Imagine taking a flying taxi to the airport, or jumping over crowded city streets at rush hours, getting where you want to go far faster than you could in a car. Believe it or not, you might be able to do these things in an air taxi sooner than you think.
An air taxi is something like a helicopter (直升飞机) that can carry people from place to place. Air taxis don’t need a long runway (跑道) like planes do. They can go straight up and down.
In June, the government of America agreed to allow a company called Joby Aviation to start testing their new air taxi. This is the first time they’ve tested a taxi that has been built in a factory. Before that, all their taxis were made by hand.
By 2025, Joby hopes to start carrying passengers for money. They’ve worked together with Delta Air Lines to create a program to fly people from their homes to the airport. Joby’s air taxis will be flown by a pilot, and can carry four other passengers. They can go around 100 miles before the electric batteries need to be recharged (充电).
Compared with helicopters, Joby says their air taxis are both quieter and cheaper. The company expects to charge (要价) about $3 a mile at first. But over time, they hope to bring the price down to less than $1 a mile.
And as exciting as the idea of flying taxis is, some people have been anxious about them. The air taxis may be quieter than helicopters, but they’ll still be adding noise and traffic to our skies. Some people worry that only rich people will be able to afford to use them.
It seems likely that air taxis will be part of the future of travel. But there’s still a lot to do before air taxis become common.
1. What’s an air taxi?2. What did the government allow a company to do?
3. What does Joby wish to do by 2025?
4. How are air taxis different from helicopters? And how do some people think of them?
5. What still needs to be done before air taxis become common?
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Imagine this: you and your friend are on a video call. He or she picks up a book and you feel like you are holding the book as well. You can shake hands or give your friend a high five, even though you are in different places.
A pair of special gloves might make this a reality. Researchers at the University of New South Wales, Australia, have made gloves that can recreate the sense of touch. They call this haptic device (触觉装置) a “soft skin stretch device” (SSD).
The SSD works like this: One user’s gloves create 3D force signals when they touch something. The signals are sent to the other user’s gloves, which vibrate (震动) to create the same force that the first user is experiencing. This allows the second user to experience the same sense of touch.
The SSD allows you to feel force, vibration and movement. “It is like wearing a second skin.” said Thanh Nho Do, one of the researchers who created the gloves.
Haptic technology is already being widely used. For example. the trackpads (触控板) in notebook computers use vibration to make it feel like you are clicking a real mouse. However, it is difficult to recreate the sense of touch in virtual (虚拟的) environments or remotely, according to Mai Thanh Thai, lead researcher of the SSD project. The SSD is special because it has a high level of sensitivity (灵敏度) even when it is used continuously. This makes it feel more realistic.
The SSD could be used in medical practice. Two doctors in separate places could work together during an operation—one touches the patient with the SSD while the other doctor feels the same sensation and completes the real operation.
1. What does “SSD” refer to (涉及)?2. How does “SSD” work?
3. What is widely used in computer?
4. Why does the SSD feel more realistic?
5. What could the SSD be used to do?
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3 . 随着科技的发展，我们的生活变得非常方便和有趣。你校英语广播站 “生活论坛” 栏目邀请你写一篇英语短文，并谈谈你的感受。
内容包括：
1. 描述一下你对便捷生活的感受和看法；
2. 选一个你认为有用的科技发明，并对它进行简单的介绍，并说明它给生活带来的改变；
3. 呼吁青少年努力学习，将来为中国科技的发展贡献一份力量。
要求：
1. 文中不得出现任何透露考生真实身份的信息；
2. 100词左右。
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4 . 党的二十大完美落幕，对我们国家的发展进行了重大的战略布局，在中国共产党的领导下，我们的国家从以前的峥嵘岁月到现在的国泰民安。作为中学生，我们有责任让更多人了解我们的国家。根据下面思维导图内容提示，请以“China in My Eyes”为题，写一篇英语短文，介绍一下我们亲爱的祖国！
要求：
1. 书写认真规范，词数不少于 80词，开头已给出不计入总词数；
2. 短文必须包括所有要点提示，语句通顺，意思连贯，可适当发挥；
3. 文中不得出现真实姓名和校名。
China in My Eyes
Hello, everyone! I am from China and I like my country very much. Now I’d like to introduce my country to you! _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
5 . 老年人在日常生活中有诸多不便，日渐普遍的机器人能够帮助他们做很多事情。某英文报正在进行以“My Robot for Old People”为题的创意大赛，请根据以下问题提示描述你理想的机器人，向报社投稿参加比赛。
