1 . The next generation of robots will be able to see objects, will have a sense of touch, and will make critical decisions.
Engineering skilled and computer technology are developing artificial vision for robots. With the ability to “see”, robots can identify and inspect one specific class of objects out of a pile of different kinds of materials. One robot vision system uses of electronic digital cameras containing many rows of lights sensitive materials measure the intensity of light and convert the light rays into a range of numbers. The numbers are part of a gray-scale system in which brightness is measured in a range of values. One scale ranges from 0 to 15, and another from 0 to 255. The 0 is represented by black. The highest number is white. The numbers in between represent different shades of gray. The computer then makes the calculations and converts the numbers into a picture that shows an image of the object in question. It is not yet known whether robots will one day have vision as good as human vision. Technicians believe they will, but only after years of development.
Engineers working on other advances are designing and experimenting with new types of articulated (有关节的) metal hands and fingers, giving robots a sense of touch. Other engineers are writing new programs allowing robots to make decisions such as whether to abandon defective parts in finished products. To do this, the robot will also have to be capable of identifying those perfect and defective parts.
These future robots, assembled (装配，组合) with a sense of touch and the ability to see and make decisions, will have plenty of work to do. They can be used to prospect for minerals on the ocean floor or in deep areas of mines too dangerous for humans to enter.
They will work as gas station attendants, firefighters, house-keepers, and security personnel. The robot business will continue to grow also. Financial analysts believe this business will soar from a $ 100 million-industry at the start of the 1980s to a $5-billion industry by the early 2010s. Anyone wanting to understand the industry of the future will have to know about robots.
1. Why is it so important for robots to be able to “see”?| A．Because they can criticize human factory personnel. |
| B．Because they can make critical decisions. |
| C．Because they can work as human beings. |
| D．Because they have a strong desire. |
| A．Because robot-business will grow rapidly. |
| B．Because robots will be very useful. |
| C．Because robots will become very popular in industry. |
| D．For they can make a lot of money. |
| A．Having a noticeable or desire effect. |
| B．Unquestionable and undoubted. |
| C．Imperfect, having serious errors. |
| D．Not enough in quantity. |
| A．Future Robots Will Have Plenty of Work to Do. |
| B．Future Robots Will See, Touch, and Think. |
| C．Engineers Care Designing New Types of Robots. |
| D．Future Robots Will Have Visions as Good Human Vision. |
2 . Turning 13 can be painful. Sure, pimples (粉刺) are a problem.
These
Soto tells the story of two 13-year-old friends, Ronnie and Joey, who are self-conscious about their
It gets
The trouble is that Joey has no intention of
“This book is a call for mercy for young people
The moral of the story: You don’t need to be the best-looking chimp in the jungle. All you need is a loyal friend who will stick by you, even when the going gets a little, well, hairy.
1.| A．And | B．But | C．So | D．Though |
| A．benefits | B．offers | C．hurts | D．differ |
| A．floor | B．toilet | C．mirror | D．water |
| A．younger | B．older | C．taller | D．prettier |
| A．what | B．where | C．why | D．how |
| A．sadness | B．necessities | C．happiness | D．worries |
| A．empty | B．available | C．priceless | D．invisible |
| A．developing | B．growing | C．reforming | D．changing |
| A．pimple | B．hair | C．wound | D．skin |
| A．worse | B．better | C．darker | D．happier |
| A．Excited | B．Warm-hearted | C．Teary-eyed | D．Frightened |
| A．get away from | B．get into | C．get over | D．get through |
| A．scene | B．world | C．coach | D．school |
| A．leaving | B．entering | C．liking | D．avoiding |
| A．in time | B．on time | C．right away | D．once again |
| A．jumps | B．climbs | C．falls | D．escapes |
| A．going for | B．going through | C．going into | D．going by |
| A．loyalty | B．selfishness | C．glory | D．courage |
| A．nothing | B．something | C．everything | D．anything |
| A．which | B．that | C．those | D．what |
How is everything going? I have been in Leeds for more than 3 months. I miss you all so much during this time, especially at this turning of the year. I still remember the Christmas and New Year party we had together last year. It is a pity that I cannot celebrate this great festival with you this year, but I hope I can share my happiness with you through this letter.
