that’s now largely considered to be strange，and seems to be limited to museums and dusty, independent shops. Hobby crafts such as knitting do undergo revivals (复兴）from time to time，but I think that’s because they are seen as short-lived fashionable leisure pursuits rather than a craft worthy of revivals on a commercially feasible (可行的）scale.
To drive a revival in any of these crafts, you would probably need to apply the same marketing techniques that are used to sell any other items today. The consumer must believe that they just have to have it. If they don't have it now, it will either go up in price or go out of fashion --- both reasons enough in themselves for a shopper to act.
But does it finally matter if these skills will no longer serve any practicable use in the decades to come? I don’t know the answer to that，but I have long thought it would be a good idea if we “banked” these skills somehow，just as we are not attempting to do with seeds. You just never know whether we’ll need them in the future. Maybe it’s time to establish a worldwide network of volunteers to record，through the written words and videos，as many of these dying skills as possible. Actually, a rough look on YouTube fills me with hope that an army of willing volunteers is probably out there already and just needs someone or something to gather them together.
1. According to the text，the custom clothing is dying in that_| A．it serves no useful purpose |
| B．it doesn’t meet people’s demand any more |
| C．it is too costly for most people to afford |
| D．it has long been lack of competition all along |
| A．It is a sign of disposable culture. |
| B．It indicates the direction of fashion. |
| C．It can’t help revive the traditional crafts. |
| D．It creates no commercial value in the long run. |
| A．Making them as affordable as possible for the foreigners. |
| B．Adopting modern marketing strategies used to sell other items. |
| C．Establishing a network of volunteers to sell them worldwide. |
| D．Drawing people’s attention to the videos of these crafts. |
| A．shows great interest in craft |
| B．doesn’t want craft to disappear |
| C．feels sad about the disappearance of craft |
| D．tries to explain the reason for craft’s disappearance |
【推荐3】Though the spread of good reproduction (复制品) of works of art can be culturally valuable, museums continue to promote the special status of original work and highlight the authenticity (真实) of its exhibits. Unfortunately, this seems to place severe limitations on the kind of experience offered to visitors.
One limitation is related to the way the museum presents its exhibits. Art museums are often called “treasure houses”. We are reminded of this even before we view a collection by the presence of security guards who keep us away from the exhibits. In addition, a major collection like that of London’s National Gallery is housed in numerous rooms, where a single piece of work is likely to be worth more than all the average visitor possesses. In a society that judges the personal status of the individual so much by their material worth, it is therefore difficult not to be impressed by one’s own relative “worthlessness” in such an environment.
Furthermore, consideration of the “value” of the original work in its treasure house setting impresses upon the viewer that since these works were originally produced, they have been assigned a huge value in terms of money by some person or institution more powerful than themselves. Evidently, nothing the viewer thinks about the work is going to alter that value, and so today’s viewer is discouraged from trying to extend that spontaneous, immediate, self-reliant kind of interpretation which would originally have met the work.
The visitor may then be struck by the strangeness of seeing such a variety of paintings, drawings and sculptures brought together in an environment for which they were not originally created. This “displacement effect” is further heightened by the huge volume of exhibits. In the case of a major collection, there are probably more works on display than we could realistically view in weeks or even months.
This is particularly distressing because time seems to be a vital factor in the appreciation of all art forms. A fundamental difference between paintings and other art forms is that there is no prescribed time over which a painting is viewed. Operas, novels and poems are read in a prescribed time sequence, whereas a picture has no clear place at which to start viewing, or at which to finish. Thus art works themselves encourage us to view them superficially, without appreciating the richness of detail and labor that is involved.
Consequently, the dominant critical approach becomes that of the art historian, a specialized academic approach devoted to “discovering the meaning” of art within the cultural context of its time. This is in harmony with the museum’s function, since the approach is dedicated to seeking out and conserving “authentic”, “original” readings of the exhibits.
1. The writer mentions London’s National Gallery to illustrate ______.| A．the undesirable cost to a nation of maintaining a huge collection of art |
| B．the conflict that may arise in society between financial and artistic values |
| C．the negative effect a museum can have on visitors’ opinion of themselves |
| D．the need to put individual well-being above large-scale artistic schemes |
| A．lack the knowledge needed |
| B．fear it may have financial implications |
| C．have no real concept of the work’s value |
| D．feel their personal reaction is of no significance |
| A．involve direct contact with an audience |
| B．require a specific location for performance |
| C．need the involvement of other professionals |
| D．call for a specific beginning or ending |
| A．Original work: killer of artistic appreciation |
| B．Original work: reduction to value of art works |
| C．Original work: substitute for reproduction |
| D．Original work: art historians’ bread and butter |
【推荐1】Children who don’t read proficiently by the end of third grade are far more likely to be left behind in many ways.
