AI is coming into our life in many ways. Recently, a smart AI technology named ChatGPT came out and excited the world. The number of its users had reached 100 million just in the first two months.
ChatGPT can be used in many different areas. It does quite well in chatting with people in a natural language. You can ask it any question and get a proper reply soon after. It is able to search for the exact information and give you the most useful advice. What amazes people most is that it is quite good at writing. Learning from the data (数据) on the Internet, it can finish a book report, a survey result, a teaching plan and even a novel. It is reported that a university student in the US got the highest score with his essay completed by ChatGPT. The president of Israel (以色列) even gave a public speech written by ChatGPT. In February 2023, this AI technology passed the job interview of Level 3 engineer for coding (编码) with a yearly pay of over $180,000. And in March, the newest GPT-4 came out with higher intelligence and quicker response.
The development of AI technology is surely changing the world. Will it completely take the place of reporters, teachers or painters? This is a big challenge for many to face.
1. The number of ChatGPT’s users had reached 10 million in the first two months.2. The most amazing ability of ChatGPT is that it’s good at speaking.
3. ChatGPT performs well because it learns from the data on the Internet.
4. ChatGPT is only able to help finish writing a book report.
5. The development of AI technology is a big challenge for people.
2 . Although English is not as old as Chinese, it is spoken by many people around the world every day. English speakers are always making new words and we should be able to know where most words come from.
Sometimes, however, no one may really know where a word comes from. Did you ever think about why hamburgers are called hamburgers, some men went to America from Europe. They came from a big city in Germany called Hamburg. They did not speak good English, but they are good at making food.
When some Americans saw them eating round pieces of beef, they asked the Germans what it was. The Germans did not understand the question and answered, “We came from Hamburg. “One of these Americans owned a restaurant and had an idea. He cooked some round pieces of the beef like what the men from Hamburg sold in many countries around the world.
Whether this story is true or not, it certainly is interesting. Knowing why some words have a certain meaning is interesting, too. The reason may be found in any large English dictionary.
1. According to the passage, ________.| A．English is as old as Chinese |
| B．English speakers are always making new words |
| C．English has more speakers than Chinese |
| D．we should know where new words come from in Chinese |
| A．a kind of food | B．a round piece of beef | C．the name of a village | D．a city in Germany |
| A．enjoyable | B．believable | C．valuable | D．usable |
| A．Where all the new words come from. |
| B．Where those Germans came from. |
| C．The reason why some words have a certain meaning. |
| D．The reason why English is spoken around the world. |
| A．Learning is a lifelong journey. | B．How we can learn English well. |
| C．Knowledge comes from questioning. | D．Knowing where words come from is fun. |
3 . Good manners mean politeness. Politeness can be seen in our daily lives, such as in one’s way of dressing, speaking and standing. Everyone should pay enough attention to his manners all the time. A man with good manners is welcomed everywhere and can make friends easily. On the other hand, a man with bad manners is thought to be rude and nobody wants to be friends with him. He would feel lonely and unhappy.
If you want to be a person with good manners, you will learn to use some useful expressions, such as “Please”, “Excuse me” and “Sorry” on different occasions. Also,where help is needed, you should be happy to lend a hand.
Like customs (风俗), good manners maybe different from country to country. Good manners in one country may not be good manners in another country. In order to behave like a person with good manners in different places, it is necessary for one to learn about cultures of other countries.
1. In the passage, a person’s good manners can be seen from the following EXCEPT ________.| A．dressing | B．speaking | C．standing | D．sleeping |
| A．be welcomed here and there | B．make friends easily |
| C．be rude | D．enjoy himself all the time |
| A．机会 | B．次数 | C．场合 | D．地点 |
| A．Good manners can make us lonely and unhappy. |
| B．People with good manners say “Sorry” all the time. |
| C．People with good manners are happy to help others. |
| D．Good manners are the same all over the word. |
| A．How to be careful in our daily lives. | B．How to make friend easily. |
| C．How to say useful expressions. | D．How to be a person with good manners. |
Birthdays are celebrated all over the world. Some traditions are rather similar from one country to another: candles, cakes and birthday wishes. But there are also different ways to celebrate birthdays. Here are some:
Argentina (阿根廷): In Argentina, as in many Latin American countries, one of the most important birthday parties is a girl’s fifteenth. When girls reach the age, they can have a huge party and dance first with their fathers, and then the boys at the party.
China: The birthday child receives presents from others. Friends and family members are invited to dinner, and noodles are served to wish the birthday child a long life.
Holland (荷兰): The birthday child receives an especially large present. The family also put flowers or balloons on the birthday child’s chair to make it beautiful.
India: Indian children usually wear white to school. However, the birthday child wears colored clothes to school and gives out chocolates to everyone in the class. His/ Her best friend helps do this.
