1 . As a “major” at university, philosophy may not be so popular nowadays, for it seems to be too abstract, remote and impractical, unlike subjects such as computing, finance, accounting and so on.

Fundamentally speaking, the word “philosophy”，originated from the Greek Φιλοσοφία meaning “love of wisdom”, originally included all kinds of knowledge. In that world dominated by supernatural gods, philosophers and scientists were the same, and their wisdom was started by asking questions. They believed that everything in the world is composed of air and attempted to examine the air and the sun --- these quests developed their wisdom.

The relations between man and the world may be divided into three categories, namely the relationships between man and nature, man and society and within the human self, which are studied separately by the natural sciences, such as physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology; social sciences, such as sociology, economics, politics, law, ethics; and sciences of thinking, such as brain science, neuroscience(神经学), psychology, logic. Philosophy, however, is none of these branches of learning but their abstraction and generalization.

The benefits of studying philosophy may be realized as follows: First, it assists people to properly adjust the relations between nature, society and the self, becoming fully aware of where they stand macrocosmically(宏观地)and microcosmically. Second, it makes people think more systematically, combining various “separated materials”. Essentially, philosophy is the study of thinking, analyzing issues from different angles before anything can be taken in. Special attention is paid to strict reflection during every stage of thinking and this process itself is included as part of its study, so as to form a pattern of clear critical thinking. Third, philosophy can also shape one’s character. Difficult thinking, reasoning and summarizing result in people becoming firmer and more persistent in a deep sense. Since philosophy is finally about living, it leads to an appreciation of meaningful life through perfecting personality.

In a sense, philosophy is in fact widely applicable and has been studied and acquired by experts of natural and social sciences and many philosophers, both at home and abroad, who have become celebrities either in their specialist fields of study or in their switched professions as generalists.

Therefore, philosophy is not abstract, nor remote, but of profound use.

1. How is the second paragraph mainly developed?

A．By classification.

B．By time.

C．By definition.

D．By comparison.

2. Which is NOT one of the relations between man and the world?

A．to understand nature.	B．to understand humans.
C．to understand logic.	D．to understand society.

3. What benefit can people get from learning philosophy?

A．People can become fully aware of the standing place on the earth.

B．People can become firmer and seldom change their ideas.

C．People will have a simple understanding of the life through appreciation.

D．People will form an opinion after viewing a matter from different aspects.

4. What can be learned about philosophy?

A．It is remote from people’s life and has no profound use.

B．It is filled with wisdom and was established by supernatural gods.

C．It is widely obtained and used by many natural and social experts.

D．It is one of the branches of the natural sciences.

2 . Some of the greatest problems we face today are concerned with the gradual destruction of our environment. Brown clouds; wildlife ____; polluted water. These ____ all seem so huge. So my family does what we can. We take cloth bags to stores instead of using plastic bags. We walk where we don’t have to ____.

But does it do any good?

I recently learned something about flamingos (火烈鸟). These beautiful birds gather in     ___ groups of a thousand or more. Every year, when the time ____ for migration, a few flamingos start the process by taking off from the lake. But ____ of the others seem to notice, so the tiny group returns.

However, the next day they ____ again. This time a few more struggle along with them, but the vast majority still ____ no attention, so these pioneers come back.

The ____ continues for several more days. Every time a few more birds join in but, _____ the thousands of others still take no ____, the great migration plan is once again ____.

Then one day something ____. The same small group of birds takes wing and a tiny number more join in, just as before. And this time their total number, though still quite ____, is enough to tip the balance. As one, the whole group takes flight and the migration ____. What a ____ sight it must be – thousands of flamingos taking to the sky at once!

A few can make a ____. It’s true that all of the great problems of the world have been solved because of the ____ efforts of a few.

If you believe in a cause (事业), don’t ____! Others will someday take notice and together we will ____ even our greatest problems.

1.

A．protection

B．extinction

C．migration

D．separation

2.

A．questions

B．costs

C．examples

D．problems

3.

A．drive

B．run

C．cycle

D．stand

4.

A．tiny

B．different

C．huge

D．similar

5.

A．comes

B．passes

C．varies

D．moves

6.

A．all

B．any

C．none

D．most

7.

A．gather

B．try

C．sing

D．appear

8.