The first thing to know about early literacy is that it is critically important; the next, that it connects to a whole lot of other conditions and challenges. But the best thing to know is that there are solutions to the problem of poor reading skills and some smart people working toward them. They could use your help.
“It’s more than an education issue, more than a reading issue,” says Arianne Weldon, director of the Get Georgia Reading Campaign, a collaborative nonprofit founded in 2013. “Getting more kids to read takes more than good schools, more than great teachers, more than loving families. It really does take all of us working together.”
Only 42 percent of Georgia public school children are now reading proficiently by the end of third grade, according to 2019 Georgia Department of Education (DOE) figures — not a great number, but an improvement over the 37 percent recorded in 2015 and lower scores prior to that.
Weldon says children not in that proficiency group are four times more likely to drop out of high school and, further, that every student who doesn’t finish represents an estimated $260,000 in lost earnings and productivity.
“By the end of third grade,” says Mindy Binderman, executive director of Georgia Early Education Alliance for Ready Students, or GEEARS, a nonprofit concerned with early learning, “if children are not reading at grade level, they are less likely to be successful in school, less likely to graduate on time, more likely to engage in risky behavior. The third grade reading marker is such an important indicator of all that comes later and, frankly, all that came before.”
A key national study released by the Annie E. Casey Foundation in 2010 highlighted the reading problem, especially among students from low-income families and children of color; subsequent research has reinforced the correlation between poverty and both reading ability and failure to graduate from high school. Clearly, poverty plays a key role in children’s reading proficiency, influencing the schools they attend and the community resources they can utilize.
Parents’ education level, especially mothers’, is a factor as well. “Maternal education and maternal literacy is a huge predictor of child literacy and educational outcomes,” says Dana Rickman, vice president of the Georgia Partnership for Excellence in Education (GPEE), established by the Georgia Chamber and the Georgia Economic Developers Association to promote and support education. “We’ve got a pretty high adult illiteracy rate in Georgia that a lot of people don’t like talking about.” Improving adult literacy ultimately impacts children’s reading ability.
1. According to the passage, early literacy is important mainly because it ________.| A．indicate how well a child’s brain has been developing |
| B．explain the reasons why a child drops out of high school |
| C．tells whether a child may become successful as an adult |
| D．reports the average educational level of a certain region |
| A．Entering schools with fewer resources. |
| B．Achieving more poorly in high school. |
| C．Earning less than the ordinary people. |
| D．Causing more risks in future life. |
| A．improving mothers’ education is useful for bettering children’s reading ability |
| B．exposing children to reading tasks at an early age is part of family support |
| C．illiteracy rate can be greatly reduced by upgrading children’s communities |
| D．parents can predict their children’s early literacy based on their resources |
| A．Why third grade is seen bu experts as a critical period. |
| B．How the government may improve parents’ education level. |
| C．Why adult illiteracy rate is higher in Georgia than in other places. |
| D．How poverty may influence a child’s future academic development. |
【推荐2】Dental health: Brush with confidence
Children should be taught to brush their teeth regularly. But the suspicion remains among some People, dentists included, that even so, certain children are doomed to develop dental cavities. The hypothesis behind this fear is that some combinations of genes may give rise to the sorts of oral bacteria which are responsible for cavities. If true, that would be sad for the youngsters concerned.
But a study just published in Cell Host and Microbe, by Andres Gomez and Karen Nelson of the J. Craig Venter Institute, in San Diego, suggests it isn’t true.
The mouth is home to many species of microbes. Most are good. Some, though, are well known to secrete acidic waste products when fed sugar. This acidity weakens teeth, causing them to decay.
To try to find out whether a child’s genes play any role in encouraging such acid-secreting bugs, Dr Gomez and Dr Nelson set up an experiment with twins.