After I entered in the British University, I realized that the foundation course I have taken is extremely important and helpful. Actually, most of the content of my present module has already been covered by IFY. Therefore, it is not difficult to follow the lectures and tutorials. Compared to the other Chinese students who took the foundation course in Britain, we are in a better stage in terms of both academic English and the knowledge of re levant subjects. More importantly, the IFY course has fully prepared us for the new style of study here. I would like to thank Juliet, Paul, Net, Scott and Chris with all my heart, because without your help, I wouldn’t be able to cope with the study in Britain.
I would also like to thank Cynthia, Sophia, Cathy and all the other staff in Qingdao ACE Programme. Thanks for your help in the last year, and thanks for your advice on my choice of university. It is you who make studying abroad possible for me.
The last one year’s study in IFY course was one of my most pleasant memories. While coping with the challenges of life in Britain, I always think back to the time when I was with you. I cannot forget every lectures and tutorials, and I cannot forget the times that we played together. You are not only my teachers, but also my good friends . I will miss you all. Hope I can see you when I go back to Chin a in summer.
Wish you every success in your life and keep good mood every day!
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
Love,
Phoebe
1. This letter was written by ________.| A．a Chinese student now in China |
| B．a Chinese student now in Britain |
| C．a Britain student now in China |
| D．a Britain student in Britain |
| A．a course opened in British universities |
| B．a course opened only in summer |
| C．a foundation course taken before going to British universities |
| D．a foundation course taken while in British universities |
| A．start with | B．deal with | C．go on with | D．go with |
| A．happy | B．thankful | C．sorry | D．respectful |
4 . For the first 19 months of her life, Helen Keller was like other pretty happy babies in every way. Then in 1882, a sudden illness destroyed her sight and hearing. Because she could not hear what other people were saying, the child could not learn to speak. For the following 5 years, she lived in a world of darkness, without sounds or words and her parents could do nothing but let her be.
The person who changed Helen’s world was her teacher, Anne Sullivan, who entered her life. Miss Sullivan had accepted a job, which seemed impossible. She had agreed to teach a blind child who had never learned to act like a human being, because no one had ever been able to guide her in any way. No one could control Helen. She acted like a young animal, rushing wildly around, throwing things, and hitting anyone whom she could reach. Who could believe that such a child could be taught?
But Anne Sullivan was a very special kind of teacher. She had been blind during part of her own childhood and had learned to read Braille, a system of writing that uses raised dots which can be felt by the finger of a blind person. She had learned to see again after several operations, but she had never forgotten the experience of being blind.
Miss Sullivan understood Helen. She loved her and believed she could teach her.
Anne Sullivan could not teach Helen Keller to speak until some other important things had been learned. The little girl had to learn to control her actions and feelings. She had to learn that she could not always do what she wished to do. She had always been able to get what she wished by using force. The teacher had to change such habits without breaking the child’s spirit.
Miss Sullivan’s battle began. Sometimes, there was real fighting between the wild child and the strong young teacher. At last, however, the battle was won by Miss Sullivan, who had succeeded in showing Helen that she loved her and wanted to help her. The child and her teacher became friends. They continued to be friends until the teacher’s death, 50 years later.
The day on which Helen finally accepted Miss Sullivan as her friend and teacher was a great day in Helen’s life. After that the teacher could begin to teach the child language.
1. Helen became blind and deaf after ________.| A．an unexpected accident | B．a football match |
| C．a sudden disease | D．fighting with her teacher |
| A．1917 | B．1932 | C．1937 | D．1939 |
| A．to pronounce a few words | B．to control herself properly |
| C．to copy some letters | D．to make different sounds |
| A．Sullivan learned the Braille when she was blind as a child. |
| B．Blind as Sullivan was, he accepted the challenge to teach Helen. |
| C．At first Sullivan and Helen often fought each other. |
| D．Sullivan died when she was fifty years old. |
5 . Wouldn’t it be wonderful to travel to a foreign country without having to worry about the headache of communicating in a different language?