A．attract

B．require

C．escape

D．pay

9.

A．plan

B．trend

C．activity

D．movement

10.

A．since

B．though

C．unless

D．while

11.

A．responsibility

B．notice

C．chance

D．measure

12.

A．put off

B．cut off

C．carried out

D．worked out

13.

A．approaches

B．works

C．changes

D．disappears

14.

A．significant

B．reasonable

C．adequate

D．small

15.

A．continues

B．delays

C．finishes

D．begins

16.

A．familiar

B．strange

C．magnificent

D．unrealistic

17.

A．point

B．decision

C．difference

D．mistake

18.

A．useless

B．tireless

C．extra

D．special

19.

A．give up

B．give in

C．give away

D．give out

20.

A．identify

B．understand

C．predict

D．solve

3 . For a long time Gabriel didn’t want to be involved in music at all. In his first years of high school, Gabriel would look pityingly at music students, _______across the campus with their heavy instrument cases, _______at school for practice hours _______ anyone else had to be there. He swore to himself to_______music, as he hated getting to school extra early.

_______, one day, in the music class that was _______of his school’s standard curriculum, he was playing idly (随意地)on the piano and found it _________to pick out tunes. With a sinking feeling, he realized that he actually _______doing it. He tried to hide his _______pleasure from the music teacher, who had ________over to listen. He might not have done this particularly well, ________the teacher told Gabriel that he had a good________and suggested that Gabriel go into the music store-room to see if any of the instruments there ________him. There he decided to give the cello(大提琴) a ________. When he began practicing, he took it very ________. But he quickly found that he loved playing this instrument, and was ________to practicing it so that within a couple of months he was playing reasonably well.

This ________, of course, that he arrived at school early in the morning, ________his heavy instrument case across the campus to the ________looks of the non-musicians he had left________.

1.

A．travelling

B．marching

C．pacing

D．struggling

2.

A．rising up

B．coming up

C．driving up

D．turning up

3.

A．before

B．after

C．until

D．since

4.

A．betray

B．accept

C．avoid

D．appreciate

5.

A．Therefore

B．However

C．Thus

D．Moreover

6.

A．part

B．nature

C．basis

D．spirit

7.

A．complicated

B．safe

C．confusing

D．easy

8.

A．missed

B．disliked

C．enjoyed

D．denied

9.

A．transparent

B．obvious

C．false

D．similar

10.

A．run

B．jogged

C．jumped

D．wandered

11.

A．because

B．but

C．though

D．so

12.

A．ear

B．taste

C．heart

D．voice

13.

A．occurred to

B．took to

C．appealed to

D．held to

14.

A．change

B．chance

C．mission

D．function

15.

A．seriously

B．proudly

C．casually

D．naturally

16.

A．committed

B．used

C．limited

D．admitted

17.

A．proved

B．showed

C．stressed

D．meant

18.

A．pushing

B．dragging

C．lifting

D．rushing

19.

A．admiring

B．pitying

C．annoying

D．teasing

20.

A．over

B．aside

C．behind

D．out

4 . Hollywood’s theory that machines with evil(邪恶) minds will drive armies of killer robots is just silly. The real problem relates to the possibility that artificial intelligence(AI) may become extremely good at achieving something other than what we really want. In 1960 a well-known mathematician Norbert Wiener, who founded the field of cybernetics（控制论）, put it this way: “If we use, to achieve our purposes, a mechanical agency with whose operation we cannot effectively interfere(干预), we had better be quite sure that the purpose put into the machine is the purpose which we really desire.”

A machine with a specific purpose has another quality, one that we usually associate with living things: a wish to preserve its own existence. For the machine, this quality is not in-born, nor is it something introduced by humans; it is a logical consequence of the simple fact that the machine cannot achieve its original purpose if it is dead. So if we send out a robot with the single instruction of fetching coffee, it will have a strong desire to secure success by disabling its own off switch or even killing anyone who might interfere with its task. If we are not careful, then, we could face a kind of global chess match against very determined, super intelligent machines whose objectives conflict with our own, with the real world as the chessboard.

The possibility of entering into and losing such a match should concentrate the minds of computer scientists. Some researchers argue that we can seal the machines inside a kind of firewall, using them to answer difficult questions but never allowing them to affect the real world. Unfortunately, that plan seems unlikely to work: we have yet to invent a firewall that is secure against ordinary humans, let alone super intelligent machines.