Their“volunteers”were 280 pairs of fraternal twins and 205 pairs of identical twins, all aged between five and 11, who had not taken antibiotics during the previous six months. The children were asked to stop brushing their teeth the evening and the morning before the crucial moment of data collection. This was when the researchers swabbed the children’s gingival sulci(the clefts between teeth and gums, in which bacteria collect)to find out what was there. The children also had their teeth scored by dentists as belonging to one of three categories: having no signs of current or previous dental cavities: having signs of current or previous cavities affecting the enamel(a tooth’s hard, outer layer); or having signs of cavities that penetrated the enamel and allected the underlying dentine as well.
Dr Gomez and Dr Nelson found that, though identical twins shared many groups of bacteria which were not shared by fraternal twins, none of these was a type responsible for cavities. Moreover, similarities in bacterial flora were greatest among five-to seven-year-olds, weaker among seven- to nine-year-olds and weakest among nine-to 11-year-olds. This suggests that any role genes do play in regulating the mouth’s ecology fades with time.
Far from supporting the idea that some children are fated to suffer from cavities no matter how well they brush their teeth, these results make it clear that the power to control the growth of the relevant bacteria is very much within reach of children and their parents. Brushing, however, may not be the only approach. Avoiding sugary foods is obviously de rigueur. It seems likely, though, that which other foods a child eats may help shape his oral ecosystem, too. This is an area of ongoing research. But, as in the intestines(肠道), so in the mouth, scientific medicine is at last coming to grips with the fact that the mixture of microbes present is both important and capable of manipulation, to the benefit of the host.
1. What does“hypothesis”refer to in paragraph 1?| A．Children’s failure to brush their teeth properly leads to tooth decay. |
| B．Some children are programmed to develop tooth decay. |
| C．Youngsters are suspicious of the effectiveness of tooth-brushing. |
| D．Some genes are more likely to lead to dental cavites. |
| A．whether genes have anything to do with dental decay |
| B．which group of twins are more likely to have decayed teeth |
| C．what kinds of foods tend to give rise to tooth decay |
| D．why the ecosystem of the intestines is similar to that of the mouth |
| A．Scientists are not yet sure how ecosystem of the mouth is formed. |
| B．The role genes play in controlling ecosystem of the mouth weakens with the time. |
| C．The children are classified into three groups according to the degrees of dental cavities. |
| D．Identical twins are not as genetically close to each other as fraternal twins. |
| A．The existence of multiple microbes benefits children’s oral ecosystem. |
| B．What a child eats enhances the healthfulness of a child’s oral ecosystem. |
| C．Cutting down on sugar intake is the most likely way to prevent tooth decay. |
| D．Parents are in no position to help their children maintain healthy oral ecosystem. |
【推荐3】The high-tech revolution has inspired a pleasure endless stream of new and exciting electronic products that we just can’t live without. In fact, the speed of technological innovation can make last year’s must-have this year’s junk. And that’s the problem.
The average life span of a personal computer has been shortened to around 18 months and this has nothing to do with worn-mice or damaged disk drives. Simply put, electronic products can become out of date before you’ve even figured out how they work.
So what happens to all those old keyboards, monitors, organizers and CPUs? Most are stored away in a warehouse (仓库), taking up valuable space. But many end up in landfills, and that is where the trouble really begins. Computer monitors can contain up to 3.5 kg of dangerous waste once they are no longer in use.
Unfortunately, this problem is not going to disappear anytime soon. In fact, it is growing by the minute. In Japan alone, people throw away some 20 million TVs, washing machines, refrigerators and air conditioners each year. What is to be done with all this techno-trash?
One way to reduce waste is to avoid throwing away in the first place. Many companies reuse parts from old products in new models. This is not cheating-it makes both environmental and economic sense. Cannon, for example, has adopted a philosophy known as “kyosei”, meaning “living and working together for the common good?” — a goal of achieving balance between the environment and the corporate (公司的) activities. The company has even gone so far as to say that environmental assurance should come before all business activities, and that companies unable to achieve such assurance do not deserve to remain in business.
As part of that effort, the company has started a global recycling program with a goal to reduce, reuse and recycle more than 90% of its used products. In 1999, for example, Cannon collected 128, 000 copying machines and 12, 175 tons of toner cartridges (色粉盒) in Japan, Europe and the United States.
Some argue that electronic garbage can also be controlled during the design phase. This concept, called “design for the environment”. Not only does this make environmental sense, but it saves the customer money. IBM, meanwhile, recently planned programs in Canada and the US that, for a small fee, will take back not just an IBM but also any manufacturer’s computer. Depending on the age and condition, the equipment will then be either donated to charity, or broken down for reusable parts and recyclable materials.