问题提示：
1. What’s the name of your robot?
2. What does it look like?
3. What can it do for old people?
4. Why do you ask it to do these things?
要求：
1. 以上要点必须全部包括,并可适当增加细节，以使行文连贯；
2. 文中不要出现真实姓名和学校名称；
3. 词数：80词左右 (所给内容不计入总词数)。
My Robot for Old People
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6 . 随着人工智能（AI）的发展和ChatGPT的出现，人们都在讨论它可能对人类生活的影响。假如你是李华，你的美国朋友Jim发email跟你讨论人工智能可能会取代哪些职业。请你用英语给他回信，阐述一下你认为会被取代的三种职业，并简单谈谈作为中学生应该为此做哪些准备。
注意：
1. 词数100左右；
2. 文章需积极向上；需包含以上要点，可以适当增加细节；
3. 不得出现真实的人名、校名等相关信息。
Dear Jim，
I have heard the news about ChatGPT, too. I believe it will influence our life in the near future._____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Li Hua.
Can you imagine an AI chatbot(聊天机器人) competing with you in an examination? Do you think you could get higher scores than it? A new AI chatbot called ChatGPT has swept the world in the past few months. It recently got a passing grade in a law school exam. Sounds crazy? The use of ChatGPT has raised heated discussions in the education world.
Type in “A cat wants to go to space” and ask ChatGPT to write a bedtime story. Just one second later, you’ll get the story of Max, who went his way past many difficulties to sing among the stars.
Developed by a US company OpenAI, ChatGPT has taken the Internet by storm, winning 100 million users since it came out in November 2022. People can ask the robot to write stories and emails, translate languages, and answer all kinds of questions.
Compared with Siri or other chatbots, ChatGPT uses a much bigger database(数据库) for training. It also learns things by itself. For example, if it provides a wrong answer to your question, you can tell it the right one and it will make it right. The knowledge level of ChatGPT is similar to a college student. That’s why it surprised the world.
But one big problem with ChatGPT is that it makes mistakes or even gives wrong information. These are things that need to be dealt with.
1. What is a new AI chatbot called?2. When did it come out?
3. What can people do with it?
4. What are the advantages of it compared with other chatbots?
5. What’s the big problem with it?
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8 . 随着科技的发展，社会的进步，汽车的发明改变了我们的生活，习近平总书记在第十次全国代表大会讲话中提到科教兴国、人才强国战略，作为新时代少年，你将如何去做？请根据下列思维导图，以“科技强国 强国有我”为话题写一篇英语演讲稿。
写作要求：
1. 所写内容必须包含所有要点，并作适当发挥；
2. 词数：100词左右。开头已给出，不计入总词数。
3. 参考词汇：科技science and technology
Hello everyone,
Today, I want to talk something about car and technology.
As we all know,___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
9 . 科技改变生活，发明无处不在，如computers，cars，smart phones，e-books，robots，Internet…请结合自身经历，谈谈哪一项发明对你的影响最大以及它是如何改变你的生活的。
要求:
1. 词数80—100（开头已给出，不计入总词数）；
2. 文中不得出现真实姓名、校名等相关信息。
Technology changes our life and inventions are around us. In my daily life, ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
我们中国人很早就有着自己的航天梦，梦想着我们中国人有朝一日能翱翔太空。但是西方国家拒绝与中国在太空研究上合作，因此中国决定建立自己的飞船和空间站。2003年10月15日，我国自行制造了神舟五号载人飞船并用它将航天员杨利伟送往太空，这是中国第一次将宇航员送入太空。从那以后，中国又发射了多次飞船进入太空。我们非常高兴的获悉，中国于2021年4月29日将中国空间站的天和核心舱成功送入太空。2021年6月17日，中国将神舟12号载人飞船被送入太空，其与中国空间站天和核心舱成功对接，中国宇航员第一次走进了中国自己的空间站。迄今，中国已将12艘神舟飞船和两艘天舟货运飞船送入太空，其中七次神舟飞船搭载了宇航员。中国还将数次发射飞船和实验舱，以组建完成中国的空间站，并把宇航员送到那里进行研究和保持空间站正常运行。我相信……
要求：根据素材写一篇短文，概述我国的航天事业历程，可根据事件的时间及内容的要求，运用不少于三种时态表达，句子和词汇不要求逐句逐词翻译，但须符合文意。词数不少于80词，开头已给出，不计入总词数。
温馨提示：请大家不要被这些专有名词所吓到，这些专有名词的翻译已经给出，其他内容都是大家所学过的，只要大家认真领会，就可以用自己所掌握的词句表达清楚。
参考词汇：中国空间站Chinese space station；神舟十二号飞船Shenzhou 12 manned spaceship/spacecraft；天和核心舱Tianhe core module；与……对接dock with；天舟一号货运飞船Tianzhou cargo spacecraft；实验舱lab module；迄今so far。
We Chinese had our space dream long ago, and we dreamed that we could fly into spaceone day. ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