Solving the safety problem well enough to move forward in AI seems to be possible but not easy. There are probably decades in which to plan for the arrival of super intelligent machines. But the problem should not be dismissed out of hand, as it has been by some AI researchers. Some argue that humans and machines can coexist as long as they work in teams—yet that is not possible unless machines share the goals of humans. Others say we can just “switch them off” as if super intelligent machines are too stupid to think of that possibility. Still others think that super intelligent AI will never happen. On September 11, 1933, famous physicist Ernest Rutherford stated, with confidence, “Anyone who expects a source of power in the transformation of these atoms is talking moonshine.” However, on September 12, 1933, physicist Leo Szilard invented the neutron-induced(中子诱导) nuclear chain reaction.

1. Paragraph 1 mainly tells us that artificial intelligence may         .

A．run out of human control

B．satisfy human’s real desires

C．command armies of killer robots

D．work faster than a mathematician

2. Machines with specific purposes are associated with living things partly because they might be able to        .

A．prevent themselves from being destroyed

B．achieve their original goals independently

C．do anything successfully with given orders

D．beat humans in international chess matches

3. According to some researchers, we can use firewalls to           .

A．help super intelligent machines work better

B．be secure against evil human beings

C．keep machines from being harmed

D．avoid robots’ affecting the world

4. What does the author think of the safety problem of super intelligent machines?

A．It will disappear with the development of AI.

B．It will get worse with human interference.

C．It will be solved but with difficulty.

D．It will stay for a decade.

5 . Recently I understood the true meaning of love. The _________ was Kane, my neighbor Joline’s two-year-old son.

Kane was born with a physical problem on his _________. And I witnessed the _________ that Kane’s physical shortcomings had on his family. I also witnessed much more than that. I saw a _________ family that embraced (拥抱) this special child. A family that wouldn’t allow Kane to know he was _________. Joline had constructed a small cart just a few inches off the floor for his son to_______. Kane used his hands to move about, and the cart _________ him to “go to” any place just as everyone else was able to do. Kane was not just a member of the family, but the _________ of the family.

With a wide smile, it was easy to see that even at the age of two, Kane liked to _________ with people very much. With wisdom of an individual, this boy even __________ the most complex of human emotions. Later I came to __________that this child was sent to help some of us who weren’t just getting what love was all about.

Kane demanded attention, __________ not because of his mobility (移动能力) challenges or other apparent shortcomings. In his mind, he had no __________ or shortcomings. The __________ was that he received attention because he was alive and real and had so much to offer.

Kane __________ me in a deep way. His ability to refuse to be different has __________ me. Kane was and is __________ lots of warm and powerful energy to me. From him and his family I learnt the __________: love surpasses (超越) all things. I can only imagine that as the parent of a child like Kane one might be filled with __________. But I believe that having a child like Kane is actually a(n) __________. The parents of such special babies are angels too, just as the babies are.

1.

A．problem

B．reason

C．matter

D．pressure

2.

A．hands

B．eyes

C．legs

D．arms

3.

A．effect

B．comment

C．demand

D．look

4.

A．similar

B．wonderful

C．practical

D．fair

5.

A．irregular

B．difficult

C．different

D．terrible

6.

A．go ahead

B．speed up

C．turn out

D．get around

7.

A．invited

B．allowed

C．advised

D．caused

8.

A．symbol

B．signal

C．center

D．mark

9.

A．communicate

B．compare

C．agree

D．compete

10.

A．reminded

B．understood

C．discovered

D．trusted

11.

A．recognize

B．experience

C．imagine

D．realize

12.

A．and

B．or

C．but

D．as

13.

A．challenges

B．expectations

C．promises

D．chances

14.

A．goal

B．result

C．possibility

D．truth

15.

A．touched

B．stopped

C．caught

D．kept

16.

A．puzzled

B．shocked

C．amused

D．inspired

17.

A．even

B．yet

C．still

D．almost

18.

A．lesson

B．subject

C．notice

D．skill

19.

A．excitement

B．determination

C．anger

D．anxiety

20.

A．ability

B．advantage

C．problem

D．exception