1. With the rapid development of science and technology high-tech products can ____.| A．last for many years |
| B．become worn out soon |
| C．become old and useless soon |
| D．be used forever |
| A．Too much room is needed for their probable storage. |
| B．People do not know how to deal with them at all. |
| C．The amount of this techno-trash is increasing everyday without stop. |
| D．Harmful substances contained within may pollute the environment. |
| A．Business must be achieved at the cost of environment. |
| B．Environment holds great importance than business. |
| C．Business and environment has little impact on each other. |
| D．Recycling makes only environment sense instead of economic benefits. |
| A．while designing products, we must make something to contain garbage |
| B．while designing products, don’t throw away garbage away |
| C．while designing, we must work out how much garbage the new product will bring about |
| D．while designing, we must take environment into consideration. |
| A．The problem caused by high-tech products can’t be solved in short time |
| B．The techno-trash problem can easily be solved in big countries |
| C．The problem can be solved to some degree if enough attention is paid |
| D．It is still hard to say whether this problem can be solved or not |
【推荐1】The assumption that depression is a disease has been supported by biologists, psychiatrists and companies producing medicine. Although advances in medical treatment have certainly been responsible for reducing much suffering, sticking to the disease model is preventing a more complete understanding of why we are so likely to suffer from depression, with at least 45% of people experiencing the condition in their lifetimes.
My recent review of theories and personal observations suggests that depression might serve some useful functions. We should not forget that depression has meaning, and that there is a real new life after recovery.
A recent study of depression in Holland showed that people seemed to cope better with hardships in life after depression than they were doing before it. In the group as a whole, liveliness, psychological health, social and spare-time activities, performance at work and general health all significantly improved upon recovery from depression.
Depression can lead to great insights(洞察力) and achievements. More than 2,000 years ago, Aristotle believed depression to be a state of great moral and spiritual value because of the insights it could bring. The philosopher John Stuart Mill wrote his famous work, Utilitarianism, at the age of 19 and became depressed at the age of 21. Upon recovery, he admitted that the experience had taught him an important lesson---that he should not sacrifice(牺牲) his social and emotional development to intellectual ambition.
Theories have suggested that depression could be a defense against the long-time stress. It is possible that depression defends us against the tendency to ignore our true needs by chasing unobtainable goals and helps to bring these needs into sharper focus.
Depression may bring about a “rebirth” because it removes a false idea about oneself. There is some evidence from scientific studies to show that depressed people are rather more realistic in their thinking than “healthy” individuals. With recovery, a new kind of truth could be found, which would do away with blind optimism: a more modest evaluation of the depressed person’s own ability, containing a more balanced picture of his or her life.
Depression may have forced our ancestors to look again at their strengths and weaknesses, and their coping strategies. Regardless of the reason for falling into depression, the journey has potential to make us better equipped, in a general sense, for life.
1. Which of the following is the disadvantage of treating depression as a disease?| A．People dislike being taken as patients. |
| B．The medical treatment costs a lot of money. |
| C．It prevents us from better understanding depression. |
| D．It stops people from getting a balanced picture of life. |
| A．take part in too many social activities |
| B．aim too high in intellectual achievement |
| C．write Utilitarianism at such an early age |
| D．consider too much about emotional needs |
a. It enables people to perform better at work
b. It makes it easier to achieve people’s dream.
c. It helps people to get a realistic view of self
d. It improves people’s ability to deal with difficulties
| A．abc | B．bcd |
| C．abd | D．acd |
| A．Ways to Address Depression |
| B．Brave Attitude to Depression |
| C．Depression: Disease or Rebirth? |
| D．Depression: Assumption or Reality? |
【推荐2】Microsoft announced this week that its facial-recognition system is now more accurate in identifying people of color, touting (吹嘘）its progress at tackling one of the technology’s biggest biases (偏见).
But critics, citing Microsoft’s work with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, quickly seized on how that improved technology might be used. The agency contracts with Microsoft for cloud-computing tools that the tech giant says is largely limited to office work but can also include face recognition.
Columbia University professor Alondra Nelson tweeted, “We must stop confusing ‘inclusion’ in more ‘diverse’ surveillance (监管）systems with justice and equality.”