In a recent Wall Street Journal article, technology policy expert Alec Ross argued that, within ten years or so, we would be able to communicate with one another through small earpieces with built-in microphones. That’s because technological progress is extremely fast. It’s only a matter of time. Such is the belief among certain parents that the technology is imminent and they’re wondering if their kids should learn a second language.
It’s true that an increase in the quantity and accuracy of the data loaded into computers will make them cleverer at translating “Noes Bueno dormer mucho” into “It’s not good to sleep too much”. Replacing a word with its equivalent (对等词) in the target language is actually the easy part of a translator’s job. But even this seems to be a difficult job for computers.
It’s so hard for computers because translation doesn’t — or shouldn’t — involve simply translating words, sentences or paragraphs. Rather, it’s about translating meaning. And in order to infer meaning from a specific expression, people need to understand a lot of information all at once. Think about all the related clues that help us understand what someone is trying to say: volume, gesture, situations, and even your culture. All are likely to convey as much meaning as the words you use.
Therefore, we should doubt a machine that can’t understand our world like we do. If people from different cultures can upset each other without realizing it, how can we expect a machine to do better? Unless engineers actually find a way to breathe a soul into a computer, undoubtedly when it comes to conveying and interpreting meaning using a natural language, a machine will never fully take our place.
1. What does the underlined word “imminent” in Paragraph 2 probably mean?| A．Ready. | B．Confusing. | C．Unpractical. | D．Coming. |
| A．The real meaning of words can vary. |
| B．Their data is not rich enough. |
| C．Their accuracy needs big improvement. |
| D．A man’s soul hasn’t been breathed in them. |
| A．Proper translation can be difficult for computers. |
| B．Slight differences doesn’t matter in translation. |
| C．Machines will translate our world properly. |
| D．Cultures need more attention than words used. |
| A．An Expert’s Prediction. | B．Travel without Headache. |
| C．The Pleasure of Translation. | D．Will the Language Barrier (障碍) Actually Fall? |
6 . In habitats across the planet, animals periodically drop everything to walk, fly or swim to a new place. Some animals such as whales and geese learn migration paths by following their parents. Others, including small songbirds, gain the distance and direction of their migration within their genetic code. And some animals use a combination of genetics and culture to guide their migration.
Another group of migrators does not quite fit either model, and researchers have only recently started to figure out how they find their way. The Cory’s shearwater is an oceangoing seabird that migrates over the Atlantic every year. The young do not migrate with their parents, so culture cannot explain their journeys. And the exact paths vary wildly from individual to individual, making genetics equally unlikely.
Cory’s shearwaters are long-lived, rarely producing young successfully before age nine. This leaves an opening for learning and practice to develop their migration patterns. Researchers call this the “exploration-refinement”, and until now it has been hypothetical (假设的) because of difficulties in tracking migratory animals’ movements.
But a team of researchers has done that by attaching small geolocators to more than 150 of the birds aged four to nine. They found that younger birds traveled longer distances, for longer periods, and had more diverse paths than older birds. “We finally have evidence of the ‘exploration-refinement’ for migratory birds,” says Letizia Campioni, who led the study. Younger Cory’s shearwaters are able to fly just as fast as the adults——but they do not, suggesting that the young do more exploring, which gradually fades as they mature and settle into a preferred course.
“Although it may seem less efficient than other strategies, exploration refinement could be beneficial to birds and other organisms in a rapidly changing world due to unpredictable man-made changes,” says Barbara Frei. “It might be safer to repeat a behavior that was recently successful than to rely on patterns that were perfected long ago but might no longer be safe.”
1. What is the first paragraph mainly about?| A．It describes animals’ habitats. | B．It compares different species. |
| C．It talks about migration models. | D．It introduces a tracking technology. |
| A．The opening for learning and practice. |
| B．The unique living habit of Cory’s shearwaters. |
| C．The process scientists track Cory’s shearwaters’ movements. |
| D．The way Cory’s shearwaters form their migration patterns. |
| A．They travel as much as adult birds. | B．They lower the speed for exploration. |
| C．They move in a predictable manner. | D．They look for a course with their parents. |
| A．Exploration refinement contributes to birds’ adaptability. |
| B．Man-made changes make migration easier. |
| C．Animals make a safer journey via a fixed track. |
| D．A combination of strategies assures migration success |
7 . How to Organize a Music Festival
You love music and you always have. You want to carry out a music festival designed to attract music fans of all ages. Follow the steps and you’ll organize a successful one.
