1 . Some high school students think it useless to receive higher education. Therefore, they choose not to go to college. If you're one of them, think again. Here are some reasons why you should go to college and receive a good education there.
Schools and universities are the first places to get knowledge. We take that knowledge later on to build our careers after graduation. More knowledge will be gained after you start working, but without education, that job will not be within easy reach. Knowledge leads to knowledge.
While limited within the walls of the educational places, we openly explore other cultures of the world! We come to know that ours is not the only culture. Other cultures have valuable things to share, enriching our own. Education also makes us want to travel and exchange with various cultures, getting more experience.
When there's a recession in the economy（经济）, those who attended college will be more likely to find a new job than those who only finished high school and have a limited skills set. The more education you have, the more chances you will get to improve the quality of your life as you have a better job and earn a higher salary.
When you're skillful and knowledgeable, you gain access to people of similar backgrounds and tastes. It means a good education leads to excellent networking. Good networking can benefit you a lot in your later life.
A good education makes you a more interesting person. You can talk about ideas and events instead of just other people and what's on sale in stores. An educated person doesn't gossip（说闲话）, having a preference to discuss ideas and listen to what other people have to say.
1. What can we learn about college education from Paragraph 2?| A．It offers you a chance to study abroad. | B．It can allow you to gain more knowledge. |
| C．It can improve the quality of your daily life. | D．It encourages you to travel around the world. |
| A．change. | B．drop. | C．growth. | D．support. |
| A．You can gossip about others’ affairs. | B．You are likely to study well at school. |
| C．You can work well with your coworkers. | D．You get to know excellent people with similar interests. |
| A．The benefits of attending college. | B．The exchange with other cultures. |
| C．The access to good networking. | D．The ways of college education. |
2 . Dutch officials toasted on Tuesday the opening of what is being called the world’s first 3D-printed concrete bridge, which is meant to be used by cyclists. There was applause as officials wearing hard hats and workmen’s jackets rode over the bridge on their bikes at the opening ceremony in the southeastern town of Gemert.
“The bridge is not very big, but it was rolled out by a printer which makes it unique,” Theo Salet, from the Eindhoven University of Technology, told Dutch broadcaster NOS. Work on printing the bridge, which has some 800 layers, took about three months after starting in June and it is made of pre-stressed concrete, according to the university. “One of the advantages of printing a bridge is that much less concrete is needed than in the conventional technique in which a mould (泥浆) is filled,” it said on its website, adding “a printer deposits the concrete only where it is needed.”
The eight-metre (26-foot) bridge crosses a water-filled channel to connect two roads, and it was tested for safety to bear loads of up to two metric tons in cooperation with the BAM Infra Construction Company. “Although designed for bikes, it could take up to 40 trucks,”the designers said. “We are looking to the future,” said the head of BAM, Marinus Schimmel. “3D printing meant fewer rare resources were needed and there was significantly less waste,” he added.
The Netherlands is among countries, with the United States and China, taking a lead in this cutting-edge technology, using computers and robotics to construct objects and structures from scratch without using much traditional manpower. Last year a Dutch architect unveiled (提示) a unique 3D printer with which he hopes to construct an “endless loop” building. And a Dutch start-up called MX3D has begun printing a stainless-steel bridge, of which a third is already completed. The aim is to finish printing by March and lay the bridge over an Amsterdam canal in the future.
1. According to the text, what makes the bridge unique?| A．It adopts 3D printing. |
| B．It opens only to cyclists. |
| C．It is made of new material. |
| D．It uses much less concrete. |
| A．In theory, it can support up to 40 bicycles. |
| B．The kind of bridge is energy-saving. |
| C．The kind of bridge is safer than traditional ones. |
| D．The technology has been used widely. |
| A．The project of an “endless loop” building has begun. |
| B．A stainless-steel bridge has been half constructed. |
| C．China is a country with advanced 3D printing. |
| D．3D printing technology needs no manpower. |
| A．News report. | B．Engineering paper. |
| C．History textbook. | D．Advertisement. |
3 . Computer scientists have hoped to give robots technical skills to help them recognize, process and react to humor. But these attempts have mostly failed. AI (人工智能) experts say that in many cases, attempts to make robots understand humor end up producing funny results, but not in the way they were supposed to.