Facial-recognition systems more often misidentify people of color because of a long-running data problem： The massive sets of facial images they train on skew heavily toward white men. A Massachusetts Institute of Technology study this year of the face-recognition systems designed by Microsoft, IBM and the China-based Face++ found that facial-recognition systems consistently giving the wrong gender for famous women of color including Oprah Winfrey, Serena Williams, Michelle Obama and Shirley Chisholm, the first black female member of Congress.
The companies have responded in recent months by pouring many more photos into the mix, hoping to train the systems to better tell the differences among more than just white faces. IBM said Wednesday it used 1 million facial images, taken from the photo-sharing site Flickr, to build the “world’s largest facial data-set” which it will release publicly for other companies to use.
IBM and Microsoft say that allowed its systems to recognize gender and skin tone with much more precision. Microsoft said its improved system reduced the error rates for darker-skinned men and women by “up to 20 times,” and reduced error rates for all women by nine times.
Those improvements were heralded（宣布）by some for taking aim at the prejudices in a rapidly spreading technology, including potentially reducing the kinds of false positives that could lead police officers misidentify a criminal suspect.
But others suggested that the technology's increasing accuracy could also make it more marketable. The system should be accurate, “but that’s just the beginning, not the end, of their ethical obligation,” said David Robinson, managing director of the think tank Upturn.
At the center of that debate is Microsoft, whose multimillion-dollar contracts with ICE came under fire amid the agency’s separation of migrant parents and children at the Mexican border.
In an open letter to Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella urging the company to cancel that contract, Microsoft workers pointed to a company blog post in January that said Azure Government would help ICE “accelerate recognition and identification.” “We believe that Microsoft must take an ethical stand, and put children and families above profits,” the letter said.
A Microsoft spokesman, pointing to a statement last week from Nadella, said the company’s “current cloud engagement” with ICE supports relatively anodyne（温和的）office work such as “mail, calendar, massaging and document management workloads.” The company said in a statement that its facial-recognition improvements are “part of our going work to address the industry-wide and societal issues on bias.”
Criticism of face recognition will probably expand as the technology finds its way into more arenas, including airports, stores and schools. The Orlando police department said this week that it would not renew its use of Amazon. com’s Rekognition system.
Companies ”have to acknowledge their moral involvement in the downstream use of their technology,”
Robinson said. “The impulse is that they’re going to put a product out there and wash their hands of the consequences. That’s unacceptable.”
1. What is “one of the technology’s biggest biases” in Paragraph 1?| A．Class bias. | B．Regional difference. |
| C．Professional prejudice. | D．Racial discrimination. |
| A．Justice and equality have been truly achieved. |
| B．It is due to the expansion of the photo database. |
| C．It has already solved all the social issues on biases. |
| D．The separation of immigrant parents from their children can be avoided. |
| A．Data problems. | B．The market value. |
| C．The application field. | D．A moral issue |
| A．Skeptical. | B．Approval. |
| C．Optimistic. | D．Neutral. |
| A．companies had better hide from responsibilities |
| B．companies deny problems with its technical process |
| C．companies should not launch new products on impulse |
| D．companies should be responsible for the new product and the consequences |
| A．The wide use of Microsoft system | B．Fears of facial-recognition technology |
| C．The improvement of Microsoft system | D．Failure of recognizing black women |
【推荐3】It’s almost spring, the time of year when the change in seasons could lead to some pretty fascinating cloud activity in the sky. NASA and the GLOBE Program are inviting you to take part in a citizen science cloud observation challenge. The GLOBE Program is an international science and education program that provides students and the public with the opportunity to participate in data collection and the scientific process.
From March 15 through April 15, citizen scientists of all ages can make up to 10 cloud observations per day using the GLOBE Observer app or one of the other data entry options (for trained GLOBE members). Challenge participants with the most observations will be congratulated by a NASA scientist in a video posted on the GLOBE Program’s website and on social media.
“The GLOBE Program is offering this challenge to show people how important it is to NASA to have citizen scientist observations: observations from the ground up,” said Marile Colon Robles, lead for the GLOBE Clouds team at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. “We’re going from winter to spring, so the types of storms will change, which will also change the types of clouds.