◆Start by making a list of the local bands and artists that you like. You’ve taken this job because you love music, so put your taste to work for you. If you like these musicians, many of the local people will also like them.
◆Find a great location that has much open space for outdoor festivals. You need to build a stage so the musicians can be seen from distances.
◆Hire sound engineers to give the musicians all the help they need.
◆
| A．You need to find security people. |
| B．We can find enough songs to get a lot of money. |
| C．Bigger sports stadiums will be perfect as well. |
| D．But remember, you are trying to attract fans of all ages. |
| E．People should have practiced many different songs. |
| F．You can find a location by going to the local government and asking for permission. |
| G．The last thing you want is that a group is on the stage but the speakers don’t work. |
8 . Two weeks ago, a 5-year-old girl named Sunshine Oelfke emptied out her piggy bank (存钱罐) onto the living room floor and immediately started counting. Her grandmother, Jackie Oelfke, thought she was playing as she carefully lined up the coins, but then she saw the girl put the coins into a plastic bag and place it in her backpack.
“What are you doing with that money?” Jackie asked her granddaughter.
“I’m taking it to school,” Sunshine replied. “I’m going to take it for milk money. My friend Layla doesn’t get milk— her mom doesn’t have milk money and I do.”
Jackie’s heart melted at Sunshine’s words. Choked with strong feelings, Jackie held her sweet granddaughter tightly in her arms.
Last week, Jackie and Sunshine met with her teacher, Rita Hausher, and handed her the $30 the kindergartner had saved. There are 20 kids in Sunshine’s class and about half don’t get milk. It costs $ 0.45 a carton (纸盒). The total adds up to about $180 a month for every child in the class to have milk every day.
After dropping Sunshine off at school, Jackie posted a tearful video on Facebook to explain her granddaughter’s plan. To her surprise, many people offered to donate toward the cause. Within a week, Jackie raised more than $1,000. Now every student in Sunshine’s class can get free milk for the rest of the year.
Jackie said Sunshine doesn’t see her kind act as a big deal. She was just trying to look out for her friends. “She doesn’t understand the effect she’s brought about,” Jackie said. “But now she knows she can do whatever she puts her mind to.”
1. Why did Sunshine empty her piggy bank?| A．She hoped to show off her savings in class. | B．She needed to train her counting skills. |
| C．She wanted to play with the coins. | D．She intended to pay for her friend’s milk. |
| A．Relieved. | B．Touched. | C．Curious. | D．Proud. |
| A．Two heads are better than one. | B．A friend in need is a friend indeed. |
| C．Nothing is impossible to a willing heart. | D．There’s no such thing as a free lunch. |
| A．Small Coins, Big Changes. | B．Jackie’s Piggy Bank. |
| C．Piggy Bank and Carton Milk. | D．A Moved Grandmother. |
9 . When she first started learning about the climate change from one of her elders,Fawn Sharp was invited on a helicopter flight over the Olympic Mountains to survey the Mount Anderson glacier.But the glacier was gone,melted by the warming climate.Sharp had a deep sense of loss when she discovered the glacier wasn’t there anymore.
Loss is a growing issue for people working and living on the front lines of climate change.And that gave Jennifer Wren Atkinson,a full-time lecturer at the University of Washington Bothell,US,an idea for a class.
This term,she taught students on the Bothell campus about the emotional burdens of environmental studies.She used the experiences of Native American tribes(部落),scientists and activists,and asked her 24 students to face the reality that there is no easy fix—that “this is such an intractable problem that they’re going to be dealing with it for the rest of their lives”.
Student Cody Dillon used to be a climate science skeptic(怀疑论者).Then he did his own reading and research,and changed his mind.