Japan: The birthday child wears new clothes to mark the special time. Certainly, birthdays are more important than others, especially the third and seventh birthdays for girls and the fifth for boys.
1. In Argentina, when the children reach fifteen, they can have a huge party and dance with their fathers, and then the boys at the party.2. Chinese children always eat noodles to wish a long life on their birthdays.
3. A birthday child usually wears white to school in India.
4. In Japan, only the third and the seventh birthdays are important for kids.
5. The passage is mainly about similar birthday traditions in some countries.
Folk music is a kind of popular music. It comes from the people of any country. Folk singers sing songs from centuries ago, and they also write songs. They want to express their feelings about new things in the world today.
The word “folk” means “people”. Folk songs tell stories about people. For example, the songs tell about their jobs and work, their friends and their life. They also express ideas such as love and war. The words in the songs are an important part of the music.
In the United States and Europe, folk music became very popular during the 1960s. Fans listened to folk singers performing at concerts. The singer told stories, sang and played the guitar.
Fans listened to the music and often sang along with the performer. Some of the folk singers during this time were the Peter, Paul and Mary, Pete Seeger.
Later, people began to play this kind of music themselves at schools, at parties (盒式录音带) recorded by new folk performers. They can listen to folk music on the radio.
1. Folk music came from the United States.2. The words are not important in folk music.
3. A popular folk singer in the 1960s was Pete Seeger.
4. Fans could sing along with a performer.
5. Today, people play folk music themselves and don’t buy the singer’s disks any more.
6 . When we think about 2050, it seems that it is far from now and it will be a totally different world. But in fact, it is just about 30 years from now and we can already know what will be possible to have by that time. Now, let’s have a look at some predictions about 2050 together.
First, AI (人工智能) will offer (提供) more jobs in 2050. Many people worry about AI in our lives because they think in the end robots will do all the work and we won’t have jobs. But according to the survey of Forbes, in 2021, AI will create 2.3 million jobs and make only 1.8 million jobs disappear (消失).
Second, space travel will be possible in 2050. According to Business Insider, people can travel in space in 2050. But it will only be for wealthy people, because the travel to space will cost (花费) about 100 million dollars for just one week.
Last, self-driving cars will make driving safer. According to a report by Stanford University, in 2050, self-driving cars will make traffic related (有关联的) deaths less possible and they can also bring changes in our lifestyles, too. We will have more time for ourselves.
1. According to the survey, AI will create ________ jobs.| A．1.8 million | B．2.3 million | C．30 million | D．100 million |
| A．rich | B．healthy | C．successful | D．outgoing |
| A．You can drive it to space. |
| B．You can travel to anywhere you want. |
| C．You will drive it faster than usual cars. |
| D．You will have more free time. |
| A．five | B．four | C．three | D．two |
| A．AI will surely make robots do all the work for humans. |
| B．Life in 50 years will keep the same. |
| C．Space travel may come true in 2050. |
| D．Self-driving cars will make driving less safe. |
7 . Yunnan, a magical place with amazing biodiversity (生物多样性), is home to plants, insects and animals of different kinds. The 25 ethnic (少数民族的) groups enrich its culture as well.
Kunming, the capital of Yunnan, is also known as the Eternal Spring City, and as “the City of Flowers” around the world. The reason why Kunming is the flower center is because of the pleasant weather in Yunnan and the soil is perfect for growing flowers. Every year, a large number of people come to this city to revel in its sea of colors. Dounan Flower Market is the largest flower trading market in Asia which is almost five football fields in size, selling nearly 1, 600 kinds of flowers.
In the southern most point of Yunnan, there are wild Asian elephants living with the local people in the tropical (热带的) rainforest in Xishuangbanna. And it is the most well-protected ecosystem in China.
Pu’er is widely known for tea and it is grown on the side of the mountains. When the tea leaves are ready, they are picked leaf by leaf with hand and sent for processing. And then the tea is sent to many different countries and places around China. The tea ceremony(茶道)is getting more and more popular, and it’s also a very important part of business in Yunnan.
If you ever get a chance to visit Yunnan, please don’t miss the special food and performances of each ethnic group.
1. Yunnan is home to different kinds of ________.| A．wild Asian elephants and tropical rainforest | B．tree, flowers and birds |
| C．rivers, lakes and mountains | D．plants, insects and animals |
| A．1,500 | B．1,600 | C．1,700 | D．1,800 |
| A．There are 25 ethnic groups in Yunnan Province. |
| B．The pleasant weather in Yunnan is perfect for growing flowers. |
| C．The tea produced in Pu’er is only sent to other countries in the world. |
| D．The wild Asian elephants live in the tropical rainforest in Xishuangbanna. |
| A．a guidebook | B．a newspaper | C．a story book | D．an advertisement |
| A．Take a trip in Yunnan. | B．Amazing biodiversity. |
| C．Tea ceremony in Yunnan. | D．The wild Asian elephants. |
8 . Now satellites are helping to forecast (预报) the weather. They are in space, and they can reach any part of the world. The satellites take pictures of the atmosphere (大气), because this is where the weather forms (形成). They send these pictures to the weather stations. From the pictures, meteorologists (气象学家) can often say how the weather will change.