Researchers use, and value, this citizen science cloud data because it helps to validate data from Earth-observing instruments. Scientists at Langley work with a set of six instruments known as the Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System(CERES)
Even though CERES’ instruments use advanced technology, it is not always easy for researchers to positively identify all types of clouds in their images. For example, it can be difficult to differ thin, wispy cirrus clouds(细小的卷云)from snow since both are cold and bright; even more so when cirrus clouds are above a surface with patchy snow(片状雪)or snow cover. One solution to this problem is to look at satellite images from a particular area and compare them to data submitted by citizen scientists on the ground.
“Looking at what an observer recorded as clouds and looking at their surface observations really helps us better understand the images that were matched from the satellite,” said Colon Robles.
You don’t have to be a cloud-gazing professional to participate. For those who want to be part of the challenge but don’t have a lot of experience identifying clouds, Colon Robles offers the following advice: “Just go outside.” The more clouds you observe, she said, the more comfortable you’ll be collecting data.
1. Why do researchers launch the cloud observation challenge?| A．The GLOBE Program is badly short of hands. |
| B．The technology CERES uses is not that advanced |
| C．Scientists can compare data from different instruments. |
| D．Cirrus clouds are difficult to identify when with snow cover |
| A．create | B．cancel |
| C．count | D．confirm |
| A．Citizen observers can only submit their data by means of an app |
| B．Observers submitting the most observations can get a special prize |
| C．Observations from the ground are not as valuable as satellite images |
| D．The data collected by citizen scientists will be posted on social media |
| A．NASA Employs New members |
| B．Cloud Activities Bring a New Challenge |
| C．Citizens Gain Experience through Observation |
| D．Professionals Teach You to Observe Clouds |
Innocence is such a precious gift. It’s explained as freedom from guilt or wrong doing. Just imagine never having to worry about anything and having a guilt free mind. Some people wish to save this kind of innocence from being lost from childhood to adulthood.
What would the world be like if innocence were never lost? One way it would benefit humanity is the lack of hatred （仇恨）among the world. During youth, there may be an occasional argument, even a little physical fight, but nothing like firing a handgun at a fellow human being. And children are blind towards the racial differences of others. A kid will hang out with any other kid. It is the lack of innocence and the ignorance we learn from adults that influence children otherwise. Another benefit is the constant desire for fun and adventure. With very little if any time at all for fun，the adventurous mind is lost in time with the responsibilities placed upon adults. If innocence were kept alive, these ambitions would never depart from our lives.
However, other people actually hate the idea of innocence lasting for ever. They feel that the lack of organization and mental power of those with innocence would cause extremely destructive consequences to society in general. A large number of individuals would never have the urge to learn, work, and act upon the necessary needs for humanity to survive. Without a proper education which is usually provided by those who no longer live in a world of innocence, people would not have the desire to succeed, get a good job in life, or provide income for their families, which would hurt the lives of children.
The lack of a good education and career would also harm the economy. As long as innocence is kept alive, no one would be terribly angered at the lack of effort people put out in the workplace, resulting in a strong decline in production and quality of needed goods.
Maybe it is wrong in wanting to save innocence. It sure is a nice thought, though. Perhaps innocence was meant to be lost. It was God’s will to make things the way they are, and there is a good purpose for everything. All that remains to be said about innocence is to enjoy it while it lasts.
1. Author believes that the loss of innocence in adulthood should be _____.| A．avoided | B．ignored |
| C．accepted | D．encouraged |
| A．proper education would be provided |
| B．there would be no racial discrimination |
| C．more happy families would be guaranteed |
| D．people would realize their childhood dreams |
| A．motivational will |
| B．mental ability |
| C．adventurous ambitions |
| D．needed goods |
CP: Central Point P: Point Sp: Sub-point (次要点) C: Conclusion
A． | B． |
C． | D． |
【推荐2】WASHINGTON—What parent doesn’t want to mold his or her child to be better, faster, smarter, more capable? Even though human parents can’t do that, a robot that builds its own children can. Scientists at the University of Cambridge in England have created a mother robot that not only constructs its own children, but tests their performance.
It's a robotic version of nature’s survival of the fittest. The mother robot analyzes the performance of each of the “children” it creates, and incorporates preferential traits into the next generation.
“As the mother creates them and puts them to work, she evaluates how they’re behaving, and she uses data from this behavior to create the next generation of robots,” explained research scientist Andres Rosendo.