Dillon wasn’t going into environmental work—he was a computer-science major.Yet,the potential for a worldwide environmental catastrophe seemed so real to him five years ago that he quit his job and became a full-time volunteer for an environmental group that worked on restoration(恢复) projects.
Six months into the work,he decided that Atkinson’s class was just what he was looking for—a place where he could discuss his concerns about a changing climate.
Atkinson said she hoped the class helped her students prepare themselves for the amount of environmental loss that will happen over their lifetimes.
“We are already changing the planet—so many species are going to be lost,displaced or massively impacted,” she said.“The future isn’t going to be what they imagined.”
1. Why did the author mention the case of Fawn Sharp?| A．To lay a basis for Fawn Sharp’s further research. |
| B．To prove Fawn Sharp’s work is similar to Atkinson’s. |
| C．To lead into the issue of loss caused by climate change. |
| D．To show scientists’ concern about the Mount Anderson glacier. |
| A．Simple. | B．Difficult. |
| C．Common. | D．Interesting. |
| A．To explore how different people deal with climate change. |
| B．To get students more concerned about the environmental issue. |
| C．To find solutions to the environmental issue of Olympic Mountains. |
| D．To teach students how to conduct research about environment. |
| A．It made him work as a part-time volunteer for restoration projects. |
| B．It made him realize a planet-wide climate disaster would happen. |
| C．It encouraged him to be more involved in environmental protection. |
| D．It discouraged him to work on restoration projects for the environment. |
10 . On April 18—the International Day for Monuments and Sites, China Daily’s digital employee Yuanxi and Dunhuang Mogao Grottoes’ official virtual cartoon figure Jiayao together introduced an interactive digital platform that hosts a virtual copy of the Mogao Grottoes’ Library Cave(藏经洞) to the world.
The platform was developed jointly by the Dunhuang Academy and the Chinese tech firm Tencent. It uses gaming technologies to show the historical scenes of the Library Cave in the digital world.
The Library Cave in Mogao Grottoes was discovered in 1900, with more than 60,000 cultural relics dating from the 4th century to the 11th century unearthed. It was one of the most important archaeological discoveries in the 20th century.
On the platform, visitors can role-play and “time travel” to ancient dynasties and talk with eight historical figures. The public can enter the platform through the Digital Dunhuang website and its WeChat mini program.
In the digital age, the model of “culture+technology” has been introduced to promote the development of Chinese culture. The digitalization rate of China’s precious cultural relics is now over 70 percent, according to the 2022 China Digital Collection Industry Research Report released by iResearch.
Institutions such as the Palace Museum have also started online digital services of their own. Artificial intelligence (AI) technology allows the public to view the interior of the buildings through the Palace Museum’s WeChat mini program.
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has also encouraged the development and transformation of cultural intellectual property(知识产权) by digital means. China Central Television has created a series of digital collections with different Dunhuang themes, such as the Dunhuang divine deer(神鹿) Youyou. It was created based on the image of the nine-colored deer from Dunhuang murals(壁画). The public can see the divine deer on CCTV’s own digital platform.
Digital collections cater to the consumption habits of young people, who grow up in the information age. They not only protect the intellectual property of the collections but also bring the public closer to China’s “excellent traditional culture”, noted Dunhuang Art Institute.
Su Bomin, director of the Dunhuang Academy, told Xinhua that more efforts will be made to explore new forms for showing cultural relics and offer the public greater cultural experiences to develop Dunhuang culture.
1. What can visitors do on the interactive digital platform for the Mogao Grottoes’ Library Cave?| A．Play role-playing games set in ancient times. |
| B．Play video games featuring historical figures. |
| C．Talk to the designer of the digital Library Cave. |
| D．Design digital caves showing historical scenes. |
| A．To show the latest gaming technologies. |
| B．To help cultural institutions make a profit. |
| C．To promote the development of Chinese culture. |
| D．To encourage people to explore new forms of cultural relics. |
| A．To stress the importance of digital collections. |
| B．To describe its popularity among young people. |
| C．To present how digital collections are developed. |
| D．To introduce a successful example of digital collections. |
| A．Ignore. | B．Satisfy. |
| C．Challenge. | D．Change. |