Today, nearly more than one hundred weather stations in over ninety countries receive satellite pictures. When they receive new pictures, the meteorologists compare them with earlier ones. Perhaps they may find that the clouds have changed during the last few hours. This may mean that the weather on the ground may soon change, too. In their next weather forecast, the meteorologists can say this.
So the weather satellites are a great help to the meteorologists. Before satellites were invented, they could forecast the weather for about 24 or 48 hours. Now they can make good forecasts for two weeks. Soon, perhaps, they may be able to forecast the weather for fifteen days or more ahead (提前).
1. Satellites travel ________.| A．in space | B．in the atmosphere |
| C．above the ground | D．above space |
| A．clouds form there |
| B．the weather forms there |
| C．the weather satellites can do it easily |
| D．the pictures can forecast the weather |
| A．during they study satellite pictures |
| B．before they received satellite pictures |
| C．when they have received satellite pictures |
| D．after they have compared new satellite pictures with earlier ones |
| A．five days | B．one week |
| C．two weeks | D．fifteen days or even longer |
| A．weather forecasting | B．taking pictures of the atmosphere |
| C．doing other work in many ways | D．receiving pictures of the atmosphere |
9 . Dinosaurs (恐龙) have died out for more than 65 million years. They left no pictures, but libraries were filled with books about them. They live in the imaginations of people. We can only imagine them in our mind because we can not see real dinosaurs now. We have known about these strange living things for more than 200 years. Their fossil (化石) record was first discovered in 1818, and the word“dinosaur” was created in 1842 by a scientist.
What we know about dinosaurs comes only through the fossil record they left behind. We can get an idea of how they looked by building their skeletons (骨架) with fossilized bones and teeth. We know that they lived on land. Some walked on two legs. Others preferred four legs. Some were fast and others were quite slow.
However, there are many things we don’t know about dinosaurs. For example, what color were they? Nobody knows. Did they cry like lions, how can we know? The fossil record does not speak. Scientists said, “We need to do more research to know more about the color and sound of dinosaurs.”
Keep in mind that we just know a little about dinosaurs. More research should be done to find exact facts about them.
1. What does the underlined word “imaginations” in Paragraph 1 mean in Chinese?| A．思考 | B．想象 | C．记忆 | D．判断 |
| A．In 1818. | B．In 1819. | C．In 1842. | D．In 1843. |
| A．Dinosaurs’ look. | B．Dinosaurs’ color. | C．Dinosaurs’ voice. | D．Dinosaurs’ cry. |
| A．Dinosaurs can not walk. | B．Dinosaurs all have four legs. |
| C．Dinosaurs left pictures in the libraries. | D．We don’t know many things about dinosaurs. |
| A．The Sound—Made by dinosaurs | B．The Name—Created by a scientist |
| C．Dinosaurs—Lived in our imaginations | D．The fossils—Communicated with scientists |
10 . During ancient times, children didn’t have smart phones, ipads or computers to enjoy themselves as the children today. Instead, they came up with interesting games to play in their childhood.
Kicking stone balls | During the Qing Dynasty, kicking a stone ball around was a popular game in the northern part of China. Stones were shaped into small balls and kicked along with feet. It was often played in winter to keep warm. |
Playing hide-and-seek | Hide-and-seek is a traditional game for children, popular around the nation. There are two ways to play: covering a child’s eyes while other kids run around to tease (捉弄) him or some children hide and one child must try to find them. |
Flying kites | The earliest kites were made of wood rather than paper. Nowadays, the three most famous kites are the Beijing kite, Tianjin kite and Weifang kite. Each has its own style. For example, the bird-shaped kite with long wings is a special kind of the Beijing kite. |
Watching shadow plays (皮影戏) | The most similar thing to watching a film or television during ancient times was going to see a shadow play. The artists control puppets (木偶) behind the screen and tell stories along with music. Shadow plays were listed as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage (非物质文化遗产) in 2006. |
| A．In spring. | B．In summer. | C．In autumn. | D．In winter. |
| A．Two. | B．Three. | C．Four. | D．Five. |
| A．Tianjin. | B．Beijing. | C．Weifang. | D．Shanghai. |
| A．Watching shadow plays is like watching TV. |
| B．There is no music when playing shadow plays. |
| C．The artists control puppets and tell stories at the same time. |
| D．Shadow plays were listed as a National Intangible Cultural Heritage. |
| A．Show the history of China. |
| B．Tell some stories about today’s children. |
| C．Introduce some children’s games in ancient times. |
| D．Compare differences between Chinese and Western games. |