There's no human intervention, except for a computer command to create a robot capable of moving from one place to another. The mother builds its children by gluing together pieces with small motors inside, in different configurations. Then it watches how quickly the children move, keeping the designs of the ones that moved the fastest.
“The mother robot can actually build hundreds of child robots and see the performance of these child robots. And if their performance is good, keep their design for the next generation. And if bad, just let it go，” said Fumiya Iida, lead researcher.
The motivation to produce better children is controlled by the research team, which provides an incentive.
“We program the robot based on some functions that define the reward the robot is going to get, depending on the construction that they make. They cannot change their own reward. In the case of the child robot, it’s distance, so the longer the distance the robot walks，the better the reward it receives,” said Rosendo.
After several generations，the “children” are running twice as fast.
“The mother robot generated 500 robots to see which one is good and which one is bad,” said Iida.
The researchers suggest the machines could be used in an auto plant, for example, where robot cameras examine each car in the assembly line, evaluate any mistakes, and then design a better car.
1. We can learn from the passage that ____.| A．human parents can't mold their child to be capable |
| B．a mother robot can build its own children independent of any human intervention |
| C．a mother robot tends to incorporate all children’s traits into the next generation |
| D．the law of survival of the fittest also applies to the robot world |
| A．The reward a child robot receives depends on the distance it walks. |
| B．The mother robot can run twice faster than child robots. |
| C．A child robot can choose its own reward as long as it behaves well. |
| D．The robots are used in a car factory to produce better cars. |
| A．frameworks | B．figures |
| C．systems | D．locations |
| A．Mother Robot Builds Its Own Children | B．A New Generation of Robots |
| C．A Walking Robot | D．A Clever Robot |
【推荐3】Aspirin has long been believed to help prevent heart attacks and strokes(中风).Some studies have shown that it also has a protective effect against certain types of cancer. As a result, some people religiously pop a low-dose(低剂量的) aspirin after breakfast every day (never take one on an empty stomach). But now its status as a wonder drug has come into question, following a meta-analysis of trial evidence.
A meta-analysis reviews the results of a large number of trials and can therefore come to more certain conclusions. This latest review was published this May in The Journal of the American Medical Association.It focused on the connection between aspirin use and cardiovascular(心血管的) and bleeding events. It found that the well-known risk that aspirin can cause internal bleeding is as great as the benefits of preventing heart attacks and strokes. In some cases, the risk even outweighs the benefits.
Aspirin thins the blood, thus helping to prevent blood clots (血栓). For his reason, it is a good drug for protecting people who have already had a heart attack or stroke from having another. However, the 164,225 people in these trials had no history of cardiovascular disease. They were monitored for an average of six years, during which time they took a daily aspirin or placebo(安慰剂).Among those who took aspirin, there were about 11% fewer heart attacks and strokes but 43% higher likelihood of a major bleeding episode in the stomach, brain or intestine(肠道).
Dr Sean Zheng, a cardiology(心脏病学) researcher at King’s College London, said that taking a daily aspirin couldn’t be recommended for healthy people. But there might still be a case for people with a higher risk of a heart attack or stroke, he added. However, it would be important to consider the bleeding risk.
“Aspirin use requires discussion between the patient and their physician, with the knowledge that any small potential cardiovascular benefits are weighed up against the real risk of severe bleeding." he said.
The findings reflect the average likelihood of bleeds or heart attacks among the patients in all the trials. There will be people among them who would be better off taking aspirin and those who will be worse. It's yet another situation where we need to weigh up our individual risk and benefit--- maybe with the help of an understanding GP.
1. Which of the following is NOT a reason why some people take an aspirin every day?| A．They want to lower their risk of having a heart attack |
| B．They hope to protect themselves against some cancers |
| C．They want to ensure they don't have a sick stomach |
| D．They aim to make sure they won't suffer another stroke |
| A．That aspirin does more harm than good to the human body |
| B．That aspirin frequently causes internal bleeding because it thins the blood |
| C．That previous research into the effects of aspirin on the human body was unreliable. |
| D．That taking aspirin is not worth the risk or those with no history of heart tacks or strokes. |
| A．To have a thorough physical examination |
| B．To ask for others' opinions on the internet. |
| C．To read the findings of new studies on aspirin |
| D．To talk with a doctor familiar with their condition |
| A．the director of a hospital |
| B．a public health journalist |
| C．the CEO of a medical company |
| D．a representative for an insurance company |