Tristan Miller studied more than 10,000 puns (双关语) in one research project. The pun is a kind of joke that uses a word with two meanings. For example, you could say, “Balloons do not like pop music.” The word “pop” can be a way of saying popular music; or can mean the sound a balloon makes when it explodes. But a robot might not get the joke. Tristan Miller says that is because humor is a kind of creative language that is extremely difficult for computer intelligence to understand.
Allison Bishop is a computer scientist and she also performs stand-up comedy. She explained that machines are trained to look for patterns. Comedy, on the other hand, relies on things that stay dose to a pattern, kit not completely within it. To be funny, humor should also not be predictable, Bishop said. This sets a great obstacle for a machine to recognize and understand what is funny.
Bishop says since robots have great difficulty understanding humor, she feels like it gives her better job security as a comedy performer. It even made her parents happy when her brother decided to become a full-time comedy writer because it meant he wouldn’t be replaced by a machine, she added.
Despite the difficulties, Darmstadt University’s Miller says there are good reasons to keep trying to teach humor to robots. It could make machines more relatable, especially if they can learn to understand sarcasm (讽刺), he noted. Humans use sarcasm to say one thing but mean another. But Kiki Hempelmann thinks differently. “Teaching AI systems humor may make them find it where it isn’t, and they may use it where it’s inappropriate,” he said. “Maybe bad AI will start killing people because it thinks something is funny,” he added.
1. What does the author most probably want to show in Paragraph 1?| A．Robots’ influence on the scientific development. |
| B．Robots’ challenges of making sense of humor. |
| C．Computer scientists’ devotion to technical skills. |
| D．Computer scientists’ concern about AI’s development. |
| A．prove robots do poorly in funny work |
| B．explain robots aren’t as intelligent as humans |
| C．describe language is complex and changeable |
| D．show language can’t be taught in a set pattern |
| A．Barrier. | B．Record. |
| C．Message. | D．Possibility. |
| A．It will end up in vain. |
| B．It may be a double-edged sword. |
| C．It may help improve humans’ humor. |
| D．It will attract more computer scientists. |
China has once again proved its
“My wallet is no longer in use. I can buy and eat whatever I want simply with a fingertip on my phone,” said
The bikes
China has entered a new innovative era, thanks to the large amounts of capital China has invested in
It is increasingly clear that China is innovating and no longer copying Western ideas. This is especially true in mobile, where China is leading
5 . This summer my mom and I did something meaningful and interesting.
Because of the stresses of high school, I felt depressed from time to time. What’s worse, I began to eat many junk foods. As a result, I had gained a lot of weight.
My mom decided to take me to work out, and she cooked delicious but healthy snacks for me. However, I broke my word to my mom not to buy high calorie snacks. My mom found my snack wrappers in the garbage. She got really angry and told me something I will remember forever. She said, “ My dear, I can forget the fact that you cheated, but you shouldn’t. Remember it’s not all about losing weight but about your whole life. If you want to achieve something, take it seriously, and persist（坚持）no matter what happens.”
Since then, we have been out running each morning, and we do some yoga in the evening. We sing and laugh while running along the empty roads. Day by day, I am feeling better. Exercise is helping to strengthen my body and refresh my spirits. At the same time, my mom and I cook different dishes together. Isn’t it amazing that I’m making such tasty-looking foods myself? Cooking brings great joy to me.
These times with my mom have changed my whole attitude to life. I have started to learn the importance of sticking to goals and how to relax. As the famous Brazilian soccer player Pele said, “With strong will, the feet are equal to a pair of wings.”
1. Which one is the meaningful thing the writer did this summer?① Learning to make tasty foods.
② Learning to persist.
③ Giving up junk food.
④ Keeping running.
⑤ Playing soccer.
⑥ Joining in a singing competition.
| A．①④ | B．①⑤ |
| C．③⑤ | D．②⑥ |
| A．Modest. | B．Humorous. |
| C．Stubborn. | D．Determined. |
| A．Where there is a will, there is a way. | B．Happiness lies first of all in health. |
| C．Running is man’s best medicine. | D．A close mouth catches no flies. |
| A．being honest with parents is important | B．exercise builds up our bodies |
| C．parents can have a great effect on children | D．cooking brings great joy to me |
